Hi lovelies,
As mentioned earlier this week, today marks my last SugarShock post. I'm moving on to greener pastures at
Elle Canada and have to say goodbye to all of you. Parting is such sweet sorrow and I thank all of you who have dutifully read and enjoyed this site. For you Canadian gals, you can keep getting my take on beauty in the pages of
Elle Canada.
So, what'll you do without SugarShock to help lead you through the beauty amazon? Well, I leave you with some beautiful tour guides, namely, my favorite beauty bloggers. These are the ladies I turn to for my own beauty fix. Enjoy!
xo Kristen
Beauty Addict If she's not the first-ever beauty blogger, Kristen Kelly is certainly one of the best. Her dry wit and critical eye has saved me from at least a few beauty blunders and she never fails to entertain, whether it's her (mis)adventures with self-tanner or her fashion magazine-cover breakdowns.
Bella Sugar For breaking beauty news, how-tos and trends, Bella Sugar is the place to be. By turns informative and funny, and a little bit skeptical, this site, updated 5 to 6+ times a day, is like the CNN of the beauty blogging world. But with a penchant for covering some of the more bizarre things we do in the name of beauty, I like to think of it as the cool girl's beauty blog.
Beauty Blogging Junkie Amber Katz is totally funny in person and she has a quick-witted blogging voice to match. I love her sometimes obscure pop cultural references and never-ending obsession with finding that perfect hair product to get shampoo-commercial girl hair.
Lipstick Powder n' Paint This site by fellow Canadian Ellen Mirza recently went through a makeover and I love the new retro,
Bewitched look and feel. But what I love most about it is the personal, intimate and funny voice of the site that always makes me feel like I'm in on a girl's slumber party, gabbing about our favorite beauty products.
Spoiled Pretty Always keeps me guessing. Whether she's covering the latest mascara or a hot tranny celebrity mess, Daneen Baird has a great mix of content and funny voice that never fails to keep me in stitches. Plus, this girl's the queen of giveaways. So if you're up for free stuff, head on over!
Seeing the beauty trends descend on us from the runways for the last few seasons, I've been feeling an overall sense of deja vu, a la Bill Murray in
Groundhog Day. There's just some trends that seem to be here to stay, at least for fall anyway – the bold lip, the smokey eye and the statement brow, to name a few. Another to add to the list is the bronzed eye, which never seems to go out of style and has really become a new classic. And I for one, couldn't be happier about it. But rather than an all-out copperized eyelid, I like to add just a smidge of bronze to the lashline with a shimmery-brown pencil and my pick of choice currently is
Lancome's Crayon Kajal in Amber Night from the fall 2008 Maharani Jewels collection. Amber is an apt description for this crayon, since it's a really lovely burnt copper shade that verges on a rust (don't let the photo fool you - it really doesn't do it justice). It looks really subtle and flattering applied just to the upper lids and so much more interesting than basic black.
It's no secret that foodie-themed beauty products are beloved around here at SugarShock. But sometimes those dessert-y flavors and concoctions can verge into tween territory and seem too sickeningly sweet, even for a sweet fiend like me. For the sophisticated gourmand, there's
Marshmallow Body Butter by one of my new fave indie brands from Australia, Mor. Don't let the name deceive you - we're not talking StayPuft-Marshmallow-Man corn-syrupy sweetness here, dears. No, Mor Marshmallow is like sophisticated candy – a sugar-dipped mix of rose petals, white carnation and jasmine, along with hints of vanilla bean and cotton candy for good measure. The pink retro-ish packaging is delightfully girly, in a '50s minx kind of way, and the butter itself is super moisturizing and absorbs shockingly well (read: no grease-slick coating to speak of).
I think
Strange Invisible Perfumes is quite possibly the best name ever for a fragrance house. It pretty much sums up for me the idea that fragrances are sometimes beyond description and that scent is hard to capture in words (unless you're Chandler Burr, of course). In short, it's just the kind of cool, niche fragrance line that's right up my alley, so I knew I just had to try this mysteriously cryptic line of organic, botanical fragrances. The first one I tried is the new Musc Botanique, a unisex scent which launches in stores in September. I've never been a huge fan of musk scents; I've often found them to be too heady and overpowering (and dare I say it, on the cheap side. Jovan Musk, anyone?). But Musc Botanique, completely derived from plants (it turns out there are botanical extracts in nature that mimic the scent of deer musk), has a freshness about it that balances out the heavy, animalic note and makes it ultra-wearable (even at work!). The result is the sensuous and comforting effects of musk combined with a bright, greeny, yet earthy floral (courtesy of geranium, white amber, angelica and frankincense) that seems ultra-modern. It's really light (almost too light), which makes it perfect for anyone who thought they had a deep-seated grudge against the ubiquitous musk.
