Catrice: Eye Look With Hidden World Eyeshadow Soufflés III

It's time for another eye look using two of the eyeshadow soufflés from the Catrice Hidden World collection. It's a light and easy look with simply pink, champagne and a hint of dark brown.

I used:

Catrice Hidden World Eyeshadow Soufflé Rosy&Cosy - pink
Catrice Hidden World Eyeshadow Soufflé Yes, I Wood - champagne
GOSH Velvet Touch Eye Liner - Truly Brown
Make Up For Ever Aqua Smoky Lash Mascara - Waterproof Extra Black

To get the look:

Upper lid
1. Pink on the outer half and lightly on the crease.
2. Champagne on the inner half, inner corner and on brow bone.
3. Lined and tightlined with the dark brown eyeliner pencil.

Lower lid
4. Applied the champagne colour along the lashline.

5. Curled lashes and applied two coats of mascara.

Here, I used mainly my fingers to apply the eyeshadows - application is quicker and it's easier to smudge out the edges.


Further reading:
My review and swatches of the Catrice Hidden World Eyeshadow Soufflé

Reminder: Try your luck in the Catrice Hidden World Giveaway which features two eyeshadow soufflés and other goodies from this collection.

Adorned Nails: Catrice Walk On Air

This polish is one of three polishes that belong to the Catrice Hidden World collection. I indicated before that it is a collection of rather muted colours.

Catrice Walk On Air is a sweet one. It's a pale milky peach-pink with very subtle pinkish shimmers. It has a sheer formula and after four coats, the nail line is still visible (which I don't mind nowadays).

I took out my Chez Delaney plate H28 and stamped the full-nail viney design on Walk On Air using a brown KONAD stamping polish.

And voilà! Grandma's curtains!

Because of the different colour scheme, the effect is quite different from when I did the same stamping with gold on Sparitual Epicurean.


Reminder: Don't miss the Catrice Hidden World Giveaway which features this polish, amongst other things. It ends in a few days.

ELLIS FAAS: Light Swatches

I think it's time to feature the swatches of all five ELLIS FAAS Light - E301, E302, E303, E304, E305 - in one post. So far, I've shown only random swatches of four of them whenever I did an ELLIS FAAS eye look which included a Light.

Here's a recap:

• housed in click-pens
• dispensed through brush applicators
• highly pigmented metallic liquid eyeshadows, like having a layer of metallic paint on the eyes
• when dried, they feel a bit rough/sandy to the touch
• lightweight, non-sticky
• not waterproof
• with repeated rubbing, they will come off
• leave them alone and they will stay intact
• apply with finger - easier to control and is better for light application
• apply with brush applicator - for full-on heavy application

Colour description of the Lights:

E301 - warm silver, metallic beige
E302 - green-gold, metallic chartreuse
E303 - bronze
E304 - metallic lilac / medium purple
E305 - metallic turqoise-burgundy duochrome
Note: The pens featured here were provided by ELLIS FAAS in the course of the past year or so.

The Light swatches:

With flash photography

L-R: ELLIS FAAS Light E301, E302, E303, E304, E305

In natural lighting

I hope this post will be useful to those who are thinking of acquiring a Light for the first time. I've made these photos as colour-accurate as possible.


Further reading:
The full review of the ELLIS FAAS Lights featuring E301 and E305
Some ELLIS FAAS Eye Looks with Lights

ELLIS FAAS website

Adorned Nails: Catrice Genius In The Bottle

Irony again.

For one who wasn't much into Chanel Peridot, I seem to be collecting quite a few possible dupes for it. Well, okay. This is possible dupe Number Two. Even then, I think two is one bottle too many already.

I featured Douglas Fireworks 15 last month. Just a couple of weeks ago, Catrice added some new polishes to its main collection and it included this one here. Catrice Genius In The Bottle is an opulent gold that glows green/aqua, or as convention would have it, it's a gold-green/aqua duochrome.

The formula is quite sheer and I had to put three coats on.

I'm not big on comparisons but I thought I'd do one here. So, what is the difference between Catrice Genius In The Bottle and Douglas Fireworks?

Douglas Fireworks on little finger

1. Genius In The Bottle is on the sheer side and it shows more of its (dark/grey) green initially.

2. The gold of Fireworks is denser and more dominant. Its formula is thicker (and required just the usual two coats).

L: Catrice Genius In The Bottle; R: Douglas Fireworks (taken with flash)

3. The gold in Fireworks is yellower and more intense than that in Genius In The Bottle.

4. Fireworks comes with a double-cap. Genius In The Bottle doesn't.

5. The brush for Genius In The Bottle is mighty wide, quite flat and has a rounded tip. The one for Fireworks is only a bit narrower and its tip is angular.

L: Catrice Genius In The Bottle; R: Douglas Fireworks

Personally, I love love love the new Catrice brush. Its width, its shape and how the brush spreads out on each nail make it possible for me to apply a coat of polish in one neat stroke. There was incredibly minimal clean-up afterwards. Of course, everyone's nails are shaped differently, so opinions may differ.

Oh, there is one more difference.

6. Genius In The Bottle costs just €2.49 (10ml). Fireworks costs €4.95 (11ml).

More information:
Catrice website

Catrice: Eye Look With Hidden World Eyeshadow Soufflés II

Here's another eye look using the Catrice Hidden World Eyeshadow Soufflés. The first one I did was mainly a fresh pink look and this time around, it's a neutral go-anywhere-brown look with a hint of champagne and pink.

