Paul & Joe Carousel Collection

The Paul & Joe Carousel collection brings a whimsical clutch of horses, elephants and cats. I purchased the blushes and lipsticks from Fenwicks in London and the eyeshadow and pressed powder from BeautyHabit.com. Fenwicks usually offers a gift with £30 purchase. For this season, they had a choice of either a makeup pouch or a foldable eco shopping bag in the cat print.

The pair of elephants with interlinking trunks is simply the sweetest ever but unfortunately, it was not used for the gift with purchase.

I selected the Eye Color 082 Calliope solely on the basis of the packaging, to be honest. It features a pearl light beige paired with a shimmery medium brown, with a total weight of 5g.

The beautifully detailed carousel horse print is just a sheer overspray that rubs off pretty much immediately.


I appreciate the fact that Paul & Joe switched to selling its lipstick cases and refills separately, so I need not buy all the limited edition lipsticks just to collect the cases. This makes for a much more economical and flexible system as their lipsticks have varying quality. Some are beautifully creamy and moisturising but I've also come across some that were awfully sheer and patchy.

I picked up the elephant case and filled it with Lipstick CS 080 Manege, a creamy fuschia pink. It is the most well pigmented of the three lipstick shades in this collection. I usually discard the boxes but this one is just too pretty!


The Pressed Powder CS 001 is a finishing powder that applies as a dreamy whitish veil with very subtle micro shimmer flecks, similar to Guerlain Meteorites. The powder pan cannot be depotted. It contains 8g of product. I've lost count of how many P&J pressed powders I own, as they release one every season and it's usually too gorgeous to pass up.

Love the design detail on the powder puff.



Of the ten new blush duos, I selected 08 Candy (left) and 03 Gigi (right). The blush refills are sold separately from the cases. The elegant case contains a magnet that enables the refill pan to snap in easily. Lifting it out is also a cinch. None of the messy globs of glue that is common in Japanese makeup refill systems by other brands like Addiction.

In the pics below, the Pressed Powder is swatched on the right half.

I was impressed by the color payoff of the eyeshadows. These have a smooth texture and zero chunky glitter.

Part of my beloved collection of Collection Sparkles.


The Carousel collection is available on BeautyBay.com and ASOS.com, both with free international shipping. ASOS is already sold out of some products. See more swatches on Life & Lens of Beauty.