Nailed Again.....

It seems that lately all I am inspired to rhapsodize about is nails.....so here's another look at my less-than-lovely nails, but a VERY lovely nail color and brand. :)  I was going to write about Sinful Colors more than a month ago, and I am ashamed to say that my nails still bear the tattered remnants of  that manicure!  I had the thought to actually post a picture of what my nails look like today right beside the picture of my nails taken on October 13th, the day I was inspired to try the new color, but I love you, Dear Readers, and I shall spare you the sight.  

So many of us love nail colors and love to change those colors often, and, with the still-not-so-wonderful state of the economy, why not get the most bang for your buck?  Therefore, I present for your consideration Sinful Colors.  Many of you have probably already seen this brand at your local Walgreen's.  While I admit to owning more than my fair share of OPI and other 'prestige' brands of nail polish, I have to admit that Sinful Colors is pretty good stuff.  And at $1.99 vs. the $7.99 or more a bottle for OPI, or the astounding $15 a bottle for Butter London nail polish, what's not to like?

I guess that my most recent Sinful Colors purchase is properly called 'SinfulShine', and the bottle says it  it features 'Gel Tech'.  I am thinking that makes it a bit more long lasting than the regular Sinful Colors polish, and may explain why I still have a good bit of color left on my nails from a manicure on October 13th!  

Oh, dear, should someone writing a beauty blog admit to leaving nail color on for that long?  Well, I just have.  Sometimes there are just more important things to do than change your nail color.  BUT, changing your nail color can often be a lovely little pick-me-up when everything else seems too difficult. :)  

So, here's my latest lovely find:  Sinful Shine nail color in 'Spitfire'.  Actually, I find the name choice quite puzzling, as, being somewhat literal-minded, I would think that anything with the word 'fire' in it would skew at least a little bit to the red zone, but what do I know?  It's a lovely shade, and extremely long-wearing.

And with the holidays right around the corner, think of stocking stuffers.  I know that I am! :)

Nail Day

Hi Ho, Beauties!

Today I was inspired to change my nail color - that Urban Decay mani lasted quite a while, but it was starting to look a mite tired today (okay, it was pretty sad yesterday, too), and since the weather here in Chicagoland is absolutely wonderful today, I sat on my patio and removed the UD and freshened things up today with a lovely copper-y shade from OPI.  I believe it's from the Designer Series (you know that all that means is that it costs more than the regular shades), and it is called DS Glow.  It is similar to the UD shade in that it has little sparklies.  I must be feeling the need for sparklies these days.....in any event, here are two shots - one outdoors and one indoors.  Please ignore my less-than-lovely cuticles.  It's absolutely horrifying how well the camera captures every single flaw!  Guess that's why I rarely show my face on camera!  LOL

Here is OPI DS Glow, outdoors:

And indoors:

The indoor shot captures the sparklies much better!

I hope that you are inspired to try a new nail color today. :)

Nearly Autumn

Hi Ho, Beauties!

It's getting to be the most wonderful time of the year, Autumn!  I don't know why I love this time of year so, as allergies descend upon my family, and things start to dry up and turn brown, but I just do! ;)  And as I was peering at stray hairs the other day in my wonderful 10x makeup mirror, it suddenly occurred to me that I had not regaled you all with any new products for quite some time, so here I am with a few tidbits to send you scurrying out to your local Ulta or Sephora.  Or not, as the case may be.

Speaking of the stray hairs mentioned above, I just wanted to pose this question to The Universe:  What's up with the gift of coarse, dark hairs?  It's only a gift if you are Bruno Mars and want to grow a soul patch, goatee, or moustache, and that ain't me!  So thank You for the other, more happily-received gift:  Tweezerman Tweezers!  (Okay, they're not actually a gift, you have to go out and buy them....)  They are my daily companion, and oft-reached-for-multiple-times-during-the-day beauty implement.  (If only our retirement funds grew as quickly as our chin hairs, right?)  If you don't own a pair, please treat yourself!  They are the best tweezers I've ever used, and do come with a lifetime warranty for sharpening.  (Which, BTW, I have never used.....I find it easier to just purchase a new pair, but that's just me.)  They grab the teeniest little hair for quick removal, unless you don't grab it quite correctly the first time, and manage to snap it off to the point that it can no longer be grabbed, no matter how hard you dig into your epidermis!  But that's another story, a bit on the gory side.

