OVERALL, Chanel’s Venice Collection has a lot of wearable colors and shades, particularly in the lip department, as well as a fun and creative glossy quad of eyeshadows. I found myself gravitating towards the easy-to-wear lip colors more so than the eyeshadow quad, oddly enough! I really wanted to fall in love with Tweed Sienna, but I found it just looked dirty on my coloring.
My favorites from the launch were the two Glossimers, both of them equally lovely. Courtisane is easy to wear by itself, and Arlequin is my favorite to pair with my new everyday lip color (Urban Decay Naked lipstick). I liked the Murano eyeshadow quad, but I didn’t fall in love. I decided to pass on it, because I just know I won’t reach for it enough. (That’s me trying to resist temptation!)
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Make Up For Ever’s Aqua Eyes line is probably one of the top eyeliner formulas on the market to-date. It’s extremely budge-proof, smudge-proof, and water-resistant. It actually holds up quite well to all three claims. Add to that a diverse range of color choices (Sephora sells 25), and you have a winning combination. They’re smooth, well-pigmented, and deliver long-lasting color.
#5L is a khaki-bronze with a hint of green in it. It’s like a deep, slightly green-toned antique gold. I love wearing this with golds, browns, and greens.
#17L is a soft, yellowed spring green with soft shimmer sheen. I was hoping for a little more chartreuse in it, but it’s still a nice, subtle liner color.
#20L is a forest-green with teal in it. I adore this one — a definite must-have. I pair it with blues, teals, and greens.
#12L is a dark blue with a subtle shimmer-sheen. It’s not super unique, but it’s a nice blue shade.
#7L is a nice pop of blue-based turquoise. It’s the brightest color that I own.
#15L is an violet-blue shade. I liked this one, because I felt like it was fairly unique. I don’t have anything like this in my collection of eye liners.
#10L is a bronzy-copper. It’s very “me” in a sense, because I love these kinds of warm-toned bronzes. It’s great with warm-toned looks, particularly neutral looks, for an extra kick.
Just four months ago, I wrote about what my seven must-have eye brushes were.. and they’ve already changed a bit! In this video, I talk about six brushes I think are really excellent for building up your eye makeup brush stash, plus a little talk on two extra brushes that you might want to consider as well (or in place of one of the six).
Make Up For Ever Star Powders ($19.00 for 0.09 oz.) are finely milled loose color. Think MAC pigments, but more of a powdery texture and more finely milled. They can be used wherever you want, however you want. I only used mine with mixing medium, personally, as I found without the adhesiveness of mixing medium, they didn’t stay put as well.
Pure Pigments ($19.00 for 0.12 oz.) are extremely pigment-rich loose color that are matte in finish. They’re like Star Powders, but they’re more intense and contain no shimmer. Pretty much all of the Pure Pigments will stain the skin (and your brushes — so be sure to wash those ASAP! after using).
#920 is a shimmery muted golden yellow with frosty shimmer. This is a good base shade under golds, browns, pinks, and oranges.
#910 is a grayish-green with golden shimmer. It looks like an olive green at first, but it’s a bit more gray.
#958is a pretty medium green–reminds me of a grassy green, actually. It has slightly more subtle shimmer than some of the other Star Powders, though it is still noticeably shimmery.
#960is a mix of blue with aqua and green shimmer. It reminded me a lot of MAC’s Parrot eyeshadow, but in a loose form. It also seemed a little bluer.
#929 is a warm, chocolate brown with golden shimmer. It goes on smoothly and has good color pigmentation.
#18 is a matte turquoise. If you ever lusted after MAC’s long-discontinued Turquoise pigment, check this out. It’s extremely similar, but it’s much better in finish/texture. If you’re into intense color, you’ll love Pure Pigments. I don’t like how much they stain skin/brushes, and I don’t have a need for shades quite this bright, so I don’t think I’ll pick up any additional shades going forward.
