MERRY CHRISTMAS 2013 / HAPPY HOLIDAYS / HAPPY NEW YEAR 2014

Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays and a very Happy New Year!!!

Just wanted to wish everyone many blessings during this joyous time. Hopefully you get to spend time with your family, friends or significant other during this holiday season. Our families like to get together during this time to watch movies, play games, and all sorts of fun stuff. Here are just a few pics from our holiday season here in Charlotte.

GUERLAIN CRAZY METEORITES RADIANCE POWDER - SWATCHES AND REVIEW

Guerlain celebrates the holidays with its Crazy Paris collection, full of bright, vibrant shades for your eyes, lips, face and nails. Meteorites radiance powder features energetic hues of pink, beige and white with subtle bursts of violet so you can achieve the perfect radiant complexion.

I first purchased the Guerlain Crazy Meteorites radiance powder before Thanksgiving. It was one of those last minute purchases where I had a coupon, a discount code and a limited amount of time to use them both so I decided to go with this powder compact. Before the discounts, coupons, etc. it retailed for $69.00 USD and it was supposed to be the greatest thing ever. At least that's what everybody kept raving about and you have to admit it does look gorgeous in the compact. It is a beautiful collection of bright pink, lavender purple, creamy beige, mint green and a bright white - a complex mixture of bright pastels intended to give the face a radiant glowing effect.

Well I'm not impressed. This translucent powder with barely a hint of pink doesn't perform up to the task of what one would expect from a high end cosmetic brand. I've tried swatching the powder and it barely shows up on my skin. I have tried using a varying array of makeup brushes in the hopes that I could achieve better results but nothing seems to work. This might be a nice powder for some but like I said, I'm not impressed. Bottom line - it just didn't work for me.

 

COSMIC CHANEL LE VERNIS LIMITED EDITION NAIL COLOUR - SWATCHES AND REVIEW

CHANEL COSMIC is a limited edition nail polish that was first released during the Fall-Winter 2013/14 Ready-to-Wear show. It is part of the NUIT MAGIQUE collection which consisted of two nail polishes: Cosmic and Magic. Cosmic is a bold and intense black nail polish with blue and silver sparkles - inspired by the night-time sky. It is semi-opaque with just one coat and it applies rather easily. The formula is rather thin but manageable and the wear time is about four to five days. The nail polish is available on Chanel.com (although it is sold out right now), it retails for $27.00 USD and it contains .4 oz of product.

70 ROSE MAJEUR CHANEL EYESHADOW DUO - SWATCHES AND REVIEW

70 ROSE MAJEUR eyeshadow duo is part of the 2014 Chanel Spring Note De Printemps collection. The right eyeshadow shade is a soft pink with a hint of peach and the left is a dark smokey blackish purple. Both eyeshadows contain miniscule flecks of sparkle but nothing real noticeable. Their texture is soft, finely milled and buttery smooth but a touch chalky. The eyeshadow duo retails for $42.00 USD and contains .09 oz of product.

This is such a beautiful eyeshadow duo even though it's a bit pricey it is totally worth it.

Check out the entire collection here: NOTES DE PRINTEMPS COLLECTION

Check out swatches and review for the quad here: 537 QUADRILLE CHANEL LUMIERES FACETTES EYESHADOW - SWATCHES AND REVIEW

Check out swatches and review for Sonate here: 178 SONATE CHANEL LEVRES SCINTILLANTES GLOSSIMER - SWATCHES AND REVIEW

Check out swatches and review of Diapason here: 92 DIAPASON CHANEL ILLUSION D'OMBRE EYESHADOW - SWATCHES AND REVIEW

Check out swatches and review of Impulsion here: 93 IMPULSION CHANEL ILLUSION D'OMBRE EYESHADOW - SWATCHES AND REVIEW

Check out swatches and review of Chamade here: 67 CHAMADE LE BLUSH CREME DE CHANEL

Check out swatches and review of Tapage here: 605 TAPAGE CHANEL LE VERNIS NAIL COLOUR - SWATCHES AND REVIEW

Check out swatches and review of Charivari here: 603 CHARIVARI CHANEL LE VERNIS NAIL COLOUR - SWATCHES AND REVIEW

92 DIAPASON CHANEL ILLUSION D'OMBRE EYESHADOW - SWATCHES AND REVIEW

92 DIAPASON is one of two Illusion D'Ombre eyeshadows released with the 2014 Chanel Spring collection Notes De Printemps. They currently retail for $36.00 USD and they contain .14 oz of product. I had previously ordered online the Illusion D'Ombre eyeshadows from Nordstrom and one of them was defective. So this time around I ordered them from the Chanel website and I received a defective one yet again (see pics below).

