Becca purchases

I almost fell over in excitement when I saw Becca were offering a 20% discount on all products (thanks Vex and the City for the heads up!). So I took the opportunity to snap up a few products that I've had my eye on for a while.

First up, the legendary Shimmering Skin Perfector in Pearl. When I visited the Becca store in Kensington last year the lovely lady there used this on me (along with Duende Bronzer and a peachy lip and cheek cream) and I fell in love with the amazing glow it delivered - however I wasn't able to buy it as it was out of stock. Since then, literally every time I've been by the Becca counter in Fenwick it's also been unavailable as it has on the usual websites. At last it is mine!



Next up, a Beach Tint in shade Fig. This is pretty identical to the cream cheek colour in Turkish Rose, which I do already own, but the idea of having that lovely shade in a longer lasting beach tint was too tempting.

I did purchase a cream cheek colour too, in the shade Hyacinth, which gets rave reviews. It does look absolutely stunning on first swatch, transforming to a pretty coral pink. I don't have many colours like this in my blush collection and am looking forward to trying this when the weather gets a bit warmer.





I bought a sheer lip colour in the shade Estella, which I'd been curious about for a while. I own one of Becca's lip colours in Gisella which is a caramel nude, and from the description of Estella I was expecting it to be much pinker. It actually swatches quite beige (very similar to Gisella in fact) and I don't see any pink in it so I'm kind of wishing I'd plumped for the new pink 'Valentina' instead.

Finally, a couple of wild cards. I hadn't tried any Becca brushes previously but have been over the last couple of years upgrading my brush collection and as I have quite a few cream blushers I decided to try Becca's cream blush brush, which also gets excellent reviews. I have tried this once with Turkish rose, and am really pleased with the results (also, how pretty are the bristles??). I also bought a concealer brush, yet to try.


So that's my not-so-mini Becca haul. I shall hopefully post some more detailed reviews of these products when I've put them to use.

If you're thinking of making use of the discount be quick - it ends midnight tonight (BBE20 - www.beccacosmetics.com/uk). Have you bought anything from Becca recently? 

Nars Gina blush

I'm head over heels with this blush. Over the past year I've become increasingly obsessed with peaches as I've realised they just suit my skintone more, and Gina has instantly been elevated to top five status.

I adore the texture of Nars matt blushes - they are so soft and silky on and never leave me feeling too made up as they sit so naturally on the skin. They somehow manage to be highly pigmented yet quite sheer and are easily buildable.

I'd describe Gina as a medium peach (Nars describes it as 'tangerine' which sounds a little more alarming!).

Here it is applied in natural light. I've applied it quite heavily to ensure I could get an decent representation of the colour (the perils of taking blog photos on grey winter mornings!).

And here I've photographed it with flash. The shots were actually take at the same time though they look wildly different!

Just a beautiful shade and works with a variety of looks. I am not wearing anything on my lips in these pictures but I like this colour with Nars Dolce Vita and Barbarella lipsticks. I'm really looking forward to getting lots of wear out of Gina this spring and summer.

I was especially happy when I discovered Gina as its the closest Nars blush in shade to the old Amour, which was a lovely, soft, light peach. The new Amour is a louder reddish peach and is a little bright for my skin tone - I love that Gina is quite subdued and doesn't scream blusher.

What peach blushers would you recommend?

Nars Galion nail polish

I don't own many, in fact any greys (just greiges!), but for some reason Galion from the Nars autumn 2011 collection really spoke to me.

I love the simplicity of this colour. It's a really rich, dark grey. In some lights, it seems to have a hint of petrol blue in it. Sometimes it looks like black. But it somehow manages to be dark and striking without being too gothic or wintry. I wore it at Christmas and it felt surprisingly festive.

I think this colour complements just about any make up look except perhaps pastels - especially peaches, strong pinks and reds,  and would be fab with a bright lip.

I have to say thought that the first time I applied this I loved the formula but the second time (when I took these pictures) the application was dreadful! The polish was watery, patchy and streaky. Not sure if its because I moved my nail polish collection to inside my wardrobe where it is perhaps a bit warm - I'll give it the benefit of the doubt, but it was quite disappointing.

Galion and Rebel Yell are the only nail colours I own from Nars - none of the others particularly appeal. What do you think of Nars polishes?

£13.50 for 15ml.

Essie Russian Roulette

This is one of those 'I never need to try another red polish' reds. I don't have a picture of the bottle unfortunately as this was a spur of the moment manicure choice. It's bright and bold and definitely a warmer shade - I think its one of the best reds I've tried for my skintone. 

Can imagine this would be great as a pedicure colour too.

