Back to Kate with Kanebo Kate Forming Edge Eyes in GD-1

Hiya Kate Kanebo, 

I've missed you...

I started Birkinbagbeauty with a strong interest in Asian Makeup. Through the years I have developed new interests like organic beauty and other. My love for a well-balanced eye-palette from Japanese crafship has never died... 

In current times when more is absolutely too much in makeup (My own opinion), where contouring has gone to slightly "Prisilla, Queen of the Desert" proportions, lips are plump and matte and eyes are never seen without falsies, I started to long for a fresh face with a cute bit of blush and a delightfully soft but sparkly eye.

That does not mean I compromise on quality: just look at the photo above and see that perfectly pressed state of eyeshadow-ness.

I picked the golden and warmer toned palette: There's something typically summery about a golden hue on the eyes.

 

For the subtle fun, some microshimmer:

I am both impressed of the soft and buttery quality. However, for becoming more and more spoiled with strong and vivid pigments, I do find this palette a tad sheer. The mixture of a slightly bronzy gold, nice neutral brown and a buttery cream makes it easier for me to go eyeshadow again.

The effect on eyes is similar as the promotion photo:

I'm glad to have reunited with Kanebo Kate again. Although we never left (think Mascara primer), I've gone too neutral on the eyes lately with just a bit of pencil. A small palette like this makes eyeshadow not intimidating, but a fun way of bringing the eyes into focus again....

Burberry wet & dry silk in Nude and Shell, It's like 'the Litte Mermaid' ta(i)le

I have been feeling like a topsy-turvy 'My little Mermaid' since playing with my new Burberry Wet & Dry Silk Eyeshadows. 

So yeh, this is not going to be a full-on review, you probably seen a couple of those, but something about playing with water & eyeshadows. 

In the first place,  what's in a name? Well, an eyeshadow that's not afraid to get wet. The makeup aficionados already know that most eyeshadows can perform well with a bit of moisture, preferably a suitable liquid like Mac Mixing Media, or it's dupes.

But just like the Little mermaid who went dry, there will be consequences? Or not?

The aesthetics:

Ok, so I've been applying a moist brush directly on the pan on this colour: Nude.

Again:

DO.NOT.DO if you like your pan pretty and with the Bur-checks for a while.

Hence, I left Shell untarnished for a while:

 Sibling comparing:



Because I decided I added the water after I got the powder out of the pan (onto the brush).

Tut Tut, after this aesthetics talk, what is the result between the dry vs the wet application:

 In general, both change colour. Nude gets more intense and slightly more golden green, even a hint of red in specific light. Shell actually waters down a bit, pun intended.

This pic has a better focus on Nude:

What a surprise! I actually prefer Nude in the wet/foiled version, so I do not regret denting it. As for my 'unwatered' pan of Shell, I actually prefer that one dry.
Perhaps because Shell functions as a highlighter and for daytime I steer away from an overly metallic glow on the browbone: that's so disco 70s!

 Overall, I really like both colours a lot! They stay on full-spectrum for a good 6 hours without primer [I haven't worn with primer yet]. I really like the versatility of applying them either wet or dry. Also the fact they change by water.

That means this is the Disney version of 'The little Mermaid' with the happy forever after...

Spring-y

Happy Spring! Nice to see the sweet colours popping up for it again:

Ohhh, look at these pressed textures! 

Well, I have been a lazy blogger but somehow I have not stopped buying cute thingies. 

Zeee connoisseurs will recognize Clé de Peau's very expensive label. Hence my only justification has been that I've been a cheapskate on the front of not buying the box:

I still have a case from another quad. That justified buying this Spring 2015 selection of colours. Also, a recent sale from bonboncosmetics.

I'm not the greatest fan of pale blue eyeshadows, but the one on the left really works well in this composition.

As for the other colours: how to resist a good warm purple, a perfect warm creme brulee and that gorgeous buttery cream with a touch of peach?

Yes, still lazy so I have no real review [yet]. But spring has sprung and my eyes are flaunting it.

The Blush of my dreams & other newbies I'd been eager to get...

Holy purchasy October...

I've finally caved on a couple of items that were very wishlist for a while. 

It has been a yes/no/yes/not-yet debate, resulting into visiting certain sites frequently, making a cart, leaving the cart behind, getting reminders from websites I have a cart (I KNOW, it's so hard to forget), pretending I don't want it, visiting the same reviews over-and-over again to decide I still want it...

I've scored the most perfect blush I have encountered in a while: Meet my Surratt La Vie en Rose.

After falling in love with the neutral Grisalle shader (here) I upgraded towards colour. I picked a colour most closely to my own flushed cheeks (after working out/being embarrased/in love, ect): a rosy flush. 

