Category: MAC

Revlon limited edition collection

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No doubt about it – Revlon took a drubbing in 2006, with the collapse of Vital Radiance the same year that it debuted. One also wishes that Revlon would have brought in new faces when it totally revamped Almay, but instead model Elaine Mellencamp (wife of singer John) continues as the face of Almay.

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Revlon Just Bitten Lip Stain
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Enough of that – Revlon has introduced a number of flashy new products in its limited edition collection, including Revlon Just Bitten Lip Stain
icon and Bedroom Eyes™ Powder Liner. Just Bitten™ Lip Stain has a rollerball applicator – not the best for even layering. What’s more, it dries quickly. The shade of Just Bitten™ in Blood Orange reminded me of orange popsicle stain. Other shades include Berry Juicy, Cherry Tart, and Plum Wicked.

I chose Revlon Bedroom Eyes™ Powder Liner in Smokin’, which is great for creating the smoky eye. Be sure to tap excess powder from the applicator onto a tissue beofre applying – otherwise, it gets all over your cheek and countertop. Clearly, when using Bedroom Eyes™ as part of your eye makeup, do your eye makeup before you apply base. As FT Weekend columnist Edwina Ings-Chambers, who had a makeup application by NARS artist James Boehmer, writes:

The first thing to remember, Boehmer says, is that you shouldn’t try to replicate the 60s thing: keep the liner off the lid and stick to putting it round the eyes. “It’s more about the outer corner of the lid, not all over the lid,” he says.

Be prepared with cotton balls and eye makeup remover or Swabplus Liquid Filled Cotton Swabs, Eye Makeup Remover. Be sure to finish this look with lots of volumizing mascara.

BTW Generally, I find lipliners too harsh. Revlon is one of the two companies I know that offers a clear lipliner (ColorStay®) at a nominal price – the other being Paula Begoun’s Paula’s Choice line. Paula also recommends Lip Line Fixer from The Body Shop, which proves that she’s not partisan.

I haven’t seen L’Oreal’s clear lipliner in ages, so I guessed that L’Oreal discontinued it. An alternative is a lipliner that exactly matches the color of your lips, which is why MAC’s lip pencil in Spice has remained so popuplar.

Lip tips

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After posting Great drugstore finds, I realized that I needed to revise my advice on lips on The Style Page website.

Concerning lipliner that it is not obvious, I had written:

  • Another solution is to line the lips using a lip brush with the color you intend to apply: this is especially useful for applying highly pigmented matte lipsticks. [This advice originally came from Bobbi Brown]

  • ArtDeco, a cosmetics company from Germany, offers a Color & Contour Lip Duo, which features lipstick at one end and contour at the other end for lining the tips. This is a highly pigmented lip color, so blending is still necessary.

Now I think that both techniques result in an overly obvious line, which is why I now prefer clear lipliners or lipliners that perfectly match the color of one’s lips (which is why MAC’s Lip Pencil in Spice has been so popular).

I’ve since discovered that companies other than Revlon and Paula’s Choice offer clear lipliners, but at a higher price: DuWop Reverse Lip Liner and CARGO The Reverse Lipliner.

Living Beauty by Bobbi Brown

as seen in the March 15, 2007 edition of USA Today.

Lastly, the March issue of InStyle featured an excerpt from Bobbi Brown’s latest book Living Beauty. Bobbi Brown wrote that the most flattering lip color is two shades darker than the natural color of your lips. I can vouch for her advice, after a lot of experimentation (and a lot of money spent!). One also has to take her complexion, hair color, and clothes in account when selecting lip color.

I’m light to medium in complexion, with dark brown hair and brown eyes. While I had been classified as a “Winter” (using the seasonal color typing that was so popular in the 80s), I tend to favor rich warm colors over cool colors. Some of my favorite lipsticks are Bourbon from last year’s limited edition Catherine Deneuve color collection from MAC and Bésame’s Enchanting Lipstick in Chocolate Kiss, particularly when wearing brown. In fact, I favor lip colors that are “ambiguous,” that is, not too cool, not too warm.

Another tip is to apply lip color just slightly inside your mouth (I would name the source of this tip if I could recall it) so that there won’t be any apparent demarcation lines; also, this application suggests fuller lips.

Review of MAC “Beauty Icon 3” collection Catherine Deneuve – Color

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I had become disillusioned with MAC after it discontinued its Satin foundation several years ago. MAC Satin was the best foundation I ever used, and even better, its price point was more comfortable that prices for foundations from other department store brands. When I wanted to buy another bottle, the makeup artist told me that the foundation had been discontinued and tried to sell me on the merits of peach-toned foundations. I couldn’t believe it. MAC became famous in part for its array of neutral-toned foundations!


Catherine Deneuve – fabulous at 62
(AP Photo/ Markus Schreiber, File)

It was the allure of Catherine Deneuve and MAC’s selecting La Deneuve as its Beauty Icon that brought me back to MAC. I visited one of MAC’s mall stores to test products from the Catherine Deneuve – Color collection.

The Catherine Deneuve – Color collections features two shades of blushing crème, two shades of nail polish, four different shades of Lipglass, four different shades of lip Lacquer, four shades of lipstick, and two eye shadow quads. For the most part, the shades are pretty and wearable (not the adjectives that typically spring to mind with MAC).

I will focus on the lipsticks and eye shadow quads. A Rose (a deep rose) is the most vibrant shade of the lot, while Strawberry Blonde is a pink/coral – not too cool, not too warm – and Sharp Beige is a nude pink. I ultimately opted for Bourbon, which MAC describes as Rich brown/red (Amplified), but it’s more like intensifying the natural color of my lips and giving them a nice polish.

The two eye shadow quads are Laze and Thunder. Laze features two light shades appropriate for all over lid color and two dark shades more appropriate for the crease or for lining the eyes. All shades coordinate well together. Thunder features more dramatic shades that mimic the chartreuse/olive/plum/pink color motif used in the brush handles and compacts of the Catherine Deneuve – Face collection. As I prefer to use tonal shades, I found it difficult to coordinate all shades from this quad together – and judging from the “Looks” on MAC’a web site, neither could MAC’s makeup artists.

Catherine Deneuve collections by MAC now out

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MAC’s third “Beauty Icon” collection is now available at maccosmetics.com and gloss.com and in the stores. Each “Beauty Icon” collection pays tribute to a particular celebrity. The two previous honorees were Liza Minelli and Diana Ross. MAC has always been unconventional (recall that female impersonator RuPaul was the spokesmodel for MAC’s first print campaign), but what was MAC thinking by selecting Liza Minelli and Diana Ross? I discussed Ross in a post on on this blog from last year. Liza Minelli’s career after her breakthrough role in the movie Cabaret (1972) has been plagued by addictions, lousy vehicles to showcase her talent, and four marriages that ended in divorce: the last marriage, to producer David Gest, ended with a lawsuit claiming that she abused him. Both Minelli and Ross are also plagued by lasting associations with Michael Jackson.

The current collection honors Catherine Deneuve, who is not only working steadily (she’s now 62), but who also has become the model for aging well. She eschews cosmetic surgery, and chose to keep an extra fifteen pounds rather than incur wrinkles.


Catherine Deneuve for MAC (2006)

This is not the first time that Deneuve has modeled for a beauty product. In the 1970s, she appeared in an ad campaign for Chanel no. 5. She is more sensual at 62 than she was in her 30s!


Catherine Denueve for Chanel no. 5 (1970s)

Canadian Beauty

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It’s been nearly 15 years since Toronto-based MAC revolutionized the cosmetics industry with its neutral foundations, ultra-matte lipsticks, and its wide variety of shades for lips, cheeks, and eyes. Largely through buzz generated by beauty editors (and not through advertising), its products became in demand. The Estee Lauder Companies bought out MAC, and MAC has since become widely available in department stores and MAC mall stores throughout the U.S.

