http://schemas.google.com/blogger/2008/kind#post – Page 13

London’s Cutest Cosmetics – Intro

Emerging from non internet land, here I am. Yaya in all my yayaness. As those of you who participated in the giveaways during the holidays are just getting your packages, I hope you enjoy what’s coming ahead on MOJ!

I’d love to introduce you to Eyeko Cosmetics. It may not be new to you as they have become a cult favorite for many. The cosmetics line has adorable packaging for all their products and boasts a collection varying from lip gloss to nail polish and everything in between. Though not as large a collection as you may expect from the overall breadth of CoverGirl and the likes, I’m sure continued support and outreach will push them to expand more and more.

Check out the info from the site:

“Discover Eyeko Beauty, London’s cutest cosmetics, an irresistible line of make-up must haves with a Manga twist and Japanese flavour.

Eyeko means LOVE in Japanese and is the brainchild of beauty innovators Max and Nina Leykind who began the collection in 2000 with Eyeko Cream. Created for girls to perk up their skin counteracting the draining effects of staring at their computer screens, late nights and city life – Eyeko Cream remains the No.1 best seller to date. A triple duty moisturiser, eye cream and highlighter with an antioxidant boost plus Vitamin C makes for a radiant complexion. Try Eyeko 3 in 1 Cream and NEW Eyeko Tinted Cream and treat yourself to perfect skin.

The hottest stars cite Eyeko Beauty as their most wanted for creating glowing skin, big eyes and lush lips. Innovative, feel-good, top quality formulations result in easy-to-use, multi-tasking products that flatter everyone. Eyeko Beauty tests on celebrities not animals! All that and it’s affordable too.

Get the look as seen on Kylie Minogue, Natalie Imbruglia, Gwen Stefani, Victoria Beckham, Emma Bunton, Geri Halliwell, Courtney Cox Arquette, Mandy Moore, Anastasia, Jade Jagger, Helena Christensen and Thandi Newton to name but a few.

Eyeko Beauty has been featured heavily in many international titles including Vogue, InStyle, Cosmopolitan, Glamour, OK! and Allure… Isn’t it time you made Eyeko your new best friend?“

Their new limited edition nail polish is all the rage and I wanted to let y’all see what the fuss is about. Considering that I had so much fun photographing and using the polish, I have decided to make it a three part post. This one is the introduction. To the brand, the quirky collection, and more. The second? You will soon see swatches of the polishes on my digits. And the last? How the colors stand up to matte-ification!

First you must understand that these are petite sized nail polishes. I actually prefer this size because I feel like the contents of this polish are what a gal like you and I could possibly use up in the lacquer’s lifetime.

Second? Each polish has the name right out front. No flipping the bottle sideways or upside down – or whichever direction for that matter. It also has descriptions too. What do I mean? Well the Lilac polish is for lovely nails, while the nude is for proper nails. Which ones are yours?

So what first? Well I thought it was kind of necessary to compare these bottles to the old ones. The old polishes from Eyeko were very adorable, but the quality was not so much. The bottles were either watery or clumpy and just failed to do the rest of the brand justice. Also – they had different packaging.

This is the current state of a bottle of polish from their previous collection. Not in great shape I tell ya. But from my experience with these polishes and the old collection – the new ones are definitely improved.

Check out how the size stacks up to other polish bottles. Note that I did not choose colors to show whether it is a dupe for each or not. I merely chose similarly hued colors for aesthetic purposes. Click to enlarge 🙂

What ya guys think? Have a favorite color yet?

Disclaimer: This product(s)was sent to the author for review by the manufacturer/PR. All reviews on MOJ remain unbiased and unpaid. For more info, feel free to contact the author.

tweetmeme_url = ''; http://tweetmeme.com/i/scripts/button.js

Order in the Court!

Mucho apologies from my side to yours. I have been under a cloud of no internet for the past two days and had no scheduled posts for your enjoyment.

What did I keep busy with? Hmm…

Might one of those be yours? (I have two bags full).

As I said to one of you lovelies on my Formspring (ask me questions any time!), the packages will be arriving before the end of this week or the beginning of the next! 🙂

As you can imagine… a load like this took up the bulk of my daytime hours pent up in a post office. I’m not whining – I love to send goodies across the globe! Just keeping y’all updated. 🙂

I’ve also been concocting new things for MOJ. What’s coming up?

New series:

Order in the court! (scroll down to check out the first one)
How do you plead?

MOJ across the net (coming soon):

MOJ on Flickr
MOJ on Youtube!

And without any more suspense, here is Order in the Court!

A new series on MOJ, Order in the Court! is a peek into the future order of posts on MOJ (get it?). Inspired by Karen – founder and editor of www.makeupandbeautyblog.com (Don’t know her yet? Check her out – she’s awesome!), four photos will be shown at a time with an image from the post, without showing the brand or anything else. This way, you guys can know what’s coming ahead, and try to guess what’s next if you want!

Do you like this new series? What do you want to see on MOJ?

tweetmeme_url = ''; http://tweetmeme.com/i/scripts/button.js

My Treasure Chest is a Tarte

The highlight of my 2009 holidays was partly all the goodies that I got for myself. There are some gifts that I don’t think other people would venture out to get for me, so I take the initiative. One of these? The fabulous Treasure Chest by Tarte. Once that Sephora e-mail came in my e-mail inbox, I had one thing on my mind until I brought the baby home.

The chest boasts 32 shadows (16 shimmer and 16 matte), 15 lip colors, a bronzer, a powder, and 4 blushes. The total damage? $52. I’m sorry, even E.L.F at a dollar a pop can’t match that. Especially not for the quality that Tarte gives with each and every product they put out into the market. I liked this so much I bought my bloggin’ bestie one for her birthday!

Once I got this, I have to say I found the perfect item for going to travel. The only thing you need when you travel with this super value set is mascara, brushes, and a lip gloss to go, so that you can keep it in your pocket when going out. That’s it!

This item is sold out on Sephora, but I’m sure if you used freshdeals.com, or Google you’d find yourself lucky. I saw these go for $120 used on eBay!

A close up:

Here’s how it happily rests in front of my mirror:

Check out the photo frenzy and FOTD of mine after the jump!

First, the Sephora stock photo:

Initially I tried to make an Olympics inspired FOTD with three metal hues. My attempts, as noble as they were – all failed. So I started again. My new idea? A bit of a sunrise or sunset you could say.

The picture with closed eyes makes one of the eyes look darker than the other by the top, but this was just an in photo shading situation.

I wet my brush to put down the golden color right at the bottom of the lid and blended shades of shimmer brown with bronze above. I have to say – I was feeling kinda lazy by this point so I smudged my mascara by the waterline to faux-line my eyes. Best trick I learned so far. You can use this tip when your eyeliner is all used up but you have lots of mascara. Better yet – you can use this tip when you have too much mascara for your own good! (like me…)

I was enjoying photo time as I was sporting my new favorite studded blazer from Express (more details in a future post).

Oh how I love the fishy face.

Tarte is an all natural company as many of you know, so that’s why I love this treasure chest. I also love that it’s easy to tote around, has a smashing outside design, and amazing quality of products inside. I used shadows, gloss, bronzer and blush from the set, and had to reach for my Tarte mascara (Lights, Camera, Lashes!) for lash assistance.

As I was surfing the net, I found Sara from guittarasara. She bought her own Treasure Chest but depotted it into a single palette. To check out all the shadows and powders depotted from the Treasure Chest and to check out how to depot your own set if you want here.

So… what’s your verdict?

tweetmeme_url = ''; http://tweetmeme.com/i/scripts/button.js

Magazine Weekend: Self Magazine January ’10

You can probably read me like a deck of cards. I’m following suit. The most of my hand contained NOTD’s galore and so of course you need to learn how to take care of it (your hand that is).

While reading Self‘s January issue with Carrie Underwood on the cover, I snagged some new year moves to make a new fit me for the next days of the rest of my life! (This is the extra caffeine talking).

The magazine gives you hints on how to create your perfect part in your hair (I know if I make mine uneven too much I resemble a misshaped poodle), the latest purple lip shades on the market and straight from the trendlines (as in headlines), and more. Of course they always have their weight loss challenges and tips from celebrities to stay in shape and eat healthy. As redundant as the topics can be, I can honestly say I rely on this magazine to give me fresh tips each time I flip a page.

Here I am sharing some tips from Roopika Malhotra‘s article on how to take care of your hands. They often take the beating because we wear down our sense of touch nearly the most, right? When was the last time your eyes, your taste buds, your sniffer, or your ears took a beating like your hand did while carrying shopping bags, opening a can of soda, prying open a jar of pickles, wrestling with store hangers, paper cuts, and the list goes on! Use these four easy tips to take matters into your own hands! 🙂

Did you find these tips helpful?

tweetmeme_url = ''; http://tweetmeme.com/i/scripts/button.js

Everything Under $10!