On to the color products!  First up is a wonderful new purchase:  BeneFit's Coralista Ultra Plush lipgloss.  This stuff is fabulous!  The color is wonderful, and the taste/scent is a yummy, fruity delight!  Can you believe it, I'm touting something that's not minty, and that is rare, so for all of you Beauties out there who are not fond of mintiness, here's fruitiness!  I found my new gloss at my local Ulta, but Sephora also carries the brand, and you can also go directly to the BeneFit website:  Benefit cosmetics to purchase anything.  Coralista is billed as sheer coral, and I love it, but if you are a cool skintone, you might prefer one of the other shades of this gloss, namely Sugarbomb (shimmering pinky nude); Dandelion (soft pearly pink); Bella Bamba (sheer bright watermelon); Dallas (dusty rose), or Hoola (shimmering golden nude).  These little puppies will set you back a mere $16.00, but, seriously, $16.00 is peanuts compared to the amount of fun and color you will get from these glosses. :)  And another fun aspect of these glosses is that there are blushes to match!!!!  I did refrain from purchasing the Coralista blush, because, frankly, I own at least fifty shades of blush, and Coralista is similar to at least ten shades that already reside in my ridiculously large makeup stash, but if you are in need of a coral blush, go ahead and pick up Coralista.  Okay, they're not cheap at $28.00, but if you have some extra change burning a hole in your pocket, knock yourself out! ;)  Here is what it looks like, swatched on my wrinkly wrist:

Something about wearing a gloss just makes you feel younger and friskier, I have to say!  Of course, I would NEVER wear my gloss without a bit of lipliner to give these old lips some shape, but that's just me.  If you still have fabulous lips that don't need lining to define them, I'm green with envy.  And you're a liar. ;)  Just kidding - I know some Divas out there who shall remain nameless who even might have a few years on me, and don't have the 'travelling' problem that I have with my lipsticks and glosses, and that is wonderful!  So enjoy your gloss!  It's a relatively inexpensive way to perk up your day.

And speaking of green.......I can't believe I'm telling you this, but I recently picked up a green nailpolish that I actually think looks GOOD on me!  It's a Limited Edition polish from Urban Decay (but if you run right out, I think you will still be able to find it on the shelves at Ulta and/or Sephora - I saw some as recently as the day before yesterday) called Addiction.  It's a wonderfully complex shade of medium green, with lots and lots of shimmery specks of gold and blue in it.  I don't think that the photo I took captures the entirety of the color, but it's an idea, at least.  My twentyfive year old daughter purchased this, and when I saw her wearing it, I had to have some for myself.  She wears it as only one coat, and applying it that way makes it look like more of a khaki shade, whereas I applied two coats, and it takes on a much greener intensity.  I also applied my Seche Vite top coat for extra durability, but I must say, this stuff wears like iron!  My OPI generally chips off within hours of applying it, but I put on Addiction last Saturday, which is nearly a week, and while the tips of my nails no longer look exactly as they did an hour after application, they look good enough FOR ME! LOL  So, no longer keeping you in suspense, here is Urban Decay's Addiction in all her glory:

Oh, I forgot to tell you the price.  You are probably sitting down, right?  It's (voice goes down to a whisper) sixteendollars........sorry!  It is a bit much for nail polish, but I have yet to go through an entire bottle of nail polish, EVER, so it will last you a very long time.

And while we're on the subject of Urban Decay, I guess I should mention one other recently purchased product:  Urban Decay's Revolution Lipstick.  I'd read amazing things about it from several different beauty bloggers I follow.  They all RAVED about it.  RAVED!  So, of course, me being the Beauty Ho that I am, I ran out to find some for my little ole self.  I came home with the shade called 'Lovelight', which looked to be a nice, warm pink, a shade that would be flattering to my fair, warm skintone.  Well, Girls, I am NOT a fan.  It is NOT long-lasting, as billed, it is NOT flattering, and it is NOT worth the $22.00 I paid for it.  At all.  Now, maybe I just picked the wrong color for me, and perhaps you will find that it is wonderful stuff, but I need to go on record as saying that this was a huge disappointment for me.  Swatched below:

HOWEVER, upon looking around the Urban Decay website a bit, I DID come across this little tutorial in something that I think is pretty cool, when done in appropriately Old Broad colors for your skintone, and it can be found here:  Ombre Lips  I think this is a very cool look, and can be done appropriately for those of us who are beyond the first blush of youth.  Here is a look from the Urban Decay website: 

And that, my Beauties, is all she wrote for today!  <3

Summer Stuff

Hi Ho, Beauties!

Somehow we always want to change up our looks a little bit when the hot weather hits.  To that end, I've found a few new colors for you to consider on this hot July day.  :)  Yes, I want you to get out there and shop a little bit.  It's good for the soul, if not the pocketbook.  Nothing perks me up like a new lipstick, gloss, or nailpolish, and here are a few of my new favorites for the Summer of 2013:

Zoya Nail polish, below, in Thandie, the bright tangerine shade; and Hazel, the metallic blue:

Of course, I just bought these shades the other day, and I already can't remember how much they cost (is this a little bit of Creative Forgetfulness at work?), but I know that they were slightly less than the $9.00 each you would pay for OPI, so that's a bargain, right?  There is something just so fun about these colors, and there were quite a few other beauties on the shelf alongside these two, if your tastes run to more cool-toned shades.

