lipgloss

Gradient Lips Tutorial with Chanel Rouge Allure Velvet 42 L’eclatane Spring 2013

by Reika on March 20, 2013

I’ve been really liking this lip look lately – application is relatively more complex than just smearing a layer of lip color on, but the end result is simply effortless sexy with a touch of innocence. If you think the look of perfectly defined lips is too serious and grown-up, then this tutorial might help you to achieve a baby-like sexy pout which has been dominating in the Japanese and Korean beauty magazines.

The main product featured in this post is the Chanel Rouge Allure Velvet 42 L’eclatante from the Spring 2013 Collection. I actually have purchased quite a lot of products from this collection and loving them all! Since there have already been tons of reviews available on the internet, I thought I’ll share my takes on how I wear them in my tutorial/fotd posts. The color of this lipstick is absolutely to-die for – you know you are wearing a beautiful lip color when there are girls on the street stopping you and asking for the shade number! It can look quite bright if applied directly from the tubes, and I normally like to apply it with either my fingers or a lip brush to tone down the color, and finish with some lip balm/gloss otherwise it can make my lips look flakey and dry.

Tutorial with Chanel Allure Velvet L’eclatante

1. Prep the lips with exfoliation first as it helps to remove the dead skin, moisturize, and improve blood circulation to make the lips appear more plumped.

2. Conceal the lip lines using a concealer – the key is to completely blur out the lip lines.

3. Use a very pale pink lip pencil (or a lipstick), go over the lip lines that was concealed in the previous step, all the way towards the middle of the lips.

4. Use a bright pink lipstick (about 3-4 shades brighter than the lip pencil), apply the color from the centre of lips outward but do not go over the lip lines. The key is to use your finger or a lip brush to blend out the harsh edge for a gradient effect.

5. Apply a sheer pink lip gloss over the lips with more at the center.

Finished look with the beautiful Chanel Rouge Allure Velvet 42 L’eclatante

Before and After

Products Used:

1. Sarah Happ Lip Scrub in Blood Orange Flavour - my HG lip exfoliator

2. Laura Mercier Secret Camouflage with Becca Concealer Brush

3. Sportsgirl Lip Pencil

4. Chanel Rouge Allure Velvet 42 L’eclatante (LE) from the 2013 Spring Collection

5. Lancome Juicy Tubes in Marshmallow with Becca Lip Brush

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Becca Endless Summer 2012 Collection – Ultimate Color Gloss Malibu Punch Review and FOTD

by Reika on October 13, 2012

I really appreciate the way Becca release their makeup collections. They are one of the very few beauty houses (or perhaps the only) that schedule releases depending on the season of the country. The Becca Endless Summer 2012 Makeup Collection is just out in Australia. Whilst I find myself inevitably drawn to the dark and plummy shades from the current fall collection, it is refreshing to see the bright, tropical and summery hues.

Allow me to say – the Endless Summer Collection is the best collection Becca has ever done. Every shade is well edited for spring and summer, and the texture is superb. I had a very hard time limiting myself to a few products. After fiddling at the counter for 30 minutes, I settled with the Becca Ultimate Color Gloss Malibu Punch and their famous Beach Tint in Lychee. There were other products such as their Mineral Blushes that I was that close to buying, and even now I just can’t seem to get them out of my mind!

The Becca Ultimate Color Gloss in Malibu Punch is a very intense and bright tangerine shade. This shade is worn by the model in their promotion campaign (here), and it looked absolutely stunning on her so it became their best selling shade from this range. Although it’s called a gloss, it almost feels like a liquid lipstick as the pigmentation is so intense, and delivers the ultimate bold color with a high glossy shine whilst feeling weightless on the lips. The lasting power is also phenomenal, as there is still a stain left on my lips after 4 to 5 hours of wear. Compared to the much raved YSL Glossy Stain, the Becca Ultimate Color Gloss truly deserves more credit, if not better.

I did my makeup differently in my FOTD today. To accentuate the bold lip color, I applied more-than-usual amount of bronzer in Nars Laguna along the cheeks and the jawline for a touch of sun-kissed warmth. Nars Luster is applied along the hollow of my cheekbones for a more defined look. My eye makeup using Burberry Midnight Brown (reviewed here) is also more smoky hence it looks more dramatic than what I would normally wear. The overall result – romantic but with sharpness.

Other products used: Suqqu Moisturizing Cream Foundation( LOVE it!) and Shu Uemura Hard Formula Eyebrow Pencil in 6.

The Becca Ultimate Color Gloss retails for USD$24 and the entire Becca Line is available at Sephora now! I bought mine at David Jones for AUD$42.

