Category: Beauty

Be Prepared

Cold Cream 'n' Roses

You wouldn’t have guessed that women are eschewing lip gloss for lipstick through the introduction of new products from Trish McEvoy and Carol’s Daughter. This post will deal with the Be Prepared Pink Compact from Trish McEvoy; a subsequent post will deal with Candy Paints from Carol’s Daughter.

Be Prepared Pink Compact from Trish McEvoy

Trish McEvoy is a New York-based makeup artist with an eponymous makeup line. She’s already shrunk makeup palettes to the size of a credit card. Now she’s squeezed eight different shades of lipgloss into this 2″ x 1″ compact. The shades range from faintly there neutrals to bright pinks like Sparkling Pink and Tropical Pink (flamingo pink) … in other words, a whole wardrobe of shades for every mood and outfit. You can carry this compact with you in your purse and “be prepared” for any occasion.

The real meaning of “Be Prepared”? Net proceeds from sale of this compact support Girl Scouting! You can forego Girl Scout cookies (with the exception of Thin Mints and Samoas, my favorites) for this less caloric means of supporting Girl Scouting.

Girl Scouts was the best thing I did while in grade school and possibly in my entire life. Shoutout to my friend Tina:

Tina, if you find this blog, I appreciate all the work that your Mom did as a Girl Scout leader, particularly when she invited me to accompany another Girl Scout troop on its weekend camping trip. Thanks to your Mom, I completed requirements for five merit badges that weekend.

Color them red (or pink or rose brown)

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I’ve already mentioned Bobbi Brown’s advice that the most flattering lip color is two shades darker than your natural lip color. The continuum between light and dark is referred to as value.

This article Color them red (or pink or rose brown) from the San Jose (California) Mercury News deals with another aspect of color, namely hue. The article cites various lip colors such as coral, fuchsia, and red, but Laura Mercier and Linda Wells, Editor-in-chief, Allure agree: the most foolproof color is rose brown.

American Beauty Enduring Beauty™ Longwear Lipcolor

My favorite rose brown? American Beauty Enduring Beauty™ Longwear Lipcolor in Chestnut Rose, sold exclusively at Kohl’s. I wasn’t smitten with American Beauty when it first came out, even though Ashley Judd is the face of American Beauty. I seldom go to the movies and I don’t even have a Netflix membership, so the only time I get to watch movies is on cross-country or overseas flights. Ashley invariably stars in the feature film, whether it’s a tearjerker like Simon Birch or potboilers like Double Jeopardy and High Crimes. It’s almost like she’s become a traveling companion.

Back to the lipstick … it goes on like a cream, that dries to a semi-matte and compares very well with favorite lipsticks such as Besame’s Enchanting Lipstick and MAC’s Satin Lipstick. While I like experimenting with lip glosses and lip stains, these are the lipsticks I like the best.

Three from Laura Mercier

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I’ve always had a soft touch for Laura Mercier. When other cosmetics brands were going for gimmicky products, she’s remained true to making women look beautiful. More to the point, I had a very positive experience at a Laura Mercier counter, when the makeup artist commented that I must be very diligent about sunscreen, as my face didn’t have any lines. Then I told her about my upcoming birthday, and she was amazed!

Anyway, here are product reviews for three of her recent introductions:


Laura Mercier Brow Definer Soft – I get my brows tinted when I go to the salon to get my hair done. However, the brows are resistant to taking color. I’m always on the lookout for products that tint the brows. I’ve become dissatisfied with LORAC’s Brow Wax, as it’s too hard, so I was interested in this product. The Brow Definer is described as an “innovative wax/gel formula,” but I couldn’t find anything innovative about it. It looks and feels like a gel eyeliner, which is no longer a new innovative product.

I purchased this product at bluemercury. I thought that I should use the Warm (brunette) shade, but the saleswoman was adamant that Soft (deep blonde/soft brunette) was right for me. Regardless, the best solution I’ve found to date is taking a cue from the guys: I use moustache wax to define the brows (use a brow brush to brush them into place first); then I apply a brown-black eyeshadow with a stiff angled brush to color the brows.

Laura Mercier Lip Stain Mulberry – This lip stain is a red-plum. When I tried it at bluemercury, I swiped it over my lips. It was bright! The saleswoman told me that the best application is by patting the color onto the lips: in that way, you can build color to your desired intensity.

As with other lip stains I’ve reviewed (Underground by Rimmel, Revlon), well-conditioned lips are necessary to making lip stain feel comfortable on the lips.


Laura Mercier Kohl Eye Pencil Black Gold (not pictured) – I was intrigued by the color. I love metallics, but not pure silver or gold shades. Instead, I prefer pewter shades to silver or bronzy shades to gold. This pencil seemed right up my line.

