BSB: Beauty news, makeup swatches and pictures, nail polish articles, makeup tutorials, product reviews, and how-to's from a MAC-trained makeup artist.

Ellis Faas, makeup artist, makeup brand

Ellis Faas - the artist

Let's just name drop, shall we? Trained at Christian Chauveau’s Technical School of Artistic Make-up in Paris, Ellis later worked for Clinique, Lancôme, MAC, and L'Oreal (creating the line Biotherm). Movies, magazines, ads... she's touched a ton of famous faces. Those of you my age will recognize these: Phil Collins, Katrina & The Waves, Samantha Fox and Five Star. Fashion beckoned after she starting working with Mario Testino. Eventually Karl Lagerfield pulled her into his orbit and she worked with him on Fendi and Chanel. And now...

It's time to create a makeup line.

Ellis Faas - the makeup

A simple concept guides the line: colors found in the human body are the colors that are used in the Ellis Faas products. Hence the name: Human Colours.

OMG. If you're a color freak like me, you want to dive in those jars!!!

Here are the high notes of this unique line:

• All of the colors are based on the "human palette" and the "universal spectrum"
• Colors can be used to create a very natural or very dramatic look - or anything in between
• Every product is fluid and is house in a bullet-pen hybrid
• Why fluid? Liquids will sink into the skin, rather than sit on top of it, according to Ellis
• The future will bring shimmers and holographics and metal shimmers

The products

• Foundation and concealers
• Blush
• Powders (in compacts, not pens)
• Eye: Creamy: velvety, and quick-drying for contouring & shaping
• Eye: Milky: vivid shades but more translucent than the Creamy colors
• Mascara
• Liner
• Lips: 3 formulas: Creamy, Milky & Glaze

 

Image credits:
All images courtesy and property of Ellis Faas

BPAL The Ferris Wheel (Carnaval Diabolique Extension)

What!?

Carnaval Diabolique!?

The Ferris Wheel!?

You got it! From the box of prototypes I got, it's clear we're on the crux of a Carnaval expansion!

You know I'm terrible at pulling out notes, but here goes...

The Ferris Wheel

There's some sort of citrus that pushes to the front of the crowded ferris wheel line. I'm guessing lemon? Maybe that's just because I'm in that carnival state of mind, and I'm imagining kids and adults with fingers gripping lemons skewered by peppermint sticks. I smell the littlest bit of something mechanical - kind of the over all impression of a mechanic's waiting room that's been cleaned with a lemon-smelling cleanser.

The metallic note isn't clanging. It's simply there, supporting the scent. There's also a slight hint of something aquatic. Only a touch. Possibly the Carnaval has opened near a body of water this time? 

I really like this scent, and I don't usually like mechanical, metal scents or citrus. Go figure!

I've got more sneak peeks coming, for what my limited scent descriptions are worth!

Illamasqua keeps good company. Adds Joe Corre to team!

I don't know how many of my readers are interested in industry news, so while I try to keep up, I don't really write it up here. But this news for Illamasqua is just too good to keep under wraps!

Just announced today, Joe Corre will be joining the team as formal shareholder. Vivienne Westwood's son, owner of A Child of The Jago, and co-founder of Agent Provocateur (you may have heard of them?), and now part of Illamasqua.

Quite a victory for the newbie brand Illamasqua, and if I may say so, for Joe Corre.

Congrats to all.

Obsessed with Alice in Wonderland? BPAL has a scent for that!

 

The frenzy around Alice in Wonderland grows and grows. The movie isn't even due out 'til March, but we're all going nuts for everything (ANYthing!?) Alice!

Didja know Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab (BPAL) was ahead of the curve with their Mad Tea Party scents? They're part of the standing collection (not an LE flash-in-the-pan),  but I'm sure they're currently selling like.... mad!

The Dodgson Collection.
Scents inspired by the madness of Alice's sojourns to Wonderland.

PERFUME OIL BLENDS
$15.00 per 5ml bottle.
Presented in an amber apothecary glass vial.

Alice

Curiouser and curiouser. Milk and honey with rose, carnation, and bergamot.

