Zoya: Shivon

I was in a real autumn mood when I went digging through my older polishes and found Shivon, a vintage beauty from Zoya.  I don't know if it's officially "vintage" because Zoya still sell it but it's been around for quite a while!

 

Shivon is from Zoya's 2008 (Eep! That is a while ago!) Flourish collection and to me it's pretty much autumn in a manicure. The rich reddish bronze with its subtle gold duochrome shimmer is reminiscent of the changing colour of the leaves around here.  Because of the complexity Shivon is one of those chameleon colours which somehow goes with everything and can appear either cool or warm depending on what you accent it with.  Application was excellent considering I've had this polish hanging around for easily 4 or 5 years as it painted on smoothly in 2 coats, taking care of my colour craving. 

All pictures taken in indirect daylight:

 

 

 

What nail or makeup colours do you love wearing in autumn/fall?

 

OPI: Gaining Mole-mentum

You know it's not very often that I get hyper-excited over glitter nail polishes these days.  They're all variations on a theme, right??

 

Not always it seems.  Take Gaining Mole-mentum from OPI's Muppets Most Wanted collection.  I'll be perfectly honest and admit that I still wasn't that excited about Gaining Mole-mentum until I applied that first coat onto that first nail - then I was mesmerized and hooked! Some lovely person said it looked like I'd dipped my nails into a broken mirror and I really couldn't say it better myself.  These jagged silver, yellow gold and rose gold glitter pieces do look like broken mirror shards and they are so reflective that you can actually see the colour of my turquoise tee in them.  Oooh, I have renewed enthusiasm for shiny things!!  This is two coats over a black cream base.

All pictures taken in indirect daylight:

 

 

Until next time!

(This product was provided for my consideration.  All comments and opinions are my own.)

REVIEW: SCOUT Mineral Eye Shadow and Mineral Eye Liner Pencil

I was introduced to Australian cosmetic brand SCOUT very recently when I was given the offer to review some of their mineral eye makeup products (with a nail polish thrown in for good measure swatched here). 

I literally, embarrassingly, had very little knowledge of this local brand so I did some research to see what SCOUT's point of difference is.  I'm starting this post with some background info to bring everyone else up to speed if you're like me and new to SCOUT Cosmetics too.

Pursuing her lifelong interest in natural therapies Sylvie Hutchings started the SCOUT Cosmetics brand in 2008 to create a natural cosmetics line which did not sacrifice performance or style to offer "...colour, style, luxury and effectiveness of great cosmetics and skincare without being exposed to potentially harmful or unnecessary ingredient compounds of which the long term effects are unclear."  Therefore SCOUT mineral cosmetics are:

• Formulated, tested and manufactured to meet all Australian and international standards
• A proud signatory to the campaign for safe cosmetics
• 100% Australian made
• Not tested on animals
• Certified vegan
• Water resistant and can be worn while playing sport
• Made from only pharmaceutical grade, naturally derived Australian minerals or organic botanicals
• Rated SPF 15 as a natural sunscreen
• Lightweight, non-comedogenic - allowing your skin to breathe
• Free of bismuth oxychloride
• Free of parabens, synthetic FD & C classified dyes, clays, mineral oil or petroleum derived ingredients
• Free of lanolin, beeswax or any other generic fillers



Got all that? Okay, so let's talk about some products!

 

Mineral Eye Shadow

 Clockwise from Left to Right:
Run Baby Run (matte mineral eye shadow), Sunday Girl (shimmery mineral eye shadow), Vegan shadow and brow brush

"Modern - Elegant - Colours have been created to give you a versatile palette for day or evening..."

My impressions:
The 22 mineral eye shadows are available in matte or shimmery finishes so I chose one of each finish in complementary shades.  Run Baby Run is a matte medium brown and my idea of an everyday crease shade.  I've worn Run Baby Run a few times now and I really love the colour on me so it's likely to creep into my Monday to Friday routine.  More importantly I really enjoy the ease of working with it - considering this is a loose powder shadow (and I'm a klutz!) fallout is minimal, it applies smoothly, blends out beautifully, and it lasts all day without fading or creasing.   My other choice, Sunday Girl is not as high a shimmer as I'm used to when I think of shimmers but this soft peachy gold works well as a subtle lid shade or highlight and apart from a little more fallout overall performs as well as the matte shadow.  These shadows can be worn dry as I've worn so far (and swatched later in this post) or wet for more drama.

