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
Before El Hub I kissed quite a few frogs, and truth be told a few of those kisses were…awkward, like the one with Mr. Sharp Tooth (it was like a single vampire fang!), or the one with Señor Saliva (like kissing a slobbery puppy), or Mr. Mannequin (the dude never bent his elbows).
The first time I tried on the new Hourglass Femme Rouge Velvet Creme Lipstick ($30, available in 12 shades), I was reminded of those frog kisses, because, well, something felt…off.
For Christmas last year my little brother got our mom a Snuggie (“as seen on TV!”).
What’s a Snuggie? Well, if you’ve seen the late-night commercials, it’s the world famous blanket with sleeves (kinda looks like a reverse wizard’s cape), and my mum thinks it’s cooler than a young Paul McCartney in butt-hugger pants.
I talked a lot of crap about ’em until the day I tried one on…
DANG, they’re unbelievably comfortable and soft.
Which reminds me of another “so soft!” moment I’ve had recently, this one with LORAC’s Private Affair Palette ($38).
It had been a while since I’d used one of the company’s powder shadows (not the baked ones) from their regular line, and Private Affair’s six shades refreshed my memory. There’s one thing I think LORAC’s always done well, and that’s make smooth eyeshadows.
I mean, if these were any smoother, I’d heat ’em in the microwave and pour ’em on pancakes.
Mmm… pancakes. 🙂
Unfortunately, they’re also a little fragile. The other day I accidentally pushed a brush head too hard into the gray pan and took a big chunk out of it (oops!); they’re THAT soft (and consequently easy to blend).
Joining the six shimmery pigmented shadows in plum, beige, pink, bronze, gray, and blackish plum, Private Affair also comes with a tiny tube of Behind the Scenes Eye Primer and a dual-tipped brush tucked in a drawer, secret squirrel-style.
NOTE: The brush that comes with Private Affair is identical to the one that comes with LORAC’s Close Up Eye Tutorial Kit, and, um, remember how that one broke? I saved myself the time and heartache and ditched this one immediately.
Private Affair’s shadows lean toward the cool end of the color spectrum, and several have reddish purple undertones, which I tend to have trouble wearing (they can make me look like I’ve been crying). I think if you have a cooler skin tone than I do, you might like these a lot.
TIP: How do you tell if you’re cool toned or warm? It’s based on the undertone of your skin. If the veins on the underside of your arm appear bluish, you’re cool toned (and probably wear pink-based foundation); if they appear greenish, you’re warm (and probably wear yellow-based foundation).
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Heya, ladies. I swung by the mall before my dental appointment yesterday, you know, to steel myself for potential doom (actually, everything went well), but I only had a few minutes, so I moved with a quickness! — like a rabid tween stalking Robert Pattison.
I made a beeline for the Lancome counter because I haven’t been to one in a while, and they had the new French Coquettes fall collection on display, fun!
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The alley grew darker the deeper she went, but she knew he came this way, the cat with the tabby fur.
She sped around a corner and almost tripped on something metal and loud, a trash can maybe. She didn’t stop. It was dark, so dark. Out of breath, her heart racing, she barely made out the silhouettes of two dogs playing cards under a fire escape before she passed them.
“Which way’d he go?” she barked, pivoting on three-inch heels.
No answer. Damn scamps. She didn’t stop, couldn’t stop, just kept running, arms flailing wildly in the dark.
“Hello!” she cried out, to nowhere, to everywhere, to him. “Please, wait!”
Still nothing. So she kept running, deeper into the night. He was here. She knew it, somewhere, the cat with the tabby fur…
At $28 the new Hourglass Film Noir Mascara is priced more like a big budget Hollywood blockbuster than art house film noir.
Available in a single shade, Onyx, a deep, dark jet black, it borrows a page (or two) from Chanel’s new $30 Inimitable Intense Mascara — sleek, sophisticated packaging, similar lash lengthening prowess and volume plumping powers; all that, and it lifts curls, keeps them lifted all day long and resists smudging, too.
What Hourglass says about Film Noir…
- That it conditions and hydrates lashes with pro-vitamin B5
- That polymers in the formula help it adhere to lashes while also resisting smudging and fading
- The triple-cut, hourglass-shaped brush distributes the product across lashes while creating volume, lift and length
- It’s free of parabens, sulfates and pthalates
While similar, Inimitable’s spiky lash look limits its flexibility. It’s also not the easiest product to layer (gets clumpy and messy after one layer).
Film Noir has the smoother formula (how smooth is it?). It’s smoother than that sweet talking ex-boyfriend who kept making excuses for not returning your Notorious B.I.G. CDs…
I’m not bitter. 🙂
And it doesn’t clump at all, not even after three (or more!) layers, delivering beautiful definition.
