Overrated Product Du Jour 6.5.09

As many of you know, I have been trying to get my paws on this mineralize skin finish for ages, Lightscapade. I was so damn excited to be able to get this and that is where my excitement ended.

Yes, its a nice highlighter, Yes, its natural looking, Yes, Its pretty in the pan, but is it worth the hype? NO.

Much better dupes in my opinion: Prestige Baked Minerals, MAC Vanilla Pigment, MAC shroom e/s, MAC Strobe Liquid, Stila Starlight Eyeshadow, heck any light neutral highlighter is a good dupe for this. In fact, Prestige Baked Minerals (I have a previous post on this) is 10X better for half the price and no stress of going crazy looking for this thing or paying a ludicrous $60 on ebay!




Thoughts?

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?

Pigments Du Jour 6.4.09

MAC Pigments from CCO $10.75

Left: Jardin Aires Right: Your Ladyship

I really love Jardin Aires and have wanted it for a long time, it is a peachy champagne gold. Very soft and pretty, great texture, very finely milled. As for Your ladyship I was looking for this FOREVER and wanted it badly, I am a bit disappointed by it, the color is gorgeous but the texture leaves a bit to be desired, Ia also do not love glitter in my eyeshadows or cheek products. The color however makes up for it, its a pearlescent soft white and pared with the gold flecks it is quite lovely.

Heatherette Edition 3D glitter pigment.

I took this picture for you Steph. Fun fact, my best friend and I love anything sparkly or glittery, we are huge cheeseballs!! In all seriousness this glitter is great, cosmetic grade finely milled holographic glitter. This would be GREAT in nailpolish. I don't know what else really I could use this for besides halloween or a glitter gloss, like a homemade dazzleglass.

What is your favorite pigment?

Bronzed Look Du Jour 6.4.09

Going for the bronzed glowy beach look today. Product Listed below. I used Kate Hudson for Inspiration, I didn't go for the exact look she had but I loved her skin and tan and she inspired me this morning!

Inspiration:

Face:

MUFE HD foundation mixed with  MAC strobe liquid and Chanel brilliance pur in bronze lit

MAC NC35 Loose Powder as a bronzer

MAC Luster drops in pink rebel on cheekbones

MAC Spaced out Blush

EYES:

MAC Jardin Aires Pigment- foiled on using mac fix +

MAC MAgnetic Fields E/S in crea

Maybelline Lash Stilleto Mascara

LiquidLast in Brown- I forget the actual name.

Lips:

Elizabeth Arden 8 hour cream (a review on this later!)

What do you all think?

Enjoy your day guys!

Skincare Du Jour 6.4.09

I waited about 2 weeks to review this so I could give you a solid well researched review and well, now I have it.

 I must say, I have been using these daily and if I had to stop using them I would cry. I am on the eternal hunt for moisturizers. I am a bit of a skin freak, fanatic if you will. Skin is SO SO SO important to me, and my goal is to look fresh, moisturized and glowing. Does that usually happen? NO. I usually look tired, haggard and whatever the opposite of glowing is.

These products really make me feel like I am doing something positive for my skin.
I will start from the left, Filaderm Emulsion, Creme Vitaminee and Lait Creme Concentre.
All three are moisturizers and they all are fantastic and used for different purposes.

Filaderm Emulsion, Creme Vitaminee and Lait Creme Concentre.

In same order as above, Filaderm Emulsion, Creme Vitaminee and Lait Creme Concentre.

You can sort of see the varying thickness of the cremes, in order of thickness it goes Creme Vitaminee, Filaderm Emulsion, and Lait Concentre.

The Vitamin creme is the thickest most luxurious one, it is more of a treatment, a hydrating creme for skin that needs some oomph. The Filaderm I have been using as a night cream, it is thick but okay for every day use and the Lait- Concentre I have been using every morning as a daily moisturizer. It also doubles as a primer. The VP of Embryoliss was at the Makeup Show in NYC and told me about the primer effect.

The smell is simple and plain, which goes with the packaging aesthetic. Great Quality Ingredients, no fillers, simple packaging, right price.

All in all this is a fantastic find with a great price and is a must try. Although, if you do not have dry skin I would not recommend the Vitamin creme, a good moisturizer for everyone is the Lait Concentre. 

I have samples of this to giveaway during my upcoming giveaway!

Serious Haulage Du Jour 6.3.09

I told you guys I went to CCO, what I didn't tell you that my I brought the whole damn store home with me :) I went a tad bit crazy, here is a big overview.

Review of each product individually coming up.

ALL MAC, so if you hate MAC you will not enjoy this and the subsequent reviews.

Spaced out Blush

X Rocks Blush

Expensive Pink Eyeshadow

Magnetic Fields Eyeshadow

Dreammaker eyeshadow

2N lipstick

Trip liquidlast trio

Heatherette Beauty Powder in Harmony

Heatherette Trio Eyeshadows

Taupe Blush

Jardin Aires Pigment

3d Glitter Pigment

Your Ladyship Pigment

Back up of Hyperreal Foundation

Loose Powder in NC25

Tendertone in Soft Note

Shape and Sculpt Powder.

My sister and I drove all the way out to riverhead to the CCO, it is a really good one.

I am super happy about these products as I have been looking for a bunch of them for a while.

Review to come! Do you have any of these products? Which are your favorites?

Nails Du Jour 6.3.09

Nail Polish I am loving at the moment; Essie, Shift Power and OPI Nail Envy as a base.

I love Essie, and this color is magnificent. It is a high lustre gold, but it is subtle enough for a conservative office if need be.

Nail Envy is the best thing I have used for my nails strength, with repeated use they have gotten harder and I have seen less breakage.

What is on your nails today?

Dewy Skin Du Jour 6.3.09

The trick to my current favorite version of dewy skin. In the summer, when you are tan I am a big believer of skipping the foundations and powder. However, this is my key to success.

1/3 Foundation- I have currently using Studio Sculpt by MAC in NW25

2/3 Liquid bronzer luminizer- Chanel Brilliance Pur is my favorite.

This is what it should look like... and VOILA, glowy, dewy, luminized skin.

Try it out, tell me what you think!

Change of Pace du Jour 6.3.09

Obviously this is a beauty blog, but Belle Du Jour is more than just beauty as in Makeup. It is beauty as in whatever I see fit to be a "beautiful thing." One thing I love to do and find beautiful and artistic in its own right is cooking. I love to cook. I look at food blogs daily, one of my favorites is TasteSpotting. I felt like posting what I made for my boyfriend and I for dinner tonight. 

Parmesan Panko crusted chicken breast with roasted broccoli and fresh buffala mozzarella and roasted peppers. Enjoy food porn. (Quite Picture Heavy)

All Ingredients:

Truffle Oil

Salt

Pepper

Broccoli

Parmesan

Panko

Eggs

Skinless, Boneless Organic Chicken Breast

Pam Spray

Red Bell Pepper

Fresh Buffala Mozzarella

If you want the recipe let me know! Enjoy!!

BACK TO REGULAR PROGRAMMING.

Solar Bits Du Jour 6.2.09

I am lovin' Mac's Solar Bits, they give off such a unique finish, highly metallic.I noticed no one one was really loving these or talking about them. Poor sad Solar Bits, what a bad rep they have. Well I am here to change that. 

 I have been using them a ton. I reach for them everyday. Although, Solar Bits are VERY fussy and take a bit of work to get them to blend right. I am finding while Impassioned is smooth as silk while, Scatterrays takes some elbow grease. However, Scatterays finish is HIGH LUSTER! I quite like the application. I have alot of fun applying these. I used my MAC 242 brush and a touch of water, I just rub my brush in the cap residue and see below. You only need the tiniest bit for a big impact. These will last you a long long time!

Scatterrays on bottom, Impassioned on Top

Do any of you have MAC's Solar Bits?

Cheap Obsession Du Jour 6.1.09

What can you love for $1 except something off McDonalds dollar menu?

Anything on elf.com. Elf's eyebrow kit is amazing. I like my eyebrows and they barely need help, but I find myself reaching for this daily now. It comes with a brown brow wax and a light ashly brown powder to fill in your brows. For some reason this powder is the exact perfect color for me! The packaging is great, it is very very similar to NARS black packaging. Same black compact, with that matte silky feeling plastic. I highly recommend anyone with similar coloring to try this out, hey for $1 you can not lose! Just look at that cute little brush it comes with.

Will you try this out? You should!

Obsession Du Jour 6.1.09

Get your glow on. These babies are the original luster drops. The brilliance Pur by Chanel are my go to liquid bronzer/ highlighters in the summer months. These last you a LONG time. I have had both over a year and they are still perfect.

They are not thick, they are the consistency of a liquid foundation. I use these two ways, In the summer I always mix luminizer with my tinted moisturizer or liquid foundation. I never ever use powder foundation in the summer. I love the look of dewy glowy skin. Another way I use it as a regular luminizer, i just dab it on the high planes of my face. I love this lumizer because it does not have any glitter, just fine shimmer. It is very subtle and really makes you look glowing from within your skin.

Sunlit and Bronzelit.
Sunlit- golden champagne
Bronzelit- copper bronze

Which do you like better MAC luster drops or Chanel's brilliance pur?