Chanel Illusion D'Ombre Collection

Hey guys,

So I've failed at posting the past week but it's just been such beautiful weather here recently, it just feels wrong to be stuck on a computer for any longer than it takes to finish my uni work. But I'm back today with my Illusion D'Ombre collection, the fancy new eyeshadow formula released by Chanel last year. So far I've bought four;

I absolutely love the texture, it's so bizarre! It's a gel-cream hybrid that is the only makeup item I actually prefer to apply with my fingers.

L-R: Fantasme, Emerville, Epatant, Destination

As you can see it all the shades are decently infused with a healthy dose of shimmer which means I tend to use them for night looks but it's entirely dependant on personal preference of course.

Natural Light

The first one I bought was Fantasme and it's also the one I use least and kind of wish I hadn't purchased as I haven't found a real use for it yet. Under certain lighting (ie. at the Chanel counter) it can look breath-takingly stunning with the multi-coloured shimmer however under normal lighting, it just looks like a sheer base filled with glitter particles.

Artificial Light

Emerville is obviously the most neutral and wearable for everyday but my personal favourite is Epatant. The colour is just stunning and looks great by itself or mixed with other shadows (as do all the Illusion D'Ombres).

I'm very much in love with this formula and if you don't mind shelling out $48 (AUD) for them, I would definitely recommend checking these out. I believe they've now released 11 shades with 6 of them being permanents (Destination is the only limited edition shade I own).  I hope the swatches were somewhat helpful!

~ Sam

War of the Makeup Removers

Hey there,

Today's post is not going to be super interesting but it's something I wanted to talk about anyway; makeup remover. I'm not the type of person who spends big bucks on designer brand skin care, though I'm more than happy to spend excessive amounts on fancy makeup. My reasoning for this is that my makeup will last me a very long time whereas skin care is used once or twice a day and if I can barely afford to buy the cleanser, toner, moisturiser etc. once, then how the hell am I meant to find the cash to buy the whole set again in 2-3 months?

Anyway, I also feel that purchasing expensive makeup remover is a massive waste of money as I personally only ever use it to take off eye makeup and as long as it's not some supermarket home brand I'm pretty much cool with whatever. 

I recently purchased Nivea Daily Essentials Extra Gentle Eye Make-up Remover when I couldn't find my usual makeup remover on the shelves and thought I'd give it a go. Notice that it is specifically an eye makeup remover and I thought that meant it would be better than my previous (eye and face one). How wrong I was. I cannot stress enough how disappointed I am with this product. I know it's cheap but that doesn't mean it shouldn't be able to perform it's job. Eyeshadows, liner and the like came off just fine but my mascara would. not. budge.   I'm not talking waterproof either, I'm talking about an everyday, run-of-the-mill, better-not-cry-or-you'll-have-black-streaking-down-your-face mascara. Instead it just made it flaky and made my eye area really sensitive as I had to resort to rubbing on the lashes to try and remove something. A truly terrible product that I would absolutely not recommend, even for only a few dollars. 

Now on the flip side, I managed to hunt down a bottle or my beloved Garnier 2 in 1 Waterproof Make-up Remover a few days ago and I have to say, I appreciate it's brilliance so much more now. It takes of my mascara, waterproof or otherwise in one fell swoop and is just all around amazingness. 

Should you be in the market for an affordable makeup remover, I would definitely recommend the Garnier. 

Have a great day,

~ Sam

P.S. photo quality is extra crap today, sorry!