As far as nail polish goes, I am a firm believer that pricier doesn't always mean better. One of my favorite polishes that I loved to draw as a shining example of this was Sally Hansen Insta-Dry. Pigmented, creamy, smooth application. Sally had it all right with these.......... well most of these.
I picked up Chartreuse Chase and Blue-Away, which are two new limited edition shades available at Target. Usually Insta-Dry are nearly one coat wonders. Chartreuse Chase was lime green mess. It took almost four coats to get opaque coverage. My bottle was extremely watery and thin. Also with those extra coats came added dry time. This manicure never seemed to dry and got dinged pretty badly. I took it off in a matter of hours out of frustration.
I'm disappointed for two reasons: 1 - Because I really wanted this to be great. The color is so perfect for spring. 2 - It's a smudge on the otherwise amazing track record of the Insta-Dry line. Shame on your Chartreuse. Shame.
I will swatch Blue-Away soon.
This was 3-4 coats.
Too bad this didn't work out. Isn't this a gorgeous shade?
Is there a way to fix a bad polish? If anyone knows let me know.
Among all the hunters, limes, kellys, neons, pine, army, etc, it's hard to stand out sometimes as a green. Chanel Khaki Vert is one of the greens that sets itself a part from others in the rest of my collection. It's sophisticated yet edgy. Calm but tough. This creamy, beigey green is fun for all seasons. Maybe that's why I wear khaki green clothes all year round?
Les Khakis were released this past summer for Fall 2010, but I have yet to see a really good dupe for this shade. Has anyone see one? Leave a comment below if you have.
Les Khakis.
Chanel Khaki Vert Le Vernis Nail Colour is currently discontinued, as it was a limited edition color.
Ok I know I just hollared at y'all on Sunday, but I had an ah-maze-zing haul at CVS that I had to tell you about. My CVS had on clearance a whole lot of Borghese, Revlon, Sally Hansen and Barielle Nail Treatments. Everything was less than $1.60. One of the Orly Cosmix nail polishes was $0.37? No I didn't misplace the decimal point. Thirty-seven cents! Packs of gum cost more.
Win these! Two sets available!
I picked up quite a few of the Barielle treatments and thought I would treat my readers to some treats. I currently have two giveaways going on now, but what's another one.
This one is super easy. Two sets up for grabs. Here's how to play:
One winner will be chosen at random from the comments below. All you have to do is tell me about your last really good find! (Doesn't have to be beauty related.)
Another winner will be chosen at random from Twitter. Just tweet"@Beautyburg is giving away 3 Barielle nail treatments. http://tinyurl.com/4qp967v"
(You could win twice! But please one comment and one tweet per person.)
Contest ends March 22nd, 2011 at 11:59pm PST. I will announce the winner later this week! As always, open to international friends. Those younger than 18, please ask your parent for permission.
Let me know if you find the same clearance at your local CVS!
Did you know there are more than 150+ species of Anemone!?
Hi everyone! Happy Monday! It rained most of last week here, and I'm itching for sunny weather. I decided to post this spring flower inspired makeup tutorial to brighten my day (and hopefully yours too). Anemone are such beautiful flowers. I love how they have so much variation in size, style, color. I also love how they are so simple in composition but can have intricate differences in shades. While researching for this tutorial, I had a hard time deciding on what color to pick because there are so many. My local farmers market has some of the best flowers, and it was almost impossible to pick only one bunch of these gorgeous flowers.
3. Then I took Tako, a white matte pressed eyeshadow by Sugarpill, and used it at the bottom of the lid and sweeped to the corners near the tear ducts.
4. I brushed Poison Plum, a deep violet pressed eyeshadow with slight shimmer, creating a faux crease.
5. I bring Poison Plum to the outer corners of my eye creating a long 7 shape from the corner of the eye over the lid.
6. Blend, blend, blend. Bring down Tako to the lower lashline.
7. Using a black eyeliner, I line the waterline and do a soft cat eye towards the outer corners.
8. I smudge the black pencil down to the outer third of the lower lashline.
10. Mascara and eyebrows! I am using Giorgio Armani Eyes To Kill.
You are done! A spring inspired purple eye.
I would wear this look in the day time. Or maybe if I'm lucky enough, on a date with my hubs.
Happy Monday!!!!
All the Sugarpill products used here are available at www.sugarpillshop.com. MAC Paint Pot in Soft Ochre is available at MAC counters nationwide, and Giorgio Armani Eyes To Kill Mascara is available at nordstrom.com.
What are some of your favorite spring flowers? Or for any season? I am still waiting for lilacs here! Mmmm I love those!
Now, my eyebrows can be summed up in one word: pathetic. They are sparse, thin, flimsy and with no strong, natural defining shape. I grew up in the 90's and wanted to have Cindy Crawford eyebrows (and mole too).
So with that said, I have always had to fill in my brows, and I'm always on the look out for my favorite eyebrow filler. For a while I used MAC's eyebrow pencil in Lingering, which is a very taupe. Then I moved onto MAC's eyeshadow in Espresso. I also have used products from Anastasia's line. However, I was always looking for that perfect brown that was dark, but not too dark, without any red in it.
Then came Coconut Grove. Now $23 is more than I like to pay for a single eyeshadow, but when you consider how little you need to use to fill in both brows, I don't mind shelling out the cash. Coconut Grove launched with Nars' Fall 2010 collection, but thankfully this dark brown matte taupe is perm! It always makes a great liner when used wet.
Part of my haul this week. Can't wait to try these!
Holla!!!!!!! I decided to start a new feature at Beautyburg called Haul Holla! I love sharing hauls on Makeupalley.com, so I thought why not do it here. Big or small haul-er at me. Tell me what you got, what you didn't get or what you want!
Earlier this week I stopped by Ulta, and I was psyched to seea new Essence display! I picked up all the nail polishes, 2 eyeshadows, 1 glitternail polish and a lip gloss. I love how everything is under $3! You can't shake a stick at that. I also finally ran across a full size display of OPI's Katie Perry collection, but it had already been stripped. I picked up a full-sized Not Like The Movies (last one). Ulta's line had a cute set of mini polishes called Under The Sea. Some of these colors look awesome, and I can't wait to swatch.
I also wanted to share some photos from a great day I had at the beach. We had a delicious meal (set your stare to drool for pics below) and saw the funniest little dog chillaxing in a child-size beach chair.
The Essence display at Ulta.
Not a beauty haul, but still gorgeous. Lobster roll!
Seafood ceviche.
Sleepy doggie at the beach. I'll just rest my chin here.
ZZZzz snort! Wah?? Was I snoring? :)
Now tell me about your weeks! What did you haul? Are you saving for something big or small? Do anything fun this week?
Happy Sunday everyone! This week I tried adding more content for you beauty lovers, and the response has been great. Thank you for checking in and reading! I will try my hardest to keep it up and bring you guys informative, fun and honest reviews, tutorials, features, editorials, humor and of course MARLOWE! This was a big week for Mr. M. He won a pet costume contest and went to a St. Patty's day party.
Here are some posts from this past week you may have missed:
Hello beauty friends! How is everyone's weekend? Can you believe the past week and few days? So much uncertainty around the globe. I was relieved that some of my Twitter friends in Japan were ok, but I know that there are many more out there who have lost loved ones. Also thinking about the accelerating circumstances in Libya worries me. And even though this is such a minute tragedy in comparison, I was sad to hear that Knut the polar bear had passed. I had actually seen him at the Berlin Zoo in 2007. The photo above is one I took from that trip. As you can see, he's still somewhat of a cub in that photo.
In times like this, I take a lot of comfort in my blogger friends. There is so much positive energy from them. I just wanted to thank them.
