A Lemming A Day

Well, it’s not! It’s all about me, but then isn’t that how all these blogs got started??? Someone thought everyone was entitled to their opinion and blogs were born! So this blog being about me and my makeup addiction, we were bound to eventually discuss the fact that I am one of those scary ladies in the white coat, behind the Clinique Counter. Except, I’m not. I really try to be friendly and non-scary and put people at their ease. All those jars and bottles and colors and things can be confusing. That’s where I come in.

Do you know how much training I have to go thru to get one of those stinkin’ white coats? ALOT! You start with a three day First Class to learn the entire line. Then a two day class to learn about the makeup part of the line, meanwhile you are attending “update” training on new products every 6 months. Then we have to take an accredidation test to prove we learned everthing they taught you in the first two big training sessions, it’s an all day test and very stressful. After that you then attend Master Classes to keep your skills sharp. So it ain’t as easy as it looks, kids!

There are pros and cons to all of this. The biggest pro is FREE STUFF! You sell the line, they give you products to try and use, so you can better tell your customer how it works. The con is you better be selling your butt off and making your sales goals, appointments, pre-sale for Gifts with Purchase and generally improving sales every year. If the economy is bad, or if you get closed because of 3 ft. of snow, it is NOT the companies problem, it’s YOURS! You better makeup those sales you lost!

How long have I been enduring this sadistic little setup?? Nine years!!! Yes!! First I sold Clarins, then due to Corporate B. S. I sold all the lines in the store, but without being “associated” with one (which meant all those freebies I got were stopped). But then my former store (Hecht’s) was bought out by Macy’s and I was then put back on one line. Don’t get me wrong, we all have to “inter-sell”, which means we sell products from other lines when their associates aren’t there. But we are mainly responsible for our own line.

Ok, so what you see below is dome of the latest “swag” I scored on my last gratis order. That very last bottle is the newest star of the line. A product designed to even out skin tone, break up sun spots, age spots, & acne scarring, for all of use who burned and abused our skin in our youth. Look for heavy advertising of this during American Idol finals!

So, OK, you sell Clinique, do you use EVERYTHING?!?! Quite honestly, no!! Oh quit being so horrified. Look At this blog! What did you think? However, I use the products I like and work for me. I love Total Turnaround Concentrate, All About Eyes eye cream, Youth Surge Moisturizer and Repairwear Night Cream.

We also have some really gorgeous color products. My favorites are: Eyeshadows; Lucky Penny, Iced Mauve, Toasted Almond, Foxy, Daybreak, in the Duos; Like Mink, Strawberry Fudge, Beach Plum, and Starstruck/Golden Lynx.

My all-time favorite blush is Precious Posy. I use no other in the line.

Favorite Mascara is High Impact.

Favorite Eyeliner is Chocolate Lustre in the Creamshapers line.

Favorite lipsticks: The Buttershine line in Delovely, Praline, and Apple Brandy. Also Honeynut, and Surprise.

So my Lemmingista’s, now that I’ve “come clean”, I hope you will still follow and read the blog and share just a little Clinique love!!!!

Tomorrow or it may be today by the time you read this, dear Lemmingista’s, I will be attending strategy (product update) training for the Cosmetic Company I work for part-time, Clinique.

I plan on sneaking in the IPhone and hopefully snapping a few pictures of products to come. One is pictured below and has not even hit some counters yet!

Stay Tuned………….

Reader Ms. JoeyBunny has informed me that Lipstick Queen is only available @ Barney’s and Henri Bendel. My sincere apologies to you my Lemmingista’s and my sincere thanks to JoeyBunny!

Years ago women wore “foundation” garments to ensure a smooth fit, these are making a huge comeback right now, with Spanx and Lipo In a Box and all those Aero Dynamic bras on the market. The same principal applies with makeup. You need to start with a good foundation.

When those foundation garments were sold to women in the distant past they were pretty much torture devices designed to give women a “one size fits all” body type. Foundation or “base” as it was called was basically white out for the face, the formulations were thick and heavy, meant to obliterate any imperfections.

