Coffret D'Or -Purple, Visee, EOTDs and NOTDs

I liked the blue green Coffret D'Or Color Mixing Eyes palette so much that I decided to get the purple lavender one too.

Indoor lighting no flash and with flash

Swatches:


I actually put on this palette right away at work since I didn't get a chance to put on any make up in the am. Thank goodness I can close my office door at lunch and primp away.

Also wearing the Shiseido mascara base and MM lash expander-yay! for lashes that actually show up in pics!

On the topic of summer palettes, today I received 2 of the new Visee Brilliance Forming Eyes. I had really liked the Blackish Forming Eyes palettes and the blue (A-5) brilliance forming palette really called to me (even though I have a bijillion other blue palettes, lol). I also got the green shade (A-4) another color that I have tons of variations but somehow I think I will find a different one, lol. These palettes have very good pigmentation and the colors are very smooth and shimmery just like the Blackish Forming palettes. One difference is that the color on the lower left is a cream shade. I don't know what it is with the cream shadow kick going on for the summer collections.

Natural lighting

With flash

The green palette has a light green with yellow shimmer, medium olive green, a bronze-y green color and a golden white cream shadow. The first 2 two colors remind me of the Esprique Precious Dress On Shiny Eyes palette in C-4, go figure considering they are both from the Kose.

The blue palette has a light shimmery blue, a light cornflower blue, a dark indigo with multi color shimmer and a silver white cream shadow. The swatches are looking a bit more purple in pictures than in real life.

Natural lighting


With Flash

I couldn't wait to wear the blue palette:

For mascara-it's Shiseido base and Guerlain Waterproof mascara in Bleu Cruise (the blue color actually shows up!)

A few days ago, I wore the JS eye jelly in Midnight shine with Nars South Pacific eyeshadow duo. I'm also wearing Prestige Total Intensity eyeliner in Deepest Black. Mascara is Shiseido base and MM lash expander.

That's it for the EOTD's!

Moving on to nails! I had decided to try Calgel wraps earlier this month. I went to the same salon that M had gone to for her nails. It was a nice place but I was just ok with how my nails came out. I liked the base color but it wasn't as smooth as I would like since gel was near the end of the container, the color was uneven in spots.

I left the wraps on for about a week and I got tired of it. I also thought that it was starting to chip a bit. In the first week, the salon is willing to fix any chipping, but it wasn't worth the trek for me to go back to the salon and it was very minor. I think I just noticed bc I was staring at my nails all the time. The wraps did help my nails grow a bit and they were pretty easy to soak off although since I got glitter tips-it required a lot more effort since there were extra layers of calgel.

Anyway I got them off and painted my nails with a faceshop polish in a really pretty lilac color:

I added glitter at the tips and some konad stamping =)

Hope everyone has a good weekend!

Coffret D'Or Mixing Eyes -Blue Green

I had seen this Coffret D'or Palette highlighted in a few Japanese magazines for the past few months and I was highly anticipating it's release. I was weary since I was afraid that the colors would be too sheer or similar to other colors that I have but I caved and ordered this palette right away.

Outside of the compact is mirror-like and annoyingly shows smudgey finger prints quite easily. There is a cute cross pattern of pink crystals.

Inside the palette (no flash and with flash).
Colors are a lime green, light blue, white and a navy shade for lining.


Swatches (no flash and with flash)

When I did a hand swatch, the colors didn't look super pigmented but when I wore them for the first time with some UDPP, the colors showed quite well. Light blues tend to turn green on me and but the one in this palette did stay true with some layering. I also really liked the navy liner-it was dark enough to give a good line without too much effort. The shadows lasted all day and stayed pretty vibrant. Although late into the night, one eye did have some creasing while the other was fine. Go figure. Sorry no eotd, when I took a pic the colors looked more washed out than they really were in real life. Will have to give it a shot in natural lighting and hope I have better results.

I'm pleased I purchased this palette and now I'm eyeing the lavender purple version. There is also a brown shade, silver pink, beige black versions available.

