Splurge! Dior Addict Extreme Paparazzi & Laura Mercier Second Skin Cheek Colour Rose Petal

Not a very recent splurge but one that took place before my recent blogging hiatus, I fell in love with the idea of the Dior Addict Extreme lipstick in Lucky when I saw it on a number of blogs and was determined to buy it as soon as I could.  In the meantime I dealt with my immediate need for a sheer, glossy, balm like lipstick by buying Revlon Lip Butter in Raspberry Pie.  As you know I do try to not splurge too often, my budget isn't limitless and I like to get a lot of bang for my buck.  So when I did finally check out the Dior Addict Extreme lipsticks I just couldn't justify buying Lucky, the colour was just too similar, or if not similar, not different ENOUGH to warrant spending £24 on.  But I wanted one!  (horribly in touch with my inner two year old, I know)  After swatching all of them on the back of my hand the one I kept coming back to was Paparazzi and even whilst I knew that such an expensive lipstick should be purchased in a very wearable, every day shade Paparazzi's juicy berry'ness was really calling my name!

In shade

In direct light - more colour accurate

It does feel lovely to wear, the usual balm like texture all of this sort of lipstick share and no discernible taste or smell.  I did also buy a Bobbi Brown lip pencil to wear with this as my lips do really need some defining although I still cant decide whether a defined edge, even blended out, really works with a sheerer lipstick and I think it affects the colour even if it is only slightly.  All in all £24 well spent, I am crazy about the packaging and I completely love my splurge lippy!

Blusher has long been an absolute minefield for me.  Even when I seem to think I have found my hg I catch sight of my reflection in the wrong light and it looks shocking.  Now that my beloved Estee Lauder Double Wear light has dealt with my foundation issues I feel much better able to deal with the blusher situation and on my birthday shopping spree in Leeds I decided that a really good blusher was top of my list.  

I had Nars in mind when I set out but couldn't find one that really worked on me, they were too opaque and just too "blusher" rather than "natural ethereal glow only gained from brisk exercise, a healthy diet and a love of quiet living" (oh yes I demand a lot from my make up!) This wasn't helped by the fact that the lovely girl on the Nars counter grabbed a big, huge, massive brush, swirled it generously in a bright, candy pink blush and then, kill me please, splodged it right on to the fattest bit of my cheek and made roundy swoshing motions.  It was all I could not to slap her hand away!  It was only then I took a look at her blusher.  Should have done that first as this was clearly her "technique".  

I blended it in as much as I could and beat a hasty path to the Laura Mercier counter.  This was staffed by a porcelain skinned beauty wearing the most flattering and subtle make up I have ever seen on a Sales Assistant, made the ladies on the MAC counter look like jaded harlots.  She spent a couple of minutes looking at my colouring and skin tone, insisted that pink not peach was the way to go - which was what I was wanting to hear - and put a delicate hint of Rose Petal right where I wear my blusher - more of a contour than on the apple of my cheeks.  I was instantly smitten and couldn't get my purse open fast enough.

I know it looks really quite peachy here but its pink, I promise!

Rose Petal is beautiful it gives an incredibly sheer wash of colour like no other blusher I have ever worn and which is exactly what I want in a blusher.  I am too prone to pinkness and colouring up to want to add too much in the way of colour, the hint of a flush Rose Petal gives is perfect and I would strongly recommend Laura Mercier blusher to any pale skinned readers looking for that effect.  It wasn't until I got home that I remembered that Strawberry Blond had once said that the Laura Mercier Second Skin Cheek Colours would be exactly what I was looking for in the way of blush - not only is she gorgeous, she knows her stuff!

So here they are then, the two of them in action!

Bloody glasses really mark my face - should NOT have gone to Specsavers.

This one probably shows the blusher off best

And this one the lipstick, and my rather sleepy looking left eye. God I am weird looking!

 The blusher is £20.50 and for me worth every penny!

