Yesterday it was time to find something fun to do for Øyvind as well. I mean, he was sweet enough to go with me to IMATS for two whole days, so I figured I had to make it up to him in some way. We decided to meet up with Pinchy and her husband, and together we went to the Science Museum! I never thought I'd say this, but I actually found it quite interesting. Unfortunately we didn't get to see much before the fire alarm went off, and everyone had to evacuate the building. Bah. We did however see steam engines, some space history, and we also saw a piece of the rock collected off the Moon's surface. Luckily the Natural History Museum was right next door, so after a really nice lunch at Pret A Manger we ventured off to see the dinosaurs. Just like in the States, in France and possibly any other country but Norway, there were shops everywhere. I went to have a look, and I fell madly in love with a real Amber necklace shaped as a heart, which Øyvind bought for me. I've always found Amber so incredibly fascinating, imagining what might be trapped inside this incredibly old little lump of resin. Easy to please, I told you! The Natural History Museum was an experience. We saw lots and lots of different birds, reptiles, insects and mammals, both current and extinct, before we got to the section with dinosaurs. Everyone knows the dinosaurs were large creatures, but I don't think I understood actually how large until I saw their skeletons! Amazing.

When the Natural History Museum closed we ventured off towards Harrods, just to have been there. My, I have to say I was a little.. shocked. I don't know what I expected really, but the price range was sky high! We walked around, browsed a little, before Pinchy and I found the Laura Mercier counter - and their Tinted Moisturizer. I've been wanting to try it for ages, and figured now would be a good opportunity to get matched for the perfect color. The woman at the counter quickly found one, tested it on my jaw (where it blended right in with my skin), and I decided to purchase it for £33. She matched me to "Fawn", which I later discovered was a color for medium skin with pink tones, and I was so disappointed to have purchased the wrong color yet again. I was pondering going back to get a second opinion, and possibly exchanging it for a more suitable color, but I decided to just go with it - and successfully wore "Fawn" the next day. I can't really say much about it just yet, but so far I love it. It gave me the result I've always wanted from a foundation, but without the hassle! A review will come after I've had the chance to use it some more. We then moved on to the Food Halls, where we kinda got lost among all the food, teas, coffees, immensely expensive apples, chocolate and other candy. I found three boxes of black fruit tea not containing hibiscus, which I'm allergic to, and Øyvind got a can of coffee. The box was so cool, it'll act as a little London memorabilia in our kitchen. After Harrods we needed some food, so we ended up at an English pub called The Paxton Head. Their food was so-so, I had a large plate of Cod & Fish, which was a bit chewy and too greasy even for me. When dinner was devoured we figured it was time to get back to our hotels, so we walked back to the car - and took farewell with our friends. We had such a wonderful day, thank you both for sharing it with us!

For our last day in London Øyvind and I decided to go to Westfield London, a humongous shopping center, and I was excatic! I'll have to admit to having an agenda when I put it on my place-I-wanna-visit-list: Inglot! I purchased everything on my list at IMATS, but I really wanted to go to the store as well. Don't ask. Addiction. Naturally I didn't leave empty-handed (how do one even do that?), and came out with a black little glossy bag containing two eyeliner gels (77 and 87), two body sparkles (57 and 59), one brush (15BJF/S) and another Freedom System palette with four blushes (27, 40, 30 and 33). One of the two ladies in the store was the same woman who kindly helped me at IMATS, so she immediately greeted me with a big smile as I walked in. The other one kindly helped me pick out four suitable blushes, and I even got a 20% off my purchase! She also used one of the blushes I picked out on my cheeks, and even though I feel like an idiot when I'm wearing blush, I felt.. more alive - if it makes any sense. New challenge added to my list: start practicing applying, and wearing blush. Thank you so much ladies, for the wonderful experience at Inglot (both at IMATS and in-store)!

INGLOT at Westfield London

I have to say that I love the department stores they have over here like Boots, Debenhams, John Lewis, Fenwick, and so on. They have just about everything, and most of them have point reward cards too! I stopped by Debenhams to look for the Urban Decay Naked 2 palette, and I scored! I also had to stop by the Dior counter to have a closer look at the Dior Addict Lipsticks as Monica has tempted me one too many times with her "564 Model" - and after swatching a few of them I ended up buying "578 Diorkiss". The man at the counter said it was their most popular one, and hah.. I got the last one in stock. "578 Diorkiss" is the shade worn by Kate Moss in this photo, I just really liked the pink shade, and could see myself wearing it on a regular basis (which is quite unusual when it comes to pink).

