Finishing Touches: #LipsNspritz of the Week, June 12 2016

Summer's coming!  Summer's coming!  Well, hopefully it is, anyway!  My tastes have certainly turned to the more summery this week, anyway.  I started with Caron's My Lang (which gave me and my husband a Woody Guthrie ear worm for several days), which is a sophisticated and creamy sun-lotion kind of a scent, which I really liked from first sniff. More about this soon.  I'm also LOVING the new Burts Bees lip crayons, this one in Napa Valley is a beautiful deep blood-red with great lasting power.

On Tuesday I wore Guerlain Terracotta, only to have it pour down raining all day.  Irony.  Again, another sun-lotion kind of fragrance, this one heavier on the jasmine, with an oilier kind of side to it, it's beyond gorgeous.  I wore it with one of Guerlain's new La Petite Robe Noir lipsticks, which smell of cherry blossom and black tea.  Nice shade, but scented lips are a little distracting, I think.   

On  Wednesday I wore what might be two of my favourite launches of the year so far, Diptyque Eau de Sens and Chanel Rouge Coco Stylo in Roman.  Eau de Sens is a gorgeous, waxy and fleshy orange blossom that has been rounded out with juniper and patchouli, it's fun and beautiful, and a delight to wear, I can't resist it, and it's a fragrance I crave almost daily.  Which is tough when you're trying to wear a different perfume every day!  The Rouge Coco stylos are gorgeous, and the first Chanel purchase I've gone out of my way to pick up in what must be a couple of years now.  They're shiny and cushiony, and beautifully pigmented.  I'm going to need backups of both of these.

Thursday I wore Hermes Pamplemousse Rose, which is a refreshing and light, almost sugary take on pink grapefruit, lacking the sulphurous air that can make things like Guerlain's Pamplemousse in the Aqua Allegorica a little difficult to wear. I paired it up with the almost neon-pink of Revlon's Barcelona Nights, which is a long time favourite. 

And on Friday (my birthday!) I wore the amazing Rose Gold from Ormonde Jayne, which is the companion piece to Black Gold which, in a tiny twist of fate, was released on my birthday two years ago.  I'm going to need a couple more wears to allow my nose to pick it apart, but so far it appears a worthy follow-up. I'll do a joint review of both of these fragrances soon, Black Gold is probably one of the most commented on fragrances in my collection, and I love it an unhealthy amount.  Just so you know.  I wore Rose Gold with my Louboutin lipstick in Survivita.  Love the colour, like the formula, completely underwhelmed with the hype, the price and the packaging.

And finally, in super-exciting news, later this month Frederic Malle launch body products (shower gel and body lotion) in the Cologne Indelible fragrance.  Cologne Indelible is a juicy and fresh cut-orange fragrance, replete with orange blossom, and cut through with a bright lemon and green herb facet which I adore an unhealthy amount.  The best thing about Cologne Indelible though is that is is a juicy citrus that lasts and lasts, which is hugely unusual for a citrus scent.  I've used these every day this week for layering purposes, as they're really zesty and refreshing.  I must pick myself up a full bottle of Cologne Indelible though, one day ...

And what have you been wearing? 


 The Fine Print: PR samples and purchases


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Finishing Touches (#LipsNspritz) of the Week 2nd May 2016

 Bright reds and dark berries, plus one glorious pink this week, alongside some classic fragrances too. Top left were the gorgeous white flowers of Narciso  For Her, which is a fragrance I love a great deal, and could even smell it slightly through my parosmia last year, which always grants a special place in my heart for a fragrance. I wore this on Friday with Mac Hot Tahiti, a soft and gentle red.  

Middle Left: I'd also worn Narciso Rodriguez Musc For Her this week, which is a powdery musk, somewhat clean-smelling (reminiscent, slightly, of laundry musks), but the oil format keeps it close to the skin.  I wore this with the most emailed about lipstick ever featured on this blog, Rouge Baiser 306, which I picked up in Paris a few years ago.  (Incidentally, I'm not a stockist or supplier of these lipsticks - which are only available in France - so, please, stop asking me to get them for you!)

Bottom Left: I wore Mugler Cologne, which features a little creaminess in amongst the usual neroli and bitter orange that you get in a classic cologne, making this just a little more interesting than the usual plain citrus blast you might get with a sharper cologne.  I wore this with It Cosmetics Vitality Lipstick Stain in Pretty Woman, which is a sheer deep berry.  I'll have a lot more to say about It Cosmetics products later on this week.

Bottom right is Chanel Rouge Coco Lip Stylo in 208 Roman, which is a beautiful bright pink.  I've not bought anything from Chanel in AGES, and it's hard to get across in this picture just how bright, beautiful and juicy these shades are in the flesh.  I'll be picking up some more for sure. I wore it with Chanel Exclusifs Sycomore, which is a fabulous smoky vetiver that I should really pick up a proper bottle of at some point.

And finally (top right) Reiss Grey Flower.  Still one of the most unusual and haunting fragrances you could buy on the high street for less than £50, it's filled with guaic wood, which has an oddly fleshy kind of effect (smelled neat, its a bit like parma ham), and this doesn't smell flowery, either.  It's hard to say what it smells like (apart from good, interesting, unusual), but it's definitely worth a sniff if you can find a bottle.  I paired it up with YSL Rouge Volupte No4, a bright and beautiful sheer red.  Not my favourite of formulas - I find it too slippery - but a gorgeous shade.

What have your favourite finishing touches been recently?

The Fine Print: PR samples and purchases


This post: Finishing Touches (#LipsNspritz) of the Week 2nd May 2016 originated at: Get Lippie All rights reserved. If you are not reading this post at Get Lippie, then this content has been stolen by a scraper

Currently Testing ...

As well as bringing you proper reviews of the Urban Decay Gwen Stefani collection soon, I'm also trialling a few new base products, namely the new Les Beiges  foundation in Rose 22, alongside its sister product, the le Blanc de Chanel Multi-Use Illuminating Base.  Initial thoughts are that the foundation is all kinds of aces, but trialling it with a cold has meant that I've probably not seen it at its best.  As for the base, well, I'm not sure what the other uses are, but I'll see if I can figure some out ...

I'm also trialling these:

I've used the Meteorites Base before, and I liked it a lot, but the new re-issue is really lovely.  I'm sure, but can't be 100% certain that the perles are bigger in this edition, but when I find my old bottle, I'll know more.  And words fail me when I come to describe just how beautiful the Meteorites Voyager compact is.  I love it.

But more in-depth analysis of all of these when I don't have a cold, and am not constantly wiping my base products off ...

What've you hauled lately?

The Fine Print: PR samples and purchases

This post: Currently Testing ... originated at: Get Lippie All rights reserved. If you are not reading this post at Get Lippie, then this content has been stolen by a scraper

LipsNspritz of the Week 17 January 2016

I spent this week wearing some of the "big hitters" in my collection, and thoroughly enjoyed it!  I began the week with Chanel No19 and Max Factor Marilyn Monroe Collection Ruby Red, and enjoyed the grown-up sophistication (something I'm sorely lacking in naturally) of bitter greenness and aldehydes. Tuesday brought brash spice and a gentle hint of the barnyard in Estee Lauder's Cinnabar, which I paired with the (accidentally) matching Sunset Red of the same Max Factor collection (click the previous link to see what I thought of these lipsticks in full).  Cinnabar is warm and full-bodied and is rather wonderful in cold weather.

On Wednesday, I thought I'd wear what was the first "fine fragrance" I ever owned (at the tender age of 13!), O' de Lancome by Lancome.  I remember it as being the lemoniest thing on the planet, and, what can I say, my  memories aren't that reliable, because it isn't, of course, that lemony at all.  Yes, there's citrus, but there's also a hefty punch of green herbs behind the citrus, and I loved wearing this, I kept sniffing myself in delight at such a great re-discovery.  On Thursay, I wore Samsara, which was the Guerlain answer to YSL Opium (as was Cinnabar, now I come to think of it), but it has a lighter, fresher, more citrus take on the heavy spice and warm resins of the original Opium.

