Coquette Noelle

Were you distracted by that glitter on my eyes? Good, because that's what we are here to talk about!

Let's discuss the Glossier Play Glitter Gelée in Phantasm...

Isn't she just beautiful?

The Glossier Glitter Gelée in Phantasm is a thick, sparkly glitter formula with a clear base that holds both chunky holographic glitter and small specks of violet and pink sparkles. Basically, imagine a unicorn sneezing, that's what this is.

Before I continue, I want to get some controversial shit out of the way, before reviewing the performance of this glitter.

1. No, the glitter isn't a 'bio' glitter (made from plants vs plastic).

What this means: Yes, it is bad for fish in the sea. However, the plastic in this glitter is in many, many cosmetic products such as your mascara. Any consumer industry causes a negative impact on the environment, that is just a fact of life. Glossier will be reformulating these to be 'bio' glitters, so if you shudder of the thought of plastic in makeup, simply wait to purchase. However, please do not feel like the devil if you do want to purchase these. To be more eco-friendly, make sure you are removing them responsibly (I use an oil cleanser around the eyes and then wipe them off with some tissue/a cotton round). Finally, remember that being a wonderful eco warrior doesn't mean a select few doing it perfectly, it is millions of people doing it imperfectly. If you want to read more about 'bio' plastic, Lemonhead LA have written a great article here.

2. They aren't safe for the lips

Some people have read in to this claiming that if they aren't safe for the lips, then they aren't safe for the eyes. There are no disclaimers stating these aren't safe for the eyes but please use your own judgement with this. If you have very sensitive eyelids, don't bother. They have a slight burning sensation upon application but when I say burning I don't mean, ouch, I mean I can feel them setting on the lids. Do not put these anywhere near your water line, do not scrub your eyes when they are on and do not put them on your lips. If you are uncomfortable with the idea of glitter near such a delicate area, don't wear them. Please use your own judgement, play with them safely and remove the responsibly.

So, what's bad about these glitters? Honestly, they are tiny. They come in at £12 for 3g of product whereas the original 'grown up' glitter brand Lemonhead.LA come in at £20 for 15g. So, if you're wanting these to add more intensity to an eye look, it is fine however if you are wanting to bring a pot of hassle free glitter to a festival to put all over your faces, hair and body, you'll definitely not have enough here.

The glitters claim to be hassle-free, long wearing and comfortable. I've seen mixed reviews online but I have to preface my review by explaining that these are meant to be those fun school girl glitters but for the grown up. They aren't a revolutionary glitter that will elevate all makeup game and be the most easy to apply in the world, that isn't the point of them. No, they aren't the most comfortable, barely-there eyeshadow in the world. Yes, they can be a little fiddly. Of course they might fall out if you're wearing them for long periods of time. But if you just want to have a little sparkly fun, they really are great!

I only bought the shade Phantasm as I love how unique it is, making it worth the price. I found it applied easily enough when patting down. They also make a silicone brush? pointer?, well a silicone applicator, which helps place the chunkier pieces of glitter down, with more precision.

I think if you want some effortless fun, not too perfect and not to be taken seriously, glitter then these are excellent. If you want more perfected makeup then, maybe not. I personally really enjoy these types of glitter but more and more are coming on the market so you have a lot to choose from. I would recommend forgetting about the brand and picking the colours you enjoy the most.

For an affordable version see: Colourpop Glitterally Obsessed, $8 for 15g. Available in 14 shades.

For the Glossier selection see: Glossier Glitter Gelée £12 for 3g, Available in 4 shades available.

For the original creators see: Lemonhead.LA £20-£26 for 15g. Available in 3 formulas, and in 19 shades.

For the ones who want 'perfect' glitter see: Stila Magnificent Metals Glitter and Glow Liquid Eyeshadow £24 for 4.5ml. Available in 17 shades.

Have you tried any 'grown up' glitter formulas?

What's your favourite way to wear them?

So you want to buy Nars Madly or Nars Luster, and you can't decide between which one to get?
Hopefully, I can help you pick the right tone for your complexion!

Nars Madly (left) Nars Luster (right)

In the pictures below you can see Nars Madly (left) and Nars Luster (right) swatched side by side.

The outside swatches have been blended out whereas the inner swatch has been built up so that you can get a better idea of the shade.

