Scent Of The Month / Stash Highlight: Yves Saint Laurent Paris Eau de Printemps

This is a slightly different Scent Of The Month post as I'm going to show you more than one perfume. Yves Saint Laurent Paris was my first proper grown-up perfume, I always wanted one and my then boyfriend got it for me for Christmas when I was 18. So for over half of my life now I have loved and regularly used it. Every year YSL also release a limited edition springtime, lighter version of Paris. The original scent isn't exactly heavy, but the springtime one is even more suitable for warmer months.

As I am utterly rubbish at describing scents, I've copied the description of the original Paris EDP/EDT from the YSL website: "At the heart of this tribute to the city of love, the delicate rose reveals a profound and enchanting personality. Fresh and subtle, the top notes of Violet, Bergamot and Orange blossom flirt with tenderness and happiness. The intense floral middle note reveals all the splendour of Rosa Centifolia and Iris, warmed by woody and sensual base notes of Sandalwood, Amber and Vanilla."

As you can see, I have 7 different bottles of Paris Eau de Printemps, including the newest 30-year-anniversary one (second from top left corner of the picture above) called Premieres Roses (the name has been used in several years, but the bottles/boxes all have different designs, although I can't be certain whether the fragrances are the same as well).

They are actually really affordable at £30 and you get a massive 125 ml for your money, which means that it's not possible to use up during one season. That is why I still have so many unused ones, but I can't not buy them because they are just so lovely.

Do you have an all time favourite fragrance? Please share in the comments!

See another picture after the jump!

Yves Saint Laurent Le Teint Touche Eclat Foundation Review

A little while ago I was stopped by a lovely lady at the YSL counter in House of Fraser and was asked if I'd like to be matched up for a free foundation sample. Of course I couldn't say no and came away with my little bottle of Le Teint Touche Eclat foundation. I was given shade B50 which looks a little yellow on my hands but blends out nicely on my face.

I have to admit I don't follow YSL as closely as other brands, but I believe this is their new foundation. This is what I found about it on the Debenhams website: "Twenty years after the launch of the iconic Touche clat, Yves Saint Laurent adopts a leading edge technology that transposes the magic of this legendary highlighter into a foundation to achieve the same illuminating result for the entire face. Yves Saint Laurent introduces LE TEINT TOUCHE CLAT. A bold, unique formula to target shadowy areas and define contours. Infused within a weightless fluid, the light of Touche clat foundation targets shadowy areas and highlights the contours of the face. Free of opaque powders, its perfecting texture evens the complexion and helps conceal imperfections, while enhancing your skin's natural beauty."

I think the key word is illuminating. While not greasy by any means, this foundation does look more "dewy" on me than some others, so I think it would suit drier skins better than oily ones. I have normal skin during the winter months, but my T-zone can get rather oily in hot weather, so I would definitely not wear this in the summer, but right now it works well for me. I don't love it as much as I do the Lancome Teint Visionnaire foundation, it is definitely more dewy on my face and tends to need a bit of blotting halfway through the day, but it does have a nice medium coverageand it feels very light on the skin. It comes in 22 shades which is great and the full size product comes in a pump bottle which is also a big plus.


I like this foundation, but won't be buying the full size version. I know it's just going to be too dewy on me in the warmer months plus it doesn't come with SPF which I think is really necessary in the summer. It's nice in the winter, but I have nicer foundations. However, if you have dry skin and you're near a YSL counter, it's well worth a look. £29 for 30 ml.

See more pictures after the jump! If you want to see me wear this foundation on my face, check out this post for full face pictures!

Yves Saint Laurent Y Facettes Palette 4 Wet & Dry Eyeshadows Review and Swatches

Another pretty eyeshadow palette from the spring 2013 collection, this time it's from YSL. This is one of their hybrid / gelee powder style eyeshadows (Pure Chromatics they're called I believe), they feel quite creamy, but aren't actually cream products. They can be worn dry for a subtle look or wet for a more intense one.

I really love the colours in this quad, they are springlike, but not too pastely. You get a gorgeous frosty grass green, a shimmery light pink, a frosty mauvey purple and a frosty sky blue. Out of the four, the pink mostly just gives you pink sparkles, it's the sheerest of them all. The other three are nicely pigmented even whe dry (I haven't actually used them wet yet).