The double ended vegan shadow and brow brush (my bad for only showing half the brush above!) does a great job of picking up and packing the shadow on the lid and placing colour into the crease although I did find I needed a crease brush (say MAC 217) to really blend out the crease and soften it the way I prefer.

Mineral Eye Shadow Ingredients:
Mica (CI 77019) may contain (+/-) Titanium Dioxide (CI 77891) Iron Oxides (CI 77491 CI 77492 CI 77499) Chromium Oxide Green (CI 77288) Ultramarines (CI 77007) Chromium Hydroxide Green (CI 77289) Pigment Violet (77742)

Mineral Eye Liner Pencil

Mineral Eye Liner Pencil (Grey)

"Glides on effortlessly to outline and define your eyes.  Soft and creamy formula will not drag the skin as you apply."

My impressions:
I always think of eye liner pencils as sleek skinny pencils, so these pencils are more like jumbo crayons to me and confused me at first.  Obviously they're not going to be your thing if you're into precision lining! I've tried Grey on my upper lash line and it gives a nice soft-focus definition along the lashes which is something a little different for me but different in a flattering way - no smudging required.  The pencil doesn't drag at all because of the oils and waxes in the formula - even over powder shadow - although because it is so soft I'd suggest setting it with matching shadow if using it on the lower lash line to keep it in place.  Sharpening keeps the tip tapered for lining. 

SCOUT Mineral Eye Liner Pencils are available in 6 shades (black, brown, grey, violet, green, and white).

Ingredients:
Simmondsia Chinensis (Jojoba) Seed Oil* Euphorbia Cerifera (Candelilla) Wax Copernicia Cerifera (Carnauba) Wax Tocopherol Mica (CI 77019) Zinc Oxide Citrus Grandis (Grapefruit) Seed Extract may contain (+/-) Tin Oxide (CI 778161) Titanium Dioxide (CI 77891) Iron Oxides (CI 77491 CI 77492 CI 77499) Chromium Dioxide Green (CI 77288) Ultramarines (CI 77007) Chromium Hydroxide Green (CI 77289) Pigment Violet (77742)

 

 Swatched dry on the back of my hand. Left to Right:
Mineral Eye Shadows (Sunday Girl, Run Baby Run), Mineral Eye Liner Pencil (Grey)

 

And in action for a daytime look: 

Overall I think this range is a good quality choice for women who have sensitive skin, or want to stick with a natural mineral product and still want to play with colour on their eyes. 

 SCOUT Mineral Eye products can be purchased from their online store here.


(Products were provided for my consideration.  All comments and opinions are my own.)

Rimmel Space Dust: 006 Moon Walking

I was going to ignore Rimmel's Space Dust line of nail polishes but then I saw someone sporting Moon Walking on their nails.  Of course I had to ask what they were wearing and - of course - once I knew what it was, I had to have it! Just to reassure you this was a few months ago before I swore off buying any more polish for a while...

  

Moon Walking is a super duper sparkly, glittery, textured silvery-lilac hued polish.  It's a very dense polish filled with multi-sized glitter which gives nails that crazy rendered look which I still love - the only downside was removal was on the stubborn side due to the larger glitter chunks.  I've forgiven it though because I enjoyed wearing it so much!

Sun

Shade

Thanks for putting up with my glitter obsession again.

Until next time!



Guerlain Meteorites - Light Revealing Pearls of Powder (Beauty Wishlist buy)

 I can't tell you exactly how long I've been wanting my own little pot of Guerlain Meteorites.  It must be just about all of my adult life?! It turns out not to be an exaggeration at all either as Meteorites have been around since 1987 so - yes - I've been dreaming about these for a very, very long time. It was largely about the dressing table appeal, and significantly less about the need for them because I'd gone perfectly well for all that time without using colour correcting products or finishing powders.  It was all about the French allure perhaps?  It shouldn't come as any surprise that these were going to be on my luxury wishlist this year! 

