DIOR

Dior ROSY GLOW Healthy Glow Awakening Blush Review and Swatch

January 28, 2012

The Spring 2012 Makeup Collection is finally making its way to Australia ,with Dior 2012 being the first spring collection landing on the shore. The Dior ROSY GLOW Healthy Glow Awakening Blush is one of the most anticipated products from Dior for me. I was very excited when I saw this gorgeous blush in real life – a beautiful cool tone pink blush totally meant for me!

The ROSY GLOW blush is housed in a sturdy glossy silver case, and I much prefer the silver packaging than Dior’s classic blue packaging. The blush is embossed with Dior Logo and it has a faint rosy scent, but it’s not detectable when it is applied to the skin.

The blush is extremely finely milled and feels velvety smooth – it is one of those blushes that makes my skin looks better as the ultra fine powder conceals the pores, rather than settling into them as with some other chalky blushes. Dior is introducing the ROSY GLOW as a blush that intuitively adjusts to the moisture of each skin, and upon application ROSY GLOW develops a rosy radiance to match each skin tone for an all day ultra natural, customized and healthy glow effect. Therefore although the blush appears as a cool tone vibrant pink with a hint of lavender tone in the pan, it reacts quite differently on my skin.

When it is swatched it on my arm, ROSY GLOW shows up as true blue based pink.

On my face (NC15), ROSY GLOW begins as a luminous soft candy pink glow upon application, and it does not look as cool as it is on my arm. The blush gradually transforms into a warmer pink glow (with a hint of coral undertone) on me once it is settled on my skin.

Bottom Line: If you could only get one blush this spring, make it this one! The good news is that it will be part of the permanent collection, but I reckon it will just be as popular as the Dior lip glow which was released years ago and has always been low in stock. DIOR ROSY GLOW Healthy Glow Awakening Blush retails for AUD$75 in Australia. It’s also available here in the US.

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Labels: BLUSH • DIOR

My Picks for the Best Eye Makeup 2011

January 13, 2012

It is Friday night! I usually don’t blog on Friday night as it is my “happy hour” time, but I wanted to lose a couple of pounds after the festive season so I decided to stay home and just vegetate, and in the meantime killing my time off blogging…This post is about my picks for the best eye makeup year 2011! The same with my previous post – I picked one or two of my favorite and most used items from every eye makeup category.

Best Eye Shadow Primer – Nars Smudge Proof Eye Shadow Base

Best Liquid Eye Liner: Dolly Wink Liquid Eye Liner in Jet Black, reviewed here.

Best Gel Eye Liner: Bobbi Brown Gel Eye Liner – an oldie but a goodie!

Best Eye Liner Pencil: Dior Crayon Eyeliner Waterproof – I use an eye liner pencil to define the outer third of my lower lash line, and I like the Dior as it is soft and pigmented so doesn’t tug my skin, and it stays put for a whole day without any smudge.

Best Eye Brow products: I get asked all the time what eye brow products I used in my FOTD. They are always by my holy grail combination – The K-Palette Real Lasting Liquid Eye Brow Pen in dark brown, followed by the Laura Mercier Brow Powder Duo in Deep Blonde

The Laura Mercier Brow Powder Duo in Deep Blonde has a light brown ashy color which works really well with my complexion. I use the dark shade to define my eye brow and the lighter shade to contour the bridge of my nose.Best Eye Brow Tint: MAC Brow Set in Girl Boy. If I go for a very soft and fresh makeup look, I tend to tint my eyebrow slightly lighter and I really love the color of MAC Girl Boy.

Best Cream Eye Shadow: Chanel illusion d’ombre long wear luminous eye shadow, I like the weightless texture and the shimmery semi-translucent finish.

Best Pigment: Inglot Pigments

Best Single Eye Shadow: Le Metier de Beaute True Color Eye Shadow. I haven’t used them long enough to do a proper review yet, but I was impressed and they win for their exclusiveness!

Runner Up: Chanel Ombre Essentielle Soft Touch Eye Shadow. Chanel offers a beautiful and wearable selection of single eye shadows. I have collected quite many of them and both the texture and the colors never let me down.

Best Eye Shadow Palette in general: Without a doubt that it’s my Suqqu Blend Color Eye Shadow, the entire range is easy to wear on a daily basis.

