Elie Saab 'Le Parfum'

Elie Saab is a couturier that creates for the ‘womanly women’ and I’m sure we can all agree on that based on what we see on catwalks. His dress designs are pure art and my friends, his first perfume (launched in August 2011) makes no exception: it IS  pure art in a bottle!

“A fragrance which expresses a radiant femininity and which includes the duality of my world: the light of the Middle East and the modernity of the West.”

This perfume was created as an ode to light, a remarkable ode that is embodied in not just the perfume itself, but in the heavy glass, cut like crystal bottle also. The simplicity, transparency and light reflecting ability of this strikingly elegant and feminine bottle, makes this my favourite perfume bottle ‘of all time’ (as Kanye West would say).

The fragrance opens with a fresh note of orange blossom, which later on develops into a bouquet of jasmine and patchouli.  “The tone of the white flower bouquet is filled out voluptuously by a cedar woody accord, which gives the floral notes a new density.  The trail unfurls, infinitely elegant and enveloping, borrowing its addictive notes from rose honey”.

I can recognize the orange blossom opening in this, and even after it dries down, I can still feel a hint of it in the background. A very warm fragrance, sweet yet fresh, there’s something quite ‘welcoming’ in this perfume, elegant yet in approachable. The woman that wears this knows how to be classy, sexy and feminine, knows how to laugh and has the kind of warmth that makes her the perfect company to be in (and yes, I am talking about myself here a little bit J )

I even look exactly like the model herself , don't you think? :P

As you must have guessed it by now, I absolutely adore this perfume, it is in my top three favourites (out of my 20 something perfume collection), such a delicate scent, I’ve been wearing this non stop since I got it and I don’t think I would ever be without it.

 I would most certainly recommend everyone to go out and sample this if you haven’t already done so, you have to at least try it, who knows? You might fell in love with it, like I did J. 

Prices: 50 Euro for the 30 ml, 75 Euro for the 50ml and 102 Euro for the 90ml bottles.

Disclaimer: This perfume was sent to me for review purposes, honest opinions as always, based on my personal preferences and taste.

Have you tried this yet? I know a lot of people love it, and then I know one particular person that doesn't (my sister-in-law).

Yours, ArtDonatella

xoxo

La Roche-Posay Respectissime Volumizing Mascara

Here's the thing: I was sent this a while back for review purposes and I didn't get around to try it properly. You know, with the summer gone and all that jazz: who needs waterproof mascara in the autumn/winter time? Well, I actually do (watery eyes and all), but what better time to try this than when you're sporting a bitchy old cold or flu? And I sported this, with pride I might say (NOT), this weekend and yesterday :(...yep, that's right: runny nose plus teary eyes plus 'miss-sneeze-a-lot' stunt and you've got yourself a proper 'no makeup' dilemma! It ain't easy I tell you!

So yes, as any 'normal' woman wants to do when she's ill, of course I felt the need to slap on something on my face, anything, and in this case I had to settle for mascara...and I settled well :D.

A little comparison between the mascara wands (Rimmel & L.R.P.)

There it is, the waterproof mascara hero that saved me from looking blah this weekend (well I still looked 'blah', but with great eyelashes :P).

First things first, the tube is very sleek, elegant and expensive looking, and by that I mean it does a little 'pop' sound when you screw the mascara wand back into the tube...obviously you guys have no clue what I'm talking about here, therefore will drop this and move to my next point: the wand. This is a hard bristled one and can feel quite scratchy when applying, but by all means it does not bother me at all. It's what they call an 'anti-friction' brush system that allows the wand to offer volume and definition in one, and all this mambo jumbo sounds great to me, because it works! I abso-freaking-lutely love the brush, separates very well and coats even the tiniest eyelash to begin with.

The formula of the mascara is very waterproof (well duuuh!) and I mean it stays put. There is no chance in hell you can remove this with a normal remover, it must be oil-based, they recommend using La- Roche Posay's 'Physiological Eye Make-up Remover' which has an innovative integrated removal system, especially designed for this type of formulas. Me? I use baby oil, and it does the job quite well.

