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Spring to Summer Sheer-Bright Colors for Lips

March 25, 2011

For lips, I like to wear sheer see-through colors for brights. What I like (left to right from above): NARS Velvet Gloss Lip Pencil in New Lover, Dior Addict in Model 564, NARS Angelika Lip Gloss, Chanel Nakkar Glossimer, Chanel Pink Pulsion Glossimer (see it here) Paul & Joe Lip Lacquer in 08 Bouquet, Bobbi Brown Hot Pink Lip Gloss, Edward Bess Island Rose Compact Rouge.

Swatched on arm, same order, in direct sunlight:

One more view, with flash:

I haven’t done lip-swatches of all the colors yet, but here are the ones I do have:

NARS New Lover (also here), this is a unique shade that looks different on everyone. It looks so different on my hand compared to my lips. See it on Cafe Makeup on Liz who is fairer and slightly cooler toned (here) while this is what it looks like on me below:

Nars Angelika Lip Gloss:

Paul & Joe Lip Lacquer 08 (looks brighter in real life, flash washed out color a bit, all my Paul & Joe Lip Lacquers here they are among my favorite lip glosses, I have almost every color):

Edward Bess Island Rose Compact Rouge (also here and swatched for Karlasugar here):

I apologize if all the links have you clicking in too many places. I’ve just referenced them in case you wanted to see more detailed reviews or comparison from past reviews. Have a happy Friday!

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Spring to Summer Brights for Nails

March 24, 2011

I’m known for loving neutrals. Bright colors are usually not my thing unless its on the fingers, toes or blush {I love bright blushes}. I’m doing a three-part series for the brights that I love and adore {for Debra who requested a summer brights feature}. Part 1 features bright nails in orange, pink and red. It’s too early to be thinking about summer but brights on nails can be pulled off in any season.

I’ve linked previous reviews and features. There are a few I’ve republished below along with a few new mani-pedi pictures.

Chanel Riviera – reviewed compared and dupe attempts here and here
Chanel Coromandel – reviewed here

Dior Cabaret Pink – see it here too

Chanel Pulsion – swatched, compared and reviewed here

Chanel Enthusiast – pedicure here

Chanel Orange Fizz – manicure here

Chanel Melrose (no longer available)

Rescue Beauty Lounge Coral – shown below

I believe you can still find all the shades currently except for Chanel Enthusiast, Riviera and Melrose. Riviera is very close to Chanel’s Rose Insolent and Dior’s Cabaret Pink though. Are you wearing bright colors right now?

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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:

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
Shu Uemura ME Black 990
Bobbi Brown Mini Blush Brush

Close Ups Labeled:

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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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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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Chanel Le Blanc Continued: Rose Envolée Quadra Eye Shadow 31

March 12, 2011

Chanel Rose Envolée Quadra Eye Shadow 31 is a beautiful palette of ivory, pink-gold (that flashes mostly gold), candy pink and plum-brown shimmers. The finish ranges from a satiny shimmer to a high-sparkle frost. I typically find the square-pan quads superior in quality and texture to the round-pan versions, but I was pleasantly surprised by this one. The pigment in Rose Envolée is a lot better than most Chanel quads with the round-pans (this one is Made in France), but the texture is still not as finely milled as the US square-pan version.

I played with it a bit this evening, applying MAC’s Paint Pot in Bare Study as a base, then I layered the ivory, from lash to 3/4 up and blended the pink-gold on top. I then applied Bobbi Brown’s Cocoa Mauve Gel liner and applied the dark chocolate-plum shade on top for a smudged liner. I have yet to figure out how to pull of that bright pink shade.

I couldn’t find a quad dupe, but here it is compared to my other Euro/Asia Baked Version Chanel Quads: Tentation Cuivrée and White Whisper. Note that the round-pan Chanel Quads come with tiny white-tipped applicators that are made of a soft squishy material (softer than the typical sponge-tip we have in the US quads). I find they are not very good at applying the colors, I prefer actual brushes.

Overall love. I still prefer the square pans, but this makes a lovely quad for spring that I think will transition nicely into summer.

As a recap, the Chanel Le Blanc Collection is an Asia Exclusive (like their Think Pink and Beige Collections from years past). I’ve scoured the web and called a couple Chanel Beaute Studios in the US. These beauty studios are just like the Chanel counters you see in department stores, but they also carry a few select pieces from various Imported Collections and the Boutique Exclusives. As of now, I think there are about 5, one at South Coast Plaza Bloomingdales, one in Seattle’s Nordstrom, one in Hawaii, a couple more perhaps. None of the locations I called said they would receive the Le Blanc items and they have no idea of what to expect next for their Imports collection.

Like many of my fellow Chanel fans in the USA – I think it would be amazing if Chanel would carry their Asia, Europe, Canada and other various country exclusive collections online via Chanel.com, even if it is in limited quantities. It would thrill me to no end!

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Chanel Le Blanc Collection: Blossom 152 Glossimer

March 11, 2011

Chanel Blossom 152 Glossimer is part of the Asia Exclusive Le Blanc Collection. It’s a sheer medium pink loaded with sparkles and micro-glitters that flash blue, silver, white, rose and pink. It goes on the lips very sheer and enhances the pink in my lips. The sparkles are visible, but not gritty. Texture is very smooth with a high gloss. Lip swatches and comparisons below.