Archive for the ‘Estee Lauder’ Category
I’m oblivious to certain holiday’s…April Fools Day is one of them. I’ve never been one for pranks which is why April Fools never made an impact on me. But I’m curious, how do you celebrate the first day of April?
For me Sunday’s (isn’t it strange April Fools fell on a Sunday? It seems like a Friday kind of holiday) are when I take a breather, step into my beauty boudoir and select what I’ll be playing with (or testing) for the week. This week, I have all sorts of new goodies on my vanity. Take a peek…
The Dior Nude Healthy Glow bronzer on the left, Sunset, is making a come back this summer with different packaging. It’s right up there on my top five favorite bronzers….you may want to check it out when it debuts (again) middle of this month. Oh, and that ginormous MAC disc you see there (at about 12:00) is an MSF from the new MAC In Extreme Dimension collecction. If you liked the Estée Lauder geleé products, be prepared to have your head spin! I couldn’t forget to also tell you about my new fragrance love…Dior Miss Cherie Eau Fraiche. It’s nothing like the original and had me at first spritz.
I’ve been playing with a new palette (on the left) from Julie Hewett. I am speechless (but believe me, the words are coming in my review of it this week) at how good this pigmentation is – what a performer! A few of the new MAC Tres Chic blushes…pretty, pretty.
That’s Lunar (the blue way in the back) and is one of the MAC In Extra Dimension shadows. I have one word…POW! Photos and swatches of the items I picked up from the collection are coming in the next one or two days.
Oh, and Mr. Vince Camuto is right up there with winning aromas…the fragrance launches this year are, so far, stellar! There’s nothing tricky or pranky about my makeup selections for this week…they’re just a whole lot of beautiful.
Vanity Table available at Pier One Imports
Vanity Table Lights available at Vanity Girl Hollywood
Have a beauty filled week!
❤Liz
©MyBeautyBlackBook.com All rights reserved. Your support of my Beauty Black Book is always appreciated so please do feel free to share a link back to this post. However, no part of this post (including any photos which I obsess over in a most ridiculous way) may be reproduced, tweeted or posted without my okay…okay?
After what seems like a long winters wait, I finally picked up one of the Estée Lauder Pure Color Blushes. I was tempted to pick up one or two more (I mean I waited long enough didn’t I?!) but decided to give Peach Passion a try.
One of my favorite SA’s was at the ready with his blush brush and tried some on me. I loved the effect! The blushes are all very pigmented and Peach Passion left a nice flush of color with a simultaneous subtle highlight.
My face lit up.
Not only because I finally had a chance to see the blushes up close and personal, but because the shade didn’t lay flat against my skin. Estée Lauders luminous optic technology makes sure Pure Color Blush gives great dimension.
Pure Color Blush also includes a skin-loving antioxidant complex featuring cranberry and goji berry extracts making the color pigmentation rich – a small swipe, no matter your shade, is all you need. Basically, this is the wonder blush of blushes!
Even the back of the mirrored compact looks pretty…
Encased in Estée Lauders signature Pure Color gold compact, it makes for an attractive presentation.
I rarely use the brushes that come in face (or other) palettes but this is a soft brush. I personally prefer a longer handle and don’t find the need to touch up during the day because the lasting power of the Pure Color Blush is pretty phenomenal. But, if I had to, this brush could pull me out of a need more blush jam.
Peach Passion is categorized as a Shimmer and while there is a tiny amount of shimmer (the top layer), on the the skin it applies as a satin finish. After playing with the other shades, I honestly couldn’t detect a difference between the shimmer and the satin finish blushes.
See that right there…Talc is the first ingredient! That is my only complaint about the Pure Color Blush. 
Peach Passion heavily swatched on left and blended onto bare skin on the right. The powder builds easily without looking overly powdery. I do spritz a touch of finishing mist (MAC Fix+ or Sue Devitt Microaquatic Finishing Mist are my favorites) after applying to ensure a powder free look (photo taken indoors).
In outdoor lighting, Peach Passion takes on a pink-peach hue. Indoor or outdoor, it’s a pretty shade that brightens the face without being too much.
Availability: Estée Lauder counters and esteelauder.com
Price: $28/US,.24 oz
4/5 Smooches: Although the use of Talc has furrowed my brow, there’s no denying this is a beautiful blush.
While counter bound, I spied the other shades and let me tell you there is more than one shade on this beauty loving mama’s mind! I was told the new Pure Color Blush formulation replaces any and all other blush formulas. It’s a good bet we’ll see lots of unsold blushes (from the previous formulations) at our local CCO’s (cosmetic company outlets).
❤Liz
©MyBeautyBlackBook.com All rights reserved. Your support of my Beauty Black Book is always appreciated so please do feel free to share a link back to this post. However, no part of this post (including any photos which I obsess over in a most ridiculous way) may be reproduced, tweeted or posted without my okay…okay?
