Guerlain Holiday 2012 Collection Haul Part 3 - Liu Perfumed Shimmer Powder

Every year Guerlain releases a perfumed shimmer powder and every year I buy it, even though I have not yet finished one and I've been collecting them since 2008. In fact dare I admit, I actually have 2 of each release. The reason is, these are often the last item to be sold out in the collection and usually make it to the new year sales, so when I see them at half price, I can't resist.

This year's fragranced shimmer powder is scented with Guerlain's Liu fragrance. Otherwise it's the same, very very fine shimmer as other year's releases. I usually wear it on my hair and arms, decolette, etc. when I go out and I always get lots of compliments. I wouldn't wear it on my face personally, but it especially looks gorgeous sprayed onto your hair. We're not talking chunky glitter here, not like those glitter sprays you can get from Claire's, this is very fine, luxurious shimmer.

The bottle is so cute, it looks like an old style perfume bottle with the "bulb" on the side that you squeeze to release a puff of powder. Looks great on your dressing table!

You get 17.5 g for £50.50 which is a little bit ouch, but that's why I usually buy a bottle at half price. A bottle will last for years, especially as this isn't something you'd use every day. I don't think it's too over the top for a meal out or for the theatre, but I probably wouldn't wear it for school run.

See more pictures after the jump!

Bellapierre Cosmetics 9 Stack Shimmer Kit in Pandera Review and Swatches

On a recent trip to TKMaxx I found this kit for under half the original retail price, so of course I had to get it. I have already reviewed another one of these in the colour Fabulous so I won't repeat everything I've said there, if you want more info, please click here.

What you get in a kit is basically 9 little pots of pigment, 2 eyeshadow brushes, an eyeshadow base, a clear lipgloss and an instruction CD. The pigments come in a stack which is pretty cool, although due to the nature of it, can only be carried around as one piece. 

Unlike Fabulous which has lighter, bright colours, Pandera has a darker, smokier colour mix. It also doesn't include any glitters, whereas Fabulous has two glitters in it. The pigments are still very shimmery, but I find that the shimmer doesn't show up that much on the eyes, so they are definitely very wearable. I only got around to wearing a couple of shades, namely the light pinky beige and the medium brown shade (middle of top rown and right one in the middle row - see in pictures below), but they were both very smooth and easy to apply and blend. They stayed on my lids without fading or creasing for 12 hours.

These stacks retails for £59.99, but this set was only £24.99 in TKMaxx. However, I did notice, 6 months ago the same set in different colour cost only £19.99. Still a good deal, but it seems even TKMaxx is getting more expensive! Anyway, I'm happy to pay 25 quid for this, but I do feel that 60 would be way too much. Thank Crunchie for TKMaxx, eh? 

See more pictures including swatches and the look I did with some of the pigments 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!

Bellapierre Cosmetics 9 Stack Shimmer Kit Review and Swatches

I'd been planning on reviewing this kit for ages, but other things always got in the way, but finally, here it is. I bought this set in TKMaxx a while ago (February), but this is also available from BeautyBay and House of Fraser. I had actually spotted this on the House of Fraser website and loved the colourful stacks, but at £59.99 I just couldn't justify buying it, especially as I'd never actually heard of the brand before. So I was really happy to see it for just £19.99 in TKMaxx and of course snapped it up straight away.

In fact I believe you only get the actual 9 colour shimmer powder stacks for £59.99 whereas this kit also includes an eyeshadow base, two brushes and a clear lipgloss. So yeah, bit of a bargain really. I got the colour Fabulous which is a nice mix of shimmery bright colours. The stack includes two small pots of glitter, one red and one copper, and 7 pots of shimmer powder pigment. The glitter is very fine, but of course still chunkier than the pigments which are really nice and fine. The base included with the kit is slightly sticky and does a good job of holding on to the pigment, giving a creaseless result for several hours (in fact I had no creasing or fading for about 12 hours or so). You can also mix the pigments with the clear gloss and create a lipgloss, although most of the colours in this stack wouldn't be my ideal lipgloss colours. The brushes are okay, a slanted eyeliner brush and an eyeshadow brush are included in this kit. You get 15.75 g of pigment in this kit which is a good amount, making each pot just under 2 g each.

