My Make Up Staples

I thought it was time to show you what I mean when I say my staple products. Although sometimes I vary them a bit (eg. if I need waterproof mascara or a foundation with less coverage), but generally these are the products I reach for most often nowadays.

Guerlain Blanc de Perle foundation in 02 Beige Clair. Guerlain Divine Pressed Powder (this is an oldie!), Too Faced Shadow Insurance, Mac highlighting palette (homemade and no idea which shades it contains), Cargo Last Activator mascara in black and Mac Brow Set in Show Off,

So now you know what I mean when I say my staples.

Getting Out Of The Rut Days 3, 4 and 5

I know I've disappeared for a bit, but it doesn't mean I wasn't keeping up with the challenge. It just means I didn't have much time to post. The past 4 days though I have been slacking a bit, so no photos of that, but I did incorporate a few products in my make up that I'd not used for a while, mainly blushes and lipsglosses/lipsticks. Anyway, here are the photos of the days I did make an effort:

Products used (other than my staples): Mac Crushed Metallic Pigments in Moss Garden, Spruced and Silk Stocking, Urban Decay 24/7 eyeliner pencil in Covet, Laura Geller Baked Blush in Bora Bora and Mac Lipgelee in Lush & Bright.

See 2 more looks after the jump!

My Current Favourites - Part 1 : Make Up

As it's been a long time since I last blogged frequently, I thought I'd put together a couple of posts about the products I currently use the most. I'm starting off with make up and will also show you some of my nail related favourites.

First up is Chantecaille White Tiger powder which is just possibly the most luxurious face powder you can find. In the picture below it looks a little sad as the gorgeous picture's almost completely disappeared, but you can see a picture of how it used to look here (need to scroll down a little). I love this powder, it's really nice, well, I guess it had better be anyway since it cost £88! It appears to have been discontinued now, which is a shame, but luckily I have a few back ups of it.

While still on the subject of face powder, my favourite brush to apply it with has been the Guerlain Meteorites brush. This particular one is an older, limited edition one, but they're pretty much all the same except for their colour.

See what else I've been loving lately after the jump!

Guerlain Meteorites Aquarella Light Revelaing Pearls of Powder

So it turns out I do buy some make up even nowadays, and this is one of my latest purchases: Meteorites Aquarella, the newest limited edition beauty from Guerlain. As you may know by now, I'm a big fan and collector of Meteorites pearls and of course I couldn't leave this one out either. (In case you are interested, here's my collection of Meteorites as of June 2012. I also have a few other Meteorites, some I have, some I haven't blog about.)

The Aquarella Meteorites contain a mix of gold, silver, white, pastel pink and pastel blue pearls. The gold and silver are quite glittery, so the overall look of the powder is slightly shimmery. Not disco ball glitter, but definitely not shimmer free. I don't mind a bit of shimmer, but if it bothers you, this powder might not be the one for you. The 

Guerlain Meteorites Aquarella are exclusive to Feelunique in the UK and cost £37.50 for 25 g (didn't it use to be 33g once???). I believe they are limited edition, so get them while you can! 

See more pictures after the break!

Want It! Guerlain Voilette de Madame Collection for Fall 2013

Hello! Yes, I'm still alive. Sorry I've been MIA, I've had a very busy last few weeks and I've also seem to have gone off make up and blogging. I'm sure I will get my mojo back eventually, but until then, I'm afraid posts will be few and far between. Sorry.

For now I have images and details of Guerlain's upcoming fall collection named Voilette de Madame. A very classy, feminine and elegant collection with strong colours, absolutely beautiful. The star item is a stunning Blush G and there are some beautiful new Rouge G lipsticks and Gloss D'Enfer glosses, and a whole lot of new 2 colour eyeshadow palettes that are permanent additions to the line.

The collection is due out in August and these are the details:

Guerlain 4-Colours Blush – New & Limited Edition

Lipstick Rouge G – Limited Edition

#860 Madame Batifole – bright fuchsia
#861 Madame Flirte – pink red
#862 Madame Reve – deep pink

Lip Gloss D’Enfer- New Shades

#860 Madame Batifole – shimmery fuchsia
#861 Madame Flirte – shimmery red
#863 Madame Fascine – deep plum

Nail Lacquer – New Shade

#860 Madame Batifole – fuchsia

L’Ecrin 2 Couleurs Eyeshadow – New

#01 Two Rock
#02 Two Stylish
#03 Two Extravagant
#04 Two Gossip
#05 Two Candy
#06 Two Parisian
#07 Two Lovely
#08 Two Spicy

Eye Pencil

#01 Black Jack
#02 Jackie Brown
#03 Deep Purple
#04 Katy Navy
#05 Amber Silver

See lots more pictures after the jump!

