Chanel Rouge Coco Shine in 80 - Suspense

Good day readers!

As some of my regular readers will know, I love Chanel. If I could afford it, I would have the entire Chanel make-up collection. Unfortunately I can't, so I make do with raving about the products I can occasionally afford to splurge on, such as this rather lovely lipstick.

Chanel Rouge Coco Shine Hydrating Sheer Lipshine in Suspense is a gorgeous deep pink/purple with a tiny hint of a warm plum shade, with little particles of purple glitter through it, giving it a rather unusual two-tone effect. This hasn't shone through in the pictures sadly but in person, this is an impressive shade of lipstick!

I tried pictures with and without flash to try and give you a better impression of the shade but sadly it hasn't worked well! Suffice to say, this is one lovely lipstick though. It glides onto the lips as you apply and it genuinely hydrates the lips; one of my main issues in the winter months is dry, chapped lips and this is a lipstick that helps to treat them and doesn't cling to the dry patches on my lips. With a sealant, the lasting time on this is about 3 hours before I need to reapply, even if I've been eating and drinking during that time. Generally I am impressed with the quality of Chanel lipsticks and this little beauty is no exception.

And here's a picture of my pasty mug wearing said lippy! It adds a lovely pop of colour without being too in-your-face, looks like a gloss on the lips and is soothing to wear. Chanel Rouge Coco Shine retails at £24 (RRP), which although it isn't cheap, I think it is a worthwhile investment since I find it very wearable and I always feel a little bit more glamorous wearing it and having it in my handbag! Personally I prefer Chanel lipsticks to MAC (I know, shocking opinion for a blogger to have!) and would rather treat myself to some Chanel since they always look and feel luxurious, adding a touch of class and elegance to one's make-up collection!

What are your thoughts on this lipstick? Or do you have a particular lipstick that always makes you feel more glamorous whilst wearing it?

Take care!

Christina xo

Chanel Rouge Allure Velvet - Luminous Matte Lip Colour

...That title is one hell of a mouthful. But then this particular Chanel lipstick is one hell of a lipstick! This was one of my duty-free purchases when I was heading through Glasgow Airport en route to Gran Canaria in September. I originally wanted to purchase the red shade, La Fascinante, but ended up being swayed by the beautiful, deep pink shade L'Exuberante instead...

The pictures really show off how beautifully pink it is, living up to its luminous title! I would describe it as a warm, deep pink. Matte lipsticks can sometimes be slightly chalky, and difficult to apply, but not this offering from Chanel. It glides on effortlessly, and it stays put for c. 4 hours (and that was without Lipcote over the top!)

And here's me wearing it! Looking back at this pic, it does seem to warm up the complexion a little, yes? It feels luxurious to wear, and I feel very glamorous wearing it. Chanel Rouge Allure Velvet Luminous Matte Lip Colour comes in 9 shades and costs (on average) £25. You can find it at most Chanel counters, House of Fraser online, Selfridges online and many more. I paid £20.50 going through duty free though. It is a pricey lipstick, but it's well worth it for its lasting ability, the quality, and also the way it makes you feel. I really do feel like an invincible queen when I wear this! If I receive any beauty gift vouchers over Christmas, I may invest in another! I would go so far as to say this is my holy-grail lipstick!

P.S. I accidently dropped it as I was writing this, and because it's in a solid metal container, it just bounced off the floor. So it's also good for any of you who are as clumsy as I am!


Have you found your holy-grail lipstick? Do you have a favourite brand of lipstick? Or do you prefer lip-gloss?

Christina xo

My First MAC lipstick - Costa Chic Review.

Everyone can remember their firsts: first kiss (Scott R, also my first boyfriend at 14), first club (B-Lo, on Exchange Square, Glasgow. Now called Common, yuck.) and every beauty blogger remembers their firsts too. First time wearing make-up (I was 11 and my mum let me wear eye-shadow and mascara to my last primary school disco), first nail-polish (I was 7 and it was baby pink) and, for me, their first MAC lipstick.

MAC lipsticks have something of a holy grail status within the beauty blogging world. The reason I bought one was a complete (happy) accident. I had bought a lip-liner from ELF which I thought was bright pink, but it turned out to be coral-coloured. My solution to this was to find a lipstick to wear it with (total b-blogger logic here), and I took the opportunity whilst out shopping in Edinburgh in June to have a look round the beauty counters and see if I could find something. First stop was Harvey Nichols, and the first counter I saw was MAC. I produced the lip-liner and swatched it for the lovely doe-eyed assistant, and she near-instantly pulled out Costa Chic.