Models Own Blusher brush

Having found my hg blusher (MAC Tenderling) and been taught where I should be applying my blusher I have been on a quest to find a shaped, or angled, blusher brush that didn't cost the earth.  I was in Boots last week reeling from the disappointment of discovering that the Debenhams at the White Rose centre didn't have Butter London and that the Boots wasn't carrying the Sally Hanson Complete Salon Manicure range and was laying on the floor kicking and screaming and just having a general tantrum when I spotted the rather garish Models Own Blusher Brush.  It's bright orange, with a rather weird Orange top, look

But it does have an angled head and it was £8.50.  It comes in a plastic wallet with one of those sliding, zip type, closers which I didn't think too much of at the time but of course is fantastic if you want to take your brush with you, don't own a handbag sized make up bag and dont want your lovely new blusher brush covered in old polos, bits of used tissue and the nasty detritus that gathers in the bottom of your handbag.  

What they say:

Looking for a way to create super defined and glamorous cheekbones? Our professional Angled Blush Brush is perfect for creating a fantastically sculpted look. The slanted shape of this brush offers precision contouring, is soft on your skin and is perfect for accentuating your features!

As the zippy closer thing was effectively locked by the plastic tag I wasn't able to feel the brush in the shop but frankly assumed that for £8.50 it might not be the nicest of brushes but it would give me a chance to find out if having the sloping shaped head would help with contouring and if so I could then spend shed loads more on a better quality brush.  As it happens its a cracking brush, its really soft and does a brilliant job of getting my blusher right where I want it and it really does help with the whole contouring job.  Bear in mind that with my face I'm not highlighting my stunning bone structure, more hoping to suggest to a casual glance that my face isn't actually as round as a football by painting a stripe of brown across each cheek, a la Lohan.  Well hopefully not quite like Ms Lohans infamous court appearance "corpse" face but you get my drift.  Previously I was using a big poofy powder brush which applied my blusher in a big poofy splodge on my big poofy cheeks.  This lovely brush sort of flicks the blusher up towards my eye and nose, creating a nice soft flush whilst giving a nice clean finish underneath, I am sure if you wanted to create absolute facial hollows in terms of contouring this brush would be up for it.  Did I mention it was only £8.50?!  And even the initially jarring shade of orange has turned into a boon, it's incredibly easy to spot my blusher brush lurking in the depths of my make up bag even when I am half asleep as it gives off a sort of glow. It doesn't, but its almost bright enough to.  So yep, love this and if you are looking for an affordable, neon, angled blusher brush this is your man. You can buy it here from Models Own here btw, where its only £8!

MAC Tenderling Sheertone Blush

After asking the utterly gorgeous Strawberry Blond for some tips on where a well feed face should apply its blusher she replied with a couple of links to You Tube videos showing how to contour and where you should put your blush. The Sam Chapman Contouring video was exactly what I needed, so good I had a go at contouring with Em's bronzer and whilst the colours were way off the effect was what I was after - out of the chub cheekbones appeared, well sort of!

Throughout the video Sam uses MAC Tenderling for her contouring.  Much googling later and I was pretty certain that it was exactly what I was looking for in a blush.  This is a hard thing to describe as the poor MAC SA in the Trafford Centre today found out!  I wanted to check that I wasn't totally wide of the mark with Tenderling so asked her if I could try it, she went to the stand and dithered about for a bit til I point it out to her (guessing she was relatively new!) and then told me it was much too pale for me and wouldn't show.  She tried to tempt me with Gingerlily (I think, it was very orange to my eye) then another that had shimmer, shimmer, she soon learned, was out, and in the end I relented and let her apply a sweep of a shade she thought would work on me.  At this point I was able to explain that the particular shade was exactly the colour I go when I am too hot and therefore made me looked flushed and uncomfortable.  She nearly tutted but did a commendable job of holding it in!  I then politely requested that she apply a bit of Tenderling to my other cheek. 

