Skin by Alison Raffaele Soft Shadow (Taupe)

I've been an Alison Raffaele fan for years, ever since discovering her soft lip glosses when the line made a very brief appearance at Sephora. The Soft Eye shadows are just as good, and like all Alison Raffaele products, deserve a lot more love and recognition for the excellent quality and sophisticated aesthetics.

Taupe is the perfect eye shadow for a natural look. It shades the lid and the crease just enough to give depth and a silky smooth appearance, without drawing attention to the makeup. If you like the French 'Le No Makeup' look, this would be a perfect way to achieve it: Taupe eye shadow, a touch of black mascara and a reddish lipstick- you're ready to take Paris.

The Soft Shadow is very easy to blend and would work with just about any color you use as a liner. It stays put over a primer without creasing or fading, keeping one's look chic throughout the day and evening.

Bottom line: Deserves more hype.

Alison Raffaele Skin Soft Eye Shadows ($19.50) and the rest of her line are available on alisonraffaele.com and several online retailers. I got this one as a gift with purchase.

Photos by me.

This And That

Good Reads:

• The new face, according to the NY Magazine. I don't know if I should run to find a plastic surgeon or just hide under my bed.


• The nose doesn't forget, according to the NY Times. A scientific explanation to why smelling Colours by Benetton still makes me misty eyed.

Fragrance:

• I tested the new Estee Lauder Sensuous three times so far. It's not interesting enough to me for an actual review, but I see why it has a mass appeal. It's not a typical Lauder and it's better done than most of the things you'd find in Macy's. I just can't get excited about a sugar-glazed wood. Maybe I'll try again when the parfum version comes out.
  
• Lancome Magnifique- I smelled, I shrugged, I forgot. Anne Hathaway deserves better than this (seems to be the theme of her life lately).

Skin Care:

Speaking of Lancome, they have launched a new serum in the Secret de Vie range. The moisturizer is still my holy grail, so I might have to get it. I tried it at Saks today and it seemed nice. And despite what the SA told me, you can get it directly from Lancome. The Saks exclusivity was her excuse for the lack of samples. I'm getting seriously fed up with department stores and their employees. Thankfully, there's always online shopping.

Makeup:

• Among all the new collections for fall, some older and worthy makeup items are going to the great makeup counter in the sky. Alison Raffaele is discontinuing a whole bunch of makeup products and brushes. If, like me, you're a fan of her soft glosses, this is the time to stock up and hoard. Too bad there's no special discount. Besame Cosmetics, on the other hand, offer all their discontinued items (labeled Au Revoir) at amazingly low prices. With the adorable packaging and exceptional quality, this is one good bargain. The website doesn't make it easier to find them, though, so you'll need to search each category.
  
  
• At the total opposite end of the spectrum you'll find Giorgio Armani's fall makeup collection. The Python Palette is giving me a bad case of coveting. It's gorgeous, but is it $100 gorgeous?

Celebrities:
Katie Holmes is bringing ugly back. Who would have thought we'd ever see the tight rolls making a comeback? And, yes, it does make your butt look bigger.

Images: Go Fug Yourself, stOOpidgErL

Last week I attended the annual New York Makeup Show. It's a big event, mostly geared towards makeup professionals, but interesting to anyone who is even remotely in the business (or has a serious beauty product habit). Picture this: A huge space in Chelsea, full of more makeup counters than your favorite department store, makeup artists demonstrating their work, lovely models and more color than you have face (or body space) to test in one day.

The highlight for me was the Skin byAlison Raffaele display. This line is highly regarded by makeup pros, but not as famous as it should be. I've been a big fan of Alison's products for several years now. Once upon a time, Sephora used to carry this line in some of their stores (back in the days before they decided to dedicate a large part of their floor space to teenage-oriented brands. Insert rant here), and that was when I fell in love with the Soft Gloss. I have a tube of either Polished or Elegant in most of my purses, and can't get enough of both the vanilla scent and the colors (they're supposedly dark, but both are very natural on my lips. They are lighter than the tube leads you to think and would look great on those whose coloring is plum-friendly).

I was happy to try the Soft Shadows. These eye shadows are a wet/dry formula in beautiful colors. The tones are subtle, almost muted, which makes all of them very wearable and always appropriate. I loved Night Sky, Amethyst and Olive Shine. They present a very sophisticated take on blue, purple and green eye shadows.

Another product worth mentioning is the Inner Glow gel blush. I'm not a stick blush girl, but if I were, this would have been my choice. Unlike the over-hyped ones from Tarte, here we have colors that can be worn by women of different complexions. Graceful (sheer plum), Sultry (sheer bronze tan) and Sexy (sheer golden tan) are colors that make sense to me. No dead looking orchid or Malibu Barbie palette. The gel is water-based and free of mineral oil. If only I wasn't so anti-gel on my cheeks.

The last product of interest I got to try is not available yet. It's a powder-to-liquid vitamin C serum. It's pretty cool: You rub the powder onto your skin, where it liquidises and is immediately absorbed. I'm not sure how concentrate it is or what else is in there, but it was definitely fun to try.

Lip Service II: The Nude Files

Nudity is relative. As I said in my post from yesterday, I can't use any of those beige colors that make one's lips look pale. My skin is just too dark for it and I look like a freak. Or a dead freak, instead of fresh and sophisticated.

When I want the clean, non-painted look for my lips I reach for muted pink browns. My favorites in this category are those from Skin by Alison Raffaele. They are soft, creamy and moist, have enough pigment to show on my lips and the colors are very nice. As I've mentioned, I also blend them with other lip color to get interesting hues without compromising lip comfort.


The colors that work for me as nudes (again, remember that my lips and skin are darker than average) are:
Lipstick: Breath, Sing
Soft Gloss: Elegant, Polished (they look dark in the tube, but are sheer, soft and match my natural color).