Nars Madly is a cooler, pink toned brown that pulls much more neutral on the face, I know it looks warm in the photos but the rose tones in the blush is what stops it from being a bronzer. It is the perfect 'barely there' blush that can compliment a myriad of 'looks' as it doesn't compete with any colours due to it being neutral. Whilst it does have a pink base, the colour swatches as a neutral soft tan with some warmer/peach gold shimmer. Depending on your skin tone of course, it may pull slightly more pink. To me however, it is a perfect warm 'tan' brown shade with subtle hints of pink.

Formula It can be tricky to work with as it is a pigmented blush so can sometimes take extra time blending out. I would recommended setting your base with some powder first, then using a light hand to buff it on your cheeks and slowly building up to your desired colour. Even though there are some shimmer flecks in this blush, it doesn't translate on the face and leaves a more matte finish.

Nars Luster is a little bit of a chameleon. It looks like a tan, orange blush with lots of golden, orange sheen. However, I find that it can pull quite apricot and peachy. Depending on your skin tone and shade, it will either pull slightly more peach or slightly more orange. The shimmer looks intense in the pan however it creates a beautiful glow on the skin. I would describe it as an apricot-tan blush with a golden sheen.

Formula What a beautiful formula this blush is. Yes it is pigmented however it is much creamier than other Nars blushes. I find that most brushes will pick this up nicely and the shimmer in this product helps it diffuse on the skin. It isn't chunky or patchy, and can be applied as sheer or intense as you want it to.

Nars Luster on the left cheek Nars Madly on the right cheek

I love having these two blushes in my collection, they continue to survive my declutter year after year. I usually use Nars Madly in more softer matte looks paired with a red lip, as the subtle tones add warmth but not a bronzed look and doesn't grab too much attention. Nars Luster is my, I want to look like a tanned glowing goddess, as it adds some colour, a little golden sheen and blends in beautifully with bronzer. I do reach for Nars Luster more however that is complete personal preference because I love a coloured blush and find that a pink or peach blush can liven up my face.

So, to make up your mind, ask yourself:

Do I like a more neutral, or colourful blush?

Would I prefer a more matte blush, or one with a sheen?

Do I wear my makeup more bronzed or prefer to add a little warmth only on the cheeks?

Which blush will you pick?

Nars Blush available at John Lewis for £21.60-£25*

*Affiliate link used (if you buy through this link I will receive a small commission from the product, without any cost or change to you the buyer, which helps support this blog).

This time last month, my depression had led to me self harm, close myself from my family and left me in debilitating pain. I pretended and smiled when booking a family holiday in London for a few days as mi tia (aunt) from Ecuador had come to visit us. The days were enjoyable, but it was an imitation of happiness. I could see the colours around me but could not experience them, it is like the world has rejected you and pencilled you out in pencil. Your colour has left but life is vivid, and you can't engage. Thinking back on this time is painful, and hard to write about. But I want to write about how you can get through to the other side because today, I found the sunlight, and guess what, it is bursting out of me.

One year on, and I have had my mum and nephew visit me, and we made a mini stay-cation of it. After just one day, I woke up feeling tired from the previous day's activities and as I began to worry about how this tiredness would affect my mood, I could hear my mum and my nephew talking to each other. I felt a warmth that spread throughout me and quickly made me feel like I could explode with happiness. I was overcome with joy about our wonderful day out and that now I could just enjoy their presence and their voices around me. It sounds silly but after several months of darkness and several more of "recovery", I felt everything that I had been working towards all come to fruition in that moment. Of course, there will still be difficult days ahead but I no longer feel part of this limbo land which is "recovery". And I know, I know what it is to lose perspective and to have all the positives consumed by this life threatening illness. But just keep pushing, working, fighting and surviving and you too will wake up one morning, bursting with happiness.

Fenty Beauty Stunna Lip Paint £19 available at Harvey Nichols, applied on the eyes and the lips.

Not so much a review because this is the same original formula, which I have already reviewed (read me here).

This post is more of a, look how badass this lip colour is!

So, thank you, Fenty Beauty Stunna Lip Paint, for making me feel like a BO$$!

Fenty Beauty Stunna Lip Paints* available at Harvey Nichols for £20.

