Dolce & Gabbana

Pencil in Time With Dolce & Gabbana’s Graphite Intense Khol Eye Crayon

May 15th, 2013 by Karen 17 Comments

Dolce & Gabbana Graphite Swatch — The new Dolce & Gabbana Graphite Intense Khol Eye Crayon, $30

“A storm’s brewin’…”

I always wanted to say that. 🙂 Storms are brewing within Dolce & Gabbana’s new $30 Graphite pencil — a rain cloud of a blackened gray liner for lash and water lines, and my new gunmetal gray liner love.

There’s something almost meteorological about this deep, dark gunmetal… Micro flecks of shimmer dance along its surface like little lightning sparks.

It’s quite the Gothic scene, too, like a sweet lace dress with black leather cuffs and spikes — the perfect marriage of delicate and dangerous. Classic with an edge. Kittens with claws.

Dolce & Gabbana Graphite — Graphite on my water lines

[Continue reading…]

Four Beauty Pick-Me-Ups From RenÃ© Furterer, Repêchage, Dolce & Gabbana and EstÃ©e Lauder

March 4th, 2013 by Karen 16 Comments

Kicking off the week with a beautiful start! Well, trying to at least. 🙂

Last weekend, ugh! — totally floored me. That two-day migraine felt like a symphony of jackhammers in my head, and it was rough. It’s gone now, thank goodness, and I’m feeling more like myself again.

So, earlier today, just as I was about to jump back into the pet assisting grind, I thought, “Ya know what? What I need right now is to do something that makes me feel really, REALLY great, even if it’s just for a half an hour.”

I needed a beauty pick-me-up, so I made a cup of chamomile tea, grabbed a few new fave beauty products from RenÃ© Furterer, Repêchage, Dolce & Gabbana and EstÃ©e Lauder, and told Tabs that I’d back to work in a few.

RenÃ© Furterer KaritÃ© Intense Nourishing Mask

First order of business: a hot shower and RenÃ© Furterer’s KaritÃ© Intense Nourishing Mask ($46 for a 6.93-ounce jar), a five-minute deep conditioning treatment for dry hair that smoothes and hydrates with a mix of fair-trade shea butter and plant oils.

I just started using it last week, and I think it’s the reason why I had a series of near-epic hair days — like, the best I’ve had in months. KaritÃ© adds body, shine and leaves my hair smelling like lilies. I love it!

Repêchage Hydra Dew Illuminating Cream Mask

Have I mentioned that I’ve been on a face mask kick? I don’t know, but there’s something about a good face mask that gives me…hope, LOL! I’m also a big fan of sitting on my butt and doing absolutely nothing while I wait for a mask to work its magic.

My skin’s been a little dry lately (you know, ’cause winter) so after I jumped out of the shower, I applied a layer of Illuminating Cream Mask for Normal to Dry Skin ($38 for a 2-ounce tube) by Repêchage, an under-the-radar brand actually carried in spas all over the world. Their whole line contains products with “nutrient-rich seaweed” harvested off the Brittany Coast of France.

After 10 minutes, I tissued off the mask and could almost hear my skin sighing with relief. Ahh…

Dolce & Gabbana Desire

If I could, I’d hug every single one of the perfumers over at Dolce & Gabbana. I feel like they get me, ya know (says the girl who wore Light Blue on her wedding day)?

Desire’s, a de-lovely fruity floral, is their newest scent ($93 for a 1.6-ounce bottle). It lasts all day long for me and brings to mind overseas adventures, exploring foreign cities at night with a new love.

The official fragrance notes include…

[Continue reading…]

These Glam Liners Are Baroque! The Dolce & Gabbana Animalier Collection Glam Liners Are Loose on Lids and Tempting Black Liner Lovers

December 6th, 2012 by Karen 11 Comments

dolce gabbana glam liner in baroque silver — Wearing the new Dolce & Gabbana Glam Liner in Baroque Silver ($34) on my upper lash lines

It happens to every black cat liner lover eventually…

The rut. You fall into one. One day, there you are, just going about your business and finishing up those TPS reports at your desk, when you peer into your makeup bag and ask yourself, “Hmm…what liner should I wear?”

And then you snap. “Oh, yeah. Black Liner! Again! For like the umpteenth time in a row!”

I’m definitely guilty of falling into that rut. On the one hand, “Cat eyes are classic and never go out of style!” But on the other, sometimes you just gotta paint yourself out of that corner, which is where these new metallic Dolce & Gabbana’s Glam Liners ($34 each) come in.

Like makeup made for angels, these long-lasting liquid liners shimmer and shine. Glittery gunmetal gray Baroque Silver, glittery burnished copper Baroque Bronze and gilded gold Baroque (not shown here) burst on the scene with the new Animalier holiday collection, bound and determined to break up the beautiful monotony of black liner.

And, hello, lazy brigade! — they couldn’t be a whole lot easier to use. Dolce & Gabbana included a soft, skinny brush with just enough give to it to give me (and hopefully you) lots of control over your line weights.

They also developed a quick-drying liquid formula that doesn’t creep…into fine lines.

