9 FLUID SHEER GIORGIO ARMANI SPRING 2013 COLLECTION - SWATCHES and REVIEW

Fluid sheer dresses skin in an illuminating veil of radiance. This unique, translucent formula is available in a range of versatile hues including makeup base shades, correcting shades, and radiance boosting shades. Blend your favorite fluid sheer with foundation to add radiance, polish and sculpting definition to your complexion. Or use it alone as a makeup base. All skin types.

• perfects, sculpts and illuminates skin
• complete and versatile shade range
• doubles as eye shadow base, blush or bronzer
• sheer, lightweight texture and coverage

For Spring 2013 GIORGIO ARMANI brings six new FLUID SHEER shades.
The six shades: 4, 5, 6, 8, 9 and 12 will be added to the existing five which are permanent. Of the six new shades I purchased 8 and 9 from the Giorgio Armani website. When navigating the website I actually had to do a search for them. I thought they would be listed under the blush / bronzer category but they were in fact listed under the foundation category. Which makes sense seeing as how the ultimate purpose for these are to be used in conjunction with your foundation.

FLUID SHEER 9 is a bright berry pink color that has a lot of depth. It is easily sheered out or you can layer it for an intense punch of color. It does contain miniscule flecks of pink and silver sparkle - not chunky and not quite glitter or shimmer either. At first glance I didn't notice the sparkle but when the light reflects on it or when it is blended out, then the sparkle is more noticeable but just barely. It is important to note that with this color there is some slight staining of the skin. Especially if it sits on the skin and it isn't blended out rather quickly then there might be residual on the face and hands. It is also recommended to shake or mix the Fluid Sheer before each use so as to obtain the most optimum results.

I found the Fluid Sheer 9 to blend just as easily as those from the permanent line. When blending, the Fluid Sheers typically dry rather slowly - this allows for time to really blend it out. However, if a heavy application is applied to the skin then you may end up with some streaking. The pump feature on these is nice but it puts out way to much product for my needs. I prefer to open the bottle rather than use the pump so that way I can control the amount I use. I just dole out a small sample onto a metal makeup palette and then I dab my makeup brush into it.

Final thoughts:
I prefer to wear 9 as a blush; just like 11, Amber, from the permanent collection. I find I can get the most use from both of these Fluid Sheer shades by utilizing them this way. Overall though I really love the Fluid Sheers and I am happy and excited to add 9 to my growing collection.

The Fluid Sheers are currently priced at $59 USD on the Giorgio Armani website, and on all other websites: Neiman Marcus, Nordstrom, etc. they are listed at $60 for 1 fl. oz.

application techniques:
Apply with the blender brush to wear alone or mixed with foundation for a boost of radiance and color. Use on top of foundation for added highlighting and contouring.

Won InStyle's "Best 2012 Highlighter" for the 3rd year

MAC COSMETICS ARCHIES GIRLS PROM PRINCESS POWDER BLUSH

The ravishing rivals for Archie's affection inspire a colour collection celebrating their iconic persona. Smoulder in deep and seductive tones inspired by spoiled rich girl Veronica or beam like blonde-next-door Betty in soft and innocent shades for eyes and face. So gorgeous in exclusively designed packaging. Limited edition.

The envy of every girl, Veronica smoulders with a limited-edition colour collection rich in deep, seductive tones. Lipsticks in violet, red and blackened plum play up the va-voom while Lipglass shimmers in shades certain to steal hearts. Nails lacquered in dark berry and navy crème ready for a soda fountain catfight. All packaged in exclusive Archie's Girls designs.

Va-Va-Veronica goes violet with the all-new shade Prom Princess, a mid-tone pink berry for cheeks and face with a satin finish. Prom Princess powder blush is from the MAC Archies Girls collection. It is the second item I purchased from this collection (read about the lipglass here). On my skin the blush is more of a rich raspberry and even though the blush has a slight shimmer it doesn't show up. It applied with little to no effort and it lasted a solid eight hours. Prom Princess currently retails at $22.00 USD for 0.21 oz. I had wanted to buy a backup of this blush but unfortunately it is sold out everywhere. 

MAC COSMETICS ARCHIES GIRLS - KISS & DON'T TELL LIPGLASS

The ravishing rivals for Archie's affection inspire a colour collection celebrating their iconic persona. Smoulder in deep and seductive tones inspired by spoiled rich girl Veronica or beam like blonde-next-door Betty in soft and innocent shades for eyes and face. So gorgeous in exclusively designed packaging. Limited edition.

High-gloss, glass-like finish tinted with pale peach, pink and coral as sweet as Betty herself. Wear it alone or pair it with lipstick for a perfectly glossed look. 

Kiss & Don't Tell lipglass is from the MAC Archies Girls collection that debuted a few weeks back. Many pieces from this collection sold out immediately and are still not available. I managed to purchase a few items about a week ago from the Belk website. The Kiss & Don't Tell lipglass is described as a bright coral lipgloss. However, it seemed more like a bright watermelon pink with warm undertones. It retails for $16.50 and it contains .17 fl.oz.

Wear time with this lipglass was minimal. I had to reapply throughout the day and it really dried out my lips. I did notice that if I applied a chapstick or a lip moisturizer on my lips before applying the gloss it decreased the dryness and it increased the wear time by an hour or so.  

You can read more about the other items I purchased here.