Product Reviews

Remember last summer’s Teal Terror, aka Clarins Wonder Mint Mascara?

It was one of the best tinted mascaras I’d ever used, adding great volume, length, color AND separation.

Well, guess who’s at it again?

They say lightning never strikes the same place twice. I don’t know about that because Clarins’ latest tinted mascara sure shocked the heck out of me. Wonder Blue ($24) delivers an unmistakable denim blue tint to lashes, and, again, with great volume, length and separation.

Tinted mascaras tend to be more pomp than circumstance, rarely depositing much color at all. We saw it over and over again this past fall with a slew of disappointing plum-colored mascaras that basically looked black.

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Nars loves to go off the grid when it comes to their seasonal lip colors, breaking with tradition like it ain’t nothing but a thang. While lines like Chanel, Estee Lauder and Lancome are featuring full coverage pink and red lipsticks in their spring collections, Nars says “check it” with Shrinagar ($24), a semi-sheer berry that whispers sweet nothings to my soul.

Shrinagar is the only lipstick color in Nars’ spring release, a sheer wash of color much like fall’s Canaille lipstick.

But unlike Canaille’s bookish mahogany, which looked so quiet that I almost forgot it was there, Shirinagar turns up the heat.

It may not be as rich as the average spring lip color, but this deep, glossy raspberry with microscopic flecks of silver simply cannot be missed. It seems complex, even flashing purple at certain angles.

Picture hot librarians in nerdy chic glasses.

Texture-wise, Shrinigar feels like velvet on my lips, applying with a thin, creamy consistency that’s also moisturizing. Like other Nars lipsticks I’ve tried, it’s taste- and fragrance-free.

Nars Shrinagar Lipstick

Price: $24
Use: An unusual, semi-sheer berry lipstick for spring
Makeup and Beauty Blog Rating: A+

I usually associate berry lip colors with fall, but that’s why I found this such a pleasant surprise. I want to try pairing it with Nars’ Hula Hula eyeshadow duo when the weather warms up a little.

I can’t wait to wear it with some dark jeans, a white tank top and pink cardigan… and I think I have a pair of librarian glasses around here somewhere. 🙂
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This afternoon I tried to come up a clever rhyme befitting the NARS Hula Hula Eyeshadow Duo ($32), but the closest I came were “Spend that moolah on Nars Hula Hula” and “I start to drool-a when I see Nars Hula Hula.”

FYI: Not many words rhyme with hula. 🙂

My rhymes may not weave a sonnet, but this shimmery eyeshadow duo feels like poetry on my eyes.

One of two eyeshadow duos in the Nars spring 2009 collection, Hula Hula comes with two cool-toned eyeshadows, the first in shimmery strawberry pink and the other in gold.

Swatch of Hula Hula without flash

To all my glitter girls, take note. Both colors in the duo have bangin’ flakes of glitter — huge chunks like the glitter in Nars’ Super Orgasm Blush, BAM!

I usually equate big glitter with drag show makeup (which has its time and place, I might add), but for some reason it works for me in Hula Hula, I’m guessing because both the colors apply semi-sheer. The finish reminds me of the sheer MAC Beauty Powder blushes. The glitter adds a touch of glam that just stops short of gaudy.

With flash

I think if either of the shadows in this duo applied with the rich, shimmery pigmentation of something like a Shu Uemura eyeshadow or MAC Pigment, then the glitter in them would have taken these shadows on a three-hour tour to tranny-ville. Instead, they hit the glitter nail on the head.
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The model for Clinique’s First Blush collection looks so fresh and dreamy, doesn’t she? I can totes see her running through dewy fields barefoot on a spring morning.

So those of us at home can get the eye look (sans dewy field), Clinique gives us four Fresh Bloom Eye Shadow pans ($16.50) with First Blush, each with two shimmery pastel colors: Cherry Blossom (a light and dark pink), Tiger Lily (a light and dark copper), Maple Blossom (a light and dark taupe) and Apple Blossom (a light and dark green).

I’m a sucker for embossed flower patterns… That gets me every time.

I did the eye look using each of the four shadow combinations, placing the lighter color from each on the lid and brow bone, and the darker shade in the crease.

After applying the shadows for each of the four looks, I added two coats of Clinique High Impact Curling Mascara on the top lash line and lined the lower lash line with the darker shade from Maple Blossom.

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At $41, the Yves Saint Laurent Eyeshadow Duo in Oatmeal/Petroleum Blue from the spring 2009 collection isn’t exactly recessionista material.

But overlooking the price for a moment, take a gander at the color.

Here it is worn around my boring UPS brown peepers…

The color’s a matte slate blue. I love the way it exaggerates the edge between the eyelid and the whites of the eyes. Doesn’t it enhance the contrast between them?

Oatmeal, the second shade that comes with the duo, is a basic matte beige. While pretty, it didn’t give me makeup-gasms like Petroleum Blue, LOL!

Both products in the duo feel finely milled like Dior’s eyeshadows yet creamy like Shu Uemura’s.

And they have all-day staying power, too, even when applied along the waterline.

The problem is the $41 price, ouch.

It’s a lot to ask for a duo, even one with an exceptional color like Petroleum Blue. Maybe if Oatmeal had blown me away… Makeup and Beauty Blog Rating: B

Steal the look for less

I was thinking today about how to recreate this look for less when I stumbled on L’Oreal HiP Shadow Duo in Magnetic ($7).
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