Christian Dior Summer 2011 Eyeshadow Quints: Rosy Nude and Rosy Tan

Dior is one of my favourite brands, I especially love their eyeshadows, so I always check out the new limited edition ones with every new collection. (If you are interested to check out my Dior quint collection, please click here! I do need to update it though as I now have even more of them.) This summer Dior has launched two new quints: 534 Rosy Nude and 754 Rosy Tan.

Rosy Nude (left), Rosy Tan (right)

Both of them are gorgeous, they both contain browns and pinks, but if I had to choose I'd say Rosy Tan is my favourite. Rosy Nude is probably more for daytime, and Rosy Tan is more suitable for creating a more dramatic eye, but they are both light enough to work for those looking for a work-friendly eyeshadow palette. I like it that they both contain a pink shade because I love my pinks and it makes them a bit more interesting and girly. I also like it that they've included a highlighter colour in both palettes, so you can use one (or the other) for a complete look. You can even use the darker shades as eyeliner and hey presto, all you need to add is mascara!

I wore these at the weekend and they both lasted all day, didn't crease or fade and there was no fall out. The eyeshadows are smooth, buttery and very easy to blend, they are pigmented and shimmery enough to look gorgeous, but not glittery. Both palettes contain a shade that's less shimmery, but not matte, more satin really. These have not been released in the UK yet (I bought them in Florida last month), but I'm sure it's any day now, and they're most likely to cost around £40 each.

See more product pictures and swatches after the jump!

Another NOTD with Zoya Sunshine Collection - Rica swatches and review

I'm really enjoying using my new nail polishes from Zoya's Sunshine collection and today I would like to show you Rica, a gorgeous coral with orange and pink sheen and gold sparkle. This is once again a shimmery metallic nail polish (not glitter!) and is a lovely lovely summer shade. Its texture and consistency is the same as Apple, so I will not repeat it, please check out my previous review here.

I really love it that it looks coral, orange and pink at the same time, it's such a gorgeous colour. Reminds me a bit of Mac's Bad Fairy although it's not a dupe by far (it is lighter), but it's almost duochrome like Bad Fairy and similarly pretty. Love it!

See more pictures after the jump!

FOTD with Lancome Color Design Palette 300 Amethyst Glam

I created the following look using my new Lancome Color Design Palette 300 Amethyst Glam. I mentioned in my review that the palette comes with a booklet showing two looks, a daytime and a nighttime one, and this look is the nighttime one. (I didn't actually realise there were two looks until I'd done this, the other one would've been more suitable for daytime, but it's not like I never wear bright, colourful make up anyway.) Once again the pinkiness is lost in the pictures, the lid colour is much pinker than it shows in the photos below, but my camera just can't pick it up. I need to buy a better camera, I know, I keep saying it.

For this look I used the following products:

Eyes:

Sleek purple eyeshadow primer (from the Primer Palette)

Lancome Color Design Palette 300 Amethyst Glam (see breakdown below)
Urban Decay 24/7 eyeliner in Ransom
Rimmel Exaggerate waterproof mascara in black
Mac Brow Set in Show Off

Face:
Guerlain Meteorites Perles primer
Guerlain Lingerie de Peau foundation in 03 Beige Naturel
Mac MSF Natural in Medium
Lancome Blush Subtil in Coral Marvel (LE)
Mac Lightscapade MSF (LE)

Lips:
Lancome L'Absolu Creme de Brilliance in #357 Rose Mythique

See more photos including the breakdown for the positioning of shades after the jump!

Lancome Color Design Palette 300 Amethyst Glam Review and Swatches

One of the products I was most excited to check out during my recent trip to the US was the new Lancome Color Design 5-Shadow and Liner Palette in 300 Amethyst Glam. These new palettes are not (yet) available in the UK (don't actually know if they will be at all), but thanks to the world wide web and fellow bloggers I already knew I wanted this. So I was delighted to find it in Dillards where they also offered a fantastic make up bag full of samples including a mini size Genifique serum and a smallish Bi-Facil, both my favourites.

This new 5 colour palette includes an all-over colour, a lid colour, a crease colour, a highlighter and liner, so it is a complete all-in-one look. I did think the names given to each shade were a bit mixed up, until I saw the booklet included with the palette (it contains step-by-step advice for two, one daytime and one night time look) in which the all-over base colour is applied up to the brow bone and the highlighter shade is actually applied to the inner corner and middle of lid to give some sparkle and lighten up the whole look. My swatches don't show it very well, but both the all-over lid colour and the highlighter colour are very shimmery, especially the highlighter.

