Elizabeth Arden Prevage City Smart SPF 50 Hydrating Shield

It may be Fall on the calendar but it's still 90 degrees here. And that means sun . We all know, too, that sun protection is needed all  year.

An easy way to get it is with a multi use product , not to mention the time saving properties as well.

Elizabeth Arden Prevage City Smart  SPF 50 Hydrating Shield is a multi tasker that gets a  lot done.  The Prevage line packs some serious anti aging skincare ingredients and this is no different.

First off , it's moisturizing but lightweight on.  More than my  oily skin needs right now, but normal to dry skins should love it. ( and you can layer  other moisturizers underneath if you are more dry).  It has a barely there tint, that blends in easily and really was almost undetectable on me.  Once on, skin looks healthy, smoothed and a little perfected thanks to optical diffusers.  The SPF is physical with 100 % micronized titanium dioxide 6.2% and  zinc oxide 5.6% . 

Ingredients include Idebenone, seen in all the Prevage line, green tea , ferulic acid and other antioxidants to combat pollution

Elizabeth Arden  Prevage City Smart  SPF 50 Hydrating Shield is $ 68 for 1.3 oz

Bottega Veneta Eau De Velours

Bottega Veneta  Eau De Velours is the brand's Autumn release and it's very much a scent that embraces the chill in the air . It's cozy, rich , elegant and well crafted.

Eau De Velours , which is an EDP  , begins boldly with deep, dusky rose and pink peppercorn. The rose here is not soft, but lush and mature mixing with the other notes well . This is not simply a "rose" fragrance. Plum adds some non sweet fruit while spices and a touch of iris dance around.  This  retains the slight smokiness of the patchouli and leather from original Bottega Veneta Eau De Parfum, while being different, which gives the fragrance such a rich , bury your face in the velvet it's named for, feel.

By the drydown, surprisingly , this has settled closer to the skin than I expected. That said, it has plenty of sillage and lasts long. This is a scent that will stand up to sweaters, coats and scarves leaving them with a lingering scent trail.

It definitely makes  a great evening scent , it's dark , dry and sophisticated. I always say where what you want, when you want but it would be a bolder daytime choice.  

Bottega Veneta  Eau de Velours is  $155 (2.5oz), $118 (1.7oz) and $89 (1.0 oz) at Nordstrom 

Cargo X Star Wars - The Last Jedi Holiday 2017

Cargo goes galactic for Holiday . This collab with Star Wars- The Last Jedi hits stores on Dec. 15  just in time for gifting. 

I admit I'll want most if it. This sneak peek of the packaging looks promising for all us fans and there's much to love in Cargo's line. 

Maui Moisture Thicken & Restore Hair Care

Summer means sun and swimming in the pool so my hair always needs some extra help .  It gets a little drier at the mid and ends plus I heat style most of the time-at least partway with a hot dryer. And hey, it's hitting 90 here so I plan to be in the pool again this weekend. I'm not done with it yet.

Maui Moisture is a shamp/cond combo that uses aloe and bamboo fibers for strengthening and thickening. Now I don't really  need thickness but this only added a little volume.  A nice boost but not lots.  Where it worked best for me was adding moisture  and the repairing ingredients. My hair was soft, conditioned, mostly smooth ( half air drying  you have to end up with a  little pouf ) and shiny.  It 's  nicely hydrating but not heavy or super conditioning. For my normal to dry hair , it's just right. And after a few uses I've noticed my dry areas are much better and I need less leave in.

Ingredients include aloe juice( as the first ingredient), coconut water, neem and coconut oils and chamomile extract. It is also has no sulfates, parabens, silicone, sls or mineral oil and is vegan.

Maui Moisture Thicken & Restore  Shampoo and Conditioner are available at drugstores and discounts stores along with Ulta .  Retail is approx. $ 8.99 each.

 More at https://www.mauimoisture.com/

NEST Fragrances Holiday Gift Sets

NEST makes top shelf candles and home fragrances. They smell true to their scent descriptions and have strong quality fragrance that lasts. You can scent a small room without even lighting the candles.

Holiday  brings some of their best launches, but then I simply love all things holiday so I might be biased.  But let's face it, most of us all love  seasonal candles at Christmas and we also love to find and give great gifts.

There are three scents this year, their beloved Holiday, with spices like cinnamon and cloves with pine , Birchwood Pine,  a rich evergreen pine , fir and balsam  blend and NEW Sugar Cookie, a delicious enough to eat warm  , sweet vanilla and caramel laced cookies .

I've got two of the many gift sets from the brand here. The Festive Petite Candle Trio  houses three 4.5 oz candles  in a festive red and gold box.  You get one each of Holiday, Birchwood Pine and Sugar Cookie. ( $ 64)

The Holiday Scented Candle & Reed Diffuser Set set houses a  8.1 oz classic size Holiday scented candle and a large 5.9 oz  liquid reed  diffuser . This one comes in a red flocked velvet box. Candle burn time is 50-60 hours and the diffuser lasts approx. 90 days. ($ 72).

I like that the color scheme , boxes and glassware are all festive but not too boldly Christmas .  They are elegant  and whether you or your giftee likes a lot of Christmas decor or keeps it simple, they work.  Plus they can be used and displayed all through Winter.

NEST is available at Nordstrom, Bloomies, Saks, Neimans and Blue Mercury.

Peter Thomas Roth Hyaluronic Cloud Hydra Gel Eye Patches

 
Eyes need all the love they can get .  I use eye cream every day but I've not done any eye masks or gels until now. I had to try the new eye gel patches from Peter Thomas Roth.

These have everything in them you could want to throw at your weary eyes. glycerin,collagen, hyaluronic acid, caffiene, shea butter  , liocrice root extract, aneglica root extract,sesame seed extract aloe leaf juice, castor seed oil,  and a few more root extracts.

The patches are  thin and tear easily, a spatula is enclosed to lift them out with. Once  out of the jar set it onto your eye area. They can be applied teardrop point  up or down depending on what part of eye you want to concentrate on. They are loaded with serum so are very slippery. Once on leave for 10-15 minutes. One side did slip  a little but I pushed it back into place.

They feel cooling right off and after a few minutes on, my under eye started feeling tightened and firmed. After using the area well hydrated and stayed that way until the AM. My skin felt very soft in the morning , softer than usual and seemed lightly smoothed. After you take them off, gently rub in the leftover serum.

You can use the eye gels every day or once in awhile. I think they're perfect for weekend wind down to  erase the week and get things  shaped up for the next.

Peter Thomas Roth Hylaluronic Cloud Hydra Gel Patches are $ 52 for 30 pair jar.

Fenty Beauty by Rihanna Pro Filt'r Soft Matte Longwear Foundation

Fenty Beauty by Rihanna has gotten all the buzz this past weekend and like most beauty mavens, I was curious to check it out. Yes another celeb beauty line but we know from her MAC collab that she knows her makeup .

I grabbed a sample of the  Pro Filt'r Soft Matte foundation when I popped into Sephora.  I love a good matte, this sounded like it would be, and I was not disappointed. It hits it out of the park.

The foundation is very matte yet gives skin some dimension . It doesn't look flat . It covers well, medium to almost full and what especially made me happy , filled in pores well both with and without a pore filling base underneath. Skin looks smooth , covered but not heavy or cakey and healthy.  For oily skin it's  great . If you are normal to drier, you'll need to prep well as it is on the drier side.

The long wear claim holds up too. By end of day most of it was still in place , If I had been headed out, a quick touch up would've gotten me out the door. It kept shine at bay until midday when I had just a little. So,  a tiny bit of powder on the nose and chin.  By 5PM I was  a good bit more shiny , it was a warm day both inside and out and my skin felt it.  But the foundation hadn't worn off much , rare for me . It held up to sweat and oil which is impressive . Seriously, one of the best mattes I've tried and I've tried/use a lot of them.

