Turn up the heat - Hollywood Style!

Hi, my loves!  Welcome back from your holiday weekend.  I have an hour before I have to go to work, so I thought I would take a minute to tell you about a product that I hope has finally arrived at my Sephora store!  It's the LORAC Hollywood Heat collection.  Everyone knows I love LORAC products.  They're the creation of make up artist Carol Shaw, who does celebrities' makeup for red carpet appearances.  I love LORAC products because the quality is through the roof--especially all of her powders, which are so velvety and silky!  This is because they all have a secret ingredient: Nylon-12.  This little beauty helps them go on smoothly, blend easily, and ride flawlessly over any little imperfections in the skin.  

So, given my undying devotion to all things LORAC, I was thrilled to see that this gift set was coming out for summer.  The Hollywood Heat Collection--which is valued at $100 but retails for only $35(!)--is exclusive only at Sephora, and I'm pretty sure that it won't be there for long.  It's amazing!  Here's what it includes:

- TANtalizer : this temporary body bronzer is the best product on the market of its kind.  While it's not a self tanner, it is truly long lasting.  You must apply it to totally dry skin and let it set--do your makeup naked--but once it's on, it's on.  I wore TANtalizer to a wedding at the beach in California last summer, and not a drop of it rubbed off on my Missoni dress.  That's pretty impressive given the heat, sweating, and dancing!  The color of TANtalizer works great on a variety of skin tones, is delightfully shimmery (but not sparkly), and is deliciously (but lightly) scented.  

- Hot & Spicy Blush/Bronzer Duo: I love everything peach for summer because it plays up a tan in an unexpected way.  It looks gorgeous on everyone--from the fairest blond to Alek Wek.  How?   The secret is in the pigment; it's so highly concentrated that its color shows up on any skin tone.  Also, peach is an especially youthful color, and any woman who is concerned about aging will be especially pleased.

- Mocktail gloss in Tropical Dream : this sweetly flavored shimmery peach gloss will leave everyone's lips looking plump and fresh.

- Bronze Bombshell eye shadow trio : these new colors are exclusive to the kit; you've got LORAC's signature formula in three new bronzey nudes that coordinate perfectly with the rest of your look.  With shimmery shades ranging from pale highlight to deep, you've got looks for day to night.

All of this comes packaged in a gorgeous bronze makeup case which will look hot in your beach bag.  These haven't arrived at my Sephora store yet, but they're already available online.  Check out the model below for the finished look you'll get from the kit:

Happy Bronzing!

I'm Loving This!

I'm a sucker for seasonal limited edition items from my favorite beauty brands.  Actually, I've never been a huge fan of Lancome--it's not that I have anything against them; it's just that I've never fallen hopelessly in love with any of their products--but I've changed my tune lately thanks to the Daria Werbowy Brazilian Earth Colors collection.  Daria is a much buzzed about model who you might have seen in ads for Hermes, Roberto Cavalli, Prada, Missoni, H&M, and others; this spring, Lancome decided to team up with her and come out with a collection of colors inspired by her.  Although she's actually Canadian (of Ukranian descent), she decided to do a collection inspired by the beauty of Brazil.  (Brazil is big right now in the land of beauty--it must be because of Gisele and her tribe of Brazilian Victoria's Secret Model hotness--hence the ingredient Acai popping up everywhere, and the presence of Brazilian inspired products from the department store to the drugstore).  

I had the chance to play with some of the lip colors from Daria's Lancome collection the other day at Sephora (where it's exclusively sold), and I was pleasantly surprised!  The colors: Color Fever Lipstick in Beige Caracai, and Color Fever Gloss in Nude Prainha.   First of all, the packaging is fabulous--very modern, urban, and refined, using dark, reflective gunmetal and clear deep browns (these products look great in my makeup bag next to my Becca stuff).  I was drawn to the lipstick and gloss initially because both are very creamy, nude beiges, but unlike other pale beiges I've used before (Kevyn Aucoin's Caramellina is my old standby; I like NARS Belle de Jour as well), these are cool toned instead of warm.  I mean very cool--they almost look greyish in the tube.  But on me: wow!  I layer the lipstick and the gloss, and both are great.  The lipstick formula is very smooth and sheer, not unlike Kevyn Aucoin's or YSL's amazing Rouge Pur Shine, but just like those it still offers pigment density and coverage.  The gloss is also fantastic--I love its smoothness and the hollowed out applicator is ingenious, allowing you to apply more gloss in one swipe without disturbing your lipstick (better than the old doefoot; perhaps not as good as a brush, though).  The only downside is that both formulas are so smooth and moisturizing that they're not particularly long wearing.  Still, I don't care: I'm almost out of Caramellina, and there's none available anymore on Kevyn's website.  Get these two winners while you can!  They're only available at Sephora and they're limited edition, so when supplies run out, it's over and on to something else.