Clarins

What’s Your Favorite Kind of Lipgloss Applicator?

January 31st, 2013 by Karen 22 Comments

Clarins Gloss Prodige Intense Colour & Shine Lip Glosses in Water Lily and Vibrant Rose — The new $22 Clarins Gloss Prodige Intense Colour & Shine Lip Glosses in Vibrant Rose (on the left) and Water Lily (on the right), both from the new Clarins Rouge Ã‰clat collection for spring 2013; available now at Clarins counters, Nordstrom and nordstrom.com

I’ve always been a doe-foot gal, myself. Especially the flat ones. Flat doe feet, so to speak, like the long, skinny, flat ones that come with the new Gloss Prodiges from Clarins.

Why? The reason’s not very scientific, I’m afraid. 🙂 I just like the way they work.

So I take the foot and stick it in my mouth…

Wait — let me try that again.

I take the doe foot, and place it between my kisser, point first, so that the flat sides cover the surface of both my top and bottom lips. Then, I slide it back and forth.

Pretty basic…

Clarins Gloss Prodige Intense Colour & Shine Lip Gloss in Water Lily

By the way, since we’re on the subject of these Gloss Prodiges, I like that I don’t need a mirror to apply the lighter shades like Water Lily. They’re just that sheer. But for the darker shades like Vibrant Rose, I do like to check that I’m at least close on the application, LOL! The reflective surface on my iPhone’s screen will usually suffice. 🙂

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Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,

Karen

Even Though It Doesn’t Scream or Shout, the New Clarins Rouge Ã‰clat Make-Up Collection Face Palette Knows What It’s All About: Soft, Almost Bare Spring Cheeks

January 30th, 2013 by Karen 9 Comments

Getting cheeky with the new Clarins Rouge Ã‰clat Spring Make-Up Collection Face Palette ($35)…

Eyewitnesses report seeing double rainbows all the way across the sky at the Clarins counter this spring, as a new line of “so intense” lipsticks in bright, fun shades arrived, much to the delight of color lovers (and guys/gals who like rainbows).

If you haven’t tried the new Rouge Ã‰clat lipsticks yet, hint-hint, swing by your nearest Clarins counter when you can, and try Tropical Pink, because in a word (a fake word), ah-MAY-zer-ing!

It and the other opaque, smooth, moisturizing colors in the line do for lips what puppies, kittens and rainbows do for my heart (good things).

And perhaps to offset some of that lipstick intensity, Clarins couples the look this spring with soft, almost bare cheeks, courtesy of the new limited edition $35 Rouge Ã‰clat Face & Blush Palette.

Isn’t it cute? At first I thought the design on the pan was a hibiscus, but now I think it’s an iris flower, which would make sense, as irises feature either prominently or thematically throughout the spring collection (have you seen the Iris Blossom Eye Quarted Mineral Palette?).

Um…doesn’t the Face & Blush Palette look a lot like a bronzer?

Ooh, gurl! — you know how I am about bronzer! 🙂

FAKE ANNOUNCEMENT: Meet other like-minded bronzer lovers (feline and human), discuss the pans you’ve hit, and snack on chocolate-chip cookies and lemonade (gravy available) at the MBB Bronzers Anonymous Club. Meetings every Wednesday night at the Tabs the Cat Community Center, 6-10 p.m. Cats and human walk-ins welcome.

You can wear the Face & Blush Palette as a blush, bronzer, highlighter or as an all-over face powder, depending on your skin tone and the effect you’re looking for. Clarins gave it a matte finish and designed the semi-sheer, pinkish tan powder for skin tones from light to dark.

For the most part, I wear it as a blush, buffing one or two layers on my cheeks. I particularly love the way it looks on bare skin, but I’ll also wear it atop a small amount of BB cream or tinted moisturizer, where it creates a great, girl-next-door vibe that I like for minimal makeup looks.

I do feel like my cheeks look brighter and more refreshed with it on, but that’s not even my favorite thing about it.

I love the subtle effect, and how the look is soft, but doesn’t fade into the background. This is a face powder that shakes its fist at the sky and says, “Universe, I might not be the brightest or boldest thing in the solar system, but I’m here, dammit, and I’m effing fabulous!”

Try it as a bronzer (doesn’t appear to have heavy orange tones) or blush if you’re a very fair feline, a blush or face powder if you have medium skin tone, and if you’re a darker damsel, see if you can swatch it first, as I suspect it could go a little ashy on darker skin…

If it does, no sweat. Wear it as a soft, non-shimmery highlighter, ala the MAC Beauty Powders, but with the sheen turned way, way down.

Oh, and the formula melts like butter on hot mashed potatoes…

(Guess who didn’t have enough for lunch.)

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McFly, Take Me to 1998! Like a Lipstick-Powered, Time-Traveling DeLorean, Clarins Rouge Ã‰clat Turns Back the Clock

January 29th, 2013 by Karen 23 Comments

Clarins Tropical Pink Rouge Eclat — Wearing the new Clarins Rouge Ã‰clat Lipstick in Tropical Pink ($26), one of 15 new shades for spring 2013

Whatever you do, don’t lose your flux capacitor!!

Because when you slip one of Clarins’ new Rouge Ã‰clat Lipsticks on your lips, and blast back to the past in your time-traveling makeup DeLorean…

…you’ll probably want to return to the present at some point to check your iPhone texts and watch cat videos on YouTube.

With these, Clarins aims to turn back time! — on the lip aging process, making them appear more youthful.

So do they work? Do they flip the flux capacitor and send lips back to the kinder, gentler land of ingenue lips? A time when folks clipped pagers to their right front pockets and strangers addressed me as “miss” instead of “ma’am”?

Well, maybe… In a way.

But, in case you were wondering, they aren’t powered by a flux capacitor. Nope, these are actually plant wax powered.

Clarins combined mimosa, jojoba and sunflower waxes to create a formula designed to boost collagen synthesis and fight the appearance of fine lines.

Whether my collagen’s been boosted, I couldn’t tell, but I do feel a little more like my 20-something self than my 30-something self when I wear one of the three shades I’ve tried (there are 15 available) — Tropical Pink, Coral Pink or Rosewood.

But I think that’s more because of the colors Clarins created, playful shades that remind me of the blissful, carefree days when my biggest concern was worrying about the stoner who lived downstairs returning my Beastie Boys tape…

One layer dresses my lips in a slow-jam of opaque coverage, and the smooth finish refuses to cross into the Evil Forbidden Land of Flakes and Fine Lip Lines!

Clarins Rosewood Coral Pink Tropical Pink Rouge Eclat — From the left: Tropical Pink, Coral Pink and Rosewood; All three have a light violet flavor and scent that lasts disappears after a minute or two…

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Dreaming of Jell-O and Summer With Clarins Instant Smooth Crystal Lip Balm

March 28th, 2012 by Karen 13 Comments

Wearing Clarins Instant Smooth Crystal Lip Balm in Crystal Coral

I’ve been trying (“trying” being the key word here) to get into fighting shape by summer, and part of that has meant “trying” to refrain from eating so many sweets. Unfortunately, I don’t have a lot of willpower when it comes to skipping my ritual aprÃ¨s dinner rendezvous with [INSERT SWEET TREAT DU JOUR], so we’ll see how long this lasts.

I haven’t been at it long. Only about a week, but already, everywhere I turn, I see things that remind me of sweets, like these tubes of Clarins Instant Smooth Crystal Lip Balms ($24.50 each), which kindasorta look like Jell-O pops, don’t they? Or fruit-flavored Gummi bears?

Or, be still my beating heart, Jell-O-covered Gummi bears!? 🙂

Shoot, if I didn’t know better, I’d probably try to eat one of these hybrid lipstick/gloss/lip balms. But I do, and note: they’re not edible. Luckily for everyone involved, they’re also unflavored (whew!), but they do have a very faint fruity scent.

clarins instant smooth crystal lip balm

Look for the new Instant Smooth Crystal Lip Balms on Clarins counters this May, where they’ll be striking poses alongside the rest of the new 13-piece Clarins Enchanted Summer 2012 collection, which was inspired by classic Indian colors. The four Crystal Lip Balms join three bronzers, two lipglosses, a quad, two eye kohls and a waterproof mascara.

In the look, exotic, sultry eyes smolder above bronzed, sculpted cheeks and lightly pigmented lips that shine…

Fo’ reals, doesn’t that sound delicious? 🙂

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Good Taste? These Clarins Spring 2012 Joli Rouge Lipsticks Have It

January 27th, 2012 by Karen 18 Comments

Wearing Clarins Joli Rouge Lipstick in Poppy Red

Quick! — your three favorite flavors of fruity candy and gum?

If grape is on your list, these Clarins Joli Rouge Lipsticks from the new spring 2012 Colour Breeze Collection ($24) were made ~~to chew~~ for you.

Especially if you like your grape candy with extra servings of shiny, moisturizing lipstick on the side.

Available in four faintly grape-scented and flavored shades, Poppy Red, Baby Pink, Sheer Pink Magnolia and Sheer Pink Coral are more than just delicious. They’re also creamy and — no, not nutritious. 🙂 I was gonna say rich.

I can’t get enough of the two shades I’ve tried, Poppy Red and Sheer Pink Magnolia. Luckily, I like the flavor and scent, which fade after about 15 minutes of wear, and I don’t find them cloying, too artificial or overwhelmingly strong.

