Chantecaille Firming Sun Cream SPF 30

Having very pale skin you would think sunscreen a must for me, however every sunscreen I have tried breaks me out. Enter Chantecaille Firming Sun Cream SPF 30.
Grace from http://www.londonmakeupgirl.com/ did a great review on this product and kindly posted the ingredients (for someone who has sensitive/acne prone skin, knowing the ingredients is essential, I’m very appreciative of blogs who post them).
This comes in a pot container and would appear as a thick cream, however it has an almost whipped texture and feels quite light on, it sinks in with ease and there is no sticky or greasy residue. I’ve worn this daily for a while and have had no breakouts or adverse reactions from it. On the days it has been really hot I have not turned into some greasy sweaty beast.
It would seem perfect but for one simple problem, its does not provide a moisturising enough base for my dehydrated skin. Used alone its perfect, when I go to apply foundation it goes on a bit uneven, patchy. The only product I can use on top of it is my RBR tinted moisturiser, however some days I need heavier coverage. I didn’t feel like I was getting the most from this so gave it to my mother who will benefit more from it as her skin is in much better condition than mine. So overall, despite the upsetting price (£77), I do think this is a really good product, it just wasn’t for me.

I bought this from SpaceNK

Guerlain Meteorites Perles Summer 2010:L’Instant d’Un Reve, L’Instant d’Une Emotion

Part of the Guerlain summer collection was the addition of 4 single shadows which will be permanent. I bought two shades, both £19 each.
L’Instant d’Un Reve is a slightly shimmery cool toned brown/taupe.
L’Instant d’Une Emotion is a dark slightly shimmery green charcoal.

Although both are pigmented and last really well, I did find them slightly difficult to blend in the crease compared to my other brands. I’m mostly using them as lids shades so this isn’t a problem for me but thought it worth mentioning. Blending aside, L’lnstant d’une Émotion is a really beautiful rich complex shade.
The other two shades I didn't get are L’Instant D’un Baiser, sheer frosty white peach and L’Instant D’Un Caresse, this looked better in the pan, when I swatched it I only got very sheer silver shimmer.

Chanel new Ombres Contraste Duo

Chanel has recently released their new duos (Ombres Contraste Duo) here in the UK. I was never impressed with the old Irreelle ones, the pigmentation was poor and they faded with ease.
Each duo contains a light shimmery shade and a darker matte one. I bought Taupe Delicat (£29), which contains a shimmery champagne and matte neutral brown. I have similar shades but what I like about this is the champagne does not apply warm on me. The compact comes with a tiny brush and sponge brush.
The texture is quite smooth, the colours blend well and it’s easy to build them up. As long as I use a primer the shades last well. However, whilst the texture is noticeably better than the Irreelle ones, I do not think this excels other my other favourite brands.
All the colours of the duos are good basics rather than unique shades. Ultimately I think you will likely have similar colours to the majority of the duos, however I do like having a duo of a shimmery and matte shade in the same compact and they are good no brainer shades to throw on should you be in a rush in the morning, so I do think these are worth a look.

Kjaer Weis: Eye Shadow and Lip Tint

If you read my last post about Kjaer Weis you will know I was extremely impressed with the eye shadow I bought. I ordered another eye shadow and a lip tint.
Eye shadow in Earthy Calm (£32) is a medium slightly chocolate brown with a slight sheen, it looked a bit warm in the pan but looks neutral on, it makes a really defining crease colour which pairs beautifully with my other shadow in Wisdom (Taupe). I do have quite a few neutral brown shadows but there is a certain depth to this that makes it stand out from my other ones.
The lip tints are available in three shades; I opted for the lightest one Dream State (£35). In hindsight I should have probably gone for one of the darker ones, this sheer peach nude tint is slightly out of my comfort zone, although it is surprising flattering on. The formula is really smooth, quite moisturising and the finish is a sheen that makes your lips look really moist. This has the same modern sleek jewellery style packaging as the eye shadow.
Swatches L-R: Earthy Calm, Wisdom, Dream State
There is a lot more from the range I want and although I have not read any reviews of the products, going by what I have bought so far I am confident in the quality and easy to wear colours enough that I’m sure the other things I buy will be just as impressive.

The range contains no parabens, synthetic colours/fragrances and is 95% organic. I bought my stuff from Space NK, who stock the range exclusively in the UK.

