Halloween Makeup – The Aftermath !

Good evening lovelies – tonight is All Hallow’s Eve and I’m feeling in an extra spooky mood ! While I’m doing ‘grown up’ Halloween activities tonight, I had my fun this weekend, and will be posting photos soon of the great Black Swan look I did for my friend Shilpa. I apologize about the lack of posts, but Halloween weekend is always my favorite, and this year didn’t disappoint.

While I’m all about the Halloween spirit and outlandish makeup, one thing none of us wants is Halloween Hangover Skin – dryness or breakouts, hard to remove makeup, etc. If you wore a great deal of makeup on Halloween and your skin isn’t used to it, this can be a disaster for your face in the days following Halloween, so here are my tips for a good post Halloween skin cleanse.

Many of us wear stage or costume makeup on our skin on Halloween – white face paint, fake blood, etc, which is thick and hard to remove. I recommend using a good cleansing oil – I used my Nuxe Prodigious Oil, but Shu Uemura makes excellent, albeit expensive, cleansing oils (just in time for the collaboration with Wong Kar Wei). Pour or pump a little bit of oil on to a cotton disk or cotton ball, and gently swipe across your face. Gently is the key word – you really don’t want to rub the makeup back in to the skin, you want to remove it, so make sure not to rub your face.

Now that your face paint is gone, move on to the eyes. If you’re wearing false eyelashes or anything with liquid latex, make sure you peel off before you cleanse! As Shilpa had a whole mess of eyeshadow, pigment, and long wear eyeliners on her eyes, I gave her the same advice I’ll give you – use a bi-phase eye makeup remover (the kind with two layers of product, one oily, the other a liquid), to make sure you get EVERYTHING off ! Sephora makes a good quality, relatively inexpensive waterproof eye makeup remover that is bi-phase and works well – it’s the one in the cylindrical container with the black cap. Don’t use a cream makeup remover, as you’ll find yourself rubbing your eye area to remove the makeup – this is one of the worst things you can do to the skin around your eyes !

Now that the majority of your makeup is off, use a gentle cleanser (I’m currently using Mineral Flowers Sensitive Skin Face Wash) and use your hands, and warm (not hot) water to wash your face as you usually would.

With a cotton disk, pour a bit of toner on to your face – I use regular rosewater to tone, but you can use any kind of toner or astringent. You’ll be surprised to see how much leftover makeup ends up on the cotton – it’s imperative that you get everything off !

Finally, to moisturize or not to moisturize ? I actually slept without moisturizer after cleaning my face, because I felt like I wanted my skin to be able to ‘breathe’ after having been smothered in thick makeup. If your makeup made your skin dry, use a sensitive skin moisturizer overnight, and make sure you wash your face the next morning.

More post Halloween updates tomorrow…. Happy Halloween !

Did you know…

.. that Bourjois cosmetics are made in the same factories as their expensive big sister company, Chanel ?

I heard this from a makeup artist a few years ago, and while I can’t confirm it completely, Bourjois and Chanel cosmetics ARE owned by the same company. The texture of their baked eyeshadows is also very similar to the texture of Chanel eyeshadows that are sold in duty-free (baked circles of shadow, as opposed to the square pans of traditional shadows found in the quads in the US).

While I don’t contend that they’re of the same quality (Chanel has a higher concentration of pigments and finer textures to powders, etc) , I do think Bourjois products resemble their expensive big sister brand, particularly for blushes, liners, and mascaras – and are available for a fraction of the price. They also have the advantage of being quintessentially French, with pretty, natural shades, beautiful textures, and adorable packaging. They also do re-issues of their vintage packaging, which I personally love.

How cute are these?!

Bourjois has been around forever – they started marketing their products to theatre actors in 19th Century Paris, and are still going strong today. While US Sephora outlets have stopped carrying their products, you can find them widely online, including at British retailer ASOS (click on the name to link).

Do you use any Bourjois products ? What do you think of the quality ?

 

Duty Free Beauty – Dior Cannage Couture Collection

When I saw the products in Dior‘s Holiday 2011 collection, I was aghast. Dior, which is such a glamorous brand, actually released hideous palettes covered in grandmotherly TWEED. When I think Holiday makeup, I instantly (and like many of you) think of red, shiny, shimmering, glamorous, or at least unique (Guerlain’s Vol de Nuit collection for this holiday season is the perfect incarnation of a unique take on holiday looks with its ethereal blues). So I was a little bit comforted to see Dior’s Duty-Free exclusive palette, the Cannage Couture Collection.

