Show me your Marbles...

A week ago I received my 1st Sephora haul...Ofcourse, L.O.V.E...Some highly unaccessible brands like Tarte are finally within my reach.

I also added the Becca Beachtint in Raspberry, which got me into looking at my other marbles (=marbled blushes).

Somehow, like primary school, it feels like showing your marbles before playing a game.

1. Clio ArtBlusher in Light Brown 3: I purchased some of these minerals in 2009 and forgot about these.

2. New Cid Cosmetic Glow Mini in Sirocco

I received 2 of these Mini's as a GWP. In fact, they're both gorgeous colours, longlasting and travel friendly

3. Terra Del Sol No 4:

Once hunted these down at the German Douglas based on rave reviews. Sometimes the chase is better than the catch because I cannot remember using this one

4. Banila Co de la Couture Face blusher:

Korean know how to do BB balms but they also had a good selection of marbled blushers going on.

5. My other New Cid Cosmetic Glow mini: in Coral Crush

6. Prorance Finish Water glow in M16:

Korean & from Gmarket

7. Stila Cheek Duo in Pink Glow

8. YES, my newbie Becca Beachtint Souffle in Watermelon that spurred on the marble-post.

9. My other Clio Artblush in 2 Pink

10. Lioelle Marbling Blusher: Guess from which country? Yes??

11. SkinFood All over Muffin Cake Finish: The Koreans probably think that girls wanna smear cakemix over their face...but it makes a sweet glow for sure.

And, unlike the glassy marbtles of our youth, we can swatch these:

 

1. Clio ArtBlusher in Light Brown 3: Sometimes Marbles are Matte! And this colour looks like the perfect matte bronzer/shader.

 2. New Cid Cosmetic Glow Mini in Sirocco: A glowy highlighter with peach undertones

 3. Terra Del Sol No 4: Sweet, I

 4. Banila Co de la Couture Face blusher: A golden peach

 5. New Cid Cosmetic Glow mini: Sort of NARS Deep Throat dupe without the glitter

 6. Prorance Finish Water glow in M16: This colour has a slightly frosty finish in a warmer pink (peachy) glow

 7. Stila Cheek Duo in Pink Glow: Both shades are more traditional blush than mineralized finish. In both cases, they hint towards coolness with the top shade slightly bubblegum & the bottom Raspberry

 8. Becca Beachtint Souffle in Raspberry is both longlasting, well-blending and in that perfect shade of fruity pink that hints towards berry-ness.

 9.  Clio Artblush in 2 Pink: WOWZA, how did I forget about this one. A deeper pink-berry.

10. Lioelle Marbling Blusher: The funny thing about Marbled blush is that you cannot always forsee the outcome being swached. This one is highlighter whitish pink with a slight frost.

 11. SkinFood All over Muffin Cake Finish: Slightly warmer/peachier highlighter hue than Lioelle and probably a lovely blush on N 15-20 skin.

It's good to know that I had no dupe for my new Becca Beachtint Souffle (no 8). I'm also happy to rediscovered some old new vintage marbles around.

More detailed review of:Clio ARTblusher in 03 Brown

So what have you been rediscovering lately?

Blush-Crush: Michael Kors bronzer in Flush

What does it take to become my latest blush-crush?

Glamour 

Size 

velvet 

softness 
performance

niche 

perfect colour 
the right kind of glow

Glamour:

 

 Michael Kors as a brand stands for Uptown New York glamour so its makeup is on par with the fashion aura of the brand. A white packaging and golden letters, and inside a golden grande compact that could easily been mistaken as a small palette.

Size: 

I was secretly thinking 'how American' to have the blush/bronzer being supersized to this generous compact. My British Burberry is laying on top (still in dominating mode, who said size matters?) but the idea is clear.

All of this gotten me slightly cynic about its performance. I loved the latest launches of Fashionbrands going makeup (waves to Burberry and a nod to uncle Ford) but Michael Kors has never really appealed to my clothing aesthetic. And then the grandeur of it all.

 Thus: colour, performance & velvety texture:

Flush was my colour of choice after hearing it being described as a sister of NARS Deep Throat. Honestly, they are more distant cousins but I liked the few swatches online enough to indulge.

