Rouge Bunny Rouge Eye Liner Brush, Large Shader Brush & Loose Glitter Pigments EOTD

Adding to my RBR brush collection, I bought the eye liner brush 013 (£15) and large shader brush 003 (£25).

I wanted a brush to use with my gel liners and the 013 brush works a treat. The hair is natural sable and it has a a very thin long tip so is great to create a fine line. I would say that after your wash it you need to smooth the hairs down to make sure that when its dry it keeps its shape.
The shader brush is made of natural pony hair. Its quite a thick textured brush and the head size is medium (bigger than a MAC 239 but smaller than their 227). Its not too soft, nor too firm and I realised how versatile it was after I had unwittingly washed nearly all of my eye brushes and this was the only one clean and dry; it applied my all over shadow, lid shade and crease shade effortlessly.
I thought I’d show you a really simple look I have been doing of late with some of my RBR Loose Glitter Pigments.
Sleeping Under a Mandarin Tree on the inner lid, Wishing For Wings in the middle and Spun from Sunny Seawater on the outer lid, then I blend it all down so the colours are more subtle but I don't blend the colours too much into each other as I wanted to keep them quite separate. I really like these pigments, the application, colours and wear of the product beat all other loose shadows I have tried.

I bought all these items from Zuneta.com

GIVEAWAY: Rouge Bunny Rouge

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I am having another giveaway now that I have reached 200 followers. I really appreciate all the comments and being part of this friendly beauty community.
This time I have bought a RBR Long-lasting Eye Shadow in Periwinkle Cardinal. This is a shade I have and use a lot, I don't tend to see this mentioned much but its a beautiful wearable green.

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 10th January 2011 5pm UK time, and the winner will be picked via a random number generator. I'll announce the winner on my blog so that you can email me your address details.

This is open to all countries x
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Le Métier de Beauté Radiance Crème rouge Whisper

Although the shade Whisper is marketed as a highlighter, on my very fair skin this imparts enough colour for me to use it as a blusher.
Its a delicate, slightly shimmered warm beige pink. The texture is smooth and the powder seems very finely milled. The finish is natural, imparting a subtle glow, fitting in with any look I do.
Just to note that this is the same size packaging as their eye shadows. Here are the ingredients:
This cost £21 and I bought it from Selfridges. I really want to get the much talked about echo shade next which I hear is a mix of pink/coral/peach with golden shimmer, sounds like a must have to me!

Dolce and Gabbana Smooth Eye Colour Duo Mystery

Is it me or are people not really talking about D&G makeup anymore ?
I’ve only tried a few things from the line and I do like the eye shadows as they are pigmented, smooth and blend easily. What has held me back a bit is their colour selection which I find a bit odd in some cases.
Harrods (who sell the makeup exclusively in the UK) added some of the shadows from collections released this year so I picked up the Duo in Mystery and Quad in Fabulous (I’ll review this at a later date).
Mystery (£22) is a combo of a slightly shimmered lilac paired with a brown with bronze tone and very subtle sparkle. The lilac has a brightness to it and the bronze/brown is a rich colour.
I wouldn't necessarily have thought to pair these shadows together as one is cool toned the other warm, however it does work well.

Sisley Nutritive Lip Balm

* I hope you all have a lovely break over the Christmas period x *

Priced at £37.50, I can safely say this is my most expensive lip balm. To be honest, when I picked this up it was because there was a very good skincare GWP on (this was a while ago before you get excited) which I wanted to give to my Mum. A skincare item was required so I scanned around for one of their more cheaper options and had remembered hearing a few raves about this balm on some of my favourite blogs. It was worth paying over the odds to get the GWP, “a Sprat to catch a mackerel” as my mother would say.
The texture of this is quite firm and it feels really smooth. There is no greasiness or overly slippery feel to it like a lot of balm's suffer from and it has no scent or taste. Its extremely comfortable, even on broken skin. As a result of the thickness it lasts really well.
Here is how it looks in the pot, it does come with a spatula but you can see I have rather ungracefully dunked my finger in it:
However, in terms of results, whilst this is the best potted lip balm I have tried I would not say that the overall effect of the product beats my Malin + Goetz lip moisturiser. I’ve used both as an over night treatment and would say that feel in a similar condition in the morning.
Ingredients:
This is a lovely balm but my Malin + Goetz costs £9 so the Sisley will not be a re-buy for me (unless of course I need to qualify for a GWP again).

Le Métier de Beauté Eye Brightening and Setting powder

Le Métier de Beauté's brightening and setting powder is extremely lightweight with a smooth and silky texture. With a very light dusting it sets my concealer without emphasising lines, if you overload your brush with too much product (like I did the first time) it does go on looking a bit dry, so only a little bit is required.
Whilst I think it is good for the under eye area, its the application on my lid that has made me take notice and its become an essential product to perk up that area.
It subtly brightens with a matte rather than shimmery finish. It also creates the perfect blank canvas, giving full coverage to even out the discolouration on my eyelids (which are getting a lot worse the older I get).
I bought shade Refresh (£22) which is the perfect match for me, however I do notice it comes in only two shades so might be quite limiting.
Swatched below:
I also have found this really useful when I want to lighten up shadows without turning the colour patchy or looking too stark.
I bought this from Selfridges.

SHU UEMURA Abracadabra Fantasy Holiday collection: Reindeer Kiss Palette

I am bemused with the price change which seems to have occurred with the Holiday Shu palettes so I'll get that out of the way first. When I bought it from the Shu UK website it was priced at £49, luckily there was a promo on so I got it for £36.75, however after I placed my order I noticed that all three online UK sites that stocked these had them changed to £39, I think its ridiculous that had you been one of the people who bought this palette early you would be hit with this £10 variant.
An impulse late night online purchase, when I opened up this palette I had doubts as I thought it would apply bright and chalky, however on application this was not the case.
It contains three eyeshadows: aqua blue, shimmery/metallic silver, sheer mint with a tiny bit of sparkle. One blush: cool toned baby pink in colour, it does not applied as bright in the pan. An extremely sheer shimmery buttercup cream highlighter and medium brown cream eye shadow/liner.
With its pastel hues the colour combination is more an associated spring look. Its a very fresh, youthful array of shades.
Performance wise I have to wear a base to get these to last and the highlighter is so sheer on me its almost redundant.

I wouldn't necessarily wear the colours combined as below but I wanted to show you what all the eye colours and highlighter looked like together, you'll notice that the cream shadow transferred a bit onto the upper lid.
The look is the mint on the inner lid, silver in middle,brown cream shadow on outer lid and to line, blue in crease and highlighter used under the brow bone.
Here are the ingredients:
Overall I am quite happy with this palette, the colours make a change from my usual and a shade or two combined with my normal colours will add a bit of brightness, its only the highlighter which was disappointing.

Hourglass Film Noir Full Spectrum Mascara

I’ve been through a rather expensive search to find the perfect mascara. My problem stems from needing it all.
I want length,volume, curl but without any of the negatives ( clumping, smudging, flaking, irritation).
I bought the new Film Noir mascara from Hourglass (£21). It lengthens, lifts, gives volume and also doesn’t make my lashes feel crunchy. I get no irritation,smudges or flakes and don’t have to keep applying layers to get a required result.
The colour is a really good true inky black.
Here is a picture of me wearing it (its also the mascara I have had on in I think all of my EOTD's since October)

Is this the perfect mascara..almost..I would say that it sometimes clumps a bit if I apply it at a certain angle, am I being ridiculously picky, of course, but with all my cosmetics I am striving towards finding those that are 100% perfect for me. The Hourglass one is very nearly there, and certainly one of the best mascara's I have used to date. I’ll most likely try new releases here and there from other brands but unless I find something that it better, this will be a re-buy for me.

I bought this from Zuneta, who stock Hourglass exclusively for us in the UK (they also ship internationally)

Becca Holiday Enigma Palette

Part of Becca’s Holiday collection, the Enigma palette (£35) contains three eyeshadows, Armure (matte dove grey), Silesia (matte very deep cool toned brown) and Surah (a mauve taupe with subtle shimmer).
The shadows are smooth and easy to blend and the colour payoff is really good. I adore these types of shades and whilst not necessarily unique, I don’t think I have exact dupes for them. This is an extremely wearable palette and you can either go for a soft natural look or smoky eye. I was in two minds about buying this but am really glad I did as I can see that I will get a lot of use out of it.
The palette is quite compact, about 8 x6.2 cm and comes with a good sized mirror and mini brush, I don’t have any negatives about it and I think this would make a good present.

