Deepwater Blue Kohl in Love by Lancome

Deepwater Blue is a gorgeous cobalt blue eyeliner from Lancome's "In Love" collection for summer 2013.  When I first considered getting this, I could find only one swatch online, as another shade, Jade Crush, seemed to be getting all the attention.  I went ahead and dove in Deepwater Blue blind, and I've got no regrets!

Not only is this pencil intensely pigmented and smooth, but the wear is phenomenal.  Once this sets it does not smear, budge, or fade.  My eyeshadow may have faded after a 10-12 hour day, but Deepwater Blue is still there.

Like all Lancome products, the price is rather inflated at $26.  Given the unique (to my collection) color and great performance, however, I don't mind paying that. 

Waterline wear was about 3-4 hours, which is fairly good for me.   I wear contacts and did not have any irritation or transfer to my lenses.

Also available in Jade Crush and Chocolate Affair, these pencils are worth a look if you see a color you like.  I got mine from Nordstrom with the recent Lancome GWP I reviewed. 

Disclaimer:  I purchased this. 

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Gorgeous Peach Ultra Vinyl Lip Pencil by Sephora

Sometimes, it's the ones you don't have any real expectations of that surprise you.  I believe I picked up Sephora's Ultra Vinyl Lip Pencil in Gorgeous Peach when it was on sale for $5 as a way to hit the magic $50 free shipping amount.  But dang if I haven't been wearing it several times a week in the past month, I like it so much!

I find Gorgeous Peach to be such a wearable shade, as it's peachy pink shimmer is smooth and packs the pigment of a lipstick with the shine of a gloss.  It's very comfortable on and wears for a good three hours, which is about my limit, it seems.

Now, for the semi-bad news.  The Ultra Vinyl Lip Pencils pop up in the sale section periodically, and Gorgeous Peach was not listed in their last go around, although some other pretty colors were.  I find that Sephora does that in their sale section - some days items are available, then they're gone, then they're back.  I know because I browse it daily :-)

Disclaimer:  I purchased this.

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NOTD: Noir Caviar by Lancome

Despite having just gotten oodles of new spring colored nail polish with the Zoya Spring Color Cuties, my perverse self wanted to wear a deep, dark gray this week.  Maybe it's  because the weather has been yo-yo'ing between warm and sunny to cold, dreary and rainy.  Regardless, I'm really liking Noir Caviar by Lancome.

This dark gray leans slightly blue, which makes it a more wearable color for me.  I love it's high gloss and cold sleekness!  This is my first time trying a Lancome polish, and everything about it has me feeling the warm fuzzies.  Except for the price ($15), and the small size of the bottle (6 ml).  Yes, that's less than the size of most mini's.  A regular sized OPI polish is 15 ml.

I still like it though!  Noir Caviar is part of the Vernis in Love polishes, which are divided into 3 collections:  Jolis Matins (M) "fresh shades for daytime wear," Boudoir Time (B) "pop shades for cocktail hour," and Tonight is My Night (N) "intense shades for magical nights."  Guess which category Noir Caviar falls into - yep, it's an "intense shade for magical nights", or 585N, to be more specific.

One downside of wearing a dark color is when they chip, and I had a small chip on my index finger after one day of wear.  I'm not sure if that's because my nail is flaking or if it's the polish, but I decided to paint my tips with one of the blue Zoya shades that I recently acquired.  Problem solved.

As of now, Noir Caviar is exclusive to Nordstrom and the Lancome site, should you be wanting to track it down.

Disclaimer:  I purchased this.

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Alert! DHC Q10 Facial Film Soap Being Discontinued

I'm guessing a lot of people may not even know these exist, but the Q10 Facial Film Soap is being discontinued and is currently half off at DHC.   I personally think these are an ingenious concept, as the single use packets are perfect for travel or gym use.  Since they are not a liquid, there are no restrictions for carry on in air travel, plus you can tuck a few into your purse for anytime use. 

 As described at DHC:

"Forty individually wrapped sheets of gentle facial cleanser deliver the age-fighting benefits of antioxidant coenzyme Q10, plus total convenience. Just peel away the packaging, place a sheet in your hand, and add water. The rich lather helps remove impurities without stripping your skin of vital moisture. Keep some in your purse, store some in your desk, stash some in your gym bag, and use them when you’re traveling."

These are currently on sale for $6, (I paid $7.20 last week, so the price continues to fall) and I picked up 2 boxes to keep on hand for future trips.  I'm curious as to why these are being discontinued, as they had a 5 star rating in the DHC reviews section and seemed very popular!  Many are voicing their displeasure in recent comments, and I do find it perplexing.  Why you do this to me, DHC?

Disclaimer:  I purchased these.

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March Eco Emi: Spring Enchantment

March's Eco Emi box was inspired by "the warmth that you get from the sun but that also captured the calmness of the moon and stars at night".  I always appreciate the attention to detail that goes into the wrapping and presentation, and this month was no exception!

There were six beauty related items and 3 lifestyle items in March's box.  Some of the beauty items were entirely new to me.  I'm really excited about the Theragenics Detox Charcoal Bar soap, as it is targeted towards oily skin.  Now that the weather is getting warmer, my skin will be producing even more oil.  The soap smells really nice and look at the lovely deep gray color - I'm smitten.

The Lavender Vanilla Head-to-Toe Moisturizer is 100% shea butter and has a rich and creamy consistency.  This will make a wonderful night time hand moisturizer, and the scent is fantastic.  Lavender is known for promoting calmness, and vanilla is such a comforting scent, so I'm anticipating a lovely aromatherapy experience with this.  I'm not familiar with the Natural Heavenly Beauty Bath & Body brand, but their products are free of harmful parabens, petrochemicals, artificial colors and artificial fragrances , so will doing some more investigating.

