Deborah Lippmann I Know What Boys Like and Rescue Beauty Lounge Moxie

As soon as I am unable to easily describe a color, I know I have to have it. 

One such hue is Deborah Lippmann I Know What Boys Like. I want to say it's a purple-blue creme, but that is such a lackluster description compared what it actually is. All I know is I might wear it to my graduation in May because it bears a startling resemblance to my school colors. 

On the other hand (or shall we say, finger), Rescue Beauty Lounge Moxie is a pearlescent white gold that adds a touch of class to fingernails. This type of color is usually a nightmare in application because of the obvious brushstrokes that remain after drying. Moxie is among the good ones: you'll see the faintest traces of a brush after it dries, but I think that's as good as it can get with such colors.

Both polishes feature beautiful formulas. I did two coats each though I believe I Know What Boys Like could be a one-coater.

Deborah Lippmann I Know What Boys Like retails for $16 and is available at neimanmarcus.com, whereas Rescue Beauty Lounge Moxie retails for $18 and is exclusively available at rescuebeauty.com.

Estée Lauder 'Bronze Goddess Capri Pure Color' Gelée Powder EyeShadow Palette in 01 Bronze Sands

You've probably heard the buzz Estée Lauder has been getting ever since they (made the best decision of their lives and) hired Creative Makeup Director Tom Pecheux. Mr. Pecheux (or Tom, shall I call him Tom?) shook the beauty world when he introduced the Illuminating Powder Gelée in Modern Mercury last year. Was it cream? Was it powder? Do we care since it's so good? Then a few months later he debuted eyeshadows featuring the same formula. It was as if a little volcano erupted in our part of the blogosphere, with bloggers hurling praises at Tommy and Lauder and all the goodness that resides within these gelée powders.

I regret not purchasing Modern Mercury when it was still around. I think it was the season I bought five highlighters and couldn't forgive myself if I went out to get another. As for the eyeshadows, none of the colors appealed to me. The offerings in this summer's Bronze Goddess collection, however, is right up my alley, and I clicked the order button as soon as Nordstrom put the items up on their website.

Estée Lauder's 'Bronze Goddess Capri Pure Color' Gelée Powder EyeShadow Palette in 01 Bronze Sands contain five highly metallic cream-to-powder shadows in white gold, gold, copper, light grey-blue, and chocolate brown. 

These pictures are true to color, I kid you not.

Truth be told, I didn't have a good impression of this palette when I first used it. There is an extremely off-putting scent emanating from the shadows, and my stomach turns a little when I catch the smell. Granted, you can only detect it when you're mere inches away from the palette. But still.

Anyway, I was thinking about a makeup look to go with this palette when I came across Burberry's A/W 2012 beauty look on my Facebook wall. So quintessential Burberry, so radiantly pretty. 

Cara Delavigne's eyebrows!

(Can I just go off-topic to say two things: 1. Every time I see Cara Delavigne I have a huge urge to go out and buy a trench coat; 2. I have so much feelings for Christopher Bailey. The man is a coat-making wonderman and I will do just about anything to own something from the Prorsum collection.)

I based my look on Cara because... I didn't see the Liu Wen photo until I finished snapping my pictures. I have such an odd eye shape that it doesn't really matter either way, I suppose.

The Burberry beauty look featured flawless skin (can't say the same about my own, sigh), a smoked out powder cat eye with illuminated inner corners, and just a hint of blush applied a little lower on the cheeks than "usual." I patted the white gold shade on my entire eyelid, followed by a little of the copper, then swept the brown shade all over and dragged it toward the outer corners of the eyes. I applied a thick line (of powder) on the bottom of the eye and finished up with the white gold shadow at the inner corners of the eye. 

There was a lot of blending involved with this look. The shadows are supposed to look as if they naturally melted into each other. To do this I used a flat eyeshadow brush (Shu Uemura Kolinsky/Sable 10) and applied everything in circular motions. I also used my finger to slightly smudge out the edges.

You might be wondering why the colors on my eyes look so tame compared to the swatch above. It was through doing this look that I found out you needed fingers to maintain the metallic sheen of the eyeshadows (a minus for me. I don't like using fingers for application). With brushes, the colors lose their vibrancy, though it worked in this particular instance.