Now, I really wanted to meet up with Ingrid while I was in London, but somehow we didn't get around to it until today. She came all the way to Westfield London, and it was so nice finally meeting her! I've met so many awesome people during the last few days, you have no idea - and Ingrid is certainly one of them. We had a coffee at Starbucks® before we went to M·A·C. I wanted to pick up a backup of the Impeccable Brow Pencil in "Taupe" since it's about to be discontinued. I've just recently discovered the magic of filling in my brows, so I've been using my pencil every day for the past month or so! We walked around for a while, chatting and browsing for clothes, before they started closing and we had to leave. I wish we would have had more time, but I sure we'll meet again.

Ingrid and I at Westfield London

Photos © Shamini Thevarajah '12

Today was a lot calmer than yesterday, surely because England experienced a "heavy" snowfall last night, causing quite a lot of traffic chaos. Trains weren't leaving their stations, buses didn't go up hills, cars had trouble making turns in general. Oddly enough they don't seem to be used to snow over here, and are all driving on summer tires. Thankfully we had no problems getting around, so getting to Ally Pally was a breeze. I didn't haul a lot, as I spent most of my money on yesterday's treasures, but it didn't make my day less eventful, on the contrary! First and foremost I had the pleasure of spending the day with my dearest Pinchypeach, who always brightens my day no matter what. Then I met Koren also known as EnKore on YouTube, Chirufus from Twitter, the darling Alex C. from Illamasqua (and I finally got to give her a hug), and a little later we "ran into" Nicola and Samantha Chapman from Pixiwoo! Luckily we got to talk to them before everyone else discovered that they had arrived, and they were really wonderful. It's really strange meeting people like that, you feel like you've known them forever (just from watching all their videos or reading their blogs).

I don't know what it is, but I've been feeling really at home here. No one looks twice at me (the wheelchair), not even the children, and people are polite and helpful everywhere. In IMATS it felt amazing to be in an environment full of others sharing the same interest and passion for makeup as myself, as well as experiencing the talent of the students doing their projects and exploring the different brands and booths. IMATS London 2012 might be over, but it has been a fantastic weekend. And should you ever get the chance to attend, then go!

What's IMATS without a(nother) haul?

Surely you saw another haul coming, no? As I already said I didn't get too much this time. I'm starting to save up for next year's IMATS now, that's for sure, there were so many things I wanted to bring with me home! Bah, I wish I was a millionaire.. I'm pleased with myself for having the amount of self-control needed to avoid more damage to the VISA card, even though I've probably spent too much anyway. I'm really sorry about the poor quality in this photo, but all I had to work with was a compact camera, hotel sheets and yellow lighting.

I went to PAM with Pinchy just to have a look, and ended up picking up two Louise Young brushes. Or, one brush (LY14) and one spoolie actually. I'm not completely sure, but I think they cheated us a little. A sign said that the brushes was 20% off for IMATS, but I ended up paying full price for the two. I would have picked up a few more to try them out, and I kinda regret not getting the blending brush, but since I got the OCC set yesterday and the Louise Young brushes are a bit on the pricy side, I felt content with the two.

Illamasqua was pretty much sold out of everything, but they had a small sale of three eyeshadows or three nail varnishes for £10. I could of course have gone to their booth yesterday, but it was so crowded all the time! Since I don't own any of their eyeshadows from before (apart from the Pink Smoke palette) - imagine that, I picked out "Predator" (pillar box red), "Vulgar" (bright flame orange) and "YES!" (bright canary yellow) from the ones they had left. All three have a matte finish, and originally cost £15.50 a piece. I'm picturing a fierce flame or sunset look with these bad boys, and I'm anxious to try them out. I will however take better photos before using them!

There was a lot of different booths selling false lashes, but I ventured into the one by Eldora where I picked out three pairs: H128, B171 and D121. I also stopped by PaperSelf, but I pretty much decided they cost too much. They were adorable! So precious. Every pair was like a tiny piece of artwork. I'm sure I could have added a lot of different lashes to my haul, but until I actually start wearing them.. I'll avoid going crazy.

The very last thing I purchased today was the smallest Z Palette in black. I have never liked these kind of palettes, but after having gone abroad with several larger palettes in my luggage I just found it easier to have a customizable palette for times like that. This little palette fits nine M·A·C eyeshadow pans, and it also looks pretty sturdy. Perfect for mixing and matching when you're going away, and I might end up getting a couple more.

As for the rest of the photos I'll be uploading them to some kind of online gallery for you to browse. I probably won't be doing any editing before uploading, so you'll have to excuse whatever. Oh, and if you think the colors look off in these pictures, it's simply because of all the gigantic spotlights everywhere - my camera didn't handle them too well. Will post a link when it's done!

Photos © Shamini Thevarajah '12

It's a haul, and I wonder if Renate, Marie and Lene Christin will be happy now? Today was spent at Alexandra Palace and IMATS, and I had a wonderful and exciting time there. Not only did I do some damage to my bank account, but I saw a lot of fascinating creations makeup-wise. I was a little disappointed that I didn't spot any YouTube gurus apart from Koren and a girl I don't remember the name of, but maybe tomorrow. There was a lot of buzz everywhere, and it ended up being quite exhausting.

Hunting for Treasure

My first target was the Inglot booth, of course. I was so afraid of finding a totally packed booth without any room at all for me, I actually made a backup plan of going to Westfield London to get my Inglot fix there instead. Addict much? But even if it was indeed packed with people I managed to get my hands on all the 30 eyeshadows I had on my list, plus three of the new rainbow eyeshadows (making a total of 33 eyeshadows and four of the Freedom System palettes). An enormous thank you to Øyvind who turned over just about every single eyeshadow there to find the ones on my list. After finding most of them.. the nice lady at the register told me that I could just give her the list, and she'd put them directly into a bag for me. Well, at least it was fun looking through them all! I won't go into details about the colors I chose now, but I promise to post pictures of my new palettes next weekend. She didn't put them into the palettes, so I have to organize them myself. Hurrah! Organizing a palette is half the fun.

The next booth on my list was BeautySoClean, a brand I hadn't heard about until recently, to pick up some of their cosmetic sanitizer mist. I don't know about you, but I've missed having a way of cleaning my eyeshadows ever since I started collection them, and spraying them with regular alcohol can often make them rock hard. I don't wanna risk destroying my precious eyeshadows, so I thought I'd give this a chance. I also purchased a box of cosmetic sanitizer wipes (for lipsticks and the likes of it), and two travel size mists.

I've been eyeing the brush set from Obsessive Compulsive Cosmetics (still loving the name!), but I never felt like I could afford them. Well, today I decided to splurge and got the complete set. Cruelty-free! The woman at the booth was really nice, and I think it was my most pleasant experience of the day. So much that I had to ask if I could take a picture with her, and with David - the founder of OCC! He said he really liked my tattoos, and we like compliments, don't we? It certainly made my day! I would have picked up some of their lip tars, but I felt like I had already spent enough money.. so I decided to leave them for now.

After visiting the boots listed above I didn't have much more on my list. I had a few brands on there I wanted to visit if it wasn't too crowded, but somehow I stumbled upon ProChart - offering face charts! I've wanted face charts for a long time, so I picked up a stack of the A4 ones and also a stack of their eye charts, so I can play with composing looks on paper. Fun! They also have me two marshmallows on a stick, covered in chocolate with pink "sprinkles", as a gift. Such a cute little treat! What can I say, I'm easy to please.

I have a lot of pictures to share with you as well, but I'm not sure if I'll have the time to edit and upload them while in London. If I don't, I'll have them up when we get back! Now it's snowing like crazy outside, so I'm quite anxious to look out the window tomorrow. We're used to this kind of weather, coming from Norway and all, but people here seem worried. My camera's recharging, I've removed my makeup - I guess it's time to crawl into bed again, so I'm ready for another day of IMATS tomorrow. Oh, and if I seem displeased.. let me assure you I'm not. I'm loving London so far, and I had an awesome time today, I'm just completely worn out!

Photos © Shamini Thevarajah '12

We decided to venture out for a bit, and went to Brent Cross. Shopper's heaven? I didn't splurge too much, as I purchased the two new Dior Vernis in "504 Waterlily" and "694 Forget-Me-Not" at John Lewis - before I ventured on to Boots where I picked up two Rimmel Glam'Eyes HD palettes in "001 Black Cab" and "008 True Union Jack" (mostly because of the design), two L'Oreal Infallible in "016 Coconut Shake" and "021 Sahara Treasure", and a limited edition Philosophy Hope in a Jar moisturizer (15 ml as opposed to the regular 60 ml, perfect for testing purposes). Oh, and a rewards card! I have no idea what I'll use it for, as we don't have any Boots close by.. but I do love these neat plastic cards, you know.

Now I'm going to sleep and dream about tomorrow, when I'm going to IMATS to indulge in all kinds of makeup goodness. If you don't hear from me again I probably died from happiness (and superficialness) somewhere between the boots at Alexandra Palace.. Oh well, this is me signing out from Finchley. Good night!

About three years ago Øyvind gave me a gift card from Make Up Store for a 50 minute makeup lesson and my choice of products worth 495,- NOK for Christmas. It was the perfect gift, but for several reasons I was always prevented from using it while they were still situated at Trondheim Torg, and when they moved to their new location I figured I'd missed my opportunity. Since I was unable to let it go, I asked them via Facebook if I could still trade my gift card for the products at least as I thought I would be unable to have the lesson done (because of the stairs and everything). She who replied was really nice, and told me to stop by during January to have my gift card redeemed.

The Inevitable Haul

So last Friday I decided to go to Make Up Store, bringing my own car ramp to be able to enter the store. Since I didn't know whether or not it would work, I had asked if Øyvind could pick up a few items for me, just in case. As it turned out there's was no need for a personal shopper, my ramp got me safely into the store. I wandered around for a while, eyeing all their colorful makeup, before I let myself be drawn to the pencils. You might remember that I purchased three pencils at KICKS back in November? Well, I liked them so much that wanted to see if they had more of the Soft Metallics. I found one I didn't see at KICKS named "Wooden Metal", and had a really hard time putting it down. As I was the only customer there at the time, I also had the pleasure of having the wonderful M. to myself, so I started asking her for advice on which colors would look good with my dark brown eyes. She told me that I could use both warm and cool tones, it's the second time this week I've learned that, and pulled out a selection of blues, purples and browns, among them a mesmerizing dark blue and a gorgeous purple. Since I'm supposed to be saving money for our upcoming trip to London, I couldn't go as insane as I would have wanted, so I ended up deciding on "Deep Blue Sea" and "Wooden Metal", in addition to their Blending Eyeliner Brush 217. I was kinda amazed by this brush! It looks like a regular pencil brush (most brands have one), but it had a firmness I've been missing with the pencil brushes I already own. It's synthetic as well, and will be absolutely perfect for smudging any liner, above or below the lash line.

As it turns out I'm getting my makeup lesson after all, and I'm looking forward to it come March. A great big thanks to M., for making my Friday pretty much perfect! And for doing a pretty good job in restoring my faith in humanity.

Photos © Shamini Thevarajah '12

Now it's time to share another haul, a collective one, which Mr. DHL brought me in mid-October. If you don't care much for haul posts or the likes of it, you might as well stop your reading here. As I've done earlier I've decided to break this haul into two parts, where this post is the first one out. Please note that this is indeed a collective haul, which means that everything has been purchased over a certain period of time - in this case, about four months.

Nordstrom

• Guerlain Écrin 4 Couleurs in "Ombre de Nuit"
• NARS Trio Eyeshadow in "Arabian Nights"
• Dior The Or Vernis Holiday 2011: 651 Merveille
• Dior The Or Vernis Holiday 2011: 871 Apparat

Thanks to Renate - thank you so much, doll - I recently discovered how easy it is to order from Nordstrom, and all of a sudden an enormous new world of glorious makeup opened up to me! Unfortunately, or maybe I should say thankfully, I seem to have contracted a bit of common sense and sensibility lately, so I didn't go bananas. I ordered two things I've been wanting for a little while, and I'm quite proud of myself; I could have filled my basket with a lot more, but I was sensible about it. Oh, and since Nordstrom offers free shipping, I sort of placed another order a few days later. As you can see from my list above I ended up with four items: one eyeshadow palette, one eyeshadow trio and two nail polishes.

