Beauty

Giorgio Armani Intense Eyes To Kill Eye Shadows AQUA Collection – 27 Oxidised Silver, 28 Red Platine and 29 Rose Titanium Reviews and Swatches

July 16, 2012

I received a call from the Giorgio Armani SA that the Eyes To Kill Eye Shadows from the AQUA Collection arrived in Australia the day after I posted my beauty wishlist – perfect timing! After playing with the testers for about 20 minutes, I restrained myself to 3 shades for now – 27 Oxidised Silver, 28 Red Platine and 29 Rose Titanium. The entire collection is gorgeous but I thought I will make more use out of these shades compared to the others as they appear very wearable and “me”. The rest of the shades are more for a smokey look which are attractive but I have been rarely wearing dark eye shadows lately.

There have been similar products released in the market by some cheaper brands, but I always have a soft spot for the Giorgio Armanis as they are the original. Especially when it comes to the presentation of the product, as each shade of Eyes To Kill appears to be made of multicolored and complex shimmery pigments which give a multi-dimensional finish, and I have not seen that in any other cheaper brand. They blend like a dream as well as last a whole day on my oily lids. I generally prefer to use my fingers for application if I want to create a soft sparkly layer with a hint of color. Or to use my beloved MAC 217 if I want to pack on a decent layer of color.

Giorgio Armani Eyes to Kill Eye Shadow Rose Titanium 29: Had I not seen it in real life I would have skipped it as I am usually scared of pink eye shadows. But Rose Titanium swatches beautifully, as it shows up as a pale pink that looks very flattering on my skin tone. It makes a great alternative to the usual beige-champagne base color which I am a little bored of now.

Giorgio Armani Eyes to Kill Eye Shadow Oxidised Silver 27: It will be a sell-out. You can’t miss this one if you love taupe, and it has the perfect undertone of purple for me.

Giorgio Armani Eyes to Kill Eye Shadow Red Platine 28 : It is another drop dead gorgeous neutral but complex shade. It shows up as a bronzy coppery gold on me with silver shimmer. I always wanted a shade like it in a portable glass pot so I can carry it with me easily.

Group Swatches:

under the sun

In the shade

Blended out

Compared to other ETKs

Top 28, 27, 29 Bottom: 15, 4 , 8

Bottom Line: I think the color palette and the wearability of AQUA Collection surpasses all of its previous limited editions. It’s a versatile yet unique collection of eye shadows for the neutral lovers.

I bought these at David Jones for AUD$45 each. The new AQUA collection is also available here in the US.

{ 26 comments }

Labels: EYESHADOW • Giorgio Armani

Aesop Damascan Rose Facial Treatment Review

July 9, 2012

I am completely obsessed with 2 things at the moment – natural products and anything made of Rose. So when I spotted the Aesop Damascan Rose Facial Treatment it was like a match made-in-heaven for me. I have tons of skincare products to go through, but it only took me a split second to decide I had to have this one..right now! Especially since the cold weather in Australia is taking a toll on my skin.

Aesop is a well known natural brand in Australia. I would say it has the same cult status as Jurlique, but with a less commercial branding. I really like the display of their concept store which looks like a science lab to me, and I love their low key but thoughtful packaging. All of their products are housed in a tinted brown glass bottle which helps to preserve the freshness of their plant-based ingredients.

Aesop signature store in Melbourne Australia

Aesop signature store at Rue Saint Honore in Paris

The Aesop Damascan Rose Facial Treatment is packed with good oils including Rosa Damascena oil, Neroli oil and Violet leaf oil. These ingredients are infused with vitamin A, E and C, and are excellent for skin that is in need of intense hydration. The selling point for me is the Damascan Rose. Anyone who is into aromatherapy would know that Damascan Roses are the world’s most premium roses, and they are known for their healing properties for skin. The direction of use is as follows:

Massage five drops onto clean skin, twice weekly.