Guerlain Rose Aux Joues Blush Duo 06 Red Hot Swatches and Review

This is the last one of the (not so) new Guerlain Blush Duos that I've finally managed to get my hands on. After reviewing all the other shades I didn't feel like paying full price for this, so waited until I could find it much cheaper on eBay. I have to say though I'm actually pretty happy with this shade.

Red Hot is made up of 2 shades, a reddish brown shade and a lighter coral-red. Both of them have a satin finish, no shimmer to speak of, but they do give a nice sheen. I have worn them separately as blushes, but you can also use the darker shade to contour and the lighter shade as a blush. The beauty of this is that you can do whatever you like.

Both of them have okay pigmentation, I find that they apply better than they swatch (I use my fingers to swatch usually). I didn't have to be too careful not to overdo them, but they can be layered, so they will work well for darker skintones.

These blushes cost £32.50 and you get 6 g of product which is not huge. I probably wouldn't pay full price for any of them, although they are nice, but I feel there are better blushes around for a lot less money.

If you have missed my reviews of the other shades, you can check them out here: Peach Boy, Over Rose, Pink Punk, Chic Pink and Golden High.

See more pictures including swatches after the jump!

Pink and Mauve FOTD

I did this look over a month ago when I had an entire morning to get ready and could actually experiment a bit. I really liked it, so I took pictures, and finally I have even managed to post them! I am also about to review the mascara I used, so I thought I might as well do the look first.

To create this look I used the following products:

Eyes:
Too Faced Insurance Policy
Too Faced Insurance Policy
Estee Lauder Vivid Shine Eyeshadow in Magenta all over the lid
Estee Lauder Vivid Shine Eyeshadow in Cyber Ruby in the crease
Estee Lauder Cyber Metallic Eyeshadow in Cyber Pink in the inner corner of the lid and on browbone to highlight
Mac pigment in Helium patted on top of Estee Lauder Vivid Shine Eyeshadow in Magenta
Urban Decay 24/7 eyeliner pencil in Crash on lower lashline
Urban Decay Heavy Metal glitter eyeliner in Catfight on the upper lashline 
Lancome Cils Booster XL mascara base and Hypnose Mascara Volume in Noir Hypnotic
Mac Brow Set in Show Off

Face:
Guerlain Lingerie de Peau foundation in 02 Beige Claire
Guerlain Voilettes Invisible Skin Fusion Loose Powder in 03 Beige Naturel
Laura Geller Baked Blush in Bali
Bare Minerals Ready Luminizer in The Love Affair

Lips:
Chanel Rouge Allure Laque in #78 Phoenix

Let me know what you think about this look in the comments!

See more pictures after the jump!

Want It! Guerlain Terra Ora Collection for Summer 2013

Guerlain always has me with their new collections and of course it's no different this time around. Thanks to Tavia I have details of the upcoming summer collection called Terra Ora.

The face of the collection once again is the ever beautiful Natalia Vodianova. The theme of the collection is gold, golden bronze. The star item is the limited edition Terra Ora bronzer that comes in a wooden compact like last year's Terra Azzurra powder. I'm also interested in the golden version of Guerlain's Meteorites Perles primer and the new BB cream. There's a new foundation as well as 2 new Shine Automatique lipsticks, new nail polish shades and a new lipgloss formula, Gloss D'Enfer that British Beauty Blogger has swatched for us already. Not part of this collection, but there are also 6 new shades of Terracotta 4 Seasons Bronzing Powders that might tempt me too.

Coming to a counter near you sometime in March or early April!

See the full collection details and more pictures after the jump!

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!

Guerlain Spring 2013 - Ecrin 4 Couleurs 502 Coup De Foudre Review and Swatches

This is the second limited edition eyeshadow quad from the Guerlain spring collection, if you haven't see the purple one, you can check it out here. Coup De Foudre contains 3 green shades and a bright coral.

The palette hasn't got any special packaging, it's housed in the regular gold compact. It comes with a double ended sponge tip applicator and a full size mirror in the lid. The colours are very pretty and springlike. The palette contains a frosty khaki, a satin bright coral, a frosty light silvery green and a slightly frosty greeny-grey shade. This one doesn't have a highlighter shade, which some people may not like, but the 4 colours work together well, so I'm happy. I haven't used the coral shade yet, but I can see it working well with the light green and the khaki colour. I have done a look with the three greens which you can see at the bottom of this post.

