Showing posts with label AERIN. Show all posts
Showing posts with label AERIN. Show all posts

Thursday, May 15, 2014

Aerin Rose Balm Lipstick in Pretty

Aerin Lauder offers a collection of 10 luxurious, creamy lipsticks with medium coverage. They are called Rose Balm Lipstick ($30). I purchased a shade called Pretty, a beautiful warm pink.

A collection of 10 effortless, universally-flattering shades, specially curated by Aerin. Featuring a luxe balm texture, medium coverage, and a shine finish, they help protect lips the way a flower protects its delicate petals, with a natural wax that helps seal in moisture.

I have said before that Aerin's Color Essentials have not excited me. They are exactly as described: essentials. Having more than my share of essentials has made me a little jaded, but I decided to give Aerin's Rose Balm Lipsticks a chance, selecting Pretty because it looked pretty online. Indeed, it is perfectly named. I'm wearing it now with my gorgeous new YSL green palette on my eyelids, and I think I look amazingly good with the perfect contrast of pink and green.

The Rose Balm Lipsticks do offer coverage. Fortunately, it's a medium intensity, as described, so I don't feel like my lips are coated with severe color. I like the finish with its very subtle sheen.

I took swatch photos of Pretty in full sun (although it was about to exit the scene for rain clouds). I applied it directly from the tube. The swatch application was analogous to a regular application on my lips.

Pretty looks the same on my lips as it looks on my arm. The warm pink color has a subtle shine that is enhanced by bright light. It feels great on my lips - moist and creamy.

I took this second photo in front of a blooming honeysuckle shrub with an indirect angle to the sun. While the honeysuckle blossoms are starting to yellow, they still offer a beautiful fragrance. It was nice hanging out there for a few minutes.

Aerin's Rose Balm Lipstick offers what I think is the perfect level of intensity. Any more, and I would perceive too much coverage. I'm a sheer lips kind of gal, but I still like Rose Balm Lipstick. I think I may pick up a few more shades the next time I go to a counter. I blind-ordered Pretty from the Estée Lauder Web site. It turned out to be a great color. Why tempt the fates, though, with Aerin's line so accessible at department stores. I'll go play with the other shades before I select new colors.

Photo at top courtesy of Estée Lauder; other photos by Best Things in Beauty

Wednesday, July 31, 2013

Coming Attraction: Aerin Lauder Fragrances

It's no surprise that Aerin Lauder will be taking her lifestyle and beauty brand into fragrance. She's doing it with a splash - five scents. Gardenia Rattan, Amber Musk, Lilac Path, Ikat Jasmine, and Evening Rose will launch in November. May I have them all, please?

Lauder told WWD, "One of my earliest memories is fragrance. When I think about certain people and moments in my life, fragrance is always involved - whether it’s going for a bike ride and smelling honeysuckle for the first time or gardenias in my hair when I got married. They all evoke memories and stories and moods.” That's not surprising. Many of us have early memories of scents, perhaps our mother's favorite perfume or the flowers that bloomed outside our homes.

Lauder wanted to create a whole wardrobe of fragrances. She worked with Firmenich, a storied perfume company, to create the scents. Her attention to detail is evident, even down to the fragrance boxes, which feature patterns used in Lauder’s fabric license with Lee Jofa. Each glass bottle is topped by a different colored stone that incorporates the color of one of the ingredients in the juice (the bottles remind me slightly of Armani Privé bottles): green for Gardenia Rattan, pale brown for Amber Musk, pink for Lilac Path, white for Ikat Jasmine, and purple for Evening Rose.

Gardenia Rattan is intended to capture the spirit of summer and has sparkling wet marine notes combined with gardenia, tuberose, and Tahitian tiare and amber. Its carton is reminiscent of a summer garden and features the Aerin for Lee Jofa design “Sayre,” a modern floral.

Amber Musk is inspired by winter. It blends ambrox, coconut water, rose centifolia absolute, benzoin, and musk. The carton features the Aerin for Lee Jofa design, “Kenlyn,” a personal take on the floral prints that were always part of her grandmother’s home decor. The print is an adaptation of a French document in the Lee Jofa archive that features two birds among exotic flowers and foliage.

Lilac Path was inspired by the lilac bush that blooms at Estée Lauder’s summer cottage. It combines lilac with galbanum, creamy jasmine lactones, angelica seed oil, and orange flower. The carton features the Aerin for Lee Jofa design, “Marila,” which combines two unique designs to create a signature batik.

Ikat Jasmine is intended to personify a modern woman - effortless style and intriguing femininity. Key notes are jasmine sambac and jasmine Egypt infusion, combined with exotic tuberose fleur, honeysuckle, tuberose infusion, and sandalwood. I can smell it from here. Its outer packaging was inspired by the blue and white floral wallpaper in Lauder’s childhood bedroom.

Evening Rose is meant to be a day-to-night fragrance. Juicy blackberry and rich cognac are blended with voluptuous rose centifolia and Bulgarian rose absolute and incense. The outer box is of the Aerin for Lee Jofa “Hither” pattern, which was adapted from an English Jacobean hand-blocked linen from the Lee Jofa archive, dating back to the early twentieth century.

