DIOR

Chantecaille Sea Turtle Palette Review and FOTD

April 30, 2011

I have a lot of unopened make-ups, the Chantecaille Sea Turtle palette is one of them. I bought this one from Mecca a while ago but never had the heart to spoil the embossing because it is just too beautiful to look at. It is time for me to use it as I have way too many makeups to be reviewed in the near future.

From a makeup collector point of view, Chantecaille limited edition palettes are pieces of art. Their palettes look and feel like true luxury. Unlike other brands, Chantecaille only release a few palettes a year, the quality has always been consistently superior. What I love the most is the color coordination of their palettes. I rarely come across a face or eye shadow palette where I like every single shade. Chantecaille is an exception – it only comes with the most refined and elegant neutral shades that are designed to enhance your natural beauty.

This palette contains 3 eye shades and 1 cheek shade, all inspired by the beauty of the sea turtles and their nesting grounds.

These shadows are buttery soft and easy to blend. Pigmentation wise they are on the moderately sheer side as they are designed to leave a sheer veil of color on the skin with a subtle glowing effect.

I created a smokey look using this palette – using the champagne color all over my lid, the brown shade over the crease and the dark teal color along my lash line and on the outer v.

Blush swatched on my cheeks, it is a beautiful peachy pink with really fine shimmers and lasted all day on me.

Overall look:

Other products I used:

Primer: Nars

Foundation: Dior Natural Glowing Hydrating

Highlighter: Giorgio Armani Sheer Shimmer in no. 1

Eye Primer: Too Faced Shadow Insurance

Falsies

Brow: Shu Uemura

Lips: YSL Rouge Volupte in no. 30

Chantecaille Sea Turtle palette retails for $120 in Australia, 5% of proceeds will be donated to help WIDECAST ensure the survival of sea turtles.

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Labels: CHANTECAILLE • DIOR • FOTD • Giorgio Armani • NARS • Shu Uemura • YSL

Foundation Primer Reviews

March 30, 2011

Rather than talking about new makeups all the time, I would like to show you some of my old favorites – starting from Face products. Foundation primer aka Makeup base is not considered as an essential makeup item for some girls. As for me – I can’t live without foundation primer. I have one for every skin condition I can possibly have. Using a primer together with a foundation perfects my skin for a flawless and radiant complexion. On a good skin day, I would only use a primer and skip the foundation.

So here is a group picture of all the primers I am currently using..actually I have to admit I had no idea I own that many primers!

I don’t regret buying them all, each of them serves a different purpose. My foundation primers can be broken down into 4 categories:

1. Oil Controlling

Mac Prep and Prime Skin Base Visage: amazing product, hides my pores without feeling cakey and silicony – keeps the oil at bay for 8 hours! I only use it on my t-zone.

Shiseido (bought it in japan, no English name) : No swatches because this one is only exclusive to Asia, it used to be my HG until I found Mac Prep and Prime.

2. Radiance and Natural Glow

Chanel Base Lumiere – my absolute favorite! It contains no shimmers, but it imparts a really beautiful glow to your skin, gives a “your own radiant skin but better” effect.

Dior Radiant Base – a light pink fluid with tiny shimmers. My second favorite as the shimmers are not noticeable once it is sheered out – gives a beautiful pinkish glow.

Lancome Fluid Illuminator (LE) – a beige fluid with fine shimmers, can be used alone or mixed in with foundation. It is too shimmery for my liking – I only apply it along my cheekbones in summer time when my face is tanned for a bronzey look.

3. Color Correction

– Shiseido Control Base: a light green fluid designed to correct the redness in your skin. This one is amazing..I only use it when my skin looks dull. A tiny amount would turn your complexion into “you have just slept 10 hours”!

– Giorgio Armani fluid sheer no 5 – recommended by GA’s makeup artist at a makeover event. It is a peachy fluid, very pigmented so I can’t imagining applying it all over the face. I like to use it on my cheeks to create a natural flush.

– Etude Pore Smoothing Peach Base (korean brand) – a purple fluid that brightens up your complexion by a few shades. I won’t recommend using it all over the face unless you want a geisha look. Again it’s a good product for a dull skin day.

These products were heavily swatched in the picture. The effect on your face would be a lot more subtle than shown in the picture. Even for my whole face I would use less than what I used for swatching.

4. Primers with sunscreen

Shu Uemura UV Under Base: it’s been a cult favorite in Asia for ages – can be used as sunscreen, makeup base or tinted moisturizer. On a good skin day, I would only use this product on my face – very sheer but evens out skin tone.

Kanebo Lunasol UV Essence: A makeup base with spf of 25 , has the same texture as a serum. It absorbs into your skin like a serum, makes your skin look hydrated and glowing, leaves no white cast on your skin like other suncreens do. The best sunscreen I have ever come across!

