Blame It On NARS Summer Gifting Kits: Swatches and Overview

We are in the thick of previewing all the Fall Winter 2015 makeup releases, but I just had to talk about NARS' 3 Summer Gifting kits which launched in Singapore this month.

There are 2 Lip Pencil kits and 1 Blush Palette. And these are all gorgeously colorful and perfect as a nice luxurious gift for someone special.

There are unique paint swirls and spatters on each of the covers. My favorite is probably the Blame It On NARS blush palette (SGD$120), with the pink, yellow and violet swirls. But just based on the contents, this would be the one I would invest in as well. I was very pleased to see that none of the shades within are repeats of the shades in my Virtual Domination palette from the holiday season last year.

Casino is a bronzer I've been meaning to try, so having it in a convenient palette along with 3 other shades is perfect. Daydream and New Attitude are gorgeous soft pink blushes as well. The only shade I am not quite as enamored of is Satellite of Love. It's just way too sparkly, and just not the type of shade I wear as highlighter. (I prefer fine-grained pearlescence so it looks less like fairy-dust, more like a dewy gleam on the cheeks.)

The Kit also comes with a mini Ita brush for you to tint and sculpt your cheeks.

The Lipstick Kits ($85) are worth checking out too.

For soft-lip lovers, Ultimate NARS is the way to go. You get 1 matte pencil, the gorgeously wearable Sex Machine (the rosy plummy bitten lip shade) and 2  Satins, a soft caramel beige Biscayne Park, and a pale cotton candy pink Stourhead.

Stourhead might be a bit intimidating for some, but you can always wear it sheer as a soft tint so you don't go too Snooki.

My personal pick is True NARS Kit for sure.

I love all 3 shades within, and these are colors I'd wear regularly. Yu is a magenta pink, Luxembourg a cherry-red, and the only Velvet Matte Lip Pencil, Provocative Red, is a muted, elegant oxblood.

Each Lip Pencil Kit comes with a sharpener.

MAC is Beauty Collection Swatches

The sugary girly MAC is Beauty collection launches 24 April in Singapore, and has a ton of gorgeous color products including 16 Fluidline gel liners, and 12 lipsticks. Perfect for those of us who like a simple swathe of liner and a pop of color on the lips.

Firstly, I apologize for the less-than-perfect liner swatches. There wasn't any brush available where I previewed the products, so I had to make do with cotton buds. These will just give you an idea of the shades and finishes (matte, sparkly or metallic). If you use a proper liner brush, these will go on much more intensely.

Deliciously Rich is a nice sparkly brown. It's not as opaque as the other brown shades as the formula has a tendency to sheer out when you apply it, so you might need to go over a second time after the first layer sets.

I personally love Looking Good and Copperthorn for statement eye looks. You might or might not remember I did a red/wine winged eyeliner look using Make Up Geek's red gel liner previously. It's a LOT more wearable than you think. Copperthorn on the other hand, is like Copper Sparkle pigment on crack.

Blue Peep is a permanent color, and Shade is going to be added to the permanent line as well. Yay because I love this deep green matte liner. It might not look like much, but it's so flattering, and not too loud.

Macroviolet is another fave of mine which is being re-released with this collection, so if you have not tried it, do. It's a deep purple/plum with a slight bronze hue to it. Wear with a matte pinky-brown eye look and see how gorgeous it is. 

Waveline is a classic deep navy/cobalt which is not so dark that it looks black, and not so bright that it looks over-the-top. You get definition as well as color. 

Siahi, I would suggest you check out as well if you love blue-green shades like Tilt, Steamy, etc. The swatch doesn't do it justice.

For the 4 shadows, Yogurt (not swatched here) is a permanent matte pale ivory beige-pink. Of the 3 limited edition shades, I would put my money on Bouffant (frosted peach-pink) and Preening Pale (satin pistachio ice-cream green). Wow Factor looks pretty but if you don't pick up a lot of product and really pack it on, it's the kind of almost-matte shade that will grab on the skin and go on a bit darker and duller than it looks in the pan.

