Fables in Fashion

You guys remember a while back when I attended the opening night for Topshop I mentioned I picked up a few items? Well makeup was one of them… of course! What sort of beauty blogger do you take me for?

But I was good and only grabbed two, that’s two lipsticks only. I didn’t get any other beauty related products because I know I am swimming in them at home. See? I have self control… of some sort…. Anyways!

The two shades I grabbed were Confession, a watermelon pink / red shade and Nevada, a nude beige shade.

The packaging calls these two “Velvet Finish Moisturising Lipstick”, and I can attest to the moisturising element, These apply very creamy and feel lovely on the lipsticks. The formula smells sweet, which in the book of Celina, means I like them! I’m such a sucker for anything sweet

I can’t say these last a full day however, naturally Confession out lasted Nevada by a long shot, especially if I blot them before hand. Though lipstick tends to wear off faster for me given how I do love to graze during the day

I can’t decide which shade I prefer, but I know that I would be very comfortable using Nevada at work and Confession for a day or night out

Each lipstick is $15AU, which isn’t too bad given I would honestly say these are comparable to MAC lipsticks, especially their more creamy lines. I think last I saw there were about 20 or so colours? Perhaps a bit less, but I would definitely recommend you take a look at these

Get ready for another dose of glitter! I actually have a couple more Christmas collections left I want to get through, in retrospect I think I have more than enough glitter to last me a life time and honestly can’t see myself wanting to add anymore to my collection. That said, hope you enjoy the swatches. I’ve been wearing Candy Cane on my toes for about a week now and it has done me proud Though I find most polishes lash much longer on my toes than hands!

Generally speaking I’d consider the entire collection to be mostly chunky. The finish is not smooth, and even with top coat, you can feel the bumps on the surface. Personally not a collection I’m particularly fond of, but at least the swatches are pretty!

As always 2 coats and no top coat!

Beyond the Mistletoe

A silver and icy blue glitter shade, and the namesake of this collection. I reckon this would be great on either blue or white polish. OPI’s Simmer & Shimmer was a pretty close match to this, only with more purple to it.

Candy Cane

An electric light pink glitter shade, the shade currently on my toes, which I really do love. Not sure I could handle this on my hands, but it works fantastically on my toes.

Gingerbread

A light gold glitter with some hologram, would look amazing on top of some opaque polishes, perhaps another solid gold shade. If you’re looking for a dupe, OPI’s Bring on the Bling is a more pigmented version.

Holiday Splendor

Silver glitter mixed in with a turquoise shade, the only polish from this collection with an opaque formula.

Jingle Jangle

One of my favourite shades from the collection, a mixture of dusty blue and lavender glitter. Very unique

Sugarplum Fairy

A hologram silver shade, in real life it has a slight blue ting to it. Beautiful and wearable shade for parties or evenings out.

I’m slowly working my way through Chanel’s Holiday 2011 collection, you’ll have to forgive me as I’ve been pretty slack with going through a bunch of holiday 2011 related products, which means January may be filled with them. Which may not be such a bad thing, as most of the holiday collections are now slowly going on sale to make way for Spring 2012 So if I review something you like, you might be able to grab it for a lower price! *am wishing the same could have been said for me….*

I’m not exactly sure how I feel about this particular lipstick, for one I really love the colour. It’s very wearable and it’s convinced me that I need to invest in more similar colours, as I tend to always go for nude beige shades (Estee Lauder’s Nude Almond is my current go to lipstick), but now I’m thinking I may need to switch to more Rosey Pink shades.

But aside from the colour (which actually contains tiny red / hot pink micro shimmers), I think the lipstick itself is pretty average. It isn’t terribly moisturising nor creamy (which are two big personal musts for me). However because of it’s stickier / drier nature it did last on the lips longer than most of my other lipsticks. Don’t get me wrong, this isn’t a drying lipstick at all, it’s just not as moisturising as say the Coco Shine lipsticks… but I would recommend using a lip balm before applying this lipstick if you want to ensure your lips don’t dry out.

The package is kinda cute, it has this push down / pop up feature. It doesn’t improve usability, nor does it make it any more difficult. It’s just a nice twist to the usual I purchased this lipstick for $32US from Neimus Marcus via a mail forwarding service

First real beauty post for the year! ORLY’s Bling in the New Year, hehe how cute~ This is a pretty simple collection, just three bottles. As always, 2 coats and no top coat.

Prima Gloss Gold

Fine gold glitters, this is clearly a great top coat. Though I kinda like using it as a stand alone polish as well as to add a bit of subtle glitter to my nails. Often I don’t wear polish day to day (because chipping drives me insane), but if I wanted a bit of extra lift, I could see myself using this alone.

Prima Gloss Silver

Fine silver glitters, exactly the same as Prima Gloss Gold only in Silver!

Rage

The only opaque polish of the collection, a metallic rusty light pink shade? Unfortunately you can clearly see the streak marks on my nails, but besides that it is a great blingy polish

I must admit when I first heard of the Tom Ford makeup line, I knew the prices would be exorbitant and so I figured there’d be little point in investing in yet another over priced cosmetic line when there are so many others already out there pining for my wallet!

