Sleek Eye and Cheek and Precious Metal Highlighting Palettes

 By Tindara

This week I’ve been wearing more eyeshadow than usual. I admit that generally my habit is to wack a bit of smudgy liner or chubby eyeshadow stick around my eyes, finish with mascara and some kind of eyebrow pencil and move on to blush and lipstick. I am to lipstick as a problem hoarder is to month old newspapers and dusty odd souvenirs. I have a problem. But like a lot of you, I imagine, I also have lots of lovely palettes I rarely use. So when I was recently given another three by Sleek makeup I had to steal myself to use them, and I’m really glad I did.

The palette I used most was Dancing Til Dusk; with four wearable shadows in light taupes and dark browns (Au Naturel iDivine) and two blushes, in Mirrored Pink, and Sahara, it’s really versatile. The two lighter shadows which match my skintone in matt and shimmery finishes, and the two darker cocoa-coloured shades in shimmery and matt finishes look like they’d be lovely shadow bases on darker skintones.

The shadows are all well pigmented, soft and blendable. I used the dark browns as a liner and the shimmery light taupes up to my browbone. With a bit of pink blush, it was really easy, I only needed lipstick and mascara and I was done. I’ll definitely be taking this on trips and weekends away. The palette has been careering about in my satchel all week without too much damage too.

The See you at Midnight and Precious Metal Highlighting Palettes are gorgeous, and I’ve enjoyed having a play with them. 

I can’t wait to go out and put together a high-octane look with them, the blue-purple colour eyeshadow in the Vintage Romance i-Divine collection, and iridescent Antique Bronze highlighting cream being particular favourites. The palettes are like glittery Mondrians and have Christmas all over them. I’m now totally excited about the festive season already. Too early? Apologies, but gold sparkle will do that to you. Have a go, you’ll see.

Sleek Eye and Cheek and Precious Metal Highlighting Palettes are £9.99

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Bobbi Brown Smokey Nudes Eye Palette

Being rather cool-toned, most "nude" palettes are too brown for me.  I'm pink (and red) and white, mostly, and shades of beige and tan just look orange on my exceedingly pale face. Urban Decay Naked, for example, lovely though it is, might as well be neon orange for all the use I get out of it.

However, when a nice, slightly greyed "nude" palette turns up, that isn't too brown, I'm ecstatic.  So say hello to Bobbi Brown's Smokey Nudes palette, which has been the only thing I've wanted to wear lately:

Housed in the brands distinctive two layer compact palettes, this is a pale-cool girls dream:

Top layer, clockwise from top left:
Cream (matte) creamy white base shade
Nude (matte) cool flesh tone
Silver Brown (sparkle) sparkling cool brown
Woodrose (matte) greyed mauve nude (my favourite!)

Bottom layer, clockwise from top left:
Watercolour Pink (sparkle) love the shade of this almost holographic pink in the palette
Nude Beach (sparkle) slightly taupe flesh shade
Smoked (matte) dark blue-grey liner colour.
Smokey Brown (metallic) metallic taupe.

The shades are all on the cool side, and the payoff isn't bad at all:

top layer: Cream, Nude, Silver Brown, Woodrose

 You can see on my hand that the cream swatch just disappears into my skin, and the nude shade doesn't look orange at all.  Yes, Silver Brown (bottom right) is a little gritty with sparkle, but it's nice for adding a little depth to a "makeup free" look.

Bottom layer: Watercolour Pink, Nude Beach, Smoked, Smokey Brown

 

The two very pale sparkly shades here I won't get too much use out of, to be honest, but they are both very pretty, and if you like a bit of sparkle (and many of you reading this do), then you'll love these, as they aren't just a gritty powder with a hint of glitter in there, they're actually fairly pigmented in their own right too,  The taupe and dark grey-blue though, I adore, and they're great all-round shades you can either apply lightly for a more natural look, or apply with a little more abandon for a smokier effect.

It's a versatile, multi-use palette suitable for a variety of skin-tones, but us cooler-toned peeps will love it more.  It's a limited edition, due off counter very soon, so go snap one up if you see it.

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Guerlain Christmas 2014 - L’Ecrin 2 Couleurs in Cygne Noir

And so we reach the Black Swan section of Guerlain Christmas 2014, with the release of the L'Ecrin 2 Couleurs eyeshadow palette in Cygne Noir, and very pretty it is too.  I rarely expect much from the eyeshadow duos from Guerlain (I've never bought one, for example), but this one did make me do a little "ooooh" of joy when I opened it:

Black and purple.  Shimmering black and purple. Actually, it is a slightly glittering black, flecked with gold sparkle, and a softly shimmering deep purple.  This set is perfect for releasing your inner goth.

I was delighted, and surprised at the level of pigmentation in the palette - for some reason, I'd been expecting the shadows to be hard and patchy in application,  I have no idea where I got this idea from, but I was more than happy to be proved wrong!

I'll be taking a closer look at Guerlain's two colour palettes from now on ..,

The Fine Print: Products featured this week have been a mixture of PR samples and private purchases. My bank manager is spending Christmas in the Bahamas.  That's not really a surprise.

