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Makeup and Beauty Blog | Makeup Reviews, Swatches and How-To Makeup

A beauty blog blooming with fresh makeup reviews, swatches and beauty tips from your friendly neighborhood beauty addict

Karen

Dior Lace Collection Swatches and Thoughts on the Dentelle Palette in Pearl Glow

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Dior Lace Swatches

Today I finally had a chance to dig into the Dior Dentalle Eyeshadow Palette (from the Dior Lace collection) that’s been teasing me for the last few days.

Dior Lace Collection Dentelle Quint

Normally, wild horses can’t keep me from tearing into a Dior quint, but the dainty lace patterns in Pearl Glow’s pan ($58) were keeping me at bay.

Dior Lace Collection Pearl Glow

They reminded me of why I love Dior shadows… how they glide along like skates on fresh ice.

Dior Lace Reviews Swatches Dentelle Eyeshadow Pearl Glow

If you like the way you look in cool-toned blues and grays, you might really like Pearl Glow. The silver, grayish purple, pink, taupe and bluish gray definitely lean toward the cooler end of the eyeshadow spectrum.

Dior Lace Collection Reviews Swatches Pearl Glow 5

Cool-toned cuties with light to medium skin, bust out your happy dance. This palette will make your eyes POP! I think pale skin really reflects the nuanced silver, pink and taupe.
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Is There an App for That? Branded Makeup and Beauty Apps for Smartphones Are Few and Far Between

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The fashion industry has a big head start on beauty brands when it comes to branded smartphone apps

iPhone Apps are MIA in the Beauty Industry

Peer into a woman’s handbag, and there’s a good chance you’ll find a smartphone looking back at you. It’ll be zipping and whirring along with her lipstick, powder and perfume. Whichever your e-weapon of choice — BlackBerry, iPhone or Google’s latest Nexus One — smartphones are a new “it” accessory.

Mine’s like crack to me! I got hooked on smartphones with a Blackberry Pearl a few years back; now I’m using an iPhone, and I never leave home without it. It keeps me on schedule (most of the time), in the loop (with email) and helps me locate important landmarks and lifesaving locales like the nearest MAC counter.

With Apple’s App Store for the iPhone crossing the three billion download mark, apps are everywhere, mostly. More and more companies are coming out with apps to showcase their products, among them leading fashion lines, but the beauty industry? Not so much.

Fashion world embraces smartphone apps with open arms!

Fashionistas rejoice! Almost daily new apps from fashion shops, designers and magazines are coming online in the App Store. Fashion enthusiasts can now shop directly from their phones, anywhere, anytime. Some apps also feature style advice, interactive games, videos, previews and reviews.

A few cool fashion apps…

  • Chanel: It’s hard to go wrong with anything that looks like Chanel. I LOVE the design of this app. You get news on Chanel fashion, accessories and a a handy-dandy store locator. No way to shop with it yet, but I wouldn’t be surprised if Karl and company added the feature soon. Free for iPhone (click here to open in iTunes).
  • Style.com: Amazing coverage of the catwalk during fashion week — you can watch the shows just hours after they hit the runway. FROM YOUR PHONE! So awesome. Free for iPhone (click here to open in iTunes).
  • Net-a-Porter: Get fashion and accessories updates and see products with 360-degree views; there’s also editor’s picks and a wish-list function. Free for iPhone (click here to open in iTunes).

Beauty industry slow to jump on the app bandwagon

I searched Google and my iPhone today for apps from some of the bigger beauty brands like MAC, Estee Lauder, Dior, Shu Uemura and Urban Decay.

Didn’t find a whole lot, only two from big beauty brands — the first from Lancome (click here to open in iTunes) and the other from NARS (click here to open in iTunes). The Lancome looks pretty, but it’s kinda weak on functionality. There’s some news and makeup tips, but no updates since fall ’09’s Declaring Indigo.
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What Lipgloss Are You Wearing?

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bobbi-brown-popsicle-lipgloss

Rise and shine, morning glories! I hope you slept well. 🙂 Today I think I’m in the mood for something girly and fun. What do ya think about Bobbi Brown’s Brightening Lipgloss in Popsicle ($20)? Does it fit the bill?

It’s from her Makeup Face Lift collection for spring. Err, it may belong to a spring release… but this shimmery, rosy pink sure reminds me of summer (SIDE NOTE: Can we fast forward to June already? I’m so OVER having to wear socks). Chromatic glitter, um, hello?

bobbi-brown-popsicle

What gloss are you wearing today?

Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,

Karen

P.S. In Bobbi Brown news, have you heard about the Pretty Powerful beauty campaign? Bobbi asked her some of her friends — people who aren’t professional models — to pose for the pics. I think it’s kinda cool… Fantastic imagery on the website. It says there’s also going to be a contest of sorts that starts on January 19. I haven’t figured out what it’s about yet, but I’ll definitely keep you posted. 🙂

bobbi-brown-pretty-powerful

The Urban Decay Stardust Eyeshadows: A Closer Look

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Urban Decay Stardust Eyeshadow Review

How was your Tuesday? Hopefully smooth and sans any serious drama-for-your-mama. 🙂

My day was filled with website wrangling (YEEHAW!). I was trading emails with the blog’s new web hosting company (servint), but that crew really knows their stuff. It shouldn’t be long before the blog’s loading much faster, and I can’t wait!

So, earlier today I sneaked away to rendezvous with my new secret crushes, the Urban Decay Stardust Eyeshadows ($20). Remember them? You guys met the other day.

I think I REALLY hit it off with 54, the sheer purple (with purple AND hot pink glitter), but Moon Spoon (the sheer grayish taupe with silver glitter) and Space Cowboy (the almost transparent beige with the peachy golden glitter) weren’t too hard on the eyes either.

What I noticed about ’em…

  • Sheer-to-transparent color. We’re talking very light pigmentation — no explosions of intense color. Space Cowboy’s the sheerest one; 54 the least.
  • Fine glitter. Hooray for fine glitter! The glitter is a dainty bling, kinda like bling-lite (read: the opposite of Degrassi Junior High), small and low in the chunk factor, too. I love it!
  • Bad-arse hold. They reached out and grabbed hold of my lids, and I thought they’d never let go! Fantastic wear time here — SO good, in fact, that they were actually a little tough to remove.
  • Fallout? Just a tad. In their PR about these, UD claims you won’t see any glitter fallout with Stardust. Well, any’s a tough word to live up to, but I think UD’s mostly right. I think I saw a few sparkles beneath my eyes and around my cheeks, but no big deal at all. It was nothing compared to most of the glittery shadows I’ve used. Really, I feel like I have a lot of control over Stardust, which is a HUGE plus for me.
  • Smooth… You know how glittery products can feel rough, like, um, glitter? — all gritty and grainy? Stardust not so much. I think it feels quite smooth for what it is. Another plus. 🙂

Stardust application

I tried it both wet and then dry using my fingers, Urban Decay’s application tool o’ choice for the Stardust shadows.

The dry fingers created a sheer wash of color…

Urban Decay Stardust Eyeshadow Review 54
54

Urban Decay Stardust Review Moon Spoon
Moon Spoon
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New in Beauty, Jan. 12: Shu Uemura Egerie, Laura Mercier Polished Collections for Spring 2010

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Just a quick look around the worlds of makeup and beauty today…

Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,

Karen

Chanel Rouge Coco Hydrating Creme Lip Color: An Ode to Mademoiselle

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For more fun with Chanel Rouge Coco ($30 each; avail. Feb. 25)…

Chanel Rouge Coco Hydrating Creme Lip Colour

Just a quick heads up for my Chanel fiends and lip lovahs! 🙂 Brace those lurvely lips for Coco’s upcoming Rouge Coco Hydrating Creme Lip Colour line of hydrating lipsticks.

Okay, are your lips sufficiently braced?

These couple pics from the European print ad campaign show it in action on French actress/singer Vanessa Paradis, aka Johnny Depp’s baby mama.

OOH! Don’t the colors look rich?

More deets…

  • Based on a lipstick design dating back to 1952… The team responsible for the new line tried to create lipsticks that Coco would’ve worn herself
  • Each lippie’s named after an influential period in Coco’s life, with names like Camelia (a deep rose), Mademoiselle (a soft pink) and Paris (a bright red)
  • The line will feature 30 different shades across four color families: roses-pink (nine shades), reds-corals (eight shades), violets-berries (four shades) and neturals-brown (nine shades)
  • Rouge Coco will replace the existing Rouge Hydrabase line
  • The formula includes a compound Chanel calls “Hydratendre Complex” to sooth and soften lips

source, source and source

rouge-coco-final

Peep the Rouge Coco Hydrating Creme Lip Colour line at Saks Fifth Avenue, Neiman Marcus and Bloomingdale’s stores, as well as Chanel.com, this March.

I’m counting down the days! 🙂

Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,

Karen

P.S. Yet another French beauty tidbit: Kerastase Paris is launching a new line of hair products on January 19 called Age Premium, a four-piece collection of shampoos, conditioners and treatments to address hair probs like thinning, dry scalp and uneven texture. I have some crispy-noodle white hairs (so NOT cute) buried up in my mane that are eager to give the new products a try…

kerastase1-1

Look for ’em at salons and Kerastase.com.

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