Chanel Le Vernis Nail Colour Paradoxal 509

Paradoxal is one of Chanel's prettiest colors this past season, Fall 2010.  Here are swatches for it:

 

Chanel Le Vernis retails for $23, and I definitely consider it a splurge. However, I can never resist passing up a unique color. Paradoxal is a deep violet shade with strong hints of grey. It appears to have shades of taupe and have beautiful fine puprle shimmers. The polish is very pigmented and applies smoothly as the swatch above consists of 2 coats. I cannot think of any dupes for Paradoxal ... so it's definitely worth it if you like purple polishes!

Paradoxal - swatched on Janice's Nails!

xo, claire

Urban Decay Naked Palette

Hey everyone!  We have all agreed to update this belong every two days.  Sorry for the lapse!  We are all so busy with school right now, because all of us have midterms nonstop -____- Anyway, I got a little surprise in the mail yesterday while I was studying! My Urban Decay Naked Palette came :) Here are the swatches:

 

 

 

Virgin, Sin, Naked, Sidecar

 Sidecar, Naked, Sin, Virgin

Buck, Half Baked, Smog, Darkhorse

Darkhorse, Smog, Half Baked, Buck

Toasted, Hustle, Creep, Gunmetal

Gunmetal, Creep, Hustle, Toasted

Zero, Whiskey (eyeliners)

I think this is the perfect palette to buy if you are looking for wearable and practical shadow colors.

I was a little apprehensive about purchasing this palette, because I've read that the colors were too sparkly, but I disagree.  There are few glittery ones, but those shadows are perfect for a night out!  My sister had her homecoming dance this past Saturday, and I used Virgin, Creep and Gunmetal to create a sultry, smoky eye look.  She got so many compliments!  I do find that Urban Decay makes better shimmer shadow colors than it does matte.  As you can see from the swatches, some of the matte colors like Naked and Buck don't apply so well.  However, all the other colors are pretty and perfectly shimmery!  However, glitter/shimmer fallout can be somewhat of a problem, just make sure to tap out any excess eyeshadow from your brush before applying it to your eyes!  I deal with fall out with any eyeshadow by using a business card under my eye, while I apply the shadow, so all the excess shadow falls on the card, not your face.

I say that if you are a beginner with makeup, you should invest in this palette.  I have so much makeup already, and I still love it (so does Claire and Janice).  Overall, I was extremely happy with my purchase, and have incorporated colors like Smog, Toasted, and Virgin into my daily routine.  I still have yet to try others, because Claire and I also really love Hustle, because when blended, it looks so pretty.  I also love love love Urban Decay eyeliner.  They all apply so well, and stay on the whole day (always prep with primer potion!).  Speaking of primer potion, a little bottle of primer comes with your palette as well.  It's great for travel and the little bottle is so cute.  If you have a thing for pretty packaging, you'll like this palette, because it has a nice velvety cover :)

Happy Indulging,
Wora

Chanel Soft Touch Eyeshadow

I'm supposed to be studying for my organic chemistry midterm that's tomorrow! Oh well, I believe a study break is in order, hehe.  Anyway, we've swatched a couple of Chanel eyeshadows (If you were wondering who's arm is in the pictures, it's Claire's! I take all the pictures though haha).

 

 Taupe Grisé No. 87, Safari No. 45

Ireelle Eyeshadow Duo Desert Rose No. 10

Taupe Grisé No. 87, Ireelle Duo Desert Rose No. 10, Safari No. 45

 Desert Rose Duo No. 10 (first two colors), Safari No. 45, Taupe Grisé No. 87

Taupe Grisé No. 87, Safari No. 45, Desert Rose Duo No. 10

I really like the packaging for Chanel eyeshadows.  They are so clean and pretty looking!  But, it's not just the packaging that reels us in, it's the pretty colors as well.  They are all delicate shimmery colors.  They are colors that wouldn't look too flashy for day wear, which is always a plus.  However, the problem with with some of these shadows is that you have to apply more to get the color on as it should look (another solution for this is to use shadow primer before applying, which I always use! Mine is Urban Decay Potion Primer).  However, it is the soft touch eyeshadow, so that may be the reason for its light application.  Claire recently purchased the Enigma quad so we will definitely be swatching those soon too! 

Happy Indulging,

Wora

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I just wanted to add to Wora's post ... although I should be finishing my paper.

Taupe Grise is one of the most beautiful taupe eyeshadow I've tried! I've been collecting taupe eyeshadows ever since I saw the beautiful swatches from The Beauty Look Book and Pink Sith. I believe Taupe Grise is limited edition and will become one of the hard to find eyeshadows like Shu Uemura's ME Silver 945! So if you love Taupe Eyeshadows, go pick it up at your Chanel counter asap! I purchased mine from Nordstrom.com, and it's also available at NeimanMarcus.com. Chanel's Soft Touch Eyeshadow retails for $28.50.

I've been reading beauty blogs for awhile now, and recently began blogging. I often heard many people think Chanel's eyeshadows are not as pigmented but I must disagree. Perhaps they've revamped their eyeshadow formula. All the recent eyeshadows I've purchased from Chanel are pigmented and applies smoothly. Although they are not as pigmented as Urban Decay's eyeshadows which are extremely bright and a bit too vibrant for day looks, I feel Chanel eyeshadows are perfect for a softer more sophisticated look. Also, the eyeshadow can be layered for a more intense look!

