Sonia Rykiel reviews and FOTD -- part 1

As I said in my haul post, Sonia Rykiel is the best brand I've 'discovered' this year. Their foundations usually come in a very pale shade (10 is around NC10) and their eyeshadow quads are wonderful, with a mix of shades and textures that work beautifully together and look more complex on the skin than in the pan.

All swatches are one-swipe made with the included sponge applicators, onto bare arm.

natural light, shade

natural light, full sun

 artificial light+flash

Shades in 03:
1. Olive with sparse cool gold micro-shimmer, v pigmented metallic finish
2. Gunmetal with silver micro-shimmer, pigmented metallic finish
3. Bright pastel Paris green with silvery-blue micro-shimmer, semi-sheer satin finish
4. Silver-grey shimmer, medium pigment.

Shades in 08:
1. Cool grey base with sparse Prussian blue and silver shimmer, v pigmented metallic finish
2. Cadbury's blurple with brighter blue shimmer, pigmented satin finish
3. Palest blue/ green iridescent sheer shimmer
4. Light grey with sky-blue shimmer, pigmented satin finish.

All shades layer beautifully for even more complexity. Although these are somewhat 'dry' to the touch (more akin to Burberry than a creamy RBR or old-school Stila), they are also very silky and the tightly-pressed pigment makes it easy to pick up colour with the softest brushes. The dryness also contributes to their impressive lasting power: even in extreme heat and humidity, they wear perfectly all day without creasing or fading.

Ingredients

Sublime lipstick 02, one layer on the left (so the jelly-finish and pink tones are more obvious) and three layers on the right (built up to a cool cherry red, it retains that translucency.) It stays glossy on the lips over at least five hours and fades evenly, leaving a pinky-red stain behind even at the end of a twelve-hour day. It lives up to my by-now high expectations for the line and I will definitely be heading back for more of these faintly rose-scented beauties.

natural light

Ingredients:

Finally, a boring FOTD using quad 08 and one sheer layer of the lipstick 02 (this is my 'y so early?' face).

Shade 4 as a base, 3 on inner half of lid (I think this pic captured the green flash better than my swatches), 2 on outer half of upper lid and lower lashline, shade 1 to line both lashlines.

An FOTD using the green quad and a review of the Sonia Rykiel cream foundation in 10 received as a very generous gift are still to come.

Chanel Rouge Allure Velvet and new Extrait de Gloss

I love every product in Chanel's Rouge Allure stable: the Extraits de Gloss converted me (strictly a lipstick girl) to the wonders of weightless, pigmented, gel-based lipglosses. Dragon Laque is my platonic blood red and most frequently-worn lip product; I've gone through several tubes and repurchased faithfully without hesitation. The Rouge Allures themselves are luscious, moisturising cream lipsticks in sophisticated shades, and one of my favourite formulas.

The Rouge Allure Velvets promise to be pigmented, lightweight, moisturising 'luminous matte' lipsticks. In the past the only formulas I've found to work for my chronically dry lips have been Lancome Colour Design Matte, Shiseido Glowing Matte and Shu Uemura Rouge Unlimited Matte and so far, these new Chanel Velvets measure up. :)

Chanel has chosen to release 8 shades in each country, out of a possible 11. In Hong Kong they consist of:
31 La Furtive
32 La Ravissante
33 La Distinguée
34 La Raffinée
35 L'Élégante
36 La Câline
37 L'Exubérante
38 La Fascinante
(39 La Somptueuse, 40 La Sensuelle and 41 L'Exquise are missing.)

Alongside these, Chanel has released two new shades of Extrait de Gloss: 64 L'Exubérance and 65 Euphorique which I've also swatched. The beige gloss swatch is the old 51 Insouciance which was sneakily substituted for the limited-edition 517 Triomphal in the display; I'll attempt to swatch that another day.

Everything is one-swipe except for 31 La Furtive and 51 Insouciance which required two each.

Natural light

afternoon sunlight, angled

Rouge Bunny Rouge haul

Hello my lovelies! I am finally back in Hong Kong after spending the last week in Beijing only to find one of zuneta's grey boxes waiting for me upon my return...

I'd ordered from them more than a dozen times in the past, with faultless customer service. As most UKers will know, they are the easiest way for us to get our hands on Rouge Bunny Rouge, Edward Bess, Hourglass, konjac sponges and, with the help of a discount code or two, usually the cheapest place to score Butter London and Becca too. Back when I was first 'discovering' RBR more a year ago (when very few beauty bloggers had tried and reviewed the line), their free sampling service was incredibly useful in helping me decide what to order.

