Happy between-Chanukkah-and-Christmas time! Beauty Blogging Junkie's Amber and I got together, pooled our favorite lip glosses, hair goops and mascara wands, opened a bottle of red wine, and made a couple of videos of us discussing our favorite beauty products of 2010.
I learned a lot from doing these videos! I learned that while my outfit looked adorable in person, it came off as positively uncute on camera. I wore a high-waisted circle skirt whilst SEATED ON MY SMOOSHY COUCH! I look like I was born without a waist. Ugh. Live and learn, people. I learned that making videos is insanely time-consuming, and while I already respected bloggers who regularly devote their time to making their own videos, I now pretty much think they're Jesus. And I learned that Windows Movie Maker was put on this planet to destroy me.
Anyway, hope you like it! There are more where this came from!
+ Mistral soaps: Heaven-scent (GET IT?) handmade French soaps thick as bricks, and they last forever.
+ Fresh Pomegranate Conditioner: My favorite conditioner of all time. It comes with the story of how I klepto'ed them from the Roosevelt Hotel in Hollywood.
You guise! I'm writing about beauty over at the newly launched Naag.com -- Agyness Deyn and Fiona Byrne's new fashion, lifestyle, culture/ stuff-we-like daily site. Check it out! Be pretty and well moisturized! Enjoy the awesome and hilarious art (there's a fun new collage on every Friday's homepage -- kind of like a Cracker Jack toy -- you know it's coming, but you don't know what you're gonna get). Go now!
Okay, I have few skin things I need to discuss. First of all, I'll disclaim that my skin isn't perfect. BUT, it's looking better than it ever has before. Because I FUCKING WORK AT IT. AND because I've been treating it like a boss and have committed to a few products I will probably never stray from.
First (again -- because I know I just said first before), I've been using only paper towels to dry my skin. Yes, it's wasteful, but so is having bad skin when you could have good skin. (The unbelievably talented Joanna Vargas shared this tip when I visited her for a facial last year. It wasn't until recently though that I tried it out, and the results have been as obvious as a fart in a car.) Plus, I try to pull double duty and use said paper towels to wipe up my bathroom a bit, so I'm reusing AND making my bathroom cleaner. WIN.
Second, I've been WAY into Fresh's Lemon Sugar Body Lotion, which I've been using as a daily moisturizer on my face, even though it's for your body. Your face is part of your body, right? I don't care if it doesn't say "FOR YOUR FACE" on the packaging. It works like a dream.
I have super annoying rosacea and dry skin. Almost no moisturizer works as well as Sugar does. It doesn't leave me as red-faced as Mrs. Claus, and it's light and doesn't get greasy like a Biggie Fry.
BUT, it's winter as fuck out, and my forehead's been killing me softly, so PRAISES that I discovered MAC's Care Essential Oils. Now I KNOW that adding oil to your face sounds like going to the doctor and asking for fat injections in your thighs, but THIS SHIT WORKS.
I've only tried the grapefruit and chamomile, but I've seen all I need to know. I mix a little in with my Fresh, and BOOM. Best happy, hydrated winter skin. Silky smooth and soft but not greasy or oily. Get familiar.
In honor of my cat Sim's untimely demise, here are a bunch of cheery cat clothes and accessories. Yes, I'm a cat person. DEAL WITH IT. I used to try to air on the side of discretion when shopping for or styling myself with cat-related fashion, so as not to look overly young. But at this point, I'm like fuck it.
British upstart Your Eyes Lie makes excellent, photorealistic digital prints -- like this giant cat print dress -- on the softest jersey dresses. They look fantastic with leggings, run large (yay!), and are super layerable.
MAC's Fabulous Felines collection is obviously my favorite collection of all time. When I found out they were doing a cat collection, I almost fell out of my chair. Why I wasn't asked to be a consultant on the collection I will never know, but I'll let it slide. This time.
My favorite of the Fabulous Felines are the Leopard Luxe eyeshadow quad. LOOK at that gold! And that muted orange! So autumnal chic.
Designer and RISD professor Joseph Aaron Segel sources vintage sweater and prints cats and sews hilarious, huge stuffed animals eyes onto them! And check out his Pretty Snake acid cat screenprinted t-shirts!
To know me is to know that I typically am NOT into much Disney stuff. I've never seen "The Lion King" or "Herbie: Fully Loaded" or whatever. You will NEVER catch me quoting "Shrek." None of that. I can't deal with animation. And it's not just Disney. I've never seen "Cars" nor will I. That ain't me. I realize animation is an art. I just can't sit through an animated feature film. (With the exception of "The Triplets Of Belleville" -- man, do I sound like a snob. Whatevs.) I need my movies to have PEOPLE in them. Humans. HOWEVER. I do love a select few Disney items. A classic Mickey Mouse watch. And my Kidada for Disney Couture mirror necklace, which I wear on the regulado. And the Tom Binns collection. I'd wear all that shit. Possibly at the same time.
But, here's the point where I contradict myself: I do hold a special place in my heart for the old-school Disney movies -- growing up, I loved the "Cinderella" soundtrack from 1950 movie. And I do like a select few Disney movies from the 1990s. Like "Aladdin" and "Beauty And Beast" and "The Little Mermaid" because they were so bombastically over the top and campy. Which is saying a lot for a cartoon.
And, since I do love MAC, I was all OOOH when I saw the teaser trailer for their Venomous Villains collection, set to come out in September 2010. After loving their Barbie, Hello Kitty, and Heatherette collabos, I'm defs excited to see what their Disney collaboration has in store. And, um, hello -- no one does a villain like Disney. (Except for Susan Lucci and Daniel Waters, who wrote "Heathers.") And how fun is it that you JUST get the bitchy villains? Princesses are pretty, but they have their limitations. Evil and sinister know no bounds.
The villains that will star in the MAC collection haven't been revealed, though I think Cruella de Vil is beyond obvious. I'm hoping they'll have a male villain, because would Jafar from "Aladdin" not be hilarious? It'd be hilarious. Maybe he'd come with a limited-edition depilatory, since he clearly had an upperlip hair issue. Also, was he not a little light in his loafers? He was like a pointier, more ethnic Christopher Lowell.
Anyway, I will be absolutely LIVID if there isn't an Ursula from "The Little Mermaid." She was the effing BEST villain, because even though she was part octopus, she still glammed it up in eveningwear, knew the power of one statement accessory, and she was Gaga before Gaga was Gaga. She basically looked like a cartoon Harvey Fierstein in a dress. And she could BELT.
Anyway check out the MAC Venomous Villain trailer. And I just need to add that while they're totally off-brand, the Joker from Batman and Skeletor would be amazing adds too.
MAC's Fall 2010 Fabulous Felines collection featuring Palace Pedigreed, Leopard Luxe, and Burmese Beauty is full of those gorgeous dark pigments which make me giddy with excitement for the fashion-rich winter months. Plus gorgeous model Alana Zimmer shimmers in MAC's campaign. One stunning lipstick from the collection I have my eye on is Cunning (see photo below). It's a dark berry frost which will look extra divine on redhead lips! Update: It's sold out. Draaaaaaaaaaats....
MAC and Net-a-Porter.com are having a rad contest. Well, technically it's a sweepstakes. Anyway, if you are extremely lucky, you can win this awesome prize:
+ The MAC for McQueen collection = lipstick, lipglass, paint pots, eye shadows y mas. + An Alexander McQueen patent leather, suede-lined mini box-clutch with crystal-jeweled skull clasp
Every piece of MAC's new truly, truly, truly outrageously, brilliantly bright new Manish Arora collection sold out in a hot siggity second. A shame, sure, but most everything looked pretty much like Fafi and Heatherette ('specially the lipsticks and glosses) anyway, which just means they'll parlay these colors into a future collection faster than you can say "Layin' Low."
You don't get the bejeweled packaging or the muted yellow that MAC packs, but you do save $16. Which doesn't go far these days but doesn't mean you shouldn't still save! Even if it's just for Pop Beauty's amazing nail polish, whenever the hell it finally launches in the States!
Sooooooo... clearly FashionBinge is mainly about fashion, but it occurred to me the other day when I was switching bags and transferred about 18 lipsticks and glosses from one bag to the other: I have a beauty addiction. And lipsticks and glosses are my drug of choice. So, instead of admitting I have a probzor, I've decided to blog about it instead...
My newest acquisition is a MAC lipstick from their new Mattene matte line -- perf for fall, y'all!! The shade I have and am McLovin' is "Flattering," which is described as a beige pink semi-matte. On pasty-ass me, it's extremely pale but gorgeous and more peach than pink without any annoying old lady coral qualities. And it's super smooth yet light at the same time, and bish stayed on for HOURS without any icky build-up. This is the perfect complement to dramatic, smoky eyes.
The line hits October 4.
(I THINK this is Flattering, but I couldn't tell for sure.)
1.) Nordstrom is holding her annual Anniversary Sale Beauty Exclusive with over 100 beauty brands participating. The sale lasts July 18th through August 3rd, but you can preorder -- check out all of the available items here. Items ship July 18. My faves? MAC's Colour Form sets in bold primary colors:
2.) eLuxury.com is also holding an anniversary sale -- take 15% off all sale items between June 25th through June 27th. What would I buy? Since you asked...
3.) Piperlime is having a "tag sale," if you will, with savings of up to 40% off their summer styles. A few choice picks -- some of them aren't on sale, so, sorry for lying!
These are actually from Piperlime's Fall preview. Normally I hate Mary Janes, but I'm all over these like Amy Winehouse on her first cigarette out of the hospital.
4.) Nutty Rice Sample Sale: Monday June 23rd - Thursday June 26th 10am - 6:30pm 530 7th Ave #1009 Between 38th and 39th Brands: PF flyers, Sugar shoes and cosmetics, Alternative Apparel, Gravis, Five Crown, Bread & Butta, Mr. Chips
201 Mulberry St. New York, NY 10012 Brands: Love YaYa, Aflalo, Staerk, Moon Katz, Fluxus, and The Smooth Company
6.) Ananas Pop-Up Store From the press release: "Ananas Collection, the best selling line of handbags from New York, is opening a pop-up store at 52 Canal Street in New York’s Lower East Side (BAMBI) for 3 weeks only! From June 24th to July 15th, the space, called “Ananas at fifty-two”, will be open with exclusive, limited-edition products as well as offering select styles from the fall ’08 leather & eco collections- these styles won’t be available outside of the store until August! Jennifer Lagdameo, founder and designer of Ananas, is thrilled with the opportunity to present her loyal customers with an entire Ananas shopping experience."
212-219-7641 Monday -Wednesday, 12:00 -8:00, Thursday - Sat 1:00- 9:00, Sun 12:00-7:00pm
OKee! Now go forth and spend! Especially you, Europeans -- come over here and spend some cash! It's like everything's 50% off! Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm going to bed. I've got a big day of work and the premiere of The Baby Borrowers tomorrow!
I will be totally straight-up honest with you. When I first received MAC's "Secret Crush" See-Through Lip Color (top shade), from the Rose Romance collection, I was like WTF? I had so many questions, like... "Why is this so tiny?" ... And... "Why it all gelatinous?" Then I put it on... And was all "Ew. Gross... What's on TV?"
... And I almost wrote it off. And then I inadvertantly taught myself an important lesson in patience. And that lesson is that patience IS important. Because See-Through Lip Color is an OUTSTANDING beauty summer product. First of all, a teeeeeensy weeeeensy little bit goes a LONG way (recession-friendly!). Also, it stays on for FOREVER, and not in that nasty-ass crusty chemically way. If you're the type of idiot who wears lipstick to the beach, make this one it.
It also has a lovely cooling property, and as someone who's always BOILING, I so appreciate that, especially in the summer, when I'm boiling x3. And it's so light that you'll have to check your mirror to cure yourself of "I can't believe I'm not wearing product" disbelief. Secret Crush = perfect summer shade -- it's a sweet little hint of color that stays on with zero gross goo. It's also an A+ way to do the red-lip trend I'm seeing so much of without committing to actual red lips in the summer, which is kinda gross and difficult, you know?
Anyway, yay, patience! Now go get MAC Secret Crush, and make it your summer crush.
Oh bew. Has the mirrorball shattered at Heatherette? That'd suck but wouldn't be so surprising -- they pulled out of their last Fashion Week show. Apparently they're venturing down their own sparkly paths, which will surely be paved in glitter. But still, this split would be fairly unfierce. More at The Cut.
Also, uh, while you still can, you should check out Heatherette's "Sock Hop" Lipglass from their MAC line -- it's a spring-ready, salmon-pink coral gloss that doesn't reek of hot trannybotmess-ness:
It's totes sold out at MAC online, but SUUUUUP, Macy's -- you can still get it there, along with much of the rest of the collection. Better late than never. Check out more swatches and shots here.
OK, speaking of lates, it's bedtime. Happy Zs, FBs!
Oh, PS: Here's a slightly intoxicated me with the Heatherette dudes at a MAC event. Tee!
While MKHo may not be a beauty blogger, I am a little bit of one myself. Therefore, please enjoy a completely overlong post about one of my all-time favorite beauty products, mascara! Wee!
