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Sabrina

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Storage Ideas From The Beauty Look Book

March 19, 2011

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.

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Latest From Burberry Beauty Spring 2011: Blushes

March 19, 2011

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.

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Inside My Makeup Bag

March 18, 2011

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:
  1. NARS Tzarine Eyeshadow Duo
  2. MAC Blonde MSF (limited edition from January 2009)
  3. Burberry Misty Blush (new for spring, review to come soon)
  4. Chanel Boy Rouge Coco Shine
  5. Laura Mercier Mini Double Sided Brush
  6. MAC Wolf Pearlglide (limited edition from 2008ish)
  7. Lancôme Yayoi Kusama Edition Juicy Tube in Dot Apricot (now at Nordstrom)
  8. Edward Bess Daydream Bronzer (my holy grail bronzer, reviewed numerous times here)
  9. Le Métier de Beauté Sheer Brilliance Lip Gloss Ibiza
  10. Le Métier de Beauté Sheer Brilliance Lip Gloss Captiva
  11. Shu Uemura ME Black 990
  12. Bobbi Brown Mini Blush Brush
Close Ups Labeled:


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Quick Comparison: Eyes to Kill Intense 15, 5 and 6

March 17, 2011
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)


The differences:
  • #15 is the most brassy, but very close to #6
  • #6 has the most khaki undertones
  • #5 is the warmest, most coppery-gold (reminds me of Edward Bess Escape Eyeshadow)
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.
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Deep Blues: Chanel Blue Satin, Dior Bond Street & Dior Blue Label

March 17, 2011

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.
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Dior Rock Your Nails Collection: First Look

March 14, 2011

Quick swatches of the new Dior Vernis from their Rock Coat Collection. My own review & thoughts to come later this evening! And because I know everyone is going to ask, Blue Label is darker than Bond Street (comparison to come soon). In the meantime, check out Fashion Polish, Joey’s Space, and TriGirl from The Purse Forum for additional swatches, reviews and thoughts.


Left to Right: Perfecto, Nirvana, Purple Mix (Rock Coat Finger is where ever you see the corresponding bottle in the background)


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Chanel Le Blanc: Rouge Allures Désinvolte 86 and Joyeuse 87

March 13, 2011

This will be my last Chanel Le Blanc feature. Rouge Allures Désinvolte 86 and Joyeuse 87 are beautiful combination of bright and fresh. Désinvolte is a soft pinky-peach with a soft sheen. Joyeuse is a sheer hot bright pink. Both go on with a natural sheen and fairly sheer on my lips. These are of the typical Rouge Allure texture – smooth, soft and creamy.

Désinvolte looks like a straight soft peachy-apricot in the tube, however it goes on very sheer on my lips and looks like a pinky-peach than peach. See the hand versus lip swatch. There is a soft silvery sheen to the color which I think is why it goes on so sheer. Due to the limited nature of these I know many of you are wondering if there is anything similar. For Désinvolte, I would say yes. It reminds me of a softer/sheerer version of Chanel’s long discontinued Lola Hydrabase. I think MAC has made quite a few Lustres with a similar finish. Compared to Peregrina Rouge Coco from Spring, Désinvolte is similar but softer.



Joyeuse is a cool bright hot pink with a soft sheen. I love it. For me it’s hard to find a cool hot pink that doesn’t look blueish on my lips (since I have a lot of olive). This one is hard to dupe in my opinion. NARS Venice is significantly more frosty, NARS Roman Holiday is significantly more pastel, MAC’s bright pinks are all a lot more sparkly or opaque. Compared to Jersey Rose, it’s a lot cooler and sheerer.


Here are my comparisons to the peach and pink Rouge Cocos from the Spring 2011 Collection (previously reviewed, swatched, and compared here) plus a few a few more.


Edward Bess Forbidden Flower
Chanel Peregrina Rouge Coco
Chanel Désinvolte Rouge Allure
Chanel Joyeuse Rouge Allure
Chanel Stresa Aqualumiere (discontinued)
Chanel Jersey Rose Rouge Coco

As of now, I believe these two are still exclusive to Asia. The Chanel Beaute Studios I called have said no, they will not be receiving anything from the Le Blanc collections. I have not contacted Chanel.com to inquire about it though. If you don’t want to scour e-bay or have a friend in the Asia regions able to do a custom purchase, you might want to keep your eye on Izzy’s Perfume & Beaute Shoppe, I know in the past they have carried Asia/Europe exclusives from Chanel and Dior. (Not affiliated with them and FYI they have their own prices that are higher than US retail.)
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