Review: Chanel Illusion d'Ombre in Rivière from the Nordstrom Anniversary Sale.

Like the rest of the Chanel products offered by Nordstrom for their Anniversary Sale, Rivière was originally sold exclusively in Asia. It was enthusiastically reviewed on Café Makeup and The Non-Blonde, so I made a beeline to the sale to buy it.

Rivière is a beautiful minty blue-green shade. It's silvery-shimmery with a very pearly finish. I know that women of a certain age are supposed to be careful about pearly finishes and totally avoid glitter, but I think a little bling close to the lashes or a light wash on the lid is appropriate, and the good news is that with this creme/gel formula, the pearliness stays put. It doesn't go all Urban Decay and wander off, only to end up highlighting my crinkles.

The texture is a very fluffy gel//creme, unique to Chanel, which can be applied as a shadow, a liner, or a liner that is blended out for a beautiful smoky eye.

The little pot comes with a small synthetic brush, so you have the option of using the brush or applying the shadow with your fingers.

The bottom of the pot and the little brush

Staying power is good; I use concealer as my eyeshadow base, and the Illusion d'Ombre shadows last all day on me.

Chanel Rivière swatched heavily on my inner arm. Please forgive the terrible lighting! The weather hasn't been cooperative this week, so I had to take the picture indoors on a cloudy day.

My reaction to this color? Definitely mixed. I love the idea of a blue-green color; it's a nice change from my usual beiges, and I find that teal eyeshadow brings out the green in my hazel eyes.

But I find this shade almost magically impossible to apply evenly. Rivière is much more pastel than the Illusions d'Ombres I've tried, and I'm finding it hard to figure out how much to apply. It's hard to apply enough so that it shows, but not so much that it balls up on my eyelid. 

I'm also having difficulty imagining whom this shadow would flatter. I think if you're very fair-skinned and look good in pastel shades of makeup, this shade might be beautiful on you. But I'm fair, and I had difficulty making the shadow show.

I fully intend to keep playing with this shade, and I'll also try it on my daughter, who patiently lets me use her as a guinea pig. But for the moment, I can't recommend this shadow.

Also? Chanel prices are always ridiculous, but the Illusion d'Ombre Riviere eye shadow costs $36. For that price, I say it's not worth the money. Illusion d'Ombre shadows are wonderful, and I definitely recommend them--just not this shade. 

I've just invented a new acronym, NASII, which stands for Nordstrom Anniversary Sale induced insanity

OK, it doesn't look like much--NASII--but it's pronounced nay-see to rhyme with crazy, which is pretty much how I acted.

So let me get you up to speed.

First of all, until July 20th, the Anniversary Sale is only available to Nordstrom card holders. You can't even access that section of their website without typing in the last four digits of your Nordstrom credit card number.

I wanted to grab some pictures and maybe find out whether Nordstrom was actually offering Chanel's formerly-exclusive-to-Asia Fleur de Lotus collection, so I dug through my box of rarely-used credit cards, looking for my Nordstrom card. And I couldn't find it.

Because I was a makeup hoor* on a mission, I called customer service, where I was told that they had no record of my having a card. So I applied for a new one.

Then, after a visit to the gym, where my daughter hummed a little hum and pedaled 20 miles on a stationary bike without breaking a sweat and I was reduced to a limp, sweaty, incoherent rag by my personal trainer, we cleaned up our act, fueled ourselves with Mocha smoothies (caffeine and protein FTW!) and headed to the Nordstrom at Old Orchard mall.

Where I promptly lost. my. mind. I've shopped the Anniversary Sale online, but this scene was beyond exciting. It was electric. Not ridiculously crowded, and with lots of sales associates ready and willing to help out. But with sections of the store draped off as seductive little private shopping enclaves, it's very easy to lose it.

Don't believe me? Well, see these collections?

Dior

Chanel

Bobbi Brown

I bought every single item.

And then escaped to the relative sanity of the shoe department. And yes, I understand the irony of calling the shoe department of the department store that sells more shoes than any other--during a sale where merchandise is marked down 30 percent--sane.

I don't know about you, but I blame my trainer.

