Ellis Faas: Ellis Eyes Lights Eyeshadows.

My birthday treat to myself was a trip to Liberty to have a look around the Le Metier de Beaute counter, and play with the Ellis Faas eyeshadows. I love me some Ellis Faas, and I was delighted when I discovered that she's recently introduced a new range of shadows to go alongside her Milky and Creamy shadows (you can see my post about those here).  Most people know that the Ellis Faas range is based on shades found in the human body, but the shades in the new "Ellis Eyes Lights" range are metallics and duochromes, and were inspired by silver shimmers. They're beautiful, and they had my name written all over them:

How could I resist? Yes, yes, my name is Louise, but most people call me Luce - only my mum and my boss really call me Louise!  I bought two.  I had to. Shades E304 - a shimmering metallic lilac and E305, a reddish-brown with a beautiful green duochrome.  Here's the swatches:

See how the colours change depending on the angle? Simply gorgeous.  Housed in the signature Ellis Faas bullet applicators, these have a brush tip for an easy application.  The swatches above have been applied quite heavily to show them in their full glory.

Applied more sheerly to the eye, here's how the brown E305 looks:

I've added a touch of a darker brown in the crease, and along the upper lash area, but this is just one coat that I've sheered out a little with my fingertips towards the socket line.  The green flash is far more visible in the flesh.  The shadows do dry quickly so you have work quite quickly, but they are long lasting, and hard wearing, and will last a full work day without wearing off.

This is how the shadows look in the full context of my face:

Do you own any Ellis Faas?

Estee Lauder - Blue Dahlia Collection

Hold on to your hats people, for I have fallen in love with an eyeshadow.  And it's BLUE ...

I was saying in one of my rambles on Zuneta recently that I much prefer the autumn/winter collections from the major cosmetic houses than the summer ones, and this a/w collection - the first widely available one from new Lauder creative director Tom Pecheux - is a beauty.  I don't mind admitting that Lauder are - for me - doing some of the most interesting collections of the major beauty houses at the moment, Michael Kors was a total winner, and Bronze Goddess is probably my most favourite of all the summer collections I've seen.

I was invited recently to take a look at the new Pure Colours collection which is shortly to be re-launched in new packaging complete with 24 new eyeshadow shades and 24 new lipglosses.  The new formulation is great, long-lasting shadows and some lovely glosses (though I do wish they had a brush instead of a rather stiff and hard to use does-foot applicator), but it was the capsule limited edition Blue Dahlia collection (above) that caught my eye ...

Here's the palette itself:

There's a teal, taupe, smoky blue, a white with an iridescent teal shimmer, and a black for defining.  Take a look at a close up of that white:

It's gorgeous.  It swatches quite sheerly, but with a teal-ish glimmer, it's very good mixed with the other shades in the palette, or patted over the top for a hint of sparkle.

I think the palette - despite my allergy to blues - is really very versatile, and I've created a couple of looks from it already.  Ha, Ha! Created looks - I hate that phrase, I'm about as creative as the average doorknob - what I actually mean is that I've done my makeup in a couple of (slightly) different ways with it already:

First off, a smoky eyed look:

I used the lighter teal shade in the inner corner, with the smoky blue on the outside, then blended the taupe into the crease, I used the black as a liner on the upper lid, with the smoky blue as a liner on the bottom, I then finished it off with a spot of Guerlain Kohl in Noir on the waterline.  Here's a (slightly fuzzy, sorry!) close
up:

I didn't use any base with these shadows, I wanted to see how they lasted (something I always do the first time I wear new shadows), and this is how they looked after ten hours wear:

Yes, the colour has faded somewhat, but the creasing is minimal, and it's still quite wearable.

For a simpler look (I can't, in all honesty, usually be bothered using more than two shades of eyeshadow on a daily basis), I used the taupe all over the mobile lid into the crease, then blended some of the teal into the crease and the outer eyelid:

I've also been using the teal for tightlining, alongside the taupe as a neutral shade, but I forgot to take photos of that one ...

The new pure colour shades will be available from July, and the limited edition Blue Dahlia collections (there's a lavender/lilac version too, which I think I may have to splash out on) will debut in House of Fraser at the same time.  Will you be indulging?  What's your opinion on blue eyeshadow?

The Fine Print: Palette was provided as part of a PR event, opinions are - as usual - as credible as you think opinions on PR-provided products possibly can be.  However, I've never had a good word to say about about any blue cosmetic ever, so he fact that I've used this every day since it arrived should speak volumes. That, or I've suddenly gone colourblind/mad/senile.

Armani Nude Contrast Palette - FotD

New for this summer, Armani have released two nude contrast palettes, one pink, one blue.   I was very lucky to have been sent the blue one to try recently.

That said, some of you will already know of my dislike of pastels – in particular pale blue – and find those sorts of colours impossible to wear, so this one was rather a challenge for me!

The palette consists of stripes of pale blue, a beautiful shimmering “old gold” shade, a thin strip of jet black, and a pure white highlight, this picture shows off the shimmer in the gold shade better than the one above:

 Blue and pure white are difficult shades for me to pull off with my (very) pale olive skin, but here’s what I came up with:

I used the white as a brow-highlight, the gold as a colour-wash all over the mobile lid area, the black as a liner, and the blue to highlight the inner corner. Mascara is Lancome Precious Cells, and the lipgloss is Lancome D'Absolou, I'm also wearing a hint of Cargo Plant Love Illuminator in Wind on my cheeks.

What this picture doesn't show is that I gave myself a double-flick of eyeliner, here's a close up:

I thought it was a good way to make this a little different to my normal liner.  The Armani palette is very nice, and of beautiful quality, it has definitely made me want to discover more about the brand, I can't deny it!

The black is very densely pigmented, it makes a great eyeliner, and doesn't have a grey cast on the skin. It stays very black, I'd have liked a wider strip of it in the palette, actually. I absolutely love the sandy gold shade, it's beautifully shimmery - with an almost holographic sheen - which makes it very beautiful.  However, I'm not entirely sure I'll be using the blue or white again, I kept getting glances of myself whilst I was wearing this (ok, I was looking at myself, I'll admit it), and all I could see was the pale blue, and it wasn't flattering!

How do you wear pastels?

Armani Nude Contrast Palettes are available from Selfridges and costs around £39.

The Small Print: This was sent to me for review purposes.  Gotta love a PR with a sense of humour ;)