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Archives for January 2010

The Urban Decay Stardust Eyeshadows: A Closer Look

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Urban Decay Stardust Eyeshadow Review

How was your Tuesday? Hopefully smooth and sans any serious drama-for-your-mama. 🙂

My day was filled with website wrangling (YEEHAW!). I was trading emails with the blog’s new web hosting company (servint), but that crew really knows their stuff. It shouldn’t be long before the blog’s loading much faster, and I can’t wait!

So, earlier today I sneaked away to rendezvous with my new secret crushes, the Urban Decay Stardust Eyeshadows ($20). Remember them? You guys met the other day.

I think I REALLY hit it off with 54, the sheer purple (with purple AND hot pink glitter), but Moon Spoon (the sheer grayish taupe with silver glitter) and Space Cowboy (the almost transparent beige with the peachy golden glitter) weren’t too hard on the eyes either.

What I noticed about ’em…

  • Sheer-to-transparent color. We’re talking very light pigmentation — no explosions of intense color. Space Cowboy’s the sheerest one; 54 the least.
  • Fine glitter. Hooray for fine glitter! The glitter is a dainty bling, kinda like bling-lite (read: the opposite of Degrassi Junior High), small and low in the chunk factor, too. I love it!
  • Bad-arse hold. They reached out and grabbed hold of my lids, and I thought they’d never let go! Fantastic wear time here — SO good, in fact, that they were actually a little tough to remove.
  • Fallout? Just a tad. In their PR about these, UD claims you won’t see any glitter fallout with Stardust. Well, any’s a tough word to live up to, but I think UD’s mostly right. I think I saw a few sparkles beneath my eyes and around my cheeks, but no big deal at all. It was nothing compared to most of the glittery shadows I’ve used. Really, I feel like I have a lot of control over Stardust, which is a HUGE plus for me.
  • Smooth… You know how glittery products can feel rough, like, um, glitter? — all gritty and grainy? Stardust not so much. I think it feels quite smooth for what it is. Another plus. 🙂

Stardust application

I tried it both wet and then dry using my fingers, Urban Decay’s application tool o’ choice for the Stardust shadows.

The dry fingers created a sheer wash of color…

Urban Decay Stardust Eyeshadow Review 54
54

Urban Decay Stardust Review Moon Spoon
Moon Spoon
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New in Beauty, Jan. 12: Shu Uemura Egerie, Laura Mercier Polished Collections for Spring 2010

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Just a quick look around the worlds of makeup and beauty today…

Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,

Karen

Chanel Rouge Coco Hydrating Creme Lip Color: An Ode to Mademoiselle

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For more fun with Chanel Rouge Coco ($30 each; avail. Feb. 25)…

Chanel Rouge Coco Hydrating Creme Lip Colour

Just a quick heads up for my Chanel fiends and lip lovahs! 🙂 Brace those lurvely lips for Coco’s upcoming Rouge Coco Hydrating Creme Lip Colour line of hydrating lipsticks.

Okay, are your lips sufficiently braced?

These couple pics from the European print ad campaign show it in action on French actress/singer Vanessa Paradis, aka Johnny Depp’s baby mama.

OOH! Don’t the colors look rich?

More deets…

  • Based on a lipstick design dating back to 1952… The team responsible for the new line tried to create lipsticks that Coco would’ve worn herself
  • Each lippie’s named after an influential period in Coco’s life, with names like Camelia (a deep rose), Mademoiselle (a soft pink) and Paris (a bright red)
  • The line will feature 30 different shades across four color families: roses-pink (nine shades), reds-corals (eight shades), violets-berries (four shades) and neturals-brown (nine shades)
  • Rouge Coco will replace the existing Rouge Hydrabase line
  • The formula includes a compound Chanel calls “Hydratendre Complex” to sooth and soften lips

source, source and source

rouge-coco-final

Peep the Rouge Coco Hydrating Creme Lip Colour line at Saks Fifth Avenue, Neiman Marcus and Bloomingdale’s stores, as well as Chanel.com, this March.

I’m counting down the days! 🙂

Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,

Karen

P.S. Yet another French beauty tidbit: Kerastase Paris is launching a new line of hair products on January 19 called Age Premium, a four-piece collection of shampoos, conditioners and treatments to address hair probs like thinning, dry scalp and uneven texture. I have some crispy-noodle white hairs (so NOT cute) buried up in my mane that are eager to give the new products a try…

kerastase1-1

Look for ’em at salons and Kerastase.com.

A Sprinkle of Urban Decay Stardust for Your Eyes

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Ouch!

Sorry for the outburst, ladies, but I must have gotten a little stardust in my eyes… 🙂

It must have happened while I was playing with Urban Decay’s new Stardust Eyeshadows ($20, available in nine shades) for spring.

Observe the claw marks in the pan of Moon Spoon on the right…

LOL! Guess I should trim my nails. But seriously, it must have happened in transit. No, I do not have Wolverine claws. 🙂

Anywho, let’s talk about glitter for a sec because, according to Urban Decay, these sheer cuties will blind you with shine-ance, thanks to something UD calls “reflex” — an ingredient that supposedly makes the stuff cling better to lids.

Reflex… Corny name, but who cares if it works, right? I haven’t tried ’em out yet, but I’ll let you know. For now I’m keeping my clawed fingers crossed.

Whew! What a day, ladies. I’m frazzle-bedazzled, but at least we got Monday out of the way.

What are you doing tonight? Anything fun?

Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,

Karen

Bobbi Brown Springs Into Action with a New Tinted Eye Brightener

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Bobbi Brown, Queen of Neutrals, wants to help us look a little less tired with her new spring collection. Called Makeup Face Lift (Hey, BB! My sleep-deprived self is totally down for that!), the eight-piece collection’s mix of new and re-promoted products from the permanent line are supposed to be able to help create a fresh face in five minutes or less.

First, what do you think of the Tinted Eye Brightener ($38, comes in eight shades)? It’s basically Bobbi’s famous potted Tinted Eye Brightener repackaged as a convenient click pen.

I’d heard about it before but hadn’t given it a try until today. Now I see why so many women like it! 🙂

Talk about creeeeamy. Like hot butter — hot butter that doesn’t settle into little lines and creases, so it’s like *magic* hot butter if you’re 30-something (like me).


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