Spoonful of shimmer

Hullo, is anyone interested in joining a group order for some Barry M and/or Bee Luscious products?

Barry M is currently having a 20% off sale for M Club members until 13 July, but there is an 8 pound surcharge for shipping to Singapore, which is putting me off ordering by myself.

http://www.barrymcosmetics.com

I am planning to get more Lip Paints and Dazzle Dusts, and on trying their Nail Paints - all of which are raved about online.

As for Bee Luscious aka Bee Royal Products, they are currently offering 40% off untl 6 July.

http://www.beeroyalproducts.com/

The eyeshadows have been getting good reviews, also the patchwork-looking rose-shaped blushes (not to my taste, though).  I really want to get the Pulsation eyeshadow - it looks amazing and a better quality version of the NYX Morocco eyeshadow (purpley-blue).

Tipped off by Rouge Deluxe (link in my blogroll), I made my way down to the Singapore Expo today for the Robinsons sale.  I wouldn’t have bothered except that they are selling Lunasol! (Which is odd, since Lunasol isn’t sold in Robinsons stores… only in Takashimaya.)

If you are interested in checking out the cosmetics, the brands featured include Paul & Joe, Stila, Givenchy, Kanebo (Coffret D’or, Lunasol, etc.), I Nuovi and Yves Saint Laurent.  They also have several drugstore brands like L’Oreal, ZA, etc.  I think the selection isn’t that great and stuff has been selling out quite quickly.  For instance, the YSL selection is miniscule and there are no Coffret D’or eyeshadows at all (or at least, there were none when I went down today).

Since I had travelled all the way, I had a browse and did manage to find some gems.  I picked up two Lunasol quads, two Lunasol nail polishes, a Coffret D’or nail polish, four Coffret D’or lipsticks and a Givenchy Prisme Again! blush refill for less than 200 Singapore dollars!

First, the blush.  Givenchy’s Prisme Again! blush is one of my three favourite blush lines (partly because of the chic, ultra-portable packaging).  They only had Timid Rose, Red Passion, Charming Violet and Euphoric Orange available.  I chose Charming Violet.  It was only sold in refill form, so it will have to share a compact with my Loving Pink blush for now.  it is deeper than Loving Pink, and cooler-toned.  UPDATE: I’ve worn these a couple of days now and I really like it!  It’s even better than Loving Pink, and reminds me of Kevyn Aucoin’s Myracle.

And here are the polishes! These were not my first Lunasol polishes, so I was confident that they would be of excellent quality.  Besides the teal blue and pink which I picked up, there was also a cyan blue and a lovely warm orange (now I wish I had bought the orange, too).  The Coffret D’or polish was my first from that brand - and I’m not really feeling it.  It’s a pearly white with shimmer.  Lunasol is much better, IMO.

There were loads of the older Coffret D’or lipsticks and glosses on offer.  I picked up four (the four on the right in the pictures below).  I am photographing them with my newer Shine Drape Rouge (Glow) in RS-251 for comparison.

Here you can see the  variety of cases.  I only became interested in Coffret D’or lipsticks when they came out with the Shine Drape line and I made sure to buy one just for the pretty case!

From left to right, we have:

• Shine Drape Rouge (Glow) in RS-251;
• Full Styling Rouge (Colour) in RS-241;
• Full Memory Rouge (Glow) in PK-250;
• Full Styling Rouge (Glow) in PK-231; and
• Full Styling Rouge (Colour) in PK-226.

• RS-251: Medium rose pink with sophisticated tonal shimmer and the glossiest finish of the five.  Sheer and buildable.
• RS-241: Medium mauve pink, sheer and moderately buildable.  Glossy finish with no shimmer.  EDIT: This is one of my new favourite lipsticks - the colour is perfect for me!
• PK-250: Very sheer baby pink with fine silver shimmer (the most of the five).  This one didn’t work for me.  I like my lipsticks to have some pigmentation.
• PK-231: Medium slightly warm pink with discreet shimmer and a glossy finish.  Still sheer, but probably the most pigmented of the five.
• PK-226: Medium neutral pink with a moderately glossy finish and no shimmer.

