[unpaid/samples] Oh my – it’s a while since I’ve bonded so quickly with a make-up brand but it was love at first sight with Deck Of Scarlet. It’s juicy, stylish and exciting but at the same time decidedly wearable – I cannot remember the last time I wanted to put every colour on at once but there’s something so tactile about all of the products I’ve seen that full immersion felt compelling.
Deck of Scarlet is from the same stable of brands as Confessions Of A Rebel, the fragrance brand I wrote about on Friday. The Metal Leaf Shadow Pots, shown above, are the least interesting to me but mainly because I just don’t see myself wearing them. Other than that, if you like your shadow so brightly reflective that it looks like light on water, look no further than these.
See what I mean? This type of foil shadow makes an impact – it’s like liquid lamé and you need the tiniest, tiniest amount on your brush to create a streak of light on your lid. The pots are probably a life time’s supply unless you’re applying it all over your body – which I admit is tempting because the urge to touch it is that same instinct you get when you see a gorgeous fabric. The shades from bottom to top are All Of The Lights and Mega Watt (then All Of The Lights Again because I wanted to try it more thinly). There are seven colour options and they’re £22 each HERE.
My very, very favourite piece is the Dual Drama Liquid Liner in Retrograde/Dark Matter. The metallic Retrograde is what you see in the picture – the other end is black – and it comes out exactly as it looks in the tube. I admit I’m completely in love with it. I hate liquid liners as a rule and never use them but I had to have that petrol-spill reflection on my lids and I didn’t do too badly with it, either. I just did a fine(ish) line as close as I could get to my upper lash line and then added mascara – that’s so much my kind of look now, just one bit of excitement on the face!
Bearing in mind that it’s shade shifting, you can see it one way in this picture and then pick out the pink and green elements in the Metal Leaf swatch picture. It’s different every time. There are four colourways for this HERE and they’re £25 each.
If you like matte lips, the Threeway Solid Lips Oils won’t be for you but for personal preference, this is my dream lip texture. Solid Lip Oil sums it up – but it’s so gleamy and lightful but pigmented to perfection that what you get is lips that look juicy, plump and bright without looking gloopy. It’s the feel of a balm with the performance of lipstick.
Deck of Scarlet has nailed the perfect brown toned neutral in Cocoa Spice (first), followed by a milky raspberry with Rose Goddess. Scarlet Passion is next – a glossy, blue toned red, followed by Mauve Minx which is a muted mauve made extra delicious by a grey undertone and that same milkiness that runs though all these shades. Then it’s Buff Rose – it’s the one I couldn’t help applying as soon as it was in my hands (I try to keep everything pristine until the pictures are taken but the evidence is clear that the urge was too strong!) and finally Merlot Moves.
So, in the swatch, from bottom to top, it’s Cocoa Spice, Merlot Moves, Rose Goddess, Scarlet Passion, Mauve Minx and Buff Rose. They’re £25 each HERE. The formula uses Watermelon Seed Oil, Cucumber Seed Oil and Carrot Seed Oil, plus hyaluronic acid and pearl pigments to give that next level lightfulness so no wonder they feel like magic on the lips. I think they’re expensive but exceptional – I was trying to sum up the brand in my mind and it’s kind of the best of the original Stila and the original Urban Decay meets the best of current day Shiseido with a bit of Alex Box era Illamasqua. There are definitely Japanese texture influences in there – as with Glossier, Deck Of Scarlett has (accidentally?) made a brand that suits older women who want to be expressive with colour so very well because of the light reflection and sumptuousness of texture. I’m hooked – you can tell 🙂
Leave a Reply