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Current Makeup Wishlist – Chanel ROUGE COCO GLOSS

My current makeup wishlist is not very extensive. I only have one brand (Chanel) and one product type (Rouge Coco Gloss) that I really want and am very interested in. The new reformulated, non-sticky, ultra-light formula will leave the lips visibly smooth and plump. The new glosses also boast an new innovative, dual-sided applicator to ensure optimal and even coverage and high precision. The are currently 24 shades to choose from. I have my eye on two in particular: 

#119 BOURGEOISIE

#722 NOCE MOSCATA

The new glossimers are enriched with Coconut Oil, Peptides and Vitamin E, and a Hydraboost Complex (exclusive to Chanel). This new formula claims to offer hours of comfort and moisture. I’ve seen reviews where people say the new glosses are a vast improvement over the old formula.

Any links included above are not affiliate links.
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EOTD – Lily Cole Shimmer Cube Palette

Here is a first look using the Body Shop’s new Lily Cole Shimmer Cube Palette #24. To see swatches check out yesterday’s post here. For today’s look I used Chanel’s Illusoire, Live Lilac all over the lid, Think Pink in the crease and a little of Go Violet on the outer lid. I used Jordana’s Fabuliner in brown, Lancome’s Doll Lashes mascara and TBS #10 to blend out the edge of Think Pink.

I’ll have a different combo for tomorrow 🙂
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EOTD: Gold & Brown with CHANEL Bronze Universal

I am trying to be very good and not buy any makeup, although I do have my eye on the Clarins Summer palette. So shopping my stash I decided to use a very neglected item my Chanel Bronze Universal. I wanted to see if it could be used as a n eyeshadow base.

This look – TFSI (primer), Chanel (base), Sunrise/Sunset (Black Radiance), Brown (Dior Silver Look) and Buck (N1) 
12+ hours later after a very long sweaty day. I ended up going to the mouse room (in the basement of one of the research buildings) for a couple hours and then in lab running around.

I’d say it held up pretty well with only minimal creasing and the colors were still vibrant. So I have another use for the Chanel bronzer apart from highlighting  since it’s a bit too light for my skin tone.

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CHANEL Chance Eau Tendre – Fragrance Review

I purchased this Chanel fragrance from Sephora last month for my birthday and now Sephora no longer carries Chanel. Why did this happen???

CHANCE, the country’s bestselling fragrance family, reveals its newest facet, CHANCE EAU TENDRE. CHANEL Master Perfumer Jacques Polge reimagines the decidedly young scent in a constellation of tender and vibrant notes, at once delicate and airy, with an intoxicatingly light, fruity trail. Chanel.com

Launched in 2010, this light and feminine scent showcases the fruity floral features notes of grapefruit, quince, hyacinth, jasmine, amber, cedar, iris and white musk. It smells divine and I have been wanting it since I sniffed the scent strip in a magazine in early 2011. Then I got the chance to get it with a Sephora gift card I got for my birthday. I adore this scent, it’s fresh, light, and very feminine although one can go over board with one too many spritzes, then there is no turning back. This is the perfect scent for early Spring, ‘very cool’ Summer and early Fall days, it would also be nice to wear on cool evenings. I find that it lasts a good 6 hours and it doesn’t severely permeate fabric as some other fragrances do, it just leaves a light pleasant scent trail.


Would I repurchase? YES, this scent will be a staple in my collection. 
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Misadventures with Chanel Illusion D’Ombre Epatant

This is a whopper of a post as I don’t think I’l be able to post again until 2012, seeing it’s in a couple of days. It’s been a great year and I love blogging and I love my little blog so much and appreciate everyone who has stopped by to take a peek. The beauty world has so many goodies that bring joy and happiness to our lives but with that we have to be careful and not get carried away. Most importantly to get value for every dollar we spend doesn’t matter if it’s high end or drugstore, make each dollar count. With that enjoy this post and the rest of 2011 and I’ll see you all in 2012!!!!!!!!
As a Christmas gift to myself I bought somethings from Chanel
I was so excited, look how cute this complimentary holiday gift box was 🙂 I got the infamous Soleil Tan de Chanel and Illusion D’Ombre in Epatant.
Anyway this post is not about all this fabulous packaging, it’s about what I saw when I opened the eyeshadow. Despite the gorgeousness of this shadow I was shocked to see how little product was in the jar.
L to R: Epatant and Illusoire 
Can you see the difference? Can you see that Epatant has noticeably less product than the other shadow. It was not dried out, or balled up as I’ve seen on other YT videos or blogs. It was just less product. I was crushed and I comtemplated whether or not to keep it or return it. Then I figured I had to make sure it so the scientist in me screamed don’t be impulsive be analytical (I hope that made sense). So to put my Ph.D to good use I carried out a simple experiment. Question – does Epatant weigh less than a similar shadow?
 Weigh paper blanked to zero so that 1) the jars do not get dirty and 2) we have a starting weight
Illusoire (product, jar and lid) weighs in at 57.89g. 
Note each jar states the weight of the product is 4g, ignoring the fact that I’ve used this three times, we can therefore deduce that the weight of a typical empty jar with lid is 53.89g.
Epatant weighs in at 55.37g (note weigh paper was once again zeroed) 
1) The difference between the two weights 55.89-55.37= 2.52g
2) If we assume the weight of the jar is 53.89g then the contents weigh 1.48g which means that Epatant is 2.52g less (4g – 1.48g = 2.52g) than Illusoire.
There was no doubt I was at the UPS store as soon as it opened the next day returning this shadow, thanks to the complimentary shipping label provided by Chanel. I can’t wait to get  refunded so that I can repurchase it either from again from Chanel.com or Nordstrom.
If this was a dollar I’d probably let it slide but $36 is a lot of money from my wallet so I have to make it count. I mean 2.52 g is a lot of product to be missing. If I worked at Chanel I would never let this happen. I’ve seen in some reviews where the shadow balls up if the jar is dropped or comes shrunken. If the shape changes it still should be 4g, if it is dehydrated then it should be returned as the packaging is faulty but R&D and QC should have foreseen all the ways/conditions in which this type of shadow can be altered. 
I hope you all enjoyed my little experiment 😉 and when I eventually repurchase I’ll do a look.
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Review: Chanel Illusion D’Ombre Illusoire