Best Cool Neutral Eye Shadow Palette: Other than Suqqu I have also included a few of my all time favorite neutral eye shadow palettes in this post. For the cool neutrals, Chanel Les 4 Ombres Quadra Eye Shadow in Prelude wins my heart. Do you know Chanel les 4 Ombres has also won the 2011 Japanese Cosme best eye shadow award?!

Best Warm Neutral Eye Shadow Palette: the legendary Lunasol Beige Beige – perfect for a “no makeup” makeup look.

Best Sparkly Neutral Eye Shadow Palette: Tom Ford Eye Color Quad in Golden Mink (reviewed here)

Best Collectible Eye Shadow Palette: Shiseido Maquillage Eye Creator by Alexander Wang (limited edition). This is my most precious makeup as I am huge fan of Alexander Wang’s modern and edgy design. I was lucky enough to snatch up some products from his first makeup collection in collaboration with Maquillage.

Best Drugstore Eye Shadow Palette: Kanebo Lavshuca Melting Eyes – as the name suggests, the eye shadows are so fined milled that they almost felt they were melting into the skin.

Best Mascara: The Helena Rubinstein Lash Queen Mascaras. I have both the original lash queen and the feline extravaganza lash queen. The feline adds more volume to the lashes but the original defines the lashes better and gives a soft and feathery finish. Absolutely adore this range!

Runner Up: Fresh Supernova Mascara – it gives super thick and dramatic lashes (almost doll like). The only downside is it doesn’t hold the curl well so I have to use another mascara or a primer underneath.

Best Drugstore Mascara: Kiss Me Heroine Make Volumising Mascara

Best False Eye Lashes: It’s a tie between the Princess Lee criss cross 7 in light black and the DUP Eyelashes. They are the most natural looking falsies I have used so far – soft and feathery and the human hair blend into your own lashes. I get a panic attack if I don’t have multiple backups of them. Just a note to those of you wanting to buy the Princess Lee lashes, be aware that there are so many counterfeit on the internet as Princess Lee lashes are extremely exclusive.

What a long post! If you have made it to here, well done! Hope you all have a good weekend 🙂

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Labels: CHANEL • DIOR • Eyebrow Pen • EYELINER • EYESHADOW • FALSE LASHES • FRESH • Helena Rubinstein • Heroine Make • INGLOT • Laura Mercier • Le Metier De Beaute • LUNASOL • MAC • Maquillage by Shiseido • MASCARA • NARS • SUQQU • Tom Ford

My Picks for the Best Base Makeup 2011

January 5, 2012

This post is inspired by some of my favorite bloggers who have done an extensive summary of the beauty products they loved the most in year 2011. I thought it was such a good idea to show you some of the amazing products that I came across last year (or years before..). As a beauty junkie I have way too many products to showcase so I will be breaking them into several posts, and today’s post is all about the best base makeup products that I have absolutely been in love with, and I am pretty sure my appreciation for them will be carried over to year 2012.

Unfortunately I haven’t had the time to review many products in this post yet, but I am sure they will appear sometime in the near future!

Best Makeup Primer: the award goes to By Terry Teint De Rose. The most luxurious primer I have ever used – the hydrating texture, the scent and the pink rosy color just blows me away every time I use it.

Best Illuminating Makeup Base: the award goes to Dior Radiant Base. It gives a “your glow but better” effect.

Best Tinted Moisturizer: the award goes to Sunday Riley Effortless Breathable Tinted Primer. One of their signature products. I was at Barneys shopping for Sunday Riley skincare, and I noticed there were so many (gorgeous) girls dropping by just to purchase this primer over a short time! So I had to have it and it is my holy grail makeup base now on a good skin day.

Best BB Cream: the award goes to Dr Jart Blemish Base BB Cream, love the hydrating yet lightweight liquid texture.

Best Liquid Foundation: the award goes to Giorgio Armani Designer Lift Firming Foundation (reviewed here). I don’t know one single person who doesn’t love this foundation?!

Runner up: Chantecaille Future Skin Foundation. This was my first high end foundation that I got it when I was in High School, and I was hooked on to it ever since. There is always a backup in my vanity drawer.

Best Compact Foundation/Powder: the award goes to Tom Ford Translucent Finishing Powder. My new discovery and this is THE most finely milled powder I have ever used!

Runner Up: La Prairie Cellular Treatment Powder Foundation (old packaging). A little goes a long way and it gives a flawless coverage.

Best Contouring Powder: the award goes to Suqqu Balancing Cheek in OSHAGECHA (the shade on the right). Provides a perfect subtle contouring that just blends in with my natural skin color.

