Sisleya Eye and Lip Contour Cream

Product Tag Line:
To restore a fresh, youthful look to eyes and lips

Product Profile in short:
(as described on Sisley Website)

helps counter the formation of visible lines and wrinkles

minimizes the appearance of under-eye puffiness, dark circles and signs of fatigue

formulated with a particularly high concentration of active ingredients

Promise:

After a few weeks' daily use, skin appears more supple, more radiant and better-toned, with an average reduction in wrinkles of approximately 23%.

What’s Inside:

Padina Pavonica algae extract
Natural plant extracts: Matricaria, Licorice, Wheat proteins
Vitamins (E, B5 and F)

Close-up: How active are the active ingredients?
Water
Butyrospermum Park II (Shea Butter) – occlusive
Glycerin – humectant, attracts moisture to your skin
Citrus Aurantium Dulcis (Orange) Flower Extract – is believed to stimulate elimination of old cells and growth of new ones
Rosa Centifolia (Cabbage Rose) Water - anti-oxidant, toning, revitalizing
Glyceryl Stearate – emulsifier, solvent, humectant
Isopropyl Palmitate - thickening agent and emollient
Sorbitol – humectant, thickener
Algae Extract-Paraffin - a potent moisturizer
Propylene Glycol Dicaprylate/Dicaprate - Emollient
Oleyl Alcohol - emollient (skin softener), emulsifier, and thickener
Cetyl Phosphate - emulsifying agent
Propylene Glycol - emollient, hydrating agent
Glycyrrhiza Glabra (Licorice) Extract - Anti-inflammatory and a whitening agent
Triticum Vulgare (Wheat) Protein – attracts and retains moisture
...
Further: Sesame seed oil, Carrot Root Extract, Matricaroia Extract

Experience:

Texture: creamy and thick
Absorption: due to shea butter it felt very occlusive
Smell: non-perfumed, extremely subtle and naturally herbal

I was trying a deluxe sample which lasted for 2 weeks. It’s a nice product: kept the eye area nicely moisturized and allowed smooth makeup application (no clumping of eyeshadows as it at times happens with some eye creams). However, I was expecting much more from this product after experiencing the amazing effects of Sisleya Radiance Anti-Aging Concentrate. I would also expect much more impressing effect taking into account quite amazing active ingredients list. It was just ok. I have some slight lines, not yet wrinkles, but I did not see much change in those after the 2-week regular twice a day application. It did have an effect on dark circles, but I cannot comment on puffiness as I don’t usually have this problem.

Price Time: about 150$

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Beauty Trends: Makeup Trends Spring 2008 - Eyes

All the recent beauty magazines are reporting what makeup trends are in for spring/summer 2008. On some looks they definitely agree, and on some they don’t. So I decided to take a closer look myself. In this post, I am looking at eye makeup trends. It seems that everyone agrees on white-silver-grey trend for this spring as well as shimmer golden colors. Other spring/summer looks seem to be inspired by either by classical spring colors (pastel green, blue, pink, violet) or an exotic garden/flower (bright yellow, orange, lime green and coral) as well as colours of the sea (various shades of blue, turquoise)

GOLDEN EYE SHADOWS - a Golden Goddess

Golden shimmer eye shadows have been featured in many-many shows (Zac
Posen, Versace, Bottega Veneta, YSL etc.).
Two looks stand out:
*using just one color golden (Bottega Veneta) or
*creating a glamorous smoky eye in golden-bronze shades (Versace).
I really lke the latter which looks glamorous and is ideal for an evening out!

Dsquared took “golden look” to another level and did a dramatic glamorous golden-black eye. I find this one absolutely beautiful and sexy but would never ever try it out or even dare to pull it off (well, at least not this season). Similar but less intense and less golden is Gucci’s makeup for spring 2008. This looks doable!

WHITE-SILVER-GREY EYE SHADOWS - an Ice Queen

I have no idea why icy eyes became a trend for spring/summer 2008. I personally am tired of the cold winter and am ready for the warm sun that will melt away any trace of cold! However I do find this look nice and easy to do. Once again, there are two looks in white and silver:
*first, more natural one-color for a day
and
*second, more intense (Chanel) or a smoky eye in silver-grey (Georgio Armani) for the nigh.
I especially like the smoky variant by Georgio Armany. Am not so fond of Chanel’s grey variant…

SPRING AND EXOTIC COLORS – a Spring Fairy or an Exotic Bird


Light pinks and violets, blue and various pastels make a great classic spring look for 2008. Note, blue eyeliner is a hot trend this season as seen at Narciso Rodrigues, Blugirl and Diane von Furstenberg.

