Lorac Baked Matte Satin Blush

I was at my local Ulta the other day picking up my favorite shampoo and I always cruise the makeup section on my way to the hair products. I swear that Ulta puts the makeup directly in the path of this poor makeup junkie knowing that I will look and most likely purchase.

The lovely Lorac blush you see is a product of this cruising and I just had to share my find. These new baked blushes come in 3 shades and are $24 each. While the description says they are matte that is not entirely accurate. Like most baked products this blush has a glow to it but it stays well away from being shiny.

I bought Exposed which is a gorgeous peachy coral pink that grabbed my attention and stopped me in my tracks. Lately I have been very attracted to these colors for both blushes and lip products as they scream summer to me. I am a very fair skinned person and I stay that way all year long so I am always looking for makeup colors that look summery without involving bronzer. Coral pinks look great on my skin tone and is very season appropriate.

All three shades are super pigmented and don't require much product to get great payoff.

Givenchy Sari Glow

Am I the only one newly obsessed with Slumdog Millionaire's Freida Pinto? She is just gorgeous and I have loved every red carpet look she has done. She has a kind of exotic beauty that makes me drool with envy.

While cruising Sephora I noticed Givenchy's Spring 09 collection that is inspired by the sensual and refined beauty of Indian women with lots of bright orange and pink in the mix. Well I am all about getting a little piece of that sensual and refined beauty and Sari Glow Iridescent Blush was a real stand out product.

Maharani Pink is a luminous rosy pink and is super glowy on skin. It has that red carpet radiance that I always notice on the cheeks of celebrities but is hard to create in real life. Sari Glow makes that look easy to achieve. It combines the best of a blush and highlighter.

Givenchy Sari Glow is $42 and comes with a little brush.

MAC - Grand Duos

Crap, crap, crap! Doesn't MAC know there is an economic recession going on and that we poor makeup junkies are feeling the pinch in our makeup allowance! Seriously these folks need to either keep their pricing low or stop releasing collections where I want every last thing. Naturally I vote for option #1.

Say hello to MAC's Grand Duo blushes and the cause of all my consternation. These gorgeous babies are $22.50 and so lovely I can not stand it!

Grand Duos are available in 7 shades and feature a tri-color marble half and a solid color shimmer other half that is glowy rather than glitter-tastic. Here is the lineup:

Light Over Dark - Yellow orange with brown
Moon River - Blue pink melange with pale yellow pink
Love Rock - Gold violet melange with bright blue pink
Grand Duo - Copper pink with plum
Earth to Earth - Purple bronze with yellow brown
Intenso - Pink gold with terracotta rose
Hot Planet - Copper yellow with midtone plum

My picks after pre-selling are Moon River, Love Rock, Grand Duo, and Intenso. Earth to Earth is very intriguing but I am a bit worried about wearability so I am very interested to see how this one does. Intenso is amazing and I am not a huge warm tone fan but Intenso is nuts in a good way!

Make up For ever - Limited Palette

I love Sephora in the spingtime
I love Sephora in the fall
I love Sephora in the winter when it drizzles
I love Sephora in the summer when it sizzles
Why, oh why, do I love Sephora
Because my love is there!

My makeup love I mean....

Okay so I am sorry for that little moment I just had but really that song just begs to be sung for my love affair with Sephora. Seriously, I heart Sephora big time and wish I could camp there for a weekend and just play and shop to my hearts content.

This palette by MUFE is one reason that Sephora rocks my makeup world. This palette is very limited (100 of them to be precise) and is $390 and can only be had at, you guessed it, SEPHORA.com! It is filled with 30 shadows and blushes and is signed by Danny Sanz the creator of MUFE.

I would love to own this one but the price is a bit prohibitive for my MAC depleted makeup budget so if any of you get one please share all the details!

Nars Super Orgasm

As if the name weren't reason enough! Nars has found a way to add on to the ever expanding lineup of Orgasm products. I have been a long time fan of the blush but the gloss and nail polish, etc have just never excited me.

That was until I got my paws on this new and improved blush! It is the same classic pink-peach shade but with more gold shimmer and you know I love me some shimmer.

