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Collections

This Spring Laura Mercier Keeps the Focus on Eyes With New Caviar Sticks, Creme Liners and the New Luxe Colour Portfolio

January 18th, 2013 by Karen 23 Comments

Laura Mercier Luxe Colour Portfolio
The new Laura Mercier Luxe Colour Portfolio ($78)

Driving to Sephora this morning — actually, Starbucks. That was the cover story I told El Hub, as he didn’t need to know I intended to look at more makeup. (Him: “Babe, do you REALLY need another lipstick?” Me: “Um, yes.”)

So, driving to “Starbucks” this morning, I saw a gal driving a car with a license plate frame that read, “I’m going to Starbucks. Get out of my way!!!”

Haha! That’s how I feel sometimes about Sephora (and Starbucks)… 🙂

At Sephora I bumped into some new spring products from Laura Mercier, like the Luxe Colour Portfolio.

Laura Mercier Luxe Colour Portfolio Eyeshadows

Laura’s palettes rarely let me down… I love how she puts her colors together, balancing wearable shades with fun twists here and there (like Bobbi Brown meets NARS).

It’s elegant, but not too safe, and that’s one of the things I absolutely adore about her stuff. Especially her palettes.

The $78 Luxe Colour Portfolio comes with six powder eyeshadows and three cake liners in a mix quiet grays and taupes punctuated by rich purples, browns and an indigo blue. It also houses two pink powder blushes — one shimmer and one matte — for naturally flushed cheeks.

Laura Mercier Luxe Colour Portfolio Cake Liners and Blushes

Laura Mercier Luxe Colour Portfolio booklet
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There are 23 comments on this post. Leave yours.

Categories: Collections, Laura Mercier, Makeup

For Spring 2013, NARS Is Putting Peppy Pigments on a Pedestal

January 10th, 2013 by Karen 42 Comments

nars spring 2013 makeup collection
A gander at the new NARS Spring 2013 collection…

3 things that brightened my day…

1. The realization that I’m finally, again (since I watched the show once before), on the last season of The Hills.

I KNOW! Allegedly, Kristin and Brody have decided to get back together…

Whatev. I haven’t really been paying attention since LC left (and I also remember what happened from watching it the first time), but I feel like I’m in so deep that I can’t stop now.

2. Tabs has been so totally into me all day long! 🙂

He had been ignoring me most of the week but for some weird reason today decided I was worthy of his presence, so he’s been following me around the house and sleeping on my lap.

Yeah, I knew Tabs was big…but he looks ginormous in this picture (they say the camera adds 10 pounds). I don’t know, maybe it’s the angle? That, or he’s just a frickin’ huge-@ss cat.

3. And lastly, the NARS Spring 2013 collection! 🙂

No, literally, it brightened my day. See the blue eyeshadow there in the Mad Mad World Duo…?

That’s bright. Like Katy Perry’s blue wig bright.

And that green is no joke, either. After I swatched and photographed it, I cleaned up, and then a few minutes later noticed that my finger had a green stain!

This collection has some serious Roy Gee Biv action happening — red, orange, yellow, green, blue and — not exactly a violet, but more of a purplish pink.

I have a feeling this one’s gonna drive the color-lovers wild, and because of the amount of pigment these pieces pack, I bet they’ll rock the house on darker divas.

Eyes, nails, lips and faces (there are two face powders in the release, both called Translucent Crystal, one pressed and one loose) have something to look forward to here.

nars mad mad world
Mad Mad World Duo Eyeshadow ($34)

nars bouthan
Bouthan Duo Eyeshadow ($34)

nars persia
Persia Single Eyeshadow ($24)

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There are 42 comments on this post. Leave yours.

Categories: Collections, Makeup, NARS

The YSL Spring 2013 Makeup Collection: Satisfy Lemmings for Light Green Lacquers by Layering Jade Imperial on Your Nails

January 10th, 2013 by Karen 36 Comments

ysl spring 2013 makeup collection
Wearing the new YSL Spring Look 2013 La Lacque Couture nail polishes in Jade Imperial and Bronze Pyrite on my nails ($25 each)

Doop-da-dooo… Just sitting here in my car in the rain, swatching and thinking about the new Yves Saint Laurent Spring 2013 makeup collection.

Yesterday, on the way back home from lunch in the city with my friend Kate, I stopped by the mall for, ya know, “educational purposes.” While there, I fell under a brief trance in front of a YSL display…

ysl spring 2013 makeup collection full display

GURL, ever since Chanel’s Jade polish rocked my world, I’ve had weak knees for light green nail polishes, like this limited edition one (Jade Imperial) from YSL.

It’s creamy, and just bright enough to steer it safely out of baby poo khaki territory. 🙂

ysl spring 2013 makeup collection jade imperial bronze pyrite

I even love its name: Jade Imperial. I walked out of Nordstrom without it, but then in my car in the parking lot, looking at it on my nail (notice how I said, “nail”? LOL!), I came this close to going back in for it, but it was getting late in the day, and I wanted to beat traffic, so I drove away empty-handed (except for the one nail…).

BAY AREA FUN FACT: here in Marin county where I live, the one main highway is called the 101. It runs north-south from Washington State down to Southern California, about 1,550 miles, along what was once the old trail which linked the Spanish missions, pueblos and presidios along the U.S. West Coast.

Oh, and if you’re on it between the hours of 3:30 p.m. and 6 p.m., you’re probably not moving faster than 20 miles per hour.

The kinda bright, pastel-ish quad in the display pic also caught my eye. I tried to track it down, but it wasn’t on display yet for some reason.

ysl spring 2013 makeup collection top display

Among the things I did spy from the collection while I was there were two $55 quads — Pure Chromatics No. 5 and No. 19. Both reminded me of the Smashbox eye palettes I swatched the other day from the new Love Me collection, because, like those, these were super creamy, soft and shimmery.

ysl spring 2013 makeup collection pure chromatics 55
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There are 36 comments on this post. Leave yours.

Categories: Collections, Makeup, Yves Saint Laurent

Smashbox Approached the Love Me Spring 2013 Collection Whole-Heartedly

January 8th, 2013 by Karen 32 Comments

hello from sephora

Okay, Tina Turner, what’s love got to do with it?

We’re looking at the new Smashbox spring collection, a six-piece release called Love Me, at the Sephora store in Novato.

Oh, and I’d also like to introduce you to my new friend/Sephora Novato mascott, Husky Dog. 🙂

‘Tsup?
Have fun swatching. I’ll just stay here and guard this post…

I guess she was hanging out and waiting for her assistant. I tried to strike up a convo, but she paid me no mind…

First off, the two eyeshadow palettes from the collection. If I could only pick two things from the release, these are two I’d get. They’re really soft, almost creamy, and very pigmented. Mmm, hmm…

The line art on the packaging spells “Love Me.” (The heart is the “M.”) And when you open it, you see the curvy lines on the pan.

Nice touch.

smasbox love me spring 2013 collection

smasbox love me spring 2013 collection

And the blush. If you look closely, you’ll see hearts on the pan…

smasbox love me spring 2013 collection

…and hearts on the two lipsticks. (Or are those peace signs?? Or rabbit ears??).
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There are 32 comments on this post. Leave yours.

Categories: Collections, Makeup, Smashbox

A Day at the Mall and a Look at the Bobbi Brown Pink & Red Collection

January 1st, 2013 by Karen 31 Comments

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I always stop for vibrant pinks and reds. 🙂

20130101-160154.jpg

I’m at the mall right now. Just finished a late lunch at the Cheesecake Factory and wanted the first day of the year to be filled with fun things, as in malls and makeup.

My mom gave me a Nordstrom gift certificate for Christmas. Not sure what I’m gonna do with it yet, but I’m having fun looking for ideas.

Like maybe Bobbi Brown’s new Pink & Red Collection.

20130101-141312.jpg

It’s barely even January, and this collection’s already channeling Valentine’s Day!

I guess you can never be too early (hint, hint, El Hub)…

Bobbi’s got some pieces here for cheeks, lips and nails, divided into pink products and red products.

Makes it easy for significant others to give gifts. Just send your partner to the counter with instructions like, “You can get me all the pink (or red) stuff.”

Here — hold my purse while I snap some pics with my phone.

20130101-141430.jpg
20130101-141447.jpg
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There are 31 comments on this post. Leave yours.

Categories: Bobbi Brown, Collections, Makeup

The Laura Mercier Art Deco Muse Collection Artfully Channels 1920s Paris in Its Intense Reds and Gilded Eye Colours

November 19th, 2012 by Karen 31 Comments

laura mercier art deco muse collection

I dunno what was going on at the dentist’s office today — maybe the staff felt like starting the Thanksgiving holiday early — but they were playing some crazy-@ss samba music over the speakers! If someone hadn’t been rutting around inside my mouth at the time with a very sharp hook, I totally would’ve been down to shake my maracas.

But since the tunes didn’t have any lyrics that I could mentally sing along to (they usually play oldies), I kept hearing things in the other rooms… Scary things, like the whine of a very loud drill, and snippets of a convo with the words, “probe” and “bleeding,” being thrown around repeatedly.

Oh, gawd!

Somehow, I managed not to lose my sh*z. No tears or passing out, so yay for small victories!

