Ways to Wear Series: Bronze

Another week, another way to wear series. Since last week was all about color - hello pink!! - this week is more of a neutral. Bronze by MAC is hardly a sheer scaredy cat. Think more rich, luscious, silky pigmentation. Deliciousness in a shadow pan.

Base: Elf Shadow Primer
Inner Lid: Goldmine
Middle Lid: Style Snob
Outer Lid: Bronze
Crease: Bronze and Smut
Lower Line: Feline
Lower Line: Goldmine
Highlight: Shroom

All products MAC

Ways To Wear Series: Da Bling

A more traditional "pink eye" - doesn't that sound pretty!?! Cranberry is one of my favorite colors to use. I love how rich it is, and how well it plays with others. It is particularly beautiful with bronzey golds as well.

Base: Elf Shadow Primer
Inner Lid: Soft Force (try Nylon)
Middle Lid: Da Bling
Outer Lid and Crease: Da Bling
Highlight: Shroom
Mascara: Maybelline Falsies

Ways To Wear Series: Da Bling

Today's look is going for the classic sunset look. This is a great way to wear a pink shade without feeling ovewhelmed by it, as the more traditional golds and bronzes dominate. You know, these might be my 4 favorite MAC colors ever!

Products used:
Base: Elf Shadow Primer
Inner Lid: Da Bling
Middle Lid: Goldmine
Outer Lid and Crease: Bronze
Highlight: Shroom
Liner: Urban Decay El Dorado
Mascara: The Collossal

Ways To Wear Series: Da Bling

As promised, another way to wear the gorgeous pinky goodness that is Da Bling eyeshadow by MAC. This time I've gone for for a sheer pink wash over my lids, and a gray shadow liner underneath. I saw this look in Lucky magazine this month, and love how simple it is. Apparently, keeping the pink on the lid and the gray underneath stop the dreaded pink eye effect that we fear from pink eyeshadow. If I was doing this again, I think instead of using a smudgy shadow liner, I would go for more crispness in the form of a pencil liner.

Base: Elf Shadow Primer
Lid: MAC Da Bling
Lower Liner: MAC Knight Divine
Highlight: MAC Shroom
Lashes: Maybelline Falsies

Ways To Wear Series: Da Bling

Over the last couple of weeks I've been putting together a little series for the blog. Sometimes I look at my eye palettes, and I always end up picking the same combination of colors, or only using one shade with one other. I wanted to challenge myself to get more use out of the current colors I have, and think of new ways to wear them, and I'd like to share that with you all.

The first shade I've picked out to work with is Da Bling. Da Bling is one of my favorite permanent MAC shades, and probably one of the first that I picked out for myself. It's a mid-toned pink with gold shimmer. Pink is a color a lot of people avoid, but Da Bling is a great one to start out with if you are scared, because it really does play well with others.

For the first in my Way To Wear Series, I picked one of my all time favorite color combinations: Gold and Pink. For this look, I've used another classic MAC color (I'm trying to only use permanent colors in this series so that anyone can try out these combinations), Goldmine. This look can be softly worn during the day, and then by adding black liquid liner on top and on the lower inner rim, it really takes it up a notch for the night.

 

All colors MAC unless otherwise stated:
Base: ELF Shadow Primer
Inner Lid: Goldmine
Outer Lid and crease: Da Bling
Highlight: Shroom
Mascara: Maybelline Falsies

Pan Time!

Why do we get so excited about hitting pan? For me, it’s almost a proof that I was right, that it was a great product, and that I have stuck with something to the end. Weird, no? But we all feel it. Plus there’s that other element which is that it’s an excuse to go shopping, of course. I’ve been working away at a couple of products for the last couple of months that I’ve finished up (or are close to) in the last couple of months.

1.       Elf Studio Brow Kit – I’ve hit pan on the wax side, but the powder looks like it is going to be good for YEARS to come. This product can go on a little blotchy and uneven, but once you even it out with a wispy brow brush (I use an only mascara wand), then it’s actually really nice. I’ll keep using the brow powder but with some clear brow gel I have lying around.

2.       MAC Studio Sculpt Foundation – I got this in June of 2009, and I must have had a tan at the time, because it always felt a shade too dark. It also feels incredibly heavy. I got a nice finish out of it when I used it with a large, kabuki style brush spritzed with a lot of MAC Fix +, but even then I felt I was getting too much coverage. I then started mixing it with Kiehls Ultra Facial Moisturizer, which ended up being an amazing tinted moisturizer – a hint of color, a little bit of hydration while still feeling light. It did take me a whole year to finish the tube though, which drove me crazy. I have a bottle of Bobbi Brown Moisture Rich foundation which I also don’t love, so I’ll start mixing that with my Kiehls until I really need to get something with more coverage, in which case I’ll probably try NARS Sheer Glow or Bobbi Brown Skin. I don’t have perfect skin, but I don’t like my foundation to be too heavy. It just doesn’t wear well on me.