Next up, LIP PRODUCTS!  What a shocker, I know!  ;)  One of my favorite cosmetic brands happens to be Bare Minerals, and the new Neutrals Collection caught my eye. (I already owned the eye palette in the collection, but the lipstick and gloss were new to me...oh, dear, they followed me home!)  The lipstick is in the new Moxie formulation, and it's extremely creamy and pretty decently long-lasting, particularly if you practice the 'apply, blot, re-apply' method.  The shade pictured below is a limited edition, so if you want it, hie thee over to Ulta or a Bare Minerals boutique 'quick like a bunny', as my grandma Josephine used to say.  The color is not one I would have chosen just looking at it, but on, it's quite nice!  I am a warm skintone, and I think it's decently flattering to me, but my youngest daughter (my fellow Makeup Junkie in the family) is a cool skintone, and she, too, really likes this shade, so perhaps this is actually a color that ALL SKINTONES can wear......

Isn't it lovely?????  (Cue Stevie and his harmonica....)  And it's in a very classic-looking goldtone case, with a tricky opening mechanism.  There's a little button on the side of the case that is easiest to operate if you turn the case upside-down and then flick upwards with your thumb.  At least you know that the lipstick isn't going to open up in your handbag and smear all over everything......has that ever happened to you?  Of course, it has NEVER happened to me......

And then there are the glosses, also from Bare Minerals, in the new Moxie line:  

The shade on the left, Super Power, is part of the new Neutrals limited edition collection, and won't be around too long, and the shade on the right, Wild One, has slightly different packaging, so I must have picked it up when Moxie was first debuting and was not in its 'final' state.  I'm not sure if it is still available, but if it isn't, there are plenty of other beautiful colors from which you may pick.  I do love the way the Moxie glosses feel on the lips - slightly minty, and not too tacky.  

Finally, I have recently been loving my Buxom Amplified Lash Mascara in Loud Black.  I love a really black mascara, and this one fits the bill quite nicely.  You can find it at your local Sephora.

Till next time, my Beauties, get out there and enjoy the summer!

Summer Makeup Video!

Hi Girls!

Here's another wonderful Lisa Eldridge video.  This time, she shares how to achieve a melt-proof summer makeup look.  I particularly like this finished look, as she is wearing one of my favorite lipcolors:  Keep Me Coral, from Maybelline's 14 Hour collection!  Here's the link:  http://www.lisaeldridge.com/video/25786/summer-in-the-city-heat-proof-makeup-tutorial/?utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=July+14th+Newsletter&utm_source=YMLP&utm_term=Heatproof+Make-up+Tips+-+Summe...

Lips, What Else?

Hi Girls!

I just watched a wonderful video from Lisa Eldridge about making the most of thinner or uneven lips, and I wanted to share it with you all.  I can say nothing else on the subject, because Lisa said it all! Here is the link:  http://www.lisaeldridge.com/video/25716/how-to-make-thin-or-uneven-lips-look-full-fabulous-without-surgery/

I'm running out to the store to purchase the 'nude' lipliner she used on the model!  It looked wonderful!!!!

Odds and Ends

Hi Ho, Beauties!

I've had a lot of fabulous new discoveries lately (don't tell the DH, he might fall down in a dead faint if he knew that the Overflowing Makeup Collection was growing in girth, and we wouldn't want him to hurt himself!  Yeah, that's the reason I don't want him to know - concern for his health.....)  But I'd also like to address the topic of under eye concealers for a bit.  I may have already mentioned previously that I think that under eye concealers are an absolute MUST for brightening an Older Face.  After my brows, I head right for the under eye concealer as the second step in preparing the Face for the day.  Today I bring you several different choices, all pretty decent:

 From left to right, we have Laura Geller's Dream Creams Concealer & Highlighter Palette (mine happens to be the Porcelain/Fair choice, but there are others to suit your skintone); Mally's Cancellation Concealer (mine is the Fair choice), shown without its coodinating setting powder, which I do not use; and Bobbi Brown's Creamy Concealer in the Ivory/Pale Yellow combination.  I did not show them open because with the exception of the Bobbi Brown palette which is brand-spanking new, the others are looking mighty sad these days from months of use.  

