It’s not just a Justin Bieber movie!
Sula Beauty Eye Crayon in Never Say Never ($8), available now at Ulta stores and also online.
Never Say Never
Blooming in My Front Yard
MAC Unsung Heroes: The Cremestick Liners
Standouts in MAC’s Lip Pencil line often steal the spotlight (Subculture, Chestnut and Spice spring to mind), but the MAC Cremestick Liners ($14.50 each) also deserve much love.
I’ve been obsessively collecting these creamy twist-up lip pencil liners for years, and I think my lips are better for it.
The regular MAC Lip Pencil line has some stellar colors, but I find myself missing my Cremesticks when my lips feel dry. Softer, smoother and slightly thicker than the Lip Pencils, the Cremesticks are all about comfort and hydration, which makes ’em perfect for lip TLC.
I love them layered beneath glosses, both to increase gloss wear time and to alter (and invent new) colors; I do it all the time with Lipglasses, Cremesheen Glasses and the Lipgelées.
MAC Cremestick Liner swatches from the left: Beurre, Creamola, Gingerroot, Honey B., Pink Treat, Red Enriched, Sublime Culture and Summerfruit
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Eyes Shimmer While Lips Go Nude in Jouer Fall 2011
Allow me to direct your attention to the picture above. See, that is why you don’t let your husband futz with a fresh tube of lipstick.
I sure do love that man, but sometimes he’s all elbows and thumbs. Seriously, watching him try to open something delicate is like watching a bear touch type (i.e., it’s not pretty).
The moral of this story? — if you’re super-stoked about a new lippie, especially one as smooth and moisturizing as this new one from Jouer, keep it safely tucked away in your purse.
That poor thing up there is Dusty ($22), one of six new Jouer products for fall (coming to counters and online this September). The focus is firmly on lips and eyes in this release, and Dusty, a full-coverage nude lippie, joins three Liquid Shimmer Eyeliners ($22 each; available in Fox, Sable and Mink), a Travel Eyelash Curler ($14), and two Everyday Classic Wear Mascaras ($20 each; available in Noir and Brun).
Over the past year I’ve gotten to like Jouer, a small, high-end indie brand sold at Henri Bendel stores and online, both in terms of the overall performance of their products and how the brand handles color. I like to call it upscale accessible and runway chic, like a city girl’s version of Becca.
Make Up For Ever Smoky Couleur Fall 2011: A Quick Look!
Super quick look at pics and swatches of a few items from the new Make Up For Ever Smoky Couleur Fall 2011 collection, available now at Sephora stores and also online.
Reviews coming soon. 🙂
The entire Make Up For Ever Smoky Couleur Fall 2011 includes…
Smoky Palette (limited edition; $45 US, $50 CDN)
Eye Shadow #04 — a matte black
Eye Shadow #79 — a deep plum shimmer
Eye Shadow #81 — a metallic navy blue
Eye Shadow #80 — an iridescent peacock green
Eye Shadow #122 — a metallic copper
Eye Shadow #127 — a metallic taupe
Eye Shadow #126 — an iridescent yellow beige
Eye Shadow #07 — a white shimmer
Smoky Lash Couleur ($22 US, $24 CDN)
Smoky Lash #3 — a deep brown
Smoky Lash #4 — a green
Smoky Lash #5 — a dark blue
Smoky Lash #6 — a plum
Khol Pencil ($17 US, $19 CDN)
Kohl Pencil #4K — an intense pearly green
Kohl Pencil #8K — a pearly deep blue
Kohl Pencil #9K — a matte mocha brown
Kohl Pencil #10K — a pearly black purple
Kohl Pencil #10K (left) and Kohl Pencil #9K (right)
Smoky Lash Couleur #6 (left) and Smoky Lash #3 (right)
Smoky Palette swatches
Swatches from the left: Kohl Pencil #10K, Kohl Pencil #9K, Smoky Lash Couleur #6 and Smoky Lash #3
These Tokidoki Royal Pride Safari Bobbi Pins Are Bringing Bobbies Back
I’m totally using my new Lloyd Christmas bangs as an excuse to go buck wild explore new developments in the hair accessories department, and this new mission of mine took me to Sephora.
