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Archives for February 2011

It’s Time to Shine a Light on the New NARS Illuminators

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It’s time to shine a light on an illuminating development, ladies. 🙂 Last week NARS released three new shades in their Illuminator line. You may have seen the names Super Orgasm, Laguna and Copacabana ($29 each) before because all three are very familiar faces on NARS counters (have I ever mentioned how I can’t live if living is without Laguna Bronzer?). Now they’re just adding illumination to their repertoire.

I’ll share a detailed review soon, but for now here are some pictures and swatches. Let me know what ya think.

nars illuminator super orgasm laguna copacabana
NARS Illuminators from the left: Laguna, Super Orgasm and Copacabana
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The Bobbi Brown + Tibi Peony & Python Collection Puts the Squeeze on Purple and Pink

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Bobbi Brown Peony & Python Lilac Rich Lip Color SPF 12

One day last year during a trip to the Philippines my parents trekked deep into the heart of the jungle on a tour to see a massive python (their idea of a good time), but when they finally located the legendary beast, it turned out to be so desensitized to tourists that it practically posed for the cameras.

When they returned home to California and showed me the pictures, I still couldn’t bear to look at them without shivering. You see, I’m one of those girls averse to creepy crawly things…even tame ones that work in the tourism industry. 🙂

Needless to say, I was on the proverbial python fence about the theme of Bobbi Brown’s newest makeup collection, Peony & Python. A collaboration with clothing line Tibi, the spring collection slithers onto counters next month (but it’s already available online).

Snakes and flowers? — the pairing seemed a little out there to me, so I did some digging. Turns out that New York-based Tibi often incorporates contrasting elements into their clothing designs — masculine and feminine, bold and muted, youthful and sophisticated/mature.

After spending some time with Peony & Python, I think I see what Bobbi and Tibi were shooting for because the products are both sweet and sinister, ranging from sheer to opaque in pigmentation, with delicate colors dancing alongside harder-edged shades.

The seven-piece limited edition collection’s color palette blooms with purple, gray, plum, pink, taupe and mauve. It includes a printed makeup case (see the snake skin pattern?), an eyeshadow palette, a lip gloss, two mascaras, one lipstick and a kit for face, eyes and cheeks (exclusive to Neiman Marcus).
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I’m Nuts Over Pacifica Indian Coconut Nectar Body Butter

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I can’t decide whether to praise or curse (a pox upon thee!) those little bins by the register at Sephora, with all their last-minute impulse purchase temptations… Last Saturday, after I’d already found what I’d gone into the store to get, I was in the checkout line when one of those blasted bins acquired the power of speech!

“Karen,” it whispered. “Over here, by the register.”

Of course, I had to look. I saw these little 2.5-oz bottles of Pacifica Indian Coconut Nectar Body Butter for $5. I grabbed one and took a quick sniff.

I love the scent, which Pacifica describes as a warm coconut vanilla, but I get more of a warm vanilla cake with coconut frosting and a light drizzling of dulce de leche on top. In other words, YUM! I’ve come damn close to gnawing off my arm Donner party-style, and each time I’ve worn it I swear I’ve craved cupcakes…


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MAC Unsung Heroes: Subculture Lip Pencil

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mac subculture

Colleges could teach courses in ways to pair MAC Subculture Lip Pencil ($13). Seriously, I wear this warm rosy nude with practically everything. EVERY. FRICKIN’. THING. I use it so much that I’ve gone through about four sticks of it over the past few years. It’s a regular Ms. Versatility, boo, and if you two haven’t met, it’s high time ya did.

Many gals, myself included, feel that Subculture’s color matches the natural color of their lips perfectly, which, I know, seems counterintuitive. I mean, why buy a lip pencil in the same shade as your lips?

Well, for the definition, doll. 🙂 I use this creamy, long-wearing, non-feathering pencil to define my pucker with crisp edges when I wear lipsticks and/or gloss, and I also think my lips look smoother and plumper with it on.

mac subculture ps2
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Do Oui Love Essie and the Essie Spring 2011 French Affair Collection?

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Essie French Affair

The one time I visited France was part of a whirlwind European vacation with El Hub before we got married, and we rode the rails to get around, hustling from train station to train station in performance fleece and flannel.

I must have looked more like a hobo than a fashionable girl, burdened by the weight of my big red backpack, as I passed perfectly put-together French women on the streets, them with their scarves and perfume; me with my maps and dirty laundry.

I tried to soak up as much proximity glamor as possible, a feat I believe is also possible by osmosis, even though there’s very little (read: no) scientific evidence to back it up. (Persnickety science fun fact: technically it would probably be glamor through diffusion, not osmosis, since osmosis refers specifically to the movement of water molecules from a higher to lower concentration through a semi-permeable membrane.)

That trip was six years ago, and now my French glamor/glamour reserves are running dangerously low (like low-rise jeans for men), and it could be kismet that the Essie French Affair collection and I met at this intersection of my so-called life.

I’m told that Essie Weingarten, founder and president of the brand, was inspired to create the six limited edition polishes by actress Brigitte Bardot, the scorchingly hot French ’60s sex symbol and former French fashion model.

“I think every woman has a little Brigitte Bardot in her,” Weingarten said, “and this palette coaxes her out!”

essie french affair 1
Essie French Affair Polishes from the left: French Affair, Nice is Nice and Coate Azure

essie french affair 2
Sand Tropez; Topless and Barefoot; and Kisses and Bises
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Eye Love You Too, Palette. Now Let’s Tell Josie Maran!

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Josie maran eye love you too palette

Bad beauty habits. You know I’ve had my share, like nail nibbling, pimple popping and rubbing at my eyes, and I’ve successfully kicked most of them to the goldarn curb. But there’s one beauty habit I don’t ever plan to break…

I hoard neutral eyeshadow palettes, and I don’t ever plan to stop! 🙂

I think of them as timeless and always in style, like ocular trench coats, and they’re wearable any time of year. And, baby girl, when the colors are cruelty-free, gorgeous shades of green, brown, peach and beige, like the eight shimmery shadows gracing the new Josie Maran Eye Love You Too Palette ($42), it’s ON!

josie maran eye love you too palette

JM recently launched this new palette of powder shadows at Sephora stores and online. Soft like velvet and smooth against the skin, the textures feel similar to the powder shadows in Josie’s Wonder Powder Palette, and I love the way they look. The levels of pigment vary from sheer to medium across the line, with multi-dimensional finishes that appear shimmery, yet not overly frosty.

Argan Eyes Are Smiling

The eyeshadows in the Eye Love You Too palette are infused with Argan oil, an antioxidant-rich oil believed to calm and soothe troubled skin. And, like all of Josie’s makeup, it’s free of parabens, sulfates, synthetic fragrances and phthalates, too.

Unfortunately, at $42, it’s a little on the expensive side, but that breaks down to about $5.25 per shadow, which isn’t all that bad if you look at it that way.
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