I just tried the Bobbi Brown product for the first time this morning, having received it (and a few other goodies which I shall review at a later date) this week.  I hate to say it, but I'm not impressed.  The title of the product SPECIFICALLY INCLUDES the word 'creamy'.  I am sorry, but it is not particularly.  Creamy, that is.  Nope.  My Laura Geller and Mally products are MUCH creamier in consistency than this puppy.  And Bobbi's products are not cheap.  I confess I have blocked the actual price from my head (although I did snag it during the Friends and Family sale last week and I DO remember that it was at a discounted price), but I know it was more than $25.00.  I also cannot recall the prices that I paid for the Laura Geller and Mally products, but I do know that, at least in the case of the Mally concealer, the product came as a part of a kit from QVC, and therefore the price per item was extremely reasonable, as makeup kits from the Q generally are.  (Yes, I'm a confirmed Q-a-holic when it comes to beauty, fashion, and jewelry - the Trifecta of My Downfall!)  Of course, there is a fine line between being WONDERFULLY creamy under the eyes and OOPS IT SLID RIGHT OFF MY FACE creamy, and we definitely need the previous and not the latter.  Bobbi's product (and Mally's as well) comes with a fine powder to 'set' the concealer in case it threatens to slip too much.  I personally am wary of powdery things under the eye, as, for me, they tend to magically accentuate the fine lines that have magically developed there.  (If only that magic worked to make things DISappear equally well, because I can think of a FEW things that need 'disappearing' right about now!)

But I digress.  As usual.  I highly recommend the Laura Geller and Mally concealers.  If you particularly love the Bobbi Brown line and need an under eye concealer, go ahead and knock yourself out, but I personally will not be replacing this brand of concealer if and when I use it up.  And one more word of caution when using under eye concealers, girls:  Apply sparingly.  And concentrate it at the inner corners, where there is the most darkness.  You generally don't need to extend it all the way to the outer corner of your eye!  Be sure to take it up along the side of your nose just above the inner corner of your eye as well, because there can be a really dark area right there that totally benefits from being lightened up. :)

On to some new finds!  I've recently become enamored of Stila products.  (Please refer to my April 1st post for comments on the new Stila Lip Balms that I am actually STILL loving - you know how sometimes we Beauty Hoars have the attention span of a gnat and flit from product to product, each one becoming our 'new favorite'.  I'm still really loving the Stila Lip Balms.  And I might have purchased another one in an equally beautiful color.  Maybe.  Yeah. Because deep down, I AM, after all, a Beauty Hoar.)  

So, for the eyes!  Stila has come out with something called Countless Color Pigments.  Now, if you go to the Stila display in Sephora, you will see a lot of choices for this product that are totally inappropriate for an Older Beauty.  I am SURE that these products are geared toward the gorgeous Twentysomethings (don't hate them, we were all gorgeous Twentysomethings back at the Dawn of History ourselves, right?), but there is ONE color choice that is FABULOUS for Older Beauties, and here it is!!! (Shown below in 'Groupie', with the equally wonderful Stila Smudge Stick Waterproof Eye Liner in 'Lionfish'

And further swatched below, on my STILL wrinkly Fiftysomething arm, with the liner in the little heart shape at the top:

I cannot say enough about these colors.  (Top smudge of shadow is the darkest shade in the pan, middle smudge the lightest, and the bottom swatch is what my brush picked up at the bottom left side of the pan.)  I happen to believe that browns/taupes/bronzes and the most flattering shades of eyeshadows a Beauty of ANY age can wear, and the eyeliner is an absolutely delicious melange of brown/gold that just shimmers and glimmers in the bright light.  Color payoff is great, and you only need one swipe to get wonderful depth of color with this formula.  And, remember, with eyeliner for Older Beauties, we only need the thinnest line possible, and on the bottom lashline, we do NOT need the line to go completely from edge to edge of the eye.  Try only the outer third.  Lining the entire bottom lashline can give us that 'beady' look.  And I'm pretty sure we were going for 'beautiful' and not 'beady'.  There are other color choices for the liner, but I recommend the brown (Lionfish).  And the formula is - oooh, my favorite Word of the Day - CREAMY - it just glides over the crepey upper lid.  Oh.  You don't have crepe there?  Liar.  Or Lucky.

And speaking of brushes, I picked up the newest Bare Minerals kit that was featured as the TSV last week, and the pictures below show one of my favorite parts of it - a nifty new brush design!  Very clever, because it solves the problem of storage for double ended brushes.  I like to have my frequently-used brushes standing up in a basket next to my lighted makeup mirror, but double ended brushes get ruined when you try to stand them up!  This new design is wonderful, because you have two brushes in one, but you can still store them on end.  Love.  Here is the brush as it appears when it arrives:

And here is the brush with its clever bottom removed!