Cheeks: Estée Lauder Shimmering Sands (to be reviewed soon)

While the scent is truly horrendous, I still declare this palette a win. After all, you get to have both metallic and "subdued" hues just by varying your application method. The shadows are pigmented and they blend well. But if I were to be entirely truthful, a part of me just really like how vibrant it looks in the pan. 

Estée Lauder 'Bronze Goddess Capri Pure Color' Gelée Powder EyeShadow Palette in 01 Bronze Sands retails for $45 and is already available at nordstrom.com. 

Paul and Joe Blush Sticks in 001 Glamour Puss and 002 Minou

The cat head Blush Sticks from the Paul and Joe Beaute Spring 2012 collection whipped cat lovers (and you better believe there are a lot of them in the beauty blogosphere) into a major frenzy. I'm not going to lie, I purchased all of them without testing, even though the testers were right in front of me. I mean, that just defies reason!

The best part was I don't have a particular weakness for cats (eep, don't hit me). I've always had a soft spot for top hats, though, and as much as I want to be Adult and Responsible about my purchases, I'll probably always fall for a cat in a bow and top hat. I'm simple like that.

Blush Stick in 001 Glamour Puss

Blush Stick in 002 Minou

Blush Stick in 003 Catfight

L-R: Blush Stick in 003 Catfight, 002 Minou, 001 Glamour Puss

I was quite baffled by the ears, so I milled around the room for a few minutes trying to figure out how I would apply them without breaking such preciousness off. (The horror!) And then there was the question of applying it evenly, because those ears, cute as they are, just get in the way (see above swatch). It quickly became apparent that evenness doesn't matter since the whole point is to blend it out, but there's that irrational side of me that goes, "but if it doesn't apply evenly i can't blend it evenly!" which is um, false.

I did save the cat's face from certain disfiguration by using only the back of the head! (And no the ears did not break off from use.)

I used all three blush sticks in the pictures below (see caption). The difference is almost imperceptible when blended out, but I hope you can still see it! On my lips I am wearing Le Métier de Beauté Vanilla Rose lip creme topped with La Belle lip gloss.

Blush Stick in 003 Catfight

Blush Stick in 001 Glamour Puss and 002 Minou

Blush Stick in 001 Glamour Puss and 002 Minou

I applied the color directly to my face then blended it out with my fingers/foundation brush. Both methods "eat up" color, so chances are you'll have more color on your fingers/brush than what is left on the cheeks. This is a good thing (depending on your blush preferences) since all it leaves is a light, natural flush. If you've been following Messy Wands for a while now, you'll know that's how we go! That being said, pigmentation is buildable. The trick is to layer it instead of doing one big swipe from the get-go. 

The lasting power for these blushes was great, which wasn't what I expected considering how weightless and not-there they felt. It's not a blush I would recommend for beginners or people who want something that is swipe-and-go easy. There is a learning curve to the blending, since too much of it and the color would be gone. But this stick, just slightly wider than a regular lipstick, would be perfect for retouching on the go, and at this price point (and let's face it, cuteness) really can't be beat.

Paul and Joe Blush Sticks in 001 Glamour Puss and 002 Minou retail for $28 each. Last I checked, all three shades are still available at b-glowing.com.

Giorgio Armani Holiday 2011: Eyes To Kill Intense #19

This final piece rounds up my Giorgio Armani Holiday collection feature. If you're new to this blog, you can access my reviews on the gloss and palettes here and here.

The company offered three new limited edition Eyes To Kill Intense shades for Holiday. #17 is pure silver, #18 is pure gold, and #19 is a blend of both. I chose #19 because... well, if I was only going to pick one, #19 would make me feel like I had all of them. My logic is not sound, but let's carry on!

Eyes To Kill Intense #19

This will be the first of many features on ETK Intense to come. It's widely known as some of the best shadows in the industry. Don't be deceived by the pot (traditionally used to house cream/gel formulas), Eyes To Kill Intenses are highly pigmented powder shadows. The company makes some outrageous claims for this product: "twenty-four hour wear, crease proof, flake proof, waterproof, sweat-proof"; "slides on, stays on, but wipe off in an instant." Most of which are (even more outrageously) true in my experience. I couldn't test out the twenty-four hour wear claim for obvious reasons, but sixteen is enough for me!