 

I got this scent over a year and a half ago, and... well, I have to be honest: I did not like it. Why? If you're a long-time reader here, you know I amp rose scents. It's really a bummer, too, because I adore BPAL's carnation note, and who hates milk and honey!? It sounds like a lovely blend, and lots of BPAL fans love it. What a shame I couldn't take advantage because of that darn rose, which overwhelmed everything, everywhere.

Alice: There is no use trying; one can't believe impossible things.

Queen: I dare say you haven't had much practice. When I was your age, I always did it for half an hour a day. Why, sometimes I've believed as many as six impossible things before breakfast.

Well, I guess I ought to have talked to the Queen before I judged.  The impossible has happened, and I now ADORE this scent!

A year and a half of aging resulted in a much more mellow rose.  It still comes on quickly, and as the first note I sniffed I was worried (again). All for naught. The aged Alice comes with the wisdom of balance. Soft rose layered with the slightest snap of carnation drifts in a bowl of honeyed milk. All mellow, all soft. The drydown is powdery rose.

I may need another bottle to tuck away for the future!

The Red Queen

Deep mahogany and rich, velvety woods lacquered with sweet, black-red cherries and currant.

Yes, yes. This scent description is a big "No! No!" for me. I do like "deep" and "rich" but haven't found a woods scent that works for me. And then there's the fruit. Oy, the fruit! Usually those take over and knock any other notes to the side with their pushiness.

But oh, The Red Queen... she's not the bitch you expect!

She's rich, she's sexy, and she's complex.

And then she's gone.

This perfume unfortunately fades into my skin quickly, and rather than snuggling there for awhile, simply disappears.

While she's there, she's awesome, but then she leaves a hole in my heart.

Get it? Heart.... Red Queen...

Whatever. Try to keep up.

This is a lab-fresh sample, received as a frimp with one of my Christmas presents. I'm hoping the mature Red Queen follows in the steps of Alice and gets better with age and gets over her commitment issues. 

Otherwise, she's pretty much a bust for me.

Have you tried any of the
Mad Tea Party scents?

Share with the class!

Image credits:
Queen of hearts card
Alice's legs
Scene from Wonderland

Disclosure:
I received Alice as a sample from BPAL for consideration.
The Red Queen was a frimp with a gift.
Neither of these things impacted my review.
Please see my official disclosure policy for more information.

Have you tried it? Benefit Stay Don't stray

Benefit Stay Don't Stray

A 360 degree primer for concealers and eyeshadows.

They say...

Preps: The lightweight formula blends seamlessly into skin, brightens eye area to minimize the appearance of fine lines, and comes in a universally flattering nude shade.

Protects: Hydrates with sodium hyaluronate to lock in moisture, fights signs of aging with Vitamins C & E, and is paraben-free.

Perfects: It's long-wearing to keep makeup looking fresh, locks on ALL concealers & eyeshadows and prevents creasing of eye makeup.

We say...

A primer specifically for under the eye, to keep our concealer fresh and smooth? Plus, it works well on the lid? Sign us up!

Have you tried it? Share with the class!

The Ninja may just swoon...

The Ninja is on a search for The Best Yellow Creme In The Whole World. It needs to be soft yellow. Not bright. Not too green. Not too orange. Not streaky. Not sheer (no VNL* for ninjas!). The search is on!

*visible nail line

Apparently she is not the only one obsessed...

 

Lacquer Laine

Looks like RBL is the closest to what The Ninja has in mind. Which one is it? Click the link above and find out.

You're waiting with bated breath to hear all about The Ninja's search. She will keep you posted.

Your mani is boring - Vol. 3

But hers isn't...

source

Branwen's Feather from Butter London: the real scoop

The Ninja recently realized she hasn't reviewed any of her 3 Butter London polishes. It's time to remedy that, starting with this lovely dark purplish shade.

Butter London

Branwen's Feather

A purple-ish black with loads of depth and shine.
Like a silky raven’s feather at midnight by the Tower.

 

If you get it in the right light, this purple is flashy and stunning.

In all other lights, you see the Clark Kent to that brighter purple's Superman.

You can see a bit of silver pearl
But the overall color impression is duskier than expected

And is best seen in the blurry picture above,
or the one below which also shows...

...the ginormous smudge that happened about
4 hours after topping with Seche Vite!

And the tip wear is about 12 hours later,
after having slept and watched TV only*

*The Ninja had an "off" weekend. Normally weekends are full of crazy ninja adventures, of course.

