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!

My Chanel Spring Collection Haul Part 1 - Blush Horizon De Chanel and Poudre Universelle Compacte in Jasmin

I have so many things I want to share with you, but not a lot of time, so over the next few days I'll be doing some rather quick posts about some of the lovely make up I've bought from the newly released spring collections.

First up my Chanel haul, well, part of it. I ordered these two lovelies form Boots pretty much on the day of release. I really wanted the Horizon blush and Jasmin pressed powder, for me these two were the must haves form the Chanel spring collection. I also got the eyeshadow quad in Eclosion, Paradis Rouge Coco and Bagatelle Glossimer, but I'll show them to you later.

Horizon blush is a lovely sptripy blush mostly pink with cream, mauve and coral stripes, that give a gorgeous pink shade when mixed, very suitable for spring. It's not overly pigmented, gives a really natural look, but of course can be layered for stronger colour. It comes in the regular black Chanel compact with a mirror in the lid, and it also comes with a nice little angled brush in a separate pouch. It costs £46, but it is actually rather large at 15g, so not as bad as it sounds (most blushes are much smaller).

The pressed powder in Jasmin is supposed to be "natural finish", but it has got a lot of gorgeous shimmer in it. I have used it all over my face and the sparkles are actually very subtle and don't make my face look like a disco ball at all. It's rather lovely actually. Might not suit those who don't like shimmer, but I think it would really look lovely on a night out especially. Comes in the usual black Chanel compact with a mirror in the lid, and it also comes with a powder puff. It costs £29.50 and is also 15g in weight.

There are lots more pictures including swatches and also a picture of me wearing both products, so make sure you go all the way down to the bottom of the post.

Finished! The July edition

Here are the products I finished in the month of July. Not to shabby, although sadly only 3 make up items.Still, my collection of cleansers/scrubs need using up as well. Let's have a look at what I managed to finish last month, shall we?

First up is Maybelline Dream Satin liquid foundation in 020 Cameo. I have reviewed it already, you can read my review here. I don't love it, it doesn't really work for me, it's greasy and leaves my face quite shiny too, so won't be repurchasing this. I still have another half a bottle though, so you can expect that to appear in another Finished! post soon. Available from Boots, Superdrug, etc. £8.19 at Boots with a 3 for 2 offer currently on.

Keep reading to find out what other products I have finished this month!

Guerlian Meteorites Illuminating and Mattifying Pressed Powder review

Last (but not least!) from the Guerlain spring collection are the Meteorites Illuminating and Mattifying Powders. They come in 3 shades, just like their regular Meteorites: Teint Rose, Teint Beige and Teint Dore. 

But instead of having different colours in them like the Meteorites or the Voyage Powders, they are just one colour. It's like if you take the different coloured balls and break them up, then mix them and make into pressed powder. They claim to be illuminating and mattifying at the same time, and that's exactly what they do. I always find with Meteorites that they illuminate your complexion, but these also give a matt finish, they are certainly not shimmery. They are very finely milled and feel really nice on the skin. They have the same gorgeous parma violet scent as the other Meteorites powders. Love it!

Teint Rose, Teint Beige, Teint Dore

As you can see, I got all 3 shades, partly because I'm a sucker for Meteorites and partly because there isn't actually a huge difference between them. I am quite pale in the winter, so Teint Rose and Teint Beige suit me fine, and in the summer Teint Beige and Teint Dore will both be good. These powders don't give a full coverage, they blend into the skin rather than change the colour of it, so you can get away with using any of the shades really (okay, maybe not if you're very pale or very dark). You will see below in my swatches how they melt into the skin, and I didn't even blend them at all. I haven't used them much, but I can see that they will become my new best friends when it comes to pressed powders.

The compact, while very similar in design to the Voyage Powders, is smaller and a lot lighter, feels more plasticky than metal (probably because it is plastic) which I guess makes it a very handbag friendly compact. Also at £34 it's a lot more affordable than the Voyage Powders that retail for just over £100! Unfortunately the compact isn't refillable, which is a real shame, since £34 for 7 g is still a pretty hefty price tag. I guess unlike the Voyage Powders, you don't pay for the compact as much as the powder itself. (You can buy refills for the Voyage Powders for about £30.) 

Inside you get a smallish powder puff (on top of the powder, not in a compartment below) and there is a mirror inside, so they work really well on the go. I know that I will keep one of them in my handbag once I finished my sad looking Rimmel pressed powder.

Right then, see below for lots of photos and swatches!

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!

Guerlain Meteorites Voyage Powder Midnight Diamond and pictures of my collection

If you've been following my blog for a while you will know that I am a huge fan of Guerlain, and in particular Guerlain Meteorites. Every year for Christmas Guerlain releases a special limited edition pressed powder called the Voyage Powder that normally co-ordinates the Meteorites Pearls in colour. These powders are very expensive, they cost around £100 for 8 g. They are refillable and the refills come at around £30, and they are absolutely beautiful, both on the inside and the outside. They are the ultimate luxury make up items. I've got sucked into collecting them when the 2008 limited edition one came out as it was so pretty and now I own 10 of them (plus a couple of back ups that I managed to pick up half price and actually use quite a lot). There is still one missing, it's called Eclat de Rose and I think it's from 2003, so it won't be easy finding one in good condition now. The other one I'd been trying very hard to find is Midnight Diamond from 2004. Fortunately after searching eBay and MUA for it every day, I've managed to buy a brand new boxed one for my collection. Cost a lot, but yay! I finally got it.

Guerlain Voyage Powder Midnight Diamond

I thought I'd also show you my whole collection of Guerlain Voyage Powders (also included the Terracotta Bronzing Powders as they are the same mosaic design as some Voyage Powders) and while I was at it, the pressed powder version of the Meteorites pearls. A word of warning about these, if you are planning on buying these from eBay, be careful as I have seen fakes of these powders. They are set deep in their container and come with a puff. The real ones as you can see in my pictures, are raised and don't come with a puff.