Aerin Lauder's New Collection

Estée Lauder's granddaughter, Aerin, has always been a great business woman and an entrepreneur. Now she is starting her very own cosmetics line based on having all of your essentials at your fingertips.

There will be two collections, the essentials and fall. The fall collection is broken down further. There is the Weekend palette which is lighter and the Weekday, which is slightly more vibrant.

The essentials collection has some great basics like hand and body lotion, lip conditioner, powdered foundation, bronzer, blush, and a brush set.

Fall weekday pallet. Both pallets have two eye shadow colours, a blush and an illuminating powder. There are also a coordinating gloss and lipstick for each that come separately.

The collection is a kinda pricey ($70 for the pallet, $30 for lipsticks and glosses, $148 for the beautiful brush set), but the target audience is the typical Neiman Marcus only the go customer. It should be in stores by the end of August.

Chanel Fluer de Locus Eyeshadow Quad #35 Rives

Some older brothers are just so darn awesome. Well, not all the time, but when they buy you the limited edition Chanel Les 4 Ombres Eyeshadow Quad from the Fluer de Locus collection then they are definitely pretty awesome.

I know I tend to wear a lot of browns and simple neutrals when it comes to eyeshadows, but I really like this little baked eyeshadow set. There is a significant variance between the shades of brown so I think it is pretty fun to work with.

This collection was originally released in Asia and was released over here exclusively with Nordstrom for their anniversary sale.

Chanel Les 4 Ombres #35 Rives ($58)

This picture is taken in the sunlight. The lightest shade is barely noticeable, but it makes for a good highlighter while blending the shades together.

Here's my brown smokey eye. 

While here I have a much lighter ombre look.

And here's how I look with two different eyes! I'm surprised by what a difference it makes.

Meet Picard!

Here's the latest addition to our beauty team. He was rescued from the local humane society and is settling nicely into our home, his new forever home.

MAC Heavenly Creature: Lightyear and Supernova

So... I've recently decided that I am also on a beauty budget. That means I can't buy into collections as much as I would like to. More money towards college, and less on fun because it's all supposed to pay off, right?

This time, I only bought two out of nearly three dozen items in MAC's Heavenly Creature. I now have another "Skinfinish," or illuminating product, Lightyear, and the currently sold out Supernova blush.

I enjoy that Lightyear is a light pinky nude with the swirls of shimmer.

When I have it on, the shimmer definitely shows and if I'm too heavy applying I look something like a Roman statue, or maybe a Heavenly Creature?

Supernova was sold out everywhere so quickly to its release. I was patient and checked in frequently. Then, BAM it was in stock again for a quick second. I was so excited, I accidentally ordered two. It's bright flippin' pink with a light coppery gold swirl. I wanted to pick something different.

Supernova is too bright for me. I had to tone it down with blending and more Skin Finish. It meets that something different that I was looking for, but I will have to use sparingly on my light complexion.

Overall, I really like what I have of this mineralize collection. I might want to pick up more, but I also have to keep in mind that there are a ton of Fall collections coming out, and my student budget just can't buy everything. As much as I would live for that to be so. =)

Oldies but Goodies, Adding to the Nars Collection

I short while ago I decided that I needed more NARS in my assortment. I made a list of colours that I liked, but then decided that all of it might blow my budget. I trimmed my list to just a few new additions, and I'm pretty pleased with what I bought.

I now have two new lip glosses ($24), Easy Lover and Ophelia, a new blush ($28), Sex Appeal, and an Ita brush ($39).

A friend of mine with a much darker complexion bought Easy Lover, the bright pink one, months ago and I really liked it on her. It is a sheer bright pink and I was pleased that it worked pretty well on me as well.

I always liked the name Ophelia, the mauvier one, so I was curious to see what this lip gloss looked like. When I first swatched it I was impressed by how nice and simple it is. I feel like I can always just through this in my bag when I just don't know who to wear on my lips. It's a little more beige than Orgasm.

