Makeup

A New Look at NARS Spring 2011 with Tzigane, Hollywoodland, Bateau Ivre and Nouveau Monde

January 31st, 2011 by Karen 56 Comments

nars spring 2011

When the NARS spring 2011 makeup collection sprung earlier this month, it didn’t strike with the force of a thousand Easter bunnies. In other words, it didn’t knock me off my feet.

I liked the repromoted Angelika and Super Orgasm Lip Glosses but felt the Soft Touch Pencil in Celebrate, the Lip Gloss in Nana and the Pure Matte Lipstick in MadÃ¨re were just okay. Seriously, what’s a 35-year-old suburban gal gonna do with a neon green eyeshadow (Celebrate) that lasts all of 5 minutes on her skin?

And then came today.

I tried four more goodies from the collection this afternoon — the Lipstick in Tzigane, Soft Touch Shadow Pencil in Hollywoodland, Eyeshadow Duo in Bateau Ivre and Eyeshadow Duo in Nouveau Monde — and now NARS is singing my tune.

THESE are the kinds of products I was hoping to find in this collection; until today, I just didn’t know they were here.

They must have been hiding like Easter eggs. 🙂

The look features fresh, exciting eyes with a touch of fun color, and a lovely lipstick I could easily wear to work (or a brunch date!). It’s modern, yet wearable makeup with a springy edge, and I can totally see myself cruising the neighborhood with it on as I walk my plus-sized tabby down the street.

nars spring 2011
Clockwise from the lower left: Eyeshadow Duo in Nouveau Monde, Lipstick in Tzigane, Soft Touch Shadow Pencil in Hollywoodland and Eyeshadow Duo in Bateau Ivre
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Josie Maran Dips Into the Argan Oil for Spring’s Matchmaker Serum Foundation and Illuminizer

January 28th, 2011 by Karen 18 Comments

Josie Maran Argan Matchmaker Serum Foundation on my face, Argan Illuminizer on my cheeks, beneath my eyes and on the brow bone

Model/makeup maestro Josie Maran likes argan oil almost as much as Tabs likes gravy, and she’s launching a new foundation and illuminator made with the stuff this spring.

Argan oil, of course (not gravy). 🙂

Sheer, lightweight Argan Matchmaker Serum Foundation ($42) adjusts to the wearer’s skin tone, beginning white, but changing color as it’s worked into the skin, while shimmery liquid Argan Illuminizer ($28) is designed to give skin a bronzy glow.

Both products will arrive in stores next month (but the foundation’s already available online at sephora.com) and contain Josie’s signature ingredient. Some refer to argan oil as something of a miracle ingredient — a skin-soothing, complexion-clearing, fine-line-erasing, skin-tone-improving, elasticity-restoring, inflammation-reducing miracle ingredient — and if it were any more amazing, it would probably rescue stray kittens on the side. 🙂

I’ve used a few of Josie’s other argan products but never detected a dramatic difference in my skin. That said, I do still like a lot about her line, like how she handles color, the textures she uses and, of course, that her products are eco and pet friendly (Tabs approved).

I dug around for clinical studies to support the use of argan oil and its effects on skin, but I didn’t turn anything up (other than this study on its consumption and heart disease).

Argan Matchmaker Serum Foundation, $42 for a 1-oz. bottle

Available in two shades, Light/Medium and Medium/Dark, this foundation’s supposed to correct fine lines and wrinkles, and cover other imperfections on the skin, while evening out skin tone.

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One Thing Is Clear: The Smashbox Limitless Long Wear Lip Glosses In Bloom

January 28th, 2011 by Karen 20 Comments

Can I just vent about my bangs for a moment? Because today they interfered with Smashbox’s spring In Bloom Limitless Long Wear Lip Glosses, and that’s just wrong.

Observe the redonkulous headband in the picture above, which I’ve resorted to wearing on account of my unruly bangs. Ever since I got them trimmed last week, they’ve been extremely uncooperative, jutting out at weird angles and generally behaving badly. The headband keeps them under wraps, but it also kinda steals this sheer gloss’s thunder.

The two cuties below ($21 for each 0.1-oz tube) are part of the recently released Smashbox In Bloom collection for spring (a limited edition affair), and while the collection’s springy floral theme hasn’t exactly revolutionized my concept of spring makeup, I’ve liked the products I’ve seen so far.

Smashbox In Bloom Limitless Long Wear Lip Gloss in Timeless (on the top) and Endless Kiss (on the bottom)

Shimmery coral Endless Kiss and shimmery pink Timeless come in the same long-wearing Limitless Lip Gloss formula Smashbox launched back in 2009.
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Three Sheers for the $59 Smashbox Style Files: Eyes, Lips and Cheeks!

January 27th, 2011 by Karen 45 Comments

Smashbox Style Files

The three portable palettes in the Smashbox Style Files ($59) are totally easy to crack. What I mean to say is, there’s no 128-bit encryption or complex p@ssW07ds here. Just a batch of beauty bits (in shimmery neutrals to deep jewel tones) for eyes, lips and cheeks.

For my makeup today, I felt like something fun and fresh, but I didn’t want to think too hard.

Enter the Smashbox Style Files, a new limited edition Sephora exclusive set.

