Diptyque recently opened a boutique in Southern California at the South Coast Plaza shopping center. This is the sixth store opened in the US. The store is beautifully decorated with Diptyque-themed wall paper. Each section of the store is styled with home accents and vintage-looking books. I hope this will give you a sense of the store ambiance (even though photos were taken with my iPhone in dim store lighting). You can also find Diptyque at South Coast Plaza at the Nordstrom store and SpaceNK Apothecary located in Bloomingdales. The Diptyque Boutique offers a wider selection of scents, including boutique exclusives, body care items and accessories. I could have spent hours in the store. I will definitely be making many trips back in the near future.
If you’re in Southern California, it’s definitely worth visiting! Have you been to a Diptyque boutique? You can read about my visit to the San Francisco Maiden Lane store here. I love how each store seems to be unique.
I find it amazing how much I can cram into a little makeup pouch. Stacking and layering can make a huge difference in making room inside. This week is what I’ve had in my makeup bag:
This holiday Tom Ford has released a Jasmin Rouge 2013 Colour Collection (details here) along with various holiday sets that will be coming out over the next few weeks. There are two new nail lacquers with this collection in Shameless and Trophy Wife ($32 each, now at Nordstrom.com). Both are stunning classic colors. Being classics both Shameless and Trophy Wife are probably very similar to other reds and pinks from other lines. I haven’t had time to pull comparisons as these just arrived yesterday. I’ll pull some other shades this weekend.
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Shameless is a deep classic red cream. It has rich smooth coverage. The first coat is slightly transparent but still very opaque. The texture is medium-thin making it easy to apply smoothly. It also dries very quickly. I suspect this is very similar to Chanel Dragon and Pirate (more on this in a few days).
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Trophy Wife is a deep raspberry metallic shade with a hint of fuschia. This is a gorgeous shimmer but the shimmer is very very subtle. On the nails you can see a slight metallic sheen. Due to the red base most of the time it appears to be a red with blue tones. I love that it’s not your traditional metallic fuschia which can sometimes be a bit too bright. This one is brightening but in a classic way.
Here it looks more red if the shimmer doesn’t flash:
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More photos of each shade side by side:
I think both are absolute must-haves. The quality and pigment are really amazing (even if the colors can probably be duped). At this time I’m not sure if they are limited-edition or permanent colors. They should be arriving at Tom Ford Beauty counters very soon. Right now you can find them online at Nordstrom, Neiman Marcus and Harvey Nichols. (PS The two new lipsticks with the collection are Vampire Kiss and Rouge Fatal.)
Rococo Nail Apparel Gothic Lolita ($16.50 for 14 ml/0.5 fl oz, Space NK Apothecary) is a metallic grey nail lacquer that has a bit of a blue undertone. It’s one of those slightly jelly finish colors but has excellent and pigment. I love that it’s a metallic that virtually brush-stroke free with very smooth coverage. Due to the sheerness it is a two-three coater, but it applies evenly and very easily. What I find unique about Gothic Lolita is that it has a slight hint of blue shimmer infused throughout making this your non-traditional metallic grey. It’s edgy but not over the top. The shimmer is very smooth (versus glitzy microglitter) so those who don’t like extreme shimmers may love this one.
With two coats:
Here it’s more gray if you don’t look at the shimmers directly:
View showing both the blue tinge and grey metallic parts:
I’ve been a fan of many Rococo Nail Apparel colors (my favorite is Re-Issue, a gorgeous deep raspberry). In the US the brand is limited to SpaceNK making it a bit hard to find. If you can try the brand in person I highly recommend doing so. SpaceNK has so many niche brands which makes it almost like a playground for grown ups.
A few iPhone snapshots of the SpaceNK Apothecary inside Bloomingdales South Coast Plaza:
You can find Rococo Gothic Lolita at Space NK Stores and inside various Bloomingdale locations, also online at us.spacenk.com. I give this color a huge thumbs up for price, application, packaging and color.
La Nuit de Chanel ($85 for 50 ml/1.7 fl oz) is currently exclusive to Nordstrom and Chanel.com in the US. It’s part of the Resynchronizing Skincare Line. I was thrilled that my local Nordstrom had samples when this collection was first released. I was able to test for a couple weeks to decide whether or not it would work for my skin. My favorite item in the collection is the La Nuit de Chanel night time cream. Per Chanel this contains:
“Frankincense Extract calms skin to prepare for the process of overnight repair, while Hyaluronic Acid helps restore skin’s plumpness and hydration. Your complexion appears supple upon awakening, with no signs of dullness.”
I’ve been using this nightly for several months and have seen an improvement in the overall feel and texture. It has a lovely scent that isn’t overpowering and soothing. I have super sensitive skin and almost never wear any creams or serums during the night due to the fragrance. This one is subtle enough so it doesn’t bother me (and I’m extremely sensitive to fragranced face products). It does leave the skin well moisturized but not greasy.
