Urban Decay Theodora Palette

Last weekend, I found the Urban Decay Oz The Great and Powerful palettes in stock at Sephora in France. These were retailing at €43 each, versus US$49 in the US and £35 in the UK. As I had 10% discount voucher, it worked out to be about S$64. They are not available in Singapore yet.

This is the Theodora palette, a character played by Mila Kunis in the upcoming Oz movie.

The sleek metal case is nicely slim, compact and easily portable, unlike the earlier Box of Shadows in their various incarnations. The movie name is in raised embossed lettering on the lid.

The lid flips out to almost 180 degrees and has a generously sized mirror under it.

Nestled inside are six eyeshadow pans, featuring eight brand new shades. It's always a plus when a brand comes up with new shades instead of recycling the same old bestsellers. I wish Urban Decay had included a new shade of the 24/7 Glide-on Eye Pencil, instead of Zero which has been in many previous sets. I think this is the third or fourth Zero that I own, and I'm not a fan of it.

The eyeshadow pans can be easily lifted out of the case. These are made in the USA while the eye pencil is made in Germany.

The palette leans heavily towards neutrals, with three matte/satin hues in the top row that are good for shading and as the base shade. The bottom row is more interesting with a rich shimmery deep brown, a metallic black and dirty gold, and a green duo.

Spell

West

Broken

Jealous

The palette also comes with a Super-saturated High Gloss Lip Color in Theodora, a bright shiny cherry red, that is made in Germany. This is intensely pigmented so I applied a coat to my lower lip and then pressed my lips together to transfer the color to the upper lip for a more muted, smudged effect.

I love the striking red shade which lasted well over four hours of wear and has no distracting gritty shimmer or glitter particles. However, after a couple of hours, my lips started to feel dry. After removing it, my lips were parched and in sore need of lip balm.

Using Too Faced Shadow Insurance, I applied West along the upper lashline, Bewitch in the crease, the lighter half of Jealous at the inner corners and in the crease, the gold half of Spell along the lower lashline and in the middle of the upper lid, and Broken over the browbone area.

Aside from being easy to blend, the shades lasted well through nine hours of wear without creasing or fading. The lighter green shade in Jealous gives a lovely glowy effect. I was expecting some fallout from Spell but didn't notice any. There was some fallout from West though, but this was easily cleaned up.

Urban Decay has a gifted knack for producing eyeshadow palettes that pack in great value along with reliable quality. Despite the fact that I already have an arsenal of their palettes, I still could not resist purchasing Theodora, partly because the red lip pencil looked so enticing. The Super-saturated lip pencils usually retail for €18, while the eyeshadows are €17, the case is €17 and the full size eye pencil is €16. So the value of Theodora works out to be around €145 for a highly wearable set of colors. For more reviews of Theodora, do check out Xsparkage and Phyrra (also here).

Other products used: Coffret D'Or Silky Fit Liquid Foundation OC-B, Lunasol Under Eyes Base 01, Paul & Joe Highlighting Powder 002 and Cheek Color 08 Candy, Canmake Nobimori Mascara and Lower Lash Mascara, Addiction Eyeliner Pencil Sleepless NightsK-Palette Lasting 2Way Eyebrow

Shiseido Benefique Makeup Line

Shiseido will launch a revamped line of makeup under its Benefique line on 21 February. The spokesmodel is Yuri Ebihara, who was previously the face of Maquillage and Tsubaki. The line is targeted at ladies in their 20s and 30s. See more pics on Chihary.



1. Theoty Cheek Fantasy Nuance: PK01 Pink Topaz and OR1 Orange Topaz (3990yen)

2. Theoty Mascara Iron Curl: waterproof (3675yen)

3. Theoty Eyelash: 2 designs in Sweet Panorama and Glamorous Panorama (1890yen).

4. Theoty Smart Eyeliner: Creamy eyeliner pencil that is resistant against tears and sebum. Available in two shades BK99 and BR88. (2625yen)

5. Theoty Smart Eyebrow: 2 shades BR60 Light Brown and BR70 Brown (1260yen for cartridge, 1860yen for holder)

6. Theoty Smart Eyes Black F: tube-type eyeshadow in BR50 Khaki Brown and BR51 Brown (2100yen)

7. Theoty Smart Eyes White F: PK10 Platinum Pink, PK30 Pink Gold and WT10 White Gold (2100yen)

Chanel Mat Lumiere Perfect Chiffon Compact

Chanel will release an Asia-exclusive Mat Lumiere Perfect Chiffon Compact Foundation SPF25 PA++ (6825yen) on 26 April in Japan. Available in four shades, it is described as providing a luminous matte finish and suitable for the spring/summer months as it helps to combat oiliness while hydrating dry areas. Pic below by Maquia.

On 12 April, Chanel will release a classical cinema-inspired makeup collection that includes:

* Rouge Coco Shine 77 Ingenue, 78 Interlude, 79 Saga, 80 Suspense, 83 Scenario and 84 Dialogue(3780yen)

* Rouge Coco 48 Sentiment, 49 Liaison, 52 Grace, 54 Amant (3780yen)

* Levres Scintillantes 87, 171, 172, 174, 175 (LE) and 176 (LE) (3465yen)

* Le Vernis 579 Paparazzi, 583 Taboo, 581 Cinema, 599 Provocation and 575 Starlet (3045yen)

Pic below by Abe Sawako.

