The Shades Of U Makeup: March 2010

Guerlain Rouge G Le Brillant Lipstick Look and Review

Rouge G Le Brillant in Beatrix

Guerlain is known for its high-end, ornately packaged cosmetics that bespeaks ultimate luxury. I was given the chance to try its new Rouge G Le Brilliant lipstick. It is a new variant of the Rouge G lipstick, but this time, it is infused with the radiance of ruby powder for enhanced shine and creamy brilliance.

First of all, the packaging is as opulent as the name. It is heavy and beautifully embossed with the brand name on top. When you slide the lipstick open, a tiny mirror pops up so you can apply your lippie without the need of any other accessory. It's nice that Guerlain thought of everything for the convenience of its consumers.

When I read Guerlain's claims about this lippie, I was a bit skeptical because they seemed too good to be true:

Formulation:
• The heart of the formula remains Ruby Powder, this precious jewellery ingredient is enhanced to offer Rouge G Le Brillant spectacular sparkle.
• Hyaluronic acid microspheres fill with water on contact with your lips and swell to six times their initial volume, smoothing the appearance of lips in the process.
• Gugul resin used in Ayurvedic medicine, acts like a natural wrinkle-filler in the lines of the lips.
• Tiger Grass and Vitamin A palmitate combine to help plump lips by stimulating epidermal cell growth and boosting the synthesis of collagen fibers.
• Wild mango butter enriches the ultra-comfortable formula to maintain optimum hydration levels, offering the comforting pleasure of a balm in the intense colour of a lipstick.

See swatches and the rest of the review after the jump!

MAC Prep For Colour Collection Swatches and Reviews

This is a tiny fringe collection from MAC. The colour story for this collection is bright, even skintone, flawless face, neutral eyes and juicy pink lips. This is just a minor collection but I love the shades and the products because it bespeaks of beautiful, glowing skin as the main feature. Let's start with the colour collection.

EYESHADOWS:

I think Hey is going to be one of my favorite neutral lid colors from MAC. It is very pigmented and I love the Veluxe Pearl finish. It is a warm mid-tone beige that is going to be perfect as a neutral lid color or for those days when you just want a shimmery wash on the lids to make the eyes look more awake and fresh. I compared Hey with other similar-colored MAC shadows in my stash:

In the photo above, you can see that Hey is a little more subdued than the very shimmery Grand Entrance and All That Glitters. They are all in the same color family, however, albeit Hey is lighter than All That Glitters.

Sorcery is a blackened burgundy that first came up from the Holiday 2009 Magic, Mirth and Mischief Colour Collection. It is a satin in finish and would make a nice crease or outer lid color.

LIPGLASS:

See the rest of the review and swatches after the jump!

A NARSissistic Weekend with Rihanna, Olivia Wilde & François Nars

NARS Cosmetics had a busy weekend on the west coast!

From music and film to tv and travel, NARS products were in high demand.

RIHANNA:
Makeup artist Mylah Morales used the new Pro-Prime Smudge Proof Eyeshadow Base to keep Rihanna’s look long-lasting throughout her red carpet appearance and performance at the Nickelodeon Kids Choice Awards on Saturday March 27th. She also used Angelika Blush and the Orgasm Illuminator.

OLIVIA WILDE
Makeup artist Kayleen McAdams used Stolen Kisses Lip Gloss & Amour Blush on the Emmy Award-Winning actress at the 24th annual American Cinematheque Awards honoring Matt Damon on Saturday, March 27th.

MAD MEN:
Season 4 has begun taping! Makeup Department Head Lana Horochowski let us know she’s already using NARS. Stay tuned as we’ll release more details with her favorite products!

…And for the icing on the cake:

Our very own François Nars spent the past week in Australia making appearances throughout Melbourne & Sydney.

As a child, François’ favorite stuffed animal was a koala bear. He topped off his stay with a live koala encounter!

All NARS products are available at narscosmetics.com.

Pro-Prime will be available starting May 1st at Sephora.

MAC Art Supplies: Greasepaint, Lipstain Marker and Pearlglide Swatches and Reviews

I am torn on MAC Art Supplies: there are products from this collection that I would consider some of the best MAC has come up with, and are probably must-haves in my book, but there are others that really don't pique my interest. Nonetheless, this is a cool collection because you can be as creative as when you were 3 years old in preschool using these crayons-for-your-face from MAC.

GREASEPAINTS:

I am totally, totally in love with the greasepaints. They are technically shadesticks on steroids and since I love shadestick (especially Beige-ing that I have been using as a daily eyeshadow base for many years), the greasepaints are my kind of products. The greasepaints, true to their name, somehow have a grease-like look and staying power because they do not budge on the skin. The pigmentation is way off the charts. They don't tug on the skin like the old shadesticks did, they glide like butter on the lids and are very easy to apply. Staying power is very good. That's the reason why you can use these greasepaints either as eyeshadow base, eye liner or eyeshadow. They are very versatile and the possibilities are endless with these babies.