Swatches and reviews to come. 


* Deliberately misspelled in a feeble attempt to clean up my act.

Beauty Deals and Exclusives at Nordstrom's Anniversary Sale: Dior

Considering that we're just emerging from a hellacious heat wave, it feels ridiculously early to be talking about fall shopping. But that's the beauty of the Nordstrom Anniversary Sale; it forces chronically unorganized types like me to plan ahead.

About Nordstrom's Anniversary Sale

Now, when most people think about this sale, they focus on new fall clothes, and rightly so. The anniversary sale is unique because Nordstrom discounts brand-new, just-coming-into-season merchandise long before people like me have started to think about fall clothes. Prices are slashed 30 percent--but then they go back up. So you see, one must think clearly and weigh one's option. Constant vigilance! Or one will end up paying retail.

Of course, for me, the real focus is in the cosmetics department. Products that ordinarily don't see the light of day in the U.S. get brought in. Special collections are put together. Exclusives are made available. Stuff goes on sale. It's a beauty junky's waking dream.

And for once, I'm not focusing only on the offerings at the Chanel counter.

Dior's A Purple Revolution Anniversary Collection 

When it comes to Dior, I'm a newbie. I only have a few Dior products, and the line still confuses me. I mean, what's with this whole Dior Addict name? I don't get it.

But one look at this nail polish collection and I fell like a ton of bricks.  Say hello to Shadow, Poison, and Orchid.

Les Violets Hypnotizes Vernis ($23.00 each)

And here, in a slightly less arty photograph:

Aren't they gorgeous?

I took one look at the photographs and fell in love. Purple is my favorite nail polish color. If there was anything that would make me want to rush through summer, it would be the opportunity to try out some gorgeous new purples on my nails.

Rumors of this collections release started circulating months ago, and I put up with the usual emotional roller coaster ride associated with any kind of crazy infatuation. I suffered through the highs and lows of a lovesick teenager. You know what I'm talking about: they were coming to the States! No they weren't! Dior loves me! Dior loves me not!

But now they'll be coming to Nordstrom. I can practically relax.

The collection also features a purple smoky eyes palette, which I'm not going to talk about because you and I should not be wearing purple, sparkly eye shadow. But the collection also includes two things that might look lovely on us: the Diorshow Extase Mascara in Plum ($28.50), 

and a Dior Addict Ultra-Gloss in Draped Lilac ($28.00)

The mascara and gloss look gorgeous, and I hope, are soft, wearable shades that will be flattering to my fair skin and hazel eyes.

For the record, Dior Addict Ultra-Gloss is my absolute favorite wand gloss, and that's saying a lot. I've bought more than my fair share of ridiculously expensive department store glosses, and Dior Addict Ultra-Gloss leaves Chanel's Glossimers and Guerlain's KissKiss glosses sitting in the road. Does that make me a Dior Addict? Maybe so.

For more pictures and swatches, even of that eye shadow trio that I don't recommend, check out this post in My Beauty Black Book. And join me in counting down to the sale.

Nordstrom's annual Anniversary Sale runs from July 20 to August 6th, 2012. Nordstrom card holders have the option of becoming members of Fashion Rewards and getting first crack at the sale. If I were you, I'd look into it, because sometimes the anniversary goodies blow out of the store. To apply, call 1-800-967-4918.

The Clarisonic Mia and Cetaphil: a match made in heaven

A few months ago, I volunteered to test-drive the Clarisonic Mia for a BlogHer Style post. I'd heard a lot of great things about the Mia, and I figured this would be a great excuse to buy one and see whether it lived up to the hype. But BlogHer didn't want me to review just the Mia, because reviewing a single item would seem like an endorsement. Instead, they wanted me to review three different face brushes, and talk about their pros and cons.

That killed the idea for me. I like to shop, but buying three spinning face brushes is excessive, even for me. But I bought a Mia, anyway, figuring I could review it here.

Let me start by saying that I've used a Sonicare toothbrush for years, and the technology of the Mia is very similar. The bristles move, but the secret is the sound waves. These things basically hum the dirt off.

