Dior Makeover with Extase Pinks palette

Today I had wonderful experience in my local Macy's. Dior artist Maritza Allen came to do makeovers and to share her vision of Dior aesthetics and skincare inventions.

Rosemarie DeRose, manager of Dior in my Macy's prepared my skin and Maritza Allen applied colors. I forgot to take the list of used products but that's what I remember for sure:

Dior Capture Total One Essential

Dior SkinFlash Radiance Booster Pen

Diorskin Nude Hydrating Glow Makeup SPF 10 in 020

Diorshow Brow Styler

Dior EyeShow Backstage Makeup Waterproof Ultra-Shimmering Eyeshadow

Dior 5-Colours Eyeshadow in Extase Pinks

Dior Crayon Eyeliner in Precious Violet

Diorshow Iconic Mascara in Chestnut and Black

Diorshow Face Powder in Catwalk Pink

Last one used as blush and I really like how it looked. I absolutely don't remember what colors were used on my lips except Dior Addict Lip Polish, then Serum de Rouge and Gloss but I don't have numbers.

I also specially asked to use 5-colours eyeshadow palette in Extase Pinks which I already own because I wanted to see how to use it differently. I usually use bright pink and both greys from this palette. Maritza used more purple. Thanks for good idea.

You can see pictures of finished look below. I brought my face at home and tried to catch details. Sun was too bright and so it was not easy.

My face expression means - hey clouds come to create soft light for me. But clouds didn't hear me. LOL

P.S. I forgot to mention that products which I bought is Dior Capture Total One Essential. Maritza said it will work wonderfully with my Revive Moisturizing Renewal Cream at night and under my makeup at day. And also I bought Brow Styler because I don't have anything for brows except gel. It does job beautifully and invisibly.

NOTD - Zoya Robyn

My summer uniform is jeans skirt and white tee and blue scarf and blue bag. So blue nail polish is in favor this summer. Zoya Robyn is very right one. Unfortunately aplication is not A+ but B-, not bad although and I can live with it. It's well pigmented but leaves strokes after 2 coats. But we can fix it with Seche Vite top coat.

First picture is taken at full sun and polish looks much lighter than it looks in most light conditions. It's darker, deeper and it's not that milky at all.

Second picture has too much reflections but shows color better.

Anyway I'm not disappointed and will use it more for my pedi.

NOTD - H&M Cha Cha

This is another jewell from wonderful Lily. It's so sad that H&M doesn't sell their polishes in US. Very nice formula and smooth application. It's slight holographic so it's not boring at all but it's very subtle and I can wear it everywhere. I LOVE it.

More Nordstrom Exclusives: Laura Mercier Portable Beauty Collection and M.A.C. "Dazzle" Lipsticks

Laura Mercier Portable Beauty Collection includes Eye Color Duo in sparkling Guava and Kir Royal, professional double-ended brush, cheek Color Duo in Rose Petal and Mauve Second Skin, double-ended Lip Glace in Glisten and Violet and Long Lash Mascara Price $65 ($164 Value). Not much to say, you get what you see. I think it's very useful travel set if you need one.

M.A.C. "Dazzle" Lipstick in 13 exclusive high-shine lip colors. Price is $14.

Click to see close up picture to see how those lipsticks loaded with shimmer. Triple-drama sparkle is good description for that.

Dior Ready-to-Wear Palette and Addict Ultra-Gloss Nordstrom Exclusives

Here it is! Dior presents travel palette Ready-to-Wear and Addict Ultra-Gloss in Intimate Bronze for Nordstrom Anniversary Beauty Sale. I went to look and to do swatches for you.

Artificial light inside store.

Swatches pictures were taken just outside Nordstrom with full sun. It's dry application.

Last picture was taken when I went at home with no sun and different camera.

Below swatches of new ultra-gloss in intimate bronze.

Blurry picture to show sparkling shimmer (or even glitter)

This is close up picture of blush. It has tiny shimmer and looks nice.

Conclusion: palette can be very useful for travel. Quality is nice as usual but colors are nothing special. Bronzer is really dark for pale skin and blush is little too sparkly for me. Eyeshadows are very nice but not original. I have tons like that. I didn't swatch glosses included in palette but they look nice. Addict Ultra-Gloss is not my cup of tea because I don't like sparkles in it. So I will pass. Do you?

Chanel Quatuor Boutons De Chanel Yeux Eyes

I hoped that my local Nordstrom has a least some testers for Anniversary Beauty Exclusives so I couldn't wait to check it out. I hope my swatches will be helpful for you decision to buy or not to buy.

Les Naturels Dores De Chanel includes the quad eyeshadow palette and two nail polishes (one exclusive is #440 Gold Lame) and 2 mascaras (one exclusive is Inimitable Intense Rouge Noir which is burgundy/plum). Also Coco Mademoiselle set is available for Nordstrom sale.

Pictures of the quad was taken inside of store so it's artificial light but colors look true enough.

The quad is really nice. Very nice colors and textures. Shadows are very sheer so I did wet swatches to show up colors better. Even it's not first reincarnation of this palette (it was duty free exclusive for some Asian Airlines last year) it's cool anyway.

