A tiny-teeny NARS mini-haul - Lhasa, Cairo and Dolce Vita

More shiny pretty things were delivered to work this morning. Honest to god, I think I need some sort of intervention. I buy so much crap that I genuinely forget what I’ve ordered - which means that on occasion, I get that little tingly sensation of delightful surprise as I open the package to reveal that actually, some of the orders I place are not crap at all.

I have always been a loyal fan of the NARS brand. I know, I know, some of you are probably thinking “over-priced nonsense” but to me, in the case of NARS cosmetics at least, you really do get what you pay for. Yes, it’s not the cheapest, but the quality of products is second to none, especially the blushers. Can’t say as I can say the same for their skincare that I’ve tried, which feels a bit too “normal” to justify the pricetag.

Anyway, in this week’s parcel were a couple of eyeshadows and a lip pencil.

Let’s start with the eyeshadows, and see how many beauty-blogger eyeshadow review clichés we can add in. “Finely milled”? Check. “Buttery”? Check. “High blendability”? Check. Sigh.

Why the sigh? Well, I unfortunately LOVE the NARS shimmer eyeshadow formula. It’s very Burberry-esque, in that they are beautifully “soft-focus” and can be applied lightly for a sheer wash of colour, or built up (without any powdery residue or fall out) into a much deeper and more unctuous shade.

The two I added to the collection were Lhasa and Cairo. Lhasa is described on the NARS website as a “lavender grey”, but to me there is a hell of a lot more grey than lavender (I could only spot the lavender under full sunlight, under indoor lighting it seems to disappear completely on me). It also leans slightly taupe on my skintone, but is a gorgeously cool-toned “I can’t be bothered in the mornings” quick application job which always looks polished and perfect no matter how slap-dash I am.

Cairo is a “champagne rose with shimmer” which I can’t say I agree with either. There’s no rose in this bad boy - it’s a beautiful, subtle, shimmering epitome of golden, champagne-taupe perfection. As you can probably imagine, it’s my new favourite eyeshadow colour. For daytime wear, it suits my blue eyes in a way no other taupe eyeshadow from my collection ever has – not sure what it is about this one that makes all the difference but it makes my eyes POP, another clichéd phrase that I hate to use but unfortunately it sums it up perfectly. Swatches below.

Left: Lhasa      Right: Cairo

Cairo; Lhasa; Velvet Matte Lip Pencil in Dolce Vita

Next to the eyeshadows you may have also spotted my new Velvet Matte Lip Pencil in Dolce Vita, described on the website as a dusty-rose. Again, I am not entirely sure how I feel about that description – on my lips, it’s one of those not-quite-pink-but-not-entirely-red colours that I am seeming to favour nowadays. It reminds me very much of Chanel Rouge Coco lipstick in Mademoiselle, although it is a smidge lighter and warmer than the Chanel.

The formula is…….. kinda weird feeling. The pencil application is absolutely fine, I have no quibbles there – it’s just the feeling you get upon application. It’s almost as though I have rubbed a dry oil all over my lips. They slip and slide all over the place as though wearing a very greasy lipbalm, but my lips look matte. Does. Not. Compute. The feeling reminds me of the NYX Soft Matte Lip Creams, but the NARS pencil doesn’t “dry down” as much as the NYX formula. It stays quite moveable for some time, and also transfers quite a bit onto mugs of tea. :(

Dolce Vita

On the whole, I like the colour – although it is a little warm on me, when paired with a basic neutral/cool eye (i.e. Cairo or Lhasa!), natural blush and a good slick of black eyeliner, it makes for a gorgeous modern-classic look. Is that an oxymoron? Hmmm.

I have a feeling that there will be more NARS purchases on the very near horizon. Based on the online swatches, my life will not be complete without Cruella (a “passionate scarlet red”), and I have added at least six eyeshadows to the Want List. This is turning out to be a very expensive habit………

Shimmer Eyeshadows are priced at £18.00 each, while the Velvet Matte Lip Pencils are £17.50.

Jen

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Plenty muchos NYX haulage (part 3)

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I love buying make-up. Especially when you buy it from NYX – although there are a few products that, after purchase, make you question your own sanity, the vast majority of the ranges are both of decent quality and also at fantastic prices. I would NEVER buy any other “drugstore” lipgloss – for the superb level of quality you get, why would you? To be honest, I’ve got a couple of Chanel Lip Glossimers and the NYX ones are even on a par with those – amazeballs.

Moving on to the rest of my purchases, firstly the eyeshadows.

Wow.

Just……. Wow.

I bought these eyeshadows in the sale, so paid the princely sum of £3.00 each. To be honest, even at the full price of a fiver, these are an ABSOLUTE STEAL.

I bought four – kicking myself slightly now though, for that price I SHOULD HAVE BOUGHT THEM ALL – the complexity of shimmer in the four that I bought is phenomenal! No disco glitterballs here (although some of the NYX eyeshadow finishes can be like that), these ones lend a moderate twinkle on the eye under certain lightings which adds a fantastic depth – which means on those lazy days when you just frankly can’t be bothered to spend five minutes blending two colours together, a quick 30 second application to the eyelids makes you seem as though you spent hours on your look.

The shades I went for are below:

L-R: Eucalyptus, Herb, Dune, Burgundy Pearl

Eucalyptus is a shimmering, light tauped-silver (I think I’ve in love!). Herb is a twinkly dirty olive. Dune is a charcoaled dark silver, also with shimmer. I did suffer with a little bit of fallout with this one, but nothing a primer wouldn't fix easily. Burgundy Pearl is a medium-dark muted maroon with distinctly cool undertones, which suits my cool-blue eyes perfectly.

Eucalyptus makes a great “wash-of-colour-when-I-can’t-be-arsed-in-the-morning” for daytime, as does Herb (although Herb is slightly more dramatic due to the darker tone). Herb also seems to also be a great pairing with a little bit of Burgundy Pearl in the crease – I didn’t think it would work as I thought the colours would just blend together and go “muddy”, but with a little care and attention you can keep them discrete and it makes a great alternative daytime smoky eye.

And finally, I also went for a couple of blushers. Now, I already own three of the powder blushers and already know that they are premium quality with a tiny pricetag. 

The one I added to my small collection was Angel – a light coral-peach with neutral to cool tones, which is non-overpowering to my fair complexion, so is lovely to couple with either bright lip or smoky eye for an effortlessly natural look – this one seems to be impossible to over apply, which is great for those of us (like me) who tend to be a bit hamfisted when tired in the mornings……!

I also decided to try out one of the Cream Blushes for the first time – especially with dry skin, sometimes powder blushers can creep into fine lines and pores and look a bit weird, and I am reliably informed that using cream formulations take the edge off a bit.

CB02 (Natural) is a slightly darker coral peach than Angel, with more neutral-warm undertones in the pan – on me, this actually leans quite warm on the cheek and gives me a slightly porcelain doll-like look – great if the eye and lip is natural/neutral looking, but can be clown-like unless you use a careful, light hand. I tend to just lightly dip my middle two fingers into the pot, pat onto the back of my hand first then apply with light patting motions to the apples and bones of the cheeks. Less is definitely more, here – you can add morem but it is difficult to take excess away. Although if you owned a Beauty Blender I suppose that would help you to blend away any “mistakes”. 

Left: Powder blush in "Angel        Right: Cream Blush in "Natural

Angel; Natural (note, these swatches are super-mega-heavy so you can see the true colour)

I definitely like the look of the Rose Petal and Tickled cream blushers, so I feel another purchase coming on pretty soon……..

Pick yours up at NYX Cosmetics. The sale continues, with cut-price bargains as well as a 3-for-2 offer on certain ranges. Plenty of bang for your buck.......!

Jen

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Plenty muchos NYX HAULAGE (part 1)

I love getting unexpected little brown parcels through the post - I really do. It invariably means I've been sleep-shopping, or someone has had a Super-Duper -Mega-Sale-Never-Shall-We-See-Its-Like-Again and the "sale mist" has descended, sending me into a frenzy of credit-card maxing and frantic website clicking until I have to recline on the sofa, exhausted. 

