Tarte Double Duty Shape Tape Concealer

Tarte Shape Tape Concealer
10 shades $24

OK, for starters, I have no clue why this concealer is so peculiarly named. I don't see how it's performing "double duty" and I don't know what "shape tape" means.

I had tried Tarte Shape Tape Concealer a few weeks back at Ulta, where it is being sold exclusively at retail. They only offered 6 shades, and mine, Light Medium, was sold out, as were most others.  It is also available on Tarte's website...sort of.  Any of the shades most of us would choose are perennially sold out. I asked to be notified by email when it was back in stock.  A few days later, my dreams came true.  By the time I got to ordering it about 9 hours later, I was back to square one.



Don't we all want more, what we can't have???  I had recently thought I found something pretty special with Too Faced Born This Way Concealer.  Once I tried Shape Tape I could see I got more significant coverage and the hunt was on...

Today I finally got lucky. Tarte Shape Tape was restocked at Ulta.

By mistake, I picked up the Medium, yet it seems just about perfect, not too dark or light.  I also bought a concealer brush, having read that the chubby sponge applicator, was hard to manage.

It is...

This. Is. Really. Good. Stuff... Total, creaseless, coverage that somehow seems to diminish the look of fine lines.  If is what, "shape tape", refers to, I want a formula for my knees.

It also looked completely fresh, 12 hours and a Pilates class later. Today TotalBeauty  happened to run a step by step on how to completely cover dark circles.  Though the model did not have what appeared to be problem dark circles, the step-by-step had some interesting points, starting with a concealer brush.

I intend to try it tomorrow.

I'm delighted with my new purchases (which was made with my return of Born This Way Concealer. Always save those receipts Lovelies.)  and received a few compliments about both my makeup and how rested I looked. All credit to Tarte Double Duty Shape Tape.

I'm hoping if you find it, you will both find it and then love it as much as I do...

xox,
DD

Get the Look; Milan Street Style

Get the Look; Milan Street Style by divadebbi featuring ankle wrap sandals

Michael Kors white cotton top / Chicwish a line plaid skirt / Sophia Webster ankle wrap sandals, $635 / Long silver necklace / Gucci silk twill scarve, $235

NYC Early Fall

NYC Early Fall by divadebbi featuring a wrap-around belt

Massimo Alba blue double breasted blazer / Erdem floral cami, $1,245 / Acne Studios 80s pants, $445 / Gianvito Rossi high heel bootie / Christian Dior zip purse / Renee Lewis white pearl earrings / M Co wrap around belt, $7.78 / Byredo edp perfume

Anastasia Eye Shadow Quads: Create Your Own

Anastasia Eye Shadow Quads
$12 each/ 4 for $40 when you purchase the quad pan

I don't remember ever looking at an eye shadow quad, no matter how luxe, ie. Chanel, and thinking yes! Every single one is just the right shade for me. 2 maybe perfect, 1 meh, and the last a complete dud.

Boo hoo.

Another thing I've learned,  is that if you are beauty bargain hunting, eye shadows are not best scrimped on.  A beautiful, finely milled powder will glide on evenly, have more pigment and last longer.

London Fashion Week: Christopher Bailey Changes the Fashion World

The Internet has forever changed the way we shop. Instagram and Street Style has fueled the desire for instant gratification. The age old disconnect of looking for a fresh pair of white jeans in July, only to find stores filled with cashmere and suede, motivated Christopher Bailey, Burberry's CEO and Designer to set in motion a radical change; See Now-Buy Now Fashion.  Why, he reasoned, create all of the buzz, only to have it all fizzle and burn, till the clothes arrived in stores 6 months later?  Is the key to keep customers happy, engaged and more importantly, spending again?

What would happen if he did his runway show in real time...instead of showing Spring 2017 this fall, he showed his freshly crafted women's and men's Fall 2016 show yesterday.  All of the merchandise shown on the runway was available in Burberry stores today. A few of my favorite looks are below:

DivaDebbi's Red Carpet Report Card: Emmy's 2016

Can I please start off by asking, who are these people???  I just went through 147 Yahoo Red Carpet photos and I have never seen half of them.  I feel a little bad about critiquing people whose identities are unknown to me, but it balanced out when two of them made the A List.

I was at a dinner party, so I missed all the Red Carpet hoopla as well as Jimmy Kimmel's opening monologue, but he seems to be doing just fine, affable, funny and relaxed.

Did everyone get the same memo or simply use the same stylist?  A preponderance  of white, black, cutouts galore and as if ripped from the Spring 2017 runways, some seriously pretty marigold yellow and leaf green dresses.

There was a lot of simplicity that was pretty, but did not excite, like the fabulous Emmy Rossum in a low cut white gown, slit to there and Julie Bowen in Lela Rose. Viola Davis also looked lovely in a fuchsia Marchesa, but lost crucial Red Carpet Olympic points for the ill fitting darts in the bust area.  Judith Light looked lovely and Maisie Williams was sweetly charming.

Misses for me that may win raves by others were: Taraji P. Henson, Tracee Ross, Julia Louis Dreyfuss (I LOVE JLD and howl at VEEP, but seriously, 5 consecutive wins??? I'm all for some term limits being put in place), condolences though, for the loss of her beloved father.  We feel ya Julia. Amazing that you attended. Sophia Vergara. Once,  just once, I'd die to see her in something that didn't look like it was painted on at an auto body shop.  Ditto, Laverne Coxe.The jury is still out on exactly what it is that Keri Russell was wearing.  I don't know who designed it and I can't tell if I love it or hate it, until I see it from all angles.

