Holiday Haul Part One

What is a holiday if there is no haul ..I am mean you need to have something more than holiday pictures..isn't it :-))  I personally look forward to buying from duty free shops to avoid paying ridiculous Australians RRPs.

**Post is picture heavy**

The first part of haul will comprise of all things I bought from duty free shops( in Delhi, Singapore). I have more to share but other parts will come as I unpack the bags ( yes, I have been that busy !!)

The first item is Guerlain Rouge G lipstick. I have to thank my younger sister for this. She bought #6 from this range( from Delhi Duty Free) and recommended me to check it out. I bought #8 ( Gisele) which she had chosen earlier.
Quoting from my memory I bought this for $ 45 USD .
I love everything about this lipstick, from packaging, to color and texture. I know this isn't the last lipstick from this range.

  

 

I picked up this Bobbi Brown Rich Color lipstick in Pink Peony. Its creamy and is opaque in one swipe. The lipstick wears off leaving a stain which I like.

 

I can never buy Dior Addict lipstick without thinking about Tara from keepingupwithme . I read about these first on her blog. I picked Nude(333) from this range. Its a beautiful lipstick, moisturizing, good pigmentation and lovely texture. In Australia this retails for $48 AUD while I picked it for $29 USD. No wonder, Australians prefer to buy from overseas.

I also picked Chanel Levres Scintillantes (131, Mica) and Rouge Allure Extrait De Gloss (57, Insolence). I love how they feel on my lips. Mica has beautiful reflecting shimmer which looks awesome on lips. Its not sticky and is non drying. I was really surprised by Insolence, since it managed to show up on my pigmented lips.

Chanel Insolence

Chanel Insolence

Chanel Insolence

Chanel Insolence Lip Swatch

Chanel Mica

Chanel Mica

Chanel Mica

You remember how I raved about chanel vitalumiere satin foundation, so how could I go past buying it if I was getting it for $48 USD ( from memory its 80 AUD here). And when I am getting a foundation then I need a great coverage concealer, isn't it *shifty eyes*. So next up was Estee Lauder Double wear Concealer in Medium.

            EL Concealer          Chanel Vitalumiere Satin

Coral Quest : Laura Mercier Tangerine

In my search for coral lipstick, I had almost decided on buying Laura Mercier Roman Moon when I saw that Tangerine had featured in the Temptalia's 5 must have Coral lipsticks.

It has smooth cream finish giving opacity in 1 -2 swipe. On my lips the color comes as coral with hint of pink. Its a beautiful color and brightens up the face the instantly

Here is the swatch. What do you think ??

P. S : I am posting this from husband's laptop which explains the missing pictures of previous featured lipsticks in this series. Sorry about that.

Coral Quest : Ciccone Oceanus

Ciccone Oceanus is the most talked about and popular lipstick in the range amongst the blogger. This got better of me and I wanted to see how it fared in my quest.

Its a beautiful pale coral color with smooth texture. But, yes the 'but'....on my pigmented lips the finish was not smooth and I had to swipe it couple of times to get the smoothness. I think this is only because of my lips and it would be great for non pigmented lips.
I also feel that its doesn't have the same color payoff as its siblings from the range.

It might not be the 'perfect coral' but I can see myself wearing it as a wash of color on my lips this summer.

For comparison between previously featured lipsticks, I will be posting their pictures too. So, below is the swatch of Bobbi Brown Sweet Nectar.

Coral Quest : Bobbi Brown Sweet Nectar

This spring/summer I decided to start my quest for a perfect Coral lipstick. And in this journey I want you to come along with me.
As part of this journey, I will feature one coral/pink coral/orange lipstick every Wednesday in hope of finding the perfect one.

So, I will start our journey today with Bobbi Brown Rich Lip Color in Sweet Nectar
Texture wise its beautiful, smooth and pigmented. The color instantly brightens up the face. I generally wear this color with barely there to no makeup.

What do you think of the color ?

Availability: Myer, David Jones
RRP : $45 AUD ( Approx)

Hot Pink Lips

Okay if you are like me who wants to wear bright pink lip colors but shy away from it, I think this lipstick will do the job for you. Its bright but not too much into face or neon like. Without further ado, I present to you Flamenco from Australis Colour Inject Mineral Lipstick range.

  

The company's website describes the color as 'hot pink with very slight purple pearl' and I think this is perfect description of the color.

The lipstick is moisturising and gives good amount of wear time.

Its hot and its wearable.

Would I recommend it : Definitely yes, its now a handbag staple for me

Availability: Priceline, Pharmacy,Target

RRP : $12.95 AUD

Disclaimer: Product provided by PR for consideration, but it has no bearing on my views.

Review : Ciccone Cosmetics Lipsticks

I read great reviews about Ciccone Cosmetics lipsticks both over twitter and various blogs. This got me curious and I couldn't look past trying them.

Ciccone Cosmetics is an Australian company founded by Helen and Frank in 2001 . Their product range features 8 lipsticks and today I will present 4 of them.

What Company Says

Ciccone cosmetics offer lipsticks that are long lasting, feel weightless on application and glide smoothly with high coverage.

The lipsticks have a quick drying formula that maintain a durable film of color for several hours and will leave your lips feeling hydrated and fluffy

Color

The product range features 8 colors

• Rhea
• Hera
• Aphrodite
• Cupid
• Oceanus
• Apollo
• Voluptas
• Athena

Performance

They are super pigmented lipstick with a creamy formula. The finish is neither glossy nor matte. When I applied it, it felt creamy. Inspite of the creamy formula, it gives a good wear time and color payoff.

What I like about them

• The feeling of weightlessness on application
• The coverage, it took only one swipe to get max color
• The creamy formula
• The fact that it wasn't drying ( hello MAC Satin)
• It had a good a wear time
• Also, that one of them made me lose weight. Seriously when I wore Voluptas, the first comment I got was " Have you lost weight"

For once a company has described their product as they are.

What I didn't like about them

• The only thing I wished was if the color range was more extensive. I want more!!

Now to the swatches...

Would I recommend it : Yes, in fact I am going to get Oceanus next.

Availability: www.cicconecosmetics.com, Myer
Price: $25 AUD

Disclaimer : Product provided by PR for consideration, but it has no bearing on my views.

Burberry Lip Cover

Do you get sucked in by packaging and the hype created by discussions on various blogs ?? I do, I am easily influenced and it has proven injurious to my credit card...but that’s a different story.

In name of blog research, I was waiting excitedly for Burberry to launch its makeup line in Australia. 

So what did I do when I heard that Burberry makeup is available through David Jones in Chadstone, no prizes for guessing that.

Now, my first impression was that the display was absolute high end and so chic. One automatically felt special while browsing through the products.

Generally when I venture in new makeup brand I start with either lip color or eye shadow. In this case I bought lip cover( Burberry’s version of lipstick)

What I Liked:

•   The packaging. It comes in metallic cuboid case with trademark Burberry impression. The cap   closes only when the magnetic strip on the cap aligns with the iron strip in the base. I personally found this very smart.
•  It’s reasonably hydrating
• It provides decent coverage.

What I didn’t like:

• Staying power. It was less than 2 hours
•  For anyone with pigmented lips (like mine) it doesn’t provide enough coverage but then that’s just for me.
•  Color Range. Its quite small leaning more towards the neutral.
• Value for money. It retails at $49AUD while Chanel Coco Shine retails at $50AUD but latter has better pigmentation and coverage.
• It settles in fine lines

Would I Recommend it:

It’s more of a lust have item than a must have one. I would rather go for Chanel Coco Shine which has better pigmentation, coverage and staying power.

I had bought Cameo Pink which is a nice coral pink.

Face Of Australia : Mineral Lip Shine

Today, I feature 4 shades from Face Of Australia (FOA) Mineral Lip Shine.

As per FOA its a perfect go between natural lip color - not sticky or shiny like a lip gloss and not heavy as a lipstick. It has no synthetic dyes and antioxidants and skin hydrating ingredients

The 4 colors which were sent for consideration are

• First Kiss

        


            Its cream finish nude which worked perfectly for me. In fact I have been pairing it quite often with  smokey eye look. Its quite moisturising although not that long lasting ,but then I don't mind reapplying it.
I recommend it highly if you are looking for a nude color

• Beach House

            Its a frosty finish with hints for brown . I was very iffy while giving it a try since I am not much into frosty finish. But I was pleasantly surprised at the finished look

• Fairy Floss

             Its again a frosty finish with pink mauvish tones. Now this was the surprise in pack. I wasn't expecting it to work with my pigmented lips, but voila, it looked so great that I can see myself wearing this alot on hot summer days

• Love Bite

            Its cream finish deep brown color with red undertones. If you are not comfortable wearing dark colors then this is a good place to start. Again, I have been wearing this quite often during this winter

Overall :
They are very hydrating lip shines and don't settle in lines. The color pay off is sheer but the cream finish ones can be built up easily.

They retail at $12.95 AUD at Priceline, KMart, Big W and Selected Pharmacies

Disclaimer : The product was sent for consideration but the opinions are mine