Benefit Box O' Powders Ultra Plush Lip Gloss - Coming Soon!

One of my favorite products that I have been using this summer is my Benefit Bella Bamba Blush and one of the most exciting previews that I have seen this month is that a series of lip glosses with be released to match some of the best-selling Benefit Blush shades.  So far, this collection of glosses is listed as a "Coming Soon" on the Sephora website but I am just so excited that I wanted to share with everyone.  I don't have a release date yet on these products and it will take at least a week after the website release for the new glosses to be available in the stores.  I will be all over the Bella Bamba lip gloss when I can finally order it!

Sephora provides a full description on this product, I looked for this release on the Benefit website and couldn't find any details so I have to assume that this is a Sephora-only release (at least for the time being).  "A silky, plush gloss that glides onto lips.  This dazzling lip gloss drenches your lips in brilliant shine and a burst of juicy color that's never sticky.  Loaded with crystal brilliance, color glides on smooth.  Just one stroke will give you glimmering, shimmering lips!  The irresistible shades, from sultry nudes to punchy pinks, come in soft-squeeze tubes with a custom tip designed for perfectly even application.  To create a beautifully pulled-together look in seconds, pair your favorite lip gloss with its complementing box o' powder."

The shades of the gloss match the shades of the best-selling Benefit Blushes.  I see that Bella Bamba will be available in a lip gloss shade but that Thrrob is not going to be available.  For the longest time, I thought that Thrrob was discontinued but I still see it at the Benefit counter at my local Sephora.  This gloss will be available in six shades, however this is a great shade range in that there is at least one or two shades to suit everyone's skin tone.

Here are the blush-inspired lip gloss shades from Benefit!

- Dandelion - soft pearly pink
- Sugarbomb - shimmering pinky nude
- Dallas - dusty rose
- Bella Bamba - sheer bright watermelon
- CORALista - sheer coral
- Hoola - shimmering golden nude

I love the Bella Bamba shade and I want to create a summer look around the use of the blush and lip gloss, this look will be fabulous will a tan and will be perfect for weekends.  Dandelion will work well when my skin is a bit on the paler side since it is a pale pink shade, I now want both the gloss and the matching blush.  Sugarbomb will also be better for a more natural look when my skin is paler and both of the products in this shade will be very flattering.  Dallas is a more pigmented rose shade and I will be adding both of these products to this collection for the fall months.
I can't wait until this lip gloss is released and the overview of the shades has me even more excited.  This little collection will be havok on my wallet, I now want four lip glosses from the group and it also has introduced me to three new blush shades that I want to buy.  I tend to skip over Benefit blushes and head right to NARS and Illamasqua shades but between looking at these shades and how happy I have been with Bella Bamba over the past few weeks, I want to add more shades from this blush lineup to my overflowing traincase...

photo courtesy of Sephora

MAC Electric Bright

This week, MAC has released another small new collection, this one is online only and only consists of new shades in some of their best-selling eye and lip products.  This collection is called Electric Bright and contains come great new bright hues that will work great for the summer months.  This is the first collection that I have seen the Pro Longwear Eye Shadow, regular MAC Eye Shadow is a favorite formula of mine and I am very curious to see how the Pro version of this product works!

"MAC Electric Bright - an exclusive online selection of Pro Longwear for eyes and lips in vibrant shades for coral to magenta to fuchsia and peacock blue."  I wish that this colleciton would be at the counters since I want to play with the eye shadow formula before I order it online.  The last thing that I need to buy are more shades for the summer so I don't really know how many of these I will be buying since I am already beginning to think toward the fall months and what types of products and shades that I want to begin shopping for.  Many of the hues in this collection look as though they are an extension of the MAC and Beth Ditto collection, I do wonder why they just weren't all released in the same collection...

Here is the Electric Bright collection...

Pro Longwear Eye Shadow - A unique longwearing Eye Shadow with a silky, creamy texture formulated for maximum color impact.  Easily blendable and buildable; lids are visibly smooth no matter how intense the application.  Lasts 8 hours.
- Styledriven - pale white blue
- Plush - vivid purple
- Tease With Ease - bright fuchsia

Pro Longwear Lip Creme - Lightweight texture, creamy finish and comfortable longwear combine in this has-it-all pro class lip colour.  Slick in use, applies without need of a top coat - and still lasts up to 12 hours.  Won't feather or transfer, and the colour stays true.  Helps lips stay soft and hydrated.
- Good To Go - loudmouth orange
- Love Forever! - bright blue pink