Unfortunately I won’t be able to swatch this for you, as it is a gift for someone, but since there is little information on the web about this lovely palette, here are the details:

The box the palette comes in is fairly substantial – I took a photo here next to my ukulele, and the box (which considering the lack of sound when shaken appears to be about the size of the palette itself) is nearly the size of the body of the ukulele, so about 7 inches long.

The palette itself is covered in a black patent cannage  embroidered material, echoing the Lady Dior bags, and closed with a zipper.

 

Inside you’ll find 6 eyeshadow, 4 lip colors, a Diorshow Extase mini-mascara, and two double-sided applicators.

There are more colors and options in this than the Dior Holiday 2011 Palette :

The eyeshadows come in 6 versatile shades, including a deep eggplant, a gold flecked khaki, a pale shimmering gold, a beautiful glistening wine, a pale petal pink, and sheer polar white. The shades are actually marked on the side of the box and part of their permanent collections . 739, 602,  562 from their iridescent 5 color palettes (these appear to be the shades on the left), as well as mono eyeshadow pans of  951 , 670,  105. I do find that Dior eyeshadows are wonderful quality and highly pigmented, though I don’t use many of them, and their larger palettes seem to present the same quality as their 5 shade eyeshadow palettes.

The four lip colors include two lipbalms, one in a bright sheer pink and the other in a pretty baby pink, and two pans of lip color in  674, a pinky brown full of sparkles and a dusty rose color that reminds me a bit of Nars‘ Dolce Vita.

There is also a pan of DiorSkin Nude powder, described as ‘natural glow sculpting powder makeup’ in color 020, Beige Praline – this is a bit frustrating because, as a pale skinned girl, this color is WAY off for me, and would be many darker skinned girls as well. Besides that, I don’t like Dior’s foundation or powder, but I suppose this is still a great idea to have in a travel palette. The powder includes a sponge for application.

The Diorshow Extase in black is, in my opinion, a great addition – mascara is the one product I use religiously from Dior, and the Extase formula is purported to plump and grow the lashes. If it doesn’t hold up to these claims exactly, it has the merit of looking absolutely fabulous, and so many travel palettes forget mascara, which is such an integral part of a made up face. This kit is described as an ‘All Over Makeup Palette’ with both Prêt-A-Porter and Couture Looks, and I’d have to agree with them (for once).

In all, I wouldn’t buy this palette for myself (not being a huge fan of Dior cosmetics in general), but I do think it outshines the Christmas palettes by far. The packaging  (with a panoramic mirror inside) is beautiful, the colors, with the exception of the powder, are versatile and present both dramatic and natural options. The person receiving this palette is a fan of Dior, and I know she’ll be thrilled to receive it. This retails for about 60 USD, which is a great deal when you consider that one of their eyeshadow quintets alone goes for about the same.  I personally haven’t been excited about anything that Dior has released in the past few years, so it’s nice to see them release something so versatile and appealing. If you’re travelling internationally for the holidays or know someone else who is, this is a good, affordable palette to pick up.

XX La Coquette

 

Halloween Tips & Tricks – Hair

Here are a few more tips & tricks for getting your Halloween hair and makeup picture perfect !

If you’re going as Cruella DeVille, Marie Antoinette, or anything that requires white hair – skip the spray on color or baby powder, and buy yourself a can of dry shampoo. I use Batiste’s Dry Shampoo, which comes in a variety of scents. It’s cheap, good quality, and widely available in drugstores and beauty supply shops. The problem with spray on color is that it’s drying and will damage your hair, and can be difficult to get out. Flour and baby powder create a mess, and even when you seal with hairspray, you’ll find yourself leaving a trail of white all night. Dry shampoo won’t damage your hair, and stays on until you brush it out. Dry shampoo also has the advantage of holding hairstyles nicely. Did you know that dry shampoo was used in Sofia Coppola’s Marie Antoinette to create the silvery white color on Kirsten Dunst’s curls ?

My white haired, Mad Hatter look for Halloween 2009

 

Likewise, if you need darkened hair, you can usually find dry shampoos in a variety of natural colors, including black (for a Morticia costume, perhaps?)

Check out Batiste’s US website here: http://www.batistehair.co.uk/

Doing a Marie Antoinette up-do ? You can actually stuff cotton gauze into your hairstyle to create big volume, brushing and pinning your hair around it. I used this to create an 18th century style pompadour 2 years ago, and since my hair was sprayed white, none could tell !

