Archive for the 'Makeup' Category

Peony Flower Fusion lipstick

Hey there, nice girl with the hopelessly dry lips. You know I love ya, but that peeling ‘pout … not so cute! My pucker gets crazy dry, too, so when I find pretty, moisturizing lipsticks I feel compelled to share them. You, too, can say buh-bye to Saraha-dry lips with Origins Flower Fusion lipsticks ($16). Yes, girl, Origins!

Peony Flower Fusion lipstick in the tube

Origins isn’t a company I’ve paid a lot of attention to, but products like Flower Fusion are starting to change the way I think about the brand. These lipsticks are all about moisture in a big way. The official marketing claims their secret emollient ingredient is wax derived from plant petals and leaves.

Winter Rose Flower Fusion lipstick

You know how soothing it feels to massage a good lotion into your hands when they’re cracked and dry? Well, Flower Fusion lipstick is like that but for dry lips. The texture feels unusually slick and smooth for a lipstick. If I press my lips together and rub them back and forth, there’s no friction, like my lips are sliding on ice.

Winter Rose Flower Fusion lipstick in the tube

There are 26 shades in the collection, including the two limited edition ones shown here, Winter Rose (shimmery berry) and Peony (violet red). I like how they give my lips shine and color without appearing overly dark or dramatic. These are going to be great colors for work!

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What a glorious fall Wednesday, ladies! Wait — fall? Did she say fall? Yep, it’s already fall in makeup-land, so grab your tweed coat, knee-high boots and your favorite scarf, and let’s take a moment to peep some of this fall’s current and upcoming makeup collections.

• Bobbi Brown — Now You Can Go Goth with Bobbi Brown Mauve Collection Lipsticks and Glosses
  “Bobbi threw me a curve ball with the lip colors in the Mauve Collection, her new fall makeup line. I’d been searching high and low for edgy yet wearable lipsticks and glosses in shades of purple, and these colors are, dare I say, edgy yet wearable. They’re eye-catching without going over the top, and within the colors there’s enough variety to allow you to create lots of different looks. Go on with your bad self, Ms. Brown!”




• Bobbi Brown — Bobbi Brown Pretty Pink Metallic Lip Color: Yeah, It’s Good
  “When it comes to pink lipsticks, I am a one-woman army. I’ve been hoarding them since high school. My arsenal is such that if hostile aliens landed and the fate of the world hinged on our ability to scare them away with tubes of pink lipstick, the Earth would prevail! I’d whip out one of my new favorite pink shades for fall, Bobbi Brown’s Pretty Pink Metallic Lip Color ($22), and wave it above my head like a light saber.”




• Bobbi Brown — Simulate Sleep with Bobbi Brown Metallic Eye Shadows
  “The three pastel colors from Bobbi’s Metallic Collection make it easy to fake a bright-eyed, bushy-tailed look. All three colors are highly pigmented with excellent color payoff. They’re also easy to blend and apply, lasting all day long with nary a crease.”




• Chanel — Gaga for Gold with Chanel Fall 2008
  “Fall may be months away, but the collection just arrived at Chanel counters nationwide. I fell in love with five of the products in this release — two of the Glossimers (Delight and Gold Light), Facettes D’Or Highlighter in Gold Fever and two of the lipsticks (Pepeete and Formentera).”




• Chanel — Lip Look: Today with Chanel Formentera Lipstick
  “Part of the Chanel Fall 2008 makeup collection, Formentera shines like mad yet feels whisper light on my lips. It’s a pretty option when you want the staying power of a lipstick with the shine of a gloss.”




• Clarins — Clarins Jazzy Colours Fall Collection: Cooler than Jazz Hands
  “Take a break from all the berry and chocolate dominating this fall’s makeup collections, and take a look at Clarins. Their Jazzy Colours collection evokes the carefree elegance of the Roaring Twenties, and its grey, blue and rose shades make me want to dance the Charleston in a fringe dress, ha! All I need now is a bob haircut.”




