Product Reviews

Purple Plus Matte Equals Music to My Ears: The New Guerlain Ecrin 4 Couleurs Eyeshadow Palette in Les Violines

September 4th, 2014 by Karen 14 Comments

Guerlain Les Violines Ecrin 4 Couleurs Long-Lasting Eyeshasdows — Wearing the new Guerlain Ecrin 4 Couleurs Eyeshadow Palette in Les Violines ($63)

It occurred to me while fiendishly gurgling on my third cup of coffee this morning and scouring every surface of my office (including the floor) for my missing, precious pan of MAC Soft Brown (I eventually found it) that on any given second of any given day, there are women, and makeup-loving men, around the world joining Team Matte Eyeshadow.

If you’ve already been drafted, congratulations, and welcome. 🙂 Now check it — Guerlain’s new Ecrin 4 Couleurs in Les Violines is like the Super Bowl for violet eyeshadow lovahs.

It’s $63, which, ya know, is business as usual at Guerlain, but if you’re open to the idea of paying that much and have a yearning, burning love for matte purples, I think these are pretty great.

Les Violines strums a tune about violet. Its three lightest shades are tonally near and dear to each other, making them ideal for blown-out matte purple looks with smooth transitions, like what I’m wearing on my lids in these pics. I paired Violines with contoured cheeks and a slightly shiny berry lip, for a look that I think has that meow-rrific ’90s thing going for it.

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Laura Mercier’s New High Coverage Concealer For Under Eye Disguises Dark Circles, But Demands Significant Elbow Grease

September 3rd, 2014 by Karen 13 Comments

Laura Mercier High Coverage Concealer For Under Eye in shade 4 — Wearing the new Laura Mercier High Coverage Concealer For Under Eye ($28) to cover up ye olde dreaded dark circles

If your current full-coverage under-eye concealer were a skimpy Brazilian-cut bikini, then Laura Mercier’s new High Coverage Concealer ($28 for a 0.27-oz. tube) would be a Victorian Era bathing costume, complete with skirt, bloomers, bonnet and shoes.

In other words, no skin be showin’ here, ma! Those dark circles will be covered-the-eff-up.

A recent addition to Laura’s permanent line, High Coverage is referred to as “three in one” by Team LM. It’s supposed to cover, de-puff and brighten under-eye circles, all at the same time, and it comes in 12 shades that correspond to the colors in Laura’s existing Secret Concealer range.

I had hoped to experience significant makeup nirvana testing High Coverage based on how much I’ve been loving the new Smooth Finish Flawless Fluide Foundation Laura released at the same time (one word: amazing), but to be honest, my feelings run hot and cold… My overall opinion depends on how psycho my skin is acting on any given day.

Annoying Dry Skin Issues: Chapter 1,576

My under-eye area is usually some degree of dry, from slightly dry to very, and when it’s very dry, High Coverage Concealer does not look cute.

Yes, it completely covers my dark circles, which is great, but the texture looks thick and heavy, and cracks appear around my fine lines.

It’s a different story, however, when my skin is behaving better (and I also jump through some extra hoops, which I’ll describe in a moment), in which case, High Coverage looks and works great. The cracking is kept to a minimum, and the texture looks natural.

Being somewhat dry and thick (it looks and feels like a thick paste, as opposed to a runny liquid), the formula is also pigmented — things that don’t often lend themselves to easy blending — so if you attempt to half-@ss the application, you could be in for a janky surprise (particularly if you have mature skin).

The way around it is to really get in there and do the work, and if you do, High Coverage can look lovely.

Here’s how I apply it

A drop the size of a pin head is enough, literally, to do both eyes. The back of the tube recommends dotting a bit on a fingertip and patting that beneath your eyes, but I tried that and wasn’t too crazy about the way it turned out. I thought it looked a little heavy…

Instead, I load a smidgen on the back of my hand, where I sheer it out using a synthetic tapered blending brush (you could use a brush with natural fibers for this, but I find that synthetic brush heads usually have stiffer bristles, which in this case handle the thick-ish formula better.)