By the way, I love Janice for trying to fill my need for Shu's ME Silver 945 (one of the MOST wanted Taupe eyeshadows) by giving me the close-enough dupe, ME Brown 850. I will review Shu Uemura's eyeshadows soon, and from everything I've used ... I believe Shu has the most amazing eyeshadow formula!

Taupe Grise - beautiful shimmery taupe with underlying silver tones

Safari - shimmery warm taupe with underly brown tones

Desert Rose - pink (perfect to highlight over lid) taupe (perfect for the crease)

xo, claire

Bobbi Brown Holiday 2010 Day to Night Warm Eye Palette

While I was studying for my ls midterm this past week, Janice sent me pictures of her new purchase, the Bobbi Brown Day to Night Warm Eye Palette! I fell in love with the palette because I love love love the packaging, it's so sophisticated!

The palette consists of 6 eyeshadows, 3 matte and 3 metallics! The shades include Ivory, Oat, Espresso, Burnt Sugar Metallic, Velvet Bronze Metallic, and Black Plum Shimmer Wash. The eyeshadows are very pigmented and applies smoothly on to the lids. Janice and I both purchased the warm palette because it works better with asian skin tone. I love how this palette includes the 3 matte shades as I always purchase metallic shimmer eyeshadows and forget that matte eyeshadows are essential! Also, I love this palette because I did not experience any glitter fallout, as the shimmers are so finely milled.

Here are swatches for the palette:

Day to Night Warm Eye Palette Closed

Day to Night Warm Eye Palette Open

Day to Night Warm Eye Palette Close Up

Ivory, Oat, Espresso, Burnt Sugar, Brown Velvet, Black Plum

Brown Velvet, Burnt Sugar, Espresso, Oat

The Ivory shade is the perfect base color and I use it to highlight. Espresso is a matte but very intense dark brown and I use it on the crease. Espresso can also be used to shade in the eyebrows!  I did not experience any glitter fall out at all! The Burnt Sugar Metallic is a bronze brown and very similar to Urban Decay's Smog, but UD's Smog has glitter fallout! The Velvet Bronze Metallic is a bronze brown with reddish/orange tones; this eyeshadow also has a shimmer finish with no glitter fallout! The very last color is my favorite: Black Plum Shimmer Wash. The Black Plum is perfect for creating a smokey eye for a night out!

Bobbi Brown eyeshadows are amazing! It is very pigmented and also long lasting! I did not experience any creasing when I was out for 15 hours and the eyeshadow still looked perfect! I did wear the eyeshadow with Trish McEvoy's Eye Base Essentials.

The Bobbi Brown Day to Night Warm Eye Palette is limited edition and retails for $45 and can be purchased at nordstrom.com or bobbibrowncosmetics.com.

Hope you guys like this palette as much as I do and have a good weekend everyone!

xo, claire

Urban Decay Disney's Alice in Wonderland Book of Shadows

This is an extensive palette of glittery and whimsical eyeshadows.  By the way, this is Wora, and I must say I am a big fan of this Urban Decay Book of Shadows, because I am a aficionado of GLITTER.  We have established that Janice is the intermediate between Claire and I.  Claire doesn't appreciate glitter like we do.  This was bought for retail price.  But, since it's limited edition, I believe it is now quite expensive--still worth it, because the colors are gorgeous.  Anyway, we have swatches!

 This is the pop-up from the box!

Front view

The entire palette!

Underland, Alice, Oraculum, Queen

Queen, Oraculum, Alice, Underland

Chessur, White Rabbit, Wonderland, Curiouser

Curiouser, Wonderland, White Rabbit, Chessur

Muchness, Mushroom, Midnight Tea Party, Vorpal

Vorpal, Midnight Tea Party, Mushroom, Muchness

 Absolem, (Drink Me, Eat Me), Mad Hatter, Jabberwocky

Jabberwocky, Mad Hatter, (Drink Me, Eat Me), Absolem

Zero, Flipside (Eyeliners)

There are a total of sixteen shadows, two eyeliners, and one Primer Potion.  Urban Decay makes great eyeshadows, because they are highly pigmented.  When we applied the shadows for the swatches, it took two dabs to get this much color.  My personal favorites from this collection are Midnight Tea Party, which highly resembles the glitter eyeliner Midnight Cowboy, and Jabberwocky.  By the way, if you find yourself liking only a few of the colors in this book of shadows or don't want to buy the entire palette, no worries!  These are actually shadows that Urban Decay usually manufactures.  They just renamed them with Alice in Wonderland themes.  If you have questions about the actual names of some of these colors, feel free to comment below! I hope you liked our swatches.  By the way, we also applied Urban Decay's Primer Potion before we applied shadow.

Happy Indulging,

Wora

Paul & Joe Collection Sparkles

We will be doing swatches for the some of the shadows in the collection.  Although we don't have the whole collection (it's massive), we do have some:

Today, we decided to swatch Paul & Joe Facecolor Powder CS b 030 Roche Rogue.  Here it is: