Sunday, January 3rd, 2010
Spring Makeup with Too Faced Fun in the Dark Palette
Too Faced Fun in the Dark Palette
($32.50) is a new, limited edition eyes, cheeks, and lip palette from Too Faced for the spring. It contains four eyeshadows (Pin-Up, Peep Show, Full Frontal, Lucky Charms), two lip products (Tropical Pink, Free Love), one blush (Papa Don’t Peach), and one bronzer (Sun Bunny). When you flip open the top, there are small, circular lights that go along the border of the palette that light up, and according to Too Faced, the battery life is about thirty hours.
I really, really did not like the light-up mirror included in the palette. In fact, I will just come right out and say it: I hated it. It was a blinding cool-toned white. The light was neither flattering nor comfortable to look towards. I disliked it so much, I left the palette open for two days to drain the battery of the lights, because it was just such a distraction. But seriously, it hurt my eyes a bit when I first flipped the top of this palette open. Don’t get me wrong, the lighting is a minor point, and like I did, you can always drain the battery for the lights, but it didn’t leave me the best first impression, you know?
The four eyeshadows are of the softer shadow variety, and they’re smooth and well-pigmented. Pin-up is a neutral, maybe slightly cool, champagne beige with soft white shimmer. Peep Show is a cool-toned medium pink with gold shimmer–this one was lovely; it reminded me of Urban Decay Naked Lipstick or MAC Stark Naked Blush. Full Frontal is a rich chocolate brown with red undertones and a slightly frosty finish. Lucky Charms is a frosty medium-dark forest green with gold shimmer and green sheen.
Papa Don’t Peach is a pinky-peachy blush, which leans a little more peach. It has good pigmentation, and it’s similar to NARS Orgasm, but I’d say it’s a little darker and not nearly as shimmery. If you like Orgasm, though, I imagine you’d like this shade as well. Sun Bunny is a split-bronzer with a darker, more coppery bronze on one side and a lighter, less shimmery soft copper bronze on the other side.
Tropical Pink is an ultra sheer (aka clear) gloss with a hint of gold sparkle. I found it pretty disappointing, just because there was no pigmentation to speak of and it felt quite gooey. Free Love is a medium-pink lipstick with gold shimmer. I liked Free Love a lot more, because you could get pigmentation out of it with enough layers. I’m still no fan of lip palettes, particularly when they’re housed near powder-based products, though!
Bottom Line: If you’re looking for a palette for easy travel, you might enjoy Fun in the Dark, because it has a little something for all of your face – the eyes, cheeks, and lips. It’s not the most handy palette, just because the four eyeshadows don’t yield the most combinations, but it’s an interesting pairing of colors, nonetheless. I like it overall, but I didn’t fall in love.
Edit: It does, indeed, look like they spelled Chronicles wrong on the palette. I checked the image Sephora’s using, and it’s misspelled there, too.
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- Product: 25/30
- Value: 9/10
- Ease of Use: 4/5
- Packaging: 3/5
Recommendation: If you like Too Faced eyeshadows, or have always wanted to try them, this might be a good way to check them out!
Availability: Sephora
Friday, December 25th, 2009
Going Gray? Chanel Particuliere Nail Lacquer
Last week, I reviewed the majority of Chanel’s Spring collection, which includes three new nail lacquers, but I only reviewed Inattendu and Tendresse and was missing Particuliere ($23.00), which is easily the more interesting shade of the three (Inattendu is a beige-y nude while Tendresse is a soft, milky medium pink). Chanel describes it simply as grey, which I think is just a little inaccurate.
This is much more of a grayed taupe, because it has definite brown tones to it. It’s certainly not a rainy gray kind of color, though. The brown does warm-up the shade, though, and it’s something I could see myself wearing. It’s dark enough not to be pastel or light or traditionally spring, but it’s not so dark that it makes you feel like fall. This applied and looked better than the other two shades, though (count me surprised!) — it was very creamy, smooth, and went opaque in two coats.
I’d say that Chanel has made other colors more worthy of the $23 splurge, but I do like this one quite a bit. (Even for high-end, Chanel’s nail lacquers are quite pricey, particularly compared to brands like Dior.) I imagine OPI’s You Don’t Know Jacques is somewhat similar (I don’t own it, so I’m just going off of swatches I’ve seen).
