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For those of you still on the hunt for a fabulous neutral palette, LORAC has a great entry in their spring collection.  Unzipped comes with ten shadows in shades ranging from the light vanilla Undercover to the dark chocolate brown Untamed and every shade in between.  Basically, it covers every shade variation in the brown family that you could ever want.  It’s a really versatile palette because you can use it for both daytime and nighttime looks, plus the finishes range from shimmers to mattes, so you get a nice cross-section of shadows to choose from.  The shadows themselves have nice pigmentation and blend easily, making the palette a good bargain at only $40.  They’ve also made it easy to pack, since it’s pretty thin and made of cardboard (with the cutest fake zipper on the cover to go with the name).  It even comes with a mini Behind the Scenes Eye Primer, which makes me very happy because I always want to take eye primer with me when I travel, but the big sizes are way too bulky.  This one’s perfect.  It’s like LORAC knew I was finally going on a vacation and hooked me up!

Also new for spring are LORAC’s Lips With Benefits glosses.  Love these!  They’re available in four different shades – Alex (a berry color), Josh (a fresh pink), Nick (a light pink shimmer) and Mark (a neutral peach).  They have a mix of açaí berry, pomegranate extract, and Vitamin C and Vitamin E in them, so they’re super moisturizing, plus they’re  not that sticky for a gloss, which I appreciate.  The most fun thing about them is the design in the tube.  They all have a pattern to them (that probably isn’t the right word to use to describe it, but I couldn’t think of a better one).  It’s like a zigzag of another shade in the actual color, which not only looks cool, but lets you mix it in with the wand for a subtle change in color.  (Although I have to admit, I like the way it looks too much to actually do that – it’s too pretty to mess up!)  The glosses are scented with a crème brûlée fragrance that makes me happy every time I sniff it (and hungry!)  Is it time for dessert yet?

Okay, I admit it.  I’m one of the only people in the world who hasn’t read any of The Hunger Games books, but in my defense, I’ve been really busy.  (Plus, I’m going on vacation in April and I kind of want to put the trilogy on my Kindle for the long plane rides.)  Regardless of that though, I’m super excited about the new Capital Colours collection of nail polishes from China Glaze.  It’s a 12 piece collection that was inspired by The Hunger Games books and will be available in early March, but I was lucky enough to get 6 of the shades sent to me early and I’ve been having so much fun playing around with them.  (more…)

As much as I love the darker nail shades of the fall and winter, once I’ve been wearing them for a few months, I’m totally ready to strip them off and put some bright colors on my fingers and toes.  China Glaze’s Electropop collection came along right in the nick of time this year. The twelve shades are all bold and fun, none of them boring, and they make me think of spring and the gorgeous shades that fill yards when the season’s new flowers start to spring up.  (more…)

As much as I love collections with a ton of different pieces (MAC, I’m looking at you…) I also really appreciate the smaller collections with only a few choice pieces.  It’s so much easier to figure out what you want when you’re not looking at 16 different glosses or 27 different shadows.  (I’m exaggerating, but you know what I mean).  MAKE UP FOR EVER‘s new La Bohème collection only has 4 products in it, but they’re all flirty and fun and perfect for spring.

The La Bohème Baked Eye Shadow Palette comes in a fabulously patterned and colorful package that contains 6 baked shadows in Lagoon Green, Vegetal Green, Beige, Parma Purple, Brown and Coral.  They’re all sort of soft and pretty, and the formula is enriched with mineral powders and a high concentration of pearl to give them a shimmery effect.  I like baked shadows because they look fairly sheer when applied dry, but when you add water, the shades get deeper and richer.  When I look at the palette, I feel like I should pair the shades with a maxi-dress and really cool sunglasses for a stroll along the Seine, but that might just be wishful thinking since I’m in dire need of a vacation!

The shadows are paired with the La Bohème Aqua Eyes liner.  It’s a matte dark brown, but the original Aqua Eyes packaging has a floral design added to the cap.  So cute!  The packaging for this collection just makes me so happy.  The Aqua Eyes liners are fabulous, so if you haven’t tried one yet, this might be a good basic shade to pick up to get your start.  The other two items in the collection are both La Bohème Rouge Artist Natural lipsticks in two different shades – Bohème and Folk.  Bohème is an iridescent peach beige and Folk is an iridescent red coral.  Again, I LOVE the packaging.  It might sound silly to talk so much about it, but there’s just so much makeup out there that when the packaging on some stands out so well, it really sets it apart.  Plus, on a purely shallow level, it just looks cute when you take it out of your clutch at dinner!

The La Bohème collection is sold exclusively at Sephora, so head to your nearest store to check it out.

