Magnifique!!!

Magnifique (the darker colour from the TSV) is so pretty, and I'm so happy that it's not brown, I had to do a look that highlights its beauty. Magnifique has a lot of depth and a sophistication that makes it perfect for day or night.

I tried to use a mix of colours from recent kits for this look. The only one that is an old colour is Hyacinth. Hyacinth may not be new but it is a must have.

EYES:
PTFE, wr/cr,
Hyacinth lash to brow,
Vivid in middle of crease and in the middle lash to crease,
Magnifique in outer crease and outer 1/3 of lid and wet lined on top and dry lined on outer corner of lower lash line,
Tarte mascara.


CHEEKS: Pink Ribbon blush
LIPS: Sherbert lipstick with Kir Royal gloss over it.

Bare Escentuals November TSV 2010: The Perfect Gift

Today I want to review the November Bare Escentuals Today's Special Value (TSV) that will be on QVC on November 13th. You can order this as a one time shipment  or on auto-delivery (A-D). If you order it on A-D you will get three more similar kits, one in March, June and September. Each shipment will have the same types of items in different colours.

Creme de la creme eye shadow: BE describes this as a mocha creme colour. It does look cream-ish but has some burnished gold tones and maybe a light hint of kakai. On the eye dry it is very neutral. Because of the light sheen that it has it foils in a way that makes it look creamy rather than sparkly. I love shadow like this. They are great base shades for many looks.

Magnifique eye shadow: This is an intense smoky plum. It is not a red plum. It end up looking smoky without a decernable colour dry on the eye.  It looks dark enough to use wet (or dry) as a liner. I don't have anything like this colour in my collection. I really like it. It does not look brown on me which makes me very happy!

Avant-Garden Blush: Ooooo pretty! It looks great! It is a beautiful pink. It is not peachy at all. It is one of those blushes that make a differencet to your face that you can see as soon as you put it on. It looks very much like my nautral blush.

B&B in Black Coffee: I did not try this or swatch it so I really can't review it.

Tinted Hydrating Mineral Veil: It looks nice on. It seems to have a little bit of a pearl quality to it. It is not at all intensely pigmented so I think it will blend in nicely on fair skin. It does seem to add a nice glow.

Pretty Amazing lipcolour in Rouge: This is the brand new product in the kit. It seems to be a cross between a gloss and a lipstick. It has a slightly thicker consistency than a BE natural lipgloss and it is completely opaque. The colour is a pink leaning red. It appears very dark on me but not harsh. It feels smooth and moisturizing on my lips and not at all sticky. I did blot it after I put it on. The applicator is a flexable paddle that looks longer and flatter than a typical doe foot applicator. I thought it was very easy to apply the product with the applicator. However, it did seem to hold on to a lot of product.

Flawless Definition Volumizing mascara: This mascara gives you volume and definition. It is similar to the regular flawless mascara but is a little thicker and has a different brush. I like this mascara.

Overall I like this collection. Even though the eye shadows are neutral they are not boring. The blush is perfect. I also love trying new products before they launch and so getting to try the Pretty Amazing lip colour was a nice treat. It is a really good price for everything that you get (about $45 with tax and shipping). I almost didn't get this because I thought it would be too neutral but I really glad I changed my mind.

EYES:

Prime Time For Eyes (PTFE), wr/cr,

Creme de la creme dry lash to brow,

Creme de la creme foiled lash to crease,

Magnifique in crease and outer 1/4,

Sable wet lined on top,

Flawless Definition Volumizing mascara.

CHEEKS: Hydrating tinted mineral veil all

over face, Avant-garden blush.

LIPS: Pretty Amazing lipcolor in Rouge

Here is the video for this look:

Bare Escentuals Color Wheel: Water Lily, Exotic Tara, Take Me, French Navy

Here is another look from the BE colour wheel. I used Take Me instead of Whisper and French Navy wet instead of B&B in Midnight. I like how it turned out. Exotic Tara and Water lily look great together!

Bombay Buxom lipstick by itself:

Bombay with Michelle Buxom gloss over it:

EYES:
PTFE, wr/cr,
Take me under brow,
Exotic Tara in crease,
Water lily lash to crease,
French Navy wet lined on top,
Flawless Volumizing mascara.


CHEEKS: Rose Radiance
LIPS: Bombay buxom lipstick with Michelle
buxom gloss over it.

50% off Rare Minerals today at Sephora

I was just poking around Sephora and noticed that all the Rare Mineral line is marked down 30%. Today is the last day of the Friends and Family sale. So if you buy the Rare Minerals today you will get 50% off, which is a great deal!!

I think the Rare Minerals line is on sale because they are changing the names of the products and the packaging. They have pre-viewed the new packaging at QVC. While I like the new packaging, especially the brush in the lid idea for Rare Minerals, I am worried that people are going to be very confused by the change. As far as I know they are just changing the packaging and the names of the products but not the formulas. I'll update this if I learn anything new. 


Also the Lauren Luke palettes are on sale for $16.50.

Bare Escentuals Color Wheel: Ell-if-I-know, Black Ice, Dove

In the most recent BE cataloge, BE included four tear out cards with looks on them. All four looks are from the colour wheel on BE.com. They are pretty looks so I thought I would do a few. I did the one with True Gold a while back already.

I don't have Patience which is the recommended highlight colour for this look so I used Dove instead.