Having used a Sonicare, I predicted that

1. initially the Mia's noise would bother me; 
2. I would get used to the noise very quickly, and
3. rapidly reach the point where if I didn't use the Mia, my face wouldn't feel clean.

I'm happy to say that all of my predictions came true.

The first time I used the Mia, I was bothered by the buzzing sensation that I felt when I did the sides of my nose and the area over my sinuses. I can only describe the sensation as WHOA that feels weird. But by the third time I used the Mia, I was used to it.

When I rinsed, I definitely felt cleaner, but my skin wasn't stripped. After a few days, my skin started to look rosier and had a healthier glow.

With that little extra bit of exfoliation, my various moisturizers seemed to sink in faster, and my vitamin C serum felt ... extra tart. My makeup applied better, too.

I have fine, dry, freckly, burns-but-doesn't-tan skin, so the size of my pores hasn't really been an issue. Still, I was delighted to notice that after about a month of using the Clarisonic, my pores had dropped a dress size.

The best part? A few milia that had been troubling me completely cleared up. Within six weeks of starting to use the Mia, they were all gone.

One thing I wasn't crazy about was the cleanser that came with it. The Mia came with a sample-sized tube of a Clarisonic cleanser with green tea extract. It certainly left my skin feeling clean.

But after about a week, I noticed a slightly crinklier appearance to the skin under my eyes. It reminded me of my mother's face, and not in a good way.  Since I was running out of the little sample-sized tube, I thought I'd try something milder.

Now, Cetaphil is about the mildest cleanser around. It's one of those legendary products whose popularity mystifies me. It's always getting recommended by famous dermatologists and Paula Begoun, the Cosmetics Cop. Cetaphil makes the Top Beauty Products lists in InStyle and Allure. It's inexpensive, widely available, unscented, and inoffensive.

I was OK with Cetaphil's bland, boring, goody-goody image, but I never felt that it got my face clean. It's so mild that it feels like I'm rubbing hand lotion or ladies' shaving cream on my face.

But I figured the cleansing power of the Cetaphil would be increased by the high tech whizziness of the Sonicare Mia. And I was right! While Cetaphil alone leaves me feeling vaguely coated (not quite slimed a la Ghostbusters, but something akin to it) the combination of very gentle Cetaphil and a high-tech Clarisonic is complexion perfection. I get clean but my skin feels soft and moisturized.

Also, on days when I'm wearing a lot of spackle, I double cleanse. Not by using a fancy Japanese oil like the cool kids, but by using Cetaphil twice. I massage in some Cetaphil, then tissue it off. Then I use more Cetaphil, this time with the Mia.

Double cleansing with only one product? And a cheap one, at that? #Winning!

OK, why am I bringing this up now, when the Mia has been around forever?

Two reasons. First of all, do not expect the trendiest of the trendy from me, for I am now and have always been the last by whom the new is tried.

Second, you have the opportunity to score a Mia for a pretty good price right now. There are some really cute colors available at the Nordstrom Anniversary sale--coral! Fuschia! Zebra print!

The Nordstrom models cost $149, but come with two brush heads, and since a replacement brush retails for $25, this is a pretty good deal.

And since Nordstrom is offering the latest and greatest in cute Mia designs, other retailers are offering the older colors for a better price. Check Amazon and you'll see Mias being offered by several retailers. You can also get replacement brush heads there.

(BTW, Ulta is offering their 20 percent off everything in the store. Watch your mailboxes for the coupon. I don't know whether this will work for a Mia, but at least it will work for the Cetaphil.)

I interrupt my eyeshadow thoughts to wonder about these summer booties

at Nordstrom.

They come in black

which I was totally going for!

But then I clicked on the gray ones.

Which somehow seem so much more summery.

Now, keep in mind that I don't really wear dress shoes all that frequently. Especially in summer, where I shout "hallelujah," pack away the high-heeled shoes and mostly dress like I've been crewing on a friend's yacht for a week. Plus let's not forget that I'm a size 14 and tend to dress conservatively. Talbots-y, even.

In other words, I don't usually rock high-cut sandal/boot hybrids with four-inch heels.

So which ones should I get--gray or black?