Bought Unsniffed!

With my 30th birthday coming up in under a week, I've been going a little crazy with the shopping.  I've been good for the past month, but it seems like my birthday is just giving me all kinds of excuses to go crazy and scoop up everything I've ever wanted!  Living in NYC with all of the new fall stuff in the stores is NOT helping.  

Jivago is my latest acquisition--just purchased online a few minutes ago from here. I'm usually pretty good about trying fragrances on my skin before buying, and I've only bought one fragrance online that I didn't like (well, two: Molinard Nirmala and Lady Primrose Tryst Noir)--that's pretty good considering my precious Chanel BDI and Molinard Habanita were online acquisitions.  Anyhow, back to the Jivago.  I met some friends for drinks at the Hudson hotel bar a few weekends ago and they had invited a girl from Russia.  When we did the two cheek kiss kiss, I was utterly captivated by her scent!  This never happens to me.  I am a fragrance junkie and work at Sephora; I'm just a few subway stops from Aedes de Venustas in the West Village and I regularly take sniffing safaris to Bergdorf's fragrance counter.  It's rare that I meet somebody wearing something that smells totally, utterly unlike anything I have ever smelled before (it did happen on my first date with my husband...his Chanel Antaeus stumped me)...but that's exactly what happened with Jivago.  (The name rang a bell...I've had European clients come in to Sephora and ask me for this one--for shame, I had no idea what they were talking about!)  I actually asked if I could smell her again, and then I made my husband smell her (he did!).  I kept commenting on her fragrance all night!  (luckily, she was a good sport about it; she said she went through a lot of trouble to find a bottle in the U.S.)    

So, I got home and googled it.  When I finally figured out how to spell the name, it rang a bell...I distinctly remember reading an interview once with Jamie Lynn Sigler where she named this as her signature scent.  Finding it online for a reasonable price ($39), and not being patient enough to wait for anything other than overnight shipping ($18), my Jivago should be arriving tomorrow.  I wholeheartedly acknowledge that the bottle is utterly tack-AY, and if I saw it lying on the fragrance counter I would without a doubt pass it by unsniffed.  It has 24k gold flakes floating in the juice like Goldschlager, for heaven's sake!  But hopefully somebody somewhere is packing my Jivago into a shipping box right this very minute, and speeding it to my Upper West Side doorstep.  I'll update tomorrow on how it goes!  (of course, tomorrow is Friday...ugh...might not get here till Monday)...

Hello, Old Friend!

Working at Sephora, I have the chance to try different  undereye concealers all of the time.  I've tried them all: MUFE, the Balm, Laura Mercier, LORAC, Amazing Cosmetics and Clinique are some favorites.  Still, out of all of these top selling brands, nothing was making me happy.  Either something didn't wear long enough, didn't cover enough, was too creamy, or not creamy enough.  Then I was looking at some old college pictures the other day, and thinking I looked kind of cute in some of them (I know, such vanity! ;)) and that's when I remembered that I used to use Physician's Formula Gentle Cover Concealer Stick.  I used that concealer around my eyes alternately for years; I would say beginning sometime in eighth grade.  Being a severe product whore, it is highly unusual for me to even finish a product; let alone buy more than one of the same thing!  Two days ago I popped in to a CVS and picked up another one of these little beauties.  $5.99 later (and that's at Manhattan prices!), I was the proud owner of a new tube.  Still the tapered bullet shape I love and remember (so easy to tuck up under the lower lashline); so easy, smooth, and creamy to apply, with full yet natural coverage that's long wearing and not too dry / not too creamy = just right.  So much for the $40 tube of Amazing Concealer that's sitting in my makeup bag right now (good thing I got it for free); it won't be seeing the light of day again for a while!

If you decide to try this concealer, here are a couple of tips:

-You don't need an eye cream underneath.  I haven't experimented but I suspect that eye cream could throw off the "perfect consistency" balance I'm talking about.  If you use a heavy eye cream, try a drier concealer like Laura Mercier Secret Camouflage, LORAC Undercover Lover, or MUFE Full Cover.

-For some strange reason, it's great for the eye area but it doesn't stay worth a darn on pimples.  For the face, you'll need something else (again, the ones from MUFE and Laura Mercier linked above are both great choices).

-It's also available in brightening Yellow and red neutralizing Green.  Same great formula, different features.  I also carried both of these in my makeup bag for years.

Ugliest Perfume Bottles Ever!

I was just sitting here checking out BellaSugar.com while my husband is watching the Mets game, and I came across the funniest thing.  It's a slideshow of the ugliest perfume bottles ever, and it's hilarious!  You can find it here.