I’ve been hearing about the NEW Pure Color blushes – Tom Pecheux, Estée Lauder Creative Director, latest color creation – for months now. Today, I got an email that the blushes are now available at esteelauder.com. Many counters are already showing off the vibrant shimmer and satin finish beauties…is it possible I feel asleep at the beauty wheel, having not peeked these sooner? I do believe a weekend stroll down the cosmetic counter aisles are in order.
Karen, of the Makeup and Beauty Blog, took some marvelous photos of a few shades…they are so beautifully vibrant!
Have you spotted the new blushes in your area? What shade must I absolutely pick up?
Availability: Estée Lauder counters
Price: $28/US
❤Liz
Another Monday, another new array of products are gently placed on my vanity. I find it soothing to arrange my vanity for the week selecting items I haven’t used in a while or new items that I’ll play with during the week. To complete a look, I’ll pull additional products onto my vanity and by the end of the week, it looks like I committed makeup mayhem!
Come to think of it, I do much the same on my desk… Ah well, such are the habits of the wildly creative. 
It won’t look like this in a few days!
I picked up my first Hourglass lipstick and am anxious to give it a whirl. Oh, and I’m apparently having a love affair with Tarte lately – or perhaps it’s just their blushes I’m swooning over?
I’ve already reviewed these pieces from the Estée Lauder Bronze Goddess 2012 Capri collection and keep finding new and magnificent ways to use them!
That’s the Love Cycle mineralize shadow from the MAC Chenman Love and Water collection (the blue duo in the back). If you haven’t checked out this collection I sure hope you do because there may be one or two things that catch your eye.
Create with abandon!
Vanity Table available at Pier One Imports
Vanity Table Lights available at Vanity Girl Hollywood
Have a beauty filled week!
❤Liz
©MyBeautyBlackBook.com All rights reserved. Your support of my Beauty Black Book is always appreciated so please do feel free to share a link back to this post. However, no part of this post (including the photos which I obsess over in a most ridiculous way) may be reproduced, or posted without my okay…okay?
In fashion, Spring is a time when we peel off the heavy layers of winter wear and step into lighter, flirty fabrics, and soft color palettes. Everything feels loose, fresh and breezy. In makeup, we expect much of the same but in 2012 color takes a back seat to the #1 most important makeup trend…dewy, plump, moisture-rich, spa-fresh skin
What does this mean? More attention to pre and post makeup application. Lighter foundations are a spring (and summer) given but it’s what you put on the skin first that sets the stage for the effortless, almost no-makeup look to skin this season. But you don’t want to stop there…what you do with skin after makeup is applied is just as important.
A few “buzz words” used for this trend include:
- Priming : A critical prep step
- Buffing: The goal is to create a no seems finish which means buffing in products
- Spritzing: Either on bare skin as a first step, on brushes or post-makeup
- Moisturizing: Your perfect canvas thirsts for hydration
- Massaging: Working products into the skin allowing them to become as one with your skin
Highlights and gloss go a long way to give you the plumped and sporty (healthy) skin glow but it’s not to be mistaken for the heavier synthetic gloss highlighters of the past…or powders for that matter. For spring, shine is of a real skin quality. In fact, in 2012, the trend is to highlight more and contour less.
Personally, I’ve been experimenting with my highlight powders and find that if I first spritz my brush with a little finishing spray like MAC Fix+ or Sue Devitt Microquatic Luminous Finishing Mist, I can achieve a more transparent, nearly natural looking sheen to my skin.
Since the look in the Skin trend is quite natural, makeup is used to compliment the skin (polished skin being the focal point) featuring a tailored, tapered, fuller eyebrow lending to the athletic, Gabriel Reese aesthetic of Spring Skin.
I’m loving the attention to skin and have pulled out a few products to put the skin trend to the test. So far my picks for glossy, natural skin include:
1. MAC cream colored base in Shell
2. MAC cream blush in Brit Wit (a creamy alternative to powder contour)
3. MAC cream blush in Something Special (on my skin, this shade looks like I just came in from a run!)
4. Anastasia Brow Wiz in Medium Ash (I’m also using her Medium arch stencil)
5. Anastasia Clear Brow Gel (the best I’ve used to date)
6. MAC Lipglass clear gloss (used as a gloss on lips AND as a cheek highlighter)
7. Estée Lauder Spotlight (leaves a nice luminous glow to the skin but a little goes a long way!)
8. Bobbi Brown gel eyeliner in Espresso Ink (very close to the lower lash line and tightlined on the upper lash line)
9. Tarte Amazonian Clay Creaseless Concealer (it’s a fuller coverage concealer but goes on like a second skin)
10.Chanel Glossimer #41
11. I’m sneaking in one more… Glamcor Finishing brush (buff, buff, buff)
Foundation is minimal but let’s be honest, unless you have near perfect skin you’ll need a base with more coverage. Fortunately, foundation technology gives us many options for fuller coverage without the caked on, mask-like foundations of years past. Be on the look out for some new foundation launches this spring and summer from Chanel (Vitalumiere Aqua in compact form!), Estée Lauder and a few others.
