::dusts self off::

The other day A Biologist asked about how one could wear the plum shades that are so trendy for this fall without looking like one had just come from a vampire party. While I am in favor of vampire parties so long as they don’t involve the drinking of blood (and, in particular, mine), I agree that for work a more subtle way to incorporate trends is very helpful.

An easier way to incorporate most trends is to play with them on the eyes. There are exceptions, of course: if red lipstick is haute this year, then nothing but a red lippie/gloss will do (though even then you can modify the intensity of the red to your comfort level). But unless the it color is red or pink or coral, you’re probably looking at eye makeup as the easiest way to incorporate it.

Liners, Shadows, Mascaras

There are three main ways to use plums on the eyes (and for the purposes of this discussion I’ve opened it up to all shades of violet, though I’m trying to focus mainly on the warmer ones): eyeliners, eyeshadows, and tinted mascaras. You can use these together or separately, as you like, though I probably wouldn’t do all three in the same look.

Below are two swatches of (almost) every plum/berry/purple eyeliner I own. For some reason I did not include the recently-reviewed MAC Superslick in Smoky Heir (though I did incorporate it into one of the looks below). One swatch is in sunlight, the other in indirect natural light.

Left-to-right:

1. MAC Fluidline in Macroviolet (link) — gel
2. Physician’s Formula Shimmer Strips Cream Liner (review here) — gel
3. Urban Decay 24/7 Glide-On Eyeliner Pencil in Ransom (review here) — pencil
4. MAC Pearlglide Eye Liner in Designer Purple (limited edition, Spring 10; review here) — pencil
5. Rimmel Exaggerate Full Colour Eye Definer in 281 Aubergine (discontinued color? New product page here) — pencil
6. Kat von D Autograph Eye Liner in Turbo Lover (link) — liquid
7. Stila Convertible Eye Color in Berry (to be reviewed; link here) — pencil
8. MAC Pearlglide Eye Liner in Almost Noir (limited edition, Spring 10; review here) — pencil
9. NYC Automatic Eye Pencil in Plum Perfect (link) — pencil
10. Barbie Loves Stila Smudge Pot in Purple Pumps (link) — gel
11. Milani Infinite Liquid Liner in Endless (review here) — liquid

(By the way — the most difficult to get off my arm later? The Milani Infinite liquid liner. That thing did not want to budge.)

If you’re going to play with liner as a color, there are three basic ways to do it:

1. with same-color-family shadows
2. with neutral shadows
3. with a contrasting color family of shadows

I have four examples.

With same-color-family shadows

Because purples can be either warm or cool, I did two different looks here. One is a warm purple going into a warm taupe (warm purple going into magentas and pinks is not so good for eye looks). Taupes are mostly neutral, so this is a neutral-ish eye, but still with a plum tinge.

Look #1: Warm plums and taupe

Sorry, the closed-eye photo of this one didn’t turn out for some reason.

Liners used: Kat von D Autograph liquid liner in Turbo Lover (top); MAC Pearlglide in Almost Noir (bottom)
Shadows: MAC Satin Taupe on lid and traveling up towards browbone; deep wine with shimmer shade (second-to-right) from LORAC Private Affair Palette blended into crease and on outer third of lid (review and swatch here)
Other stuff: TFSI, Lancome Definicils mascara, Tarte emphasEYES brow pencil. I use these in all the remaining looks.

Look #2: Cool purples and violet

I do wear purple eyeshadow to work, so this is a look I actually wear. Here I’m using a cooler purple liner and blending it in with cooler purple shadows. If your liners lean warm and you want to stay within the same color family, stick with warm shadow colors; if they lean cool, pair ‘em with other cool colors.

As you can see, from the side it doesn’t look all that intense.

Liners used: MAC Pearlglide in Designer Purple (top), NYC Automatic Eye Pencil in Plum Perfect (bottom)
Shadows used: Urban Decay Deluxe Shadows in Ransom and Frigid (blended together over lid and up towards brow bone); ULTA Vineyard in crease. Sorry for the sloppy blending. Nothing makes you see all the things didn’t realize you did wrong like sticking your face in a tungsten light tent and taking a picture. Yeesh.

With neutral shadows

You can take a regular simple neutral eye and pair a colored liner with it for a bit of pop. This is probably the easiest way to do it. Keep the shadow to a simple wash.

