1. A concealer that looks just like my own skin under my eyes, but without the dark circle part.

2. A mattifier that worked ALL DAY LONG.

3. Philosophy The Present, with UVA/UVB sunscreen. Wouldn’t this rock??

4. A dark circle cream that actually worked. (Hylexin didn’t cut it for me. Boo hoo.)

5. The makeup box thing from The Fifth Element. If you haven’t seen the movie (and I love it, so you should rent it), the heroine has this box thingy she puts up to her eyes that does her eye makeup like presto! change-o! and it looks perfect. Dang, that would be SO HANDY for those rushed mornings…

It occurred to me that maybe I wasn’t being totally fair in my LashFusion review, so I’ve decided to commit to using it for a month to see if I notice a difference in the overall condition of my lashes. Since it’s supposed to be a conditioner, I’m thinking I should also evaluate it on that basis too. So, here’s to me actually using only ONE mascara for a whole month! (Gasp! I’m such a mascara ‘ho, this is hard for me!)

One of the fun parts of my job is working shipment, which means unpacking the boxes each week. The bad part is it means working until midnight. The good part is getting a peek at all the new stuff before everyone else!

DuWop has some super-cute new eyeshadow duos in some very appealing colors. I like Parasol the best.

Bourjois has new duos too! The Petite Guide de Style duos come with two matched colors and a diagram inside the package with a suggested look. #16 Crazy Baby and #14 Mauve a Croquer are my favorites.

Tarte pleases with Inside Out Vitamin Lip Gloss. Apparently it’s a lip gloss with a “nutraceutical blend” from Borba. I’m not really all that excited about the vitamin thing (I take a multivitamin after all) but the colors are pretty.

On the skincare side of things, Korres has introduced their Olive and Rye creams for day and night. I really like Korres’ products and these feel really nice. I think they’re probably too much for me, although I’m tempted to try the night cream. Did I mention what a sucker I am for a good night cream?

Last, but not least, in fragrances we have Lavanila fragrances. I swear, the Vanilla Blossom is a dead ringer for Flowerbomb. I wasn’t the only one who thought so either. Another co-worker who wears it said the same thing. I thought the Vanilla Grapefruit was pleasant, but it’s the Pure Vanilla I’m holding out for. We didn’t get that one in the shipment, boo hoo!

Bath and Body Works has some new fragrances that seem like the sort of thing I’d like.

Ile de Tahiti Coconut Vanille sounds really delectable. Coconut, vanilla, sandalwood, and musk…. mmmmm. I can’t wait to smell this one. The Tiare Flower version sounds just like the sort of thing I’d love too. Have I mentioned what sucker I am for gardenia and tuberose scents?

The last time I was in a BBW store I purchased a travel size body spray in their new Midnight Pomegranate scent. It IS delectable. It’s got the pomegranate, but it also has a lot of spice notes and rich base notes to liven it up. I’m not usually a big fan of non-citrus fruity scents. But this one is really nice. It’s definitely dark and mysterious, as the name suggests.

I received my samples from Everyday Minerals and have mixed first impressions.

First, a little about me. I have brown eyes and naturally darker brown hair (currently colored almost black). Pinning a skin tone on me is hard – I’m fair, but not porcelain, I look good in pretty much all colors, and depending on the makeup can either use a warm OR cool tone. My mom is of Scandinavian heritage and my dad is of Mexican heritage. I tan easily, but when I religiously wear sunscreen I get really pale. Soooo… it’s hard to pick foundations. Stuff easily looks either too yellow or too pink, and finding the right match is tricky.

I selected foundation samples in Sandy Fair (C), Fairly Light (N), and Olive Fair (N), all in the Intensive formula. If I could have picked a fourth, I would have chosen Fairly Light (W) as well, just to cover all my bases. I did a three-stripe color match, and decided Olive Fair was the first I would try. Sandy Fair seemed too fair, and the Fairly Light (N) seemed too yellowish.

The Olive Fair was pretty good as fair as skin tone went, but did seem TOO fair. I felt washed out. I suspect that Olive Medium would be too dark though, as I prefer to err on the lighter side. I also think the Intensive formula is too much for me – it seemed heavy, and settled into fine lines I didn’t even know I had! Not good. Part of the problem stemmed from…

…the blush I picked (in the Natural shade) and the fact that I applied WAAAAY too much at once. Can you say SHINE CITY??? My fault though, for not recognizing that it’s really more of a highlighter. But, I didn’t have time to scrap my whole face and start over, since I chose to try all of it on a work day. So I buffed some more foundation on top to try to take down the shine, and I think that probably meant I had on more product than is ideal for an intensive formula.

On the plus side, the concealer (Sunlight) covered my dark circles like crazy. On the minus side, it also seemed too heavy – I usually recommend Pout Eyewander to our mineral makeup clients at work who want something lighter. So I’ll take my own advice, use the Pout and just a teensy bit of the minerals, next time.

I’m not ready to give up on Everyday Minerals yet. I’ll try the Fairly Light (N), avoid the blush, and go easy on the amount I use, before I call it quits on this brand.

Just for fun (and because they had adorable names), I also just sent off for samples from Meow Cosmetics. Naturally, I’ll update with my impressions when they arrive.

1. Sugar Cosmetics Zip Kit in Kimono because it is just TOO CUTE, the eyeshadows are really pretty, and I totally want the zipper case.

2. Too Faced Candy Lips in Cocoa Kiss because the brown colors look fab on me, and they taste good.

3. Any of these Cleo products, because they sound really yummy!

4. Demeter fragrances: Lychee, Quince, and Salt Air, because I love Demeter and these are the ones I want to try RIGHT NOW!

5. This set from Smashbox, because their products rock and it looks so nice!

As I mentioned here, I need to review Clinique’s High Definition mascara and the new LashFusion. I’ve used both a couple of times now and feel like I can make a decent review!

Clinique High Definition Lashes mascara has a double brush, so to speak. One side of the brush is your standard bristly brush, and the other side is a comb. (Click the link to see a picture.) The brushy part is for volume, the comb is for definition. The question on everyone’s minds… does it work? For me, it does! I really like it. The black is very black, it’s glossy, and this duo thing really gives me nice looking lashes. I dig it! At $13.50, it won’t break the bank like some other mascaras…

…Which leads me nicely to LashFusion and its $39 price tag. What’s the deal? It’s supposed to be a lash treatment and mascara in one. When you consider the price of Talika Lipocils ($38), it would seem that the cost of LashFusion isn’t bad if it combines a treatment with a mascara. I haven’t used it long enough to really comment as to its treatment qualities (nor have I used Lipocils enough to compare, even though I have a small tube I got in gratis), so this could be a really good bargain. What I can talk about is its performance as a mascara. To whit: bleh. It has fibers for length and these dropped onto my face throughout the day. THUMBS DOWN. Basically, I was underwhelmed on all counts. It strikes me as a decent quality mascara (no smudging, it’s true), but then so did the Clinique product – which is a lot cheaper. So… would I recommend LashFusion? If you want a treatment and don’t want to buy Lipocils, then maybe it’s worth a try. Otherwise, not so much.

Lastly, I forgot to mention Lights Camera Lashes! This mascara from Tarte is really nice! It features a nice soft brush, is suitably glossy and smudge-free, has nice definition and length, and generally pleases me greatly. I like it!

So here’s something cool… Ever make a boo-boo on your face? You know, like a mascara smudge or some eyeshadow ends up someplace it shouldn’t. Have you ever wanted an eraser for your face? My old trick, wetting a q-tip and trying to carefully remove just the mistake is unsatisfactory – it leaves a “hole” in your makeup, since it removes not just the offending color, but your foundation and whatever else as well. Bleh!

Thanks to a training at work, however, I’ve learned a new trick. You need to have a tube of something silicone based, like Smashbox Photo Finish or Tarte Clean Slate, or Cargo Liquid Powder. The important thing is that it NOT contain water. Take a q-tip and swipe it through some of your “eraser” of choice. Then, very gently swipe across the boo-boo, and it should come right off without lifting off your foundation too. Cool, right? I love it.