Shade Parade

Another adorable video from Chanel (the first being this one). Reminds me there are a few shades I need to pick up...

Some Updates

The Kate Spade lipstick line has finally landed in stores (via umbrella? haha). If you haven’t heard, Kate Spade collaborated with Poppy King for a capsule collection of four lipstick/gloss hybrids dubbed Supercalifragilipsticks.

Picture of a spread in O Magazine, taken from katespadeny.tumblr.com

Picture taken from stylefrizz.com

From the pictures, it looks like the available colors are a classic red, a discreet nude, a tasteful pink, and a bright fuchsia. I’m curious to see how they fare, though I will probably pick up only one of them (a girl has to stop somewhere. I already have two million of these “basic” shades).

Of course, just as I was about to hit publish I happened across Karla Sugar's amazing swatches of these babies. Now I can't wait to pop by my local Kate Spade store. Pop Art Pink is calling out to me!


This is not really news, but did you know Fresh Cosmetics was founded in Boston? I totally didn’t! And here I was lamenting we didn’t have anything exciting going on (beauty-wise. Companies, some attention here please!). I tried out a sample of their Soy Face Cleanser some time ago and loved it. I also tested out one of their Sugar Tinted Lip Treatments (in newly released shade Passion, courtesy of incredible ex-boss Polly Blitzer), which made me want to go out and purchase the other existing shades at once. I have to review it soon! It's a life changer.

Now I have this unopened tub of Rose Face Mask from Fresh that’s begging to be used. In fact, I think I’ll get off this space and pamper myself for a bit. Have a good night!

Le Metier de Beaute nail lacquers in Gypsy Rose Me, Dynasty, and Silk Road

As promised, here's Gypsy Rose Me, the accompanying nail lacquer to Ken, Red My Lips from the Le Metier de Beaute Bordeaux Collection. I also thought of including the other two nail lacquers from the Silk Road Collection missing from this post. 

Top-bottom: Dynasty and Silk Road

L-R: Gypsy Rose Me, Dynasty, Silk Road

All summer (since I heard of it, at any rate) I have been waiting for Silk Road to hit the counters, and I'm glad to announce the months of pining paid off. As I thought, it resembles melted copper on fingernails. Just look at that metallic gleam!

I placed Gypsy Rose Me and Dynasty side by side so you could compare both of them. Both are berry reds with fuchsia undertones. Gypsy Rose Me is like the lighter hued sibling of Dynasty, where Dynasty boasts more of a sheen and a darker hue compared to Gypsy Rose Me. However, I personally think Gypse Rose Me is more interesting as a color - Dynasty reminds me of one of the many ubiquitous reds we see all year round.

Application and formula are of the usual great standard: smooth, easy. Gypsy Rose Me required two coats for opacity. I think I could have gotten away with one for the other two, but I'm a creature of habit, so I applied two coats of polish for all three colors in the above photographs.

Both Dynasty and Silk Road retail for $10 and are only available in the smaller bottles. Gypsy Rose Me is housed in a larger-sized one and is available as part of the Bordeaux Collection set, which retails for $49 exclusively at Neiman Marcus stores and neimanmarcus.com.

Dynasty and Silk Road were sent to Messy Wands from Le Metier de Beaute for consideration. I was not obliged to post about them, nor do I receive compensation for doing so. Gypsy Rose Me was purchased separately for this review.

Le Metier de Beaute Bordeaux Collection Red My Lips Swatches, Photos, Review

Hello again! How do you do, oh how do you do? I've missed you. Has it really only been a month since I've been gone? I tried catching up on beauty news for the past few days and honestly I don't think I'm near caught up at all. I'm just glad Holiday collections haven't appeared in stores as far as I can tell because I might as well just throw away my (virtual) pen and wave Messy Wands goodbye.

Since that's not the case, back to business!

I came back just in time to pick up an item from the Bordeaux Collection, which is a collaboration between Neiman Marcus Fashion Director Ken Downing and Le Metier de Beaute. There are three sets within the collection, each featuring a lipstick and matching nail lacquer in deep wine/berry tones. All three sets are beautiful and will set you on a direct track toward a very sexy fall, but due to personal monetary considerations, I decided to only purchase one. I picked the Red My Lips and Gypsy Rose Me combination, which appears to be the lightest hue among the three. Today's review is only of the lipstick, I will show the accompanying nail lacquer in a later post.