Look #3: Violet with neutral browns

Liners used: MAC Superslick in Smoky Heir with NYC Automatic Eye Pencil in Plum Perfect (top); NYC liner on bottom as well. The Superslick liners don’t blend on their own very well, but you can drag a pencil through them while they’re still tacky to pull out the line and blend it. This is a more vivid look in real life than it appears in the picture, but still very work-appropriate.
Shadows used: UD eyeshadow in Stray Dog and Deluxe Eyeshadow in Underground, applied as a simple wash all over the eye area.

With contrasting-color shadows

I love the combination of warm plum with warm coppery-rose colors like those in the LORAC Croc Palette, which provided the shadows for this last look. Why these colors work is that they’re contrasting but similar; they are all warm and tend towards red rather than blue. (In your box of crayons, it would be like red-purple and red-orange together.)

Look #4: Warm plum with sunset coppers

The only thing I might change about this look is that I’d consider tightlining with a MAC fluidline gel liner in either Macroviolet (er, violet) or Blacktrack (er, black) before putting the Stila berry liner on. The top lash line could do with a bit more definition.

Liners used: Stila Convertible Eye Color in Berry (top); MAC Pearglide in Almost Noir (top and bottom)
Shadows used: Moonstone, Serenity, and Garnet from the LORAC Croc Palette (review and swatches here)

Mascara

After I had finished the looks above, I remembered that I had an unopened Almay Intense I-Color mascara lying around, so I decided to try it out. Since I already had black mascara on, applying the plum-colored mascara on top doesn’t make a huge difference. This week I’m going to try to use it on its own and see how well it works. But here is the product, and here also are the last two looks shot again with a coat of Almay tinted mascara (shade: Raisin Quartz) on top.

Subtle, but you can see it if you’re looking for it.

Lips

If you want to go big, there are plenty of dark berry and plum lip shades hitting counters now. The new MUFE Rouge Artist Intense series has some serious plums (#14 and #49 come to mind), and MAC always has some interesting less-common shades (Cunning and Kittenish are very bold plum/red shades). For most of us these would probably not be appropriate work looks.

One thing you can do, though, is pick up a plum gloss and wear it either alone or on top of another lippie to darken and deepen it. I have an order in for Guerlain Kiss Kiss Gloss Serum in shade 462 Violine for just this purpose. (And come on, it’s a music term, how can I resist?) I’ll be reviewing it and swatching it as soon as it comes in. I swatched several of these glosses at the counter and this was a lovely berry color. (The 420 Vermillion would be a fantastic shade for anyone looking for a red lip in gloss form; as you know I also like the Three Custom Color gloss in Candy Apple, and the fact that I already owned the 3CC one was the single thing that prevented me from snapping up the Vermillion as well. Hello, restraint — nice to meet you. Come around a little more often, will you?)

Delicious, scrumptious-looking plum photo by http://www.flickr.com/photos/calliope/939889408/sizes/l/in/photostream/

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Categories: how-to, trends

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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:

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

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!)

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Categories: Makeup, Product Reviews, Quest for the Perfect..., lipstick, red lipstick

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I will be putting together a few looks using plum to help address A Biologist’s question and those should be up in a few days.

Quickie Sales!

HauteLook has Becca cosmetics today starting at the unusual hour of 4 pm Eastern/1 pm Pacific.

Becca is also running a sale of their own: 25% off with code DC0810 (ending date unknown; it may have expired since we are no longer in 8/10 so be careful).

ULTA is offering 20% off online with code 48173 through 9/4.

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As seen below, Christina is also the new face of London Fog, and it’s the sexiest raincoats have looked since, well, ever. No, seriously. It makes me want to wear a raincoat. And be a redhead. A raincoat-wearing redhead.

Sales!

Unofficial skincare sales week continues: HauteLook has DermaNew skincare on Monday, Sonya Dakar skincare on Wednesday, and Ecoskin on Thursday. Gilt has DDF Skincare on Tuesday.