The top portion is great for applying blush, and the hidden portion is a great eyeshadow brush that I used this morning to apply the Stila shadow shown above.

Finally, a new lipcolor.  Also a part of the aforementioned Bare Minerals TSV from QVC last week, we have a Moxie lipgloss in the new shade of Starlet.  Well, I think it's a new shade.  Please don't think I'm intentionally misleading you.  I am not totally conversant with all of the Moxie shades, but I believe that Leslie Blodgett mentioned that this shade was exclusive to this kit.  However, as with everything else these days, the hearing is not what it once was! ;)  I love the Moxie lipglosses for their lovely colors and the minty tingle, and this shade is pretty decent.  I think it might actually look good on both warm and cool skintones.  I'll try to remember to do an update when I speak with youngest daughter Kelly.  She is a fellow Beauty Hoar and also purchased the kit, and she is a cool skintone where I am a warm.  Of course, she is one of those Twentysomethings, and pretty much everything looks great on her.  LOL  Anyway, here is the Moxie swatched:

And here it is on the blurry kisser:  

Dang, my face looks THIN in that shot! LOL  Please ignore the nostrils.  I took several pictures trying to get rid of them, but a photographer I am not. (Ha.  As if you hadn't already figured that out!)  

I'm really liking the more sheer formulas on the lips these days.  They just seem right for the season.  So get out there and check out the Sheer Stuff.  I wouldn't be caught dead with sheer clothing, but for the lips, it's a big thumbs up!

Until next time, my Beauties, go forth and treat yourself to a new beauty product!  <3

Holding the Line!

Hello Beauties!

I had a few queries regarding keeping lipstick/gloss in place stemming from my post a few days ago, and wanted to address them today. :)  Unfortunately, as we transition from Young Beauties to Older Beauties, there are little telltale signs of lost youth.  One of these is vertical lines above and below our lips.  Dang!  As someone who never smoked a cigarette in her life, and who mainly kept out of the rays of Old Sol, reading books, snacking, and playing the piano safe inside the cocoon of my house, I felt a little gypped to see these lines appearing about around my kisser several years back!  Heck, hadn't I done everything possible (with the small exception of being diligent about applying moisturizer, of course) to avoid getting these little buggers in the first place?  Wasn't it UNFAIR for me to be gifted with them?  Ha. Ha. Ha. One of the things you learn if you are blessed enough to reach Older Age is that LIFE IS NOT FAIR, so accept it and move the hell on!!!

Ahem.  On to sharing some products I have found work somewhat well to help keep the lipcolor where you put it - on your LIPS, NOT in the crevasses above and below your lips!  I'll be disappointingly honest and tell you that with some lipcolors/glosses, there is NOTHING that will keep them from travelling where no gloss should go.  Sad.  But true.  Short of erecting a permanent fence around your lips (not the most attractive option, IMO), if you are of a certain age and try to apply a creamy, gloppy color to your mouth, you are very liable to catch an accidental glimpse of yourself a short while later and want to sink into the earth right then and there, because your lips appear to have melted, or, in the alternative, been drawn on by a crazed clown.  So please stay away from lipcolors touted to be 'extra creamy' and glosses in general, because pretty much ANY gloss is too thin and creamy to not make an unauthorized trip to the Death Valley area surrounding an older beauty's lipline.......that said, I will say that I (makeup junkie that I am) own some glosses, and even use them occasionally (but mostly I buy them and after one disastrous use, pass them along to one of my Still Young four daughters).  One of my favorites is the Moxie gloss by Bare Minerals...or is it Bare Escentuals?  I never quite know how to refer to this company, and I should, because I own (gasp) hundreds of their products.......However, if you DO dare to venture into the Gloss Zone, please only apply a small daub to the very center of your bottom lip and then blot your lips together.  Any more gloss and you WILL be sorry.......

And I STILL have not gotten to the products I promised to mention, so here they are:  Urban Decay makes very good lipliners.  If you are an Older Beauty and do not need/use a lipliner, I kind of hate you.  I know that there are some of you out there who don't have the Crevasse Problem, and would you be willing to share some of your genes with me?  Dang.  Too late.  The majority of us need a little help keeping the lipcolor where we put it, and I have relied heavily on Urban Decay lipliners. You can pick a color that is good with the majority of your lipsticks.  For me, that would be Midnight Cowboy (and some of you might even be old enough to remember the movie......does that mean that the creators of the line are actually NOT YOUNG????), a kind of neutral brownish pink.  And if you prefer the 'clear' lipliner, Urban Decay offers Ozone.  I will warn you that Urban Decay also makes a white eyeliner (whatever FOR?) that sometimes can be mistaken for the clear lipliner, both being housed in a white pencil.  How do I know this?  A while back, I bought what I thought was a new Ozone lipliner, and arrived home to find I was now the proud owner of WHITE EYELINER!!@#$%^%$$#@!!!  Ulta is a wonderful place, though, and happily exchanged my stupidly purchased white eyeliner for the product I INTENDED to purchase. :)

