Cocktail Hour-glass (mixing) Primer n.28 with Kjaer Weiss Foundation, or Opposites Attract

Sometimes it's just trial & error succes...

 

Beauty stuff ain't easy! How informed we can get by the internet & the upteenth flow or reviews and tutorial, you never know how it will work on you unless you try.

Venturing into Kjaer Weis foundation was one of these things: the reviews were praising it as the next savior; I found it a bit difficult to work with: Dry texture, slightly sticky formula, etc.

Kjaer Weiss foundation is a bit dry

Similar with Hourglass Primer n. 28...Or perhaps the opposite. "Darn, that stuff is slippery! Did someone left the lube out there?"

 Since Frankening it up has been a thing since...I guess 2004 (nailpolish board Makeupalley), or longer I made some good sense out of the two and mixed them.

Sometimes I just use the primer on my skin first, and smooth the dryer texture of Kjaer Weis over it. 

It is not something you might never read about before but I really like the way these opposites attract and seem to work as a base for me.

The moral of this Story: 

Try some concoctions before you chuck away your good stuff!

Carroussel of Newbies...

I've been a bit quiet on the blog this week, but my wallet hasn't been...

Dutch cosmeticsstore IciParis has 40% on its lipglosses and lipsticks, and those YSL Gloss Voluptes finally arrived! -> I kept it modest with *just three* but I want Guerlain Girly so much! I also included my Net-a-Porter free shipping haul: I skipped fashion and went for beauty alone :). Plus my skin-sensitive period led me to another foundation: is it good, better, best? Read on.

So those new YSL Gloss Voluptes first: I picked *modelcolour* 49 Terriblement Fuchsia, the one Lindsay is wearing so poutily in this add:

I am slightly influenced by Japanese brands who often mention that the lipstick is the *modelcolour* or the one worn in the advertisement. I'd never would think my lips go near the poutiness of Lindsay without any filler-help, and I wouldn't want them that way unless they wear natural. I just adore fuschia: is such a popping colour without getting too sensual like red, it's fun with a dash of sensual! And so nice on making your teeth looking extra white. 

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I also picked a safer calmer YSL Rose Satine 102 for that perfect peachy pink with that deliriously blueish microshimmer. They are extremely fruitily scented: this line...I have fierce Lancome Juicy Tube memories of the early noughties.

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I'm still the biggest fan of their Rouge Pur Couture Vernis a Levres and I'd finally picked up Cara-modelled selection of the Rebel Nudes: this one is not so nude as it's the Violine out of Control 108.

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The sweetest Italian drugstore SA recommended Bionike Defence Tolerance for my sensitive skin: this is the travelsize of the micellar water

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I picked up another Charlotte Tilbury quad from net-a-porter: Uptown girl...Chants that song right now...

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More of the Italian recommended Bionike line: it's the Defense Xage Skinergy Perfecting Concentrate: a lot of words for a serum so I hope it works as good as the title.

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Again, a new foundation. My sensitivities spurred me on to look further. RBR has too much fragance for me right now, and mineral makeup doesn't give my pores a good cover. Kjaer Weis Foundation in Paper Thin is organic, but also difficult to work with (like quite some reviews mention). Then again, my face feels so relaxed and unirritated under this foundation and it gives the most skin-but-better finish. I just put some good work into it by blending it well with my Hakuhodo Mizubake. And some really good moisturizing before...

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So I skipped the extraorbitant fashion of Net-a-Porter but finally satisfied my curiosity after the frequently reviewed Hourglass Ambient blush line: I picked Radiant Magenta and I think it's really brilliant. It stays on me all day, unlike some mixed reviews I read on this blush. It matches my YSL Fuschia Terriblement so well!

And some more:

 I bought the Urban Decay Naked Basics on the airplane: Some more mattes to 'date' with my Rouge Bunny Rouge Mattes.

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The Models Inc Lip Enhancer is a GWP with a British glossy (have to check which one again)

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And I've been reading heaps of Murakami books for the last couple of years: this is the latest one I'll dive into.

Have a gorgeous weekend :)

Vapour Cosmetics Illusionist: an Organic Concealer

I have been quite into sampling lately and when the opportunity arised to try out a new concealer from Organic Brand Vapour, I was happy to jump at the opportunity.

My skin has been (again) on a sensitive spell lately. Which brought me to the dilemma of covering up and (possibly) continue the irritation but look better, or go barefaced and show the spots.

Both not the best options, so I often opt for a organic concealer to minimize the change of (further) irritation as much as possible. 

Above you see my new Vapour sample and my current favourite Organic concealer RMS Beauty. I bought RMS beauty on the recommendation from Grace at LondonMakeupGirl.

I haven't had much luck with trying out the recommendations of the models/stars/etc but I often really enjoy the precise, accurate and elaborate reviews of the beautybloggers around, the excellent swatches of DrivelaboutFrivol, WorshipofBlues, theNonBlonde, Beautylookbook, PinkSith, LondonMakeupGirl and so many others who really test out products and apply it on real people seeing real results (not that the models, etc aren't real, but let's just say they have lucky genes and most stuff will work for them).

I wanted to compare the Vapour Illusionist with the RMS Uncover in 22 as the organic counterpart, but also with my two non-organic miracle cover-ups: Hourglass Hidden in Natural and Kevin Beautymaker in Light:

So here we go:

Swatches, before blending:


Texture:

• Vapour 020 is of a dryer texture than the other 3. 
• It covers quite well. And even if it is dryer, I can use it around the eye area (although the creaminess of the others works a bit better)
• Because of the non-creamy texture: it makes a good pimple/acne concealer

 Colour:

• Vapour 020 is in the similar colour (depth) family as RMS 22, Hourglass Hidden Natural & Kevin Beautymaker light
• It has a really slight pink/cooler undertone, but not that super-noticable compared to the others.

