Eye Shadow -Stila - Cassis Eyeshadow
pussycat74 11/10/2006 2:54:00 PM
What a gorgeous colour - a jewel-like deep purple, shimmery, with blue rather than red tones. Great for a smoky eye with a twist, and really does bring out the greeny bits in my hazel brown eyes. I use this all over the lid, and as a liner underneath, with LM Black Violet khol on the inner rim, and it's a good look, yet takes minutes to apply. Although I have warm colouring, this actually looks better on me than warm purples, which tend to make me look like I've done a round with Mike Tyson. Or a big bottle of vodka.
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Liquid -Chanel - Vitalumiere
pussycat74 11/10/2006 2:50:00 PM
This gives a beautiful dewy finish, people commented on how good my skin looked. BUT I have oily skin, and the foundation was smudging off all over my mobile phone within an hour or two of application - ewww! So, lucky ladies with normal to dry skin, enjoy. It's back to Double Perfection for my shiny complexion.
2 out of 2 people found this review helpful. Was this review helpful to you? Yes No
Concealers -Guerlain - Issima Precious Light Smoothing Illuminator [DISCONTINUED]
pussycat74 11/10/2006 2:18:00 AM
This is GREAT. I have olive-toned skin and deep-set eyes - bad combination when it comes to under-eye shadows! I have to say I don't think anything is going to cover them completely, and actually that's ok (Cindy Crawford once said she thinks it makes your face look womanly to have a bit of shadow under there, and yes, to some degree I can see what she means). But I was looking for something that took them away as much as could be expected - without sinking into fine lines and making them look worse. That's my problem with most under eye concealers, they are just too creamy, and melt away from my eyes into the lines. I have oily skin, which doesn't help. However! Although this is creamy, it seems to set really quickly, and after a whole day of wearing it, I can't notice any sinking into lines. It's also not as garishly bright as Touche Eclat, and really covers those shadows. Brilliant. Previously, the best thing I'd found was a combo of Stila's stick concealer (not the creamy one in a pot that's actually designed for under the eyes) with a dusting of LM Secret Camouflage powder on top. But realistically, i'm not going to cart a pot of loose powder round in my handbag for touch-ups. So this is my solution. If your problems with under-eye concealers sound like mine, this should be perfect for you.
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Eyeliner -Laura Mercier - Black Violet kohl pencil
pussycat74 11/2/2006 4:24:00 PM
I love purple on my eyes as they're hazel-brown and it brings out the green flecks. However, I also have natural shadows under my eyes so have to be careful with the more reddish purple shades, as I look like someone who hasn't slept for weeks if I wear those. That's why this works so well - it really does look noticeably purple to me, but the black sharpens it up and stops it from looking that 'bruised' colour. I get loads of compliments wearing this, I use it on my inner rims with Stila's Cassis shadow over my lids for a really quick, easy smokey eye.
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Lipstick -Chanel - Hydrabase Lipstick in Vamp
pussycat74 7/31/2006 11:34:00 AM
Gorgeous. I've just come out of a 'heavy eyeliner, nude glossy lips' phase, which lasted years. Now I'm doing it the other way round - very simple eye makeup, or none at all, with this lovely lipstick. I have brown eyes and hair and light olive skin, and on me this can either be a deep, 20s film star plum, or, as other reviewers have said, a juicy berry stain. I can imagine it could look gothic on very pale skin, or with lots of dark eye makeup, but on the right complexion, if you keep the rest of your makeup light, it can look surprisingly fresh and youthful. I have quite small lips, and I know deep lipstick is supposed to be the worst thing you can possibly wear, but I've had so many compliments wearing this - even my boyfriend (who, like most men, isn't a makeup fan and always swears I look best with none - yawn!) loves it. So that's one makeup rule I'm happily breaking. This looks so much better on me than brights or pale shades, which just wash me out. oh, and I love the moisturising texture ( I have quite dry lips) and am impressed by the staying power - even after a greasy tapas meal recently, there was still an good stain left on my lips, it doesn't do that horrible thing of bleeding out to the edges so you look like you've been drinking loads of red wine. It fades uniformly, if you know what I mean. Will definitely buy again.
3 out of 3 people found this review helpful. Was this review helpful to you? Yes No
Mascara -Stila - Major Lash Mascara
pussycat74 5/29/2006 2:40:00 PM
I actually do find this gives my lashes a dramatic look - thickening and lengthening. My lashes are long with a natural curl but are fairly fine. And on them, this does an impressive job. I've been asked if I'm wearing false lashes while wearing it. I went back to YSL False Lashes (or whatever its proper name is) after using this, but now think I will go back to Stila ML again as it's cheaper and seems to do just as good a job.
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Mascara -Yves Saint Laurent - Mascara Volume Effet Faux Cils
pussycat74 5/29/2006 2:35:00 PM
This is a brilliant mascara. My lashes are long but fairly fine, so I always look for a great volumising mascara to beef them up. I'm kind of obsessed with mascaras and have tried many, but this is definitely in the top three for me. It's one of few mascaras I've returned to repeatedly. I like to apply it just to the outer lashes to give me an almond-shaped eye - it's so thick and has a slight curling effect, too, so that's all I need to make my eye look dramatically different. Several people have asked if I'm wearing false lashes when I wear it. HOWEVER! Here comes the gripe. I've bought this mascara several times, and each time, after about two months, the outside of that beautiful gold tube has developed a layer of gunky dried mascara around it - which then flakes off into my makeup bag and gets all over my brushes. I invariably end up chucking the mascara away - it's that or constantly end up with black streaks over my cheeks when I'm powdering my face. The build-up of dried mascara also means you can't shut the tube properly after a while, so the mascara dries up, the problem gets worse...I've knocked a lippie off because for this price, the product should be performing at top level for a bit longer, in my opinion. Bet I buy it again at some point though! FYI, the other mascaras in my top three are Stila Major Lash, which doesn't get great reviews here, but trust me, if your lashes are like mine, it's fab. Again, it's one that has people asking if I'm wearing false lashes. The other one is L'Oreal Voluminous - cheaper, great mascara, but does tend to smudge slightly.
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Fragrances -Trish McEvoy - Blackberry and Vanilla Musk #9 EDP
pussycat74 5/29/2006 2:23:00 PM
Really torn on this one - I love the smell (sweet, fruity vanilla) and so does my boyfriend, and the miniature bottle you can buy is great for putting in your bag and carrying around. But I agree with other reviewers that the staying power is terrible - especially considering it's meant to be an eau de parfum. Sort that out, Trish, and I'd definitely be wearing it all the time! But I can't really justify buying this again when it fades so quickly.
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Blush -Stila - Blush
pussycat74 5/19/2006 11:03:00 AM
I don't see this as tawny, more a pretty vivid coral - similar to Stila's Color Push Up in Sweet Flash. Which is great, as I'd adored the colour of that, but it slid quickly off my oily skin, so I'd been looking for a powder version. I had actually found Stila lacking in the warmer blush colours - most seem to be quite bright pink shades, which looked a bit artificial on my yellow-toned skin. But with this new collection they seem to have added some warmer ones. A word of caution on this - you don't need much if you're fairly pale! It's quite bright.
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Eye Shadow -Stila - Convertible Eye Color
pussycat74 5/8/2006 6:34:00 PM
Fantastic product. I have this in Stone, which initially looks like a nothing-special taupey brown. But Stila always seem to give their colours a subtle twist which makes them unique, and in the case of Stone CEC, it's a hint of purple, which brings out the hazel in my brown eyes. My friends always ask me how I do my smoky eyes, and it's so simple with this - I just line all the way around and inside the eye with the pencil, then go over that with the shadow, and hey presto, a sexy smudgy smoky look. My one gripe - hence knocking off one lippie - is that the lids of these always pop off and get lost in my bag. Eventually they disappear altogether, and then I start to worry that the pencil will get contaminated without its lid. So I end up buying again before it's actually run out.
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Fragrances -Stila - Creme Bouquet
pussycat74 5/8/2006 6:27:00 PM
I keep trying to get away from this fragrance. I've been wearing it for three years and feel it's time for a change - also I worry that I should go for something more sophisticated! However, there's no getting away from the fact that I just think it smells gorgeous. Like a scrummy vanilla pudding of some kind. It dries to a soft, powdery scent, and I don't notice the floral that much in it. I've spent weeks spraying on everything Harrods and Selfridges have to offer, but I just don't like any of them as much as Creme Bouquet. Also, I've never had so many compliments about a perfume. Random men have come up and told me I smell delicious, and whenever I spritz some of this on my female friends turn their heads and ask what that lovely smell is (even the ones who profess to hate sweet scents!) Expect I will end up abandoning my quest for a new scent and repurchasing. Yum.
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Fragrances -L'Artisan Fragrances - Bois Farine
pussycat74 5/8/2006 6:10:00 PM
I sprayed some of this on because the description made it sound like the sort of yummy gourmand fragrance I would adore. But when I put my wrist up to my nose, I nearly gagged. I ran straight to the toilets to try to rub it off. Urrgh. It smells floury and strongly yeasty to me, yuck yuck yuck. But hey, other people here clearly love it, which just goes to show again that fragrance is such a personal thing. I like warm, creamy, vanilla/almond fragrances - I would say if that's what you're looking for, Bois Farine ain't it. It seems to have a bizarrely sharp fermented dough note - not what I'm after in a fragrance!
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Fragrances -Etro - Heliotrope
pussycat74 5/4/2006 6:14:00 PM
Well, I love marzipan/almond smells, but this just doesn't do it for me. It smells of almonds (or playdo, but that's no bad thing in my book) for about ten minutes. But after half an hour on me it has the smell of old leather car seats, don't ask me why. It also smells really weak, just not good enough for an expensive scent. The search for a lovely almond fragrance goes on...
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Fragrances -Agent Provocateur - Agent Provocateur EDP
pussycat74 5/4/2006 6:03:00 PM
ohhh...this was my favourite scent when it first came out. I never got the rose smell from it, just a spicy, heady, feminine fragrance. But - a few months later a new flatmate moved in, and she wore it too! Arrgh, I can't stand it when someone else wears 'my' perfume. The final nail in the coffin came when she told me her two best gay male friends wear it too. Au revoir, AP. Here in the UK, at any rate, too many people wear you now!
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Blush -Stila - Heat Blush
pussycat74 3/3/2006 1:03:00 PM
Way too deep and bright for my yellow toned but pale skin. Actually a makeup artist called my complexion light olive the other day, but this is still too much for it! Overall I adore Stila products - fab oil free foundation, gorgeous eyeshadows, great mascara, etc. But the blush colours all seem to be super-bright or designed for pink-toned skins. stila makeup artists are always trying to push this one on me, and recently I succumbed. But my mum told me I looked 'flushed' and asked if I was ok! To me, it looks very red, which I can imagine could look stunning if you have ivory skin and dark hair - the sort of Snow White look. Not right for me though. I'm now trying one of the new colours, Blush, which is a vivid coral - have to be careful with it but it seems a fresher, warmer option so far...
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