Bunta, a French bulldog in Japan, writes (or well his owner writes) about what they are experiencing post-tsunami. They highlight a really inspirational story from the news where a 4-month old baby was found alive after 68 hours. What a miracle! It gives you hope. :)
A long time ago I was so into graffiti, and I guess I still am. I would photograph graffiti around New York and obsessively read about NYC's graffiti glory days in the late 70's early 80's. I was psyched to see MAC's Senior Makeup Artist Keri B's graffiti inspired manicure. She is inspired by Shepard Fairey, who is most recognized for his Hope poster of President Obama. Her one nail is accented with an Obey Me face, which is actually based off of Andre The Giant. The other hand is devoted to Banksy. Her ring finger is highlighted with Banksy's balloon girl. This mani totally disproves the theory of nail art being cheesy. Check the rest of her blog, Nail Art Junkie, for other seriously awesome manicures.
Zoya has been having some amazing promos recently. This is a formal thank you to Zoya from Beautyburg for that. But they have been hinting this past week that something truly awesome was up their sleeves for Zoya account holders. So don't have an account? It's easy. Go to www.zoya.com and make one by tomorrow 5pm EST. Then we will wait and see what happens!
Did you ever pick a part a flower trying to decide if you loved something or someone? As you grow older, you realize sometimes things aren't so easy... or that even sometimes leaving things to random chance (say the number of petals on a flower) can be the best way to go. Anyway, life is complicated. Liking a perfume shouldn't be.
I made the numero uno mistake of perfume purchasing. I bought a perfume from smelling it on a strip from a magazine and not testing the actual fragrance on my skin. With a gift card to Saks I had laying around, I treated myself to a Valentine's Day present of a gift set of the new perfume Love, Chloé by Chloé.
From the strip and after reading about the notes, I was really in love with this perfume. It felt classic and feminine. So many perfumes now-a-days from fashion houses are weird fruity, floral bastardizations that don't evoke a sense of romance or luxury reflective of the house, the brand's history and its image. From the strip (again I repeat what a mistake this was), Love, Chloé felt reminescent of a real perfume lover's perfume. Composed and sophisticated.
Mind you in the Lagerfeld days at Chloé some seriously legend perfumes came out of that house. The original Chloé by Lagerfeld, Chloé Narcisse all epic. I had seriously hoped that Love, Chloé would be a grand return to that dynasty of perfumes.
So when my gift set arrived, I eagerly spritzed myself! At first spray, it was powdery heaven scent. The notes include: orange blossom, pink pepper, iris absolute, lilac, hyacinth, wisteria blossom, heliotropine, powdery musks, talc and rice powder.
Sadly, this fragrance has such a fleeting lifespan. It goes from top to base notes in one hour flat. By hour two, there is nothing to even remind you that you had sprayed anything. Love, Chloé only comes in EDP concentration, and it's shocking that this could call itself EDP. Eau de Don't Mind Me, Just Act Like I Was Never Even Here is more like it. I have even been using the body lotion layered under my perfume to add to the longevity, but I get less than 2 hours even with that combination (plus generous spritzing).
For the price, this really isn't worth it. It's a pity because the actual composition isn't bad, and it has a Bianca Jagger vibe of the 70's. I think with more depth and a longer life span, this could really be something. Chloé, can you hear me? Reformulate. ASAP.
This gift set was $110 with 2.5oz EDP and 3.4oz body lotion.
I couldn't figure out what the brand, line, product was on this. So many words all over the bottle. However, a few things jumped out at me. "Keratin," "Straight," "coconut oil" all sounded good to me, so I picked up a bottle of this serum.
I am not an expert on 'cones, that's referring to ingredients based off of silicone. I know there are good 'cones and bad 'cones. For example, products like John Freida Frizz Ease, which were all the rage when I was in high school and college for my frizzy friends carry 'cones that may in fact do the exact opposite of what you want. The deflect moisture, clog the scalp and can cause build up. However, I also know that not all 'cones do this.
