October 2017 Favorites

Much like September's favorites, I'm going to try to keep it simple here. I was all over the board in terms of testing new products this month (I hope the diversity of posts- and the frequency- was a tipoff to that.) Consider this the best of the best.

Eyes:

Eyeshadow: Quite unexpectedly, Tarte Clay Play found its way into my heart this month. I find it such a quiet but reliable friend that can rescue most looks gone awry. I also became obsessed once again with putting highlighter on my eyes- in this case, Fenty Beauty Trophy Wife. I've been looking for the perfect gold for years and this is it. I haven't talked about it in this space yet, but my Inglot Eco Palette was a go-to. Marc Jacobs The Lolita continues to be that go-to when I don't know what else to do.

Eyeliner and Mascara: I'll continue to give a written nod to the perfect ABH trio of liners that are the foundation of my work. I continued to enjoy my Tarte Lights, Camera, Lashes Precision Longwear Eyeliner and the Stila Huge Extreme Lash Mascara.

Cheeks and Face:

Blush: I got in a rut this month. I think Fiona Stiles Soft Cheek Veil in Valley was on my cheeks all but a few days, and Physicians Formula Butter Blush in Plumrose the other days. It was a neutral month, ok?

Bronzer: I finally finished my Physicians Formula Butter Bronzer this month, and I remembered why I love it. L'Oreal Glam Bronze continues to lurk around.

Highlight: I don't remember what I was wearing before it came into my life, but aside from the days when I was testing something else, MAC Whisper of Gilt has been my BFF. I get it, y'all.

Contour: Kat Von D Shade and Light palette. Enough said.

Primers: I wore quite a few, but nothing's fab enough to shout out. I have a quiet routine, but I'm not going to write the same thing every month.

Concealers and Correctors: I'm trying a new concealer that I'm not yet ready to shout-out... wait for the review.

Foundation: I discovered a new HG foundation this month- Inglot HD Perfect Coverup Foundation. Look for a full review soon. I also rediscovered how much I enjoy MAC Studio Fix Foundation, which is a true classic. An old HG, Chanel Perfection Luminere Velvet, just wouldn't stop jumping into my hands in the morning.

Powders: I rotated through a few powders this month. After taking the sifter off, I rediscovered just how good NARS Soft Velvet Loose Powder in Flesh is. I also continued my love affair with MAC Mineralize Skinfinish Natural in Light, RCMA No Color Powder, and Hourglass Ambient Lighting Powder in Ethereal Light.



Lips:


I'll be honest, I've been playing with holiday releases for most of this month (for example, all 6 LORAC kits), so I don't have any favorites! I'm looking forward to giving my lips a break in November!

Nails:

I  pulled out some classic shades this month- Chanel Rouge Noir, Chanel Atmosphere, and Chanel Particuliere.

That's it- it's a light October because of all of the testing.  I'm doing something different this month- an entire month-long everyday makeup drawer. Wish me lujck.

September 2017 Favorites

I love doing my monthly favorites... I hope that they're fun for you to read as well. I've been testing so many new products that I've tried to keep my favorites streamlined. Any links are to previous reviews that I've done on the blog for your reference.

Eyes:

Eyeshadow: I really kept reaching for three palettes this month- Natasha Denona Lila Palette, PUR Trolls Palette, and LORAC Mega Pro 1. I'd expect these three to keep popping up from time to time. I'm also still a huge fan of all of the MAC Girls Palettes.

Eyeliner and Mascara: Other than my favorite trio of ABH liners, I also reached for the long-discontinued Chanel Perle de Lune and was thrilled to bring the Tarte Lights, Camera, Lashes Eyeliner back into my life via the Ulta sale. Nothing like keeping it simple.


Cheeks and Face:

Blush: Dose of Colors Blush in StateMint brought me back down the rabbit hole into old habits. Chantecaille Cheek Shade in Bliss found its way back into my drawer, and I purchased a full-sized version of Tarte Paarty. When I wasn't wearing a light pink nudey blush, I was also wearing Natasha Denona Blush Duo #15.

