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Eyeshadow

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Neiman Marcus Exclusive: Dior Pearly Lilac Quint

June 6, 2009

This year Dior released some beautiful bright colors for summer, however their summer launch seemed disorganized and extremely confusing since each retail store received different products for summer. It took a bit of researching online and in-store to figure out that each store did not receive the same items! For details on what was released where, visit Karlasugar’s Post on the summer collection HERE. For some excellent nail polish swatches and details, visit Steph’s Closet HERE.

One particular item I fell in love with and felt should have been launched/distributed through all Dior retail stores was the Pearly Lilac Quint. This was exclusive to Neiman Marcus in the US, but appears to have been part of the Dior Lilas collection available in Asia, France and some duty free locations.

Here is the picture of the Pearly Lilac Quint (#129):

Petal Shine (#809) versus Pearly Lilac (#129):

There was a limited distribution of this quint, each Neiman Marcus store only received a few items in their stock and it was never made available for sale online. Missed out on the quint? Not to worry as it can easily be replicated with some duplicate shades in other lines, my suggestions are as follows:

Top left shimmery pale white gold shade is similar to:
1) MAC Pigment in Quick Frost
MAC Eyeshadow in Nylon (not pictured)

Bottom left shimmery cool rose pink shade is similar to:
2) Bare Escentuals Bare Minerals Eyecolor in Bahamas
3) Chantecaille Eye Shadow in Quartz (this is now available in the iridescent formula)
4) MAC Eyeshadow in Wintersky

Center iridescent eggplant is similar to:
5) MAC Pigment in Grape
MAC Eyeshadow in Fertile (not pictured)

Bottom right frosty pale whitish pink is similar to:
6) MAC Eyeshadow in Phloof

An in-between shade of the two right shades is:
7) Laura Mercier Eyeshadow in Dusk

Top right iridescent lilac is similar in effect to:
8) MAC Eyeshadow in Crystal (looks different in pan, but when swatched, almost identical)

Any other suggestions for dupes?

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MAC Fashion Forward Event Makeover

June 1, 2009

I’d like to start a series of posts to archive some looks I love and also some great makeovers I’ve had at some events. Hopefully this will give you ideas on some pretty color combinations of products.

The first one I’d like to write about is the MAC Fashion Forward Event I attended at Nordstrom. I had my makeup done by one of my favorites sales associates who I’ve shopped with for years, so she knew my taste and preferences. This was my first good MAC makeover (I’ve had about 5 others that turned out horrible) and now that I know a couple of the good artists, I will definitely request them for future events. Everyone received a cute pamphet with a few face charts featuring some looks.

One page of the face chart pamphlet:


This is what she used on me, all MAC products (unless specified):

FACE:
* Prep & Prime Skin
* Studio Moisture Cream
* Chanel Teint Innocence Shell 1.5
* Mineralize Blush in Dainty

EYES:
* Paint Pot in Painterly
* Eyeshadow in Soba 1/2 way up eye
* Eyeshadow in Folie on outer corners blended up
* Eyeshadow in Arena in the middle of the eye blending colors together
* Eyeshadow in Ricepaper to highlight
* Pearlglide Eye Liner in Molasses

LIPS:
* Lip Pencil in Whirl
* Lipstick in Ramblin Rose
* Dazzleglass in Moth to Flame


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Les Naturels de Chanel

May 30, 2009

Chanel has released a new natural-look collection this May 2009 featuring two new matte single eyeshadows along with several repromotes. I’m really excited they decided to repromote Bel Air and Waterlily Glossimers!



The theme for this collection is: “A quintessential makeup collection of universally wearable, natural colours designed to enhance and flatter the face. . . and ensure a woman’s best look is naturally her own.” Les Naturels de Chanel includes the following items:



Here are some close-ups of the collection:

Left to right: Curious Rouge Allure (63), Unity Glossimer (41), Waterlily Glossimer (112), Bel Air Glossimer (147), Naive Rouge Allure (25)



Orchid Rose Joues Contraste (15)

Left to right (matte shades): Lily Ombre Essentielle (84) & Slate Ombre Essentielle (83)

Left to right (repromote shades): Lotus Ombre Essentielle (46) & Mahogany Ombre Essentielle (51)



Some comparisons for Bel Air Glossimer:

1) Chanel Curious RA
2) Chanel Naive RA
3) Chanel Bel Air Glossimer
4) Chanel Giggle Glossimer
5) Chanel Glass Quartz Aqualumiere Gloss #69
6) Dior Addict Ultra-Gloss Reflect Satin Pink #657
7) Laura Mercier Blush Lip Glace
8) MAC Ample Pink Plushglass

Overall thoughts: I am a huge Chanel fan and am so happy I finally got my hands on the Bel Air glossimer since I missed it when it first came out and was exclusive to Chanel Boutiques and online. The matte shadows are gorgeous, but are on the sheer side for me. I need to use a cream base like Laura Mercier’s Metallic or Satin Cream Shadows or MAC Paint Pots. And even with a base, I need to layer it heavily with a stiffer brush. I’m crazy about the natural no-makeup look, but the new matte shadows are a bit “too natural” for me to be absolutely in love with them. Still, they are great for layering over other shades to softly blend colors together.

