So many products you guys! I’ve had a very busy few weeks, so this post is going up later than I intended.

So, in this post, I’m going to go over the:

• Terracotta LE Chic Tropic Bronzer
• Eye-stay Primer (Smoothing & Long-wear Eye Primer)
• KissKiss Matte (Hydrating & Plumping Velvet Matte Lip Colour)
• Intense Liquid Matte (Creamy Velvet Lip Colour Long-Wear)
• Abeille Royale Youth-Watery Oil (Huile-en-Eau Jeunesse)

 

Terracotta LE Chic Tropic Bronzer

Let’s start with the star of the show: the LE bronzer.

To be completely honest, I did not want to buy this originally, because although it’s incredibly pretty, I seriously didn’t need yet another bronzer. However… that all changed when I saw some swatches online, and noticed the difference that the peach inserts made into the overall color. On my skin, the peach tone brings out so much more warm light… Other golden / orangey-brown bronzers simply can’t match it! So because of that, I took the plunge and bought the Chic Tropic from Debenhams (if you’re quick, they still have a few pieces left!). Not only have I not been regretting it, but it’s become by far my fav bronzer in my collection.

Now, as you might know from other bloggers, the gold appearance on this bronzer is indeed just overspray. As you can see above, it brushes off, revealing the bronzer underneath. So you don’t have to worry about looking like king Midas – however, the bronzer does retain a very subtle sheen of its own – as shown in the swatch above, and the ones below. But on the face, it just gives a lovely glow – nothing chunky or nasty. I simply love it! Can imagine this discreet shade also working out really well over the colder months to come, since it’s warm and light – nothing too deep and brown.

Here are more swatches, under various lighting conditions:

 

Eye-stay Primer (Smoothing & Long-wear Eye Primer)

Moving on to the new Guerlain Eye-stay primer – which is swatched above, beneath the Chic Tropic bronzer. It’s a velvety, light, and creamy formulation, which contains some degree of pigment to even out the color of your lids. On my skin tone, it becomes completely invisible – but I am not sure how it would work on darker skin tones. It might, or might not work – so it’s worth testing before buying.

In terms of performance, I have mixed feelings about this one… On the one hand, it is not at all aggressive to my skin, and does not dry it out – unlike the Stay don’t stray primer from Benefit, which dries my skin out like crazy (!). So for me, that’s a huge plus, cuz who wants crepey, dry lids?

However… after about 4-5h, I can see minimal creasing start to happen with the Guerlain eye primer. It might just be me having very oily lids – not sure. My solution to this has been to dab a tiny bit of the Eye-stay primer from Guerlain over my lids, and then to follow up with my Givenchy Ombre Couture Cream Eyeshadow pot, in 14 Nude Plumetis (since the Givenchy alone I also find a bit drying). Together, they work incredibly well, and keep eyeshadows on for hours and hours. I’m not saying it’s great to have to use 2 products instead of 1, but this is just what I’ve (happily) been using on the daily.

Here are the ingredients for this primer:

 

KissKiss Matte (Hydrating & Plumping Velvet Matte Lip Colour)

…Hoooly moly. If there ever was a matte lipstick that kept my lips happy, and didn’t dry them out one bit… this IS IT! I’m about as excited about this collection of lipsticks, as I am about the Chic Tropic bronzer. Please, please try them – yes, they are that good. Staying power is good too!

I didn’t pick up all the shades, but the ones I did get are amazing – so here are my swatches from the KissKiss Matte collection:

 

Intense Liquid Matte (Creamy Velvet Lip Colour Long-Wear)

The Intense Liquid Mattes are every bit as amazing as the KissKiss Mattes – if not more. They are as caring for the lips – no drying or flaking whatsoever for me, with hours of wear. No ‘cracking’ either – which for a liquid matte is great! On top of everything, the shades are really pigmented and long-wearing. I had M27 Addictive Burgundy on when drinking a mug of hot tea, and while it did leave a mark on the mug, my lips looked pretty much the same after the tea, as they did upon application. Amazing…! Big thumbs up from me for all of these – I’ll be wearing them a lot.

 

Abeille Royale Youth-Watery Oil (Huile-en-Eau Jeunesse)

Yet another incredible product in this haul / review. I was worried when I bought it because I break out very easily – so I didn’t know what to expect. Plus… it’s insanely expensive…

But I’ve been using this Youth-Watery Oil for about 2 weeks now, with no breakouts (also check out an update from months later here). To the contrary, it’s made my skin radiant and extremely healthy looking. I even returned from a beach holiday with very dry, cracked skin from all the salt – and yet this fixed it after one day! I’m not even kidding. Also… if I were to confess to occasionally picking spots here and there (whoops!), I’d also add this heals everything up much, much faster than usual. Wonderful product!

It’s lighter than a regular oil – so the claim about ‘watery’ is accurate. The only thing is I’d be careful how much I use, because a few drops go a long way. Also suspended in the formula are some tiny beads of oil (or royal jelly?! not sure) which burst on contact with the skin. It’s such a pleasure to spread them around on the face and, one moment feel they’re there, and the next – have them simply disappear into your skin! Seriously… wow.

If I still haven’t raved about it enough, there is an option for those who are more cautious – a 15ml version of the bottle. Still not cheap, by any means… but at least relatively safer than splurging on a full size.

Adding the ingredients below: