By Terry Holiday 2012 -- Or de Rose Blush Prestige and Opaline Flash

So after having issues with my machine, seeing a boy who doesn't seem to stop asking questions about my makeup, being sick, not to mention now visiting my parents...here I am.

Now, let's discuss Terry Holiday (in terms of what I purchased):

Or de Rose Blush Prestige: it's not the first liquid blush from Terry that I own, but in comparison to the others, it's less sparkly. I remember reviewing them for the first time a while back and having a hard time explaining why I like them. Reason being the crazy shimmer factor -- it's probably why not a lot of people like them. Anyway, so the holiday blush has less sparkle, but definitely has a significant shimmer...it's more refined in finish than her other three. 

The color in of itself can be seen as a rose gold, but on me in some lighting it can be seen as a peach. What else is more luxurious than 24 carat pink gold liquid blush in glass packaging? It's a nice surprise to see something warm and summery in feel being incorporated into a holiday collection. I really like the shade and of course the formula is easy to apply, blend and it sets really well. The major downside to her liquid blushes is the super strong rose fragrance, it's a stronger rose than her other products like lipstick and skincare.

The blush is $79 + tax for 15 mL or 0.5 fl oz

Opaline Flash Crayon Kôhl Terrybly: This one I was on the fence on in terms of idea. A pink eyeliner to brighten the eye area? I thought to myself, "yea, more like having pink eye". When I saw it at the counter I just had to look at it. When I saw the tester and swatched it, I then thought to myself, "well this isn't what I had in mind". You know how a champagne color has that nice frost to it? This very soft, light pink shade has a frost finish to it too. I took it home, applied it on my waterline, and my mom of all people said "you look wide awake". Yea, I'll be getting another one of these. It comes with a sharpener too. 

The pencil is $33.50 for 1.2 grams or 0.04 oz. 

Overall I'm happy with my items, although I do wish Terry had inserted a lipstick to this collection. 

If I ever get to meet her again, I'll ask her to make a lipstick and think of me :-) (ok, wishful thinking).

pictures below: 

opaline flash on the left, Or de Rose Blush Prestige on the right (with flash)

Or de Rose Blush Prestige on the top, opaline flash on the bottom  (low flash)

Giorgio Armani Spring 2011 La Femme Bleue +

I would like to present swatches and overall conclusion to Giorgio Armani Spring 2011:

You can see the entire spring collection on KarlaSugar to see a complete overview on the collection. 518 lipstick is permanent, so I'll be getting that later. What I can say about 518 is that it does have a bit of sparkle, which is unusual, because Rouge d'Armani lipsticks have none (well none that I've tested or own). The artist used 518 lipstick and #16 lip shimmer on top and it's the perfect light pink opal sheen. :) I did find out (random aside) that #16 is their best selling lip shimmer. Overall description: #16 is gorgeous on its own, and the color is what MAC oyster girl wishes she was. I've finally found my super light pink opalescent lip combo that doesn't look like chalk on my pigmented lips. 

The highlight of the collection: the eyeliners. They're smooth, creamy, and extremely long lasting. They apply almost like a gel or liquid eyeliner. They come in black, taupe, and green. I've tested it on the waterline and this stuff doesn't come off. I don't understand why Armani makes these Limited Edition, because they're brilliant. I purchased the black and taupe shades.

I also purchased the blush and what's nice about it is that it's matte. It's the first time that Armani has made a matte blush, but I'm relatively new to the line, so I have no idea if they've made any in the past. 

I got the blush

2 of the black eyeliner (#1)

2 of the taupe eyeliner (#2)

    

From top to bottom: 

Le Metier Precision Liquid Eyeliner in Noir.

Shu Uemura Painting liner

Giorgio Armani eyeliner in #1. (black)

Giorgio Armani eyeliner in #2. (taupe)

I've been going gaga over the black shade because it's so so so black. I missed out on these last year because they were sold out within a couple of days.

In terms of shimmer: The black one has 0 shimmer, whereas the taupe shade it's very fine, micro shimmer. It's only really visible up close.

 

From left to right:

Rock and Republic Spank

Giorgio Armani Spring Blush

Shu P Wine 25.


This blush is amazing. This will now be my everyday soft pink blush. woooohoooo

Spank is a bit warmer in person, but as you can see, the GA pink is definitely not overly cool. It seems more neutral when it's applied on my face, but you can get the idea.

What's worth getting: The eyeliners. The green one is glorious too, but I've only been buying what I'll wear on a consistent basis. The blush, I can see darker skintones not being able to wear it since it's a sheer pink. Plus, if you have a similar shade, then you can pass on it, but the advantage of Armani blushes is the finish and the awesome quality. 


I thought the finishing powder was passable, it's basically a micro fined version of pink opal pigment. I do like the effect it gives on my face (a nice warmth), but I never wear finishing powders. The palette, although it's gorgeous, it's just not what I would wear (personally). Don't be afraid of the colors in it, because the artist did make this palette so wearable (a soft everyday look) on me. This is coming from someone who only really wears neutrals. I do think it's worth seeing if you like greens and purples.

Le Metier de Beaute Precision Liquid Eyeliner in Noir +

I guess today is a Le Metier de Beaute kind of day :)

I asked a MA who works for another high end brand (brand will not be disclosed) and I asked her, "have you heard of Le Metier de Beaute"? 

she responded "Why yes! my favorite item from them is their felt tip eyeliner". I didn't know if I was more surprised from the fact that her item is something that I deem boring, or that her favorite item is not what I had imagined (I actually associate Le Metier de Beaute with their amazing eyeshadows and (or) their lipcremes). 

In terms of what I've tried thus far in terms of eyeliners:

MAC blacktrack: it's nice, but it requires more work than usual because it requires a brush.

MAC penultimate: I just wasn't pleased with this overall. This stuff was hard to work with because I had to layer it for it to look "ok".

Bobbi Brown gel liner (it's blacker than MACs, but the formula is meh, it dries up too quickly).

Shu Uemura felt tip liner: I couldn't get this to work for the life of me, it skips, applies really unevenly. 

Shu Uemura painting liner: the formula is nicer and blacker than MACs. I've returned BBs gel liner a long time ago so I wasn't able to compare Shus and hers. The downside to the painting liner is that it fades if I don't have primer on my eyelids.

Loreal Lineur Intense: ok, this stuff doesn't even go on my eyelids. I don't understand the hype of this item, because it sucks.

NARS eyeliner stylo: it's a nice black, but the formula is hard to work with. It's really a pain in the ass, but if you can get it to work right, it's really nice.

Laura Mercier cake liner: I like this one too, but again, it requires a lot of work to get the consistency right. 

So how does Le Metier de Beaute's compare to all of these? 

A main theme on all of these eyeliners: they're all hard to work with. Skipping, the formula is the suck, and require a lot of work. 

Le Metiers isn't the blackest, but it's surely is easy to apply. Even with a super fast swipe, there's no skipping. I love this one because it's super thin barrel so it fits easily in my bag. I love this liner because it's a nice color to wear during the day. It's not a jet black and there are days I feel like a super black eyeliner is too harsh. As seen below, you can see how small/thin the liner is compared to a Giorgio Armani lipgloss: 

Let's see a super closeup of this liner with a super fast swipe: 

Forgive my poor application since I was caught off guard with my phone vibrating for the split second (as seen the slight bleeding/fanning) towards the right side of the pic. 

I swiped this very, very quickly. 

Lasting power: at least 7 hours. I love this eyeliner. I can't even begin to express how easy for me to apply this. I will say when first applied, there's a slight wet period so it can smudge if you blink very fast.  Once it dries after a couple of seconds, this stuff stays put. 

Pros: it's petrochemical free for all of you who were wondering what kind of ingredients are in this eyeliner. If I do 2 layers of this eyeliner, it's pretty black...but I'm sure there's a liquid eyeliner out there that's insanely black with only one swipe. I know it's out there *shakes fist*

A potential con: This eyeliner may not have as a long duration if you have oily lids. Well the price can be seen as a con too: $42.