Laura Geller Cake Eyeliner duo review + GIVEAWAY!

         It's Laura Geller Makeup's 10th birthday and I'm celebrating with some baked cake. Baked cake eyeliner, that is! Much like actual cake, Laura Geller Cake eyeliner starts as a swirl of liquid product. It's poured onto terra cotta pans and baked for 24 hours. The result is a beautiful fine powder product with individualized quirks.


          In the spirit of cake, Laura Geller Cake eyeliners have delicious foodie names. Plus, they come in duo form, so you can enjoy two coordinating 'flavors' in one product. Today I have Plum Pudding / Black Forest, Creme Brulee / Dutch Chocolate, and Unearthed / Dutch Chocolate to share with you. They can be layered and used either wet or dry. I've shown dry swatches below. Plus, they come in duo form, so you can enjoy two coordinating 'flavors' in one product. Plum Pudding / Black Forest is a gorgeous metallic red plum alongside a glittery black. It's my personal favorite. Creme Brulee / Dutch Chocolate is a burnished coppery color (much like the burnt parts of Creme Brulee dessert) alongside a mostly matte chocolate brown. Unearthed / Dutch Chocolate is actually an eyeshadow combined with a cake eyeliner. Unearthed is a golden beige sheen and Dutch Chocolate is a chocolate brown.

           I've dreamed up a one-of-a-kind giveaway for Cute and Mundane readers to celebrate Laura Geller Makeup's 10th birthday! No birthday is complete without cake, so I'll be giving away two Laura Geller Cake Eyeliner duos (Est. Retail Value: $46-49) to one lucky Cute and Mundane reader . The winner can choose their two favorite duos from the ones featured in this post. (They will be brand new, not the ones used in this review.) Good Luck!

Contest Rules:  To enter, use the Rafflecopter widget below. The folks at Laura Geller can only send to U.S. addresses. So make sure you (or someone you know) has one. I will randomly pick one winner from the valid entries and notify them via the email address provided. The winner has 72 hours to respond; if I do not get a response within that time frame, the winner will forfeit the prize and I will choose a new winner. The winner's address will be forwarded to the sponsor, who has agreed to ship and provide the prize for this contest.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Good Luck!

Love, Dovey.
 
P.S. If you're a fan of Laura Geller makeup , be sure to check out her website this month; they're offering a 10% off site wide!
 Disclosure: This post contains product(s) sent to Cute and Mundane for consideration by PR. The ideas and opinions in this post are genuine and my own. 

Laura Geller Baked Body Frosting in Tahitian Glow review

           This is big. Literally. Laura Geller Baked Body Frosting in Tahitian Glow is the  largest piece of makeup own. Tahitian glow is used to give a glowy look for both face and body. (Due to the behemoth amount of product, I'm guessing the folks at Laura Geller were taking the use for body seriously). However, what exactly is a baked body frosting? Is it a bronzer? Highlighter? Both? Read on to see what I made of Laura Geller's Baked Body Frosting in Tahitian Glow.

         First, I'll cover the stats. Laura Geller Baked Body Frosting weighs in at 0.85 oz. (compare with 0.28 oz. for NARS Laguna bronzer). It's good for liberal use on the body. Not only is there a lot of product, it's encased in plastic packaging that makes it look even larger. You can see above that the lid is at least an inch thick. The product doesn't dome much above the pan, but the cap is huge. The extra room is to hold the puff that is meant to apply the product on your body. There's also a disposable quality plastic tray that holds the puff. To be honest, it's a bit impractical. I'd rather have a puff-less product with a smaller lid, or a built-in-shelf for the puff to give it a more luxe feel. I received Tahitian Glow as a part of Laura Geller's Glow and Behold Set (QVC exclusive), however it is sold individually for $45. While the quality of the product inside is nice, it could use sleeker packaging.

           The swirling tan, cream, and pearly pink are beautiful in the pan. They remind me of MAC's mineralize products. I think these swirls are a fun aspect to the product; each individual product will look a little bit different. Laura Geller's Baked Body Frosting formula can be used both wet and dry. It's well pigmented and has a smooth but slightly thick and powdery texture which seems to be characteristic of baked products. The ingredient list isn't too long and it doesn't contain mineral oil or parabens.