This time round, it was the latter - and the website in question was NYX Cosmetics.

I am a great fan of this brand, god knows. How they manage to make such fantastic quality products for so little money is frankly boggling. Don't get me wrong, they have also make some corking mistakes on occasion, but generally I find that the majority of products I try are keepers.

This time, I tried to temper myself and self-restricted to purchasing stuff I genuinely have had my eye on for a while. I work on the premise that one can never have too many eyeshadows, and I think in purchasing these four babies, I've hit the jackpot. The colours are fabulous, and also work effortlessly together (which was definitely more luck than judgement). 

The blushers are of a similarly high quality, as is the lipgloss - ah! such a fantastic formula! - so the only thing that let me down really were the lipliners.

I have bemoaned about lipliners before, but one out of the three pictured below is definitely not going to work for me, either in colour or in formula. The other two aren't bad though, so to only have one bad egg amongst the group (which to be honest is probably more the fault of my scabby lips than the product itself) is a pretty decent proportion, methinks.

More posts coming soon to go through the products in detail....... first stop, lip products!

Jen
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Make-Up Academy haul - finally!

Well, it's been a while! Such is the hectic and giddy life of someone that teaches other people how to be accountants. Anyway, I have finally managed to have a little play with the Make-Up Academy haul that arrived a couple of weeks ago....... thank you MUA, for allowing me to haul so many shiny, pretty things while only requesting the paltry sum of £18 from my bank account.

Anyway, let's have a look at what we've got.....

Firstly, the Glamour Days eyeshadow palette. Had my eye on this one for a while - after having had a brilliant experience with the buttery, shimmery goodness that was the Heaven and Earth palette, I was looking forward to trying some slightly more "outre" shades but not so much that I was stepping too far out of my comfort zone.....! The pretty purples and blues in this palette seemed ideal, and to top it off there are a couple of nice neutrals in there too. A good one for travelling, methinks.

Top row

Bottom row - there is a sixth shade on there, I promise...... it's just coincidentally the same colour as my arm!

Amongst the haul I also got some liners, a mixture both for lips and eyes. Again, wasn't expecting much from these, but the Intense Colour liners were creamy, pigmented and quite a pleasant surprise. Unfortunately, the Intense Glitter ones were a bit hit and miss, but for 75p each (as it worked out after the discount) one cannot really complain, can one? I also got a liquid liner, which so far seems easy to apply and has a fabulous thin brush, but the pigmentation just feels a bit lacking and can apply a little patchy unless you do a couple of coats. Workable though, definitely.

L-R: Intense Colour - Red Drama, Royal Blue; Intense Glitter - Gold Nugget, Silver Glitter, Pink Glitter

Liquid Liner - shade 5

In a slightly different order in this pic, not sure why!!! L-R: Red Drama, Royal Blue, Silver Glitter, Pink Glitter, Gold Nugget, Liquid Liner in Shade 5 (Black)

Next, some single eyeshadows. Unfortunately, buying sight-unseen has been a bit of a gamble in this case, but I seem to have ended up with some decent colours that will make for some fabulous smoke eye looks. The only one that seems to let them down slightly is the black one, as it is more matte than the others is has a slightly chalkier texture and a less potent finish than the others. It'll do nicely for setting the liquid liner, though!

L-R: Shades 3, 11, 12, 15, 30

Same order as above, this time!  :)

Lastly, a bit of a hodge-podge of other random bits and bobs that fell into the online basket - I have this fantastic ability to justify additional purchases if I know I will be getting a discount on the items; and in this case it really made little to no difference seeing as everything is so inexpensive anyway!!!