All in all, I really like the pigments, but I would not pay £59.99 for this. It's nice, but not 60 quid nice. However, for £19.99 it's really great and I wish I could pick up more colours (I especially like Iris and Astrid), but sadly due to TKMaxx's nature, they're not available there anymore.

Have you tried anything from Bellapierre? How do you like it?

See more pictures including swatches after the jump!

Guerlain Terracotta Sun In The City Golden Glimmer Powder Review and Swatches

So here it is, the gorgeousness that is the Guerlain Terracotta Sun In The City Golden Glimmer Powder. Accordring to Guerlain it's a "sweep of sunlight". Well it kinda is, being a shimmery golden yellow powder. My first impressions were how beautifully made it is, with the two inter-linking G's and the woven texture, but most of all with the powder in a wavy pattern. I didn't realise it was like that, the promo pictures don't show how wavy it is, but I took a picture of it from the side so you can see properly.

The compact is absolutely humongous, it barely fits in my hand. Quite funny actually because it's supposed to be the same weight (15 g) as the Chanel Lucky Stars powder, but the compact is so much bigger. The powder itself is shimmery but not at all glittery, very fine and a gorgeous golden colour. The colour you see is what you get, there's no overspray here. It's not orange, so it works well with cooler skin tones as well, I'm wearing it now and I'm not tanned in the slightest, but it looks lovely. I imagine it will look 10 times better once I have a bit of a tan (whenever that may be, this is the UK after all). This isn't a bronzer, it's definitely a highlighter and it's too shimmery to be an all-over powder.

Do you need it? No, it's not a necessary purchase, especially if you already have a gold highlighter. But it is ever so pretty. I bought mine with 10% off from Debenhams, but normally it costs £43. It is a limited edition product and will probably sell out quickly, since it's so pretty.

See more pictures including swatches after the jump!

Want It: Guerlain Sun In The City Terracotta Collection Summer 2012

Here's another collection to get excited about! As well as their upcoming summer collection Terra Azzurra, Guerlain is also releasing their usual Terracotta collection. Once again an absolutely stunning promo picture with the ever so gorgeous Natalia Vodianova.

The star product of the collection is the Golden Glimmer Powder (£43). A face and body powder with creamy texture and metallic gold shimmer with a mother-of-pearl concentrate (75%). Guerlain says, "Adds shimmer to any tan with its precious metal glints like a skin-enhancing top coat." Probably not the best if you're not a fan of shimmer, but since I am, I will definitely be getting this one!

Carry on readiing to find out what other products have tickled my fancy from this collection!

Guerlain Vol de Nuit Perfumed Shimmer Powder

I love Guerlain's shimmer powders and I always get compliments when I wear them. They are very glam, yet quite subtle and very elegant. I usually spray it on my hair, decolletage and arms (not my face as that would be too shimmery even for my liking) and I just love the very fine shimmer. They don't come cheap at neary 50 quid, but they do last a long time (unless you use them every day which would be rather over the top) and they are pure luxury.

This year's offering is Vol de Nuit, a beautiful gond shimmer powder in a gorgeous teal bottle. Guerlain says this is their first scented shimmer powder, but I'm pretty sure the other ones are scented too, so not sure what that's all about. Still, it smells lovely and the shimmer looks divine. The bottle is modelled on their vintage Vol de Nuit frangrance bottle and has a puff that you squeeze to spray some powder. It looks great on the dressing table just like a bottle of expensive perfume.

I have to say though I was very surprised by how tiny the bottle was, it fits in the palm of my hand! Product wise you actually get a tiny bit more than last year at 17.5 g, so I guess it's just how the bottle is. Instead of having lots of glass around the bit that contains the powder, the whole bottle is just much smaller. I was also surprised to see how small it was because the box is massive as usual. Oh and the inside of the box has the same teal-black zebra pattern as the highlighting powder and the Meteorites.

