Chantecaille The Coral Reefs Palette

As you probably know by now, I love Chantecaille's gorgeous powders and palettes, and every time a new one is released, I get very excited. Sadly these palettes are very expensive (this one retails for £73 - ouch!), so I tend to wait for them to pop up on eBay for usually about half the price. That is how I got hold of mine.

When I saw the promo pictures I instantly thought of the limited edition Coral powder that came out a few years ago. You can see it below on the right:

If you'd like to see pictures of my entire collection (as of December 2010), click here. Now onto this palette. Firstly, I apologise, but there won't be any swatches just yet. It's such a pretty thing, I'm not ready to destroy it yet. Yeah, I know, I'm crazy. Anyhow, the palette contains 3 shades of eyeshadows and one shade of blush. On top of each there is a raised coral pattern with gold overspray on top which should disappear after the first use. The compact itself is white with the same coral pattern and the word Chantecaille printed on it. Mine didn't come in a box. There is a full size mirror in the lid as well.

I now cannot wait for the Elephant Palette to make an appearance on eBay, although it is already available from Space NK for £74 if you want it right now.

See more pictures of the Coral Reefs Palette after the jump!

Guerlain Fall 2012 - Rose Aux Joues Blush Duo 02 Chic Pink Swatches and Review

Hope you're not sick of all my Guerlain fall collection reviews, because I have more to come! It's pretty much the only autumn/fall collection I have bought anything from, other than the gorgeous Estee Lauder Vivid Shine and Cyber Metallic eyeshadows. There are just so many lovely products and a lot of them were available on eBay for around half the actual price, so I couldn't resist.

This time I actually managed to buy the proper compact rather than a tester, so I can finally show you what the blush duo compact looks like. This is shade 02 Chic Pink, that contains a very wearable slightly shimmery rosy pink shade and a very light peachy pink matte shade. The top half is really pretty and well pigmented, but unfortunately the lighter shade doesn't really show up on me. As it's matte, I don't find it very useful to highlight and is obviously way to light to contour. The darker shade shows up well, but is subtle enough for an everyday look. I guess lighter skintones would make better use of the lighter shade.

In the compact you also get a small brush which is pretty useful for picking up blush from the smaller pan as it's a bit small for a regular size blush brush. The small brush is also useful for contouring. There is of course also a mirror in the compact and it comes in a velvet pouch inside the black outer box.

I'm not sold on these blushes yet to be honest. For starters they are really expensive at £32.50 for 6 g. I also find that some of the shades don't work well for me, so while you get 2 blushes in one compact, one might not be all that great. I do like Peach Boy and Pink Punk the most (check out this post for swatches), although the darker shade in Chic Pink is also very pretty, it's just not £32.50 pretty if you see what I mean.

Have you bought any of these yet? Let me know what you think in the comments!

See more pictures including swatches after the jump!

Estee Lauder Violet Undergroud Eyeshadow Palette Review and Swatches

Estee Lauder have really outdone themselves this summer/autumn (whatever you want to call this time of the year) and have released some more beautiful eyeshadows. Not only they're beautiful, they are also Cyber Metallic finish that I love so much. And as pinks and purples are my favourite, I really couldn't be happier (although tecnically there isn't a violet/purple shade in this palette, despite its name).

Violet Underground contains 5 shades: a light pinky beige colour, a bright magenta colour, a warm coppery brown, a navy blue and an almost matte black. The eyeshadows have a metallic sheen, some stronger than others, but all in all, they're very wearable and not shimmery or glittery at all. They are very smooth and well pigmented, and stay on all day without creasing or fading.

The pinky-beige shade is the most metallic of them all. I used that as a highlighter, but for my skintone it's a bit dark to be a proper highlighter. It makes a gorgeous colour to wear in the inner corner or all over the eyelid (think black eyeliner and lots of mascara). I thought the magenta shade was pretty close to the Magenta shade that was released last month in the Vivid Shine collection, but this one is actually a lot pinker. Although the colours are a funny mix, they do work together, I did a look using 4 of them the other day (see bottom of the post). The only one I couldn't fit in was the brown shade, but it would work with the pinky beige and magenta, and even the black (which can be worn wet as a liner, that's what I did).

The eyeshadows are housed in a special purpley blue compact, not the usual gold which is very pretty. You get 4.4 g eyeshadows which is pretty small for a palette, but these Cyber Metallic eyeshadows seem to weigh less than regular powder eyeshadows (the singles are only 0.9 g in weight). The palette costs £40 which isn't bad considerinig the single eyeshadows retail for £19 each, so you get 5 for the price of 2. The palette is limited edition, so it probably won't be around for long. Available from the usual places (department stores and online).

See more pictures including swatches after the jump!

NOTD: GOSH Holographic Hero Nail Polish - For One Night Only?

If you follow me on Twitter, you will have seen my tweets about Gosh's coveted Holographic Hero nail polish that has been re-released recently. It has been branded as a "one night only" polish due to problems with it chipping quickly, so I thought I'd give it a go myself and see how much of that is true.

Taken without flash in direct sunlight

I was actually very pleasantly surprised by how well it lasted. The picture above was taken about 36 hours after I painted my nails. You can see a small crach on my middle finger nail, that's due to that bit of nail peeling badly (and subsequently breaking off sadly), but other than that there are were only a couple of small chips on my index finger nails after 2 days or so. I kept it on another day and by the end of day 3 it did look pretty bad, but no worse than any other nail polish (with a very few exceptions) would look on me. It certainly wasn't a one nighter for me.

The formula is very nice, thin enough to apply evenly and dry quickly. With holographic nail polish I always apply base coat, 2 coats of holo polish, then a top coat and another coat of holo polish on top which helps make it longer lasting and also this way the top coat doesn't dull the holographic effect. The holo effect on this is gorgeous, it's proper linear holo, although the Glitter Gal holographic polishes have a stronger linear effect. I think this one is up with the Layla holographic polishes I've tried, but is cheaper than both the Glitter Gal and Layla polishes. There wasn't any sunshine on the day I took most of the pictures, so I included some taken under strong indoor light and with flash too.

The GOSH Holographic Hero nial polish is available for £4.99 (for 8 ml) if you can find it. Although it's now permanent, it has taken me a couple of weeks to find it as most Superdrugs were out of stock. Hopefully once the hype dies down, it will be more readily available. If you like holographic polishes, this one is definitely a nice to have.

If you have it, let me know in the comments how you like it. 

See more pictures after the jump!

And The Winner Is... Take Two

After repeatedly failing to contact the previously announced winner, I have decided to choose a different winner and I'm pleased to announce that the new winner of my (Almost) 600 Follower Giveaway is

Cynthia M. Richardson (entry #160) 

Congratulations! Please e-mail me your postal address, so I can send your prize out to you.

Guerlain Fall 2012 - Rouge G L'Extrait M65 Paresse Review and Swatches

Today I have another product from the Guerlain autumn/fall collection to show you: Guerlain Rouge G L'Extrait in M65 Paresse. I actually have a tester I managed to pick up on eBay for a fiver, for more details on the actual packaging, the formula and the other three shades I have already reviewed, check out this post.

This is just a quick post to show you the colour. It's a nice medium pink, very wearable, a lot more muted than Gourmandise, so would be very suitable for work or for those who don't like bright colours.The formula was the same as the others and it lasted on me for about 4 hours, but if I ate, it tended to disappear off my lips. Very lightweight, comfortable and moisturising, even if it's not that longlasting. I experienced the same slight tackiness as I did with the others, but it's not too bad.

The price of these is the same as the regular Rouge G lipsticks, currently £29.50. For that you get 6 ml which is a rather generous amount of lipstick. Available from the usual places, including Debenhams, House of Fraser, John Lewis, etc.

See more pictures including swatches after the jump!

Guerlain Fall 2012 - Ecrin 4 Couleurs 14 Les Fauves Review and Swatches

Guerlain's autumn/fall collection also contains an eyeshadow quad, #14 Les Fauves. It will also become part of the permanent line.

Les Fauves contains 3 shades of warm brown and a bright coral. The colours are definitely on the warm side, ranging from a shimmery caramel to a warm chocolate brown. The coral is definitely more orangy than the coral that was included in the summer palette. The eyeshadows are all very soft, buttery, smooth and very pigmented. I wasn't all that chuffed with the coral in the summer palette, but all 4 shades in this one are absolutely gorgeous. As ever, they stayed on my eyes without creasing and fading. Very pleased.

I guess some people might not like the fact that there's no highlighter shade in the palette, but it doesn't bother me. I have plenty enough highlighters to last me a lifetime. The quad costs £37 and you get 7.2g of eyeshadows, which is not too bad at all.

See more pictures including swatches and a look I did with these eyeshadows after the jump!

Bobbi Brown Bronzer/Blush Duo Bahama Brown/Pink Peony Review and Swatches

Now this is one confusing product. I'm pretty sure I'm not alone when I see the words bronzer and blush, I think brown and pink. But when it comes to this duo, you have to reverse that. The blush is brown, the bronzer is pink. Say what?

This bronzer/blush duo contains Bahama Brown Shimmer Blush and Pink Peony Illuminating Bronzing Powder. For some reason Bobbi has many pinky shades of the Illuminating Bronzing Powder available, including Antigua and Maui. I couldn't see myself using these as all over bronzers, but they make very nice blushes.

