'No Thanks, I'm Just Browsing...Umm, Actually, Ok, I'll Take The Lot' - A Venture Into Chanel

So the other day I went shopping on my own. Despite what anyone says I actually enjoy shopping on my own sometimes, there's no one to trail after you, no men lagging behind and moaning 'cause they're bored and hungry, and no mums/friends/aunties/grans/sensible sisters to say 'you don't need that, put it back'. No, I like shopping on my own when I want to go serious shopping, I'm talking the 'get the bus into the city and return home 5/6 hours later' kind of shopping where you pore over each shop, trying on numerous items of clothing, swatching your little hands off and exercising that chip and pin (I like to think I'm a bit like the Queen - I never carry cash!). 

On this particular day I went into the city with one goal in mind, to get my brows done by the Benefit ladies. Mission accomplished. And then I stumbled blindly to the Chanel counter on the off chance I could swatch some lipsticks and decide between buying a Rouge Coco Shine, or a YSL Volupte. Well, I ended up in the makeover chair trying out many £££ worth of products and came home with two didn't I?! (I feel the title of this post sums this up very well!)

As I sat down at the fancy makeup station (complete with mood lighting) the Chanel lady pointed me in the direction of a gorgeous foundation, Vitalumière Aqua (RRP £32.00 - I got 10% off!), when I said I was on a quest to find my holy grail to combat patchiness due to my dry skin. If you saw my post here, where I relayed my make-up bag favourites, then you'll have seen that I'm really not a fan of my MAC Matchmaster foundation. In the heat of the moment I wanted to try something different and to be honest I was really after some samples, but the Chanel lady applied Vitalumière Aqua to my face and I felt instantly transformed, I was experiencing enough love already that I just had to buy it! 

Vitalumière Aqua is a light coverage foundation, it's very sheer, perhaps one step up from a BB cream, but this works well for me as I'm trying to get away from the heavy made up face that I'm used to. I thought this would be perfect for spring/summer as it's incredibly lightweight, I literally felt as though I had nothing on my face and yet when I looked in the mirror I felt like I was completely flawless. And best of all? Vitalumière Aqua didn't cling to, or accentuate, any of my normal dry patches (most notably on my nose), I could have almost cried with joy! I had this applied at the beginning of my shopping trip, just after I'd had my brows done, and then promptly spent 4 hours running around in changing rooms and trying on clothes and not once did my face look patchy or in need of a touch up - win!

Happy -10lb weight loss to me! 
(If you haven't read my Slimming World posts then this wouldn't make much sense to you, but I'm rewarding myself with a bit of makeup/skincare that I've been lusting over for ages with every 10lbs I lose. First reward was to buy myself a foundation - I wasn't banking on it being an expensive one, but hey, I felt good about myself enough to justify it.)

Apologies for the 'posy' pic. This was the best of the worst!

The other lovely product I picked up, and my sole reason for hanging around the Chanel counter in the first place, was a Rouge Coco Shine lipstick in the shade 'Boy' (RRP £24.00 - again I got 10% off). I was after a 'your lips but better' shade and the lady at the counter recommended this to me straightaway. Boy is a lovely delicate mauvy pink with a tiny hint of shimmer, but not enough to give you full on glittery lips, more like enough shine to rival a Revlon Lip Butter. It's very silky to apply, and sheer upon application, and as you can tell from my 'selfie' above it hardly looks like I've got anything on my lips, definitely the kind of 'your lips but better' that I was after. The longevity of this is not the best, maybe an hour, hour and a half at most, but that is made up in hydration as my lips felt lovely and moisturised (again, brilliant for a dry skinned girl like me), and looked healthy, I'm in love. As the French would say, parfait. 

Consequently, as a result of my dabble into the world of high end makeup, I now have a massive wish list which includes more Rouge Coco Shines, Les Beiges powder, Illusion D'Ombre Quads and much, much more. I wonder if J will let us scrimp on buying a sofa and allow me to indulge in buying beautiful makeup instead (the packaging's too hard to resist)...!

As Coco would say, 'A girl should be two things, classy and fabulous'.

And I couldn't agree more.

Are you a high end makeup fan?