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YSL Rouge Pur Couture Glossy Stain 12 Corail Fauve Review and Swatch

by Reika on April 2, 2012

Most brands are releasing a range of long lasting lip wear this season. If I could only pick one product to buy, it’s gotta be the YSL Rouge Pur Couture Glossy Stain. The swatch pictures of them have been floating around the blogsphere for a while. At first I wasn’t really intrigued as all the colors looked very bright and saturated, which is a little out of my comfort zone to wear everyday. Little did I know that as soon as I tried one on I became totally obsessed with the formulation. I bought not only one, but 4 of these..and I still can’t get enough of them!

Today I will only be reviewing the shade 12 Corail Fauve, which is a beautiful coral shade with a pinkish red undertone.

YSL Glossy Stain is a hybrid of lip gloss and stain. The texture almost feels watery-like upon application, and it takes about 30 seconds for the product to settle. Corail Fauve may look quite bright and bold in the swatch (as with most other shades of the line), but rest assured that the liquid formulation does give you a good control over the application. It dries down to a subtle natural pinkish red lip stain with a soft sheen as the first layer. Then as a second layer (in my pictures I dab a little more on the center of my bottom lips as a second layer), it intensifies the color and instantly adds this translucent watery shine to the lips, and it makes the lips appear so moist and kissable.

The lasting power of it is phenomenal. It can last up to 4 -5 hours on my lips without much fading if I don’t eat/drink anything, and it still leaves a remnant after I eat.

The YSl Glossy Stain retails for $50 in Australia. I bought mine at David Jones. They are also available here and here in US.

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Chanel Levres Scintillantes Glossimer BAGATELLE Review and Swatches

by Reika on February 23, 2012

Chanel Levres Scintillantes Glossimer has released with three new limited edition shades with the Spring Collection - BAGATELLE, BONBON and PÉTILLANT. Given that I have already had quite a substantial collection of Glossimers, I decided to only purchase BAGATELLE, and passed on the rest as they are too sheer and look very similar to what I already have.

I don’t think I have ever expressed my infatuation with Chanel Glossimer. First of all they have the most aesthetic appeal to me for someone who judges makeup by its look I don’t normally like to wear over-the-top shimmery lip glosses, and although Glossimer can look quite sparkly from the tube, the micro shimmer actually translates to a soft gleam to the lips (not glittery). It applies smoothly without the gritty feel, and the consistency is a little on the thick side so it stays put for a much longer time than other lip glosses.

Glossimer varies from sheer to rich. Many that I own are on the sheer side, with no exception to BAGATELLE. It is swatched as a medium pink with gold shimmers on bare skin but shows up as a sheer pale pink on my lips.

Lip Swatch of BAGATELLE:

Overall Look:

With a sheer Glossimer, I find that it is functions well when it is layered on top of a lipstick, for an added high shine pearly glow effect. I layered BAGATELLE on top of Rouge Coco Shine in Flirt in the pictures below.

A comparison swatch

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Nars Larger Than Life Lip Gloss Pirée Review and Swatch

by Reika on November 29, 2011

I spotted the new Nars Larger Than Life Lip gloss at Sephora . It is probably one the most interesting new collections by Nars for me lately, as for some reason both the fall collection and the holiday collection just didn’t intrigue me as much as before. At the moment the new lip glosses are only exclusive to Sephora..hopefully they will soon be available at other stores, so if your country doesn’t have Sephora (I mean Australia!) it’s just going to be a matter of time.

I bought the shade Pirée. There are also a few other interesting shades but I am trying to be more selective, so I only picked one shade which looked the best on me upon testing . Pirée is a gorgeous “your-lips-but-much-much-better” shade, as it is almost the same color as my lips but slightly nudish. The color is not as intense as the rest of the shades in the collection – it goes on semi-sheer with a wet glossy finish, and has no shimmers. The formulation is lovely as well – smooth, lightweight and non sticky. Compared to the old Nars gloss I would say the new gloss offers a richer color and a higher impact shine.

As you can see, the new Larger Than Life Lip gloss comes with a tiny brush applicator for precise application. To be honest I am not very fond of this new design, as I have full lips and it just takes more effort to apply lip gloss with this extra small brush.

Pirée Swatch:

Paired with neutral eye makeup:

Pirée is also very similar to Nars Lipgloss in Chihuahua

nars-larger-than-life-lipgloss-piree-swatch-3

Bottom Line: A lovely new line of lip glosses delivered by Nars. If you are into new makeup, definitely worth to have them checked out.

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Chanel 2011 Holiday Collection – Rouge Allure Extrait De Gloss Triomphal and Le Vernis Rouge Carat Reviews and Swatches

by Reika on October 30, 2011

Along with the Lumiére Sculptée Highlighting Powder, I have also picked up the Rouge Allure Extrait De Gloss in 517 Triomphal and the Chanel le Vernis in Rouge Carat from the Chanel 2011 Holiday Collection, which explains why I am painted in red today.

To be honest I wasn’t that excited about this collection after seeing the testers. There were some lovely lippies in pink, rose and beige, but none of them really stood out for me as I am sooo in love with my Suqqu Creamy Glow lipsticks at the moment, so I would rather buy more Suqqu as the formulation is just perfection. Chanel Rouge Allure Extrait De Gloss in Triomphal was a black horse as it wasn’t on my shopping list initially, but after putting in on my lips there was a ‘wow’ moment. I always adore the formulation of Rouge Allure Extrait De Glosses (reviewed here), and this one is just as good – semi opaque with a watery and translucent finish.

Triomphal is a striking rich red with fuchsia flecks but without grittiness. If you are scared of wearing red lips, Triomphal is a good starting point. The translucency and the moist finish makes it more wearable and youthful looking.

Chanel Le Vernis Rouge Carat is a stunning shimmery red with tons of magenta micro glitters! If you are into Chanel nail polishes, this one should not be missed.

Compared to Chanel Le Vernis Pirate

FOTD wearing Triomphal Allure Extrait De Gloss and Rouge Carat Le Vernis

Chanel Rouge Allure Extrait De Gloss retails for AUD$50 and Chanel Le Vernis retails for AUD$39.

So ladies, what is your must have from the Chanel 2011 Holiday Collection?

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My Nars 0rgasm collection

by Reika on September 19, 2011

This post has a mix of everything – I initially only wanted to show you the swatches of my Nars 0rgasm Collection. While taking swatch pictures of them, surprisingly my eye makeup of the day turned out really nice and sharp in the pictures thanks to the good lighting, so I like to share both with you.

Nars O blush was my first high end blush. To be honest I wasn’t that smitten with the shade at that time, as I thought it was just an ordinary peachy pink blush. As my makeup collection starts to build up and I have a wider range of colors to play with, I am becoming more fond of this shade. It is just a very easy-to-work-with shade and is flattering with almost any makeup look. It contains the right amount of shimmer which makes the finish neither too flat nor too shimmery – I do agree that it gives an O-glow as per the name haha. For a person like me who sleeps in almost every morning, there is nothing more convenient than a “no-brainer” shade.

I have already reviewed and compared the blush from the trio palette with the original blush, which you can find here.

I bought the Nars multiple 0rgasm after I came across a youtube clip of a professional MUA applying this nars on a gorgeous eurasian model. (sorry I can’t find the link as it was from a long time ago). I gasped when I saw the finish on her – it just looked soo beautiful. It is more pink with a more dewy finish compared to the original blush.

Nars Super O is a lovely peachy pink lipgloss, and again it is more on the pink side. Although it contains shimmers it applies smoothly and does not feel grainy on the lips.

Nars O Nail Polish

Group swatch: Except for the original blush, the rest all have a stronger pinkish undertone.

FOTD: Foundation was the Nars Sheer Matte. I had Nars Multiple O on my cheeks and the Nars Super O lipgloss on my lips.

On my eyes I used a mix of Nars eyeshadows: Nars Isolde over the lid and Nars Surabaya along the lash line with Nars Brumes on the outer v.

What is your favorite Nars O product? I am thinking to get the Nars O illumator..any thoughts?

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My favorite lipglosses – Chanel Rouge Allure Extrait de Gloss

by Reika on August 17, 2011

Ever since I started blogging, I plan my weekends based on the availability of sunshine. Last weekend was a sunny day so I took the opportunity to swatch the Chanel Rouge Allure Extrait de Gloss which are my all time favorite lip glosses. Trust me, I am not biased just because they are by Chanel. I have had a fair share of lip glosses and these glosses are by far the best I have tried. They come in the most flattering shades and I have collected all the pink shades from the line.

The packaging reflects the high price tag for a lip gloss. Different to their lipsticks, these glosses come in a weighty black lacquered glass tube. As I have said earlier, I feel my money is justified if a product is packaged beautifully and carries some weight, as opposed to the cheaper drugstore makeup. All of the ones I own contain no shimmers and are semi opaque. The colors are rich enough to show up on the lips whilst still showing a hint of your natural lip tone – which is exactly what I am after from a lip gloss. The finish is a cross between luminous and jelly like. They also felt extremely hydrating to the lips – as soon as they are applied on my usual dry lips, they look instantly more plumped and the appearance of lines and chapped skin is gone.

Let’s start with Rouge Allure Extrait de Gloss in 57 Insolence - a bright yet wearable pink

Rouge Allure Extrait de Gloss in55 Confidence - a rosy pink

Rouge Allure Extrait de Gloss in54 Liberte – a peach with a hint of pink

Rouge Allure Extrait de Gloss in56 Imaginaire – a pink with a hint of coral, my favorite shade out of them all

Last but not least, a group swatch – aren’t they all so pretty?!

Bottom line: All shades are extremely wearable and would work well with any skin coloring. Highly recommend if you prefer lipglosses that provide just the right amount of color to your lips with a high gloss shine that is not shimmery nor frosty. They are non sticky and wear for about 3 to 4 hours. Of course they can be layered with lipsticks for a more dramatic look.

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