Archive for the 'Face of the Day (FOTD)' Category

Ladies, thanks for your suggestions the other day on ways to wear the orange and gold shades from the Nars Mediteranee eyeshadow duo.

Before heading to work, I did the following look with the Mediteranee shadows and incorporated products from MAC Cosmetics, Shu Uemura, Laura Mercier and Chanel.

I began by applying a warm gold (MAC Indianwood Paint Pot) on the entire eye lid, layered beneath all of the other products.

The eyes…

1. Nars Mediteranee gold shade on the browbone
2. MAC Saddle eyeshadow (a warm brown) in the crease
3. Nars Mediteranee orange shade on the lid and slightly into the crease
4. MAC Jadeye Fluidline on the upper lash line
5. MAC Uppity Fuildline on the lower lash line

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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.

The two new 5-Colour Eyeshadow Palettes are part of the upcoming Impression Cuir collection.

Earth Tones

My favorite of the two quints is hands-down the Earth Tones palette ($54) pictured above. All five of its shades — dark olive green, light moss green, pale pink, chocolate brown and reddish brown — have rich, creamy matte finishes with just the faintest shimmer. Girls (or boys) who like spicy neutrals may dig these a lot.

I used to steer clear of mattes because they can be hard to work with and difficult to blend, but Dior has the matte formulation down. These shades blend well, and, with a hint of shimmer, they create looks that aren’t flat or one-dimensional at all.

Unfortunately, Dior does not try to be a budget brand, and both of these palettes cost a pretty penny. For the money, though, the shades in the Earth Tones palette absolutely deliver. I think these are well made, beautiful and highly wearable eyeshadows. Makeup and Beauty Blog Rating: A+
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For many moons, I have struggled to become one with the purple eyeshadow (hello, Barney), and, apparently, I’m a glutton for punishment because this morning I thought I’d give it another try.

I work at the literary agency today, and I didn’t want to look like a purple drag queen, so I decided on a light purple eye with blue accents using a few colors from the MAC Naughty Nauticals collection.

Most of the products I used for this look are by MAC, but I also used a few things by Too Faced, Lancome, Lola Cosmetics, Chanel, Laura Mercier and Becca Cosmetics.

I used two layers for the eyes.

The first eye layer…

1. Too Faced Shadow Insurance primer on the entire lid (layered beneath everything else)
2. MAC Nice Vice Paint pot in the crease (layered on top of Shadow Insurance)
3. MAC Pearl Cream Color Base on the lid

The second eye layer…

1. MAC Rice Paper Eye Shadow on the browbone and lid
2. MAC Illegal Cargo Eye Shadow in the crease
3. MAC Meet the Fleet Eye Shadow in the outer V
4. Lancome Noir Le Stylo Waterproof Eyeliner on the upper water line
5. Lola Lagoon Socialeyes Gel Eye Color on the lower water line
6. MAC Bell-Bottom Blue Pigment on the lower lash line

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I’ve had sun on my mind lately and felt inspired this morning to reach for a few brighter-than-bright items from MAC’s Neo Sci Fi collection. I didn’t really feel like going buck wild with a lot of blending or a wide variety of products with my look today, and I limited myself to just two (!) eyeshadows. Oh, and because I woke up a little late this morning (surprise!), I only had 15 minutes to get ready for work.

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The MAC Cool Heat collection debuts today, and not even 2,500 miles of open ocean can stand in its way. Here’s a quick Hawaii-inspired face of the day with a few of the products.

On the eyes I used…

1. Too Faced Shadow Insurance on the entire lid (underneath all of the other products)
2. MAC Soft Brown Matte in the crease
3. MAC Climate Blue Eye Shadow on the upper lash line
4. MAC Warm Chill Eye Shadow on the inner corner of the eye lid
5. MAC Cool Heat Eye Shadow on the lower lash line
6. Chanel Inimitable Mascara in Noir Black on the upper lashes

Of the Cool Heat products I’ve used so far, Climate Blue Eyeshadow moves me the most. I love its soft texture and dark blue color.

The rest of the look…

Brows

• MAC Concrete Eye Shadow

Dark circles (yep, they came with me on vacation!)