Laura Mericer Under Eye Perfecter

I’ve always had dark undereye circles that have worsened with age, coupled with the added bonus of dryness and puffiness I have never found the perfect eye concealer.
The Laura Mericer Under Eye Perfecter intrigued me, its marketed as “a unique cream designed to help conceal, awaken and provide complete coverage for even the most intense dark eye area”.
I had not seen any reviews of the product when I bought this, but this did not stop me ordering it online having never seen it (you’ll see this a common occurrence with a lot of my purchases).
It’s the same size as the secret concealer and the colour is a pigmented warm peachy rose. The texture is smooth and not overly creamy so it doesn’t go into any lines. To say I had my doubts is an understatement; as soon as I opened it I questioned my motivation for buying something called Mauve/Rose, in fact if I had to describe the worse sort of colour to exacerbate the darkness under my eyes this would probably be spot on.
So for your viewing delight I have taken a sequences of pictures for you, the first picture is with nothing on, the second with the eye Perfecter on one eye, the third with it blended in a bit and then the fourth picture with a normal coloured concealer placed over the top of both eye areas.
I would like to say at this point that it was not my intention to scare you and I do apologies if you have nightmares tonight of many eyes staring at you!
Are you thinking what I’m thinking? Not much difference? Honestly I’m not really seeing an improvement; I’ve had this product for a while now and have tried putting on a tiny amount as well but still nothing. If you have this and I’m applying it incorrectly please let me know, otherwise I’m going to concede that this is a dud for me.

Laura Mercier musings: Part 1

I’ve had quite a few Laura Mercier items in the past but have never been overly impressed by a single item enough to re-buy. I thought I’d re-visit the line since the eye shadows and blushers have been repackaged and the formula tweaked, to see if it made more of an impression.
I got the eye duo in Cocoa Rose (£18), could I have picked more boring colours, quite possibly not? It contains a matte white pink and matte dark brown. I was hoping the lighter side would be like the morning dew shade I used to like, but this has a bit too much pink to use as an all over base and not enough colour to use as a lid shade. The texture is however smooth, quite pigmented and blends nicely. The darker colour is very muddy on me, not enough depth to use as a liner but looks very unflattering in the crease, exacerbated by the difficult to blend texture. I’m not sure why the textures of the two shades feel so different but this is a definite miss for me.

On a more positive note, I got a blusher in Orange blossom (£20), it’s a really pretty shimmery peachy/gold pink, it’s more sheer and shimmery on that I thought it would be but it is a nice flush of colour and lasts extremely well.
I got one of the new Satin finish lipsticks in Pink Cocoa (£18). The pigmentation of this browned rose is really good, it lasts quite well but is a bit drying. Unfortunately it looks really off on me, I think perhaps it has a bit of warmth to it, which clashes against my cool tones.
So overall somewhat disappointing, I also bought some of the base products including the new under eye perfector that I’ll be reviewing shortly.

Here's my last guest blogger post at Zuneta, it’s been a really fun experience. I've done a post about Rouge Bunny Rouge lipsticks, minus my “Word of Mouth” one which seems to have gone missing, really hope that my little boy hasn’t hidden it somewhere, his eyes seem to light up when he sees my RBR!

http://www.zuneta.com/blog/?p=1098

Guerlain Meteorites Collection Perles Summer 2010: Part 1

The Guerlain Meteorites Collection Perles Summer 2010 has quite a soft, natural romantic feel about it.

The main attractions are probably the new limited edition eye quad and the newly revamped Meteorites powders so I’ll start with those first (yes, I did buy more that I should have).

The Ombre Perlees quad (£36.00) contains a matte pinked white, matte very pale lilac grey, matte warm ceramic rose and slightly shimmery taupe. It has a white shimmery over spray over the left side, shaped like a flower, so I've taken a picture of what it looks like when the overspray is off.
It has good pigmentation, and what you see in the pan is what you get once applied, I think I put the colours on a bit heavy at first thinking they would be really sheer and the look was somewhat stark! They blend well and it’s easy to create a soft natural look, I think this will probably work best on those neutral/cool toned.


I’ve had never tried the rated Meteorites face powders, with this summer collection Guerlain has enhance the formulation/colours and they now come house in a metal container. I bought Harmony 01 – Teint Rosé (£33) as it’s aimed at people with pink/cool undertones. It’s meant to “brighten; diminish redness even out your complexion whilst adding radiance”. For me I’d say it does add a subtle glow/radiance, Its nice to have but its not one of my must haves.
Ingredients:
I also bought some of the singles shadows and lipsticks from the collection that I’ll be reviewing shortly.

KJAER WEIS: First impressions

KJAER WEIS is a new brand, created by a New York-based Danish make-up artist called Kirsten Kjaer Weis. The range contains no parabens, synthetic colours/fragrances and is 95% organic.
It’s a small line consisting of eye shadows (4 shades), lip tints (3 shades) and cream blush (3 shades). Each product is priced at £32-£38 but you can buy refills for a much cheaper price (£13-£18).

