Makeup and Beauty Blog: Makeup Reviews, Beauty Tips and Drugstore Beauty Finds

Bumble and Bumble enlisted the help of French hairdresser Laurent Philippon to test and fine tune the formula of their Spray de Mode hairspray over several seasons of professional use backstage at the Paris shows (aka in the trenches), and the hard work shows.

Let me just come out and say it: Spray de Mode is nothing like 1980’s hairsprays. I can’t even begin to estimate the obscene amount of stinky, flaky, crunchy aerosol hairspray I used when high hair was the fashion du jour.

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Genetics bestowed upon me wimpy, ho-hum lashes… and then made me so clumsy that I couldn’t apply false ones to save my life. Oh, the sweet eyelash irony! Enter the Shu Uemura lash bar, aka false eyelash nirvana, where the lashes are affordable and the appointment booking process couldn’t be easier. Whether you’re looking for a little lash extension, or you’re aching for crazy, over-the-top-lashes to overcompensate for many years of eyelash inadequacy (*ahem*), Shu’s got you covered.

Case in point:

Notice how fabulously non-wimpy these are. I done died and went to eyelash heaven, ladies!

Would you believe a trip to eyelash heaven is actually pretty darn affordable? From a Shu lash bar, all you do is purchase any pair of their false lashes, which run from $16 to about $50 a pair, and a Shu makeup artist will apply your new lashes (and answer any questions you might have about them) for free!

Gratis rules, but I know you work hard for your money, so to stretch those dolla-dolla-bills a wee bit further, here’s a great money saving tip I got from Jeccica, a Shu Uemura makeup artist and manager (and all around rad girl) at the San Francisco Fillmore store: buy a pair like False Eyelashes Luxe ($20) and ask the makeup artist to cut one of the lashes in half.

Ask the artist to apply each of the cut halves to your outer lashes only. It’s a simple way to get a sexy, yet natural-looking eyelash boost. Save that uncut lash for future use. Cut that bad boy in half and you’re good to go with a new pair. It’s like getting two sets of lashes for the price of one, yah?

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What’s up, everyone! Happy Sunday! I chilled out today and did a whole lot of nothing. I ran, watched a few movies, fed the neighbor’s cat, did some laundry and painted my nails for the first time since December.

Are you good about getting your nails done? I usually am not, but for the heck of it I put on two lovely coats of Shu Uemura Nail Enamel Supplement Mineral (um, say that fast five times) in Chocolate Brown ($16) while watching The Darjeeling Limited on DVD. Even without a base coat, the formula applies easily and dries quickly to a shiny finish. It’s great for clumsy gals like yours truly and makes doing a home manicure easy. Love ya, Shu!

Speaking of manicures, I caught up on my beauty reading today and read this interesting piece in the New York Times by Camille Sweeny about a growing trend in the beauty world. Manicure and makeover parties are all the rage — for young elementary school girls, holy crap!

One recent rainy afternoon, Eleanor LaFauci, 7, sat with her feet in open-toed foam slippers, admiring her toenails, freshly painted watermelon pink.

Eleanor was in the bubble-gum-colored pedicure lounge of Dashing Diva, the Upper West Side franchise of the international nail spa, with her 3 ½-year-old sister and a half-dozen or so friends. The girls were celebrating her birthday with mani’s, pedi’s and mini-makeovers with light makeup and body art — glitter-applied stars, lightning bolts and, of course, hearts.

Traditionally, young girls have played with unattended M.A.C. eye shadow or Chanel foundation, hoping to capture a whiff of sophistication. In the recent past, young girls have also tagged along on beauty expeditions by their mothers and teenage sisters.

But today, cosmetic companies and retailers increasingly aim their sophisticated products and service packages squarely at 6- to 9-year-olds, who are being transformed into savvy beauty consumers before they’re out of elementary school.

Reality programming like “America’s Next Top Model” often hinges on the segment devoted to a hair and beauty transformation for the contestants, Ms. Skey said. On social networking sites like Facebook and MySpace, members’ intense self-focus and their attention to how they present themselves also affect 6- to 9-year-olds, even though technically, they aren’t allowed to set up profiles on the sites, she added. “We live in a culture of insta-celebrity,” Ms. Skey said. “Our little girls now grow up thinking they need to be ready for their close-up, lest the paparazzi arrive.”

