Do you prefer using many eyeshadows in a look or just a couple? Why is that your preference?

I love seeing what’s new in beauty, and I have to tell you a little secret–I indulge myself by checking out Nordstrom’s “What’s New” section in their Beauty & Fragrance section of their website. So here are some picks of products that caught my eyes when I perusing through the pages this afternoon…

• 1. Bliss ‘Steep Clean’ Mask ($54.00) is supposed to transform your t-zone into an amazingly clean scene.
• 2. Clinique Almost Powder SPF 15 ($22.50) is an awesome lightweight powder (I’ve tried it & loved it for on-the-go).
• 3. L’Occitane ‘Lavender Harvest’ Moisturizing Hand Lotion ($16.00) sounds like a dream for this blogger’s dry hands.
• 4. Too Faced ‘Tanning Bed in a Tube’ for the Face ($21.50) makes me long for summer with its care free design (check out that girl and the flowers).

• 1. Guerlain ‘Terracotta’ Sunless Self-Tanning Spray ($50.00) reveals that just about everyone is getting into the self-tanning market.
• 2. Guerlain ‘Terracotta’ Tajine Eyeshadow ($35.00) makes me whimper at its price, but boy is the packaging sleek. It comes in Blonde Metal, Brunette Metal, and Dark Metal.
• 3. Lancome ‘Color Ideal Illuminateur’ Sheer Highlighting Fluid ($37.00) is a highlighter version of their popular Color Ideal foundation. Bronze? I think you know I want you!
• 4. Clinique ‘Even Better’ Skin Tone Corrector ($39.50) promises to help even out your skin by reducing sun damage, dark patches, age spots, and even darkening as a result of acne scars. I actually have this in my bathroom (testing it!), but I sure wish results came faster than 4-6 weeks.

Have you tried any of these? What new beauty item(s) are you lemming? Get these and more at Nordstrom.com.

GUERLAIN | SUMMER 2008 | METEORITES COLLECTION PERLES

Météorites Perles | Light-diffusing perfecting primer, a cosmetic revolution. All the “light” expertise of MÉTÉORITES in a light-diffusing base with magical correcting and perfecting pearls, from Guerlain. Suspended in a cool, clear gel, the pearls transform into a magical base that enhances the complexion for a totally natural look. It evens out imperfections and gives the skin instant radiance. A divine alchemy that is at once make-up and skincare, it produces a naturally fresh,
radiant and healthy complexion. Delicate pink pearls, containing the new generation of matt MÉTÉORITES pearls, freshen the complexion and enhance a radiant glow without adding shine. The pearls also contain absorbing powders to neutralise any excess sebum, while a silicon polymer helps conceal blemishes and smooth away fine lines to gently even out the
complexion with a matte finish. Skin is soft, dazzling and perfect even before make-up.

Learn more… Continue reading →

Givenchy for Summer 2008

Glitter To Go – Limited Edition | Totally indispensable and irresistible, this single-dose product is easy to travel with. The sparkly formula offers a ‘soft glam’ effect, while the gel texture provides a fresh sensation. Portable single doses. Glitter To Go is the ultimate in a practical, portable summer product. Slip it into your beach bag, the pocket of your jeans or your tiny evening bag to add a touch of glamour to your shoulders and décolleté.

‘Al fresco’ effect. Composed mostly of water, it has a flowing gel texture and forms an ultra-fine film on the skin. As soon as it is applied, it provides an intense sensation of freshness and a guaranteed touch of thrilling glamour! It also helps care for the skin, with plant-based moisturising agents and anti-dryness silicone derivatives. And it scents the skin with Eau de Fleur, an accord found in all Givenchy complexion products, enveloping the body in a discreet veil of floral fragrance. Sparkling skin. Long live Discopearls! These pearlescent particles were chosen for their extensive reflective surface and multicoloured highlights. Givenchy has selected mostly pink and golden glitter to flatter every complexion, tanned or not.

Tip: Glitter To Go can be mixed with your body lotion or oil.

Prismissime Mat & Glow – Limited Edition | Prismissime offers a sunny checkerboard for a holiday anywhere from Cannes to Tahiti: two textures: one is matte, to unify the complexion and give it a matte finish, while the ultra-pearly ‘Glow’ illuminates and sculpts the face.  Nine shades: mix them together or apply touches of them separately to the face, eyes, shoulders or décolleté.  Harmony no. 71 Natural, to beautify fair complexions. Harmony no. 72 Sunny, to illuminate tanned complexions.

Tan To Go – Limited Edition | A delightful spray-on ‘sun bath’ gives your face a natural-looking tan at any time of the day or year.  Tan To Go has a liquid formula composed of volatile silicones, light oils and coated pigments. When it is applied, a sophisticated micro-diffusion system sprays on tiny drops of the formula, which eave an imperceptible, non-oily, long-lasting powdery veil and a velvety finish on the skin. s good as the sun. The result? Amazingly natural, with an even tan and luminous colour. It’s just perfect. The effect is so natural that you can intensify it as much as you want by reapplying the product. Two shades: No. 01 Sandy Tan: a healthy look for fair skin. No. 02 Amber Tan: a natural-looking tan for dark skin.

Matissime | Whether you’re in Paris, New York, Rome or Tokyo, you’ll have a radiant, perfectly matte complexion even during hot summer weather. Matissime, Givenchy’s new star product, is the ideal foundation from the Summer 2008 collection. Discover it now! Perfect matte surface, with no mask-like effect. Thanks to new-generation absorbent microspheres known as ‘canalised microspheres’, Matissime has an exceptional capacity to absorb sebum and humidity. The air circulates more freely, allowing the skin to breathe. Result: a perfect matte surface and a sensation of extreme lightness.

Rouge Interdit Shine – Limited Edition | Show-off shine and sophisticated glittery seduction for a chic new lip look.
Ultra-pearly formula. The Rouge Interdit Shine line’s two types of super-shiny pearlescent particles – Wondershine and Puresparkle – combined with liquid-crystal technology, make the colour vibrate while leaving the lips perfectly supple. Rouge Interdit Shine provides a new kind of fresh, intense, sparkling shine. Summer style. The grosgrain ribbon, Rouge Interdit Shine’s Couture signature, comes in sparkling pink for your summer escapade. Trendy shades. No. 17 Tahiti Coral: a light, delicate coral, with the added twist of intense golden shine. No. 18 Ibiza Pink: a delicious cherry pink, softened and refreshed with white pearlescent particles.

Pop Gloss Crystal – Limited Edition | The gloss versions of Rouge Interdit Shine’s Summer 2008 shades. You’ll never tire of Pop Gloss’s ultra-sensual effect, with its added volume and sparkly shine. No. 39 Tahiti Coral: fresh, pearly, transparent coral.  No. 40 Ibiza Pink: pearly, festive, delectable cherry pink.

Available June 2008. More photos to come!

theBalm timeBalm Concealer ($17.00) is a combo product that includes anti-wrinkle properties within a concealer. It comes in six shades ranging from fair complexions to tan complexions, which is important when you want to appeal to a broad audience. I found that the product worked decently, but the packaging was not my cup of tea. It is merely a clear plastic screw-top jar that feels very “DIY” rather than a product that is available at major retailers like Sephora.

What is good is that I didn’t find that this concealer settled into any of the subtle lines underneath my eyes and blends seamlessly with my regular foundation. I didn’t really dig the included sponge, just because it was so flimsy and small that it was too much work in order to use. I found a concealer brush worked a lot better, and then I used a buffer brush to blend everything together. The product itself easily dries out if you aren’t careful about your jar top being on tightly, but it concealed my dark circles and light acne scars well, but

Find this at Beauty.com or Sephora.com.

OVERALL, Heatherette will impress those who are looking for fabulously hot pink packaging with equally fun colors for their collection. Not everything is as bright as people have made it out to be; all of the lipglasses except Style Minx are very wearable and subdued. Both Fleshpot and Lollipop Loving lipsticks are perfect for summer and not at all crazy or out there in terms of intensity or color. I loved the texture of the new dual edge eye pencils, even though I was only drawn to one of them in particular. The trios were boring for me, personally, because I find them quite dupeable, but the packaging is so slim and sleek it was hard to resist not getting one of the two just for packaging.

Share your impressions of Heatherette! Don’t forget to submit your product photos & swatches to temptalia@gmail.com!

Lipsticks

• Fleshpot is a light, warm pinky nude that is definitely wearable, especially when topped with a brighter gloss (e.g. underneath Style Minx to tone the lipglass down or Starlet Kiss on top to give you a pale pink lip combination).
• Lollipop Loving is a peachy-pink kind of color with green-gold reflects, which makes it more unique compared to the other lipsticks. I think people will be drawn to this one, much like High Top (from Fafi) in its strange reflects. I see this being an easy everyday color for some pop and fizzle.
• Melrose Mood is a pale bright pink, more intense and better color pay off than Real Doll lipstick from Barbie Loves MAC in 2007. This is probably the least wearable out of the four lipsticks, just because it is incredibly cool and the color itself is bright enough to make some weary.
• Hollywood Nights is a creamy fuchsia-pink with very little reflects and a subtle sheen. I’m reminded of the PRO lipstick colors in its intensity and shade. I personally found this skippable, just because I have so many hot pink lipsticks I rarely wear as is, but it’s a nice one to add to your collection if you’re lacking in that color department!

Lipglasses

• Bonus Beat is this gorgeous, fleshy peachy nude color that will just look lovely on lips. I think this is actually a surprising favorite for me, just because I think it would make a great color on top of other lipsticks. I love the gold shimmer in it.
• Sock Hop is a creamy peach with orange undertones, kind of like a really orange coral (rather than pink). It’s pretty, but I don’t know if I’d reach for it regularly – it does remind me a little bit of Tartlette, in a creamy formula, but it isn’t a dupe.
• Starlet Kiss is better than the typical pink lipglass that comes out with launches, because it is a ilttle brighter and has cool pink-purple reflects. I did find that it is still very similar to the dozens of other pink glosses MAC launches each line. Pretty but not a “OMG, must have this now!” kind of color, if you’ve already indulged before.
• Style Minx is a really pretty dark fuchsia-red gloss with lovely purple shimmer reflects. I like the consistency and intensity of the texture, and for me, this one called out amongst all of the lip products. I have plenty of hot pinks, light pinks, and reds, but this is a combination of hot and dark pink that I couldn’t resist.

Eyeshadow Trios

• Trio One consists of Hoppin’, which reminds me a lot of Shroom, a soft highlighter with subtle sheen; Mood Ring, an intense, smooth, and rich teal–very much like Aquadisiac with way better consistency and color; and Cloudburst, which has come out before, and is a chalky black with gold reflects. Even though the teal is gorgeous, the other two colors were unimpressive (especially since I have Cloudburst already), so I find this easy to skip.
• Trio Two consists of Baby Petals, which is a highlighter kind of color with pink undertones; V.I.P., which is a nice shade of bright medium pink with very subtle shimmer (reminds me a bit of Da Bling or Living Pink); and Cassette, which is a rich dark purple with glitter, much like Fertile or Fig. 1 (without the shimmer). This trio is really pretty to look at, but again, the colors just aren’t so unique that you can’t replicate them using existing or past products.

Dual Edge Eye Pencils

• Black Funk/Pop Blue is this really rich and intense black kohl on one end with the other as a bright pop of teal. I picked this one — couldn’t resist the intense black (and the teal is a bonus).
• Nighthawk/Front Row is a duo of a dark, intense black-brown with a complimenting bronzy-gold. Pretty but I didn’t find it necessary.
• Phone Me/Text Me has an intense blue-black on one end with a silver-blue with subtle shimmer on the other end. I was reminded of the soft sparkle pencils with some of these textures, though they are smoother and the glitter isn’t as chunky.
• Fab Orchid/Dash Lily has an intense purple-black on one end with a glittery cool purple on the other end. I felt like this one had the most noticeable and chunky glitter, but the color itself goes on quite smoothly.

Pigments/Glitters

• Jardin Aires is a lovely peachy-gold that makes an excellent base under shadows, cheek highlighter, and even body highlighter. I think this is a really wearable shade, and I definitely recommend it.
• Pink Pearl is one of my favorite pigments, because it just has this lovely duochrome nature to it – pink and purple, truly. It reminds me of Stars ‘N Rockets eyeshadow in pigment form.
• Reflects Gold is a fine translucent glitter with gold reflects and sheen. I liked this more than 3D Silver, but I still didn’t get it since I have no need for something that isn’t eye-safe.
• 3D Silver is a chunky silver glitter color, and honestly, since these aren’t eye-safe, I always find myself yawning.

Beauty Powders

• Alpha Girl is a smooth, satiny medium pink (not bright, not really cool) that will make for a nice soft flush, and since it doesn’t really have much noticeable shimmer, I think it will work universally.
• Smooth Harmony is a rich tan that goes on smoothly, and I honestly used to use this as a contour color two years ago. It’s going to act as a bronzer for more people than a blusher, but darker skin tones may find it adds a nice glow for them.

Nail Polishes

• Lola Devine is a creamy pink with a touch of coral-red in i, which is very pretty and perfect for both spring and summer.
• $$$$$ Yes has an interesting name, and it really looks like foil. It’s that bright and gives off quite a bit of sheen. I don’t see myself wearing this one, but I know others will just die for its metallic finish.