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Sabrina

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2014 Nordstrom Anniversary Sale Beauty Exclusive Highlights – Early Access for Cardholders

July 10, 2014

The 2014 Nordstrom Anniversary Sale has arrived for Nordstrom Cardholders. Early access starts today July 10 and runs through the 17th. You will need to sign into your online account linked to your Nordstrom Card in order to shop the sale online or see sale prices. There are over 200 Nordstrom Beauty Exclusives for the Anniversary Sale along with some Gift With Purchase Items as well. (Some of the GWPs are available at select stores or online only.) The focus seems to be almost exclusively on value sets rather than exclusive collections. Here are a few select items I wanted to highlight (left to right, top to bottom):
  • Chanel Dentelle Précieuse Illuminating Powder ($80) is finally in the US as a Nordstrom Exclusive, it’s currently not listed as an Anniversary Exclusive online (although that is what my sales associates have told me)
  • La Mer Refreshing Collection ($295) includes the Moisturizing Soft Cream Smooth, Weightless Cream (1 oz.), the Moisturizing Soft Cream Smooth, Weightless Cream (1 oz.). Eye Balm Intense (0.17 oz.) and 1 Hydrating Facial Mask
  • NARS Dolce Vita Lip & Nail Set ($52) comes with a Dolce Vita Lipstick, Dolce Vita Lipgloss and Limited-Edition Dolce Vita Nail Polish in a lacquered keepsake box
  • NARS Schiap Lip & Nail Set ($52) comes with Schiap Lipstick, Limited-Edition Schiap Lipgloss and Schiap Nail Polish in a pink lacquered box
  • NARS Limited-Edition Cheek Palette ($49) comes in a black mirrored compact with Orgasm, Laguna, Mistinguette and Goulue
  • Bobbi Brown Nude on Nude Color Set ($85) comes with a 12-pan eyeshadow palette, Full-size Perfectly Defined Gel Eyeliner in Black and Full-size Smokey Eye Mascara in Black
  • Charlotte Tilbury Filmstar Killer Cheekbones Set ($110) comes with a Powder/Sculpt Brush and Bronzer/Highlighter compact
  • Lancôme Mascara Wardrobe ($39.50) comes with minis of Artliner Precision Point Eyeliner in Noir (0.4 oz.), Cils Booster XL Super Enhancing Mascara Base (0.07 oz.), Hypnôse Custom Volume Mascara (0.07 oz.), Hypnôse Drama Instant Full Body Mascara (0.13 oz.), Définicils High Definition Mascara (0.07 oz.) and Bi-Facil Double-Action Eye Makeup Remover (1.7 oz.)
  • Kiehl’s Since 1851 Creme de Corps Home & Away Duo ($75) has one Creme de Corps with Pump (33.8 oz.) and one Travel-size Crème de Corps (2.5 oz.)
  • Deborah Lippmann Recipe for Love Set ($29) comes with You Got Me (0.27 oz.) a dusty dove grey crème, Make Someone Happy (0.27 oz.) a blooming blush bling glitter, Let’s Stay Together (0.27 oz.) a mysterious mauved plum crème
  • Moroccan Oil Moisture Repair Hair Set ($85) has Moisture Repair Shampoo (16.9 oz.), Moisture Repair Conditioner (16.9 oz.) and Oil Treatment (1.7 oz.)
  • Diptyque Baies & Figuier Candle Set ($120) comes with two 6.5 candles in Baies and Figuier with a wick trimmer and candle snuffer
  • Laura Mercier Flawless Expressions Set ($85) has an Eye and Cheek Palette, Deluxe-size Caviar Stick in Rosegold (0.03 oz.), Full-size Full Blown Volume Suprême Mascara in Black (0.2 oz.) and Full-size Lip Glacé in limited-edition Gilded Rose (0.15 oz.)
  • Giorgio Armani Ultimate Eyes to Kill Set ($85) includes Smooth Silk Waterproof Eye Pencil in #1 (0.03 oz.), Eyes to Kill Mascara in #1 (0.23 oz.), Flash Lip Lacquer in #107, Perfection Eye Makeup Remover (1.35 oz.), Luminous Silk Foundation in #5.5 (0.17 oz.) and Fluid Sheer in #7 (0.17 oz.)
  • Jo Malone Cologne Collection ($88) comes with six 0.3 oz mini spritzers of Nectarine Blossom and Honey, Orange Blossom, Blackberry and Bay, Pomegranate Noir and Grapefruit
  • Lorac Nude Skinny Eyeshadow Palette ($15) is a seven pan palette with warm nude shades
  • MAC Look in a Box All About Coral ($39.50) comes with Lipstick in Passion Charge (luster finish), Lipglass in Stoke the Flame (frost finish), Veluxe Pearlfusion Eyeshadow in Collective Chic and Technakohl Liner in Brownborder
  • MAC Look in a Box All About Pink ($39.50) comes with Lipstick in Embrace Me (matte finish), Lipglass in Unlimited Style (frost finish), Veluxe Pearlfusion Eyeshadow in Fabulous Three and Technakohl Liner in Photogravure
  • MAC Look in a Box All About Beige ($49.50) has two blushes, six eyeshadows and two lipsticks in shades of soft tan, copper and pewtered bronze
  • L’Occitane Shea Butter Softness ($48) includes Ultra Rich Shower Cream (2.5 oz.), Milk Shea Butter Extra Gentle Soap (3.5 oz.), Shea Ultra Rich Body Lotion (16.9 oz.), Shea Butter Hand Cream (0.3 oz.) and Shea Butter Foot Cream (0.3 oz.)