On Friday I took advantage of the fact that my boss was "working from home" to wear Dior Poison.  Well, why wouldn't you? Applied in a small dose - no more than two sprays, maximum! - Poison is actually a lovable tuberose fragrance, with an appealingly powdery drydown. Applied with a heavier hand however, it deserves all the opprobrium it gets.  It was surprisingly popular in the office, and people were amazed when I told them what it was! I wore it with Lipstick Queen Private Party, which is one of the best pinks ever.

Saturday daytime, I wore YSL Paris, another fragrance I used to wear in my youth. Remembered as a sugar-rich, sweet, sweet, SWEET confection, this rosily pretty fragrance is another done a disservice by my unreliable memory.  It's not the explosion in a candy-floss factory I thought it was and is actually a neon-rose-violet that I actually can't smell in too much detail.  Oh well, I'll keep trying with this one, it's a classic for a reason. I topped it up with Paradox for a night on the tiles with MrLippie, and that worked well.  I wore it with Zelens Lip Glaze in Nude, which is the only "nude" I ever wear...

And what have you been wearing? 


The Fine Print: A mixture of PR samples and purchases


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LipsNspritz of the Week 06.12.15

After spending last weekend doused in Tom Ford's finest Black Orchid (albeit in the new Eau de Toilette version rather than the EdP), I was obviously stuck in a rather Tom Ford kind of groove for the early part of this week.  

Monday brought Tom Ford Black Violet, a scent which I have always preferred to Black Orchid, for some reason (but it's now discontinued), a gloriously rich and decadent fragrance, one which reminds me of the glory days of women's cinema in the forties.  It's a fragrance with shoulder pads and red lipstick, which I subverted by not wearing shoulder pads, and wearing with MAC Hot Tahiti, which is a slightly browned wine-shade, which reads like a neutral on my lips.  I did wear black leather though ...

Tuesday was Tom Ford Tuscan Leather, long one of my favourite fragrances.  I was surprised on wearing it this time, however (the first since I lost my sense of smell last year) that I can now pick up the raspberry notes that, in other writers descriptions, have always mystified me somewhat.  A nice discovery!  It still smells leathery to me - which I love - but now it has an extra dimension that I never noticed previously, a great thing. I wore it with Bare Minerals Call The Shots which is a great red lipstick.

Wednesday brought a neglected gem from my perfume collection, which was Maison Francis Kurkdjian Amyris Femme.  This had been shuffled to the back of one of my drawers, and I confess that I'd completely forgotten about it as a result.  I'm completely kicking myself about that now, as it is incredibly beautiful.  I described it on Instagram as luminous and sheer, bright with citrus in the opening, and warm with woods and resins in the base.  Classy and expensive-smelling, it's radiant and gorgeous, and I can't wait, actually, to wear it again.  So I'm wearing it again today as I write this ... I paired it with Laura Mercier Cherries Jubilee Lip Parfait, which is a sheer natural red, which I like a great deal too.

I spent some of Thursday talking to various government bods (like you do) so I thought I'd wear something classic.  Naturally, when I opened the box, I was a bit hacked off that my bottle of Chanel No 5 was actually a bottle of Chanel No5 Eau Premiere. Not the end of the world, admittedly, but annoying, especially when it turns out that Eau Premiere is just a little too restrained for my damaged nose to pick up in any detail.  It's very nice, I'm sure, but it's no No5.  Now I'm wondering where my bottle of No5 has got to, I know I have one!  I wore it with Revlon ColorStay Moisture Stain in India Intrigue, which is one of my favourite pinks, as it lasts and lasts.  It does dry a bit though.