The eyeshadows are really lovely, smooth, buttery and pigmented. They go on and blend easily and stay put all day (I always wear Too Faced Shadow Insurance under them). I'm not sure which one of the two palettes is my favourite, I love purples, but these greens and the coral are so gorgeous as well.

It's really lovely to see two such great quality palettes out this spring, in fact I have found that Guerlain's limited edition palettes have been consistently excellent quality lately. Makes you feel better about forking out for them.

You get 7.2 g of product for £38. The Guerlain spring collection is available from all good department stores and Escentual.com (for a bit less).

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

Guerlain Spring 2013 - Ecrin 4 Couleurs 501 Attrape-Coeur Review and Swatches

Guerlain released two limited edition eyeshadow quads this spring and I have 501 Attrape-Coeur to show you first. This is the pretty purple one, I will show you the green one tomorrow. In fact you've already seen it in action in yesterday's post about the new Cils D'Enfer mascara. If you haven't, check out my post here.

The palette hasn't got any special packaging, it's housed in the regular gold compact. It comes with a double ended sponge tip applicator and a full size mirror in the lid. The colours are very pretty and springlike. The palette contains a muted lavender, a frosty white, a frosty dark purple and a pinky violet shade. I like purples like these that aren't mauvy or red, but true purples, they look better on me. (Mauves make my eyes look tired.) Unfortunately this is exactly the shade of purple my camera hates and doesn't pick up properly, the colours are much prettier in real life.

The eyeshadows are really lovely, smooth, buttery and pigmented. They go on and blend easily and stay put all day (I always wear Too Faced Shadow Insurance under them). I like it that this palette contains a complete look with a highlighter and a dark shade as well as two lighter ones, but equally I wouldn't mind to have a different colour instead of white. It's not too harsh for a highlighter though so it does work well with the palette. 

You get 7.2 g of product for £38. The Guerlain spring collection is available from all good department stores and Escentual.com (for a bit less).

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

Guerlain Cils D'Enfer Maxi Lash Mascara 01 Noir

Guerlain has released a new mascara this spring (winter) and it comes in two shades, black and violet. I have a small sample tube that I was sent with my order of the new eyeshadows (more on them later), so I gave it a try.

Cils D'Enfer is supposed to create maximum volume, curl and hold. It has a fairly dense brush with traditional style bristles. I think it's actually pretty similar to the Noir G mascara wand. I have found it to be more lengthening than volumising, although it does give my lashes some volume too. I don't think it's as amazing as Guerlain claim it is, but it's a nice enough mascara. The formula is nice, lightweigh, doesn't smudge or flake. My lashes are naturally quite curly and it certainly doesn't weigh them down.

The mascara has the same rosey scent as the Noir G mascara which fades pretty quickly after application and doesn't irritate my eyes at all. I believe the full size mascara is 8 ml, mine is a tiny 1.5 ml, and it retails for £22.

To be honest, I'm not sure I will buy the full size one, although I like it, my favourite Guerlain mascaras are still the Le 2 ones. They are a little more expensive at £25, but they really do give my lashes both volume and length. Hope that with all the new mascaras Guerlain has been releasing lately, they won't discontinue the Le 2 line.

See more pictures after the jump!

My New Year's Day FOTD

This is the look I did on New Year's Day when I actually had some time to do my make up. Nothing too fancy, but I really liked how it looked, so I thought I'd show it to you.

To create this look I used the following products:

Eyes:
Too Faced Insurance Policy
Estee Lauder Violet Underground Eyeshadow Palette pinky beige colour in the inner corner of the lid and above the crease
Estee Lauder Violet Underground Eyeshadow Palette navy blue colour in the middle of the lid
Estee Lauder Violet Underground Eyeshadow Palette magenta colour in the outer corner of the lid and the crease
Estee Lauder Bronze Sands Eyeshadow Palette lightest shade on the browbone to highlight
Urban Decay 24/7 eyeshadow pencil in Clash on lower lashline
Lancome Cils Booster XL mascara base and Hypnose Mascara Volume in Noir Hypnotic
Mac Brow Set in Show Off

Face:
Guerlain Lingerie de Peau foundation in 02 Beige Claire
Guerlain Voilettes Invisible Skin Fusion Loose Powder in 03 Beige Naturel
Estee Lauder Powder Blush in Rose Nuance
Prescriptives Magic Liquid Powder in Rose Gold

Lips:
Estee Lauder Wild Violet lipstick

Let me know what you think in the comments!

See more pictures after the jump!

