Musings of a Muse

Everyone and their mum wants to change Susan Boyle. Susan’s hair, her clothes, everything about her seems to need a change if it was up to the media. After much pressure I guess she gave into it and she’s sporting a brand new look.

The question is what do you think of her new look?

Jump ahead for my take on it!

I personally thought part of Susan’s appeal was that she was an average, everyday woman with the gift of a beautiful voice. I thought she had a bright, cheeky smile and quite a nice personality. I’m not against changing or re-eventing yourself but I think part of that stemmed from her sudden popularity and if that’s what brought about the change, I for one am a tad disappointed. Change should be decided because you want it, not because someone told you that you need a change! Being your own person is what it’s about.

What do you think?

Tell the Muse!

With the Summer coming at us full speed ahead, I’m sure we are all thinking about how best to minimize our makeup. Lighter makeup is always the order of business as the hot weather approaches and what better way to keep it fresh than with the new Bobbi Brown Nautical Collection releasing this May!

The Muse arranged for a little sneak peek of this collection so jump ahead for a peep!

Available in six shades Bobbi Brown Sheer Color Cheek Tint are chubby, travel friendly tubes of pigmented cheek color that glide on quickly and leave behind a glow of color. At $22 USD I wasn’t so sure on the price of these since they are half the size of a normal stick blush plus Bobbi Brown Rouge is $22 per a pot…you can see my dilemma here probably. Aside from the rant about it’s size I do think it’s a rather great little product plus I like how travel friendly it is and in a way I do like the size as I’ll run through it quickly rather than have it sit around for months because it’s just TOO much product.

The colors I tried were Sheer Pink and Sheer Coral. Sheer Coral is gorgeous and Orgasm-like shade, very peachy and pretty. Sheer Pink is a pretty sheer pink that gives a nice fresh glow. Both shades allow for sheer or bolder application. I didn’t find that these lasted as long as the potted rouge so reapplication was necessary after around 5 hours of wear.

All in all I like these alot for traveling and do like that they are tiny simply because I have plenty of product to get through. If you’re looking for nice, healthy color that’s light and fresh for the warmer weather, these make a great treat!

Also releasing with Bobbi Brown Nautical Collection is the new Bobbi Brown Sheer Color Gloss in four shades. I only have one of the four colors and I must pick up the other three as they are rather fantastic. At first glance of the promo photos I was thinking these were a lip stain. They aren’t a stain but a rather nice tacky, glossy, natural looking gloss that makes lips look quite fresh and sexy. The gloss is sheer with a tiny bit of color. It’s sticky enough to wear quite long and it goes rather nicely with the cheek tints to create a very natural, fresh look. I tried the shade Popsicle which is a very sheer pink. I liked the gloss alot and I looking forward to picking up the other shades when they are available in store.

The Bobbi Brown Nautical Collection keeps beauty natural and fresh this Summer. If you like a barely there face this collection is sure to please. I loved the FOTD’s I did for them as I thought I looked younger, fresher, and very natural using the products in the collection. Quite nice of you’re a fan of the minimal makeup look.

Check out the Bobbi Brown Nautical Collection in May at your local counter and at www.bobbibrowncosmetics.com

Loves it?

Leaves it?

Tell the Muse!

The Muse feels like a broken record but she must tell you that you can steal Sugar Sweet Cheeks Baked Blush yet again at Sephora!

Sugar Sweet Cheeks Baked Blush was one of those fab beauty finds that the Muse is so properly happy graces her collection. She’s been known to rave about it a time or two in past posts. Sephora has been busy restocking all of the Sugar line to rid themselves of stock. It’s reduced 50% off! If you didn’t catch them the first time you can again get them for $12 USD!

So go now and steal Sugar Sweet Cheeks Baked Blush!

If you missed my review of these fine blushes and want a few swatches have a look over yonder.

Or blather about how much you love them in my comment box.

Share on Tumblr

1 Comment

If you’re a beauty junkie you probably already knew that QVC had an all day beauty event on Saturday. As tempting as it was to stay inside and just watch beauty on the tube, the weather was too nice to resist the temptation of outdoor play so this Muse Tivo’ed up everything that was on this Saturday and fast forwarded through it early this morning to get a peep at what she missed!

After fast forwarding briefly I came across two or three items I had to have but was somewhat relieved that it wasn’t a ton of must have items.

Here’s what I hauled:

I’m not sure why but I got a bit crazy with all the Laura Geller items offered. It seemed like such a good deal and the Kiss and Bake set. The few times I’ve tried Laura’s baked goodies they have always been a tad chalky but I decided what the heck, might as well re-try ‘em!

As for the Bobbi Brown, obviously you can see why I love these shadows plus I thought it wasn’t too bad a deal for all three.

I’m looking forward to scrolling through the rest of my Tivo’ed recordings to see what else was offered on Saturday!