An unexpected combination of two colours like blue and yellow-green (Karl Lagerfeld) or green and bright coral (Ashley Isham) creates an association with an exotic flower or an exotic bird.

SHIMMER AND GLITTER - a Sparkling Star


Metalic eyeshadows, shimmer and glitter are also (unseasonally) popular this spring/summer 2008. Colours: silver, violet, purple, golden, pink, green.

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Sisley Gentle Eye and Lip Make-up Remover

Product Tag Line:

Perfectly cleansed eyes and lips, with gentleness and respect.

Product Profile in short:
(as described on Sisley Website)
•Dissolves makeup quickly and thoroughly
•Does not dry out skin
•Instantly provides a feeling of freshness and comfort

Promise:
Removes make-up thoroughly without making skin dry
“Particularly suitable for sensitive, fragile eyes and contact-lens wearers”

What’s Inside:
•Matricaria, Cornflower, Gardenia, Orange Blossom.

Close-up on Active Ingredients:
Water
Citrus Aurantium Dulcis- Orange flower extract, also contained in Sisley’s Eye and Lip Contour Cream
PEG-7 Glyceryl Cocoate – nonionic surfactant (very mild), derived from coconut.
Gardenias Florida Extract – used in cosmetics to impart fragrance and as an antioxidant
Butylene Glycol - humectant (attracts moisture to the skin)
PEG-40 Glyceryl Cocoate - conditioning, cleansing agent derived from coconut
Propylene Glycol - emollient, hydrating agent
Chamomilla Rewcutita (Matricaria) Extract – provides gentle soothing, healing, anti-inflamatory effect
Centaurea Cyanus Flower Extract – Cornflower extract, very often used in products for the skin around the eye, has soothing qualities, beneficial for sensitive skin. In addition, provides gentle stimulating and effective moisturizing, refreshing effect
Panthenol - the provitamin of B5, humectant, emollient and moisturizer, panthenol is able to penetrate into deep skin layers, provide essential moisture and a plumping effect. Panthenol is used to treat/releave minor various skin disorders and irritations
Sodium Coceth Sulfate-mild surfactant
Phenoxyethanol – has multipleuses as antiseptic, antibacterial, fixative in perfumes etc.
…

As always in Sisley products, a couple parabens at the end are used as preservatives.

Experience

Texture: light liquid with no oil additives
Smell: Very very light and natural, I believe, I did not find perfume in the ingredient list

This is another product from Sisley that I just love! It removes makeup easily and effectively and is simply a pleasure to use it. Just as Sisley promises, Gentle Eye and Lip Make-up Remover gives you an instant refreshing feeling and eyes feel comfortable, soothes and clean! I love that it doesn’t contain oil and your skin doesn’t feel oily or sticky after using. Niiicccccee!

However, what is not mentioned on Sisley’s website is that Gentle Eye and Lip Make-up Remover is not suitable for water resistant makeup. my own observation is that it works just fine with “long-lasting” products. When I was buying this product, the sales girl explained that Sisley promotes philosophy of balanced healthy skin and waterproof makeup is not at all healthy for your skin. I agree and use waterproof mascara VERY seldom.

Price Tag:
about $ 50-55

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Beauty and Makeup: ArtDeco Eyeshadow Eye Designer # 50

I think I found the best (for now) eyeshadow tone to create Leona Lewis “Bleeding Love” look! It is Long-Lasting Eyeshadow powder by ArtDeco # 50 in the Eye Designer line (photo above: on the left #50 on the right #49). To use this shadow you have to buy a special applicator as well– see the photo.
ArtDeco, founded in 1985, is a Germany company that manufactures skin care and makeup products.
ArtDeco is available in more than 50 countries in Europe as well as in Brazil, South and Middle America and some other lands.
www.artdeco.de



Color:
#50 - I love the color! Hard to describe it though – it is something like dark earth color with green/brown tones. It also has tiny gold sparkles. Ladies who have green eyes (and Leona does) will be amazed by how this shadow brings out the green color of your eyes without actually looking green…

Applicator:
Love the applicator. On one end it is rounded - which is good for blending (or blending in another color), on the other end is pointed for more accurate targeted application. You can use the pointed end to apply shadow close to eyelashes and in the inner corner. Found this applicator very convenient for doing both a dramatic eye and a more reserved eye makeup.

Texture:
Smooth and silky. Easy to apply and correct mistakes. However you won’t get VERY intensive color. For a more dramatic look I use eyeliner pencil under the shadow and a liquid eyeliner over it. I also noticed that if you apply a lot of ArtDeco shadow to achieve maximum intensity, it becomes hard to blend in another shade. The shadow kind of gets wiped away by the next tone I am trying to blend in. And you do need to blend in case you want to create a smoky eye. (Sorry, but the color looks a bit different in the photo)

Lasting Time and Smudginess:
It does last. I should say it will easily last the whole night out or a day in the office but with some touch ups, the color will fade a bit but eyes will still look made up. It stays in place but it leaves an imprint on the upper lead.

Bottom Line:
I really like the color, how it makes my eyes stand out and how it brings out the green of my eyes. Even though this eye shadow has some room for improvement (e.g.: I wish it had better blending properties), I already bought another refill #50 and another applicator with a golden shadow.

Price:
Applicator approximately 20$
Refill approximately 10$

PS: ArtDeco has a perfect Eyeliner Soft Kajal Liner 86 to match Eye Designer Eyeshadow # 50. It is very soft and easy to apply - like it a lot!

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Beauty Talk: Eye Puffiness

I was prone to under eye circles since I can remember. However, you can fix this problem with the help of a mask, a good eye cream and of course a good concealer.

A month ago I faced a much harder problem – eye puffiness… mostly under eye puffiness… If I had a choice between the circles or puffiness I would go with the former. But I did not have that choice – so now I have to deal with both! Puffiness gives me a tired look and on some days I look as if I have not had a chance to sleep for months! So I had to do something about it. I started to look into the reasons why I could have developed this puffiness problem. I tried to research what I could do about it!?

Possible Reasons for Eye Puffiness

Puffiness can mean either fluid retention or inflammation/irritation.
So eye puffiness can happen due to a variety of reasons.

Among the reasons mentioned are:
1.Allergies
2.Heredity
3.Dermatitis
4.Stress
5.Not enough or too much sleep
6.Too Much Salt
7.Not enough water intake during the day or consuming too much water before bed
8.Alcohol/tobacco
9.Hormonal changes
10.Periorbital cellulitis - inflammation and infection of the eyelid and portions of skin around the eye
11.Mononucleosis – “supra-orbital oedema”
12.Crying
13.Moisturizer – too heavy/oily

And the most unpleasant of all the reasons mentioned is “Normal aging”. You can do your best and try to treat allergies or dermatitis, you can change your lifestyle and try to get more sleep, not get stressed too much and stop smoking/drinking… but you can do almost nothing to fight NORMAL aging. The only solution is a cosmetic surgery, I guess.

But normal ageing aside, I looked closely at the list of reasons. Some that fit my situation are stress, lack of sleep, and definitely too much fluid before going to bed: having a couple cups of tea is my evening ritual of winding down. Possible reasons also include an allergy or a heavy moisturizer. However I have not really changed anything in my diet and the moisturizer has not been recently changed either.

In some articles on eye puffiness, authors often claims that puffy eyes are usually only a temporary cosmetic worry. However, you cannot just ignore this problem and hope one day it will disappear. Skin around the eyes is very thin and puffiness stretches it, so in a couple of months eye puffiness can result in saggy skin and lines…

I decided I first would try to increase the amount of sleep (at least 8, better 9 hours) and try to bring down the amount of fluid I drink late in the evening. Since the swelling is most obvious in the morning, I will also test some masks and tips on how to relieve puffiness. One of the first recommendations to test is sleeping with your head elivated, as due to the laws of physics fluid should flow down and there should be less fluid retention under the eyes.

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How to Relieve Eye Puffiness -– Looking for the most effective ways!

Recently I have been testing various ways to relieve eye puffiness. You must have come across all of these recommendations listed below. I was looking for the most effective, convenient and fastest.

Here is what I tested:

Applying cold eye gel mask

Applying masks from cucumber or potatoe slices

Applying a ready-made cloth mask (Estee Lauder’s Anti-Stress)

Applying cotton balls/pads or cloth soaked in cold milk over eyelids.

