By Terry Lumiere Veloutee in 3 beige naturel Review, Swatches

 *So sorry for the long long period of time in which I haven't been posting! I've been so busy lately. Thanks for understanding :)

**Unfortunately I've also put off this review so long that it might have been discontinued by now. I know that sounds bad, but it might still be for sale in spacenk stores and in Europe.

By Terry Lumiere Veloutee - I had my eye on this one for a while since it had been recommended as an excellent high end satin-matte medium coverage foundation. I did hesitate at the price initially, but I'm all about having beautiful looking skin.

Some background: My skin is in fairly good shape, though I have some discoloration and minor acne I'd like to cover. I like my foundations to be at least somewhat matte and have medium coverage. My beef with the foundations I've tried so far is fading around the nose and inability to blend seamlessly to make my skin look "perfect".

Skin type: I have combo skin in the summertime and dry-normal combo skin in the winter time. So far I've only been testing this foundation out now that my skin is a bit drier since I didn't buy this until it the end of fall. This foundation does list alcohol in the ingredients list and may not be the best for you if you have very dry and flakey skin. In fact, I didn't like it at first because I thought that it emphasized flakes; however, that problem minimized once I switched to a richer moisturizer and changed my skin care (I had been having the same problem with many other foundations).

The packaging is great, as with all bT products; the foundation comes in a frosted glass bottle and a sleek pump. The color in the bottle does look marbled and stays that way even after shaking, but the foundation comes out in one solid color when pumped out.

The foundation is on the liquidy/runny side, less so than, say, MAC F&B though, since it is medium coverage.

Blended out; it looks too light for the back of my hand here but my face has actually gotten a tad paler than this now that it's been winter for a few months now.

Up close, you can see the satin finish; there are no shimmer particles or sparkles in it though. It just gives a subtle sheen for a nice satin finish on the skin.

I was going to do a pic of it applied on my face but I decided not to put off this review any longer. My skin's also not been too good to me lately, so I don't think I'd take a nice picture anyway.

I really like this foundation - it's definitely among the top three best that I've tried, but it's not holy grail for me. Although it covers decently well, my skin didn't look as perfect as I had wanted to. Beige naturel is a tiny bit too dark for me now but still wearable. The coverage can be built to medium-full but it didn't completely cover discoloration on my nose. The finish is definitely very nice - polished yet somewhat natural. Lasting power varies - sometimes when I don't powder, it can still look gorgeous after a couple hours; sometimes, though, it ends up fading a bit.

Overall, it's an excellent foundation, just not 'the one'.

Lunasol Three-Dimensional Eyes Palette in 05 Deep Beige Review, Swatches

Today I bring you a Lunasol quad/palette from their fall 2011 collection. The Three Dimensional Eyes Palettes are arranged in the form of a quad, except two of the shades each have three different (albeit similar) colors in vertical stripes.

I bought one palette based off pictures I saw online, 05 Deep Beige. I was a bit surprised, when I saw it in real life, that the shades lean a tinge gold/green. I had expected colors that were neutral-cool brown, but the colors are gorgeous nonetheless, and I am very pleased with this quad.

Before moving on to the pictures, I just want to mention that the texture of these eyeshadows is phenomenal. Each one of the shades is buttery smooth and lovely! Pigmentation is great, but could be improved.

All pictures were taken indoors with artifical lighting and flash. I know, I should have done natural lighting but I've been super busy lately and don't have time to wait for the sun to come out. Nonetheless, enjoy!

 I'm such a dork, but - I love that the boxes were wrapped in cellophane. I understand that high end brands in the US usually don't have a problem with someone opening the merchandise and rubbing their grubby fingers in it, but it happens, so the cellophane is a nice touch.

Packaging gets an A+++!

Yep, comes with sponge tip applicators and a little brush. I'll most likely never touch them but the brush isn't too bad - decently soft and usable in a pinch.

I honestly haven't used this palette enough yet to tell you if the colors vary in different lighting but you can totally see in the pictures below that it can show up leaning either cool or warm (which would also make sense, given its name ;)).

The top left shade includes a shimmery white gold, a satin off-white with a slight yellow tinge, and another satin off-white that is the slightest bit less yellow than the middle shade.

