Sunday, April 24, 2011

My Bobbi Brown Ultra fine eyeliner brush - a whodunit

Here's some photos for you of Bobbi Brown Ultra Fine Eyeliner brush, followed by a mini-mystery involving said brush.  Recently I purchased a new ultra-fine eyeliner brush for my mom at the Bobbi Brown friends and family sale to replace one she'd lost. This brush is renowned to be one of the best tools to use with gel eyeliners, including BB's own gel liner. It's soft, very small, and works quite well. My ultra-fine liner brush was actually my first makeup brush ever (incidentally gifted from mom), back when makeup was a mystery to me. I didn't really know how to take care of it, so it got pretty beaten up--- I thought you were supposed to jam the plastic protective cover back on, which lead to the permanently splayed end fibers you can see below. Despite the abuse, it's served me well, and I've used it for years now!

After getting the new brush, I thought I'd do a quick comparison review with my old brush. Overall the sizes are similar, although the new brush's head looks slightly more pointed.


While the head of the new and old brushes are largely similar, there is quite a difference when they're seen in full. My old brush is short! The short length of my old brush is partially due to the old brush style, before BB standardized handle lengths. However, if you look closely, it takes on a peculiar... chewed appearance at the end. So, whodunit?


Baby Bird, of course! She's not a big chewer, but apparently this brush had some mysterious tasty appeal. That little rascal.


I could have replaced my old brush, but I kind of like it with all the teeth marks. It's got character. Has your dog or cat gotten to anything lately?

Love, Dovey.

Monday, April 18, 2011

Bobbi Brown bronzer, illuminating bronzer, and shimmerbrick

The lengthening days and warmer weather have germinated the idea that I need a sun-kissed glow. It's become a minor obsession. My light skin tans quite easily, however, I prefer to avoid tanning too much (though it's inevitable in summer despite my best SPF attempts) because I think it muddies my complexion. So what do to? Enter, makeup. In the past, I never cast a glance towards bronzers, because I don't want to be bronze! However, I've realized that light bronzers or shimmer can be used strategically to give a warm sun-kissed look. Not muddy, and not bronze.

So, here's my little arsenal of faux-sunshine goodies, all by Bobbi Brown.


Going clockwise, there's a Bobbi Brown shimmer brick, bronzing powder, and illuminating bronzing powder. Shimmer bricks are highlighters with little if any color. Bronzing powder is matte and the most pigmented. Illuminating bronzing powders are in between with pigmentation and shimmer.


Here are swatches of all three. Bobbi Brown Bronzing Powder in Natural isn't the lightest shade available. I have it because it came in palette form with other items. I only use it for some light contouring, if anything. Bobbi Brown Illuminating Bronzing Powder in Aruba is a recent purchase from the friends and family sale. It's really a really light golden color, and I think would be hard to overdo on even fairer skin tones, which makes me really happy. I tried to layer it on in the swatch, but you can see it's still quite light. I can barely see anything when I dust it all over my face, which is my goal. Not bronze or orange at all! Bobbi Brown Shimmer brick in beige is another new acquisition. There are 5 strips of color that look baked. Shimmer bricks are one of my favorite products (I had one a while ago, but threw it out when a lot of my makeup went bad due to heat). This brick provides a light golden glow, that's really subtle. It's a great highlighter that I'll use on my cheekbones. For an extra kick of highlight on my cheeks or brows, I've found that using the top bar of color (white gold) is nice alone as well. Supposedly the brick can multitask as eyeshadow, however I haven't tried this yet; I'm not a fan of to much sheen on my eyes!


I haven't had these products for too long, but I think they fit the bill! I'll get a very subtle, slight golden glow from them, that doesn't appear to frosty, pigmented or overdone. I think if you're a BB fan, or a fan of really natural appearing products, these are great choices. The color range offered is so much better than the one-color-fits-all philosophy some other brands.


And of course, I love the packaging too. Sleek and black is  the way to go.


Overall I'm really pleased, and excited to put these to use. Of course, I'm a big Bobbi Brown fan, so this shouldn't be too surprising. I purchased a few more items from the BB friends and family event, so I'll be posting on them in the coming weeks.

In terms of life, my Monday was a looong day at work. Here's to hoping the weekend comes soon!

Love, Dovey.

Sunday, April 10, 2011

Juicy + bright polish for summer

Today's such a nice balmy day in the city, I can't help but feel more optimistic. This weekend was a largely work-free weekend, so yesterday I spent downtown shopping for a bachelorette party gift, shopping the sales for myself (hehe), and met up with some friends for Indian food. By the way, shopping for bachelorette gifts drove me nuts. I went to store, after store (including two different Victoria's Secrets) and could not choose anything! I think I have an aversion to scratchy mesh polyester textures, which kind of nixes most choices. So, I ended up picking some aptly named goodies from LUSH instead. I can always count on LUSH =). 

On to nail polish...


Summer, to me, is prime polish season. I can actually see the colors on my tips and toes because they're no longer jammed into mittens or boots! Lately I find myself reaching for really juicy and bright colors in my stash. And then I realized I only have four colors that really fall into that category: OPI Guy meets Gal-veston, SOPI Hi-Def, SOPI Arm Candy, and ORLY Lola. (I actually have few more, but they're older L'Oreals that I usually avoid showing on the blog for cruelty-free purposes).


Here are one-finger swatches of each, at two coats per finger. My love for brights has become tantamount to an obsession. After purchasing OPI Guy meets Gal-veston, I've been wearing it non-stop for the past week. I just can't stop looking at my nails. I'm planning on getting my paws on a few more OPI "sorbets" to add to my bright collection.



I'm not sure if brights are a fad every year around this time, or it's this year in particular. I've seen swatches of OPI's Touring America collection online, and there are three shimmery brights that look fantastic. Anyone else loving juicy colors now?

Love, your rehabbed neutral addict, Dovey

P.S. I picked up a pair of light grey Cole Haan ballet flats from Nordstrom Rack, that pair so well with these colors. The selection at Rack was quite nice this time--- worth a look if you're on the hunt for spring or summer shoes.