Applying freshly brewed and cooled tea bags

Sleeping on 2 pillows with my head raised

Test 1: Cold gel mask

I know cold is supposed to be very effective at relieving swelling but I was not so impressed with the effect. First of all, it is a trial for my patience to spend 10-15 minutes lying with the mask on my face when I have so many things to do. Second of all, I did not see much effect after application. Swelling did subside a bit but not so noticeably.

I also saw some recommendations of applying cubes of ice to reduce swelling, so I decided to put the mask into a freezer. Upon application, my eyeballs felt frozen in just 5 seconds. It hurt! I think it can be dangerous to put very cold/frozen masks on your eyes for a long period - as you can get a worse health problem than just puffy eyes.

Test 2: Eye mask Anti-Stress from Estee Lauder (cooled in freezer)

Estee Lauder’s Anti-Stress Mask is amazing in its ability to moisturize the thin skin around eyes. However, just cold masks did not take away the puffiness. When combined with cold gel mask, it did show result! It took though about 20 minutes wearing the mask and 2-3 short-term application of a very cold gel mask over the Anti-Stress mask.


Test 3: Cotton pads soaked in milk

I read many times that makeup artists resort to cold milk when they need to sooth irritated skin or swelling. This mask really worked! I had to make 2 applications though. First, with the eyes shut and pads over leads, then I folded them in the center soaked again, put into fridge for 3 minutes and applied just under my eye. After 5 minutes I could see the effect!
Then I decided to make these masks a bit colder and put them for 1 minute into freezer. After all of this trouble my puffiness was almost completely gone.

Test 4: High Pillow

In the morning I did see that due to high pillow my eyes were less puffy – or was it just a good day for me!? I applied gel mask for a few minutes and then followed up with my cream. I have to say, I was very impressed by the effect of sleeping with a more raised head and started sleeping only on a high pillow after that.


Test 5: Cucumber mask

Cucumber and potato contain natural astringents. It means that upon topical application they tend “to shrink or constrict body tissues”. Cucumber masks did show results. I cut thin slices and applied over the leads. After 2 applications the swelling subsided but I could feel the skin getting very tight as if “shrinking”. So I am wondering if using astrigent containing masks could be not so good for the thin skin as it dries it out or causes a slight stress.

Test 6: Potato mask

Potato masks worked as well as cucumbers. Could see results after application of thin slices 2 times for 3-5 minutes. But I experienced the same feeling of tightness.


Test 7: Cooled tea bags

I tried 2 types of tea: black tea and chamomile. Though, again, I was not very impressed, I have to mention that chamomile tea seemed more effective to me than the black tea.

Conclusioon:

High pillow prevents much of the swelling. It can be hard to get used to sleeping on a high pillow but it is worth the trouble.

Cold relieves the swelling but cold compress used alone is not so effective. Use it in combination with a mask (moisturizing or anti-inflammatory)

Pads soaked in milk applied to eyelids are very effective at relieving swelling and don’t cause the feeling of tightness or dryness.

So now what I do upon waking up, if I see any swelling, I apply pads soaked in milk 1 or 2 times and then either apply a moisturizing mask if I feel the skin really needs it or apply my usual moisturizing cream. You can apply your moisturizer with circular anticlockwise movements (without stretching the skin!), finish up with light padding using your ring finger (which is supposed to be the weakest one!). Such light massage will also help to relieve the swelling.


Update 29.10.08: Here is a tip from Eva Mendes, InStyle US, Oct 2008:
"I often wake up puffy in the morning, so I do a very old-fashioned thing: I fill up a bowl with lots of ice and some witch hazel, and stick my face in the bowl over and over."

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Makeup Trend: Fall/Winter 2008-2009 Eyes

This is somewhat belated short overview of makeup trends for the current fall/winter 2008/2009 as seen on runways.

EYELINER

Create dramatic eye with liquid/pencil eyeliner or you can use black eye shadow as seen at Karl Lagerfeld. The trend is to apply eyeliner on both upper and lower eye rims. You can also be more creative and focus on outer or inner eye corners. My own favourite look is the cat makeup as seen at Jean Paul Gaultier’s show.


FALSE EYE LASHES

Maximize your eyelashes! False eyelashes were seen at many shows including Versace, Dior and Etro. Elley Kishimoto’s models were wearing color eyelashes.


