making faces :: product review [givenchy, urban decay, makeup forever]

as per my last post, i indulged in my lip colour fetish again and placed an order with sephora. this was my first time ordering on line from them, something borne of just not wanting to make my way all the way out to pointe claire [although seeing the employees there would have been nice]. overall, the service was a little slow [i'm comparing here to other on line retailers based in the united states] and they made a small mistake in my order. [sephora offers free samples with each order, which you can choose. they got mine wrong. i'm not about to raise a huge fuss over something i got for free, but still, what was in the box didn't even match the invoice included, which was correct.]

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...

givenchy gelee interdit "celestial black"

givenchy gelée interdit "celestial black" :: this was sort of an odd purchase for me, because i knew from reviews and from reading about the formula that these brand new jelly-like glosses from givenchy were going to be sheer. normally, sheer isn't a big thing with me. but the images of celestial black just looked so gorgeous [in spite of the fact that you already have about a half dozen black-based sparkly glosses? -ed.] that i couldn't resist.

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/s
mac 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"

mufe #15 + givenchy celestial black

one note: i thought that the mufe lip colour would look just freakin' awesome with the givenchy gloss. and at first, i thought i was right. then i noticed that, when i applied the gloss, it made the lipstick, already prone to unevenness, more uneven. splotchy, in fact. so i wiped away the lipstick + gloss combo and started over.

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)

today happiness is...

a big box of goodies

trying out new crayons

making ourselves look scary in the name of research and beauty

and a cat who finds you a little bizarre at the moment...

needless to say, reviews will be forthcoming...

making faces :: choose your lips

i think we've established that i'm a lipstick hound. it's not bragging, it's kind of like standing up and admitting i'm an addict. sure, at one point, i was solely interested in dark colours and ones that looked plain weird (i still am), but then my tastes expanded. once that happened... ooh baby...

there are no colours that i automatically write off [although browns are generally very difficult for me], which means that i end up with a lot of colours in every range. i will say that one of my natural "advantages" (if you consider being able to spend money on lipsticks an advantage) is that my complexion runs a bit cool, but is pretty close to completely neutral. so there aren't a lot of colours that look "wrong" with my skin tone. one of the results of this is that i've been able to spend quality time figuring out who does what best. so here's a post with my opinions on where you can turn for whatever colour wants you have. and, of course, if there's anything i don't cover, you can feel free to ask. i have deliberately skipped the area of bronze/ brown/ earth tones, because i just haven't sampled enough of them to make a choice. mac probably has the broadest range in that category, but nars seems to have some really rich shades.

WHO DOES WHICH SHADES BEST?


a quick word about the photos :: i took these in a real hurry and you can even see in some of them that i scratched my upper lip while doing so. because i was working quickly, there are some annoying shadows, for which i apologise. i wanted to get this post on line more than i wanted to wait until i had perfect daylight in which to shoot the lip photos.

so here's where to turn if you want...

dior :: chic pink

pinks :: [note :: i have a separate category for hot pinks, since they're a different animal.]
best choice :: dior. i don't know what it is about dior in particular, but pink is their bitch. whether it's their full coverage "rouge dior" line or their newly launched semi-sheer "dior addict" line, no one does pinks like them. in fact, virtually all of their colour line is pink of varying shades. choose your pink poison. whatever shade you need to bring out nature's beauty, they have it for you.
runner up :: chanel. while their range might be narrower, it's hard to beat the subtle elegance of chanel.

reds :: 

chanel :: rouge allure lacque dragon

best choice :: chanel. think of it as the classic of classics. no one does profound, statement reds like chanel. they have brilliant scarlet hues to stop traffic [cambon], deep and elegant plum-reds [rivoli], autumnal and rusty shades [vendome], lightweight and fun reds [flamboyante]... basically, anything you want and more than you dreamed. plus, they have the shade "dragon", in my opinion the most perfect red lipstick ever devised.
runner up :: yves st. laurent. the intensity of their reds is remarkable and they have a nice range of warm and cool shades- they have really paid attention to the different hues you can get within the red spectrum.
honourable mention :: mac. i personally find their range of permanent reds a bit lacking, but when one takes into consideration some of the excellent limited edition reds they've included, they're an absolute winner.

purples ::

mac :: violetta

best choice :: mac. this isn't even a contest. despite my frustration that mac's purples so often run pink on my lips, there is no company that comes close to mac's offering. not only do they have a strong collection of regular purple shades, but they are consistently coming out with new and limited ones.
runner up :: none. this is the only category where i did this, but mac's dominance in the field is so complete, it's like comparing pet ponies to secretariat. makeup forever would probably be my second choice, but their offering is limited in range and in finish. inglot have more purples than anyone except mac, but their shades seem somehow bland. everyone else is limited to an occasional "special" colour.