The Cremesheen Glasses I'm not extremely impressed by. But then I've never been a huge fan of Cremesheen Glasses anyway. I think of the 4, Star Quality is the only one that would make much of a difference. The rest just add a bit of shine and the subtlest bit of hue to light or nude lipsticks. If you already own a pale creme-textured gloss, there's no need to get more because they all mostly look the same on the lips.

The lipsticks in this range I LOVE though. There are 12 shades, and I love several.

Reel Sexy, Make Me Gorgeous, Catty and Call the Hairdresser are all super-pretty and lean on the warm side of pink.

The nudes are all sheer and wearable. Which is the way I prefer it. No concealer lips for me. I especially like Real Redhead, which just evens out the lips and doesn't look too rosy or too beige.

The cooler pinks/violets are fun, but I recommend Silly and Diva-ish more than the others. Real Doll is pretty, but a bit sheer, so you will just get a slick of soft cool-pink gleam on the lips. Notice Me is one of those very cool lavender shades that some people can pull off, and most of us can't.

Diva-ish, the deep fuchsia tone, is the most universally wearable, but Silly is so fun. This is not like Candy Yum Yum although the texture is very similar. It's a little lighter and warmer toned. If you want a slightly more "pastel" effect on your lips than you get with Candy Yum Yum, pick this up quick because I just know it will disappear once it's available.

Beauty Powders are always optional. These multi-use powders come in pressed powder compacts and can be used for dusting all over, applied on high points of the face as highlighters, or worn as blush, depending on the shade and your skintone.

Alpha Girl, the warmer coral-peach shade, is matte and will work as a gorgeous blush on pale girls. On medium skin tones, you will need to build it up a bit. On tan to dark skins, it won't show up. 

Pearl Blossom on the other hand is a nice cool-toned pink pearl shade which you can check out if you like the color of NARS Copacabana Multiple, but wish it were less shiny.

Clinique Pop Lip Color + Primer

Clinique's launching their new Pop Lip Color + Primer range on 9 April in Singapore.

And that's what is so interesting about the range. They're formulated with flexi polymers and micro-refined pigments to help colors go on smoother and stay vibrant for longer.

Longwearing lipsticks often start to feel dry and get patchy after a few hours, so to prevent that, Clinique has formulated these lipsticks with sodium hyaluronate, ceramides, shea butter, and murumuru butter, to hydrate the lips. Which is a good thing because I often get chapped, flaking lips, and always avoid full coverage lipsticks even though I love them. At least now there's a chance that I can wear them even when my lips are a bit under the weather.

First off, I'll say the color payoff is beautiful and the shades are gorgeous. There are 13 shades available in Singapore at SGD$33 each, and they are grouped into 4 categories - nudes, tawnies, pinks, and violets. But I say ignore that because the color grouping is a bit confusing. Poppy Pop (bright tangerine coral) and Cherry Pop (blue red) are both listed under the "tawnies", and an ultra dark burgundy brown called Cola Pop is listed under "nudes". 

But there is a nice distribution of shades from nudes to brights to deeper tones, so there is a color for everyone.

My 4 favorite shades from the Pop Lip Color + Primer range: Cherry Pop, Punch Pop, Plum Pop and Nude Pop

After playing around with all the shades at a recent press event, I picked the above 4 - both for their smooth even payoff, and also the fact that they are quite universally skin-flattering. I had gravitated towards the 2 deep, dark shades (Berry Pop and Cola Pop) but they didn't go on as evenly compared to brighter, richer, shades in this range (hot pink, red, berry).

As for whether these last all day, I'll say no cream-textured lipstick lasts all day.
These DO last a good long while for cream lipsticks, and some of the stronger shades leave a stain, but if you're drinking, eating, talking, they will wear away slowly, just like any other lipstick. You will still need to wear a base layer of good lip pencil in order for these to last all day, which is the same for any other range.

The good thing is I didn't notice these feathering or bleeding much, and they do feel quite conditioning on the lips. But eventually the conditioning oils will still get absorbed or vaporize, and the shine and hydration will fade away. I can't say yet if the conditioning formula with ceramides and plant butters can help smooth over ragged lips, because I haven't encountered that problem lately, but hopefully the humectants and emollients in the formula can help minimize the chance of that happening.