I usually try to keep my posts to a strict two a day maximum… but I had to do it.

There is an Urban Decay sale going on at Hautelook where the prices start at $3 and end at $9. This is not a joke. Run. Don’t walk. You have 40 hours remaining.

While you’re there, you could check out the other awesome sales they got going on as well. Just saying.

Click here for your invite!

Let me know what ya got!

tweetmeme_url = ''; http://tweetmeme.com/i/scripts/button.js

LASplash at a Drugstore Near You

The love story with drugstores and me is that when I wander around aimlessly before my purchase, I am almost always guaranteed to find something new. Either to the market or to just lil’ me. This time around? LASplash. I saw these at a Duane Reade. Bright colored eye liquid eyeliners and equally bright colored mascaras.

If you know me, you also know that I try nearly every color mascara out there because I just adore them. The trick to getting the color to pop is to have a dark eyeliner, and/or using a primer for your lashes or a white mascara. This will make the color pop even more (think about mixing paints: a blue will pop more if added to white than if added to brown).

These babies were $6.49 each but I also found them online at CherryCulture.com. The site has a rewards program that is a bit better than Duane Reade so if you are trying to get the biggest bang for your buck you know what to do. Also – I am not sure if other drugstores carry this brand yet. I know Duane Reade has the least amount of BOGO sales out of all the drugstores I frequent (but I still love it dearly). The mascaras on the site are $4.99 each and the liners are $5.99. If you get up to free shipping, you’re getting them for a bargain. Also? The brand has eyeshadows, lipglosses, lipsticks, and glitter. You can check out their main website here but be warned they sell for $6.99 (but they have a full collection of ALL colors, and a Twilight inspired glitter mascara collection), so choose your battles lol.

Check out more pictures and swatches below!

Don’t laugh. You can see me taking the picture in the reflection. I just had to do it though, saw it and out came the camera! These are the mascaras. Peep the black with glitter one on the right!

These are the liquid eyeliners. I really like the bold colors.

I was in the store looking at every one of these and then opening them up to see what the inside held. The main pet peeve of mine with drugstores is that you rarely get to test the product before you purchase it, and even more rare is the ability to return the product if it’s not a good fit for you. I even had a saleslady come up to me and tell me to stop opening these products and I had to bite my tongue back not to be rude as they ALL said ‘Tester’ on them. Anyhoo, the colors of the mascaras are pretty much the same as the packaging.

Almost all of the mascaras had this brush. I like this kind of brush (also seen on CoverGirl Lash Blast and Chanel Inimitable). Instead of a winding brush it is rubberized with little spokes coming out. I feel like this kind of brush gets the best coverage and the least clump.

And of course only one stinkin’ mascara out of all of them had to be special. The light blue (or Blue Fantasea) is the only one with a different wand. When I checked the Cherry Culture site though, they had way more colors. So I don’t know if the other colors have different wands as well.

For the eyeliner swatches, refer to the image above where I showed toy the liners in their display case. I swatched the colors from left to right.

These colors are all pretty vibrant, no? I am most impressed with the most right hand green liner with a hint of shimmer.

This was a smudge test. The bottom smudge was right after application, and the top was after about seven minutes, when I was sure it was dry. As you can see it sticks pretty well, but when you smudge it at first the color leaves in sections instead of blending. This would not be a liquid liner you want to blend with for a look.

This is after ten hours of wear. I had this on my hand as I finished my holiday shopping the day before Christmas. My honey and his family have a big get together at their house and so of course after weeks and months of procrastinating I was out and about all day. This means that I used lotion and washed my hands with water once. I’d say it’s not great, but not bad either.

I will be doing a more thorough review of these babies soon as I got a couple of both the mascaras and liners to try out for my readers.

On a completely different tangent – when you read their name aren’t you tempted to call them ‘Lash Splash’ instead of LASplash? I know that’s what I’ve been doing!

Have you ever tried LASplash? Seen this in your drugstore? Like the swatches?

tweetmeme_url = ''; http://tweetmeme.com/i/scripts/button.js

Playing With Napoleon

I received a video in my inbox a while back about Napoleon Perdis with an overall brand mashup. It showed him working on lucky models, introduced him, and showcased many of his products. Try as hard as I did, I could not upload the video here. Chalk that up to me still being a rookie with Blogger. I can give you the link to the video on YouTube though… and you can click on it and check it out here!

