Quest for Red

October 10, 20132 Comments

Lately I’ve been searching for the perfect red lipstick. I have a couple reds already but it’s not the red. No, the red I am looking for is the reddest of red, cherry-red, neon-red, orange-red. I want the brightest red, something like this:

Judge me all you want but Kylie Jenner’s red lips are my inspiration. After a lot of weird and creepy research that involved me watching youtube vids from years ago. But alas, I could not find the color that Kylie uses. Kourtney Kardashian uses Yves Saint Laurent Rouge Pur Couture in 13: Le Orange if anyone is interested. The closest I came to discovering Kylie’s color was from a weird youtube vid where she mentioned a discontinued MAC color called Red Racer. I don’t really have a game plan for finding this mythical red. But for now I’m just investigating all my favorite brands for their brightest color of red lipstick. I am welcoming any and all suggestions!

Brand to Watch: Ardency Inn

September 13, 2013Leave a comment

Stumbled into Sephora today, what a surprise, I know, I was so excited to see a new brand. The cool New York-vibe of the Ardency Inn products and display caught my eye. I talked to one of the associates about the brand, she was gushing over the eyeliner telling me how amazing it is. The brand is kind of punk-rock, Kat von D-esque minus the tattoos. Here is a few things that I’m obsessed with:

PUNKER World’s Baddest Eyeliner

AMERICANA Natural Lip Color Pencil

(comes in cool names/shades: Delancey, Essex, Bowery, Houston, Kenmare)

MODSTER Long Play Supercharged Lip Color in Black is Blue

How freaking sick is this color?

BOOM BASE Lip Balm & Base

Ardency Inn is exclusive to Sephora

New York Fashion Week Pre-Read

August 29, 2013Leave a comment

Check out my new article for Portable.tv on 5 Designers to Watch at this year’s NYFW

NYX Face Awards 2013

August 24, 2013Leave a comment

You all know how I feel about NYX (*insert synonym for beyond obsessed here*). For the past few years they have hosted the FACE Awards (Fine Artistry of Cosmetic Elites) which is a competition among youtube beauty vloggers to find the Best Beauty Vlogger of the Year. The competition was inspired by the growing number of beauty videos surfacing on Youtube. The FACE Awards allows NYX to shine a light on these talented people and give them a chance to showcase their artistry. The winner receives $25,000, a year’s supply of NYX cosmetics, consultations with professional make up artists, and the chance to begin their career as a make up artist.

The competition began with 1000 contestants and had 3 video challenges which resulted in elimination periods. The themes were Vintage Beauty, Secret Agent, and Futuristic. The top contestants were narrowed down and the chosen ones were allowed to advance to the following rounds. I was especially impressed by the Futuristic category, all of the looks required difficult drawing and blending skills. The final round was held live in Los Angeles on August 24 and streamed on www.nyxfaceawards.com. The top 6 contestants were given 30 minutes and a model to create a Modern Goddess look. All of the interpretations were amazing, it was exciting to watch the competition live.

In the end Missy Lynn aka start2finishmua won the Best Beauty Vlogger of the Year. Her Goddess of the Night was dark and yet still completely beautiful. I’m so happy she won! Congrats!

The top 6 contestants

The winner: Missy and her model via Ulta Beauty

Product Obsession: Tangle Teezer

August 23, 2013August 31, 2013Leave a comment

I recently had the amazing opportunity to attend the US press debut of Tangle Teezer. I’m a huge fan of UK beauty blogs and I’ve been seeing the product for quite some time on their sites. I can’t tell you how jealous I’ve been that it hasn’t made its way to the US sooner.

Tangle Teezer is designed to get tangles out of hair, especially wet hair (miracle worker), and it does not cause damage or breakage. I met Shaun P the creator of Tangle Teezer, and his enthusiasm in the brush alone sold me. The event also had two amazing stylists Shane Michael Manieri and John Kovacs from Chris Chase Salon in Chelsea. And what is so great is that they use the product in the salon. Tangle Teezer is definitely doing something right to have the support of New York City salons (there is no tougher critic!). In addition to The Original (blue and pink brush seen below), Tangle Teezer also comes in other forms: Aqua splash, Compact Styler, and the Salon Elite.