Guerlain

The Guerlain Écrin 4 Couleurs is the palette that came out with Belle de Nuit Holiday 2011 - once again I fell in love with the amazing promo picture from this collection and craved this palette the instant I laid my eyes on it. I wasn't sure whether or not I should splurge on it, as Guerlain is one of the more expensive brands, but I'm very glad I love it as much as I thought I would. I adore the sea foam aqua especially, but the whole palette is simply gorgeous.

"Guerlain has developed a new color harmony made especially for night owls. The two textures create smoky, seductive and spellbinding eyes that will last from twilight to the deepest night hours. An iridescent texture of green, blue and grey pearlescent particles release luminous color with an extremely metallic finish and combine with an extra-matte black shadow that offers an incredibly comfortable finish for a precise, intense liner effect."

NARS

NARS is a brand I'm quite familiar with, and I have several of their eyeshadow duos in my collection, in addition to a couple of blushes, bronzers, a highlighter, some eyeliner pencils, a lip gloss, a few lipsticks and a nail polish. One thing I don't have from NARS is anything from the Nightlife collection, so when Arabian Nights was released with this year's holiday collection I felt like I had the excuse I needed to pick it up. It's dark, it's mysterious, but unfortunately I think the three colors in this trio is a bit too much alike. I don't think I would have purchased it if I had been able to swatch it first, so I might just have to add this to my list of "complete misses".

Dior

I have become such a fan of these Dior nail polishes, it must have been the Parisian magic! In addition to the two new Dior Vernis in this haul, I have three more I haven't even shown in a post yet, like the amazing 908 Tuxedo, 916 Czarina Gold and 558 Paradise. The two in this haul are a part of The Or Vernis Holiday 2011, and I knew I had to own at least one of these colors the minute I saw them. I was a little unsure about picking up 651 Merveille, but 871 Apparat was an obvious choice - but when someone told me that 651 Merveille was a one-coater, it kinda followed its sister into my shopping cart. And I'm not regretting my decision!

Sephora

• Dior 3 Couleurs Smoky in "091 Smoky Black"
• Urban Decay Book of Shadows IV
• tarte™ for True Blood™ Limited Edition Palette
• Stila In The Light Palette
• Laura Mercier Tightline & Define Cake Eye Liner Collection
• Sephora Collection Matte Blotting Papers in "Natural"
• Sephora Collection French Tips & Toes Manicure Pen in "White"

I don't know how much explaination this paragraph really needs, but I never grow tired from shopping at Sephora even though I have to use a 'Personal Shopper' service to get my hands on their goodies. I'm a little sad I'm missing out on my Beauty Insider points, I would have had a lot of them now, but I guess it's better than not being able to order from Sephora at all. Unfortunately the unthinkable has happened, and Sephora has decided to block freight forwarders! It makes me really sad, but now I'm not able to shop at Sephora again unless I'm visiting a city with a store.

I'm not going to go into details with every single product of this haul as some are pretty self-explanatory, but I'll add a few pictures and such.

Dior

You might remember that I picked up the Dior 291 Smoky Navy when we went to Kiel back in September? I really liked the whole concept of these palettes, and since I'm on a constant lookout for a good palette for a black smoky eye, I wanted to try 091 Smoky Black as well. At first I regretted my choice a little. I ordered it before I researched reviews and swatches, and I started wondering if I should have gotten the 481 Smoky Khaki instead. Then I saw this look done with 091 Smoky Black, and I immediately changed my mind. It looks so soft, so gorgeous, and I can't wait to use it. Unfortunately someone did a mistake somewhere, and I received this palette in 781 Smoky Brown instead of the Smoky Black I had ordered. I was pretty bummed out, as anything Dior is quite pricey, but thankfully it was quickly sorted out and I ended up getting my precious Smoky Black after all - in addition to getting to keep the Smoky Brown palette!