Pro Longwear Lipglass - A longwearing Lipglass that goes on smooth and lasts for up to six hours!  Envelops lips with shine and colour and pro-longs the hours between re-application.
- Whoops! - bright coral
- Full Speed Ahead - bright pink-magenta

This collection looks like a series of shades that are left over from previous limited edition collections, almost every single shade in this offering rings a bell in my head as something that I have seen before.  Styledriven is obvious, this was the name of a well-known collection from last year and I know that it contained this eye shadow shade.  What I don't fully recall is whether or not this was the same shadow formula in that collection and if I have played with this shadow formula.  I wasn't in love with anything from Styledriven and I know that I didn't buy anything from it (everything that I liked was sold out at my counter and nothing was unique enough to chase down).  Love Forever! is the only shade that I love enough in this little collection to really order from the website and I would be more likely to see if the Dear Diary shade in this formula (from MAC and Beth Ditto) is still in stock at the MAC counter.

I feel like this collection is just a series of products that MAC is throwing together to try and get a bit of attention before they begin releasing the major fall collections...

photo courtesy of MAC

My Current Favorites!

It is almost the middle of June and I am firmly into my summer beauty routine and have been cultivating my coveted self tan.  When I get into my self-tanning routine, I have to change my whole makeup routine and most of my skincare regime.  I have been stuck on the Bath and Body Works Tru Blue Spa self tanning lotion since early last summer and have been rebiying bottles of it every since.  I have even looked at some different formulas from Sephora but I keep going back to the same kind of tanner that I have been using for over a year now.  I wish that this product was sold in gallon sizes, this is the only size that would get me all the way through until Labor Day...

My most-coveted product right now is that tanner that I have been talking about and it is the center of my entire summer beauty routine.  I have built up an impressive fake tan that makes me look as though I just got back from the Islands.  I started using the product when I was on vacation from work and when I went back, everyone thought that I spent a week laying on the beach.  Nope...just two sessions with one of the best and most accessible Spa-inspired body product lines on the beauty market today!

My current beauty loves!

Bath and Body Works Bronzing Self Tanning Lotion - "Strike gold right at home.  This luxurious sunless tanning lotion is a real treasure that will give you a perfect tan, thanks to a touch of instant sheer color that lets you see where you've applied it.  Vitamin E helps to moisturize skin.  Glistening gold formula provides instant bronzing.  Tantalizing tropical coconut fragrance."  This is one of the best self tanning formulas that I have ever use, it works on par with the St. Tropez formula and is much easier to find.  The bronze tint in this product makes it easy to see where I have applied and rubged this product in and the watery texture sinks right into skin and dries quickly, even in the most humid of summer weather.  I get so many compliments on my "tan" when I use this product and even my closest friends are shocked that my tan is totally fake!  I will go through at least three or four tubes of this product before Labor Day and I will have a great "tan" all summer long.
Illamasqua Nail Varnish is Collide - "A spectrum of bold shades with a range of finishes including matt, rubber, and high-gloss.  Award-winning, extremely hardwearing and chip-resistant, there's an Illamasqua Nail Varnish for every shade of humanity.  Apply two coats for intensity and use with Illamasqua Nail Base Coat and Illamasqua Nail Top Coat for the perfect finish."  Collide is a neon shade satin finish polish that has been a top choice in my polish rotation for the past few weeks.  This is the perfect neon pink shade, I love that it has no shimmer in it and the satin finish allows the color to be the spotlight instead of glitter and shimmer.  Neon pink is very popular this summer and the stellar formula on this polish (four to five days with no chipping) allows this one to really go the distance and is one of the best choices for pink shades this summer.

MAC Hey, Sailor! Bronzing Powder in Soft Sand - "A lightly frosted, tinted powder that gives skin sheer, natural colour effects and higlights.  Ideal to enhance and strengthen a tan.  Packaged in blue and white stripes, it's a match to everything Hey, Sailor!.  Limited edition."  Soft Sand is a "golden bronze with fine gold pearl", this shade is the best choice of the whole collection for fair to medium skin that doesn't get very dark even with the use of self-tanner.  The shimmer in this powder in very fine so the tan that is produced by this product is very natural looking and the product can be used during the day and night.  I have been using this bronzer almost every single day since I started self-tanning at the end of May and it has been a key element is keeping up my tanned complexion.

