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Archives for October 2010

Dolce & Gabbana Evocative Collection Swatches and Pics

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Smooth Eye Colour Quad in Evocative and Crayon Intense in Chocolate on my eyes; Shine Lipstick in Orchid and Ultra Shine Lipgloss in Vibrant on my lips

While I was cruising down (Saks) Fifth Avenue today, otherwise known as surfing their site (they’re having a Friends & Family Sale; I didn’t come across the new Ethereal Holiday Collection, but I did window shop almost everything from the Evocative Collection for fall.

I’m not sure how Evocative’s vampiric berries, wines and pinks go with her springy blues and that one totally random coral, but being confused has never stopped me before, ha!

I’ll just try to wrap my head around something tangible…like the ultra pigmented, creamy coral Classic Cream Lipstick in Cosmopolitan and Shine Lipstick in Orchid. They should help me focus, but if I’m still out of sorts after that, the buttery soft and sheer beige, pink, taupe and purple shadows in the quad should help.

dolce gabbana evocative collection
The Dolce & Gabbana Evocative Collection for fall 2010 (clockwise from lower right): Smooth Eye Colour Quad in Divine, Classic Cream Lipstick in Cosmopolitan, Shine Lipstick in Orchid, Classic Cream Lipstick in Lust, Shine Lipstick in Amethyst, Smooth Eye Colour Duo in Evocative, Smooth Eye Colour Duo in Ocean, Crayon Intense in Chocolate, Crayon Intense in Onyx, Intense Nail Lacquer in Cosmopolitan, Ultra Shine Lipgloss in Amethyst, Ultra Shine Lipgloss in Vibrant

Dolce & Gabbana Evocative Collection Swatches and Pics

(For reference, I’m an NC35 in MAC foundation)

dolce-gabbana-divine
Smooth Eye Colour Quad in Divine, $59

dolce gabbana ocean
Smooth Eye Colour Duo in Ocean, $36
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Do You Goth Juice? Lush Goth Juice Hair Styling Gel

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karen from makeup and beauty blog reviews lush goth juice

Goth Juice?

Before you answer that, I’m referring to Lush’s Goth Juice ($16), a medium-hold non-sticky styling gel, and not a new energy drink for fans of The Cure.

Seems like noses either love or loathe Lush products, and even though they don’t always agree with my nose (I’m more of a fruity florals kinda girl than a hippy/pot brownie babe), some of their stuff just works.

Like Goth Juice. Sure, it’s got that eau de lemon and Pine-Sol thing going, but for fast, effortless, undone styles, Goth Juice gets it done.

lush goth juice review tub w cap

Lush credits a mix of botanical oils (hemp and flaxseed), fresh lemon infusion, olibanum (a resin from the boswellia tree; also goes by the name frankincense) and oakmoss for making the magic happen.

I busted out a full on elle-oh-elle when I read the product’s description on the company’s website:

Olibanum and oakmoss leave your hair smelling like the deep, dark pine forest where Robert Smith goes to be alone.”

Haha! I happen to love both The Cure AND pine forests, so lucky me. I can see it now…ol’ Robby boy wandering into a secluded grove to write sad love songs in his Moleskin notebook. 🙂
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What Nail Polish Are You Wearing?

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estee lauder extravagant night swatch

I’m wearing Estee Lauder Nail Lacquer in Extravagant Night ($18), a dark plum with gold, pink and purple glitter. It’s one of two nail lacquers in the Estee Lauder holiday 2010 collection available for pre-order online.

Extravagant Night feels very holiday to me, and I really like the multi-colored sparkles. The formula’s thick, though, and it takes forever and a day to dry, grr.

Anywho, watchu got on your paws on this lovely Tuesday?

Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,

Karen

Ladies and Gentlemen, Put Your Hands Together for the H2O Plus Hand and Nail Cream Trio

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H2O Plus Hand and Nail Cream

Quick, name one hip hop song in which Timbaland does NOT appear as a guest artist.

Takes a minute, doesn’t it? 🙂 The guy is everywhere! He’s like a hip hop virus. I had my iTunes on random yesterday, and I swear the man was uttering nonsense in every other song. “Uh huh, uh uh,” “freaky-freaky-freaky!”

But no matter how many times he’s been featured in songs — and I’m fairly sure it’s in the hundreds — I bet I have him beat hands down in one area: hand washing. Because I like to wash my hands. A lot.

This also means my hands get dry. A lot (often?).

It’s worse in the colder months, which means hand creams? — totally my BFFs. Lately I’ve been getting my moisture on with these travel-friendly 2-oz. tubes of Hand and Nail Cream from H2O Plus.
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Could Guerlain Rouge G Le Brilliant Bee the Lipstick You’ve Been Looking For?

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Puttin’ on a happy face with Guerlain Rouge G Le Brilliant in Bee

You’re probably expecting this to be a lead about makeup (a logical assumption), but I spent the better part of the afternoon at my obstetrician’s office today, and I’m a wee bit emotional right now.

Before you jump to any conclusions, it was just a checkup. 🙂 Thankfully everything’s working fine (knock on wood!), but I’ve been thinking a lot about kids lately. The doc looked straight in the eyes and said, “Get cracking.”

It’s weird — sometimes I feel like I’m ready; other times I’m not so sure. To my makeup lovin’ moms out there, how did you know it was time?

After my appointment, I felt like I needed a tube of makeup TLC, and it came in the form of limited edition Guerlain Rouge G Le Brilliant lipstick in B64 Bee.

guerlain les ors holiday 2010 rouge g le brilliant b64 bee case
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Get Luminous Locks with Lumenesse Shampoos, Conditioners and Hair Stylers for Color Treated and/or Unruly Hair

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Lumenesse of Shampoos, Conditioners

New Lumenesse aims to keep your hair bangin’ bright and muy fuerte with their line of pricey salon and Cosmoprof professional hair care goodies.

The small line of seven shampoos, conditioners and stylers reminds me of Pureology in just about every way — the design of the bottles, the textures and consistencies of the products, their fragrances, pricing and even their scientific-sounding take on hair.

Here, it’s all about the nanos, as in nano-pentapeptide technology and nano fade defense. In scientific terms, a nano is something really, really small. 🙂 Heck, they sound awfully high tech, if nothing else.

Unfortunately, the products do cost a pretty penny (err, more like 2,000 of them). The hair stylers hover around $20 apiece, and the three-piece shampoo, conditioner and styling kits run about $70 each (there are a couple different kits; more on that later).

I’ve been putting the $70 Hydration Trio Kit through its paces for the past two weeks to see how the Hydrating Shampoo (12 oz.), Hydrating Conditioner (10 oz.) and Shine Define Sculpting Lotion (10 oz.) would fare against my unruly highlighted hair.

Hydrating Shampoo: The vanilla rose fragrance smells light, pleasant and ladylike to me, but I’m still glad it fades fairly fast (would probably conflict with any other fragrances in the vicinity if it didn’t). The shampoo lathers into a fine foam instead of big scrubbing bubbles, and even after rinsing it out, I feel like the strands are still coated with a fine layer of something (good I presume?). I know we’re talking about hair here, and mine seems to approve of Lumenesse Shampoo, but my scalp also responds well to the product. A lot of shampoos leave my scalp dry, itchy and flaky after a couple weeks of regular use (gross, but it’s the truth), but this doesn’t do that at all. SIDE NOTE: That’s also why I shampoo with conditioner every so often.
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