Makeup

Sailing the Seven Seas of Illumination with Rouge Bunny Rouge: The Seas of Illumination Highlighting Liquid in Sea of Showers

March 30th, 2012 by Karen 30 Comments

rouge bunny rouge sea of showers

Careful there, makeup lover. Beware the Rouge Bunny! She’ll hop into your life, steal your liquid highlighter-lovin’ heart, and then spring away with your entire makeup allowance (and then some).

Don’t say I didn’t warn you!

Shh! Do you hear it…? That voice on the wind? It’s saying, You’ll love my peachy golden highlighter, my love. It’s the siren song of RBR’s shimmery Seas of Illumination Highlighting Liquid in Sea of Showers, and it’s my favorite thing from the lavish line so far. It’s also — brace yourself — 72 bucks.

Cruel, cruel rabbit, why dost thou charge so much? Just a couple tiny drops of this multipurpose highlighter turn my upper cheekbones into incandescent light bulbs! Almost. The formula is surprisingly pigmented, shimmery and long-lasting. I’ve clocked it at 14 hours once already, and most of the time when I go to remove it at night, it hasn’t even begun to fade.

rouge bunny rouge sea of showers
Seas of Illumination Highlighting Liquid in Sea of Showers; one of four shades, $72 each

rouge bunny rouge sea of showers

I’ve also tried mixing Sea of Showers with different foundations, from full-coverage Laura Mercier Oil-Free Supreme to sheer NARS Pure Radiant Tinted Moisturizer, and my skin always seems fresher and more luminous when I’ve added a drop or two.

rouge bunny rouge sea of showers
Wearing Sea of Showers on my upper cheek bones, brow bones, temples and down the bridge of my nose
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Sisley L’Orchidee Highlighter Blush: This Beautiful Blush Costs More Than a Benjamin!

March 30th, 2012 by Karen 31 Comments

Now that’s a lot of tacos. Sisley Cosmetics, a brand I don’t know a lot about, hopes to answer the question, “What does $108 look like?” Their new Lorchidee Highlighter Blush breaks the $100 barrier, but here’s the thing: I think it’s actually really, really good.

$108 is unbelievable for a blush, but for all that coin you do get a natural look that lasts all day and a glow like you just won the Mega Millions jackpot.

Luxurious from front to back — from the silver chariot/pan it rides in, to the powders so finely milled that the grains are almost microscopic — Lorchidee is a sight to behold. The coral, pink, brown and golden colors blend together seamlessly to give cheeks a softly radiant glow of golden peachy pink.

But even though I feel almost regal wearing this blush, I can’t see it working its way into my everyday makeup bag. It’s just too pricey for something like that.

Now, my special occasion makeup bag? Yeah, maybe there. 🙂

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Who Else Is Ready for the New Bare Escentuals bareMinerals Eyeshadow Duos and Quads?

March 29th, 2012 by Karen 29 Comments

bareminerals ready eyeshadow alter ego
Wearing Bare Escentuals bareMinerals Ready Eyeshadow 2.0 in Alter Ego

I was having one of those “Oh, no, you did not just put me on hold again, Tabs!?” afternoons today. You know, the kind where your cat employer calls you at the office and then puts you on hold, and you repeat to yourself, “Breath in, breath out. Breathe in, breathe out,” and your shoulders are so tense and flexed that they practically touch your ears?

But after a few minutes with the new Bare Escentuals bareMinerals Ready Eyeshadow 2.0 duos and 4.0 quads, I started to feel a whole lot better. Calm and centered; cool and collected.

It’s true what they say. Luscious colors and soft textures really do soothe the savage beast. 🙂

This May, seven new Ready Eyeshadow 2.0 duos ($20 each) and two Ready Eyeshadow 4.0 quads ($30 each) join the bareMinerals clan, touching down on Bare Escentuals counters, boutiques and at Sephora stores.

Here are pics of five of the duos and one of the quads. If you take a look, I’d be curious to hear what you think.

For the record, I noticed a wee bit of fallout when I tried on The Alter Ego duo, but it wasn’t much. Just a few crumbs. And with as pigmented as the colors are, I can live with it.

bareminerals the phenomenon
Ready Eyeshadow 2.0 in The Phenomenon: Azure Iris (left) and Golden Iris (right)

bareminerals the last call
The Last Call: On the Rocks and Shaken Not Stirred

bareminerals the hidden agenda
The Hidden Agenda: Stealth and Undercover
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Rouge Bunny Rouge Blush Wand in Manet Hops Right Off My Cheeks

March 29th, 2012 by Karen 10 Comments

rouge bunny rouge manet

It’s not like this Bunny doesn’t have game. It totally does. I love how natural Rouge Bunny Rouge Blush Wand in Manet ($45) looks on both my bare skin and atop foundation. The lightest swipe from this creamy, rosy coral stick blush creates a sweet, innocent flush that, quite frankly, kinda rocks.

rouge bunny rouge manet
Blush Wand in Manet; one of two shades, $44 each

rouge bunny rouge manet

rouge bunny rouge manet
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Soft Seaside Hues Infuse the Makeup in the Aveda Sea Blossoms Collection for Spring/Summer 2012

March 28th, 2012 by Karen 41 Comments

aveda sea blossoms collection

Aveda is one of those brands that sort of drifted off my radar screen for a while. Years ago, a former co-worker got me hooked on one of their lipglosses, but when I finished the tube, I never got around to picking up another (me = short makeup attention span).

Well, the brand is back on my heads-up display with their new Sea Blossoms collection for spring/summer 2012.