The next one is a shimmery, wearable pale gold with gold sparkles and a bit of white sheen.

The third color is the most interesting in my opinion - a warm taupe color with a cool tinge due to silver, green, and purple microsparkles.

 Last but not least - another mini-trio of colors including an almost-but-not-quite-matte cool dark brown, a dark slightly bronzey-olive brown, and a more olive dark brown with more sparkles than the other shades.

I've included a heck load of swatch pics so that you can hopefully see the subtle color shifts :)

 This picture features the shades in the top left rectangle: left, middle, right, and then swatched together.

 First four swatches in the same order as above, then top right, bottom left.

 rightmost swatch is of the bottom left color, then the bottom right swatched separately and then together.

 bottom right shades

I bought this from adambeauty.com for around $60 and it comes with 4g eyeshadow.

 Phew! Now that we got through that, hope you enjoyed the mini-review & pics. :)

-k

Guerlain Ecrin 4 Couleurs Eye Shadow Palette in 05 Les Gris Review

This post concludes my mini-series on the Guerlain quads released this fall 2011, and I'm here with the last set of pictures for 05 Les Gris. Les Gris has, in my opinion, one of the most gorgeous color combinations amongst the  new autumn quads with a dark smokey blueish-gray (matte) on the left, a satin midtoned teal with gold shimmers on the middle bottom, a sheer pale gray (sheen) on the middle top, and a vibrant silver with blue sparkles (shimmer/frost) on the right.

Since this post is more of a color description/swatch post, you can read my thoughts on the quality of the Guerlain Ecrin 4 Couleurs Eye Shadow Palettes here.

 from left to right: left, middle bottom, middle top, right

 same order as above, swatched more heavily

Guerlain Ecrin 4 Couleurs Eye Shadow Palette in 04 Les Bois de Rose Review

Today I'm here with my second set of pictures of the Guerlain Ecrin 4 Couleurs Eye Shadow Palettes, this time featuring Les Bois de Rose. This post will be more of just a description and swatches of the colors. If you are interested in my opinion of the Ecrin 4 Couleurs palettes in general, check out this post.

 Les Bois de Rose features a shimmery dark brown-purple on the left, a satin soft warm rose pink with sparkles on the middle bottom, a shimmery light white-pink with a frosty finish on the middle top, and a satin brownish purple taupe on the right.

With these swatches I took pictures in natural light as well as just flash (which I should really start doing for all my swatches) because I feel they have more of a tendency to show up differently in natural vs. artificial light, more so than Les Fumes or Les Gris.

swatches under natural light: left, middle bottom, middle top, right

same swatches as above, under soft flash

flash, swatched a bit more heavily

This quad is great for making a soft, feminine eye look since the pink is a subtle one and the palette is pink/purple but also leaning neutral. I'm in love with the brown-purple taupey shades on the sides, and the lightest shade makes a very pretty inner-corner highlight.

Monday was tiring! My pictures on Les Gris will be coming up very soon. Have a wonderful rest-of-the-week. :)

Guerlain Ecrin 4 Couleurs Eye Shadow Palette in 06 Les Fumes Review

So sorry I've been MIA lately; real life has been stressful :) But I'm back with swatches and reviews of three of the palettes released in Guerlain fall. I'm starting off with Les Fumes, a quad of gray, taupe, and pewtery goodness. This one has been a favorite in the beauty blogging world for obvious reasons.

I think the main selling point of Guerlain eyeshadows is their aesthetics; the gold casing is very beautiful (albeit difficult to photograph, which is why I decided to leave out a picture of its cover) yet doesn't look tacky at all. The casing is fairly heavy for a quad and includes a large mirror, in addition to a double ended sponge tipped applicator.

That being said, I think the quality of these eyeshadows are great, but not as good as they could be. They're certainly better than drugstore eyeshadows. Compared with mid-end eyeshadows such as Inglot or MAC, they're comparable if not slightly subpar in pigmentation but better texture-wise (which translates to: easier to blend & work with). Compared to luxury high quality eyeshadows they are comparable in pigmentation but subpar when it comes to texture. The eyeshadows are still soft to the touch, don't get me wrong, but not as soft as Hourglass's (which can sometimes be a bit too soft) and don't have that "bounce" of LMdB eyeshadows. I feel that Guerlain could make up for it with a big more pigmentation, but they're still great - I suppose I'd give them a grade of B+ to A-.