Bronzer: I've been reaching for two bronzers- both from the drugstore- this month. I'm so close to finishing my Physician's Formula Murumuru Butter Bronzer in Light Bronze and L'Oreal Glam Bronze 01 is my cool-toned go-to.

Contour: I feel sort of like I'm cheating since I only bought this halfway through the month, but Catrice Prime & Fine Professional Contouring Palette has been my go-to since I purchased it when I want an effortless contour. I've been testing other products, but I love this little guy. Look for a full review soon.

Highlighter: I wasn't very committed to highlighters this month. Fenty Beauty Metal Moon and Becca Prismatic Amethyst probably found their way onto my cheeks the most frequently.


Lips: 

Basics: I continue to worship Anastasia Beverly Hills Lip Primer, as it now allows me to comfortably wear matte liquid lips. I've also been using up my Fiona Stiles Ultra Luxe Nourishing Lip Balm.

Lipstick: I'm still fairly boring when I'm reaching for lipsticks. Hourglass GIRL Stylo in Peacemaker and Bobbi Brown Lipstick in Uber Beige are still my go-tos.

Liquid Lipstick: I discovered how much I like two formulas this month. Too Faced Melted Matte Liquified Lipstick in Freshly Baked ruled my daytime looks, whereas I've been playing with Dose of Colors Matte Liquid Lipstick in Berry Me at night. I can't wait for it to cool enough to wear it out during the day.

Lip Gloss: It was all about Fenty Beauty Gloss Bomb in Fenty Glow this month. Period. End stop.


Base Products:

Primers: I've been trying to finish primers this month, so the only constants are my Too Faced Hangover Rx 3-in-1 spray- which is a must, the L'Oreal Magic Base to fill in some fine lines, and the Milk Makeup Blur Stick.

Concealers: Tarte Shape Tape. Any questions?

Foundations: I rediscovered how much I love the Chanel Perfection Luminere Velvet foundation this month. I continue to enjoy La Mer The Foundation (tell me if you'd like my thoughts), It Cosmetics Your Skin But Better CC Cream and bareMinerals Complexion Rescue Hydrating Gel Cream.

Powders: I forget why I stopped using Hourglass Ambient Lighting Powder in Ethereal Light under my eyes. It's one of two powders (the other being the NYX one I talked about yesterday) that set my eyes this month). In terms of all-over powder, it's been either the Laura Mercier Translucent Setting Powder or MAC Mineralize Skin Finish Natural.


Nails:

Color: I'm going back to my roots here. I had one of a few shades on my nails most of the month. Thanks to Glossybox for bringing Morgan Taylor Magician's Assistant into my life. I've also been loving some CVS finds- Pop-Arazzi Pewter Perfect & Staying Up Slate. I also pulled Chanel Alchimie out for the few days it was cool (Side note: whoa, that's digging in the archives to find that post!). I also put China Glaze Pearl Jammin' on my nails as soon as I purchased it (there's something fresh about muted pastels in fall).


Skincare and Bodycare:

Skincare:  I ran out of Drunk Elephant C-Firma Day Serum and my skin showed it almost immediately. I now have a $80 staple in my routine. I also continue to enjoy First Aid Beauty Coconut Smoothie Priming Moisturizer.

Bodycare: I rediscovered my love for L'Occitane's almond line this month. In particular, I've been loving the L'Occitane Almond Milk Lotion. In the shower, I fell in love with Le Petit Marseillais Shower Gel in Mandarin and Lime.


That's it for my beauty favorites- but I'd love to share a few non-beauty items with you as well.


Non-Beauty:

Style-wise, I've been loving the combination of my Sam Edelman Felicia Flats, and will be picking up other colors. These come in wide, which is wonderful. I've also been wearing my Longchamp Large Le Pliage Tote on a daily basis.  This might be TMI, but I've discovered how lovely the Delimira Womens' Plus Size Maternity Bras are. I'm not pregnant, nor have I had a baby recently. However, I am a thirty-something who is naturally "blessed". Those bras give me nighttime support and actually help ease some of my back pain.

