Colour Story: Chartreuse for Spring 2014

Is it spring yet where you are dear reader?

Where I live I predict we still have a solid month of winter left and I'm officially sick of having to wear hiking boots and two layers of socks all the time.

Recently in a bid to brighten my outlook on life/delude myself into thinking spring is imminent, I procured a new handbag. Although I have never mentioned it on the blog before I am a fairly serious bag aficionado! As an artist who always gets dirty at work, I often resort to black or grey clothes which won't get ruined by ink, paint or charcoal stains. And because my day-to-day wardrobe is monochromatic black, I always love to add some "pop" to my look with a brightly coloured bag.

My newest bag is the Coach Minetta in Acid Green. I had to convince myself with the help of a good friend that buying a chartreuse handbag wasn't a frivolous purchase destined to be outdated in a year...Well let's be honest, it was completely a frivolous purchase because I need a new handbag like I need a hole in the head. However, I feel confident with my colour choice because my accessories are where I "branch out" stylistically - the more statement making the accessory the better in my opinion. Plus, my good friend bought the same bag in chestnut and I couldn't very well have the exact same bag as her!

 Coach Minetta bag in Acid Green

Anyways, the bold colour of the bag made me think of examples of chartreuse in makeup. Despite the fact that Pantone has named Radiant Orchid as the Colour of the Year for 2014, chartreuse is holding it's own this season.

Clockwise from left: MAC Pigment in Chartreuse Bouquet, Butter London Nail Lacquer in Dosh,

 and Max Factor X Wild Shadow Pencil #10.

Max Factor X Wild Shadow Pencil # 10 was purchased at Boots Pharmacy (LE, £4.99) when I was in London this summer. This gel shadow pencil doubles as a liner and has a smooth, creamy texture whichsetsafter a minute. It has good pigmentation and a touch of grey in the golden green shade gives it a softer, subtler look. Very pretty. 

Grade: B+

MAC Pigment in Chartreuse Bouquet reviewed here is a bright, medium chartreuse frost with gold micro glitter and great colour payoff wet or dry. Chartreuse Bouquet is still available online or at your local counter.

Grade: A

Max Factor X Wild Shadow Pencil #10 and  MAC Pigment in Chartreuse Bouquet (dry/wet)

Butter London Nail Lacquer in Dosh (LE, $17.00 CA) was originally released in 2011, but is still available at Nail Polish Canada. Aptly described by BL as “a molten apple green shot 

through with metallic gold", Dosh is a very unique medium chartreuse polish loaded with silver and gold shimmer. It applies fairly sheer, so three coats are needed for full opacity. I found it also dried down about two tones darker than it appears in the bottle.

Grade: B+

Butter London Dosh

Are you liking chartreuse for spring?

J

Beauty Squared Round-Up - August 4, 2013

Happy August! 

• If you do your own manicures, there's a step you may be missing. Click through to see what it is.
  
• Product recommendations and tips for contouring darker skintones.
  
• Waterproof makeup that's actually, truly waterproof.
  
• Yes, there's a job title that exists, called Celebrity Skin Finisher. These are folks who are responsible for making sure the tone and texture of our golden gods look as perfect as possible, Here they explain their jobs and share some of their tips.
  
• In praise of the full eyebrow!
  
• Tips for making your manicure last.
  
• Butter London has launched a new colour collection, called Rock Your Colour, and it's not just nail lacquer. They've got cream cheek colour, lipstick, eyeliner, eyeshadow, tinted lip balm, mascara, gloss and liquid lipstick in bold, bright shades. View the shades on their website, here.
  
• Remember side combs? I used to use them all the time and had totally forgotten about them until I saw this post.
  
• I used to have a full-length mirror when I was teenager. It was oh-so-slightly distorted that it made my reflection look just slightly slimmer. I loved it. I think it helped my teenage self-confidence a lot. Apparently there's a mirror being sold now, that claims to make you look slimmer. What do you think? Healthy to see an altered reflection of yourself in this nature?
  
• 41 Beauty Products That Really Work (according to Pinterest). 

Butter London Fishwife Review, Swatches and Photos

On my recent trip to NYC with Catherine, we both scooped up some Butter London polishes at Ricky's as they had some hard to find colours and were cheaper down there. So imagine my delight when a few weeks ago Butter London had their Friends & Family event! 

Before we proceed I have to give props to Butter London for a few customer service related things: 1) they actually have a website devoted to selling and shipping in Canada and 2) they offered the 30% discount to their Canadian customers. In this day and age of e-commerce there are still way too many beauty companies that only sell and ship to the US, or charge an unaffordable amount to ship to Canada (i.e: Bergdorf Goodman, Giorgio Armani, Urban Decay etc.)...don't they read our north of the border blogs? We are just as beauty obsessed as our south of the border cousins!

Ok rant over...now let's look at one of a set of  polishes I ordered from Butter London.

