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!
This year, the Eyes to Kill Silk Eyeshadows from Armani for holiday are all about the sparkle. Three new shades in the small twist-off cap pots are $32 each for 4 g/0.14 oz:
17 a highly metallic silver sparkle
18 an intense sparkling pale gold
19 hybrid silver-gold shimmer
I’ve been a huge fan of these cream-powder shadows and loved the other Eyes to Kill shades (see Holiday 2010 here and the March release here) and did not find them too intense with the sparkle factor on the eyes. The newest colors this year are much more sparkly and more appropriate for going out or holiday parties. For the other shades I own, I use both fingers and brushes to apply. With the new holiday shades, I found that regardless of how light I tried to apply, all the shades were extremely sparkly. Blending or patting softtly still resulted in sparkle overload.
In terms of colors, I found that #19 was the most wearable with a slightly more subtle shimmer (but still intense). I would not feel comfortable wearing any of the holiday shades to the office. Perhaps the Gold #18 if I muted the sparkle with a satiny shadow on top. (Note the finish isn’t creamy at all so I wouldn’t recommend using these as a base. The texture is slightly creamy but they act more like a powder.) If you’re looking for a subtle refined glow, I would recommend you opt for Laura Mercier’s Metallic Creme Shadows or Bobbi Brown’s Cream Shadows instead. Here are close ups of the shades plus swatches:
Swatches with two different views, these were all applied with a cream shadow brush (Bobbi Brown and Becca brushes were used to swatch):
Overall lovely and perfect for going out, but the shades are intensely sparkly and might be too much for some. For me, these definitely are not everyday products to wear. #8 looks chunky and loaded with sparkles in the swatches but for some reason it’s quite a bit easier for me to pull off compared to the new holiday shades. If I could only pick 1 shade it would be #19 because the mix of the silver and gold make it more wearable (less contrasted to the skin/eyes). I personally prefer the palettes that were released with the collection because they are more wearable. If you need intense sparkle that lasts, you will love these. The lasting power is very strong. If you’re not a huge fan of a super sparkly (borderline glittery) eye, then I would recommend you pass and opt for the MadrePerla palettes (reviewed here) or something like LM’s Metallic Eye Creams.
Armani has released two palettes this holiday season for their Madre Perla Collection. The theme for the eyes and cheeks are shimmery golds, nudes, pearls and silvers. I found the collection has arrived in-store at Neiman Marcus. One is a Face & Eye Palette #1 (the golden one) and the other is designed as an Eye Palette #2. Both are $59 each and are limited edition. The two palettes contain three shades each, very reminiscent of Nude Contrasts from Spring 2010. I approached these with a bit of hesitation. As beautiful as the colors were from Spring, I have to admit both palettes have barely been used. All the colors (except the black) from the spring eye palettes show up similar on the skin which results in just one overly-sparkly eye when the colors are layered. Still, the palettes this season took my breath away as soon as I saw them. The palettes were a bit difficult to photograph to capture the dimensional aspect of the shimmer. I’ve tried several angles to try and help give you an idea.
Madre Perla Face and Eye Palette 1 is a trio of golds. The texture is soft, slightly powdery and fairly shimmery. Applying with an eyeshadow brush (or a denser brush) results in a very shimmery pigmented application. I wore this on the eyes last night to a play and it was beautiful but definitely on the sparkly side. The three colors you have are pale ivory, warm pale gold, neutral tan gold. I feel the colors are uniquely distinct from each other when swatched on the hand but if you want to layer three shades I think you can only create a subtle gradient. Since the payoff with a small brush was so pigmented I was worried it would be too frosty for the face, but applying with a regular brush brush (I used Bobbi Brown’s when testing this one) resulted in a sheer but visible wash of shimmer. Love!
Madre Perla Eye Palette 1 is also beautiful with a cool sharp white with gold frost, neutral tan beige shimmer and cool lavender. I’m not a fan of lavender shades but I learned from Le Metier that this color can be a great highlight to layer over beiges/tans and golds. I really love the middle shade, it’s like a soft beige with a slight hint of grey shimmer. I applied the middle shade first over most of the lid, then added the lavender to center on top and blended. I then added the ivory-gold as a very soft highlight near the top. Today I used Bobbi Brown Bronze gel liner to finish the look. Overall it’s a stunner but very pale. Next time I will need to add a darker contour like Chanel Sand.