While it doesn't replace the original Orgasm blush it is a fun addition to have and for $25 will make a great stocking stuffer for my Orgasm blush loving pals.

This blush is part of the new winter collection coming from Nars. Between this and the eyeshadow duo and singles it is a collection to check out!

More Dolce Vita to love.....

Nars and the Dolce Vita color family has expanded to a few new products. For those who are not ardent fans of the Dolce Vita lipstick the blush might just be the exception.

For those who know nothing of the Dolce Vita craze let me explain. Dolce Vita started out as a sheer lipstick that is described as dusty rose but to my eye it is one of those great lipsticks that looks good on everyone and is just a shade better than your own lipcolor. It is on the sheer side and is a bit glossier than lipstick. My first encounter was reading an interview with Nicole Kidman and she talked about the shade changing her life....clearly her holy grail shade.

Well Nars is no dummy and recently came out with a gloss version which was a huge dissapointment to me. The color just wasn't the same and I do not enjoy Nars lipgloss. It is like flypaper for hair and it has an odd plasticy no smell, smell.

Anyway the latest products to join the ranks are a blush and Velvet Matte Lip Pencil. Finally some products that live up to the Dolce Vita rep!

The blush color is superb! No joke....it is a gorgeous dusty peach rose that is on the warmer side and is matte without being chalky in the slightest. The blush is the perfect compliment to fall's smokier eyes done in grey or brown.

Don't even get me started on the Velvet Matte Lip Pencil. I will say that it really delivers on Dolce Vita's promise where the lipgloss fell on it's face!

Blush is $25 and the Lip Pencil is $24 and both can be found at Sephora.

Pop Beauty - Belle Palettes

Pop Beauty's creator Sara Strand wants makeup to be fun and edgy and I for one think she does a bang up job with Pop Beauty!

It took me awhile to really explore this line and honestly it was the intense color in this range that I loved but also was afraid wouldn't be easy to work with. I think I was skeptical that the Big Box Crayola colors wouldn't live up to my texture expectations.

Put simply, I was wrong. Pop Beauty's powders are silky and blendable and the palettes are huge for the price. I love playing with Pop Beauty at Sephora and you can also catch Sara Strand on QVC regularly.

The 3 palettes's in the Belle collection are all equally gorgeous and feature 8 huge pans for $28! Bronze Belle is all about bronzy shades that are gorgeous for summer and also bringing a little bit of summer to a fall face.
















Glow Belle is highlighter happiness! Normally you have to purchase a bunch of different products to get a range of illuminating powders but not so here. You get everything from creamy natural tones to pink and bronze glow for, you guessed it, $28! A bargain in my mind.


















Rose Belle is my personal favorite. I am a real sucker for pinks and this palette has everything from eyeshadow colors to blushes and highlighting shades too! What's not to love.

MAC Overload!

Okay I love MAC....in reality I worship at the altar of makeup that is MAC. But lately MAC has been giving my credit cards a workout that is leaving me poor! I mean the collections have been coming fast and furious and every single one has had at least one thing I just couldn't live without! I love them but my bank account does not. So no more whining and on with the makeup fun!

Above is Electro Flash! Holy Cow....is there any other word for it. For those who love the Mineralize eyeshadow your ship has come in. The new duos have a mix of 3 shades on one side with a solid shade on the other. The 4 new lip shades and 4 Tinted Lipglass shades have me in a tizzy! I mean of the 8 I want 4 and if you saw my current lip wardrobe that exceeds 200 shades you would agree that I have got to put the brakes on or learn to edit in a serious way!



















Next up is New View. The compact has a natural matte finish and the other a soft shimmer and comes in 5 shades and is the next generation Mineralize powder. I can tell you that the shimmer side is indeed soft and not disco ball and these light weight powders are perfect for the warm months when you don't want liquid makeup running down your face.




Last but certainly not least is Sonic Chic! Again these are Mineralize blushes in 9 shades that all have a degree of shimmer and apply more sheer than they appear. Again the colors are ridiculously beautiful and I just don't know how many blushes one girl can justify! The 181 buffer brush is a smaller version of the 182 and has the shape of a kabuki but is so much softer than any kabuki I have ever felt. The 181 is the perfect size to buff on cheek colors or luminizers along the cheek bone and is worth every penny!

