The orangey red NARS Heat Wave Lipstick, $24. Available now at NARS counters and also online.
It’s like a heat wave (burnin’ in my heart)!
NARS Noms: Heat Wave Lipstick
Archives for December 2011
Sonia Kashuk’s Keeping It Cool for the Holidays with the Prepping for the Party Lip & Eye Palette
Lovers of taupe, mauve and gray, let it be a Sonia holiday. The makeup maven’s keeping it cool this year with her new Prepping for the Party Lip & Eye Palette ($19.99), with its six powder shadows and six lip products in cool-toned shades.
I’m really digging the shadows, which pack enough shimmer and pigment to spare — in particular the shimmery grayish pan at the far right of the first row, because it reminds me of Pistol from Urban Decay Naked2, and the shimmery purplish mauve at the far left of the second row, which looks to me like a slightly lighter version of MAC’s Satin Taupe.
Prepping for the Party Lip & Eye Palette, $19.99
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The New Burberry Beauty Holiday 2011 Lip Glow Glosses Lavish Lips in Luxury
As payback for dragging him to watch Breaking Dawn: Part I last month, an experience he describes as “beyond painful,” El Hub has asked me to accompany him to the annual holiday party at work. I’m down with that, but he also says that I can only bring a maximum of one extra pair of shoes.
Ouch.
Yeah… I might not be able to do that. 🙂 See, I’m fickle about my footwear, so whenever we go someplace, I always have to bring along one or two a few extra pairs of shoes, just in case I change my mind (which happens all the time).
It wouldn’t be an issue if I also remembered to bring the extra pairs back in the house, but I don’t, and so at any given time the inside of the car looks like a DSW Store. Passengers in the back seat risk being stabbed in a butt cheek by 4-inch stiletto heels. It’s actually a miracle El Hub has put up with it for so long.
If I do end up just bringing one extra pair of shoes to the party next week, I’ll have to find other ways to satisfy my compulsive need for options. These new holiday 2011 Burberry Beauty Lip Glow Glosses ($27 each) should do the trick.
I’ve been alternating between two of the three new shades this week, vibrant and creamy Bright Plum and shimmery golden beige Nude Gold. With flawless packaging that feels like it has some heft to it; a doe-foot applicator for precise application; a non-sticky, comfortable texture; a yummy violet flavor and scent (fades after about 10 minutes) and enough pigment and shine to last for days, these Lip Glows are everything a gloss should be for $27.
Not that a gloss should ever be $27.
Both Bright Plum (top) and Nude Gold (bottom) are two of three new shades in the Lip Glow line; the third shade, Ruby (not pictured), is a bright red
Swatches of Nude Glow (left) and Bright Plum (right)
Bright Plum
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NARS Unsung Heroes: Mata Hari Blush
I’m supercalifragilisticexpialidociously stoked that you decided to take the plunge and try red lips for the holidays. Just you wait! Before you know it, you’ll be raring to rock neon hot pink, sassy coral and heck, maybe even that crazy shade of purple on your Christmas list…
LOL! Sorry, I’m jumping ahead of myself again. I just get excited when my friends try something new. 🙂 As for those red lips you’ve been eyeing, whether you opt for a sheer balm or leap in with a full-tilt matte, you’re gonna need a blush to go with ’em, and I’d like to introduce you to one of my go-to gals, the incomparably agreeable NARS Mata Hari ($27).
NARS infused Mata Hari with a dash of crimson, which is why I think it plays so well with many of the red lip colors I like to wear. Despite its cool tones and how bold it looks in the pan, it’s not nearly as scary vivid on cheeks.
Mata Hari is anything but a run-of-the-mill matte pink blush. It’s enchanting…like RyGos, and able to draw almost everyone who sees it — cool- and warm-toned girls alike — under its spell.
Tabs on Casual Fridays
“Casual Fridays are bullsh*t.”
–Tabs the Cat, Model and Style Icon
NARS Noms: Galapagos Eyeshadow
Mmm, chocolate-y golden goodness! Would you rock it?
NARS Galapagos Shimmer Eyeshadow, $23. Available now at NARS counters and also online.
Sonia Kashuk’s Scarlet Starlet 4-Piece Purse Brush Set Speaks to My Inner Geek
There’s something about the black and red metal brushes in Sonia Kashuk’s new Scarlet Starlet 4-Piece Brush Set ($14.99) that reminds me of gadgets. The four travel-ready brushes, and the black and silver clutch in which they live, look almost like something that could have been made by Apple.
With the set, you get three eye brushes — an eyeshadow brush, a fluffy domed brush and a short shader — and one smaller blush/face brush.
Scarlet Starlet 4-Piece Brush Set, $14.99
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It’s Summer in December with These New Bronzer & Blusher Combos from NYX
Dayum, it’s so nice out here by the pool today… Nice and hot! — like a bare-chested Ryan Gosling in tight pants.
Here, put on some sunscreen, please. I’m not letting you burn on my watch, missy. And stop hogging that pitcher of iced tea! Go on now, pass it this way. Sharing is caring.
Oh — sorry. That was strange… I got lost in a daydream there for a minute and forgot that Christmas is less than three weeks away.
I don’t know what happened. I was just sitting here with the new NYX Bronzer & Blusher Combos ($9 each), and then everything got all summer, summer, summertime.
Everything about this new line of blush/bronzer duos, from the exotic black-and-white illustration on the compacts to the free-spirited pigments inside, reminds me of summer. I think it’s an unusual release for the holidays, but I don’t mind the timing at all. I’m a ho for blushes, so it’s all good. 🙂
For me, the blush halves are the stars of this show. They’re pigmented, easy to blend, and come in the kinds of colors I see more often from lines like NARS and MAC. In fact, I think a couple of them even look like possible dupes, particularly peachy Sunrise in Bali, which reminds me of NARS Orgasm, and shimmery, plummy gold Phi Phi Island, which resembles a lighter, more sparkly version of Sin.
The bronzer sides, however, despite how dark they appear in the pans, aren’t nearly as pigmented as their blushing halves. Still, I find them pretty easy to build up when I want more color.
01 Sunrise in Bali
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