Quest for the Perfect…

Review: Shiseido Perfect Rouge Tender Sheer Lipstick in Natural Red

By Voxy  |  2010/09/04 18:33 Posted in Makeup, Product Reviews, Quest for the Perfect..., lipstick, red lipstick  |  Comments (3)

For some reason I’ve been on a red lipstick kick lately. While out of town I picked up two red Guerlain Kiss Kiss lipsticks (reviews to come as soon as I can swatch them) and just yesterday I got a lipstick sampler with two red lippies in it. I now have more red lippies than I know what to do with.

Fortunately for me, red lips are super-hot this fall, so at the very least I will be trendy. Poor, but trendy. Students will pass me on campus and say, “Pfft! Typical absent-minded professor, wearing threadbare clothes from 1972 with holes in them. Nice lipstick, though.”

One of my favorite recent buys is the Shiseido Perfect Rouge Tender Sheer lipstick in Natural Red. Wasn’t someone asking a couple of months ago about whether or not there was a sheer red lipstick that would be a good starter red for someone who wasn’t yet red-dy (ha!) to take the plunge to a full-on scarlet? This is the answer to that problem: a sheer, gorgeous, mistake-proof, you-cannot-possibly-go-wrong-wearing-this-lipstick red.

That I even investigated these at all is purely due to the good PR that Inthelab gave Shiseido, which made me think maybe I should reconsider my former not-interested stance towards the brand. She should get a commission!

Shiseido’s Perfect Rouge Tender Sheers come in four colors: Tender (sheer petal pink), Natural Red (sheer deep red), Pout (sheer mauve rose), and Natural Wine (sheer burgundy wine, which I really want to try now). Natural Red looks terrifyingly dark in the tube but it really is sheer. One coat gives a slightly red glow to the lips, and two coats makes them positively pop.

Because it is sheer, it doesn’t stain as much as an opaque lipstick does, so expecting more than three or four hours out of this lippie is as futile as expecting Lindsay Lohan to stay out of jail for longer than six months at a stretch. After the shine has worn off, it leaves only a light stain, but the upside to that is that there’s little chance of it feathering or bleeding into fine lines. There is no scent that I can detect, and it feels very moisturizing. It fades evenly and doesn’t get crusty, so frequent touchups (while inconvenient) are not unpleasant or troublesome.

Close-up and swatch!

Naked lip:

Lip with two coats Shiseido Perfect Rouge Tender Sheer in Natural Red:

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Shiseido Perfect Rouge Tender Sheer Lipstick in Natural Red: $25 (at Sephora, online only)

Provenance: Purchased.

Price/Value Ratio (high-end: poor/fair/good/excellent): Good. Price itself is excellent, but I wish it had a longer wearlength.

Purchase again? Yes.

(Have you used this product? Love it? Hate it? Want it? Give a holler in the comments!)

Review: Tarte Rejuvelash

By Voxy  |  2010/06/20 10:46 Posted in Product Reviews, mascara  |  Comments (9)

A Biologist’s recent comments on the Wall about mascaras flaking got me thinking about this product, which I don’t think I ever reviewed.

Tarte’s Rejuvelash is an oddball little product that I can’t manage to either like or dislike. It’s a clear, moist gel with aloe and vitamins that you can use later in the day to refresh your mascara if your lashes have started to dry out and get spidery. It declumps and helps make lashes feel softer and more natural. So you could do a day at the office and then use this to refresh your look before going out at night instead of swiping another coat of mascara on and possibly making your lashes either clumpy or more spidery.

Oddly, you can also use it as a sort of primer and apply it to bare lashes before putting on mascara. Which is kind of counterintuitive — if it’s supposed to soften mascara, it seems like it would be kind of a bad primer. But it’s not bad. It doesn’t lengthen lashes at all (then again, it doesn’t promise to), but it does make mascara go on with fewer clumps.

I think I just don’t wear nearly enough mascara for this product to make a real difference. I also think I’m OK with that.

Of course, it wouldn’t be a Tarte review if (in spite of how much I like their products overall) I didn’t pick on their marketing language. Ready?

Quoth Tarte: “This unique lash exhilarator uses a blend of natural emulsifying agents in combination with our patented flexible bristle brush to gently eliminate clumps.”

Lash “exhilarator”? Really? When I put it on, are my lashes going to jump up and down with excitement? Someone needs to scour the Tarte offices and remove every single thesaurus they find. I bet they have ‘em hiding under plants and stuff.

By the way, “flexible bristle brush” means that the joint between the brush tip and the shaft bends crazily when you try to push it back into the container because the flange around the opening to the container is really tight and the stem of the brush doesn’t really seem quite strong enough to push the brush into the container. (Yes, innuendos abound here. But it would be vulgar of me to mention them.) And the bristles themselves aren’t really flexible, and even if they were, your lashes hardly provide enough resistance to make them bend.

Tarte also cites the “Skinvigorating ™ ” ingredients that Rejuvelash contains:

• Aloe leaf extract (I’m all right with that one)
• Provitamin B5, a “vitamin B derivative that treats and thickens lashes” (I’m all right with this one too, although the “thickens lashes” part is always an iffy claim)
• Vitamin C, an “antioxidant that fights free radical damage and prevents oxidative stress and premature signs of aging, while brightening skin.” OK, here we get into trouble. Do I really have free radical damage on my eyelashes? Are my eyelashes prematurely aging? And vitamin C brightens skin, maybe, but I’m putting it on my lashes.
• Water, because “pure water delivers and retains moisture.” ::eyeroll:: Water delivers moisture? Who’d a thunk it? And water retains moisture? ::beats head against wall:: And we’re not even getting into the “pure” issue. Really, Tarte is the only company that is trying to spin the leading ingredient in almost every single skincare product we buy into a unique brand-specific value-adding component.

OK, enough. It’s all right. It does help mascara look fresher at the end of the day. And if they didn’t make all these fabulous claims for it, I probably wouldn’t even be tempted to snark about it.

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Tarte Rejuvelash: $16

Provenance: Purchased

Price/Value Ratio (high-end: poor/fair/good/excellent): I’m wavering between “poor” and “fair” on this one. For the price, my lashes aren’t nearly exhilarated enough. I wouldn’t say they’re anything beyond “mildly pleased.”

Purchase again? Nah.

(Have you used this product? Love it? Hate it? Want it? Give a holler in the comments!)

Review: BareMinerals Matte SPF 15 Foundation

By Voxy  |  2010/05/18 07:00 Posted in Product Reviews, foundation, mineral  |  Comments (5)

Part of the ongoing Foxalicious Fundamentals: Foundation series!

By now, of course, BareMinerals is the grandmama of mineral foundations.

“Back in my day, we didn’t have mineral foundations. If we wanted to have minerals on our faces, we’d go roll around in the dirt!”

“Back in my day, we didn’t have these hoity-toity kabuki brushes. If you couldn’t put it on with a trowel, we didn’t want it!”

“Back in my day, we didn’t have swirl, tap, and buff. Stop, drop, and roll was good enough for us!”

Since then, other mineral makeup companies have come on the scene, each with their own twist on the idea (talc-free, bismuth-free, organic, fair-trade, genetically enhanced, and what-have-you). But unless you have sensitivities to certain minerals, BareMinerals is still an excellent choice for a mineral powder foundation. This is particularly true for their most recent offering, a matte SPF 15 powder foundation.

The original, more “dewy” BareMinerals foundation is still available, but I always found it to be a touch too oily for me. I know it seems weird that a powder can produce an oily effect, but nevertheless. Because the foundation left skin with a slight shine or “glow,” BareMinerals also developed and offered Mineral Veil, a mostly translucent matte setting powder that would reduce the shine left from the foundation and leave a soft-focus finish.

Now that there’s a new matte SPF 15 version out, I thought I would pick some up to try as a summer foundation. I’m pleased to report that although shade selection can be surprisingly difficult — given how many shades there are, you’d think that everyone would fit neatly into one category or another, but no such luck — the texture and wearlength of the product are quite good and I think this will work very well a a summer powder foundation.

For my NW20 skin, I had a hard time finding the right color match, since most of the shades lean a bit more yellow than I can comfortably wear. So (as often happens) I ended up buying two shades and mixing them together: “Fair” and “Medium.” I chose these shades after some pretty extensive swatching at the store; I’m pretty sure that by the time I left, both of my arms were totally covered with slightly mottled shades of pink, yellow, and beige.

The powder is milled much more finely than my favorite drugstore mineral makeup brand (L’Oreal Bare Naturale), so it both feels smoother on the face and is easier to apply to moisturized skin without globs of powder sticking to where the brush first hits your skin and then being impossible to remove afterwards. I always wear it over a well-moisturized face, and I don’t find it drying, which I was worried about. It lasts well and removes easily at the end of the day.

I also have to note a major improvement in their packaging: the jar’s traditional sifter top now features a rotating window, which you can turn when not in use so that the product doesn’t sift itself out of the sifter top and then get all over your hands when you unwittingly open it up the next time. Little protrusions in the underside of the rotating top also line up with the sifter holes to prevent leakage of product between the two layers of plastic. This is a great improvement!

All told, this gets a thumbs-up from me if you like mineral powder foundations but didn’t like the dewiness of the original formulation. Some people are allergic to certain minerals, though — bismuth is a prime culprit — so you may want to see if you can get a sample via Sephora or (as one of our regulars recently reminded me) pick up a few samples from eBay to test for both color and skin sensitivity.

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BareMinerals Matte SPF 15 Foundation: $28

Provenance: Purchased.

Price/Value Ratio (high-end: poor/fair/good/excellent): Good. If you have to buy two and mix them, I’d wait for a sale.

Purchase again? Probably.

(Have you used this product? Love it? Hate it? Want it? Give a holler in the comments!)

Beauty on the Cheap: Drugstore Red Lipsticks and Glosses

By Voxy  |  2010/03/07 07:00 Posted in Product Reviews, how-to, lipstick, red lipstick, steal  |  Comments (3)

Last week, LadyStarlight posed the following perplexing puzzler:

So I was in my local WalMart looking at makeup (because I was alone, ie, no boys of any age with me) and saw Cover Girl lipsticks on sale and thought “I would like a red lipstick but… 1) How do I choose a shade that flatters me and 2) Are there any drugstore available glosses or lip stains that aren’t as…noticeable, I guess, as a lipstick?”

And so, I hitched the dogs to the sled, packed up provisions for the long journey, put my affairs in order, and set off on the quest to find some good drugstore red lippies.

(OK, I am being just a tiny bit melodramatic. I got in the car and drove to ULTA. Satisfied?)

I talked a bit about Question #1 in this post, and it fundamentally comes down to the warm vs. cool issue again, just like it does with foundation. If you are cool/pink-toned, look for a neutral-to-blue-tinted red. If you are warm/yellow-toned, look for a neutral-to-orange-tinted red. The true neutral reds, which are hard to find, can usually be worn by either cool or warm skin tones. It can be difficult to tell just by looking at a lippie by itself whether it is blue-tinted or orange-tinted (red just sort of looks red, after all, until you figure out what you are looking for), so I suggest you look at at least two lippies at a time for comparison. The white paper trick is also still a good one. Also remember that your lips are at least a little bit (and in some cases a lot) darker and more pink than your skin tone, so unless you’re planning on covering your lips with foundation before putting on lipstick, you can expect it to look a little different on your lips than on your hand.

It will also depend on the lightness of your skin; dark- and olive-skinned women can wear some gorgeous shades of red that are overpowering on my pale skin. (You lucky ducks!) As I mentioned in my last foundation post, I’m an NW20 — light-skinned, slightly cool. I look best in reds that are neutral to slightly cool. This is not a very wide range (others may have better luck), but within that narrow pie wedge, I can wear things from sheer to full pigmentation and in a range of tints from light to dark. So it’s less limiting than it sounds. I am still a big fan of buying some inexpensive lip palettes and mixing colors just so you can see what looks good on you; then you can take that color to the store and try to find yourself a match in a brand you like.

OK, let’s get to the goodies. I have four products to recommend; I’ll cover them from the most sheer to the most pigmented, starting with the glosses. By the way, the reason I’ve been in such a snit over my missing Lancome Rouge Magnificence gloss is that it’s a lovely, soft, sheer, subtle, neutral shade of red gloss that looks good on top of anything. If you decide to go high-end, I recommend it. I’m sure the lipgloss-eating monster under the front seat of my car would also give it a strong endorsement, since he’s had it for at least two months now. Stupid monster. I’m sure he looks very pretty.

#1. Revlon Super Lustrous Lipgloss in shade #80: Cherries in the Glow ($6.99 at drugstore.com)

OK, so pardon the horrible, horrible skin tone here. I appear to have been zombified when I wasn’t looking. The lighting was bad, I swatched it right over the tendons and veins on the back of my hand, and I was taking the photo with my iPhone;  in correcting the image to accurately render the color of the gloss, I have now made myself a candidate for the next Twilight movie. My apologies. Please don’t let it put you off; this is a good product!

This is, I think, an excellent “starter red.” Because it’s a gloss, it’s nice and sheer. It can be worn over bare lips or, if you’re feeling a little more bold, over another lipstick or lipstain to intensify and redden the color.

I think they’re undergoing a packaging change, but the product should look something like this (minus the “tester” sticker):

#2. Neutrogena Moistureshine Lipsheers in shade #50: Ruby Bliss ($8.99 at drugstore.com)

This is packaged like a lipstick, but has a sheer texture, like a lip balm stick. The color is more intense than a lip balm, though; it may be applied very sheerly or built up for more intensity, so it is a good “intermediate red.” It looks moist, like a balm, but does not have an obvious glossy shine.

I looked on a lot of sites and didn’t see any swatches that actually represented the color of the product, so don’t be alarmed if you go to the website and say, “uh, that can’t be it; it looks too pink/brown/green.” (OK, not green.)

#3. Revlon ColorStay Mineral Lipglaze in shade #545: Stay Ablaze ($8.99 at drugstore.com)

I love this. I very nearly bought all four of the products in this post, but this was the most tempting. This is a beautiful, rich red that is on the warm side, but because it is darker and not fire-engine bright, it will flatter many different skin tones. It has the shine of a gloss and the pigmentation of a lipstick.

(P.S. — Dear Revlon: Your website sucks. I will not send any of my readers there. Plz fix. Love, Voxy.)

Product:

#4. Cover Girl Outlast Double Lipshine in shade #265: 14-Carat Ruby ($9.29 at drugstore.com)

OK, now don’t be scared of this one, but if you are new to red lippies, you will probably want to work up to this one via glosses and less pigmented products, like those listed above. This is a gorgeous, gorgeous red. The Cover Girl Outlast Double Lipshines are double-ended products with a long-wearing lipstain on one end and a clear gloss topcoat on the other. I only swatched the lipstain side here. I was really impressed by both the shade and the amount of pigmentation. The only problem with these kinds of long-wear products is that sometimes the lipstain portion is drying (which is why you get the gloss; that’s meant to keep the lips moist). I didn’t test it on lips, so I don’t know. I do have some other products of this type and in general I like them a lot.

You can also “thin” the application of the stain if it’s too intense for you by putting on the gloss first. Then dab the stain on the center of your bottom lip; rub lips together. Dab additional dots where you need it; rub lips together. If you need more precision to get the cupid’s bow right, use a small lip brush.

Product:

So, there you go. Four good drugstore options for red lippies, from gloss to lipstains. Please let me know in the comments if you pick up any of these products and if they work for you, or if you have other drugstore reds you’d recommend!

Photo: http://www.flickr.com/photos/weglet/ / CC BY 2.0

Review: MAC Mineralize SPF 15 Foundation (Cream)

By Voxy  |  2010/02/28 12:07 Posted in Makeup, Product Reviews, Quest for the Perfect..., foundation, foundation, fundamentals  |  Comments (0)

Part of the ongoing Foxalicious Fundamentals: Foundation series!

It’s kind of unfair, I suppose, to lead off with the foundation I’m liking the most at the moment, but there it is. I have been on a little bit of a MAC kick lately, I admit; I never used to buy MAC products (I’m not a big fan of ultra-hype and teenage fangirls), but since I started picking them up at my local-ish CCO, where you can play with the products in a quiet environment without being surrounded by rock music, black-clad hipsters, and a sales-pressure atmosphere, I’ve come to like them enough to actually deal with the in-store annoyances, so now I’m trying out a bunch of their products. Don’t worry, this is not going to become a MAC-fangirl blog; there are plenty of things I still don’t like about them, such as the fact that they seem to be putting out a new “collection” about every two weeks, many of which are merely repackaging of existing permanent items, and … well, no need to go on a tirade.

Regardless of your opinions on their music, hipsters, and sales atmosphere, MAC has established a major footprint in an incredibly important but previously underappreciated corner of the market: skin tone typing for the purpose of buying foundation. They have a system of identifying both the lightness/darkness and pink/yellow tendencies of your skin that has become a universal language in discussing foundations (both their own and those of other companies) and other products. Example: “If I’m an NC35 in MAC, what shade would I be in Revlon PhotoReady?” or “I’m an NW15; should I be wearing warm or cool brown eyeshadows?”