I have also been liking the Mary Kay lipliners recently, and, again, my perfect shade is a pinkybrowny neutral called Neutral. ;)  Other lipliners I have known and loved include the now unavailable Bare Escentuals lipliner; Aveda lipliner; Cargo lipliner; and Mally lipliners (my friend Cece shared that Mally makes a good colorless lipliner, which I've not yet tried, but I will take her word on that!).  Basically, I believe that I've purchased nearly every lipliner ever offered in any cosmetics line......some that I recall NOT liking (either due to color selection or formula) are Smashbox, Lancome, and Hourglass.  I think it was the Hourglass one that was VERY expensive and touted by a Sephora employee to become waterproof that 'bled' all over the place.  Horrors!  Creating the very problem it was supposed to solve!

While a good lipliner will go pretty far in helping your lipcolor stay in place, there are additional steps that can be taken to help keep the color where you put it.  I was recently talked into purchasing some Lancome eyeshadow base (Nude) to use on my lips.  The Ulta employee told me that she'd never found a LIP base that worked the way it was supposed to, but that the Lancome eyeshadow base worked very well.  I'm just giving it a try now, and hopefully in a future post will have a good report for you.  I have used the Laura Geller Lip Spackle in the past to somewhat good effect, but no longer own any.  I will mention that if you choose to go the lip primer route, make sure that you apply it with a light hand, and apply it not only to your entire lip, but also blending it a bit above and below the lipline.  Otherwise it won't hold a thing.  I've considered doing a YouTube video to show how these things are applied, but my vanity precludes me from showing my unmadeup face to anyone but the immediate family, and even they rarely see it, as I stay up later and get up earlier than anyone else in the household!  ;)   A few of my favorite (and well-used) products below:

 From top to bottom:  Mary Kay lipliner in Neutral; Urban Decay lipliner in Ozone, and Urban Decay lipliner in Midnight Cowboy.

Also, the Lancome Eyeshadow Base:

Yikes, that photo looks very odd.  Hope it doesn't give you vertigo like it's giving me.......

Finally, I'd like to share a lipcolor I've recently been wearing a lot - it's the Loud and Clear Lip Sheer from Bare Minerals in Tangerine Trance:  (Sorry for the blurriness - I used the 'macro' setting on my camera, but I guess it wasn't all that successful!)

And here it is swatched on my wrinkly wrist:

It actually looks more sheer on my wrist than it does on my mouth....Oh, wait, I snapped a picture of my makeup job this morning, hoping that it looked somewhat decent in the picture.  I often feel that my face looks okay IRL, but when I try to take a picture, HUGE disappointment....is it just the camera?

Here I am this morning, wearing the aforementioned Loud & Clear lipcolor in Tangerine Trance; along with my Mary Kay lipliner in Neutral; some Bare Minerals blush in Confidence; Smashbox Brow Tech in Taupe; some Urban Decay brown shadow from the small Naked Palette (a Christmas gift from my fellow makeupaholic youngest daughter Kelly); and some Bare Minerals Lengthen and Curl mascara.  I am loving the Loud & Clear for its very sheer and pretty color.  At this point, it is only available in three colors....this Tangerine shade, and two others, one of which is a pink that might work for those of you with cool toned complexions.  The colors look kind of scary 'in the tube', but, at least in the case of the Tangerine, go on to be very wearable and soft looking!  Just perfect for an Old Broad! ;)  Oh, I forgot to mention that I am also wearing some Laura Geller concealer on the dark undereye circles and the dark inner eye corner circles.  That is probably one of the best ways to erase the years from the face - getting rid of the darkness around the eyes.  A MOST necessary piece in the makeup arsenal, girls!

Till next time! <3

The April Fool!

Well, since it's been quite the long time since my last musings, I should make this one extra-long, but don't worry, it will be fun. :)  And probably not all that long, as I am wanting to make the trek to my favorite clothing source:  the Eileen Fisher Company Store (read 'outlet' for 'company' and you get the drift).  In case any of you are in the Chicago area, the aforementioned store is located on Golf Road in Schaumburg, very close to the Woodfield Mall. I do not have the exact street address, but you should be able to find it if you really want to. ;)

Today I would like to share a few new makeup finds.  First, for the lips.  What else?   My favorite part of the face, for various reasons.....Okay, one of the reasons is that if you apply the right color to your lips, the rest of your face looks absolutely amazing.  Truth.  There are waaaay too many women out there walking around with the wrong color on their lips.  Too dark.  Too brown.  Too light. And, horrors!  NO LIPSTICK/GLOSS AT ALL!!!!!!!  Ladies, there is NO EXCUSE for going without lipcolor.  (Except maybe for being comatose, and even then, if you make sure that in your Living Will you designate a trusted friend/relative to apply that gloss in the ICU, you will still be covered.....).  

