Review: Edward Bess Ultra Luminous Eyeshadow in Mirage, Storm, Intimate, Mystery, Dusk

Edward Bess is well-known for his wonderful eyeshadows. There are 8 single eyeshadows in his permanent line, three of which are left out from this review (Nude, Night and Escape).

Overview

Edward Bess eyeshadows possess interestingly unique qualities - buildable and pigmented. They are as pigmented as the best of Dior, Chanel, or Guerlain. When used sheer, they remind me of Paul and Joe's eyeshadows, yet longer wearing. They look stunning on my medium skin. I believe they will look just as gorgeous on different skin tone thanks to these qualifications.

Texture-wise, Edward Bess creates the best eyeshadows I've ever known of. They're silky, butter smooth. They glide on easily and evenly but they are not powdery like Inglot, theBalm or Cle de Peau that cake up my eyeslids. They can produce effortless no-makeup looks.

Regardless how you apply them, sheer or opaque, they stay fresh more than 12 hours with an eye primer like Urban Decay Primer Potion.

Ultra luminous single eyeshadows

Mirage is a shimmery champagne peach. This has the highest shimmer of the bunch. I love to highlight the inner half of my eyelids with Mirage. It can be used as a swatch of shimmer or swatch of color, my lids look like themselves with touch of shine. Mirage is distinctive from the rest of the single eyeshadows I own. It feels not as silky as the rest but it's still very smooth.

Storm is a silvery mauve that leans both grey and violet under different light conditions. On my lids, it appears more silvery grey than mauve on my arm swatch. The softest among the shades I own, Storm works wonder as a lid color or to brighten up the inner conners.

Intimate is satin brown taupe with khaki touch. It's the most sophisticated color in my entire eyeshadow collection. It still puzzles me how Edward manages to pull off taupe, brown and khaki in one shade no matter how sheer you apply it. It looks great as on my lid, outer V, lash lines.

Dusk is a satin grey taupe that also leans brown. It looks gorgeous on my warm skin, not too cool not too warm not too neutral or dull. It's deeper than Intimate but cooler at the same time. It's just as versatile as Intimate.

Mystery is a satin warm brown that doesn't look bruised on my eyes. Most warm/chocolate browns make my eyes look swollen. But Mystery is a special exception. Although having a satin finish, Mystery has the minimum shine possible, the sign of a great crease color.

Swatches

Outdoors, indirect sunlight that washed off the shimmer



Direct sunlight, warmer lighting

Storm and Mirage, made in Taiwan, are housed in less sturdy case. Edward also dropped the sponge-tipped applicators in Made in Taiwan version, which doesn't bother me at all.

Edward Bess single eyeshadows are retailed at $30 for 0.07 oz on edwardbess.com, zuneta.com, Bergdof Goodman (in store and online), Neiman Marcus Beverly Hills, California and Dallas, Texas (and online).

Bottom line. Truly must-haves! Great for makeup beginners or those who enjoy understated chic and demand superb quality. I urge you to try them out!

Edward Bess Beauty - Introduction and Preview

"Edward Bess is a very well thought-through beauty brand". Many makeup connoisseurs have stated that. And it is true. By starting an Edward Bess series post, I officially declare myself an Edward Bess fan, permanently.

I possessed the first Edward Bess product back in November. But I want to play with the products thoroughly so that I'm not biased by all the raves, particularly those from my favorite beauty bloggers. Three features define the Edward Bess' signature, in my opinion.

First and foremost is the luxurious quality of his products. Most of them if not all offer super finely milled and silky texture without being overly powdery. I don't think many beauty brands can deliver great quality for all three product categories - eye, lip, and face. But Edward does. Phenomenal.  I'm totally blown away by the quality alone.

Second, the colors look mundane and regular in the pan and even on the arm swatches. I don't feel inspired when looking at the pictures of the products. But they are extremely flattery on my skin (and on many other beauty bloggers'). Edward Bess colors can look like those from just any other brand but it's different.

Third, Edward Bess products represent the ultimate goof-proof. His products are blendable, buildable, wearable and sophisticated. Trust me, I tried to overdo my makeup, and it's quite impossible (unless you paint your face ridiculously on purpose).

In one word, exquisite.

Price point. Edward Bess is a luxurious brand, comparable to Guerlain, Dior, Chanel, Giorgio Armani and the likes. I rank his lipsticks higher than the legendary Guerlain's Rouge G formula, more lightweight, creamier and stays put just as long. I think the price is right.

At the moment, Edward Bess offers a quite narrow color range although his colors are beyond gorgeous, in my opinion. If you want more trendy colors, you wouldn't feel satisfied. But if you demand superb quality, flattering wearable colors and polished results, Edward got you covered. You're missing out if you haven't tried his products.

Where to buy. www.edwardbess.com, www.zuneta.com, Begdorf Goodman (in store and online), Neiman Marcus Beverly Hills, California and Dallas, Texas (and online) and is now on sephora.com. It will be available in sephora stores starting May 2012.

Other helpful sources.

Best Things in Beauty
Cafe Makeup
Karla Sugar
The Beauty Look Book
The Non-Blonde

Now, it's time for the sneak peak of my (current-and-soon-to-grow) Edward Bess collection. Stay tune for reviews on these goodies!

Ultra Luminous Eyeshadows in Mystery, Intimate, Dusk, Mirage and Storm (reviews here)

Eyeshadow Trio in Soft Smoke (reviewed here)

All Over Seduction highlighter in Afterglow and Sunlight (reviewed here)

Ultra luminous bronzer in Day Dream

Blush Imperial in Soft Orchid (reviewed here)

Ultra Slick Lipstick in Tender Love and Pure Impulse

Deep Shine Lipgloss in Nude Satin

Latest addition to Edward Bess color: Back to Basics, Berry Chic, Quad Royal Summer in Capri and South of France.

