Makeup on High Rotation: Punchy Orange Tones

I have been inspired once again by the Great Lisa Eldridge when I saw this video on youtube. I have decided to select a few items in the same colour family that she recommended for a fresh orange lipped look that will suit me (very tan skin, yellow undertone) for an every day look to the office.

For the eyes, I have been using the following palettes/single eyeshadows:
- Becca Balearic Love
- Burberry Trench and Midnight Brown
- Urban Decay Naked Palette
- Laura Mercier Burnished Copper Creme Eyeshadow
- Chanel Cinnamon 

From left: Becca Balearic Love, Burberry Trench

Clockwise from top: UD Naked, Chanel Cinnamon, LM Burnished Copper, Burberry Midnight Brown

For blushes, I have picked these three workhorse shades in my collection to pair with the orange lips. I usually wear orange and peach toned blushes everyday.
- Tarte Tipsy
- Laura Mercier Lush Nectarine & Orange Blossom

From left: LM Lush Nectarine, Tarte Tipsy, LM Orange Blossom

For my lips, I chose three different variations (in terms of finishes and pigmentation) of punchy orange lip products.
- Lancome Juicy Tubes (came in a pack of 5, it was a gift :))
- Shu Uemura Rouge Unlimited Supreme Matte M CR 342
- Becca Ultimate Colour Gloss in Malibu Punch (I LOVE this. It is competing against my beloved Chanel glossimer in Calypso!)

From left: Juicy Tubes (can't remember the name!), Shu Uemura Supreme Matte M CR 342 , Becca Malibu Pumch

Have a great night guys, hope you enjoyed this post as much as I enjoyed writing about it and organising my "makeup of the week" capsule collection :)

Cindy

Eyeshadow Showdown: Suqqu Hanamari vs LMdB Cherry Blossom

I have decided to do something new today and review and compare two palettes that look very similar to each other. Two birds, one stone. You know. 

Lets get something clear right from the start. These two palettes are quite different. It has a similar colour theme for spring, but they aren't dupes at all.

Top Swatches: Suqqu Hanamari, Bottom Swatches: LMdB Cherry Blossom

When Suqqu Hanamari started popping up on various blogs, I knew it was something I wanted to try. I bought it sight unseen and to be totally honest with you, I am quite ambivalent about it. Its...OK. Its very pretty and it has the Suqqu Sparkle that everyone loves. The colour combination does not work well on me and the green gets lost when you layer and blend it with other shades in the palette. LMdB Cherry Blossom, in my opinion, has produced a more unique colour combination, though the softness and texture are not as good as Suqqu. It is also much more restrained with the shimmer. The green is light with plenty of gold pearl which makes it a very interesting colour and you can see the green even when applying the Couches de Couleur method.

Suqqu Hanamari contains a pinky, pearly white, a darkened grey green with multicolour sparkles, a cool brown with multicolour sparkles, and a frosty cool pink. LMdB Cherry Blossom has a shimmery beige champagne, a light green with gold shimmer, a matte warm brown, and a slightly lilac tinged matte pink.

As much as I love my LMdB eyeshadows, I have to concede that the Suqqu's are much softer and more buttery, especially their matte shadows. In terms of pigmentation, I think LMdB is more pigmented overall. The green in Hanamari is much more sheer than the green in LMdB. The Suqqu brown is more easy to apply while LMdB's brown was harder to the touch and slightly patchy eventhough the LMdB is once again more pigmented. I had no issues with the lighter shades (base and pink shades) in both palettes. LMdB performs better throughout the day, with very light creasing and fading on the 5th-6th hour. Suqqu eyeshadows last me till the 4th hour and then I usually have to redo my eyes. I think its just because I have oily eyelids, and really soft, really buttery eyeshadows (Suqqu, Burberry, Rouge Bunny Rouge) do not last well on me :( Since I found my perfect eyeshadow base , Shu Uemura Cream Eyeshadow in P Beige, all and any eyeshadows wear like iron on my lids. Thank god for Shu Uemura! 

I think the Suqqu palette is a "nice to have" but not absolutely necessary. LMdB absolutely nailed the brief with these Spring colours and I think it will be the one I reach for the most in the spring season.

