Musings of a Muse

Sleep is gone yet again! I have no idea what I’ve done to it but it ran away! When it gets back I’m giving it a solid beating!

For now I’ll keep myself busy posting some FOTD’sFace of the Day Pictures!

This late night, while nod escapes me, I give to you, some looks from a few weeks ago!

Sunset Eyes

What I used:
MAC Copper Shadow
MAC Copper Pigment
MAC Goldmine Shadow
MAC Golden Lemon Pigment
Bare Escentuals Big Tease Mascara
Bare Escentuals Lumnious Lash Mascara in Bronze

Sunny Eyes

What I Used:
MAC Primary Yellow Shadow
MAC Golden Lemon Pigment
Urban Decay Glitter Eyeliner in Midnight Cowboy
Urban Decay Eyeshadow in Midnight Cowboy
Urban Decay Loose Shimmering Powder in Honey
MJ Mascara

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I previously discussed MAC’s new color story, Novel Twist in a prior blog! The pictures I had posted in that blog aren’t nearly as good as the ones that have popped up on Nordie’s website yesterday! I’ll be sharing those with you shortly!

I got invited to preorder Novel Twist on July 12 basically this means I’m special as hell and you aren’t (No I’m not but it sounded great typing it)!

Novel Twist is officially released on July 20th but since I’m special, see above for details, I get to order it and pick it up on July 12! Wahoo!

The color story is quite huge and I want everything but I narrowed it down and decided I’d just buy…..everything….! I hear screaming…..from my purse…….oh it’s just my credit card! Have no FEAR! I’ve accumulated some Nordies Notes over the last few months which will cover some of my purchases

Geez, where was I before being so rudely interupted? Oh yes. I’m decided that I shouldn’t buy everything. I should limit myself to buying most of the color collection…just some…alot of it…but not all of it…most of it….a majority of it…..

If this wasn’t enough of a problem, Nordstrom though it was a damn brilliant idea to preview two more color stories during this promote of Novel Twist. This means that I’ll be holding a can on the street corner next month with the words “Will Work For Make-Up” across it! Sigh! I hate you MAC!

I’m not entirely sure if they’ll let us buy from any of the two new color stories they are previewing. I do know they’ll let us touch these, smell them, feel them, paw at them, caress them, possibly make love to them, drool on them, and weep! I’m going to try to do all of the above with as much class and glam as I can but please don’t hate me too much if I end up looking like a zombie with drool dripping from my mouth when presented with a ton of pigments and mineralized eyeshadows! Truly you’d feel the same!

Hopefully Nordies puts all of us out of our agony and doesn’t make us wait till July 19th to purchase these!

So…a recap about this preview!

We will indeed have Novel Twist at this launch! You’ve read about it previously and seen the photos in my blog and now for the close ups!

Without further delay I present to you Novel Twist, A Nordstrom Exclusive MAC Color Collection (Limited Edition for the junkies like me!):

Cool Pearlizer Plus Brush (Two Colors Available! I’ll have both please! Thanks so much!)


Warm Pearlizer Plus Brush

Plum Lip Palette (Skipping all the lip palettes! They are too messy to work with! Not for me!)

Pink Lip Palette

Coral Lip Palette

Tan Lip Palette

Cool Eye Palette (Want Both Eye Palettes! I love MAC Eye Palettes!)

Warm Eye Palette

Basic Brush Set (I know everyone bitches that the kit brushes aren’t nearly as good as the regular size brushes but I personally think they are awesome! These are fantastic for travel! I want both of the brush sets!)

Pro Brush Set (Worth the price just for the skunk brush it comes with!)

Beauty Powder (Two Shades Available Both for me please!)

Powder Blush (Two Shades Available. The color Whim reminds me of the blush that was released with the Barbie Color Collection hmm…Still want ‘em both teehee!)

Tinited Lipglass (4 Colors Available Have to see these and decide which I’d like!)

Well that’s Novel Twist girls!

