Tortoiseshell and rose blossom

I was excited when I got my hands on Bobbi Brown's tortoiseshell palette in Bronze - which is actually just a bunch of neutral and unexciting colours, I suppose, but great.basics. These are the colours I wear most often. These days I feel too self-conscious wearing bright colours on my face.

So with my eyes looking natural, I thought I'd play up the lips a bit. I just wanted something new and different and it took me one minute to decide on a bright pink lipstick called Rose Blossom. I tried on the limited edition shade - nude rose? - but it didn't suit me; it just looked blah on me.

Face: Chanel Vitalumiere Aqua in B50 Beige Sienne, Bobbi Brown corrector in Bisque, Laura Mercier Secret Brightening Powder 2

Cheeks: Chanel Solein Tan in Bronze Corail

Eyes: Bobbi Brown White, Bronze Tortoiseshell Eye Palette, Bobbi Brown gel eyeliner in black, Dior waterproof eyeliner in black, Chanel Sublime mascara in black

Chanel Vitalumiere Aqua in B40, B50, Bobbi Brown Rose Blossom

The foundation is still the same Vitalumiere Aqua by Chanel but a shade darker than last time. I couldn't make up my mind for a while but I think I do like this. I can't compare it with any other Chanel foundations but it's supposed to give that 'my skin but better' look. It has an SPF of 15, it's light and gives more coverage than eg MAC's Face and Body, which is ultra sheer. The packaging is perfect, in my opinion, because it's small, plastic and travel-friendly; I really don't need glass bottles.

As for concealer... well, I'm still experimenting. I'm not 100% satisfied with Bobbi's corrector+concealer stuff because the product(s) become visible on my skin after an hour or two. So at the moment I'm just using the corrector, applying the foundation over it, and setting it with the magic powder.

Back to Bobbi basics

How important is concealer to your everyday make-up routine? I go through phases, depending on the foundation I'm wearing. At the moment, as I'm into the natural look, I use MAC's Face and Body foundation in C3 (in summer I wear C4), so I need to wear concealer. I was getting bored and dissatisfied with the ones from Laura Mercier and MAC so I've switched back to Bobbi Brown.

It's a bit of a hassle having to apply two layers but I stick to what they advise: I pat on the pinkish corrector in Bisque first (this neutralises the bluishness), then the concealer in Warm Beige. A lot of the Bobbi girls I used to work with loved Bisque, even though they were lighter skinned. It's definitely worth a try, if you're not familiar with it.

Top: Bobbi Brown's corrector in Bisque and concealer in Warm Beige.
Bottom: Also from Bobbi the concealer kit in Natural.

I usually prefer to use Laura Mercier's secret brightening powder to set concealer but I had to get one of the new concealer kits, which includes Bobbi's recommended powder in pale yellow. The colour of this concealer is Natural, which is a bit darker - for summer.

What's your favourite concealer?

Finally finished: Bobbi Brown corrector

This is Bobbi Brown's corrector in Light Peach that I have finally finished. Hooray - because this happens so rarely :-) I got it two years ago and I've been using it on and off (I have several other concealers).

Do I like it? Well, I bought this to use under concealer but ended up using it alone. It's ok but I found that it wore off after a few hours so the shadows under my eyes were visible again, even when fixed with powder.

Would I repurchase? Probably not. At least not in the near future. I'm too keen to try other products - I'm eyeing Laura Mercier's camouflage.

I like the packaging, though, so I've put Chanel Rouge Allure lipstick samples in there.

Mythic, Adorable, Orientale, Fatale

Do you recycle nice containers, too?