January 2012 • Witoxicity

ELLIS FAAS: Eye Look With Light XVI

The ELLIS FAAS Light E302 - you could call it a green-gold or a metallic chartreuse. I figured it would go well with the khaki brown of Milky Eyes E205, so this is what I came up with:

Products used:

L-R
Light E302 - metallic chartreuse
Milky Eyes E205 - khaki brown
Milky Eyes E203 - dark blue
Mascara E401 - black
Note: These pens were provided by ELLIS FAAS.

This is what I did:

Upper lid
1. Applied with finger the khaki brown of E205 on the whole lid.
2. Dabbed on the metallic chartreuse E302 on the moving lid.
3. With an angled eyeliner brush, lined the upper lashline with the blue of E203.
4. Tightlined with a black eyeliner pencil (I used the Teeez Bold Eyeliner Pencil Sexy 12).

Lower lashline
5. Lined the lower lashline with the same blue. Smudged it out.
6. Applied black eyeliner (pencil) on waterline.

7. Applied two coats of mascara.

See also other combinations:
Eye looks: ELLIS FAAS

ELLIS FAAS website

Adorned Nails: KOH Urban Style

We've finally arrived at the last Vintage Jeans polish: KOH Urban Style.

This is the only one of the six that isn't blue. Urban Style is a black jelly-crème filled with silver glitters. Two moderately thick coats would be all you need. Due to the glitters, the finish is of course raw and gritty.

I don't know why but I've been having a thing for French tips lately. I contemplated using silver on this but in the end decided to go for white.

I used the matte white of Herôme Ottawa and, just like before, freehanded it by painting it across the nail. The pristine matte white against the gritty black/silver makes a stark contrast.

It somehow makes me think of a sequin tuxedo.

This polish was kindly provided by KOH Cosmetics.

With all the six Vintage Jeans polishes worn (you can have a quick global view of them in the KOH Nail Polish Gallery), I can now say that the following three are my personal favourites:

1. KOH Grungy Touch
2. KOH Rock Chick
3. KOH Bohemian Chic

I'm done with the Vintage Jeans collection, so I can now get on with featuring KOH polishes from the permanent collection. Stay tuned!

Reminder: Giveaway featuring KOH Red and KOH Woodstock Green.

No7: Amazing Eyes Pencil Review

I had a look at the customer reviews of these No7 Amazing Eyes Pencils on the Boots website and it appears that these pencils enjoy pretty good ratings. There were some negative reviews but there were many positive ones: 'favourite eye liner', 'stays on for hours', 'so long wearing', 'doesn't smudge'.

Well, I won't spout forth such words, I'm afraid.

These eyeliner pencils came in a holiday boxset that was issued by No7 in the run-up to Christmas. You've seen those three very pretty but disappointing eyeshadow palettes, Stay Perfect (Mini) Trio Eye Shadow Palettes - Cappuccino, Twilight and Beside The Sea.

The pencils that came in this boxset are smaller versions of those in the normal range. The regular ones retail for £7.75 / € 7.95 per piece and come complete with a smudger at the other end. I have here 05 Black and 10 Brown. One's a matt black and the other, a lovely taupey brown with very subtle shimmer.

Ingredients

So, here's what I think:

Once properly warmed up, they go on fairly creamy and the pigmentation is all right. They are quite easy to smudge out for a smokey look.

While they aren't faded by the end of the day, I can't say they are terribly durable. On my lids, they show early signs of creasing within two hours. When used to tightline, most of it is gone by midday. They aren't waterproof, so they do smudge if you have watery eyes or say, after a short walk in the rain.

The good thing about these pencils is that they are hypoallergenic, so ladies with sensitive eyes would probably find these agreeable.

Personally, I can't give the Amazing Eyes Pencils the thumbs up. To those ladies who love them, good for you! I don't think these pencils were made for my kind of eyelids. On a couple of occasions, I actually ended up with mildly racoon eyes by evening. Not a pretty sight.

