Laura Mercier Spring Lingerie Collection: Kissed Lips

The Lingerie Collection is certainly alluring with its range of predominately subtle, romantic hues, colours that I would normally make a grab for, yet I picked up just one item.
The eye & cheek palette contains colours very similar to what I already have so I am trying to be sensible and not give in to it, the cream blushers contains ingredients that I normally avoid in terms of acne and the Lip Shine's were just too sticky for my liking. However the one limited edition lipstick in the collection I could not resist.
Sheer lipstick in Kissed Lips (£16.50) is a fun bright pinked coral. I only need one application of this to achieve the level of colour I want so its very buildable and not necessarily what one would expect from the name sheer.
One swipe of lipstick below

It feels very smooth going on and has a moisturising balm like feel, I was therefore surprised to see that it shows up any dry areas, so for me I have to make sure the area is very smooth before application.
After trying the shade it dawned on me that the colour seemed familiar. I often layer lipsticks and realised this was close to two of my Chanel shades I often use together.
I swiped the LM 3 times on the left and on the right two swipes of Chanel Monte-Carlo and then one swipe of Misia.

The colour is definitely a good one for a pop of a wearable bright, however I don't really like how I have to prep the skin prior to use, so for me this was one of those items I should have looked at, marvelled at the prettiness but then moved along.

Ingredients

I bought this from John Lewis

Edward Bess Quad Royale: South of France

South of France 01 (£28.50) comes in a mirrored compact containing four subtle shades that can be used for cheeks and eyes.
The two top shades are the sheerest, the top left is a champagne, top right a nude peachy pink. The lower shades are more pigmented, on the left is a warm mauve pink and the right is a peachy beige sand.
There is a more intense shimmer/micro glitter finish on top of the powder that wears off with use, though the powder still retains a shimmer finish and a hint of micro glitter (the least present in the darkest shade).
In terms of texture I find it has a slightly dry feel and is quite flyaway, though it blends well and lasts the day.
The shades make a nice wash on the eye for a natural look (though I use the deeper shade very lightly due to the pinkness). Mixed together on the cheek they give a soft warm dusty mauve pink flush, on my pale skin this was more noticeable on that I was expecting and definitely falls more into the blusher category than highlighter for me.

Swatches below, clockwise from top left:
Swatch of all colours blended together:

The palette comes with a little brush which is reasonable soft and works fine for depositing a sheer layer of product on the cheeks.
Overall I'm very pleased with this, though the combined colour is a bit more deep and mauve/pink that I had anticipated, I do like the warm dusty gleam it adds to the skin.

Ingredients:

I bought this from zuneta.com

Beauty Spotlight Roundup 21/01/12

This week the Beauty Spotlight Team previews Spring makeup collections, finds some must-have drugstore treasures, keeps your hair looking great and one member channels her inner Supermodel for a day!

Marcia from Beauty Info Zone continued her search for L'Oreal Infallible eyeshadows and found more to love.

Little cat paw print embossed lipsticks, now what could be more fun… Visionary Beauty shares the lipsticks from the cat themed Paul & Joe collection for Spring.

At Everyday Beauty, Zuzu's Petals dishes about beauty and the aging process.

Modesty Brown reviews the L'Oreal Super Liner in Black Amethyst. It might be designed for hazel eyes but this pretty liner is sure to appeal to purple fans no matter what their eye colour.

Guarentee yourself a good hair day! Pammy Blogs Beauty loves No 4 High Performance Hair Care's Lumiere d'hiver Reconstructing Masque.

Lisamarie from Beauty Crazed starts swatching the OPI Holland collection - wooden shoe like to see it? Then check it out!

Over at Pretty in Dayton, it's Story Time! A Fairy Tail come true - Styrch makes a surprising transition from "customer" to "model" for Sittella, by Althea Harper

Paula, from Older Girl Beauty, shows us one of her foreign beauty faves - this time it's Hissyfit Body Double Sunscreen Lotion from Australia.

Perilously Pale finally satisfied her craving for Fyrinnae and shares with us her first set of swatches of the incredible eyeshadows!

At Lipstick Musings, Shannon's falling in love with Laura Mercier all over again, all because of Shimmerplum Sequin Eye Color.

Prime Beauty fell hard for the Burberry Spring/Summer Collection, a beautiful assortment of neutral and brights perfect for the over 40 woman!

A stain that's glossy? Isn't that an oxymoron? Londonmakeupgirl sees if YSL has managed to make it a reality, when she buys a YSL Glossy Stain.

Real Techniques: Blush Brush, Stippling Brush & Core Collection

After my previous success with the Real Techniques travel essentials collection, I decided to order some more from the range. All the brushes have Taklon (synthetic) bristles.

The stippling brush (£10.99) is smaller than the likes of a MAC 187, the head is dense but undoubtedly soft.


Its great for liquid and powder foundations and also cream blush, It blends out any edges and buffs in the product making it one with the skin, there really is no work involved with this.

The blush brush (£9.99) is much larger than your average blusher brush, this is very soft with a medium density and a slightly tapered tip.

Due to the size I was expecting this to not pick up much product, and whilst it doesn't give a concentration of colour, I didn't feel the need to apply more swipes than I do with my other blush brushes.
It blends the colour in at the same time of application so is very quick. However, due to its size, it gives me a larger area of blush than I prefer, as a result of this I find I am using this more for powder and bronzer.

