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Now Through Oct. 31, Get a Sweet Gift with Purchase at Nordstrom.com

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Nordstrom Gift With Purchase

If you’ve been looking to restock your beauty supplies, foraging for a new fall fragrance or just trying to get a jump start on your holiday shopping, now might be a good time to walk your mouse over to Nordstrom’s online store (looks like it’s online only).

Now through October 31 (or while supplies last), they’re offering a sweet gift with purchase worth more than $80. Spend $100 or more in combined makeup, beauty or fragrance, and take home 13 travel-size goodies in a sparkly black cosmetics bag (so disco!).

You get…

  • ARCONA Gentle Solution Treatment (0.33 oz.)
  • Balenciaga Paris Glass Vial Perfume Sample (0.13 oz.)
  • Bare Escentuals® bareMinerals® Flawless Definition Volumizing Mascara (0.16 oz.)
  • Donna Karan Cashmere Mist Whipped Perfume Sachet (0.03 oz.)
  • CAUDALIE Premier Cru Cream (0.06 oz.)
  • Clarins Hand and Nail Treatment Cream (1.06 oz.)
  • Clinique Quickliner for Eyes in Black (0.005 oz.)
  • Elie Saab Glass Vial Perfume Sample (0.03 oz.)
  • Kate Somerville® ExfoliKate® Intensive Exfoliating Treatment (0.16 oz.)
  • Laura Mercier Deluxe Foundation Primer (0.5 oz.)
  • Living Proof Full Body Boosting Thickening Cream for All Hair Types (0.5 oz.)
  • Mario Badescu Seaweed Night Cream (0.17 oz.)
  • philosophy ‘the microdelivery’ exfoliating wash (1 oz.)

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You’ll Sparkle for the Holidays with Les Scintillances De Chanel

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Chanel Collection Les Scintillances De Chanel
Lumiere Sculptee de Chanel Highlighting Powder, $72

With my in-laws visiting, I’ve been splitting my time this week among three adults and a demanding tabby. The adults I’ve been able to handle, but the tabby — oh, the tabby. While my father-in-law went to pick up the pizza we ordered for dinner, Tabs insisted that I take pictures of these pieces from Chanel’s holiday collection, Les Scintillances De Chanel.

He’s such a ho for Coco. 🙂

The collection has been sparkling on counters and computer monitors for a little while (it’s also available online). I have some reviews planned and a couple of looks lined up over the next few days.

What do ya think of the Lumiere Sculptee de Chanel Highlighting Powder? Isn’t the pattern on the pan intriguing? It looks almost Baroque to me…or maybe Aztec. Cool, yah?

Chanel Collection Les Scintillances De Chanel pouches

Chanel Collection Les Scintillances De Chanel closed
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A Pocketbook of Purples with the New Laura Mercier Luxe Colour Portfolio

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laura mercier luxe colour portfolio (7)

Three days later, and I still have no idea what the new $98 Laura Mercier Luxe Colour Portfolio has to do with snakes.

With its lid shut and its faux snakeskin midriff showing, doesn’t the new limited edition holiday kit have an almost Western motif? I keep seeing it in the hands of a woman wearing bloomers and white gloves on the wooden steps of an old saloon…

laura mercier luxe colour portfolio (4)

But then when it opens, exposing a palette of six powder eyeshadows, three cake liners, two powder blushes and three travel-size eye brushes, I see the palette in a different light — one that’s purple, kinda glamorous, and not all that Western at all.
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If You Could Only Wear One Lip Product for the Next Month, Which One Would It Be?

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I had a lot of fun reading your answers to the eyeshadow version of this question (and borrowing some of your ideas!) a few weeks ago and figured I’d also pick your brain about lips.

My lip love as of late has been Tom Ford’s Violet Fatale lipstick, a moisturizing, long-wearing lippie in a fabulous shade for fall. I think it’s just dramatic enough to be noticeable without going overboard.

If you could only wear one lip product for the next month, which one would you choose and why?

Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,

Karen

How Far Would Gulliver Travel for the Little Glosses in the Laura Mercier Limited Edition Mini Lip Glacé Set?

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Wearing Laura Mercier Lip Glacé in Rose

Minis rule! — and I’m not just saying that as someone who’s usually the shortest person in the room (even in heels). 🙂 The diminutive glosses in the new Laura Mercier Limited Edition Mini Lip Glacé Set may share my challenges with vertical stature, but that’s only one of the reasons I think they’re such a dang good deal.


From the left: After Hours, Blush, Quartz, Rose and Sparkling

At first glance, the $48 kit may seem expensive, but it makes pretty good sense if you do the math. The price on the set translates into big savings on what are arguably some of the most underrated glosses available on counters now.

I’ve been wearing and loving the Lip Glacés for years, and while the full-size versions cost $22 for a 0.159-oz. tube, these smaller 0.1-oz. tubes work out to just $9.60 apiece. Even ounce for ounce, they’re a much better deal ($138.38 per ounce for the full-size ones vs. $96 per ounce for the minis).

Not too shabby, tabby, especially if you love super shiny glosses and hyphenated words, like non-drying, long-wearing and non-sticky.

With the Mini Lip Glacé Set you get five meow-worthy glosses, each one packed with pigment, in a range of shades from dramatic to nude, and all of them come with a convenient doe-foot applicator.

The shades…

  • After Hours: a creamy, peachy pink with golden micro-glitter
  • Sparkling: a shimmery nude beige
  • Rose: a shimmery reddish pink with golden glitter
  • Blush: a creamy brownish pink
  • Quartz: a shimmery reddish sienna


Swatches from the left: After Hours, Blush, Quartz, Rose and Sparkling
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