Obsession Du Jour: MAC Lip Gelee 5.25.10

Okay, so I have been on a lip product kick lately. I went to the MAC store recently and a picked up a few items, one that I have been reaching for daily is MAC's Lip Gelee in Gemshine. Gemshine is a nude colored gloss with a very refined bronze shimmer.



I never took notice of MAC's Lip Gelee's before and I am upset, because now they are discontinued and I love them. They come in a squeeze tube and are completely stick-free! :) Totally not sticky and smooth. I am so crushin' on the shimmer and gloss they give the lips. They make your lips so SHINY but not sparkly, its a very ultra fine shimmer. It is a very sheer wash of nude with bronze shimmer. I don't think these will impart any color on pigmented lips. They are not meant to be pigmented glosses. And yes, they have the distinct vanilla smell to them, which I am a huge fan of. If you don't like that smell I would advise to shy away from these. I love how the application is goof proof due to the squeeze tube applicator.



I am disappointed that I didn't try these out until now. Oh well, I will make it my personal mission to snap up as many as these as I can. They are fabulous to throw in any bag and slick on. No mirror needed!

Who has tried? Who loves it? Who Hates it?
x

Obsession Du Jour and OOTD 4.8.10

Hola Ladies! I wanted to share a photo of the makeup items that I recently can not live without. Right now (remember, I change my mind a lot) if I was banished to an island this is everything I would need. Speaking of which, my best friend and I, in college made up an island that we would banish people to and they would become 600 pounds (Steph, can I bring my makeup if I become banished?)

Tangent...anyway, see below:


YSL Faux Cils Mascara in Radical Noir
MAC Paint stick in Process Magenta
MAC Grease paint stick in Dirty
Bobbi Brown Corrector in Peach (I have a funny story about this)
YSL Touche Eclat in #1
MAC CCB in Hush
Shu Uemura e/s in some taupe color
YSL Lipstick Pur in Tea Rose (amazing warm nude color, so easy and universally flattering)

YSL Tea Rose lipstick and my FIERCE eyebrows. That will be another post for another time!

Moving right along, here is my outfit, it is HOT in NYC right now. Thankfully it cooled since yesterday and is now in the 70's. Yesterday it hit 90 degrees, which is insane for April in Manhattan. That is August weather, I was very displeased!



Alexander Wang Cropped T with Cutout
Eryn Brinie White silk long shorts
Brown Frye boots- Ebay!
Cheap-o brown plastic Aviators from some rand-o street vendor.

Oh yeah, I post some more pictures daily on my twitter account for the blog, BelleDuJourNYC. Come find me ya'll!

What are you all loving right now?

x

Battle of the Balms Du Jour 7.10.09

My two favorite Lip Treatments. How do they stack up?

Size Wise: Naked Honey Salve is much larger.
Scent Wise: By Terry is the winner here, I like the natural rose scent vs. the saccharine honeysuckle smell
Look Wise (on lips): BY TERRY! is the clear winner, baby pink lips? Hello!
Packaging Wise: By Terry wins this as well, gorgeous packaging
Effectiveness Wise: About even...They both hydrate really well. Naked Honey might take the lead here as the salve is multi-purpose, can be used on skin, lips, cuticles and dry spots/ rough patches.
Price Wise: Naked Honey wins this by a landslide. $18 vs $50, plus Naked Honey is much larger.
Availability Wise: By Terry. Mac Salve is Limited Edition, which means once its gone, its gone! I hate that.

As you can see they are both great products, the winner in my eyes is the By Terry Rose Baume. Two points that really take By terry ahead is the fact that it is permanent and will always be available and the look that it leaves on your lips!

Which would you pick?

Contouring Tutorial Du Jour 6.28.09

The long awaited picture tutorial on contouring. Personally, I love to contour, but you have to be careful or you run the risk of looking 80's circa Dynasty. Anywho, here you go... very simple.

Products Used:

• MAC Taupe Blush
• MAC 165 Brush, any pointed but fluffy brush will work
• MAC Sculpt and Shape Powder as a Highlight. Any light powder will work. Shimmery or Matte

Before:

After:

Tools Used:

Voila, any questions?

Obsession Du Jour 6.28.09

What a fantastic brush for bronzer and all over powder color. This is moving high up on the rungs of my favorite brushes. This is SO soft but yet dense. Why is this limited edition??

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...

