Manolo for the Beauty

Yes, I went there.

I went and spent almost sixty dollars on some powder.

What can I say?  I was drunk on being away from my children for the first time in a long while and it went to my  head.  Freedom!  The freedom to spend a crapload of money! 

Except I sort of regretted the purchase instantly.

It wasn’t that I didn’t like the product.  I really did.

It was recommended that I purchase Teint Dore, which has golden undertones.  It makes my skin look nice, and I love the old-fashioned smell.  One caveat is that it is important to use the right type of brush, else the little perles tend to want to jump out of the pretty container.  There is a Guerlain brush that is designed specifically for this product, but my wallet could not handle both at once.

It does indeed soften out my lines and illuminates my skin nicely.  Soemtimes I wonder if it is a bit too glittery, and then I tell myself to shut up and just go with it.  I save it for special occasions, and as such, I expect to use this up in about ten years.  Give or take.

But is it worth the sixty bucks?  Is there no comparable product for less?

I’m sure there is.

But, I love the idea of this product (one of the first of its kind when first introduced in 1987) so much that even though I planned to return it, I didn’t.

Maybe I’m an idiot who just spent sixty bucks on something she didn’t really need, but I’m happy nonetheless.

My initial reaction? Bluuuurrgh…

I have no feelings about Gaga one way or the other, musically speaking.  Some of her tunes are catchy, although the comparisons to Madonnna are inevitable and often spot-on.

I find myself wishing that they would have just featured the black and gold look on the left and been done with it.  Because damn, the face in the middle is boring as hell.

Also? HATE the hair.  Why can’t people spend some money on extensions, for God’s sake?

Also also?  Please let the pointy nails stay away as a trend.

That is the question on the Telegraph’s mind, after seeing not only Elle Mcpherson with huge curls:

But also SJP doing some sort of crazy bouffant:

Now, both of these looks are extremely high maintenance and to me, ill-timed.

Where I live, it is going to start getting hot within the next month or so, and who the heck can wear their hair down in voluminous curls when the thermometer tops out at ninety or above?

Although both of these women could easily afford to hire someone to walk around with them, blowing a portable fan in their direction at all times.

The rest of us, not so much.

I think I would melt if I walked around in the summer heat with my hair down, not to mention the fact that there is NO WAY the hairspray would last longer than an hour.

My summer hairstyle is up in a ponytail, and I dress it up if needed by wearing it with something fancier than a plain Goody elastic. If I’m feeling a little carefree, I’ll do a lopsided bun.

I must also add that Elle is wearing high-waisted jeans with two very large pockets with buttons on the front, a look in which only .01% of the population could pull off.

Of mascara, that is.

It seems that in my decades of wearing makeup, the product satisfaction that has eluded me the most is mascara.

I’ve found perfectly lovely cleansers, shampoos, lipsticks, foundations, moisturizers, you name it. 

But the perfect mascara?

I’ve yet to find it.

For a while, I actually did achieve mascara nirvana.  Yeah, I’m mixing religious symbolism here, sorry.  I used LORAC mascara, back when they only had one kind.  Then they went and reformulated it, and I bought a tube in vain hope, but was sorely disappointed.  I HATE when that happens.

Since then, I have searched high and low for a mascara that is waterproof but easy to remove, doesn’t clump, doesn’t flake, plumps and lengthens, and doesn’t look totally fake.  One product that does all these things, not three.

I’ve yet to find it.

Too much to ask, I guess.

What is your Holy Grail product?

Only a lonely 4% of you loved Katy Perry’s frighteningly realistic royal nail art.  73% proclaimed them fit for naught, and 22% of you liked them even though you questioned why.  I sort of fell in with that 22% because while I thought they were tack-to-the-capital-y, I appreciated the effort that went into them.

I was recently browsing through the Sephora site, as I do much too often than is probably healthy, I saw the newest gewgaw in the Hello Kitty line.  It was a palette named “Memoirs of a Kitty.”

I rolled my eyes, as I didn’t think it wasn’t even all that clever and not really a pun.

I find myself in love with the Illamasqua brand.

They’ve got some great products, and the nail varnish is one of them.

They are full of win due to sheer variety and unusualness of the shades they offer.  Neon orange? Forest green? They’ve got it.

Illamasqua really does make some stunning-looking colors.  They don’t dabble in run of the mill pinks, but focus more on giving the shades they offer maximum impact.  This can be done with the finish, the depth and super pigmentation of color, or all three.

For my tootsies, I chose Grab, which is described as a grape magenta.  I wanted something different that what I normally gravitate to, which tends to be light pinks and purples, especially for summer.

The glossy finish on this color is what really makes it for me.  It is highly pigmented, as are all their colors, and I wouldn’t be remiss in describing the finish as “mirror-like.”

It is a dark color, and as such, shows chipping and whatnot faster than a lighter color, but I’m happy with the rate of chippage.  Because let’s be serious, it is inevitable.  

I heartily recommend this nail polish.  However, it is pricey at fourteen bucks a pop.   If it wasn’t fourteen dollars a bottle, I think I would own almost every single one.

I have to admit being very intrigued by the idea of some cat’s eyes done in a color other than black.

LOVE purple eyeshadow.

Ditto yellow/gold eyeshadow.

However, I think we can all agree this isn’t a look we’ll be seeing at our local Target any time soon.

images via

I have NEVER purchased a lip color that could be considered neutral.

I put lipstick on my lips to make them look different, not like they aren’t there.  Why spend good money on camouflage?

I think at some point I have tried some lip colors that could be classified as neutrals, but they are quickly put right back where I found them.

I am of the opinion that a nude lip looks less than flattering on me, no matter how hard I try.  My skin cries out for mauves, deep pinks, and the occasional red.  But never anything that could be placed in the beige category. Yes, I know that there are some pinks that can be nude-ish, but I don’t go there either.

“But Glinda, what do you do when you wear a smokey eye?” you might ask.  My answer would be that I don’t ever do a smokey eye, thus never necessitating the need for non-competing lipstick.   And yes, you counted a triple negative in that last sentence, but it worked, didn’t it?

The closest I come to a nude lip would be coral, and that ain’t really close at all.

Color me totally surprised that a whopping 44% of you do not color your hair.  42% color all of it, and only 12% are like me, who only colors part of it.  When I say part of it, I mean that I get my hair weaved, (which is different than something like this) where the colorist systematically goes around the scalp doing only fine sections of hair throughout.  It makes for a nice “natural” look as your hair is not all one color, and I’ve been doing it for at least 18 years.  At first it was just to punch up my natural color, which is a dirty blonde, but now it is mainly to cover all the gray.  However, that is a losing battle and it won’t be long until I will be forced to either color all of it or go natural. 

Today, I’ve got to find out what you think about these: