L'Instant de Guerlain L'Instant d'Un Eté

I have to admit that I have have a thing for Guerlain perfumes. While I think that one of their recent fragrances is completely useless ( I won't point fingers in its direction) and the whole Aqua Allegoria line is not even worth mentioning, the rest of Guerlain fragrances are just freaking masterpieces.

Here I have a little collection of my Guerlain lovelies. Some of the scents I had are not here, like Mitsouko, L'Heure Bleue, and Jicky. While I think these three are outstanding, they are just not my cup of tea. I would assume, not YET my cup of tea. And I am not referring to my age or that these fragrances suit more grown-up ladies, of course not. It is just that I enjoy lighter scents at this particular period of my life. I have tried them, loved them and decided to come back to them some time in future.

Now, I adore the whole L'Instant de Guerlain line. Some scents I love more, some just a little less, but overall, the line is awesome! I particularly enjoy L'Instant de Guerlain L'Instant d'Un Eté. It was a limited edition, and is not available anymore. This one is my second bottle and I treasure it! I won't be purchasing limited and discontinued fragrances on the net due to the reasons I have already discussed in my earlier posts, so once it is gone- it is gone... It was a 2006 limited edition and for me, it is a great sweet yet luscious and erotic scent. It is just great! It is sweet without being tacky or overwhelming, it is sexy but not in your face sexy like some other fragrances. It is unique and very wearable. Please, Guerlan, please, bring it back! Re-promote it, even if again as a limited edition! Just in case- the perfume I am going to talk about is the tallest on the picture.

L'Instant de Guerlain L'Instant d'Un Eté is a 80 ml edt, quite a generous size, I should say. It is never enough, though. It is one of these fragrances that you spray on and immediately you get into a very happy place. Whenever you feel a bit down- this fragrance will cheer you up immediately! The opening accord of this fragrance is a bitter orange and grapefruit. Now, for me the bitter orange all along, nothing more. It is a bit unexpected since the perfume overall is a sweet one. This bitter orange accent does not create any dissonance, don't worry! The mid notes are jasmine, ylang-ylang and magnolia. I can feel all three of them blended in a most beautiful and subtle way! The sweetness is not overwhelming, no headache will come along with this perfume, nor you'll feel like the sweetness takes over you. I mean, it does take over you, or more likely, it wraps around you and warms you. 

In summer, when it is hot- this fragrance will not suffocate you. We have musk, vanilla and benzoin as base notes. To me, vanilla goes solo here, I feel no other component on a dry down. Overall, after a 20-30 minutes of wear you should remain with a mix of wonderful ylang-ylang, magnolia, vanilla and jasmine. It might seem like a plain sweet fragrance- I assure you, it is not. If you will be lucky to get hold of this beauty in a bottle- do it. It is worth it! The sillage is very strong and persistent thoughout the day. I usually make 4-5 spritzes of this perfume. Should you  prefer lighter scents- just keep it on a 1-2 spritzes per time level.

I get a lot of compliments whenever I wear this or any other fragrance from L'Instant line.

I should also mention that the glass bottle is super sturdy. I mean, I dropped it (unintentionally- I thought my heart will stop once I realized it is actually flying towards the floor :)). It is fine, though. The bottle is made of a very thick glass. Thanks once again, Guerlain!

These are my thoughts on L'Instant de Guerlain L'Instant d'Un Eté, for you, guys:

In terms of price, I am not able to tell anything cause it is not available anymore. Price/quality relation- I give it a 5 on a multiple rating scale from 1 to 5 ( where 1 equals poor, 2 is fair, 3 is average, 4 is good, 5 is excellent). Totally worth it!

In terms of age,this perfume can be worn by women of all ages. I guess,the girls under 20 might not full appreciate this fragrance.

The perfume has a good staying power, no need to refresh it during the day!

My thoughts on MAC Paint Pots

I have to admit that Mac Paint Pots were the first cream eye shadows I have decided to test after a long break of a good 6-7 years after testing and buying cream eye shadows. I will explain myself. The cream eye shadows that were on the market say 10 or 8 years ago were outrageous. They would crease like crazy, they wouldn't stay in place, they would travel all around your eye area and even behind it. I won't name the specific brands, just because these product are not on the market anymore anyway, but seriously, I had a sort of cosmetic trauma after testing these. Other were not any better, I have to admit. I don't know what had changed in these years, but definitely now cosmetic brands know how to make a proper  cream eye shadow and I am happy that more and more brands come out with cream shadows.