The Smashbox Style Files box

Style Files Shadow

Smashbox Style Files eye shadow palette
Style Files Shadow palette

These colors aren’t as pigmented as I’d hoped and suffer from some pretty mean fallout, but I do like how easy they are to blend. In all, you get eight shadows in…

Shadow #1 (warm brown shimmer)
Shadow #2 (matte pinky peach)
Shadow #3 (midnight blue)
Shadow #4 (lilac shimmer)
Shadow #5 (champagne beige shimmer)
Shadow #6 (matte ivory)
Shadow #7 (matte light taupe)
Shadow #8 (pinky pearl shimmer)

Smashbox Style Files eye shadow palette
Style Files Shadow palette

Style Files Eye Liner

Smashbox Style Files eye liner palette
Style Files Eye Liner palette

Each of the cream liners double as bases for the shadows, so that’s pretty cool. And the pencil liners cling to my lash and water lines like true champs. With this set, you get four Cream Liners and two Limitless Eye Liners in…

Cream Liner #1 (golden beige shimmer)
Cream Liner #2 (warm brown)
Cream Liner #3 (gunmetal gray)
Cream Liner #4 (deep purple)
Limitless Eye Liner in Onyx (black)
Limitless Eye Liner in Fig (chocolate brown sheen)

Smashbox Style Files eye liner palette
Style Files Eye Liner palette
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The Secret’s Out: Swatches of the Dolce & Gabbana Secret Garden Ultra Shine Lipsticks and Glosses

January 25th, 2011 by Karen 42 Comments

dolce gabbana secret garden collection swatches
Ultra Shine Lipgloss in Secret

As promised, here are those swatches of the two lipsticks and two lipglosses from the new Dolce & Gabbana Secret Garden Collection.

dolce gabbana secret garden collection swatches Shine Lipstick in Love
Ultra Shine Lipstick in Love, $30

dolce gabbana secret garden collection swatches Romance
Shine Lipstick in Romance, $30

What do you think? Ultra shiny, right? I’m gonna go out on a limb and say they’re aptly named.

dolce gabbana secret garden collection swatches Secret
Ultra Shine Lipgloss in Secret, $30

dolce gabbana secret garden collection swatches Bon Bon
Ultra Shine Lipgloss in Bon Bon, $30
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Meet Clinique’s Conservatively Sharp Milly Palette: She’s Pretty in Prints

January 25th, 2011 by Karen 53 Comments

clinique milly pretty in prints palette

Greetings and salutations, mon amie. I wanted to quickly show you the new Clinique Milly Pretty in Prints Palette ($36) in action.

clinique milly pretty in prints palette for spring 2011

What do ya think? I followed the tutorial that comes with the eye and cheek palette this afternoon, and the whole thing took only about 10 minutes to do.

clinique milly pretty in prints fotd tutorial

The palette comes with four shadows and a blush; the shadows contain just the right amount of pigment, and all of them are super easy to blend. Heck, I’d call the palette downright perfect if it wasn’t for the matte brown shade, which left mad fallout on my cheeks when I used it as a liner today (which is what the tutorial suggests).

As for the blush…I love it! It’s like a sheerer, less golden version of NARS Orgasm.

clinique milly pretty in prints palette with bag

clinique milly pretty in prints palette
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Clarins Neo Pastels and My Monday Face of the Day

January 24th, 2011 by Karen 34 Comments

Sooo, guess who’s procrastinating? 🙂 Yeah, I have about a billion things on my to-do list, but none of them are as much fun as makeup.

I put the new Clarins Neo Pastels Collection to work today for this here face of the day.

Clockwise from the lipstick on the left: Rouge Hydra Nude SPF6 Lipstick in 03 Pastel Beige, Blush Prodige in 02 Soft Peach and the Eye Quartet Mineral Palette

I loosely based the eye portion of the look on the Neo Pastel makeup tutorial here, and the edgy look of the black liner along the waterline is one of my favorite parts.
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Mascara Comparison: Benefit Bad Gal Lash and Make Up For Ever Smoky Lash

January 23rd, 2011 by Karen 26 Comments

Written by Jessica

The battle for lash supremacy continues! Blogger Jessica pits two powerhouses of the beauty world together in today’s guest post. Wimpy lashes better look out!

Oh, I’ve had my share of struggles with high-end mascaras, and I’m sure you have too. Are they worth paying a premium for when there are so many more affordable options out there? It depends, but for the past few months I have been using and loving Make Up For Ever Smoky Lash mascara. As a matter of fact, I named it my Holy Grail / Must-Have Product of 2010.

But because my mom has been raving about Benefit Bad Gal Lash for months, I decided to finally pit the two mascaras together in an ultimate battle of the brands.

Benefit Bad Gal Lash — $19 (Sephora)

Make Up For Ever Smoky Lash — $22 (Sephora)

The Packaging

I like the way both products are packaged, but I give the advantage to Bad Gal for its amazing brush. Super thick and substantially longer than the brush included with Make Up For Ever Smoky Lash, it’s just plain better in my opinion. Other than that, however, the packaging for both mascaras is fairly standard (tube and wand).

The Application

As covered in the video down below, Make Up For Ever Smoky Lash applies rather clumpy, but it thickens the heck out of lashes and does so better than Bad Gal. The formula’s also much darker, but Bad Gal applies like a dream, lengthening better with greater definition. As far as application, I’d call this one a tie.

The Lasting Power

Lasting power is extremely important to me. Some might say I put all of my eggs in one basket on this one, but overall I think that if a mascara doesn’t last through the night, beautiful or not, what’s the point?

Well, Benefit Bad Gal Lash really disappointed me here. Despite applying like dream, it just didn’t last, leaving my lashes dull and lifeless well before the end of the day, while Make Up For Ever Smoky Lash, despite its clumpy formula, lasted all day and night.