If you’re doing anything that requires a retro 60s chignon, like Holly Golightly in Breakfast at Tiffany’s or Joan Holloway from Mad Men, pick up a ‘donut’. These thick circles of webbed plastic are easy to use to create a retro style – simply pull your ponytail through the middle, and then spread the ends over the plastic donut, pinning them underneath. This takes about 5 minutes and looks fabulous ! I picked my ‘donut’ up from Claire’s for about 4 euros. Most of the women in the 60s wore fake hair ‘falls’ to up the volume on their do’s, so don’t be afraid of using a little bit of artificial help.

If you need 1940s pin-up hair, check out this tutorial from beautiful Vixen Vintage:

http://vixenvintage.blogspot.com/2011/03/how-i-do-1940s-hair.html

For 1920s/Betty Boop/Flapper/Boardwalk Empire hair as a long-haired gal like me, I pull my hair into a low, loose chignon at the back of my head. I then pin the bun underneath the hair at the back of my head with bobby pins, and slick down the hair above my ears. You can top this off with a stretchy headband across your forehead, and stick in a feather, for that flapper look ! An Extra tip for Betty Boop hair without a wig : you can actually draw on the points of Betty Boop’s hairline with hair that is pulled back – use a waterproof liquid liner to ensure that your Betty Boop hairline stays on throughout the night.

I don’t purport to be an expert in hair styling, but I do love to get costumed, so these are a few tips I’ve gathered over the years. If you have any questions (I have tons of these !) or any suggestions of your own, I’d love your feedback in the comments.

XX La (spooky) Coquette

Covering Eyebrows for Halloween Costumes

Halloween is fast approaching, and since it falls on a Monday, many people will be celebrating this weekend. While most people in France don’t celebrate Halloween, it’s still my favorite Holiday, so I try to do it in style yearly. It seems like every few years the New Yorker or the New York Times has an expat piece on mourning Halloween in France, and every time I see one, I sympathize…. so I throw my own parties and get my candy corn shipped across the pond!

If you’re anything like me, your make up will be one of the central elements of your look. Whether you’re dressing as Betty Boop / flappers, the Queen of Hearts from Alice in Wonderland, Joan Crawford (Mommy Dearest anyone?), Cruella DeVille or even a clown, you might want to do some outlandish, 1930s penciled in eyebrows. However, most people don’t want to shave their eyebrows off for Halloween.. so how to do this using things from the home?

The easiest solution would be to buy a specialized product from a costume store. Spirit gum is used in theatres, and there are eyebrow sealing waxes used by actors and drag queens world-wide that work a charm. I, however, tend to be cheap, so I wanted to find a way to cover my eyebrows without having to spend a fortune. There are two household products that you can use to do this, if you don’t want to spring for the professional stuff; a glue stick, and cheap soap. I know that sounds insane, but the goal is to create a smooth surface over the eyebrows in order to apply makeup on top for a seamless application, and both really do the trick!

I tried this out earlier for you, and I used a cheap soap from a hotel. The goal is to use cheap soap that doesn’t have moisturizers or any fancy products in it – you want something basic. The sort of translucent rose scented soaps you found in your grandmother’s guest bathroom are the perfect kind, as are cheap hotel soaps like mine.

Cleanse your face and use toner over your eyebrow area to make sure all oil is removed, and comb them into as fine and dense of a line as possible.

Now, add literally one drop of water to your soap, and rub it on to your eyebrows. Start from the inner (widest) part of your eyebrow, the part next to your nose, and follow the line of your eyebrow outwards to the tip. Do this repeatedly until you see that your eyebrow is matted to your skin, and has a smooth surface.

soapy eyebrows !

You can see in the photo above that my eyebrows are very matted to my face – if I touched them, it felt like plastic, not like each individual eyebrow.

Make sure not to touch your eyebrows, as the humidity will melt the soap.

Now you can cover the entire area with either concealer or a very heavy foundation. In order to avoid getting oils from my hands on to the area, I used my foundation brush.

covering the eyebrows with makeup

Set with powder – I normally don’t use a puff, but did for this, as you want your eyebrows to be very concealed and covered under the makeup. I dabbed the powder on to the area with a heavy hand, and then blended up towards my forehead.

To make sure your eyebrows look realistic, after drawing your eyebrow on (I used liquid eyeliner), dab shimmery white eyeshadow under your new ‘arch’, just as you would with your natural eyebrow.

As you can see, this is just a test run/practice, so very imperfect application (don’t judge me) – you can still see the texture of my eyebrow towards the inner corner. With that being said, I have very heavy eyebrows with thick, black hair, and even I managed to cover most of them on my first go !

For any questions, please leave me a comment, and I’ll be happy to reply!