Luckily, I already have all the other items featured in this collection, so I felt this was nice to give me some ideas on how to incorporate some staple products with new shades. If you don’t have Orchid Rose Blush, it’s a definite must have, it goes with just about everything. I’m a Chanel Shell/Beige = MAC NC30-35 for reference. At one of the Chanel events I went to, the makeup artist used this on one of my friends who is a couple shades lighter than me and it looked gorgeous on her too!

* Promotional images from Chanel.com

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Jouer Cosmetics: Combining beauty, style and pure modern convenience

May 25, 2009

I found out about Jouer from an article in Harpers Bazaar featuring some of their products and was immediately intrigued by the cute packaging concept.

Jouer Cosmetics was designed and created by Christina Zilber to provide women with personalized beauty. The brand concept was focused around allowing women to create a customized palette of colors in which she developed a unique interlocking compacts to package her products. The line was first launched in 2004, but recently revamped in 2008.

The website is also unique, fun and interactive, providing great swatches of each product and brief descriptions of each color. In addition to swatches, each product features four different faces (with different skin tones and hair color). This allows you to see what each product looks like on different faces.

Tint ($20): a creamy cheek tint that comes in a square mirrored compact

* Petal – described as a soft rose pink, has a creamy texture that is sheer, but buildable, has a hint of shimmer in it

Moisturizing Lip Gloss ($20): wand style with the interlocking feature on one side, these have a nice non-sticky texture with a sponge-tip applicator.

* Wind – described as a creamy pink nude, this has no shimmer, and seems more peachy-nude than pink

* Blush – described as a creamy baby pink, perfect description, a great natural youthful pink shimmer that isn’t too pale

Powder Eyeshadows ($20): satin finish and oil free shadows that come in both shimmer and matte finishes, these are in a wet-to-dry formula, but so far I have only used these dry.


* Caramel – described as a shimmering soft gold, this is an accurate description, but it’s not too yellow or metallic, gives a soft warm golden caramel shimmer to the lids

* Buttercream – described as a pearly french vanilla, this is a great soft cream, the shimmer is very subtle on this one

* Truffle – described as a matte platinum grey, more of a dove grey

* Chocolat – described as shimmering bronzed brown

* Amaretto – described as a shimmering bronzed plum, more of a medium taupe shimmer to me than a bronzed plum, but gorgeous

* Espresso – described as a shimmering smokey slate

Overall thoughts: I believe this line is currently available online at the Jouer Website along with Henri Bendel in New York. I purchased these items sight-unseen online and was pleasantly surprised by the super-fast shipping and cute pink box that the items arrived carefully wrapped in. Also a plus – everything arrived very close to the online swatches/descriptions!

The eyeshadows are my favorite out of the products I ordered, but the glosses are nice as well! Good quality products at very reasonable price points. I hope they will expand their product line as well as possible expand their distribution to other locations in the US!

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Lunasol Quads

May 20, 2009

My current obsessions include hard-to-find items, particularly the eyeshadow quads from Lunasol, a Japanese Makeup Brand made by Kanebo Cosmetics. I was lucky enough that my sweet sister picked up some items for me while she was in Japan earlier in the spring.

The brand concept is geared towards the Refined Woman. They have several different kinds of eyeshadow categories, their English website is at http://www.lunasol-net.com/en/index.html.

Skin Modeling Eyes: 01 Beige Beige, a gorgeous combination of beige-based colors. All shades have shimmer, the pale champagne and chocolate are the most shimmery, the two beige colors have more of a satiny finish.


Lighting for Eyes: 04 Neutral, each quad in this series features a “jewelry powder” which is a super sparkley shadow (in this one, the bottom right shade). A gorgeous combination of silvery taupes.


Scent Form Eyes: 05 Chocolate Cosmos, my personal favorite, soft velvety texture and rich pigment.

Nail Polish: 19 Cool Beige, a sparkly neutral light beige, rich pigment, 1 coat is sufficient.

My review on these items: these are among the best shadows I’ve tried. They have a similar texture to the MAC Starflash Shadows and Urban Decay Shimmer Shadows, soft and velvety and super easy to blend. I find the Lunasol shades to all be very pigmented, both the light and dark. Can’t wait to try more from this line.

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