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Giorgio Armani Eyes to Kill #6

June 8, 2010

I took a mini road trip to Beverly Hills/West Hollywood this past weekend for a day of shopping, cupcakes and other girliness. It was perfect weather and my friend and I literally walked until we dropped. Of course I had to stop by Saks to check out D&G and see if they had the new Giorgio Armani Eyes To Kill Palettes in ($59 each) – which they did have for sale, but did not have testers of. Wasn’t a problem for me though, I had purchased my Eyes To Kill from last fall without testing them instore too. I picked up the neutral one, Number 6 which has a lovely warm taupe-bronze sparkle, light pink, soft light peach – all sparkly like the first series of Eyes to Kill, but not quite as sparkly as the Spring Nude Contrasts.

According to Armani, Palette 6 is named “Bronze Coral” designed for solar hues and describes the shades in the palette as having metallic and satin finishes:

Centre: fresh coral (satin finish)
Middle: fresh pink (metallic finish)
Exterior: gold stone (satin finish)

Close Up Photos and Swatches:

Natural Light Without Flash:

For the taupe lovers who want to know how this compares to the older release,
here is Palette #1 compared to the New Palette #6:

In looking at the promo photos, it seems like there is a slight discrepancy in what is being featured. This is what I mean: there are 2 versions of each palette depending on which Armani site you visit. See the US versus International/Global photos.

I’m not sure if certain stores received different shades or if this is simply an error. The ones I saw at the Beverly Hills Saks Fifth Avenue look like the ones from the Global Website. In my excitement with the Saks Beverly Hills store, I completely forgot to check out the new Double Decker palette, new lipshimmers and waterproof Eyes to Kill mascara.

I haven’t tried this on my eyes yet, but I have fallen in love with almost all Armani shadows. I can’t wait to wear this today and plan to pair it with Bobbi Brown’s Bronze Gel Liner 🙂

Has anyone else seen summer in person yet? Any details to report on the lipshimmers? Have a great Tuesday!

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Chloé Eau de Fleurs, Lavande

April 12, 2010

I am very excited to write my fragrance post! The topic of fragrance is a challenge for me because I typically don’t wear fragrance and have extreme perfume A.D.D. – but I am excited to tell you I have recently found one I have fallen in love with from Chloé: the new Eau de Fleurs in Lavande. So here is my first fragrance post!

My Chloé Experience: I have smelled the regular Chloé on various visits to the fragrance counters. While I loved it on the little spray card, I found it slightly too strong for my liking on my arm. I was thrilled to find out that Chloé recently released a trio of Eau De Toilettes (initially exclusive to Saks Fifth Avenue) in three scents: Neroli, Capucine, and Lavande. I had high hopes that I would fall in love with at least one. My favorites were Neroli (citrusy) & Lavande (like the regular Chloé, but softer) and I opted for the more neutral less citrus-like option, Lavande.

Lavande is described as “feminine and elegant, tinged with citrus, violet leaves and sweetened with musk.” I am horrible at describing fragrances, but I would describe the Lavande as a softer more gentle version of the original Chloé. Those who like stronger scents or want something that lasts a long time might not like these since they are definitely on the softer side. The lasting power of these isn’t the best and fades within a few hours, but I personally prefer scents like that.

The Chloé Eau de Fleurs in Lavande retails for $135 for 3.4 oz. The release was initially exclusive to Saks, but is now offered at other retail locations as well.

A bit of background on my fragrance likes/history: I typically opt for scented shower gels and sometimes a scented lotion, but most fragrances induce a severe migraine for me within 1 hour. After that point, I cannot stand even the slightest whiff of that particular fragrance again. Oddly enough, I love the smell of perfumes and colognes on my friends and especially my husband. I just have a difficult time finding one I can wear myself.

What draws me to a certain fragrance? It’s all in the packaging. I go for the pretty bottles – particularly clear glass bottles. If the bottle is too abstract, too bulky, or a hideous color, I won’t even go near it to smell. For the actual fragrance, I don’t know what I like, I just know what I don’t like which is heavy, highly floral, extreme sweets, rich spices – I think that eliminates most fragrances right there, so you can imagine the challenge for me!

What fragrances have I purchased in the past? Gucci Rush 2, Bobbi Brown Bath, and Marc Jacobs Cucumber Splash. Yet I have never even come close to finishing a bottle. All of these have either been gifted away or tossed. I like Estee Lauder’s Sensuous but hate the bottle so I’ve never purchased it, but occasionally spritz a little bit of my sample on my wrists. I have my eye on Acqua di Parma’s Mirto di Panarea which I tested at SpaceNK before. However, it is very hard for me to find near me, I can find almost all the other Acqua di Parma scents though, just not this one!

What fragrances do you like? I’m open to recommendations of what you all love.

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Dolce & Gabbana Makeup Saks Exclusives: Caramel Lipstick & Lipgloss

March 20, 2010

Dolce & Gabbana has released a mini collection exclusive to Saks Fifth Avenue which includes Caramel Lipstick, Caramel Lipgloss, Blossom Eyeshadow Duo and Perfection Nail Polish.

Both the Lipstick and Lipgloss versions of Caramel were described to me as a nude color. Blossom Duo was described as having shades of pink and rose and Perfection Nail Polish was described as a beige cream color.

Since I have been smitten with the Caramel Blush from the holiday collection, I decided to order the lipstick and lipgloss version. When ordering things sight unseen, there’s always a chance that something arrives a bit different than expected. I’ve been lucky to have liked most of the things I’ve ordered sight-unseen. Caramel Lipstick ended up being a disappointment as soon as I opened the tube. I was expecting a warm caramel nude, instead, it’s a beige-grey caramel color. The lipgloss is also more greyish than I expected but seems like it will be more workable. The lipstick will definitely be going back for an exchange. I haven’t tested the gloss yet.