Have you tried Fenty beauty yet? The Match Stix look pretty good too.

Fenty by Rihanna  Pro Filt'r Soft Matte  Longwear Foundation is $ 34 at Sephora  and comes in a whopping 40 shades.

Marc Jacobs Decadence- Eau So Decadent EDT

Eau So Decadent is the newest in Decadence from Marc Jacobs and this time it's an EDT.

Much lighter, floral and fruity than Decadence ( review here) with it's deep amber and woods , it's the peppy younger sister.   

Eau So Decadent  starts out with fruit and dewy florals of jasmine and lily of the valley. Green notes come out too, one of the notes listed is green ivy and the black currant note adds berry fruit alongside the pear. The florals are light and mix with the fruit, keeping things not overly sweet. The drydown brings the amber  and  soft woods, with a little of the floral , especially  the lily floating in the background.

This has a good bit of presence and strength for an EDT . Once it settles it's a bit closer to the skin but initially there's a good bit of sillage and even over time , it hangs on well.  It's also quite different from the original.  I love the fun handbag bottles in this line but I think I like this version of the fragrance best. (I have not smelled  Divine Decadence) .

Full note list:

Top: nashi pear, black currant, green ivy

Middle: pink lily of the valley, magnolia, jasmine

Base: white amber, cashmere woods, raspberry gloss

Marc Jacobs Decadence Eau So Decadent EDT  will be available for $112 (3.4oz), $87 (1.7oz) and $62 (1.0oz) at Nordstrom and Macy’s now. 

Dolce and Gabbana The One EDT

Dolce and Gabbana's The One is a perennially popular fragrance . Now there is a new EDT version .

The One EDT is  light as you would expect from an EDT but still has some oomph and substance  while using many of the notes from the EDP.  It begins with fruits and citrus, the bergamot and lychee most noticeable to my nose. Then the florals come in, ylang and madonna lily ( the key note of the composition) making for a pretty mix. Broom adds it's sweet honey like note which is interesting and I liked it.  As it dries down  it's very amber,  with a little vanilla , vetiver and musk rounding things out.

This is a bit of  a sexy scent. Not bold , heady sexy, but soft, you smell good when I get close , sexy.  It's feminine and wears easily with medium sillage.

Dolce and Gabbana The One EDT is $ 60 for 1 oz, & 78 for 1.6 oz  and $ 100 for for 3.3 oz and is available this month at department stores and at www.dolceandgabbana.com 

Ellis Brooklyn Sci Fi

Ellis Brooklyn has popped up on my radar since it hit Sephora . I had yet to try it but fragrance fanatic that I am, I certainly was interested. Throw in a new perfume called Sci Fi and this Farscape/Stargate /Whovian gal is there.

Great name aside this newest release from the line founded by New York Times beauty writer Bee Shapiro is a beauty.   You can call it a vanilla blend but it's more interesting than that .

Effervescent  bergamot and bitter orange lead things off . The middle notes of green tea and pink freesia are then detectable with the tea note more prominent . Freesia , often too dewy for my taste in fragrances, is not like that here, instead it is sheer and soft in the background . The drydown gets cozy with warm woods and the vanilla bean note. Not deep nor too rich , this is not a heavy scent. Those woods float lightly and the vanilla is not sweet but gourmand making a nice grounding to the rest of the notes.

Sci Fi has light /medium sillage and wears somewhat close to the skin. Longevity is medium.  It doesn't fade quickly but lasts about 4 hours on me.

Ellis Brooklyn products if you aren't familiar are  phthalates , paraben and cruelty free . The brand uses recycled, lead-free glass and FSC-certified, Green Seal certified paper stock and is made in upstate New York.

Note List:
top: bergamot, bitter orange
mid: green tea, pink freesia
dry: cashmere woods, vanilla beans

Ellis Brooklyn Sci Fi is $ 100 for 50ml at Sephora and Shen Beauty