Want It! Dior Golden Shock Collection for Holiday 2014

First of all, hello, and sorry I've been AWOL, had a very difficult summer and now we've got a new member in our family. His name is Max and he's 4 months old. No, not a new baby, but a puppy! He's a Cavapoo (cross between a King Charles Cavallier Spaniel and a Toy Poodle) and is extremely adorable, but also quite a handful. Typical puppy, he loves stealing things and chewing them up. So as much as I love him, he has been taking up a lot of my time, it's like having a toddler again!

This is him a bit over a month ago when he arrived in our family. He is quite a bit bigger now, but is still a baby and still loves his cuddles with mama.

Anyway, moving onto beauty now, I couldn't not post images of the Dior holiday collection, the products are just so gorgeous. I have't bought anything from Dior for a while, but I am very tempted by the eyeshadow quints and those lipsticks! Oh my! Loving the powders too, but I'm not going to get them, I'm actually in the process of selling off all my pretty powders that I know I'll never use.

Here's the list of products in the collection:

5 Couleurs Eyeshadow  (Limited Edition)

• Golden Reflections (046)
• Golden Shock (756)

Diorshow Fusion Mono Eyeshadow

• Mirror (621) (New, Permanent)

Dior Addict Gloss (Limited Edition)

• Gold Rain (164)
• Pink Excess (663)

Diorific Illuminating Press Powder (Limited Edition)

• Gold Shock (001) 
• Pink Shock (002) 

Diorific Golden Shock Colour Lip Duo (Limited Edition)

• Delicate Shock (001) 
• Enchanting Shock (002) 
• Daring Shock (005)
• Ardent Shock (006)
• Passion Shock (007)
• Mysterious Shock (008)

Diorific Vernis (Limited Edition)

• Shock (762)
• Mirorr (022)
• Smoky (990)
• Gold Equinoxe (241)

Diorific Vernis Effect Top Coat (Limited Edition)

• Gold Leaf Effect (001)

Finally, here are some pictures!

See more pictures after the jump!

Chanel Illusion D'Ombre #96 Utopia Review and Swatches

So as I've promised, I have a review of one of the new Chanel Illusion D'Ombres. This one is Utopia, a slightly frosty dusky purple shade.

I really like Chanel Illusion D'Ombres, they are one of my go-to eyeshadows when I only have time for a quick sweep of colour on the lids. They go on smoothly and blend very easily. I tend to use them over primer (Too Faced Shadow Insurance is my favourite) and they stay without creasing all day.

The eyeshadows come with a small angled brush for application, but generally I think any dense brush is fine for that purpose and mine tend to sit untouched. They would be good for using the eyeshadows as liner though.

They don't come cheap at £25 for 4 g, but they do go a long way and I'm happy to report that none of my older ones are showing signs of drying out, so they are a good long-term investment.

There are 3 new shades in the Chanel summer collection and I have New Moon as well to show you at a later date.

For now, see more pictures of Utopia, including swatches, after the jump!

Lancome Teint Visionnaire Skin Perfecting Makeup Duo Review

A few weeks ago I signed up on Facebook and was selected as part of the VIP panel to test the new Lancome foundation. I was sent a free sample and had to use it for 4 weeks, and fill in 2 questionnaires. Now that the foundation has been launched and isn't secret anymore, I thought I'd tell you what I think about it.

Lancome Visionnaire is one of their best selling facial serum, it's supposed to combat skin imperfections such as wrinkles, dark spots and pores. The foundation is enriched with 2% of LR2412 (which is some beauty molecule Visionnaire contains 4% of) and is said to do the same thing as well as give a "natural looking and flawless finish". You also have a corrector/concealer included in the lid so you can disguise bigger imperfections.

The foundation comes in a rather bulky bottle with a big lid that contains the concealer, in which you get 30 ml of foundation and 2.8 g concealer. The foundation has a pump, so you can get out just as much as you need (one pump does my face). The texture is lovely and light and easy to blend and work into your skin. It has a very slight "foundation" smell, but nothing too strong and it's definitely not perfumed. The coverage is light to medium, it covers most of my imperfections well. I've found it long lasting and it controlled the oiliness of my skin well, I often didn't have to retouch it during the day, although my skin is drier in the winter, so this is true to most foundations at the moment. It felt really nice on the skin and looked good. The shade I was sent is 01 Beige Albatre which is the fourth lightest shade (out of 18!), but I think it's still a bit dark, perhaps it will be a better match in the summer. (I was actually sent 03 at first but that was way too dark.)

The concealer I wasn't very keen on, it has a very thick texture and is hard to pick it up and blend out. I've tried it under my eyes a few times but then I gave up as it looked too cakey, settled into fine lines and made my mascara smudge. It works better on spots and other imperfections you need to conceal as it's thick, but I still don't like it.

