Thursday 17 April 2014

Purple edition

Since it's Easter this weekend I thought it would be appropriate for the color edition this month to focus on purple. As a color it's a mix of mostly red with a portion of blue and it's one of the colors that was first used in art, but making purple pigments was a complicated and costly business which is probably why purple is traditionally often associated with luxury, royalty and dignity. Purple also symbolizes magic and spirituality and to me it's an elegant and harmonious statement color which I love to wear; from the darker more sophisticated shades in winter time to the lighter, more floral and romantic shades in the summer time. Interestingly enough all of my favorite flowers (except jasmine) are purple - lilac, sweet peas and hyacinth, and my birthstone is tourmaline so it seems as if I have a strong connection with this particular color and today I want to show you some of my favorite purple products.
Having fair complexion that still tans quite easily I guess you could say that I have a golden undertone to my skin, so I generally avoid purple or blue toned lip products since they tend to make my skin look very pale, and not pale and interesting but pale and sickly. But over winter I did experiment with deeper berry shades and I came across a product that positively surprised me in many ways - Rimmel's Stay Glossy Lip Gloss (£6.29). First of all I had been very skeptical to lip glosses up until fairly recently since I used to think of them as sticky sparkly and cheap lip goo, however this formula of cotton and silk is lovely, moisturising and completely non sticky. Even though the lip gloss feels very light on the lips the pigmentation is intense and long lasting - the claim is that it should hold up to six hours and on me it lasts at least four hrs, which is still pretty good. It's available in eleven shades and Captivate Me may look very dark and purple in the tube, but it's more of a dark raspberry pink on the lips and it creates a lovely sheer glistening look. So not only did this product prove to be nothing like the image I had of lip glosses but it turns out that I can actually do blue-toned lippies too.

I've mentioned before that I love to use a colorful eye pencil on my lower water line, to add a little something to a neutral make up look, especially during the warmer months of the year and when I've got a little bit of color. Since I now have a little bit of a tan, albeit fake - courtesy of the amazing Clarins Liquid Bronze Self Tanning for face and decolleté (£19) that I reviewed yesterday, it's time to sharpen those eye pencils. One of my favorites eye pencil's is the L'Oréal Color Riche Le Khol (£4.39) in 114 Breezy Lavander, a beautiful intense metallic light lavender. The formula is a combination of oil and wax, making it very soft and creamy to work with and the pencil applies very smoothly without any need for pressing or tugging. Although it's not specifically water resistant it does have a long lasting wear making it great to use on the upper or lower waterline. Sticking with pencils but in a much thicker version, I've really taken to chubby sticks both for lips and for eyes - they are just so handy and practical. One of the most interesting and affordable formulas on the high street is Rimmel's Scandaleyes Eye Shadow Stick (£4.49). The consistency is very soft and buildable and you barely need to touch your eyelid with the tip to get an intense color payoff with a very subtle lustrous finish. The shade 006 Paranoid Purple is a gorgeous high shine Byzantium purple and although one light sweep with the stick is enough to get a nice color, personally I think this shade looks its best when you've built it up and you have a dramatic and daring look. The pigmentation may be intense but unfortunately it's not very long lasting, and on me the color fades after only a few hrs despite using an eye shadow primer - but that is the only down side with this product, and as such I think it's a great budget friendly option to the original Clinique chubby.
From top to bottom:
Rimmel's Stay Glossy Lip Gloss in Captivate Me
L'Oréal Color Riche Le Khol in 114 Breezy Lavander
Rimmel's Scandaleyes Eye Shadow Stick in 006 Paranoid Purple
A nail polish brand that I have raved about a few times before is the amazing Sally Hansen Complete Salon Manicure Formula (£6.99) that combines base coat, strengthener, growth treatment and top coat with each color. It's taken me a while to completely trust this product, but having tried so many different shades of it now I have managed to wean myself off wearing a separate base- and top coat and so far it's never caused any problems with discoloration to the nails or the finish. It has a wonderful wide brush for easy streak-free application and strong pigmentation that will last for about 5-6 days before you might want to touch it up, with an excellent high shine finish. There are over 60 colors to choose from and this shade - Good to Grape is a lovely creamy and rich Wisteria purple that looks so graceful and pretty. If you haven't already tried this gem from Sally Hansen I would highly recommend it, after all you get 5 products in 1 for a very reasonable price and with a quality that puts a lot of premium brands to shame.

