Les Tentations de Chanel Holiday 2010

Although Chanel’s holiday collections are never my favourite releases from the brand, I was drawn in by the promo image paring bright pinks with a smoky brown eye.
Tweed Fuchsia blush (£31) is a deep very cool toned pink.
It looks intense and very bright in the pan/when swatched, however it does apply more naturally when used with a brush, although on my very pale skin I apply it very lightly. I also picked up Tweed pink (not from the holiday collection).
I have swatched them together to compare the intensity of the colour.
The colours are not necessarily unique although I will say these last extremely well and I have no colour fade at all.
Here are the ingredients:
The Ombres d’Eau Fluid Eyeshadow (£21.50) in shade Splash is a beautiful medium taupe.
Although I use to have quite a few of the Fluid Eyeshadows, I had forgotten how quickly they dry. I do not have enough time to blend it before it sets, my friend suggested using a flat brush to pick up the colour and layering to get a more even application, and whilst this method is a fast improvement I still feel that the edges look a bit patchy.
I really did want to get the Tentation Cuivree Quad, however I wasn’t impressed with the fall quad eye shadow formula so common sense prevailed in the end.. that's not to say I won’t succumb at some point..

L'Occitane Fleur Cherie Lipstick Rose Sequins

Fleur Cherie is L’Occitane's second seasonal makeup collection launched this year. I would say the whole collection is wearable for those preferring the more natural look. Colours are delicate so don't expect intense pigmentation. I picked up the Lipstick in Rose Sequins (£12.50).
Its packaged in a cardboard tube and has a hydrating, balmy texture, great for the winter months when you want that bit of comfort. The colour I bought is a sheer, slightly warmed glossy pink, a pretty everyday colour although it does not last long.
All the products have a orange blossom scent which is something I am not overly keen on personally, that said it is quite subtle and does seem to disappear after the initial application. I don't think its a collection I would say to go out of your way to get but if you happen to be getting something else from L’Occitane ( I always seem to around Christmas) then its worth having a look (I did like the look of Ruban Rouge Lipstick, which swatched as a sheer red with a bit of pop to it).

BY TERRY: ROUGE TERRYBLY LIPSTICK

I consider By Terry a high end/luxury brand, so I was somewhat surprised when they launched the Terrybly collection recently of even more luxurious products with a price to match. I have read more about the naming of the collection and price of it rather than actual reviews, however I am always of the mind set that I would rather have one thing of superior quality/performance, than 2 things that are just average, so this collection did pique my interest.
I wanted to get one of the blushers however emailing SpaceNK for the ingredients was a fruitless task so instead I opted for one of the lipsticks. I chose Plumping Nude as I assumed by the name it would be a wearable shade.
Priced at £30 this is within the realms of what I would normally pay for a lipstick.
Plumping nude is a warm toned deep peachy nude with a hint of rose.
On application the pigment and richness of colour was extremely impressive. Coverage is almost opaque and the colour applies smoothly and lasts well.
The lipstick is meant to volumise, plump and firm (its marketed as an anti ageing lipstick) containing active ingredients that are meant to prevent thinning of the lips. I’ve only had this lipstick for a week so cannot attest to any anti ageing properties.
Here are the ingredients (picture will enlarge):
It feels comfortable on, however I would not say it feels particular moisturising. Please note this does have a fragrance.
The warmth of this shade prevents it from being one of my favourite colours but I am impressed with the length of wear and colour payoff. If someone posts some pictures/swatches of the lipsticks I will likely buy another and if SpaceNK ever get back to me with the ingredients of the blushers and they are ok for my acne prone skin I may well end up with one.
I do wonder if the online based sells of By Terry cosmetics suffers due to the lack of coverage of the brand, I know that I come across very few reviews and I think the majority of people (unlike myself) will not just take a punt on a high end product without seeing swatches, picture or reviews of it first.
I bought this online from SpaceNK.