Now in regards to the preview of the other two color stories! That would be Rushmetal and Flashtronic. Both of which are being release on the same date which would be July 19th! Now if Nordies puts us out our misery and agony we will be able to tote all three stories home at the same time! If not, we’ll have to settle for playing with two while we are there and come back on the 19th to purchase them!

A sneak peak at these color stories:

Lipsticks
* Thrills Rosy copper with gold pearl (frost)
* Frenzy Soft muted pinky-peach beige with gold shimmer (frost)
* Soft Lust Tan with white pearl (lustre)
* Fast Lane Mauve with silver pearl (lustre)

Pigments
* Rushmetal Rich Copper Sparkle
* Revved-up Icy rose with reflects
* Gold Mode Tan gold
* Mauvement Cool taupe with gold pearl
* Off The Radar Warm orange with gold sparkle
* Copperized Olive green with gold pearl
* Quick Frost Creamy white with soft green pearl
* Cocomotion Dirty gold with olive undertone and gold sparkle

Lipglass
* Perfectly Pink Creamy mid-tone pink (cream)
* Flashtronic Caramel bronze with subtle gold pearl (cream)
* Young Spark Neutral pink with subtle gold pearl (cream)
* Electro-Lush Creamy blue pink (cream)

Mineralize Eye Shadows
* By Jupiter Light Taupe with beige and deep brown veining (frost)
* Tectronic Yellow gold with lime green, warm brown and black veining (frost)
* Ether Deep aqua with silver, gold and black veining (frost)
* Mercurial Yellow gold with lilac and chestnut veining (frost)
* Lovestone Raspberry with wine and copper veining (frost)
* Quarry Sky blue with olive, coral and beige veining (frost)

Mineralize Skinfinishs
* Northern Light Midtone pink with rust and grey brown veining
* Gold Spill Pink peach with warm brown and cream pearl
* Global Glow Mid-tone brown with gold pearl

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The mail has arrived and within it treasures cometh!

My friend Mai will be here shortly from Japan! Oh my I’m so excited I may squeal! Anyway….I had her run around most of Tokyo to do a buncha purchases for me! Shoes, Cosmetics, etc…you name it and I asked that poor, poor girl to bring it over with her! I think I might be more eager to get the things I asked her to purchase than actually seeing her. I’m kidding I’m kidding!

About a week and a half ago I was browsing on around the internet, like the little mad demon shopper I am, and I happened across Aube Glamorous Jewel Powder! Now it contained the world Glamorous in it which can only mean that I needed to buy it, like now, right away!

I paid an obscene amount of money for this stupid powder because I didn’t want to ask poor Mai to do a last minute purchase for me when she was so busy packing and getting ready for her trip to see me!

Well…you can only guess that it has indeed popped up in my mail today. The Powder!!!!!! Weeeeeee!

Aube is a branch of Sofina. Sofina,as mentioned in previous blogs, is quite a fantastic company that makes some amazing face powders! I expected no less than awesome from this powder regardless of the fact that I paid double what the everyday drugstore in Japan would charge. To me, it was priceless!

I’m so properly chuffed with this item! It comes in a gorgeous little compact complete with powder puff, it sparkles, shines, and shimmers Oh my! It’s quite possibly the best shimmering powder I’ve come across. I’ve tried many but this could turn into a favorite of mine! Jill Stuart makes a similiar sparkling powder but truly this is far better!

You can use this just about anywhere really! Bosom, cheeks (the ones on your face that is), eyes, arms, shoulders, etc…anywhere you think you’d love a bit of sparkle you can dab this on! I would say a little goes a long way with this! I’m so in lust with it at the moment I went ahead and asked someone to pick me up the other color they have which is a gold one!

I know I know! You’re tired of my babbling and you want pictures….ok….here ya go!

I tried showing how a bit of it on my hand but you can’t see very well sadly!

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A few people had asked me to post pictures of the Shu Uemura Summer Prisim Collection. I had discussed this in a prior blog a few weeks ago and just forgot to mention that I did indeed get the palettes!

I had wanted to do a sequel to the original blog but just got caught up blogging about other nonsense!

