Author: Cold Cream 'n' Roses

#beauty #cosmetics #makeup #skincare #fashion An eclectic collection of #music posted on #Mondays

Christopher Drummond Beauty

Cold Cream 'n' Roses

Veludo Velvet Foundation

Makeup artist Christopher Drummond began his eponymous line with SAÚDE PELE Radiance Booster. SAÚDE PELE (which means “Healthy Skin” in Portuguese) is a soft gold loose powder which can be used to highlight the cheekbones, brighten the inner corners of the eyes (my favorite use), or as an all-over luminizer. Christopher is a purist when it comes to cosmetics, and he formulated SAÚDE PELE with only organic and vegan ingredients.

Christopher has brought that same ethos to his new products Veludo Velvet Foundation and Finale Finishing Powder. He has also introduced a cream concealer. Veludo Velvet Foundation is a loose powder makeup that comes in six skintone true shades, from Luz/Light (lightest) to Marron/Brown (deepest). It is infused with botanicals such as açai and green tea. Finale Finishing Powder comes in two shades: Neutro/Neutral and Amarelo/Yellow. Christopher recommends Neutro/Neutral for Caucasian skin and Amarelo/Yellow for ethnic skin tones, but I see no reason why Caucasian skin shouldn’t use Amarelo/Yellow.

Before writing this review, I tested Veludo/Velvet Foundation in Justo/Fair and Finale Finishing Powder in Neutro/Neutral for a week. I used the kabuki brush from the Bare Escentuals Get Started kit to apply the Veludo Velvet Foundation and the powder brush from the same kit to apply Finale Finishing Powder. I cleaned the brushes thoroughly beforehand to make sure that the shades were true. Here are a few things I’ve learned to make loose powder makeup work:

– Prepped skin is a must! Apply a moisturizer or primer before applying loose powder.

– Powder makeup is usually not enough to cover redness, despite what you see in those fake before-and-afters from Bare Escentuals. I use liquid or cream makup to cover redness on the cheekbone.

– If you use cream or gel blush, apply these before you apply loose powder makeup. Flawless even toned bare skin is a must! Otherwise, apply a pressed or loose powder blush after you apply loose powder makeup. Given the redness in my skin, I use powder blush to take advantage of the light-diffusing characteristics of loose powder foundation.

SAÚDE PELE, Veludo Velvet Foundation, and Finale Finishing Powder are great for a sheer, soft-focused look. I also recommend these products to those who find ingredients such as parabens and bismuth oxychloride (which is used in Bare Escentuals) problematic and want organic and vegan ingredients. Christopher’s products, as a rule, do not contain these ingredients.

Chocolate!

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Fresh Truffles Infused with Exotic Flavors

I am pleased to present this offer from Vosges Haut-Chocolat for 10% off all purchases from its website.

Vosges Chocolate is known for its exotic flavors. It started the craze for chocolates flavored with chilies, salt, and other unusual ingredients. I’m craving the truffles from its Aztec collection, the truffles coated with paprika from its traditional collection, and the Red Fire Skull with ancho and chipotle chillies, Ceylon cinnamon, and dark chocolate.

To take advantage of this discount, go to Vosges’s website, www.vosgeschocolates.com. At checkout, enter promotion code 2810WB1. This promotion runs from November 1, 2008 to November 30, 2008.

Need I say more?

LaurEss Neutralize Mineral Corrector

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LaurEss Neutralize Mineral Corrector

I’ve been experimenting with powder concealers as an alternative to cream or stick concealers.

This lurid yellow-green loose powder corrector covers red and purplish areas, especially around the eye. It’s very opaque, so tap off the excess on your lay-down concealer brush and use a light hand.

You may shop for LaurEss Neutralize Mineral Corrector through LaurEss or Time for Me.

Kashuk to Enter Space NK

Cold Cream 'n' Roses

From WWD’s public web site came this intriguing snippet (to read the full article, you need to subscribe):
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Nicky Kinnaird spotted Sonia Kashuk and saw a bull’s-eye.

Kinnaird, founder of the high-end apothecary Space NK, has plucked Kashuk’s namesake cosmetics line from Target, which has incubated the brand for the last decade.

Kinnaird plans to add the Sonia Kashuk brand to her U.K. shops and U.S. doors, including Space NK’s in-store boutique concept with Bloomingdale’s, which is slated for nine units. Space NK will trumpet is partnership with Sonia Kashuk by including the mass-market born products in its shop at Bloomingdale’s 59th Street flagship in Manhattan, which will be unveiled on Thursday. Target will continue to carry the line, and has…
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Good for Kashuk. Since her cosmetics line debuted at Target, it has suffered from erratic stock. Compare that to the recent introduction of JK Jemma Strand, pixi by Petra, and Napoleon Perdis NP Set: certainly, at my nearby Target store, these three brands were fully stocked. Kashuk should have been PO’ed.

I hope that the new venture with Space NK will give Kashuk the display and stock she deserves.

Quick fixes

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TotalBeauty.com content:

Ah-ha Uses for Beauty Products

Consider this the MacGyver guide to beauty. These “off-label” tricks will solve last-minute emergencies and more

Don’t throw out that metallic gold eyeshadow just yet! Instead of chucking products that don’t work quite like you had hoped, find out what else they can do for you. These tips, culled from blog confessions, expert advice and our own personal experiments, will have you reusing your makeup in no time, not to mention save you money and get you out of emergencies (like that day you forgot your concealer at your friend’s wedding).