Since I have a habit of gifting things to myself, I decided it was time to step it up. I decided to get one of the Chanel Illusion D’Ombres in #83 Illusoire. I’m just going to let the pictures speak for themselves, I also included a very light swatch seeing that this shadow runs for $36.
I think it’s more of a silver lilac than the purple others have described it as. It has obvious shimmer/micro-glitter that does not have any fallout. It is very wearable and surprisingly workplace appropriate as it’s not disco ball glitter. It lasted 9 plus hours without any creasing over Benefit’s Stay Don’t Stray primer. Once dry, if you touch it you will have the glitter on your fingers leaving the color behind. It has a firm mousse consistency. I’m pleased with this shadow and will be purchasing Epatant soon. 
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Fragrance Wish List

I have long list of fragrances that I would like to have in my life in fact they need to be in my life. 
As I’m getting older, I prefer to just get individual fragrances, instead of the department store sets that come with the lotions and body washes. I only get those if it’s a good deal and there is an irresistible gift with purchase, if not I’ll pass. Today I got Burberry’s Classic fragrance (my first Fragrance.net purchase I saved $22). I fell in love with this from a set I’d gotten at Sephora and this one was my fav
Now onto  my list:
Dior’s Hypnotic Poison – I want this one for the Fall/Winter. I had a coupon to get a full size bottle from a Sephora  fragrance set  I bought last November in the VIB sale. I was really hoping to pick it up, but when I got to the store they didn’t have it in stock and they were unsure of when they would have it, so I had to chose something else 🙁 🙁 but I will get this. I got Versace’s Bright Crystal instead. I find hypnotic very comforting.

Dior’s Jadore – Now this one is perfect for the day time,well anytime. I love this, it’s crisp, clean, slightly sweet but not fruity or candy sweet.
Kate Spade’s Twirl – I have many samples of this and included it in my June’s favorites. I love this fragrance so much.

Salvador Dali mini collection– I‘m intrigued by the bottle designs and if I do get it (the set ranges from $15 – $25) hopefully I’ll find one or two of that I like. 

Guerlain’s Shalimar – This is a classic Guerlain fragrance that I’ve heard a lot of people talk about and I want to try it so badly but first I’m going to see if I can get a sample on ebay. It was described back in the day as a ‘bad girl’s’ fragrance, those girls who were daring enough to smoke or wear short skirts or red lipstick. How the times have changed…

Juicy Couture– Nordstrom’s is currently having their annual sale and this set is is going for $35 instead of the regular $48. I  guess even at $48 it’s not bad as individually these are sold at $18 each. I’ll get this and then decide which full size one I’ll get. I like the look of the bottles although the design is simple the little trinkets give them a whimsical feel.


Elizabeth Arden’s Pretty – I got my mom this for Mother’s day, and got a little sample as a gift with purchase and I love it everytime I go to my parent’s house I steal a little spray. It is simply a pretty scent.


Fergie’s Outspoken– That’s the singer Fergie not the princess. Sold by Avon, I fell in love with a sample of this scent and now that I’m a  AVON rep (will blog about that later), I can get this at a discount and I can get it cheaper for you too. (Image from Avon.com)

Chanel Tendre – I got a sample of this and such a lovely, sophisticated, young scent that will make you feel happy all day long 🙂



Yves Saint Laurent’s Yvresse – This is another fragrance which has peaked my interest lately, I’m going to see if I can get a sample before committing to a full bottle as the only size I’ve seen is 4.2 oz which is a lot for a perfume. I liked  Parisienne so I hope this one will not disappoint.

All other images were taken from fragrance.net