I’m very excited to share that Barneys New York has featured me on the style bloggers section of their fashion site The Window. You can read the feature here. Check out the interview to read about what inspired me to start blogging, what my winter skincare secret weapons are, my go-to scent this season and what I would do if I were “accidentally” locked in Barneys overnight (aka dream come true). If you haven’t been to the Barneys Beauty Counter recently, I highly recommend a visit. The floors have been remodeled into beautiful wide open beauty spaces making Barneys the ultimate beauty playground. Here is a sneak peek from my last trip to the Beverly Hills store.
MAC Huggable Lip Colours ($20 each for 3.2g/0.11 oz, limited-edition) are a new lipstick formula that were released several weeks ago. I would have missed out had it not been for Café Makeup who pointed them out to me and recommended I check them out. As she noted, the colors have been selling out quickly. I had to visit two different stores to track down shades. After surveying the swatches on Café Makeup, Temptalia and Weekend Ramblings, I picked out four: Touché, Fresh & Frisky, Out for Passion and Rich Marrón.
These new Huggable Lip Colours have a similar feel to Dior Addict Lipsticks (like Diablotine reviewed here). They have a creamy moisturizing feel. They are very emollient but with a thicker texture so they really adhere to and hug the lips. What surprised me is the level of pigment. The colors have a rich payoff with a soft shine finish. Lasting power is also quite impressive. You can control the coverage by swiping back and forth a few times for more color. If you have time to go to the counter to test, I highly recommend you visit soon.
The four colors I picked (with links to where the colors are located right now online):
Fresh & Frisky is a fresh natural peach that brightens the face:
Out for Passion is the best watermelon pink I’ve ever tried:
Rich Marrón is a nice classic, a bit brown but still nice for everyday:
Overall really pleased with these colors and formulas. I didn’t have time to pull comparisons but these colors work well without any tweaking needed. My husband loves Out for Passion on me so I bought one more as a back-up. Right now the colors are limited-edition. I do hope that MAC considers making these permanent. There are 12 colors in the US, but various stores have certain shades sold out. You may have to do a bit of searching but stores probably still have stock of most colors. For the ones I reviewed:
YSL spring has two new La Laque Couture nail polishes in Rose Scabiosa #48 and Rouge Pablo #49 ($25 each for 0.34 fl oz/10ml). Both are rich vibrant creams that have a flawless finish. They have that lovely romantic Valentine’s Day feel. I’ve been a huge fan of the YSL La Laque nail polish formula. The brush is flat and wide but with a tapered edge. I can cover the whole nail with one brush stroke (except for the thumb) which makes for a super easy application. These are two coaters, but the pigment is rich and smooth. Lasting power is quite good – I can get up to 4-5 days of wear without any chipping or tip wear. Quality matches that of Chanel, maybe a tiny bit better in wear time. I use with my regular go-to’s with Deborah Lippmann Rehydrating Base Coat and either Chanel Laque Brilliance Extreme or Rescue Beauty Lounge Top Coat.
Rose Scabiosa #48 is a stunning baby pink with a slight hint of lilac undertone. I usually cannot wear baby pinks like this because I find them to be extremely sheer and streaky or too pale and powdery looking. YSL Rose Scabiosa has impressive coverage and enough pink color in it to suit my skintone. Below it’s applied with two coats:
Comparisons show it is quite different from my other pinks which tend to be warmer in color. Below shown next to Rescue Beauty Lounge Smitten (discontinued), Chanel May (reviewed here), Chanel Melrose (discontinued) and Laura Mercier Flamingo (discontinued, reviewed here).
Rouge Pablo #49 is a dramatic red-pink. It pulls warmer and more red on my hands but when compared to other reds, Rouge Pablo looks more pink. Your mileage may vary depending on your skintone. My mom is a huge fan of brighter reds and pinks for the nails. She tried this one and thought it was too bright for her taste with too much pink (she’s less olive than me in skintone and slightly lighter).
YSL Rouge Pablo is fairly similar to other reds. From arms length it’s almost identical to the ones shown below. It was hard to photograph the differences. Below I swatched Chanel Coromandel (warmer and more orange), Chanel Tapage (lighter and more pink), Chanel Rouge Rubis (almost identical but the Chanel is slightly darker) and Chanel Dragon (darker and deeper with more brown). If you have any of the other Chanels, I would say you can probably skip the YSL, although I do find it to be really pretty.
Overall really impressed with the two new YSL nail polishes. I’ve been really pleased with the formulas and textures. The application of the YSL colors I’ve tried is among the best out of all the brands I’ve tried. I give both a thumbs up. Out of the two I favor Rose Scabiosa – it’s an impressive baby pink.
You can find the spring YSL Rose Scabiosa #48 and Rouge Pablo #49 at all YSL counters now. Online at Nordstrom, Neiman Marcus and YSL Beauty US.
There’s a new nail polish from Bobbi Brown called Bronze ($15 for 0.37 oz, limited-edition). It’s one of three new nail polish shades from her Nude Glow Collection. The polish is a beautiful shimmering bronze. It applies smoothly with two coats and without any visible brush strokes. It’s quite lovely.
Bobbi Brown Bronze is a lovely metallic bronze. I give it a thumbs up. I haven’t tested it for a full week yet but the formula seems to be holding up quite well.
Dior’s Trianon Collection brings us six new nail lacquers this spring. I picked out three of the six shades from my local Nordstrom. You may find yourself shopping around various stores for all the shades. Some are only available to select retailers. The regular nail colors retail for $24 each, the matte topcoat retails for $25. The six shades this spring include:
Bloom #777 – a bright fuschia pink cream (Saks and Macy’s)
I picked out the three options available at Nordstrom. I’m typically a huge fan of Dior’s nail lacquer formula. I’ve found the coverage and pigment to be smooth and rich. The three spring shades I picked are stunning in the bottles. On the nails I found them to be extremely sheer.
Blossom #132 is a lovely sparkly sheer peach with gold flecks in the bottle. On the nails even with three coats I found it to be extremely sheer and disappointing. There is something about the color of this peach that is not flattering with my olive skintone. Below is shown with three coats. It pains me to give this one a huge thumbs down.
Perle #187 is an interesting matte top coat. I found it lovely by itself, with a glossy top coat, or used as a top coat over other shades. It’s a bit high maintenance but if you have extra time for top coats or like to layer colors, this one is quite lovely.
Pampille #192 looked so lovely in the bottle. It has the most beautiful mix of shimmer infused with a cloud-blue base. On the nails this was extremely disappointing. I found this one to apply unevenly and blotchy. The color with three coats looks faded. It didn’t go well with my skintone. I suspect it would make a good top coat over similar blueish colors. I thought this review with one, two and three coats on Pointless Cafe to be very helpful. Below with three coats:
I ended up being disappointed with two of three colors I picked out. When I bought them at Nordstrom my counter didn’t have testers available. They looked lovely in the bottles and given my past experiences with Dior, I thought these would be true to what you see in the bottle. I ended up re-gifting Blossom and Pampille to a couple friends who love sheers and layering colors. At this time I haven’t checked out the other three options for Dior spring. My recommendation is to try before buying.
Did you check out anything from Dior spring? Thoughts? Loves?
Just wanted to give a heads up that SpaceNK is having a sale online. Save up to 50% on a range of items, including brands such as Tocca, Elemental Herbology, By Terry, Kevyn Aucoin, Rococo Nail Apparel and more. Items that caught my eye:
