Yves Saint Laurent

Hey, Baby Doll, Let Me Holla at You for a Minute: YSL Baby Doll Kiss & Blush in 1 Fuchsia Desinvolte

April 17th, 2014 by Karen 17 Comments

Yo, yo, yo, Baby Doll! Don’t walk away. Come here for a second. I just want to tell you something.

Damn, Baby Doll Kiss & Blush…you foine.

For real though! Must be that hot-@ss outfit you’re wearing. You kinda looked like a nail polish I know from over there. My bad. I’m sorry. I see you now. You’re a multitasking mousse lipstick and blush with a matte finish, all up in one sexy bottle.

Baby Doll Kiss & Blush in 1 Fuchsia Desinvolte is one of 12 shades available now at YSL counters and online at neimanmarcus.com[/caption]

You’re a little heavy, and I like that. Must be that glass bottle. Shoo’… And that flocked doe-foot applicator?! I love me some curves. I’d wear you on my lips and cheeks like a pair of skinny jeans!

YSL Baby Doll Kiss Blush Doe Foot Applicator — Doe-foot applicator

YSL Baby Doll Kiss & Blush Ingredients — Ingredients

You’re new around here, yeah? I can tell you’re different from the other multitasking lip and cheek products that strut their stuff down this block.

Let me caress you for a moment… It’s alright. Ooh, mousse texture. Fluffy. Kind of creamy, too. I bet you’re so smooth that you’d glide along my cheeks and my lips without any patchiness.

That’s classy, girl. Classy with “C,” not a “K.” 😉

You’re a keeper; I can tell. Not one of those fly-by-nights that just bounces after an hour or two. C’mon, let me take you out sometime. We could hang out on my cheeks for 6-8 hours, on top of foundation, bare cheeks or even atop powder. Or we could just kiss on the lips for 4-5.

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Unsung Makeup Heroes: Yves Saint Laurent Glossy Stain in Pourpre Preview

January 6th, 2014 by Karen 33 Comments

I’M SORRY, WHAT DID YOU SAY!? I CAN’T HEAR YOU!! IT’S SO LOUD IN HERE!! LET ME TURN DOWN THE VOLUME FIRST…

There! That’s much better. I can hear you now. Sorry, but I can’t help it when it comes to The Purple One. Hello, Take Me With You? Kiss? Purple Rain? You know how it is — you gotta turn it up when you’re bumping Prince. 🙂

Speaking of purples that reign (LOL! How’s that for a lazy transition?), I was ferreting through my lipgloss stash last week when I rediscovered one of the greatest purples of all time (IMHO), Yves Saint Laurent Rouge Pur Couture Glossy Stain in Pourpre Preview, or “purple preview” en Francais.

I’ve had purple lipgloss on my mind (and lips) a lot lately…partly because of Pantone’s Color of the Year, Radiant Orchid, making headlines, but it actually goes back much further than that — at least as far back as my twenty-sixth birthday, when my friend Jen got me my very first tube of purple lipgloss (Benefit Kiss Me).

Yves Saint Laurent Pourpre Preview Glossy Stain — Yves Saint Laurent Glossy Stain in Pourpre Preview, $34

Yves Saint Laurent Pourpre Preview Glossy Stain wand — Gotta love the doe foot

So, Pourpre Preview — yeah, it’s $34, but for what it’s worth, with YSL’s Glossy Stains, it’s like you’re getting two lip products for the (pretty high) price of one.

In this case, the color starts as a gorgeous, glossy orchid violet, which then mellows out to a purplish pink stain.

Highlights…

Lasts from 5-6 hours on my lips
Has a moderately moisturizing, slightly sticky formula that feels quite thick when first applied
Unflavored, but it smells a little like green apples to me (yum!)

It’s one of the most wearable purples I’ve ever seen, and that’s what makes it an Unsung Hero to me. It’s just so frickin’ wearable! It looks good on just about anyone.

It’s purple — but not too purple, if that makes any sense — and semi-opaque, so it allows your natural lip color to peek through.

Yves Saint Laurent Pourpre Preview Glossy Stain swatch — Ooh, purple!

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5 Permanent Line Products I’ve Been Loving Lately From MAC, NARS, YSL and Perricone MD

January 2nd, 2014 by Karen 26 Comments

Hey, gurl! Hey! Let’s talk about beauty…

Hmm… Being a day late and a dollar short to the show, I should probably stop telling people that I’m watching Breaking Bad. I mentioned it to my brother the other day, and the first thing he said was…

**WARNING** **SPOILER ALERT START** **WARNING**

The first thing he said was (STOP HERE IF YOU DON’T WANT ANY SPOILERS!)…

I’m serious! Skip this entire gray box. DON’T READ ANOTHER LINE!

The first thing he said was, “Did you get to the part where Jesse’s girlfriend O.D.s?”

Uh…No, Al. I actually had not gotten to that part. 😕

Then I mentioned it to my mother-in-law, who’s never even seen the show but heard a few things through the grapevine, and she said (MORE SPOILERS!!!), “Isn’t that the show where the guy dies at the end?”

**WARNING** **SPOILER ALERT END** **WARNING**

Yeah… Insert mouth agape [HERE].

I think it’s the universe’s way of telling me that I should stick to talking about other subjects — subjects like makeup, and these five permanent collection products I’ve been loving lately.