I picked up some other bl-onzers (blush/bronzers) that could have been siblings:

I omitted Bobbi Brown Antigua (too pink) & Maquillage (too much mixing) from the next swatches. I also mixed the 2 shimmery shades of the Le Metier de Beaute Kaleidoscope & the two topshades of NARS Soulshine.

Swatch winter-daylight (3 pm)

 

 At first glance:

•  No twins out there.
• Banila Co Copacabana is the closest match, only slightly paler & a bit more mauve
• Michael Kors has the most delightful & complicated shimmer of them all
• NARS Soulshine & Le Metier de Beaute have a pinkish hue when mixed
• Sofina Aube & Armani Sheer bronzer 2 are reddish compared to MK
• NARS Soulshine & Le Metier de Beaute are quite similar when mixing them in the right amount.

And now for the shimmer time: *FLASH*:

• my blush-crush is totally justified: look at the delicacy of the glow of Michael Kors...is it cool? Is it warm? Not sure, but it is gloooowy
• Le Metier de Beaute Kaleidoscope also flashes up in a complicated glowiness
• Banila Co. Copacabana has been a favourite for a long time, and for a good reason
• I sure love bl-onzers a lot!

Conclusion: Can you justify a crush? Yes, I just did...

The almost 500 Giveaway

I have been plotting another giveaway for this dreary and probably cash-derived time of the year, but I didn't want to call it the January Giveaway's again.

So, I thought I was going to be a bit selffish and a tad pride of the fact that I almost have 500 followers. I have been blogging regularly since 2009 and I realise that it is quite good even though I am not trying to be an A-list beautyblogger. (makes me realise I can really relate and smile about this article of 'Confessions of a B-list Beautyblogger' a lot).

But what is in there for you?

1. Burberry Sheer Lipstick in 206 / Blueberry

Freshly released for FW 2011 and a beautiful deep bitten cherry-ish colour. Swatched here (theultimatemakeup) and here ( CafeMakeup).

Absolutely stunning, so why am I giving this new lipstick away? Well, I vowed that if I didn't use this colour for the 2011 Holidays I would have to give the favour to other beauty-fanatics. How much I love lipsticks, I do not go for the darker colours too much, and if I do I often go for Julie Hewitt's beautiful darker interpretations.

Moreover, since they are on sale in the Netherlands and online at the douglas.nl I noticed they lost a bit of their niche and exclusive appeal. That still makes me love Burberry cosmetics a lot, though, only not enough to treasure this lipstick, so I hope the future winner will treasure it enough ;D

My close-up of the lipstick you might win:

2. Banila Co The Secret Blush/Highlighter in 02 Eternity

Wow, I can promise you Eternity as a price? Who wouldn't wanna win that? Also, so pretty as a highlighter but honestly when you have one Banilla The Secret you do not really have to have all colours of them.

I guess I can make another winner really happy with this beautiful glow:

3. Haus of Gloi BodyLotion in Madcap Garden

Lushious Haus of Gloi are a beautyblogger's favourite and you can try out why...This one is brand new too. So indulge in a beautiful garden before it is officially spring with this excellent bodylotion.

4. My Beauty Diary SheetMasks in Chocolate Truffle

Another beautybloggers favourite and they probably need no introduction...I will add 3 of them in my giveaway....

So you might guess I will be a bit more demanding for this giveaway than my previous ones, because I would actually like to reach the magic 500 followers :P

Rulezzz:

1. Make a comment or say something small in the comment section

2. I should be able to contact you, so either leave your email behind, or, if you have it listed in your profile, I can contact you that way.

3. This time you HAVE TO BE A FOLLOWER. You can always unfollow me afterwards, but please don't because my blog is actually not that bad ;D

4. Contest ends on Monday, 9th of January 2012, 13.00 hrs European standard time)

5. You are only able to make one comment, so no cheaters who would like to double  their chances.

6. Winner will be announced in a new post after randomly being selected by random.org

7. Please contact me within 2 days to claim your prize or another winner will be selected!

 

8. Prizes will be shipped by airmail WORLDWIDE within 3 business days after winner contacts me!

So, good luck so you might get your beauty-fix without spending!