The best thing of all is that this mascara is buildable. You do not want spidery eyelashes from one application, especially with waterproof, you want control and that's exactly what this baby gives you. You can adapt your look according to your desire, which is perfect.

All in all, I love this! It's fragrance free, paraben free, works well on senstive eyes and contact lens wearers alike, and anti-flaking hold (no joke).

This retails at 17 Euros and can be bought in pharmacies nationwide, in stores now.

I would love this in a normal formula, the brush is just excellent and should L.R.P. bring one out, I would defo be sold on this one, it's just fabulousss!

Now, is it weird that I use waterproof mascara during cold winter months? Do you ever use waterproof mascaras?  

Yours, ArtDonatella

xoxo

September Purchases

Not many, just two :( ... My budget would not allow me more at the minute and if I'm honest, the last thing I need right now is more make-up, really, truly! And can you believe I got home from work and managed to snap a few photos (in crappy lighting in all fairness) for today's post? Yahoo, that is *A* miracle :D.

I got two bargains this month, one eyeshadow and one lipstick :). First up, No.7 'Stay Perfect' Eye Mousse in 'Plum'.

It's this pretty baby here, such a gorgeous shade, I can hardly express it in words. A deadly shade for green eyes, just the perfect plum. It comes in a tiny squeezy tube of 5ml, and retails for c.12.50 Euros. I personally had a No.7 voucher in my possession, therefore only cost me about a fiver :D! Nice, eh?

It's a mousse eyeshadow (of course), glides on really effortlessly and it's easy to manage, giving you enough time to blend and play around with it. I however huuuuuugely disagree with the name of this product. While 'Stay Perfect' to me would suggest a fairly good staying power of the product, this one kind of disappoints in this regard, it is not as good as Rimmel's  Colour Mousse, I repeat: it is not as good! (I sometimes feel like an ambassadress for Rimmel London, that's how much I love this brand :D).  It doesn't turn into an eyeshadow after drying, instead it still feels and looks creamy. I do love the shade of it and I wouldn't complain too much in this department, I guess it can be used as an eyeshadow base just as well :).

Now, the second product purchased.....shock-horror, a red lipstick :D! Who would have thought? Hehe 



Gosh Soft'n Shine Lip Balm in '41 Kiss'

I saw this a while back on Viva Adonis and I knew I had to have this. While it is called a 'lip balm', trust me, it's a moisturising lipstick rather than a lip balm, you can see for yourselves how pigmented this is.  And it is very moisturizing, and it's a blue toned lipstick, and it's red...seriously, how many red lipsticks does a girl need? This was reduced half price in my local pharmacy, while it retails at 10.50, it was reduced to 5.25 Euros.

No.7 'Plum' on the entire eyelid (no other eyeshadow used)

& Gosh 'Kiss'

And of course, a super pouty mug shot:

Trust me, you wouldn't recognize me on the street without my pout,

it's a camouflage thing really :D hihihi

How many red lipsticks do you own? I own circa 10-15, not sure, but will count!

Yours, ArtDonatella

xoxo



Avon 'Little Dot' Limited Edition Fragrances

First of all, 'Happy 125th Birthday' Avon!!!

To cellebrate its anniversary month, Avon created some limited edition treats and one of them would be a trio set of fragrances called 'Little Dot', which are the reinterpreted versions of Avon's first ever perfumes :).

The packaging is deadly! I seriously ran around the house with it showing it to everyone. I'm so easy  to impress it's unreal :D. So sleek and expensive looking, and ready for display, the perfect gift idea.  Now, what's inside, it's even more impressing:

No.1 - Hyacinth; No.2 - Rose

No.3 - Violet

I have to say that I am obsessed with hyacinths and their scent and I have been hunting for a perfume to embody this, but you all know how things work, sure there might be hyacinth in the multiple ingredients used in a perfume, but it's almost never noticeable (to my nose at least :P). Well not with this one, no Sir! My nose can strongly agree and 'scream': "Hey, dude! It's bloody hyacinth in this yoke!"

