A Thank you and an update

I want to say a thank you to all of you who read and comment on my blog, and for all the emails I've received - it's great to meet such lovely fellow makeup addicts. I want to let you know that I have decided to break from blogging, though I will not delete the blog. My reasoning is not a decline in my love for makeup, but rather that I have grown disillusioned with what makeup blogs have become. I started blogging back in 2009, and it was a small, friendly community who loved cosmetics and wanted to give an honest viewpoint as an alternative to magazines that were full of paid-for content and altered photos.

I feel that cosmetic blogs have really changed since I first started out; when I look around now, there are adverts all over the place, bright-as-you-like images (so altered they bear no true colour resemblance to the actual product), paid for reviews, and post after post of free product reviews, that I feel detract from a blogger's identity, when they are no longer selecting products themselves. With many blogs now, I only really look at the product photos, as the review content is worthless - it's all about pageviews and a race for free products.

I don't care about any of this - I love cosmetics and simply wanted to share my views with like minded people, suggesting what to avoid and what was worth buying. Though I have a small blog, you do get inundated with offers of free stuff, and though I rarely accept what I'm offered, I do understand the temptation. There are still blogs out there on the same wavelength as mine,  but I feel like we are on the decline, and distinctly in the minority - it seems that the paid-for, disingenuous content we were fighting against initially, is exactly what the majority of blogs have now become, and that's absolutely not what I am about.
So thank you again to those who have read my thoughts over the years, and take care. This is not necessarily the end, but it's definitely a hiatus.

Sunday Riley Juno Hydroactive Cellular Face Oil & Effortless Breathable Tinted Primer

Without doubt the Sunday Riley line boosts a lot of cult products, it taken me a while to try the brand as I'm always a little apprehensive of cult status as I'm often left underwhelm.
 


I'll start with the Juno Hydroactive Cellular Face Oil. I choose this as the essential oils prevalent in the majority of face oils cause various unpleasantness on my skin, whereas Juno omits them.
The oil has a good texture, neither being too runny or too thick. You only need a few drops and it absorbs quite well, with a lightweight feel, though I would not describe it as a dry oil and as such find this best used at night.


I'm no ingredient expert, so here's what the box says, but it looks like it contains all the good stuff like antioxidants and such like without any unnecessary fillers.


This has become an essential for me and I have re-bought it (it lasted me 3 months using it every night). My dry skin feels a lot smoother and my overall complexion in terms of redness and acne looks calmer.


The older I get the more I am using primers, mostly for pore blurring. The Effortless Breathable Tinted Primer is oil free and you can definitely tell it is silicone based, as it has a slight greasy feel, though it does not feel heavy.
Its meant to provide "Sheer, porcelain-smooth coverage, it can be worn alone for a hint of color and even-toned radiance or layered under foundation to extend the wear." I'm at a bit of a loss as to what this does, my complexion does not look improved, I do not find it extends the wear of my makeup nor does it do anything to blur my pores. What it does do is provide a smooth surface so foundation does sit better on the skin. Its very sheer, which is good as the lightest shade "Light" is too dark for me.

I like that this comes in a pump container and my foundation goes on a bit smoother but umm that's about it.
Ingredients:


I bought these from SpaceNK

Chantecaille Holiday 2015 The Himalayan Collection: Cheek Gelée Hydrating Gel-Cream Blush

As pretty as the look is for the Tibet inspired Himalayan Collection, I wasn't really feeling the products when I checked them out instore; the lipsticks were a bit too bold for my liking and the eyeshadow duo just too shimmery.
Not one to be deterred I picked up the Cheek Gelée Hydrating Gel-Cream Blush.


The shade is called Happy and its a soft illuminating petal pink, its quite translucent so skin does show through.

Swatched below, then blended in,

The formula is a joy, it has a somewhat creamy/gel feel to it, its not heavy and it spreads over the skin and blends in impeccably. It feel moisturising and there is no sticky or greasy feel. Chantecaille state it has the lasting power of a stain and I agree with this.

Ingredients

There is everything to love here but I think the success of this is going to depend on the state of you skin and this is why this does not reach its full potential on me.
My skin has a lot of discolouration/acne scarring, and whilst this looks quite nice on me when I tried it on my mother (who has much clearer skin) it performed much better. My skin takes away some of the fresh pink hue and luminosity of this product, whereas on my mother the beautiful pigment and radiant glow are evident.
I think this is a great product, but you'll not get the best out of this if you have bad skin like me.

I bought this from SpaceNK

Becca Pearl Shimmering Skin Perfector Poured, Rouge Bunny Rouge Swell Bliss XXX Lip Plumps, Chantecaille Le Chrome Luxe Eye Duo Monte Carlo

I often get caught up with posting about seasonal/new product releases but there are some things I have been really enjoying lately that I wanted to share with you.

Heading towards the winter season, my skin can often look dull, which is where highlighters come into their own. Though the Becca Shimmering Skin Perfector Poured came out earlier this year, we only recently got the lightest shade, Pearl, here in the UK.

I really like the formula, its lightweight and spreads and blends extremely well, under or on top of makeup. Its not so emollient that there is any greasy feel and it sets nicely with no tackiness. Pearl is a high sheen white, although it swatches quite intense it does not look stark on the skin. The wear time is fantastic, around 10 hours.

