Springtastic

I have been having a haul-modest week, I think. The weather has been sweet and I have been exploring my large stash of happy coloured lipsticks to match the weather. I have been loving my Nars Niagara lipstick a lot: which is a bit dry compared to the smoothness of several Japanese brands, but it is opaque enough for the vividness of the corally pink to shine through.

Another sunny haul that arrived was my silknaturals.com products. I blog a lot about Japanese and Korean cosmetics, but I still love the small mineral makeup companies in the US.

Silknaturals is one of my favourites, as they make wonderful lipsticks that flatter even the strangest skintones (mine, for example). And their pigments are often Mac dupes, but of a more natural quality, which my sensitive skin likes. And her shipping is really fast, especially for international girlies, so my cosmetic craving takes often less than a week to satisfy...


I ordered a small haul which consisted of the two latest lipsticks in Mirabelle and Whirlwind, 2 blush samples in Drama (MAC emote clone) and Gemini (NARS orgasm-like) and received a free eyeshadow in Pink Twink (the fun thing is that EVERYONE receives a free sample if you purchase over $10, which is such a lovely deal).


I also threw in a couple of skin serums in Oatmeal and Rose, which are both suitable for a sensitive skin. I am always on the lookout for good samples for my ...(fill in any age)...-something skin.

The Pink Twink looks more brownish than pink, but Silknaturals prides themselves for making age-friendly makeup which looks flattering and not clashing. It makes a wonderful colour for on the lid.

The Gemini blush looks really vivid. The glitters are a bit too much for me, but I think it would be a dream for lots of bloggers to wear a colour like this, especially when you enjoy several NARS colours. I think it is really pretty, but I would love to see this in a lipstick instead of on my cheeks. It looks lovely applied with a light hand, and having buffed away the glitters.

I haven't tried the original Mac Emote yet, but I am adoring the Drama colour. I was 'blessed with an enormous 'bump' on the side of my nose after eating too much bad food, and after concealing I removed the redness but still had the bump. Drama limited the 'drama' of having an extra nose (which is how my boyfriend called it...há) by concealing its 'bumpiness'. So, I have to buy this in full-size, or I have to visit the mac counter for the real thing...

Whirlwind lipstick is supposed to be a clone of the discontinued Mary Kay Pink Pout lipstick. I am not familiar with Mary Kay but the colour itself was supposed to be a cult colour. It was described as a 'rosey mauve with hints of brown' which suited my preference...

Mirabelle is descibed as a 'true warm peach shade'. It looked like a stunning pinky coral in the swatches at silknaturals, so I threw it in my cart as well. They retail for $4.50 which is a steal for such lovely lipbalms.

The swatches look different on my skin than seen at their site. The Mirabelle looks really warm, which is a bit of a pity. It is still a lovely lipbalm, though.

Continuing to springtastic talk: these little fellow have been my street buddies in the neighbourhood. They are sooo tiny, and so cute! I think they are siblings, as they stick with the same mother. Mother was quite protective when I took pictures of them.

I love this about spring, all the cute baby animals and flowers and vivid colours...

Shiseido Maquillage Face Creator 33 (Spring 2009)

I have been eyeing up several items from the Spring collection of the Japanese cosmetic brands. One of them was the Face Creator from Shiseido Maquillage.

Shiseido Maquilage decided to vamp up their line for Spring 2009. They choose for a sophisticated but feminine silvery pink exterior for their products. Their promotion pictures have the same colour as their cases. They also picked up a bunch of pretty models in order to promote their latest products.


Each of the models represent a certain kind of look. You have the Neo Romantic, Neo Elegant, Neo Noble, Neo Stylish and Neo Glamourous. If you go to the maquillage website, you can see the various models and their highly airbrushed faces.

I will show you the two faces that are made up with the blush I bought.I absolutely love the looks, but I do not consider it to be very representative of how it would look in real life on me. The pictures are really photoshopped and I could not really identify the colours that I swatched from the pictures.

Anyway, thanks to my new Shiseido Maquillage Face Creator in 33 I have the tool to create a Neo Elegant and a Neo Romantic Face ;P.

Let's go to see the Face Creator in real life! As you can see, it comes in a beautiful silvery pink (slightly lilac) case with a big M on top of it.

When you open the case, you will see a plethora of colours. I really like the idea of sculpting your face into perfection, hence the name Face Creator instead of blush. Although, I am not sure to use all of the colours on my face every time. I have the same with eyeshadows which come in quints...I love them, but I end up using just two or three of them.

