Makeup

It’s no secret that the burgundy/purple/magenta lip is one of the hottest beauty trends for fall.  But the thought of applying the dark and bright color (yes.. it is both at the same time, no?) make you feel a little nervous?  Don’t worry..it did for us too – until we found 3 perfect gorgeous lippies that helped us embrace the trend with no mishaps.

NARS Velvet Lip Pencil in Damned:  What used to make us nervous about applying purple is the fear that we’d just end up with a huge mess on our lips: colors bleeding, uneven blending that’s too light in some places and too dark in others, and getting it all over our teeth.  When you’re dealing with intense colors like purple and magenta, you have a lot less room for error than with a nude or pink.  Luckily for us, NARS Velvet Lip Pencils make sure that none of our fears happen.  Because of the texture of the product, the color doesn’t actually budge from where it’s applied so there’s no need to worry about it traveling anywhere off your lips.  The color payoff is also amazing- and build-able so you get a range of beautiful magenta hues from a sheer wash to full coverage.

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Have you guys noticed that running races is the new thing? It seems like every weekend, someone I know is running, running a race. People I used to count on for closing out bar last call are now calling it an early night at 1 AM because they have to wake up at early the next day to go run a 3K that cost them $150. It’s been kind of a real evolution, so much so that I think a viable branch on the tree to “grownuphood” is being responsible enough to go home early on a Saturday night to run a race the next day.

So for my runner friends or athletes that want a lip product that color-boosting and longwear-enough to make your “crossed the finish line with my bib” picture Facebook-profile-worthy, I suggest Vincent Longo’s Pearlessence Lip and Cheek Gel Stain. It’s a sip, swim, sweat, run, workout-proof stain that can be used on your lips and cheeks to get that “I just worked out” flush. Presumably, if you’re already working out, you can skip putting this on your cheeks, but if you’re not, you can get that alive, circulation-boosting color too. The formula is creamy and cushy with an almost gel-like texture that glides onto your lips, thanks to the glycerin component of the ingredient list. The color deposits quickly in a thin film that gently “stains” the color. All of the colors have a slight “pearly” sheen to them (hence the product name) that make them wearable. No one wants to admit to wearing makeup at the gym or while working out (except for LA citizens and myself), but this is one product that is pretty and natural enough to make it perfectly acceptable to dash on pre-workout.

Like any good mom, my mom was my first and best teacher in life. She’s taught me long division and the importance of kindness, humility, and charity.  She taught me how to appreciate black and white movies and Gregory Peck.  She’s taught me “Don’ts” like, “Don’t ever wear Chanel Allure to church again, that is not an appropriate fragrance” and “Don’t even think about putting on flip flops for dinner, they are not shoes.”  But one thing she never taught me? How to apply makeup, something I’ve learned largely through DIY trial and error, Michelle Phan Youtube videos, and surreptitiously observing makeup artists work their craft backstage. My mom is a skincare, but not makeup kind of woman. She’ll happily do cranial collagen-boosting face massages or will splurge on the latest anti-aging face cream made out of Icelandic algae kelp and rainbows, but I’ve never seen her apply even a tinted moisturizer. That’s why it was such a surprise when she emailed me the other day, asking for advice about the best eyeliner brands. (more…)

I’m pretty sure that Urban Decay’s Cannonball Mascara was a staple in Ariel’s beauty bag. In between fighting off Ursula and using seaweed and kelp to keep her long lustrous hair moisturized, she was definitely using this waterproof mascara to keep her eyelashes bat-worthy for seducing Prince Eric.

