SPRING READY⎜February Favorites
Oh so late! But I'm going to put it up anyway. Just take this as my recent favorites, not necessarily just in the month of February :) I especially picked the products that take away the winter blues and bring on the colorful Spring season!
Okay, hand cream. Perhaps this needs a separate blogpost because the L'Occitane hand cream is a dream. Remember the days when L'Occitane was the it-brand? I remember all the girls had their hand creams in their bags. But after dwindling in other hand creams, coming back to this was wonderful. It replenishes and it's everything a hand cream is supposed to do! And the smell is beautiful. It is called the "Pivoine Flora" and smells like a garden! This is the best and it's been with me everywhere, all the time.
Another recent favorite is the NYX butter lipstick. I bought this way back, but never really thought of blogging it, though I loved it so much. The shade I have is "sweet tart" and it is a beautiful medium pink and it's vibrant but still natural enough for everyday wear. What I love about it is not only the shade but how it stays on the lips and just the wear of it. It reminds me a little of the Lord and Berry lipsticks (blogged here).
A palette I love: Pony x Memebox (1st palette) is a great (blogged here). What I love most about it is this one particular shade called "easy brown". It is a lighter shade than MAC's "Soba" and I find it the perfect shade for contouring the eyes and nose.
Another palette is The Body Shop cubes (blogged here). Just look how much product they give! And the color payoff is great too. This palette in particular has it all really. The pearl white, the medium shades, and then the dark chocolate shade that you can use as eyeliner.
Foundation. This will definitely get a separate post, but yes, I'm back on the wagon with Make Up For Ever HD Foundation (shade 120). Check back for a more detailed post :)
NARS Multiple in "Riveria" gives such a sweet flush to the cheeks. You can read more about it here.
To dream of Spring, I've been applying the MAC "Paradisco" shade on my lids. This is such, such a beautiful pink shade - not often talked about. Pink eyeshadow can go totally wrong, but this is the best. It works with my skin tone so well! Highly recommend :)
Finally, Hourglass Brow Sculpting Pencil. I tried other eye pencils, but this is the best. Really.
Which is Better?⎪Eyeshadows that Set like Tattoos
To start off, the one I wanted to really talk about was the Stila Smudge Crayon in the shade "Antique". The color works perfect for my skin and for the lazy days, I find it so easy to smudge my eyelids with just this shade. Because these smudge crayons by Stila are quite "un-blendable" all I can really do it slap it on. These eyeshadows set completely, pretty much the moment you put it on. I find it almost impossible to blend it, even right after application. Because of that reason, it was something that I didn't quite reach for. But because it sets so completely, it sticks on the eyelids all day. I also love the shade "Antique" in particular because it is so natural but gives dimension at the same time. I find that I can get away with this single shadow across the lid and not needing other shadows in particular.
With that being said, one of the most popular Stila shades is the shade "kitten". If I were fair-skinned, I would have loved this for the all-over-the-lid application. I guess people love the shade "kitten" for the same reason I love "antique" - but the only difference is that "kitten" would look to white on my skin. So if you are medium-olive skin-toned, the "Antique" would be the perfect everyday shade, and if you are fair-light skin-toned, "Kitten" would be gorgeous! But of course there are no rules!
As I was swatching the Stila "Antique" I thought it looked quite similar to Maybelline's Color Tattoo in "Bad to the Bronze" - one of the most talked about shade in the beauty blog world. I delved into this pot as well, but I didn't like it so much. I have still yet to find out what the hype was. First off, the shade was too dark and dull for my skin. Unlike "Antique", which looks natural but gives dimension, I found "Bad to the Bronze" a shade that just darkened my overall features.
The Maybelline Color Tattoo, I found, was also a bit too chunky. This, like the Stila Smudge Crayons, is that it is so difficult to blend. Considering how dark the shade is, I wanted to blend it out. But it just made a bit of mess on my lids! It does set, and the shade has silver pigments in it. I might look pretty on more of the fair skin tones so that the color pops. Otherwise, for me - this was a bit of a no-no.
Now, going on to the high-end products: Chanel Stylo Eyeshadow and Charlotte Tilbury Colour Chameleon. I've already blogged about the Chanel one. I love it, and I especially love it in the summer because the shade is so beautiful and it has a water-wet look. As for the Charlotte Tilbury one, I've blogged about this one as well. I love the shade, pigmentation, and blend ability - all of that! But I still haven't figured out how I can wear it to look nice on me. If you do have light green eyes, this would probably look amazing.
Ratings: (out of 5 points)
Setting Power
- Stila Smudge Crayons: 5/5
- Maybeline Color Tattoo: 4/5
- Chanel Stylo Eyeshadow: 4.5/5
- Charlotte Tilbury: 4.5/5
Blendability
- Stila Smudge Crayons: 1/5
- Maybeline Color Tattoo: 1/5
- Chanel Stylo Eyeshadow: 3.5/5
- Charlotte Tilbury: 5/5
Color/Pigmentation
- Stila Smudge Crayons: 4/5
- Maybeline Color Tattoo: 3/5
- Chanel Stylo Eyeshadow: 5/5
- Charlotte Tilbury: 5/5
Lasting Power
- Stila Smudge Crayons: 5/5
- Maybeline Color Tattoo: 4/5
- Chanel Stylo Eyeshadow: 4.5/5
- Charlotte Tilbury: 4/5
