REVIEW: CLARINS Limited Edition Neo Pastels Colour Collection

I am so excited and optimistic for SPRING! Winter has been long, cold, and especially harsh this year. So with the Spirit of Spring in mind {warm sunny breezes, new green grass, pretty colorful fragrant flowers and blue skies} comes my desire to reinvent myself, transform my daily looks with innovative new beauty products and light & colorful new clothes to kick off the Spring Season in style and glamour! It is with such pleasure that I kick off the upcoming Spring Season and my annual Spring Guide for 2011 with some beautiful and very couture products from Clarins! They are luxurious products that are available in stunning, remarkably beautiful colors that are going to revamp your entire look into one that is soft, feminine and absolutely spectacular! You will feel confident and gorgeous wearing these most enchanting colors, I can assure you of that!!

MY REVIEW

The most gracious folks over at Clarins sent me some fabulous new products from their latest collection: The Neo Pastels Collection. The colors are so dreamy and delightful! They are perfectionism at its finest! The most glorious colors that will look magnificent on anyone, no matter what your skin tone is. These colors are ageless and timeless, and will be sure to instantly enhance the faces of women of all ages! Let me introduce the latest and greatest creations from Clarins:

{Adapted from the Clarins Press Release}

Clarins Neo Pastels Colour Collection celebrates Spring through soft pastels that glow with a halo of light. It redefines soft, romantic makeup that is feminine and timeless. Inspired by watercolor paintings, the palette can create both smooth washes of color or punchy, vibrant hues on any face.

Blush Prodige Illuminating Cheek Colour

Available in 6 Shades: Lovely Rose, Soft Peach, Miami Pink, Sunset Coral, Rose Wood and Spiced Mocha
Price: $28



Description:

This soft mineral blush powder glides perfectly over skin and blends naturally and evenly. Each luminous harmony is accompanied by a complementary shade duo to highlight cheekbones with an immediate and natural-looking glow. Matte colors for a natural result and iridescent effects to complement. Catches light and enhances facial features. New gold packaging, engraved leaf, mirror, high quality brush.

A magical combination of mineral and plant ingredients offer a subtle, radiant glow to every complexion. Six color harmonies, in complimentary shades add colour and light to the cheekbones: a matte shade to sculpt the face and an iridescent one to highlight the facial contours.

A new generation formula includes mineral pigments and plant extracts - bamboo powder and tomato extract - to guarantee a luminous, healthy glow. The silky, lightweight texture is extremely comfortable to wear and delivers endless colour variations. The results is a long lasting, radiant glow.

MY THOUGHTS: What comes in a soft red velveteen Clarins logo'd pouch? This splendid gold cased blush! Talk about a first class, 5 Star presentation! The packaging alone makes you feel like a pampered star, and the magnificent blush housed inside the gold case is equally as impressive! I received this product in the lovely and alluring Rose Wood Shade. It is beautiful shade for Spring, and so versatile for a variety of skin tones.

What I love most about this blush compact, besides the 4 exquisite shades, is the fact that you are actually receiving 4 lovely shades all in one compact! There are the 2 matte colors and the 2 shimmery highlighting colors. It is so fun to experiment and mix and match them according to the effect and look you want to create for yourself. For me, right now, my skin is pretty pale, so I am using the lighter shades to give my skin a slight sun-kissed look and a pretty glow. And as the Spring season moves into Summer I can use the slightly darker shades to enhance and bring out my tan, which makes this a product that will multi-task for me and become my favorite blush for the next several months, I love it!

The blush is silky and glides on effortlessly and flawlessly! Honestly, you will love the way the powder blush feels on your skin using the high end brush that comes housed inside the compact! Such a supreme combination of colors and texture to them all and a darling little couture brush to easily apply them all with.