I actually have Pink Peony in a full size compact, it came out with a set I think, but I wanted to try Bahama Brown and this also makes an easy compact to travel with. I found this version a bit harder, less easy to get a good pigmentation out of. It still works fine, but my other one is softer. It is a very pretty corally pink colour. You can see me wearing it in this look. Bahama Brown Shimmer Blush is a shimmery brown shade (unsurprisingly), it can be used for conturing with Pink Peony on the cheeks. It's too shimmery to be used as bronzer all over thoough, but also makes a nice blush too. Not too dark or muddy for my medium light complexion.

You get 9.6 g of product for £27 which is a pretty good deal as 4.8 g of each product would be £21.60 and £14.40 respectively which adds up to £36. Plus Pink Peony isn't available otherwise (except on eBay) and Bahama Brown doesn't seem to be on either website I've looked, so I guess it's easiest to buy the two together. Available from Bobbi Brown's website, Debenhams, House of Fraser and other department stores.

See more pictures including swatches after the jump!

Mac Styleseeker Collection Sneak Peek - Eden Rouge Mattene Lipstick

Mac's one of many new collections, Styleseeker (due to be released in the UK in September) sees the return of their fantastic mattene lipsticks, so I thought I'd do a little review of one of the shades, Eden Rouge. Mine is actually from an older collection, but I believe the colour stayed the same, so hope this is helpful.

Mac mattene lipsticks are the best matte lipsticks I have ever tried, without a doubt. They are creamy, hydrating, very comfortable to wear and long lasting. Eden Rouge is a beautiful blue-based red with a slight sheen. I guess it's not completely matte, but I'm happy with that (I prefer non-matte lipsticks anyway). It is pretty opaque, so you pretty much only need one swipe. It feels very lightweight and doesn't have that slightly tacky texture of the Guerlain Rouge G L'Extrait lipsticks. Eden Rouge lasts on me for about 4 hours without eating, it comes off when I eat, but then they're not claiming to be long lasting.

Based on the online swatches I have seen of the other 4 shades in the collection, I don't think I'll pick any of them up, but I would definitely pick Eden Rouge up if I didn't have it already. You get 2.3 g for around £14.50 (I don't know the exact price just yet, it's $15 in the US), so they are slightly smaller than the regular lipsticks which are normally 3 g. Sadly all mattenes are limited edition and I am really considering getting another Eden Rouge - BUT I am going to enforce a big lipstick no-buy on myself when I reach 400 lipsticks and I only have 6 choices left, so not sure if I want to use one up for Eden Rouge. It is lovely, but maybe Mac will bring out some more pretty shades and then what will I do??? (Anyway, I will tell you more about my no-buy plans soon.)

See more pictures including swatches after the jump!

Chanel Blue Illusion Collection - Illusion D'Ombre Review and Swatches and FOTD

I really like Chanel Illusion D'Ombres and one of the colours I was missing from the existing line was blue, so I was very excited when I found out about the exclusive Blue Illusion collection. It is/was an exclusive to Chanel Boutiques, Harrods and Selfridges, but luckily a kind friend picked them up for me, so I didn't have to resort to paying over £5 for postage costs.

Destination, Apparition

There are two Illusion D'Ombres in the collection, Destination, a light silver-blue colour and Apparition, a blackened blue. Destination has some shimmer in it, Apparition less so. I really like Destination, it's a very pretty colour, but I'm not bowled over by Apparition. It looks rather dull and was quite hard to blend, plus it smudged and partly disappeared by the evening. Destination lasted better, but it also faded significantly. I tried Apparition as a liner and that worked better for me.

All in all, these are not my favourites out of the Illusion D'Ombres I own (which is now 6 I believe). They are nice, but not that nice. At £23 each (for 4 g) I feel I didn't get very good value for my money.

See more pictures including swatches and a look I did with these after the jump!

NOTD: Bourjois 1 Seconde Nail Polish in Rainbow Apparition

Once again I got sucked into buying another rainbow glitter nail polish. I'm like a magpie, love myself some glitter and rainbow colours. I used Bourjois Rainbow Apparition on top of 2 coats of Orly Sugar Plum (although I can't remember if I used one or two coats of Rainbow Apparition, sorry).

Taken without flash in direct sunlight

Rainbow Apparition is such a pretty polish, it has loads of holographic glitter that shimmer in all colours of the rainbow. It's supposed to be a 1 second nail polish, ie should take one second to apply due to the wide fan brush. I don't like claims like that, nothing takes one second in my opinion, but apart from that it's a lovely top coat with a nice formula and the brush is indeed very handy.

It lasted brilliantly on me, 3 days with hardly any chipping. I didn't have any chips at all in the first 24 hours, and only a couple of small ones later on. Very impressed.What annoys me though is that the bottle is so tall due to the long thin cap, it doesn't fit into my storage boxes standing up. No need for that in my opinion, 2 cm shorter would be just fine.

Bourjois 1 Seconde Nail Polishes cost £5.99 and available from Boots, Superdrug, etc. Orly Sugar Plum was a PR sample, but retails at £7.50 on BeautyBay.

See more pictures after the jump!

Laura Geller Blush n Brighten in Dreamsicle Review and Swatches

As you (might) know, I really like Laura Geller's blushes and I'm happy to show you my newest acquisition: Dreamsicle. A peach base with yellow and pink marble. When mixed together it makes a lovely peachy pink shade with a subtle sheen.

Laura Geller Blush n Brightens are really nice blushes, and I have a big collection of them (last updated collection post can be found here, although I have quite a bit more now). Just like the other blushes, Dreamsicle also comes in a round compact with mirror in half of the lid. You get 9 g for your money.

I usually buy my Laura Geller blushes on eBay and I think a lot of these aren't normally available in the UK (the ones that are you can buy from QVC). I paid around £13 plus postage for this which is a great price for the amount of product you get and the quality. It's very finely milled and nicely pigmented, not glittery at all, just has a subtle sheen and gives a nice glow. This shade is a very natural one and would suit lighter skintones very well.

See more pictures including swatches after the jump!

Want It: Guerlain Holiday 2012 Collection (Sneak Peek)

I'm always eager to find out information about upcoming collections, especially when it comes to one of my favourite brands, Guerlain. I've found these pictures and some information about the holiday 2012 collection, so I thought I'd share it with you. All credit goes to Loulou17.

I'm not 100% sure whether this is the entire collection, but it seems quite sizeable, so it probably is. I believe the collection will have an oriental theme.

The collection contains:

• Liu Perfumed Shimmer Powder
• Meteorites Voyage Powder
• Meteorites Perles du Dragon
• 4 Colour Eyeshadow Palette
• Liu Calligraphy Palette for Eyes and Lips
• Rouge Automatique Lipsticks: Gold and Dark Red
• Nail Varnish

I don't have any more info right now, but I will let you know as soon as I do.

See more pictures after the jump!

Giorgio Armani Eyes To Kill Silk Eyeshadows #27 and #28 Review and Swatches

Even though I'm very happy with my L'Oreal Infallible eyeshadows, that I have on many occasions compared to Giorgio Armani Eyes To Kill eyeshadows, I just couldn't resist picking up a couple of shades from the Armani summer collection. I bought shades #27 and #28 (I don't know if they actually have names at all).

These are so gorgeous! And not just gorgeous, but absolutely fantastic. Pigmented like crazy, long lasting, crease proof, the lot. Although I have never reviewed them on this blog, I already owned two of the permanent shades, #01 and #03. I have compared the L'Oreal Infallible eyeshadows to these, and if you don't have the money for Armani, definitely check them out because they are very worthy opponents. But these are something else. They swatch and apply smoothly and pack on loads of pigment, yet there is no fallout and they don't crease at all (I do use primer under eyeshadows though). They feel quite creamy, but they're more pressed powder like L'Oreal Infallibles, rather than bouncy jelly-like cream eyeshadows (Chanel Illusion D'Ombre). If I had to pick a favourite, these would have to be it.

The two shades I got are #27, a red-silver mix that applies taupy-purple, and #28, a warm gold with purple/burgundy flecks that applies purply-copper. Both are extremely pigmented, smooth, and lasted on me all day without creasing. I used #28 with a purple eyeliner and it looked so pretty (scroll down to the bottom of this post to see a picture). I didn't get around to taking pictures of #27 on my eyes, but it was equally pretty.

The eyeshadows come in a glass pot with a plastic lid and plastic stopper (like the L'Oreal Infallibles), and you get 4 g in each pot. Each eyeshadow costs £26 (ouch!) which is really quite steep, but there you go, it's Armani. I bought mine from Selfridges, but House of Fraser also sells them (these shades are not available on their website though). I'm planning on picking up #07 next.

Do you own any of these eyeshadows? Let me know which ones are your favourites!

See more pictures including swatches after the jump!

Guerlain Fall 2012 - Kiss Kiss Lipgloss #873 Grenade In! Review and Swatches

There are only two limited edition products in the Guerlain autumn/fall collection, the Kiss Kiss lipglosses. I picked up Grenade In!, a dusty rose shade with subtle shimmer.