But after watching a couple of very positive reviews on youtube, I yielded and blew a small fortune at Neiman Marcus (via HopshopGo).

I purchased a few items from the Tom Ford line, I thought I’d start with their eye shadows first. This is thus far my favourite from the collection, matte neutrals with one shimmer, aren’t I so exciting?

The eyeshadows come with a thin velvet pouch. If you’re familiar with the pouches Dior and Chanel palettes come in, you’ll find this to be much thinner in comparison.

Unfortunately one of the pitfalls of ordering online are things like this, smashed eyeshadows. *sad face*

Though admittedly this and a bottle of smashed nail polish are the only issues I’ve ever had with my orders, and given how much I do shop online, I think I’ve been quite lucky.

Never fear, fortunately Klaire de Lys makes some amazing tutorials on how to repair eyeshadows, and so with the help of some vodka, I have some not very pretty re-pressed eyeshadow. I’m sure a better job could have been done by someone a little more patient than I, but I’m happy with it. And most importantly I can use it now!

Okay, I should talk about the actual eyeshadow shouldn’t I? One Word. Amazing. Absolutely amazing. I know I know, I hate myself for loving these because they are so expensive, but I honestly have never tried matte eye shadows that left me feeling so amazed! (ugh Celina, mental note: “expand vocab”)

I’m going out on a ledge here, but…. I really think these may be the best eyeshadows I’ve ever tried….

Yes, I went there, and I totally cringed as I typed. I hate labelling anything as “best”, but… it’s true I’m sorry!

Please forgive how horrid my white balance is on the photo above, but at least you can see how beautifully these eyeshadows blend. These shadows were pigmented, they were very finely milled, they applied and blended incredibly, and their mattes are truly how all mattes should be, done beautifully!

Personally I’ve found most brands constantly fail at good matte eyeshadows, so I always thing these are a great indicator.

However ask me if they are worth the price, and… I don’t know. For a makeup addict like me, yes, I would totally re-purchase this palette if I ever finish it up. But for the average Joe, probably not. These palettes go for $75US / $100AU a pop so…. they aren’t cheap. But I’ll let you guys reach your own conclusion. I think if you have the chance, at least try them at the counters. You won’t regret it!

Some more holiday cheer, Giorgio Armani was my first ever luxury brand, way back in the day before I even knew about beauty blogs I was deeply in love with their foundations. Lately I’ve been making an effort to invest more into the brand, it’s always been one of those more “mysterious” beauty brands to me. Most bloggers are constantly on about MAC or Chanel, so I’ve spent a bit of time (and money) checking out the GA lines

Introducing their Eye Palette and Face and Eye palette as part of their Holiday 2011 line.

My thoughts on both palettes is pretty similar, these are palettes are nice to haves, pretty to look at, but if you’re thinking in terms of being practical, keep walking. The range of colours and pigmentation isn’t anything to rush into the stores for. However the quality at least does not disappoint. I found the powders to be soft, creamy and extremely easy to apply to one’s lids or cheek bones (as I could only see these being used as a highlight).

These palettes retail for $59US or $135AU, I really do love Giorgio Armani, but I’m hoping the company follows the path of brands like Kiehl’s and Lancome to adjust their prices to be slightly more competitive. It’s a real shame when it works out cheaper to hire someone in America to purchase product from Nordstorm, have them ship it over and have it still work out cheaper than buying at a local counter.

Introducing China Glaze’s Eye Candy 3-D glitters, and man do these pack some real glitter. These polishes are inspired by Marilyn Monroe, glamourous and very pretty to look at, but think again if you’re looking for anything very wearable to work, or something with longevity. Though honestly I can only say that for Lorelei’s Tiara which lasted a solid 2-3 hours on me before chipping away. The rest may be better, and I do have a feeling will last longer for polishes like Blonde Bombshell and Material Girl.

All swatches are two coats with no top coat.

Blonde Bombshell

Yellow golden glitter with random chunkier gold glitters, similar to Color Club’s Enchanted Holiday which actually has larger glitter pieces than this one.

Lorelei’s Tiara

Silver glitter with blue flecks, the formula was quite thick I found, I could almost get away with just 1 coat. Unfortunately the wear on this with 2 coats is terrible, it chips literally a few hours after application (despite having a sticky base coat and top coat). Lovely to look at, has terrible wear.

Love Marilyn

Red glitter with silver flecks, not my favourite from the collection. I know glitter formulas don’t always yield the best results, but this one felt like the glitter was constantly “collecting” on certain areas of my nail, hard to get an even distribution, or at least harder than normal for a glitter polish.

Marry a Millionaire

A purple based glitter polish with elongated lilac and mixed coloured glitters. This is the only polish from this collection with long glitter, which really makes it seem pretty cool in the bottle, but a little harder to apply evenly on the nail. I found China Glaze’s CG in the City to be similarish.

Material Girl

Despite not considering myself a “pink” girl, this is my favourite from the collection because the shade of pink used here is to me, very wearable. It’s a dustier rose pink, that was formulated just right for that delicate feel.

Some like it Haute

A charcoal gray glitter polish with large silver flecks, a really lovely shade that I probably wouldn’t see myself wearing to work, but it’s not particularly “attention” grabbing either.