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!!!!
Monday, May 20, 2013
Thursday, April 25, 2013
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:
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
Wednesday, April 3, 2013
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
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
Monday, April 1, 2013
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! :)
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! :)
Thursday, January 17, 2013
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!
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!
Friday, December 28, 2012
Tarte Lips, Anyone?
Now that the rush of the holidays is nearly over, it's time to Talk Turkey about lips again, ladies! I guess it's pretty obvious that lip cosmetics are my favorites, and in purchasing stocking stuffers for my four beautiful girls this year, I stumbled across a new favorite: Maracuja Divine Shine Lipgloss from Tarte. Yep, I confess, I buy things for other people and then want to keep them for myself.......but I didn't do it this time! All of my girls received a lovely little tube of this gloss in their stockings.....can I help it if they came in a set of five and one of the shades would not have looked good on any of them?
This product comes in pretty packaging, as usual, but it's what's inside that is the real treat. In the photo above (apologies for the blurred bottom tube - guess my camera has ADHD and has trouble focusing), the shade Curious is on top, and Ethereal is on the bottom. Both shades are warm-toned, and lovely for me. Cool skintones might not be quite as enamoured of the shades I own, but I promise, most of the color choices available are geared towards you, rather than those of us who are warm-toned. I did not want to gross you out with photos of the product with the lid off, as this is one of those brush-topped glosses that don't look particularly pretty once they are used! LOL This is not my favorite type of delivery system, but it works just fine, so we will leave it at that. However, Maureen Kelly (founder of Tarte), if you are reading this (as if!), could you consider going to a clickless, doe-foot applicator? :)
These glosses have the trademark minty-fresh scent and taste that the Tarte Lipsurgence sticks have, and, once again, if you don't like mint, you can stop reading now. However, if you love minty lip products the way I love minty lip products, you will not be disappointed with these. :) A word of warning: when you first use this product, you have to click the devil out of the little button on the bottom (which is to the left in my photo above). Truly, I lost count when I reached 100. So don't give up and think that the product is broken - just keep clicking and you will be rewarded with a lovely, glossy product that, when applied, actually makes older lips look young and fresh again! Honest! And this product contains Tarte's famous maracuja oil (derived from the Amazonian Passion Flower), which makes this a treatment product as well. Okay, so far I have not noticed that my lips are suddenly the lips of a twentysomething, but, hey, a girl can dream, can't she?
As those of you who've read my previous posts might recall, I have a horrible problem with lip products traveling where they are unauthorized to travel on my face, namely: into the canyons above and below my lips, with which the good Lord has seen fit to gift me in my older age. Therefore, many glosses really do not work well for me. However, this particular product is of thicker consistency than others, and stays put very well, especially when used in conjunction with my handy-dandy Urban Decay lipliner pencil. Thank you, Maureen Kelly!!!! It's exciting to be able to use a gloss on older lips, because there is just something about gloss that creates a younger look. Not TOO young, but just-right-young. :)
So if you are in the market for a new lipgloss (and who is NOT in the market for a new lipgloss, ladies?), give the Tarte Maracuja Divine Shine Lipgloss a try. (But make sure you go to the QVC website and order it in a set, or see if Sephora still has any of the holiday packaging available, because purchased individually, they are a bit on the expensive side at $24.00........)
This product comes in pretty packaging, as usual, but it's what's inside that is the real treat. In the photo above (apologies for the blurred bottom tube - guess my camera has ADHD and has trouble focusing), the shade Curious is on top, and Ethereal is on the bottom. Both shades are warm-toned, and lovely for me. Cool skintones might not be quite as enamoured of the shades I own, but I promise, most of the color choices available are geared towards you, rather than those of us who are warm-toned. I did not want to gross you out with photos of the product with the lid off, as this is one of those brush-topped glosses that don't look particularly pretty once they are used! LOL This is not my favorite type of delivery system, but it works just fine, so we will leave it at that. However, Maureen Kelly (founder of Tarte), if you are reading this (as if!), could you consider going to a clickless, doe-foot applicator? :)
These glosses have the trademark minty-fresh scent and taste that the Tarte Lipsurgence sticks have, and, once again, if you don't like mint, you can stop reading now. However, if you love minty lip products the way I love minty lip products, you will not be disappointed with these. :) A word of warning: when you first use this product, you have to click the devil out of the little button on the bottom (which is to the left in my photo above). Truly, I lost count when I reached 100. So don't give up and think that the product is broken - just keep clicking and you will be rewarded with a lovely, glossy product that, when applied, actually makes older lips look young and fresh again! Honest! And this product contains Tarte's famous maracuja oil (derived from the Amazonian Passion Flower), which makes this a treatment product as well. Okay, so far I have not noticed that my lips are suddenly the lips of a twentysomething, but, hey, a girl can dream, can't she?
As those of you who've read my previous posts might recall, I have a horrible problem with lip products traveling where they are unauthorized to travel on my face, namely: into the canyons above and below my lips, with which the good Lord has seen fit to gift me in my older age. Therefore, many glosses really do not work well for me. However, this particular product is of thicker consistency than others, and stays put very well, especially when used in conjunction with my handy-dandy Urban Decay lipliner pencil. Thank you, Maureen Kelly!!!! It's exciting to be able to use a gloss on older lips, because there is just something about gloss that creates a younger look. Not TOO young, but just-right-young. :)
So if you are in the market for a new lipgloss (and who is NOT in the market for a new lipgloss, ladies?), give the Tarte Maracuja Divine Shine Lipgloss a try. (But make sure you go to the QVC website and order it in a set, or see if Sephora still has any of the holiday packaging available, because purchased individually, they are a bit on the expensive side at $24.00........)
Thursday, November 29, 2012
Maybelline Super Stay 14 Hour Lipstick!
So here is the lovely tube itself - I like the fact that you can actually SEE the color, since, being Maybelline, there are no testers available at WalMart (where I found mine at a great price which I cannot remember now, but, trust me, it was in the seven/eight dollar range, which is not bad for a lipstick these days), or Walgreens, or any of the other spots you will find Maybelline products. Guess there is a trade-off for getting a bargain. (Cheaper price = no testers to make sure the color looks good on you!) I'm not actually sure it's worth it, though, since you are more likely to come home with a product which is not the right color for your skintone, but I guess that's another issue altogether, isn't it? (And, no, it's not nice to rip the little plastic protectors off the product when no one's looking to be able to slide the cap off and see the actual product, ladies! But I might have done it once. Or twice. When no one was looking. Or not.)
And here is the product with the cap removed:
Dang, you are going to have to REEEAAALLY ignore the blurries on that shot - so sorry. As you might not be able to see from the picture, the tip of the product is slanted, which I personally like, as that is the shape my lipstick normally takes......(have any of you ever taken that quiz that tells you all about your personality by what shape your application method makes your lipstick? It's kind of silly, but if you ever have a spare moment, it's entertaining. I'll trust you all to have the computer skills to find it yourself.) The lipstick itself has a raspberry/candy type of scent which does translate into a bit of the same flavor on your lips, but it's not overpowering. If you hate raspberries, though, just skip this product, as you will NOT like the scent/taste. There is also a little bit of glitter in this lipstick, or perhaps it was just in the color I chose, #055 "Keep Me Coral". (One thing I hate about the product is that the name is written in extremely small letters on the bottom, reminding me of my Old Broad status....in fact, even with my magnifying glass, I first thought that I was wearing the MUCH more fun "Kiss Me Coral"......Why, oh why can't these companies make the names of these products larger so that when we want to recommend the color to a friend we are not forced to go looking for magnifying glasses???? Don't they know they are losing sales because of this?) Getting back to my glitter comment, though, don't let that stop you from trying one of these lipsticks...it's very subtle, I promise. Think of it as shimmer on steriods, and you'll be fine.
Finally, a SWATCH of this lipstick, taken indoors with no flash, as with the flash totally wiped out the picture - guess the flash doesn't work all that well when it's two inches from the object? I need to consult with my photographer daughter on that one......
One negative about this product is that it doesn't appear to come in all that many shades (or maybe I'm just exceptionally greedy and need more than only one or two shades of a product that I think are right for me?), and most of them are more on the bright side. Of course, I personally feel that most of us Older Beauties are flattered by a brighter color on the lips (NOT a slash of purple-red, ladies, just a brighter pop, please!) I know that some of you would be frightened by the thought of a brighter shade on your lips, but, honestly, I don't think I've ever seen anything less attractive than a brownish/nude/nothing shade of lipstick on ANYONE's mouth. I don't care how young you are, some of the lipstick shades out there should NEVER be worn. They are just not pretty. Or flattering. Or worth the price you paid for them. Phooey!
On to the 'stay' aspect of this lipstick.......I'm not going to flat out call the Maybelline people liars, but I WILL say that on ME, this lipstick is not wearing for 14 hours. (Heck, when am I even wearing makeup for fourteen hours? You?) Maybe 14 MINUS 10. You do the math. I tried this lipstick because Lisa Eldridge said that it was not as drying as most long-wear lipsticks, and I do agree with her on that, although the texture is a tad on the dry side. However, that is a PLUS for us Older Broads.....uhm....Beauties, because guess what, girls? That means it's not gonna bleed into the lines around our Lovely Kissers. Yippee!!!! For that alone, I recommend this product. It's getting pretty hard these days for me to find a lipstick or gloss that is not going to make a beeline for the hills, so to speak, and that is sad, because a lot of pretty colors are off-limits to me due to Crevasse Lips. And I am a sucker for color. If you find the formula a bit dryer than you like, add a dab of gloss to the center of your bottom lip. It will give a totally different look/feel to the product.
So get out there and see if one of these Maybelline Super Stay 14 Hour Lipstick colors could be right for you! You might be pleasantly surprised. Oh, and just FYI, the Lisa Eldridge video I was watching was her suggestions for a red lip for a variety of skintones. I did not purchase the shade she recommended, as my Feeble Old Brain could not RECALL what shade she had specified in her video. Maybe next time. :)
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