Eyes

It’s a Drugstore Jamboree! Milani Releases New Powder Eyeshadow Palettes, Baked Eyeshadows, Mascaras and Nail Lacquers for Spring 2012

March 11th, 2012 by Karen 10 Comments

milani spring 2012

Looks like someone had fun with their paint brushes, hello! Milani’s new spring 2012 eyeshadow palettes look like they’ve been splattered by paint.

I like it, and I also like that none of the products pictured here cost more than $10 (actually, depending on the store, none are more than $8.49!).

Here’s a quick look, with the official PR breakdown at the bottom of the post. Reviews and swatches coming soon.

Please, please let these be good… They have drugstore awesomeness written all over them.

paint powder eyeshadow palette
Powder Eyeshadow Palette in Paint

paint powder eyeshadow palette

milani impressionist powder eyeshadow palette
Powder Eyeshadow Palette in Impressionist
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This Is BIG: The Tips at Both Ends of the EstÃ¨e Lauder Pure Color Intense Kajal Eye Crayon Duo in White Sands/Molten Lava Are BIG!

March 9th, 2012 by Karen 18 Comments

estee lauder white sands molten lava

It doesn’t look like the trend toward super-sized makeup is leaving the building any time soon, and generally, that’s fine by me (as long as prices don’t rise and the products still fit in my purse).

There’s also something to be said for the ability to spot these oversized products from half a mile away, like the jumbo tips attached to both ends of EstÃ¨e Lauder’s $24 Pure Color Intense Kajal Eye Crayon Duo in White Sands/Molten Lava.

Dang, those things are huge!

estee lauder bronze goddess capri shimmering mirage gloss eye duo in white sands molten lava
Pure Color Gloss in Shimmering Mirage (top) and Pure Color Intense Kajal Eye Crayon Duo in White Sands/Molten Lava (bottom)

EstÃ¨e Lauder Pure Color Intense Kajal Eye Crayon Duo in White Sands/Molten Lava hails from the new Bronze Goddess Capri summer collection.

I’ve been applying eyeliner for years and have a good deal of experience under my belt, but I am still a little afraid of poking an eye out with these gargantuan things…

(NOTE: It doesn’t come with a sharpener, but there is one sold separately for $6.)

estee lauder white sands molten lava swatches
Molten Lava (left) and White Sands (right)
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Milani’s New Spring 2012 Runway Eyes Eyeshadows for Spring 2012 Have Something Big in Common With Tabs

March 5th, 2012 by Karen 33 Comments

I like my kitty supermodels chunky…

E! True Hollywood Story: Tabs the Cat, from Stray to Supermodel

…and my eyeshadows smooove, like Ryan Gosling. 🙂

Last weekend I gave Milani’s three new spring 2012 Runway Eyes eyeshadows a try, but instead of marveling at their sparkly abundance and bodacious $6.99 price tag, I kept getting distracted by something in the mirror…

Chunks, and not the kind I like.

When I apply these dry, I can see the grains chillin’ on top of my eyelids. No, they aren’t the smoothest shadows at the rodeo, if you catch my drift.

Applied wet, using a brush moistened with MAC Fix+, seems to smooth out the texture. It also intensifies the shimmery colors of these shadows, in particular Golden Touch (the golden beige) and Peaches & Cream (the silvery peach), but I still see stray grains on my lids that I feel the urge to buff.

Golden khaki Antigua, on the other hand, gets closer to great. I think it looks and feels smoother than the other two shades, and at least for me, with its hint of gray, has the most star power among these three.

From the left, Antigua, Golden Touch and Peaches & Cream applied dry (the three shades on the left) and wet (the three shades on the right)
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Boing! Benefit Adds Three New Shades to the Boi-ing Concealer Line

March 3rd, 2012 by Karen 14 Comments

Benefit boi-ing

Boing!

Boing! Boing! Boing!

Benefit Boi-ing concealer, that is. 🙂 B’s bestselling cream concealer is getting three new shades.

A sheer cream concealer designed to disguise under-eye circles and blemishes, Boi-ing has been part of the Benefit line for years. The new shades include a revamped shade No. 03, also known as Deep, and two new darker shades in 04 and 05, bringing the total number of shades to five.

benefit boi-ing (3)
Clockwise from the pan in the lower left: 03, 04 and 05

I’ve actually Boinged before…and when I did, I didn’t feel like any of the colors really suited my NC42 skin. Now, among all of the shades, the new version of 03 seems like the closest color match for me.

benefit boi-ing (4)
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These Bronze Sands Are Limited Edition in Capri: The New Estée Lauder Five Color Gelée Powder EyeShadow Palette in Bronze Sands

March 1st, 2012 by Karen 43 Comments

estee lauder bronze sands (3)

Earlier today on my walk outside with Tabs, I felt a chill in my bones. It was a little breezy and crisp today, but you wouldn’t have known it looking at Tabs. He just slinked along in his built-in fur coat, pulling me behind him on his leash.

