NARS Luxembourg Satin Lip Pencil

One of the makeup items that I bought during my hiatus was the NARS Satin lip pencil in Luxembourg.  I have to admit, I bought the color solely based on the name.  Luxembourg is named after the Jardin du Luxembourg, an exquisite park I visited last summer while in Paris.  It turns out, I really love the color, go figure.

NARS describes it as a watermelon pink.  I'd say that is pretty accurate.  Besides the color, I LOVE the texture and creaminess of the pencil.  And it is incredibly pigmented.  I barely have to touch it to my lips to get color payoff.  Fair warning though, it stains your lips.  I once wore it two days in a row and after attempting to take it off, had stained lips for another 24 hours.  Another issue, it requires sharpening which wastes product.  For $25, I'd expect this pencil to twist up.

Here it is on my lips:

The next color I'm going to get is Yu, a really pretty bright fuchsia.

Sleek Pomegranate Blush

I recently had the opportunity to do a swap with BeautybyJJ in the U.K.  The last swap that we did, I had received some Sleek products and was really impressed.  So I requested some more.  Among the items she sent me was Sleek's Pomegranate blush.  It is a lovely raspberry color with a shimmer finish.  And by shimmer, I don't mean glittery.  It just gives off a nice sheen to where a separate highlighter is not needed.  The staying power is normal, lasting about 6 hours on my oily skin before starting to fade.  And it is highly pigmented so a lite hand is recommended.  As you know Sleek is very inexpensive with this blush costing $6.99.  I highly recommend their products!

NARS Makeup Removing Water

I've been unhappy with my makeup removing wipes lately.  I felt they weren't "wet" enough and they took too much elbow grease to remove my makeup.  I'd always been curious about cleansing waters but hadn't had a chance to try one.  So when I heard that NARS had released a cleansing water, I jumped.

According to NARS, it's a soap-free, alcohol-free water that removes face makeup and tones the skin.

Ingredients: Water, Butylene Glycol, Peg/Ppg-35/40 Dimethyl Ether, Phenoxyethanol, Ethylhexylglycerin, Trisodium Edta, Cucumis Sativus [Cucumis Sativus (Cucumber) Fruit Extract], Chamomilla Recutita [Chamomilla Recutita (Matricaria) Flower Extract], Sodium Hyaluronate.

I soak two cotton balls with it and place them over my eyes for about 20 seconds, then I gently wiggle them before wiping.  And my eye makeup is gone, no joke.  No mascara, no eyeliner, no eyeshadow, GONE!  I then turn over both cotton balls and wipe the remainder of my face makeup off.  Now I don't wear water-proof mascara, so I don't know how it fairs against it, but with regular mascara, it cuts right through it.

Afterward, my face is left feeling clean, yet hydrated.  It's wonderful I tell you.  The only caveat is the price, $28 for 6.7 oz.  OUCH!  Much more than my $6 makeup removing wipes.  But it's NARS, you expect a price point like that from NARS.

If you can splurge, I recommend it!  It's available at nars. com, NARS counters, and, Sephora.

My Newest Fragrance (And Obsession)-Prada Candy

From the moment I took the sample from the sales associate at Nordstrom, I knew I had to own this fragrance!  It is in one word...delicious.  It's a sweet fragrance but not overly sweet like say a Britney Spears Fantasy.  This is a sophisticated sweet, the kind of sweet you'd smell on a woman carrying a Celine Luggage tote.

It is not an overly complicated fragrance, consisting of just three notes: white musk, benzoin, and caramel accord.  When it's first sprayed, you really get the sweetness of the benzoin, as it drys down, the luscious caramel and white musk notes come out.

This is an eau de parfum, so it's more concentrated.  I find that on me, it lasts all day.  I'll spray it around 8 am and it will still be lingering around 6 pm.

I received this as a Christmas gift from the husband and I couldn't be more thrilled!  He happens to adore it also.  Side note: I find this to be a man magnet.  I've been stopped by men in the grocery store, at work, and at restaurants asking me what I was wearing.

Prada Candy is sold at your finer department stores (Saks, Neiman Marcus, etc).

