Birthday/holiday presents for myself

During the 2012 holiday season, I decided to splurge and get a little bit of Tom Ford Beauty from Neiman Marcus in San Francisco. A friend at work had recently bought a Tom Ford red lipstick for her upcoming wedding & inspired me to get one. I had some wonderful help from Sergio, who I had previously met when he did a little work at the NARS counter at Saks Fifth Avenue.  Since his coloring was a little darker than mine, but somewhat in the same tone, I trusted his suggestions for me.  I ended up with the Diabolique lipstick, the 01 Golden Mink eyeshadow quad, and the Noir Absolute for Eyes cream eye liner. 

Here are the swatches of the eyeshadow quad & liner over UD Potion Primer.  Pic taken indoors next to a window.  The top 2 glittery shades are obviously sheer & work best for me layered over the mid-tone shimmer fawn color (lower left corner) on the lid & inner corner.  I love the fawn & darker chocolate brown shimmer.  The matte gel eyeliner isn't as opaque as Inglot's but it has a slight navy blue tint that contrasts nicely with my dark brown eyes.

I've swatched the Diabolique on my lips with no liner to show how it truly wears on my lips w/no color interference from any liner. For reference, I'm currently in the MAC NC30 skintone range this winter. This lipstick is my favorite by far of the Tom Ford items I got.  Matte but in no way drying at all.

I may go back and get the blush Sergio recommended for me.  Tom Ford's blushes seem to get consistently rave reviews online. I'm also tempted to get the blush/bronzer/face? brush. However, since Hakuhodo makes his brushes for him, I may just go directly to Hakuhodo.  Maybe as this year's holiday present to myself? 

Mary Kay True Dimensions lipsticks

Mary Kay True Dimensions lipsticks, a photo by crochet_chick on Flickr.

Swatch sheet for the new Mary Kay True Dimensions lipsticks that are being introduced later this month. I'll probably get the 2 that are closest to Mary Kay's discontinued liquid lip color called Cherry Coffee.

More Inglot

Oops! I totally forgot I had this in my draft folder for awhile. I hit the Inglot counter at SF Macy's one day & they actually had everything I was thinking of getting in stock, which is a rarity. I guess that because they have to import it from Poland (via New York? need to check), they aren't always stocked up.

I'll post the shadow numbers later when I find my cheat sheet that I created while I put the pans into the palette, but I can tell you that the item on the left is their gel liner in matte black (no. 77).  Definitely more pigmented than MAC's gel liner in Black Track, but it doesn't survive a 24 Lift class at 24 Hour Fitness as well as MAC.  And I've tested it a few times!

Swatches on my arm in natural light next to a window, no flash.

A comparison pic with my first Inglot palette.

Based on a YouTube guru's first impression-type video where she gushed about this gloss, I got it. Unfortunately, the day after I got this, she posted a video saying that this gloss doesn't last & the duochrome finish doesn't translate from the tube (or back of hand swatch) to the lips. :P

Mary Kay 2012 Fall Holiday new products

Mary Kay 2012 Fall & Holiday new products, a photo by crochet_chick on Flickr.

I've been behind on both my knitting and make-up blogs, but real life gets busy when you have 2 kids.

I'm looking forward to getting a few of the 2012 Fall & Holiday items from Mary Kay. They'll make cute gifts for some of my family members and friends.

The gel liners (finally!) come with a retractable eye liner brush (synthetic bristles but rounded instead of straight across or angled :p) and apply matte, especially the black. The teal is quite pretty & not a color I have in other brands surprisingly.

Hopefully I will post more, especially in my knitting blog as I do have some finished items that I need to post.

Mary Kay Timewise Matte Foundation Swatches

I feel like I'm in between shades with my foundations, so I decided to do swatches on my lower cheek for comparison purposes. 

Left to Right: 
Beige 6 (which somehow photographed darker than the next one over), Beige 5, Beige 4, Beige 3, Beige 2, and Beige 1 (closest to my ear).

All are Timewise Matte Foundations in the Beige range. I don't have any Bronze testers, but I do have a few Ivory ones.  I may add a pic of those in later. I just ran out of cheek space.

The recommendation on the Mary Kay website is Matte formula for oilier skin and the Luminous for drier skin types, but the formulas actually don't really vary between each other except that the Luminous foundations have tiny micro-glitters to impart the luminous 'glow.' My preference is not have tiny micro-glitters on my skin even though they're not as obvious as special-effects on sparkly movie vampires.

Mary Kay summer 2012 - new products

Mary Kay summer -new products, a photo by crochet_chick on Flickr.

I'm looking forward to getting the new products, especially the new eyeshadows, the one new blush, and the lash & brow building serum. I got the MK Lash Primer from my Director and am currently testing it out. I'm also glad they're coming out with a waterproof version of the Lash Out Mascara.

I'll probably get the new SPF 50 sunscreen as well to have available. The active ingredient is avobenzone stabilized with octocrylene, IIRC.

Inglot!

I had heard that San Francisco Macy's recently got an Inglot counter, but I didn't get to check it out until yesterday. I've been aware of their US website for awhile based on beauty blogger posts, youtube videos and online makeup forum chatter, but because some shades seemed so close together that I wanted to wait 'til I could see them in person rather than guess from the all the swatches online.  I love their Freedom System and the ability to choose my own color combinations for the palette.  Each 2.7 g eyeshadow square is $5 (US) and are paraben free.  The 10-pan palette I got is $14.

Top row (left to right): Matte 330, Pearl 397, Pearl 409, Matte 327, and Matte 391
Bottom row: AMC Shine 14, Matte 375, AMC Shine 44, Pearl 408 (which photographed lighter in the palette), and Pearl 434.

The eyeshadows were swatched in the same order on my arm with no primer. I chose the colors so I could have a neutral every day colors and slightly more colorful options.  I'm hoping that if I really like how they wear after a few times, that I can build up my Inglot eyeshadow color collection with a few of their orange and green shades. I'm also hoping to try their other color products later.

Not Inglot, but I had been meaning to do this comparison swatch for awhile.  On the left if the infamous NARS Orgasm blush and on the right is Mary Kay's Shy Blush.  A few beauty bloggers have mentioned the MK Shy Blush as a dupe for NARS O.  They're close, but the NARS O is actually a bit more pigmented and not quite as shimmery as MK Shy Blush.  I have to apply a lot more of the MK for the color to show, but I actually prefer to use it as a cheek highlighter so my cheek doesn't look so shimmery.