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2010

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Bobbi Brown Sparkle Eyeshadows: Black & Black Velvet

September 18, 2010
I’ve never been happier that it’s finally Friday. I survived the first week at my new job and don’t want to think about anything work-related or work-appropriate for the next few days. I thought it fitting to feature the new Sparkle Eyeshadows ($24) from Bobbi Brown’s Black Velvet collection which are loaded with visible sparkle and glitters. Both of which I think are not exactly appropriate for the office but perfect for going out (just my opinion).

A small intro: When I saw Bobbi Brown’s Black Velvet Collection (see my previous review here) all the counters near me seemed to be missing the testers and product to sell for the new sparkle eyeshadow colors. Having dismissed her past sparkle shadows as too glitzy, I wasn’t too concerned that the counter was missing these in their inventory. However when I passed by the counter last weekend and saw these in person I changed my mind.


If you’ve tried her sparkle shadows you know that these are chock full of sparkle. These are Bobbi Brown’s “grown-up take on glitter” and while I’m rarely attracted to glitter for makeup, I am oddly in love with these. The texture itself in the compact seems chunky and testers that aren’t handled with care do tend to look broken or dented with gaping holes. But I think they will hold up better when handled with your own personal love and care. They feel slightly creamy – but this is probably because of the softness. They are very pigmented, easy to blend, easy to layer for a sheer to full coverage smokey eye. I have surprised even myself as I am IN LOVE!

Black Sparkle is a blue-based black while Black Velvet is a smokey metallic mauve-purple. Gorgeous and intense. There is nothing subtle about these, but not too over the top for date night or going out for drinks. I don’t think you need both – if I had to only pick one I would opt for Black Sparkle just because it’s deeper and more dramatic. If you remember MAC’s Style Black collection – these are more complex and deeper than the black or purple shades. They also apply better dry. I haven’t tried these wet, but I imagine they will apply with a foiled-like finish if applied with a damp brush. It will be interesting to see how the shades from MAC’s Villains collections will compare.

These come with a clear flip-top lid, much like the compacted glosses which is nice to keep the glitter from spreading to other shades in the event you put these shadows in palettes:

A few close ups:


Black Sparkle


Black Velvet Sparkle


Swatches:


Overall winners for me. I do recommend you start with a sheer application and layer it for a heavier eye. These are very intense so applying a lot in the beginning might result in a black-and-bruised looking eye. I have lids without a crease so I have applied these along the upper lash line and blended upwards for a smokey liner-type shadow. I have found that applying the metallic shadows from the Black Velvet Collection on top of the sparkle shadows intensifies the look. Do give yourself plenty of time to experiment. I think these need some practice to get used to – I wouldn’t recommend trying these out if you have a short amount of time to get ready unless you’re an expert with dark smoldery shadows.

Enjoy your weekend! I know I will!

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Chanel Soho Story Collection: Stunt, Stunning & Star

September 17, 2010
Here is the Soho Story Collection continued with the lip items. Luckily there are a number of other resources you can look to for reviews, descriptions and swatches. Check out Beauty Moogle Zone and Karla Sugar for a few other resources.

Left to right: Stunt Rouge Allure Laque, Stunning Rouge Coco and Star Glossimer

  • Stunt Rouge Allure Laque – full coverage, creamy, no shimmer, plum-mauve leaning more towards the purple side, almost borderline too purple but ok when blotted
  • Stunning Rouge Coco Lipstick – beautiful natural light rose pink
  • Star Glossimer – a smooth sparkley sheer silvery pink (not as opaque or whitish as Brilliance)

Swatched on bare skin:

Stunt Rouge Allure Laque – slightly more purple than the photos show

I didn’t have time to swatch the other items before the sun went down, so here are some comparisons to other Chanel colors. Stunning is beautiful but I think if you have any of the other shades below, you can get a similar effect. I didn’t photograph it next to Perle Rouge Coco but the effect is similar in my opinion.

Stunning Rouge Coco compared to Aqualumieres:


Star Glossimer compared to other sheer light pinks:


Those who have e-mailed me I will respond shortly!

