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!

Haul Pictures

I am so happy we can finally get Essence in the UK! In case you didn't know, Essence is now being sold in Wilkinson. My small local branch only has a small display, but I popped into a bigger one that had a much bigger one. Today I want to show you what I picked up as well as a couple of other bits from Topshop, Superdrug and Boots.

So from Essence I got these cute nail stickers for when I'm too lazy to do some stamping, and a nail polish called Laser Show which is a glitter topper with silver microshimmer and black glitter. From Topshop I picked up two glitter polishes called Dreamlike and Myth.

Also from Essence, I got their Blush Up powder blush that bears a very strong resemblance to Mac's blush ombres. It's very pigmented, just great for summer. I also got the new Sleek palette, Rio Rio and Chanel Illusion D'Ombre in New Moon, one of the new summer shades. I have another shade to show you, which I'll be writing a full review on very soon.

Have you been buying any make up or nail polish lately?

NOTD: KBShimmer Run! It's The Coppers!

A little while ago I showed you my picks from KBShimmer's summer collection and Run! It's The Coppers! was one of them.

Run! It's The Coppers! is a beautiful copper holographic polish. It took 2 coats to build up opacity. The best things about this polish (other than its gorgeous colour and bright holographic rainbow) is the nice wide brush that makes application very easy. It's not too wide to worry those with thin nails, but wide enough to only need a couple of strokes to cover the nail. The formula was really nice and easy too. I ended up with a chip on my index finger, but you can see in the pictures that it's very uneven at the tip due to peeling, so that might have been a contributing factor. All in all I'm very happy with it.

I bought my KBShimmer polishes from Harlow & Co who ship worldwide at a very good price. KBShimmer doesn't ship outside the US.

See more pictures after the jump!

My Picks From KBShimmer's Summer Collections and a Lipstick Too!

My order from Harlow & Co came the other day, so I thought I'd show you which polishes I chose from the two KBShimmer summer collections (there was an early summer collection and a late summer collection - although I'm still considering this time of year to be early summer, but anyway). I only chose three polishes, not becasue I didn't like the rest, but because I now have over 2000 polishes and have completely run out of space to store them in. So I try to look for polishes that are a bit unusual or colours that I don't own yet.

I picked up Red, White & Blue-tiful from the late summer collection, a glitter topper with lots of red, blue and silver stars as well as red, blue and silver glitter and holographic micro glitter. Obviously it is for 4th July, the American Independence Day, but since the UK flag has the same colours, I thought it would be a very apt polish for the summer. Or just any time really.

From the early summer collection I got Run! It's The Coppers!, a copper holographic polish, and Let's Not Coral, a coral pink creme polish. Both are gorgeous and not similar to anything I own. (Which makes you wonder, how can someone have over 2000 polishes and still not own every colour possible?!)

I also ordered a lipstick which is a very rare occurrence for me nowadays (you might remember I went on a lip product no-buy when I was still blogging last year) as I now have so many lipsticks and lipglosses. I only buy some very special colours nowadays (mostly just Guerlain Rouge G's and Mac lipsticks), but I saw a swatch of Lime Crime Geradium Opaque Lipstick and just had to have it. I will review the lipstick in the coming days, but for now, here's a sneak peek.

Come back soon for a full review of this gorgeousness!

Urban Decay Moondust Eyeshadows Review and Swatches

When I heard about Urban Decay releasing some new, very sparkly eyeshadows, I of course had to check them out. They came out in 7 shades and I picked up 4 (for now?). I got Glitter Rock, Intergalactic, Stargazer and Zodiac.

This is the description on the Debenhams website: "Urban Decay launches Moondust Eyeshadow, a dazzling innovation in eyeshadow with a super-refined and incredibly sophisticated feel. Forget EVERYTHING you know about glitter eyeshadow. Moondust is like NO OTHER shadow. There's not a speck of chunky "teen glitter" be found in these babies. Microfine bits of iridescent sparkle collide with intense, dreamy hues and lush 3-D metallics - for an effect that's out of this world. And while some traditional sparkly shadows tend to look cheap, Moondust has a really luxe, upscale vibe and a gorgeous, diamond-like effect." These are definitely very sparkly. They are also pretty pigmented, so you actually get a lot of colour as well as a lot of sparkle. Initially they reminded me of the Stardust eyeshadows, but these are a lot more intense, both in colour and also in sparkle.