Best Concealer: the award goes to Cle De Peau Concealer (have discussed in this post)

Best Under Eye Brightening Concealer: the award goes to YSL Touche Eclat (have discussed in this post)

Best Loose Powder: the award goes to La Mer Loose Powder. The most finely milled loose powder inthe market and gives a soft focus finish. This is my second tub and my first one lasted me a few years!

Runner Up: Cle de Peau Loose Powder. It has a slight pink tinge to it rather than totally translucent. Provides a brightening effect and a flawless finish.

If you haven’t read the 2011 picks by these beautiful bloggers yet, please do check them out.

Atelier Beauty’s 2011 Picks.

Delicate Hummingbird’s best picks for the foundations/powder/concealers 2011

Rouge Deluxe 2011 Loves and Thoughts

Miss Elaine-Nio Year 2011 Favorites, I am VERY sad to hear that she will no longer be blogging…

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Labels: BB Cream • BY TERRY • CHANTECAILLE • CLE DE PEAU • DIOR • FOUNDATION • Giorgio Armani • LA MER • Makeup Base • My Favorites • POWDER • Sunday Riley • SUQQU • Tom Ford • YSL

Dior Christmas Collection 2011 – Rouge Or Vernis swatches

October 8, 2011

I was notified by my Dior SA that the much anticipated Dior Christmas Collection – the Rouge Or Collection is available for preview only in Sydney Australia now, and they will be on sale from the 18th of October. I dropped by the Dior counter today and swatched the beautiful nail polishes which I have set my eyes on.

In Australia, this collection is called Dior Daring Golden Collection

If you have the Chanel JC blush in Rouge and OR, then these two are pretty much the nail polish versions of them. Don’t you think?

Swatched with one single stroke.

Another two stunners

Other than the shade on the far right which reminded me of Chanel Peridot (I am sure it will pull too warm and muddy on my complexion), I will definitely be getting the rest of the collection. Dior’s formulation are amongst the best and these stunning shades cannot be missed by any nail polish lovers – they are unique and timeless at the same time.

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Labels: DIOR • NAIL POLISH

Puppy Eyes Makeup Look FOTD

June 13, 2011

Puppy Eyes Makeup look is the opposite of cat eyes look. It has been the most popular eye makeup in Japan since it was featured in some of the top beauty magazines. A lot of girls are ditching the cat eyes for the puppy eyes look to have a more innocent and cuter appearance. With this kind of makeup, no one will have the heart to say ‘NO’ to you haha

Basically rather than flicking the eyeliner up, I draw the eyeliner following the natural curve of my eyes till the outer corner of the lower lash line, to create a droopy eye look. Then I used a pair of corner lashes to complete the look. The rest of my makeup is kept at minimum – just a sheer wash of color on the cheeks and lips.

Final Look:

The star product of this makeup is the Dolly Wink Corner/ Partial False Eyelash in No 4 – Feminine style. Quite expensive for false eyelashes imo but worth every penny. So easy to wear and both the hair and band are super soft.

Other than the false lashes, everything else used was really simple:

Nars All About Eve Eyeshadow Duo: perfect shades just to add a touch of sheen to the eyelids.

Shu Uemura Partial Eyelash Curler: to curl the middle part of the lashes only. It is important to keep the outer part of the lashes down.

Fairy Drop Volumising Mascara on the lower lashes. The beautiful Jade from Jade Musing did a fantastic review of it, so check it out!

Mac Creme Sheen in Partial Pink on the lips.

Close-up of my eyes:

From the side:

FACE PRODUCTS:

Dior Radiant Base as a highlighting primer on the top of my cheek bones; temples and nose bridge.

Dior Nude Skin Natural Glow Foundation

Canmake Cream Blush in 03 on the cheeks, reviewed here.

More pictures of completed look:

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Labels: CANMAKE • DIOR • DOLLYWINK • Eyelash Curler • FALSE LASHES • FOTD • MAC • NARS • Shu Uemura

Diorskin Forever Extreme Fit Foundation Review

June 12, 2011

Diorskin Forever Extreme Fit Foundation was a beautiful mistake for me. I was meant to buy another Dior foundation but accidentally picked this one at the duty free shop. I never heard of this foundation before I had it, so when I read the name “Extreme Wear Flawless Makeup”, I was under the impression that it was going to be a heavy foundation for people who like full coverage.