More information:
My review of the No7 Stay Perfect Mini Trio Eye Shadow Palettes
Eye looks with the abovementioned No7 eye products
Boots Nederland website
Boots UK website

Adorned Nails: KOH Grungy Touch

Hmm, I may be speaking too soon but this could be my favourite KOH Vintage Jeans polish.

I have to say, the swatch for this polish on the nail wheel that KOH passed me had a lighter shade compared to what I have on now. When applied, KOH Grungy Touch is actually a dark blue. The shade of blue is quite similar to that of KOH Casual Blue but compared side-by-side, Casual Blue has some hints of petrol blue.

Grungy Touch is a cool polish. It has those dense silver/blue microglitters and it dries matt!

I love the suede finish.

This polish was kindly provided by KOH Cosmetics.

Previous Vintage Jeans polish: KOH Casual Blue
Next and final Vintage Jeans polish: KOH Urban Style

Reminder: KOH Giveaway featuring KOH Red and KOH Woodstock Green.

Adorned Nails: Essence Applause, Applause

I'm taking a short break from blue nail polishes. It's Chinese New Year today and of course, no Chinese New Year is complete without the auspicious colour red.

I've got just the perfect red to welcome the Year of the Dragon. I've deliberately kept this polish for this ocassion: Applause, Applause from the Essence Circus Circus collection. You might remember the pink crème/glitter duo (stick) called Essence Cotton Candy. Well, Applause, Applause is its red counterpart.

The red crème applied beautifully, almost like jelly. I did two coats.

And then, you have the glitter half. I didn't want to do the same thing as before (with Cotton Candy) - blanketing the entire crème with the glitter polish. I gave it red glitter French tips instead. I freehanded it by pulling the brush from one side of the nail to the other.

But I'm not done yet.

I need some gold on this to complete the look. I used this Chinese-like lattice design from the Chez Delaney plate T05 and stamped it at the crème/glitter border with a gold polish from the PUPA Crackle Nail Art Kit.

To everyone ushering in the Year of the Dragon, Happy Chinese New Year!

Essence: Nail And Hand Care Gloves

I mentioned the other day in my post on the Le Couvent des Minimes Gardener's Hand Healer about sometimes wearing gloves after applying my hand cream.

Well, this is the pair of gloves that I've been using. It's a cheap and cheerful lilac-coloured pair from Essence that I bought about half a year ago. It's for bedtime use, so there's no need for anything fancy, right?

The gloves come in one size and are made of 97% cotton and 3% spandex. The gloves didn't look terribly promising when I first removed them from the packaging - notice the scrunched-up sections at the base of the fingers (my first thought: Essence knows how to make great nail polish potions and yet, they can't make a simple pair of gloves?!!).

Fortunately, when worn, the fit is okay for me. The thumbs are a bit too long but that's not a major issue. Some ladies may find the fit for the other fingers a bit short though.

They are machine-washable and after some months' use and washes, I'm definitedly seeing some fuzzing. These gloves retail for only €1.99 per pair. At such a budget-friendly price, I should perhaps get me a couple of backups, in case Essence decides to discontinue this item.

What Essence says about these gloves:
The cotton nail & hand care gloves are just the right thing when your hands need some time off. After applying essence hand and nail care products, simply pull them on and relax overnight. The gloves make the care effect even more intensive and your hands will look young and pampered again the next morning! Now rough, chapped hands are a thing of the past!

More information:
Essence Cosmetics website

Adorned Nails: KOH Casual Blue

This is KOH Vintage Jeans polish number four.

I'll keep it short. You're looking at the usual two coats. KOH Casual Blue is a straightforward dark denim blue crème, with the same smooth, creamy formula as the other previously shown Vintage Jeans polishes.

No embellishment on this one. Let's leave it as it is.

This polish was kindly provided by KOH Cosmetics.

Previous Vintage Jeans polish: KOH Bohemian Chic
Next Vintage Jeans polish: KOH Grungy Touch

Reminder: KOH Giveaway featuring KOH Red and KOH Woodstock Green.

Le Couvent des Minimes: Gardener's Hand Healer Review

20% Shea Butter & Seven Magical Plants.

