Paul & Joe Face Color for the Spring 2011 Collection Sparkles, Swatches and Review

Sorry I've been absent from the blog so long. I'm literally drowning in my studies. I'm taking the MCAT in about five and a half weeks, so I've basically turned into a nervous wreck. Plus I'm starting a new and huge project at work, where I'll be looking at my samples using a brand new Scanning Electron Microscope. Very exciting.

Anyway, let me continue with the rest of the Paul & Joe Spring 2011 collection review that I promised two weeks ago. Today I bring you the Facecolor in 072 Taffeta. Since all three of the face colors released for this collection have the same packaging, I decided to settle on one to buy out of the lot. I didn't see these in person, even though I could have easily gone to Bergdorf's to check them out, but as I mentioned above, the MCAT has kept me indoors during the weekends for the past several months. So I ordered the "safe" choice: the bronze and pink combination. I've never been able to say no a bronze. The mauve and blue looked very nice too, but those aren't as a guaranteed to be a success for me. 

Of course, 072 Taffeta did not disappoint. The packaging is lovely, and the quality of the facecolor is high as always. The finish is definitely on the frosty end of the spectrum, but I would say that this is sparkly, while still remaining very tasteful. I had a hard time photographing the swatches, since the lighter of the two shades essentially disappeared into my skin. In person it gives a very flattering natural sheen to the lid, but the sparkliness just didn't translate to the picture. As for the bronze shade, it's pretty much to die for. Definitely not an original color, but neutrals aren't there to blow our minds with originality. Bronze is one of the colors that I collect, and for all those collectors out there, I highly recommend this color. 

From Left to Right: Beige Pink alone, Bronze alone, Combined

I also like that this is a multitasking product. You get three colors for the price of one, since you can apply each separately, or combine the two. The pan is a little on the small side, so a large brush wouldn't be able to pick up one color over the other, but when using a precision brush, or a finger, it's easy. Unfortunately the little applicator that comes with Taffeta is pretty useless. Although I did use it to make the swatches, so at least they served that purpose!

Dior Five Golds Palette for Holiday 2010, Swatches and Review

Actin Filaments, Photo Credit: LaVerne L Poussaint

I know I'm late in my review for the Dior Five Golds Palette for Holiday 2010, but I had to get to know it a bit before waxing poetic. I'm typically a pretty big fan of Dior Quints, 2010 has been a banner year in fact, but I was slightly hesitant about Five Golds. Normally this is the exact sort of bronze neutral goodness that I'm all about, but for some reason this palette seemed to be less than exciting. Until I spent quality time with it. And I'm so glad I did. Five Golds is definitely in league with all the rest of the quints as far as quality and design. The shadows are smooth and vibrant, and the color combination is unique enough to my collection that it's a worthwhile addition. Additionally, it's also in line with my taste enough that it can be used with a large range of my other products. 

The black is a medium pigmented shade with sliver microglitter. I've used this the least, just as a soft liner. The two bronze shades definitely steal the show because they're so pigmented and beautiful. The sliver is also well pigmented and combines well with the other colors. It's nice to have a cool tone to offset the mostly warm palette. 

The lightest color, which is basically just glitter in a sheer base, has gotten mixed reviews. I ultimately decided I really liked it as an accent shade. It can be combined with other colors in the quint, or otherwise, to make them more sparkly or noticeable. Usually I don't use much glitter, but when I do, I might as well go all out. So I'll be using this to really push an eye look over the top. Since it's so sheer, it can really be layered over anything, even a blush or highlighter. 

I was actually testing and wearing this quint when I was visiting Washington state over the Thanksgiving holiday, and that huge blizzard hit. The snow made for an interesting morning for my mom and me. We actually ended up abandoning the car, and walking home the last few miles. It's a good thing I had snow pants on and my eye makeup looked inappropriately glamorous. When you combine the colors together on the lid, it gives this awesome impression of the semi-precious stone tiger's eye. It goes well with green eyes, and winter catastrophes. 

Chanel Spring 2011 Ombres Perlées de Chanel Swatches

Can we please talk about how much I hate Chanel for doing this to me? Please, release Spring '11 in January after Christmas, for crying out loud. But of course since this is the most elegant and cohesive collection I've ever seen from Chanel, I ran right out and gouged a huge hole in my wallet, which I might add has already taken an epic beating in preparation for the holidays. Because god forbid I miss out on anything. Jeez. 

Anyway, the products are really what you're here for, so I'll stop complaining. Today I bring you the star product, the Ombres Perlées de Chanel. Obviously I haven't had much time to really play with this palette, but it just about knocked my socks off when I first spotted it in person, and I wanted to quick share some pictures and swatches. I love love love cream products, and the moment I heard Chanel was slated to release a pearl themed cream eyeshadow palette for Spring, I was all kinds of excited. And Ombres Perlées de Chanel does not disappoint. 


