Banila Co Autumn 2010 BE 311 Parissienne

Although the loss of summer is something, for a true child of the summer, to be something I often regret, there is nothing better than a compensation with the launch of.....new collections!!!!!

Banila Co has been in a romantic mood for this fall by giving its collection the theme 'Love Affair'. After giving its some of its previous collections a travel based theme (summer 2009 and 2010), Banila found some time for 'Love Affairs'.

Not that travel and love are two separate things...he he, some of the best and most memory-worthy romances derive from holiday life...

I have to admit that I really like the promotion picture. In previous campaigns Banila often chose a Caucasian, blonde looking girl. I found this a bit odd when targeting for the Korean market. To me, beauty comes in different forms, ages and ethnicities, so why always opt for the blonde, blue eyed model?

Now honestly, this model is not the most Korean looking person either, but she has a quality that people call 'international'. Her eyes are slightly slanted as well. So, at least it is a step forward...

Although Banila chose a romance based theme, they gave their lipsticks and glosses French themed names. Both the gloss and the lipstick come in the colour Amour and Parisienne. Oh, and they also have a lipstick shade called Vanity.

Now, I know that lots of people in the world consider French people to be the ultimate romantics and the epitome of romance is something you can find in France.

That somehow brings me to my lovely dating past in my teens, were I tried to date a french guy, but found him to be too....(ahem)...fastforward without regards for anything romantic or courteous. Thus, dear Birkie said something like "Je ne pense pas!"

Perhaps these stereotype images of a person from a country is not really fair to any expectations. Dutch girls were, at least  in my teens, to have the image of easy-breezy (without Covergirl). So I often lied about my nationality in order not to raise any unwanted expectations...seriously!

Only to raise new expectations with my covet-faux nationality (Russian? Da)

Enough with the chit-chat...lippies!

So I chose BE 311 Parissienne for the lipstick.

It turned out to be a true nude with a slight dash of pinkness in it, so you do not look like a corpse.

I know lots of beauty bloggers adore their nude lipsticks, but I find them to be incredibly difficult to handle.In general, I am a difficult lip-person, so that might be the case as well.

Still, I find this nude to be absolutely gorgeous! I still have to wear lots of eyemakeup and a steady base to cope with the mouth that is made less appearent, but I would call it a lipstick that would have been a staple in Brigitte Bardot purse. (But that woman was so gorgeous in her days so she could probably wear anything)

Texturewise, this lipstick is a bit creamier than the ones I am used to. With creamy, I do not mean moisturizing. Moisturizing is something that, for example, the Dior Sérum de Rouge can give you. This is creamy, without being cloying.

As you can see on the swatch, it is quite opaque. It tones down all redness of my mouth and leaves almost the exact colour as in the tube (and on the swatch). Also, it is neither shiny nor matte nor satiny. It is more of a glowing lipstick, and I hope that makes sense.

I think you can find some more swatches on Banila co's website over here. Click on the small 'Love Affair' label, and then you will get on a page with the title 'event'. On that page, there are several pictures of the collection with swatches.

Ofcourse, I will give my two cents as well, because I already swatched them for the blog.

I bought mine on gmarket over here  for ￦ 13,000 ($ 11.44).