Haul & Swatches: Dior Golden Winter

Ok, I'm mega excited to show you this little haul. It may only consist of two items, but cost a small fortune! I fell for both items the minute the Dior lady showed me them, she actually stopped me as I was going past as she knew I'd love them and there was me thinking I wouldn't even browse Dior this day (having just spent a rather large amount at the Lancome counter).  She was so excited and passionate about the new products which was infectious and we ended up chatting for ages about Dior limited edition items, regular Dior eyeshadows versus the quads, sending makeup through the post and how many combinations of things we could come up with for one of the items I bought! My purchases felt like a fabulously indulgent treat, but I felt all warm and fuzzy after buying them, so you can't put a price on that!  To be honest, it all seemed worthwhile when it was packaged up in this pretty bag with some samples thrown in!  It may seem silly, but I like little touches like that and spent the rest of the day protecting my wee bag from the rain or being bashed or crushed!
First up is this rather fancy powder, which I have not swatched yet, because I'm still working up the courage to delve into it (that takes time peeps)! It's the Diorific Perfumed Illuminating Powder in 001 Rose D'Or £49. There are two shades in the Golden Winter limited edition collection and this is the pinky one. The other, 002 Pearl D'Or is gold.
It comes in a gold compact which is very weighty and has a full sized mirror inside. The outer shell is rather plain other than 'Dior' written in the centre, but it has this wonderful vintage feel to it. Let me just say it was a NIGHTMARE to photograph though. Talk about reflecting everything! My whole room was seen in it (hello Irregular Choice boxes!) and I tried angling it, looking for a reasonably blank background, but no, this was the best I could do without a 'real studio' to shoot in!
As with most Dior items, it comes in it's own little velvet pouch for protection and there was an extra pocket sewn in, to house the gold handled flat brush. The brush is incredibly soft, but I'd likely use my own full-size brush for this.
The design embossed on the powder is (I believe I have this correct) based on the Masai necklace...you know the one Charlize Theron rips off (along with all her clothes) in the J'Adore advert? I presume the majority of shimmer will just be overspray, although I suspect there will be a 'sheen' of some sort as it's infused with pearly pigments and it is called 'illuminating'.
In the shop neither of us could detect a scent, but when I got it home, I could grasp a faint something and it is indeed scented with the J'Adore fragrance. That's a good thing because I used to wear that perfume! As for the powder, I've tried to take as many photos as possible in direct light, tilted, in the shadows-just to show you it in as much detail as possible.  It's got such a beautiful, luminosity and pearliness to it, it's just stunning.  My Mum thinks it looks like a theatre seating plan!  Each of the bobbly bits are the seats!
It's almost too pretty to touch isn't it? Yeah, wish me luck on using that! Next is another item from the Golden Winter collection, it's the Diorific (Duo Manucure Bijou) Jewel Manicure Duo in 001 £30 (it's only available in one colourway).
On the left you'll see you receive a full size Diorific Vernis in a subtly shimmering, pale gold. On the right is a bottle of crystal pearls to apply over the polish to create an amazing effect. It was hard to capture in ordinary daylight and took the camera flash to really show off that amazing sparkle in the bottle.
I'll just talk you through how the process works. You get everything you need in the set. So you remove the plastic tray from behind the packaging. You then paint your nails with the gold polish. Then for a second coat it's best to start working nail by nail, as you want a wet base to apply the crystals. Pour the crystals over the wet nail with your fingers over the plastic tray to catch the excess pearls. Then press lightly on the pearls to adhere to the nail and leave to dry.
You can then pour the excess crystals back into the bottle using the adorably cute funnel. Who knew I needed a mini Dior gold funnel in life?  It's awesome! 
Now I've never tried this type of caviar manicure before, but had a go whenever I got it home! I was surprised by just how small and how many crystals there are in the jar. I wasn't expecting that. It was easy enough to apply as per the guidelines above. I chose to make mine a single feature nail and painted the rest of my fingers in another polish. I expected the crystals to apply white, like they look in the bottle, but they are clear so take on whatever is underneath (in this case pale gold), so they completely clashed with the rest of my manicure, but that's something I would be aware of for next time.
I would think you could use any nail polish underneath. I don't think the Dior one is specially formulated just for the crystals, so you could create some amazing looks especially for Christmas, with red underneath for example. Now in daylight, they don't look too spectacular and at first I was a little 'oh, is that it?', however under certain lights, it was absolutely magnificent! I found in direct light it was ok, but if the light just caught it, in the darkness/shadows, that's when it really shone.
Again I've taken loads of photos so you can hopefully see what I mean. In the best light, your nail looks like it is actually lit up-honestly. It is more than 'sparkly' or 'glowing', it looks like proper electrical lights lighting it up from behind! You almost feel like you could stick your hand right through the light, because it no longer looks like some sparkly stuff on a finger nail. Below, top right, is regular light, it just looks like little bumpy bits and doesn't really sparkle at all.  
I kinda messed up the tip and felt like not enough crystals had stuck there, so applied a little more polish and more crystals which is probably what gave me that slightly uneven finish at the tip, but for a first attempt it was pretty good. These are special occasion nails though. Get in the shower or wash dishes and you'll lose a lot of crystals. I can't really see how you could prolong it's wear (I'd imagine adding top-coat to seal them would just result in a brush full of pearls), so I'd apply them just before you need them and after you've showered.  I lost a little from hand-washing, but to be honest was being pretty careful with them and trying to do everything one handed!  Once my shower took off the majority, I rubbed lightly and the rest came off.  I was left with one layer (obviously those that were firmly stuck in the nail polish) and they don't sparkle at all.  They felt very rough to touch, but have since smoothed a little (must get around to removing them).  I would think they should come off easily enough with nail polish remover, but that's on my to-do list for tonight!
The Golden Winter collection is available at all Dior counters and online now and is limited edition, so if you like something, act fast!  There's some other items in this range that I have my eye on now, so will have to check them out next time I'm instore.  Do you like?