I just came back from a flurry of lip gloss, eye colors, perfume, and face creams; you name it, it was there at Nordstrom’s Fall Cosmetics Trend Show at the Downtown San Francisco Centre.
The day started off bright and early (8:30am on a Saturday!) where professional representatives from the likes of Laura Mercier, Chanel, Philosophy, Clarins, M.A.C., Estee Lauder and so much more were there to tell us what the new fall trends were. And it was very apparent that the look to go for this season was radiant matte skin (if you’re thinking of the cakey, thick, face of the early 90s, think again), bold black eyeliner, and beautiful plush red lips.
During show, they raffled away tons of freebies - a couple of Mercer Street Salon San Francisco gift certificates and cosmetic goodies from Bobbi Brown, Nars, Prescriptives, and Shu Uemera to name a few. Unfortunately, there were over a hundred beauty enthusiasts at the show and I didn’t win anything. Maybe next time, but that didn’t mean that I didn’t have a great time perusing the counters testing makeup and getting free samples.
I decided that my first stop would be the Nars counter to search for my perfect red lips. I tried one of their lipsticks at first and then one of their Velvet Matte Lip Pencils. In comparison, the lipstick was dry and getting drier by the minute so I decided against that even though the color was a beautiful deep red and opted for the Velvet Matte Lip Pencil ($23 US) in a similar color, Cruella. These lip pencils contain silicones and special emollients that help your lips stay moist and last long.
My next stop was the Bobbi Brown counter. I had never heard of a gel eyeliner before and always used pencil or liquid so I thought I’d give it a try. Currently, the have a cute little Long-Wear Eyeliner Set that includes 2 of their Long-Wear Gel Eyeliner in Black and Chocolate Shimmer, a mini eyeliner application brush and a mini Everything Mascara. This set is only $38 US and if you want it, you have to act fast. I hear it’s really hard to get and the 5 they had at the counter were gone within the first 45 minutes!
Finally, I stopped by the Chanel counter for a makeover. I tried their new Holiday Les 4 Ombres Quadra Eyeshadow in Radiant Gems. It features a cinnamon shade, silver, rose and a shimmery white. The makeup artist applied the cinnamon-y color on my top lid with the rose color right above that and highlighted with the white shimmer. Underneath, she lined my eyes with a gray and black pencil and blended in the silver shadow to create a kind of smoky eye that wasn’t too dark because it wasn’t on top as well. She very thinly lined my top lip with a black pencil just to create definition. She also put the silver in the inner corners of my eyes to make my eyes really pop.
I really liked the techniques used but I wasn’t quite sure if the shades were really for me since they were a little warmer than I normally wear. The eye makeup was also a lot more than what I’m used to wearing too, even for an evening face. Here are my attempts to take my own pictures in the bathroom. Let me know what you guys think!
I tried out Masque first; it’s a rosy, dirty pink that’s pretty in the tube but makes me look pretty pale as a stand alone color. When I apply it on my lips, I don’t get total coverage with the first swipe. I have to apply about two layers and then blot my lips together to get an even coverage. The look is slightly too matte for me with just the lipstick on so I applied a little bit of gloss to even out the color and to make me look less like a corpse.
Here’s what’s on my lips:
