making faces :: coral crazy

this would look awesome on your face

if you follow [as opposed to simply "wear"] cosmetics, you'll undoubtedly have heard the word coral more times than you thought you would in your lifetime. it seems like for the last year, everything has been coral- lips, cheeks, eyes, hair... ok, i'm kidding about the hair, but everything else has definitely had a coral tinge. so what's the big deal?

well, part of it is that people who make colour cosmetics want to keep feeding that desire to grab what's new, what's happening right now as opposed to three months ago, which is undoubtedly no longer cool. but the powers that be said that about black lips a couple of years back too and while people flocked to try it out, most stopped at the trying stage and the fad went away [except in my case, since i've always liked that sort of hard futuristic edge that comes from black lips, as opposed to dark red or purple]. but you say "coral" in front of makeup fans and immediately they're like zombies, pelting the contents of their wallets at you and saying "more".

MORE!



first things first. what colour is coral, exactly? i'm glad you asked [not that you did, but i'd have been glad if you had asked, just so you know]. defining coral actually helps in understanding its popularity. although corals in nature can be any of a wide variety of colours, they are most often known for being a shade that mixes orange, red and pink in more or less equal measure. the proper colour "coral" is a medium-light orange with a touch of pink, a touch that makes it a little cooler [as in colour temperature, not as in hip], but there are variations on that shade which run the gamut from light to dark, some leaning more orange, some more red and some, you guessed it, more pink. it's an odd situation where a colour at once references something fairly specific and yet has a range within it. saying that something is coral is more specific, for instance, than saying it's "green", but there's still room for interpretation.

within that range, though, you are essentially dealing with tones that are very flattering on skin. the pink element keeps shades from being too warm. the orange keeps them from being too cool. so as a result, there aren't too many skin types that can't wear coral. those same elements also mean that it's less stark than a true, primary red, even when it's a fairly bright shade. and it's more original than pink, which has been around forever and can't really be expected to carry the burden of being an "it" colour. once again, for a shade that seems offbeat or hard to pin down, it's actually a pretty easy thing to carry off. easier than the black lips, at least.

here are a few things i've done incorporating corals [which have snuck into my cosmetic wardrobe despite the fact that i try not to buy trendy things... it's just so damn easy to wear].

"toxic tale"
last fall, mac introduced "toxic tale" lipstick as part of their disney villains collection. it sold out roughly three days before most people knew it existed, which is kind of a frustrating thing about mac's limited editions. the good news is that they do bring popular colours back, so i have every confidence that if you missed this one the first time, you'll have another opportunity. and since it's coral, i wouldn't be surprised if that opportunity came pretty quickly. the coral colour i used on my eyes was also a limited shade from earlier this year, but mac does have a permanent shade called "electric coral" [available at pro stores, or you can order it over the phone] which is fairly similar and lives up to its name.


face ::
nars sheer glow foundation "mont blanc"
diorskin nude hydrating concealer "001"
mac mineralize skinfinish natural "light"

eyes ::
mac e/s "dazzlelight"
mac pigment "pink opal"
mac pigment "follow your fancy"
mac eye kohl "fascinating"
mac fluidline eye liner "blacktrack"
ysl faux cils mascara

cheeks ::
mac blush "bite of an apple"

lips ::
mac l/s "toxic tale"



"ever hip"
this shade would be an example of something that mac has already brought back. it debuted last spring and sold out, so they brought it back again this year as part of their "fashion flower" spring collection. in fact, the blush- another coral shade- was also a repeat performer this year, having popped up a couple of years back in a limited edition. both of these are super-soft, understated corals, easy to wear and very safe for people who don't want anything too vibrant. or, alternately, they make a nice counterpoint for when you want to do something really intense with your eyes. greens and corals seem made for each other, as a rule. not that there are rules, but, if there were, that one would make sense.

face ::
nars sheer glow foundation "mont blanc"
diorskin nude hydrating concealer "001"

eyes ::
nars soft touch shadow pencil "celebrate" [as a base on the inner part of the eye]
mac fluidline eye liner "ivy" [as a base on the outer part of the eye]
mac e/s "sharp"
ysl e/s "slate green"
ysl faux cils mascara

cheeks ::
mac beauty powder "alpha girl"

lips ::
mac l/s "ever hip"



