Pretty, Pretty.

Sigh.

The seasons are a changing in Karachi and I felt it today. Sure, the blistering sun is out, but despite that, there has been a cool breeze playing today - it made Sunday brunch something to enjoy out on the patio! There's something to be said about eating outdoors on a day like this, with the sunbeams playing hide and seek through the leaves on the towering mango tree that stands proud in my grandma's back yard, I enjoy my desi breakfast with a hot mug of tea. Although I have never visited Europe (and airports don't count!), but this is what I'd imagine a day out in Paris would be like. It put me in mind of pretty things!

Pretty clothes, sparkly gem stones, intricately cut silver, a bow clip on a baby's soft curls, the pinkness on her cheek, the twinkle of joy in my grandma's eye at the sight of her family collected around her to eat...

and of course, MAKEUP!

And what would be more apt than what I forced my brother to purchase for me...


Here is what Sephora has to say about this palette.

"The second in a five-part series of collectible palettes, The Pretty in Paris palette is all you need to get pretty on the go! It features Stila's award-winning eyeshadows in four trend-setting shades: Crepe (pale pink), Cherie (reddish brown), Jolie (brownish pink) and Chocolat (brown). The palette also includes Convertible Color in "Rosebud", a limited-edition shade, and a built-in mirror for easy application and touch-ups on the go!"

Yup - pretty, pretty? Most definitely!! Priced at $10(USD) at sephora.com, I just HAD to have it!

Now I tried to swatch the colors, but again, I'm still hating the quality my camera is providing, and it just can't do justice to the colors! So, I'll just give you the skinny here.. Crepe, Cherie and Jolie are all shimmer shades where Chocolat and Rosebud are matte.

Crepe is in the palest pink shade with mother of pearl reflects in it, and it makes a wonderful all over wash as well as an inner corner color, but I would not recommend it as a highlight under the brow bone unless you're going really fancy! For everyday highlight, if you need to, stick to a matte white or ivory or in that family.


Cherie, being s reddish brown/russet shade, is my new favorite color. It's got microscopic red glitter in it which gives it that pop of sparkle that makes it so pretty!! I wouldn't use it as an all-over-lid color because something about reds makes me feel that I haven't slept enough the night before, or I've been having a good cry. But it looks wonderful when used over a gold base to make it look more bronzy or with Crepe to get a nice even gradient color.

Jolie is similar to Cherie, but where Cherie is based in pink, Jolie is based in brown. But the rest is the same, with the red glitter in it. Infact, the colors are quite interchangeable, depending if yr in a pink or brown mood. I have paired it with a gold, and it makes a stunning crease color! Or, use it as a lid color and put black in the outer V for a fabulous smokey eye!


Chocolat is just that - a matte milk chocolate color. Which is why it is fabulous! It makes a great crease color, and these days I'm digging brown as an eye liner! So after I applied my eye makeup, I used a Urban Decays' 24/7 eyeliner pencil in Bourbon (a glimmering dark brown) along my lash line and set it using Chocolat, which gave it the effect I wanted - lined without looking lined and deliberate.


Rosebud is a limited edition convertible color which looks very 'old rose'. Sephora says

"Stila's ingenious lipstick and blush-in-one proves irresistible. Non-greasy, this creamy, sheer tint adds an inherent glow to the cheeks while lips bloom with fresh, radiant color."

To tell you the truth, I have always run far from cream blushes as I have always felt that they would be a nightmare to blend and in a town where stepping outside your own bedroom causes you to break into a sweat, cream blush would do more damage than good to my skin. But now I'm learning otherwise. I've used it a few times and I've found that it wears very pigmented at first, so you feel almost clown line - DON'T blend it further, because once the color settles, it gets absorbed into the skin and you hardly see it then! Also, it doesn't have the longest life, this one. I wore it to office, and around the 3pm mark, it was long gone. I can't honestly say that I'm ready to renounce my love of powder blush and embrace cream blushes completely, but I will admit to learning to love it, slowly but surely. I can say that I love the idea of a lipstick/blush! And when worn right, it looks like the perfect summer flush. Also, don't forget to add the tiniest dab to your forehead, nose and chin to keep that summer kissed look even and natural looking.



And there you have it - my soft, summer, Pretty in Paris eyes! Now I'm off to enjoy the rest of my Sunday.

Cheers!

La la Luscious!

"Tanya, you are a sad individual" - Benazir Azeem.