I joke about Eco Emi always including a lip balm in every box, but I've got to admit they've introduced me to some I really like.  I'm a lip balm junkie and have them scattered throughout the house so that I'm always within reach of dry lip relief.  I like how emollient Belle's healing lip balm feels on and the scent and taste is subtle, so appears to be a worthy addition to my collection.

Blisoma herbal gel cleanser is new to me, but it sounds really interesting.  It's supposed to be an ideal match for the most reactive and allergic skin types.  The ingredient list is intriguing, and I'll be interested to see how this performs!

The last of the beauty related items is a Rejuvenating Mask by Dr. Hauschka.  I've tried of a few Dr. Hauschka samples  in the past and while they left a mostly positive impression, I've yet to find one that induced me to purchase.

The lifestyle items are a laundry detergent, some chocolate chip cookies, and a single tea bag.  Call me strange, but I get excited about laundry detergents.  I'm not sure why that is, but there ya go.

Overall, well done Eco Emi!  My allergy addled brain is too foggy to figure out the box value, but I'm guessing it's close the price I paid - $15.

Disclaimer:  I subscribe to Eco Emi for $15/mo.

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Viridian Bloom Eye Shadow Trio by Elizabeth Arden

I admit it, the stamped flowers and colors of Viridian Bloom enticed me.  I haven't used Elizabeth Arden products in like, forever, and was never a big user of their cosmetics.  I mainly stuck to their fragrances and was a devotee of their Tranquilities blue body spray mist in the early 1990's.  I guess that was one of my earlier forays into aromatherapy, as the original scents were all marketed towards promoting different emotional states, as reflected by the names.  I remember paying big money in my relatively poor state back then for it, long before they slashed prices and started selling them in drugstores.

Viridian Bloom is one of the two eye trios from the New York in Bloom Color Collection.  Viridian means a durable blue green pigment, so that explains the name.  I find cream/turquoise/brown color schemes to be so appealing, which also explains my attraction to this trio.  Just look at how pretty Elizabeth Arden's signature sun flowers are stamped across the shadows!

The compact itself is sturdy, fits in the palm of my hand, and contains a mirror and foam applicator.  The shadows feature three different finishes:  a turquoise metallic, a cream shimmer, and a brown matte.

Applied dry (sun)

Sadly, I did not find the quality of these to be on par with the $32 price.  Pigmentation is lacking, as I found I needed to really bare down hard with my finger or the foam applicator in order to pick up enough shadow to build color.  The brown applied the best and the turquoise provides a sheer wash of color.  The cream provided a few bits of mica type sparkles but very little color.  These can be used wet as well, which did produce more vibrant color.  However, I had a hard time getting smooth coverage, especially with the turquoise.

Applied wet (shade)

I felt like I had to work harder than I'm inclined to make these shadows work for me.  Using a brush did not work with the turquoise or brown, as the shadows were hard and it felt like I needed to scrape the surface in order to pick up the powder.  Perhaps that's because I did use a wet brush when I did the wet swatches, which may have caused a change to the surface.  For the look below, I layered the turquoise color over Urban Decay's 24/7 eye pencil in Junkie, which amped up the color significantly.  I used the brown shade up to the brow bone and under the lower lashes, and the cream on my brow and inner eye area. 

Overall, I'm disappointed in Viridian Bloom.  The compact itself is lovely, but the performance was a bit frustrating.  The description doesn't say if these are baked shadows, but the sheerness of color payoff and how they applied do remind me of  baked shadows.  There are many less expensive baked shadows out there that perform as well if not better, even if they are not as pretty!

Disclaimer:  I purchased this.  

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Light Show Countless Color Pigment by stila

stila has some really interesting new products out for the summer, and I was able to pick up two of the Countless Color Pigments in Light Show and Lyric recently.  I was interested in Light Show as an eye shadow and Lyric as a blush, as these can be used wherever you would like.  These boast an exclusive, first-to-market formula created with vibrant pigments and are handmade using a proprietary pressing and baking process.  I'll be showing Light Show today.

These feel, look, and indeed are different in formula than the baked mineral eyeshadow and blushes you may be familiar with.  The finish is more of a satin and there is a softness to the pigments.  These are not recommended to be used wet, whereas baked minerals can be and that's usually how you can get greater color intensity.  To get color intensity with the Countless Pigments, it is recommended to apply with your finger or a foam applicator, and I will say that I had the most success when using my fingers as far as building color was concerned.  When I used a brush with Light Show, it kicked up a lot of powder and was difficult to build color, sheering out instead.

Reminds me of an aerial view of earth

The colors themselves are lovely!  You can focus on single colors, blend different ones together to make you own shades, or do a swirl around the entire pan and blend.  Here are some of the colors I was able to make:

Since I had the most success applying with my finger, it did make it a bit more difficult to get the kind of color placement I would have liked.  I need to play around with a foam applicator or perhaps different kinds of brushes to see if I can build up color a bit more or use some of the smaller colors such as the yellow or green.

Wear time over a primer was about 7 hours before I started noticing significant fading.  I did notice when swatching that these rub off very easily, which concerned me a bit.  I'm guessing the primer helps to bind them to the skin.

The Countless Color pigments are $22 each, and I bought mine directly from stila.  So far, I'm liking them!

Disclaimer:  I purchased this.

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