Chanel Printemps 2015 Reverie Parisian Spring Makeup Picks

Can I just begin by saying I LOVE the Chanel Printemps 2015 Reverie Parisian makeup ad? That grouping of kohl-rimmed eyes, pale fresh skin, soft cheeks and a deep cyclamen berry mouth is just beyond gorgeous. 

The key piece I did NOT get was the pretty dusty rose blush. Beautiful as it is, the color swatched on the skin was just a little too similar to tons of other dusty natural pink shades in the Chanel (or even Bourjois) range. 

I was personally just more attracted to the unique deep violet-rose lip and nail shade. 

It's not quite red enough to be berry, too deep to be fuchsia, not bright enough to be magenta, and not crazy enough to be called a purple. 

It's just - pretty!

Now, UNLIKE the campaign visuals (where it looks like a deep rose shade), the actual shade is a lot more violet in real life. And for some reason the pics also seem to be showing up much brighter and more blue on Blogger than it does on my main blog. (What's up with that, Blogspot?)

If the lipstick looks just a bit too blue-toned or deep for you, go with the glossimer. 194 Crazy Fuchsia is definitely one of Chanel's more pigmented Glossimers, and will give you good color payoff while having a softer, shimmery dimensionality and translucency. 

The violet iridescence is suspended in a reddened-pink base so it's also a good deal more neutral. Not quite so cool toned.

The nail polish is a true cool-toned deep berry shade with a subtle blue-ish pearl running through it. Again, it is much more violet than it appears in the campaign image above, but I actually love it more in real life. Rose is not a hard color to find. This sort of a deep berry is much more unique, fun and edgy. 

Have you checked out the range yet?

Makeupbox takes on Katy Perry! (Oh My and Ka-Pow lash reviews, plus a quick tutorial for an eye look that can stand up to huge lashes)

I think Katy Perry has a really fun and out-there style. It's sometimes borderline tacky, but let's face it; she's so hot she can get away with many things that would be faux pas on others.

So of course, when it came time to pick among the numerous lash designs bearing her name, I picked the 2 that I felt were dramatic and the least "normal"-looking. ("Normal" meaning "this shape is sold by 10,000 other brands and it's no point reviewing it again".) If you are going to shell out for Katy Perry lashes, no point buying a shape that Red Cherry does for a few dollars.

OH, MY!

Full, dense, double-stacked lashes. (These are 2 strips of lashes laid on top of one another.) Super thick and dramatic.

Verdict:

• Girls, these are some kuh-raaazzzy lashes! They're so dense I felt like I was wearing 2 sun-visors on top of my lids and everything was dark. "Who turned off the lights???"
• These lashes will cast a huge shadow over your eyes. If you have smaller eyes, or want to widen them, DO NOT - I repeat - DO NOT - buy these. Like any huge, thick lashes, they can make your eyes look droopy and overwhelmed instead of larger and brighter.
• The lash band is super thick and stiff because of the double-stacking, although Eylure was pretty good at making them as malleable as possible. STILL, they're not the easiest things to apply, and without a super-strong glue, you will struggle with keeping these on all day.

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KA-POW

Purple tipped criss-cross wispies meant to bring out brown and hazel eyes. (There are versions for blue/grey/green eyes called Ka-Ching and Ka-Boom, but these aren't available in Asia.)

Verdict: 

• Now THESE I really like and will re-use. They're dramatic but not too dramatic.
• The purple does nothing to bring out my dark brown eyes. As you can see in the image, all it looks like is black. I'm not sure if you'll have better luck with lighter brown or hazel eyes. 
• That said, the color at the tips really helps to soften the look of the lashes and keeps them looking wispy and pretty even though they are so long.

Conclusion:

I'd definitely go for the Ka-Pows (or Ka-Ching/Ka-Boom depending on what color tips you want). The Oh Mys are WAY too thick and looked kinda tacky on my eyes. I don't mind the length and shape, but it was just the density that was a bit much.

Possibly good if you're trying to shield your eyes from glaring lights or you're going to a costume party as a doll, but otherwise, it has a tendency to weigh the eyes down and make them look small and dull.

Simple Eye Look for Wearing Huge Falsies With (below)