Hallo Possums: The New Dame Edna Collection For Mac

MAC Dame Edna Collection. Forums Beauty & Makeup The Beauty Bar #1 Dec 23, 2008. It's all good because I can save up for hello kitty kouture!!!! (although the display was brand new)!!! I really hope Hello Kitty is better than this! #5 Dec 23, 2008.

1. Is Dame Edna A Man?
2. Hallo Possums: The New Dame Edna Collection For Mac Free
3. Mac Dame Edna Collection

Like Le Grande Dame herself, the collection is a little odd. It’s heavy on blue-based shades and frosty finishes with splashes of coral.

I haven’t figured out how it’s all supposed to mesh together, but I think I’ll have a better idea once MAC posts the face charts online. What do you think of the colors? Royal Tour Eye Shadow Trio.

1. Royal Tour: Shimmery cool purple. 2.

Dame’s Desire: Frosty pale purple. 3. Climate Blue: Shimmery purple-blue Wisteria Eye Shadow Trio. 4.

Is Dame Edna A Man?

Wisteria: Frosty pale Tiffany blue. 5. Fireshine: Frosty silver. 6.

Divine Night: Frosty charcoal Powders. 7. Spectacle!: Matte pale pink. 8.

What a Dame!: Matte pale peach Lipsticks. 9. Kanga Rouge: Creamy blue-red. 10. Gladiola: Matte blue-pink. 11. Coral Polyp: Creamy bright orange-coral Lipglasses.

12. Hot Frost: Shimmery blue-pink.

13. Possum Nose: Bright red-coral. 14. Splendid: Pale pink-coral First Impressions The Eye Shadow Trios Wisteria’s frosty finishes have fab bold club looks written all over ’em. I might pass, though, because these are shades I wouldn’t have many opportunities to wear. The Royal Tour trio has me intrigued, but the shades look very familiar. Remember from the Cool Heat release?

— and Royal Tour bears a striking resemblance to Modern Heir eyeshadow from last year’s. Powders The pans of both Splendid!

And What a Dame! Are embossed with a shimmery design. Both feel silky and soft to the touch. While these colors are too pale for my tan skin, they should look great on someone with lighter skin. I thought it was interesting that when each pan was new and undisturbed, they delivered a mixed matte/shimmer payoff, but as soon as the designs had been brushed away, the finish looked more like a traditional matte. Lipsticks and Lipglasses — Coral is Queen I’m really looking forward to the coral lipstick and Lipglass shades. All three — Coral Polyp, Possum Nose and Splendid — look highly wearable and perfect for next spring and summer.

As for the remaining lip shades, well, I may pass. Kanga Rouge looks a lot like, and Gladiola makes me think of. That said, Hot Frost definitely has lust-worthy pink lipgloss appeal comin’ out the wazzoo. 🙂 I’m off to dance class! Be back in a few.

Thanks for providing these swatches. I’d been wondering what this collection would look like. It’s funny because I love Dame Edna, and I love MAC, but the two of them together, for some reason? I’m just not feeling the love. The only thing that appeals to me is Splendid. Oh, I think I never had a chance to finish our Twilight back and forth from your earlier post. In answer to your question, I liked the movie a lot.

I just finished reading the fourth book in the series before seeing it, and I thought they got the spirit of the movie very well. What did you think? I’ve never gone for younger guys before, but I quite liked Robert Pattison. Between that and my Ed Westwick love I’m starting to feel like Mrs. Robinson at the age of 29:).

As much as I love Dame Edna, I couldn’t find anything to like about the MAC collection. Is it just me, or has every cosmetic company gone crazy with frost and metallics?

Sure, they may be beautiful on the under 30 set, but once those pesky fine lines start developing, the frost and metallic sheen just emphasizes the problem! I’m in my late 40’s and still love make-up (and your blog, Karen, it’s great!) I can get away with a frost on my brow area, but need to keep the rest in the pearl to matte finishes.

It’s been a tough make-up season, although I’m loving MAC’s warm holiday eye palette. It’s purrrfect.

Hi Faye, Okay, the first time I watched Twilight I didn’t get all drooly over Robert Pattison (I think I might’ve been stunned into submission with his hair). But the second time, woah, mama! Homeboy was looking pretty foxy. 🙂 I liked the movie, but I had some trubs with the director’s heavy handed style. I just always envisioned it being much cooler on screen, and less campy. Did you hear that they are making a sequel with a new director?

I wonder if they’ll keep the camp Some of the visuals, though, were very stunning. I loved the blue filters and all of the scenes in the trees! Now that you’ve finished the Twilight series, you’ve got to read Stephanie Meyer’s book, The Host! That song is awesome lol it was playing at the gym last night lol breakdancing is hard!!! Some people say it was born of capoeira – all muscle control lol we did lots of upper body work yesterday along with concentrated abs needless to say girrrrl i am sore we did lots of weights weights weights – i managed to drop 5 lbs of my vacation weight lol my goal to keep working out and get more of a beyonce-esque figure – i think its feasable but i need to totally cut sweets and cut my carbs which makes me angry and moody i need today to end already its 4:33 here on the east coast still have an hour and half till i can leave yo! I dunno abt wisteria kinda too easter for me.

