Estee Lauder-Who Knew?!

Do you ever have a brand that just isn't in your consciousness or one that has never captured you before until you tried one product randomly and thought "Wow-who knew?!" This has been my experience recently with Estee Lauder. For one reason or another the thought of Estee Lauder in general doesn't really excite me all that much. I don't know if it's because it has been around so long, and I associate the brand with my mother or grandmother, but it just never really excited me enough to want to purchase anything from them in a long time.

That all changed when I was looking for a new foundation and was told I have to try Estee Lauder's Doublewear. I hadn't thought of Estee Lauder before, but have heard great things about the foundation before, so I went out to try it.  I walked on over to the Estee counter and got myself the foundation (which I love btw), but while I was there, out of boredom or just perhaps because I have a problem with shopping, I picked up a few of their color items as well from their new summer "Michael Kors Very Hollywood" and "Bronze Goddess" collection...and I gotta say, I am in love!

Foundation to me is more of a utilitarian necessity than anything else, and I don't care what brand it is from, as long as it works and doesn't break me out. But I was surprised at the color items I bought there, and how wonderful and exciting they were! I got three products besides the foundation and I really do like them all. They are great quality, and look beautiful on. It makes me want to go get more from them! Where were you all my life Estee Lauder?!

The first two products are from the Michael Kors line and they are his blush in "coral sunset" and a lipgloss in "honey blonde" and they are both gorgeous! The blush is pigmented and looks like a beautiful flush on the skin. While I dislike the packaging and think the stupid, worthless blush brush should be done in with in favor of more product, I think it is a beautiful and quality blush. While it is shimmery in the pan, I do not find it to be shimmery on the skin.

In the pan

Swatch on finger (sorry, no makeup today so I can't show it on skin!)

I also love the lipgloss and it is one of my favorite colors on my lips. Pigmented enough to give a sexy, nude shine, but not too much to make you look like a corpse. It does have a strange purfume scent to it, which I didn't dislike but I would have preferred it to be unscented, as the scent is distracting. The color is so gorgeous though, I will suffer for it! It is also a little bit sticky, which I enjoy since it stays on the lips a little longer than one that slides around on you.

The third product I got was from the "Bronze Goddess" collection and it is their "bronzing blush." It is a melange of bronze and coral-pink together in a zebra pattern (so cute) that you swirl together and get a great sunny coral-pink glow to the cheeks. It is not super pigmented, but glowy and gorgeous, so I like it best on top of another blush for a statement look (I like statement blush).  It is a cheap package, in that you can feel how plastic and light it is, but the result on the skin is so pretty, I like it anyway.

When swirled together

While the products do have some drawbacks (smelly lipgloss, and cheap packaging and that stupid brush), the product really surprised me in a good way and I think it is a line worth taking a second look at.

Do you have any brands that you have experienced this "who knew?!" phenomenon? Let me know or do a post on your own blog about it and paste a link in the comments. I think it would be a fun tag to do to learn about new brands or lines perhaps some of us haven't thought about before for one reason or another.

xoxo!