Trending Du Jour 3.18.10

Bonjour ladies, now that spring is officially here (it is 70 degree's in NYC today), I wanted to do a bit of trending for you all. Below are the big hits of the season and things to look out for in spring summer 2010! I am sure being the beauty mavens you all are, you know about 95% of this information. Heck, we start the trends here!


#1 The Ocean Rules.


Everyone from Lancome to La Mer to Laura Mercier is using sea derived extracts to up up thier beauty products. Examples of this are sea water in Laura Mercier's face cream, sea weed extract in Lancome's Face Bronzer and algae in Catwalk's mousse. Dive in!

#2 Blossoming Gardens.



I found this trend to span from fashion to beauty. First, Liberty floral prints made its way across the pond to Target and MAC. H&M is putting out a garden collection. In beauty news, Tweezerman is putting out a garden edition with dragonfly's and lady bugs. Super Cute! Dior is taking it a step further by using flower extracts from jasmine and roses in skin care. It even jumps into fragrance, Jo Malone is re-releasing their exclusive Rose Collection.

#3 Jewel of the Winter, Chinese Apple, Apple of Grenada... Pomegranate.


We all know the health benefits and the delicious factor of a pomegranate. Now beauty titans are calling on the ancient fruit for its restorative and protective quality's in skin care and fragrance. Marc Jacobs has a new splash perfume called pomegranate (I will be picking this up for sure!) Origins has a brightening peel pad using the acids from pomegranates. This even is trickling down to drugstore brands such as Aveno and Dove in the forms of body washes and body mists. I am in the mood for a Pomegranate now!

#4 On the Go.



It is all about women on the go, who have a fast pased, mulitasking lifestyle. The modern day Olympiad. Natura Bisse has the "Cure Sheer Cream", its tinted, deflected AVA, has water binding ingredients to hold moisture in and a silicone to smooth. Multipurpose at its best. Slap it on and you are out of the door. Bobbi Brown has a Brightening Face Base which is a lightening complex, and sun block (UVA and UVB). The drugstores have some great products in this category, Garnier has a brush delivering system that combines cell renewal with cleanser. Very cool! Neutrogena has a new face wipe cleanser, love them, that combines salicylic acids with menthol to cool you down and clear at the same time with a great new packaging.

#5 Get your Glow on.


Glowing Glowing Glowing. However, This is now the trend but I consider this a rule! Everyone from NARS, with his new Orgasm Illuminator to the new Tarina Tarantino Pearl Glow Primer to Sisley's Radiant Glow Mask. Everyone wants to look bright and glowing for the season. I am on board. I am interesting in trying out Avon's new Anew illuminating eye system, which is supposed to have short term and long term effects. I will be using my NARS multiple in Luxor and MAC MSF By Candlelight to get my glow on!

#6 Sugar Lips.


Its all about the Lips, but as if we didn't know that already. Lancome is out with thier L'Absolu Creme de Brilliance, Givenchy has a new lip stain, Chanel released their Coco Lip Color, Tarte's has a new Gel Lip Stains. We already have Illamasqua's super bright pigmented lipsticks and MAC staples. Pucker up, its all about bright color!

#7 Sweet Clementine.
Orange. EVERYWHERE. Where it be in the form of a coral or a peach nail polish. All shades, tones, derivative of orange colors are everywhere for this season. Lips, Nails, Shoes and Accessories. I am particularly fond of the cult classic Hermes Orange and my Illamasqua Over lipstick.

#8 Naked Nudity.

Neutrals! While orange is everywhere it is just an accent upon Neutrals. This again is spanning through bueaty to fashion. MAC's neutral centric collection called "Pret-a-Papier" to every designers palette of cement, cream, blush, nude, ivory, taupes and dove greys. I have been on the bandwagon for quite some time as have many of you with Nude Lipsticks and nude eyes.

What are you seeing as trends?
x

Obsession Du Jour 6.26.09

I can not believe I have not mentioned one of my HG favorite nudes. Again, it is an annoying one because stupid MAC and its LE color. This is Vanity's Child. I love it, I wish this was perm. This looks odd in the tube, kind of a medicinal beige, but on the lips it is a perfect light nude.

This to me is similar to my HG of all time, 2N. Very dupable. Too bad BOTH are LE. I am going to stalk out some CCO's and try to find backups!