Organix Ever Straight Brazilian Keratin Therapy Anti-Breakage Serum has 'cones, but I feel as if they must be the good kind. I have been using this product for a couple weeks now on and off, and I think that the days I do use it, my ends seem silkier and less frizzy. Plus there is the added benefit of the smell. It's just delicious. A rich cocoa and coconut without being overly heady or gourmand. I am a fan of his serum, though it does need to abbreviate its name. What do you think would be a good nickname for it?
The ingredients. 'Cones included but also yummy things like cocoa butter, coconut oil and avocado oil.
The clear serum.
I noticed less frizzies myself.
I liked how smooth it made my hair.
Shiny face, but also shiny hair! :) Where's MAC Blot when you need it?
Sometimes I feel torn about Benefit products. I wanted to love Dallas, but it was muddy and unflattering. I wanted to love Dandelion, but it was pale and chalky. I wanted to like Sugarbomb, but it was really shimmery for my tastes. I liked Coralista, but it didn't really go with everything I owned.
Then came Bella Bamba. We are more in tune than the best tango dancers. This is the perfect shimmering pink blush for my skintone. The improved packaging also makes things handier. The rounded brush makes application easy, and the mirror makes it so much easier to apply.
Thank you Benefit for making the perfect blush for summer. Warm eyes, neutral eyes, cool eyes... it all seems to work.
Benefit's Bella Bamba - packaging is an improvement!
A pretty watermelon pink.
3D effect? Not sure what that means, but I love how it looks on.
Swatched lightly with brush (left). Heavily with sponge (right).
On the face. I forgot I had this necklace. :)
Happy St. Patty's y'all. Since we are celebrating, I thought I would resurrect a really old polish from my archives for you. This is MAC's Peppermint Patti which came out with the Sugarsweet collection. Now this sold out in a heart beat, and it has been making appearances on EvilBay since for lots of green (the money kind). Since this product was so high in demand, I had actually been saving it and only using it for special occasions. However, I honestly cannot remember when was the last time the I wore it.
When I was applying it for this post, I was a little surprised. This minty green creme polish sucks. Really bad. It's so thin and watery. It was difficult to get a non-streaky application. What you see on my nails is four coats! What was I saving this for? I have no idea. *rolling eyes*
However, I did wear this to mall today and received several compliments, so maybe there is something to this shade, if you can deal with the formula.
Peppermint Patti.
You're not as good as I remember, but you are still a pretty nice green.
Happy St. Patty's everyone! Do you have any products you revisited and wondered why you loved them in the first place?
Tom Pecheux has done everything right for Estée Lauder. I love it when brands incorporate artists not only for name recognition but for brand direction and collaboration. Estée Lauder has always been a trusted brand, but since adding Tom Pecheux as Creative Makeup Director, I definitely find that there is a stronger artistic presence in the products.
Pure Color EyeShadows were one of the first new launches of products that came out under the direction of Mr. Pecheux last summer. The first thing I had noticed when I swatched them was an improved quality and texture. These are really silky and smooth, not to mention actually pigmented! I also liked the departure from the blue plastic packaging. The luxe gold cover on the case gave it a rich feeling. Overall, a big improvement.
Here is one of my favorite green eyeshadows in my collection. This is Estée Lauder Pure Color EyeShadow in Emerald Star. Emerald Star is a shimmering deep forest green that works so beautifully wet as an eyeliner, dry as setting shade for your eyeliner or on your crease. This color creates a sultry, sexy green smoky eye for when you want something other than black.
At $20 for 2.1g, 0.07oz is borderline for what I would like to pay for a single eyeshadow, but this one is pretty special to me. And I have not regretted my purchase.
Marlowe is wishing you a Happy, Healthy and Safe St. Patrick's Day!
Top o' the morning to you beauty lovers! We are celebrating St. Patrick's Day at Beautyburg today with everything GREEN!