Each of the scents will retail for $110 for a 50-ml bottle. In the U.S., they will be available at about 100 stores, including Neiman Marcus, Bergdorf Goodman, and Saks Fifth Avenue. They will also be available at Holt Renfrew in Canada and Selfridges, Brown Thomas and John Lewis in the U.K., as well as on Esteelauder.com and Aerin.com. I can't wait!

Photos and descriptions courtesy of WWD

Friday, February 8, 2013

AERIN Lauder Floral Illuminating Powder from the Spring 2013 Color Collection

When I purchased the AERIN Multi Color beauty online, I also purchased the Floral Illuminating Powder ($55, shown above) from the Spring 2013 Garden Color Collection. I am a pushover for a pretty compact. This one has touches of gold (that are gone with the first use) and offers a pretty rose pink color for the cheeks.

Like the bright, fresh possibility of an idyllic spring morning, the Floral Illuminating Powder features six soft pastels that swirl into one illuminating shade to brighten any complexion. The luxuriously silky blush dusts the face with subtle radiance. Plus, AERIN's signature rose scent adds a finishing touch of understated elegance.

The compact is as pretty - if not prettier - than it looks online. Like the Multi Color for Lips and Cheeks, it is presented in a pretty pink pouch inside its pink box. The description calls it an illuminating powder and a blush. I would definitely call it a blush.

I took swatch photos in full, morning sun, just as it was about to cloud over. I had to hurry. I applied the powder heavily at the top of my arm with a sponge-tipped applicator, taking care to roll it over all of the shades in the compact. The larger swatch below was applied with a kabuki brush.

As you can see, the blended color is a very pretty rosy pink. It will work for many skin tones. Except for a few sparse sparkles though, there is nothing about it that I found illuminating. Look carefully at my arm above and below the top swatch, and you will see that my skin is more luminous than the blush. Aside from a few micro-sparkles, there is little about this powder that's illuminating (in today's sense of the term).

The Floral Illuminating Powder has a satin finish - at best. It carries a very pretty, light rose scent that dissipates quickly. I like it - as a blush. As an illuminator, I think it falls short. Plus, it's nowhere near as exciting as the smashing Freesia I featured yesterday. What do you think? Try, buy, or pass?

You can purchase items from AERIN's Spring 2013 Color Collection at the Estée Lauder Web site and at Estée Lauder counters (and online) at Neiman Marcus, Bergdorf Goodman, Saks Fifth Avenue, and at AERIN.com.

Photo at top courtesy of AERIN; other photos by Best Things in Beauty

Thursday, February 7, 2013

AERIN Lauder Multi Color for Lips and Cheeks from the Spring 2013 Color Collection

I'm sure you know by now that Aerin Lauder launched her own beauty line under the Estée Lauder umbrella last year. Each time I have visited the counter, I have studied it (visually), and so far, nothing has jumped out into my jaded fingers. The makeup is all pretty. I just didn't find something to love. For spring, I found something to love.

Multi Color for Lips and Cheeks ($42) is available in two shades:  Freesia, the one I purchased online (shown here), and Sweet Pea, a pink that I feared would be too light. I took quite a chance on Freesia, which appears to be coral in the photo above from the Web site. I was totally delighted when I saw the cream color on my skin.

Capturing that first day of spring, can't-wait-to-get-outside feeling, AERIN's limited-edition Spring 2013 Color Collection is inspired by the shades of early spring flowers. Enhanced with AERIN's signature floral infusion, this endlessly-wearable collection washes cheeks, lips, and eyes with the shades of the season, from softly delicate to slightly dramatic. It's beauty made easy, stylish, and effortless - it's the perfect fresh start for Spring. 

Spring days grow longer, as does your daily to-do list. Skip a step with one of AERIN's favorite two-in-one essentials. New limited-edition shades are as easy to blend as they are to wear, enhancing any skin tone with a delicate hint of natural color that blooms on lips and cheeks. 

The presentation of AERIN's items is special. Not in your usual black pouch, AERIN makeup is presented in a signature pink pouch with a silky cord. Very classy!

I looked at Freesia with trepidation when it arrived, thinking, "This experiment better go well." Imagine how excited I was when I saw this on my skin.

It's a pink-leaning peach with a sheen that will delight anyone. I think it's exquisite. Who would have ever pegged that compact to produce this color?

I took my swatch photos in full sun, while I was freezing (notice my veins trying to deliver blood to keep my arm warm?). I applied the cream color with a sponge-tipped applicator. It applies and blends beautifully.

The appearance? I don't know about you, but I think I think this is a gorgeous sheer peach blush, highlighter, lip tint - and even eye shadow.

Even though I have written it before, never judge a color by the way it looks in the tube, compact, or packaging. AERIN's Freesia made me a believer in AERIN's line. Next time I swing by the counter, I will test everything there.

You can purchase items from AERIN's Spring 2013 Color Collection at the Estée Lauder Web site and at Estée Lauder counters (and online) at Neiman Marcus, Bergdorf Goodman, Saks Fifth Avenue, and at AERIN.com.

Photo at top courtesy of AERIN; other photos by Best Things in Beauty