October Favourites – Glam Radar

October just about flew by for me – new job, leaving the old job, birthdays, seeing people… I had a lot on. I found I was going out a lot, and often with very little notice, so my makeup had to be quick and I found the same items were staying on top of my stash and just getting reached for a lot.

Here’s my list of October Favourites.

MAC Mineralize Skinfinish in Stereo Rose is limited edition of course, but a lot of people have it so I don’t feel so bad about including it in my list. I’ve been wearing this blush at least 3-4 times a week, if not daily for a while there. I just find it goes with everything – I can pair it with a brown smokey eye and a clear lipgloss, or with a smokey purple, or even no eyeshadow at all, just mascara and a bright lipstick like Vegas Volt (below).

In terms of it being a must-have, and hard to find when they do re-release it, etc etc… People say it’s overrated because of the colour, and perhaps that’s true. But I think it’s a must-have because of it’s versatility. It’s the same as Nars Orgasm blush – a great pinky-peach, but the best pinky-peach because you can wear it with just about everything.

Chanel Mat Lumiere and  Chanel Pro Lumiere are favourites of mine from way back, but I’ve been wearing them more often recently because I’m trying to finish them off. In this process though, I’ve rediscovered how much I love them. Mat Lumiere is perfect for work, I’ve found. It’s a matte foundation (as the name suggests) with a great, not too drying finish, and lasts all day. It also doesn’t strip my skin like a lot of long wearing foundations. Can’t ask for more, really.

Pro Lumiere is my semi-special occasion foundation. It doesn’t last all day (not on my combo random skin, anyway) but if I’m just going out for dinner on a Saturday night and want to look dewy and fresh, then it’s fantastic. Set it with a little powder, and I’m good to go.

Purple Eyeshadows. It’s not winter here anymore in Sydney but honestly, you could have fooled me. Raining almost every day, and it’s been cold. I’ve been wearing a lot of winter inspired colours as a result, so a lot of purple (and brown, below). My favourites from my custom MAC palette have been MAC Parfait Armour (middle, right), MAC Blu-Noir (top, right) and MAC Nocturnelle (middle, bottom) to help blend them together.

My Nars 9947 eyeshadow palette was a gift from my sister for Christmas a few years ago, and I’ve used it in FOTD posts before, like Operatic a little while ago. It was part of the Nars Holiday 2008 collection, so unfortunately it’s not available anymore unless you get lucky on Ebay or something.

I’ve posted it now though, because the shades are ones you can find individually anywhere, and certainly from Nars. The two highlight/white shades you can find in the Nars Kilimanjaro duo, and is certainly quite similar to the Nars Iceland duo.

I’m generally not a huge fan of eyeshadow palettes because I like to mix and match my own colour combinations, but in this case, the 9947 is just so easy because the colours are all there. I’ve been doing a brown smokey eye recently, with a little of the blue in the outer corners. A brown smokey eye is a lot easier for me than a black or a navy blue, and it goes with a lot of outfit & lipstick combinations.

Speaking of lipstick… MAC Vegas Volt. If you’re looking for the gateway drug into wearing red lipstick, this is perfect. It’s an amplified creme formula, and is a full-on coral colour. It’s bright, but it’s the way to go if you want to start experimenting with red but feel like you can’t quite commit.

I’ll happily admit that for a makeup girl I rarely wear red lipstick, but I love this lipstick and have been wearing it a lot recently. It always gets commented on. Love it.

Ok, nail polish. OPI Windy City Pretty, OPI A Dozen Rosas, and OPI We’ll Always Have Paris (Suede) are colours that go really well with the browns and purples I’ve been wearing.

Autumn (and weather like we usually get in autumn even though it’s technically spring now) makes me want to wear more satin colours, less glitter and Windy City Pretty and A Dozen Rosas are perfect – little pink, a little purple, all satin and just the right amount of muted shimmer.

We’ll Always Have Paris is the only OPI suede I have, and while I like the colour and finish, it’s a high maintenance formula. You’d probably only get a day’s worth of wear out of it even if you applied it perfectly, but if you know you’ve got some time, then it’s lovely and does look a bit different.

Bumble and Bumble Thickening Hairspray. I don’t know much about hair, so when it comes to hair products I’m always after something easy and that works. This works. I have thick hair already, but I love a bit of extra thickness and it’s just a few sprays while it’s wet, blow dry and voila! Fantastic, gorgeous hair.

Smellys! I’ll start with Max Mara EDP which is a great fresh fragrance I purchased about two years ago at David Jones. It’s a blend of ginger, magnolia, citrus, lily, orchid, musk, and sugar (sugar????) and is in a bit of a bendy bottle that, let me tell you, doesn’t stand very well on a towel if you’re ever thinking about balancing your pefume bottles on things. It’s amazing I even got this shot, and in focus. All that aside, it’s a more mature fragrance that is maybe a little bit old for me, but I love it still and I wear it all the time. It’s also not a perfume that a lot of people know of and wear, so that’s a plus as well.

I love rainbows and the bottle that Estee Lauder Beyond Paradise comes in makes me happy. It’s been around since 2004 which is when I found it during uni, and has a lot of rare fruits and flowers that makeup the scent. It’s fresh, and romantic, with top notes of blue hyacinth, orange blossom and exotic fruits, over pink honeysuckle, jasmine, and orchid, with plum blossom, woods, seeds and exotic barks making up the base. I’ve been wearing it daily – it lasts all day and smells lovely.

Now, just to finish up, another picture of Stereo Rose because I love it so much. I took the photos on a tripod, with a Nikon D70 SLR, and a 18-70mm lens. Very fancy, and I’m figuring it all out. I’ll be a pro in no time!

I don’t typically do product reviews on my blog, but I think I’ll start doing this more regularly – it’s been fun!