Estée Lauder Pure Colour Cheek Rush Cello Shots

A tint of colour on your cheeks rather than a full on powdering of blush creates such a fresh, natural look which I think is absolutely perfect for Summer. Up until now, creams have made the perfect formula to achieve that look but new from Estée Lauder is the Pure Colour Cello Shot Collection and within the collection is four shades that make up the Pure Colour Cheek Rush range.

01 Hot Fuse, 03 X-Pose Rose and 04 Techno Jam* are lightweight, highly pigmented and transparent gels that provide beautiful sheer colour on your cheeks in an oil free, water, very much stain based, formula.

The tiniest amount of product, blended quickly into your skin gives the "just pinched" look that when blended looks super natural in amongst the rest of your make up. These silky feeling gels do create the most lovely of finishes, but you do have to be pretty quick with them and be prepared to wash your hands almost immediately. I underestimated how much these would work and it took a fair bit of soap and water to remove even these swatches from my hand and fingertips, let alone my flushed cheeks. Although they are a tiny bit messy, the quick drying, super tinting formula is perfect for Summer and in terms of staying power, they will stick around a fair while without moving or disappearing from your cheeks.

The colours are very similar to the shade matched pump bottles, although again, once blended into the skin they are much more of a sheer tint so don't be put off in the slightest by the ever so intense shaded gels.

I'm really enjoying using these products, although of course, I'm completely wishing there was a Peachy Coral in amongst the range of four shades.

Costing £24 for a 8g pump bottle, these Estée Lauder Pure Colour Cheek Rush Cello Shots are available to buy online and at Estée Lauder counters in Boots, John Lewis, Selfridges and Debenhams.

What do you think of these Cheek Rush Cello Shots? Is a silky gel texture stain something you would use for a fresh and natural look?

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Nars Gina

I mentioned on last weeks vlog that I finally caved in and purchased Nars Gina, a blush that has been on my wish list for some time now, but for some unknown reason never quite made it into my basket. It's very quickly become a favourite of mine and having applied it daily since buying it, I can see it being super content on my cheeks for a long time to come.

Gina is a soft, beautifully brightening Orange Apricot toned shade that I find sits lovely and complimentary with my make up, adding the perfect fresh looking finish. The colour is very much a me shade and fits in well with my ever-expanding Peachy, Fresh and Coral toned blush collection, probably sitting next to Illamasqua Lover in terms of similarity.

It's perfectly pigmented and has the ability to blend out pretty easily if you do go in a little too heavy handed, which I'm sure we've all done.

I really love Nars products and particularly love the sleek rubberised mirrored compacts. I find they're a really nice size and lovely to work with.

Nars blushes cost £21.50 and are available to buy online and at Nars counters in Selfridges, Liberty and Space NK.

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Smashbox Halo Long Wear Blush- Peachy Dream

A few weeks ago I was invited along to a mini photoshoot with Smashbox and Bumble & Bumble and whilst it was fantastic to be pampered and made over to perfection before being put in front of a camera, my main concern was of course, rummaging through the make up artists kit to see the new products that Smashbox have to offer.

I was really pleased when the make up artist recommended products and shades to me that I would personally pick out of the collections anyway, and when she chose to use the latest Smashbox Mineral Halo Long W ear Blush in Peachy Dream* on me, as you can probably imagine I was super happy. Now, I describe many beautiful Peach products as a Peachy Dream, and with it being titled that, I'm pleased to confirm there is no false description as it really is a pretty spectacular shade.

Peachy Dream is a beautiful Coral that can be used on the cheeks as subtle or as intense as you wish, due to its amazingly pigmented yet blendable formula. It's pretty pigmented, so you do have to be careful with how much product you apply, but as pigmented as it is, it does blend out beautifully, making a more subtle look completely accessible. 

I personally prefer a more low key look, so I try my best to apply a tiny amount of product to my brush, tap off the excess and apply as lightly as possible, being sure to blend it out well to avoid an overly done, Noddy like look.

Transferred onto the skin, Peachy Dream is such a brightening, pretty shade and as far as Coral blushes go, this is currently one of my top.

