Pardon the silence on here but life / work caught up with me, along with a viral infection from the office that left me under the weather with the voice of a 50 year old.

Right now I may not be able to speak in person (darn sore throat) but I can still type, so here goes!

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From Dior's Summer 2013 collection, the exquisitely packaged and embossed Dior Nude Tan Paradise Duo in Pink Glow is certainly a very wearable collectors item.

For the longest time ever, I have been spying on the Dior Nude bronzers (from past years) and had to drag myself away from the counter. As much as I would love to splurge on them, I had other things in mind or tried to restrain myself by rationalizing that I was out of the bronzer phase.

Thus, pardon the long intro but what I want to say is, I am so glad that I have this in my collection now and a bronzer / blush duo at that. This would certainly get some uses from me.

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Back to this.

Like past Dior Nude bronzers, Pink Glow comes with a little kabuki brush of its own complete with a velvet roll for keeping and carrying the brush in.

The quality of the kabuki included is quite good — soft and not too flimsy nor too dense.

Here is a size comparison of the Dior Kabuki alongside my trusty MAC 227.

I like to use the kabuki for the bronzing side, to add a soft contour or buff color all over though I prefer using my blush brush for the blush side of the duo.

While the velvet sleeves are without a doubt dust and powder magnets, they do add a lovely touch of class to the whole packaging.

Of course we also can't forget the compact design of the Nude Tan Paradise Duo with its plush quilt-like design on a solid metallic case that carries some weight to it. Though yes, metallic also means this is a finger-print magnet but I don't mind it here because you can easily wipe it clear again.

The compact is decent and size and fits easily into the palm of the hand.

The compact comes to a shut with a firm magnetic hold, eliminating the need for clasps and clicks, leaving the surface sleek.

Now, on to what is in the case.

The powder feels very fine and soft to the touch, swatching smoothly across the skin.

The blush and bronzer both swatch evenly with a soft satin sheen. Since they are face colors, the pigmentation imparted is soft and what you see is, of course, a heavier swatch.

While tan-skinned ladies may have stayed away from the earlier Dior Nude bronzers, the inclusion of a blush in this one will give you a reason to consider. When swirled togther, the blush takes on a lovely tan-pink tone.

It probably would not be the best representation on me but check out how lovely it looks on Eliza's skintone.

I haven't got a proper shot of this Bronzer / Blush duo on myself as of now but I will post a Look Feature once I snap that!

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Diorskin Nude Tan Paradise Duo (Irridescent Blush & Bronzing Powder) retails for S$90 for 9.5gm and is inclusive of a mini Kabuki brush.

I don't deny that it is pricey but if you have always wanted to get your hands on the Diorskin Nude Tans, this is a good one to have and collect.

Thanks to Eliza and Mabel for the heads up, word is we will be receiving Coral Glow so start stalking your Dior counters if peachy is your thing, or if you want both.

Thanks for reading!

At long last, I have some Guerlain in my stash!

This is a mildly belated mention because I picked this up a little while back but... better late than never! I believe anyone eyeing this collection would have snagged waht they wanted already.

When I first laid eyes on the Guerlain by Emilio Pucci collection, I was hypnotized by the geometric designs and suckered into the collection.

Apart from being a sucker for the packaging, I have long wanted or had a mind to pick up the famed Guerlain Meteorites (just because it's nice to finally own one) and there's no better time to pick it up than now!

The gorgeous Meteorites Perles d'Azur!

From my knowledge, their earlier versions come in a sturdy cardboard box so I was glad to learn that Perles d'Azur comes within a metal(ish) tin!

Given their fame, I can probably skip describing what Meteorites are but in a nutshell they are an illuminating face powder. The Meteorites Perles d'Azur contains 5 different shades - pearl, golden-beige, orange, pink and blue.

Visually, the blue balls are a lovely mix but (thankfully?) they don't deposit straight-out blue pigments on your skin. Unless you are thinking of grabbing the balls and drawing them on but, why would you do that?

The mix of colors are meant to midly correct your skintone, with blue canceling orange-ness, while illuminating and giving your skin a nice flush.

It did cross my mind to do a swirled swatch but I figured it would be hard to capture it well since Meteorites are meant to give a soft illuminating effect. Thus, I grabbed the balls individually and 'drew' them on.

The Perles d'Azur has a small amount of shimmer in it and while I don't have earlier variants to compare it to, I heard it's slightly more shimmery than previous offerings?

Either ways, I have worn it once thus far (using and admiring this preciously) and it doesn't look disco-esque. I shall snap a LOTD or little feature entry soon!

Next up, I have been dying to get my hands on a bronzer from Guerlain - a bronzer, any bronzer. And well, what do you know... there was a beautiful one with the Pucci collection.