See more pics on Kuri's Beauty Report.

YSL Y Facettes Palette Swatches and Review

From the YSL spring 2013 collection, I chose the Y Facettes Palette. It does not appear to be part of the spring collection in the US, but it is listed on FeelUnique and Selfridges as Pure Chromatics #14.

Inspired by natural gemstones, the palette features an alluring mix of airy shimmery tones in pale emerald, candy pink, taupe and silvery blue that are perfect for this season. I've often been tempted by the Pure Chromatics line and finally decided to take the plunge with Y Facettes.

Like YSL's other Pure Chromatics 4 Ombres à Paupières, this comes with a dual-ended sponge applicator for dry application (pearl finish), and a dual-ended flexible rubber applicator for a wet application that produces a richer, more lustrous finish.

For such a luxe brand, it's surprising that the shelf-life stated on the box is a paltry six months. Unless you use this daily, it's doubtful that it can be finished within that time.

These swatches were done using the rubber applicator with a bit of water. This seems to transform the texture into a more creamy texture akin to L'Oreal Color Infallibles. They are not completely budgeproof though. When I ran my finger over the swatches after 15 minutes, some of the tiny shimmer particles smeared to the side but the swatch stayed mostly intact.


For this look, I applied the shades with the sponge applicator. It had no problem picking up the shadows dry, although it did require a bit of layering. Using Too Faced Shadow Insurance as the base, I applied the green shade from the upper lashline to the crease and the outer corner of the lower lashline, the blue in the outer "V", the pink over the browbone area and the taupe along the lower lashline.

The shadows lasted well through 12 hours of wear, with just a tiny bit of creasing at the inner corners and no shimmery fallout. I like the airy green shade the best, as it plays well against my skintone without looking too loud. The taupe shade is too subtle and pretty much disappears on my skin while the pink shade has a lovely subtle rose shimmer. The Pure Chromatics palettes retail for US$55 in the US, £39 in the UK and S$88 in Singapore. Do also check out MakeupStash's review of the gorgeous Arctic Night quad from the Holiday 2012 collection.

Other products used for this look: Coffret D'Or Silky Fit Liquid Foundation OC-B, Paul & Joe Highlighting Powder 002 and Cheek Color 08 Candy, Rimmel ScandalEyes Show Off Mascara, Canmake Lower Lash Mascara, Chantecaille Brilliant Gloss in Glamour, K-Palette Lasting 2Way Eyebrow and Catrice Kohl Kajal C01 Ultra Black. Rimmel ScandalEyes Showoff is the worst mascara I've tried in a long time. It is almost bone dry and the applicator is lousy for coating the lashes evenly, and pokes the skin with its spiky bristles. The Canmake Lower Lash Mascara is much better, with a slicker consistency and gives much needed length and volume to my sparse lower lashes.

List of ingredients.

Catrice Neo Geisha

Came across the Catrice Neo Geisha collection for spring at my supermarket today. It's a bold modern take with an unusually vibrant color scheme. The looks are a bit too avante-garde to be wearable but the collection does feature some interesting pieces.

In the centre of the display are the Patch Eye Liners, which are self-adhesive reusable eyeliners in 4 designs (total of 8 pairs). Dior released a similar product last year, if I recall correctly.


There are four Absolute Eye Colors embossed with a floral motif.

As pretty as these looked, they were totally unimpressive when swatched as they were super sheer. The swatches below are 4-5 layers each.

The Lip & Cheek Color C03 Madame Butterfly (red) and C02 Picked Cherry Blossoms (pink) were far superior in terms of color payoff. C01 Discreet Artist (beige) was much less intense than the other two shades.



I came home with the Lip Brush (CHF4.75) and Kohl Kajal 01 Ultra Black (CHF3.50). The elongated kohl pencil can double up as a traditional hairpin, according to Catrice.

The brush is made in China and feels super lightweight. Nevertheless, the bristles have a nice firm shape. The novelty factor of the wrapped handle (similar to NARS' Yachiyo brush) alone made it irresistible.

OPI Can't Let Go

OPI recently introduced a new Liquid Sand finish as part of their Mariah Carey collection. I purchased Can't Let It Go while passing through Gatwick Airport dutyfree last weekend, where it was retailing for £9.50.

The Liquid Sand texture is basically a concrete-like matte finish with small round and large hexagonal glitter.

While Can't Let Go applies smoothly, once it sets, it has a dry, rough gritty texture that takes some getting used to. The glitter bits keep it from looking too dull. I do like the dusky deep purple shade.

Two coats was sufficient to achieve opacity. Overall, I think Liquid Sand is one of the better recent innovations, certainly more practical than caviar nails or velvet manicures.


For a detailed review of the Liquid Sand polishes, do check out Scrangie.

First blooms of spring

Went for a walk in the park today and came across these delicate snow drops freshly abloom amidst sunny yellow crocuses.





This shrub below had just the yellow flowers and no leaves yet.

The pond was still partially frozen over thanks to the freezing temperature, but at least the days are getting longer now.

In the greenhouse was this pretty amaryllis Clivia Nobilis from South Africa.