In a way, MAC had restored my faith in cream eye shadows. I don't owe many of Paint Pots, really. But I am pleased with the ones I have. Some please me more, some less, but overall, it is a good no-brainer product. They stay put for hours. This is a product you don't have to worry about. Slap it on, finish with a coat or two of mascara and you are good to go. 8 or even 10 hours of wear this will give you. Should you put and eye shadow primer underneath, this combo will last even longer. 

So, the first one I bought was a Bare Study Paint Pot. It is  Permanent collection, thus no rush to buy this one. I bought it when the MAC counter was not readily available in my city, so I had to buy it without a prior testing. It is a light beige-golden color, very pearly. While I like how well it performs and everything. I don't find this shade to be particularly flattering on me. I use it of course, it does double duty going as a highlighter for me was well. Well, the shade is not 100 % mine, but that's mea culpa.

The next one is called Let's Skate! and was a part of a limited edition winter collection. I believe it was re-promoted and now is a part of a permanent range. This one is absolutely stunning! It is a pale powdery pink shade with myriad of pink, golden and pale violet shimmer in it. Love it love it love it. This shade is excellent for a night out all over the lid. You just don't need anything else, really. Just this shade and eyeliner and mascara. It is more suitable for evening time or maybe for summer days. 

The third one came from the same limited edition collection as Let's Skate!. It is called Morning Frost. It is a pale metallic rosy taupe color, amazing for everyday. In fact, I will be hitting pan on it pretty soon! I believe it is just such a universal color, I love it very much. I take it with me when I travel, it is super easy and chic, it brightens your eyes and really just adds a little bit of extra something. I am really willing to find a perfect dupe for this one. No luck as of today.

The forth one, Genuine Treasure, is mainly a miss for me. While it is stunning deep bronze color with amazing shimmer- the texture is an absolute nightmare. Forget about slapping it on in a moment. Just forget it. Not gonna happen. Even if you want to use this color solo ( not recommended), it is going to be difficult to get an even finish. You will have to keep layering on and on, and maybe after 3-4-5 coats of color you will get the desired effect. MAYBE. But probably not. I have used this color in conjunction with dark green shimmery color ( dark green acting as a base), after 10 minutes of work, well, the effect was what I was aiming for. But still, it requires too much work. Not suitable for contact lenses wearers of for sensitive eyes, as it is prone to falling out. Not liking it.

Here are my Paint Pots and swatches, photos taken on a sunny day. No primer underneath, and one coat.

Overall, I like this product.  They did not dry out on me, I store them upside down, they perform well and I always can rely on them. Not you, Genuine Treasure! Will I buy more? Well, at a price tag of 21 € the color has to be truly stunning. I f I could go back, I would not buy the Genuine Treasure and Bare Study ones. Plus, there are many brands that come out with great quality cream eye shadows.Will I recommend this product? Yes, it is a great make up item. I would recommend it, while mentioning that cheaper alternatives are available on the market. And in this case cheaper does not mean worse. There are shadows that perform as well as MAC ones but cost even 4-5 times less. I think, it all got down to colors now, since texture and staying power wise MAC and cheaper brands are not that different. So if the color will be amazing or unique- I will get it for sure.

Guerlain By Emilio Pucci Terra Azzurra Bronzing Powder& Blush

This was a limited edition item for Summer 2012 that was launched by Guerlain in collaboration with Emilio Pucci in April 2012. 

This item comes in a satiny pouch with Pucci's signature pattern. The case itself is quite bulky. A good bulky, the one that is pleasant to hold in hand. The one that will definitely turn heads and make people wonder that was that item in your hand. The case is made of black wood or wood like material, of that I am not sure. It has a good-sized mirror inside. The lid comes off completely, but no worries- it has 3 magnets to tightly hold the lid closed when not in use. The name of the item is engraved on the lid ( like you could mistake this one for some other make-up item in your collection).

