Weekend natural #makeup look

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Weekend natural makeup look

Surprising advice from L'Oreal

"Over-moisturizing can train skin to think it doesn't need to produce its own moisture. Moisturize when needed, but don’t overdo it." From Twitter.

Amazing.  I would have thought that it's L'Oreal's business to push the use of moisturizer - kinda like the advice to shampoo, rinse, and repeat.

Jackie of Belen Echandia wrote, "hahah they have a very good marketing team I'd say. That's exactly what they wanted you to think :)."

Today's makeup

What I'm wearing:

• Coral crinkled silk bracelet length jacket from Talbot's
• Ivory tank top
• Straw-colored linen blend trousers from Talbot's
• Bronze-metallic comfort sandals by NAOT

Paula's Choice Sheer Cream Lipstick SPF 15

My makeup:

• Laura Mercier Eye Basics in Linen
• Nuance Salma Hayek Length Extending Lash Serum
• L'Oreal Paris Voluminous Mascara in black - thanks, Sam Fine, for this recommendation
• Nuance Salma Hayek Tinted Moisturizer in Light
• Paula's Choice Sheer Cream Lipstick SPF 15 - color discontinued

Best drugstore mascaras

We had the best mascaras at all price points, now we have the best drugstore mascaras. It makes sense when mascara needs to be replaced frequently.

11 Best Drugstore Mascaras

These products feel like splurging -- minus the high price tag

Are you a mascara fanatic? We are too. However, that doesn't mean we'll drop lots of cash on high-end mascaras (well, OK, it does, but we don't JUST do that). Especially when there are these cheap-but-awesome ones out there. Check them out, and say good-bye to your $20-a-tube days. See mascaras

Sam Fine recommends L'Oreal Voluminous Mascara as an inexpensive option.

P&G is ceasing to distribute Max Factor in the U.S., but you can find its top-rated Stretch & Separate Waterproof Mascara and Volume Couture Mascara at drugstore.com.

Big L’Oréal Paris Blowout Giveaway

Enter for a chance to win an 11-piece L’Oréal Paris collection of recently launched products! The prize includes:

Revitalift Deep-Set Wrinkle Repair Eye: this dual-end tube features both day and night formulae

Two Colour Riche Anti-Aging Serum Lipcolor lipsticks, one in Real Red (the color Linda Evangelista wears in the ad campaign) and the other in Pucker Up Pink

Two Infallible Never Fail Plumping Lipgloss (is that redundant, or what?) tubes, one in Plumped Pink and the other in Plumped Red

Extra-Volume Collagen Mascara in Black

L’Oréal HIP has become a favorite for those who like vivid color and deep pigment. I have a total of five (!) HIP High Intensity Pigments Matte Shadow Duos to give away:

Dashing: pink/charcoal
Striking: bright yellow/charcoal
Poppy: goldenrod/brown
Perky: bright green/slate
Animated: white/blue

I’m sweetening the offer by including a 0.05 ml sample vial of Bare Skin Eau du Parfum from Leslie Blodgett Perfume Diaries; a sachet (packet) of Skin MD Natural Shielding Lotion; and two Eye Majic instant eyeshadows:



NOTE these products were provided to me by representatives for L’Oréal Paris, Leslie Blodgett Perfume Diaries, Skin MD Natural, and Eye Majic.

Your Golden Moment

I love it when L'Oreal comes out with a limited edition collection. Invariably, the limited edition collection features a beautiful eye shadow palette.

Beyoncé and Eva Longoria Parker are featured in the advertising campaign for L'Oreal's latest limited edition collection Your Golden Moment. Your Golden Moment features two beautiful eye shadow collections: A Little Bit of Glitz and A Little Bit of Glam.

As with many limited edition collections from mass-market brands, the availability of Your Golden Moment collection is erratic. You might have to visit several stores before you find it. The search is worth it.

Blushes as Bronzers

Bronzer isn't just for summer; it's great for warming up pallid or drained winter complexions. Sometimes, however, products marketed as bronzers are simply too brown and muddy. Tawny or reddish brown blushes might be a better choice.

Here are four price-friendly blushes that can work as bronzers (note that the shades as portrayed may not be true):

Revlon Powder Blush in Sandalwood Beige 08 (top left) is great for fair to light midtones.

L'Oreal True Match Super-Blendable Blush, Neutral in Sweet Ginger N7-8 (top right) is marketed for deep skintones, but would be right for medium skintones.

Rubiglo in Earth (bottom left) would be great for dark reddish skintones, as would Iman Luxury Blushing Powder in Sable (bottom right).

What are your favorite bronzers and blushes for your skintone?

We have a winner!

I am pleased to announce that Lynne won the L'Oreal Paris cosmetics giveaway, by random drawing. Congratulations, Lynne, and I look forward to publishing your review on The Style Page.

Thanks to all those who had entered our contest, and be sure to keep visiting The Style Page for future contests and fun polls!

Don't forget to vote in our current poll Are You Loyal to a Particular Cosmetics Brand or Product? To vote, simply scroll down the blog past the Total Beauty skyscraper ad on the left side bar. The vote closes on September 30, and I'd like to have robust participation in this poll to get some meaningful results.

L'Oreal Paris cosmetics giveaway

L'Oreal Paris is The Style Page's favorite mass-market brand of cosmetics. For that reason, I'm proud to host a giveaway of four recently introduced L'Oreal Paris products:

* L'Oreal Paris Bare Naturale eyeliner (loose powder) in Defining Bronze
* L'Oreal Paris Infallible Never Fail Eyeliner in Black
* L'Oreal Paris HIP High Intensity Pigments Jelly Balm in Luscious
* L'Oreal Paris Bare Naturale gentle lip conditioner in Soft Petal

I respect your privacy. When you enter, you don't have to give your full name. I will not share your email address with anyone else, nor will I subscribe you to The Style Page blog. Of course, if you want to subscribe, that's very much appreciated!

Enter below for a chance to win L'Oreal Paris cosmetics. Only one entry per IP address (I was spammed with four entries from the identical IP address). This contest closes on Friday, September 12 at 11:55 PM.



If the winner so requests, I will include a link to her blog. Of course, she may publish the review on her blog as well: just include a reference to The Style Page, thestylepage.blogspot.com.

Messy, but worth it

I'm not big on black eyeliner, as it's too harsh. I'm hooked on black brown eyeliner and now on eyeliner that are described as bronze black.

For pencils, two of my favorites are Physicians Formula Eye Definer Flat Automatic Eyeliner Pencil in Black Bronze and Velvet Touch Eyeliner in Metallic Brass from Denmark's GOSH Cosmetics.

Lately, I've discovered L'Oreal Bare Naturale Gentle Mineral Eyeliner in Bronze. It's messy because it's a loose powder, but the look is smudgier than what you get with a pencil and the results are worth the extra care in handling this product.


L'Oreal Bare Naturale Gentle Mineral Eyeliner in Bronze

Here are some tips to minimize the mess:

* Cover your (preferably non-porous) countertop with facial tissue or wax paper to catch powder. Fold the tissue or wax paper to save the spilt powder for later use. Put some sort of weight on top - I use the container itself.

* Tap the dispenser right side up vertically - not at an angle. This minimizes spills. Unfortunately, the container does not come with a sifter.

* Get a damp cloth to wipe the the countertop clean in case of spills.

I apply L'Oreal Bare Naturale Gentle Mineral Eyeliner with the self-contained slant-edged brush to my upper lash line and to the outer corner of the lower lash line. Then I dot the lower lash line with a pressed powder eyeshadow in a softer color, using the pointed end of the Line & Define Brush from Beauty Strokes. This helps fill in sparse lower eyelashes.

Follow-ups on recent articles

Now Lancome has come out with its own vibrating mascara. I received notices through Glam.com, Sephora, and Lancome itself hyping the new mascara. I'll wait and see if L'Oreal will come out with a similar product for less: Lancome is part of the L'Oreal Group and L'Oreal products are often knockoffs of Lancome products.

This article General Counsel: Fashion Fuels a Friendship from WSJ.com (the companion webiste to the Wall Street Journal) is about dressing appropriately for the workplace, but it confirms what Poppy King said about Hillary Clinton. The article states,

"Yet if looking womanly can seem unprofessional, it's also possible to not look feminine enough. Massive amounts of time and print space have been devoted to analyzing Hillary Clinton's power lapels and pantsuits. Now, some voters wonder if a softer message might have been better received."

Of course, there were other things (Hillary's lack of connection with prospective voters, Bill's temper tantrums) that derailed her campaign.

Eye shadow and eye color

I just sat through the debut of Eyes By Design on HSN. I spent 30 minutes listening to some woman with a grating British accent and the usual hyper-perky TV shopping network hostess, who subjected me to pitches that the eye shadow palettes were created "scientifically" (a red flag word) to enhance one's eye color.

The presentation so totally bummed me out that I won't be buying Eyes By Design. I'm disappointed - I expected better from BeautyBank.

The HSN and QVC websites are among the most sophisticated e-commerce sites I've seen, with lots of information about products. Download the tip sheets for using Eyes By Design palettes. The tip sheets are available in a printer-friendly version and can be used with other palettes .

I'm not smitten with the idea of selecting eye shadow shades based on eye color alone - refer to Makeup lessons from Di Kennedy to see what other factors should be considered.

Still, if you're interested in eye shadow palettes based on eye color, I recommend L'Oreal's recent Made for Me Naturals eye shadow palette collection. All the palettes are beautiful, and you don't have to limit yourself to the palette for your eye color: I chose the palettes for brown eyes (Penelope Cruz) and dark eyes (Beyonce).

I'm also enjoying the Pop Beauty Eye Class palette in Brown Eyes (although the appliqués make the wallet look tacky). I also like the Play It Up eye shadow trio for green eyes from Almay, and while I grumbled about Almay retaining Elaine Mellencamp after it completely redid its brand, she's picked up cachet through her husband's recent - and deserved - induction into the Rock'n'Roll Hall of Fame!

The World's Richest Woman

Who is she?


Liliane Bettencourt

Forbes lists Liliane Bettencourt 17th among the wealthiest people in the world, with a net worth of USD 22.9 billion:

Daughter of L'Oreal founder Eugene Schueller, a man who is said to have a checkered past with wartime ties to the Nazi regime, Liliane is the world's richest woman, thanks to her controlling stake in the cosmetics giant. She has held the stock for more than four decades. She became a widow last November when her 88-year old husband, Andre Bettencourt died. Her Bettencourt Schueller Foundation supports medical, cultural and humanitarian endeavors in France and developing countries.

L’Oréal Paris Infallible Never Fail Lipcolour Collection

L’Oréal Paris has released a limited edition collection of its Infallible Never Fail Lipcolour compacts. The compacts feature floral and fruit silhouettes designed by up and coming fashion designers supported by CFDA/Vogue Fashion Fund (CVFF). Below is the list of designers and the shades for which they created designs:

3.1 PHILLIP LIM- Phillip Lim - Apricot
BAND OF OUTSIDERS - Scott Sternberg - Azalea
ERIN FETHERSTON - Erin Fetherston - Cerise
KOI - Koi Suwannagate - Geranium
MICHAEL BASTIAN- Michael Bastian - Hibiscus
PHILIP CRANGI JEWELRY- Philip Crangi - Mulberry
ROGAN- Rogan Gregory - Persimmon
THREEASFOUR - Gabriel AsFour, Angela Donhauser, Adi Gil - Pomegranate
VENA CAVA - Lisa Mayock and Sophie Buhai - Rosebud
VPL - Victoria Bartlett – Thistle

I'm not aware of anything else on the market like L’Oréal Paris’ Infallible Never Fail Lipcolour. The compact consists of a tube of liquid lipcolour with wand and a gloss stick (a "conditioning topcoat"). There is a mirror on the reverse side of the compact. To use, push the lipcolour tube outwards, open the tube, and use the wand to apply lipcolour. The package recommends that you wait two minutes for the colour to dry before you apply the gloss (similarly, the gloss stick is pushed outwards). It also recommends that you remove the lipcolour from your lips with an oil-based makeup remover (baby oil or cold cream would work).

I like the results. The lipcolour dries to a lip stain, but as I have noted before, you need conditioned lips to wear lip stain well. But don't apply gloss immediately before applying Infallible Never Fail Lipcolour: the package recommends "clean" lips.

The limited edition L’Oréal Paris’ Infallible Never Fail Lipcolour collection is available exclusively at L’Oréal Paris retail stores or by phone. Call 888-270-7743 to order.

Finding cosmetics for African-American women

Here's a good article from Richmond.com about finding cosmetics for African-American women at drugstores and other venues. Especially valuable is the review of foundations from Iman, CG Queen Collection from Cover Girl, L'Oreal HIP, and L'Oreal True Match.

If you're a "woman of color" (a marketing rubric to encompass women whose origins come from elsewhere than Europe), do you prefer to shop a brand targeted toward women of color or one that appeals to everyone? Why?

Great drugstore finds

As the interview with Aunt Beep for ThisNext showed, I'm an inveterate roamer at CVS, particularly its cosmetics aisles, which not only have the usual mass-market brands, but also Lumene, a cosmetics brand from Finland exclusive to CVS and the French skin care brands Avene and LaRoche-Posay.

Here are some drugstore finds that I'd like to share with my readers:

Maybelline Dream Mousse Shadows in Rose Kiss and Black Spice from their limited edition Sugar and Spice collection for Valentine's Day (the collection even featured nail polish with heart-shaped sparkles!) . Rose Kiss is a beatiful shade for the lid, while Black Spice is great for the outer corner of the eye for the class smoky eye look. If only Maybelline would add these shades to its regular collection!

L'Oreal has now added liquid bronzer to its popular True Match™ collection of foundations, powders, concealers, and blushes designed to flatter a wide variety of skin tones. I am very fond of True Match™ liquid makeup in N3 - see my review at ThisNext, so I picked up the liquid bronzer in N1-2-3. This liquid bronzer may be blended with your foundation or be used alone.