But all in all, this is a very nice range with a great formula and nice colorsso it's well worth a look if you're in the market for vibrant, creamy colors.

Clé de Peau Beauté La Beauté Enchanteress Spring/Summer 2015 Makeup Collection

Selections from the Cle de Peau Beaute Spring Summer 2015 "La Beauté Enchanteress" collection

Just a very quic post showing you swatches of some items from the gorgeous Cle de Peau Beaute Spring/Summer 2015 makeup collection. 

The colors are cool, iridescent, soft - and there are 2 new eye palettes (SGD80 for the 6g refills); 309, and 310. And the collection also includes 3 new lip colors (SGD70 for refills); 112, 211, 313. The ones I received for review are swatched here.

The eye palette I really love. Even though I must say I'm not much of  a blue eyeshadow person. Just the way they've paired an icy gossamer blue with a deep smoky navy and then added 2 beautiful neutral shades makes everything infinitely more classy and wearable. Nothing garish or loud about these colors. In fact you can do a rather neutral look by wearing the neutrals on your lids, the pale blue just in your inner tear-duct area, and then the navy as a liner.

Or you can flip it around and use the blues on the lids if you prefer a less subtle look, and just use the neutrals in the socket and on the brow bones. Either way, the texture is typical of classic Japanese-luxury makeup; very silky, translucent and blendable.

Cle de Peau Beaute Eye Color Quad 310: Dusky navy, pale blue, and neutrals

Cle de Peau Beaute Extra Rich Lipsticks 112, and 313

The lipsticks are all part of the same line (Extra Rich), but the textures of the 2 I tried are pretty different when worn.

Swatches: Cle de Peau Extra Rich Lipsticks in 313 and 112

313 is a lovely rich coral in a satin texture, with a medium sheen and moderate opacity. You do need to either prep your lips properly with a liner or primer, or be careful to really build up the color a bit, or it can look slightly patchy up-close.

Cle de Peau Beaute Extra Rich Lipstick 313

112 on the other hand, is a beautiful deep mauve pink with a semi-sheer glossy texture, although it can be built up almost to opacity, like in the image below. It looks dark in the tube but goes on much softer and more wearable.

Cle de Peau Beaute Extra Rich Lipstick 112

I can't tell you which items to focus on. I actually like everyone of these that I've tried.

What I will say though - if you must pick one - is that lipsticks do tend to be quite overpriced in Sg and for most people $70 is a astonishing amount to pay for a lipstick refill, so the quad is a worthier investment since you don't need to bring it out for touchups and $80 for 6g makes it cheaper than MAC. Then again - if you love the lipsticks, I would invest in the mauve. It's more even in texture and a far harder color to dupe with cheaper brands. 

"The Softie": Soft Neutral Eye with a Gold Accent, and Blooming Pink Cheeks and Lips!

The picture tutorial all laid-out with minimal text!

Romantic Contoured Lavender

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Lavender is a universally-flattering color for most eye and skin colors, and I always consider it one of those shades that functions like a neutral because it goes with everything and everyone. A contoured, pearlescent lavender eye like this one can look sultry and dreamy at the same time (as seen on Jessica Rabbit), AND you can change the entire look just by switching out your lip color.

Some tips:

• What you want to be careful of, if you have uneven skin tone or a lot of red/pink in your skin, is to pick purples that lean more silver or blue. 
• If you have mature lids, go with slightly less metallic/shimmery shadows than I used because a high-sheen can emphasize lines.
• If you have very dark skin, pick a purple that is richer and stronger as a soft pastel can look chalky
• If you are layering it over a grey/silver base like I did here (See below), remember that you need to go with a slightly more pink-toned shade than you want because the blue undertones in the grey base will make a purple look blue. 

I used the 88 Shimmer palette, but you can find soft pinks and purples EVERYWHERE so don't feel you need to purchase a brand new palette for this.

Step 1: Apply your base all over the lid up to the socket line, but don't wing it out at the outer corners. You want to keep the eye shape quite round and doe-like for this.

Then use a small brush to run the grey cream shadow along the outer half of the lower lash line as well. (I used Maybelline Color Tattoo in Audacious Asphalt.)

Step 2: From the 88 Shimmer palette, I picked a lavender and cool pink in the 2 center columns and mixed them together on a brush.

