Chanel - Illusion D'Ombre

Hello Ladies,

I hope you are all well, my post today is about the Chanel Ilusion D'Ombre. As you will all know by now I have more than a slight obsession with Chanel products. The Illusion D'Ombre's were originally released with the Autumn 2011 collection but were thankfully made part of the permanent line and have quickly become a staple in my everyday makeup routine.

The Chanel Illusion D'Ombre come in six different shades with more to be released with their Summer 2012 collection. They are described as long wearing luminous eye shadows. A lot of people compare them to Armani's Eyes to Kill Intense, now I have a few of the Eyes to Kill and in all honesty there is no comparison. The texture of the Illusion D'Ombre is completely different. When I first got my hands on them, they were not at all what I was expecting. They are almost cushion like to the touch. They don't bounce back, which I kind of thought they would. They are a gel formula but have the thickness of a mousse.

My three favourite are the above, and they are (L-R) Ebloui, Illusoire, and Emerveille.

Eboui is a deep burgundy brown with a hint of cranberry, it has stunning multi coloured shimmer.

Illusoire is a purpley plum, grayish brown with a silvery sheen

And my favorite out of all 3 is Emerveille. Emerveille is the most beautiful champagne peach, with the most amazing golden pink sheen to it. This worn on it's own all over the lid with gel liner along the lash line is just perfect for an everyday look. Simple yet elegant.

Emerveille, Ebloui, and Illusoire

These really are stunning shadows, that are easy to use with beautiful results. I do use an eyeshadow primer, as I would do with any shadows I use. I am excited to see the new additions when they are released later this Summer, I am sure they will be a fantastic addition to my collection. I have had these for quite a while and one of the concerns I had was that they might possibly dry out and become difficult to work with. Its always difficult to judge the lifespan of new products but I am happy to report, I haven't had any issues so far. The colour pay off with these is excellent and a little goes a long way. If you are in the market for some new eyeshadows, I would definitely recommend giving these a go!

So that's it ladies, I hope you enjoyed.

Let me know if you have tried these.

Tell me your eyeshadow favourites!

Until next time

xoxo

Aundrea.

Yves Saint Laurent - Le Teint Touche Éclat Foundation

Hello Ladies!

Have I got exciting news for you! I was invited to attend a sneak peek of YSL's Touche Éclat foundation yesterday, and my, oh my ladies, am I impressed. YSL's Touche Éclat was launched 20 years ago and with one sold every 10 seconds, it's not hard to see why this foundation has been so highly anticipated! I bought my first Touche Éclat 8 years ago, and it's something that has always had pride of place in my makeup collection, I think most, if not all of us have bought it at least once (or 8 times).

'Le Teint Touche Éclat'

2012 has marked a huge turning point for Yves Saint Laurent, this foundation has been a whopping 10 years in development, and there is already a waiting list of 8,000 people in the UK & Ireland. This is one of the worlds most exciting launches in the beauty community this year. Creative Director of YSL, Llyod Simmons developed the extensive 22 shade range to incorporate all skin tones. The shades are arranged into warm (Beige Dore), cool (Beige Rose) and neutral (Beige) and they range from the palest rose complexions to the deepest golden skins. The bottle has YSL's signature gold cap and was influenced design wise, directly by the Touche Éclat itself, a tribute to the cult beauty product.

A selection of the extensive shade range

As if all that was not enough, I also had the privilege of meeting Fred Letailleur, Internationally renowned make up artist for Yves Saint Laurent. He gave an amazing talk on the foundation, and also a demo to show us the best ways to apply the foundation. It was kind of incredible to see this artist at work and make it all look so effortless. Fear not, I am about to pass these tips on to you...

Fred recommends for a daytime look, to use your fingers, start in the middle of the face and extend outward with long strokes, you need very little of the product when applying with your fingers as you don't want to overload the face with the end result being the dreaded cake effect.

For more coverage or to take the look from day to night, you'll need a brush with fine bristles that is nice and thick.Glide the brush in long movements from the inside of the face out, Another technique is to dab the foundation over the face, this allows you to perfect any areas of concern, the beauty of this technique is you can slowly and progressively build your coverage.

It's not very often I will tell you that you need a product in your life, but if you don't at least try this, you are seriously missing out. The coverage is beautiful, it's not cakey, the staying power is excellent and it really is a unique product, I have a feeling this will be one of THE must have beauty products of the year.

Should you wish to try this amazing product, it's world exclusive to Brown Thomas in Ireland on the 28th June BUT if you visit the YSL counter from June 21st you can receive your complimentary shade match along with a very generous 7 day trial. It retails at €38, and in my opinion, worth every cent and then some!