This young lady has used reason, logic, guilt, taunts, threats and general demoralization to get me to stop buying makeup. It didn't work! I went a little loony and bought makeup from Luscious Cosmetics here in Karachi, spending all the money in my wish jar, that was supposed to pay off my phone bill... I can survive a few days without the luxury of out going calls, but I NEEDED that makeup! Below is my haul and review.

HAUL-LA!!!!!!

So, what do we have here:
- The LE Twilight Palette
- Eye Shadow in Deep Forest
- Nail Lacquer in Cybil
- Lip Couture in Celebrity; and finally
- Ultra Protective Whitening Base.

Lets start with the palette.

It's just smaller than my BlackBerry, but packs quite a bit! The sleek black shiny case has been emblazoned with the Cullen family coat of arms that is well known to all Twilight buffs out there. It comes with a 8 shadows, 4 lip colors and one face powder... Oh, and a mirror but no applicator! For that, you'll need to get their brush kit. But I'm glad there's no applicator as, mentioned in a previous post, I tend to toss them right out.

And here's a bit'o trivia for you. Click here to see something similar which came out before at a more well-known makeup outlet...

Moving forward...



The colors are:
Top Row: Full Moon, Mortal, Jane, Eclipse
Bottom: Alice, Esme, Venom, Rosalie.

The Lip glosses are:Glow, Emily, Fatal, Bitten

and the face powder is called Bella.

There are my swatches! I didn't swatch the lip tints or the face powder, because to swatch and get the right color on camera is a darned pain!!!!
When I showed my purchases to Benny, my beloved friend who is quoted above, she asked me, if the palette already had a green, why did I need to get another?!

Elemental my dear Benny.

Because I'm hopelessly addicted to green and purple shadows and this green shadow was the most pigmented of those available from luscious.

This is a fun color, and is probably one of the only from the luscious regular collection that I like. The rest are way to sheer or not pigmented enough.

Here it is as a comparison to Venom.

L-R: Deep Forest, Venom.
It looks ashy, but it's more forest green than venom which is yellow toned.

The nail lacquer, I found this to be as close to a true blood red as possible. The color took three coats before showing its true potential, BUT!!! the brush is terrible!!! The bristles are thick and very plasticky and the one I was sent didn't even have uniform bristles! I couldn't send it back, so I went to Vicky's and told them that the applicator sucks! And they happily made the exchange, but they did tell me that most customers complained about their applicators.

My camera is farsighted for some reason, I can never get it to give me a proper picture up close, so I'm sorry guys, you'll have to just settle for the image above to understand the color. But I vouch for it!!!

When I heard talk about the lip couture range, I was told its lipstick in a gloss form. That was enough to intrigue me right there! I went online and looked at the swatches and had no concept of the color just seeing it there. So I decided to close my eyes, pick the one that I hoped would stick (:P) and ordered it. It was in the color Celebrity.The Luscious blog has this swatch palette showing you the colors. The online store shows you this, but my swatch taken in natural light shows

It looks more like spice color with yellow undertones. But when I applied it, the color was a real surprise! It looked great on me! Matched my natural lip color, which is more pink then this spicy color, and it was very well pigmented too! The only downside was that the color would bleed into the lip and eventually feather. I applied a lip liner under this too, but that didn't do much good either. It feathers onto its self too. Pity, cuz it's a great color!

The last and final thing was the Ultra Protective Whitening Base. Luscious claims

Here to the rescue is Luscious Whitening Base SPF 35. All in One: • Oil-free Moisturiser, • High performance Sun Protection • Makeup Primer The benefits? The list is endless.

Your makeup will go on more smoothly and last longer. Apply all over your face and neck at least 15 minutes before you go out in sunlight. Use it alone or before applying foundation or face powder. The right balance of sunscreens helps protect your skin from harmful UVA/UVB rays-without irritating your skin. Invisible and non-greasy. Contains light reflectors for a glowing, radiant complexion. The formula is perfect for our region and climate. Sun Protection Factor (SPF) 35 is the ideal recommended by dermatologists for our skin.

What I found:

It's most definitely not invisible! I wore it as is and it made my face chalky and white. Uncool dude! It has light reflectors, yes, but I found that it added to the whole "whiteness" of the product. Plus the solution is very thick, almost paste-like. So I decided to improvise. I took my usual moisturizer and mixed it in equal parts with the base and applied that all over my face. It worked much better than a stand alone and I topped that off with my all time favorite Mineral Veil.

Ok Tanya, that's alotta jibba' jabba' for just 5 things, so I'm outtie!!!