Guerlain Spring 2013: Meteorites Perles du Paradis

For me the most anticipated product in the Guerlain spring collection was the new Meteorites named Perles du Paradis. As you probably know, I collect Meteorites and if you want, you can check out my extensive collection here (although it doesn't include the holiday Meteorites which you can see by clicking here).

Now about these new Meteorites. They come in a gorgeous light pink cardboard container (the old style, pre-2010 before the tins with the lids) which looks very glam and pretty. It's a larger than normal size (comparable to the 2008 Butterfly Pearls container) and contains 53 g of product which is 23 g more than the regular Meteorites. The pearls are bigger too, probably not quite as large as the Butterfly ones, but prety big. The container also comes with a pink furry powder puff with a black bow on top of it.

When I opened the container and removed the puff I was shocked to see how little there was at the bottom of the container. I know that promo images usually show more products and more vivid colours, but I was still very surprised to see that the container is basically half full and the colours are quite a bit duller than the promo images were. There has to be quite a big gap left for the puff, it's more bulky than the usual sponge on top of the pearls, but it does look rather odd that there are only 2 layers of pearls at the bottom of the container.

Product-wise it's also a little disappointing as I was expecting it to have more of a colour payoff, I was hoping it would be useable as a subtle blush (like the Blushy Blush Red Pearls from years ago). It's not, it's pretty much colourless. It is also not at all shimmery on me, which is a bit odd since they named it "Illuminating Sparkling Powder". It's basically another finishing powder which is fine, because that's what Meteorites are supposed to be. So I'm not saying it's bad, I just probably had a bit high expectations. All in all it's a lovely product, very pretty and smells gorgeous. And the container is just so adorable.

The new Guerlain spring collection is now available from Debenhams, House of Fraser and other department stores and online retailers. You get 53 g product for £43 or it's only £38.70 from Escentual. Debenhams are giving away a free Guerlain mascara sample with every order, plus you get 500 extra points if you spend £35.

See lots more pictures after the jump!

2012 Favourites - Part 3: Face

Here's another installment of my favourite products of 2012, this time it's the face products. I will start with the more exciting ones, ie. pretty highlighters. To me one of the most used highlighters of 2012 was Guerlain Cruel Gardenia. It is just so pretty both in the compact and on my skin. Just lovely.You can read my initial review by clicking on the link above.

See what other products I loved in 2012 after the jump!

2012 Favourties - Part 2: Eyes

I buy and wear a lot of eyeshadows, eyeliners and mascaras, that is one thing I don't think I'll ever be able to stop. I have very undefined eyes, so I cannot be without eyeliner and mascara, eyeshadows are more of the fun part, I really enjoy playing with colours and have got pretty good at doing quite fancy looks.

I'll start with eyeshadows. One of the brands I mostly raved on about on here in 2012 is L'Oreal, I love their Infallible eyeshadows. Nowadays I tend to gravitate towards high end eyeshadows, but every so often cheaper brands that come out with something amazing and I'm not that much of a snob not to check them out. I did a series of reviews as I bought 20 shades of them, here's the recap post that is linked to all the reviews.

My other favourite eyeshadows that I often compare the L'Oreal Infallibles to were Giorgio Armani Eyes To Kill and Chanel Illusion D'Ombre eyeshadows. You can find several reviews of these on the blog as well, just do a search. I loved the Infallible eyeshadows most for their affordableness and big colour selection (although we don't get quite as many in the UK, but thank God for eBay and US sellers).

Carry on reading after the jump to discover which other products I loved in 2012!

2012 Favourites - Part 1: Lips

As it's now a new year, I thought I'd do a recap of my favourite make up products of 2012. I'll only included products that were either newly released in 2012 or new to me, no point in me repeating myself over and over again (I still love Vaseline and Pleasureflush MSF is still my favourite highlighter, nothing new there).

So I'll start with lip products. The brand that stood out for me in 2012 when I think of new lip products was definitely Revlon. While I still love Guerlain lipsticks very much and wear them often when going out, on days when I'm staying in or not needing a bolder lip colour, I often opt for Revlon's Lip Butters. I acquired 10 of them over the course of the year and they've become my most used lip products.

They are moisturising, very comfortable to wear and some of them are absolutely gorgeous and actually pretty pigmented. On days when I don't need to wear lipstick but want something more colourful then Vaseline, I reach for these, and of course some of them double up as lipstick due to their fantastic pigmentation. Raspberry Pie, Lollipop and Sweet Tart are my absolute favourite shades. I did a full review on these Lip Butters here, so if you need any more details, check it out!

