Chanel lipsticks descriptions and pictures

These are some of my Chanel lipstick reviews/descriptions that I have taken off MUA so thought I’d post them here after a bit of a re-jig.
Rouge Allures are creamy and long lasting but do have quite a heavy feel, I do like the formula but I just haven’t found a really flattering shade in the range yet for me.
I really like Aqualumiere's, they are Chanel's sheer lipsticks, they are quite lightweight and have slip to them.
I’m not to keen on the hydrabase formula, as its rather dry so with the darker shades the colour tends to migrate into any little lines and can go on a bit uneven.

Rouge Allure:

Delicate 01: Its a nude pinky/peachy beige.
Silhouette- a medium rose with a mauve undertone. For me the colour is slightly too mauve and the finish of this shade is quite flat. Below is a pic
Evanescent 37: sheer to medium shimmery peach. A bit too peach for my cool toned skin .If you like shades like Nars viva las Vegas, but want the peach tone a notch up this is worth a try.

Troublant:sheer pinky beiged brown, great neutral shade but LE
Chic:I thought this would be a deep rosey brown, but it goes on way too brown on me.
Charisma 41: If I apply this very sheer I get a nice shimmery medium peach with a slight coral undertone, however this shade easily turns into a Strong coral orange peach on me if applied normally, best for warm toned girls.

Precious 39:medium vivid raspberry that can lean to fuchsia , this looks too bright and garish on me.

Prodigious 40:medium shimmery raspberry rose on me, slightly brighter than I'm use too.
Admirable 42: sheer natural shimmery soft pink. This is not a light bubblegum type pink nor is it too sheer that it washes my complexion out.
Ardent 62. In the tube this looks like a medium pinky peach with gold shimmer. When I tried it at home in natural light I get a peach with gold shimmer with a slight leaning towards orange if I apply too heavily
Rose Blossom 107: medium slightly bright cool toned shimmery pinky rose (more heavy on the pink). Picture below,
Flash Quartz 43: medium shimmery rose with a beige almost bronze undertone making it lean slightly to the warm side. The lipstick does have a more intense shimmery overlay, which is on the surface only, as below

Aqualumiere

Panarea: slightly shimmery sheer/medium brown with a slight berry tone
Stromboli is a rich plummy burgundy with gold shimmer.
Ischia: shimmery pinky mauve
Catalina 82: this is a medium reddish plum with golden shimmer, on me this leans slightly more red than plum but I think this is one of those shades that will vary quite a bit depending on lip pigmentation.
Aqualumiere Yucatan:hard to describe,slightly mauvey, pinky brown,but its not a really cold shade.This was one of my favourite shades but I dropped it down the loo when doing my makeup ( I kid you not) so it went in the bin, keep meaning to buy another one of these.
Aqualumiere Stresa:in the tube it looks like a very bright cool toned pink. Once on it’s very sheer and has an unusual icy (slightly blue toned) iridescence to it. Definitely cool toned, Stresa is great for a sheer wash of pink with a bit of difference about it
Rouge Hydrabase

Fantastic Plum: True to its name this is a deep plum matte shade. I thought I could wear this more as a stain however I find the colour changes on me and more of a pink/fuchsia tone shows through which looks rather bright.
Wild Tulip: shimmery mauvey rose,really nice shade, shame it was in the Hydrabase formula.

Closer look at most recent Rouge Bunny Rouge order.

Here are the swatches of my most recent RBR order. The eyeshadows are 'Angelic Cockatiels' (shimmery warm peachy/honey nude),'Periwinkle Cardinal' (shimmery moss green, with silver and gold tones) 'A Major - fis Minor' (very sheer gold and a muted cool toned brown).

Lipsticks in 'Know What Lies Are For' (neutral nude/beige with a touch of brown). I don't tend to go for this type of colour as they usually make me look like I have had all the life sucked out of me, but this shade is really wearable. 'Tongue Tickles', a sheer shimmery neutral pink; the shimmer in this is silver (this is the sheer formula and feels a bit more balm like).

Lastly, liquid highlighter in 'Sea Of Showers', which is a beautiful warm champagne glow and my swatch does not do it justice. This is similar to Armani fluid sheer #2, but more pigmented and without the noticeable micro glitter. Armani fluid sheers were my favourite liquid highlighter, but having worn the RBR almost every day since I got it, I can say that I do think it's better than my Armani and although the price (£45) is more that what I would normally pay I will buy more of these.