The Terra Azzurra!

Plus it comes with a beautiful pouch with the Pucci by Guerlain geometric motifs.

The Terra Azzurra also ended up being a lot bigger than I had thought. It's not huuuuge but I figured it would be a regular (my kind of regular) bronzer size, yet it's bigger than that. Hence the pouch isn't very small and is a good size for maybe 1 or 2 lipsticks, and coins of course.

Is this not beautiful?

Terra Azzurra contains 4 colored portions, a large tan bronzing one followed by thinner strips of coral, pink and a pale pink-white.

While they look matte from afar, the shades actually have very fine flecks of... I don't want to say shimmer yet there's no other word for it.

The flecks are too subtle and soft to be given a term like shimmer but yet they do have light-reflecting and sheen-like qualities though very mild and definitely not over the top.

Because it is a bronzer, I would have expected the coral and pink to swatch without much pigmentation however they do actually impart quite a bit of color!

Here they are individually swatched, taken with flash to showcase the sheen they give.

And here it is swirled together:

I suppose it could actually be used as a bronzing blush shade when you swirl and cover the pink and coral strips. Though if you wanted to use it solely as a bronzer all over, perhaps you want to lightly graze the pink and coral instead.

I think I will be using this mostly as a bronzing blush to give that nice summery tan look!

Now, don't let the flash shots above scare you into thinking it's so 'sheen-ish' because without a harsh flash light, it's a whole lot more natural on. The shimmer flecks are hardly even detectable!

Now, I've rambled on for long enough with a simple haul entry perhaps because I am just really stoked to have these in my collection.

Currently I am in the midst of setting up a new makeup space with a proper vanity counter so... I can finally display pretty little darlings like the Perles d'Azur on my counter-top! But more of that in future, when I have my setup all done up.

Did the Pucci collection catch your eye? Hauled anything?

Thanks for reading!

FINALLY.
After this line had been raved about and talked about by so many people on the blogsphere and youtube-sphere, I've finally gotten my hands on it.

I participated in the ELF spree that Magical Tannsu held awhile back and had received my package a couple days ago (26th December, Blogger meet up day).
I've been a little too caught up with other stuff to resize the photos, so that's why this haul entry is up a little late. But I have already played around with some of these products in the past couple of days. I must say that I was truly excited in receiving this package as I've heard so much (good stuff) about majority of the products I got.

One thing I noticed as I was opening the packaging was that aside from the compact being similar to NARS, they have that little rigged insert as well.

I suppose some other makeup brands might too and I just haven't seen enough of 'the world'. But nothing to make a fuss of, it's meant to protect the compacts anyway, so... moving on.

Since you're already previewed it in the above photo, I might as well start with this product.

Eye Transformer
Said to be able to transform your shadows with the duo-chrome and irridescents. I've yet to try it out, but I am extremely excited to. I've swatched the yellow-beige shade and on it's own, it's actually a really nice light wash of color too.

Warm Bronzer
Lollipop26 raved about this product and immediately I'm sold. it is a bronzer afterall, and bronzers, I like. :D

Contouring Blush & Bronzing Powder
This product was actually darker in person as compared to pictures I've seen of it
(meant to be a good thing). And yes another bronzer, is my love for bronzers obvious enough? haha.

Blush in Candid Coral

Eyebrow kit in Light
I got this in light because I remembered Xteeener saying the shade she got seemed a bit dark so I figured these ran a little darker. Thank goodness I got Light because it seemed just right for my current hair color albeit a bit red-toned (the 'wax' side).

Top to Bottom: Complexion Brush, Blush Brush, Powder Brush
The reason why the complexion brush is still in the package is because I wanted to keep it unopened. I had placed my ELF order before I received Kristina's gift package, and Kristina had given me the complexion brush. So I figured I would keep this one unopened and probably include it as a prize in future giveaways.

And here's a random thing that I had done.

Looking at the blush in the Blush & Bronzer Duo alongside Candid Coral, I felt that they seemed similar.

To confirm my suspicions of them possibly being the same or anything like that, I swatched them both and thankfully they aren't the same shade.

The blush in the Blush & Bronzer Duo is a bit more pink, while Candid Coral blush is little peachier.
Candid Coral I believe also contains a little more gold flecks in the compact as compared to the Blush & Bronzer Duo blush.

Super happy I finally got my hands on some ELF Studio items. Although the packaging is a rip-off from NARS, I do like how this one isn't a dust/powder magnet and I love the huge huge mirrors they have as well. At least ripping off that one fact is a good thing. (:

What are some ELF Studio products you've tried, love and think I should take a look at?