Spring Beauty Forecast: Tom Ford Lavender Palm, Topshop Polish + Dark Circle-Busting Concealer

Ohai! Beauty Blogging Junkie's Amber and I have once more joined forces to bring you some of our favorite beauty products for spring. (Review our favorite winter beauty products if you need a moment.)

Anyway, neither one of us should be allowed in front of anything that has the capability to record us because we will NEVER STHU. OKAY! Watch our new spring beauty "forecasting" videos, and check out my favorite spring products below!





Here are the beauty products I'm INTO.

($4.99, Sonia Kashuk, Target)

 

Tom Ford Lavender Palm EDP is $250 for 50ml, $950 for the 250ml decanter (I KNOW!) and available only at Tom Ford Beverly Hills. That's SO Tom Ford of him.

($23.99, Graftobian.com)

Seriously, Graftobian makes the BEST concealer/ corrector OF ALL TIME. Believe me when I tell you this. Because it's true. This is like the Susan Boyle of beauty products: plain-looking but deceptively skilled.

($28, Rodin, Barneys.com)

If you're not the kind of girl who'd spend $28 on lip balm, you will be after reading my Naag.com review of Olio Lusso.

Oh, and I TOTALLY screwed up the name of brand of the shirt I'm wearing! It's Wkshp (pronounced "Workshop.") Good thing I don't have to appear on any red carpets in the near future. Reporters would be like "WHAT ARE YOU WEARING?" I'd be like "IT'S LANCOME" instead of LanVIN or something! Anyway, Wkshp's tees are the comfiest, slouchiest, cutest tees I've encountered in my entire history of t-shirt curation. And that's really saying a lot. CandyStore Collective, Free People and Nasty Gal carry Wkshp tees.

($39.50, Wkshp, FreePeople.com)

 HORSE shirt alert, by the way! That wasn't lost on you,w as it?

($40, Wkshp, Shopnastygal.com)

+ And by the WAI, Topshop Sandy Lane nail polish is coming soon!

Finally, here are the products AMBER is into!
+ Tom Ford Neroli Portofino Eau de Parfum
+ Elemis FreshSkin Make-up Cleansing Wipes
+ Revlon CustomEyes Palette in Smoky Sexy
+ Josie Maran Blemishes R Gone Argan Acne Clearing Pads
+ Neutrogena Skin Clearing Blemish Concealer
+ Pixi Week Of Wake Up Makeup ($30)

The Year In Beauty: These Are My Favorite Things, Part 4

Welcome back!

You, like me, are probably sitting around in your sweatpants, so what better time to check out the fourth installment of my and Beauty Blogging Junkie Amber's favorite beauty products of 2010. I've been writing about beauty every week for Naag.com, so there are plenty of lipsticks, perfumes, eyeshadows, mascaras and wine to cover.

Let's get right to it.

Here are the beauty products we covered in this video:

Me: Davines Number 1 Finest Oil Non Oil For Wizards (a miraculous anti-frizz serum), Revlon Retro Fire and Ice nail polish in Siren, Miss Pucci Perfume and Tom Ford Black Orchid Nail & Lip Set.

Amber: Keratin Complex Serum, Immunocologie Skin Care, and CND Effects Line polish.

 

Watch Part 1, Part 2 and Part 3.

The Year In Beauty: These Are My Favorite Things, Part 3

Welcome back. And here we have part three of my and Beauty Blogging Junkie's Amber's favorite beauty products of 2010. I don't think my cat makes a cameo in this video, but you will see a lot of wine!

The products I love in this video include Topshop's big, fat Lip Crayon -- I truly thought I couldn't do a big, bright hot pink, but it works in Topshop's matte -- Urban Decay's spectacular Naked Palette, which is a celebrations of beachy browns and golds, Sulwahsoo Concentrated Ginsing Cream, which costs a small fortune but is worth every stress-inducing dollar you'd part with for insanely hydrated skin, Honore de Pres Va A New York perfume, which smells like the end of a long night out in New York, Burberry's Effortless Mascara, and Maybelline's Volum Express The Falsies mascara.

Amber's beauty BFFs are Stila Smudge Pot in Kitten, La Prairie Advanced Marine Biology Tonic, Juliette Has a Gun Fragrance Set (Lady Vengeance), Napoleon Perdis Lipstick in Calypso, La Prairie Anti Aging Eye Cream SPF 15 and Alterna Kendi Oil.