CARGO is another Canadian cosmetics company that found success in the U.S., largely through its distribution by Sephora.com. The Style Page especially likes CARGO’S selection of eyeshadows (its litmus test for a cosmetics line).

The Style Page recently came back from a trip to Canada, and would like to report on Canadian products that are not widely available in the U.S., at least not yet.

Two major Canadian pharmacy chains offer their exclusive lines of cosmetics: Shoppers Drug Mart (called Pharmaprix in Quebec) offers its own Quo cosmetics line, while Pharmacie Jean Coutu offers the Personnelle and Garraud Paris cosmetics lines. Pharmacie Jean Coutu has penetrated the U.S. market through its acquisition of over 1500 Eckerd drugstores from JC Penney, but there’s no word of its exporting Personnelle and Garraud Paris to its Eckerd stores, which will retain the Eckerd banner (CVS purchased over 1200 Eckerd stores from JC Penney).

Marcelle is a mass market comsetics brand, available at both Pharmacie Jean Coutu and Shoppers Drug Mart. The Style Page picked up Marcelle’s Soothing Eye Make-Up Remover Gel, which, despite the name, stung on contact. If the sting could be removed from this product, this would be a great product and much more convenient for travel than liquid eye makeup remover (The Style Page had the misfortune of having liquid eye makeup remover leak and stain her packed clothes). Groupe Marcelle purchased the Annabelle cosmetics line, which is also available through pharmacies.

Lise Watier is a Montreal-based makeup artist whose eponymous line is available both in department stores and drugstores. The Style Page picked up an eyeshadow single in Halo Mat, a light yellow, which brightens the eyes. In the U.S., her Neiges (Snow) fragrances may be purchased through Sephora.com.

Nacara is a cosmetics line from Montreal geared towards “women of color.” It features highly-pigmented lipsticks and cream-to-powder makeup. The Style Page found Nacara at Pharmacie Jean Coutu

Dans un Jardin is a chain of perfumeries in Quebec and Ontario. The stores offers bath and body products and home fragrances under Dans un Jardin’s own label, its own e&n (essence & nature) color cosmetics line, Decleor skin scare, and a wide variety of Lampe Berger fragrance-diffusing oil-burning lamps and parfums de maison (home fragrance) oils.

Fruits & Passion is another chain of perfumeries, with boutiques across Canada and in several foreign countries (but not, alas, the U.S.). In the U.S., Nordstrom sells some of its Cucina (kitchen) line of products in the beauty department. Fruits & Passion boutiques carry bath and body products, home fragrances, environmentally safe cleaning and laundry products, and even food products. The Style Page picked up maple jelly (how quintessentially Canadian!) with orange peel from Fruits & Passion’s L’Art de la table collection.

The Style Page especially welcomes comments from its Canadian readers on Canadian beauty products.

Diana Ross signs up with MAC, finally

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Diana Ross signs up with MAC, finally

MAC Global President, John Demsey, states, “Not only is [Diana Ross] a global style icon but also a timeless and exquisite beauty. As a multi-talented performer who expresses her individuality through fashion and make-up, she’s all that M.A.C admires.”

I’d dispute that Diana Ross is “a timeless and exquisite beauty.” Actually, she’s become pathetic. She reached the heights of her career in 60s with the Supremes and in the 70s and 80s with her solo career. More recently, her career has been plagued by a lot of setbacks and missteps: the end of her marriage, a DUI conviction last year, and the failed “Return to Love” Supremes reunion – if you could call it a “reunion,” as neither Mary Wilson nor Cindy Birdsong, the two surviving Supremes (Florence Ballard died broke years ago) with whom Diana Ross had her biggest 60s hits, agreed to participate.

As far as being “all that M.A.C admires,” this is consistent with M.A.C’s habit of engaging female impersonators like Liza Minnelli and drag queen RuPaul – although RuPaul is more genuine than either Diana Ross or Liza Minnelli.