DuWop is one of those brands that I always forget how much I like until I play around with their new products and then I fall in love all over again.  Those new/old discoveries are always great, aren’t they?  (more…)

As we head into spring (at least it feels like spring here in Los Angeles today…), it’s time again to embrace softer shades of makeup and a more natural look.  (At least some of the time!)  Smashbox‘s new spring collection, Be Discovered, is all about that trend and I tried out two of the pieces that’ll really help you pull off a romantic look.

The Be Discovered Eye Shadow Palette has eight shades in it, all pastels and a few light bronze/brown shades.  The colors definitely can’t be used for a dramatic or bold look, but they’re perfect for the daytime or a weekend party.  I especially love the Lilac shade – it’s a fantastic light purple color that I love with my green eyes.  I have SO many dark shades of shadow in my stash that I’m really loving this palette, especially for a spring weekend away.  (The Mist shade, a shimmery light silver, is another favorite for my green eyes).  The shadows are smooth and blend easily and all eight different shades are easy to pair together.

The other new release that I tried is the Be Discovered Cream Cheek Trio.  The three different shades give off the same soft, romantic vibe when blended on cheeks and I like that there are two shades that I can use as blush and one that acts more as a highlighter.  (In fact, I’ve played around with using it under my brows as a highlighter on my eyes and it looks good there too).  When I’m wearing these, I feel like I should put on a long dress and curl my hair and attend a garden party.  Is that weird?

You guys, I just love Bobbi Brown.  Love!  Her collections never disappoint me and most of the time, when I see them, I have a moment of, “Ooooh, that’s how I should wear those colors!”  Her Spring 2012 collection, Neons & Nudes, falls exactly into that category.  I just adore the way she has the pops of color on the lips, while everything else is soft and muted.  I tend to find myself falling into the same pattern of always emphasizing my eyes and doing a nude lip, so this is a perfect way to get me out of my rut and shake up my look.  (more…)

I’ve been really obsessed with juicing and cleanses lately, especially around the holidays when the fattening food was all over the place.  Since I was heading back to NJ for the holidays, I decided to do a cleanse for my first three days there, hoping to get at least a little detoxified while I was away from Los Angeles.  Since so many people had raved about the BluePrintCleanse, I decided this time I would try it out and hopefully reset my body a little.  (more…)

Sephora has a new collection of eye shadows out called Prisma Chrome shadows that caught my eye right when I walked in the other day.  I love when the packaging of products is appealing as well and these certainly fit the bill for that.

The shadows come in individual compacts with a half-raised sort of wave pattern.  So pretty!  The shadows themselves are billed as bringing together the best features of baked, powder and cream shadows.  To me, they seem more like powder shadows, but I have to admit, when I first started playing with them, I just thought they were going to be cream shadows, for some reason.  I was totally surprised when I felt their texture and it was more powdery.

The shadows are available in ten different shades ranging from an opalescent pink beige to a dark plum and I really like the color selection.  There wasn’t one that I wouldn’t have been happy taking home with me.  I tried out three different shades – Shimmery Sand 10 (a light golden sand), Gold Reflection 20 (a bright yellow gold) and Sapphire Shine 30 (a royal blue).  I really like the finish on these – they’re very shiny and pigmented and they reflect light fabulously.  I especially like the bolder shades; I don’t have any colors in my (far too) vast collection that are the same as Gold Reflection and Sapphire Shine has very few dupes as well.

They’re bright and fun and would totally work for a dramatic colorful look for a night out.  And at only $15 each, it’s an easily justifiable purchase.  In fact, I have to return something at the mall tonight and I’m thinking of stopping in Sephora and picking up the Burgundy Gem shade.  I deserve it!

There’s nothing more important than having your skin look as flawless as possible.  After all, if your skin doesn’t look good, no one will be able to get past that to check out your fabulous eye makeup!  One of the best ways to achieve the look of perfection is with MAKE UP FOR EVER’s new HD Complexion Starter Kit.  The Sephora exclusive contains a .17 ounce HD Microfinish Powder, a HD Kabuki Brush, a .5 ounce HD Microperfecting Primer, and a 1.01 ounce HD Invisible Cover Foundation.  I’ve used all these products and they’re all great individually, but together, they’re like Photoshop for your face.  I love how perfect the set makes my skin look and how well it photographs while I’m wearing them, especially since it’s not a lengthy process – I can do it in the morning in less than five minutes, so it’s super easy.

To celebrate the launch, MAKE UP FOR EVER is hosting its first ever open casting call to find the next model for their Unretouched ad campaign.  Women can create their own makeup look and then submit it for consideration here.  All of the finalists will get their photos posted on Facebook and the winner will be flown to NYC for a professional photo shoot in late February.

In addition, they’re also launching an interactive shade finder tool that’s made to help women find their perfect foundation match online.  Such a great idea since that’s always dicey without help, especially when a company offers as many different shades as MAKE UP FOR EVER.  Just go here to try it out for yourself.  Your skin will thank you!