Lastly I bought the core collection (£20.99), it consists of 4 full-size brushes:

The Pointed Foundation Brush is smaller than the essential foundation brush, not as thick and the tip is more pointed. Its very good for detailed application such as for under eye/face concealer.

The Detailer Brush is very small, dense, slightly stiff but comfortable on the skin. With a slightly pointed tip this is great for spot/scar concealment as it really lays the product down exactly where you want it.

The Contour Brush has a slightly doomed, rounded shape. Though I seldom contour, this does fit well in the cheek hollows. I tend to use this for blusher (when I want a pop of colour on the apples on the cheeks) and highlighting.

The Buffing Brush is a rounded brush. Though dense, its very soft. It really works the product into the skin, leaving no streaks/edges and can achieve full coverage. It works well with liquid and powder foundations and I also like it for concentrated highlighting. Compared to the Multi Task brush this is a lot more smaller and more dense/firm.

Here are all my RT brushes, L-R: Detailer, Essential Foundation, Pointed Foundation, Contour, Buffing, Stippling, Blush, Multi-task and Domed Shadow.


Apart from the blusher brush being a tad too big, I can find no fault with these brushes. They are very easy to clean with a quick dry time, they also have rubberised handles to allow for easy gripping. They work tremendously well and I find myself reaching for them more and more.

I bought these from www.love-makeup.co.uk

Laura Mercier Kohl Eye Pencil Set

Laura Mercier brought out a Kohl pencil set for the holidays, the set sold out very quickly, most likely due to the fact that you are getting five full sized Kohl Eye Pencils for £31.
I was rather fortuitous to pick this up in a sale for an even more bargain price of £15.50, though its sold out now from where I bought it I did notice the set pop up on the online SpaceNK sale a few days ago.
All the colours are from the permanent collection.
It includes Black Navy (shimmered navy with a charcoal base), Black Gold (shimmered antique gold with a hint of a charcoal base), Stormy Grey (charcoal grey), Black Violet (very dark, near black purple) and Brown Copper (shimmered warm brown).

Swatches L-R: Black Gold, Brown Copper, Black Navy, Black Violet and Stormy Grey

I do tend to like the texture of these pencils as they are creamy with good pigment and wear well, however I was disappointed with Black Navy as I found it did not apply as smooth as the other shades and was lacking in pigment.
I was hoping to be able to use these as lid shades as well but that went very wrong. On the lid I find them very hard to blend, they go patchy and even with a shadow primer they creased within an hour, so they are not as versatile as liners such as Rouge Bunny Rouge which I often use as lid shades.

Shown below, I really tried to work it with these to make the colours apply smooth with neat edges and it still ending up looking a mess. I've left this picture quite big so hopefully you can see the patchy application.


Ingredients:

I bought this from houseoffraser.co.uk

Beauty Spotlight Team Mystery Makeup Bag

Our first mystery makeup bag for 2012, lets have a look at what pretties are inside Perilouslypale’s makeup bag

An Introduction to Gielly Green

Gielly Green haircare is a range of products from the boutique salon in Marylebone, London.
I decided to order a selection of products from the brand as I couldn't bring myself to pay the £7 postage so ordered enough to qualify for a free shipping offer they were running.
The products do not contain parabens/sls or synthetic fragrances however some do contain silicones. The products come in sleek, stylish darkened bottles.
Repair Shampoo (£16 for 200ml) – I have to mention the smell which is lovely, its a blend of fleur de vanille and lemongrass, to me it smells slightly spicy yet has a comforting sweetness and a hint of citrus, (the sweetness is somewhat reminiscent of Philosophy's cinnamon buns). I was expecting it to have a very thick texture so was surprised that its actually a normal liquid consistency and feels very lightweight on. It lathers really well and leaves my hair feeling silky and soft, though I do find my very sensitive scalp feels very slightly itchy after use.

Classic Conditioner (£16 for 200ml)– This is not very rich so might not be the best for those with damaged hair, however its a great detangler, its easy to wash out and doesn't leave hair looking greasy, one thing I would say though is that this does not combat static ( my hair is very static prone). The scent is not as sweet as the shampoo, but is very pleasant nonetheless (its scent its noted as pamplemousse and cassis).

Ingredients: Conditioner, Shampoo

Repair mask (£6 for the 50ml travel sized version) : This is designed for Curly, Problematic damaged & Coloured hair and its advised to leave it on 10-15 minutes. It has quite a thick, smooth texture yet rinses out surprisingly easily. It gets rid of any knots (which I am very prone to) and my hair is left looking smooth,shiny and more healthy but not weighed down.
It also has the same gorgeous scent as the Repair shampoo.
Ingredients:

Body Wash (£12 for 300ml)- I bought the lemon and muguet scent, its a very clean and refreshing scent, slightly citrus. This does not irritate my skin and lathers up very well, though its not as moisturising as I would like.
I couldn't get a clear picture of the ingredients of the body wash but the Gielly Green site does list all the ingredients (I wish more sites would do this).

For me the Repair Mask is the star of the show here as it really does deliver tangible results and I'll be buying the full size.

I bought these from giellygreen.com