So if nothing else, it’s definitely worth it to stop by your local MAC store or counter (in many department stores) and get color-matched, so that you know your MAC number. There are two parts to the system: letters and numbers. The numbers are fairly intuitive, with the lower ones for paler skin and the higher ones for darker skin, and they range from 15 to 55. The letters indicate whether you are warmer- or cooler-toned, and this is a little more confusing for many people. In the rest of the world, if you have yellow undertones to your skin, you are considered to be “warm.” If you have pink undertones, you are considered to be “cool.” The MAC system is the reverse; it’s based on an artist’s color wheel, in which red-pink is a warmer color than yellow-olive. So, skin with pink undertones is “warm” and skin with yellow/olive undertones is “cool.” Skin tones are indicated by letters thusly:

NW: pinker skin

NC: yellower skin

There are also just plain N’s and C’s, but most people will end up being an NW or an NC. As all skin tones have some yellow in them, there is no plain “W” foundation shade, since no one is all pink and no yellow. If it helps, you can think of an NW as Not Warm, and an NC as Not Cool, if you want to keep your definitions of “warm” and “cool” consistent.

I am light-skinned with a complexion that tilts just slightly towards pink. I am an NW20.

Once you know your shade, you can also match it to MAC concealers and powders, since they follow the same typing system, and you can use it to figure out a comparable shade in other foundation lines. (I guarantee you that if you go to Sephora and say, “I’m an NW20 in MAC; can you recommend an appropriate shade in NARS?” they will be able to tell you, even though Sephora does not sell MAC products.)

So. On to the actual product! The Mineralize SPF 15 Foundation is a cream foundation that is one of MAC’s newer products. It comes with a little applicator pad, but like most applicators that come packaged with cosmetics products, this can be deposited directly into the trash. I apply with a foundation brush, over primer (I’m still using Too Faced’s Primed and Poreless facial primer), and blend the areas around my nose, inner eye, etc., with my fingers. It provides a medium to medium-full level of coverage, which is great for me. I can add extra coverage of blemishes or random skin flaws with concealer, and it’s significantly reduced the amount of undereye concealer I need to use. To set the foundation, I use a light buffing of MUFE HD powder.

This foundation does last all day on me, although by the end of the evening I can see some dry patches. This is the most moisturizing of the MAC foundations I tried, and I do moisturize well before application, so I’m not sure what could be done to lessen the effect. But because I only become dry at the very end of the evening, I’m not disappointed with the results. Some people do report that MAC foundations break them out, but I haven’t had any trouble with this. It removes cleanly with my Clarisonic, cleanser, and toner. There is usually a tiny bit of color on the cotton ball when I’m done with the toner, so it doesn’t quite all come off with the Clarisonic, but the toner does take off the remainder. I have also slept in it (do not tell the makeup police) and I haven’t had any trouble. I don’t recommend sleeping in makeup, but everyone falls off the wagon now and then.

Swatch, showing color at its most concentrated at left, then blending out to meet skin tone. (Remember that your/my arm is not the same skin tone as your/my face, too, so colors may appear a bit different.)

Links:

Foxalicious Fundamentals — Foundation 101

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MAC Mineralize SPF 15 Foundation (cream): $32.00 (By the way, MAC foundation swatches on the website are not very reliable color-wise. If you know your number, just go with that and don’t worry about what the swatch looks like. They’re pretty bad.)

Provenance: Purchased.

Price/Value Ratio (high-end: poor/fair/good/excellent): Fair, but we’ll see how long it lasts. I may have to come back and revise that.

Purchase again? Surely.

(Have you used this product? Love it? Hate it? Want it? Give a holler in the comments!)


Foxalicious Fundamentals: Foundation 101

By Voxy  |  2010/02/21 15:34 Posted in Quest for the Perfect..., foundation, foundation, fundamentals, how-to  |  Comments (5)

Ah, foundation. Agony, ecstasy, blessing, curse, best of times, worst of times, FTW, FAIL.

(FTW is “for the win,” for those of you who aren’t up on your Lolcats terminology.)

I think that for some women, “foundation” is what they think of when they think of makeup. “I don’t wear makeup” often means “I don’t wear foundation.” And a lot of women who “don’t wear makeup” are resistant to foundations because they perceive that it will be fake-looking, or heavy, or chalky, or oily, or drying, or the wrong shade, or will wear off, melt off, slide off, or rub off, or, conversely, that they will have to scrub it off, peel it off, or chip it off with a hammer and chisel.

Guess what? All of those things could happen! But they won’t, since you’re going to do a lot of trying before buying and familiarizing yourself with different brands, formulations, and tools.

Do I really need to wear a foundation?

Almost everyone benefits from some sort of allover product to even out facial skin tone. It can be as sheer as a tinted moisturizer or powder (which will also be part of this series), or as full-coverage as a stick foundation or cream. Even within one kind of formulation, there will be a variety of degrees of coverage and moisturization: although in general creams are thicker than liquids, in practice you may well find some creams that blend out very sheerly on the face and some liquids that grab the skin and hang on for dear life. This is why testing is required!

Many foundations today also come with SPF ingredients, some with SPF ratings as high as 50. While a standalone sunscreen is always a good idea, a little bit of extra protection in a foundation can’t hurt (unless, of course, you’re allergic or sensitive to some of the sunscreen ingredients).

I just don’t want to feel like I’m putting on my mother’s makeup!