These eyeshadows are not only very sparkly, but they're also duochrome, some more than others, in particular Stargazer which has a gorgeous green duochrome to it. Zodiac is my favourite of the 4, it is amazingly intense and is full of green, blue and gold sparkles. I found Glitter Rock and Intergalactic quite similar on the eyes, although they swatched more differently, but Stargazer and Zodiac gave a great contrasting look.

Urban Decay recommends you apply these using your fingers, I swatched them with my fingers, but I prefer applying eyeshadows on my eyes with brushes for precision. These eyeshadows can be used dry or wet for more intensity. I haven't tried them wet yet. As for glitter fallout, there was surprisingly little, I mostly only had some during application and blending. Once I cleaned it up, I didn't notice much glitter fallout. I would say that if you didn't like glitter, you'd probably wouldn't want to go anywhere near these anyway since they are so sparkly. But they definitely didn't spread all over my face. I didn't notice any creasing either (I used them over Too Faced Shadows Insurance) and they looked vibrant all through the day. 

These eyeshadows come in the usual round Urban Decay eyeshadow compacts and by the looks of them can probably be depotted and put into their new palettes (which I don't like one bit, but anyway). You get 1.5 g of product for £14. Urban Decay is stocked in Debenhams and House of Fraser, and they are currently on sale at BeautyBay (£12.46 each), although Zodiac isn't in stock.


See more pictures including swatches and a look I did using Stargazer and Zodiac after the jump!

Mac Tropical Taboo Mineralize Collection for Summer 2013 Promo Pictures!

Finally we have promo pictures of the upcoming Mac Tropical Taboo collection. I was loving it before I saw the pictures, but I'm loving it even more so!

Due to be released in July in the US (and I'm guessing August in the UK), here are the collection details:

Mineralize Lipsticks

• Lady at Play – Mid-tone cool tangerine
• Divine Choice – Mid-tone cool pink cream
• Midnight Mambo – Intense violet
• Luxe Naturale – Light beige cream
• Glamour Era – Mid-tone warm brown frost

Cremesheen Glass

• Calypso Beat –Pale neutral pink
• Fever Isle – Bright red coral
• Japanese Spring – Pale mid-tone pink
• Narcissus – Mid-tone eggplant

Lip Pencil

• Hip ‘n’ Happy – Mid-tone blue pink
• Have to Have It – Soft warm beige
• Heroine – Bright purple
• Ablaze – Bright apricot

Mineralize Skinfinish

• Adored – Coral with light beige pearlized pigments
• Rio – Bronze with bright pink pearlized pigments
• Lust – Pale pink with cranberry pearlized pigments
• Soft ‘n Gentle (permanent) – Gilded peach bronze
• Gold Deposit (permanent) – Soft reflective golden bronze

Mineralize Blush

• Sweet Samba –Dark pink with tan pearlized pigments
• Exotic Ember – Orange with bronze pearlized pigments
• Simmer – Burnt rose with peach/gold pearlized pigments

Mineralize Eyeshadow

• Dare to Bare – Light cream with gold pearlized pigments
• Carribean – Rose with pink and red pearlized pigments
• Cha-Cha-Cha – Deep blue green with green pearlized pigments
• Time to Tango – Lavendar with silver pearlized pigments
• Bossa Blue – Royal blue with brown pearlized pigments
• Tropica – Silver blue with purple pearlize pigments

Kohl Power Eye Pencil

• Feline – Rich Black
• Orpheus – Intense black with gold pearlized pigments

Brush

• 187 Brush – Duo fibre face brush
• 159 Brush – Duo fibre face brush
• 287 Brush – Duo fibre eyeshadow brush

In Extreme Dimension Lash

• Black

See lots more promo and individual product pictures after the jump!

Laura Mercier Folklore Collection Illuminating Eye Colour in Sun Glow, Fire Glow and Earth Glow

I already told you about this collection and now I can show you the eyeshadows I got which is basically all 3 of them! They are called Illuminating Eye Colours and they are pretty much exactly the same thing as these eyeshadows that came out last winter. Probably best if you read my previous review by clicking on the link because they are very very similar to last year's release.

