Lips As Red As...

One of my favorite trends for fall, and life really, are red lips.  They are so bold and make such a statement.  I've always been a little leery of trying to pull off a red lip not at a black tie event, and maybe that was because I hadn't found the right red.  There are many out there and each skin tone and hair shade need something different.  But I think I finally found my red!  It's Yves Saint Laurent's Rouge Pur Couture The Mats lipstick in Rouge Rock.  After applying it, the makeup artist said I looked like Snow White.  In love!  And it's definitely something I'd like to start rocking during the daytime.  Here is some amazing inspiration for a rouge pout.  

What's stopping you? Go find your red!

(images clockwise from top left via 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7)

Aerin's Essentials

Has anyone else been hearing a lot about Aerin Lauder's latest makeup venture? The granddaughter of the famous Estée has been working on her own endeavor apart from Estée Lauder for a couple of years and it's finally completed.  Her new line, Aerin, encapsulates all of her favorite things.  The collection is definitely more about quality than quantity and this fall she's debuting some essentials, such as hand cream, lip conditioner, and makeup brushes, alongside fall color palettes for day and for weekend.  Each season she'll introduce new palettes and new patterns for her makeup bags and essentials.  She'll also start creating other items for sale, all things that would look lovely on a vanity.  Aerin Lauder has thought of everything and I can't wait to try some, especially that lip conditioner.

Brush set, $148

Weekday Style Palette, $70

Rose Lip Conditioner, $28

Rose Hand & Body Cream, $40

Fresh Skin Compact Foundation, $48 

Sunday Morning Lipstick, $30

Aerin is available where ever Estée Lauder products are sold.

(images via Neiman Marcus)

Lighten Up

As a self-proclaimed beauty junkie, I've tried a lot of foundations from various brands throughout the years.  But in the past few years I've been using formulas from Yves Saint Laurent, namely because I was finding other brands to be too yellow on my skin.  So as a lover of all YSL products that help me to create a flawless base (teint radiance foundation, anti-cernes concealer and the famous touche éclat as an under eye highlighter) I'm excited that there is now another amazing product to throw into the mix.  Touche Éclat Foundation.

The reason that touche éclat is so renown as a concealer is its light reflecting properties.  In its twenty years on the market it is one of the most recommended and sold beauty products.  The new foundation, Le Teint Touche Éclat, uses the same light reflecting technology to make skin appear flawless and luminous.  Apparently, the skin scientists over at YSL have been working on this technology for 10 years now.  Ten. Whole. Years. That's a long time to spend perfecting a base.  But it was worth the wait.  The new foundation has just launched in the U.S.  In fact, I could not find it on the YSL Beauty's U.S. site yet.  I actually only have it already because I stopped by the YSL counter at Saks this weekend to replace my cure-all concealer, anti-cernes in #1.  The sales woman showed me her secret supply of Le Teint Touche Éclat which she had gotten in the day before.  There wasn't even a display for the new product yet.  I feel very in the know.  And did I mention I'm loving it.  It goes on light, which is perfect for the summer heat but makes my skiing dewy and all around perfect looking.  I'm officially a fan.  According to WWD, the product should be in all American retail outlets by the end of July so keep an eye out!

Jourdan Dunn and Ginta Lapina for Le Teint Touche Éclat

(images via WWD)

Buy Touche Éclat highlighter and other YSL products at YSL Beauty

Everyday Essentials

Packing for Savannah this past weekend, I only brought the essentials for my beauty regimen.  Today I thought I'd let you see what products I use everyday.  As I've mentioned before, I'm a bit of a beauty product junkie.  I'm always in the market to try new things but the things I use everyday I've chosen after many years of testing and am completely loyal to some of these products.