Top: Lovehearts lip tints; Bottom: Lipsticks in shades 5 and 6, blush in shade 4

L-R: Lipsticks - Shade 5, shade 6; Blush - Shade 4; Lip Tints - Great Lips, Sweet Kiss, Hot Lips

The surprise in this bunch was the blush. Shade 4 looked almost overwhelmingly dark in the pan (in fact, almost the same as Shade 3 which I have already dismissed as making me look too "David Dickinson"), however when swatched, as you can see, it is a lovely gentle shade of subtle coral. It reminds me enormously of NARS Gilda (if anything, the MUA shade lacks the orange intensity of the NARS which, for cack-hands such as myself, is a Very Good Thing), but for a fraction of the price.

I am ever more wowed with the MUA offerings. Although initially I may have been a bit dismissive of the whole "cheapo makeup" thing, thinking it would only appeal to (and benefit) the lowest common denominators of society (snob? Moi?), consider me suitably chastised - I am genuinely impressed with pretty much everything I have come across so far. For the prices, I don't think you can go far wrong and to be honest, even if you do, what's a pound between friends?

MUA is available in various Superdrug stores, and also on their wesbite.

Did anyone else avail themselves of the superb discount.....?

Jen
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MUA eyeshadow palette - Heaven and Earth

Is anyone superstitious out there?

In order to try to alleviate some of the Friday 13^th blues, I thought I would introduce you to my new favourite eyeshadow palette (for now, at least!).

I love neutral eyeshadows. They’re just so easy to wear – either just as a wash of colour over the lids for the daytime, or built up into a smoky eye for the evening.

This 12-shade palette has got a great mix of work-appropriate as well as more dramatic shades. I feel as though this leans slightly warmer than other palettes I’ve got, but cool-toned ladies will be able to work with this too (unlike the Naked palette…!). The finishes are all satin-shimmer, so if you’re after some matte shades this isn’t the one for you. However, none of them venture into disco-glitterball territory so ladies of all ages and dispositions can wear this with pride (although I personally don’t subscribe to the whole “older-ladies-can’t-wear-shimmer” mindset – who made that one up?!).

I have taken to wearing one of the lighter shades all over the lid during the daytime, as it takes about five seconds to apply (more time in bed!) but the subtle shimmer really gives your eyes a boost, and makes them look more awake and twinkly.

Some of the darker shades would benefit from being applied over a primer as they do crease a little, but to be honest I tend not to bother on a day-to-day basis.

There are loads of these in the MUA store. I’ve currently got my eye on the Undressed palette (‘cos a girl can never have too many neutrals, yano?). Apparently it’s a fabulous dupe for the Naked palette; although I already own Naked I would be interested to see what the differences are. I also quite like the look of the Glamour Days palette, it seems to have some interesting purply-colour shades I’d love to try. And for a mere £4.00 each, I think this is an addiction I can afford to fuel….!

Anyway, let’s have a look at Heaven and Earth:

Top row

Bottom row

Are there any others you think I should try?

Jen

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Make Up Academy - mini haul

A very, very quick one -  I was very excited to place an order on Superdrug’s website last week for 13 items, and for it to cost me the princely sum of £17.

Yes, you read that correctly – seventeen pounds.

I think I am a bit late to join the Make Up Academy (MUA) bandwagon. Lots of other beauty bloggers have got there before me and probably evaluated them a lot more clearly, succinctly, humourously and sexily.

I couldn’t wait for this package to turn up – I was desperate to see how the £1 lipsticks could be anything more than coloured blobs of wax. As well as seven lippies, I invested (ha!) in a few blushers, a mascara, a nail polish and an eyeshadow palette (the highly acclaimed set of neutrals, “Heaven and Earth”).

So far I haven’t thoroughly road-tested anything, but was so excited by the whole prospect that I ripped the package open and swatched the first things I could get my hands on – the lippies.

Detailed reviews of everything, along with slightly better swatches, will be coming over the next couple of weeks – watch this space! In the meantime, cast your eyes over this pile of cheap and cheerful gorgeousness.

L-R: Shades 7, 8, 10, 11, 14 (Bare), 15 (Juicy), 16 (Nectar) - yes, some of them are just numbered but the newer shades have names, too

MUA cosmetics are available directly through their website, or some branches of Superdrug. I for one will probably buy one of everything – I’ve definitely got my eye on the new Undressed eyeshadow palette, which is hailed to be one of the better dupes for Urban Decay’s famous Naked.

