Archive for December, 2010

I’d been reading so many fantastic reviews of the Hourglass Visionaire Eye Shadow Duos online that I absolutely had to try them for myself.  Everyone seems to love them and now that I’ve gotten a chance to play around with them, I can definitely see why.  They’re available in six different shade combination and I tested out two of them – Prism has a slate blue shimmer and a black with micro glitter, and Exhibition has a mauve shimmer and an eggplant shimmer.  (more…)

Truth is- despite hair oils being a dime a dozen these days, I’ve never really gotten into them.  My hair is very healthy (if not borderline oily) and the few that I have tried just seem to weigh down, and grease up, my locks more than anything else.  So when I started using the new ALTERNA Bamboo Smooth Kendi Oil Pure Treatment Oil – it was more by accident than anything else.  I had gotten a sample from an event and left it at my boyfriend’s place. On mornings when I didn’t have time to shower, I would use some on my hair as a styling aid since I didn’t have anything else at his apartment. That’s when I noticed that not only is it a fantastic styling tool- holding my style all day- it also make my locks super soft- and never oily or greasy.  The oil also immediately controls frizz (pesky bed head) and makes the styling process so much easier- producing bouncy voluminous curls. Needless to say, I’m a believer!

Alterna Bamboo Kendi Pure Oil Treatment  also acts as a color protectant which is important for me since I have demi-permanent colored hair. At $24, it’s incredibly reasonable for the high end Alterna brand and also comes as a spray.

I have a special place in my heart for Loeffler Randall as I’m a devotee to their shoes (I have a pair from their first collection and they remain one of my favorites!), so I was thrilled when CFDA-award winning Creative Director Jessie Randall agreed to do an “Insider’s Obsessions” feature with us. For those of you who aren’t familiar, Loeffler Randall launched their company with a focus on shoes in 2005 and in 2007, debuted ready-to-wear. Every piece is well-made, understated, elegant, and feminine with a bit of edge – modern and luxurious pieces that you can have in your closet for many years to come. Now onto what Jessie’s obsessing about this month… (more…)

I’ve recently discovered the wonder of NARS (I hadn’t used a ton of their products before) and I’m so happy that I started playing around with it in time for this holiday collection.  As someone who loves the color purple, it seems practically made for me and I absolutely love the shades that I got a chance to sample.

I’ve been really into the gold eyeshadow recently and Etrusque is a really pretty antique gold shade that has a rich shimmer to it.  It really highlights my green eyes and it can be paired with a lot of other shades to create different looks.  (For example, pairing it with a matte brown shadow makes it work appropriate, but I’ve also applied it wet and paired with a dark purple shade for a more dramatic, nighttime feel).  I’ve also been playing around with the Melusine Duo.  It features two colors – a pale silver lilac and a bright deep purple – and both are highly pigmented and super smooth.  They blend easily and the colors complement each other so well.  It makes a really fun colorful look and I’m super into the deep purple shade.  This one will definitely be coming back east with me for the holidays.  I haven’t yet played around with Okinawa, which is NARS’ first release of a shadow trio, but it’s absolutely gorgeous in person with its shades of silver, cobalt blue and onyx.  I might have to make a special trip to Sephora this weekend to see it in person.

I also tried out the two lip glosses in the holiday collection – Downtown, a metallic pink lavender, and Bougainville, a pomegranate color.  They’re such different shades for this time of year (I tend to think of a red lip as made for the holidays) but they pair perfectly with the shadows and work well on their own as well.  (They also have sponge wand applicators, which are by far my favorite way to apply gloss, so they get bonus points for that).  I’m partial to Bougainville just because I’m all about the berry lip at the moment and this one works really well on my fair skin.  It’s bold, but not overpowering and on a purely shallow and personal note, it perfectly matches my new favorite slouchy jacket that I found at the Nordstrom Rack that just opened near me, so that makes me very happy.  (I know, SO shallow, but how often does that happen?  It must be celebrated when it does!)

The collection also includes two new nail polishes – Pokerface, a bright lilac color, and Bad Influence, a smoky taupe.  Bad Influence is a great neutral shade because it’s basic, but it’s still distinct and interesting.  I saw it in the store and didn’t buy it and have been regretting it ever since, so I’m sure it’ll be coming home with me sometime soon.  Pokerface is a fun light shade that any purple lover will drool over (and would look great on your toes in the warm weather too).  Is it weird to say that I already can’t wait to see what NARS comes up with for spring?