Fuel Your Inner Sparkle Princess with Dior

Warning: This post is about to break my number one rule about limited-edition products that are no longer on counters.

For many little girls, the idea of becoming a sparkly princess is a common fantasy. One has only to look at the popularity of Disney Princesses to understand.  Luckily, Dior has a series of products to bring even the most mature woman back to her sparkle princess roots: a sparkling trio for lips of a Princess, plus last year's Princess nail polish (just look at the last post to see it as a NOTD).

Last year, I was attracted to the red-coral fierceness of Diablotine when this collection was initially launched.  This year, it's Princess speaking to me.  After a sultry winter of berry lips, there's something refreshing about carnation pink.  I find it the perfect accessory for spring- it plays nicely with all of the other pastels.

First, let's talk about Princess nail polish for a second.  It's a flawless, sparkling pink that seems like the sparkly cousin to Chanel May. Unfortunately, I haven't spotted it at any retailers in the past couple of months (unlike Delice, which still lurks at a few places if you look hard enough).


Now that I've broken my rule, let's move onto the Princess items you can still get your hands on.  First, the two lipsticks.

One of the best parts of this collection is the ability to play with both the Dior Addict and Addict Extreme lipstick formulas.  You can tell the difference in the color of the lipstick case- Addict is a shimmery, iridescent silver.  Addict Extreme is an ultra-luxe navy.

Princess (#553) is one of the permanent shades in the Addict formula.  It is described as "sheer carnation pink."

The flash brings out the multi-color shimmer in the Addict case better:

Here's a nice shot of the color outside, in natural light:

The flash makes this look a bit more intense than it really is:

With the sheer colors of Dior Addict, I don't get much longevity. However, the color fades to a pleasant stain nicely somewhere in the family of what Lip Glow does for me.  Since I have very pigmented lips, this just adds a sheer wash of color with some shimmer instead of looking like a lipstick lipstick.

Due to the pigmented lips, I'm just going to stick to hand swatches so you can appreciate the beauty of this color. Despite being a sparkle Princess, it's perfectly appropriate and sweet for the office, brunch, running errands, and everything you can imagine. This is such a perfect accompaniment to spring pastels.


First, the outdoor swatches. These were taken in late afternoon light, less than an hour before sunset.

No flash

With flash

Between the two swatches, the flash photo is closest to the real-life shade.  These are shimmery, glittering shades.

Now, the indoor photos:

No flash

With flash

Bottom line: this is just lovely.  It's more rosy than pure carnation, and manages to be a candied, pastel pink without moving into cartoon, Barbie, or little girl territory.  Addict lipstick retails for $32, and you can find Princess and the other permanent shades at Dior counters, Sephora, and Dior.com.




Finding the Princess Addict Extreme lipstick was a bit more difficult, but I managed to do it so I feel ok with showing you this shocking hot pink hotness.

As I mentioned before, the easy way to spot an Addict Extreme lipstick is the navy tube:

Princess Extreme (#553) was a limited-edition shade from the Spring 2013 collection.  Your local counter may still have it, but as of today it's in-stock at Bloomingdales online.

The major difference between the Addict and Addict Extreme formulas is pigmentation and longevity. These peeks at the tube should give you an idea of how Princess Extreme really is just that- that lovely, muted pink turned up about 10,000 notches.

The flash makes it look a bit more intense than it wears on the lips:

I get about 4 hours of wear from this creamy, pigmented formula, then it fades to a pleasant stain.  It's such a cheery pink, but I find it trickier to wear in a professional setting than its sheerer sister, but my office is a bit more conservative than most.  This is the color meant for a night out- it's important to always feel like a Princess if this is your groove.  I'll share some swatch photos on my hand for easy direct comparison with the Addict formula:

First, outside in natural light.  Like the other photos, these were taken in late afternoon winter light, near sunset.

No flash

With flash

Inside:

No flash

With flash

Overall, it reads closest to the outdoors, with flash photo on my lips. Addict Extreme retails for $32, and is at the usual Dior locations.  As I mentioned, Bloomingdales still has this LE shade available online.


Although it should be pretty clear already, I took a few comparison photos between Addict Princess and Addict Extreme Princess Extreme.


Like the others, these were taken late afternoon, outside.

No flash

With flash

Although both the Addict and Addict Extreme lipsticks are lovely, there's one more Princess-hued lip product.  And that, of course, is the iconic Dior Addict Gloss.

This shot, taken outside with flash is pretty representative of the carnation pink shimmer bomb that Princess Addict Gloss really is.  Don't be frightened- it's very wearable.

For those who aren't familiar, this is what the wand looks like:

Naturally, I swatched this on my hand for a direct comparison.  First, the outdoor swatches:

No flash

With flash

On the lips, it's like the Addict in hue rather than Addict Extreme, but with more obvious and packed glitter. Addict and Addict gloss make a surprisingly calm and serene spring lip duo.

I get about 2-3 hours of wear, unless I eat or drink.  Dior Addict Glosses retail for $29.50 and Princess (#553) is part of the permanent collection.

Finally, I swatched all of them at once for easy comparison.  There are so many lovely forms of Dior Princess:

Outside, with no flash (most accurate)

Outside, with flash

Inside, no flash (least accurate)

Inside, with flash

Bottom Line: I love embracing my inner sparkle Princess in all forms with Dior Princess!  There's something for everyone, from neutral, sheer Addict to the pink-hot Addict Extreme or Addict Gloss.