Butter London Posh Bird and Fishwife

This post is a review for Fishwife, part of a duo set of polishes available exclusively online ($30.00 CA). Fishwife is a pale blue holo polish,with an incredibly fine holo particle. The holo effect on this polish is on the subtler side due to the fineness of the glitter. I rather like that this doesn't necessarily scream "HOLO!!!" because disco ball, retina burning nail colours are not for everyday. You could wear Fishwife to the office or club. It's that pretty and versatile.

 It's important to note that I had some difficulty capturing Fishwife's beautiful, pale blue, almost aqua colour in photographs - but I hope you can tell it's not a typical straight up silver holo. The formula on this (as on many holo polishes) was on the sheer side, but I found if I did two thicker coats, where I let the polish pool a bit more on the nail, I got complete coverage. I did find it pulled a bit in some areas but only if I didn't let the polish pool before I brushed it on. More research on the interwebs indicates if you buff your nails then apply a holo polish (sans regular basecoat), or if you use a specific aqua basecoat for holos you get better and more reliable applications.

Butter London Fishwife

I like this polish - it makes me think of icicles, glaciers and yes, the shimmery scales of a fish. This duo can be found here,Review of Posh Bird to follow.

Grade: A

butter LONDON Two Fingered Salute - Review, Swatches and Photos

When Jill and I were in New York City recently, we went to a store called Ricki's. There are a quite a few Ricki's in Manhattan, and they carry a wide range of hair supplies, some make-up, cosmetics and nail supplies. For beauty junkies, it's well worth a stop for lines like NYX, Stila, OPI, Essie and butter LONDON. While it's not as flashy as a Sephora, it's got products that you may not be able to find elsewhere, such as butter LONDON's Two-Fingered Salute, a Nordstroms limited edition exclusive.

I was sooooo curious about this shade when it was first launched last summer but as always, was hesitant to buy it without seeing it in person first. So when I saw it on the shelf at Ricky's I squealed.

Two-Fingered Salute: Similar to giving the bird in the states. Naughty! A muted, patinaed green-creme with copper micro-glitter.

This is a two-fingered salute - a UK version of giving someone the finger. 

Yes, you read that correctly, a green with copper glitter. Sounds weird, right? It looks a little weird too, but it's also really cool, very pretty and very different. I don't know if I'd wear this shade of green without the copper, it's verging on pastel. 

Two-Fingered Salute goes on beautifully, as do all the butter LONDON polishes I've tried. In the photo below I'm wearing three coats, but that's more my application technique than the product. This would probably work fine with two coats. The copper glitter is subtle and embedded in the polish, so it's not an uneven finish. 

You see mainly the green but at certain angles, the copper glitter creates a sheen and at other angles you see the individual copper particles. 

This is a great shade. I'm a huge fan of butter LONDON polishes as you may know from reading this blog. Each new one I try, I fall in love a little bit more. It's a combination of the names of the polishes as well as the uniqueness of many of the shades. butter LONDON is not an inexpensive polish, but they're beautiful polishes. They cost around $18 CDN. 

Grade: A

Beauty Squared Round-Up - June 2, 2013

Happy June everyone! How's the weather where you are? 

Here are your curated beauty links for the week. We hope you find lots of interesting, inspiring things.

• The Science of Beauty: 4 Physical Traits That Help to Define Female Attractiveness. A short video explains the science behind female attractiveness. Fascinating stuff!
  
• Beautezine is giving away a Benefit prize pack (for Canadian residents only) and Jessica reviews the three products being given away. Check out her "before and after" photo!
  
• There's online controversy simmering about this magazine cover and the accompanying editorial, featuring model Julia Nobis. On a YouTube show called The Young Turks, Cenk Uygur and Ana Kasparian labelled Nobis as "obviously anorexic" and "like she'd just come out of a camp". New York Times readers have also condemned the photos. But Nobis is also being defended in online comments. Read more here.
  
• Advice on some annoying beauty problems - body hair regrows so quickly!, grimy packaging!, smudged nail polish!
  
• It's that time of year again - the sunburn season. With more and more "natural" and "green" products available, it's tough to know which to choose that will work and not coat you in toxins. Toronto's NOW Magazine takes a look at some eco-friendly sunscreens and rates them on their effectiveness and green factor.
  
• SheDoestheCity.com also has some good advice on buying sunscreen that's safe for the body.
  
• A super-pretty finger wave hairstyle that you should try at home. It's a bit complicated but worth it!
  
• Butter London's summer 2013 collection swatched and reviewed! Click through to see the gorgeous shades - Hellllloooooooo Bobby Dazzler and Bit Faker.
  
• The NY Times has a feature on OCC founder David Klasfeld. The Beauty Squared gals visited the OCC store a few weeks ago when we were in New York. Stay tuned for reviews of our hauls!
  
• Fashion Magazine's Beauty Panel offer their tips for waterproof, sweat-proof, humidity-proof summer beauty.
  
• Curly hair styling tips from New Beauty magazine.
  
• An interesting article about women and their shoe obsessions. 

Beauty Squared Round-Up - April 21, 2013

Happy Sunday! Here's some link lovin' for you...

