Beauty Trend
Magic Mascara Wands
What: Innovations in mascara wand design are leaving lashes looking longer than ever.
What the Experts Say: Think the mascara wand is only ancillary to the actual mascara formula? Think again. Cosmetics manufacturers are churning out wand designs that may look odd, but truly deliver the goods. It’s all enough to get Christina Ricci’s makeup gal, Vanessa Scali, hyped up. Of Givenchy’s Phenomen Eyes mascara , which touts a wand with a ball-shape at the end, Scali tells InStyle, “The unusual brush let’s you get in between every lash for extra definition. I honestly can’t remember the last time I was this excited about a mascara.��?
What We Say: We don’t step foot outside without our lashes looking lush and lengthy, so if the new crop of wands make a difference, we’re psyched. Guerlain Le 2 De Guerlain Two Brush Mascara boasts two wands: a thick one for volumizing and lengthening, and a tiny angled one that reaches pesky inner lashes for a wide-eye effect. At $35, it’s not quite a steal, so Covergirl Lash Blast and Rimmel Glam Eyes Mascara have you covered, offering lush lashes at lesser price points. Lash Blast’s large, patent-pending plastic brush really separates every lash for awesome definition, but is difficult to maneuver on tiny inner lashes. The VolumFlex Brush in Glam’Eyes literally bends, making it highly maneuverable and perfect for coating each lash from root to tip.
Photo: Style.com
Glam Glitter
What: Adding standout sparkle to eyes feels fresh and fun this summer.
What the Experts Say: Arts and crafts, anyone? Backstage makeup fixture Charlotte Tilbury channeled the look of ’70s fashion icon Bianca Jagger for the Missoni Spring 2008 runway by sprinkling a load of green glitter on eyes for a disco-worthy cat’s eye look. “I did it in a contemporary way—it’s how girls would live and wear it today if they were out partying,��? she said. Also in on the sparkle trend: makeup guru Pat McGrath, who took smoky eyes to the next level backstage at Anna Sui’s Spring 2008 show by showering lids in blue glitter for a “fun, strong��? edge.
What We Say: Oh, glitter. How we want to love you, but we’ve grown up! We simply can’t bust out glam glitter eyes without look ridiculous, right? Wrong! Dousing eyes in intense sparkle for the occasional night out can be extremely eye-catching—when done correctly. The trick is to lay your foundation first—a cream primer base that will catch the flecks and make them stick, followed by the color eye shadow of your choice—and then layer on the glitter for multifaceted beauty. Hard Candy does all the work for you with its ingenious Bling Bling, which contains a standout glitter hue plus two bases: nude for a pure glitter look and black for a fierce smoky eye. What’s even better, the regularly priced $16 bling beauty is now $8—score! For the slightly more timid, keeping the sparkle strictly on the eyeliner allows you to have fun with the trend without really going disco. Urban Decay Heavy Metal Glitter Eyeliner offers knockout colors that can be layered for rock-star intensity, or worn discreetly. Still not feeling like a glitter go-getter? Try a black liquid eyeliner and, using an angled brush, layer a tiny bit of glitter over it while it’s still wet. The result is super subtle—just enough to let out your inner glitter girl.
Photos: Allure.com and Style.com
Customizable Makeup Palettes
What: Tailor-make your beauty with customizable makeup palettes.
What the experts say: What good is a makeup palette if it contains only one or two items that suit you? In steps customizable makeup palettes, which allow you to combine the best of what works for you into one easy-to-use palette.
“Palettes are a great way to organize your makeup and streamline your makeup routine,” makeup artist Bobbi Brown writes on her website. “Pick your favorite shades and custom-fill your choice of palettes. It’s the ultimate in personalized beauty.”
What we say: We love it when we come across a smart idea that simplifies our lives! Think about it: Rather than dig through an overflowing makeup bag filled with tons of product, we can access our go-to colors in one easy-to-use palette. Each palette compact comes empty, and you can pick and choose which items you want to plug into it.
We’ll take this one, and this one, and this one…with Bobbi Brown 4-Pan Palette you can tailor your eyes and cheeks to your liking. The eyeshadows and blushes are on the pricy side—$20 to $22 each—yet provide dazzling results in a spectrum of just-for-you hues. We also dig Prescriptives Colorscope Large Compact , which allows you to piece together a product puzzle of innumerable color combos. For example: Snap in two Cheekcolors and a Highlighter, or do up your eyes with six Eye Color Singles—the options are endless (and slightly less expensive)!
For the ultimate in inexpensive personalization, we’ll be counting on mark Snap To It Mega Custom Color Palette, which allows us to play mad-scientist makeup artist without shelling out to much dough (each Custom Pick Eye Shadow is $4; each Good Glowing Custom Pick Powder Blush is $6).
Cheek Stains And How to Use Them
What: Cheek stains provide lasting color during the sweaty summer months.
What the experts say: When the mercury rises, blush tends to go south, sliding right off of our faces. A cheek stain prolongs this departure, promising to fight the need to recede longer than a cream or powder blush would, because it literally stains the skin. To make the most of your stain—and not look like a clown—editorial makeup artist Michelle Coursey tells us to focus on the application for different stain types.
“Most important: Move quickly because the product sets almost instantly on the skin, making the amount of ‘play’ time you have to create a natural-looking flush fairly limited,” she explains. Liquid stains are trickiest to apply, but Coursey says they’ll withstand the summer heat longer than their peers. “With liquid stains, wet a makeup sponge with water and squeeze out the excess until the sponge is merely damp. Then apply three dots of the stain to the apples of your cheeks, and quickly blend out with the sponge.” Sticks tend to be the easiest, but also fade the fastest. For these, Coursey says, “dab a little of the stain on your pointer finger and middle finger, then apply to the apples of your cheeks and blend out quickly. Repeat this until you reach your desired intensity.”
What we say: Before we chatted with Michelle, we found cheek stains a bit irksome—mostly because we were one red plastic nose away from Bozo whenever we tried them on for size. But now that we have the application down pat, it just comes down to finding products that deliver on staying power. Benefit’s ultra-new Posietint (sister to cult fave Benetint) takes the intimidation out of cheek stains; rather than granting a deeper, berry flush, it deposits a subtle, petal-soft pink hue that is extremely subtle. The $28 price tag? Not so subtle, but worth it if you feel like splurging. Of course, we know you’re on a budget, so we dug up these two price-conscious stains that deliver the goods: FLIRT! Cosmetics BIG DEAL Lip & Cheek Tint and Sonia Kashuk Cheek Sheer. Priced at $10 and $7.99 (respectively), these two sticks are fabulous alternatives to higher-price stains. They both impart budge-proof, long-lasting results, and offer a range of natural-looking hues that won’t have you joining the circus any time soon.
Photo: Bobbibrowncosmetics.com
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