Wednesday, May 1, 2013

Estee Lauder Hot Fuse and Pure Rose Pure Color Sheer Rush Lipgloss Review, Photos, Swatches!

Estee Lauder Pure Color Sheer Rush Lipgloss

Estee Lauder Pure Color Sheer Rush Lipgloss

The new Spring 2013 Estee Lauder Cello Shots Pure Color Collection is all about playful and bright colors delivered in sheer, lightweight formulas that will keep the skin fresh and glowing all day. Tom Pecheux, the Creative Makeup Director at Estee Lauder says, "This season, I’ve been working a lot with what I call “acqua color”. It’s a gentle, watery look with just a touch of bright, vibrant color."

Estee Lauder Pure Color Sheer Rush Lipgloss ($24) is described as a "cellophane-sheer" gloss that brings a super-sheer rush of vibrant color to the lips with a high shine finish. It's moisturizing and long lasting.

Available in (6) limited edition shades: Pink Patent, X-Pose Rose, Plexi Pink, Hot Fuse, Techno Jam and Poppy Shock.

The two colors I'll be talking about are Hot Fuse, which is a bright cherry red and Pure Rose, a vibrant grape.

Some companies tend to "embellish" the product claims to make their product sound wonderful, but refreshingly, I found the description to be dead-on.

These glosses are super-sheer and tint the lips with vibrant, transparent color. The finish is very glossy, so it almost gives a watery, juicy look to the lips. It almost looks like a very mild stain with a clear gloss on top.

The formula is amazing. It doesn't settle in my lip lines or accentuate dryness and it even makes my lips appear slightly fuller. It's very silky and feels wonderful on. It has a glossy, balm-lip texture on the lips, so when I'm wearing it, I often rub my lips together to be reminded of the softness. No lip balm is necessary, just this lipgloss and I'm good to go.

Estee Lauder Pure Color Sheer Rush Lipgloss

Estee Lauder Pure Color Sheer Rush Lipgloss
(I accidentally labeled Pure Rose as Techno Jam)

Thursday, April 25, 2013

MAC Angel Lipstick Review, Photos, Swatches!

MAC Angel Lipstick

MAC Angel Lipstick

MAC Angel Lipstick ($15) is a soft pink. It's a frost finish by MAC, but I don't find it to be noticeable (at all, really) frosty. It does has a bit of a light pearl to it which makes the color shine and glisten on the lips. The coverage is sheer upon the first swipe, but it's very buildable to opaque coverage. I find it to be a very wearable every day baby pink, which is probably why it's one of MAC's best selling lipsticks.

In comparison to other popular MAC pink lipsticks - Angel is very similar to MAC Creme Cup in color and depth, but Angel is a touch cooler. It's almost difficult to tell them apart in different lightings, but I tell on me that Angel leans slightly more lilac and is a touch brighter/lighter. MAC Hue is a couple of shades lighter and is a bit warmer. MAC Lovelorn is deeper and pinker.

To be truthfully honest, it's not super flattering on my tan skintone, but when I top it off with a brighter lipgloss, it looks really pretty. It will of course vary on your personal taste and coloring. I think it looks lovely on light to light-medium skintones, but if you like nude pinks in general, Angel is a great choice.

MAC Pink Lipstick Swatches
Swatches from left to right: MAC Angel, Creme Cup, Lovelorn and Hue.

Wearing MAC Angel Lipstick

MAC Angel Lipstick Swatch
MAC Angel Lipstick on my lips

Tuesday, April 23, 2013

NARS Radiant Creamy Concealer Review, Photos, Swatches!

NARS Radiant Creamy Concealer

NARS Radiant Creamy Concealer

This past February, Nars added a new concealer to their permanent line. It's about time, right? Nars is such a fabulous brand, and it was only a matter of time before they'd launch a liquid concealer, as the brand prior had only a stick/cream concealer, which frankly isn't that popular.

NARS Radiant Creamy Concealer ($28) is a lightweight creamy liquid concealer with a medium (buildable to full) coverage and a luminous finish. It is creaseproof and long-wearing. It doesn't contain parabens, alcohol, synthetic fragrances, etc.

NARS Radiant Creamy Concealer is available in (10) shades: Chantilly (True ivory for fairest skin), Vanilla (Slight pink for for fair skin), Honey (warm peach for light-med skin), Custard (yellow tone for light-med skin), Ginger (golden tone for med skin), Biscuit (neutral med-dark skin), Caramel (golden yellow for med-dark skin), Amdande (med-dark w/ golden olive undertones) and Cafe and Cacao (for dark skin w/ deep gold/brown undertones).

I chose the shade Custard, which is a good MAC NC25-NC30 match. I could've gone a shade darker, which would have been Ginger, which is a good MAC NC35 match.

The consistency of this concealer is a creamy satiny-velvet. Despite it being liquid, it's not very moist in comparison to MAC Select Moisturecover or MAC Pro Longwear which feel wet and creamy to the touch & provide a dewy finish. The NARS concealer wipes on in an opaque layer (literally like paint) and blends quickly to a high coverage perfection and dries to a natural, non shiny, non matte finish.

One layer of product provides adequate full coverage for me. It doesn't settle in my fine lines (I'm assuming because of the high silicone content) and it brightens up my eye area really well.

NARS Radiant Creamy Concealer

NARS Radiant Creamy Concealer

Here's a before and after of one layer of concealer blended with a foundation brush.

Wednesday, April 17, 2013

Estee Lauder Pink Patent Pure Color Cheek Rush Review, Photos, Swatches!

Estee Lauder Pink Patent Pure Color Cheek Rush

Estee Lauder Cello Shots Pure Color Cheek Rush

The new Spring 2013 Estee Lauder Cello Shots Pure Color Collection is all about playful and bright colors delivered in sheer, lightweight formulas that will keep the skin fresh and glowing all day.  Tom Pecheux, the Creative Makeup Director at Estee Lauder says, "This season, I’ve been working a lot with what I call “acqua color”. It’s a gentle, watery look with just a touch of bright, vibrant color."

Estee Lauder Cello Shots Pure Color Cheek Rush ($28) is a water-based transparent gel that provides the cheeks with a vibrant, yet very sheer stain. It's super lightweight, easy to blend and gives such a natural, fresh and dewy look to the skin.

Estee Lauder Pure Color Cheek Rush is available in (4) shades: Hot Fuse, Pink Patent, X-Pose Rose and Techno Jam.

I have the shade Pink Patent, which is a lovely soft pink that warms up beautifully to my skin. I think it's a shade that's best suited for fair, light and medium skin tones and would adapt well to either cool or warm undertones.

The consistency is exactly what it sounds like - a water-based gel. It's kind of hard to explain because it's not runny, nor is it thick. It's light and airy, but not moussey. I'm not sure I've used any other product like it. It's cooling to the touch and disappears into the skin once blended without any greasy residue.

Application: You can absolutely use your fingers and tap the product into your cheeks, but because it can temporarily stain the fingertips, I like using a small stippling brush such as the MAC 130 or 188 Brush. Since the formula is so sheer and easy to work with, just about any brush would do (I'd stick with a synthetic brush though).

Wearing Estee Lauder Pink Patent Pure Color Cheek Rush
Here are a couple of photos where I was wearing Pink Patent on my cheeks - this is 7 hours after it was applied! I wasn't wearing any other cheek products but a bronzer all over my face and you can see that my cheeks look fresh and glowing.