Previously announced sales still in progress:

Boscia is offering 20% off through 9/1 with code THANKYOU • Stila is offering 20% off through 8/31 with code DERBYDOLLS • SkinStore is offering 20% off most brands (their usual exclusions apply) through 9/7 with code SUN20

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When I was picking up all my other LUSH goodies, a salesperson made me a large deluxe sample of Lovely Jubblies so I could try it out for a few weeks. It smells kind of herbal and is a sort of ecru color. Now let’s get one thing straight: I was not expecting this product to turn my decolletage into something that could rival Christina Hendricks. But I did hope it would make my skin feel nice — and it really disappointed me in that regard. Most of their other products have a much nicer body-feel than this one (and I’m really not a fan of herbal-scented creams).

It also broke me out. And if there is one place worse than your face to have pimples, well, there it is.

On to something that so far my skin is liking a lot better than Lovely Jubblies: Skin Nanny!

The same salesperson had also given me a sample of Skin Nanny to try, and I liked it so much that on a return visit I bought a container. (Dear stores that don’t give samples: See?) As I’ve said before, and as the above experience indicates, LUSH skincare tends to make me break out. I haven’t tried it yet as an all-over facial moisturizer — it’s still too hot and humid here for a cream that is as thick as this one — but it turns out to be a stellar eye cream.

LUSH is almost as bad as Tarte in their marketing language. Maybe they use the same professional writers? Here’s what LUSH has to say about Skin Nanny:

Skin Nanny is the natural way to protect your skin from wrinkles. If you are going out in the sun and want to look after your skin, you’ve got to choose a moisturizer with some protection. Skin Nanny has natural AHAs from the fresh apple juice, helping to combat free radicals. It’s all part of our holistic approach to keeping your skin bright by using the whole fruit.

Heavy duty moisture soak.

Starflower oil moisturizes and hydrates your skin. Skin Nanny’s C and E vitamins come naturally with almond and hibiscus oils to penetrate your skin and smooth wrinkles.

OK. First of all, I don’t know how much AHA apple juice provides, how much apple juice is in the product, what the concentrations of the AHAs are, and what the pH of the product is. But I do know that AHAs increase skin’s photosensitivity, so implying that an AHA cream will protect your skin from the sun seems problematic at best. Now it does have some sunscreen ingredients in it: ethylhexyl methoxycinnamate (Parsol) and butyl methoxydibenzoylmethane (avobenzone). Older reviews of this product that I dredged up on the web say it’s SPF 30, and one even cites that as part of LUSH’s marketing language, but at this time they are no longer advertising it as SPF 30 on the lushusa.com website. And given that the cream is really thick, I doubt you’d be applying enough for this to be a real substitute for a sunscreen.

As for wrinkle-fighting, it doesn’t contain any fancy peptides or moon rocks or fairy dust. But it does contain a well-blended mix of shea butter and cold-pressed oils (almond, coconut, jojoba, starflower, hibiscus, and ylang-ylang). So it combats wrinkles by plumping the skin up with emollients. This is, of course, just a temporary fix, but if you had a serum or a lighter lotion with fancier ingredients that you liked and felt did a better job against fine lines, there’s no reason you couldn’t put that on underneath. I must say, though, that for my dry undereyes, it does an excellent job of moisturizing for most of the day (and it also works well as a night cream) without clogging pores. And though it’s not cheap, it will last ages (or until the expiration date has passed, anyway) — I’ve been using it twice a day and still haven’t finished my sample, which was much smaller than the Lovely Jubblies sample.

If you want to use it on the whole face, the consistency makes it hard to spread evenly if you start out with dry skin. Try using a toner or a serum first, then rub the cream between your fingers to warm and melt it a little before pressing it lightly onto your skin. This will help it spread more easily, but you’ll still only need a tiny amount.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

LUSH Skin Nanny: $48.95

Provenance: Purchased.

Price/Value Ratio (mid-range: poor/fair/good/excellent): Fair. I think their products are overpriced and I hate the packaging. I also wish they made smaller-sized products and sold them for less (which, to be fair, they do; I bought a trio of small jars of other body creams for, I think, about $8 total).

Purchase again? Maybe. Depends on how it gets me through the winter.

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

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Superslick eyeliners are releasing as part of the MAC’s Fabulous Felines collection, but unlike some of the other items in the collection, these are permanent additions. Yay! They come in nine colors: Defiantly Feline (medium brown), Signature Blue (er, blue), Smoky Heir (deep purple), Nocturnal (silver), Pure Show (gold), Marked for Glamour (grey), On the Hunt (black), Desires & Devices (dirty olive), and Treat Me Nice (medium green). Most have a slight metallic luster. This review covers the first three mentioned above.

