NARS Holiday 2008 Collection

No discussion on new makeup collections would be complete without my favorite brand in the entire world. What brand would this be? Why NARS, of course! NARS Fall 2008 Collection was great so Holiday 2008 holds the potential to be outstanding and the best of the best. In an interview with Francois NARS that is up on the NARS website, he talks about how his icon for this line and the Fall 2008 line had blue eyes and how he put his love of the color gold into these lines. LOVE LOVE LOVE!!!

Here’s the collection…

- Blush - Super Orgasm (peachy pink with gold glitter)

- Single Eye Shadow
- Night Life - silver with silver particles
- Silent Night - metallic with gold particles

- Duo Eye Shadow - Jolie Poupee (vibrant violet/pearlescent purple)

- Lipstick - Canaille (shimmering mahogany)

- Lip Gloss - All Night Long (dusty raspberry)

- Nail Polish - Orgasm (peachy pink with shimmer)

I see three standouts already. The lip gloss and the two single eye shadows are absolutely wonderful. When I first opened up the page to the collection on the NARS website, all I could think was that I wanted those two eye shadows like I have never wanted anything else before. I have a special place in my heart for NARS Night collection eye shadows. My first foray into the world of dark eye makeup involved the NARS Night Clubbing shade (a favorite to this day) and the purple shade Santorini. The look that was given to me by the makeup artist was over the top and stagy but I still bought Night Clubbing and the brushes to go along with it. Obviously, I learned to use it in a much more toned down fashion. The All night Long Lip Gloss looks like a deeper version of my beloved Chihuahua and could be worn with these eye shadows for a party look or alone for a natural look during the day. I will be visiting Sephora and their NARS counter VERY soon.

photo courtesy of NARS

Dior Holiday 2008 Collection

Oh Christian Dior and your beautiful navy blue compacts. I just love to look at the packaging of these products but I haven’t always had the greatest admiration for the product inside. I’ve never disliked a Dior eye shadow but I have felt that some of them are rather generic and the pigmentation is not always what I would except from something with the Dior logo on it. Mascara is another story, they are tops for that product. Keeping this in mind, I looked at the Holiday 2008 Collection expecting to love it on first sight then be somewhat disappointed with some of the choices. Let’s see how I fared…

So trying to write this article took me a bit longer than it normally does. The Sephora site only lists the Fall 2008 collection for Dior and nothing about the Holiday collection and the Dior site is not working with my computer today for some reason. I went onto the Nordstrom site and spent a decent amount of time trying to pick through what was listed in order to find the newest products and shades. So I am warning everyone right now, this may not be completely correct as to only having brand new shades in or I may have inadvertently left something out. I will try to get onto the Dior site again but it hasn’t worked twice already so I really don’t think it will work a third time.

That all being said, the collection that is up on the Nordstrom website is called “Black and White Ball”. That sounds like holiday to me!! The description from the Nordstrom site is as follows, “Dior’s new look is every woman’s top secret evening weapon for glamorous couture allure. Centered around dazzling intense eyes, delicate luminous face and lip colors offer a soft backdrop. Nails shine with jewel-like brilliance.”

The products…

- Dior Night Diamond Compact - Beige Diamond, described as an iridescent veil laced with shimmer to give an allover glow

- Dior Deluxe Travel Palette - contains a color powder blush, sun powder, six eye shadows, a deluxe travel size Diorshow mascara, and a Dior Addict Ultra Gloss Reflect

- Dior Holiday Eye Palette - a set of four shadows, comes in Cool or Warm

- Dior 5-Colour Eye Shadow- Night Dust

- Dior Waterproof Crayon Eyeliner - Trinidad Black

- Diorshow Blackout Mascara - Dior’s deepest kohl black mascara shade

- Dior Blush - English Rose, two colors in one palette that can be worn separately or mixed to create different looks

- Dior Holiday Lip Palette - a set of four lip colors, comes in Cool or Warm

- Dior Rouge Dior Lipstick - Eternal Beige (BORING!)

- Dior Crème de Gloss - Honey Delight (ALMOST AS BORING!)

The eye shadow colors are the best part of this collection. I know that the collection is focused around strong eyes but Dior could have offered a bit more of choice with the lip shades. Beige lip tones don’t work for everyone and a mauve or two work have been a workable choice for those with cooler skin tones. I love the Night Diamond Compact and of course, ALL THE PACKAGING!!!

photo courtesy of Nordstrom

Less Intense Version of Urban Decay's Gash

The other day I was looking through some past entries when I came across one that I have written about two months ago on the new Fall 2008 Collection from Urban Decay. The look that I am referring to in that entry and in this one is the look called Gash, strong red lips and golden eyes. This look is beautiful but might be too bold for someone who does not wear much makeup.