Seen here at the launch of Piaget's newest collection last week, Leighton Meester proves that minimalism is sometimes your best beauty weapon. With simple, almost barely-there neutral makeup, Leighton lets her natural beauty shine through. This look is all about Leighton's glowing skin: revved up with a hint of bronzer and a whisper of peachy-pink blush, it almost looks like she's wearing no makeup at all. But we know better. A touch of brown shadow on the eyes and a swipe of browny-pink lipcolor (no shine here to get that truly natural-lip match) round out this winning, no-makeup makeup look.
My dear loyal readers,
I have exciting news to share with you!
I've recently been offered a job as associate beauty editor at
Elle Canada. I don't have to tell you what a dream job this is. What does this mean for you? Well unfortunately, I'll have to put SugarShock to bed, because it just gets too darn confusing when you're going to a myriad of events and launches while representing two different media. I'm sad that I'll have to say goodbye to my baby which has been a labor of love but very excited about this new opportunity to say the least.
SugarShock will still be up and running until the end of this week, after which time it will go into hibernation mode. But you never know - I might just revive it one day....
So keep reading till the end of this week. And on Friday, I'll give you a round-up of my favorite blogs to satisfy your beauty fix.
ciao for now,
Kristen
:)
I had to chuckle when I saw the name of this new lipgloss, from Nars's fall collection. Not only does "Female Trouble" conjure a prim and proper, 50s-esque time when feminine issues were completely unspoken, but it's also the name of a particularly vulgar and disturbing John Waters
"comedy" of the same name, starring tranny trainwreck Divine (quotable moments: "Nice girls don't wear cha-cha heels" and "The world of the heterosexual is a sick and boring life."). But, I digress. More importantly,
Nars Female Trouble lipgloss is immensely easy to wear, both for nice girls and "cha-cha" girls alike. It's a beigey mauve that I thought would wash me out, but is actually incredibly flattering, and dare I say it – the new "pinky-peach" in terms of being workable with many skin tones. While everyone's talking about the black-red lip for fall, I'm betting this new variation on the nude lip will really fly with us non-runway girls.
Keen beauty girl that I am, I've always been pretty diligent about wearing a face moisturizer with an SPF of at least 15. But lately, I've been hearing that 15 just doesn't really cut it anymore to block out those blazing, global-warming-given rays and that 30 is the way to go. And while I've tried a bunch of lotions in my quest to find my perfect 30, I've found that some of them can make my face a goopy oilslick. Not so with
Jan Marini's Antioxidant Daily Face Protectant. It's a light, hydrating lotion that actually gives a matte finish, courtesy of something called microscopic sponges that, like
The Terminator – (did you know that Christian Bale will be starring in the next one?) – are relentless in their ability to absorb those nasty oil blobs at the source, as they continue to monitor your pores throughout the day to trap and nix undesirable shine. As an added plus, this moisturizer is packed with machine-gun-toting antioxidants to banish and prevent further UV damage. Now that's some potent protection, no?
Ever since I started watching Carmindy on
What Not to Wear wielding her magic wand – a pink pencil that, swiped in the inner corners, instantly brightens eyes – I've become obsessed with these little miracle-workers. Most come in a soft-pink matte finish, but I just discovered this one from
Anastasia, which has a hint of shimmer, and it's become my morning-rush savior. You can swipe it on eyelids instead of eyeshadow in mere seconds, and it goes on smoothly and completely crease-free. It comes in two universally-flattering shades – a petal pink and a golden-beige – and you can use it on eyes, cheeks and even lips to get that glowy, wide-awake sparkle.
A Touch of Blusher talks about
Paul & Joe's lilac eyeshadow.
Come see why Teri of
Beautiful Makeup Search is already a fan of
The Model Brow when she hasn't even tried it yet.
