I'm a sinner, I'm a saint ...

Lipstick Queen is a brand founded by Poppy King, who previously had her eponymous line and then, after her Poppy line collapsed, joined Prescriptives as its creative director.


Poppy King

As with her former line Poppy, Lipstick Queen is limited to lip color. Poppy King describes her Sinner lipsticks as "opaque, rich and creamy with a matte yet silky finish" and her Saint lipsticks as "The sheerest, moistest, most serene lipsticks you have ever tried."



I tested lipsticks in both Sinner Rust and Saint Rust at the Soft Surroundings store in St. Louis, after the saleswoman told me that warm tones suited my complexion than cool tones and dissuaded me from wine or berry shades.

Sinner Rust was very matte, but not "creamy" or "silky," as Poppy King described. I found the matte lipsticks very dry. I prefer lipsticks that are between cream and matte, with some luster.

Saint Rust is more a lip stain, and therefore not sheer. It is a little more creamy that other lip stains I've tried (Laura Mercier, Underground by Rimmel).

These lipsticks do not match Poppy King's descriptions. Still, I like the Saint lipstick, but I'd be reluctant to shell out $20. I'd pass on the Sinner lipsticks.

UPDATE: The JC Report interviews Poppy King. She says, in words surprising for a beauty entrepreneur, " Feminine is a construct, whereas female is a fact ... To be in fashion right now means to understand the difference between feminine and female and to get the balance right: too feminine and we are back in the submission of the '50s, too confrontational and it becomes '80s power woman. ... Perhaps if Hillary Clinton had got this sense of female right it may have turned out differently for her."

It is not surprising that Poppy King would comment on politics: in Australia, she was part of the Australian Republican Movement.

Flower Power

A couple of items punched up with bold floral designs:


Agatha Ruiz de la Prada lip balm for GAL Perfumeria

These fruity-flavored lip balms features the exuberant designs of Spanish fashion designer Agatha Ruiz de la Prada. I purchased the passion fruit-flavored lip balm, which is tinted blue, but goes on clear. I found mine at duty-free at the Copenhagen airport, but I've also seen these tins at anthropologie.


marimekko for AVON All Over Face Palette

Avon has partnered with famed Finnish design house marimekko to create makeup palettes with marimekko's signature Unikko poppy print. Pictured above is the All Over Face Palette; eyeshadow palettes are also available. Unlike the rip-off that Dolce & Gabbana did with its poppy-print dress, marimekko licensed use of the Unikko print to Avon.

Reading inspiration

I had been pondering why I hadn't experienced the pleasure of reading in a long time. I have a day job totally unrelated to this blog and in the evenings I'm busy doing paperwork and chores, blogging, or watching TV (I am hooked on the O'Reilly Factor and reruns of The Simpsons, which I think is genius for its references to both high culture and pop culture).

I found that I didn't even have a list of books that I wanted to read. Then, my first inspiration was my niece, who said that her favorite books were Angela's Ashes and Wuthering Heights. I then decided to pick up Angela's Ashes.

I knew about her fondness for Angela's Ashes and the other books by Frank McCourt ('Tis, Teacher Man), but I was surprised and embarrassed to learn that she was fond of Wuthering Heights through the web site of a magazine! As I wrote before, I'm in awe of Wuthering Heights - it's hard to believe that someone with such an erratic education as Emily Bronte could conceive the structure of the novel.

More recently, Style.com, the online home of Vogue and W, had a slideshow of books, the selection of which was inspired by recent designer collections. If you're registered on Style.com, you can create your own "lookbooks" - to see which books I selected from that slideshow, visit my public lookbook.

And of course, there's always my wishlist on Amazon.com.

If you had to choose, what three books would you recommend?

The First Lady sings

Carla Bruni

A followup to Models who sing:

The third album Comme Si De Rien N'Etait by Carla Bruni aka Mme. Sarkozy was released today:


Comme Si De Rien N'Etait by Carla Bruni

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!

Beauty on HSN

Eyes By Design™

TV shopping networks (QVC, HSN) are so tawdry. The products these networks peddle are tawdry and the chit-chat and banter are irritating. However, I'll be watching the debut of Eyes By Design™ on HSN this week.

Eyes By Design™ is a new venture between HSN and BeautyBank, a division of The Estee Lauder Companies. BeautyBank creates brands that are sold outside traditional department stores. BeautyBank is the brains behind Flirt!, American Beauty, good skin, and grassroots brands at Kohl's. Given my fondness for Flirt! and some American Beauty products, I'm hoping that Eyes By Design™ will be as good.


Iman

On the other hand, I won't be watching the IMAN Global Chic event on HSN this week. Iman will be debuting her third(!) cosmetics imprint, after Iman and i-iman, this Saturday. If it's anything like the cheesy Global Chic accessories she peddles on HSN, I'll pass it up. One item that Iman offers through Global Chic is a cheap knockoff of the ring that David Bowie gave her on their 15th wedding anniversary: she and the show host giggled about how the original ring came from "Fred" whose last name they wouldn't say - no doubt Fred Leighton.

I give Iman high marks as an entrepreneur (as I say, she's the biggest success story to come out of Somalia), but Global Chic undermines my perception of her "classiness."

Advice that works

I recently bought the latest edition of Paula Begoun's Beauty Bible. Her advice to use matte foundation as a base for eyeshadow was terrific. I patted Maybelline's Dream Matte Mousse Foundation on my eyelids before applying eyeshadow and my eyelids didn't get that oily appearance, as when I used cream eyeshadow base. Thanks, Paula.

I have dry cheeks and a nose that's prone to oiliness and pimples. While I use moisturizing makeup on my cheeks, I use the same Dream Matte Mousse Foundation on my nose. It's better than blotting tissues and pressed powder.

To remove eye makeup, I saturate or even soak cotton pads in eye makeup remover, lie back on the recliner (who says that recliners are for men only?), and place the pads over my eyelids to dissolve the eye makeup. No tugging and pulling - let the eye makeup remover do the work and gently wipe the makeup off afterward. I use Neutrogena's dual-phase eye remover.

Born on a Monday

Nicole Kidman and Keith Urban on their wedding day

I'm glad that Nicole Kidman gave birth to a biological child (she has two adopted children from her marriage to Tom Cruise). I know that it's something that she sought for a long time. She's one celebrity who is a class act.

But why did she and Keith Urban had to give the baby girl such a ridiculous name "Sunday Rose"? The baby was born on a Monday! Let's hope that they simply call her "Rose."

Anne Hathaway in People

Anne Hathaway in SELF

While the July 2008 issues of InStyle and Self with Anne Hathaway are still at newsstands, out comes this week's edition of People, with a cover story about Raffaelo Follieri and her.


Anne Hathaway in People

I don't know whether or not she was "stunned and heartbroken" by Follieri's alleged wrongdoing, but I do know that stories of betrayal play well. Just witness the media attention given to the marital woes of Alex Rodriguez and Christie Brinkley.

ThickerLongerBetter Part II

SPINLASH™

SPINLASH™ is a battery-driven mascara wand that is available at Target and CVS. It comes with its own mascara cartridge, but I use it applying my "regular" mascara (I've been trying out so many different mascaras that I really can't call anything my regular mascara). By pressing either end of the switch, SPINLASH™ can turn clockwise or counterclockwise. It spins very slowly. SpinLash does seem to define and separate my lashes and accentuate curl. Call SPINLASH™ a buy.

What we women go through to get ThickerLongerBetter eyelashes! My totally hot nephew (dare I say this because I'm his auntie?) in India has naturally long and thick eyelashes that I have to recreate with eyeliner and mascara. I envy him!