Here are BE's instructions

Marrakech Buxom lipstick by itself:

Marrakech with Amber buxom gloss over it:

EYES:

TFSI, wr/cr,
Dove under brow,
Black Ice in crease,
Ell-if-I-know lash to crease,
B&B Intense black liner,
Tarte mascara.


CHEEKS: Pink Tourmaline blush
LIPS: Marrakech Buxom lipstick with Amber buxom over it.

Thank you BE On A Budget

I just want to thank Connie from BE on a Budget for mentioning my blog when she got a blog award from another blogger. See it here.

I also wanted to give a shout out to a few blogs just as she did.
Beauty Au Natural: Heather does great work. I love all of her reviews of natural products. I also love that while she has pictures of the new BE products she makes a great effort to use all her colours by doing a "BE Nirvana" every now and then.

Alaskan Angel: Keasha's blog is packed with all the latest BE product info as well as swatches and looks. She rocks!!

Bare Escentuals Bliss: Jess just started her blog but you might know her from all her awesome swatches on Facebook. She is also a very talented makeup artist. I don't know if she has any training but she applies makeup like an expert.

I would also like to thank the ladies at Majyk for their support of my blog and me. And all the people at Bare Escentuals Addicts and Mineral Madness who have been so kind to me. The forums have been a great resource for makeup ideas and friendship.

Thanks again Connie for the kind words!!

Bare Escentuals Shimmer and Shine

Simmer and Shine is the Holiday 2010 kit exclusive to Sephora. Out of all the holiday kits I've gotten so far this one looks like it would make the most impressive gift. You four eye shadows (High shine gold medal, High shine Vapor, Shimmer, and Flicker) one blush (pink petal eye shadow size), clear radiance (also eye shadow size), two full size 100% natural lip glosses in With a Twist and Sprinkles, a double ended brush (blush brush on one side, eye shadow brush on the other) and a Big and Bright liner pencil in Intense Black, all for $54. I think this a good deal. The box is really pretty and it looks impressive when you open it up.

Big and Bright liner pencil in Intense Black: Bare escentuals makes very nice liner pencils. They all have smudgers and sharpeners built in to the end of the pencil. They apply well in little strokes. I am just not very skilled with the liner pencils and I prefer the smooth line of wet minerals. But if you like pencils you will like these.

Clear Radiance: On some skin tones CR makes your skin look like "barbie skin", as someone once put it. However, it does add a nice sheer highlight to blush and I use clear radiance in my eye neutralizing mix (50/50 mix of clear radiance and well rested). CR has really grown on me and I am happy to have it.

Pink Petal Blush: This is a great neutral bright pink. I think this will add a happy lightness to anyone's face.

Shimmer eye shadow: Shimmer is like a nude version of Puzzle. Puzzle has a kind of loose sparkle and so does shimmer. Puzzle aslo has a sheen and so does shimmer. I love puzzle and so I also love shimmer. I bet it will look awesome foiled. If little bits of sparkle fallout bother you, you will not like shimmer at all.

Flicker eye shadow: Flicker is a shadowy shadow. Some eye shadows give you colour and texture and others just add shadow and definition. Dry Flicker just adds shadow and definition--that is why it would make a great crease colour for a neutral eye. But foiled Flicker really comes to life and you can see all of the wonderful sparkle it has. I am really glad I tried it foiled because it definitely transforms. Overall I like this shade and if I had to choose between this colour and Bauble from All Wrapped Up I would choose Flicker.

High Shine Gold Medal eye shadow: Unlike the new HS eye shadows that were released in tubes, HS gold medal can be used to give you a sheer wash of sparkling very light gold or a more intense light gold sparkle. I like both the more pigmented HS shadows and colours like HS gold medal. This might be a repeat for you if you got the Inside Scoop Collection a while back.

High Shine Vapor eye shadow: High Shine Vapor is a sparkling slate black. In some lights I think I see hints of blue but in the look I did it just looks like a light black. I really want to play around with this one I think it will be very versitile. I don't have anything in my collection that is comparable. Love it!

With a Twist 100% Nautral Lipgloss: I love this gloss. it is a really pretty pink with a sheen. This is more opaque than many of the other natural glosses and it really is almost like a liquid lipstick. Because it is more opaque it is a little heavier on the lips than the other glosses. All the Nautral lipglosses have the light scent of doughnuts which I like but is overwhelming to some.

Sprinkles 100% Nautral Lip gloss: Sprinkles is the perfect clear lipgloss with sparkles in it. It looks cream in the tube but it went on clear on me. I like it and I think I will use it a lot with my buxom lipsticks.

Overall I really like this kit. I think it is a good value and it has interesting colours that can be used in many ways. I think I will defintily reach for these often. I think the best peices of this kit are Vapor, pink petal blush, with a twist gloss, and sprinkles gloss.

Shimmer

EYES:

TFSI, wr/cr,
Shimmer under brow,
Flicker dry lash into crease and then foiled
lash to crease,
B&B liner in Intense Black,
Tarte Mascara.


CHEEKS: Pink Petal blush
LIPS: With a Twist lipgloss

Shine

This turned out very much like the picture in the brochure that comes with the kit. I used my full tapered shadow brush as the crease brush for this look and it worked surprisingly well.

EYES:

TFSI, wr/cr,
HS Gold Medal lightly lash to brow and more heavily lash to crease,
HS Vapor in crease and outer corner,
B&B Intesnse black liner softened with Vapor,
Flawless definition mascara.

CHEEKS: Pink Petal
LIPS: Sprinkles gloss