Fall 2009: Jill Stuart Vixen & Angelic Collection: Mix Blush Compact #09 & 10...and 2 Jelly Eye Color N

Admittedly the Jill Stuart Mix Blush Compact cheek colors are my favorite blushes. I think except for that LE color from 3 years or so ago I have all of them.


What makes them superior to other blushes in my humble opinion are:
-the beautiful mix of colors per compact, allows me to mix and match the way I like
-beautiful flattering color variety
-the absolutely beautiful glowy finish these impart... no glitter (like some other Japanese brands) and no frosty finish (like many of the Korean ones do). My cheeks get a healthy dose of color AND a pretty glow
-the medium pigment which means you can layer these for greater intensity or apply them sheerly and the super finely milled silky texture
-the beautiful packaging and quite good quality brush which is great for touch-ups!

My favorite colors are 04 Rose Bloom and 101 Platinum Illuminance and 102 Gold Illuminance (both were LE); the latter 2 contain a gorgeous highlighter, too!


While both of the 2 new eye palettes from Jill Stuart's Vixen & Angelic collection for Fall 2009 didn't interest me I surely picked up the 2 new Mix Blush Compacts to add them to my collection.


Honestly these 2 won't be my faves as the colors are rather warm and these are quite sheer.
They're really silky and finely milled like the other Mix Blush Compacts but definitely are better suited for someone with warmer-toned skin.
These are scented like all Jill Stuart makeup products.

#09 Little Bouquet: Light warm pink, orange, warm bright pink and medium fuschia. First pic is with flash, 2nd in natural day light.


#10 Sweet Biscuit: Light apricot, pink, pinkish red and tan. First pic taken with flash, the 2nd in natural day light.


I got them from gooddealer who is still the best source for Jill Stuart price-wise. All the other online shops I know are a bit more expensive.

In the same order I also picked up 2 of the Jelly Eye Color N eyeshadows that just came out for the Summer collection. The Jelly Eye Colors got a revamp and are now presented in much prettier princessy glass jars. The former pots were nice but more simple and somehow heavier. However the more interesting colors like the beautiful complex greens have been discontinued and replaced with the usual boring array of pastels so I hope JS will re-release the nicer shades soon.


The pic shows the new Jelly Eye Color N on the right and the old Jelly Eye Color on the left side:


Texture-wise I don't notice a change honestly. The old and the new version have a certain spongy bouncy feeling when you touch them.


The Jelly Eye Color N shadows are decently pigmented and have a beautiful glistening finish. They are a bit hard to blend (and you need to be quick before they set) just like the predecessors but stay on all day on me.
They're scented for which I see no single use in an eye product!
Anyway, I am happy with the colors I picked up, they're both gorgeous.

#03 Platinum Satin is a pretty golden shell pink color with a hint of beige, a perfect natural my-lids-but-better color on me and makes a great base or subtle highlighter. The finish of this is a gorgeous metallic pearl with sparse glitter.


#10 Vintage Decor is a beautiful taupe brown, metallic with a bit more glitter added than Platinum Satin.


The new version contains the same 6g and costs the same price (2200 Yen & 5% tax) so they're not ripping us off with the new version.
I think it was time for JS to revamp the packaging of their popular Jelly Eyes as the packaging started to be copied (*cough* Castledew *cough*) which in my opinion can decrease the value of the original item a bit...

Summer 2009: Sonia Rykiel Sparkling Face Powder & more from my Egypt trip

I had been lusting over the new Sonia Rykiel Sparkling Face Powder (esp. the blue-pastel version) for some time now but I just didn´t think the price (somewhere around US$50) was that right. While I would shell out that amount on Lunasol or Jill Stuart Sonia Rykiel often just doesn´t perform too well so I never buy their stuff at full price (though recently I got some items I really like...also cheaper on ebay hehe)... anyway I got the powder for less than half the retail price so I was quite pleased to score it on eBay for such a good price!


The Sparkling Face Powder comes in a gorgeous metallic aqua compact (so summery!) and consists of 6 strips of powder in various colors. For your face you´ll have to swirl your brush across the whole compact but you could possible use the individual colors as sheer shadows. The powder looks baked to me as it has this typical baked feel/texture/finish.


The look you´ll achieve with this is like a glazed bronze, almost metallic so for me it´s rather OTT as a bronzer to use on your whole face (maybe except for evening wear). Also the color is a bit too dark on me so a light hand is needed.
It´s lightly scented like all SR products.


While I took the Lunasol bronzer (reviewed very recently) with me and use it nearly daily I left this at home because it´s too dramatic for my taste.

I thought of also posting some pics of our trip to the Egyptian North Coast (Marina). We spent 2 days there in my dad in law´s beach house. There are 2 great pools (1 is shown, my son is on the very right hehe).


On the first day we only went swimming in the pool for the whole afternoon and then went at night to Marina to eat in Chili´s restaurant there (yup, my first food porn coming up now lol).


I got the Texas Fries (but only ate half as it was so filling, they´re so delicious but HEFTY! I read somewhere one of these portions contains 2100 calories and 160g of fat! OMG!)