You think I'm kidding. Girls, I'm not.  Lipcolor really takes your face from good to sublime.  If you pick the right color! There is no real secret or trick to this.  It just involves trying on a LOT of different colors to see which lights up your face the best.  You don't have to buy them to try them on.  Any Sephora or Ulta, or the makeup counter at your favorite department store will be happy to accomodate your wish to try color on your lips.  I'm not entirely sure that I love the whole 'sanitizing' the lipstick thing and prefer nicking a small bit from the side of a pristine tester.  But any way you choose to do it, please get out there and try on some colors that you might not have looked at before.  As we get older, surprisingly, we often need a pop of color on the lips to brighten us up.  Yes, I know that the author of "How Not to Look Old" says that we Old Bags need to go light and pink on our lips.  Sorry, honey, I've got news for you:  that  doesn't work for all of us, and for some of us, it makes us look positively washed out!  I absolutely look brighter and younger when I am wearing a brighter shade of lipcolor.  And I'm not talking garish, I'm talking pretty.  And lively.  And pretty.  :)  Sometimes a color looks downright scary in the tube, but wonderful on the lips.  Again, I would refer you all to the fabulous Lisa Eldridge for videos of how to get different uses out of one lipcolor on her website:  www.lisaeldridgecom  If you scroll down to the bottom of the page, and click on 'videos', you should be able to find the one where she talks about "How to Wear Dark Lipsticks and Look Good".  She demonstrates applying the lipstick with your finger for a stained look of a brighter color.  Very informative, and I adore her accent!

So onward to my latest discovery:  Stila Color Balm Lipstick.  I LOVE this stuff!  It's got my favorite pepperminty feel/scent, and a pretty decent range of colors to choose from.  I chose Isla, which is a warm shade, but there are lots of cool-toned shades to pick from as well.  Here is Isla, in the tube and on the wrist:

This product feels wonderful on the lips, and wears somewhat well.  It's definitely not a long-lasting lipcolor, but it stays put for a bit, as long as you're not eating a burger. :)
I have found it in person at both Sephora and Ulta, and I am sure that it would also be available on their websites.  I actually do not recall the price, but I'm going to guess it's in the $20 vicinity.....I found that I don't apply it quite the same way as I would apply a 'regular' lipstick, but I use more of a patting motion on the lips.  If you take it and apply it from one side of the mouth to the other, I think that you end up with too much product on your lips.  You could also dab a bit on your ring finger and then dab it onto your lips as well, for a more 'stained' look.

On to the eyes!  I am not really a huge fan of Bobbi Brown products (although I do love her Bobbi fragrance), but I have to say that I love the Long-Wear Cream Eyeshadow in that line.  They go on like a dream and last until you remove them with your favorite eyemakeup remover.  I've been known (shhh!) to sleep in them and still see color in the morning.  Mortal sin.  I know.  In any event, they are wonderful, and a little goes a long way, which makes them budget-friendly, right?  Again, I can't recall the exact price, but it's probably in the $20 vicinity as well.  (All right.  It's probably more than that, but that's all I'm admitting to.)  The two shades I really like are both warm-toned, of course:  Antique Gold and Beach Bronze, but there are lots of other shades from which to choose.  Here they are in the pot and swatched.  Antique Gold is on the left and Beach Bronze on the right in both cases.  

I will warn you that Antique Gold could leave a few flecks of gold glitter somewhere other than your eyelids if you should happen to rub your eye during the day, but I still love the product and would not discount it just for that reason.

And since I've been sitting here trying to write this little review, I've had three phone calls and two people trying to get through while I was on the line with the other calls, so I'm not going to make it to my Eileen Fisher Company Store today.  Dang.  But good for the pocketbook!

Until next time, my Beauties, put on some lipstick and go forth with a smile! :)

Origins

No, I am not referring to the origin of our species in the title of this post.  By now you all know that I'm not that cerebral.  ;)  Girls, I'm talkin' bout the cosmetic/treatment brand of Origins.  This brand has been around for quite a while, so most of you are probably familiar with it - Origins has outposts in Macy's, and is also found in freestanding shops of its own.  Today I'm going to entice you into the world of Origins fragrance.  Well, only a few of their fragrances, but, I think, the BEST ones. :)  Only the best for my Dear Readers!  All three of you.