I have both the Honey eye shadow and the eye liner and gets tons compliments of both. Looking at this look, I was thinking that it could be redone in two ways. The first way using only the Honey eyeliner for a natural look and the second using both the eye shadow and the liner for a little bit more drama and pigment. The look for the lips could either be a lip stain such as Benetint or the Gash lipstick suggested by the company.

Some people try to make looks more dramatic, I tend to try and make them more wearable for everyday. So far, I tried the Honey eyeliner only with my Benetint lip stain and I loved the look for daytime but I think that it needs the Gash lipstick for nighttime.

photo courtesy of Urban Decay

MAC Red She Said

Time for yet another MAC attack, this time in the form of the newest collection for the Holiday Season entitled “Red, She Said”. This collection looks to me like it a follow up to the insane popularity of Cult of Cherry and that the red lip trend is not dying anytime soon this season. But that’s ok because I don’t want it to yet!

This is the official description from MAC, “The retro-starlet allure of Hollywood glamour, with a modern twist. A season where lips connive, then confess in shades of bright holiday reds. Party season and passions flare! “Red” She Said and no one could resist her…”

The products…

Mineralize Eye Shadow (Trio)
- Persuasive - frosty light blue, silver pearl stripe, frosty indigo
- Word-of-Mouth - frosty pearl beige, copper pearl stripe, frosty blue grey
- Outspoken - frosty plum, silver pearl stripe, frosty violet
- Danger Zone - frosty true red, silver pearl stripe, frosty black
- Threesome - frosty burnt red, copper pearl stripe, frosty mid-tone pink
- Inter-view - frosty deep navy, copper pearl stripe, frosty bronzy brown

Fluidline
- Blacktrack - solid flat black
- Silverstroke - richly metallic platinum

Eye Brows
- Lingering - Soft taupe brown
- Stud - a deep rich blackened brown
- Spiked - bottle brunette

Fibre Rich Lash
- All Black - black

Lipstick
- Red She Said - mid-tone blue red (the star of this collection!)
- Crazeee - frosty mid-tone coral red with pearl
- Pomposity - frosty mid-tone blue pink with pearl
- Soft Pause - sheer dark brownish berry
- Quiet, Please - sheer, frosty pale beige

Dazzleglass
- Date Night - deep plum with blue and gold pearl
- Baby Sparks - pale pink with violet pearl
- Miss Dynamite - sheer orangey-copper with pearl
- Love Alert - raspberry red with red pearl
- Sugarrimmed - milky pale pink with red, teal, and white pearl

Beauty Powder Blush
- Stark Naked - shimmery mid-tone mauve with gold pearl
- Enough Said - shimmery light bronze with gold pearl

Nail Lacquer
- Rougemarie - immodestly sexy red blue
- Beiged Bliss - silken beige brown

Well, overall, I like most of the colors in this collection but I’m really not feeling that there is any extraordinary colors or anything really unique. I know that red is huge trend right now, but this collection is just coming off the heels of Cult of Cherry. I have heard really positive feedback about the Red She Said lipstick and how it is one of the most perfect red pigments every created but I haven’t heard much else. The Dazzleglasses are one product that I am really lemming but the colors don’t fit in very well with the Red She Said theme, they really could have been there own release. That being said, I will be trying Red She Said out on myself to see how good of a red hue it really is and I will continuing to stalk my local MAC counter for constantly out of stock Dazzleglasses.

photo courtesy of MAC

Harajuku Lovers

One trend that I have never jumped on the bandwagon of celeb perfume scents. I once read an article about how one who chooses one of these scents is one who is desperate to be this celeb. Hmmm… Paris Hilton, need I say much more? Since I have never been a fan of this trend, I have never even bothered to smell the perfumes from celebs that I really do like, such as Gwen Stefani. I know many ladies who are big fans of L.A.M.B. but I just never was able to get into anything celeb endorsed. Until I saw the Harajuku Lovers fragrances from Gwen Stefani.

The doll packaging first drew me into these fragrances and then the fact that I could pick from five different fragrances brought me in even more. This allows me to pick the ones that work the best for me and still let me have the Harajuku perfumes. One day at Macy*s, I tried all five of the fragrances and even though I determined that Love was my favorite of the bunch, I actually liked and wanted every single one of them.

The fragrances are …

- G - This fragrance was inspired by Gwen herself and the doll bottle looks almost exactly like her. The official description, “Never one to get lost in the crowd, G leads her crew in a white corseted top and a blue mini-skirt, a la Alice in Wonderland. Quirky, unique and undeniably cool, G is the leader of the pack. Her scent is an oriental, fruity, gourmand fragrance with notes of fresh coconut, jasmine, and cotton woods.”

