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Bobbi Brown Neon & Nudes Blushes for Spring 2012: Nude Peach and Nude Pink

January 1, 2012

This spring, Bobbi Brown has a created new twist on her classic nudes with a Neon & Nudes collection. Her spring color palette has a mixture of nudes with shocking brights. I of course was drawn to her nudes: the eye palette and blushes. I found the new Ultra Nude Eyeshadow Palette was very tempting. The colors seem goof-proof, naturally flattering and perfect for everyday wear. I was particularly impressed by the dual-ended brush. One side is angled and very dense and seemed to be of extremely good quality (an improvement in my opinion, the brushes in her palettes are hit or miss). However, given my recent purchases of Urban Decay Naked 2 and Burberry Pale Barley Eyeshadow, I decided to pass for now. I left the counter with her two new blushes in Nude Peach and Nude Pink. (Swatches of the entire collection is featured on Yuki’s Lazy Channel.)

Nude Peach and Nude Pink ($24 each) are gorgeous classic neutrals true to Bobbi Brown’s style. Nude Peach is a soft peach with a hint of shimmer (although I can’t see any shimmer once applied on the skin). Nude Pink is a soft cool matte pale pink. Both colors fill in gaps in her current blush lineup for lighter neutrals. At the counter they swatched on the hand light, but do not let this deter you from trying them on the face. A good blush brush picks up the powder (which is easy to blend) to apply decent pigment to the face with just two swipes. Today I’ve layered the peach on top of the pink although you can wear both alone for a soft natural cheek. I was very pleased with the pigment and the colors do show up well on the skin.

Since neutral peaches and pinks are basic staples I’m sure there are dupes. I couldn’t find any among my MAC, Chanel, Burberry, Armani or Bobbi Brown shades (the blushes I use the most), but I didn’t spend a lot of time searching. I pulled a few other shades to compare for you though. Still I find these naturally flattering and light enough that they don’t pull brown from darkening as your skin warms up. I adore Bobbi Brown’s blushes but I find some of her neutrals with brownish tones like Slopes and Tawny darken on my skin and end up looking harsh when I’m paler.

Overall thoughts: Fresh and brightening and perfect for spring. Nude Peach and Nude Pink are colors that I envision will be very easy to incorporate into any look as they will naturally enhance your complexion to brighten the face and not overpower dramatic eyes or lips.

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Wearing Tomorrow for New Year’s Eve

December 30, 2011

BeautyLookBook NYE by sabrilina on polyvore.com

Many have asked me to share what I’ll be wearing for New Year’s Eve. I’m still working on the outfit but I’ve already planned the makeup look. Here’s my first Polyvore attempt (not sure if I pulled in all the right items for the above photos, but the look is detailed below):

Dolce & Gabbana Perfect Creamy Foundation in Natural Beige 120 mixed with a pale highlighter
Chanel Poudre Universelle Compacte in Rose Merveille 120 dusted all over
Armani Sheer Blush #10
Armani Jacquard Face Palette to highlight
Laura Mercier Metallic Crème Eye Colour in Gold
Chanel Beige Lamé 417 Soft Touch Eyeshadow
Armani Eyes to Kill #6 Khaki Pulse
NARS Larger than Life Volumizing Mascara
Bobbi Brown Gel Liner Caviar Ink
Armani Gloss d’Armani Pink 502 + 507 mixed
Chanel Black Pearl #513 Le Vernis
L’Artisan Mûre et Musc

I’ll be offline for a few days but I’ll be checking in here and there to publish comments/questions via my iPhone. I’m running out the door right now to get a Black Pearl manicure 🙂 Toes will be covered so I’m passing on the pedicure this week. I wish everyone a Happy New Year!

What will you be wearing tomorrow night?

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Bobbi Brown Bronze Tortoiseshell Eye Palette

July 1, 2011

Bobbi Brown has 2 different neutral eye palette options with her Tortoiseshell Collection: Sand and Bronze. I opted for the darker version, Bronze Tortoiseshell ($60), although both were equally gorgeous. The palette comes in a two-tiered brown mirrored compact and I love that the packaging is beautiful, simple and sturdy with no frills. These palettes have a good mix of textures ranging from matte to shimmer to sparkle. I think Bronze will be an extremely versatile palette that will allow one to create a wide range of looks.

The Bronze Palette is the warmer/darker option of the two in Bobbi Brown’s Fall collection. I find it neutral-warm, leaning more towards warm. The shades in the top layer of this palette:

Banana is a matte yellowish cream (doesn’t show up on my arm, but mattes out the lids)
Gold Nugget Sparkle is a bright gold with micro sparkles (I normally don’t like Bobbi Brown’s sparkle eyeshadow formula but this one is lovely)
Olive Sparkle is a sparkly olive-gold (same lovely olive with gold flecks, subtle enough so the sparkles aren’t like glitter)
Bronze Metallic is a soft warm bronze (not to be confused with her Bronze Shimmer Wash Eyeshadow which is more golden)

The bottom layer colors include:

Tiger’s Eye Metallic is a shimmery orangey amber
Espresso is a matte dark brown
Copper Cocoa Shimmer Wash is a shimmery warm chocolate
Amber Shimmer Wash is a soft peachy orange-gold

When I saw the preview photos pop up a few weeks ago, I immediately dismissed these thinking they would be repeats of prior seasons. Both Sand and Bronze are indeed similar to past creations, and while I’m not a fan of palettes that have more than 5 shades, they are good staples. I wouldn’t call these must-haves. However, Bronze does have a gorgeous palette of shimmers with a few new unique shades. This is very “summery” which I find season-appropriate for right now. Add the fact that I liked 6 of the 8 shades in this palette made it a very easy sell for me. To date, I’ve only had a chance to do one look with this using the top four shades layered and blended together with Espresso applied with a damp brush as a liner. I’m looking forward to experimenting more with this.

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Bobbi Brown Soft Nude Rich Lip Color SPF 12

July 1, 2011

There are three Rich Lip Colors featured for fall Twig, Soft Coral and Soft Nude along with three High Shimmer Lip Glosses in Bare Sparkle, Citrus and Beach. All the colors looked lovely at the counter, but I left with just one: Soft Nude Rich Lip Color ($23). Soft Nude is just that. A soft nude with a hint of pink. It’s a your-lips-but-better kind of color with full rich smooth coverage. It’s very natural but I love it. Soft Nude is one of those nudes that works perfectly. No tweaking or fixing required.

Compared to a few other Bobbi Brown shades, it’s most similar to Heather Pink (previously reviewed here). The difference is Soft Nude is less mauve/pink while Heather Pink has more pink/mauve.

The Bronze Palette swatches will be posted early Friday morning 🙂

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Bobbi Brown Bronze Tortoiseshell Eye Palette & Soft Nude Rich Lip Color Coming Soon …

July 1, 2011

Bobbi Brown’s Fall 2011 Tortoise Shell Collection features two gorgeous palettes of classic neutrals along with beautiful naturals for lips. I had vowed to not cave for another BB palette, but my resolve was weakened by KarlaSugar and Best Things In Beauty. I opted for the Bronze Tortoiseshell Eye Palette (a double decker eyeshadow palette with 8 shades) and Soft Nude Lipstick (a lovely full coverage true nude-pink). Initially I was a bit concerned the Bronze Palette might be too warm for me. Today, DSK Steph’s lovely feature confirmed that the Bronze option is gorgeous, wearable and naturally flattering.

Details, swatches and review on each to come separately very soon.

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Love To Layer

May 10, 2011

I love layering and blending out colors, especially for makeup. Layering different textures and shades allows me to create extra depth and also helps to give that slight glowy finish. Layering multiple products is something I usually only do when going out for a special occasion. In the mornings, I’m always running 5 minutes behind. Makeup for work is usually kept as simple as possible, except for the rare occasions that I am able to wake up an extra 30 minutes early.

My makeup looks usually revolve around my clothes/outfit of the day or night. This past weekend I wore a simple floral strapless dress (shown here). It was fairly neutral so virtually any look would go with it. I realize this would be more helpful if I had a photo of my face to go with this, but this is more for my own personal reference since I was quite happy with the result. The numbers in each photo indicate the order of application.

Cheeks: I applied Armani’s Fluid Sheer #10 on cheeks and then applied Dior’s Aurora on top as a contour. I then took a separate blush brush and applied Chanel Espiègle just on the apples.

Lips: Simply line with liner. Fill with a sheer gold lipstick. Top with a sheer coral gloss.

Eyes: The first step was to apply Laura Mercier’s Metallic Gold Creme shadow on the lids as a base. I took the white side of NARS Exotic Dance and and dipped MAC’s 242 (a stiffer brush) into the frosty white and patted it on 1/2 way up the eyes. Taking a larger fluffy brush, I swished it into the golden tan shimmer of Exotic Dance and loosely applied it all over. Next, I took MAC’s Spare Change and applied it along upper lashes in a messy smudgey line and layered Le Metier’s Splendid Frost taupe on top to blend. Last steps were to add a clean fine black line along upper lashes and outer corners on the bottom. Finishing step was with Armani’s Eyes to Kill Mascara.

Giorgio Armani Fluid Sheer #10 – shown here
Dior Aurora Bronzer – reviewed here
Chanel Espiègle #65 Blush – swatched and reviewed here
Paul & Joe Lip Pencil Duo – Melon (01) – partially swatched here
Bobbi Brown Candlelight Shimmer Lipstick – shown next to Beige Gold Metallic here
Chanel Pensée 277 Glossimer – here
Laura Mercier Metallic Creme in Gold
NARS Exotic Dance – white applied with a stiff MAC 242 brush patted on lids
NARS Exotic Dance – gold applied with a loose fluffy brush all over lids, here
MAC Spare Change eyeliner – applied in a smudgey line along upper lashes, swatched here
Le Metier de Beaute – Splendid Frost, top shade applied along lash line smudged on top, blended, also reviewed here
Bobbi Brown Caviar Ink to finish as liner – swatched here
Giorgio Armani Eyes to Kill Mascara

Swatched, two views with different lighting:

One last view:

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Loving Right Now

April 11, 2011

Right now I’m loving …

Jo Malone Tea Fragrances – layering these together creates the most lovely uplifting scents. I find them simple, pure and refreshing! (each scent reviewed here)

Chanel Ombres Perleés de Chanel, perfect for a lovely glow and easy to apply with fingers (reviewed and swatched here)

NARS Kalahari Duo & Fez Single Eyeshadow – I’ve been using my depotted Kalahari and it was about time for a replacement so I bought a new one. It’s one of my holy-grail neutrals. Fez is a beautiful bronzey copper (swatched here).

Chanel Stylo Yeux Waterproof in Ébène is a pure black and stays put all day and Urban Decay’s 24/7 Shadow Pencil Blending Brush is the perfect brush for blending smokey colors (not so great for blending lighter shades all over the lid, but for darker shades and detail areas or smudging it’s great)

Giorgio Armani Blush #2 – the original Armani products were the best in my opinion. Classic nude soft neutrals never go out of style. #2 is a soft luminous peachy pink.

Bobbi Brown Aruba Illuminating Bronzing Powder is a golden shimmer bronze (see it here too)

Chanel Joyeuse from the Le Blanc Asia Exclusive Collection is a beautiful bright pink (see it reviewed here as well)

More bright lips: Paul & Joe Lip Lacquer 02 Can-Can (here too), Dior Model Addict Lipstick (also here) and Chanel’s Rouge Coco Shine in Adventure (I used up the entire sample from the little card I received and went out to buy the full sized version)