I did check out a few of Guerlain's other eyeshadows and while Guerlain's eyeshadows can be quite hit-or-miss, these quads are on the better end of the range. I'm glad to see that quality among the new quads is more consistent, and Les Fumes is no exception. Les Fumes includes an ashy beige-gray (satin with tiny sparkles) on the left, a darker cool charcoal gray-taupe (satin-matte) on the middle bottom, a mauvey rose (matte) on the middle top, and a light taupey silver (shimmer) on the right side.

Les Fumes, swatched - swatches built up with a few swipes

left to right: left, middle bottom, middle top, right

Les Fumes swatched more heavily, same order as above

As shown in the pictures above, you may need a few passes if you really want to build up an opaque color but overall this is a very nice quad suitable for both work in the daytime or a night out. Les Fumes is a great quad; I would personally give it my seal of approval and recommend it to anyone :)

-k

Guerlain Parure Extreme Review

I posted about this before with very little detail, so here's my full review on Guerlain Parure Extreme! :) Complete with many pictures.

Short version: A great foundation with one important flaw.

To start off, I have combination skin that leans dry. My problem with foundations is lasting ability on my nose, where it tends to get shiny fast, while still being non-drying enough to work for my dry cheeks.

I bought this foundation for $57.00 + tax at the Sephora location in Times Square. None of the other Sephoras in New York that I've been to carry the foundation, so you might want to call ahead and check. Department store counters should have the full range, though.

I took a sample of 03 beige naturel home and immediately fell in love with it - it went on smoothly and made my skin look flawless. Even though it's medium to full coverage and I had dry skin, it didn't look cakey at all; that's the problem I had with other long wearing high coverage foundations like Estee Lauder Double Wear and Revlon Colorstay - they looked like too much coverage and emphasized dry skin.

First, let's talk about the packaging, as all reviews do. It does come in a heavy, luxurious feeling glass bottle with a gold color.

It does include a nice, controllable pump, something that I appreciate when paying such a price for foundation. If you push it slowly, you are able to get out a very small amount. Pushing it all the way down quickly will give you a good amount of product - too much for just your face though, since this covers well and not too much product is needed.

 The side of the bottle has a gradient from gold to partially transparent - I've heard that when you are nearing the end of your bottle, you can see how much is left at the bottom. I have no experience with this since this is a new bottle, but that's nice of Guerlain to do and convenient.

 
Onto the next step, talking about the product itself. The texture is a liquid - runny but not very much so. There is some thickness to it, but it definitely classifies as a liquid and not a cream. Here is is, a tiny pump on the back of my hand:

This is a small amount so it sits still, but if you get out a full pump, it will run down your hand. Here is is halfway smoothed out:

And finally, completely blended in:

natural light

flash

Smell: Yes, there definitely is a noticeable scent to it. I find it quite pleasant, though I understand that some people may not like scented cosmetics. Guerlain is a perfume house, and has put a violet scent in many of their other cosmetics as well. I'm not good with describing scents at all and I don't know if it smells of violets, but I will say that this foundation smells like a perfume. It doesn't smell like a cheap body lotion, either, yet it's not something so terribly sophisticated as an expensive high end fume. After it's on my face, I don't notice the scent at all.

Now unfortunately for me, I have a small, yet important problem with this foundation, and that is the fact that it does not match my skintone perfectly. In fact, it is too dark for me to wear. You can already see in the pictures above, that the foundation is slightly too tan for the back of my hand - not that you should match your facial skintone to the back of your hand's, but it is too dark for my face as well. I did not notice this fact until after I bought the foundation, but I decided not to return it since it is a very good foundation. It still blends in seamlessly, and if you find a color match then lucky you - you will look like you have naturally great skin.

As I said above, this is in shade 03 beige naturel. I am already NC25-30, and it's not good for a foundation's second lightest shade to be already NC30-35. There is one lighter shade, 02. I did not try that one because I heard it was pink toned, which might or might not be true, but I regret not having taken a sample of it as well. However, I know that I have yellow undertones and having my foundation be too pink is something that I had trouble with in getting foundations in the past. There is a 01, the palest foundation shade of Guerlain's foundations and yellow-undertoned - unfortunately it is Asia exclusive. Though I admit I should have checked out the color match before I bought it, this is something that does not make sense to me. Many pale women in the US buy cosmetics; I assume people who are interested in cosmetics are more likely to wear sunscreen, even with America's obsession with tanning. So why not expand the shade range, even in the US? You'd be surprised at how many of us are pale.

Since this foundation is so expensive, I did not want to buy 02 to mix with it, due to my chronic fear of foundation that is not yellow enough for me (and not wanting to end up with $120 of foundation). If I had access to 01 though, I probably would buy it just to mix, and as a winter shade as well. Since neither of those cases are favorable, I bought Boots No7 Lifting and Firming foundation in 10 New Ivory - which is one shade too light - to mix in a 1:1 ratio. Unfortunately this combination is not as good looking as wearing Parure Extreme by itself and turns out to be more of a good shade match but average looking foundation, whereas with PE on its own, it is a not-perfect shade match but an exceptionally great looking foundation.

Please add more shades, Guerlain! Or at least make 01 available online. This would be the perfect foundation otherwise.

-k

Water Marbling Tutorial: Video

I've started water marbling my nails recently, and it's fun... for the first half hour. After that it can get frustrating if you keep messing up, like I do. ;) But you'll get a lot of compliments, trust me!

Polishes used:
LA Girl Disco in Disco Ball (white)
China Glaze Spontaneous (purple)
OPI La Paz-itively Hot (hot pink)
Rimmel Stiletto Red (red)
Rimmel Steel Grey (gray-taupe)

optional: a base coat and top coat :)

good luck!
-k

Inglot Freedom System 10 Pan Palette Review, Swatches

I did want a basic palette of browns and neutrals, and being short on cash at the moment, I decided to save on basics but splurge later on prettier cosmetics (which you'll see in a month or two ;) ). I've heard raves for Inglot, and some negative feedback on it as well, but I decided to check it out for myself at the Times Square location, and I liked some of them enough to pay for a $50 10-pan palette. (There has been no price increase in the US, which is something that I had been worried about since I do not think it is worth paying $80 for.. you'll see in a moment). But overall, I'm quite pleased with what I got, and I'll just let you see the pictures of it first :)

Okay, so now for my thoughts on it... Well, as I said above, I'm pleased with my palette. They are nicely pigmented and feel smooth to the touch. However, it's not smooth in the sense that many luxury brand eyeshadows are smooth, which makes sense considering these are $5 each when you buy them in a 10 pan palette. When you press on the shadows, perhaps to swatch them or whatever, the surface may feel smooth but the eyeshadow underneath it will feel hard. Whereas with a Le Metier eyeshadow, you will feel a bit of "bounce" or softness under what you are touching. Does that make sense? Or am I just crazy? Well at least to me, that's how you can feel a difference between cheap eyeshadows and quality eyeshadows.

They do give off a nice amount of pigment if you rub the eyeshadow slightly though, and that does appeal to many people. The one shade I regret having gotten is the supposedly matte black. I needed a basic black since I dropped my NYX one (in the toilet) and I thought I swatched a creamy matte black but I'm not very impressed with it now. It doesn't seem as pigmented as I remember the NYX was, and one swatch is a thin blackish gray color. Perhaps I got an old one. I do think that among the low to mid end brands, Inglot makes some of the best eyeshadows and it's worth it for those who can't afford to buy $30 eyeshadow singles but still want many colors to work with.

Overall, I would rather buy, i.e. LMdB or shu or RBR eyeshadows rather than Inglot, but I think this is worth it for what you're paying and I feel good having not spent a ton on neutral shades so I can have fun hauling Rouge Bunny Rouge this summer.

I do apologize for not having the shade numbers to list here, since I forgot to write them down or take note of them but I do know that the last shade of the first row is P434, because I saw a swatch by Pink Sith of that shade and I loved it. I do think part of the fun is going to the store and getting to play around with the shades though, and I'm sure you'll enjoy your palette, whatever you end up choosing.

Edit: After seeing the Pink Sith's swatches and comparing ours, I'm pretty sure that my top row, middle shade is DS460 and that my top row, 4th shade to the right, is P423.