To my pleasant surprise, it is a really nice foundation. It lives up to its claim – giving you a flawless coverage but the finish is no way as cakey and heavy as I thought it would be. Some general facts

– Contains SPF 15 and PA+: always a bonus to have more SPF!

– It has a patented Nano-stretch Network Technology, which means this foundation does not transfer, is waterproof and lasts even in extreme conditions. The Hydra gel system also helps to regulate moisture.

MY OWN THOUGHTS:

Texture: I would say the texture feels like a hybrid of cream and gel. Doesn’t feel as oily and greasy as a cream foundation but feels richer than a gel texture. As soon as it is applied it melts into the skin and fills up the pores really well. Since the texture is not as watery, it dries up really fast so I have to spread out the foundation as fast as I can, otherwise it can become hard to blend.

Finish: Flawless! Hides most of my imperfections whilst still looking natural. When first applied, it has an airbrushed satin finish which I appreciate but it can be “unnecessary” for a good skin day. What I love about this foundation the most is that it wears better and better as the day goes by. The look becomes more natural and radiant.

Long-Lasting Ability: Probably the best long lasting foundation I have ever used. It doesn’t oxidize on me considering I have quite oily skin. The coverage stays as it is for at least 8 hours of wear – no retouch required.

The only downside I can think of is that it is not as spreadable as a fluid foundation. It is easy to go overboard with this if it is applied with a brush.

My Rating: 9/10

Will I buy it again: YES!

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Labels: DIOR • FOUNDATION

BECCA Lost Weekend Eyeshadow Palette FOTD

June 6, 2011

I have previously reviewed The Becca Lost Weekend Eyeshadow Palette and as I promised – I just did a FOTD with it. This makeup was focused on conturing – Becca Lost Weekend Eyeshadow palette was used to contour the eyes and all along the side of the nose. I also thickened and extended my eyebrows on both ends so they connect to the contours on the side of my nose bridge . On my face, lots of bronzing shades were used to contour the cheeks. Lip color was tossing between a berry or a nude shade – in the end I opted for a glossy nude shade.

This is the final look:

A quick rundown on the products I used.

FACE PRODUCTS:

Dior Extreme Fit Foundation: I will be doing a review for this foundation this week. Overall it is a natural looking foundation with decent coverage that hides all my freckles!

MAC Bronzing Powder: applied the brown shade down the side of my cheeks to the jawlines.

Nars Blush in Madly: was applied along the hollow of the cheeks to the temples.

Guerlain Meteorites in Beige Chic: started from my cheekbones to the temples.

EYE PRODUCTS:

Bobbi Brown Long Wear Cream Eyeshadow in Suede: was used as a base color all over the eye socket area to make the colors that were applied later pop out more.

Becca Lost Weekend Eyeshadow Palette: layered the shimmery mauvy shades with the matte mauvey shade all over the eyelids up to the sides of my upper nose bridge. The medium brown shade was then applied from the outer edge of the eyelid and blended into the crease, creating a v shape.

Majolica Perfect Automatic Liner: for upper lash line

Chanel Stylo Yeux Waterproof Eyeliner in Rose Platine: was all along the lower lash line, intensified at the tear duct areas.

Lancome Le Crayon Khol in Brown: used to darken the outer edge of the lower lash line.

Laura Mercier Eyebrow Powders

False Eyelashes: Princess Lee Criss Cross in 7. (picture of it can be found in my previous FOTD)

A closer up shot:

Lip Product:

Giorgio Armani Rouge d’Armani in beige 105. (reviewed here)

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Labels: BECCA • CHANEL • DIOR • EYELINER • FOTD • Giorgio Armani • GUERLAIN • MAC • NARS

Foundations Reviews Part 1 – Coming Soon

May 25, 2011

Being a self proclaimed foundation addict, I am quite ashamed I have yet done any foundation reviews. So I have set myself a ‘tough’ challenge. I am going to get through the reveiws for all the foundations shown in the picture by the end of June! I am hoping I can do at least 1 foundation review a week.

These are a subset of my foundations collection, they are mainly relatively new or my recent favorites.

Becca Luminous Skin color

Chanel Vitalumiere Aqua – ultra light skin perfecting makeup

Dior Extreme Fit – extreme wear flawless makeup

Cle de Peau teint naturel fluide cream foundation

Giorgio Armani Luminous Silk Foundation

Shu Uemura UV Under base Mouse BB Cream

The rest of my foundations (not in the pic) will be covered in part 2 and 3.