Laura Mercier Colour Wardrobe Holiday 2010

Part of LM holiday offerings, the Colour Wardrobe gives you a feast of shades. You get eye shadows in (L-R) Chocolate (cool toned shimmery/sparkly cocoa ), Sable (gentle shimmered greyed taupe), Twinkling Star (very sheer sparkly champagne), Stellar (gentle shimmered nude champagne ), Tiger's Eye (sheer sparkly bronze)and Baroque (gentle shimmered warm, peach sand).
The Sequin Eye Colour formula (Twinkling Star and Tiger's eye) do not have good colour payoff and have a harder texture, I found I had to either use a densely packed brush or scrape a bit of the top layer off to get the required application, however the colours are really pretty its just these two require a bit of work.
Swatches are in same order as palette:
You also get three blushers in the top layout, L-R: Spice (warm browny terracotta), Apricot Blossom (delicate peach with a touch of pink) and Lotus (cool toned candy pink ).
All the shades have a slight shimmer. I find that although they layer with ease LM blushers are not pigment intense, this works well for me as I found all three shades wearable.
Swatches are in same order:
In the Bottom Layer you have the lip stains and Lip glaces . I have never tried lip stains before but I am impressed with the coverage and pigmentation and they last quite well, I would definitely re-buy Shy pink.
Top Row: Mulberry (deep berry red), Hibiscus (pink/rose ), Shy Pink (Nude pink), Plum Lip Glaze (sheer plum).
Bottom row: English Rose (warm rose), brick Red (rosy red), Mocha (brown with hint of red) and Naked lip glaze (very light nude/beige).
Here are the ingredients and what the front of the palette looks like:
This cost me £50 and for the amount of product you get and variety of shades I think this is a good buy. It gives classic shades that I think are wearable whether you are cool or warm toned, also worth mentioning is that the 2 brushes that come with it seem to be of good quality. If you don’t already have similar shades this might be a nice addition to your collection.

Eve Lom Morning Time Cleanser

In an attempt to find a cheaper alternative to my much loved Snowberry cleanser I turned to the new Eve Lom Morning Time Cleanser (£35).
The texture is quite thick but does not feel particularly grainy. This removes makeup extremely well and skin is left feeling soft with no tightness but nor with any residue.
The product comes housed in a tube, with a twistable cap that deposits the product. You apply it to dry skin, leave on for 2-3 minutes (to allow the exfoliating papaya fruit enzymes to work), then rinse it off.
It was all going so well but I started getting some lumps under my skin due to irritation. I stopped using it, waited till my skin had calmed down then went back to it and got the same issues.
Here are the ingredients:
As with all my skincare reviews I have to say that I have very acne prone/sensitive skin and in terms of the amount of skincare products I have bought over the years I have an extremely low success rate.
I do recommend this cleanser if you have skin that is either normal/combination or dry and don't have major issues with acne/sensitivity as the performance of it was impressive.
I have since given this to my mother as she has no skin problems. For cleansing I'm currently finishing off my Nude Skincare products which I'll review soon and I'm about to start using elemental herbology which I am very excited about.

Chanel Ombres Contraste Duo Misty Soft

Misty Soft is my second Chanel Ombres Contraste Duo and I noticed its being promoted with this year's Holiday collection.
Each duo contains a light shimmery shade and a darker matte shade. Misty Soft (£29) contains a shimmery light mauve and a dark smokey slightly plummy brown.
The shades blends nicely and the texture is quite smooth.
I’d say the duos do not contain unique shades but offer basic neutrals . They'd probably make good presents as I think any of the colour combinations are safe, easy to wear shades.

MAC : A Tartan Tale Holiday Collection

Sometimes I'll get an idea and its not a good one, like thinking I needed some lavender/purple lip colours. Enter MAC Tartan Tale holiday collection and we have the paring of Courting Lilac and Gone Romancin’ dazzleglass creme.
Although Courting Lilac (£12.50) is a glaze formula, I do not find this shade particularly sheer. Its a cool toned mauve/purple with a gold shimmer/sheen. Gone Romancin’ (£14.50) is a very shimmery, frosty, lilac with a hint of pink.
Courting Lilac looks a bit dull and the colour too mismatched with my skintone and Gone Romancin’ is just too shimmery/frosty. Worn together and they work better, as the dazzleglass gives it a lift and a bit of brightness and the lipstick takes some of the edge off the shimmer/frost of the gloss.
I hadn't even been thinking about getting one of the blusher kits then tempting Anna went and did a post of them and drew me in http://italianbeautyblog.blogspot.com/2010/11/mac-tartan-tale-collection-part-2-face.html.
I got the Hark the Heraldry Face Kit (£29.50) .

It includes a beauty powder, Oh So Fair (sheer pale pink) and two blushes: Dame (very cool toned medium pink ), Plum Foolery (dusty rose plum with golden shimmer).
MAC do not make my favorite blushes, I find they have a tendency to go on a bit patchy and do not last that well, I do however like their beauty powders and I thought this would be a useful set to have as I don't seem too have many pinky blushers at the moment as I have been off on a peachy tangent.
Here are the blush ingredients:
I did almost get the Sir Teddy, however in real life he was a bit smaller and not as soft as expected, I noticed his bow and tag and thought about how my little boy treats soft toys and realised this bear may not last too well.

Le Métier de Beauté: Maldives Magic Blonzer & Le Cirque Kaleidoscope EOTD

I was very intrigued by the Maldives Magic Blonzer. Its presented as a combination of blush and bronzer suitable for the majority of skin tones. I was fortunate that I got this as a gift from a very thoughtful friend (its normal retail price is £35).
I was slightly concerned when I opened it as it was rather dark, and I am extremely pale. I have tried various bronzing type products and have only been happy with one so this was going to be a tough test.
The powder feels extremely fine and silky smooth. The colour is a warm brown bronze with very subtle golden shimmer. The colour is pigmented and also extremely buildable so I think this will suit a wide variety of skin tones. The colour lasts throughout the day with no fading.
Swatched below L-R: 1 swipe,2 swipes,3 swipes.
I can just about get away with it if I use a powder brush and very gingerly tap it in the product once, that gives me enough colour for both sides of my face.
It also works really nice as an eyeshadow, I use it in the crease with a beige on the main lid for a no fuss natural look.
I'm really pleased that I have this although I would say its probably more suited for those darker than me (I'm a bit lighter than a MAC NW15).
Here is my eye of the day with the fall Le Cirque Kaleidoscope. I was slightly hesitant to post this as I couldn't catch all the tones of the colours but hopefully it gives you an idea.
Here is it using the Couche de Coleurs layering technique (all the colours are layered from the top to bottom in the kit, so you start from the lightest and go down to the darkest)
For the next one I just added a bit of the purple shade to the crease and outer edge to give it a bit more depth.
I am really loving this, and can create a variety of looks with it.
Le Métier de Beauté is available from Liberty and Selfridges.

Dior Holiday: Nail Lacquer in Czarina Gold

As soon as I saw the first pictures of Czarina Gold from Dior's Holiday collection I was eagerly awaiting its release here.
In the bottle this olive tinged black/brown infused with gold-sparkle is quite stunning.
Here's a close up of the bottle:
The brush head is a lot wider compared to normal ones, it laid down more colour and covered a wider area but I found it difficult to get application neat due to the size.
After I put it on, something was terribly wrong. I don't get the colour in the bottle, what I get is a flat, dull dark brown with a bit of gold sparkle.
Just to add to the disappointment, this chips on me really badly, I can't even get one days wear without a bit of chipping.
I have seen many great reviews for this and lovely pictures of it applied but this wasn't for me and I think it was a waste of my £17 so not something I'll be recommending to you.

Guerlain Les Ors Holiday 2010

I had a rare moment of makeup restraint and only picked up two items from the Guerlain holiday collection.
KissKiss Strass in shade Rose de la Reine (£20) is a sheer, sparkly warm light pink with a subtle blue iridescence. I've taken a close up picture, when you enlarge it you can see the blue sparkles.
It feels creamy and moisturising, although I would say the texture is a bit too soft so I do wonder if it would smoosh in hot weather. The only downside for me is that this does not last very long.
I also picked up the Rouge G de Brilliant in shade Betsy (£27). These differ from the original Rouge G as the colours are sheerer and have more of a glossy sheen. Betsy is a sheer plummy rose. It looks a lot more plum in the tube to how it applies. The formula feels really lightweight, smooth and very comfortable and I would say wear is average.
Both shades are scented. Swatches below L-R: Rose de la Reine, Betsy
I'm extremely pleased with both shades, although I would say I prefer the formula of Betsy. I do still feel a slight temptation to get the Velours d’Or eye quad even though the gold is probably too yellow but I did like the look of the dusky purple shade.

Le Metier de Beaute: Le Cirque Kaleidoscope Palette

Every time I saw a post or mention of the fall Le Cirque Kaleidoscope, I felt a Pang of jealously. It very rarely happens, but even without seeing this in the flesh I knew this would be perfect for me. My saviour came in the form of Jane from http://www.modestybrown.com/ who kindly offered to pick this kit up for me when she went to Selfridges.
From top to bottom we have Flamboyantes (light stone/beige with a subtle opalescent)
Spectacle (mauve toned taupe)
Enrichissant (reddish bronze)
all these three shades have a subtle luminous glow rather than just shimmer.
The last shade is called Dynamique(smokey slightly blued purple)
Couche de Coleurs is the Le Metier de Beaute layering technique. The idea is to layer the colours in the kit from top to bottom. I couldn't get a good picture of my eye look today but I'll do this for you soon as its an interesting technique and I've never thought to use shades like this before.
The soft texture, ease to blend and long wear of the shadows make them a pleasure to use. Even though the reddish bronze shade is one I would normally run away from these just work perfectly together. The colors are complex and create a subtle glowy polished look whilst still maintaining depth and vibrancy.

This palette cost me £65 and I think its a good way to enter into Le Metier De Beaute.

Le Metier is stocked at Liberty and Selfridges and on their online websites, so expect to see a lot more reviews soon.