Swatches, About 3/4 blended:

Texture:

• the two Organic concealers: Vapour 020 & RMS 22, have a similar finish on the skin. Slightly velvet.
• Hourglass Natural has the most creamy glow (somewhat concealer-like, thus better for the eye area)

Colour:

• Vapour 020 is a tad lighter than RMS 22.
• Vapour 020 is listed as a colour for Fair to medium skin, but I would say light to Medium skin colour instead (light being a tone darker than fair)
• Both Vapour & RMS have a neutral (neither warm nor cool) finish
• Hourglass Hidden looks slightly pink compared to RMS & Vapour

Feel on skin:

Before Vapour Illusionist, I have been relying on RMS uncover for both cover and sometimes I apply it thinly as a foundation. RMS Uncover sometimes feels waxy on the skin, perhaps due to the amount of natural oils in it. I cannot use Vapour Illusionist as a foundation on itself because the texture is dryer (I could mix it with a emulsion) but it feels better on the skin when using it as a concealer: not waxy.

Conclusion:

I'm quite happy I sampled the Vapour Illusionist as the non-waxy Organic alternative to RMS beauty Uncover. I think the colour would be too dark for fair skin, but is a reasonable match for light to light medium. It covers well without having that concealer-look. It suits better for covering pimples/acne/spots than to use as eye-concealer, but you can still use it well as an eye-concealer if your eye-area is not to dry.

Availability:

I sampled my sample from Naturisimo.com for £1.00 but they're OOS right now. Americans can sample from their site here. A full size is available over here for £20.00 and comes in a stick-dispenser.

Hourglass Illume Sunset:

Summer seems a long time ago, but the beachy glow can still stay...

Well, we got our wonderful faking-tools these days.

I always fake my glow in summer, however, in winter I feel more at ease making my own, slightly light skin shine through.

But you know, I live in a quintessential western country with those 'wonderful' beauty standards of tan-is-beautiful', so sometimes I fake my glow to face my family, who otherwise would tell me "aww, why don't you go to a tanning bed?" (oh, and tanning beds are evil in my opinion, but somehow I cannot manage to convince them of that idea so I just nod my head and leave it like that, not going to tanning beds...of course...dah).

I got myself a new faker....ehm, beauty enhancer ;D

After reading lots of glowing reviews, and the mandatory celebrity-X-uses-this stories, I decided to venture on a new brand, for me at least, Hourglass.

I think Hourglass is an American brand. I use American brands every now and then. They have lots of $$$ to put into research so I am bound to receive a product that has been put through millions of tests and is marketed for a large audience. I really like some Tarte products, by the way, and L'oreal can have some good items.

Hourglass has finally been made available for the curious Europeans (who had to go through great lenghts to get anything Hourglass before) on Zuneta.com. I had to wait for a while for the Illume in Sunset to get into stock again, but when it finally was....

 The box of Hourglass is in a sleek, black colour with platina-esque letters.

The back of the box has the instruction list and the ingredients:

 Wonderful, they have listed the ingredients for both the brown, bronzer colour as for the Sunset (peachy) colour:

 Instuctions: They listed them in French as well. That could mean that they target for an Canadian audience...

Out of the box: it is a sleek, dark silver-esque colour in a metallic case. The logo and packaging reminds me of a more conventional sister of Illamasqua.

After struggling to open it for the first couple of times, I found out that you have to slide it to the sides.

 Inside are two equal amounts of a bronze and peach-like colour

 Two gorgeous shades that are bordering on the warm side of neutral:

 Swatches:
In this picture you can see that they have a lustry, glowy quality upon them. The left side is the two colours blended:

Tarte Illume Sunset swatches: Left: Sunset&bronze blended; middle: sunset; right: bronze

 Another swatch picture in different light.

Tarte Illume Sunset swatches: Left: Sunset&bronze blended; middle: sunset; right: bronze

I have to say that I am incredibly amazed by the level of pigmentation. The pigmentation is really strong when you apply it on. Those swatch pictures were only one swipe! I almost reminds me of a professional makeup-artist product like Joe Blasco or Graftobian. 

However, it is still normal-consumer friendly as it blends quite easily into the skin. Also, if the first application looks a bit done, wait for a couple of minutes and the fierceness of the colour have blended into the skin as a natural glow.

I believe it is suitable for colours that are darker, going on to NW/C 40. I know that Karen from makeupbeautyblog reviewed and swatched this and it looks really vivid on her NW 40 (?) skin. Actually, the Sunset colour looks really pink on her skin, while it looks like a peachy orange on mine. See, how different people wear their products differently?

After all these raves, I do believe that the colours in the blush palette have a warmer quality, especially the bronzer colour has some red hints in it. 

So, although it is such a lovely and convienient compact for both blush, bronzer or both, I do believe that people with cool skintones will find the bronzer shade a bit too warm. I myself am a neutral bordering on cool, and you can already see the difference with someone like Karen from Makeupbeautyblog of how the colours would show up.

However, I love the two colours in the mix and the quality of this product is just fantastic. Another plus for me: no glitters and shimmers are in the two colours! That makes it a more convincing faker for me.

I bought my palette at British site zuneta.com. It was my second order and they were as fast as ever (just a couple of days).