I use it differently:

My home has heaters on 24/7 and it is drying my skin out badly, so I use this treatment oil every night but with only 2 drops per application. The way I use it is that I spray my palm with La Roche-Posay Eau Thermale (any thermal spring water would do). Then I add 2 drops of the oil, and warm it up between my palms. The mist acts like an “activator” so it instantly emulsifies the oil, and turns it into an elixir-like texture which feels much lighter than the original texture. While it is still warm, I pat it onto my face and my neck. The oil is absorbed into my skin immediately without leaving any residue. My skin feels nourished, softer, and soothed because of the lovely rose scent. I then put on a light moisturizer (or you can skip if the skin is not overly dry) and go to bed. The next morning I wake up with supple, moisturized and ultra radiant skin. I also noticed my makeup goes on beautifully.

If your skin is so dry that a regular moisturizer just doesn’t seem to help, you might want to give this a try! I am a firm believer in that good oils do wonders to the skin regardless of your skin type. I would have never thought about putting oils onto my skin, until I learnt how smart our skin actually is! Our skin responds to any external changes – for oily skin the more oil you try to take away the more oil your skin will produce as a natural defense. On the contrary, if you have very dry skin and you constantly put on layers of ultra rich creams, you are tricking the skin to think that it’s producing too much oil. As a result it will produce less oil. It was probably one of the most useful lessons I have learnt about skin, and over the years I treated my skin with the above in mind, and consequently my skin looks the best when it is in a state of fine balance between oil and water.

I bought the Aesop Damascan Rose Facial Treatment in Australia for $75. It is also available online here in the US, and Aesop has concept stores across the world.

Have you tried Aesop? If you have, please let me know your favorite products from the brand 🙂

{ 10 comments }

Labels: AESOP • SKINCARE

Guerlain by Emillio Pucci Meteorites Pearls d’Azur Illuminating Powder Review

June 30, 2012

The Guerlain by Emillio Pucci Meteorites Pearls d’Azur Illuminating Powder is one of the few makeups I bought from the many summer 2012 collections. I have been very selective with makeup this year (proud of that!) and promised myself that I would only buy items that I will use frequently rather than for the sake of “collecting them”. So the limited edition Meteorites Powder is one of them.

The Meteorites Powder has been a cult product in the beauty industry for as long as I can remember. Guerlain clearly knows how to take advantage of its cult status so every year they release a limited edition version of it with a slightly different color in a different packaging. I initially wanted to pass on it as I already had a couple of them from previous collections. But I caved in for its Pucci packaging (I’m sure many of you did it for the same reason!)

I am not going to swatch each individual color of pearls – there are plenty of them online, and they all end up looking pretty transparent on the face anyway. The Meteorites Pearls d’Azur Illuminating Powder contains blue and pink pearls to counter the yellow tones, and beige and orange pearls to warm up the complexion, and ivory and light-gold reflectors for an illuminating effect. On my NC15-20 complexion, it applies completely translucent with a brightening and soft focus effect. It is my go-to product whenever I feel my complexion looks dull and flat, as it adds a beautiful natural radiance and makes it look like your-skin-but-better. I normally use it to replace loose powder to set my makeup, and it keeps my makeup shine free and look fresh for the whole day. Last but not least, the dreamy luxurious feel of the Meteorites Powder never fails to cheer me up in the morning!

Bottom Line: Totally worth buying if you are after a setting powder that makes your complexion naturally radiant.