Colourwise these new shades are warmer, more bronzy, summery shades. I've compared them to last years' colours and found that Fire Glow was more coppery/orangey than Gilded Rosegold, Sun Glow is more orange than Gilded Moonlight and Earth Glow is a much warmer brown shade than Gilded Bronze. The new shades also seem less metallic than the previous ones, but they still have plenty of sheen to them. No glitter and no fallout, and the formula is just as lovely, smooth and long lasting as last year's ones.

I would love it if Laura Mercier released these eyeshadows in more colours (I'm thinking of blues, greens, purples, pinks) as so far they've only done more earthy, natural colours which are nice, but I also love bright colours! These new 3 shades are perfect for the summer though, I've paired them up with Urban Decay 24/7 eyeshadow pencil in Clash which is a crazy bright turquoise shade and really makes the look pop.

These eyeshadows cost £18.50 which is actually £1.50 less than last year's ones and you still get 2.5 g for your money. I bought mine from House of Fraser, but Space NK also stocks them and on their website last year's Gilded Moonlight is still available!

See more pictures including swatches and a look I did with these eyeshadows after the jump!

Want It! Too Faced Hello Sunshine Collection for Summer 2013

There's another summer collection that has tickled my fancy this year and it's the Too Faced summer collection. I especially love those cute little heart shaped bronzing pearls.

Herer are the collection details:

Sweetheart Beads Radiant Glow Face Powder – New & Limited Edition

Catch the light with buildable color and a hint of shimmer. Inspired by nature’s most flattering pink and golden-light at dusk, these multi-colored heart pearls blend to impart a lit-from-within radiance.

Summer Eye 2013 Summer Sexy Shadow Collection – New & Limited Edition

A hand-picked collection of nine exclusive resort-inspired eye shadows will be your temptation to take a vacation. Like all Too Faced palettes we’ve included a show-and-tell centerfold we call a Glamour Guide to give you instructions and a start on creating three Summer Eyes looks.

The palette features 9 shades: Seashell, Plumeria, Cocoa Beach, Peach Fuzz, Coral Crush, Chocolate Sun, Sunbeam, Mermaid, Toasted Coconut.

Sweet Sun Shine Lip Gloss – New

Watermelon Ice – pink
Papaya Slushie – coral
Mocha Freeze – bronze

Endless Summer 16 Hour Long-Wear Bronzer – New

All good things don’t have to end. Get a lit-from-within bronzed glow that lasts 16-hours or more courtesy of our exclusive “Double Bond” formula that combines staying power technology with long wear pigments. It’s a bronzer that works harder than you play.

Bronzed & Poreless Pore Perfecting Bronzer – New

Create radiant-looking skin with all-over natural warmth. Bronzed & Poreless is infused with the same pore-banishing and skin smoothing properties that made our original Primed & Poreless famous—with an added warm matte bronze finish. It’s the must-have little black dress of bronzers.

Sunny Bunny Natural Bronzer – New

Our most popular, dual-toned bronzer is a silky combination of a rich, goldenbronze and a classic bronze with a touch of pink undertone to achieveyear round bronzed perfection that mimics a natural tan without any of the orangey ick!

Chocolate Soleil Matte Bronzer – New

Bronzing has never been so delicious. Our chocolate-scented, shimmer-free, matte bronzer is perfect for contouring and creating an all-over deep tan using real antioxidant-rich cocoa powder. It’s all the tan without the twinkle.

Medium/ Deep
Light/ Medium

Snow Bunny Luminous Bronzer – New

Four complementary shades are combined in this skin-perfecting bronzer to banish redness and rudiness, correct imperfections and add an all-over faux glow.

Pink Leopard Blushing Bronzer – New

Ourlovely little leopard bronzer combines gorgeous shades of goldenbronzes, gilded pinks and neutral fawns to brighten skin and create aglorious all over glow that will have you looking sun-kissed any time ofthe year.

Beach Bunny Bronzer – New

Our deep, illuminating bronzing powder is a silky combination of four rich, sun-kissed bronzers and shimmers that create a perfect, deep summertime tan anywhere, any time of the year.

See lots more pictures after the jump!

Estee Lauder Pure Color Illuminating Powder Gelee in Heat Wave Review and Swatches

Finally, a product review! I bought this highlighter on my pre-birthday shopping trip during the school holiday, but only just got around to swatching it and wearing it. This highlighter is part of the Estee Lauder summer collection and is already out in House of Fraser, and will be coming to other retailers at the end of April.

Once again it's the new powder gelee formula and once again Estee Lauder got it so right. The formula is very similar to Mac's Extra Dimension Skinfinishes, very smooth and creamy with high frosty shine. Heat Wave is a gorgeous light gold colour, it gives a really nice sheen, but it's not glittery at all. Colourwise it is pretty much identical to Mac Whisper of Gilt Extra Dimension Skinfinish. Swatched heavily there is a very slight difference, but once blended out, you really can't tell which is which. The powder comes with a sponge applicator, but I prefer to use a brush to apply and blend it with.

The powder costs £30 and you get 6 g which is 1.5 g more than previous colours of the same formula, but the compact is again the same as the regular Estee Lauder blush compact. It is smaller than Mac skinfinishes and more expensive, so if you bought Whisper of Gilt, you don't need this as well (unless you really want a back up). This is a limited edition product and these gelee powders sell out very quickly, so get yours while you can. Exclusively available at  House of Fraser until the end of April when it will be realeased nationwide at Debenhams, Boots and other retailers with Estee Lauder counters and online from all of the above plus the Estee Lauder website.

See more pictures after the jump!

Want It! Mac Tropical Taboo Mineralize Collection for Summer 2013

I was so excited to find out about Mac's upcoming mineralize collection, I had to share the news with you straight away! I love mineralize products and this collection has a lot of new goodies for me to look forward to.I'm mostly interested in the mineralize skinfinishes, blushes and eyeshadows, but there are also some mineralize lipsticks, cremesheen glasses, lip pencils and other goodies included in this collection.

Not actual promo picture

Due to be released in July in the US (and I'm guessing August in the UK), here are the collection details:

Mineralize Lipsticks

• Lady at Play – Mid-tone cool tangerine
• Divine Choice – Mid-tone cool pink cream
• Midnight Mambo –Intense violet
• Luxe Naturale – Light beige cream
• Glamour Era – Mid-tone warm brown frost

Cremesheen Glass

• Calypso Beat –Pale neutral pink
• Fever Isle – Bright red coral
• Japanese Spring - Pale mid-tone pink
• Narcissus – Mid-tone eggplant

Lip Pencil

• Hip ‘n’ Happy – Mid-tone blue pink
• Have to Have It – Soft warm beige
• Heroine – Bright purple
• Ablaze – Bright apricot

Mineralize Skinfinish

• Adored – Coral with light beige pearlized pigments
• Rio – Bronze with bright pink pearlized pigments
• Lust – Pale pink with cranberry pearlized pigments
• Soft ‘n Gentle (permanent) – Gilded peach bronze
• Gold Deposit (permanent) – Soft reflective golden bronze

Mineralize Blush

• Sweet Samba –Dark pink with tan pearlized pigments
• Exotic Ember – Orange with bronze pearlized pigments
• Simmer- Burnt rose with peach/gold pearlized pigments

Mineralize Eyeshadow

• Dare to Bare – Light cream with gold pearlized pigments
• Carribean –Rose with pink and red pearlized pigments
• Cha-Cha-Cha – Deep blue green with green pearlized pigments
• Time to Tango- Lavendar with silver pearlized pigments
• Bossa Blue – Royal blue with brown pearlized pigments
• Tropica - Silver blue with purple pearlize pigments

Kohl Power Eye Pencil

• Feline – Rich Black
• Orpheus – Intense black with gold pearlized pigments

Brush

• 187 Brush – Duo fibre face brush
• 159 Brush - Duo fibre face brush
• 287 Brush - Duo fibre eyeshadow brush

In Extreme Dimension Lash

• Black

Credit goes to Maneater Makeup

Want It! Laura Mercier Folklore Collection for Summer 2013

I like the look of the upcoming Laura Mercier summer collection, especially the Illuminating Eye Colours. I have 4 of the previous ones (as in all 4), if you want to read about them, click here. The new colours seem quite similar, but may well be different enough to buy. The texture of these eyeshadows is really lovely, similar to the Mac Extra Dimension shades, but even better.

I also like the look of the lip crayons and the baked blush bronze.

