Author: Cold Cream 'n' Roses

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

Black Cherry

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While many beauty bloggers are MAC fanatics (Temptalia is the foremost example), I am not. Frankly, the outré presentations for its frequent collections are a turnoff.

That said, I think that MAC’s lipsticks are some of the best on the market. I’m craving a few lip colors in MAC’s latest collection Cult of Cherry: lipstick in Crème Cerise (sheer yellow taupe) and Mattene lipstick in Kirsch (blackened cranberry), Bing (blackened eggplant), and Chock-ful (blackened brown). The descriptions sound scary, but the shades, as represented on the web site, look beautiful.


Cherries Noir collection from Laura Mercier

UPDATE Laura Mercier has come out with her own collection Cherries Noir.

Organizing paper files

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Here are some tips on organizing paper files:

* On the file folder label, put the date first, where appropriate, and then the subject. I use the yyyy-mm-dd format, where yyyy is the four-digit calendar year; mm is the two-digit representation for the month, with leading zero for January thru September; and dd is the two-digit date, with leading zero.

* You can then organize the folders in chronological order or reverse chronological order. Arrange the files vertically. I love the brightly patterned hanging files from the recent collection that Mexican designer Sami Hayek (he’s also Salma Hayek’s brother) did for Target.

* I occasionally use color folders, but not for color-coding. Inserting a few color folders among plain manila folders helps break up the visual monotony.

Messy, but worth it

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I’m not big on black eyeliner, as it’s too harsh. I’m hooked on black brown eyeliner and now on eyeliner that are described as bronze black.

For pencils, two of my favorites are Physicians Formula Eye Definer Flat Automatic Eyeliner Pencil in Black Bronze and Velvet Touch Eyeliner in Metallic Brass from Denmark’s GOSH Cosmetics.

Lately, I’ve discovered L’Oreal Bare Naturale Gentle Mineral Eyeliner in Bronze. It’s messy because it’s a loose powder, but the look is smudgier than what you get with a pencil and the results are worth the extra care in handling this product.


L’Oreal Bare Naturale Gentle Mineral Eyeliner in Bronze

Here are some tips to minimize the mess:

* Cover your (preferably non-porous) countertop with facial tissue or wax paper to catch powder. Fold the tissue or wax paper to save the spilt powder for later use. Put some sort of weight on top – I use the container itself.

* Tap the dispenser right side up vertically – not at an angle. This minimizes spills. Unfortunately, the container does not come with a sifter.

* Get a damp cloth to wipe the the countertop clean in case of spills.

I apply L’Oreal Bare Naturale Gentle Mineral Eyeliner with the self-contained slant-edged brush to my upper lash line and to the outer corner of the lower lash line. Then I dot the lower lash line with a pressed powder eyeshadow in a softer color, using the pointed end of the Line & Define Brush from Beauty Strokes. This helps fill in sparse lower eyelashes.

Tips for handling postal mail

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Despite my past articles on organization, I still was drowning in clutter. For nearly 14 years, my husband has been ragging me about clutter (in our home, the gender roles have been switched: he’s the neat freak, I’m the messy one).

These tips might seem self-evident, but handling mail as it comes in prevents clutter:

* Throw away junk mail, but remove mailing labels with personal information and shred or tear up the labels before you toss junk mail in the trash.

* If you have online bill pay, schedule payments for bills as they arrive in the mail. Once you’ve paid the bill, stamp it as “PAID” and note the date paid.

* Throw away previous issues of any magazine to which you subscribe as the new one arrives, unless you are sure that you will go back and look at the old issues.

When I subscribed to Real Simple, I held onto the issues, as the matte pages and covers were too nice to throw out; also, I thought that I’d go back to older issues for any tips and other advice. Once I realized that I didn’t go back to those previous issues, I threw out my collection of Real Simple. Now I’m holding onto issues of Domino. I don’t always follow my own advice.

* The same principle applies to mail order catalogues. Too often, the content from one issue to another is the same; it’s just been reorganized. When you receive the latest issue, throw out the previous issue.

In a subsequent article, I’ll provide tips that I’ve found helpful on organizing paper files.

At last …

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Beauty companies have us salivating about products long before those products actually hit the stores.


