NEW from Lalique Parfums!

Amethyst, a vibrant new signature fragrance from Lalique, features top notes of Blackberry leaves, blackcurrant, and raspberry; middle notes of White lily, peony, and wild rose; base notes of musk, sensual wood, and vanilla.

The fragrance is inspired by the original René Lalique”Epines”collection of 1920, which celebrates the beauty of nature with its exquisite blackberry vine motif and distinctive amethyst color. Evoking a precious stone, each piece stands as a masterful work of art.

Available at Neiman Marcus.
$800 for 1.7 ounces Pure Perfume.

If you enjoy our post, feel free to subscribes to our rss feeds

We’re all trying to delay the aging process as long as possible. Black Tea Age-Delay Face Cream with collagen-boosting lychee is clinically proven to reduce the appearance of fine lines, firm and retexturize the skin, and reduce the total number and length of wrinkles. It’s dermatologist-tested.

What it is:
An advanced skin-perfecting moisturizer that reduces the appearance of fine lines, firms, and retexturizes the skin.

What it is formulated to do:
Fresh Black Tea Age-Delay Face Cream combines natural ingredients with cutting-edge technology to visibly reduce the appearance of fine lines and wrinkles. It’s formulated with collagen-boosting lychee, proven to strengthen the skin’s structure and firm the complexion to restore youthful contours and promote cell regeneration, resulting in softer, smoother skin. It also protects the skin against pollution with black tea and provides intense hydration and moisture.

Available at Sephora.
$125, 1 oz.

If you enjoy our post, feel free to subscribes to our rss feeds

If you’re in to mood to indulge, then a pot of Skin Caviar Luxe Eye Lift Cream from skincare royalty La Prairie will leave you suitably satisfied. Like many a Swiss-made product, expert engineering and top quality ingredients are of the utmost importance so you can rest assure that you’re investing in something that will yield impressive results. Applied to the skin with a silver spatula, the intensive cream provides instant brightening around the whole eye area. While many eye creams target a specific condition, La Prairie has created a magnificent multi-tasker that gets to work on all the seven signs of ageing: fine lines, loss of firmness, wrinkles, loss of elasticity, puffiness, dark under-eye circles and dryness.

Uniquely formulated with a new biopolymer protein, Skin Caviar Luxe Eye Lift Cream uses a cross-linking technology and forms a continuous and smooth film, helping to firm, lift and restore skin’s youthful appearance.

Skin Caviar Luxe Eye Lift Cream also contains Caviar Extracts that help firm and nourish, along with La Prairie’s exclusive Cellular Complex that helps stimulate the skin’s natural repair process, moisturizing and energizing with nutrients that encourage optimal functioning.

Skin regains youthful bounce, fine lines and wrinkles recede, puffiness is reduced, dark circles brighten, moisture renews, and skin is firmer and more radiant than it has been in years.

Available at Neiman Marcus.
$275

If you enjoy our post, feel free to subscribes to our rss feeds

Your makeup colors for autumn are going to be loaded with berry tones and chocolate hues.  Estee Lauder has made picking the fall colors easy with the launch of their Chocolate Decadence makeup for Autumn 2008.  With names like Caramel Creme shimmer powder, Chocolate Box eyeshadow quad, and Caramel Swirl lip gloss, you’ll be hungry before you’re done applying your fabulous new look. 

Available at EsteeLauder.com.

If you enjoy our post, feel free to subscribes to our rss feeds

Attention ladies!  Dark, rich colors are going to be the trend for lips this fall/winter.  I have blonde hair and green eyes so the dark lip trend might prove to be a bit tricky for me.  Dark colors have never looked good on me, but I fear not!  Brand new from Yves Saint Laurent is sheer lipstick that is available in an array of gorgeous hues. Yves Saint Laurent ROUGE PUR SHINE SPF15 Sheer Lipstick is a shiny lipstick with exceptional gliding properties. It illuminates the lips with sparkling, transparent color. The hydrating texture ensures comfort and protection for hydrated, shiny, shimmering lips. Given the sheer, shiny, and shimmering quality of this lipstick, I believe it will help me pull off the darker colors for the cold weather months.