Voila...

NUDE Du Jour 6.16.09

Everyone knows my love for a nude lip. It is my favorite look by far. Well I have officially found a new HG of all nude lipsticks. Too damn bad it is a limited edition color and no where to be found now to get a back up. I am going to have to search the CCO's High and Low for this. Anyway, the color is 2N. It is the most perfect, soft nude. I love it, it is soft and not cake-y or drying like myth and fleshpot. Wow, I need to buy every single one I see.

However, a great dupe for this is GOSH Darling 134. They are very similar in texture and color.

With flash.

Without flash.

Alone

With Nude LipLiner underneath.

Barry. M Lips Du Jour 5.20.09

I am sure everyone and their mother, brother, sister, and boyfriend's sisters cousin has heard the buzz about Barry M Lip Paints, especially #101 in Marshmallow.

I was dying to get my paws on these babies. I was fortunate to have someone in the UK send me these. I am thrilled with them, #101 is the lightest nude I own and I love it. It is very matter and very nude and relatively easy to work with. Now, #129 in Lilac... WOW...my new favorite color, you think lilac isn't wearable? Wrong, it is perfect, CREAMY and perfect.

Take a look yourself.

L to R:
#101 Lip Paint in Marshmallow , #129 Lip Paint in Lilac

L to R:
#101, #129

#101 Marshmallow Lip Paint

#129 Lilac Lip Paint

On the way out to door wearing the #129 Lilac

What are you feelings on lilac lips? Love or Hate? Too Lady Gaga?

Lips Du Jour 4.18.09

I am happy to say I absolutley LOVE my Shu Uemura Lipstick.
I am so happy I ordered these finally, I might even dare to go as far to say that these might be next to my YSL as my holy grail of lipsticks. I wore the 906 out to dinner and by the end of dinner it was still on!

Pros:
Moisturizing
Pigmented
Great Colors
Buildable
Packaging- LOVE it, like it WAY more that MAC.

Cons:
Availability- Hard to find, only have it at barneys and sephora online (not in alot of the stores)
Price, a tad on the expensive side at $23 per piece.

Left: 906 Light Matte Naked Beige, Right: 907 Pinky Nude

906, Naked Beige

907, Pinky Nude

In conclusion, if I had to pick two lipsticks to bring to an island, right now I would say these two. They are the perfect Nude and light nude pink. What else could I ask for??

Shu is fighting my YSL Rouge Volupte HARD for the HG of all nudes.
What do you think? Will you try Shu's lipsticks?

Nude Lips Du Jour 4.17.09

You all know now about my well documented love for Nude Lips.
I want to show you my usual suspects.

From Left to Right, (Both Lipsticks and hand swatches in same order)
YSL Rouge Volupte #2, GOSH Darling, MAC Fleshpot, MAC Myth, MAC Creme D'Nude, MAC High Tea, NARS Belle Du Jour.

With Flash.

Without Flash

With Flash

Without Flash

Full Review:
YSL Rouge Volupte #2- My favorite lipstick formulation, pigmented, creamy, smells great, and moisturizing.
GOSH Darling Lipstick- this is another one of my favorites I picked this up a few months ago on a trip to london (since then I have ordered 2 more to keep as back ups, i love it that much), this is very soft, reminds me of a glaze from MAC, it is THE perfect nude, any more pigmented and you would risk having concealor lips.
MAC Fleshpot- I like this color ALOT, but you have to be careful other wise you get concealor lips, this has a very slight pinky undertone. The formluation is a bit drying and you must have very moisturized lips to wear this as it will enhance the look of dryness on your lips. This was a limited edition, but you can order through MACpro. (This can give you that porn star look, which i hae to admit but I like )
MAC Myth- I like this, very similar in formulation to Fleshpot again, you have to be careful other wise you get concealor lips, this is more beige than Fleshpot.
MAC Creme D'Nude- This is my favorite MAC nude lipstick, this is similar to GOSH Darling, it is easy to work with and much more moisturizing. This is a Creamsheen formulation. It is sheerer and creamier than Fleshpot and Myth.
MAC High Tea- This is a frost, I do not wear it all that much, it is a sheer natural nude with a bit of sheen from the frost.
NARS Belle Du Jour- I love the name, obviously!!! The formulation is better than Myth and Fleshpot, a bit more moisturizing. Its a great pigmented nude, this will not give you the concealor effect. It is a bit darker, but a very wearable nude.

