Patriotic nails - Isadora, OPI for Merle Norman, Le Métier de Beauté - Updated for July 4

Isadora, which is from Sweden, posted this picture of patriotic nails on Facebook:

Patriotic Nail art from Sweden's Isadora

Isadora Wonder Nail polish shades:

• no 603 Tip White
• no 702 Blue Jeans
• no 653 Chelsea Red

And don't ask me about the red hands! :-)

Merle Norman likes to trumpet its "Made in the USA" credentials. OPI created its Americana nail set to celebrate Merle Norman’s heritage. It features red, white and blue mini OPI Nail Lacquers. The Americana nail set features:

• Hussy - a ravishing red polish. No, it's not named for a brazen woman who's got her mitts on your man (and believe me, I've had to deal with one), it's named for a classic car. 
• Alpine Snow
• Yoga-ta Get this Blue! 
• RapiDry Top Coat

OPI for Merle Norman Americana nail set

And once again, my apologies for the lousy picture quality, but it's the best I could find. :-(

See set from Le Métier de Beauté:

IsaDora Eye Shadow Quartet

Source: makeup.apothica.com via STYLE on Pinterest

A glowing review of IsaDora Eye Shadow Quartet from Paula Begoun:

IsaDora Eye Shadow Quartet is a find! Although each set of four colors has at least one shiny shade, the texture is magnificent: a creamy-feeling powder that is not the least bit dry, dusty, or flaky. It glides over lids and allows precise blending. The pigment level is higher than usual, so you get stronger color and more coverage than you do from most powder eyeshadows, not to mention long wear. For a professional makeup design, these work great and the price is more than fair. The best combinations (which include a dark color for use as eyeliner) are Pearls, Classic Brown, Crystal Mauve, Pearly Minerals, Silvery Gray, Antique Gold, and Chocolate Brown.

I can certainly vouch for the Eye Shadow Quartet in Antique Gold. Bronzing Plums have deep shades that are great for the outer corner. You may shop Isadora at CosmeticMall.com or Apothica.  Unfortunately, there are itty-bitty thumbnails (no enlargement or swatches) so you can't get a good sense of the shades.

Missing IsaDora? Found.

Cover of February 2009 Allure

I was surprised to see a reference to IsaDora eyeshadow in the "Black and Blue" photo spread that appears in the February 2009 issue of Allure. Over a year ago, beauty advisors at Walgreen's (which had been the exclusive distributor for IsaDora in the U.S.) told me that IsaDora decided against shipping to the U.S.

I checked the credits in the back of the magazine, which indicated that IsaDora was available through walgreens.com. A search of walgreens.com did not yield any results for IsaDora.

The good news is that IsaDora is now being sold through Cosmeticmall.com and Amazon.com!

Get it while it lasts

Here in the Washington, DC Metro area, where I live, the dominant drugstore chain is CVS. There is only a smattering of Walgreen's and Rite-Aid stores (including former Eckerd that became Rite-Aid stores after Canada's Jean Coutu Pharmacy sold Eckerd stores to Rite-Aid). Consequently, I go out of the way to shop at Walgreen's or Rite-Aid.

I went to Walgreen's yesterday, and I was startled to see all IsaDora cosmetics sold at 50% discount. I asked the beauty adviser-cum-salesperson if Walgreen's is no longer going to carry IsaDora, and she told me that IsaDora no longer wanted to ship products to the USA(!)

While I was not initially impressed by IsaDora, I reconsidered after reading Paula Begoun's glowing review of its eyeshadow quads. I now enjoy IsaDora eyeshadow quads in Antique Gold and Bronzing Plums - and picked up the eye shadow trio in Patina yesterday.

In short, get IsaDora products while you still can!

Good and bad advice from Allure

Here are Beauty tips of the month from Allure:

1. For a little drama, try not washing your mascara and eyeliner off completely—it will be smudgy and sexy the next day, says Charlotte Tilbury.
   
2. Try a lipstain instead of gloss—the look is more inviting, say makeup artists. Dab color on the middle of lips, blending outward. It should look as if you've polished off a Popsicle.
   
3. Work a new version of smoky eyes with bronze colored shadow. Line eyes with a soft chocolate pencil and sweep eye shadow over the lids and a little underneath, blending so there are no hard lines.