Available at Sephora.
$29

If you enjoy our post, feel free to subscribes to our rss feeds

Magnifique is the latest fragrance for women from Lancôme, and it carries the tag line “You are unique; you are Magnifique”. The celebrity spokesperson for the fragrance is Anne Hathaway; the perfumers are Olivier Cresp and Jacques Cavallier; the spicy woody scent is intended as “an olfactive interpretation of red”.

Magnifique opens on a very rosy, rhum-y, spicy and fruity rose with tangy and woody touches and a little salty edge. After the initial rather sublime entrance of the rose, the perfume soon goes into a soft mode becoming subtly creamy. Despite the dark, saturated colors of the Magnifique bottle and advertisement, meant to celebrate red, the creamy woody impression evokes an ivory satin gown. The color red is added with touches of red fruits.Then the scent starts revealing a citrusy lift (geranium, often used paired with rose), more luminosity, and an exotic smell arises which seems to be a combination of papyrus with berries and little touches of hard (sharp aldehydes) fruit sours, but done in a sophisticated manner. The scent is slightly peppery to reinforce its main spicy facet resting on saffron. Echoing the rhum-y nuance, a Vodka-like facet seems to be present, probably linked to the rose essences.

After testing it several times, a deep kinship to classic fruity chypres like Guerlain Mitsouko and Rochas Femme appears, even perceptible in a stewed-peach undertone, but with the addition of lactic, milky woods.

As the woods develop, they become richly exotic bespeaking of Indian summer nights, with a slight swirl of smoky incense to them.

Available at Lancome.com and most major department stores.
$65, 1.7 oz.
$85, 2.5 oz.
$46, Perfumed Body Lotion
$46, Perfumed Shower Gel

If you enjoy our post, feel free to subscribes to our rss feeds

I’ve been fascinated by Creme de la Mer for a while now. Even the story of how this cream came to fruition sounds like something out of a science fiction story. It has been touted as a miracle cream and was developed by a NASA scientist, Dr. Max Huber, who suffered a terrible accident when a routine experiment exploded in his face, resulting in severe chemical burns. Ouch! When nothing else worked, Dr. Huber created his own face cream. In 1996, Estee Lauder bought it.

The secret of Creme de la Mer is the Miracle Broth. There is nothing unusual about its ingredients—a blend of sea kelp, vitamins and minerals. It’s the way Huber distilled them that made the difference between a good moisturizer and a small miracle, borrowing from the ancient science of fermentation. This intensive, 3 to 4 month process released vital energies, transforming the ingredients into a whole far greater than the sum of its parts.

Creme de la Mer even requires a few tricks in order to be properly experienced. The creme itself is very thick with a light, floral scent. To properly use the creme, place 1-2 pea-sized drops in the palm of your hand. Next, you vigorously rub the palms of your hands together. The creme liquifies and becomes clear and has a thick liquid consistency.  When applied to your skin, you immediately feel it start to sink in.  It took about 10-15 minutes for it to really sink into mine.  For my schedule, I use it at night, as probably do most busy people.  The time is well worth it. 

Creme de la Mer is amazingly hydrating without making your skin greasy or oily.  It makes your skin glow.  Jennifer Lopez, who always has glowing skin, is rumored to stockpile Creme de la Mer.

As far as Creme de la Mer being an anti-aging product, it does contain several antioxidants in the formula.  Also, a large part of looking younger is having properly moisturized skin.  As the outer layer of the epidermis swells with moisture, it improves the appearance of fine lines and wrinkles.

Creme de la Mer is a strong moisturizer and I love that my skin glows when I use it.  It is a great product to combat winter dryness.  It is the added ingredients that make Creme de la Mer more than just a regular moisturizer and make it worth the added expense.

Available at Neiman Marcus.
$130, 1 oz.
$230, 2 oz.
$1,390, 16.5 oz.

Frugal Tip: Get a sample size to try before you buy from the cosmetic counter. Also, sample sizes of Creme de la Mer are often for sale on Ebay at a much less expensive cost than buying the jar. Paying for a sample might sound crazy, but keep in mind that my sample lasted me a month and gave me a good idea if I wanted to make the investment and buy a large jar.

If you enjoy our post, feel free to subscribes to our rss feeds