"hibiscus"
this lipstick is an example of the red end of coral. [is it me, or does that sound nasty?] the shade has very little pink to it at all, but it's a little softer and more restrained than a full-on red. this is a great shade for summer, which is, i suppose, why mac came out with it as part of their summer collection this year. if you blinked and missed it [again, it sold out practically before it went on sale], the good faeries have told me that there will be a shade that looks awfully similar coming out at mac in the first week in august. when a colour is hot, cosmetic companies tend to want to take advantage of it as much as they can.

face ::
nars sheer glow foundation "mont blanc"
diorskin nude hydrating concealer "001"

eyes ::
inglot e/s "351"
mac e/s "skintone 2"
mac e/s "jealousy wakes"
nars e/s "night porter"
diorshow mascara

cheeks ::
mac blush "mighty aphrodite"

lips ::
mac l/s "hibiscus"

making faces :: naked days with urban decay

i usually try not to get sucked into hype, but i'd heard so many people go on about the magical urban decay naked palette and how it was basically the holy grail of versatile, neutral shades of eye shadow that i couldn't help being curious. compounding this, there's the fact that, although it's permanently available from urban decay and from sephora, it's been out of stock at the sephora web site for about the last hundred years... so it has the allure of something that doesn't want you to possess it.

add to that the fact that most urban decay shadows are made of large quantities of win [except for the shades with glitter, which are decidedly formulated with fail, but there's none in this palette] and one of the colours included in the naked palette is "sin", which is one of my favourite shadows ever by anyone and which is disappearing at an uncomfortably fast rate from its pan and i basically got myself into a frenzy of consumer madness.

thankfully, a very nice lady in the united states took pity on me and ordered me one. so for the last several days i have been trying out variations on the neutral eye with all the different colours included.

when you can get your paws on one, it's a pretty sweet deal. there are twelve different colours- all neutral, but ranging from light to dark with both shimmer and matte textures- plus a full size brush, plus a miniature bottle of urban decay's "primer potion", which helps eye makeup go on better and stay on better. all this will cost you $48, which works out to $4 a shadow, even assuming the brush and primer are free. of course, the shadows in the palette aren't nearly as big as a regular urban decay shadow, but those will run you $17 a pop for only 0.2g more worth of product [according to the u.d. web site, the fill weight per shadow on the naked palette is 1.3g, on a regular shadow, 1.5g]. so for this not to be a good investment, there would have to be something seriously wrong with the product.

l to r :: gunmetal, hustle, toasted, sin

fortunately, that isn't the case. i compared "sin" to the remains of my individual pot and they seem exactly the same in terms of colour, texture and durability. so occasionally when things look too good to be true, they're still true. doesn't that just make you feel awesome about everything for a moment?

moving on.

the idea behind this palette- which really does seem to have turned into a license to print money for the california company- is to give a range of basic shades that can be used in combination to go with virtually any sort of look. they are mostly shimmery [although there is a matte beige and a matte medium brown], mostly warm [particularly the mid-tone shades] and, yes, they are extremely versatile. a number of the shades are ones that you might have seen before, but the point here is that they're all assembled into one perfect little package.

l to r :: virgin, naked, sidecar, buck

i agree that these shades will suit pretty much any skin tone, dark or light, warm or cool. and each shade exhibits the typical incredible pigmentation of urban decay shadows, so you really get some bang for your buck. if i had to criticise, and this would be under some duress, i'd say that i wish that they'd included one or two less shimmery shades [there's a lot of frostiness, which can be a challenge for those of us over twenty-five]. i hadn't actually "met" urban decay's matte shades before and now i'm happy i did. i'm pleased that they did not include any "glitter" shades, since those were the ones that made me want to write off the brand when i tried them. in fact, there's not a single shade i don't like and wouldn't use here. [the sparkly black "creep" doesn't do much for me, since it's a dead ringer for a lot of "black with silver sparkle" shades that already exist, but the very popularity of those types of shades makes it obvious why it would be included with this set.]