What's your favourite red polish?

Becca Fallen Angel palette

Well it's taken me a while to review this little beauty - I photographed it when it was shiny and new about 6 months ago and its in nowhere near as pristine a condition now. One of my favourite make up purchases ever I think.

I've been spurred on to finally write this review as I've just written a post on a peachy lipgloss and cheek colour from Laura Mercier's new Lingerie Collection (view here), and thought it would be interesting to compare the shades.

The palette contains a lip and cheek creme (Nectar), a lipgloss (Sunrise) and a highlighter (Narcissus). The shades are quite subdued and I would say they veer more orange / apricot in colour than peach or coral.

The palette makes it a breeze to create a pretty and polished five minute face. All the products can be applied with finger tips - i usually just add a tinted moisturiser, tidy my brows and curl my lashes and am good to go.

As I mentioned in the aforementioned LM post, the texture of Laura Mercier's creme cheek colours and Becca's lip and cheek cremes are quite similar - both apply really easily, are soft and smooth rather than sticky and blend well - and have similar lasting power (average). The lipgloss is lovely - its so soft (not at all sticky) and feels really moisturising on the lips, though as expected doesn't last very long. The colour is actually quite nude.

The highlighter is really nice too - similar to Nars multiples in consistency. I usually add it to the browbone, cupids bow and sometimes the cheekbones and bridge of nose.

Here are the shades swatched on the inner arm (from left, Narcissus, Sunrise and Nectar) with the more pinkish Innocent Peach creme blush and  Naked Apricot lip tint from Laura Mercier (right two), for comparison.

And here's a v quick look I did this morning, without the highlighter for some daft reason.

I purchased my Fallen Angel palette from Beauty Expert - I don't think its widely sold now but you should be able to pick it up on eBay or elsewhere online if you have a hunt around.

Laura Mercier Lingerie Collection - Naked Apricot lip shine and Innocent Peach creme cheek colour

The Lingerie Collection from Laura Mercier has totally switched me back on to this brand. I tend to love peachy cheek and lip colours so when I saw these vibrant summery shades in Space NK I was immediately sold.

Here's a swatch of the two shades side by side.

Both have quite pinkish / coral undertones, much more so than say the peach cream blush and lipgloss in Becca's Fallen Angels palette which are a bit darker and more orange-leaning (you can view that palette and a swatch comparison here).

I've never tried a Laura Mercier cream blush before and I really like the formula, quite comparable with the Becca lip and cheek creams, soft, easily blendable and with reasonable staying power (for a cream blush).

And despite not being a lipgloss fan at all, I really like the formula of the lip shines - they make my lips look subtle glossy and healthy with just a hint of colour (nowhere near as bright as the colour in the pot, which is fine with me), and aren't too sticky.

Here's a quick look using both products. Base is Chanel Vitalumiere Aqua and on the eyes I'm wearing Bobbi Brown Rose Gold eyeshadow.

I'm already getting loads of wear out of these despite them being quite summery - I just find peach and apricot shades much more flattering on my skin than say pinks and berry shades (don't get me started on Nars Gina blush which I've just purchased - divine divine divine!).

Has anyone tried anything from the Lingerie Collection or have any LM 'must have' products? The eye and cheek palette from the spring collection also looks beautiful. I don't actually have a lot of LM in my collection - just the eyebrow pencil in taupe which is a good match for my brows, and the eyeshadow base which I find a bit drying. Would really like to try some more products though so would love to hear your recommendations...

Innocent peach creme cheek colour £18.50
Naked Apricot lip tint £18.50
Purchased from Space NK.

Nars Rebel Yell nail polish

Another of the many dark reds that seem to dominate my collection, I really can't make up my mind how I feel about this nail polish. When I first saw Rebel Yell* at the Nars Counter it was love at first sight. It then languished untried in my collection for several months until I tried it a few days ago, interested to see how it compared to the similar-looking-in-the-bottle Rouge Fatal from Chanel (though on the nails Rouge Fatal is much darker and more opaque).

I think I prefer this one in the bottle. It's kind of a tricky colour - it looks a straightforward medium to dark red - kind of like the nail polish version of Dolce Vita lipstick. But on the nails it leans almost brick like. It's pretty, and I do love the shiny formula (quite thin but easy to work with), but it is, dare I say it, a little boring? It's certainly not making my heart beat any faster. 

                                     

I'm going to have a break from reds for a while I think - my next mani will be NARS Galion, a dark, stormy grey.

What nail colours are you loving for winter?


*The rebel yell was, according to Wikipedia, a battle-cry used by Confederate soldiers during the American Civil War. So now you know!