Joli Rouge in Pink Magnolia

clarins colour breeze spring 2012 (7)
Joli Rouge Lipstick in Poppy Red, $24
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The Clarins Spring 2012 Prodige Lip Glosses in Candy and Blackberry Smell So Good That I Can Hardly Bear It

January 20th, 2012 by Karen 14 Comments

Wearing Clarins Prodige Lip Gloss in Blackberry

Yum, Clarins! Whose idea was it to make these new Prodige Lip Glosses in Blackberry and Candy taste and smell like red gummi bears.

Genius! He/she is a total prodigy, haha!

Sorry, couldn’t resist. 🙂

And the colors? So pigmented, and yet I still like the way they pair with the soft, springy blues in the Eye Quartet Mineral Palette in Blue Sky and the sheer Instant Light Blush in Coral Tonic.

Who’d a thunk it?

Wearing Clarins Prodige Lip Gloss in Candy

clarins colour breeze spring 2012 (5)
From the left: Gloss Prodige in Blackberry and Candy ($20 each), Instant Light Blush in Coral Tonic ($28)
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The Clarins Colour Breeze Eye Quartet Mineral Palette in Blue Sky and Conversations with My Cat

January 19th, 2012 by Karen 57 Comments

The Clarins Colour Breeze Eye Quartet Mineral Palette in Blue Sky

Conversations with my cat, January 19, 2012

Tabs: It’s cold and yucky outside today, Mom.

Karen: I know, Tabby.

Tabs: I miss the sunshine.

Karen: Me too, lovebug.

Tabs: When it’s warm again, will we go outside?

Karen: Of course. We’ll put your leash on and walk down the hill and explore. Maybe we’ll even see turkeys.

Tabs: Those birds are big, but I could take â€˜em.

Karen: You sure could. It’s one of the pros of being a big-boned boy.

Tabs: Will we ever see blue sky again?

Karen: I know it feels like we won’t right now, but be patient. It’s like this every year. It gets cold and gray for a little bit, but then the sun comes back again.

Hey, I’ve got an idea. Why don’t we take out the new Clarins eyeshadow quad from the spring 2012 collection? It’s called Colour Breeze Eye Quartet Mineral Palette in Blue Sky ($40), and the colors look exactly like the sky on a sunny day.

clarins colour breeze spring 2012 (2)

Tabs: Okay. Maybe I can sit on your desk and look outside for a bit while you do your makeup?
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Clarins Coral Tonic Is a Light Pick-Me-Up for Cheeks

January 18th, 2012 by Karen 13 Comments

If delicate, diaphanous cheeks are on your spring wish list, make a note about the new Clarins Instant Light Blush in Coral Tonic ($28) in the margins before you send your list to the Easter Bunny.

Everything about this shimmery golden coral blush says “sweet.” Picture yourself waiting at the curb for the ice cream truck on a sunny spring day (order me a Drumstick, please!). That flush of color on your cheeks? That’s Coral Tonic. 🙂

One of three limited edition blushes in the new Clarins Spring Collection for 2012, Coral Tonic couldn’t be a whole lot easier or quicker to apply.

Not quite a liquid or a cream, it has the consistency of a sheer, fluffy whipped mousse, and it melts into my skin within seconds of blending. Because Clarins dialed back the pigment, the applicator doesn’t draw any high contrast edges that would take a lot of time to smooth.

For a dainty flush, I brush a quick 1-inch swipe on each cheek with the sponge applicator, blend out the edges with my fingers, and wait a few seconds for it to dry. I’ve been repeating the process a second time, but one layer should suffice if you’re much lighter than I. The color lasts on me between 5-6 hours.

Clarins also snuck in an extra touch, a light freesia scent that lingers on my fingers after application. It’s subtle enough that I don’t smell it on my cheeks while I’m wearing it, but the boys in my life (El Hub and Tabs) should get a nice surprise the next time they come in for a cheek kiss.

I tried Coral Tonic in combination with a bunch of different products (atop bare skin, primer, tinted moisturizer, foundation, powder, etc.), and I think the less it’s worn with, the better it looks.

When I want a fresh, dewy look, I start by applying Hourglass Mineral Veil Primer all over my face. Then, I add a layer of MAC Strobe Cream (also all over my face), and finish with one or two layers of Coral Tonic, just on the apples of my cheeks.

Easy, dressed-down and casual — purrrfect for lounging around the house and, say, watching a Real Housewives marathon, or making a quick run to Trader Joe’s for Mango Bars.

clarins colour breeze spring 2012 (11)
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Clarins

What kind of lipgloss applicator do you prefer?

Conversations with my cat, January 19, 2012