MAC Illustrated Makeup Bags 2013

 

MAC Illustrated are makeup bags with graphics by artists. Last year's I wasn't a big fan of, but I am loving this year's designs.

There are two by each artist , and each features inside print as well as outside along with an inside pocket.

Black and white line drawings are the featured on bags by Anja Kroencke.

The designs by Indie 184  remind you that she is a graffiti artist with bold colors.

I love them both and if you've got any gift giving coming up, a new bag filled with their makeup favs would be a fun  gift.

MAC Illustrated launches July 11th and bags are $ 36 each.

Head & Shoulders Damage Rescue

Have an itchy scalp but also have hair that needs tender care? It hasn't always been easy to treat flakes  as well as pamper your locks, most dandruff shampoos  can be rough but Head & Shoulders new Damage Rescue duo helps to address this need.

Damage Rescue shampoo  helps to reduce breakage  and improve scalp condition while the coordinating conditioner  has 25 % more moisturizing ingredients that the original Head & Shoulders Classic Clean.

It's hard for me to imagine using Head & Shoulders, and I bet you might feel that way too. But I try new things , that's what I do here, so I gave it a whirl. And it's pretty good. Hair is soft  and  conditioned . I don't see me switching to any dandruff shampoo unless I really needed too, but this did a decent job.

Damage Rescue still has the anti dandruff Hydra Zinc technology that the line uses , so it's still very much anti dandruff as well.

This line also is nice for the men ( and hey my fav player Troy Polamalu reps H&S which makes a wee bit predisposed to it )  since many men like the dandruff shampoos. 

Head & Shoulders Damage Rescue Shampoo & Conditioner are $ 4.99 each

Dior Addict Eau Délice

Eau Délice is the newest addition to  Dior's Addict  fragrance line. It's a light and fresh EDT ,  perfect for the warmer weather , and inspired by St. Tropez, not a bad reference point.


Dior Addict Eau Délice is a light floral with hints of fruit .  It has berry in it but a sharper one  in cranberry, which cuts the sweet a little . I like cranberry in general and find it a nice addition here.  The florals come from Jasmine Grandiflorum and  Mahoran Ylang Ylang which are soft  white flowers ,  pretty but not overly loud.  By the drydown the white musk is present musk but nothing too strong and there is  bit of a powdery note along with the of the cranberry sti;l peering  in and out.

Eau  Délice is fun  and easy to wear, not strong but not barely there .  Somewhere right in the middle. Sillage is soft and wear time is medium , a few hours.

Available now at Sephoraexclusively.

$43.00 for 20ml

$69.00 for 50ml

$90.00 for 100ml

MAC Sweet Samba Blush- Tropical Taboo

Tropical Taboo is MAC's second Summer collection and it's full of new Mineralize looks.

There are 3  new duo colored blushes and I've got Sweet Samba to take a look at.

Sweet Samba is , according to MAC, a mix of dark pink with tan pearl. The tan is a little deeper in the pot but goes on lighter and as with most Mineralize items, can be blended down.  Mixed together the two shades make a sparking golden pink . It's a very pretty color and really gives cheek a pop of color. As you can see from the swatch which I applied lightly, it's not too bold on  . If you want you can add more to build it. 

It's a great brightener and will nicely complement Summer tans . 

MAC has a new Duo Fibre blush brush, # 159 that will work especially well with these.

Sweet Samba and Tropical Taboo are available now .

Mineralize Blush is $ 25

Dior Fall 2013 - Mystic Metallics -Dior Addict Extreme Lipsticks & Dior Addict Glosses

 

  Fall is in the air at least as far as makeup  goes. The brands are rolling out their fall looks now  for sale in July or August.

Dior's Fall 2013 collection is Mystic Metallics and here's a first look at the lip colors.

Ensorcelante,Merveille, Charm

There are both new Addict Lip Gloss and Addict Extreme Lipstick .One thing you may notice as they come out, is that the general fall lip trend is deep with aubergine, plum,  and berry. With Dior's deeper shades, they are sheer and  wearable. 

There are three Addict Glosses- Ensorcelante,  a rich plum ,  Charm, a dusky  nude ,  and Merveille , a shimmery medium pink along with three new Addict Extremes, two of which I show here, Fortune,  a rose gold pink nude and Bonne Aventure , a sheer  red tinged plum.

My favorite is Fortune lipstick. It's just enough color, not too light but not deep and pretty on. It's  an  all season shade.  But I love Merveille gloss and Bonne Aventure as well.

Here is the full fall Dior collection list with exclusives where noted.  It's due on counters in August.