This scent is mixture of plums, peaches, and sweet vanilla. This vanilla is more a sweet frosting type sent than a plain vanilla. I love this scent and it manages to make me happy every single time that I use it. This honor used to belong to Jaqua’s Buttercream Frosting but I now prefer Sugar Plum because it is much more unique and I have yet to find any other product that smells very much like it. I had originally been told that this product line was only to be out for Holiday 2006 but I have to assume that it was a big seller because it is still out and on the store shelves.

This line comes in a bunch of different products with my favorites being the Soothing Shower Gel and the Moisturizing Body Glow. The Soothing Shower Gel foams up well, rinses clean, and also doesn’t strip my skin and dry it out in the winter months. It contains Vitamins A and E and also certified botanical and organic extracts to help hydrate and protect the skin. The Moisturizing Body Glow is hydrating and nourishing to the skin. The description of this product also states that with repeated use, this product will bring a healthy glow and sheen to the skin. I haven’t used this product enough times in a row to notice this effect but at some point, I might try to find out if this is true.

This product contains powerful moisturizers and certified organic botanicals to hydrate and protect. Well, it has finally happened! I have found a line of hair products that smell like vanilla cupcakes and allow me to smell like dessert from head to toe. Normally, I am not really a fan of the Fekkai products (with a couple of exceptions) but I really liked the scent of the of the Protein Rx and ended up buying it for the scent alone. Well that’s great but then I got it home and realized that at some point I will actually have to use the products instead of just sniffing them so I should actually see how this line works and what it is supposed to accomplish. The shampoo contains a complex of soy and milk proteins that is exclusive to this product. This restores and reinforces hair, preventing future breakage and leaving hair stronger and more manageable.

First thought - hair is dead so it cannot be restored! It can be hydrated and nourished but no product on the market can bring it “back to life”. Already the claims of this product are inaccurate. The conditioner is supposed to do the same function and continue the benefits provided by the shampoo. The treatment mask is more intense version of the above mentioned products.

Using this combination of products did help to hydrate my hair and make it much softer. I also think the breakage that I usually experience has been somewhat lessened. However, it has not “brought my life back to life”, it is dead and will remain that way for the rest of my time using this line. The major drawback of these products (other than the insane claims) is that it does leave a build up on my hair so I have found that I have to alternate using these products with another type of shampoo and conditioner. The best partmy hair smells like cupcakes.

Hallo Possums: The New Dame Edna Collection For Mac Free

The year is now drawing to a rapid close and it is soon time to start looking at the trends for this spring and the new makeup collections that will be coming out shortly. It is now time for me to quickly look back on the year of 2008 and my favorite beauty related things from it. Favorite new products - Chanel Blue Satin Nail Polish - Cargo Texas Lash Mascara - MAC Dazzleglasses (all shades) - Chloe Chloe - Dylan’s Candy Bar Chocolate Cupcake products - Givenchy Phenomen’Eyes Mascara Favorite beauty related moments - The return of deep red lips. My re-discovery of the MAC counter. The beginning of ordering from etailers. My birthday shopping spree at LUSH. My first purchase of false eye lashes.

Getting a smoky eye look right. Finally buying the NARS No.3 Brush (can’t live without). Starting this blog! Beauty Resolution of 2009. I will get those false eye lashes to look amazing. I will get liquid eye liner to work for me. Try and use down my massive collection of ancient Bath and Body Works products.

I heard about the Dame Edna line several months ago on a Makeup Alley board but somehow managed to forget about it in all the hype surrounding Hello Kitty. But it is up and on the site and should be out in stores right now too. My first thought when hearing about this new line was “Who wants to look like Dame Edna? This could be very scary.” Now that I can look at it? One word sums it upWhy? Really MAC, Why? Blue eye shadow and bright lipstick are quite the combination and manage to make me slightly ill.

As any beauty addict knows, Vitamin C is one of the most popular skin care ingredients but it can also be one of the worst offenders for the skin when it is used incorrectly. Please refer to my last entry for a detailed discussion of the pros and cons of this ingredient. I decided that after my research into this ingredient, I had to find the best product containing this ingredient on the market. Ok, best might be a stretch, but I tried to find the product that hits upon every single point that I made in my argument for the correct us of this ingredient.

The Japanese based skin care line Awake is one of the only lines that I know of that carries a facial care product with a high concentration of stabilized Vitamin C. This product is called Vital Express and can be used for a variety of uses. This product is a patented powder-to-emulsion skin treatment that contains comfrey and dog rose extracts to invigorate stressed skin and improve elasticity and firmness while creating a more youthful appearance. This product also prevents the signs of aging, while creating a more youthful appearance. This product prevents the premature signs of aging, helps in the skin’s natural ability to maintain and produce collagen, as well as improve skin clarity and radiance.

The container of this product is very important. It actually comes in four small vials. The most important part of the usage of this product is that the tip of the container cannot be touched or the whole product is considered contaminated and must thrown away. After the tip is touched, the oxidation process begins and the product would then be more harmful to the skin than helpful. So if one of the vials becomes ruined, the entire product is not ruined because there are three more vials. The vials are also dark colored so the product inside is not exposed to the direct light. Most of the beauty industry touts Vitamin C as the end all in skin care and anti-oxidants.

It is one of the most widely used skin care ingredients and can be one of the most effective and most damaging ingredients at the very same time. I know of many lines that make anti-aging products with this ingredient in (Murad, Awake, the Body Shop, just to name a few).