Have you tried Edward Bess? Do you love it? What are your favorite products?

Happy New Year!

The last day of 2011 is passing by. We have nearly 8 more hours of 2011 in Houston. It has been a year of many changes in my life. And while emotions take over me before NYE dinner, I pour my thoughts in a few bullet points as a way to say goodbye to an amazing 2011 and open the door for yet another amazing year - 2012.

We've recently moved from Southern California to Houston, Texas. It doesn't sound that appealing to my Californian friends :D (what can ever beat SoCal weather and dining? not to mention the makeup heaven(s) densely packed in SoCal blahblahblah). I must admit my obnoxious friends have a very good reasoning. But for my husband and I, Houston will be our home for a while (from a few years to a few decades). And Houston grows on me everyday. Once you make a place your home, it'll be your home.

2011 has to be the peak of my beauty discovery. Beauty blogs and makeup *gurus* top my daily to-do list. Reading and experimenting makeup products inspire me to create an archive for my passion, aka the Convenient Beauty. It nourishes my passion and improves my knowledge on a life-time hobby. It's an outlet for my creation. I'm sure you ladies know that feeling "I'm so excited about this eyeshadow palette, I must tell some one". And when my friends have suffered enough, I decided to document my little journey into the makeup world on this blog. It's been great fun so far!!

Edward Bess and Lisa Eldridge are the highlights of 2011 beauty discovery. Even though I read about Edward Bess 3 years ago, I resisted his magically alluring beauty line until 2 months ago. When my makeup collection was saturated with all trendy colors and flashy texture, a well-edited elegant chic indie beauty line of superb quality is a fresh air and in many ways, a life-saver for my makeup routine. 2012 on the Convenient Beauty will start with Edward Bess. You might know I have a few very favorite youtube *gurus* (I raved about them here). While I still love them, I must say Lisa Eldridge is a different class of makeup artist. Truly talented and humble. I feel so fortunate that a lady as accomplished as her makes videos on youtube!

I hope you had a great year. I wish you and your family a fascinating year forward when joys come every single day.

Happy New Year!!

Review: Physicians Formula Shimmer Strips - Vegas, Riviera, Miami, Waikiki (Part 2)

I'm still alive and glad to be back online! As we move in our new home in Houston, I squeeze a bit of time to finish my post on the wonderful Physicians Formula Shimmer Strips (part 1 is here).

I'm really impressed with the fine shimmer, subtle color base and long-wearing of these products! The quality reaches a high-end standard, in my opinion. They don't really show up on my medium skin tone so I decided to swatch 2 separate sets, one as highlighters and the other as bronzers. Both were heavily swatched for the sake of pictures. I also tried to capture the shimmer under different light conditions. These shimmer strips are the hardest to swatch so far. My swatches just don't do enough justice. Anyway, I hope you find this post helpful and enjoy it :)

As bronzers - Physicians Formula Shimmer Strips have quite similar color base.

The color base don't show up as clearly, except Wakiki when swatching focuses on picking up the shimmer as highlighter. I personally wouldn't apply this much shimmer to highlight my cheeks. It's for the pictures.

Highlighters with warmer lighting

Overall thoughts. Truly drugstore treasures! You have to check them out. 

Pack for a cross-country road trip

Road trip is my favorite way of traveling! You can stop by any cute little town at any time you want. There  won't be that TSA's raising security level to orange (by the way, why don't they just forever fix it at orange so that they won't have to level it up (or down?)). There is no 3.4 oz limit in a one-quarter zip loc bag per passenger and no body scanning. Actually, you can stuff your whole makeup stash aboard. And that's what I'm doing - driving from California to Texas with two separate makeup bags, one for on-the-go and the other for the rest of my makeup. Here is a glimpse at the first bag.

Since I'll be driving through mainly dry warm weather, sunscreen and moisturizer are the must, as always. Eyecream, serum, lip butter and body lotion for sure. I keep my makeup simple and fool-proof.

Skin - Giorgio Armani Luminous Skin Foundation and Micro-Fil Loose Powder, Bobbi Brown Corrector in Peach, YSL Touche Eclat #8 and Physicians Formula Shimmer Strip in Miami

Universal-flattering lipsticks/lipgloss - Chanel Rouge Allure Lipstick Exquisite, Chanel Rouge Coco Shine in Biatritz, Bobbi Brown High Shimmer Lipgloss Naked Plum, Edward Bess Lipgloss Satin Nude and Boots No. 7 lipliner in Nude (#20). These lipcolors go with all eye and cheek looks.

Eye makeup - Urban Decay Primer Potion (sample); Boots No. 7 eyeshadow trios in #20 Good Earth Stay Perfect and #15 Topaz Mineral Perfect;  sample mascaras- Giorgio Armani Eyes to Kill, Bobbi Brown Extrem Party Mascara which is a really natural mascara; eyeliners - Urban Decay 24/7 Zero-Whiskey duo, Lancome Art Liner in Black.

Sigma travel brush set (not pictured)

Boots makeup remover wipes, Fresh Cleanser (not pictured)

P/S: I'm testing out Physical Formula and Boots No. 7. I'm having the feeling that these brands will bring me back to high-street makeup.

December has been extremely hectic as I'm relocating to Texas. I have so many wonderful goodies to share but forced myself to settle things down first. Blogging en route with free wi-fi at the hotels seems to be inefficient. Hopefully I can update again before New Year Eve.

Happy holidays xoxoxo

JoanneP