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For Comfort and Eye-Catching Color, Try Sonia Kashuk’s $8.99 Lustrous Shine Lip Crayons

September 1st, 2014 by Karen 10 Comments

Sonia Kashuk Lustrous Shine Lip Crayon in Peony — Wearing Sonia Kashuk’s new Lustrous Shine Lip Crayon in Peony ($8.99), one of four shades available now at Target

Yet one more reason to go fan-girl over Sonia Kashuk: the unfathomably high levels of pigment in her new Lustrous Shine Lip Crayons.

Sonia Kashuk Lustrous Shine Lip Crayons Orchid (left) and Peony (right) — Orchid (left) and Peony (right)

I can’t believe these $8.99 retractable crayons aren’t more expensive. Smooth, silky and lightweight like a lip balm, they remind me a lot of pricier products from Too Faced and Benefit.

Sonia Kashuk Lustrous Shine Lip Crayon swatches in Peony (left) and Orchid (right) — Peony (left) and Orchid (right)

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Giorgio Armani Beauty’s New Fall 2014 Eyes To Kill Liners Have Killer Shine

August 28th, 2014 by Karen 16 Comments

Wearing Giorgio Armani Beauty's Eyes To Kill Liner in Rose Iron — Wearing Giorgio Armani Beauty’s Eyes To Kill Liner in Rose Iron

With his heat ray vision, Superman has eyes to kill.

Medusa has eyes to kill (well, turn you to stone, but that’s basically the same thing).

And now, with new Giorgio Armani Eyes to Kill Liners (called Ametista, Oro Oscuro, Perla Nera and Quarzo on the website), we mere mortals can also have eyes to kill.

Shiny eyes to kill, because when I wear these liquid liners on my lash lines, I feel like I have shine for days, yo!

But it’s an unusual shine…

Starting at the finish

“Muted metallic.” That’s how I describe the finish. Mind you, it’s not as frosty or shiny as some metallic or glitter liners, like the kind you might see at Urban Decay or MAC, some of which reflect so much light that you can look like you’re wearing a costume if you go too far with them.

There’s no mistaking these for matte — that’s for sure — but the shiny finish seems softer to me, more diffused and more elegant than the finish that a lot of other shiny liners have.

Giorgio Armani Beauty Eyes to Kill Liner in Rose Iron — Rose Iron on my lash lines, MAC Smolder on my water lines, and Armani’s Black Ecstasy Mascara on my lashes

Not everyone is gonna get the distinction. Like, El Hub, adorable yet clueless dude that he is, he probably wouldn’t get it. “What’s the big whoop?” he’d say. “They just look shiny to me.”

Now, if you’re the kind of guy or gal who carries eight different black liners in your makeup bag and can quickly rattle off their names and differences, you’ll probably appreciate these and their muted metallic finish.

Giorgio Armani Eyes To Kill Liners from the purple shade on the left: 3 Mercury Nude, 2 Acid Gold and 3 Rose Iron — Giorgio Armani Eyes To Kill Liners from the purplish shade on the left: 3 Mercury Nude, 2 Acid Gold and 3 Rose Iron

Easy-peasy application

As for the formula itself and the way these feel, one word: bomb. They’re sort of halfway between a liquid and a cream, almost like a watery gel, and it makes them easy to control, especially with the included, fine-tipped brush applicator. With it, I can easily draw skinny and thick lines with sharp edges in a single swipe.

Giorgio Armani Eyes To Kill Liner — With a MAC Lipglass for scale

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In the MAC Artificially Wild Collection, MAC Takes Nudes Underground With Dirty Mauves, Sooty Greys and Golden Beige Browns

August 21st, 2014 by Karen 24 Comments

Did you ever read Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? It’s the Phillip K. Dick story that inspired Bladerunner, and in it there are these ultra realistic android animals, like robotic dogs and cats, that some people have as pets because many of the real animals are driven extinct during a world war. Only the mega rich can afford to have living, breathing pets. Everyone else’s animals are artificially wild…

Which brings me to this: MAC Artificially Wild.

Based on MAC’s promo pics for the 22-piece release, truth be told, I was kinda freaked out. The camo, the dark shadows under the model’s eyes — it seemed potentially drab and depressing, and I couldn’t see myself feeling good in a look like that.

But I liked the overall idea. Nudes, with a subversive, fight-the-power angle. Instead of regular warm, buttery browns and beiges, there were dirty mauves, sooty greys, golden beige browns and a light sprinkling of khaki.

In the end, the call of the wild was too strong to resist. After playing with the products, I started to come around…

It was kind of like when you see a dress that you’d never pick out for yourself on a hanger, but just for kicks, you try it on, and then you think, “OK. Yeah. I can work this.”

Cheek products for contouring

There are some cool things here…like the cheek products, in particular. A couple of ’em contour and carve out cheekbones better than Michelangelo. I really like the Powder Blush in Taupe, which transforms my chubby cherub cheeks into chiseled choppers capable of cutting concrete.

I think Cream Colour Base in Breaking Ground deserves mentioning. A purplish gray mauve, you can use it below your cheekbones to create well-placed shadows on your face. Chanel did something like it a while back with a powder blush called Notorious… Breaking Ground is basically a cream version.

MAC Eye Shadow in Artificial Earth — Artificial Earth

MAC Eye Shadow in Marsh — Eye Shadow in Marsh

MAC Eye Shadow in Natural Wilderness — Eye Shadow in Natural Wilderness

MAC Powder Blush in Next to Skin — Powder Blush in Next to Skin

MAC Powder Blush in Pink Cult — Pink Cult

MAC Cream Colour Base in Breaking Ground — Breaking Ground

MAC Cream Colour Base in Au Nature — Cream Colour Base in Au Nature

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MAC Lipstick in Shitake — Lipstick in Shitake

MAC Lipglass in Obviously Bare — Obviously Bare

MAC Lipglass in De Nude — Lipglass in De Nude

MAC Eye Shadows in Artificial Earth, Stony, Marsh and Natural Wilderness — From the left, Eye Shadows in Artificial Earth, Stony, Marsh and Natural Wilderness

MAC Powder Blushes in Taupe, Next to Skin and Pink Cult — Powder Blushes in Taupe, Next to Skin and Pink Cult

MAC Cream Colour Bases in Breaking Ground and Au Nature — Cream Colour Bases in Breaking Ground and Au Nature

Lipsticks in Icon and Shitake

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Turn on Your Eye High Beams With the Giorgio Armani Beauty Fall 2014 Fade to Grey Eyeshadow Palette

August 20th, 2014 by Karen 19 Comments

Wearing the new Giorgio Armani Fall 2014 Fade to Grey Eyeshadow Palette, $88 (!)

Words one does not expect to hear at a Giorgio Armani Beauty counter: “Where’s, like, the dollar menu?”

Because everything is pricey! — like this new $88 eye palette from Giorgio Armani’s Fade to Grey fall 2014 collection.

That’s a lot of glow, yo.

The sleek, stylish black packaging houses two absolutely beautiful eye luminous shimmer shadows, side by side — one, a warm, shimmery golden peach, and the other a purply taupe-ish grey.

On lids, these shadows are like Buzz Lightyear, reflecting light to infinity and beyond. The super shiny finish makes my eyes look BIG, doe-eyed and bright, and the effect is even more pronounced when I incorporate a dramatic mascara, like Armani’s new Black Ecstasy, which I’m wearing here.

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For a Plush Pout, Call 1-800-NARS Velvet Lip Liner

August 20th, 2014 by Karen 18 Comments

NARS Nihiwatu Velvet Lip Liner — Wearing the new NARS Velvet Lip Liner in Nihiwatu ($24)

Ooh! shiny…

But not shiny like the sparkling mega twinkle of Ryan Gosling’s smile. More like the shiny finish of a classic Chanel flap bag — ideally one in black leather with gold hardware (that’s a hint, El Hub, in case we win the $160 million Mega Millions jackpot this week).

