Product Reviews

If You Ask Givenchy, Summer Is Sheer! Say Hello to the Shimmery New Ete A Fleur de Peau Collection for Summer 2012

April 25th, 2012 by Karen 11 Comments

Ah… Do you feel that light breeze caressing your cheeks? Isn’t it nice? It’s like the wind is giving us a kiss. 🙂

Givenchy went that same easy, breezy route this summer with their new six-piece A Fleur de Peau Collection for Summer 2012 collection. It’s all about barely-there color, dainty shimmer and soft, natural shades.

“Brunch makeup!” — that’s what I thought about these pieces the first time I saw them, and I tested them out on an actual brunch with El Hub last Saturday, when I slipped on four of the six products before doing some damage on a short stack of banana pancakes.

Ombre A Fleur de Peau Luminescent Cream Eyeshadows, $34 each

Wow! Look at all that glitter… Oh, hai! These potted cream shadows deposit loads of shimmer and sheer color. Unfortunately, Pearly Nude (a nude peach with silver glitter) and Pearly Rose (a nude pink with silver glitter) start creasing on me in less than an hour. The glitter stays put, though (weird!) and lasts all day long. Despite the colors creasing, I do like how these light up my eyes.
MAKEUP AND BEAUTY BLOG RATING: B

Magic Kajal Eye Pencil Intense in Delicate Nude #2, $22.50

I like how creamy this matte beige eyeliner feels, and I think it does a stellar job of brightening up my eyes when I wear it along my lower water line, but it gives up the ghost after two hours and straight-up disappears, POOF!
MAKEUP AND BEAUTY BLOG RATING: B-

Rouge Interdit Satin Lipstick in Delicate Rose, $30

My favorite thing from this launch! Pigmented, lightweight and smooth? Yes, please! This soft rose has a near-blinding mirror shine, but the wear time is only okay (about three hours). I do adore the packaging — so elegant! — and the faint rose flavor and scent.
MAKEUP AND BEAUTY BLOG RATING: A-

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Wander Into the Garden of Long-Wearing Liquid Lipsticks With Obsessive Compulsive Cosmetics and the Garden Collection Lip Tars

April 24th, 2012 by Karen 33 Comments

Wearing Obsessive Compulsive Cosmetics Lip Tar in Belladonna

Gardening. I’m obsessed with gardening. But not the botanical kind, at least not today. Today, I’m obsessed with Obsessive Compulsive Cosmetics, and the new Lip Tars from their Garden collection.

It’s easy to get lost in this garden because it’s filled with psychotropic plants, dude (like Kava Kava). And poisonous ones (like Belladonna).

obsessive compulsive cosmetics the garden lip tars
Lip Tars from the left: Pennyroyal, Kava Kava, Ophelia, Digitalis, Belladonna and Chlorophyll

For their spring and summer 2012 Garden collection/harvest, Obsessive Compulsive Cosmetics (OCC) is growing six new Lip Tar shades for the company’s permanent line, and all of them are named after plants.

No, not roses and daisies. 🙂 Not this time. You won’t find any ruffles and bows here. This Garden is wicked! — as you can tell by the color names, but most of the shades themselves, which range from pinks, browns and corals to a smattering of edgier purples and greens, are actually pretty wearable.

OCC has a full range of 100-percent vegan and cruelty-free makeup made without parabens and preservatives, but the Lip Tars are probably their most popular product.

Sticking with the botany metaphor, if you crossed a long-wearing, full-coverage liquid lipstick with a gloss, and then squeezed it into a tiny tube, you’d get a Lip Tar, tada! Opaque coverage and out-of-this-world wear time makes them special.

Just squeeze out a tiny bead, and spread it over your lips with a lip brush or finger (yea!). They start out glossy but dry down to a satin finish.

SO pretty!

Of this bunch, I think I like brown Pennyroyal and coral Kava Kava the most. I think they look the most natural/wearable, but some of the others also look fun.

obsessive compulsive cosmetics pennyroyal
Pennyroyal

obsessive compulsive cosmetics kava kava
Kava Kava

So how long do they really last?

We’re talkin’ hours and hours. They’re total long-wearing rock stars. On my lips, they start looking sketchy after about six hours, when a visible line of product begins to build up along the inner part of my lower lip. No biggie — I just scrape it off.

It’s only after about six hours when they start to fade, slowly and evenly, until they eventually disappear between hours 8-10.

They even last through meals, beverages and repeated kitty kisses (“Give mama a kiss, mwah!“) without migrating or fading at all.

