Christopher Drummond colour products

After liking the sample of the Christopher Drummond foundation I tried, and with a Paypal balance burning a hole in my psyche (why doesn't that ever seem like real money?) I decided to buy a few colour products from the Christopher Drummond line. These are: Blush in Plush Pink, eyeshadow in Marrom and liquid lipstick in Pink Kiss. 

Swatches: top Pink Kiss lipstick, bottom left Plush Pink blush, bottom right Marrom eyeshadow. The eyeshadow and blush are both well pigmented, and the swatches and picture of these applied is without any primer underneath them. I actually find the blush a little too pigmented - I have to pick up colour on my brush from the amount deposited on the puff from being in the pot - if I pick up colour directly from the pot I get overcooked cheeks, and I find the colour goes a bit orangey. The eyeshadow is lovely quality, but a little too close to the actual colour of my eyes, and I feel it can make me look a bit tired if I'm not careful with it. I think it'd be gorgeous on blue or green eyes though, and I'm planning on buying the Amethyst eyeshadow which I think will work better on me. The lipstick is lightly scented with orange blossom, and gives a pretty and natural pink sheen to the lips. 

Products applied. I'm also wearing the veludo foundation in Creme, Finishing powder in Bianca, and rms Beauty uncover up concealer in 11, Shu Uemura hard brow pencil in Seal Brown and Le Metier De Beaute black mascara. 

I like the products, and I plan to buy more from this line, but I don't feel that the packaging reflects the price point being charged. There's little commonality in the packaging; the lipstick has a Christopher Drummond label on the top, the blush lid has pink lettering, the eyeshadow is labelled on the side of the jar, not the top. It all feels a bit thrown together to me, and at a luxury price point I expect the packaging to be very well-presented and all items to be recognisable as the same brand (for a good example of this done well, rms Beauty.) 

The blush cost £23.50 for 2g , the eyeshadow cost £14.50 for 1.3g (Anastasia, if you're reading this I already know you're going to tell me off!) and the liquid lipstick costs £11. I bought these from www.justbeautydirect.co.uk.  

Ormonde Jayne Tolu review

After teasing us with a promise of Spring, the weather seems to have gone for one last arctic-cold winter hurrah. Luckily, this is the perfect temperature to test out Tolu.

Tolu smells a bit like Christmas pudding to me; spicy, rich and a little bit boozy. This is an excellent example of an oriental scent done well and elegantly; I don't get strangled by oily sandalwood, and it manages to be sultry but not dirty-smelling. If you've liked fragrances like Obsession and Opium, Tolu is well worth a sniff.

The base of this perfume is the focus of it; tolu (a peruvian tree resin) is blended with frankincense, amber and tonka bean. I don't smell a lot of the floral heart (orchid, rose and muguet) but I can certainly appreciate the juniper, orange blossom and clary sage top notes that give a velvety clarity to the overall composition and prevent it from being overpowering. While it isn't my sort of perfume (I generally prefer less heady/woody scents), I can appreciate the deftness of the blending, and if I had to wear an oriental, I'd pick this one. ;)

I can't imagine myself wearing this if the temperature was anywhere near double digits in celsius - it works in icy cold weather, and is the olfactory equivalent of wearing a layer of cashmere head to toe, but I would find it too heavy on me in warmer weather. If you live somewhere cold, or have a body chemistry that works well with orientals, this is a lovely one to try.

Summary - a beautiful oriental, but definitely an oriental, which rules it out for regular use for me. I was curious about it from the many excellent reviews, which is the beauty of the Discovery Set; I was able to try it out, admire the craftswork in it, but rule it out as full-bottle material for me.

Disclosure: sample is part of a Discovery Set sent to me for consideration for review.

Liberty London for Target

Liberty has teamed up with American retailer Target to produce a range of Liberty Print homeware items, and they're up for preview on the Liberty website now here.

Sadly, these aren't available until 29 March, which is a crying shame because these gardening gloves would be a perfect Mothers Day gift for Ma (she loves her garden) at a very affordable £10. I'll be buying them as part of her birthday present.

Image is from Liberty.co.uk.

Shu Uemura Spring/Summer 2010 Egerie Glint Blue Eye Shimmer Duo

Yesterday I bought the brown/blue Eye Shimmer Duo from Shu Uemura's Spring/Summer Egerie collection. These are £29 for the duo, and consist of a liquid eyeshadow base and a loose shimmer colour powder to layer over it. I bought Glint Blue, the brown/blue combination, shown above. I'm wearing it with the Drawing Pencil in Metallic Brown, Glow On Blush in P Pink 30 and Supreme Shine Rouge Unlimited in BG 957 (all also pictured above.)

The taupe/brown liquid eyeshadow base applied on its own. This is quite liquid and sheer, I do prefer the look of two thin layers to avoid it looking anaemic.

With the blue loose colour powder applied over the top (and a dab on its own on the left.) On my eyes, I wear with the liquid base applied on my lid and just past my crease, and then dab the loose colour powder in the centre of my mobile lid and blended out. Today I tried dabbing the loose powder directly on with the doe foot applicator in the tube and got a lot of fall out; I think it'd work better dabbing onto the back of my hand first as a palette, and then picking up colour from there with a firm brush or a sponge applicator before applying to my lid. 

The combination is pretty, but quite pale. I do feel I need to add the brown pencil to give a little definition to the look.