Jill Stuart Summer 2009-Eye jelly and lip jelly

It was an icky rainy day in NYC, I was cheered up by having access to waffles near the office and the fact that I had gotten a few of the new Jill Stuart items in the mail.

I couldn't resist getting some of the new eye jellys. I loved the shimmer that they give and they last quite a long time. I ended up putting on 2 colors this afternoon and they held all day (I did have some udpp and eyeshadow on as well). I ordered the 3 eye jellys: berry sparkle, crystal sky and midnight shine. Berry sparkle is a bright pink color, crystal sky is a mauve-y color and midnight shine is more of a dark indigo (purple/blue) than a dark navy as the swatch online shows.

L-R: Berry sparkle, crystal sky and midnight shine

Crystal sky is the eye color worn in the JS advertisement for this collection along with Dimond snow (pearly white, not pictured). On lips, the model is wearing the lip jelly in Sensual Nude, which I also fell in love with. The jelly has a very nice texture, it gives your lips lots of shimmer and shine without being sticky.

Swatches! Sensual nude on top.
Berry sparkle, crystal sky and midnight shine on bottom, L ->R

In case anyone was wondering, the new eye jellys have the same fruity scent consistency as the old jellys, but there are differences in the packaging.

Overall, new container is smaller and more decorated than old container.

The opening is also smaller in the new container.


However, both containers are label as 6g. Upon closer inspection, the new container is actually deeper than the old container and goes pass the part with the grooves for the lid while the old container was more shallow.

For summer 09, there was also a new illuminance eye shadow palette released but it didn't catch my eye enough to purchase. I am looking forward to perhaps getting more jellys =)

Maquillage Summer '09

I loved the 3D Maquillage palettes so when I saw they were releasing 2 new versions for the summer, I jumped on them.

Here is the Gold palette (no flash, with flash):

Swatches (no flash, flash):

Here is the silver palette (no flash, flash):

Silver palette swatches (no flash, flash):

What surprised me was that all the shadows were in a creme form. Since the previous 3D palettes had a cream base and liner color with 3 powder shadows. The next surprised was how shimmery these colors were. I think they may be a bit OTT for work although that didn't stop me from putting on the silver palette during lunch time. The darker colors are not as sparkly so that helps tone down the lighter colors. I do like the Silver palette a bit more right now, but I'll have to play with both a bit more before I play favorites. The shadows lasted decently through the day with some UDPP primer.

I wasn't too interested in the colored mascara/liner combo that was being released in this collection at first, but I recently purchased the Guerlain Blue mascara and loved the way it looked so I decided to give the Violet mascara/liner a try.

I have not used the mascara yet but the brush is pretty interesting-it has a comb side, a brush side and a few bristles at the tip.

I really like the liner color (no flash, flash):

Definitely more play time is needed but I think these items are a pretty additions for summer, although I think I do like having powder shadows in the palettes a bit more than the creme shadows (I always thought the creme base in the previous palettes felt a bit greasy). I may also give another liner/mascara combo a try since I like the violet so much.

Where to buy for Dior Cristal Collection Summer 2009

The Dior Cristal collection is a bit of a treasure hunt since not all items are available at all department stores or at Sephora. Here's a partial list of the items from this collection (Click here for a full list) with the locations that I've spied them at. Hope it helps!