Thoughts

• Application: Somehow runny and gooey at the same time. This is three coats. The first coat was really sheer and strange looking. The second coat was streaky and brighter. The third coat was... well, this.
• Top/Base Coat: The Ninja used Illamasqua's Base Coat and Seche Vite as top coat. Her working theory is that Butter London and Seche Vite aren't compatible, as she has only very rarely encountered a polish that smudges 30 minutes after the SV top coat, much less several hours later. With the next Butter London mani, she will try a 3-free top coat.
• Wear: Who can tell? The hell if The Ninja is walking around like this handing out her business card. lol
• Color: This color is not at all what The Ninja expected. She was kind of imagining a bit of an oil spill type shade, which is not what this is. Of course, there's no reason for her to have expected the oil spill thing. She read the color description, which said "A purple-ish black with loads of depth and shine". She must have been drunk.
  
  This is a gloriously dusky dark purple. Lovely. There's a tiny touch of shimmer in it, but it's not overt. The Ninja has seen pictures of this polish elsewhere and they show a brighter, more radiant color (like the bottle shot at top). Unless the formula changed at some point, these are not great indications of how this polish looks in all but the most direct of lights or bright sunlight. The Ninja is very careful to show things the way they look most of the time, not just those rare and breathtaking occasional glimpses.

Another note:
Apparently Butter London has changed their caps.
Thankfully, this will no longer happen:

Image of Raven's feather: source
All other Images are property of this blog.
Stealing will give you pimples.

Disclosure: This product was purchased by the author.

Dita shares a peek into her aresenal

source

SAG - the noteworthy

SAG Awards 2010

I ain't tossin' my hat into the "rehash every step crowd", but I will show you what was noteworthy, in my opinion...

Anna Paquin

You've got to click on this pic to really see the dress.
It's a love it or hate it creation.
I side with the former.

source

Diane Kruger

I love this color on Diane. Love it!
What do you think?

source

Drew Barrymore

Makeup is oddly colored and overtly powdery.
Mama dislikes. A lot.

And then there's the hair. WTF?

Christina Hendricks

Um... ever heard of powder?
The exact opposite of Drew's problem...

source

Surf's Up!

• Looking at Dior's Dentelle collection makes me drool!

• How clever is the Cool-It Caddy!? Cute little cosmetics bags you pop in the freezer then use to store your makeup in the hot weather. LOVE!

• 11 Questions That Could Help You to Vastly Improve the Quality of Your Life in 2009 - but really, why can't you try them for 2010!? 

• Fashion fiend? You can't claim the title unless you know (and follow!) Style Rookie, who some say is a fashion prodigy.

• Thanks to BellaSugar I was completely and utterly entertained by the most unlikely of things: Portraits of Beards.

• Annie Leibovitz shot these clever Hansel-and-Gretel-esque pictures (featuring Lady Gaga as wicked witch).

• I so want to be KarlaSugar's arm. Here it's covered in the most yummy looking Guerlain lipsticks.
• Check out this nifty color-changing umbrella!

• Completely and utterly enamored with Etsy shop WhichGoose, who's natural headwear is stunning! (I think this was via GalaDarling/iCiNG)

• Must-see Living Dolls. Cute. Sweet. Creepy.

• Have you seen this? Enough to make you think before grabbing a makeup tester
  
• Lady Gaga kitty...
  
  
  
  
  

Coming up from Bobbi Brown: New Year, New You & Cabana Corals

New Year, New You
Brighten your face and play up your eyes

New Extra Repair Eye Cream
Peptides, plant oils and humectants in a rich cream are an extra boost for wrinkled, dehydrated, and darkly-circled under eyes.

Tinted Eye Brightener PEN
Twist. Click. Brighten. On the go!

Brow Pencils
Lift eyes with this creamy, blendable pencil that comes with a sharpener. 5 shades.

Brightening Lip Gloss
Two new shades: Popsicle and Nectar

"This spring, there is a beautiful selection of coral-colored
Shades for lips and cheeks. Coral Cabana offers coral tones in all
Variations - from pink on nude to intense bright -
so that every woman can find the shade that is right for them. " Bobbi Brown

Cabana Corals

Metallic Lip Color
Three new shades: Coral Reef, Coral Glaze (LE), Calypso Glaze

Lip Color
Two new shades: Cape Coral (LE) and Guava

Shimmer Lip Gloss
Three new shades: Sunset Beach (LE), Coral Sand, and Golden Nectar

Pot Rouge
One new shade: Cape Coral

Shimmer Brick
Two new shades: Pink Quartz and Nectar

 

Stolen straight from Miss K's blog with no apologies.

source

There are no words.