If you're reading this, you probably enjoy makeup. The beauty club is full of men and women who admire makeup for it's ability to create wellness, to inspire confidence, to enhance, to create and to play. We love this shit! We slather it all over our faces because it inspires happiness, it is playful, and it doesn't fucking matter. Our world is filled with difficult and depressing things and this is an escape, we get to play with textures and colours, and forget about the madness - if just for a second.

I love beauty. I love it, not because I think we can 'enhance' beauty or because of its 'transformative' properties - yeah, that's great but I'm still me with makeup as I am without it. I love it because I can paint my emotions, I can play artist and I can bridge the gap between how I want to feel, and how I actually feel.

Make-up has always been a moment for me. It is a moment where I can truly switch off, disengage my brain and just be. For some people it is cooking, for others it is taking a drive but for me, it is make-up. That is why you'll always see me at my most 'made up' at 9pm on a Tuesday evening with nowhere to go, because it isn't about showing the world how beAuTiFuL I am, it is about giving myself a moment to stop thinking, and to just play.

Whilst the instagram-dominated game of beauty may feel discriminatory, makeup doesn't discriminate. It doesn't care about your race, your gender, your sexual orientation, your age or your size. Anyone, and everyone, is welcome to play here. Those jeans feel a little tight, throw a red lipstick on and you remember that your self worth isn't a number, you still got it whatever size you are. It isn't about feeling "confidence" from your makeup, it is about gaining that perspective back. My red lipstick doesn't give me confidence or raise my self-esteem, it reminds me to practice and use my confidence.

For a long time, and around certain people... ok, I won't lie here - still today with certain people, I do not present my more playful face, if you will. I don't put on my favourite coloured lipsticks or wear my bright pink eyeliner because of the fear of being judged by them. We do it everyday in the workplace, this idea that a graphic eyeliner somehow makes one unprofessional, please.

I hear it from the voices of people around me about both family members and celebrities alike, "she wears too much makeup", "she must be so self conscious to cake that all on", "I don't understand why she wears all that makeup", "she's trying too hard", "she must be desperate for attention to wear a BLUE lipstick". The worst one, "I'm worried about how much makeup she's wearing. She masks herself".

Let me speak for all beauty enthusiasts when I say, "Please, fuck off".

Now don't get me wrong, there are indivduals who struggle with their appearance, but the amount of makeup they are wearing is not a signifier of that. We suffer from insecurities, all and alike, but they take multiple forms, they are both visible and invisible. It's the invisible ones you should be worrying about.

So, the next time you see someone who sports a face you might not wear, or isn't to your 'liking', just pipe down, alright?

They might just be experimenting and playing with something that just washes off at the end of the day. Don't read into why I am wearing a bright eye shadow, maybe I just like it.

It really is as simple as that.

And to me, and anyone else out there, don't let the worries about 'what other people will think about you' stop you from wearing your colours. Wear them with defiance. Wear them and show them that, it's just makeup, after all.

Glossier has just released their sub-brand, Glossier Play. Glossier is the effortless LA girl, with her tiny makeup bag and fingers only application, she gets ready in less than 10 minutes and looks like a glowing angel. Glossier Play is her younger sister who also enjoys letting her skin texture show and being effortless but thinks "fuck man, let me play with some colour". And so, Glossier Play was born for the colour loving beauty enthusiast.

I collected a little bit of everything from the brand (of course I did, how could I NOT!?). But for today, we are just going to focus on the Glossier Play Colorslides in Early Girl and Nectar. Early Girl is a beautiful eggshell blue (think Farrow and Ball Green Blue, but for the eyes) and Nectar is a mustard toned yellow.

The Glossier Play Colorslides come in at £13 each, not affordable by any means but definitely not a high ticket price (I'm looking at you Marc Jacobs). They come in 15 shades, I purchased 4 in total and have played with all of them and have a solid conclusion on the formula. It claims to be a 'technogel' colour, who knows what the hell that means? Basically, its a gel/wax based pencil which sets down and does. not. move. Let me emphasise that again, this pencil will 'set' down and stay all day, it will not slip, melt or transfer and it doesn't create that 'double' eyeliner effect that we hooded eyes get when using eyeliner. I have a light-medium olive complexion and the paler shades show up beautifully on my skin, it isn't full opacity on first swipe and can sometimes need building up however the pencil is comfortable enough to do this and the pigmentation builds beautifully upon itself.

I really do love the pigmentation of these pencils as I find that other highly pigmented pencils can sometimes have too much creaminess where they move about during the day, or are too dry that they tug harshly on the lash line. They do 'tug' a little due to the sticky, waxy formula but I find that this is what gives it the creamy texture that doesn't 'move'. These eyeliners have a good slip, staying power and colour pay off. The *only* real negative is that they dry down and can look a little... crepey? crumbly? This happens when you build and build upon them so they develop a sort of texture and isn't a smooth thin line of colour, which is why I wouldn't call these the best eyeliners on the market.

Bottom line: They are a great pencil at a great price point, due to the wonderful range of colours. I think £13 for a good formula and a cute colour isn't too bad, so I'd be happy to recommend them. They are available online at Glossier.com

If you want a more affordable pencil, I'd direct you to Colourpop! They really are unbeatable for the price point at $5.50 (free shipping over $50 but customs fees apply).

If you want a 'this-is-the-best-eyeliner-ever', then I'd direct you to Marc Jacobs. They are pricey at £20 but if you want the best, this is it.

The Too Faced Born This Way Concealer is the new kid on the block and I'm here to see if it really as good as they say?

Beauty Industry folks alike understand that 'Concealer Hype' is a real thing.

See: Collection Lasting Perfection Concealer.

See: Nars Radiant Creamy Concealer.

See: Tarte Shape Tape.

The overhyped concealers usually land in with a "nice, but a bit dry... and a bit ageing".

So, will the Too Faced Born This Way Multi-Use Sculpting Concealer stand up to the hype?

The Too Faced Born this way concealer is a heavyweight in the concealing ring. From it's foundation-like packaging which houses it's 15ml of product (enormous compared to most concealers which contain anywhere as little as 3-5ml of product), to it's high coverage. It is fairly clunky packaging with an huge doe-foot applicator which some love, I personally find it can be quite wasteful of product. The packaging doesn't rate highlight but it is the formula that really matters. It claims to provide 'crease-free, weightless coverage' and comes in 20 shades. Below are the shades Golden Beige (left) and Natural Beige (right).

The formula is a smooth, thick cream which blends down to a soft, matte finish. The product has enough slip to blend the product out but isn't a flex/stretch concealer by any means. I find this formula works well with fingers or a fluffy brush to either melt the product into the skin, or buff it lightly into a soft blur on the skin. In the photo below, I wore Golden Beige under the eyes to show the coverage of the product. This concealer wears well on me, I find setting it lightly with powder keeps it put in place and it doesn't break up throughout the day.

I have oily skin with textured under eyes (milia, fine lines, signs of stress and my quarter life crisis, you know). The soft matte texture can slightly exaggerate my fine lines and texture however, skin prep and a light hand can help with that. Due to it's more powdery finish, it lasts really well and doesn't slip around or make my mascara smudge (the concealer struggle is REAL!). This isn't my favourite concealer to use under the eyes, I often times mix it with a more hydrating concealer, dotting it on where I need extra coverage but it is far from my least favourite concealer. I think it is just a good, all round concealer that isn't fussy, delivers what it claims with no mucking about, which I like. What you get, is what you see.

Other than using this concealer to add extra coverage under the eyes, I love to use this to conceal blemishes/imperfections on the face. It provides the coverage to knock out redness or pigmentation without looking heavy or cakey. What I particularly like about this concealer on the face is that it has a very natural, soft finish so doesn't accentuate dryness, doesn't lift with oiliness and blends smoothly into all bases. Plus, it stays put so you don't have to worry about your coverage disappearing throughout the work day.

This concealer is good, but it is just that. I think there are a lot of good concealers on the market which makes me hesitant to "recommend" this product. If you already have a concealer you love, then stay true to that. If you don't like a matte or powdered finish under the eyes, then this is probably a pass. However, if you're on the hunt for a new concealer and you don't want to waste money 'playing' with different formulas to find "the one", then this is an excellent concealer to try. This concealer does it's job, it covers, it doesn't smear, it doesn't age, and it lasts. She ain't got bells and whistles but she's good 'en.

Too Faced Born This Way Super Coverage Multi-Use Sculpting Concealer £24, available at Cult Beauty.

Coquette Noelle

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