Clinique Great Lips, Great Cause Lipstick Set

October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month. Having a Mom who is a Breast Cancer Survivor, I am always on the lookout for products that support the fight against Breast Cancer all year long. October is always great because more companies release special edition products with a larger percentage being donated to Breast Cancer Awareness campaigns. I will do my best to post as many of these products as I can.

Clinique has released its Great Lips, Great Cause Lipstick Set exclusively at Sephora. Featuring Colour Surge Butter Shine Lipstick in limited-edition Ribbon Pink, this set includes a super cute shimmery silver lip stick case. I absolutely love the color name. It’s available for $16.50 with $10 being donated to the Breast Cancer Research Foundation for each sale.

The reviews are mixed on this product. Some feel that there are chunks of glitter in this lipstick that makes it uncomfortable to wear. I really don’t have a problem with the flecks of glitter in this product. The fact that this is a lip stick and not a lip gloss seems to control the amount of glitter that actually is applied to your lips. What I mean is that with a gloss, the fact that your scooping out a liquid and slathering it on your lips allows for chunks of things to be applied to your lips. Does that make any sense at all? Either way, how can you pass up this limited edition set when $10 dollars will be donated with each sale?

Clinique Nude Blush - Spring 2008 Collection

Usually, I'm not one for matte shades, but I'm willing to make an exception for the new Clinique Nude Blush Spring Collection. It is fantabulous! It feature three new Colour Surge Eye Shadow Duos. As usual, each duo features a large all over base shade as well as a smaller contour shade. All of the shades just scream Spring. Gorgeous pastelly shades with darker contours that are absolute perfect matches. I'm definately snagging these up, even if there isn't any shimmer in them.

Another must have from the collection is the Cream Shaper for Eyes in Brown Sugar/Cream Lustre. This limited edition shade offers just a touch of shimmer so it'll make up for the zero shimmer in the eye duos. I love this combination of shades (there are 3 others to choose from) the most because it offers a darker color (without being too dark) with a lighter color so you can achieve a wide range of looks.

Lastly, the Blushing Blush Powder Blush Trios look amazing. I haven't seen these in person, so I'm not sure if they contain any shimmer or not, but the colors are great. I've been getting into blush blending more and more and these trios are perfect for that. Each offers three complementing shades that will allow you to sculpt your cheekbones. One word of advice, make sure you use a real blush brush and not the little dinky thing they give you with the compact. Really, who's face is small enough to use a flat 1 inch brush to get adequate coverage?

The complete Nude Blush collection includes:

• Blended Face Powder and Brush in Invisible Blend (Brand New!)


• Lash Power Mascara in Black Onyx (Brand New!)


• Colour Surge Eye Shadow Duo Stay Matte in Splash, Chocolate Kiss, Pink Slate and Butter Pecan (Brand New!)


• Cream Shaper for Eyes in Brown Sugar/Cream Lustre, Chocolate (Limited Edition)


• Lustre/Cocoa Shimmer, Mink/Sable, and Egyptian/Brightening Gold


• Colour Surge Butter Shine Lipstick in Nude Blush, Deep Bloom, Spring Rose, and Fresh Rose (Limited Edition)


• Blushing Blush Powder Blush in Bare Nudes and Bare Pinks (Limited Edition)

This line is currently available on some online outlets (but not many) and will be making its complete debut in February.

Clinique Shimmering Tones Bronzers

I am right smack dab in the middle of finals, so most of my time has been spent trying to cram about a million tons of information into my brain. I decided to take a break and do a little internet window shopping. I was happy to find that the Clinique Shimmering Tones Bronzers are back! It's ironic isn't, being as we were just talking about these. I've already ordered mine in Golden Bronze, but for those of you with fairer skin who think that bronzers just won't work for you will want to check out Bare Bronze. It still gives you a nice tan look without being as dark. As usual, these are limited editions.

Perfumes

Lately it seems that everyone and their mother and their father is creating their own fragrance line. No longer are fragrance lines reserved for cosmetic industry tycoons; Britney Spears, Paris Hilton, Hillary Duff, Celine Dion, Shania Twain, and tons of other celebrities have launched lines. There are now literally millions of perfumes, colognes, and fragrances to choose from. I've also notice lately that perfumes are often the topic of many conversations online. Bloggers discuss the latest fragrance trends. News sites discuss the economic status of fragrance companies. Gossip sites discuss the latest celebrity to jump into the frangrance pool. And of course everyone has their own opinion as to which perfumes are the best. All of this "perfume pressure" forced me out on a quest to find a new fragrance.