I went under the guise of finding something to hold my bangs in place and bumped into these packs of (adorable) limited edition Tokidoki Royal Pride Safari Bobbi Pins and Heart & Cross Bones Bobbi Pins ($9 each).
So cute!
But when I stepped up to the register with them, what ensued was a lovely reminder of my age…
Sales clerk: “Aww, these are super cute!”
Me: “I know, right!?”
Sales clerk: “Are these for your daughter?”
Me: “Uh…not exactly. (I wonder if I should tell her about my cat.)
Sales clerk: “Oh… You’re buying them for yourself?”
(Insert long pause.)
Me: “Yup.”
LOL! Not gonna lie — I kinda wanted to pinch her (lightly) with my 36-year-old toes.
I Get 4 Hours of Fun from These Clinique Lid Smoothie Antioxidant 8-Hour Eye Colours
Broccoli, carrot, blueberry, spinach.
Clinique whipped up a downright delicious-sounding blend of fruit- and veggie-derived antioxidant extracts to make their new line of 12 cream-to-powder eyeshadows (starts off as a cream and dries to a powder), and it’s enough to make me wonder if the company collaborated with Whole Foods or raided a farmers’ market.
According to Clinique, the special sauce they used for these new Lid Smoothie Antioxidant 8-Hour Eye Colours ($19.50 each) combines antioxidants with cucumber, aloe vera and caffeine. The recipe is supposed to make tired eyes look revitalized and refreshed.
These are also supposed to be water resistant and, as the name implies, last a whopping eight hours.
If nothing else, I think these do feel refreshing — not thanks to the recipe, per se, but thanks to the applicator itself. It’s metal and shaped like the tip of an angled lipgloss. Because it’s made of something that looks and feels like a silvery metal (aluminum, perhaps?), it feels cool and refreshing against my skin. It may only be a packaging gimmick, but it’s still one that I like.
That said, when it comes to actually applying these on a regular basis, I’d trade the cool tip for a brush. Because of the control a brush affords me, I prefer to apply these shadows to the back of my hand first, then quickly pick them up with an eyeshadow brush and apply to my lids from there (the directions suggest blending with a finger before the formula sets).
Clinique Lid Smoothies from the left to the right: Currant Affair, Born Freesia, Cute-cumber, Bit O-Honey, Pinko Biloba
Clinique designed the Lid Smoothies to be worn alone or layered beneath powder eyeshadows, and I think they did a fantastic job getting the texture just right. They apply evenly, smoothly and layer without caking, making them great for girls in a rush.
Swatches from the left to the right: Pinko Biloba, Bit O’Honey, Cute-cumber, Born Freesia and Currant Affair
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Is the E.L.F. Studio Contouring Blush and Bronzing Powder a Dupe for the NARS Orgasm-Laguna Duo?
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Two things I never expected…
- The Jess/Jason storyline in True Blood (Wait — what!? More on that in a few)
- How I’d feel about E.L.F. Studio’s $3 Contouring Blush & Bronzing Powder
E.L.F.’s bargain basement beauty comes up often in conversations about the fabulous $40 NARS Highlighting Bronzing Blush Duo in Orgasm/Laguna, a makeup masterpiece, if you ask me, and one of my favorite pieces of all time, because it’s seen by many as a major money-saving dupe.
What’s so special about the Orgasm/Laguna Duo, you might ask? Well, that depends. If you ask my cheeks, they’d say they love the way it brightens them up. I use the Laguna bronzer to contour my cheeks with a rich golden brown and the Orgasm blush to give the apples of my cheeks a golden, peachy pink flush.
I love the duo so much that I haven’t taken a trip without it in at least three years.
But at $40, it’s far from cheap, which leaves the door wide open for a drugstore dupe.
The question is, does this E.L.F. deliver? From outward appearances, it sure looks like it does…