Oh wait! Yes, there are:

It is completely clear now that
Amber Rose
&
Kanye
are their own special brand of
CRAZY.

source

UH OH.... more words are coming...

Great idea for repurposing all
of those old cat toys!

Saturday Surfin' with The Ninja

• Dinky's mom does some hot, non-traditional black-matte-silver-Konad Valentine's Day nails over at Getcha Nails Did.
  
  
  
  
  
• If you want some Color Club news, All Lacquered Up has it. Spring will bring Rebel Debutante:
  

  
  
  
  
• Speaking of surfing, Rescue Beauty Lounge is all about catching the waves with their Spring Collection. Lacquer Laine swatched Surfer Girl for us, and here's a peek:
  
  

  
  

  You can also check out All Lacquered Up's swatches of the same collection here.
  The Ninja wants.
  

  
  
• Refinery 29 shares their picks for the 10 Tip-Top Nail Polish Colors for 2010. Do you agree? Which do you have, and which are you lemming? The Ninja is all about cornflower blue and periwinkle.
  

  
  
  
• The Ninja became a fan of Strange/Beautiful on Facebook. It's fun to look at the pretties, even if they're more costly than a ninja can afford.
  

  
  

  
  
• Quite liking the blog Stupid Nail Polish Names. So much fodder! Submit your finds to:
  stupidnailpolishnames[@]gmail[dot]com
  

  
  
  
• In that Valentine's mood? All Nail and Cosmetics has a easy-peasy video tutorial on how to paint hearts on your nails.
  

  
  
  
• Did you check out Vampy Varnish's swatches of the OPI Hong Kong collection? It comes in Part 1 and Part II.
  

  
  
  
• The Ninja is wondering if Lacquer Laine takes orders for her franken, Relapse?
  
  

  
  
  
  
• Polish or Perish shares a preview of Nubar's upcoming glitter collection.
  
  

  
  
  
  
• Another great franken from the mistress of frankening, Dr Frankenpolish. This one is called Volcano Lake:
  

  
  
  
  
• Have you seen Sephora by OPI's spring colors? Thanks to Lushious Beauty, you can.
  

  
  

  
  
  
  
• The Ninja is glad she's not the only one who battles manky cuticles. Take a look at Polish or Perish's Confessions of a Cuticle Abuser.
  
  

  
  
  
• A Stroke of Color is exactly what you're going to get out of OPI's summer collection, Poolside!
  

  
  

  
  
  

  
  
• Did you check out the Canada-exclusive set of Project Runway Sally Hansen polishes Polish or Perish snagged?
  
  

  
  
  
• The Ninja never did show you the coolest truck in the world. Wouldn't you love to see this pull up at your door!?
  

  
  
  

  
  
• Scrangie causes The Ninja to purge her wallet again by showing everyone the Spring Barielle collection, Wildflowers.
  

  
  
  
• All Lacquered Up shares a tutorial for lace nails. The Ninja isn't this adventurous. Are you!?
  
  

  
  
  

  
  

  
  

  
  
  
  

  All photos are property of the mentioned blogs.
  Stealing is ugly & results in hangnails, so don't do it.

  
  

BB Couture - Opposites Attract

The Ninja loves grey polishes. Or is it "gray" polishes? Why are there two ways to spell that word, and when is it appropriate to use the "e" version vs. the "a" version?

Ah, whatever...

During The Ninja's 1st ever BB Couture buying spree*, a grey/gray polish ended up in ye olde shopping cart.

*via Overall Beauty, who she found quite lovely to deal with!

Opposites Attract

 

Review

Color- midtone grey/gray (wtf?) with a touch of white or silver glitter. The bottle clearly shows black glitter, which The Ninja was most looking forward to, but it wasn't apparent on the nail. Ninja's grey/gray thumb down! :(

Application- It went on well. A bit on the thin side, but not so runny that it was annoying.