Seriously, that's what it says on the packaging. I'm tempted to think that this is a wizard's concoction. For his gardener.

Well, if you've read an earlier post of mine, you might know that the wizard in this case is actually, umm, L'Occitane. Familiar packaging, no?

Le Couvent des Minimes the brand was created by L'Occitane in honour of the long tradition of care and healing using products and plants harvested from the land surrounding the convent/hospice. Today (for better marketing purposes, I suppose), the product range of Le Couvent des Minimes is divided into eleven categories, which they call 'recipes'. This particular hand cream shares the same name as the recipe - Gardener's Hand Healer.

According to Le Couvent des Minimes
This rich, emollient cream blends 20% of the finest grade shea butter with seven carefully selected beneficial botanicals. This intensive formula restores moisture to the skin and protects active, chapped and cracked hands like an invisible glove to leave them soft and smooth.

The Cream
Well, I think this is a good hand cream, if you're okay with the scent. The thick, white cream smells lemony verbena. The scent is less fresh and more aromatic than plain lemon and in fact, it's quite like lemongrass. I'm not a fan of its scent but that's a matter of personal taste. The scent is strong at first but it tones down after a while.

The cream sinks in in less than a minute, leaving the skin very slightly tacky but not greasy.

This rich, thick hand cream would work great for the outdoors (keep in mind the name of this product), especially now in winter. I have however been using this as my bedtime hand cream for the past few months (I don't do gardening - plants die on me, every time). My other hand cream, the Weleda Pomegranate Regenerating Hand Cream, which used to be my night hand cream is now used in the daytime, along with others. Sometimes, if I remember, I would wear cotton gloves after application and in the morning, I would wake up with extra soft hands, still subtly scented with lemon verbena.

Update
I've written a post on the cotton gloves that I wear: Essence Nail And Hand Care Gloves

Ingredients
The convoluted list (please click to enlarge):

The quick list (from the box packaging):

• Shea butter - healing and protective
• Mimosa - restores moisture to the skin
• Verbena - revitalising
• Chamomile - soothing
• Marshmallow - calming
• Calendula - softening
• Lemon balm - softening
• Rosemary - protective

Final Words
Would I buy this cream again? I may, if it's on special offer. The thing is, just like with lipbalms, there are just so many more out there that I'd like to try! There is another hand product from this Gardener's Hand Healer range called Nail & Cuticle Fortifying Salve. Perhaps it's a product to keep in mind for the future.

In the Netherlands, Le Couvent des Minimes products are available at ICI Paris XL parfumerie stores. The Gardener's Hand Healer retails for €12.50 (75ml) but I bought mine at 30% off at ICI Paris. So, if you're interested, look out for the ocassional discounts on the Le Couvent des Minimes range there.

Further reading:
My first post on Le Couvent des Minimes, including the history/heritage of this convent in the Alpes de Haute-Provence and a review of the Le Couvent des Minimes Nutritive Lip Balm

Le Couvent des Minimes website

Adorned Nails: KOH Bohemian Chic

More KOH! There'll be quite a few posts on KOH this week as I go through the KOH Vintage Jeans collection.

KOH Bohemian Chic is the third one to be featured. Just like the previous two, KOH Rock Chick and KOH Romantic Flair, this one's a crème as well. The formula is nice and creamy, and it went on smoothly. As usual, I did two coats.

Bohemian Chic is a slate blue, sometimes I think it looks more grey than blue.

I wanted to add some simple nail art to this. I took out KOH Matt which I haven't used for quite a while and applied a thick band on the nail tips (I just painted it in one or two sure strokes across the nail).

Initially, I thought of leaving it at that - thick, matt French tips - but I felt that it was missing something.

So, I chose this stamping design from the Chez Delaney plate B100 and stamped it in line with the border of the matt tips using the baby blue of Romantic Flair. Do note though that this baby blue is not meant as a stamping polish, so don't expect the stamped design to appear bright and vivid on the nails.

The final result is a somewhat subtle nail design on matt French tips. You know that I like subtlety.

This polish was kindly provided by KOH Cosmetics.

Previous Vintage Jeans polish: KOH Romantic Flair
Next Vintage Jeans polish: KOH Casual Blue

Don't forget to check out my ongoing KOH Giveaway featuring the classic, KOH Red, and the newbie, KOH Woodstock Green.

Adorned Nails: KOH Romantic Flair

KOH Romantic Flair is the second polish from the new KOH Vintage Jeans collection.

It's an odd-one-out in the lineup of the six Vintage Jeans polishes. It's.....in one word......dainty. It's such a sweet baby blue créme, very innocent-looking compared to the other grungy five. KOH has certainly given it an appropriate name.

Just like KOH Rock Chick, Romantic Flair applied beautifully. You're looking at two coats.

I wanted to give the blue some texture and so, I stamped this design from an Essence Nail Art Stampy Design plate (I've mentioned this before - it's pointless telling you which plate it is because Essence calls all their rectangular plates either '01 have fun' or '02 style it up').

I stamped three or four times on each nail, firstly because the design isn't big enough to fill the whole nail, and secondly, to give it a rougher surface. The first layer was with the mildly matte white Herôme Ottawa and the second layer, with the same blue of Romantic Flair.

To preserve the rough surface, I deliberately did not use a top coat on this.

This polish was provided by KOH Cosmetics.

Previous Vintage Jeans polish: KOH Rock Chick
Next Vintage Jeans polish: KOH Bohemian Chic

Teeez: Bold Eyeliner Pencils Review

These have got to be the funkiest-looking eyeliner pencils I've ever had but I'm telling you, the Teeez Bold Eyeliner Pencils are much more than just visually pleasing.

I like these pencils. They go on nice, smooth and creamy. Best of all, they are smudgeproof and waterproof, which is ideal for inward-folding eyelids like mine.

These pencils are from Teeez's Boudoir Secrets collection and I have here three shades:

Top to bottom:
Sexy 12 - black
Outta Control 08 - violet
Rebel 09 - orange

Teeez says (excerpts):
Twelve seductive shades to accentuate your eyes. The Bold Eyeliner Pencil is waterproof! Creamy texture for smooth application and comfortable wear. Quick drying and long lasting due to the waterproof formulation, no caking or streaking. Fragrance free.....

I did a quick eye look using only these three eyeliner pencils and the Teeez Full & Flirty Volume Mascara that was released by the brand in a previous collection called Diva's Darkness. All four products were kindly provided by Teeez.

Here, I used the eyeliner pencils as both eyeshadows and eyeliners. The eyeliners do dry quite quickly once applied, so I did have to work very quickly to smudge out the colours with my fingers.

The main purpose of this eye look was really to give an idea of how longlasting the eyeliners are. The photo on the right was taken about five hours later and as you can see, the colours haven't budged. The most critical section is the inner one-third of my eyes as that's the area most susceptible to creasing. Well, I certainly can't complain here (the eyeliners actually lasted longer than five hours on me).

Truth be told, these eyeliners are coming close to dethroning my absolute favourite range of eyeliner pencils - GOSH Velvet Touch Eye Liners. These by Teeez are a tad kinder on the wallet too. Retail price: €4.79 (Net wt. 1.5g).

The other items already featured from the Teeez Boudoir Secrets collection:
Teeez Gutsy 05 nail polish
Teeez French Kiss Lip Gelée

More information:
Teeez website

Adorned Nails: KOH Rock Chick

You've had a sneak peek of the KOH Vintage Jeans collection last month. The polishes have just arrived and so, here's the first one to be swatched: the intense cobalt blue, KOH Rock Chick.

Rock Chick is a crème polish and definitely an extrovert. I think it's the perkiest and the most eye-catching shade out of the six Vintage Jeans polishes. This one applied very well and you're looking at the usual two coats. Price: €14.95 (10ml).

This polish was kindly provided by KOH Cosmetics.

According to the press release, the KOH Vintage Jeans collection would be out sometime this month. You will probably see these first in the KOH Experience Shops in Amsterdam and Eindhoven, and sometime later in parfumerie stores here in the Netherlands.