I didn’t have a cubic inch of extra room in my bag when I packed for that trip to Reno a couple weeks ago, so instead of bringing my usual brigade of face products (tinted moisturizer, stick foundation, liquid foundation… Um, have I ever mentioned that I tend to overpack?), I lightened my load with LORAC’s new Evening Out Complexion Kit ($38).
The sleek gunmetal compact must have been made with on-the-go girl secret agents in mind because concealment is the name of this game.
The kit comes with a powder foundation, two cream concealers, a sponge applicator and a tiny Jane Bond-ian concealer brush. 🙂
Available in Light, Medium or Tan (the one I have), it covered all of my bases (and most of my skin imperfections) on the trip, working well no matter what outfits I wore, from ripped jeans to my favorite black cocktail dress.
When I wanted light, natural looking coverage during the day, I applied the powder foundation with a brush. Then at night I’d apply the finely-milled powder (has a medium opacity) with the included sponge. Because the powder layers well, it never looked like a heavy makeup mask.
Swatches of Tan on NC35 skin from left: Powder Foundation, Light Concealer, Dark Concealer
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Darth Vader: Bobbi, you do not yet realize your importance. You have only begun to discover your power. Join me, and I will complete your training. With our combined strength, we can end this destructive conflict and bring order to the galaxy.
Bobbi Brown: Speak to me.
Darth Vader: If you only knew the power of the Dark Side…
Actually, Bobbi does know the power of the Dark Side. She joined it this fall, but not in an evil empire kind of way (I would totally buy a Vader lipstick! 
).
Bobbi’s new 14-piece Black Velvet collection (pieces $20-24 each) features, as one might expect, a selection of sooty black-based makeup for eyes and lips, and since we’re talking about the Queen of Wearable Makeup here, there’s nothing too cray-cray in the mix. The colors have all been dialed down enough to make them suitable for sidewalks AND catwalks.
Yes, each of the new permanent collection products and limited edition shades is influenced by black, but Bobbi kept everything street- and workplace-friendly, adding plums, cherries and maple tones, as well as a few semi-transparent shades.
My lips like these dark lipsticks; they totally take me back to the gothy mid-’90s, when night shades and black lips were all the rage. Those were my college years, and I remember getting a lot of use out of a color that was similar to Bobbi’s Lip Color in Black Maple (can’t remember the name, but it was also a semi-matte blackish plum), which I’d wear with plaid shirts, ripped jeans, big hoop earrings and Converse high tops. 🙂
Here are some swatches and pics from the new collection… Let me know what you think!
Clockwise from bottom: Sparkle Eyeshadow in Black Velvet ($24), Metallic Eyeshadow in Black Berry ($24) and Eyeshadow in Black Chocolate ($20)
Clockwise from bottom: Sheer Lip Gloss in Black Chocolate ($20), Lip Color in Black Maple ($22) and Creamy Lip Color in Black Cherry ($22)
Swatches from left on NC35 skin: Sparkle Eyeshadow in Black Velvet, Metallic Eyeshadow in Black Berry, Eyeshadow in Black Chocolate, Kohl Eyeliner in Black Chocolate, Kohl Eyeliner in Black, Creamy Lip Color in Black Cherry, Lip Color in Black Maple, Sheer Lip Gloss in Black Chocolate
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Sometimes “quick” describes something bad…
Like the blind date I went on some years ago with the Beatles-hating dude who confessed to listening to nothing but techno music 24/7. I grew up on a steady diet of John, Paul, George and Ringo, so when he dissed Blackbird five minutes into the evening, something inside me went, “OH, HELL NO!” I faked a headache halfway through my beer and hightailed it home.
And sometimes “quick” describes something good…
Like the new Chanel Inimitable Intense Mascara ($30, available in four shades), a new take on Chanel’s original Inimitable (a lengthening, curling, volumizing star!).
The O.G. version was born back in 2006. This new version 2.0 extends its predecessor’s double rainbow “all the way across the sky!” — with MORE lash drama on all fronts. Plus, because it works well even with a single layer, it’s also quick. 🙂
Can I get an “AMEN!” from my perpetually late/lazy makeup friends/fiends?
Whenever I’m in a hurry, deep, dark Noir hits the spot. A true black, it delivers the dramatic, spiky lash look I love.
The smooth consistency and shape of the brush head make it easy to build volume beginning at the base of the lash. A single layer delivers noticeably longer, smudge-resistant lashes with all-day curl hold.
As much as I love how glossy Becca’s Creme Eye Colour in Ametrine looks on my lids ($28, one of eight shades), dagnabbit if it doesn’t disappear quicker than pints of Häagen-Dazs Dulce de Leche ice cream in my freezer.
Shimmery golden brown Ametrine has lots of good stuff going for it — great pigment, shimmer and a blendable texture (I’ll use it with my fingers). It bestows a dewy finish that looks youthful and fresh, too, which is no easy feat on this 30-something girl.
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