Urban Decay

The Book of Shadows IV. It combines makeup and 'technology' in a fun way by including the possibility to watch exclusive how-to videos on your phone, in addition to adding a portable speaker-on-a-keychain! I'm sold. I'm such a sucker. Oh, and 10 of the 16 shades are actually brand new, so I don't have to be as annoyed with this palette as I usually tend to be with Urban Decay and their constant re-release of old shades! Included are also a SuperCurl Mascara, a 24/7 Waterproof Liquid Eyeliner in Perversion, and the original Primer Potion in the new and improved squeeze tube.

tarte™

tarte™ happens to be a fairly new brand to me. I have a couple of their Amazonian Clay 12-Hour Blushes, but I've never tried their eyeshadows. When I saw their limited edition True Blood™ palette I figured it would be a nice chance to try them out, and of course I was suckered into the design and concept. No pun intended. I love the HBO® series True Blood™, and a combination of makeup and a vampire TV-series? To me that immediately turned it into a must-have item! I also enjoy the opportunity to try out other products included in a set like this. It includes 17 limited edition eyeshadows, a full-size True Blood™ EmphasEYES Aqua-Gel Eyeliner in Black, True Blood™ Lights, Camera, Lashes! Mascara in Black, and a True Blood™ Lifted Natural Eye Primer. And the design? It looks so much cooler in real life then any photo could ever justify. I kinda regret not getting the tarte™ for True Blood™ LipSurgence™ lip tint as well, but a girl can't have everything she wants..

Stila

Here's another palette I've been eyeing for a while now, but never got around to picking up. I already have Urban Decay Naked in my collection, so I didn't really need this one, but my common sense wasn't present when I clicked the "checkout" button. Imagine that. This palette is such a nice mix of neutrals and colors, and it's quite small and handy to bring when I travel. The palette consists of ten different eyeshadows: Bare, Kitten, Bliss, Sunset, Sandstone, Champagne, Gilded Gold, Luster, Night Sky and Ebony - and it even includes a limited edition Smudge Stick Waterproof Eye Liner in Damsel, which is a matte chocolate brown.

Laura Mercier

Now this is a brand I've been wanting to try several different items from, but I've never felt able to justify a splurge as it's on the pricier side. One of the products I've been dying to try out is the tinted moisturizer, but there's no way I'd feel comfortable with paying $42 for a tube that might be a complete waste upon arrival because I failed at finding my color on the website. I have however been eyeing the tightline cake eyeliner for a while, so when I came across the Laura Mercier Tightline & Define Cake Eye Liner Collection with three colors: Black Ebony, Violet Asphalt, Mahogany Brown, a dual-ended brush: tightlining and eyelining, and a Full Blown Volume mascara in Black, I figured it was an excellent chance to give it a go.

These cake eyeliners are meant to be 'activated' with a tiny amount of liquid, like water, but Laura Mercier recently released a new product: tightline activator. I read several reviews before I decided to actually go ahead and order, and many people warn against using the activator as it will render the product unusable with water. You can however use just water, but you'll have to decide between the two, and I chose water for mine. $20 for a tiny bottle of some magical (polymer) liquid was a bit too much to my taste anyway.

NARS Cosmetics

• NARS Nail Polish in "Space Odyssey"
• NARS Larger Than Life® Long-Wear Eyeliner in "Via Crispi"

In honor of Fashion's Night Out 2011 NARS Cosmetics launched a special Larger Than Life® Long-Wear Eyeliner in Via Crispi and a nail polish called Space Odyssey. These two items were available for one week only in the beginning of September, and ..I guess that made me snatch them up while available. I frequently use silvery grays for my eye looks, so I can definitely see myself using this baby a lot. I already have two other Larger Than Life® pencils, and they are indeed good eyeliners I've been reaching for several times already. Space Odyssey is a crazy aluminum-colored nail polish, which I think is awesome. If you think Space Odyssey sounds intriguing, it's already been repromoted with NARS' Holiday 2011 and is still available as we speak - but beware, it's still limited edition!

Photos: NARS Cosmetics // © Shamini Thevarajah '11

On December 30th I figured I had to dig out my makeup and do something daring as I had plans to meet up with Renate. I pulled out my Inglot palette, and came up with this look. For the first time ever I decided to try a look with a black base, so I drew a line with the super black Maybelline Master Drama™ pencil, which I think is an awesome pencil liner, and smoked it out with a pencil brush. I then did my makeup as usual, Inglot 445 on two thirds of the lid, Inglot 446 in the outer corner and crease, blended it all, curled my lashes and put on my mascara.