Picking a colour like this is like adding youth to your face. It's my effortless colour, though I need a softer brush for application (think NARS Mie Kabuki) as it is delightfully pigmented. 

I have been wearing this blush 7 days in a row: a record! Then I decided my other ones felt neglected and I went for some peachy pink again: sometimes I like to look made-up dolly instead of natural :).

The other haul: my 1st Suqqu & Chanel brush.

After debating for more than 1 year I've finally have my 1st Suqqu blend palette in the most neutral no. 10 Kochueza. As for elegance sake, I added the Chanel brush No. 19 for eyes that is supposed to be quite the catch (review here & here)

I'm glad I caved to see what's the deal about Suqqu blend, but I'm also slighty underwhelmed. Don't get me wrong: Suqqu's texture is simply amazing, but the colours are too neutral for me. It's a "maybe in 3 years"-type of palette.

And finally that horribly pricy Tom Ford brush no. 2: foundation-time.

Tom Ford's brush no 2 feels slightly too limp. Oh gosh, I could imagine telling mr. Ford that his brush it too limp, and then I couldn't. Perhaps I'm too used to Real Technique's expert face brush firmer bristles. Temptalia reviewed this one as the most flawless foundation-brush ever and I'm probably not that used to it yet....

*Practice-makes-perfect?*

And sorry, I don't have any reviews or swatches going on yet. It's been busy and if it wasn't, it was just too cloudy for photos outside. I might take it slower on this blog as I'm slightly too obsessive/high maintainance on beauty lately: think full-face makeup to the gym whereas the other girls go bravely barefaced (or mascara only). Just a bit easier on being pretty on the outside to focus more on my inner beauty, or such... :). Well, we'll see...

Beauty Newbies

Weather is still nicely summery even if it's getting closer to Autumn. I still felt like grabbing some autumn-like purchases: 

1. You have probably seen Rouge Bunny Rouge's latest Chronos palette on all the grande beautyblogs. Me too, so when my fave high-cover foundation of '14 (see here) was on sale, I added this palette for beauty's sake. 

2. I've already started sampling some new oils for when Autumn weather will appear. I've been reading plenty about YÜLI Skincare: SpiritBeautyLounge has a sampling service which makes it affordable to try out. 

3. Candles: How Autumn/Winter they are to me. I still picked out the tropically Gardenia based 'Je t'aime Jane' from Bella Freud's line. I mean, my blog is called 'Birkinbagbeauty' because I love Jane Birkin so I couldn't resist a candle in her homage.

4. Chanel quad in Poésie: The national beautystores have 25% off on eyeshadows and this L.E Chanel was finally in stock. It's described as a set of the most effortless neutrals by most beautyblogs: Probably dupable but still highly chanel and supereasy on undecided mornings of 'how to dress the eyes'.

Makeup Forever Artist Shadow in Crystalline Gray Beige ( D552)

*Makeup Forever's new color-shadows popped up at Sephora's website -> curiosity triggered*

There are so many new ones [210], and the Makeupartist in the video were raving about aalllll colours.

I picked one that looked rather like a neutral taupe online: Crystalline Gray Beige:

It's a shade with the promise of a Diamond lustre: Diamond people! I had Rihanna chanting in the back of my mind...'Shine bright lika a diamond...'

There are also eyeshadows in satin, matte, idirescent & Metallic. However, I thought it would be nice to see MUFE's translation of a diamond lustre.

The eyeshadows are sold in separate pans. You can either muster up your own palette, or buy the MUFE version of 2, 3 or more. There was a good deal for the palette version so I chose that option:

 The case is plastic, but the sturdy type in MUFE's signature sleekness. The pallets have magnet adherence so you can take out your pan whenever you want. This is handy for travellers and makeupartists or aspiring colourists who like to vary their colours on daily/weekly basis.

 Talking about the size of the pan: it's the same as Le Metier de Beaute eyeshadow pans:

 

That got me into comparing mode again. Hence, I also picked up my cheaper brand Makeup Artist palette in Undress Me too.

Ofcourse, those are baby pans compared to big-sized MUFE & LMDB, but the colour-family of one of them is quite similar: a mauve-ish silver Taupe.

This swatch is made in daylight/indirect sun, foundation base but no specific eye primer. The Le Metier de Beaute palette is Bauhaus in colour Graphite (review here). 

• MUFE is the warmest of the 3: a reddish mauve base
• Le Metier de Beaute has the best opacity
• The diamond aspect of MUFE is slightly dissapointing: all 3 have similar lustre on skin

Verdict:

I have not been as enthousiastic about the eyeshadow as the makeupartists in the video. Honestly, I'm spoiled with Le Metier de Beaute and others, but I think that a budget eyeshadow like Makeup Artist wears just as well.
However, I think it's a wonderful neutral, office-appropriate sparkle that will cooperate well with Edward Bess eyeprimer. And I will add another shadow of MUFE's Artist collection in a different finish to complete the duo-palette.