Liquid eyeliners always take a bit of patience. Pencil liners are easily smudgeable and you can get away with a little bit of imprecision. Even gel liners are more forgiving. Liquid requires (IMHO) the most control and the most precision. These are great for making sharp lines and for getting right down to the lashline, but they don’t smudge well. They remain wet for a few minutes, and once they’re dry these things do not move. That’s the advantage of liquid liners, so it all comes down to whether or not you’re willing to go through the hassle of precise application and then waiting for them to dry. When I use a liquid, I apply it before I do the rest of my eye makeup, because I don’t want to do a fabulous eye and then ruin it all by a jerky movement with the eyeliner. If I end up covering some of the liner when I apply shadow, I can always go over it again (and somehow it’s always easier to do it the second time, when you’re just tracing over what was there before!). This way if I need to remove it and start over, or edit the line with a Q-Tip dipped in makeup remover, I’m not ruining my shadow also.

The packaging is nice — pleasingly solid-feeling, with a screw-top lid (always nice for liquid products). I prefer brush tips that are really brush tips, not marker tips, but I have to say this one isn’t bad, though you do need a bit of skill to make sure it applies evenly. If you make the line too wide you may end up with some streakiness (you’ll see a little bit of this in the swatch photo). My only real criticism of the packaging is that I wish the brush housing were shorter — when you do your non-dominant side, the brush unit is slightly too long to work with comfortably. On the other hand, I’m particularly gifted in the nose department, so maybe if your schnozz is smaller than mine you won’t have such a hard time navigating.

If you’re new to liquid liner, let me offer some tips:

1. Start with the eye on your dominant side: i.e., if you’re right-handed, start with your right eye. Rest your pinky finger against your cheekbone to steady the hand. (And by the way, this should definitely be done before coffee!)

2. Start by laying the brush almost sideways against the upper lashline at the widest part of the eye, usually somewhere in the middle. Pull a little bit towards the outside of the eye, letting the brush rest against the lashline. Don’t go too fast. Let the knuckles of the hand flex so that your pinky finger stays on your cheekbone while your hand moves around it.

3. Overlap strokes until you get to the outside of the eye. Figure out what you want the end of the line to look like — if you’re doing a cat eye, you’ll want an upwards flick, for instance. I decided to do a less deliberate look below, and so I just brought the liner in at the outside corner.

4. Reposition the brush a little bit more towards the inside of the eye, and make a new stroke that overlaps where you started. Keep repeating this until you get as far towards the inner end of the eye as you want to go. With these strokes, always start as if you were bringing the liner up from underneath the eyelid — you can get a very nice, sharp line this way.

5. By changing where the thickest part of the line is, you can change the visual weight/proportion of your eye. If you want the eye to look rounder, make the line a little thicker from the center towards the outer end, and taper in at the outer end. If you want the eye to look longer, then make the outer edge the heaviest (and you’ll probably be doing some kind of flick here). Play around and see what works best for your face.

6. This is where I stop; I prefer a pencil liner on the bottom. But if you like a liquid liner there, you can follow the same procedure: start in the middle, bring it out to the outer edge, then fill in closer to the inner end gradually.

7. When you do the non-dominant side, if you’re able to turn the hand around so that you can again have the pinky resting against the cheekbone, more power to you. In that case, it’s the same as these directions. If that doesn’t work for you (and most of the time it doesn’t work for me), then you’ll end up resting your hand on your nose instead. Again, I start in the middle, but this time I pull towards the inner eye first, because it’s easier, and then I work my way to the outer edge.

Warning: These things are a bitch to remove. And when I say “bitch,” I’m talking Mommie Dearest level. Cleanser and water barely touch them. If you rub (not recommended), you will eventually loosen the liner enough that you can (no kidding) pinch one end of the liner between your fingers and peel it off your eyelid.

o_O

To get the swatches off my arm, I first tried regular makeup remover, to which they were impervious, and then waterproof makeup remover, which fared little better. After that I tried my Shu Uemura cleansing oil, and finally resorted to scraping the swatches off with my nails. Be warned.