I have only used two colours at a time (blue and green, pink and purple), but I can definitely see using 3 or even all 4 at the same time, they go together really well. Despite their creamy formula they did not crease on me at all, but they did start to fade after about 8 hours. I also noticed some fallout, especially with the pink shade which is the most glittery. Nothing major though, and it's often expected with this kind of formula, and the glitter isn't chunky, so it doesn't bother me.

You get 3 g of product which isn't a lot, but I think these eyeshadows are generally more "fluffy" so they weigh less than regular powder eyeshadows. The palette costs £39.50. I think this is a limited edition, but not sure.

See more pictures including swatches after the jump!

Last Month I...

Following on last month's post idea here are the things I did / liked / loved / hated / finished / threw away / etc. in the month of March beauty wise. So here you go:

Last month I...

• finished 6 beauty products including a fragrance (The Body Shop Cherry Blossom perfume) which is especially great because I have put myself on a fragrance no-buy until I finish at least 5 fragrances since I have about 50 bottles on my cupboard and I need to get through them eventually. I didn't actually like the Body Shop Cherry Blossom perfume anymore, which is a shame especially as this was my second bottle because I initially loved it and I bought a back-up, but never mind, finally it is gone!
• having finished one I didn't like so much I gave some love to my all time favourite perfume, Paris by Yves Saint Laurent, in particular one of the limited edition springtime variations: Jardins Romantiques. I have loved Paris for so long now and I used to buy the limited edition springtime fragrances in the past, but they seemed to have stopped releasing them which is a shame. The bottle's massive though (125 ml), so it should last me through a couple of springs though. And just how pretty is it?

To find out what else I did last month, carry on reading after the jump!

Finished! The January Edition

Finally, January is over. Is it just me or did it feel like the longest month ever? I was really willing it to be over for a few reasons. Firstly, I want spring to come. I've had enough of the dark afternoons and mornings, I want it to be daylight when I get up and daylight when I'm cooking dinner by my south-west facing kitchen window. I want flowers in the garden, cherry blossoms on the trees down the street. Secondly, I couldn't wait for Guerlain's spring collection to be finally released. And thirdly, I'd already exceeded my monthly beauty budget by the middle of the month and I desperately needed it to be February to start again. Sadly it has turned really cold in the UK, so there's no sign of spring yet unfortunately.

At least, with January being such a long month (or at least it felt like it), I've managed to finish a few products, so there are some positives there too. A lot of the products I finished this month I have reviewed on here at some point, so I will just link them to the reviews instead of repeating myself.

First though here's something I've not reviewed before, this is Avon Skin So Soft Signature Silk Nourishing Body Cream. I used to buy lots of Avon products a while ago, and I'm still finishing some of them off. This particular body cream sadly isn't a good example of Avon's good quality products. Very pretty packaging, nice scent, but a pretty rubbish moisturiser. It sort of feels like body butter, at least it's texture, but it's not at all that creamy and doesn't really spread well, so you actually use up quite a lot of cream, and it's not even that moisturising. So it's a no from me I'm afraid.

See what other products I used up after the jump!

My Ever Growing Nail Polish Collection Part 1 - OPI, China Glaze, Orly, Mavala

I had some requests to show off my nail polish collection, so here it is. I'm going to do it in 3 parts because I have a lot of nail polishes, so make sure you check out part 2 and part 3 as well!

Some of my nail polish stash

Would you believe it that just a couple of years ago all the nail polish I owned fitted into this box?

Wanna see what's inside? A bit boring really, but here you go:

A bit samey, all pastels and hardly any colour. I just wasn't into nail polish, mainly because my nails are really thin and bendy, so nail polish chips off within a matter of days, and I couldn't be bothered to repaint them all the time, so I just used barely there shades. What's changed? I realised that there were some really gorgeous nail polishes out there from brands I'd never heard of! I also realised that nail polishes come in seasonal collections like make up, which of course made me buy even more so I don't miss out. And suddenly I don't mind painting my nails every 2-3 days. At the last count I had 130 nail polishes, which is really crazy, especially as some (most of them are large 15 ml sizes). I will now have to stop buying them and be sure to use them all, although that will certainly take a while. I'd say about 75% of the nail polish I own has not been used yet, so I'd better get cracking!

Without further ado, here are the detailed pictures. I haven't put the shade names down simply because it would take too long, but if you have any questions, just ask in the comments! Enjoy!

Yves Saint Laurent Pure Chromatics Eyeshadow Palette Review

Ever since Yves Saint Laurent released their new Pure Chromatics eyeshadow palettes I'd been wanting to try them out, but in all fairness, I couldn't justify paying £37 for one. But luckily I found this one on eBay for £25, so I thought I'd give it a go. Out of the 6 palettes available no. 6 (this one) seemed the most interesting to me. Some of the other palettes seem more complete with a highlighter shade included, but this one has 4 shades that don't all go together that easily.

The four shades are olive green, warm golden yellow, light pink and dark purple. These eyeshadows seem very similar to Bobbi Brown Sparkle eyeshadows and Laura Mercier Sequin eyeshadows, they look like cream shadows, but they are actually powder. You can apply these both dry and wet, apparently you get more intensity wet (I have not tried them wet yet). There are two double ended applicators included in the compact, one for applying with dry, one for wet (which are more plastic than foam looking). I usually just use brushes for application, but you always have the option.

Below you will see some swatches (dry) and a look I created using the olive, yellow and pink eyeshadows. I couldn't really fit the purple shade in there. Next time I'll try pink, purple and yellow I think. The eyeshadows didn't crease all day, the colours did fade and migrated a bit by about 12 hours' wear, but other than that, I was very happy with how they performed. I'm still not sure these palettes are worth £37, but for one third less I'm happy I've got this one. Have you got any of these? Are you tempted to get one?

See more pictures, swatches and the look I created with this palette after the jump!

Finished! The May edition

This month's damage: 5 products. Well, 4 and a half. I'll tell you why in a minute. But first up here's something I have repurchased many times in the past and will do again. One of my favourite perfumes ever: Yves Saint Laurent Paris. I have loved this since I was about 18 and in fact this was my very first "proper" perfume. I love the bottle, I love the scent, I love everything about it. Even though I own 40+ different perfumes, I know I will repurchase this one as not many other scents have come close to it in my heart.

See what other products I've finished after the jump!

It's spring! Yves Saint Laurent Boheme Libertine spring 2011 collection review

Okay, I know it's not technically spring yet, but as far as the beauty brands are concerned, it is, because the new spring collections are all coming out and I have already indulged in a few of them.

First up I will show you my rather small (by my standards anyway) haul from Yves Saint Laurent. The collection consists of quite a few items (details can be found here), but only these three caught my eye (and I'm still wondering whether or not to cough up £39.50 for the eyeshadow quint - when did YSL get this expensive???).

I got the Pink Celebration Palette and two of the four Golden Glosses (#40 and #41). Pink Celebration Palette is a gorgeous light pink highlighter powder. It's not too shimmery, but it does give a lovely sheen. I didn't swatch this as I don't like ruining the design straight away, but I did swatch it at the counter and it is gorgeous. Golden Glosses has a wonderful texture, not sticky, not too thick, they are shimmery and are definitely one of my favourite lipglosses. I got Golden Impertinence (bright pink) and Golden Insolence (bright pinky purple). Both have good pigmentation, but are sheerer than they look in the tube. There's also a lighter pink and a coral gloss in the collection, but they felt quite sheer to me, so didn't get them.

Overall, I don't think Boheme Libertine is my favourite spring collection, but there are some nice products, and I definitely recommend checking it out. There are some lovely cream blushes that some of you might like too (I'm not a cream blush person myself) and the eyeshadow quint has some interesting shades (love the pink and green!). 

See more photos and swatches after the jump!

My favourite upcoming Spring 2010 collections (so far)

I know it's not even winter yet (well, technically it isn't, but it's blooming cold outside and they're forecasting snow for the end of this week - brr!), but there's been quite a lot of news appearing on the web about the upcoming spring collections. So I thought I'd show you which ones are my favourites so far, but of course without seeing details on all of them (I'm especially keen to see the details for Dior's and Chantecaille's spring collections), it's hard to pick favourites just yet. But I can happily say that I absolutely adore the new blush that's coming out in Lancome's spring collection, the entire Guerlain collection (of course) and YSL's collection looks very interesting too.  

I'll start with my most favourite item of them all, Lancome's spring blush. Isn't it just gorgeous? 

Lancome La Rose Butterfly Blush

Keep reading to find what other products are among my favourites!