Shown below Pearl and Moonlight

Ingredients:




I am not fan of lip plumping products as I tend to find them irritating, so when I was sent some of the Rouge Bunny Rouge Swell Bliss XXX Lip Plumps I did not have high hopes, but these have been quite a surprise.
Heather Royal Jelly (Pinky Beige with micro-shimmer)

Acacia Royal Jelly (Milky Baby Pink)

Clover Royal Jelly (Pinky Rose with silver micro-shimmer)

 

I have the older packaging but the newer incarnation looks a bit more sleek. The glosses are super shiny and whilst there is a minty taste and a bit of tingling at first, these are not irritating in the least. The result is a really high gloss/shine finish which makes the area look more plumped. Though I do find these tacky in feel, this probably does provide the very long wear time.

L-R: Heather Royal Jelly, Acacia Royal Jelly, Clover Royal Jelly.

 

If you fancy anything from RBR, they have provided a 20% discount for anything in the range to all my readers. The code can be used via http://en.rougebunnyrouge.com/ and is applicable for all the countries they ship to and there is no minimum spend. The code to enter in the discount box is RBR-VISIONARYBEAUTY20

Ingredients:

Chantecaille Le Chrome Luxe Eye Duo in Monte Carlo was part of the Pre-Fall collection, but seems to still be readily available. I really like the formula of the Le Chrome Luxe Eye Duos, its as smooth as you like, lightweight and applies and blends like a dream, furthermore pigment is high and the wear is long.



Monte Carlo pairs a shimmery apricot and bronze, a classic combination, perhaps a bit too warm for me complexion but it was just too lush for me to pass up.

Ingredients:


So there we have it, 3 great products for eyes, lips and cheeks, sorted.

I bought the Chantecaille and Becca from Space NK, the RBR Lip Plumps were sent to me for free.

Chanel Rouge Noir Absolument Holiday 2015: Signe Particulier, Coups de Minuit & Vaporeuse

So far not many holiday collections have caught my attention but I always have a soft spot for Chanel holiday offerings.

I decided that I needed to get the Signe Particulier Eyeshadow Quad  after seeing Lena's post here and I have to say I'm really pleased with it. Whilst the shadows aren't quite as soft/buttery as the 2012 Harmonie du Soir palette they do have good pigment, apply evenly and blend well.


The quad contains a sheer shimmery pale lilac pink, satin grey/taupe, metallic yellow gold and satin burgundy. I love the shot of the warm gold against the smoky purple hues.

Shown below, I've used the taupe and burgundy really lightly as they go on quite intense on my skin.

Ingredients:


Coups de Minuit (12) Joues Contraste Lumiere is a sheer beige with a hint of peach, it has a sheen finish.


The colour is a touch deep on my pale skin to use as standalone highlighter, yet does not impart enough colour to use as a blusher so instead I use this over blushers and it really does add a pretty effect.
It has a smooth texture and blends wonderfully on the skin without highlighting pores. The only downside for me is the wear as I get fading after 5 hours.

Swatched below with some more typical highlighter colours L-R: Burberry Nude Radiance Highlighting Powder, Coups de Minuit and Dior Starlight.

Ingredients:


My wild card was the Rouge Allure in #237 Vaporeuse. Often lighter shades of the Rouge Allures can go on uneven/patchy and make lines look more noticeable, but I took a chance on this as it felt a lot more creamy when I swatched it.



I do find this more forgiving than a lot of lighter RA, though do recommend smoothing the lips prior to application. The colour is a cool pink with a hint of mauve, its just verging on the too pale, too ice bitten look but manages to work to give a delicate cool pink tint to the lips.

Ingredients:

I'm really happy with everything I bought, though as a complete look I think Vaporeuse does not work with the colours of the Signe Particulier Quad.
I have started to see less than favourable reviews for Signe Particulier on other blogs, and though I did not encounter any problems with application/pigment myself this might be one worth testing in store before buying to check you are happy with the pigment and feel.

I bought these from Boots.

Zoeva En Taupe Palette

Zoeva is a brand that I've heard a lot of good things about, the recently released En Taupe palette immediately caught my eye with its natural looking array of cooler toned shades.

The palette comes housed in study cardboard, though I would be inclined to keep its protective outer cardboard sleeve should you wish to travel with it. Inside we have 10 shadows in a good array of finishes and different depths.

The top row contains a matte cream, iridescent peach, matte mauve grey, matte tan and matte mauve grey with golden glitter. The second row contains a shimmery silver, sheer grey with pink duochrome, shimmery brown, shimmery taupe and a matte dusty mauve eggplant.


Pigment on the whole is good, there is quite a bit of powder kickup but the shadows feel quite smooth and blend ok, though the mattes are a bit dryer. I would say that these are the types of shadows that if you blend too much you lose the colour definition, which can make things look a bit muddy.


Shown below is the palette lid details and ingredients




I'm pleased with the amount of possible colour combinations and overall application and wear of this given its low price point (£15.50) and do think the quality is equivalent to more mid end brands but can't say that I'm blown away.
I also bought a brush from them, the highly rated crease #221, but I'm not that jazzed about it, overall whilst I can see the merits of this palette its not made me inclined to try anymore from the brand.

I bought this from http://www.beautybay.com/cosmetics/zoeva/entaupepalette/