See tips

The end of mascara, as we know it?

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The market is full of mascara innovations; in fact, the November 2008 issue of Allure has an entire article devoted to mascara innovations. I have yet to blog on Exceptionnel de Chanel Intense Volume and Curl Mascara and L’Oreal Double Extend Beauty Tubes Mascara, the first mass-market tube mascara.

Now from Beauty Counter, a blog from Style.com “The Online Home of Vogue” (both Vogue and Allure are Condé Nast publications), comes this article Mascara, Going The Way Of Betamax?
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Ever since news broke last year that Lumigan, a glaucoma treatment that can prevent blindness, can also make your eyelashes grow two millimeters in six weeks, beauty seekers with 20/20 vision have been desperately trying to get their hands on a prescription. For those of you who have taken to faking your eye exams, some good news: Allergan, the pharmaceutical company behind the drug, is making plans to apply for a cosmetic license in the U.S., which could mean an end to mascara as early as next year. (RIP, Great Lash. We’ve had a good run.)
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Amazing. Botox was initially licensed for treating people with muscle spasms and tics. Then its use for cosmetic purposes was discovered. Lumigan might go the same path, from use for medical purposes to use for cosmetic purposes.

Check out this photo of Twiggy used to illustrate the article:


Twiggy

Wow. Talk about a swan’s neck. Twiggy’s look was created by layering four strips of false eyelashes.

Book review: A Town Like Alice

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L to R: the novel; the 1981 TV series; the 1956 movie

Jean Paget is among a group of English ladies on a forced march through Malaysia in WWII. While on the march, she meets Joe Harman, an Australian POW who is driving trucks for the Japanese. He speaks fondly of the town of Alice Springs, which he frequented. Joe helps the ladies, and steals black chickens from the Japanese commander’s flock for food and is punished by crucifixion. Jean assumed that he died. After the war, she relocates to England.

Several years later, after she comes into a fortune, Jean returns to Malaysia to build a well and wash house for the village that sheltered her and her companions for three years. There she discovers that Joe didn’t die and sets out to Australia to find him. Joe, in the meantime, has gone to London using earnings from a lottery to find Jean, after he discovers that she was not a married woman. They do find each other, and Jean relocates to Australia to recreate A Town Like Alice in dusty Willstown, the nearest town to Midhurst, where Joe ranches.

Jean is a clerk/typist from England working for a leather goods company in Malaya when the story begins. Jean demonstrates resourcefulness and fortitude when a POW and later in the outback. When building a Town Like Alice in Willstown, she demonstrates a flair for entrenpreneurship. Joe, despite his machismo, encourages Jean in her entrepreneurial ventures.

The story is narrated by Noel Strachan, who is trustee for Jean’s fortune. He is forty years older than Jean and became very fond of her, actually an unrequited love.

I love a great romance, where the man and woman meet, are separated, and reunite despite overwhelming odds. I first loved the Masterpiece Theater TV series with Helen Morse and Bryan Brown. Then I happened upon the 1956 movie with Virginia McKenna and Peter Finch when it was shown on TCM recently. I knew it was time for me to read the book.

Retro 60s eye makeup

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Total Beauty (of which I’m a member) has had a series on makeup and costumes for Halloween.

This feature on Retro ’60s Girl struck a chord with me: “Channel Twiggy with extreme false lashes and a pale pout.”

Be sure to visit Jamie’s excellent profile of Twiggy on her The Beauty of Life blog.

The eye makeup also reminds me of Penelope Tree, another top model of the sixties.

Penelope Tree

Darkly glamorous

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Wode by Boudicca
via Splendora

How’s this for a concept: when you apply this fragrance, a vibrant cobalt blue appears and settles into your skin and clothing. The color disappears and leaves behind scent. To say nothing about the darkly glamorous packaging, which recall the candles from DL & Co.

Wendy Ginsburg of San Diego tries the Boudicca Wode fragrance, from New perfume turns you blue.

It’s from Boudicca, the cutting edge UK-based design team of Zowie Broach and Brian Kirkby and sold in the US through Barneys (not that I patronize Barneys).

Stephen Jones Millinery perfume
via EyeCandy Make-Up & Beauty Blog

Stephen Jones Millinery perfume, pictured above, also features darkly glamorous packaging. Appropriately for a milliner, or hat maker, the box resembles a hat box. It’s a collaboration between Stephen Jones Millinery and Comme des Garçons, for which Stephen Jones has designed hats. The fragrance is exclusive to two stores in the UK, but should be rolled out worldwide.

Sephora AND Lucky – what could be better?

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Lucky and Sephora are two go-to places for shopping enthusiasts. Now Lucky and Sephora have come together to sponsor a contest to win a $1,000.00 (one thousand dollars) Sephora gift card: in addition, by visiting Month of Beauty with Kat von D everyday, you can enter giveaways or get makeup tips from tattoo artist Kat von D.

Even if you don’t win a prize, take advantage of free shipping from Sephora for purchases over fifty dollars through Month of Beauty with Kat von D.