By Terry Du Jour 6.25.09

Okay, I have had this for a bit and I have to say this is my favorite lip balm EVER. The only downside is the horrific price. It is a bit outrageous, do I buy it over and over again? Yes. Am I insane? Yes.

Now that we have covered that we can move on to the product/ review. Okay, well this is an exact dupe for EZBaby tendertone without the kiwi strawberry smell. This has a light rose scent. It is a thick lip treatment, very emollient, rich and smooth. It almost feel cushiony if you know what I mean. It also imparts the PERFECT nude/baby pink look on your lips. It really covers any pigmentation you might on your lips.

As you can tell this is LOVE for me. What could be better? Baby pink lips? Check. Intense Hydration? Check. Beautiful Packaging? Check. Lovely light floral scent? Check.




What do you all think?

Cheek Obsession du Jour 6.24.09

All of a sudden I have a blush obsession. Wierd! I used to never even look twice at blush but all of a sudden BAM...LOVE IT! I have been amassing a quite large collection of blushes, and out of all of them around 30 or so, these two are by far my favorite. I picked them both up at a CCO not too long ago. They were released with the Neo-Sci Fi collection.

On the left we have X- Rocks and on the right we have Spaced out, they are both Sheertone Shimmer Blushes by MAC. Personally, Sheertones are the absolute best in quality!

X-Rocks is a shimmery plum that works on any skin tone, it gives a very natural flush. It looks dark but I rpomise once it hits your skin it transforms into a very wearable color. Spaced Out is a very unique color, it is a peach duochrome. Spaced out gives you a peach sunkissed look. These two are definitley HG status.


What is your HG blush?

Contour Du Jour, I'm a Poet and I didn't Know It 6.17.09

I love to contour my face when I have more than 5 minutes to get ready. This blush from MAC in Taupe is a great shade to contour with. With my skin tone I need an ashy grey brown to mimic the natural shadows of my face. I usually find a lot of "contour powders" to run too warm for me. A dupe of this color would be MAC's blush in EMOTE. Anyway, I found this at a CCO for $10.75.

I think nothing is better than a good contour powder to bring your cheek bones from non-existent to POW.

Do any of you contour? Would you like to see a picture tutorial of how I contour or have you seen enough??

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.

Obsession Du Jour 6.12.09

You all know how much I love EZ Baby Tendertone, and well Mac Tendertones in general. This is a new one I picked up at the CCO a few weeks ago. This is Softnote Tendertone. I love this color. It is a light lilac with almost a slight blue duochrome. It gives a nice sheer lilac glaze on your lips. Again, with all tendertones, its smooth, moisturizing and smells like heaven (a strawberry- kiwi- ish smell).
I really wish MAC would re- release these babies!!!

Note to self: Must pick up an arsenal of these next time at the CCO. Steph remind me we need to go to the outlets in Cali when we are there. Thank you.

Liners Du Jour 6.11.09

One of my CCO Haul Reviews. Liquid Last Liners Trip 3 pack. The three colors are Point Black, coco bar and Aqualine (my favorite!). I got these for $21.95. Great Deal. Let me mention, I LOVE liquid eyeliner and wear a cat eye almost every day. I feel naked without my little flick!

The box the three liners came in.

Onto the review, I know many people have mixed feelings about these. Why I love them? Once on, they. do. not. budge. I mean I could swim, cry, water underneath a waterfall and they would stay put. Now the downside of that? Removal, you need to use an oil based makeup remover to get them off and a good bit of elbow grease.

I quite like the application of these, I like the brush applicator instead of the felt tip as it allows for more precision. The colors are so rich and pigmented. Aqualine is the most gorgeous multi faceted color. The one downside to these gorgeous liners is that they can be a bit goopy, you need to brush off the excess of it on the rim of the little bottle. They run more on the side of a gel like consistency more than a thin liquid. For me, that isnt too much of a downside but I thought it might be worth mentioning.


Do you own any liquist lasts? What is your favorite liquid eyeliner?

Inspiration Du Jour 6.5.09

Sometimes it honestly surprises me how much on the same wavelength my best friend and I are on. She posted this picture recently and two days before that I had just gotten a new peacock/ mermaid blue liquidlast eyeliner at CCO and was dying to try it out. This was the perfect opportunity.

See below my inspiration, Supermodel Julia Stegner whom I have had the pleasure to meet in person quite a few times and let me tell you she is just as stunning in person!

Inspiration

My Interpretation.

What do you think?