At first I didn't think I could see any skincare benefits, but after wearing the foundation for 4 weeks I have noticed that my skin has looked much better and I've not had any spots lately. I don't think it's done anything to my fine lines or my pores, but to be honest, I don't really think anything does. I have also been using Genifique and Visionnaire regularly, so perhaps that's why I haven't noticed any recent changes.

All in all, it's a nice foundation. I would prefer it if it came without the concealer and in a much less bulky bottle. At £36.00 it's up there with other high end foundations. Would I repurchase it? Probably not, mostly because I have so many other foundations at the moment. It's a really nice foundation, but since I wouldn't be using the concealer much, I'd feel it was a waste getting another one. I think I'll stick with my Guerlain foundations for now.

See more pictures after the jump! For pictures of me wearing this foundation on my face check through the last 2 weeks' posts, in every look I posted this month I'm wearing it.

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!

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!

How to buy high end make up for less

If you've been reading my blog for a while, you will have noticed by now that I have a lot of make up. And I mean A LOT of make up. Nowadays I tend to pretty much only buy high end make up, with the exception of a few lipsticks and lipglosses from Max Factor, Avon, No 7 and the likes. And let's face it, high end make up costs a lot. But there are certain ways of buying high end make up that can save you a lot of money, and I would like to share these with you. This is just my experience, and might not suit everyone, but I thought some of you might benefit from it. 1. Testers I buy a lot of testers, especially really expensive brands like Guerlain, who have lipsticks costing £25-27 where you pretty much pay more for the packaging and the brand, than the actual lipstick. I mean look at the G lipsticks, with such an extravangant case, even a mirror is included. And yes, it is nice, but seriously do you NEED it? Of course not. So if you don't mind not having the pretty case, you can get testers of Guerlain's G lipsticks on eBay for as little as £6. You still get a full size lipstick, but instead of the gorgous case, you get a little plastic cap and a coloured plastic end that shows the number of the colour. Exactly like the ones you can try on at the counter. Of course they are brand new, so as good as any other lipstick, but at fraction of the price of the original product. You can always buy one for the case if you really fancy it and get the other shades in testers.

Same goes for the Kiss Kiss lipsticks which normally retail at £20. You can get them for as little as £4! And because they all have caps, you can still carry them in your purse (if you don't mind pulling a tester out of your bag in the restroom - I don't).

Same goes for Guerlain's blushes and eyeshadow quads which come in neat little plastic cases with lids. You can get them for at least half of the normal retail price.

I also buy perfumes as testers. They usually come in the biggest size, or in some cases bigger than any of the "normal" products you can find, and usually come boxed in a plain box, often without a cap. If you don't mind not getting the pretty box and in the case of the Harajuku Lovers perfume the pretty doll that sits on the top of the bottle, then you can get yourself some excellent bargains. I mean sure, the little Gwen Stefani doll is cute, but what do you do with it once you've finished with your perfume? Instead I bought a 100 ml tester for a little over the price of the 30 ml product. Makes sense, doesn't it?

2. Preview/sample items

On eBay you can often find make up that was sent to magazines or bloggers for reviews and then sold on, usually brand new as they were only photographed and not even tested. They usually come with a sticker on the bottom stating that they are review items, but usually in their normal packaging, so they look just like the product you would buy in shops. And who cares about a little sticker when they can save several pounds? I have many Mac (and other high end incl. Clinique) items that I bought on eBay and are marked as samples, including lipglosses, lipsticks, eyeshadows and blushes. See photos below.

3. Trial size items

I use very expensive skincare products (Guerlain's Orchidee Imperiale range) and am of course more than happy if I can save money on them. One way of doing it is buying trial size items. You know the little tubes of creams, etc. that you are given with your purchase to try out. Guerlain Orchidee Imperiale Exceptional Complete Care serum costs £230 per 30 ml, which I have never paid for it, I would be mad to, when I can buy 10 little tubes (3 ml each) on eBay for often as little as £30-40. Sure, I don't get the fancy packaging, but then again, no packaging is worth paying £200 for, right? ;)

4. eBay

Now I have mentioned buying from eBay in every one of the points above, but I wanted to give it a separate mention, because you can find brand new items in normal packaging at a fraction of retail price as well, you just have to keep an eye out for them. If you don't mind it if something's used, items that have been tested sell for even less. (Although eBay is now not allowing people to sell used make up anymore, not that it stops people, lol.) There are fakes on eBay, especially high end make up (not just Mac, I have seen plenty Chanel, Guerlain, etc. fakes), but if you do your homework, you will be fine. I have bought over 500 items on eBay and only bought one or two fakes myself (and managed to get my money back anyway thanks to Paypal).

5. Sale / reduced items

And of course we all love sales, and you can always pick up some nice items at half price or less. Unfortunately that often means waiting for months and possibly missing out on certain products, but I have picked up a few limited edition items at half price that I never thought I would, including Guerlain's Meteorites Voyage Powder!

Well, that's it. I hope you've enjoyed my post and you can use some of my tips next time you are looking for something to buy.