Conclusion:
Usefully pretty, but not a musthave if you have similar hues.

Something New

Something easy & something new. 

Ok, easy might be a big word but easier is more matching for my 2nd Sephora haul:

Despite various bloggers warning me about the quality of Marc Jacobs palettes, I still ordered his latest Dreamer. Truth is, I'm not dissapointed at all...

Koh Gen Do has already wowed me with the Maifanshi foundation: how will the Maifanshi powder perform?

I'll elaborate on Marc Jacobs in one of my next posts and will test the Maifanshi powder soon.

Kose Addiction Eivissa Dream eyeshadow in 075 Private Beach

Blossoming flowers, and some might already be thinking about sand between their toes for the upcoming summer.

Talking about sandy beaches...doesn't this one above look like it???

So yeh, Kose Addiction by Ayako has already been fully immersed into the summer theme of the Party Island pur sang: Ibiza, or Eivissa in its own language. It seems like they'll keep this theme for Summer '14 as well with the Es Paradis line (source: rougedeluxe): There will be cheeksticks again, but for now let's focus on the spring-range.

I already ventured upon eyeshadow "Meeting at Dome" [here] which turned out to be a pleasantly fun surprise. 

I like the name: I normally would steer away from meeting people at dawn: It's actually one of the most beautiful times of the day but my waking-up face needs mucho serum  to see the light of day. Unless I've been up all night: sometimes I wonder why they call it beautysleep as staying up could keep you kinda pretty [or were the others more intoxicated to see you as pretty? Ehm, long time ago].

Did you guys know that San Diego has a beach that is made up from tiny mica particles:

source: here

As for the eyeshadow colour [disgressing who?]: 'Meeting at Dome' was cooler than expected, and my craving for something warm and mushroomy/taupy lead me to Private Beach.

I'll show the box for the ones unfamiliar with Addiction by Ayako. Ayako the makeupartist used to work for NARS: the sleekness of the package and lettering is something she brought to her own brand.

The colour is indeed a taupy mushroom. It sounds boring but then I'll show the my first swatch from a sideway angle:

My booboo is to start comparing at first sight, but that will keep the focus on the texture. So it's indeed a sandy beach texture with a gorgeous sparkle on top. I've compared it with the Charlotte Tilbury Golden Goddess shade no 2: Enhance to show how it differs.

Then again, the type of sparkle reminds me of Charlotte Tilbury's 3rd type of eyeshadow: the Pop-colour. So let's bring that one in even if the colours do not compare at all:

Swatches:

In theory, the glow-factor is similar to Charlotte Tilbury's POP shade, but I think Addiction has a tad more sparkle that somewhat layers differently. I'm slightly out of my cosmetic vernacular of to define it as sparkle overlayer or shimmer...Mmmm, but it is different, though.

So after all this elaborate textural comparing...Let me define the colour: It is indeed a warmer colour and it seems to be one of those generically available mushroomy colours out there. But as shown (too much? Never too much for a beauty blog), it's far from standard. The cooler shimmer/sparkle/shimbarkle actually makes the eyeshadow appear beachy...like the water still present on the sand at the shore.

It's an interesting colour on its own. The colour scheme of neutralness, warm and cool makes it wonderful for mixing with other palettes. Charlotte Tilbury already likes a party in her palettes (disco makeup-tips? Woot!) so it's perfectly mixable with Addiction Eivissa! And not just on the side: Addiction Private Beach makes a gorgeous shade for layering. I've been layering it over my matte Rouge Bunny Rouge Blackpepper Jay: that shady wallflower goes from working horse to total attention queen. Ok, a visibly glowy shade.

Longevity: 

As usual from Addiction's genius creations: without primer for about 6 hrs before fading. With a primer: depends on the primer but long after the next dawn.

Price: 

Yes, it's not the cheapest one for about €21 but I think it's not too ridiculously expensive either compared to the likes of Dior or Chanel.

Conclusion:

A hot neutral that can party around with a variety of others or make a daytime makeup more fun.

Gosh Lip Laquer in Funky Lips, Dangerous lips and Forever Eyeshadow in Green

This week I blogged about some newbie Gosh. Today I'll show some swatches:

Eventually I bought one, but this week they were discounted to 5 euro so I added another one:

Funky Lips (006) & Dangerous Lips (008)

It is a 'quite nailpolish'-like bottle. Pure marketing strategy: Gosh claims it to be "Manicure for lips"...