Cindy

Love at First Swatch: Guerlain Les Fauves

As soon as I bought Guerlain Les Fauves quad and started playing with it, I was already planning this post in my mind. My brain was full of such pleasant surprise, excitement, and wonder that all I remember was thinking " WOW", "OMG" and "AMAZEBALLS!!" when I first used this palette. I will be honest with you, I have swatched Guerlain quads in the past and I did not find them amazing. The eyeshadows were mostly hard on the surface and the pigmentation was just OK. Well, not Les Fauves!! It exceeded my expectations in all the ways I can think of: wearability, overall texture, pigmentation, and longevity.

The colours in this palette are:
- a metallic rosy medium brown,
- a matte tan terracotta
- a matte coral
- a shimmery beige champagne with a hint of pink

As you can see from the swatches, all the colours are in the same colour family and we don't have to be a genius to create wearable looks with this. They also layer amazingly together without ending up muddy (like some lower quality shadows can). I have shown some layering examples in my swatch photo where I have mixed adjacent colours together.

The other quality I noted was that there were minimal (almost none) powders kicking up when I used my brush on the palette. I thought this was unbelieveable because all of my high end powder eyeshadow palettes do not perform this well and I always end up messing up the compact if I don't clean the excess powders after using them. I guess this can be attributed to the harder surface area of the powder (for e.g. Suqqu is incredibly soft on the surface but powdery).

Oh, and I tested Turandot and Liu palettes from the recent holiday collection and I totally regret not picking them up. My guerlain counter still has Turandot (which came home with me also) but the eyeshadows in the Liu calligraphy palette was the best I have ever tested from Guerlain.

Hope you guys are having a great weekend, wherever you are! :)

Cindy

Chanel Ombres Fleuries in Delicatesse - Review and Swatches

Chanel recently released a new capsule makeup collection with their Le Blanc line for the asian market. As soon as I heard wind of this, I immediately set out to procure this palette. Don't you think its beautiful? I love the camelia pattern on the eyeshadows. The colours in this palette are:
- Shimmering pale blue with a strong gold pearl flash
- Shimmering icy silver
- Pearly warm pink
- Matte dark purple

The colours in this palette reminds me a lot of Suqqu Mizuaoi which I didn't like because it was just way too frosty (especially the pink and blue). I much prefer this quad because eventhough there are three shimmery eyeshadows instead of two, the shimmery particles are much more subtle than those in Suqqu Mizuaoi.

The swatches above are taken outside in full sun. The texture, pigmentation and quality of these shadows are similar to the limited edition Harmonie du Soir and Chanel Topkapi. I was so relieved when I started playing with this palette because I was prepared for the worst (Euro version). This quad has 4 g of product which is consistent with the Euro palettes. Bottom line: This palette is gorgeous. Get it. Get it now!!

Cindy

Chanel Rouge Allure in 95 Enjouee and Rouge Allure Velvet in 43 La Favourite

Chanel is one of those brands that get me everytime. In their latest spring offering, there was this matte, corally pink velvety lipstick called La Favourite #43 that really caught my eye but it sold out very quickly so I had to wait two weeks to get mine!! I picked up Enjouee #95 which is in the normal Rouge Allure (RA) formulation and is slightly more luminous and moisturising on the lips than the RA Velvet formula.

Enjouee

Enjouee - slightly tilted to show the shimmer

Enjouee is a beautiful warm shimmery pink which is sheer on one application but very much buildable. I have been wearing this to the office (look below) with minimal foundation and Tarte Tipsy (this blush is amazing, btw).

Wearing Enjouee :)

La Favourite

When I went back for La Favourite, I actually had to swatch it again because Enjouee and La Favourite are really similar in colour. In the end, it was obvious that La Favourite is so much more peachy in colour than Enjouee and that I liked its colour a little bit more than Enjouee. And so into my shopping bag it went!

L-R: La Favourite, Enjouee

The thing is, when you look at Enjouee on its own, and then whip out La Favourite as a comparison, its very hard to distinguish which is which (if you discount the finish). But when swatched side by side, you can clearly tell them apart!!

Top - Bottom: Enjouee, La Favourite

The other thing I Love about Chanel Rouge Allures is the packaging. You just click on the gold interlocking CCs and the lipstick bullet will release. Its so elegant with the sleek black design and minimal branding.

What do you think about these Rouge Allure lipsticks? Do you have any recommendations for me? What is your favourite colour? :D

Cindy