• Clinique — Clinique Fall 2008: Game, Set, Matte
  “If you don’t have much experience with matte eye shadows, the Stay Matte shades may be worth a try because the colors are less intense than those in the MAC Matte2 line. I think that makes them a little easier to use.”

• Dior — Dior Fall 2008: Impression Cuir Fall Pics and Full Product List
  “…let’s take a moment to wax philosophic about an upcoming fall collection slated for a summertime release: Dior’s Fall 2008 Impression Cuir makeup collection. No matter what Dior calls it, this collection looks hot. Put on your water wings, grab some sweet tea (or gin and juice, haay!) and take a look.”




• Dior — Sneak Peek: Upcoming Dior Impression Cuir Fall 5-Colour Eyeshadow Palettes
  “Dior is at it again, girls. I love Dior in general, but their eyeshadow quints are what I look forward to most of all. This August, they’re giving us *two* new palettes for fall. Oh, be still my broken knee.”




• Essie — Essie Fall 2008 Nail Polish Collection Keeps in Character for Fall
  “Check out Essie’s fall polish line ($8 each). Keeping in character for fall, the collection features deep plum, berry and cherry shades that look good enough to eat (I’m always hungry, LOL!). Sometimes I shy away from uber-dark shades because of how obvious it can be when they chip, so I’m glad Essie decided not to go too vampire dark with these colors.”




• Estee Lauder — Estee Lauder Chocolate Decadence: All the Chocolate, None of the Guilt
  “With lots of eyeshadows, lipsticks and glosses in colors inspired by berries, caramels and chocolate, this collection could have been by Willy Wonka. Aren’t the swirl patterns tasty?”




• Lippmann — Play to Win with Lippmann Collection Fall Nail Colors
  “Seeing these Lippmann Collection fall nail polish colors ($15 each) for the first time, I thought one thing: VEGAS, BABY! The red, black, white and black-purple colors remind me of playing cards.”




• MAC — MAC Cult of Cherry: T-Minus Two Weeks and Counting
  “What makes Cult of Cherry noteworthy? For me it’s the rich reds, dark plums and chocolate browns. The collection includes nine lipsticks (four Mattenes), two blushes, five Lipglasses, three eye shadow quads, two nail polishes and Zoom Lash mascara (also part of MAC’s permanent collection).”




• MAC — MAC Cult of Cherry: A Look at Some Lipsticks
  “G’morning, girls! I had makeup dreams last night. I dreamt I was sitting on my bed, gloriously happy and surrounded by makeup. I was playing with MAC’s upcoming Cult of Cherry collection, probably because I thought about it so much yesterday.”




• Sally Hansen — Autumn in the City: Sally Hansen Fall Nail Lacquer Colors by Tracy Reese
  “I suppose my love for the city in fall explains why I’ve fallen for Sally Hansen’s new nail collection, inspired by 10 fall colors created in collaboration with clothing designer Tracy Reese. The industrial grey, black and blue shades contrast well with maroons and neutrals, as do the streets of my favorite city in the fall.”

What has been your favorite fall collection so far?

I think mine is MAC’s Cult of Cherry, but the season’s still young, ha!

Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,

Karen

So Chic Colour Quartet, $40

Take a break from all the berry and chocolate dominating this fall’s makeup collections, and take a look at Clarins. Their Jazzy Colours collection evokes the carefree elegance of the Roaring Twenties, and its grey, blue and rose shades make me want to dance the Charleston in a fringe dress, ha! All I need now is a bob haircut.

I think it’s time to embrace my inner flapper.

The full Jazzy Colours collection actually goes on sale later this summer, but I pulled recon this afternoon at Nordstrom, and a friendly Clarins counter makeup artist was kind enough to let me swatch the collection’s two Colour Quartets ($40), which are already available online.

So Sublime offers a bit more color punch with royal blue, shimmery peach, shimmery hot pink and shimmery silver shades.