Kiss Kiss lipglosses have a lovely non-sticky smooth formula, they are one of my favourite lipglosses. I also like the brush applicator, prefer it to doe foot applicators. Grenade In! isn't a very unique colour though, it's a dusty rose shade with very subtle shimmer. It's a nice every day gloss, but nothing special. It's nicely pigmented (the swatches below were done with just one swipe) and lasts for an average 2 hours or so on me, but I just can't get very excited about it. It's nice, but to me it's not £21 nice. Guerlain has much nicer colours in its Kiss Kiss line if you fancy trying them out.

You get 6 ml for £21, so it's not a cheap lipgloss. I do love it how it feels on the lips and the packaging feels very luxurious too. Grenade In! and Sable Show (not pictured, I don't have it) are limited edition for the fall.

See more pictures including swatches after the jump!

Want It: Chantecaille Safari Fall 2012 Collection

If you've been reading my blog for a while, you will know how much I love Chantecaille's limited edition beautiful palettes (check out pictures of my collection here - although it's not up to date). So when I saw the details of the upcoming fall collection, of course I knew, I have to have the gorgeous Elephant Palette. And not only that, there's also a blush with elephant pattern. I'm in heaven!

Here are the collection details:

The Elephant Palette – Limited Edition

The Elephant Palette helps raise awareness and funds for baby, orphaned elephants in Kenya. The refillable dark green palette contains four new eyeshades, each embossed with an endangered African elephant. The eyeshadows were inspired by the trends seen on the fall runways and the lustrous colors found in the Kenyan landscape. Five Percent of proceeds will be donated to the David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust, an organization that rescues, fosters and release baby elephants orphaned by ivory poaching.

Shades:

• Ivory
• Grasslands
• Iron Ore
• Red Earth

Elephant Cheek Shade – Limited Edition

Fun – soft apricot

Lip Chic

• Amour – soft pink
• Isis – shimmering light bronze

Luminous Gloss

Fig – earthy berry

Gel Liner Pencil

Bronze – shimmering copper brown

High-Definition Perfecting Powder

See a picture of the blush as well after the jump!

FOTD: Estee Lauder Vivid Shine / Cyber Metallic

This was the first look I did with the new Estee Lauder Vivid Shine and Cyber Metalllic eyeshadows and I really liked it, so I thought I'd share with you.

To create this look I used the following products:

Eyes:
Too Faced Insurance Policy
Estee Lauder Vivid Shine Eyeshadow in Arctic Sky in the inner half of the lid
Estee Lauder Vivid Shine Eyeshadow in Magenta in the outer half of the lid
Estee Lauder Vivid Shine Eyeshadow in Electric Orchid in the crease
Estee Lauder Cyber Metallic Eyeshadow in Cyber Pink on browbone to highlight
Mac Pearlglide eyeliner in Industrial on lower lashline
Guerlain Noir G Mascara in Black
Mac Brow Set in Show Off

Face:
Boots No 7 Beautiful Skin BB Cream
Guerlain Voilettes Invisible Skin Fusion Loose Powder in 03 Beige Naturel
Bobbi Brown Illuminating Bronzing Powder in Pink Peony

Lips:
Guerlain Rouge G L'Extrait in Gourmandise

Let me know what you think in the comments!

See more pictures after the jump!

L'Oreal Infallible Eyeshadows Review and Swatches Part 9 - Golden Emerald and Endless Sea

New shades of L'Oreal Infallible eyeshadows! Yay! Sadly these are not available in the UK, but I tracked them down on eBay and hey presto.

I got Golden Emerald and Endless Sea, both are really lovely. Golden Emerald is especially pigmented and smooth, it is an amazing green colour with lots of gold shimmer. Endless Sea is a lovely teal colour with blue/gree duochrome, depending on the angle. It is very similar to Mac Electric Cool eyeshadow in Fashion Circuit, although it has sheen rather than shimmer like the Mac shadow.

Speaking of dupes, I thought I'd swatch them next to Permanent K(h)aki and Innocent Turquoise, but they aren't dupes at all (you can see the swatches at the end of this post). Also, there is a post I did which contains all the links to my reviews of the other shades I own, check it out here.  

As usual, you get 3.5 g eyeshadow in each pot. I paid around $6 each, in the UK these eyeshadows (obviously not these shades) cost £6.99, and are available from Boots, Superdrug and some supermarkets.

See more pictures including swatches after the jump!

Guerlain Fall 2012 - Rose Aux Joues Blush Duos Review and Swatches

Guerlain has lunched 6 new blush duos this fall/autumn and I have 3 of them to show you. I didn't actually buy the blushes with the compacts, because I felt that £32.50 was a bit steep for them, instead I managed to get my hands on 3 unused testers on eBay for about half the price. They are still full size, only they come without the fancy compact. Still fully portable as they come with a secure plastic lid.

