1. Too Faced Candy Bar in the new Tropical Truffle

2. Sugar Cosmetics Lip Slicks in Icing. I love Sugar lip products.

3. Guerlain Meteorites by Emilio Pucci – oh my, how pretty is this??

4. L’Occitane Cherry Blossom Lip Gloss

5. Demeter Apple Blossom

I’ve been a big fan of Bourjois for a long time, and I’m especially pleased with some new products I’ve tried.

First, is the Pastel Teint Highlighting Veil, which I’ve been using as a pressed powder. This peachy tint is really subtle and brightens up the skin when applied with a brush. I keep a small powder brush in my makeup bag, and it’s perfect for touchups. I tossed the sponge that comes with it – it applies the powder too heavily. The only thing that some people might find objectionable is the scent – this powder has a definite scent to it, not unlike vanilla and flowers.

I also am SO IN LOVE with the new Yes To Volume mascara. I don’t usually love comb mascaras – they are often too wet and make my lashes stick together. But this one… it goes on smoothly, not sticky at all, and it defines and separates and gives a nice overall appearance. It’s really awesome, and I really want it in the new purple color too.

The Petite Guide de Style is really cute too. I have Mauve a Croquer (the mauve and brown one) and it’s really pretty. The quality is nice, and the colors are strong. I dig it.

Try Bourjois. They make nice stuff.

As I am learning, one of the perks of this beauty blogging gig is getting to try new stuff. How cool is that?? Today, it’s Bond No. 9’s lastest fragrance, called Coney Island. Envisioned as a perfume to capture the scent of summer fun, Coney Island contains top notes of margarita, melon, and guava, middle notes of cinnamon, chocolate, and caramel, and base notes of musk, vanilla, cedarwood, and sandalwood.

Despite the suggestion of sweets presented by the notes, this scent does not seem particularly sweet. It starts out very fresh – the margarita jumped up first – and settles into something that reminded me strongly of water. It reminded me a lot of Mare by Creative Universe – Beth Terry and fragrance called Sea Moss (click here and scroll down for notes). It’s sweeter than either of these scents, and overall, I think I like it the best of the three. The lasting power was better than I expected, too. I was catching whiffs of it for most of the day, having dabbed it on my neck, decollete, and wrists. It never got heavy, but retained that light, slightly sweet, watery-ness all day long. The initial tang of the margarita, the only part I didn’t love, wore off quickly.

This is a unisex scent, but definitely doesn’t veer too strongly in either a masculine or feminine direction. Guys accustomed to a stronger, spicier cologne might not care for it, and likewise, it doesn’t have any particular floral notions for the ladies. It’s just a straight-up fresh scent (although without the unattractive “laundry” connotations most scents labelled “fresh” seem to have), very playful and fun. It says “water sprite” to me, not beach bunny.

I’ve read a lot about Bond No. 9 and their perfumes, but have never had the chance to experience one. This was fun, and the sample I have is definitely leading me on towards purchasing this when it is officially launched in June. Now I want to hunt down more of them for a sniff, particularly New Haarlem and Chinatown.

In addition to the lipsticks, I also tried an eyeshadow from Benefit, as well as the new blue mascara.

The new eyeshadows are a cream, and they claim to be creaseless. You can use them as shadow, or as liner. I have Birthday Suit, a color Benefit describes as “brushed chrome.” I would describe it more as a golden beige color. I used it all over my eyelid, using my finger to apply it. I have to admit, I wasn’t brave enough to go without my trusty Urban Decay Primer Potion, so I did use a little smear of that underneath.

I also applied a little brown powder eyeshadow to the corners of my eyes for some depth. The result? A very well-behaved look for the day. The cream shadow did indeed stay put, and there was no creasing. I’ll try to get brave enough to skip the primer potion to see if it’s TRULY creaseless. Birthday Suit is a nice neutral color, ideal for use as a base for other colors.

BADGal blue is the newest mascara to the lineup. Simply put, it’s a blue version of the famed BADGal Lash. BADGal has a big fat brush and is supposed to be a super-duper glam mascara. I haven’t tried the original. The blue is a decent enough mascara, but it doesn’t knock my socks off. The blue is dark enough that it doesn’t seem too obvious except under bright lights, and I assume it does indeed make my eyes look brighter. I just don’t care for the huge brush and the formula is merely okay.