Our desert was this most yummy Molten Chocolate Cake (shared by all of us). I tell you this stuff is pure evil!


In a toys shop I found this hilarious fake! It says "Bod the Builder" lol! Oh and I should take some pics of the funny cosmetic fakes they sell here!


The 2nd day we went swimming again and then met friends to take us for a ride on their boat =D We found this beautiful golden mosque on the way there =D


Today we´re attending my brother in law´s engagement party (and more family stuff coming up the next days so we´re always kept busy! =X)

Summer 2009: Lunasol Shining Face Color EX03

This year's summer collection from Lunasol didn't catch my eye really. The 2 palettes are colors I can't pull off and the lippies and glosses are nice but not outstanding.
However one item peeked my interest right away: the Shining Face Color in EX03. I have the other 2 Shining Face Colors (an ivory/golden one came in the holiday coffret of 2007 and the other lavender/pale pink one was an LE for spring 2009)... and I like them as they are pretty good highlighters.


The new Shining Face Color is a soft bronzer if you're light-skinned or a subtle highlighter if you're more tan. It's interesting to see Lunasol coming out with this as bronzers are a rare thing to find in Japanese brands (rather many items are for whitening not getting more tan!)

The Shining Face Color comes in a sleek compact in Lunasol's signature color (a choclatey bronze metallic). Unlike the cheek colors or face powder the compact and brush are included. The top layer contains the brush whereas powder and mirror are stored below.


I dig the brush! It's buttery soft, wide and slim and picks up just a little color so I can't overdo... I am a bronzer-phobic so anything that packs too much color on and could make me look too dark is a no-go for me.


The powder itself consists of 4 shimmery colors:
The main color is a neutral soft light-medium bronze brown, the smaller strips of color are a light ivory gold (great as a highlighter), a deeper bronze (top right corner) and a beautiful rosy brown on the right which balances out the browns very well.
Even though this is shimmery it's not dramatical so it manages to look polished when I use a light dusting all over my face.
I usually swirl my brush across the whole thing to mix the colors and then apply in swirly motions. I use a bit of the light golden highlighter shade on top of my forehead, my nose, below my eyes on my chin.
I can achieve a healthy very lightly sun-kissed look so I a very happy with this product!


This is only lightly pigmented so I am sure everyone from very fair to tan will find a good use for this powder.

All in all I recommend this item! I got mine from Adambeauty for HK$350 (about US$50). It's definitely not cheap but will last for a long while!

This is only the 3rd bronzer that finds its way to my Japanese beauty stash! The other 2 I like are from Shu Uemura (the lighter one from 2 years ago, I think it's Glorious Sunrise or so) and the LE one Maquillage released 2 years ago (the summer my youngest was born hehe).

I am waiting for a bronzer from Sonia Rykiel which I scored for cheap on eBay... I am curious how this will compare!

Summer 2009: Integrate Impact Double Liner in #10 Black x Silver

I am so behind with my reviews! After studying heavily for exams I am usually some days totally exhausted and burned out and feel just lazy afterwards =P I also have to say that the amount of makeup (and beauty stuff in general) I purchased in the past months is rather little as I just feel that I am so stocked with everything already and previous collections weren't THAT great. Also I have been more interested in hauling from Etsy and stationery stuff (esp. from Gmarket and Etsy hehe).


Anyways, I got some beauty stuff and the Integrate Impact Double Liner was quite a surprisingly great find for the Summer!

I have to admit that in general I am not so fond of most 2 in 1 items as often they're just mediocre... however the liner/cream shadow (or metallic liner) combo from Integrate in color #10 came out really nicely.


You get a sleek rather fat pen with a fine black liquid liner on one side and metallic silver cream with a stiff spongy applicator on the other side. You can tuck this into your pocket or toss it in your purse as it's a very handy little tool!

The brush of the black side is quite fine and flexible and the ink is really deep black. I think this is one of the nicest liquid liners I tried so far as liquid liners tend to be tricky but this liner is just great!


The silver cream (with a 2mm wide hard spongy applicator) is a pretty soft metallic shade with decent pigment. I was worried it might be too much but it looks really soft and pretty! Once this dries it stays in place all day long which is really great! I used this all over my lids and on the inner 1/3 of my lower lids and loved the look! (sorry, no EOTD pic! I forgot to take pics! =X)


The lasting power of both is fantastic, I experienced no smudging, fading, creasing or smearing all day long. I don't know if it's waterproof but the lasting power is great!


This will be a great summer essential for me as I just need to add mascara and my eyes are done!

You can get this on ichibankao for around US$20 which isn't bad for a liner and a liquid shadow/liner. I am not sure when/if Adambeauty will carry this!

This item will definitely be on my list to take to my trip to Egypt!
(I am *trying* to bring as little as possible this time... I am sure I'll still end up with like 15 eye palettes lol)

You can also find this in gold/brown!

