OPI's The Muppets Collection- Divine Swine Swatches

OPI Divine Swine

I can't believe I haven't blogged in almost a month! Time flies while you are in school and readying for the dreaded MIDTERMS! it's now the conclusion of my 7th week so its time to test my knowledge.

Divine Swine- 3 coats

All while preparing for my exams, I was able to sneak away and wander into Ricky's to stock up on my lovely Lavender Dr. Bronner's Soap but something caught my eye at the counter!

The OPI Muppets Holiday Collection was available! Each polish is priced at $9.99.
I grabbed Divine Swine, a glittery metallic Magenta with touches of silver in it, then later swatched it in the evening. Application was splotchy, as glitters, metallics and shimmers go, you have to put on 3-4 coats for even coverage, which did the trick. The most painful part of this polish was the fact that it was a glitter, metallic concoction which was a pain to take the polish off. I spent 20 minutes taking this polish off my nails just due to the glitter not wanting to come off. I tried two types of removers, the first being the pre-moistened nail remover pads, the second, bottles nail polish remover with a cotton pad. I twisted my fingers, I pulled my fingers I tried just soaking my fingers in both the pm pad and cotton pad and the stuff wouldn't budge!! Only after I had to saturate the cotton and twist it around my fingers vigorously did the glitter start to come off.
With that said, I don't know if I will wear this color again, or maybe I will reserve it for my toes and just replace my polish when it starts to wear down.

Advanced Style at the Ace Hotel NYC with Tavi and Ari Seth Cohen

During NY Fashion week, I got a chance to attend Advanced Style's Fashion Week party at the Ace Hotel. The night was hosted by Tavi Gevinson of Fashion Rookie and Ari Seth Cohen and was a tribute to the sophisticated generation of women who can put a lot f current fashion celebrities to shame. The night started with a tootsie roll candy flavored cocktail, moved onto sweet cabaret serenades  and ended with style advice from the Idiosyncratic Fashionistas!

Sunday Laduree and Beauty time!

Ladureé NYC

Mmm Macarons!

After studying accounting and econ in the library for 4 plus hours, I made my way to the newly opened Laudrée for some Macarons! Lauduree just opened here in the city about two weeks ago and along with the opening came the line of devote Macaron lovers!  Prior to this experience, my only brush with Laudreé was their Brioche and Glazed Chestnut candles that I picked up at Opening Ceremony earlier this year.
Luckly, the line wasn't so bad, I stood for a good 15 minutes before heading inside and picking up a small gift box of Macarons. These babies are a definite treat but something I won't be having regularly.
But since its Sunday and I've finished my homework, I'm ready to enjoy some Macarons, watch the new season of SNL, put in a hair mask and lacquer up my nails.
Its been about 3 weeks since I have done my nails and am in between choosing something fall-ish or something fun. Aww, we'll see.
How are you enjoying your Sunday afternoon?

Chanel Perfection Lumiere Review and Swatches

Chanel Perfection Lumiere Swatches Ambre 104,134 and 154 on hand

Thanks to Karlasugar.net, I first heard of Chanel's new Perfection Lumiere Foundation. I stopped into Saks Fifth Ave and Simone helped me explore the new line.

Chanel Perfection Lumiere Ambre 104, 134 and 154 Swatches

 Perfection Lumiere is described as a naturally looking, everyday long wear foundation suitable for all skin types and the first foundation by Chanel to have a range of 20 shades.
Out of the 20, there are about 5 shades that are great for women of color that are in the Ambre category: Ambre 94, 104, 114, 134 and 154. The numerical value of these shades are no indication of the shade depth in this range. For instance, as seen in the photo at the top, Ambre 104 fits me well but when I tried Ambre 114 it was about 2 shades lighter (more yellow) on my skin.
I found that Ambre 134 had a red undertone and Ambre 154 had a brown neutral undertone and my shade match, Ambre 104 has an orange undertone.
After testing the swatches on my face ( I actually walked around the whole evening with them on) I didn't get the sense that I was wearing anything on. Usually after 2-3 hours, I can feel the effects of coverage as my skin gets oily but I didn't have a problem here, so far. I will need to test it when I go a full day and with more coverage.
Overall I'm impressed so far, its tough because summer is winding down and typically Fall is when my skin calms down where as Summer was not a great moment for wearing foundation at all but I'd be curious to see if Perfection Lumiere can stand the NYC heat and humidity.
I hope that the shade range is just a taste of whats to come for Chanel Beauty in relation to its facial cosmetic line.

Recap Fashion's Night Out 2011: Chanel Betsey Johnson, DVF, Oak and The Ace Hotel!

Mercedes Benz NY Fashion Week Spring 2012

 Its been a wild almost 3 weeks, I'm currently enduring a massive life change. I started my MBA program at a great university here in NYC! Yay! and have been tending to the needs of Financial Management and Econ classes ( among other courses I'm taking this semester). Unfortunately, I'm waaay behind on blogging as I'm still getting acclimated to classes, study time and navigating my career path.

Dancing Models at Betsey Johnson

Ok, onward to Fashion's Night Out here in NYC! My Thursday morning started off with attending the Porter Grey show at Lincoln Center and then I went down to the Film Forum with the BF to check out Gainsbourg, the film about Serge Gainsbourg. It was great, surreal, musical, completely french. I loved Laetitia Casta as Brigitte Bardot. I thought she looked perfect for the role. Post film, it was getting ready to meet the girls so that we can navigate the streets of NYC for the biggest non-shopping party ever ( bear with me, I will explain soon).

Party at Betsey Johnson

My first stop was Chanel Soho, last year was the grand opening of the store and it was PACKED. The line for free manicures was down the block! and Steel and Strong sold out within minutes. Since I'm familiar with the staff at the store, they assure that they had enough of the Les Denim collection in for all who wanted it. I stood in line and got my manicure and was out by 6:15pm.
Next up was Betsey Johnson where I met up with friends, they were out of champagne but I did snag a Yoplait and walked across the street to DVF for champagne. In the midst of pagning, I ran into Diane Von Furstenberg herself!! She was spritzing customers with her new fragrance Diane and chatting us up about the notes and tying ribbons on our wrists.

DVF part deux

Cheeky Burt Reynolds Shirt at OAK

Money Wall at OAK

After our DVF experience, we headed to OAK for the Disco Party and the walls of 3,000 $1 bills that  were supposed to be for "Redecorating" that ended up in the hands of OAK Party goers!

At this point, my phone was out of battery! But we capped off the night with Belvedere Vodka sno-cones from the Opening Ceremony/ Ace Hotel Carnival where Manilla Luzon ( runner-up of Ru Paul's Drag Race season 3) was partying along side Ms. Piggy, who we missed because we were waiting in line.

If Fashion's Night Out is to generate buzz and have people shopping, I'm afraid it failed. Why? because its nearly impossible to shop while there are hairdressers, food, drinks and dance parties happening in the store. I didn't encounter a sales person who sold me anything other than my pre-ordered Chanel polishes. Even Opening Ceremony didn't show what their exclusive collaborations were going to be, you found out when you showed up and if it was too expensive, you passed on it. Had I had a heads-up, I would have been prepared to buy.