Red My Lips is a flattering subtle berry red. I was pleasantly surprised by it. I do believe I do not own a similar hue in my stash.

What's more, the lipstick feels incredibly comfortable on my lips. In fact, Red My Lips makes me forget I'm wearing lipstick, which is like winning the ultimate comfort test. Application is smooth and the lipstick is beyond pigmented. I was able to obtain the color above with only one swipe.

I love that I am wearing a brown sweater in the photo, because I think those two colors go together swimmingly. Without a doubt, this will be one of my fall staples (along with that sweater. Have we ever had a conversation about Boston winters?).

The Bordeaux Collection sets go for $49 each and are exclusively available at Neiman Marcus stores and neimanmarcus.com.

An Update

There really is no excuse, but here we go:

Rest assured I have not abandoned beauty blogging. I miss writing and photographing for Messy Wands and am constantly brooding (no! think of the wrinkle lines) about my absence, but I just moved in to a new place and I don't have internet and everything is still on the floor, and yes I'm sick of apologizing but it seems like I have to do it again because many things (or at least the lack of internet) is out of my control.

On to more exciting matters, after tallying up all the comments and tweets then using random.org to select a winner, I'm pleased to announce that Wendy W. is the proud owner of a new Les Tendres de Chanel in Les Roses! Wendy, thank you for replying my e-mail so quickly. I will be sure to send out your gift as soon as possible.

Here's a little taste of Niagara Falls, which I visited during my East Coast tour with my family. My sister quite masterfully captured this picture on her phone, which I'm thankful for since I lost my phone along with all the pictures I took of the trip.

Back to unpacking I go. I hope to be back soon!

I'm almost back!

It's been a long absence and I miss this space dearly. I'll be back in a week and my fingers are already itching at the thought. It's like writing my very first post all over again.

Read this yesterday and fluttered about the room. Floored that I am in such company.

Don't forget to enter my first ever (Chanel!) giveaway before the 9th! Love all of you and can't wait to speak to you again.

Les Tendres De Chanel in Les Roses Giveaway

'Twas a short sojourn home - tomorrow I'll be boarding another plane and heading back to the States, this time with my mother and sisters in tow. We'll be visiting a few places on the East Coast and they're ecstatic about the two weeks of unbridled shopping that is about to ensue. I'm just happy to be back. 

Moving on! A beauty blogger should never (completely) shun her duties, so on my way back home I flipped through the Sky Mall magazine, chancing upon a Hong Kong exclusive Chanel face palette. I swear a lightbulb flashed above my head (appropriately, since I had to hail a stewardess over) because I found my first giveaway item.

Said item is a brand new Les Tendres De Chanel in Les Roses. The packaging is the same as the four stripe bronzers from the Spring 2011 Collection but for the brush hairs, which are white instead of brown. 

The top two stripes serve as a highlighter, while the bottom two blend together into a pretty pink.

There are a few ways you can enter to win this Chanel palette.

1) Leave a comment on this article. It can be about anything - what you ate for breakfast, how much you think you might love this palette, how much you hate onions etc. Please leave your e-mail address in any part of the comment so I have a means to contact you if you win (alternatively, you can e-mail me at messywands [at] gmail [dot] com if you don't feel comfortable letting your personal email be known to public).

2) You can earn a second entry by following me on Twitter and tweeting about this giveaway. You have to include @xiaoo in your tweet and link back to this feature for it to count as an entry.

The deadline for this giveaway is September 9 at midnight. I will pick a winner at random the next day and inform her/him via e-mail. The winner will have 72 hours to respond and provide a valid shipping address. If the winner does not respond within 72 hours, the prize will be forfeited, and I will pick another winner.

This contest is open to readers from all around the world.

Good luck, and see you on the 10th!


P.S: I blogged about this some time ago, but as a reminder, I decided to have a bit of fun and join Bobbi Brown's Pretty Powerful 2.0 contest. She's choosing 51 winners (one from each state) and one of them will stand a chance to go to New York for a master class with Bobbi herself, win some goodies, and be the face of the campaign. I will be so honored if you'd like to vote for me, which you can do so here.