* Dior Bronze Couture Palette ($80.00) (Bloomingdale, nordstrom.com)
* Dior 5-Colour Iridescent Eyeshadow in Electric Lights #259 ($56.00)(All Over) - swatch in earlier post
* Diorskin Shimmer Powder in Pop Diamond #004 ($43.00) (All Over) - swatch tk
* Dior Addict Lip Glow ($28.00) (All Over) - swatch in earlier post
* Dior Addict High Shine Lipstick in Designer Coral #154 ($26.00) (Bloomingdales, norstrom.com)- swatch tk
* Dior Addict High Shine Lipstick in Artist Pink #374 ($26.00) (Macys)-swatch in earlier post
* Dior Addict High Shine Lipstick in Sketch Pink #86 4($26.00) (Macys) - swatch tk
* Dior Addict Ultra-Gloss Reflect in Nylon Pink #377 ($25.50) (Sephora.com)
* Dior Addict Ultra-Gloss Reflect in Vinyl Coral #647 ($25.50) (Bloomingdales, nordstrom.com) - swatch tk
* DiorKiss in Grenadine Syrup #741 ($20.00) (Bloomingdales, nordstrom.com) - sheer coral color
* DiorKiss in Blackcurrant Cream #781 ($20.00) (Macys) - swatch tk
* DiorKiss in Strawberry Smoothie #851 ($20.00) (Sephora) -sheer cherry red color
* Dior Vernis in Sweet Orange #334 ($20.00) (Sephora) - similar to Chanel Orange Fizz polish
* Dior Vernis in Bubble Gum #741 ($20.00) (nordstrom.com) - swatch in earlier post
* Dior Vernis in Purple Candy #781 ($20.00) (Macys)

More items from Dior and GWP

While I was at the mall last weekend, I ended up at Macys to see if other items from the Dior Cristal collection were available. They did have a display although some of the lip colors were missing and when I asked the SA about it she asked me what colors where being released since she didn't know.....ok.....Anyway, she ended up suggesting I try the Dior Airflash spray foundation. I never had much interest in spray foundation since I thought I would have a horrible time blending or end up spraying myself in the eye but instead of spraying me in the face; the SA sprayed onto a kabuki brush and then used circular strokes to apply the foundation. I ended up liking the dewy finish that it gave me. I normally find that the foundations I've tried leave me looking a bit chalky. The nudeskin liquid foundation was decent but I ended up liking the airflash more. It is mad expensive for a 2.3fl oz can but I'll enjoy it while it lasts.

The SA also ended up putting on me the Lip glow color reviver balm which is essentially Dior's answer to Smashbox O-gloss. It comes in a similar packaging to the Shine Addict Lipsticks and has a similar feel on the lips. It goes on clear but after a few seconds it gave me a really deep pink color which I thought was much more flattering than the pink I got from O-gloss. On top of the Lip glow, the SA put on the addict ultra gloss in chiffon beige - a pretty golden beige color although after I brought it home I thought I already had many similar colors so I might go return it at some point.

From the new collection, I purchased the new addict shine lipstick in artist pink- a sheer pink color with pink shimmer to it. I did not find the new addict ultra gloss this time around but I will have to check it out the next time I go to Macys.

Swatch of Artist Pink lipstick and lip glow (L to R: First applied and then after a few seconds; sorry it's a bit blurry in the "after pic))

Since I had purchased 3 items, I ended up getting a gift with purchase. A satin Dior box with a pillow inside. They were offering Dior purfume sets in the box but if you bought 3 items you can get an empty box. It's cute, although I don't know what to put into it yet.

YSL Tresor D'Afrique Lip Palette

I felt that a better mood would be set for this post on the YSL Tresor D'Afrique if I wrote it in French; however, my many years of studying the language in no shape gave me proficiency in that languge so entry in English it is! The Tresor D'Afrique lip palette is part of the YSL summer collection. I had thought I would fall for the quint eyeshadow palette from this release but instead the lip palette has wooed me. It comes in a nice matte dark bronze compact which I love because it doesn't show any smudgy fingerprints that the shiny compacts do and comes with a velvet brown sleeve.

Inside contains 4 punchy colors that are great for summer. Each lip color has a watermelon scent similar to the Rouge volupte lip stick.There is a shimmery bubblegum pink gloss, a medium orange gloss with no shimmer, a sheer shimmery pale pink gloss, a burgundy gloss and a fuchsia lipstick. I was worried the bubblegum pink pink gloss would be too sheer but I was wrong and it showed up brighter than I expected. The orange color is a bit bright as well but still wearable. Although the colors are pretty bright, they can be blotted down for a sheerer look.

I am really glad I picked up this palette. I normally don't like lip palettes but all the lip colors have great pigmentation to them and show up well on my medium pigmented lips. I've worn the glosses alone and they've lasted a few hours (no serious eating involved). A nice way to kick off summer!