Sunday Inspiration: Charlotte Tilbury and Liberty Ross

My new, virtual BFF - Charlotte Tilbury

This video was recently featured on Charlotte Tilbury's Youtube channel and ultimately served as my source of inspiration. To uncomplicate matters, I chose a few items from my own stash and performed a dry run yesterday and I'm actually quite pleased with the execution. 

My take

Typically I shy away from using such dark colours on my eyes in fear of looking like a raccoon or a panda bear; the real-estate is minimal, but I soldiered on to see if I could make this work. To temper the intensity of the eyes, I kept things fairly neutral -- clean, sun kissed skin and full soft pink lips, all of which had to be framed with bold brows. 

A handful of the items used: NARS Callisto, Burberry's Trench, Chanel's Mirifique, Armanis' Rouge Ecstasy in Daybreak and Waterproof Smooth Silk Eye Pencil in Black

The eyes

I took a bit of a backwards approach and started with the eyes first as I knew there would be loads of fallout. The juxtaposition of the completed eye look and my ruddy, red skin was a bit shocking, albeit temporary. Do me a favour and don't let the strong eyes deter you, I almost threw in the towel due to fear and uncertainty.

Eye Breakdown

1. Apply an eye primer and allow it to set;
2. Curl your lashes;
3. Tight line the upper lash line with black eyeliner;
4. Grab a neutral beige eyeshadow, preferably without shimmer and blend it from the upper lash line to your brow bone;
5. Next, reach for a sparkly black eyeshadow. If you don't own one, simply layer a wicked shimmery shadow over something similar to MAC's Carbon. Keep the darkness limited to the eyelid only; should you accidentally go past the imaginary line blend it out as if your life depended on it;
6. Line the lower lash line with the same black eyeliner you used a few moments before and smudge it with the excess black eyeshadow applied in the previous step to make the lashes appear thicker;
7. Highlight the inner corners of your eyes with a silvery pink eyeshadow to make your eyes pop;
8. Apply lots and lots of mascara. We're talking truckloads;
9. Fill in those brows and be sure to go a tad darker than usual;
10. Finally, grab a cotton bud or Q-tip soaked in eye makeup remover and clean up any fallout.

Skin, lips and cheeks

Underpin your everyday makeup with a primer and medium coverage foundation; I used a pearl sized amount of Laura Mercier's Silk Cream Foundation to cancel out the redness in my cheeks, nose and forehead.

Skin Breakdown

1. Apply primer, making sure to focus on any oily areas;
2. If you have any blemishes or dark undereye circles, use concealer to erase these bad boys;
3. Reach for that medium coverage foundation and blend all over, making sure to avoid messing up those beautiful peepers;
4. Set the foundation with finishing powder or powder foundation;
5. Contour the hollows of the cheeks, along the sides of the nose and the top of your forehead right near the hairline;
6. Highlight the bridge of your nose, the cheekbones, the brow bone, the centre of your forehead and the cupids bow;
7. Smile and apply a small amount of blush and blend upward towards the temples;
8. Finish with lipstick.

A word of caution, I did experience fallout from my water eyes. Be sure to tote around a cotton bud or two.

Full list of items used:

• Laura Mercier's Foundation Primer
• Laura Mercier's Silk Creme Foundation in Cream Ivory
• Chanel's Vitalumière Loose Powder Foundation in shade 30 
• Too Faced Chocolate Soleil Medium/Deep Matte Bronzer
• Hourglass' Ambient Lighting Powder in Luminous Light
• Illamasqua's Blush in Naked Rose
• NARS Smudge Proof Eyeshadow Base
• NARS Dual Intensity Eyeshadow in Callisto
• Chanel's Illusion d'Ombre in Mirifique
• Burberry's eyeshadow in Trench
• Armani's Waterproof Smooth Silk Eyeliner in Black
• Chanel's Inimitable Waterproof Mascara in Noir
• Armani's Rouge Ecstasy in Daybreak  

//Video Source

A glimpse at the lips: Chanel's Rouge Allure Gloss in Supreme 17

Chanel's Rouge Allure Gloss in Supreme 17

Click.

Swipe.

Purse.

Smack.

Sorted.

Totes Bond-like packaging - you're either one click away from plush, kissable lips or unwittingly blowing up the likes of Nick Nack, Jaws or Oddjob. Whatever you do, duck if you should ever lock your gaze upon a flying hat.

Lippie lovers will experience a love/hate relationship with the sleek, black lacquered tube. It's fun, functional, but doesn't offer any clarity or a window into its soul. Want to know which colour you've plucked out of your bag? Flip that tube over and take a peek at the label. If you're looking for a transparent lover, Dior's Fluid Stick or Armani's Flash Lacquer might be safer bets, that's if you've got a hankering for luxe makeup. 

What Chanel has here is a gloss cross lipstick. Highly pigmented, loads of shine, a hint of tackiness (me thinks for staying power), complete with a stained finish prior to expiring around hour four.

"A gloss for women who love lipstick.

A lipstick for women who love gloss."