What have you been loving this month?

Chanel Rouge Coco Stylo Message, Script, and Roman

I was all over half of Chanel's recently-released collection in my series of posts in which I detailed all of Chanel's new nail releases. What I failed to talk about was the new lip formula- the Chanel Rouge Coco Stylo.Why?

I wanted to really wait and test out a few shades before giving my impressions. I have played with three shades- Message, Script, and Roman.

First, I'll start with Message, the shade I tested at the counter. Here's a photo that I posted at the bottom of one of my nail posts:

This is the shade that is in all of the promo photos. Message is a lovely berry, but I was severely disappointed with the wear-time. That left me determined to try several other shades.

Enter Script.

Script is a rosy brown nude, otherwise known as a color you wouldn't think that I would pick up.

One of the reasons why I picked this shade is because I can always use another wearable nude. It works well on my pigmented lips and calmed down a few crazier makeup days (Example 1: MAC Grain e/s to eye, Tom Ford Crushed Indigo duo (left) inner eye area highlight, MAC Creme de Violet in crease, MAC Tilt on lid (inner 1/3), MAC Silver Ring on lid (outer 2/3), MAC Knight Divine (outer edges, blended as transition).)

What I found is that although it pulled a little warm nude for my tastes, it kept ending up in my makeup bag. And the more that I played with it over the course of several weeks, the more I liked the formula.

Here's Script on my lips:

A pretty nude, right?

Now that we've got that covered, I wanted to take a moment to talk about the Chanel Rouge Coco Stylo as a product and its packaging.

We've seen click lipsticks like this before, right? Oh, that's right. I reviewed a similar product from Dior on the blog about 2 years ago.

Here's a side by side to show the size difference between a Chanel Rouge Coco Stylo, a Chanel Stylo Yeux eyeshadow, and a Dior Serum de Rouge.

One thing that I think that the Rouge Coco Stylo does the best is that the color, its name, number, and a reasonable representation of the lip color are at the bottom of the packaging. It makes it so easy to distinguish between shades if you have more than one. A+ on that.

Now, on to Roman.

Roman is the antithesis to low-key Script, so I had to have it.

Roman is a warm-toned raspberry pink that screams hot juiciness.  I love it. It's the type of color I normally gravitate towards.

I love that this shade fades gracefully, leaving a pleasant stain afterwards. I'm not sure if the wear time really is slightly less than Script, or if it's because Script is closer to a natural lip tone than Roman.

Here's a hand swatch of both together:

Between these two, I have a great range of lip colors covered.

Bottom line: If you're looking for a hydrating, balm-like lipstick with good coverage, check out this new offering from Chanel. I found that using a transparent lipliner helped a lot with such a emollient formula. Chanel has curated a great collection- there's everything from the rosy nude to the hottest raspberry pink. Originally, I was hesitant about the collection. Now, I'm a convert.

Chanel Longwear Le Vernis & Le Gel Coat Part IV (Le Gel Coat, Le Wear Test, and Overall Impressions)

I conclude today with my final post in the series that features Chanel's initial offerings of Le Vernis Longwear line for Spring 2016. We've covered the colors in three groups: pinks, reds, and the others. Now it's time to talk about Le Gel Coat, Le Wear Tests, and my overall impressions.

Le Gel Coat:

I have been a connoisseur of so-called gel top coats for years. I've tested releases from Deborah Lippmann, Butter London, Sally Hansen, Guerlain, Dior, and have Essie's new version waiting on me. I have a good base of reference when discussing the pros and cons of these formulas, and I have to admit something. As awesome as Deborah Lippmann Gel Lab and Butter London's Patent Gel sets are... Chanel's Le Gel Coat is now the best gel top coat on the market in my opinion.

Why? Let's take a step back and talk about some top coat basics first. After reading review after review of various polishes with one particular flaw by the reviewer, I feel that it's my duty to drop some actual knowledge on you.

Choosing the right top coat isn't personal preference; it's chemistry.

What? Yes, I typed that correctly. The 3-5-7-9-everything free revolution keeps taking various chemicals out of nail polish, so this shouldn't come as a surprise.

Nail polish is composed at its base with the following: pigments (Color), resin/plasticizer (makes it flexible), solvent (mixes ingredients and evaporates), and film forming agent. Each brand has their own patented formula, but your polish was created by chemists.  You can start doing some research if you want, but I got my info from my personal chemist- my father. What makes each brand different from the others is their "formula." They create top and base coats to accompany the color lines specially created to work in harmony with their line. Those nasty bubbles? Incompatable formulas.

So no, there isn't a one-size-fits-all topcoat. Nothing infuriates me more to see a blogger trashing a gel release and using Seche Vite (I could go into the issues with that topcoat, but that's for another post).

Bottom line: spend the extra money and make sure you're using the right base and top coat for your polish for best performance. I used Chanel's Le Base Coat with Le Gel Coat in all of my wear tests. In fact, I switched to Butter London Nail Foundation for a couple of the swatches since I was running low and drying time went up. So, stick to Chanel's complete system.  And no, I won't be testing Le Gel Coat with another brand.

Now that I've gotten that off my chest, let's talk about how I used Le Gel Coat and why it's top of the heap. Like any longwear topcoat, you should wait until the color is totally dry, and wrap your tips (to protect against shrinkage).

I believe it's the best (although it's a bit slow to dry) because of the overall improvement of wear vs no top coat and vs prior top coats put out by the brand. 

• Chanel v Butter London: Both are amazing on me, but I actually use Butter London's regular base/top coats when there's not one available by the brand. So the improvement between Hardware and Patent Gel isn't as dramatic as it is with Chanel. Both get an A.
• Chanel v Deborah Lippmann: They perform about equally on me, but I have to give the edge again to Chanel because Deborah Lippmann's regular base/top coats are awesome and have been staples in my rotation.
• Chanel v Dior: I'm not a huge fan of Dior's Gel Coat, despite having used 3 bottles of it. It doesn't seem to extend wear time that much for me.
• Chanel v Guerlain: Not even close; Guerlain's bottle design lead to it drying out within a couple of months.

I'm not going to compare it to OPI Infinite Shine, Essie's new gel coat, or Sally Hansen since the price point is so different.


The Wear Tests:

For full disclosure, I tested the following shades: Rouge Essentiel, Chaine Or, Roubachka, Ballerina, and Garconne. The other shades were merely swatched and removed. In all cases, I used Chanel Le Base Coat, 2-4 coats of the polish, and Le Gel Coat. I carefully wrapped my nail tips with Le Gel Coat. Although wear time varied slightly per polish in my experience, I did note the following:

• Prolonged exposure to hot water and humidity even days after application were really hard on my nails. Most of the damage that I noted to my mani occurred just after a shower. I discussed this with one SA at a local counter and she had a similar experience with a long, hot bath. Just be aware with this formula and protect your nails accordingly.
• Since these polishes are much thicker than the original Le Vernis, dry time is longer between coats. You don't need to wait for the layers to be 100% dry between coats, but you must wait for them to be dry to put on Le Gel Coat. Likewise, I wouldn't call Le Gel Coat a quick dry formula.
• The new brush actually was far more maneuverable for me than the original. It's a matter of preference.
• Lighter shades tended to wear better than darker shades on me- and it wasn't just that I didn't see wear. Perhaps it has to do with the dense pigmentation?
• Ballerina had by far the best performance (5 perfect days before removal), and Chaine Or the worst (2 days). Even Chaine Or outperformed the original Le Vernis.
• Polishes varied immensely in terms of application. There's a reason why I posted some of the less-than-perfect manicures for Shantung, Mythique, Roubachka, and others. I set my phone timer for 15 minutes when I do cleanup with an ELF concealer brush and acetone. I don't think it's realistic to think that the average woman is going to spend more than that on cleanup. Even if it wasn't perfect, when my time was up, it was time to photograph.

Now, let's talk specifics. The first polish that I tested was Rouge Essentiel. Looking back, I should've taken my nightly shower before doing the mani to prolong wear time.

