Jill Stuart Mix Blush compact, T'estimo Grande Shine Eyes

Here's something else I ordered from a Spring 2009 collection - Jill Stuart Mix Blush Compact in 07 Lovely Tulip.

I got it off Gooddealer.com, the price is quite reasonable compared with the other online sites I usually visit. I also got two Majolica Majorca products to complete the order, more on those in another post.




The Jill Stuart packaging is just gorgeous, yes it is clear lucite but still manages to look and feel princessy.




The brush feels nice too, the bristles are soft and pick up the powder well. I do wish the bristles were longer and fuller though. The short bristles make it awkward to stipple on the blush. It kinda forces you to use a light hand, because a heavier hand with this brush may give you a unblended line of blush on the cheekbone.






Swatches of each colour:



Comparing swirled (left) with individual swatches:




Here's what the blush kinda looks like on. Its hard to capture the colour because the pinks are more of a glowy natural pink that gets washed out easily by the camera. I also didn't use much of the brightest pink, most of this was the lighter two pinks swirled together + some shimmer.




Miumiu requested that I do a look with the T'estimo palette I bought from Adam Beauty, so I wore it today as well.

The palette in question is T'estimo's Grande Shine Eyes in 04:

• Cream shimmer (no pigment just bits of shimmer)
• Sheer pink with pink shimmer
• Gray-purple shade with multicoloured shimmer
• Purplish-gray cream liner

Swatches: (in reverse order, beginning with the gel liner)



The palette is similar to the Frame Impact Eyes series, the only difference being the embossing on top of the powder shadows.

In terms of product quality, the shimmer is finer and more subtle than the Frame Impact series. However the pigmentation is not as good as Frame Impact Eyes. You'll see how light the pink colour is in the FOTD pictures even though I used a coloured base underneath (Shiseido Hydro-powder in Bare Pink).

The pink colour also fades quickly. I could try piling tons of it to show up on my lids, but even when I did so, with a base, the pink loses its vibrancy quickly. The gray purple shade is much better as it shows up easily, but the purple tones in the grey tend to be lost once on my eye. All the gorgeous multicoloured shimmer doesn't show up as well too when applied :/ These colours are the type that just look better in the pan...

The cream shadow, as with most Japanese palettes is usually useless to me so I didn't even bother touching it. The cream gel liner though is a dream to apply, it goes on smoothly. It does not smudge, but the lasting power cannot rival that of MAC Fluidlines. I don't mind though, I still love having it around because having a liner automatically included in the palette is so convenient!

Eyes:






Whole look with T'estimo, Jill Stuart, and MAC Popster tinted lip conditioner:





I'll be looking at the giveaway entries tomorrow and probably announcing the winner Monday.

Lunasol Full Glamour Gloss and a mail package!

Spring is finally almost here - it was a whopping 9 degrees Celcius today, haha :D Any day with a >0 Celcius weather is good for us Canadians :P I have a lot to catch up with blogging and comments! One of the things that I will tackle this weekend :)

Anyway for today I'm going to finally post about Lunasol'd Spring collection lipgloss :D I know its been a while since I bought it, but hey I'm not too late, at least spring is only just starting!

This is the Lunasol Full Glamour gloss in Lucent Purple 05




What attracted me most to the gloss was the swirly pattern, and the purple tones. I have a thing for collecting lip products in strange shades, such as MAC Spring Bean lipglass which is a nice bright green in the tube. It goes on sheer though so it looks more honey-ish....but I digress :)




The colour when swatched is quite sheer, and gives only the slightest hint of purple shimmer. In fact once on my rather pigmented lips it looked just like a clear gloss with multicoloured sparkle. It actually looks similar to Chanel's Galactic glossimer, but is slightly less shimmery.

Taken with flash - very subtle shimmer that is hard to capture in pictures.