Those first 3 swatches were taken just outside with full sun. You can see it has some shimmer and looks really nice. I would describe colors as off white, peach, taupe and warm bronze.

Last swatch was taken when I came back at home. Camera is different (that's Canon EOS20D) and sun was hidden behind clouds. So you can see colors under different light condition to get more accurate idea.

I pre-ordered one palette for my friend and I didn't decide yet if I need it myself because I have a lot nude eyeshadows already. But if I didn't have I would definitely buy it now. Chanel rep said that it's almost sold out already so don't wait if you want it. What do you think?

Nordstrom Anniversary Beauty Exclusives are available for pre-order

Nordstrom has Anniversary Sale every year in middle of July. Most interesting part is Beauty Exclusives which usually sold out before they became available in stores. But you can pre-order it now from Nordstrom web site. It says that pre-ordered items will arrive on July 12th. Here is what attracts my eye most.

2 new Lippmann Collection Nail Colors

in Bad Romance ($18)

and in Across The Universe ($18)

Lippmann Collection "All That Jazz" Color Trio ($40)

Essie Fall Mini 4-Pack ($17)

Dior "Ready-to-Wear" Palette ($54)

Chanel Quatuor Boutons De Chanel Yeux Eyes ($65)

Guerlain "Must Have" Beauty Kit ($83)

Shu Uemura Eye & Cheek Palette ($65)

Shu Uemura Revitalizing Discovery Kit ($35)

M.A.C. "Dazzle" Lipstick in 13 exclusive high-shine lip colors ($14)

(I need to look at Glaringly Hip if it is right coral for me)

I probably will visit Nordstrom tomorrow to look at it in person. I hope they have testers already. I will let you know what I find. Stay tuned.

Peggy Sage Rosa Bella

I got 5 Peggy Sage nail polishes from France sent to me by wonderful Lily. Please, check her blog. I really loved colors and I was interesting to dig some information about this brand because it's not well known in US (since it's not available here). Frankly I never even heard about it before. I was very surprise to discover that it actually was born in US in 1925. Now Peggy Sage seems to have new birth in Paris.

I'm showing one of 5 my treasures. This is Rosa Bella 061, color which is hard to describe. Pinkish coral mauve with shimmer. Shimmer color is not obvious either, it's somewhere between gold and silver.

And can you believe it's only one coat. Day when I took picture was not sunny and I realized that it's holographic (OMG) only at the end of next day when shy sunlight showed up all real beauty of this polish. You can't see it on my picture but it's so. May be I will update picture when I will wear it next time. Formula is wonderful, smooth like butter, fast drying. I applied SV top coat and wore it 3 days without even tipwear. Love, Love, Love it.

Shiseido Ocean Collection for Summer 2010

Sorry for long delay. I broke my nail and cut all very very short. I didn't like how it looked so I didn't do polish swatches for you. But now I'm back. And I decided to talk not only about nail polishes but about any make up concerning questions.

One of the last great discoveries I made was Shiseido's new Summer Collection. Since Dick Page started to work for Shiseido quality of products became breathtaking.

Ocean Collection includes:

Luminizing Satin Face Color in PK107 Medusa

Luminizing Satin Face Color in GD809 Shell

Luminizing Satin Face Color is OR308 Starfish

Luminizing Satin Eyeshadow in GD824 Ocean Sunset

Smoothing Eyeliner Pencil in BK904 Black Sand

Luminizing Lip Gloss in SV809 Rainbow

Perfect Rouge in RD630 Red Triton

I bought four products - all 3 face colors and eyeliner. I think they are absolutely unique. If you are not professional make up artist AND you want to look natural and beautiful this is products for you. It's limited editions so run to buy it it's still available in stores and on-line. Medusa is highlighter. It's very delicate and you won't see shine or shimmer on your face. It's just shadow of light illuminating face from within. Shell is bronzer. Again it's totally fool prove. It's very hard to overdo. Starfish is blush. It's not reddish-orange as they called it. It's soft apricot color on your face and very natural too. All those powders help to give face more structure and to give healthy glow. Love, Love, Love it. Also as most shiseido products it's good for you skin. As japanese brand Shiseido cares about moisturizing qualities in all their products. You won't see make up but beautiful face. This is exactly what I'm looking in make up products. I bought those powders 3 weeks ago and I use it almost every day. When I look at the mirror I see good skin and then I remember how it happens. It's hard to catch so subtile effect in picture. But swatch doesn't have any sense either.

This is picture my husband took last Sunday when we visited Please Touch Museum in Philadelphia with our 3 years old daughter. So this is natural makeup for day look. I can see some mistakes - I didn't blend bronzer enough and blush doesn't show at all. But I definitely see effect from products so this why I want to share this picture.

Other used products:

Shiseido The Makeup Smoothing Veil SPF 16

Jane Iredale Purepressed Base SPF 20

Mac Paint Pot in Bare Study

Dior Crayon Eyeliner in Elegant Taupe

Dior 2-Colour Eyeshadow in Nude Look

Dior Backstage Mascara in Plum

Chanel Rouge Coco Lipstick in #5 Mademoiselle