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- Product: 28/30
- Value: 6/10
- Ease of Use: 4/5
- Packaging: 4/5
Recommendation: If you’re feeling like a splurge, Chanel nail lacquer certainly qualifies as one!
Availability: Nordstrom, Saks
Tuesday, December 22nd, 2009
Rustic Copper: Chanel Imprevu Blush
Chanel Imprevu Joues Contraste ($42.00 for 0.13 oz.) is a coppery-toned blush from Les Impressions de Chanel. The spring launch is slowly heading on-counter and online, and I imagine most counters will have it in the next two weeks. I totally recommend buying from Saks right now, ’cause they have *free* express shipping. Have I ever told you how much I loathe paying for shipping? So, yeah, Saks = awesome.
Imprevu is like a rustic, muted copper. Chanel describes it simply has copper, and it’s accurate… and yet I just want to throw the word rustic in there, too. It has little shimmer, a soft sheen, and is plenty pigmented for a cheek product. I found I had to tap excess off my brush before applying or else I’d end up with a very dirty look–so not sexy. I think this kind of blush color requires a light-handed application, and it can often look a bit dirty if you’re not careful. I actually think this would be particularly lovely on darker skin tones, though.
A part of me feels like this is out of place in the collection, because I wasn’t feeling it when worn with the Kaska Beige Eyeshadow Quad. I guess I have a tendency to want an entire collection work together. It also feels more like a fall or winter cheek color, rather than spring–which means it is first, surprising, and second, throws me off a bit.
I’m also not on board with the price for the amount you get (just 0.13 oz.!) — Chanel is one of the priciest blushes you can purchase (by the ounce). Dior, Dolce & Gabbana, and Givenchy are all equally high-end and often priced similarly to Chanel, but their blushes are all a better value than Chanel’s. Don’t get me wrong — the quality and feel of the blush is lovely, but the price tag is inflated, even for high-end.
What do you think? Is Imprevu worth the splurge? Love the color?
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- Product: 27/30
- Value: 6/10
- Ease of Use: 4/5
- Packaging: 4/5
Recommendation: If you’re a Chanel blush fanatic, this is a nicely pigmented, copper-ish shade that’s not overly bronzy or shimmery.
Availability: Nordstrom, Saks
Monday, December 21st, 2009
A Fresh Face of… Roses?
Dolce & Gabbana Rose the One Shimmer Powder ($50.00 for 0.91 oz.) is a scented, subtle loose highlighter. It is scented with the same-named scent, Rose the One, also by Dolce & Gabbana (no surprise, I’m sure, ha!).
I know that some cosmetics are fragranced, but I can’t remember coming across a powder so deliberately scented before, so I was eager to try this (well, more to sniff it, I suppose!). It really does smell like Rose the One, which is a very feminine rose. There’s no better descriptor than fresh, sweetened roses. It’s not too sweet at all, which is something I was a little worried about. Surprisingly, you can even catch a little whiff of the rosy scent when it’s applied to your cheeks.
The loose powder itself is a soft, golden peach shimmer. It’s very finely milled, and it lays down quite well and doesn’t migrate all over the place, as some loose highlighters sometimes do. At $50, it is a splurge, but at least you can rest easy knowing you’ll likely have enough to last you a lifetime, with nearly an entire ounce of product. The product reminds me a bit of MAC’s Loose Beauty Powder ($22.00 for 0.28 oz.).
I would caution those with more sensitive skin that a fragrance-filled product may not be your best bet, at least not your face. It does work quite nicely as a decolletage highlighter as well! Otherwise, it’s kind of a fun product that puts a twist on wearing your favorite scent.
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- Product: 26/30
- Value: 8/10
- Ease of Use: 4/5
- Packaging: 4/5
Recommendation: If you’re in the market for a loose highlighter and wouldn’t mind smelling like a rose, check out Dolce & Gabbana’s Rose the One!
Availability: Saks
Monday, December 21st, 2009
Hot–No, Lukewarm–Springs with Empreinte de Chanel
Chanel Empreinte de Chanel ($65.00 for 0.49 oz.) is the signature product (and limited edition, of course) from Chanel’s Les Impressions de Chanel Collection for the spring.
