Fables in Fashion

If you’ve been reading my blog for a while now, you’ll know that Lancome’s Hypnose formula is my favourite mascara ever. Whilst it does have a tendency to dry up faster than I’d like, I can’t deny the amazing results it gives my lashes So when Lancome released a “Doll Lashes” version, I knew I had to give it a shot.

My general impression is that as a standalone mascara, this is great. As you can see from the photos below, two coats gives you thick lush looking lashes. The end result is very similar to that of the traditional Hypnose formula, the main difference I’ve found is the fact that it did take two coats to achieve this. Whereas traditionally, I’d only need one thick coat to get the same effect.

So if you’re someone who has always loved the Hypnose formula, but thought it was just a bit overkill, this would be perfect. But if you loved Hypnose just the way it is, stick to the original formula.

Comparison aside, I noticed no real difference between the original and this formula. Besides the shape of the brush (which does make it easier to coat lower lashes and small lashes in the inner corner), lasting power is the same. Lasted all day, no smudging nor flaking throughout the day. It’s no surprise Hypnose is my most loved mascara

Consider this a lesson learnt, I think I’m going to start toning down on any of these “huge” palette like makeup products unless the reviews online are amazing! This was not one of those palette Finding ways to store them is just a pain! Introducing Tarte’s Holiday 2011 palette called the Starlet. It’s a beautiful mirrored jewellery box that houses an array of eyeshadows, mascara, eyelash primer and blushes.

There is no doubt that the box is adorable, completely impractical and not the most sturdiest of boxes, but cute none the less. The makeup however is pretty second rate in my opinion. The swatches may not make it obvious, but the texture was very hit and miss. There were some shadows are had beautiful pigmentation, buttery formula, then others that were incredibly chalky, some were so solid that I had to literally dig into the pan to get any colour.

The blushes however were definitely much better than the shadows, but I would not personally recommend this palette to anyone solely based on the blushes which whilst were high quality, are not shades you need to buy this palette to own. They are easily dupable.

I will say that one up side to this palette is that it is relatively easy to depot all the product so you’re left with an empty mirrored box to store whatever you like in it It was no easy feat to get the makeup out of the middle drawer though :/

Another great surprise was the Tarte eyelash primer, I’d never tried it before but since this palette came with a mini version I thought I’d give it a go and really loved the effect! I will definitely be purchasing the full sized version when I finish up this sample size and will post a review

I’m not sure if you can still purchase this palette, but don’t consider it a must have

I’ve already reviewed the Arabian Trio Eye shadow from the same collection a while back. Since then I’ve decided that if I do buy several products from the same collection that I’m just going to lump them all into one post. Saves me time and hopefully makes it more interesting for you guys

Aside from the Arabian Trio Eye shadow, I also managed to snag the lipstick in Joyous Red and the lip gloss in Albatross. Honestly I probably didn’t need the lipstick, but I had to have the gloss. I love the powder version of Albatross, which is a beautiful shimmery highlighter with yellow / gold undertones.

Generally I am a fan of NARS’ Lip Glosses, they aren’t what I’d call the perfect lip gloss because they do tend to run a tad sticky, but generally I love them They have no offensive smells and apply beautifully.

However I am not a fan of this lipstick, and you can tell from the photo that it is a pretty matte lipstick. Which was disappointing since NARS actually have a range of lipsticks specifically dedicate to matte finishes, so I wasn’t sure why this particular lipstick that doesn’t state matte anywhere on it had to be matte as well :/

To be honest though, despite appearances the texture over time didn’t feel drying. It certainly wasn’t moisturising, but it didn’t cause my lips to crack or chap either. None the less, I think unless I manage to swatch the lipstick at a counter before hand (which almost never happens given how far away I work from makeup counters now *sad face*) or read some raving review, I will probably be avoiding NARS Lipsticks.

For me, I love NARS for almost everything else in their range, but their lipsticks constantly seem to disappoint me

Back in 2010 I reviewed Smashbox’s Eye Wish Palette and thought that was an impressive palette. Since then I’ve been through my fair share of truly impressive palette and decided to give Smashbox’s Click You’re It palette a whirl so I could compare it to their previous holiday palette.

My general impression of this palette is yes, big improvement on their Holiday 2010 version BUT it really isn’t a must have in anyone’s collection. You know those type of gifts that are just kinda of a nice addition, nice to have, but not really an essential? Yeah, well this is it.

The range of colours is very usable, you’ve got neutral shades and some more colourful ones, but nothing too over the top. But the actual quality of the shadows is not the best in my opinion, I found that some were very rich and pigmented (the darker shade) but the lighter ones were pretty disappointing. Left me feeling very lackluster.

However one stand out feature of this palette which 2010 sincerely lacked were the gel liner / cream shadows. This year they were absolutely beautiful! Creamy, pigmented and very easy to apply. I remember last year I have to literally dig into the pan to get any colour, complete opposite to this year.