I bought this from Zuneta, if you require further temptation they have some nice videos of the collection on their site (product application guides) http://www.zuneta.com/shop-by-product/gifts-and-collections/becca-fallen-angel/becca-enigma-palette-eyeshadows.html/

Edited to add photo, not the best but hopefully gives you an idea, Silesia to line, Armure on lid and Surah in the crease.

Laura Mercier Sateen Eye Colours and Eye Basic

Usually an out of sight out of mind brand, since having a LM counter near me I have definitely bought more, what's that they say about proximity bringing closeness?

I picked up 3 of the Sateen Eye Colours (£18 each): Sable (cool taupe), Haze (sheer slightly greyed blue) and Pewter (smoky grey/green ).
All the shades have a subtle shimmer. Pigmentation is average and then need a primer to last all day.
I also bought the eye basics (£20) in shade Linen (pink toned cream). I have mixed feelings on this, what I really like is that the coverage is high and acts almost like a concealer (probably why you need to make sure you pick a good match) and covers up any little veins/redness. I find I do not have to use an eye shadow all over to even out the discoloration to create a blank canvas as this does it for me.
My only downside is that I find this too drying and I have to make sure the area is well moisturised before application otherwise it can look a bit crinkly.
In terms of performance it makes shadows last as long, stay as vibrant as with my Too Faced shadow insurance. Where it not for the dryness this would be a re-buy for me.
Although I really like the Holiday Colour Wardrobe I reviewed a while back, Laura Mercier is not a brand that excites me. However, I foresee buying more items as I do have a tendency to venture towards the cosmetic counters in a mindless "must buy" state on my lunch break, now if only they had put a Trish Mcevoy counter there instead. I consider the brands are aimed at the same audience , have a similar style but Trish Mcevoy has a more interesting edge to it.

NUDE Skincare

Having highly sensitive skin I have not fared well with a lot of the more natural skincare ranges (probably due to ingredients such as essential oils). However, after reading many positive reviews I decided to pick up the Cleansing facial oil (£22) and Hydrating water (£12).
The cleansing oil is meant to remove every trace of makeup, even waterproof mascara. I was very surprised how light this felt, it didn’t feel like it was clogging up my skin.
It appeared to remove my face makeup well but could not remove my mascara completely. It wasn’t until I used the hydrating water afterwards that I realised that it hadn’t removed my makeup as efficiently as I thought. So whilst it did make my skin feel soft, I had to do a double cleanse to remove all makeup.
The hydrating water (£12) is a rose and vanilla floral water. It removes the last bits of cleanser and makes my skin feel moisturised. I should mention that I had to use the products together, using just the oil resulted in some areas of congestion but I usually get this with oil based products if I don’t use a toner afterwards.

Overall there are a lot of things to like about the Nude Skincare range, they omit a lot of the ingredients that we seem to be avoiding these days (mineral oils, sulphates, parabens, propylene glycol, phthalates and silicones ) and have a focus on Sustainability (40% of the range is made using recycled plastic).

The combination made my skin feel soft and comfortable. The downside for me was the amount of product I had to use to get my face completely cleansed.
I am still interested in some of the Nude range, most notably the Advanced Cellular Renewal Serum, however I don’t think I will go back to the cleansing items as I have since found the Elemental Herbology range, which I will tell you about soon.

Cleansing facial oil ingredients: glycine soja (soybean) oil, polyglyceryl-4-oleate (vegetable oil), squalene (olive oil), tocopherol acetate (plant sources), natural fragrance (parfum), benzyl benzoate (essential oil), linalool (essential oil), eugenol (essential oil)

