Hey, everyone!  The weather’s fine and fall-ish and you know what that means – it’s time for a Random Sunday makeup post!

The fall makeup collections are out, and it’s been fun looking at all the palettes – lots of dramatic colors and burgundy and brown lippies out there, like the ones in the Lancome ad above, in keeping (it seems to me) with the retro runway looks.  These aren’t necessarily the easiest makeup colors for me to wear, but I still enjoy playing with them in the stores.   I did try on the wack Dior’s Mysterious Mauve, check out that color at left  – yep, a deep, shimmery purple.  Purple.  Look at that thing, how could I resist?  News flash: it was just awful on me, but it would be gorgeous on someone with dark skin.

Let’s talk about foundation.  Carter was pimping the new(ish?) Maybelline Dream Smooth Mousse foundation, which has gotten a lot of love already on MakeupAlley, with a high 73% rebuy rating.  It’s a drag you can’t try them on in the drugstores, but our local CVS lets you return opened makeup so I bought a couple so Diva and I could sample them.  SPECIAL NOTE – this is not the Maybelline Dream Matte Mousse foundation, which has much lower MUA approval ratings of 47%, although I did buy some for Diva to try since she’s a teenager.  She found the matte formula hard to work into a smooth finish, although the color was right.  She kept the light neutral shade (Light 1) as a pancake makeup for her dance performances.

I bought what appeared to me to be the two lightest, most neutral tones in the Smooth Mousse – Porcelain Ivory and Classic Ivory.  There are two other light colors that are much more obviously yellow and pink, for those of you who swing that way.  The Classic is too dark for Diva and me, but the Porcelain was excellent.  I wore it for a few days and Diva’s wearing it now.  The formula’s packed in a wide pot with a built-in sponge in the lid storage area. The formula for these things is amaaaazing – they really are incredibly creamy and the coverage is buildable.  They stayed just fine on me, they are dewy but not too shiny on my dry skin, and they didn’t break Diva out.  In the end, I decided the color is just a hair off to be a perfect-perfect match – it’s one I’d wear if I really had to, but I’ve got better matches, and I hate being able to see my foundation.  If you’re looking for a reasonably priced drugstore foundation and you can find a color match (they have 10 shades), this is well worth checking out, and thanks, Carter!

Bringing me to Make Up For Ever’s two obscure lightest colors in their Face & Body Makeup!   Some of you may remember my ecstasy over this iconic product.  It’s at Sephora, and I think the finish is gorgeous (and I’m not the only one, based on MUA ratings.)  The main problem, as always, is finding a color match.  For whatever reason, Sephora stores don’t usually stock the two lightest colors, 36 and 38, in the store – I didn’t know they existed.  (And no, I have no idea what’s behind MUFE’s totally random numbering system.)   I’ve been wearing 20, their palest in-stock neutral, but I’d admitted to myself earlier this spring that it wasn’t the perfect shade for me, it’s a hair too yellow and I have to powder it to tone that down a little.  So I read all the comments on 38 and 36 from fair-skinned folks on MUA and based on that, I ordered 38.  Then two days later I discovered that – ha, ha – those two shades are now stocked by our swank Sephora in the Wall o’ Bling.  So I tried them both, one on each side of my face. The 36 is the paler and pinker of the two – it looks scary, like super-pale calamine lotion in the bottle.  I could actually get away with it, but it was a little pasty on me.  I envision it on those porcelain-doll beauties who are even lighter than I am, and they’re out there.  But #38 was just right.  It looks darker in the bottle and on the application sponge than it does on the skin, it’s closer to 36 than you’d think.  It’s neutral, sheer (more sheer than the 20) and buildable.  I like that I can just do the center of my face, where I’m the most red, and it still looks natural and blends away perfectly at the edges without full coverage down to my jawline, so it’s less “made up” looking.  It doesn’t look like great foundation, it looks like no foundation.  Unlike, say, the MAC girls with their supermatte, very hard-edge makeup, the less-is-more look is better for those of us who are no longer young women, in my opinion.  Too much makeup is oddly aging.

PS: A change in the MUFE bottle – I put the stuff on with a sponge, so the bottle’s open-mouth design, which ooks people out, has never bothered me.  (The weird jello-like consistency doesn’t bother me either.)  But the new bottles, at least the one I got in the mail, have a pump-top on them like the Hi-Def.

