Face of the Day featuring Spring Favourites

I thought I'd share a couple of products that I got a few months back specifically for spring, as it was still bloody cold, as a sort of beacon of hope that it would eventually warm up. I got two nail polishes from Mavala – nr. 6 Osaka and nr. 34 Nicosia – and my third Diorshow Fusion Mono in the shade I'd been lusting after ever since it came out – Nr. 821 Chimere. I've been loving this tender, delicate palette of warm and cool pale pinks, and at the end of the post will share a FOTD featuring my go to look of the moment.

Mavala nail polishes aren't anything spectacular, but there are a couple of colours that are, in my humble opinion, little gems. What I really like about them too, is that the bottles are nice and small – just 5ml of product. I get bored very easily with colour, one moment something speaks to me, and it seems like a good idea at the time, and then it loses its luster and doesn't get touched for years, by which point the product in question has most likely spoiled. I'm not very good at doing my nails and can't really afford to have them done regularly at a salon, so I like my nail polish to be cheap and satisfy my colour craving of the moment, which these little Mavala polished do.

I picked up Osaka first, but since there was nobody at the checkout to ring me up, I started playing around with the jar of nail polishes they had at the counter. Nicosia looked so good next to Osaka I just had to have it. The nail polish itself isn't very good, but the bottles look really cute next to each other! Osaka is a milky pale pink with mid tone violet-pink duo-chrome shimmer, and Nicosia is a nude with pearly white shimmer. As I said, Nicosia isn't very good. It's very close to the colour of the skin around my nails, which ends up looking odd, it's sheer and dries down streaky. It doesn't really improve with more coats, but I wear one coat as a base under Osaka. Besides lasting power (chipping) I don't have any complaints about Osaka, it's really pretty, more so than I was able to capture in photographs.

A wash of shimmery pale pink eyeshadow all over the lid has been my go to, everyday look for YEARS. If a palette or quad doesn't have this (along with a matte highlight shade), I'm not interested. The search still continues for the perfect single in this colour, but for the time being, I've found the perfect cream shadow version, Dior's Chimere.

I was choosing between Chimere and Chanel's Illusion d'Ombre in Emerveille, the strongest argument for the latter being that I already had two Diors and wanted one of Chanel's for variety. The shades are comparable, however Emerveille is a lot more orange and has a more pearly sheen, while the Dior is more glittery, which I prefer. It doesn't hurt to mention it again that you get more product for less money from Dior, and also, all of the Illusion d'Ombre samples at the counter were completely dried out, while the Fusion Monos were still nice and creamy, much like mine at home. Not that with poor storage this wouldn't happen to the Monos, the sight of that just put me off a bit. But all in all, the main reason I got Chimere was that I simply preferred the colour.

To be honest, I didn't expect to like it in the beginning because I felt like Chimere was too peachy roe gold, and I wanted a cooler pink. However, once I wore it, I saw that it was perfect for me. That subtle degree of warmth in the colour matches my skin tone perfectly, and when applied in one sheer layer, it just makes the lids look as if they're emitting a natural, slightly out of this world sheen. I've pretty much worn this every day either on its own or as a base for other shadows. It's definitely my most loved Dior cream shadow, but despite that, it's by far the creamiest. It's best applied with fingers and I think this actually helps keep the product from drying out as you're constantly reintroducing moisture and oil with the warmth of your fingertips. I usually apply a sheer layer first, starting from the center of the lid. Otherwise I need a tissue or it'll end up under my lower lash line. If I'm not wearing any other shadows, I'll dab some more on the center of my lid to complete the look. On me, this shadow doesn't crease and also keeps other shadows layered over it from creasing (such as the ones in my Guerlain quad and a Dior powder shadow single, which on their own crease TERRIBLY). This isn't the case with Millenuim and Hipnotique. They crease quite badly, within 30 minutes of application and will continue to do so throughout the day even if you smudge it out periodically. If I'm wearing Chimere all over and any of the other two (or both) Fusion Monos in my outer corner as an accent, it keeps them put.

On to the Face of the Day. For my base I'm wearing Teint d'Or and YSL Touche Éclat Nr. 2 and I've set the illuminator as well as my t-zone with Kanebo Sensai Loose Powder (it's over 30C outside, my shiny face is proof that wasn't enough). On my lids I have Chimere all over, the grey shade in the outer and the pink shade in the inner corners of my eyes from Guerlain's Écrin 4 Couleurs in 08 Les Perlés. On my lashes I'm wearing Sensai 38C Lengthening and Separating Mascara and for brows I've used Shiseido's Natural Eyebrow Pencil in BR704 Ash Blond. For blush I'm wearing Chanel Rose Ecrin, which I've fallen back in love with after figuring out how to make it work for myself (I'm the kind of weirdo who almost always keeps the plastic inserts in powder compacts, much like with this blush, so I just use it to scrape the surface of the product every time before use. Ridiculous, yes, but it works!). Finally, on my lips I'm wearing YSL's Rouge Volupté in nr. 1 Nude Beige. The tools I used were Shiseido's Perfect Foundation Brush, Laura Mercier's double ended eyeshadow brush, Kyureido's KK002 for powder and blush, Sonia Kashuk's eyebrow/eyelash comb and Kyureido's retractable lip brush.

It would appear this is the kind of year when we don't really get spring, it goes from winter to something like fall for a little bit and straight into sweltering summer heat. Never the less, I think I'll love this look for summer too =).