Guerlain SS13 Maxi Lash Mascara

A new mascara is always something to rejoice in, and a new mascara from Guerlain is always something to get excited about - how does this one measure up?

 Well, it's about a third of the size of their usual mascaras, which is refreshing!  And lovely to see more of the deco-style packaging that we've all come to know and love from the Rouge Automatic range.  But most important for me is the brush, is it a mega-brush that gets mascara everywhere except where you want it?  No, it's a weeny thin brush:

No, it's actually a nice thin brush.  Let's take a closer look:

 It's just a normal, thin, spiral-set bristle-brush.  Nothing particularly out of the ordinary here.

Guerlain describe this as a "Volume-Creating, Curl-Sculpting mascara", and claim that the blend of three polymers is innovative: "The first one wraps the lashes in extremely adherent oils, coating and thickening the lashes. The second one, made with supple waxes, acts like a conditioner, softening the lashes so you can sculpt them into just the right shape and style. The last one forms a thin film, coating the lashes to trap the wax and set the amazing curve.”  My mascara is in Noir, which is, in reality, actually a deep charcoal rather than a sooty black:

 
I'm a little disappointed that it's not very black, to be honest, but this does also come in a violet shade, which is something I'm going to have to investigate when it's released.

So, how does it look?  Well, take a look for yourself  (and please excuse the extremely scary photos)

  
Well, there is definitely lengthening, thickening and curling going on, it's actually a nice mascara.  But it's not a very dramatic mascara, and I like DRAMA with my lashes.  Of course, your mileage may vary.  It also has to be said that I'm suffering from thinning lashes on my left eye (on the right in the pics there), and this mascara hasn't done much to disguise that.

Will I buy it again?  Probably not, in all honesty, I think Mascara G does a much  better job for my requirements, but if you're looking for a nice everyday mascara, you could do a lot worse.  It'll cost £22 when it's released in January.

What's your favourite mascara?

The Fine Print: PR Sample

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Guerlain SS13 Meteorites Perles Du Paradis

 

No Guerlain collection is really complete without a new set of Meteorite perles. These slightly sparkling, and highly scented (of violets), beads of colour are highly flattering in use, and I find myself reaching for my pots of them quite regularly.  They're particularly effective for the ... er ... more mature lady, as they don't leave you with too matte a finish to your maquillage.  Next season the perles have changed somewhat, in some ways for the better, and some ways for the worse, you'll see.

The box opens up to reveal the familiar Guerlain rosette, and is embossed with the company name as usual.  It's a pretty baby pink, but ... it's cardboard.  I'm not entirely happy about this, I like a bit of luxury from Guerlain, and their outstanding packaging doesn't usually disappoint, but this does.  The reason, however becomes clear when you realise that this year, Meteorites have been supersized:

Here you can see the Meteorites Perles Du Paradise alongside Perles De Nuit (from the Christmas 2011 collection) on the left, and a pot of non-limited edition Meteorites perles on the right. The pot is about a third larger in size than the regular sized tins, and contains 53g of product compared to the regular 30g.

So, let's see what's in the pot, shall we?

Have to say that I'm adoring the cute puff in the pot this time around, so much more luxurious looking than the sponges you normally get in the regular pots.  Shall we see the perles now?

This time around, they're a bit brighter than the normal pastel-shaded perles, with very definite hints of mauve and pink, lilac, rose-gold and silver.

And, I have to say that these are very sparkly indeed compared to the normal Meteorites, in fact, I'd go so far as to say they're a better body product than they are a face powder.

Here I've swatched them very heavily to show the differences in the shades, in use, when swirled with a slightly firm brush, they're actually just a slightly pink shade, which a fair amount of sparkle:

Hopefully you can see the sparkle there.  As well as having supersized the package, they've enlarged the perles too:

You can see the difference better here:

Huge, eh?