So, I ordered these all from a friend of mine back home, and I wish my friend had warned me just how light Sex Appeal was. His comment after I told him was that it's "more natural". Sex Appeal is so a minuet shade of lighter pink than that of my natural skin tone.

I was a little sad at first until I was playing with it over the Taj Mahal blush. It blended it, but added that extra little  lighter pink. It looked so pretty. For me, Sex Appeal might not be the most used blush in my assortment, but it will certainly come in handy adding that extra little third demension to my blushes.

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Meet Ita, she's my new favourite little blending brush. Now, I love to use this brush to blend my blush in. 

Here's me with Easy Lover.

And here's me with Ophelia.

Back to Beauty Basics: Newness

Like with most things that I enjoy, I feel guilty when I give them more attention than I do my homework. It is time that I really need to be focusing on corporate taxation and compiling a tax return, but I need to keep writing just to stay sane!

I went on a little shopping spree (just a tiny one) that included just makeup, so I didn't get into too much trouble. It was still quite a haul (or at least my cheque book thought so), but I didn't buy into much colour. I stocked up on basics.

I bought new brushes, finally got my Laura Mercier tinted moisturizer, an eyebrow pencil, and some eye base. All of these great additions to my routine.

Laura Mercier Angled Cheek Contour Brush ($45)

This brush is intended to be a couture brush, but it is my new blush brush. My old one was quite round and would apply blush to too much of my face, while the angle of this one lets me have a little more precision with where my blush goes and how much goes on my face. It also allows for a nice build-up of colour.

Bobbi Brown Cream Shadow Brush ($28)

Since I have been using more cream eye shadows I though it would be a good idea to buy a cream eye shadow brush. This one is nice and handy for picking up the appropriate amount of colour and applying nice and evenly.

Laura Mercier Oil Free Tinted Moisturizer with SPF 20 ($42)

I finally got around to buying this tinted moisturizer and boy do I like it. It feels so light while also creating enough cover to even out my skin tone.

Laura Mercier Eye Basics ($24)

This eye base is a nice amount of coverage over the eyelid. It is a great base for any eye shadow and I think it makes the shadow more vibrant than without. It is also nice to use when I am not wearing any eye shadow at all to cover any signs of blood vessels or redness. 

Here is everything put together. The left side is without anything and the two on the right are with the tinted moisturizer and eye base. 

I am glad that I have been busy with my homework because today while getting ready for work I think I had a break through with my eye brow routine. Before I had been using Benefit's Brow Zings ($30). Then I added a powder with MAC's Texture Eye shadow ($15). Finally, I bought the Dior Powder Brown Pencil ($29). I was still frustrated with how bad my brows were coming out. Finally today, I tried to be a little of all three to line and fill. Listen to you mothers when they tell you not to over pluck your eyebrows! However, it if is already too late, find a good eyebrow system that works.

Bubbles! Philosophy Style

I took advantage of Philosophy's Friends and Family 30%. I should have invested in a little more into a haul (like added some Mimosa) so I could have taken advantage of their Free Shipping on orders over $50. With shipping on my two little items (plus pumps), I realized that I didn't actually save that much. I'm still quite happy none the less. I really enjoy Philosophy bubble bath/shower gel and all the food inspired flavours. I also really enjoy bubble baths and buying these are meant to be a good reminder that I need to take more time to just relax and have one.

My two choices were Señorita Margarita and Cabana Girl. I really enjoy the limey smell of Señorita Margarita. My favourite beverage is the margarita, so one of these nights I might have to partake in a margarita in a margarita smelling bubble bath. The recipe is right on the bottle, although I've always been the type to just use the Jose Cuervo pre-made mix. I digress. Back to Philosophy! The bottle of Cabana Girl is a fruity guava flavour, much less intense than lime for a nice relaxing candlelit bubble bath.

Sixteen ounces ($16) lasts for quite some time in my house (except or when my mum's in town). These two will get plenty of use still.

Bubbles!