Stash & Review - Hodgepodge

My very first department store beauty addiction was when I was senior in high school. My best friend Tricia and I would take the commuter train into Chicago and walk up to Water Tower Place where we would spend our hard earned money. Marshall Field's was generally where all our money went, sometimes Lord & Taylor captured a bit as well. Always Rizzoli for European fashion magazines and Fiorucci because it was just so cool.

One day at Marshall Field's I saw a counter full of Diane Von Furstenberg cosmetics and it was love. I had always been entranced by DVF, she was a princess, a glamorous jet setter, and she went to Studio 54. What was there not to adore? I even had her beauty book, chock full of beauty and style secrets as well as pictures of her looking so glam. To own her make-up was to have a bit of her glamour as well.

(from Amazon)

One day I found myself completely skeeved out by animal hair make-up brushes. I am not sure why? My skin is not sensitive to them, it's not an animal rights thing, for whatever reason saying goat hair just sent shivers down my spine. Who knew that $3.00 brushes from E.L.F. would be so awesome? I think they are rather amazing and work beautifully.

I received the little square palette of MAC lipsticks in a swap and rediscovered the ritual of applying lipstick with a brush. It also led to a lipstick de-potting party for colors that did not receive massive love or if I needed one or two more things so I could Back 2 MAC. Tony who used to work for Lancome swore by the Ink Artliner Eye brush as a lip brush and I could not agree more.

My _____ But Better 

After seeing the movie Dangerous Liaisons I remember walking through Nordstrom at Fashion Valley in San Diego determined to recreate the look of the make-up in the movie. Since then I have always had something in my make-up stash that is similar to the My "Blank" But Better best demonstrated in my opinion by the tragic Madame de Tourvel.

What I  currently use to create My _____ But Better.

BE's Golden Gate blush. BE Desire eyeshadow if I am feeling a bit of a glowy eye. Otherwise the palette of Lancome mattes is perfection. For the lips my own creation when I blended  MAC See Sheer and Warm Me Up.