Summer 2009: Coffret D'or Color Mixing Eyes in #05 Beige x Black

Finally back to blogging! I missed it so much!
Anyways, Coffret D'or released new eyeshadow palettes for Summer 2009 and I picked up one of them to see how I'd like the new range! =D

The new Color Mixing Eyes palette contains 4 colors, 2 of them being the nuance colors, 1 highlighter and the liner shade (all powders, no creams!).


I believe the 2 nuance colors on top might be baked, they feel/look so and they have this gorgeous soft metallic finish I am used to from baked shadows. However I cannot confirm this, maybe they're just pressed! They're sheerer and a bit rougher than I am used to from Coffret D'or but they have a beautiful finish with a little sparkle (not glitter!) I really love!
The highlighter shade has a super fine shimmer, which gives a soft shine to your skin (a nice contrast to the metallics). The liner shade is very pigmented and nearly matte (some scattered shimmers sprayed on top but the color itself doesn't really shimmer.


I find the staying power of these shadows good, I experienced no creasing/fading throughout the day.

The case this comes in is the same as the other ones (smooth silver with pink rhinestones), I wish they'd come up with another design at some point (just like with T'estimo, where they used to change the look of the palettes with every new release).

I got color #05 Beige x Black which contains a light cream, golden beige, off-white and black.


Retails is over US$35 (might pop up for a bit less on adambeauty.com soon!) so this is a rather pricey palette. I think it's a nice basic palette, very wearable and easy to use.


There are 4 other colors, I am still eying the lavender/purple one =)

I got this from ichibankao.com.

Summer 2009: Beaute de Kose Fantasist Collection S Makeup Coffret

I've generally become more fond of Beaute de Kose in the past few years. Last year's Multi Reflection Colors Eye & Cheek Palette is truly a lovely product and the Xmas Fantasist Collection Makeup Coffret was a great value-for-money kit! I knew that they came out with new Eye Fantasists but somehow it slipped me that there was going to be a summer coffret!


When I saw the kit on Ichibankao I instantly snatched it up!

Presented in a beautiful shiny aqua blue box wrapped in aqua paper you get:


-Eye Fantasist in SP062 Double Shine & BL953 Crystal Marine (full size, 7g/each)
-Rouge Fantasist Aqua Vinyl BE388 Misty Coral (small size, 3g)
-Loose Powder Face Powder SPF15 PA++, 6g
-Glitter Gel SPF22 PA+, 25g

Eye Fantasist:
You get 2 of Beaute de Kose's super popular Eye Fantasists, I believe both are Limited Edition just for summer. They apply smoothly, blend well and don't get blotchy even when you apply 2 or 3 layers. Like most BdK's products these are scented (a soft fruity scent). Once these are dry they stay on without fading and creasing on me.


BL953 Crystal Marine is a super pale aquamarine color with fine glitter bits. It's very sheer so it just leaves a wash of color.
SP062 Double Shine is a very special and unique color. It's a metallic duochrome with added fine sparkles;
it flashes olive green or plum, depending on the angle the light hits.
The good thing is that this is really pigmented, so 2 layers give me an opaque finish so the duochrome effect comes out so well! It's similar to Shiseido's Hydropowder in Spring Plum but I think the BdK has more green and less reddish plum so it works much much better for me.


Since the Crystal Marine shade is so sheer it works nicely with the Double Shine color. If the Crystal Marine would be more pigmented I think the colors would clash quite a bit!

I thought this time I'll show you how the Eye Fantasist shades look like on skin that's much more tan than mine =P
My 7 year old daughter volunteered so you can see the colors on her hand. You see that the crystal marine looks much more silver on her hand whereas on my skin you can spot the light aquamarine tones better. Double Shine shows up much more green on her while the plum tones are more visible on my skin. =D
I don't know what's her skin color in MAC, but I'd guess at least NC30? (she's half Egyptian after all lol)


Rouge Fantasist Aqua Vinyl:
As always the texture is excellent, it's a smooth non-sticky and very glossy lip color with a beautiful sheer finish.


BE388 Misty Coral is a beautiful neutral peachy beige shade with fine shimmer bits. As you can see it shows up well on my skin but rather blends into my daughter's more tan color.


Loose Powder Face Powder SPF15 PA++:
This is a finely milled shimmery loose powder in a translucent shade.


It offers a bit sun protection but due to the shimmers I find it a bit more suitable for evening wear and/or as a highlighter during the day. I'd not use one my whole face as I'd be afraid that I'd look like a disco-ball in bright sunlight.

Glitter Gel SPF22 PA+:
This is a very pretty shimmer gel (the name is misleading, I cannot spot glitter, just fine shimmer). It's a pale pinkish color but it's very sheer so anyone could wear it as a highlighter, I imagine this would be especially pretty on your shoulders, arms and legs.


All in all the Fantasist Collection S Makeup Coffret is a great summer collection and you get 5 wearable and well-coordinated items to play with. At the price of 5250 Yen (Japanese retail) you get a great deal as the Eye Fantasists alone retail for that price so you basically get the lipgloss, powder and highlighter gel for free.

The powder, glitter gel and lipgloss feature pale plue packaging with a pretty swirly design wheras the caps of the 2 cream shadows are a pale blue metallic shade unlike the regular silver one.