Savage Beauty

Erika and I headed out to do some fancy shopping yesterday.  I told myself that I was going Christmas shopping, but I came home with a disproportionate amount of presents for myself.  We both wanted new makeup, and I've been wanting to try out the foundation stick from Bobbi Brown so that's where we started.  Erika started working with a makeup artist at the counter, and I wondered around a little bit.  I tried all of the Bobbi Brown foundations, but I didn't love the way they were sitting on my skin.  I had this idea that it would be clean, light, and flawless, but it looked more like I was wearing a layer of concealer all over my face.  I ended up at Shu Uemura nearly begging them to show me different products (a nice relief from the usually over pushy counter girls)  and I came home with both a foundation and a base.  They only have two foundations, and I really liked the texture of the Face Architect Smoothing Fluid Foundation ($55).  It's smooth and moisturizing, and not too pink.  With the UV Underbase Mousse ($45), which comes in an aerosol, my skin had a nice even glow to it and I didn't feel like I was wearing too much makeup.  I kind of regret not coming home with the cleansing oils after reading all of the stunning reviews.  I tried some when I was stripping off my makeup, and they felt absolutely amazing on my skin, but I was scared that they would triple my bill.  Online, the small bottles sell for about $40 which means I'll be back.  

The online prices seem to be quite a bit cheaper (almost $10 on every product I tried) which is good to know for the future for those with a US address, but it looks like I won't be checking into any Shu Uemura counter in LA, because they've pulled all of their retailers from US markets! It's hard to imagine, given how happy I am with my purchases.  I've tried almost every foundation under the sun.  Nars, Smashbox, and Laura Mercier were the biggest and most overhyped disappointments, while Hourglass and Armani are fantastic but almost double the cost. At $40 a pop, Shu does the job really really well.

Meanwhile Erika was being fawned over at Bobbi Brown and came home with her own stash of goodies, from foundation to eye makeup.  The colour match was amazing and she also got a complete makeup tutorial on liquid liner. On our way home, we jumped into Mac for some orange lipstick (something, I guess, we both felt necessary) and I ended up with Lady Danger ($18), an orange-ish red that apparently looks good on everyone.  At least that's what Glamour says.  I wanted something bright and fun and its awesome! Like equal parts polka dots and leopard print.  I can't wait to wear both!