Next up, Spring 2012 Makeup Trend #2 which is all about looking tanned versus looking bronzed. This is a departure in application so you can still use the products you currently own but in a more modern way.
❤Liz
©MyBeautyBlackBook.com All rights reserved. No part of this post (including the photos which I obsess over in a most ridiculous way) may be reproduced without my okay…okay?
I almost passed on this lipgloss from the Bronze Goddess Capri Summer 2012 collection and I’m so glad I picked this up. There’s not much color to the Pure Color Gloss in Shimmering Mirage but like a mirage, it gives the illusion of something wonderfully glossy, rich and dare I say succulent.
Enough gabbing, take a look at this wonderful gloss that works well alone but makes you dream of the isles of Capri when worn atop your favorite lipstick (or lip pencil)…
Shimmering Mirage
Shimmering Mirage complete with doe foot applicator and Estée Lauders signature fig scent.
Look at the shimmer in this pale yellow-gold beauty!
Swatched, Shimmering Mirage is difficult to see (it’s all about the finish and texture with this gloss) but I wanted you to see the yellow is very pale. This Pure Color Gloss is a tad sticky, feels wonderful on the lips (no grittiness from the shimmers), leaves a pretty sheen on bare lips and gives any lipstick you place this over added shine (photo taken outdoors).
Availability: Estée Lauder counters, esteelauder.com (limited edition)
Price: $22.50/US
❤Liz
©MyBeautyBlackBook.com All rights reserved. No part of this post (including the photos which I obsess over in a most ridiculous way) may be reproduced without my okay…okay?
Esteé Lauder has done it again. With the release of their Summer 2012 Capri collection another gorgeous Illuminating Powder Geleé, Shimmering Sands, has knocked me for a loop!
What is fast becoming one of my all-time favorite Esteé Lauder products – a formulation that is part gel part liquid and part powder – the Illuminating Powder Geleé for summer is a shimmering seductress. While the first geleé was touted as a face highlighter, Shimmering Sands from the Bronze Goddess collection, is most definitely a bronzer and/or blush.
Like the Powder Geleé from fall 2011 and spring 2012, the texture is glorious and imparts a beautiful light metallic sheen on the skin. This is a one swipe formulation and requires very little product to impart a rosy-bronze effect.
Shimmering Sands complete with sponge tip brush.
Shimmering Sands leaves a beautiful rosy-bronzed sheen to the skin and is wearable for many skin tones. Because it’s so well pigmented, you may end up with more than you need if you use your usual application method for bronzer or blush so start with a small amount and build if you need/want to. Used wet, it really stands out in an elegant way.
A comparison of all Illuminating Powder Geleés to date. Top left to Right: Estée Lauder Illuminating Powder Geleé Modern Mercury, Topaz Chameleon Spring 2012, Shimmering Sands Summer 2012
Left to Right: Modern Mercury, Shimmering Sands, Topaz Chameleon. Swatched on bare MAC NC20, Chanel B20, Dior 21 skin. (photo taken indoors).
A comparison of a few similar products. Top Left to Right: Laura Mercier Rose Rondevous, Estée Lauder Shimmering Sands, Guerlain Cruel Gardenia
Left to Right: Estée Lauder Shimmering Sands, Laura Mercier Rose Rondevous, Guerlain Cruel Gardenia (heavily swatched). Estée Lauder has a winning texture and finish on their hands! Swatched on bare MAC NC20, Chanel B20, Dior 21 skin. (photo taken indoors).
I can’t squeal enough over this product (and the entire collection frankly). As much as I enjoy wearing Shimmering Sands on my face, it looks equally as gorgeous on the eyes either applied on the lids, as a wash of color on the crease or as a highlight. I even tapped a little on top of a nude lipstick and it was stunning!
Availability: Estée Lauder counters (limited edition)
Pricing: $42/US .15 oz
5/5 Smooches: I feel like starting an Illuminating Powder Geleé Revolution!
What are you picking up from the Bronze Goddess Capri collection…anything?
❤Liz
©MyBeautyBlackBook.com All rights reserved. No part of this post (including the photos which I obsess over in a most ridiculous way) may be reproduced without my okay…okay?
The summer collections are lending a touch of warmth to what feels like a long winter. I can’t seem to get warm today but playing with the new Estée Lauder Bronze Sands eyeshadow palette has sent a surge of heat from the tips of my toes to my dark brown peepers!