Finally, a MAC lament and a score. I don’t know what’s wrong with me, I knew Strada was being discontinued, those bastards, I should have stocked up.  The perfect non-blushy blush for us pale girls who want a little “color” that isn’t orange or dirt.  The d/c’d Strada is now selling on eBay for … $35 a pop.  Anyone find another match?  I’ll probably go to a MAC pro and ask.  In the meantime, Louise forced me to try on lipstick, and I have to say – Viva Glam in Gaga is the pale-pink bomb.  It’s the first one of their Viva Glam lippies I’ve bought.  Their description: “named after celebrity spokesperson Lady Gaga. Features a high lustre finish and cool blue-pink shade.”  It is a pale bubblegum pink unlike any other pink I have.  It’s paler than my actual lips (it’s also paler than the color at left as it appears on my monitor).  It is NOT any of the following: sheer, YLBB, pinky-nude, bright, neon, fuchsia, or (conversely) too pale and mod, speaking of looks that don’t work so great on those of us who wore that the first time around.  It’s wow without being POW.  It’s pale pink as a color rather than a bold statement, and it works great with a modern, pared-down natural look, which is humorous when you think about who it’s named after.

So, it’s your turn.  Anyone out there working a new look, trying some new polish or a great new eye quad?  How do you feel about this fall’s burgundy and brown lips, like at Lancome?  Any other makeup comments or questions to throw out to your fellow commenters, some of whom are much bigger makeup fiends than I am?  (Not naming names.)  Has anyone busted out their red lips yet?  I wore them a few times this summer, actually.  Counter-intuitive and fun, but not when my face is sweaty.

March

BTW:

DO NOT PANIC, POSSE! March and Patty have not left us (leaving me to torture you in perpetuity).  I’m just filling in here and there until they get their own stuff back on track.  School, work, LIFE.  You know.  That stuff can really cut into blog-time!

They’ll be back shortly.  In the meantime, I could really use the fabled Posse Input here:

This is just naasty.

I am embarrassed to be writing this but:

I am going to spend this glorious late-summer morning CLEANING OUT MY MAKEUP DRAWERS!

Note that I said ‘drawers’.  Not one.  Not three.  Prolly more like 5 of those extruded-plastic drawer thingies you get at Home Depot, plus the 3 drawers on my side of the vanity PLUS the extra 5 drawer thingy in the linen closet….this is just ridiculous.

It’s not my fault, btw.  I Blame the Lady R.  She is my favorite SA in the Universe because, besides being a lovely person, she is also supremely generous with samples.  For decades I bought Everything Beauty  from her and came away with enough goodies to choke a Percheron, not that I would do that, as I love Percherons as you all know.  When I was flush it was  a fun little greedy-perk: crappy day?  buy a lipstick, come away with a 3-lb bag of stuff.  Gift With Purchase?  Don’t get me started.

Then, when I moved to the country, got broke all of a sudden and could barely buy dog food, she kept me sane by just giving me stuff – I would stagger in, she would look at my pathetic, haggard face, ragged nails and ratty hair and before I knew it, she’s pressing a nicely tissued-up little bag o’ goodness into my hand and telling me to get the hell back  to Cowtown and start making money.  Never mind that I already had enough cosmetics to start my own little boutique – there’s just something about  walking out with a little bag o’ stuff that made me think I just might survive.  Then I got  a little bit moneyfied again and the buy/get started anew.

At this point though, I’m way past diminishing returns.  I could live to be 90 and never get through all this stuff.  So I’m donating a lot of unused   stuff and pitching as much used stuff as I can bear to part with.