The division between “Colour” and “Glow” lipsticks had me stumped for quite a while.  I had thought that “Colour” lipsticks would be full coverage while the “Glow” lipsticks would be more sheer and gloss-like.  ”Glow” actually denotes a lipstick with shimmer in it, while “Colour” lipsticks look entirely shimmer-less to me.  They are all sheer (with varying degrees of buildability), with quite glossy finishes.  I like the emollient, easy-wearing texture.

And now for the best part - the Lunasol quads.  They only had three types left today - Noble Shade Eyes in 04 Yellow and 05 Blue green, and Sheer Contrast Eyes in 05 Orange Coral (a discontinued variation).  I was disappointed that 04 Green Coral was gone, but I happily picked up the yellow Noble Shade Eyes and Orange Coral.  I have been really getting into yellow/warm/bronze eyeshadows lately - I think it’s because summer is coming on in the Western (makeup) world, even if it’s summer all year round here in Singapore…

Here is Orange Coral.  True to the Sheer Contrast line, it is chockful of sophisticated shimmer and the colours apply in beautiful clear layers.  It’s impossible to describe Lunasol shadows.  All I can say is to buy a quad, check out the suggested application layout and try them on.  The shadows are different textures and opacities and the iridescent sparkles in each shadow coordinate with the other colours in the quad.  It’s amazing how much thought must go into each Lunasol quad!

And this is Noble Shade Eyes in the yellow variation.  This was the variation that had appealed to me the most all along - now that I’ve tried it on and decided that I like the Noble Shade concept, I want to pick up the 03 Red variation as well, and maybe 01 Light and 02 Deep.  This one is more subtle than the Sheer Contrast quads (which isn’t too hard - lol!), although it still has discernible shimmer.  It looks more elegant on, while Sheer Contrast is playful and very “holiday”, to me.

This haul has reminded me how much I like Lunasol eyeshadows.  I’m planning to pick up both anniversary kits from Takashimaya now.  I went down a while back to have a look but didn’t feel enticed then - now I definitely am!

I had been wanting to try Kevyn Aucoin’s cosmetics for quite a while when I got a chance to swap from an almost new Pure Powder Glow blush in Myracle.  It’s a tacky name and an even tackier-looking colour: a hot, hot pink that is almost blinding.  But, it blends beautifully and becomes a rosy-pink on the skin, is super smooth and super pigmented, and not the slightest bit chalky.    It lasts well and looks really natural.  In all honesty, it is one of the best, if not the best blush I’ve ever used.

In short order, I ordered more Pure Powder Glows in the colours Dolline, Natura and Neolita.  The latter two were ordered during Beauty.com’s Friends & Family sale - who can resist storewide discounts, especially as we never get these in Singapore, on cosmetics or otherwise.  I also picked up a Creamy Moist Glow (cream blush) in Tansoleil and an Essential Eyeshadow Palette in #1.

I’m not crazy about the red packaging, but it’s OK.  I guess.

From left to right in below, we have Natura; Dolline; Neolita; and Myracle (which is deeper and brighter than it looks in the picture!)  The pot is Tansoleil cream blush.

The brush that comes with the blush is really good quality.  It’s super soft, thick, and actually useable.  I can’t stand it when compact blushes comes with icky, useless brushes, like Chanel’s Joues Contraste blushes.  Why bother?  The mirror in these is huge, too, so they make excellent blushes to carry around, since you get a useable blush plus good mirror.