Again, my outfit ended up being an exercise in what NOT to wear on TV. But speaking of TV, I'm going to be on VH1's Top 40 Music Videos of 2010 Countdown show tonight, so hopefully I will be exonerated. And the lady who did my makeup did ELTON JOHN'S makeup for years. No, she did not make me look like Elton. Oh well. There's always next year.

($44, Urban Decay)

The Year In Beauty: These Are My Favorite Things, Part 2

Yesterday Beauty Blogging Junkie's Amber and I "unveiled" -- because OBVIOUSLY you were unable to sleep due to the overwhelming suspense -- our favorite beauty products of 2010. And now here is part two for your bemusement. Get it? Because "bemusement" sounds like "beauty" a little!

The products I was all in a tizzy about are: Stila Raspberry Crush lipstain, Clarins' new Barocco holiday eyeshadow trio, and Deborah Lippmann Bad Romance polish. (Check out Matthew Siskin's awesome Gaga graphic that ran with my Naag review of the polish!)

Meanwhile, Amber reviewed Paul and Joe's palette, Chanel nail polish in Riva, and Carmindy All Over Brightener.

(Credit: Matthew Siskin/ Designed Memory for Naag.com)

The Year In Beauty: These Are My Favorite Things, Part 1!

Happy between-Chanukkah-and-Christmas time!
Beauty Blogging Junkie's Amber and I got together, pooled our favorite lip glosses, hair goops and mascara wands, opened a bottle of red wine, and made a couple of videos of us discussing our favorite beauty products of 2010.

I learned a lot from doing these videos! I learned that while my outfit looked adorable in person, it came off as positively uncute on camera. I wore a high-waisted circle skirt whilst SEATED ON MY SMOOSHY COUCH! I look like I was born without a waist. Ugh. Live and learn, people. I learned that making videos is insanely time-consuming, and while I already respected bloggers who regularly devote their time to making their own videos, I now pretty much think they're Jesus. And I learned that Windows Movie Maker was put on this planet to destroy me.

Anyway, hope you like it! There are more where this came from!




And check out my Naag.com review of MAC's Haute & Naughty Lash
and C.O. Bigelow Protein-Enriched Conditioner for Dry & Damaged Hair. Amber hyped up Tokyomilk Bon Bon Shea Butter Hand Cream and Panthera Ultraflesh Mascara, which is SHAPED LIKE A PANTHER. I got excited about that, you'll notice.Who even cares how it works when it looks like that?

Mandy Aftel's Face Exilir Will Give You Toddler Face

I recently had an INTENSE moisturizer conversation in the bathroom at work (I was talking to a friend, by the way, and not to myself. And we were in the anteroom, and not like on the toilet -- it's always so weird when people converse while on the toilet), and I ACTUALLY heard myself using the term "anti-aging." Ugh. Mortifying that that's actually in my lexicon now. It was like one of those moments where you suddenly find yourself hovering above yourself, watching and listening in horror as you actually say something you can't believe you're saying.

($40, Aftelier Perfumes, Aftelier.com)

Anyway, I said "anti-aging" because I've recently been using Mandy Aftel's Aftelier Perfumes all-natural face Geranium, Jasmine and Ylang Ylang elixir. I recently discovered Mandy Aftel after Nathan Branch (who's one of the smartest fashion/ retail writers I've a fortnight), introduced me to Mandy and her phenomenal collection of all-natural, handmade fragrances. I loved them so much I wrote a Naag.com story on her fragrances. So, where was I? Oh yeah, Mandy included a face elixir in the generous package she sent me, and I tried it out almost as an afterthought, having already fallen in love with her fragrances and not really looking for any extra love, you know?

Hand to God, people, her elixir made me look instantly younger. Like TEENAGE years, guys. Pre-teen even. It  moisturizers, hydrates and RADIATES youth. There's absolutely no messy greasiness. Just the clearest, brightest, softest skin I can ever remember experiencing. I wouldn't be surprised if people mistook me for a toddler. The difference between my skin when I use this and when I don't is the difference between awesomely perfect and gross.

My only gripe, and it's a small one, is that the bottle is very small -- 7 ml. BUT, I'm kind of an overuser, and while each bottle's $40, I figure lots of anti-aging products are barely bigger and about five times the price. And I guess what price toddler face?