Here are the collection details:

Illuminating Eye Colour

Eye colour with a multi-dimensional, luminous pearl finish with a soft, bouncy texture for excellent colour pay-off and a smooth, even application.

• Fire Glow – copper shimmer
• Sun Glow – gold with shimmer
• Earth Glow – deep brown

Lip Crayon

A smooth lip colour that provides pure, long-wearing colour to lips in three on-trend shades for summer. With a convenient purse-friendly package, Lip Crayon never needs sharpening, making it perfect for travel and touch-ups on the go.

• Folklore – fuchsia
• Maya Sun – orange pink
• Burnt Clay – deep brown

Baked Blush Bronze

Laura Mercier Baked Blush Bronze is a baked powder with five complimentary shades that together provide the perfect, natural colour for cheeks and face. Each tile is hand-mixed with a unique design.

Creme Eye Liner 

An ultra-smooth, water-proof creamy eye liner that applies with the ease and smooth silky finish of a gel and the precision of a liquid liner. Smudge and transfer-resistant, this long-wearing formula goes on “foolproof” with the Laura Mercier Angled Eye Liner Brush.

• Canard – teal
• Cobalt – vivid midtone blue

Faux Lash Mascara

• Sierra Brown – chocolate brown
• Black – black

Long Lash Mascara

• Bleu – true cobalt

Angled Eye Liner Brush

Specifically designed by Laura Mericer to work with the Crème Eye Liner, the Angled Eye Liner Brush uses high quality synthetic fibers in a narrow, exact point with a thin profile that creates the most precise looks.

Body Bronzing Makeup

Available for a limited time, Laura Mercier Body Bronzing Makeup instantly reveals healthy, radiant, bronzed skin without long-term commitment.

See more pictures after the jump!

Want It! L'Ete Papillon de Chanel Collection Summer 2013

Another summer collection that's caught my eye is the upcoming Chanel collection, L'Ete Papillon de Chanel. I love butterflies, so anything with them in their pictures is usually a winner for me. The first ever Guerlain collection I bought from was the Midnight Butterfly collection (holiday 2008).

This collection is rather unusual, it features a lot of coloured mascaras, cream eyeshadow sticks and several bright nail polishes. I think it's a brilliant summer collection, I love blue, teal and green for summer, as well as coral and yellow. I'm not entirely sure if I'll get many things from this collection, it all depends on the quality of the cream eyeshadow sticks, but the blue and teal nail polishes will definitely come home with me.

Here are the details of the collection:

• Inimitable Waterproof Mascara 
• Black
• Zest 
• Limelight
• Aqua Blue 
• Blue Note
• Le Vernis 
• Lilis 
• Azure 
• Bel-Argus
• Levres Scintillantes 
• Zephyr 
• Envolee 
• Eden
• Rouge Coco Shine 
• Idylle 
• Pygmalion
• Stylo Eyeshadow 
• Moon River 
• Cool Gold 
• Pink Lagoon 
• Jade Shore 
• Blue Ray 
• Black Stream
• Stylo Yeux Waterproof in True Blue

See lots more pictures after the jump!

Want It! Dior Birds of Paradise Collection for Summer 2013

I have to admit, I haven't been buying much make up lately, mostly been buying nail polish instead. The spring collections, except for a few, didn't really catch my eye, but having been looking at details of the upcoming summer collections, I've already got a long wishlist.

Today I want to show you the Dior summer collection called Birds of Paradise, full of very colourful, gorgeous, very summery products. The promo pictures are just beautiful, very eye catching.

I'm pretty sure I will want to get the eyeshadow quint used in the promo pictures and the Diorskin Nude Tan Paradise Duos look gorgeous too. I'm also eyeing up the metallic green polish (comes as a duo with the mint green one) and those Jelly Lip Pens look very promising too. There is also a waterproof liner that I don't seem to be able to find info on that looks gorgeous! What do you think?


Here are the details of the collection:

• Diorskin Nude Tan BB Cream
• Diorskin Nude Tan Paradise Duo 
• Coral Glow 
• Pink Glow
• Dior 5 Couleur Eyeshadow Palette  
• #434 Peacock 
• #374 Blue Lagoon
• DiorShow Mono Eyeshadow in #273 Parati
• 1 Couleur Eye Gloss 
• #740 Zenith 
• #530 Golden Sand
• Lip Maximizer Collagen Activ in #001 Pink
• Jelly Lip Pen 
• #516 Copacabana 
• #476 Ilhabela
• #636 Carioca
• #656 Gaia
• Dior Addict Lipstick 
• #771 Passionnee 
• #751 Exotique 
• #471 Flamingo 
• #431 On The Beach
• Dior Vernis Duo 
• Bahia (green and fuchsia) 
• Samba (metallic green and mint)

See lots 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!

