Clarins Haul & Swatches

I was super excited on Tuesday when my (two) parcels arrived from Clarins. I wasn't expecting delivery so quickly considering they were shipped from Belgium (I'd ordered on Thursday), but both dispatch and delivery times were great. Everything was beautifully packaged in Clarins tissue (and even the invoices came in a cute Clarins folder) and it was so much fun unwrapping all the goodies!

One box contained my free red vanity case and some of my samples; the other had more samples and the makeup items I'd purchased. My original post has all the details of what I ordered. I chose 5 free samples, plus the vanity came with 4 travel sized products. Look at all those goodies, so exciting!!! Matching red nails to the case not intentional!

Now for my purchases. Ever Matte Foundation, Oil-free and SPF15 in shade 103 Ivory. It's not quite as light as I'd hoped, possibly on a par with Estee Lauder 1C1 Shell (Double Wear) which is a tad too dark for me too. My face is a few shades darker than my hand though (plus I had too much product for a swatch), so it doesn't look quite as bad as the swatch. It's quite yellow-tan, but I wouldn't say as yellow as Soap & Glory 'The Fairest Of them All'. I wore this the very next day and once buffed out, it's wearable and not too noticeably dark. It has a cucumber-like scent which I'm not fond of, but it's not a deal-breaker for me as it doesn't linger.

I haven't tried the Ever Matte Mineral Powder Compact (00 Transparent Opal) yet. Again I was quite surprised by how dark it looks in the pan. I expected a transparent powder to look very light, but I may be pleasantly surprised when I swatch and use it. The gold case with red pouch feels very decadent and is what I would expect when buying higher-end items (not all 'luxury' brands live up to that though).

Finally the lipstick, Rouge Prodige in 122 Nude. Gorgeous! Again a lovely gold case and I couldn't wait to try the colour out. I wore it under my 'lipstick of the week' which is MAC Sweet Sunrise and it looked beautiful. It feels quite thick which I like, without being drying and really delivered a punch of nude colour. I'm already wanting to use this as my lipstick next week! The swatches show it layered vs one swipe.

As for my samples, I've delved straight into them too. I've been using my Multi-Active moisturisers day and night in the hope of calming my skin down (it's been a spotty nightmare for months now). The gorgeous smell I was telling you about is only present in the day-cream oddly. I was disappointed that they'd maybe changed the formula as the scent is part of the appeal of the MA range for me. I also tried the bust firming lotion-a bit more difficult to apply than the video tutorial on their site, when your boobs are ginormous! It feels quite refreshing, which is pleasant. In another bid to sort my skin out and for a wee pamper, I used the Pure & Radiant mask yesterday before my shower. It felt amazing, it's clay-like without feeling dry and heavy. My skin definitely felt smoother and on the whole I think the powerful combination of all these Clarins products may actually be helping my skin as it's less red and my blemishes are receding slowly. If it really is working, I can see myself buying full-sizes of all of these very soon because I'm at desperation stage with my skin! I wore the Wonder Length mascara on Thursday. It's one of those super slim brushes (similar to the new Estee Lauder Double Wear Volume & Lift which I've also been using) which I'm not too keen on. It did give good results, but I find those brushes (or lack of brushes) quite tricky to master. My personal fave is Wonder Volume, which used to have a slightly thicker brush, although it looks similar to WL after checking the images on the website. I'm going to start using the Super Restorative Eye Concentrate soon too as I'm nearly finished my YSL Forever Youth Liberator eye cream.  Let me know if there's anything you'd like a more detailed review on and as I use the products more I'll do so.