Posts Tagged Estee Lauder
Summer Looks, 3 Ways: Cheeks, Lips or Eyes
Posted by Latoya in Clinique, Estee Lauder, FOTD, Illamasqua, MAC, Make Up For Ever, Make-up, Milani, NARS, Rouge Bunny Rouge, Sephora Brand, theBalm, Urban Decay on July 9, 2012
I have to tell you, I have been having a BLAST creating different looks and playing with products that I already have (versus getting sucked into the never-ending *new-New-NEW!!* vortex) – it has been the absolute best solution I’ve found to control my shopping tendencies and appreciate what I own rather than the lust-buy-forget-repeat cycle I’ve been guilty of in the past. I’m not knocking picking up new and pretty things – goodness knows there’s a (great!!) time and place for that, and I still am buying more makeup than I’ll ever need – but I also get fed up with myself when I go out and pick up new products before giving the ones I own proper love. It totally suits my new mentality of making sure everything I have is awesome and that’s it’s getting semi-regular attention. Anything that’s not floating the Latoya boat is getting booted. End of story.
My ‘no way, jose’ face lol (or just filler…it looked photo barren here!)
Anyway, I’ve been experimenting a lot lately – way more than I have for YEARS, maybe since I was in university – and it’s amazing the combinations and shades you can come up with when you put your mind to it! I find I was forgetting the whole reason I started the blog, which was because I loved USING makeup, not just acquiring it, and I’ve been pushing myself out of the box and trying new looks and realizing I have some pretty awesome products!! Does anyone remember the Canadian cooking show ‘The Urban Peasant?’ He used to always say “Use what you got,” and dammit if I’m not following his lead ;P
Good grief I’m chatty.
Ok, onwards to the looks! I wanted to do 3 different Summer-themed looks to cover each of the main focal points of the face – cheeks, lips and eyes. I’ve sort of started following a general rule of thumb when it comes to wearing what kind of looks when: I often wear a bolder lip to work, because hey! – I’m not kissing anyone there, and reapplication at my desk is easy-peasy; a strong eye when going ‘out’ somewhere; and a defined cheek for more laid-back kind of days, as it makes me look polished but isn’t too much and doesn’t require any maintenance. Of course, any of these combinations can be worn at any time, and you could even pair two of them together for a whole different look, but for the purpose of this post I’m going to give distinction between them.
Look #1 – Focus on Cheeks:
In my first look, I focused on an all-over bronzed glow combined with a more flushed cheek to enhance. This is a super-quick and easy way to wear makeup in the Summer months, as it just builds upon the warmth the sun naturally bestows upon the skin. If I’m going for a more casual look, this is usually what I lean toward. The products I used are below.
Clockwise from left: NARS South Beach Multiple, Illamasqua Tweak, MAC Refined Golden Bronzer, Clinique High Lengths Mascara, MAC Crosswires Lipstick, Milani Sunset Duos in Sunset Beach
Left to right: NARS South Beach Multiple, Milani Sunset Duos in Sunset Beach, Illamasqua Tweak, MAC Crosswires Lipstick
And the resulting look!:
Above – In sunlight; Below – With flash
Capturing the strength of cheek products is tricky; it seems like you need to go more heavy-handed than you normally would in order to get the same effect you’d see in person. While I wasn’t sporting ‘clown-cheeks’ to be sure, my blush was more noticeable in real life, and I actually quite liked it! By using Milani’s Sunset Beach (the bronze side) as bronzer and then a bit extra under the cheekbones to contour, NARS South Beach to highlight on top of cheekbones (then blended out toward temples and any residual down the bridge of my nose), and Illamasqua Tweak on the higher point of the apples of my cheeks to emphasize (and blending like crazy to avoid any harsh edges), it just looked like I had been out in the sun all day. Pretty natural actually with just a touch of glam from the highlight. To finish I dabbed on MAC’s Crosswires lippie as a stain, and added a touch of clear gloss to give a bit of shine.
