The Lipstick Page Forums Beauty Blog: October 2005 How to pick and choose your blush Posted by Dain, Wednesday, October 19, 2005 9:56 AM (Eastern) Someone has asked me, "How do you choose the right blush?" This is a delicate question. For one thing, if you don't choose the perfect blush for yourself, most modern blushers are designed to be sheer, blendable, to (varying degrees) melt into your skin tone. But on the other hand, choosing the right shade of blush requires a deeper understanding of color theory than, say, choosing the right shade of eyeliner or foundation might. It is, in short, harder to find the right blush, but you won't be penalized very much for it. There are two factors: skin, and contrast. The first is obvious. The darker the skin, the stronger the color—otherwise it wouldn't show up (or, conversely, it would be too strong). So a woman with ivory-pale skin ought to look into MAC Angel (a pale pink, touched with a little beige), while someone with dark skin might NARS Sin much more to her liking (a mauvey plum pink with shimmer). So much for the INTENSITY of the blush. What about TONE/COLOR (why choose peach over plum, or mauve over pink, etc.)? It is generally a matter of contrast. Yellowish skin tones adapt better to cool colors, like pink or plum. If you have olive skin, a lovely apricot may sing your praises, but if you're darker, then a sheer orange may be gorgeous. Those with a balance of warm and cool in their skin, better termed as "neutral", can wear virtually any color, but of course complex, neutral colors like rose or mauve are good options. Those who are already quite pink, or cool undertoned, may not need to wear a blush at all. And finally, the question of PURITY of color: because there are pinks and there are pinks—there are pure colors like NARS Desire, and there are mostly-neutral-with-many-other-colors-but-pink-is-a-factor like Stila Fade. Let's say, you've decided, OK, I have light, yellow-undertoned skin, so I'm looking for a nice pink blush. Does one go for the pure pink, or the neutralized, adulterated pink? It all depends on your skin, again. If you've got very neutral skin, without very much color—a clear brown tone, ivory without any delicate blooming pink—you need more blush, more of a purer color. But if you're a ready blusher, and have plenty of pink in your skin already (which is to say, you're more closer to neutral), choose the neutralized one. So, to recap: DEPTH of skin determines INTENSITY of blush The darker the skin, the darker the blush. The lighter the skin, the lighter the blush. But you can play with this by applying a blush sheer or with more intensity. underTONE of skin determines TONE/COLOR of blush yellow: pink, plum (of a pinkish variety), rose, mauve olive: peach, orange, apricot, terracotta, plum pink: possibly no blush at all! balanced/neutral: pretty much anything blue (usually only in very dark skin): red, berry NEUTRALITY of skin determines PURITY of color The closer you are to a balanced skin tone, the less of a certain color (i.e. pink, or peach) you need. Choose one that is couched in a neutral base so that you don't overwhlem your features. I, however, have very little pink in my face, and therefore cling to the purer colors. The whole purpose behind this stratification is that blush should mimic a natural rush of blood to the skin. Blood is red, of course, and skin is all shades of tan and brown, and the resulting combination is the one you want to emulate. In which case, a red-rose-petal tint like Benetint is probably the most universal blush of all, but it is not very practical. The second factor is contrast. This is a simple enough matter—we take into consideration the "context", the contrast between your skin and your other features, particularly your hair. The darker your hair, and the lighter the skin, the more vivid the blush. This makes sense, because dark hair will "bleach" the skin color somewhat, so that you need to add balance by using a stronger blush. The closer that your skin and your hair are in color—for example, a tanned skin and light brown-blonde hair—the more neutral the color should be, like an earthy rose or even a bronzer. A ivory-complected, raven-haired "Snow White" complexion, might like, however, a plummy blush, instead. What to do if you're a redhead? Few people are natural redheads, but red hair tends to compete, because it draws the eye to it. Use the most innocuous blush you can find that still gives your skin live and vigor. Peach is best, and if not, mauve or rose. Good luck! 3 Comment(s)    Email this post Serge Lutens: Iris Silver Mist Posted by Dain, Tuesday, October 18, 2005 9:49 AM (Eastern) At all events, I would have anticipated loving this. I love iris: I love it powdery, cold, and metallic; I love it buttery, warm, and sweet. But I do not love Iris Silver Mist. In theory, it's supposed to be: iris roots, cedar, sandalwood, incense, white amber, musk, Chinese benzoin, and balsam. To my nose, I smell carrot. Rank, rough, old, dried-out, fibrous carrot. With a bit of cedar. And lots of powder. Gross. Some upcoming attractions: more Serge Lutens perfumes Biotherm skincare Biotherm Smile