Tried and tested
This silky blush/powder consists of pink, apricot and beige tones, and is embossed with a lily. Used with a blusher brush, the powder gives a natural, rosy glow. Dusted over the face, it creates a soft, uniform finish. A great compact for the office — the overall effect is classy and professional.
Smashbox’s pink powder-blush is one of the few that isn’t iridescent this season. Use sparingly, as a little creates a warm flush. The stand-out feature is the ‘love me’ graffiti tag engraved in the powder, and designed by urban street-artist, Curtis Kulig.
This cheek-and-lip cream is a fun product. Hailed as ‘your hotline to hotness,’ the neopolitan of coral, watermelon, and champagne can be blended and built from a sheer-pink into an intense flush. For a good-quality illuminator, blush, and lippy in one package this is a bargain.
This blush is a flattering rose that can be built from a natural to an intense colour. The cream blends quickly and evenly. Seal it with a powder, if you wear an oil or water-based foundation, to keep the colour fresh throughout the day.
This creamy shadow goes on like a sparkly wash and can be layered for the kind of intense, metallic eyes that dominated the spring/summer catwalks. Great if you hate a glitter eye-shadow to leave flecks on your cheeks, as it doesn’t shed or smudge.
I like the irreverent palette design, which gave most space to the pink and gold day-shadows. These took a bit of blending to lose that slapped-on appearance. Used with an appropriate brush, the glittery, chocolate-brown makes a nice liner and the dark gold is good for contouring.
A peach and white iridescent shadow that flatters and highlights when blended. The glitter sheds quickly, so give it a neutral, cream-shadow base or primer to adhere to, and apply before the rest of your make-up.
This shadow combines glitter-flakes with gold powder and doesn’t shed. It feels silky and I found a concentrated application of this colour subtle, but very glamorous.
Clarins’ latest lipstick feels very comforting, thanks to mimosa, jojoba and sunflower waxes, and lasts without a liner. It has a subtle gloss finish and this shade is very lady-like.
A rich brick-red that looks sexy without being vampy. This smudged and bled within an hour of application and is definitely not kiss-proof. Persist, and tame it with lip-liner, though, and it will get your pout a lot of compliments.
The lipstick equivalent of a dreamy tryst with Brad Pitt — smells good, looks naturally beautiful, and feels too good to be true. This limited-edition pink with pearly reflections is long-lasting and moisturising.
The gilded packaging on this one elicited gasps from fellow nose-powderers. The glittery pink in the tube goes on very sheer and pearly. This lipstick contains fruit extract, so it smells sweet and moisturises. Quite pricey for a lipstick that ’thinks it’s a balm,’ but doesn’t require frequent reapplication.
Those creative types at Nails Inc have come up with Concrete — a nail polish formula that contains tiny pieces of grit. This taupe looks cool on, and I admire the brand’s adventurous spirit, but Concrete is unlikely to become a beauty classic. Nor does it wear very well.
This hot-pink shade dries in a flash and the high-precision brush makes it easy to apply a thin, neat coat quickly. You’ll need more than one coat to stop the colour looking slightly translucent.
Usually, at least one of Chanel’s seasonal nail colours becomes the cult hit of the collection. I predict this peach-bisque Emprise polish will be the shade we all want this spring. The colour goes with everything and flatters tanned and pale hands.
A single coat of Max Factor’s newest polish looks a little streaky in places, but two layers of this Barbie pink survived the promised seven days intact. A good way to try this season’s ‘colour-pop’ make-up trend without spending too much.
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