all of the products i ordered and paid for were included, which, true to form, were very lip-heavy. i ordered an eye shadow duo and lipstick from hourglass, which i'll address separately, since it's my first experience with the company. in this round, i'll cover the others...
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| givenchy gelee interdit "celestial black" |
true to what i expected, the formula is quite sheer. on my hand, it looked like a slightly greyed clear gloss with a couple of sparkles. not so exciting. on my lips, i was surprised that the pigmentation seemed better. it seemed to make my lips pinker [fuchsia, almost!], as well as giving a darker cast. because of the settings i use on the camera to get clear photos, i didn't capture the plumminess it adds, but trust me, it's there.
the colour and, to a certain extent, the texture, reminds me of Mac's "Dazzleglass" lip gloss formula and, in this shade, i'm particularly reminded of the colour "date night". however the magic in this gloss is in the formula. and magic it is.
i didn't put much stock in the fact that givenchy claimed that these glosses were moisturising, because, in all of my makeup wearing life, i don't think i've ever come across a gloss that wasn't moisturizing. it's a gloss, they make your lips feel softer. it's what they do. however, the second i applied this one, i could feel that there was something different. my lips almost immediately felt "plush", the term i'll use to describe the condition between extremely moist and plump.
there is some science at work here, although how much is subject to debate. givenchy claims that "hyaloronique microspheres" create a plumping effect by, basically, causing the lips to retain water. sounds weird, but there is some reason to believe them. hyaluronic acid is naturally present in the body as an industrial-strength lubricant [in cartilage] and in the basal layer of the epidermis helping, among other things, in the healing of wounds by promoting the skin's inflammatory response. [inflammation means plumping. and don't worry, it's in a good way.] hyaluronic acid is a popular skin care ingredient because it is so good at carrying moisture and at hydrating basically everything it touches. the effects can are immediate, but can be long-lasting if they form part of an ongoing regimen.
i agonised over describing the scent as fruity vs. floral for a while before i happened upon givenchy's own description "lychee-scented". yup, that's it. smells like a lychee martini pretty much exactly. unfortunately, there's a strong undercurrent of vinyl when you first apply, which is about the only thing i didn't like about this gloss. yes, part of me kinda hoped it would be more pigmented, but it more than met my actual expectations, so i can live with that.
the bottom line? there are enough interesting colours in this line [and enough standard colours, including a transparent one if all you want is the feeling] that it's definitely worth picking up at least one. if you're a fan of sheerer, more sparkly glosses, grab more than one, because they're as good as having a medicated balm and coloured gloss in one.
$29cad/ $26.50 usd [rates them a "medium" on the currency gouging scale- extra taxes in canada do make things more expensive, but not much]
available at sephora
urban decay lipstick "voodoo" :: i swear i had this colour a while ago- back before i moved to montreal from toronto- but it went totally awol. i remembered it being a somewhat frosty, very orange-tinged deep rose-pink and, now that i have it again... yup, that's what it is.although i wouldn't think of this as being a really hard to duplicate colour, i have to say that, in my 200+ lipsticks [yup, that many, accumulated over long years], i don't have another colour like it. i think it's because it occupies such a strange "no man's land" between pink and orange. most shades will pull some red in, but this one truly doesn't. as a result, this shade is a perfect medium-tone that can go pretty much anywhere, isn't light but isn't super-dark and is different without being shocking.
urban decay have a real thing for scenting all their lip products differently, for better or worse. "oil slick" has a delicious caramel scent. "voodoo" smells like licorice allsorts. it's a bit candy-sweet for my tastes at first, but i found i minded it less the second time i applied.
i am a big fan of urban decay lipsticks since they reinvented them a few years back. i feel like they have so many cult products and that their eye shadows are so revered that the lipsticks get forgotten. and that's a loss. i have no idea what happened to my first tube of "voodoo", but damn i'm glad i have it again. the kind of shade that every woman should have in her arsenal.as an aside, one of the "freebies" i got with my order was urban decay's cult favourite "primer potion" [primer for eyelids to keep makeup from creasing or applying unevenly] in "greed". ok, i give up. what is the fuss about? the stuff caked onto my eyelid unevenly as i was applying it and creased before i applied makeup. i do not need a "pre-crease" treatment. yikes. glad it was a sample.
