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Sabrina

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Chanel Rouge Allure Gloss Picks | Sensuel, Affriolant, Sensible, Séduction and Distinction

October 22, 2014

Chanel Rouge Allure Glosses have finally arrived in the US in ten different colors ($34 each for 6 ml/0.20 fl oz). The newly released lipglosses are a color and shine lip product packaged in a long clickable tube similar to the Rouge Allure Lipsticks. I’ve been a huge fan of Chanel glosses in general and the new Rouge Allure Gloss does not disappoint. (These are replacing the Rouge Allure Extrait de Gloss formulas). I picked out five different shades:

  • Sensuel 11 is a perfect medium beige nude
  • Affriolant 13 is a hot warm pink
  • Sensible 15 is a softer warm baby pink
  • Séduction 18 is a stunning soft red
  • Distinction 21 is a gorgeous deep plum

The Rouge Allure Glosses are truly phenomenal. The formula is thick but smooth. There is a slight tacky feeling when you apply which makes them adhere to the lips well but at the same time they aren’t sticky. The new Rouge Allure Glosses come with a sponge tip applicator which is almost identical the  older Rouge Allure Extrait de Gloss formula. The difference is that the new ones have slightly better pigment. The Rouge Allure Gloss has a really nice feel on the lips – it helps smooth them, plump them and add just the right amount of shine and color. They also stay put well (as in they don’t bleed around the edges of the lip and don’t disappear after 10 minutes).

Truffle Clutch in Blush, Bracelets by Celine and Tiffany

The colors I tested are easy to apply and blend. A couple swipes is all you need for medium coverage but they are definitely layerable for more color. The sponge tip applies to the lips perfectly – no lip brush or finger blending needed. The tip has a slight point at the tip so you can get precise application around the edges while the wider base allows you to glide across larger areas of your lip.

A closer look at the packaging shows that Chanel once again was able to revamp one of their classic products with an updated modern look while still retaining the classic Chanel feel, old Chanel Rouge Allure Extrait de Gloss vs new Rouge Allure Gloss:

Packaging of the new Rouge Allure Glosses have a clickable cap/applicator tip:

All the glosses at the Chanel Boutique on Rodeo Drive in Beverly Hills:

Close up and swatches:

Swatched on the lips, most of these shown below are with two swipes. You can definitely add one more swipe to layer each shade for more coverage and color.

It’s pure love for these. In my mind these glosses have everything I want in a lip gloss: smooth coverage, soothing hydrating feel, medium shine, layerable color with good pigment. They just feel incredible on the lips. I give these a huge thumbs up. I’m sad to see the older Chanel Rouge Allure Extrait de Gloss formula go, but the new Rouge Allure Glosses are really amazing. There’s a slight hint of shimmer in each color I have but it doesn’t really show up on the lips. I love that the colors are classics with a modern feel and that they also have depth. For me these fall into the “need” and I think you really need to try at least one. They are a luxurious splurge but worth every penny.

The Chanel Rouge Allure Gloss retails for $34 each. You can find them now at all Chanel stores and counters. Online now at Nordstrom, Saks, Bloomingdales and Chanel.com.
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On My Radar / New in Beauty

October 21, 2014

A few new items on my beauty radar this week:

Jo Malone has released the Cologne Intense Mini Collection (1) in a set for the first time this holiday. It has Tuberose Angelica, Velvet Rose and Oud, Saffron, Dark Amber and Ginger Lily and Oud and Bergamot. I was almost ready to purchase but have never smelled Saffron before. Have you? What do you think?

Edward Bess has released four new shades of Lasting Kiss Lip Stain (2). I will have swatches to share with you very soon but first impressions are they are to die for.

Tom Ford Beauty has re-released two of the Cream Color for Eyes (3) in Platinum and Spice. Those who missed out before will be happy to know you can purchase them now with the holiday collection (but take note they are limited-edition again).

L’Occitane never fails to get me with their Shea Butter Hand Cream releases (4). With the holiday season approaching, I’m excited to see what sets they will release this year. Three new ones on my radar are the Rose Heart, Vanilla Bouquet and Whipped Shea Butter.

NARS has several holiday gifting sets out this year. This Virtual Domination Cheek Palette (5) looks like it could be the perfect compact size to slip into your purse for touchups or application on-the-go.

I’ve been getting lots of e-mails about the new Chanel Rouge Allure Gloss (6). Chanel.com released three shades as a preview, but all the colors have finally arrived at Nordstrom in case you have been looking. I have five I’ll be swatching and reviewing.

Diptyque has some amazing holiday offerings this year. The packaging on their holiday candles are breathtakingly beautiful. There will be candle sets available as well. For the first time they will have one of their photophores available for purchase outside of Diptyque Boutiques in a Limited Edition Set with a Candle Holder + Feu de Bois, 6.5 oz. (7).

Dior Holiday is also stunning. There are two limited-edition quints in Golden Shock and Golden Reflection (8). (P.S. for a limited time, Nordstrom.com has these on sale with 10% off for their price matching, check out the Sale Section on their website under Beauty to see what else is on a discount.)
What’s on your beauty radar this week?
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Burberry Beauty A/W 2014 Nail Polishes | Elderberry, Antique Gold, Ink Blue, Dark Bottle Green and Teal Blue

October 20, 2014

Burberry Beauty has five new shades of nail polish for the fall 2014 beauty collection. The shades are rich and dramatic colors and I’m completely obsessed. These have amazing pigment and rich hues that I think are perfect for right now and for the upcoming winter months (although it still feels like summer in Southern California). The new shades for fall ($22 each) include: Elderberry, Ink Blue, Dark Bottle Green, Teal Blue and Antique Gold.

If you’ve read reviews on other Burberry polishes, such as Oxblood, Pink Azalea, Pink Peony and Orange Poppy you know I’m smitten with the Burberry Nail Polish colors but have mixed feelings about the formula and brush. The brushes on these polishes remain the same, they are wide and flat which makes it easy to get a precise application along the side edges of the nail, but if you have small fingers like me, you need to take extra care near the cuticles with application. The formula of Oxblood needed three coats for full coverage, but so far it’s the only shade I’ve needed an extra coat for. The new shades for fall have a better and more opaque formula making them full coverage polishes with two coats. I did find Teal Blue to be slightly sheerer with a slight jelly-like finish, but the color went on smoothly.

Swatches of each color with two coats below. I had my top coat out to cover each nail, but the Burberry polishes ended up having a nice glossy finish on their own, so I didn’t add it on three of the shades I swatched:

Elderberry is a dark plum. It’s a vampy shade with perfect coverage. My nail wheels and most of my polishes are buried somewhere in one of our many packed boxes (my husband and I are still unpacking) so I wasn’t able to do comparison swatches. It has a similar vibe to Tom Ford Black Cherry, but the Burberry isn’t quite as dark.

Dark Bottle Green is a rich deep green color. This one surprised me because I’m normally not a fan of green nail colors on me but this one blew me away. It’s really lovely and the application is perfect. It’s one of my top three picks for the fall collection.

Ink Blue is a deep blue. The formula on this one is also perfect. It went on the nails smoothly with two coats. The first coat was enough to cover the entire nail but the second one smoothed it out perfectly. Love this one.

Antique Gold is a unique brassy gold shade. It’s a metallic color and I was really happy that the brush strokes are subtle on this one. I think with any metallic you’ll see some brush strokes but this one isn’t noticeable. The coverage on the Burberry shimmers/metallics that I’ve tried are really good. This one included.

Teal Blue is just that, a teal blue color. This one is such a pretty shade of blue, even my husband commented on how pretty it was and he usually doesn’t have much of an opinion about what I put on my nails. Teal Blue has a slight transparent quality, even with two coats it has a slight jelly finish. I could have added a third for full coverage, but I liked it with two.

I’m really happy with all of these, they are edgy classics. My top three picks include Dark Bottle Green, Teal Blue and Ink Blue. If I didn’t have more polishes to review and swatch right now I would have Dark Bottle Green on my nails for the next week.

The Burberry Nail Polishes retail for $22 each. You can find the fall shades now online and in select stores at Burberry, Nordstrom and Saks.

Now that fall is officially here, what have you been wearing on your nails this fall?
The polishes were provided by Burberry for review consideration.
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Burberry Beauty Fall 2014 – Sneak Peek

October 20, 2014

I have some beautiful items from Burberry Beauty to share soon. The design of the fall beauty collection is a reflection on the artistic themes of the A/W14 runway looks, features pigmented tones and hand-painted effects in a colour palette of bottle green, elderberry and ink blue. For the fall beauty look, the collection’s new releases include:
You can find the items now at Burberry, Nordstrom and Saks. Stay tuned for nail polish swatches to be posted shortly. I hope to have the quads reviewed later this week, but I’ll say right now I’m 100% in love with the rich colors of the nail polishes.


Many thanks to Burberry for sending these items for review consideration.

