Urban Decay – Page 2 – Forty, Flirty & Fabulous

My Fave Glam Stocking Stuffers!

Candy and socks are nice — but sometimes we glam girls want something pretty in our stocking (besides jewelry)! The little sets and palettes below are wonderful pick-me-ups in shimmering shades that will help get her (or you) through the winter.

bliss santa’s little helpers ($11 USD, $24 value) — mega-moisturizing duo for mouth and ‘mittens’. You better watch ‘pout’, you better ditch dry—and you can do both with this spa-inspired lip- and hand-hydrating pair. Includes high intensity hand cream (1.0 oz) and fabulips softening lip balm. Available at bliss spas, www.blissworld.com, Sephora.

Burt’s Bees Simply Shimmer ($10 USD) Lips will smile this season when you give one of these spectacular sets. Each Lip Shimmer cares for your lips with Coconut and Sunflower Oils while Vitamin E nourishes them with a sheen. Made from luminescent Earth Pigments these lip lovelies are pretty alone or layered with your favorite lip colors– Nourishes and soothes lips with Vitamin E and Beeswax • Enriched with Sunflower and Coconut Oils • Invigorating Peppermint flavor

Red Mix contains:

Peony Lip Shimmer (0.09 oz.)
Fig Lip Shimmer (0.09 oz.)
Champagne Lip Shimmer (0.09 oz.)

This is a fun gift for one lady, or split it up and share the wealth! Available at mass market retailers near you.

Urban Decay Midnight Emergency Kit ($39 USD) — Look sultry at a moment’s notice without risking serious embarrassment with the Midnight Emergency Kit. Four luminous shadows, a cruelty-free shadow brush and Lip Junkie Lipgloss make the Midnight Emergency Kit a must for every purse! Swathed in a champagne pleather (Urban Decay is cruelty-free) case featuring a golden zipper that zips all the way around as well as a built in mirror, you’ll love to pull this baby out at any emergency! Available at Sephora, ULTA, select Macy’s, Sephora.com, Ulta.com, Macys.com, Beauty.com and UrbanDecay.com

JK Jemma Kidd Smoke It Up Kit ($22 USD) — Smoke it up. Create day-to-night, instant glamour with the ultimate smoky eyes shadow kit. Must-have matte and pearl shades teamed with essential defining wet/dry shadow/liner; housed in a chic, lightweight and travel friendly compact with handy flip mirror. Purchase at Target and www.target.com.

Vincent Longo Amaretti Diamond Collection ($44 USD) gift set offers “eye candy” for the holidays. Four unique shadows, literally baked into irresistible “color cookies,” recall the world-famous scrumptious Italian sweet. These holiday “eye candies” feature sweet complements of crystalline icing baked onto a velvety rich base of visible flavor. When applied, the gourmet treats and toppings meld and blend with sophisticated taste, for a look of visual sensation this holiday season and beyond. What’s more, the Amaretti Diamond Collection comes perfectly packaged for holiday gift-giving in a sleek, chic, red-bowed black box.

The shades are:

Midnight blue fudge topped with silver and  sapphire pearl frosting

Velvet vanilla crème treat laced with silver sprinkles

Rich chocolate brownie iced with glistening gold

Warm copperleaf cake topped with silvery sugar crystals

These aer luxurious shades and textures! Purchase at www.vincentlongo.com.

Lash Control Mascara ($20 USD) — An innovative, squeezable mascara package which allows you to continuously regulate the desired amount of mascara product on the brush. The built-in wiper sleeve at the mouth of the mascara tube is easily manipulated…. Now your brush can be both an applicator and a lash separator. No more scraping excess mascara off or wiping with a tissue. Just squeeze!

This is easy to use and very non-goopy. The only thing is that it does smudge a bit. When they introduce a waterproof formula — I’m in! Purchase at www.lashcontrol.com.

As the holiday season approaches,Beauty.com is thrilled to partner with Issa London to offer the new “Safari Bag,” a Beauty.com holiday exclusive.

Right now, customers who visit www.Beauty.com/Issa and spend $100 will receive this exclusive gift valued at more than $175. The zip-top coated canvas cosmetic bag is sturdy and spacious with a playful elephant print exterior.

“The Safari Bag epitomizes our effortlessly chic vibe at Issa,” says designer and creative director Danielle Helayel. “We used a trademark print so our little elephants, who usually march over Issa dresses, have now put their stamp on these easy, waterproof beauty bags. They’re perfect to slip your bikini into, for storing everyday essentials in your handbag or to brighten up your make-up shelf.”

Kathleen McNeill, President of Beauty.com, says, “”With the holidays right around the corner, we are excited to offer customers this versatile design. The Issa Safari Bag is a great way to sample a variety of new products, but it also makes a great gift – especially for the jetsetters on your list.”

See below for a sneak peek of the gorgeous new bag and a list of the must-have beauty samples.

A $175 value, this gift (free with any $100 Beauty.com purchase) arrives packed with 15 prestige beauty samples,a card for $5 toward future purchases at Beauty.com and a voucher for $20 off the purchase of sunglasses from the Sunglass Hut® Store on Beauty.com:

1. Supersmile® Professional Whitening System

2. DERMADoctor® Wrinkle Revenge® Cleanser

3. Too Faced® Primed and Poreless SPF 20 Bronze Tint Face Primer

4. Oscar Blandi® Protein Mist for Restyling Hair

5. Korres® Quercetin & Oak Antiaging & Antiwrinkle Night Cream

6. Laura Geller® Champagne Spackle® Tint and Glow

7. NUXE™ Dry Oil

8. Fusion Beauty® LipFusion™ Infatuation Plumper in Angelic

9. Alterna® Bamboo Luminous Shine Mist

10. Amika® Obliphica Oil Treatment

11. Urban Decay® Stardust Eyeshadow in Retrograde

12. Smashbox® Photo Finish Luminizing Foundation Primer

13. ~H20+™ Sea Moss Body Balm

14. Nick Chavez® Volumizing Gel

15. Lucy B. Royal Collection Pink Frangipani Eau de Parfum

About Beauty.com – The World of Beauty Online™

Beauty.com, Inc. is a leading online destination for prestige beauty products. The web store provides a highly personalized shopping experience and offers more than 200 brands from widely recognized to niche, hard-to-find products.

The Designer Gift With Purchase Series is just one of many Beauty.com offeringsas the site rolls out its holiday helpers. Visitors can browse unique gift guides on stocking stuffers, limited edition products,party makeup ideas as well as value sets and palettes from top brands like Urban Decay®, philosophy®, Amika®, bliss®, Stila®, Arcona® and many more.

About Issa London:

Daniella Helayel was born and raised in Brazil; surrounded by spectacular nature, sunshine, weekends spent swimming at the beach and a laid-back, easygoing attitude to life. Although Daniella moved away to study at F.I.T. in New York before arriving in London in 1999 the influence of Brazilian roots is clear to see in her designs. The unexpected colours, natural shapes and thrill of carnivals have been translated into memorable, striking prints in fantastically unique colour combinations.

Over the years Issa has been embraced by a growing number of celebrity fans; including Madonna, Princesses Beatrice and Eugenie, Laura Bailey, Scarlett Johansson, Kate Middleton, Sharon Stone, Kristen Davis, Kylie Minogue, Keira Knightley, Jennifer Lopez and of course Issa women all over the globe of different ages and sizes.

What I think: This is a great sampling of prestige products and the bag is adorable! It would make a great gift for the holidays, or keep it yourself and enjoy!

New Starry Eye Shadows From Urban Decay and LORAC

Looking for eye shadow with a little bit of shimmer, or a whole lot of sparkle? It’s a fun way to add some shine to your evening, or even every day look!

If it’s a smoldering shimmer you want, try LORAC’s Starry-Eyed Baked Eye Shadow Trio ($25.00 USD) is a great little palette that creates a lot of different sizzling eye looks. These are highly pigmented and long-lasting and they allow you to create a sexy, smoky eye with little effort. This trio is available in 6 different color combinations including 3 new ones. I have tried Star Studded, which includes a light gold highlighter, a medium copper shade and a cool dark olive. Very chic! Visit www.loraccosmetics.com to learn more!

Want a more glamorous, sparkly look? Urban Decay has taken glitter eye shadow to the extreme with their Stardust Eye Shadows ($20.00 USD) The cool thing about these is although they are full of glitter, they have a silky texture and they deliver a pretty twinkling sparkle instead of looking like a craft project gone wrong! They have 40% more glitter than Urban Decay’s most sparkly shadows, but just a dusting over your lids gives a sophisticated look. Wet the shadow and you get all-out glam! Each container has almost twice the amount of other Urban Decay shadows so this will last you a long time. Available in 9 shades including Retrograde, a deep purple and Moon Spoon a dark gray. Visit www.urbandecay.com to learn more.

