Clé de Peau Beauté Silky Cream Foundation and Concealer

Early this week, I posted my favorite drugstore foundation.  As an alternative, Clé de Peau Beauté makes my pick if you are in the market for luxury foundation or concealer.  Some of the advantages to paying more include assistance in finding the perfect shade and glamorous packaging.  No matter your preference, I want to cover the bases!

Clé de Peau Beauté knows what they are doing.  It is a Japanese brand that has been around for 30 years, with a focus on bright and radiant skin.  After I apply the Silky Cream foundation, I am very moisturized but not too dewy.  Coverage is medium with just about as flawless of an effect I have ever seen.  But amazingly still very lightweight.   Application has been outstanding with the Shiseido ‘Perfect’ Foundation Brush.

This tube is surprisingly small for the heafty price tag.  But I can assure you, the amount needed per use is incredibly small.  We are talking pea size here.  Plus the tube makes the FAA cut off for carry on.

The concealer basically speaks for itself with all of its awards.  It was a Neiman Marcus Beauty Awards Finalist.  InStyle Magazine named it best undereye concealer in May 2011.  Just like the Silky Cream Foundation, the concealer is powered with Revitalizing Moisture Complex to lock in moisture and smooth out texture.  Unlike some other popular concealers, it isn’t so dry you cannot blend it – blending leads to a more natural looking appearance.

I have been using this as my go-to concealer for about six years.  The formula is perfectly balanced between creamy and matte.  It does beautifully under the eye, but can cover a blemish too like a champ.  And the tube will last you months.

As a note, I found this tip on the Neiman Marcus website and felt it was worth repeating:

Tip: For lighter skin tones, the Honey shade can be used underneath your matching concealer as a color corrector for truly dark areas. Apply the Honey shade to your darkest area. Pat lightly. Apply your matching concealer on top and blend.

 

Bare Escentuals bareMinerals READY™ Eyeshadow 4.0 The Truth

I am back on the Bare Escentuals bandwagon! Bare Escentuals’ new bareMinerals READY™ Eyeshadow 4.0 is bringing me back to a brand I thought I had grown out of 10 years ago.  I haven’t used Bare Escentuals since my San Francisco days when I had a store just down the street from my apartment.  I loved their mineral makeup, especially for my early-20s skin, but once my skin moved into its drier stage, I started experimenting with other brands.  Thanks initially to a really catchy song on the commercial, bareMinerals The Truth Eyeshadow Quad gained a place on my vanity,

The Truth quad is a subtle, neutral palette.  The shades, Serendipitous, Magnetism, Fate, and Apropos, are a graduated range of taupe that would do well on a wide range of complexions.  I have been laddering the shades from lash line to brow, darkest to lightest.  Blending the adjacent shades, you can achieve this really natural looking, smokey eye.  The shades are a perfect balance between matte and iridescence, making it perfect for day time wear.

The powders have a smooth, creamy texture, powdered with SeaNutritive Mineral™ Complex.  This stuff, oddly, contains cold-pressed borage oil, caffeine and cucumber.  I never thought I would get excited about “borage oil” but, along with these other antioxidants, it can depuff the eye area.  So the creamy powder can actually make your eyes look revitalized from the inside out!

L’Oreal Visible Lift Smooth Absolute Instant Age Reversing Foundation

Brilliant – turn the foundation bottle into a wand with a built-in, high quality brush.  Add in L’Oreal’s Hydra-Collagen Complex for an anti-aging, plumping effect and you have have an easy-to-apply, smoothing foundation with SPF 17.  Not to mention serious bang for the buck.

As you twist the product up into the brush, somehow the perfect amount is provided.  I do a quick swipe on my nose, chin, forehead and cheeks and then blend. The brush is unique in its high quality, streak-free application.  Turning the brush on it’s side, you are able to get around the nose and underneath eyes.  While it is medium coverage, the effect is natural because it isn’t too matte.  Only downside is a lack of shade range with only eight options, all in the fair-skin range.

L’Oreal Visible Lift Smooth Absolute Instant Age Reversing Foundation is available at Target for $13.48.

 

Kiehl’s Since 1851 Ultimate UV Shield SPF 50

I kinda feel like I found the sunscreen holy grail.  I just stumbled upon it running errands.   And it was just too monumental not to share immediately.  It is powerful, lightweight, effective sunscreen. Bonus points for Kiehl’s always pleasant packaging so it looks great on your vanity.

The formula is oil free, but it is so lightweight, those with drier skin can layer with moisturizer.   The sunscreen doesn’t cake on the skin – the smooth, thin layer of SPF is the perfect canvas for makeup.   And this is broad-based.  That means is blocks more of those suckers that will lead to premature aging, freckles, dark spots and skin cancer.  I hope you are as excited as I am.  You can find it at Neiman Marcus and Bergdorf Goodman.

butter London Nail Skins

butter London is one of my new favorite polish lines.  Their colors are unique and diverse – with a 3 free formula (NO Formaldehyde, NO Toluene, NO DBP).  In true form, their new nail skins are the prettiest I have seen.  That leopard is so cool.  $10 and not available in the UK.

Retro Style

Retro revival has been inspiring me all year and I decided to collect some of my favorite products to recreate the look. Yesterday, I picked up Red Revival lip color from Maybelline.  It is so incredibly hydrating and long-wearing.  (side note: I also recommend Fifth Avenue Fuchsia)  The application is creamy, but highly pigmented.  What a great color range!  And the price, great excuse to pick up two or three!

For the eyes, my first step was a rediscovered favorite: Laura Mercier Tightline Cake Eye Liner Black Ebony.  I spray some Shu Uemura Depsea Water Facial Mist in Bergamot on the Laura Mercier Flat Eyeliner Brush, a couple swipes on the cake, and tuck the brush along my lash line.  Don’t drag the brush , just press and repeat until you have covered the entire lash.  The look is definining and demure – but utterly sexy.

A bold brow is the cornerstone of the retro look, and requires a brow pencil.  My favorite these days is Le Metier de Beaute Brow Bound Eyebrow Pencil.  It has a gel consistency and I work it onto the hairs rather than the skin.  I blend and tame flyaways with the brush include on the other end of the pencil. 

Dramatic mascara extends the pigment from the lash line through the lashes.  Lancome Hypnose Custom Volume Mascara adds just the right amount of volume.  A little highlighter like the gorgeous Lumière Sculptèe de Chanel Highlighting Powder on the inner corner of your eyes and cheekbones and you are set!