Because it is pure hyacinth and pure violet scent and all that jazz. And I love it! Now when firstly applied (no spray nozzle on the bottle, just a screw on top -which is a pitty really), a beautiful scent starts to blossom in a few seconds after application, and the flowers start to get shape. Hyacinth is obviously my favourite and it's a very elegant and feminine scent, and optimistic as Avon would describe it. Rose on the other hand is not as transparent as Hyacinth, I actually don't recognize the smell, I just don't see it! And it's my least favourite out of the bunch, not impressed with this one, but you on the other hand might love it :). And finally Violet , which is the household's favourite! Everyone in my house (and by everyone else I mean three persons) seem to love 'Violet'. I love this one too, it's so delicate & powdery, feminine and much sweeter than Hyacinth.

The size of one little dot in my hand :)

12 ml /each

The best thing of all? You can play around with these and layer them to your liking, they're fabulous for customizing your fragrance each morning ;).

Price: 19.50Euro

And just to keep you guys informed, to mark the company's support of the 'Help Beat Breast Cancer' cause, Avon is launching a range of exclusive products in this regard. You can help by purchasing one of Avon's pink products:

Avon Breast Cancer Crusade Baking Set - 7.50 Euro (all proceedings go to ARC Cancer Support)
Avon Breast Cancer Crusade Compact Mirror - 6 Euro (25% of donations go to ARC Cancer Support and rest to non-profit projects)
Avon Breast Cancer Crusade Pin - 2.50 Euro (5% to ARC Cancer Support and all remaining profits to non-profit projects)

*** The 'Little Dot' set was sent to me for review purposes, honest opinions as always, swear to God :D! ***

Yours, ArtDonatella

xoxo

Look of the Day: Plum Lips

Hello there! I know I promised this post for yesterday, but didn't get the chance to keep my word, so apologies for it.

I don't often wear plum/purple lips but instead opt for wine colours see Stila Sonia or Models Own 'Blackberry' . Since plums are big this autumn, I thought I'll give it a go, and you know what? It's not bad, it's not bad at all :).

Please excuse the mad looking bed-hair, believe it or not, it's at its best here :(

So to me, it's all about fresh/flawless skin in this look, and the plum lips of course. So I started with a Lancome Eclat Miracle Serum of Light as a base, which is a 'Radiance Booster' serum, to give me the proper fresh looking canvas. I used my trusty Rimmel 25 Hr Foundation on top and the berry coloured blusher from Revlon 'Merlot at Night' (see swatches here). I chose this darker blusher to somehow keep the lips harmoniously 'blended' with the cheeks...of course I had to blend the blusher in like a mad woman, if not I would have sported some seriously Russian doll cheeks for your entertainment, this stuff is crazy-pigmented!

In my humble opinion, highlighter should not be missed in this look, very and highly important, so that was applied on my cupid's bow and on top of my cheeckbones, to create the dewiness that the base requires. And that's how you cheat your way into a young/fresh looking base. I used my trusted Lancaster Sunlight 'Natural' Palette as an illuminizer, which works wonders.

For eyes, I kept it simple and shimerry...but not the 'in your face shimmery', but the transparent one (if you know what I mean). For this is best to use a pigment rather than eyeshadow because it's lighter and not as heavy and obvious as an eyeshadow. I used my trustee Isadora Mineral 'Rose Quartz' Palette, which was perfect for what I was aiming for. A light / white pigment shade was used on the browbone and inner corner of the eye, and a light swipe of taupe from the same palette, on the eyelid, and that was it. Oh, and then mascara and the lipstick, of course :D.