Having heard a few negative mutterings about their international service on MUA, I hadn't planned on ordering during my stay in Hong Kong, but a 12% off code and RBR mascara GWP tempted me to give it a shot. I'm happy to report that everything went perfectly as usual. I ordered on 15th Oct, got my shipping confirmation on the 17th and the parcel arrived from London on the 19th.

Swatches and reviews to come (she says, again).

Metamorphoses mattifying primer (damn you, mini zuneta sample pots!)
Mascara in Untamed Sable (GWP)
Mysterious Tinamou eyeshadow
Starina blush
Papyrus Canary eyeshadow
Vera eye kohl

Sonia Rykiel Beaute -- haul and swatches

Like Jill Stuart, Paul&Joe and Elégance, Sonia Rykiel is one of those French brands whose cosmetics are designed and manufactured in Japan, and are mainly sold only in East Asian countries.

Having tried two of the eyeshadow quads and a foundation earlier this year, and been highly impressed with everything, I took advantage of Hong Kong's cheap prices (about half the Japanese retail) to pick up these:

 

Eyeshadow quads in 03 and 08 (HK$320 each) and Sublime Lipstick in 02 (HK$180)

Swatches and reviews to come -- I had to fly off to Beijing on Saturday with a minimal makeup bag, so have not yet given these the time they deserve. But isn't the SR-signature stripy packaging adorable?

While at the counter, I also swatched the mousse eyeshadow pots, being a sucker for cream textures and shiny things.

artificial light and flash

The textures of these were very...odd. I want to say they reminded me of MAC's Big Bounce from earlier this year, but I only swatched those once. They're not a thick whipped mousse like Chanel Illusion D'Ombre, but a very wet, emulsion-like formula. Once set, they seemed pretty unbudgeable and I experienced no fallout from the tightly-packed glitter after wandering about all afternoon.

I have not succumbed to these yet but I know someone else who has and will be stalking her blog in hopes of a review before deciding whether the purple needs to come to momma.

Something else to look forward to: these adorable Christmas coffrets, each containing a potted gloss, blush, two shades of cream eyeshadow and a miniature powder puff, in three colour variations.

Majolica Majorca Blush Swatches

Majolica Majorca is one of Shiseido's most popular drugstore brands, and probably epitomises most foreigners' ideas about that 'kawaii stuff what those Japanese folk like so much'. Packaging tends to princessy extras, glitter plays a starring role, and the website is a ADD-flash-packed camp nightmare, but they also happen to make some standout products.

Earlier this year, the Puff de Cheek blushes, four mattes(!) in adorable round tin packaging with cute mini-puffs (HK$118 for 7g) were runaway bestsellers across Asia. Only two made it into the permanent line-up, and I've swatched them here alongside the four permanent shades from the Customise Cheeks range (HK$75 for 3g).

All swatches are two swipes layered onto bare arm. Natural light (no, I don't know what going on with my arm hair either... full moon that night perhaps?)
Puff de Cheek first two on left, other four are Customise.

RD255 is another one of those ubiquitous Nars Orgasm dupes, 88 is a lilacy highlighter which has reached cult classic status.

Lavshuca Moist Melting Rouge Swatches

We  are almost at the halfway point through Lavshuca's enormous collection of lip products (through which they justifiably dominate the Japanese drugstore market).

These are probably their most popular/famous lipsticks, because they are excellent dupes for the high-end Cle de Peau Extra Silky ones / Dior Serum de Rouge. Personally, having owned a few shades from all three lines, I can't discern a difference in quality. If anything, the Lavshuca ones are superior because:
1) any shimmer is subtler; some of the Cle de Peau ones are unwearably borderline-frosty to me, especially as they wear off
2) the click-mechanism is retractable, so you don't have to be on tenterhooks when clicking out
3) better shades than the Diors (although Dior seem to be tweaking this now)

No scent/taste, sheer-medium pigmentation but buildable, extremely moisturising and they stay glossy on the lips. Lasting power is average for a glossy lipstick and they will fade evenly; touch-ups will be necessary after a drink/snack, but with these you really won't need a mirror for that.

12 permanent shades, HK$90 for 1.6g.

Swatches all two swipes onto bare arm, bright artificial lighting.

angled