I had a lot of fun playing with my makeup again today, I think I've worn a look like this once or twice this year, and I felt both inspired and happy playing with my "toys" again. I've fallen in love with my Real Techniques Deluxe Crease Brush, even though I'm not quite comfortable with the Base Shadow Brush yet. I find it a bit to flimsy to pack on eyeshadow with, but it might just be me and my personal preferences. I think I'll pick up some more of the Real Techniques brushes later on, as I would like to try the Blush Brush and possibly also the Shading Brush to see if it's any different than the one I already have.

Please excuse the bad quality and lighting, wintertime in Norway isn't the best time to take pictures, and it was shot with an iPhone 4.

Photo © Shamini Thevarajah '11

These sets are the same Crushed Metallic Pigments as the ones released with M·A·C Spring Colour Forecast and Surf Baby!, which is a set of four corresponding pigments in one stack. As I was standing there, speaking with one of the makeup artists, I swatched a few of the colors in the purple stack on my hand. Just for the fun of it. And I liked them quite a lot. I have to be honest about Light Violet in the purple stack being quite useless, and I kinda have the urge to throw it out because of its lousy quality. It's impossible to swatch, impossible to work with, impossible to stick to the skin, just.. impossible. I do on the other hand like the rest of the colors, and I'm wondering if I should have picked up the third sphere Smoky Berry as well, just because of the dark strawberry color called "Spicy Smoke". It's such a beautiful color! As I recently saw someone else saying: one should have been able to mix and match these stacks oneself. Unfortunately they are quite pricey in Norway, so I won't be getting the third ornament unless I'm able to get it from the US at retail price before it's gone. If you poke around the internet you'll find a lot of different opinions on which of these kits are the best of the bunch, but I'll have to say that my personal favorite must be Smoky Blue. For some odd reason it actually reminds me of a wintery fairytale, giving me a fuzzy feeling.

Dazzlesphere! Smoky Blue Ornament	Dazzlesphere! Smoky Plum Ornament

Sadly I'm not half as intrigued by the collections M·A·C keep pushing out as I used to be, so most things just pass me by unnoticed. I've stopped keeping track of release dates. I already own a lot of stuff from M·A·C (from older collections), but I don't have the urge to own every single piece released anymore. I guess the magic has gone, and I honestly feel a little sad about it. I don't understand what the people behind M·A·C are thinking, but the constant price increase, the insanely expensive "special" collections, the downsizing of actual product, the diminishing quality - what is going on when not even repromotes have the same color payoff and quality as the original product anymore? - is not making me wanna buy more, it's making me stray away from the brand that used to be my very favorite, feeling nothing but cheated and ripped off. It's been a nice few years, M·A·C. I hope we can rekindle our passionate relationship some other time.

Photos: M·A·C Cosmetics

I might have cheated a little as I stopped by Parfymelle Solsiden the other day to have a little whiff of this new fragrance, and when I instantly fell in love with this pink, girly, sweet and fruity scent, it went straight to the top of my imaginary Christmas wish list. Imaginary because I don't keep such a list. Wearing this fragrance somehow brings me back to Paris, and I feel like it's somehow a combination of the best notes of several other fragrances I love to wear. Oh, and the attached little charm shaped as a waffle heart is just too damn cute!

It's supposed to be quite nationalistic with its top notes of fruit and berries, the Norwegian wild strawberries and black currant, peach and bergamot. When the exciting top notes have calmed down, you'll notice the heart of this fragrance: rose, orange flower and jasmine. The base notes are from the deep Norwegian woods, cedar and moss. While the top notes of this scent puts a smile on my face, I'm deeply in love with its mysterious base notes, and it's definitely one of my favorite fragrances so far.

It's an Eau de Toilette, available in two sizes: 30 ml (395,- NOK) and 50 ml (545,- NOK). And both POUR FEMME and POUR HOMME are exclusive to Parfymelle and Moods of Norway themselves.

Photo: Parfymelle

Photo © Shamini Thevarajah '11