I have to admit that I love Guerlain, especially their powders and Meteorites finishing powders. I am very cool when it comes to bronzing powders, I just do not use them, but this one is wonderful.  It has 16 gr, a fair amount of product if you ask me, especially for a summer product you will use throughout the whole warm season. The product has a light scent to it, very sweet one, reminds me of tiare flowers. But the scent does not transfer onto the skin when you apply the powder. Here are some close-up pictures of the item.

 I have a light complexion so I tend to be cautious when it comes to bronzing powders. The good thing about this one is that the powder suits for medium to light complexions! It is of course buildable. There are four shades in this powder- the bronze shade a warm light brown shade with golden micro shimmer in it; the orange shade with pink micro shimmer in it; the pink shade with pinky-golden shimmer in it, and finally the ivory shade with golden shimmer. The shimmer is finely milled, not at all chunky or the one that will potentially make you look like 80's Disco babe.

I guess the idea behind this is that you swirl all colors together and apply it on your face with a large powder brush. I personally find the color that I get after the "swirl" to be too pinky and to dark for me. Therefore, I solely apply the bronzer lightly on higher points of my face, the one that usually get exposed to the sun, like the forehead, the chin, the cheekbones, and the back of my nose. After that, I swirl the colors and apply the pinky bronze color to the cheeks. Here is how I get the sun-kissed look. I have used this product only twice up until now, because the weather is just not collaborating at all. I will be using it this coming summer for sure. Here are some swatches for you, guys. It was quite difficult to swatch the ivory shade because it is close to pink, so some pink color got in when I swatches the ivory shade. Overall, the pink, orande and ivory stripes are very tiny, in case if you wish to use any of these colors individually as eye shadows, for instance- use smaller brush or sponge.

Overall, I feel like this bronzing powder is made for lighter complexions. As I have said previously, the color can be built up, but honestly- what if you have a deeper shade of skin? I mean, is it worth to pay 79 € for the product that might have to be applied over and over again to get a  desirable color? I would say that it might not be the ideal product for the deeper skin tones, but I find it to be a great item!

My Nars Blushes

I don't have a large Nars blush collection, just three pieces. The ones I have are Torrid, Deep Throat and Exhibit A. The good thing is Nars blushes is the wide variety of shades plus they come out with limited edition shades very often.  With sucha  selection every woman regardless on her complexion is able to find the shade she likes. A shade or two :) or even three :)

So, on to blushes. There are so many reviews written on these blushes that I feel like there is nothing more I can add.I will try, however. There is 4,8 gr of product in some blushes, like in my Exhibit A and 4,5 in my Deep Throat and my Torrid blush. I personally do not know why is that so, but it is good they decided to increase the volume of the product when usually companies tend to decrease the volume and increase the price. Also the country of manufacture varies- USA or Canada for my bushes.  The blush comes in an elegant black rubberized packaging, it is very sleek and easy to store. There is no brush or anything coming with this item, which is ok, since the majority of  "come along" brushes are just useless. There is a mirror in the packaging as well, which is nice, although it is quite small to aid you in blush application. The fingerprints are not visible on the packaging due to its finish, which is good. Here are my blushes from left to right:  Deep Throat, Exhibit A and Torrid.

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The blushes have no scent, just a "normal"powdery one. It is very neutral and you don't feel it unless you decide to stick your nose inside the box and sniff it.

Torrid is a warm coral with golden shimmer n it. Deep Throat is a peachy pink with subtle golden shimmer and Exhibit A is rigorous red matte blush. The Deep Throat and Torrid are alike, although Torrid is deeper. I feel like if I could go back I would not purchase Torrid. Not because I don't like it, but because it is similar to Deep Throat. I bought these two blushes without prior testing because there is no Nars counter in Finland.

The Exhibit A was a blush I wanted to buy for a long time, and I got it as a present. I am happy with it! It looks scary in a pot, but really you don't have to apply a lot to get a healthy-looking blushed cheeks. Use a lighter hand, and  I assure you that even lighter complexions like myself are able to be  great friends with this product. 

Hera are swatches of these blushes, applied with  dry finger to my skin, no primer underneath. One coat application. From left to right Exhibit A, Torrid, Deep Throat.