Hydrating water ingredients: water (aqua), rosa damascena flower water, glycerin (plant sources), vanilla planifolia fruit extract, maltodextrin (fermented sugar), citrus grandis (grapefruit), inulin (chicory root), vanilla tahitensis fruit extract, equisetum arvense (horsetail), alpha-glucan oligosaccharide (corn and beet), opuntia streptacantha stem extract (prickly pear), tilia cordate (linden) extract

http://www.nudeskincare.com/

Chantecaille Holiday 2010 Les Macarons Face Palette

Les Macarons Face Palette offers a whole look in a very slim lined palette. It cost's £63 but I got it during the Space.Nk 20% off promo.
It contains Cassis eyeshadow (deep plum/aubergine) Caramel eyeshadow (shimmery champagne), Raspberry cheek colour ( pink with subtle shimmer), Rose highlighter ( shimmery very sheer silvered pink ) and Strawberry lipgloss (sheer pink with a touch of peach and subtle shimmer) .
The look is delicate and pretty. However, it is not one of my must haves. The combination of shades works extremely well but the colours themselves are not unique and whilst I cannot fault the performance of any of the items, it hasn’t made as much of an impact on me as the Tiger in the wild palette did.
Here are the ingredients:
I will say that it has brought to my attention that I have never eaten a macaroon which is something I will need to rectify.

Rouge Bunny Rouge: recent acquisitions

As RBR is one of my favourite brands, when I heard that Secret Sales had a 50% off sale on for a selection of their products I hastily placed an order before it all sold out.
RBR make beautiful lipsticks. They are smooth, comfortable and provide great hydration/moisture. In these winter months, they are a must have for me and I always apply one before walking home from work so that my lips don’t feel chapped/dry by the time I get home.
Sheer lipstick in shade Jasmine-weighted Air, applies as a sheer glossy apricot with gold shimmer (it does look a lot brighter in the tube than it applies). Colour Burst Lipstick in shade Love Triangle is a delicate, warmed rosewood with subtle shimmer.
Lip Gloss in Counting Wishes is a glossy, shimmered sheer garnet.
Its an easy to wear pretty shade although the texture is a bit more tacky that I usually would go for.
Eye Khol in Selene is a rich deep forest green. RBR eye liners are creamy, have great pigmentation and last.
Swatches of the gloss and Khol:
I was slightly bemused as to how I would wear Long-lasting Eye Shadow in Tantalizing Lovebird.
Its a pink with a slight coral tone and it has a glowy finish rather than shimmer. I am surprised how much I like this, I think it looks really nice in the crease when combined with a more neutral lid shade.
As is always the case in sales you end up buying things you wouldn’t have necessarily considered. That said, even though some of these are not the normal shade I would go for, RBR has not let me down and I am extremely pleased with all my items.

Rouge bunny Rouge is available from www.zuneta.com

RBR currently have a sweepstake promotion on their Facebook page,
http://www.facebook.com/rougebunnyrouge

Giorgio Armani Eyes to Kill Eyeshadow holiday 2010

The Eyes to Kill are Armani's newest shadow formula. The texture is in-between a powder and a cream. It applies really smooth and feels lightweight and comfortable on, I do apply a thin layer of primer to get it to last all day.

There are four shadows released for this winter, it seems America will have a delayed release of shade #14.
Shade 14 gold/black (£24) is a shimmery mix of charcoal/gold with a slight olive tone. The shade seems to vary depending on what angle you look at it.
The intensity of color and ease to blend is impressive.
Probably not the best picture, but this is it applied sheerly with a brush (this is after over 8 hours wear with a slight bit of primer).
I think they are meant to be releasing more shades next year which I am definitely interested in as I tend to not like the application of the majority of non powder shadows but I find this extremely easy to work with.
I bought this from Selfridges.

Le Métier de Beauté True Colour Eyeshadow in Mulberry

The majority of brown toned shades are warm toned, against my cool toned skin they are often unflattering. Mulberry is a welcome addition to my collection. This leans cool in tone. Its a sheer delicate brown with a very subtle touch of pink with a gentle sheen/glow.
I'd finished up the shade in Naked I had bought so was extremely pleased to receive another one. I tend to go through base shades very quickly and Naked is a great neutral off white.
Paired together and we have an delicate, subtle natural look.
All my Le Metier shadows offer buildable coverage,blend with ease and last well. The texture feels lightweight, smooth and silky.
I bought some (read some as quite a lot) Le Metier items from Selfridges now that they have the brand online (I notice Le Metier has disappeared from the Liberty website). I'll be showing you these soon, one of the items is the Peau Vierge complexion corrector which I have high hopes for.

Disclaimer: These two eyeshadows were sent to me for free.