Maquillage absolutely had a plan when creating a face palette like this. On their website you can find a small tutorial of how to put the colours on your face in order to create a perfectly modelled face.

Each colour, therefore, has a special function. The whiter colours are basically meant for highlighting (no 1 and 2). The brownish colour (no 4) is meant for adding shadows to the face, or sculpting the face. Colours no 3 and 4 are meant for blush purposes.

The whitish higlighting colours are almost the same, except that no. 1 is a bit of a warmer white and no. 2 has a tad more pink in it, and is a bit sheerer in consistency.

The third colour is a lovely brownish peach. Colour 4 is a silvery brown, I am not sure if I would pick this colour for contouring, because I like my contouring colours to be more matte (to make it look more realistic). I do like it for a alternative bronzer colour.

No. 5 is a muted peachy brown (instead of a browny peach ;D)

The next picture is taken with flash. As you can see, they are shimmery, but not in your face glitterly or sparkly. I really like this for creating a sophisticated face.

I love the colours. I had expected to find more mauvy colours based on the pictures I saw online at Maquillage's site and at blogger Apo is Apple. I still like them...they have a peachy hint of colour, leaning to the cool side.

The pigmentation level is average. I did had to pile up the colour on my brush in order to make the swatches show up decently. It is not hyper pigmented such as the Bihada Ichizoku blush or the Benefit Coralista, but that would mean less mistakes and a better opportunity to layer your blush/sculpter/highlighter into a natural face instead of a made-up face. I absolutely love the quality of the colours: they are finely milled and have a glowing quality...so flattering!

The palette retails for approximately $50 (it depends on the website or ebay-seller you are buying it from). Therefore, I find the palette to be a bit expensive, at least more expensive than I would normally spend on a blush. On the other hand, it is a blush with benefits...as it has highlighters and sculpting powders in it as well. And, it is a unique product which I haven't seen from other cosmetic companies yet. Plus, the case is really pretty!

Overall, I am really delighted with this purchase. I might pick up the 11 because it looked really pretty on fuzkitty's blog, or the 22 for curiosity's sake. Anyway, If I would do so, I will be buying a refill only (one case is enough).

Spring anticipation: my first purchases from spring collections

One of the great thing about the change of seasons is...actually...change itself! I love change, especially positive change, and I cannot think of a more positive season as the lovely spring waiting to stick its head behind Winter's grumpy head.

Spring is light, spring is hopeful, Spring is the Obama of the seasons...

I also love the change in clothing and makeup. Actually, I even prefer makeup, because you can put on a spring-loving face even if winter is still forcing you to stay in your confortable sweater and tights.

My very first spring item I purchased has been the Coffret d'Or Shine Accent Eyes in 01 Orange Spring. I did not buy this based on the reviews this time, because I had read (on Rouge Deluxe) that they were not very pigmented at all. It was a bit of a gut feeling and a longing for lightness that I was drawn to the iridescence of the palette. As for the colours...I love the way how a tinge of peachness brings out the green in my eyes, so I picked the palette with a peachy colour and a golden glittery colour.

Okay, it is showtime....It has been waiting for two weeks now and my dear Coffret d'Or needs to show its beautiful face right now.

I like the colours. I consider the peachy colour on the left and the brownish colour on the right to be my favourites. Both are shimmery and very soft.

The White colour on top is almost matte with a few sparkles: I know that Japanese palettes often include a white highlighter like this, but it is not my fave.

The glittery gold in the centre is a cream-like formula. I am not sure about this yet...I need to test it a bit further.

Same colours, different angle.

I consider this palette to be a neutral with a twist. I think it will make a lovely look on the days when I go to University to follow some of my new courses (soon, which is another thing I am looking forward to).

In addition, I felt the need to buy a lipgloss today...and so I did. I was slightly influenced (actually heavily) by several pictures of Fuzkitty and her love for Dior.

I was happy to notice that my favourite shop had their Spring collection of Christian Dior in store. Sometimes it takes ages for our country to stock up on seasonal collections: I see swatches posted on several blogs months before I can finally see and buy it myself, but this time they are not late at all.

I already saw swatches of the Dior Spring edition on Karlasugar's super swatch blog. Karlasugar makes amazing swatches on her arm...I always wonder how the salespersons look at her when she walks out the store with complete collections drawn on her arm....or she might actually be a salesperson on a cosmetic floor and walks out in her break to make pictures. Anyway, back to me...LOL, and my Dior lipgloss.