This years Bronze Goddess collection is a slight departure from collections past because instead of the faux leather bronze colored palette typically released for their summer collection, Estée Lauder is instead presenting us with their signature Pure Color gold compact complete with five of the most glorious metallic eyeshadows you can imagine.
The finish is equivalent to the infamous Illuminating Powder Geleé and more closely to the Cyber Eyes formulation.
All five shadows are exceptionally well pigmented giving you loads of color in only one swipe and last all day with no creasing and, on me, no need for a base. Bronze Sands are of super hero quality.
Don’t you just love the wave pattern. The shadows are metallic but also very wearable and can give you added drama when applied wet.
Left to Right: A metallic beige, metallic copper, metallic light gold, metallic brown (this shadow is less metallic than the others) and a gorgeous metallic teal/blue. All five are winners in my beauty black book! (photo taken indoors)
My jaw nearly dropped as I began swatching the Bronze Sands palette. The shades themselves aren’t too dissimilar to previous Bronze Goddess color collections but the smooth, creamy metallic finish makes this a must-have palette.
Availability: Estée Lauder counters and esteelauder.com (limited edition)
Prie: $45/US
5/5 Smooches. On a deserted island, you wouldn’t need much more than this palette and a cute cabana boy
❤Liz
©MyBeautyBlackBook.com All rights reserved. No part of this post (including the photos which I obsess over in a most ridiculous way) may be reproduced without my okay…okay?
Sometimes I feel like Spring gets the short end of the stick. Sure, the season itself doesn’t linger for long. Heck, in some places Spring comes and goes before you can blink a long lashed eye! And when Estée Lauder created their Spring 2012 collection it seemed they snubbed spring and channeled the long days of summer.
The star of this collection is, as anticipated, the Illuminating Powder Gelée in Topaz Chameleon. I was as excited for this product to launch as I was when school would break for summer (remember how thrilling it was to be off school, sleep in and hang with your girlfriends…okay, so I worked but still it was exciting!).
Like the Illuminating Powder Gelée from the fall collection, the texture is the same in both look and feel. Lauders “tribrid “ part powder, part gel formulation is as lush as it’s debut highlighter. Perhaps this formula is better suited as a highlighter though because as an all over face bronzer, it is on the intense side.
I only just picked this up yesterday so I need a few more days of testing out different application methods – the technique I used for applying the highlighter from Modern Mercury doesn’t quite cut it with Topaz Chameleon.
My counter was only sent a few of these beauties and I suspect the distribution is somewhat limited. So, I’m posting a few photos and swatches for you should you decide you want the Illuminating Powder Gelée you can pick it up before they’re all gone.
The pattern is not unlike the previous highlighter…waves of bronzed goodness!
Left is a full swatch and on the Right it’s more blended. The shade is a bronzed copper with hints of gold (they don’t call it Chameleon for nothing!). For reference, my foundation shades are MAC NC20-25, Dior 21, Chanel 10-20
Feels funny to be sporting such a bronze look when I’m wearing a turtleneck and Uggs but so be it…all in the name of beauty.
❤Liz
©MyBeautyBlackBook.com All rights reserved. No part of this post (including the photos which I obsess over in a most ridiculous way) may be reproduced without my okay…okay?
The beauty industry is changing things up faster than ever before. Just when you think you’ve got a few good brand staples to fall back on, things change! Like when you fall madly in love with a lipstick shade, go to your local counter to replenish then discover it’s been discontinued or the formulation has been changed. What??!?
The horror is sometimes too grave and only a box of See’s Molasses Chips can soothe my wounded heart.
But before those extra makeup blues pounds move in on my hips, I have one last resort. It’s where discontinued items (limited edition items are excluded) go to rest…the Estée Lauder Gone but Not Forgotten department.
Can you believe it? A department that focuses on finding your put-to-bed lipstick, shadow, whatever!
This number has been in my beauty black book for some time – I think I may have even tweeted it last year (hello, that was my first “last year” mention) – and it’s high time I make it official by sharing it with you here.
Give the GBNF department a call if you’re on the hunt for any Estée Lauder company product (it’s not just limited to EL. MAC, Bobbi Brown, Clinique, Smashbox, La Mer, and a slew of fragrance brands are part of the EL companies). They’re ready to start an internal manhunt for your most coveted product between the hours of 9-5 EST, M-F.
Jot this makeup hotline number down and store it somewhere safe! 1-800-216-7173
And with my good deed done, I’m going to snack on guacamole and chips…better than chocolate, right?
❤Liz
PS. There’s also the Estée Lauder Companies outlet (lovingly known as the CCO or CCS – Cosmetic Company Store) but if you don’t have one near you, give the Gone but Not Forgotten department a try. Happy hunting!
©MyBeautyBlackBook.com All rights reserved. No part of this post (including the photos which I obsess over in a most ridiculous way) may be reproduced without my okay…okay?