Kaleidoscope Eye Kit from Le Metier de Beaute
The Style Page is obsessed with eye shadow palettes!

I’ve written about Le Metier de Beaute several times, after its lip glosses were featured in InStyle. The full line became available from Needless Markup in May of this year.

I’ve raved about Jouer even more times: in fact, I’m wearing its Peridot cream eyeshadow today. After Jouer’s fire sale (60% off) on HauteLook.com, I began to question if it was still in business. For months now, Jouer’s website has had a placeholder for an upcoming “Custom Luxury Collection.” Now, at last, the Custom Luxury Collection will debut at NYC’s Henri Bendel store on Fifth Avenue on August 7. I hope that online shopping will be available in the very near future – the tease has gone on too long!

New "masstige" beauty at Target

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I received the September 2008 issue of Lucky, with the beautiful blue-eyed Milla Jovovich on the cover. It is the thickest issue of Lucky ever (I know, I’m a charter subscriber), chock full of ads. One ad that surprised me was the introduction of a line of cosmetics by UK makeup artist Jemma Kidd at Target.


JK Jemma Kidd for Target via Nylon

The URL on Target’s web site for JK Jemma Kidd given in the ad isn’t operational. A quick search on “JK Jemma Kidd” revealed that JK Jemma Kidd is only one of three cosmetics lines that will debut at Target at the end of the month. The other two are from Australian makeup Napoleon Perdis (his cosmetics line is being discontinued at Sephora) and Petra Strand of Pixi. The three Strand sisters – Petra, Sara, and Sofia – are also the brains behind Pop Beauty.

The Fashion Spot article quotes retail and beauty industry consultant Allan Mottus, who is skeptical about Target’s new beauty venture. On recent visits to Target, he saw that the only brands that were well-stocked were those that are exclusive to Target such as Sonia Kashuk and its European bath and body collections.

I don’t know what Mottus is talking about. My experience has been that these lines aren’t well-stocked. Since the debut of Sonia Kashuk’s line, there have been complaints about the erratic stock of her products. It is hard to come by her blending sponge, and there have been placeholders for kits for face and eyes, but no kits.

The amount of shelf space devoted to its European bath and body products has diminished considerably. This suggests that these products have sold poorly. There is intense competition for placement and the amount of shelf space among mass-market brands. Real-time reporting of sales gauge how well a product sells, which is why stores cut back on stocking Revlon’s Vital Radiance brand for mature women, leading to the brand’s collapse within a year.

I’m anticipating the launch of JK Jemma Kidd, Napoleon Perdis, and Pixi at Target, and I’ll be sure to report on it. The prices of JK Jemma Kidd are comparable to those for brands carried at department stores and Sephora – I wonder if Target’s customers will buy products at these prices.

Mally Beauty

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I haven’t been this excited about a cosmetics line for a long time. Mally Beauty, from celebrity makeup artist Mally Roncal, features great concepts, standout packaging (aluminum cases with green snake skin patterned interiors) and beautiful colors. This post covers Mally’s signature products: Lightwand Eyebrightener, City Chick Smoky Eye Kit, and Shimmer, Shape & Glow Face Defining System.

Lightwand Eyebrightener (not shown) is a dual-ended pencil that features a pencil on one end and a dabber at the other end to dispense illuminating powder. Both are used at the inner corners to brighten the eyes. BTW highlighter at the inner corners is also a key part of Carmindy’s so-called 5-Minute Face.

Canal Street Khaki (actually more olive than khaki) is a new addition to Mally’s City Chick Smoky Eye Kit collection of palettes, which I discussed in Demystifying Eye Makeup. Each kit comes complete with eye shadow base, highlighter, lip and crease colors, and a black retractable eyeliner – everything you need to create the classic smoky eye look (minus the brushes).


Shimmer, Shape & Glow Face Defining System

Shimmer, Shape & Glow Face Defining System is my favorite of the three products. It features three shades: a highlighter for the cheekbones, a blush, and a contour. Four color palettes are available: In The Pink Lighter, In The Pink Deeper, Life is Lighter, and Love is Deeper. All the palettes are pretty, and even better, you can buy refills so that you can mix and match colors.