Lancome claims the shadows are long wearing, they don't crease and the colours don't fade for 8 hours. Having worn them for over 12 hours I can confirm that this is in fact true. Moreover, the eyeshadows are wonderfully soft, blendable and true to colour or if anything, even brighter than in the pan once applied! Unfortunately, as always, my camera didn't manage to capture the true colour of this wonderful palette, the eyeshadows are more pink and less cool than they look in the picture. For more colour acurate swatches, please take a look at the lovely Karla Sugar's website.

So yes, the colours didn't fade, the shadows did not crease and there was no fall out. I would happily recommend this palette, I think it's gorgeous and wonderful. Hope Lancome brings these palettes to the UK too, I'd like to check out the rest of the line (there are 10 of them). They cost $48 each.

See more pictures and swatches after the jump!

Finished! The April edition

Despite thinking I might not have many empties this month, I still managed to finish 7 products, so that's pretty good. My first one is Avon Clarifying Toner Pads which are basically pads soaked through with toner that's supposed to help keep your skin blemish free. They were okay, but I always forgot to use them, it took me probably more than a year to use up 45 pads, and I don't think I'll bother with buying them again. I don't normally use toner and these pads didn't seem to make much difference to my skin.

See what other products I used up in April after the jump!

My holiday make up bag

Since I really enjoy reading about what make up people take on holiday with them, I decided to write my own post about it. As you know (or don't, but will now), I was away in Florida for 2 weeks last month. I always struggle with packing, usually end up taking far too much, clothes, shoes and make up alike, and while I will not go into details about the clothes and shoes, I can assure you, I did the same again - both for me and my 3 children (my husband packs his stuff). I swear we could have left at least one suitcase behind and not be without anything. I mean who would've thought you don't need long trousers, sweaters and raincoats in Florida at Easter? I always pack warm clothes just in case, but honestly, I didn't even wear a light summer cardigan, it was always over 25 degrees even at 10 o'clock in the evening. Anyway, moving swiftly on, here's what I took with me make up-wise:

My 88 Shimmer and Metal Mania palettes

All other make up products I took with me

As you can see, all of the products are fairly cheap, drugstore or similar products. I'm always really afraid to take expensive high end and limited edition products with me in case they get damaged or lost in transit. I find the 88 eyeshadows palettes (especially the Shimmer palette) very useful as they contain all the colours (including some really good highlighters) you ever need. Although the quality of the eyeshadows isn't that good, with a decent primer they lasted through most of the day, and it was usually over 30 degrees, so I guess that's not too bad.

So what else did I take? I managed to photograph it upside down, but you can see my Maybelline Dream Creamy Foundation (reviewed here) which I actually managed to finish on the last day of the holiday, talk about great timing eh? I took my Collection 2000 Illuminating Touch concealer (reviewed here) as well as my  Mac MSFN & Shimmer in Medium, great for setting foundation and highlighting. Not sure why I needed an extra highlighter, but I took a Ruby & Millie one, not sure what it's called though, it's from a set. I took 4 blushes: First Kiss and China Pink by 17, Sleek Rose Gold (see review here) and Laura Geller Tropic Hues (a handy travel sized one, full sized one reviewed here).

I took numerous eyeliners, all Urban Decay 24/7 ones, as I love their eyepencils and I like the variety of colours. I also took 3 mascaras: L'Oreal Telescopic Explosion mascara (reviewed here), Max Factor More Lashes waterproof mascara and a Rimmel waterproof mascara (its name escapes me completely, sorry). For my brows I took my trusty Mac Brow Set in Show Off. And of course my favourite eyeshadow base: Barbara Daly for Tesco (I've reviewed it here).

I took 2 lipliners and 8 lipsticks, plus 4 double ended lipglosses as well as several of my GOSH eyeshadow brushes, 2 blush brushes and a cheepo noname face brush. Oh and a double pencil sharpener.

Now, do you want to see how many of these products I actually used over the 2 weeks? See after the jump!

NOTD: Zoya Apple nailpolish - swatches and review

Today I'm wearing Zoya's new nailpolish called Apple from the Sunshine Collection which is a gorgeous apple green colour (hence the name) with gold sparkle. It is absolutely gorgeous, a very nice summer colour, bright and cheerful. I'm not a green person as in I don't often wear green clothes, make up or nail polish (I do recycle and try to do my best for the environment though!), but this kind of green I find very wearable. The formula is pretty good, quite runny, but the colour opaque enough to only require two coats. Dries fairly quickly too, but unfortunately as any other nail polish it didn't last for longer than 24 hours on me without chipping (my nails are very soft and bendy).

I'm not too sure where Zoya nail polishes are available to buy in the UK, I ordered mine (the whole set) from eBay. If you do know where they can be purchased in the UK, please let me know in the comments. They cost $8 each in the USA by the way which is a very good price for such a big bottle (I think it's 15 ml).

Finally I leave you with some more pictures after the jump!