Clinique Delovely Butter Shine Lipstick

I've been on the hunt for some "my lips but better" lipstick colors lately.  While browsing Sephora, I came across this Clinique Butter Shine Lipstick in the color Delovely.  Delovely is a peachy brown with a nice sheen to it.  The color is sheer but buildable.  The Butter Shine formula is very moisturizing.  It applies evenly and has a nice slip.  With it being so moisturizing, it doesn't have the greatest staying power.  I get two hours tops with this color.  Not great, but not a deal breaker.   I like the packaging, it's a nice shiny metal casing.  The way it's shaped reminds me of bamboo.

Clinique Delovely Butter Shine lipstick

 These lipsticks retail for $14.50 at Sephora, Clinique counters, and clinique.com.  If you're looking for a "my lips but better" color, give this one a try.

NARS Cordura Eyeshadow Duo

In the past 12 months, NARS has easily become my favorite makeup brand.  They just can't do any wrong in my book in terms of quality and texture.  After purchasing the Wild at Heart 15th Anniversary palette, I became enamored with their eyeshadow.  My next NARS eyeshadow purchase was the Cordura eyeshadow duo.

I purchased this during the NARS 20% off summer sale and I'm so glad I did.  The left side is a warm  brown with gold pearl and the right side is a cool-toned dark brown with gold pearl.  The two colors definitely complement each other.  I like to wear this duo when I want a dark yet subtle eye.

The texture is very smooth and the colors apply evenly.  I did not experience any fallout while applying this shadow and they blend out wonderfully.  With the NARS smudge proof eyeshadow base (reviewed here), they stay on all day.

In terms of pigmentation, this duo doesn't lack any.  I find that I barely have to touch my brush to the darker brown in order to deposit intense color.  The lighter brown doesn't take much to get the color payoff either.  The gold pearl in both are subtle enough so that it does not look like a glitter bomb exploded on your eyes.

If you are looking for a nice duo, definitely check this one out.  NARS duos retail for $33.00.

Clinique All About Eyes Serum Review

I have said this before and I will say it again, I have horrible bags and dark circles.  Even though I know nothing short of cosmetic surgery and concealer will help, I still try to find that "miracle" product.  Well this ain't it!  Once again I got suckered into the claims of a product.  Having used this morning and night for about 2 months, I can give a pretty thorough review of this product.

Clinique's All About Eyes Serum claims to instantly cool and brighten to combat puffiness and dark circles.  The product is delivered through a tube with a metal roller ball.  I find that I have to pass the roller ball about 6 times on each eye to get the desired amount of product.  Once the serum is delivered, it absorbs quickly, not leaving behind a sticky residue.

While the massaging quality of the roller ball feels nice, it does nothing to help with the puffiness.  And I find it laughable that it claims to help with dark circles.  I'm assuming that the tiny light reflecting particles are supposed to "help" with the dark circles.  Not on me!  What I do like about it is that it is moisturizing and works well as a primer for my corrector and concealer.  While I like the moisturizing quality of the serum, I can get just as much moisture from the Burt's Bees eye cream (review on this here) for less.  I purchased this at the CCO for $21 though it retails at a Clinique counter for $26 for 0.5 oz of product.

I'm still on the hunt for a product that will help calm my bags down, but alas this one is not it.  I will use it up because, after all, I did pay for it.  Even though it did not work for me, skin care is very personal and it could work for someone with less of the baggage that my eyes come with.

What I Use To Clean My Brushes

As you know, I have a ton of makeup brushes.  In the past, I've used just the MAC Brush Cleaner.  While it is an excellent brush cleaner, I felt that I was going through it too quickly for the price.  I believe it retails for about $12 for 7.9 oz and I was seriously going through a bottle a month.  Then I read somewhere that it was better to put a sprayer top on the bottle of the cleaner.  That helped but then I felt like I wasn't getting enough cleanser onto my brushes.

Behold Dr. Bronner's Magic Soap.  I have the Tea Tree version. This is an 18 in 1 multi-purpose soap that can be used for a variety of things, from shampoo to detergent.  It is loaded with good oils like Jojoba and Tea Tree.  I purchased this specifically to cleanse my brushes and let me tell you it works great.  It gets cream products out of my brushes like no other and it leaves my white goat brushes clean as a whistle.  I literally only takes a drop to get the brushes to lather and get clean.

This bottle was only $9.99 for 16 oz at Target and I highly recommend this product to clean your brushes with.

NARS Smudge-Proof Eyeshadow Base Review

Stop the presses!  I have found my Holy Grail eyeshadow base/primer!  