However, I find eyeliner pencils (except for retractable ones) a nuisance. Is the pencil too hard to use? Then run hot air from a blow dryer over it. Too soft to sharpen? Put in it the fridge or freezer. Then there’s the mess of keeping your sharpeners clean (I used cotton swabs soaked in rubbing alcohol). This pencil is no different, and at $19.00, it’s no bargain, either.

sweet tarte

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Tarte We Wish You Health Skinvigorating Discovery Kit

We Wish You Health Skinvigorating Discovery Kit is a limited edition set from tarte. It consists of mini clean slate™ face primer, mini lock & roll creaseless eyeshadow duo (shade: slate), mini lights, camera, lashes! 4-in-1 mascara, and mini Inside out vitamin-infused lipgloss powered by BORBA in serenity.

My least favorite item was the lock & roll creaseless eyeshadow duo. One end features a cream eyeshadow with an itty-bitty pointed brush: hardly the implement for shading the lid. Moreover, the eyeshadow sets before you can blend it. The other end features eyeshadow that’s applied with a rollerball, not the best for even application.

While initially I wasn’t that smitten with the mascara, as it doesn’t create thicker lashes, I found that it didn’t smear after crying (Christmas was very emotional for me, as I had to call an ambulance to take my mother to the ER on Christmas Day. She’s been in the hospital since.)

I had never understood the benefit of face primer. I had always reasoned that if you use moisturizer and alpha and beta hydroxy acid products judiciously, there was no need for face primer. I first tried clean slate™ face primer on New Years Eve. It felt very much like John Frieda’s Frizz-Ease Serum for hair(!) – the principal ingredient in both products is silicon. What this products does is to make your complexion look dewier.

My favorite product from this kit is the lipgloss. It’s one of those proverbial “looks bright in the tube, goes on subtle” products. I’m not one for lipgloss in a wand – to me, there always seem to be something unhygieinic about running the wand over the lips and then sticking the wand back into the tube, over and over again. Nonetheless, this product is a keeper. It just intensifies the natural color of my lips and dries to a semi-matte finish.

NOTE This review has been cross-posted at Total Beauty.

Myrrh is mine, it’s bitter perfume …

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Twelve Oils of Ancient Scripture

Yes, I actually purchased something through direct sales. I expressed interest in the essential oils that a friend from church was selling from Young Living, a direct sales company based in Utah. And here’s what I sprung for: the Twelve Oils of Ancient Scripture kit, which contains vials of essential oils referenced in the Bible.

The twelve oils are:

  1. Aloes/sandalwood
  2. cassia
  3. cedarwood
  4. cypress
  5. frankincense
  6. galbanum
  7. hyssop
  8. myrrh
  9. myrtle
  10. onycha
  11. Rose of Sharon/cistus
  12. spikenard

Frankincense and myrrh, of course, were among the gifts that the Three Kings gave to the infant Jesus.

The line “Myrrh is mine, it’s bitter perfume …” from We Three Kings of Orient Are alludes to the fact that myrrh was used in embalming and thus presaged Christ’s death. Spikenard was referenced in John 12:

1 Jesus therefore six days before the passover came to Bethany, where Lazarus was, whom Jesus raised from the dead. 2 So they made him a supper there: and Martha served; but Lazarus was one of them that sat at meat with him. 3 Mary therefore took a pound of ointment of pure nard, very precious, and anointed the feet of Jesus, and wiped his feet with her hair: and the house was filled with the odor of the ointment. 4 But Judas Iscariot, one of his disciples, that should betray him, saith, 5 Why was not this ointment sold for three hundred shillings, and given to the poor? 6 Now this he said, not because he cared for the poor; but because he was a thief, and having the bag took away what was put therein. 7 Jesus therefore said, Suffer her to keep it against the day of my burying. 8 For the poor ye have always with you; but me ye have not always.

What an appropriate gift for marking the holiday and remembering “the reason for the season.” Yes, Christmas is only four days away, but you can extend the holiday to January 6 (Epiphany), which marks the arrival of the Three Kings. You may order Young Living products online or through a Young Living representative.

L’Oréal Paris Infallible Never Fail Lipcolour Collection

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L’Oréal Paris has released a limited edition collection of its Infallible Never Fail Lipcolour compacts. The compacts feature floral and fruit silhouettes designed by up and coming fashion designers supported by CFDA/Vogue Fashion Fund (CVFF). Below is the list of designers and the shades for which they created designs:

3.1 PHILLIP LIM- Phillip Lim – Apricot
BAND OF OUTSIDERS – Scott Sternberg – Azalea
ERIN FETHERSTON – Erin Fetherston – Cerise
KOI – Koi Suwannagate – Geranium
MICHAEL BASTIAN- Michael Bastian – Hibiscus
PHILIP CRANGI JEWELRY- Philip Crangi – Mulberry
ROGAN- Rogan Gregory – Persimmon
THREEASFOUR – Gabriel AsFour, Angela Donhauser, Adi Gil – Pomegranate
VENA CAVA – Lisa Mayock and Sophie Buhai – Rosebud
VPL – Victoria Bartlett – Thistle