Now, are these blushes unique? I don't think so, although I would like to buy several other shades, Angelika, Desire and Douceur and maybe  a shade or two more.  I feel like the pigmentation, the application and the staying power here a very good. These are just the blushes you can rely on. You just know that no matter what they will stay, they won't fade and won't go patchy. The price tag on these is around 30 €. Not cheap. Are there cheaper alternatives? Yes, there are. Lots of companies make decent quality blushes nowadays. Overall, I would recommend these blushes to a friend, yes. Just keep in mind that almost to every cosmetic item the cheaper alternative can be found. Cheaper does not mean worse, by the way. Not always, at least. And keep in mind to go easy on the blush, you can always add more in you decide to do so. If you go overboard, it is very problematic to take the excess away!

P.S.I feel like I HAVE to say about the elephant in the room- the iconic Orgasm blush. I don't  find it particularly interesting or unique. At first I was choosing between Orgasm and Torrid and Torrid won unconditionally. I purchased one blush to test the quality of these blushes, texture and ease of application. After I tested it and loved it, I got another one. Still deliberating between Orgasm and Deep Throat, Deep Throat won for me and was purchased.

I wonder if women tend to buy Orgasm because of its name rather than because of the actual shade? What do you think?  There is a wide selection of shades at Nars, but why Orgasm got so much attention?

By the way, I am not scandalized by the names of these blushes, I like them.

Clarins Palette Eclat Poudre Teint & Blush and Clarins Graphic Expression Face& Blush Powder

I feel like Clarins comes out with same ideas over and over again, they have pretty face palettes that seems to be and feel the same on the skin. The only thing that changes is the pattern on the actual powder. Having said this, I don't think this is a bad product. Quite on the contrary. I enjoy it. Please. see for yourself the palettes from spring collections of years 2012 and 2014. To me. they all look kinda same. Well, more or less so.

Now onto my Spring 2013 palette. The packaging is sleek and stylish, although I notices that it catches the fingerprints like crazy. There is a red velvety pocket sleeve along with this palette to store it in. There is a generous 10 gr of product in this Face and Blush Palette, which is a good amount. The palette houses a good-sized mirror. I have to warn those of you, guys, who a re overly sensitive to scented make-up products. This palette is lightly scented. The scent is ever so light, but however can be a no-go for some of you.

There are 3 distinctive shades in this palette: the warmer beige as a "base" and two blush shades-  a vivid pink and a peach. The powder is finely milled, the texture is amazing. I feel like it is possible to apply two or more layers without resulting cakey.

I guess the idea behind making such tiny stripes of color was that all colors were supposed to be picked up using a wide powder brush and just swirled and then applied to the face. Good idea, but not for the ligher skin tones might be not a great one. Might be too pinky, and there is no way you can pick up just the pink color to apply it to your cheeks since color stripes are very small. The powder has a great pigmentation and a nice beige color. I guess, it is universal, and flatters most skin tones except for the deep ones. I find this shade a bit too dark for me, I mean, nothing tragic but I will keep it for summer when I am a bit darker.

Overall, I enjoy this product and this will be my to-to palette in summer!

This is an addition to the post, I have now bought the Graphic Expression Palette, which is a Autumn 2013 Limited Edition item. Here again, the design of the palette itself is identical. The same signature red box and the red velvet pouch, and sleek golden packaging and same subtle scent of violets. The pattern of the powder is different,of course. I feel like although this item was launched in Autumn collection, it is more suitable for Summer collection. For me, this can go as a bronzing powder due to multi-colored stripes and rather intense summery light brownish color. The stripes on this powder vary from dusty muted pink to medium brown to pink-brown shade.

Here again it might seem like the palette is similar to the one I own and the two I posted pictures of. With it I more or less agree, to be honest. I feel like there is a little difference between colors of these palettes after all, but it is not very pronounced. Both my palettes will go well for summer, both can go occasionally for colder period of the year to refresh the complexion. The texture of these palettes permits to apply a necessary amount of product, and there is no risk to look overdone or "baked".

I should point out that it is not practical to use a particular shade from this palette separately, like for example to apply a particular color as an eyeshadow, or as proposed by Clarins "coral pink  applied as as a blush".. The sections are rather small. Just like in the previous palette, it is more logical and easy to swirl all colors together and apply them to the face or a bit more intensively to the cheeks. And yes, the golden shade next to the tiny pink is just a gold overspray.

Overall, this is a pleasant palette to have in a make-up stash. A sort of no-brainer for summer or for a weekend away.

