Guerlain Sakura Blush G - Cherry Blossom Blush Review and Swatches

As soon as I heard about Guerlain's (supposedly) Asia exclusive Sakura Blush G I knew I had to have it. What I didn't know was that it was actually being sold by Selfridges. I accidentally found a link to it on the Selfridges website and quickly snapped it up. I was lucky, it sold out that same day. I don't often order from Selfridges because I loathe to pay £4.95 for shipping, but I had to make an exception.

If you like Guerlain you may remember them releasing their original Blush G that was released 2 years ago with the spring collection. The new Sakura blush is basically the same, only it comes in a white compact with a white velvet bag and white box as well as a white handled little brush in the compartment below the blush, and of course the colours are different. This time it's all about pink. You get 4 strips, none of them really big enough to be used on their own, but you can use 2 or 3 or all 4 together if you wish. You get a coral-pink, a shimmery white, a shimmery darker rose and a shimmery lighter rose colour. Mixed together you get a lovely rosy glow. The blush smells of cherry blossom which is one of my favourite smells.

The swatches were very hard to see, the blush appeared to be a bit hard to pick up and not very pigmented on my arm, but on my cheeks it gives a nice rosy pink glow. It's not overly pigmented, but the colour is buildable. I don't see it working on darker skintones, but I guess it was never intended to anyway, Asia exclusive colours are often light as they're catered for light Asian skin. It is a tiny bit shimmery, but not very noticably and it's not metallic either. I'd definitely describe it more of a glow.

You get 8 g of product which is a lot, but equally it costs quite a lot too at £42. I'm happy I bought it, even with the extra £4.95 shipping charge, it's a lovely addition to my Guerlain collection.

I have absolutely no idea if this will be available anywhere else in the UK or whether Selfridges is getting in more stock, whether it's available at the counter or other department store, but if you do know, please let me know in the comments!

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

Giorgio Armani Eyes To Kill Silk Eyeshadow #07 Review and Swatches

After falling in love with Giorgio Armani Eyes To Kill Silk Eyeshadows #27 and #28 I decided to order #07 as well, a beautiful rosy pink shade. I know a lot of people don't like wearing pink eyeshadows, but I find they go very well with my dark brown eyes and my colouring and I had been really wanting to get this shade as it's so pretty.

The formula is once again really lovely, buttery smooth, yet very long lasting and creaseproof. I wore this on top of my Too Faced Eyeshadow Insurance primer and it lasted all day without fading or creasing. I find this shade so easy to wear, on days when I don't have much time, just sweep it onto my eyelids, pair it with black eyeliner and mascara and hey presto!

I won't go on about how fantastic these eyeshadows are, for more details please read this post, but I do think that these are well worth their price (£26 for 4 g) and if you can afford them, check them out. For a cheaper alternative I would wholeheartedly recommend the L'Oreal Infallible eyeshadows as they are comparable and probably easier to get hold of anyway.

Giorgio Armani Eyes To Kill Silk Eyeshadows are available from House of Fraser, Selfridges, Harvey Nichols, Bentalls and maybe Harrods too, but I'm not sure about that one.

See more pictures including swatches and a look I did with this 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!

NOTD: Chanel Diwali Nail Polish

Today I have Chanel's exclusive limited edition nail polish, Diwali to show you. This came out with the Bombay Express collection and I've already showed it to you here, however now I have swatches as well.

Taken with flash

Diwali is a very pretty, light, almost silvery gold, looks like liquid gold on the fingers. The formula is nice, it's a bit on the runnier side, but not too much and this allows you to do thin coats. Opaque in two coats and dries quickly. The brush strokes aren't too noticeable, despite it being rather metallic. Unfortunately Chanel polishes really don't last on me at all long, this one chipped on me within 24 hours, and by 48 hours I had some rather big chips and pretty much on every finger. Nail polish doesn't last that long on me normally, but I would expect to get through a whole day without chipping.

It costs £18 for 13 ml, so it's not cheap, but it's Chanel, so there you go. The Chanel Bombay Express collection is available exclusively from Chanel boutiques, Harrods, Selfridges W1, Selfridges Manchester Exchange, House of Fraser Glasgow and Fenwick Newcastle. I ordered mine from Harrods, they charge £8.50 for shipping (ouch!).

See more pictures after the jump!

Chanel Route Des Indes Illuminating Powder and Diwali Nail Polish - Bombay Express Collection

Firstly I apologise, I don't have swatches. I just cannot bear to touch the gorgeous gold powder and I haven't had time to use Diwali nail polish yet. So all I have is some pretty pictures for you. But they are definitely very pretty!

The Chanel Bombay Express collection is available exclusively from Chanel boutiques, Harrods, Selfridges W1, Selfridges Manchester Exchange, House of Fraser Glasgow and Fenwick Newcastle. I ordered mine from Harrods. The powder cost £48 for 15 g and the nail polish was £18 for 13 ml. Harrods charge £8.50 for shipping (ouch!).

See lots more pretty pictures after the jump!

My Purchases From Chanel Las Vegas Collection

When I first saw pictures of the Chanel Las Vegas collection I fell in love with the Lucky Stars powder and was very disheartened to find that it retailed for $95 in the US and seemed to be a Las Vegas boutique exclusive. Luckily it came to Selfridges and the best part is, it cost quite a bit less than $95. (I think I paid £48 which is still A LOT, but not $95 - that would've been more like £57, eek!) So I picked it up on a recent trip to London and also the gold Rouge Coco Shine (called Brillant) which I initially wasn't even planning on buying. And here they are:

Being me, I haven't actually swatched either of them, so I'm afraid all I have is some more droolworthy product pictures. But really, just how pretty is that powder?! So happy drooling and let me know if you have picked up anything from this collection at all?

See more pictures after the jump!

Chanel Ombres Tissees Iridescent Effects Eyes in Beiges

On a recent trip to London I popped into Selfridges in a hope to pick up some of the very limited Chanel Byzance collection (I got the eyeshadow quad, the red blush and Byzantine lipstick by the way) I found this little beauty that I of course had to have. An absolutely gorgeous shimmery powder with overspray that looks like lots of Swarovski crystals, intended as eyeshadows but of course can be used as face highlighter too.

Came out as part of the also very limited edition Les Aquarelles collection that also includes two blushes, a Rouge Coco Shine lipstick, a single eyeshadow and a waterproof eyeliner (details and pictures over at Musings of a Muse). I didn't actually see any of the other items from the collection, although I don't think I would've bought anything else anyway, but I just had to have this gorgeous shimmering work of art. My pictures don't do it any justice, because it is 100 times more gorgeous in real life, but you get the idea anyway. Now sadly for you, I will not swatch this just yet (it is too beautiful to mess up), but if you head over to Cafe Make Up, you can see loads more of beautiful pictures and also swatches (Amy is clearly braver than me when it comes to swatching gorgeous products like this, lol).

I can't see this on the Selfridges website, so I'm guessing this is another store exclusive. It costs £44 and you get 13 gramms of product. Of course it's way too expensive, but then that's Chanel for you!

See more pictures after the jump!