Foundations have come a long, long way since your mother wore them. Most of them are now so finely formulated that you can’t feel them on your face, so you won’t have the feeling you’re wearing a mask or that your skin is getting stretched or dried. (If you do, you have the wrong foundation.) The best cover up minor imperfections (redness, minor acne scars, unevenness of tone) while also giving you a slightly dewy, glowing, satiny canvas on which to apply other products. The very very matte look is out, so if you are dry-skinned, stay away from the mattifying foundations. Oily-skinned folks can find foundations that absorb oil without turning your face into a clay mask, and all skin types can find products to give them a “MSBB” (My Skin But Better) natural radiance.

Foundations scare me. When you put on foundation, you cross the line between looking “natural” and looking “made-up.”

Not necessarily. And you don’t have to use foundation on your whole face. If you have redness on your nose and cheeks, but the rest of your skin is glowy and fabulous all by itself, then just apply it where you need it and blend it out.

Isn’t it goopy and a pain to apply? Don’t you have to be “good at makeup” to do it right? What if I do it wrong?

It’s not really about technique per se, although of course there are helpful tips and tricks. You have to figure out what tools you need for the foundation you have, and learn how to use them, that’s all. Powder foundations will obviously require a brush of some sort. Liquid foundations can be applied with your fingers (goopiest method), with a sponge (less goopy, but the sponge eats a lot of the foundation), or with a brush (least goopy, but often requires you to go over it afterwards with fingers or sponge and blend out the edges). Same for creams. Stick foundations are usually applied directly to the face and then blended out with a brush or sponge, but those are also usually for more oily skin types, which take better to that kind of application method than dry skins do.

I’ll talk about specific tools when I get to particular types of foundations.

I don’t want to be one of those people with a visible makeup line at her neck.

OK, so don’t be. Ensuring that this doesn’t happen has two parts: 1. (most important) Make sure you have the right color foundation! and 2.) always blend over the jawline and into the neck to be sure you don’t have a line. See? Easy peasy.

Is it going to cost me an arm and a leg?

Foundations come in all shapes, sizes, colors, and costs. There are a few good drugstore foundations. There are many good mid-range foundations. There are also many high-end foundations, some of which are great and some of which are not worth the car payment it takes to buy them.

Over the next several weeks I’m going to be reviewing several different foundations for you. I’ve already done the L’Oreal Bare Naturale powder mineral foundation, but I have some liquids, creams, and tinted moisturizers to review. My dry skin has not done well with stick foundations in the past, so I don’t own any, but if any of you Vixens have experience with stick foundations you’d like to share, I’m all ears.

So, stay tuned! Further fundamental foundation foxaliciousness to come!

Open-Thread Thursday, A Biologist Goes to Sephora, Q of the W, SALES

By Voxy  |  2010/02/11 07:00 Posted in foundation, fundamentals, moisturizer, open thread, undereye concealer  |  Comments (3)

Hooray for LOLcats by mherzber.Three cheers and hip hip hooray! Recently, A Biologist made her first trip to Sephora! (I am SO EXCITED!) I asked her to share her experience and she was kind enough to do so. So for all of you who are a little intimidated by the bright lights and eau-de-chic that they spritz into the air over there, take heart! If A Biologist can do it, so can you!

Here is her story:

My First Trip to Sephora (by A Biologist)

It’s been a week since my first trip to Sephora. I kept putting it off because I was afraid of getting the hard sell and coming out with $150 of stuff that I wouldn’t wear and didn’t know how to use. I didn’t want to get scolded for not wearing makeup or for improper skin care. I was also nervous because it is the one store in the mall where all the women going in and out look chic and polished and put together. I feel decidedly frumpy when I pass the store. My daily makeup routine pre-Sephora was usually just chapstick. After discussion here, and some—okay, a lot—of online browsing, I chose two products from the Laura Mercier line to try, a tinted moisturizer and an undereye concealer. I planned to go after work on a weekday so the store wouldn’t be as crowded.

The big day arrived. What to wear? Should I wear makeup? Will I get the stink eye from the salesclerks for being hopelessly un-beautified? Finally I chose a crisp white button down shirt, but skipped makeup for ease of product testing. I felt better if I thought of it as a research experience. I have done much scarier things for Science than walk into a store full of glamazons. My white shirt was a stealth lab coat.

As I entered I was immediately overwhelmed. Dazzling lights were reflected from mirrors on seemingly every surface, but the lighting was somehow also a little dim. The store was three times bigger than I thought it would be, and there were rows and rows of products organized by brand. I tried to quickly find the Laura Mercier section, but I walked through the store twice and couldn’t find it. Green and purple Urban Decay eye shadows screamed for my attention. Sparkly makeup boxes and posters of models with elaborate makeup distracted my eye from the shelf labels. There were also rows of “All Natural” products with Body Shop-esque packaging. Several shoppers were being made up by saleswomen, with a girlfriend or two watching intently. Maybe I should have brought a friend. I was the frumpy one with no friends who couldn’t find Laura Mercier even though every shelf was clearly labeled at eye level. Quelling rising panic, I asked one of the women with tool belts full of makeup brushes if they have Laura Mercier. She smiled pleasantly and walked me over to the shelf, which was right next to the entrance. She said she was “with someone” but if I could wait a few minutes she would send someone over to help me. I sagged with relief.

I looked over the products to identify the moisturizer and concealer I’d chosen.   I usually wear the very palest shade of a product, and I had just had enough time to notice that the concealer came in both a light yellowish and a light pinkish shade.  A young woman with dyed dark hair, dramatic eyeliner, and a French manicure with black tips arrived to help me.  Quirky.  I felt more comfortable.  She radiated calm, unhurried helpfulness, and I began to feel calm myself.  I told her I was looking for an undereye concealer.  She took a close look at my face, tipping her head to the side, and picked the more yellow concealer.  She applied a dab of the tester to the back of her hand then used a q-tip to apply it under my eyes and her fingertips to blend.  “Are my nails making you nervous?” she asked.  I must have been blinking a lot.  We surveyed the results in one of the mirrors.  The lighting was surprisingly unhelpful, so I couldn’t tell much, but I do know my skin is cool, not warm.  I suggested we try the pinker base as well.