Compared with the Chanel Glossimer in Galactic:

Similar effect, but the multicoloured shimmer is much more apparent than Lunasol's



In terms of Lunasol's Full Glamour formula, I do like how the gloss is only slightly sticky, as I can't stand super sticky glosses! Thats why I've stopped buying MAC lipglasses. I got tired of getting gloss all over my hair :P

The staying power is alright, nothing spectacular but its to be expected of non-sticky glosses. One thing that I'm sad about is that once you start using the gloss it mixes up the colour swirls. After repeated usage it will probably be evenly mixed and turn into a plain lilac colour...

Since the main featured colours from the Lunasol Spring collection were the purple shades, its not surprising that the gloss is now sold out in many locations. Right now the only place to purchase this that I know of, is Bonbon Cosmetics.

Overall I'd say the novelty and LE factor of the gloss is exciting, but the gloss itself is just a nice indulgence which is average in terms of formula. Its not bad, but its not mind-blowingly amazing either. For the price I would recommend Chanel's instead, but both products are LE so they're both hard to find.

Price: 2.5/5, typical HE gloss price
Packaging: 4.5/5, elegant packaging as usual
Performance: 3/5
Would repurchase: No - one is enough for the novelty factor. Not something I'd want backups of.

***

I received a lovely surprise in the mail this week, courtesy of Mayaari :D She had offered to send me a sample of her Dr. Jart BB cream, as I found her review of it quite compelling. I did not expect all the other gifts in the package though, it really made my day coming home from work to this:



Some Sanrio goodies - the Hello Kitty marshmallow pop was the cutest thing I'd ever seen, I almost felt it was too cute to eat at first!




Face products to try and a cute pink nailpolish! :)




Lashes - she just knew I'd always been lemming crisscross style lashes, but never 't had the chance to get any yet!




BB cream samples: She included Skinfood and L'egere as well!



Am super excited to try everything out this weekend! :D

P.S. Don't forget, the CK One giveaway ends in less than an hour! Thank you for all the lovely comments so far :)

CK One Giveaway!

Remember how CK One was a huge hit years ago? 15 years to be exact. I remember being in school then and how all my friends loved the scent and wanted to own a bottle, haha :D Well, Calvin Klein has recently relaunched the iconic fragrance CK One again!




According to the company, the relaunch of CK One is about bringing people together, regardless of their differences in age, culture, race or gender. Thus to celebrate the launch, they have created a Facebook page for fans to connect, as well as a Youtube channel where you can see the CK One campaign video, the making of the video and some other clips.

Not only is the original fragrance being relaunched, there is also a special limited edition mp3 bottle being released exclusively at Shoppers Drug Mart in Canada. It retails for CAD$60.00.

Now's your chance to get your own special edition bottle! The kind people behind the relaunch promo of CK One are sponsoring a giveaway to mark the Canadian launch. Simply enter using the widget at the bottom of this post with your name, email address, and poll question answer.

The giveaway is open to people with Canadian mailing addresses only (sorry US & intl readers!). Feel free to spread the word :) The draw closes in a week, Thursday March 26 at midnight EST. Winner will be drawn randomly and announced on Monday. Winner must contact me within 48 hours of me emailing them the good news.

Good luck!

MAC Grand Duos, Intense Eyes palette, and FOTD

Grand Duos was the first MAC collection I've been really excited about in a while. I missed out on last year's Sonic Chic collection because I was on a strict ban then, so I had to get some this time.

Out of the collection I had intended to buy Love Rock and Grand Duo, but I ended up getting Love Rock and Moon River instead.



I may still go back for Grand Duo though - am still debating it. Mineralized face products are my weakness...


Some closeups:

Moon River


Moon River's swirly side reminds me of Lightscapade MSF in appearance - it has blue and yellow mixed into it. The solid pink side is a pigmented but light coloured pink.


Love Rock


The swirly side of Love Rock is gorgeous, I love the purple mixed into it. The solid side is very pigmented purple toned pink, so a light hand is definitely needed for these.


Swatches:

L-R Moon River, Love Rock (solid side on left, swirly side on right)


You can't see it in the pictures but these do have quite a lot of shimmer. The shimmer is a bit larger than say Petticoat MSF, but it is not as bad as New Vegas MSF which was just large bits of gold glitter that I hated.