Overall, this is a bit hit and miss for me.  An extremely pretty product, with a gorgeous puff (something I've thought that Meteorites has been missing for a while, actually), let down slightly by what is, frankly, extremely cheap packaging, and has slightly too much sparkle ... Gorgeous for collectors, but a bit of a let down for serious powder users, unless you want sparkly face dandruff...  It'll cost £43 when on counter in January.

 The Fine Print: PR Sample.

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Guerlain SS13 Rouge Automatique 600 Ballade Shine Automatiqe 761 Flirt

Alongside the two eyeshadow palettes I showed you yesterday, Guerlain are also introducing a few new shades of both Rouge and Shine Automatique, I have two to show you:

Rouge Automatique in 600 Ballade, and Shine Automatique in 761 Flirt.  I adore the deco-style packaging, which can - if you so desire, be operated with one hand:

  What we have here is a peachy pink, and deep fuchsia berry:

Both are infused with micro shimmer, in Ballade's case it is gold, and in Flirt, we have an iridescent blue.  Let's take a closer look:

Even though they are ostensibly different lipstick formulas, (Rouge is more opaque, and Shine is more ... well ... shiny), I find both of the shades slick in application, and don't dry the lips out in wear.

This pic gives you a good idea of how glossy both shades are in wear. Whilst the lasting power isn't remarkable, it's about average for this kind of lipstick, you'll need to top it up quite regularly.

Lip Swatches: First Ballade:

(not really a great shade for me, in all honesty)

 And now Flirt:

Now that's more like it!

 Flirt is actually a great match for the colour of my wedding dress.  I'm thinking I might save it for February!

Guerlain Rouge and Shine Automatiques both retail for £24.50, and these shades will be on counter very soon. 

 The Fine Print: PR Samples.

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Guerlain SS13 Ecrin 4 Couleurs: 501 Attrape Coeur 502 Coup de Foudre

My love for Guerlain makeup is pretty well-documented by now.  Well, hopefully it is, anyway.  I caught the briefest glimpse possible of their Spring/Summer collection recently and was delighted, featuring as it does decidedly un-pastel purples and greens.  I have an unbearable loathing for pastel-shades, finding any colours that have too white a base tend to sit "on" my skin rather than blend with it.  Anyway, for the rest of this week, I'll be showing you the collection, and today I'm starting with the two eyeshadow palettes, which are rather beautiful.

Packaged in the signature gold palettes of the Ecrin 4 Couleurs line, the two palettes this spring feature bright, unexpected violets, purples and mauves in Attrape Coeur, and beautiful greyed-out greens and khakis with a pop of coral in Coup de Foudre:

See, beautiful, and very unexpected for a spring collection.  Let's take a closer look at both: 

501 Attrape Coeur is a symphony of cool-toned purples with a frosty white added for definition.  I'll be honest, I found this difficult to swatch:

As the shadows are rather hard, but I'm going to try this again with a harder brush and over a primer.  I'll let you know how I get on. 

502 Coup de Foudre is also a beauty, however, with that gorgeous and extremely unexpected hit of warm coral, alongside those silvery-greens.  It swatches more easily than the purple Attrape Coeur, too:

I can't wait to try out a face of the day with these - I'll be sure to take pictures when I do.  In particular the gunmetal shade on the left there is calling my name rather loudly.  Guerlain have been doing some really interesting palettes lately - their autumn collection was a symphony of rather beautiful oranges and browns too, I think there's a dupe of the coral shades in the Les Fauves palette from that collection, I'll report back.

Guerlain shadows are normally long-lasting, and blend really easily, even if they're not the most buttery-soft shadows out there.  They're actually designed to be applied in any order, with not too much emphasis placed on shade placement.  I'll show you some looks soon.

The Guerlain Ecrin 4 Couleurs palettes cost £37 each, which is, admittedly, quite a hefty price,  but for Coup de Foudre in particular, I think it's worth it for a rather unique set of colours. 

The Fine Print: PR Samples.

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Urban Decay Naked Basics Palette

Most of the hype regarding the previous two Naked palettes by Urban Decay passed me by.  Whilst I like a nice range of nude shaded tones as eyeshadows, somehow I just didn't "get" what other people were seeing in the palettes.  They are nice, yes, but, I think I prefer a bit more sludge with my shades - I found it difficult to see which shades went together in the other palettes.

So when I was offered an advance palette by Debenhams of the new Naked Basics palette from Urban Decay, I uhmmed and ahhed a bit before saying yes.  What changed my mind about this one is that it is largely matte, and it's a lot smaller than the other two palettes - I like mixing and matching my shadows from a range of sources (usually singles), and this new palette contains only six shades:

The first thing I noticed is that this palette veers towards the cool, and the pale.  Venus, the first shade on the right there, is the only shade that contains shimmer, and all the rest are completely matte.    For me W.O.S and Naked 2 work best - WOS as an all-over shade, and Naked 2 in the crease, with Faint and Crave as liners.   If I fancy a smokier look, I can use Faint in the crease, or the outer corner of my eye to make things a bit more defined.

Venus and Foxy are a bit too pale to work for me, really.  The shades are really quite pigmented, if not quite as buttery soft as I expected them to be, but they show up well enough on skin.  They are better over a base, of course, but the above swatches are on bare skin, and they still show quite well.  Crave has applied streakily for some reason in the swatch, but in use, applied with a good brush as a liner, it's actually a good, deep black that can be blended out for a smokey liner effect.

All in all, this is a nice palette, that I think I'll get a lot of use out of.  It's not - as far as I'm concerned - the most exciting palette in the world, but it's a good workhorse, and it'll be great for creating no-makeup makeup from now on.

The Urban Decay Naked Basics Palette is available from Debenhams from Tuesday 11th December.  Will you be getting one?  

The Fine Print: PR Sample.

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Friday Snippets

No post on here today (well, not a real one, anyway) but if my absence is making you desolate (and if not, why not?) then you can catch up with my ramblings in a couple of other places. I've been out and about a bit recently!

1) I wrote a piece about trying to find my perfect wedding fragrance for Basenotes recently, and it's just been published.  It's the most fun I've had putting something together in a while, and I'd love it if you read it.  You can read "Buying The Dress Was Easy" here.

2) I wrote about the best red lipsticks around for Erica over at Modern Mum Must Have this week too, did you know they're a fabulous hangover cure?  Find out how that works over at MMM: Red lip = perfect hangover cure.

And finally 3) Issue 8 of SLiNK magazine is out!  I worked my bazingas off helping get this issue ready (with a little - okay, a lot - of help from Kelly of Hair Advice and All Things Nice, makeup legend Mary Greenwell and the fab Nicholas Gilbert of Les Senteurs) it's the beauty issue this time around, so make sure you pick up a copy now ... (and hey, buy someone a subscription for Christmas, will you?)

You won't even notice I'm gone ...

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Smells Like Christmas 4 - Philosophy Old Fashioned Eggnog

All this week, and next, I'm bringing you the best products to scent yourself and your home ready for the festive season.

I've been boycotting Starbucks for years (seriously. Don't ask), apart from twice a year, when they bring out their eggnog lattes.  I have one on the first day they're available, and one on the last. For, whilst I loath their coffee, Starbucks is about the only place us UK peeps even see eggnog from one year to the next, and I LOVE eggnog.  I shouldn't, it's basically rum and nutmeg flavoured custard (served cold), after all, and I'm not a fan of rum either (not a fan of much in the post, now I come to think of it - moi, a masochist?), but somehow eggnog is much more a sum of its parts. 

Philosophy Old Fashioned Eggnog is an easier to get hold of scent than Haus Of Gloi's Eggnoggin', (which I adore) is warm, boozy and spicy, and almost good enough to eat. It has a creamy undertone to the scent, and comes complete with a recipe for eggnog on the label.  What more could you want?  A matching lipgloss?  Philosophy have one of those too.  I did have one of those to show you, but I appear to have eaten it.  Sorry.

The Fine Print: PR samples.  :Burp:
 
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