Chanel Illusion D'Ombre #96 Utopia Review and Swatches

So as I've promised, I have a review of one of the new Chanel Illusion D'Ombres. This one is Utopia, a slightly frosty dusky purple shade.

I really like Chanel Illusion D'Ombres, they are one of my go-to eyeshadows when I only have time for a quick sweep of colour on the lids. They go on smoothly and blend very easily. I tend to use them over primer (Too Faced Shadow Insurance is my favourite) and they stay without creasing all day.

The eyeshadows come with a small angled brush for application, but generally I think any dense brush is fine for that purpose and mine tend to sit untouched. They would be good for using the eyeshadows as liner though.

They don't come cheap at £25 for 4 g, but they do go a long way and I'm happy to report that none of my older ones are showing signs of drying out, so they are a good long-term investment.

There are 3 new shades in the Chanel summer collection and I have New Moon as well to show you at a later date.

For now, see more pictures of Utopia, including swatches, after the jump!

Haul Pictures

I am so happy we can finally get Essence in the UK! In case you didn't know, Essence is now being sold in Wilkinson. My small local branch only has a small display, but I popped into a bigger one that had a much bigger one. Today I want to show you what I picked up as well as a couple of other bits from Topshop, Superdrug and Boots.

So from Essence I got these cute nail stickers for when I'm too lazy to do some stamping, and a nail polish called Laser Show which is a glitter topper with silver microshimmer and black glitter. From Topshop I picked up two glitter polishes called Dreamlike and Myth.

Also from Essence, I got their Blush Up powder blush that bears a very strong resemblance to Mac's blush ombres. It's very pigmented, just great for summer. I also got the new Sleek palette, Rio Rio and Chanel Illusion D'Ombre in New Moon, one of the new summer shades. I have another shade to show you, which I'll be writing a full review on very soon.

Have you been buying any make up or nail polish lately?

My Chanel Holiday 2012 Collection Haul - Review and Swatches

At last, the Chanel holiday collection has arrived to the UK as well. Must have been the last of the high end collections, it was released on 9th November. Yes, sorry, it has taken me this long to finally review it, I still have quite a backlog of things I haven't even photographed, or swatched or used.

But for now, here's what I bought from the Chanel holiday collection:

I got the eyeshadow quad, Harmonie de Soir, the blush called Star Dust and the new Illusion d'Ombre in Apparence. I knew I wanted the quad when I saw pictures of it sometime in the summer, it just looked so pretty, I had to have it. I was on the fence about the Illusion d'Ombre, especially after swatching it as it seemed to be pretty much the same colour as the gold in the quad. The blush I wasn't even going to get, but once I'd swatched it, I couldn't leave it behind.

So the eyeshadow quad. It's soft, silky, pigmented, gorgeous. Easy to use, blendable, long lasting, non-creasing shadows that look satiny. Love it. Only drawback is you only get 4 g of product which is teeny, especially considering the pricetag (£43). But then having said that, I'd rather pay that much for 4 g of loveliness than £30+ for a mediocre Mac quad. Anyway, I have used all the colours except for the gold one and they all looked great 12+ hours later, didn't crease (over Too Faced Shadow Insurance primer) and didn't lose their sheen. I apologise, I didn't take a picture of the look because that day was the gloomiest, darkest day and I knew the pictures wouldn't come out right.

The Illusion d'Ombre is a gorgeous not too yellow gold colour, it's also not very warm, so should suit people with cooler complexions. Not as yellow and sparkly as Vision Illusion d'Ombre, it's more of a muted colour. Still sparkly, but not as metallic as Vision. It's a very lovely colour. If you have the quad you probably don't need this as well, because the two golds are very similar, but Illusion d'Ombres are a different products, they are cream eyeshadows that don't crease and stay on all day (I only use them over primer). I love them on those days when I only have 10 minutes to put my make up on, they are just so easy. You get 4 g of eyeshadow for £23.

As I said, I wasn't even going to get Star Dust blush, but it's just so sparkly, I couldn't say no to it. Also, Stardust is one of my favourite films (watch it if you haven't see in yet!), so the name really appealed as well (yeah, I know, lame excuse). Star Dust is a very sparkly light pink blush, more of a highlighter really, and defitinely more for nights out than school runs (although I wear crazy colours to school runs, so whatever you want to do really). It's very finely milled and just lovely. It's not huge, you only get 4 g and it's pretty pricey at £31.

While the Chanel collection isn't my favourite of this year's holiday collections, the products I've bought are all really lovely. I didn't got for the lip products or nail polishes for obvious reasons (no-buy), but they also looked nice.

See more pictures after the jump including swatches and a look I did with Apparence Illusion d'Ombre and Star Dust!

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!

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!

Chanel Illusion D'Ombre Eyeshadows in Vision and Abstraction and FOTD

One of my favourite Chanel products is Illusion D'Ombre and I was really pleased that there were two new shades of them coming out with Les Expressions de Chanel collection. I haven't actually seen these in any shop or online in the UK, I ordered mine from Sephora in France when they sent me yet another 20% off code.

Illusion D'Ombres are one of the best cream eyeshadows I own, they feel like jelly, they're quite springy, but also very easy to apply and blend. I often just use my fingers as it's easier, but they come with a little angled brust that you can also use to apply them. They work very well as eyeliners too.They don't crease and stay vibrant all day long.

The shades I got are Vision and Abstraction. Vision is sparkly yellow gold and Abstraction is pinky-coral with pink and gold shimmers. They are both very pretty, Abstraction is more subtle, but Vision is also a very wearable shade. In my swatches I managed to swatch Vision rather heavily, but it can be blended out for a more sheer finish. I have included some pictures of me wearing them at the bottom of the post, they looked really lovely on.

