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Spring 2014

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New From Bobbi Brown: Baby Pink Lip Gloss and Pink Apricot Shimmer Lip Color

January 28, 2014
Bobbi Brown has a released several new collections this spring including her Nude Glow, Uber Pinks and Shimmer Lip Color reformulations. I reviewed Bronze Nail Polish earlier (which I love). Today I bring some swatches of her Baby Pink Lip Gloss ($25 for .24 fl oz/7 ml) from the Uber Pinks collection and Pink Apricot Shimmer Lip Color ($25 for .12 oz/3.5 g) from her new formula of shimmer lipsticks.

Baby Pink is a soft peachy pink with shimmer. The shimmer shows up more on the lips than what you see in the tube, but it’s a natural kind of shimmer. It’s fairly pale on me due to the silvery flecks inside but still has enough color in the base to show up and not completely wash me out. I suspect fairer skin girls will love this. Medium-tan girls who love pale colors for more of a contrast will like this too as it will show up on the lips. I couldn’t detect any scent although I’m sick with a cold right now and traveling so you may want to try first. As far as I can recall, most of her regular lip glosses are without a noticeable scent. Lasting power is medium for a gloss. It’s better than Chanel Glossimers and Armani Flash Lacquers but I wouldn’t call it long lasting.

Pink Apricot Shimmer is just as the name implies. It’s a lovely pink apricot loaded with shimmer. The texture is fairly smooth for something with this much shimmer. It’s not frosty even though I find it very shimmery. There are a number of gorgeous shades it was hard to pick just one. I’m happy to report that these are a quite a bit sturdier than her last shimmer lipsticks (she’s reformulated them several times since her original ones). I had four shades of the older formula and found them so soft that all of them broke at the base. The new colors all appeared to be holding up well at the tester counter and they looked like they had been out a week or so to withstand some heavy testing. 

Swatches side by side:

I highly recommend both. The shimmer lipsticks are definitely worth looking into – there’s a wide range of shades to choose from. I might have to go back and revisit to try one more.
Bobbi Brown Baby Pink Lipgloss and Pink Apricot Shimmer Lipstick are at all counters now. Online at Nordstrom, Neiman Marcus, Bloomingdales.
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NARS Spring 2014 Larger Than Life Lip Gloss – Bimini and Années Folles

January 26, 2014

The NARS Spring 2014 Collection has two new shades of Larger Than Life Lip Gloss in Bimini and Années Folles ($26 each for 0.19 oz/6ml). Both are fresh spring shades that are give a sheer wash of color. These have a high shine with a slightly thick formula to help them last long on the lips. They come with a brush applicator on the end. It’s been a while since I’ve purchased a new lip gloss from NARS and I’m happy to see the brushes on these are slightly bigger and longer than previous colors making them easier for me to apply color to the lips. As far as I can tell there is no detectable scent.

Bimini is described as a sheer guava pink. To me it looks more peachy. It swatches fairly sheer like a light shimmery peach-pink-guava. It’s so pretty in the tube and on the lips. On my lips it pulls more pigmented due to my natural lip color but it applies pretty much true to what you see in the tube. It’s sheer shimmery natural perfection.

Années Folles is a lilac pink cream. Sheer pink lilacs can add a soft hint of pink and brighten the whole face. Annees Folles applies a bit streaky with a few quick swipes (as seen below). If blended properly it smooths out to a sheer wash of lilac on the lips. This one may take a bit more work and blending with a lip brush depending on your natural lip tones.

Comparisons below to Chanel Calypso (discontinued), Armani Flash Lacquer 303, Chanel Coral Love (discontinued), Bobbi Brown Baby Pink Lip Gloss (new, review soon), Bobbi Brown Lilac Rose (discontinued), Dolce & Gabbana Pink Sapphire (review here), Dolce & Gabbana Raspberry and MAC English Accents (discontinued).

I favor Bimini since the color is easier to apply on my lips. It’s a good everyday kind of color that can be worn alone or over other lipsticks for added shine.
NARS Bimini and Annees Folles are available online at Nordstrom and narscosmetics.com. In stores and at counters starting February 1st.