But here’s the question:  at what point does ‘unopened/unused’ become potentially icky and  ‘used’ become ‘unusable’?  I don’t want to donate old unused stuff and have some poor soul’s eyelids fall off.  And I need some serious intervention if I’m going to pitch the used – I don’t think I’m much of a  hoarder, except when it comes to cosmetics/treatment, which is kinda stupid – and probably unsafe.  The SA’s answer is always suspect – after all, it’s their job to sell you new stuff – and if my dermatologist  had his way I would throw it all out and use Dial soap and Vaseline or something.  So I throw the questions to you, my dearests:   Take loose powder, for instance.  I have jars of Prescriptives Loose powder that are in shaker apps – since they don’t touch the skin (I shake it onto a brush), shouldn’t they be okay?  I am assuming that there is a ‘use-by’ date for pressed powder, and I am sure those are now petri dishes of ookaliciousness.  But when does the petri dish overflow?  What if you only use something (not mascara – even I am not that crazy) once or twice, then throw it in a drawer and forget about it for a year?  I’m a little more careful with liquid foundation – it’s always sponge apped and I tend to not let foundation languish ….. you know I’m lying…..okay!!!!  I’m lying through my regularly changed toothbrush-using teeth! I have some Really Old Foundation.  But it still smells okay – I figure there’s enough preservatives in this stuff to outlast the next Ice Age.  But why on earth would I keep the L’Oreal I bought in Dallas on a sales trip NINE YEARS AGO ?  I was late for a client dinner, had no foundation, drugstore on the way, you know the drill and…well..this stuff makes me look like one of the Recently Exhumed.  Thank Floyd the restaurant was dimly lit.  I lugged that crap through DFW  and ORD and have packed and hauled  it through 3 moves!!!  A $7 bottle of ugly foundation.

What is wrong with me?

Am I really as gross as I think I sound here?  In my defense I do wash my brushes regularly, I sharpen my eye and lip liners religiously and I do not use mascara beyond a month or two. I got into gel eyeliners and have taken the precaution of using disposable applicators (and never double-dipping - she says, crossing her fingers and hoping like heck she’s right).   But a lipstick?  C’mon.  I remember using one of my mom’s old lipsticks waaaay after the fact and my lips are still on my face.   I don’t share lippies without a slice and some alcohol – I love y’all but it’s a crazy world out there.  So I think I’m as petri-free as I can get without straying into Howard Hughes territory… But I don’t need 24 of them.  okay, 28.   O-kay!  31! Sheesh.  Ridiculous, I know, but most of them were GWP.   The one thing I know I’ll have little trouble with is eyeshadow.  I’m getting way too old for a lot of the colors I’ve hoarded, plus wearing glasses and bright eyeshadow just looks weird to me.  And I need an eye infection like I need…an eye infection.   So that’s an easy one.  10 pots of ‘vintage’ MUF, down the chute!  Aiiiiyyy!

Do you guys have a standard ‘dump date’ for your cosmetics?  Is your ‘use by’ date different for treatment?   What about used v. unused?  Do you still love me, even though I am possibly the ickiest person on the Posse?

photo:  Fungus petri dish.  Some rights reserved  (this is NOT my makeup – I swear!!!  really.)

stuff:  alllll mine.  ick.

It’s snowing hard while I type this and I’m feeling crabby and housebound, so let’s do a makeup post and cheer me up.  I have info and some questions sprinkled throughout.

1) Eyes. As some of you know, I cut my long hair recently – here’s a photo my daughter took, I’m wearing the lippie/gloss combo below in #3.  Something about that change has allowed me to feel comfortable wearing more makeup – specifically, strong lips and eyes at the same time.  I’ve always followed the rule of one or the other (in terms of intensity) – strong lips, neutral eyes, or vice versa.   Now, though, I’m working a smoky or multi-colored eye with bright lips and feeling like it looks fresh.  What say you?  BTW when I say “neutral” I don’t mean no eye makeup.  At bare minimum I fill in my sparse brows, and put a Bobbi Brown cream shadow on my lids (applied with a brush) that renders my rabbit-pink eyelids a more aesthetically pleasing neutral color while skipping eye-primer.  I use Suede or Slate, which is slightly grayer.  Suede looks like hell in the pot, a warm, nasty yellow-brown, but both of these are a hint of soft, shadowy color on my lids.  If I have another 30 seconds I do a Bobbi Brown gel liner along the top lashes, which stays until you remove it – I have plum, dark blue and slightly shimmery dark brown.  I’ve experimented a little with other brands, but I think the BB has the nicest texture and the most longevity.

2) Related to the eyes – I’ve been experimenting with lining the inside of my lower lids, which looks great and I’ve never done before.  I know, I know – we’re not supposed to do that with eye pencils because it’s dangerous unsanitary my arm will fall off – oh, wait, that’s my perfume that’s going to cause my arm to fall off.  Somebody call IFRA!

Anyhow, I’ve been using a Laura Mercier in a dark purplish-black and the effect is gorgeous but it doesn’t stay.  I have to check my eyes while I’m out to make sure it hasn’t smeared or run into the inside corner (ew), and it’s not like I’m using a ton of product.  I’m trying to find a balance … what do I need?  A harder pencil?  Will that run less?  Should I get something labeled kohl?  Recommendations?

Makeup tip from Gina, a professional makeup artist and occasional commenter – I have greenish/hazel eyes.  While I use brown or gray shadows for smoky eyes and to create some depth (I have deep set eyes, and a little round) she suggested trying a darkish purple (think eggplant.)   I have a Cle de Peau shadow that is a very dark plum-purple, almost black, not quite matte, which I’d been using with a damp brush as a liner.  As a shadow, placed on the outside half of my lid near the corner to give depth and lift, it’s a great color with greenish eyes and does not register as “purple.”  Sorry, I can’t find the name, but I’m sure most makeup lines would have a similar color.

3) Lips! I’ve fallen in love with the NARS lip lacquer gloss pot in Hot Wired – a bright, slightly blue pink that is thick and stays on, the swatch here looks like the true color on my screen.  It’s great over bare lips (this stuff is thick) but I’ve been experimenting with layering it over lippies, trying to up the intensity.  BTW this is only for you who like a cool-toned pink, if you’re a warm red you might as well skip ahead.  Anyhow, my regular pink lippies are nice underneath but don’t provide the pop I’m looking for, my pink lippie choices tend to be not so intense.  Much as I love NARS Funny Face, that’s almost too much, and it’s very dry on me.  So eventually I tried a red lippie I blogged on before – Dior’s Rouge Dior in Red Premiere, which is a bluish red.  I tend to wear it dabbed lightly on my lips for a pop of color rather than as a full-on lipstick, because it’s very emollient and tends to travel, unlike, say, MAC Russian Red.  So.  Dabbing that on my lips gives a strong pink base that isn’t too dry.  With an application of Hot Wired on top – shaZAM!!!!!  It’s an amazing combo, that’s what I’m wearing in the photo.  It’s not so neon-bright that I feel uncomfortable, but certainly brighter and glossier fuchsia than anything else I own. Anyone who’s got the Hot Wired and a blue-red lippie, you might want to give it a whirl.

4) Nails. Having whined in March’s Maxims about my difficulty getting a decent professional manicure (I know, I know!  The horror!) I stumbled across a woman at a local salon who gave such a great mani I drove back out there to get her name.  She gave me the oval tip I asked for, not the squoval or the Carmela Soprano, and she didn’t hack them off.  Also, maybe my nails are snaggier than usual, but I almost always have to point out some rough edge they missed that needs to be re-filed before the polish.  She did it perfectly the first time.  My mani, which takes a lot of abuse in this kid-centric household, lasted a full week.  I do wonder whether it’s just a really long-lasting polish (Sephora OPI in Run With It, a lovely, subtle dove-gray with a very slight shimmer that works better on cool skin tones.)  But this gal took the polish brush and ran it along the edge of my nail tips as she painted, which I certainly can’t do.  I’m guessing that helped.

Question: I’ve been sticking to my grayish neutrals and ugly greiges like Metro Chic on my long nails.  How do you all feel about darker/brighter/classic red on longer nails? “Long” being a quarter-inch of tip, nothing too freaky.   Are long, bright nails too garish or young-looking?

An observation: having seen a number of older, well-dressed women wearing very dark polish (like navy) on short nails this winter … wow.  I work a navy or a purple or a dark green and I think it looks pretty, but on a woman in her 70s it’s fantastic.  It’s chic in a way that I can only aspire to.

Throwing this open to any makeup items, discoveries, opinions, layering ideas, product raves, or anything else you’d like to discuss.

photo: Diva took it with her fancy new camera she saved up and bought herself.  BTW that white stuff on me is snow.

March

We´ve done our part to promote Red Lipstick Love on this blog.  I think a post on the fabulousness of pink lipstick is overdue.

Pink can be harder to pull off than red lipstick; the wrong pink is aging, or juvenile.  I’m old enough I avoid pink frosts and glitter like the plague.  When I say “pink,” I´m referring  to the dimension between red and the browny-pinky-taupey lippies we refer to as YLBB (your lips but better.)  YLBBs brighten your complexion, and the lipstick may be visually detectable, but the effect is lipcolored, whether it´s your actual lipcolor or not.  I and others use YLBBs to correct our liptones a little – my lips are really blue, and not in a good way.  A very slightly warm YLBB diminishes my been-in-cold-water-too-long blues.  Other women with washed-out no-colored lips (your lips may lose color as you age) use YLBBs to bring their lips back into proper perspective.  It doesn´t have to be YLBB lipstick, either.  I know ladies who use YLBB pencils and liners, alone or over lipgloss (pencils can be drying) to get the same effect.

The way coloring (lip and face) affects the appearance of a lippie can´t be overstated.  I was fascinated when Friend A, a fair-skinned blonde with brown-toned natural lips, picked up a new tube of her “regular standby” pink she wears all the time.  On her lips it´s a soft, friendly shade – sort of a pale bubblegum pink without being too girly.  In the tube?  It´s a hot pink, like NARS Schiap.  On me with my blue lips, it´s a laughably lurid fuchsia, the sort of shade I´d wear if I were … I don´t know, 19 years old and wearing a rubber dress to a sex party at Hef´s house?  My point being, try before you buy, and don’t be surprised if the effect on your lips is totally different than someone else’s, even if you consider your skin tones to be kind of similar.

I am going for a soft look when I wear pink, I don´t use any liner (pink, taupe or otherwise) with these, I think pink lined lips can look … hard (cheap? Maybe that´s the word I´m looking for).  Whereas lined red lips look finished.  Feel free to argue with me, I´m not a makeup artist or expert.

Also, if you ever feel like your lipstick’s too pink, apply a quick swipe of taupey-nude lippie or pencil on top to tone it down.  Bobbi Brown gloss in White is also excellent for this purpose, I always have a tube for emergencies (it´s called White 1, and it dials down the wattage on pinks and reds nicely).  More than one makeup artist has said to me that they pretty much never use one shade of lipstick, so have fun experimenting with layering.  If it´s awful you can wipe it off!

Finally, those of you who bought lipstick during the Red Lip Feeding Frenzy on here and have now shoved those tubes into the back of the drawer until the first frost – red lips are still all over the fashion rags, even for summer.  A heavy red lip doesn´t work so well in face-melting heat, but if you use your finger as an applicator, you can lightly dab your red lipstick onto clean, buffed (use a washcloth or your toothbrush) lips, add a little gloss et voila – a soft, pretty popsicle pink-red perfect for summer.

So here´s a random list of some of my favorite pinks, with the stipulation outlined above that my lip/face coloring (fair skinned, pink undertones, blue-ish lips) affects the results.  Your Mileage May Vary.   Be sure to mention your coloring and favorites in comments, along with anything else you’d like to say about pink lips!

I lost my pink lip virginity with Bobbi Brown Peony lip sheer, a soft pale pinky-brown shade that is clearly pink rather than YLBB and of course appears to be discontinued (welcome to the world of lipstick!)  Bobbi puts brown in most (all?) of her pinks, which makes the line a nice place to start if you´re looking for something less bold, although some people find them too drying.  FYI – I just checked and Peony is in their Rose Lip Quad with three other great-looking shades, no glitter(? pictured at left, Peony’s in the upper left corner, the one on the right might be shimmer) and not too girly, I might have to check it out, looks like a good starter set for pink lipstick virgins if the tones work on you.  The pink quad looks a little girly to me, at least in the online images.

Poppy King´s Lipstick Queen Rose Sinner is too dry, even for me, but my gosh it´s a gorgeous color – a matte, dark rose petal pink that catches the eye of men who dig lipstick (and believe me, they´re out there.)  I wear it to parties and get hit on, but it´s less of a statement than red.  I apply over lip balm and check my lips after an hour to make sure it hasn´t caked.  Extraordinary lasting and lip-staining power, even over balm.  Saint Pink is my sheerest pink, emollient and close to a pink-toned lip balm.  Nice on its own (tones down my blue) or slicked over a darker shade. Saint Rose is a stunning, glossy dark neutral toned rose with good coverage, very moist but doesn´t travel.  Finally, I rebought Lipstick Queen Medieval after sending it back during my red binge.  No, it´s not bright; it´s a soft cherry popsicle red stain that I´ve taken to slicking over my other lippies in the car when the color needs shine and refreshing.

The newish Shiseido lipstick range by Dick Paige has some fantastic colors.  I can´t pull off the Cerise, but those of you who like megawatt pinks should check it out, it looks gorgeous on darker skin tones.  Bubblegum is also a slammin´ shade if you like a fun pink.  Their formula is super-moisturizing and looks great on.

Finally, as several of you know, months ago I fell in love with the images of the Dahlia lipstick from the new Dolce & Gabbana makeup line.  Dahlia´s a dark plum color that looked amazing on the pale-skinned models.  Unfortunately, on my blue-toned lips Dahlia does the full Morticia Addams and is not the effect I´m looking for outside of Halloween.  The D&G makeup artist steered me toward Bahia, a slightly lighter, pinker color that I never would have tried on my own.  It´s the darkest lipstick shade I think I could pull off and satisfies a long-held craving of mine for a deep pink that is vampy against my pale skin but not Morticia.  At the same time I bought Splendid, a retro pink that looks better (softer, less of a statement) on my lips than Shiseido Bubblegum.  This is a slightly warm tone and would probably look great on you warm-toned ladies.  As far as I´m concerned the D&G lippies live up to the hype – they´re moist but they also last, and for anyone worried about the rose scent, it´s there but not overpowering.  The gold case is a little flashy (yeah, big surprise) but not unattractive.

I’ll wrap this up by saying that if you think you can’t wear pink lips, you just haven’t found the right pink.  Suggestions and direction from a good makeup artist are so useful; several of these lippies I certainly wouldn’t have tried if they hadn’t been recommended to me.  It’s impossible to judge the color, coverage or saturation in the tube.  Pink lips are fun and less of a precision commitment than red.  I can’t imagine my life without them now.  I’d love to hear your thoughts!

pink lips erotic poster, popartuk.com

March

Thanks to everyone for your kind words last week. I dropped by and couldn’t believe all the comments and well-wishes, especially considering how vague I was.  That meant a lot to me.  One of my kids got sick very quickly with potential diagnosis shifting, fortunately, from meningitis to flu.    I’m still waiting for the shoe to drop regarding the other kids, so I’m typing while nobody’s actively vomiting (TMI?) so there’ll be a proper perfume review on Monday. And can I mention how perfume helps keep me sane? Or marginally less insane? But you already knew that, didn’t you?

Today’s off topic tidbits:

Glass Nail Files.  I’m a nail polish newbie but I follow some of the np blogs a little, and they’re always raving about glass nail files.  I use an emery board and I thought, seriously, how much difference could a glass file make?   The answer is: a huge difference.  I got mine in some random beauty supply store, but Sephora has them, and it’s one of the best $8 investments I’ve made.   The fine side of an emery board can leave you with micro snags, especially if your nails are prone to splitting as mine are, but the glass file gives a perfect, smooth, shaped finish.  As I like to wear my nails a little longer in an oval I’m loving the control it gives me over the final shape and the flawless nail edge.  I also like that I can rinse the file off.  The only downside is I had to get used to the sensation — it’s the teeniest bit nails-on-the-blackboard, and how many of you got a shiver up your spine reading that?

More Red Lips, with a Twist.  Red lips were all over the fashion mags this spring — they look fresh and unexpected with lighter seasonal clothing.  For those of you who went for the red lip after our Red Lip Lovefest this winter, you can still work that look.  But I’ve had a duh! moment with my red lippie stash, when I was jonesing for a pretty spring pink:  if you put on some ChapStick or whatever, then dab a tiny bit of red on top of it, either using the lipstick itself (this takes a very light hand) or applied and smudged with your finger, it looks gorgeous.  A blotted down sheer red is softer and sexier than most of the pinks I own.  I usually slick some more ChapStick on top, or some gloss.  You’d be surprised how well it lasts.   My Dior in Rouge Premiere looks particularly lovely worn this way.

While I’m at it, here’s a link to my favorite ChapStick, that smells/tastes nice but subtle and is not waxy and has SPF30 (you know you’re supposed to be wearing sunscreen on your lips, right?  If you’ve ever burned your lips at the beach or sailing you know what I’m talking about.)  I have them all over the house, in the car, my purse, etc.

March