Once again I really like all these products and RBR seems to be a real winner for me. Their products can be bought from Zuneta.com

Illamasqua lip palette review

I thought I’d review the colours and post swatches of my lip palette featured in my “more Illamasqua” post.
First off, I will say that as soon as I opened it I knew I hadn’t made the best choices, 'Plunge' is a true bright cool toned bubblegum pink, 'Welt' is a bold fuchsia, 'Test' is a dusty pinky brown (perhaps the safest colour to order unseen) and 'Submit' is a true beige nude (no pink/peach undertones here). For me 'Plunge' and 'Welt' are too much for my complexion but I do really like 'Test' and 'Submit'. All these shades are Matte.
In terms of texture Illamasqua aren’t kidding when they say they are pigmented, they also last really well; the only thing is they are not a moisturising lipstick so if you do suffer from dry lips you would definitely need to wear a balm underneath I think.
The palette itself is a bit bulky but the mirror is a nice inclusion and if you can't decide what lipstick to choose its a good option. I think there is talk that they are getting rid of the powder eyeshadow palette so hopefully this won't include the other ones they offer.
Swatches L-R: Plunge,Welt,Test,Submit

Rituals:Home and Body Cosmetics

Whilst on a lunch break I noticed a Rituals store; I’d never heard of this brand before so thought I’d investigate. Rituals is a kind of spa brand, they sell body products, skincare, makeup and stuff for the home (laundry care, robes, tea). I instantly went towards the body section, which is divided up into three ranges; refreshing, energising and relaxing. I have really sensitive skin and have tried the cheap (Boots own brand) to the expensive (Jo Malone) in body care, and lots of the more “pure” brands such as Green people; the best brand for me is Fresh.
I am pleased to say that Rituals does not irritate my skin, scent wise they are not cloying, or overly sweet/artificial, just simple clean fresh scents.
In terms of ingredients these contain the normal ones so no paraben free, 100% organic products here, I'm afraid.
They also seem to have promos on regularly, (free products, 25% of certain items) which is a good incentive. What’s nice is that you come out the store feeling that you have treated yourself, but not with the nasty price tag.
I think my only complaint is the strange large open wicker tray they gave me when I asked for a basket, that was a rather edgy balancing act I can tell you!
So whilst I wasn’t blown away I think for the price range (shower foams are £6.25) its well worth picking up a few things when they have a promo on.
At the moment I think these are a European/UK based brand, here’s their website

http://www.rituals.com/

Makeupalley rant

I've been a member of makeupalley since 2002 so I was somewhat surprised to receive a email from productvilleadmin telling me that my Illamasqua eyeshadow descriptions were not appropriate and they had removed it. I had simply posted a list of eyeshadow descriptions, nothing more and I had already had 20 people mark it helpful. Well in a childish strop I sat there and delted all 300+ of my reviews and have now removed the majority of my pictures. I feel like I have put in a lot of effort on that site and to have something deleted just like that, and considering some of the reviews that are allowed to stay on there, it's really unfair. Rant over...

Illamasqua eyeshadow descriptions Part 2

This is the second part of my Illamasqua eyeshadow descriptions/review. As I mentioned in Part 1, although Illamasqua make the best range of Matte shades in my opinion, there are a few shades that I have found a bit difficult to work with so I have marked them down here.

Deity-neutral cream base shade (my staple all over base)
Succumb-sheer peach
Vanian-sheer shimmery white (the texture is a bit hard, yet you can pick up colour better than you can from Gasp)
Spectre-opaque subtle pinked grey
Gasp-sheer shimmery beige highlighter (hard texture so not good colour payoff)
Slink -shimmery champagne gold
Feel -neutral dulled beige/brown
Dizzy-dirty warmed pink (this does not apply uniformly, seems patchy)
Feint- medium warm pinky brown with a rosey undertone (same texture as Dizzy)
Truth- medium slightly plummy brown
Forgiveness-warm rich rosey plum brown

Once again I have pictures in past posts of the shadows before I used them and I have done some new swatches below, this time a bit heavier.

Swatches L-R: Deity,Succumb,Vanian,Spectre, Gasp, Slink,Feel, Dizzy, Feint, Truth, Forgiveness. Please click to enlarge

Chanel Fall 2009 collection

Somehow the money I put aside for something unrelated to makeup got spent on a few Chanel fall items today, its funny how that happens, still I was having a bad day…
I remember the days when I used to buy the majority of items from a Chanel release but of late I rarely buy from them, the fall collection, which I thought I would really like, is no different.
I only ended up with three things. Rouge allures in Intuitive (warm mix of caramel pink beige) and Amusing (raspberry rose). Both these shades looked a lot nicer in the store than they do now I have them at home. Swatches are L-R Intuitive, Amusing.