Rimmel London Lasting Finish Color Rush Long Lasting Intense Color Balm

I have found these two darlings unintentionally. I was just browsing an online store and these caught my eye. This product is unavailable in Finland, therefore I had to trust my gut feeling and just buy them not knowing whether I will like them or not.  And I love them!

This is a product that is positioned like a long lasting intense color balm. It has 2,5 gr of product and comes in a pencil form. Does not require sharpening, just twist and apply! The product is made in Italy.

The shades I have are # 100 Give Me A Cuddle and # 500 The Redder The Better ( I love the name by the way!). Rimmel promises us the lightweight formula, intense color and moisturized lips.  I can say that for me these products do exactly what they promise to do. I am happy to have them in my lip product stash.

These balms feel really nice on lips, they don't dry out the lips and color really stays for hours. If you decide to have a meal while wearing this on your lips, you will have to refresh it after the meal in case you want this glossy shine or just leave it like that- there will be a nice stain on your lips. It fades nicely on your lips leaving an even stain, not a patchy one.

I personally apply these without a brush. It is very hassle-free in terms of application. The red one stays for a good 4 hours on the lips, the pink one tends to go away a bit quicker. 

The good thing here is that you can play with the intensity of the application. You use the lighter hand and just blot the product to get a stain or apply it right from a pencil to get a bold result on your lips.

Here are the swatches on the hand and on the lips. These are one coat swatches on  my hand  and two coats for better visibility on my lips.

Overall, I enjoy this product very much! The price is approx. 7.50 € per piece.

P.S. As of April, 2014 these are on sale in Finland, at around 9 € depending on a store. But it seems that shade selection is limited. I have seen only 4 so far.

CK One Summer 2013 Limited Edition

I am a big fan of Summer editions of perfumes Calvin Klein comes out every spring. I have been collecting those for about 8 years now. I enjoy CK Be and CK One as well. In fact, CK One for me is the go-to fragrance when I do not know what to wear. Anyway, so far my favorite of CK One Summer editions is CK One Electric. I don't have it anymore, and I don't find it anymore. It was an amazing scent of 2006. In case you have a bottle- let me know! 

Now onto CK One Summer 2013 edition. I love this bottle! It is patterned, looks like water drops all over the bottle surface. Great! It makes this bottle quite easy to keep in hand, it won't slip out easily. The pyramid is very simple, I'd say. There are watery notes and citrus at the top of fragrance, cucumber, watermelon and water lily at the heart and musk and moss at the base. This scent, along with other CK One Summer scents, and CK One and CK be are meant for both men and women. In fact, I share these scents with my special one.

This scent opens up with a strong water and citrus notes. And then they just go on and on. I mean, the scent does not change much for me. It is a water lily, cucumber, watermelon and water notes all the way. It is definitely having a hint of citrus in it, which makes this fragrance refreshing and wearable during summer hot days. A fizzy watery refreshing scent- yes, that is right.

In terms of price, it is in the mid-lower side of the price range, since this is a summer fragrance and they tend to retail at a cheaper price. I got mine for 34 € per 100 ml of edt. Price/quality relation- I give it a 4 on a multiple rating scale from 1 to 5 ( where 1 equals poor, 2 is fair, 3 is average, 4 is good, 5 is excellent). I give it a 4 because I always compare these summer scents to CK One Electric, which was my fave. It is not a bad fragrance, it just not as great as was Electric. But otherwise, this is a great item for its price, and 100 ml will last and last ( through all summer, be sure!) even if you are a heavy perfume user. In terms of age, CK One 2013 can be worn by women and men who like this type of scent. 

This fragrance can be worn in summer with jeans shorts for a beach day or an evening walk by the sea. It is summery, and it all that matters! The sillage depends on how heavily handed you are when applying it. I usually apply quite a lot of it. Up to 6 spritzes, really. The lasting power is quite OK for this kind of scent. You will get a good 4-5 hours of stay with 3-4 spritzes. 

I always urge people to test fragrances prior to purchasing. I guess there is no need to test it before you buy it if you are familiar with at least one or two CK One Summer fragrances. They are all sort of same-themed aquatic refreshing citrus scents.

Overall, this one did not impress me much. Nonetheless, I will keep using it in summer or for a gym workout. Moreover, I will keep buying religiously these summer editions every single year and hope that some day they will re-promote One Electric or blend something similar.