Makeup

The Chanel Venice collection for fall 2009 keeps dishing out surprises.

First, the two summery Glossimers threw me for a loop, and now it’s the Eye Gloss ($65).

My first impression? Wearability — in that I wasn’t sure how wearable this quad would be, but after some quality playtime with it yesterday, I’ve made up my mind. The colors make fantastic eyeshadow bases, but they do come with a few serious caveats.

Varying pigmentation

Chanel packed the Eye Gloss quad with four creamy shadows in shades of shimmery gold, beige, burgundy and black. Both the beige and gold shades apply with a medium pigmentation, while the burgundy and black shades apply with rich, deep color.

Eye Gloss in beige

Texture and finish

The tester I’d first touched at a counter the other day must have been sitting out for a while. At that time I’d thought the colors felt thin and dry to the touch. Not so, though, because the shadows in the quad I purchased feel thick and moist, kinda like a lip gloss.

The moistness allows for a lot of movement on my skin, and unlike MAC Paint Pots or Benefit Creaseless Cream Shadows, which start off creamy but dry within a few minutes, the Eye Gloss shades remain wet much longer on the skin, and that allows for a lot of time to blend, layer and manipulate the gloss around my lids. Nice.
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Chanel Glossimer in Courtisane

Coco and company cooked up two seriously *hot* Glossimers for their fall 2009 Venice collection.

Both Courtisane and Arlequin ($27 each) inject a hint of golden warmth to lips, balancing out the cool green and gray shades for eyes.

I love both of these Glossimers because they aren’t your typical fall lip fare.

Unusual for fall

Courtisane’s a hot pink with gold pearl; Arlequin’s a shimmery peachy gold. Makeup lines usually release darker, vampier lip colors in shades of berry, plum and red for fall, so I was pleasantly surprised to see shimmery glosses in golden hues.

And both of these could easily pass for summer colors, too. No reason at all to wait for autumn leaves. 🙂

Chanel Glossimer in Arelquin

Courtisane is my favorite of the two. She’s richly pigmented — more so than most of the Glossimers I’ve tried — but the color’s not so bright or shimmery that it’s difficult to wear. Makeup and Beauty Blog Rating: A+

Arlequin, a peachy golden pink with bronze glitter, is the warmer of the two shades. She’s sheerer than Courtisane, but her glitter might deliver a nice pop of shimmer when layered atop bronze, peach or brown lipstick.Makeup and Beauty Blog Rating: B+

A lil’ something for everyone

Even though Chanel stocked the Venice collection with a *ton* of cool shades, I’m glad they decided to throw in some warmer lip shades, too.

I really like the gold in these, but what do you think?

Dental Dalliances, Part 12

This summer is turning out to be my summer o’ teeth trubs… Yup, I’m heading back to the dentist this afternoon, aka my home away from home. This time I’m assured there there won’t be any injections up in the mix!
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Holy crap! Illamasqua’s Intense Lipgloss in Frenzy ($20) does NOT mess around. This stuff is pigmented like nobody’s bidness!

Just the tiniest bit of this creamy hot pink provides almost opaque coverage. I’d wager to say it packs something like twice as much color as usual for a gloss — it’s *that* pigmented.

I love the rich, blinged-out look of this shade, but truth be told it’s hella high maintenance.

How high maintenance is it?

Frenzy’s like the Kimora Lee Simmons of the lipgloss world!

The first time I tried it on I made the mistake of smothering my lips with a thick layer. Color ended up bleeding outside of my natural lip line, and I looked pretty scary — like one of those nightmarish clowns that haunts childhood dreams.
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The two Creme de Gloss lip glosses ($26) in Dior’s new Jazz Club collection are melting my heart.

With their high shine, rich color and non-sticky texture, I guess it was inevitable, le sigh…

Both Sweet Praline (431; I believe it’s a brand new shade) and Fig Nectar (641; also part of Dior’s permanent collection) are nudes and should go well with dark smokey eyes this fall.

Creme de Gloss in Sweet Praline (431) and Fig Nectar (641), $26 each

I think the two colors look almost like twins in their tubes, but they come into their own once they’re worn on the lips.

Sweet Praline, the warmer of the two sisters, applies as a light peachy pink with silver micro-glitter, and I’m glad she doesn’t look milky on my lips like a lot of other nude glosses are wont to do. Makeup and Beauty Blog Rating: A

Fig Nectar applies as a cool, shimmery mauve with tiny flecks of silver glitter. There’s a touch of purplish-blue in this shade, and I’m guessing cool-toned hotties could wear it well. I can see it teamed up with eyeshadows in gray, berry or black. Makeup and Beauty Blog Rating: A

Too bad the Creme de Glosses cost an arm and a leg, but their rich color, smooth texture (non-sticky) and blinding shine saves them from the scrap heap.

A girl can never have too many nude lip gloss options. 🙂

Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,

Karen