Banila Co Color & Stripes lipstick PR652 Cape Cod

Wow, it has been a long time since I swatched and reviewed a lipstick for my beautyblog.

I hope I haven't neglected the lipstick-lovers in that field. :D. It is just that I have found the Summer 2011 collection of Asian cosmetics a bit underwhelming. Which, on a different note, is not the only underwhelming aspect of summer 2011: ha ha, but I won't start that weather-complaint again you propably encountered among quite a few Northern-European based bloggers.

What I did like and blogged about earlier is the summer range of Banila Co. At least, I have only bought their baked bronzer/blush (should we call such items bLonzers?) and really like how it turned out. So it was time to add a lipstick of their range to my collection.

I picked one of the colours I would normally shy away from: Cape Cod. Well, used to shy away from, because If have been into some brighter colours lately. It is funny to see how the right shade of pink actually makes my eyes look more bright. And I seem to like some pinks for its non-serious effect: you know, a red lipstick often has that idea of seriousness, either wanting to be sexy/sensual, or business-like, or sleek. A wonderful Fuschia-pink actually says something like: "I like to highlight my lips but I can be quite happy and carefree".

All this talk about pink lips, and I actually picked a purple toned colour.

How did that work out for me?

First I will review the service I received at Banila's shop on gmarket. Which has been quite good: I only bought one small item from them (the lippy) and got three samples.

Which is a lot better than the stories (and own experience) I have with Etude House lately...measly bunch they have become! That is the reason I skip Etude House on gmarket these days. Also, I haven't found anything from their new released that made me curious, unlike last year, when I really loved one of their lipsticks so much I bought 3 different shades of them!

Banila Co is always punctual about a wonderful and original packaging. The cool pink and cherry stripes are cute without venturing in the Tween territory.

So, colourwise I took it even a step further than my fuschia pinks:

I was not really sure how the colour would turn out based on the swatches online. I had seen the colour chart that Banila provided:

Also, this Korean blog has some swatches of the lipsticks. So I had an idea that it would absolutely be a purple toned lipstick.

My first swatch on paper:

It really is that purple lipstick with a bit of pink in it. What I found striking is that the pigmentation is quite strong and good. Perhaps a bit too good for my liking. I really covers the redness of my lips and the colour in the tube is almost the colour how it looks on the lips.

When I say pigmented, I do not mean it is matte. It is absolutely a lipstick with sheen, which, personally, I find more flattering for me.

I thought it would resemble my Mac Girl About Town a bit:

But boy, was I wrong about that. They are not even distant cousins!

However, I compared them because lots of beautybloggers know how Mac Girl About Town can look on, and compared to that one the Banila Co. Cape Cod is even more purply and cool.

I hope (and think) the next photo gives a good impression of the level of opacity. It resembles the texture and opacity of the YSL Rouge Volupte line.

Similarly as YSL Rouge Volupte, this lipstick is scented. I cannot quite describe the sort of scent, but it is pleasant enough and in the grown up range.

Personally, I find the texture, formula and form of the lipstick quite nice. My only drawback is that the purple colour is not really flattering on me. It has the ability to work for me when I sheer it out a bit, but on full intensity it is quite too....ehm, Lady Gaga? Or an early Cindy Lauper, perhaps. Quite 80s.

However, I do think about reordering this one in a different colour.  I was already hesitating about buying Victoria, which will probably be that happy pink I like. Or I could go for another peachy addition with Miami. Not sure yet.

You can find these on Gmarket for $12.74 over here, itemno. 212435691.

Banila Co. Summer 2011 Colors &Stripes Secret blush in Sahara

Every year since I buy something from Banila Co.'s summer range.

Why? Simply because I love their products and they have such clean and original summer themes, especially based on wanderlust (the desire to travel) and that really appeals to me.

For this year I picked up an addiction on their Secret Marbling blush/highlighter products from their Stripes range.

As you can see, Banila created such a beautiful design. The pink stripes decorate a rose gold pact. It is so aesthetically pleasing!