 

Opening the bottle is a diffent story: meet the standard lipwand for applying lipgloss: 

The selection has been limited to a modest amount of eight colours: that is normal from Gosh as they do that with almost all of their lipcolours, However, they haven't picked out the most 'universally flattering' hues: the first numbers are quite a pasty bunch.

I picked out 6 and 8 as they were quite opaque and had the right mixture of red and pink enbedded. 7 is suprisingly sheer compared to the other formulas.

I'll start of showing 006: Funky Lips

brrr, goosebumps for early spring weather

 The formula is a dense & glossy reddish pink that covers the lips quite well.

The formula is quite reminiscent to YSL Laque:

I basically added Essence Stay with Me longlasting lipgloss as another drugstore 'longlasting' one, but noticably it doesn't compare to either YSL as Gosh, neither texture nor longevity. 

Hence, I zoomed in on the two comparable ones:

They are absolutely no sisters or twins, colourwise. More like nieces. The texture does compare: both opaque and they adher nicely to the skin. YSL 13 Rose Tempura has shimmer embedded and Gosh 08 Dangerous lips has no shimmer.

Instead of Essence I added Gosh 006 in Funky lips. YSL Rose Tempura is in the midde (cooler and shimmery) and Gosh 008 Dangerous lips is the deepest corally pink:

The feel is somewhat different: YSL Rouge Pur Couture Vernis a Levres has that certain sticky feeling that I learned to love. Gosh Lip Laquer feels like a total balm on the lips: almost absent.

Gosh fragance is a different story: it is quite a present chemical fruity one that you either tolerate or not. Or perhaps it might dig up some nostalgic teen memories out there. It will dissapear within 10 minutes.

Gosh longevity is quite potent: I had a full testing session and it stayed on quite beautifully after being stuck in a turtleneck shirt. Sometimes my lipglosses will take refuge in my beginning vertical liplines (or worse, da face). It stayed on quite strong for 4 hours and faded into something equally stained. It has been wonderful topping up as I didn't get pigment differences layering it over the older layer. It is not a waterproof/stainproof formula but the thickness really adhers to the lips.

Also new in the display are the Forever Eyeshadows:

The pencil itself:

I picked the Green one as I felt attracted to green that day. Today I made some more swatches of the other colours of my fancy:

Plum is my ultimate next want...It reminds me of my last Addiction Eyeshadow from the Eivissa range (Meeting at Dome). This picture only shows it from one angle but it sparkles around like the Mad Hatter on tea-overload...

I also like blue as it tends to be more purple.

Grey has light blue sparkles and some greens too...interesting.

They are really resistent to water and rubbing as well. Hence, you can use them as an eyeshadow, but be sure to blend them in within a minute otherwise it will stay like a waterproof eyeliner.

They retail for about € 9 which is not that cheap for a drugstore range.

The Gosh Liplaquers are on sale for € 5 right now.

 My cat approves on that price, and those flowers too...Or, it almost seems like Spring!!

Addiction by Ayako - Eyeshadow in Meeting at Dome 071 (Eivissa Dreams '14)

Last week I had Kose Addiction Spring 2014 Eivissa Dreams

 on my radar.

It didn't took long for me to order my first eyeshadow from this collection: Meeting at Dome 071.

I opened the lid full of expectations of receiving a warmish taupe ~Something like in the promotion photo:

Reality has been slightly different. I will show you numerous photos of different angles and light-positions so show you the complexity of this eyeshadow.

Opening it for the first time: It looks like a mix of platinum and silver or more of a cool colour than a creamy taupe.

Direct sunlight ~ a cooler silver:

Slightly shaded/partly in sunlight ~greyed and speck-ly:

Same as above, only close up (see the turquoise sparkles!)

Another direct sunlight shows a slightly creamier/aspect of the silver:

Swatching it brings out a silver with a hint of mauve:

Same above, only close up:

Another swatch photo in a mixture of shade & light outside:

Verdict:

I think it is easy to conclude that this colour is far from a warmer colour as in the promotion photo. That doesn't make it a dud: au contraire! I love the complexity of this platinum that lights up in subtle turquoise, silver and lavender/mauve or a slightly smoky dept in various lights and shadows. I tried to compare it with my existing eyeshadows and thought about NARS Lhasa, but that one wasn't even close. 

I think it will make an awesome Ibiza colour as it works brilliantly in warm sunlight, and gets the smokey dept during the evening.

As for the quality and longevity: I adore Addiction by Kose's eyeshadows on this part and this one is just as brilliant: buttery smooth and the specks/glimmer is suitable for young and slightly older.  It holds for 8 hours with foundation underneath (like my swatch photos) and I have to try it with Edward Bess eyeprimer to see if it holds even longer.

Conclusion:

I'd almost book a flight to Ibiza to show off this eyeshadow.