I also picked up the Murano quad. Chanel latest quads seem more pigmented than they used to be and I finally got my pale minty shimmery green in Murano after being disappointed by a similar shade in the Garden party quad that was devoid of pigment on me. The other shades Murano contains is a medium green with gray tones, deep smoky green and a highlighter pink. All the colours apply true to colour on me; the only colour I am not keen on is the pink as its too sparkly. So all in all I wasn't overly impressed, roll on Illamasqua fall collection………………………..

UPDATE:WORE THE QUAD AGAIN TODAY, GOT QUITE A LOT OF COLOUR FADE EVEN WITH A BASE :(

More Rouge Bunny Rouge

I seem to have gone on some crazy makeup binge this month and had to get my Husband to buy this for me ( unfortunately I have to pay him back) . I really like Rouge Bunny Rouge and I don't really think you could go that wrong with them.
I had to get a liquid highlighter as Grace London and Mizzworthy had rated these. I decided on Sea Of Showers after seeing how pretty it looked on Mizzworthy and having ran out of my Armani fluid sheer #2, which it looked similar too. I've only tried it once but I think we have a contender for Armani fluid sheers . This shade gives a healthy champagne golden glow. I'll do a more thorough review on these items shortly but for now the only downside is the price (£45).
I got 3 more eyeshadows, A Major - fis Minor (very sheer golden beige/muted brown), Angelic Cockatiels (shimmery honey nude), Periwinkle Cardinal (shimmery green, with silver and gold tones).
Lastly I got two more lipsticks, Tongue Tickles, sheer shimmery neutral pink ( this is the sheer formula) and Know What Lies Are For (a wearable neutral nude/beige).
I got good service again from Zuneta.com, free Korres promo sized shower gel and some skincare samples.

Illamasqua eyeshadow descriptions Part 1

I’d thought I’d update my eyeshadow descriptions as I have quite a few now. These are how the colours are on me and for reference I am pale (shade L120) and cool toned. Going through some makeup boards and blogs there does seem to be a bit of a backlash about the formula/texture differences with the shadows and I do agree that a few are not on par with others, so I will note these shades in Part 2 ( all the shades listed below have a good texture/colour payoff for me) I will also post descriptions of my other shades.
Even taking this into account, out of the many brands I have tried, Illamasqua make the best matte shades in my opinion.

Fallen -true cool toned purple
Cancan -bright purple/pink/violet
Courtesan-pale pinky purple
Geisha - pale opaque cool pink
Creep- true sheer violet
Wonder-medium mix of blue/violet
Venus - cornflower blue
Fiasco - deep cool toned teal (leading more to blue than green)
Echo-true grey
Soul -shimmery silver
Heroine, a warm medium brown
Cream shadow in Touch –slightly warm cream base colour.

Illamasqua give good descriptions of their products so here are some they gave me but please note these are not shades I own.

#Shiver - is an irridescent/ shimmer shot highlighter colour that has a slight undertone of yellowy gold.
#Rapture - A very unique purple/pink/blue Its quite dark so would be good for contouring with pink or purple shades
Cream shadows
#Hunger- all-over highlighter, shot through with a pinky gold
#Thief - A dark grey with a slight purple undertone
#Wail - A mid-toned bluey grey
#Spark - More of a brown/ nude - darker than touch

I have pictures in past posts of the shadows ( nice and new before I used them) . I have re-done my swatches again this time applying them a bit heavier to hopefully give a better reflection of the colours.

Swatches L-R: Fallen, Cancan, Courtesan , Geisha, Creep,Wonder, Venus, Fiasco, Echo, Soul. Please click to enlarge.