Fast forward to today and foundation for the face has also gone Aero Dynamic, there are a myriad of formulations from lightweight & sheer to full coverage. But this isn’t your mothers makeup! The brand I work for, Clinique has 29 different types of foundation, in powders, liquids, cream and stick formulations.

So how does one choose the one that’s right for them? Well, working for a cosmetic company the best thing I can tell you to do is to go get a foundation match at a cosmetic counter. The sales associates are trained to match the right formulation, color and coverage to meet your needs. So now you’re reading this, looking at the pictures below and going„, “the Lemming lady sells this stuff and EVEN she can’t figure out what to USE???” What’s up with THAT?”

Well, even though I can pretty well walk up to a display in a drugstore or Super Store or Department store and pick a shade to match my skin, I am fascinated by all the different levels of coverage offered and like any one else hope to find that one foundation that will provide the level if coverage I want while making me look like I have the most perfect skin (hey, it COULD happen!).

Long ago, B.C.A. (before cosmetics addiction), I woul find a foundation and use it up and buy another and use itbup until they stopped making the formula. Now I am always testing a new formula, seeing what this one or that one will do for me. I have found I prefer cream formulas applied with a sponge, these offer the coverage I want, but don’t look cakey. I also like liquid foundations, but with some “body” to them. I hate anything runny or thin.

As you can see below I have tried quite a few, and my favorites are the CoverGirl AquaSmooth (a cream formula), and the Clinique Even Better Foundation (oh this was a gratis product, just cover my butt), I am also liking the L’Oreal True Match, which is also a cream formula. Revlon’s aren’t bad, but I prefer the Colorstay formula and I do recommend you apply it with a damp sponge or dampened foundation brush. The Wet n Wild isn’t bad, but it’s extremely difficult to get it out of the bottle. As for Prescriptives, the custom blend was a wonderful program but it was what eventually caused the brand to fold. The expense of all the range of pigments needed being to much of a cost for the brand to keep making.

So dear Lemmingista’s, have you found yourself a good foundation? One that meets your needs? Let me know!?!!?!!

First, before I begin this post, I want to thank the 2 people who are now following this blog! I send you happy makeup shopping wishes! (I know there are more if you out there, please feel free to join in).

Alrighty then, on with the post! Today I bring you Poppy King the Lipstick Queen!!!!! Poppy created her very own line of lipsticks at the tender age of eighteen because she was dissatisfied with those she found in most Department Store lines. She then went on to successfully “design” lipstick colors for a number of major brands, including the now defunct Prescriptives line. However, she has gone back to her roots and created her own line of lipsticks and glosses.

Her first foray was her “Saint & Sinners” lipsticks. The Saint lipsticks containing 10% blended pigment and the Sinners containing 80% blended pigment (please note these are approximate as I cannot remember exactly). Point being the “saints” are lighter in color than the “sinners”. That being said I find the one Saint lipstick I own, Saint Rouge, is fairly intense in color and I must apply it very lightly on my lips or risk looking a bit “lady of the nightish”. Even @ 10% these colors are far more intense than your average lipstick. They are also slightly drying on the lips, a good balm underneath will help with both preventing the dryness and sheering out the intensity of the color.

My next purchase was Medieval Lipbalm/Stick. Poppy created this by using the ancient method of rubbing lemon juice on the lips to cause them to redden and swell. Then she reproduced the color in a sheer reddish/pink balm like lipstick that almost anyone can wear. The color makes it seem as if you have just been thoroughly kissed and is nice and silky on the lips.

Big Bang Gloss was Poppy’s answer to all the lip plumping glosses. She decided instead of inflicting pain, she would use pigment to give her customers the appearance of fuller lips. These glosses feel featherweight on the lips but provide lovely color and shine worn alone or over lipstick.

Lastly there are the Butterfly Ball lipsticks, these are sheer lipsticks meant to evoke images of Butterfly’s lightly touching on flowers. The colors are ethereal and contain light refracting particles to produce a low level of shimmer.