Jen

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NYX single eyeshadow swatches

Happy Birthday to Me, etc etc.

Anyway, in a break away from the Jen’s swatching norm, I thought I would leave the lip stuff for a while and break out a few eyeshadows.

First post is for the NYX single eyeshadows. I don’t own a great many of these – to be honest, despite the cheapness of NYX, I do still favour MAC and NARS for eyeshadows, and in any case my daytime looks aren’t daring enough to warrant buying shedloads of the little beggars.

So, what about the formula? Well, so far as I can gather, there are several finishes to the NYX eyeshadows: matte, shimmer, glitter, sheer, frost, and metallic. I have to confess I haven’t got a Scooby-doo what finishes mine are.

With the exception of Prune, which is a bit on the hard side, I have found the formula to be soft and buttery, but the shimmery/glittery ones do experience some fall out so primer is a must, as is a gentle hand. Frosted Ocean was a bit of a one-off usage - purchased to wear to an eighties themed party and never touched since. Which is a shame, because it actually applies quite sheerly, as you can see in the swatch below. I might have to try to come up with some daytime appropriate looks to get some more use out of it.

Swatcheroo:

Top row L-R: Iced Mocha, Nutmeg, Peach Bronze, Vanilla Shimmer; Bottom row L-R: Utopia Gold, Prune, Green Tea, Frosted Ocean

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Top row (in same order as above)

Bottom row (in same order as above)

 I also own a few of the palettes; I will be swatching those in due course. 

Jen

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NARS eyeshadows - a piteously small collection

I confess; I don’t have many of these. Hardly any, in fact. My wallet protests vociferously every time I go on the NARS website and even think of putting anything in my shopping basket. However, I recently put some cotton wool in my ears, made sure there was a minimum distance of 10 metres between myself and aforementioned wallet and splashed out on an eyeshadow trio from the new Summer 2012 collection.

Ah, Ramatuelle – how I love thee. Not a first choice for any cool-skinned gal, but I’m so glad I went for this – the iciness of the silver more than outweighs the warmth of the peach and apricot colours.

The silver and peach are both shimmery, whereas the apricot is a matte shade and blends beautifully as a crease colour. Normally, Nars + shimmer = disastrous fall-out, but I am very impressed with these. Even without primer, they stay put for around five or six hours - I can eke it out to eight hours if I put them over my beloved MAC Painterly paintpot.

For the sake of completeness I have also added pics of the other two NARS eyeshadow sets I currently own (two! How does the make-up addict in me sleep at night? This frankly pitiful display needs improving, pronto). Top of the list of potential future additions is the Lhasa single – it looks like a beguiling combination of lavender and taupe and I MUST OWN IT SOON. 

Right, pics.

Ramatuelle trio - Summer 2012

Delphes trio - Fall 2011

Grand Palais duo - Fall 2011

Any others I should go for? 

Jen

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Urban Decay - Naked palette

Just a quick one today folks – I’ve had the Naked palette for about a year and must admit I use it……… occasionally. Certainly not daily, which is what I was expecting from such a “versatile palette of neutrals”. Unfortunately, most of the colours in here are a bit too warm for me. Might potentially splash out on Naked 2 at some point, as I’ve heard that that it leans a bit cooler. Then again – do I need yet another palette of neutrals………? Answers on a postcard, folks.

On the upside, the packaging is nice – picks up all the dust though, and when you leave it on a windowsill for as long as I have…… tsk tsk, it’s a mess. Can’t say as I have used the kohl liner much either, although the black (“Zero”) is very  black, it is also very spready-roundy, and therefore ends up all over my face by lunchtime. Not a good look, unless you’re deliberately trying to attract pandas or something.

Anyway, pics.

Dust? Anybody? No?

L-R: Sin, Virgin, Naked

L-R: Sidecar (major-league fallout!), Buck, Halfbaked

L-R: Smog, Darkhorse, Toasted

L-R: Hustle, Creep, Gunmetal

 Nighty night!