Hi lovelies! Hope you've been well. :D I thought I'd share my latest makeup acquisitions over recent weeks. I've been away for the last week for my 6 month old daughter's Christening - hence the lack of activity on my blog. Travelling by car with baby and dog over a two day(!) duration back to our home town was quite a challenge, but we got through it and she ended up sleeping for most of it thankfully. :) I even took some of the goodies with me in the hope that I could quickly take photos of them to share during the trip, but turns out that was a bit too optimistic. Ha! Anyway, here they are - all the new and exciting things I've delayed in sharing with you. ;)
I've shopped at Burberry.com once before, but this time they've changed to free shipping! Much excite! And, they do free gift wrapping, which is amazing. Look at the first photo above - each item individually wrapped, boxed with bow and note card! So beautiful. From there I picked up the following:
// Burberry Effortless Contouring Pen for Face & Eyes in Dark (No. 02)
I've been eyeing this for some time, but couldn't decide which of the two shades to choose (medium or dark). In the end, I stuck with Dark since I figured it would work well on my summer tan as well as sheer it out for my paler winter skin.
// Burberry Eye Colour Contour / Smoke & Sculpt Pen
New to the brand. I just love eye shadow sticks like this. By Terry Ombre Blackstar Cream Eyeshadows are my favourite and would be interesting to see how these compare. I picked up three of the seven shades available: Rosewood (No. 112) and two of the brand's makeup artist Wendy Rowe's favourites: Midnight Brown (No. 108) and Pale Copper (No. 106).
// Burberry Eye Colour Cream in Nude Gold (No. 121)
This is a new and limited edition shade that is inspired by hand-embroidered military-style gold work from the Burberry womenswear runway show. (I've swatches of several of their other permanent shades in the range in this blog post).
// Burberry "London with Love" Illuminating Bronzer Palette
This is also a new and limited edition bronzing powder duo, which is designed for illuminating and giving the complexion a "sun-touched effect". It celebrates playful prints from the Burberry Scarf Bar where the bronzer and highlighter powder is set with an embossed heart pattern. Isn't it gorgeous! ^_^ The two powders can be used separately or blended together.
Chanel have just officially launched their new range of Rouge Coco Stylo lipsticks and reformulated nail polishes this past Sunday in Australia. I was lucky enough to get a hold of them days earlier (sneaky, sneaky!). I picked up:
// Longwear Nail Colours in Organdi (504), Gitane (510) & Garçonne (520)
I personally found that most of Chanel's original nail polishes quite long-lasting already - in face one of the most long-lasting out of all nail polishes I've tried. They would typically last at least a week with only very minor, barely noticeable tip wear. So, it would be interesting to see how these compare! I've been told that most of the colours have been reformulated, but there are also a few new shades. I picked up three that are new: Organdi, Garçonne and Gitane. A lighter grey shade called Monochrome also captured my attention, but it reminded me of a limited edition called Frenzy (one of my fave neutrals) which I already own. I'm planning to go back to the counter soon with my bottle of Frenzy on hand to confirm my suspicions. ;) But, I reckon Monochrome is a more straight up grey rather than lilac-greige. If they're different enough in that respect, then I'll most likely purchase it. I love Chanel nail polishes! >_<
// Rouge Coco Stylo Complete Care Lipshine in Roman (208) and Lettre (216)
A new range of lipstick pens that currently come in seven shades. I picked up two: Roman (an intense fuchsia) and Lettre (a warm light to medium pink). I love travel-friendly makeup so this excites me. The formula is supposed to be a hybrid of a lipstick (in terms of colour intensity), gloss (in the shiny finish it gives) and balm (in the comfort and feel it gives). Sounds good to me. :)
Last, but not least, I strolled my way into Mecca, while I had a brief moment to spare during my week away. I was completely surprised to find they had Surratt Beauty! Only very few stores have it otherwise it is available on their online store. Finally, I had a chance to see in person all the other products from the brand I had not tried. I already own and use a few of his eye shadows and blush, which I purchased in the U.S.A years ago. So, I've extremely excited to get a hold of a few more goodies:
// Surratt Artistique Highlight Brush
All his brushes (at least the face brushes I played around with while I was there are divine), and after much consideration, I decided on this one. It seemed the most versatile and suitable for my relatively small face shape. It's fairly dense and is ultra-soft (all the brushes are). All brushes are hand-crafted in Japan and are not laser-cut to maintain their natural fine tips and give that luxuriously soft feel. This highlight brush uses blue squirrel hair. I love the French made cardboard box that it comes in, which has a sliding lid. The brush is comparable to my all-time favourite brush: Suqqu Cheek Brush (reviewed here), but based on first impressions, it is denser and more tapered. I might do a comparison post one day if I get a chance. I have a feeling this won't be my last Surratt brush I will purchase. >_< ;-)
// Surratt Lipslique in Pom Pon
This is a lip tint - lighter in texture than normal lipsticks and very nourishing on the lips like a lip balm. I debated between this blue-toned pink and a lovely sheer coral called Ritzy, but in the end I fell for the pink like I always do! Again, I can't get enough of the pens that seem to be released by lots of brands these days. So handy!
// Surratt Expressioniste Brow Pencil in Raven
This is Rae from the Raeviewer's current favourite brow pencil that she's been highly praising so I had to pick it up. I did try it in store and liked it. Raven appears to be a good match for my naturally black (but, sparse) eye brows. I really like the idea of buying refills, which is less wasteful and more affordable in the long-run. I'm excited to see if this becomes a staple in my makeup bag as it has for Rae.
// Hourglass Ambient Strobe Lighting Powder in Brilliant
This new range by Hourglass has been raved about (as with all their other Ambient powder products!), so I had to pick one up for blogging research purposes. *grin* ;-) The yellow-tone in Brilliant apparently suits my olive skin tone. I like that this powder is not your typical strobing, intense, in-your-face highlighting powder. Chunks of glitter in highlighters doesn't really appeal to me. This is one of the reasons why Chanel highlighters are still my all time favourites.
// Nars Eyeshadow Duo in Cordura
This is an oldie, which somehow missed my radar, but apparently a goodie according to Karen from The Makeup and Beauty Blog (I love her "Neat and New to Me" series of posts, which focus on permanent products that are she's discovered recently and loved), and was also featured on The Makeup Box's instagram where I first spotted it and started lemming over it. I'm totally excited for this golden brown and plummy chocolate duo. Fingers crossed.
So, there! Lots of exciting goodies for me to play with over the coming weeks. I will try to post swatches and my thoughts over some of these soon - particularly the new Chanel and Burberry items and anything else that I end up really loving and need to tell you about!
Meanwhile, hope you're week's been great so far. ^_^ x