I’m not aware of anything else on the market like L’Oréal Paris’ Infallible Never Fail Lipcolour. The compact consists of a tube of liquid lipcolour with wand and a gloss stick (a “conditioning topcoat”). There is a mirror on the reverse side of the compact. To use, push the lipcolour tube outwards, open the tube, and use the wand to apply lipcolour. The package recommends that you wait two minutes for the colour to dry before you apply the gloss (similarly, the gloss stick is pushed outwards). It also recommends that you remove the lipcolour from your lips with an oil-based makeup remover (baby oil or cold cream would work).

I like the results. The lipcolour dries to a lip stain, but as I have noted before, you need conditioned lips to wear lip stain well. But don’t apply gloss immediately before applying Infallible Never Fail Lipcolour: the package recommends “clean” lips.

The limited edition L’Oréal Paris’ Infallible Never Fail Lipcolour collection is available exclusively at L’Oréal Paris retail stores or by phone. Call 888-270-7743 to order.

Lush develops palm oil-free soap base

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Lush, the purveyors of bath and body products with clever names, natural ingredients, and minimal packaging, is taking yet another step for environmental responsibility. It will switch from palm oil base for its soaps to base using sunflower, rapeseed and coconut oil. To meet the demand for palm oil, countries such as Malaysia and Indonesia have been clearing rainforests to build palm plantations. Lush claims that sunflower and rapeseed are sustainable products harvested in Europe, while coconut oil is sourced from sustainable plantations in Indonesia.

For more, see Lush develops palm oil-free soap base

Bond No. 9 New York – Bon-Bon Box

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Bond No. 9 New York - Bon-Bon Box

I sampled Bond No 9 fragrances for the first time during a recent trip to Miami (at the gift shop at Loews Miami Beach Hotel, where I found the Cate Adair clutch). They’re subtle, and even better, they didn’t irritate my skin and make my nose twitch. I can’t decide on just one, so I’d really like to get this Bon-Bon Box, which features 18 different fragrances .20 ml. pocket sprays, for Christmas.

Makeup tools

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Makeup application = product + tools + technique.


Sephora Brand Chocolate Croc Prestige Brush Set ($300 Value)

This brush roll provides all the tools you need, and more. It contains a Powder Brush, Blush Brush, Foundation Brush, Concealer Brush, Feather Shimmer Brush, Contour Brush, Large Eyeshadow Brush, Small Eyeshadow Brush, Smudge Brush, Flat Eyeliner Brush, Brow Brush, and a Lip Brush. The feather shimmer brush would be fun for teasing others!

Underground by Rimmel

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Underground by Rimmel is more daring than Rimmel’s regular line, and invites comparison to L’Oreal HIP. While Underground is geared toward teens and twenties, there are some great products that woman of all ages can use.


Stir It Up Cream Eyeshadow in Wassup? by Underground by Rimmel

The cream eyeshadow features different shades that are mixed together when you apply it with your fingers. There’s some glitter in this, but if that’s not the effect that you’re seeking, just remove it by flicking a cotton swab or Q-Tip over it.


Cheeky! Blush Duo in Cheer Up by Underground by Rimmel

This blush duo features pale apricot and deep rose shades. Nowadays, most of the shades of blush from mass-market brands are subtle (to be foolproof), so this blush duo stands out. It can look natural by applying the deep rose shade on the apple of the cheeks – don’t blend out to the temples. If it’s too bright, the pale apricot shade will tone it down. There are several other shades of Cheeky! Blush Duo available, and all are wearable.


Loud Mouth Lipgloss in Pucker Up from Underground by Rimmel

Don’t be fooled by the name. This is more lip stain than lip gloss. In addition to Pucker Up, there are other wearable shades of Loud Mouth Lipgloss that will appeal to women of all ages. To prevent the stain from going beyond your mouth, consider lining your lips with clear lipliner first.

Because Loud Mouth Lipgloss is a lip stain, it can be drying. Now since the weather is getting colder, you need to keep your lips conditioned. I use Aquaphor icon, essentially a goo of petroleum jelly and mineral oil, at night to condition my lips (for more, see Treating Chapped Lips). I also like Sally Hansen Healing Butter for Lips (not available through drugstore.com, alas). It boasts of having shea, mango, cocoa and murumuru butters, but if you’re seeking a plant-based product, this isn’t it: petroleum jelly tops the list of ingredients and these butters are way down the list. Still, it’s very emollient.

Underground by Rimmel may be found at Target, and Ulta in the U.S.