Here’s another close up plus swatches:
Comparisons of last year’s highlighter (less yellow and lighter) to this year’s:
Palette comparisons from Spring 2010 to Holiday:
Overall all out gorgeous, not overly frosty, beautiful for holiday. I will definitely get more use out of these than the spring 2010 palettes. They are more versatile and wearable in my opinion.
Giorgio Armani’s Jacquard Collection this fall is among the most beautiful and unique for the intricate embossed woven texture of the palettes. I ordered Eye Palette #2 ($59) after seeing it featured on Front Row Beauty. The palette has a unique trio of shimmery greys combined with a deep matte warm brown with a tinge of auburn. This fall the compacts are magnetized instead of having the snap-click closure. The top comes with painted with the Armani logo in a high gloss black finish.
At first glance when I received this, I was a bit concerned the frost might look too washed out on my skin. The silvery greys are indeed frosty. At the top you have a frosty pale grey-white, in the middle you have two variations of silver: one is more of a pale grey shimmer, the other is a pale mauve grey shimmer. The colors do have a contrast with my medium-tan skintone, but there is a lovely shimmer quality that gives the colors depth even though they are fairly pale.
In direct sunlight you can see the sparkle:
Swatches in different lighting:
Comparisons to a few other shades:
This morning I applied this quad over MAC Groundwork Paint Pot. I’ll report later on the lasting power. I find this palette a bit hard to wear. 3 of the 4 shades are so similar they all end up looking the same on the eye. It took quite a bit of blending and I had to mix the dark auburn shade with a matte black (both applied damp) to get a non-reddish smokey line. After blending and layering though I’ve achieved a subtle smokey eye and I love it. I’ll have to experiment more with this palette for application ideas.
In addition to #2, there is a green palette Eye Palette #1 (greens) and a Face Palette (pinks, beiges and dark pink). The items are all beautiful but Eye Palette #2 was the only one that intrigued me. I don’t typically wear greens on larger portions of the eyes and I found the face palette too frosty. For the lips, cheeks and new mascara, I haven’t caved on anything yet. There are some lovely lipsticks but I’ve overindulged on Chanel and Guerlain lately. Front Row Beauty reviewed all three palettes. Best Things in Beauty also has all three palettes reviewed plus some other items as well.
Have you seen the Armani Jacquard collection yet? Thoughts? Any loves?
Giorgio Armani has released a new lipgloss formula called Gloss d’Armani Lip Gloss ($28) designed to mimic the color range and packaging of their Rouge d’Armani Lipsticks. These come with a flexible sponge-tipped applicator and shades have been released in color ranges of Beige, Pink, Red and Plum. I was personally drawn to the Beiges and Pinks.
The new Gloss d’Armani is described as “More than a mere gloss… Concentrated high-definition color, fusing shine, comfort and lasting hold. Giorgio Armani’s color expertise takes a three-dimensional form.” These are indeed multi-dimentional in the beautiful shimmer. Some of these are like the typical Lip Shimmers while others are a bit more sparkly like the Midnight Lip Shimmers. Concentration of color is more apparent with the darker and brighter shades. The paler neutrals I was drawn to are very sheer and more typical of the original Lip Shimmer formula. If you loved the original lip gloss formula you will like these. Otherwise you may be wanting for more pigment.
Pink 501 and 502 are very similar. Virtually identical baby pink shimmers. The difference is in the shimmer which you can see if you scroll down below to the swatches section. 501 is prettier in my opinion.
Pink 503 is a beautiful soft shimmery rose.
Beige 102 is an iridescent beige frost.
Beige 102 is an iridescent soft light peach.
The packaging is beautiful with an oval tip and base:
You can see the design is similar to the Rouge d’Armani, here it is also compared to the original lipshimmer:
New sponge tip applicator versus the original brush tip:
This is Pink 501 on me – as you can see it’s very sheer, you can barely tell there is any color on my lips:
Swatched heavily on the arm to show the color. On the lips the color is sheered out quite a bit so it only gives a hint of color. My artist said these are meant to be layered over the Armani lipsticks to enhance color and add depth. I find them to be very sheer.
