MAC Holiday – Formal Black: Nordstroms Exclusive

While the entire collection is beyond super fanstatic, two of my favorite sets are LE Nordstroms Exclusives. Here’s a quick peek: 

A black satin cylindrical clutch trimmed with velvet/bow detail. Elegantly hosts a cool-toned range of M·A·C evening favourites: Pinkphonic Glitter Eye Liner, Etiquette Glimmershimmer, Rose Pigment and Oyster Girl Lipglass.

A black satin cylindrical clutch trimmed with velvet/bow detail. Elegantly hosts a warm-toned range of M·A·C evening favourites: Glamourgold Glitter Eye Liner, Ritzy Glimmershimmer, Melon Pigment and Precocious Lipglass.

Information taken from: http://shop.nordstrom.com

MAC Holiday and Bridal Make-Up: Coming Soon…

MAC Holiday:

MAC always releases an army of deliciousness every holiday season, and this year’s is no exception. In fact, this is the best MAC Holiday Collection I’ve seen since Adorn came out 2 years ago. The packaging is much more glamourous and elegant then last year’s faux croc and Asian themes.  And the brush sets… the best MAC has EVER released. I love the way they’ve been group and the quality is a vast improvement from past collections.

Bridal Make-Up:

As an engaged women one year from bride, I decided to give my make-up a trial run and see what different lines would suggest for my coloring. Surprisingly, each major house suggested the same thing! Finding this incredibly odd, I recruited a friend and had her approach each counter as a pre-bride. Guess what? Same recommendations…

Stay tuned to discover what those colors were.

My Latest Drugstore Finds

Like most of you, I’m a high end kind of girl who doesn’t mind paying extra for my Shu Uemura Cleansing Oil because… its better than anything else on the market. I would turn my nose up at the idea of buying make-up or skin care from the drugstore because “I could afford better.”

But what about the products hiding in your CVS that are just as good as their high-end counter parts. Would you then be willing to go the discount route?

Every now and again I find great bargains at the drugstore that make me squirm because the product is sooo good, but my inner snob rebels.  So, while I will never purchase foundation from Walgreens (MAC all the way, baby!), I have recently discovered two treasures that I wanted to share:

NYC Copper Sparkle Nail Polish:

This may actually be my favorite vampy nail polish of all time, at it retails for less than $3 a pop!! The color is a magnificent blend of dark brown and blackened plum with tons of… you guessed it, copper sparkles. The combination sounds a bit odd, but try it. In real life, its magic.

Neutrogena Oil Free Acne Wash:

I was at a girlfriend’s house for a spa party and noticed this in the bathroom. This staple for high schoolers has the same active ingredients as DDF Salicylic Acid Face Wash… in the same percentage! So… $35 for DDF, or $5 for Neutrogena??

Living by the Snooze Button

Hello Everyone. I’ve missed you! After all the ups and downs that I’ve recently encountered, I felt entitled to a little vacation.

So I informed my boss that I was *cough cough* feeling a little under the weather, and just took a little time to myself.

Its autumn in Washington, DC and I love. This truly is my favorite time of the year.

I have great new products that I can’t wait to tell you about and a hand full of aumsing anecdotes to keep you entertained.

Stay tuned.

2006 Fall Trends

As promised, here is a break-down of what’s hot for fall:

• Colors of the season: Chocolate and black. Finally, black is the new black and I can revel in the east-coastiness of my waredrobe. And chocolate, mmm… Its a huge color for the season and looks so flattering on 99.9% of skintones.
• Accent colors: Gold and red. Gold jewelry is back with a gigantic bang and it looks fabulous with this season’s influx of chocolate brown. Beyond jewelry, try mixing a little gold-tone in your make-up to give yourself the autumn glow.
• Headbands. I’m really loving the thick, black patent leather ones. It looks preppy but polished.
• Leggings. *bleh* I am not a fan of these, but already they’re everywhere. I’m more tolerant of the full length style that tucks into your boots as opposed to the God-awful legging shorts that have been popping up. for color, I reccomend sticking to chocolate brown, charcoal grey, and black. The colors are slimming and hide a multitude of sins.
• One of my favorite pieces this season is the slim fit, long sleeve, black knit shirt with thin horizontal white stripes. Yes, horizontal stripes are evil, but there is something so wonderful about this top. Right now I’m loving it with darker colored khakis but may eventually pair it with black mini skirt, black tights (TOTALLY different from leggings) and a low slung belt.
• Straight Hair. Goodbye beachy waves and hot rollors. Stick straight, super shiney hair is back!
• Full eyebrows
• Vampy nailpolish
• Chocolate, gold, and nude make-up. Just think warm tones.
• Ankle boots
• Skinny jeans in dark washes

Sad Times…

I apologize for not posting the Fall Fashion Follow-Up promised for Friday, but I received very distressing news that left me shell-shocked. A close friend, my child hood sweetheart, was killed in a motorcycle accident. I had been away on vacation so I missed the funeral and my chance to say goodbye.

I took a few days off from work and blogging to compose myself and attempt to come to terms with this tragic loss of life. The man that died was one of the greatest people I have ever known.

Rest in peace Shawn Newberg. A part of me will always love you.

What to expect this Fall:

Fall fashion is already in full effect and I’m loving it… almost. There has definitely been a line drawn to seperate “trendy” and “fashionable.”

Trendy:

“I just left Silent Y in the bathroom and P.S., the 80′s are back.” (Three points if you can identify where that line came from.) As if there weren’t bad enough the first time, the 80′s are back. And while I like the fun rocker theme that is innately tied in to that decade, I really thought fashin had moved on from ankle boots paired with leggings. The overall look is deconstructed and heavily ornamented, but it just seems garish and wrong to me. Maybe I just haven’t seen it done well, but part of me thinks the rocker chick trend should be left to Joan Jett. She did it well and she still does it well. Teenagers with pompadors, black nail polish, and chains for jewelry just make me cringe.

If you’re aglow for the return of your beloved 80′s, more power to you. I’ll definitely adopt a few of the signature styles, just not all in the same outfit. Black nail polish is huge this season and I think that it can look very chic. But I like it on short manicured nails instead of dragon lady acrylics. Also, I plan to wear black opaque tights rather than the leggings. And please, PLEASE do not wear black tights with brown, tan, or navy shoes.

*Edit* After some reflection I realize that perhaps I don’t relish the return of the 80′s because I did not fully experience them. MusicMan was a child of the 80′s and finds the leggings and spikey hair very attractive. Then again… he also wore hyper color. On the other hand, I was more aware of fashion in the early 90′s when Cindy Crawford was the epitome of style. Just thought that might lend a little perspective.

Fashionable:

Now we get into what I really love this fall. Designers have phased out the casualness of summers and brought us back to the classics. One of my favorite outfits for the season is a black pencil skirt, white blouse, black or red peep toe heels, paired with accents of red nailpolish, lipstick, and the must-have accessory… a structured red handbag. Gold toned jewelry is also back and looks stunning with fall colors. Last year’s Czarina look is pretty much done, although texture is still big.

I will post a quick and dirty list of what’s hot for fall later this week.

Use It Up Challenge Update: A trip down memory lane

So I have to admit, this challenge was a lot tougher than I expected. First of all, I did not stop shopping just because I wanted to streamline my storage space. In fact, I have even more beauty products cluttering up drawers, shelves, and boxes.

What I have learned is that there are tons of products that I hold on to that I really don’t need, use, or have any interest in using. I simply hang on to things because I have a hard time throwing things away. Somehow I convinced myself that its wasteful to throw away items that you paid good money for. (Then again, I’m probably just rationalizing because I don’t want to thin out my stash.)

What I was able to do was look at all the things I haven’t touched in over a year. I have over 2,000 beauty/fashion and business magazines! And while I needed those when I was still in business school (marketing major), I really don’t need them all now. So after a lot of encouragement from MusicMan, I donated close to 1,800 magazines to my public library. (They sell them at warehouse sales to raise money.)

That’s when I started to look at all the other things I have tucked away in the corners of my home. I finally let go of all my ex-boyfriend memorabilia. Ok, ok… so I kept *some* things, but I also tossed out enough stuff to fill three large freight boxes. I mean, honestly, I’m getting married. I really shouldn’t keep the anthology of old love letters. I wouldn’t be happy if my fiance kept romantic reminders of his past flames, so fair is fair.

Amid this strange re-construction of memory lane, it occured to me that as soon as I closed my eyes and dropped the trinkets into the trash, I no longer felt any attachment to them. I suppose they were just emotional safety blankets that reminded me instances where I was undeniably cared for.

Beyond all that, I realy did use up a few items:

• Frederic Fekkai Glossing set (shampoo, conditioner, and the ever-so-fabulous glossing creme)
• Go Smile Toothpaste
• 2 Philosophy 3-in-1 Shower Gels (Frozen Lemon Custard and Powdered Sugar Cookie)
• Bottle of Chanel Allure body creme
• A trial sized bottle of Shu Uemura’s Pink Sukura Cleansing Oil
• The last bit of my Fresh Lemon Sugar edp
• Bliss Shock Therapy

LOL. I’m a little weirded out by the amount of body wash that I go through…

DuWop Buttercream, Dessert for Your Skin

$17 at drugstore.com

I’m definitely a foody person when it comes to autumn scents, so I thought I’d love this body creme. Upon first sniff, it tricks you into believing it is something special and magically delicious… But that was the first and only thing good about this product.

I’ve read reviews that claim this product is very oily. I don’t know if my travel size was a dud, but it was actually a disgusting blend of oily and sticky. I might as well have massaged real frosting into my skin. Except real frosting would not dry down to the retched decaying scent of butter gone bad.

I had to hop in the shower immediately to rid myself of that awful experience.

If you like foody scents, do yourself a favor and stick to Bath and Body Works.

A new discovery about men and make-up:

I made a command decision last month to get regular manicures and pedicures each week because its such a low maintenance way to polish (no pun intended) your look with minimal effort.

Music man was suprisingly pleased by this new turn of events and enjoys seeing what color I’m going to come home with each week.

On Saturday morning I bounced over to where he was vegging on the couch and proudly displayed my new paint job. While he thought the color of my manicure was sexy, he inquired why my tips and toes did not match. This launched us in to a rediculously in-depth discussion on the male opinion of nail polish.

The general consensus that I’ve inferred from my male friends is that they feel like tips and toes should match. Its not a big deal and none of them would dare bring it up with their significant others, but its definitely a thought that many of them carry in the back of their mind.

 Polish of the Week: OPI – That’s Berry Daring.

Since its not a big deal to me, I went back to the salon and had them change my toenail polish to OPI – That’s Berry Daring to match my manicure.

Oddly enough, though I felt a little old fashioned having everything match, it also made me feel more pulled together. Who knows? Maybe the boys are on to something…

Image from www.opi.com