We’ve told you about Maybelline’s new Eye Studio launch in another life (remember they’re coming out with two new shadows, a marvellous gel eyeliner and mascaras in four unique formulas?).

These marbleized eyeshadows are all the craze now since MAC came up with their marble eyeshadows last year. Hard Candy followed suit and now Maybelline is jumping on the bandwagon, offering lower-priced versions of the luxury labels.

The first dual marbleized shadow from Maybelline focuses on concentrated pigments with uncrushed swirls of pearls for the shimmer effect.

The “baked” technology delivers that glittery, pearly finish and the look is best applied with a wet brush to deliver richer pigments to the skin. The way to best apply this is left to your imagination, but you can use them separately on lash and crease or blend as desired. I’m wearing Tantilizing Teal below.

The marbleized eyeshadows are available in 10 shades for $6.99 each.

We had previously written about the colorful MAC in Lillyland collection inspired by the fuschia lore and legend of Lilly Pulitzer. Tongue in cheek chic beach resort friendly makeup complements short tropical-inspired frocks and palm tree icons.

Here are three makeup items from the collection that are designed to add more than a pinch of color to your look:

From left to right: the Pearlmatte Eye Shadow ($19.50), Florida Creme Blend Blush (Bright Fuschia, $18.50); and Lip Gelee in Lush & Bright ($14).

Below are the colors on me. The way I wear the Pearlmatte shadow is to sweep the lighter, chalkier color all over the brow bone and lids and eyelash, and the pink on the lids and green on the crease.

The collection will be available online and on counters in February 2009.

Everyone loves a good coat of paint – skip the car, and focus on your nails! Here are the best trends of 2009:

Minx Nails

Minx is “fashion for your nails.” This professional only product made a statement in 2009 by bringing patterns and color together on an adhesive that is applied to nails by Minx certified technicians – making free-style art (and its mistake prone quality) a thing of the past. These nails were done by my favorite Minx-ist: Tracylee of Damone Roberts salon in New York.

Zoya Dare Collection

Zoya Truth or Dare – this dramatic collection has two distinct sides.

The Truth collection boasts of shimmering browns, maples, purples and rose. While Dare spans the color spectrum and includes highly pigmented shades of purple, pink, lavender and green.

Chanel Jade Nail Polish

Essie Mint Candy Apple

Rescue Beauty Lounge Recycle

From mint to forest and army green in between- green nails were everywhere this year. Standout shades included Chanel Jade, Essie Mint Candy Apple, Rescue Beauty Lounge Recycle and Zoya Envy.

Barielle U Concrete Me

Rescue Beauty Lounge in Stormy

Seen allover the runways and on celebrities – grey nails – from cement to charcoal – made a smoky statement– standout shades included Rescue Beauty Lounge’s Stormy and Shades by Barielle U-Concrete-Me.

Matte nail colors made an appearance in most nail lines in 2009. From matte top coats (which take the shine out of any nail color) to full matte color collections most nail companies got in on the matte action. Standout collections included Zoya Matte Velvet, OPI’s Matte Collection, and Orly Matte Couture.

- Catia Carvalho Trooskin

Maybelline has launched two products that we are head over heels in love over with. The new Eye Studio collection features innovative formulas and staying power.

It’s a full collection featuring eye shadows, gel eyeliners, mascaras and marbelized eye shadows. Here we show you two of our favorite products: the Lasting Drama Gel Eyeliner (which we adore for its intense color and staying power and a texture that defeats silicone and silk combined). These will appear on your drugstore aisle during January 2010.

The gel formula is richly pigmented and holds more color than the traditional liquid liner. It glides on beautifully (in my opinion this rivals Lancome’s more heavily priced Gel Artliner…it is COMPLETELY worth stocking up on!). The brush is thin tipped but gathers generous amounts of gel liner. Available in four shades: Blackest Black, Brown, Charcoal, Eggplant) and each retails for $9.99.

The XXL Pro Mascara collection features has two deeply curled brushes for the two step process (the layering powder and mascara). The result is thick, long and deeply darkened lashes. I personally prefer Lash Stiletto over this mascara but unlike several two step mascaras that I have tried, this one goes on without clumping in a palatable way.$9.40.

There are several varities of XXL Mascaras: the Pro Volume, Pro Extensions, Pro Curl (this uses a primer that sets the mascara) and XXL Pro 24- Hour Bold.

Below I am wearing the Lasting Drama Gel Eyeliner in Blackest Black and Maybelline’s XXL Pro Curl Mascara:

What do you think?

Fragrance is as unique as a person’s DNA. It is hard to find a scent that pleases every nose, but we’ve found a few that pleased us in 2009 because of their uniqueness and creativity. Here are those that received top marks.

Marc Jacobs Lola

This is one of the blockbuster 2009 perfumes and we love it because it embodies a very spirited, playful yet sexy girl who loves to take risks. And the notes of peppercorn, pear, ruby red grapefruit create a sparkling cocktail that will aim to dazzle. There are warm notes in this fragrance too: those of vanilla and warm tonka beans.

Harajuku Snow Bunnies is a limited edition collection of the original Harajuko fragrances – only with new glammed up winter outfits. Love, Lil Angel, G, Music, Baby got all dressed up to play in the snow but kept their delicious and distinct scents.