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Chanel Soho de Chanel Powder & Stupendous Quad

September 17, 2010
My lovely readers, I only have time for a few brief posts. This is a continuation of the Chanel Soho Story collection. The Soho de Chanel powder is a beautiful soft luminous highlighter. Pigmented enough to show up and has just the right amount of shimmer for a perfect glow. The quad is a lovely combination of soft cool shades which I find also very soft and more pigmented than most Chanel quads I’ve tried. If I could only pick 1, it would definitely be the powder highlighter. The quad pulls more cool but is still neutral enough to work on most skintones.

Photos and swatches:




Mystic Eyes v Stupendous:

Swatched on bare skin:

Sorry I don’t have much time for detailed descriptions. If you have questions – I’ll publish them through my iPhone but won’t have time to answer them until sometime this weekend. Definitely check out Beauty Moogle Zone and Estelle’s Guest Post on Karlasugar for other wonderful details and information.
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Chanel Soho Story: Steel & Strong Le Vernis

September 15, 2010
The Chanel Soho Story Collection is one of the few collections where I have ended up loving every single item featured. I am happy the colors exceeded my expectations as I found the collection a slight headache to make sense of. Details about this release were extremely confusing with conflicting information on a number of websites. A few of us Chanel fans exchanged tweets, e-mails, texts and called stores all around the US to find out exactly when and where these would be available. We could only could confirm that the items would be available at the Soho Boutique on FNO and also on Chanel.com. I purchased mine from Chanel.com not wanting to miss out. Even today I am not 100% sure where else these would be released. It’s been rumored to be available at other boutiques around the country in October, but none of us have been able to confirm.

First up are the new Le Vernis shades, Steel and Strong.




Steel is a beautiful dark grey steel pearl. It has a frost finish in the bottle but applies very smooth for a frost type color (no noticeable streaks). The texture is amazing and applies well with just one coat. I pulled out a few other shades I thought were similar: Chanel Noir Ceramic (d/c) and Essie Over The Top. You’ll notice how much sheerer the Essie is. The difference in color is slight. Chanel Noir Ceramic is the darkest and most black, also the silver sparkles are more visible. Chanel Steel is the middle shade, it’s got a slight blue cast (very slight) and is not completely black on the nails. Essie is the lightest but is very similar to Steel when you apply 3 thick coats.

One coat each shade:


Two coats with Chanels, three coats with Essie:

Strong is a dark vampy purple. Lovely as well, but much like Estelle (see her review on Karla Sugar)- I prefer Chanel’s Feu de Russie which has more visible red flecks, but they seem very similar from arm’s length. Here is Strong compared to FdR and Vendetta. Chanel Strong is one of those colors that pulls red in the bottle depending on the angle you hold it at. The flash brings out the reddish tones as well. However, it applies as a dark purple. Strong applies well with 2 coats but is slightly more thick than most of my other Chanels which makes this one a bit more difficult to apply smoothly. It’s not significantly different from other dark shades from Chanel, but I did notice a slightly goopy finish. This however doesn’t really affect the application too much if you get 2 thin coats.

Two coats each shade:

All the comparison shades:

One last view:

Beautiful and stunning. I personally prefer Steel over Strong but if you missed out on Feu de Russie, I definitely think Strong is the next closest thing.
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Guest Post: Le Metier de Beaute Eyeshadows

September 14, 2010
I’m thrilled that one of my favorite brands Le Metier de Beaute has really taken off in the past year. When I first discovered the brand there were virtually no reviews or photos of the line except from a few lucky New Yorkers. The line was very exclusive to a few select locations around the US. Everyone else (myself included) had to order products over the phone or online sight unseen. For me it was a bit of a risk spending so much on lipglosses and eyeshadows that I had never seen or tested – but I was pleasantly surprised by the beautiful colors and high quality. I’m glad the brand is expanding and making itself more accessible. It’s definitely a splurge but the items are indeed lovely.

Today, I have a lovely guest post from a NYer who goes by the screen name Panties on Makeupalley. She took a number of photos from the Le Metier de Beaute counter and was kind enough to e-mail me with a set to share. Check out her profile on MUA for additional photos of Le Metier products among other wonderful things (EB, MAC, Shu Uemura to name a few). These eyeshadows come in a round mirrored black compact and currently retail for $30 each.




