Rouge Dior Fall 2016 "It" Shades swatched!

Seems this is the month for daring lip colors; even the venerable house of Dior has launched their edgy Dior Rouge Mattes, in shades I never thought I'd see under the CD banner.

Besides shades and finishes, the packaging has been slightly "upgraded" as well. (Hint: look under the caps and you'll get a Louboutin-esque indication of which tubes are from the new collection and which are older.) Aside from a whole host of pretty, lady-like shades, there are also some incredibly daring ones - including the 4 Matte "It" shades ranging from a chic dusty grey to a deep dark navy that looks almost black in the tube.

Rouge Dior 602 Visionary Matte and  962 Poison Matte

I love all of them, but 789 is a pretty standard bright wearable violet (if any such shade can be called "standard") and something you can find from many brands from Urban Decay to NYX to MAC. 207 Montaigne is ultra-cool but more of a mixer shade to do interesting dusty ombre looks, unless you are super porcelain-pale, in which case you can probably wear it on its own.

My personal picks were 602 Visionary, a navy which swatches a lot more vibrant and less black than it seems in the tube, and of course 962 Poison. This color is named after their iconic Poison perfume, and mimics the deep prune-purple bottle. 

First off, the formulas are very smooth and creamy, rather lightweight for mattes, which is in keeping with the Rouge Dior line in general. Swatched on the wrist, they are less pigmented and dense than Diorifics (my forever fave) but you can definitely build these up to opacity. The good news is they don't feel heavy or dry on the lips, but if you really want an ultra-matte finish you will need to blot because these do have a comfortable low sheen and are more the "comfort matte" type of texture.

I do need to remind everyone that I am shooting freshly applied lipstick in front of a bright lamp. In real life, after the lipsticks have had time to set a bit, they will always look more matte and less "creamy".

Dior 962 Poison Matte

I personally feel Poison is an ultra dark purple (much darker once on the lips than it seems in the tube) that suits medium to dark skins beautifully. Pale skins CAN pull it off but it tends to look prettier as a stain, and extremely goth if worn full on.

Be aware that it has very little red or rose and can make you look a little washed out if you don't balance it out with some blush etc.

Rouge Dior 602 Visionary Matte

As for 602 Visionary, this goes on sheerer than I'd expected. Somewhat disappointing because I thought I would get a thick dense dark indigo. The good news is it's not opaque in one coat, but you can build it up quite easily, although it will never look as black as it does in the tube. When you do get it built up though, it really slays.

Urban Decay Revolution High-Color Lipgloss Swatches

Urban Decay’s Revolution High-Color Lipglosses (SGD$33).
These gorgeous tubes of sheeny shiny color are out in the US, but won’t hit the stores until 11 June 2015 in Singapore.

In the meantime, whether you’re shopping online in the US, or considering some of the shades before they are available in stores, you might find swatches on the skin a bit more useful than the digital swatches they have online.

The official shade swatches you see above are a good bit darker than the actual glosses in real life, so if you're trying to decide based on a picture like this, you are likely to be a bit surprised when you get the actual product. Also, you can't tell how sheer or opaque they are against the skin. These are High-color glosses, and they ARE more pigmented than the typical gloss, but they also aren’t all equally pigmented. Some are sheerer than others. Especially the shimmery shades, which is typical of most glosses. 

Fact: When you add a lot of opaque non-sparkly pigments in a formula to make it opaque, they can "muddy"-up and dull the shine of the sparkle pigments. Kinda like dropping glitter in cloudy water. So for the sparkle to shine through, brands often have to keep the base translucent, or else throw in SO much sparkly mica that the product can feel slightly gritty and sometimes harder to work with. Hence, in most "intense" gloss ranges, the sparkly glosses will always be slightly translucent.

Now I’ve only had a chance to play with these on the hand, not wear them on the lips myself, so this isn’t a full review, but I’m pretty impressed with the colors (these shades are gorgeous), and also the fact that the textures aren’t super sticky and heavy on the lips. They aren’t lightweight like Cremesheen Glasses or Lancome Liplovers. Maybe something like Chanel Rouge Allure Glosses. The color payoff is also similar.

I can't tell you what shades are my fave. It's too hard to pick because these are actually all gorgeous. I would say since this is a high-color gloss range, don't play it safe and keep buying the nudes and soft pinks. (You can get those shades from any drugstore brand.) Try a bright magenta pink like Scandal, a rich red like Brickhouse, one of the beautifully sparkly sheer shades like Big Bang and Vice, or even step out of your comfort zone and try Bittersweet, a bright grape-candy purple which is the campaign color for the range, which is actually incredibly flattering.

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. 

Holiday Look #5: Deep Dark Pleather Plum

A very “noir” look focusing on glossy dark lips that works on any skintone! There are a few tips to wearing monochromatic looks like this.

• Conceal, conceal, conceal! Dark, monochromatic looks can make uneven skin tone and any redness more obvious.
• Keep the eyes a little softer if you don’t want to look too vampish. I used a soft taupe as the main lid shade and plum only in the outer corners.
• Wear a brighter blush. Dark monochromatic looks can really drain the face or make you look sallow, so the way to balance it out and stop everything from going completely goth is to use a soft pink blush to add a little sweetness and color to the face
• Be prepared to touch up! Like a glossy red lip, you will likely need to be careful when wearing a glossy dark lip. Smears, smudges, track marks from your hair getting caught in your lips, you name it.