COLOR EYE SHADOW

Brighten up your autumn days with colors! Choose the one that suits you! Blue, purple, orange, pink... From all of these blue seems to be most popular.
As seen in the photo below, eyeshadow is applied either to both upper and lower eyelids or to the upper and, in this case, not blended. My personal favourite is Miss Sixty.

ARTISTIC EYE SHADOW

You might want to recreate exaggerated artistic looks seen at Dior, John Galliano and Vivienne Westwood (sorry couldn’t find good photo of the latter)

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Beauty Review: Guerlain’s Happylogy Eye: Glowing Eye Care

Product Tag Line:

The eyes sparkle of youth.

Product Profile in short:
(as described on Guerlain Website)
• Action on 1st wrinkles/dark circles/puffiness
• Signs of fatigue reduced
• Eyes sparkle with special glow

Promise:
“Makes first wrinkles, dark circles and puffiness fade away”

What’s Inside:
• Extract of ruscus (Ruscus aculeatus ) – helps to stimulate microcirculation of the skin and helps to alleviate the dark circles.
• Flavonoid - to help diminish puffiness around the eyes
• Lipopeptide – to tighten and tone the skin
• Dipeptide – to help avoid recurrence of puffiness


Close-up on Active Ingredients:
Water
Ethylene/Acrylic Acid Copolymer- emulsion stabiliser
Butylene Glycol – humectant (attracts moisture to the skin)
Propylene Glycol Dicaprylate/Dicaprate – emollient, hydrating agent
Squalane - natural organic compound used in cosmetics as a natural moisturizer, emollient (mostly comes from shark liver oil)
Glyceryl - emollient (softens, lubricates skin, helps to prevent loss of moisture)
Polymethacrylate - salt or ester of polymethacrylic acid (seems to be used for lubricating purposes)
Caprylic/Capric Triglyceride – emollient from the mixed triester of glycerol, caprylic and capric acid, used for its excellent skin conditioning abilities; also used as a dispersing agent and solvent for actives
Glycerin - humectant
Steareth-21 - emulsifier
Linum Usitatissium seed extract – linseed extract, effective emollient, extremely rich in fatty acids, has soothing, anti-inflammatory properties and believed to produce rejuvenating effect
Hexyldecanol - skin-conditioning agent
Stearalcomium Hectorite - suspending agent used for dispersion of solids in liquids
Cetyl Alcohol - emollient and emulsion stabilizer, gives skin a velvety feel
Stearyl Alcohol – emollient and emulsifier
Althaea Officinalis root extract – Marshmellow root extract’, has antioxidant, soothing and calming properties. According to some sources, it is used to reduce pigmentation
Prunus Amygdalus Dulcis fruit extract - sweet almond, rich in fatty acids and acts as an effective emollient, protects the skin from drying and improves its barrier function
Hesperidin Methyl Chalcone - Citrus bioflavonoid. Hesperidin helps to reduce dark circles by preventing the blood vessels in the skin around the eyes from leaking. However, there are some doubts if it can be effective when applied topically.
Triticum Vulgare germ protein- wheat germ protein, emollient and antioxidant
Avena sativa kernel protein – oat kernel protein, emulsifier, anti-irritant, has soothing, antioxidant properties
Theobroma cacao extract - cocoa extract, antioxidant
Sanguisorba officinalis root extract – skin conditioning, anti-oxidant
Pyrus malus fruit extract -apple fruit extract, astrigent, Skin conditioning agent, so-called “Cell-Communicating ingredient” see this article
Eriobotriya japonica leaf extract – loquat leaf extract, effective antioxidant
There are about 20 more ingredients following the list above. Among them 2 parabens towards the very end, a bit lower one more ingredient of interest - plankton extract.

As you can see there are a lot of humectants and emollients to keep the thin eye skin hydrated and prevent loss of moisture (provide certain level of occlusion) There are no pure occlusives which makes this product light and comfortable. There are also several potent anti-oxidants to fight free-radicals and soothing ingredients to prevent inflammation/irritation. There are also some advanced ingredients such as apple fruit extract which improves cell communication.

