my beautiful readers, i am over the moon: i have been named a top 15 finalist in allure’s beauty blogger awards. the reigning supreme beauty expert of the glossy pages is searching for their very first beauty blogger of the year through five weeks of challenges to be judged by you and by allure editors. you can check out all fifteen blogger bios today and stay tuned for the challenges to begin next monday!
until then, i’ll be shrieking and skipping around my condo…
1 – looks just like it smells with a burst of electric pink rose paired with vibrant green tea;
a dozen roses electron, $95
2 – the exact right amount of richness, mine eyes have never been happier;
somme institute eye cream, $72
3 – separate zip compartments keep the peace between my makeup and jewels when traveling;
stephanie johnson katie folding clutch, $45
4 – the most natural way to fill in my brunette brows;
it cosmetics brow power, $24
5 – this watermelon coral is the official summer outfit for my nails;
sheswai babe, $16
what’s new in your beauty bag?
just a little spot of sparkle for your saturday. this tiny treasure begs to tuck in the tail of your top knot and creates instant glam. it’s just $20 from the beautiful people at ban.do, so snatch one up!
clinique’s latest lippie is inspired by the makeup look that global colour artist, jenna menard, created for karen walker’s spring 2012 runway show. the look featured a hot lip pop complemented by healthy, peach cheeks and understated eyes (plus, that killer mustard manicure).
the runway-to-real-world shade created for all of us at-home addicts is lush, and vibrant, like summer in a tube. i’m loving that it’s far less expected than red or even this season’s it color, tangerine. this coral is completely perfect. it looks gorgeous with a tan, but isn’t shocking on fair tones, meaning it can work for all of us. the formula is one we’ve come to know and love from clinique: soft, buttery with lots of shine and pretty pigment. the best part, though, might be the price tag, because $15 gets you one of my favorite things to come off the runways for spring.
now mark your calendars, because clinique long last lipstick in runway coral lands online and at the counters in may!
this one is a treasure – pure and simple.
i had to write about this fragrance because i love it that much, but it’s a weird one to feature because it’s shockingly sparse in ingredients and structure, yet indescribably irresistible when you’ve got it on. that makes it nearly impossible to blog – but i’m gonna try!
calypso st. barth’s lea is a rare classic that smells instantly of almond and vanilla but steers clear of dousing you in amaretti cookie scent. a blend of clean musk and sheer florals bring on a powdery sense that warms the longer you wear it, making it far less sweet than you might imagine. it’s soft and feminine, uniquely sexy in its simplicity (think: if your favorite white tee were a scent). it’s practically a cult classic and super tricky to find, but if you can track one down, you’ll be hitched to lea for life.
you can order a sample of lea for $4 from luckyscent or score a whole bottle for $100.
i didn’t think i had all that much to be excited about with the new ck one makeup collection until i laid eyes on this small wonder. the color + treat lip kit goes beyond the typical multi-pan cream-color lineup and adds a few treatments to the mix. it’s a welcome change since i don’t always want to (well…i never want to…) lug around a lip balm, a lip stick, and a lip gloss – and i know i’m not alone in that! plus, the addition of a scrub and a plumper take things to a whole new level.
the lip kit houses five different products in one sleek compact and i really love ’em all. you can use the collection to create a variety of looks and it’s already proven to be great to keep on hand at home or to toss in my bag for livening lips up on the go.
paint by number to get my favorite combinations:
ck one color + treat lip kit in pop culture is available at ulta for $28.
(via)
apologies for the silence around here! i’ve been very busy preparing to turn 30. it takes a lot of contemplation and life analysis to tackle such a milestone, but i’ve decided that i’m really excited for the decade that lies ahead. we’ll be back to beauty as usual very soon, but in the meantime, if anyone needs me, i’ll be counting my gray hairs…
a few weeks ago, i mustered up the courage to take a bold leap into a brand new skincare routine. if you’ve been reading this blog for awhile, you know how daring that is for me. we’ve gone round in too many circles about my problem skin and its antics, but it might just be that my sensitive, cystic-acne-prone face is changing its ways.
i got so many wonderful responses to this post and while it cleared up my acne, it also seemed to suck all of the life out of my skin. my face was clear, but it was also pretty dull. now naturally, when the ladies at some institute reached out to me about testing their five-step regimen, i was kind of terrified. we engaged in a little back and forth email chain about ingredients and details, but their own experiences with similar skin type encouraged me to give it a whirl.
i’ve been using four of the five steps exclusively with no other products for a month now and i am thrilled with the results. the fact that i have not had one single breakout since i started – not a pimple to speak of – is a flat out miracle. my skin is bright, clear, so much less red, and my acne scarring is fading faster than with any other product i’ve tried.
i am obsessed.
here are the steps as i’ve been putting them to use (note, this is not how somme recommends using the products, but it’s been working for me).
morning: one pump of nourishing cleanser (blue dot, super creamy and moisturizing) followed by transport exfoliating pads (purple dot, seriously amazing, who knew that i could survive without a scrub!) and a bomb (green dot, a moisturizer with a pudding-like consistency that speeds up cell renewal).
evening: two pumps of nourishing cleanser (to help remove makeup) followed by serum (yellow dot, helps to lighten discolorations) and a bomb.
if my skin is feeling a little tender, i might skip transport or serum one day and head straight for the a bomb moisturizer, but mostly i’ve been fine. it was actually your compliments on my skin from these photos really urged me to put this post together – it’s amazing what a visible difference the right skincare routine can make!
now, these products are pricey, but you know i would not be giving anything such valuable blog real estate if it didn’t work wonders for me. i’m getting to a point where the older i get, the more value i see in investing in the right stuff – and somme, in the words of nkotb, you’ve got the right stuff.
if you think you want to give this a try, i love the idea of starting with this pillow pack (two weeks worth of treatments) to see what you think. you can also scoop up this tsa-compliant mobile travel kit for a more sizable sample or go right for the gusto and splurge on each of the products in their full-size glory here.
this is no april fool’s joke. after many months of scouring the internets, i have finally found a more than acceptable duplicate for our beloved opi ‘i lily love you’. it is still the number two most popular searched phrase that lands new friends and followers here at the glossarie, only to prompt many an email to my inbox as to where the sheer pink tint with bright sparkle can be bought.
well, happy day! the fine folks at butter london have worked a nearly perfect replacement into their spring 12 collection. named disco biscuit, the creators are calling it a “tropical hot pink with an undercurrent of tiny iridescent glitter particles.” sounds about right on the money.
now, hurry and scoop it up before it’s gone! because if we’ve learned nothing from last spring, we now know how quickly these hot pink glitter nail polishes disappear from sight. you can score butter london’s disco biscuit for $14 here.
(via)
diptyque candles are the gifts that keep on giving. they’re gorgeous before you even light them and of course they’re pure delight when burning. diptyque has crafted almost fifty scents and packed the perfume-y goodness into beautiful glass jars. when you’re done burning your fragrance of choice, put it in the freezer over night and then pop the leftover wax out of the bottom. you’ll be left with the pretty jar and a great spot for your brushes and lip products.
(via)
i love the classic look that these take on when grouped together on a vanity tray and standing alone on a dresser or bathroom shelf. they’re like little vintage works of art.
(via)
are you as in love with those beautiful bold black letters as i am? as slightly spendy as these are up front, it’s nice to know that you can treat yourself to a yummy mood-setting scent now and a perfect spot to store your beauty booty later!
do you use diptyque jars to keep it pretty?