Fab Holiday Sets from Urban Decay

Urban Decay always releases really cool holiday makeup sets, and this year is no exception! I’ve sampled a few of the sets and I think that all of the products aren’t only fun, but they are quality cosmetics that really last. Some of my favorite sets are:

24/7 Sets — do you like Urban Decays long-lasting eye liner? You will love the new 24/7 Sets ($29.00). These each include an exclusive shade of 24/7 Glide-On Eye Pencil, 3 best-sellers, and a Heavy Metal Glitter Eyeliner. The sets are:

Hi-Fi : new shade, Mildew, a deep green inspired by one of their best-selling eye shadows and exclusive to this set. Also included are Zero (black), Flipside (teal) and 1999 (plum), and Heavy Metal Glitter Eyeliner in Distortion, an iridescent sparkle.

Stereophonic: new shade, Crash, a rich eggplant inspired by another eye shadows and exclusive to this set. Also included are Zero (black), Underground (metallic taupe) and Gunmetal (like it sounds!), and Heavy Metal Glitter Eyeliner in Midnight Cowboy, a beige sparkler.

I love how creamy and blendable these liners are. Long gone are the old days of heating your liner with a lighter to get it soft! And once it sets, it stays on. The set is cool because not only do you get Zero, a great black, you get to try other shades as well. Plus the glitter liner is great for a night on the town!

Smoke Out Kit ($34.00 USD) — I realize how daunting creating a smoky eye can be. It is not an ever day look that we are used to doing. This fab kit not only gives you all of the tools that you need, but step-by-step instructions and a face chart, too!

Included in the kit are 4 shadows, a shadow brush, travel size versions of 24/7 Eye Pencil in Zero (black), and new Skyscraper Mascara. Adorned with exotic wisps of smoke, the kits feature a swiveling mirror and swinging layers, kept shut with magnets.

Remember that smoky eyes don’t have to be black! The kit comes in 3 palettes; black/grey, plus brown and deep green kits. And I LOVE the Skyscraper Mascara. True to its name, you get very long lashes with this mascara. But, they are also very thick, as well. I had a lot of fun playing with the looks with the instructions. You can vary the intensity of the smoky eye, which is great!

Show Pony Shadow Box ($30.00 USD) Is a fun shadow kit that includes a primer and liner for great eye looks! Urban Decay chose Kime Buzzelli, darling of the LA art scene, to illustrate this amazing Shadow Box inside and out. Kime’s paintings feature wickedly fashionable women… often with brightly colored makeup running down their cheeks. Inspired by these characters, Urban Decay has filled this palette with 6 shadows… all totally wearable, and 2 exclusive to this set: Snatch (peachy-pink with glitter) and Painkiller (turquoise shimmer).

This is the first time I have tried the Primer Potion. It is such a great idea, since shadow never seems to stay on all day. The primer potion goes on creamy, not greasy and seems to help shadow stay put.

Visit www.urbandecay.com to learn about these kits and more.

Cool Trend for Fall — Black Lipstick!

Black lips — am I crazy? Well, this is not an everyday look, but for going out this Fall (and of course for all the cool Halloween parties you’re going to), black lipstick can be fun and some are even surprisingly sheer and wearable!

Two of my favorites are:

Black Tie Optional Lipstick ($18.00) and Shine Gloss ($22.00). The sheer black lipstick shade is meant to be worn underneath your favorite lip color to deepen the tone and enrich the color while the Shine Gloss can we worn over colors to add gloss as well as a deeper shade. Both can be worn on their own to give lips a smoky look. It’s a little vampire, a little goth but totally chic for the right occasions! Like all of Poppy’s (the Lipstick Queen) products, they are moisturizing and feel great on. Visit www.lipstickqueen.com to purchase.

Urban Decay Lipstick ($22.00) — Oil Slick is a sheer black with a touch of glitter. Like the Lipstick Queen’s lipstick you can wear it under or over other colors. To create an entirely vamp look, try it over Urban Decays deep red Gash lipstick. Very cool. This one also looks great on its own, and the sparkle makes it perfect for a night out. Like all of the fabulous Urban Decay lipsticks, Oil Slick “nourishes and protects lips with Vitamins A, C, and E. Hyaluronic Spheres are added to stimulate cellular function, prevent dehydration, and fill-in lines and wrinkles—now, how many Lipsticks can do that?! The teardrop-shape bullet (etched with an Urban Decay logo) is infused with a decadent crème caramel scent and flavor.” Visit www.urbandecay.com to purchase.