Laura Mercier Rubellite Baked Eye Colour Review and Swatches

As well as the Pink Tourmaline Shimmer Bloc I also picked up Rubellite baked eyeshadow from Laura Mercier. I believe this was/is part of the Summer Jewels collection. This was more easily available than the Shimmer bloc, but I actually ordered it unseen from Harrods, as I'd already owned a few of these baked eyeshadows (check them out here), so I knew I was getting something good.

Rubellite is a gorgeous bright pink shade without shimmer, although it has a nice sheen to it. It's a baked formula, so it can be used wet and dry as well. I used it dry and it gave a good colour payoff. It was very smooth and buttery, and there wasn't much fall out from it either, the little that there was only happened during application. It remained bright and didn't crease on me all day (applied over primer).

Laura Mercier Baked Eye Colours are £18.50 each and you get 1.8 g for your money. The come in a mirrorless compact with a clear lid, so you see which shade you have straight away. I love the formula and the colour and I will definitely buy this in another shade if Ms Mercier releases more of them.

See more pictures including swatches after the jump!

Laura Mercier Pink Tourmaline Mosaic Shimmer Bloc Review and Swatches

I really like highlighters, the prettier the better (heck, I even named my blog after one!) and Laura Mercier's Shimmer Blocs are one of my favourites. I think the Orchid Mosaid Shimmer Bloc was one of my first high end make up purchases. So of course I was very happy to see that a new shade was released earlier this summer (in fact there were two, but I only got this one as the other one - Starlet - seemed a bit blah to me).

The shade I did get is Pink Tourmaline Mosaic and it consists of 4 shades: icy white, bright warm pink, light pinky beige and soft rosy pink. Mixed together the shades create a soft pink glow. It is quite frosty, but applied lightly it does give a very nice sheen to the skin. Of course the shades can also be used separately as eyeshadows, or you can swirl them together as highlighter while omitting one or two colours. The segments are not really big enough to be able to picked up individually with a blush brush, but a small one might work.

I believe this was part of the Cinema Noir collection just like Starlet Shimmer Bloc, but for some reason this seemed not to be available everywhere. I bought mine from Harrods actually, maybe they had it as an exclusive. It cost £31 and you get 6 g which is rather small actually, Bobbi Brown Shimmer Bricks are 10.3 g. That said there's only so much highlighter you can get through in a lifetime.

I'm sorry I never got around to taking pictures of me wearing the shimmer bloc, but I have swatches. Check them out after the jump!

Chantecaille The Coral Reefs Palette

As you probably know by now, I love Chantecaille's gorgeous powders and palettes, and every time a new one is released, I get very excited. Sadly these palettes are very expensive (this one retails for £73 - ouch!), so I tend to wait for them to pop up on eBay for usually about half the price. That is how I got hold of mine.

When I saw the promo pictures I instantly thought of the limited edition Coral powder that came out a few years ago. You can see it below on the right:

If you'd like to see pictures of my entire collection (as of December 2010), click here. Now onto this palette. Firstly, I apologise, but there won't be any swatches just yet. It's such a pretty thing, I'm not ready to destroy it yet. Yeah, I know, I'm crazy. Anyhow, the palette contains 3 shades of eyeshadows and one shade of blush. On top of each there is a raised coral pattern with gold overspray on top which should disappear after the first use. The compact itself is white with the same coral pattern and the word Chantecaille printed on it. Mine didn't come in a box. There is a full size mirror in the lid as well.

I now cannot wait for the Elephant Palette to make an appearance on eBay, although it is already available from Space NK for £74 if you want it right now.

See more pictures of the Coral Reefs Palette after the jump!

Giorgio Armani Eyes To Kill Silk Eyeshadows #27 and #28 Review and Swatches

Even though I'm very happy with my L'Oreal Infallible eyeshadows, that I have on many occasions compared to Giorgio Armani Eyes To Kill eyeshadows, I just couldn't resist picking up a couple of shades from the Armani summer collection. I bought shades #27 and #28 (I don't know if they actually have names at all).

