Weekly Beauty Edit 8.30.2015

I readily admit I love packaging. I feel the same way about restaurants. My husband cares about the food, I care about the ambience. If I like the look of the place, I'll eat instant oatmeal and be thrilled. Many times we've walked into a restaurant and I've looked at my husband and said, "I'm not eating here" and walked out. I feel that way about makeup and to some degree, skin care. I like pretty packaging. I've always known this about myself, not as though I had an epiphany this week. I received a piece of Tom Ford's Fall 2015 Color Collection in the mail and talk about packaging. I have absolutely no idea why, but it arrived via FedEx had to be signed for. I'm thinking the Distribution Center clerk who keyed in the shipping label had to have made a mistake by requiring a signature. Then I opened the box and wow. It was wrapped in very heavyweight dark brown wrapping paper, tied with a leather like cord and then stamped with a monogrammed wax seal. I was absolutely giddy. If you didn't know, Madonna wrote "Material Girl" about me.

It was just me, myself and I opening that box. Not as though I had a chance to flash the TF to an audience, although I sure as heck posted a pic on Facebook. It's a quick burst of feel-good, of feeling accomplished, of feeling rewarded, of saying, "You had better believe I love me!" This is a beauty blog so let's be clear, it's about lipstick not world peace or starving children.

This was my second piece of Tom Ford makeup. The first was a lipstick but I returned it, the color was not perfection. I think lipstick and foundation colors have to be absolutely spot on regarding color. You can fudge with shadow or blush, even bronzer, but wear a shade of lipstick that clashes with your coloring and you look like you have liver disease. I'm not spending $50 on a lipstick that makes me look like I have jaundice.

Tom Ford Fall 2015 Limited Edition Illuminating Powder Duo in Moodlight

EMPTIES
Koh Gen Do Cleansing Spa Water Cleansing  Cloths. More than a few months ago, Hautelook had these ate an insanely great price and I stock up. Each is a pack of 30. I mostly use cleansing cloths for my neck before applying my night time skin care. I tend to bring my foundation down onto my neck as well as bronzer. Once I'm out of Koh Gen Do, I will go back to buying the bulk package of Kirkland makeup remover cloths from Costco.

Koh Gen Do Makeup Remover Wipes

Zoya Polish Remover

Zoya Nail Polish Remover. This was the 2 oz size which often comes with your Zoya order. I like to use 100% pure acetone but if my polish is a light color, I'll use the Zoya since I have it. This remover is excellent, a step above Cutex or store brands.

Tarte Lights, Camera, Lashes Mascara. One of my favorites. It's an all around great mascara that does all the things I need. It adds length, volume, separation and hold my curl. Perfect mascara for the office. Mascara does not smudge, flake or transfer on me.

Philosophy Soul Owner Foot Cream. I'm rarely loyal to any one product, let alone loyal for over 10 years. However, this is one of those very rare products that has my heart. I've tried newcomers but nothing has ever compared to Soul Owner.

FOUNDATION FUNDAMENTALS
If you are new to my blog, foundation and lipstick are my things.

This week I wore Make Up For Ever HD Ultra, Dior Nude Air, Kat Von D Lock It Powder Foundation, and Maybelline Dream Wonder Fluid-Touch.

The clear winners were the MUFE and Maybelline. The more I use the MUFE, the more I like it. I think I wore it three times this past week. Each night when I stood at my vanity ready to cleanse, I noticed my skin looked great on the days I wore MUFE. Not flawless, let's be serious, but better than my face typically looks at the end of the day. Maybelline Fluid-Touch has been a winner from the very first time I wore it. It's is a serum style foundation, of which I am a huge fan.

I have a deluxe sample size of the Kat Von D Lock It Powder Foundation. It applied very smoothly, buffed out beautifully and wore a good 6 hours. I expected it to wear longer but by the 8 hour mark it was mostly gone. The color was not right which also threw me off.  For some reason, I thought this was a very matte finish, similar to the liquid version. Instead, it's more of a demi-matte, natural finish. I could see using this as a finishing or setting powder.

Dior Nude Air took last place this week. For me, this is a great short-term foundation, something that is good for a few hours of running errands or out to dinner.  It's a light coverage, buildable to medium, and decent wear time for me is about 4 or 5 hours. If I had the Kat Von D in the right color, it would be great as a finishing powder which would increase coverage and wear time. I always use a slightly illuminating finishing powder with Dior Nude Air because to me, the finish is flat. Typically, I reach for Hourglass Ambient Lighting Powder in Dim Light or Laura Mercier Loose Mineral which also adds coverage.

Cheers,

Lulu

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