As some of you may recall from my Jo Malone post back in the summer, I am extremely picky when it comes to fragrance.  Most of them hold no appeal for me at all.  Brands/scents that make others swoon will get a 'meh', an 'eh', or an outright 'EEEEEEWWWW' from me.  But the ones I like, I like forever, and Origins Ginger Essence is one of my Forever Fragrances.  This scent has been a part of my collection for over ten years, and is actually one that has had to be replaced.  (I wish I could say that I had to replace it because I used it all up, but the sad truth is that I am such a Fragrance 'Ho that I generally have to replace my most beloved scents because they've gone 'bad' from sitting around for too long!  This is the problem when you apply only a small spritz of fragrance in the morning, and own so many that you can rotate through them and not use the same one every single day.  And YES, I have a lot of bottles sitting around that I don't really like, but hate to part with because they were, well, kind of expensive....In recent years I have vastly curtailed my scent-purchasing impulses and re-routed them into yarn-purchasing impulses, but that's another blog entirely - see www.blingmamaknits.wordpress.com for my ditherings on all things knit).

There she is, Ginger Essence in all her glory.  The website describes the fragrance as having "the spicy fire of ginger and the refreshing zeal of bergamot, lemon, and lime.  Well, there you go!  That explains why I've loved this fragrance for so long.  I am a sucker for citrus.  If you love citrus, too, then you will probably enjoy Ginger Essence.  It's not exactly cheap, at $45.00 for the above-pictured bottle, but it's not horribly costly, either.  To go along with it, there is also the Body Souffle in Ginger Essence for $29.00  HOWEVER, I have to tell you that I don't find the Origins Body Souffle products to be wonderfully moisturizing.  :(  Yesterday, as a matter of fact, I re-discovered my jar of Origins Gloomaway hiding amongst my myriad body products......this is a grapefruit-scented body souffle, and, while you might know that I adore true grapefruit-scented products, I have to give only a half-hearted recommendation of this product.  It really did nothing to smoothe my rough and scratchy fingertips, as I would hoping it would.  And the yummy grapefruit scent only lasted five minutes and then it was gone.....double :(

I know that you can't really tell from my crummy picture above, but this product is not as thick and creamy as other body lotions/souffles/butters I've used in the past. It's more thin and water-based.  Maybe it would be good on your legs if they weren't at the Scaly Stage.  But woe unto you if you think this would help your cracked and hurting heels!  Not gonna happen.  In that case, I would recommend massaging in some Josie Maran Argan Oil, or perhaps some L'Occitaine Shea Butter (from the tin).  Even some Carol's Daughter Moisturizing Body Cream, if you happen to have some lying around........my favorite fragrance so far in that line is the Lavender and Vanilla I picked up about a year ago from a HSN show featuring that product line. I've recently seen a few Carol's Daughter products in my local Ulta, and I've also seen it when wandering through the Macy's cosmetics department.  Of course, HSN will have the best prices and 'kits', so if you are interested in Carol's Daughter, check out the HSN website.

This morning I used some Tarte Maracuja Oil on my hands after I was finished applying my face, and my fingertips are feeling much better today than they did yesterday.  You know that your fingertips need help when the yarn you are using to knit does not glide smoothly through them, but instead catches and snags!  LOL  Oh, well, that's the state of your skin in January in Chicago!  Tell me again why I am still living here and not in somewhere like San Diego????  

Speaking of makeup, today I had fun with Smashbox brow powder but can't recall the exact shade - probably a taupe or light brown; Mally concealer in Light; Laura Geller's Ethereal blush; Bobbi Brown's cream eyeshadow in Beach Bronze;  Bare Escentuals Flawless Def mascara in the Volumizing formula; a touch of Bare Escentuals Well Rested on the spots I wanted to hide on my face; Urban Decay lipliner in Midnight Cowboy; and a dab of Clinique's Chubby Stick in Mega Melon on the old kisser.  (And I do mean old!)  

Oh, wait!  I lied.  My blush was Josie Maran's Argan Color Stick in Petal Pink...or is it Pink Petal...not only the lips are old...the brain's of the same vintage!  But, hey, do you think that the brain's aged better since it's never been exposed to Old Sol?  It might be, but while I'm NOT willing to open up the skull to make the comparison, I AM willing to go on record as saying that the Clinique Chubby Stick lip color/balms are fast becoming some of my favorite lip products!  Hie thee to a Clinique counter at your local Ulta and check them out!!!!  I promise you won't be disappointed. :) 

And that's the dirt on fragrance and color for today.  Until next time, Fair Reader!