For the upcoming season, something…
Dolce & Gabbana cosmetics have landed at Sephora (both online and in some stores), just in time for spring. I have yet to try the line, but from what I’ve read about it — well.
Here are four (more) products that I’d love to get my hands on:
The shades: This is a set of four, but it feels more like two sets of two: the beige & the pink, and then the orange & the plum. The former (first and third swatches) feature a creamy base with bits of shimmer; the latter (second and last swatches) are more like sheer shininess dosed liberally with chunks of glitter.
I found these most-to-least wearable in order of the swatches: first, the caramel beige, with its glossy, creamy finish and (relatively minimal) unexpected pink shimmer; then, the sheer tangerine, which reads as a surprisingly pinky peach out of the tube.
Next (and here’s where we start with the shades I don’t find wearable at all,) there’s the milky pink, which has the best pigmentation but settles terribly into lines; and finally, the vampy plum, which should have been absolutely stunning but applies sheerly with a truly ridiculous amount of fuchsia glitter.
Seriously: ridiculous.
The formula & packaging: Scented strongly of a caramelized vanilla and feeling equally sticky , these glosses are packaged in oversized doe-foot applicators. Shorter and wider than your average gloss, the foot is awkwardly large, and the packaging overall is quite similar to that of the Clarins Instant Light Blush — keyword being blush.
While functional and actually quite cute, I wasn’t crazy about the way Sephora decided to package these. It’s really refreshing to see something a little different, but I think these tried to push the envelope just a little too far.
At their original price, this gloss quartet would have been an absolute miss. For $12 USD/$14 CAD, though, I’m ready to be much (much!) more lenient.
While I don’t love these, I do find them very interesting. Each shade in the set is set apart from the others, and the shimmer (if not exactly something I’d inflict upon anyone I care about) is fascinating — I just can’t look away when I swatch these. The packaging was an interesting choice as well; again, I hated it, but I find myself unable to look away.
It’s like watching a shimmery train car filled with gloopy vanilla syrup go off the tracks. You know you shouldn’t enjoy it, but you totally still do.
I took a few quick face of the day shots with Holiday’s Korres Goddess Beauty Colour Collection last month, but I had forgotten to post them in all the Christmas rush.
The set is no longer available online (though all of its component parts are!), but all the same, here are the photos. Despite the fact that it isn’t a particularly wintery look, I’m rather fond of the way these products come together — they do a great job of creating an altogether fictional glow, which I think we could all use this early in the year.
Despite being such a light shade, Pale Pink sits well on the lips, if a little sheerly. The shimmer translates well into plushness, particularly on film, and the colour doesn’t settle terribly into lines (as many light pinks will do.) $22.50 and comfortable; you could do worse.
I’m not head over heels for the scent (think Maynard’s Sour Cherry Blasters), but I’m fairly certain that’s just because it gives me a massive craving for sweets.
Slightly too chunky for me in real life; absolutely gorgeous in photographs. Warm without pulling orange, and easy enough to use in strips — more of the bronze to sculpt, for instance, and a blend of the pink and highlighter to lift the cheek. $36.50 CAD and beautifully packaged.
A great, natural lift with a soft finish. Too much smudging for me (and the $26 CAD price tag could be better), but the lash itself is quite pretty.
I appreciated having this in the set, but perhaps wouldn’t buy it on its own — while I love a natural-looking lash, I want it to last a (ridiculous) 16 hours, because I am lazy and hate having to touch up my undereye area just because my mascara didn’t feel like sticking around.
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How was that for three products in under 400 words? I’m a little proud, but mainly just very sleepy.
Have a great Monday, folks.
image via lipglossiping
I’ve always had a bit of a soft spot for year-in-review posts. Not necessarily of the “what I did this year,” variety, but certainly of the “what I loved this year,” kind.
While I skip most monthly roundups, I can’t get enough of the yearly ones. Whether the roundups are of a blogger’s favourite products, favourite posts, or favourite blogs, my brain gets into “gotta catch ’em all” mode and just gobbles them up. If it’s something so standout that you singled it out over an entire year’s worth of distractions, it has to be worth a second look, you know?
image via joey’space
Not long after Annabelle’s signing of Marie-Mai, Marcelle has announced its association with Karine Vanasse (another gorgeous French Canadian celeb), who will be the face of the brand moving forward.
