…the evolving perspective of a life in progress
Okay… clearly I’m on a ‘glossy pencil’ kick. My latest aquisition comes from Tarte, which I already LOVE for vegan makeup. I decided to cash in my points at ULTA and pick up this little beauty:
What I love about it is that it feels like more than just a gloss. There’s a ‘minty’ feeling to it and a nice smell, which makes me feel like it’s doing more for me than just tinting it with a glossy finish.
Oh and there’s NO SHARPENER REQUIRED. These pencils actually ‘roll up’ from the base, like a lip balm…
It was hard, but I DIDN’T pick up the orange version of this pencil (which is called ‘joy’). That’s not to say that I won’t go back for it. lol Instead I opted for a nude/pink:
Without flash it’s more of a flesh tone. With the flash it goes pink, but it’s still very flattering. I really like this one. I may go back for more…
I know it’s been a while since I’ve done an FOTD… I was giving my skin a vacation. lol Plus, I really wanted to see if the Clarisonic made a difference in my skin’s clarity, without having to deal with the daily toil of makeup.
But today, I went back to work so I used the new Laura Mercier Black Karat Eyeshadow (with a little help from Armani):
Hey Guys,
I’ve been hesitant to talk about my skin care routine for one specific reason: I make my own. I have been making my own skin care for a really long time (since before I started doing makeup). I started my own company in 2003, and it’s been going pretty well for me.
I use organic and plant based ingredients. I started doing it myself because I have oily and acne prone skin, that’s also really sensitive. Boo!
I make three different versions of skin care. I use two.
Every morning and evening, I wash my face with my Oatmeal & Peppermint Face Wash:
I just bought a new toy to help it work better. I got the Clarisonic System (because you can use it with any cleanser):
If I’m not using the Clarisonic, then I follow with an Oatmeal & Peppermint Face Scrub:
During the day I moisturize with Oatmeal & Peppermint Face Moisturizer:
I like it because it’s oil free and I’m oily as HECK and everything would just slide off of me. But at night, I get very dry so I use the Vitamin C Face Moisturizer at night:
I do use my eye cream from time to time, but I really don’t need it with the Vitamin C Moisturizer.
I didn’t want to share my skin care routine because I never want anyone to feel like I’m ‘selling’ them on anything. Make sense? I like my skin care products. I think they’re pretty awesome. If others feel that way, great. If not, that’s fine too.
That’s it! That’s what I do every day, twice a day. The Clarisonic is a new addition (just got it last week). But I’ve been using pretty much the same products (in different combinations because the skin can adapt and the products won’t work as well) for years.
Tucked away in the corner of my favorite Beauty Supply store was a new display by Laura Mercier, featuring the baked new wet/dry eyeshadows:
They all look stunning. They don’t swatch as well as they look. Despite the marbling, the shadows do end up rather one-dimensional on the skin. The teal is… teal, the purple is sheer, the pink is frosty, the mauve is pedestrian, and the copper swatches more of a bronze on me. The top left shadow, Black Karat, is the most impressive. So that’s the one that came home with me. It is neither Black nor Gold (carat)… but more of a khaki-antique gold:
I love this brand. I ignore it for months on end… then I pay attention to it… and I fall in love all over again. Lipstick Queen continues to wow me with fabulous formulas, high pigmentation and staying power.
I got a chance to play with the Chinatown Glossy Pencils, and had to reprimand myself for not doing so sooner!
Love these! First of all, they’re MASSIVE. Bigger than the NARS Velvet Gloss Lip Pencils, AND they come with their own sharpener. They’re also cheaper (20.00) What’s awesome is that none of the colors are the same as NARS, so you could have both and never overlap. I ended up with the orange color, Genre:
LOVE! This is the color that stood out the most to me, but I’m sure I’ll be back at Space NK soon enough to swatch (and perhaps purchase) the rest. Lipstick Queen is back on my radar… watch out!
To be fair, some of the items in this collection are repromotes. I’m fairly certain that any lippies and kohls are already in circulation. There is an eyeshadow allegedly coming too. But I haven’t seen it. But I DID see the items in this picture. My favorite Guerlain person EVER (Hi Lydia!) caught me passing by and gave me a peek at at the summer preview (which she already had for sale). Guerlain only sent her a few of each thing. I didn’t see that foundation (in the tube in the picture… DYING to try it out), but I saw all the new terracotta bronzers. They come in a range of colors. I’m not really sure what to make of that oil, and the tan booster… yeah, I’m pretty sure I don’t need that. I was born with my tan.
But I DID see this:
It’s supposed to be a nourishing dry oil. I don’t know how ‘nourishing’ it is, but I don’t really care. Here’s why:
Ummm… do you see ALL THAT SHIMMER???!!! A shimmer bronzing oil… YAYY!!! And it’s a dry oil, so it won’t stain your clothes like some of the others on the market. It would be terrible of me to tell you guys about this and not mention the smell… LIKE.HEAVEN. It smells like Summer. Omg. Love!
That’s just on the back of my hand (which was wretchedly dry). It’s LOVELY. And the bottle is big. Lydia showed me the tester and I was like… ummm.. PASS. The tester is about one ounce. But the actual bottle for sale about three times as big. It comes in a solid glass bottle with the signature Guerlain wooden top. The packaging just transports you to some random island.
I’m not waiting it to warm up before I use this summery goodness. Rain or no rain… I’m using it right now!
Good Morning Beautiful People!
I thought I’d do a little ‘Q&A’ session with you guys today. So, just put your question in the comment box and I’ll do my best to answer them.
You can ask me almost anything, but I reserve the right to refuse to answer the question on the grounds that I feel it’s too personal (or just don’t want to answer it). Please refrain from vulgar, inappropriate (use common sense ya’ll), or otherwise trifling questions. Any outright raggedy questions/comments will be deleted.
Other than that… ask whatever you want.
Some of you guys have been with me on my quest (and eventual dismissal) for the YSL Boheme Libertine collection for Spring 2011.
Well, the flagship Sephora store in Hollywood had a few of the items. As suspected, the quint is a repromote (Indian Pink/#2).
Initially I’d decided to pass on the cream blushes, because I have oily skin and creams never do well for me. But I got to play in them recently, and I have to say, YSL has changed my mind. It’s a ‘dry’ cream… more like a gel pigment. It sets as pure color and does not move, even on my oily skin.
I ended up with the Cream Blush in Praline…
It looks like a peachy brown… but it swatches more of a brownish pink, which is perfect for my skintone:
This is the only thing that I really liked from the collection. All of the glosses looked pretty pedestrian to me. There is a fuchsia version of this blush, as well as a cool pink. I have enough fuchsia EVERYTHING, and the cool pink went a little ashy on me. I imagine it would look stunning on fairer skintones.
If you’re going to get anything from this collection, take a good look at the cream blushes. I think they’re worth taking home.
