little white truths

I can't tell you how long it took me to settle on my next round of products. Honestly, it's ridiculous. I even went so far as to choose five products, photograph them, then decide I wasn't happy with the selection.

Anyhoo, here they are:

I wanted to include a mix of products (eg, complexion v colour etc), and basically use anything that either hasn't seen the light of day for a while, or doesn't get used enough.

As with my last round of products, what I want to do is see if I can find new and interesting ways to use these products - except for the Eve Lom sample, which I just want to use.

Here's each product in turn:


Obsessive Compulsive Cosmetics Lip Tar in Cha Cha

So many people rave about these OCC Lip Tars but I unfortunately haven't had the best experience with this one. Full review here. I found that this product sits in ridges and dry patches on my lips, so you can really see it and I need to wear another product over the top (like a gloss) if I don't want it to look patchy.

Because of these issues, it's now one of my oldest lip products (it may actually be the oldest) and it hasn't had a lot of use. I would like to get more use from it though and it may well be destined for Project Pan if I discover in the next couple of weeks that it's something I could wear every day. It may be a good base product for lip colours that are eg too pink for me (so I can turn them coral), and it could also work as a cheek stain.

Let's see.


Eve Lom Tinted Moisturiser in Wheat

As you may know, I'm on the search for my next purchase in the tinted moisturiser/BB cream department. At this stage I have until October before my spending ban lifts, and I really don't need to buy anything until at least then because I have some open products to get through first - but that doesn't mean I can't start looking.

I decided to use these 'now playing' posts as a way to use up some samples I picked up when spending the Mecca gift cards that Santa gave me. I've been focusing too much on my Project Pan base products and wanted to explore something else.

I did try this yesterday for the first time and I think it's a little too thick for me: it provides more coverage than your average tinted moisturiser and that's not what I need because I have foundations to use if I want more coverage. But I'll use up the sample and let you know how I go.


theBalm Hot Mama! Blush

Full review here. I have six blushes that are older than the three higher end ones I've bought more recently. This one and the Bahama Mama Bronzer, two from Be a Bombshell and two from Mememe Cosmetics. They're all great products but I'm not using them enough - particularly this one and the two Mememe products.

I do like this little peach number with shimmer, but as you may know I tend to steer clear of shimmery cheek products due to my open pores. This is a pretty colour though and I'd like to give it some decent use while the sun's still out, since it's more of a warm-weather shade.

It might also work well as an eyeshadow so I'd like to explore it a bit more.


Croquis Alight Pact

This is by far the best makeup product I received from Memebox. It's a highlighting powder and it's wonderfully finely milled with no noticeable glitter - it just provides a nice sheen.

While I do use it often enough, I still haven't reviewed it: including it here will make me write that review! It's brilliant as an inner corner highlight and is light enough to be used as an illuminating setting powder. In terms of quality, while the powder isn't as fine as those in my Hourglass Ambient Lighting Palette, it does work better than those for certain purposes (eg the inner corner thing).

I want to make sure I use every last drop of this product - and find great ways to use it in the process - so that's why I've included it here.


Nars Eyeshadow Duo in Charade

I haven't reviewed this one either, so I must do that! This was the first Nars eyeshadow duo I bought with my Christmas giftcards, and it remains the one I reach for most often - but I still don't reach for it enough.

I do love Nars eyeshadows, but I don't think the brand offers enough in the matte department - it's shimmer city at the Nars counter, and that's not good for those of us with eg puffy eyes who don't want to highlight that. It's also not good for office wear or days when you don't want your eyes to look overdone.

This little duo is, I think, the most interesting and wearable of the matte duos: the pinker colour especially is one I haven't seen before. But I definitely need to play around with it some more and work out what cheek and lip colours it works best with. I'm looking forward to doing that : )

In sum

I'm lucky enough to have some great products to play with in this bunch, and I'm looking forward to mucking around with them over the next little while - they'll give me some nice relief from Project Pan and remind me that I have plenty of great products on hand and don't need more!