Lately I'm completely addicted to Estée Lauder's DayWear BB Creme.  It's basically a tinted moisturizer but BB cremes contain high SPFs and anti-oxidants to help make your skin look flawless.  You can apply it to your face to act as primer under your makeup or wear it alone.  Most days all I wear is this.  If I'm going somewhere nice or am retouching for the evening I'll put my foundation, Yves Saint Laurent Teint Raidance in No. 4, on over it.  My next step is to apply my YSL concealer.  (I might be slightly addicted to YSL products...) While everyone raves about YSL's Touche Éclat (and it's true, it really is amazing), a brightening concealer pen that I use under my eyes when I'm finishing putting on my makeup (or as a touch up throughout the day), my favorite concealer is in the square gold tube.  It's the YSL Anti-Cernes concealer and I swear by it.  If I was stranded on a desert island and had this with me, I'd feel much better about life and could relax.  It covers everything without ever looking cakey or heavy.  It's perfection.  The next step in my foundation application is to use my Chanel eye shadow base.  The color is skin-tone but it has a little bit of shimmer to it.  I don't like to wear a lot of eye make up during the day, so it gives me the look of having on some eye shadow without having to actually apply any.  It also keeps eye shadow from getting into my creases when I do decided to do my eye makeup. 

My next step is to apply YSL bronzer with my Clinique powder brush before applying blush.  Right now I'm currently using NARS blush in Mata Hari.  It's a very bright pink but when I have a summer tan it goes on nicely.  But I have to be careful to just use a small bit because it's very pigmented.  

For my eyes I'm using a new Chanel eye brow pencil in Noir Cendré.  I'm obsessed with filling in my eye brows.  My mom has been trying to get me to do this for years and now that I've started I don't feel like I look the same without filling in the little gaps.  It totally makes all the difference.  Finally, I line my eyes using a Bobbi Brown eyeliner brush that I've had forever with YSL Eyeliner Effect Faux Cils in Noir Profond.  It's a gel cream that is extremely long wear and never smudges, but it takes a very steady hand to apply.  If I even make the line a little too thick and try to smudge it off, I usually end up messing it up and having to take everything off and start over.  I finish everything up by using my Shu Uemura eyelash curler and a few heavy coats of Estée Lauder Sumptuous Extreme mascara in Extreme Black.  I'll have to do an entire post on mascara, because I'm quite addicted... 

The final touch of is Chanel lipgloss.  Everything is placed in a makeup bag that I got from Henri Bendel's.  I love Bendel's and anything in their signature brown and white stripes can find a home with me.  This bag is the perfect thing to store all my makeup and more and keep everything clean and organized when traveling.  

Polished to Perfection

I'm a beauty product junkie.  Or recovering.  Well, trying.  I have a thing for beauty products and wanting to try every single one out there, but then sticking only to a few basics and letting the rest pile up in my drawers.  This especially goes for lip gloss. Just ask my mom.  Over the course of time I have owned every shade of pink imaginable.  To the point where it was hard to differentiate my many Chanel glosses because they were just slightly a shade different from one another.

While I am trying to reform my ways and buy much less lip gloss I did have to indulge in the new YSL gloss I've been hearing about.  It's called Rouge pur Couture Vernis à Lèvres, the last part roughly translated is "polish for lips".  Vernis is typically the word used on nail polish bottles, therefore it is to be noted that this is not truly a lip gloss.  As the makeup artist at Neimans explained to me, the product is really more like a lipstick that feels like a gloss (and is applied with a wand) but stays like a stain.  Kind of crazy, right?

Well it's all true.  My lips were glossy to begin with but when that faded (as all glosses do), it still felt creamy, like a lipstick.  BUT hours later, the color was still perfect.  Thus, a stain.  I am officially deeming this the perfect lip product (let's go with product, because gloss doesn't quite cut it) for going out.  I hate when you pick a stand-out color and then have to keep re-applying all through the night.  Not with this.

However, I also recommend that you don't hastily re-apply while walking or stopped at a traffic light.  Be very careful with the application because wherever it goes, it's staying.

(images via YSL Experience)

I'm using #14 Fuchsia Doré - if you're going to be bold, go all the way right?

$32 wherever Yves Saint Laurent makeup is sold

Summer Shades

Back from Dallas and a little frazzled considering I have a huge project due for school today.  So here is something fun!


During summertime (or basically whenever it's warm out) I like to have bright colors on my nails. Currently my favorite shades are two from Chanel. A hot pink named Pink Insolent and a peachy pastel named June. The pink is a perfect pedicure for May and the peach is a great alternative to a neutral manicure.

Chanel nail polish, $25 where Chanel makeup products are sold