Meteorites are so covetable that they sell out almost as quickly as they're stocked so I literally bought the last pot of shade 2 Clair available at the counter.  Clair is the second lightest of the four shades in the current range and is a cooler toned mix of coloured powder pearls with a "...blend of matte, rosy and radiant blue-toned white pearls, combined with corrective coloured pearls – yellow to counter redness, pink for freshness and mauve to catch the light".

Knowing very little about these I was surprised by the heavy violet scent when I first opened the tin - it's quite powerful actually - but the scent very quickly disappears once on the skin.  It's something which only adds to the sense of luxury I think, along with the delicate pastel floral embossed tin.  Everything about this speaks to the chic lady I aspire to be (I'm laughing at myself here)... 

A swirl of the Meteorites brush (separate purchase) in the pearls very easily picks up a mix of the powder. The brush I bought is the new version and apparently more 'scratchy' than the previous version - I can't compare but can only say that if it's coarser it would be to more effectively 'scratch' the powder off the pearls and it definitely still feels perfectly soft enough on my skin.  No complaints from me there!

I'm also aware my Meteorites themselves are the newly released formulation and there's been a lot of chatter around about their more powdery texture (more crumbly etc.) but as I can't compare I'm not going to engage in any debates about new versus original here.  I did notice a lot of loose powder at the bottom of the tin when I spilled them out for my shot above but all of the pearls are still intact and haven't disintegrated - I think I will be careful about storage though and not even think about travelling with them because I couldn't bear the tragedy of an expensive spill!
 

So, what do Meteorites do for me?  As I said, I'd never really thought about colour correcting or finishing powders until recently - Hourglass Ambient Light was my first ever finishing powder purchase and that was only last year - but they do make that subtle difference.  I'm sure that no one else would be able to put a finger on what exactly it is but I can see how Meteorites seem to blur the imperfections in my skin and add a subtle radiance to it.  As long as I can see it, no one else needs to know but I can definitely tell the difference.  I started off using Meteorites for special occasions - isn't that always the way when something's new? - but now it's become the last step of my daily makeup, because it adds just that little bit of light to my face.  I don't regret buying these at all.

The heavy swatch on the inside of my poor parched arm is pretty hopeless although I think you can see the centre of my arm is slightly more illuminated than the rest.  

 

Is there a beauty item you've been coveting for a long time?



Scout 5 Free Nail Lacquer: Never Tear Us Apart

Let's just turn the colour dial all the way around from pastel nails shall we?

 

I received Never Tear Us Apart as part of a review package from cruelty free Australian brand Scout Cosmetics and I was drawn to it as a great autumn-winter manicure shade.  For those not familiar with Scout their nail lacquers are 5 free so they don't contain the following nasties:  Formaldehyde, DBP, Toluene, Formaldehyde Resin, Camphor or Parabens.  Further they're 100% Vegan and, obviously, cruelty free. 

The formula of this polish was a little thicker than some, but very smooth and I found it easy to control the placement of colour on my nails without any risk of flooding.  The colour was super pigmented so two coats easily provided totally opaque coverage.  And the colour itself...I love oxblood at this time of year and Never Tear Us Apart is that classic warm oxblood I'm craving in all forms at the moment.  As per usual I finished my mani off with a quick dry topcoat to give it the high gloss lacquer finish. 

Sun:

 Shade:

Scout 5 Free Nail Lacquer is available in 21 shades.  Click here to view the range and purchase from the Scout Cosmetics online store.



(This product was provided for my consideration.  All comments and opinions are my own.)

Orly: Lollipop

I'd fallen in love with Orly's Lollipop nail polish many months ago so I almost literally pounced on it in excitement when I spotted it recently at the well-stocked Orly stand at Salon Melbourne.  Ah, nothing like a little obsession!

 

Lollipop was originally released in Orly's Sweet Collection in 2010 and has since obviously become a favourite.  This utterly flattering pink-lavender cream was a dream to apply and the finish was smooth and opaque in 2 coats.  I'm so glad I pounced on this polish because it's simply, understatedly pretty and a lovely alternative to pastel pink.

Outdoors

 

 

Indirect daylight indoors

 

Until next time.