Tuesday, June 19, 2012

In the Pink


So I am really awful at taking pictures of myself. You can't see my eyes at all. Frankly, I don't know how beauty bloggers do it. I guess I should find out.

Today's look is centered around the bright pink in the Yagolicious Smooches Lipstick Palette I reviewed here. The more I use it, the more I like it. I'm not wild about having to carry around the whole palette and a brush to apply it (the little doe foot applicators it came with are good, but they get gunked up fast), but it wears so well, without bleeding or feathering, that I'm willing to put up with a little inconvenience. This is the first time I've worn this color, and it's really a lot of fun.

I've also tried out a new foundation, CoverGirl NatureLuxe Silk Foundation, in #310 Flax. This stuff is getting plenty of love on the blogs, and for good reason. At about $12, it's much cheaper than the MAC and Armani foundations I usually use, but I find the performance is much higher than the price would suggest. It's not too thin or too thick, not drying or greasy. While color matching at the drugstore is always a challenge, I managed to find my way to a reasonable color selection (while it's gross to find a drugstore cosmetic that has been sampled, if they're not sealed, well, what do you expect?). It's a little cooler/pinker than my usual MAC N20 or Armani #5, but it blended in perfectly and leaves a beautiful dewy but not shiny finish. It has a pleasant light floral scent, which reminds me a lot of a Lancome lightweight foundation I used to use, so if you don't like scented skin products, I'd steer clear.

So the face today is:

Skin--CoverGirl NatureLuxe Silk Foundation in #310 Flax, MUFE HD Concealer (with MUFE primer and translucent powder to set).

Eyes--MAC Paint Pot in Painterly as a base, with Urban Decay Naked in the crease and Sin in the inner lid. Inglot Matte Collection AMC Eyeliner Gel in #77. NYX Les Amoureux mascara.

Blush--NYX Powder Blush in Red.

Lips--Hot Pink lipstick from Yagolicious Smooches Lipstick Palette.

Perfume--The deliciously fresh Boober from the new BPAL Fraggle Rock collection (A fretfully clean scent: freshly-washed laundry, linden blossom, soap suds, and a sprinkle of vanilla.)

Saturday, June 9, 2012

Lavender Blues


I have always been extremely fond of lavender, and have enjoyed it in various bath products for most of my life, even before I was officially old enough to wear perfume. As a junior Francophile as a kid, I associated it with France and loved it even more. The summer my family spent a month in the south of France is completely lavender-scented in my memory. I also associate it with Yardley's English Lavender Soap, which my mother bought me.

However, I hadn't been that wild about it as a note in perfumes until I came across BPAL's TKO, which is a sleep blend. It doesn't have listed notes, but it's clearly got a heavy vanilla base and there is sweetness that I suspect comes from dragon's blood resin, which is a scent I generally don't like in any other blend. TKO goes on sharply lavender with a strong sweetness that leads many people to describe it as lavender-marshmallow, but which smells to me more like lavender-flavored frosting. I have trained myself to feel intensely sleepy within minutes of applying it, and tend to sleep like a log thereafter. I use it every night even though my husband isn't wild about it. By morning, it has faded to delicious rich vanilla, especially where it clings to silk or cotton, so I apply it not just to my skin but to the inside of my nightgown too.

I have been growing lavender in my garden for years, but only this year did it really finally take hold and start producing much volume of flowers. Today I thought it would be fun to make one of those lavender wands they sell at craft fairs, so I found this excellent blog post on how to do it.

Despite the crystal-clear instructions and beautiful pictures, my attempt was an unmitigated disaster. Maybe my ribbon was too wide, maybe my lavender stalks were too bunchy, or maybe I'm just completely inept, but the results (left) were piss-poor. It does smell good, though, and I have a little dish of all the blossoms and leaves that fell off that I'll use as a little fresh potpourri, perish the thought.

I do think I'll try again with a different plant that might be more svelte and some narrower ribbon, but I don't hold out a lot of hope.

Oh, and in honor of unofficial Lavender Day, today I am wearing emerald green cropped jeans and a violet tank top. I look like a lavender stalk!