The new limited edition Elizabeth Arden Pure Finish Mineral Cheek Color in Sunkissed Coral ($28), available now at Elizabeth Arden counters and online.
Elizabeth Arden Pure Finish Mineral Cheek Color: Sunkissed Coral
Archives for May 2011
Girls Just Want to Have Fun
They just wanna, they just wanna…
Deborah Lippman Girls Just Want to Have Fun Nail Lacquer ($16), a creamy coral available now in stores and also online.
The L’Occitane Pivoine Flora Color Creams: Lighter Lovelies Are in Luck When It Comes to These Blush and Highlighter Duos
L’Occitane’s Pivoine Flora Color Cream in Abricot on cheeks
I couldn’t demi plié my way out of a paper bag, but one thing I can do is hoard cream blushes like these Pivoine Flora Color Creams from L’Occitane ($16 each).
Even after six months of ballet lessons back when I was in my 20s, I never looked half as graceful as the dancers on this packaging. These delicate dames look like they land leaps that make less sound than a sigh. I, on the other hand, usually land my leaps off balance, and frequently with a loud thud.
I turn to cream blushes a lot when I’m in a hurry to get out the door. They’re just so blasted easy to apply, even with fingers (apply to cheeks, blend and go).
Each of the limited edition L’Occitane Pivoine Flora Color Cream duos comes with a blendable matte blush AND a shimmery highlighter, so you get your cheek color and glow going from a single, pretty package.
I’ve been playing with two of the three duos, Abricot (a sheer coral-ish peach blush with a pale peach sheen highlighter) and Rose (a reddish pink blush with a glittery pink highlighter). Both of the blushes feel smooth and dry with a texture that reminds me of Smashbox’s Photofinish Primer. I’m not crazy about it, but it’s easy to blend and seems to layer well without looking too heavy on my skin.
Abricot
Rose
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If Pressed to Answer, I’d Say Yes! I Care Deeply for the MAC Surf Baby Careblend Pressed Powders
With MAC Surf Baby riding onto counters soon and already hanging ten online, I thought this might be a good time to wax our surfboards philosophic about two superstars from the limited edition collection, the Studio Careblend Pressed Powders in Lush-Light Bronze and Gold-Go-Lightly ($28 each).
I love the Careblends. Like really, really love them. MAC added the line of sheer-to-medium coverage face powders, arguably some of the company’s best face products to date, to their permanent line earlier this year.
Where some tinted face powders can look chalky and/or develop cracks and creases, the Careblends, with a finish just shy of a matte, look like flawless, real skin to me. Lightweight and smooth, they’re also a joy to blend, never irritating the combination dry/oily/acne-prone skin on my face.
Studio Careblend/Pressed Powders in Lush-Light Bronze (left) and Gold-Go-Lightly (right)
And the limited edition Careblends MAC included with the Surf Baby release are just as fab as the eight shades already living in the permanent line. I’ve been wearing golden tan Gold-Go Lightly (reminds me of a matte version of NARS Laguna) and pinkish brown Lush-Light Bronze (goes great with a tan!) this week to contour, and also to give my face a warmer look, much like I would with a bronzing powder.
My routine has gone a little something like this…
- Forehead — Sometimes a single foundation and powder color all over my face can make my skin appear flat. Dusting a Careblend across my forehead, one of the places where the sun would normally fall, with a big, fluffy powder brush gives the entire face more realistic dimension through subtle variations in color.
- Cheeks — Next, to emphasize my cheekbones, I load a small blush brush with one of the Careblends and follow the curves along the bottom of the apples of my cheeks, up toward my ears.
- Jawline — Then, to further sculpt the face, I sweep a Careblend along my jawline with the same small blush brush I used for my cheeks.
- Eyes — Finally, to really open up my eyes (because you know my @ss looks hella tired all the time, LOL!), I sweep a Careblend into my creases and along my lower lash lines with a domed fluffy crease brush.
Surf Baby does also feature two Bronzing Powders, Solar Riche and Refined Golden ($24 each); I’ve tried them and think they’re solid products, but if I had to choose one or the other, a Bronzing Powder or Careblend, I’d grab one of the Careblends in a heartbeat. I just think they’re a little easier to use, useful in a wider range of situations and look more realistic. I’ve worn them atop bare skin, foundation and even tinted moisturizer, and in every case they’ve done well.
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It Takes More Than Teint Miracle Instant Retouch Pen to Tame My Dark Circles
To sleep, perchance to dream of disappearing dark circles with the new Lancôme Teint Miracle Instant Retouch Pen ($29.50).
Lancôme calls this illuminating instrument a multipurpose foundation in a pen. Micro-fluorescent particles in the formula supposedly mimic a surge of natural light to illuminate and smooth the skin while reducing the appearance of imperfections on the face.
Brilliant! So does it work?
Well, I think that depends.
Do you adore YSL’s Touche Éclat? It looks like Lancôme does. The similarities between YSL’s award winner and the Teint Miracle Instant Retouch Pen are recognizable from a mile away — the pen packaging, the brush tip, the whole illuminating angle. It’s Touche Éclat déjà vu in a less expensive ensemble ($29.50 vs. $40 for Touche Éclat).
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Lancome L’Absolu New in Coral Sand
Lancome L’Absolu New in Coral Sand, $29.
What say you?
A Little Pick Me Up
Sometimes you need one… or two. 🙂
L’Occitane’s Petal Eye Quartet Paints a Pastel Picture of a Cool-Toned, Watercolor World
I must admit, I giggled a little when I read the inspiration behind the new L’Occitane Pivoine Flora collection. They call it “a graceful peony which dances like a ballerina in the Mediterranean breeze.” 🙂 Okay, I’m a card-carrying queen of cheese, and I live for Hallmark movies, but that might even be too much queso for me.
Well, that’s what I thought…until I set my eyes on the limited edition release. The delicate pastels, watercolor imagery and nubby texture on the compacts all paint a picture in my mind that lines up fairly well with the one L’Occitane describes. It’s a dainty (albeit cheesy) world filled with floating flowers and other things that are soft, sweet and feminine — very Paul & Joe meets old-school Stila — and it’s a gaw-geous visual feast for any packaging lover’s eyes.
A few pieces from the L’Occitane Pivoine Flora collection
The 16-piece L’Occitane Pivoine Flora makeup collection includes…
- Duo Eyeshadow ($16; available in 2 combinations)
- Petals Eye Quartet ($26)
- Healthy Glow Face Powder ($28)
- Lipstick ($15; available in four shades)
- Lip Shine ($14; available in 4 shades)
- Incredible Lip Shine ($12)
- Facecolor Cream Duo ($16; available in 3 shades)
I spent some one-on-one time getting to know the Petals Eye Quartet ($26) last weekend. With its delicate, cool-toned mauves, purples and pinks, its a girly girl’s palette through and through.
Um, how sweet are those ballerinas on the front? Now look closely at the dresses; each one corresponds to a shadow inside.
This was my first liaison with L’Occitane makeup, but from what I’ve seen here, the eyeshadows bear a strong resemblance to Stila’s. I consider that a pretty good thing. They have a similarly soft, powdery texture and sheer-to-medium pigmentation. All four of the shades blend well, but I do notice some minor fallout beneath my eyes. Applied atop a layer of trusty NARS Pro-Prime, they last about six hours without any creasing, and with minimal fading, on me (I have combination skin).