These are so gorgeous! And not just gorgeous, but absolutely fantastic. Pigmented like crazy, long lasting, crease proof, the lot. Although I have never reviewed them on this blog, I already owned two of the permanent shades, #01 and #03. I have compared the L'Oreal Infallible eyeshadows to these, and if you don't have the money for Armani, definitely check them out because they are very worthy opponents. But these are something else. They swatch and apply smoothly and pack on loads of pigment, yet there is no fallout and they don't crease at all (I do use primer under eyeshadows though). They feel quite creamy, but they're more pressed powder like L'Oreal Infallibles, rather than bouncy jelly-like cream eyeshadows (Chanel Illusion D'Ombre). If I had to pick a favourite, these would have to be it.

The two shades I got are #27, a red-silver mix that applies taupy-purple, and #28, a warm gold with purple/burgundy flecks that applies purply-copper. Both are extremely pigmented, smooth, and lasted on me all day without creasing. I used #28 with a purple eyeliner and it looked so pretty (scroll down to the bottom of this post to see a picture). I didn't get around to taking pictures of #27 on my eyes, but it was equally pretty.

The eyeshadows come in a glass pot with a plastic lid and plastic stopper (like the L'Oreal Infallibles), and you get 4 g in each pot. Each eyeshadow costs £26 (ouch!) which is really quite steep, but there you go, it's Armani. I bought mine from Selfridges, but House of Fraser also sells them (these shades are not available on their website though). I'm planning on picking up #07 next.

Do you own any of these eyeshadows? Let me know which ones are your favourites!

See more pictures including swatches after the jump!

NOTD: Chanel Diwali Nail Polish

Today I have Chanel's exclusive limited edition nail polish, Diwali to show you. This came out with the Bombay Express collection and I've already showed it to you here, however now I have swatches as well.

Taken with flash

Diwali is a very pretty, light, almost silvery gold, looks like liquid gold on the fingers. The formula is nice, it's a bit on the runnier side, but not too much and this allows you to do thin coats. Opaque in two coats and dries quickly. The brush strokes aren't too noticeable, despite it being rather metallic. Unfortunately Chanel polishes really don't last on me at all long, this one chipped on me within 24 hours, and by 48 hours I had some rather big chips and pretty much on every finger. Nail polish doesn't last that long on me normally, but I would expect to get through a whole day without chipping.

It costs £18 for 13 ml, so it's not cheap, but it's Chanel, so there you go. The Chanel Bombay Express collection is available exclusively from Chanel boutiques, Harrods, Selfridges W1, Selfridges Manchester Exchange, House of Fraser Glasgow and Fenwick Newcastle. I ordered mine from Harrods, they charge £8.50 for shipping (ouch!).

See more pictures after the jump!

Guerlain Le 2 de Guerlain Mascara - 14 Blu 2 Pucci

This is the last product I picked up from the Guerlain summer collection. Possibly the most expensive mascara I own, but I love Guerlain's Le 2 mascara range so much, I think they are well worth the money. 14 Blu 2 Pucci is a beautiful purple-blue shade, very similar in colour to Riviera nail polish. Such a gorgeous, gorgeous shade, even if you don't "do" blue mascara, check this out.

If you don't know what's so different about Guerlain Le 2 mascaras, then let me explain. They're called Le 2 de Guerlain because they have two ends, one with spiky plastic bristles for the upper lasher that gives fantastic length and great volume to my thin, short lashes, and another little one with spiral bristles for the tiny lower lashes. The formula's lovely, doesn't clump, flake or smudge. These mascaras are not scented unlike the Noir G de Guerlain mascara, so may suit those better who don't like their eye make up scented. As I said these are one of my favourite mascaras.

Because this is a special edition colour, the mascara comes in a dark brown tube and you have the same Pucci prints inside the black outer box as you do with the other products in this collection. My pictures don't show the true colour, it's slightly more purple, but my camera is incapable of picking up purples sadly.

Guerlain Le 2 mascaras are pricy, they cost £25 and for that you get 7.6 ml which is a generous size. The summer collection is still available if you fancy picking this up for yourself.

See more pictures after the jump!