3.       MAC Paint in Bare Canvas. MAC Paints come in a tube form, and act similar to Paint Pots in that they are pigmented creams. This product was recommended to me by a MAC MUA as an eye shadow primer. I am so surprised that they are not more popular, because it works so well. Eyeshadows don’t budge at all when I use this, but colors remain blendable when they are applied. I have a hard time blending colors sometimes when I’m using Urban Decay Primer Potion. When I first got this, about a year ago, I wasted a lot of product because the tube form is not so easy to control, but once I’d used it a couple of times I got it figured out (be very gentle!), and fell in love. However, I’m not going to be replacing it any time soon, mostly because I have about 85 mini UDPPs lying around from the various Box of Shadows, so I want to use those up first. I also have an ELF Shadow Primer which is surprisingly effective, especially given the $1 price tag. Based on the number of primers I have in my dupes drawer, I won’t be buying any replacements for at least a year.

4.       NARS Orgasm Cream Blush – This is part of a duo with Laguna cream bronzer. I find the bronzer quite dark on me, but the blush is amazing, and completely lives up to its reputation. I’ve had this for about 18mths before I got to this stage, and for a good 9mths of that, it was literally the only blush I owned! Shocking, I know. Now I have about 6 or 7, including at least one other NARS one. Anyway, I still use this at least once a week, if not more, because it’s just a classic, flattering, easy color to wear. Although I’ve hit pan on this, I am sure I’ve got a good while to go yet before I’m actually all out. Then I’ll have to decide whether I want it in cream or powder form. Decisions!

At this point I feel like I should also confess that I’ve never, ever finished a lipgloss or lipstick. I’ve lost plenty over the years, but finished? None. And although I’ve been wearing a couple of shades again and again this summer (Hello Ever Hip by MAC, Perennially High Style again by MAC, and Tarte Raspberry Lip Stain), I’m months, if not years, away from finishing anything.

Have you finished up anything recently? Any products you think you might?

New Project: Run Girl Run!

I just wanted to share with all my lovely readers that I've started up a new project. Over at Glowing Girl, I'm going to be blogging about my attempts to run a half marathon in just six weeks time. I'm really not much of a runner at all, but over the last couple of months I've been working out at lot with Core Fusion and taking a lot of yoga. Running has always held a fascination with me; it's always something that I have envied in others, that I've wished I could do myself, and that every so often I actually do, and even then occasionally enjoy. A Half Marathon is perhaps a crazily long race to start with, but I'm looking forward to the challenge, and I really hope that some of you take a look at my progress.

Thanks for looking! :)

Elf Mineral Shadow Haul Part 2

A couple of weeks ago I brought you the first half of my Elf mineral eye shadow haul. Now it's time to take a look at the other 6 colors I picked up during the sale.

From L-R: Temptress, Trendy, Celebrity, Sassy, Seductive, Socialite

Temptress is a matte light brown. I think it's a really useful color for darkening the crease on a neutral look, and am pleased with it's color and wear. It goes on smoothly and has good pigmentation. 

Trendy is a very shimmery peachy gold. I didn't love this one as I found it quite sheer and it blended out to just large chunks of shimmer. I haven't tried it in a look, but it looks like it will be fallout central. 

Celebrity is a lighter, cooler toned gold. This one had much, much better pigmentation than Trendy. It is much lighter toned. This one looks gorgeous as a wash across the lids. 

Sassy is a beautiful rich copper tone. It reminds me of Orly Rage, or MAC's All That Glitters. It is very shimmery, so you need a light hand, but it is beautiful, rich color. 

Seductive is a matte charcoal gray. It's not quite black, but it's nearly there. I'm actually super wary of this color in powder form, as it is so easy to get too much, and too much of loose dark pigment can just smudge up a look, but if used lightly, this could be nice. For me though, it's too much work, and I'll stick to Carbon and Nehru for my dark looks. 

Socialite is a shimmery pewter taupe. It reminds me of MAC's Smoke and Diamonds, but it isn't quite as rich. It sheers out very nicely, and looks particularly gorgeous with Sassy. The shimmer content is very high, and it's not incredibly pigmented, but it leaves a gorgeous molten metal look on the eyes. 

So there you have the final round up of the Elf Mineral Eye Shadows. At just $3 a pop, and plenty of deals and discounts on the site, these are worth a look. My favorites? Sassy, Socialite, Natural. and Golden. Pass on Seductive and Trendy. 

Puppy Shot of the Day: Mucky Mucky Pup

It's been a while since we've had a puppy shot here on Jolie Laide Girl, but Moose continues to be the most adorable little guy. He also has a nose for trouble, and managed to find a Never Ending Story esque swamp while walking through Central Park yesterday. He actually looked pretty scared as he sank chest deep into the mud. He did quite a bit of flailing around before managing to pull himself out of the mud. His bottom half? Completed covered in an inch of mud. It took 3 baths to get this bad boy clean.

Beauty Blog Link Love

Phyrra shows you Meow's Friday the 13th Collection, just in time for Friday the 13th!

Louise wonders about the Thierry Mugler wisdom of Womanity.

Lismarie from Beauty Crazed opens up Pandora's Box - Pandora's Makeup Box that is!

Take a look at swatches of Revlon's Super Lustrous Lipglosses and see what Sophie thinks of them.

The fish pedicure has come to London via Aqua Sheko and Beautywoome tries it out.

Lipglossiping has the scoop on the NARS Christmas Bento Box Lip Set that EVERYONE will want, but that at £95, few will be able to justify!

Krasey Beauty swatches her entire collection of Make Up For Ever eyeshadows, for all the world to see!

Retrodiva discovers a mascara that's almost identical to her beloved Max Factor 2000 Calorie Extreme Lash Plumper. a solution to her oily skin, she just can't get enough of it!

Want soft skin, smooth legs and shiny hair? Cindy at Prime Beauty has your solution--find out what ten must-have beauty products are in her shower.

Broke your nail and don't know what to do? Musicalhouses will show you how to fix your nail with a DIY nail wrap!

Rachel's been finding possible Liz Earle alternatives.. is Soap and Glory's Hot Cloth Cleanser "the one"? 

Jeweled Thumb reviews a miniature blush from a brand that doesn't seem to get quite enough love (PS she loves it!)

Are you looking for some everyday nude lip products? Check out Spiced Beauty's top 3!

Jolie Laide Girl falls in love forever and its with the creamy Make Up Forever Aqua Creams.

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Finally, over to theNotice for Rae's Silicone Giveaway, which includes a lustrous hair lotion, a Canada-exclusive powder, and a bit of Urban Decay!

Tarte Matte Lipstains Are Not A Rumor!

I don't normally post press release related things on the blog, because I like to test things out before actually sharing them, but I'm make an exception based on the most recent release I got from Tarte. They are coming out with two products I've just heard about: the Natural Lip Surgence Matte Lipstains, and the Radiant & Rested Luminous Complexion Collection. 

I seriously heart my Tarte Lipstain - it has been one of my favorite lip products all summer, and, as early readers may know, one of my favorite fall/winter products are the NARS Matte Lip Pencils. It's as if my favorite products had a baby, and it's already in stores! They come in 6 colors: lucky (light pink), hope (warm rose), lively (hot pink), envy (mauve berry), fiery (true red), exposed (nude), and are filled with the Tarte goodness and none of the bad parabens and synthetic products. Yum! I can't wait to try. 

And oh-my-goodness the Radiant and Rested Complexion Collection - doesn't that just sound divine? 

It comes with:

       smooth operator™ Illuminating serum: a brightening serum that can worn alone or mixed with foundation

 

       emphasEYES™ inner rim brightene: a pencil that brightens eyes for a wideawake look and can be used on the inner rims or browbones

                

       ReCreate™ silicone-free primer with Wrinkle Rewind™ Technology: smoothing uneven skin and minimizing the

                 appearance of pores. 

 

       park ave princess mineral bronzer (Deluxe size) a gorgeous natural toned bronzer

 

       glisten limited edition illuminating natural cheek stain: a soft, dewy tone for brightening the skin. 

 

 

Doesn't that all sound incredibly beautiful and amazing? I can literally feel myself become less tired and more radiant just reading it. The Collection is $42 and available in Sephora now. 

 

 

Clinique City Sun Block Elevated to Super Hero Status

When I first reviewed Clinique City Sun Block, I had been using it on a daily basis for a couple of weeks. At the time, I felt that it was a good product, but not amazing. Today’s post is about how a product can move from pretty good to must have simply by doing their job really, really well.

As a city girl, giving Clinique City Sun block a test ride on the streets of Manhattan seemed like a fair trial, and it lived up to its promise. It felt light, I didn’t burn, and my skin didn’t feel too clogged. Two months later, and I’m still using it every single day. My skin has not felt clogged or dirty even though there’s an extra step in my routine, and I’ve had limited extra shine. I’ve not had any burn, or really, any tan, since I started using it. What makes this product go above and beyond for me is its versatility. I’ve worn it running, on boat trips, while biking around Cape Cod, while wandering around the city – basically everywhere for the last couple of months, and never had a single problem with it. It has literally gone everywhere I’ve gone this summer, and my skin looks fine, or even good. In previous summers I’ve had problems with feeling greasy or dirty, with build-up and general not in tip-top condition. Not this year, and I really do think that a big part of that is the hard-working, but lightness of Clinque City Sun Block. It’s a simple product that works well, doing exactly what it says it will. And in the beauty blogging world, that is actually saying a lot.