Caudalie Huile Divine Oil ($9 for the small15 ml size spray at Sephora) was raved about my friend LJ. We had a girls day out this past weekend – being the skincare and fragrance aficionada she is we spent a good deal of time browsing the skincare lines at SpaceNK Bloomingdales and Sephora. She asked if I had tried the Caudalie Huile Divine Oil. When I said “no” she told me I was missing out and seriously needed this in my life. I debated between the Nuxe and Caudalie so she looked up the reviews on Makeupalley. Caudalie won me over with the reviews.
Her raves: it feels amazing on the skin, it’s not greasy, the spray feature made it easy to apply, and the fragrance is extremely pleasant without being too strong. Her biggest rave: it wears really well with any perfume. I bought the small $9 version to try it out. It was love at first spritz. It’s everything I’ve been looking for in a body oil – smooth, quick to absorb, moisturizing and most importantly the scent is pleasant, subtle and just like my friend said – it wears well with any perfume. (Most oils I’ve tested at the counters are just so unbearably strong). It’s well sealed at the top so it won’t leak. The spritzer at the top is pure genius. The size is perfect to put in your purse and the glass seems sturdy. I will be purchasing the full size soon.
Moroccanoil Treatment ($16.50 for 0.8 oz and $43 for 3.4 oz, at Nordstrom and various retailers) is a must-have for my thick unruly hair. I tried this at the Drybar in West Hollywood where the stylist mixed this with their Drybar Chaser Shine Pomade (another favorite, my husband loves this too). I’ve purchased both the small and large size, one for travel and one for home. It smells amazing. This helps to soften the hair and add shine without being too greasy looking. It wears very well throughout the day. My friends always think I have really healthy hair – it’s somewhat true, but I feel the Moroccanoil + Drybar Chaser combination is the secret to naturally shiny healthy looking ends. Just a tiny bit on the ends works miracles.
What are you loving right now? Do you have any favorite body or hair oils? Nuxe and Tatcha are next on my list to try. What are you loving right now in skincare?
I took a much-needed mini vacation this month with my husband. We spent a week in San Francisco visiting family and friends. I’ve been a die-hard Diptyque fan so the Diptyque Store on Maiden Lane was on my list of must-see places. The store featured the new Diptyque Electric Diffuser (quite impressive) which will accomodate a small selection of scents in 34 boulevard st germain, Figuier, Baies, Amber and Feu de Bois. Both my husband and I were seriously tempted.
The Maiden Lane boutique is a small intimate store. It has a warm slightly rustic-library feel with the wood shelves and decor. The store is split into an upper and lower level creating a home-like feel. The combination of all the scents was so incredible. I wished I could take the entire store and transport it into my own home. I learned so much from the Diptyque staff on each of the different categories of scents – they were incredibly friendly and patient with all our questions as we asked about each candle. I’ve since developed quite a long wish list of items to try in the future. Due to our traveling situation I limited myself to 2 items (since we didn’t want to check any luggage) and purchased two of the Boutique Exclusives in Mousses (forest-moss) and Tilleul (linden tree). If you have a chance to visit one of the boutiques I highly recommend it. The store Diptyque reps are incredibly helpful and knowledgeable. The stores themselves are decorated so beautifully – I felt inspired to up the game in our own house decoration-wise with subtle candle accents.
Mini 2.4 oz candles shown below all lined up ($28 each):
Have you been to a Diptyque Boutique? I normally purchase my candles from Nordstrom or Barneys but fell completely in love with the Diptyque store. What are your favorite Diptyque items?
This season Chanel has released a limited selection of lip colors for the holiday collection. I ordered Rouge Allure Radieuse #217 a cool pink cream ($34, limited-edition) sight unseen. Although I usually find most Chanel lip colors naturally flattering and easy to work with, Radieuse proved to be one of the few I’ve purchased from the line that does not work so well for me. Radieuse is absolutely gorgeous in the tube and swatched on the arm it’s quite lovely. On my pigmented lips and olive skin it turns very powdery-looking and blue. There is a sharp contrast between my natural lip tone and the slight transparent quality of the lipstick which results in a darkish looking ring around the edges. The quality and texture is still quite good like most Chanel lipsticks. Although I do try to go outside my comfort zone with makeup, I found Radieuse just didn’t work for me. It’s a bit too too pale and has too much blue. Even my husband commented that he was not a fan of this color on me.
I think this might be the palest cream pink lipstick I own. I pulled a few to compare: Burberry English Rose Lip Cover (discontinued), Pink Heather Lip Mist (reviewed here) and Armani Rouge Ecstasy #103 (reviewed here).
If you can pull off pale baby pinks (I usually cannot unless there is some nude peach or brown or rose mixed in) you will like this one. Those with olive medium skin (like me) or darker may find this one a bit too pale. If it had shimmer mixed in I probably could pull this one off a bit easier. You’re mileage may vary with this color. I’d love to hear your thoughts if you’ve tried this shade. Perhaps I’m being too picky with this one – but I will be playing more with the color to see if I can grow to like it more.