On Friday, I was planning to meet some friends for dinner, so an old favourite fragrance was in order, and I picked Guerlain Pamplune Aqua Allegorica.  Grapefruit scents have been tricky for me for a while, thanks to their sulphurous qualities (I struggle with vetiver as well for the same reason), but I think it's coming back now.  Either way, Pamplune smelled good, well as good as a sweaty grapefruit (and I mean that in a good way) can, let's put it like that.  I wore it with Smashbox Lip Lacquer in Legendary Red, which is a smashing red - I'm ashamed it's taken me so long to wear it.

Saturday I was ill, again, I'm totally fed up with it now, but  it's becoming a way of life at the moment, it appears. Anyhoo, I still wanted to smell good, so I picked up my bottle of Balmain Ivoire, which is soapy-fabulous (even though rather thin in comparison to its 80's-tastic fabulousness before reformulations and re-releases happened to it) and classy and very, very clean.  Still lovely.  I had been planning to wear it with a revlon lipstain, but as I spent the day in my pyjamas, that didn't actually happen ... 

What've you been wearing?

The Fine Print: PR Samples and purchases, all combined.


This post: LipsNspritz of the Week 06.12.15 originated at: Get Lippie All rights reserved. If you are not reading this post at Get Lippie, then this content has been stolen by a scraper

#LipsNspritz of the week 11.10.15

Life would be dull indeed without lipstick and perfume, I've made it a mission this last month or so to document my entire lipstick and perfume "wardrobe".  The idea is to wear every perfume and lipstick that I own, and post my thoughts on each on Instagram every day.  I'm trying to do it without repeats, but I've decided to allow myself the occasional one (admittedly an exception made for my "parosmia perfume" Paradox, because there are days still where it's the only thing I can face smelling), but I won't do it too often.  This week I replenished my stores of the original Acqua di Parma, which is one of my all-time favourite fragrances of all-time, and I'm delighted that it's largely untouched by my disability.  It's the smell of a hot and soapy sportsman emerging from the shower, and I've missed it terribly since I ran out last year!  I wore it with Burberry Kisses Sheer balm in Hydrangea, and you'll see more of that later on this week.

Other lipstick and perfume combos of the week after the jump:

New Year, Old Me

By Tindara:

Happy New Year! If you’re anything like me you will be utterly bored with all the "New Year New Me" nonsense and be wanting to shove anything "detoxing" up the jacksie with a rolling pin. At least, I think that’s what they’re recommending; I tend to switch off after someone mentions a detox. Instead, I’ve decided to do the exact opposite and track down some of my old, and hopefully classic, beauty and fragrance favourites; Thierry Mugler’s Angel,  Mac Spice lip pencil, and Chanel’s Rouge Noir.

I have been longing to try Angel again, ever since I realised it’s in the Luca Turin and Tania Sanchez top ten Classic Fragrances. I felt simultaneously very pleased with myself that it was my signature scent for years, and irritated that I had pretentiously let it go when it became ubiquitous and much copied. Well I started my first Angel day off in a haze of gourmand nostalgia, but after a couple of hours the spicier notes came through and I fell in love with it all over again, more than twenty years later. I had remembered it as a sweet but fresh fragrance with a certain something unusual about it. Maybe that was where I was at with my perfume appreciation at that stage; I certainly feel I have learnt a lot since, not least due to hanging around with other fumeheads and lippie-aficionados. 

This is an amazing scent – the fresh zesty peel notes that appear after the initial sweetness give way and turn into a deep spiciness with a hint of church incense and patchouli. It’s like wandering into a shop that sells crystals and tarot cards whilst wearing a diamond tiara. I suppose it’s no coincidence that I wore this in my grungiest years, but I was a rubbish grebo; my standard issue German army boots were contrasted with little black dresses and deep red lipstick. I always wanted that touch of glamour. Angel now feels elegant and sparkly but with an earthy depth that’s just perfect. I think it might be my new [old] favourite.

I'm sure you’re all familiar with Mac Spice and all its dupes. Like Angel, it was launched in the nineties and quickly gained cult status as the perfect nude shade. It’s a long time since I wore it, or even lip liner at all; I tend to just go straight for the bullet these days. In red, OBVS, as the children say. But the odd cool neutral has made it into my everyday routine so I thought I’d give it another go. Pixiwoo in particular are lip liner devotees and they inspired me to get back on point, so to speak. 

