Gadget wear

Posted on | February 1, 2010 | 2 Comments

By: Erica Dao

I bought a new dig­i­tal cam­era a few weeks ago and have been on the search for a spe­cific case to house it. (Side bar — I bought the Canon Pow­er­shot SD 780 IS and loooveee it. It’s teeny, takes amaz­ing pho­tos and comes in matte black  which I think looks pretty sweet– pic­tured left. Def­i­nitely rec­om­mend it if you’re look­ing for a point and shoot cam­era). I wanted some­thing light­weight, com­pact and cute. I wanted some­thing that wouldn’t take much room in my hand­bags and clutches — and ladies I know a lot of us have that issue. We  all want to have our cam­eras with us when we’re out on the town, but the dang clutch barely fits a tube of chap­stick.  For awhile, all I could find were generic, clunky cases that didn’t solve that issue until I stepped foot in Urban Out­fit­ters. I found the Hoodie (pic­tured) which houses iPods, cell phones and cameras. It fit all my cri­te­ria — com­pact, light-weight and cute — and of course I had to get it. It takes up lit­tle room, it pro­tects my cam­era and it puts a smile on peo­ples’ faces when they see it — even guys! Dress up your gad­get with the Hoodie, avail­able at Urban Out­fit­ters at Mall of Amer­ica for $18. Urban Out­fit­ters is located on level one, West.

Beauty Bites

Posted on | January 26, 2010 | No Comments

By: MOA Beauty-ista

Beauty on the Go

This is genius.  Sephora now has a vend­ing machine filled with about 30 of their most deli­cious prod­ucts located on MOA’s first level, west side (at the bot­tom of the ele­va­tor).  This makes it easy to get your prod­uct fix (or pick up a gift) with­out get­ting dis­tracted or hav­ing to wait in line.  Prod­uct selec­tion includes Urban Decay Eye­lid Primer, Make Up For­ever HD Pow­der, Kin­erase eye cream, a vari­ety of per­fumes and much more.  

 

 

 

Hand Relief

I recently dis­cov­ered the most delight­ful hand cream.  L’Occtaine Shea But­ter Hand Cream ($26 for 5.2 oz) avail­able at L’Occtaine.  With shea but­ter, almond, jas­mine and ylang-ylang, this thick cream smells clean and fresh, but some­how inno­cent (like a freshly washed baby).  It blends nicely and is extremely mois­tur­iz­ing – per­fect for that dehy­drated skin that comes with the Min­nesota win­ter! L’Occitane is located on level 2, West.

 

 

Beauty Blun­ders

Ever have one of those morn­ings when you’re rushed putting on your makeup, you sprint out the door, sit through an impor­tant meeting…then finally have a moment to look in the mir­ror, only to real­ize you have mas­cara all over your eye­lid (eek!)?  Don’t let this hap­pen to you.  Stop in to Bare Escen­tu­als to pick up their On the Spot Eye Makeup Remover ($5).  The small box con­tains 24 liquid-filled swabs (that look just like Q-tips).  To use, just snap (or bend) the swab in half and the liq­uid (make-up remover) flows into the cot­ton por­tion. This is a sim­ple and effi­cient way to fix make-up blun­ders.  A must have for your make-up bag. Bare Esec­n­tu­als has two loca­tions: level one, East & level two, north.

Mission Foundation: Laura Mercier vs. Make Up For Ever vs. Stila

Posted on | January 20, 2010 | No Comments

By: Erica Dao

I’m a reg­u­lar user of liq­uid foun­da­tion and  my cur­rent sup­ply is dwin­dling down to its last pump. Yikes! So,  I set out on a mis­sion to find the next best replacement. I absolutely love my cur­rent foun­da­tion, but I don’t want to spend another $60.

I headed to Sephora com­pletely clue­less of what my next makeup endeavor would be. But to my relief,  one of their lovely makeup artists made a few sug­ges­tions and offered sam­ples for me to take home. The sug­ges­tions were based on my per­sonal cri­te­ria: some­thing to address my com­bi­na­tion skin (oily T-zone and dry in other spots, espe­cially in the win­ter) and want­ing medium cov­er­age with a nat­ural fin­ish. Here are my reviews on each of the three contenders:

Laura Mercier Silk Creme Foun­da­tion - Oil free ($42): The tex­ture of this foun­da­tion is very light & creamy. The con­sis­tency was sim­i­lar to a whipped body cream vs. a tra­di­tional liq­uidy foun­da­tion. The cream glided over my skin effort­lessly and offered a nice, porcelain-like finish. The foun­da­tion made my skin look almost flaw­less and pro­vided a healthy glow. It was also moisturizing. The only down­side is that this line doesn’t offer a large vari­ety of shades, which may make it a bit dif­fi­cult to match cer­tain skin tones.

 

 

Make Up For Ever HD Invis­i­ble Cover Foun­da­tion — Oil free ($40): This foun­da­tion def­i­nitely pro­vides a  richer fin­ish than Laura Mercier’s. The cov­er­age is slightly fuller, but does not feel heavy or cakey. It’s pretty long-lasting and makes my skin look flaw­less. This makeup comes in 25 shades, so you can’t go wrong with find­ing the per­fect shade. The foun­da­tion is a great option for those who work in the spot­light — the makeup is designed to with­stand bright & harsh light­ing and cre­ate a soft-focus effect.

Stila Nat­ural Fin­ish Oil-Free Makeup ($38): This foun­da­tion was a bit runny and did not glide over the skin as well as the other two foun­da­tions. The fin­ish was a bit dull on my skin and a lit­tle too matte for my lik­ing. It did pro­vide decent cov­er­age and does come in a wide vari­ety of shades.

 

 

 

 

 

Ver­dict:  I would highly rec­om­mend both Laura Mercier and Make Up For­ever — it’s a toss up and I don’t think  you can go wrong.

Turk(s) & Caicos

Posted on | January 14, 2010 | No Comments

While vis­it­ing my guilty-pleasure last night (Nord­strom Rack — Level 3, West), I stum­bled upon a rack of fresh Trina Turk looks.  I’ve always appre­ci­ated her knack of trans­form­ing gar­ments into abstract pieces of beyond col­or­ful art but have never added her to my own per­sonal wardrobe.  Well, I have a feel­ing this will change in the com­ing months.  With a vari­ety of her most pop­u­lar styles avail­able at Nord­strom Rack for nearly a 1/4 of the price, how do you say no?  You don’t. 

Here are 2 exam­ples of  her most desired gar­ment — the bold dress.  Put one of these on with a pair of tights, sim­ple heels or boots and fresh make-up and you’ll get sick of say­ing “oh, thank you — it’s Trina Turk” all night long. 

This adorable, cheeky designer hails from the city of stars, sand & surf (LA) and cre­ates the pat­terns to match.  Visit Nord­strom Rack for a piece of your own at a frac­tion of the retail price.  Trust me — an obses­sion will be born.  Enjoy!

Stock up at Bath & Body Works

Posted on | January 13, 2010 | No Comments

By: MOA Beauty-ista

It’s that time of year again – the Bath & Body Works semi-annual sale is tak­ing place now!  Hol­i­day bath sets are 50 per­cent off and other hol­i­day scented items (like shower gels and lotions) are 75 per­cent off.  Dur­ing my visit I stocked up on their spa socks (con­sid­ered a hol­i­day item, but really could be used any time of the year) at $3.50/pair, antibac­te­r­ial soaps at $3/each and foam­ing body wash at $3/each.  Stop in before the end of the month to check out the bargains.

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