The other day, I was celebrating the fact that it was like 7p.m. on a Tuesday or something equally as irrelevant, and I impulsively decided I REALLY DESERVED to buy myself something. (Un-)fortunately I work about 30 seconds from a Sephora.
Due to the fact that, like a magpie, I am attracted to any and all forms of shiny packaging, I swooped down on Urban Decay's Big Fatty Mascara:
The wand is basically the size of a fucking toilet bowl brush. Unfortunately, this mascara completely sucks. Nothing showed up at all. I even thought I'd perhaps gotten a faulty, dried-up one. I read a review somewhere that said this mascara is good for "the natural look," and I can only imagine that refers to the look of WEARING NO MASCARA AT ALL. I took advantage of Sephora's open-arms exchange policy -- you can return anything if you're not completely satisfied, which I wasn't. So I did!
Ah, the redoubted Diorshow. I was sooooo ready to believe the hype. And the first few tests, it was okay (maybe I just REALLY wanted to believe) -- it definitely lengthens -- but after a few repeated uses, BOOOO Dior! WTF? J'clump!!! Definitely a lot of thick coverage, but zero separation -- it did that thing where it made major clumps at the center of my lashes and then made them look stringy-string-McStrung-out at the tips. Boo for reals.
Oh, and before I forget: + Free shipping over $25 at Sephora with promo code B388C2, through April 30. + Also, did you know you can return any and all beauty products to CVS if you're not feelin' it? It's true!
Anyway, back to the mascara: ... So,just yesterday, my sister came to visit. Every time we see each other after having not seen each other for months, we first act a'fool about how much we wuv each other. Then, we go into giddy-overdrive mode over mascara. She reminded me how much she loves CoverGirl's Lash Blash (the one that looks like a small orange sex toy), and I was so glad she did:
Huge, right? But even more importantly, hugely effective. It's perfect on its own (after a few coats of course -- please stop kidding yourself if you think any one mascara can do it all in just one coat. Do you give your walls JUST ONE coat of paint? No. Unless you're a crappy slacker.) or as a base -- I'd also completely forgotten my own trick -- find a great separating mascara, use it as a base to hit as many individual hairs as possible that the slightly clumpier mascaras can't deal with, and then layer with a bolder mascara over that. Yeah, it's a little extra time, but so is dealing with those crappy lash brushes which never really end up working.
I also remembered how much I like MAC's Zoom Lash mascara: ($11, MAC)
A VERY thick (think mud) mascara. For $11, t'aint (hee) bad, but I don't advise it on its own -- instead, use it as a top coat over a solid separating mascara like Maybelline's Define-A-Lash, which is the Bentley Continental GT of separating but the mid-to-late '80s LeBaron of volumizing:
PS: Non-sequitur, yes, and I know I'm like the 23rd person to tell you this today, but Muxtape is awesome. MU
Bingers, for those of you not really that into MAC, here's an SAT-style analogy to help you understand the subset of beauty enthusiasts who are completely die-hard:
MAC addicts : new MAC products
People genuinely obsessed with Lost : new episodes of Lost
Like THAT into it. Since MAC puts out at least one brand-new collection per month, there's much new material to keep MAC addicts busy -- and buying.
Buckets of beauty ink have been spilled, so to speak, over MAC's Fafi collection, which has been out for a little over a month now. And the build-up to its debut : the Pope coming to town.
For the uninitiated -- Fafi is an adorable French graffiti artist known for her Harajuku-esque Fafinette characters. She teamed up with MAC to create a limited-edition collection of Fafi-branded beauty products, with fun Fafinettes (Temptalia has a tremendous run-down of the collection, plus lots of pix) all over the packaging.
Anyway, while I appreciate a lot of the collection's colors, many are just too bright (think Rainbow Brite) for me, personally. With the exception of one of the Lipglass glosses: Squeeze It, which is now my very favorite lipgloss. Much of MAC's Fafi stuff is sold out (including the other three Lipglasses) yet this is one's actually still in stock.
Squeeze It is described as "brassy plum," but it's more like a ripe tomato/ strawberry. Like a shiny fruit basket for your lips. (Oh, and speaking of fruit baskets, is it really bad that every time those "Edible Arrangements" commercials come on, I kind of really want one? How trashy am I?)
I'd hit it.
Oops, back to Squeeze It -- it's vibrant but not overly loud -- a wonderful everyday color, and I wish it wasn't limited-edition, but MAC does tend to sort of reincarnate past products into new products with different names, so I'll be on the lookout for that when-/however it's reborn.