Unable to get hold of a Mac Spice when I needed it, though, I hunted out a Bourjois dupe recommended by them, Crayon Contour Des Lèvres in 12 Facétieuse. It is a perfect nude, and I’d forgotten how great a toffee coloured lip liner can be at giving you a brilliant bee-stung pout. I used to push the edge to the very limit, (not over though, never over…) filling from the outside in, then topping with some lip balm. More recently, I've been using Laura Mercier Lip Glacé in Blush on top, which looks great with a smudgy smoky eye. I've now resurrected the few lip liners I have and am using them more and more as a result. They’re really long lasting and I love the fact that you can use them as a stain of colour not having to reapply as much throughout the day.

I was so excited when I finally got hold of some Chanel Rouge Noir back in the day – I had to go on a waiting list for it. Crazy, but we all wanted the shade that Uma Thurman wore in Pulp Fiction. I had to have it. It also reminded me of Shirley MacLaine in the 1988 film Madame Sousatzka. I was a strange teenager; there was something about the strands of beads, short dark nails and beautiful decorative fabrics in her costume that I adored. So as soon as the short dark nail thing happened I was there, and I don’t think it’s ever really gone away for me. 

I haven’t worn actual Rouge Noir for years though, until my friend got me some as a present a few months back. I still really love the rich bloody-black sheen of it, I couldn't stop looking at my hands. I feel like it goes with anything too, hold it against denim or black lace and it will look fantastic. It is straight up elegance with a touch of bohemian gothic and suits everyone in my opinion. My old [young] self wasn't so bad really; quite a stylish girl. 

What are your old favourites?

The Fine Print: Angel starts at £48, Mac Lip Pencils are £12.50, Bourjois Crayon Contour Des Lèvres are £5.49, Chanel Rouge Nail Polish is £18. All were bought by me, except the Chanel Rouge Noir which was gift from a friend.

The Even Finer Print: We're not featuring full fragrance reviews on Get Lippie at the moment owing to illness - please see The Parosmia Diaries for more.


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How To Make Your Manicure Last Longer

There is very little worse - from a beauty bloggers point of view - than a nail varnish that lasts around 30 seconds on the nails.  It's heartbreaking to discover that the beautiful shade you've just splashed out on has all the lasting power of a soap bubble.  Especially if it's an £18 soap bubble ...

Anyway, there is help, and you can make those ephemeral polishes last longer.  It's a technique called the "Sticky Sandwich", and it's very simple.  I didn't originate this technique, btw, but I use it all the time, because I'm lazy and can't be bothered doing my nails more than once (twice if it's a special occasion), in a week.

Anyway, here goes, you need a sticky basecoat, and the irritating polish of your choice, I chose these:

Orly Bonder, which is a rubberised basecoat, and Chanel Le Vernis in Barcelona Red. 

Important Note: 


You must make sure that whichever basecoat you use is a STICKY one, ie, one that feels tacky to the touch no matter how long you leave it to dry.  A couple of brands make them, make sure they say something like "high adhesion" or something on the label.  Orly Bonder just happens to be the best one I've found, and this is my second bottle.  The first bottle lasted over a year of more than regular usage and cost me about a tenner from eBay - nowadays you can get it from the newly-revamped BeautyBay for a more bargain-friendly price of £7.95.

Do not be tempted, whatever you do, to use one of those two-in-one Top and Basecoat jobbies, as they dry too shiny for this technique to work. Normal basecoats won't work either, you need something that gives a texture to your base to give your chippy-polish something to grip to.  This is the only time you'll be told that a nail product being stick is a good thing, by the way ... anyhoo, I'm digressing.

Okay, let's make a "Sticky Sandwich"

Step one:
Apply a coat of your sticky basecoat, and leave it to dry.

Step two:
Apply a coat of polish, leave to dry for a couple of minutes

Step three:
Repeat steps 1 & 2.

