Saturday 13 March 2010

Julie Hewett and FOTD

*picture heavy post*

I love stumbling across fantastic things - I'm fairly certain most people do. The thing is once I find something new that I love, whether it's books, music, make-up or even cleaning products, I want to buy whatever is available to me in that range or genre. So it is with Julie Hewett. I've ordered items from the brand's website three times and and there is not a single item I don't like. This of course means I want to try more and more.



Julie Hewett is a make-up artist in Hollywood. She worked on the film Pearl Harbour which is where she developed her own range of long-lasting red lipsticks - The Noir Collection - that authentically reproduced the colours of the 1940s.

As I've said before, I am not a fan of opaque, fully pigmented lipsticks. I love how they look on a lot of other people, but I much prefer a softer, glossier mouth. Within the Noir Collection there are three sheer shades of red which are absolutely perfect, in my humble opinion. I own the full sizes of Film Noir and Gem Noir and I received a generous sample size of Oona Noir (named for Charlie Chaplin's wife). They range from soft cherry red to a sheer blackberry and they feel weightless and smooth on the lips. The formula is moisturising yet has great lasting power. I also own Nude Noir which is not red, but a sheer mauve pink shot with gold shimmer.


In my most recent order, I also purchased one of the Icon of beauty lipsticks in Thandie - a sheer red with gold highlights. The lipsticks all have gorgeous packaging, beautifully solid and gold with a retro swirl in the base. I'm not one for applying make-up on public transport, but I'm happy to whip these beauties out in public.

The Cheekies and Shimmies from Julie Hewett are also great products. Cheekies are little pots of cream blush and Shimmies are cream highlighters. I have the Goldie Shimmy - a soft gold with a subtle shimmer - and a sample of the Cleo Shimmy - more of a burnished bronze shade. As well as being used to highlight the cheekbones the Shimmies can be used on the eyes and blend well with the Julie Hewett shadows. I have the Peachie Cheekie which looks a vibrant coral in the pot, but is a wearable, pretty peach on the skin.


Also in the swatch is the Mystere Hue Colour, a beautiful taupe. These are cream eyeshadows which can be used alone or layered with shadows for a longer lasting and more intense colour. I tend to use a base with this product as it creases on me.

Purchasing a Cheekie from Julie Hewett also led me to acquire what's now one of my favourire make-up brushes. It came with the product as a special offer and at first I was bemused. It looked short and stumpy and totally unlike any other brush I've used to apply cream blush.



It's actually amazing. It has short, densely-packed bristles and fits perfectly in the Cheekie pot. You swirl it around to pick up colour and then buff into the cheeks for a soft glow.

The eye palettes are one of the items that first drew me to the Julie Hewett range. There are a number of pre-existing palettes, some of which are limited edition. There's also the option to create your own custom palette which looks lovely but I've been overwhelmed by choice when I've attempted it. I own two of the pre-existing palettes - Twilight and Petit Four.



The Twilight palette is great for a natural day time look but can also be vamped up (pun intended) for the evening. I think they may have changed the palettes fairly recently, as the website says it includes a shadow called 'swank' in the slot mine has 'remy'. Either way, I love this palette. The size of the shadow pans is very generous, the colours are lovely, there's a mixture of matte, satin and shimmer and they are incredibly smooth but not so buttery they fall apart in the pan (Stila, I'm looking at you).

After being so pleased with Twilight, I decided to get the Petit Four palette in my last order.



Again it's at odds with the website which says 'berre' should be where 'bellini' is but I am really pleased with this palette. Bellini is a gorgeous peach and it recommends you use it as a blush too. The shadows in both palettes are true to their colour in the pan, which is not always the case with eyeshadow.

I decided to do a really quick face of the day with the Petit Four palette this morning. It took about five minutes and I did not use any eye base, just slapped on the shadow with brushes. After a day of shopping, visiting and cleaning I'd expect to see creases and even 'bald' areas where the shadow has worn off. I was amazed an hour ago when I looked in the mirror and found the eyes were just as they were when I photographed them earlier (click pics for a closer look).


I was really pleased with this look as it took hardly any time but I felt 'done' and very fresh faced thanks to the bellini eyeshadow as blusher. On the lips is a swipe of Thandie lipstick. I really like the combination of bellini on the lids and mica - a shimmery platinum shade - on the inner corner. It's stronger than the usual inner corner highlight and I think the contrast between peach and a bluish shade is nice.

So to summarise, I highly recommend Julie Hewett cosmetics. I also own a Camellia lip balm which is an excellent lip moisturiser and the pure cucumber extract which I haven't used yet, but it smells amazing. I think there are a few places in the UK that stock the line, but I've always bought direct from the Julie Hewett website. Shipping from LA takes about a week for a flat fee of $5.95 and everything is well-packaged. I've placed three orders now and received free samples with the first two. If you are a red lipstick lover, I'd strongly recommend taking a look at the Noir Collection as the full pigment shades are stunning.

Anyone else a fan? Any recommendations?

2 comments:

  1. Well you have made me want some more things now :) Such a fresh looking FOTD. I really like the JH items I have, I need to get round to doing a post on the eyeshadows I bought.
    Great to see a post of the range that shows the colours so well as it can be quite daunting ordering site unseen.

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  2. I'm glad there's some reciprocity re the enabling. Your blog has me itching to buy so many things!

    I would love to see a post on your JH shadows. It might help me decide what to put in a custom palette :)

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