Chanel Spring 2012 – review

In order to get an up close and personal look at Chanel’s Spring 2012 collection, I did what any girl would do, I booked an appointment to have my makeup done.  Am I right?  I paid a $50 booking fee which went towards my purchase for whatever tickled my fancy.  Upon arrival, I was placed in Marina’s capable hands; I let her do what she pleased because I was pooped from the work day.  To be quite honest, I didn’t fully enjoy my time due to being so tired – I’ve been dragging and probably don’t make for the best company in the world right now. But as my trainer Casey told me last week after an early morning work-out, “fake it ’til you make it.”  And that’s exactly why I bought Blush Horizon de Chanel.

 

The great thing about Blush Horizon de Chanel is the fact that it’s a three-in-one blush.  There are varying shades of pink bands and illuminators which helps to create a cool pink, a warm coral and a hybrid of both – see above.  To boot, this blush feels as soft as silk. Marina went with the top half for my cheeks; as for my eyes, she played them up with Les 4 Ombres in Eclosion and then lined my lids with Long-lasting Eyeliner in Grenat, a merlot/bordeaux wine colour.  And finally for my lips, we went with Rouge Coco Shine in Candeur and topped it off with Glossimer in Bagatelle.

Am I faking it until I make it?  I took these photos after an insanely long day at work – I went back to the grind that same evening in order to tie up a few loose ends and also happened to shock a few co-workers with my made up face.

For those wondering about the evolution of my brows, it really has been a work in progress.  I finally went to the wonderful Romina in South Yarra.  Every third week I go see her to whip them into fighting shape; tinting has certainly helped to define them even more so. Karma is definitely a you know what – I skipped an appointment last Friday and they’re getting a tad unruly.  Hopefully she’ll take me back, please?  Until then, I’ll be using my new Chanel eyebrow pencil to keep them in check.

 

 

The Bagful breakdown:

Total amount for Chanel’s Blush Horizon de Chanel and Sculpting Eyebrow Pencil in Blond Clair:

  • $135.00 AUS – this included the booking fee as well

Value for money spent (performance and quality):

  • 8 out of 10 bags – Ouch, Chanel is expensive, but I guess you get what you pay for.  QUALITY.

Likelihood to purchase:

  • Soon.  In two weeks time I’ll be heading back for this experience all over again.  Scott felt so bad about my having to go back to work, he went to Chanel and booked me in for another appointment.  I really don’t deserve him.

* For those wondering about my headband, you can buy it here.

Burberry Beauty Spring 2012 review

As January came to a finish, I started receiving notifications about the latest Spring collections about to hit the local beauty counters; keep in mind it’s now Autumn here.  Lucky for me I had something fresh in my mind about what I wanted to purchase, because you can always count on pastels to make a re-appearance every year.  I really needed to separate the wheat from the chaff; why go for the typical when you can have the extraordinary?

I booked my appointment, paid my booking fee and waited with bated breath for the 11th of February to roll around.  Champagne was on offer when I arrived, but I couldn’t fathom even one drop as I was still full from breakfast.  And then the waiting commenced, I may’ve gotten there a few minutes early, but the customers seemingly outnumbered the artists – I later learned the artist who was to work on me was a tad late. Eventually, I was left in another artist’s capable hands.  We chatted for a few moments and settled on using Burberry’s newest colours.  I was dying to try Pale Barley eye shadow after reading Karen’s, of MBB, review; I am always on a quest to find a beautiful, but subdued neutral.  MAC’s shroom and I go back to my days in college and Covergirl’s Tapestry Taupe was a shade my mom purchased for me when I was 14-years-old.  If you’re looking for a dupe to Burberry’s Pale Barley, definitely go for the latter.

For close to 45-minutes I was pampered even though I had nowhere special to go that day.  After inspecting the artistry, I narrowed down the potential winners; I couldn’t afford to invest in everything we tried!  For my lips we went with Primrose Hill Pink No. 30 (not to be confused with Butter London’s nail polish), Blossom Blush No. 5 for my cheeks and a smoky duo of Pale Barley No. 22 and Midnight Brown No. 21.  From there I whittled down the contenders a bit more and I decided to just go with Pale Barley eye shadow and Primrose Hill Pink lippie; for good measure they threw in a miniature version of Rosewood No. 4 lipstick.

Pale Barley is a buttery cream with a hint of gold; it’s great to wear alone or paired with another shade for more depth and variety.  Most mornings, I pop this shade over a good eye primer, coat my lashes, dust a random blush on my cheeks and fill in my lips with Primrose Hill Pink.  In just under five minutes I am good to go.  As for Primrose Hill Pink, the colour matches that of its name – creamy pink, soft and lasts about four hours.

 

The Bagful breakdown:

Total amount for Burberry Pale Barley and Primrose Hill Pink:

  • $45.00 and $49.00 AUS respectively

Value for money spent (performance and quality):

  • 8 out of 10 bags – cost is a major factor here

Likelihood to purchase again:

  • I’m good for a while now.  Even though I recieved another invite to check out their Luminosity range, I think I can manage to get by for the time being ;)

LMFF night one (for me)

Now that you’ve seen what I wore, here’s a closer look at my makeup.

On my lips I wore NARS Mexican Rose, for cheeks I dabbed on a bit of Blush Horizon de Chanel and on my eyes I smoked them out with Chanel’s Illusion D’Ombre in Illusoire.  I tried to recapture most of the look Marina created for me the night before; last Saturday Scott booked me in for another appointment with Chanel for me to really enjoy.

Spring 2012, but it’s still summer in Oz!

Scott, we (me, really) have a problem…

Just a quick look at what I purchased in the past 72 hours.

NARS Blush in Gaiety & Velvet Gloss Lip Pencil in Mexican Rose

Blush Horizon de Chanel & Sculpting Eyebrow Pencil in Blond Clair

Three of the four items are part of their respective Spring 2012 releases.  Swatches and reviews to follow later today!