ultimately, this is the kind of thing that almost every woman who wears cosmetics would benefit from having in her collection. for those who want something simple and basic, it offers a lot of alternatives at an excellent price. for those who like to have a variety, it offers the opportunity to grab a dozen urban decay shadows for barely more than the price of two regular ones. plus, of course, the shades are ridiculously easy to use. and you get a brush and a tester bottle of primer. what could possibly go wrong?

l to r :: half-baked, smog, darkhorse, creep

here are a few looks i put together with shades from the naked palette. i'd like to add that, in all of them, i used the primer potion underneath. my initial experience with primer potion was not great, but i put that down to the fact that it was a sample and it was a gold-coloured shimmery version rather than the regular one. and there may be some logic to that. i liked the primer potion much better in its "regular" form. personally, i prefer a primer with a little more colour, because my lids are fairly dark [i look like a racoon in the mornings] and i didn't find that primer potion made shadows last as long as my usual base- mac's painterly paint pot- but it did prevent creasing and it did make the colours nice and intense, which is what a base is supposed to do.

because all the shadows were coming out of a single palette, each of these looks took ten minutes tops to complete. 





"naked matte"
like i said earlier, i really loved the matte shades [naked and buck] included with this palette and so they were among the first ones used. as a lady who loves her dark lips, this is the sort of understated eye treatment i often do, so that the focus can be a little lower. this is also the first look i did with musky amethyst, one of the new lipsticks from mac's "semi-precious" collection.

face ::
nars sheer glow foundation "mont blanc"
diorskin nude hydrating concealer "001"

eyes ::
urban decay e/s "virgin"
urban decay e/s "naked"
urban decay e/s "buck"
mac superslick liquid liner "on the hunt"
ysl faux cils mascara

cheeks ::
mac beauty powder "her own devices"
mac blush "darkly my dear"

lips ::
mac l/s "musky amethyst"






"naked smoky"
one of the suggestions on the packaging for use of this palette is that you can do "smoky bronze" looks. i went for more of a "smoky gold", which was exciting to me, because i've never had enough gold shades before to do this sort of thing. again, i went with a very pigmented lip, because, despite the "smoky" effect, i felt that the eye was fairly subtle and could deal with a deeper lip colour. on the other hand, i can also see doing this with a more restrained lip colour. hurrah for versatility.

face ::
nars sheer glow foundation "mont blanc"
diorskin nude hydrating concealer "001"
lush colour supplement "jackie oates" [as a highlighter]

eyes ::
urban decay e/s "virgin"
urban decay e/s "half-baked"
urban decay e/s "smog"
urban decay e/s "darkhorse"
mac eye kohl "smolder"
diorshow mascara

cheeks ::
mac mineralize skinfinish "new vegas"
mac blush "bite of an apple"

lips ::
chanel "rivoli




"naturally naked"
so the whole point, supposedly, of having a naked palette is that you can do very natural looks. i actually find that the shimmer in a lot of the colours makes this trickier than you would think, but there are definitely shades [hint- the ones i've used here] that capture that nice, slightly pinky flesh-tone and make it into something quite lovely. [note- if your flesh tone isn't pinky, there are probably shades in here that will be a better match for you.]

face ::
lush colour supplement "jackie oates"
diorskin nude hydrating concealer "001"

eyes ::
urban decay e/s "virgin"
urban decay e/s "sin"
urban decay e/s "hustle"
urban decay e/s "gunmetal"
mac false lashes mascara

cheeks ::
nars blush "deep throat"

lips ::
mac l/s "made to order"

friday favourites 15.07.11

well, after my week off, i'm back to fill you in on the little things that made my time better in the last little while. i have an abiding fury with canada post, owing to the fact that i'm stuck depending on them, which has tainted much of my week, but given that i got to celebrate dom's b-day [see my earlier post], which involved getting together with friends at cagibi [which is remarkably similar to what we do almost every wednesday, but involved more drinking this time] and listening to the electro stylings of dj tyg, it's certainly a week that had its high points. several of them, in fact...

1. a cosmetic find :: i wasn't even looking, because i assumed i'd missed the boat long ago, but i managed to score a tube of nars' much-coveted, no-longer-available "strawberry fields" lip gloss. as far as glosses go, i'm a sucker for cheery, saturated magentas, so it does seem like fate that this gloss and i eventually found each other. it's a perfect summery shade, the kind of thing that sort of yells at the sun "hey! i can be all bright and stuff too!" and in fact, that's what i did. you can see the results here. if you're in the montreal area and think this looks appealing, you should consider checking the nars counter at the bay downtown. no one said i got the last one.