Brown, Now is a blackened burgundy that would be great for browns, reds, coppers. Below Ground is my favorite - it's a blackened bronze that would be amazing with neutrals, golds, or basically anything especially warm colors. Charred Mauve is a beautiful blackened violet that would be great with pinks, purples, plums, blues. These would work as a nice eye liner as well to make the eyes pop.

The greasepaints above were from the DSquared and Style Black collections of last year, and as you can see from the swatches, they are very pigmented and vibrant, which are the characteristics we all want in shadows, liners and even for colored eyeshadow bases. So you see, I can't rave enough about the greasepaints. They are long-wearing, transfer and water-resistant (although for me, I still use a good neutral base underneath the greasepaints). For me, they are the winners in this collection.

PEARLGLIDE LINERS:

The pearlglide formula has been around since two or three years ago, but this time, they added a new characteristic: a new shimmering sparkle effect, not just micro-glitters. This is the reason why the Black Line pearglide which is described as a "true black" is not exactly true black- it has these shimmery bits of sparkle that make it look like a greenish duochrome to my eyes. Almost Noir is a dirty plum that has tiny little specks of gold particles. They glide like butter on the skin and are very pigmented. However, I wouldn't recommend them on the waterline or tightline because the tiny shards of shimmery particles might irritate your sensitive eyes. Since I tend to use mostly liquid, gel or mineral liners for the upper lashline, I tend to forget that these Pearlglide liners are great on the lashline because they're very pigmented and glide easily on the skin:

the old Pearlglide colors

I have not tried my Pearlglides in ages, and this new collection makes me want to break them out of their boxes and play with different looks using these.

PRO LONGWEAR LIPSTAIN MARKERS:

See rest of the review and swatches after the jump

Does Your Diet Help or Harm Your Skin?

The answer is in this quiz

Captain obvious here: Eating right is great for our health and our figures. But did you know that your food choices can yield shiny hair and better skin? In this quiz, youâ€™ll find which ingredients will give you a beauty boost.

Take quiz

Illamasqua Eye Shadow, Blush, and Lipstick Swatches and Review

Illamasqua products were introduced to U.S. shores last year. Illamasqua was originally launched in the U.K. and I know from all the buzz going around that it is one of the hottest, most talked-about brands in the industry nowadays. The wide range of shades and newest textures make this new brand very appealing not only to the beauty and fashion industry but also to the retail market.

I was given the chance to try these Illamasqua products and I'd like to say that I was absolutely floored by the pigmentation of the items I tried. I understand why these became so popular in just a short amount of time: quality speaks.

Matte Blusher:

Let us start with the blusher. I am usually not a fan of matte blushes but I was very impressed with the way the product applied. Illamasqua blusher in Chased is matte but it's hella pigmented. This is not like some lesser quality matte blushes I've tried which applied splotchy on the cheeks with a chalky finish. I had to use an angled duo fiber brush because the pigmentation is really good and I didn't want to end up with clown cheeks. It applied smoothly and gave pink-lilac cheeks that look natural and with a lit from within look. The color is intense but you can definitely tone it down with the right tools. Powder blush retails for $23.00 (0.14 oz)

natural light

flash

The Shades Of U rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars

Matte Eye Shadow:

Creep is a matte lavender eyeshadow; it retails for $20.00 for 0.07 oz. product. I also don't use a lot of matte shadows but this one applied smoothly on the lid. I made a mistake of not using a similar-colored cream shadow base on the lid to make the color pop. I guess it is important to use not just an eyeshadow base but also a colored base for these if you really want the true color to show up on the skin. Application is great and staying power is good.

The Shades Of U rating: 4.0 out of 5 stars

Lipstick:

See rest of review after the jump

Beauty Product Revamp

Experts share what products to rethink and buy this spring

Out with the old in with the new -- well, sort of. With the help of these beauty gurus, you'll find out how to transition the makeup and hair products you've been using all winter, plus learn their picks for the must-haves you should purchase now.

Get tips

Greens and Olives Using NYX Runway Collection Secret World Palette

I was able to score three of the four NYX palettes yesterday at ULTA, and two of them were the last ones at my ULTA store, so that explains why there are cracks in the shadows (believe me, I wouldn't get the ones with cracks if there were other available ones). Nonetheless, I loved the colors so much to overlook the imperfections of the items. For this look, however, I used my perfect Runway Collection palette in Secret World:

These are hella pigmented and rich, and the application is very smooth. It's amazing to know that these shadows are just a dollar each, because each 10-shadow palette is only $9.99 each. I also love how the shadows looked on my lids. The finish is just the same as my high-end eyeshadows over a good eyeshadow base.

Here's a step-by-step. Refer to the photo above for the particular shadows used.

Apply Urban Decay Primer Potion in Sin all over lid and lashline. Using a fluffy shader brush, apply MAC paint pot in Mosscape on lid.

Using a firm shader brush, apply Shadow A on lid.

Using a crease brush (I used Sonia Kashuk blender brush), apply Shadow B (a beautiful olive color) on outer V.