Also in the Egerie Collection:
Eye Shimmer Duo in Shiny Mint (chartreuse base, cool beige mint powder. Edit: from other pictures online, it appears that the powder may be a beige pink, not a beige mint. It was my least favourite of the combinations, so I didn't look closely enough!)
Eye Shimmer Duo in Starry Violet (grey taupe base, violet powder.)
Blush stick.
Highlighter stick.
Black and pink nail polishes.

Shu Uemura is available online at www.beautyexpert.co.uk, and they have the Egerie collection up already.

Content Dr Alkaitis Facial deal on Wahanda Mobdeals today

www.wahanda.com runs one day 'deals' where if enough people buy, you can obtain a specific service at a deeply discounted price.

Today's deal is a 60 minute Dr Alkaitis facial or 60 minute massage at Content, worth £75, for £20. You buy a voucher that is valid for use for 6 months. You can find the Content/Dr Alkaitis deal here.

Disclosure: I'm not affiliated, and receive no remuneration if you click on the link in this post.

Ormonde Jayne Champaca review

I wasn't sure I'd like this one, as I tend to like drier, darker scents, and Champaca is a green scent with a bit of warmth and sweetness to my nose.

Champaca opens on my skin with a breeze of green notes; I smell the bamboo and get a hit of the green tea, and then it quite quickly blossoms into warmth and sweetness with the basmati, champaca and neroli. If the mention of sweetness makes you recoil (and I don't like sweet scents either) this is a natural, fresh and subtle sweetness that is more fresh mango than candyfloss.

The dry down after an hour or two reveals the signature Ormonde Jayne accord; which I'm afraid I can't describe any better than it smells to me like expensive, old clothes that have been well cared for; a musky, slightly dusty, but not sweaty or dirty smell. I love this note in Ormonde Woman, Orris Noir and Ta'if, so I'm happy to greet it in Champaca.

Champaca has been a massive hit with Mr London, who loves the smell of it on me - it's like catnip for him. (I'm not sure whether this makes me want to buy a full bottle or not.) It's not the sort of scent I typically am drawn to, but it has surprised me with how much I've enjoyed its happy, sunny nature.

Summary - I wouldn't choose it before Ormonde Woman personally, but if you like lighter scents that aren't just a blast of citrus or sickly sweet, Champaca is a beautiful one to try. I might buy a full bottle for my summer fragrance this year.

Disclosure: this sample was provided without charge, for consideration for review.

Georgina Chapman in Le Metier de Beaute at the Oscars

Designer Georgina Chapman opted for Le Metier de Beaute at the 82nd Annual Academy Awards (the Oscars) on Sunday. Here's the breakdown of the products used:

"Georgina is wearing a black beaded gown (her own design of course), and requested a smokey dark eye to compliment the look. Mikey Castillo used the signature Le Métier de Beauté Couches de Couleur layering technique with the new Spring Kaleidoscope, Devotion (featuring nutmeg-gold, amethyst, rust, and navy), along with the Dualistic Eye Pencil in Noir washed over the lids to create mystery and amplify the smokiness of the eye.

The look was finished with the Brow Bound Eyebrow Pencil in Natural Blonde, Precision Liquid Liner in Noir along the bottom of the eye, and all the tiers in the Spring Lip Kaleidoscope layered on lips. Maldives Magic was dusted on the cheeks, neck, and shoulders, with Radiance Powder Rouge in Echo on the apples. Tons of Anamorphic Lash Mascara in Noir on the lashes to open up the eye even more."

I have and like the Echo blush and the Anamorphic mascara, and I love the colourful smoky eye. I'm very interested in the Spring Kaleidoscope eye kit, and I'm waiting impatiently for that to arrive (it should be at Liberty by the end of March.)

Jelly Nail Polish by Butter London

Butter London has a limited edition collection of three sheer jelly nail polishes at the moment. I had and loved a similar polish by Chanel years ago. (Does anyone remember those? The collection had transparent nailpolishes and lipglosses, and they were all very lovely.)

These come in three colours; Twee (pink), Chuffed (coral) and Stroppy (lilac.) Colour-wise, I'm probably most attracted to Twee, but name-wise I'm most attracted to Stroppy!

Picture is from www.zuneta.com. These are £10 each, and are 3-Free.

L'Occitane Peony sheer lipstick Feu D'Artifice

FeuD'Artifice is a pinkish red sheer lipstick with subtle golden shimmer dispersed through it. The texture is very comfortable and moisturising, but quite slippery so you do need to reapply quite often.

These do have a Peony scent, which is worth mentioning if you don't care for fragrance in lipsticks. I found it gentler and more pleasant than most scented lip products, and I'm going to be looking at the other lipsticks in the range when it launches in May.

Disclosure: this product was provided without charge as part of a pre-launch event pack.

Suqqu Kisui - eyeshadow EX03 Koukon and lipstick EX05 Suzemecha

Mr London bought Noble Nuance Eyes EX03 Koukon and Noble Nuance Lipstick EX05 Suzemecha for me as a gift after a horrendously busy week at work (I think I will keep him.) 

Pictured above on left is the EX01 Umegasane I bought, and right the EX03. EX03 is warmer, and more golden toned. 

On the left, Noble Nuance Lipstick EX02 and right EX05. Swatches below are in the reverse order. EX05 is more beige/brown/rose, to EX02's clearer pink.