The MAC Suedette Intense Eyes palette is a recent buy off Ebay as the price was reasonable and the seller seemed trustworthy. It was released in 2006 as part of the Holiday Formal Black collection.



I think the concept for this collection was using different fabric types for each palette cover, in this case suedette. Out of the recent holiday palettes, I think the one with the best colours and packaging is the Formal Black one from 2006. Antiquitease 2007 was alright but I only really liked one palette from it, while the recent 2008 red gem palettes were boring, and downright ugly in terms of packaging.

Closeup:



Left column: Phloof!, Till Daybreak, Smut
Right column: With a Twist, Nightbird, Gallant

Swatches:



The colours are all gorgeous. I think this is the best palette MAC has done in terms of value for money because it has shades from the most common colour families. It has a good combination of shimmery and satin shades too without any matte shades (I hate mattes).


Today's FOTD:

Products used:
La Mer Fluid Foundation 01 Creme
Giorgio Armani Master Corrector #1
Giorgio Armani High Precision Retouch concealer #2
MAC Love Rock mineralized blush
MAC Suedette Intense Eyes palette (Phloof!, Gallant, and Smut)
Blinc Kiss Me mascara
MAC Strayin lipstick



For Love Rock, I used the solid side on the cheekbone and the swirly side to highlight the top of the cheekbones.



Also used the swirly side in the middle of the eyelid to blend MAC Gallant (outer corner purple) and MAC Phloof! (inner corner) together. It gives a nice shimmer to the centre of the eye.



Finally, used Smut to line the upper lashline.






Looking at the pictures, I thought Strayin was a bit too bright for this look, so I ended up wiping them off and going with a MLBB colour.


Thats about it for today. Hope you're all enjoying your weekend!

Quick note...

Victoria's Secret has the Clarisonic skincare brush for $80 + shipping - check it out! (Source - Dealsea)

I don't know if and how much shipping to Canada costs though - let me know if you find out!

Sana: Nameraka Honpo essence & Konuka Moist toner

**Correction - I checked the Nameraka honpo essence and it DOES contain alcohol - thanks to Audrie for letting me know! Fortunately it doesn't dry my skin at all so it must be present at a low concentration only.

I have a long overdue Adam Beauty haul to update on - from November last year :P



That was when I got the following;

• Mandom Cleansing Express Moist
• Sana Nameraka Honpo Essence
• Sana Konuka Moist Lotion (also known as Rich Skin Lotion. Its a toner)
• Koji No. 100 Accent curler (a mini curler)
• T'estimo Grande Shine Eyes in 04

If you ask him, Adam Beauty does do some custom orders but only if the products are available to him. The Koji lash curler was not on his website but I asked him if he could get it and the price was quite reasonable. His price was close to retail, when I asked for a quote from another popular online store theirs was almost twice his price!

Anyway for today I'm reviewing the Sana products since I've had quite a while to try them out.




First, the Nameraka Honpo Essence, which is from their soy isoflavone line Nameraka honpo.




Comes in a light yellow bottle, the opening is narrow so you can still control the amount to dispense.




Official retail price in Japan is 150mL for 1260yen. Its a light milky lotion which is supposed to have a higher concentration of soy isoflavones to make your skin soft and supple.

The essence feels a bit runny, but if you have oilier skin it could be used alone as a moisturizer. Actually I find when I pair it with the Konuka toner, which is very hydrating, they are both sufficient as a moisturizer for my drier skin. It tends to dry slowly, so I would recommend using at night or if you're not in a hurry to apply makeup afterwards.

One of the reasons I bought this was because it is is fragrance free and alcohol free. Back in November my skin was extremely sensitive due to the weather change and this product was a good change from the overpriced, over-fragranced moisturizers I had been using then.

