Clarins

Mirror, Mirror on the Wall…You’re Not Half as Shiny as These Three New Clarins Graphic Expression Fall 2013 Collection Joli Rouge Lipsticks

August 30th, 2013 by Karen 10 Comments

Clarins Spicy Cinnamon Joli Rouge — Now that’s a Spicy Cinnamon! — A Clarins Joli Rouge Lipstick in Spicy Cinnamon ($26), one of three new shades for fall.

Those matte lippies have such sass! — always seducing makeup lovers with their fabulously flat finishes.

Recent intel gathered from credible sources indicates that 1) I’ve been watching a ton of 24 lately, and 2) matte lip products have been quietly taking over ~~the world!~~ makeup bags one tube at a time.

The conspiracy runs deep, too. You can’t trust anyone…

Uh…sorry about that. Random Jack Bauer moment. They really should put a warning label before that show. “Too many back-to-back episodes may result in product paranoia.”

Hmm, where were we?

Oh, yeah! So, I’ve been diggin’ the flat finishes coming out for fall, but that doesn’t mean I love luminous lipsticks like the three new fall Joli Rouge Lipsticks from the Clarins Graphic Expression collection any less. They reflect so much light that I can practically read by ’em in the dark!

Well, not really, but medium-weight, full-coverage rosy Pink Camellia, orangey brown Spicy Cinnamon and plummy Royal Plum do almost look like glosses on my lips.

Clarins Joli Rouge Fall 2013 Lipsticks from the left Pink Camellia, Spicy Cinnamon and Royal Plum — Fom the left Pink Camellia, Spicy Cinnamon and Royal Plum

Clarins Joli Rouge Fall 2013 swatches from the left Pink Camellia, Spicy Cinnamon and Royal Plum — From the left: Pink Camellia, Spicy Cinnamon and Royal Plum

Clarins Pink Camellia Joli Rouge — Pink Camellia

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Why Stop and Smell the Roses When the New Clarins Graphic Expression Face & Blush Powder Palette Smells This Divine?

August 26th, 2013 by Karen 41 Comments

A texture finer than cake flour and a fresh, unforced healthy glow? Lovely traits to have in/get from a powder blush, but I crave more from my pans (says the girl whose husband routinely catches her in the bathroom cooing at a Chanel Joues Constraste blush).

Ya know, like a nice scent. 🙂

Known for their Laissez-faire approach to cheek color, Clarins has kindly obliged.

Their brand new $35 Graphic Expression Face & Blush Powder Palette smells ah-may-zing! Evocative of something from a more expensive line like Chanel. When I open the pan and take a whiff, it’s as if a bouquet of freesias appears on my desk beside a tin of violet hard candies as I’m hugged by someone who loves me — all in one sniff!

But the scent isn’t the only reason I heart this multi-colored palette of matte peach, rose and tan. Whether worn separately or mixed together, the shades look like they were made for fall smokey eyes and/or bold lips.

Clarins Graphic Expression Face & Blush Powder Swatch — Two layers of Graphic Expression

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The Secret to Exceptional Lash Length, Curl and Definition Resides in Every Tube of Clarins Be Long Mascara

August 23rd, 2013 by Karen 14 Comments

I gotta give credit to Clarins for getting straight to the point when they named new Be Long Mascara. Just one coat of this stuff on my fringe, and I’m yelling “My lashes be hella long!!” at the top of my lungs in the bathroom.

That’s usually how I know a mascara has crossed over from pretty good to great. 🙂

Be Long banishes jet lag even better than melatonin! You might not think that a three-hour time difference could throw off your sleeping schedule, but it totally can.

I look and feel tired…and over the years, after many mascara trials, I’ve learned that one of the easiest ways to look perkier/less exhausted is to apply a layer of a lengthening, curling mascara to your lashes.

Clarins Be Long Mascara before and after — On the left: no mascara; on the right: one coat

Nothing fakes a bright, doe-eyed look like a little extra lash length and curl. I think the extra length and curl work even better for this than specialized lash volume/thickening mascaras.

And formulas that also separate and define every lash work even better. When the goal is looking less tired, I don’t want bundles of long, clumpy lashes (which, yeah, do have their time and place, like at night when I’m feeling a little artsy).

Be Long delivers the exceptional length, curl and separation that work together as a tonic for sleepy eyes.

I’m totally enamored with this stuff and how it stretches, grabs and defines even the shortest stubs. One coat after a quick curl from my Shu Uemura Lash Curler, and my fringe looks fabulously full and lifted all day, no flakes or smudges.

The brush, which picks up a perfect amount of product (no need to remove any excess by wiping it across a paper towel), must be the secret sauce. It gives each lash the special treatment, coating it individually from base to tip and combing through every hair without leaving behind any clumps or bumps.

Clarins Be Long Mascara brush — It’s all about the brush, ma!