To be perfectly frank, the only blush of the above which is a must-have in my opinion is Myracle.  Myracle and Dolline are part of the original line-up; Natura and Neolita are more recent additions and I find the quality less impressive (still great and above average, but not in a class of their own).  The reason why I prefer Myracle is because it’s pretty much a universal colour.  Coral/peach blushes can be iffy on me and unfortunately Dolline, though highly raved, isn’t perfect for my skintone (pretty, but not perfectly flattering like Myracle).  It’s a bright peach colour.  The quality of the blush itself is great, though.

Natura and Neolita have shimmer to them, unlike Myracle and Dolline.  They are also slightly more powdery.  Neolita is lovely, very pigmented, a slightly mauved red with gold pearl.  Natura would be fantastic on slightly paler skin than mine.  It’s pretty on me, a very nude, face-brightening blush, but I do need to pack it on somewhat.  It has more/bigger shimmer particles (silver) than Neolita, which I’m not so keen on.

Tansoleil cream blush is also highly raved but I think perhaps I got old stock.  It’s a little dry to the touch although I can still apply it - it just smooths on less easily than a creamier product such as Clinique’s Blushwear, MAC’s Cream Colour Base or Becca cream blush.  It looks very similar to Dolline but works better on me because it has more pink in it.  The Creamy Moist Glow with the best reviews was Liquifuschia, and that sort of pink usually suits me way more than corals, but I thought that it looked rather similar to my MAC Cream Colour Base in Crushed Bougainvillea.

Here are some rather bad swatches.  As you’d probably know, blush has a way of looking very different on the face than on the hand.  Myracle looks terrible here!  The top swatch is Tansoleil, the bottom swatches from left to right are Natura; Dolline; Neolita; and Myracle.

And here is a picture of the eyeshadow palette.  It comes with two tiny double-ended applicators (three sponge and one brush).

The colours are natural shades, not the usual suspects but chosen to complement each other.  They are matte or discreet satin finishes and incredibly silky, pigmented and blendable.  These are really good quality eyeshadows and, like the blush, definitely amongst the best I’ve encountered.

The colours are a cream; an interesting brownish mustard colour; dark charcoal brown; medium taupey brown; and peach.

I now want to get the #3 palette, which is another neutral palette with a slant towards smokey eyes.  #2 is another everyday neutral palette (like #1), but catering to cooler skintones.  I think #4, #5 and #6 have more adventurous colour combinations, but at $55 a pop (before discount), I decided to opt for one of the more neutral quints.

I also nabbed some other items during Beauty.com’s Friends and Family sale and those will be the subject of my next post.

Here’s my quick review of the items I purchased from MAC’s A Rose Romance colour story.  I got three eyeshadows in Et Tu Bouquet?, Of Summer and Silverthorn, Circa Plum pigment, A Rose Romance lipstick, and Summer Rose Beauty Powder.  I also picked up the Nordstrom-exclusive A Rose is a Rose quad.

Clearly I forgot to include the pigment and lipstick in the picture below…

The swatch below shows Summer Rose Beauty Powder on the left, and Flower Mist Dew Beauty Powder on the right (from the Emanuel Ungaro Collection).    People have been saying that Summer Rose is the most pigmented Beauty Powder yet, but I think Flower Mist Dew is comparable in terms of pigmentation level; it’s just lighter in shade.  I can wear both straight up as blushes; they are also great for layering over a cream or gel blush.  As you can see from the picture, Summer Rose is a pinker colour with slight cool lilac tones.  It has a silky fine texture just like Flower Mist Dew.

And here are the eyeshadows.  On the right, from the top down, are the colours from the Nordstrom quad: Contrast (permanent); Seeds of Love (LE); Petal Worship (LE); and Solar White (LE repromote).  On the left, from the top down, is Silverthorn; Of Summer; and Et Tu Bouquet?.

Silverthorn is a very pigmented Veluxe Pearl shadow which is a neutral medium silver colour.  it almost takes on a goldy sheen when sheered out on my skin, which makes it very wearable for me.