I think that the only product that I own containing this ingredient is a night moisturizer from Murad. I decided to do some research on this ingredient and turned to the website smart skincare.com.

So what did I find out? The website and I agree that Vitamin C is one of the most widely used ingredients in skin care that this ingredient does possess definite, scientifically validated merits for wrinkle reduction and skin rejuvenation but many of the products do not actually work as they state that they will.

Vitamin C can benefit the skin in two major ways. The first is that is an essential compound in the synthesis of collagen (one of the key structural proteins in the skin. Adding this ingredient to a culture of cells always increases their synthesis of collagen fibers. The second is that Vitamin C is an antioxidant and can reduce the skin damage that is caused by free radicals.

The key to unlocking these two major benefits - it must be properly delivered into the skin cells. Here are the rarely discussed barriers to unlocking the benefit of this ingredient. The first is that Vitamin C is relatively unstable and in the presence of oxygen or another oxidizing substance, it is easily converted into non useful forms. The oxidized Vitamin c not only does not help the skin but it can actually be harmful by promoting free radical formation and ultimately harming the skin. The second barrier is that the effectiveness of Vitamin C only occurs when the concentration is higher than 10%. So what this is telling me is that many companies that use this ingredient are promoting the use of an ingredient that does nothing for the skin.

So how do we tell the good from the bad? My personal snobbery insists that a drugstore product will not have the needed concentration and therefore a higher end product must be sought out in order to try to reap the benefits of this ingredient. A consumer can also look at the color of the product in order to tell how the Vitamin C will work. When the Vitamin C oxidizes, it gets a yellowish tint to it and therefore a colorless or white product must be chosen. A reputable product should not be colored in order to disguise the color that the ingredient will turn.

Also this ingredient has an expiration date so that must be on the packaging. If it is not, this is not a product that you want to purchase. Also, the product will oxidize faster if it is in a clear container and is not protected from the light. Lately I have looking forward to purchasing some new nail polish colors, but every single time that I went shopping for colors, I always ended up leaving the store empty handed. Nothing has really been popping out at me. Even Lippmann Collection polishes weren’t doing anything for me. And the search for another Ciel de Nuit?

I am still coming up empty. How frustrating But, almost as an answer to my prayers, Chanel has released several new shades in a collection called Moscou. I saw it at blogdorfgoodman.blogspot.com and immediately went to the Chanel site to check it out. Well, so did the rest of the world! I have been trying for two entire days now to get onto this site and get a good look at these polishes but the site will stop working and I keep have to refresh page the page without any positive results. This collection will probably be sold out and off the website by the time that I can actually get onto the beauty section of the site long enough to get it correctly load.

This line of polishes is only available at Chanel so I don’t even have trusty department store sites to fall back on. I am very irritated right now. And the worst part?! There is shade called Nuit and the description from blogdorfgoodman states that it is deep navy base color with blue, green, and a small bit of fuchsia shimmer. And I can’t get it! Hopefully there will be a second part of this post when and if I can actually get onto the Chanel website. Well I thought that I was finished up with MAC until Hello Kitty comes out in February but I guess the company had other ideas in mind.

While I was passing the counter in my local Macy.s the other day, I noticed that they had a display of a new line called Chill. The store was jam packed and I was trying to get some last minute Christmas shopping finished so I really didn’t have the time to stop and look at the colors in this collection. My initial thoughts were that this collection reminded me of skiing with all of the pale frosts in it. My second thought was that at least one company came out with a line that actually celebrated winter instead of just the holidays. Quite genius, if I loved to ski and went to Aspen every year, then I would be all over this collection. However, since I don’t, it is just another collection to me.

Ever since I was in high school, I have been straightening my curly hair. I don’t care what anyone tries to tell me, I will not wear it curly and I don’t care what they think that it would look like. I have gone back and forth between using shampoo and conditioner that begin the process in the shower and more natural products that hydrate and nourish. With my discovery of Phyto, I used chemical based products with straightening ingredients less and less. I have found that the products by Matrix are really great in starting the process but don’t hydrate well enough for me and usually leave some kind of build-up on my hair. I guess I will never be satisfiedwhy can’t I just have it all?!

The line that I have been trying is called C-Straight. This line includes a shampoo and conditioner, a styling cream, and a finishing cream. So far, I have bought all of the products but have only gotten to try the shampoo and the conditioner. The shampoo contains apple-derived amino acids to provide gentle cleansing and anti-oxidants to promote healthy looking hair. The conditioner contains plant-derived conditioning agents to counteract static. Silicones provides smoothness and gloss. Golden Barley proteins protect hair from environmental damage.

Anti-oxidant rich formula incorporates citrus extracts to help hair look healthy. This is the half of the collection that I have tried. Every other year, I have tried to combat this problem with exfoliating and trying to moisturize after every shower. However it is the busiest time of the year for me, between the holidays and the end of the semester crunch so I don’t always have the time for a full routine.

So I decided that I needed to change my routine in the shower instead of out of it. I have found that body washes that claim to be hydrating often do nothing to save my skin so I needed to find something else to use in there.