So all this MAC fun hits counters July 10th (online now) and I will be spending the time in between carefully considering my picks and perfecting my justifying skills.

Bare Escentuals - The Bare & The Beautiful

The Bare and The Beautiful kit was not love at first sight. I had to test these colors to really fall in love. It's like a friend turning into more....it might take a bit longer but it's the ending that counts!

The kit consists of two eyeshadows, Kindness which is an icy blue with violet shimmer and Praise a metallic navy with amethyst shimmer. Praise is a gorgeous liner.

A Hint Of Truth is the third pot in this set and is a pinky apricot shade that BE describes as vintage rose. While our descriptions of the color may vary, it is a lovely natural blush color.

The real pay dirt for me is the double ended brush. I honestly feel that BE does double ended brushes as well as or better than anyone else and while they are not always practical for storage (which end do you smoosh to stand them up) purposes, you do get a lot of brush for the money. This one has a tapered blush and paddle eyeshadow on either end and is fantabulous!

The Bare and The Beautiful can be had for $44 at BE stores or online.

Bare Escentuals Three Perfect Blushes Vol. 4

This super cute bag, brush and blush trio from BE is another item I spotted on the BE show on QVC this weekend. This isn't the first blush trio BE has put together but it is the first that really caught my eye.

The set is $36.00 on QVC and features a great range of blush colors.

Blushing Beauty is a sweetheart rose pink
RSVP is a peachy copper
Aubergine is a deeper rose

What really nabbed me was the range of cool and warm tones that will be gorgeous in summer (RSVP) on through to fall with Aubergine. Blushing Beauty is the lightest of the shades but looks like winter pink cheeks to me.

BE blush is a loose powder and does takes a bit of practice to get the amount that works for you down. I find that a tiny amount of blush is needed to get the look I want and in the past I think I was just too heavy handed.

Bobbi Brown - Custom Palettes

Oh Bobbi Brown....you heard my prayers! The new custom palettes are wonderful and just make me curl my toes in happiness.

Truly one of my favorite things about MAC is buying the eyeshadow staples of my makeup wardrobe in palette form. It is so much easier to travel with and takes up a fraction of the space in my makeup tower.

Bobbi Brown is offering palettes in a horizontal 3 pan configuration or the 4 pan palette pictured. You have a choice of all the existing eyeshadow or blush shades and a few new colors as well.

On BB's website she gives some great suggestions for putting together functional palettes for day to night or your own touch-up kit. The palette's are $10 each with the eyeshadows being $20 and the blush $22.

I am thrilled that BB has joined the palette party and with new eyeshadows like Flint and Copper Sand I could just kiss her! Plus when I went to check these out at the BB counter I was very pleasantly surprised by the size of the pans. They are quite large and a good value for the price.

Now if I could only appeal to BB to get rid of those terrible stiff black plastic brushes in her glosses, the line would be perfection.

Allure - Bright Pink Cheeks

If I have failed to mention before let me say now....Allure is my favorite magazine. How could I not adore a magazine devoted to beauty.

This month the "Look Now" are bright pink cheeks and I nearly jumped off the couch shouting Hooray!

I am a big fan of bright cheek colors for a lot of reasons, chief among them that a bright color offers versatility. Scary blush colors in the pan can be blended back for a sheer wash or layered on to doll-like circles of color....the point is the choice is yours.

I avoid super natural cheek colors because no matter how much I put on there is only so much color payoff to be had. Some mornings I wake up and look half dead, but a bright blush color does wonders to make me look like a member of the living.

Allure recommends Smashbox blush in Radiance, a bright fuchsia.

I recommend the following:

Shu Uemura: Glow On Wine #29 is a wine pink shade

MAC: Dollymix is a sheer candy pink

Nars: Outlaw is rose pink with shimmer

Bobbi Brown: French Pink is matte blue pink

A little goes a long way with any of these colors but that is the beauty of them. To complete the look that Allure mentions I use a little Bare Escentuals Clear Radiance along the cheek bone and Voila! spring cheeks are born.