Je Joue

Post title is le fromage. Sorry.

Jouer offers a new spin on the Laura Mercier / Trish McEvoy / Bobbi Brown / Burberry nexus of flattering, understated, polished makeup, but with this USP: superior textures. And another: lego packaging.

During the recent cultbeauty 25% off sale I acquired a Dahlia tint to slot onto the lonely Amaretto powder eyeshadow an American MUAer sent me last year.

nifty or nifty?

Amaretto is a pigmented-yet-delicate, silky smooth powder: it can be washed sheerly onto the lid with a fluffy brush as a subtle shimmer or built up on a densely packed paddle or liner brush for a more creamily metallic effect. The colour is a balanced taupey bronze with a cool plummy undercurrent -- a cooler, less-yellow version of Burberry Midnight Brown. Texturally it's closest to old-school (i.e. good) Stila -- digging in results in a little powder kick-up but no chalkiness once applied -- and its kind of delicate shimmer is as flattering as a Kanebo brand's on hooded or mature lids.

Dahlia is a clear berry in a gel-cream formula. I expected more of a stain from the name 'tint', but this formula turned out to be non-setting, dewy and semi-translucent one, more like a potted tinted balm (Fresh) or jelly lipstick (Guerlain Rouge Auto etc.) than either a liquid stain (Beauté) or conventional cream blush (Illamasqua, Becca, Bobbi Brown etc.) Like a tinted lipbalm, this needs touching up after drinks and meals on me, and wiped off easily with one swipe of a tissue. On my dry cheeks, it felt comfortable all day and while remaining dewy, didn't slide around or fade.

Swatches

natural light

Dahlia sheered out (with fingers) and built up (Hakuhodo Misako lipbrush) // One swipe of Amaretto with Suqqu M brush.


As my skin is pretty good right now, I went base-free (except for a dab of Burberry concealer 01 under eyes) to play up the modern English rosiness of these colours and textures:

I swear there's no extra shading -- Amaretto is one of those catches-the-light differently shades which look more complex once worn on the contours of the eye.

Other products:

Browlash EX Natural Brown pencil through brows

RBR Automatic Eye Pencil Salome to line

GOSH White Kohl on waterline

last gasp of Fasio Ultra Curl Lock Volume mascara

So simple I'm embarrassed to show you close-ups

RBR Salome and Jouer Amaretto

Jouer Dahlia on lips -- no balm under or over, all the dewiness is its own 

It's not often my makeup takes under five minutes these days so I had time for some bonus shots, of my outfit -- the long sludgy cable jumper I made in April but recently re-buttoned, paired with a Markus Lupfer gold sequinned miniskirt (AW 2011).

Out of shot: lacy burgundy tights and my latest shoe love, these clumpy Clarks (apologies to MUAers who've seen these a bazillionty times already):

Matchy-matchy mani with Zoya Paloma, a clear berry jelly. And a closer look at the buttons :D They're wood and look like tiny tree trunk cross-sections... slightly cross-eyed ones. The buttons and me. I take this coordination thing very seriously.

washed-out bathroom lighting, sorry

Have you tried anything from Jouer? Thoughts and recommendations much appreciated :) I feel like this is a niche brand that was building buzz a few years ago but then faded away into the background.