Michael Kors Very Hollywood

With notes of shimmering mandarin, iced bergamot, wet jasmine, ylang-ylang, raspberry, gardenia, orris, creamy amber, soft white moss and vetiver, this fragrance is not surprisingly strong and sexy with touches of delicacy and sweetness. This light floral made us think of Marilyn Monroe before she became quite so . . . Marilyn. Michael Kors calls Very Hollywood “the most glamorous, indulgent scent we’ve ever done.”

D&G’s Le Bateleur has a blend of aromatics and vetiver. Neither feminine nor masculine this scent is seductive and embodies the spirit of D&G. $65.

DKNY Be Delicious Fresh Blossom is a sophisticated and feminine fragrance. With notes of grapefruit, cassis and apricot with a hint of apple this fragrance is fresh and feminine all at once. $40.We never tire of its refreshing spritz!

Feerie is a new fragrance inspired by Van Cleef & Arpels’ Midsummer Night’s Dream fine jewelry collection. With notes of violet, black currant, mandarin, rose essence, Bulgarian rose, iris butter and jasmine the scent is sweet and floral. It is packaged beautifully in an intricate flacon with a fairy perched on the bottle top. $110 at www.neimanmarcus.com.

Eau Flirt from Harvey Prince gets top marks for creativity this year. What makes Eau Flirt truly flirtatious? The notes, for one, which founder Kumar Ramani says are a “closely guarded secret” on the box. Inspired by a study done by Drs. Alan Hirsch and Jason Gruss of the Smell and Taste Treatment and Research Foundation, Eau Flirt’s proprietary blend of lavender, pumpkin and other secret scents have been clinically shown to provoke passion in men with a whiff.

- Catia Carvalho Trooskin

Every one under the sun, including the crazy parakeet and pet hamster, have heard of the L’Oreal Paris’ True Match Super-Blendable makeup. It first launched in 2003 and several makeup artists still rave about its even and exact liquid coverage.

Now L’Oreal is launching the first roller foundation – the True Match version, so you can high-roll you way to even coverage. See, there’s a sponge on the tip of the foundation bottle, so it’s all very clever and so easy to use (no you don’t get extra Mensa points for flawless coverage now, nice try).

The formula contains waxes, emollients and a silicone gel for soft focus and a light-reflecting formula that looks as though you’ve been airbrushed (Vogue and Nylon magazine worthy, for sure). We tested this new formulation and L’Oreal claims that it won’t cake or settle into lines and we agree. The only gripe I have with this makeup is that I really prefer blending this into my skin with my finger tips or using another brush because the roller brush doesn’t really give me the thick coverage that I need with the small roller brush.

The True Match Roller perfecting roll on makeup is available in 12 shades from the traditional fair English maiden porcelain/ light Ivory to the Classic Beige/ Soft Sable. This foundation will hit drugstores in February 2010 and retail at $14.95 each.

The votes are in and here are our picks for the best body products of 2009. Agree or disagree? Tell us why. Here’s what we love:

Best Body Cream

Kiehl’s Imperial Body Balm

Leave dry, flaky skin far away in the past with Kiehl’s Imperial Body Balm ($42 at kiehls.com) The mix of shea and cocoa butter seals in moisture like no other.

Best Hair Removal

Nair Hair Exfoliator

Nair Exfoliator with Skin Renewal Microbeads ($9.99 at drugstores) uses lanolin and mineral oil while the microbeads of the title buff dead skin away. Oh, and yes, the cream removes hair as well.

Best Fragranced Cream

Laura Mercier’s Creme de Pistache Body Souffle is our hands down favorite scented body cream of the year. One whiff, you’re in the Greek isles. One slather on your skin, you’re a lifetime subscriber.

(more…)

We’re generally not that focused on glowing in the winter time. Defrosting, yes. But glowing, not so much. In fact, the journey from our toasty warm beds to the shower on a Monday morning is pretty much one of the most brutal experiences we can imagine. So if we really want to warm up, we hit the shower and slather on Noodle and Boo’s Heavenly Honey Wash from their Glowology line.

With an absolutely divine scent of warm honey, we’ve already polished of ¾ of the bottle. After emerging from the shower, we’ve been complementing the Honey Wash with Noodle and Boo’s Lovely Body Lotion. Packed with milk protein and clover honey, this line was specially created for those of us with hyper-sensitive skin who still want a delicious scent to linger after a shower.

The Noodle and Boo Simply Divine gift box packed with Heavenly Honey Wash and Lovely Body Lotion retails for $45. The products can also be purchased separated. For more information, visit www.noodleandboo.com.

This is valid online at Sabon. Enjoy!

Today’s makeup flavor of the day is from Zoya Nail Lacquer’s Ultra Glitter Winter Collection, which sparkles better than the Rockefeller Center’s Swarovski Crystal star and lasts longer than a good folk tale.

There are three nail lacquers in this collection:

The three colors shown from top to bottom are polishes in Nova, Luna and Astra. Below, I am wearing my favorite from the collection, Nova. Pure, unbridled pink electricity.

Surely you’d wear this to winter parties, right? C’mon…spill…what are you wearing for New Years?

xoxo