The saleswoman applied it to my other eye and carefully considered.  “Which is which again?”

“Pink on the right, yellow on the left.”

“You’re right, you do need the cooler one,” she said as she bent down to choose the correct box for me.  She then asked if there was anything else I’d like to see, and I replied that I’d like to try the tinted moisturizer.  After determining I didn’t want the oil-free version, she quickly chose shade “pasty”—I mean “porcelain.”   She brought over a brush with a long, flat head to apply it.  While she brushed it on I pointed out the poster of the model demonstrating Laura Mercier’s version of smoky eyes and commented that the model looks great, but I don’t wear makeup very often and I’m not that advanced yet.  “Then this is a great line for you,” she said, “Laura Mercier is all about natural.”  I was pleased.   The makeup felt very cool and light going on, so I decided to purchase it as well.  She again carefully checked the box to be sure the shade is the correct one before handing it to me.  I took a look in the mirror.  The pinker undereye concealer was almost invisible, and the moisturizer left my face smooth and feeling very soft. The saleswoman was very unhurried, despite the other customers, and I felt comfortable that I’d had time to assess the products before purchasing.  At the checkout, my sleek little gray boxes went into a cute little black and white bag.  I am a secret sucker for pretty packaging.  I was asked if I would like to join the Beauty Insiders.  I would get a present on my birthday and special offers. Who can say no to that?  Leaving the store I happily swung my little Sephora bag a bit.  The boots on sale in the shoe store window, for once, didn’t attract me. I wanted to go home and play with my new makeup.

I’ve been waiting to publish until all the results were in—that is, until I’ve used my new products for several days.   The Laura Mercier Tinted Moisturizer makes my skin look and feel soft and smooth.  It is very light coverage, but my skin tone appears more even and it is invisible in the brightest sunlight or fluorescent lights.  It is very dry here now, so I have been applying my regular moisturizer beneath it.  The sun protection seems adequate for winter, but I apply it thinly enough it may not be enough for summer.  I’m very pleased with it for a daily routine.  The Undercover Pot concealer is amazing.   No yellowish reverse-raccoon eyes.  My coworkers agreed they couldn’t tell I was wearing undereye concealer.  I still need a little practice to determine exactly how much to apply so I don’t have to blot some off or make a second pass, but it takes almost no time using a concealer brush as recommended by Voxy.  This is my biggest epiphany so far—I am amazed at how perfectly the stiff, rounded brush works.  I just need to pat the edges a little bit with my fingertip and swipe on the translucent powder and it is ready to go.  The Pot has a second color to cover blemishes, and I had a bad moment when I got home and couldn’t remember which side was which.  Luckily, someone on the Sephora web page had the same question.  I haven’t had to use the blemish side yet, as the moisturizer appears to agree with my skin.

I’m looking forward to my return trip.  It was such a pleasant experience.  I decided that I would wait one month and see if keep up my new routine, which also includes mascara and eyeliner.  If I do, I’m thinking very strongly about eyeshadow primer and a neutral eyeshadow.  Or black nail tips.  I can’t decide.

A Biologist, you are AWESOME. Bold, brave, and appropriately assertive. I agree with you about the bad lighting in Sephora (if you are more on your own next time, remember the trick of going over to the perfume wall, which is usually mirrored, and looking at your face in those lights, which are brighter and cooler) — and the difficulty of finding the right Laura Mercier shade for us pale-skinned girls. (I’m between “Porcelain” and “Nude” myself.)

Will she go back? Stay tuned!

So, related, here is the Q of the W: are you nervous about or intimidated by shopping at stores like Sephora? Share your retail anxieties here!

As for me, I am totally at home in Sephora (there’s a reason I call it “the mothership”), but I intensely dislike shopping at department store counters where there are pushy sales associates who always think they know more than I do. (Again, I’m thinking about my horrible Estee Lauder experience.) I don’t like being pressured to buy something. However, today, if the roads are passible, I’m planning to head up to a mall with a MAC store (and MAC counters in the department store) to take a look at those MAC Spring Colour Forecast products I’ve been lemming. I would prefer not to, but I need to swatch them to see if they’re really worth buying, so I have to bite the bullet and go to a store or counter. Le sigh.

Speaking of MAC, the two new Viva Glam lipsticks are out as of yesterday — one, designed by Cyndi Lauper, is a light coral-red lustre, and the other, designed by Lady Gaga, is a very light pink that I can’t imagine will look good on anyone, but that has not stopped it from being wildly popular among people who love Lady Gaga. Which is pretty much par for the course. All proceeds (not a portion of the profits, but ALL the money from the sale) goes to the MAC AIDS Fund, which sponsors AIDS research.

Sales!

Er, uh, not much new.

Previously announced sales still going on:

SkinStore: 20% off sitewide (some exclusions) through 2/15; use code LUV20 • BeautyTicket: 20% off through 2/28 with code INSTYLE20 • TheCosmeticMarket: 20% off through 2/28 with code ALLURE

Photo: http://www.flickr.com/photos/mherzber/ / CC BY-SA 2.0

In Search of the Perfect Mascara, Part II

By Inthelab  |  2009/11/29 17:16 Posted in Quest for the Perfect..., mascara, mascara  |  Comments (0)

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Onward to Avon’s Daring Curves Waterproof Curling Masacara in Black. This was on sale at the Avon site (www.avon.com) for $2.99. The brush has an interesting spiral, instead of the curved brush I’ve come to expect from curling mascaras.

The Avon site describes it:

New tri-curl brush lifts and holds lashes all day, even when wet. Get lashes up to 59% curlier, 400% fuller. Flakeproof. Waterproof. .21 oz. net wt. All Avon mascaras are hypoallergenic and opthalmologist-tested.