I had to put the flash on to allow you to appreciate how bright this really is! It is definitely not a shade for the faint of heart. Costa Chic is described by MAC as a "Frosty Light Coral" and this is a pretty accurate description. However I wouldn't say it's too cool-toned, I think it's pitched just right so that all skin tones could wear this. But that's just my humble opinion.

It doesn't show up quite so bright on my hand, but it still stands out. On the lips, it glides on relatively easily, and lasts around 2-3 hours before needing a touch-up, and that's 2-3 including eating and drinking (I road-tested this on a night out).

And this is what it looks like on my lips (apologies for the slightly glazed expression, I'd just finished an 18-hr shift). In person it stands out more, but in this picture it looks quite subtle. Personally I love it! It's so bright and fun, it helps inject a little colour into your life. It's quite a summery shade, but I reckon you could find ways to wear it all year round. If you really like this shade, it costs £14 from MAC stores, counters and their website.

What do you think of MAC lipsticks? Do you have any favourite shades?

Christina xo

Haulosaurus Rex (i.e. When Christina got lots of lovely presents then went mental in Duty Free)

Recently it was my birthday (I had to work through most of it though, bleurgh), and to celebrate, I eventually went out with my nearest and dearest friends and family. And it was amazing! I had steak, wine and lots of catching up with my closest friends :) Birthdays, of course, also mean presents! And I was spoiled. I now have two new gins to try, a gorgeous new handbag, two stylish new canvas shopping bags and many other generous gifts. But the ones I'd most like to share with you are the beauty related ones (naturally.) And I will. In a minute. Because there's more...

I have also just returned from a week in Gran Canaria. Which means passing through the (Glasgow) airport duty free store! And it had just been refurbished with new counters *drools*. Plus once I arrived in Gran Canaria, I managed to grab a few cheeky bargains in a lovely little parfumeria. So would you like the run-down of my mental shopping spree/birthday haul?

 

Ta-Dah! I shall now break down each set of purchases for you:

DUTY FREE

Glasgow's duty free counters have always been pretty extensive (they have Dior, Chanel, OPI, Estee Lauder, Elizabeth Ardin, Clarins... you name it really), but since its refurbishment they have added a MAC counter (I literally squeed when I saw this...ask my boyfriend.) So it would have naturally been foolish not to indulge, no? So I picked up Studio Fix Fluid in NW15 (£17.50) and a single eyeshadow in Trax (£10). Trax is described on the MAC site as "Burgundy Plum with Shimmer" - the most gorgeous gold shimmer to be precise. I've recently been pairing it with some gold shades from other palettes, and the result is v.pretty :) Hopefully I will be able to master photographing my face soon so I can show you. The Studio Fix Foundation is so far doing pretty well in my estimations. It keeps me matte for quite a long time (Longer than my Dior Forever foundation) and gives a really good finish. I'll need to compare it to my 17 Miracle Matte foundation though in terms of longevity, but so far, a win!

Next stop was the Chanel counter. As I mentioned in my Wish List post, I've been eyeing up their new matte lip colour, Rouge Allure Velvet. I thought the shade La Fascinante was my dream, but when I went to swatch, I was instantly drawn to another shade, L'Exuberante, which can only be described as a deep bright pink, not fuschia, but a kind-of deep, slightly reddish, pink! I will try and get a review up with pictures soon, but suffice to say, My God, it is beautiful, and well worth the £20.50 I paid for it.

After leaving the check-out at Duty Free, I thought I was content. But alas, I had not banked on Glasgow Airport adding a Rituals store to there arsenal. And having loved their Yogi Flow Shower Foam from my Christmas Glossybox, I popped in to purchase a replacement shower foam, and picked up the matching body spray too. Delicious, luxurious smelling skin, here I come! Also, after that last stop-off, it was off to Gran Canaria with me! And this leads me on to...

HOLIDAY BUYS

One day, my boyfriend Kris and I decided we would get one of the many boats up Gran Canaria's South Coast to take us to the big town of Puerto Rico for some shopping (would not recommend staying there unless you're a typical Bulldog Brit, but like I say, some good shops) and I stumbled across a little parfumeria, where one of the ever-so-slightly-pushy sales assistants kept offering me discounts and "special prices". But there were two items I literally would have been stupid not to pick up: a 30ml bottle of Valentino's Valentina Eau de Parfum (I've seen various prices, but average appears to be £40) for around 36 euros (£29). But my piece de resistance... Getting Guerlain's Sun in the City Illuminating Powder for...37 euros (£30)!!! Not too bad considering the RRP is around £43. I am loving this just as much as my MAC Trax, and they actually pair well together too. I'm looking forward to experimenting further with it too!