$26cad/ $22usd [moderate on the currency gouging scale]
available at sephora
makeup forever rouge artist intense #15 :: the first time i had any experience with makeup forever was when i got my makeup done there for a friend's wedding. she and her bridesmaid were getting made up there, so i figured i'd join them. what i chiefly remember is that the girl spent a long time on me- longer than anyone else, which is enough to make you feel a bit insecure- and that what she tried was different than anything i had done before. different. i'm not sure that i liked it better. but i ended up trying a few of their products and having a mixed reaction. i still have one of those products- a flesh-coloured lip and eye pencil that is truly a godsend. since then, however, i've been a little iffy to embrace them because some of the other products seemed way too heavy and stiff, the kind of thing that one could work with in a theatre, but not in real life.i was drawn into their revamped lipstick line with its massacred french/ english name because there seemed to be so many beautiful intense colours. the shades fall into frost or semi-matte finishes and are known, as i might have expected from my previous experience and the name, for being pretty intense.
shade #15 is one that drew me in because it's a beautiful purple base- a bit like mac's "violetta", but cooler- with blue early shimmer throughout. hot dammit, count me in.
i found the formula runs dry- not so dry it was hard to work with and not drying which refers to how it feels on the lips, but dry in the sense that it didn't spread incredibly easily and that it required a couple of passes to get even coverage. evenness was a bit of an issue, because i also found that it wore a little unevenly, so that when i reapplied, i had to sort of dab carefully to get colour only where it was needed. however, like most drier lipstick formulas, it had good lasting power. even after a drink and a snack, i only had to reapply because i wanted the nice blue sheen to be more visible- there was still plenty of colour left. i've heard that the frosts in this line can actually be a bit more difficult to work with than the other shades, so i might not have gotten the best impression of the formula. not that i hated it, but it wouldn't make me rush out to buy another. the reason i chose this one was because, of all the ones i'd seen, it struck me as being the most unique. the matte shades, while they might be easier to work with, also seem to lack depth. we shall see.
$22usd/ $19usd [moderate on the currency gouging scale]
available at sephora
and here are a couple of looks that show the products in action...
"voodoo"
this was something i did in five minutes because i wanted to snap pictures of both the lipstick and the funky new haircut that dom and me did. that said, for five minutes, i think it's pretty cool. it says something about the power of palettes- having colours laid out in front of you, rather than having to hunt for little individual pots- because that was how i got everything i wanted. i looked down and it was there. the per'fekt cheek colour was included by accident in my order, so i thought i'd try it out. not bad. probably wouldn't buy it, though. there are enough natural gel cheek colours and none of them really excite me.face ::
diorskin nude hydrating concealer "001"
nars sheer glow foundation "mont blanc"
eyes ::
mac e/s "family treasure" e/smac e/s "gaelic gold"
mac e/s "heather belles"
mac superslick liquid liner "on the hunt"
makeup forever concealer pencil "ivory/ beige 100"
yves rocher lash-plumping mascara "grey-black"
cheeks ::
per'fekt cheek perfection gel "blushed"
guerlain terra inca sublime radiant powder [really, this went everywhere]
mac blush "clove"
lips ::
urban decay l/s "voodoo"
"15"
i have just got to work on my titles. the photos here are a wee bit crappy, but i just was having no luck. and aside from the bad luck with the photos, it was a dry, hot, dusty day in montreal, so my eyes were puffed like i'd been punched. hoorah. i chose to keep some of the clumsy photos, because i do find that it gives a good sense of the shade of the lipstick and how it catches the light.face ::
nars sheer glow foundation "mont blanc"
diorskin nude hydrating concealer "001"
eyes ::
mac e/s "crystal avalanche"
mac e/s "illegal cargo"
mac e/s "vile violet"
mac e/s "restless"
mac eye liner "black swan"stila sparkle eye liner "curacao"
makeup forever concealer pencil "ivory/ beige 100"
ysl faux cils mascara
cheeks ::
per'fekt cheek perfection gel "blushed"
body shop bronzing powder "01" [note- this is old- i've no idea if it corresponds to what's currently available]
mac blush "new vibe"
lips ::
makeup forever rouge artist intense "15"
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| mufe #15 + givenchy celestial black |
Immediately upon application, Hyaluronique Micro Spheres create a plumping effect on the lips by holding naturally present water within the skin's surface.
Source: beautycrazed (http://s.tt/12qCv)
Immediately upon application, Hyaluronique Micro Spheres create a plumping effect on the lips by holding naturally present water within the skin's surface.
Source: beautycrazed (http://s.tt/12qCv)
Immediately upon application, Hyaluronique Micro Spheres create a plumping effect on the lips by holding naturally present water within the skin's surface.
Source: beautycrazed (http://s.tt/12qCv)