This blush comes in a mineral form and works with a little grinder and twist function, which pushes product up into the pan. I'm normally all for a gimmick and although I was hoping it would be more convenient, I don't really love the style of packaging. I personally find mineral products to be pretty messy anyway, and with this, I always end up with more product than necessary which then gets left in the pan and transfers onto the mirror and when I open the compact the next time, I end up covered in Peachy Dream powder.

As much as I do find this Smashbox Halo Long Wear Blush is a little messy, the colour is absolutely beautiful and I love that it stays around a fair while on my cheeks, keeping my them pretty and glowing.

Available in four shades, this blush costs £23 and is available to buy as of the 3rd April 3013, at Smashbox counters, Boots and online.

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Clarins Palette Eclat Face & Blush Powder

This Clarins Face & Blush Powder* is apart of the Clarins limited edition SS13 collection and has been at the front of my make up drawers for the past couple of months as my go-to product for a flush of subtle colour and to finish any shinier areas of my foundation. 

Though I do use the natural, flesh toned shade quite often with a small powder brush to set small areas of foundation or concealer, I find that I have been using this powder the majority of the time for the beautiful areas of Pink and Peach toned blush, which I swirl a brush over to add a hint of colour to my cheeks. Mixed together, the three shades create such a lovely subtle tone, with the prettiness of the Pink and Peach creating the perfect finish for my make up.

The sleek Gold packaging that holds this mirrored Clarins powder is beautiful and homed alone or in its luxurious Red pouch, is a dream. The beautiful embossed flower detail on the powder further adds to its luxurious finish and makes it a very fancy compact to pull out from your make up bag.

At the moment, I'm finding all Clarins products to be so beautiful, especially those in the limited edition collections and if you fancy treating yourself by adding a special little something into your make up bag, then I really recommend a product like this.

This Clarins Palette Eclat Face & Blush Powder costs £30 and is available online and at Clarins counters.

What do you think of this product? Do you like multi-use palettes or would you prefer a blush and a powder?

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Sisley Phyto-Blush Eclat- 5 Pinky Coral

This Sisley Phyto-Blush Eclat is named quite perfectly and fitting for my ever-growing collection of similar shades. Pinky Coral* is a beautiful blend of yes, Pink Coral shades that when brushed onto either the apples of my cheeks or just dusted lightly all over my cheekbones adds the perfect amount of colour and creates the perfect touch to my make up. 

The embossed pan matches the design of the Zebra print mirrored compact, which although I think is certainly quite daring and flamboyant is very eye catching and adds some fun into your make up bag. 

It's very different to the classic and elegant look that most Sisley products have, but actually it fits in pretty well.

The product is made up of both lighter and darker tones and this is so that you can use both shades separately in order to sculpt your cheeks into perfection. 

I personally like to sweep my blusher brush over the whole pan, picking up both shades together which creates a beautiful, nicely pigmented matte Coral-Pink tone. 

Though I'm careful to not go too over the top, I do like to go quite heavy with colour on my cheeks and the pigmentation of this product works great for that. If you do like more of a subtle look, then a little sweep of product, tapped off before application would be perfect. 

This blush is made up of lots of fabulous active ingredients to do wonderful things to your skin including minimising surface imperfections with its soft focus effect but if I'm honest, although it does feel and look very soft, I'm not sure a blush can benefit my skins appearance too much. 

Sisley is an extremely high end skin care and cosmetic brand, though like I mentioned in my previous Sisley post, they do tend to represent great quality and results. Although Sisley products are beautiful, I do feel that the price of some of their cosmetics are definitely more than what I usually like to spend. 

This Sisley Phyto-Blush Eclat costs £48.50 and is available in Selfridges, Harrods, John Lewis and Liberty.

What do you think of this Sisley Blush? Would you use both shades to sculpt or would you blend them together like I do?

