When you have far too many products to choose from, you know that you've found a keeper when you are reaching for it daily. Of late, I have a couple new keepers in my rotation of products.
1st I'm a long-time fan of liquid eyeliners and I've finally found the holy grail of black liquid liner: Stila stay all day waterproof liquid eyeliner, $20. It is by far THE BEST I've ever worn. And when I say I've tried a TON....check out these examples of the brands I've tried: Tarte, Benefit, Urban Decay, Christian Dior, Wet n Wild (I know, but sometimes you find great things dirt cheap and this one wasn't bad at all!), Estee Lauder, L'Oreal, MAC, LORAC, and several others. But the Stila marker style liner (only in carbon black) is firm enough so that it doesn't bend too much with pressure, but flexible enough to curve with the slopes of the eye. And after doing my makeup for over 20 years and professional makeup for a decade, I finally mastered the liquid liner vintage cat eye thanks to this little genius. I should also mention that it is smaller and more tapered than almost any of the others too so if you want a subtle "tightline", it makes it really simple.
To be fair I've heard the new Tokidoki liquid liners are amazing and I tried them on my hand in the store and had them on for over a day with some pretty frequent hand washing. I will update if and when I try it on my eyes, but I see a contender for the top prize.
2nd: Mark i-mark eyeshadow single in "nomadic". I bought about 10 shades of this eyeshadow after reading tons of rave reviews on the website about it and wanting to see if indeed they do live up to the hype. For the most part the answer is unfortunately no. The exception, for some reason is this color nomadic. It's the perfect beigey gold with tons of subtle shimmer that doesn't go frosty, but is more flecked in gold. If you read my previous post, you can see that I'm on a highlighter kick and this little individual shadow also doubles as a gorgeous highlighter for the upper cheekbones, inner corner of the eyes and temples. If you're going to make a mark order, go to my site http://tinyurl.com/25l6sxz I don't do much with being a "rep", but since I like to try so much stuff on the market, it made sense to get a discount...I have other recommendations if you're going to place an order so that you can qualify for free shipping. Just send an email to me at joydawnb@yahoo.com. I'll also be doing a couple posts on my picks from Mark.
3rd: Bodywash from Bath and Body Works in the new Summertime Vanillas collection in the scent "Lemon Vanilla". It's pretty much a combo of the 2 scents that I love the most. Generally anything with a citrus scent is a favorite, with lemon taking a generous lead over others. But the problem with lemon is that it can be a little too dishwashing liquid/Pledge furniture polish. And the problem with vanilla is that it can be a bit cooking/90's college student. But when you combine the 2, it cancels out anything negative about these scents and really brings out the pleasing crispness of the lemon and warmth of the vanilla. I want to drink and swim in this bodywash. Actually I wanted the moisturizer too, but I went right after the scents were released and I'm not the only person that made a point of seeking out the fragrance. I will be going back for more products in this scent.
You can find some great beauty bargains in places like TJ Maxx and Marshalls on occasion. They have plenty of hair products, but generally the makeup is shattered generic palettes, picked over closeouts- pretty hit or miss. But fragrances seem to have a constant array of new-in-box scents. What I've noticed is that the little-known sister fragrances to a more popular scent are flush.
I'm a big fan of Lolita Lempicka and their signature scent has been a best-seller for a decade. But their subsequent launches only seem to appeal to rabid users of the original that are jonesing for something new and yet, familiar. While I enjoy the original scent, it can be overly sweet for daily wear. Their 2nd scent "L de Lolita Lempicka" has some of that same sweetness, the super cute bottle (similar to the orginal), and is much lighter. I almost purchased it on vacation in Saint Martin a couple of years ago when it was brand new, but opted for Dior Cherie instead. Last week I lucked out at Marshall's and found "L" for only $19.99, a $69 value. Better than 'not bad', damn good. And the fact that I know that it was launched only 2 years ago means that it can't be any older than that.
One thing you should watch out for at these stores is expiration dates. You can't always tell, but use judgement. And as you can tell by my myriad products, I always use judgement when shopping. (How do you feel about me closing ever blog with a meta expression regarding my awareness of how absurd this makeup addiction is?)
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