Makeup Tips, How-to Apply Makeup, Eye Makeup, MAC Cosmetics

NARS Mousson Cream Eyeshadow from Holiday 2009

NARS Mousson Cream Eyeshadow ($21.00 for 0.10 oz.) is a new shade of cream-to-powder eyeshadow from NARS’ Holiday Collection. NARS describes this shade as “[a] shimmering, spicy pine named for the monsoon – natural and unpredictable … [i]t has richness and depth, yet allows for a surprising range of intensity.” They later describe the color as “silver sage.”

Mousson is is an antique gold with a green tarnish and silver sparkle. It’s creamy, dries to a mostly powder finish fairly quickly (but not so fast you don’t have time to work with it), and I’ve found it fairly crease-resistant. I would say it’s much better and doesn’t crease easily when set with a powder base or layered over an eyeshadow base like Urban Decay Primer Potion or Too Faced Shadow Insurance. The shade itself is exactly something I’d wear and a color I’d feel compelled to own–you know me and (antique) golds!

NARS’ Cream Eyeshadows aren’t my absolute favorite cream formula to work with (Benefit’s are my current favorite), but I do like it. I just find it does have a slight tendency to crease if you apply too much or you don’t set it with an eyeshadow. For me, I rarely wear cream shadows alone anyway, so it’s not a big deal to use it in conjunction with powder eyeshadow.

Bottom Line: For a fun, sparkly shade of antique gold with a green cast, Mousson might be something you’d like. If you’re not normally a cream eyeshadow fan, while it’s still worth taking a peek at your local NARS’ counter, I’m not sure these will persuade you otherwise at the end of the day.

If you want to know more about how products are evaluated, read out Rating System FAQ! :)

• Product: 25/30
• Value: 8/10
• Ease of Use: 4/5
• Packaging: 4/5

Recommendation: If you love NARS’ Cream Eyeshadows, I do think you’ll like Mousson!

Availability: NARS

See swatches… Keep Reading!

What’s your favorite beauty retailer/store? Share!

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I think it’s Nordstrom for me. I get points, and I love their customer service. Sephora is great, but I get SO overwhelmed!

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The Scarlet Season: Cargo Cherry Bliss Lipstick

CARGO PlantLove Cherry Bliss Lipstick ($20.00 for 0.14 oz.) is an earth-friendly lipstick (tube is made out of corn) that also does good, too.  For their celeb-designed lipsticks, $2 from the purchase price goes to benefit St. Jude Children’s Research.   Even the box it comes with can be planted and you’ll see some nice flowers grow.  Cherry Bliss was designed by celebrity Kim Raver, and it is a glossy, opaque cherry red. It’s a bright pop of red with a really glossy finish (but no real shimmer). The formula itself is creamy and moisturizing while it wears really well (about five to six hours).

The Scarlet Season is a series of posts showcasing and featuring my favorite shades of red lips–from glosses to lipsticks that runs through December 2009. You can sure expect to see a lot of red this holiday season!

See more swatches and comparison photos… Keep Reading!

The Best of the Best, Volume #010

It’s been a good–but tiring–week!  I’m still getting over this forever lingering cough, but at least I no longer sound like I’m infected with the worst cold/flu ever!  People aren’t running away from me any more :)

What are your weekend plans?  Mine are…

My weekend is gonna suck.  Seriously.  There is nothing promising about this weekend other than the brief moment in time that I’ll spend with my family to celebrate my Mom’s birthday and see my sister (who’s typically away at college) simultaneously.  But otherwise?  I’ve got a 35 page paper to crank out on Behavioral Advertising and Privacy!  Wish me luck–I need it!

This Week’s 5 Most Popular Posts

• Tutorial: Black Smoky Eye was a popular post this week, despite being borderline ancient, and I suspect it was primarily boosted up by those on the hunt for a Halloween smoky eye!
• MAC Mischief Makers Collection has finally debuted in-store and online — get your sets!
• Martha’s Lady Gaga Look was really quite lovely and well-excuted — looks like you thought so, too!
• MAC in Lillyland Collection is a collaboration between MAC and Lilly Pulitzer coming in early 2010.
• CoverGirl’s Latest “Blast” Edition – Smoky ShadowBlast looks and acts kind of like a MAC shadestick and are now available for pre-sale.

This Week’s 5 Most Discussed Posts

• Build a Quad: Soft Fire, our latest feature, debuted this past week and looks like you loved it — so you’ll definitely see it more often in the future!
• Survey Says… November 4th was all about the last products you bought!
• What eyeshadow base are you using? The sheer variety of bases in regular rotation is astounding!
• What’s the best drugstore mascara? We asked, and you told us your favorites!
• Look: White Gold & Teal using MAC’s Mystic Cool Eyeshadow Palette (plus Hold My Gaze!).

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Feel free to elaborate on your answer in the comment section!

Temptalia Gives Away Jergens Moisturizers!

To kick off Jergens Winterless Weather Forecaster Contest, ten (10) lucky Temptalia readers will win one Jergens’ Moisturizer (their choice of Sensitive Skin Relief, Shea Butter, or Ultra Healing).

Think you have what it takes to be the official Winterless Weather Forecaster for the Jergens® brand? Log on to Jergens.com beginning November 1, 2009 and share your secret for keeping skin looking beautiful and winterless no matter what the weather. Follow the “Enter Today” link on Jergens.com and upload a video explaining how you fight the skin-drying effects of winter weather in your neck of the woods (hint: Jergens® moisturizers can help). You could be one of ten finalists selected by the Jergens® skincare experts.

One Winner could receive a $5,000 talent contract to film winterless weather forecasts for online broadcast, and a luxury trip for two to New York City to meet Al Roker and a VIP behind-the-scenes tour of the show Wake Up With Al! along with $1,000 cash. The winner’s forecasts may even be featured online at Jergens.com.

See Jergens for more contest details!

Submit your entry by leaving a comment telling me which of the three Jergens’ Moisturizers you’d love to win — Sensitive Skin Relief, Shea Butter, or Ultra Healing!

All entries must be submitted by November 13th, 2009 at 11:59 PM PST. This contest is open to U.S. readers as pursuant to your local state/country’s laws. Winner will be chosen randomly and notified via e-mail. This post will be updated with “winner chosen” when one has been chosen.

Best Makeup for Dark Skin

This part of the Guide seeks to help our dark-skinned beauties find new favorite shades to love. Whether you’re dark-skinned yourself and can offer what you’ve found to work the best or you’re an experienced makeup artist or you have a dark-skinned friend who you know loves such and such product… we want your help and expertise, so please share it with us and everyone else!

To leave a suggestion, simply leave a comment and be sure to let us know what your skintone is like (you can give your foundation shade if that makes it easier!), whether it’s warm or cool, and then rattle off your suggestions! Suggestions can be from any brand you want!

You can check out mine… Keep Reading!

Best Makeup for Medium Skin

This part of the Guide seeks to help our medium-skinned beauties find new favorite shades to love. Whether you’re fair-skinned yourself and can offer what you’ve found to work the best or you’re an experienced makeup artist or you have a medium-skinned friend who you know loves such and such product… we want your help and expertise, so please share it with us and everyone else!

To leave a suggestion, simply leave a comment and be sure to let us know what your skin tone is like (you can give your foundation shade if that makes it easier!), whether it’s warm or cool, and then rattle off your suggestions! Suggestions can be from any brand you want!

You can check out mine… Keep Reading!

Best Makeup for Fair Skin

If there is any one question that I see often asked, it’s for recommendations for a specific skin tone. I think it would be fantastic if we could work together to create a list of recommendations from the people best equipped to give them — YOU!

This part of the Guide seeks to help our fair-skinned beauties find new favorite shades to love. Whether you’re fair-skinned yourself and can offer what you’ve found to work the best or you’re an experienced makeup artist or you have a fair-skinned friend who you know loves such and such product… we want your help and expertise, so please share it with us and everyone else!

To leave a suggestion, simply leave a comment and be sure to let us know what your skin tone is like (you can give your foundation shade if that makes it easier!), whether it’s warm or cool, and then rattle off your suggestions! Suggestions can be from any brand you want!

You can check out mine… Keep Reading!

NARS Luxor Multiple ($37.00 for 0.50 oz.) is the newest Multiple to debut as part of NARS’ Holiday Collection. NARS describes it as, “[a]n iridescent pink to be used on eyes, cheeks, lips and body.”

Luxor is an icy pink that almost runs a little lilac on me because it is definite cool undertones. It has a slight iridescence that’s noticeable without being over the top; it’s about the right about of shimmer I’d expect from a product best used as a highlighter. It’s surprisingly pigmented and can definitely be layered for a more opaque look. It does blend easily once warmed against the skin.

I personally prefer to use Luxor in a way that might be considered a little unconventional. I like to pat a little on the areas I want to highlight just before I apply my moisturizer. Once I’ve done that, then I apply my facial moisturizer as usual (which I do apply with my hands and slather all over). I find that it gives the highlighted areas this very soft, refined highlight and lends a certain glow to my face overall (because some, of course, does get mixed up in the moisturizer). It’s an interesting effect, nonetheless. I was inspired to try it this way because of how I use MAC’s Strobe Cream. Luxor reminds me a bit of it, only amped up–like if you took the Cream part out of Strobe Cream and just left the Strobe!

You can also take a fluffy brush and lightly dab on Luxor onto lids to give eyes a more awake look, or you can lightly dust it on your lips before layering on a gloss for some extra sparkle. The more traditional use of this as a highlighter would be to dot it along the areas you’d want to highlight, blend with a stippling brush, and then set with loose/translucent powder. You can definitely do this with Luxor, so have at it — after all, it isn’t called The Multiple for nothing!

My only big issue with The Multiples, in general, is that they’re pretty pricey. I don’t actually feel like you get a ton of product for your money, because I think these can be used up quicker than you’d think. They can be very emollient, so you may end up wearing more than you necessarily need (if you use a brush to apply, it helps to mitigate any potential over-use). I don’t think they’re a rip-off, but they do feel a little overpriced.

My secondary issue is I do find I need to use a translucent powder to set these in place to prevent them from fading too much throughout the day (I then get about four to six hours of good wear before it starts to fade).  Since I’ve found a way to combat fading, it’s not a biggie, and I tend to set my makeup anyway, so it’s not adding an extra, otherwise unnecessary step either.

Bottom Line: I think Multiple fans will enjoy Luxor. I still haven’t found a Multiple that really turns my head as others have, but I am eagerly awaiting the day it happens!

If you want to know more about how products are evaluated, read out Rating System FAQ! :)

• Product: 26/30
• Value: 7/10
• Ease of Use: 4/5
• Packaging: 4/5

Recommendation: If you’ve been looking for a cream-to-powder cool-toned highlighter, Luxor may be your new best friend.

Availability: NARS

See more photos and swatches… Keep Reading!