Register with the New York Times (it’s free) to finish the story.

Back in my elementary school days, a party with your friends involved cake, ice cream and several rounds of pin the tail on the donkey — not cuticle removal! If you were lucky, perhaps a pinata or mini pony would be up in the mix.

What say you about this beauty trend? Do you think these makeover parties for young girls are harmless and fun? Or does it alarm you?

Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,

Karen

It was love at first sight yesterday when I laid eyes on Laura Mercier’s newest spring color collection, Dreamy. With six new sheer lipsticks, four delicious pastel shimmer cream eye shadow duos and a highlighting shimmer bloc, the collection is sexy and effortless — my makeup style to the Nth degree!

I wish I had better product pics, but here’s a stalkery phone picture of the display until I can get better ones:

Remember the bout of makeup indecision I suffered last week, trying to decide between the spring NARS Shanghi Lily and Laura Mercier Seduction collections? Well, I experienced absolutely none of that with Dreamy. My heart literally skipped a beat when I saw the eye duos and lipsticks, and I worked out the makeup math (aka, trying to justify buying it all!) in my head, LOL.

Although Dreamy is a spring collection, I get a laid-back, beachy, vacation vibe from it. These are colors I’d wear on a tropical getaway. To finish the look, I’d need a shade of cream eye shadow on my lids and a pink sheer lipstick on my pucker. And a surfboard. And a margarita. LE SIGH!

Here’s the lowdown on Dreamy…

Eyes

Creme Eye Duo ($28 each)

• Daydream - peach and bronze
• Enchantment - yellow and green
• Fairytale - pink and violet
• Mesmerize - sand and silver

Each Creme Eye Duo contains two contrasting cream shades which blend and work well either together or separately. The colors are shimmery but don’t have giant chunks of glitter in them. While the pastels are subtle and light, they aren’t so light as to look stark or unwearable. I’m excited about Daydream, Enchantment and Fairytale. The sand and silver colors in Mesmerize didn’t really move me, though, so I’m skipping that one for now.

I swatched the shades with my finger at the counter. Each of the colors appeared sheer on my skin. I think that’s by design because the product marketing is all about the suggestion of sheer — not in your face — color. I did notice I could apply multiple layers of any shade to increase the intensity of a shadow, so, on days in which I’d want bolder looks, I’d have that option, too.

The formula is long wearing, non-greasy and crease resistant — I swatched my arm and after three hours the colors had barely budged!

Lips

Lip Colour - Sheer ($20 each)

• Baby Lips - sheer warm pink
• Bare Lips - sheer rose beige
• Healthy Lips - sheer rose
• Nude Lips - sheer neutral beige
• Sexy Lips - sheer sangria rose
• Tender Lips - sheer brown rose

Each of the new lipsticks in Dreamy’s Lip Colour - Sheer collection, the newest additions to the Laura Mercier lipstick family, have a sheer wash of color and a semi-matte finish. Each little pretty is supposed to hydrate, plump and condition lips. Laura Mercier used a long-wearing formula infused with a special lipstick technology they call Laura Mercier Lip Complex, which “delivers a soft wash of color in just one swipe.” I’m psyched about all these colors, but the ones that move me most are Bare Lips, Tender Lips and, of course, Sexy Lips.

I couldn’t get decent swatches of the new Orchid Mosaic Shimmer Bloc ($38). Here’s a shot from the Laura Mercier Web site:

Truthfully, Orchid Mosaic didn’t move me as much as the other new products did. It’s a highlighting powder with a pearl finish and four separate colors you can either use alone or together on your eyes, cheeks or body. The pinks were a little too sheer on my skin, and I’m afraid the color wouldn’t display unless I really laid it on thick. Unless I can get a Laura Mercier makeup artist to show me a secret way to get the most out of Orchid Mosaic, I’ll probably skip this one.

Sadly, the forces of makeup nature were aligned against me, and I wasn’t able to buy anything from the collection yesterday, boo. When I arrived at the Nordstrom counter, the Laura Mercier makeup artist had just left for her afternoon break, and, because the collection was so new, none of the makeup artists from other lines could find where the collection items were stashed. I’ll return later today with a few gift cards that’ve been burning holes in my pocket, wheeee!

How’s your Saturday coming along? I hope you’ve got plans to do some relaxin’ this weekend.

Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,

Karen