Stash Storage: Muji Pill Pots

As a spinoff of the last post, here's a closer look at the Muji pillcases (pack of 7 for £2.25) into which I like to depot lipsticks and the occasional cream blush.

L to R: Chanel Darling, Illamasqua Betray, Illamasqua Rude, YSL Rose Dahlia, Burberry Bright Plum, Hourglass Muse, Revlon Strawberry Suede, Lancôme Stylista, Lancôme Corset, Guerlain Girly, YSL Le Fuchsia, Revlon Really Red, Revlon In the Red

Mostly for space-saving and convenience when travelling, but also if I dislike the packaging (Guerlain Rouge G, Burberry, Lancôme Colour Design, etc.), if I have a melted/mashed bullet accident, if it's a rainy Thursday.....

I like depotting things, OKAY.

As you can see, I'm a smusher, not a melter -- because lazy, but also because texture fiend, and heat can change the way some textures/pigments sit. Process couldn't be simpler -- wipe down a spatula with some surgical spirit, chop or gouge into your product and smush the harvested cream into your clean, dry pill pot.

I love these Muji pillcases, though they are not quite as aesthetically pleasing as the Japonesque welled palettes favoured by Lisa Eldridge, because each individual pillcase snaps apart, which is far more practical to tote along for touchups for my regular person (not makeup artist) life. The individual closures also feel a little more 'airtight' to me than the large Japonesque covers; in any case, my depots have stayed perfectly creamy for over two years.
You can of course also make your own fun tetrissing many pots together to create pretty colour patterns, or an infinitely* extendable bionic poking stick with which to torment any sentient beings in the vicinity....
*well, I assume so. My record so far is 42 pots. Experiment cut prematurely short due to loud, angry protestations and dire threats issued by my pokees.

You may also like to consider application preferences before depotting: as I use a lip brush with all these shades, I don't miss the bullets. But I personally wouldn't bother depotting a Fresh tinted balm, or a Suqqu creamy glow moist. It can be tricky to pick up pigment evenly with a face brush from these small openings, so I'm not sure that I'd continue to depot cream blushes in future.

Givenchy Le Rouge Swatches and 201 Rose Taffetas Comparison

I haven't explored Givenchy much -- the powder products tend to be too dry or crumbly for me, while the lip products wafted such a strong, sickly cough-syrupy scent that it drove all bloggy duties to try ALL the things clean out of my head....
But! They have just launched a new, pigmented, modern demi-matte lipstick formula with a sweet floral scent and a sexy-as-all-get-out black nubbly leather-trimmed bullet. I went, I swatched, I totally came home with one.

Swatches -- one swipe onto bare arm

in weak London winter sun

overcast -- this gives a truer idea of the colour saturation

[I apologise for the goose pimples -- it was below 0 that day and seriously windy.]
For product pics and swatches on a different skintone, see Mostly Sunny.

These lipsticks are extremely smooth and hug the lips in a flattering way, filling in lip lines without that slightly plasticky 'hi, I'm a plumping product' look. For me, they are most similar to the By Terry Rouge Terrybly formula in their satin-matte finish, lightweight feel, high pigmentation and slip (silky rather than creamy), and boast impressive lasting power (pristine for at least 6 hours, through drinks, fading to an even stain after a greedy meal). On my extremely dry lips, they do require balm underneath, but I would call them neutral rather than positively drying.

Ingredients

201 Rose Taffetas

I was on the hunt for a warm pink to replace my go-to My Lips But Better lipstick, the long-discontinued Chanel Rouge Allure Darling. Which currently looks like this and therefore will imminently count as "one out":

One in...

....yeah, I may not depot this right away. *strokes packaging*  

With some more of my mid-toned warm pinky things: 

Guerlain Rouge Automatique Chamade

Suqqu Noble Nuance lipstick EX-03 Shumomo (LE Spring 2010)

Chanel Rouge Allure Darling (discontinued)

Chanel Rouge Allure Extrait de Gloss Confidence

One swipe swatches to show different opacities

Built up swatches (2 layers)

Chamade has the strongest rosy-red tones and is noticeably in a different family once on my lips. The other four shades are definitely kissing cousins, though in my defence they look more distinct from each other on my lips than on my arm. Shumomo sits at lighter end, with clear yellow tones [perfect for enlivening my naturally corpse-mauve lips]; Darling and Confidence add a deeper rose and slight brown tones to the mix. Rose Taffetas is balanced between and clearly the most opaque; its demi-matte finish proves surprisingly flattering -- dare I say, 'fresh' and/or 'modern' -- in this kind of tone.

Shamelessly reposting two recent looks:

Givenchy Rose Taffetas

Pretty decent as a replacement for Chanel Darling, I think?