In the past, I have been loyal to Urban Decay Primer Potion.  But with packaging issues and being harder to blend, I set out to find something equal, if not superior to my beloved UDPP.  I had thought after the re-packaging of UDPP into a tube that it would eliminate the issues from the old packaging.  Not so!  After spending nearly $30 on the professional size UDPP, it dried out in less than 3 months!  But I digress, we're here to talk about NARS.

Let's start with the packaging. I like the packaging.  It's straight forward and I won't have to de-pot it nor worry about it drying out.  It is packaged like a lipgloss with a tube and a doe foot applicator.  The consistency is quite different to that of UDPP.  NARS consistency is more like a mousse.  Almost feeling like a silicone based product (not sure as I have thrown away the box with the ingredient list).

This stuff does not budge.  At. All.  It keeps my eyeshadow in place all day long.  I love it!  But best of all, it makes my shadows easy to blend.  That was a huge problem with the UDPP for me.  It just such a pain to blend my eyeshadow.

This stuff is not cheap.  It retails for $24 but I purchased it during the Sephora Friends' and Family sale and it was 20% off.  If you can splurge on this, I highly recommend it!

The Balm And The Beautiful Palette

There has been a lot of talk of this palette in the blogosphere because it has the exact same colors (just different names) as The Balm's Cast Your Shadow palette that was extremely limited edition.  I lucked up and found this at my local Marshall's store untouched and in perfect condition (sometimes their cosmetics tend to be messed over).  It was only $19.50.  It retails for $44.50 on The Balm's website.

The palette has 16 eyeshadows, 2 lip/cheek stains, 1 lipgloss, and 1 dual sided eyeshadow brush.  The theme of this palette is a soap opera so they have cute and cheeky names like 'The Guy Who Died But Didn't Really Die'.  There is a good mix of neutral colors and vibrant colors.

This was my first time using The Balm products so I was pleasantly surprised to find the eyeshadow texture to be butter smooth and soft.  These colors are nicely pigmented and they blend wonderfully.  I've used the palette about 6 times since I've purchased it.

I was also pleased to find that the cheek colors were nice also.  I used The Perfect Man on my cheeks and it stayed all day.  It gave a nice pink flush to my cheeks.  The texture was creamy without being gloopy.

Here are the swatches:

1st two rows

2nd two rows

Drama Queen, The Perfect Man, Evil Twin

Overall, I would highly recommend this palette, especially if you can find it at your local Marshall's.

Victoria's Secret Hypnotic Kajal Eyeliner Review

I purchased this about a month ago after I saw one of my favorite YouTube beauty gurus "haul" it.  It looked really interesting and the packaging was kind of cute.  So I hopped on down to my local Victoria's Secret and picked it up.

It is basically a black eye kohl but without a pencil casing.  It is packaged in a gold plastic case with an applique sticker.  The kohl twists up and comes to a point.  There is no way to sharpen it.   The liner is very black and soft.  It does not tug or pull at your lids or water line.  It is very easy to smudge and it stays put on my water line.  I honestly can get about 6 hours of wear with this on my water line (which is unheard of for me).

The only drawback to this liner is that (as I mentioned above) you cannot sharpen it.  So to work around that, I apply it at an angle so the tip will not get dull.

This is my first time trying a Victoria's Secret cosmetic and I think I may try some more.  This retails for $12 and can be purchased select locations and online.

MAC Pro Longwear Concealer Review

Launched about a year ago, MAC's Pro Longwear Concealer has become my concealer of choice.  It claims to be a medium to full coverage liquid concealer that gives a natural matte finish and lasts up to 15 hours.  Sounds good right?  But does it do what it claims?

I can honestly say that I love this concealer!  The shade I wear is NC 35.  I find that it is a medium coverage concealer that can be built up to full coverage.  It does last a very long time. I've worn it for 15 hours and I experienced no fading.

I wear this over my Bobbi Brown corrector in medium to dark bisque.  I apply it with a Samantha Chapman Real Techniques flat foundation brush and blend it out with the Sephora airbrush concealer brush.  I apply it with a tapping motion in order to get the most coverage possible (as I have horrendous dark circles and bags).

Some people claim that you don't have to set it.  I personally do or else I find that it creases, even with a primer underneath.  I set this with the MAC Prep+Prime translucent finishing powder.  That assures that it doesn't crease or settle into those tiny lines under my eyes.