Overall, I do like the new collection from Benefit. The packaging is cute, especially the lids on the eyeshadow jars, and the colors are beautiful. I wouldn’t mind having a few more of the eyeshadows.

Benefit has a few new products out, a lipstick, a cream blush, and a cream eyeshadow/liner. I’ve tried two lipsticks and have an eyeshadow to try, as well as the new BadGal Blue mascara.

Benefit is one of those companies whose products I always admire for their cute packaging and concept. Some of their “fix-it” products work really well, some don’t, but overall I think the line has made some good contributions to cosmetics.

The new Silky Finish Lipstick is indeed very silky. It has a super-smooth feel to it, and the colors are fantastic. I have Swoonderful (a mauvey color) and Jing-a-Ling, a pink color. Jing-a-Ling is especially great, since it looks good on a variety of complexions.

My only nitpick (and it’s a big one, unfortunately) is the staying power of these lipsticks. They don’t have any. Worn by themselves, they are gone in under an hour if you do any talking at all. I wasn’t the only one who had this problem, all the girls at work said the same thing (we all received a freebie lipstick). Using a long-lasting lip pencil or concealer (or some other primer) underneath helped a lot, so I wouldn’t count this lipstick out.

Overall, I like the lipstick – as long as I have my handy-dandy long-wear lip liner handy.

I’m in love. I have been waiting patiently for L de Lolita Lempicka to be released in the US, and when I went into Nordstrom the other day, there it was!! I have to admit, after one sniff I bought it on the spot. Impulse buying at its finest.

But, I love it. The notes are bitter orange, cinnamon, immortal flower, vanilla, precious woods, solar notes, and musks. (If someone could tell me what defines a solar note, please email me!) Anyway, it does smell rather salty at first, but that quickly disappears and the orange and cinnamon wafts by. After another little while, all that’s really left is one of the nicest vanilla scents I’ve sniffed in a long time.

It’s quite amusing really – I’d been looking for a vanilla perfume for the last week, since it’s what I’ve been longing for lately. I’d forgotten that L de Lolita was a vanilla scent, so that’s part of my impulse buy. It was *the* vanilla scent I’ve been looking for.

And the bottle? GORGEOUS. It’s like a beautiful polished blue stone, with some jewels caught in the net.

A razor review is a little different for my site, but I figured it was worthy of a mention. A little backstory: I am really lazy. Because I wear pants to work, I rarely shave my legs. It’s just a lot of work to lather up and shave, and I’m almost always in a hurry on work days and just not inclined to do it on my days off. Hence, I’m a hairy beast most of the year. I’d prefer not to be – I do like the feel of nice smooth skin, and regular shaving helps keep my legs exfoliated (something else I’m often too lazy to do regularly like I should). My skin gets dry and scaly, and shaving without some kind of lather is a recipe for disaster.

So… it was with some interest that I approached the Schick Intuition razor at the store. It has a special solid chunk built around the razor that lathers – it’s basically soap with extra moisturizers. I bought one to try it.

The verdict? This is cool. The “solid” (their words) makes enough lather to give the razor some slip, and I can zip it down my legs in no time flat. I love the swishy feeling my pants make around my smooth legs, and the scalies are reduced.

It’s a little pricier than my usual disposables ($8.99 for the razor, $8-14 for the refills at drugstore.com) but seems to be worth it.

I recently attended a funeral, and being the vain creature I am, didn’t want to go totally makeup-free. What can I say, my self-confidence isn’t that great, and having some simple makeup really boosts my confidence when meeting people I don’t know well.

So… I needed waterproof mascara. I’m not fond of using She Laq on my lashes because it makes them stiff – it’s much better for eyeliner and lips, imho. I snagged a tube of Maybelline Full n’ Soft Waterproof, since I’ve heard it’s good. I got Very Black.

The result? After much crying (I can’t help it, it’s like watching people yawn – they cry, I cry), the mascara did not run, smear, or otherwise embarrass me. I LOVE how soft and, well, full my lashes looked too. I will have to get a tube in non-waterproof also, since this is just an excellent all-around mascara. Go Maybelline!