Shine lipsticks how to pick your blush Jeanine Lobell 0 Comment(s)    Email this post Yar! Wishlist! (10.14.05) Posted by Dain, Monday, October 17, 2005 8:39 PM (Eastern) I am full of unrequited desire these days. As if the Clé de Peau palette, fabulous as it may be, were enough! Am I, or am I not, a makeup junkie? Becca Amaryllis blush $25: What is it about Lucky that gets my credit card itching? They've put this under "Sold out everywhere!" (incentive enough), and describe it as "so creamy it can double as a sheer lipstick, and the flush you're left with is amazing—a rosy-cheeked, gently tipsy glow that makes everyone look prettier." What's not to love? If only it weren't, actually, sold out everywhere. Because this Sephora Gift Card is burning a hole in my pocket and I want. (I'm also curious about Wild Orchid, which is much like Desire, and Turkish Rose, which is Becca's bestseller, both featured in Allure.) Serge Lutens: Tubéreuse Criminelle and Vetiver Oriental. Both non-export, both glorious, I'm frankly out of my mind as to how I'm gonna get my little paws on them. One for cozy fall school days, the other for brilliant nights out (I'm gilding a pill here, but I suppose one dreams, in fragrance). Biotherm Smile Shine Duoshine Lipstick #129 $14: It's sheer, it's moisturizing, with no taste, no scent. The shade is a cross between MAC O and MAC Red Haute—but sheer. That's just... perfection. A holy grail, in concept, realized. Tod's computer bag in cognac leather $1750-1950: This is in the men's collection. The most luxurious, unbelievably gorgeous, monstrously priced schoolbag ever. Ah, well. Caron face powder $45: There's something tantalizing about something deemed perfection, and is only limited distribution. I've been looking for a powder, just something to apply all over for wee coverage and gorgeous skin (one hopes), but I don't like how foundation feels on my skin (and I've no use for tinted moisturizer). So, it would either be a primer (such as the ones by YSL, By Terry, Clé de Peau, Becca, Giorgio Armani, etc.) or a powder. "But which one?", I wondered. Guerlain? Gorgeous, but expensive ($135... $90-ish on ebay). T. LeClerc (too confusing, with all the shades). And then, I heard of Caron. Everything I could ask for, impeccable quality, gorgeous packaging, lovely scent, and flawless finish—call the Caron boutique at Madison Avenue, they send samples. Now if only I can figure out which color... Apple PowerBook G4 12-inch SuperDrive $1699: I am simply a woman who has been badly treated by Compaqs. Apples are overpriced, but they won't crash and burn. Reliability over price, I say, especially when my files are involved. MAC Rich Ground Fluidline $13.50: Teddy is such a great color, but not much for lasting power. Fluidlines are tenacious, so I want Rich Ground (which is supposedly identical in shade to Teddy). a big, bountiful, winter white sweater $138: I love the idea of this huge white thing coming at ya... and I've found the perfect one, at J.Crew, the Aran Knit Turtleneck Sweater. It's just the right, palette-cleansing, bold hit of white, but it's slim and form-fitting too, so that one doesn't get lost in the cables. I'll wear it with tweedy pants, my zebra flats, and my vintage khaki trenchcoat—classic, punchy, cool. And maybe my raspberry scarf, if the mood suits me. And warm, too, which is not my usual mode. I also love Club Monaco's lightweight v-neck sweaters, in cool jewel tones, $68 each. They're more polished than t-shirts, and infinitely easier to wear (I find the bra-antics that follow the wearing of t-shirts too difficult to follow). a blush brush: oy, I need a new one. I'm thinking Bobbi Brown. 1 Comment(s)    Email this post A moment of silence... Posted by Dain, Friday, October 14, 2005 4:42 PM (Eastern) Unlike NARS shadows, NARS blushes are tenaciously molded. In other words, abuse them, and they will still not fall apart on you. My beloved Desire, a hot pink thing, has been with me for four years. And I've dropped her, many a time, but the fine-particled tightly-pressed bliss of the highest quality has never led her to chip on me (I will say, if you own one of the shimmery NARS blushes, this may be different). Alas, I drunkenly knocked into her the other night, and slammed against the floor too hard even for her faithful heart. She is dead, she is broken. God, she might have lasted me another four years. RIP, Desire. 0 Comment(s)    Email this post What order... Posted by Colleen Shirazi, Thursday, October 13, 2005 7:25 PM (Eastern) Oh, stop enabling. I've been eyeing that MAC Teddy since forever. It doesn't swatch violet on me...just kind of a weird, deep cool red brown, like a dark rich copper. The perfect thing for green eyes. But, so what? I need another eye pencil? ;) Anyhow here is the order in which I put on makeup. There are reasons for it...to whit: Perfume--first. Why? I keep my perfumes on my socks-and-underwear shelf. If I did not do this, I would never wear perfume. But since it's there, I put it on when I'm getting dressed, pretty much without fail. Usual base face. This is tinted sunscreen and MAC Blot pressed powder. Even though it is fairly obvious why this layer must come first, it is also oftentimes the only layer I manage to put on--and it's important, since a.) it is sunscreen and b.) it's powder (my skin would otherwise get oily). Concealer--never. I prefer that "king" of eye creams, Aramis Lab Series for Men Undereye Rescue cream, used only at night. I swear by this stuff. I don't sleep and I have two kids, I'm 40 years old...it's a miracle product, a miracle. Eye makeup. Lately that has been a wash of shadow, time permitting, and/or MAC Permaplum or Bordeauxline. Lipstick--always last. I suppose I still think in terms of a.) accidently swiping my lipstick while trying to do my eyes or b.) putting on lipstick in the car, which is, more often than not, where it gets applied. 2 Comment(s)    Email this post What order do you put on makeup? Posted by Dain, Tuesday, October 11, 2005 1:11 PM (Eastern) I'm not much of one for "faces"; I usually wear the same one every day for a season (yeah, I know! that's probably why I consider a NARS duo worth it, because it's usually the linchpin of my face). But there's a particular order to how I apply the products, and I don't really deviate, because it's somehow the "best" way. Biotherm Aquasource Oligo-Thermal Gel Intense Moisturization for Normal/Combination Skin $31: I love this stuff; the normal/dry version is brilliant too. It really gives intense moisturization for how little you need, and it leaves skin soft and hydrated and wonderfully textured. It smells really good, too, which is somehow a very important characteristic for me. Maybelline Twin Brow Pencil in Charcoal Grey ~$4: If I do brows, I like to do them early. They, in a sense, frame your face. undereye concealer, either Stephane Marais Perfect Concealer $39, or YSL Touche Eclat $36: Always. I do not like undereye circles. I don't usually apply anything on my face, but anything that erases tiredness is a boon for me. Sometimes I apply a little powder, if it's going to be humid out, but it doesn't do much in the way of coverage (am lusting after Caron powder, though). NARS Desire Blush $25: My standby, though I'd love to substitute it for Becca Amaryllis! Matches the following eye makeup better. Blush, to me, is as important as undereye concealer in making me look awake. MAC Teddy Eye Kohl $14: A perfect color, and I haven't looked back. Is it brown? Is it violet? It's both! And it's shimmery. It's a warm russet in the overtone, and a dark, greyed down ruddy violet in the undertone (that's like five paradoxes right there, as far as color theory is concerned). Somehow, it's brilliant. Buy it. Wear it. I sometimes layet Trish Deep Aubergine over it for some legs. Clé de Peau palette III $95: Actually, I'm indicating just one product, the smooth and ethereal lilac eyeshadow that I use as a wash with Teddy. They are sublimely suited to each other. L'Oréal Voluminous Mascara: An essential, particularly when you have Asian eyelashes to contend with! lip stuff: It varies. perfume! 0 Comment(s)    Email this post Serge Lutens Vetiver Oriental Posted by Dain, Wednesday, October 05, 2005 3:34 PM (Eastern) A perfume of contraries, even in name. "Vetiver" and "oriental" go marvelously together, but it is a complicated relationship. Vetiver, the aromatic root, is dry, cool, green, earthy—the olfactory equivalent of a dry chuckle. Though it is used extensively in feminine scents, it is usually categorized as a masculine note. Though it has a long history of Ayurvedic medicinal practice, I always think of vetiver as quintessentially French, perhaps because of Guerlain's Vetiver. It does retain a characteristic European flavour in the Serge Lutens, largely through the agency of a powdery, metallic iris (just an overlay, to accent the vetiver, not to be iris-y unto itself). But then, there is the oriental half, like a sheen of Eastern mysticism, a blurring heat that contrasts but nevertheless harmonizes with the cool sigs of the vetiver. It is simultaneously reserved and luscious, cold and hot, masculine and feminine, west and east, vetiver and oriental. In 18th-century France, a vogue for The Arabian Nights swept the literary glitterati of that nation, replacing the the tender fairy tales of Perrault and D'Aulnoy and Beaumont as the fanciful mode. Vetiver Oriental is somehow like that, a modern reader faced with The Arabian Nights in Baroque French. There is no sense of limitedness, though, which is interestingly unBaroque. This is the Serge Lutens touch (if Guerlain had done it, it would be closed, rather than open). There's a grassy, sweet, hay-like aura—not exactly a note within the composition, but a sense of fresh air laden with meadow scents. A sweetness. Serge Lutens has taken something that is traditionally "cologne", but removed it of aggressive masculinity, and made it rather wholesome. Not a Méchant Loup (see L'Artisan Parfumeur), but the smile of a beautiful youth. Or, perhaps, a mother. Strangely, it drives men nuts. It may work because I am very feminine in appearance and am therefore channeling a sort of androgyny, or because, as I say, Vetiver Oriental retains a wholesome sweetness and warmth that allows for femininity, or because it is mysterious and intelligent. I do not know. It's a different sort of nuts from the effect Tubéreuse Criminelle has, that's for sure. Which is to say, it smells not like lust, but comfortable, easy, nurturing, familiar... love. Whatever the case may be, I love it. Perfect autumnal scent. Now if only I would stop falling in love with the non-export Serge Lutens! Where the hell am I supposed to find a bottle of this, pray? 0 Comment(s)    Email this post My Holy Grails volume 2: Eyeshadow Posted by Raphaelle, Sunday, October 02, 2005 7:26 PM (Eastern) I can't say there's a brand or even specific colours that have the perfect eyeshadow formula for me. I really only notice what doesn't work. Further, in my experience, no company has consistently excellent shadows. There's always at least one colour that goes on choppy, too sheer, too intense... Because of this, I'll focus on my 10 (in no particular order) favourite shadows. 1. Benefit Me, Myself & I: This colour is what the child of MAC Shroom and Brule would look like. It has shimmer but it's not obvious. It's a light beige that completely evens out my skintone. The colour is actually a lot like Bare Canvas but less peach. This colour would be a perfect base if it wasn't for its horrible staying power. In fact, the staying power is so horrible I should probably remove this from the list but I can't. The colour is too perfect. 2. Nars Himalayas: This one would probably deserve the number one spot if this list were ordered. White with cool pink opalescence, it's sheer enough to not be glaring (I had a Dior duo with an absolutely unwearable white: matte and so pigmented it looked off). It's a great highlight with almost any eye look and makes for a subtle wash. This one also holds the honour of being my most used shadow. 3. MAC Melton Mauve: I wasn't going to include this one at first. It has that lovely velvet texture that all the Veluxe shadows have but it can go on a little choppy. It's a bright matte mauve-pink, almost fuchsia, almost unwearable. If not used carefully, it could give me that "cried all night" look. Then how come I use it so much? It's because it's such a great accent colour for so many other shadows. It gives a kick to almost any neutral to cool eye look. Just a touch is enough to liven the face up. 4/5. MAC Juxt/MAC Bitter: I have to pair these two even though they're very different. Juxt is like a cool shimmery green apple. Bitter is like a bright yellow lime. The first is soft, the other glaring. They're really not alike other than I turn to these two more than any other green I've had and they both bring out hazel eyes wonderfully. 6. MAC Sable: This one isn't exactly unique. Mine broke and I've been using UD Roach instead and I suspect many other brands have this colour. A shimmery reddened medium brown, it just works. It has a richness that cooler, mauvier and greyer browns don't have. Still, it's not too warm. A perfect brown. 7. MAC Pink Papillon: Sadly a limited edition shade. This cool light shimmery pink is like candy and looks surprisingly natural and flattering on. It blends with other colours like a dream and, in the short time I've had it, has become one of my most used shadows. 8. MAC Aquadisiac: Aqua with tiny silver sparkles, it doesn't sound wearable but it is. The sparkles show up more in the pan than on the lid. The colour can be a very soft shimmery light aqua or it can be worn more with more intensity. It's one of the only Lustres that are easy to apply, not too sheer, and not too glittery. The water hue makes it good for Summer while the coolness of the colour makes it work in Winter. 9. MAC Parfait Amour: Of all my shadows, this is my favourite one to look at. It's purple with blue and indigo undertones and pink overtones. Pretty, pretty, pretty. And purple is great for hazel eyes, especially this one. It brings out the golden tones of hazel more than other colours. 10. Nars Notorious : The perfect grey. Nice medium shade, satin texture, violet undertones, it reminds me of a pigeon. It looks soft and sophisticated and just plain works. Hey, these make a surprisingly good ensemble : a neutral base shade, versatile highlighter, two more than just basic neutrals, a kicky accent colour, and five glorious colours that mix and match with each other to perfection. I actually think I could survive with just these colours with minimal pain (I'd end up missing yellow, dark purple, blues, and medium green). Next up: Eyeliners 1 Comment(s)    Email this post Rants, raves, and musings on all things cosmetic. Profile | Current Blog Site Feed (Atom) Articles This Month ·· How to pick and choose your blush ·· Serge Lutens: Iris Silver Mist ·· Yar! Wishlist! (10.14.05) ·· A moment of silence... ·· What order... ·· What order do you put on makeup? ·· Serge Lutens Vetiver Oriental ·· My Holy Grails volume 2: Eyeshadow Archives TheBroadroom.Net's Beauty Blog (archive) April 2005 May 2005 June 2005 July 2005 August 2005 September 2005 October 2005 November 2005 December 2005 January 2006 February 2006 March 2006 April 2006 May 2006 June 2006 July 2006 August 2006 September 2006 Links Colleen's Adult Acne Blog Fashiontribes Daily