Regarding the first tip, going to bed without removing your makeup is a no-no! It will not be sexy in the morning!

Facial cleanser is usually not enough to remove eye makeup, so be sure to use an eye makeup remover (I prefer oil-free or two-phase liquid eye makeup removers that don't leave an oily residue) and pat clean with a cotton ball or pad. Eye makeup removers formulated with mineral oil causes smearing. Use a second cotton ball or pad to make sure all eye makeup has been removed.

I won't comment on the second tip - I tried to take advantage of Allure's giveaway for Laura Mercier's Mulberry Lip Stain, but the server for her web site was probably overwhelmed with visitors taking advantage of the same offer.


Isadora Eye Shadow Quartet in Antique Gold

However, the third tip is great - I like the Isadora Eye Shadow Quartet in Antique Gold (I use the darkest shade as a liner), but the Eye Shadow Quartet in Bronzing Plum also looks tempting.

What's New in Beauty - May 12, 2005: Yue-Sai, Costco, Webby Awards, cosmetic buying trends

Categories: Beauty, Cosmetics

China's Yue-Sai goes global: L'Oreal will launch Yue-Sai, the Chinese cosmetics brand, first in Asia and then in Europe and North America. Yue-Sai was founded by Chinese-American TV presenter Yue-Sai Kan. L'Oreal acquired Yue-Sai from the Lancaster Group in January 2004.

Costco developing its own cosmetics brand - Costco, the Seattle-based wholesale buyers' club that can supply you from cradle to grave, is developing its own cosmetics brand in partnership with Borghese. The Style Page has previously written on cosmetics brands exclusive to a store chain: IsaDora (Walgreen's), Lumene (CVS), Per Una (UK's Marks & Spencer), No 7 (UK's Boots), and good skin, American Beauty, and Flirt! (Kohl's).

The Webby Award winners have been announced: in the Beauty and Cosmetics category, the winner was comeclean.com, a web site for method's holiday gift set. Its gimmick was providing a place to read confessions and post confessions to "come clean." The People's Choice winner was the Mary Kay personal consultant site - no surprise there.

Finally, the article Specialty format steals department store beauty dollar from Cosmeticsdesign.com discusses how specialty and discount stores are taking market share for cosmetics purchases from traditional department stores. The merger of the major U.S. department store chains - Federated (Bloomingdale's and Macy's) and May (Lord & Taylor, Robinson's-May, Hecht's, Famous-Barr, etc.) will result in fewer consumer choices among department stores.

The Style Page notes that one challenge is that salespeople at department stores represent and work on behalf of a particular cosmetics brand. If department stores and their suppliers (notably Estee Lauder Companies) want to win back market share, they should scrap the current system in favor of salespeople/advisors who can advise on several brands and provide central checkouts for cosmetics purchases.

Update: Soon after I published this post, I found that Shoppers Drug Mart, a drugstore chain in Canada, is negotiating with Estee Lauder Companies to distribute various Estee Lauder brands through their stores. More evidence about the change in buyers' habits.

Walgreen's IsaDora, CVS's Lumene

Categories: Beauty, Cosmetics

I live in the Mid-Atlantic States, where the dominant drugstore chain is CVS. I visited Walgreen's while I was in St. Louis, and checked out the IsaDora cosmetics line, which is carried exclusively at Walgreen's. There's a growing trend for chain stores to carry lines exclusive to that chain. While IsaDora, a cosmetics line from Sweden, is exclusive to Walgreen's, Lumene, a cosmetics line from Finland, is exclusive to CVS. (Interestingly, I found eyeliner pencils from CVS's Essence of Beauty line at Big Lots!)

I found IsaDora unappealing and dated in its displays featuring overly made-up models and its packaging. Lumene, on the other hand, strives for an image of Nordic freshness and coolness through its use of cool blonde Nordic models and dark blue packaging (think Noxzema or Nivea).

The Style Page has tried Lumene's Vitamin+ Energy Cocktail serum, a two-phase formula that needs to be shaken for application, and it does impart a nice glow to the skin. It also likes Lumene's Delight Solo eyeshadow in Never Alone (a subdued pink) from its Skin Couture collection.