Three fresh pink lip colors from a few harder-to-find brands I think everyone should check out:
Koh Gen Do Maifanshi Lipstick in Fresh Pink PK04 – a sheer fresh light pink with a soft frost ($38 can be found at Barneys.com and KohGenDoCosmetics.com)
Burberry Lip Mist in Fresh Pink No. 09 – a healthy semi-bright cool-pink ($30, can be found at Nordstrom.com)
Paul & Joe Lip Lacquer in Can-Can 06 – a cool-toned healthy pink with slight shimmer and high sheen ($20 check Paul & Joe for locations)
Koh Gen Do Maifanshi Lipsticks have a sheer moisturizing formula. While the color is sheer, it is visible on the lips and gives healthy glowing lips like no other lipstick formula. I’ve reviewed two others Pink Beige and Pink Rose here. Fresh Pink PK04 was provided to me for review. It’s a sheer light pink. Looking at the tube, one might worry that the color would be too sheer. The color does show up on my lips, but just barely. I think those with darker skin or darker lips might find this color too pale.
Burberry Lip Mists are natural lightweight lipsticks with a unique creamy-gelled texture that makes it feel in between a lip balm and natural lipstick. I’ve reviewed a different Lip Mist, Copper, here. Feather Pink is a fresh neutral-cool pink. It goes on smoothly and doesn’t require any tweaking. There is no detectable scent. Lasting power is medium. The texture is smooth and applies evenly.
Paul & Joe’s Lip Lacquers are among my favorites for lipglosses. I’ve raved about the formula in the past, but I don’t think I’ve done very many lip swatches. These are high pigmented high shine glosses that last on the lips a long time. Unfortunately they don’t photograph well because of the shine. It looks brighter in real life than it does on the lips below. Can-Can 06 is one of my most-used lip lacquers.
For more pink loves, you can see my Spring Pinks from April here. What are your favorite pink lip items for right-now?
Koh Gen Do Fresh Pink was provided to The Beauty Look Book without charge for review.
I’ve been eagerly waiting for Burberry to release their full line of eye brushes. If you’ve been to a Burberry counter at one of the few select Nordstrom locations, you will notice they have a full range of face and eye makeup brushes for use, but to date, there are only four available for sale: the mini face brush ($52), No. 09 Socket Line Brush ($38), No. 10 Definition Liner Brush ($32) and No. 11 Eye Shaper Brush ($38). Visit Nordstrom.com – Burberry Beauty for more details.
Top is No. 09, Bottom is No. 10
I picked No. 09 a fluffy black-bristled brush and No. 10 a pointed smudge brush during Nordstrom’s Trend Show at South Coast Plaza last month. The brushes are beautifully crafted with sleek long handles in black and dark silver. Both of the brushes I picked up are made in France. The bristles are very soft and feel gentle when brushed on the skin. The size of the handles are perfect – not too long and not too chubby. They feel very nice in the hands and are easy to hold.
Burberry Eye Brush No. 09 is very similar to a number of other fluffy brushes. Compared to MAC, Stila and Edward Bess, the Burberry is the least dense, but most similar to Stila’s #9. It still has enough bristles in it to allow control, but this is best suited for blending colors on the lid or for a very soft wash of color. I personally prefer something a bit denser to apply color better, but the Burberry is still lovely, although not a must-have for me since there are other similar options from other brands.
Burberry Eye Brush No. 10 is a soft pointed detail brush good for the corners of the eyes or for smudging darker colors. It’s very soft making this ideal for those with sensitive eyes. This works beautifully with the darker Burberry eyeshadows to create a soft smokey eye by blending out darker shades to soften harsh edges.
Have these made it into my favorites list? (My must-haves were featured here last February.) They are well-made and very high quality, but since I have a sizeable collection of brushes, I didn’t find these to be must-haves. I personally believe there are brushes out there that are less expensive that will achieve the same result. However, if you are looking to expand your brush collection the brushes by Burberry are still worth looking at if you have a Burberry counter near you. I personally won’t buy brushes without being able to touch/test in person first, had I not been able to see these in person I would have not purchased them. Still, if you are able to go to a counter, you will see that the brushes are aesthetically pleasing and have a functional design with well crafted bristles for flawless makeup application.
Overall, I like, but don’t love. I simply have too many brushes as it is. I have used both for a few weeks now, both have gone through one brush-washing. Still, Burberry Beauty’s brush line shows promise, especially if they release the other brushes for sale. I have my eye on a few already and am eagerly waiting for their release. The brushes by Burberry are soft, well designed, delicate and gentle but not flimsy. I think many will find them great staple tools.
I’ve written a guest post for Karla Sugar on Burberry’s Spring 2011 Lipsticks 22 Delicate Rose, 23 English Rose, 24 Romantic Rose along with the new blushes as well (previously featured here).
Head on over to her blog and click HERE to see the swatch lineup of the new items from Spring!
I stopped by Burberry Beauty at Nordstrom South Coast Plaza mid-May to check out the new Lip Mists (see my window shopping snapshots here). I came home with three things: Lip Mist in Copper, Eyeshadow in Midnight Black, and Blush Lipgloss.
The new Burberry Lip Mists are supposed to be a sheer natural formula with a dewy finish. I didn’t find them as shiny/glossy as Dior or Chanel’s newest lipsticks, nor did I find them really sheer. I would describe them as a medium finish lipstick, the texture is definitely natural but slightly less creamy than their regular formula. I looked at all the shades, the only two that stood out to me were 02 Copper and 09 Feather Pink. I decided to get just one to try, I came home with Copper, a natural brownish-pink.
I also picked up Blush Lipgloss 04 which I find more pinky-rose than most promotional photos show this one as. This one has been repromoted for spring. I’ve had this on my wishlist for a while, I decided to cave. It’s a lovely natural rose blush with shimmer. I would describe it as a neutral-cool shade.
Last, I picked up Burberry’s Midnight Black Eyeshadow – a soft sheer shimmery black. This has a gorgeous shimmer with a slight greyish undertone. It is a bit high maintenance in my opinion. It’s not as easy to blend as the other Burberry shades I have (I own both light and dark, shimmer and mattes). This one applies streaky, sheer and uneven on bare lids. You need an emollient base like UD’s Primer Potion for it to show up well. I applied this with a fine tip smudge brush as a thick smudgey line and then took a lighter shade to apply on top to blend out the edges and then reapplied the black to intensify the color.
Swatched in a few different views:
Overall I love the Blush Lipgloss. The Lip Mists are nice, but I prefer the regular lipstick mainly because the color selection is better. Formula-wise, Lip Mists are less creamy but do have a semi-transparent texture even if the finish isn’t really sheer (in my opinion). Copper is a nice basic but not a must-have. Midnight Black is a disappointment, mainly because I think it will be more of a high maintenance black shadow, but when applied over a moist base and packed on (rather than brushed on) it does show up.
I have a few comparison shots for your reference. I did not have time to swatch them all though and most likely will not be swatching in the near future due to time constraints.
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.
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:
NARS Tzarine Eyeshadow Duo
MAC Blonde MSF (limited edition from January 2009)
Burberry Misty Blush (new for spring, review to come soon)
Chanel Boy Rouge Coco Shine
Laura Mercier Mini Double Sided Brush
MAC Wolf Pearlglide (limited edition from 2008ish)
Lancôme Yayoi Kusama Edition Juicy Tube in Dot Apricot (now at Nordstrom)
Edward Bess Daydream Bronzer (my holy grail bronzer, reviewed numerous times here)
Le Métier de Beauté Sheer Brilliance Lip Gloss Ibiza
Le Métier de Beauté Sheer Brilliance Lip Gloss Captiva
I’m always looking for that perfect shade of nude even though I have quite a few favorites (Chanel Mythic & Luminous, Bobbi Brown Beige Gold, MAC High Tea). Everyone has a different interpretation of what they see as a true nude (see an older post here, What’s Your Definition of Nude?) – for me a true nude is something flesh colored. Light nude beiges don’t always work for me, many require tweaking with layering of extra gloss or liner (what I call my high maintenance nudes). Sometimes there are nude colors that are simply too neutral or beige and end up washing me out, but my curiosity always gets the best of me, I can’t help but check out every variation of beige.