More details…

Texture: So lightweight and comfortable! Sometimes I forget I’m wearing anything on my lips at all.
Packaging: On the one hand, the tubes are great. They make it easy to precisely control how much product I use, cutting down on waste, but they aren’t the most elegant products in terms of presentation… Still, I think it fits their personality.
Flavor and scent: It’s faint in both cases. A combination of peppermint…and wax. I don’t mind the peppermint part so much, but the wax? I could do without. Thankfully, both are very faint and fade in under a minute.
Hydration: I wouldn’t call them exceptionally moisturizing, but at least they don’t make my lips drier and worse, which is good for a such long-wearing product.

Now, if you’re looking for something funkier than Pennyroyal and Kava Kava and don’t mind a bit more work, Belladonna (a bright grape), Digitalis (a pinkish violet), Ophelia (a pink) and Chlorophyll (a bright green) might be more your speed. I find that I get better results when I use a brush to apply all four of these.

NOTE: The lighter pastel colors appear to slightly emphasize the vertical wrinkles in my lips, and the green shade, Chlorophyll, applies a little patchy.

obsessive compulsive cosmetics ophelia
Ophelia
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Is That a Shimmery Plum Mirage? Or Is It the NARS Soft Touch Shadow Pencil in Calabria?

April 19th, 2012 by Karen 11 Comments

Wearing NARS Calabria Soft Touch Shadow Pencil softly smudged along the lower lash line

The day I married El Hub was a pretty great day, but the day I try a new NARS Soft Touch Shadow Pencil ($24) and can say, “Wow! NARS finally made one of these that lasts all day without fading or creasing!” will rank pretty high up there, too.

These multitasking morsels are creamy makeup triple threats! — rock star chic shadows, primers and eyeliners rolled into one — and NARS likes releasing them in gorgeously luscious shades with a glossy, shiny finish.

Thing is, all of the ones I’ve tried before haven’t lasted long on my lids. They’ll look great for about 20 minutes but then start to crease and fade. It’s a bummer, because I love the colors so much that I keep anticipating every new one in the hopes that one of them, one of these days, will last longer.

Will it be Calabria, the new shimmery plum shade released with the Summer 2012 collection? Will it be THE ONE to finally last all day long on my lids? Ah, the places we’d go together… Trader Joe’s, the movies, Petco — you know, all of the glam spots up here in Novato, LOL!

Let’s find out. 🙂

nars summer 2012 never say never calabria buenos aires
Never Say Never Velvet Matte Lip Pencil ($24), Calabria Soft Touch Shadow Pencil ($24) and Buenos Aires Velvet Gloss Lip Pencil ($24)

nars calabria swatch

nars calabria
Additional makeup worn in this look: CK One Color Cream + Powder Blush Duo in Happiness and NARS Laguna Bronzer on my cheeks, Becca Anniversary Palette in Dusty Rose on my lips and MAC Zoom Fast Black Lash on my lashes
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Celebrating 10 Years of Makeup With the Multi-Use Becca Anniversary Palettes

April 19th, 2012 by Karen 16 Comments

becca anniversary palettes
Wearing the Becca Anniversary Palette in Vintage Jewel on my cheeks and lips

Oh, Starbucks Soy Chai Latte… You’ve powered me through countless first drafts. But sometimes you can be sooo demanding! Sorry, but isn’t it better to hear bad news from a friend?

It might not always be obvious, but when we meet at Starbucks in the mornings, I’m usually…asleep. Or very nearly. It’s often terribly early, but I look forward to our visits, and so I’ve made some time-saving adjustments to my regular makeup routine in order to make our appointments.

I know you’ve wondered about my cheeks…and how they can look so fresh and flushed, and how my lips can look so glossy, so early in the morning.

You see, I have a secret, and I’m about to share it with you (because that’s what BFFs do). The credit goes to Becca’s new Anniversary Palettes.

Becca recently released two $36 limited edition palettes to commemorate their 10-year anniversary (makeup-versary?), and they’re both really great for creating quick makeup looks without a lot fuss.

Both Dusty Rose and Vintage Jewel come with four cream products each (a Lip & Cheek CrÃ¨me, a CrÃ¨me Blush, a Lip Gloss and a CrÃ¨me Highlighter) in a mix of new and old shades, which I usually use my fingers to apply (because I lack the coordination for brush work so soon after dawn). The palettes are about the size of a regular powder compact, and they come with what looks like a makeup Snuggie — a cute chocolate brown zippered pouch.

becca vintage jewel
Vintage Jewel includes 1) Lip & Cheek CrÃ¨me in Snapdragon (a bright orange pink, new), 2) CrÃ¨me Blush in Hyacinth (a bright watermelon pink, repromote), 3) Lip Gloss in Cosmopolitan (a deep berry shimmer, new) and 4) CrÃ¨me Highlighter in Beechnut (a golden bronze, new)

One thing I admire about Becca is how well they seem to understand girls on the go, because the last thing I have time for when I’m rushing out the door at 6:30 in the morning is a smokey eye and a layered lip look with liner, lipstick and gloss. And maybe I don’t want to spend 15 or more minutes on my makeup. With the Anniversary Palettes, I can look refreshed and put-together in less than 5.