 
The Dior Mystic Metallics Collection:

Mystic Metallics Quad

Dior Addict Extreme in Gri-Gri #546
Dior Addict Extreme in Fortune #619 (Nordstrom Exclusive)
Dior Addict Extreme in Bonne Aventure #986 $31.00
Dior Addict Gloss in Merveille #684 (Nordstrom Exclusive)
Dior Addict Gloss in Ensorcelante #981
Dior Addict Gloss in Charm #364 (Not  at Sephora)
Dior 5-Couleurs Eyeshadow in Bonne Etoile #384 (Not  at Sephora)
Dior 5-Couleurs Eyeshadow in Constellation #864 (Nordstrom Exclusive)
Dior Vernis in Destin #382
Dior Vernis in Galaxie #992
Diorshow Iconic Overcurl in Over Blue #264 (Nordstrom Exclusive)
Diorshow Mono Eyeshadow in Gris Montaigne #047
Diorshow Mono Eyeshadow in Sequins #616
Diorshow Mono Eyeshadow in Mordore #653
Diorshow Mono Eyeshadow in Tweed #760

Mally Beauty Comes To Ulta & NYC Appearance News

All the Mally fans , you now have a new place to get your fix. Her line will be carried on Ulta.com as of now  well as in select Ulta stores beginning in August. So while you still have QVC to grab her products there will also be a brick and mortar option.


Also if you are in the NYC area, Mally will be doing an appearance at Bendels :

·         A two hour-long class hosted by Mally, revealing her secrets and tricks for fun, waterproof beach-inspired looks.

• $75 fee redeemable in product
• Book appointments via Gabriel@Mallybeauty.com

Wednesday, July 10^th, 2013

5:00pm – 7:00pm

Henri Bendel

712 Fifth Avenue

New York, NY 10019

Redken Diamond Oil Haircare

 
Diamond Oil Shatterproof Shine has been one of those  awaited beauty products since it's debut backstage at fall fashion week in February. It's finally here  , part of a whole  Diamond Oil haircare  line including shampoo and conditioner.  One thing for certain is the oil itself is in the prettiest  bottle for haircare yet. It looks more like perfume and could stay out on the vanity .

This whole line is meant for  damaged hair to give intense hydration and repair  as well as maximum shine. 

All products have Redken's exclusive new Shine Strong Complex, infusing a "nourishing blend of natural apricot, camelina and coriander oils into different layers of hair to maximize shine and strength."


Interestingly Redken says "the coriander oil forms a protective barrier on the surface of the hair, locking out humidity and harmful elements while reducing the hair’s exposure to friction while combing, brushing, and styling." Sounds good.

Diamond Oil, the whole line as you might guess is highly moisturizing.  There are 2 Shatterproof Shine oil versions, one for medium hair and an  Intense for coarse hair. Both are  silicone-free and comprised of 99% natural oils. I can say that  out of the few hair oils I've tried ( and it's only been a few as I generally don't need them much) Diamond Oil is by far the most moisturizing.  Neat note- the product is dispensed via a glass eyedropper.

It's  super conditioning to ends and can be used on wet or dry hair, as an overnight leave in or pre- shower deep treatment.

 The shampoo and conditioner do a good job of giving you soft hair without weighing it down a lot. I expected  that my normal with a few dry spots hair might be overwhelmed using both products and while it was more moisture than I needed my hair looked good. Overall I still think using  either the Diamond Oil shampoo or conditioner with another less intensive product will work best for me.

There is also a thick deep conditioner in a tub, Deep Facets,  which will benefit those with the driest or most damaged hair.

Lanvin Fall 2013-Redken

Diamond Oil Shampoo $18
Diamond Oil Conditioner $19
Diamond Oil Deep Facets $ 20
Diamond Oil Shatterproof Shine   $ 40
Diamond Oil Shatterproof Shine Intense Coarse Hair $ 40



Redken's YouTube channel has a wealth of how to videos if you want to check out more.

Perfekt Lip Perfection Gel -Sunset

Perfekt Lip Perfection Gel , if you haven't seen it yet, is  a multi lip product. A  glossy gel formula it has some properties of a stain but  is also moisturizing , not dry.  It comes in a tube with a rather neat looking flower tip to dispense product.

The gel goes on full strength as seen in the photo but quickly can be sheered down to whatever level of pigment works  best for you. It doesn't stay that deep unless you apply more.

The finish has a slight gloss to it and as time goes on it wears down some to more of a stain but never totally flat. There is a little graininess to the feel of it and it has spearmint oil for a little minty action.

Lip Perfection Gel makes a nice easy Summer look as it's light but still noticeable and comes in several shades  as well as clear.   Shown is Sunset,  a super pretty coral shade.

It also has vitamin E and other antioxidants for lip health and jojoba seed oil for moisture.

Wear time is about 2 hours, within which it dries to that slight stain finish.

 

Perfekt Lip Perfection Gel is $ 24 at Sephora  in 6 shades .