vampy shades  ::

mac :: hang up

best choice :: mac. unlike most companies, who have one or maybe two deep, dark alluring shades, mac has options in virtually every range. pinks? check. purples? check. browns? check. reds? you better believe that's a check. oranges? well, we'll get there soon, but they come closer than anyone else, that's for damn sure ["so chaud" is a fairly deep russet-orange colour]. even better, you can get intense mattes, as per usual, but you can also get richer, creamier formulas and even sheer colours like "desire" that can be built up. quite simply put: if you're looking for a dark, sexy lipstick and it's not a week before halloween [or you want one that isn't made from melted-down crayons], mac is where you should be heading. my one quibble: they don't have a black shade in their permanent line-up.
runner up :: bobbi brown. what??? the queen of quiet conservatism? no foolin. mixed in among the subtle nudes, rosy browns and lady-like pinks are some incredible, unsung deep reds and browns. check for shades that start with the word "black"- black raspberry, black cherry, black mahogany, black maple... these are gorgeous, rich shades that would seem at home on the lips of those classical heroines of gothic fiction that are so admired.
honourable mention :: makeup forever. aside from the usual bloody reds and purples, they have a permanent satin black in their range.

neutrals ::

mac :: blankety

best choice :: mac. don't kid yourself. a good neutral is hard to do. a bad one can look like concealer or poop, neither of which is a look anyone should aim for. mac came to prominence in part by offering gorgeous neutral tones for everyone and their permanent range still reflects that. i'm always saddened that they've culled their edgier colours, but i understand that the sales numbers on a wide range of their neutral shades- light, dark and everything in between- speak volumes.
runner up :: cle de peau. i would have selected them as the winner, but for two things: 1. their range is limited;  and 2. their lipsticks are $65cad each. wtf??? still, their neutrals are really, really hard to beat. the quality is there [at that price, it had better be] and their shades are wonderfully nuanced. find one that's perfect for you, spoil yourself that single time and then try to forget that you ever heard about them.

oranges, peaches & corals ::

ysl :: blood orange

best choice :: yves st. laurent. if orange and coral are this year's "it" shades, then ysl is the only company that has a leg up. i frankly think that there's tons of space to explore new shades within the range of america's most detested colour and i salute ysl for having established a beachhead on the orange shore. i choose them because their offerings can be bright, soft and much in between. everyone else has some serious catch-up to do.
runner up :: dior. it makes a sort of sense that the rulers of popular pinks would also have an offering of easy-to-wear shades in this range. they lack the intense shades of ysl, but chances are there's still a little something for almost everybody.
hornourable mention :: mac. while the "peaches" and "corals" offering in their permanent collection might be a little lacking, there is no denying that mac was one of the first companies to offer a real variety of orange tones to the discerning consumer.
[addendum :: it has been pointed out to me that, in fact, this post ignores the fact that givenchy's "candide tangerine" is the most beautiful orange shade ever created. it's true. i haven't seen givenchy's other orange offerings, but this is one case where one shade makes an entire company worth watching.]


hot pinks, fuchsias & magentas ::

mac :: fusion pink

best choice :: mac. this is another category where mac is well ahead of the competition. they have eye-searing hot pinks, luscious, deep fuchsias and daring magentas in various intensity- fully opaque to sheer and summery. plus, they keep launch new and limited ones that become cult favourites. this is possibly the only company where i think you can buy a whole selection of colours in this range and not risk repeating.
runner up :: makeup forever. i honestly think they may best mac in terms of the permanent offering of shades, but they don't compete in terms of the variety of formulas.
honourable mention :: yves st. laurent. it's surprising to see some daring bright pinks and fuchsias popping up with increasing frequency in their range. even more surprising is that their colours may be the most daring shades of all.

ideally, i wanted to include an "oddball" category in this piece, a category defined by shades like blue and green, or by strong metallic shades, or just takes on usual colours that defy description. unfortunately, there just isn't enough competition. shu uemura has both a pure white [the most difficult shade to find!] and an intense blue as part of their regular line, but nothing more. mac, in this case, almost deserves a "hall of shame" mention, for having discontinued the shades that added an exclamation point to their entry into the competitive cosmetics market, as does urban decay. makeup forever has shown some inclination towards eccentricity, but has thus far held back. illamasqua, the cult favourite british company, shows some promise, but since i can't get their products without paying usurious british prices, i can't comment. the fact is that there are a lot of women who want to push the boundaries of colour,  and who have the innate confidence to carry it off [which is really all it takes] but who can't simply because there aren't options available. *wags finger* bad cosmetic industry! bad!

that said, this is my perspective on which company is the best option for which shades. i would, as an addendum, like to note that these aren't necessarily my choices for highest quality. i think that you'd be hard pressed to beat guerlain's rouge g line for that, but their colour offering [perhaps because they've priced themselves out of reach for many consumers] is frustratingly tame. also stellar in terms of quality is armani and they seem capable of almost unbelievably rich and intricate shades of deep red and purple, but the bulk of their range seems stuck in the usual hues of pink and plum we all grew tired of in the eighties and nineties.

feel free to disagree. in fact, feel free to leave comments telling me how strongly you disagree. that's your prerogative and the nice thing about colours is that they truly do rest in the eye of the beholder.