Poppy also makes Oxymoron glosses, which are opaque glosses, Fired Up lipgloss, which is Fire Engine red, and her latest, Fifteen Minutes of Fame glosses named for the Andy Warhol quote and each named for a minute, i.e., One Minute, Two Minutes, etc., intensifying as the minutes increase.

Poppy’s products can be found @ Bergdorf Goodman and I “think” Nordstrom’s and online @ LipstickQueen.com.

So my dearest Lemmingista’s do you want to be crowned a “Lipstick Queen”? If so, get your hands on Poppy’s products!!

(all products here were bought by me for my own use and pleasure of having more makeup than I will ever use)

Laura Geller is a nice Jewish lady who sells her line of makeup products on QVC. During the recent snowstorm that hit the Northeast she was on selling her products, and having nothing better to do and my IPhone close by, I indulged in a few items.

Now by way of explaination Ms. Geller is most famous for her Spackle makeup primer (refer to previous post) and her “baked” blushes, eyeshadows and even eyeliners. She claims these are mousses of several colors blended and baked for 24 hours on TerraCotta pans in ovens in Italy. Ok, I’m a half-Italian girl and if you tell me it’s from Italy I’ma buy it! Her line was available on Sephora, but it has since been pulled. As far as I know you can now only buy it from QVC, her website or her store on Madison Avenue in New York, NY.

Ms. Geller also claims she attended and learned her makeup artistry skills under a famous Theatrical makeup artist. She did makeup on Broadway shows for many years before opening her own makeup studio and then creating her own line and selling to the masses on television.

I have previously purchased some if her baked blushes which are gorgeous swirls of harmonious colors. These are called Blush and Brightens. The foundation is called Balance and Brighten and the Bronze is, what else, Bronze and Brighten. She also produces regular foundations, lipsticks and eyeshadows.

So, the items that intrigued me were her Tropics lipstick and gloss and the Eye Rimz eyeliner.

The Tropics lipstick & gloss got me because Ms. Geller dais that the lip color was a best seller in her store called #46 and that this color looked good no matter who she used it on. So wanting to see for myself I ordered it. Well, Ms. Geller is true to her word. This lipstick looks corally in the tube. However, when swatched on my hand I see pink, brown, gold, a hint of red, and a bit of bronze. Perhaps it is this mélange of colors that makes it so adaptable. I know I was very pleasantly surprised when I applied it and it looked good. The gloss however is a bit gritty, but does add a nice shine. It can be used on it’s own, but I’m not sure if I ever will utilize it that way.

The Eye Rimz eye liner is a baked liner that can be applied wet or dry and comes with it’s own brush. To get the best and most intense effect I prefer to apply it wet. Just run the tip of the brush in a little water and then run it over the product. When I used it this way it gave an intense line of color and wore fairly well with little to no smudging. The amount of product is very generous and will most likely last for quite some time.

So, you should help a nice Jewish girl out and help her make a living and buy some of makeup, ok, my lemmingista’s??? Oy Vey!!!

Primers are a relatively new product in the cosmetic arena. These are products meant to make the skin look more flawless, minimize pores, and fill in fine lines. The claims are that by using these products you will look flawless and it will prevent your makeup from fading due to the fact that there is a barrier between your skin and your makeup. I’ve also heard claims that this helps to “seal” moisturizers into your skin so that it doesn’t mix with your makeup and break it down on your face.

I can NOT in any way verify any of these claims. I only know what my personal experience with these products had been.

When primers first started out, there were only one or two companies making them. Most famously the Smashbox line of cosmetics. Their primers have since morphed into several different formulations. Also, Laura Geller from QVC fame puts out one called Spackle (the most appropriately named, in my opinion). These are the first I remember hitting the market. Then came Clarins, theirs was a little different, instead of the gel like consistency, it wad more of a pale pink, very silky smooth, Play-Do texture. It was also an instant hit in the line and continues to be a very strong seller.

