The Moment Has Not Yet Passed

I think my Purple Moment is now officially a Purple Hour. Still on my all-things-violet-and-plum kick, which most lately extends to this:

Yves Saint Laurent GOLDEN GLOSS Shimmering Lip Gloss in 14 -- Golden Purple

I was at the YSL counter buying some Touche Eclat when this jumped out at me. SUCH a gorgeous color in the tube, and amazingly, it was absolutely gorgeous on me. Again & again I find myself wondering why I haven't been wearing more purple my whole life -- purple lurrrrrves a blue-eyed redhead.

Now, let me just say that I'm not a huge makeup person. I mean, I wear makeup, of course, but it's not my big thing. Most of what I put on my face, cosmetics-wise, can be found in the grocery store. Can usually be found in the grocery store, I should say -- right now they are & have been for a while out of my very favorite mascara

(Max Factor Lash Perfection, which I raved about here -- click photo for link)

One of the reasons I love this stuff, besides the formula being excellent, is that is has a great wand with little plastic bristles instead of a spoolie. Since they're out of it, I went with this

(Rimmel Eye Magnifier -- again, click for link)

which has a similar kind of wand. So far I've only used it once, but I'm feeling pretty good about it. I'll keep you posted. While I was at the YSL counter I got to chatting with the very nice SA about mascaras and she gave me a sample of the Diorshow Black Out which she swears by. I've heard lots of women swear by this one, actually, it always tops Best Of lists; but I have to say -- I didn't love it. This particular iteration of the DiorShow, the Blackout, evidently has actual kohl in it, which is cool in a Cleopatra sort of way, but may be what led it to flake in little tiny particles. I hate the little tiny particles. A lot of mascaras that bill themselves as "lash extending" have stuff in them -- like tiny fibers -- that eventually drops off my lashes and either gets under a contact lens or just looks sloppy. And forget those ones with the basecoat that you put on before color. Oh, waaaaay too much trouble, and all that "lash building" stuff just becomes a storm of tiny flakes settling on the skin under my eyes. Bleah.

So, yeah, while I'm not opposed to drugstore makeup, I do really swear by the Touche Eclat, which is a brilliant highlighter/cover up that does great things for my undereye circles. I have a very thin face and fair skin and this time of year when the allergies have kicked in I can look like I lost a tough boxing match a few days ago, but the Touche Eclat does a great job of mitigating that. Also, I'm semi-obsessed with the YSL Golden Glosses. (And also with their Touche Brilliance Glosses -- equally wonderful.) I freely admit to being a complete ho for lip gloss and lipstick, I regularly have to go through the makeup drawer and purge because lip colors are a fun, easy, often inexpensive way to indulge my consumer instinct. The YSL glosses are not, of course, what one would call a bargain, but they are really, really good, so I don't mind spending the money. They have gorgeous color, an excellent, not-too-goopy texture with some actual grip, and the sparkly bits are A) golden, as promised, and not silvery and B) teeny-tiny and not in the least gritty, which I absolutely loathe in a gloss. (I've tried the Chanel Glossimers, another big favorite of the Glosserati, and it made me do that compulsive lip-licking thing that Shine does when she's tasted something she doesn't like -- I couldn't get it off my mouth fast enough. Grit is bad.)

The color on my nails in the photo above is also a result of my New Purple Thing. It's OPI and the name is "We'll Always Have Paris," so you can see that it felt like Nail Polish Destiny when I encountered it. It's a great color for winter, but only when nails are short. Otherwise it gets a bit Dragon Lady. I think my next Violet Adventure is going to be eyeliner. That sounds like fun, doesn't it? Anyone who has any suggestions is welcome to give them!