Sorting through my mascaras part 3 - My favourites

I have shown you a few mascaras from my stash, both goods and bads (click for part 1 and part 2), and now it's time for me to show you my favourites. First up is Guerlain Le 2 Mascara (I have already reviewed a limited edition colour here) in Noir 2 Noir (Black). It is a double ended mascara with a thicker wand with small spikes for the upper lashes and a small thin wand with small bristles for the lower lashes. I find this mascara really good for my short, thin, sparse lashes, they come out looking long (well it's all relative, but you know) and nicely curled. The mascara is pricey (£25), but I can honestly say it is the best mascara I have ever tried. Love it. I also own it in blue, violet, black waterproof, and several limited edition shades. I also think the mascara itself looks so classy and doubles up very nicely as a magic wand should your children need one. ;)

Guerlain Le 2 Mascara

The bigger brush for upper lashes: 

The smaller brush for lower lashes:

Find out which other mascaras I love after the jump!

Swatching My Stash Part 1: Lipsticks - Rouge G de Guerlain

I've had a few requests for lipstick swatches after my stash videos and pictures, so I thought I'd go through my stash and swatch every lipstick I own, especially as it would be very useful for my reference too. You know, I have so many lipsticks and usually not much time to apply my make up, I often don't have time to rummage around my lipsticks to pick out a certain shade, so I usually choose from a limited number of lipsticks that I know exactly what colour they are just from the shade names. If I swatch them all, I will hopefully remember what shades are which, and also, possibly discover that I already own so many of certain shades that I really like and keep buying. Since I'm trying to limit my make up buying, I'm sure this will help loads.

So I thought I'd start with my favourite brand Guerlain and within them my most luxurious and most expensive lipsticks: Rouge G de Guerlain. If you want to know more about these lipsticks, please check out my review of Rouge G Brillant B64 Bee and the Serie Noire Rouge G lipsticks. For now I will show you the swatches (there's a lot!).

My Guerlain lipstick box

See loads of swatches after the jump!

Sleek Make Up Paraguaya Eyeshadow Palette Review

I really like Sleek Make Up eyeshadow palettes (see my video review here) and when I saw there was a new limited edition palette out, I bought it immediately. It's called Paraguaya and it's part of Sleek's spring collection called Avoir le Peche that also includes a blush and pout polish.

As usual, the palette comes in a cardboard sleeve which is really pretty with pink/peach flowers and letters. Inside the palette is the usual black sleek palette with the words Sleek Make Up written across it. Inside you get 12 eyeshadows, a double ended applicator and a full sized mirror. The palette costs £6.49 and is available from Superdrug and Sleek's website.

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

Mac Quite Cute collection is now available on maccosmetics.co.uk!

They are releasing the collection early and it is now available HERE! Use code SPRING at the checkout for free shipping! Let me know if you're buying anything!

Click here for the collection details!

Chantecaille Sea Turtle Palette Review and Swatches

I am a big fan of Chantecaille's gorgeous limited edition palettes and was very excited when I heard that a new one featuring sea turtles was coming out this spring. My obsession with the brand started in 2008 when they released their Protected Paradise face and eye palettes, simply the most gorgeous pieces of make up I had ever seen! Although they are extremely expensive, I still managed to get my hands on them and every subsequent palette Chantecaille has produced since. If you haven't see my collection yet, take a look here!

Chantecaille gives 5% of the sales price of every palette to a charity, this year the money goes to Widecast to ensure the survival of sea turtles. This is a great cause, although I know some people think they should give more seeing how expensive these palettes are (£73 in the UK), but I guess not a lot of brands donate money to charities in the first place, so let's not grumble. Anyway, the new Sea Turtle palette is another beauty. It features 3 eyecolours and a blush, with a sea turtle on each. The shimmery colours on top are just oversprays, but the turtles should survive for a good few uses. I actually try to use the sides of the pans since they are actually a very generous size (you get 12 g in the palette), but of course the blush wouldn't work like that.

The colours are Sand, Turtle, Sea Grass and Coral, they are actually specified as Base Colour, Eye Colour, Eye Definer and Cheek colour (obv). Sand also makes a good highlighter and Sea Grass would be a gorgeous crease colour. I haven't used them yet, but as with other Chantecaille palettes, the shadows are soft and easy to swatch and true to colour.

See below for some more pictures!   

Shopping My Stash: Laura Geller Blush n Brighten Review and Swatches

Laura Geller baked blushes are one of my favourite blushes, so I thought I'd do a post about them especially as I have quite a few of them, so hopefully the swatches will be useful to some of you. I have mentioned these blushes in a few posts (here, here and here) and I often reach for them for looks as well. They are very pretty to look at which is always a bonus for me, and work really well, they are smooth and finely milled.

My absolute favourties are Boysenberry/Amaretti duo, Tropic Hues and Sateen Subtle Orchid/Ethereal Rose duo. Ethereal Rose is a gorgeous light pink baked powder, works as blush for lighter skintones or highlighter for darker ones. Lately it's been paired up with baked blushes and makes a lovely combo.

Few words about the formula: the regular blushes are quite shimmery (not glittery), the sugar free ones are matte (I only own one) and the "subtle" ones are just more pastely than the regular ones. I find them all equally smooth and nice to blend.

Most of the blushes are 9 g, but I also own a couple of trial size ones (1.8 g) that came out in sets, as well as the Baby Cakes baked blush palette which includes 4 small domes blushes (1.2 g each). A lot of these blushes actually came out in limited edition sets, but are available separately on eBay and some also from QVC. I tend to buy them from eBay simply because they are much cheaper that way.

Let's move onto the pictures!

Laura Mercier Baked Eyeshadow Review and Comparison Swatches

I promised this review a while ago, and finally here it is.Laura Mercier has 6 new baked eyeshadows out and I've got 3 of them to show you. The other colours I didn't get were Violet Sky, a beautiful dark purple without much shimmer, Terracotta, a shimmery copper and Ballet Pink, a gorgeous pinky highlighter, but at £18.50 each I just couldn't justify buying them all. What I did buy though are Black Karat, a blackened gold with gold shimmers, Lagoon, a rich turquoise and Petal Pink, a gorgeous baby pink with white shimmer. I'm told they are permanent additions to the line.

Black Karat, Lagoon, Petal Pink

These eyeshadows are quite generous size at 1.8 g each, although they are smaller than Mac mineralize eyeshadows (2.2 g) and as a result, gram per gram they are more expensive as well. However, I find Laura Mercier eyeshadows consistently very good quality, so I can justify the higher price. I would like to point out that I have not worn these eyeshadows on my eyes, but they all swatched beautifully, they are nice and smooth and very pigmented even dry. I also haven't tried them wet yet. I find with most Laura Mercier eyeshadows that they stay on well all day and don't crease, but as I said I have not worn these yet, so can't really tell you how they hold up. If you have these and you have tried them, please let me know what you think!

See many more product pictures, swatches and a couple of dupes after the jump!