I wonder how they measured curliness; I sure would like to see the before and after photos of the eyelashes. On to the test now. I did the test with full eye makeup regalia, being I had another engagement to attend earlier today (a neighbor’s daughter, must be something in the water …).

Now I am all in favor of a plastic seal around the tube so you know your mascara is fresh and new, but this seal was ridiculous. Its perforations were impossible to lift and break without chipping my fresh manicure; the seal was too tight to use the blade of little manicure scissors to open. I had to resort to using my dental pick to create a tab along the perforations so I could break the seal, which ran along the entire length of the tube. This is not how I want to use mascara. I usually buy several at once, tossing every 3 months then reaching for the next tube. I should not need an arsenal of instruments and a plan of attack to open the next tube. Seriously. Applying the mascara was fairly easy, though without instructions on any special way to use the triple spiral brush, I didn’t know if I should just stroke or roll the mascara, or if it even mattered. Sometimes more is more.

I don’t know about daring curves; daring lift is more like it. As in, most of the lashes are lifted rather than curled, giving me a bit of a startled look. However, the lashes at the outer corners are not lifted, though they have mascara; they tangle in the lower lashes. Not a comfortable feeling, especially if I’m anticipating meeting and greeting guests while photographers are snapping away. I’m at a loss for how Avon can say it makes lashes 59% curlier and 400% fuller. The lashes are a bit fuller but not curly, just lifted. The black is a little more intense than the black of the L’Oreal Panoramic mascara.

The preliminary verdict: My daughter the bride told me my lashes looked very clumpy, which seemed to get worse as the day wore on. By the end of the day, my eyes felt somewhat irritated. The mascara came off easily with Neutrogena oil-free eye makeup remover.

Update: Today I’m trying it again. I rolled out the brush under the lashes, which seemed to give more of a curl plus uplifted effect. I was more careful in applying at the outer lashes, so that helped with the tangling I had yesterday. It definitely has a tendency to clump, which in my experience is unusual for a newly-opened tube of mascara. Usually when I have had clumping (with Le Grand Curl or Courbe Virtuouse), it signified time for a new mascara tube.

Final verdict: I rate this mascara good, downgrading it due to clumping and the difficulty I had removing the plastic seal. I know my eyes are more sensitive than other folks’ eyes, so I’m leaving itching/irritation out of the ratings. Repurchase? Probably not, since there are other options from which to choose. Provenance: purchased.

In Search of the Perfect Mascara, Part I

By Inthelab  |  2009/11/26 09:44 Posted in Quest for the Perfect..., mascara, mascara  |  Comments (0)

I realize that perfect is really relative; what’s perfect for me may not work at all for you. So let me start by saying I have a new mascara need. My older daughter became engaged late October. An early March 2010 wedding is planned. So I am furiously involved in wedding preparations, as well as stepping up my beauty routine.

Now I am one of those folk with long thick s-t-r-a-i-g-h-t eyelashes. Stick-straight. It’s a family trait. We actually do recognize relatives on my father’s side (scattered across 3 continents due to World War II) by the eyelashes. Add to this my dire aversion, no loathing, for eyelash curlers. So when curling mascaras came out about 10 years ago, I was sold. Le Grand Curl by L’Oreal, waterproof, was it for me.
Fast-forward a few years. I was out in Los Angeles for a nephew’s bar-mitzvah. While wandering through Beverly Center, I realized I hadn’t packed Le Grand Curl. (Good thing I was in Bloomingdale’s when this realization hit.) I hied me over to the Lancome counter (hey, it was promotion time) and checked out Courbe Virtuouse. Not waterproof, but gave me an amazing curl. And came off easily with oil-free eye makeup remover (I use either Lancome Bi-Facils or Neutrogena and recommend them equally). And one more feature: it felt gentle and soothing, absolutely no irritation whatsoever. This is important because my rosacea has spread to my corneas and I can’t tolerate any irritation around my eyes. Even some eyedrops burn. But Courbe Virtuouse has one drawback that makes it unsuitable for March 2010: it is not waterproof. And I am positive I will wind up crying at some point during my daughter’s wedding. And I am also positive that the moment I appear with raccoon eyes and try to scurry off for a quick repair, I will be waylaid by a guest, needed to fix some catering emergency, or captured in photos forever.

Thus I am in search of the perfect mascara: curling and waterproof. Ergo I bought L’Oreal Panoramic Curl Mascara (Waterproof) in Black. At $7.99, it’s one of the less expensive mascaras out there.

The L’Oreal site says this about it:
Unique waterproof formula curls and separates your lashes to the extreme with Panoramic Curl™ Extreme Curl & Separating Waterproof Mascara. Patented Liftcurl Brush plus Flexi-Tech polymers hold lashes for an eight-hour curl and separate lashes 360°, creating the ultimate eye-opening panoramic lash effect.

* Waterproof.
* Ophthalmologist-tested and allergy-tested.
* Removes easily with waterproof eye makeup remover.
* Suitable for sensitive eyes and contact lens wearers.
* Flake-proof and fragrance-free.
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I liked the brush, the color (the black is soft, not too harsh against my fair skin) and yet gives enough definition to my lashes that I think would work for photos. That’s the good. The bad? The curl was not as pronounced as I would like (not like the curl from Le Grand Curl unless memory deceives and nothing like Courbe Virtuouse). The worse? After several hours of wear, my eyes began to itch. This has never happened to me before in my entire history of mascara-wearing. The future? I’m going to try it again. Maybe my eyes were tired that day, maybe I was exposed to some irritant in the lab.
The verdict? Price for value, I’d still rate it good. There was some curl there, definitely. As a basic mascara it is fine (I did not test its waterproof property though). It did not come off quite as easily as Courbe Virtuouse using Neutrogena remover, but then it has a different formulation. I would say it came off fairly easily. Repurchase? At this point, possibly (I bought 2 tubes in case I loved it). Provenance: purchased.