Step four (optional):
Seal with glossy topcoat.

It's not a complicated technique, admittedly, but it's one that does work.  The sticky basecoat allows both coats of polish to have something to cling to, and this means it takes longer for the colour to chip off the nails.  Even the chippiest of polishes will last at least two-to-three days after this treatment, and if you try it with better polishes, you should get at least a week of wear.  (Ignore anything you read about Orly Bonder giving you up to two weeks of wear, btw, it's total marketing guff).

So, what do you think?  A £7.95 investment that can give your crappy old polishes a new lease of life? Would it be worth it?

The Fine Print: Products are purchases, but the technique is shamelessly stolen from a bazillion other (mainly nail-centric) blogs, I wish I knew who'd invented it, so I could give due credit.  Links are for informational purposes only, and are not affiliate links.
 
This post: http://getlippie.blogspot.com/2012/10/how-to-make-your-manicure-last-longer_14.html originated at: Get Lippie All rights reserved. If you are reading this anywhere other than getlippie.com, then this content has been stolen.

Chanel Rouge Allure: Inimitable, Coromandel and Passion

  
Very little gets my heart racing like a red lipstick. When three red lipsticks turn up on the same day, well, that's an event my friends.  I was delighted to hear that Chanel are re-launching their Rouge Allure range, to go alongside the successful Rouge Coco lipsticks.  Whilst I like (and own about six) of the Coco's, I do prefer something more pigmented, and the Rouge Allures deliver pigment in spades.

I was sent three of the brightest shades from the newly-relaunched collection, Inimitable, Coromandel and Passion, all reds and all beautiful.  Shall we take a look?

Inimitable is a bright berry red, slightly blue-based in tone, but with a golden shimmer running through it that warms it up a little in wear.

Hard to tell from this picture, but Coromandel is an orange-red, but without the brown undertones that would normally make you describe this as a brick-red.  There is a fine (finer than that in Inimitable) gold shimmer running through this lipstick too.

Passion is a classic blue-based red without shimmer, and is a little more pigmented than Inimitable. It's a lot more dramatic in wear than that shade too, and will suit cooler-toned wearers.

Let's take a look at the bullets together:

You can only get an idea of how different the shades are when they're on skin, so I won't keep you waiting:

As you can see here, Coromandel really does pull orange in comparison to the other two shades, but on the lips, this isn't as noticeable, especially if your lips have a lot of red to them already.  I'll show you lip swatches later on in the week.

The formula on these is very good, excellent slip without feeling greasy, a high level of pigment, a glossy finish and that classic Chanel lipstick scent.  Wear time is about average, but they're not billed as long-lasting lipsticks, so I don't mind that too much, to be honest.  There's very little more glamorous than pulling out a Chanel lipstick for touch-ups, and the Rouge Allure casing is a classic - you push down on the gold Chanel logo and the lipstick pops up out of the black metal casing.  You don't get that distinctive lipstick "click" that you do with more traditional casings, but it's satisfying all the same.  I remember when the Rouge Allures were first launched, and they were making a big song and dance about how the packaging was operable with one hand.  Er ... it isn't, but hey ho, it's a nice case all the same.

What's your pick of the Allures?

The Fine Print: Samples supplied by Chanel.
This post originated at: http://getlippie.com All rights reserved.

Chanel Dragon Rouge Allure Laque

So, following on from my posts about Bare Minerals Upper Class Red, and Beaute Weightless Lip Creme in Masochist last week, I thought I'd show you what is considered to be the uber-red liquid lipstick, and that is Dragon, by Chanel.

A classic red, both deep and bloody, and lightly glimmering with gold, this is an undoubtedly gorgeous lip colour.  Sadly, I don't like it very much.  I'll get to why later, but first, here are some pictures:

Chanel's Rouge Allure Laque has an innovatively shaped applicator, ostensibly lip-shaped, the dip in the middle of the doe-foot makes it easier to follow the outline of your lips, and this lends itself to a simpler application than with other, flatter applicators.


The shade itself is almost faultless, a warm, rich, deep shade, it contains golden micro-shimmer to stop the colour looking flat and one-dimensional on the lips without becoming a disco-ball:

It's almost a "geisha" red shade, and is truly beautiful.  Sadly, I don't like the formula much.  I find it has a bit too much slip, and, as a result, can be prone to seepage.  You will need a lipliner with this, and blotting is highly recommended too.  I also find that it doesn't last as long on my lips as other deep reds, which is a disappointment.


So, how does the shade compare with other reds?  Here, I'm comparing it to the two other red liquid lipsticks I've already mentioned:

As you can see, Dragon is a little darker than either Upper Class or Masochiste, and the comparison makes the glimmer just a little more evident too.  It's a little less orange than the other two, having a slightly more blue undertone.


There have been rumours about Dragon being discontinued from the Rouge Allure range for about a year now, but I picked this one up just a couple of months ago.  Overall, I'd say it was nice to have, but ... later on this week I have a replacement for it that is EVEN BETTER.  Yes, you heard me, a liquid lipstick I love.  Possibly a bit too much, now I come to think about, I'll keep you posted ...


 The Fine Print: Chanel Dragon was a purchase.


This post originated at: http://getlippie.com All rights reserved.

Another Chanel Teaser ...

See anything you want swatches of?

And with flash:

And a better look at the palettes:

I could have bought a CAR for this ... :weeps: 

This post originated at: http://getlippie.com All rights reserved.

Chanel Ombre Essentielle - 417 Beige Lame

I admit, I wasn't all that taken with the Chanel Christmas collection this year, it just didn't speak to me.  But, I did have to pick up this eyeshadow single, when I was in Debenhams recently. Packaged with Chanel's usual attention to detail, the eyeshadow single comes in a little velvet pouch:

So, what colour is it?  Well, for all of you who think I live in taupe, I have a little surprise for you - this one is beige:

 So far, so dull.  What I like about Chanel though, is that their neutrals come with a bit of an edge, and this shade caught my eye in store because it's packed full of glorious - and beautiful - microglitter (cue terrible photos):

Somehow, I just can't capture the glory of this eyeshadow on camera, which is infuriating.  Whilst the colour isn't that unique, it's something I'll get a lot of use out of, as it's a great - slightly warm - beige shade, perfect for when you're getting ready in a rush.

Heree you can see it swatched dry on the right, and over primer on the right.


What have you picked up from the Christmas collections?

This post originated at: http://getlippie.com All rights reserved.

More Chanel Nails - Graphite, Quartz and Peridot

I am nothing if not predictable, for, after my last Chanel post, I did indeed go out and add Graphite and Quartz to my collection:

I'd initially disregarded Quartz and Graphite as not being unique enough, but, on discovering that Peridot was possibly slightly ... um ... too unique for me, I thought I'd pick them up anyway.  And I'm glad I did, because they're both very lovely.

 Graphite is a speckled grey foil, with hints of silver, grey, and green.  It's very sheer on application, but covers nicely.  Here, I used two coats, with no topcoat:

No word of a lie, this is similar to OPI's Glitzerland, but it's slightly greener, and leans more pewter than silver.  I like it a lot, but there was still a lot of visible nail line, and I could probably have done with a third coat.

I surprised myself for really falling for Quartz:

A soft pearlised taupe, with a fine silver shimmer running through it, this is really lovely:

I was delighted to see that under the right lighting conditions, Quartz has a multi-coloured micro-shimmer.  Sadly, because I am a photographic doofus, I couldn't recreate the lighting in-camera, though I kept trying:

It's not quite how it appears under the right lighting, but it's close.  Under most lights, it just appears a nice pearly taupe, not quite as grey as it appears in the bottle.

And, because I'm a completist, and I know a few of my readers are too, here's Peridot, once more (but just once):

And there you have it.  The sad, sad signs of a makeup addict ...

The Fine Print: Purchases.  Sweet, sweet, purchases.   
This post originated at: http://getlippie.com All rights reserved.