Day 1:

Things seemed good, until the evening of Day #3, just after a really long shower:

Patching it just seemed to make it far more vulnerable, sadly.

Day 4:

Here's what it looked like by Day 5 on most nails, when I had to remove it:

Tip wear throughout, large chunks on some nails. But for someone who normally gets wear like that within 36-48 hours tops, 5 days is excellent.

Let's be honest. Even with a good base coat, I was scared to see what having a red polish on my nails that long might do to my nails. Phew, not too bad. This was after a couple of swipes of acetone only. I consider this great news! (Note- I was scared to file that pinky to induce tip wear.

Given that most Chanel reds chip within 24 hours, I give this 2 thumbs up.

Wear Test #2: Roubachka

I had a working theory on these polishes, so Roubachka was the second perfect polish to test. (I'll explain later). Like Rouge Essentiel, it's pigment-packed and a darker color.

Day 1:

Note: I did a lot less typing than normal due to some medical issues.

Day #3:

Look at that. Hmmm....

Wear Test #3: Chaine Or

For this test, I decided to try it without Le Gel Coat. I suspect that a lot of this had to do with the metallic formula being softer, but it was an utter disaster. I didn't photograph it, but it was literally rolling off of my nails in under 24 hours. Total epic fail.

Wear Test #4: Ballerina

This one shocked me. I didn't photograph it until Day #4. Look very carefully on the middle finger. THATS IT.

This one has actually one additional coat relative to other shades. Yet, it's wearing like iron.

Check out my hands, in the sun (ok, the car), taken on Day #7. Only issue was that ding on my middle finger. Still.

I had to remove it on Day #8 to finish swatching- and it looked the same. I'm convinced that if I hadn't dinged it on Day #4, it would've looked perfect. Le Gel Coat remained shiny throughout.

Overall Impressions:

What's up with the varying wear times? I suspect it has to do with the darker, richly pigmented shades. I've also had better results with say, Deborah Lippmann Gel Lab with lighter shades. This is such an amazing combo that it'll be in heavy rotation. It's not that it's harder to see the damage to the nails with lighter shades; the formula just works better. Think about drying time, perhaps.


That wraps up my posts on Chanel Le Vernis Longwear. I'd like to think that I've given them the time that they deserve.

Chanel Longwear Le Vernis Part III: The Others

And we have arrived at the final of the three posts detailing my reviews of Chanel's entire Le Vernis Longwear launch for Spring 2016. If you missed the other two, check out the pinks and the reds. That leaves us with "the others". In terms of a mixed bag, this is by far the most chic grab bag I've ever seen.

"The Others" consist of Roubachka, a inky eggplant vamp, Chaine Or, a most metallic true gold, Particuliere, a mushroomy brown, Monochrome, an icy grey, and Garconne, a green-tinged mid-tone grey. They round out the collection nicely and serve as a grounding counterpart to all of the romantic pinks and reds.

A quick note-the final post in this series will be the review of Le Gel Coat and my extended wear tests.

We've already made our way through 2/3 of the collection, so this last 1/3 should be a breeze.

Roubachka:

Let's talk about the name for a moment- turns out, it's Russian (of course) for a certain style of adorned blouse that peasants used to wear. I love it as a nod to Coco Chanel's Russian influences.

When I first saw this color, my initial instinct was "run away" following Sunrise Trip. I'm happy to report back that it's not an epic disaster or a staining monster like the former. It removed like a dream after multiple days without any staining.

Now that I've assured you about the formula, let's talk about the color. It's darker even than Rouge Noir and is the closest thing to black in the current collection (Speaking of, I'm devastated that Black Satin wasn't remade in this formula.). Three full coats are required for full opacity. And.. cleanup is a bear. I took these photos after 15 min of cleanup. It took another 15 and a shower before they were really ready for prime time.

I happen to love colors like this, so I pulled a few out to compare:

I was quite surprised at what I discovered. Tom Ford Black Cherry is close to Roubachka- although I'll give the formula nod to Tom Ford (2 coats) over the Chanel (3 coats). Vendetta is close, but a part of a shade lighter. Chanel hasn't released anything like this in awhile.

