Coutorture

When The Cure Is More Than Your Bottom Line

coutorture — Wed, 01 Oct 2008 10:13:24 -0700

Clinique Dramatically Different™ Moisturizing Lotion (Limited Edition) $35 - Nordstrom

Estée Lauder Jeweled Pink Ribbon Pin $12 - Nordstrom

Estée Lauder Evelyn Lauder Lip Color Collection $22 - Bloomingdale's

Bumble and bumble Bb. Classic Hairspray, Aerosol $19 - drugstore.com

Bobbi Brown 'Pink Ribbon' Collection $40 - Nordstrom

One of the most aggravating things about October is the glut of product tie-ins for the month's Breast Cancer Awareness campaigns that seemed bent on proving that beauty and fashion publicists are creatures who have sworn themselves to the Faustian devil of themed product round up opportunism. It isn't that we don't support the effort that goes into BCA, it is that so few companies seem genuinely dedicated to the cause beyond what public relations they can rustle up to achieve fleeting customer good will. It is hard to feel charitable when you know someone is tugging at your heartstrings to get at your wallet, or in our case, our editorial coverage. Thankfully it isn't all jaded cynicism around here. One set of brands that have truly dedicated themselves to the cause year after year are the Estee Lauder companies. Evelyn H. Lauder, the Company’s Senior Corporate Vice President and Founder and Chairman of The Breast Cancer Research Foundation has been a crusader for breast cancer research for two decades now. Their work is a beautiful example of how a corporation can use its size and influence to do well by doing good.

This is the full list of Estee Lauder brands/products that will be donating proceeds this October -
* Aveda Hand Relief
* Bobbi Brown Pink Ribbon Collection
* Bumble and bumble Classic Hairspray
* Clinique Dramatically Different Moisturizing Lotion
* Clinique Butter Shine Lipstick in Ribbon Pink
* Darphin Predermine Wrinkle Corrective Serum
* Donna Karan Cosmetics Limited-Edition Cashmere Mist Eau de Toilette Spray
* Estée Lauder Beautiful Eau de Parfum Spray
* Estée Lauder Perfectionist CP + Wrinkle Lifting Serum
* Estée Lauder Evelyn Lauder Lip Color Collection
* Estée Lauder Elizabeth Hurley High Gloss Lip Color Collection
* Estée Lauder Jeweled Pink Ribbon Pin
* Estée Lauder Pink Reflections Duet Jay Strongwater for Estée Lauder
* Jo Malone Red Roses Cologne and Bath Oil
* La Mer Crème de la Mer
* Lab Series Skincare for Men Daily Moisture Defense Lotion SPF 15
* Ojon® Revitalizing Mist
* Origins Peace of Mind® On-the-spot relief
* Prescriptives Pink Ribbon Collection
* Sean John Fragrances Unforgivable Eau de Toilette Spray
* Sean John Fragrances Unforgivable Woman Eau de Toilette Spray
* Tommy Hilfiger Toiletries Dreaming Tommy Hilfiger Eau de Parfum Spray with Charm
* Tommy Hilfiger Toiletries Hilfiger Eau de Toilette Cologne Spray

Five Fall Makeup Trends

coutorture — Tue, 26 Aug 2008 11:21:14 -0700

Keeping up with the trends, especially when it comes to beauty, can have a frustrating keeping up with the Jones vibe. If you think fashion has a fast product turn around then beauty will make your mind reel. One of our favorites, MAC, releases impressive conceptual collections at a pace that rarely allows us a breath. We just finished getting used to Neo Sci Fi and now we are on to Cult of Cherry. Ccoming up with a complete set of perfect fall trends can feel, no pun intended, fruitless. Thankfully, we had makeup artist Junko Kioka to keep us on the straight and narrow during our Five Fall Trends photo editorial. This fall clean matte skin, matte lips, daring to be bare, and if you are very bold, extreme lips and eyes makes a nice top five list. Isn't it nice when the professionals are there to keep you focused?

To achieve the matte skin look, Junko used Make Up Forever for foundation and cover up but unless you plan to actually be in a photo shoot we suggest Clinique Stay True Oil Free Formula. We are also suckers for Clinique Moisture Sheer Tint if you prefer less coverage, just be sure to use some pressed powder to achieve a matte finish. The red lips on the shoot came courtesy of NARS Semi Matte Lipstick in Red Lizard. In order to get a super matte look with your lips take a tissue to a fresh coat and blot your lips. Then use loose powder over the tissue to seal it. And if you crave the sultry footballer look Junko used Smashbox Jet Set Water Proof eyeliner. She also used this color pot to do our black lips as well. Though we would suggest if you want to go crazy with this trend to just find a nice cheap Wet and Wild alternative.

Clinique Still One Of Our Favorites

coutorture — Fri, 01 Aug 2008 09:05:50 -0700

This shoutout is long overdue--the Total Turnaround Visible Skin Renewer is one your editor's must-have beauty products. To be honest, we often leave the beauty posts to our beauty bloggers, for their knowledge is so impressive that our olive-oil and sunblock beauty routines seem a bit simple in comparison. We've realized, however, that we are not alone in loving this particular Clinique product. We buy mostly everything online but something, time and time again, we forget to purchase in advance is our moisturizer. It seems before we know it we're scraping the bottom of the glass jar and making some time in our day to run to Sephora for an instant replenishment. This happened for the fourth time in a row this week and for the fourth time in a row we dredged all the way over to Sephora only to realize that the moisturizer was sold out. Why we hadn't learned our lesson the first time is another matter completely. From this experience we learned two valuable lessons. One, our mousturizer of choice is acutally a lot of people's moisturizer of choice, and, shopping online takes the cake every time!

The Clinique Total Turnaround Visible Skin Renewer is super light and almost mealy to the touch. It leaves our skin actually glowing with out the sparkles that so many 'glow'-titled moisturizers secretly pack in their bottles. It always gives our skin just the right amount of moisture; never are we oily, never does our face feel dry. Quite frankly, it serves us better than any moisturizer we've ever tried and (our mom and grandmother always said, 'As far as skincare goes, only trust the French') it's from a company that's been with us since our teenage years (boy, did our skin glow back then). Below, the star mousturizer and a few other Clinique products we have scattered about our powder rooms.