Each little pot contains 4 g of eyeshadow and in the UK they cost £23 (although as I said I have not seen these shades yet). So yes, they're not cheap, but they are really good, and these are such pretty shades too. Let me know what you think in the comments!

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

L'Oreal Infallible Eyeshadows Review and Swatches

Having heard lots of good and some bad about these eyeshadows, I decide to check them out for myself. I was browsing in Superdrug and noticed that they were on offer (£3.99 down from £6.99), so I picked up four of them.

I like my Armani Eyes To Kill eyeshadows as well as Chanel Illusion D'Ombre eyeshadows, but let's face it, they are very expensive. Who would say no to a cheaper alternative, especially if they were just as good. But are they? I'm happy to report that these L'Oreal Infallible eyeshadows are really good. They are nice and creamy, but not too creamy, so while they apply and blend easily, they also dry down quite quickly, so they don't crease on my eyelids. Okay, that's not 100% true, I did wear Goldmine the other day without a primer underneath and it did crease a tiny bit after about 8-9 hours of wear, but do you know what, that's good enough for me. I wore Flashback Silver and Purple Obsession over my beloved Barbara Daly eyeshadow base and they did not crease at all.

So yes, I do think these are a very good alternative the more expensive eyeshadows, and they come in really nice colours too. The colours are very rich and well pigmented, so pretty in the sunlight (see the swatches at the bottom of the post!). Out of the four I like Bronze Divine most, but Goldmine is also beautiful. I wore it with Stila Curacao (bright blue) liquid eyeliner on the top lashline and it looked gorgeous. I have since picked up another two shades, I will try to review them too.

As I said before, these are on offer from Boots and Superdrug at £3.99 instead of £6.99! Available in 12 shades, most of them shimmery, but there seem to be some without any shimmer too.

Do you own any of these? Let me know in the comments!

See more pictures including swatches after the jump!

Chanel Illusion D'Ombre Eyeshadows in Illusiore and Emerveille and FOTD

While I'm waiting for my eyelid to recover (dry patch is going away nicely), I managed to dig out these old photos I did back in October but never got around to putting up in a review. It's actually quite fitting as well, following yesterday's post on my Chanel eyeshadow stash. These cream/gel shadows came out last autumn and I have reviewed 2 other shades, so for more info please check out this post.

The shades I have here are Illusiore, a purple-grey/taupe, and Emerveille, a light peach colour. Both are really pretty with fine shimmer, well pigmented, smooth and long lasting. Emerveille is the perfect 5 minute make up solution, paired up with a brown or black eyeliner and lots of black mascara. I included some pictures of me wearing Emerveille, so be sure to scroll down to the bottom of this post. I used them with and without primer and they held on perfectly, didn't even crease when worn without primer, so they would also make a good base themselves. They cost £22.50 each and you get 4 g, so they're not cheap, but you really only need a little bit in one go. 

I would happily recommend these to everyone, and I hope the rumours of Chanel bringing out more colours are true as these are really fantastic.

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

Photos of My Chanel Eyeshadow Collection

I'm a bit frustrated at the moment because I have a very dry and itchy patch on my left eyelid and I've not been able to wear eye make up other than mascara, but there are so many products that I want to test and review and I can't. So I was scratching my head trying to come up with something to do a post about and I came up with this: I'm going to show you my Chanel eyeshadow collection. And here it is:

All my Chanel eyeshadows

As you can see, I own a lot of quads, but there are a few singles, a duo and some of the new gel/cream eyeshadows, Illusion D'Ombre. I have most of the latest quads and a good few older releases, some of those I bought from eBay, so some are more used than others. I also have a quad that I'm pretty sure is fake, but it is so pretty, I haven't been able to make myself throw it out.

So without further ado, here are some more detailed pictures, hope you enjoy looking at them. I'm not doing swatches as well, but if you have any questions/requests, let me know in the comments!

Chanel Illusion D'Ombre Eyeshadows in Mirifique and Epatant

Like a lot of others, I couldn't resist picking up a few shades from Chanels newcream/gel eyeshadows, Illusion D'Ombre. I bought Mirifique (black) and Epatant (grey-taupe-green). They both lived up to my expectations and I'm pretty happy with them. (So much so that I have since ordered Illusoir and Emerveille, will review them soon too.)

Mirifique is a deep black with tiny silver glitter, it's very pigmented and goes on really smooth. Epatant is a lot lighter, but it's not at all sheer, and it also has some lovely shimmer. It's quite metallic, but not overly so. I find Epatant a very easy to wear everyday shadow, you can just apply it, blend a bit around the edges and go. Mirifique was harder work as you really need to blend out the edges for it not to look too harsh, also it is pretty dark for a daytime look. I ended up applying Mac White pigment to the inner corner to lighten it a bit (I will post a FOTD soon). However, I think it would make an excellent eyeliner and a base for a smoky eye. As for the application, every pot comes with a small slanted brush that works really well for applying these eyeshadows. Because it's slanted, it would work for applying them as eyeliner too.

They are £22.50 each, so not cheap, but you only need a tiny bit, so they should last a long time. Staying power is excellent for these, I used them over Urban Decay Primer Potion and they lasted the whole day without any creasing, and with Epatant, no powder shadow to set it at all. (I did have Mac White pigment over some of Mirifique as previously mentioned.)

Have you tried these eyeshadows yet? Are you planning to? Do you like them? Let me know in the comments.

See lots of pictures including swatches after the jump!