More details in the morning! (Er… six hours from now. Or less, really.)
- Paul & Joe Ornamental Self-Select Eyeshadow (pan only), $20.00
- Philosophy Hands of Hope, $10.00
- Harajuku Lovers Jingle G, $19.99
- MAC Dazzlesphere! Smoky Berry Eye Kit, $32.50
- Burt’s Bees Replenishing Lip Balm Trio, $9.99
- Prtty Peaushun Skin Tight Body Lotion (review later this week), $36.00
- L’Occitane Délice des Fleurs collection (May rose & violet leaf absolutes), $12.00-$48.00
- L’Occitane Délice des Fruits collection (lemon & clementine essential oils), $6.00-$48.00
- NUXE Rêve de Miel, $9.50-$40
Most ladies pull out the neutrals for their go-to look. Maybe a little flick of black liner here; a bit of a cat eye there. But, well – normal was never an option, now, was it?
For those of you still searching for an easy Holiday look, try this one. A touch of Marcelle Lux Diamond Liquid Eyeliner in Pure Gold has been my default since the summer, and not just because Marcelle and Annabelle do some seriously gorgeous glitters. Sure, a bit of glitter liner is pretty, but their formula is also easy to apply, but it’s also subtle – and it wears all day, with zero fading, smudging, or flaking, even on the oiliest of lids.
Pair with a bit of mascara, a natural lip, and fresh, satin-matte skin. I’m partial to Imju Fiberwig, a mascara that’s both tubing and fibrous – it holds a curl all day long, doesn’t flake, and wears right from 6AM to 12PM without smudging. Y’know… for those extra-long long days.
For the cheeks, I usually go with a light, cool pink – think MAC Well Dressed (what I used), NARS Mata Hari, etc. Any one of these pink pressed powder blushers would be perfect! The trick, I think, to pulling off a really simple eye look is to pair it with winter-fresh skin: that bare flush, plus a base that’s not quite matte, but not quite dewy. Marcelle’s powders are perfect for this, loose or pressed.
I typically don’t add shimmer to my skin or cheeks — the glitter’s enough to steal the show! — but if you wanted to, go with one of the gorgeous pressed powders that came out this Holiday season (rather than a creme or liquid). This would be perfect for a bit of flush and hilight.
More Pure Gold here and here, & a Lux liner review here.
More photos & products used »
The product: Bite High Pigment Pencil Trio (High Pigment Matte Pencils in Pomegranate, Honey Berry, and Bouquet)
The formula: the Bite High Pigment Pencils feel absolutely gorgeous. Good mattes have a very specific texture, and it’s hard to describe unless you already own a matte with a similar formula. It’s sort of… well, it’s sort of a bit like poutine. Everyone always says that the cheese “squeaks,” which makes no sense to someone who’s only ever had fries, and so much sense the second you try your first bite of cheese curd.
So, yeah, these pencils have the formula of a good matte. Velvety, surprisingly lightweight, and (perhaps most importantly), not drying!! There’s a bit of a lingering “fruity” scent, which I’d have preferred to do without, but the gorgeous shades & formula more than make up for it. (Worth noting: I believe the fragrance is naturally-derived, so those who have problems with synthetic scent headaches should be OK with these.)
The shades: Bite’s High Pigment Pencil Trio includes full-size versions of three of the line’s six High Pigment Pencil shades: Pomegranate (described as a rich red), Honey Berry (toasted almond), and Bouquet (peachy pink). The amount of pigment they’ve packed into these is really, really impressive – I’m used to being let down by “high pigment” marketing talk, but pigment-wise, these really deliver!
Of course, Pomegranate is my favourite of the three – it’s a delicious, completely opaque, bright blue-red. As fair warning, though, it has a sort of wild red vibe: no red lipstick is understated, of course, but this one seems particularly bright. As far as mattes go, though, it’s very forgiving. The formula of Pomegranate seems to wear just a bit more velvety than the other two, but I’m not complaining!
Bite High Pigment Matte Pencil swatch in Pomegranate
Honey Berry was perhaps the most surprising of the bunch; it’s a medium brown (which normally look awful on me), but somehow, it looks totally fine – even against my fair skintone. I’ve swatched it for full opacity here, but it really brings its A-game when worn sheerly. It’s an unexpectedly lovely medium nude, with just the right balance of yellow, brown, and pink tones.
Bite High Pigment Matte Pencil swatch in Honey Berry
Finally, Bouquet is a lot brighter than I thought it would be. It looks a fair bit more muted in these swatches than it does in real life, where it (like Pomegranate) comes to the field as anything but demure. It’s bright, loud, and will definitely appeal to lovers of shades like MAC Chatterbox and Please Me. There’s something about this shade that, when paired with the matte finish, takes it from quiet to L-O-U-D in ten seconds flat.
Bite High Pigment Matte Pencil swatch in Bouquet
Is it giftable?
Yes. But with reserves! For a beauty addict, this would be a fab gift – it’s all gorgeous satin-matte finishes and high pigment. For a muggle, though? Perhaps it would be best to hold off. Pick up a Colour & Shine set for them instead, perhaps!
As for whether or not this set is a good deal for yourself: it’s $38 US, but has a $72 US value. The pencils twist up (always a plus; no need for a sharpener), and I’m betting that you’re all going to pick up Pomegranate anyways. So, in short, yeah. It’s a good deal. ;)
As an introduction to the Bite line, the High Pigment Pencils are fantastic. I’m excited to try more! Which, okay, is probably going to take forever, because it’s me, but still. I’ll get to it. Eventually.
Keep reading for ingredients and more »
The product: Clinique Chubby Colour & Shine Set
It’s no secret that I’m in love with Clinique’s Chubby Stick Moisturizing Colour Lip Balm (their full name. Isn’t it intimidating?) I’ve talked about them before – or, perhaps more accurately, I’ve talked about the them a lot already. We first reviewed Clinique’s Chubby Sticks last December (when they were revamped and relaunched), went on to add the ingredients, and featured them in this year’s Summery Summary.
It’s been almost an entire year (!!!), and I think it’s safe to say that I’m still in love with the Chubby Sticks. Which, for the record, is phenomenal – I fall in love with new products all the time, but it’s so rare that one product will stay in the rotation for any more than a season. But I’m still crazy for these adorable, crayon-y balms, and I don’t think it’s a love that’s going away anytime soon!
Thankfully, Clinique included my favourite shade in this set. I haven’t tried them all, but I loved Super Strawberry when I first got it – enough so that I didn’t feel the need to try the rest of them, I guess!
Even after swatching and wearing around the other three, Super Strawberry‘s still my fave. It’s the perfect pop of colour; bright enough to really pick up my complexion, but sheer enough to still look really natural and low-key. It transitioned really well from winter into summer (and then back again), which is always the mark of a good MLBB shade!
Swatched L-R: 02 Whole Lotta Honey, 04 Mega Melon, 06 Whoppin’ Watermelon, 07 Super Strawberry
Blended out: Whole Lotta Honey, Mega Melon, Whoppin’ Watermelon, Super Strawberry
The shades
Whoppin’ Watermelon is a pretty, pastel pink, and surprisingly, it has enough pigment to tone down my natural lip colour a bit. Super Strawberry is my go-to natural lip shade; it’s a really well-balanced medium berry-pink with just the right amounts of cool and warm. Mega Melon is a sheer melon-y shade with quite a bit more shimmer than the others. Whole Lotta Honey is a muted, medium brown with enough red undertones to keep from washing you out.
Clinique Super Strawberry Chubby Stick swatch
Swatches of the rest after the cut!
Is it giftable?
Absolutely! The Colour & Shine set retails for $38.50 CAD, and comes with four Chubby Sticks in a silver pouch. Because they’re so sheer, it means that they’re going to work on any (literally, any) skintone, which is always a nice thing to keep in mind when you’re gift-giving. I love that they’re paraben- and scent-free, too; I’m always in fear of being gifted a lovely lip product that I can’t use because of a scent!
Of course, the perfect person to get this set for? That would be you. I’m convinced that every beauty junkie ought to try the Chubby line at least once, and, well, isn’t this just the most perfect way to do it?
(The crayon-y pencils are even cuter in this gift set. Even cuter. They’re the same width, but are about a centimeter shorter. Adorable!)
Availability: Canadians, this set is exclusive to Shopper’s and Murale; Americans, I think you can get yours at Macy’s; UK girls, keep an eye out at Harrod’s, Selfidges, and Clinique – looks like they’re all sold out online, though (sorry I didn’t get to the set sooner!)
Lip swatches and product photos of each shade! »
“But Rae!” you say, “It’s already Tuesday night!”
Well, yes. It is.
We’ll be covering three different (very different) lip sets for the Holiday season this year, so keep your eyes peeled! Reviews and swatches upcoming – the first one should be up by tomorrow night. These lovely kits by Korres, Bite, and Clinique are great last-minute gifts for anyone you’ve forgotten, from your lipgloss-only niece, to your classic-matte auntie, to your allergic-to-everything best friend.
And, of course, they’d be fabulous gifts for yourself :P
The product: prtty peaushun Skin Tight Body Lotion in Medium
Oh, Prtty Peaushun. There are so many things that I could say about you.
When it comes to this “skin tight body lotion,” you more or less know what you’re getting. A lightweight moisturizer, with a bit of colour, and a bit of luminizing. Sort of… a glowy tinted moisturizer, but for your legs.
Simple as it is, though, I’ve been prtty impressed (tee hee, prtty impressed) with Prtty Peaushun. As you might’ve noticed, I’m kind of ridiculously pasty-white, especially in the winter, and it’s a little frightening rather unforgiving on my chunky solidly built legs. So I gave the Medium shade a try, hoping that it would add a bit of colour…
And it didn’t disappoint.
Prtty Peaushun – Medium
Despite looking much too orange coming out of the package, Medium blended flawlessly into my skin. And it really does look like skin – so much so that I couldn’t tell where the line of demarcation between tinted/un-tinted was in the swatch. I ended up taking a q-tip of makeup remover though my swatch patch, just so you could tell what a difference it made (while still looking totally believable).
So, yeah. You could blend your own Prtty Peaushun, and it would have the two major benefits of (i) not being $36, and (ii) not having that “peaumelo” scent, but the one that Bethany Karlyn has produced? Pretty darn impressive.
(On that note: I am never, ever going to get tired of all of these “peau” jokes.)
Prtty Peaushun – Medium, blended in with a thin line of product removed (using makeup remover.)
As a brand, Prtty Peaushun gets two huge thumbs-up from me. Not only is the formula 92% natural and free of parabens, GMOs, phalates, synthetic dyes or fragrances, talc, or animal products, but it’s not tested on animals, and is packaged with as little material as possible. Plus, (and this is the part that I love), the spokesmodel of the brand is the teeny-tiny workout maven Tracy Anderson, not some ten-foot bones-and-skin glamazon.
(She’s shorter than I am! Nobody’s shorter than I am!)
(But, I kid you not, she could beat the crap out of me if she was blindfolded and had both her arms tied behind her back. Girl is fit.)
Surprisingly, I really like the packaging – it’s new, it’s unique, and it’ll allow you to get every last drop out of your Prtty Peaushun. It does take a bit of getting used to, but I haven’t had any accidents getting the product out, and it’s a lot sturdier than you’d expect. I’ve tugged on the plastic doohickey (totally a word; even my spell-check thinks so), squished, squeezed, and chucked, and I can safely say that it’s neither exploded nor sprung leaks.
Availability: you can order your prtty peaushun through their site, on Beauty.com, or at American Apparel. There’s also a store locator on the prtty peaushun site (as well as a list of more online shops to buy through), so it shouldn’t be too hard to come by! Or, perhaps, you can get yours right here…
click to enlarge. more info about the ingredients here.
Keep reading to win a Prtty Peaushun for yourself! »
Posting is going to be a bit patchy over the next few days – sorry!! There is so much that I’m dying to cover, but between finals and massive upper body flares (who knew that elbows could be so susceptible to inflammatory arthritis?!), I’m a bit short on free time.
Anyhow. For now, here are three gorgeous spreads that inspired ours!
Vanity Fair / BEAUTEZINE / Glitter Geek
In other news…
My drawing pad is finally working again! Here’s a rough sketch what our “get ornamental” spread was supposed to look like, before the pad decided to stop working on me. Do we love it? Do we hate it? It makes me think of candy canes :D
(I had filched Jessica’s gorgeous headline style in the meantime, because have you tried handwriting on a magic trackpad? It’s ridiculous. Ironically, all I had to do was unplug, reboot, and re-plug, and it’s working just fine again.)
(Oh, technology. Remind me never to go the refurbished route ever again.)
The products
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Okay, confession: I like this one way more than yesterday’s natural skincare feature ;) (Not that I didn’t like that one! I just like this one rather a lot more.) This is the only other spread I have done right now, but I’d like to fit in one more before Christmas if I can!
No promises, but fingers crossed. I’ll try to make time :o) The holidays, you know? They’re crazy for us all.
(It’s a pity you can’t delegate to cookies. I would totally delegate to cookies. And then eat them once they’d finished their tasks. It would be gloriously efficient and so tasty.)
Look! It’s our first holiday spread! (Actually, it’s our first anything magazine spread.)
Do you like it? Do you? Do you??? Tell me you like it! Tell me you love it! And just – well, let’s not mention the fact that it’s looking extremely washed-out in my Chrome, mmkay? (Google, why do you have to crush all of my hopes and dreams.)
The products
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I’ve done just two spreads for the holidays this year (the other will go up tomorrow, hopefully), but let me know what you think! They’re rather a lot of work, but I’d be lying if I said I didn’t have fun ;) If there’s interest, perhaps you’ll see a few more next year! And… they’re bound to get better eventually. Right? (This one is rather slapdash compared to Arianne and Jessica‘s!)