Chaine Or:

Let's also talk names here, too. Although I don't have a PR sheet to look at, I can't help but wonder if "Gold Chain" isn't taking its inspiration from the iconic gold chains on Chanel bags?

Chaine Or is what I would call a true metallic gold. In other words, it's beautiful but a true PITA to work with because of streaks. I It's almost molten in the bottle.

Gorgeous, right? It looks like liquid gold. (But of course every nail lover is cringing with what the formula is likely to bring)

I'll speak more to the wear issues I ran into with Chaine Or in my next post.

I knew I didn't own anything quite like Chaine Or because I tend to shy away from pure yellow gold. This is a standout in the collection simply because Chanel hasn't done that many golds before.

A quick note on the block- it should show you that a) I'm not photoshopping b) I'm a real person- I had to double up on nail wheels. It's also why I show less than perfect manis- I want you to see what a polish is really like to work with.

Bottom Line: This is pretty and (spoiler alert) caused some wear issues for me that I'd associate with it being a pure metallic shade.

Particuliere:

At first, I was a little surprised that Chanel selected this shade to make a comeback in the new line over other popular shades. After playing with it, I'm glad it's back. Turns out, it's better.

Particuliere first entered the Chanel lineup in Spring 2010 with Tendresse and Inattendu- a somewhat surprising lineup for spring centered around neutrals. This taupe sold out again, and again, and again. It pushed the needle 6 years ago; today it's just an accepted neutral. Well done, Chanel.

How is the reboot different than the original? Well, I am in lust with the reboot, which is very close to being a one-coat. It's much thicker and sturdier. I also find it much easier to work with. And look- a different mani angle!

I pulled a few neutrals for comparison, as well as the OG Particuliere:

Bottom Line: If you loved the original, run to get the reboot. Chanel reinvented a classic here.

Monochrome:

I previously featured this icy grey (which I couldn't tell if it was silver or grey in promo photos) on the blog as one of my two initial selections from the line. I can't wait to play with it this late winter/early spring- it just seems right about this time of year.

Rather than re-swatch, I'm going to cheat a bit and repost the initial mani that I did:

This really isn't the green grey of the two (no, that's Garconne), but my prominent pink undertones are playing tricks with the color and your eyes.

I have a bit of a surprise- I'm going to repost the nail wheel I photographed earlier for Monochrome, but look for it to show up again when I discuss the other grey. I also am posting this since it's been awhile since I've seen the sun.

Bottom line: I find this to be clean and fresh- and palette cleansing out of the entire line. It's a must-have in my book.

Garconne:

Every line does a mid-toned grey; Chanel was honestly missing one from their lineup. Dior used to have one prior to their reboot (I was going to swatch mine in comparison but discovered it has dried out), Christian Louboutin does it to perfection.

Garconne (or, waiter) has some serious green undertones. And somewhat of a thick formula, as the above picture demonstrated. I was initially hesitant due to my strong pink undertones but my collector's tendencies took over. Look for more on this shade later.

As it turned out, I was somewhat right about my undertones pulling this color way green:

Hmmm.. still not sure what I think of this one on me.

Although I already posted a wheel (previously seen on the blog) for Monochrome, I went ahead and put it on this wheel too. A word on the 2 different Chanel Frenzys- I bought one when it was initially released, lost it, then repurchased a few months ago. It looks like 2 different colors!

Bottom Line: It's a nice, somewhat edgy addition to balance all of the sweetness in the collection. It was one of the last ones I purchased because I had reservations about how it would play with my undertones.

I'm surprised to say that we've now reached the end of my detailed overview of all of Chanel's new Longwear Vernis. I'll post my thoughts on Le Gel Coat and my wear tests probably tomorrow- I want to enjoy the Daytona 500 today with some friends instead of writing blog posts. Likewise, I'm burnt out from cranking out these 3 posts in less than 24 hours so I'll skip Sunday Dreaming (otherwise the best part of my week).