This year they picked South Korean singer and actress Min Hyo Rin to be the spokesmodel for their summer range:

Mn Hyo Rin in Banila Co.'s 2011 Summer campaign

I like this choice, although I have no idea about South Korean celebrity life and preformances. I simply like that, in contrast to some earlier years, they did not picked a Western model for the campaign. With all respect to Western models and people (I'm one myself, ehhh, clearly not a model but just a woman, LOL) but I think a variety of beautiful faces come in all ethnicities and clearly Min Hyo Rin must be a familiar face towards the public the product is targeted for: South Korean girls and women.

And yeh, without knowing her, I think she is beautiful and the face has an appeal on my consumer behaviour, LOL, because I bought the product as well.
The name of the product is Sahara, and, as far as I know, it is Banila Co. first bronzing-inspired Secret blush.

The compact is even prettier than the box itself. Pretty without being too kawaii for grown-up women:

The highligher/blush is quite in style of similar mineralized products such as MAC mineralizes and Banila's previous Secret ranges: They have this glowy, metallic look. Sahara is a rose-tinted coppery brown:

The first swatch I did on a tissue. It shocked me a bit for being a bit too metallic. However, I do love the colour that has that bit of rose in it:

Actually, the metallic glow is not so obvious on the skin, that is why I included a skin-swatch as well. Mind that this swatch is not blended or buffed in the skin yet!

I actually really like how it looks on my skin. It is like a rose-gold colour. Best part is that it gives out a GLOW without a hint of glitter in sight....perfect.

I have to blend and buff it into my skin to keep it natural, but it proves that you have to test some products directly on the skin to see how it will look in real life.

The compact also has a sweet, florally fragance which is not obtrusive at all, just beautiful.

Overal, a big hit for this summer (and next summers) in my opinion!

I bought mine on, guess where....gmarket over here: productcode 212439241 for approximately $19.

Banila Co. gave me three samples of their new sunscreen BB cream, which is pretty amazing as well, and I normally do not like any BB creams.

Banila Co. Glam in the Dark F/W 2010 (2nd collection) eyeshadow palette

Gosh, what an enormous title that I have to write down to describe this product, and I haven't even written down 'review/swatches' yet.

Oh, hi again. Last week I had not blogged anything because I could not find anything to blog on that was blogworthy or had not been blogged about before. For the Banila co. eyeshadow palettes I always make an exception, because I often like their palettes a lot.  

Their second Fall/Winter 2010 collection has more than the palette I picked up: a couple of eyeliners, two lipsticks and a lipgloss and a mascara. The Mineral Baking Pact is probably a repromotion of the same product, only in a beautiful sparkly eggplant case.

I found the blush to be incredibly hard to resist as well, but you can understand with an uncountable collection of those cheek-perkifyers I just could not justify on splurging on another one.

Don't mind the Korean spelling...kind of funny name pun: a products that Blurs-her (it blurs her into looking beautiful).

I am happy with the palette only. The holographic letters are embossed on the eggplant purple case, which give it a winter-luxury feeling.

The colour composition is based on rather earthy colours. So I would not call it a festive period palette but more suitable for daytime looks.

The composition is of 3 shimmery colours and 3 matte colours.

The first three on the left: A shimmery mauve brown. A matte purple brown colour and a matte cream colour.

The right part of the palette. A matte camel colour, a shimmery taupe brown and a semi-shimmery deeper brown colour.

I really wanted the palette for the Camel colour only, because the A/W fashion scene is filled with camel coloured clothes and now I have a matching eyeshadow to pair up with.

Swatches with Too Faced Eye Insurance as a primer:

 

With this selection of colours, finishes and textures I noticed a couple of differences.
First, the shimmery colours have the best texture that I am used to of Banila Co.'s palettes. However, the difference between the mauve brown and taupe brown are not that big. It might be difficult for the untrained eye to see a difference.

The darkest brown on the right is ok, but has not the best velvety texture ever.

I absolutely like the matte colours for shading and highlighting, and the cream colour is wonderful for that unnoticably bit of highlight. As for my favourite colour, camel, I found it a bit hard to swatch. I hope this will be better on the eyes. However, matte eyeshadows often are a bit more difficult to use.

The only matte I really appreciate texture-wise are Becca colours. Not that I have tried a lot of matte colours, but I prefer Becca matte eyeshadows over MAC, for example.

There are some awesome swatches on this Korean blog as well, so check them out if you want to see them (here)

Overall, it is a lovely palette with a lot of potential for people who are into neutral type of colours. It does not really scream 'festive season' or 'glitterparty' but that is absolutely ok. I mean, some days you just want to have a neutral and toned-down healthy look in between all of the debauchery of the festivities.

I bought this palette on gmarket.co.kr over here for ￦25,000 ($ 22.42- excluding shipping). I did not get the gift, but I cannot read Korean so there must be a special cause that spells out what to do for a gift.

Banila Co Autumn 2010 Love Affair palette in F07

After showing you some of the lip-products of Banila Co Love Affair line last weekend, I can finally move to the Pièce de résistance of the collection. What else to be incredibly excited about than the gorgeously laced palette.

I have been a huge fan of Banila's palettes since my first buy. One of the things I love about the eyeshadows in the palette is their buttery texture, which makes it glide over your eyelids. It is vibrant after application, even without a base, and makes it fuzz free for carrying around.

For non-Korean readers, the back of the pallette is probably not really informative. Most information is written down in Korean.

Now honestly, I often skip the promotion information written on the back and I rarely look at the ingredients of makeup either, because I trust the bigger makeup companies for not letting me put on any toxins on my face.

Still, with any penetrative product, such as creams/lotions/serums/ect, I DO read the ingredient list, because my dear old skin is really picky and often reacts quickly on lots of chemical and even natural elements. And although I probably do not react on Parabens, I often get that icky feeling when parabens are included in a cream.

The packaging of the palette is really gorgeous and is absolutely suitable to carry around and for making your girlfriends a bit envious. The pinky bronze surface with that beautifully deep bronze lace motive, it is absolutely delightful!

However, the content has to match up its exterior. And as I said earlier, I have been liking Banila's texture of eyeshadows in the palettes, so I would probably not be dissapointed in this purchase.

(Although, sometimes a company decides to 'make over' their products and meddles too much with an already suitable products, so it actually dissapoints compared to the earlier version).

Although I have been happy with Banila's quality of eyeshadow, I often have found some colours not really suitable for my colouring or I could not find it to be age-appropriate (obvious glitters? No no no)

But the rave continues, because I am absolutely delighted with the composition of colours in the palette.

I have made some close up pictures, which is in the same order as the palette.

First, A dark mauvy brown laced with gold shimmers....Next to that one, a softer and lighter lilac mauve.

In the middle: a beige shimmer that probably works as a highlighter on any browbone (or other places you would like to highlight). And a whiter, more matte, vanilla shade that is the more subtle kind of highlighter for that "Look-I'm-naturally-pretty-and-I-do-not-wear-any-makeup-at-al"-look.

At the right: the smokey ladies. They do not really match up with the warmer side of the left and the middle, but they are fantastic for making that quick and sultry smokey eye that you often like to create for a date or night out.

Now to the swatches:

It seems like the left side of the palette starts of as suitable for persons who like their shades warm, the middle are quite neutral and light, and the right side are silvery and smokey.


I am intrigued how the silvery colour (no 5) has that green undertone, that makes it more interesting. I find this colour the most unique in the palette, and I believe I do not have such a shade yet.

Pigmentation-wise, they did not dissapoint (gladfully). Although the 4 shade in the Vanilla colour is not as pigmented as the other ones. That is something I encounter in most palettes, that one or more of the colours seem to lack pigmentation.

Perhaps you can even find more representative swatches on the same side I have linked before: here.   Click on the small 'Love Affair' label, and then you will get on a page with the title 'event'.

This is a winner palette for me! And even though my real life is lacking any love Affair of importance, I can continue to stay enamorated with the beautiful colours and the gorgeous packaging of the palette.

I bought this palette on Gmarket over here.