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Beautiful Beginnings with Giorgio Armani

Beautiful Beginnings with Giorgio Armani

What was the first Giorgio Armani product you ever tried?  Did it pave way for a real romance or did it put you off the brand entirely?  What was the first Giorgio Armani product you purchased?  Did you love it? Hate it? Still own it?

my answer:  I think the first Giorgio Armani product I really fell in love with was the Rouge d’Armani lipsticks. They are fantastic, and I still love them today. There are definitely products that I loved when I initially reviewed them, but as the years have gone by, I’ve discovered the “error” of my ways – because I’ve tried more and more products. I’m also a huge fan of the Eyes to Kill Intense Eyeshadows!

Share your first time experiences with Giorgio Armani in the comments! 🙂

32 Comments

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Mostly Sunny Avatar

I’ve tried several Armani products so far, including the Eyes to Kill eyeshadows, Eyes to Kill mascara, and Gloss d’Armani. The Eyes to Kill mascara is the best I’ve tried for a while, and I can’t wait to check out more Eyes to Kill eyeshadows and Gloss d’Armani! In general I really love the brand, and would love to explore more 🙂

Kate MacDonald Avatar

My first Armani experience came after reading a review on Temptalia for Rouge d’Armani 404 (LE colour from their holiday collection a couple of years back). I loved the swatches and pictures you showed and I fell in love with the colour even more when I saw it in person. From that point, I was really smitten. I love the EtK shadows, their glosses, their new sheer formula, the hellishly expensive primer… I wish it weren’t so costly loving them, but I can’t help it.

yellowlantern Avatar

This does sort of beg the question of which products you no longer think are the bee’s knees. Just wondering because I look at older reviews all the time. 🙂

annedreshfield Avatar

I’d love to try this brand…just have to have the money, lol! I’d probably start with the lipsticks and go from there, since I’ve heard rave reviews about them (okay, and just about everything else…).

xamyx Avatar

I’ve never actually tried anything from this brand, nor do I expect to any time soon. There’s only one counter that’s conveniently located, and after the horrific treatment I received there, I will *never* go back. Besides, nothing I’ve seen color-wise merits the enormous pricepoint. Sure, the packaging is pretty, but it’s not like I’m going to be waving a compact around on a regular basis, so why not find something less expensive that works just as well? Unless something striking comes about, or a new counter opens, I have no plans to bother.

xamyx Avatar

I’ve never actually tried anything from this brand, nor do I expect to any time soon. There’s only one counter that’s conveniently located, and after the horrific treatment I received there, I will *never* go back. Besides, nothing I’ve seen color-wise merits the enormous pricepoint. Sure, the packaging is pretty, but it’s not like I’m going to be waving a compact around on a regular basis, so why not find something less expensive that works just as well? Unless something striking comes about, or a new counter opens, I have no plans to bother; there are products out there just as good, if not better.

Dominojca Avatar

I love this brand. The first thing I bought from them was the Luminous Silk Foundation, which I found out about from a MAC sales associate when I was looking for a new foundation. After that I fell in love with the Eyes to Kill Eyeshadows, Now I save up for in anticiaption of new limited edition colours.

blueraccoon Avatar

I would like to try them but keep getting distracted by other brands *sheepish* I was going to try one of the lip glosses or rouge d’armani sheers from their skin lacquers collection, but none of the colors interested me. They all seemed so, well, boring. I’m open to suggestion, though, if anyone has a rec of gloss or lipstick colors for a cool-toned nw15 (possibly paler) gal 🙂

Veronica Avatar

I’m the same way.  I keep meaning to check out their Eyes to Kill series, but I’ll completely forget about it by the time I get around to hitting up the mall.  I did visit the counter once to try and get #406 after Christine reviewed it, only to be told it was LE rather than permanent and had long since sold out.  🙁

Kafka Avatar

 @blueraccoon  #400 is possibly the most beautiful red lipstick I’ve ever seen or owned. Not too blue, not too orangey-red, and just utterly luminous. (It’s the Megan Fox colour, though mine looks a teeny bit more intense and darker on me than what it looks like on her lips: http://cokarabbit.files.wordpress.com/2011/12/rougedarmanilipstick.jpg .)  Alas, it is also one of the very few lipsticks I’ve found to be beyond drying. (See above in my post on it) I feel like a bit of a freak since I don’t think that is a common reaction.  Christine who *does* have sensitive lips didn’t seem to have that issue with the 404, and she finds things drying that I never do.  So, assuming I’m a bit of a lone weirdo, you may like the colour of the #400. 
 

hwendy Avatar

I have some rouge d’Armani, several eyes to kill eyeshadow, mascara, eyeshadow palette (3 colours circle shape) , eyeshadow palette Jacquard in green and purple and so far, I like everything even the Jacquard palette is growing on me. I would love to try her foundation too. heard lots of good things about it.  

wwendalynne Avatar

First Armani purchase was Luminous Silk Foundation and I was expecting it to be my HG foundation based on all the hype only to find absolutely nothing special about it whatsoever.  I also have a couple of eyes to kill eyeshadows which are very nice and excellent quality.  However, Armani is just not one of my go to brands for some reason and their collections typically do not inspire me.  My purchases are always one-offs based on reviews.  

Kafka Avatar

 @wwendalynne  Luminous Silk was possibly one of the worst foundations I’ve ever tried. To the point that I’d blocked out the experience and had to go looking up the big sample thing in my drawer to recall the exact name. That said, Designer Lift was much better. However, given the ghastliness of Luminous Silk, I’m not sure that’s saying a whole lot. It was just okay and “nothing special” as you stated. But Luminous Silk…. <shudder>  I just now tested it again on half of my face to see if I’d imagined how bad it was and, nope, it really IS that bad. It’s going back into the furthest reaches of my foundation drawer, as I strive to erase the memory of what it does to my pores in places that I never had a problem with pores to begin with! 
 

wwendalynne Avatar

 @Kafka My experience was equally bad and I thought it looked like I was wearing a gooey mask..  It felt like it too.  Bloody awful!   I seriously felt I could probably do much better with a drugstore product and not an over-priced over-hyped product.  I threw it in the garbage 3 months later and had used it once.

Kafka Avatar

 @wwendalynne  “Gooey mask” describes it perfectly. It was so thick, it just lay on the skin. And did I mention how it made my pores look? Just can’t get over it. I could see every single one, all over, even above my lips! Horrible. And boy, did it oxidize fast too. I think *any* drugstore brand would make one look better.
 

clinger4msu Avatar

Midnight shimmer gloss and lipstick. Then on to mascara. Finally trying the mascara, as the other two I could live without. Also trying the ETK shadows, andreally looking them. It’s tough because the nearest counter is over an hour and a half away. If I want something, I have to grab it when I am there!

stacey Avatar

Lipstick from eons ago…ok…nothing to brag about….I really think I buy from name, design packaging, prettiness, uniqueness of the product, and quality.  And this brand does meet all the criteria….it is not eye catching enough for me….

casey23 Avatar

One of my dearest friends keeep raving and raving about their foundation and mascara (eyes to kill) so I really wonder the brand because she is a kind of makeup guru 🙂 The mascara is not for me (I like plastic brushes now since I have short eyelashes) but I really want to try their foundation(s).

clinger4msu Avatar

@casey23
I find that it is nothing “special”. The ETK shadows are unique and I like then, as week as their sheep lipsticks, but honestly, I get better luck from Sephora’s outrageous mascara. I am not a foundation person, so I haven’t tried that yet. It’s hit or miss for me.

Kafka Avatar

 @casey23  I didn’t think his foundations were anything particularly special and one was downright horrible. A few months back I was on a hunt for a new foundation, so I was happy when I got large samples (5 ml/.o1 oz each) of 2 Armani foundations as a GWP: “Designer Lift Smoothing Firming Foundation” and “Luminous Silk Foundation.” Weirdly enough, the Luminous Silk turned into a slightly powdery texture within a few minutes of putting on, even though it’s not supposed to be a matte-type foundation; the Designer Lift (which *is* supposed to be matte) didn’t have that and was more runny, but felt smoother. Alas, both oxidized on me, though the Luminous Silk much more than the Designer Lift. Designer Lift created more of a matte look, like my MUFE HD.
      The Luminous Silk was a bit flatter, if that makes sense, at first, but then it gave me an oily look within just a few hours. And it just seemed to sit, thickly, on top of my skin.  The worst part, the Luminous Silk highlighted and magnified EVERY SINGLE PORE I have on my face. Even the tiny pores above my lip! I honestly don’t know how that’s possible but it really did. So, obviously, I much preferred Designer Lift but *neither* rocked my world or made me eager to buy the full size.
 

