Daisha gets Beachy with BeautiControl

Daisha and Anaya

While on vacationing back home in southern California, I couldn't help but notice my sister-in-law Daisha's gorgeous makeup! 

 Daisha has been a die hard Beauty Control fan for about 8 months and so much so, she is also a consultant for the brand. 

After a day at the beach, she filled me in on her favorite products that give her that beachy glow!

For eyes she uses BeautiControl's Intense Mineral Shadows in Red Carpet ready with Mirage Highlighter. To sculpt her cheeks she uses the Secret Agent Tricolor Bronzer with MAC's Peach Twist and for her lips she uses BC's Plum lip liner with matching Plum lipgloss.

If you are interested in achieving Daisha's look, you can email her here.

American Apparel NEON Nail Lacquer: Neon Red - Review

"As bright as day as bright as night.." just to semi-paraphrase the Green Lantern, is how I would describe American Apparel's NEON  Nail Lacquer collection. Actually, a deadpan word to describe the colors is "Fluo" in every french sense of the work.  The shade I chose to demystify is Neon Red simply because red wasn't present at all, the color is more like an electric watermelon. While there is little to no hint of red in this lacquer, the color is rather impressive. Extremely bold and attention grabbing that the sales woman in AmAp commented on the shade when I tested in on my pinkie finger but when I got home, I reserved this color for swatches and to brighten my toes.
 

Summer 2011: NARS Wonder lipgloss

Just when you think the citrus craze has brought us "lippie addicts" all the greatest lipsticks, glosses and glazes for Summer 2011, comes NARS Cosmetics Wonder lipgloss.
This juicy shade is described as a sheer mandarin orange shade with pink and gold shimmer on NARS' website and it it true to the description.
I find that if you are intimidated by other interpretations of bold citrus lipcolors, that you will be pleasantly surprised by wonder. Its a "mirror-free" shade, meaning you don't need a mirror to apply to know that it looks good ( something I tend to do with my other prized orange spectrum lippies).

Wonder lipgloss is limited edition and is available at NARS Cosmetics.com and Sephora.com

Summer Fierceness with Leizel @ Bar 13

Who can beat a long awaited summer day, roof- top food tasting and.. did I mention they had white truffle popcorn?  Anyway, this past Thursday I was invited to " Stuff yo Mouth", Marsh's retirement Party at Bar 13 by my good friend Leizel and she  happily shared her secret to her fierce summer beauty routine.. Bonita lipstick!

Summer Fierceness @ Bar 13 with Dee and Michael Antonio

Pictured L to R: Dee at Double-D Productions  and Michael Antonio at Michael Antonio.net

On the way out from a summer soiree last night, Leizel and I spotted these beauties on our way out. Dee is wearing NARS Eyepencil topped with MAC on the lips and Michael Antonio is looking flawless in MAC!

Summer Spectacular photoshoot!

It's 4th of July weekend! And I'm kicking the blazing month of July into high gear with sharing some photos that were shot  a few weeks back by the incredible photographer Stephanie Noritz!

 What I'm wearing: Balenciaga Dress

 

What I'm wearing: Lanvin x H&M faux fur vest, American Apparel Black Tank, F21 Black Jeans and Christian Lacroix Satin heels

 What I'm wearing: Lanvin x H&M faux fur vest and American Apparel Black Tank Top.

I hope you enjoy and Happy 4th!

Gleam Supreme:Topshop Sunrise Highlighter

Topshop Sunrise Highlighter

Sunrise Highlighter swatch with no Flash

Sunrise Highlighter Swatch with Flash

As you may or may not know, highlighters and bronzers are two things I covet when it comes to cosmetics. I think it's because I was too young to appreciate the contouring of the Eighties! I guess now its time to shine!

Topshop brings a highlighter that is part of its permanent makeup line that is truely made for everyone. Sunrise Highlighter can be used as either a cheek lighter or a bronzer, I use it interchangibly as the copper tone of the baked mineral powder works as a highlighter between the apples of my cheek and my temple and for the body, it gives a warm toasty tone of my clavical and shoulders. The product looks baked and the compact fits in the palm of your hand. I know Topshop is opening new stores soon, but not soon enough! You can check this out online at Topshop.com

Oribe Supershine Moisturizing Cream

Hey There! Its officially summer and I'm ready to get busy with lots of reviews on some beloved products that can keep you looking scorching hot without feeling the wrath of the sun!
Up first for summer is my new favorite once a week leave-in conditioning cream and my favorite beauty mistake, Oribe's Supershine Moisturizing Cream!
While traveling in LA in March, I stopped by Fred Segal's  New Beauty Apothecary to browse and ended up enamored with all the ranges of products! The sales assistant there was helpful as I told her that I was traveling without any hair products to use while in town and was preparing for a night out with my friends in West Hollywood. She pointed me in the direction of Oribe and picked up the Supershine Moisture cream and said that a little goes along way. I rubbed a bit in my hands and then added to my hair and was in love with the lightly floral/fruity fragrance. She then told me that the 5 oz. bottle was $24. So, I decided to get it- as I thought that the price was pretty good. Well, this was the mistake because as the sales guy rang me up, the price was actually $49. I think my jaw dropped, had I been looking to purchase this before hand, I would have done some research on the price but as I was in the area and was looking for a great product- this was steep!
Luckily, the sales guy who was listening to our hair engagement all along told me about the misquote and rang me up for the mentioned $24. Looking back on this experience has made me think, if I run out of my cream now, I would probably buy another, price-tag or not. This cream is an excellent moisturizer and provides great shine!
Where to find: Fred Segal Beauty, C.O Bigelow.com, Bloomingdales

DIY Beauty: Lacroix's Obsession

In light of MAC's Blogger Obsessions collection launching on June 21st, I figured it was time for me to create a new beauty product, even though my confection won't be available to the masses, it should inspire you to take what you've got and make what you want with it.
 With that, I present to you, Shangri-La Multi-Glow.

Shangri-La with Flash

Shangri-La with no flash

The color, a hot mustard honey-yellow with gold and peach subtle shimmer was inspired by Shangri-La, the mythical place described in the 1933 novel Lost Horizon,  an earthly paradise isolated from the outside world. Shangri- La was also briefly conceptualized in Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow.

This multi-functional color was created with some of the following ingredients:
MAC Goldenrod Eyeshadow
YSL  Palette Fauve yellow-orange eyeshadow
MAC Fresco Cream Color Base
Smith's Rosebud Salve 

Shangri-La be used as a luminizer on the face or as a lip color. I recently used it as a lip color and love the result. Swatches to come!

Launching June 21st- MAC's Blogger's Obsessions

In April, MAC invited 9 bloggers to create their very own Lipglass and Eyeshadows for us to enjoy! Among the nine are Patrice from Afrobella.com; Wendy from Nitrolicious.com and Karen from Makeupandbeautyblog.com who contributed some lipglass shades that are already creating a buzz on other beauty and fashion blogs as well as the Twitterverse!
The launch is exclusively online for the US and Canada.
I hope I'm able to get my hands on lipglass creations!
In the meantime, I think I am due to create my own cosmetic confection...

Jewelry to kick-start your Summer Style

Eddie Borgo at JCrew- The 2011 CFDA award winning Accessories Designer launched the much anticipated JCrew collaboration. The collection brings pearls and gold studs to nude hued cuffs, necklaces and bows to perfectly enhance JCrew t-shirt, jeans and khaki aesthetic.

Pamela Love for Topshop- The 2011 CFDA nominated and purveyor of nature in jewelry has debuted a collection with Topshop that's as cool as her Talon Cuffs ( and cheaper). Pamela Love for Topshop features dream catcher inspired necklaces and earrings alongside other southwestern us inspired jewelry.

Promise Rings from MyJewelryBox- 2011 Grads, promise your friends, loved one's ,Grandmother's that you will be close to their hearts with promise rings. Whether they are for your BF, GF or your BFF you can wear them on your fingers or add some chain to rock as a necklace. Just had to add" put a ring on it".


Colorful Beaded Bracelets from Forever 21- Bring out the most in your wardrobe vibrant beaded bangles. With Colorblocking being this season's hottest trend, striking beaded jewelry can spruce up the tertiary colors for your look.

disclaimer: This is a sponsored post.

