On the West Coast in Southern California, Dior spotted at Nordstrom & Neimans (just not the quint yet) and Chanel Holiday spotted at Neimans but without testers. First a sneak peek at the nails for holiday. Left to right: Dior Or Divin 221, Exquis 611, Apparat 871, Merveille 651 & Chanel Rouge Carat 587.
Tom Ford Sable Smoke #14 ($48) is a creamy caramel honey nude. It’s officially now my perfect honey nude for my pigmented lips and medium-toned skin. Full smooth coverage with a non-drying formula and beautiful finish. Has a wonderful delicious vanilla scent. Doesn’t wash me out. Lasting power better than the average lipstick. Luxurious feel on the lips. Need I say more?
A few comparisons below. When swatched next to other peaches or nudes you can see how Sable Smoke is more of a caramel honey color. L to R: Tom Ford Sable Smoke, Edward Bess Pure Impulse, Burberry Romantic Rose, Chanel Cashmere Rouge Coco and D&G Almond.
Here is one more set of swatch comparisons (actual lipsticks aren’t shown, only swatches). Below, L to R is MAC Viva Glam Gaga, MAC Freckletone, MAC Gel, MAC Creme de Nude, YSL Rouge Volupte #2.
Bottom line: LOVE. I’m slowly working my way with reviews/swatches of all the new Tom Ford Lipsticks I purchased. To date, my favorite is Spanish Pink and Pink Dusk. You can see the full lineup here. The ones I purchased swatched here.
Guerlain seems to be the earliest with holiday releases this year. I was only planning on the Meteorites Powder, but instead caved on the Parure de Nuit Pressed Powder & Blush and Rouge Automatique in Flirt d’un Jour #169. I am still relatively new to Guerlain products but have discovered quite a bit this past year from the line. I’ve fallen in love with the Lingerie de Peau and new eyeshadow quads that were released for fall. My interest is slowly growing. For those interested, I spotted the collection at Neimans last week. It should be arriving at your Guerlain counters very soon.
After my fall highlighter post, several have asked for my thoughts on the ones for holiday. To date, I’ve only seen Guerlain’s. The Parure de Nuit Pressed Powder & Blush ($67) design was too pretty to pass up on and from a distance I thought the red circles were ladybugs, although they are in fact in the pattern of peacock feathers. This comes in a double tiered compact with a compartment for a turquoise/teal goat-hair brush. The brush feels very nice on the skin but I am not sure it’s the best for this highlighter/blush. The Parure de Nuit is a very soft and sheer pearly shimmer powder. There is a gorgeous overspray of an iridescent opal pink and I was sad to find that it disappeared after the initial application/swipe. What lies beneath is a soft pinkish pearl – even after swirling your brush in all the colors over the red circles, all that you really see is a luminous pearl. It gives a beautiful soft glow but I wish there was more pigment or more visible shimmer. I could not get a decent arm swatch to photograph. On the face it gives the slightest hint of glimmer when applied with a stiffer denser blush brush. I would not use this as an all over the face powder, although some might.
I took my fingers and swiped them back and forth three times all over the powder for this swatch. Below it’s been swatched heavily on fingers so you can see the pearly finish, but on the face it is barely detectable.
Rouge Automatique in Flirt d’un Jour #169 ($35) is a beautiful soft pink. The texture is very smooth and feels moisturizing on the lips. It has a natural sheen but gives decent coverage to cover the entire lip. The finish is the slightest bit transparent so your natural lip shows through a little bit. I’m not the biggest fan of gold packaging but the push nob in the front almost makes this lipstick feel like a toy.
Overall I love the lipstick and semi-like the highlighter/blush. I realize the highlighter was designed to give a subtle glow, but as Messy Wands wrote, I do agree that I think darker skins will find it will not show up. I’m not dark or tan, but with my medium skin, it barely shows up. It does give a nice soft luster to the cheeks but I personally prefer something that is more visibly glowy or pearly (without the frost). If Guerlain had kicked up the pigment/intensity by 1.5 notches this would have been a winner for me. The darker berry lipstick looked divine but I’m still scared of dark berries. Perhaps I will be brave enough to try it the next time I’m at the Guerlain counter.
This year Deborah Lippmann and Juicy Couture have teamed up to create some beautiful holiday nail polish sets. Temptalia offered a sneak peek in early August (see her website for details on the full lineup). Yesterday I saw the two nail trios on display at a Juicy Couture boutique. I picked up the Precious Metals Trio ($48) which includes three metallic shades encased in a small pink box:
Believe – an opalescent silver gold metallic
Here Comes the Queen – a Juicy Couture/Deborah Lippmann shade exclusive, a sheer glittery gold sparkle
Jewel in the Crown – a Juicy Couture/Deborah Lippmann shade exclusive, a shimmering highly metallic pewter
The colors in the Precious Metals set have a slightly different packaging in the handles. Instead of the matte black top, the Deborah Lippmann/Juicy Couture shades in this set come with a metal-colored handle capped with a clear gemstone-shaped top (in true Juicy Couture bling style).
