Category Archives: Found at Sephora

Laura Mercier Holiday 2011

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When it comes to color, Laura Mercier is hard to beat especially if you’re like me and revel in great quality makeup. Their holiday collection is still available and really worth a look. Just a few new shades and techniques can make for a new updated look for 2012.

Their Baked Eye Colour Palette $48 was probably my favorite offering from all of last year’s holiday collections. Now it’s back with 5 new shades, a double ended brush, and the same rich formula that’s easy to wear and blend.

If a smaller palette is more your speed, check out their Petite Eye Colour Trio $25 in Smoky Neutrals and Smoky Taupes – which is the one I have. It’s a mauve, plum, and neutral pink that compliments most skin tones and gives some fresh options for those who want to escape the ho-hum brown rut we so easily get sucked into.

Their best deal of the bunch, I think, is the Kohl Pencil Set $45 with 5 eyeliners in Stormy Grey, Black Violet, Brown Copper, Black Gold and Black Navy that end up being just $9 a pop. Their creamy formula is so easy to apply because it doesn’t drag on the skin so you can even lay a coat of it down on your lids before you apply shadow for extra dimension to a smokey eye.

And while you’re at it grab a Caviar Stick Eye Colour $24, a creamy liner/shadow hybrid of intense color. They’re pretty unique and way cool for a smudgy, imperfect look which is my favorite for totally sexy morning-after eyes.

All but the Caviar stick (thankfully) are limited, so once they’re gone they’re gone.

They Look Cool But… Paperself Lashes

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I ordered these ultra thin paper lashes for a shoot over the summer where the model wore peacock feathers in her hair because I thought they’d look cool fitting into the theme. It was before Sephora picked up the Paperself lash line so I ordered them from Asia and payed a fortune for shipping. While the quality and look are very cool, they aren’t without problems.

First, they’re paper (obvs) so you can’t curl, mascara, or even manipulate them much. I tried my best to make them ‘curl’ back the way her own lashes did, but they wanted to stick straight forward totally hindering a view into her eyes rendering them pointless (she couldn’t really see out either.) It pained me to rip them off of her knowing I wouldn’t be able to use them again (once the paper is wet from the glue- forget it, they’re a one-time deal), but I decided to switch to the smaller outer corner Peach Blossom ones hoping for the same look without the full strip that covered her eyes. Again, no dice. After the photog snapped a quick test shot, it was clear that what looked really cool in person just didn’t translate into anything on camera. It just looked strange and got lost against the color I’d placed on her lids. They also have a mind of their own – each lash in the same set had a different shape (one curly and the other more straight), even with some manipulation I wasn’t able to get them to look the same.

But they look so damn cool.

They might work if you don’t use dark shadow or much liner so you can see the full pattern against your lid, or if you just want to compliment a Halloween costume where your interactions were up close and not for a camera. I really wanted to love them and rave about them, but it just didn’t work out that way.

See the line HERE at Sephora.com and note that the model wearing the lash on Sephora’s site has what I believe to be a photoshopped version of the lash, they aren’t that large – if they were it would be easier to see them on.

How to Cover Acne Video Plus Best Full Coverage Foundations

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My friend Cassel sent me this video last week (below) about a girl with severe acne who bravely takes all of her makeup off (for almost 3 million people and counting) and starts from scratch showing every step she takes to make sure her red welts are well hidden. Though my skin is temperamental at times, I don’t apply nearly as much makeup as she does (I think she has 7-ish steps!), because one good full coverage foundation should do the trick in most cases. Here are a few of my favorite full coverage foundations for when your skin just isn’t cooperating.

I never really fell in love with Armani’s Luminous Silk, their signature foundation that was all the rage a while back – I found it to be too light in weight to do any serious covering. Their new Designer Lift Foundation however, is like a delightfully thin coat of paint (I mean this in a good way) that covers the worst of it while maintaining a natural finish. The bases for most foundations are white or even black, then pigment is added in to create a skin color – but this one begins with blue pearl giving it a beautiful base to create luminosity and cancel out dullness. It’s one of the best foundations I’ve tried in a long while – worth the $65 especially when you’re serious about coverage.

Make Up For Ever HD Invisible Cover $40 is what she uses in the video to get her liquid coverage, it’s a great foundation that I’ve used it in the past for a before and after post. Its medium to full coverage and luminous finish is best followed up by their HD powder so you can enjoy the glowy look it gives the skin. Blending is your friend, use tiny dots at a time and work it in as you go around each section of the face to build up the coverage you’d like until all of your redness is gone.