MUCH MORE AFTER THE BREAK AND YOUR CAT OF THE WEEK...

i think you're awesome, too

2. my love, justified :: i was kind of horrified this week that i felt compelled to write a letter to fluevog telling them i was unhappy about something. long story short, i've basically lost two heel caps off very lightly-worn shoes in the last couple of weeks. i didn't want to be nasty, and i wasn't, but i sort of felt rattled that after a very long time of being a dedicated e-vog-gelist was i was suddenly feeling a bit shaken.

the response, as i gleefully pointed out to dom, is the kind of thing that should be shown to people in business school. it was prompt, but at the same time, it showed that the person who received it had followed up to get me answers. and those answers make good sense, which is really all i wanted. there was a solution offered and the entire tone was gracious without seeming obsequious or phony. well done!

and fyi, they're having their annual summer sale right now, so it is a great time to check out what they have available. 

3. schadenfreude :: if there is a better feeling for a thinking observer of media than watching rupert murdoch twist in the wind, i can't think of it. oh, wait. but this is really so much bigger.

further proof that gingers have no souls

don't get me wrong. i'm so disgusted by everything i hear about this scandal that i'm finding it difficult to eat while watching the news. i mean, i knew that murdoch's empire was rotten, but this is bad even by the standards of a corporation that allows something it calls a news agency to knowingly propagate lies in the name of inflaming popular rhetoric, so that meaningful issues cannot be discussed in a rational, comprehensive way [assuming they can be discussed at all]. ahem. i'm getting carried away.

it's just that all of the disgust i can muster isn't going to change what's happened. so you'll forgive me if i just sit back and hope that the rot is profound enough to bring down the whole castle. this morning's news that executive rebekah brooks- who was the head of "news of the world" when it was engaged in the worst of its phone hacking and who was subsequently promoted [let's all think about that for a second]- has fallen on her sword is just the latest thing that makes me hope that, just maybe, there is some justice in the world.

4. a job well done :: those of you who follow me on twitter saw this picture, which is what happened when my superintendent came in to paint the recently rebuilt ceiling in my bathroom. apparently, he decided to test the wall to see if it needed some grouting and accidentally ended up pulling most of the wall down. well, to be honest, it was kind of an accident waiting to happen.

but now look at my bathroom.

not only is it freshly painted, but it's freshly tiled and grouted and it's cleaner than it has been ever in this century, thanks to the use of a lot of elbow grease [by the superintendent] and a cleaner that i was told not breathe too close to. [strangely, my asthma has been better the last couple of days.]

i think i'm a little intimidated by it. i feel like i might not be clean enough to bathe there, which is kind of a difficult problem to solve. but damn, it's sparkly and white and large parts of it are newer than the hair that probably still inhabits the drain. not too shabby. not shabby at all.

those are a few of my bright spots this week. feel free to share yours. this week, of course, i'll be reserving time in my schedule to sit down and watch as much coverage as i can possibly stand of mad murdoch's woes, but i promise not too get too smug. i have a feeling he'll weasel out one way or the other.

speaking of smug, i have to say that this is becoming a problem for me. i've recently started forcing myself to button down and keep detailed lists of things i need to do, so that i can track my own progress and not forget to do things for three months like i normally do. the sense of satisfaction and accomplishment this brings should, at best, qualify as "normal", but i've been kind of lax for the last little while, letting myself get intimidated by random things i haven't been getting done, so i feel like i've been oh so very productive lately. i've reached that stage where i can't help crowing about things i've gotten done, which is probably incredibly irritating for people who have to be around me [dom]. so i'll add a note to my list that i have to not be quite so proud of myself. after all, i've been quite productive, but i also accidentally used dish soap in my mopping water.


regular readers of the blog might recall that i have a real love for things purple, so this just seemed like the purrrrfect kitteh of the week photo...

thanks for reading and have a great week!

making faces :: hot stuff

it's hot in here. it's not you.