The Nordstrom quad is super pretty.  I like quads with not-so-obvious colour combinations (just like the other Nordstrom Stowaways quad I have).  Contrast is a deep purpley-black with blue pearl and a great colour to have.  Solar White is one of those multi-purpose colours - it’s a creamy colour with strong gold pearl and peachy-pink undertones.  Seeds of Love is a pretty coral-peach with moderate pigmentation and frost - I hope Pollinator from the Naked Honey colour story doesn’t turn out too similar to this!  Petal Worship reminds me very much of Stars N Rockets.  It’s a bright pinky-lilac with aqua sheen and specks of glitter (it’s a Lustre finish,  but very pigmented and smooth).

Of Summer and Et Tu Bouquet? don’t swatch so well, so I have finger swatches below.  Of Summer is the less pigmented colour at the bottom.  It’s a straight lilac colour in a satin finish and really rather sheer.  Et Tu Bouquet? is a pale pinky cream with gold shimmer that isn’t over the top.  It makes a great lid colour just by itself.

Below is a swatch of Circa Plum; the leftmost swatch is of Mauvement.  Mauvement is much browner and Circa Plum is actually more lavender than plum, in my opinion.  it’s a very pretty shade for fans of purple and goes perfectly with the eyeshadows in this colour story.

I didn’t swatch A Rose Romance lipstick, but it’s a pretty, slightly cool medium pink with the usual transparent Lustre finish.  It reminds me of Angel lipstick but looks better on me than Angel did.

Today’s makeup: Silk Naturals (SN) oil control primer; SN foundation; MAC Studio Finish concealer; Clinique Blushwear Cream Stick in Rosy Blush; SN perfecting powder; Bobbi Brown cream eyeshadow in Galaxy; MAC Slimshine in Bare

Earthen Glow Mineral Makeup is having a 30% off sale right now, ending 15 June 2009.  My first purchase from them had been of eyeshadows, and to be honest, I was not impressed.  I didn’t like the texture of most of them - I felt the particles were not of even size and they didn’t stick to the skin.  But I have heard good reviews of their foundations, finishing powders and some skincare items, and those were what I picked up this time around.

I decided to get a couple of the “Get Acquainted” sample kits, since you get 3 foundation, 1 finishing powder and 1 blush sample for a good price.  I got the sample bags.  There is a generous amount in each and you will definitely have enough to play with to decide if you like the product.  I also purchased two additional foundation and f/p samples separately.

The foundations I got were all in the “Cover Me” formula.  From the yellow family, I got Rita/Y06, Malia/Y07, Anastasia/Y8b, Claudette, De Anna, Elle/Y17 and Kaylee/Y20.  I also picked up Sheena/O4 from the olive colour family, for comparison’s sake.

Left column in the picture below, from the bottom up: Rita, Malia, Anastasia, Claudette.
Right column, from the bottom up again: Sheena, De Anna, Elle, Kaylee.

Rita, Malia and Anastasia are nice in tone but too light in shade, partly because the coverage of the foundation is so high.  It’s higher coverage than the full coverage formula of the Silk Naturals foundation.  However, it is also more matte and can look a little “dead”, so I don’t prefer it as a foundation.  Claudette is probably the best match, although it’s a little too light and slightly too beige.

Sheena is not a bad match shade-wise, but it’s too olive and slightly ashy on me.  I’m definitely more in the yellow colour family.  Kaylee is too dark and the shade is too orangey-gold.  Elle (slightly more peach than Kaylee) and Deanna (slightly more beige than Kaylee) do not match me, either.  They are all a little too orangey.

The finishing powders I chose are the High Definition f/p; Prime and Finish f/p in Translucent; Silk Botanical f/p in Nuance and Soft Focus f/p in Peach.

