Pop! goes the lip gloss

Review by Angie W and Jessica M

The two of us recently paid a visit to Lipstick Queen headquarters in New York, where the Queen herself, Poppy King, welcomed us and gave us an update on everything happening at her company, including a preview of Lipstick Queen’s new products for fall.

The latest product, released a few weeks ago, is Fifteen Minutes of Fame Pop Art Gloss. It was inspired by the Pop Art movement of the 1960s and by artist Andy Warhol’s prediction, “In the future, everyone will be world-famous for fifteen minutes.” His words are more timely than ever, and Lipstick Queen’s Fame gloss is a stylish way to feel famous without having to embarrass yourself on a reality show, appear naked on YouTube, or give birth to octuplets.

Fame Pop Art Gloss is not, Poppy stressed, the typical sparkly-nude lip gloss that so many young women have been wearing for the past decade. It has no shimmer. It has no scent. It’s offered in a full-color wardrobe, ranging from a delicate ballet-slipper pink to a rich merlot shade, so it’s an easy way to experiment with color. Best of all, it has a smooth, non-sticky consistency.

Angie was surprised by the wearability of 11 Minutes, a vibrant, blood-red purple that is a perfect romantic fall shade. She also loved Minutes 7, 8, 9, and 13. Jessica was drawn to 12 Minutes, a dusty rose, and to 8 Minutes, a fresh, pinky-red strawberry tone.

The next product Poppy discussed was Fired Up, a brilliantly tinted gloss that wears as a soft, sheer red. It’s packaged in a tube, and the lettering on its box was inspired by “FIRE HOSE” sign in the hallway of Poppy’s office building. She recalled standing in the hall one evening, waiting for the elevator and dreading a crucial work meeting the next morning, and looking at the sign while she stood and worried. She decided to turn that feeling of “emergency” into an opportunity, and she created this product around it.

Fired Up is meant to be a lip color with the same “super-powers” that Poppy felt when she was a little girl and she tried on her mother’s lipstick. It represents women’s need to rise to challenges at work, at home, and everywhere else, particularly in the current economic downturn when they have to juggle even more demands than usual. It’s like a cosmetic secret-weapon for the 2009 version of Rosie the Riveter! Best of all, when you wear Fired Up, you’ll be bringing out your own confidence while contributing to other women’s success. All the profits from this gloss will be donated to Count Me In, an organization that supports female entrepreneurs by providing financial resources, business education, and a supportive community.

As an entrepreneur herself, Poppy is wonderfully welcoming to women who admire her work—including the two of us. She even allowed us to examine the collection of antique lipstick cases and other vintage lipstick paraphernalia that she keeps in her office. Someday, we hope, we’ll have a chance to tell you more about that!

We’ll also be back with more details about Butterfly Ball Shimmer Treatment Lipstick, a new product for October 2009. According to the press release, this moisturizing lipstick “recreates the effect of butterfly wings on the lips,” in five sheer, iridescent shades that have a hint of turquoise blue to make your teeth appear whiter. We say, sign us up!

So, to sum up, whether you’re seeking fame (and fortune), playing with fire, or just want to have a ball this autumn, Lipstick Queen is offering something new to make you feel beautiful inside and out.
Fame Pop Art Gloss is available for $16.50 at Barneys, Henri Bendel, Space NK, and the Lipstick Queen website. If you’ve had a chance to try the glosses, tell us your favorite shade! Fired Up will be available for $14 at the same locations; you can join the waiting list at http://www.lipstickqueen.com .

Credits: Warhol '15 Minutes' poster, Andy Warhol Museum, Lipstick Queen photos by Jessica M. “Lips” by Andy Warhol, c. 1959. “ Woman Aircraft Worker,” 1942, Library of Congress.

Practical Magic: Urban Decay Primer Potion

Urban Decay's Complexion Primer Potion-Pore Perfecting formula is a new player in the primer game. It was only a few years ago, that Patti struggled to find 40 primers to review for the Lenten review series on this blog. Today, each brand offers a primer product along with a vast array of formulas to meet your skin requirements.

Urban Decay is famously known for their eye primer. Beauty junkies have mixed reviews. I have seen the gushing and shouts of "holy grail" status. Despite numerous testing, this primer has always failed me. My eyelids defy it's talents and charms.

So it is something of a surprise that I lollygagged in front of an UD display at Sephora. They reeled me in with two new primer offerings in I Dream of Jeannie worthy tubes. I tested both versions on my hand. The Primer Potion in Brightening had a serious sticky factor and did not perk up on my skin. The pore perfecting formula is the beast. This is a gush. This is a rave. This is me in smitten status. I threw this in my Sephora basket and have been delighted with the results.

This is a primer that fills in pores, lines, creases and craters. It is caulking for your face.
It keeps makeup on with an iron tight fist without any dryness issues. Pore Perfecting primer is chock filled with cones and cross polymers. It mattifies fairly quickly and is whitening. Do not be put off by this. You will see instant results with the first dab of foundation. The finish and coverage is first rate. My foundation did not settle into my laugh lines.
I swear on my Lancome Erika F eyeshadow(the beauty equivalent of swearing on the bible)...my foundation looked airbrushed perfect.

The squeeze tube includes a twist-up dispenser similar to a bottle of glue. This makes application efficient and quick. It also prevents waste and the product drying up. I think the company has taken to heart all the complaining and cursing over the eye primer packaging. Smart and simple engineering just makes my vanity time more enjoyable.
This primer is currently at Sephora and retails for $30.
Worth every coin.

Disclaimer: This product was purchased at my local Sephora store.

Skipping beats, blushing cheeks....

Sephora's Blush Me! Rose No.10

The deep Persian pink shade in the middle grabbed my attention. It appeared to be in the same doll-like pink family as MAC's Pleasantry and Nars Angelika.

The pigment power is fixed on mute and there is just a kiss of shimmer. The side bars of color are a silvery misty rose with an opal heavy on the pink fire. This is more of a highlighter than a standard blush.
It retails for $15 and is available at Sephora.com

Title from Imogen Heap's Goodnight and Go


Disclaimer: This product was purchased by me at my local Sephora.

Have You Ever Thrown A Fist Full Of Glitter In The Air?

Wouldn't the world be prettier if everyone put a little glitter on their lids for one day?

quote from MAC's Gregory Alt's twitter

http://twitter.com/MAC_Gregory_A

Twittering Teese

She answered the fragrance question! Thanks LucyAnneD!

I wore Quelques Fleurs forever, but lately have been wearing Dior's Pasage #4- BUT working on something special fragrance-wise...

more beauty tidbits...

My favorite foundation is L'Oreal True Match. I use N1. It's Cher's favorite too! :)

Sadly, matte lipsticks are becoming extinct, especially in the drugstore. Everything is glossy! I like MAC Ruby Woo.

I am currently writing a beauty book, in fact. It will probably be out this time next year. It's a big project!

I collect 30s/40/50s clothing. but love 40's nail, 50's eye, & fluctuate between 30s,40s,50s hair! But 40's is my fave era.

Visit http://twitter.com/DitaVonTeese!

Lets guess what notes will be in Dita's scent! I am going with a great big tuberose.

Patti and I have been great friends since our days on makeupalley's fragrance board. We share a great love of perfumes and all things makeup.
However, we do not share the same taste in music, television shows or movies.
Patti loves the musicals.
I love Kung Fu and SciFi.
Patti adores Earth, Wind and Fire.
I am mad that Placebo cancelled their US tour dates.
Patti is slightly obsessed with Clean House.
You might say that I am a fan of the Gossip Girl series.
We are polar opposites when it comes to entertainment.

One movie that we both want to see is The September Issue. We have a complicated relationship with Vogue. It pisses us off every month...but we never cancel our subscription. We just can not give up on it.
One of the very reasons being Grace Coddington.

Pre-sale tickets are now available for the first official theatrical showing of The September Issue this Thursday, August 27, at 12am for the Chelsea 9 theater in New York.

If you go...please post in the comments.
Tell us everything!

Above is Anna Wintour on David Letterman.
Watch her face when he mentions The Devil Wears Prada.
She might not be warm and cuddly...but she does have a lovely necklace on.

Mane Event: Fekkai Shampoo Swap

Frédéric Fekkai, the brand renowned for luxury hair care products is pleased to announce their “Shampoo Swap” day, exclusively at Saks Fifth Avenue . To celebrate the launch of the new Fekkai Advanced™ hair care line, Frédéric Fekkai is inviting consumers to participating Saks Fifth Avenue stores nationwide on Thursday, September 17th to exchange any full sized shampoo they currently use for one full sized 8oz complimentary Fekkai Advanced shampoo of their choice, a $23 value, while supplies last.

The participating Saks Fifth Avenue are as follows:

NEW YORK
SOUTHAMPTON
TYSONSII (VA)
PORTLAND (OR)
PITTSBURGH (PA)
CINCINNATI (OH)
CHICAGO (IL)
CHEVY CHASE (MD)
TROY (MI)
BOSTON (MA)
ST. LOUIS (MO)
BEACHWOOD (OH)
HIGHLAND PARK ( Dallas )
RICHMOND (VA)
RALEIGH (NC)
COLUMBUS (OH)
INDIANAPOLIS (IN)
PALM BCH GARDEN (FL)
BOCA RATON (FL)
ATLANTA (GA)
MIAMI-DADE (FL)
BAL HARBOUR (FL)
BERGEN COUNTY (NJ)
PALM BEACH (FL)
STAMFORD (CT)
NAPLES (FL)
GREENWICH (CT)
SHORT HILLS (NJ)
CHARLESTON (SC)
ORLANDO (FL)
SARASOTA (FL)
FORT MYERS (FL)
TAMPA (FL)
WALT WHITMAN MALL (NY)
BIRMINGHAM ( AL )
BEVERLY HILLS (CA)
NEW ORLEANS (LA)
DENVER (CO)
TULSA (AZ)
PHOENIX (AZ)
HOUSTON (TX)
S. COAST PLAZA (CA)
LAS VEGAS (NV)
SAN FRANCISCO (CA)
DALLAS (TX)
SAN ANTONIO (TX)
SAN DIEGO (TX)
AUSTIN MAIN (TX)
SANTA BARBARA MAIN (CA)
PALM DESERT RESORT (CA)
SOUTH ORANGE COUNTY (CA)
PLANO (TX)

Gladiator Love

Diane Kruger wearing ALDO Rosenberger Gladiator Sandals at LAX.

These are the sandals that Ceil and Patti loved during our last visit to the store. They are 1000 times more fabulous in real life.

I had a moment of sheer madness in that Aldo store and purchased sky high platform heels in...electric blue suede.

Has anyone else made any mad shopping decisions lately? Let us know in the comments.

I'll Tell You In Another Life, When We Are Both Cats.

My New Obsession: Vanilla 44 by Le Labo

I purchased this for a fellow blogger at Colette in Paris. The price was around $250. I never got around to sending it to her due to being lazy and stressed over life. It is no excuse. Time flew and a year has gone past. While cleaning my stash this weekend, I finally unwrapped this fume.
I wanted to see what the fuss was all about.

This is hardcore magnificent. It is all smoke, woods with a dash of a vanilla pod. Now Smell This reports that it is called Vanille 44 because it contains 44 notes.
You have to read the Robin's beautiful review:
http://www.nstperfume.com/2008/1/28/vanilla-fragrances-from-guerlain-le-labo-indult/

I can not detect the other 41 notes. It is just a great ball of smoke and heaven. The sillage is more of a "close to the skin scent". It also lightly wafts and shimmers in the air around you. The drydown is when the vanilla takes center stage. It is thick but not really sweet. It almost smells burnt...in a good way.

Finally my sheer laziness has paid off. I love and heart this fragrance.

Coat Lemmings For Fall 2009

My first coat lemming for the season.
This is a light pewter coat from J Crew. It does not appear to have an attractive lining...so I will be passing.
I have not fed my "JCrack addiction" for two years.

It is $298 and brand spanking new on the website.

Twittering Teese

Beauty Snippets from Dita Von Teese's Twitter

my black hair dye is Garnier 100% Color in blue black. Its the most blue, and has the best staying power.

yes, I gave the black YSL gloss to my friend

L'oreal true match N1

desert island red would be MAC russian red. Or the Guerlain one with the built in mirror... Handy!

totally different color family... Lady Danger is very orange-red! But I like it sometimes.MAC Pivot was the best coral red!

Dior Rouge Bingo isn't discontinued after all, scored one today! Hooray!!

I've painted on the brightest emerald green cat eyeliner today for rehearsal. I LOVE green eyelids, and I don't know why.

Some asking me if I do my own hair&makeup... ALWAYS for all events&life&shows, but for big shoots, I can't do while in front of camera!True!

Neutrogena Ultra Sheer Dry Touch Sunblock or better still, but more $$, Shiseido's Extra Smooth sunblock lotion

I definitely don't wear only Russian Red, I'm a red lipstick junkie!!! I'm most known for whipping out fancy Guerlain tubes.

Love red lipstick with fab packaging.. YSL, Dior Rouge Bingo, Guerlain Excess de Rouge is a fave! Good to look chic touching up!

MAC blacktrack liner& russian red lip, geurlain's new mascara & also their chic liquid eyeliner. Love too many reds to list!

Can someone ask her what her favorite fragrances are? I am too shy to do it.
http://twitter.com/DitaVonTeese

MAC Make-Up Art Cosmetics: Richard Phillips

Richard Phillips makes lush, provocative, seven-foot tall oil paintings of men and women based on photographs he cuts out of magazines. Most are fashion models or female pop stars, though he also painted Leonardo DiCaprio and George Bush. Removed from their original context, cropped and pumped up with vibrant colour, he teases out the subliminal messages embedded in each image, often an equation of sex, propaganda and power.

Now 46, Mr. Phillips welcomes collaborations with fashion companies; previously he created an ad campaign for Mont Blanc. He also has adapted one painting to evening bags by Jimmy Choo, and contributed another to an episode of Gossip Girl, in which he also appeared, playing himself. He lives in New York with his fiancé, the German-born artist Josephine Meckseper, and is represented by the Larry Gagosian Gallery, with which he has had successful shows in both Los Angeles and New York.

Linda Yablonsky: Have you ever worn makeup, Richard?
Richard Phillips: Oh, sure. Absolutely. I was on the death-rock Goth scene in Boston in the early 1980s. I lived with members of a Goth band and an actual witch, so wearing eyeliner and black nail polish was really standard at that time.
Q: For your collaboration with M·A·C, you were given the colour palette of a particular line of makeup to work with. Not black.
A: It was hard to make sense of it at first.
Q: That surprises me. Aren't you used to painting women in makeup?

A: I know how to make it look as if the makeup is on flesh but I don't know how the makeup artists actually do it.
Q: So how did you figure it out?
A: I worked with Pascal Dangin, the number one photo retoucher in the fashion business. You know how the human body changes to adapt to its environment? Pascal takes evolution farther, beyond what is physically possible. He has adapted the body to meet unreasonable expectations of beauty, literally creating forms that the eye wants to see.
Q: But didn't you adapt this painting from one you made for your last show at the Gagosian Gallery?
A: When M·A·C approached me, I knew I wouldn't have time to make a new painting but I thought I could "retouch" the one I had just finished for the show. Why confine retouching to photography alone? Instead of trying to repaint my canvas with the M·A·C makeup, I thought I could ask Pascal to put the makeup on the painting by digital means.
Q: So you virtually "made up" the painting, the way a makeup artist would a living model?
A: Yes. It was quite a unique collaboration. Cosmetics create different types of appearances for a face and to have them put into a painting of a face – I don't think it's ever been done before.

A: Pascal created six different possibilities from the M·A·C palette, using so many different layers and separations of colour it made my head spin.
Q: Then how did you decide on the right "look" for the painting?
A: The first examples were shocking because they were too bright. The M·A·C colours were much more muted and subdued. So we made the lips darker and cooled down the skin tone. The eye shadow is also radically different than it is in the painting, where the head appears upside-down. Here it's sideways. We really put a lot of effort into creating something extraordinary.
Q: Did you choose this painting to work on because it's a close-up of a woman's face?
A: She's not wearing heavy makeup in the original, so she made the perfect canvas. It's called "Bondensee," the name of the lake that joins Switzerland, Austria and Germany. In my painting, it appears in the background behind the model, whose image I took from a porn magazine.
Q: It's a very arresting image, partly because it is cropped so closely, and partly because of the dark tones of the M·A·C colours you've applied to it.
A: In painting, you can create power through beauty, and when I speak of power I am speaking of creating unfulfilled desire. This image is advertising something that isn’t there – the unseen eroticism of the rest of her body. The painting is really an expression of sensuality.
Q: Funny, but the reproduction still seems more like a painting than a photograph. The eyelashes alone are incredibly detailed.
A: I know. You could put your face right up to this face and it will still look exactly as if it were painted. I was floored when I saw it. I'm still not over it.

The MAC Richard Phillips Collection features:

Lipsticks
Front Lit
High Strung
Lovin' It(pictured)

Hold the Pose
and Full Body

Lipglass

Young Thing
Personal Taste
New Spirit and On Display

The In the Gallery 4 pan eyeshadow palette(pictured above) features the shades Lightfall, Look at the Eyes, In the Gallery and Private Viewing.

Plush Lash in Plushblack

Powder Blush in The Perfect Cheek and Notable.

Credits: Richard Phillips Nuclear via artnet,Untitled via all-art.org and MAC

MAC's Make-Up Art Cosmetics: Maira Kalman

Well-known as the creator of numerous covers and drawings for The New Yorker magazine, Maira Kalman is the author and illustrator of a dozen books for children and the designer of accessories such as watches and umbrellas for M. & Co., fabrics for Isaac Mizrahi, and sets for ballets by choreographer Mark Morris. With composer Nico Muhly, she recently turned her illustrated edition of Strunk & White's Elements of Style, the standard writer's guide to English language usage, into a mini-opera that she has also performed with an ensemble of musicians playing such "instruments" as teacups, slinkys and typewriters. Currently she is following up "The Principles of Uncertainty," her 2006-07 visual diary for The New York Times web site, with an illustrated monthly blog, "And the Pursuit of Happiness." Ms. Kalman regularly exhibits her drawings at the Julie Saul Gaul in New York.

Linda Yablonsky: You are a very prolific artist, Maira. Where do you get your energy?
Maira Kalman: As I once told an audience at the New York Public Library, my biggest motivator is fear of boredom.
Q: Fat chance of that! How did you arrive at this portrait, Young Woman at Yellow Table, for the new M·A·C collection?
A: I started with about ten sketches, using the eye pencils and lipsticks.
Q: You actually used the makeup as paint?
A: Ultimately I painted in gouache, as usual, but I wanted to try this one using the M·A·C makeup first, so I started sketching with the pencils.
Q: Because of the colours?
A: Just as an exercise in sketching. It was fun. And appropriate! But I also liked the blue-black-red palette, and that the colours were vivid but not garish. Then I added a few colours that I liked. Out of instinct. Thinking too much about a picture can be the death of it. Allowing beauty to take over is what this is about.

Q: The new M·A·C colours are brighter than those normally found in fall fashions. How did they affect you in the studio?
A: This whole project evoked a certain feeling for me – playful, pensive, elfin, and feminine.
Q: Who was the model for the portrait?
A: It was someone I had just met and photographed in my kitchen.
Q: Someone you had just met…you mean she was a stranger?
A: She came to interview me for a newspaper article and when she sat at my yellow kitchen table, I wanted to photograph her. I just liked the way she looked, like a smart pixie. That made her seem appropriate for this project. I often take pictures of people as they come into my life. Someone delivers something and the next thing I know I'm photographing them. I also take a lot of photographs as I walk around the city. I'm a walker, and I'm constantly photographing broken chairs…
Q: Broken chairs? Not people?
A: I photograph a million people. But I like broken things left on the sidewalk. I don't know why. I find them very moving. Today I brought home a ladder. It's not broken but it is rickety, a relic from another time. It's beautiful.
Q: What does beauty represent for you?
A: For me, beauty has to have a sense of heartbreak but also be heroic. That's really why I like the broken chair: it's broken but also heroic because it is still a chair. The same goes for people who appear in the world with a certain amount of courage.
Q: Do you pay attention to what people wear or just their faces?
A: I like looking at everything from high fashion to shoes with holes in them. I'm least interested in people who think of themselves as fashionable, unless they exhibit some kind of eccentricity that interests me.
Q: You must have quite an archive of pictures by now.
A: I have a huge reference library: men with plaid jackets and brown shoes; women with umbrellas. I have walls full of photographs and files full of them, and I use them constantly. They capture lots of things I don't expect. Yesterday, for instance, I walked by a man with a black turban and white scarf. A second later I passed a man with a white hat and red scarf.
Q: You don't appear to wear makeup.
A: I'm scared of makeup. I do try to wear lip gloss. As a friend said, at least it shows you care.

Swatches of Crest the Wave

Swatches of Maira's Magic

Swatches of Violet Trance

Swatches of Technakohl Liner in Artistic License and Obviously Orange


The Maira Kalman collection

Eye Shadows in Crest the Wave, Off the Page, Maira's Magic, Haunting, Purple Shower and Violet Trance.

Technakohl Liners in Color Matters, Obviously Orange, Artistic License, Full of Fuchsia and Graphblack

Credits: MAC and Blogdorf Goodman

MAC Make-Up Art Cosmetics: Marilyn Minter

Linda Yablonsky: What attracted you to M·A·C’s Make-Up Art Cosmetics collection?
Marilyn Minter: The glamour industry is the central source for my art. I feed off it like a parasite! They need my eye; I need everything else from them.
Q: Especially the glitter eye shadow! Or was it the lipstick?
A: I did ask for lipstick but mostly to complement the eye makeup for the photograph. But I do wear blush and lipstick ninety percent of the time.
Q: You're primarily a painter who works from photographs. Did you paint your model's makeup for the M·A·C shoot too?
A: I work with a professional makeup artist named Rosina Harris and she applied the makeup perfectly.
Then I went in and messed it up – sprayed it with water and glycerin. I don't like to retouch or clean up freckles or sweat. I like things to be gritty. Retouched models don't look human. Every place I work commercially they airbrush everything. M·A·C doesn't do that. That's why I like M·A·C.
Q: You had the whole range of glitter pigments for fall. How did you decide on this particular pink
for your photo?
A: We played around to see what would work. We also tried different colours on each eye.
Q: You equate freckles with beauty?
A: Oh, yeah. I even think pimples are beautiful. I don't see them as disgusting. They're human.
Q: What did you mean when you said you went in and messed things up?
A: I exaggerate the look a bit. If the makeup artist puts on a lot of mascara, I add a bit more. I recently shot Julianne Moore, who has freckles that have faded or are always airbrushed out. I penciled them in more. If someone has a bit of mustache, I like to show it. I like to show things starting to fall apart.
Q: Your photograph for M·A·C is an extremely close close-up image of the model's eye. Did you shoot it that way or crop the photo?
A: I never crop. I shoot everything very close with a macro lens, and never use the whole of anything.
Q: How close can you get?
A: I shoot a foot or two away from the model's face, which means that when I look through the lens I get right into the pores. Close-ups are my specialty. They're what I love. When you get that close, you lose all the outside information. You can just look.

Q: What do you think glamour is?
A: It's relative. A fantasy of what everyone believes someone else is having but no one is really living. Makeup does start running, the heel of your shoe can really break, and your hem can come undone. You really only get a few hours when everything falls perfectly into place. The Duchess of Windsor had the soles of her shoes polished. That's obsessive. It's not real. Life is messy!
Q: Yet your photos are so glamorous.
A: It's the universal eye – a little messed up.
Q: Your paintings are based on digital combinations of your photographs, which you paint in enamel on aluminum, blending it with your fingers – the way a makeup artist does on a face.
A: It's the only way to do it.

The Marilyn Minter collection is all about sparkle and dazzle.

The collection features Reflects Glitter products in Reflects Copper and Reflects Rust
Glitter in Gold and Fuchsia
Pigments in Cocomotion, Brash & Gold, Heritage Rouge and Push the Edge.

Credit: MAC

A Little Kiss Each Morning

Sephora's Round A Kiss Lip Palette: A Review

I bought this palette because I thought the Easter grass shade was a lip gloss. Why would I ever want a mint green lip gloss?
There are a myriad reasons.

1. I do not own any green lipstick or glosses.
2. I theorized that the green gloss would look quite smashing with fuchsia lippies.
3. I was bored.
4. I was just looking for my next beauty fix.
5. I had just purchased blue suede platform shoes that I could not walk in. I was feeling that crazy high from making unwise shopping decisions.
6. Sometimes it is too hard to leave a Sephora store without buying something.
7. Blogger research.

I never bothered to look at the back of the palette.
The green shade is not a gloss at all. It is an exfoliating treatment. I can not say I am too disappointed about my dashed lippie plans. This is a mild and gentle exfoliating formula. The rice grain particles are as rough as a cotton ball. The taste and smell is a strong peppermint. This kryptonite lippie managed to smooth my lips with no gunk or grit. Results were immediate and the no mess was a welcome change.

The milky white shade is a hydrating balm. It was ultra-rich with essential oils. This felt very high end.

Like La Mer?
No.
Philosophy?
Yes.

The pink shades were pigment weak but added a nice dash of sheer rose to the lips. I thought the blue based fuchsia was going to win my heart but instead it was the baby pink. It was blue based milky shade. In the pan it looks "run of the mill". On the lips it was quite pretty and feminine.

This was a high performing and cost effective beauty purchase with no guilt involved. It can be found at your local Sephora for $8. It was originally $15.
http://www.sephora.com/browse/product.jhtml?id=P206810&categoryId=C17366&shouldPaginate=true

Kings of Primping

Boys Need Compacts Too!

Caleb Followill, from Kings of Leon, takes a beauty moment before performing on the Today show.

Can anyone identify the compact? Is it L'Oreal?

Photo Credit: http://happyalone.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=band

Mother Chucker

I have started a silent Gossip Girl countdown in my head. The third season begins September 14th at 9pm.

This is a sneak peak from the Elle Korea shoot. Notice the black lips on Miss Meester. I am guessing they are the result of YSL 's Pur Black gloss. It is shiny like patent leather. But the pigment is not that powerful.
Could it be the new MAC black collection? I.Can.Not.Wait.For.That.Collection.

Anyone have any guesses or inside scoop? Post in the comments.

Photo Credit: http://www.blairandchuck.com/
and Elle Korea

Good Hair Trailer

Chris Rock has created a film centered on the black hair business.
For people not in the know...this is a 9 billion(yes...I did write billon) dollar business. I have many friends who invest serious coin in relaxers and weaves. I hear the term "good hair" tossed around a lot. This film serves a very important message underneath all the laughter. Mr Rock has created a wonderful gift to his daughter and to other young girls. This is just awesome.
If this film comes to your town...go see it!

Credit: Youtube

Inglorious Basterds: The Makeup

Most friends have no clue that I have a true weakness for Tarantino movies. The Kill Bill series is very close to my heart.

Here is an interview with Heba, the MA responsible for the beauty looks in Inglorious Basterds. The first peeks are stunning. Very Garboesque!

Inspired by the Dirty Dozen movies, Quentin Tarantino's latest features a Jewish girl whose family has perished in the Holocaust. She finds sanctuary in a Parisian cinema run by a kindly Frenchwoman. At the same time a group of Jewish-American soldiers - "The Basterds" - are terrorizing the Nazis behind enemy lines. When a German war hero seeks to screen a propaganda film at the cinema it offers the perfect chance for vengeance....

Kanebo’s SENSAI Advisor had a chance to catch up to the busy Heba Thorisdottir, the Department Head for Inglourious Basterds as she was catching up after working on the film’s LA premiere this week. Heba has worked with innumerable film actors, directors, musicians and stars during her career. Most recently her work has included, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, He’s Just Not That Into You, The Spirit, The Other Boylen Girl and The Nannie Diaries. She is often Scarlett Johansson’s personal makeup artist on her films as well.

SENSAI Advisor: Tell us about your experience on Inglorious Basterds—it looks like it is going to be another unique Quentin Tarantino film!

Heba Thorisdottir: I’ve worked with Quentin previously on Kill Bill (Volume 1 and 2), with Quentin I don’t prep a lot—I just know to be prepared for anything! We shot for four months mostly in Babelsberg Studios just outside of Berlin—then we were a week in the countryside which was beautiful! There were some locations in Berlin as well and we shot a couple days in Paris. Quentin creates a family like atmosphere and on the last shooting day of the week he picks a bar we all go to wind down. That way, we get to know each other on a social level as well as professional. Quentin knows everyone who works on his sets. And I mean everyone and what they do! If he needs anything, he'll go to the right person and ask for it and doesn't have to be asking someone else to go and get something. I love working on his films and can not wait to be working with him again.

I got the script over the Fourth of July weekend last year. I went to Germany mid September, a month before shooting began to do makeup tests. I met all the actors and had to decide if the actors were wearing any facial hair and they got haircuts and got fitted for their costumes. Inglourious Basterds is a WWII film and we have to follow that period as closely as possible. Quentin uses KNB Creations on special effects makeup on all the true life figures such as Hitler, Goebbels and Churchill; anything gory that involved more than throwing blood and dirt on---they took care of that.

SENSAI Advisor: You worked with a large cast, how did that work?

Heba Thorisdottir: Aside from the main Basterds, a couple of females and a Nazi we had 300 extras for three weeks. On a regular day, I had a key makeup artist from Germany, Pamela Grujic with me. Additionally we had a makeup and hair artist that ran the crowd. Meaning, for a couple of months before shooting began with them, she had to go to wardrobe fittings and pre-set the look for hair and makeup. They had to have the same look for the entire time they were shooting so after they get their wardrobe, they have their hair and makeup done, then they have their picture taken and the makeup/hair girls make a little bag with the products they use, put in a copy of the photos of hair and makeup and at the end of the day, Emanuel Millar, department head hair and I, would look over the photos and make sure it was all in the right period and there was a balance of red lips, hair up and down etc. The Germans are very organized and made my life easier!

SENSAI Advisor: There are two strong female characters in the film, tell us about their looks.




Heba Thorisdottir: A French actress, Melanie Laurent plays the part of Shosanna Dreyfus. She’s Jewish but is undercover as a French citizen. She doesn't want to draw attention to herself so she doesn't wear makeup on daily basis and downplayed her beauty. She's a beautiful girl so I just kept her skin clean and glowing with SENSAI foundations with Brightening cream underneath. Taupe eye shadow and a cream blush in Peach tone and Total Lip Treatment on her lips and she was ready to go. For the end scene however, we got to go all out! She actually puts on her makeup on camera! It was a very specific scene and Quentin knew exactly what he wanted in the scene so we didn't exactly follow the period. Quentin wanted a cream blush but a lot softer consistency than are on the market so I actually had to sit down and make it! The color had to be very specific as well so, I dragged Quentin in the makeup trailer and sat him down and we had a lot of fun with making the color just perfect!

Diane Kruger’s character Bridget von Hammersmark is the opposite of Shosanna. She's a very glamorous German movie star who loves attention. Her character wouldn't go out without makeup and those red lips! We had a couple of different looks for her as well. Day to day look and a "premier" look. There isn't much room to change the 40's makeup so I had to create a look that was a little bit more settle to have a contrast for the premier look. Bridget still wore the eyeliner and the red lips but I used browns and taupe and Kanebo's SENSAI 38 Degree's Mascara, the volumizing edition. The staying power is amazing. It is one of my favorite tools, and one the actresses always request. I used a cream blush in light beige color on her cheeks from MAC. For the premier look, I used black liquid eyeliner from MAC as well and deeper browns shadows on her eyes from Jemma Kidd and an extra layer of mascara. For concealers I used SENSAI Concealer in #1 light for Diane to keep her look fine and porcelain like. I also used the concealer in medium and dark (#2 and #3) on the men for a natural look.




SENSAI Advisor: You worked for several months with these actresses, how did you combine skincare with cosmetics every day?

Heba Thorisdottir: Well, for instance I did work a lot with the SENSAI line. Daily, I would start and end the day with cleansing the skin with SENSAI. After cleansing I would use a moisturizer and eye cream from SENSAI as well. I would combine the SENSAI SILK Brightening Cream followed by the SENSAI Smoothing Water Make-up Base before foundation. The brightening "wakes up" the skin and makes it glow through the foundation and gives the face "life" and the Water Base is a great prep/primer for the SENSAI foundations. I even used the Brightening Cream on the guys—give it a little bit of brightness to stand out a little bit behind all the dirt and blood. For concealers I used SENSAI Concealer in #1 light for Diane to keep her look fine and porcelain like. I also used the concealer in medium and dark (#2 and #3) on the men for a natural look.


I still get excited when one of the movies I worked on comes out in theaters. Going to Cannes in May was amazing! I always wanted to see one of the films I worked on at The Palais and this was the right one to see there for sure. The French respect the directors and Quentin got an 11 minute standing ovation even though he didn't walk away with The Palm this time.

SENSAI Advisor: Thank you Heba!
Heba Thorisdottir: My pleasure!

Credits: Sensai and Vanity Fair

The Tale of The Black Forest

Bobbi Brown's Forest Shimmer Ink Long-Wear Gel Eyeliner

This is a deep forest, slightly sooty green with gold pearl action. It is in the same family as MAC's Greensmoke eyeshadow. The depth of the color is astounding. It is gothic dark and mysterious. Bobbi Brown's gel eyeliners are whipped smooth but are tough as nails. It will not budge on the lid.
It retails for $21 and is available at your local Bobbi Brown counter.

Visit http://www.bobbibrown.com/ for more information.

Swatch Picture: From top to bottom-MAC's Greensmoke(wet), MAC's Greensmoke(dry) and Bobbi Brown's Forest Shimmer Ink Gel Eyeliner

Disclaimer: A press sample of this product was provided by Bobbi Brown

Kiss Them For Me

Philosophy's Irresistible Kiss Me Collection

Kiss Me SPF20 lip balm in red wakes your lips up with a dash of some type of peppermint goodness. Just a quick moment of tingling. It tastes like gum and looks like your lips have been recently kissed. It is a "just flushed" shade. Do not let the darkness in the tube deter you. This lippie retails for $14.

Kiss Me Tonight is an intense lip therapy that soothes dry lips while you sleep. It is creamy soft and tastes like a cupcake. It only takes a tiny dollup of product to cover the lips. The formula is highly moisturizing and leaves no tacky mess on the lips or your pillow case. This retails for $20.



Visit http://www.philosophy.com/ for more details.



Title from Siouxsie & Banshees
Disclaimer: A press sample of this product was provided by Philosophy

Forget it, Jessica; It's Chinatown

China Girl: A review of Chinatown Glossy Pencils from Lipstick Queen
By Jessica M

Earlier this summer, Lipstick Queen released its “Chinatown” collection of glosses in pencil form. In creating these pencils, Poppy King (the Queen herself) had two main inspirations. One was New York’s Chinatown, and all the unexpected items sold by its gift shops and sidewalk vendors. Another was the movie “Chinatown,” directed by Roman Polanski. The five shades are named for different elements of film noir: Mystery, Thriller, Crime, Genre, and Chase.

These pencils are thick but sleek; they look like black lacquer, and they’re labeled “LIPSTICK QUEEN” in English and Chinese. Each shade has a different illustration on its box, and a special sharpener is included. I actually didn’t rush right out to sample the Chinatown glosses, because I’ve had bad experiences with other lip crayons that looked, and felt, harsh on my mouth. However, the last time I visited Henri Bendel, a nice makeup artist named Andrew persuaded me to give them a try. I sat down in the makeup chair and closed my eyes for a second when he was about to apply one of the pencils. I had to open them again because I was surprised: the Chinatown pencils have a completely smooth application, with no drag, no waxiness, and no splintery scraping.


I liked several of the colors, which look very bright in the pencil but apply as more wearable fruit-punch shades. I ended up choosing Chase, described as a “sheer lush watermelon” on the Lipstick Queen website. I’m pale, and I tend to wear a lot of black (even in summer), but this shade gives my face a quick, flattering “lift.” For daytime wear and a sheer, fresh look, I’ve been dabbing Chase onto my mouth over lip balm and spreading it around with a fingertip. For more intense color in the evenings, I apply it directly and more firmly. Either way, it looks dewy but not shiny-wet. And the pencil is modern, a bit glamorous, and definitely fun to use.


Polanski’s movie closes with violence and disillusionment, and with the famous line, “Forget it, Jake; it’s Chinatown.” Chinatown Glossy Pencils, on the other hand, are another story, and one with a much happier ending.

Lipstick Queen’s Chinatown Glossy Pencil sells for $20. To purchase, or for more information, go to http://www.lipstickqueen.com.

Lipstick photos by Jessica M.
Film still of Faye Dunaway in Roman Polanski’s “Chinatown,” 1974.

No Headbands

Sneak peeks into Gossip Girl are hitting the web.
This is just delightful and brings me much joy.

and

Credits: youtube via blairandchuck.com

Smells like Big Pimpin

"Oh, Jay-Z, my new best friend...He was so charming and delightful, and he smelled so good...And it's that kind of thing where you hug a guy, and the scent is sort of buried in them. When we went to the second location, I could still smell him on me. It was like, 'Oh, this is wonderful." (Quote from Oprah)

Anyone know what fragrance Mr Carter wears? Spill in the comments.

Source: http://www.theboombox.com/2009/08/10/say-what-oprah-calls-jay-z-her-new-best-friend-more/

Never Invest In Any Idea You Can't Illustrate With A Crayon

Bobbi Brown Lip Crayon from Fall 2009

This chubby pencil combines the lux feeling of a high end lipstick with the ease of a pencil. The creamy texture is slightly startling. It feels too moisturizing and cashmere-like to be a pencil. Each husky pencil comes with a handy sharpener and retails for $22. The shades are honeysuckle, coral pink, raisin berry, posey, dusty nude and wild rose. The only drawback is the taste. My BB chubs never had a taste or scent before. I can not pinpoint what I am tasting. Is it mint? Let me know in the comments.

Pictured above is Dusty Nude
Quote from Peter Lynch
Visit http://www.bobbibrown.com/ for more information

Disclaimer: A press sample of this product was provided by Bobbi Brown