When he felt he’d adequately secured the perimeter of the front yard and noticed me shivering, he reluctantly agreed to accompany me back inside the house.

As soon as we shut the door, I made a beeline for my makeup, thinking that a summery, beachy look would warm my cold bones. I grabbed the new Estée Lauder Pure Color Five Color Gelée Powder EyeShadow Palette in Bronze Sands ($45).

estee lauder bronze goddess capri bronze sands

Like a ray of late afternoon sunlight in the sunshine-stocked Bronze Goddess Capri Collection, Bronze Sands shelters five metallic powder eyeshadows in shades of gold, bronze, beige, brown and teal. A few swipes of these soft, smooth powders, which feel almost like a cream to me, and my lids glow with rich, shiny color.

Nice. 🙂

estee lauder bronze sands (1)

Other than a few flecks of teal and brown shadow showing up on my cheeks and beneath my lower lash lines, I don’t notice much fallout from these at all.

estee lauder bronze sands (2)
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Hone Your Tough Girl Edge With Dolce & Gabbana’s Intense Khol Eye Crayons

February 24th, 2012 by Karen 13 Comments

dolce & gabbana khol collection

The sweet pastel colors currently cavorting across makeup counters had better make room. Dolce & Gabbana’s new $29 Intense Khol Eye Crayons recently roared into town, and they are not messing around.

In a season of soft pinks, peaches and greens, these mostly jewel-toned eyeliners, part of Dolce & Gabbana’s new Khol collection, might as well be wearing motorcycle jackets and riding Harleys way too fast, because for spring, that’s how edgy and rebellious they look.

Add one of these rich, intensely pigmented pencils into your spring makeup mix and BAM! — you’re born to be wild. 🙂

All five fierce shades are swimming in pigment — a nice offset for the hefty price — with some of the strongest colors I’ve ever seen from the brand.

And the texture? Oh, the texture… Smoother than a tub of organic cream cheese.

Mmm… bagels and cream cheese.

I’m sorry, where was I? Oh, yeah! — the texture. Absolutely no tugging whatsoever.

Yesterday, I felt like trying something a little different, so I wore all five shades in a single look. I slipped the liners along my lash and water lines in the morning, and 10 hours later, they were still going strong, with nary a smudge and very little fading.

dolce & gabbana khol collection

dolce gabbana khol collection liner swatches
Intense Khol Eye Crayon swatches from the left to the right: Peacock, True Black, True White, Chocolate and Dahlia
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Milani Brightens Up With Three New Marbelized Baked Eyeshadows for Spring

February 24th, 2012 by Karen 31 Comments

milani marbelized baked eyeshadows

What started as a marbelous gray, black, gold and dark blue dalliance last spring is now a much brighter affair. Milani is moving winter aside and making way for spring with three playful new Marbelized Baked Eyeshadows ($7.49 each).

First of all, I love their names! 🙂 Must Have Fuchsia, Copper Excess and Green Fortune just seem so perfectly apt. A minor thing, but sometimes for me it’s the minor things that make the biggest impressions.

milani marbelized baked eyeshadows

milani marbelized baked eyeshadows
From the left: Copper Excess, Green Fortune and Must Have Fuchsia
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A Veritable Verdigris of Viridian Shimmers in LancÃ´me’s Color Design Eye Palette in Vert Tendresse

February 22nd, 2012 by Karen 15 Comments

lancome vert tendresse (2)

I’m not sure when or why it happened, but somewhere along the way, someone out there decided that it was quite the faux pas to appear overly color coordinated.

Seriously, what’s up with that? — because I think it’s actually harder and MORE exhausting (at least for me) to try to avoid looking too matchy-matchy/color coordinated than it is to just go ahead and match.

And, truth be told, I like wearing things that match because it gives me one less thing to think about. I’ll take color coordination over chaos any old day, like matching shoes and bags, cats and nail polishes, foods and eyeshadows…

Okay, that last one was a little weird. 🙂

But it’s true! Right now I’m actually contemplating sneaking off to Baskin-Robbins to get a scoop of their green pistachio ice cream to go with the green shadows I’m wearing on my lids, thanks to LancÃ´me’s Color Design Eye Palette in Vert Tendresse ($49), one of the brand’s new eye palettes for spring.

The five-color palette recently launched with La Roseraie Illuminating Smooth Powder and Color Fever Gloss in Green Petal in the 11-piece Roseraie des Delices collection.

With four shadows and a powder liner in shades of warm mint and forest green, Vert Tendresse feels lush and verdant to me, like Dior’s 5 Couleurs Garden Pastels Eyeshadow Palette on Miracle-Gro, and I’ve been wearing it lately whenever I’ve felt like wearing something fresh and shimmery in traditional spring shades.

I also love the dark powder liner LancÃ´me included here. It’s a grayish glittery green with a tough girl edge, and if LancÃ´me ever decides to release it as a pencil, I’ll be all over that.

lancome vert tendresse (1)

lancome vert tendresse (5)
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