MAC Hey, Sailor! Eye Shadow in Barefoot - "Highly pigmented powder.  Applies evenly, blends well.  Packaged in blue and white stripes, it's a match to everything Hey, Sailor!.  Limited edition."  Barefoot is a "tarnished gold" with a frosty metallic finish.  This is a very pigmented, neutral gold that brings out my blue eyes and looks wonderful against a fake tan.  I have been using this with the matching eye liner from this collection and the combination of the two products has allowed to me to have a great foiled gold eye look that stays in place all day and night.  I really wish that this shade wasn't a limited edition for MAC...

Benefit Bella Bamba Blush - "A watermelon pink blush laced with shimmering gold undertones.  This boxed blush, with a mirror tucked inside a magnetic closure flip-top lid, amplifies cheekbones and creates the illusion of sculpted features for a gorgeous 3D effect.  Your face will look instantly brighter with a just a quick swipe of this ultra-flattering color on the cheeks."  This shade is a bright peachy pink that looks best with a fake tan, this is one of those blush shades that looks nice against pale skin but pops against a tan.  The bright shade wakes my face up and creates a bright flush on my cheeks.  This blush makes my face look as though I have been relaxing at the beach all day.  I received a sample of this product as part of the Sephora Beauty Insider program and it is so pigmented that I will be using the sample all summer and then I will buy the full product next summer.  I am hearing that a lip gloss will be released in this shade over the next week and I am very excited to try this product too!

My whole summer beauty look focuses around the tan that is created with the Bath and Body Works tanner.  The watermelon blush, bright gold eye shadow, and bright pink nail polish all serve to really enhance the tan and create a perfect summer look that is both right on trend and very fun.  I am thinking that this products and shades will be in my line up all through until Labor Day!

photo courtesy of Bath and Body Works

OPI and Minnie Mouse Collection

In addition to the Spiderman collection, OPI has recently released a second small nail polish collection.  This little collection consists of a range of pink hues for the nails, all of which have been inspired by vintage Minnie Mouse cartoons.  It appears to me that the collaboration of OPI and The Muppets last holiday season must have done very well since cartoon and movie-inspired collaborations have been released from this company over the past few months.  I am liking this little collections, they have had some fun shades that are right on trend.

I have been buying pink polish shades all spring and my collection of pink-hued polishes has grown by leaps and bounds over the past season.  I really wish that this collection would have come out a bit earlier in the spring, I would have been all over these pinks but I don't need to add anymore summer shades to my collection at this time.  "She's flirty.  She's stylish.  She's totally fa-'mouse'.  And now her irresistible charm is yours to enjoy."  This collection consists of four new polishes, one of which is a confetti and the others are full pigment hues of pink.

The three full pigment shades range from a light pink all the way to a deep magenta.  The light pink is named If You Moust, You Moust.  It is a tradition cool-toned light blue pink cream.  This is a very pretty shade but it has been done so many times from OPI and other companies that you really only need this shade if you are obsessed with Minnie Mouse and want to collect all the shades in the range.  The next shade is The Color Of Minnie, a bright pink-red with a very subtle silver shimmer.  This shade is right in the middle of a pink and a red, it is too red for me and I think that I will be skipping over this one since I doubt that it will be as flattering as the others.  The last of the full pigments shade is my favorite, I'm All Ears.  This shade is a bright magenta with vivid silver shimmer.  I love this shade but when I looked at pictures of it online, I saw that it looks exactly like China Glaze Ahoy!, a shade that I already own and love.  I don't need another bottle of this shade, they are almost exact dupes.  However, Ahoy! has been getting harder to find at Ulta and if you can't find it, this is a great sub.

The confetti top coat is the shade that I am most likely to purchase, it is the most unique and can be worn on its own or over any of these pinks.  This polish is called Nothin' Mousie 'bout It.  It is a clear base with gold and pink glitter suspended in it.  In addition to the full-sized glitter particles int his polish, it also contains heart-shaped pink confetti pieces.  I am not someone who goes crazy for anything heart-shaped but there is just something about this top coat that I love.  This top coat would be great for Valentine's Day and is still fun throughout the whole summer months.  I would be more likely to use this top coat in an accent manicure, painting the heart confetti on only my ring finger nails and using the traditional glitter on the rest of my hands.  The salon that I have recently started going to has the full line of OPI polishes for use in manicures so I am considering asking for this type of manicure to see how the effect looks in real life.