Product used:

• Foundation - LANEIGE Snow BB Soothing Cushion SPF 50 No. 21
• Concealer - MAC Studiofinish concealer NW20
• Powder - ClearLast Powder in Medicated Ochre
• Brows - Shu Uemura Hard Formula 9 Pencil in Seal Brown
• Taupe shadow - MAC Satin Taupe
• Plum shadow - MAC Rich Core
• Silver shadow - Lancôme Hypnôse cream shadow in Diamant Argenté
• Brown/plum liner - Rimmel Exaggerate liner in Perfect Plum
• Mascara - Lancôme Hypnôse mascara
• Blush - Benefit Rockateur
• Plum Lipliner - Make Up Store Jazz
• Plum gloss - Givenchy Gloss Interdit in 15 Velvet Purple

Deep, dark juicy purple lips with Make Up Store Jazz lipliner and Givenchy Gloss Interdit in Velvet Purple.

LIP TARS: What they are, how they work, what I think of some of the colors.

Obsessive Compulsive Cosmetics Lip Tars

I was recently asked my thoughts on Lip Tars and whether I thought it was worth it to invest in them. Well, I own 5 tubes so that's saying something. The thing to remember though, is that it's not for everyone. I'd recommend it if:

1. You need to enjoy "mixology" and blending colors to make your own,
2. You LOVE very strong accent makeup on your lips and you don't mind spending more time on your makeup, OR
3. You're a makeup artist and you need to do both of the above.

 Most people would have no use for lip tars because:

• They can't be applied quickly like a balm or gloss; it would look crazy
• With most colors you need to use a brush
• A lot of the colors are incredibly strong and not practical for school or regular office-work (ultraviolet, yellow, blue, black, white,... )
• The pigments separate from the oils after awhile, and you need to have the patience to tip it the other way and shake it around until everything is mixed up again

That said, here are the colors I own and what I think, plus tips at the end of the post if you want to use them!

OCC Lip Tar in RX

True black. But you MUST wear a lip liner or some sort of wax base round your lips with this. It will very quickly bleed into fine lines.
I actually recommend MAC's Black Lipmix from the Pro range if you can get it.
It's not as glossy when it goes on, but the formula doesn't separate as badly and it goes on more opaque, with no bleeding. I would probably not repurchase this after I use it up unless I can't get my MAC for some reason.

MAC Lipmix vs OCC Lip Tar: The MAC isn't bleeding. It's just smudgy application. The OCC is though.

Mix with: ANY color to darken it or dull it.

OCC Lip Tar in RX

True, true primary blue. If you're looking for an opaque, intense blue whether to mix or wear on its own, this is the BEST shade you can get. I love it. Here's a post with a few things I did using RX.

One word for bloggers and those taking photos; this blue has a tendency to flashback in flash or bright lights, so it looks almost pastel blue in certain conditions. 

Mix with: Any color to cool it down. Use only a TINY dot when mixing!

OCC Lip Tar in Belladonna

This bright purple doesn't look this blue in real life. But even more than RX, the blue in this picks up in most frontal shots I take. In real life, it's not so ultraviolet.

Still it's a fantastic bright purple, and if you're the sort to love things that are "somewhat left of the center" (like me), you'll love wearing this color neat, without mixing anything in.

Mix with: Pinks to make them more lavender toned, with red for a burgundy/wine. 

OCC Lip Tar in Pretty Boy

Bright fuchsia pink.
This is the older sister (or brother) of Anime, OCC's best selling neon pink. It's still bright, but slightly more grown up and slightly more flattering on most skins. This is a shade I would recommend wearing just on its own with a fuchsia lip liner.

OCC Lip Tar in Ophelia

Soft beige pink.
The only pale shade I have in my collection at this time. It's a gorgeous cool-toned pink, but you can see no matter how much patting and blending I did, the lines are still visible where the pigments sank in. From a slight distance, and in real life, it's not really noticeable. Just be careful when you're taking anything in high-res.
Mix with: A bright color to soften it slightly. Although I'd also recommend just wearing this on its own because it's a very pretty and wearable shade for those with pale to medium-fair skin.

A few tips for those who can't resist the lure of these little tubes:

• Try to always use a lip brush, except with some paler colors that look patchy or streaky. Then I recommend using your ring finger to lightly spread an pat it out.
• Apply a very very thin layer first, spread it out sheer, let it set a bit, then build up more when needed. Don't plonk on a whole lot (this is not regular lip gloss!) because it will seep everywhere, and be more likely to bleed and sink into lines.
• Lip tars are a blend of pigments and oils. This is the reason they separate, and why they seem to go on glossy, then lose some of the shine after awhile. The oils vaporize and get absorbed, leaving mainly pigments, unlike wax-based glosses and lipsticks which will just sit pretty on your skin.

If you want to make your own D.I.Y. Lip Tars (works better with metallic pigments), I also have a post on that here.

OCC: http://www.occmakeup.com/

Wearing Lavender / Purple Lips!

L-to-R: MAC Up The Amp Lipstick, Lime Crime Airborne Unicorn Lipstick, MAC Going Casual Cremesheen Glass, MAC English Accents Lipglass (L.E.), NYX Power (round) lipstick

I love lavender lips. And by purple/lavender, I don’t mean purplish or cool-toned pinks. I mean REALLY purple. 

TIP: The lighter the shade, the more opaque the lip color should be, because glosses will creep and sink into creases and folds in your lips, and anything lighter than your natural lip color is going to stand out like chalky lavender zebra stripes. Not fun. (In fact, I did not post pictures of the 2 glosses I swatched above, as they sank into every line I didn’t know I had. Definitely better over a nude base color like Revlon Soft Nude.)

If you want to wear pale purple glosses, your best bet is to layer them over a nude lipstick or a liner of some sort, although that alters their color.

NYX Power Lipstick

View some lip swatches here!