I have my eye on two things: the Chanel Highlighter and NARS Dolce Vita Box Set, but that may change once I see the items in person. I love the look of the Diptyque sets since you basically get the candle snuffer and wick trimmer for free with the purchase of the two candles. My mom loves L’Occitane and Bobbi Brown so I might pick up a couple sets for her since her birthday is this month.
What do you have your eye on for the sale? Will you be shopping the sale for early access?
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Tatcha Indigo Minis – Travel-Sized Hand and Body Creams

July 10, 2014

Today Tatcha launches two extensions to their Travel Sized Beauty offerings with minis of the Indigo Soothing Silk Hand Cream ($8 for 10 mL / .34 fl. oz.) and Soothing Silk Body Butter ($12 for 30mL / 1 oz). They are perfectly sized for your purse or makeup bag and travel-friendly. I brought two of the Tatcha minis with me on my recent trip to Minneapolis (see my Travel/Trial Sized Beauty post).

For those new to Tatcha, the Indigo line is super hydrating and good for those with dry skin that gets easily irritated. I carry the hand cream with me on-the-go on a regular basis but the new travel size is easier to carry. The body butter is a must-have for travel since my skin always gets dried out on airplanes. For more details on these items you can read my review of the two Indigo items here. 
Tatcha currently offers ten items in a mini travel/trial size. They are perfect for testing out before committing to a full size product that can be on the expensive side. You can shop their Travel Beauty here. Be sure to follow Tatcha on Instagram, Facebook or Twitter for updates and special promo codes. They offered this duo as a gift with purchase a couple months ago and their gifts are usually offered at really reasonable minimum purchase thresholds.
This post contains samples sent courtesy of Tatcha for review. For more information refer to my Disclosures.

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Rescue Beauty Lounge Anatomy of a #Kdrama

July 9, 2014

Rescue Beauty Lounge has a new collection called Anatomy go a #Kdrama with seven new Nail Polish shades ($20 each). The polishes have a diverse range of finishes, colors and textures – creams, shimmers, and glitters. The shades include Not Your Baby, Oh Slap!, Instant Amnesia, Cue the Montage, Will They Won’t They, Monologue, Burn the Evidence: 

Not Your Baby is a stunning complex mix of taupe, brown and silver shimmer infused with subtle blue and green shimmer flecks. It’s a more pigmented and darker version of Chanel Quartz. It has perfect flawless smooth coverage with two coats.

Oh Slap! is a semi-sheer jelly cream pink. It’s a three-coater nail polish for me otherwise the nail shows through underneath. Coverage is really smooth with a shiny high gloss finish.

Instant Amnesia is a nude tan with a hint of pearl. It’s not a full shimmer but there is a visible sheen in the color. On me it’s very nude with a warm undertone. Coverage is full and smooth with two coats.

Cue the Montage is a textured yellow with a hint of green and silver glitter flecks. It dries to a very different textured finish like sandpaper. The polish applies with full coverage with two coats but the uneven finish. I rarely wear yellow on the nails. This one was extremely unflattering on my skin tone. The glitter chunks stuck to the nails and it took over 15 minutes to remove from my nails.

