Clarins Colours of Brazil Summer Collection

Clarins have come out with another beauty of a collection for this summer - Colours of Brazil, which consists of a gorgeous bronzer, eyeshadow quartet with eyeliner, 6 lip balm crayons, and a black waterproof mascara. All of the pieces are limited edition other than the mascara which is part of the permanent line.

As the name of the collection would suggest, they have drawn inspiration from the colours of Brazil - the sandy beaches, the sea and reflections of the sky, which in terms of make up equals beautiful bronzey summer gorgeousness.

The eyeshadow quartet comes in a velvet pouch and has a gorgeous reflective casing with a Brazilian inspired pattern on which comes into full effect when you are holding it in certain lights.

The same pattern has been embossed onto the eyeshadows. It almost seemed a shame to start using them, they look so good! 

The eyeshadows are a nice range of neutrals; a satin finish golden taupe, matte mushroom, matte chocolate brown, and a pop of colour with a satin finish coral. There is also a cobalt blue eyeliner, and two applicators; one double ended with a fab eyeliner brush on one end, and the other a standard sponge applicator. 

They have also included ideas for two ways to wear the colours. They have numbered the eyeshadows so that is the order in which I have swatched them below. 

The shadows are designed to be used either wet or dry, and are really creamy and easy to apply. 

I also have three of the Lip Balm Crayons, which I am just loving! They feel so so hydrating on the lips thanks to the Shea Butter in them, comfortable to wear and the perfect amount of colour in one quick slick of the crayon. They have the feeling of lip balm, but the colour intensity of a sheer lipstick.

I tried the eyeshadow using one of the inspirations from Clarins, and have tried to photograph it from different angles, with each of the different Lip Balm Crayons, starting with 02 Creamy Pink.

04 Sweet Cherry

06 Soft Coffee

I think the colours of the eyeshadow palette work really nicely together, the coral shade blends seamlessly into the bronzey tones, giving a nice punch of colour to an otherwise neutral look, but without being too much that it's whacky. Same with the blue eyeliner - it is very wearable.

I am definitely going to check out the other Lip Balm Crayons as I love the formula so much! There's one in the range called My Pink which works with your own pH to create your own unique shade - can't wait to give that a go!

What do you think of this collection? Big thumbs up from me!

e.l.f. Eyeshadows

It's been a while since I used any makeup from e.l.f... for no particular reason... so when I was sent a few of their products to try out, I was intrigued as to how they would perform. They are a relatively inexpensive brand, which can sometimes mean poor quality - but I was pleased to see that wasn't the case here.

I tried the Baked Eyeshadow in D30 (£3.75), Studio Matte Eyeshadow in D20 (£3.75) and Waterproof Eyeliner Pen (£2.50).

My favourite of the trio was the baked eyeshadow - I will definitely be getting some more of these; it's really pigmented and makes a gorgeous, almost wet look on the eye without looking frosty. I smudged in some black liner on the lash line and added mascara and then Bob's your uncle - it's really easy to create a simple yet effective look with. There's a very bronzey collection of colours on the site all which look gorgeous.

The Matte eyeshadow in D20 is very cool toned, and I'm really not used to wearing such cool tones, so I added some bronzer to my socket to warm it up slightly. That said, it's a nice eyeshadow with a great creamy texture and gave an even coverage. It comes as a loose product which can be a little fiddly, but if it's a good value proper-matte shadow you're after this will tick the boxes.

For £2.50, the eyeliner is fantastic value, but I personally like my pen-liners to be more tapered to get really thin lines. It lasted all day on my eyes, but the swatch came off my hand after just one wash.

This little bundle has definitely got my e.l.f. sensors twitching, I'm off for more of an explore!

NYX Gel Liner & Smudger - Danielle 05 Teal

I am really enjoying playing along with SuperGorgeousOctober... I know I set the themes myself, but it's making me try things I wouldn't normally. Like wearing a really bold green on my eyes. I'm normally a neutrals or smokey kinda gal - but today, the theme was green, so I dug out my NYX Gel Liner & Smudger in 05 Teal (Danielle) to have a bit of a play.