The moment I got this home, I put on the golden cream and light pink shades on my lids. I must say the formula far surpasses similar cream products in quality. After having these on my lid, I may never look twice at my MUFE cream shadows ever again. I didn't even hesitate to apply primer in my mad dash, and so far the formula is lasting well also. It's not the most rigorous of tests to wear eyeshadow around the house for a couple of hours, but it's nonetheless encouraging that there isn't even a hint of creasing yet. 

The two lightest shades are the least exciting, but will probably get the most wear because they create a sophisticated sheen on the lid that looks very natural and flattering. They can also double as highlighters. 

The rest of the colors are a series of complex shades that really do reflect the luminosity and variation of fresh water pearls. Unfortunately they didn't photograph that well, because the sparkle is too complex for my dinky camera to capture. The middle shade is a beautiful near duo-chrome plum, the fourth shade is a murky gasoline-on-water green, and the last shade is a pearly dark grey with a distinct green note. All of the colors look beautiful together, and also compliment the rest of the collection very well. 

My favorite color is the last one, the black pearl. It's definitely a very unique shade. It doesn't compare to anything in my current collection, and I can't think of any similar colors available on the market. The impact of dramatic or dark shades is softened when they come as a cream, so I think it'll be very wearable, especially for the holidays. I'm looking forward to combining this palette with the Ellis Faas eye lights I got back in September for a festive look. 

With Flash

In Natural Light

Overall I think this palette is very much worth the $65 price. I might not have been able to pull the trigger if I hadn't looked at it in person, but seeing the high quality texture and uniqueness of the colors was very convincing.


I bought a few more items from the collection so more reviews are coming soon. I'm doing a manicure and pedicure using two of the new nail polish colors tonight!

Estee Lauder Extravagant Golds Palette, Swatches and Review

Can we please talk about my love for Estee Lauder? Admittedly, it's a fairly recent love. Ever since the Tom Pecheux Pure Color Night collection, I've been paying attention to their new products. Not only have I found a few gems among the mascara, but I'm really digging the eyeshadows. This holiday, Estee Lauder brought us the Extravagant Golds Five Color Palette, which instantly won me over with that light milk chocolate-y taupe in the upper right hand corner. All of the colors are a buttery soft consistency, and have a delicate frost texture once applied to the skin. Obviously except the matte brown in the center, which is incidentally the highest quality matte I've ever come across. I wish I could have a whole rainbow of colors in this perfect smooth matte finish. 

The colors are, from upper left clockwise: true gold, warm brown taupe, orange copper, cream frost, and matte chocolate brown. They're all coordinated beautifully, and blend very well into one another. The amount of product is also very generous, especially for the low price. The palette is pretty hefty, comes with a huge mirror, and clocks in at $42. So affordable for a high quality department store brand.

You can probably see how pigmented the eyeshadows are in the swatch photos. I tried to photograph the swatches from different angles to show how the colors change slightly, depending on how you look at them. I've really have been enjoying wearing this palette. Highly recommended.

Rouge Bunny Rouge Long Lasting Eyeshadow

"Long Lasting Eyeshadow- When Birds are Singing" is the shimmer eyeshadow offering from Rouge Bunny Rouge. I ordered Solstice Halcyon, a heart stoppingly beautiful warm taupe, and Abyssinian Catbird, an equally beautiful rich bronze.


The formula of these eyeshadows is total perfection. Smooth and highly pigmented. The glitter chunks are a nice size: subtle, but with a bit of a kick. Applied to the lid, these shadows really stand out in quality. And of course the eyeshadows get points for having the cute Rouge Bunny Rouge packaging.  

Solstice Halcyon on the Left, Abyssinian Catbird on the Right

It was thanks to Grace London at londonmakeupgirl that I ordered Solstice Halcyon. She's been praising it for ages, so I was guaranteed to include it in my first Rouge Bunny Rouge order from Zuneta. And you know, I've been wearing Solstice Halcyon non stop since it arrived early september. Grace would agree, this sort of color is the perfect shade to give a little definition to the eye. I wear it as a soft color wash all over my lid. 

If Rouge Bunny Rouge seems unattainable, or you prefer to see colors in person before buying, then I would recommend you check out Chantecaille's Sel single eyeshadow, or Este Lauder's Tempting Mocha single eyeshadow, which are both very similar in color.

The decoration on the top of the packaging 

It was thanks to Theglossgoss that I ordered Abyssinian Catbird. There are a few color categories of eyeshadows that I obsessively hoard, Taupe being one, Bronze being another. I can say that Abyssinian Catbird holds up as one of the nicest bronzes in my stash. This shade is a nice accent or crease color. I've also been wearing it as an all over lid wash. 

There aren't any truly comparable colors in my collection (or at least none that would be at all useful to you), but Abyssinian Catbird is very close to the middle shade in Dior's Impression Cuir palette that was released two years ago. Although, Abyssinian Catbird is much more richly pigmented, and easier to apply to the lid, than the Dior shade. 

Swatch in full sunlight

Swatch in partial shade

So basically, both of these shadows are absolutely necessary to own. At least for someone like me. I really can't recommend this formula enough, and I'm excited to go back for more. As always, I have to thank my fellow beauty bloggers for reviewing products like these, that I can't see in person, because otherwise I would be  at a complete loss as to what colors to order. It's because of them that I was able to order confidently. Rouge Bunny Rouge is available worldwide from Zuneta, and holy damn, "sheerluxez20" is still valid.

Paul & Joe Holiday 2010 Pictures and Review

Picture overload!! Here are the two Paul & Joe Holiday 2010 Lip and Eye Color sets! I couldn't decide which to get, and since I had a 30% off coupon for b~glowing, I just got both. I love the print so much this year, I definitely don't mind having two makeup bags. Isn't the print awesomely retro? I would love to have a dress made out of this print. I guess I could get my wish since this has undoubtedly been featured in the Paul & Joe clothing line . . . if I had a gazillion dollars that is.

Color 001 Adagio features a neutral color palette. The gloss has the frosty light pink rose with dark pink surroundings. The eyeshadows are creams and browns. Color 002 Allegro features a slightly more colorful and fun palette. The gloss has the dark pink frosty rose, and white surroundings. The eyeshadows are an interesting combination of light blues and pinks with smoky dark greens.

The Lipglosses are particularly exquisite. Could you die?!?! Forgive me for not doing any swatches, I just couldn't bare to destroy the roses in the center of each gloss. I'm sure I will dig in soon enough, but for now, I want to admire them for a little while longer.

Color 001 Adagio on L, 002 Allegro on R

The eyeshadows feature an interesting design. Single usage cards, but I feel like I could probably get upwards of five applications, even more with the darker shades. It's really a good amount of product for someone like me, who has never even come close to using up a pan of eyeshadow in her life. I think I'll be deriving quite a bit of satisfaction from using these up.

The Adagio eyeshadow colors are: cream frost, milky coffee, chocolate, dark cool brown, and sparkling dark grey. You could get such a killer holiday smoky eye from these. Score.

001 Adagio Eyeshadows

The Allegro eyeshadows are: light blue, pink cream, mauve pink, dark forest green, and deep black with brown and green sparkles. I definitely wouldn't know how to use all these colors together, but there are a lot of interesting combinations you could use. Like the mauve all over the lid, smoked out with the deep green and black. Sweet.

Color 002 Allegro Eyeshadows

Illamasqua Pure Pigment in Ore: Review and Swatches

Illamasqua. Makeup for your alter ego. I was a goth-punk in high school. What can I say, it was 1999. But I most certainly did not align myself as such at the time. If you had asked me what I identified myself as back then, I would have said, "nothing, I'm not cool enough to be anything." But in hindsight, I was total goth-punk, complete with black spaghetti strap tank tops, stud belts, dyed hair, and black eyeliner, plus a whole crew of friends that were dropping out, drinking, and making the same fashion statement (my straight A's were a secret, apparently). The mere thought of it makes me cringe. Funny what ten years will do to your out look. Anyway, I'm not a participant in alternative culture these days. I think I'll always be counter in some way, because I'm such a loner. But I don't have an alter ego, and I don't need to make it up. But that doesn't mean that Illamasqua doesn't have a little something for anybody. The new Pure Pigment in Ore, released as part of the Art of Darkness collection for Fall 2010, is very main stream and everybody friendly.

Taste-y sparkly bronze goodness. Who am I to resist such a lovely color? I'm not at all afraid of glitter (maybe being an ex-goth-punk will do that to you) so I'm really into the sparkle of Ore. The chunks aren't too big, although fall out is fairly unavoidable if you use this as an eyeshadow. But fall out is another thing that doesn't typically bother me, especially with a product like Ore. It's so flashy on the lid anyway, that the fall out sparkles underneath sort of add to the effect, right? This is particularly awesome layered over cream things. The black Mac Cream Color base comes to immediately to mind.

I might mention that the packaging of the Illamasqua Pure Pigments are outright hands down superior to the Mac Pigment packaging. See that plug looking business on the underside of the cap? Well you guessed, it's a plug. Genius right? Why didn't Mac (and BareEscentuals, remember when that was the it brand, not anymore! ha!) think of that? It keeps the product from exploding anytime it's tilted away from being perfectly level. Gravity is no match for Pure Pigment, you can toss the packaging anyway you like, and the product with stay neatly contained. Let's give a round of applause.