• MAC Select Moisturecover Concealer in NW 25
• Laura Mercier Secret Brightening Powder #2

Face

• Becca Luminous Skin Colour SPF 20 in Nut
• Becca Stick Foundation SPF 30 in Coffee
• Stila Bronzing Powder in Shade 02

Cheeks

• MAC Sheertone Shimmer Blush in Spaced Out (from the Neo Sci Fi Collection)

Lips

• MAC Cremestick Liner in Pink Treat
• MAC Slimshine Lipstick in Tropic Glow
• Chanel Glossimer in Astral

These pictures were taken at Haiku Gardens, just steps away from my in-law’s house. It’s a beautiful garden with a pond (and resident turtles) and a small chapel for weddings. Haleiwa Joe’s Seafood Grill, perched on a hillside overlooking the garden, is packed every night with diners from the area. It’s also one of comedian Adam Sandler’s favorite hangouts when he visits the island.

The entire MAC Cool Heat Collection…

Eye Shadows, $14 each

Solar White (frost) - frosty muted white gold
Warming Trend (veluxe pearl) - frosty light taupe
Warm Chill (frost) - frosty seafoam green with gold pearl
Gulf Stream (frost) - frosty mid-tone blue green with green pearl
Cool Heat (frost) - frosty teal with multi-dimensional pearl
Climate Blue (velvet) - mid-tone violet blue with pink pearl
Blue Flame (veluxe pearl) - dirty metallic navy blue

Slimshine Lipsticks, $14.50 each

Tropic Glow (frost) - blue pink with silver pearl
By Degrees (frost) - neutral brown pink
Gentle Summer (frost) - light clean yellow pink with white pearl
High 90’s (frost) - clean pink orange
Swelter (frost) - sheer clean red

Scents, $22.50 each

Turquatic - notes include cedar, lotus leaves
Turquatic Heat - notes include lotus flower, jasmine, Tahitian tiare flower

If these colors appeal to you, get out there and snag your Cool Heat loot! If you’re a US resident and live near a MAC store, print and bring this coupon with you to the counter to get 15% off your purchase.

I enjoyed snorkeling at Shark’s Cove yesterday and saw lots of amazing fish. I believe I even swam with a few different schools (unless we were all just headed the same way). How academic, LOL!
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This week I received some nice e-mails asking about the smokey eye makeup I wore to my lil’ brother’s graduation last weekend. This morning, I thought I’d try the full face look again.

As far as complete looks are concerned, this one is quick and easy to do. I used shades from the Chanel Winter Nights Quad, a versatile set with four basic, but pretty shades of pink, peachy gold, green and light brown. The look works well for the office or for things like family functions or semi-formals.

The first layer of eye makeup…

1. MAC Soft Ochre Paint Pot on the browbone and fully into the crease
2. MAC Quite Natural on the lid and barely into the crease

The second layer of eye makeup…

1. Peach-gold shade from the Chanel Winter Nights Quad on the browbone and on the lower lash line (layered on top of the dark green shade mentioned below)
2. Light brown shade from the Chanel Winter Nights Quad on the lid and barely into the crease
3. Dark green shade from the Chanel Winter Nights Quad on the lower half of the lid and the lower lash line (layered on top of the Lancome waterproof liner mentioned next)
4. Lancome Le Stylo Waterproof Long Lasting Liner in Noir on the upper and lower water and lash lines

The corresponding shades from the Chanel Winter Nights Quad (Note: For this look, I didn’t use the pink shade):
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Happy Monday! Talk about unexpected. I woke up this morning feeling extra spunky — and that was even before my first cup of coffee. It’s standard operating procedure for me to wake up on Mondays feeling grouchy, so to celebrate this minor miracle I decided to go big and bold with a full face inspired by the hot pink lip I wore a few days ago in this cosmopolitan-inspired lip look.

These lips stand out from a mile away, so I went with a soft pink and silver eye to add some semblance of balance to the look.

The first layer of eye makeup…

1. MAC Girl Friendly Paint Pot on the browbone and crease
2. MAC Shimma Paint on the lid and barely into the crease

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