This is my MAC Tenderling being rained on, propped up on the dustbin by the back door so you can see the actual colour!  To my eye its the powder equivalent of Uncommon which I adored in a cream blush and which MAC decided to remove from their range. Bastards.  I loved that blusher, even if occasionally it mixed itself up with my foundation and gave me muddy cheeks!

This gives me just the merest hint of warmth.

 

And I completely love it! I am also wearing Clinique colour correction yellow stick, Clinique Moisture Surge Tinted moisturiser and Clinique Colour Correction powder in these pics, as you can see not as much pink as usual. Still promise a proper post on these soon.

Sleek Scandalous Blush - quick heads up

Nipped into Superdrug to check this out on Saturday.  Had had a quick dip into a pot of Maybelline's new primer - which is basically exactly the same in texture and effect as Lancane anti-chaffing gel (a hint I got from the very clever Liplossiping!).  So anyway this is on my hand when I spot the red blush, had a dip into that to swatch on my hand thinking it was going to be a nightmare only to find that it was incredibly blendable and could be taken down to give a really nice sheer finish.  Was well impressed.  Then remembered the primer was on that hand and so tried it on the other.  Ah, maybe not!  Once it was on it was on and not going anywhere, rub all you like! So def one to use in moderation!

Sleek Scandalous Blush

 

FOTD - Sin and Hustle

Eyes - UDPP, Sin on lower lid, Hustle into crease, Darkhorse upper and lower lash line, smidge of naked below lower lash line to soften.  L'Oreal telescopic mascara. Clinique ultra fine brow pencil in soft brown.

Face - Bobbi Brown Moisturising foundation (its an on/off love affair and I can't commit!) MAC creamblush in Lilicent and Pixi highlighter (so not me, so loving it!)

Lips - Bobbi Brown lip pencil in Cocoa, Creamy lip colour in Heather Buff.

Sin is super shimmery so decided any brow highlighting would be a lily gilded.  Hustle is lovely, blended into sin it takes on an almost purpley hue, very soft and neutral looking.  Seriously have never had so much fun doing my eyes!  

Pixi Wakeup kit - review and swatches

Mixed feelings about this if I am being honest. It was a purchase made in desperation, which we all know is never a good idea but the eye shadows were what I was really after so I wasnt too bothered about the glosses and the highlighter blush and bronzer.



On the whole I quite like the eye shadows. I think perhaps the palette is aimed at a younger user - in spite of its creator being nearer my age than 17! All of the shadows are shimmer or glitter not a single matt to be had and I think that really lets this collection down.
Taken outdoors, no flash. First impressions are good; a nice range of colours most of them neutral so pretty much what I was looking for, as a born again eye shadow wearer I am still taking baby steps! I knew immediately that the top 2 rows would be relatively untroubled by me, cant wear pink on my eyes without looking like a rabbit with myximatosis (is that spelt right?). The bottom two rows seemed to be much more what I was looking for.

Top row swatched:

Not exactly fab are they? Much shimmer and dry and clumpy, first impressions were right these ones wont see much in the way of active duty.


Row 2 very similar, not fab colour pay-off and again clumpy and in that first one the glitter/shimmer is chunky in a dry base. Gad am crap at this sort of stuff, hopefully the photos are speaking for me!


Rows 1 and 2 in the palette for comparison.


This is row 3. The very last one, that in this photo looks very dry is one of my 4 faves. It is a bitch for fall out, first time I used it I had a cheek full of dark brown shimmer, stunning look! Have found it best to pat this on with my finger and then blend with a brush so as not to skite it all round my face. Apart from the first one this row of shadows is a wildly different texture to the first 2 rows, all of them are much smoother, although the fifth retains a bit of the clumpy dryness which is a shame.


Row 4 and home to the other 3 faves, which are the first, fourth and fifth. The first is a warm gold shimmer with a nice smooth texture, hallelujah!, fourth is a taupe shimmer again really smooth and the one that I am going to use up first and fifth is a darker taupe with the least shimmer of all. The 2nd and 3rd shadows are also very smooth shimmers in nice shades but more for use as highlighters than colour and there is only so much high shine pale shimmer a girl can use. Especially when that "girl" is 44 with eyelids like an alligator.