I am really quite impressed with the powders! The only one I haven’t test-driven properly is the Silk Botanicals powder - I left it to last as I’m a little afraid of the shea butter in it.  I’ve worn it only once, and didn’t fancy the slightly pearly sheen that seemed to emphasise my pores.  The others are great, though.  The Hi-Def has this cool, almost liquidy-feel (if you have tried other silica powders you would know what I mean) and works very well to provide a soft focus effect.  It also controls oil pretty.  The Prime & Finish also controls oil well.  Both the Prime & Finish and the Soft Focus have a more matte finish than the Hi-Def.  the Prime & Finish doesn’t do the soft focus thing so well so I like it better as a priming powder.

I also like that these powders come in a few tints! Great for days you feel you need a little more colour or a bit of colour correction.  All in all, I like these as much as my favourite finishing powder from Silk Naturals, which is saying alot for me.  I’m getting full sizes.

For my sample kit blushes, I chose Romance and Trust, both supposedly matte formulas.  Trust is a dusty pink with a hint of mauve.  Romance is a medium warm pink.  Although they are both officially “matte”, you can see from the picture that Romance has a slight sheen.   I have soooo many blushes to try out that I haven’t had a chance to wear either of these yet, so I can’t comment on how long they last.

Skincare-wise, I chose a jar of the Night-time Botanical Treatment and a squeezie tube of the Anti-Acne Moisturising Serum.

The Night-time Botanical Treatment is supposed to be dusted on your face before bed.  It has good reviews, but I neglected to check the ingredient list before buying it and realised too late that it contains kaolin clay.  I know kaolin is a favourite ingredient of many people with oily skin and isn’t supposed to be sensitising but I find that it just does NOT work with my skin.

The Anti-acne Serum was OK.  It wasn’t super moisturising but it was OK.  It didn’t irritate my skin but it didn’t seem to do much for it, either. I stopped using it after a bit because the strong lemongrass smell got to me.

In addition, I also purchased one of their cream eyeshadows in Flesh.  This is a soft mousse-textured product in a neutral pale taupe colour.  It adds a moderate pearly sheen to the lids and barely any colour (on me).  It feels weightless on and quickly dries down so it becomes hard to blend, although it still smudges if you rub it too soon.

So that was a really quick overview of my second Earthen Glow haul.  I wanted to get this out before the sale ends.  Hope it will help some of you decide what to pick up.

Today’s makeup: Pure Luxe primer; Silk Naturals foundation; MAC Studio Finish concealer palette; Earthen Glow Prime and Finish f/p in Translucent (testing); NARS blush in Amour (I like this better than Dolce Vita); Becca Creme Eye Colour in Ametrine (very nice!) all over the lid; MAC Aquavert in the inner corner; Bobbi Brown Shimmerwash eyeshadow in Fawn in the crease and outer lower lashline; MAC Time & Space on the middle lower lashline; a tiny bit of MAC Femme Noir lining the top lashline

MAC is going on sale again, woohoo!  The code is “SUMO” for a 25% discount and the sale runs 16-18th June online only.  This is the time to stock up on your staples!

Here’s my shopping list.  I need to make one else I might go totally overboard.  What’s on yours?

1. Naked Honey eyeshadow in Creme de Miel, Pollinator, Buckwheat
2. Lipstick in Cream in Your Coffee, Creme Cup
3. Studio Finish SPF35 concealer in NC20, NW25, NC30
4. Blot Powder in Medium
5. Brow Set in Show-off
6. 194
7. 272
8. Pro Palette / x4 Eye Shadow, / x15 Eye Shadow
9. Lightful Deep Ultramoisture Cream (made in Japan, yo)

Maybes:

1. Slimshine in Ultra-Elegant
2. Prep + Prime Transparent Finishing Powder
3. Prep + Prime SPF50 (I have just finished my first tube of this, whether I get more will depend on how much I like my current Sofina Hadaka sunscreen)
4. 222
5. 242

Josie Maran Cosmetics is also going on sale this summer.  You can get 30% off until 2 August with the code luckybreaks9.