The Lipgloss retails for $29 and Lipstick retails for $30.

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Dolce & Gabbana The Roses Lipsticks: Fascination, Baby Darling & Shine On

March 20, 2010

Dolce & Gabbana released The Roses Lipstick Collection which consists of 5 lipsticks to celebrate the beauty line’s one year anniversary. The details and promotional photos can be found at one of my daily reads, Beauty Anonymous. Based on the promotional photos I ordered (left to right):

* Fascination – cool slightly deep pink (no shimmer)
* Baby Darling – shimmery nude peach-pink
* Shine On – shimmery yellowy-gold

The lipsticks are all highly pigmented and have the signature rose-lipstick scent that is in all the Dolce & Gabbana lipsticks. Baby Darling is the most neutral and doesn’t show up as well on my hand but is really pretty on the lips. All the ones I got were in the Shine Lipstick formula. The colors are lovely and very romantic-like.

I’m not sure that I’ll be wearing Shine On by itself since it seems so yellowy but my fellow Dolce & Gabbana fan Parsi has told me she wears this layered with the red and wine shades for extra shine and more depth. This should be an interesting combo! One of the Dolce & Gabbana artists I met a year ago told me that they often layered their Gold Lipstick over Naked Lipstick – he showed me the effect on his hand and it was lovely.

There will be one more post coming up for the new Dolce & Gabbana spring releases!

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Dolce & Gabbana Spring 2010 Sneak Peek

March 17, 2010

Hi ladies, I just received some of the new Dolce & Gabbana Spring 2010 items from Saks! I’m swamped this week so I don’t have much time to write a full review or answer questions in depth, I will get back to you as soon as I have time – hopefully sometime this weekend.

In the meantime, here are the items I picked out from the spring collection. More details on The Spring 2010 Collection, The Roses Lipstick Collection and a few Saks Exclusives to come in the next few days.

Hope everyone is having a great week!

I will say – for those of you thinking Apricot Blush looks orangey-brown, it is indeed brownish. It looks like the color of a dried apricot. I’m not going to be touching it until I decide whether or not I can pull it off. It’s way out of my comfort zone!

Please do not republish photos. All work is copyrighted. Thanks!

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New Rouge d’Armani Pink Lipsticks 506, 507 & 512

March 1, 2010

Armani has some good beauty week GWPs this year! I opted for the Saks GWP because my Neimans didn’t have the new pink lipsticks in for the rouge d’armani line. The counter didn’t get all the shades in, but my SA was kind enough to sell me a tester for one of the shades.

I also compared it next to NARS Dolce Vita to help give you a baseline for comparisons. I just finished a tube and got a new one. For some reason I remember DV being cooler-toned. Unfortunately I already threw out my old tube, but perhaps it just looks warm next to the pink Armani shades.

Rouge D’Armani Lipsticks are mostly non-shimmer colors. They have more lasting power compared to the typical Armani lipstick (which are gorgeous, slightly glossy, but have little lasting power). These retail for $30 each and have a magnetic lid to hold them shut. I nearly had a few lipstick casualties when propping them up next to each other because the magnetic forces pushed and pulled the lipsticks in different directions.

Most of the new pinks were brighter. There was one, I believe it was 508 that was a cooler lighter pink than 507. If you love NARS Roman Holiday, then you might want to check out Pink 508.

The Saks GWP comes with a full-sized 44 lipshimmer and minis (just an FYI, I stocked up on some other staples such as mascara, powder foundation etc to meet the minimum purchase for the GWP, they are not photographed here):

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Saks Exclusive Laura Mercier Spring Must-Have Collection

February 28, 2010

If you haven’t filled out my survey, this is the last day I’m collecting responses in case you have any feedback you would like to leave, thanks! Click here to take survey

Out of all the Laura Mercier Exclusive Sets this year, the Saks Spring Must-Have Collection is definitely the winner! The set retails for $65 and is exclusive to Saks Fifth Avenue in the US and can now be found online here. It includes:

* full sized Babydoll Lip Glace
* mini pink rose face quad
* mini bold berries eyeshadow quad
* 2 mini brushes, face and pony tail
* mini mascara
* mini foundation primer

FYI – All the colors and items are also available in the regular Laura Mercier line with the exception of the Bold Berries eyeshadow quad which is exclusive to this set. Her mini brushes are excellent in quality and are usually just as good as the full sized versions. By now I have so many mini brushes, I’m starting to get repeats. My mom and sister get to benefit from my extras 🙂

It seems like a really good deal for the set. There is a cute GWP at Saks too (see pics below). The Bold Berries quad is really cute and all the shades have shimmer. I won’t be swatching this quad – I did test it instore and the pigment was pretty good. Seemed to be on par with other single eyeshadow colors. I wish the quad was bigger – it seems like it might be difficult to apply since all the colors are placed so close together. I will just try to use my smaller brushes.

This is the GWP from Saks. It includes a full-sized Blush Lip Glace which is a great natural your-lips-but-better pinky shade.

Nordstrom and Neiman Marcus also have their own exclusive sets. These feature brighter shades of orange, teal and bronze. Fun for summer, but definitely not me and doesn’t seem very “laura mercier.” When I think of Laura Mercier’s line, I think sophisticated, classic, demure. The new sets seem to be very “out-of-the-box” for her brand. Still fun and cute though. The Saks set seemed the most wearable for me. I believe each store’s sets retail for $65 – so if you’re near a neimans or nordies definitely check them out!