Overall, a nice addition to the collection, though the lack of black glitter was disappointing.

Have you tried this color? Any other BB Couture shades you recommend?

Three Custom Color Specialists + Sculpz = head-to-toe beauty

OK. Technically you'll have to take care of your toes yourself, but Three Custom Color Specialists will handle the rest with their Sculpz promotion.

There it is in black and white: spend $60+ online at Three Custom and get a free Sculpz Shaper Shorts to try, for free!

Beautiful makeup and a smooth shape can't be beat! 

My personal suggestion is to stock up on their amazing Concealer/Foundation (I reviewed it here) and get one of those discontinued favorites from your makeup bag specially made for you! At least... that's what I plan to do! :)

BPAL review: Blackberry Jam & Scones (from the Who Killed Amanda Palmer collection)

It's time to review something from "the BPAL vault". And by vault, I mean a scent that came out this past summer ('09) but is still blissfully available. (YAY)

Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab

presents...

Who Killed Amanda Palmer: Blackberry Jam & Scones

First of all...

Amanda Palmer = awesome.
Blackberry jam = awesome.
Scones = awesome.
BPAL = awesome. 

So when Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab decided to collaborate with musician Amanda Palmer on a scent that smells like blackberry jam and scones, how could it fail!? 

It couldn't.

How does it smell?

Like scones with blackberry jam. As Ara would say, "Duh!"

Smells like blackberry in its stickiest form, all slopped up into jam. The scones are secondary to me, and I feel like I even get a hint of butter...

This is one of those BPALs that doubles back a few times. The blackberry scent surges a bit from time to time, then takes a backseat to the scone-y goodness, then steps back to center stage again.

It's also fairly strong. You can smell it from a few feet away, so go lightly unless you want to ruin diets. Also, this scent lasts a long time on the skin.

I feel like this oil may age really well. I'm tempted to stash it away and not play with it again for a year! But I like it to much to do that.

So many decisions...

This scent is only available from Post War Trade,
so don't go looking elsewhere.

A portion of the proceeds from this scent and all of the other
Who Killed Amanda Palmer BPALs
purchased from Post War Trade
benefit RAINN.org: Rape, Abuse and Incest National Network.

PS:

PS:
Congrats to Amanda and Neil
on their engagement!

source for header pic: amanda palmer
source for pic of WKAP bottles: PWT
source for official engagement pic: Neil Gaiman

Am I nuts?

I love this look.

(I mean... aside from the poodle hair)

source

The Ninja's version of "Mannequin Hands"

The Ninja loves mannequins. She wants to get a few for her new office, whenever Mr. Ninja gets it ready. 

You've probably heard of the trend of "mannequin hands". If not, you can consider this your grand education.

Trendy

Mannequin hands are supposed to be a hot trend in the coming months. The Ninja is not a fan. Essentially the trend consists of finding a shade of polish exactly the shade of one's skin and then wearing it. It gives the impression of longer fingers.

Longer, dead fingers. Uck.

Ahem. At any rate...

Follow the Trend

All Lacquered Up has a new feature called "Mannequin Hands" in which folks are submitting their mannequin hands. Take a look and see if you have a "hand twin" over there!

Ninja Mannequin

This is as close as The Ninja will be getting to this trend. Since it's a frosty, nearly metallic pale peach, it probably isn't "technically" a contestant for Mannequin Hands" (seeing as how The Ninja is neither frosty nor metallic nor peach). But again... this is as close as she's going to get to this otherwise terrifying trend. ;) 

For reference, The Ninja is a sexy NW15 in skintone.

 

Revlon Poised in Peach

This is The Ninja's all time favorite nude. Well, actually, she bought it to replace an older Revlon peach-nude shimmer that must have been discontinued. This is very close to the original, which was a teeny tiny bit more beige-y, if memory serves. Sadly, this was a limited edition shade, and so The Ninja only wears it on the rare occasion.

Color: Palest peach frost with silver pearl.
Application: Smooth and thin, with a slight tendency towards being runny. It's a high-frost shade with tiny silver pearl. The first coat shows a frightening amount of streaky brushstrokes, but the second coat evens it out beautifully!
Wear: Pretty good. The Ninja forgot how much she liked the Revlon formula.

Do you "do" Mannequin Hands? What's your favorite nude polish?