Pixi Endless Silky Eye Pen Swatches

As mentioned before, Pixi has become my go-to brand for eyeliner pencils as their pencils have a wonderfully smooth texture that beats even Urban Decay. Recently, I picked up another two new shades, #7 Sage Gold and #10 Copper Glow, which were released for spring.

Copper Glow comes in a bulkier, more ornate packaging whereas Sage Gold does not. Both shades are currently available on ASOS.com, which offers free international shipping.

Sage Gold looks like a re-promote of Straight On Till The Morning eyeliner in 2nd Star Twinkle from last year's Tinkerbell-themed Pixi Glow collection. If you already have 2nd Star Twinkle, you can safely skip Sage Gold.

Below are swatches of my collection of Pixi eyeliner pencils.



True to their name, these have an intense creamy consistency that glides effortlessly onto the skin with minimal tugging, and produce excellent color payoff from the first couple of swipes. Unless Urbay Decay's pencils, I have not experienced any shrinking of the liner from the wooden part of the pencil. Most of the shades have a metallic sheen, nothing too flashy or frosty.

I reach frequently for Oyster Glow to highlight the lower lashline and inner corners. True Teal is eye-poppingly bold and fun for experimenting with. The rest of the shades are all pretty easy to wear for the office or daytime.

These retail for £11 in the UK and US$15 in the US. For me, they are well worth the investment and it's a pity that Pixi offers only 10 shades of these marvelous little workers.

You can view more swatches on Drivel About Frivol and Citrine's blog.

L'Oreal Miss Pop Collection - Color Infallibles in Immaculate Ocean and Paradise Orchid

While browsing the L'Oreal counter at Monoprix in France today, I spotted these two new Color Infallibles #51 Paradise Orchid and #52 Immaculate Ocean in the permanent display. Turns out that they are part of the Miss Pop collection for spring in France, although there was no special display for the collection. You can view the full collection, which also includes some Glam Shine lipglosses and nailpolishes, on Journal d'une beauty parasseuse.

Naturally, I could not resist hauling these pretties which have a shimmery finish that make them far more interesting than the three matte shades released last fall (#41 Taupe Royal, #42 Green Baroque and #43 Brown Temptation). Immaculate Ocean is a metallic silvery grey blue with a duochrome finish. At certain angles, it looks like a metallic grey but under a bright light, the blue sparkles come to life.

Paradise Orchid is another lovely complex duochrome shade. It shifts from a metallic pale violet to flashes of pink.

Color Infallible collectors would be happy to know that Paradise Orchid looks like an all new shade and not a dupe of other Color Infallible shades (as L'Oreal has been known to release the same shade under different names in different countries). It is not as pink-toned as With A Twist.

For this spring, the US received four new Color Infallibles as part of the Miss Candy collection: #340 Dive Right In, #341 Strawberry Blonde, #342 With A Twist and #343 Cherie Merie (see swatches on Macnunu). Of these, I purchased Dive Right In and Cherie Merie off Ebay a few weeks ago.

Immaculate Ocean looked like a dupe for Dive Right In at first glance but upon swatching, Immaculate Ocean leans a slightly darker grey while Dive Right In is a tad darker grey with a stronger silvery blue flash when it catches the light.

Both Immaculate Ocean and Paradise Orchid are made in Italy while Dive Right In is made in the US. The packaging has just minor differences, like the words 'Color Infallible' are printed on the bottom of the pot of Immaculate Ocean but not for Dive Right In.

Below are comparison swatches with other Color Infallibles in the aqua spectrum.

If you own Dive Right In, you probably do not need to hunt down Immaculate Ocean unless you're a diehard Color Infallible collector who delights in the subtle nuanced variations. Paradise Orchid is beautifully unique and worth snapping up, if you can find it.





I also swatched Cherie Merie alongside Magnetic Coral (from the Miss Candy collection) and Pepsy Coral (from the Cannes collection).

Again, these are not exact dupes but rather, close cousins. Cherie Merie has the most intense coral orange tint out of the three.

The behind-the-scenes video for the Miss Pop commercial featuring Hungarian model Barbara Palvin.

Kiko Long Lasting Stick Eyeshadow Swatches

Kiko is a budget-friendly Italian brand with stores in the UK. Recently, I placed an order on their website for several of their Long Lasting Stick Eyeshadows. These normally retail at £6.90. I was able to get a 20% discount and free shipping for being a new customer. Shipping was very fast. I placed my order on Monday and it arrived at my husband's London address on Thursday, shipped from Milan via UPS with tracking.