Custom Bronze! Dior Self -Tanner Natural Glow

My journey with self adjusting color cosmetics is much like the extremes of a pendulum. The products are either a(n) " Epic Fail" (like Dr. Perricone's No Foundation and L'Oreal's True Match) or "Practically Custom Fit" ( like Maybelline's Fit Me and MAC's Hyperreal Foundation). I'm happy to announce that Dior Bronze Self- Tanner is in the latter category.
Dior Bronze is a gel-cream self tanner that adjusts to your pH level to give you a natural bronze that you would otherwise get from staying out in the sun.
As a test, I rubbed about a dime-sized thin layer of the gel-cream on my inner arm to see if 1. I would have an allergic reaction and 2. to see how long it would take for the change to take effect. The result, thankfully there was no allergic reaction and it took about 20 minutes for the color to appear. The color toneage was spot- on to what would happen to me if I were exposed to the sun for about 2 hours ( minus the sunburn and skin peel). The color has lasted for about 2 days. The only down side to this product is that it doesn't have SPF, which you will need to add yourself.
As a Bronzer for the Bronzed sun worshiper, I'm excited for a new product like this because my beloved powders, sticks and liquid bronze products leave me sticky in NYC's humidity and on the beaches of California. A plus for Dior Bronze is that I can use this during the day and not have to worry about staining my clothing! and save my othe bronzers for when its cool in the evening.

The Avant Garde Wedding Veil

 So, while at my friends wedding last month, I came up with this Avant Garde Veil idea. Maybe its the Sci-fi geek in me over thinking creative future concepts, I don't know. But I had a "vision" nonetheless, what if a bride had a veil that was like a thin tulle bird cage as she walked down the isle. The "cage veil", if you will, would start at the waist and go over her head ( with her arms inside) and would stay until she got to the alter. Once at the alter, the veil can be peeled like flower petals and inverted so that the tulle can create an extra sheer layer to the lower half of the wedding gown.
I pitched the idea to friends who said, I should try this.. I did have a clear picture however, communicating this was.. challenging.. haha and my sketching is well, poor. Also, as you can tell from my sketch, I'm not a designer.

I started by thinking about how I was going to start this project and remembered back to one Easter where my family made paper mache baskets, only we replaced paper with yarn. Then the veil idea started to come together on a mini scale.
This project highlights a mini- veil from my neck to the top of my head to test and to see if a larger one would work , maybe utilizing the same materials so that it can eventually look kinda like the one in my sketch.

Dupe it: Chanel Mimosa 577

So somewhere in the cosmetic universe there is a dupe for Chanel's Mimosa? Yes there is!
But be advised, just as Mimosa is limited edition, so is its $4 dupe buddy, Maybelline's Banana Bamba.
I stumbled upon the latter at Rite Aid while perusing the isles looking for a dupe for the beloved but way since discontinued, MAC's YumYam. Though YumYam was creamier and lacked shimmer, I put Banana Bamba away n my nail drawer. Now , two nights ago while looking for a nail color change up, I grabbed Banana Bamba and placed it next to Mimosa, and the colors from the bottle looked identical. They are both shimmery yellow and it took three coats per nail for proper coverage.
Next step, I took the flash picture above since I was lacking proper sunlight and have been with our wacky sunny for 2 seconds and hovering rain cloud NYC weather.

If want to experiment with a Mimosa like color but at a cheaper price, you will be in luck with Maybelline's Banana Bamba.

Chanel Summer 2011: Soleil Tan De Chanel Bronze Corail 537 Swatches

Bronze Corail is a universal way to ring in Summer 2011!

Chanel Soleil De Tan Bronze Corail 537

Chanel's bronzer from this summer's Les Fleurs d'Ete de Chanel collection has been on my mind since I saw a sneak peak of the collection on Karlasugar. I was surprised when my store didn't yet have the Rouge Coco Shine's but had the Summer collection!

Bronze Corail features 4"horizon's" of color from the top:

Horizon 1: Taupy Shimmer

Horizon 2: Champagne Shimmer

Horizon 3: Chocolate brown Shimmer

Horizon 4: Coral Shimmer

I was so excited to see the shades that I enlisted the help of my friend V to show how flattering the blush is on a range of skintones. For reference, V is NW20ish and uses Vichy 20. We used an eyeshadow brush to apply the bronzer starting from left to right. The photos were taken with no-flash under a bright light.

Chanel's Summer 2011 Les Fleurs d'Ete debuts late April/early May.

Chanel Summer 2011: Mimosa 577 and Morning Rose 557

Just got my Chanel Summer Nail Colours from the store today. I'll have swatches up later this week as I need to test them out and I lost sunlight on my way home.
I also picked up Soleil Tan De Chanel in Bronze Corail (537)..let's just say that this bronzer has it all and is nothing short of amazing.
Behold Mimosa ( 577) and Morning Rose ( 557) Nail Vernis!
Are you ready for Summer?