Kitsch List: An Olde-Tymey Rotary Phone & A Chocolate Skull From AHALife

 Taking a break from posting about studded booties and skinny jeans to put these two totally great kitchsy must-have housewares on your radar:

1.) An olde-tymey rotary phone! IN PINK! 

($80, Stephiesays.com)

Singapore's Stephie Says sells BRAND-NEW rotary phones in beige, black, red, and PINK, FTW! I don't even have a land line anymore, let alone a "regular phone," but I kind of want a rotary phone just to put on my shelf and recall the creepy split-pea green rotary phone we used to have in my basement when I was kid. A rotary phone always makes me want to redo my bedroom in all pink and dance around my room like Ann-Margret. 

($28, Bond Street Chocolate, Ahalife.com)

And perhaps you didn't realize it when you woke up this morning, but you're in the market for a dark chocolate skull by Bond Street Chocolate. It's dark chocolate, 3D (naturally), and it's the featured product today on Ahalife, which is a new flash sale site that's kind of like Daily Candy meets Gilt. Each week there's a small boutique of gorgeous gifts, housewares, jewelry, beauty products, apparel and more. Basically, it's the better version of the stuff you already have. Like a DIANE VON FURSTENBERG CAMERA!! And a set of Aftelier Perfumes perfume trios (check out the Naag.com story I wrote about Mandy Aftel and Aftelier, and then get ready to never love another perfume again as much as you'll love these.) And the selection is curated by an international set of fashion insiders, experts, tastemakers, celebrities and philanthropists. So sign up. And this chocolate skull could be yours. I mean, after "chocolate skulls," there's really just there's no backing out at this point.

Style Spotlight: Gap Leather Utility Jacket

($328, Gap)

Gap's new belted black leather jacket stopped me in my tracks when I passed it in the window of their Times Square location. It's clearly not meant to be... yet... since it's sold out in medium (and is it just me or does Gap run ENORMOUS these days), but I've got my eye on you, black leather jacket! You with the super-convenient hip pockets and the skinny, push-up-able sleeves.

More cute leather jackets here at Naag!

Alexander McQueen Patent Blue Leather Heels, Why Can't We Be Friends?

I could care less if electric cornflower blue is in the fall 2010 color palette or not. (It's not.) I NEED a pair of blue patent leather heels in my life. More purple than green, kay?

The perfect pair are obviously these Alexander McQueen heels with silver detailing on the heel.

($255.96, Alexander McQueen, Matches Fashion)

Oh yeah, and check out the Naag.com piece I did on EIGHT great blue nail polishes for fall! That's a different blue nail polish shade for every finger, plus two wild cards for your remaining two fingers (assuming/ hoping you have all 10).

Oh why oh why can't we be friends?

A Bunch of Naag.com Beauty Pieces!

(Image by the incredible Designed Memory)

Remember how I told you I'm writing about beauty for Naag.com? Well here are a bunch of beauty pieces I wrote in which I, of all people, tell YOU how to look better, whether or not you need to.

+ MAC's phenomenal Haute & Naughty mascara: Its packaging is totally Barbie And The Rockers, and it gives you RuPaul lashes. I think I've said enough.

+ Mistral soaps: Heaven-scent (GET IT?) handmade French soaps thick as bricks, and they last forever.

+ Fresh Pomegranate Conditioner: My favorite conditioner of all time. It comes with the story of how I klepto'ed them from the Roosevelt Hotel in Hollywood.

+ Too Faced Aqua Bunny Bronzer: It's so not Snooki.

Oh Hey, Wait! I'm Writing About Beauty For Naag.com!

You guise! I'm writing about beauty over at the newly launched Naag.com -- Agyness Deyn and Fiona Byrne's new fashion, lifestyle, culture/ stuff-we-like daily site. Check it out! Be pretty and well moisturized! Enjoy the awesome and hilarious art (there's a fun new collage on every Friday's homepage -- kind of like a Cracker Jack toy -- you know it's coming, but you don't know what you're gonna get). Go now!

A few pieces I wrote:
+ MAC's HYPERVENTILATION-inducing new Haught & Naughty 2-in-1 mascara!

+ NARS' super summery, sunny Versailles nail polish.

+ Three concealers to make you look less hungover!

+ Tom Ford's new please-do-me Private Blend lipstick.

+ Iced tea lipbalms from DuWop.

+ Rimmel's like woah mascara.