I’m such a sucker for new stuff at the bath stores. I can’t help but venturing into Bath & Body Works whenever they have new stuff (The Body Shop, too, and Origins… and L’Occitane). This week I made a most excellent find: Bath & Body Works’ new Sensual Amber fragrance is almost a dead ringer for the much more expensive Flowerbomb by Viktor & Rolf. This rocks! The Flowerbomb body cream retails for $90 and the Sensual Amber body butter is a mere $14. Guess which I’m going to pick? I purchased the BBW product, and now happily layer my scents.

A comparison of notes: Flowerbomb – tea, bergamot, sambac jasmine, orange tree, catleya orchid, freesia, rose, and amber, musk, and patchouli. Sensual Amber – Bergamot, Wild Berries, Succulent Plum, White Rose, Orange Flower, Lotus Petals, Iris, Amber, Creamy Sandalwood, Vanilla, Patchouli, Praline, Musk Captive. See any similarities? I do… Hmmm, those clever noses at Bath & Body Works KNEW this one would be a hit!

I’ve been really tired lately, so I haven’t been posting like I would like to be posting… but in a burst of energy tonight, I want to review eyeshadows I’ve tried.

As I mentioned here, I ordered several eyeshadows from Fresh.com when they were having their sale. In case you are incredibly curious about what they are, here’s what I have: Lago, Temple Dancer, First Date, Chanterelle and Chocolate Factory, It’s a Girl!, Night Essence, Kona, Faux Sable, Naked Truth and Ancient Spell, Amman Black Tea, Mission Fig, Osmanthus, Corazon Del Mar. Sagano Orchid is also in one of the palettes I have, and I have the Carnivale palette as well. The pros of Fresh eyeshadows can be found in the beautiful, subtle colors. They are not bright colors – if it’s bright you are wanting, I’d try Nars or MAC instead. Even the Carnivale palette, which seems like it would be bright, actually yields very soft, pastel shades instead. For the days when I am wanting to be more low-key with my makeup, I reach for Fresh shadows. They go on like silk, and when paired with my ubiquitous Urban Decay Primer Potion, they wear all day long. They render fairly well on skin, staying true to their colors. I’d say the subdued colors are probably their biggest drawback as well. Compared to the stylized renderings on the Fresh.com website, the eyeshadows when they arrived seemed a little drab. Also, as is prone with darker colors, the dark blues colors (Marine Escort and Night Essence) are somewhat chalky. This seems to be common amongst most shadow-makers, however. Would I purchase these at full price? Generally, no. But I will shop the sale again next year!

Smashbox isn’t a line I was very familiar with before I worked at the Beauty Emporium. They are a makeup artist line, created by the founders of a photo studio. They offer a nice selection of eyeshadow singles, duos, and trios, both for daytime (subtle) wear and more dramatic selections for evening (or for me to wear to work, lol). I snagged a trio (Multi-Flash) as a freebie at work, and gave it a try the other day. The colors are matte nude pink, soft peach, and light taupe. It is not one of their bold palettes, to be sure. But the colors were beautiful, rendered well on the skin, and wore all day long. Their other trios don’t really offer anything I don’t already have, so I probably wouldn’t buy them. But I do recommend them, because the trios make it easy for the eyeshadow novice to put together a nice look. Again, no really bright colors in the duos and trios, but the singles offer some bright shades.

Stila, Stila, Stila. How you tempt me with your eyeshadow colors. I have the Forest Clove trio from their newest collection called Fall In Love. Don’t mind if I do, thanks. (As a sidenote, I have the Pumpkin Spice Lip Glaze from that collection too, and it tastes/smells wonderful. You must try it.) Oh how I love this trio. It has a gold shimmer color, an olive color, and an olive-brown shade. I’m not usually drawn to olive colors, but it looks great on me – pair it with the Jade Smudge Pot for a green-all-the-way look, or with the Bronze Smudge Pot for a more subtlety. It’s a huge palette – they are very generous with their shades in these palettes. Love the texture (so silky! so soft!) and colors. Outside of this trio, Stila has one of the nicest collections of neutral colors I’ve seen. The drawback with Stila is, as with Fresh, a lack of really vibrant bright colors. But that’s okay, other lines have that market cornered pretty well.

Next time I’ll review some less-highly-priced brands I love to use.

I love lip gloss. I’ve been addicted for years, to all lip products really, but I especially love lip gloss. I have a few simple criteria for a truly excellent lip gloss, though.

One, it should be glossy but not too sticky. Two, it should remain glossy for at least an hour and preferably two. Three, if it has color, the color should also remain for at least an hour and preferably two. Four, it should taste good, or at least, not bad. Five, if it has any sparkle or glitter, it should not be gritty.

With that in mind, I present some of my favorite glosses, in no particular order.

Bobbi Brown Lip Tint SPF 15 is an awesome gloss. I’m particularly fond of the Peony shade, which is a perfect shade of soft pink. This is one of the slipperiest glosses I own, with absolutely no hint of stickiness anywhere. It also wears well, meeting the two hour criteria with ease. It has a peppermint flavor, but it’s not too strong or objectionable. My only complaint is occasionally I can taste the sunscreen, which can leave a bitter taste in my mouth. Some days I don’t notice at all. It’s a little weird that way.

Hard Candy Super Shine Gloss is another really smooth formula. My favorite shade is Piglet, which is a pretty pink with purple flecks in it (I’d really call them blue, but the website says purple, so whatever…). It tastes like cupcakes, wears for at least two hours, and despite the presence of glitter, is not gritty at all. If I liked any of the other shades as much as Piglet, I’d own more of them.

Stila Lip Shine comes in slightly problematic packaging – the tubes are a little odd with their “locking” mechanism that took me a while to figure out. But it’s a very clever way to ensure your gloss isn’t squeezed out into the lid while in your pocket or purse. I’m also a big fan of brush applicators, and like that this one comes that way. It’s a more sheer gloss, but the shades are pretty, it’s very smooth and it does wear for at least an hour. Bonus – not much in the way of scent or flavor.

Stila Lip Glaze is my other fave Stila lip product. The scents/flavors are innocuous (and the new spice ones are downright delish), the colors are beautiful, they aren’t too sticky, they wear pretty well. I have a few, I covet many. Favorite shades: Brown Sugar, the new Pumpkin Spice. My complaint with these is that they are pricey.

The new Sephora Ultra-Shine Lip Glosses are pretty darn awesome. They win hands down in the stay glossy and color ful dept. and definitely don’t fall short in the smells/tastes good area either. I have shade 16 (described as “rose with gold sheen”) but it’s got a green sheen. This looks a lot better than it sounds. It’s one of the most interesting lip gloss shades I’ve encountered, actually, and paired with Benefit’s Sketching Pencil in Flush, it’s a shoo-in for “perfect pink long-lasting glossy lip.” I covet more shades of this gloss.

Last, but not least, DuWop Venom Gloss. I’ll make a longer post about lip plumpers at a later date, but let me say now that DuWop’s Venoms fall into the “temporary” category of lip plumpers. They work by irritating the lips slightly with cinnamon and ginger oils, thus giving a “I’ve been making out with my boyfriend in the backseat of his car” pouty look to the lips. It’s definitely not as pronounced as other plumpers, but neither is it as painful (the tingle can be intense for some of these products). Lantana is my favorite shade, another pink. Yes, I like pink a lot. It wears well, I like the flavor/scent of the spices, it stays glossy and colorful. The “plumping” is a nice bonus that adds to how much I like the color. I want more…

There you have it. Claire’s favorite glosses, all summed up in one place.