Say it’s the crack of dawn… I splash some water on my face, apply sunscreen, fill in my brows, swipe a little concealer under my eyes, and curl my lashes. Then, I grab one of the Becca Anniversary Palettes, blend a bit of CrÃ¨me Blush and CrÃ¨me Highlighter on my cheeks, and pat either the Lip & Cheek CrÃ¨me or the Lip Gloss on my lips.

The blushes and highlighters last a good 6-8 hours on me, and the lip products, about 2 (I also have to reapply them after meals).

becca dusty rose anniversary palette
Dusty Rose includes 1) Lip & Cheek CrÃ¨me in Tuberose (a coral pink, repromote), 2) CrÃ¨me Blush in Turkish Rose (a rosy nude, repromote), 3) Lip Gloss in Cassini (a pink, new) and 4) CrÃ¨me Highlighter in Narcissus (an opalescent peach, repromote)

becca anniversary palette swatches
Swatches from the left: Vintage Jewel Palette with 1) Lip & Cheek CrÃ¨me in Snapdragon, 2) CrÃ¨me Blush in Hyacinth, 3) Lip Gloss in Cosmopolitan and 4) CrÃ¨me Highlighter in Beechnut; Dusty Rose Palette with 5) Lip & Cheek CrÃ¨me in Tuberose, 6) CrÃ¨me Blush in Turkish Rose, 7) Lip Gloss in Cassini and 8 ) CrÃ¨me Highlighter in Narcissus
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Have you Met Marie-Galante? She’s the NARS Duo Wearing Sheer, Sparkly Blue and Purple on Her Eyes

April 18th, 2012 by Karen 15 Comments

nars marie galante

If sheer, sparkly shadows aren’t your thing, the new NARS Marie-Galante Eyeshadow Duo probably won’t be your cup of green tea, or if there’s a bumper sticker on your car that reads, “Addicted to pigment,” you may not find a lot to like here.

But if you have a thing for nuanced shades, feast your eyes on this…

nars marie galante

Wait — did she/I just say “nuanced”? Because it looks pretty pigmented in these pans.

Yup, you’re right. It does, but there’s a little more to it than that. The Marie-Galante Eyeshadow Duo is one of my favorite things from the NARS Summer 2012 collection.

On one side, a sheer violet brimming with bits of purple glitter; on the other, a rich, royal blue bursting with blue and purple glitter. The blue shade, the darker of the two, contains a smidgen more pigment than its purple partner, and it flashes on me from blue to purple in the light.

Neat!

The small flecks of glitter in both of these colors spread across my lids like stars on a clear night. Imagine purple and blue versions of NARS Night Star (one of my go-to shades), and you basically get Marie-Galante.

Last week I tried turning up the volume of these colors by layering them on top of the Calabria Soft Touch Shadow Pencil, but then I tried Marie-Galante all by herself.

Love!

The sheer shadows tint my lids, while the glitter, which goes on evenly and smooth, makes ’em glow, almost like they’re wet. And when the light catches my eyes just right, the darker blue shade looks purple!

nars marie galante

I like patting a layer of the lighter purple all over my lids and applying the darker blue along my upper lash line. Then, for some extra definition after blending both colors together, I line my upper water line with a black eye pencil and my lower water line with a nude liner.

Business lunch, anyone? I like both of these colors because they clearly have some personality, but they’re still reserved enough for work. Let me just do a quick curl with my Shu Uemura lash curler and apply a layer of MAC Zoom Fast Black Lash, and I’ll meet you at the restaurant.
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A Golden Shimmer Surrounds Tom Ford’s New Long-Lasting Cream Color for Eyes

April 18th, 2012 by Karen 24 Comments

tom ford guilt cream color for eyes

Tom Ford’s new line of Cream Color for Eyes cream eye shadows are easier on eyes than they are on purses and wallets, but I think the new $40 shadows are all kinds of awesome, especially if you like long-lasting makeup that doesn’t take a lot of fussing.

I’ve been getting to know Guilt and Illicit this week, two of the four limited edition shades, and both colors last all day long on my lids. Guilt, a warm, sheer golden shimmer, contains the finest flecks of gorgeous micro-glitter. And pearly reddish brown Illicit has a similar golden shimmer.

NOTE TO TOM: Please move these (and add more shades!) to the permanent line, because yeah, awesome!

For starters, they sure stick to lids. Both of them, Guilt and Illict, last all day long on my lids with or without an eye primer.

