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I hadn’t tried a lot of DuWop’s products until recently, but now I’m a total fan girl of the line.  My newest foray into the brand is their Eyecatcher Shadows.  There are three of these shadow duos, each meant to flatter a different eye color (blue, brown and green).  The pans have two contrasting shadow shades in them, which are supposed to bring out the color in your eyes when you apply them.

My eyes are green, so I tested out the Green Eye Intensifier and then also played around with the Blue Eye Intensifier, just for fun.  The shades are really pigmented, which makes application a cinch since you don’t have to put on five different layers of shadow just to see the color.  (I hate when that becomes an issue).  They blend well and don’t crease much, so they get bonus points from me for that.  It’s hard for me to tell just how much they helped bring out my eye shade – it seemed like both shades made my eyes stand out equally as much, but I think that’s a good thing.  (Although I do have to admit that the eggplant shimmer in the Green Eye Intensifier was definitely the standout – my eye practically glowed when I based a look around just this shade with a light highlighter on my brow bone).  If you’re a fellow eyeshadow obsessive like me, these are definitely worth checking out.

I have great memories of my time in Switzerland, so when I heard that OPI’s new fall/winter shades were called the Swiss Collection, I was really hoping that I liked them.  And after seeing them in person, not only do I adore them, I kind of can’t imagine anyone else not finding at least a few colors that they’ll want to wear over and over again.  It’s that kind of collection.  When describing the shades, Suzi Weiss-Fischmann, OPI’s Executive VP and Artistic Director, said that “Switzerland provided the inspiration for this season, with a backdrop of snow-peaked mountains, lush glacial valleys, and glittering lakes.  With luxurious hues across the color spectrum, the Swiss Collection features jeweled tones from ruby red to shimmering gold and everything in between.” (more…)

Stila’s new fall collection is in stores now and no matter what sort of products are your favorite, you’re sure to find something that you’ll be obsessing over.  I’ve been playing around with a few different things and so far, the Backstage Eye Shadow Palette and the One Step Correct are my standouts.

The Backstage Eye Palette is interesting because it’s not one of those palettes with a few coordinated shadows.  Rather, it’s made up of six very different shades, giving you the choice of what kind of look you’d like to create and what other eye makeup you’d like to combine with it to achieve that look.  Here are the jewel-tone shades in the palette: (more…)

I totally love the word boudoir.  Every time I hear it, I just picture Blanche Deveraux from “The Golden Girls” inviting a man into her bedroom and saying the word in her southern drawl and it makes me smile.  Fusion Beauty has just introduced a new collection of shimmer glosses called the “Luxe Boudoir” Capsule Collection and they totally capture that sultry, bedroom look.  Here are the new shades that you can pick up:

• Vixen – a shimmering mauve
• Lolita – an innocent baby pink
• Coquette – a flirty rosy coral
• Princess – a shimmery plum

All of the glosses are colorful and shimmery, but they’re not so pigmented that you can’t just slick one on and go.  They all have Fusion Beauty’s well-known lip plumping ingredients in them as well.  (It’s a non-stingy plumper – those of you who don’t like “strong” plumpers won’t have to worry about your lips being in pain).  The glosses are kind of a splurge at $29 apiece, but for each one sold, Fusion Beauty will donate a dollar to a non-profit organization that raises funds to help assist women in the United States who live below the poverty line.  I think out of the two shades I tried, Princess is my favorite.  It’s just such a gorgeous shimmering purplish-pink.  Love it!

Has anyone seen Estee Lauder’s new fall collection yet?  It’s so gorgeous – I’m pretty much coveting every single thing in it, but since I’ve put myself on a serious makeup budget to pay off my credit card, I think I’m going to have to admire most of it from afar.  I did, however, manage to get my hands on the Surreal Violet Five Color Eye Shadow Palette and I absolutely adore it.  I love palettes with an assortment of shades because there’s not a lot of guesswork involved in the color coordination part of the application, which makes me very happy.

