Dior Perfecto ($21), part of the Rock Your Nails Collection, is a dark grey-black cream with a slight blueish undertone. On the nails it goes on fairly dark and almost looks black. All the newly released shades have been swatched with and without the new Rock Coat here. Since Perfecto is already dark, I didn’t see much of a difference with the Rock Coat on top.
Here are a few swatches on the fingers to show you depth/intensity of Perfecto. L to R: Gris Montaigne, NY57th, Perfecto and Sephora by OPI Break A Leg-Warmer (two coats each for the Diors, but three coats for the Sephora by OPI)
A few more swatch comparisons all lined up: 1) Gris Montaigne, 2) NY57th, 3) Perfecto, 4) Blue Label, 5) Sephora by OPI Break A Leg-Warmer, 6) Chanel Black Velvet
Two coats each except the Sephora by OPI which needed three coats:
Overall Perfecto is a lovely dark cream finish grey. It’s so dark I can’t really get in the mood to wear it right now for spring or even summer. It’s not a pure black (when compared to something like Chanel Black Velvet) but pretty close. Not a must-have in my opinion unless you’re looking for a dark color that doesn’t scream pure goth. The texture and finish is wonderfully smooth and opaque though.
I have been eagerly waiting for the new eyeshadows Mirage and Storm to arrive from Edward Bess. Like many of his fans, I already own all his other shades in Nude, Intimate, Escape, Dusk, Night, Mystery (see here for swatches) along with both his trios Island Escape (here) and Soft Smoke (here) – all of which I get regular use out of. Those of you who have tried these know how luxurious, classic and naturally flattering they are. As much as I adore these, I have been looking forward to see something new. Gaia from The Non-Blonde and Charlestongirl from Best Things in Beauty satisfied my curiosity while I was waiting for these to arrive at my doorstep. Details, swatches and comparisons below.
Here they are finger swatched: Mirage is a soft luminous peachy shimmer with a slight hint of bronze and Storm is a satiny cool mauve grey silvery color. The pigment is natural but visible. I prefer to apply these with a soft brush but you can see how just my fingers pick up a lot of pigment.
There has been a packaging change with these shadows. The size of the compacts are the same, the only difference is the pan shape. I know many of you are wondering if the texture has changed. From my testing, I believe it has not – these are just as soft, luminous, glowy and blendable as ever. However the two shades for spring do have more shimmer than his previous shades. These retail for $30 each.
Mirage is a beautiful neutral peachy glow with a slight golden/bronze sheen. If you are looking for a true soft peachy-champagne, this is it. I would say this has a higher shimmer intensity compared to his other shadows, but it’s not overly frosty. Below is a comparison to Bobbi Brown Golden Peach Metallic Eyeshadow (which is similar, but more frosty and has a more whitish cast on the skin) and Edward Bess Escape (just for comparison purposes).
Storm is a cool grey color that has a slight mauvish-blue tint on my skin. It goes on a bit more shimmery on the skin than it looks in the compact, but like Mirage, it’s not overly frosty. I’ve compared it to Intimate and Burberry Rosewood. Swatches all the way at the bottom.
Swatched over Urban Decay’s Primer Potion (applied lightly on the arm):
Overall love. These are timeless colors and I am very excited to wear them this spring. Edward Bess can be found in the US at Bergdorf Goodman in NY. Check online at EdwardBess.com for a full list of retailers.
As a side note, many of you have asked me which are my top picks for his eyeshadows. That is a question I cannot answer as I love them all equally. I will say that his Soft Smoke Trio is the one of the few smoky-eye trios that I can pull off. Most traditional smoky eye palettes with cream/grey/black end up being too cool resulting in a tired-look. EB Soft Smoke is pure magic which is difficult to explain – it looks very basic in the compact but gives me the perfect smokey eye.
Finding the best storage solutions to fit one’s room is always a challenge for makeup. Many have asked for advice on how I store everything. This is something I am always working on as my stash grows. If you click on the storage tag below you will see a few previous posts with ideas. For an update, click to see more. To recap:
I mainly store my items in the tall Ikea Alex Units. I have two of these side by side. These have shorter drawers and a few taller drawers ideal for storing things for easy viewing. I love these and can’t rave enough (even if it is a pain to put together). I’ve found a number of photos on Flickr featuring the Alex Units in put together rooms. Check out these links for ideas on how others use this unit: Ikea Alex Gallery 1, Gallery 2, Gallery 3, Gallery 4, Gallery 5, Google Images: Ikea Alex
For brushes and pencils, I use Stila Paint Cans (which can be hard to find), MUJI Acrylic Cylinders and Crate & Barrel Containers
To store lipglosses, MUJI has great acrylic solutions, high quality drawers with excellent craftsmanship. These are super sturdy and aesthetically pleasing (for acrylic). The price shown above reflects the price from 2009, I don’t know if the price is still current.
Today, I still utilize both Ikea Alex units and I have not added any more units, although ideally one more would be nice. You can see below the shallow shorter drawers are nice for storing things in short stacks for easy viewing. They are great for storing MAC Blushes, Bronzers and Mineralized Skinfinishes for easy access. Over the past year I’ve started using gift boxes as storage separators. I’m the type who will hold onto a pretty gift box for a while before tossing it. Jo Malone, Chanel and Dior make beautiful branded gift boxes. I’ve found some are the perfect height for lipsticks, multiples, glosses and such.