Look #2 – Focus on Lips:
My next look took me more out of my comfort zone, as I VERY rarely wear pigmented lip colors plus a glossy finish – a matte bold lip is much more subdued and easier to pull off in most cases. But I had an inspiration from my lookbook (a photo album full of looks I’ve clipped out of magazines) that came to mind and I really wanted to try it. In it, the model is wearing a rich coral-red lip that has this insane glossy shine to it, while the rest of the makeup is very subtle with just a beachy glow. As my lip collection is sort of in transition, I didn’t have the exact shade I was looking for, so I had to get creative:
Clockwise from left: Estee Lauder Illuminating Gelee in Shimmering Sands, theBalm Read My Lips Lipstick in Wanted, Sephora She Sparkles lipgloss, MAC Lychee Luxe Lipglass, Ojon Restorative Mascara
Left to right: theBalm Read My Lips Lipstick in Wanted, MAC Lychee Luxe Lipglass, Sephora She Sparkles lipgloss, Estee Lauder Illuminating Gelee in Shimmering Sands
My interpretation:
By combining a shiny red lip color with a coral gloss and adding extra gloss on top of that, I came close to what I was aiming for – and even though it wasn’t exactly the same, I think it ended up being relatively flattering! I’d never tried theBalm lip product before, hadn’t even swatched it, but it popped into my head and I figured now was the time to try it out. MAC’s Lychee Luxe is one of my fave shades of gloss (though truth be told I don’t think I’ll buy any more MAC glosses – I’m SO over the sticky texture!), and the pinky-coral tone kept the red from being too cool and Christmas-y looking. Plus the gold shimmer of Sephora’s She Sparkles gave it a Summery kick, and that extra dose of shiny I was going for. By keeping the rest of my makeup extremely simple, the bright glossiness of the lips didn’t seem so obnoxious.
Look #3 – Focus on Eyes:
Lastly, I wanted to showcase a Summer look for eyes. I do tend to wear more eye makeup than anything else, though this is subtly changing over the past few months – I’m trying to break out of the same old of bold eyes and muted cheeks/lips. For this look, I pushed myself again to play and experiment more than normal, which actually was quite easy once I determined what shade was going to anchor my look – Make Up For Ever’s Aqua Cream #24, the bold canary yellow I reviewed last week! After choosing a bright shade like that, everything else seemed easy in comparison 
Clockwise from left: MAC Arena eyeshadow, Make Up For Ever Aqua Cream #24, Rouge Bunny Rouge Original Skin Blush in Florita, Clinique Brush-On Cream Liner in Black Honey, Urban Decay 24/7 Waterproof Liquid Liner in Perversion, Laura Mercier Full Blown Volume Mascara, Ardene Eyeshadow in 8B, MAC Evolution Revolution Lipglass 
Left to right: Make Up For Ever Aqua Cream #24, Ardene Eyeshadow in 8B, Urban Decay Last Call eyeshadow, Clinique Brush-On Cream Liner in Black Honey, Urban Decay 24/7 Waterproof Liquid Liner in Perversion, Rouge Bunny Rouge Original Skin Blush in Florita, MAC Evolution Revolution Lipglass
Here’s how I made it work:
Above – Sunlight; Below – With flash
I applied MUFE Aqua Cream #24 all over the lid, then applied Ardene 8B to the middle of the lid outward. I added UD’s Last Call to the outer lid and crease, and highlighted the brow and the inner corners of the eye with MAC’s Arena. Finally I lined the upper lash line with UD’s Perversion liquid liner, and the bottom lash line with Clinique’s Black Honey, and piled on a generous dose of mascara on top and bottom lashes.
As I mentioned in the review, this vibrant matte yellow Aqua Cream is surprizingly easy to use – easy to work with, easy to blend, and didn’t look as garish as I thought it would once applied. I absolutely ADORED how this look came out overall, it felt SO Summery and warm and fun, and I can see myself recreating this over and over this season, because it was an easy way to inject some color into my palette without being too over the top. And it got me using another shade that never gets love from me – the Ardene shadow, which by the way has a lovely buttery texture and is probably like $3 at the store.
Also, I can’t deal with how great Florita looked with this combination – it gives the perfect amount of glow for the Summer without being shimmery, which would also compete with the shadows. Finishing with the pale pink MAC gloss added just the right touch of glossiness and muted quality to my lips to compliment the look best.
All in all, though I think the last look was my favorite out of the three (typical!), I’m going to make every effort to rotate between a focus on eyes, lips and cheeks and continue to experiment with different looks and play with lesser-used shades in order to have more fun with makeup, and be more mindful of what I already own. I SO enjoyed creating these looks over the past couple weeks, and I truly hope you got some benefit out of them as well! Its nice to showcase and talk about other products that aren’t brand-spanking new or the most talked-about in the blogosphere. Sometimes I find I get so saturated with the same old, that when I stumble upon posts that discuss makeup I haven’t heard/thought of, it’s like a breath of fresh air!
…and now I’m done. Thanks for sticking through this if you made it this far! Hope you enjoyed!! 
Covert Ops at the Beauty Department
Posted by Latoya in Blush, Estee Lauder, Make-up on June 10, 2012
As much as I’d like to, there’s just no way that I’m ever going to be able to review every pretty beauty product out there, because the sad fact is that I’m far from Ms. Moneybags. It’s disappointing, because I so appreciate posts from others which give me the full low down on shades etc. from products within a brand, as it makes my compulsive shopping much easier (and my lemmings list smaller/larger, depending!). However, now that I am the proud new owner of an iPhone, I’m able to do a lot more undercover work at all the beauty stores I frequent, which will hopefully help you narrow down (or, expand) the field for which products you want to shell out for. Earlier this week I had my first opportunity to put myself to work, and because it was laid out so pretty for me, I decided to swatch Estee Lauder’s new(ish) Pure Color Blushes ($32CAD), of which I’ve been eying for months.
The display actually looks much nicer here than it did 15 minutes before I took the photo, as the coordination of shades was KILLING me (had been for weeks) and my OCD-self had to rearrange them all in a somewhat organized flow. Then I was able to proceed with the swatching/snapping First, what I like to think of as ‘The Cools’:
Left to right: Sensuous Rose, Audacious Plum, Mauve Mystique, Electric Pink
Since I gravitate toward warmer blush shades, none of these called to me, though Sensuous Rose would be a much-needed addition to my stash as I tend toward brights and have very few subtle shades, which I could stand to have. Sensuous Rose and Audacious Plum are ‘satin’ finishes, which look more matte to me, while Mauve Mystique has obvious shimmer/glitter, and Electric Pink is a satin.
Next, ‘The Warms’ – AKA My Kind Of Shades!:
Left to right: Brazen Bronze, Hot Sienna, Wild Sunset, Peach Passion
*Sorry for the blurred photo, I had another shot but it didn’t depict the shades as accurately!
Even though these shades had much warmer tones, I actually wasn’t into them much, with the exception of Wild Sunset of course, which I absolutely ADORE. It looks SOO good, I must own this blush – it’s the number one on my list out of them all. There’s slight shimmer in it, but not so much that it’s unwearable. Brazen Bronze is fairly shimmery, and Peach Passion is even more so, while Hot Sienna is more matte.
Below, we have the more badass colors, the ones I call ‘The Vamps’:
Left to Right: Lover’s Blush, Alluring Rose, Rebel Rose, Intriguing Plum
The only shade I own even remotely like these shades is Bobbi Brown’s Pot Rouge in Velvet Plum, which is similar to Rebel Rose. Intriguing Plum IS intriguing – I’d like to see what it looks like on, because it is intense. Lover’s Blush isn’t really vampy but it just seemed to ‘go’ if you know what I mean. It looks more pinky here but it’s more beige-y in reality. All shades are satin finishes with the exception of shimmery Lover’s Blush.
Last, we have ‘The Romantics’, obvious rose and pink tones:
Left to right: Poppy Passion, Exotic Pink, Pink Ingenue
Poppy Passion, a satin finish, could be stellar in the Winter when you’re going for that windburned flush, but I think for the Summer it leans a bit too cool for my liking. Exotic Pink doesn’t do it for me at all, and looks a bit too shimmery to be qualified as a ‘satin’ but whatever. Pink Ingenue would look so sweet on the right skintone, maybe even mine in the right season, but for now I’ll pass. As you can see, it’s a shimmer finish.
And that’s that! Not too shabby for a camera phone, huh? I hope these swatches were at least remotely helpful! I had so much fun doing this, and I can’t wait to do it again! It’s handy that I know ALL of the SA’s at Mills and Shoppers on Spring Garden (a boutique location), because I can do this without looking totally shady. Some of the SA’s at Sephora know me, but I’m not there often enough (surprized? – hey, remember I don’t have a car LOL) for me to really have an ‘in’ yet – I’ll work on it
Any shades caught your eye? Have you tried this formula yet? Let me know what you think of it!
The Quest to Satisfy a Lemming: Estee Lauder Illuminating Powder Gelee in Shimmering Sands (Review)
Posted by Latoya in Blush, Bronzer, Estee Lauder, Highlighters, Lemmings, Make-up, Summer 2012 on March 8, 2012
Last Fall, after being slow on the uptake when Modern Mercury – the first offering in the Estee Lauder Gelee phenomenon – came out, I cursed myself for missing out. Then, several other gorgeous LE luminizers came on the market (~cough~ LM’s Rose Rendezvous ~cough~) and I swore that the next time something like that was released, I was getting on that train ASAP. When I saw Estee’s Spring PR release pop up online, which included Topaz Chameleon (another gelee), I was determined to get my hands on it. However, two things prevented me from satisfying my lemming – first, Topaz Chameleon was majorly metallic, and almost copper-toned, so I wasn’t quite sure how I would make it work. Second, it never appeared here in stores – I even called a few Lauder counters and no one had even heard of it before (which is RIDICULOUS if you ask me – don’t you do your homework???). I considered buying it online, but as it looked a bit scary I wasn’t confident enough to buy it sight unseen.
Above (promo shots): Modern Mercury, top; Topaz Chameleon, bottom.
A few short weeks later, I stumbled upon pictures of Estee’s Bronze Goddess Capri Summer 2012 collection (weird timing between the two, don’t you think?) and noticed that there was a third powder gelee, Shimmering Sands – a pale rosy-bronze shade that looked MUCH more wearable. In a flash, I looked up a few swatches online (The Beauty Look Book and Best Things in Beauty have great info/photos) and decided I could DO this. As this hadn’t popped up in stores yet either (surprize), I ordered online from the Lauder website. I paid about $50CAD total for the gelee (shipping is free with any $50 order in Canada); ironically, I was in Mills two days after I received it to find that they had it on counter (WTF?). Thankfully, it’s being priced at $50 here too, so I didn’t end up paying more – and I got a 10-day sample of the Advanced Night Repair, so I’m not complaining!
The gelees are housed in beautifully elegant golden packaging, always with a gorgeous imprinted design on the actual product (I assume Shimmering Sands wavy texture is supposed to mimic sand in the desert?). It comes with a large sponge applicator, which I have yet to try. The texture of the gelee is ridiculously light – it almost doesn’t feel like I’m picking anything up on my fingers at all, until I turn it to see it’s full of product. The description given for the gelees describes them as a ‘tri-blend liquid, powder, and gel formula’ – how in the world they do that, I do not know. All I can say is – this baby is feather-light and soft.
In the pan, it looks as I previously described – pale rosy-bronze – but on the skin, it was surprizingly burnished; more like a luminous reddish-bronze. On the website, they recommend smoothing it on as an all-over soft sheen; however, from reading previous reviews on both this and the Topaz Chameleon version, I knew this probably isn’t the way to go, as they’re very pigmented. While they’re not glittery, the shimmer can easily be overdone, and careful placement and a light hand is critical. Regardless of knowing this, I can see how it would be easy to overdo. Picking product up on my brush feels the same as with my finger – like I’m not actually getting anything – but then BAM! there it is. So, remember to not let it’s light as air texture fool you – just go slow and build intensity if needed!
Photos taken in direct sunlight
I like the way it looks on my skin – it’s not as reddish as I feared, and just makes me look sun-burnt in a pretty way. As well, the illuminating effect is well-executed; I feel glowing without being self-conscious that I look shiny or glittery (light hand though, remember!). However, it’s more of a bronze/blush rather than a luminizer (though I knew that going into it, really) – perhaps when I get a nice golden tan in about a month’s time, it’ll be just what I’m looking for. I’ve also read online that it works great as an eyeshadow, so I’ll have to try that next.
Photos were taken in direct sunlight
Overall, I love the technology of the gelee, and how light it feel and how little you need to apply to get an effect. I do like the way it looks worn, though it’s not *truly* what I’m searching for. A downside is that the Illuminating Gelees are 0.15oz, which is below average for this kind of product (LM’s Rose Rendezvous is 0.20oz for around the same price, and Guerlain’s Cruel Gardenia is 0.31oz – but a whole lot more, about $74CAD, though its over double the product). Of course, this wouldn’t really be an issue if I LOVED it….but alas I don’t! Unfortunately, this was one of those purchases that I made in haste that usually ends up being a regret. I can use it, thankfully, but I don’t feel excitement about it, which is against my new “policy” on only buying things I love. I admit that I let myself get carried away with the hype, and now I’m paying the consequences. Somewhat of an expensive lesson to learn, but hopefully it will serve as a reminder in the future!
Do you fall prey to the hype on products? Please share so I can feel better about myself >:\ Also, do you own any of the Illuminating Gelee’s? Which is your favorite?
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