Archive for the ‘Makeup’ Category

too faced lashlight mascara review

Do you also have those dreams where you look in the mirror and see yourself with Terminator eyes?

Thanks to Lashlight ($25), the newest mascara from Too Faced, “futuristic cyborg” can now be your face of the day.

too faced lashlight mascara review terminator eye

My right eye looks like it’s about to shoot lasers… Spooky!

Something tells me Too Faced didn’t have flesh-covered robots bent on the destruction of womankind when they designed Lashlight, but they still outfitted it with hella upgrades!

I think it should be noted that the LED lights in the base of the wand also make this mascara the *world’s best* for finding your house keys in the dark.

too-faced-lashlight-mascara-review-2

The way Too Faced creative director and founder Jerrod Blandino explains it, he got the idea for the LEDs from the times he struggled to apply mascara to clients in dimly lit (but oh so glam!) locations.

NOTE: I’ve never had to apply mascara in the dark — trapped, say, with a shirtless Ryan Reynolds — but, thanks to Lashlight, I find it comforting to know that I could. :)

too faced lashlight mascara review blair witch project style
Picture taken in my darkened bathroom… How Blair Witchy is this?

Too Faced also claims that “liquid crystalline particles” in the Lashlight formula act like microscopic mirrors, brightening up the eyes by reflecting light off and around the lashes.

Hmm…

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sonia kashuk starry eyes silver frame eye palette open 2

If you’re a budget-lovin’ babe who wears cool-toned shadows well, Sonia Kashuk’s got your back. Her new Starry Eyes Palette ($15) for holiday 2009 comes with six cool-toned powder eyeshadows in a mix of glitters and matte.

sonia kashuk starry eyes silver frame eye palette closeup

Exactly what’s inside?

  • A shimmery brown with glitter
  • Shimmery beige with glitter
  • Shimmery taupe with glitter (fans of MAC Satin Taupe eyeshadow, this shade looks like Satin Taupe’s glittery cousin)
  • A matte brown
  • Matte white
  • Matte taupe

I’ve been going through a glitter renaissance of late, and the glitter shadows in this palette are hitting all my right notes. You know how some glittery shadows are just too sheer? How all you can see sometimes is the glitter (but no color)? Well, these aren’t like that at all. All three deliver respectable pigmentation — a nice surprise for gals on Team Glitter.

sonia kashuk starry eyes silver frame eye palette open

Speaking of the glitter, I expected it to feel gritty here based on how chunky the bits look in their pans.

But that wasn’t the case. In fact, the particles appear fine — just right, in fact — once they’re applied.

It adds up to a very refined glitter look, if there is such a thing. :)

sonia kashuk starry eyes silver frame eye palette watches with flash
Swatches with flash

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Too Faced Glamour To Go iii Palette Review closed

The folks at Too Faced Cosmetics are making sure good things come in small packages.

Their latest Glamour to Go Palette (Glamour to Go III, $20) — the third in a series of travel-friendly sets for face, cheeks and eyes — is a lean, mean makeup machine!

Too Faced Glamour To Go iii Palette Review pocket palette

Too Faced nailed the “to go” part, stuffing this slim shady (I love the pink roses on the front!) with eight eyeshadows, a blush and four lipglosses. The sturdy palette easily fits in the palm of my hand, yet despite its diminutive stature looks like it could take a beating from phones, keys and random cans of cat food squirreled away in a purse. :)

Color-wise, I think the stars of this show are the eyeshadows. With a good mix of wearable neutrals and fun accent shades, the eight shimmery shades of gold, light pink, dark pink, taupe, black, bronze, silver and violet cover a wide range of potential looks, and I really like them for quick washes of color on my lids.

Too Faced Glamour To Go iii Palette Review swatches
Eyeshadow swatches, top row: gold, light pink, dark pink and taupe; Eyeshadow swatches, bottom row: black, bronze, silver and violet

As for texture and color payoff, the smoothness and rich pigmentation of these shadows remind me of something Urban Decay would create. In other words, good stuff.

Oh, and if you’re a fan of Benefit’s Coralista, check out Glamour to Go III’s blush — a shimmery, peachy pink with a hint of gold that I’m guessing would look great with a snowboarder’s tan.

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Givenchy Holiday 2009: Pricey Precious Pearls

November 9th, 2009 | Karen | Filed in: Makeup

Givenchy holiday 2009 top

What shimmery pearls of makeup wisdom can we derive from the eight pieces in Givenchy’s new pearl-inspired limited edition Holiday 2009 collection?

How about “less is more”?

These pearlescent shades of gray, pink and beige bring subtle back in a precious gemstone kinda way (read: expensive). I swatched five of the items today, and subtle was definitely *in the house*, particularly when it came to the lip colors.

Givenchy holiday 2009 gloss interdit
Gloss Interdit Ultra-Shiny Color Plumping Effect in 20 Tender Pearl (top) and 21 Elegant Pearl (bottom), each $25

givenchy holiday 2009 gloss interdit pearl shine
Rouge Interdit Shine Lipstick in 24 Pearl Shine, $27

givenchy holiday 2009 rouge interdit shine pearl shine packagaing

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NYC Pencil and Pout Lipgloss Makes Matching Fun

November 8th, 2009 | Karen | Filed in: Makeup

MBB guest post!We’ve been put on notice today — theNotice, that is. The charming Rae of theNotice blog shares one of her all-time drugstore makeup faves, NYC’s Pencil and Pout.

Photo E
Posing for the camera

So you know those mornings when you just don’t want to get out of bed? Yah, those ones — the ones where you sit in front of the mirror after taking caffeine into your bloodstream and realize that you’re too tired to tell your mascara from your brow gel, much less match your lipliner to your gloss?

Well, if you can track it down (can be hard to find online), NYC may have a solution. It’s their cute little Pencil and Pout lipgloss in Parfait Duet (about $5), with its hidden liner in the stem of the applicator.

Photo F
Swatches: gloss on right

The gloss

I think it’s pretty great. Medium wear for a drugstore gloss –- nothing totally amazing -– but the shade’s like strawberry pie, and nothing reminiscent of strawberry pie could possibly be bad, because, well, it’s strawberry pie.

Photo A

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