Sisley lipstick review

I have finally got round to swatching my Sisley lipsticks. First up we have Rouge à Lèvres Hydratant Longue Tenue in shade L14. I thought this was a neutral pinky brown in the store, but applied it has a very strong mauve tone to it and is really not flattering on me. The formula is creamy but slightly dry. Pigmentation is good and it does last well but it feels quite heavy on, its also highly scented.
Next up I got a Phyto-Lip Shine in shade sheer burgundy 6. In the tube this looks like a dark berry red, once applied it appears rather bright yet it quickly fades into a medium berry red. It feels quite moisturising and does not have a lot of slip to it which a lot of other brands sheer lipsticks do. Lastabilty isn’t really good although it does leave behind a slight stain, but that’s due to the colour rather than formula I think. Sisley claim that “Dry lips are soothed and repaired” To be honest I haven’t noticed any more improvement than I would from any moisturising balm like lip product. This one has a scent as well but its not as strong.
For the price (I think around £22-£26 each) I don’t think these are worth it and you are not getting anything better than you would from other high-end brands like Armani, Chanel, Chantecaille and Rouge Bunny Rouge. I do like the Sisley eyeshadows I have but I didn’t have good experiences at their counter, and given that there are so many great brands out there I’m inclined to take my money elsewhere.
Swatches are sheer burgundy left and L14 on the right.

Illamasqua brushes part 2

Overall I’m very impressed with Illamasqua brushes and am pleased that they will be expanding the range. I definitely can see them competing with MAC brush wise.

I own 7 of the brushes and here are my thoughts on the last three I have.

Powder brush, like the blusher brush 1 this is really soft but also surprising dense. It applies powder seamlessly and it works well with highlighter powders. This got mizzworthy’s seal of approval and I have to agree, and would even go to say that this is the best powder brush I have had.

Eye shadow brush, I’m not so please with the brush, compared to my MAC 239 this is softer but this equates to it not being able to pack on the colour as well, so unless you want to apply a sheer layer I wouldn’t recommend this one.

Eyebrow brush, this is an angled brush. I have heard that some prefer this as a liner brush but I find the head too big for that. It quite stiff but not rough and is perfect for using with brow powder.

Givenchy Les Poetiques

I don’t usually buy Givenchy but I was intrigued by the fall collection after seeing a picture of the Prismissime Eyes in Poetique Blues. Having bought a few Givenchy eyeshadows in the past I wasn’t expecting much in pigmentation and I cannot say that Poetique Blues is any different. However I am not disappointed. It combines sheer shimmery shades with varying hues of cool toned blues,violets,and silvers. Best used as lid shades and highlighters.
Naturally I wasn’t able to just buy one thing so also picked up the Poudre Libre in Poetique Orchid which is a loose powder quartet of apricot, beige, soft yellow and white (the white contains fine glitter). I will have to try this out more as I think it may not have been the best buy for my highly sensitive skin but for now the shades work well for a soft glow, although I will say I find it hard to use the shades separately so just use them all mixed together.
Finally I got the Parad’Eyes Liner in Poetique Lavender; this is a really beautiful dark shimmery almost metallic cobalt blue with a slight touch of violet. It terms of application its easy to create a fine line but I don’t think the brush deposits the colour seamlessly and I do prefer my Chantecaille liquid eye liner. That said, I would buy this again for the colour alone (swatch in lower right corner).

Rouge Bunny Rouge Eyeshadow review and swatches

Alabaster starling, is a Metallic cool white with a slight silver tone, at first I thought this would be too OTT for everyday wear but have found I’m using it a lot as an inner eye highlight or placed in the middle of the lid

Bejewelled Skylark- had I seen this in person I would not have bought it as in the pan it looks very warm with a red undertone, the shade I would normally avoid on my cool toned PPP complexion, but applied it’s a rich deep chocolate-brown, with a iridescent copper tone running through it, I love this as a crease shade or as a liner

Delicate Hummingbird, is a iridescent cool toned medium plum.

Gracious Arasari is a nude beige with a slight pink tone, unlike my other 4 shadows I noticed that when I swatched it with my finger it did not feel as smooth, however I haven’t noticed any difference when applying it to my eye area. I really like this as a lid colour for a no fuss look.

Solstice Halcyon is a glowy neutral toned medium brown/taupe with a hint of mauve, great on the lid or in the crease.

I really like all of these shades and really rate what I have tried so far from RBR. The eyeshadows are smooth on, pigmented and last well.

RBR is available from Zuneta.com. If you have any queries about their stuff you can always contact Zuenta and they respond really quickly and are very helpful .
Need more encouragement to fall for RBR ? There are some great reviews and pictures of RBR on http://londonmakeupgirl.blogspot.com/ and http://mizzworthy.blogspot.com/

Swatches L-R: Gracious Arasari, Bejewelled Skylark, Delicate Hummingbird, Alabaster starling and Solstice Halcyon.

Illamasqua, winners and a bad loser

Well I guess I must have bad timing, I placed an order from Illamasqua for the eye cake liner and sealing gel for £16 but ended up with just the cake liner for £14. I checked the site and unfortunately it does look like they have taken the combo off so you have to buy them separately.
I have always had a problem with powder eyeshadow when used as a liner,transferring at the end of the day onto my lid so it looks like I have a strange line slightly above my crease. Well I'm happy to report that the cake liner in Mislead stays put. When used dry it's a rather timid black so it's best to use with water to get a more intense look.
Next up I got another cream blush in Dixie. This looks quite bright in the pan but it's easily sheered out on the skin to your required colour intensity. Its a peachy pink coral and really looks great on the lips as well. The cream blushes have a lot of slip to them but really stay put. Swatch below.

I had to get nail polish in Baptise after all the raves and it doesn't disappoint. A deep sparkly true purple.
Lastly I decide to try an eye brow cake. I have golden blond hair and rather sparse light eyebrows. Peek looked a bit dark on the site so I opted for Instinct. Upon receiving it my initial thought was "eeeeeeeeeeeww" surely this warm toned yellow wouldn't work, well it didn't, it applies exactly like it looks in the pan. I can attest to its staying powder as it didn't budge all day but the colour is so bad. I really cannot recommend this shade; perhaps if you have red hair or are a really pale blond, but I still have my doubts, so I think this may end up in the bin.

MAC Style Snob

I tend to gets a few things here and there from MAC rather than the majority of a collection. I checked out the new collections for this month and only came away with the eyeshadow in Style snob. I already have Grand entrance and Smoke & Diamonds from their previous release and like the formula, which is pigmented and applies well. Style snob is a medium taupey pinky brown with shimmer. It’s a very wearable shade for those both cool and warm. I wasn’t impressed with anything else in the collections but if you like your neutrals and all forms of taupe this is a good one to check out.

Fighting the Frizz!

I have always had hair prone to frizziness which has now been compounded by my one year old boy who delights in pulling my hair. This has left me with very unmanageable broken bits looking like I’m trying to start a new trend for a very strange sparse little fringe, not good! To compound this, my hair seems to get humongous at the hint of any humidity and the straitening that I had done in the morning is completely undone.
After buying a lot of different products to try and regain some sort of control I have a couple of raves.
First off Redken - Smooth Down Detangling Cream. This comes in a large tube and you only need to use a tiny amount, apply to the lengths and ends of towel dried hair and style as normal. This smooths my hair down and makes it look less big and seems to fight off the humidity effects.
Second we have Alterna Caviar Anti-Aging Rapid Repair Spray, I warn you this costs £26.50 for a 100ml spray but it was used on me at the hairdressers and I was so impressed I had to buy it. This is a lightweight spray that you use on dry hair. For me it makes my hair look more shiny, brighter and calms down any frizzies and makes split ends/broken bits look less visible.

So after trying a lot of similar products from a wide range of brands these two are the ones that work the best for me. They do what I want without making my hair look greasy and give me no product build up.

Illamasqua brushes part 1

As any makeup addict will know you tend to accumulate lots of brushes over the years. I am very picky with brushes and do tend to buy from mid to high end as I have not found a brand from the drugstore I like. As I was on an Illamasqua kick I decided to try one of their brushes. Initially hesitant as they were synthetic, after using my first one I quickly acquired more.

I am very impressed with the way they deposit the product, the softness (never scratchy) and that they haven’t shed at all on me so far.

First up I have the Lip brush. This lip brush is really good, firm but not so that its uncomfortable, much better than my NARS one, I predominately bought this to use with my lip quad but have been using it with my intense glosses as well.

Next I have Blusher Brush 1, this so far is my stand out brush. Its quite densely packed so applies less pigmented products (like MAC beauty powders) easily. It’s also the softest blusher brush I have had and a great size, I much prefer it to my MAC #116, #187 and Bobbi Brown blusher brush. I also find its great for applying liquid foundation, buffing it in really well, giving me a better effect than the #187.

I also have the Eye Liner Brush, this is quite firm and has quite a long tip. I can create a medium or more bold line with not much effort but I have not mastered a fine line with this brush yet, so for me this is not a must have.

Lastly there is the Blending Brush 1, size wise this is like a between of MAC 222 and 224, great as a blender, applying crease colour or even applying an all over wash and applying powder to the under eye area to set concealer.

So overall I am very pleased and hope that Illamasqua will expand their brush range. I have some more of their brushes which I’ll write about shortly.