Cover FX gained fame when it was rumored to be the foundation used to cover Angelina Jolie’s tattoos on a movie set years ago. Good enough for me. Their Natural FX Water Based Foundation SPF 15 $37 is the one I carry in my kit for when I need to bust out some super serious coverage on the most challenging skin. It’s oil, fragrance, and paraben free and will outlast your desire to wear makeup for the day. I’d say it gives the most coverage of the bunch and it’s especially formulated to cover acne, eczema, rosacea without adding additional irritation or causing breakouts.

Check out the video below, click HERE to see the video if you’ve received this post in an email.

 

Make Up for Ever Fluo Night Black Light Pigment

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This skin of mine hasn’t been exposed to a black light in many moons, but if I were still hitting the clubs you can bet I’d have some Fluo Night Black Light Pigment on hand. It’s a transparent-by-day powder that when used alone or blended with other makeup becomes visible once under the glow of a black light. Its uses are pretty limitless since it can be sprinkled in hair, combined with a clear mascara for lashes, or dusted over stencils to create a specific pattern. You can also write something totally offensive on a friend’s face and laugh your ass off once you’re inside the club at their total lack of awareness to what’s going on. Ah, to be young again…

Make Up For Ever Fluo Black NIght Pigment $31 Sephora

Makeup Before and After; It’s all About the Liner

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There aren’t too many of us who wear a full face of makeup every day. In fact, I meet mostly mascara only girls when I’m beautifying brides and their maids for weddings. This particular girl was one such case from a wedding several weeks ago who wasn’t comfortable in a lot of makeup which I’ve learned translates to ‘don’t put a lot of eye shadow on me.’ No problem.

Bringing out the eyes doesn’t require a lot of shadow anyway, it’s icing on the cake once you get a good contrast going by using a rich liner and some lashes. Here’s how it went down;


Before: great skin and a cute smile, she’s already looking good!


After: Some rich black liner all the way around the eyes and a few coats of mascara on a false lash are really all it takes to get the relaxed look she wanted.


A close up of the liner kept neatly in her water line on the bottom. A smudgy look would’ve felt too heavy for a girl who typically keeps it pretty natural.


I used NYX Retractible Eye Liner in Black, a deep black that holds its depth even in the waterline.


She loved Hourglass Extreme Sheen Gloss in Fortune, just enough color and shine.

If you’ve never gotten into shadow (or just don’t understand how to apply it), ditch it altogether and focus on liner and lashes. Getting that combo down will give beautiful contrast and make all the difference.

Bite Beauty

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Using food grade colorants and the super antioxidant resveratrol, Bite Beauty has stormed onto the beauty scene with a very modern approach to natural lip color. I’ve been looking for something exactly like this for years for both myself and my kit – a professional grade lip collection that offers high pigment but without the use of harsh chemicals. Mineral lipsticks are fine, as are the ones from organic lines, but nobody gets it as perfectly right as Bite does. More of my take on the line after a look at the goods.

 


The kit I received; Define & Refine Lip Set


Even the packaging is cool


Lip Shine in Prosecco


Luminous Crème Lipstick in Rosè


High Pigment Pencil in Pomegranate


Swatches of all 3 to see the difference in finish and intensity; Prosecco, Rosé, and Pomegranate. Don’t be overly jealous of my veiny hands, they’re very Angelina Jolie..

I’m not a lipstick wearer, not a lip color wearer actually but this line has me totally inspired because of how beautiful their colors look on the lips. Their Lip Shine is my favorite gloss I’ve used to date. Really! There’s something captivating about how it coats the lips filling in any dry areas with a beautiful sheen. I put it on and literally stared at my mouth from different angles marveling at how great it looked. Bright colors appear more sophisticated when they’re matte which is why High Pigment Matte Pencils are stunning in the long-wearing bold shades they offer. Luminous Crème Lipstick is everything a lipstick should be; moisturizing, creamy, and fun to wear. All formulas are without yucky stuff you’d rather not lick off, which is typically where your lip color goes when it wears away.

My favorite kind of companies are those that do one thing really well (although Bobbi Brown started off with only 10 lipsticks so you never know..) Check out Bite Beauty online or the next time you’re in Sephora. I can guarantee that Bite will have you excited about lip color.