Overall the pigmentation of 92 DIAPASON is excellent and the texture was smooth even with the embedded sparkles. It is a multi-dimensional mixture of purple-ish taupe brown with blue, silver and purple sparkle. It takes on a more brownish taupe tone when really blended in and the sparkle is lessened somewhat as well. Even though mine was defective I still tried to use it to get a sense of how it would perform. When worn alone it lasted about five to six hours before fading. Really significant fading occurred after eight hours and there was minor creasing.

Read more about the whole collection here: NOTES DE PRINTEMPS COLLECTION

Check out swatches and review for the quad here: 537 QUADRILLE CHANEL LUMIERES FACETTES EYESHADOW - SWATCHES AND REVIEW

Check out swatches and review for the duo here: 70 ROSE MAJEUR CHANEL EYESHADOW DUO - SWATCHES AND REVIEW

Check out swatches and review of Impulsion here: 93 IMPULSION CHANEL ILLUSION D'OMBRE EYESHADOW - SWATCHES AND REVIEW

Check out swatches and review for Sonate glossimer here: 178 SONATE CHANEL LEVRES SCINTILLANTES GLOSSIMER - SWATCHES AND REVIEW

Check out swatches and review of Chamade here: 67 CHAMADE LE BLUSH CREME DE CHANEL

Check out swatches and review of Tapage here: 605 TAPAGE CHANEL LE VERNIS NAIL COLOUR - SWATCHES AND REVIEW

Check out swatches and review of Charivari here: 603 CHARIVARI CHANEL LE VERNIS NAIL COLOUR - SWATCHES AND REVIEW

178 SONATE CHANEL LEVRES SCINTILLANTES GLOSSIMER - SWATCHES AND REVIEW

CHANEL LEVRES SCINTILLANTES GLOSSIMER in 178 SONATE is part of the SPRING NOTES DE PRINTEMPS collection. I love springtime and I am so ready for winter to be over (even though it just started, LOL). Chanel has created another beautiful collection for Spring "Spring makeup strikes a colourful chord with light, joyful notes. At the heart of the collection, a chorus of fresh, luminous reds sets the season’s tone for cheeks, lips and fingertips".

Read more about the whole collection here: NOTES DE PRINTEMPS COLLECTION

Read more about the eyeshadow quad here: 537 QUADRILLE CHANEL LUMIERES FACETTES

Check out swatches and review for the duo here: 70 ROSE MAJEUR CHANEL EYESHADOW DUO - SWATCHES AND REVIEW

Check out swatches and review of Diapason here: 92 DIAPASON CHANEL ILLUSION D'OMBRE EYESHADOW - SWATCHES AND REVIEW

Check out swatches and review of Impulsion here: 93 IMPULSION CHANEL ILLUSION D'OMBRE EYESHADOW - SWATCHES AND REVIEW

Check out swatches and review of Chamade here: 67 CHAMADE LE BLUSH CREME DE CHANEL

Check out swatches and review of Tapage here: 605 TAPAGE CHANEL LE VERNIS NAIL COLOUR - SWATCHES AND REVIEW

Check out swatches and review of Charivari here: 603 CHARIVARI CHANEL LE VERNIS NAIL COLOUR - SWATCHES AND REVIEW

Chanel 178 SONATE glossimer is a bold and creamy reddish coral lipgloss. It doesn't contain any shimmer or glitter and it is semi-opaque. It deposits just enough color it can be worn alone or it can be worn over top of a lipstick or lip liner. Once applied it doesn't feel sticky and it didn't settle into my lips either. The glossimer currently retails for $29.50 USD and it contains .19 oz of product. I purchased mine from Nordstrom but it is also available in store and online at most major department stores, Chanel boutiques, and at Chanel.com.

Normally I shy away from anything as bold as this gloss but it really seemed to enhance my overall appearance. So I wore 178 Sonate all day yesterday at the mall (about 9-10 hours total) and it was very moisturizing. I didn't experience any dryness with my lips during or afterwards. It actually felt like it made my lips softer and more smooth. Initially the gloss lasted about three to four hours wear time (which is typical for most Chanel glossimers) before I had to reapply. Also as the glossimer dried it didn't leave behind any residue.