The Surreal Violet palette is perfect for creating a purple and grey look – you get two shades of purple in it (one more violet and one sort of a darker grape color), a gorgeous grey, a deep, blackish purple, and a light pink that you can use as a highlighter.  The combinations are endless – you can do a light, perfect for work look, or you can create a great smoky eye for a night out.  (I love a purple smoky eye.  It’s such a nice change from the normal dark black look).  The shadows are all buttery soft and blend easily, but the shade intensity lasts for hours.  (Is there anything worse than paying a lot for a gorgeous eyeshadow and then having is completely disappear from your lids within a few hours?  I mean, what’s the point?  I might as well sleep for an extra fifteen minutes and not wear makeup at all!)  After playing around with this one, I’m dying to own the Blue Dahlia Eyeshadow Palette as well because the blues are to die for.  Damn you, credit card bill!

Cute little palettes are a staple in my makeup drawer because they make life so much easier.  Instead of packing 14 different individual items, you can just grab one and go.  They’re especially handy when traveling, which is what makes Stila’s new Travel Palettes genius.  There will be a total of five palettes in all, with one releasing per month from June to November.

The first one is called Road to Radiance Across the U.S.A. and it includes four eye shadows in shades of pinks and purples along with a Convertible Color in Hibiscus  (a sort of pinkish-mauve shade).  It’s a small palette, so you could easily tuck it into your purse for touch-ups during the day, but it really would be perfect to travel with since you could create an entire look with this one tiny package.  Here’s a sneak peek at what the rest of the palettes will be so you can start getting excited now.

• Pretty in Paris (July)
• Trendsetting in Tokyo (August)
• Make an Impression in Moscow (September)
• Fabulous in Fiji (November)

The front designs on the palettes are so adorable, with girls from the various regions striking a pose in front of the city backgrounds.  (It’s amazing sometimes the difference that packaging can make, isn’t it?  I’ve bought duplicates of products I already owned just so I could have one in the new packaging).  The best part?  Each palette retails for only $10 (they have a value of $65) so owning them will barely even make a dent in your wallet.

Sometimes when I’m doing my eye makeup and feeling especially lazy, I just want someone to pick out the perfect shades that go together and arrange them on top of my dressing area so I won’t have to think about it.  But since the odds of a makeup fairy godmother suddenly showing up in my bathroom are slim to none, I think the next best thing are the eyeshadow palettes from DuWop.

Appropriately named things like “Blue Eyes” and “Violet Eyes” so you know exactly what shades you’re getting in the palette, each one contains four different shadows plus a cream liner, so you can play around with different looks and get everything from daytime casual to nighttime sultry.  (The Blue Eyes palette has shades in Soft Periwinkle, Sky Blue, Navy Satin, and Silver, plus a navy cream liner).  I love when palettes can do double duty like that – you get so much more bang for your buck.  The shadows are all nicely pigmented and blend easily and I didn’t find creasing to be a huge problem.  (Although since they’re powder shadows, don’t expect them to wear all day – you’ll definitely want to reapply before going out at night).

There are seven different palettes available – I’m totally coveting the Gray Eyes one now – so you can pretty much get an entire shadow wardrobe out of these.  And they’re great for travel because the packaging is thin and compact.  If I was heading out on a European adventure this week (if only!) I’d definitely bring along my Blue and Violet Eyes palettes and not worry about putting in other colored shadows.  And for an over-packer like me, I think that says it all!

I’m not one to use a whole lot of hair products, but if I want my hair to be wavy and fuller, it’s kind of a necessity.  My new find is Prive’s Concept Vert Volumizing Froth.  It’s a really interesting product because it’s a non-aerosol mousse (something I didn’t even know was possible!)  By making it a non-aerosol, Prive has been able to drastically reduce the size of its bottle.  I’d say it’s about one quarter of the size of most cans of mousse that I’ve seen, which is great not only for the environment, but also for your closet space and for packing it in your luggage.

To use, all you have to do is apply a small amount to your palms and then rub them together quickly, giving the product about 5-10 seconds to froth up.  The process is kind of fun because it all of a sudden just sort of appears and foams up on your hands.  It’s like magic mousse!  Every single morning that I’ve done it it’s made me giggle, which I admit might mean that I’m easily amused, but still.  Who doesn’t want their morning routine to have a little fun in it?  Once the froth has produced itself, you just apply it like you would a regular mousse on damp hair and style however you’d like.  It adds some volume and body to my hair without making it crispy or sticking pieces together.  (I think I’ve mentioned here before how much that annoys me).  It’s also very environmentally friendly – the bottle is designed to be recycled and the product is never tested on animals.  All good things!  If my junior high self knew that one day I would be using mousse in the mornings again, she would be really laughing at me…

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