As I've seen on catwalks (in photos of course :P), plums lips are kind of painted in the same way, on the same fresh canvas, sometimes with minimum mascara (brown) and no eyeshadow or a flesh toned one, and in my opinion that's the way to do it...obviously you can adapt it anyway you wish, but all-in-all, keep the base flawless!

I hope you enjoyed reading this, and it's not a tutorial as such, nor am I an expert, I just wanted to try this look and share online, the way us girls like to do it nowadays :D!

Be honest now, do you sport plum/purple lips, and how?

Yours, ArtDonatella

xoxo

Feeling Autumnal :(

Yes people...it's September. My front yard is already full of fallen leaves, while beautifully coloured, they're sadly spread across the cold ground.

Feck it, it's not like we had a crazy hot summer on our hands this year, but along with the shortened daylight comes the crappy lighting, not useful for blogging purposes. And along with autumn come darker lips, darker nail polishes and stronger perfumes. Which is not a bad thing considering I own 'J'Adore' Dior (not that I would ever be without it) and Coco Mademoiselle by Chanel. It's ok, not a bother.

So I thought I'll show you kids what comes out of the boxes and drawers once Autumn kicks in, and my friends...Autumn has kicked in (at least for me :( ).



Nail Polishes:

Out go the bubblegum pinks and purple polishes, and here come the golds, dark & sultry purples, wines and bordeaux...shades like:

From L to R: - Nails Inc. 'Rengents Palace'; Sally Hansen 'Gilty Pleasure', Sally Hansen 'Plum Luck' & China Glaze 'Sugar Plums' 

 Perfumes:

Heavier, sweeter scents like 'J'Adore', 'Coco Mademoiselle', 'Midnight Poison' by Dior, Dolce & Gabbana 'The One', etc...goodbye raspberry scented Dior 'Addict Shine', summer flavoured Agatha Ruiz de la Prada 'Gotas de Color' and fruity fresh C.K. 'One Summer'...you shall be missed :(.

Lipsticks:

From L to R: Inglot '408' Lipstick; Barbara Daly 'Rose' & Catrice Purple Passion Lipstick in 'Berry'



Again, darker for me personally. No more corals, pinks (I will still rock the pink out of my Rimmel 'Shocking Pink' though no matter the season), but overall will be sporting dark rosey shades like Barbara Daly's 'Rose', warm browns, matte reds and plums / purples, which are IN and BIG this season!



As I said, it's not that bad, just look at this pretty shade (Nails Inc. 'Regents Palace'), now how can one be sad while looking at these? Nope, not me...loving it!

Now for tomorrow, fingers crossed a September makeup look will follow, actually one will defo follow, it's decided :D!

What are your autumnal products to keep you going? Or is it still summer where you are (you lucky sod!)?

15 weeks to Christmas...that's all I'm saying :(....

Yours, ArtDonatella

xoxo

Helloooo! Anybody there?????

I'm just gonna go ahead and pretend that this is not my first post in six days and that I haven't been missing in action for quite some time now,ok? :D

How are you lovely people? Doing your thing, are you? I'm doing all right, thank you very much for asking. Between my hectic schedule and my loss of mojo (which I seem to lose every so often lately), I thought I'll break the ice and post a little update for you lovely people, if you're interested.

I had my very first homework in both courses (well, not really my 'first' people, I did went to school & stuff), in which I had to do a mood board for the styling course and a skin analysis/day makeup look on a model (my beautiful, future sister-in-law), for my makeup course. Wanna take a peek? Here we go:

Oh My God, I just accidentally published this up to here for a good 15 min., morto! If you saw this, apologies....s**t happens :D

Meet my gorgeous model, Andreea! She has *some* flawless skin although she's annoyed at having freckles (which I love by the way), but she's agreed to let me practice all my skill-ness and awsome-ness on her. Fair play to her, so young yet *so* brave!