The four I show here are all ones I’ve tried. My favorite is the Maybelline. The Clarins for some reason did not agree with my skin at all, but thankfully I had a sample if it, so no harm done. The Urban Decay formulation didn’t seem to do anything at all for me, I saw no noticeable difference. The L’Oreal was recent purchase and I haven’t tested it enough to form an opinion.

However, the Maybelline Instant Age Rewind is so far, the front runner. It smooths on nicely and also helps absorb oil. It doesn’t make me look flawless, but it does seem to help my makeup apply more smoothly and last a good deal longer. It also claims to add a pink luminescence to the skin which I don’t notice at all.

I also want to mention a small online E-tailer of fabulous mineral makeup called Fyrianne.com. They make a fantastic silicone primer in two formulations for the very economical price of about $5.50 a jar. I went through 2 jars before I was lured by other brands, but I do highly recommend them. They also have the most beautiful and unusually named mineral makeup I know of.

Like any new product you will have to see for yourself works for you. I can only offer you my educated opinion of these products.

So, my darling Lemmingista’s, are YOU ready for Prime(er) Time?????

The MAC line of makeup is one of the most coveted and extensive lines of makeup. The colors range from soft and pretty to bold and fierce. There are tons of formulas, products and shades. I once visited a counter where there was myself ( very Caucasian), an Asian woman and an African-American woman, and MAC had something to suit us all!!!

The MAC line comes out with new color collections at least once a month, if not more. The latest collection is the Spring ColorForecast and included plums, ambers, and corals. The items I hauled were from the coral and amber collections.

The Color Me Coral lipstick did not impress. It is a very frosty 60’s coral. When I applied it, I had visions of Twiggy & Mary Quant (read your history of makeup books, kids). This may have to go up on MUA for swap.

The other item was the Color 4 Quad of eyeshadows. Now these are absolutely gorgeous!!!!! The colors are silky and well pigmented. I am so excited to use these with some other items I hauled ( that’s another post, for another day though). I do not regret the purchase one little bit.

The other lipstick is MAC’s “O” lipstick which I was introduced too long ago in the MAC Pro store in Philadelphia. This color in the tube looks nothing like what it does when applied to the lips.
It is an amazing shade. It looks purple in the tube and applies bronzey on the lips. Also, for those ofbus who know our Estee Lauder companies, this color is calle Surprise in Clinique and was called Emperor at one time in the Prescriptives line. A HUGE shout out to my dear friend JoeyBunny if MUA for taking my MAC empties to a counter and getting it and sending it to me!

Lastly, the little pot if what looks like putty, is a MAC paintpot and is supposed to be an excellent eyeshadow base. Haven’t tested it yet, but will let you know, lemmingista’s.

So, have you had a BIG MAC Attack, lately????

My dearest Lemmingista’s, first off I must sincerely apologize for neglecting you (if indeed there are any of you out there reading this blog). We here in the northeast had huge amounts of snow dumped on us and with one thing and another I put the blog on the back burner. So, apologies, and I will try to do better in the future.

Now, on to today’s cheap seats subject. Victoria’s Secret us not a store I tend to patronize, simply because I can not possibly fit into their lingerie. Enough said, you figure it out. However, they do produce a line of makeup and so, for that one reason, I will occasionally suffer myself to walk past the scraps of fabric they call underwear to the wondeful little bins holding their Beauty Rush makeup line.

The best thing about these products is that you can buy one single item for $7, two items for $12, or five items for $20. If you do the math, the price of the items drops by $1, the more you purchase.

They carry a fairly good variety of products. Tonight there was mascara, not only in black, but also in blue and violet. For some reason the brown shade was marked down to $1.75, maybe it just wasn’t too good of a seller. As you can see by the pictures, they also have lip balm. It comes in three shades, a pink, a clear, and the buff (pictured). These have a monty tingle when first applied and definite sparkle. The eyeshadows come in a variety of colors, as you can see I tend to like neutral shades, but they also have very pretty greens, pinks, purples and blues. They also have a huge range of squeeze tube glosses.