The two palettes are fantastic, I really didn’t expect any less from Shu! I really love the fact that I can buy two completely different palettes and 1. Not worry about them having the same color and 2. Having the ability to use both palettes on your eyes at the same time (All 6 colors just work together)! The colors are very wearable.

So many people on the internet, friends, family, etc…always tell me how scared they are of bright colors or how they wouldn’t dare wear green or blue etc…

If you read this you know I am a dark brown bruentte with dark brown eyes and I wear every color in the rainbow! No color is taboo for me! I wear black, brown, bright red, green, pinks, purples, orange even! Anything that takes my fancy I wear! So please pleaseeeeeeeee please I beg of you don’t be afraid of color! Anything works on anyone! I promise you this! If you’re a red head some rules apply but if you have black hair, brown hair, or blonde you are pretty much in like flint! Anything will work for you!

I’m saying this because the colors of the Prisim collection are a bit bold. Not my boldest by far but most people would take one look and think two or three times if this was a palette they’d make use of! The answer is yes! These are WONDERFUL summer colors and a great addition to your collection!

These cost me about 3700yen which is roughly $29 US dollars or so each, great deal for Shu shadows considering one shadow costs $21 and this palette gives you three!

These are, as always, highly pigmented, long wearing, and highly blendable! Smooth and easy application really!

And at the risk of sounding like a broken record, do buy both! The colors are made to interchange with each other and you aren’t left feeling like you have two palettes that won’t work with each other or the colors are similiar! The colors are all VERY different and ALL very interchangable!

And now that you’ve listened to my babbling I shall reward you with pics:

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Mai, Myself, and a buncha of my friends are going to the Novel Twist Party at Nordstrom’s Thursday Night!

From what I understand not only will we be able to purchase Novel Twist but we can also purchase both Flashtronic and Rushmetal!

Squeal! Christmas in July girls!

I’m not entirely sure which I am more in love with at this point Flashtronic or Rushmetal! I’m very excited about the Mineralize Skinfinishs as these always end up becoming highly sought after collectible pieces!

I know many people have fallen out of love with MAC because of the old rerun But I really do think they have quite outdone themselves with these newest stories and we are in for quite a treat!

I know I’m eager to get my grubby hands on them!

Flashtronic A Color Story by MAC:

Mineralize Eye Shadow
Quarry Sky – Blue with olive, coral, and beige veining (LE, frost)
By Jupiter – Light taupe with beige and deep brown veining (LE, frost)
Mercurial – Yellow gold with lilac and chestnut veining (LE, frost)
Lovestone – Raspberry with wine and copper veining (LE, frost)
Tectonic – Yellow gold with lime green, warm brown, and black veining (LE, frost)
Ether – Deep aqua with silver, black, and gold veining (LE, frost)

Lipglass
Electro-Lush – Creamy blue pink (LE, cream)
Flashtronic – Caramel bronze with subtle gold pearl (LE, cream)
Perfectly Pink – Creamy mid-tone pink (LE, cream)
Young Spark – Neutral pink with subtle gold pearl (LE, cream)

Mineralize Skinfinish
Gold Spill – Pink peach with warm brown and cream pearl (LE)
Global Glow – Mid-tone brown with gold pearl (LE)
Northern Light – Mid-tone pink with rust and grey brown veining (LE)

Rushmetal A Color Story by MAC:

Lipstick
Soft Lust – Tan with white pearl (LE)
Frenzy – Soft muted pinky-peach beige with golden shimmer (perm)
Fast Lane – Mauve with silver pearl (LE)
Thrills – Rosy copper with gold pearl (LE)

Pigment
Copperized – Olive green with gold pearl (LE)
Quick Frost – Creamy white with soft green pearl (LE)
Cocomotion – Dirty gold with olive undertone and gold sparkle (LE)
Rushmetal – Rich copper sparkle (LE)
Mauvement – Cool taupe with gold pearl (LE)
Off The Radar – Warm orange with gold sparkle (LE)
Revved-up – Icy rose with reflects (LE)
Gold Mode – Tan gold (LE)

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So maybe my mind is in the gutter but whenever I hear someone mention FlowerBomb the first thing that enters my mind is Tom Jones prancing around in really tight slacks singing Sex Bomb (ya well he does it for me so bugger the hell off!)!

Hey..what can I do? My mind works in weird and unusual ways!

In all my travels I have never once actually had a chance to sniff Viktor & Rolf’s popular perfume!

Not a once.

I dunno why. I dunno how. But a sample, a squirt, a sniff has not passed beneath this nose!

I shop perfume like I shop cosmetics, in obscene quanities!

My mate Lily works as a staff writer for a mag and in her travels she gets to test out just about everything we all want to get our hands on! Cosmetics, Fashion, Etc…you name it and she’s tried it out years before we even glanced at it!

She’s been raving to me about FlowerBomb for about 500 years now (Damn I look good for my age)!

On and on raving…I’m talking about the raving that you want to tell her SHUT UP!!!!!!!!!!

In all the raving I have never once been tempted by the general idea of even smelling this perfume never mind buying it!

I’m a fruity type, I’m a foody type, I’m a sweet type, I am not, however, in any way, shape, or form, a flower type

Flowerbomb? I mean that shouts floral now doesn’t it? Now way! I do not want any part of floral. Floral perfumes remind me of an 80 year old woman! I’m sorry! No offense to 80 year old women everywhere but I’m not 80 nor do I want to smell like I’m 80! When I’m 80 I’ll consider it but for now I’ll happily smell girlishly delightful with my candy like scents and fruity bits, throw in something that smells like cookies or a cake and I’m happy!

I happened to get my end of a swap this week from MUA and my terrible, evil, naughty swap mate threw in a tin vial of Flowerbomb (It’s customary to throw in extras with your end of the swap)! I took one look at it and threw in the draw never to be seen or heard from again!

I happened to open said draw this morning and my mate Mai wanders in and begins squealing like a 4 year old child about how wonderful Flowerbomb smells! I’m sitting there thinking oh jesus here we go another person that wants to rave about the awesomeness of this perfume! Suddenly, out of no where the word “sweet” leaves her lips…

Hmmm my ears perked up…sweet you say…..after that the words “vanilla” left her mouth….my ears started to wriggle at this point….

Maybe I needed to rethink this Flowerbomb thing…hmmmm…..

I opened the vial very carefully, made a face, wrinkled my nose, and inhaled…..

Oh
My
Goodness!

This wasn’t what I had originally expected. This isn’t floral this is sweet nirvana!

It’s amazingly difficult to even begin to explain the complex blend of this scent! It’s almost like a sweet spicy smell! The sweet far overpowers the spicy! It’s candyish yet also has the strange warmth of baked goods. I don’t get any floral from it at all really…it’s just an interesting concoction that has many different layers!

I’ve fallen so deeply in love with it I’ve purchased the regular large bottle, the extreme bottle, and the anniversary set from Nordstrom.com yesterday! I really couldn’t resist!

The Anniversay Set

Flowerbomb

Flowerbomb Extreme

Try to avoid being as weary as I was and get to your nearest posh perfume counter to have a test! It’s truly wonderful! I can’t wait for Nordie’s to ship my order so I can knock the socks off of men far and wide (well..not all men…just one in particular that’s gone and stolen my heart! I’m kidding I’m kidding! Wrong Link! I swear!)!

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I’m worrying and I’m wanting……soooooooo…………

My nerves are a bit shot today. And I’m feeling worried and anxious. When I feel worried and anxious I shop.

My latest insane purchase, Miss Dior Patent Peep Toe Pump:

Excuse me while I sign off my soul to the devil! Hmm..maybe I won’t have to sell my soul to the devil…I’ll just sell off unimportant organs…heart…..kidneys….a lung or two!

Dearest Dior,

Please make cheaper shoes!

K, thanks!

Hugs!
-i.

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Photos of Keira in Vogue making wellies look glamorous!

Bet you can’t pull this off:

Dare say that elephant is looking right proper smart with his Louis Vuitton Accessories!