The Guerlain by Emillio Pucci Meteorites Pearls d’Azur Illuminating Powder retails for $130 in Australia! As usual it is half the price to get it in the US. If you are “unfortunate” enough to live in a country with an exorbitant markup on cosmetics like Australia, Harrods ship makeup internationally! (except fragrances and Tom Ford) And best of all, if you live outside the EURO zone, you don’t have pay to the 15%VAT at Harrods 🙂

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Labels: GUERLAIN • POWDER

Chanel Bombay Express Makeup 2012 Collection Swatch Revisited

June 29, 2012

Hi everyone, I did a brief preview of the Chanel Bombay Express Makeup Collection about a week ago. And I felt my pictures did not do much justice for the collection, as they were all placed inside a glass box at a dark corner so there wasn’t enough light. Anyhow as I was doing my random Friday night shopping today, the testers of Chanel Le Vernis DIWALI and Des Indes De Chanel Illuminating Powder were out. If I have ever stupidly said I did not like the look of Chanel Le Vernis DIWALI in my previews post, then I take my words back! It is absolutely gorgeous!!I thought the color still looks quite gold from the bottle, but when swatched on the nails, it shows up as a beautiful gold and silver duo chrome with a beige undertone. It is totally to die for, and I can’t wait to get my hands on it when it is on sale!

My nails were painted with Chanel Morning Rose, so I had to swatch DIWALI on my friend 🙂

2 coats of Chanel Le Vernis DIWALI

My thoughts for Route Des Indes De Chanel Illuminating Powder remains the same. It is a little too gold as a highlighter for my complexion, but the texture felt extremely luxurious and buttery soft.

Swatch of Route Des Indes De Chanel Illuminating Powder

What do you think girls? Will this change your mind?

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Labels: CHANEL • NAIL POLISH

MAC HEY SAILOR! Color Collection – Crew Highlight Powder Review

June 26, 2012

I withdrew from MAC a long time ago unless something spectacular came up. When Elaine sent me a picture of MAC Crew Highlight Powder from the HEY, SAILOR! COLOR Collection at 1 am, I was instantly mesmerized by the fact it comes with three of my all time favorite shades of pink, lavender and peach all in one, so there was no way I was going to miss out on it! I literally rushed to MAC in Myer the next day only to find that it was sold out within days after being released, but luckily enough I got hold of it from DJ.

MAC Crew is a beauty powder. MAC always describe them as a highlight powder, but I find most of the beauty powders can be used as blushes for my skin tone as I always prefer softly pigmented blushes more than opaque. The pearly white base color has micro shimmer in it, and each individual pastel color is very pigmented. When swirling together, it blends into a soft petal pink that also adds a soft glow to your complexion. I don’t have a huge collection of MAC makeup, but compared to what I have, I find that the texture is better as it feels more creamy and finely milled. On my NC15-20 skin tone, it applies and blends with a breeze. The lasting power is above average – 5 to 6 hours on me during winter.

On me:

Bottom Line: You need this one in your life if you like pastel pink blush.

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Labels: BLUSH • MAC

Chanel Bombay Express Makeup 2012 Collection Preview

June 20, 2012

The Chanel Bombay Express Makeup 2012 Collection is on display in Sydney now, and they will be on sale from the start of July. I took some iphone pictures for you (please excuse the quality). For those of you who have seen the promo picture, the Chanel le Vernis DIWALI looks nothing like it in real life.

From left to right: Route Des Indes De Chanel Illuminating powder with shimmer, Le Vernis in DIWALI, Rouge Coco Shine in EMPREINTE 473

Promo Pic

This picture is taken with flash, so it looks more sparkly and glittery than in real life.

The highlighter is gorgeous, but I think I will give it a pass as I am not a gold highlighter person. And it looks similar to the Chane JC in OR from the Byzance Collection.

I was looking forward to Le Vernis DIWALI the most, however after seeing it in person my gut feeling tells me that it will pull too muddy on me. So I might take this off my shopping list as well. (Yay for my wallet!).

So what do you think? Is there anything in particular you have set your eyes on?!

{ 11 comments }

Labels: CHANEL • NAIL POLISH

Chanel Le Blanc 2012 Collection – Light Mastering Whitening Concealer Review

June 18, 2012

Chanel always excels in base makeup, and I personally enjoyed every base product I have used from them. When the new Light Mastering Whitening Concealer was released from the Chanel Le Blanc 2012 Collection, I immediately knew I wanted to have it. Thanks to the lovely Jen who helped me purchase it from Hong Kong as the collection is not available in Australia.

If you happened to have read this post, you will know I have quite an unnecessary amount of concealers, and I would say the Chanel Light Mastering Whitening Concealer definitely tops my favorites list. The texture is the winner for me. It has an airy and creamy moussy texture that goes on smoothly and feels very lightweight and natural on the skin. Two teeniest dabs of it is enough to conceal my mild dark circles completely and softly brightens my skin by about half a shade. I normally like to use the Becca extra small polishing brush (reviewed here) for application and it gives a natural yet flawless and luminous result. Once the concealer is settled, it dries down to a semi-matte finish with a hint of dewiness that is just needed for concealing and illuminating purposes. It doesn’t settle into any fine lines nor does it require any setting powder, and it doesn’t slip throughout the day.

It also has SPF30+ and PA+++ which is an added bonus for those of you who are very cautious with sun protection. I bought the shade in 10 Beige Clair which has a neutral undertone, and it works excellent with my skin.

Bottom Line: If you are after a concealer and a highlighter all-in-one product, and you have mild to moderate discoloration/pigmentation, I highly recommend this product!

{ 9 comments }

Labels: CHANEL • HIGHLIGHTER

Chanel Inimitable, YSL Volume Effect Faux Cils and Maybelline the Falsies Volume Express Waterproof Mascaras Reviews

June 13, 2012

Mascara is one makeup item that I am consistently impressed by with drugstore brands, and disappointed by high end makeup brands on many occasions. I have been using the Chanel Inimitable Mascara, YSL Volume Effect Faux Cils Mascara and the Maybelline the Falsies Volume Express Mascara Waterproof for the past two months. In summary, I am kicking myself that I spent a total of more than AUD$100 on Chanel and YSL mascaras, whereas the performance of Maybelline Falsies totally blows the former two out of water and only costs a faction.

Let’s begin with the one I am least impressed – Chanel Inimitable Mascara

For my medium length and volume, and deadly straight Asian lashes, this mascara did absolutely nothing to my lashes. It doesn’t add any volume and length to my lashes after several coats, and it instantly makes my lashes straight again after I curl them. On a good note, the formula is very thin so it defines the lashes beautifully without any clump. And it doesn’t budge on me for the whole day. Overall it is a very natural mascara, would be great for those of you who are blessed with thick and full lashes naturally. But it’s a waste for me.

Moving on to the YSL Volume Effect Faux Cils Mascara which I really wanted to love..but it didn’t fully agree with my lashes either

I had tried this mascara a long time ago, so I couldn’t remember how I felt about it and got persuaded into buying it again when the YSL SA swore by it. It makes the lashes instantly thicker, fuller and more black with one coat. You can achieve a more dramatic result with 2 – 3 coats without any clumps. Unfortunately it weights my lashes down instantly as the formula is quite thick and heavy. The walk-around is to apply a coat of mascara base (my HG is the Kate mascara base) to hold the curl, then apply this mascara on top of it, but it can make the lashes look too thick and clumpy. It also dries up very fast – I opened the three mascaras around the same time and the YSL mascara is already 90% dried whilst the other two are still going strong. I would love this mascara if a waterproof version of it was released.

Maybelline the Falsies Volume Express Mascara Waterproof is the cheapest and The BEST!!

It does everything I wanted from a mascara. It only takes one coat to volumize and lengthen the lashes, and holds the curl all day long. I have previously raved about the Japanese drugstore mascaras, but this one is just as good or even better. Unlike some waterproof versions which tend to make my lashes stiff, the Maybelline Falsies feels light and soft and make the lashes look like feather. It can also be easily removed with most two-phase eye makeup remover. Best of all – it’s dirt cheap. I will keep buying it as long as it’s available!