I captured a couple of the screen shots because one of the models got me itchin’ to recreate the look. I ended up struggling way too much to create a tutorial, but to make up for my troubles (no pun intended), I followed up with a pretty long photo shoot with me and myself. I even made my hair act like the 80’s were back.

Just so you know: Napoleon Perdis has two makeup lines. The namesake higher end and the partnership with Target called NP Set. I have a couple of the NP Sets and that’s precisely (New Orleans) what I used to recreate the look. Since they are found at Tarjay, I reached into my stash and used the Jemma Kidd lipstick that I purchased for review (remember it here?) and used it to have an all Tarjay look. Check it out after the jump!

I used the NP Set New Orleans eyeshadow trio to recreate this look right hurr:

I tried and I tried and I don’t know if I succeeded, but I do know that I found out an orange/brown look can be pretty snazzy if mixed with white.

The model in the inspiration picture doesn’t have her eyes rimmed with black liner, but I felt like it was necessary. What do you think? Would you change it?

Felt like the hair was too flat in the first two pictures so I started to mess around and foof up my hair. Yes y’all. I call this foofing. I also did that model look (I like to call it that) where you stare at nothing and kind of pout and kind of not lol.

Couldn’t take myself seriously for long…

The look transforms into something else entirely when you swap in a neutral-ish lipstick for a red. I used NYX in Elektra. Oh and that face? I’m not disgusted… I was trying to make an amused look… I’m not a model, I’m a blogger! 🙂

It gave me the urge to break out my crazy headband and polka dots. Foofed some more and goofed around with the camera.

How are you liking it? Check out the video?

tweetmeme_url = ''; http://tweetmeme.com/i/scripts/button.js

Have you tried a DIY project recently?

When something crosses my path too many times, it starts to become a mini obsession. Whether it is shopping, crafting, reading, etc. I end up doing it like a madman until I tire myself out and then the miscellaneous closet grows bigger and bigger. Are you the same way?

As I have mentioned before, large necklaces are everywhere. The it accessory trend of 2009, bib necklaces ushered in the mixed medium neckwear. Every time I spot one in a store I am tempted to buy one and each time the good ones are either out of my budget or aren’t as good as I want them to be.

So I’m on a DIY kick.

I used eBay and took a quick trip to Michael’s for some crafts and bought some jewelry at Forever 21 and $1 necklace/bracelet street vendors and am trolling the web for awesome tutorials. I think my first attempt will be with ribbon, as that is much easier than using metal, prying it apart and clipping it back together. I don’t even know if I’m using the appropriate lingo. 🙂

Image credit: DeviantArt user bchurch

Check out the faves I found as inspiration:

Oh did I pique your interest?

http://rcm.amazon.com/e/cm?t=myowju-20&o=1&p=8&l=bpl&asins=0060841303&fc1=000000&IS2=1&lt1=_blank&m=amazon&lc1=0000FF&bc1=000000&bg1=FFFFFF&f=ifrMaybe some of these sites will give you a good start for the DIY bandwagon that I am clearly late to jump on:

Tutorial by Meagan. She also has great outfit posts and DIY everything else whenever the mood strikes.
This tutorial on craftzine.com is probably a high level tutorial. Looks super fancy. Want to make one now!!
Now this? Some ribbon and what could be a keychain holder – or a metal ring. M.I.S.S has the perfect tutorial here!
And an elegant pearl necklace tutorial at Style Me Pretty.

Have you done any DIY projects? Know a good tutorial? Let me know!

tweetmeme_url = ''; http://tweetmeme.com/i/scripts/button.js

Magazine Weekend: Fitness Magazine Jan ’10

So now that we are back in full swing at MOJ, I am at the ready with plenty a Magazine Weekend mention for how to keep your winter full of tips and minimize your lack of knowledge on beauty and… warmth.

When I was younger, I couldn’t understand how I would be going out with friends and would find others wearing a simple hoodie, or a light jacket and I was the one standing looking like the Michellin man with my bubble jacket, mittens, ear muffs, a hat, ski looking pants, and more. How were these people not immediately transforming into icicles? Then I got older.

