NARS Rajastan Eyeshadow Duo

No doubt you will have seen the many rave reviews of this duo and the colours are indeed beautiful.
The duo contains an interesting combination of a warm golden sandy beige with an almost metallic edge and a cool toned deep smoky blue with a hint of teal. Both shades are quite complex and I do not have comparable shades.
They are pigmented and the texture is soft and creamy. I should love this, but I don't. When I put it on and then look in the mirror I feel slightly let down as the colours don't seem to do much for me.
Some of the vibrancy and complexity seems to be lost from how they are in the pan/swatched to how they apply and I wonder that the Tzarine duo might have been a better choice for me ?

Chanel Rouge Allure Extrait de Gloss

Chanel recently released a mini collection of their new lip gloss formula (Extrait de Gloss), 3 nail polishes and some more Rouge Allure lipstick shades.
The gloss has a flocked wedged shaped applicator that it a bit springy. It applies the products really well and is good for getting into the corners. Although the texture is quite thick it doesn't feel particular heavy on and has an almost gel like feel and applies very smooth. I do find it a bit more sticky/tacky than I would prefer and this is the only reason I would be hesitant to buy more.

I bought shades (£22.50 each) in #55 Confidence (neutral medium pink/rose) and #56 Imaginaire (pinky/peach), neither shade is shimmery as such, just a high gloss/shine finish.
Swatches L-R: RA in Confidentielle, Confidence, Imaginaire
On the face of it the colour sounds very dupable, however I 'm not sure if its to do with the finish but the high gloss and clarity of colour makes these that little bit special.
The collection has some really nice reds, pinks and nudes with a coral thrown in. I think all of them are meant to be permanent apart from Confidence. I also bought one of the new Rouge Allure lipstick shades in #66 Confidentielle (£22.50).
It is a neutral pink that has a little bit of brightness to it and has almost a slight frost in the finish. I quite like the RA formula, its creamy and long lasting although not that lightweight nor particular moisturising but nevertheless a good standard.

Bobbi Brown Holiday Sparkle Glamour quad

I'm not entirely sure of the thought process I went through when I picked up the Sparkle Glamour quad (£30), I wasn't expecting to see the holiday collection so early and had not yet seen any reviews so did a "this looks nice and shiny" panic buy.
The quad consists of four new shades of sparkle shadows; Pink Glitter, Smoky, Moonlight and Sandy. I'm not sure which shade is which but it contains a champagne, beige, brown and dark grey/ brown.
The shades have quite good pigmentation compared to the other sparkle shades from BB I have tried but you do need to press the shadows on rather than sweep. The palette has a little gold overlay around the edges of the shades.
Here is how it looks after being used a bit
If you are not familiar with my cosmetics likes I will tell you now that I am not really a fan of over the top sparkle nor glitter and these are chocked full of it (again I reiterate I don't know why I bought this) .
I do quite like the finished look, and it does give a nice sparkle smokey look and I can see it would be nice layered over other shadows.
Unfortunately I get massive fall out with this. I usually do my eye make up first, cleanse my face then do the rest of my makeup but I still end up with glitter everywhere. The worse thing for me was that yesterday I wore it for a longer period (over 6 hours) and I don't know if its because I wear contacts, but I must have got some in my eyes and it was extremely painful, I had to take contacts out and get all the makeup off but my eyes still feel irritated now, I have had glitter from some of UD's more glitter shadows go in my eyes before but have never had this much irritation. It was painful enough that I will definitely not be using these dry again, when my eyes feel better I will try using it again over a cream base to see if its gets the glitter to stick to it.
So not my best move, I think if you do like sparkle and neutral shades, this would be really nice but I would say to use a cream base with them as I wouldn't want you to go through the eye irritation I got.
What I should have got instead was the Modern Classic Lip and Eye Palette palette. Sabrina did a lovely review here http://www.thebeautylookbook.com/2010/09/bobbi-brown-holiday-modern-classic-lip.html and Pretty Addicted! did a really helpful review here, http://prettyaddictedblog.blogspot.com/2010/10/preview-bobbi-brown-modern-classic-lip.html