I got Peach Boy, Over Rose and Pink Punk as you can see in the picture above. Peach Boy and Pink Punk were the ones I was particularly interested in trying out.

Peach Boy is a nice peachy coral blush duo. The bigger half of the duo is a satiny finish coral-peach blush and the smaller half is a shimmery more peachy shade. I would use the smaller half as highlighter, but it could also work as blush on its own.

Over Rose is the least interesting one of the three I got. The top half is slightly forsty, but not really shimmery, and the bottom half is satiny light pink shade. It is also quite poorly pigmented, I need to pack it on to make it show up properly.

Pink Punk is more pigmented, although it isn't as scary as it looks in the pan. The top half is a bright pink shade, the bottom half is a darkish dirty plummy shade. I used the bottom half as contour as well as on its own and it works well both ways.

Do I think these blushes are very special and worth £32.50? If you don't have a lot of blushes already, it's not too bad value as you get 6.5 g which is a regular size for a blush, but you get two colours to use together or separately. But in all fairness, I don't think they are that special. Peach Boy and Pink Punk are lovely shades and you might not own anything like them, but Over Rose is a bit dull in my opinion.

These blushes are part of the permanent line as the old 4 colour blushes have been discontinued, so no need to rush out to buy them immediately. However, if you have or planning to, let me know which ones you got!

See more pictures including swatches after the jump!

Guerlain Fall 2012 - Rouge G de Guerlain Lipstick in 76 Gracy Review and Swatches

The second product I wanted to review from Guerlain's autumn/fall collection is the new Rouge G de Guerlain lipstick in 76 Gracy. So far this has to be my favourite product from the collection. I am generally a massive fan of Rouge G lipsticks, I have then in many colours. The formula is lovely, lightweight yet long lasting and the colours are usually so beautiful and flattering.

Gracy is a beautiful raspberry pink that isn't overly bright, so it is very wearable and not as intimidating as some other bright pink shades. It applies evenly and is opaque in just one swipe. It's lightweight and moisturising, but it still lasts on me for a good 3 hours or so without fading. I actually prefer this formula to the Rouge G L'Extrait as it isn't sticky at all (the Rouge G L'Extrait can feel slightly tacky) and it still lasts just as long.

You also get the same fancy lipstick case with the mirror, although Rouge G lipsticks aren't refillable sadly. I haven't run out of any yet (due to having so many lipsticks), but if I do, I would love it if I could just buy a refill, otherwise the case just goes to waste.

Rouge G lipsticks cost £29.50 each and contain 3.5 g of product which is a regular amount. All 4 Rouge G lipsticks released in the fall collection are permanent additions to the Rouge G line, so you don't have to rush out to buy them all straight away. I'm planning on picking up Genna next, hopefully for free with my Debenhams Beauty Club points.

See more pictures including swatches after the jump!

My First Ever Attempt At Nail Art ...Well, Sort Of

Let me get this straight I'm not good at nail art. I have now got to the point when I can just about paint my nails without too much mess, but nail art I could never be any good at. My right hand I could maybe do something arty with, but my left hand is absolutely useless, I can't write or draw with it. That is why I always photograph my left hand as the nails always look much better on it. Plus I can't even hold the camera properly with my left hand. So when I say I attempted nail art, I mean this:

Yep, this is it. I painted my nails with one nail polish (namely Urban Decay's Magic Bus) and then applied a glitter polish (Mavala Gold Diamond) on top in a sort of messy gradient style. It looked pretty nice as it was very sparkly and I did get some compliments, so I guess it's not too bad for a first attemp. It also lasted on me for 3 days which was pretty good. What do you think?

Want It: Orly Flash Glam FX Collection for Summer 2012

I have been on a massive nail polish kick lately and have bought probably over 100 polishes. I've actually got into the habit of painting my nails every 2-3 days, so I am slowly getting through them, but probably will take another 6 months or so to use every new nail polish I've bought. Regardless, I have spotted a new Orly collection of 22 glitter top coats (plus a black nail polish) that I really love and will be buying a good few from.

The collection contains 22 glitter top coats in different coloured and shaped glitters, there are holographic, bar shaped and round glitter in varying sizes:

• Ultraviolet
• Right Amount of Evil
• Spazmatic
• Cupcakes and Unicorns
• R.I.P.
• Atomic Splash
• Watch It Glitter
• Embrace
• Monster Mash
• Go Deeper
• It’s a Meteor
• Ridiculously Regal
• So Go-Diva
• It’s Electric
• Be Brave
• Too Fab
• Holy! Holo!
• Sunglasses at Night
• Mermaid Tale
• Can’t be Tamed
• Rocket’s Red Glare
• Sashay My Way

Based on the official information and the swatches I've seen so far, I want Cupcakes And Unicorns, Be Brave, Sunglasses At Night, Holy Holo!, Sashay My Way, and maybe Ultraviolet. For now anyway.