A nail polish from a premium brand that never disappoints is Estée Lauder's Pure Color Nail Lacquer (£14). The formula is excellent with high pigmentation for a beautiful opaque look and exceptional high shine finish and this one also comes with a nice wide brush for even coverage. With a lot of the darker shades you could probably get away with only applying one coat, but the shade Bete Noire is a magnificent dark royal purple with a slight shimmer that definitely should be applied in at least two coats so that the effect comes into its own. Since I'm a polishaholic and change my nail color more times than I can count every week, it's not necessarily a deal breaker for me if the wear isn't brilliant, however it is VERY important to me when it comes to premium brands since they usually come at a premium price and they therefore also should have premium quality, but I've always been very happy with the longevity of Estée Lauder polishes and I would say it takes about five days before the finish needs to be retouched. You can see swatches of both nail polishes here on my Instagram.
Last in this purple line up is a fragrance, and it's a celebrity one which can be controversial. I know that a lot of people have very strong views about celebrity scents, however I am an equal perfume opportunist and only look at the actual scent qualities, which I think should be assessed on their own and not whether you're a fan of the celebrity or not. I'm curious to know what your thought are on this, so please let me know in the comments below. Regardless - this is Britney Spears Midnight Fantasy EdP (£24) which comes in a pretty deep purple bottle with little pale blue crystals. It's a delightful, fruity, young and uncomplicated scent that makes me think of a warm summer night garden after the rain. When you first spray it on you can easily detect the piquant and fresh fruitiness of raspberry and cherries, which eventually give way to a more sophisticated note of colorful delicious and sweet freesia and orchids. The scent is grounded in warm and sensual notes of musk, and vanilla which gives it substance and keeps it from being too light and candy like. Even though Midnight Fantasy is an EdP and therefore it should be fairly concentrated and linger quite a long time on the skin, I do find that it's less intense than most of my EdPs and I would say that it lasts about 2 hrs on me before I feel that I need to apply some more. It doesn't matter though, I still adore this fruity, sunny and joyful scent and every time I wear it I get loads of compliments for it, so would I buy it again? - definitely! Would I recommend that you try it regardless of what you think of celebrity fragrances? - definitely!

I hope you've enjoyed this selection of a few favorite purple products. I'll be taking a few days break over Easter since we'll be going away, but I'll be back again as usual on Tuesday. Have a great Easter everyone! Xx

96 comments:

  1. Bellissime foto, grazie dei consigli, complimenti per il blog, baci Angelichic

    WWW.ANGELICHIC.COM

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  2. Sooo gorgeous! I love everything in the photo! Purple is one of my favorite colors. Deep purples are gorgeous on nails and eyes.

    May from La Vie en May

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    1. Thank you so much, I'm glad you like the picks - purple is such a gorgeous color :o). Xx

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    2. I agree. I love purple too. I'm sporting purple nailpolish right now =)

      sprinkleofmetime.blogspot.com

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  3. That perfume bottle is so pretty! Happy Easter :)
    BeyondBlush

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    1. It is - something for the collection :o). Have a nice Easter! Xx

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  4. one of my favourite scents is taylor swift enchanted wonderstruck which also comes in a gorgeous purple bottle. purple if my favourite colour! :)

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    1. There's something elegant about purple :o). Xx

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  5. Loving the theme :) I agree lipgloss makes me think of cheap toddler goo but hearing you rave about that one makes me want to try it!
    Emma

    With A City Dream

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    1. It was a nice surprise and I've tried so many great lipglosses lately that I know that there are great formulas out there too :o). Xx

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  6. Wow! Everything looks so beautiful and luxurious! I really need to get into purple more! It's so pretty! I'm going to check that Sally Hansen nail polish out, great colour! Have a lovely Easter away! x
    Lipstickloveheart.blogspot.com

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    1. It's an excellent formula with a very reasonable price too :o). Xx

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  7. ooo great items! purple just makes makeup more fun haha ;)

    x

    ♥ Ellen
    SHOPSTYLECONQUER.COM
    Facebook + Instagram

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    1. I completely agree - it's a great color for most eye colors :o). Xx

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  8. What a great idea to focus on products in the same color family! Purple has always been one of my favorites, but I haven't been using it much because I'm still obsessed with coral and mint green! xo Kelly msdioraddict.blogspot.com

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    1. I did a post on coral last year :o) and if you're interested you can find it here - http://makeupbycandlelight.blogspot.co.uk/2013/08/the-coral-edition.html :o). Xx

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  9. Purple my fav color . Loved the post dear
    xoxo
    http://beautyndbest.com/

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  10. Thank you very much for your lovely comment - that's really nice of you and I hope you'll visit again soon :o). Xx

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  11. It's so beautiful and elegant :o). Xx

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    1. I love the creamy romantic color :o). Xx

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  13. I love ALL of Britney's scents! The bottles are always so pretty. :)

    Tara x

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    1. I agree with you - I really that pretty mint green bottle of the tropical scent, but I haven't tried it yet :o). Xx

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  14. Love the purpleness of this post! :) I went through a time where I loved all of Britney Spears perfumes, especially Fantasy but now they remind me of being younger haha but I still love the smell. They are great perfumes! Also, love the look of the rimmel eye pencil. Must give that a try!

    Great post & Haaappy Spring!

    Hailes<3
    Hailes Hearts Fashion.

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    1. Thank you so much and have a fab Easter :o). Xx

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  15. Such a fabulous purple post! Perfect spring colour!
    xo
    styleontheside.com

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    Replies
    1. Thank you very much, I'm so glad you like it :o). Xx

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  16. Amazing color. I really like it!
    www.antymarka.blogspot.com

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  17. I loved this little roundup - especially that lipgloss! O my that is gorgeous.

    katespitz.blogspot.com

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    1. It's another lovely formula, well worth trying :o). Xx

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  18. Generally I can take or leave purples but there are so many pretty picks in this post! Love the nail polishes in particular xo

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    1. I especially love the Estee Lauder shade - it's so dark and mysterious :o) Xx

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  19. I loveee nail lacquers in this tone, so beautiful!

    <3
    http://zazzish.blogspot.pt/

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    1. Me too - it's such a sleek color :o). Xx

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  20. Great product reviews! Those nail lacquers look amazing! I'm wearing a deep purplish color on my nails right now, but the two you put up look like they would be prettier!

    http://howtomakehome.blogspot.com

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    1. They are lovely and both with great formulas :o). Xx

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  21. Wow loving the purple! Have a great Easter weekend!

    Tatyana
    www.secretlittlestars.com

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    1. Thank you so much and same to you - have a lovely Easter :o). Xx

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  22. This post is lovely :)
    I have just made a new blog about beauty, fashion and a little bit of everything really hehe!
    I would appreciate it so much if you could show my blog some love by following me, commenting or even liking my post! Thankyou for your time, I hope we can be blogger friends haha :)
    Anna xoxox

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    1. Hiya Anna and welcome to blogiverse! Thank you so much for visiting and I hope to see you here again soon :o). Xx

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  23. That perfume bottle is gorgeous! Great post.

    Beth | BeautyBubbles x

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  24. I love purple! Berry colors are currently my go to for nail polishes - think I am ready to try for lipstick too! Great Post!!

    whatsarahknows

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    1. It's such a lovely elegant color :o). Xx

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  25. Such great items all in purple! I chose oranges and magentas for my spring go to colors, check out my post on www.samelia.com thanks

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  26. so pretty purple colored makeup things. the nail colors look good :)

    xx,
    felishmichelle.blogspot.com

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  27. Love your post because purple is my fav color :D i have that perfume from britney spears I'm really obsessed with it and love your ring so gorg x
    http://thelittlefashionistafx.blogspot.com/

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    1. Ahh, thank you so much - that's really lovely of you :o). Xx

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  28. Everything looks beautiful ! i am a big fan of the perfume :)
    The Inked Blonde-Melissa

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    1. It's so lovely and fruity - gorgeous :o). Xx

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  29. Ohhh, I love the color of the month idea! My favorite celebrity fragrances are mostly ones by Jennifer Lopez because they smell like "real" perfumes to me, if that makes any sense. I still love her "Still" and "Live" perfumes the most! I also like the original "Fantasy" by Britney because of the delicious cupcake note. :-P

    Btw, I am having an international beauty giveaway on my blog that I would love for you to participate, if you'd like!

    www.chicandalluring.com

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    1. Thank you so much - I'll head right over and have a look :o). Xx

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  30. I LOVE MIDNIGHT FANTASY!! ...too loud??
    BUT I DO!!!!
    loved the post Charlotte~!
    xx

    Blue Velvet Addict

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    1. LOL - NOOO, don't hold back ;o). Thanks a million my lovely!! :o) Xx

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  31. Gorgeous shades of purple! I love the Sally Hansen nail color.

    xo
    www.style-wire.com

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    1. The formula is amazing, I'm so glad I've "discovered" it :o). Xx

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  32. That's such a shame that the Scandaleyes Stick doesn't last very long! I really love the colour of the nail polish, it's perfect for Spring.

    Hannah x
    BLAB

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    1. Yes it's a tiny disappointment, but the shade is gorgeous an I guess there's only so much you get for that price :o). Xx

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  33. I love purple and am so glad that it is a trend right now! That gloss is a very pretty shade! Britney Spears Midnight Fantasy sounds like a nice summer scent. I'll have to go give it a sniff.
    xoxo Lauren

    http://www.willsingformakeup.com/

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    1. It's beautiful and fruity with a sweet undertone - LOVE it :o). Xx

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  34. I love your purple picks Charlotte!! Rimmel eyeshadow stick and the khol liner from L'oreal are my favorite!! Hope you'll enjoy your liitle getaway!! Have a happy Easter!

    xx Mira

    www.glamdevils.com

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    1. Hi Mira, hope you had a great Easter! The Khol is so beautiful to work with :o). Xx

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  35. Nice Blog you have here! perhaps we could follow each other? Follow me and I'll follow you back for sure :)

    xx ish

    http://tishaarnaldo.com

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  36. Is purple color for Easter, don't an Indian so don't know :)
    Really making purple pigments costly.
    I really looks the lilac shade pencil
    Kisses
    www.beingbeautifulandpretty.com

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  37. These are all so pretty! Have a lovely Easter honey!
    Keep in touch
    xx
    www.JuneWantsItAll.com

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    1. Aw, thank you so much - hope you had a great Easter :o). Xx

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  38. Wow what a gorgeous collection, I definitely need to try wearing more of this colour! :-) xxx

    www.stylapetite.com

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    1. Hope some of these products have inspired you :o). Xx

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  39. The Esteé Lauder polish is gorgeous! I love purple polishes xx

    Gemma // missmakeupmagpie.com

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    1. It's a fab deep and shimmery color :o). Xx

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  40. Amazing make-up! Xx


    http://betweenmyclothes.blogspot.com

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  41. I love berry lip shades but they just don't suit me! xx

    Quite Frankly She Said - UK Lifestyle Blog

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    1. I know what you mean - I'm surprised that this actually worked for me :o). Xx

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  42. The Loreal eye kohl's look amazing! The color is so pretty and perfect for Easter!

    dontcoralwithme.blogspot.com

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    1. It's so lovely and soft to work with :o). Xx

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  43. Happy Easter. I love the Rimmel lipgloss really pretty for summer. The purple nail varnish is great too. I need to follow your example and fish out my spring clothes not sure it is a chore that I am quite up to yet more Easter egg eatting first Lucy x

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    1. Happy Easter to you too - hope you had an amazing time with lots of Easter eggs :o). Xx

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  44. wearing purple on my nails right now!!!

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  45. Hi Charlotte, I hope you are well and had a nice easter. Oh My words! It so pretty - I like the look of the Sally Hanson nails polish. xx

    http://www.annanuttall.com/

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    1. Hey Anna, hope you had a great Easter with lots of Easter eggs - it's an amazing formula, well worth trying :o). Xx

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  46. I LOVE Midnight Fantasy! Have done since it came out and I bought it back in 2009/2010. I need another bottle mind as my 100ml is finally coming to an end, but at £20 a bottle it's not like it'll break the bank. ^_^

    http://theremightbecoffee.wordpress.com/

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    1. Absolutely - and it smells as if it was a more expensive fragrance too :o). Xx

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