Characterized by soft seaside colors like pastel pink, coral, violet, blue, green and gray, the limited edition seven-piece release for eyes, lips and cheeks speaks to that part of me that lives for the beach! — and loves makeup in soft beachy colors. 🙂

aveda sea blossoms collection

Nourish-ment Rehydrating Lip Glaze

aveda sea blossoms nourish-ment rehydrating lip glaze boxes
Nourish-ment Rehydrating Lip Glaze in Beach Thistle and Coral Sea, $18 each

aveda sea blossoms nourish-ment rehydrating lip glaze boxes
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Dreaming of Jell-O and Summer With Clarins Instant Smooth Crystal Lip Balm

March 28th, 2012 by Karen 13 Comments

Wearing Clarins Instant Smooth Crystal Lip Balm in Crystal Coral

I’ve been trying (“trying” being the key word here) to get into fighting shape by summer, and part of that has meant “trying” to refrain from eating so many sweets. Unfortunately, I don’t have a lot of willpower when it comes to skipping my ritual aprÃ¨s dinner rendezvous with [INSERT SWEET TREAT DU JOUR], so we’ll see how long this lasts.

I haven’t been at it long. Only about a week, but already, everywhere I turn, I see things that remind me of sweets, like these tubes of Clarins Instant Smooth Crystal Lip Balms ($24.50 each), which kindasorta look like Jell-O pops, don’t they? Or fruit-flavored Gummi bears?

Or, be still my beating heart, Jell-O-covered Gummi bears!? 🙂

Shoot, if I didn’t know better, I’d probably try to eat one of these hybrid lipstick/gloss/lip balms. But I do, and note: they’re not edible. Luckily for everyone involved, they’re also unflavored (whew!), but they do have a very faint fruity scent.

clarins instant smooth crystal lip balm

Look for the new Instant Smooth Crystal Lip Balms on Clarins counters this May, where they’ll be striking poses alongside the rest of the new 13-piece Clarins Enchanted Summer 2012 collection, which was inspired by classic Indian colors. The four Crystal Lip Balms join three bronzers, two lipglosses, a quad, two eye kohls and a waterproof mascara.

In the look, exotic, sultry eyes smolder above bronzed, sculpted cheeks and lightly pigmented lips that shine…

Fo’ reals, doesn’t that sound delicious? 🙂

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Rouge Bunny Rouge Fire Drops Loose Glitter Pigment in Caress of Mink Is a Shimmery, Streamlined Bunny

March 28th, 2012 by Karen 31 Comments

rouge bunny rouge caress of mink

If there was an award for “Most Likely to Spill a Loose Eyeshadow All Over the Freaking Place,” I’d be a frontrunner to win it, for sure.

How many spills are we talking about here? According to my eighth-grade self, “2many2say4u.” LOL!

Oh, my poor counters, carpet and cat…

I don’t even get too worked up about it anymore. At one point I guess I just decided to embrace it as my destiny and accept the inevitability of making a mess whenever loose pigments or glitters are involved. Whenever it happens, I just chalk it up as inevitable, shrug my shoulders and say, “Oops. Oh, well.”

But that was until I met Caress of Mink, a Rouge Bunny Rouge Fire Drops Loose Glitter Pigment ($38).

One of seven shades, this shimmery loose taupe comes in a long, streamlined tube with a wand and a pointy sponge applicator tip. First time I saw it, the tip reminded me of applicators I’d seen before, and I remembered making a mess with those…

Luckily, beyond its similar appearance, I think this one performs much better than those.

But I don’t really know why. It must have something to do with the pigments, which seem a little stickier to me than most, so they adhere to my lids without any fallout, and exhibit very little fading throughout the day.

As for the wand itself? The thing just feels good in my hands.

rouge bunny rouge caress of mink tube

rouge bunny rouge caress of mink wand
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From A-Z With UD: 11 Alphabetical Ideas to Build Your Own Urban Decay Eyeshadow Palette

March 27th, 2012 by Karen 56 Comments

Urban Decay Build-Your-Own Eyeshadow Palette
An almost empty Urban Decay Build Your Own Eyeshadow Palette

One of the first gigs I got after college was working in the filing room at a law firm, where I spent hours and hours alphabetizing case files.

Two years of that left me 1) bored out of my gourd and 2) with a chronic compulsion to put things in alphabetical order.

The condition even manifested itself earlier today, as I started sifting through Urban Decay’s newly revamped $18 Eyeshadow Singles (available in a whopping 68 shades).

Naturally, it just made perfect sense to me to place them in alphabetical order — ABC Gum with Asphyxia, Baked and Bender, and so on like that. And then I thought, what if I put them in alphabetical sets using the Urban Decay Build Your Own Palette ($18; includes a six-pan palette, the exclusive shade Walk of Shame and a shadow brush)?

Wouldn’t ya know it? Organized alphabetically like this, I think some of these palettes actually turned out pretty darn cool! Another win for the alphabet. 🙂

Before we dive in, here’s some background on the shadows:

They represent the next generation in Urban Decay Eyeshadows, replacing the old shadows with a new formula and packaging
Among the 68 shades (there are 64 in the pics below), there are some totally new colors, some former bestsellers, and some fan faves previously only available in UD palettes
The shades are spread out among five different finishes in satin, shimmer, sparkle, duochrome and matte
Urban Decay says the new shadows are softer than the generation they replace, with richer pigments, a longer wear time and colors that distribute more evenly
Each of the shadows pops out of its packaging and can be placed into Urban Decay’s Build Your Own Palette ($18; includes a six-pan palette, a pan of Walk of Shame and a brush)
I felt that UD’s original eyeshadows were pretty soft and pigmented, but these new versions seem even more pigmented and buttery than before, yum!
If you don’t feel like building your own palette, right now on urbandecay.com, you can also find five palettes pre-filled with colors selected by bloggers and v-loggers