From Dior To Drugstore. "All Is Pretty" -- Andy Warhol
by Makeupalley's Cavewoman

It's been one of the worst Winters on record here in Ohio. We missed a January record snowfall by one inch. When there are over 30 inches of snow covering your lawn, when you've spent hours shoveling the driveway again and again, when you sit housebound wishing for just one day out with your friends, well, that little inch didn't make much difference. It's been brutal.

Days and days on end in the depths of a Winter like this had me dreaming of pretty things. I received a note from one of my makeupalley buddies, Andrea, who showed me a photo of a Dior quint shadow that was Asia Exclusive, called Silk Satin, and of course the fact that it was not available in the US made it all that more desirable to me. Thanks to a wonderful friend in Singapore, I was able to arrange that she and I would do CP's for each other, I bought her some things she couldn't get there, and she sent me the Dior Silk Satin. Its journey was long, but it made its way to my door in perfect condition. Isn't it lovely? The center color is a beautiful pale pink-beige, and around the sides are a white frost, a cool-toned brown, a silvery taupe (does anyone do these better than Dior? Nope!) and a pretty pink shimmer. I'm in serious love. Dior quints just keep getting more and more beautiful. The colors glide on smoothly, the shimmer is subtle without being too frosty, and they last on the eye without even needing a primer. A side note to Dior, please make all of the quints available to all of your Dior customers! These country-exclusives are driving us to desperate measures! I love the new MAC 226 brush with these Diors, because the head of the brush is small enough to fit perfectly on the shadows. And a side note to MAC, please make that brush part of the permanent collection!


One of the few places I know of that sells Isadora cosmetics is cosmeticmall. I used to visit that site when they sold the Z New York brand, which was the house brand of cosmetics for the Zitomer Pharmacies. If you've never been to Zitomer, it's a New York City store that has everything from Judith Leiber handbags to cards of bobby pins. The Z New York brushes are beautiful and handmade in France, by the way. I was looking for Z items on cosmeticmall and noticed the Isadora brand there, so I ordered a few shadows. I had been using the Icy Khaki color ever since I discovered them at Walgreens, but Walgreens no longer sells Isadora. The Khaki was the most perfect taupe, and so I thought I'd try a few more colors. I bought Metallic Rose, Aubergine, and the Icy Khaki. It's good to get a buddy to go in on these with you, because cosmeticmall makes you buy two of each color you want. The texture of these dome shadows is creamy and soft, and the color is buildable. Isadora's Gleaming shadows are some of the best drugstore shadows I've ever found.

At Target, on a day when Annie and I were actually able to get out and do some errand running, I decided to cave on these Napoleon Perdis Baked Duos. The lighter of the two pictured is the English Rose, and the other is Blush. Both have beautiful shimmery pinks and the bronze sides are cool-toned with pink shimmer. The compacts are very heavy sturdy white plastic, and although these are really pretty, I don't see much stock missing from the NP shelves at Target. This line is too expensive for that store. NP used to have a line which was sold at Sephora and Saks, but it wasn't there very long, and I remember a huge table of NP at Saks' flagship store in NY, marked down to nothing and attracting no customers at all.

Almay has introduced a new natural line called Pure Blends. I have to rave about the foundation, a liquid in the white tube. This foundation is not oil-free, and it contains no sunscreen or talc. I couldn't wait to try it. For people with dry skin, this foundation gives a lovely healthy glow, doesn't sink into pores or lines, and feels so comfortable on the skin. The drugstore makeup lines don't offer too many foundations without SPF, and there are even fewer that aren't oil-free, so I was happy that this purchase turned out to be a winner. I got a perfect match in the color named Naked. The matching powder comes in a paper box, with a sifter top that has its own cap, and a little puff. Great packaging! The powder can't spill out if you accidentally drop the box, and you can just tap the box a bit to get just enough powder in the well. Choose shimmer or matte, they are both translucent. I chose the shimmer version. It's way less shimmer than Bare Escentuals and although it's not a day look for me, it did give a pretty candlelit glow to my skin.

Physicans Formula is a company that's been attracting some buzz on makeupalley. Last year's Shimmer Strips eyeshadows were a big hit, and I loved and used up a few of them. The Hazel Eyes was my favorite of the first four offerings in the Shimmer Strips for eyes. Recently, PF has brought out a new series of four Shimmer Strips called Smoky Collection. This time I chose the one for green eyes, even though my eyes are dark brown. I loved the greys and lavenders in this strip. The new offering for cheeks is called Shimmer Strips Custom Blush And Highlighter. They are a wavy palette of several shades and tones. They might appear to be similar to the Bobbi Brown Shimmerbricks, but I like the PF version even better because they don't contain glitter, and the shimmer is so much more subtle than the BB Shimmerbricks. Look for these PF Shimmer Strips blushes on special drugstore display racks and be sure to dig. There are actually four of them, but some drugstores only seem to have two shades. The one I chose is called Healthy Glow 1162, and of all four this is the one that seemed the most cool-toned. It's bright in the pan but goes on sheerly, and don't be afraid of the slight shimmer, it's not frosty on the skin at all. And it does give a pretty flush to the cheeks. Just as if I had been out all day in the cold weather.

Shoveling snow.

Lots of snow.

Credits: MUA's Cavewoman

Napoleon Dynamite: Not to Prime is a Crime

I am testing Napoleon Perdis Auto Pilot Primer. I generally stick with my silicon buddies like Face Time and Smashbox. Silicon helps anchor my foundation. It also manages to keep my blush vibrant and my shimmer intact.

The Auto Pilot primer promises to not only create a pre-makeup base but to soothe and treat the complexion. It contains free radical scavengers such as Chamomile, Yarrow, Extract and Vitamin E to help strengthen and smooth the skin's texture.

It looks and feels like a moisturizer instead of a primer. It has a light silky texture and fresh linen-like scent. It kept my foundation intact throughout the day. However, it did not stay matte for very long.

I got "the shines" and had to freshen my powder every few hours. I never have to do a touch up with Face Time or Smashbox.

I did not experience any breakouts or irritations. There was so skin drama at all!

I am not entirely sold on it. Let me know what you think in the comments.

The primer is available at Sephora for $39.

Credit: Yahoo

Disclosure: A press sample of this product was provided by a PR company