Dolce & Gabbana Passion Duo Gloss Fusion Lipstick in Rose

Sometimes you accidentally find yourself in Harrods, wanting a treat.

As is perfectly natural, you find yourself drifting towards the beauty hall.

Dolce & Gabbana call your name.  Well, not literally, after last time you went to their counter, anyway, but you  know what I mean.

What falls into your sticky little fingers is a new "passion duo", a fusion of colour and balm, designed to keep lips hydrated whilst wearing colour.

Packaged in the D&G signature embossed gold, these are definitely a touch of luxury in your makeup bag.

I selected the shade rose, which is a good, wearable everyday neutral:

The lipstick is creamy and well pigmented, the balm in this has a slight purple tone, and appears to have a hint of microgllitter in it.

It doesn't feel at all gritty on the lips though, and feels very hydrating in wear.  Whilst possibly not as hydrating as my beloved Chantecaille Lip Chics, these are a little more pigmented:

So, what treats have fallen into your life, recently?

The Fine Print: Purchase.  I'm not to be left alone in Harrods in charge of a debit card EVER again.  Or at least until after the wedding.
 
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Dolce & Gabanna Autumn Collection

I got a look at the autumn collection from D&G recently, and it's all about gothic lips, alongside some unusual eyeshadow shades this season.  Let's take a look:

These are the lipglosses in Amethyst and Vibrant.  Both have a very pretty blue micro shimmer, and apply very opaquely. Ironically, the one named Amethyst is the more brown-shade, and Vibrant is  the fuschia.

Both apply feel very moisturising on the lips, and, whilst they are a bit sticky, they're very nice to wear, non-drying, and good coverage.  Speaking of wear, they last about an hour, maybe two on the lips, depending on - of course - if you're eating or drinking whilst wearing them.

There are two lipsticks in the collection, Cosmopolitan, and Orchid.  Naturally, because I'm an idiot, I only have swatches of Cosmopolitan:

As you can see, this is a creme shade, which personally, I find shades a little towards the tangerine ... but it's pretty.  An odd choice for autumn, I think though, after all the coral shades of the summer.  Orchid is a beautiful shade too - a glorious PINK, and I'll bring you a face of the day with that one soon ... it ha disappeared when I was doing the swatches for this set. 

There are also two eyeshadow sets, one a duo, and one a quad.  They're a little unusual, as both contain a pink ... pink eyeshadow?  Hmn ...  First up is the duo: "Evocative", and following is the quad "Divine".

As always, the shadows are very smooth, and fairly pigmented, here's how they look on my fingers:

Most of these shades are matte, with the exception of the pink and blue from the Divine quad, which have a tiny amount of shimmer.  Pink is an unusual shade for eyeshadows, and I think it's even more unusual to release two in the same collection, here's how they compare:

On the left is the Divine pink, and on the left is the Evocative.  As you can see, the Divine is almost frosted, and it's very much on the cool side, whereas Evocative is warmer, almost coral-toned, and is matte.  I find that you can wear the Evocative shades layered over one another, for a wearable look.

No nail varnishes this time around, which is a shame as I still really adore Perfection from the summer collection, and I'd have liked to have seen some new shades.

What do you think?

The Fine Print: Samples were provided for review purposes, which is nice, after my last D&G cosmetic experience.

D&G Fall Out with Selfridges

Sooooo ... I was amused (sorry, but I was) to read in the Telegraph yesterday that D&G have had a "giant falling out" with Selfridges over shoes, and from next spring will be pulling out of their stores entirely.

For us beauty lovers, this gives us a tiny predicament, as it means that the D&G makeup line (which is actually very good) will be only available from Harrods from that point.  Better hope the customer service picks up before then, eh?

What do you think, storm in a teacup, or were Selfridges right to ... er ... put their foot down?

Dolce & Gabanna Summer Collection

So, if you read my blog last week, you know I had a hard time actually buying these, but, I do love the bits and pieces I bought ... Up there you can see (l-r) Nail Polish in Perfection, Classic Lipstick in Soft, and the eye quad in Nude.  What I didn't realise at the time is that Perfection and Nude are actually part of the summer collection, and as a result are limited edition.

The packaging on these is excellent, heavyweight, and a shade of gold that doesn't look cheap, even the etching of the names on the packaging looks great.  They do get hellishly covered in fingerprints though, so may be a good idea to keep them in their velvet pouches.

Onto swatches! 

The nail varnish flows like butter, I have an issue with the long, spindly brush aligned with a tiny cap (the gold part pops off to reveal the proper cap beneath), but this is because I am a well-known cackhanded muppet, and these things make applying varnish difficult for me. I think this is an almost perfect "mannequin hands" polish, too.  The above pic shows two coats (with a base and top coat), and is on it's sixth day of wear.  There was a minimal amount of chipping, and barely any tipwear.  Seriously amazing quality.

Lips:

Classic lipstick in Soft  is a rather dark neutral rose shade, opaque in one stroke, it provides soft, glossy lip coverage:

It looks a little lighter on the skin than on the bullet, and it reminds me somewhat of Chanel's Rouge Coco in Mademoiselle - I'll make a potential dupe post soon! - on my lips it very nearly a "my lips but better" shade (I have quite pigmented lips naturally) but it's a good, wearable, fairly neutral shade for many skin colours, I think.

Onto the eye quad:

I fell in love with these shades, the top two a lightly shimmery brownish-purple, and pale coral, and two matte flesh shades, perfect for creating a no-makeup makeup look.  Here's how they swatch:

The brown-purple (or purple-brown, if you prefer), is simply beautiful, I've used it for lining, but it's also perfect for a flattering smokey look.  I used the whole quad recently to create a natural look (for meeting Edward Bess, who complimented me on it, but more about that anon), used the two matte shades for the base and crease shades, and then coloured the mobile lid in a little with the peach, and used the brown to line, seemed to work just fine!  The shadows lasted really well - admittedly over a primer - too.

So, was it worth dealing with the sneery sales assistant?  Yes, I think it was, but I'll be buying from the Selfridges counter next time ...

The Fine Print: I bought these after a hellishly bad day in East London.  East London apparently does strange things to your credit cards.

Dolce & Gabanna Makeup at Harrods

Dear Dolce & Gabanna,

Your new makeup range is gorgeous.  Your counter at Harrods is gorgeous.  The staff on your makeup counter at Harrods are beautiful and gorgeous.

And, if the beautiful staff at your gorgeous counter hadn't been too busy painting their nails, ignoring customers and sneering when asked for service at 2pm last Monday afternoon, I might even have spent more than the £70 I finally managed to give A N Other member of your staff. I'm very happy with the products, but the attitude of your bit... er ... sales assistant  is still bugging me.

I'm guessing the lovely girls who were busy being helpful on the Burberry counter had put some noses out of joint?  Such a shame, anyway.

Love and unimpressed kisses,

Lippie xx