The notes - mandarin, coconut, apple skin, jasmine sambac, freesia, magnolia, coconut cream, white sandalwood, and cotton woods.

- Love - The official description, “Sweet, caring, and free spirited, Love is always off in her own little world. Stepping out in a cute, striped mini dress and fashionable red kicks, Love wears her heart in her sleeve, or rather in her hair! Her scent is reminiscent of a floral bouquet, with notes of pink pomelo, rose and creamy vanilla orchid.”

The notes - bergamot, pink pomelo, peach, bamboo leaf, watery peony, living hydroponic lace rose, jasmine sambac, nectarine blossom, creamy paper whites, Egyptian jasmine, ylang-ylang, vanilla musk, and blond wood.

- Lil’ Angel - The official description, “Lil’ Angel is woman who is compassionate and caring towards other, but is no saint. She sports a classy, yet sexy, schoolgirl outfit compete with plaid pleated miniskirt, white knee highs, and shiny black Mary Janes. Her scent is citrus floral with notes of pineapple, candied violet, and lollipop accord.”

The notes - raspberry, cranberry, blackberry, pineapple, pear blossom, violet, rose, lollipop accord, Hinoki wood, and crystal amber.

- Music - The official description, “Always looking to make someone laugh, charismatic Music has no qualms telling it like it is! Stylin’ in a smocked sailor outfit and black lace up boxing boots, Music marches to the beat of her own drum. Her scent is a fruity floral with notes of pear, sweet pea, and sleek wood.”

The notes - clementine, pear, jasmine sambac, sweet pea, honeysuckle, vanilla, skin musk, and sleek woods.

- Baby - The official description, “One bat of her lashes and Baby has all the boys in the palm of her hand! Pretty in pink, Baby steps out in a short baby doll dress and sweet Mary Janes. Her scent is a powdery floral with notes of white rose, orange flower, and white musk.”
The notes - freesia, bergamot, white rose, orange flower, tiare, jasmine, white musk, soft woods, heliotrope, vanilla, and violet.

So what ones did I buy? I couldn’t make a decision so I actually ended up buying all of them. Macy*s had a coffert of the five scents in solid form so I decided to buy that along with the small EDT in Love. So far, I really like Love, G, and Baby and I think that after I have finished up the solid perfumes, I will be buying more bottles of these three.

photo courtesy of Sephora

Urban Decay Book of shadows

One of the limited edition holiday products that I am most excited about is from Urban Decay and is called the Book of Shadows. Upon hearing the name of this product for the first time, I was immediately transported back to college, watching episodes of Charmed after class with an obsessed friend. The book that the witches consult is called the Book of Shadows and it has all the answers to every problem that they face.

Well this product contains the solution to every makeup crisis that could possibly come up. I have loved Urban Decay shadows for a while now so this collection solves all my beauty dilemmas. It contains sixteen eye shadows in total, eight of which are some of the company’s best selling shades and the other eight are exclusive to this palette. The kit also contains two of the company’s vegan brushes and a small size of Primer Potion, one of the company’s best selling products.

The colors are as follows…
- Perversion - matte black
- Last Call - plum punch
- Grifter - sheer lavender with lots of silver micro glitter
- Mayhem - deep purple
- Baked - rich bronze
- Smog -deep coppery bronze
- Sidecar - bronze sparkle
- Gridlock - medium brown
- Shakedown - shimmering taupe
- Roach - deep brown with reddish shimmer
- Scandal - peachy pink
- Midnight Cowboy - golden beige with gold glitter
- Goddess - midnight blue with lots of electric blue micro glitter
- Shattered - bright green/blue shift
- Absinthe - electric green
- Protest - dark green

I am so excited to get this set. It seems like something sent from heaven, its almost too good to be true for an Urban Decay eye makeup lover. I already have and love both Baked and Midnight Cowboy but this set will allow me to have a back up for when I run out of them This will be mine next time that I get to hit up Sephora.

photo courtesy of Sephora

November 2008 Most Wanted

It’s time for the Holiday season to begin! The best thing about it?! Fantastic new fragrances and makeup of course! Based on that, here is my Most Wanted List for November…

- Urban Decay Book of Shadows
- NARS Flame Lipstick
- Isle of Eden Sugar Plum Milkshake Sugar Scrub
- Dior 5-Colour Eye Shadow in Iridescent Leather
- Bobbi Brown Lip Crayon in Red Plum
- Smashbox Halo Hydrating Perfecting Powder
- Jeanne Lavin Eau de Parfum
- Clinique Color Surge Eye Shadow in Black Smoke
- MAC Dazzlegloss in Sugarrimmed
- Dylan’s Candy Bar Chocolate Cupcake Candy Butter Cream

It’s time to look and good and smell great while decorating, shopping, and attending all of those fabulous holiday parties.