UPDATE: The May 2007 of Lucky has a good tip: apply liquid bronzer before foundation to even skin tones. It worked for my skin, which has a tendency towards ruddiness

Physicians Formula Mineral Wear™ Talc-Free Mineral Eye Shadow Quad

Finally, Physicians Formula has released six different talc-free Mineral Eye Shadow Quads, all in beautiful shades. My complaint is about the packaging - you have to flip the compact over to use the mirror, so it's a clumsy way of applying the eyesahdow.

You can find Maybelline, L'Oreal, and Physicians Formula at major drugstores, mass-market retailers, supermarkets, and drugstore.com. Lumene is exclusive to CVS, and you can also find Avene and LaRoche-Posay at select CVS stores. Stores carrying Vital Radiance are now trying clear their inventory, so now is the time to snap up these products (which were good, although the line was badly marketed) at the right price - I was fond of Vital Radiance's Smoothing Eye Primer mousse, so I bought two at half-price. Paula's Choice may be purchased through the web site for Paula Begoun.

UPDATE: I have since found out that drugstore.com and Amazon.com carry a wide variety of Vital Radiance products.

What's in my makeup travel kit

Categories: Beauty, Cosmetics

I'm off for two days of meetings. In my makeup bag:

• LORAC Brow Wax For Eyes, Brunette


• Vital Radiance Smoothing Eye Primer


• Paula's Select Barely There Sheer Matte Tint SPF 20 in Sheer Ivory


• loose powder (a mix of Clinique and Bobbi Brown powders) in a small sifter jar


• Max Factor MAXeye Shadow in Baja Bronze - note: screen colors are not true. Shop KMart or Wal-Mart for Max Factor's new makeup items.


• Aveda blush in Tesserae


• eyebrow, eyeshadow, blush, and powder brushes


• Maybelline Volum' Express Washable Mascara, Very Black


• Flirt! LOVE & MATTENESS™ Oil-Free Pressed Powder in China Doll (warm)


• blotting papers


• L'Oreal Colour Juice Sheer Lip Gloss, Passion Fruit Squeeze - adds shine and subtle color to the lips


• Marcelle Soothing Eye Makeup Remover Gel - gel is much less messy than liquid. Marcelle is sold in Canada. For a U.S. alternative, try Almay Eye Make Up Remover Gel, Oil Free


• Cosmetic Cotton Rounds - to apply the eye makeup remover gel


• Swabplus Liquid Filled Cotton Swabs, Eye Makeup Remover - great for touchups

Vital Radiance UPDATED 2006-02-22

Recent history of cosmetics lines for "older" women is strange, to say the least. Maybelline had its Revitalizing line of cosmetics in the 1990s, represented first by Rosie Vela, then by 30-something Paulina Porizkova (after her contract with Estee Lauder ended in 1993), before it discontinued the line. That was a shame, as the Maybelline Revitalizing line had some silky-smooth matte eyeshadows and subtle blushes.

Revlon has enjoyed more continuity with its Age-Defying line, represented first by Melanie Griffith, and now by 45-year-old Julianne Moore and 59-year-old Susan Sarandon.

Today, the market is brimming over with skin care for women over 50 - witness Olay's Regenerist and L'Oreal's RevitaLift lines. Cover Girl has recalled its long-time model Christie Brinkley to promote its Advanced Radiance Age-Defying Makeup (note, however, Christie's hand is always covering her neck - if you've seen the Total Gym ads she does with Chuck Norris, you know why).

Revlon has launched a complete cosmetics line called Vital Radiance, targeted at women 50 and over. It's too tempting to call this makeup for the AARP set (although I'm only a few years shy of that time when I'll get my invitation to join AARP). Also, brand names that include "vital" and "radiance" for older women are beginning to sound hackneyed.

The foundation is more highly pigmented than others to compensate for loss of color in the complexion. I'll leave it to a real makeup expert, but I question the wisdom of this approach. It seems to me that color should come from a judicious application of blush in a flattering shade.

Eye shadow trios come into soft colors. Mousse shadow contain shimmer, and I questions why Revlon put shimmer into eye shadow intended for women over 50. Consumers will find the price of Vital Radiance rather high, especially for a mass market brand: one small pot of Vital Radiance EasyBlending Mousse Eye Shadow costs $14.50, while Maybelline's new Dream Mousse Eye Shadow (an extension of its Dream Mousse line, costs less than half that price.

Vital Radiance Smoothing Eye Primer

The Style Page especially liked Vital Radiance Smoothing Eye Primer. This product does indeed smooth the eye area and provide coverage as a base for eyeshadow and contains no shimmer. Some consumers might object to the peachy shade.