- Chanel

The recessed opening which features fancy, schmancy engineering

Swatch of Supreme 17

Supreme 17 is a bottled version of Strawberry Shortcake. It's as if she was set loose in the factory and left to her own devices. A blue based berry glace, sans whipped cream.

Wearing Chanel's Rouge Allure Gloss in Supreme 17

The Bagful breakdown:

Total amount for Chanel's Rouge Allure Gloss:

• $50.00 AUS / $34.00 USD

Value for money spent (performance and quality):

• 8 out of 10 bags — A hasty choice that paid off.

Would another purchase be on the horizon?:

• Melissa lured me in with a tester and now I am the proud owner of Chanel's Inimitable Waterproof Mascara. #makeupenabler

Chanel's Vitalumière Loose Powder Foundation

Chanel's Vitalumière Loose Powder Foundation in Shade Beige 30 

I definitely fit in the 'easy makeup with great looking skin' category -- upon reading Vivianna's review of Chanel's Vitalumière Loose Powder Foundation late last month and witnessed just that, I knew I needed to get my butt over to my local Chanel counter to get the 411.

Let's break things down to get to the heart of the matter.

Powdery goodness

The packaging is a tad luxe, typical Chanel, yet functional at the same time. To dispense the loose powder from the reservoir gently tip the jar upside down with the lid screwed on tight and allow gravity to do the rest. Give the jar a little shake or tap the base, turn it right side up and remove the cap. You'll notice a small amount of powder waiting for you on the underside of the lid.

Built-in silky filter

The lightly perfumed mica powder is finely milled, but Chanel went one step further by including a baleen-type filter to help break apart any settled bits. The delicate screen also acts as a net to keep the loose powder from abandoning ship.

Every jar comes with a mini kabuki brush -- talk about soft! Personally, I prefer to use my own full size foundation brush as I feel like I can control the application process with a longer handle. Props to Chanel for including a quality brush.

Swatch of Beige 30 - can you even see it?

The shade selection is astoundingly small and could potentially jeopardise interested shoppers. Here's a snapshot of the five shades available for purchase..

Beige 10, 20, 30, 40 and 50 (from left to right)

To perk up my pale, post-winter skin I purchased Beige 30 (the centre swatch); Beige 20, whilst lighter worked as well, but I was going for a natural, warmer oomph.

The powder itself is really easy to apply, we're talking a small amount of required buffing. Or as Chanel puts it, "flip, dip and sweep." Seriously. On average it takes me less than two minutes to get things looking even. I've also found that I don't need a lot of product -- thank goodness, cuz this stuff isn't cheap.

After medium to full coverage? Go in with another helping or two without stressing about things turning cake-y, it just won't happen.

Yesterday's glow-y situation featuring a soft and diffused finish

When a makeup artist compliments your glowing skin, you know you're onto something pretty great. It really was a my skin but better moment and I am beyond thrilled by the unexpected kudos I received. Chanel's promise of "natural second-skin result with no hint of thickness and an amazingly even and smooth skin texture" is now my complexion's reality. 

The Bagful breakdown:

Total amount for Chanel's Vitalumière Loose Powder Foundation:

• $98.00 AUS / £55.00 GBP / $79 USD (I think)

Value for money spent (performance and quality):

• 10 out of 10 bags — hopefully I won't burn through this stuff too quickly!

Would another purchase be on the horizon?:

• Don't know how I managed to get my paws on Chanel's Rouge Allure Gloss in 17 Supreme, but I did. If you're the type who'd move mountains for Burberry's Sweet Pea, then you'll die for this! I'll have a review up later this week 💋

Take two: Chanel's Les 4 Ombres Multi-Effect Quadra Eyeshadow in Tisse Vendome

Chanel's Tisse Vendome

This isn't a review per se, but commentary on performance troubleshooting. You see I dropped a pretty penny for Tisse Vendome and I am not one to throw in the towel.

The creasing issues I experienced were equivalent to having the bird flipped at me. General frustration doesn't even begin to account for the wave of emotions that fell over me. Again, never one to give up, perseverance is my only friend in this sort of situation.

Wearing Tisse Vendome over NARS Smudge Proof Eyeshadow Base

On me NARS Smudge Proof Eyeshadow never fails, period (or so I thought). Without hesitation, I reached for it prior to applying Tisse Vendome a few weeks back; by hour seven the creasing was abysmal.

Tisse Vendome and I took a much needed break in order for me to figure out a way to make this relationship work.

Wearing Too Faced Shadow Insurance Primer and Urban Decay's Eyeshadow Primer Potion

Going the two birds one stone route worked when it came time to test Tisse Vendome over my two travel-sized primers from Too Faced and Urban Decay. P-Cakes suggested forgoing primer altogether, but my oily eyelids wouldn't have given Tisse Vendome a chance in heck.

Did Tisse Vendome and I skip off into the sunset?

We sure did and I have Too Faced and Urban Decay to thank for that. All told, our skipping session lasted well over eight hours last night and there was no creasing in sight.