Swatches and photos! (It was an allergy-riffic day, so I did take the liberty of Photoshopping out my bloodshot eyes. Nothing else was altered or corrected.)

Left to right: Smoky Heir, Defiantly Feline, Signature Blue

Below is Defiantly Feline just on its own. Other products used: TFSI, MAC Paint Pot in Painterly, Tarte emphasEYES brow pencil in Medium Brown.

Then I added shadow on top. Highlight: the gold shade from the Stila Goddess eyeshadow trio; Crease: the copper shade from the same compact. Lid: UD Toasted (in the Naked palette). Lower lashline: Neutrogena Spiced Chocolate pencil eyeliner. Mascara: MAC Zoomlash, which I’m currently testing.

Then I did a look on the other eye with Signature Blue. I wanted to smudge the liner a bit, but I think pencil liners are much easier to smudge than liquid, so I used MAC Pearlglide liner in Petrol Blue and smudged that. I also used the unnamed blue shade from the Smashbox Iconic Eyes palette on the lid, UD Gunmetal (from the Naked palette) at the top of the lid and into the crease, and ULTA Cocoa as a wash up to the browbone. Bottom liner is MUFE Aqua Eyes liner in Dark Grey 21L (from the Aqua Eyes kit). Mascara is again MAC Zoomlash.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

MAC Superslick Liquid Eyeliner: $17.50

Provenance: Purchased.

Price/Value Ratio (midrange: poor/fair/good/excellent): Good.

Purchase again? Yes, I think so; they’re well-made and reasonably easy to use, and if I’m traveling and it’s a choice between this and a gel liner, I’ll take the pen just for ease and rapidity of application.

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

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Categories: Makeup, Product Reviews, eyeliner

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http://www.carlashes.com/index.html

(from whence the photos are taken)

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Promotional materials for Holiday 2010 collections are starting to show up. Yes, I mean Christmas/Hanukkah/Kwanzaa/New Year’s. THOSE holidays.

Cloud: Holy crap, we’re just starting the fall semester!

Silver lining: Hey, by the time that season actually rolls around, the semester will be over! Wheee!!!

I let the first one or two go by without thinking about it, but now Guerlain, Clinique, Stila, Bobbi Brown, Trish McEvoy, Lancome, Dior, Clarins, Paul & Joe, Givenchy, and elf promo photos are already floating around the web; details will be coming out soon on MAC’s “A Tartan Tale” holiday collection; NARS holiday photos were leaked and quickly pulled … yep, here we go. If you are hoping Santa brings you a red lipstick this year I think you will have to give him a very specific list as it looks like there will be several stunning options from different brands (especially Bobbi Brown, Givenchy, and Clarins). There’s a lot of red and grey/silver in this year’s collections, along with the traditional gold sparkle. Clinique is doing some lovely pinks and browns, which they do very well and which is a nice contrast to the other collections so far. I’m going to wait to post photos until the products are closer to being released, mostly because I feel like we haven’t even really gotten started with fall yet. But if you want to see pics, you just have to go a-Googling and you’ll find some.

Also, dangit. I really want this. From Stila’s holiday 2010 collection:

Sales!

From today through 8/29, The Body Shop is offering 20% off with code FF10. Shipping free with purchases over $50. Apparently 10 out of 10 mermaids surveyed (!) prefer their eco-conscious rainforest hair care. (I don’t write the news, folks, I just report it.)

Boscia is having a Customer Appreciation Week through 9/1: 20% off with code THANKYOU at checkout.

Previously announced sales still in progress:

Stila is still offering 20% off through 8/31 with code DERBYDOLLS • SkinStore is offering 20% off most brands (their usual exclusions apply) through 9/7 with code SUN20

Photo: http://www.flickr.com/photos/kelp1966/4210245991/

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If you’ve been waiting breathlessly for the MAC Fabulous Felines collection, it’s up online at www.maccosmetics.com.

The collection as a whole is not listed (yet) under “What’s New” but if you search for any of the products individually, you will find them. I picked up some Superslick eyeliner pens and will review as soon as they come in!

Here are the product names and collections (if you search for “Leopard,” you’ll get the eye products from the “Leopard Luxe” collection, but the blushes, pigments, lippies, etc. don’t seem to be linked in that way, at least not yet).