I briefly considered trying some different bar soaps but I needed a quick solution and didn’t have the time or patience to purchase and try all different kinds before I find one that works for my skin. I turned to the people at LUSH to try and find a product that would help me. Last summer, I bought myself a huge gift set from them and I really hadn’t opened it yet. I went through every thing in there and found a treasure. I found the Ring of Roses Buttercream soap. I was already attracted to this product because it has a rose scent, but I really didn’t know all that much about it.

Buttercreams are a blend of 15% soap and 85% emollients. The 15% soap is just enough to cleanse but is not enough to produce the usual lather that is expected when using bar soap. The first time that I tried it, I rubbed it all over a wash cloth and was rather disappointed with how much product that I ended up using to create just the littlest bit of lather. When I got out of the shower, my skin was slightly less tight feeling but it wasn’t very much of an improvement. I was rather unhappy and decided that I would just be using this product for the scent and would need to look elsewhere to find a product that would be hydrating enough.

I don’t know about anyone else but when I was in middle school, I was obsessed with the return of mood rings. I had a bunch that I bought at jewelry stores and I also had some that I picked up at vintage stores. I would sit there in class and try to change my mood just so that I could watch the stone in the ring change colors. Imagine my disappointment when I was told that the ring changing colors had nothing to do with moods, it as based on the changes in body temperature that tend occur when people get upset, etc. I didn’t want to believe it but when I tested that theory by dunking the rings in different water temperatures I had to face the fact that temperature, not mood alone changed the rings.

Fast forward to now - I have no clue what happened to any of my rings and I wouldn’t be caught dead in one (even if it was made by Tiffany’s!). When browsing through Sephora one day, I saw something that brought it all back. It is a lip gloss that is supposed to act the same as mood rings. It is called Mood Swing Lip Gloss and it is from the Too Faced line of makeup. Sephora states that this is “a lip gloss that changes color on your lips depending on your body heat, pH balance and mood”.

HmmmI need to know more! This is official description from the Sephora website, “Our supernatural formulation starts off crystal clear and blossoms into countless shades of pink from cotton candy to deep fuchsia. Are you in love, jealous, angry, happy, or hot and bothered? Your lips will tell the tale and allow you to express yourself like never before!

Mood Swing’s secret blend of essential oils and extracts improves elasticity and rejuvenates your lips while natural sunscreens insure a younger looking smile”. This product can be applied by itself or over another lip color. It also can be used on the entire lip or just in the middle of the bow. At first, I really really wanted to try this product but then I began to think about it more.

Do I really want my lip gloss changing every few minutes? I can just see it now, I’m talking to a friend or classmate and he/she is beginning to get on my nerves, I try to hide it but my lip gloss is telling a different story. Or what about getting the question, “Why is your lip gloss changing color by itself?” Or even, “What’s wrong? Your lip gloss is changing colors!” This could lead to many potential problems. There are few things I own that I can’t live without. Most of the time I have found that I become obsessed with one product or another, only later to find another one equally fantastic or even better.

I have a variety of makeup brushes that I have been suckered into when purchasing makeup. I am always thrilled with my purchase until I get home and open the brush up. Then I usually realize that I already own something very much like it or another brush that can do similar functions or even the exact same job. This is the point that I always get grumpy and swear to myself that I will never by another brush recommended to me by any makeup counter’s sales associate ever again. This usually lasts until the next time that I head to the MAC counter or to Sephora.

However, I have one brush that I use every single day and is completely worth every single cent that I paid for it. When I went to C.O.

Bigelow, I had no intention of purchasing this brush and I actually ended up buying it as an afterthought with a NARS eye shadow purchase. The brush that I am talking about is the NARS No.

It was used to apply eye shadow on me and I instantly fell in love with it. I was further convinced when the manager told me that this was her favorite eye shadow brush and the most versatile brush that she owned. She also used it everyday to apply her makeup, no matter what look she was going for.

So I bought it, hook, line, and sinker. And yes, I had no idea that it was $55 when I said that I would buy it. I tried it, loved it, and now cannot do my eye makeup without it.

The brush is actually called the Eye Shader Brush and is used to provide a smooth eye makeup application and blending. Sephora’s website said that this soft, gentle brush is perfect for applying lighter shades and for blending. I have used this brush to apply pale, shimmery shades (my favorites) and for blending smoky eye looks. The only time that I don’t use it is to apply Vincent Longo Wet Diamond Eye Shadows because they contain so much shimmer that I need to use my fingers so that the shadow is not spread all over my face. HmmmmI’m not quite sure how I feel on this collection. The packaging is beautiful but packaging doesn’t make the product (AhemChristian Dior::coughs:: ) I decided to go through some of the reviews in Makeupalley’s product reviews section.

The reviews are rather mixed with the exception of the Sheerspark eye and cheek powder, the negative reviews definitely are the majority here. Overall, several users have stated that it is too glittery and contains little to no pigment. Also, they state that the product itself is too dry and the best part of the product is the packaging. Think I will be passing on this product and maybe on the whole collection. For the last few weeks, I have remained rather loyal to one fragrance of body products in my ultra-large stash. That scent is called Pink Fairy Frosting from Cleanse Your Soul and is quickly becoming a favorite of mine.

We all know that I love Pink Sugar scents and dupes for a huge majority of my body products. Also, I am rather critical of Pink Sugar scents since there are so many to choose from. Pink Fairy Frosting is a mixture of two of my favorites kinds of scents; Pink Sugar and sugary sweet frosting. Really, its double the tooth aching sweetness of many of my other products (just the way that I like it!). The Cleanse Your Soul website lists the scent as a mixture of Pink Sugar and vanilla frosting.