Ok, I saw Karlasugar's swatches and was completely convinced that 657 Pink Satin would become my new love...my ultimate My Lips But Better Nude lipgloss. Oh boy oh boy, was I right! It is a pinky nude with reddish glimmers inside....

But first, the box...I love the Blue tinge of the Dior box...

I like to tote around several Japanese, aka unknown to this region, kind of lip products...very niche. Now I have a completely recognizable lipgloss in my purse. By the way, it is my first full-size Dior lipgloss.

Most people are quite familiar with Dior, but I still want to show you what I like about this gloss. The aplicator is a brush instead of a felt tip: I love this system for applying lipgloss. A spongy applicator can sometimes be a pain for applying a large dose (you have to keep on scooping in your tube).

Glossy, non-sticky, a reddish nude with reddish and gold glimmer particles inside. Yes, it is pigmented which is a good thing for my very pigmented red lips...It tones them down a notch and looks more...harmonic...

Last picture...all of the swatches of my new Spring products together. Great for a pulled-together neutral look!

Etude Smile Cheek pearls

The rarest things in the world, next to a spirit of discernment, are diamonds and
pearls.

~Jean de la Bruyere, translated from French

He he, today I felt the urge to start my blog post with some pearls...ehm...words of wisdom. Don't worry, I will do a normal review about the latest Etude House Smile Cheek pearls I arrived in my latest gmarket-haul.

One of my recent hauls was one of the covet-worthy items of the new Etude House collection: the Etude Smile Cheek pearls from their "I can't Stop Smiling" winter collection. Indeed, the item is very smile-worthy.

It starts with the cute white box that is adorned with a pink heart, multi-colored cartoon faces and the in-love-worthy text that says: "I can't stop smiling".

It is a cardbox type very similar to Benefit's larger blushers, such as Dandelion, Georgia, Thrrrob and Dallas.

I love the "I can't stop smiling"-words: it reminds me of the first feeling of being in love, when you cannot wipe the smile of your face. As Etude target market is aimed at teenagers and younger women, I certainly find this to be good marketing strategy (I remember being in love constantly as a teenager..LOL).

So, my first hunch about the pearls is that it would try to recreate the glow that you would have when a. being in love or b. having a giggling fit with your buddies.

On the side of the box is some information about the pearls. The product claims to create "cheeks that smile"...So, was it a product for cheeks only (aka a blush)???


Let's open the box... The powder puff is extremely girly in baby pink. It has a pink ribbon on top and lots of feathers that spread to the side. It looks utterly cute, but would it be handy for applying the powder?

The back of the fluffy brush looks more handy for applying makeup. It reminds me of a teddy bear type of fur. I really wanted to capture the colours of the pearls on the puff, but the only thing that is showed on the next picture is a bit of a cast on the pink puff.

Overall, the puff looks cute, but it is not really handy for picking up pigment and applying it on your face in a precise manner.

Let's take a look at the pearls: The pearls consist of a mix of peach, white, pink, purple and the occasional greenish-blue pearl. They have a slight glow when you look at them.

I find them to be really gorgeous to look at...

However, looks are not everything. Will they actually be able to create the "smiling cheeks" that Etude claims they would make?

When you look at the separate pearls, it does not seem to be much of a blush colour. I think it would be better for highlighting of brightening purposes.

I swatched each colour separately. I really rubbed them several times on my dry hands, so they might look more chalky than they actually are.

I find them to be a bit scary looking when you swatch them separately. However, together they create a wonderful brightening powder.

Unfortunately, my camera could not pick up the subtile difference it could make on my skin, so I cannot provide any good pictures of this. But, as I mentioned before, it is more a brightening product that you can layer over your base makeup.

I do not find it to be very glowy or shimmery at all, so it might dissapoint everyone that was looking for a blush-type of colour or a product that functions as a shimmery/glowy/pearly highlighter. I think it is best to compare this to Guerlain Meteorites, only more matte. However, I have no Meteorites at home so I cannot really compare.

I really like this "smiling" product for adding brightness to my face. I am not too fond of everything overtly shimmering on the entire face, so that would explain my enthousiasm. The cuteness factor is really important as well. It is so nice to look at.

I bought this baby on gmarket for approximately $10 (exclusive shipping),unfortunately, etudehouse is not represented on gmarket anymore, Poooh!

Edited: Kathi commented that Etude House is available as seller etudegmark . That is such a relief...he he. Thanks Kathi for the update!!!!