Will They Won’t They is a soft lilac purple with a pretty shimmer. Some of the shimmers have a flash of blue making this unique compared to other purples. It’s a two coater as well with a smooth texture.

Monologue is shimmery teal. The texture is slightly thinner than most RBL nail polishes. It covers well with two coats but was slightly less fluid/smooth in the application. There is a slightly bright quality to the base which makes the blue stand out.

Burn the Evidence is a sparkling copper glitter. The glitter particles are very fine. It has a transparent base with one coat. With two coats the shimmers cover the nails more. It’s shown below with two coats. It’s extremely glitzy. I’m not sure I can wear this one comfortably for everyday.

Comparisons shown below. I’ll link prior nail swatches:

My top picks are Not Your Baby, Will They Won’t They and Oh Slap! The collection is online for purchase now at Rescue Beauty Lounge. Be sure to check out the other blogger’s reviews linked on the RBL website.

This collection was provided courtesy of Rescue Beauty Lounge for review. For more information see my Disclosures.
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Loving Right Now / Sneak Peek

July 9, 2014
Happy Wednesday everyone! I hope everyone’s week is going well. Here are a few things that I’m loving right now:
I’ve also included a sneak peek of some items coming soon in the next week:

What are you loving this week? I love reading about your favorites or what you’ve been testing lately. Do you have any items on your wishlist? I have a few Nordstrom Anniversary items on my wishlist that I hope to check out later this week.
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NUDESTIX Eye Pencils and Lip & Cheek Pencils

July 8, 2014

NUDESTIX is a new line of simple easy-to-use multipurpose makeup crayons designed for a nude but better look. The line is exclusive to Space NK with four pencil products, a pencil cap sharpener and one mascara. The pencils come packaged in a cute black metal tin for storage. I have two of the Eye Pencils and Lip and Cheek Pencils to share with you today.

The NUDESTIX Eye Pencils ($24 each) are a multi-purpose eye liner, eye shadow and highlighter ‘all-in-one’ product. They come with a sponge tip on one end to smoke out or smudge the shadow. I was sent Smoke, a shimmery light grey taupe and Stardust, a neutral champagne shimmer for review. They are really creamy in texture and glide on the eyes easily. Given the pale neutral color I found I liked to swipe and blend with my fingers rather than use the sponge tip. Both blend well and are easy to layer. They both give a neutral wash of color on the lids. After you apply they set on the lids to a slightly drier finish (not as creamy as when you apply them). Once blended the color sheers out for a slight all over the lid glow. I like these as eye bases rather than a pigmented shadow. Used under powder shadow helps make the colors pop.

The NUDESTIX Lip & Cheek Pencils ($24) are also multi-purpose pencils. Soul is a neutral peachy pink and Whisper is a pale nude. These are super creamy pencils that hug the lips and blend easily on the cheeks. I prefer to use these on the lips. On the lips you get full coverage with a slightly glossy sheen.  I like how they act like a lipliner and give full coverage but are creamy like a lipstick. On the cheeks I found the color disappeared once blended (at least it did for my medium skin). 

Close ups and swatches. The pencils measure a little over 4 inches long making them compact in size so they will fit easily into a small clutch or makeup bag.

Lip and Cheek Pencil swatches, just on the lips (on the cheeks it’s barely visible).
Soul is the perfect creamy nude peach. It’s an easy swipe and go kind of lip pencil. It applies a bit more peachy on my lips compared to when you swatch it on the arm or hand.

Whisper is super-nude and super pigmented. Since the pigment is so rich it emphasizes my lip lines, adding a bit of gloss or dabbing it helps minimize the look of the lines but I wanted to show you how pigmented it was. You can’t see any of my natural lip underneath.

Overall I am really happy with the Lip & Cheek Pencils. The creamy texture makes them glide onto the lips and the texture hugs the lips making them last fairly long (no detectable scent either). I suspect any of the medium to dark shades will be easy to wear for most skin tones. Soul is peach perfection. Whisper is a bit light for me but those with fair skins will love it.
The Eye Pencils are stunning neutral shimmers but the colors are pretty easy to dupe with other brands. I do like the convenience of the eye pencils though – they are easy to swipe and blend with the fingers making them the perfect on-the-go kind of pencil (no brushes needed). Stardust is a good your-lids-but-better kind of shade. Smoke is a lovely taupe grey shimmer that is a great color for a base shadow.
The NUDESTIX Lip & Cheek Pencils and Eye Pencils retail for $24 each, exclusive to Space NK. There is a wide range of color options from neutral to dark. If you like that nude but better look the line is definitely worth looking into. I have a list going of what to check out the next time I can visit one of the stores.
P.S. Tomorrow (July 9) is the last day for the Space NK + Beauty Look Book Gift with Purchase offer. Check out the details here for the code and terms. A few readers mentioned their gifts were missing an item, I contacted Space NK and they told me due to an overwhelming response to this offer it appears Space NK ran out of the Hourglass mini sample and they apologize for any inconvenience.
This post contains press samples sent courtesy for review consideration. For more information refer to my disclosures.
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3.1 Phillip Lim for NARS | Crossroads, Other Side and Insidious Nail Polish

July 8, 2014

This month there will be nine nail polishes released for the 3.1 Phillip Lim for NARS Collection ($20 each for 0.5 fl oz/15 ml) – available July 15 on narscosmetics.com. I have three shades to share today in Crossroads (a deep purple cream), Other Side (chocolate cherry perfection) and Insidious (a metallic blackened bronze khaki). You can see all the shades on Vampy Varnish.

All the colors come with removable caps. The brushes are wide and slightly rounded at the tips but I found them to be on the larger side making it a bit hard for me to apply on my small fingers. It was still manageable but I had to do a lot of cleaning up with remover and Q-tips after application. I had to play around with various base and top coats. The new formula of the NARS nail polishes did not perform well with my usual Deborah Lippmann Rehydrating Base Coat (the polish didn’t glide over it) and Chanel Top Coat (it didn’t want to cover the polish smoothly). After testing with several of my go-to’s I found these worked best with Sephora Formula X Base and Top Coat.

The shimmer color applied well with just one coat. The creams I tested looked streaky with the first coat but evened out with the second for full smooth coverage.





Crossroads is a dark violet cream. It looks lovely on the hands but the texture of this one was a bit hard for me to work with. It bled easily making a mess of the cuticles. This one was really difficult to remove although it didn’t stain the nails. If you’re patient with this one, I think it’s worth the extra work it takes to apply.








Other Side is the perfect chocolate cream with a hint of red. It applied unevenly with the first coat but smoothed out with a second. It’s a dark almost vampy color but there is enough brown to prevent it from looking too dark.

Insidious is a metallic blackened khaki. It’s dark but not too dark. The shimmers make it glow in the sunlight. This shade will be exclusive to NARS boutiques and narscosmetics.com.


Comparisons to Tom Ford Bitter Bitch
Chanel Vamp
Chanel Diabolic (discontinued)
Dior Ultra Violet (discontinued)
Chanel Vendetta (discontinued)



I’m in love with NARS Other Side and Insidious as a close second. The colors are rich in pigment and with two coats you get full coverage. I did find application a bit hard because the brush is on the larger side. The formula has a medium liquid texture, not thin but not thick. I wore Cross Roads on the nails for 5 days before taking it off to test another color. By Day 5 I had a bit of tip wear on the index finger and thumbs but the rest were fine.
The nine shades will be available online at Narscosmetics.com July 15th and all other NARS locations starting August 1.
This review contains press samples sent by NARS for review consideration. For more information refer to my Disclosures.
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NARS Lip Gloss Swatches | Sweet Dreams, Istria, Angelika, Risky Business, Tasmania, Supervixen, Ophelia and Sixties Fan

July 7, 2014
Here are the lip swatches of my NARS Lip Gloss picks, left to right include Sweet Dreams, Istria, Angelika, Risky Business, Tasmania, Supervixen, Ophelia and Sixties Fan. (Descriptions and arm swatches one post below.)

Thumbs up for almost all the shades. Only Istria needs extra work because it’s so sheer and milky. I like to apply Tom Ford Spanish Pink or Pink Dusk Lipstick underneath. Risky Business and Ophelia are pretty close, only a few shades away – Risky Business is darker and deeper while Ophelia is lighter in color but just as pigmented. In terms of texture, most of the shades all have the same lush glossy smooth texture (even shimmer ones). Angelika is slightly thinner and drier (at least mine is) but it’s still very smooth.
All shades are listed as permanent (yay!), available now in stores and online at Nordstrom, Sephora and narscosmetics.com (complimentary mini Smudge Proof Eyeshadow Base on orders over $25 through 7/8/14 at 11:59pm ET or while supplies last with code SUMMERHEAT at checkout).
Have you tried the new formula yet? What’s your favorite? 
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