Rouge Hydra Nude Smoothing Cream Lipstick
Available in 4 Shades: Nude Rose, Nude Coral, Nude Beige and Nude Caramel

Price: $24




Description:

A nourishing, moisturizing and smooth cream lipstick that colours the lips in radiant nude tones. Skin on the lips is 5 times finer than that of the face. The epidermis is very thin with few sebaceous glands; thus lips are fragile and dry out easily. This new generation of lipstick combines high performance makeup with a high concentration of skincare. Comprised of 25% skincare ingredients, this lipstick sets a new record for moisture, repair and protection. On contact with lips, it transforms into a cream that glides on smoothly for perfectly defined colour.

MY THOUGHTS: I received this divine Smoothing Cream Lipstick in the serene shade Nude Rose. It is the perfect compliment to the accompanying Rose Wood blush ~ an exceptional pairing, it doesn't get any better than this for creating a natural, healthy, pretty Spring look for yourself! The very first thing I noticed when I pulled the lipstick out of the box was the glamorous and very elegant lid. I knew this was not going to be just any ordinary lipstick!! Coming to me all the way from Paris, the second thing I noticed when I pulled the top off the lipstick was the enticing scent! It reminds me of cocoa butter, a most delicious smelling lipstick that makes you want to immediately drench your lips with it! The creamy, dreamy texture of the lipstick is just as evocative and alluring as the scent! Your lips will fall in love with the feeling of the lipstick and the feminine classy color!! So magical on my lips, at the rate I am wearing this, I will need to replace it several times over the next months. It is by far the most hydrating, pleasurable lipstick I have had the luck of discovering in months, and I am thrilled with every aspect of it.

Eye Quartet Mineral Palette
Price: $40




Description:

An eye palette inspired by an artist’s watercolor palette. Composed of 6 eye shadows, formulated with mineral powders and developed into 3 harmonies (pink, brown, violet), plus an eyeliner. Use dry for a transparent make-up result or wet for a more intense result. New gold packaging, large mirror, applicators.

MY THOUGHTS: Oh my goodness, another decadent product that arrives in the soft red velveteen pouch and housed in the gorgeous gold couture case ~ so wonderful for carrying around in your handbag for those quick on the go touchups! Whether you want to create a soft & subtle look to your eyes for the daytime, or a more dramatic sexy look for eyes at night, this Eye Color and Liner Palette has all the colors and tools you need to create both!! The colors are are simply gorgeous, so feminine and pretty and you can mix and match them in endless combinations! I am a big advocate for applying my eyeshadow colors and then blending them so you get a really unique mix of colors. These eyeshadows are the perfect texture with which to do that little trick with, they are made with such fine quality and a little bit of colors goes a long way.

My eyes are big, and for me they have always been my favorite feature to enhance and apply my makeup too! The 6 versatile colors that come in this palette are fascinating & obviously distinctly created to work together in pairs. The two brown-toned colors, the two pink-toned colors and the 2 purple-toned colors. It is a no brainer if you want to apply the brown tones one day for a natural earthy look, the pink tones for a very soft feminine look or the purple tones for a more glamorous dramatic look. Or, if you are like me, you enjoy experimenting and playing with color and you can mix and match them according to whatever manner your creative mind leads you to. And you receive the perfect eyeshadow applicator to easily apply the shades and the perfect pointed liner applicator to line your eyes to bring them out and make them pop!! I apply the liner by day and then smudge it using a Q-Tip to soften the look. But when I go out at night, I apply the liner and pretty much let it rest where it lands for a more edgy smoky look to bring out edges of my eyes. This palette has been most enjoyable for me to explore using and the colors housed within it are all I need to create new fresh looks for myself all Spring long!

This concludes my review. Clarins Neo Pastels Collection will be available at select department stores and fine specialty stores nationwide beginning February/March 2010.

If you would like to see all the spectacular and most innovative cosmetics and skin care products that are available from Clarins, you may CLICK HERE to visit their US website and have fun browsing around and learning about this most couture line of products. You will enjoy it so much!

A very special thank you to Clarins for providing me with the products to use for this review.

Disclosure: I received the three products described in my review from Clarins for the purposes of this Review . This has no bearing on my completely honest review above and was not influenced by any type of monetary compensation. The opinions and experiences I’ve shared with this product are my own and yours may differ. I am not employed nor affiliated with Clarins in any manner.