I hope you are having a wonderful weekend. After the first two weeks of the semester is over, I am getting back on track. Summer Collections started showing up so it is time to wrap up my thoughts about the lovelies I was testing from Spring Collections. I have made so many photos recently since the new semester started, can't wait to share them with you and hear your thoughts.
Clarins released two Spring Collections, the regular one called Contouring Perfection focuses on sculpting the face with contour/blush/highlight duo while keeping the rest of the face fresh and springy. There is a very interesting and innovative product for those who are into liners in that one. The second one was about every day easy to use lip and blush duo, composed of three shades of Skin Illusion Blushes and lip balm in new limited edition packaging. I would like to share my thoughts on both of them in this post, right after the jump.
 |
| Clarins Contouring Perfection for Spring 2017 |
Without a doubt the center piece of Clarins Contouring Perfection Spring Collection is Palette Contour Visage that is composed of three shades, one for each contouring, sculpting and highlighting purposes. The palette comes in a sleek plastic compact with golden finish and there is also a very adorable little brush that comes with it. Brush is made of synthetic hair and the bristles have an interesting cut to fit right under your cheek bone. I don't like very sharp contours on daily use so I prefer to use fluffier little brushes to build the color in a more blended way but I can see this working great if you want to slim your face for a photo shoot.
Much against the Instagram full on metallic highlight and slim faces contoured to look even slimmer, I prefer going for low key and natural complexion with focus being the natural freshness of the skin. Of course a heavy coverage and lots of contour/highlight looks good on photos but in real life, to me, it is not something I'd go for. I don't think every face needs a contour. Mine can really benefit from it but to a certain point. Who would like two stripes on cheek bones when you look the other way right?
 |
| Clarins Palette Contour Visage, Joli Baume and Skin Illusion Blush |
Rant over? Clarins Palette Contour Visage can look very natural and wearable if you use a fluffier brush so I am loving it at the moment. It is great for travels too if you want just one product with you to do all the three tasks. Of course like all other palettes, it is hard to make something that is about complexion and make it work for all skin colors. The matte contour is great if you have large pores and wouldn't like to emphasize them but at the same time the shade is a little deep for light and light to medium girls. On me it is almost the same as my skin shade. It should work much better for anyone who is deeper than me.
 |
| Clarins Stylo 4 Couleurs, Joli Baume and Skin Illusion Blush |
Blush shade is really pretty and I believe it should work across the skin tones. Contour shade is not very ashy but for a combination product that is meant to be a cross between bronzer and a contour, I think it is a lovely shade. It has just a tad of rosy undertones, on my skin I appreciate that it is not too yellow but more natural for that matter. You can see that the highlighter shade is very slightly lighter than my skin tone but it is not too warm nor cool so should work from medium skin tone up quite well.
Below you can also see the swatches of Clarins Ombre Iridescente #09 Silver Rose that I am obsessed with at the moment. I usually don't use such shade all around the lid but opt for smokier and deeper tones but this one is effortlessly pretty once combined with a crease shade. You can see the results thereof below. I am a big fan of cream/powder hybrid of this formula. You can see other shades I reviewed here and here.
 |
| Swatch: Clarins Ombre Iridescente, Palette Contour Visage, Skin Illusion Blush |
Clarins Skin Illusion Blushes have an interesting packaging which makes it for the most easily applicable on the go for me. There is a sponge which you can dip in the product and just pat on your cheeks. I don't usually apply blush throughout the day because I am lazy and between the lectures I hardly have time to freshen up but I can see this working for many others. The packaging is really very adorable with hearts and a large mirror on top of it. I love it. The shade I went for though, #02 Luminous Coral is a very light shade that wouldn't show up on complexions deeper than mine. Even on me I need to pat it a few times. There are two other shades though so check them out if you are interested.
Now onto the innovative product of the bunch. Clarins Stylo 4 Couleurs All-in-One Pen Eyes & Lips works very much like pens that offer multiple colors all at once. You can push the color you'd like by pressing it and you can trust later on to make the product appear out of the plastic protection layer as you can see on the picture below. Excuse my terrible drawing but that was supposed to be a swatch *chuckles*. The shades are: black, brown, blue for eyes and a nude shade for the lips. I love the idea of this, especially for traveling because I use such eye pencils a lot but unfortunately the consistency is not doing it for me for the eye pencils. Lip pencil is great and it also has a good lasting power but eye pencils are rather hard and scratchy. I had to slide it many times since I get the color on the eyes. Good news is that once it is on, it stays really long.
 |
| Swatch: Clarins Stylo 4 Couleurs All-in-One Pen Eyes & Lips |
Here is a look I created by using Clarins Ombre Iridescente #09 Silver Rose and Clarins Stylo 4 Couleurs All-in-One Pen Eyes (brown shade) on eyes. I used MAC Omega as a subtle crease shade for this eye look. On cheeks I have Palette Contour Visage as highlight, blush and contour. On lips I am wearing Clarins Joli Rouge Brilliant 07 Raspberry (reviewed here).
 |
| FOTD: Clarins Contouring Perfection for Spring 2017 |
 |
| FOTD: Clarins Contouring Perfection for Spring 2017 |
Although there skin care is very renowned, Clarins make-up was previous not available everywhere. I just read at Linda's blog that now it is available in Singapore too.
Final thoughts: Clarins' Spring Collections are lovely for a fresh, not over the top natural Spring make-up. My favorites are Palette Contour Visage (if you are to very fair) and Clarins Ombre Iridescente #09 Silver Rose for a swipe and go shade for everyday.
Have you picked anything from Clarins make-up line recently? What is your go-to single eye shadow at the moment?
Disclaimer: The products in this post were provided free of charge for my consideration.
I am not paid for this review. All opinions are honest and my own.
This looks very pretty and Spring-like. With a long face, I have zero interest in contouring. And nearly every shade of brown makes my skin look dirty. On the other hand, I never felt smoky eyes were that flattering on me, and now that it's Spring, I have resolutely switched to nearly always doing the light lid and darker crease color with razor thin liner and under eye soft color combination. And that pink looks like a great eyelid brightener.
ReplyDeleteHi Alison,
ReplyDeleteI don't know why everyone contours like crazy, be it they need it or not. With a long face you can contour not on the sides but on the top and down to make it less long if that is something you'd like. Light lid looks good on you, I'd stick to that. I have naturally dark lids and if I apply very light shades, I look like someone else, does that make sense? Not necessarily bad but different :-) Pink is lovely and I can definitely recommend this formula.
I know-- it's like people adopt whatever comes along. I do usually run my blush on the top of my forehead and temples. And yes, Sara, I know exactly what you mean because the same is true for me, I have a lot of dark color on the lids and around the eyes and color correcting that and adding brows and lip color makes me look very different and those are the basics. I could basically go out without anything else on. Just have to say so very curious about that green eye palette. Am trying not to lose all sense of proportion as the most interesting color is the green and I am not sure what I actually do with the gold and the lemon yellow. May not need to purchase for that one color, still intrigued because none of the shadows in the new formula really spoke to me at all.
ReplyDeleteAnd I did get both of Jorge's fall palettes which were just perfect for me.
ReplyDeleteI never contour. I like using a bronzer but that's not the same really at all. My face is angular and any contouring would be unnecessary, so why do it? I think, apart from one palette which has a shade that can be used as a contour and bronzer, I don't own a single contouring product. I checked this collection out and OMG - so pretty. I however found the pinks to be a bit pale for my skin tone and the blushes looked so dry on display that I decided not to get anything this time. Looking forward to the summer collection by Clarins - the bronzer palette looks so pretty!
ReplyDeletewww.rougenapples.com
Hi Sara, that eye pen is a little scary to me... so huge and like you said, scratchy. I saw a makeup artist apply it, and it took him so many vigorous tries, the girl's eyes turned red and teary afterwards. Thank goodness it at least stays on well afterwards. The contour palette looks really good though, and I'm hoping it makes its way to counters here soon! Thank you for the link love! :*
ReplyDeleteYou need to be sure that the cosmetics you use are qualified in order to preserve your beauty by pro and the state of health, and this spring collection surely can be trusted.
ReplyDelete