Since we have so many beauties from around the world and in the US, I wanted to know how you and your family and friends celebrated St. Patrick's Day?
I used to live in a town called Hoboken, NJ which has its very own version of St. Patrick's Day. Hoboken is right across the water from NYC, and many people who live there work in the city since Hoboken in conveniently situated between the Holland and Lincoln Tunnels and has a few forms of public transportation directly into New York. Well, with its proximity to NYC, it makes finding bagpipe players difficult for Hoboken's St. Patrick's Day parade. So what do they do? They have it two weeks earlier!
The first year I had lived there, no one informed me of this tradition. I had stumbled upon it while taking a stroll on the main drag. The town, which already boasts the most bars per square mile (which is exactly how big it is) in the US and was rated #1 singles town by Money Magazine, actually turns kinda ugly during Hoboken St. Patrick's Day. It basically turns into a town wide frat party with queues for bars forming at 6am! By noon, the streets are filled with intoxication, and by 3pm, many people are going home with $1,000 tickets for open container violations. However, among this chaos is a really fun parade and usually it was a day we spent with friends and their children watching the parade.
One of many cars from the parade.
Parade onlookers.
Marlowe watching the Hoboken parade.
Where's my pot of gold? Now we're trying to figure out what to do in CA!
This year I made cupcakes for a work party and Marlowe's human friends at daycare.
Does your country celebrate St. Patrick's Day? What do you do on St. Patty's? Do you have any favorite foods from this holiday?
Here is a green and a brand that I don't see that much on blogs and deserves some love. Golden Rose makes some seriously pretty nail polishes. They make tons of holographic nail shades. Best part is that most of the nail polishes are under $3 and they ship free in the USA for orders over $20. Not bad, eh?
Golden Rose Holographic Color in 104 Pale Green.
Golden Rose Holographic Color in 104 in Pale Green
Happy St. Patrick's Day! To compliment my St. Patty's Day EOTD, here is a tutorial on face-painting clovers or really any shape. A really fun, easy way to stencil cute shapes for you or kids on your face.
Tools for your stencil. Put scotch tape, overlapping the panels, onto a piece of wax paper. This will make it easy to peel off.
Draw your desired shape on the tape. I drew a series of clovers, but you could really draw anything. You can make them bigger for your cheeks.
Cut out your shapes.
Here are the products I used. See the step by step for details.
Peel the tape off the wax paper.
Apply the stencil to the face (cheek, eye, lip, whatever).
Once the stencil is on, make sure it's adhered to skin without any gaps or lifts. Paint on your base color. I am using MAC Fluidline Ivy, a bright kelly green with no shimmer. Fill in the shapes. Don't worry about staying within the lines. The stencil helps protect the rest of your face and eye makeup.
Peel away and viola! A pretty painted shape. You could do this freehand without the stencil, but the stencil helps with fallout and keeps the edges clean. Also you can really have fun shading your shape. Look at the color variation on the four leaf clover!
Now you're ready for a St. Patty's Celebration!
What are you doing for St. Patrick's Day?
Try this technique with kids! They will love the face painting and using "grown-up" makeup.
Happy St. Patty's everyone! Whether you plan on drowning in green beer or are just staying in (like me), here's a fun and light green eye look to help celebrate.
This look is actually Part 1 of 2. The second part I will be doing a little face painting for those feeling extra festive. Whether it's for yourself or for kids, it's just something fun to add to festivities.
6. I sealed the gel liner with MAC Pigment in Antique Green and applied a little to the bottom lashline. Curled eyelashes and added mascara. Fill in brows.
Happy St. Patrick's Day!
What do you guys do today? Corned beef? Avoid all bars? Parade?
Maybelline New York's Unstoppable Highlighter in Fluffy Cloud.
Right when I had lost my favorite MAC Chroma pencil, I found Maybelline's Unstoppable Highlighter in Fluffy Cloud with their limited edition display for Spring 2011 featuring products used during Mercedes Benz Fashion Week. This white eyeliner (though labeled highlighter and probably multi-purpose) was exactly what the doctor ordered. There was even a $1 off coupon with the display! Yay!
