Bobbi Brown's New Website, Plus a Great Contest!

I love, love, love Bobbi Brown! I'm sure you've noticed by now if you read regularly. So, I was pretty happy to learn about the new design of her website. They've added videos, tips and changed how they swatch the colors (thank goodness!) You can even review products!

To celebrate the opening of the site, you are automatically entered to win $450 worth of Bobbi Brown products whenever you review a product. (Personally, I'd love to spend that on the new Nude Eye Palette)

Bobbi Brown

Surprise Favorite Summer Fragrance: Estée Lauder's Pure White Linen Pink Coral

Sometimes things just randomly show up on my doorstep. About four weeks ago one of my surprise boxes contained this bottle from Estée Lauder. "White Linen? How old fashioned." I thought. I set it down on my bathroom counter. It sat there for about a week or so, when I became curious. I wore it to work one day. And the next. And the next. Pretty soon I'm going to have to hide it in a drawer, since I have other fragrances sitting here waiting to be reviewed.

Overall, this fragrance is definitely a soft, powdery crowd pleaser. I can't even tell you how many compliments I have gotten while wearing it! It is light and fruity with some faint floral leanings. I love how light it is, keeping it from feeling too heavy for hot and humid summer afternoons.

The fragrance opens with a green, crisp leaning which makes me believe that the top note of Apple Blossom predominates on me. This quickly burns off (mostly), though doesn't completely go away. The cherry blossoms come out a bit more and mix with the Apple Blossom, making the scent fruity but not sticky sweet. The Jasmine and Peony both come out after about 30 minutes and a few hours later I think the Honeysuckle comes out as well. Throughout the base note of Sandalwood is there as a powdery accent, but certainly doesn't overwhelm the other notes. It lasts from morning to night with only minor fading of intensity at the end of the day.

Top Notes: Apple Blossom, Clear Aldehydes, Waterfruits, Pink Peppercorns, Chinese Berry Mist
Middle Notes: Jasmine, Pink Peony, Camellia Flower, Cherry Blossom, Sweet Pea, Honeysuckle
Base Notes: Vanilla, Heliotrope, Sandalwood

Overall, I think this is a great choice for summer. It's definitely found a permanent spot in my fragrance collection.

Pure White Linen Pink Coral is available now in both Eau de Parfum Spray and Body Lotion.
Estée Lauder's Pure White Linen Pink Coral

Lancome Boutique Friends and Family Discount!

If you're lucky enough to live near a Lancôme boutique (which are in New York, New Jersey, California and Texas), then click the image above (to make it full sized) and print it now! Between 8/01/09 – 8/08/09 you can have 20% off.

This is the perfect time to stock up on Bi-Facil, my favorite eye makeup remover, or to check out the new Indigo nail polish that everyone is raving about.

This offer is ONLY good in those boutiques, not on the Lancôme website or at Lancôme counters.

Lancôme Boutiques

Favorite Blush Right Now: MAC Daft Pink

I go through cycles with blush. I use it everyday, but I'll pick a color and stick with that one for a few weeks or even a few months at a time, rarely using a different shade. Last week I started using a new color, and I'm in love! I think this is going to be a favorite blush for years to come, so I had to share it with you.

It's from MAC's new Colour Craft Collection, the Daft Pink Mineralize Blush. You can see it in the picture here, though I think in actuality it is a bit lighter of a pink then the picture shows. It's a medium blue based pink with light yellow/gold and white veining throughout. It is fairly translucent though buildable, and it blends beautifully. With a big brush it gives my pale skin a radiant glow, and is a pretty pink blush if I use a smaller blush. The gold makes it glow on my skin without being shimmery or gaudy. It's just pretty.

MAC Mineralize Blush in Daft Pink

Staying Dry: Degree Woman

I actually have had quite a few requests from readers lately all with the same question. What is the best deodorant? I have to say that I was a bit surprised to get this question, but I've decided to start doing more deodorant reviews.

One of the newest on the market comes from Degree, and rather than simply putting out deodorant/antiperspirant they've gone the extra mile and created a matching fragrance. Overall, this is a great deodorant. I was dry all day every day, even when moving or driving through the heat of Arizona during my cross country trip. The collection has three different scents (I tried Classic Romance, which has top notes of Rose and Peony with base notes of citrus and bergamot), and the body mists are light and refreshing without being overwhelming. I thought it lasted most of the day but was very subtle. Don't expect a lot of fragrance from the deodorant, but it was nice to have it compliment rather than compete with my fragrance for the day.
Degree Women

MAC Eversun: The Perfect Blush for Your Summer Tan

I've been meaning to post this picture for weeks. What is it? MAC Eversun. This blush was part of the Style Warrior collection, and while it's been sold out for a while on-line, you need to snap it up if you happen to find it near you!

Why?

This blush is the perfect compliment to any summer tan or bronzer. Rather than a peach or rose tint (which can sometimes make you look like you have a sunburn), this light tan/peach is the perfect summer blush. The faint gold shimmer doesn't look gaudy (hard to avoid with shimmer on a tan). Look for it at your local MAC counter!
MAC Eversun Blush

Settling In

Have you been wondering where I am? Well, I'm not MIA, but over the past few weeks I've been in the middle of a cross country move.

That's right, I'm no longer a So Cal girl!

I'm somewhere in the midwest, in the land of 4 seasons again (I'm not likely to ever mention the state. If you're a really, really long time reader I'll tell you I moved back to the town of my alma mater, you can figure it out from there). This move was in the works for about 18 months, well before the current economic crisis and housing market collapse. Believe it or not, things are so bad in California that this move was perfectly timed for both my husband and I resulting in much better jobs than we had in California. Oh, and our new house is pretty amazing.

I did have some posts that were meant to auto-publish while I was busy. However, it seems that Blogger didn't publish any of them, and in fact it deleted a few of them. So, I'll be re-writing those. Hopefully over the next week or so I'll be changing over the design of the site, which I've been working on for a while.

In the meantime, a question for you! I have a second blog which I almost never update. It's a shopping site, I pretty much just put up pictures of things I like, mostly clothes but some shoes, bags, etc. I'm debating about merging the two sites here. Back in the beginning I had featured these items here, then I moved them, now I think I want to put it all back in one site. What do you think?

Besame Voluptuous Lipstick: Can All Natural Lipstick Perform?

Besame Cosmetics is primarily known for their vintage inspired collection of rouge, lipstick, powder, mascara and pencils that came in gold packaging, very 1930's. I remember friends that were very into that look were obsessed with this brand. However, it was somewhat hard to find, and I haven't heard much about the brand for years. Until they asked if they could send me samples of their new lipset, Voluptuous.

I have to say that I was very impressed. Currently it is a tad expensive at $35, but that gets you the lipstick, a lip pencil and a little lip brush (I only tried the lipstick, they sent me small samples of 2 colors). The range only has 3 colors right now, I'm hopeful that more shades will be available soon.

The lipstick is very smooth feeling and applying it is very easy. It glides on, blending easily. It actually feels a bit like lip balm it's so moisturizing. The color lasts for about 4-5 hours (this is without lip liner), though it looks a bit dry toward the end of this time. There's basically no flavor or scent, for me it seemed very slightly floral. I tried out Rapture Rose and Champagne. Rapture Rose is a fairly neutral rose tone, though definitely darker than the color featured on their website. Champagne is a neutral/warm tan that had a touch of shimmer. Both looked good on me, and I have very cool coloring.

I'm hoping that the release of this set is just the beginning of a new Besame Cosmetics, with more good things to come!

Besame Voluptuous Lipstick