Haul/FOTD/first impressions

I wanted to share a quick haul. It's so miniscule, I figured I might as well do a face of the day and first impressions to boot. I've only had these things since last night, so these are very, very early impressions.

What I got are the Shiseido Natural Finish Cream Concealer in 1 Light Clair, Estée Lauder Pure Color Vivid Shine Lipstick in F9 Mauve Struck, and these drop dead stunning turquoise earrings I'd been eyeing for what feels like two years.

The Shiseido concealer intrigued me as a possible, multifunctional alternative to the Touche Eclat. I was drawn to it because of how very light and yellow based it is. I've never been a fan of the point concealing, no foundation look for myself, because the area that needs concealing is so big, it's kind of pointless. It is by far much more time consuming and tedious than the alternative. For light, no makeup makeup looks I much prefer a sheer foundation all over, again, on me. Something else that screamed “buy me” about this product, is that it claims to be smudge and sweat resistant. We'd been having a massive heatwave and complexion makeup just barely stays on five minutes out the door, so I thought, okay, it's not going to save me time in application, but perhaps I'll feel more comfortable wearing it, rather than feeling my foundation break up and sweat off, in the absolute hottest times of the year.

You have to work quite fast with this product, because after it's set, you can forget trying to blend it – you'll sooner rub your skin raw. I'm still sort of torn about it. Currently, I'm leaning towards being disappointed, but it's happened before that I find a way of application some six months into owning a product and it becomes amazing, so I'm not writing it off yet. The tube looks more expensive than it feels – I wish the plastic was a bit sturdier, but then again, maybe when it's on its last legs, the softer tube will make it easier to get the final bits of concealer out.

Another thing - this oxidizes. A lot. The initial spell that was cast on me by its very pale yellow colour, has certainly been broken. It turns into a medium mustard yellow, which I do not recommend putting under your eyes, if like with mine, there's any blue darkness there, as it will look like a bruise that's mid changing colour from purplish-blue to yellow-brown. As for using it on blemishes or hyper pigmentation, again, it turns into a darker, orangy-yellow colour, which almost defeats the purpose of making the effort. Also, I have oily combination skin, and as I mentioned, was testing it in über hot 30+C humidity, and it looked flaky on me. On me! ME! Okay, I'm not actually shocked by that because the dryer, dehydrated parts of my skin do tend to make products wear like that, but still – it's been very, very hot and this is supposed to be a creamy concealer. I will say that it definitely stayed on and the way I was able to wear it despite the colour, was due to my pigmentation being worst on my cheeks and the poor colour match being somewhat concealed by the blush or bronzer applied over it. Anyway, I'm not giving up on it yet, but those are my first impressions.

I'd been swatching the Estée Lauder lipstick in Mauve Struck for a couple of months before pulling the trigger. There was something about the texture that I was put off by, and I'll come back to it later. As a whole, I really like it. It's quite hard to find a lipstick shade that's lighter than my lips, with enough coverage to mute their natural colour. I'm actually quite astounded that, for me, such a conservative brand would make this type of shade. Most lightest nude shades in ranges look very vampy against my pale skin, and frankly, aging.

Mauve Struck is also kind of nostalgic for me. My very first lipstick ever, Maybelline's Water Shine in 01 Vanilla Ice, was a similar gritty-glitter-pearl finish, and another one I really loved a few years later, Guerlain's KissKiss Maxi Shine in 646 Honey Shine, is again in the same finish family, although a different tone.

It's a very easy to apply kind of lipstick, no mirror needed, for an effortless bit of oomph in a daily look. What bugs me about the texture, is that it's quite dry and waxy (NOT thin and creamy) and very easy to overdo. You're really best off applying one thin layer, than going over your lips multiple times looking to feel better moisturized, because it'll start balling up in a waxy mess that settles in the fine lines and corners of your lips. And, although it's a luxury brand, I will say that the formula and packaging, to me, feel more like something at the more expensive end of a drugstore/high street brand like L'Oreal. All in all, I like the colour, the coverage and longevity for such a sheer formula, and am really enjoying using it.

I'm wearing the lipstick, concealer both under the eyes and "in place of " foundation, Dior's Chimere cream eyeshadow all over the lid, Kanebo's 38C mascara, liquid eyeliner and loose powder, Shiseido's eyebrow pencil in BR704 Ash Blonde, and Chanel's blush in Rose Ecrin.  

So that's my little haul, demo and two cents for now. Hope it was helpful! Cheers =).