Last holiday (2008), there were a few limited edition sets that came out featuring a face color and lipstick packaged in a cute satin kitty-print makeup bag. Two sets were released, 001 Pink and 002 Orange. Each face color is made up of three different color swirled together: a pale highlight, the core color (either pink or orange) and then a variation of that same tone. All the shades are shimmery, but on the skin, the shimmer is natural and pretty.
The lipsticks will be featured when I do my lipstick post, but for now, here are the 2 face colors compared to similar shades in the regular line.
001 Pink and 002 Orange compared to 07 and 08.
They aren’t quite as pale on the cheeks as they are swatched on my fingers. I think I may have picked up more of the silvery swirls. Blended all together they work well for blush rather than a highlighter.
These 2 sets retail for $55 each and can still be found online in the US at The Primping Parleur. If you do order through them, make sure you use the code NOVFAMILY for their 20% Friends and Family event this month. Various boutiques may still have this in stock – soif you have a nearby salon or beauty store that carries Paul & Joe, check with them!
Each Paul & Joe Face Color consists of 2 colors in crescent shapes that allow you to mix and blend the colors based on your preference. Some have a lighter paler shade that I like to use for highlighting, but most of the time I just like to swirl the colors together. The texture is soft and velvety and pigment is soft and natural.
Swatch of 03 Canteloupe Melon: Swatch of 07 Love: Swatch of 08 Moroccan Orange: Swatch of 11 Rhapsody: Swatch of 12 Chic: Swatch of 15 Re-Belle: Swatch of 16 Canyon: Swatch of 17 Sundown: Swatch of 18 Risque: They are a bit pricey at $24 USD each, so I try to wait for GWPs at Bergdorfs or Friends and Family Discounts for various online boutiques which can reduce the retail price down to around $19.20 at 20% off. See the first post, Paul & Joe Beaute: Chic & Sophisticated Makeup for the Young at Heart, in this series about current specials.
Here’s November’s List of Ten Things I’m Loving Right Now. As always, I want to hear your lists too! And they don’t have to be beauty/makeup related.
1) Henri Bendel Candles from Bath & Body Works $26 – these are the best candles I’ve tried with so many feel-good scents. My favorites are Vanilla Bean, Fig, Quince, Pomegranate – and my husband loves these too.
2) L’Occitane Holiday Sets – Still loving the scented hand creams, in particular the Shea Vanilla and Frangipani scented ones! I wish they weren’t limited edition. Also love the Shower Celebration set – wish all the scents came in larger sizes (I believe the only one available individually right now is the Almond Shower Gel).
3) Paul & Joe Lip Lacquers $20 – You’ve seen these in my look features earlier in the month and my regular readers know that I bought practically every color. They are absolutely fabulous and I hope these are here to stay. They are great alone or over a liner/lipstick. I can’t rave enough about them. Cute packaging, nice pigment, non-sticky texture, very wearable colors. I’ve purchased my Paul & Joe items from Bergdorf Goodman, The Primping Parleur’s Online Boutique, Beautyhabit.com and Dermstore.com – but check the Paul & Joe Beauty website for locations around the world.
4) PhytoSpecific Integral Hair Care – this is a spray hair treatment which is supposed to “restore moisture, smooth, redefine curls, detangle, make setting easier, and protect hair from heat damage.” I have thick slightly wavy hair which I cannot air dry because it poofs up into a huge frizz ball. Up until a year ago when I started using this, I religiously blow dried and straightened my hair daily. I tried a number of no-frizz serums and straightening sprays, but I still had to go through the daily ritual of blow dry/straighten. This spray is incredible for me and once I spray and comb through, it allows my hair to air dry without turning into a huge frizz ball. I haven’t tried any of the other PhytoSpecific products, but I do love the shampoos in the regular Phyto line.
5) Dolce & Gabbana Caramel Blush $44 – I love nude blushes and this one is pretty without looking muddy on my skin. You can buy D&G online at saks.com, but I highly recommend ordering through the Saks NY or Beverly Hills counters because you get excellent customer service and the makeup artists who run the counter are very good at recommending colors. If you have any questions about other products, you can ask me too! I’ve accumulated quite a few things from them since they launched the line.