Ingredients: Mica, Talc, Octyldodecyl Stearoyl Stearate, Dimethicone, Nylon-12, Isopropyl Palmitate, Polysorbate 20, Magnesium Aluminum Silicate, Phenoxyethanol, Lauroyl Lysine, Sodium Dehydroacetate, Ethylhexyl Methoxycinnamate, Simmondsia Chinensis (Jojoba) Seed Oil, Tocopheryl Acetate, Retynyl Palmitate, BHT, Camellia Sinensis Leaf Extract, Centella Asiatica Leaf Extract, Titanium Dioxide (CI 77891), Iron Oxides (CI 77491, CI 77492, CI 77499).

Clockwise from left: NARS Laguna Bronzer, Laura Geller

           Now I'll get back to the question of what exactly a baked body frosting is. Laura Geller refers to it as a 'glow'. A number of online reviews refer to this as a bronzer. I would say it's more like a bronzer and higlighter hybrid: an illuminator if you will. It has more frosted shine and slightly less pigment than your typical bronzer. In this sense, it is made with body in mind. For body use, you don't want too much color; faking a tan with a powder product isn't practical and might end up looking a bit dirty. A slightly bronzed shine will go further to contour the body with strategic glow. You can see from my swatches below that Laura Geller Tahitian glow is frostier than my other bronzers. It falls somewhere in between the golden brown of NARS Laguna bronzer and the peachy tan of Dior Aurora bronzer (reviewed here). When swatched, Tahitian glow is a natural light tan glow on my light-medium skin. When worn, I can't see much tan color unless I start to layer it on. I prefer to use a fluffy brush and not the puff to achieve a more natural effect.

          Overall, Laura Geller Baked Body Frosting in Tahitian Glow is a fun addition to my summer makeup collection. The swirled product looks beautiful in the pan, though the packaging is a bit bulky. It's a less messy alternative to liquid illuminators for the body, and if used lightly can provide a strategic J.Lo glow to the body. Due to Tahitian glow's frosted nature, I'd be hesitant to layer this on heavily for an actual color change of your skin. The color looks nice on the face as well, though I would purpose this more towards illuminating purposes as opposed to bronzing or contouring. Thanks for reading! Have you tried Laura Geller's baked body frosting? Do you have products in your collection designated for body use?

Love, Dovey.

Disclosure: This post contains product(s) sent to Cute and Mundane for consideration by PR. The ideas and opinions in this post are genuine and my own. 

Inspired by a mermaid

         It's that time of year when mermaid blues and greens start making their way into summer makeup. While in Hawaii, Mr. Lovey and I stopped by a Thai restaurant before a tour up the old volcano Mauna Kea (which at 13,796ft is the highest peak in Hawaii!) I saw a beautiful depiction of a mermaid (seen above). I loved how the colors differ from usual mermaids with murky teal blue, gold and coppery pinks.

          To create a mermaid-inspired look I pulled out my NARS Dogon eyeshadow duo from last summer (reviewed here). NARS Dogon pairs a navy alongside a spectacular taupe with mermaid sheen. When combined, the two colors have a really cool multifaceted effect like the mermaid above.

         I used the taupe of NARS Dogon on the lid and softly lined my eyes using the navy and a pencil brush. The blue-green sheen really adds summery dimension to an otherwise heavier eye. To finish the eye, I used my well loved NARS Larger Than Life eyeliner in Via Veneto (reviewed here) and MAC Zoom Fast Black Lash mascara. (MAC Zoom fast is growing on me).  I kept the rest of the face simple and little peach-pink with my new Laura Geller Baked Blush in Bora Bora. I used Laura Geller Baked Body Frosting in Tahitian glow with a fluffy brush to get a light coppery glow on my face. I'm not normally a body makeup person, but I tried a little on my collarbones too for fun. For my nails, I chose the light pink polish NARS Vestale (reviewed here). I really enjoyed the mermaid tones in the resultant look!

          Thanks for reading! Have you been  incorporating mermaid or sea inspired colors into your makeup routine? Have you tried NARS Dogon? Thanks for reading!

Love, Dovey

Note: This post contains product(s) sent to Cute and Mundane for consideration by PR. The ideas and opinions presented in the post are my own.