Some new items I noticed tonight were glitter eyeliner and cheek stain. The cheek stains came in bright pink, orange and red. However, the formulation looked gel like in formulation and probably is quite sheer. These were packaged in cute little push up tubes similar to deodorant, but cuter, of course.

All in all, you can do a complete face of makeup from this line, from shadow to liner to mascara, cheeks and lips. Itnis a great line for those on a budget or who want a quick beauty “fix”. While the line is aimed at there teen and college age consumers, the line should not be overlooked. Also, if you check a store in a larger market or online, Heidi Klum designs a line of Makeup for the store.

So my dear Lemmingista’s, do you need to indulge in a “Beauty Rush”????

So there is this FANTASTIC makeup Artist on YouTube who goes by the name EnKore and he has an excellent method of depotting MAC eyeshadows to put into palettes.

If you are unaware, MAC stands for Makeup Artist Cosmetics and is an AMAZING brand of makeup. But you used to only be able to buy the pans in Pro Stores to put into palettes. So, most people have a ton of the singles, but want to “depot” them to put them into palettes, to make room for, well, more makeup! DUH!

EnKore’s method is simple, easy & takes only a few inexpensive tools and very little time.

Please go watch his videos on YouTube and happy depotting!!!!’

So tonight here in the NorthEast we are experiencing a MAJOR snowstorm. So, of course, I did what everyone does when a snowstorm hits and went to the drugstore to stock up on toilet paper.

Well for some reason the thought of being snowbound for the majority of the weekend inspired me to haul, knowing that I probably would not be going out of the house until Sunday afternoon to work @ Macy’s, if at all.

So these lovely little pretties caught my eye and I just HAD to have them.

The eyeliner was actually recommended to me by my good friend joeybunny of MUA who sometimes writes for PinkSith’s blog and who will, hopefully, one day, do a guest spot here @ the Lemming. Unfortunately my Rite Aid only had Dark Brown and Teal in stock and, despite my previous profession of loving teal eyeliners, when trying any new products, I usually try brown first, because that’s a staple color for me. Joeybunny claims this wears extremely well. All I know is after I swatched it took some serious rubbing with remover to get it off my hand.

The two shadows just attracted me because, basically, I never met a neutral I didn’t like and these are billed as “Satin Finish” which upon swatching proved to be true. There were a variety of other colors, but the snow was coming and I didn’t have time to take a pic for you, my dearest Lemmingista’s.

The gloss was just, well, PINK! I love pink!!! So I grabbed it and made a mad dash for the checkout clutching my goodies and a four pack of Scott Toilet Tissue.

So my dear Lemmingista’s, are you enduring foul weather? What have you hauled lately?? Tell me your Lemmings!! That’s what we’re all about here, RIGHT?

As I was waiting to go to a Dr.’s appointment today, I dropped in at the Rite Aid down the street to browse the makeup aisles.

I was pleasantly surprised to find a huge display of Sinful Colors Nail Polish. I am not a person who regularly gets manicures (ok, don’t be so horrified, it just isn’t my “thing”), but I DO appreciate color and these were some of the most gorgeous, vividly colored polishes I had ever seen! There were blues, deep emerald greens, oranges, amethysts, vampy deep blackened reds, and bright vivid reds, beautiful pinks and on and on. There were glitters, frosts, cremes. A nail polish junkie’s dream!!! And ONLY $1.99 apiece. Definitely a bargain.

I also noticed some new offerings from N.Y.C. Cosmetics. I don’t have too many products from this line, but some of there products are outstanding. They make a really wonderful translucent loose face powder for about $3.99 and a cult favorite red lipstick, just known simply as, Sheer Red.

The perfume just blew my mind. It seems every celebrity has one now. Even if your claim to fame was bouncing on a beach in a two sizes too small one piece bathing suit with David DON’T Hassel the Hoff. I mean really, does it smell like stale sex on the beach?

Anyways, that’s all for the Cheap Seats this week. Let me know what you’ve discovered at your local drugstore, Target or Wal/Mart!