The 29 year old actress made her television debut as a teenager, and went on to begin taking on leading roles — she won a Genie in 2008 for her role in Polytechnique, which she also produced. Vanasse describes Marcelle as “both fashion-forward and simple, at once,” which is a statement that I would absolutely agree with!
Marcelle will celebrate its 80th anniversary in 2013, and I can’t wait to see what they have in store for us this year.
I don’t read reflective posts, but to hell with it, you don’t have to read them to write them. (I mean, proof-reading and editing? Who needs editing?)
To start off, a tiny bit of beauty (to keep this at least vaguely on-topic), and then a few life-like lessons. I find myself vastly under-qualified for giving actual-life lessons, so assume they’re lessons of some other kind of l-adjective.
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Whether it’s a foundation brush with bristles so fantastically dense and soft that you cannot live without it (or, rather, you can, but it drives you crazy and you wish like crazy that you had a backup), or a gorgeous old sewing machine that you found inside of your grandmother’s old desk, or even a dozen refills of your favourite 0.28mm Uni-Ball Signo Bit pen, tools count.
I find our culture tends to want everything fast, shiny, easy, but no matter what you’re dealing with: a fancy tool can’t magically transform you into an expert at anything. What we sometimes forget, though, is that terrible tools can take away from great work, too.
So, get set up with some semi-decent tools, whatever it is that they may be, and then–
Be just as ready to put in hours (and hours, and hours) of hard work to actually perfect your technique, because the instruments you’re using can’t be expected to do it for you.
(And if they are in fact doing all the hard work for you, alert the authorities that the singularity has finally occurred and commence freaking out.)
You will never be as good as you could possibly be. If you are, you’re probably in the wrong field, or possibly just completely sheltered from reality.
Embrace failure: engage in experiments instead of setting goals, do things just for the enjoyment of the process (rather than the end result), and build on whatever you already have, no matter how developed that initial skill set may be. You may be good, but you can always be better.
Most guidance councillors will probably disagree with me, but I honestly don’t see the point in aiming for a goal unless you’re going to enjoy the grunt work it takes to get there, too. Sometimes that imaginary upper limit lets you down, and if you don’t create something to lose along the way, the endpoint can only disappoint.
Take a chance. Don’t go throwing yourself off any tall buildings though maybe a relatively small one would be okay, but don’t get stuck in a rut, either. Go out with the cute guy who works at your favourite coffee shop (bring your taser), take the long way to work (also bring your taser), start eating everything with sprinkles on top just for the hell of it (you will not need your taser for this one.)
It takes a certain kind of person to honestly believe that we deserve happiness simply by merit of existing, so if you’re not capable of that sort of boundless hope, make sure you at least have one person in your life who is. Be it your mum, your therapist, or the wise old man who lives around the corner and spends a lot of time in the woods with his dog, they’re worth listening to every now and again.
And, hey: if nothing else, I hear the suppressed cortisol levels of not constantly freaking out are great for your health.
I wrote a year-end retrospective, but then it was a thousand words, so I’m breaking it up. Here’s the good stuff (the other post is boring) —
They just… are. They’re more likely to smell like roses than turpentine (thank you, Lancôme, that was actually really cool), and while the brushes look like they’re going to perform the same way, they just — I find that they do actually tend to perform better.
(Tend to.)
Not in all cases, but the Giorgio Armani Eyes to Kill formula makes one hell of an argument for department-store brands.
The hugely popular Fresh Sugar Lip Balms? Yeah, I don’t hate them. I mean, I don’t adore them–in the lip balm category, that’s probably reserved for my fanatical love of Clinique Chubby Sticks and Bobbi Brown Lip Balm SPF 15,–but I’m really enjoying the minis I picked up over the summer through the Sephora Beauty Insider program.
It kind of makes me feel like I have an anti-individualistic robot-brain, but they’re pretty tasty, you guys. It’s kind of worth it.
Like when it comes to media consumption. Better Off Ted was my cancelled-programming find of the year — think two seasons of absolutely hilarious weirdos with the added bonus of fake science.
In the beauty department: unscented shampoo makes my day on an actually-daily basis. I’m crazy about Curelle Hydra and Riche (a shampoo and a conditioner, respectively), which does an amazing job of cleansing without stripping, and without interfering with any of the other scents you’re wearing. They’re completely lacking in the website department, though.
(Literally: they do not have one. It’s mind-boggling.)
And two new radio play loves: Cabin Pressure (hello, Benedict Cumberbatch as Martin Crieff), and Undone — I cannot even begin to tell you how smitten I am with the alternate-reality London of Undone. Absolute perfection.
Though nothing competes with alternate realities (oh my god Fringe is going to be over, hold me), Ghost Cousin was a pretty substantial find of the year for me, too.
Mentioned first here, Landscape of Animals still makes me think of winter light just as it begins to turn buttery around the edges; a wonderfully unexpected afternoon without any responsibilities and absolutely no need to keep track of time as it passes.
With playful, weightless lyrics and just enough percussion and piano to ground each track, I still feel (even months later) as if I’ve found exactly what I didn’t know I was looking for.
And, last but not at all least…
Admittedly, I don’t wear a lot of it, but I had a lot of fun with some very unexpected products this year. The bold-but-desaturated vibe of most vampy lip looks really gets me, as do most oxblood products and subtle stains.
When you’re going a little brighter or bolder than usual, though, it’s good to have a few colours on hand that absolutely are not going to budge. I have a huge (recent) soft spot for the Korres Raspberry Liquid Lipstick line — they don’t have nearly enough subdued shades (think darker tones and mauvey bases), but the product itself is fantastic. No bleeding or patchiness, and most importantly–as long as you remove any and all excess product--zero kiss transfer.
For a shade as bright as this one (I’ve been testing out 28 Berry), that’s a pretty impressive feat.
For all of you who still have to sort out your NYE makeup: a tradition (glitter) and a trend (oxblood).
As much as I love glitter in the eye area, I absolutely cannot stand it elsewhere — perhaps sparingly on the lips, but rarely-if-ever my cheeks or skin. So, when it comes to holidays like New Year’s, I rely on my Marcelle Lux Diamond Liquid Eyeliner in Pure Gold. I’ve raved about it before, but with great wear, zero fallout, and absolutely gorgeous glitter particles, it’s one of my (few) must-have products.
The lips in this look are easy to do, but I always encourage taking a few extra minutes to apply — if five minutes more at the mirror will translate into a few extra hours’ wear, why not, right?
Start with primed or bare lips, add a brown-undertoned red lipliner (though the entire lip), and follow up with dark brown-red lipstick. I used Paula Dorf Lip Liner in Tapestry and MAC Lipstick in Desire (last seen worn matte and reviewed), and then followed up by blotting the lip for a less-glossy finish.
One of my go-to tricks is using paper (not tissue!) to blot the lip area, particularly for formulas with a glossy or tacky finish. That way, there’s zero chance that you’ll end up with tissue fibres stuck to your lip area, and you know it’ll be an even press — to get your cupid’s bow, hold the paper on the left and right edges and press lightly against a relaxed pout.
This Rouge Pur Couture–a miniature in the L’Oreal Luxe Loose Button Advent Calendar earlier this year–is my first YSL lipstick… but I have a feeling it won’t be my last. Fantastically “holiday,” Le Rouge is such a stellar shade for a really bold, attention-grabbing red, and the formula is absolutely divine.
The wear: With a physical SPF of 15, the Rouge Pur Couture formula wears smoothly and comfortably, even on my stubborn lips. I fidget constantly (rubbing my lips together, pursing them, etc.) but it does absolutely nothing to the gorgeously even, opaque colour distribution — even after some time, the colour doesn’t bleed, slide around, or settle into fine lines or dry flakes.
These lipsticks do have a very distinct fragrance, but honestly, it’s pretty alright. I tend to hate fragranced lip products, but the floral, ever-so-slightly-fruity scent is a far cry from the waxy, fig-based odours that saturate the lipstick market.
YSL Rouge Pur Couture Lipstick swatches – 01 Le Rouge
The shade and finish: The Rouge Pur Couture lipsticks are described as having a luminous satin texture, which is a fairly apt description. The finish is just this side of matte, shimmer-free (at least in Le Rouge) and very plush without being glossy.
When worn sparingly, Le Rouge reads as a matte pink-red stain; again, with great colour distribution and wear. When worn full-on, though, the finish is more supple and moisturizing — think satin, not gloss. Le Rouge is very well-pigmented, with full colour in just one swipe, and a good red/blue balance.
Wearing Le Rouge
YSL describes the shade a “blood red,” but I like to think of it as an “optimistic red.” It’s definitely wearable on both warm and cool complexions, as well as olive colouring and against both fair and dark skintones.
Le Rouge does have a respectable bit of blue in it, but it has this great vividness that feels a little too strawberry to be a cool colour. It really does pull both ways depending on your colouring, so don’t shy away from it just because it wears well on a skintone other than yours!
(See it on Pink Sith, Tacky Blue Eyeshadow, and calivintage.)
At $32 USD/$38 CAD for a full-sized tube, the Rouge Pur Couture lipsticks are certainly a luxury — but such a worthwhile splurge. Le Rouge is a stunning rendition of the textbook “holiday” red, and for the gorgeous wear, I’m putting some serious thought into finding a more natural shade in the line.
Find it at Sephora & Nordstrom online. I know this one will be too attention-grabbing of a shade for most of you (I’m a little self-conscious of it right now, and I’m alone at my laptop!), but formula is honestly in my top five three for wearability and colour distribution. You need this!
This year’s Best of Burt’s Bees set ($24.99 CAD) contains three full-size Burt’s bestsellers, and is basically a hit of major hydration in a box. With targeted treatments for dry hands, feet, and cuticles, I like to think of it as my little “prairie saviour” box — perfect for soothing your holiday-shopping-tired feet and wind-chapped hands.
(And by wind-chapped, I totally mean shopping-mall-chapped.)
A Burt’s Bees classic, the Lemon Butter Cuticle Cream is waxy and unyielding, and takes a moment to apply . That said, though, it does its job well — that same waxy texture also means that it’s highly portable (in any climate), and stays on your cuticles like nobody’s business.
I haven’t tested this out long enough to give it a ringing endorsement, but from what I’ve seen of it so far, it definitely does a great job of locking in moisture without getting your fingertips or hands greasy. You don’t have to use a lot of it each time, and what you do put on withstands a respectable amount of wear & washing, to boot.
Rather unexpectedly (for someone who rarely-if-ever uses foot creams), this was my favourite of the bunch! Despite living on the prairies and having chronically dry skin, my feet don’t actually tend to get terribly dry — less so than the rest of my body, even.
The Burt’s Bees Coconut Foot Cream is strangely gelatinous, while still being petroleum-free and 99% natural. Like their Peppermint Foot Lotion, Burts’ coconut cream feels luxurious and has a bit of a minty tingle — but that’s where the comparisons end.
Where the peppermint lotion is thin, white, and sinks in quickly, this one reminds me of a thick honey butter, flavoured with a slightly-spicy coconut and a little sticky. It’s made to sink in overnight (follow up with cotton socks, of course), and delivers deep hydration while having what I’d actually describe as quite a pleasing scent!
Like the coconut foot cream, Burts’ Beeswax Hand Cream has a lovely, interesting texture — in this case, the texture of a waxy butter, solid in the jar but which melts easily as it’s worked into the skin.
While rich and moisturizing in terms of formula, my complaint with this product lies in its portability and fragrance. The latter is overdone (a problem I have with a surprising number of Burt’s Bees products), and has a sharp, synthetic edge that may be headache-inducing for some. And, while the 2 ounce jar is a great sink-side or desk-drawer addition, it’s far from portable — just something to consider, with the way hand creams need re-application in climates like the prairies!
At $25, this set is a good deal… but only if you already love all three of the included products. With the way I (don’t) go through products, I tend to prefer sets like the Burt’s Bees Tips n Toes Kit — that is, ones that let you try out a lot of different products, rather than those that get you stocked up with old standbys.
So, while I liked this set, I’d actually recommend that you give the other one a go, instead! (Or, hey, any one of these.) Something like the Tips ‘n Toes Kit is just $19 CAD for the same awesome formulas plus three others, but minus the commitment of full-sized containers.
Or, y’know, skip the hand care entirely and just go for the Coconut Foot Cream. I’m having a lot of fun with the texture! And, okay, the giant hit of moisture and tasty fragrance are pretty nice too, I guess.