For modern day mermaids who are fighting battles of good, evil and love on land, this mascara is sweat-proof, stress-proof, and smudge-proof. I put this mascara to the test through a morning grueling Diesel Kickboxing session that was like a Billy Blanks set at DeadMau5, and none of my super-extended, feathery, separate lashes budged a millimeter. And my sooty black lashes continued to hold their curl and form like an American gymnast on the balance beam, following a humid, 20-minute afternoon wait on the L train subway platform, all the way into a late-night dinner. 16 hours later, I came home for a mascara check and found my lashes in the same exact pristine form. This formula is so strong that you actually need an eye makeup remover to get all of the pigment off, or else you wake up with major raccoon eyes if you try to lazily remove it with water, like me. This mascara is so indestructible, I’m thinking they should include it in Rio’s 2016 Olympic Village, as it’s a gold medal contender against heat, humidity, water, and time.

Apart from people-watch, my second favorite thing to do when traveling is to browse for drugstore beauty. There’s no better way to get a sense of a country’s culture by looking at their beauty ideals (and to come back with a few secret products no one else will have!). Makeup artists like Pat McGrath are obsessed with French drugstores, which are more like beauty apothecaries than anything. When I visited the UK a few years ago, I was similarly enthused with Boots, their main pharmacy chain. It’s like a UK all-in-one combination of a 7-11, Target, and Duane Reade, where you can buy delicious sandwiches (with interesting fillings like roast beef with rocket) and an anti-wrinkle cream that rivals the luxury brands.

Rimmel, is one of those UK bestseller pharmacy secrets that I am so happy to see stateside because I am a HUGE Kate Moss fan. Yes, I have a Pinterest board exclusively devoted to her and Johnny Depp’s brief romance. Yes, that’s her, pinned all over my “90s nostalgia” board. I want one of those Supreme posters you see all over billboards in New York. And so naturally, I want the Rimmel x Kate lipsticks that have her signature emblazoned all over the packaging.

And the lipsticks are fantastic. They deliver bright slashes of color, in vibrant red and plums, with an emollience normally only found in expensive lippies. My favorite is 01, which is the classic blue-red that Kate wears in all the ads. And they cost $5, which is less than the price of a sandwich! Also great, are the Union Jack eyeshadows, which give you four-five complementary colors in the lines of the UK flag. Their True Union Jack color combo, complements my current navy eye color addiction. Fellow brown eyed girls: put down the black eyeshadow/liner and replace it with navy. Trust me. It will change your life. Something about the color simultaneously brings out the deeper browns of your eyes, while brightening the whites, so that your entire eye area looks fresher and more awake. There’s a sparkly navy sliver in the Rimmel compact that I like to apply in the outer corners of my eye that makes them look bigger and better in photographs. Navy and Kate! You can’t go wrong!

With all the hoopla about the London Olympics lately, I’m even more bummed that I couldn’t make it across the pond for any of the events.  (Jobs really do get in the way of everything fun, don’t they?)  Luckily, right when I was lamenting the lack of British things in my everyday life, Eyeko sent over a few of their mascaras for me to try and even just the fact that the package came from London cheered me up.  (Sad, I know, but I LOVE London more than any place in the world, so I’ll take whatever I can get).  I actually hadn’t tried anything from Eyeko in years and now I wish they had a wider selection because the mascaras are really great.  Here are the three that I tried:

• Fat Brush Mascara – This one has (as you might expect!) a big, fat brush that coats lashes all over to give you tons of volume and fullness.  It’s waterproof and deep, deep black, but it came right off with my usual Almay makeup remover pads.
• Skinny Brush Mascara – Basically the exact opposite of the Fat Brush Mascara, this one has a much smaller and skinnier brush that lets you easily get to every lash and even coat your bottom lashes without smudging the mascara all over your face.  It’s also waterproof and has great staying power.
• Curvy Brush Mascara -This brush has three distinct “curves” and the tiered bristle clusters are meant to plump, define and curl your lashes.

I was really, really impressed with these three.  I liked them all, but my favorite was the Curvy Brush one just because I felt it worked the best on me.  (Also, I’m a total klutz and big mascara brushes always spell disaster for me.  This is not the case for any of my friends though, so take it for what it’s worth…) I also love that when you pull the brushes out of the tubes, none of them come out with mascara dripping off the brushes.  I hate that because not only does it waste mascara, it also makes it much more likely to smudge or get on your face and that never happened with any of these.  I just had fabulously long, thick, dark lashes that lasted all day.  They also come with this really cool thing called the Eyeko Shield.  It looks like a guitar pick and you put it behind your lashes when you apply your mascara and it really helps you coat every lash.  Fantastic idea, right?  I’m really glad I got the opportunity to try these – I’ll be using them every morning and smiling at the tiny piece of London that they’re bringing into my life.