I have this product in shower gel, sugar scrub and body butter and I love all of them. I do think that my favorite product is the sugar scrub. When I ordered it, I asked Judy (owner of the company) to color the scrub bright pink. So not only does it smell great, I feel super girly and cute when I use bright pink body products.

The sugar scrub foams up, is non-greasy, rinses clean of the skin. The shower gel is fair.

It doesn’t foam up as well as some other brands do but Judy doesn’t have access to the all the foam creating chemicals that a Bath and Body Works would. So the less amount of foam and lather is better for my dry winter skin. The body butter is thick and hydrating while still easy to work into the skin. I am actually kind of sad that I using through these products so quickly because I very much in love with this scent and these products. Looks like I will be making another order pretty soon. I am almost done with writing about the Holiday makeup collectionsbut not quite!

I still have a few more left and among them is Bobbi Brown. I have never used Bobbi Brown before, but every time that I passed her counter in Bloomingdales, my eyes grew to the size of saucers and I couldn’t help but gaze in wonder at everything that she offered. This collection is called “The Party Collection” (how original!) and here is the description from Bobbi Brown herself, “It’s about having fun with makeup, high color, high shimmer, and a bit of pizzazz”. Here’s Holiday.

Mac Dame Edna Collection

Metallic Eye Shadow - Bobbi’s Metallic Eye Shadows are back by popular demand and are now a permanent part of the line. This collection features a broad shade range including rich bold colors and pastels. High-shimmer, high-pigment formula creates a sexy and sophisticated look.

Color applies smoothly and evenly and stays crease-free, for all day wear. After Hours - Bash - Bonfire - Bronze Pink - Brown Stone - Burnt Sugar - Champagne Quartz - Cognac - Forest - Glitz - Gold Dust - Golden Peach - Iced Blue - Indigo Nights - Java - Lavender - Midnight - Mint - Navajo - Peony - Pink Chandelier - Pink Pearl - Rock star - Sage - Velvet Plum. Long-Wear Eye Palette (LE)- This palette is tailor made for anyone who wants eye makeup that’s long-wearing and smudge resistant. Features new and popular shades of the best-selling Long-Wear Cream Eye Shadow, a soft velvety formula that doesn’t crease and Long-Wear Gel Eyeliner, a gel based formula that can be used to create subtle to dramatic looks. Moon Rock Palette - Gold Drop Long-Wear Cream Shadow, Mineral Dust Long-Wear Cream Shadow, Espresso Ink Long-Wear Gel Eyeliner, Black Topaz Long-Wear Gel Eyeliner - Night Sky Palette - Rock Star Long-Wear Cream Shadow, Ocean Storm Long-Wear Cream Shadow, Black Ink Long-Wear Gel Eyeliner, Thunderstorm Long-Wear Gel Eyeliner. Lip & Eye Palette (LE)- This season, it’s all about adding a special touch to your look - and Bobbi’s making it easy with her Lip & Eye Palette.

This limited-edition, double-decker palette includes new and exclusive shades of high-shimmer Metallic Eye Shadow and comfortable long-wearing Creamy Lip Color: Berry Mauve, Pink Sequin, Dusty Mauve (exclusive) and Ruby (new and exclusive) Creamy Lip Colors; Champagne Quartz, gold Dust, Golden Bronze (new and exclusive), Galaxy (new and exclusive) Metallic Eye Shadows. Also, with this collection, Nordstrom suggests the brushes and compacts that could be purchased with these products to help create the look that Bobbi was going for when she created the collection. But really, when looking at pretty new makeup, who goes out and buys all the brushes that they recommend with it? I have my core supply of brushes from Laura Mercier, MAC, NARS, Urban Decay, and Origins and really don’t go out of my way to buy every brush that is used on.

But I digressI want the Metallic Eye Shadows and the Long-Wear Eye Palette really badly. I also will be obsessed with the Lip Gloss Trio until I can lay my hands on it. Time to head back to Bloomingdales and do more than just gaze photo courtesy of Nordstrom. A couple of weeks ago, I wrote that I had decided to try a bunch of the new mascaras that came out last fall. I am over a month into the use of the first one so I can now begin my reviews of the products that I purchased and put to the test. The first mascara that I decided to get was Smashbox Bionic Mascara. I wasn’t really feeling this mascara when I first tried it but I kept using it in hopes that I would warm up to it.

Also, I had just come off of finishing Cargo Texas Lash, which we all know that I really liked so this formula left me with double disappointment, that it wasn’t Texas Lash and that I didn’t really like it at all. So here are the my thoughts on this product.

Sephora’s website gives this description of the product, “Smashbox Bionic is the first ionic mascara - it will leave you with longer, stronger, and more voluminous lashes! This specially engineered brush coats lashes with our revolutionary long-wearing, water-resistant formula for a dramatic full lash. Aloe, silk, and wheat proteins strengthen and condition.” So this formula is both a treatment product and a cosmetic in one little package.