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NARS Final Cut Collection | Adelaide Illuminator

January 26, 2014

NARS Adelaide Illuminator ($30 for 1.1 oz/30ml) has been on my radar for several months. I saw some sneak peeks on Specktra and almost died of excitement when I found out there would be a shimmery pink highlighter. Adelaide is currently exclusive to Nordstrom with an official release date of February 1st. As many others have noted, Adelaide is a very shimmery pink and almost glittery. I usually do not like glitter on the cheeks but this illuminator is almost like a grown-up version of glitter. I have to use sparingly and swipe it lightly over powder blush to give a highlight. I found it lasted all day over a powder blush – right now my skin is normal but slightly dry. There was no shimmer or glitter fall-out. It stayed put on the skin from morning to night. If you don’t like any sign of glitter on the cheeks you may want to try Giorgio Armani Fluid Sheer #8 instead which is similar but paler in color (scroll down for swatches).

Swatched below you can see that Adelaide blends out to a cool sparkly pink on my olive skin. For me it’s pigmented enough to wear as a very soft blush but I prefer to layer over a powder blush with a very light layer.

Here is Adelaide blended and sheered out with a foundation brush:

Swatches below compared to NARS Maui Multiple and Armani Fluid Sheer #8:

As others have noted, the shimmer and glitters are noticeable. I half love it. I tested during the work week for multiple days. Half of the testing days I felt it was too over the top, while the other half I thought it was subtle enough for the office. I recommend testing before buying if you’re unsure about the shimmer. On my olive skin it shows up and brightens the skin with the combination of pink and silver glitter shimmers. Perhaps I just need to be braver with shimmer and sparkles sometimes.
NARS Adelaide retails for $30, it’s a limited-edition color, available now at NARS.
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Tom Ford Beauty Spring 2014 Online at Nordstrom

January 23, 2014

Tom Ford Beauty fans: the Spring 2014 Beauty collection has arrived online at Nordstrom. The collection has new colors for lips and nails.
  • Nail Lacquers $32 each in Incandescent, Indiscretion, Coral Beach and Sugar Dune
  • Spring Lip Conditioners $49 each in Pink Dune, Paradiso, Bitter Sweet, Sweet Spot, Incorrigible, Summer Fling, In the Buff, Firecracker

I cannot wait for these to arrive in stores at counters. I am trying to resist the urge to order these online although I have all the nail polishes sitting in my cart right now. Plus Nordstrom has an online gift with purchase going on right now.

What has been your favorite spring collection released this year so far? I haven’t seen everything yet in stores so my favorite is still yet to be determined. This one just might be it.

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NARS Final Cut Collection | Blushes

January 23, 2014

NARS has four new blushes with the Final Cut collection ($29 each, exclusive to Nordstrom). I purchased mine sight unseen online as soon as the colors were released thanks to sneak peeks on Specktra.net and The Make-up Blogette I could make my purchasing decisions without having to test at the counter.

The four shades are new colors – all fresh and light shades perfect for spring. I was worried these might be too light for my skin, but they offer a lovely sheer wash of color without being too pale.

  • Sex Fantasy is a pale pink that makes the skin glow a lovely light pink. It works alone over powder and foundation although if you have dry skin you may need a cream base to help pick up the color more. (I find MAC Well Dressed and Edward Bess Filled With Desire similar.)
  • New Attitude is a pure fresh pink. This one almost melts into my skin. It is very sheer on my olive skin giving a very slight hint of pink with one swipe. If I apply too much color it darkens on my skin, but one to two swipes gives a beautiful wash of pink. (For me MAC Pink Swoon has an almost identical effect on my olive skin.)
  • Love is my favorite. It’s a lovely neutral rose-pink that applies like a peachy color on me. I like it because it doesn’t turn brown like some neutrals can. For some reason with my olive skin some peachy-brown-pink colors darken and end up looking muddy once warmed on the skin. This one doesn’t turn at all.
  • Final Cut is a darker peach. It has more brownish tones compared to Gina or Gilda (both of which are brighter and slightly more vibrant). This one looks very pretty but is similar enough to other matte peaches from NARS and MAC that you can pass if you have a lot of peachy colors.