Experience

Texture: creamy but not rich and not at all oily, light pink color
Smell: no smell and no perfume/fragrance mention among ingredients

Guerlain’s Happylogy line has a far-reaching goal. It aims at making your skin happier by stimulating release of endorphins. This way it aims to “recreate the effects of happiness deep within the skin” and “a woman never looks so glowing as when she is happy”. And even though, I have to admit, this claim seems too incredible to be realizable, Happylogy Eye works miracles and I love love love this product!

I have been faithful to Happylogy eye cream for at least 4 years. When I turned 24, I started noticing these thin lines around my eyes. It was time I switched from my light Vichy Thermal Fix Eye Gel to something stronger. After asking around, considering several options, I decided to go for Lancome’s Primordiale. I liked the results so I bought it again. However, it just seemed to have stopped working. Lines were there and seemed to get worse and worse. So I kept trying out other products and tested Dior’s and Channel’s eye creams for first signs of aging. None of them would take my lines away. I went on a search party for the best eye cream out there! And then it happened… Finally hours spent reading and searching online yielded a result…Many good reviews and some articles pointed to one product – Guerlain’s Issima Happylogy Eye: Glowing Eye Care. I made the final choice. I bought it. Used it only a couple days and couldn’t believe the result. In two days there was almost no lines anymore. In a week the skin around the eyes was smooth, looked fresh and glowing just as promised. Dark circles didn’t disappear but did improve. I have been using Guerlain’s Happylogy Eye ever since!

Want to mention one more great feature of this product… As you can see from the ingredients analysis above, this product has a lot of emollient ingredients and several humectants but no occlusives. I think it is thanks to this that it doesn’t roll off or turn into these terrible crumbs when you apply makeup over it. It feels very comfortable upon application and gets quickly absorbed.

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Drug for Growing Eyelashes Approved by FDA

Rejoice! Now there is an official drug that can help you grow long thick beautiful eyelashes!

FDA has approved the first and only science-based treatment for growing eyelashes. LATISSE was developed by Allergan, the company behind Botox.

Latisse is a prescription treatment that has to be applied daily on a continued basis. As a result of regular continued use, the length, thickness and colour of eyelashes are visibly improved. Side effects of Latisse can include eye redness and itchiness. More serious but less common side-effects could be darkening of the eye iris or of the eyelid skin and, according to some reports, even permanent darkening of the whites of the eyes.

Latisse is based on a chemical called prostaglandin, which is used to treat glaucoma. It was the side effect observed in the patients treated for glucoma with prostaglandin that inspired developemtn of this eyelash enhancement treatment.

Latisse will be available early next year and a month supply is expected to cost you over a hundren dollars. Which makes it quite an expense over a year.


Sources:Telegraph.co.uk
Medical News Today
ABC News Report at video.yahoo.com

Photo: ABC News
Photo: ABC News

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Sigma Makeup Brushes - Eyes

This is part two of my review of Sigma Makeup brushes. Go to part 1 to read about Sigma Makeup brushes for facet. Today I will talk about eye makeup brushes.

SS239 Eye Shading Brush


I love this brush! It’s a must have! This brush is tapered and has rounded edge. Medium firm and very dense fibers make it an ideal brush to apply eye shadow on to the eyelid. It picks up shadow powder really nicely and the dense bristles allow you to pack on the color and build the right intensity. SS239 will be a great choice for those who use loose eye shadow powder as well.

SS252 Large Shader Brush

This brush is a bit similar to SS239, fibers are longer, firm but not so thick and fluffy, so the brush is flatter. It is used for shading and for application of emollient-based products. I prefer SS239 for shading with eye shadow, but use SS252 for a more precise application of a hightlight in the center of the eyelid or under the brow and for blending. I also liked using it for the crease when applying multiple shades.

SS219 Pencil Brush

Excellent brush! SS219 features soft, dense fibers gathered in a pencil shape. Great for precise shading right on the crease. The Pencil Brush picks up shadow powder really well which makes it great to apply intense color and create bold look. It’s an excellent tool for doing that outer V-shape when creating a smoky eye and to apply shadow strategically along the lash line. Also good for blending eyeliner into the eye shadow. Perhaps I would like it to be a bit “sharper” to apply shadow on the tear drop.