ah yes, it's that time of year when the sun is strong, the humidity is high and most people are a little leery of putting a layer of paint on their faces, even a light one. after all, the inclination in the summer is to remove layers rather than add them and hot, humid weather has a way of taking your nicely done makeup and turning it into something from the climax of "raiders of the lost ark" in a hurry.

if you live your life moving from one air-conditioned spot to another [home, car, office], that's very comfortable for you. but chances are that you're going to have to sit on a terrace to have a drink or visit a friend who find that air conditioning aggravates their asthma [me] or get on a bus because your brakes are being repaired. and there are a lot of people [me included] who just have to do battle with the elements every day.

no one is likely to force you to wear makeup [put on the mascara or we'll kill grandma!], so a lot of people just don't bother with it in the warmer seasons. but there are places- often workplaces- that do sort of tacitly expect that you make some attempt to hide the embarrassment of morning face and, if you're the kind of person who likes to put on makeup anyway, you're probably not interested in just stowing your collection until the mercury drops.

so, here are a few things that i find work for me... feel free to agree, disagree or add your own.

1. hot weather tends to make you perspire. i don't think anyone is going to disagree with that, but a lot of people use cosmetic products- creams, colour cosmetics, anything- that are actually intended to be quite moisturising. unless your skin runs quite dry [in which case, for once, you can laugh at the rest of us] you're at least going to want to move away from putting a lot of products on your face that are too rich or sebaceous. anything that has the keyword "glow" in it is suspect, because products that make your skin "glow" do so by imparting it with rich, nutritious oily goodness. doesn't mean you can't wear them [i've stuck it out with my nars' sheer glow foundation], but keep in mind that you'll be compounding what nature is doing to you anyway.

one thing that you can do is get yourself a nice mattifying primer. yes, it's another layer, but the whole point of these is that they help absorb. there are a lot of them around and i don't claim to have tried all of them, but nars has a very nice one that's light without being drying and neostrata in canada has one that leaves the skin feeling quite velvety. for a cheaper variant, apparently using milk of magnesia accomplishes the same goal, although i'd really recommend this only for oilier skins.

2. it's bright. again, probably not a lot of people are going to disagree with this one. the fact that you can't really do anything about the fact that you're under bright light all the time, though, means that there are a few things to keep in mind. very elaborate, detailed makeup under bright lights tends to look a bit overdone. keeping things simple- fewer shades, less blending, etc., tends to work better for me.

of course, that doesn't mean that you have to be overly subtle. under bright conditions, bold colours can really work. simple can mean one big punch in the nose of colour. 

3. heat makes things messy. makeup is certainly no exception. to get around this, i usually try not to get around it at all. bring on the mess and make it your friend. i like to do things that start out looking a little smudged and imprecise, because that way, when the heat inevitably takes its toll, it at least won't be quite so obvious. mac's sadly discontinued greasepaint sticks are amazing for this sort of work and give you the awesome sensation of literally colouring your face with big crayons. benefit's creaseless cream shadows and armani's eyes to kill powder-that-you'll-think-is-cream shadows are also very effective. essentially, a creamier product can go on looking a little blurry and inexact, but still look good. if you want to put shadow or liner over top of that base, it'll also help them last longer.

4. moisture feels good. i'm not being really controversial here, am i? but one of the things that i avoided for a long time, but now keep as a staple for everyday use is mac's fix+ spray. it purports to make your cosmetics last longer and is perfect for applying powder products [especially loose pigments] or priming your skin. i don't know that my makeup lasts longer with it, but what i will say is that it definitely keeps it looking fresher for the time it does last. it really seems to stop the fading that occurs, especially in warmer times. i also find that it softens the appearance of makeup slightly, making it look a little more natural and relaxed.

and you can spritz it on your face when you start applying and when you finish, to give an incredibly refreshing feeling. i swear i'm going to start carrying bottles of this stuff in my purse for those moments when i need something to relax me. it's probably better than vodka. well, the two go hand in hand, really.

here are a few things that i've done to my face that illustrate these points...

this is a sort of hot-weather variant on a smoky eye, where i just smudged a cream shadow over my lids, set it with a bit of a darker pigment and was basically ready to go.