1. Yves Saint Laurent Rouge Pur Couture Gloss Stain in 7 Corail Aquatique, $34

Wearing Yves Saint Laurent Rouge Pur Couture Gloss Stain in 7 Corail Aquatique on my lips, MAC Cantaloupe Blush on my cheeks and NARS Galapagos Eyeshadow on my eyes

So, earlier this week I go to Sephora to get a birthday gift for my mom, and wouldn’t ya know it? Two tubes of Corail Aquatique mysteriously find their way into my basket/heart.

One for Mom, one for me. 🙂

My mom is so funny… I know I’m probably going to have to encourage her to wear this light pinkish coral glossy stain, because whenever I get her anything higher end than drugstore, it usually ends up displayed in the bathroom like a fancy trophy.

She never actually wears it, LOL!

The Pur Couture glosses, which apply as a gloss but wear down to a stain, are part of YSL’s permanent line, and I’ve loved them for a while.

I’ve been putting Corail Aquatique through its paces lately.

No — literally, its paces. I wore it on my walk yesterday. I think it’s a really lovely everyday lip color.

2. MAC Powder Blush in Cantaloupe, $17

MAC Cantaloupe Blush — Cantaloupe Blush (MAC Pro)

OOOH, GURL, don’t even get me started on coral Cantaloupe Blush. As Tabs would say, It’s “purr-fection!”

As a MAC Pro product, warm pinkish coral Cantaloupe is available at Pro Stores and online (but not at regular MAC stores and counters).

Officially, it’s billed as having a Satin finish, but I feel like it looks more Matte in pics… Frankly, I don’t care what they call it, because I just call it awesome and forgiving. Really forgiving, especially when you have pores the size o’ Lake Michigan (like me).

If the Magnetic Nude blushes weren’t always distracting me, I’d probably be wearing Cantaloupe 24/7.

LOVE IT!

3. NARS Coconut Grove, $24

OK, so I’ve had rich dark chocolate Coconut Grove forever, but I only recently fell in lust with it. I’ve been going through something of a brown eyeshadow phase (there are just so many great ones out there, and they’re so versatile!), and I guess I re-discovered it.

It might also have something to do with all of the chocolate I’ve been eating lately…

Anywho, Coconut Grove — bangin’ for brown smokey eyes. It has slightest sheen — barely noticeable — but enough to keep things interesting. It also prevents it from looking like a flat brown matte.

Super pretty layered on top of black or dark brown creamy kohl pencils and cream eyeshadow bases.

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Post-Dental Beauty Bribery Featuring Yves Saint Laurent and Bobbi Brown Fall 2013 Swatches

September 25th, 2013 by Karen 25 Comments

K in the mirror — Who’s that cat lady at the mall?!

Okay, so I know I always hem and haw whenever I have to go to the dentist (I can’t help it. I’m a crybaby.), but I had some seriously traumatic dental experiences as a child.

I’m way better now, though. Now I only slightly freak out before my appointments. 🙂

Today my plan of attack was pretty simple: just don’t cry. So I took a ton of deep breaths, tried not to clench my fists in the chair, said comforting things to myself like, “You’re doing great. Everything’s going to be fine. This isn’t bad at all.” And, of course, I exercised beauty bribery.

I gotta admit, that stuff really works. I told myself that if I didn’t cry at the dentist’s office today, I could pop by the mall on my way home, and wouldn’t ya know it? I didn’t shed a tear, which goes to show ya — that’s the healing power of shopping centers right there.

Of course, the mall doesn’t get all the credit. It also helped that the gal who did my cleaning, Kim, happened to be a beauty junkie and fellow MAC fan (Hey, Kim!), so we had a lot to talk about.

When Kim finished and I left the office with my new toothbrush, some floss, a freshly cleaned night mouth guard (SEXY) and one of those pointy rubber thing-a-ma-bobbers to clean my gums, I made a b-line for Nordstrom’s Yves Saint Laurent and Bobbi Brown counters.

Sigh… I could’ve stayed there all night long, but then I thought, Who would do my tubby tabby’s bidding?

Must hurry up and get swatches.

YSL Fall Look 2013 Swatches

Starting with the four swatches in the top row from the left: the City Drive Classy Palette ($55)
Top row, three swatches on the right: the Top Secrets BB Cream Skintone Perfector in Light, Medium and Dark ($50 each)
Middle row: the City Drive Arty Palette ($55)
Bottom row, the two swatches on the left: Blush Radiance in 09 and 10 ($45 each)
Bottom row, the three swatches on the right: Rouge Pur Couture Lip Color in 1, 51 and 54 ($34 each)

Bobbi Brown Katie Palette, $68 — The Bobbi Brown Katie Palette ($68)

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Because Green Nail Polish Makes Everything Better: The New Yves Saint Laurent Vert D’Orient La Laque Couture Nail Lacquer

April 17th, 2013 by Karen 18 Comments

Yves Saint Laurent Vert D'Orient Nail Polish — Yves Saint Laurent Vert D’Orient La Laque Couture Nail Lacquer, $25

I’ve long held that it’s not plate tectonics, electromagnetic fields or the earth’s core that make the world go ’round. It’s green nail polish, and if green polish ever disappeared, the world would simply stop.

Green nail polish is like when Mom makes your favorite dish. It just makes everything better.

While it’s not officially billed as a mood elevator, the new $25 Vert D’Orient La Laque Couture Nail Lacquer works like one for me. The formula must be packed with liquid positivity.

It’s like a leisurely stroll outside on a perfect spring day… Catching a glimpse of this creamy bluish green on my tips or toes makes me grin like Adam Levine when he finds an extra tight-fitting pair of skinny jeans. In other words, a BIG grin. 🙂