Most Wanted Allure Best of Beauty 2012

The October issue of Allure magazine always contains their annual Best of Beauty list and I look forward to this issue all year long.  Evey single year after I read this issue, I make a list of the top ten products that I must try from their favorites and add them to my shopping list.  I feel very confident buying any product from this list as products that make the final cut have beat out tons of others to win the product category.  I always find some new favorites from this Allure issue...

This year is no different.  It took me a bit longer to read through the large issue as my grad school work is piling up and shows no signs of stopping.  However the other night, I finished up the issue was able to make a Most Wanted list from the Best of Beauty awards.  This might be the last year that I can do a Most Wanted list from this magazine, I had tried so many of the products that made the cut already and I could only come up with a few that I haven't tried and would want to try.

Here is the Most Wanted from the Allure Best of Beauty!

- Tarte Amazonian Clay Waterproof Cream Eye Shadow in Shimmering Bronze
- Chanel Ombre Essentielle Eye Shadow in Taupe Grise
- Laura Mercier Caviar Stick in Jungle
- Wella Professionals Brilliance Conditioner
- Kerastase Elixir Ultime Oleo-Complexe
- Burberry Beauty Lip Mist in Feather Pink
- NARS Velvet Matte Lip Pencil in Dolce Vita
- Fresh Black Tea Face Mask
- OPI Nail Lacquer in Big Apple Red
- Aveda Stress-Fix Soaking Bath Salts

I love shopping for the winner!

Most Wanted Allure Best of Beauty 2011

I know, I know!  This post is way late, I actually received the magazine in the mail almost a month ago but with everything going on between school and work, all of my magazines sat in a pile in the corner of my bedroom until the past few days.  But I am pretty much caught up on the pile and I was most excited to see the October issue of Allure, the Best of Beauty list in an eternal favorite of mine and always gives me some great new items to buy.

My Most Wanted from this year's Best of Beauty...

- Benefit Creaseless Cream Shadow/Liner in Birthday Suit
- Smashbox Eye Shadow in Obsidian
- Burberry Beauty Lip Cover in Nude Rose
- NARS Velvet Matte Lip Pencil in Cruella
- Clarins Beauty Flash Balm
- Kate Somerville CytoCell Dark Circle Corrective Eye Cream
- Rescue Beauty Lounge Nail Polish in Moulin Rouge
- NARS Pro-Prime Multi-Protect Primer SPF 30
- Living Proof No Frizz Conditioner
- Maison Martin Margiela (Untitled)

This is one of my more rounded list, I have eye products, lip products, skincare products, and one fragrance that I want to try from all these top rated products.  I was very happy to see that the Make Up For Ever HD line won multiple awards, I agree with the editors that these are fantastic products.  I am glad that NARS is well represented but I am not happy that there is no representation from MAC or Urban Decay since both lines have some wonderful products.  There's always next year...for now I will be adding to my NARS collection.

Sephora Collection Allure Beauty Editor Palette

In the August issue of Allure magazine, there was a full page write-up on a new makeup collaboration that Sephora did with the Allure Beauty Editor team.  The full palette itself actually contains five smaller palettes, each of which is designed to fully create one "look" such as bold eye makeup or bronzed skin.  The Allure editors combined their collective knowledge to cut through all the products available on the market to put together perfectly matched eye shadows, a face product, and a lip gloss.  Each of these palettes make it really easy to create one look and are a great choice for a makeup beginner or for trying a new look. 

Sephora states the following on their website, "A collection of makeup created in collaboration with the beauty editors of Allure Magazine.  This extensive collection includes five fashionable color palettes selected by Allure Editor-In-Chief Linda Wells and her team of top beauty editors.  The main component holds all five palettes and a portable compact.  The compact in interchangeable, so choose any palette, snap it in, and go!  Each palette contains six eye shadows, one blush or bronzer, and one doe foot lip gloss.  These high-payoff eye shadows are totally blendable.  Each lipstick is non-sticky and can be swapped among palettes."

In Allure magazine, it states that the motivation behind the palettes was that every single shade was usable.  The beauty editors wanted to avoid a common issue among eye palettes; you use one or two shades all the time and then the rest of the shades go to waste in your traincase.  I agree with this issue since I have very few palettes where I use every single shade consistently.  But to play devil's advocate with this palette collection, I am sure that there are very few people that will use every single shade in this palette collection (and they are all sold together it seems since I can't order specific shades on the Sephora website).  So I understand the logic that went into putting these shades together but I still don't find this collection to be the end-all among all the palettes on the beauty product market today.