Perhaps the most talked-about beauty-related story this past week is the video released by Dove as part of their Real Beauty ad campaign. You may have already seen it since many, many people have, but if you haven't, you can watch it here. 

It's being talked about quite a bit, as I'm sure you can imagine. It has an important message - that women are their own harshest critics - but it's also important to look at the video with a critical eye (don't just absorb it). Blogger Jazz Brice writes 'Why Dove's Real Beauty Sketches makes me uncomfortable' for Huffington Post. Read it here. 

Check out this parody of the Dove Real Beauty Sketches video featuring men.

butter LONDON's global ambassador, Katie Hughes shows how to do a really cool tweed nail effect.

Beautylish has some tricks for creating the illusion of fuller, thicker hair for those of us who have fine or thinning hair.

Jezebel applied tinted moisturizer to some of the guys at Deadspin to see if dudes would wear "makeup" if it was natural-looking and feeling. 

Beauty Squared Round-Up - April 7, 2013

It's time to take a look at the beautiful links we've gathered for you this week. Scroll through and enjoy!

This is a photo of actress Emilia Clarke who plays Daenerys Targaryen on Game of Thrones. Is she wearing "too much" makeup? 

Lipstick trends throughout the decades. This stuff is fascinating. 

New Butter London shades for summer 2013!!!

Watch drag queen Ivy Winters transform into her glam self in 50 seconds (edited down from 90 minutes). 

Kirstie Clements, former editor of Vogue Australia, has written a tell-all book about the behind-the-scenes of the fashion glossies. One of the bombshells she reveals is how models starve themselves and some resort to eating tissues to try to make themselves feel full.

Your retro girlfriend, the inimitable Audrey Hepburn, felt that her nose was too big, her breasts were too small and that she was too skinny, a new book reveals.

The eye-brightening white eyeshadow look at Emilio Pucci's Spring Summer 2013 show.

Flare Magazine rounds-up ten eco-friendly, all-Canadian beauty buys, including Lovefresh (pictured above). 

Burlesque queen and retro beauty, Dita von Teese makes her musical debut with English electronic act, Monarchy. Watch the super-sexy video here. 

Beauty Squared Round-Up - February 10, 2013

Lots to share with you in this week's Beauty Squared Round-Up, so let's dig in.

Textured pussywillow nails at the Creatures of Comfort S/S 2013 runway show. 

I feel like I might pick at them if I wore this.

BB creams - what is a BB cream? Much ado about BB creams.

Never mind BB creams, what the heck are CC creams and DD creams?

If you like to suntan, you may not want to click on this link. On the other hand, you probably should. 14 years of sunbed use revealed by a UV skin scan.

Moisturize, moisturize, exfoliate and moisturize! 

Samantha Chapman of Pixiwoo and Real Techniques offers her cold weather must-haves.

Sephora is now carrying butter LONDON! Not all of the shades, sadly, but it's a start.

butter LONDON's Sweetie Shop Spring 2013 collection is all about the candy-coloured pastels.

Beauty tips for when you're sick. Trust me, at least some of these will be useful to you.

Historical films struggle to get the details right, but increasingly the physical perfection of today's actors (perfect teeth, facial symmetry, gym bodies) are subverting the accuracy of historical characters.

Benefit Cosmetics has new packaging for its Creaseless Cream Eyeshadows (photo from Temptalia).

3D-printed jewellery made an appearance on the runway during the Kimberly Ovitz Fall/Winter 2013 runway show. 

Check out this GORGEOUS smoky eye tutorial from the Glitter Geek.

Are you practicing good fragrance behaviour?

Great advice on how to buy make-up brushes.

Another great video from MAC on contouring and highlighting.

Beauty Squared Round-up - January 13, 2012

Here are the most clickable beauty links we came across this week. Dig in!

For all you blue eyed lovelies out there, here are some tips for making your blue eyes bluer.

Here's a way of camouflaging your chipped nail polish. 

Bodybuilder Jenna Abbou is the new face of MAC.

How to not look sick and tired when you're feeling sick and tired via the lovely Arianne of the Glitter Geek. 

Edge up your eyeliner by giving it a squared-off end as in this look from Aquascutum. 

The chains of Proactiv. 

Great natural home remedies for some common beauty issues such as acne and calluses. 

For the first time, the mysterious hairdo of the ancient Roman vestal virgins has been recreated. 

Gah-mazing Bansky-inspired nail art. I'm so envious of people who can paint their nails like this!

Smashbox has collaborated with street artist Curtis Kulig for a graffiti-inspired collection.

Make-up tips for very, very fair skin types. 

Another swoonworthy product from Benefit, Fine One One, a cream highlighter, blush and contour stick. Here it is reviewed for Beautezine.com. 

Tentacle-like eyelash extensions were included in last week's round-up. Here are some more from the same Etsy shop. Definitely not for everyone.

butter LONDON's new Starkers collection is super-nude. Like pantyhose nude. 

The glamourous Dita von Teese does have casual days. Here she offers her tips for retaining glamour in everyday life.