Nearly all summer collections have come out in our little corner of the world, and Astrid and I went shopping! (After pondering our summer roundup of course.) Wanna see what we got (hint: Chanel is featured rather heavily)?
What I still want to buy
I’m still pondering the Estée Lauder Illuminating Powder Gelee, but I haven’t had the chance to swatch it yet. I recently counted my highlighters, and I’ve a measly 13. There’s still room for one (especially as I only seem to wear my beloved MAC Lightscapade on an every day basis. The irony!) and the EL highlighter seems to fit the bill. The Chanel one is a bronzer on me (and too orange), the Dior powders are really blushes, and the one in MAC’s Wash & Dry collection is a blush disguised by cleverly applied overspray (a cuss word in the beauty community). But let’s digress from products I didn’t get and concentrate on those I actually bought!
What I actually bought
What kind of a beauty addict am I, you might ask? This year, I decided only to get exceptional products, and especially only to show you products that are outstanding. Nothing that’s lukewarm, nothing that’s only nice, nothing that will vanish in your drawers after you used it twice and the novelty wore off. Nope. Only the best. And the Chanel Style Eyeshadows are definitely on the top of their class.
Chanel Stylo Eyeshadow in Olivine and Campanule
Like the Armani Eye Tints (and there’ll be another formula by MAC that I’ll show you in a little while) their formula combines the holy trifecta of interesting colours, great texture and longevity.
Even if you’re an eyeshadow newbie, these are nearly impossible to get wrong. Sweep them over your eyelids, blend them upwards a bit with your fingers, and done. I love to wear them in summer with just a bit of liner and lots of mascara, because they’re so longwearing. What also makes them great for summer is the cooling sensation upon applying. A bit weird, at first, but so nice when it’s really hot outside and your lids are a bit puffy.
A word of caution, though – don’t twist up your Stylo too much! It might break off if it’s stored in a warm environment and if you put too much pressure on it.
Second word of caution: Don’t ever try to wear the Stylos on your waterline. It burns. So. Much. Personally I’m also very careful if I want to wear one of the Stylos on the lower lashline.
It seems to me that the texture of the 2015 Stylos is a bit creamier than those of the 2013 edition – so build them up slowly and let each layer dry completely to build it up. Then it last for quite some time, though not as long as my Stylos from 2013. I experienced absolutely no glitter fallout with all the Stylos I tested. I read on some blogs that people complained about stiffness and difficulties to blend the new Stylos. I experienced the absolute opposite, which makes me think that there’re different batches around. Do swatch them before you’re buying the Stylos to experience their texture und to determine whether you might like them or not!
Chanel can be counted upon for turning out really complex colours. The violet ‘Campanule’ is a bright yet saturated purple with pink and blue glitters that never look over the top. I can imagine that colour on everybody, regardless of eye colour or skintone. It goes on a bit sheer but can be easily build up. I personally liked the sheer wash of colour very much – it made the glitter really pop.
The olive ‘Olivine’ I thought drab and boring at first. It’s a khaki green that seems matte at first glance, but then reveals tiny teal shimmer that makes the colour so interesting and unique. I honestly don’t have anything like it and would again recommend this shade to everybody.
Other colours of the lineup are Caroube and Rose Laurier, both great for blue-eyed beauties, and blue Azulejo, which will make brown eyes pop.
What Astrid bought
Astrid picked two products as well.
Chanel Terrana nailpolish
This is where ‘Bronze Goddess’ takes the bronze from J. I was pleasantly surprised to see Chanel include a more unusual colour in their nailpolish line for summer. The brown base colour gets its cool and rather taupe touch from the tons of tiny pink and bronze shimmers in the polish. Astrid is a fiend for a multi-tone nailpolish, so she had to have it. When she first tried it on, though, it wasn’t love at first swipe (well, she was on an airplane at that point because she couldn’t wait to get it on her nails, so application was a bit difficult!). To get the colour to show up properly, you definitely need two coats, but then you’re ready to rock an unusual summer shade!
MAC Technakohl eyeliner in Practice Makes Perfect
Karen from Makeupandbeautyblog can sell both of us nearly everything. That woman just oozes style and her makeup application skills are absolutely awesome. Astrid even has the same skintone as her, so many many lemmings are born from just browsing her blog. Karen said in this blogpost that MAC’s eyeliner in Practice Makes Perfect from the recent Wash & Dry collection is a must-have to make the brown eyes pop.
Astrid swatched it innocently and was lost, because this shade of dark teal is just so pretty! (Plus, it was a gift from a dear friend.). How could she say no to that?! And look how pretty it is against her skintone – and glides smoothly over the delicate skin on her eyelids too. Love.
When I saw it on Astrid, (and Karen) I immediately had to go and swatch it as well. Luckily I found some rather close dupes! Here’s Practice Makes Perfect on my NC20 skintone:
All of the products featured here can still be bought at most locations, online and in-store. Prices range from 17,50$/20€ for the Technakohl liner, 34$/29€ for the Chanel Stylo Eyeshadows and 27$/23€ for the Chanel nailpolish.
Did you get anything from the big summer collections? Or are are you rather waiting for the rich jewel tones of the Fall collections?