I first became truly intrigued with a perfume when I was in 8th grade. Back in 1993, my 8th grade teacher wore Beautiful by Estee Lauder everyday. She made the classroom smell sooooo good. I remember going to the mall with my best friend that weekend and bringing $30 that I had saved up for quite some time to purchase my very own bottle of Beautiful. I was so excited. I still wear Beautiful to this day. I can remember being 16 and in line at Best Buy when an older guy asked me "what are you wearing? It smells wonderful!" It wasn't until I was 20 that I even thought about wearing another fragrance. That was the result of a chance "smelling" of Ralph Lauren Polo Sport. Nothing too fancy...it was a fragrance I saved for more laid back events. When I was 21, my sweetie gave me a bottle of Victoria's Secret Heavenly fragrance. At first, I laughed. I always thought of Victoria's Secret perfume to be along the same line as Avon fragrances (read made for old ladies!). Imagine my suprise when I fell in love with the scent. Then, at the age of 23 (or maybe 24), while thumbing through a new issue of Cosmo, I was engulfed by the scent of Clinique Happy Heart. It quickly took over the top spot in my fragrance cabinet. 99% of the time I am wearing Happy Heart (I still do wear Beautiful, Polo Sport, and Heavenly), and almost everyday I receive a compliment. I have literally had women walk by me, stop, and come back to ask what I am wearing. Men are equally intrigued.

So, back to my quest, as I walked around Macy's this weekend smelling countless numbers of perfume bottles, I found myself desperate to find a new fragrance just so I could be included in this new perfume revolution that is taking the world by storm. After about 45 minutes or so, I stopped and thought "what the hell am I doing???" I am already more than happy with the fragrances that I wear and obviously they mix with my own body chemistry well enough to be pleasent for those who are in my vicinity. Interestingly enough, as I had this epiphery (to steal a line from The Office's Michael Scott), a woman walked by me and asked what I was wearing (Happy Heart). So, what's the point of this post? If you have something that works for you, there is no reason to run and change it. Sure, I won't be joining in the conversations about the newly released Hermes fragrance or singing the praises of Bond No. 9, yearning to try their latest and greatest; but at the same time, I won't be throwing vasts amounts of money away on the latest fragrance of the week. Just something to think about.

Pink Eyes

Pink eye shadow is taking over the cosmetic world by storm. One of my friends was particularly taken with this look. She ran out and bought some new pink shadow to wear for a night out on the town. The results were not pretty. Instead of creating a soft and pure look, my friend created an Academy Award worthy looking eye disease. The pink shadow made her eyes look puffy and sickly. So, the question is, how do you pull off pink eye shadow without looking like your two steps away from death?

The problem that my friend had was that she used only one shade of shadow. By using only one color, she was unable to blend and create contours. Using multiple shades of pink is good, using pink with other colors is even better. The first time I was introduced to pink shadow was about three years ago when I tried Clinique's Strawberry Fudge. The duo included a shade of pink and a shade of brown. Now, I must admit, when the Clinique girl suggested the duo I thought she was nuts, but I quickly fell in love with the look. I used the pink shade to color my entire eyelid up to just above the crease. I never wear pink all the way up to the brow. If you are one of those girls who likes to wear shadow up to the brow at all times to highlight the area, for this look I suggest Bare Escentuals Nude Beach. It offers a neutral looking color with just the right amount of shimmer to catch and reflect the light. I then took the brown shade and used it almost as a liner, creating a thick line about my lashes that I then blended into the rest of my eye. The good thing is that many cosmetic companies realize the fantasticness of this pink and brown duo and have created palettes pairing the two together. And let's face it, it's so much easier to simply buy a palette that is made up of compatible colors.

My other suggestion with pink shadows is to not, I repeat NOT, use it under your eye. I know there are a lot of people out there who don't like using shadow under eyes to begin with, however, I believe that there are certain shades (silvers and whites) that really make your eyes pop when you do. Pink is not one of those shades. The reason being that by spreading the pink shadow out, both up to your brow and below your eye, you are creating the sickly look!

Oh, and another thing, when wearing pink eye shadow, particularly when you are using only various shades of pink, be aware of the shade of blush you are wearing. You do not want your shadow and your blush to be the same color because then your look will just blend right into each other, thus risking the sickly look again. My suggestion is to go with either a darker shade of pink, a shade of plum or a shade of peach on your cheeks. I recommend Benefit Georgia or Tarte Cheek Stain Blushing Bride.