XX La Coquette

 

Historical Beauty Tips

I had the pleasure of visiting the Château de Chenonceau this September, which is really one of the most magnificent places in the world – if you have a chance to go, I urge you to do so. Chenonceau is called the ladies château due to the fact that it was inhabited by a number of remarkable women, not the least of whom was Diane de Poitiers (1500 – 1566), mistress of King Henri II.

Diane de Poitiers

Diane was exceptional for a number of reasons – she wielded more power, for a time, than the queen herself, and was a remarkable 20 years senior to her young paramour who absolutely worshipped her. Her beauty is the stuff of legends, and some of her beauty secrets have been passed down to us today.

One of her most famous beauty rituals was that of bathing in ice-cold water. Today, at Chenonceau, you can still see where she was lowered into the freezing cold Cher river to bathe daily. Now why, you may ask, did beautiful Diane bathe in frigid water?

Chenonceau

Just like Scandinavians and Russians have known for centuries, cold water is your skin and hair’s best friend. When you bathe or shower in warm water, your pores open, but when you bathe in cold water, your pores close, creating a smoother effect. Cold water is said to tone the skin and keep it young-looking, and also does wonders for bringing in color and life. Rinsing your hair with cold water after washing it will also help to seal the hair cuticle, giving it increased shine, and stimulate the scalp, thus stimulating hair growth.

A painting of Diane as Diana Huntress at her castle

I’ve been using this practice for a few years now, and I have to say, it really does work, and also leaves me feeling very awake ! I shower normally first, with warm (but never hot) water, and then at the end of my shower, turn on the cold water gradually until it’s as cold as I can bear it. In the morning, I also give light pinches and slaps to my face to get the blood flowing and reduce puffiness around my eyes and cheeks. If you don’t have Russian blood like I do and can’t stand the freezing cold, cool water is fine. You’ll find that if you cool the water gradually, you’ll be able to bear it much better. This also has the advantage, in winter, of making you feel just a little bit warmer when you get out of the shower (as opposed to a hot shower that has you running full speed for your towel !). The whole thing basically works on the Finnish sauna principle : cold, hot, cold, hot.

One of my favorite paintings of Diane, at the Louvre (école de Fontainebleau)

Diane, at 40 and even 50 was said to have been the most beautiful woman in France…. in an age when most women, by 25, were past their primes – so get in your shower and let the cold water run !

XX La Coquette

Ojon Restorative Shampoo + Conditioner

I had the delight of greeting the postman this morning with my shiny new Sephora products (reviews coming later!), and saw that they had included samples of Ojon‘s Damage Reverse Restorative Shampoo and Conditioner with my order.

Being of the curly, dry haired sort of girl, I was obviously happy and willing to play the guinea pig and stray from my normal haircare routine to bring you my results.

Admittedly, I received sample sizes of these two products, but right on the brochure, Ojon claims that results are visible IMMEDIATELY… So that’s lie number 1. I don’t know if perhaps this would work better using their products on a regular basis, but here is my experience:

 

Firstly, the shampoo. Ojon’s website, in English, says this:

Hair is weakest when wet which amplifies any damage you already have. This luxurious golden gel fortified with nature’s golden elixir, Wheat Protein and creamy coconut derived cleansers transforms into a rich lather that actually begins to help repair damaged hair in the shower. Smoothes ruffled cuticles and unwinds tangles to prevent breakage. Hydrates and helps restore health.

My experience? It lathered nicely and smelled clean. Obviously no results just after a simple shampoo, so on to the conditioner, which has roughly the same description on their website.

It smelled nice but wasn’t particularly rich for a conditioner that claims to have miraculous restorative properties (and have Ojon Oil as a principal ingredient) to hair that is damaged by ‘chemical treatments, sun, pollution, and excessive heat styling’. I noticed that my hair (which I comb, with the conditioner still in my hair, with a wide toothed comb, under the shower) did detangle a bit more easily, and felt slightly smoother.

So I did my usual hair routine (towel dry for at least 15 minutes, then a dry hair cream / styling products), and waited for my hair to dry. Now that my hair is entirely dry, I can tell you that… Nothing. Nada. My hair does feel slightly softer, but no difference to the eye – Ojon says their product reduces frizz, but I actually find that my hair is slightly frizzier than usual, and my curls feel less defined and a little bit heavy.

Considering the fact that Sephora is selling the shampoo alone at 22 euros for a full sized bottle, I certainly won’t be picking this up. Sorely disappointed, but then again, beware any self-proclaimed ‘miracle’ product with a heft price tag – they usually don’t have what it takes to back up their claims. I prefer my Klorane shampoo any day !

XX La Coquette

 

Passable Dupe for Guerlain’s Méteorites?

