More Holiday Wish List 2007 – Elizabeth Arden Mediterranean Perfume

It’s been months since I’ve gone surfing and I miss being in the ocean. Just looking at the blue packaging and bottle for Elizabeth Arden’s Mediterranean perfume makes me feel like I’m in Hawaii, sitting on my board and waiting for the next wave to come and carry me away.

Aside from the beautiful bottle and packaging, the best part about this perfume is that the scent isn’t too heavy or cloying. Mediterranean is described on the Elizabeth Arden Web site as a “radiant woody floral.” Imagine a hybrid between the best parts of Fresh’s Lemon Sugar perfume and Covet.

When I spray it on I get an initial burst that’s lemony and white floral. It then dries down to a light, black tea scent. On me Mediterranean smells gender neutral and not overly feminine or sweet.

If you have a girlfriend, sister or mom who likes perfumes that aren’t too sweet then she’ll love this. It would also be a great gift for a friend who loves beachy scents but doesn’t like strong “tropical” notes like pikake or tuberose.

The 1.7 fl oz bottle you see in the pic above is $47.50, but for the holidays Elizabeth Arden’s got a special set that includes the 1.7 fl oz Eau de Parfum Spray, Body Lotion and a wee Eau de Parfum replica for $52.00. Don’t you love the extra goodies in gifts sets? I sure do.

A Holiday 2007 Face of the Day with Clinique’s “Happy & Bright” Makeup

Here’s a face of the day I did with Clinique’s Holiday 2007 “Happy & Bright” makeup. What do you think?

I used the pink shade farthest on the left all over the lid, then the peach shade to highlight the browbone and inner eye. I put the lighter brown shade in the crease and used the darker brown on the far right to line the top and bottom. Then I finished it off with two coats of BECCA The Ultimate Mascara in Black.

On the cheeks I used the lightest touch of MAC’s Dollymix blush with Clinique Fresh Bloom Allover Colour in Peony layered on top.

I finished the look off with Raspberry Glace Different Lipstick and Camisole Full Potential Lipglass on the lips.

I really love these colors. They are buildable and pretty much mistake proof. My next Clinique Holiday 2007 mission: use the Pink Truffle quad to create a gentle smoky eye!

Weekend Reading Just For You

Your weekend isn’t over yet! Here’s the latest beauty buzz from The Beauty Blog Network.

15 Minute Beauty Fanatic – Christine Explains how Antioxidants Work
A Touch of Blusher – All About Japanese Cosmetics
All Lacquered Up - All Lacquered Up Reviews OPI’s Holiday in Hollywood Dazzling Darks & Neutrals
Beauty and Fashion Tech – Beauty and Fashion Tech Looks at the New MAC Holiday Collection and Provides Swatches
Beauty and Personality Grooming – Homemade rich nail cream
Etailers Mall – The Blog – PlumSmoke
Face Candy – Bridal Beauty
Makeup Moxie’s Beauty Blog - Makeup Moxie Reviews Cover Girl Lashblast Mascara
Musings of a Muse - The Muse’s First Look at the Sephora 2007 Catalog
Mystical Beauty’s Musings – How do you feel about your makeup talking to you?
Savvy Skin - Skimpy Thinning Eyebrows
SugarShock – Fragrance Notes: Factory Girl
Temptalia - MAC Curiositease Review, Swatches, and Photos!
Makeup Loves Me - Refreshing Facial at Fresh

And oooh girl, I know you didn’t miss Makeup and Beauty Blog’s MAC Holiday 2007 Curiositease Lip Sets: What to buy, What to pass up!

A Few More Random Thangs Currently Up in My Grill

Because the world is constantly moving toward randomness…here are few tidbits that have crossed my radar in the last few days.

In definance to all the laws of the universe, somehow Christian Bale came SECOND PLACE to Wentworth Miller in Entertainment Weekly’s Ultimate Hottie Poll, BOO!

That’s okay, I’ll comfort you, Chris

I saw this kid dancing on “The Soup” and I laughed for about 10 minutes straight. I kept rewinding and laughing, rewinding and laughing. He’s my hero.

Not that I need any more TV in my life, but Torchwood on BBC is FANTASTIC. Tivo it, yo!


What’s My Motivation?

Today I was in an infinitely better mood then yesterday because last night I slept twelve hours. No joke. Every moment of sleep was like manna from the heavens. Ahhhh!

In between working it out at the gym and watching the Colts and Patriots game (that Tom Brady is HAWT!) I thought of all the stuff I have to get done this week that I just don’t want to do.

“Hmmm,” I thought, “What’s the ultimate form of motivation? What’s gonna make me want to go the extra mile to get all this craptacular crapola done?”

The answer? C to the H to the A to the N to the E to the L.

