Clarins Graphic Expression Fall Collection: Eye Quartet Mineral Palette in Forest

I couldn't resist picking up the eyeshadow palette from the Fall Graphic Expressions collection for Clarins. Named Forest (£31), the colours really do look autumnal.

It contains a shimmery khaki, sheer gold shimmer overlay, shimmery taupe with a bronze edge and dusty charcoal with subtle golden sparkles. The shimmer is gentle and just gives the shades a lift, the colours do not go on muddy and are neutral toned rather than leaning warm (which I was very pleased about).

The overall effect is a sightly smoky, earthy, natural look. It probably seems a strange thing to say but there is something very comfortable about these shades.

The shadows have a firm feel and do feel a bit dry to the touch, and the black and khaki don't blend as nicely as the taupe/bronze. Overall pigment is good, there is no fall out and all shades have a good wear time.


This is a very nice, well coordinated, fuss free palette. The taupe bronze shade is such a beauty, to be fair I would have bought the palette for that shade alone.

Ingredients:


I bought this from John Lewis

Clarins Eye Quartet Mineral Palette, 01 Pastels

A mere glance at the Clarins counter and I realised that a lot of their makeup has had a revamp. Gone are the silvered circular compacts and instead we have more sleek, stylish gold toned packaging.


I picked up the Eye Quartet Mineral Palette in 01 Pastels (£31) and it does seem that the formula is improved. Whilst pigment is on the sheer side (in keeping with Clarins natural, soft image) shades feel smoother and blend better than previously.

I don't tend to suit pastels but it was the combination of crisp pastels paired with a bronze that caught my attention.
The palette contains a shimmery cream, very sheer pink micro glitter, shimmery cool toned mint green and a satin finish bronze.
Swatched below dry

Swatched below with a slightly dampened brush

As is the nature of pastels the cream and green shades can have a tendency to look a bit chalky if over applied.
However, though I could have done with more pigment in the pink shade, I am really liking this as its very Spring/Summer appropriate and creates an effortless light and shimmery casual look.
Picture below is with shadows applied dry.


I have to say I am really looking forward to their Fall Graphic Expression collection, the model's look is sultry, yet really polished, details are here on Chic Profile.

I bought this from Boots

Clarins Rant and the fight for ingredients

As the shade in my foundation has been discontinued I am on the look out for something else. I had seen a lot of raves for Clarins new Everlasting Foundation. Unable to find the ingredients online I went to a store and after being ignored for well over 5 minutes I was finally approached…
SA: “Do you want anything?”
Me: “Can I see the ingredients for the new foundation please?”
She stares at me blankly, too much time passes…
Me: “If I could have a look at the box please?”
SA:“You want to look at the box?”
Me: “ Yes, to look at the ingredients”
SA: “Why”
Me: “ I have acne prone skin and am sensitive to a lot of things”
SA:”Like what?”
Me: “ Like Salt, Alcohol, Corn starch”
SA sighs at me, hands me the box, I look at the ingredients which unfortunately aren't suitable…
SA: “so it’s ok then?"
ME: “No, Sorry, it contains Alcohol quite high up on the list”
SA: long sigh, grabs box from me put back in drawer and walks off.

Her manner throughout the conversation was rude and she seemed highly annoyed with me, I know working in retail isn’t always joyous so I can forgive it to some extent, what annoyed me was being questioned over the fact that I wanted to check out the ingredients. I thought she was going to refuse to show me them at one point.
I wanted to look at the ingredients of the new Cotton face powder as well and buy quite a few things from the Spring collection, but as a result of this treatment I left empty handed and won’t be going back again.
These days I think people are more careful over what they put in their bodies and what they put on their skin; adult acne seems to be on the rise as well as skin sensitivity. There is more awareness of what the ingredients mean and for someone like me who has sensitive skin, battled severe acne for over 5 years and is now on the pill to keep it under control, the ingredients in a face product are fundamental as to whether I will buy it or not.

Unfortunately I have had many negative experiences trying to get ingredients from counters, the ones that come to mind are one SA saying that the ingredients are not listed anywhere, and another arguing with me that its impossible to break out from Algae.
I’d say probably 50% of websites don’t list the ingredients, a lot of people aren’t necessarily going to go through extensive searches and emailing like I have in the past to find them out and will simply not buy the product. Out of those that don’t currently list the ingredients some are really good and will email you back with the full list, others like Chanel just replied that the ingredients are on the box and to ask in store, firstly not everyone may have a counter near them, secondly as I have cited its not always easy to get them to show you ingredients.
I think from now on if it’s a product that I need to go instore and get the SA to get out for me (not something you can just take off the shelve) I will simply not bother and buy from a brand where obtaining the ingredients isn’t a struggle.

I recently found this site which is really helpful as it has the most comprehensive list of brands ingredients I have ever seen http://phoebe.pn-np.net/

Review of Clarins Palazzo D’Oro holiday collection Part 2

Well part two’s are never as good..after having bought the two compacts I had gone back and bought the Mascara and lipstick from the holiday collection.
The mascara is a black with very faint gold shimmer (once applied its only noticeable close up) for me this mascara was so bad that I have since thrown it away. The formula was so dry, had it not been a new limited edition product I would have thought it old stock.

The lipstick when swatched in store appeared to be a really nice golden sheen. Once home and in better lighting what I actually had was a sheer wash of gold glitter, nice from a distance not so good close up. My problem with this product was that although the lipstick had a lot of slip the glitter was extremely gritty and I found it really uncomfortable to wear, this has now joined the mascara in the bin. So a bit of a wash out.

I did also pick up one of the eyeshadows from the regular collection called Chestnut Freeze and do really like the shades which is in a variation of taupe, as you can never have enough :)
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Ultimately I think I need to leave alone the majority of the “normal department store” established brands (Estee Lauder, Clarins, Clinique,Lancome ) as they always seem to be a disappointment, if only they would stop having those alluring GWP events then I would be safe….

Review of Clarins Palazzo D’Oro holiday collection Part 1

I tend to find that when I deviate from my main brands I’m usually always disappointed apart from a few exceptions. Clarins makeup has never really appealed to me in the past but I do think this collection is worth checking out for the face palette.
The eye quad contains a very frosty silvered pink, warm shimmery coppery yellow gold, subtle browned neutral, pigmented brown with gold glitter (the gold glitter is not that noticeable once the shadow is applied), and deep brown cream liner.

The quality if the shadows are ok in terms of pigmentation and they blend together quite well and last fine. The cream liner, whilst a really nice deep colour once applied, the texture is very dry so it’s quite hard to get a smooth line.
I like the combination of colours and would say this is suitable for those either warm or cool. You can do a soft shimmery glowy look or a slightly deeper look as below. Ultimately the liner is the only thing that lets this palette down for me.

The overspray on the face powder went down deeper than I thought and I still have golden glitter on application but its getting less! Although I thought this a highlighter I can actually use it as a blusher as its comes out quite pigmented on me. It is a glowy warm golden, almost coppery peach.
I’ve taken a picture here so you can see the true colour coming through.
I think if you are going to get one of them I’d probably go with the face powder as it seems a bit more unique (once you get rid of most of the golden glitter overspray). They both cost £35 each and are limited edition. You will notice this is part 1 of my review, you'd have thought I would have stopped at just these two items but always one for a complete lack of self contral where makeup is concerned the following day I picked up the lipstick and Mascara as well from the collection....

Clarins Palazzo D’Oro holiday collection

When I first saw a image of Clarins Palazzo D’Oro holiday collection on another blog, it instantly appealed with its delicate shimmery golden look.
They had the collection out in Boots today; I picked up the Gold Attraction Eye Quartet & Liner Palette and Gold Attraction Face Palette. I may go back for the mascara (I think its meant to be a black with golden shimmer) and even the lipstick (very shimmery wash of gold). They also have a GWP on if you spent over £40, really generous sizes of various skincare/body products.

I was surprised that both compacts were £35 each. I have no problem paying this price but in terms of Clarins pricing range I was expecting them to be around late £20’s, £30 each at most. It maybe they cost slightly more due to the packaging, which is really pretty. The compacts are very heavy (feel like they are made out of metal) and have a embossed golden pattern on the lids (the whole casing is gold) they even come in a suede feel pouch. These are the most luxurious packaging I have seen from Clarins.

I will have to mention at this point that Clarins isn't one of "my" brands, the skincare I have tried irritated my skin and I have only bought two things from the makeup range before and was very unimpressed.
The Gold Attraction Face Palette has a very glittery over spray but under this is a sheer gold with a bit of sparkle.
The eye palette contains a shimmery slightly silvered pink, this may be a bit frosty, very warm gold, slightly mauved brown and medium brown with gold shimmer. The liner shade is a very deep brown.
I’ll give these a proper try out first before I do a review and swatches but I just wanted to do this post to show you this collection as Clarins does not seem to get much of a mention, but on the face of it this is one of their prettiest collections to date in my opinion.