Makeup

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.

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!

Like everyone else, the Jersey Shore is my guilty pleasure TV programming for the summer.  In my defense, I can’t help it!  I am from New Jersey, so it’s practically required viewing. I completely blame Pauly D and the Situation for causing words like grenades and landmines to creep into everyday vernacular.

Besides hailing from the Garden State, the Jersey Shore cast and I have another thing in common, a shared appreciation of GTL: gym, tan, laundry, although my definition varies differently from my NJ counterparts.  Gym: I don’t aspire to look like a juicehead, but I do want to tone and work on problem areas.  Tan: I’m naturally fair-skinned to a hue that would be repellent to Snooki, but even I aspire to get a sun-kissed glow for the warmer months.  Laundry: There’s no smell I love more than fresh laundry detergent.  Check out my own favorite GTL picks for this summer! (more…)

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 pretty much am always in jeans.  Dark wash, light wash, boot cut, skinny jeans… I own them all.  They’re sort of my wardrobe staple, so when I heard that Bobbi Brown’s new collection was called Denim & Rose, I was all over it.  How could I not be?

The Denim & Rose Palette is probably my favorite piece in the collection.  The colors come in the cutest little zipped pouch that’s covered in denim.  Adorable.  When you try as much makeup as I do (I know, I know, poor me…), it’s always exciting when the packaging itself stands out and in this case, it definitely does.  It’s also really compact, so it won’t take up much space if you’re packing it – another plus.

Inside you’ll find four eye shadows, four lip colors, and a blush.  What I like about it is that you can create two distinct looks based on the shades – one that’s perfect for the daytime and one that’s definitely more of an after-hours sort of thing.  While I love the daytime colors (they’re a neutral pinkish-white and cool grey) I absolutely adore the more playful shades.  The Pink Granite Sparkle Eye Shadow pairs perfectly with the Dark Rinse Shimmer Wash Eye Shadow if you’re trying to create a sparkly smoky eye.  (So pretty!)  Swipe on the Cool Rose Creamy Lip color and you’re good to go.  If you wear the neutral shadows, you can add a little fun to your look with either the Bright Pink Hot Rose Lip Gloss or the Iced Lilac Glitter Lip Gloss.  The combinations are endless!

During the summer, I wear a lot of lip glosses (as opposed to lipsticks) because the formula just seems more suited to the hot weather.  My pet peeve in a gloss though is when it looks really bright in the tube, but after you buy it and get it home, you realize that you basically just paid $15 (or more!) for a glorified Chapstick.  There’s no issue in that area with Benefit’s new Ultra Shines lip glosses.  They’re available in five different shades and all of them are super vibrant and colorful.

I tested out Back to the Fuchsia (a sparkling fuchsia) and Spike Punch (a vibrant coral) and both of them made my gloss-loving heart very, very happy.  They’re not sticky at all, so you never have to worry about getting a chunk of your hair stuck on your lips after a swift breeze, and the color sticks around for awhile, so you’re not constantly re-applying.  And like the name suggests, they’re super shiny and in some cases, sparkly as well.  (Back to the Fuchsia actually reminds me a little of a toned down MAC Dazzleglass, so if you’re a fan of those, you’ll probably like these, too).  You can pick yours up at Sephora (and check out Benefit’s new palettes too while you’re there)!

Out of all the new fall palettes recently hitting the stores, the one I’d heard the most about online was Urban Decay’s Naked Palette.  I seriously couldn’t wait to get my hands on it and when I finally did, I saw exactly what all the hype was about.  It’s awesome, you guys.  Seriously, seriously awesome. (more…)