Anastasia Hypercolor Brow and Lash Tint

Colored mascara is oddly,  having a  moment. In fact  the July issue of Allure has a small feature on it which includes this  new Anastasia Hypercolor Brow and Lash Tint.

Now while it may be having a moment, generally colored mascara isn't me or hasn't been since I was 17-ish. I do love a deep plum shade now and then but that's it.

However, it can be fun and for those who want to experiment , Anastasia's packs a lot of pigment , dries fast and wears well . It's water resistant and is a drier formula and a bit thick but goes on pretty easily.

 It looks best, in my opinion, just tipped on the ends of lashes, over regular mascara or not. In the hot weather this can be a way to get  fun color on your eyes without lots of makeup. Of course  if you're hitting  the clubs, then this could be  for you .The color on lashes is not quite as bold as in the tube.

It's also a brow tint, but I'm not going there. Not even when I was club kid did I go there. The  color can be used as liner as well, and that I can get behind.

There are 3 shades of Hypercolor Brow and Lash Tint- Ultra-Violet, Electric Blue ( shown) and In The Pink.

Available now for $18 at Sephora 

MAC Veluxe Pearlfusion Shadow- Greenluxe & Brownluxe

Veluxe Pearlfusion palettes from MAC are a feast for the eyes.  These new sets feature a new formula, Veluxe Pearlfusion which MAC says brings out the pigment's pure and true color.  They can be applied wet or dry.

There are 6 new palettes in all, here I show Greenluxe and Brownluxe, two of my favs. The  brown one of course immediately grabbed my attention .

While this is a new formula some shades  may  be close to older ones as I noticed that the deepest green shade reminds me a lot of Club. Club is an all time fav so nothing wrong with that. With 5 shadows in  each palette , one of these could easily make many eye looks and take you through a weekend trip even.

I found not too much difference between wet or dry application but wet did bring out the metallics more as claimed. The swatches are dry. 

MAC Veluxe Pearlfusion Shadows  are available now for $40.

Vintage Files - MAC Lacquers

Organizing from Winter to Summer lipcolors prompted stumbling on some much older favorites tucked away.

Who remembers MAC Lacquers? They date back to around 2004 I think. I loved these and still have two in my archives. They were a thicker gloss, meant to be a liquid lipstick and they had full coverage  with shine , some satin, some  pearl shimmer.   They wore well and the one shade Heat was a bold  orange and  Sheena is a perfect golden brown bronze .

So hey MAC might you bring these back someday? The liquid lipstick concept isn't so new these days but I'd still love to see them return.

Some current favs that come to mind as similar are Bite Beauty's new Lush Fruit Lip Gloss ( the closest match) and  Chanel's Rouge Allure Laque which is one of my favorite lip products ever .

Anyone else out there have these ? What oldies  are fond memories for you ? I might still have some in the closet.

Princess Charlene of Monaco in Vogue Japan

Monaco's Princess Charlene gets a big spot  in Vogue with the cover of  Vogue Japan's Health & Beauty special section.

Charlene takes some hits for her clothes as she favors monochrome looks and rarely wears any of the jewels to which she no doubt has access. While her style might not be my style ( I'd wear the jewels ), I do think she almost always looks very elegant .  Yes a jewelry piece here and there would be an improvement but that's up to her I guess.

The Vogue cover shot is gorgeous and very Charlene. She has those swimmer 's shoulders and she likes to show them off . She's got a cool, nonchalant elegance here and her lip shade while subdued is such a pretty one.

Naturally of the inside shots, the one with the dog is my favorite. 

What do you think ? Love  it or not ? Monaco makes a nice photo backdrop doesn't it ?



All photos: Vogue Japan

Alterna Caviar CC Cream for Hair

Do you need a CC Cream for your hair ? You're thinking  CC  , BB what is going on ?  I know, it seems like  marketing gone amok  when hair starts getting BB & CC Creams.  But try and set  aside all the marketing and  think of this new  Caviar CC Cream from Alterna as a deep, leave in conditioner , because that's what it is .  And it's a darn good one at that.

 Within this one tube there are said to be 10 hair benefits including reducing breakage, adding moisture and shine ,   heat and UV protection  and even some hold for styling.  It's an all in one cream for hair like many of the skin BB/CCs we've seen.

It comes in a pump tube and I didn't need  a lot , even on my long hair to get great results. Hair was soft but still full of volume and what impressed me most was it made super conditioned the couple spots on my hair that no matter what I seem to use are often still  smidge dry . With Caviar CC they were as soft as the rest. I think this might be my new leave -in love.

Ingredients in include panthenol, algae and caviar extracts , sunflower seed oil, honey , chamomile and lemon extract  . It can be used on towel dried or dry hair .

Alterna Cavair CC Cream is $ 25 for  a 2.5 oz tube   exclusively at   Sephora