Photo: http://www.flickr.com/photos/miss_pupik/70817122/
This is not actually my cat, although it looks a lot like him and it’s certainly a pose he would strike. Right now he is very busy sleeping and was not friendly to the idea of having his portrait done.

Burmese Beauty

Eye Shadow x 4 – Burmese Beauty ($36.00)

• Prized Pale yellow beige (Satin) (Limited Edition)
• Skintone 2 Dirty gold (Frost) (Limited Edition)
• Burmese Beauty Frosted brown green (Lustre) (Limited Edition)
• Showstopper Deep blackened brown (Matte) (Limited Edition)

Superslick Liquid Eye Liner ($17.50)

• Desires & Devices Sparkling dark green (Permanent)
• Defiantly Feline Chocolate brown with soft pearl (Permanent)
• Treat Me Nice Emerald green with soft pearl (Permanent)

Pigment ($19.50)

• Gold Stroke High-frosted tarnished gold (Frost) (Limited Edition)
• Antique Green Turquoise green with green pearl (Frost) (Limited Edition)

Lipstick ($14.50)

• Pet Me Please Frosted light dirty mauve (Frost) (Limited Edition)
• To Pamper Creamy mid-tone taupe (Lustre) (Limited Edition)
• Liquid Lurex Light yellow with green dazzle multipearl (Dazzle)
• Kittenish Deep red berry (Cremesheen) (Limited Edition)

Lipglass ($14.50)

• Spree Pink champagned taupe (Limited Edition)
• Jealous Light dirty green with pearl (Limited Edition)
• Fancy Cat Dark dirty brown with pearl (Limited Edition)

Cremestick Liner ($14.50)

• Velvetella Blackened plum

Mineralize Blush ($21.00)

• The Soft Meow Mid-tone golden bronze with soft pearl (Frost) (Limited Edition)

Palace Pedigreed

Eyeshadow x 4 – Palace Pedigreed

• Courtly Frosted muted light pink beige (Satin) (Limited Edition)
• Palace Pedigreed Deep berry with dark soft pink pearl (Satin) (Limited Edition)
• Quite Spoiled Mid-tone neutral mauve (Satin) (Limited Edition)
• Russian Blue Deep neutral grey (Matte) (Limited Edition)

Superslick Liquid Eye Liner

• Nocturnal Bright silver pearl (Permanent)
• Smoky Heir Dark blue violet with soft pearl (Permanent)
• Signature Blue Dark navy with soft pearl (Permanent)

Pigment

• Mauvement Cool taupe with gold pearl (Frost) (Limited Edition)
• Bloodline Dark dirty browned purple (Frost) (Limited Edition)

Lipstick

• Superior Sheer lavender pink with dazzle pink pearl (Dazzle)
• Of Royalty Light creamy blue pink (Cremesheen) (Limited Edition)
• Aristo-Cat Mid-tone frosted purple mauve (Frost) (Limited Edition)
• Cunning Dark berry (Frost) (Limited Edition)

Lipglass

• Docile Dirty lavender with pearl (Limited Edition)
• Best of Breed Light dirty blue with pearl (Limited Edition)
• Lap of Luxury Dark eggplant with pearl (Limited Edition)

Cremestick Liner

• Beurre Dirty Plum

Mineralize Blush

• Pet Me Light yellow pink with soft pearl (Limited Edition)

Leopard Luxe

Eyeshadow x 4 – Leopard Luxe

• Wild By Nature Mid-tone camel (Matte) (Limited Edition)
• Style Predator Frosted mid-tone yellow orange (Veluxe Pearl) (Limited Edition)
• Notoriety Dirty brown with gold pearl (Velvet) (Limited Edition)
• Furiously Fabulous Frosted warm black (Veluxe Pearl) (Limited Edition)

Superslick Liquid Eye Liner

• Pure Show Bright yellow-gold pearl (Permanent)
• Marked for Glamour Mid-tone grey with soft pearl (Permanent)
• On the Hunt True black (Permanent)

Pigment

• Lithe Frosted warm nude with gold pearl (Frost) (Limited Edition)
• Old Gold High-frosted tarnished gold (Frost) (Permanent)