They’re fluffy, like a mousse, and feel wet. And they have a bit of bounce to ’em when I tap the pot with a finger. The consistency reminds me of the YSL Fard LumiÃ¨re AquarÃ©sistant, which I’ve long liked.

tom ford gold dust ultra shine lip gloss
Clockwise from the golden pot on the left: Cream Color for Eyes in Guilt ($35), Ultra Shine Lip Gloss in Gold Dust ($45) and Cream Color for Eyes in Illicit ($35)

tom ford spring 2012 swatches
Swatches from the left: Cream Color for Eyes in Illicit, Cream Color for Eyes in Guilt and Ultra Shine Lip Gloss in Gold Dust
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At NARS, Lips Play With Purple, Red and Rose for Summer 2012

April 17th, 2012 by Karen 20 Comments

NARS Never Say Never Velvet Matte Lip Pencil

Man, I’m so tired… (How tired am I?) I’m so tired that I could go to bed right now. In my work clothes. Without removing my makeup.

I actually tried to take a nap this afternoon — which I almost never do because it throws off my sleep schedule — but the phone rang right as I was dozing off.

Rinnng! Rinnng!

“Wha!? Hello? This is Karen.”

“Did I wake you?”

“Oh, hi Mom. No, I was just napping…” 🙂

My mom’s superpower is her ability to call right as I’m about to fall asleep (“Did I wake you?”), or at the exact moment I’m contemplating doing something potentially unwise (“What are you doing?”).

After the call, I considered just blowing off the rest of the afternoon, grabbing some fro-yo, and passing out on the couch, but then I wouldn’t have been able to share the revelations I had about the NARS Summer 2012 collection at the dentist earlier today.

Yes, girl, I thought about makeup at the dentist’s office. It was the only thing I could do to keep from losing my sh*z!

nars summer 2012 never say never calabria buenos aires
Never Say Never Velvet Matte Lip Pencil ($24), Calabria Soft Touch Shadow Pencil ($24) and Buenos Aires Velvet Gloss Lip Pencil ($24)

A little back story…

When I was a kid, I had a really mean dentist who seemed to derive great joy from making me cry (I’m pretty sure he was a masochist). To this day, I bawl like a baby during cleanings.

But my current dentist, who looks like Steve Martin, he’s an angel. He’s so nice and patient, and he’s great about walking me through the process, which I really like. He even reminds me to relax my shoulders and unclench my fists while I’m sitting in the chair.

But yeah, he looks like Steve Martin, and whenever he’s hovering over me with that little silver hook, I start playing tunes from Little Shop of Horrors in my head…

nars moscow
Moscow Pure Matte Lipstick, $25

Luckily, today’s cleaning went great (no cavities, yay!), but the anxiety of wondering things like, “What if an earthquake strikes while he’s scraping at my molars and he crochets my gums with that hook?” left me physically and mentally drained.

nars vendanges
Vendanges Lipstick, $24

Between swishing, spitting and trying not to cry, my mind wandered to the new NARS 2012 collection. I thought about FranÃ§ois and how the team at NARS must have had lips on their minds when they created it, since four of the nine pieces in the release are lip products.

nars summer 2012 swatches
Vendanges Lipstick, Moscow Pure Matte Lipstick, Never Say Never Velvet Matte Lip Pencil and Buenos Aires Velvet Gloss Lip Pencil
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April 17th, 2012 by Karen 26 Comments

nars liberte blush

Its name means “freedom” in French — freedom from cheeks that look blah! Freedom from having to apply layer upon layer of blush! Freedom from that mile-long to-do list! And freedom to embrace lazy days spent lounging in the sun by the pool!

Freedom!!

I can see it now… The tropics. A beautiful beach. We get up early to catch a few waves before the crowds. A week frolicking in the surf like that, and our cheeks are bronzed and tan.

NARS describes the color as a burnished apricot, which leads me to wonder, “How do you burnish an apricot?” But I digress…

LOL! I think it looks more like a matte reddish orange on me — a lighter, slightly peachier matte version of NARS Taos Blush, and it’s the solitary blush in the new nine-piece Summer 2012 collection from NARS.

It’s classic NARS all the way, with a super pigmented, easy-to-blend formula that lasts all day, and wow! I can’t believe it looks so intense in these pics of the pan and the swatch, because as long as I use a light touch when I apply it with something like a fan brush, I think it looks very natural on my cheeks. It reminds me of the way my cheeks look right after a run (when my heart’s still beating a mile a minute).

Something tells me it would look amazing on darker skin tones — heck, on lighter skin tones, too, especially ones that wear warmer colors well. I think it looks pretty fierce on Ginta Lapina, the blonde-haired, blue-eyed beauty featured in the campaign imagery.

nars liberte

nars summer 2012 swatches
From the left: Calabria Soft Touch Shadow Pencil, Ramatuelle Trio Eyeshadow, Marie-Galante Duo Eyeshadow and LibertÃ© Blush
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