Mally Beauty products feature inserts with Mally’s tips on using the products. You may shop Mally Beauty at QVC.com or Amazon.com.

Follow-ups on recent articles

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Now Lancome has come out with its own vibrating mascara. I received notices through Glam.com, Sephora, and Lancome itself hyping the new mascara. I’ll wait and see if L’Oreal will come out with a similar product for less: Lancome is part of the L’Oreal Group and L’Oreal products are often knockoffs of Lancome products.

This article General Counsel: Fashion Fuels a Friendship from WSJ.com (the companion webiste to the Wall Street Journal) is about dressing appropriately for the workplace, but it confirms what Poppy King said about Hillary Clinton. The article states,

“Yet if looking womanly can seem unprofessional, it’s also possible to not look feminine enough. Massive amounts of time and print space have been devoted to analyzing Hillary Clinton’s power lapels and pantsuits. Now, some voters wonder if a softer message might have been better received.”

Of course, there were other things (Hillary’s lack of connection with prospective voters, Bill’s temper tantrums) that derailed her campaign.

LongerThickerBetter Part III

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Has anything tried this mascara?


Estée Lauder’s New TurboLash All Effects Motion Mascara™

It’s Estée Lauder’s New TurboLash All Effects Motion Mascara™. According to Splendora, this mascara has “an auto-powered LashSonic Brush that gently vibrates with micro-pulse bristles.” Any comments?

All sorts of new innovations promise longer or fuller lashes. I’ve already written about SpinLash, which I had rated as a “qualified buy.” As I use this product more and more, I like it better. I still like Maybelline’s The Colossal Volum’ Express mascara for building thickness, but after reading Retainer Girl‘s review, I concede that mascara goop sticks to the wand and it has a strange smell, problems that her fave Lash Blast doesn’t have. After applying The Colossal, I run SpinLash through my lashes. It removes excess gunk and really separates lashes after application.


LashControl Lengthening and conditioning formula in black

Another innovation is LashControl, which features a squeezable “wiper sleeve” (the pink part above) that is supposed to control the amount of mascara deposited on the brush. However, I didn’t find the wiper sleeve useful. LashControl lengthening and conditioning formula is good; however, the volumizing formula (color coded with a purple wiper sleeve) was problematic. It smeared and flaked and despite the wiper sleeve, goop still stuck to the tip of the wand. In fairness to LashControl, however, its representative said that the problems I had shouldn’t have happened, and offered to take back the mascara so that she could see what went wrong.

wet n wild Beauty Benefits

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wet n wild Beauty Benefits is a new line from the budget brand, but it’s treated as a separate brand. It is formulated with Lotus Marine Minerals™, botanicals it claims to keep women looking “healthy and young.”

I tried the following three products:


Color CorRx Eye Brightening Concealer

Color CorRx Eye Brightening Concealer in Fair – concealers are the most troublesome kind of makeup products for me. Concealers help cover dark circles and brighten the eye area, but are difficult to blend (although beautyblender has helped) to look natural. This kit features a somewhat greasy cream corrector in light peach, a cream concealer in a deeper peach that’s almost scary, and an off-white pressed highlighter to set the concealer and corrector. Surprisingly (given the shades), the results are as good as what I get with my L’Oreal True Match concealer, but the number of steps that is overkill.

Beyond Amplifying Mascara Waterproof (not shown) – this is an OK mascara. It doesn’t clump, run, or smear (as long it doesn’t contact the Color CorRx Eye Brightening Concealer application), but neither does it build appreciable volume. I’ll stick to Maybelline’s The Colossal Volum’ Express mascara as a volumizing mascara.


Beauty Brilliance Bronzing Powder

Beauty Brilliance Bronzing Powder – In general, I’m satisfied with my blushes and bronzers. I avoid obvious shimmer and sparkle and stick to muted tones. I use a light touch. Beauty Brilliance Bronzing Powder has pink, terracotta, and darker bronzer shades that can be blended together. It has some shimmer, but it’s not obvious.

You may find wet n wild Beauty Benefits through its store finder. The nearest store that carries wet n wild Beauty Benefits is nearly 50 miles from my home in the DC metro area!