Those in the black plastic packaging are from the permanent range while the two in the metal packaging are from the new Colors In The World spring collection. These are all made in Italy.



I was particularly intrigued by #31 Hypnotic Iris, a periwinkle blue with a slight flash of pink.

From the Colors In The World Collection, I also picked the Vivid Eyes Kajal & Eyelinber 03 Festive Indigo/Black (£7.90), which is made in the EU. The Festive Indigo shade is a bit darker and lacks the pink flash of Hypnotic Iris.


These swatches are just one layer each. The Long Lasting Stick Eyeshadows have an impressive creamy consistency that glides over the skin without any tugging. They lay down the color with ease and build up quickly to a wonderfully pigmented finish that is more satin rather than shimmery metallic.

The Kajal & Liner are less pigmented than the Stick Eyeshadows, but still have pretty decent payoff.



#18 Midnight Blue is the only one that has tiny pink micro sparkles.

If you visit Italy, Kiko is well worth checking out for its massive product range and affordable prices. In London, there are two stores in Westfield White City and Westfield Stratford.

Aube Couture Designing Puff Cheek

Aube Couture will release a new Designing Puff Cheek in four variations on 2 April in Japan. The blush refill is 2625yen (5.5g) while the case is 1050yen. These are a combination of blush and highlighting shades for an easy application.

Bourjois Radiance Reveal Healthy Mix Foundation Swatches

Bourjois has just released a new version of their popular Healthy Mix Foundation (CHF25.90) over here in Switzerland. It is available here in six shades whereas there will be eight shades available in the UK where it is scheduled to launch in March and retail at £9.99.

The new formula helps to provides a luminous application that is 70% more radiant. It contains a greater mix of fruit extracts such as apricot for radiance, melon for hydration and apple for youth protection, plus anti-oxidising vitamin E derivative. Cystalline pigments help even out the complexion and let natural light through the skin. The foundation is also designed to have just the right balance of yellow and pink undertones to reveal the freshness of the complexion.

The Radiance Reveal Healthy Mix boasts a new glass pump bottle packaging, which gives it a more classy feel than the previous plastic bottle.

There is also a new peach-toned #41 Healthy Mix blush, Healthy Balance Matte Finish powder and Healthy Balance concealer.

The foundation's texture feels very similar to the original Healthy Mix and it still has that slightly sweet fruity scent. It evens out the skin surface nicely with a natural, lightweight finish that sets quite nicely without feeling oily or overly matte. I only swatched this on my hand so I can't say how well it performs. There does seem to be a good range of light to tanned shades for this, which is impressive for a drugstore brand. I am usually #51 or #52 for Bourjois foundations.

Giorgio Armani Blushing Fabric #8 HD Orange & #9 HD Fuschia Swatches

From the Armani spring 2013 Pop collection, the only items that caught my eye were the two new Blushing Fabric gel blushes in #8 HD Orange and #9 HD Fuchsia (US$39). I ordered these from Nordstrom.com.

My current collection (from left): #1 Shimmering Peach, #5 Raspberry, #8 HD Orange and #9 HD Fuchsia.

The shade names are not listed anywhere on the boxes or the tubes. Only the shade numbers are printed on the back of the tubes.

Made in France, each Blushing Fabric contains a very generous amount of product at 20ml, versus a mere 7ml for Becca Beach Tint. With just a little bit needed for each application, these literally take years to use up. List of ingredients below.

Just a tiny pin-head sized dab is all you need for a natural flush of color. Armani describes it as "crafted as a micro-blend of pure water-soluble pigments and laquers, this cushiony formula delivers buildable color for cheek and face that is both imperceptible and long-lasting". You can see swatches of other Blushing Fabric shades in this earlier post.


I found #9 HD Fuchsia to be quite similar to #5 Raspberry. Raspberry is more intense and leans more hot pink. HD Fuchsia also swatches a tad patchily compared to Raspberry.

#8 HD Orange has a subtle sprinkling of refined shimmer flecks that are not as obvious or numerous as those in #1 Shimmering Peach. The Blushing Fabrics are super easy to apply and blend to a natural finish, adding a healthy touch of color that never looks overdone. They also do not stain the skin and are easily removable.

#8 HD Orange is slighty more coral compared to Becca Papaya Beach Tint, which has a stronger orange tone. The Becca Beach Tint swatches are more budge-proof than the Blushing Fabrics, which rubbed off in little flakes when I ran my finger across them after 20 minutes whereas the Beach Tints did not smudge or peel.


I placed my order during Nordstrom's beauty event and received this bumper crop of samples as the gift with purchase.