Um…please excuse my crazy hair and lack of makeup today, LOL! I literally put this face on in five minutes before snapping these pics (it’s a long story, but it has to do with tomorrow and a certain long-running American cartoon).

NARS Velvet Lip Liners from the left: Lanikai, Belle Mare, El Agua, Costa Smeralda, Nihiwatu, Playa Dorado, Anse Soleil, Waimea, Patong Beach, Medano Beach, Mirihi Island Beach and Karekare

Thanks to a slight sheen, these new $24 NARS Velvet Lip Liners (which are awesomely named after beaches!) pop in a way that matte lip liners don’t. The velvety finish reflects just enough light to be eye-catching. Because of it, you could probably even wear them alone and skip lipstick altogether if you wanted a long-wearing lip color that you didn’t have to touch up throughout the day.

NARS Velvet Lip Liner Swatches from the left: Lanikai, Belle Mare, El Agua, Costa Smeralda, Nihiwatu and Playa Dorado — Swatches from the left: Lanikai, Belle Mare, El Agua, Costa Smeralda, Nihiwatu and Playa Dorado

NARS Velvet Lip Liner Swatches from the left: Anse Soleil, Waimea, Patong Beach, Medano Beach, Mirihi Island Beach and Karekare — Anse Soleil, Waimea, Patong Beach, Medano Beach, Mirihi Island Beach and Karekare

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The New NARS Audacious Lipstick Collection: The Wines and Browns

August 18th, 2014 by Karen 37 Comments

That’s the new NARS Audacious Lipstick in Ingrid ($32; one of 40 shades) on my lips

BOOYAH! Who’s down with the brown?

How about the wine?

I’m always down with the wine…

I’m actually talking about lipsticks right now. 🙂

Yes, I have a soft spot for the colors in this last batch of new NARS Audacious Lipsticks (the wines and browns) because I spent my college days wearing these colors.

That was back in the ’90s, which appear to be having a resurgence… You know, what’s old is new again, and all that.

Now, if we were talking about the return of lacy plastic chokers, I would not be able to deal, but I’m totally down with ’90s-style brown and wine lipsticks staging a comeback, particularly ones with an interesting twist, like these seven shades here…

NARS Audacious Lipsticks from the left: Charlotte, Leslie, Olivia, Bette, Sandra, Deborah and Ingrid — From the left: Charlotte, Leslie, Olivia, Bette, Sandra, Deborah and Ingrid ($32 each)

Instead of a flat matte ’90s-style finish, these NARS Audacious wines and browns have a dreamy, creamy finish, a super smooth texture and tons of pigment, making them 100% worthy of toting around in your little black satin backpack.

First, the browns…

The Browns: Leslie, Sandra and Deborah

Leslie, Sandra and Deborah are quintessential ’90s colors.

Deborah, a chestnut, seems like the closest one to a straight-up ’90s brown. Just add spaghetti strap dress and white baby tee to complete the ensemble.

NARS Audacious Lipstick in Deborah — Deborah

Meanwhile, Sandra and Leslie may look like they’re twinning, but upon closer inspection, they do have their differences. Reach for Leslie if you want something redder, and Sandra for something deeper and richer.

NARS Audacious Lipstick in Sandra — Sandra (Barneys New York exclusive)

NARS Audacious Lipstick in Leslie — Leslie

If you’re unsure what to wear with your brown lipsticks, you could go with brown eyeshadow, for sure, but when I wear brown on my eyes and my lips, I feel like it can look a little monotone/one note, so with brown lips, I’ll usually opt for reddish browns, purples, bronzes or coppery colors on my eyes, like here in these pics (that’s Tom Ford’s Cognac Sable Eye Quad and MAC Costa Riche Eye Kohl).

The Wines: Olivia, Charlotte, Bette and Ingrid

Olivia, a garnet wine, and Charlotte, a burgundy, are the lighter options. If you can’t decide between the two, I suggest Olivia if you like warmer colors, and Charlotte if you like cooler color temps on your kisser.

NARS Audacious Lipstick in Olivia — Olivia

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