Obviously, I had to do a day makeup look which involved all the tricks like primer, foundation, concealer, highlighter, etc., but in a toned down manner...just enough to enhance but not to mask. This makeup look is among my favourites because there's no crazy fake eyelashes involved, foundation lips (eeughh)  or Lord knows what else. And that's how you find out that I'm not a fan of fake eyelashes (during daytime) & foundation lips (as in no-time, never, no, ehhh no-no - unless it's an editorial/catwalk look). But that's just me...

I only used matte eyeshadows on her eyes, as we've been instructed (apparently shimmer during the day is not as cool as matte, for the ITEC crowd :( ) and everything else well blended and harmoniously complementing her natural beauty. I really enjoyed applying makeup on someone else (thank you Andreea!) and look forward to the next assignment. And I must admit I am still c**p with eyeliner, I cannot bloody do it! I don't know how other people do this, I must practice my fingers off until I get this one right!!!

That was my so called 'news' post, I must admit I have a few bits and bobs I plan to review on the blog, if I could just get around to do it, that would be awsome!

On a more positive note, yayyyy- tomorrow is Friday people! What are your weekend plans?



Yours, ArtDonatella,


xoxo

August Favourites

Hello my lovelies! How is everyone this evening? (let me know below :P)

It's that time  again, the round-up of all the beauty bits that kept us going throughout the month. And here's my list, should anyone be interested to have a cheeky read :D:

From L to R:

- Catrice Ultimate Colour Lipstick in '110 Pink Me Up' - loved, loved this in August, worn it almost every other day. Take a closer look at it here

- Lancome 'Magnifique' Perfume - Oh my God! I love this so much, it is so feminine, kind of in the same 'family' with 'Acqua Di Gioia' by Armani, sweet yet fresh and clean...c'est truly magnifique!

- Lancome Genifique Yeux - this is a sample jar I received from a beautiful friend a while back and I'm using it every single night. I love the thick velvety texture and I can feel it working its magic. I'll be so sad when this will be over, I just hope I'll have the bucks to purchase the full sized jar.

- Vichy 'NormaDerm Anti-Age'

- La Roche Posay 'Effaclar K' - I bought this a few months ago and I've been trialling it since. It's  designed for oily skin and it has the perfect light texture to tackle my skin issues, I use this in the at night time and let it work its magic till morning.

- L'Oreal Renewal Lash Serum - This is an excellent product that I must review soon, with before/after photos too...it really does work, it's my second round using this baby and I love it!

- No. 7 Lash Adapt Mascara - I got this at the Beaut.ie Beauty Awards in my goodie bag, and it's fairly a nice enough mascara. It lengthens considerably and also separates my lashes, it's a great product and I've been using this every day since I got it.

- And last but not least, my trusty Essence 'Party All Night' Eyshadow - seriously wearing this a lot! Almost everyday and it's perfect when I pair it with my Catrice lipstick, the perfect combo :D! I already bought a back-up for this eyeshadow, but I must get another one soon, just in case :P.

VICHY NORMADERM ANTI-AGE



'NormaDerm' is one of Vichy's best selling products, a face cream designed for teenagers mostly, with sensitive and acne prone skin. Now, the new NormaDerm Anti-Age would still target problematic skin, but with a twist...the first anti-imperfection and anti-wrinkle skincare, especially designed for women over 30 who still have issues with blemishes, blackheads, etc. and on top of that, the appearence of fine lines and wrinkles :(.

It's a green-ish gel cream texture, that feels very velvety and smooth when applied, and because it's a gel-based it's a fabulous product for oily skin too. I use this in the mornings because I find it to be an excellent makeup base too. I love the feel of it and I've been using this a lot lately, hence it's in my faves post. Will keep you guys updated on this one in due course :D.  

Vichy 'NormaDerm Anti-Age' was sent to me for review purposes, it costs 17.50 Euros in pharmacies nationwide, and will be available to purchase starting September 2011. :D

Please tell me this, which was your most worn perfume this month?

Yours, ArtDonatella

xoxo