White box is from Dior, black box is the cap from a Chanel box – perfect size for lipsticks:
In the back is a MUJI cylinder, on the left a cute Paul & Joe tin, cream colored boxes on the right are the bottoms of Jo Malone candle boxes:
Another Jo Malone box (the base) to hold NARS Multiples and other skinny cream-liquid products:
Stacked MAC MSFs and Beauty Powders:
I’m still working on Nail Polish storage, but so far this is how they are stored in this post. The nail racks I’ve found are cheap and ugly, but they do the trick of storing them in an organized easy-to-see fashion. I don’t like storing them in boxes or drawers because those methods make it difficult to sort through the colors since all you see are the caps. If anyone has ideas on nail polish storage that you love, please share.
Burberry Beauty has released three new blushes and lipsticks this spring at exclusively at Nordstrom in select stores and online. The three blush shades are 06 Tangerine, 07 Earthy and 08 Misty. All are soft and muted colors but apply with enough color and pigment to show up as a visible blush. The texture of these is soft & powdery – like velvet. Don’t let the swatches on your hand (or my arm) deceive you. When I first saw the line at South Coast Plaza I was disappointed at first glance (see it here). They looked incredibly boring, but after trying them on the face I was pleasantly surprised. I don’t detect any shimmer although I wouldn’t call these a full matte. They have a satiny finish. These come in a sturdy metal mirrored compact with the Burberry Check pattern on the outside. See details below.
06 Tangerine is a peachy color with a hint of brown. Compared to Blossom, it’s more dusty and lighter in color with a touch more brown.
07 Earthy is a lighter soft brown-tan. It has greyish undertones with the tiniest bit of pink tones making this a good contour shade. Kristy from Nordstrom SF recommends using this as a crease color for the eyes as well.
08 Misty is soft cool pink. Compared to Peony, Misty is lighter, cooler, more muted.
For additional swatches, check out NaturalNChicMakeup’s blog. She has excellent photos in different lighting.
Comparison photos below. Comparison swatches did not turn out so well so these will have to suffice.
One last view of all three:
Overall thoughts: All were purchased from Nordstrom San Francisco. Burberry Beauty is only available at a few select Nordstrom locations. I like these for a natural soft contour-like shade. All are goof-proof and highly versatile. The texture is amazing and melts into the skin. They feel like velvet and feel natural on the face. Lasting power is decent for a powder blush and colors are naturally flattering.
In general, I feel like the blushes from Burberry apply darker on the face than they appear in the compact. You can see from the swatches above they look darker than what you might expect.
My makeup bag started this week with only 4 items (EB Daydream, Lancome Juicy Tube, mini blush brush, Chanel Boy Rouge Coco Shine), but since Monday it’s accumulated quite a few more things this long work-week. Today, what is inside my Laura Mercier zebra print makeup bag:
NARS Tzarine Eyeshadow Duo
MAC Blonde MSF (limited edition from January 2009)
Burberry Misty Blush (new for spring, review to come soon)
Chanel Boy Rouge Coco Shine
Laura Mercier Mini Double Sided Brush
MAC Wolf Pearlglide (limited edition from 2008ish)
Lancôme Yayoi Kusama Edition Juicy Tube in Dot Apricot (now at Nordstrom)
Edward Bess Daydream Bronzer (my holy grail bronzer, reviewed numerous times here)
Le Métier de Beauté Sheer Brilliance Lip Gloss Ibiza
Le Métier de Beauté Sheer Brilliance Lip Gloss Captiva
After seeing those heart-stopping photos on Pink Sith of Eyes To Kill Intense #4 Pulp Fiction and a few others on Best Things in Beauty – I went to Neimans hoping they arrived on the west coast. They did! I picked up a few (to be reviewed soon, so much to review, so little time) and took note of a few other “maybes.” I had my eye on #5 Gold Blitz and #6 Khaki Pulse but they didn’t have the tester of #15 from holiday in store for me to compare. I left the store with hand swatches to do some testing at home.
Left to right: #15, #5 and then #6 (note the curved features of my hand made it difficult to photograph, but I hope this helps a bit)
Does anyone need all three? I’ll leave that up to you to decide. The jury is still out on the must-have factor for me. Khaki tones tend to make me look tired and warm shades can turn orangey on me. They did have a lovely sparkle in the sunlight and are indeed super long lasting. I still have remnants on my hand this morning.
Dior Bond Street from the Gris City Collection seems to be everyone’s favorite from the limited edition trio released earlier this year. It’s a beautiful smokey blue with a tinge of grey with limited availability to a few select Dior Boutiques (NY, London and Paris) and Dior.com. With the release of the Rock Your Nails Collection, I know many of you are wondering if Blue Label is a good substitute for Bond Street. Here are three blues compared side by side to help you decide: Chanel Le Vernis Blue Satin 461, Dior Bond Street 707 and Dior Blue Label 997.
Chanel Blue Satin is an ultra dark navy with subtle iridescent blue shimmer that is hard to detect unless viewed in direct sunlight or with a flash. It’s a beautiful less harsh version of black, but is still very dark.
Dior Bond Street is a smokey blue cream. You can see a detailed comparison linked here from January. It has a cream finish and applies smooth with opaque coverage in 2 thin coats. I find the texture rich and luscious giving it an almost cushy finish.
Dior Blue Label is a darker deeper navy than Bond Street. They are fairly similar in my opinion, I don’t think you need both. It’s virtually identical to Blue Satin from arm’s length. You can see the differences in the close up swatches and in the bottle. As dupe-able as this color may seem, I am thrilled with Dior’s revamp of their nail polish formula. The texture is amazing and lasting power very good (as long as you apply thin coats).
With High Flash:
One more view, they look very similar:
Overall thoughts – Bond Street is still the winner for me mainly because it’s noticeably blue and not so dark that it looks black. It’s still available (at the time of this post) on Dior.com. Still, Blue Label is lovely. I’m not so sure I’m feeling these colors for spring. But they are more spring than summer.