BIRTHDAY TREATS

There's a reason I've added this last. One of my other presents was a Boots gift card from Claire (you can read her fabulous blog here) and I have just gotten round to spending (read: splurging) it! Having bought the Guerlain Powder, I realised that I should probably buy some proper brushes to actually use it with (and to do it justice), so after asking around I settled on getting myself some Real Techniques brushes. I bought the Base/Flawless Core collection (£21.99) and the Base/Flawless Powder Brush (£12.99). At the moment, Real Techniques brushes and sets are all on a Buy-1-Get-1-Half-Price offer in Boots, so the powder brush was only £6.50). So a big thank you to Claire! (Brushes are pictured below.)

Next up, my friends Fraser and Sara treated me to a lovely Soap and Glory gift set, which includes: Clean on Me (Shower Gel), Girligo (Moisturising Body Mist), The Righteous Butter (Body Butter), Flake Away (Body Scrub), and Hand Food (Hand Cream. I always love Soap and Glory (I rely on my Flake Away Scrub and their Fab Pore Face Mask), so I'm excited to try these products. Thanks Fraser and thanks Sara!

Last, but by no means least, my lovely brother Andrew bought me a bottle of Paco Rabanne's Lady Million. I had samples of this years ago and loved it, so I was well chuffed to finally get a full-size bottle, so again, thank you so much to my brother!

*Phew* That really is a shit-ton of stuff. I'm not going to be on a very, very strict budget in the run-up to Christmas because 1. It's the run-up to Christmas and 2. Kris and I are saving every penny we can to fund moving back to Glasgow as soon as we humanly can. So no more mental spending for me!

Does anyone have any of the products I've mentioned? Would love to know your thoughts, feelings, tips etc. All feedback is welcomed!

Christina xo

You just kissed a Boom Boom baby...

Apologies for the snappy title! I'm gonna write a review of MUA's Lip Booms, and when I explained what they were and showed them to my boyfriend, his response was: "Haha! Boom boom!" (Because I have 2, for further explanation as to why we find this funny, see here )

There's been a lot of hype on the web over MUA's collaboration with pop singer Alexandra Burke, Lip Booms, and a lot of folk have been raving over them. I now have 2, so I figured I would tell you lovely people what all the hype is about...

The snappily titled Lip Booms come in 8 shades, ranging from neutrals to bright, vivacious reds and deep plummy shades. Each Lip Boom is doubled-ended: one end being a matte lipstick and the other is a glittery highlighting gloss, and the concept behind this is that you can wear these 4 ways, according to MUA's webstore:

"1. Lipstick alone for a matte look.
2. Lipstick with highlighter applied just to the centre of your lips to create a full volume illusion.
3. Lipstick with highlighter all over for a super-glossy look.
4. Highlighter alone for a sheer pearl finish."

On the left we have "It's a Situation" (all the shades are named after sayings that Alexandra Burke reportedly utters... judge this as you will) and on the right is "Doin' Good." "It's a Situation" is an utterly fabulous shade of plum with a tad of reddy-pink thrown in, with a matching highlighting gloss, and "Doin' Good" is a lovely neutral pink shade. Below I have swatched each shade:

Sorry the light's not great! (N.B. I was gonna show you guys what they look like on, but the lighting throughout my flat was just not playing ball. In the flesh both shades look grand, "It's A Situation" looks incredibly goth-tastic and dramatic on me in particular!) 

My only gripe with these is the gloss. It has a lovely vanilla scent, but it's more glittery than highlighting, and when I say glittery I mean gritty. Used sparingly to highlight the cupid bow, it's not so bad but if you want to use it all over the lip I'd be careful. Having said that, the lippy end is so lovely on its own I just tend to use it without the gloss. The lipstick lasts well, and I found I could go a good 2/3 hours between re-applications. For £3 (currently on 2 for £4 from Superdrug and muastore.co.uk) you get plenty of product, and some rather fabulous colours to choose from.

In summary, fab, longish-lasting lippy, shame about the gritty gloss! Still bargainous though...

Christina xo