I think she’s sparked a few more lemmings for me. I asked her what her thoughts were overall or if she had any favorites? Her response:

“Their eyeshadows are their best products aside from their lip cremes. I’m in love with Chameleon because it really is a unique shade. I actually use Canvas a lot more often than expected because it evens out my eyelids.”

I have to agree with her on Canvas. For me it’s more of a contour color but it does even out the lids. Chameleon does indeed look intriguing – it’s not one that I recall seeing while in San Francisco or Beverly Hills. It definitely looks very unique.

I am still dreaming of the day when I can get to the East Coast! But for now, I am grateful for all the NY makeup aficionados that bring a bit of the city to the rest of us 🙂

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Chanel Confidence, Confidentielle & Rose Confidentiel

September 13, 2010
Chanel has been on quite a roll with a number of product releases this summer and fall – so much so, I can barely keep up, but I like what I see so far. The Rouge Allure Extrait de Gloss collection is beautiful with a diverse range of pinks and reds – I think everyone can find at least one item to suit their coloring. The collection is both classic and modern at the same time. I’m not sure if these items have hit all counters yet. I got mine from Chanel.com and I believe Saks has an exclusive to release the collection first. If you haven’t seen these yet, they will probably be on counters soon.

I knew I had to get all three Le Vernis shades even before I saw them in person. Amy from Café Makeup did an amazing preview of the glosses which helped me tremendously. While I was in San Francisco I went to Saks to see the whole set in person, bought a new rouge allure and another set of all three Le Vernis shades for my sister (she immediately applied Rose Insolent on her toes). My personal three favorites in the collection are of the same color theme. Each have similar names (which can be a bit confusing) and all are soft but noticeable pinks:

Rouge Allure Extrait de Gloss in Confidence #55
Rouge Allure in Confidentielle #66
Le Vernis in Rose Confidentiel #491



What I love about these pinks is that they are natural but with a slight kick. They aren’t your barely-there pinks. They have just the right amount of pigment, brightness and depth to be noticeable when applied yet are natural enough that you don’t have to worry about it being too bright. I do find that the lipgloss and lipstick brighten the face (read on below for more info).

The Rouge Allure Extrait de Gloss in Confidence is a semi-sheer, semi-bright and semi-natural pink gloss with a slight iridescence. I find it applies with enough pigment to wear by itself even even though it’s slightly sheer. The Rouge Allure Extrait de Gloss is a new gloss formula with a similar packaging to the Rouge Allure Laques. The difference is that the RAEs have longer tubes, a sheerer and glossier finish and a new wedged shaped applicator. I would describe the pigment as being in between a glossimer and rouge allure laque. These are on the thick side, not exactly sticky but not slippery either – somewhere in between. I’m not a fan of the new applicator – I find the shape difficult to use as it is more flexible requiring more pressure to apply. Also applying straight from the tube will result in getting the tip discolored if you apply over a lipstick. I find it best to apply on the back of my hand and then apply the product on the lips with a brush. I will need to do more experimenting with these. I do like the finish but it feels a bit thick. I’m normally a lipgloss girl, but these days I feel more and more like just wearing a lipstick + liner without the gloss.

Applying to the bottom lip (so you can see the contrast between my natural lip color and the color of the gloss):


The Rouge Allure in Confidentielle is also a natural but brighter pink. It goes well with the gloss. It’s definitely brighter than what I normally wear. Creamy and smooth like all the Rouge Allure lipsticks with full coverage. Those wondering how it compares to other shades, I found it to be in between Rouge Coco in Gardenia and Legende. If you didn’t like Gardenia because of the shimmer or don’t like Legende because you found it too cool or if you don’t like the Rouge Coco formula, Confidentielle is the solution for you. Here it is swatched on my lips but blended with a lip brush for a softer finish.


* Note – I realize my lip swatch photos are odd because I always manage to angle the camera in a way that focuses on my hair rather than my lips, also my hair is black except when the sunlight shines on it (directly or indirectly) which is why you see the red in some shots. These are definitely a work in progress.