I even use it for blemish coverage, and it works great for that.  I just dab a little onto my blemish or dark spot and blend it out.  It stays put all day.

The thing that I don't like about it is the pump that it comes with.  It is the most sensitive pump ever.  One pump of this stuff is enough for 2-3 days of usage.  And there is no way to just pump out the amount you need.  What I've done to remedy that is I pump a full pumps worth into a Sephora sample jar and I use it for 2-3 days, just dipping my brush into get my desired amount.  Also, on my first bottle of this, the pump quit working when there was about 1/8th left. It just wouldn't pump anymore.  And there is no way to unscrew the pump.

Overall, I love this concealer.  It retails for $17 and will likely last you six months.  It is available at MAC counters and stores.

Beauty UK Earth Child Eyeshadow Palette #4

First, let me apologize for the small blogging break that I took, I had to take care of myself.  But I am back and feeling better!  Beauty UK is an affordable UK brand that I'd heard tons about on other blogs.  It is sold in their drug store for 3.99GBP.  I received this in my swap with BeautybyJJ.  And let me tell you, it's good!

Top row of colors

Bottom row of colors

It is a 10 color palette full of earth tones.  The colors have no names from what I can see.  The eyeshadows themselves are very soft and pigmented.  And they blend wonderfully.  It is a nice mix of mattes and shimmers.  My favorite combo to wear from this palette is the shimmery brown on the lid with the matte brown in the crease.

I love the size of the palette also.  It's great for traveling.  When the husband and I took a long weekend trip over Labor Day weekend, this was the only eyeshadow that I brought.  It allows for neutral looks as well as a smoky eye as it has blacks and greys too.

If you are in the UK, I highly recommend picking up this palette.  Beauty UK also ships to the US, if any of my US beauties are interested.

Crown Brush 7 Piece Synthetic Travel Brush Review

Crown Brush was on Haute Look again, so I went ahead and placed another order.  This time for the travel brushes as I will be doing some traveling for work soon.  I opted for the synthetic brushes as I have not been so pleased with their natural hair brushes in the past.

The set consists of a powder brush, blush brush, spoolie, angled eyeliner/eyebrow brush, lip brush, domed blending brush, and a flat eye shadow brush.  They all come in a black nylon case.  They have a matte unlabeled black short handle with a silver ferrule.  The handle measures 5 1/4 inches long.  Tiny in comparison to a full sized brush.

When I first opened them, they had a pungent smell and had powdery residue coming from them.  The powder brush had a few loose bristles.  I washed all of them immediately and the smell went away and there was no more shedding.

The face brushes are very soft and dense.  I really liked the finish that the powder brush gave when I used it with my MAC MSF natural.  The blush brush wouldn't be my ideal blush brush as it is so dense but it did get the job done.

The eye brushes are also very soft.  The flat eye shadow shader brush packs on color nicely on the lid.  And I was very impressed at how well the blending brush blended.  I do not like the angled brush for eyebrows, it works much better as an eyeliner brush as it is very stiff.  The spoolie is a spoolie, nothing much to say about that.  The lip brush I found works better as a detailed concealer brush.  I used it to cover tiny blemishes that I had.

Overall, this brush set impressed me way more than the original three brushes that I ordered.  This set was $25, purchased from Haute Look.  If you're looking for a travel set, this is a good one to check out.

Tarte Amazonian Clay 12-Hour Blush

Natural Beauty, Tipsy

I heard the hype surrounding the Tarte Amazonian Clay 12-Hour blushes and had to try them.  12 hours of wear, sign me up!  This blush claims to hydrate dry skin, remove surface oil to mattify skin, and improve the appearance of skin clarity and texture.

I have to two colors, Natural Beauty and Tipsy.  Natural Beauty is a gorgeous strawberry red and Tipsy is a lovely coral.  Natural Beauty is matte and Tipsy is satin.

Natural Beauty, Tipsy

I love these blushes!  They are highly pigmented!  They are a little powdery, but that doesn't bother me.  I don't know about 12 hours but these lasted a good 10 hours.  I normally get oily on my cheeks half way through the day.  With this blush, I didn't notice that happening.  It didn't fade throughout the day like some blushes have a tendency to do.  As far as improving the appearance of my skin, I'm not sure about that.  I guess time will tell.

