Clarins Eye Quartet Mineral Palette in Odyssey...

I hardly ever use a lip liner as my lips are naturally pretty full,

but once in a while for a special occasion I like to draw a thick line [just on the edge, never ever over lining it!!] - blending it into the rest of the lip with a lip brush before going over with a nude lipstick,

 it still leaves them looking quite natural but perhaps a little more out there... 

It's a more natural Brigitte Bardot sexy lip look

for which I love the Estee Lauder Double Wear Lip Pencil in Spice 
and Clarins Rouge Prodige in Nude...

From Left to Right: 

Clarins Eye Quartet Mineral Palette in 09 Odyssey, 

Estee Lauder Double Wear Stay-in-Place Lip Pencil in 08 Spice, 

Clarins Rouge Prodige in 122 Nude

I love collecting beautiful make-up and the Clarins Odyssey palette is definitely a collector's item... It's stunningly designed with that matte Greek mythology inspired print on the pale gold compact... This palette is from the new festive make-up collection - the Odyssey Collection... The eyeshadow shades are described as: brown [matte shade suggested as a liner], beige [a very flattering satin brow bone highlighter], and taupe-bronze [satin with light shimmer], all of the eyeshadows can be layered and used either dry or wet for more intensity... 

But the star of the palette is the beautiful coppery cream eyeshadow... The formula is incredible, it is basically a cream eyeshadow densely packed with particles of what appears to be glitter on first sight... But when you begin applying it, it literally feels very thin and flexible just like a gold leaf, I had to look it up on the Clarins website to find out what the formula was and it actually is gold leaf!! Pretty amazing... 

After you apply it to the eyelid, it breaks apart into fine glamorous sparkles... It doesn't feel like glitter when it's on, on the contrary it feel incredibly smooth and lightweight... The combination of dry and wet formula makes this palette pretty versatile... You could easily go through the entire Christmas or New Years celebrations with just these four shades going from a natural barely-there family morning look, or a natural smokey brown look for a fun day out, or get really glammed up for the festive dinner and go all the way and dab your brush into the gold leaf...

I used three of the shades in this palette to create a pretty festive look, I could have made it a lot more dramatic by including the darkest shade but I kept it wearable... So what I did to get this look was, first applying the taupe-bronze all over the lid, the lightest shade went on the brow bone to highlight the area and visually lift the eyebrow creating a more fresh looking face... I could have left it at that for a super natural barely-there look, but I absolutely could not resist adding a thin layer of the stunning gold leaf... I love the texture of it, quite unique and special!

There is only a little bit of fall out in the beginning when you are applying it, and it's more of a fly about than fall out, just like a real gold leaf before it's set has the tendency to fly about as it is very light and delicate... But once you are done it sets and stays put, it's pretty long lasting which is fantastic for the festive season, no need for touch-ups! You can use it as opaque or sheer  as you want, I used it quite sheer in the crease line to create that beautiful wet eyeshadow look, letting the taupe-bronze underneath still come through... I absolutely adore this Odyssey palette!

LOVE