Clarins Be Long Mascara tube — The elegant gold tube…

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Gazing Into These Crystal Balms, I See a Future Filled With Clarins Instant Smooth Crystal Lip Balms

June 18th, 2013 by Karen 24 Comments

Clarins Crystal Rose — Wearing Clarins Instant Smooth Crystal Lip Balm in Crystal Rose ($26) on my lips

I am no fortune teller.

No way, no how. I’ve never picked the winning lottery numbers, haven’t foreseen any major historical events, and I did not divine my evolution into a cat lady…although really, in hindsight, that one I should have seen comin’. 🙂

I can’t tell you if that guy/gal you’re dating is THE one (I’m keeping my fingers crossed for you!), but I can tell you this: if you plan to spend any time with these Clarins Instant Smooth Crystal Lip Balms this summer, you’ll be spending much of it swiping these balms back and forth across your lips. Back, back, forth and forth, as the song goes.

Clarins Instant Smooth Crystal Lip Balm 2 — The Instant Smooth Crystal Lip Balms from the left in Crystal Rose, Crystal Gold Plum and Crystal Mandarin (not pictured: Crystal Berry)

Yeah, these four new limited edition tinted lip balms require some serious swiping. A LOT of swiping. I think it has to do with the tinted inner core.

Released with the Clarins Splendours Colour Collection for summer, Crystal Rose, Crystal Mandarin, Crystal Gold Plum and Crystal Berry ($26 each) each have a yummy-looking tinted inner core surrounded by a transparent balm.

Don’t they look cool and almost good enough to eat?

Mmm… Like lipstick gummies. 🙂

I’ve been wearing and liking three of the four shades this week. Like a fancier, more pigmented species of Burt’s Bees lip balm, they have a lightweight but heavy-duty moisturizing formula that also packs a peck of shine. Non-sticky, they last around 2-3 hours for me.

Thing is, they also take a bit of work to wield. Lots of that swiping I mentioned, as in swiping the lipstick across my lips at least 5-6 times to evenly apply the colors.

Clarins Instant Smooth Crystal Lip Balm Swatches — From the left, that’s Crystal Rose, Crystal Mandarin and Crystal Gold Plum

I think there’s something up with that tinted inner core, like it’s a different texture than the softer outer balm. With the first pass across my lower lip, the swipe ends up patchy and uneven…

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There’s Always Room For Jell-O And Another Marvelously Moisturizing Lip Gloss: These Clarins Instant Smooth Crystal Lip Gels Even Look Like Jell-O

June 11th, 2013 by Karen 16 Comments

Clarins Instant Smooth Lip Gel Crystal Pink — Is that J-E-L-L-O? Nope, it’s Clarins Instant Smooth Lip Gel in Crystal Pink ($22)

My lower lip quivered like Jell-O jiggling on a school lunch tray the first time I touched one of these new $22 Clarins Instant Smooth Crystal Lip Gels.

That’s because it promised moisture — and lots of it — something my perpetually parched lips always crave.

Clarins Instant Smooth Crystal Lip Gel Crystal Plum Pink — Crystal Plum (darker tube) and Crystal Pink

Shiny like a lip gloss and moisturizing like a balm, Crystal Pink and Crystal Plum make me look like I’ve been kissing Jell-O, or strawberry and raspberry jelly, which is kind of weird but also cool.

Good jelly, too. None of that shiny slime that washes up on shore, or like when you take out a bowl of cold, fatty gravy from the fridge and it wiggles like The Blob when you move it back and forth.

Ewww…

Nope, not like that.

Just a translucent veil of wet color, almost like I’m holding a piece of shiny red or purple cellophane up to my lips.

Clarins Instant Smooth Crystal Lip Gel Crystal Plum Pink Swatches — Crystal Pink on the left and Crystal Plum on the right

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Among the Many Splendours of the Sun-Kissed Clarins Splendours Summer Bronzing Compact, Fooling Your Mom Into Thinking You’ve Lost Weight

June 11th, 2013 by Karen 16 Comments

Introducing the $35 Clarins Splendours Summer Bronzing Compact — not to be confused with Splenda, the artificial sweetener, despite the fact that the faux tan I get from it looks completely real, and that is pretty sweet. 🙂

Can’t say whether it actually tastes sweet, though…but I’m guessing, probably not.

When I used it last weekend to contour my cheeks, my mom, who I hadn’t seen in a few weeks, asked if I’d been eating enough and if I’d lost weight.

Yes, Mom, I have been eating enough, and no, I haven’t lost weight (said the girl who just had two slices of leftover birthday cake today after lunch).

It must be Splendours’ fault. A matte, medium-dark peachy golden brown, it resides on the darker side of the powder bronzing spectrum. Brushing it beneath my cheekbones sculpts them into sharp wedges of RuPaul/Tyra-style cheddar cheese.

Perfect for when I’m air quoting and don’t want my long, E.T.-like fingers (E.T. phone home!) to be distracting…

Just stare at mah cheeks, man!!

Clarins Splendours Summer Bronzing Compact K air quotes — “Air quotes”

Among the many splendors of Splendours, the 0.7-ounce pan is HUGE! It’s a tabby toe-size bigger than Guerlain’s 0.67-ounce pan of Terra Nerolia Bronzer ($69), which till now had been my default bronzer for the past two months.

That reminds me, I keep meaning to mention that Splendours might be a good alternative to paying almost 70 bones for a bronzer from Guerlain, since the colors are quite similar.

You might even like the Clarins one more, especially if you aren’t wild about tiare flower scents. I find Terra Nerolia’s fragrance intoxicating, albeit heavy.

Color-wise, Splendours, which has a faint tea rose scent, is slightly darker and less golden.

If I were also being super nitpicky, I think Terra Nerolia’s grains look and feel a tad finer, but really, unless you’re bucking for a spot in the bronzer edition of Ultimate Makeup Hoarders, I don’t think that’s reason enough to justify the difference in price.

Clarins Splendours Summer Bronzing Compact Swatch — Swatches from the left: Peach center of Splendours, outer section of Splendours, both the peach and tan mixed together (yup, from Splendours) and a comparison swatch from Guerlain’s Terra Nerolia Bronzer

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Voted Most Likely To Steal Your Heart This Summer: The Gold, Chocolate Brown and Plum Shades in the Clarins Splendours Colour Quartet & Eye Liner Palette

June 10th, 2013 by Karen 21 Comments

WARNING: Do not wear the new Clarins Splendours Colour Quartet & Eye Liner Palette ($42) unless you plan to kick all other gold summer eye palettes to the curb.

Put another way, if this were makeup high school, it’s the palette that would have been voted “Most Likely To Be Mistaken for Cookies” in the yearbook.

And we all know how awesome cookies are.

Remember those things?

Wait — no, not cookies. I mean those yearbook things where the seniors cast a bunch of votes for “Most Likely To…”

I wasn’t really one of those kids, but I was voted “Too Sexy for This Band” by my compatriots in the musical arts (BAND GEEKS!). 🙂 And to this day I have no idea whether they were being serious or sarcastic…

Still, I’m surprised it wasn’t “Most Likely to Become a Cat Lady.” You feel me?

Yep, hindsight’s 20/20.

Like one of those popular girls who got nominated for everything (Best Hair, Most Likely to Succeed, Biggest Flirt, Best Pronunciation in Spanish Class), the categories in which this palette would dominate are…

Most Likely To Flatter Warm-Toned Tans
Most Likely To Dance From Dawn Till Dusk With a Minimum of Creasing and Fading
Most Likely To Be Mistaken for a Dior Quint
Most Likely To Mix It Up (as in mixing colors to create your own custom shades, which I’ve been doing a lot with this palette and really liking my results)
Most Likely To Be the Palette That Melts Your Makeup-Loving Heart This Summer

Inside are four shimmery powder shadows — three golden shades (a rose gold, copper gold and a pale gold) and a plummy chocolate brown — and a creamy plum liner, all of which work together as well as root beer and vanilla ice cream.

Clarins Splendours Colour Quartet Eye liner Palette Swatches — Swatches from the left: the powder eyeshadows in pale gold, pinkish gold, coppery gold and chocolate brown; and the cream liner in plum

For day, go casual with a single wash of color over your lids (or mix two of the shadows together), and line your lash lines with the soft, smudgy liner.

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Clarins Instant Light Natural Lip Perfector Satisfies Caramel Cravings While Making Pouts Appear Plump

February 7th, 2013 by Karen 24 Comments

Wearing the new $22 Clarins Instant Light Natural Lip Perfector in Candy Shimmer, one of three new spring 2013 shades coming March to Clarins counters and clarinsusa.com

These are those kinds of lip glosses that a friend or your mom gushes over (“OMIGOSH, SO GREAT!), hands you a tube, and at first you think, “Hmm, if you say so,” before plopping it in your purse where you promptly forget about it for a day or two.

Only then, you give it a try, and find yourself reaching into your purse for it over and over again. Next thing you know, you’re addicted! — to the colors, and the gooey caramel flavor and scent, and the soft, smooth, non-sticky texture.

The next day you’re at the Clarins counter, making friends with a complete stranger, nodding emphatically, and trying to convince her that she needs all three of the new spring shades in her life. ASAP! 🙂

Pink Petal Shimmer, rosy pink Candy Shimmer and rosy brown Rosewood Shimmer are straight up swipe-and-go sheer purse glosses that have just been leveled up. They shine like pretty baubles, quench my dry lips like glossy Gatorade and just feel so soft and comfy that I could wear them nonstop (I would have to reapply every two hours or so, but such is life).

These three new shades join three existing colors in the permanent collection (Rose Shimmer, Apricot Shimmer and Nude Shimmer) at Clarins counters next month.

Clarins Instant Light Natural Lip Perfector in Petal Shimmer, Candy Shimmer and Rosewood Shimmer — From the left: Petal Shimmer, Candy Shimmer and Rosewood Shimmer

Clarins Instant Light Natural Lip Perfector in Petal Shimmer — Petal Shimmer

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