The reward for finishing my first project…

And the second…

And the third…

The moral of this story? A little Chanel bribery goes a long, long way.

Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,

Karen

It seems that celeb perfumes, like Barney or Paris Hilton, divide people into two distinct camps: either you LOVE THEM or you HATE THEM.

I used to be in the HATE THEM category but after sampling and actually liking Sarah Jessica Parker’s Covet perfume a few weeks ago, I realized that hating all celeb scents purely on principal was terribly unfair. A good scent is a good scent, and I can’t hate on one just because it’s being hocked by B-list singers or actors.

Maybe I’ll find at least one more celeb perfume that doesn’t make me want to throw up, I thought.

And sweet jeebus, did I find one – Britney Spears’ Midnight Fantasy. LOLOLOLZ!

Laugh all you want, ya’ll. I know I did when I first picked up the cheesy purple bottle, which is BeDazzled within an inch of its life.

I expected eau de Cheetoes/Red Bull/bad weave to be thrust into the air when I spritzed it on my wrist. Lo and behold, instead out came a really pretty fruit scent. It might be a touch too sweet for some, but on me I pick up notes of blackberries, vanilla and cherries. Yum!

It’s a fun, flirty, youthful smell. I’d wear it on date night or the weekends but not to work because it can be a lil’ bit too Wet Seal/Forever 21/Limited Too if administered in too heavy a dose.

One 5.5 oz bottle of Britney Spears Midnight Fantasy is $55.00, available on the macys.com Web site.

YOU MUST CHOOSE: The Britney Spears Edition

I must confess
That my lonliness
Is killing me now
Don’t you know I still believe?
–Britney Spears

So yeah, her personal life is a mess, and the girl can’t comb that dirty birdy weave to save her life but I gotta come clean. I’m on TEAM BRITNEY. I’ll even fess up to attending one of her concerts, and dammit, it was good!

A few weeks ago you were introduced to one of my fave time wasters, YOU MUST CHOOSE. Can you handle the Britney Spears edition?

The 10th circle of hell opens up…and it doesn’t lead into my closet! Instead, you are forced to work in close proximity as a personal assistant to either Britney Spears (who just shaved her head, is foaming at the mouth and is wielding a very large umbrella) or Rachel Ray (who speaks to you with excessive perkiness and ONLY in code – EVOO! YUM-O! – before you’ve had your morning coffee). And yes, you are on call for twenty four hours a day. YOU MUST CHOOSE!

Britney finally decides to get help, and unfortunately it’s not the mental kind. Instead, she has you choose a weave/wig to wear to court (she’s gotta get those babies back, yo!) to make her look like a model citizen. Blonde? Brunette? Black? YOU MUST CHOOSE!

You have the power to re-write history. You can either erase Kevin Federline from Britney Spears’ life OR Bobby Brown from Whitney’s life (remember “I Will Always Love You?” girlfriend KILLED that song!). Who would you save? YOU MUST CHOOSE!

You get the chance to be a backup dancer in any Britney Video that your lovin’ heart desires. Which one would you star in? YOU MUST CHOOSE!

Aren’t you glad Monday is over? I am. This week should be better work-wise for me so I’ll be back to postings in the mornings once more, whew!

Have a good night…I hope you dream of Manolos.

Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,

Karen

Earthworm. Dirt. Fig Leaf. Wait, did I make a wrong turn somewhere? Is this gardening 101? Nope! These are just a few of the unique scents in the Demeter Fragrance Library, a fragrance company that creates unusual scents from everyday life.

“The whole idea behind Demeter was to bottle those great scents of nature that people don’t really think about,” says Mark D. Crames, chief executive officer. “We appreciate them when we are outside, but we don’t necessarily think about them as being wearable fragrances. And we set forth to show that those things are beautiful in their own right.”

There are hundreds of scents in the library, ranging from easily wearable (Baby Powder, Angel Food, Jasmine) to not-so-easily wearable but still fun (Funeral Home, Lobster, Play-Doh.)

The amazing thing about the fragrances is that they always hit the scent on the nose (pardon the pun), and each scent is an accurate replica of the original smell. When I got a first whiff of one of the newer scents, Crayon, it reminded me of being a kid, opening up a fresh box of crayons, and spending hours with my coloring books.

Another new scent, Pure Soap, is also delicious. It smells just like a freshly showered husband (or boyfriend!)…ahhhh, yummy.

The time to create a scent from start to finish varies, says Crames. Some scents take a matter of weeks, while others take months or years. Sometimes it’s a matter of fine tuning the scent to appeal to an adult nose, like in the case of creating Banana Flambe, one of the more challenging scents. “Banana by it’s definition tends to be a more child-like scent,” says Crames. “To get a banana that was adult-oriented was hard.”

