Jill Stuart Spring 2010

I'm always drawn into the Jill Stuart make up collections in part because of the packaging but for Spring, I thought the colors were interesting as well. I ordered 2 of the new Jewel Crystal Eyes palettes; Crystal Ruby and Princess Sapphire and the Mix blush in Rose Fairy.

Crystal Ruby:


Princess Sapphire:


Swatches (Top: Crystal Ruby, Bottom: Princess Sapphire):

The Crystal Ruby palette has a pale gold, a golden pink, a medium ruby, and a dark burgundy. I did prefer this palette over the Princess Sapphire palette which contained a pale pink, a lilac, a deep pink and a dark violet because the pigmentation was a bit better and the shimmer a bit more subdue. The colors were also more unique than other Jill Stuart palettes that I can recall. The shadows were very smooth overall and I had no problems with fading or much fallout from the shimmer.

Pics of the Rose Fairy blush:

It's a very pretty pink blush and the colors don't contain any shimmer except for the top right pink shade but the shimmer is very fine. The powder is very smooth and you can easily build up or down the intensity.

Overall, a nice spring collection worth checking out if you like more girlie type of spring colors. =)

Kat Von D Memento Mori Palette

I just wanted to share pics of the Kat Von D Memento Mori palette I got in the mail today. I do like the Kat Von D palettes and often I wonder why I don't give them more love. The shadows come in great colors, have really good pigmentation and texture and the Memento Mori palette is no exception.

Unlike previous Kat Von D palettes, this one comes in a white base box with a colored design in a blue-green color. I guess this is to reflect the softer colors that this palette contains.

The design is a deeper blue green color and not so much bright aqua.

The box also opens differently than the previous palettes. The boxes before had front flap that lifted up but this palette has an accordion style box that opens from the bottom.

Here's the back of the box with names of the shadow colors:

The case has the same design as the box and the same soft matte feel as previous palettes.

Inside the palette:


L to R: True (cream), Solitude, Meditation, Agatha Pink,
Sugar Shell, Peggy, Hard Luck, Tijuana

Swatches:

Top: True (indigo violet creme), Solitude (lilac),
Meditation (rose gold), Agatha pink(peach)

Bottom: Sugar shell(light yellow), Peggy (turquoise with gold shimmer),
Hard Luck (Green-black with gold shimmer), Tijuana (Black with copper glitter)

My favorite color is hard luck even though it's not the most spring-like. This is an interesting spring palette and definitely worth taking a look at especially if you like the other Kat Von D shadows. Will try to post some eotd's when I get the chance to play with the Memento Mori palette a bit more.

Nars Spring 2010

In contrast to the ysl collection, I didn't really expect to like the Nars collection that much from the promo pics but when I saw the items in real life I was pleased with a lot of them.

The new duo from the collection is Kuala Lumpur (sorry there was an earlier typo), a pink with gold shimmer and a plum with gold shimmer. I was afraid the flecks would be too big but they are very subtle in this duo.

Swatch (sorry it's a bit blurry):

The new lipstick in Crusing (nude pink) and lipgloss in Ophelia (soft pink) are now top of my lip colors.

Cruising:


Ophelia:

Swatches (Left: Crusing, Right:Ophelia):


Lip Swatch (Ophelia layered over Crusing):

One item that I new I had to get from the promo pics was the Purple Rain polish, a gorgeous dark shimmery purple. The color is lovely, dark but still shimmery and recognizable as purple rather than black. The formula was a bit thick for me though. There was a polish called Soho in the Nars Hearts New York kit which is similar but more violet in color and not as shimmery.

I'm glad I made a stop at the Nars counter at saks. Do give this collection a try if you're in the mood for some soft neutrals like I was or if you're in the mood for some stronger colors there are items for you too such as the Purple Rain polish, the Bains Douches glitter pencil (bright sky blue with silver glitter) and lip gloss in Easy Lover (bright pink).

YSL Paris Passion Spring 2010

I was pretty excited when I saw the YSL Spring Paris Passion 2010 collection. I always want pastel shadows to work for me but often they come off too chalky or just not vibrant enough for me so I had high hopes for the new 5 colour Parisian Sky palette. I wasn't completely disappointed but it didn't blow my socks off either.

The palette has shadows in Sky blue, grey blue, lilac, light pink and a dark purple brown.

The five colors are very soft, pigmentation was okay. On the eyes, the color seem to show up a bit better than the swatches; probably because I do wear lid primer but swatch without any primer. On fairer complexions the pastel colors would most likely show up even better. Of the 5 colours though; the purple brown color was strangely the most difficult color to get to show up when I was swatching.

Another item that caught my attention was the face powders. There was one that was listed as a highlighter shade and another listed as a blush shade. The highlighter contains shimmery shades while the blush has a softer finish. I picked the blush since the thought the highlighter would be too sheer for me. The packaging for the face powders are adorable. It comes with a small pouch and the address on the pouch is also printed on the outside of the compact.


A few new lip colors were also released. There were 2 new Golden glosses, 4 new Gloss volupte and 4 rouge volupte. I picked the Gloss volupte in Vanilla Pink and Rouge volupte in Faubourg Peach.


Swatches (left: Vanilla pink, Right: Faubourg peach)


Here's a comparative pic of Faubourg peach (on left) next to Tender peach (on right):

The Paris passion collection was pretty, but the eyeshadow and face powder didn't wow me as I would have liked although I do love the design for the blush. The new lip colors are quite pretty though and worth checking out since there are many new shades released.