Hourglass Femme Rouge Velvet Crème Lipstick

After not being wowed by new lipstick formula's being put out recently (Clarins Rouge Prodige, YSL Rouge Pur Couture, Rouge Dior) I had high hopes for the Hourglass Femme Rouge lipsticks.
These lipsticks deliver. They have great pigmentation, feel creamy and moisturising (the darker shade slightly less creamy due to the level of pigment). They apply really smooth and don't accentuate lines in your lips and they last quite well.
These made my lips feel really soft so I think these are going to really good for winter when you need that extra hydration.
I was so eager to open these that I managed to squish the ends of them when opening them so that's why the tips look a bit odd!
The lipsticks come housed in a heavy bronzed metal tube and are also refillable and paraben free. They do seem to have a very faint scent.
Of the 12 shades available, I bought Whisper (gentle pink with a bit of beige, and silver shimmer) and Nocturnal (reasonably bright wine plum), priced at £22 each.
Swatches below: Nocturnal, Whisper, and Adorn lipstick in Poetry.
Zuneta have an offer on whereby if you buy two Hourglass products you receive a free Adorn lipstick ( these are very nice, very long lasting with great pigmentation). Zu picked out Poetry for me and it is a extremely wearable beige nude with some peach to it.
I don't know when the offer finishes, but I think its a really good one.
Hourglass have some really impressive products and I definitely think they are a brand to watch out for.

http://www.zuneta.com/

Estee Lauder Blue Dahlia

Having been impressed with the improvement of performance/quality with the new singles shadows created under Tom Pecheux, I picked up the Blue Dahlia eyeshadow palette (£34).
It contains a teal, shimmery taupe, deep smoky navy with shimmer, sheer white base with sparkle, matte black.
Swatches below: far left is the sheer white, I wasn't kidding when I said sheer.
Its a good all round palette, the white sparkle shade could have done with some pigment, but overall pigment, blendability and wear of the palette is really good, you can get quite a few looks with this and for those who don't usually go for brighter shades the blue and teals are extremely wearable.
I also bought the pure colour gloss stick in Rose Dusk (£17), its a neutral pink, not really unique and feels slightly tacky.
Sadly its no longer with us as my little Boy destroyed it in outrage as I deigned to attempt to give him a haircut, so this picture is all I have left, and everytime I look at my boys lop sided bowl cut, I will be reminded of this lipstick....

Chantecaille Tiger in the Wild Palette

Each shade embossed with the Royal Bengal Tiger, the Chantecaille Tiger in the Wild palette is extremely impressive to look at.
The over spray makes the colours look more intense, once worn off (after a few uses) you get a gently shimmered ivory/beige, grey/taupe with subtle shimmer, deep matte indigo and coral pink blush.
On the base of it the colours look almost basic in the pan but the combination works perfectly. There is a certain glow with the base and shadow shade. The indigo used in the crease and as a liner has a deep smokey almost inky look to it but its not harsh and adds a different slant to the overall look. The coral pink blush gives a really healthy bright pop to the skin.
As always the shadows are smooth and blend well, Sometimes I have found Chantecaille shadows to not have much colour pay off and blend away too much, but its not the case with these.
The blush has good pigmented and lasts very well, here are the ingredients
Corn starch always tends to make me itchy with one use and then break out with continued wear them but I have always be able to wear Chantecaille blushers.
Swatches:
Priced at £73, in terms of Chantecaille prices I think this is quite good, as their eyeshadows/blushers cost £23 each and the palette is reusable ( I remember I did a phone order and was somewhat horrified when I read the bill and the empty 8 pan palette was £42).
As with a lot of the limited editions that Chantecaille bring out some of the profit benefits animals, for this one 5% of the proceeds go to TRAFFIC (the international wildlife trade monitoring organisation).
I think its a beautiful palette and dare I say one of my favourites. I went through quite a massive Chantecaille phase when it was first available over here and since they have always dipped in and out of the brand, I do always look forward to their new releases and am very much looking forward to the Hydra Chic Lipsticks which are meant to be a full-impact formula which gives 6 hours wear.

I bought this from Space.NK

New Lipstick formulas by YSL and Dior: Rouge Dior and Rouge Pur Couture

Dior recently released a new lipstick formula, Rouge Dior Haute Couleur. The line up of 32 shades are each inspired and named after a Dior Couture dress. The lipsticks contain hyaluronic acid which is meant to soften, smooth and plump the lips.
The lipstick offers full coverage, and lasts really well. Its not a light weight lipstick (there is no slickness to it) and I don't find it particularly moisturising. It has a slightly tacky feel to it. I bought shade #296 Quadrille Beige (£22) which is a rosy beige with shimmer.

YSL's newest lipstick formula is Rouge Pur Couture. They are meant to be highly pigmented, comforting and hydrating with the added bonus of SPF 15. I swatched nearly all of the colours at the store and there is no doubting that these are pigmented. The range contains some really vibrant colours and an array of nudes. I bought shade #11 Rose Carnation (£22), which is a delicate slightly cooled pink with subtle silver shimmer.

It terms of texture its not drying nor uncomfortable but I have far more moisturising lipsticks than this.

Out of the two, although the Dior outlasts YSL, I prefer the texture and finish of YSL. I've seen a lot of raves for these so perhaps I was expecting something a bit special but I just wasn't overly impressed so won't be buying any more.

Both lipsticks are scented.