My Hoard of Golden Beauty Treasures!

Selection of gold things that are perfect for the holiday season

Excuse the loads of "product porn"! But don't they make SUCH a luscious visual?

Here are some of the golden things I love. Sadly, a couple of them are limited edition and no longer available (although we can cross our fingers they'll be re-released).

Dior J'adore Essence de Parfum

Dior J'adore Essence de Parfum

At the risk of sounding cheesy, this is liquid gold in a bottle. We keep complaining about Dior reformulating its classic scents with cheaper synthetics, but this particular version went the other way. Made from expensive natural Rose and Jasmine absolutes harvested from fields reserved just for Dior, and blended with real Tuberose and a touch of Tahitian Vanilla to lend a bit of oomph (don't worry, it doesn't smell like dessert), this is a more linear/simple but drop-dead gorgeous flanker of the original J'adore.

The slimmer, smaller, hand-crafted signature bottle with the long neck is just a pleasure to look at as well.

Lierac Huile Sensorielle aux 3 Fleurs

Lierac Huile Sensorielle

If you're traveling to or living in some place dry, you probably appreciate the wonders of rubbing a silky oil into your skin and hair.

Lierac's Huile Sensorielle is less well-known as Nuxe's equivalent, but I love it for the delicate blend of fragrant white flowers (camellia, jasmine and gardenia) with argan, sweet almond, grape seed, and hazelnut oils. It's light but nourishing, and just lovely and subtle to smell on your skin and hair.

Just be careful to store it away from light and heat, as it is all-natural and can go rancid.

Guerlain Ombre Eclat

Guerlain Ombre Eclat

Well, this is the only item that is here just because of the packaging. That's not to say Guerlain eyeshadows aren't some of the most impressive on the market. But if you're looking to treat someone - or yourself - this holiday season, a richly-pigmented shadow in a beautiful gold compact, sheathed in its own suede sleeve, is one of those little luxuries that feels special to own precisely because you wouldn't buy it under normal circumstances.

Guerlain Sun In The City (Limited)

Guerlain Sun In The City highlighter/bronzer

This ridiculously beautiful powder is only there because it's so ridiculously beautiful; both to see and to use. It's one of the best golden highlighters for medium to dark skins, and it's just a shame it's not part of the permanent collection. The compact is also HUGE so you can sweep it down your neck, across shoulders, down the arms and legs for a golden-bronze sheen.

Sephora mono shadow in Girls Night Out, and Guerlain Terracotta Sun In The City

Chanel Illusion d'Ombre Vision (Limited)

Chanel Illusion d'Ombre in Vision

One of my favorite cream shadows in the world - bar none - Vision is just made up of gold flecks, so you look like you're wearing a wash of gold dust on the lids. There's no other color in the base. Just Tinkerbell dust that won't fall off onto your cheeks.

The bad news is it's limited edition and no longer available, but here's a cheap alternative!

Sephora's Precious Gold Luminizer costs a humble US$10 but it's SO fun. It's similar to Vision, but the proportion of darker gold flecks is higher than in the Chanel. Honestly though, on the lid, most people won't be able to tell the difference. 

Swatches of Chanel Vision and Sephora's Precious Gold Luminizere

I like to dab this onto the inner corners of my eyes, or the center of my lid on top of a neutral/matte eyeshadow look. It can be worn as a wash across the lids, but doesn't go on as evenly as the Chanel, since it's a gel, so it doesn't build up very easily. Still, for the price, who's complaining?!

Lime Crime Uniliner in Rhyme

Lime Crime Uniliner in Rhyme

Rhyme isn't a typical metallic liquid liner. It's made up of ultra fine gold flecks, so if you sheer it out, it almost looks like a sparkly gold shadow. It's fantastic as a holiday liner, and I've also used it many times dabbed on the center of the lids over other shadows.

Lime Crime Uniliner in Rhyme applied as liner, and spread as shadow

Other products:

• Revlon Nail Enamel in Gold Coin - this is a sparkly cool gold that's not glitter and not quite chrome either.
• Gold nail wraps from lightinthebox.com (these are available from so many places; I just inluded them because nothing looks quite like gold nail wraps)

Lancôme Noel 2013 Holiday Collection Swatches/Review!!!

An early look at swatches of the unreleased Noel 2013 Collection from Lancôme, which will be out from November 2013, and - O.M.G… IT IS GORGEOUS…

This collection will be available globally (thank goodness), although a few of the shades and exact release dates might vary from region to region. (I'll update with pricing information soon; don't have it right this moment!)

Lancôme Hypnôse Cream Eyeshadows in Star, Drama, and Doll Eye textures.

These babies are more pigmented than the Diorshow Fushion Monos, but the textures are not all consistent!
From left: Sapphir Noir, Quartz Taupe, Emeraude Eternelle, and Diamant Argente.

The limited edition Hypnose Star Mascara in a starry tube, and a Swarovski-crystal coated l'Absolu Rouge in a holiday-exclusive shade, #394.

Use it as a highlighter, an all over body glow, or an eyeshadow. Rose Etincelle blush-highlighter compact is almost too pretty to use.

The unexpected favorites from this collection. These look like normal polishes, but they are most definitely not. These are MATTE. If you can't quite picture how matte nail polishes can also be incredibly glittery or frosty, go down to the link at the bottom to see nail swatches!

A bit of fun for lazy girls who want all the drama of a perfect flick, but don't want the hassle of drawing it on themselves. These stick on patches can be re-used up to 3 times. (I'll experiment to see how you can make them last longer!)

Beautifully rich and pigmented Absolu Velours go on matte but settle to a beautiful glossy finish. See lip swatches in the link below!

To see the full post and lip and hand swatches of the stuff you see above, click here!

Chanel Illusion D'Ombre in 89 Vision (Super-simple Gold Wash)

If there is just one item that I will recommend from the high-end collections if you're in the market to splurge on something this Summer season, it is Chanel's Illusion D'Ombre in 89 Vision. 

And, yes - let me first say outright that this is ridiculously expensive but MUCH better than the equivalent from Shu Uemura. Plus, you get a lot more product than you would with Shu's new cream shadows, all in a sturdy glass pot with a brush as well.

As you can see from the swatches above, this is literally a pot of the most glorious sparkling gold flecks in a completely translucent base. If gold has always been too yellow for you to wear, you will not encounter that problem here because you're not going to get a wash of solid yellow-gold.

This is a veil of fine but intense fairy dust that is going to stay on your lids rather than dust right off onto your cheeks. The silky, almost-dry texture also means that you can smooth this on over existing shadows or powders.

This is probably the shortest tutorial I have.

Step 1: Smooth on with finger all the way from lash line up to the brow bone.

Step 2: Apply black liner (I used Milani Liquif' Eye) along the water line and extend into a short flick to add sultriness to the gold-laden look.

Step 3: Apply black mascara to finish.

And that is literally all you need for a traffic-stopping eye look that takes 5 minutes to create.