Slightly out of focus shot to show the glitter. Lovely!

The whole Art of Darkness collection is pretty awesome, but this was the only product that I absolutely had to have. This and Viridian Nail Lacquer. Almost forgot about that. Now that I'm thinking about, I'm going to go explore my nail polish stash because I'm sure there is many a forgotten polish in there. Polishes that get purchased, and instantly whisked away to purgatory. So sad!

Sonia Rykiel Summer 2010 Eyeshadows, Swatches and Review

This is probably a cruel cruel thing to do, since these eyeshadows are literally unattainable, but half the reason why I started a blog was to bring you the best bits of my stash, so there you have it.

Sonia Rykiel is a French fashion designer that, much like Paul and Joe, has a cosmetics line created to target the Japanese market. But unlike Paul and Joe, Sonia Rykiel does not have any availability in the states. After seeing an advertisement in maquilla (note to self, I should never ever under any circumstances buy that magazine, because it only leads down a road of terrible temptation!!!), I ordered all five of the eyeshadows from the Sonia Rykiel Summer 2010 collection from ichibankao.com.

The eyeshadows are gorgeous. The consistency is very smooth and easy to blend or sheer out. The sparkle might be a little too much for some, but I would still consider it to be toward the end of "sophisticated." I ordered these sight unseen, and I have to say I was tremendously disappointed that the center color is an overspray, but the quality of the shadows make up for it.

o1 is a true gold shimmer

02 is a deep purple-blue

03 is a brownish mauve

04 is a golden pink

05 is my favorite, and most unusual. It's a sparkling minty green white.

Very complex and complimentary to my eyes when used as an inner corner highlight.

from L to R: 01, 02, 03, 04 ,05

The Sonia Rykiel website can also be good fun. It's mostly in Japanese, but while the summer collection was being featured, there were all sorts of "looks" and suggestions. The theme of this particular collection was "sun rise" vs "sun set" makeup. The gold and pink colors were combined to make a sun rise makeup look, and the purple and mauve were combined to make a sun set look. The advertisement in maquilla also featured these combinations, and the effect on the model was truly lovely (hence the trippin' that led to the spendin').

All in all, the eyeshadows are beautiful, and I think worth the monies.

Ellis Faas Eye Lights, Swatches and Review

I also picked up the new Ellis Faas Eyelights from the recent Bergdorf beauty gift card event. There are five colors, E301 through E305. The first is a warm silver, the second is a golden green, the third is a gold bronze, the fourth is a medium purple, and the last is a duochrome brown teal. I've played with them only a short time, but I can safely say that I've never seen anything like them. The Ellis Faas Website describes them as:

"Although liquid, they dry upon application to create the illusion of metallic eyes. The texture appears moist whilst being perfectly dry with a smooth finish, so you won't feel any stickiness and you'll avoid those pesky eyelid creases."

All true! They actually dry down to an almost-gritty dry feel. Not sticky in the least, although I suppose if you have dry lid problems, these might not be for you. I unfortunately have oily lid problems, so I don't mind. I generally apply all Ellis Faas products with my fingers, and these are no different. I haven't tried blending these with other powder shadows, but they blend nicely with each other. I've been using them individually as the main lid color, with some additional powder products added as highlight or emphasis once the Eye Light has dried. And word to the wise, they dry quickly, so you have to work fairly fast if you want to blend them out.

From Left to Right: E301 E302 E303 E304 E305, in indirect light

Direct Sunlight

As mentioned above, the fifth color also has a true duochrome quality that I really like. I guess it's similar to Mac Club, which I've heard volumes about but surely will never own. Speaking of which, Amy at Cafe Makeup just did a review of a brand that has a similar color here.

I had a hard time capturing the effect of the eye lights photographically, but just trust me that they're gorgeous.

Ellis Faas is definitely one of my all time favorite brands, and I own a large variety of the products. One of the complaints I often hear is that the click pens are a huge pain. And yes, I would also say that they are a huge pain. But don't be afraid! Just click your little heart out, and all will be well, I swear! When I was first experimenting with the Ellis Faas click pen, I was so timid, not wanting to waste, not wanting explosion, not wanting DISASTER! But now when I receive a new pen, I just go nuts clicking, until product comes shooting out. I've started, let's see, about 20 of these pens now, and trust me, the shooting is a good thing. Because you have to saturate the tip with product in order for application to be at all doable anyway. And sure, some product is inevitably lost, but not even close to a significant amount. The same goes for restarting the pen. I just click like a maniac, because life is for the living!

The Ellis Faas Eye Lights can be found at ellisfaas.com.