This would have been a great collection to release around Valentine's Day and to use at salon in manicures for this special day.  This is still a very fun collection for the summer months, however I wish that some of the pink shades would be a bit more unique since I already own shades that look very much like these.  The top coat is the most unique polish in this collection and that is the only shade that I want to try out.  I will be looking for this collection the next time that I get my hair done at the salon!

photo courtesy of news.instyle.com

Bulgari Omnia Crystalline

Bulgari's Omnia Crystalline is the latest fragrance sample that I have been using from the massive pile of samples that I keep collecting from all of my Sephora website orders.  The pile is finally beginning to decrease but I still have quite a few vials that need to be tested.  I love when I can get fragrance samples from the Sephora website since I usually need to wear a fragrance for at least three or four days before I decide if I should add it to my growing collection, gone are the days when I only had a handful of scents and would buy something within twenty minutes after I first tested it out.  Now that my collection is so large, I have to be a bit more selective since I have next to no room on my dresser for anymore bottles.  Bulgari's Omnia Crystalline is a fragrance that I knew next to nothing about before I added the sample to my cart and this fragrance is so unique that I actually own nothing that smells even close to it.

This fragrance is very light and clean, with crisp green notes layered through it.  "Capturing the glowing clarity of crystal light, Omnia Crystalline illuminates, reflects, and reveals a woman's unique radiance, her feminity, her beauty - the inexpressible, irresistible lightness of her being."  This fragrance is like nothing that I have ever owned or have smelled before, a major accomplishment on the part of the creators of this scent. 

The notes of Omnia Crystalline - Bamboo, Nashi, Lotus Flower, Balsa Wood. 

The perfect place to wear this fragrance is the office or out on a date to very nice restaurant.  When I first applied this scent, I immediately pictured pairing it with heels and a suit for a conservative work environment, it is very clean yet still very elegant.  This light green fragrance is not strong enough to offend anyone in the office and is still enough to allow the wearer to rule the boardroom.  The most distinct note in this fragrance is the lotus flower, it is the main green note and imparts a bit of watery floral to the scent.  The watery floral aspect of the fragrance wears off within an hour or two and then the greenery mixed notes are what remains on the skin.

This Bulgari scent is almost composed entirely of top notes and only contains a light balsa wood notes at the base of the fragrance.  The balsa wood note impart a slight woody note to this fragrance but it is overshadowed by the greenery notes at the heart of the fragrance.  The base note in this fragrance doesn't really make the fragrance last on the skin they way stronger woods stay on the skin, I only get about three hours wear from this scent before it almost completely disappears on the skin, I wish that this fragrance was available in a small rollerball or a solid perfume to keep in my bag for touch-ups throughout the day.  I will need to carry the smallest bottle of the perfume around with me in order to keep the scent going throughout the day.

After a week's worth of wearing this sample, I have realized that I really have no fragrance like this in my collection and I want to add it to my line up.  I think that I can wait a few months to buy this fragrance though, it will be best in the spring and summer months and I don't have room for it right now.  I will be buying a bottle next spring, it is so unique and perfect for a professional environment.

photo courtesy of Sephora

Vincent Longo Baby Balm Lipstick

My Vincent Longo collection seems to grow every single time that I do some more cleaning, I cannot believe how many products I bought from this line and then put away and forgot about.  Baby Balm Lipstick was one of the later releases in the Vincent Longo line and started to become popular just as I was moving away from this product line.  This is a hybrid product that is half way between a lipstick and a lip balm, creating a sheer wash of hydrating color that sticks on the lips like a traditional cream lipstick.  This is a very typical sheer lipstick formula, there is nothing in this formula that will change your life but it performs very well among the other brands on the market.

"An ideal lipstick and unique, gloss meets protective balm formula.  Moisturizers combine with pigments to provide a sheer veil of color rendering the lips naturally sexy.  It's extremely comfortable, emollient texture restores, heals, and prevents the lips from aging.  Vitamins C and E paired with soothing Apricot Nut Oils protect and repair lips from free radical damage.  High shine polymers provide a long-lasting delicately glossy finish and a sheer veil of color.  A balanced mix of waxes and lightweight oils create a thin protective lip barrier for a very comfortable feel." 

This lipstick is creates a great finish and feel on the lips, however it is not all the different than any other sheer lipstick.  I own this lipstick in Sheer Contessa, a sheer medium berry shade.  Vincent Longo suggests the following as an application technique: "Sheer color lipsticks last longer when applied over defined lips.  Use our Lip Pencil in a coordinating shade to shape and contour your mouth.  Beginning in the center of your lips, use VL Brush #35 or #36 to paint a thin layer of color.  Completely paint lips up to and including the lip line.  Blot and paint a second layer of color."  I tend to use this product in a slightly lower maintence way, I use it on clean, bare lips for a very sheer flush of berry tint.  I agree that the lipstick would last longer with the matching lip pencil but this type of application would give a much more pigmented look than I want from a sheer lipstick.  If I am going to use it as Longo suggests, I might as well use a traditional satin or cream formula.