Note, these may all look the same on your screen. Legende is a mini sample that I have and the most blue-toned. I found it too cool for me and have not purchased it. Gardenia is more frosty. Confidentielle is in between the shades and the most creamy.

The Gloss in Confidence over the Lipstick in Confidentielle: Layering the two gets you a rich and luscious lip look. Almost too luscious for my taste. Perhaps more suitable for a date night. The result with both is really glossy and opaque. Right now I like these with only 1 applied at a time, although experimenting with less gloss will probably work better for me.

One more view:

The new Le Vernis in Rose Confidentiel is another gorgeous classic rose pink shade. Smooth and rich in pigment, this applies very well with 2 coats. I wouldn’t say it matches Confidence and Confidentielle exactly, but it does go well with the colors. Compared to the lips, I would say the nail polish is less bright, a bit deeper, and more of a classic dusty rose. Great for fall and perfect for year round. I’ve reviewed it in my Rouge Fatal, Rose Insolent & Rose Confidentiel post here. I’ve also compared it to a couple other shades in my Chanel Les Khakis de Chanel post here. Here it is on a pedi, 2 coats.

One last view:


Hope everyone is enjoying the last bits of their weekend!

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Becca Fall 2010: Prairie Moon Palette & Fig Beach Tint

September 10, 2010
Ordering online has both pros and cons. While it can often times be more convenient, it can be frustrating to get something different than what you see online. I was in San Francisco when I received the e-mail for a 15% off promotion. Being a huge fan of their shimmer powders (both pressed and loose) I ordered a few fall items online from my iPhone because the promotional photos were stunning, but the items that arrived were not quite what I expected.

Below: Prairie Moon Palette ($65) & Fig Beach Tint ($25)

Prairie Moon Palette comes in a sleek brown mirrored compact (same size and style as all previous Becca palettes). The shades in the palette left to right are:
  • Macchiato Gloss – sheer light chocolate red
  • Voile (Demi Matte) – matte ivory
  • Nappa (Demi Matte) – matte dusty grey-tan-brown
  • Chenille (Shimmer) – shimmery forest green with grey and gold shimmers
  • Sagebrush (Compact Eyeliner) – deep forest green shimmer

Here you can see it’s not quite like the promotional photo:

The Macchiato gloss was surprisingly sheer from what I saw in the compact. It has a super sheer tint similar to the Black Chocolate lipgloss from Bobbi Brown’s Black Velvet Collection. I don’t have the new BB to compare to directly, but from what I tested at the counters, the Becca gloss seems to have slightly more pigment.

The eyeshadows have medium pigment and are very easy to blend. In typical Becca style, they layer with each other beautifully. Voile and Nappa seem more of a true matte rather than a demi-matte like other Becca shadows of the same formula. Other “demi-mattes” like Doeskin, Boucle, Tweed, Chantilly etc. all have a soft semi-matte base with the slightest bit of glimmer. I don’t see any glimmer in the Voile/Nappa shades. Chenille is stunning for a sage green-grey sparkle. It’s making me reconsider checking out other khaki greens for eyes. Sagebrush is also beautiful – I’ve swatched it both dry and wet to show you both methods of application. I think these are meant to be applied with a damp brush.

Swatches of Prairie Moon, each photo has the same order:



The color palette goes well with this season’s military theme, especially Chanel’s Khaki Vert:

Fig Beach Tint is also new for fall, online it looked like a pretty mauve pink with a hint of plum:

The actual product is a nude pink. It has a strong artificial cherry scent and the finish is very sheer when blended out. This was also very different from what I expected. When I applied it on my cheeks I could barely see anything. I’ll need to experiment more to see if it will show up better with more layering.


Prairie Moon is not the first Becca palette I’ve purchased that looked completely different from the promotional photo, so this order wasn’t a complete surprise. The palette is still very wearable and the colors are very well suited for the fall season. I think it’s a great palette to keep in your purse for touch ups on-the-go or for a quick look that is easy to pull together. While the eyeshadows have a green/khaki theme they do appear very versatile and I see them going well with most of the colors I have in my closet. However, had it not been for the promotional discount or if I had been able to see or test this in person first I probably would not have purchased these items.
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