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Product Reviews

I’m Sweet on Illamasqua Pastel Nails

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I was SUCH an Easter morning candy kid. 🙂 My little brother and I always looked forward to Easter because our parents would fill our baskets to the brim with sweets!

Jelly beans, Peeps, chocolate bunnies, Cadbury Mini Eggs, yum…

Which reminds me — eff you Cadbury Mini Eggs for making your candies so hard to resist!

Every Easter morning, after tearing through the house on the hunt for hidden eggs, we’d gorge ourselves on candy until our tummies hurt.

Memories of Easter mornings flooded back today when I swatched two of the four colors from Illamasqua’s Pastel Nails collection for spring.

The colors have been available through illamasqua.com for a while, but they arrive at US Sephora stores this May ($14 each).


From left: Caress, Wink, Blow, Nudge

Nudge (the creamy greenish blue) and Blow (the creamy yellow) look good enough to eat! — which would not be a good idea BTW (don’t do it!!).


Nudge


Blow
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Are Milani’s Infinite Liquid Eye Liners Drugstore Duping MAC?

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When it comes to long-lasting brush-on liquid liners, MAC’s Liquidlast Liners pretty much set the bar for me, combining rich color AND awesome extended wear time. Once I even left a swatch of it on the back of a hand, you know, to see how long it would last? No joke — TWO DAYS!

Yup, and that includes showering and washing my hands. 🙂

Liquidlast has rockin’ wear time and comes in a bunch of fun colors … but they’re not exactly cheap ($18.50 each).


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Get a Dior-able Crushed Glow for Summer

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Oh, Dior … glow on with yer bad self! Your new 5-Colour Eyeshadow Palette in Crush Glow ($58) makes soft, shimmery summer looks that much easier to create.

One of seven items in the Addicted to Dior Summer 2010 collection (available next month), Crush Glow’s shadows radiate a gentle luminosity that totes reminds me of pearls.


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Reflecting on HD Makeup with Senna’s HDExtreme Foundation

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I’m pretty loyal to Laura Mercier’s Oil-Free Foundation for pics and video, but when I read about the “advanced makeup technology” in Senna Cosmetic’s HDExtreme Makeup Foundation ($45), I couldn’t resist the urge to give it a try (in the name of makeup science, you understand).

Senna’s an indie line from So Cal, and the “HD light diffusing pigments” in their new foundation are supposed to help it reflect light. It’s a different approach to foundation than merely covering redness and discoloration with (often) heavy, opaque pigments.

The product comes in five basic shades — Fair, Light, Medium, Honey and Tan — and an illuminating golden pink called Backlit, which is technically also a foundation, but I think of it as a highlighter.

LM’s Oil Free looks fantastic in pics, but like many full-coverage foundations I think it’s sometimes a little too heavy and mask-like for everyday wear. Senna’s HDExtreme, on the other hand, hides imperfections while keeping a low (almost undetectable) profile. My pores feel like they can actually breathe when I’m wearing it, which isn’t always the case with Laura’s foundation, with a thin layer offering complete, lightweight coverage that artfully hides red areas around my nose, as well as acne marks and discolorations.

So does that mean I’m sold on Senna?
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Quelle Surprise! Estee Lauder Goes for the BOLD with Bronze Goddess Liquid Eyeshadows

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Heya, bronze (and not-so-bronze) goddesses. 🙂 After several days of near-freezing temps, it’s a balmy 58 degrees here in Northern California today, YES!

Since I know it won’t last, I’m taking advantage of the freak warm weather front with a little summertime makeup.

Put your paws up for warm weather, ladies!

I’m totally J-WoWW-ing over Estee Lauder’s latest extraordinary creations for summer, the Bronze Goddess Liquid Eyeshadows ($17.50, available in four shades). We’re talking crazy intense colors (particularly for EL) here that are eye-catching enough to stop even the most hardened MAC girl in her tracks.
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Four Quick Looks at New Face Products from MAC, Stila and Tarte

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Can I get a HOLLA from my on-the-go girls? Why does it seem like there’s never enough time for, well, anything? If “summarize it” is your mantra, I got yo’ back, holmes. Here are four lickity split looks at new face products from MAC, Stila and Tarte.

MAC Mineralize SPF 15 Foundation ($32; available in 23 shades)


Shade: NC 35

I really wanted to love MAC Mineralize SPF 15, the company’s latest foundation. It blew me away with its creamy, weightless formula, soft focus finish and medium coverage. My combination dry/oily skin couldn’t wait to give it a try.

But, alas, it breaks me out like a mo’ fo’…

Some ladies love it, though, so I’d say it’s worth a try if your skin plays well with other MAC foundations. Performance-wise, it’s great stuff, offering buildable coverage that doesn’t settle into fine lines. Makeup and Beauty Blog Rating: B+

Tarte Smooth Operator Natural Oil-Free Tinted Moisturizer with SPF 20 ($36; 11 shades)


Shade: Agent 14

When Tarte re-packaged their oil-free Smooth Operator line, they were cool enough to spruce it up with five new shades.

I’ve been wearing sheer Agent 14 on the weekends (I love the names; they also have Agents 2, 4, 6, 8, 10, 12 and 00). It’s a lightweight tinted moisturizer with just a hint of color, but it still manages to eliminate any redness I might have while evening out my skin tone.
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Extra, Extra! Sonia Kashuk’s Matte Oil Blotting Papers are EXTRA Large

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Sonia Kashuk went big with her Matte Oil Blotting Papers ($7), not only making them significantly larger than comparable ones from MAC (about a quarter of an inch longer on all sides), but also giving three times as many sheets for just about half the cost (100 sheets for $7, versus 30 for $13.50 of the ones from MAC).

If you’ve never used blotting papers before, they’re usually just thin sheets of tissue paper used to absorb oil and remove shine from skin without the need for additional layers of makeup. Lots of different brands make ’em, including MAC ($13.50), Shiseido ($17), Too Faced ($12) and Clean & Clear ($6).

You wouldn’t think there’d be much difference among different brands of blotting papers, but there can be, both in terms of size and performance; some feel softer than others, too, and use different kinds of paper or fabric. Some even contain absorbent powders or clay.
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