web analytics

Elizabeth Arden Summer 2012 Collection

 Blush, Bronzers, Brushes and Tools, Eyeliner, Lipstick  6 Responses »
May 052012
 

Elizabeth Arden Rose Aurora Spring/Summer 2012 Collection is a blend of bronzes and rose tones that looks beautifully gift-able (as Mother’s Day approaches, this may solve your shopping dilemma). This color story is a modern twist on the original 1950′s collection designed by Elizabeth Arden herself, with soft rose gold packaging. I loved the originality and beauty of this summer-lovely packaging–it evokes art nouveau in my mind. The colors are a built around accentuated eyes, a soft shimmery lip and glowing skin.

The Pure Finish Bronze Powder comes in three colors ($38 each/0.30 oz.))–Soft Radiance, Warm Radiance, and Deep Radiance. These have a soft, shimmering finish. All three tend to run warm, consistent with the Rose Gold theme of the collection. These bronzers include Zin’cite, an ingredient said to energize and protect skin cells, together with green tea, white tea and minerals that provide antioxidant protection.

For applying these, I found that a large soft brush (including Elizabeth Arden’s own ($22, pictured below) worked perfectly. These bronzers are well pigmented, so put that kabuki away! You do want to chose the right color for your skin tone–going too light or too dark won’t be as flattering as it might be.

Soft Radiance was the right choice for my warm-toned fair skin (NC15/Chanel Cameo/Ivoire). By my estimate, I would suggest those with NC30-40 to go with Warm Radiance, and deeper tones with Deep Radiance. These have a fairly large amount of product for the price point (the pans are fairly large), and with the good pigmentation one should last quite a while.

Here are swatches, including the Honey Ceramide Cream blush ($24), a very natural deep warm rose tone:

Here’s Honey blush:

The collection includes a rose gold shimmering highlighting powder, the Pure FInish Highlighter in Rose Illumination ($34), which delivers very high shine. This pictures shows the new Elizabeth Arden All Over Face Powder Brush ($22):

A close of the shimmering powder–those who wear this will want a very reflective glow, keeping the application to the upper cheeks, and perhaps a touch to the brow bone. Like the bronzers, the highlighter includes Zin’cite, green tea, white tea and minerals.

My favorite piece of the collection was the Rose Aurora Ceramide Ultra Lipstick ($22.50). I loved the light, wearable rose with the rose gold shimmer.

The collection includes two liquid liners with felt tip applicators–these Elizabeth Arden Liquid Eyeliners come in both Black and Brown ($18 each).

You can see the tips of these liners are nicely defined:

Here are swatches of these items:

Elizabeth Arden sent a sample of a new fragrance, Elizabeth Arden Green Tea Cherry Blossom ($29/1.7 fl. oz. and $39/3.3 fl. oz., Honey Drops Cream is $29.50 for 8.4 oz.).

This scent is an extremely pleasant floral mix, well-named as it does have a lovely cherry blossom scent. Really, it evoked the beauty cherry trees that I remember from my East Coast childhood. This is tempered with a light green tea undertone..

Because the packaging is so lovely, I could easily see these appreciated as gifts for several women that I know in my life. This time of year seems to be a particularly heavy gift-shopping time for me–teachers, principals, coaches, Mother’s Day (which seems to include my many “mother-like” mentors), and birthdays. Depending on your recipient, I can imagine many would appreciate the beauty and usefulness of any one (or more) of these items in this collection.

The Elizabeth Arden Rose Gold Collection was sent to Cafe Makeup without charge or consideration for review.

 

Chanel Fleur de Lotus Joues Contraste Blush

 Blush, Chanel  14 Responses »
May 022012
 

For Spring 2012, Chanel released an Asia-exculsive collection, Le Blanc de Chanel (previewed here at Rouge Deluxe). Through the kindness of a fellow beauty lover, I was able to obtain the Fleur de Lotus Joues Contraste Blush (#69). My hope is that this might be picked by a U.S. source and released in this country (and elsewhere in the world).

Because of its current limited availability, this review will be short. Essentially, Fleur de Lotus can be summed up in a single word:  Spectacular. This is a finely-milled, brightening coral that adds a beautiful glow. Yes, it is the baked formula, but we’ve talked about this before. I found that the overall texture of Fleur de Lotus was sufficiently soft, a standard blush brush was fine (I found it similar to Rose Tourbillon in texture).

Here are swatch comparisons with Chanel Malice (which is more pink) and Chanel Espiegle (which is more peach):

I found that the closest that I had in my stash is MAC Hipness, swatched on the far right for comparison.

Obviously, the Joues Contraste formula sets Fleur de Lotus apart.

Maybe if we all contact our favorite department stores (do you hear me Nordstrom?? Neimans? Saks? hellooooo?), and we all do lots of good deeds for others we can all get our hands on one. I’d certainly get another. This thing’s gorgeous.

Nars Liberte Blush Swatches, Review and Look

 Blush, NARS  10 Responses »
Apr 162012
 

NARS Summer 2012 includes NARS Liberte blush ($28), which has just gone online for sale. The shade is described as a “burnished apricot.”  Francois Nars’ blush imagination always stuns me–the colors are original, complicated, and almost universally flattering. I can see this color working on every woman from a cool-toned redhead to a deep-toned beauty. It’s exactly the color that one craves to wear during the warm summer months, even though Liberte is a color that I have never imagined existed before.