Until June 23, you can also get $20 off a $100 purchase at Beauty.com.  You need to click through here, though.  I highly, highly recommend picking up some Kevyn Aucoin Pure Powder Glow blushes from there.  I just bought a few more of these after being very impressed with my first (in Myracle), and they are fan-tastic.  For the actual blush quality alone they are the nicest of all my blushes (NARS, Chanel Joues Contraste, Givenchy Prismissime, Giorgio Armani Sheer Blush, etc. - although I slightly prefer Givenchy packaging).  Pick up a NARS Yachiyo brush to go with and you’re set.

Today was Saturday and I had lots of free time on my hands.  Somehow I ended up swatching a random selection of eyeshadows (so I can remember what I have and what they look like…lol).  These are swatched over a very thin layer of Silk Naturals eyeshadow primer.

Top left, coppery burgundy brown and metallic peachy orange: L’Oreal HiP Concentrated Shadow Duo in Playful 838.  This colour pairing reminds me very much of MAC Mineralize Eyeshadow Duo in Play on Plums.  It’s alright.  The orange is much sheerer without a base, which is a good thing since it would be hard for me to pull off, otherwise.  I like the brown/burgundy colour better.

Top middle, pink/gold and silver: MAC Mineralize Eyeshadow Duo in Pink Split.  I’ve worn this several times (although never to work on a weekday, as it’s really shimmery).  I don’t really know why it’s called Pink Split since it’s not very pink at all!  The pink side is a very very sheer baby pink with strong pale gold pearl.  The silver side is a complex silver grey with rose and gold flecks.

Right side, matte pink, dusty purple and dark cool brownish colour: this is a re-swatch of my Paula’s Choice trio in Flirty Amethysts.  I know - I still don’t see the “amethyst” in this, either.  Original review is here.

Bottom row, coral pink satin, spring green frost and dark neutral brown satin: MAC Dear Cupcake, Aquavert and Mineral.  I’ve been trying to convince myself that Mineral looks like the Night Manouevres eyeshadow from the Style Warriors collection, but I’m failing - I think Mineral is probably more brown/less grey. 

Today’s makeup: Earthen Glow (”EG”) Prime and Finish powder in Translucent; EG Cover Me foundation in Rita (a bit too light for me); MAC Studio Finish concealer palette in Medium; EG Soft Focus f/p in Peach; Silk Naturals lippie in Maiden; Aromaleigh eyeshadow in Elegant Reverie (gorgeous darker allover colour!)

Today I finally succumbed to the flu and had to pay the doctor a visit, plus take a day off work.  I dislike going to the doctor and, in fact, the last time I visited him was a few years ago.  But I’m glad I did because the medicine he gave me worked really well at controlling my cough and clearing my nose; plus my fever started going up later in the day, so it was a good thing I wasn’t at work.

Anyway, I bought a few things from Coastal Scents recently, and the most interesting of these is probably their new “Brush Guard”.  I got the variety pack, which comes with 1 extra small (middle right of picture below)); 2 small (left); 2 medium (bottom); and 1 large (middle top).  The extra small is shown below on a Coastal Scents lip brush; the large is shown on my MAC 182 kabuki brush; and the medium is shown on a Paula’s Choice angle contour brush.

The concept of these is actually pretty simple.  It’s a tube of interlocking plastic strips that expands to fit brushes up to a couple of times wider than the unstretched tube.  This way, you can stay your brushes upside down to dry while keeping their shape and letting air circulate around the bristles.

The picture below shows my big 182 brush upside down in the Brush Guard.

This product works pretty well.  The brushes come out of the tube (once dry) in perfect shape and looking like new, especially big brushes like the 182 which tend to get fluffy and lose their compact-ness.

The down side is that this isn’t really a suitable product to use with certain shapes of brushes, such as cheek or mascara fan brushes.   It doesn’t work so well with angled brushes, either, as it tends to push them out of shape.  I’d recommend the large and medium sizes in particular, since thinner brushes don’t really need the brush guard to keep in shape or dry quickly.