Update: Gave the mascara another try while wearing full eye makeup regalia for daughter’s engagement party. This time I had no itching whatsoever, impressive lashes, and a little more curl (I think the secret is in how I wield the wand). And it came off like melted butter when I used Bi-Facils eye make-up remover.

Final verdict redux: for the money, this is a good to excellent mascara.

I’ll be test and reviewing more curling waterproof mascaras, so stay tuned.

Review: Borba HD-Illuminating Eye Specialist

By Voxy  |  2009/11/22 07:00 Posted in Makeup, Product Reviews, Skincare, concealer, undereye concealer  |  Comments (0)

borba eye thing Sometimes you get things at Marshall’s that are a total steal and you can’t imagine why they ended up there, and so you buy six.

And sometimes you get things at Marshall’s that look totally awesome, and then you get them home and find out exactly why they ended up at Marshall’s in the first place.

I have one Borba product in each category. OK, I didn’t buy six of the product I liked, only two, but I seriously thought about buying a third. But I’m not talking about that product today. I’m talking about the other one, the HD-Illuminating Eye Specialist.

If this hadn’t been at Marshall’s, for a low low price (I think I paid $9.99 and the list price is $55.00), I doubt I would have looked twice. But it seemed too good to pass up, especially considering that the reason I was in Marshall’s that day was to pick up five more jars another jar of the Borba product I’d found on my first trip and gone all ZOMG over. That one is made of fabulous, and was even a better bargain, and I’m going to tell you all about it … later. Suffice it to say that I was enthralled enough by Product #1 to hope that Product #2 would be equally amazing and I was going to be laughing all the way to the Bank of Borba.

You know where this is going, right?

The Borba HD-Illuminating Eye Specialist is a good idea that doesn’t quite pan out in actual life, at least on my skin. One side contains a “brightening serum,” which is supposed to fight fine lines and dark circles and luminize the area around the eye, and the other is an “enlightening cream,” which (theoretically) helps to cover up whatever dark circles didn’t get knocked out by the first side. It also moisturizes and reflects light.

The thing about this is that it’s a good idea, and the product has great ingredients in it, but for some reason it just doesn’t work. Here’s how the Borba website describes it:

STEP 1 – BRIGHTENING SERUM:

The Brightening Serum treats stubborn signs of aging such as wrinkles, darkness and discoloration over time. This translucent treatment is powered by Silver Plasma technology, DMAE, Glycosaminoglycans, Peptides plus a proprietary blend of Silk, Collagen and Elastin Fibers for uplifting support.

STEP 2 – ENLIGHTENING CREAM:

The Enlightening Cream cushions skin with healthy moisture as it instantly camouflages imperfections to light up the entire eye area. This plush, sheer-tinted cream is infused with Glycerin, Kojic Acid, Açaí & Grape Seed Antioxidants, Multivitamins and Diamond Light Diffusers to instantly diminish even the most hard-to-treat signs of aging around the eyes. The shade of this formula is innovatively universal so it complements any skin tone, taking the guesswork out of shade selection.

The Silver Plasma is (at the moment) a Borba thing, though “plasma” is a word that’s starting to crop up more and more often in fancy skincare, but the rest of the components are all good, solid eye cream ingredients. DMAE? Check. Glycans? Check. Peptides? Check. Silk, collagen, elastin, glycerin, kojic acid, antioxidants, vitamins, and little light-diffusing particles? All check. The only reason that I can come up with that this shouldn’t work is if the product “contains” all of these things in the same way that a very dry martini might be said to “contain” vermouth when the bottle of vermouth has merely been waved in the general direction of the glass.

In the three weeks that I used it, I didn’t notice any improvement in either dark circles or fine lines. Now you might argue that that’s not long enough to really see results, and I agree. However, the product was not nearly as moisturizing as I needed it to be, and so I invariably had to put on other products over it anyway. The “enlightening cream” was also far too sheer to cover up my dark patches, so I had to put something else on top of that as well, and then there was caking, and wrinkling, and blotching, and all of that other unpleasantness. In short, this just does not seem to be a product that will ever work for me on its own. Perhaps if you are of a more robust skin tone than I, or your skin tends towards oily rather than dry, or you don’t have little lines, or you don’t have dark circles (in which case I will give you mine for free), this would be an adequate undereye moisturizer and concealer. If this product really works for you, please let me know in the comments, because I would love to hear from someone for whom this is a success.

The other thing about it that bothers me is the packaging. I know I just talked about packaging the other day, and while I’m glad to say that unlike Tarte’s Lights, Camera, Lashes!, this product does not come wrapped in fake purple snakeskin, the Borba folks are egregiously guilty of over-packaging, which is not very environmentally-friendly for a brand that touts its commitment to natural ingredients. Here’s an end-shot of the box in which this product comes, with the product itself tucked up in the right-hand corner and enough space left over to house a family of four:

borba packaging

???

So this is a FAIL for me both in terms of the product and the packaging. However, as I said above, I also have one Borba product that I love and think is fantastic. And that’s true of many lines for me: there are things I like and dislike in just about all of them. So don’t write off Borba just yet — but you can probably give this product a pass. Enlightenment is more fun to get in fortune cookies than in an eye cream anyway.

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Borba HD-Illuminating Eye Specialist: $55.00

Provenance: Purchased (Marshall’s, $9.99)

Price/Value Ratio (high-end: poor/fair/good/excellent): Poor, no matter what you paid, but especially poor if you paid $55.00.

Purchase again? Not this one, thanks.

(Have you used this product? Love it? Hate it? Want it? Let us know in the comments!)