Makeup Moxie reviews the new
Revlon Beyond Natural Skin Matching Makeup.
Looking like a fruity, Jell-O parfait, I was really tempted to eat this deliciously swirly, strawberry concoction, called the
Strawberry Smash, by Farmhouse Fresh Goods. And while it comes packaged, strawberry-preserves-style, in an old-fashioned Mason Jar, it's not really edible, but is, in fact, like a cool drink of water for your skin. It contains so-called "live strawberry cells" suspended inside a skin-nourishing body gel, all swirled around with a sweet cream body whip, that, when applied, leaves your skin all dewy and faintly strawberry-kissed. It's light and refreshing enough to be the perfect summer body moisturizer, especially when paired with a similarly-sounding strawberry dessert (all covered in Cool Whip) to indulge in. After all, "Mushed-up stuff is better for you."
Gossip Girl's Blake Lively channelled her inner goddess at the premiere of the
Sisterhood of the Travelling Pants 2 in New York this week. Looking absolutely glowy, with a subtle tan and flushed cheeks, Blake looked like she just got back from summering in the Mediterranean, which was so fitting for the Greek-themed movie. With rosy cheeks (I'm pretty sure copious amounts of Nars Orgasm were used to get that gorgeous flush), and lips to match, along with champagne-shimmery eyes and lots of lashes, Blake almost stole the show from her
Sisterhood costars (although, Alexis Bledel's fuchsia lips were also pretty stellar). As always though, Blake's shampoo-commercial hair takes centre-stage: Love the added touch of the little braids woven in here and there, which gives an extra bit of nature-girl boho-chic.
It's August 1st, and you know what that means: we've reached summer's official halfway mark(!). I'm thinking now's the time to pull out all the stops with my makeup, and what better way than with a take-no-prisoners, '80s day-glo pop of color on the lips. My choice:
Three Custom Color's Light Brights in the cherry-pop color of Palladium. With its retro-ish name, I can't help but reminisce about my beloved childhood Lite Brite – the magical shining plastic light set that created glowing pictures; and Three Custom Color's Light Brights shine just as brightly, let me tell you. Palladium gives that just-slurped-a-cherry-popsicle pink stain on your lips – it's almost fluorescent, but it's sheer, so there's no harm in blinding those around you. And I love that it's sort of a lipstick/lip stain hybrid that's super-moisturizing and a no-brainer to apply, even without a mirror.
This was my first brush with Three Custom Color's products and I'm dying to try more.
There's been a lot of talk lately about banning stick-thin models from the international runways, but don't expect it to happen in magazines any time soon. As it turns out, a new study confirms that those thin models pictured in ad campaigns do indeed make us feel bad about ourselves (shocker!), but we're more likely to buy a product a thin woman is shilling than from regular-sized ladies. What's more, women in the study were more likely to turn down a helping of Oreos after viewing stick-figure models. "These thin models make women feel bad, but they like it," said business professor Jeremy Kees, a business professor at Villanova University, in
Ad Age. So what are we to make of this? Well, it's no surprise that whatever we buy, we're buying into a lifestyle and not just a material object, but we've also been conditioned to accept "thin" as the ideal, and, until the Dove Campaign for Real Beauty came along, haven't been exposed to many other body types in the media.
What do you think? Are you influenced by body image in your purchasing decisions? Let me know in the comments.
I fondly remember visits to my grandmother's house as a child, and especially exploring her bathroom, with all its pretty, pastel-coloured, rose-scented guest soaps. Of course, they'd never be used (they were too pretty for that), and would just sit in their shell-shaped dish, collecting dust (my Nana didn't like dusting). There was just something so ladylike about those soaps, and it ingrained in me the desire to line my own powder room with gorgeously scented rose perfumes and lavender sachets. So because of my love of all things granny (and all things French), I was immediately drawn to
Mistral, which makes triple-milled soaps based on age-old French traditions. These vegetable-based soaps are infused with organic shea butter, so they're intensely moisturizing, and they're all wrapped up in pretty, retro-ish, straight-from-Provence packaging. But the real joy for me are the scents: there's traditional "granny" scents like rose petal, lilac and lavender, but they've also got more unexpected ones such as melon-pear and cantaloupe-cucumber. And even if you choose not to unwrap them, and keep them for display purposes only, they'll emit that lovely fragrance throughout your bathroom.
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