The Original is perfect for all hair types, as all the Tangle Teezer products are, and works on wet and dry hair. The design of the teeth is what makes the brush glide through tangles without pulling and pain. For anyone who feels like they’re loosing hair when you try and brush it out after the shower, this product us for you. It will minimize hair loss because of it’s unique design and comb structure.

The Aqua Splash Tangle Teezer is designed to be used in the shower and is ideal for distributing conditioner or leave-in treatments into the hair. Not only does it detangle wet hair in the shower, it will help you use less hair product and minimize build-up. It also works on every type of hair: the toughest curls, real and synthetic extensions, and weaves.

The Compact Styler Tangle Teezer is my favorite product. It’s small and fits into your bag –perfect for on the go. Called the “mini-me” of The Origninal Tangle Teezer, the Compact Styler has the same teeth configuration to detangle, leaving hair with a soft and polished look. The stylists also demonstrated how the compact styler could be used to tease hair effortlessly. Just as simply as it creates a tease, it also brushes the tease out with no pain or pulling.

Tangle Teezer is a celebrity favorite of Victoria Beckham, Cara Delevingne, Alicia Keys, Emma Watson, Lara Stone and more.

Tangle Teezer can be found at Target, Ulta, Sally, SpaceNK, Urban Outfitters, Ricky’s and Amazon.com.

For more info check out www.tangleteezer.com or their Facebook page

Obsessed: Lily Collins

August 20, 20131 Comment

From her style to beauty, she’s been going for an edgier and more adult look lately. I’m so obsessed with her, even beyond the fact that I’m a huge fan of The Mortal Instruments series. Lily is so amazing and she’s on the cover of the Seventeen magazine September issue.

City of Bones premiere: Berlin

City of Bones premiere: Hollywood

City of Bones premiere Toronto

This Weekend’s Beauty Haul

August 13, 2013August 13, 2013Leave a comment

The Haul:
1. Anastasia Brow Pen in Universal Light
2. NARS Satin Lip Pencil in Biscayne Park
3. Deborah Lippmann mini in Happy Birthday
4. Maybelline The Colossal Cat Eyes
5. Living Proof Satin Hair Serum

I have been wanting this color since the new NARS Satin range came out. Do you ever feel drawn to a name, or compelled to buy a product simply because the name is too good not to buy? Biscayne Park is all of the above to me. But then again, NARS always has the best product names. I love this color its a very natural peachy/nude on me.

I’ve been struggling in the eyebrow department lately. I feel like the base of my eyebrows are so thin and I’m not sure why. I have both the Anastasia brow wax and the Brow Wiz and use them alternately. The Brow Wiz is not my favorite and it actually hurts to drag the pigment across my eyebrows. So I found this Brow Pen which is actually a marker, and you draw the color on your brow. It goes on a lot smoother and you can use a brow brush to spread out the color. The only problem I have is that I personally can get a bit heavy handed with the marker. You can’t let yourself go crazy with it or you’ll end up looking like they’re tattooed on. Just a word of advice.

Sephora Pantone Matching

August 11, 2013August 11, 20132 Comments

I’ve known about the Pantone matching system at Sephora for a while now. I remember that there were only two outposts (or something like that) and one was at the Times Square store in NYC. More recently they’ve been heavily promoting the program and I think that almost all the stores have the system in place. This is wonderful. Wearing the wrong color, in any sense of the expression, can really affect your look. The “Color IQ” system at Sephora works like this: they take 3 pictures, one on your neck, cheek, and above your temple. Your Pantone color is an average of the 3 skin photos. Mine is 1Y01. The sales associate helping me explained that the 1 means I am the lightest on the color spectrum (not surprised), and the Y means I have yellow undertones (No, not me, not yellow, I practically look pink, I have pink undertones, I swear!). I’m learning to cope with this number, yellow is completely foreign to me. Regardless, Color IQ is very cool. When you get your number you can input it into Sephora.com and it lists all the foundation products that work for you.