It's a really blendable gel eyeliner that you can use as a standard liner, or, as I wore it, smudged out to create an all over colour. It has a slight iridescence to it which really shines through once it's blended out giving a really pretty effect.

I applied it all over my lid, then blended the edges out. I added a line under my eyes and smudged that too. I found it transferred a little under my eyes so next time I would set it with a powder to help keep it in place, but perhaps that's just my eyes.

I added some MAC Vanilla pigment into the inner corners of my eyes - I think it goes so nicely with these greeny blue kind of colours... then added black liner to my waterline and finished off with black mascara.

The green really makes brown eyes pop - I think I shall be wearing this more often. I'm really pleased with how it turned out.

Would you dare to wear?!

The NYX Gel Liner & Smudger costs £8 and is available from the NYX website and selected Next stores

Bella Pierre Mineral Eyeshadow - Earth & Calm

Bella Pierre Mineral Eyeshadows come in a variety of shades, and can be used for a multitude of things. As well as being general eyeshadows, you can use them wet for more intense looks, or for eyeliner, or you could mix them with nail polish, or use them for the body, or highlight (colour dependent!) 

I tried Earth, a shimmery pale golden copper, and Earth, a browny purple.

Both colours are really highly pigmented and can be built up well for added intensity. They are fairly shimmery, but frosty rather than sparkly.

The colours work really well together as a highlight and a smoked out edge - for this look I applied Earth all over the lid with a flat eyeshadow brush - packing it on to avoid fallout, then with a different flat brush, applied Calm to the outer corners of my eye. I blended the two together, and the edges, using a blending brush. I then added a thin line of kohl liner to the upper and lower lash lines and went over the bottom lash line with Earth on a small brush, then finished with mascara.

They are really easy to work with and I will definitely be checking out more of their range.

You can find Bella Pierre eyeshadows at Beauty Expert for £12.99 each.

NARS At First Sight Palette

At First Sight is a new, limited edition palette from NARS, housing two of their best selling complexion products - Deep Throat Blush, and Laguna Bronzer, and a quad of bestselling eyeshadows - All About Eve, Bellissima, Nouveau Monde and Cordura, all contained in a sleek, mirrored palette.

Deep Throat and Laguna are favourites of mine, and them being paired up for this palette ticks major boxes for me. Deepthroat is a coral with golden shimmer, and Laguna a not-too-bronzey bronzer with subtle golden shimmer in it.

The eyeshadows are all wearable shades - three neutrals - All About Eve; a flesh toned shade with a hint of shimmer, Bellissima; a perfect matt mushroomey taupe, and Cordura; a deep brown with flecks of golden glitter. Then, in case you fancy to take it up a notch and break through the neutral barrier, Nouveau Monde is in there too - a satin lilac colour, which is really pretty, and nice to use as an inner corner highlighter.

I've really enjoyed playing with this palette and creating different looks, it really is very versatile - you can get lots of different effects from the one palette and as there is a blusher and bronzer inside too, I have found my make up bag over the past two weeks has really slimmed down! This is ideal for travelling with for that very reason.

Here is one of the looks I created with the palette:

I started by adding All About Eve to the inner 1/3 of my eyelid with a flat eyeshadow brush, then using a fluffy brush, added Bellissima onto the rest of my lid and into my socket. I then took a pencil brush and added Cordura into the crease of my eyelid, blending it across and downwards to meet my eyelashes. I used the end of my flat brush to add Cordura under my eye too.

I used a black eyeliner pencil to line my waterline, and used it very close to my eyelashes on my upper lids. I finished by adding some Nouveau Monde into the inner corners of my eye with a small brush, and then added mascara to my lashes.

For this look I applied Bellissima to the crease of my eye using a fluffy brush, then added All About Eve to my eyelid and blended the two together. I lined the my waterline with a black pencil, and used black gel liner on my upper lid, then finished with mascara.

You'll have to excuse my eyebrows in this photo - I was testing out a new brow product and didn't realise quite how dark they were until I saw this photo!!

For this look I used Nouveau World all over my lid, and under my lower lash line. I added Bellissima into the crease using a fluffy brush, and added eyeliner to my upper lid and waterline, then finished with mascara.

For reference, I am wearing Deep Throat as a blusher in each of these looks, with a little Laguna bronzer.

There are three totally different looks I have created, but the possibilities go on and on. I am definitely going to keep experimenting! The quality of NARS products has never let me down, and I continue to be impressed with At First Sight.

NARS At First Sight costs £45 and is available from HQ Hair

Clarins Splendours Palette

Clarins Splendours Palette is part of their limited edition collection for this summer - a collection inspired by South America in terms of colours and print.

The Splendours Palette looks fairly plain in standard maroon and gold colours - but once it catches the light, an amazing design appears within the lid, it is just gorgeous!

Inside are four neutral, complimentary eyeshadow colours all embossed with the Splendours print - gold, champagne, maroon/bronze and pinky gold. There is also a waxy, deep plum eyeliner which I adore! It goes so nicely with all of the colours and is perfect to wear smudgy or as strong liner. 

The eyeshadows are really highly pigmented and creamy - they glide onto the eye with ease and leave so much colour on the lid with just one swipe. The colours last all day too - my eyes tend to look the same by evening as they did in the morning!

Here are a couple of looks I did using the palette. 

I am loving using it - it is delicate, fresh, feminine and somehow, feels 'sunny' to me! The shimmer in the shadows isn't too overpowering - it leaves a nice satin finish to the eyes, and that liner is absolutely amazing!

Clarins Splendour Palette is out now priced at £31 from www.clarins.co.uk

Lancome Hypnose Eyeshadow Palettes

Yesterday morning I was invited to watch the amazing make up artist Alex Babsky doing a demonstration of the new Lancome Hypnose Eyeshadow Palettes. There are 12 palettes to the range, from natural, neutral looks to dramatic smokey eyes and daring colourful colours.

Each palette contains five pearl-finish shadows which compliment each other - one main colour, one highlighting colour, two shades which work well as a gradient blended with the main colour, and a very dark colour intended to be used as an eyeliner - although could also be used to smoke-out the look even further.

Alex worked with Bain de Minuit - a gorgeous, intense blue toned palette. Here is the look he created on his model.

I recorded the demo, so if you'd like to see the steps involved - have a watch by clicking below.



Also at the event was Maja, the Lancome make up artist that did me up for my day at the EE BAFTA Style Suites earlier this year. She was wearing one of the more daring palettes - Menthe á l'O.

I was given the Vert Mystére palette to take home to try myself.

The Hypnose palettes come in a sleek mirrored compact with two applicators inside. Normally I chuck applicators straight away - but these ones are extra special - the handles and their housing are magnetic! No more dropping them on the floor of the tube when you're touching up - hurrah! One of the applicators is a fluffy(ish) brush designed for sweeping colour into and above your crease, or to blend shades. The other is a double ended sponge applicator - one to pack on the colour - the other end is super-thin, to be used for lining the eye with shadow.

When you buy the palette, you also get a sticker which you can stick on your mirror as a guide of where to place what colours. The numbering system is like this...

They advise that shade 1 is the signature shade of the palette - designed to be worn over the whole of the lid. Shade 2 is the highlighter to be used under the brow bone. Shade 3 is the eyeliner. Shade 4 is to be used on the hollow of the lid and the outer corners of the eye to contour. Shade 4 is for the inner corner of the eye. 

Alex's demo showed a different way of using the colours - he used Shade 1 under the eye and to map out the crease of the eye. Shade 4 with a wet brush over the lid, then with a dry brush to blend out the edges. A pat of Shade 1 in the centre of the lid, and Shade 2 in the inner corner of the eye.

I used Alex's method when trying the palette out for myself. I added Shade 3 (dry) as liner and finished with Lancome Hypnose Star mascara.

The Lancome Hypnose Eyeshadow Palettes cost £37 available from Lancome counters nationwide or Lancome.co.uk - to see the full range of shades, watch my video above.