The Chanel Ratonas Off-topic Thread

[User38]

Friday nite was a huge party nite for me.. dancing salsa/merengue/cumbias and lots of mojitos, tonite is dinner with friends and then some clubs too..

C! so glad that you like some of the ideas.. the products I mentioned are staples for me and have worked since forever. I hope other's can contribute ideas and suggestions to the thread also.

YAY for Inglot.. they deserve better retail exposure !!

have a lovely weekend all !

 

[Almus]

Good morning everyone!

We have a lovely sunny Sunday morning (I am afraid that it will turn out in a super hot Sunday afternoon

) and I am ready to clean the house a bit for the incoming week.
I hope you are all enjoying this Sunday!

Oh Astrid, I have giggled while reading your "experience" at the train and I have to agree with the rest of the Ratonas ... I am not surprised at all! Last year, during a very hot summer day, I was coming back from work and I decided to stop at the market to get some groceries. You can imagine me: 40ºC in the sunlight, just get out of the subway (meaning wrinkled clothes and sweaty face, so better not talking about the status of the little mu I was wearing on) and very very tired. I was ordering some veggies and I didn't even notice the guy that was grabbing them. So when he had my bag full of veggies ready, he moved away from the spot where all the people were getting attended and called me to get my bag. I was in my "c'-mon dude, I wanna go home please" mood, but I followed him to get my goodies and suddenly, he asks me out

I believe my whole face reached a new shade of deep red. I grabbed my bag and all I was able to mumble was: "oo ... ok ... I know where I can find you". Poor guy, he must had thought I was not normal at all ...

Regarding mu: I have tried VA foundation thanks to a generous sample I got from my usual Chanel counter. The only problem is that I got B40 shade. It's not too dark for my skin tone right now, but it will be in the next couple of weeks (I lose my tan as fast as I gain it). Shades sold in here are not very light, in fact, 40 is the lightest in my counter. I have seen that they are selling B20 and B30 (not BR either) as part of the fall collection, so I may go and try them just in case they are not going to stay in the counter after the collection. On the other hand, I may try Perfection Lumiere, cause I've been positively impressed by the shade range and the review at Cafemakeup =)

 

[User38]

Almus.. life sounds wonderful for you now.. a lovely apartment/bf and Malaga!.. but I know from personal experience that the counters in many places don't have the lighter shades of foundations. Seems like they feel nobody is light skinned enough

for them to stock colours.

as for me, I am on my 2nd day of being botoxed and my forehead feels great.. looks smooth with minimal furrow.. lol . It's supposed to get better too!! I am going to do some Restylane on the way back to Italy... I should look like 25 by then

meanwhile, I am throwing ice water on all the Ratonas to wake them from their deep slumber!

 

[Anneri]

No no no, no cold water! My cold developed into bronchitis, and when I went to see the dr today he said cheerfully 'well it's not pneumonia yet!'

So, please no cold water! *g* (It hurts to breathe - that's really impressive!)
I won't go to work for the rest of the week, and my boss was, of course, delighted. There was some bad mood in the office yesterday anyway, and felt like a criminal when I told her I couldn't come in for the rest of the week, which is of course ridiculous.

Now I'm sitting in my teeny tiny flat, eating ben & jerrys and watching Pretty little liars. I have no books here, which drives me mad. I can't watch movies all day! Being ill is boring.

At the weekend I was home. My bf didn't come to Munich as planned because I felt so homesick all of a sudden - I blame being ill for that - and it was really more practical to go home when ill than him being here in this tiny room with nothing to do. And he spoilt me which was so nice.
Being the mu junkie I wanted to go to the counter first before catching the train home to get my Lightscapade (and some other stuff. *cough*), and at all three counters in Munich the release was spontaneously delayed (I had called the night before). I was so mad! When I arriving home, I went to my usual counter, where I got all my stuff, but it was so typically MAC and so annoying that I was prepared to give up MAC for good - for at least an hour! *g*

 

[Shypo]

Anneri, I hope you feel better soon! I hate being sick - yes, it's terribly boring!! And I hate being let down by makeup companies/counters.......boo.

Michelle, I have tried and tried to get good photos of the Guerlain quad swatches, and they're just nowhere near the actual color. So I don't want to lead you astray. That said, you absolutely cannot go wrong with any of the 3: Bois de Rose, Les Perles, Les Fumes. They are GREAT basics, but IMO give Chanel quads a huge run for the money (which they should, given the price!!). They have become favorites, and I'm glad they're perm, as I could see running out of at least one of them. Not that it would ever happen, but you never know .

HG, congrats on the Botox!!

 

[Bonitinha]

Almus, sounds like you are doing well! Let us know if you find the perfect foundation. I am always on the hunt!!

Anneri -- yuck -- hope you feel better soon. Glad you are able to eat some good ice cream and watch TV -- always good to take a little break!