Rows 3 and 4 in palette for comparison:


And my fave 4 together clockwise starting with lightest is 1st on row 4, then taupe from 4th row, darker taupe from 4th and finally the darkest is 5th from row 3. Nice but not exactly £27 worth of fabulousness are they?!


So thats the eye shadows. Now for the lip glosses.


Row 1


Row 2

In a word? Pants. Just shocking, sticky and the only ones that do anything are all glittery and orange looking. Vile.

Now for the highlighter, bronzer and blusher.


Highlighter and bronzer


Highlighter and blush


These are clearly not my colours at all and I am very anti applying coloured powder to my face - blush is always cream for me. That said I think these could be wearable on a younger face especially the hightlighters. although they are a bit sparkly for a grown up. All four powders have a lovely silky feel although the bronzer doesn't blend so that could be scary on!

To be completely honest I am not impressed. Pixi is the creation of a make up artist and as such I would have expected a much better palette, the eye shadows are 50% unuseable and because there are no mattes the only option is to create shimmer eyes so not much range really. The shadows that play nice are lovely and that just makes it harder to understand why the others are so clumpy and dry. The glosses are egregiously bad and a real let down if you had bought this palette hoping to use them. Blusher, bronzer and highlighter sort of had to be there to make this a "wake up" palette and whilst I wont use them I think on a younger face they might actually be the stars of the show. So the quest for my hg palette continues. But only until I get my hands on the UD Naked palette and then that quest can happily come to an end. Am going to start saving so I can purchase the minute it appears. Or, if I am truly lucky I might win it from the advent giveaway that Lipglossing was running in the run up to Christmas!!

Trafford Centre Haul!!

Had a FANTASTIC time with Em at the Trafford Centre, although it is like shopping in hell - I have never shopped anywhere that is hotter, its bloody ridiculous.

Warning - photo heavy post! Got the "grown up" camera out, had great fun and took millions!



Got suede boots - Next microfibre stretchy, giant calf accommodation ones with a wedge heel, MAC Lillicent Blushcreme, having wavered on the Uncommon and than let the SA loose with Lillicent and her foundation/creme blush brush. Loved the colour and the application so I bought the brush too - fck me £25, oops! Does make my very old face look flawless though so it could be worth its weight in gold! But you are all sworn to secrecy, Steve must never know!


(embarrassed cough! - thats the brush, right there! shhhhh!)


business end








Em got a fab handbag, although there was a moment when she thought they hadn't got them and the bottom lip was coming out! Luckily I asked the SA on the MAC counter and she pointed us in the right direction, Em was so relieved she hugged her!





and a lush lip gloss, although secretly think she was happier with the huge yellow Selfridges bag than anything that was in it!






Nice top from Next too that I hadn't planned, Barry M Nail Art crackle from Superdrug and 2 new MUA eyeshadows, a pale green for me and a vivid purple for Em. She bought us tapas for lunch - lush!


I mean please, for a quid, how fab is this?











And then we hit Boots; an hygienic nose and ear trimmer (for Steve, honest injun!) and decided that as a straighten my hair every day now I needed a heat protecting spray, rather than spend a fortune (kept remembering that MAC brush lurking in my bag and breaking out in a cold sweat!) I opted for the Boots Expert heat protection spray and got one of their clarifying shampoos too as once a week I like to lather my hair in something containing masses of SLS and other toxic crap just to make sure its really clean! And with my £5 voucher I got myself the Boots No 7 eye shadow brush, having read this just before I left, great recommendation Fee, thanks!



Em spotted a stand with Britney Spears Circus on it for £10 instead of £20 with one bottle left, not for long though ...... yoink....!



I love spending time with my baby girl, how lucky am I that she is a shopping maniac who is more into make up than me, bless her!