Dior Garden Clutch~Milly Garden-Swatches

I did manage to stop admiring the Dior Garden Clutch for a moment so I could do some swatching. I picked a flat spot between the rosettes so the overall pattern on the eye shadows were preserved :)

The flap on the right lifts up to reveal the lip colors.


Close-up of the eye shadows. Colors are a dark purple/grey, a light silver/grey and light pink. All the shadows are shimmery/iridescent.


Close-up of the lip colors. One is a lip plumper and one is a regular gloss. I have not worn either color so I can't tell which is which. I am guessing that the pale pink is the plumper and the other pink is the regular gloss.


Swatches~sorry all under indoor lighting. On the right are the lip colors; followed by the eye shadows, no primer.

The pale glosses don't really give off much color. The shadows have good pigmentation, although the palest color only shows up as a iridescent shimmer on my skin.

Quick eotd~

The Dior Garden Clutch in Milly Garden is available now on the Nordstrom website.
The rest of the Dior Spring 2012 is also on the site. Milly Garden is listed as exclusive to Nordstrom, but it may also be available on the Dior.com site in the future. There is also another variation of the Dior Garden Clutch called Granville Garden; to see pics and swatches of this clutch, please see Fruity Lashes' post.

Preview~Dior Garden Clutch-Milly Garden

I just received my the Dior Garden Clutch in Milly Garden today. Here are a few preview pics :) Hope to have swatches and more pics soon.

*swoons*

Lancôme Glamour Eyes Set

I found myself at Sephora today and ended up buying the Lancôme Glamour Eyes by Michelle Phan set that I spotted. I don't watch many of her YouTube videos but I bought the set for the Color Design palette that is included. The palette is called Chic-by-Chelle and is labeled as a Sephora exclusive shade. The other items in the set are a full-sized artliner in Noir and a mini Hypnôse Drama Mascara in Excessive Black.

Front of the box


Back of the box




Front flap lifted


Included pamphlet has step-by-steps for Day and Night look.

Pics of the Color Design palette in Chic-by-Chelle:




Swatches~I think my hands were a bit dry so the swatches are patchy.
The shimmery violet does goes on smoother than what the swatch shows.



Base color is a satiny peach, lid color is a shimmery violet, crease color is an ashy brown, liner color is a shimmery grey and the highlighter color is light pewter.

The set is priced at $59.50 which is ok considering a Color Design palette cost $48 and a full sized Artliner is $29. I just wanted to post up some quick pics since I haven't seen any info on this set and if you're a fan of the Lancôme Color Design palettes then it might be worth looking for during your next Sephora store visit :)

L'oréal infallible eye shadows

L'oréal infallible eye shadows have finally arrived in the US after having been available overseas for some time now. They are akin to Armani Eyes to Kill and have a similar spongy powder texture. Thanks to a few kind international ladies, I've been able to enjoy these shadows before their US debut. Today, I came upon a display of them at Bed, Bath and Beyond and picked up a few. So, here is my current collection.

First 2 rows are the international infallibles
Last row are the US infallibles
Colors from left to right.
Top Row: Purple obsession (shimmery purple), All Night Blue (shimmery navy), Permanent Kaki (shimmery khaki green), Burning Black (shimmery red black)
Middle Row: Sahara Desert (iridescent dark gold), Emerald Lame (iridescent golden green), Black Onyx (iridescent silver black), Bronze Goddess (iridescent bronze), Goldmine (iridescent light gold)
Bottom Row: Perpetual Purple (shimmery purple), Golden Sage (shimmery khaki green), Bronzed Taupe (shimmery taupe), Continuous Cocoa (soft shimmer mink brown), Amber Rush (shimmery copper)

Swatches (no flash):

Top Row: Purple obsession, All Night Blue, Permanent Kaki, Burning Black, Sahara Desert, Emerald Lame, Black Onyx, Bronze Goddess, Goldmine
Bottom Row: Perpetual Purple, Golden Sage, Bronzed Taupe, Continuous Cocoa, Amber Rush


Purple obsession, All Night Blue, Permanent Kaki, Burning Black, Sahara Desert, Emerald Lame, Black Onyx, Bronze Goddess, Goldmine


Perpetual Purple, Golden Sage, Bronzed Taupe, Continuous Cocoa, Amber Rush

Swatches (with flash):

Purple obsession, All Night Blue, Permanent Kaki, Burning Black


Sahara Desert, Emerald Lame, Black Onyx, Bronze Goddess, Goldmine


Perpetual Purple, Golden Sage, Bronzed Taupe, Continuous Cocoa, Amber Rush

I did suspect that some of the US infallibles were re-named versions of existing colors and I was correct. It is worth noting that the US infallibles are made in the US, while the international ones have been made in Italy. But from what I can tell, Perpetual Purple (US) is the same as Purple Obsession (Int.) while Golden Sage (US) is the same as Permanent Kaki (Int). The US versions do seem a smidgen darker which may be due to a different formula(?).