Givenchy "Le Rouge" retail for £24 each and are a permanent addition to the core line.

Coup de Foudre II: Shade / Smoke / Air

Three more recent Guerlain Coup de Foudre looks, which I'm grouping together for reasons because they shift the 'highlight' from inner corner to centre to outer edge in turn.

Apologies for variable lighting.

Shade

....which is a slightly forced name for a basic horizontal gradation shading from mint through coral and olive to grey.

Paired with equally no-brainer my-x-but-better warm pinks on cheeks (Illamasqua Katie) and lips (Chanel Rouge Allure Darling, discontinued).
Base: Vapour stick 90 (hair yellow/dark for me right now)
Lashes: Shu Uemura H9 pencil Seal Brown

Smoke

Basically an inversion of the second look here, with the olive-bronze blended over the lid and a tiny dab of the mint buffed into the very centre. Grey framing the coral below the eye.

As this look brought out the cooler, smokier facets of Coup de Foudre, I went with a correspondingly cooler, rosier lip (Sonia Rykiel Sublime 24) and my natural blotchy cool pink flush XD
Base: Mehron Celebre HD LT-1 to spot-conceal
Brows: Shu Uemura H9 pencil Stone Grey (for this cooler look)

Air

'Airy' is a commonplace in Japanese beauty mag parlance -- one which has thoroughly permeated my makeup aesthetic. It can involve a lot of textural and tonal wank exquisite refinement but I've always found negative space to make for a handy shortcut. Here provided by a Shu Uemura matte white (M907) with grey lightly shading the outer socket and the coral to accent it further. Olive-bronze to line, edged in mint.

sorry for the slightly worn, end-of-the-day, bathroom lighting pic -- couldn't get a focussed pic that morning 

Back to the warm pinks: Givenchy Le Rouge 201 Rose Taffettas (auditioning as replacement for soon-to-be-finished Darling) and Kjaer Weis Lovely cream blush, which is being rapidly depleted too, thanks to its flattering texture and face-brightening magic.
Base: Shu Uemura Stage Performer Instant Glow, Mehron Celebre HD LT-1, RBR Sea of Clouds
Brows: Shu Uemura H9 pencil Seal Brown

Blush shot --attempt to photograph the very elusive Lovely, which deserves a glowing review pending my camera's ability to pick up on it :/ Look how glowy!

Throughout: Burberry Sheer Touch 01 concealer under eyes, Max Factor False Lash Effect 24 Hour black mascara.

Enduring Loves: Sonia Rykiel Quatre Eyeshadow 09 and 10 Swatches

It's been a while since I've posted about this brand, but Sonia Rykiel Beauté is still one of my underrated favourites of Japanese makeup. In particular, two of the core eyeshadow quads, 09 and 10, have survived so many stash clear-outs that they now qualify as core items in my wardrobe too and introduce a new series of posts highlighting some of my older favourites: Enduring Loves.

....which I tend not to post about paradoxically because I wear them so frequently, my brain somehow assumes everyone is as familiar with them as I am.... yeah, good job, brain. And with all the sugar I feed you, too. Thanks to a lovely reader email (hi Kathy :D And sorry!) I present Sonia Rykiel 09 and 10 quad swatches! (And if you want me to write about / take pictures of other stuff I've mentioned in passing, please do feel free to administer a gentle kick up the arse.)

09

Clockwise from top left: (colour/finish; texture)

v. pigmented dark brown satin with lime, ruby and sparse cornflower microshimmer; creamy

pigmented taupe satin with sparse silver microshimmer; v. creamy

moderately pigmented metallic rust with lime duochrome; silky

sheer icy blue sparkle with silver and very sparse palest lime notes; silky

natural light, sunny

flash pic to try and pick up some duochrome at bottom right

Swatches are one-swipe with a sponge applicator onto bare arm:

natural light, sunny

different angle, attempt to capture duochrome

slightly fuzzy flash pic to show textural variation

10

Clockwise from top left: (colour/finish; texture)

v. pigmented blackened green satin with lighter green and sparse white gold sparkle; creamy

pigmented warm metallic bronze with subtle cool silvery taupe flash; v. creamy

sheer icy lilac satin; silky

moderately pigmented cool candy pink shimmer with iridescent and white gold sparkle; silky

natural light, sunny

Swatches: one-swipe with sponge applicator onto bare arm

natural light, cloudy

angled

sorry -- yellow bathroom light / flash pic to show texture

It should be obvious why I love these: each shade is complex and in a quad add up to nuanced and inspiring combinations of textures, tones, temperatures and colours. The pigments (especially evident with the pastels) sit on a clear, not white base -- a distinction which Grace London crystallised for me only recently -- which makes them both inherently more flattering on my skin, and perfectly suited to layering for even more intricate effects.