I will be getting my 2 new nudes from Shu Uemura tommorow, look out for the review.
What is your favorite Nude Lipstick and are there any I am missing that I should be trying?

Obsession Du Jour 4.15.09

Shu Uemura. Recently I have been really drawn into Shu. I used to use their eye shadows in high school but since then Shu has not recieved much action from me. When I saw the above advertisment I was sucked in and needed to try a lipstick. I have heard great things about the lipstick colors, being moisturizing and pigmented. So I decided to get back on my hunt for the HG of all nude lipsticks (right now YSL Rouge Volupe is reigning supreme).

With that being said, I ordered from Sephora (with the 15% off code):
the Rouge Unlitimed Biege Collection Lipstick:
- 906 Matte Naked Beige (as described on http://www.shuuemura-usa.com)
- 907 Matte Nude Lavendar (as described on http://www.shuuemura-usa.com)

I am so excited to try these and I will report my findings.
Please let me know if any of you has had expierence with these lipsticks and how you like them.

Ciao

Nude Lip Du Jour; YSL VS MAC

Showdown of the Nude Lip.
YSL Nude Beige #1 Rouge Volupte VS infamous MAC Bare Slimshine.
MAC Bare Slimshine
YSL Nude Beige #1 Rouge Volupte
Hand Swatches, YSl on left, MAC on right.
Results:

YSL Rouge Volupte is a lipstick, it is SUPER creamy, feels moisturizing. It is a matte finish. This is very very pigmented. This is more of a concealor looking nude (comparable to myth and fleshpot by mac but not AS concealor looking as those two). I feel that this is a cooler nude. YSL lipsticks have a delicious melon smell to them. I would be careful of wearing this color and lipstick if your lips are not perfectly moisturized. If they are dry dont go near this. $34.00

MAC's Bare is a Slimshine which means its glossier, a mix between a lipstick and a gloss. It feels moisturizing while still being quite pigmented. This is definitley a great everyday color. It is a nude without being too nude and concealor-y. It has peachy/warm undertones. Slimshines have a nice vanilla smell to them. This is more of a forgiving, easy formula just to slather on whenever and wherever. $14.50

Winner:
YSL Rouge Volupte.
This is the absolute perfect nude for me so far, yes it is pricey but I will never be without this.
Perfect, creamy, moisturizing, pigmented and flattering.

What is your holy grail, can not live without nude?!

Obsession Du Jour 4.7.09

Introducing the creamiest, most moisturizing, most pigmented, best smelling, all around most perfect lipstick you will ever lay your eyes on. Yves Saint Laurent Rouge Volupte. Perfection in a lipstick tube.
With and Without Flash.

On the left, #1 in Nude Beige, boring name, extraordinary color on the lips. The perfect nude.
On the Right #7 in Lingerie Pink. Perfect Playboy bunny pink color. Very Hot, Very fun.

Swatched below on NW 20-25 skin in the winter with and without flash!




I reccomend these lipsticks to everyone in the search for the perfect nude. I know I always am. This one is pretty darn close. It is so creamy and pigmented and smells like watermelons!! Delicious.

Yes, it is a whopping $34 USD but worth every penny. #1 Nude Beige one of those lipsticks that you put on every day and it makes you feel like a million bucks.

MAC SugarSweet Lipsticks

I love me a pale pink or a nude lip so when I heard about a collection called sugar sweet I was counting down the days I could run over to my local Mac Store. When it came out I ventured outside my comfort zone (nude lips) into a lipstick called Lollilpop Lovin. I am glad I did beacuse it turned out to be nude-ish on me and I LOVE IT. Its a coral with a slight green irredescent golden shimmer. You can see here below with and without a flash. I need to work on the quality of the pictures next.




Next is Bubbles, soon as I saw this I knew this baby would be mine. A soft white frost, close to a milk cool pink on the lips.
And Lastly... the famous St. Germain, a bubblegum pink that I adore. It is such a fun color. It instantly changes and warms your whole face.


There was a lipstick called Touch and Sweet thing (I think...). I passed on those, too deep of a color for my pale loving self!

Which is your favorite lipstick from the SugarSweet Collection?