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.

Benefit Hervana review

Benefit's Hervana

My angel wings may've been clipped ages ago.  I might not swear, but I drink the occassional adult beverage and I am judgemental as can be.  I believe there's a place in hell reserved for me; until then, I'll pretend and wear a bit of Hervana for good measure.  Cotton candy and swirled to perfection - this sugary confection concocted by Benefit was first released in the US (online only at first) in December 2011 and finally graced the land of Oz in early February.  I went as far as pre-ordering Hervana from Benefit's site, but my Mom still has yet to send it to me; my impatience won out and I ended up buying it again last week.  P-Cakes can keep the other one or she can exchange it for something else :)  I can't really get cross with her, she's a very busy and hardworking lady. 

I had a heck of a time trying to swatch Hervana and when I tried capturing it with my camera, it just wouldn't translate that well.  For my cheeks, I had to apply several layers before I started to see anything.  If you look really close, you'll notice the lightest shade (lucky shell) is a perfect colour match for my skin tone.

I love the subtlety of Hervana, but I fear I will go through this quickly just from having to go in for so many helpings (maybe I should tell Mom to send the extra one my way after all).  However, the scent doesn't disappoint; it's a combination of fruity and floral, but not so fragrant it makes you turn your nose up.  In order to give this quad a fair shot, definitely factor in your skin's colour and test it before you buy it.  I think if I had a tan, Hervana would really shine.

The Bagful breakdown:

Total amount for Benefit's Hervana:

• $51.00 AUS / $28.00 USD - brush included, per usual.

Value for money spent (performance and quality):

• 7 out of 10 bags - it's good, but not great.  I'll still wear it.

Likelihood to purchase:

• I've had a thing for Benefit for quite sometime; they'll always hold a special place in my heart, but I really can't stand their customer service!

Butter London's The Black Knight - weekly nail review

All week I anxiously waited for Essie's new Fall 2011/12 colours to appear at French Pink, alas they were nowhere to be seen.  The girls theorized the delay had something to do with HQ wanting to release the new colours once it was truly fall here.  Once March rolled around, it would appear as through a switch was flipped and bang, smash, boom - fall has sucker punched us all in the face.  To add insult to injury, last Saturday was the absolute antithesis to the weekend before that.  We went from sunny and hot to cool and rainy; I've never seen people bundle up so quickly.  People, Australia has nothing on cold weather extremes.  It really is a walk in the park here, you just might need to carry an umbrella for showers not forecasted. I matched my nails to my funky mood - dark, stormy and a tad bent out of shape.  I was coming off a roller coaster ride of a month; February really didn't happen in my book.

Butter London's The Black Knight was another new arrival I opted to go with.  It's a semi-sheer black base with flecks of pink, blue, silver and black glitter.  Janice painted on two coats and let me tell you she had a heck of a time getting it off today.  Everytime I looked at my nails, I couldn't help but think of the packaging for Britney Spear's perfume Curious.  I'd like to think she'd go for this edgy, but fun shade.

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 ;)