I don’t really know how well it treated my lashes, I haven’t noticed much of a difference in them from before use of this product. I was under the impression that this was supposed to make my lashes huge and now I am beginning to wonder where I got that info from. I feel like I saw an ad for this product in a magazine and Smashbox itself promoted this mascara as providing major volume. Well, whatever the case may be, it didn’t provide the mass amounts of size that it takes to make me happy (WOW, that sounded really bad!). The brush is smaller than what I am used to so already this product was at a disadvantage compared to BadGal and Texas Lash.

The brush is stiff instead of soft and I found that I did like that aspect of it. The formula didn’t clump at all even when I was applying multiple coats (trust me, I needed multiple coats of this stuff).

Even after two coats, my lashes just looked dark and defined, not full and fat. However the worse part of this mascara is that it smears all of the place and by the end of the day, I usually look like I have raccoon eyes.

Now being that it smears all over the place, you would think that removal would now be difficult. Of course not! It is very hard to remove and impossible to remove 100%, the next morning I always wake up with more underneath my eyes no matter how well I thought that I got it off the night before. Nothing for sensitive skin, sensitive eyes, or a more natural product would have any prayers of removing this stuff. Mascara 1 = failure. I might want to try some of the cream-based eye shadows from this collection even though I have never really had luck with cream shadows.

Also, the Liquidlast liners look like they would create a beautiful eye look but I am a klutz with liquid liner. Maybe one of the MAC associates could help me make one of these work because I might fall in love with some of these, especially Molten Sol. This gold shade looks like it would be a more intense version of my beloved UD 24/7 Pencil in Honey. This is worth investigation. In many of the major runway shows this fall, the fashion world has been returning to the concept of menswear as womenswear. Vest and bow ties are huge so it only made sense that several months later, beauty companies would soon pick up on this trend. The first major one that has embraced this concept is Yves Saint Laurent.

The Holiday 2008 Collection is men inspired beauty at its finest. The collection even features many of its products in bow tie looking containers. The model for this look is has both strong eye and lip color on, so this look may be a bit on the extreme side for the more timid among us but there will be many women ready to give it a go! Flash Radiance Skincare Brush - With a single brush stroke, signs of fatigue are erased and skin is left feeling velvety smooth and fresh with radiance! This high performance formula combines all the benefits of a skincare product with the precision and ease of a brush, the silky and comfortable texture glides over the skin, leaving it feeling incredibly fresh and invigorated. A blend of energizing active ingredients combine the Grain of Paradise extract with caffeine to erase signs of fatigue. On the skin’s surface, light reflecting micro-pigments are able to capture and diffuse light, to reduce skin imperfections and boost radiance.

A seaweed derived sugar forms a veil that maintains moisture on the surface of the skin and protects it from external threats. Wheat proteins combined with sugar extracted from oats and a silicon elastomer allow for the formula to quickly smooth fine lines, leaving it soft and velvety. (WOW is that all?!). Tom Ford has been one of my loves ever since I first heard of him when he started designing for Gucci (that was years ago) so I had to smell his new scent White Patchouli. Thoughts of patchouli make me think of head shops and dirty hippies, so I really wasn’t all that interested in this scent but I heard many good things about it on other blogs and on Makeup Alley. In other words, I was told that it didn’t smell like the traditional patchouli and was very well imagined by Ford.

So with trepidation, I decided to give it a try at Sephora. I couldn’t really get many of the individual notes out of this when I tried it on so I decided to get on the Sephora site later on and see what they said about it. Here is their description, “With it sensuous core of patchouli, Tom Ford White Patchouli perfectly captures the myth of its generation. Sleek woods blend with the essence of elegant white flowers to create this modern retro-class fragrance that embodies a sophisticated interpretation of bohemian chic.

Citrus and coriander top notes capture attention with their sleek freshness and unfold into a floral trio, revealing intoxicating jasmine, refined muguet, and sensual rose absolute. An alluring base of patchouli oprur delivers rich depth and mingles with tempering sandalwood, rich incense, and golden amber for a compelling, seductive appeal.” To follow this up, here are the notes also - peony, mandarin, bergamot, jasmine, rose absolute, coriander, amberette seed, sandalwood, incense, golden amber. Oh Parisian makeup lines, how I love you so! Your mysterious accent and elusive glamour that a lady in the United States can only hope to achieve.

At least in this country, we do have access to some fantastic makeup lines that give us hope in order to achieve this ideal. The Holiday Collection this year from Guerlain reminds of a beautiful French women crossed with a wood nymph. Bright, elusive, ethereal. Dear readers, you are right in thinking that perhaps I have lost my mind over this collection, I have never waxed this poetic before, I feel like a magazine ad! But this collection is amazing and beautiful and a stand out among everything else that has been released so far this holiday. And yes, it stands out for me as much or more than NARS, so we know this one is very special. Midnight Butterfly - the timeless refinement of this elegant powder spray into a perfume type bottle.

The atomizer is decorated with a luxurious butterfly that can be clipped onto your handbag or the neckline of your dress. Delicate, soft, light, smooth, luscious, evanescentThere are scarcely enough adjectives to describe this innovative powder. Its secret lies in its silicon pearl that leaves the skin peachy soft, smooth, velvety and radiant. The ultimate aid to seduction, Midnight Butterfly can be sprayed onto the face, body (does not stain clothes), and hair.

Let the fun begin. A powder delicately scented with violet reminding us of Guerlain’s signature powders. A fragrance trail that is unique, sophisticated, and instantly recognizable.