A few new discoveries, thoughts, and swatches: MAC Viva Glam Gaga 2 Lipstick & Lipglass, Zoya Naomi Nail Polish, Burberry Trench Eyeshadow, MAC Gana Blush (from the Mickey Contractor collection).
First up are the newest additions to the MAC Viva Glam series: Gaga 2 Lipstick and Lipglass. Both are creamy neutral grey-beiges in the tubes but go on with a slightly peachy cast on the skin. These are true nudes, both of which I find fall under my “high maintenance” nudes category. The Gaga 2 Lipstick resembles concealer on my lips. It has full coverage (the amplified formula) with rich and creamy texture. Having tried other MAC nudes like Cherish, Creme d’Nude and Peachstock, I know this one will work better once layered over a darker liner (and blended of course) like MAC Stripdown and then topped with clear lipglass. I’ve swatched it alone below. Thumbs down by itself – the color just makes my skin look dirty and I look lifeless. Gaga 2 Lipglass is the exact same shade of nude, it’s not quite as flat and has the tiniest bit of sparkle in the tube. The shimmer doesn’t show up on the lips. For some reason the glossy texture makes it more forgiving on the lips. Thumbs up for this one! It’s a wearable nude, but I think MAC Revealing Lipglass is a more universally flattering beige nude. This one is also featured below alone (no lipstick or liner underneath).
In direct sunlight:
Zoya Naomi is an opalescent beige with a soft silver sheen. I ordered this from Zoya.com sight unseen along with a few of the Zoya Spoons. I haven’t tried too many Zoya Nail Polishes yet, but so far I’ve been extremely pleased with the finish, pigment and wearability of the colors. However, my experience with the Zoya neutrals is similar to my experience with Essie neutrals – what you see in the bottle doesn’t always translate to what you get on the fingers. In this case, I found Zoya Naomi a bit too warm for my beige skintone. I had to tweak it with a layer of a sheer silvery pink to get it to work. (Stay tuned for tomorrow’s post to see what I used.) Lovely color with 2 coats, just needed a slight change for my own liking.
Burberry Trench Eyeshadow is one of the best nudes I have ever tried. It’s deceptively boring and dull looking in the pan and swatched on my fingers, but it has a soft velvety texture that brightens and evens out the eye lids with a subtle luminescence. I love it. This isn’t entirely new (bought it back in late August in San Francisco’s Nordstrom) but I haven’t gotten around to reviewing it. I really love Burberry’s soft eyeshadows. I can’t wait for them to release more colors.
Burberry Trench finger swatched (on the hands it just melts/blends):
MAC Gana Frost Blush from the Mickey Contractor Collection was exclusive to select MAC Pro Stores and online. It’s a soft champagne grey pink shimmer powder that looks pretty on the eyes and as a highlighter on the temples. I don’t know if it’s still available or easy to find. It’s the closest thing I’ve found to Estee Lauder’s Tom Pecheux Highlighter (reviewed here) but with a pinkish/grey sheen. Those who can’t find it and want something similar that you can still find, MAC’s Beauty Powder in Play it Proper similar in effect.
Gana Swatched on bare skin:
All the new nudes swatched on arm, two views:
Have you tried any of these nudes I just reviewed? What are your thoughts if you have tried them? I’m especially interested to hear your thoughts on the Viva Glam Gaga 2 Lipstick and Lipglass – how are you making these work for you?