I get about two to three hours of wear from this product, I do need to reapply almost every single time that I eat or drink something.  The formula is very hydrating and I love the soft, cushy feel of it on the lips.  This product can truely be called a lip balm with a small hint of color, a hydrating lip gloss will give you many of the same effects as this product.

The shades that are offered in this sheer lipstick formula are...

- Honey Cafe - sheer neutral nude
- Positano - sheer warm medium nude
- Sorrento - sheer warm medium orange
- Sheer Contessa - sheer cool medium berry
- Amorosa - sheer cool medium pink
- Fawn Nestle - sheer pink nude
- Fresh Carnal - sheer flesh tone
- Le Cameron - sheer light blue pink
- Love Berry - sheer medium blue pink
- Soft Saturn - sheer warm peach
- Tawny Mauve - sheer warm mauve

I like the finish from this lipstick however it is not a very unique formula, almost any sheer lipstick formula would perform similar to or exactly the same as this product.  There aren't really any unique aspects of this product, I like the sheer color that it produces and the hydrating benefits that it provides but most sheer lipsticks provide similar benefits.  Amorosa and Love Berry are pretty sheer pink hues but they aren't very different from the pinks that I have already bought from Clinique's Almost Lipstick line.  Since Vincent Longo products are getting harder to find, I don't know that I would expand all the effort to find this product when I could use the Clinique Almost Lipstick or the NARS Sheer Lipstick formula.

photo courtesy of Vincent Longo

China Glaze Summer 2012 Collection - Summer Neons

This is the last of the summer collections that I will be looking at for the season, I would have ended the summer collections with Naked Strangers from Illamasqua but I was waiting around for this collection from China Glaze to release.  I was a little surprised at how long it took China Glaze to release this shade, the spring collection from this company was on the website in the middle of January and I had been seeing reports of the summer collection being available for use at salons since the beginning of May.  Personally, I have already bought all the nail polish shades that I am going to buy this season and I don't need anymore neons that I will only wear for the next three months...

Even before checking out this collection, I can state that there is probably nothing that I will need from the collection since I am already beginning to think about fall beauty trends.  Realistically, before the end of June, we will be seeing hints of the major fall collections and I will be writing up a Trend Report for this season.  This collection from China Glaze is named Summer Neons and consists of twelve new neon shades that all have a fine shimmer finish.  On first glance, this collection looks very similar to the summer collection from Zoya (released last April) and it would have been much better to release it back when that collection was released.  But I think that it is time to get off my soapbox and just look at the polishes and see if I should make a last minute trip to my nearest Sally Beauty Supply.

Here is the Summer Neons collection from China Glaze!

- Surfin' For Boys - bright peach coral with shimmer
- Love's A Beach - bright neon pink with pink shimmer
- Hang-Ten Toes - light blue neon pink with silver shimmer
- Beach Cruise-r - bright purple with silver shimmer
- Under the Boardwalk - deep berry cream
- Ride The Waves - bright denim blue cream
- Splish Splash - bright blue with silver shimmer
- I'm With The Lifeguard - neon green with gold shimmer
- Sun-Kissed - bright highlighter yellow with gold shimmer
- Orange You Hot? - bright medium orange with silver shimmer
- Flirty Tankini - warm bright coral with silver shimmer
- Pink Plumeria - light pink coral with silver shimmer

Overall this is a great summer collection and it is so disappointing that it came out at the tail end of the releases, this collection could have held it's own if it has been released about a month ago and I would have been picking up quite a few shades.  My favorites are the blues and pinks in this collection, Splish Splash is the shade that I am considering a trip to Sally's to see if it is still in stock.  Assuming most of the shades are in stock, I would also like the Love's A Beach, Hang-Ten Toes, and Pink Plumeria shades.  I love the pinks in this collection and they would be solid additions to my pink polish collection. 

The corals in this line are too warm for me to find flattering, most of them tend toward the orange side.  The super-neons are just too much for me and I wouldn't use them at all but I can see them selling well to people who love China Glaze and unique polishes.

Well this is my last summer collection post, I will be rocking my summer shades for the next three months while I begin to look forward to the fall collections.  I have already found a sneak peek of the Chanel fall collection on Makeup Alley and if this collection is any indication, we are in for a great next few months!

photo courtesy of China Glaze's Facebook page