They are $10 each on the Orly website and I have found a UK stockist who is going to sell them for £8.29 each (they're due to be launched mid-August), but I have also found a seller on eBay who has them for $6.25 plus shipping which makes one bottle cost £6.88 or less if you order more than one. One bottle contains a massive 18 ml, so it's great value for money. 

See more details after the jump!

Mac Electric Cool Eyeshadows Review and Swatches

Earlier this month Mac has launched a new collection of 12 cream eyeshadows called Electric Cool. I wasn't sure whether I wanted any of them because they were rumoured to be the reformulated Big Bounce eyeshadows, but thankfully they aren't. I ended up picking up 4 of them: Fashion Circuit, Brilliantly Lit, Superwatt, Electroplate.

These little pots of eyeshadows are actually very impressive. They feel very creamy, but they dry down pretty quickly and stay put without any creasing for 10+ hours (I always wear them over a primer). They are brilliant on days when I only have time for a quick wash of eyeshadow. I wouldn't compare them to the Armani Eyes To Kill, Chanel Illusion D'Ombre or L'Oreal Infallible eyeshadows because their textures are different, but I guess they're in the same family. The Electric Cool eyeshadows I've bought have lots of shimmer and are quite frosty, except Brilliantly Lit which is more satiny.

Colourwise the available shades aren't very unique, I'm pretty sure all of them can be easily dupeable. I have found that Fashion Circuit for example is extremely close to Endless Sea L'Oreal Infallible eyeshadow. The L'Oreal shadow is more frosty and at certain angles blueer, but on my eyes they are practically the same. Fashion Circuit is a gorgeous colour though and well worth picking up if you don't own anything similar yet. Brilliantly Lit is a bit more unique, you don't often get cream shadows in yellowy lime green shade.

Mac Electric Cool eyeshadows cost £14.50, and you get 2.1g product in a screw top black plastic container. They are limited edition, but most shades are still available, so if you're interested, take a look at your nearest Mac counter.

See more pictures including swatches after the jump!

Guerlain Fall 2012 - Rouge G L'Extrait Review and Swatches

Guerlain has launched a new lip product this fall/autumn called Rouge G L'Extrait which is basically a matte liquid lipstick. According to the official description "This exceptional liquid, creamy, consistent, ultra-pigmented and velvety lip colour delivers an incredibly sophisticated make-up result. Wear it not to tease but to awaken desire! The colour becomes matt in a moment and reveals its superb qualities. Non-sticky, non-drying and non-feathering, this luxurious texture is a waking dream that lasts for hours for all women who love colour. A formula with rejuvenating and smoothing benefits that are tangible on application and over time, day after day. The Rouge G case has been reinterpreted in a sleeker version to hold this liquid texture. Pull and click...and watch the familiar double mirror gracefully open. Then, simply turn the cap to take up the colour and apply it elegantly and easily with its flocked tip."

I purchased 3 of them to try out. The shades I was most excited about are M25 Colere, M41 Envie and M71 Gourmandise. Colere is a nice blue based red, reminds me of Gigolo Rouge G. Envie is bright orangey coral. Gourmandise is bright fuchsia pink, similar to Girly Rouge G. They actually come in 7 shades and all shades are named according to the seven deadly sins. Anyway, I have now tried them all out and I have to say, I really like them. As the description says, these are liquid lipsticks that dry down to a matte finish really quickly, but despite being matte, they are actually very comfortable and not drying at all. I personally felt some stickiness and there was some colour transfer (they aren't kiss-proof), but they really didn't dry my lips and didn't feather at all. I didn't find them especially long lasting, without eating they lasted for about 4 hours, but if I ate, they tended to disappear off my lips. I don't mind this at all, but I do want to point it out because they are supposed to be long-lasting and they're not (on me anyway). The formula is really lovely and lightweight, and the colours I've tried are all opaque with just one swipe.

The case is the usual Rouge G case with the folding mirror. It doesn't feel as heavy as the original Rouge G case, although it is longer (but perhaps a bit slimmer), similar in lenght to the Noir G mascara. I don't really need the mirror most of the time, but it's a nice-to-have I guess. I believe these lipsticks are actually refillable, but I don't think the re-fills are available yet. Although part ofthe fall/autumn collection, these lipsticks are becoming part of the permanent line.