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Purple is so passionate!

What I used:
MAC Kitchmas Pigment (All Over Lid and Within Crease)
Urban Decay Grifter (Within Crease)
Urban Decay Ransom (Outter Lid)
Urban Decay Fishnet (Outter V of Eye)
Tony and Tina Glitter Eye Liner (Bottom Lower Lash Line)
Bare Escentuals Brushless Mascara

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Today’s blog will focus on good coverage! This will be a rather short entry! I can hear all the disappointing sighs already. Fear not it may be short but it’s filled with tons of good information about good coverage!

Let’s begin shall we?

If you’re a girl (and maybe if you lean towards metrosexual, transsexual, or other sexual sides) you won’t leave the house without foundation on your face. Oh why oh can’t we all be fresh faced and gorgeous all the time minus foundation (and if you fall into the catagory of being able to leave the house without foundation…well…we HATE you! Kidding Kidding! We envy you mostly!)! Reality is reality and I personally don’t live the house without my face in place! I know of only one man who’s seen me without my face on and I had to kill him soon after! Kidding, he lives in another country so I think maybe I’m safe for now!

I’m going to cut right too it and say I hate foundation! I have a wicked combination of skin that varies from season to season which makes finding proper coverage impossible. In the winter I’m as dry as the dessert, in the summer my forehead shines like a mirror, and during the fall and spring it’s a combination of both dry and oily.

I always have little adventures with coverage and I try all sorts of brands but 4 take up resident in my beauty arsenal for many a fine year and never shall we part! I’ll tell you about my gems in a moment!

I’m going to go ahead and throw this out there and watch the entire female population come down on my head for it. Bare Minerals blows ass! Yes indeed it does! Kill me, shoot me, sue me, do whatever it is you want but I won’t change my mind! The entire kit blows right out of my ass! I brought it and sold it on E-bay within 2 minutes of having it! This is not to say the rest of the line blows, just the foundation. I love the glimmers, shadows, etc….but the foundation can take a leap right off the nearest cliff and I’ll sit happily on top and blow kisses of good riddance and don’t come back!

Pray tell who is it that writes such star reviews about this kit? Where are you? E-mail me I wanna talk about these 5 star ratings you’ve given this rubbish product! It’s crap!

I imagine at the moment Leslie may very well be reading this and calling her lawyers up to sue that small chubby chick on myspace for dissing on her product! Sorry Leslie! I HATE your foundation/coverage kits!

Now that, that is out of my system we can get on to my secret for flawless skin finish

You need four products to make your face perfect in all ways!

Morgen Schick Hide and Hilight Concealer
Morgen Schick Whisper Set Powder
Benefit Bo-ing
Sofina Raycious Skin Powder (Asia Only)

I’ve been using Morgen Schick’s concealer forever and I’m always delighted with the coverage they provide and the fact that it makes my skin look so healthy and lovely!

Hide and Hilight works as a great coverage and you can keep it fresh and long wearing by using the whisper set powder on your face afterwards. Benefit Bo-ing I use for under my eye area and to prep my eye for shadow. It also provides beautiful coverage and makes me look like I got at least 8 hours of sleep in when in reality it was more like 5! And finally Raycious Skin Powder always stays with me for quick touch ups!

If you’re overeager to try Morgen Schick you can purchase it directly but I’d suggest going on E-bay for cheaper prices! Raycious is not sold in US stores, again, E-bay is a good place to look! And Benefit Bo-ing can be purchased wherever Benefit is sold! Sephora and Macy’s carries the line!

All of these items are a part of my everyday make-up and I can’t live without them! If you’re looking to try something new I strongly suggest you give them a whirl and see how they work for your skin!

A girl with flawless skin coverage is a happy girl indeed!

I look forward to hearing your reviews and your story of coverage if and when you try them!

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An ode to that legendary MAC color that is sadly gone from our graces!

Parrot how I adore thee and will miss you when I’ve used you all up! Moonflower tries to be like you but it doesn’t fill my heart the way you do!