The retail price is £49.50, so pretty steep, but this is a real luxurious treat, so if you like your shimmer-glimmer on a night out, you will love it.

See lots more photos after the jump!

My Guerlain Holiday 2011 Collection Haul

As you know by now, I love Guerlain. So I'm pretty sure it comes as no surprise that I single handedly managed to purchase the entire holiday collection as you can see below.  

Check out all the product reviews by clicking on the links below!
Parure de Nuit Highlighter
Guerlain Rouge G lipstick in Gardner
Guerlain Meteorites Perles de Nuit
Guerlain Vol de Nuit Perfumed Shimmer Powder
Guerlain Les Ombres de Nuit Eyeshadows
Guerlain Holiday Rouge Automatique lipsticks

Feel free to let me know in the comments if you've purchased anything from this collection yet and how you're liking it.

WANT IT! Guerlain Holiday 2011 Collection - Belle de Nuit

Guerlain is one of my favourite beauty brands and I always look forward to their holiday collections because they usually are very very pretty. It's the same again this year, Belle de Nuit is just a simply gorgeous collection. Once again the promo picture features the ever beautiful Natalia Vodianova and the collection is all about sparkles. (Although her face does lok a bit odd in this picture, don't you think?)

To find out what products make up the collection, continue reading after the jump!

Estee Lauder Sea Star Bronzing Blush and My Collection of Shimmer Powders

I've recently bought this gorgeous bronzer / blush from Estee Lauder's Bronze Goddess collection, and I thought I'd show you some pretty pictures of this and other bronzing blushes and shimmer powders I have from Estee Lauder. Yes, I'm a sucker for pretty powders and I've been collecting these limited edition beauties for a few years now. You will see that most of them have not been used at all (and as a result, no swatches, sorry), because I can't make myself ruin the gorgeous patterns. Some of these powders really are a work of art. I do have some other shimmer powders from Estee Lauder that I have not included as they're not quite as pretty and some of them have been used a bit, so don't look all that good anyway.

This latest powder from the Bronze Goddess collection is my third one. Last year's Exotic Bronzing Blush was very pretty, but this one is just wow! I also have the SunBlush Illuminator from two years ago that I have actually used a fair bit as it's not particularly pretty. It is of course lovely when worn, I'm just talking about the actual pattern / artwork.

See more photos of my collection of Estee Lauder bronzing blushes and shimmer powders after the jump!

New CID Cosmetics i-blush and i-gloss review

I really like New CID Cosmetics, especially their i-glow highlighters/blushes (you might remember me blogging about them here), so when I saw that there was a new blusher and highlighter compact released, I decided to order it straight away. I also picked up one of their i-glosses in the shade of Raspberry Kiss.

First up is the i-blush duo. Here's the info from the Lookfantastic website:

"Create sculpted cheekbones with New CID Cosmetics I-Blush Light Up Blusher & Highlighter Compact. Adding a subtle sweep of radiance to the complexion, this handy compact is great for gals on the go and includes a light and mirror to assist application.

Add a touch of sizzle to your style with this New CID Cosmetics I-Blush Light Up Blusher & Highlighter Compact. Featuring a soft peach tone and a complementary shimmery gold, this gorgeous compact will leave you with cheekbones that belong on a catwalk model."

They also included a handy guide to how to use the blush and highlighter which I think is rather clever, although I prefer to do it my way.

"Directions of use:

• Run the middle of a brush backwards and forwards along the dividing line.
• Now run the brush up and down your cheek bone starting at the hair line and blending down, then upwards.
• Make sure that the highlight colour is applied at the top and the blusher at the bottom."

You get 5 g and 4.5 g each of the gorgeous pinky coral / peach blush and gold highlighter in a mirrored compact that also lights up! I find this feature rather cute, but unnecessary, since I don't normally attempt to apply my make up in the dark, but I guess if you're out clubbing or whatever you young chicks do nowadays, then it can be quite handy. There is a switch, so you can turn it off if you don't want it.

Ready more of my review and see lots of pictures and swatches after the jump!