Cheryl -- Thank you for trying to take pics -- I know it is hard to capture the colors in different lighting. I will just have to bite the bullet and order at least one to try it out. Just to decide which one??
Did you ever try and of the Dior Smoky Color e/s palettes? I heard mixed reviews on those.

HG -- so are you looking 20 right about now??

 

[Miss QQ]

^^ Yeah HG is looking 20 now.

Anneri - Sorry that you are down with bronchitis. Rest well and get better soon! I got tired of mac collections always getting delayed. Glad I'm not crazily following their new launches now. Hope you manage to get them when they finally launch.

Cheryl - I may get something from Guerlain this weekend because the department store is having promotion so I get 10% discount.

I may get one of the quads you got and I want to get one of their foundations, but I've never tried them before so it is probably not wise to buy.

Anyone seen Laura Mercier's holiday collection? I'm drawn to the Eye Portfolio set. Never bought anything from LM before, not sure if I should splurge on my first purchase.

http://www.temptalia.com/laura-mercier-holiday-2011-collection

 

[Bonitinha]

MissQQ -- let us know if you get anything from the LM collection. Those shadow portfolios look great for travel. I haven't bought anything from LM before, but have heard rave reviews about their glosses and blushes especially.

 

[User38]

Mitchelle, msqq, C!.. actually I might pass for 18

 

[Almus]

Miss QQ I am lemming the brush set, so you are not alone

Anneri, take care of yourself and I hope you get better soon!

 

[Bonitinha]

Mitchelle, msqq, C!.. actually I might pass for 18

I need in on this! LOL

 

[Camnagem]

HG - 18! You go lady!

Anneri - Feel better soon!

Ladies the Chanel foundation was a no go for me (blah!), so I'm still searching for the foundation that will change my life. I've started to go through my entire stash to find things I can live without and of course every single time I think I've decided that something I can go I look at it again and fall back in love, lol. This will be a long process, but it must happen! I'm not allowing myself any make-up purchases until I get rid of some stuff (foundation is excluded, need to find "the one"!). I think the Sephora F&F is this month around the 20th so I better get my ass in gear because I simply can't miss that sale, lol. I'll try again tomorrow and see how I do.

Hope you're all well!

 

[Shypo]

OK, for my

: I tried the Guerlain foundation, but did not like it. I'm also not loving the new Chanel foundation, but am willing to give it another go. The MAC Matchmaster,

. My go-tos are Inglot's cream foundation (which I know is not accessible to most folks, sorry) and Chanel's Vitalumiere Aqua. My third fave is MUFE's HD foundation. I get the coverage I need from all of these, without the heavy feeling, and they last the day. I've tried SO many foundations, and like you, am always on the hunt for the perfect one, and I think I've found it (for the time being) in Inglot.

Laura Mercier - I have several of her shadows, in fact when LM first came to Nordstrom many years ago I was something of a devotee, but I have to say my favorite products are her (powder) liner and her blushes (I have 3 of these). Don't get me wrong - the shadows are very nice, and well pigmented, but I confess I don't reach for them too often (but only because I have so many other things to distract me!!!!

). The palette is intriguing, though, as everything is there and already in a palette, so you don't have to buy the shadows and her palette separately. It seems like a great value. I also love her gel lipcolors that came out this summer, and hope that we see more of them!

Hope that helps. And FWIW, I still look my age

. LOL!

 

[Anneri]

Apparently, I've a streak of bad luck this week - first the bronchitis, and now my laptop caught a virus. Sounds almost funny, doesn't it? Two viruses at once!
But it's highly annoying nevertheless. My bf and me tried to fix it last night, with both of us on the phone and him googling possible solutions, but no luck yet. I'm at his place now, so I hope we manage it tomorrow, because otherwise I've no internet, no music, no tv in Munich next week - it's all on the damn laptop!

Re foundations: I really liked the Diorskin Nude this summer, but after three months of using it (it has a pump), I start to notice that the consistency is changing and has been becoming much thicker. I called the company I bought it at yesterday, but they told me that they don't take returns after one months. Well, great. I'm thinking now about taking it to the nearest Dior counter and see what happens. It's now too dark for me anyway. Sigh. Last winter, I always mixed MAC's Prolongwear with Studio Sculpt and that worked really well for me.

 

[User38]

^ feel better Annieri.. bacterias come and go.. hopefully yours will go soon !

re Dior foundation.. I had /have the Nude Skin also, and it seems as if over the summer it has also gotten heavier, thicker and darker.. it's not my eyes -- it's in the bottle. I suspect the pumps have something to do with it... but would have to get back home and rip it apart to confirm.

Cheryl.. you look great for your age ! proudly, you can say " I don't need no botox".. lol. I would only wish that I had my 18 yo skin/face/body... on my glorious head of grey... lol.

 

[Anneri]

Thanks, HG! Glad you confirm my feeling about the dior foundation. Even if that means that exchanging won't work, because the next bottle will have the same bottle. Which means - no more Dior foundations for me. I rather doubt that I'll use the whole bottle if the process continues, and that's a waste of a lot of money. I think I paid about 40 euros on this - what a disappointment. I remember that my samples I had before buying it became thicker and heavier too, but I put that down to the sample jars which didn't close properly. I 'saved' the sample by mixing them with primer so they became lighter and thinner, but I don't know if should try that with my bottle too.