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Guerlain Christmas 2014 - Gloss d’Enfer in Rouge Parade & L’oiseau de Feu

Alongside the Rouge G in Rouge Parade, and topcoat for nails in L'Oiseau de Feau, Guerlain have also released matching Gloss d'Enfers for Christmas.  The Gloss d'Enfers are hugely pigmented glosses, almost liquid lipsticks traditionally, so it's interesting to see a clear gloss in the formulation too,

Here you can see that Rouge Parade is an opaque bright fire-engine red, and L'Oiseau de Feu is clear gloss with a shimmering golden micro-sparkle whirled within.  L'Oiseau de Feu, like its namesake nail polish is intended for use as a top-coat for coloured lipsticks.

However, on swatching, we can see that the golden shimmer (being rather sparse, and very, very micro) of L'Oiseau is ... disappointing, so I tried it from another angle:

I couldn't see it on my lips either, so I gave up trying to photograph it.  A shame really, as it really was a clever way to incorporate both the yellow gold and lacquered red theme of the Coque D'or collection into the glosses,

Rouge Parade is a nice copy of the same Rouge G shade in gloss format, however.  If the Rouge G doesn't float your boat (what are you, dead?) then the Gloss d'Enfer, being lighter (and, of course, somewhat cheaper), might do the trick ...

The Fine Print: Products featured this week are a mixture of stuff I've bought myself, and items I was sent by the PR.

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Guerlain Christmas 2014 - L’Oiseau de Feu Topcoat for nails

There's been a nail polish in the last couple of Christmas collections from Guerlain, and this year is no exception.  Last year we had the sublime Sulfurous which might just be one of my favourite nail polish colours ever.  This year, there is a pale gold polish in Coque D'or, and this, a gold-leaf topcoat L'oiseau de Feu.

Now, straight off the bat, I'm going to come right out and say that I'm not really a fan of chunky polishes, or even glittery polishes at all come to that (bar glitter especially makes me feel a bit sick), and this is no real exception to that rule. However, if you're a fan of this kind of thing, then it's very nice.

You have to dab the polish on thickly, then re-arrange the gold to your liking once it's on the nail.  I find it a bit rough, but the gold is a nice shade, and it dries quite quickly.

Not a must-have for me, but it is pretty.

What do you think of chunky polishes and glitter?

The Fine Print: This week's features are a mixture of personal purchases and PR Samples.

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Guerlain Christmas 2014 - Rouge G "Rouge Parade"

I absolutely cannot resist a limited edition Rouge G. I've tried.  I swear I have, but every new collection, another one comes out, and bingo! My handbag gets ever heavier ...

This year's Christmas Rouge G is ... perfect.  Coated in glossy red lacquer, this is a gloriously bright and seasonally appropriate shade of poinsetta-red.

I think I got a bit carried away taking pictures of the untouched bullet, but there you go.  This is a striking, London-bus red shade, but it's the sort of red you can wear with literally no other makeup on your face and instantly look polished and pulled together.  That's the joy of red lipstick, they do all the hard work for you!

It's the usual Rouge G formula of intense pigmentation, a slightly glossy and deeply comfortable to wear lipstick, but this one is so pigmented, you do need a liner (as you'll no doubt be able to tell from the lip swatch below:

Don't be like me, line your lips first - in my defence I was chasing the light on Sunday afternoon to get these pictures taken, but I'll update instagram soon.

And, just because I can't resist:

All the pretty.  ALL the pretty ...

The Fine Print: This week is a mixture of purchases and PR samples.

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Guerlain Christmas 2014 - Petrouchka Eye and Blush Palette

Inside the rather forbidding oversize lacquered black packaging of the Petrouchka Eye & Blush Palette sits an incredibly pretty compact:

Fastened with a red silk bow inspired by the ballerinas who in their turn inspired the scent of Coque D'or, the palette is very pretty indeed.  Again following the red and gold theme of this year's Guerlain Christmas even the accessories are themed:

Inside the palette are five shades of metallic eyeshadows and four shades of blush:

Firstly, a closer look at the shadows:

From the top we have a metallic wheat shade, a pale gold, a light copper, a deep bronze, and a chocolate brown. The bottom three are deeply pigmented and buttery soft - almost creamy - when applied, but the two lighter shades have a slightly lighter colour pay-off, and I found them a little scratchier (and patchier) to apply:

That said, if you're a warmer-toned individual than I am, this is an incredibly versatile and beautiful collection of shades.  Just be aware you'll need to work harder with the lighter colours when applying.

Below the eyedshadows, we have four blush shades, two warmer (at the bottom) and two cooler at the top.  They swatch quite well, I've generally found the Guerlain blush formula quite hard and difficult to work with, but these are a nice texture:

Clockwise from top left there's a pale pink, a deep rose, a versatile coral, and a tawny peach,  This should cover quite a variety of skin tones - personally, I tend to tone my blusher along the lines of whatever lipstick I'm wearing that day - cool cheeks with cool lips, and warm cheeks with warm lips, so this is quite versatile.

I like that they've not wasted space in the palette itself for the (pretty but rather useless, as always) tools, every inch of the palette space is used for colour, and the tools are kept in the velvet slipcase, which fits both the palette and the tools very well.

If you're a Guerlain completist (and I freely admit I am), this isn't quite as good as the Liu collection from two years ago (which I'm still kicking myself for not picking up at the time, believe you me), but it's a million times better than the Crazy Paris eye palette of 2013.

Anything caught your eye?

The Fine Print: Products featured this week are a mixture of PR Samples and private purchases.

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