MAC Dare To Wear Haul

I have not been this excited about a MAC collection since To The Beach, and that was two months ago! Sorry, but In The Groove just left me feeling meh. After much perusing of online swatches and reviews, I finally headed to the MAC store over the weekend. I decided not to pick up any permanent colors, instead leaving those on my incredibly long "to purchase" list, and focused only on the limited editions. It may have been the blue, blue sky, or the slightly cooler weather, but I found myself drawn to the blues in the collection, and ended up with Zingy, Sky Blue, Aqua, and Going Bananas.

L-R Zingy, Aqua, Sky Blue, Going Bananas

Zingy is a matte bright blue. It's a gorgeous color in the pan. When I got it home, it swatched HORRIBLY. Patchy and hard work.

Aqua is the most delicious, pretty, matte aqua. If Essie Mint Candy Apple came in eye shadow format, this would be it. The one I swatched in store came up fine, so why when I came home did it barely show up at all??? Matte shadows can be a pain to swatch only to play nice on the eyes, so I'm going to try a look with this this weekend. If it sucks, it's going back.

Sky Blue is a cool, sky blue frost eye shadow. Where frost eye shadows usually are the bold, badly behaved children in the crowd, Sky Blue is a pretty, breath of fresh air. I want to dab this on the corner of my eyes or lash line to brighten up my look. Like a cool, blast of AC on a humid day.

Going Bananas is BRIIIGHT!!! It's a frosty bright, straight yellow. It is ever so slightly cool toned. This is a knock your socks off in your face shimmery, frosty bright. Can't wait to figure out how to play around with it.

I was sorely tempted by Free To Be and Louder Please, but Louder Please just didn't look far enough away from Passionate for me to be able to justify it.

All in all, while the colors in this collection are gorgeously amazing, I'm a little disappointed by the quality, and it looks like I might be returned a couple, which is sad, sad. The only consolation is that it's 3 weeks until Fabulous Felines!!!!!

Zingy, Aqua

Sky Blue, Going Bananas

Elf Mineral Shadow Haul

Clockwise from top: Angelic, Elegant, Innocent, Golden, Sweet

A couple of months ago I came across one of my all time favorite products: Elf Mineral Eye Shadow in Natural. It's a gorgeous shimmery peach color that is so flattering. As I was so happy with this product, I was excited to try some more colors from the range during their recent 60% off sale.

L-R: Angelic, Elegant, Innocent, Golden, Sweet

I ended up picking up about 10 colors, which I'll review in phases. (I'm sorry, I just can't handle all that typing right now - my legs are aching from a ridiculous work-out and yoga session, so it's all I can do to keep my fingers moving across the keyboard!). I'll start with the lighter shades:


Angelic is a very shimmery, cool, white. This is quite a strong, bright, white, with a lot of shimmer. One for a very light hand.

Elegant is a more golden peach toned shimmery color. It's lighter than peach though. This is pretty and wearable. I like it a lot.

Innocent is a matte sheer cream. This didn't swatch very well so I did not have high hopes for this color at all, along with my general lack of experience with mattes (is it just me, or are other people a lit bit intimidated by them?). Having said that, I did a look a couple of days ago using Innocent, and really loved it! It goes on nice and smoothly, and provides a gorgeous, matte, sophisticated wash of cream. Definitely worth trying out, especially if you haven't played around much with them.

Golden is probably my favorite out of this batch of colors - it's a very simple, shimmery wash of golden. I think that it runs closer to amber rather than golden (more orange than yellow), but it's a beautiful rich color that looks pretty in both summer and fall.

Sweet is a cool, sheer, shimmery baby pink. This color was an experiment, and I'm not yet sure if I can pull it off. It is not very pigmented, but it is definitely pink. I feel like if you use this shade with Elegant it might work, but on it's own, it's too much shimmer, too much pink.

Elf Mineral Eye Shadows retail for $3, but ELF frequently run sales and coupon codes, so be sure to look out for a deal. Even if not every color is a winner, They come in small tubs with a shaker top to control how much product comes though. I do like the quality of these shadows - as a rule they last a long time, have decent pigmentation, and are easy to blend. They do have quite a lot of shimmer, so be warned if shimmer is not your thing.

Have you tried Elf Mineral Eye Shadows? Is there a shade you like I've missed out?

Celebrations!!

I hit 100 followers!!! Yay!!! I'm currently doing the happy dance. A giveaway contest to follow this week.