The result? How ’bout crisp, sharp edges like a samurai’s katana — and perfect cat eye flicks requiring next to no effort.

Oh, and then there’s the tiny flecks of multicolored glitter, which I find pretty hard to resist… 🙂

dolce & gabbana holiday 2012 — The Glam Liners on the lower left

dolce gabbana glam liner swatches — Baroque Bronze on the left and Baroque Silver on the right… See those teeny, tiny flecks of glitter? Cute!

[Continue reading…]

Is the New Dolce & Gabbana Animalier Bronzer The Cat’s Meow?

December 5th, 2012 by Karen 13 Comments

dolce gabbana animalier bronzer review — Wearing the new Dolce & Gabbana Animalier Bronzer ($57)

Alright, people, before we load up the Land Rover and head out on this safari, let’s run through a quick cosmetics checklist.

Lipstick? âœ“

Eyeliner? âœ“

Powder? âœ“

Shimmery golden bronzer decorated like a spotted big cat?

…

I repeat, shimmery golden bronzer decorated like a spotted big cat?

No?! Well, that’s not right. Don’t worry though. We’ll fix that.

Locals refer to these wildcats as Dolce & Gabbana’s Animalier Bronzers. They’re $57, part of the new Animalier holiday collection, and recognizable by their distinctive spotted patterns.

A similar cat was sighted prowling makeup counters back in the summer of 2011. That one was also called Animalier.

This specimen’s spots, just like last year’s, are an overspray.

When we find one for you, I want you to mix the colors together. That should give you a cool-toned bronzy brown perfect for chiseled ’80s music video cheekbones.

Now, I have some experience with this cat, so I should warn you — it can be dangerous, especially while it’s still an overspray. I wore it around the house this week and felt very Flashdance, without the high-cut leotard and leg warmers, of course.

dolce gabbana animalier bronzer — Wearing the overspray to contour my cheeks

The overspray doesn’t deliver the most natural look, so I wouldn’t wear it every day, but luckily, I don’t have to. The overspray wears off, revealing a velvety soft, finely-milled powder beneath it.

How soft is it? Well, to put it in perspective, it’s softer than a tabby’s low-hanging tum. 🙂

Once you get through that overspray, this cat will lavish your skin with warm, golden orangey brown kisses.

I think this year’s kitten is more pigmented than the Animalier Bronzer we saw last year, which was pretty sheer. I think it’s also a little more golden than orange.

dolce gabbana animalier bronzer swatches — Swatches of the overspray on the left, and the bronzer beneath it on the right

[Continue reading…]

The New Dolce & Gabbana Animalier Collection Classic Cream Lipsticks in Iconic, Desert and Caramel Are Like Makeup ThunderCats

December 5th, 2012 by Karen 27 Comments

dolce gabbana iconic lipstick — Wearing the new Dolce & Gabbana Classic Cream Lipstick in Iconic

When boredom threatens your makeup bag, whom do you call?

Batman? Nope, he can’t help.

Spidey? Sorry, not this time.

Jeremy Renner?

Yes…you call Jeremy Renner. 🙂

But seriously, you call Dolce & Gabbana! With their fierce leopard-print caps, the three new $34 limited edition Dolce & Gabbana Classic Cream Lipsticks from the Animalier collection are so wild they’re practically feral.

Cat lady says what?

(What?)

Iconic (a warm-toned tomato red), Desert (a shimmery bronze) and Caramel (a sheer beige) will go purrfectly with some of my favorite accessories, like my leopard-print dress, the husky tabby often draped across my arms, and the golden neutral shades in D&G’s new Desert eyeshadow quad.

All three have Dolce & Gabbana’s faint rosy lipstick flavor and scent and a creamy, luxuriously smooth formula that lasts on my lips from 3-4 hours.

[Continue reading…]

Dolce & Gabbana’s $67 Desert Is a Hot Eyeshadow Quad With Leopard-Print Packaging That’s Driving Me Wild

December 5th, 2012 by Karen 25 Comments

dolce gabbana desert eyeshadow quad from the animalier collection — Wearing the Dolce & Gabbana Eyeshadow Quad in Desert ($67), from the new Animalier collection

It’s a jungle out there. Thank goodness for makeup…and cats (what, you couldn’t tell I was a cat lady?).

And whenever my two favorite interests collide, let’s just say, I have a moment.

Like a straggler gazelle on the African savanna in the crosshairs of a hungry lion, I fell prey to the new Dolce & Gabbana Animalier holiday collection… It was inevitable — the cycle of life as it pertains to the new Eyeshadow Quad in Desert ($67).

Leopard-print packaging, golden neutrals and flawless performance? Yes, this is the quad I’m bringing with me when J.Renn and I get stranded on that deserted island (that incidentally also has modern conveniences like plumbing, air conditioning, a Sephora store and Internet access).

Granted, the $67 price tag is like a deep, painful cat scratch for wallets, but that’s Dolce & Gabbana for ya. They may charge borderline redonkulous prices, but when they get a product right, they knock it out of the park…

…and all the way to the Dolce & Gabbana Eyeshadow Quad in Desert. 🙂

The leopard-print packaging

Even if I wasn’t a cat lady, I’d love this limited edition quad’s packaging. Not only do I like the way it looks on the outside, but the colors inside it are based on the print! How cool is that?