casey23 Avatar

 @Kafka @clinger4msu Thank you!! These comments erased all the question marks in my head. So I better stick with Loreal Carbon black mascara and Dior Nude, ha? 🙂 In fact I don’t know what is the matter with me that even I find a product that I may call HG, I still don’t buy the second bottle/jar and always trying new stuff. I guess it was the curiosity that killed the cat?

clinger4msu Avatar

@casey23 No problem. I find I spend way too much $$ on stuff like that. If i find something I like, it’s better to stick with it. My closet will attest to my futile attempts to”find something better”

Mariella Avatar

I haven’t tried any Armani products simply because they’re not available conveniently – I’d have to make a special trip to buy them and I’m not really willing to do that. I’d love to give their foundation a try and also those cream/powder Eyes to Kill shadows (well, one of them – I think it was #6), though with my Chanel Illusion d’Ombre shadows, I can probably live without the Armani ones.

lalalaladodododo Avatar

I bought some of everything including the foundation and foundation brush.  I typically buy department store cosmetics but had to go to Saks for Armani.  This stuff is a little more pricey and nothing special.  I finished the foundation because I spent so much for it but alternated days with Mac and Make up Forever.  The Mac and Make up Forever looked just as good and held up just as well.  So I guess I don’t understand the hype. 

Kafka Avatar

My foray into Armani makeup has been a relatively recent thing with mixed results. I will be the lone freak and weirdo who really does NOT like Rouge D’Armani.  A few months back, I got #400, the Megan Fox colour.  In terms of colour alone, it’s what I call a “Holy Mother of GOD” shade. Perhaps the most perfect red EVER. It glistens and glows in its red perfection and really lights up the face.  BUT….. it is the only lipstick I own that bleeds and feathers like crazy.  Not even lip liner will fix it. 
       Even worse, it is one of the very few lipsticks I’ve tried that dries my lips out like crazy.  You know that you and I are on totally opposite sides of the moisturizing lipstick issue, and that things that dry you out are things I have no problems with.  And, truly, I can wear almost anything (with one Illamasqua lipstick being the other exception) and never have a problem.  The driest MACs, the mattest NARS, Lipstick Queen mattes….  not a single issue with drying.  *THIS* Armani lipstick though….. within 3 hours, my lips feel *so* dry and unpleasant that I actually reach for a lipbalm. It really feels as though every bit of moisture has been sucked out of my lips by osmosis, to the point that I feel the effects even the next day. On top of all that, it just doesn’t last on me. Not like my NARS mattes/semi-mattes. It seems most people have had totally opposite experiences with Armani, so yeah, I guess I’m the weirdo in this. But, definitely, *never* another another Armani lipstick for me.
       That said, I do want to explore other things in his line. I love the Armani Silk lipliner I have of his.  I’ve tried Armani Designer Lift foundation and wasn’t a fan of the thin texture or of how it oxidized on me. But my mother swears by his primer, so that is on my list of things to try, along with some of his eyeshadows.

Mindy Delano Avatar

My first purchase, about three years ago, is- the nude lipstick #102.  I’ve re-purchased it 2 more times and still love it.  Tried the LSF but it broke me out.  So, plan to try more lippies in the future.

nana k Avatar

I have tried numerous products from Armani and it is one of my favorite brands in makeup. Lasting silk UV foundation is my favorite foundation of all times; I’m a huge fan of their Eyes to kill intense eyeshadows; Rouge d’Armani and Gloss d’Armani are both fabulous in color and texture; and I also love their sheer pressed powders. For me, Armani usually nails the quality and color scheme of their products. I’m such a fan, love Armani cosmetics!

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