What did you haul?

Share it!

Share on Tumblr

No Comments

Sometimes the Muse will get sudden spurts of traffic incoming from her favorite hang out MUA. If you’re a beauty junkie you likely lurk over yonder as well.

About 75% of the time that traffic starts flowing in from MUA the user responsible for it is some chica nicked chix_nuggets.

This one’s for you chix!

Dear Miss Nugget.

You’re obviously my biggest fan and supporter and cheerleader and….and….! The moral of the story is thank you. Readers like you are why I do what I do. When I’m tired and I’m whining about having to take pictures or write an article or I don’t feel like blogging today, I remind myself that you and a million other people are here reading what I type daily and expecting something new to pop up on my little site.

Thank you, thank you for inspiring me with your excitement.

Your bubbly posts on MUA pimping out “the Muse” is truly a flattering experience.

Cheers mate!

And everyone else thank you too. You’re all very special.

Remember kids, the Muse sees all, reads all, and knows all.

Ok peeps! It’s official now! Here’s the official word from Stila that they are back and ready to boogie down!

(Click to Enlarge)

Patriarch Partner’s aquistion of Stila is official as of today! Phew! Someone wipe the sweat off my worried brow please!

Lynn Tilton, CEO of Patriarch Partners, is now the newest Stila Girl! Click here to learn more about Lynn and Patriarch Partners.

Stila expresses their appreciation for our support during this time and gives a big thanks to all us Stila Girls (and Stila Guys!). Thanks Stila we love you and were quite worried!

Now the Muse can sleep again at night!

The Muse hopes by now that you discovered the joys of Buffy and may God help you if you haven’t. Hello, it’s Summer soon you want your legs, elbows, and knees in tip top shape right? Head to Lush and snag yourself a bar of the Muse’s favorite scrubby friend, Buffy and get to work!

Well don’t take my word for it! Watch this lovely British Lushie tell us all about the benefits of Buffy:

Aw isn’t he lovely?

See kids? Buffy is good for you. Anyway this is technically not a muse about Buffy, it’s about the brand new Sugar Scrubs from Lush!

Jump ahead for the deets!

Since the new Sugar Scrubs are along the same lines as my beloved Buffy, I’m of course quite excited about their release and already placed an order (Yes, Lush UK ships to the US) eep!

Available now from Lush UK each Sugar Scrub is £2.50 each.

These are a mix of bicarb and cream of tartar plus moisturizing coconut oil which solidifies the product into a buttery bar. Two flavors are available Sugar Babe and A. Sugar Scrub. Sugar Babe is a ylang flowers and mimosa blossom blend and A. Sugar Scrub is a fennel, ginger and lavender blend.

The Muse thinks these are perfect for scrubbing away all her nasty, dry skin from the harsh Winter while making it soft, moisturized, and pretty for Summer. Likey! If you do order, please remember to order now as they will melt in the warmer weather. Sadly, Lush Sugar Scrub is not vegan friendly.

Oh baby the Muse was busy visiting the jungle. Ok, so maybe that isn’t true it probably wasn’t the jungle but my bathroom vanity. Hey, it’s a jungle in there too sometimes with products all over the place so I firgure it qualifies!

Anyway! Speaking of jungles I was visiting one with the new Smashbox Untamed Collection rawrrrrr baby!

Jump ahead for the goods!

Although Smashbox Untamed reminds me of a Fall Collection, I’m still feeling a bit of love for it. The Muse guesses that after two years of blogging beauty that she has to realize that sometimes brands will release really weird shade selections during the Summer, in this case weird for me would be smoky, exotic eyes that look more suitable for Fall than Summer. But I’m at peace with that and I can dig it. The Muse thinks she’s hip enough to pull off sexy, smoky eyes in the Summer….yeah, sure, sure. I’ve already told you the good word of Smashbox Untamed but if you haven’t familiarized yourself with the collection you can check it here. I tried out Smashbox Untamed Waterproof Shadow Liner Trio in Savage and Smashbox Untamed Lip Gloss in Raw.

Smashbox Untamed Waterproof Shadow Liner Trio multitasks as a liner and a shadow. Ok, waterproof I’m not really buying that as these are super creamy. Long wearing yes when your eye is prepped and primed well but not waterproof I don’t think? They seem a bit too creamy to suffer through some swimming say. The trio contains, yes you guessed it, three shadows. The colors are a golden olive, a bronze brown, and a neutral beige. The shades go well together which is always delightful as sometimes trios or palettes contain wonky colors that don’t go well together but these three just go well together. The formula is quite nice as both a shadow and a liner but they are very sheer so you do have to layer a good deal to get a good pop of color. The colors are very subtle so if you like a lighter makeup this should be quite a pleasure but if you’re in it for a pigmented, bolder look this won’t do. I got decent color payoff with a few layers but honestly nothing major dramatic. I did love how easily these blended and they’ll make a killer base for shadows. If I’m wanting a light, no nonsense makeup they are ideal. The compact has a flip top lid to keep the shadows nice and fresh and mess free. I know everyone wasn’t particularly excited about the packaging but I think it’s nice. I’m digging the “jungle” theme hehe!