LASTLY, my Nars is one of the best all purpose makeup bases.

It hydrates your skin, creates a perfect canvas for foundation and makes the foundation look better and lasts all day long.

OMG..what a super long post!! Now I need some TV therapy..

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Labels: CHANEL • DIOR • Etude House • Giorgio Armani • KANEBO • LANCOME • MAC • Makeup Base • NARS • SHISEIDO • Shu Uemura

Dior Rock Your Nails Nirvana Swatch

March 19, 2011

This week I have been wearing Dior Nirvana on my nails from Dior Rock Your Nails Collection. Out of the entire collection the color of Nirvana caught my attention the most; it appears as a turquoise-green from the bottle, a unique shade I haven’t yet had in my nail polishes collection.

Formulation of Dior nail polish is second to none – 2 coats give you a flawless and smoothest cream finish.

It lasted a week on my nails without a single chip. The picture below is Nirvana on my nails on the 7th day. Compare to the swatch above, I think this one is more of an accurate swatch of Nirvana. It is more of a green color than turquoise.

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Labels: DIOR • NAIL POLISH

Dior Serum de Rouge – Spring 2011 Collection

March 6, 2011

I went to Dior beauty counter today and picked up a few goodies. One of them is the Dior Serum De Rouge in Pink Coral from the Dior 2011 Spring Collection. Out of the entire collection, this lipstick caught my attention the most . When I applied it on my lips, it looks even better on my lips than it does in the tube. If you are as obsessed with makeup as I am, you would know it was one of those ‘she is the one’ moment.

It may look shockingly red in the tube, but it applies sheer on the lips.

Dior-Spring-2011-Makeup-collection-rouge-de-serum-pink-coral-2

Dior Rouge de Serum in Pink Coral

Swatch on my hand:

I would describe this color on my pigmented lips as milky pink. It is very rare to find a milky pink lip shade that is flattering on my skin tone and doesn’t wash me out.

The texture of Rouge de Serum lip color is beyond amazing. It melts on to my lips and leaves my lips looking moisturized, soft and plumped. According to Dior, it can be doubled as a serum for lips, after a reasonable time your lips will be more moisturized, smoothed and firmer.

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Labels: DIOR

Dior Diorshow Mascaras

February 27, 2011

My makeup is never complete without applying mascara on both the upper and lower lashes; it just instantly opens up my eyes in a way that no other make ups can do. It seems there is a newer, “better” and more innovative mascara that is released every month, as a gullible consumer like me, I always make sure I am kept up to date with the newest mascaras, in case I miss out on the perfect one which I have yet to find.

Today I am just going to talk about Dior mascaras. At the moment I am rotating between these four:

– Diorshow waterproof

– Diorshow Blackout waterproof

– Diorshow Iconic

– Diorshow Extase

Brushes comparisons:

dior-diorshow-blackout-iconic-extase-mascaras-1

From top to bottom: Diorshow Blackout; Diorshow Regular; Diorshow Extase; Diorshow Iconic

Let’s start from the Diorshow regular, as this is their best selling mascara. Diorshow has always been one of my Holy Grails. No matter how many I own, I always like to keep a Diorshow with me. It has everything that I need from a mascara.

– thickens, buildable without clumps

– lengthens

– holds the curl, which is the most important factor for my stick straight lashes

– waterproof, doesn’t smudge

– brush is big enough to grab all the lashes

There is nothing I don’t like about Diorshow regular, on the other hand it doesn’t really wow me, there is room for improvement.

Diorshow Blackout, is the more intense black version of Diorshow. When it was released, I had high hope on this mascara as this is exactly what the regular diorshow is missing. To my disappointment, it is my least favorite. It doesn’t define but clumps my lashes, and worst of all, it dries into a very stiff and brittle spider leg finish…eww..

Diorshow Iconic, another mediocre mascara. According to dior, it’s supposed to give you a lash curling effect without curling your lashes. It might work on genetically blessed Barbie eyes, but definitely not on asian eyes. It has this similar plastic brush to some Chanel mascaras – I am not a fan of it, the finish is always too natural for my liking. It just doesn’t provide the thickness and length I am after. I quickly lost interest in this one after a few uses.

Diorshow Extase, this mascara would be perfect if it holds the curl! It does a better job in terms of thickening due to the unique design of the brush than any other Diorshow mascara, and it has an intense black finish on the lashes. On the bad side, it weighs my lashes down no matter what I do. I even used my holy grail Kanebo Kate eyelash primer underneath, then apply Extase over it. It still instantly straightens the lashes. I love using it on my low lashes though it totally makes my lower lashes look fake. I would love to try the waterproof version of this one!

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Labels: DIOR • MASCARA

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