face ::

nars sheer glow foundation "mont blanc"
diorskin nude hydrating concealer "001"

eyes ::
benefit creaseless cream shadow "skinny jeans"
mac pigment "the family crest"
mac eye kohl "smolder"
inglot e/s "352"
diorshow mascara

cheeks ::
mac blush "my highland honey"

lips ::
mac l/s "out-minxed"



here's one using one of mac's greasepaint sticks. i basically just used it all over my lid- more towards the outer corners, since that's where i like to concentrate colour- and the quickly blended a shadow over it. this actually held up remarkably well during a particularly hot day and i credit that to the fact that it looked all mussed-up to begin with. i only put eye kohl [also known as "liner", but i like to talk fancy] on my upper lash line, since, when it's really hot, it lasts less time on my water line than it takes me to apply it.

face ::

lush colour supplement "jackie oates"
diorskin nude hydrating concealer "001"

eyes ::
mac greasepaint stick "french quarter"
mac e/s "patina"
mac e/s "dazzlelight" [as a highlight along the brow bone]

cheeks ::
mac mineralize skinfinish "by candlelight"

lips ::
urban decay l/s "voodoo"


this is the sort of thing i was talking about in terms of using bold colours very simply. i'm kind of proud of the fact that this looks complicated, but actually took all of five minutes to do. because the colours are separated into blocks, there was really nothing to do other than just apply. they more or less blended themselves, clever buggers. i think that this shows off the lovely, intense pigmentation of the shadows that came out with mac's "surf baby" collection. there's a reason i got almost all of them.

face ::
nars sheer glow foundation "mont blanc"
diorskin nude hydrating concealer "001"

eyes ::
mac e/s "saffron"
mac e/s "sun blonde"
mac e/s "manila paper"
mac greasepaint stick "dirty"
ysl faux cils mascara

cheeks ::
mac cheek powder [aka blush] "my paradise"

lips ::
ysl rouge pur shine l/s "blood orange"


and, finally, another more colourful look. normally, i don't do this sort of pronounced liner in the summer, because it ends up looking a hot mess in short order, but one of the nice things i've noticed about the armani "eyes to kill" shadows is that they actually hold other products in place fairly well. it's like they're having a little colour competition on my face. these photos were taken not long after application, but i was floored six or eight hours later to notice that i looked more or less exactly the same. no summer-smudging, no fading, no creasing. i also decided to take another of the dangers of summer in hand when i did this by anticipating that i was going to get flushed in the heat. i started out with a fairly bright pop of blush on the cheeks and presto- i meant to look like that.

face ::
lush colour supplement "jackie oates"
diorskin nude hydrating concealer "001"

eyes ::
armani eyes to kill e/s "pulp fiction"
nars e/s "dogon" [dark side only]
mac mega metal e/s "prance"
mac e/s "all races"
mac fluidline "blacktrack"
ysl faux cils mascara

cheeks ::
guerlain blush g

lips
nars l/g "strawberry fields"

making faces :: product review [hourglass]

i saved these ones for a separate post, although they came as part of my aforementioned sephora haul. i'd been curious about this brand for a while, since it's still fairly new and unknown. offering a mix of luxury-level colour cosmetics and a small number of accessories, their range is narrow but classic. you won't find hot pinks or chartreuse greens in their offering, but their fans appreciate their muted, understated palette and rave about the brand's quality.

quality in this case is important, because the brand is priced on a level with prestige names like chanel and yves st. laurent. that's a ballsy move for a small company less than a decade old, but word of mouth had it that they warranted the hype, so i decided to give them a try.

SEE HOW MY HOURGLASS GAMBLE PAID OFF...



i ordered two items, one of their eyeshadow duos [they only sell shadows in pairs- six of them, to be exact] and one of their femme rouge lipsticks [available in twelve shades total].

visionaire shadow duo "prism" :: well i almost forgot to start looking at the product in the package because the package itself was so very cute. housed in a signature bronze case with a magnetic closure [i adore the neatness of magnetic closures on anything short of clothing] and a decent size mirror that swivels on a little ball pedestal. i'm not sure why i'd need the mirror to swivel, but i have a feeling i'll figure that out later on [although it did make it easy to photograph the product itself!].

of any of the duos, this one really called my name because of its obvious smoky eye potential. it's a combination of a very shimmery cool grey and a rich black with a lot of silver sparkle. these are the sorts of colours that i can wear [well, not just me, anyone can wear them, really] anywhere, and which can be made fairly subtle or quite intense. the colour payoff on both shades was impressive. just touching them with a brush picked up a lot of product but i found that i could work pretty quickly and sheer out the colour if i found it too heavy.

because of the shimmery quality of both shadows, i found it easier to work with a slightly damp brush [damp not wet] to keep any fallout from occurring. both shades were very smooth and easy to work with and made a perfect smoky-eyed combo. i found the black in particular seemed to apply perfectly with a couple of taps and really stayed put [enough that i basically used it as a liner as well]. the silvery shade was cool, but not too blue on me- i think that it will be fun pairing it with other shades to see how it "interacts" with them. there's a surprising depth to the colour and i think that the light, adjacent colours, and other factors would subtly shift how it appears.

$38usd/ $44cad [medium on the currency gouging index]
available at sephora internationally or direct from www.hourglasscosmetics.com in the united states

femme rouge lipstick "raven" :: someone is going to have to explain to me how this ended up getting named "raven", because i can imagine very little that reminds me less of a glossy raven's feather than this fiery orange-red lipstick. i'm not complaining, just a little curious.

the texture of this lipstick is described by the company as "velvet crème" [i'd also like to know at what point the word "cream" was banned in cosmetics marketing, forcing everyone to start saying it in french], which immediately brings to mind something rich, thick, intensely saturated with colour... which is about as good a description as i can give. it takes very little product to get completely opaque coverage and the lipstick feels incredibly plush with even a single swipe. dry lips will love the moisturising feeling it imparts and the fact that it does not settle into lip lines at all. i found it made my lips look instantly perfect and, of course, incredibly dramatic.

if you're not a big fan of lipstick, or prefer a lighter lipstick, this may not be the formula for you. what seems rich and luxurious to some is going to seem heavy to others, so take the description as being a pretty good indicator of what you're going to end up with. [note- this is a very intense colour, so lighter shades may not feel as heavy.]

about the only thing that i didn't like about the lipstick is an unfortunate side effect of many moisturising lipsticks- it feathered around the edges after a few hours of wear. i wouldn't say the feathering was very bad, but there was definitely some blurriness. i'd recommend using a lip liner [mac's "redd" would be an almost dead-on match] to get the best results.

other than that, the wear time seemed good- it faded noticeably after a few hours, but any colour this deep is going to leave a nice stain, even when it fades [slightly shyer maidens might actually prefer to wear it blotted, as a stain, in order to mute its awesome power].

the quality on these product definitely puts it in line with equivalently priced product. in fact, i'd say that they're as good or better than what i've seen from a lot of prestige brands. as i mentioned, the colour selections are limited but thoroughly classy. these are shades that give a feeling of luxury which, after all, is what you want from a luxury item.

$30usd/ $35cad [medium on the c.g.i.]- once you've purchased the lipstick, you can buy refills for about $5 less when you run out
available at sephora internationally or direct from www.hourglasscosmetics.com in the united states

and here's a look i did incorporating both products on a bright summer day. because i wanted to "pull" the blue tones in the grey shade, i layered mac's "siahi" fluidline as a base on the lower part of my lids. i feel it's worth noting that, skipping that step [which is a little finicky], this look can be done easily in five minutes. no fooling. i felt that the look was glamourous enough that i needed a really glamourous sidekick to pull it off...






face ::
nars sheer glow foundation "mont blanc"
lush colour supplement "jackie oates" [used as a kind of highlighter]
diorskin nude hydrating concealer "001"

eyes ::
hourglass visionaire e/s duo "prism"
mac e/s "vanilla"
mac fluidline eye liner "siahi"
mac pearlglide eye liner "black swan"
ysl faux cils mascara

cheeks ::
nars blush "new order"
mac highlight powder "honey light"
mac blush "darkly, my dear"

lips ::
hourglass l/s "raven"

and if you'd like to see something different, you can check out this beautiful look on "red lips, black hair" that features hourglass "raven" as well.