The price of these is the same as the regular Rouge G lipsticks, currently £29.50. For that you get 6 ml which is a rather generous amount of lipstick. Would I recommend them? If you're on a tight budget, unless you see a shade you really really like, they aren't that special. If you have a bigger budget, they're worth trying out as they are nice, I'm just not sure they are £29.50 nice.

See more pictures including swatches after the jump!

Estee Lauder Vivid Shine and Cyber Metallic Pure Color Gelee Powder Eyeshadows Review and Swatches

Estee Lauder launched a new collection called Pure Color Vivid Shine that contains (among others) 16 shades of Gelee Powder eyeshadows. These eyeshadows (well, 6 shades) initially came out in January and I have reviewed them here and here. I really liked the initial shades and the subsequent five colour palette that came out at the beginning of this summer, so of course I jumped on the Gelee Powder eyeshadow wagon once again. I purchased 9 new shades (leaving just one out) and here they are:

I bought Pop Pistachio, Magenta, Fire Sapphire, Ultra Marine, Electric Orchid, Cyber Ice, Arctic Sky, Cyber Ruby, Cyber Gold. The eyeshadows are devided into two categories: Vivid Shine and Cyber Metallic. The first 5 on my list are Vivid Shine and the last 4 are Cyber Metallic. I have no idea what the difference is, I think the Vivid Shine ones are less metallic and more pearly/satiny. The only one I didn't get (other than the original 6 shades) is Lights Out which is the black one. There is a black shadow in the Violet Underground fall eyeshadow palette, that will be plenty enough black for me.

I urge you to read my initial review, because these are basically the same products just with more colour variety and some less metallic than others. Overall I'm very pleased with these eyeshadows, although so far I have only used 3 of them, they swatched beautifully and the ones I wore lasted all day without creasing (over primer). You can use these dry or wet, they tend to be more intense when used wet, but I actually like using them dry. Over primer (I'm currently using Too Faced Shadow Insurance) they last all day long without creasing or fading and there's no fallout from them at all. They are powder, but feel like cream eyeshadows, very similar to the Mac Extra Dimension eyeshadows (limited edition from May).

The Vivid Shine eyeshadows are all limited edition, and I believe also Arctic Sky and Cyber Ice are limited, but the rest of the Cyber Metallic eyeshadows are now permanent. The most interesting shade of the collection for me has to be Arctic Sky, it's a beautiful duochrome light blue/pink/purple. My pictures don't so it justice, it's really stunning. I'm also very happy about Pop Pistachio as I also wanted a green shade and Pop Pistachio is a very pretty one. I guess it depends on what colours you prefer, but the blues are also very nice and so is Magenta. Well worth checking out.

These eyeshadows cost £19 each. You get 0.9 g which is pretty small, although I think the formula is probably more ligtweight than powder.   

See more pictures including swatches after the jump!

NOTD: Glorious Aquarius

I'm easing back into blogging with a nail post, this is such a pretty one, I wanted to show you anyway. This is 2 coats of Urban Decay Aquarius with Essence Glorious Aquarius Nail Art Special Effect Topper on top. Such a pretty mermaid effect. Brilliant formula too, it lasted on me so well, with only a tiny chip after 48 hours and I only took it off after 4 days.

Taken with flash

The Urban Decay polish was part of their summer nail kit a few years ago and I bought the Essence glitter top coat in Hungary back in June. I don't remember how much it was, only a couple of quid at most and it's a good 8 ml size. Both are really nice and the combination is especially pretty.

See more pictures after the jump!

Quick Update

Firstly, sorry I disappeared for over a week, the reason for is that we went on holiday to Britanny. We had a lovely time, although the weather wasn't much better than here. We did see some lovely places including Le Mont Saint Michel (below).

Just wanted to say that I am finally back online and will be doing some proper posts starting tomorrow. I have gone a bit crazy lately and bought lots of new stuff, including 9 of the new Estee Lauder Gelee Powder eyeshadows, 4 Mac Electric Cool eyeshadows, tons of nail polish and lots more. So as and when I find some time to take pictures and do swatches, there will be plenty of new reviews.

In the meantime, check out my giveaway, you can win a lovely Anna Nova make up bag and other goodies! Click here to enter the giveaway.

(Almost) 600 Follower Giveaway

So I was going to do a 500 follower giveaway and then suddenly I realised that I now have 574 followers (at the time of typing this). So I thought, I'd call this giveaway (almost) 600 follower giveaway and hopefully by the end I will actually have 600 followers. This time I'm using Rafflecopter to save me verifying 100+ entries.

Here's what you can win:

a Rafflecopter giveaway