When oh When will they repromote you? I have dreams of stocking up when you regrace us with your presence and beauty!

On the bright side I could always sell a kidney to afford a new pot of parrot which ranges from $60-80 on E-bay!

Well…maybe not!

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‘ello there!

I was lucky enough to get a delightful little package in the mail of which contained the Fall Japanese goodies!

I did a video blog of ‘em for you guys! I’ve added in pics as well and will be doing reviews and Face of the Days pics very soon!

MuseTV Presents: Fall Collection Haul:

Please excuse the poor quality of the pictures I normally take photos with my trusty Kodak DX6490. I decided that I’d go with cute and super portable so I purchased a Sony Cyber Shot T20 this past week! I was excited to have a smaller cam to use for taking pics for my blog and just generally toting around for small shots here and there!

My DX6490 is only 4MP’s has a virtually no ISO so the T20 was quite appealing at 8MP with an obscene ISO, HD output, onscreen editing, and a tons of other bells and whistles.

Upon getting it in the mail I flipped out at how cute it was. I proceeded to try some Face of the Day pics plus some additional variety, random shots and………it’s crap. I strongly suggest not bothering! I’ve just now finished wrapping it up and it’s going right back for a full return! I am astounded at the crap quality of the pics! Everything had a weird orange tinge too it plus the ISO had a setting of 300 because anything more would cause some mega crap quality photos!

Do tell me whatcha think of these pics taken with the cybershot as compared to my older pics in my blog taken with my trusty kodak!

I’ve been sorely tempted to purchase a Nikon D40 but can’t justify the cost for a hobbyist like myself. It’d be far different if I had a family with children and such but just to purchase the D40 for hobby shots of cosmetics, some vacation photos, and random shots seems just a silly purchase really! I adore photography but the general idea of the D40 seems a spoiled indulgence on my part!

Anyway!

On to the pics

New Lavashuca Palettes

Older Lavshuca Palette, New Color!


New Lavshuca Glosses

Lavshuca Glitter Mascara

MJ Honey Plump Glosses

MJ Fall Eyeshadows

New MJ Mascara and Neo Lash Expander

MJ Fall Collection Glosses

MJ Fall Collection Eyeliners

KATE Fall Shadow Collection

KATE Gel Eyeliners

KATE Dual Carat Eyeshadow

Kiss Lipgloss

Maqulliage Pressed Powder

Visee Eyeshadow Palette

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Your Muse resides right here on her home at MusingsofaMuse.com most days however on occasion you may locate her in the other following locations:

the Muse on Skitch
the Muse on Flickr
the Muse’s Humble Beginnings
the Muse’s MySpace
the Muse on VOX
Home of MuseTV
the Muse on Twitter
the Muse’s World Through Twitpic

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Musings of a Muse has a loyal readership both within the US and Internationally. Japan, Singapore, Korea, and England are just a few of the many places that Musings gets traffic from. Readers are very interactive about what they are currently loving in the cosmetic world here at Musings and love hearing about the latest and greatest on the makeup front!

Musings of a Muse is popular do to the fact that the Muse is an average, everyday girl (Not Paris Hilton!) that’s passionate about cosmetics, skincare, and other wonderful beauty finds and that excitement and passion comes out in her posts and reviews to readers (If anything at all the Muse sure does know how to get the blood boiling and pumping when it comes to new cosmetic finds!)!

If this is an environment that you’d like to see your product reviewed in do drop the Muse an e-mail at musings.of.a.muse@gmail.com or use the e-mail contact form below.

My press time varies depending on what I have lined up for review at the moment however I can make room if you need your review posted at a quicker turn around time! Just ask nicely

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Want to speak to the Muse one on one? Just type your message below to get into close contact with the Muse or e-mail me at musings.of.a.muse@gmail.com

Please keep in mind the Muse is sometimes swamped reviewing, testing, posting, replying to comments, and real life sometimes catches up with her too so if you don’t get a reply right away to your email please be patient she promises to write back really soon!

If you can’t wait for a reply just comment and you’ll get an uber quick reply from yours truly!

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