L-R: Gloss d'Armani #604, Eyes To Kill Intense #19

Eyes To Kill Intense #19 is a mix of silver and gold. I'm inclined to describe the blended shade as "platinum gold." When applied on the skin, it produces a soft, ethereal sheen.

This is one of those shades that everyone should own because it's just so easy to use. Place it at the inner corners of the eye, use it as a base, dab it on the center of the lid to complete a look, anything! You can pair it with any color in your stash and I bet they'll go swimmingly. Worn alone like above, the shadow works to subtly brighten the eye area.

My peeve with ETK Intense shadows is that they don't seem to work as well when applied with an eye brush. The swatch and application above are done with fingers, which seems to be your best tool when it comes to using these shadows. One would think I would be glad, but I am a fan of the precision my brushes offer me. My finger applications tend to come off sloppy. I'm also not the happiest about it being in pot form, though I don't see how they could change that. Screwing and unscrewing the lid takes up more time than I prefer in the morning, where every second saved is one more better used for another task. Nevertheless, these shadows are of such high quality that I gladly bear with the inconvenience. For the record, #19 is the fifth pot in my growing collection.

Eyes To Kill Intense #19 retails for $32 and is available at giorgioarmanibeauty-usa.com. The company is offering 20 percent off and complimentary two-day shipping on purchases above $75 till November 24, so the timing couldn't be better for you to get your Armani goodies. Just enter GAHOLIDAY1 during checkout. I'm a little peeved because I just got my package from them, but one can't have too many of their glosses, or lipsticks, or shadows... oh just give me the entire inventory already.

Cle de Peau Eye Color Quad in Kyanite Swatches, Photos, Review

Aaaand I'm back! Let's just say taking a one-day trip to Boston and coming back to NYC the next day and then going straight to work isn't the breeziest walk in the park. I woke up after a nine-hour deep sleep feeling like my back didn't even touch the bed. I must be getting old.

On to my Serious Blogging Duties. The good thing about my whirlwind (ha!) trip is I thought about a whole category of items to blog about. In the next couple of months I will be doing a fair amount of traveling, so why not start rooting around the stash for suitable items to go into that teeny little makeup bag? (I use a tiny one on purpose. Obviously if given a choice I would lug my entire vanity, but that would prove to be heavier than my shoe collection.)

One of my travel makeup stalwarts is the Cle de Peau Eye Color Quad in Kyanite ($55). It is literally the only palette in my drawer with a used sponge brush, which should serve as a measure of what a serious travel buddy this is. 

Cle de Peau Kyanite

Swatched left to right

I urge myself to leave incoherent gushing and spontaneous "omg loves" to my Twitter account, but I was so so close to oozing out all my love for this palette in blubberspeak for this post. The eyeshadows in this quad are so finely milled I gasped the first time I played with it at the counter and had to restrain myself from constantly touching it when I brought it back home. 

In my look above, I used the white gold shade as an all over wash, followed by the silver shade around the inner corners. Then, I swept a little of the blue from the outer corner to about the center of my lid, and deepened my crease with the brown shade.

I hate to dump a cliche on you, but the shadows in Kyanite blend like an absolute dream. This palette is just so smooth. When applied on the eye, it loses some of the sheen you see in the arm swatch. But I prefer it this way since I use Kyanite for my job interview aka "appropriate" makeup. I'll go one step further and call them "grown up" quads. I do feel an extra boost of sophistication and posh when I put these colors on myself. 

The Cle de Peau Eye Color Quads are the only palettes I've ever considered owning the entire collection. Take a look at them here and tell me if you can resist! That picture is a true to color depiction of most of the quads in this line.

The one (and possibly only) downside to these quads are the high price point. Cle de Peau prices the quads at $55 and sells the case separately for $25, so it amounts to $80 for what seems to be very little product. I purchased Kyanite with a case because I knew from the get-go that I will be traveling with it, but I opted out of one when I got Thulite. The quad alone is housed in a sturdy plastic case that serves well enough if it only has to sit at your vanity table. While I think $25 for the case is quite outrageous, it's worth mentioning that the brush that comes in the quad is amazing. I have no qualms leaving behind my full-sized brushes when I know I have that in my bag.