Lipstick

• Out Minxed Light yellow gold (Glaze) (Limited Edition)
• Drive Me Wild Mid-tone warm coral with gold pearl (Cremesheen) (Limited Edition)
• Powerful Mid-tone bronze with dazzle multipearl (Dazzle) (Limited Edition)
• The Prowl Creamy dark chocolate (Lustre) (Limited Edition)

Lipglass

• A Quiet Roar Pale white gold (Limited Edition)
• Schemer Mid-tone yellow camel with red and gold pearl (Limited Edition)
• Wildly Refined Mid-tone coral with gold pearl (Limited Edition)

Cremestick Liner

• Creamola Soft tan

Mineralize Blush

• Utterly Game Warm peach with soft pearl (Frost) (Limited Edition)

LE cosmetics bags with faux leather trim are also available for each collection and retail for $25.

© Voxy for Foxy Voxy's Academic Beauty Collective, 2010. | Permalink | Add to del.icio.us
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Here’s a conversation that I doubt actually happened at LORAC product headquarters:

“Hey, Ed?”

“Yeah, Bill?”

“I have a problem with the packaging for the new Private Affair palette.”

“What’s the matter with it?”

“Well, Ed, it … uh … kind of looks like a coffin.”

::pause::

“No, it doesn’t.”

“Yeah, Ed, it kind of does.”

“Maybe we should put more handles on it.”

“Actually, I think that would make it worse.”

… but like I said, I doubt this conversation took place because they made the damn thing anyway and it DOES look like a coffin. I know that Twilight is still coasting on its (hopefully short-lived) wave of popularity, but come on, people. LORAC is above this. Right? Right?

Anyhoo. Yes, I just did a LORAC palette review the other day, but this one is just out and I want to review it now so you can pick it up for fall if you’re interested.

Purple is very, very hip for fall, which is just fine by me. No blush in this one — it’s six shades of eyeshadow, plus (in the little pull-out drawer) a mini version of LORAC’s Behind the Scenes eye primer and a completely useless double-ended brush which you ought to just throw out immediately because it’s so prickly it’ll poke your eyes out. Had they not bothered with the drawer, the palette 1) would not look like a coffin, and b) would be so much more slim and suitable for travel (as CBD pointed out in her comment on a previous post). I’m going to try to figure out if I can put anything else in that drawer; there’s a divider in it that isn’t meant to be removable, but that divider hasn’t met me yet, so we’ll see who wins on that one.

Like the shadows in the Croc palette, these are a little too loosely pressed, I think. Too much shadow gets kicked up by the brush, and it’s more work to prevent fallout than it ought to be. The texture is generally up to LORAC’s standard, but I wish that some of the colors had been tweaked just a bit. I did an eye look below using only shadows from the palette, but I suspect that in real life I’ll end up mixing them with other shades from other brands.

The colors are listed as follows: creamy beige with pearl (I’d describe this as champagne gold), champagne rose with shimmer (this is the cooler, more silvery version of the first one), soft taupe with pearl, platinum grey with pearl, deep wine with shimmer (this one is the biggest win in the set), and black with sparkle (it’s not really black, and the sparkle is purple and quite noticeable).

Closeup, swatches, and a look done with the palette:

A look done with the LORAC Private Affair palette. This is just a little too dark for work, but I’d definitely wear it for an evening out. From left-to-right in the photo above, shades 1 & 2 used as highlighter, 3 and 5 on the lid, 5 in the crease, and 6 in the outer corner and as eyeliner (applied with a liner brush; not the one that came with the palette, though). Shadows applied over TFSI; mascara is Tarte Lights, Camera, Lashes! I have some other, less-dramatic looks in mind for this palette, or at least for some of the colors in it.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

LORAC Private Affair Palette: $38, exclusively at Sephora

Provenance: Purchased. Under duress. By Chaosbydesign. She made me.

Price/Value Ratio (high-end: poor/fair/good/excellent): Only a “Fair” on this one, because of the unnecessary inclusion of the scratchy brush and the poor packaging.

Purchase again? Oof! I hope that I hate their holiday palette so that I won’t be running to Sephora or ULTA to pick it up.

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

© Voxy for Foxy Voxy's Academic Beauty Collective, 2010. | Permalink | Add to del.icio.us
Categories: Makeup, Product Reviews, eyeshadow, fall

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