So Chic black with silver glitter, plum matte, shimmery khaki and shimmery white shades are perfect for a purple smokey eye.

So Sublime Colour Quartet, $40

So Chic
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My obsession with pink lipstick kicked into high gear again. Today I’m wearing beigey pink-gold Chanel Formentera Aqualumiere Sheer Colour Lipshine SPF 15 ($27).

Part of the Chanel Fall 2008 makeup collection, Formentera shines like mad yet feels whisper light on my lips. It’s a pretty option when you want the staying power of a lipstick with the shine of a gloss. I’ve been pairing it with subtle smokey eyes, like this khaki-grey eye with Benefit Cream Shadows or this black-champagne eye with Clinique’s Midnight matte.

ALERT: Coco Chanel Heads to Lifetime Television!

Confession time: I loves me some Lifetime (”Television for Women!”) movies, especially ones starring B-list celebs like Tori Spelling. I can’t resist dramatic woman-in-peril story lines.
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Gaming legend Sega and cosmetics giant Shiseido are teaming up to bring makeup tips and beauty advice to the Nintendo DS.

Details are sketchy, but rumor has it that Project Beauty, aka Shiseido Beauty Solution Supervised Exploration Center Project Beauty (LOL!) will go on sale in Japan this November.

With an optional add-on camera, users will be able to take photos of faces, which are then analyzed by the system. Based on bone structure, skin tone and the position of features in the face, the program then creates tailor-made makeup looks optimized for your convenience. Geek out, yo!

Depending on how it’s executed, I think the idea has potential. I’m intrigued! Software like this could potentially come in handy, especially if it’s made available for devices like smartphones. Quality beauty-related applications for mobile devices would come in handy while one is haulin’, yah?

I’m guessing that since Shiseido is involved with Sega and Nintendo on this one, the makeup and skin care suggestions will draw primarily from their line of products, but who knows? — if it catches on in Japan, other makeup brands may soon follow.

If MAC or Chanel released a lipgloss advisor for my iPhone I’d be all over it in a *hot second*!

What fashion or beauty applications would you like to see developed for your game system or mobile phone?

Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,

Karen

Hey, chicas! I stopped by Rite Aid to grab a snack before dance class. *Somehow* I ended up in the makeup section, LOL. Check out this sweet sale on my favorite drugstore gloss, Sally Hansen Diamond Lip Treatment. Regularly $4.95, it’s currently buy one, get the second one half off.

It’s a highly moisturizing, super shiny gloss and comes in 17 different shades. I keep Antique Bronze (a tan-bronze shimmer) in my stash at home for easy nude lips. Yep, the rhinestone on the case is a bit cheesy, but I pretend that I can see the future if I gaze into it.

How was your day today? I’m glad we’re over the hump!

Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,

Karen

Yippee! Let’s hear it for sleep deprivation! I stayed up late again reading Breaking Dawn. Now I’m a little bleary eyed and loopy. In my altered state I realized a few things:

1. Did you know there’s a difference between the words “ya’ll” and “y’all”?




2. I Must. Have. More. Coffee. When I’m tired my coffee consumption increases, which consequently makes me even more tired when the caffeine wears off. Shoot!




3. Shimmery pastel eye shadow colors aren’t a substitute for a good night’s sleep, but light shades of purple, green, pink and beige shimmer eye shadows do help to conceal tired eyes. Huzzah!

My eye look of choice for the past few days has been a light purple and beige eye with a touch of green. I’ve been using the three pastel shades in Bobbi Brown’s new Metallic Eye Shadow collection ($20).

A Look for Tired Eyes

Bobbi Brown’s Pastel Metallic Eye Shadows

The three pastel colors from Bobbi’s Metallic Collection make it easy to fake a bright-eyed, bushy-tailed look.

• Mint - light green shimmer
• Lavender - light purple shimmer
• Navajo - beige shimmer

All three colors are highly pigmented with excellent color payoff. They’re also easy to blend and apply, lasting all day long with nary a crease.

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