So far I haven't noticed significant benefits from this product but I like it because it does its job well as a night moisturizer for me without the heavy feel that other night moisturizers have. I would definitely repurchase it also because the idea of having the benefits of soy in my skincare routine just sounds good :)


The Konuka Moist Lotion is a hydrating toner from their rice ceramide line Konuka.




Its a clear, slightly thick liquid that comes in a pump type bottle:



Official retail price in Japan is 180mL for 1155 yen. Its a product that you would use prior to moisturizing. Its referred to as a toner or lotion on several sites, but it is actually a hydrating toner that helps prep the skin for moisturizer (see this post by blogger Phyllis on Asian toners)

The product comes in two versions - the regular and the extra rich version. I bought the extra rich version, since I figured my sensitive dry areas (cheeks) could really use some help. I use it all over my face except for the T-zone area, since that area tends to get oily anyway.

What I like most about it is how it really helps hydrate my skin in winter. The extra moisture that I get with this product allows me to use my summer lotions into winter instead of having to search for another moisturizer. I tried deciphering the ingredient list and though I wasn't able to translate all of it, the top two ingredients are water and glycerine, hence the highly moisturizing nature of the product.

Again, like the Nameraka line the Konuka line is also fragrance and alcohol free, making it ideal for sensitive skin.

Would I repurchase? Yes definitely. In fact I'm eyeing the other products from both lines. I've been waiting for my DHC washing powder and cleansing oil to run out so I can try the Nameraka cleansing oil and the Konuka face wash.


P.S. Does anyone want to swap or sell their MAC Pandamonium quad? I'd been lemming that quad for ages, forgot about it until recently and am now very tempted to buy it off eBay...unless anyone doesn't want theirs?

Outlet shopping

For once, I have a haul post thats actually current! :P I went to Niagara this weekend and stopped by the outlets on the US side. The mall was actually less exciting than I remembered (or maybe my tastes have just changed) so I didn't spend much time there. Its an old looking mall with the standard outlet stores like Coach, Ralph Lauren, Banana Republic...etc. I did get a few things though:




Earmuffs at the Burberry outlet:



The outside is made out of cashmere and shearling, keeps my ears nice and warm :)


From Coach, a tote bag in their Optic Signature fabric. I've actually told myself I don't want Coach anymore but I couldn't help this because 1. I've been needing a larger bag for a while now, but nothing else from other stores have caught my eye so far; and 2. It was on sale! :P

It came in white too (similar to the sling bag I got from Woodbury Outlets last time) but yellow just seemed right this time, maybe because I'm looking forward to summer....






Finally a CCO haul of course:



L-R: Fafi Powder blush in Hipness, Blushcreme in Blossoming, Beauty Powder blush in True Romantic.






The MAC selection at this CCO was quite crappy compared to others I've heard about. Here's what they had that I could remember:

MAC:
Eyeshadows: Blanc Type, Poison Pen, some Starflash colours, all Neo Sci Fi colours, Trip 4 palette.
Pigments: Gilded Green, Off the Radar, burgundy pigment from Overrich, Dark Soul, Lovely Lily, Sweet Sienna
Blush: some Beauty Powder blushes from last year's collection, X-Rocks and Spaced Out from Neo Sci Fi, Melba powder blush, Sweet William blushcreme...and some more that I can't remember. I was surprised they still had Emote too.

Nordstroms Color Forms palettes & cheek products
Mattene lipsticks from Cult of Cherry, and Poise from 2007
Microfine Refinisher and some other skincare products
Studio Tech powders, and their stick foundations & concealers

Bobbi Brown:
Copper Diamond Shimmerbrick
Shimmering Nudes palette
Pink Raspberry palette
empty lip palettes
black carry case

Clinique:
In Bloom blushes - tons of colours
various moisturizers and creams, including the Moisture Surge one (but it didn't seem that cheap to me at US$25 with the current exchange rate)

I was really hoping to score some mineralized blushes or brushes from MAC but oh well. Crappy selection really saved my wallet :P Ahhh....the best outlet shopping ever was still at Woodbury Premium outlets in NJ. If only it were closer :)