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By Terry Cellularose Brightening CC Lumi-Serum | Apricot Glow and Sunny Flash

October 20, 2014

I’m always a fan of liquid highlighters that give a nice luminous glow, especially ones that have just the right consistency to mix in with foundations. Finding ones that are warm enough in color with just the right amount of shimmer for my medium olive skin isn’t easy. There are a number of liquid highlighters on the market that are perfect for highlighting that are very shimmery or pale in color. Finding the right one to mix product in with foundation or use as an all over primer is tricky for me because I prefer ones that are beige, golden, yellow or darker in color. I had been eyeing the By Terry Cellularose Brightening CC Lumi Serums ($89 for 30 ml/1 fl oz) for quite some time and finally splurged over the summer on Apricot Glow No. 3 and Sunny Flash No. 4. I’ve been very pleased with both.

The By Terry Cellularose Brightening CC Lumi-Serum is a color correcting fluid. It has a nice smooth texture that blends in nicely with the skin. By Terry calls these “color control radiance elixirs.” The reps that have helped me at Space NK and Barneys explained that these are called serums because of the ingredients inside these that help smooth and nourish skin while brightening dark spots. I’m not sure if the serum actually helps lighten dark spots or just lightens the look of dark spots. I haven’t used this long enough to see results of dark spots fading. Over the past four months that I’ve been using these, I haven’t noticed dark spots fade, although this does really help to even the look of the skin and creates a lovely glow.

There are four different shades, I tested a sample packet of all four and prefer the options 3 and 4 because they work best with my skin tone. You can use these individually or mix them together to get different effects. Due to the high price of these I haven’t splurged on the other two.

Swatches with different lighting shows how soft these liquids are, they have a subtle luminous glow that is visible but not too shimmery, these have a soft rose scent that is really soothing and not overpowering. However if you have an extra sensitive nose, you may want to test in person before splurging:

Out of the four shade options, I picked out Apricot Glow which is their universally flattering shade for fair to medium skin tones and Sunny Flash which is the bronzed version. I really like how Apricot Glow has a yellow-peach undertone which flatters my medium olive skin. There is a subtle pearlescent quality in it that flashes slight hints of pink, but it’s predominantly golden and peach which I find adds that perfect glow when used all over the face. I like this as a primer to give a healthy looking radiant effect. If you add foundation and powder on top, you won’t see the glow as much but I do see a visible difference in the overall look. I like this one mixed in with foundation as well.

Sunny Flash is a shade darker than my skintone but I like this mixed in with foundations to warm them up. I also like this layered on top of the cheeks or eyes to add a bit of depth and warmth. If you add powder or foundation on top, you won’t see as much of the glow but I really like how this looks to smooth out the skin and cheek area. It has enough color to give a very slight contour. It has visible shimmer in it so it makes the skin glow, but not too much.

The serums come with an easy to use pump dispenser:

Some comparisons to other highlighters and illuminators. All of these have beautiful shimmery particles which make them look different depending on how the light interacts with the highlighters. I’ve taken three different swatch shots to show the base color along with the luminescent quality:

NARS Hot Sand Illuminator (discontinued)
MAC Strobe Liquid in Golden Elixir (discontinued)

I’m really pleased with both. Many highlighters look good for a few hours if I use them all over the face or mixed in with foundations but end up looking too dewy by early afternoon. The By Terry Cellularose Brightening CC Lumi Serums have a thinner texture that isn’t quite as emollient as others which I find makes them last longer on the skin. You get the nice glow without looking greasy in a few hours. I found them both suitable for my super sensitive skin, neither clogged or emphasized pores, although I did find they looked best when used over well-moisturized skin. At $89 each these are quite expensive. I haven’t found anything quite like Apricot Glow though, it’s a very unique golden apricot color which I’ve been looking for what seems like forever. I highly recommend both.

Ingredients:

The By Terry Cellularose Brightening CC Lumi-Serums come in four shades. They retail for $89 each, available at Space NK and Barneys New York.
PS If you have been waiting to splurge, you may want to take advantage of Space NK’s Discover Promotion which ends on 10/21 for $20 off a $75 purchase with code DISCOVER20.
Are you a By Terry fan? What are your favorites?
 
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Lips Tom Ford Beauty

Tom Ford Lip Color Matte | First Time, Pink Tease, Pussycat and Velvet Cherry

October 17, 2014

Tom Ford has released a new lipstick formula called Lip Color Matte ($50 each, made in Belgium). I spotted some shades at the Tom Ford Boutique on Rodeo Drive last week. The new Lip Color Mattes are currently available online at Tom Ford and Neiman Marcus, they should be released at all Tom Ford retailers later this season. I found some helpful swatches and photos on Instagram from @beautyprofessor, @reallyree and @tanyabuzzetta. I saw seven different shades in Pink Tease, First Time, Velvet Cherry, Pussycat, Flame, Plum Lush and Ruby Rush, although there are reports that an additional shade Black Dahlia might also be released.