Here you can see the shimmers better:
Overall – these are beautiful glosses that will suit the natural-makeup lover. Again, if you liked the original lip shimmers you will most likely find a color in the new formula that will suit your taste. These are very sheer. The texture is smooth and glossy (non-sticky) with no noticeable scent. Those who prefer high-impact rich color will be disappointed unless you venture into looking at the darker/deeper shades which are still sheer but give more color than the lighter shades. I personally like these but probably did not need to purchase both light pinks as they are virtually identical.
Giorgio Armani’s Gloss d’Armani is trickling in stores now. I found mine at Neimans. They have an event starting this weekend for Camp Gorgeous so you might want to check your stores to see what promotions they have going on. I decided to forgo the GWP for instant gratification.
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.
Armani has established a long standing tradition of releasing a collection in their Bronze Mania/Mediterranean theme for summer each year. Armani has released their latest edition of the Mediterranean Palette in a four-pan eyeshadow quad for Summer 2011 ($59).
Going back as far as I can remember, Armani has released different variations of double-decker palettes for summer usually a bronzer and eyeshadow combination. I am excited this year they have released a full sized quad. Even more excited that this summer is one of the first seasons I’ve seen something appears to be something truly Armani. Something gorgeous, glowing and gloriously neutral. You might find these links interesting to see the history of Bronze Mania in the following awesome reviews:
The Summer 2011 Mediterranean Eye Palette has four shimmery summery shades. From top to bottom I would describe them as:
warm shimmery deep bronze
complex apricot champagne infused with a warm gold shimmer
warm coppery gold frost
warm champagne cream glow
The texture is soft. Pigment is rich. The colors are easily blendable. It’s stunning in the compact and on the back of the hand. The shades are amazing when you pick them up with your fingertips. There is a little instruction card that comes with the palette to give you ideas on how to create a day or night look. The verdict? I don’t think it’s a must-have. I’ll explain why below. First, here are the photos in direct sunlight and with a high flash:
Instructional card with helpful diagrams:
Swatched on a slightly moisturized arm, although no base was really needed to pick up the color:
Closer swatches so you can see the sheen:
So why am I not raving like crazy about this one? For some reason, warm shades like the ones in this palette simply blend together and melt into my skin so you can’t really see much. I need a good moist base and a slightly damp brush to apply wet for them to show up on my olive skin. Plus, I can only use 3 shades at most for these colors. Another thing – I noticed it looked very familiar and went through my quads in search of a dupe. I found it virtually identical to Chanel Spices. The Armani is more intense and more pigmented, but the effect is strikingly similar.
The differences are noticeable, but subtle:
I just know on my eyes, both quads will look identical. If you have pinkish undertones or fair skin, I think this will be *the perfect* combination of colors for you. I envision it will be stunning on blue-eyed and green-eyed girls. As much as I love neutrals, it doesn’t really show up on my eyes. Your mileage may vary. I worry when some really take to heart when I say I’m not in love with something. I don’t want you to write something off simply because I do. As other bloggers have noted in their reviews, this is a beautiful palette. Indeed it is. Due to the vastness of my stash, I knew there was a likely chance that I would have something similar.
If you liked the colors in Chanel Spices but don’t like Chanel quads, this Armani is the one for you. The texture is more blendable than the Chanel and more visible on the skin so it will stand out more on most of you (even if it just blends away into nothingness on me). Armani is more pigmented/intensified so it’s slightly better for the wear.
All in all the quality is still amazing. The pigment is surprisingly good. The texture is to die for. I’ll figure out a way to play with the colors and layer them to make them show up better. I already have ideas of layering these with a few of those powder/cream Eyes to Kill Hybrids that I think will be interesting.
At the time of this post, I don’t think it’s online yet. I found mine at Neiman Marcus instore. I did not check out the other items in the collection so I can’t comment on those. I’m still smitten with Chanel and Dior. More on the Dior quints soon. If you have an Armani counter near you GO and play with this to decide for yourself 🙂