I had to copy the above descriptions right from the Guerlain website because I could find no more beautiful way to describe this collection than what they have provided for the public. This collection is both unique and amazing. Many times, I use the word “unique” to describe something that is not beautiful but I don’t really want to call it ugly.

However this collection is one in a million. This is the only holiday collection that I have seen that doesn’t contain red lipstick or black eyeliner. I want it all! After several days of deviations about nail polish and holiday scented lotions, I am now ready to get back to talking about the holiday makeup collections. This time I am going to hit on Shu Uemura, a line that I have a very hard time finding and therefore neither own nor have ever really seen any of it. I find this collection on the Nordstrom website and now I am beginning to wonder if the store closest to me has any of it and somehow I just missed the whole collection because I was blinded by the enormous Chanel and MAC counters and huge section of Philosophy products. I am feeling that a trip back to that store in coming up sometime soon.

Here is the description from the Nordstrom website. “Enjoy the world of Shu Uemura as designed through the eyes of acclaimed Japanese photographer Mika Ninagawa.

Explosive vivid colors for the eyes, lips, and nails, combined with one-of-a-kind packaging bring distinctive looks and artistic beauty.” This collection is called Miki and unfortunately, I have no knowledge about the basis and inspiration for this line because I do not know anything about Mika Ninagawa. But the colors are still beautiful, so I’m not very upset about my lack of knowledge.

Some of the pictures weren’t really doing it for me on the Nordstrom site, so I decided to head on over to the Shu Uemura site and see if they looked better. Eye Color Palette in Secret Luscious Rose - The subtle combination of dusty rose shades expresses elegance and mystery. This palette includes seven pressed eye shadows and one easy to spread cream liner. A double ended applicator (sponge tip and eyeliner brush) is also included. Eye Color Palette in Midnight Winter Sakura - These deep, strong colors create a glamorous and feminine impression.

This palette includes seven pressed eye shadows and one easy to spread cream liner. A double ended applicator (sponge tip and eyeliner brush) is also included.

In case anyone reading this is not aware, I have more bath and body products than anyone else known to mankind. I worked at Bath and Body Works for several years in college and even though I have moved on from that job, I still sometimes get the itch to go back in there and buy more stuff that I won’t have a chance to use for the next year or two. Lately, I haven’t really been a fan of many of their new scents (with the exceptions of Enchanted Orchid and the already discontinued Blushing Cherry Blossom) so I have been pretty good about walking out of the store empty handed. But it is now that time of the year when they put up the twinkling lights, play the crappy Christmas music, and they bring back my favorite holiday scents and products and I get the irrational urge to stock up on all of them, lest they sell out within a day or two of hitting the shelves. Yes, I know this fear is silly but I have seen in more than one year of being there that the shower gels sell before Thanksgiving and usually the only things left after Black Friday are hand soaps and Vanilla Bean Noel body lotion. So, of course I had to go in early to get all of my products before the masses hit the mall. This year, the scents were all returning favorites and ones that I already had in my collection (except Winter Candy Apple, I finished that one up a couple years ago).

The scents are Vanilla Bean Noel, Twisted Peppermint, and Winter Candy Apple. My favorite by far in Vanilla Bean Noel because as we all know, I love anything that makes me smell like dessert.

Vanilla Bean Noel is a scent that blends fresh vanilla bean, warm caramel, and rich, comforting cream to create a deliciously sweet holiday indulgence. Twisted Peppermint blends cool, refreshing mint with white sugar and just a hint of rich vanilla to create an invigorating indulgence. Winter Candy Apple blends crisp apple, sweet orange and pineapple with cinnamon spice to create a joyous holiday indulgence. All of these scents come in assorted bath and body products, sprays and roll-ons, and some forms of home fragrance.

The only downfall is that the shower gels are filled with glitter but at least it doesn’t stick to the skin after being rinsed off. Well, Thanksgiving is upon today and it is officially one of my least favorite holidays. I don’t eat meat, so automatically the day sucks for me in that I can only eat about half of the meal that my mother makes. I really enjoy the slaughter of 3 million innocent birds so that Americans can celebrate a tradition. Oh yeah, and after the first Thanksgiving meal, the pilgrims gave their diseases to the Native Americans and then moved in to take all of their land over. I just love this holiday so much. A look at any Stella McCartney facial care products would not be complete if I didn’t then check out what is new with perfume line.

Stella is my favorite perfume ever and that is a huge accomplishment for this fragrance because I have many bottles of perfume and have tried almost every fragrance that is on the shelves at Sephora and even after 3 entire years, this one is still a head and shoulders above the rest. A couple day ago while in Sephora with a friend, I had her smell the perfume and she commented that is what I smell like all the time.

Complete truth. But there is nothing new available for this scent at this time, next spring hopefully she will release more of the lighter versions of it so I can wear it all year round. I have been talking about holiday makeup for the last few weeks here and now I need to break from it and cover something else that is holiday inspired.

After seeing an ad for the new O.P.I. Holiday nail polish colors, I knew that I had a new topic to write about. For nail polishes, I mostly use Lippmann Collection and Chanel. I also have a couple of old bottles of Essie, O.P.I., and Nicole but I haven’t really used them in ages and I may have thrown most of them away last time I cleaned out my traincase. So this collection is all new to me and I am ready to investigate some new colors from this company.