To check out all of Eyeko’s products, visit www.eyeko.com.

My new favorite facial “sunscreen” is actually a BB Cream- Bobbi Brown’s BB Cream to be specific.  Unlike many other BB creams, Bobbi’s comes with a fairly high SPF 35 and has that beachy sunscreen smell that I always associate with summer. I also found the texture of the product to have a bit of that sunscreen property- a slightly thicker cream that rubs into a full coverage finish.  And most importantly, when I put on the product, I feel assured that I have broad spectrum protection from those pesky UVA and UVB rays.

Aside from the prominent sunscreen property of Bobbi’s BB Cream, the product is also packed with ingredients that are designed to make your skin look and feel better immediately and provide improvements over long term usage. Sodium Hyaluronate keeps the skin moisturized throughout the day (though I do prefer to prep the skin with a lighter moisturizer first) while emollients and vitamins address ongoing dry skin issues. Unlike some other BB Creams, Bobbi doesn’t promise a lot of anti-aging effects from using this product, which I actually think is a good thing. My daily concern with using a BB cream is mostly coverage, sun protection and moisturization which is exactly what’s addressed in this cream.  The hardcore stuff, I feel should be left to serums and treatments. (more…)

Next up in our best of British series, is one of my favorite bath/body lines. Lush is a longtime favorite at TDO for its incredibly whimsical and inventive products.   Glitter bubbles? Hot and cold shower jelly? A great pumpkin soap? If you’ve dreamed it, they’ve probably built it.

For their newest line, they want you to forget all about being in-season or on-trend. Emotional brilliance, is all about choosing colors to suit your mood. Like the mood ring, the classic 80’s throwback, each of Lush’s 30-shade collection is associated with an emotion. Feeling fuchsia? Maybe you’re in the mood to believe. Orange-red? Strong. Classic red-blue? Ambition.

The range includes lip glosses, eyeshadows, and eyeliners. My favorite is Lush’s Liquid Lipstick, a super-emollient, high-definition, bold colored lippie infused with candelilla wax, jojoba oil, rose wax, and ultrabalm, the super ingredient responsible for Lush’s ultra-moisturizing products. The finish is smooth, non-sticky, incredibly long lasting and the hues are incredibly pigmented and vibrant. Have difficulty choosing a color? You can also stop into any Lush store and get a custom reading from the color wheel. Spin the wheel, pick your top three colors, and learn more about your strengths/weaknesses, subconscious, and aspirations. It’s one part psychic evaluation/makeup consultation and just the thing to show the world how you feel.

Season after season, there’s always one trend that’s pretty much become a staple in my wardrobe: lace. I love how it could be sexy or it could be demure, vampy or girlish, and always very feminine. Seeing how much I love lace, I was very excited to try the new Lace Collection from Dolce & Gabbana makeup.  Lace, also happens to be the designer duo’s signature fabric. The makeup collection, which is very largely nude based, inspires many of the same feelings I have about the material itself: sensual yet elegant.

The collection consists of an intense black mascara, three nude/pink polishes, three nude glosses and an exquisite bronzing palette.  The collection was designed with celebrity makeup artist Pat McGrath and is largely flattering on a wide variety of skin tones.   The shade ranges from colors that have concentrated peach color to ones that are more pink based and even a few that give off a slight tinge of ash.  For me, they’re perfect for every day use and pulling out the packaging always starts conversations. It’s also super easy to go from day to evening: simply brush the bronzing powder to lightly contour and give your skin that enviable glow. Then pair the look with a smoky eye and you’ve got one of the sexiest evening looks around.