The colors

Three of the quad’s four neutrals — the matte beige, shimmery gold and matte light brown — have golden, mid-color temperature tones, which should make them flatter a wide range of skin tones.

The darkest shade, the plummy reddish brown, is a touch warmer than the other colors, and because it’s the darkest, I use to smoke out the other shades and as a liner (works well on lash and water lines).

If you have very cool-toned skin (quick tip: if the veins in your arm appear blue, you’re probably cooler toned; if they’re greenish, more warm), the darker shade might be a little tough to pull off, but it could still come in handy as a fallback liner.

The performance

Man, these eyeshadows should get Hollywood agents because they’re superstars! They’re everything I could ever hope for and expect from a high-end makeup line (that charges $67 for a quad).

I have no idea how D&G managed to make them this pigmented and yet keep them so easy to blend. And the fallout? — what fallout? Zero, nada, zilch. And they last all day long for me without creasing or fading.

[Continue reading…]

It’s a Pleasure to Kiss These Bold Brights: The Dolce & Gabbana Passion Duos Summer Pleasures Collection

August 2nd, 2012 by Karen 21 Comments

dolce gabbana passion duo summer pleasures

Should you ever find yourself under doctor’s orders to refrain from wearing eye makeup “for a day or two” while your allergies subside, and you’re kind of a beauty nerd, you may also find yourself debating whether filling in your brows constitutes “eye makeup.”

I came to the conclusion that it does not… 🙂

I KNOW! But I couldn’t resist doing at least a little something.

My eyes don’t seem to mind, and they’re certainly enjoying gazing at three of the bright, shiny lipsticks from the new Dolce & Gabbana Summer Pleasures collection.

These $34 beauties, three of 10 new Passion Duo Gloss Fusion Lipsticks, are available now at Saks stores and saksfifthavenue.com (there are also five Nail Lacquers in the collection priced at $20 each).

The 10 new shades range from summery, soft nudes to bold, glamorous brights.

Dolce & Gabbana Passion Duo Summer Pleasures 3
Clockwise from the dark shade in the lower left: Royal 110, Exotic 50 and Tropical 140

Dolce & Gabbana’s Gloss Fusion Lipsticks are among my favorite products in the entire line. Each has a shiny, moisture-filled core of gloss wrapped in a rich coat of pigmented lipstick.

I remember when they first made a splash on Dolce & Gabbana counters… Oh, the intense colors, the high-gloss finish, the texture so smooth it would give Ryan Gosling a run for his money.

As for the three new colors I’ve been ogling this morning? Just as fab. 🙂

Dolce & Gabbana Passion Duo Summer Pleasures 4
Royal 110

Dolce & Gabbana Passion Duo Summer Pleasures 5
Tropical 140
[Continue reading…]

The Dainty Dolce & Gabbana Lace Collection Delivers Nude Lips and Nails for Fall

July 31st, 2012 by Karen 23 Comments

dolce gabbana lace collection

As much as I like the idea of working beside Vampire Pam behind the bar at Fangtasia this fall, sometimes the look — the stilettos and skin-tight leather from head to toe, the super serious smokey eyes, and the jewel-toned shadow shades — is a little too, well, much for me.

So, this afternoon, I hit the pause button on the kinds of rich colors and intense shades we’ve been seeing a lot for fall, and spent a little time with the dainty, nice nudes in the new Dolce & Gabbana Lace collection.

The 10-piece release is all about bronzed skin and nude lips and nails, and the packaging? — oh, the packaging…

I just lurve lace. 🙂 I kinda wish all of Dolce & Gabbana’s makeup had this same limited-edition packaging.

Here’s a quick peek at three pieces from the collection…

dolce gabbana lace collection product shot
From the left: Intenseyes Black Intensity Mascara ($31), Ultra Shine Gloss in Perfection ($32) and Intense Nail Lacquer in Pink ($22)

Intense Nail Lacquer in Pink ($22)

If you’re getting married soon, consider classic, soft pink Intense Nail Lacquer in Pink ($22) for your tips or toes. Creamy, smooth and semi-sheer, it’s a little like Essie’s Ballet Slippers, but much, much smoother.

I’m wearing two coats here, but I’m sure I could have gotten away with one. Yes, the color isn’t altogether unique, but I think it’s perfectly executed.
MAKEUP AND BEAUTY BLOG RATING: A

dolce gabbana Intense Nail Lacquer in Pink
Two coats of Intense Nail Lacquer in Pink

Ultra-Shine Lipgloss in Perfection ($32)

On my lips, creamy beige Ultra-Shine Lipgloss in Perfection ($32) feels thick, but not sticky, and it has Dolce & Gabbana’s signature rose flavor and scent. It’s one of the smoothest beige glosses I’ve ever tried, and I can totally see it cruising down a red carpet below a shimmery gray smokey eye.
MAKEUP AND BEAUTY BLOG RATING: B

dolce gabbana perfection swatch
Ultra Shine Gloss in Perfection swatch
[Continue reading…]