Left to right: Believe, Here Comes the Queen, Jewel in the Crown
All the shades swatched together plus close ups (Believe and Jewel in the Crown 2 coats, Here Comes the Queen has 4 coats):
Believe is not a new shade, but new for me. It’s a complex opalescent silvery gold metallic shade. Pigment is very good with this color and has minimal streaking for a metallic finish nail polish. Here it is with two coats.
Here Comes the Queen is a sheer glittery warm gold. It’s very sheer but if you apply Deborah Lippmann’s Rehydrating Base Coat first, the glitter adheres to the nail better. It has about the same finish/intensity as Chanel’s Illusion d’Or (comparisons soon). I’m not a huge fan but I suspect this will be a good layering piece for those who like to layer nail polishes (I personally do not). Below is with one coat, it does not photograph well but the finish isn’t quite as sheer as shown in the swatch.
Jewel in the Crown is the color I purchased this set for. It’s a rich metallic pewter. There were no testers at the boutique so I was not able to try this befor buying. It appears there might be tiny bits of glitter in this. They don’t really show up when you apply, but when you brush your nails with the nail polish you will see tiny little round chunks that look like small bumps. It’s not too noticeable unless you look closely. This one does have streaking like many metallics do but it smooths out with two coats.
Overall this is a cute set for the holidays but not a must-have for me. I have to admit I bought this mainly for the metallic pewter shade Jewel in the Crown. I’ve had my eye on Believe for sometime but was never able to cave in the past. If you love metallics you will love this set. If you found the metallics of Chanel fall too much, then this is something you can safely pass on. I personally feel Chanel’s metallics are more sophisticated in the shimmer and better designed with less streaking but Deborah Lippmann’s shades are still good.
Is this a good deal? Not exactly. I wouldn’t call this a “deal” since the retail price of the set is the same as if you bought 3 individual nail Deborah Lippmann polishes (unless you consider Here Comes the Queen a glitter, then you save $2). Still, Deborah Lippmann nail polishes are fairly reasonable in price for a higher-end nail polish although for a holiday set it would have been nice to have a bit more of a price break.
For availability, I am not sure where this will be available for sale. I found mine instore at a Juicy Couture Boutique and only saw the 2 nail trios. I suspect the other sets will be released in the upcoming weeks. I’ve searched online to see if this shows up through any other retailers and so far I have not seen anything yet.
I thought I’d shade what I’ve been wearing on my tips and toes lately. Here are a few pairings I’ve worn over the last month. I typically wear the lighter shade on the fingers and the darker ones on the toes.
Chanel Quartz and Le Métier de Beauté Midnight Rendezvous
Rococo Nail Apparel Lab Nude 3.0 and Chanel Coco Blue
Chanel Paradoxal and Chanel Steel
Chanel Quartz and Le Métier de Beauté Midnight Rendezvous
Rococo Nail Apparel Lab Nude 3.0 and Chanel Coco Blue
Chanel Paradoxal and Chanel Steel
With holiday collections trickling in I can’t wait for the reds, pinks and golds. What have you been wearing lately?
Chanel is currently revamping their US brushes and the first new one to be released is the #6 Foundation Brush ($45). Many thanks to Cafe Makeup who let me know this was released with the new foundation (the brush was not on the Nordstrom display and without her, I would not have realized this was out). The brush has a sleek and sophisticated look with a matte black handle and silver embossed lettering. I’ve tested the new one for about a week with different liquid foundations and find it performs very well to evenly blend the foundation on the face. With all foundation brushes, I find a bit of streaking because of the bristles. I typically prefer a sponge, but when I do use a brush, I always end up smoothing out my face with fingers or a sponge. This one seems to work better for me than most others because the bristles are more naturally tapered.
Here are a few closeups of the new Foundation Brush #6, the handle has a beautiful black matte finish which contrasts nicely to the silver lettering:
Compared to the original one #16, the new #6 is made of different bristles, is slightly shorter in overall length, has shorter bristles and is slightly chubbier in depth. Both the original and new versions are made in China. To me the performance is very similar but I prefer the look of the new one. It just looks cleaner and more professional. Here is the original compared to the new:
Here is the new Chanel compared to a few other brands including Armani, Prescriptives and MAC:
The other brands have worked well for me in past years. The oldest one I own is the Prescriptives Foundation brush which has held up for me since my high school days. All the ones I’ve tried have worked well, I have no complaints, but the new Chanel #6 definitely has the best design and at $45 seems very reasonably priced (unlike their eyelash curler). Definitely worth checking out if you’re near a Chanel counter. I’m testing out the new Perfection Lumiere and so far love it but need a few more days of use to provide a thorough review.
Have you checked out the new Chanel foundation brush? Do you own the original? What are your thoughts comparing the two?