Then I applied this mixture onto the outer half of the lids, below. As you can see the mixture goes on a straight lavender because the grey cancels out the pink/red tones. If I'd used just the purple, my shadow would look almost blue.

 

Step 3: Next I picked a warm-toned paler pink and applied that onto the inner half of the lids, blending into the pink-purple from earlier. Bring this down the inner corners to the lower lid as well. This creates a brightness at the inner corners of your eye, and is great if you have close-set eyes.

Step 4: To finish the shadow, just apply a little charcoal or black shadow right to the outer corners. I did not bother to sweep it upwards along the socket line but if you have hooded or mono-lids and want to emphasize your socket a bit more, you can do that.

Step 5: For extra definition at the lash line, I applied a thin line of black pencil to the outer half of the lids and then used the same shadow brush from earlier to soften and blend it out.

Then I finished with black mascara.

Step 6: Because I'm going with a cooler toned lip for this look, I chose a raspberry pink blush. Try something like Nyx Pinky which looks like a super-bright fuchsia, but goes on quite pretty. If you want you can apply just a little matte bronzer around the edges of your face and temples, jawline to add some dimension back to your face.

Step 7: For the lips, you have the option of using a soft pastel blue-based pink like Revlon's Strawberry Shortcake Lip Butter, OR you can apply a deep dark liver-red (MAC Diva). The dark lip instantly turns the look into a rather "Noir" one, and I didn't touch the eyeshadow or the blush at all.

My Bright Summer Pink Lip of the Moment: NYX Xtreme Lip Cream in 01 Dolly Girl

Last year, Soft Matte Lip Creams were all the rage in the NYX line. I do like matte finishes, but sometimes there's nothing like a creamy texture to bring out all the ripe, glossy glory of a bright, hot, shade.

For me, NYX Xtreme Lip Creams go on thick and opaque like liquid lipsticks and are not sticky the way lip glosses are, but don't expect them to be super long-wearing. The finish is good though (in my opinion); like a very creamy and opaque lipstick that you apply with a doe-foot applicator.

Since the Summer fashion season for me usually means a return to stronger, brighter lips, I feel a need to highlight the shade 01 Dolly Girl. It's bright and very blue-based but deep enough to be flattering on many skin tones and to not look neon.

NYX Xtreme Lip Creams are cruelty-free and available for about $6 (or under) depending where you purchase them from.

Pop Rose: Pink Makeup with Metallic Stacked Liner

We don't often wear pinks on the eyes, lips, nails AND cheeks all at the same time, but I thought the Summer Season might be a good time to give it a go.

The trick is NOT to try and match all the pinks. I used a mauve (pink-purple) shadow, with a magenta toned liner, and a bright pink lipstick. For the nails, I used a hot Barbie pink.

On the lids, I also reined it in and used warm/neutral shades for highlights and contour, instead of more gradations of pink.

Step 1: Apply a soft mauve shadow on the lids. This can be matte or slightly satin-y, but should not be full-on metallic if you can help it. I used a limited edition shade from Urban Decay, but if you don't own the 15 Anniversary palette, you can use one of the lighter shades from the Wet n Wild Petal Pusher palette.

Step 2: Use a pale gold on the inner corners of the eyes (I also used Urban Decay's limited edition color but it's an exact dupe of MAC Vanilla pigment and Coastal Scent's Elven Gold Hot Pot which is super-cheap.)

Step 3: I don't own any metallic pink liners, so I used a pigment mixed with a drop or two of liner sealant. You can use eye drops with MAC Fuchsia Pigment or any electric pink pencil to get a similar effect.

Make sure the flick is parallel to the outer corners of your lower lash line (see dotted line).

Step 4: Probably the most tricky part. Trace over your lash line with a black liquid liner. This is what will pull the whole look together without letting the pink overpower everything. If you don't have a steady hand, use a felt tip liner for more control.

Step 5: Finish off with black mascara.

Step 6: For the cheeks, I just used a very matte pink blush, and then applied Pink Nouveau (my absolute favorite summer pink) lipstick from MAC. Barry M and Wet n Wild have some really good bright pinks as well if you're on a budget.