Showing posts with label blush. Show all posts
Showing posts with label blush. Show all posts

Tuesday, March 27, 2012

Sephora + Pantone Universe Blush Duo Review (Coral/Desert Flower)


As someone on MUA said RUN do not walk to Sephora to get this item (of course I found out about it on MUA). Saw some swatches that looked very very pretty and lust took over. I've been trying my luck with orangey and peachy blushes for a while but I haven't found anything that quite works for me. I've so far bought and swapped away Nars Gilda and Illamasqua Excite which are both beautiful colours but they pull a shade of  orange that does not really suit me. I've been lusting after Illa Lover for months now but am too afraid to get it since it's another beautiful peachy colour that probably will not work for me.
Onto the Pantone collection- well there are two blushes included in the palette- a matte blush and a shimmery one.  On Sephora's website image  the matte (Desert Flower) looks very peachy and the shimmery (Coral)looks well coral. I searched for swatches online and from what I could tell Coral was a very pigmented blush in the NARS Orgasm family (peachy pink with gold shimmer) and that's my kind of blush- <3 everything peachy pink:) I figured, this gives me the opportunity to try a shade that's similar to Illa Lover and then I'll have another shade that I was sure I'll love and so I clicked Complete purchase on Sunday night! 
Guess what was waiting for me this morning- a Huge Sephora Box ( really, it was humongous, and full of paper as a filler, what a waste!

PACKAGING: The outer packaging/box is a little excessive/gimmicky but soooo beautiful! I will definitely keep the box :) The blush is huge! Like probably twice the size I'd had in mind (should start checking dimensions and weight when I buy stuff). Of course I am not complaining about it! Each blush is as big as a regular size blush so for the price of 1 Nars blush (-$1), you get two blushes that are amazeballs! I've included an image of the Pantone duo next to other relatively big blushes so you can see how huge it is. 


As you can see the blushes are housed in a lightweight plastic palette that has a very clean look. The palette is magnetized and it closes just like the Inglot freedom palettes with the only difference being that the lid is a lot lighter than Inglot's cover. I love the look of Inglot palettes and I also like the Pantone one but I have a big problem with closing and opening magnetized palettes. I am clumsy- I drop stuff, I break stuff, I spill stuff all the time (you already know about my laptop troubles). Those magnetized lids require you to be extra careful when lifting and dropping the lid, since you are not careful you will end up digging into the product which does not look pretty afterwards and it's a waste of product. You have to kind of slide the lid open and then drop it closed. You can see the damage I've done to some of my Inglots e/s:((( .

COLOUR & PIGMENTATION: Excellent shades and great pigmentation on both blushes with Desert Flower (shimmery) being extremely pigmented. These swatches are not layered- those babies are all that jazz and some more!












think Coral will work really well on  most skin tones and because it is so richly pigmented and the colour is deep, it will probably be really awesome on deeper-skinned ladies.  I have plenty of other peachy-pink blushes but nothing really compares to this one. It is a very deep colour with strong shimmer so light-hand aplication is definitely recommended. I've swatched Desert flower next to Nars Orgasm, MAC Mighty Aphrodite, Tarte Glisten, Milani Luminoso which are all in the same family- you can see how much the Pantone offering stands out!!!  It looks almost raspberry in pictures but I can assure you it is a very deep corally pink shade. 

I don't have any other matte peachy shades to compare the Desert Flower blush to since as I mentioned earlier, I swapped them away. I swatched it against Illamasqua Tweak which is another amazingly pigmented matte blush and you can see that even though the shades are different, the intensity of colour and pigment is comparable.


As I said I got those today. I haven't worn them yet and I don't know how long they last. What I do know is that I cannot wait to test them! I am sure that there are plenty of other MU lovers interested in the Sephora plus Pantone collection. I hope this post and pictures were helpful to someone . 
I wholeheartedly approve of the Pantone blush duo- beautiful shades and great value!





Friday, March 16, 2012

Blackened smokey teal FOTD

I wanted to do a black smokey eye with a bright green outer V for St. Patty's day but my green wasn't showing as bright as I wanted it to, so I ended up blending everything in and getting a teal look. I used a lot of products but the stand out is this La Femme blush (don't even remember the name coz I depotted it) but it's in the Nars Orgasm family. I have four La Femme Blushes- a bright matte fuschia(think called fuschia), this sparkly peachy pink I just remembered the name- Mandarin Red, a bright matte Orange and a muted rosey pink called Mocha. So every time I use one of these blushes ( they cost $2.50 each), I ask myself why in hell would I ever spend $20+ on a blush when you have those babies which are mega pigmented and last all day???? LaFemme also has every imaginable shade of blush so for the price of my Chanel De Horizon blush I could have gotten like 25 of these blushes....
Happy Spring everyone- doesn't hyacinth smell just amazing?

Anyway, on to the FOTD!:)
More pics after the Jump




Tuesday, January 3, 2012

CHANEL HORIZON

Yes, I have a lot of make-up, unfortunately I always want more:( Ever since I joined a certain make-up online community (you are not supposed to talk about it;P), my MU stash has grown exponentially. Also my taste has become a lot more expensive which is not exactly something I can afford and support. I am hoping 2012 will bring more humility and common sense as well as other cheaper interests but I doubt I will completely abandon my makeup addiction or go on a no-buy so I can see myself posting about make up on here on a regular basis.:)
I ordered Chanel Horizon blush the day I saw Christine from Temptalia wear it. It looked so divine and sophisticated on her that I couldn't resist. Now with a price tag of $58 ( about $63 with taxes) this is way over my budget plus I really do not need another blush!! But I could not resist and I ordered it. It arrived today and my first impression is positive. I like it a lot but at the same time I feel like I don't love it enough to justify spending that much dinero for it.  I think I will succumb to temptation and keep it in the ned- it's my first Chanel purchase:) The shade kind of reminds me of MAC Dollymix and Peachykeen shade mixed together. It gives a very nice glow without too much colour and is the perfect blush for work. I am not exactly heavy-handed with my blushes but I would like for it to show well so Chanel Horizon might be a tiny bit too sheer for my liking. I do realize that it was meant to be that way and know a lot of girls prefer a sheer application.  
I am very torn right now about keeping it, so I will wear one more time tomorrow on a fresh face and use a different brush to apply (MAC 109 gave a spotty application) and make up my mind.  I am attaching pictures of the blush itself and on my cheeks;) Opinions are appreciated!