Ready For Your New Year’s Kiss? — Try a New Red Lipstick

The perfect red lipstick is extremely difficult to find. The reason being is there are so many shades of the color. Warm reds, cherry reds, blue reds, fire engine reds. The mind boggles.

I’ve decided to begin my search for the perfect red lipstick, which is a wonderful item to have for a New Year Eve Party. I started my search at Sephora and have found a few good ones. Brands like Urban Decay, Stila, Dior, Nars, and Cargo all have various shades of red to choose from.

Surprisingly to me, the one that looked the best was by Urban Decay ($22.00 USD). The shade is Revolution, a warm classic red. My coloring is light olive skin with dark brown hair and dark brown eyes. I alway thought that cooler colors looked better on me ( I like purples and maroon’s), but Revolution looked very pretty on.

PlantLove Botanical Lipstick - Cherry Bliss - The shade in the center

I also realized what doesn’t look nice on me. That is a cherry red. I tried on Cargo’s PlantLove Botanical Lipstick ($20.00) in Cherry Bliss. This is a very pretty color, but is too bright for my face. I also tried on other cherry and blue red’s but they made me look like a little girl trying on my mother’s lipstick!

I recommend both Urban Decay and Cargo’s lipsticks if you are looking for quality. They both feel great and are good for you. The Urban Decay Lipstick has vitamins A, C, and E and is infused with a crème-caramel scent and flavor. Hyaluronic spheres (found naturally in the body) are added to stimulate cellular function, prevent dehydration, and fill in lines and wrinkles.
PlantLoves’s packaging is biodegradable and the lipstick is Paraben and Sulfate free. What’s even better is that CARGO is donating two dollars from the sale of every shade to St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital.

If you are looking for a red lipstick you are a bold lady! I recommend that you take your time and search for the perfect shade for you. I am not done looking yet. Maybe I will continue my search around Valentine’s Day…

Want a Fun New Look? Try Purple Mascara!

This summer I tried purple mascara for the first time. I had a buy-one-get-one-free coupon for Almay Cosmetics at Walgreens. I decided to try some new eye products, so I chose a new mascara and eye palette. I have brown eyes, and Almay’s Intense Eye Color line claimed that purples are the color for me.

The mascara I tried is called Almay Intense I-Color Play Up Thickening Mascara in Purple Amethyst ($7.49 USD). The brush has hard plastic bristles that separate and the formula is very thickening. The color is hard to discern on my black lashes, and the effect it gives is a soft black color. I really like this mascara, but it is more of a day look than an evening look. The best feature? It does not smudge at all!

This weekend I decided to see if Sephora and Ulta had any other purple mascaras that were a little more noticeable for going out. The first one I tried was Urban Decay’s Big Fatty Colored Mascara in Purple Haze ($17.00 USD). This is a brighter purple than the Almay shade. This was more noticeable on my lashes, but my lashes themselves did not appear much thicker or longer. I would not buy this mascara.

The second new mascara I tried was Benefit’s BADgal Plum ($19.00 USD). The color on this is a lot different than the other two, since it is a true plum and not a purple. I really like the formula. It made my lashes look huge. The color is fun, too, but it might be better on someone with fairer lashes.

I LOVE mascara, so it is always fun to try new colors and formulations. Go out and test drive some new lashes today!

Lipstick Love for Fall

Glamorous. That’s how I feel when I wear a noticeable color of lipstick. Lip gloss can be natural and often sexy, but not glamorous like lipstick.

To me, fall is a naturally glamorous time. It is cooler, causing us to wear more clothes. I trade in my flip flops for boots and shoes with heels. And I wear more makeup.

I have been wearing lip gloss all summer long, and now I want a new lipstick to complete my fall looks. But which one? A nice drugstore brand like Revlon, A creamy MAC, or splurge on a Nars or Urban Decay? What do you think?

I mean really, what do you think? Below is a poll on your favorite brand of lipstick. If you don’t like any of the choices feel free to write one in and you can champion your favorite brand or shade in the comments section of this blog. I might just try your favorite!