6) Edward Bess Daydream Bronzer $48 – By far my favorite powder bronzer of the moment. Wasn’t so thrilled with the hefty price tag, but I have to say that it gives that natural tanned glow. My skintone is on the pale side right now, I’m the equivalent of what’s in between MAC NC30-35. Normally I’m more of a NC35-40ish. You can purchase Edward Bess at Bergdorf Goodman or online at EdwardBess.com. Compared to some other bronzers:
7) Le Metier Eye Brightening & Setting Powder $36 – I’ve always been skeptical of brightening powders mainly because I usually don’t see a difference when using them. This, however, is every bit as great as Ellyn (from Neimans King of Prussia) and Lisa (my fellow Le Metier fan) have both raved. I use the shade Revive which is good for medium-tanned skintones. The next shade down Refresh is quite a bit paler. Seems like they need a shade in between. I use it after I apply my foundation in place of concealer under the eyes and it is an instant-brightener/evener all in one. (FYI – Neimanmarcus.com has free shipping with code and a promotional Peche Lip Creme with any Le Metier purchase, good as long as supplies last.)
8) MAC Pigments: Naked, Fairylite, Your Ladyship, Shimmertime – I like light/neutral pink shimmers for a natural barely-there all over eye color. I believe all of them have been discontinued except Naked, but you can get a full sized Shimmertime Pigment in one of the MAC holiday sets and Naked is also available as a mini in one of the holiday pigment sets.
The swatch picture couldn’t capture the real color, so I’ll try my best to describe the differences:
Naked is the most neutral
Fairylite has the most pink and most visible silver sparkle/micro glitter
Your Ladyship has a golden sheen to it
Shimmertime is the most pink/frosty throughout
9) MAC Style Black Mineralize Eyeshadows: Gilt by Association, Cinderfella, Young Punk $19.50 each – Yes, I do like MAC products even though I don’t write much about the line! I was afraid these would be too glittery, but they work well when applied with a damp brush or over a gel liner for a pretty smoky eye. It appears they are sold out online, but most MAC stores usually still carry seasonal stock so check your local store.
10) Hot Chocolate – I know many of you prefer I stay on the beauty topic, but I really love this time of year because it’s the perfect time for hot chocolate, apple cider, and warm teas. A classic favorite is the Williams Sonoma Hot Chocolate that they only carry during the holidays. I’ve seen a few at Godiva and Crate & Barrel that I’m dying to try out. I know Trader Joes has a lot of holiday ciders and goodies, so I’m hoping they have a hot chocolate too. Do you have a favorite hot chocolate?
Saks has received their holiday collection for Dolce & Gabbana and the colors are stunning!
There have been some promotional pictures of the Golden Beams holiday collection floating around the web on various blogs like Temptalia.com and Makeup4All.com and in the latest Saks catalog page 43, you can see photos of the Sparkling Lipstick, Royal Nail Lacquer, Magic Lipgloss, and Gold Eyeshadow Quad.
I ordered from Saks NY for the Triple Points event last week and these are the holiday items that came in the mail today (I ordered several items from the regular line too, but those will be saved for another article in the near future):
* Sparkling Shine Lipstick – sparkling warm nude-gold * Caramel Blush – the perfect caramel nude blush * Royal Nail Polish – extremely deep purple with reddish undertones and subtle sparkle * Magic Lipgloss (thanks to the sweet SAs who threw this in as a GWP!) – a rich ruby shimmer
Lips and cheeks:Magic Lipgloss, Caramel Blush, Sparkling Lipstick
Swatches of Sparkling Lipstick & Magic Lipgloss:
Swatch of Caramel Blush:
Caramel (most pigmented) vs Nude (more peachy/light) vs MAC Tendering (in the middle):
Royal Nail Polish: 3 coats with high flash (in natural light the sparkle is more subtle)
Compared to Nars Tokaido Express and Chanel Vendetta:
In natural sunlight: L to R – Nars Tokaido Express, Dolce & Gabbana Royal, Chanel Vendetta
As of this past weekend, the Saks NY store called to let me know they received their Golds Eyeshadow Quad in limited quantities. I decided to pass on this for now since I already have a lot of golds/silvers.
If you have the latest Saks catalog, check page 43 for a better picture:
Overall thoughts: I would say the standout is the Sparkling Lipstick. I love nude-golds and this one is really pretty and natural looking. Will definitely warm up the skin with a soft glow. I’m really happy with the other items as well. The holiday lipgloss is one of the more pigmented ones and the blush shows up better than the Nude Blush on my skin.
The Saks NY girls did a really great job again describing colors to me over the phone (thank you for your patience ladies!) and I couldn’t be more pleased.
From pictures I’ve seen online, I thought Conjure Up would be a mineralize version of Stark Naked Beauty Powder blush, but when I got home, I found it was a lot darker and more plummy than pink (see comparisons below). Superduper Natural is gorgeous and different from any other peachy blush I have. Yes, I have too much peach blush in my collection, but I’m happy they released one different enough from all the other ones they have released before. Jingle Jangle is a pretty sparkley pink. It’s not quite as bright as Steppin Out and doesn’t have that blueish-sparkle-sheen that Internationalist has which makes it a good inbetween color.
Superduper Natural comparisons to Sunbasque, Nuance, Improvise, Warm Soul, Eversun, Earth to Earth and Cheeky Bronze (all from MAC)
Conjure Up comparisons to Hot Planet, Grand Duo, Gentle, Love Thing, Plum Foolery, FAB, Gleeful (all from MAC)
Jingle Jangle comparisons (I don’t really like this picture b/c the sparkles threw off the flash and made all the MAC shades look the same): 1) Dior Addict Ultra GlossReflect #557 Denim Pink, 2) MAC Steppin’ Out, 3) MAC Jingle Jangle, 4) MAC Internationalist, 5) Chanel Nebula #122, 6) Lipstick Queen Creation, 7) Bobbi Brown Pink Raspberry
I took advantage of the Saks Beauty Week Event and placed an order the from NY store. Turns out the mailer card I received wasn’t entirely true when it said you would get 20 different samples in the goodie bag. At least there was a good GWP with Dolce & Gabbana of Seduction Lipgloss (was told the gift would be Candy, but I’m actually really happy with Seduction).
Here’s what arrived today:
* Luminous Cheek Colors in Delight (soft pinky rose) & Provocative (bright pink) * Ultra Shine Lipglosses in Baby (shimmery baby-barbie pink), Sunset (soft peachy shimmer) & Seduction GWP (creamy nude pink-rose) * Smooth Eye Color Duo in Stromboli (smokey black with silver micro sparkles & nude champagne shimmer)
L to R: Delight Blush, Stromboli Duo & Provocative Blush:
Delight:
Provocative:
Stromboli Eyeshadow Duo:
Ultra Shine Lipglosses, L to R: Baby (bubble gum shimmery pink), Sunset (shimmery peach), Seduction (nude rose cream)
Top to Bottom: Baby, Sunset, Seduction
Another view:
Swatches (note the flash enhanced the shimmer in the first picture making Baby & Sunset look frostier and lighter than they actually do):
This gives you a better idea of the undertone:
I haven’t tried the lipglosses on my lips yet, but they seem to be thick and very pigmented. They have the same rose scent as the lipsticks. Baby looked so much prettier in the promotion pictures – in reality, it’s brighter and more barbie-like, but still wearable in my opinion.
You’ve seen my previous posts about the previews of the Paul & Joe items and now part of the collection is finally here! I took advantage of the recent Bergdorf Goodman event and ordered some of the new Fall 2009 Face Colors and Eyeshadow Duo from Paul & Joe. This is what arrived:
* Color Powder CS (Duo) #061 Verite * Face Color #15 Re-Belle * Face Color #16 Canyon * Face Color #17 Sundown * Face Color #18 Risque
#061 Eyeshadow Duo:
New Face Colors #15 to #18:
All my Paul & Joe Face Colors:
Paul & Joe #15 compared to Le Metier Whisper:
Paul & Joe #16 compared to MAC Moon River:
Paul & Joe #17 compared to MAC Fun & Games and Giorgio Armani #2:
Paul & Joe #18 compared to MAC Stark Naked and MAC Pinkerpeach/Trustfund:
Last holiday (2008), there were a few limited edition sets that came out featuring a face color and lipstick packaged in a cute satin kitty-print makeup bag. Two sets were released, 001 Pink and 002 Orange. Each face color is made up of three different color swirled together: a pale highlight, the core color (either pink or orange) and then a variation of that same tone. All the shades are shimmery, but on the skin, the shimmer is natural and pretty.