I just had assumed that this product was going to be a shimmering white retractable pencil that I could use to highlight the inner corners of my eyes. Well, like mom said, don't just assume. I opened the top when I got home and was surprised to see that it was a pretty matte white. Weird right? But this actually turned out to work out better. I have been using it a lot for many of my looks inspired by spring flowers. See my Sakura-themed look here and more coming soon.
I'm pretty happy with my purchase, but I'm sad to see that this is limited edition. It stays on the lower waterline really well and applies very opaque white. I might have to go pick up another one from the display. If you see it, act fast because there are only two per display and these are limited edition!
Do you use white eyeliner? Are you ever surprised to open a product and get something different from what you thought?
I have been on such a Wet n' Wild kick lately. Everything I'm trying I am loving and in disbelief of the price tag. One of my good friends from makeupalley.com (and also from real life) basically made it her mission that I try these lipsticks. In a period of chatting online over the course of the day, she had left her desk twice to get go get these lippies.
Was this enthusiasm well deserved? Oh yes. I got these four colors at a local Walgreens and quickly unsealed them as soon as I got home. Holy schnikes! These are pigmented. They literally stained my arms during swatching. Wet n' Wild claims that these lippies have 4 hours of wear. In my opinion, Wet n' Wild is underestimating. I wore Wine Room for an entire day and only had to lightly touch up after eating lunch.
The texture on these lipsticks were dry but not drying. If you've tried Make Up For Ever Rouge Artist Intense, they are similar in the vein of texture. The pigmentation and color pay-off is really insane. And are you ready for the best part? They are $2.99.
Left to right: 902C Bare It All, 905D Smokin' Hot Pink, 906D Wine Room, 918D Cherry Bomb
Left to right: 902C Bare It All, 905D Smokin' Hot Pink, 906D Wine Room, 918D Cherry Bomb
902C Bare It All
902C Bare It All
902C Bare It All
This nudey beige is a very pretty, non-dulling shade against my NC30/35 skin. What I liked about it is that it covered the blue,purple pigmentation of my lips and left me with a very neutral look. I will definitely grab this when I do an intense smoky eye and want to play down my lips.
905D Smokin' Hot Pink
905D Smokin' Hot Pink
905D Smokin' Hot Pink
This is my favorite of the four. What a perfectly pretty pink for spring! It's not too bright or pushing fuchsia where I couldn't wear this to work. I think it just brightened my whole face. I love this one!
906D Wine Room
906D Wine Room
906D Wine Room
At first, I got Smokin' Hot Pink and Wine Room confused. From the tube, they are pretty similar. I had to keep checking the label to make sure I knew which one was which. But on, Wine Room is a little deeper, a little more muted. This dusty rose is nice for everyday or if you like Smokin' Hot Pink but want something a little more subtle.
918D Cherry Bomb
918D Cherry Bomb
918D Cherry Bomb
Hello Daddy! Hello Mom! I'm you're ch-ch-ch-cherry bomb! This vampy dark red was probably my least favorite of the bunch. Not because I didn't like the shade, but it just seemed to tug a little more than the others. I would definitely recommend a liner or using a lipbrush when applying this color. I had difficulty keeping within my lip shade straight from the tube (a problem I usually don't have with even the most diffcult of reds). However, I have to say once it's on... it's on. This shade is soooooooo pigmented. It stained the arm I swatched it on for hours, even after multiple washings and MAC wipes! So kudos for staying power.
The Runaways with Cherry Bomb. What shade would Joan Jet wear?
Wet n' Wild Mega Last Lip Coloris $2.99 and comes in 20 shades. They are available at drugstores and mass retailers nationwide.
Have you tried these yet? Are you skeptical when it comes to drugstore products? What's the last drugstore product that wow'ed you?