See which other products I loved in 2012 after the jump!

Lancome Color Design Palette in 103 Golden Frenzy

I wasn't sure whether I should do this review since the product itself isn't actually available on its own or in fact anymore for that matter, but I decided to do it anyway because you can pick up practically everything on eBay plus this palette might actually be available elsewhere. Lancome don't sell these 5 colour palettes in the UK but they do in America, I picked up the purple one last year in Florida.

I got the palette as part of the Christmas Beauty Box back in November and sadly it isn't available anymore. It took me a while to get around to using it, but finally I have. It's a really nice neutral palette with some sparkle. The palette consists of 5 eyeshadows and they are labelled as: all over base, lid, crease, highlighter and liner. Of course you don't have to use the eyeshadows as they're labelled, I actually used the all over base colour as a highlighter and the highlighter colour in the outer corner of the lid because I don't think that such a dark colour would look good as a highlighter.

I found the eyeshadows nicely pigmented, soft and smooth, they stayed on without creasing and fading for 12 hours or so. I wouldn't say this is a must have palette especially if you have a lot of eyeshadows already, but it's a nice, all in one palette, and it certainly looks gorgeous too.

As these palettes aren't sold in the UK, I have no idea what they would cost if they were, but in the US they're around $48. You only get 4 g of product which isn't a lot, but I'm not really bothered about the weight anymore since I already have so much make up anyway, I will never use it all up in a million years.

See more pictures including swatches and a look I created using this palette after the jump!

Guerlain Parure de Lumiere Foundation Review

This is Guerlain's newest liquid foundation, Parure de Lumiere, Light-Diffusing Foundation - Moisture Infusion. According to Guerlain it's "infused with Luminescent Water, continuously moisturises skin and corrects the appearance of imperfections to dramatically enhance light diffusion. Under its refreshing, caressing touch, skin appears smoother, more even, bathed in light."

I'm not entirely blown away by this foundation, despite being a big fan of Guerlain and their foundations as well. When I first tried a sample of this it seemed to suit my combination skin, but since I've been using it more, I've not really managed to get it to work for me very well. While it is really lightweight and feels moisturising, it is certainly a bit too "dewy" for my skin, making it look rather shiny within hours of application. It's not oily as such because the foundation itself isn't at all oily, but my skin does look rather shiny and it needs blotting.

As I get older, especially in the winter, I find that my skin is less oily, so I'm not really used to having to blot my face all the time. I'm sure this would work better for someone with drier skin, although I can't actually vouch for that myself. The formula itself is really nice though and it feels lovely and lightweight with a good, medium coverage. I got shade 02 Beige Clair. In the summer 03 Beige Naturel is more suitable for me, but in the winter, Beige Clair suits my skintone perfectly. It also has SPF 25 which is a pretty decent coverage.

The foundation also comes in a cream version which I have not tried, but I actually prefer the liquid one with a pump than having to scoop the foundation out of a pot. You get 30 ml for £36.50 (the cream version is £38.50) which is pretty expensive, but that's the price of high end make up I'm afraid.

All in all, nice foundation, but doesn't suit my skin type as well as I had hoped. I think I'll stick with my Lingerie de Peau foundation instead.

See more pictures after the jump!

Looks Featuring Sleek Make Up Sparkle 2 Palette - Part 3

Finally, the third part of my looks post featuring the new Sleek Make Up Sparkle 2 palette. I really liked this one too, I actually wore this on a night out, with a bit more smokiness in the crease. I am sporting a few other products in these pictures which will also be reviewed soon, so stay tuned.

To create this look I used:

Eyes:
Too Faced Insurance Policy
Sleek Make Up Sparkle Palette 2 Tinsel eyeshadow in the inner corner of the lid
Sleek Make Up Sparkle Palette 2 Illusion eyeshadow in the outer corner of the lid and in the crease
Mac Mating Call Mega Metal eyeshadow blended above the crease
Mac Vellum eyeshadow on the browbone to highlight
Mac Designer Purple pearlglide intense eye liner on lower lashline
Guerlain Noir G mascara
Mac Brow Set in Show Off

Face:
Guerlain Lingerie de Peau foundation in 02 Beige Claire
Guerlain Voilettes Invisible Skin Fusion Loose Powder in 03 Beige Naturel
Laura Geller Ombre Baked Blush in Pink Blossom (will be reviewed soon)

Lips:
OCC Obsessive Compulsive Cosmetics Metallic Liptar in Yaoi (will be reviewed shortly)

See more pictures after the jump!