Left are the international infallibles; Right are the US infallibles

I'm glad that the L'oréal infallible eye shadows have finally made it here, although it is quite confusing that some colors been re-named from the international releases. Please see Mona's post here for additional pics and the list of shades released in the US and Justine's post here for additional pics and swatches of the international shades.

Nars Kudoki Kabuki Lip Set

I decided to show the Nars Kudoki Kabuki Lip set against the Nars Bento Box Set from last year. The Kudoki Kabuki Lip set contains 3 lip colors (Botan, Takebue, and Ougi) vs 2 colors (Sakura and Maiko) in the Bento Box set. The exterior packaging is similar with the lacquer wooden box and the same kabuki lip brush is included in each set.

Nars Kudoki Kabuki set
L->R: Botan (deep pink), Takebue (rose nude), Ougi (brick red)

Here are size comparisons between
the Kudoki Kabuki set (Bottom) and the Bento set (Top):




Bowls from the Kudoki Kabuki set are 0.05 Oz (1.5g);
Bowls from the Bento set are 0.12oz (3.5g)




Shades from Bento set

Sakura


Maiko

Shades from Kudoki Kabuki Lip set:

Botan


Takebue


Ougi

Swatches:

Natural light with flash


Natural light, no flash


Indoor light, with flash

L->R: Sakura, Maiko, Botan, Takebue, Ougi

I think that that the Kudoki Kabuki set does have more wearable colors compared to the Bento set from last year. The quality of the lip colors were similar~very pigmented with a soft creamy feel. They are not the most moisturizing and since my lips tend to be a bit dry, I do like to prep with a balm before applying these colors. The shades in the Kudoki Kabuki set do seem to have a touch of shimmer to them when you look at the bowls but the shimmer does not show up when swatched. The Kudoki Kabuki set is currently available at online at Nordstrom.

Nars Kudoki Kabuki Lip Set-Preview pic

I didn't get a chance to organize all the pics for the Nars Kudoki Kabuki Lip Set....so just a preview pic for now~

More to come....

Nars Holiday Gift Set - Mie and Hanamichi

I couldn't wait for the Nars Holiday sets to start arriving. I spotted them at Lord and Taylor online but hit a snafu in trying to place my order, luckily there were available in stores as well so I was able to pick them up during the Friends and Family event. The holiday sets come in black paper boxes with a red band.

First up is the Soft Shadow Pencil Set called Mie. I love the colors of the Soft Shadow Pencils, I haven't tested out the longivity of the pencils although judging from the creaminess, a primer is a must-have :)

L->R: Angle Noir, Tall Tale, Magic Moon, Skorpios, Palladium, and Ballet Russes

Full size Soft Touch Pencil is 0.1 oz, 3g
Mini Pencil is .07 oz, 2g



Swatches~



L->R: Angle Noir, Tall Tale, Magic Moon, Skorpios, Palladium, and Ballet Russes

The other gorgeous item is the Hanamichi Palette:

It comes in its own pouch with a silk tie


There is a mini kabuki brush included


Size comparison against a full size soft touch pencil





Swatches (indoor light, no flash)- I'll try to have deeper swatches soon, but I was trying to not mar the design just yet.



L->R: Background color, golden flower, black flower and red flower

The first two colors reminded me of the Exotic Dance duo so here's a comparison pic:

Top:Exotic Dance
Bottom: Hanamichi
Exotic Dance has more shine to it so the colors are a bit brighter than the ones in the Hanamichi palette in which the finish is more flat.

So far, I think both items are lovely gifts (for yourself or others). I think Mie is more fun especially if you like color. The Hanamichi palette has a gorgeous presentation but I'm still trying to figure out how to maximize use of a red shadow, although for now I'll just enjoy the prettiness :)