So that's it for now, I hope you enjoyed!

Let me know your thoughts on this.

Will you be purchasing?

Until next time

xoxo

Aundrea.

Add some Decadence to your life...

Hello Ladies,

As I'm sure you are all aware, tanning season is upon us. It's always been a challenge for fair skin ladies like myself. I'd never really had much luck with false tan. The colour was either way too dark, or it came out orange, and then there was the smell... that was the one thing that put me off tan and embrace the pale. Every so often though, I would look with envious eyes at all the beautifully bronzed ladies walking around. I could never find a tan that gave me exactly what I wanted... Until now.

Enter 'Decadence Tan'

Decadence Tan is the brainchild of the lovely Kassy Lucas, she has worked in the beauty industry for over 13 years, and opened her own beauty salon in 2005. Decadence is a natural and organic based formula , it's packed with skin conditioning and smoothing ingredients. The best part is the mixture of aromatic orange and bergamont oils means you don't have that funky self tan odour to contend with!

So, I gave this a really good trial run, I exfoliated and moisturised before use, and I got to work with my tan mitt! It's a spray bottle, which is incredibly easy to use. It's tinted which is perfect for guide application, and it smells heavenly.

As you can see it gives a lovely healthy glow, which develops nicely over a few hours, of course you can build to achieve your desired effect. There really is no horrible smell which seals the deal for me. It wears beautifully, I'm on day 5 and still going strong!

Where can you buy this wonder product? Well my lovely friend Anita over at http://www.anitasbeautyblog.wordpress.com/ or you can also find her on Twitter @anitabeautyblog is stocking it!

You can buy the tan on its own for €14.99 or you can buy the tan and the eliminator for the bargain price of €28! The tan eliminator is on my list, I hear it's another incredible Decadence product! I will let you know how I get on with that!

So that's it ladies, I hope you enjoyed my adventure with

Decadence Tan!

Let me know if you try it!

Share some of your tanning secrets below...

Until next time

xoxo

Aundrea.

You can follow Decadence tan on twitter!

@Decadencetan

Battle of the High End Foundations

Hey Ladies,

I hope you're all well, this post is about the battle to find the perfect high end foundation. Let's face it, it's a bit of a jungle out there. You can't open a magazine, or walk into a department store without being inundated with foundation campaign's all declaring 'I'm the one for you! Pick me!' I've had quite a journey to find a few I like and there's no better time than the present to be on the market for a new one. There are quite a few gems out there!

So let's get started...

Benefit's 'Hello Flawless, OxygenWow' This is oil free with an SPF of 25, this is Benefit's first foray into the world of liquid foundation and my, my, my they created a beauty. This foundation makes some pretty big claims for something in such a little bottle, it promises to have a brightening effect and it contains Vitamin C & E, which help boost cellular respiration (oxygen wow). The consistency is rather watery, which isn't really what I was expecting but it works well, It offers a medium buildable coverage. All in all, it impressed me, and I would recommend it.

Illamasqua 'Skin Base' Illamasqua claim that this foundation was inspired by the Asian BB phenomenon it promises to smooth, soften and condition your skin whilst providing natural, buildable coverage. I can't say I agree with that statement, the formula on this is thick but not unblendable, a brush is not the way to apply this one, it takes warming up with the fingertips before applying to the face. This is a fuller overage foundation, but it takes that little bit of extra effort to apply.

Armani 'Lumionous Silk' I have used this foundation on and off ever since it was launched, it was my very first foundation splurge, I was in love; but it comes at a price, it's in around the €50-55 price bracket. Just like the name suggests this foundation feels like silk, I apply it with a buffing brush and and it blends like a dream and gives my skin a flawless look. I adore it. This one is a medium buildable coverage.

Lancome 'Teint Miracle' I like this foundation, one of the first things I noticed was the scent, it's a very faint floral rose. It's a lightweight formula, it contains 40% water so it won't clog the pores. It gives a very subtle glow. Coverage is medium full, and the staying power is pretty decent too, I'd say about 7 hours.

Make Up For Ever 'HD Foundation' This is one of the let downs for me, it was so hyped up. I don't see what all the fuss is about. I've found better foundations in the drugstore. It's meant to be a full coverage foundation but I find it pretty sheer. I'm just not impressed with this one.

Chanel 'Perfection Lumiere' I love this foundation. I've done a full review on this, which you can read here I'm not going to ramble on too much but it's a truly beautiful full coverage, long wearing, non cakey foundation.

So that's it for this post.

I hope you enjoyed ladies!

Let me know if you have any foundations you can recommend!

Tell me which high end ones have been a let down for you!

Until next time

xoxo

Aundrea.