Colour wise I think it’s more of a natural suits all range. I emailed the company directly for colour descriptions of the eye shadows and got a quick reply:
Cloud Nine: Cream, that is good as a base.
Wisdom: Taupe, beautiful mix of gray, brown and purple
Earthy calm: Brown, good for adding depth and shading to the eye
Onyx: dark gray, almost black.

Naturally I bought Wisdom (£32). The description they gave is spot on, the finish is neither matte, nor overly shimmery, just has a really pretty sheen to it.
The eye shadow blends perfectly and stays on without creasing.

The weighty metal Compact with its white enamelled logo is beautiful. I have never seen anything like it and it feels truly unique and modern, almost like a piece of jewellery. The compact is roughly 3x3.5cm. Each compact comes housed in a red lacquered textured box.

I’ve since gone and ordered some more items, the quality of the product combined with the luxurious packaging is enough of an enticement for me and I feel like its an exciting range and definitely a brand to watch out for. I’ll make sure to review them as soon as possible as I appreciate at this price you really want to look at reviews/see swatches if you are ordering on-line.
I bought my items from Space NK who is their only UK stockist (I think you can only get the range in the UK and Denmark, although I think the Space NK UK website does ship internationally).

GIVEAWAY WINNER

My giveaway for the Hourglass Prodigy Lipgloss closed at 5:00 PM today, I used the custom random number generator and got 5, which is Nina (inthesweetshop). Congratulations Nina, if you could email me your address please at replica.visionarybeauty@googlemail.com I'll get it sent out to you asap.

Guest Blogging at Zuneta.com

I'm guest blogging at Zuneta again today, this time about Hourglass cosmetics. You can see my post here: http://www.zuneta.com/blog/?p=1047

UNE Natural Beauty: Final thoughts

After my initial Une purchase I decided to go out and take advantage of the 3 for 2 at Boots again.
I got the following eyeshades (£8.99 each), Sfumato 09 (brown), Nude eyes 13 (warm brown nude, cream shadow). Glimmer eyes 16 (really pretty shimmer infused slightly golden brown, cream shadow).
Picture L-R: 09,13,16
Swatches L-R S13 (this was the shadow I bought previously),S09,N13,G16
Unfortunately the cream shades crease on me, with or without a base. The powder shadows, although they are not that pigmented they do blend and last well. Although I like natural shades, I think there is potential for these to look a bit murky/sludgy.

I got Lip toned colour Lipsticks in shades L02,L06,L07 (£7.99 each). The colours are basically different tones of natural lip colour. L02 is a nude pink,L06 is a warmer pink ,L07 is deeper and more brown based pink/rose.
If your searching for a “your lips but better colour” its definitely worth taking a look at these, I don’t think they exceed my other lipsticks but for the price they are quite good. They are quite creamy and lasting ability is average. In terms of all the Une products I have bought these had the best pigmentation.
Picture Top to Bottom:L07,L02,L06
Swatches L-R: L07,L06,L02 and S03 that I bought previously.
In hindsight I wished I had just got the Two-tone lipsticks instead of all the other stuff, but the 3 for 2 offer was just screaming at me. As such if you are going to try something from the range I’d recommend them. Although I like the concept of the range, I can’t help feeling they would fare better with adding a few more colours to the line up, instead of falling into the natural ingredients must equate to natural/neutral colours of makeup, as I do feel like a lot of the colours are extremely similar to each other.

Dior Diorshow Extase Mascara

Dear DiorShow Extase Mascara,

You promised so much, with your great reviews of intense volume and thickness and you certainly looked the part with your fancy swirled brush head but what did you really give me? I’ll tell you, clumps, you may have added a bit of length and lift but its meaningless with that much clumping. Its not like I didn’t try to make it work, I wiped off the excess before applying, I even tried just applying you once, but it made no difference.
It’s only been a short time but it's not working out and I’m afraid I’m throwing you out in the trash.

Good Riddance,

Replica

P.S I’d like my £21.50 back please.

GIVEAWAY: Hourglass

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This is my first giveaway in honour of reaching 100 followers. By way of thanks I have bought an Hourglass Prodigy Lipgloss in the shade Hypnotic, this was a shade that was on my list to buy so thought I may as well buy you something that I want :)
Its described as a metallic Burgundy with a hint of bronze, it certainly looks different in the tube so who ever wins it, I'll be interested to know how the colour applies on.
Here are the rules:
1.To enter you must be one of my followers and just submit a comment on this post.
2.The giveaway will close on the 9th June 2010 5pm UK time, and the winner will be picked via one of those random number generator things. I'll annonce the winner on my blog so that you can email me your address details.

This is open to all countries, as I know quite a lot of my followers are not UK based.

Good Luck x
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