Btw, I got High def cyan pencil last week, because I wanted to create a look with it that Elegant posted a while ago. It was from a runway show, and the models wore a light blue liner and an orange lip. Can anyone remember it? I can't find the pic anywhere!

 

[Miss QQ]

^^ Get well soon! Hope your laptop is fixed soon too. Thanks for telling us about the diorskin nude liquid foundation. I thought of getting it for a while but now I will pass it!

HG - I tried the dior nude sculpting powder at the counter today, and the MA recommended 20. We have 21(ochre) and 23(peach) and I tried all three on my face at Sephora on my own before and was choosing between 20 and 21. The MA at this counter said not to take 21 because our skin is yellow, so we don't use yellow but 20 to neutralise it. But I'm a bit puzzled because the ochre shades (from chanel, dior) are asia exclusive, and if the MAs aren't recommending it for us, then these shades probably aren't selling well, yet we are the targeted market for these shades. Feels to me that they are screwing themselves up. I ended up not buying lol.

Les Perles, Euphorique, La Distinguee, and Pirate came home with me today! The packaging of the Guerlain quad is better than the old. It feels sleek, although I don't like the reflective light gold. It is also wider, so the mirror is big! I also got a sample of Parure Gold in 20. I tried it at the counter and it is darker than the Lingerie 20.

To all, have a great weekend!

 

[User38]

^ I think that the problem often encountered with the CD foundatons (I have the forever one too) .. is that the pumps let air in and they actually oxidize within the bottle. I will check mine out when I get back home as I don't travel with them because they are such heavy glass.

I am waiting to catch a plane now and will be home later tonight.. sigh.

msqqq.. I use the 20 beige praline, because I was looking for a light sculpted finish but I don't notice yellow undertones in mine. I am assuming that what you get in the Asia lines is the same if it's the same numeration.. there is a lovely peachy one (I think its the 032. , a pink one, and the 21 yellower) and actually all the shades work on me in varying intensities. My preference is the more neutral beige praline tho because I will always use my blush with it. I just love the finish of the product on my skin. I don't blame you for not purchasing anything with that kind of confusion.. lol. The MA's sometimes undermine their own best interests.

Congrats on your lovely haul!! and enjoy.

I am on my way home and will see Rrrramon on the weekend, and back to work on Mon... grr. A week later I make the round trip back again

a great weekend to all!!

 

[ElvenEyes]

I'm still desperately in love with my EL Lucidity Foundation in Pale Ivory. It is still the best match to my skin and feels like silk going on. I always get pretty far down into the bottle before it is thickening up a bit. I also use MUFE HD in 110 and 115, but EL just feels more elegant on my face! I like the matching powder, too. I am hoping to splurge on a pretty compact if they still make them. Actually I just want to hit my EL counter for a few nice goodies for the holidays. I'm trying to pay attention to the stores for pretty cosmetic bags and nice sets that usually start pouring in this time of year. When I started swatching lipsticks for my blog I could not help but notice how dry the MAC ones were compared to Chanel, Lancome, EL, Bobbi Brown, Dior, etc. What a difference. And that the latter bunch left a nice stain even after scrubbing my arm like a madwoman. But when I am out during holiday marathons and have to pull out my MU to touch up, that is when I really want the pretty packaging. I admit it. I am vain!

 

[LMD84]

I'm still desperately in love with my EL Lucidity Foundation in Pale Ivory. It is still the best match to my skin and feels like silk going on. I always get pretty far down into the bottle before it is thickening up a bit. I also use MUFE HD in 110 and 115, but EL just feels more elegant on my face! I like the matching powder, too. I am hoping to splurge on a pretty compact if they still make them. Actually I just want to hit my EL counter for a few nice goodies for the holidays. I'm trying to pay attention to the stores for pretty cosmetic bags and nice sets that usually start pouring in this time of year. When I started swatching lipsticks for my blog I could not help but notice how dry the MAC ones were compared to Chanel, Lancome, EL, Bobbi Brown, Dior, etc. What a difference. And that the latter bunch left a nice stain even after scrubbing my arm like a madwoman. But when I am out during holiday marathons and have to pull out my MU to touch up, that is when I really want the pretty packaging. I admit it. I am vain!

ha ha! we all love to pull out pretty packaging!!

i hope all you lovely ladies are keeping well and healthy i have had the past week off work so have been pottering about the house doing odd jobs and such all week. plus i got my hair done yesterday which made me feel much better! i have had four different colours of highlights put in which now give me a darker blonde look for the winter months. i fancied a change and although it looks like a small change it seems big to me! next week i have a managers conference at sony hq so will be staying in a posh hilton hotel next week which will be nice! but sadly planning what makeup to take is going to be a bit of trouble! lol!