Chanel describes the product as a “radiant glow highlighting powder” designed to brighten cheeks and brow bone with shades of rosewood, beige, and brown. It also includes an angled brush (the size you’d typically find in a compact, not a full-size brush), which is surprisingly soft and usable–though I’ll still use my full size brushes myself.
The compact has these lopsided circles in creamy white-gold, bronze, and peach outlined in the bronze. Then there are, of course, the two signature interlocking Cs in a shimmering, gilded gold (not quite a true gold). I was trying to furiously swatch away anything that would be an overlay, and though it seems like the circles seem to fade away, the color remains the same regardless. The Cs seem to be shimmery (as far as I could tell without destroying the compact) to stay shimmery as well.
Empreinte de Chanel is a warmed-up, peachy gold. It’s surprisingly pigmented, and it’s definitely something that would lovely as an eyeshadow as well as on top of cheeks. It reminded me of a more pigmented, way more shimmery version of Lancome’s Sparkling Cherub; Empreinte is also warmer and less brown (more gold).
Bottom Line: It’s soft, silky, and certainly looks beautiful on, but it is definitely a shimmery highlighter; so if you prefer a more subtle highlighter, you may want to test this in person first! The price is steep, and Chanel fans won’t be surprised, but if you’ve never considered Chanel, this probably isn’t the best product I’d take the plunge on (they have better; including Kaska Beige Eyeshadow Quad, if you are jonesin’ for spring). The only thing that compensates for the price is you do get 0.49 oz. of product, which is quite a bit for a blush/highlighter product (typically 0.20 oz. or so).
P.S. – The entire Chanel Spring collection is now available at Nordstrom and Saks. You’ll probably have to search by name or click through the Chanel categories, but they’re up there. I just purchased Particuliere through Saks ’cause Saks has FREE EXPRESS SHIPPING (!) right now.
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- Product: 26/30
- Value: 7/10
- Ease of Use: 4/5
- Packaging: 4/5
Recommendation: Chanel fans will likely enjoy this piece, but the price tag is a little steep for a product that’s good, but not great.
Availability: Nordstrom and Saks
Sunday, December 20th, 2009
Chanel Les Impressions de Chanel: Nail Lacquers
Three new, limited edition shades of creamy nail lacquer will debut in January as part of Chanel’s Les Impressions de Chanel Collection. The new shades are: Inattendu, Tendresse, and Particuliere. I didn’t receive Particuliere to review, so I haven’t seen it yet, but hope to pick it up once it launches on-counter at my local Nordstrom!
Inattendu is a warmed-up, creamy fleshy beige. It’s surprisingly warm, despite being so beige, which actually keeps it more interesting and not so flat and blah. The whole nude nails thing is supposedly a trend come spring, so we’ll see how far it trickles down to the consumer level. This one doesn’t match my natural skin tone so dead-on that it’s still noticeable. I found this shade to be more opaque than Tendresse — two or three coats (swatches are with three, for reference) seemed good to me. It’s a very smooth, slightly thick formula.
Tendresse is a milky, baby pink with a creamy finish. It’s almost a neutral pink, but I might call it a yellow-based pink, too. I like it, but it’s not particularly original or unique. I imagine you could easily find a much less expensive shade comparable to this one. Of course, if you’re like me and have a thing for Chanel lacquers… you might not be able to resist. I found that you could see the tips of my nails with two coats, so three coats was definitely a must-do for this shade. Like Inattendu, it’s soft, easy to apply, and looks seamless.
I’ve never had any application or wear issues with Chanel nail lacquers, though I’ve heard many complaints over how long it wears for. I usually pair my Chanel manicures with Zoya’s Color Lock System and always have good results with that technique. Chanel nail lacquers are certainly steep at $23 a pop (even other comparable high-end brands charge less for their nail lacquers, e.g. Dior and Givenchy). While both shades are pretty and perfect for spring, neither is so out-of-the-box that they’re must-haves or must-splurge, rather!
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- Product: 27/30
- Value: 6/10
- Ease of Use: 4/5
- Packaging: 4/5
Recommendation: If you’re on a budget, you can likely find similar shades amongst less expensive brands, but both shades are lovely, if the splurge is more your style.
Availability: January 2010