I also bought a few more cosmetic brushes.  On the left in the picture below is the Italian Badger fan brush; not a bad fan brush (my first) for applying pigmented cheek products, but a little floppy for my liking.  I also got a new concealer brush (bottom right) which is soft and dense but not very well shaped.  The angled eyeshadow brush (middle right) is very soft but splays out a bit too easily.  It’s good for crease work and defining the outer “V” of the eye.  The top right brush is a taklon lip brush.  It is very short but it comes with a metal cover which doubles as a handle extension.  It’s my favourite brush of this haul and the only downside is that the metal cover doesn’t lock in place and can slip off rather easily.

I like the new lip brush much better than the previous Coastal Scents pink-handled lip brush I had bought.  The older brush is the upper brush in the picture below and you can see that the bristles are much shorter and pretty much useless for applying lipstick, in my opinion.  The lower brush is the new lip brush.

I also tried one of Coastal Scents’ new Smacks lip glosses in “Monroe a Go Go”.  It’s a moderately pigmented hot pink with fine shimmer.  Quite a pretty shade, and not sticky or thick.  It’s tiny, though, even considering the price!  It comes with a nylon, blunt-edged brush applicator.

By way of upcoming MAC releases, I’m pretty interested in the Naked Honey collection.  I like honey and the warm golden brown colour of honey is very appealing to me, too.  I’m a sucker for body moisturisers so I’m sure I will pick up the hand and body cream and maybe the skin salve; even the perfumes (I don’t normally associate MAC with good perfume).  I’m trying to convince myself that I can dupe the eyeshadows: I did a look today (despite being sick!) with Paul & Joe Facecolor Powder CS b in 043 packed over Silk Naturals eye primer to make the yellow pop (duping Creme de Miel - which might also look alot like Crest the Wave from the Stowaways quad); MAC Glamour Check in the crease (duping Buckwheat); and Silk Naturals Scallop Pink and MAC Dear Cupcake blended into both colours on the outer half of lid and crease (duping Pollinator).  It was very pretty, but I think I might get the MAC eyeshadows anyway just cos the colours are so “me”.  *sheepish*

I’ve been using the BHA and AHA exfoliants from the Paula’s Choice line for around one and half years now.  More recently, I started dabbling in their makeup line as well.  They have a bunch of things on clearance sale and through trial and error I figured out the ones worth trying. : )

First up is the Soft Shine Moisturizing Lip Gloss.  I have my sister to thank for introducing this to me; she tried it first and I purchased it on her recommendation.  Below are swatches of the two colours I have: Almost Clear (on the left) and Sandy Pink (on the right). 

I think Sandy Pink is meh - I just don’t like the amount of gold pearl in such a pigmented gloss, and the texture is a bit thicker.  The Almost Clear is my favourite (almost) clear lip gloss at the moment, though!  It’s not tacky at all, non-drying and comfortable to wear, and would be perfect if it were totally clear.  It’s a slightly opaque baby pink, although it looks bright pink in the tube.  It’s well worth a try if you dislike sticky glosses.

As for the eyeshadows… they are not for everyone.  If you are a MAC fan and must have bright colours and high pigmentation in all your shadows, you won’t like the Paula’s Choice ones much.  These are all matte (as far as I can tell), and you know how pigmentation in matte shadows is generally poorer.  I do like pigment in my eyeshadow, but I also go for natural looks most of the time - bit of an oxymoron, I know.  

The trio below is called “Simply Captivating”, and the individual colours are Beach, Smoky Taupe and Graphite.  These are the same size as a MAC Cream Colour Base - so the thinner strips of colour are pretty thin.  You do have to take care to prevent messing up the colours.

The colours are reasonably pigmented, especially considering that they’re matte.  This is a useful office makeup trio; you can amp it up with the Graphite.

Another trio, this time in “Flirty Amethysts”. I’m not so keen on this one, I think it just doesn’t work so well on yellowy Asian skin.  It’s not as pigmented as the first trio, either.  From lightest to darkest, the colours are Shell, Heather Mist and Eggplant.

I wouldn’t really call this “amethyst” since the purple in the darkest colour virtually disappears on me, and the palest colour is more of a powdery pink.  Update: I re-swatched this over primer and got better pay-off than in the pic below. 

So the amethyst trio was a miss, colour-wise.  I’d tried a couple of other trios before (both brown/neutral), so I did know what to expect from Paula’s choice eyeshadows generally.  I’d decided I would pick up some of the singles as well, this time, since it’s hard to find decent matte shadows and I know I can definitely use neutrals.

Notice the light tan shadow comes in a screw-top packaging.  I guess it’s even older than the other three.  Clockwise from the top left, we have Tan, Beige, Cream and Granite.

I like the hatchmarks on fresh eyeshadow. :-3

And here are the swatches.  Cream can be a (very) subtle highlight or base colour.  Beige makes a good allover colour or a base for brighter shades.  Tan is good for blending (MAC Soft Brown, anyone?)  Granite is a very nice greyish brown contour colour - great if you tend to be heavyhanded, as it’s quite sheer.

In summary, I wouldn’t say that the Paula’s Choice eyeshadows are amazing or anything like that… but there are some good workhorse staples in there, and since they are on clearance, I’d say it’s worth grabbing a few you know you’d use over and over.

Lately, there has been a bit of hype online about a brand of cosmetics by a lady named Eve Pearl, who is apparently, she is a well-known makeup artist.  I decided to try a few of her star products since there was a sale and free shipping promotion a few weeks ago.

First up is the Ultimate Eyes Palette.  It’s very compact, being slimmer and slightly smaller than a MAC quad.  It’s got a big “Eve Pearl” emblazoned on the front.

Here are the colours.  They don’t look like the typical colours in a do-it-all palette, but you are supposed to mix them as necessary to get variations on colours.  For instance, Eve Pearl likes mixing the brown and the green or the black and the green to make a contour colour - the green is supposed to brighten the dark base colour (it’s also a gorgeous green colour in its own right!)

Somehow I really like the cross-hatching on new pans of product. :3

The light cream is meant as a highlight and base colour.  The gold and goldie-pink can be used alone or mixed together as a lid and/or blending colour.  The darker shades are for mixing together and using as contour/crease colours or to line the eyes.

And here are swatches, in the order they appear in the palette.  I’m impressed by how the shadows are buttery smooth and very pigmented.

I would recommend the eyeshadow palette.  It’s tiny but contains a good range of colours, so it’s great for travel.

I also bought her apparently famous under-eye concealer.  It’s about the size of a MAC Cream Colour Base, but flat and thinner. 

The concealer comes in various shades of peach.  I chose Medium, which was a mistake.  It’s a couple shades too dark for me.  It also feels kind heavy under the eyes, but then I am used to wear the Silk Naturals powder under-eye concealer.  It does last quite well and is supposed to contain nutrients for the skin.

Lastly, I purchased the HD Dual Foundation, which is supposedly developed for use in high definition filming situations.  The case is quite bulky (it holds a sponge in a separate lower tier).

It’s a cream formula, and you can use it straight or apply dabs and sheer them out with a damp sponge or brush.  It comes with two colours, which can be used to subtly contour as well.

I chose the colour “Light”.  The darker shade bemuses me as it’s too peachy orange for my skin.

In the next pic, I’ve blended out the swatches slightly. 

The foundation does look incredibly natural on, and I like that you can effortlessly adjust the coverage from heavy to light.  It works pretty well as a concealer dabbed on straight.  Like the undereye concealer, it’s also supposed to contain skin-friendly nutrients.  BUT, after a few days of wearing this and the undereye concealer, I broke out.  Perhaps it’s too rich for my skin?  I think it might work better for less oily skins and in drier climates.