Dolly Wink Dolly Sweet Lashes + FOTD

I am a complete noob in wearing false eyelashes and often even when I finally get one on the other does not cooperate to save my life. Another scenario is that I can finally get them on but then when I have to leave the house they start to lift and I don't have time to fix it so I end up ripping them off. So yesterday was a monumental occasion, I finally was able to leave the house wearing falsies.

I wore the Dolly Wink false eyelashes in Dolly Sweet (No. 1) that I ordered from ichibankao.com.

The package comes with 2 pairs and a tube of glue. The glue comes out white but dries clear. I used the glue last night and it was ok, by the end of the night one lash did start to come off but the other one was still intact.

They felt a bit weird when I first applied them but that's probably because I don't normally wear flasies. After a few minutes, I didn't feel them at all.

Here was my FOTD last night:


Products used:
YSL Flash Radiance Skincare
Lunasol Wather Cream foundation oc04
Urban Decay Ultra Definition finishing powder
Chanel Empreinte de Chanel highlighting powder
Too Faced Snow Bunny bronzing powder
Lorac Double Feature concealer DF2
Urban Decay Primer Potion
Est Emotional Eyes Palette 09 (review tk)
Kiss Me Heroine Make black liquid eyeliner
Shiseido mascara base
YSL Faux Cil mascara
Dolly Wink Dolly Sweet falsh lashes
Revlon Colorsurge Lipstick in Soft Nude
MAC lip gelee in Resort Life

Dior Silver Pearl Polish-NOTD

Allo! Just a quick post for the Dior Silver Pearl Polish, it's a silvery grey color that isn't quite what I think of as "spring-y" but it's definitely a nice color. I like that it's has shimmer and it's not flat or too metallic. I haven't used my konad stamps in awhile so I decided to break it out.

YSL Mauve Silk Nail Lacquer

Here's one item from the Yves Saint Laurent Spring 2010 collection that I picked up. I love lilac colored polishes and was really pleased with the Mauve Silk polish. It's a pretty light purple that doesn't scream pastel and was pretty opaque after 2 coats. It's my first ysl polish and the wear was really good. I'm pretty bad with my nails (typing, scrapping off labels etc) and this polish held up well.

Since I've been unable to resist the spring collections, I've added a few items to my blogsale (some eye shadow palettes and face items) and lowered a few prices. Click link on the right or here to go to the page. Thanks for looking!

Lancome Pop'n Green Eye Shadow Quad

It's been awhile since something from Lancome has really grabbed my attention but when I stopped by a counter to check out their spring items; I fell in love with the Pop 'n Green eye shadow quad.

Swatches:

It has a shimmery ivory, a shimmery taupe grey (this is the color that won me over), a shimmery medium forest green and a khaki olive. The earthy colors and green works nicely together and it can be used to create more subtle or more dramatic look. In terms of texture, the shadows were nicely pigmented, smooth and blended easily.

Here's a quick eotd that I did to test out this quad:

Paul & Joe Spring 2010

Here some hasty pics of the Paul & Joe Sparkles collection for Spring 2010. I snap some shots of the testers I was able to check out. The actual stock for purchasing was not available yet. I took all of these with my cell phone so quality is iffy and the store lighting was weird.

The lip glosses:

001 Baby's Breath (clear with shimmer and nude center), 002 Snapdragon (clear pink and peach center) and 003 Primrose (light pink and deep pink center)
The lip glosses are pretty sheer with 003 being the most pigmented.

Eye Shadow:

064 Honeysuckle (white gold and coppery gold), 065 Lady's Slipper (light green and light pink) and 066 Purple Clover (mauve and dark purple)

Swatches for the eye shadows (under subway lighting):

Left pic-Top: 065, Bottom: 066
Right Pic: 064

The items have super cute packaging and the colors are spring-y but not super interesting, although the Primrose lip gloss is slowly wooing me over. I'm curious to see the Alice in Wonderland sets (I believe it's a lip product and blotting sheets, 2 variations) and the re-vamped eye shadows to be released in the upcoming months.

Sabon Scrubs

I been meaning to post pics of the different Sabon scrubs and give a quick overview since the physical stores are only located in New York, Chicago and Boston.

Body Gel Polisher is a shower gel that contains scrubby beads and is gentle enough to be used daily. It leaves my skin feeling clean but not dry and there is just enough scent that lingers. My favorite is Ginger Orange.

Another scrub I've tried is the Creamy scrub which reminds me of St. Ives Apricot Face Scrub. The scrub is made of peach kernels and crushed olive seeds, it's still pretty mild and the cream wash is nice. I have Chamomile Vanilla pictured but my favorite is Carrot.

And lastly, I have the Body Scrub, it's a Dead Sea Salt scrub in an almond and soy bean oil base and although it's oil base it doesn't leave my tub as greasy as other scrubs like it. The oils moisturizes quite well and leaves my skin feeling a bit more radiant. My favorite is Lavender Apple.

I've tested out the foamy scrub (half shower gel, half salt scrub) in the stores but it didn't interest me since I felt that it left my hands feeling a bit too slimy.

All the scrubs have a moisturizer in the same scent. I've only tried the body lotion version since I started buying these products in the summer so the butter cream was too heavy at the time. Now that it's winter I may give it a try. The sorbet gel is nice but I tend to be allergic to gel based moisturizers so I'm staying away from buying a full size.