SS224 Tapered Blending Brush

This brush has a dome shape. The bristles are longer than in pencil brush, are soft and fluffy. It picks up powder quite nicely and is great to apply color on the lid or onto the crease for a nice but soft look and definition. It’s also an excellent tool to blend the shadow and to smooth out any sharp edges. To build intense color and for bolder definition use SS239 and SS219

SS266 Small Angle Brush

Another one of my favorites! Due to short, dense and firm bristles this brush does miraculous job when lining along the lashes! I use it to create a beautiful precise shade along the lower lash line. (see the photo below)
SS266 is also an excellent tool to shape and fill in your brows. As a result, you get natural looking defined eye brows.

SS275 Medium Angled Brush

This brush features dense soft and angled bristles. Great to create and nicely blend a highlight under the brow. SS 275 is also a good tool to define your crease line. It’s a personal preference but I would like it to be a bit less fluffy for the more accurate crease application.

SS209 Eyeliner Brush

Firm bristles combined with a thin tip allow precise, firm, even stroke when applying eye liner. SS209 allows you to get as close to the lashes as possible.

Here is a pic of my test makeup.



All the brushes in the eye kit are made from goat hair except from SS266 and SS209.

I really liked Sigma brushes kit for eyes. This kit costs about 40$ and is a great value for the price. But right now you have a chance to get it for free in our GIVEAWAY! Sigma Makeup offers a free brush kit to one of Skin Care and Beauty Blog readers!! Hurry now and go to Sigma Makeup website check out their wonderful brushes and select between 2 kits: for face or for eyes. Come back to this post or Part 1 of Sigma Brushes Review and leave a comment stating your choice and your email address. If you are afraid of spam, leave a comment and send me your email address to beautyhealthinfo at yahoo.com (include the copy of the comment and your name as well). Please, only one entry per contestant!

The lucky winner will be chosen randomly in two weeks.

This giveaway is open till March 8, 22.00 GMT

Anyone can participate as this giveaway is international!! Yay!

Don't forget to read Part 1 of Sigma Makeup Brushes Review - Brushes for the Face.

THIS CONTEST IS CLOSED
Happy to announce a winner for Sigma Brushes giveaway!

Sigma Makeup Brushes for Eyes go to Sena Sagani from Malaysia!

Congratulations, Sena! Hope you will enjoy Sigma Makeup Brushes as much as I did!

Thanks to everyone for participating! Keep tuned for more cool contests and fun posts on Skin Care and Beauty Blog.

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Exotic Paradise Eye Shadow Palette from Guerlain's Spring Collection

I made up my mind and yesterday got this gorgeous Exotic Paradise spring palette from Guerlain. I'm in paradise now :-)

Isn't packaging beautiful? I also like the miniature suede case that keeps palette protected from scratching. (I wonder how quickly I will missplace it)

What I liked most about the palette is the unsusual selection and combination of colors. Truly exotic shades!





When I swatched the shadows at the counter, I was a bit disappointed by how sheer colors looked on the skin. It's impossible to build up intensity. Despite this I still love this palette! And I think the shades will look nice on the eyelids. I'll post photos when I try it out.

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Shiseido Hydro-Powder Eye Shadow

Recently I’ve been drawn like a magnet to eye shadows! Hardly a week passed after buying Guerlain’s spring palette, I found myself at Shiseido’s counter checking out their Hydro-Powder Eye-Shadow. As I’ve mentioned, I had a bad (sticky and creasy) experience with a creamy eyeshadow previously so I was a bit worried about giving a cream shadow another chance … Here is my review…


Color:
Spring Plum

It’s warm light plum with tiniest green shimmery particles

Stay-on Power:
Amazingly long! And it’s crease-resistant - only after 8-9 hours I started seeing some creasing but the color still remained fresh.


Texture:
Thick mousse


Experience:
I love love love Hydro-Powder eye shadow! You can apply it with your finger but a brush will give you much more control and allow perfect accuracy. I’m using my Sigma concealer brush. Hydro-Powder slides on soooo smoothly, blends very easily and looks one with the skin. I was amazed how easily you can “move around” this shadow on the eyelid, add more color where you need it and blend out any harsh edges. I would never expect this from a cream shadow!
You can control the intensity of color and load on more of Hydro-Powder for a luminous more dramatic look. When you turn your head and the light hits the eye shadow, you get this beautiful sheen of light green. Oh, and you can also wear hydro-powder as an eyeliner!


Green-eyed gals, take a note of Spring Plum shade! It will bring out the beautiful green in your eyes.

Bottom Line:
I am looking forward to buying more colors of Shiseido’s Hydro-Powder Eye Shadow!

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