But is it worth buying this entire palette just for those cream liners?… Honestly? Maybe! At $49US, that works out to be a little less than $10 for each liner, throw in the primer, mini eye tutorials and eyeshadows as bonus and it isn’t a bad deal. It really comes down to personal preference, if you don’t have a ton of gel liners and want variety without splurging out, then consider this palette JUST for the eyeliners.

I’ll keep this in the palette for now, but I know personally after a few month of using the same big palette I have a tendancy to try and depot everything into an easy to store and access Unii Palette. As the palette is essentially made of cardboard, you know this won’t be a hard goal to achieve if you decide to.

All in all, it’s an okay palette. I’m guessing you may not be able to get this palette anymore, as it was limited edition to Holiday 2011 :/ But after reading this review, I hope you don’t think it was a huge loss

I know that Clinique’s High Impact Mascara is a highly talked about mascara in general, I received this tube at a not so recent event thrown by Clinique for bloggers where we learnt that High Impact was actually their best selling mascara! I was definitely keen to see how this would fare, mascara and eyeliner are the two pieces of makeup I try my best to always wear to work

Generally speaking this is a great mascara, I like the length of the wand and the thickness of the brush, very easy to use. The application whilst great, isn’t something I’d consider a HG. I need about two coats to get the usual fullness I aim for, which honestly is probably a little thicker and clumpier than the average person.

All in all, it’s definitely an above average mascara. I don’t however think it’s an overly unique one. This would really suit people with already healthy lush lashes wanting just to amp them up a bit more. These retail for $38AU / $15US online or at David Jones & Myer.

Another late collection, that would be OPI’s Muppet collection. I used to live on the Muppets as a kid, I had all their tapes, watched them addictively on TV. They, along with Young Talent Time and Sesame Street were my life! That’s part of the reason I felt it necessary to review the entire collection. I’ve had this sitting on my desk for the longest time ever, and am only just getting around to swatching them now! Too many collections and also I’ve been putting off anything with glitter in them :3 It’s a pain to remove!

It’s hard to really give a general overall comment on a collection this large, but you can be the judge based on the swatches and I’ll do my best to find the closest possible dupe All swatches are 2 coats with no top coat.

Animal-istic

A pinky red shade with bright red shimmers, Zoya’s Kamilah is a slightly pinker version of this.

Designer de Better

A frosty white shimmery polish with red shimmers, reminds me of snow for some reason

Divine Swine

Pink glitters with large chunky silver flecks, totally Miss Piggy inspired!

Excuse Moi

Silver and pink glitters with chunky silver flecks, I’m wearing this on my toes right now

Fresh Frog of Bel Air

Forest green glitters with chunky silver flecks, such a great partner to Divine Swine ;D

Gettin Miss Piggy With It

Red glitters with red and silver chunky flecks, pretty terrible on it’s own. Definitely should have tried this with a solid polish underneath

Gone Gonzo

Blue glitters with large silver flecks, really love this one for some reason. Especially on it’s own! Reminds me of Winter~

Meep Meep Meep

A darker hot pink polish with lots of magenta glitters, as you can tell the finish isn’t that smooth I found OPI’s The One That Got Away to be a less opaque version or OPI’s Let Me Entertain You to be a lighter and less opaque version.

Pepe’s Purple Passion

A deep maroon / chocolate shade with dark red shimmers. Somehow I don’t think the execution of this was very good because the shimmers or perhaps glitters made the finish gritty I found OPI’s Velvet Voyeur and China Glaze’s Velvet Bow to be similar dupes.

Rainbow Connection

Quite literally a multi-colour array of glitters and flecks, I don’t think I’d want to layer this over any other solid colours, I think this would look amazing if there were more glitters in general, so maybe a few more coats?

Warm and Fozzie

Brown chocolate polish with warm gold flecks, I really do love this because it does remind me of Fozzie Bear, who was one of my favourite characters from the Muppets Show Some how completely relatable!

Wocka Wocka

A maroon almost crème shade with the finest micro shimmers, China Glaze’s City Siren is a fully crème version of this.

Catching up with the Holiday 2011 collections, introducing you to Bobbi Brown’s Party Shimmer Brick. I already own one of their “normal” shimmer bricks in a pink shade, so I was curious to know how this would fare.

The product comes with two distinct sides, a strong gold shimmer and a more white silver shimmer.

However when both sides are swatches separately I can tell that the silver side actually is tinged with gold, and isn’t a “true” silver or white… maybe we can just call it white gold ;D

Blended together, you get a much more yellow based highlighter. I used this product on my cheekbones, but as with all highlighters you can use it anywhere else you want to reflect light from e.g. inner corner of your eyes, brow bone etc.

General comments I have to say about this product is that the texture is very smooth, not velvety butter smooth, but close. The amount of shimmer this product gives off is pretty strong, so be sure to go light if you only want a “dewy” finish. But not surprisingly this works great for parties or clubbing

I purchased this product for $40US online, I’m not sure if it is still available at counters, but it’s worth a shot if you’re in the market for a new highlighter. This retails for $85AU in Australia… yeah :/