NARS Liberte is a pigmented matte terracotta red that fits in beautifully with the rest of the NARS Summer 2012 collection. Here is Liz wearing the blush, applied very lightly on cheeks, together with the NARS Ramatuelle Eyeshadow Trio (review soon!), and the Moscow Pure Matte Lipstick (review soon!) topped with NARS Hopi Velvet Gloss Lip Pencil for  touch of shine.

Another, same makeup:

Here, Liz applied NARS Liberte with a standard Chanel blush brush to get a natural look. Later this summer, she’ll likely build up the intensity for a deeper cheek tone. Below are some comparison swatches of NARS Liberte with NARS Lustre, Nars Madly, and NARS Lovejoy.

Final verdict:  Yes, you need it. Seriously. Perfect summer blush. Plus, you are going to be reaching for this well into the Fall because it’s going to coordinate with colors like camel, forest greens, deep blues and (yes), even metallics. Sophisticated, easy to wear, modern, flattering and finely milled.

NARS Liberte, NARS Ramatuelle Eyeshadow Trio, and NARS Moscow were sent to Cafe Makeup by NARS for consideration for review.

NARS Summer 2012 Preview

 Blush, Eyeshadow, Lip Pencil, Lipgloss, Lipstick, Nail Polish, NARS  11 Responses »
Apr 062012
 

NARS is set to release a gorgeous collection for Summer 2012. If these images are any guide, this will be a memorable and beautifully designed set with a modern edge. These are shimmering bronzes, apricots, and matte reds, anchored with a deep cool eyeshadow duo. Unbelievably beautiful. A closer look at the items in the Nars Summer 2012 collection follows…

NARS Ramatuelle Eyeshadow Trio is named for a village in southeastern France, and includes an elegant combination of two shimmers–silver and icy peach. The trio has a matte apricot for a warm-cool interpretation of a neutral palette.

NARS Eyeshadow Duo in Marie-Galante is an iridescent combination of “orchid with a regal blue,” that is soft, strong and striking. Cafe Makeup says “woah, that’s so pretty.” I can imagine that paired with the bronzes and apricots in this collection, it’s going to emphasize the eyes like almost nothing else.

NARS Calabria Soft Touch Eyeshadow Pencil is a shimmering plum. This is not a color that I’ve seen much, but I can’t wait to try it on my blue-green eyes. My guess is that it’s going to look gorgeous with brown eyes as well.

NARS Vendages Lipstick is a sheer grape, which I can picture might look like lips that have just finished some gorgeous summer fruit. I literally gasped when I saw this picture. Amazing summer color, especially for the July-August time frame when the color palette seems to deepen.

NARS Liberte blush is described as a “burnished apricot.” Seriously gorgeous summer color.

NARS Buenos Aires Velvet Lip Gloss Pencil appears to be the one thing that everyone needs in their makeup collection–a good nude pencil.  Whether as a base or alone when wearing striking eyes, nude pencils can provide a good accompaniment or a good stand alone. NARS, Cafe Makeup thanks you for this.

NARS Never Say Never Velvet Matte Lip Pencil is a lilac rose.

NARS Moscow Pure Matte Lipstick is a matte strawberry red.

Nars Trouville nail polish is a seashell pink, named for a little fishing village in northern France. I suspect that it’s been used on the model in the image below, but we’ll have to take a look when it becomes available.

Makeup genius Francois Nars designed the look, below, which exemplifies one example of how the collection can be used for a glamorous look that emphasizes one’s individual look. Here, he used NARS Pure Radiant Tinted Moisturizer SPF 30/PA+++ in St. Moritz. As an aside, I’ve been wearing this foundation (in Alaska) since it was released in February and I love it.  If you are looking for a summer tinted moisturizer, please try this one out if you can. It’s long lasting, has great coverage, looks luminous and lasts throughout the day. Plus, my skin looks better because it’s designed to moisturizer and eliminate hyper pigmentation and dark spots.

Nars then applied Eden Loose Powder and NARS Laguna Bronzer. He then added the new Liberte blush, and a touch of Taos blush along the hairline. This picture features the eyeshadow trio–the new Ramatuelle Eyeshadow Trio was added to the eyes. The silver and peach shades are on the lid blended up to the crease; apricot is in the crease, and silver on the lower lash line.

The upper and lower lashes are lined with Larger than Life Long Wear Eyeliner in Via Veneto.  Two coats of Larger Than Life Volumizing Mascara are on the lashes (reviewed here at The Beauty Look Book).  Based on her recommendation, I’ve just ordered this mascara from Sephora.

The lips were lined with the new Borneo Lip Liner Pencil, blended with a finger to soften the color. Then Nars applied the new Moscow Pure Matte Lipstick, and topped with Risky Business Lip Gloss for shine.

Chanel Joues Contraste in Malice, Tumulte and Pink Explosion Looks

 Blush, Chanel  10 Responses »
Mar 252012
 

As promised, here are some very quick pictures that Liz and I took this afternoon wearing the new Chanel Joues Contraste Blushes in Malice, Tumulte and Pink Explosion (old and new).  I hope you find these useful–enjoy! Over the past few days, I’ve been wearing (and loving) these new powder blushes. I find them gorgeous, wearable colors that can be worn year-round. I’m so pleased with this formula!

Here is Chanel Malice (originally reviewed here), a peachy rose color:

Here is the very light pink Chanel Joues Contraste Tumulte (originally reviewed here):

The new Chanel Joues Contraste in Pink Explosion, with its deeper cherry tone (originally reviewed here):

And for comparison, the former Chanel Pink Explosion that was originally released in Fall 2010 (reviewed here and here). You can see that the former version is slightly lighter, less cherry-toned, and has a bit more frost/shimmer:

 Older Entries