I received an email in my inbox the other day from Victoria’s Secret announcing the arrival of their Christmas ranges. I don’t really like Victoria’s Secret – synthetic fibers in your knickers are NOT the way to go – but am always game to look at their Christmas catalog, if only for the outlandish diamond bras.

I know that their cosmetics range has evolved quite a bit from the Amber Lace of my middle schoool years, so wasn’t all too surprised to see a variety of makeup and fragrance offerings for the holidays. What caught my eye the most, however, are their ‘Luminous Face Gems’, which appear to be a saucy knockoff of Guerlain’s amazing Méteorites.

Disclaimer : I don’t own this product, so my opinion is based strictly on what I’ve seen on their website.

Packaged in a brilliant red tin with a lacy design, these absolutely scream holiday to me, which I do like.

The problem is that the pearls of highlighter appear to be all one color, a shimmering champagne. The advantage of Guerlain’s Méteorites is that they are multicolored, with each color serving a different purpose (ie: light green to reduce redness, pink to add freshness, etc). In all, these look more to me like a traditional highlighter which assumes only the form of the legendary Guerlain original, but have the advantage of coming in at less than half the price (22 USD). I still find that relatively expensive, considering the general quality of VS products I’ve used in the past and the fact that this seems to be more novelty item than anything else, but are certainly less expensive than the Méteorites.

I did like the packaging of some of the other products in the Holiday 2011 collection (notably their Bombshell Seduction fragrance, whos red stripes remind me of the Hôtel Costes), but know VS fragrances all too well, and know that my nose can’t handle their sickly sweetness – if I see another pear/freesia/whateverberry mix, I’ll just scream !

So verdict? If you have the funds, spring for Guerlain. The Victoria’s Secret alternative is cute, but I’d only buy this for the pretty design.

Find Victoria’s Secret Cosmetics here: http://www.victoriassecret.com/beauty

and Guerlain here: http://www.guerlain.com/

Exciting Updates on the Nars Holiday 2011 Collection

Last week I hurriedly and excitedly posted about Nars‘ new holiday 2011 collection, featuring a revamped version of last year’s Bento Box lip paints.

Now, as of yesterday, Nordstrom is carrying the entire collection in the US – great news for beauty mavens across the pond, as it was first reported that the pots of lip color would only be available at the counters of the Bon Marché in Paris.

Taken directly from Nordstrom’s website, here is a detailed description of each set in the collection:

1. NARS Kudoki Kabuki Lip Set ($125)
NARS captures the drama and beauty of the kabuki lip in this exquisite coffret, named for the graceful, feminine dance of kabuki theater. Takebue, Ougi and Botan, three richly saturated shades, are accompanied by an elegant hand-spun wisteria-wrapped kabuki lip brush. A keepsake wooden bento box encases this specialty limited edition item.

Kudoki Kabuki Lip Set

2. NARS Hanamichi Kabuki Eyeshadow Palette  ($65)
NARS interprets the dramatic Kabuki eye with a modern and magnificent palette of high-impact, richly saturated hues for highlighting, shading and lining the eye. Accompanied by a hand-spun, wisteria-wrapped Kabuki eye brush and encased in an elegant pouch.

Hanamichi Kabuki Eyeshadow Palette

Also included in the collection are the ‘Karuko Kabuki’ nail polish quad (cherry red, deep black, pure white and sheer gold – which looks similar to the gold Nars polish used in the S/S 2012 Thakoon runway show) and a sextet of chubby color crayons, entitled ‘mei kabuki’ for the pivotal moment in traditional Japanese theatre of peak emotions and action.

It looks like everything is already sold out on Nordstrom’s website, but stay tuned, as hopefully they will restock ! Visit their site for more information:

Nordstrom US / International

My heart is fluttering at the mere sight of the eyeshadow compact and lip pot bento box… Are you reading this, Santa ? !

XX La Coquette

Perfume Your Sweat with Perfume in a Pill

A wise old French woman once told me that drinking a mixture of rose-water and a tisane of herbs will perfume your body odors and nether regions. I don’t really buy in to old wives’ tales, but sometimes found myself wondering, on humid days, if this wasn’t a great alternative to deodorant.

Now, Netherlands based researcher Lucy McCrae has created a pill that claims to alter individual body odor. Since every human has a unique odor (one of one animalistic traits to attract mates), the pill would theoretically alter this odor in to something more sweet-smelling. In short, the ultimate personal fragrance.

I’m personally uncomfortable taking any sort of pill that isn’t necessary (hello, why I boycotted the swine flu vaccination?), but I do think the idea is original.

What do you think ? Will you be pill popping your way to sweeter underarm odour?

 

Source : Daily Mail