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Laura Mercier Signature Colour Essentials- Custom Palette

Vintage Pink,  Morning Dew, Primrose, Topaz and Kir Royal

On Christmas day, I was one of those girls that whilst tucked up on the sofa watching festive films and eating tons of goodies, I was also rushing my way through the online sales in search for bargains and having heard so much about how good Space NK sales are, it was of course my first stop.

I was so pleased when I managed to get my hands on a Laura Mercier Signature Colour Essentials set for Face, Eyes and Lips which included this custom palette, two Classic Eyeshadow Duets, a Second Skin Cheek Colour, a deluxe travel size Foundation Primer, a full size Caviar Stick Eye Colour in Twilight, a travel size Full Blown Volume Lash Building Mascara, a full size Lip Glace in Sweetheart and a travel sized All Over Colour brush for the incredible price of £12.50. It was 50% off it's original price, which for the amount it includes was great to begin with.  

I'm so pleased with the whole set but thought I would share the palette with you, which is what initially grabbed my attention.

It's a mirrored custom palette, which I wasn't aware of when I ordered but is such a bonus. It means that in time, I will probably pop out the eye products and in place build a custom blush palette that will most definitely home my favourite Laura Mercier blush, Peach Whisper. 

The shades this palettes features are

Laura Mercier Second Skin Cheek Colour in Vintage Pink 3.60g

Laura Mercier Eye Colour Duet Morning Dew and Primrose 2x 1.10g

Laura Mercier Eye Colour Duet  2x 1.10g

I'm a huge fan of the Second Skin Cheek Colours and my favourite is Peach Whisper, but this exclusive shade Vintage Pink is a great addition to my collection. It's a beautiful Pink shade and although in the pan it looks a little more muted than I thought it would, on the skin it's a lot brighter and definitely falls perfectly into my Coral Pink collection.  

As I mentioned recently, eyeshadows are growing on me and I think these four shades are great to introduce into my small but growing eye collection. Morning Dew, Primrose and Topaz are definitely my favourites which probably isn't a surprise as they are easier on the eye and the more wearable shades, but Kir Royal, though maybe not the easiest for me to wear is a beautiful deep Plum shade that I think would be so complimentary on darker or Green eyes. They are all extremely pigmented and velvety on the skin and for the price I paid for this set, I am absolutely thrilled. 

Individually, Laura Mercier Eye Colour Duets cost £18.50 and Second Skin Cheek Colours cost £20.50.

Though now sold out online, surprisingly, I've heard that there are a few of these sets floating around Space NK stores still. Did you manage to pick up any Beauty wonders in the sales? Do any of these Laura Mercier products catch your eye?

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Chantecaille Cheek Shade- Delight

Whilst visiting one of my favourite stores, Liberty, I had my inevitable look around the beauty counters and without any exaggeration, knew I had to get this Chantecaille Blush as soon as I saw it. 

I think the lady on the counter wanted me to buy a blush from another collection, but I was so adamant that this was the one I wanted. It looked to be apart of the colour family I always go for, and feel most comfortable with on my cheeks. 

It's called Delight and it is matte Rosy Peach Pink shade, that I must admit looked a lot more on the Peach spectrum in store and when I got home and tried it with my make up, though it is lovely, I was a little disappointed. Other than the shade, the thing that sold me most of this product was how soft and delicate it feels on the skin. It's made up of micro particle technology that produces an extremely light and fine powder that feels so soft when both swatched and on the skin. Another selling point of this product I have found out when researching into it further, is that it also includes Vitamins A, C and E which somehow help with anti-aging. I'm not so sure on how a blush would do this, but it certainly sounds good.

The colour pay off is very strong. It's really super pigmented and although it does blend out pretty easily, you do have to be quite light with it at risk of looking too flushed and Pink cheeked (or clown like!).

The downside of this product is that at £24, there is only 2.5g of product. It's pretty packaging with a mixture of a shine and frosted finish, but I do think that for such a tiny blush it is quite expensive and I'm not sure if it's really worth it. I do like it and the shade is nice, but I don't love it. I have noticed that I don't reach for it as much as I do other blushes, which with me says a lot. 

Have you tried any Chantecaille blushes? What do you think of them?  

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