Marsala - Pantone 2015 Colour of the Year

Marsala  conjures the images of an earthy and full bodied wine. And according to Pantone, it is the new colour of the year. Past colours include last year's Radiant Orchid, 2013 Emerald,  2012 Tangerine Tango, 2011 Honeysuckle, and 2010 Turquoise.

The colour is beautiful and complimentary to many skin tones. Furthermore, to find a true Marsala is difficult -  images show wine, aubergines, burgundy, and brick red. However, this colour is more like a brown, plum, earthy deep rose - a "robust nude".  Personally, I love it for lips and cheeks. Eyeshadow might be a little more difficult, but it can be done. 

I decided to go through my own collection and surprisingly enough, I have quite a few items that will satisfy The Colour. They are not perfect but close enough.

Illamasqua :  Beg and Kiss blushes
Estee Lauder : Alluring Rose blush
MAC: Sea Me, Hear Me Blush
Tarte: Dazzled Blush
Make Up For Ever HD Cream Blush- 310 Rosewood
Bite Beauty: Musk Lipstick - medium brown, pink
MAC: Del Rio - deeper in colour, Amorous - medium plum/cranberry, Modesty- slightly pinky, Viva Glam III
Clarins: Earthy Pink

Other colours Sephora suggest:
Nars Blush - Outlaw
Kat Von D lipstick - Lolita
Urban Decay - Naked 3
Zoya - Marney

Cheers
xo Megs

Loving Now: Estee Lauder

My foray into Estee Lauder was my mother. Traumatized and intimidated by Youth Dew and the old, ornate gold lipstick packaging, many my age and younger, associate the company with a more mature generation. Something Estee Lauder is acutely aware of as evidenced by having Tom Pecheux at the helm of creating gorgeous colour stories and collections appealing to a broader range of consumers.

I ventured into the cloud of White Linen and little brown bottles, to discover a gun metal coloured lipstick/luminizer, metallic creamy eyeshadows and a vampy autumn collection. The Pure Colour Gelee Powder eyeshadows were calling me the most. I wanted to try them all, however two decidedly caught my eye - cyber teal and cyber lilac. Both are begging to be used in a smokey eye and can be best described as a metallic smokey teal and lilac. Pure and simple. The formulation is not new, as Estee Lauder launched it last year and we have seen it at M.A.C.  They are creamy, yet  powdery. They blend beautifully and last over 12 hours. I would love to purchase more, but they are on the expensive side.

The down and dirty:

• texture: creamy and powdery
• colours: 14, 6 of which are limited edition
• price: $28 Cdn

Oh and I am not done, in another blog post I mentioned the Invisible Fluid foundation. This directly competes with Chanel's Vitalumiere Aqua, YSL Touch Eclat, Urban Decay's Naked, and Armani's Maestro Fusion. I have tried all of them and I have to say the Invisible Fluid and Vitalumiere Aqua are my favourite, but for different reasons. Having normal to oily skin, I find the Invisible Fluid allows my skin to show without worry of oil coming through. My skin but better. Vitalumiere Aqua gives my skin a nice natural dewiness without an oil slick. So all in all, I am impressed with Estee Lauder's direction and challenging itself. 

The down and dirty:

• coverage: sheer to light
• finish: semi-matte
• price: $42.50 Cdn

Cheers,
xo Megs


The Who's Who of Beauty

As someone who uses and "collects" makeup, I have a habit of being a tad biased when it comes to some companies. I have always noticed, whether it was the packaging, texture or ingredients, obvious similarities between high-end and low-end cosmetics. This can be explained by who owns them. Now, most people know L'Oreal owns Lancome, Maybelline, Vichy and La Roche Posay and Estee Lauder owns Clinique and MAC, but there were some other brands that many do not know about. There are four major players on the beauty scene and these include Estee Lauder, L'Oreal, Louis Vuitton Moet Hennessy (LVMH) and Shiseido.

I have compiled lists of some of the companies and their brands:

Estee Lauder

• Aramis
• Clinique
• Smashbox
• MAC
• Prescriptives
• Bobbi Brown
• Origins
• Tommy Hilfiger
• La Mer
• Aveda
• Jo Malone
• Bumble and Bumble
• Michael Kors
• Darphin
• Tom Ford
• Coach
• Ojon

L'Oreal

• L'Oreal Paris
• Garnier
• Maybelline New York
• Essie
• Giorgio Armani
• Keratase
• Redken
• Matrix
• Shu Uemura
• Ralph Lauren
• Lancome
• Helena Rubinstein
• Biotherm
• Cacharel
• Viktor and Rolf
• Diesel
• The Body Shop
• YSL Beaute
• Vichey
• La Roche Posay
• Kiehl's
• Roger & Gallet
• Skinceuticals
• Stella McCartney

LVMH

• Benefit
• Acqua di Parma
• Guerlain
• Givenchy
• Marc Jacobs
• Christian Dior
• Kenzo
• Fresh
• Make Up For Ever
• Sephora's namesake line
• Fendi

Shiseido

• Ayura
• Cle de Peau
• Decleor
• Iso Hair
• Joico
• NARS Cosmetics
• Jean Paul Gaultier
• Issey Miyake
• Narciso Rodriguez
• John Varvatos

Bourjois/Wertheimer

• Bourjois
• Chanel

Clarins

• Kibio
• Thierry Mugler
• Azzaro
• Stock holder in L'Occitane

Revlon

• Revlon
• Almay

Coty

• Rimmel London
• Lancaster

Elizabeth Arden

• Prevage
• Fragrances such as Britany Spears

Surprising eh? So when we look at a Lancome mascara, just know that the L'Oreal mascaras have the same research/technology and ingredients behind it. Or when we look at the baked blushes at Bourjois and compare them to Chanel, they are going to be relatively similar, at a fraction of the cost.

Cheers,
xo Megs