These are the products used:

Catrice Hidden World Eyeshadow Soufflé Yes, I Wood - champagne
Catrice Hidden World Eyeshadow Soufflé Wood You Follow Me? - dark brown
Catrice Hidden World Eyeshadow Soufflé Rosy&Cosy - pink
GOSH Velvet Touch Eye Liner - Black Ink
Make Up For Ever Aqua Smoky Lash Mascara - Waterproof Extra Black

I usually prefer to use my fingers to apply but for this look, I made use of my small flat (synthetic) brush.

Upper lid
1. Dark brown on the lid, except for the inner corners.
2. Champagne on the inner corners.
3. Lined and tightlined with the black eyeliner pencil.

Lower lid
4. Applied the pink soufflé on the outer three-quarters.
5. Lined the lower lash line with the dark brown soufflé.
6. Dabbed on the champagne on the inner sections.
7. Used the black eyeliner pencil on the waterline.

8. Curled lashes and applied two coats of mascara.

Done! It's earthy with a flirt of pink.

Further reading:
My review and swatches of the Catrice Hidden World Eyeshadow Soufflé

Don't forget to take part in my current Catrice Hidden World Giveaway which features two of these eyeshadow soufflés, amongst other things.

T. LeClerc: Satin Lipstick Review

This has got to be one of the most moisturising lipsticks I've ever tried (and I'm not counting the liquid lipcolours of ELLIS FAAS). I would even call it emollient and it feels quite heavy on the lips.

I got this lipstick thanks to Renee of You Nailed It!. She held a T. LeClerc giveaway a while back and I was fortunate to win a few items from this brand.

What T. LeClerc says of the Satin Lipstick

Create colorful, sensual lips with the T.LeClerc Satin Lipstick range, which offers perfect hold and rich texture for a deliciously soft feeling all day long.

Formula
Rich in rice oil with its anti-drying properties, the T.LeClerc Satin Lipstick keeps lips feeling comfortable throughout the day.
It also moisturises* your lips for up to 4 hours of application.

*Moisturisation of the upper layers of the skin

The Ingredients

What I Love
Just like you, I usually discount the claims made by brands about their products but I have to say, this one really delivers on its promise. It's like a heavy lipbalm. On my lips, they stay on for three-four hours (with some drinking). It's faded of course, but the lips stay so soft and moisturised. Don't expect it to last that long with eating though.

The Texture
This emollient lipstick is on the soft side and with repeated use, I can see that my lipstick bullet is starting to do a Leaning Tower of Pisa on me.

The Smell
And then, there's the subtle fragrance. It has a certain smell which we tend to associate with the makeup that our mums used to use. It's nothing unpleasant, it just reminds me of the days of yore. Speaking of which, T. LeClerc is an old French cosmetics brand which started life in 1881. The founder, Théophile LeClerc, a pharmacist, created a loose face powder which became a hit among the women in Paris. That face powder, made with a secret rice powder formula, remains popular to this day (says the website) and over the decades, its makeup range grew but the brand has stayed true to its rice-based legacy.

The Shade
According to the T. LeClerc website, there are 14 shades available in the Satin Lipstick range. The one I have is 27 Charnel, a very frosty light brown. It unfortunately doesn't go well with my skintone and so, I tend to layer a deep-coloured lipgloss over it. I wore it alone many times at home just to test out its durability and to find out how moisturising it was.

Anyway, I took a couple of photos to show you how it looks on me: Charnel alone (left), and with a very pigmented fuchsia-coloured lipgloss by GOSH layered over it (right). Its frostiness still shows through but at least, my lips are pink-ish.

This is the only shade I've tried from T. LeClerc. I can't vouch for the rest but I hope the other (red/pink) colours in the Satin Lipstick range are just as moisturising.

The Price
The T. LeClerc range of products are on the pricier side. In the online shop Zalando Nederland, for example, the Satin Lipstick retails for €21.95 (4g / 0.13oz). It's £19.95 on the Zalando UK website. By the way, Zalando doesn't indicate clearly the exact names of the shades.

The Packaging
Well, whatever it is, I love the packaging of T. LeClerc products. Most of the products are housed in matt silver casings with stamped detailing. They look so sleek and antique-y at the same time. You should check out the gorgeous tins which their famous loose powders come in.

L-R: T. LeClerc Satin Lipstick, Volume Mascara and Mono Eyeshadow

T. LeClerc website
For retail points in the Netherlands: T. LeClerc Nederland website

Adorned Nails: Etos Long Lasting Nail Polish No. 22

Before I go back to writing about non-nail polish products, I'd just like to do this quick feature on a simple lime green shimmer polish by Etos, a Dutch drugstore chain.

Etos Long Lasting Nail Polish No. 22 has a sheer formula and required at least three coats.

I stamped this design from one of the Essence Nail Art Stampy Design plates (it's the one with also a peace symbol and an anchor) with a yellow KONAD stamping polish.

The stamped design is best viewed at an angle, without the shimmer shine. The flowy material I'm holding is a Cambodian silk scarf that my very dear friend, Pat, got me a few years ago. I absolutely love the scarf.

Reminder: Win this polish in my current giveaway. Ends very soon.

Adorned Nails: Douglas Maria

Douglas Maria 09. Ooh, another possible dupe for Chanel? Paradoxal perhaps?

I featured Douglas Fireworks a couple of weeks ago and that one seemed to bear a strong resemblance to Chanel Peridot. This current polish, Maria, is a creamy dark purple taupe with pretty, shy shimmers.

The shimmers are predominantly purple/pink but they do twinkle blue, green and red sometimes. The shimmers are subtle though, only noticeable in very strong lighting.

Maria applied beautifully and needed only two coats.

Douglas, a German parfumerie chain, launched its own range of nail polishes called Absolute Nails not too long ago. I believe Maria 09 belongs to the main collection. Retail price: €4.95 (11ml). The bottles come with double caps.


To view the range on Douglas websites:
Douglas Nederland
Douglas Germany
Douglas France