Other times it’s a matter of chemistry. Two scents that the company has been working on for years, Puppy’s Breath and Baby’s Head, are still in production because of this issue. Natural scents often involve large, organic molecules, which are difficult to replicate, says Crames.

Stuff those stockings: Demeter saves your butt just in time for the holidays

Demeter’s got some delish fragrances for the holidays, including a new scent called Egg Nog. And if you’ve got stockings to stuff, head on over to their Web site, because they’ve got an exclusive offer where you can purchase HUMUNGOUS MINIS (a full ½ oz of fragrance) of any of the scents for a mere five duckets. Can’t decide? Pick up one of my three faves: Thunderstorm, Gingerale or Kahala Hawaiian Surf.

It was so beautiful here in the Bay Area today; I hope you were able to catch some sun. I’m off to the gym right now to lift weights and hopefully burn off the gelato I ate for lunch!

Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,

Karen

Yay or Nay? – Celeb Perfums

The thought of most celeb perfumes makes me want to throw up in my mouth a little. I mean, let’s get real. If my net worth was a jillion dollars I wouldn’t be buying a $14.00 fragrance with my name on it if was kept in a locked glass cabinet at Walgreens.

Plus, I think it’s a touch presumptuous to think that the masses would want to go around smelling like you. If we really got a true whiff of Britney, chances are she wouldn’t emit the scent of “Loquat Fruit and Tonka Crystals.”

So when I got this wee bottle of Sarah Jessica Parker’s “Covet” I was more than prepared to haterade all over it, but a mix of curiosity and masochism drove me to place a few drops on my wrist. I waited and waited and waited for the eau de self-centered celebrity to kick in … but then was pleasantly surprised to find that I liked how it smelled. In fact, it actually smells pretty good – like lemons, your boyfriend’s sweater and baby powder brewed together in a cauldron for a really long time.

I am happy to declare that I don’t hate this! What’s your take on celeb perfumes? Got any guilty pleasures?

Product Review – Darphin Azahar Cleansing Micellar Water

I’ve been on a makeup remover kick lately. I’m looking to feed my inner beast of laziness, so my mission is to find a product that that:

- removes long-wearing eye makeup easily
- doesn’t require an extra rinse of water
- smells good
- doesn’t dry out my skin

When I found Darphin, a French skin care line, I thought that I found pay dirt with their makeup remover for sensitive skin. Azahar Cleansing Micellar Water is a no-rinse formula that I apply with a soft cotton ball or pad, and it removes almost all of my makeup and doesn’t require an extra rinse of water. It doesn’t leave my face feeling taught or dry, and has a wonderful light, floral smell that is divine.

The downside? It’s pricey – $50.00 for a 6.7 fl oz bottle (I know, I know!) Also, while this removes most makeup it won’t remove long-wear products, like MAC Liquidlast liner.

It’s a wonderful, luxurious splurge though. Christmas is around the corner, so it might be a nice stocking stuffer for the makeup junkie in your life who has everything.

Face of the Day – A Light Purple Eye with the Nixie Eye Palette

A few weeks ago I posted pics of a beautiful shadow palette from Nix’ie Cosmetics. Here’s a FOTD I did with two of the shadows from that palette:




On the eyes I used these two colors from the palette.

And for the rest –
Makeup Forever Lift Concealer as shadow primer on lids
MAC Concrete and 266 brush for brows
MAC Plush Lash Mascara in Plushblack
MAC Select Moisturecover Concealer

Cheeks –
MAC Mocha Blush
MAC Emote Blush

Lips –
MAC Pink Treat Cremestick Liner
MAC Brew Lipstick
MAC Style It Up Lipglass

Face –
Laura Mercier Oil-free foundation
MAC Invisible Set Powder

This colors in this palette have varying levels of color payoff. It was especially evident when I tried it with different shadow bases. I tried MAC Paint, MAC Paint pot and liquid concealer. The concealer grabbed the shadows best and gave the most color payoff and ease of blendability.

I like the colors in this palette for either a sheer wash of color or as a pop of color to line the upper and lower lash line. I’ve been reaching for it often, especially on my 10-minute makeup days.

How was your weekend? I barely spent time inside the house because it was so beautiful outside. It pains me to know that rainy and gloomy weather is right around the corner.

El hub and I went into the city on Saturday night for the opening night of Litquake, a yearly literary festival held in San Francisco. The evening was a tribute to San Francisco author Armistead Maupin, author of Tales of the City and The Night Listener. Several of his closest friends, including actress Laura Linney and Judd and Pam (ha!) from the Real World San Francisco, were there to read from his works and tell stories about him.

Anyway, enjoy your Monday! Another week – and another chance to make a new start, right?

Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,

Karen

Take me back to the tropics, please!
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