Rescue Beauty Lounge- Recherché

Recherché was my second pick from Rescue Beauty Lounge Iconic/Ironic spring 2011 collection. It's not that I didn't admire Insouciant and Iconoclast, which I admit are the more unique of the four, but my approach to nail polish buying is to only invest in colors I know I'll wear again and again. Hence my love for Decorous and Recherché.

The latter is a wonderful dark chocolate plum. It's dark brown and purple, not very spring-like, but since Rescue Beauty is NYC-based they know exactly what they're doing. We had snow this morning, giant wet flakes. Recherché is just perfect for this weather. The color is very dark and shows its various undertones depending on the light. The full plummy effect is only visible in strong natural daylight. Most of the time it just looks like a very deep and rich brown.

Recherché is a cream formula and as opaque as it gets. I'm on my second round of this color, and what you see in the photo is just one coat (over a Deborah Lippmann base and no top coat). When I wore it earlier in the week I opted for two layers because it's smoother and takes away any application mishaps, but when redoing my nails earlier today I went with only one for the sake of quick drying. Seriously- Rescue Beauty has the fastest drying cream formula I've come across.

Recherché is not as long lasting and chip-resistant as Decorous, and as a matter of fact I experienced some peeling the very next day after my first use, but it's still a great addition to my nail polish collection. While I have various purples and browns I don't own any color that's even close to this one.

Recherché ($18) is part of Rescue Beauty Lounge Iconic/Ironic collection for spring 2011. Available for a limited time at rescuebeauty.com.

All photos are mine.

Rescue Beauty Lounge- Decorous

Decorous is one of the four nail polish colors in Rescue Beauty Lounge's spring 2011 Iconic/Ironic collection. I pre-ordered two of them so many weeks ago that when they finally arrived it was almost like an unexpected surprised. And a very nice one. Decorous is one of my most favorite nail colors of the season because it's very unique while maintaining an understated elegance that doesn't compete with the bold hues and patterns of spring and summer. I can wear Decorous with a bunch of chunky bracelets and bangles or a statement ring without crossing the line into circus territory.

Decorous is a chai latte color with cool toned micro shimmer that doesn't manifest as particles or frost. Instead it's an undertone- something we've seen in several other Rescue Beauty Lounge colors (like Ani). It catches and reflects the light beautifully- I tried to capture it in the swatches and failed miserably, but I hope you can see that this is not a flat beige.

The formula of this Rescue Beauty polish is excellent. Two coats give you full opacity, the color dries in minutes and is extremely hardy. What you see in the photos is after three and a half days of wearing without a top coat. The polish didn't crack or peel even after a week and only showed the expected tip wear, so that's very impressive even for Rescue Beauty.

Bottom Line: Excellent.

Decorous ($18) is a limited edition color for spring 2011 (the Iconic/Ironic collection). It's available right now at rescuebeauty.com.

All photos are mine. Cat in the background is Betty.

Alexander McQueen Butterfly Shoes

These are Alexander McQueen Butterfly shoes for spring/summer 2011. They were designed by McQueen's successor as the label's creative director, Sarah Burton, and are priced at £2,300 per pair. I wish they made prints of these shoes so I could buy them to decorate my dressing room.

Photos: luxuryculture.com

OPI San Tan-Tonio Nail Polish Spring/Summer 2011 Texas Collection

I was pretty sure I was not interested in anything from OPI's Texas Collection for spring/summer 2011. The colors were too simple, too bright and just not my thing. I don't know why out of all the beautiful shades one can find in the Southwest landscape OPI went with these. Oh, well, maybe one day they'll come up with a Santa Fe collection. Wouldn't it be marvelous?

 But then I stopped at my local Ulta the week they got the Texas Collection and among all those blues and pinks I saw San Tan-Tonio, a surprisingly sophisticated warm beige, tan, cafe au lait or whatever you wish to call it. It came home with me.

San Tan-Tonio is a cream formula, completely opaque and comes with OPI's standard wonderful wide and thick brush. I know not everyone is into this OPI feature, but for me it's probably the easiest brush to use. San Tan-Tonio requires just two coats for a full-coverage true to the bottle look. It dries very quickly- when I started taking these pictures I realized that for once all the nails on my left hands were free of polish (my normal state is three different colors being tested on the left hand and an unrelated fourth on my right hand). I quickly slapped San Tan-Onio on, first coat before I started and a second one half way through- it dried out that fast. I didn't use a base or a top coat (bad Gaia!) and my application is far from perfect, but you can see how nice and wearable this shade is. And the quality is so good- even without the requisite protective aids it has yet to see any chips, even four days later.

OPI San Tan-Tonio ($8.50) and the rest of the Texas Spring/Summer 2011 collection are available from Ulta and select nail salons.

All photos are mine.

Giorgio Armani Long Wear Waterproof Eye Pencil Spring 2011

The last time Armani had these Long Wear Waterproof Eye Pencil I blinked and missed them, because for an unknown reason they're a limited edition item and they were sold out before you could say "Giorgio". I was adamant about not repeating this mistake again, so now that these little pencil miracles are part of Armani Spring 2011 collection, I made sure to get one in each color- black, dark brown and green leaf.

The thing about Giorgio armani's Long Wear Waterproof Eye Pencils is the incredible gel-like texture and finish. They glide on your eyelid with ease and a fluid-like consistency, they set within a second and stay put with no smudging all day long. The pigment is clear and intense like a gel and can line the eye by itself or as a base for powder products.

The Long Wear Waterproof Eye Pencil can be used on the waterline, but I personally avoid it, since my eyes are tear-prone and eventually even this waterproof formula surrenders and the color bleeds and gives me raccoon eyes. But as long as I keep the liner on the lash line and my upper lid, these Giorgio Armani eye pencils have become true favorites.

Bottom Line: Get them while you can.

Giorgio Armani Long Wear Waterproof Eye Pencils for Spring 2011($27 each) are available from Saks, Barneys and giorgioarmanibeauty-usa.com.

All photos are mine.

NARS Hollywoodland Soft Touch Shadow Pencil Spring 2011 (and comparison to Goddess)

I know it feels like NARS week here and on several other blogs, but the Spring 2011 collection, while not even in quality, seems to offer something for just about everyone. One of the better and most useful item NARS created is Hollywoodland Soft Touch Shadow Pencil. Hollywoodland doesn't have the melty Crayola texture of Celebrate, the other Soft Touch pencil from this collection. Instead, it is similar in consistency to the first batch of pencils from last year and offers an alternative to those who found Goddess too pink for their taste.

Goddess is a pink champagne shimmer while Hollywoodland is a soft gold. I love both and find them among the most useful and versatile one could have in a makeup collection. They layer, highlight, help with quick touch-ups, travel well and require no special tools or skill. Unlike Celebrate, Hollywoodland (and the other pencils) don't melt or crease on me. I use the pale colors as highlighters and the dark ones on the lash lines (upper and lower) with no issue (10-12 hours of wear in non-extreme weather) and absolutely love them. That's why I was so disappointed in Celebrate's sub-par performance. The pencils make an excellent base that ground and illuminates powder eye shadows. Layering gives that coveted lit-from-within look (try it with Dior or Edward Bess eye shadows on top). I'm still finding new ways to use them and hope for more new colors.

Bottom Line: Yes, please.

NARS Hollywoodland Soft Touch Shadow Pencil for Spring 2011 ($24) is available from narscosmetics.com.

All photos are mine.

NARS Celebrate Soft Touch Shadow Pencil Spring 2011

I bought NARS Celebrate Soft Touch Shadow Pencil (one of two pencils released for Spring 2011) before reading Christine's review on Temptalia. Between the underachieving performance she reports and the fact Celebrate has a distinct yellow base and is far less of a parrot green than promised, I'd probably have skipped this one. Truthfully, it wouldn't have been a huge loss.

Right now the NARS Soft Touch shadow pencil range comes in six colors (I'll show and review Hollywoodland in a few days). They vary in texture and perform different tasks, but up until now I liked all of them, including Palladium. Celebrate is the creamiest one of the bunch, which as you can see in Christine's review is  a disadvantage. While I experienced less creasing, the melty texture makes it pretty useless as an eye shadow. I've found that applying more than two coats is a bad idea as well as trying to cover the lid with the product. The only way to make it work is as an accent color along the upper lash line. That's where you can get creative and incorporate Celebrate into your look. That is, if you like the color.

I was pretty horrified with the amount of yellow when I first swatched Celebrate. It looked way too yellow on my arm, but apparently since my lids are darker it looks much better up there. The one perk of sporting my weird skin tone is that it really carries color very well. As long as I don't go to town with these shades and blend everything well, I can use blue and green to enhance my very brown eyes. So, yes, this crazy chartreuse may actually work (I use a beige base and ashy wheat in the crease. When in doubt go with Bobbi Brown). Also, there's a similar shade to Celebrate in  Shu Umeura Morphorium Blue Spring 2011 palette (Christine also mentions MAC Chartreuse), so it can be intensified and anchored. Not an everyday look but quite fun on darker skin tones, and used with caution (as in minuscule amounts) it's not too wild for those of us born long before 1990.

Used as described above I had no creasing or longevity issues, but that's only true when you don't even try to cover the lid, which limits the use of this NARS pencil. It also takes too much trial and error (lots of error) to figure out how to make it work. A simple eye shadow pencil shouldn't require so much effort.

Bottom Line: Christine gave it an F, I'm more in the D- camp, but honestly, you can pass.

NARS Celebrate Soft Touch Shadow Pencil ($24) is available from NARS counters as well as from narscosmetics.com.

NARS Bateau Ivre Eye Shadow Duo Spring 2011

Le Bateau Ivre (The Drunken Boat) is the name of a 1871 poem by Rimbaud describing a boat lost at sea. It has enough colorful imagery to inspire a dozen color stories and makeup looks, though truth be told, some of those symbolic visions are on the wrong side of terrifying and unappealing. Still, it was the inspiration for Francois Nars Bateau Ivre eye shadow duo, the matte blue pair.

The other eye shadow duo from this collection, Nuveau Monde, is just as pretty but I passed because the metallic silver lilac is really not my thing and I already have enough olive green eye shadows. Bateau Ivre won my heart because the colors are quite special,  a little retro and have a rich and full texture. NARS describes the right side as a deep denim blue, but I think it has a little more purple in it to be a true indigo. The left side is as sky blue as they come, a shade I haven't seen in this texture since Chanel Blue Jeans quad from 2002.  Both are beautiful and nicely pigmented, very inviting to play and create various looks. They work just as well on a snowy January day as I imagine they would if spring ever returns.

As is the case with many NARS eye shadow duos, my personal preference is not to wear both colors together (unless layered one on top of the other). This amount of bold striking color rarely looks good in everyday life. These are eye shadows I'd use as a pop of color right on the top lash line, well-blended with neutral muted shades. Both make excellent liners as this duo can be applied with a damp brush.

Bottom Line: Pretty!

NARS Bateau Ivre Eye Shadow Duo Spring 2011 ($32) is now at the counters and on narscosmetics.com.

All photos are mine.

Coming Soon: Butter London No More Waity Katie

Butter London may not really be an English company (they're Seattle-based) but they share the royal obsession with many of us. They just released the information about the Kate Middleton-inspired spring 2011 nail polish color: No More Waity, Katie. The promo photo reveals it as a shimmery mauve with a trendy grayish tones. It will be available to (pre)-order in early March, so by the time of the royal wedding (April 29th) we all can have a Katie manicure. So much better than tea towels and ugly china.

Shu Uemura Morphorium Blue Palette Spring 2011

Very few Spring 2011 makeup collections managed to entice me, and so far the only item I actually bought is this very bright Shu Uemura Morphorium Blue Palette. It's so different than the usual spring pastels, not to mention doesn't have all that pearly shimmer of Chanel and Dior that's been putting me off their spring collections. I can't help it. I'm not a pink person and pastels look dreadful on my skin.

Shu Uemura Morphorium Blue Palette looks straight out of a 1960s tropic-inspired ad, and that's exactly why I love it so much. There's also a brown one, Sunset Gold, which has an even nicer packaging but less interesting colors.  I'd never wear more than one of the eye shadows at the same time and would not suggest you do that, either. But keeping everything else nakedy-neutral and just using one of the bright colors (purple, turquoise or parrot green) as a liner/accent, this is a happy and inspiring palette.

The eye shadows come in different textures: The purple(1)is matte, the turquoise has a medium shimmer and the green is high shimmer (or perhaps it's an illusion because the pigment itself is so bright)- in any case, that's the one you'd want to be a little more careful when applying. The fourth eye shadow is a cream brown bronze with a very smooth texture and a remarkable staying power. I'm planning to use it a lot in the summer (do you remember summer or is it just a myth?).

The blush is probably the weakest item in the palette. It's very pretty and looks like a healthy pink, but the glitter overspray that creates the lovely design gets in the way. I've had the palette for over a week now and finally getting close to having this crap all cleaned out. It was a pain to remove the particles that spread onto the other colors (and everywhere else. You can see the random glitter on my arm). The last photos show the palette mid-cleanup.

Bottom Line: Beautiful, shiny and happy. But the overspray was a very bad idea.

Shu Uemura Morphorium Blue Palette for Spring 2011 ($69) is available from the company's website (shuuemura-usa.com) and if you're not in North America, chances are there's a Shu counter in your local department store.

Photos of the palette by me, fashion photograph by Norman Parkinson for Vogue UK, 1961