Illamasqua pencils in Classic, Sorceress and Please

After a cold week that has the true December spirit in it, I received a joint order (my friend and I) from Illamasqua. Illamasqua had free shipping for a while when ordering over 65 pounds, so my friend ordered some things and I did as well.

I ordered two pencils and a cream blush. She ordered the Satin primer and another pencil.

I had permission to swatch her pencil as well, for the blog...She is such a dear, awww.

Here are the swatches:

The fine pencil from Illamasqua is often used for eyebrows, but they can work for eyelids as well. I ordered the colour in Classic, which is a steel grey without shimmer. It is the colour on the left. It has a dryer texture than the medium pencils, although they differ as well from each other. It is only available for European Union buyers (sorry US people, but you can probably find a lovely EU person to purchase it for you)

The colour Sorceress is decribed as a rich brown-black, and it almost looks black in real life. I found this pencil to be the creamiest one that covered the skin the best.

The colour Please is a European Union edition only as well. It is decribed as a Navy Blue. I found it to have some teal undertones as well, which is visible in the swatch too, if you watch closely. This texture is not as good as the Sorceress one, which is a bit inconsistent of Illamasqua. Still, it has become creamier after a couple of uses, and the colour is such a wonderful navy with a pop of teal.

Overal, the pencils are lovely and are longlasting as well. They are available at illamasqua.com and asos.com for £12.00. The website has improved and they have actual swatches on skin, so you do not have to search all blogs for swatches. Very convienient.

Ok, have a good weekend and do not forget to join my giveaway for the Artdeco Alice diary over here.

Small giveway for the next year: ArtDeco Alice diary

After quite a time of not posting much on Korean and Japanese cosmetics or other cute items, I would like to give-away a lovely diary that is from the Korean Brand ArtDeco. I have posted on this diary in February this year, and I decided that after it had been lying around useless for almost a year, it should go to a lovely person who would give it a loving home.

Ofcourse, it has been completely unused. I have just looked at the pages.

It comes with a wide range of cute sticker in Alice in Wonderland style. The whole diary is in Alice in Wonderland theme.

It is a diary that you can fill in yourself, customise on the date you would like to start the diary. So, if you already have a diary for 2010 or you would like to start in, let's say, March 2010, it is up to you to fill in the day/month/year.

It has a cute, bunny pen on the side of the diary. Very handy and quite suiting to the Alice theme.

The monthly plan...you can fill it out yourself. Some of the pages are decorated with Alice in Wonderland illustrations and text.

The weekly plan is also handy for the diary purpose and sheduling appointments and dates.

The guidelines:

1. Make a comment or say something small. I should be able to contact you, or you should read closely to see if you are the winner after the drawing, so you can contact me. I do not want followers just for the giveaway, so you can join even if you do not follow my blog. I just want to contact the right winner when the winner has been drawn.

2. Contest ends on Sunday, 20 December 2009, 1 PM European standard time, GMT +1)

3. You are only able to make one comment, so no cheaters who would like to double (or triple) their chances.

4. Winner will be announced in a new post after random selection by random.org

5. Please contact me with 2 days to claim your prize or another winner will be selected! Prizes will be shipped by airmail WORLDWIDE within 3 business days after winner contacts me!

Lakmé eye colour palette in Moondust

Today I will show you some product pictures and swatches from the Lakmé eye colour quartet in Moondust. It arrived with my second and small haul I received this week.

The eye shadows come in a plastic case in a burgundy red colour, and has a clear top. It looks a bit cheap in this case. However, the price of the four colours are relatively cheap as well, so I do not expect the most luxurious packaging either.

My first palette from Lakmé was a composition of bright and vivid earthy colours (post here). This time I picked some safe neutral colours in black, a steal-like silver, a neutral brown and a stark white one.

The next picture was made without flash:

This one is made with flash: see how the brown colour on the top right is flecked with silverish metallic specs...it is so gorgeous.

The swatches:

The stark white on the top left is pretty useless. It does not have the same intensity as the other shades and is a matte shade.

The silver is a deeper silver that borders on the steel side. It is not the type of silver you would use for highlighting in the corner of your eyes, as I find it more to be a medium colour. I absolutely think it is a gorgeous silver to use for a smokey eye, and I will absolutely use this colour during the festive month this year.

The brown colour is so lovely...my favourite of the selection. It is a neutral brown with a hint of coolness that is delivered by the silver glow. It has a metallic quality without scaring away the people who do not have perfectly smooth eyelids (strong metallics can have the tendency to turn into a crepey-fest when applied on 'wrinkled' eyelids).

The black colour is not a matte, but almost matte with a glow of silver threaded thoughout. That makes it more convienient for the people who do not like matte eyeshadows, but are not that enthousiastic about the superglowy eyeshadows either. It is indeed a lovely black colour for creating a smokey eye or to use for a eyeliner.

The pigmentation of all colours, except the white one, are of a good quality and rather intensive. The swatches I made were made after one swipe, thus they are intensive indeed.

Overall, it makes a wonderful palette for the basic purpose of creating a smokey eye or to use individually for a hint of neutral definition.

Lakmé Aqua Shine Lip color in Fig

After a week of totally neglecting the dear readers of this blog, I finally have the time to write something...I was busy with the total wirlwind of life, and went to the UK as well. I normally plunge into the cosmetic shops when I am in Great Britain, but the boyfriend was with me as well.

Ehm, I know there are some boyfriends out there who have the patience to shop with their girlfriends...which is a thing to applaud! Hurray for those lucky girls and their patient boyfriends! Mine is the typical one who complains that I buy too much (so true), already have a room full of clothes and makeup (point on) and that I only use consumerism to fill the void in my life (well, who doesn't?).

Until he finds a great shop with nifty sneakers and cool t-shirts...

So hurray for online shopping, shopping solo and shopping with girlfriends!

This week my second order from India arrived with Lakmé cosmetics. I really wanted to look at their Aqua Shine Lip Color, as it looked like a wonderful combination of lipgloss and lipstick in one.

I like the slogan from Lakmé cosmetics, which says...Lakmé, on top of the world...Who doesn't want to be on top of the world?

I ordered the colour Fig which looked like a neutral colour.

The product can be activated by the twist mechanism: you twist the tube and after half an hour some gloss is distributed through the pad.

The colour is quite deep. I would describe it as a darkened rose/mauve/brown colour.

The pigmentation and opacity of the product is one of the biggest suprises. It covers the colour of the lips completely without caking or feathering into the lines of the mouth.

I normally do not reach for darker colours, although I have a reasonable collection of deeper red, wine and cherry coloured lipsticks. I wrote on my facebook account that I finally found a deeper colour that looked acceptable on me, and that is wonderful for the lipstick-wearer like me who normally shies away from more prominent colours.

This colour is quite unique in my collection, as it is darker than my usual neutrals without screaming goth or vampy. It reminds me of those 90s lipsticks again, only deeper.

The glossiness is a plus as well...I prefer glossier lipsticks for my skinny mouth without looking too lipglossy. I consider it to be a mature lipgloss: deep, sophisticated, not trying too hard, still a bit more sensual than the safe and sweet pink or nude/natural lipsticks.

Lakmé has a better scent with this product than they had with the Matte lipsticks (post here). It reminds me of the Mango Lassi drinks that you can get from the Indian restaurants, or the streetstalls in India itself.

I bought my Lakmé from mall.combatoire again and the service was just as pleasant as the first time.

Koh Crystal Nail File: or a little bit of hope for my frail nails...

Every now and then I receive those coupons that guarantee you a free product, only when you are willing to give the free advise from the experts (read: sale-eager-persons-on-commision) who are willing (read: desperate) to give you advise (read: pushing you into buyng a trillion of products from their brand). I normally dodge away from these promotions, even though I am a sell-declared fan (read:cheapskate) of free products.

With Koh I was willing to endure the consultation, as the state of my hands actually could use some advise. My poor mits have been aging too fast, the nails are peeling and breaking of at the smidge of a touch, even though I have been loading up on Biotin (the supposedly godsend supplement for brittle nails).

Koh is actually a beautiful brand that caters for women (and men as well, because they tried to manicure the husband of one of the women treated, who fled away looking at all the pampering and bottles declaring that manicures were something that was "not for him").

It is a Dutch brand that has a Japanese style, name and philosophy.

I think I was helped by one of the friendliest and gentlest persons of their department: she was actually giving good advise, gave a brilliant hand massage, and did not pressure me into buying anything...so I found myself even more willing to buy something.

Everything screems luxury...from the bag that was given to me to the boxes of the products...


A personalised advise...She advised a couple of products for me. The nail file would be the best thing for splitting nails, according to her. She said that filing the nails with the ultrafine file would prevent any moist and influences from outside penetrating into the nail, which would stop the splitting as well.


I tried so many products and strengtheners to prevent the nails from flaking and spitting, and it never helped. I was still cynical, however, the file looked really beautiful so I took the plunge.

So I bought the nail file. They had a brilliant discount of 10 euros, which made it affordable enough.

The information on the leaflet confirms what the saleswoman said to me as well...lets hope it will work:



My new crystal naile file...
It comes in one of those chopstick-style boxes...I like the fact that it has this sturdy, yet elegant style of packaging.

I had a crystal nail file at home, and Essie one. I think that Koh is even finer in texture. The Koh file is really large, though. I use the Essie for filing everything at one length, and the Koh file is the finishing and sealing touch.

Ohhh, I haven't shown you what my free product was...the goal of my visit to the counter! I could choose out of the whole collection of nail polishes, and chose a duochrome colour in green/purple. I will post pictures of the bottle soon, when the sun gets out and I can take a good picture.

For me it is fingers and nails crossed to see if I will get results from this file. Hopefully, I can see the good results within a month...

Kanebo Lavshuca Jewel Lips N RS-1 (shiny line)

Today I am going to give my two cents on the Kanebo Lavshuca Jewel lips, the newest version. Lavshuca has had the Jewel lips lipstick in their collection for quite a long time: at least for a cosmetic brand, because cosmetic lines seem to come with *new-and-improved* versions of products every time. It seems that their Jewel lips is a keeper in this department. Still, they added a couple of things to their Jewel Lipsticks so it can be sold with the extra *N*.

One of the newer things about their Jewel lips, is that they divided the lipsticks in to a Shiny line and a Color line: shiny is for the sheer and #of course# shiny lipsticks and the color line is probably a deeper version with more pigment.

After pondering if I would like to buy a shiny or a color one, I bought the shiny one. It is my very first Jewel line lipstick, so I cannot say how it compares to earlier versions.

I picked up a rosy version (RS), based on online swatches on their website (here). The RS1 looked a bit more neutral than the RS2, so I went for the neutral rosy.

It is my first Jewel lip purchase, and I found the lipstick to be quite tiny. Even I am not someone to complain about size oftenly, it still reminds me of one of those childrens cosmetics line lipstick that I used to have as a kid.

The benefit of this is that is is more portable and you have a better excuse to replace your lipstick, as it even might be finished one day. (not that I need any excuse for buying new lipsticks *blushes*).

Buying online based on swatches of the manufactor companies can be a risky business. The colour is a tad cooler than I expected. I surely do not mind this, as I have a neutral complexion and I can wear slightly warmer or slightly cooler colours. For a large category of Asian people, it would be better to include better swatches, because they tend to have a warmer skintone and are looking for neutral to warmer shades of lipsticks instead of the cooler ones.

I do like this colour: look close at this lipstick...it has blue shimmer or glitter parts on a mauve-rosy base that makes your lips look a bit fuller and has a slightly cooler surface. Oh, and blue undertones in your lipstick makes your teeth look whiter.

I made a swatch on my arm. It still appears warmer in this picture (and all 7 of the pictures I have attempted to make of this colour) than it is in real life. However, it shows the dewiness of the lipstick and the way the shimmer/glitter reflects the light. The base colour (the neutral rose) is also quite accurate.

So, it is not the biggest of lipsticks, but I understand why Lavshuca kept their Jewel Lipstick line in their collection for a couple of years. It is cute/kawaii, it is moisturizing enough, and it has some lovely shades for girls on the go. It is not my personal favourite of the Lavshuca collection: that is the Lavshuca Rouge Essence Bar. It is my second favourite, though.

I think it is more a lipsticks for girls, as I would find it a bit odd to top op my lipstick with such a lipstick in a mature (office etc) area. I would prefer to flash a more sophisticated tube such as the other Lavshuca lipsticks, Lunasol, Maquillage or such. However, in my daily life I do not have a 'mature' job yet, so I can flash this lippy with easy.

These are for sale at ichibankao and facial-shop.

Lakmé Enrich Matte Lip Color in 127

Yesterday I posted a review and swatches of the Lakmé eyeshadow quad in Peacock, that was part of the two items I bought online. Today I will show some swatches and give a review of the Lakmé Enrich Matte lip color in 127, which was a part of the Bridal Sutra Summer collection 2009.

Bridal Sutra sounds like a highly interesting name, but that might have to do with my lack of knowledge of Indian culture. So I went to the McDonalds of internet sources, Wikipedia, and found out that Sūtra literary means "a thread or line that holds things together". So, that explanation put my slightly naughty mind at ease and it makes it better to connect to the bridal part of the line. Now it really is a romantic name for a cosmetic launch, aww.

Back to the lipstick: it comes in a dark red tube with a matte exterior. In the middle is a gold line that has Lakmé on it with black letters.

When I opened the lipstick, it got stuck on the outside-tube-holder. That means that it does not look that pointed and pretty anymore.

The lipstick broke off on the top, unfortunately. I still posted this picture, as it is an excellent depiction of the colour. The colour is a mixture between old rose, mauve and beige. It looks quite natural compared to my own lip colour.

The next swatch came out a bit darker than it is in real life. It looks more close to the close up of the lipstick above. Still, you can see how it reflects light on the swatch on the skin.

The quality:

Well, I took a chance of ordering a Matte lipstick, because matte lipstick and I do not mix that great, normally. This lipstick is not that different. You really feel that you have something paperish and sandy on your mouth, so you have to put a lipbalm/gloss beneath or on top in order to feel confortable.

As for the scent...ugh. I find it highly perfumed, and not in the most fantastic way. I am used to the unscented Japanese lipsticks, or to the balmy, vanilla scent of Mac lipsticks. This, however, is a bit overscented in an old-fashioned manner.

It looks all right on my lips, even though it does not feel that confortable or smell that great. But it is not the best looking lipstick because of its matteness...it still has the tendency to creep in the fine lines of the mouth and it has this slightly unglossy cast that is not really my thing.

The colour, as I said before, is the best thing. It really is a soft mauvy, rosy colour that looks like a more flattering version of my lips. Too bad I have to add so much extra stuff in order to make this lipstick work for me.

Overall, I loved and adored the Lakmé eyeshadow palette I posted about yesterday, but I am not a fan of this product.

I bought this lipstick at the same webshop as I bought the Lakmé Peacock palette, over here: Bridal Sutra for $11.95 so it is not the greatest mispurchase ever.