The Lip Color Matte formula is a lipstick with a velvety semi-matte finish. They are designed to be matte lipsticks but they aren’t really a traditional full matte which is a huge plus for me. I rarely say I hate anything beauty related, but on me, I really hate matte lips. I find they emphasize lines, look heavy/thick and end up aging the face. Finding colors that work with the matte texture is also tricky for me. The Tom Ford Lip Color Mattes have a soft cushy velvety texture. They glide on smoothly onto the lips and don’t look dry. I do find that if you have any peeling or dry areas, prep the lips with a lip balm for a few minutes and then wipe it off before applying the lipstick. Another good alternative I like is MAC’s Prep + Prime Lip (it’s a good lip primer to keep lipstick in place, but not really a lip moisturizer).

These have the same vanilla scent as the regular lip colors do. Lasting power is quite good, they aren’t budge proof but they do stay put fairly long. I picked out four colors, three neutrals and one deep burgundy red. The others were very dark and bright – good if you want a dramatic lip, but too dramatic for my taste. The color I bought include:

L to R: First Time, Pink Tease, Pussycat, Velvet Cherry

  • First Time is a peach nude pink, this one applies nicely on the lips, you have to let it sit for a minute and warm up on the lip though, it doesn’t change color but the texture melds into the lip after a minute of sitting on the lips
  • Pink Tease is a very cool-toned medium pink, this looks like a neutral pink in the tube, but on my lips it went a bit fluorescent and pulled very cool on my skin, this one needs tweaking with a gloss or lipliner to warm it up, otherwise it makes my lips look really dry just because the color clashes with my skin
  • Pussycat is a cool mauve pink, this one surprised me, I thought it would go on too blue-toned based on how it swatched on my hand, it’s a surprisingly wearable mauve
  • Velvet Cherry is a deep red, this something I usually don’t go for, but it’s a classic deep dark red that isn’t too dark, this one needs careful application and lip prep, it has such a sharp contrast with my natural lip color, precise application is key, I applied it below straight from the tube (scroll down) although I should have fixed it with a lip brush

Close ups and swatches, you can see below the coverage and pigment is really good:

Comparisons, Set One has the following (I’ll link previous swatches and reviews):

Set Two has Aerin Wild Lilac, Tom Ford Black Orchid (discontinued), MAC Ruby Patent Polish, Burberry Blueberry Lip Mist

Lip swatches of the four lip mattes I picked out below:

I like First Time, Pussycat and Velvet Cherry. In real life they look very natural and smooth on the lips, a camera flash tends to emphasize any shadows or fine lines so they might look a bit dry in the photos above. The exception is with Pink Tease which I am not a fan of (at least on me). I can’t really pull off cool-toned bright pinks well, they end up looking too mod-like. The color just looks really aged and dry on my lips, but in all fairness, all colors similar in tone and brightness do the same.

I’m not a fan of matte-finish lipsticks so I can’t say I am absolutely in love with these, but I am very pleased with 3 of the 4 shades I bought. I personally prefer Tom Ford’s other lip formulas and color options, but the Lip Color Mattes still perform very well and I do think they are worth looking into, especially if you like rich deep colors.

The Lip Color Mattes can be found online and in stores at Tom Ford Boutiques and Neiman Marcus for $50 each. They should be widely available at all Tom Ford counters soon. (PS Neiman Marcus has their Incircle event now and an online mini lipstick gift with $100 purchase, while supplies last).

Are you a fan of matte lips or Tom Ford lipsticks? Have you picked up any of the colors?

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Rescue Beauty Lounge Buy 2 Get 1 Free, Now Until Monday 10/20/2014

October 17, 2014
http://www.rescuebeauty.com/index.php/buy-2-get-1-free.html

Rescue Beauty Lounge is having a promotion where you buy 2 nail polishes and get 1 free with world-wide free shipping! The offer is good now through Monday 10/20/2014 noon EST. There are a few exclusions, the promotion excludes Italian Summer and Anatomy of a #Kdrama. The following colors are excluded from this promotion: Oh Slap!, Monologue, Cue The Montage, Instant Amnesia, Not Your Baby, Will They Won’t They, Burn The Evidence, Gondoliere , Motorini, Oliveto, Bicicletta, Gelato Al Cioccolato, Meow Meow and Melanzane but are eligible for worldwide free shipping.
I love almost all of the colors I have, the formula is really phenomenal and among the best I’ve tried but my top five picks include: Naked Without Polish, Stormy, Small Dim Summer Stars, Kellie Gonzo, Forgiveness.

No codes necessary for the promo, but be sure to select the Free Shipping option at checkout.
Happy Shopping!
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