I also got Smashbox Untamed Lip Gloss in Raw which is a nice sheer red brown. Quite a nice color, very sophisticated and grown up for the Muse. It matches up nicely with the Savage Trio as well. The gloss is nicely pigmented although not super duper glossy but I find that’s the standard with Smashbox glosses.

If you’re seeking nice work friendly makeup with a tiny bit of an edge I think you might like some of what Smashbox Untamed offers. It doesn’t shout Summer to me but maybe with a hint of a tan you could rock that wild jungle look.

I created two looks using the palette. My first look I used the green on my lid and the lighter beige as a highbrow highlighter. My second look I used the brown on my lid and the lighter beige as a highbrow highlighter. I’ll try and get a post up shortly of a look created using all three shades as they work rather well together. And yes that’s Raw on my lips in both pictures.

What do you think?

Yay or Nay?

Tried any of the Smashbox Untamed Collection?

Tell the Muse!

It’s that time again kids! Time for a Beauty Battle! Taking two of my favorite cream blushes and battling them again each other should make for an awesome fight. Stila Convertible Color versus Bobbi Brown Pot Rouge to the death!

Let the game begin!

Let me tell you this is sadly not much of a battle as it’s easy enough to see who will win here but let’s have a go and see what you think after I’ve butted these two against each other!

Stila Convertible Color comes housed in a cute little palette with embedded flowers on it’s lid and a nice full size mirror for on the fly application. Packaging wise Stila has it going on. When compared to Bobbi’s very minimal black pot design there isn’t much of a question which is the cuter of the two. Placing cuteness aside Stila Convertible Color has alot of catching up to do in the price and size department. At 0.15 oz in size with a price tag of $25 USD, Stila has alot of work to do to catch our attention aside from sweet packaging.

Bobbi Brown Pot Rouge def doesn’t have the cute factor in it’s ring but it has the size and the price tag to please! No mirror here and no cutesy flower compact but a $22 USD price tag and a size of a whopping 0.38 oz makes Bobbi Brown a fierce competitor for Stila Convertible Color. So that’s over double the size of Stila plus $3 bucks cheaper? Uh oh Stila look out!

Both formulas are incredibly long wearing and can easily be considered almost an identical product.

Stila takes a sucker punch from Bobbi Brown in the color department. With merely 7 shades and Bobbi coming up on 10! Things are starting to tip dangerously in favor of Bobbi’s side here. Stila defends itself with a quick punch to the left and snaps up about LE color releases for Stila Convertible Color but can we swayed by cute packaging, a few LE colors, and a high price tag? Probably not.

The winner?

Obvious isn’t?

Bobbi Brown Pot Rouge wins this beauty battle kids! Great formula, long wearing, a huge size for a nice price tag makes it the champion in this fight. Sorry Stila…it was obvious from the start you weren’t going to win this one. We love you but your size and price leaves a bit to be desired.

How about you?

Is Bobbi Brown Pot Rouge your winner?

Or is Stila Convertible Color your champion?

Tell the Muse!

It’s not Friday but I thought I’d share some more Etsy love with you! This is a follow up post from my original Bead Passion from a few weeks ago as I wanted to share with you some of the brand new pendants that arrived in my mail box!

Jump ahead for a peep!

By now I hope that you too got your package if you ordered from Helen. I got my order yesterday and was thrilled to bits and pieces with it.

Helen has gotten way more detail orientated since my first purchase hehe! The new cuppycakes are simply gorgeous and so life like!

I love the new chains she’s shipping the pendants with as well. They are so nice and long so the pendant is really displayed nicely around your neck!

My free goodies!

In my original Bead Passion post Helen offered free earrings, a free cell phone charm, and stickers to anyone who made a purchase! The above are what I got ;D I’m loving the cell phone charms! Cutes!

Curious minds did anyone order?

If so what did you get?

Feel free to share pics! musings.of.a.muse@gmail.com

Pop you cheeky little monkey! You may be gone from Sephora but you’re still pumping out brand new palettes like your new Lid Pastel!

In the vein of Pop Lid Neon up pops Pop Lid Pastel! A pretty array of six sorbet shades to give eyes a flirty, refreshed look.

Pop Lid Pastel contains shades of sheer almond, baby pink, glowing pistachio, lovely lilac, glistening opal, soft yellow.

If I’m honest I’ll probably admit the shades may not be too flattering on me but the Muse can’t resist cute little palettes!

Available now from Pop for $22 USD.

Share on Tumblr

No Comments