Between meeting the honey (who always looks like he needs to be wearing 2 more jackets but is actually nearly always warm), and observing others, I have learned the tricks to layering clothes without looking like a bear, as well as feeling like a twig about to fly away and freeze.

http://rcm.amazon.com/e/cm?t=myowju-20&o=1&p=8&l=bpl&asins=B00005N7Q6&fc1=000000&IS2=1&lt1=_blank&m=amazon&lc1=0000FF&bc1=000000&bg1=FFFFFF&f=ifrThanks to my favorite winter jacket, I can skip the second step in this tip from Fitness Magazine‘s January issue and wear a butter soft long sleeve top (my favorites are the super thin cotton 3/4 sleeve tops at Uniqlo) under my jacket. But I will make sure to use this tip when I am trying to look extra cute with my feather light trench coats (which have no inkling of warmth). The best part about all this (other than being warm)? You can make use of all your fancy summer tees, your fall cardigans, and your winter jackets! Talk about seasonless attire!

I’d also check out the rest of the magazine if I were you. They have great fitness pointers, a chart about how effective your working out is if you are alone, at home, with a friend, etc. Some other great info? I learned whether or not you can really lose weight the day before an event, and which snow activities burn the most calories (how do you feel about sledding)?

How do you layer?

tweetmeme_url = ''; http://tweetmeme.com/i/scripts/button.js

Anatomicals – Crack is Wack

After reading past reviews of mine, you would probably come to the correct conclusion that I put more thought into the product than just the product itself. Even if a product is effective, if nothing makes you pick it up from the counter at your nearest store, or from your nearest e-tailer, nobody gets anywhere. The company doesn’t get the money they rightfully deserve for a great product, and you miss out on the product experience of having something so perfect for you land in your hand. So companies hire Public Relations and Advertising teams. And Yaya? She tries to pay attention to those efforts as well.

So where does Anatomicals fit in this equation? Well. Let’s inspect. Start first with the website here. The page lets you choose if you want to be introduced to the company here or just go straight into a purchasing cloud nine here. Want to know more? Of course you would. The page flashes images and keywords on them. Cheeky. Pimpish. Urban. Lush. Defiant. Punky. Alluring. Etc. Catchy. The company is described to simply trying to make your life better, and says if you are not interested, to click over (won’t tell you where, it ruins the surprise!).

Now we stand with a definite opinion about the company. Not sold yet? That’s okay. They gave you enough to ponder about. Love it? I knew you would. Enter stage 2. The quirky and loveable product descriptions usually done with white font on bright color block backgrounds. This is for more than just the random ‘let’s read the label’ moment. This makes you read. A bit like the Vitamin Water tidbits they have (on the Dragonfruit one they promise no real dragons were hurt in the making of the drink). You read the clever title and the description.

Now you might be hooked.
As some of you may have learned through my Twitter feed, I spent this weekend on the slopes trying to catch some snow waves. Despite my efforts, I spent most of my time eating snow and tenderizing my tushy as if it was getting ready to be someone’s dinner. I ended up calling it a day and hobbled home with a bruise here and there and my pride a bit more tarnished than the snowboard who taught me a lesson in smooth sailing.

But there are some things that I was prepared for. First, I was coming from NYC where the weather isn’t exactly peachy. I was prepared for cold. Second, I knew well enough that sunscreen was the number one item to pack, as the rays reflect from the snow to your face (which you probably have facing towards the floor as you try not to fall… oh just me then). Last but not least? I knew that with snow and frigid weather follow winds (more often than not). This almost immediately puts nightmares of cracked lips and skin in my mind.

Which brings me to my review of Anatomicals Stop Cracking Up lip balm.

We’ve adequately covered the fact that the company is great and the packaging is catchy… right? Well let’s introduce the quality of the product.

At first, I was skeptical about a clear balm. First because there are so many on the market and second because the applicator wasn’t the usualy lip gloss-y norm. Then I applied.

I tested the product twice. Once at home to check how my lips felt with the product. Soft. Not sticky. No smell. No fuss. The applicator? Didn’t make a big deal at all, didn’t make it harder, and applied just as great as any other good lip applicator. Then I hit the slopes. My lips kept to the program and remained soft throughout every single one of my haphazard drops on my bottom.

The only qualm I have with this product? It is not stated whether or not it has SPF in it, so you might want to either research it more, or not wear it as often if you’re in a ski/snowboard/snowmobile weekend extravaganza.

I’m equally won over by the packaging for the other lip balms available from the company (available for purchase here – they’re from across the US pond so I’d say the balms are roughly 6$).

Disclaimer: This productwas sent to the author for review by the manufacturer/PR. All reviews on MOJ remain unbiased and unpaid. For more info, feel free to contact the author.

Have you tried Anatomicals? Have a favorite balm? Let me know!

tweetmeme_url = ''; http://tweetmeme.com/i/scripts/button.js