Here are the palettes (with details provided by Allure Beauty Editors)...

All Fun No Sun - A palette of coppers, bronzes, and browns.  "Bronze makeup is an easy (and safe) way to look sunkissed, but the key is incorporating other colors.  This palette holds a matte bronzer and shimmery bronze shadow as well as metallic shadows - shell, taupe, copper, deep brown, and purple - plus a rosy gloss.", states Catherine Devine, editorial assistant.

Color Theory - A palette of sharp jewel tones like violet and green.  "If you like bold colors but aren't quite sure how to where them together, we've made it easy: Wear any two of the strong eye shadows (teal, violet, blue, pink-purple) together, or layer the brown or matte brown on top.  Pink-y nude gloss and blush keep the rest of the face soft.", states Sophia Panych, associate editor.

Beauty 101 - A palette of soft nudes and taupes.  "With office makeup, you want to look pulled-together but not boring.  Get that effect by blending a bit of the champagne or shimmery lavender eye shadow with the browns and grays here.  You won't look too neutral with peachy pink blush and gloss." states Daisy Shaw, assistant editor.

Sparkles Fly - A palette of black, bold gold, and orange.  "This kit contains all the ingredients for a party look: sparkly gold, copper, and purple shadows, plus a scarlet gloss.  Blue-gray and black shadows offset the shimmery colors and can be liners if you wet them; gold and pearl are highlighters, and the tan blush balances the look.", states Dina Mekawi, producer.

Where There's Smoke - A palette of smoky charcoal and grays.  "The building blocks for the ultimate smoky eye: an intense black, a pearly white, and two shades of gray.  As an alternative, swap the black and gray for the eggplant or forest green shadow.  The berry gloss amd rosy blush complete the sexy theme.", states Jennifer Yee, associate market editor.

As I stated in the beginning of this post, this collection of palettes is great for someone just getting into makeup.  This would be the perfect present for a girl in her late teens or early twenties but I am willing to bet that many people already own over half of the shades in this palette.  I like every single one of these palettes and there are some great shade choices in all of them but I know that I own most of these shades already and if I don't own it than there is a reason for that (like the tan blush - I would never wear this shade on my cheeks).  All Fun No Sun and Where There's Smoke are my favorite of the collection but I can safely skip this whole thing since there is nothing that unique about any of the shades.

I understand the concept of why these are in palettes and I hail Allure for putting together palettes that real people can use but I feel like they left a big part of there audience out since many women already have these shades and have mastered at least two of three of the looks that the palettes create.  I would be more interested in seeing a collection of individual products picked out by the Allure editors and then they show us how they work together to create the looks.  Just my thoughts...

photo courtesy of Sephora

October 2008 Issue of Allure

A couple of weeks ago, the coveted Allure Best of Beauty issue landed in my mailbox. This is the issue that I wait all year for and generally consider this to the Bible of beauty products. This year didn’t disappoint. The list created some new products for me to lust after, nominations that I agree with wholeheartly, and nominations that I utterly disagreed with.

The Agreements…
- Brow Products - Anastasia Beverly Hills Tinted Brow Gel
- Concealer for Blemishes - Murad Acne Concealer
- Primer - Smashbox Photo Finish Light Foundation Primer
- Powder Blush - NARS
- Tinted Moisturizer - Laura Mercier Tinted Moisturizer SPF 20
- Dry Shampoo - Oscar Blandi Pronto Dry Shampoo powder
- New Fragrance - Chloe
- Citrus Fragrance - Dolce and Gabbana Light Blue
- Eyelash Curler - Shu Uemura

The Disagreements…
- Lip Stain - They picked Lauren Hutton First Kiss Lip & Cheek Stain + Balm in Larry, I feel that the best product is in this category is Benefit’s Benetint
- Lip Gloss - They picked Clinique Long Last Glosswear SPF 15, I feel that the best product is NARS lip gloss, hands down (followed closely by MAC Lip Glass).
- Nail Polish, Darks - They picked Dior Vernis Nail Lacquer in Poison Blue, I feel that the best dark shade ever is Chanel’s Blue Satin Nail Polish.
- Nail Polish Remover - They picked Cutex Nail Polish Remover Pads Non-Acetone, I feel that the best product in this category is Lippmann Collection The Stripper.
- Mascara for Evening - They picked Max Factor Volume Couture High Volume & Definition Mascara, I feel that the best product in this category is either Benefit’s Bad Gal Lash, Awake Optic Force Mascara, or Cargo Texas Lash (c’mon I can’t pick just one mascara!)
- Concealer for Undereye Circles - They picked Cinema Secrets Ultimate Foundation Palette, I feel that the best product in this category is Amazing Cosmetics Amazing Concealer.
- Cleanser, Sensitive Skin - They picked Purpose Gentle Cleansing Wash, I feel that the best product in this category is Caudalie Instant Foaming Cleanser.
- Facial Moisturizer, Dry - They picked Patricia Wexler M.D. Skin Brightening Daily Moisturizer SPF 30, I feel that the best product in this category is Awake Hydro-Force Cream
- Scrub, Face- They picked St. Ives Elements Microdermabrasion, I feel they the best pick in this category is Peter Thomas Roth Buffing Beads.
- Body Wash - They picked St. Ives Collagen Elastin Moisturizing Body Wash, I feel that the best pick in this category is Philosophy 3 in 1 in Senorita Margarita.
- Straightener, Hair - They picked Nexxus Sleek Memory Straightening Spray, I feel that the best pick in this category is Phyto Phytodefrisant Baum.
- Mask, Hair - They picked Pantene Pro V Restorative Replenishing Mask, I feel that the best pick in this category is Phyto PhytoCitrus Hair Mask.

I am not saying that any of the above products that I disagreed with are bad products, I am just saying that I have found a product in those category that I find to be superior to those nominated or to any others that I have personally tested. Feel free to agree or disagree.

"Youth Movement" August 2008 Allure

The August issue of Allure contains an article in it entitled “Youth Movement”. The general gist of this article is that signs of aging can occur a lot sooner than what doctors and the beauty industry have always thought. The focus of this article is to tell women how to ward off and how to help to treat these signs without having to resort to the plastic surgeon.

The article starts by talking about photoaging and how 80% of the signs of aging are caused by UV exposure. I loved reading this because I am obsessed with covering myself in SPF 30 every single day and many people think I am crazy for it. It is really nice to be proved right for once.

The part of this article that I found to be the most interesting was the part about lines that form around the mouth. These lines seem to impossible to prevent since they occur when talking, drinking through straws, and the area is hard to consistently keep covered with SPF. The part that really made me think was about drinking through straws. I was at restaurant last night with a friend and I was served a drink with a straw in it and I realized how hard this would be to get around. However, one thing I can control is consistently exfoliating this area and applying moisturizer to it.

The second part of this article that really caught my interest is the section on dull skin. This talks about how when the early 30s are reached, skin will begin to lose its radiance and cell turnover is slowed and the skin then begins to appear dull, dry, and patchy. I never realized that by using a mechanical scrub on my face, I might actually not be helping it as much as I thought I was. The article states that people rarely ever can exfoliate their face evenly with a scrub of this type. The article recommends the use of an AHA peal to evenly exfoliate all areas of the face. I have only used AHAs once in my life and I only used that product once a week. I am intrigued about the Juice Beauty product that this article recommends for sensitive skin.

I feel like this article could scare some people into running right to plastic surgeon to prevent signs of aging. However, this article gives a very simple option on how to help prevent the signs of aging…wear an SPF 30 every single day!

Pale Skin - The New Summer Beauty?

The trends of the past few summers have had one large common thread, perfectly bronzed skin. with the dangers of the sun and tanning beds, this has left people who care about the future of their skin only one alternative, time consuming and rather smelly self tanners. I have been using these products for several years now. The first and second summers that i used them, i truly went wild for this bronzed look and "tanned" almost everyday.

However, self tanners are really beginning to lose their appeal to me. I have actually only "tanned" a handful of times so far this summer.

The July issue of Allure contained an article entitled "Pale Force" discussing ladies who have pale skin and how the bronzed look is no longer the only choice for summer skin. With the increased knowledge that the world has about the dangers of tanning, it really isn't even seen as all that attractive anymore.

This article shows that bright, summery shades actually may look better against a porcelain complexion than a deeply bronzed one. There are three looks that allure set forth, the last of which I utterly adore. it is peachy version of the smoky eye. I have used peachy eye shadows for about a year now and have realized that I have yet to find a better looking pale shade for my blue eyes. The peachy shades of this look are soft, beautiful, and fantastic for any pale skinned female.

Will this trend last? I really have no answer to this question. It seemed that we are coming into a more enlightened age about tanning and its ill effects and hopefully beauty will get intelligent and follow.