After my visit, though, I felt like I needed a treat, so I sought solace at the closest peaceful refuge — the makeup counter at Nordie’s. 🙂

I’m almost ashamed to admit that I nearly pushed through a gang of older ladies clad in Burberry from head to toe to get to the new Art Deco Muse display at the Laura Mercier counter.

It caught my eye from across the store… So much shimmer, so much red and gold and OM NOM NOM!

laura mercier art deco muse display

I’d seen the collection online a few weeks ago and, truth be told, didn’t think much of it at the time. Hrmph! Looks like pretty standard holiday fare with red lips and gold eyes.

But, GURL! I must say it’s much more compelling in person.

Inspired by mid-1920s Parisian Art Deco, the limited edition holiday launch features metallic shades like gold and bronze, and rich reds, burgundy and black.

The quilted Illuminating Eye Colours ($24 each) spoke to me. I love shiny metallics, and I almost swooned right there in the store after swatching the four shades on the back of my hand.

Laura did not hold back on the pigment with these powder shadows, and they’re so downy soft that they practically melt into my skin…

I hope I dream tonight, and in my dream I’m wearing Gilded Bronze. 🙂 On my NC 42 skin, it’s a beautifully warm (at least I think so) grayish taupe.

Illuminating Eye Colour in Gilded Moonlight
Illuminating Eye Colour in Gilded Moonlight ($24)

Illuminating Eye Colour in Gilded Bronze
Illuminating Eye Colour in Gilded Bronze ($24)

laura mercier laque rouge
Lip Laquer in Lip Rouge ($24)

[Continue reading…]

There are 31 comments on this post. Leave yours.

Categories: Collections, Laura Mercier, Makeup

I See in Liu a Grand Opera of Rich Reds, Golds, Plums and Taupe: The Guerlain Liu Holiday Collection for 2012

November 7th, 2012 by Karen 19 Comments

guerlain liu holiday 2012 collection

The Tiffany EffectGuerlain’s new Liu holiday collection causes what I like to call, the “Tiffany Effect.”

You know when you’re flipping through the pages of a glossy magazine and come to a Tiffany advert, and suddenly the world gets very, very quiet, except for your heart pounding in your chest, and your pupils nearly triple in size? Beads of perspiration may or may not form on your upper lip (totally guilty of this), and you may or may not unconsciously drool or dribble?

If you’ve experienced the Tiffany Effect before, proceed with caution. Similar symptoms have been reported by subjects peeping the pics below… 🙂

Be warned! — the nine limited edition pieces in Guerlain’s new Liu collection are luxurious and addictive, and the recommended treatment is expensive.

FUN FACT: The new Guerlain Liu collection has roots dating back almost 100 years. It was named after a perfume first released in 1929. That perfume, in turn, was named after a character named Liu from an opera first performed in 1926 called Turandot.

The composer was an Italian named Giacomo Puccini… Yes, the same Puccini behind La Bohème.

Cool, yeah? That was like a fun fact wrapped in a fun fact! Dude, you’re gonna be so ready for Final Jeopardy now.

Liu looks like the stuff of champagne wishes and caviar dreams, and it’s priced like it, too, with pieces ranging from $23 for a bottle of nail polish to $170 for a pressed powder compact. The delicate Perfumed Shimmer Powder bottle (you can use the powder on your face, hair and body) and weighty Météorites Wulong compact would look right at home sitting on an empty seat beside you on your private jet, surrounded by matching Louis Vuitton luggage containing several pairs of Jimmy Choos (and a big box of See’s Candies…just because).

Tabs would also be there, of course, draped in diamonds and wearing a tiara.

This is a cat lady makeup fantasy, after all. 🙂

Here’s a closer look at the nine pieces in the collection…

Liu Eye & Lip Calligraphy Palette ($79)

Guerlain Liu Eye Lip Calligraphy Palette

Guerlain Liu Eye Lip Calligraphy Palette

Guerlain Liu Eye Lip Calligraphy Palette
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There are 19 comments on this post. Leave yours.

Categories: Collections, Guerlain, Makeup

The New Hourglass Holiday 2012 Collection, Spaghetti Squash, and What I Do for Excitement on a Typical Thursday Night

October 25th, 2012 by Karen 23 Comments

hourglass holiday 2012

Tonight is all about experiments.

First, this spaghetti squash…

I’m thinking that after I cook and shred that bad boy, I’ll toss the “noodles” in olive oil, salt, pepper and so much damn parmesan cheese that I oughta be ashamed of myself. Say it with me — “More cheese, please.” 🙂

Second, some new noms from the Hourglass holiday 2012 collection: two luscious lippies that look creamy enough to put some meat on ya, a pitch black eye kohl, a brow pencil and a fire engine red lip liner and lipgloss (find the whole schebang now at sephora.com).


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There are 23 comments on this post. Leave yours.

Categories: Collections, Hourglass, Makeup

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