This collection is called Holiday in Toyland and it is 12 new nail shades with 3 coordinating shades for lips. I haven’t owned many products from Givenchy but since I really did love many of the products from their Fall 2008 Collection, I was quite excited to look at what they were coming out with for this Holiday. I was not disappointed by this collection. I am beginning to think that going forward, I will begin to regard Givenchy up there with NARS and Urban Decay in my personal favorite brands. The official description as found on the Sephora website is as follows, “Designed for women who like a little “sparkle” for a sophisticated evening look. Givenchy’s newest holiday collection offers a stunning complexion sculpted by touches of glowing light, shades of pink and purple shimmer on the lips, and bewitching deep shades for the eyes.” I love this collection!

I am so excited to see pinks and purples instead of the traditional blacks and reds that are offered every single holiday. According to the Sephora website, this entire collection is exclusive to Sephora (however, I have heard that many times before and it often is not totally accurate). I am in love right now. I actually haven’t been this excited about a Holiday collection since I looked at NARS (that is saying something HUGE)! I want the 07 Rose Shine lip gloss and I will not be resting until I get this color. I am wondering how close this color is to the always out of stock MAC Dazzleglasses. I will admit that I have never used a lip gloss from Givenchy so I can’t comment on the texture and wear of the Givenchy gloss.

This color is all the motivation that I need to try this line out. I also really love the new blush shades in this collection but I would need to see this product in real life to decided whether or not to purchase it because I can’t quite tell from the pictures exactly how shimmery this color is and I am not a fan of really shimmery blushes. I love the idea of pinks and violets for this Holiday and I can’t wait to head out to Sephora to see this shades. Each season instead of creating a whole brand new limited edition collection, Urban Decay creates a couple new colors and products (usually adding them to their permanent line) and creates looks with these colors and products. But these looks aren’t just brand new colors, the company combines some of the older and better selling colors into the looks also.

So instead of having to purchase a whole brand new set of makeup to match some of these looks, you might be able to get away with using the colors that you already have and buying only a couple new items. For myself who has a huge collection of Urban Decay, I do only have to buy one or two items in order to create each look but to be fair, someone who does not own a train case full of Urban Decay would most likely have to buy the whole look. My favorite of the holiday looks is called Three Piece.

However in this look, the makeup artists used blue and green eyeliners so I already know that I would have to try this same look with bronze and gold shades. The basis of this look is that it is a strong eye makeup based look, using 6 different eyeliners. Yes, you read that correct, 6 different eyeliners. The base liners are the 24/7 liners and liners on top are the Heavy Metal Glitter Eyeliners.

It appears that in the inner part of the eye, the liners form a greenish blue color, then in the middle, they appear bright blue, then the corner of the eye has a purplish hue on top. Then under the eye, Zero (with nothing on top of it) is used to finish up the look. With the use of the multiple liners, each hue is sparkly and iridescent and would most likely change colors with the lighting.

I love this for evening. Now it is time for the revered House of Chanel’s latest offering for the holiday. I didn’t love their last collection for fall but I am still enamored with their Blue Satin nail polish from last spring so that keeps my love alive. As everyone must know by now, Chanel was my first beauty love back in the seventh grade and I will always have a place in my heart for this company. I would never hesitate to drop any amount of money for a Chanel product that I fall in love with. Those Cs are like my crack.

First of all, it does provide Texas sized lashes. I think this mascara got my lashes to be thicker and lusher than any one that I have tried before (a bit more than BadGal Lash). However, this mascara (unlike BadGal Lash) did clump during application of the second coat almost every time that I used it. I think it is thicker formula than many that I have tried because I have never had so many problems with clumping and have never had to use a lash comb every time I put on mascara.

I didn’t have many problems with flaking, just couple flakes here and there, which I think is just normal wear for a mascara. No problems at all with running. The removal required eye makeup remover, water and gentle pressure do nothing to get this formula off at the end of the day. What I didn’t love; the tube is basic black and boring.

To some people this might not be a huge deal but I utterly love the Diorshow tube and found this one to be dull in comparison. If I were shopping for a new mascara and had no clue what to look for, I would not pick this one because there is no way that I would be drawn to this packaging. Also, this mascara has some kind of scent, while not offensive is still stronger than any other kind that I have tried. I looked through the reviews on Makeup Alley and many reviewers commented on the scent so at least I knew that I didn’t get a bad tube. Clinique’s newest holiday offerings are focused on the color of blackberries and shimmer. This company seems to repackage the same few colors for every single collection and something in every collection always reminds me of the Almost Lipstick in Black Honey. This product is their best selling lip product ever and has been in the collection for as long as a I can remember reading fashion magazines (summer before middle school).

So I understand that they want to go with something that they know will sell but I do wish that they would mix it up a little bit! The new collection for holiday is called Blackberry Bloom. This the official description from the Nordstrom website (I am really enjoying this site, I don’t know why I didn’t look here before!): “Clinique’s deep shimmering holiday look.

Let the festivities begin. Mysterious, shimmering and Oh! Blackberry Bloom inspires this elegant collection.” First thought, the collection is pretty but compared to NARS or MAC, these colors venture nowhere near what I think up when I read the words “deep” or “mysterious”. On the plus side, anyone can carry this look off so I can see these colors really selling well.