Here are the colors swatched with a heavy hand, you can see that even with layering the color still looks fresh and bright:

I don’t have face swatches of these but others have lovely photos of the colors on the cheeks. You may want to check out Buy Now, Blog Later, Café Makeup, Temptalia and Beautezine to name a few. I’m  in love with these blushes. It’s nice to see NARS release some lighter colors for the cheeks (although I’m all about dramatic colors for cheeks, a soft swipe of a bright color can make the skin glow). I think all four shades are really lovely but my top two picks would be New Attitude and Love.

These are available now online and in store exclusively at Nordstrom for $29 each.

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NARS Final Cut Collection | Satin Lip Pencils

January 22, 2014

NARS has four new Satin Lip Pencils ($25 each) with the latest Final Cut collection. The color theme is modern pinks and peaches. For those new to NARS, the Satin Lip Pencils are like large chubby stick lipsticks. They have a very lightweight airy texture but have full coverage with color. You need a smooth lip surface to wear these, if you have any flakies I recommend prepping your lips with a balm or smoothing base first. I find the Satin Lip Pencils to have a matte finish.

The four shades are Stourhead (a super pale powder pink), Villa Lante (a cool toned pink), Descanso (a soft peach-pink) and Torres del Paine (a straight apricot). I could only pull off the peach shades easily. The pinks turned to be too cool-toned for my pigmented lips and olive skintone. I suspect the pink colors are more flattering on paler skintones.

Each shade has a coordinating blush in a matching color. I’ll review the blushes shortly but I’ve photographed each pencil next to the corresponding blush for reference. Fortunately for me I can wear pink blushes more easily than pink lipsticks. Lip swatches below. For skintone reference I used Edward Bess Ultra Dewy Complexion Perfector in Medium layered with NARS Tinted Moisturizer in Groenland and Dolce and Gabbana Powder Foundation in Warm 100.

Stourhead and Sex Fantasy
Stourhead was extremely difficult for me to apply smoothly. Below you can see with my pigmented lips the color looks blotchy and very pale. I’ve seen it on others who have fairer skin and it looks amazing on them.

Villa Lante and New Attitude

Villa Lante applied smoother with rich pigment. It turned a bit too blue on my skin with an almost Barbie-like look. If I had less olive in my skin it wouldn’t contrast so much and would be easier to pull off for me. For some reason Villa Lante looks warmer and more neutral in the pencil but on my skin it transform into a much cooler-toned color. I suspect I will have to do some layering with a gloss on top to make it less blueish.

Descanso and Love

These two are my favorites. Descanso is what I wanted Lodhi Pencil to be (which is lovely but very bright). I purchased a backup of Descanso because I can see myself wearing through this one quickly.

Torres del Paine and Final Cut

These come in close second to Descanso/Love. The peach color is bright enough to add brightness to the face but not too bright. In general I love peach shades.

For those who have other NARS Lip Pencils, I pulled some other shades to help you decide how close they are to previously released shades. As of now there are several different lip pencil formulas by NARS. I’ve also included a could Tom Ford lipsticks. In short:
  • Satin Lip Pencils (formula for the Final Cut) are full coverage pencils with a satiny finish, more on the matte side, but not quite 100% matte. They have a soft sheen making them look more natural.
  • Velvet Lip Matte Pencils are more matte in finish. They have full coverage as well with a more dramatic distinct finish.
  • Velvet Gloss Lip Pencils are my personal favorite, these have a thicker tacky finish with a gloss finish. They are long-wearing and some shades have shimmer. (Old lip swatches here, here and here.)
Left to right: NARS Bettina, Tom Ford Quiver, Tom Ford Smitten, NARS Stourhead, NARS Villa Lante, NARS Sex Machine, NARS Descanso, NARS Biscayne Park, NARS Torres del Paine, NARS Lodhi, NARS Happy Days.

I’m all over Descanso and Torres del Paine. Stourhead and Villa Lante are such gorgeous pinks in the pencil it’s a shame I can’t pull off those lovely pinks.
NARS Final Cut Satin lip pencils are currently exclusive in the US to Nordstrom and online at Nordstrom.com.

Did you check out the Final Cut collection? What did you think?

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