The Beauty Spotlight Team sends Modesty Brown to a desert island

This week it's Modesty Brown's turn to visit the Beauty Spotlight Team's Desert Island and she gets a little carried away. The products are pretty good, so it is worth glossing over the fact that she's clearly 'lost' it! Let's see which twelve products made it into her desert island bag.

The original picture above was from ABC's Lost site (subtly adapted via Modesty Brown)

Le Metier de Beaute Sheer Brilliance Lip Gloss Uma Paro

I find purple toned lip shades tricky to wear as they can look very bright, too contrasting against my pale skin and well just too purple. The wonderful review from Lola's secret beauty blog made me succumb to Uma Paro (£26).

Its a deep plum with multi coloured sparkle. Close up of the tube below,

Once I received it I was slightly concerned by just how plummy/purple the shade was, however because of the sheerness and lush glossy finish it is extremely wearable and manages to strike the perfect balance of the redder tones you'd get from a plum to the cooler slightly fuchsia blue tones of a purple.

Great on its own or as a topper to give your lipstick a lift. Though its called sheer, the colour is buildable. The texture is lightweight and smooth (there is no grittiness) and feels moisturising, there is a bit of tackiness to it.

For those looking for a wearable plummy lip, this would be a great one to try.

Ingredients:


I bought this from zuneta.com

Dior Grand Bal: Fairy Golds Palette

The Fairy golds palette (£40) is the cooler toned of the two eye palettes from the holiday collection.


It contains a  frosty sheer oyster peach, a metallic golden champagne (like the Night Golds palette, this upper right shade has chunky particles and look uneven in the pan), a medium-dark brown with semi-matte finish, frosty mauve taupe and in the centre a  glitter infused frosty bright white.


Texture wise the peach and mauve taupe feel smooth and buttery, the brown and white and golden champagne have a slightly dryer feel. I always find Dior shades to blend beautifully, to have great pigment and last well, however I was very surprised to have this crease quite badly so I have to wear this with a good eye primer to get it to last. Another issues is that unlike the Night Golds, I found the top right shade to be less pigmented and prone to fall out.

Unfortunately I bought this before the store had the display out so I bought it from the drawer without being able to swatch it, had I been able to I wouldn't have bought this.
Its not that I don't like the majority of colours, but its simply too frosty (something Dior is prone to with its palettes). There is not enough contrast and I have to rely heavily on using the brown to balance the look. Though I have used all the colour below to show you, in reality I am likely not to use more than two colours at a time.

My advise with this one is that unless you like a frosty look, swatch instore before you buy because I think it looks a lot prettier in the palette than it does on.

I bought this from Boots

Omorovicza Perfecting Lip Balm

As the winter months approach its that time again when lip balm becomes a must. I've tried many lip balms of differing prices and have only been happy with a few to re-buy, the market is so swapped with them it really needs to be something that bit special to get that loyalty.

I am a fan of Omorovicza so bought the Perfecting Lip Balm (£32 for 10ml) as soon as I could. It comes in a screw lid container, its a pale pink in colour but applies clear.

It contains shea butter, eucalyptus and hyaluronic spheres. This does feel a bit tingly, I'm not a fan of this sensation in lip products but its not uncomfortable and I don't notice it after about 10 minutes. Texture wise it feels smooth and not overly sticky or coating like some balms can. It makes my lips feel soft and smoother. One of the attributes I enjoy most (and why I think its worth the price) is that it does seem to provide long lasting moisture/softness and I do think my general lip condition is better since I've been using this.

The only drawback is the steep price, though compared to similar priced balms (such as Sisley) I do think this performs better.

I bought this from omorovicza.com

Dior Grand Bal: Night Golds Eyeshadow Palette

The holiday Grand Bal collection features heavily on golds and reds. Packaging wise the lipsticks and nail polish shapes seem rather reminiscent of the early Dior style which I was never a fan of so I went for the eye shadow palettes which are in the normal packaging.

Today I will show you the Night Golds (£40) palette which is the warmer of the two.


It contains a shimmery slightly frosty white, metallic golden copper (this one has rather large chunky particles and makes the texture look uneven in the pan, though it applies smooth) a shimmered gold beige, a shimmered yellow gold and a matte dark charcoal with gold sparkle.

Apart from the darkest shade, which has a dryer feel, the other shades feel soft and smooth. All shades apply and blend well, with a good wear time and no fall out.
Swatched below (I've not smoothed down the copper shade as wanted to show you the heavier texture)

Being very cool toned and not a fan of warm shadows I was pleasantly surprised how well these worked; the cool base of the darkest shade works to keep in check the warmth of the golden shades.

An elegant way to wear a bit of shimmer/sparkle, well done Dior.

Ingredients:




A family member bought me this from Debenhams.

Beauty Spotlight Team stranded on a desert island, part 1

One by one the Beauty Spotlight Team members are being stranded on a desert island. Poor Marcia from Beauty Info Zone drew the short straw and has been airlifted there. Will the items in her whimsical bag reflect what she took with her?

Sprout Skincare

Sprout Skincare is a Brooklyn-based company that produces a natural range of skin and body care products. The products contain an extremely simplified list of ingredients and are handmade in small batches using only traditional methods. All of Sprout's ingredients are either certified organic, Fair Trade, or sourced from small family farms. They are also certified cruelty free by PETA and all products are Vegan Friendly.

Though I was happy with my skin regime I always get intrigued with new brands.
The makeup remover (£8) contains organic Sweet almond oil, Extra-virgin olive oil and Jojoba oil.

It has a good consistency, not too thin that it runs down your face but not so thick that it’s difficult to spread. It does remove my makeup well and also eye makeup (though can make your eyes a bit blurry afterwards) I do feel like it left a layer on my skin and felt a toner was necessary after use.

The cleanser (£15) I used more as a toner as I felt like its ability to cleanse the skin was a bit limited, it felt pleasant on the skin and was not drying and worked well after the makeup remover to lift off the residue. It contains organic Rosewater, Vegetable glycerin and Tea tree oil.

I really wanted to like these products and depending on your skin type I do think these could be an effective paring for cleansing/makeup remover, however whilst I think for sensitive skin simplicity is the way to go, if you don't get on with the ingredients then you have problems and unfortunately my skin did not get on with these.
Using the makeup remover, either on its own, with the cleaner or with other brands, I got congested skin. With the cleanser, again on its own or with other products I got irritated bumps.

My skin is back to normal now after nearly a month due to my return to my trusty skincare brands (Pai, Ambre Botanicals and Omorovicza) and I think this little detour has made me realise I should really stick to what I know.

For those new to my blog please note that I do have very sensitive/reactive skin so would not want to discourage someone from this brand who does not have said skin type.

I bought these from cutecosmetics.co.uk