The sales associate pulled a BB cream by Tarte for me to try. I’ve never really used any of their products so I was curious to try a sample. He suggested that I pair it with NARS Siberia for a full-coverage look, if I so desired to look extra porcelain.

International Favourites

August 7, 2013August 9, 2013Leave a comment

Have you spent time abroad and found products you cannot live without, but they’re tragically not sold in the US? You are not alone. I went to England a few years ago and had a pretty good idea of what was on the UK beauty market. Fast forward to now and I so long to go back and stock up on every brand I missed! This post is dedicated to international beauty products and brands, most are from England but I’m working on spreading the international product love.

Lee Stafford- One of my favorite blogs Bird’s Words makes me miss England so much. I see all these amazing products that I’m super jealous of. Aside from all these amazing UK hair extension brands that she gets to try, she brought a new hair-care brand to my attention: Lee Stafford. The packaging is hot pink and very girly and made me want to buy. Luckily it is available in the US (I got my products at Duane Reade, but it’s also sold at Ulta). I first bought the Hair Growth Treatment in hopes that I could have mermaid hair. Honestly, I have no idea if it worked or not, it just really deep conditioned my hair and that was great. More recently I bought My Big Fat Healthy Hair Shampoo which is supposed to add volume. I think it definitely added texture but not totally sure on the volume.

Barry M– Oh Barry M, how I miss thee. It’s possibly most tumbled nail polish, not that tumblr means anything, you know. The formula is ridiculous. It’s one of the only nail varnishes that will actually stay on without base/top coat. I own two colors from Barry that I bought in Boots when I was at Oxford and how I wish I had a few more.

ShuUemura- When I had my make-up done for the Refinery 29 shoot, the artist told me that I should go to K-town or Chinatown to buy make-up because I am so pale. Not sure what to think of her statement, I began to investigate some Asian beauty brands. She reccommended that I look up ShuUemura. I had heard of the brand but never knew too much about it. They used to have a store in NYC but it sadly closed. All their products are available online. I’m so tempted to buy a few things, I just have a totally unused foundation that I need to work on first.

Kevin Murphy– Back when hair chalking was first popular I discovered a cool contraption on tumblr by Australian hair brand Kevin Murphy. The chalk is adorably named: color.bug. I was obsessed for a while but fearing that I would get dye all over my clothes I opted not to purchase the bug. But recently Kevin Murphy has been in the spotlight for a new anti-aging hair treatment. Sounds cool right? My salon sells these products. (Shout out Shampoo Ave. B ) Kevin also has some stunning packaging, so bravo on that as well.

Eyeko- I first heard about Eyeko when I read that it was Alexa Chung’s eyeliner of choice? Who can argue with that? If Alexa Chung uses your product, it’s probably legit. I got a sample of the Skinny Liquid Eyeliner from Birchbox. It took me a couple of times to get used to the product. I was terrible at it but now I think I’m slowly getting the hang of it.

These are just a few cool international brands. Have any that you’re obsessed with?

Lee Stafford products

Barry M nail paint

ShuUemura powder foundation

Kevin Murphy products

Eyeko Skinny liner

Hazore Vol. 1 Launch Party

July 29, 2013July 29, 2013Leave a comment

Two minutes from my apartment in Bushwick is the Body Actualized Center on Troutman St. For the first time a fashion event was actually close to me! This never happens. Downside to living in Bushwick. My friend Tamara and I went to the launch party for Hazore Vol. 1, a lifestyle clothing brand created by two best friends with art and design backgrounds. The collection features printed blouses, graphic tees, and dresses and skirts. Most of the pieces feature colorful geometric patterns, one of the stand out aspects of the brand. Notable pieces include: a babydoll dress with a grey tulle skirt and screen printed basic t-shirts with various celebrity and animal faces.

The launch party was brought to you by the ladies of Danika Daly PR. We even got a few goodies: a cool screen printed tote, Jamberry nail wraps, and graphic t-shirt. I think I really lucked out with mine, don’t you think?