I really like these blushes but wish they would expand their color range as most of the colors are not unique.  These two colors were the only ones that I didn't have something similar to in my collection.  These retail for $25 and can be found at Sephora, Ulta, and tarte.com.

Chanel Perfection Lumiere Foundation Review

Nuance By Salma Hayek Eyeshadow Quad Is Very Interesting...

At CVS last week, I came across the new line produced by the beautiful actress Salma Hayek.  It's called Nuance and it is a line of cosmetics and skin care products.  The eyeshadow quad caught my attention for the obvious reason (I'm a sucker for packaging).  This is called the Beautiful Blends Neutral Eye Quad.

The packaging is like an egg shaped pod with the colors folding down like flower petals.  In the center is a sponge tip applicator.

The four colors are: Shimmering Bronze (a red-toned bronze), Champagne Gold (no color description needed), Frosted Blush (a pink-toned champagne), and Toasted Almond (a matte mid-tone brown).

Shimmering Bronze

Champagne Gold

Frosted Blush

Toasted Almond

The pigment is very tightly pressed, so the shadows are not soft.  The pigmentation is nice, though not as pigmented as the Wet N Wild shadows.  Over a primer, they held up very well throughout the day, not creasing at all.  I also found that they were easy to blend.

Toasted Almond, Frosted Blush, Champagne Gold, Shimmering Bronze

As far as the color selection, I wouldn't have necessarily chosen these four colors to go together.  But on their own, they are nice colors.  I also wish they would have included a darker matte brown instead of the Toasted Almond, which barely shows up on me.  But hey, it's not my makeup line, so I can't be choosy!

The price was $8.99 which is kind of high for a drugstore quad but like I said, I'm a sucker for packaging.  Nuance is sold exclusively at CVS.  Check it out the next time you're there!

Sleek Makeup Blush In Sahara

Some months back, I did a swap with one of my favorite UK beauty gurus on YouTube, Jennie of BeautybyJJ.  As part of the swap, Jennie sent me this blush from Sleek Makeup in Sahara.  Sleek Makeup is a drugstore brand in the UK.  It produces high quality products.  Sahara is a beautiful burnt orange.   It is similar to NARS Taj Mahal but lacks the beautiful gold pearl that makes Taj Mahal so special.  The pigmentation is nice, though it is not crazy pigmented.  You can really build up the color depending on how deep you want to wear it.  This was one of two blushes that I took on the cruise and it looks phenomenal on tan skin.

The best part of this blush is that it is only $6.50 for 8 grams of product!  Us Americans can purchase products from Sleek from their website www.sleekmakeup.com but be prepared to pay at least $10+ in shipping costs.  Jennie and I have another swap planned soon, so I will definitely be asking for more Sleek products.

Wet N Wild-Walking On Eggshells Eyeshadow Trio

I have another product from Wet N Wild to rave about.  I've actually had this trio for a while now and I completely forgot about until recently.  The trio consists of a champagne shade, a bronzy brown shade, and a cream shade.  All are frost finishes.  As an added bonus, they even label the shades to show you where you should apply them.  However, you can place them wherever you want.  I personally like the "crease" shade as an all over eyelid shade as well.

 

Eyelid, Crease, Browbone

They apply so smoothly and last all day, however, I always use a base under my shadows.  I cannot comment on how they wear without a base.   These shades are very pigmented!  They blend very nicely as well and I did not experience any fall out.  Overall all, if you are looking for a nice neutral trio, look no further.  For $2.99, it's definitely worth picking up!

I'm Obsessed With Dior Addict Lipstick In #811 Smoky

#811 Smoky

I purchased this Dior Addict lipstick back in July and have just gotten around to wearing it as it is a Fall color.  I am so glad I bought this color, I'm now obsessed with it!  It is a gorgeous shade of brown tinged burgundy.  It is not nearly as dark as the tube would suggest.  This is my first go around with Dior lipsticks and I honestly don't know what took me so long.  This lipstick is so moisturizing and feels so good on the lips.  And I adore the packaging, c'est tres chic.  It lasted all day, just needing a tiny touch up after lunch.  And for $28, it better have performed well!  There are 54 shades in total that is offered in the Dior Addict lipstick line.  I plan on purchasing a few more shades when Sephora has its annual Family and Friends' sale next month.

Still on my lips at the end of the day