A few, who initially made the F List, moved up a notch compared to atrocities that followed. D Lister's include: Constance Zimmer, Maura Tierney, Ellie Kemper and Ariel Winter, who forgot to look in a full length mirror, before leaving the house.

I am delighted to put Sarah Paulson, Tina Fey, Claire Danes and Michelle Dockery on the A List, as they often disappoint. So without further ado, my DivaDebbi 2016 Emmy's Loves and Loathes:

The A List:

Tom Hiddleston
Auditioning to be the next James Bond.
Well played. 

Priyanka Chopra
Stunning again on the RC, this time in Jason Wu

Amelia Clarke
Atelier Versace

Mandy Moore
A fave and a knock out in Prabal Garung

Sarah Paulson in Prada
Congrats on your winning and making the A List

Claire Danes
Schiaperelli

Tatiana Maslany
Congrats on your win.
Spectacular in Alexander Wang

Kristen Bell
Fresh and lovely in Zuhair Murad

Michelle Dockery
Oscar de la Renta

Felicity Huffman
Designer Unknown.
I. Love. This. Madly.

Tina Fey
Yay Fey.  I knew you could do it.
Oscar de la Renta, hair from this century

Abigail Spencer
I don't know who she is,
but she looks stunning in this
Jenny Packham gown

The F List:

Xenia Warrior Princess

Carly Chaiken
Xenia Warrior Princess

Gaby Hoffman
Channeling Ebeneezer Scrooge

Kerry Washington in Brandon Maxwell
He is GaGa's go to guy.  'Nuf said.

Anna Chulmsky
in a mylar mullet monstrosity 

Amy Poehler
in a PF Chang Lettuce Wrap

The same Pamella Roland
dress looked divine on the model.
On Amy the proportions are terrible .
A fashion tragedy 

Heidi Klum in Michael Kors
for the Bellagio

Sarah Hyland in Monique L'Huillier
A clean sweep

I think it would be a better idea if Red Carpet reporters wore nice, safe uniforms, do I hear a second???

Giuliana Rancic
Romeo, Romeo...Where for art thou Romeo?

Nancy O'Dell
Fresh from her Dancing With the Stars tryout 

So my Lovelies, there you have it...who did I miss??? Who did you love and who did you loathe??? Shall we agree to disagree???

Lemmeknow...

xox,
DD

NYFW Street Style

NYFW Street Style by divadebbi featuring lip gloss makeup

WearAll evening jacket / Chicwish red midi skirt / Valentino flat, $690 / Chloé mini handbag, $1,930 / Ray-Ban tinted glasses, $270 / Christian Dior lip gloss makeup / Byredo eau de perfume

The 6 Biggest Trends from the Spring 2017 Runways

Anna Wintour and daughter Bee Schaeffer

NYFW has officially ended.  Anna and the rest of the flock will be jetting across the pond to London, as their Fashion Week kicks off just about the minute they all touch down.

Kudos to the New York Daily News for nicely summing up what appears to be the key trends of the Spring 2017 Season.  Though it always seems an odd coincidence, the designers are influenced by the color forecasts that come out long before they put pen to pad and the same fabric mills that they all frequent.


In a nutshell, there was nothing that we haven't seen before, but I promise, you will see many, many times ahead in the months to come.  The trends they sited are below, and I followed up with my assessment:

Animal Magnestism:

Rebecca Minkoff

Altuzurra (one of my favorite designers and collections this season)

Not so Mellow Yellow:

Zac Posen

Thakoon

 Wear Your Greens:

Son Jung Wan

Tory Burch

 Flower Power:

Jenny Packham

Michael Kors

 Fringe Benefits:

Ralph Lauren

Naeem Kahn (and yellow, a twofer)

 The Cold Shoulder:

An exquisite Monique L'Hullier

Marchesa

For me, the only two that looks that feel like retro retreads are the fringe from Ralph Lauren and the Lilly Pulitzeresque offering from Tory Burch.

I adore animal prints. I see them as timeless. It feels fresh to see them trending in a grey pallette, instead of  traditional camels and blacks.

Yellow is a very tricky color at retail, because with most peoples coloring, it is hideously unflattering. This is a trend I would use more as a pop; a patent clutch or shoe.

Green has not had a moment for quite some time...I'm liking it and pleased that I was ahead of the curve when I bought Victoria Beckham in just this hue.

Floral's for spring are not exactly new, but I do love them. The only caveat with any print is that they can overpower; always make sure you see your first...not the frock.

Fringe?  I'm over it.

I was thrilled to see the continuing of Cold Shoulder dressing. I like it, so much in fact that I purchased a black sequin cold shoulder Donna Karan gown last spring (I'm wearing it my blog picture.) I think it's sexy and modern and I'm glad it carried over.

What are you loving? What will you wear? What would you not be caught dead in?

Happy Weekend Lovelies!

xox,
DD

NY Fashion Week Then and Now: The Vogue Runway App

New York Fashion Week will be coming to a close tomorrow. Either I'm getting jaded, or the whole thing used to be a lot more fun.  For those of you interested, here's the cliff notes on NYFW. For those who just want to know the very best way to view the shows and a few of my faves, skip to the bottom.

New York Fashion Week.  A bit of history:

"The first New York Fashion Week was created in 1943 by Eleanor Lambert, press director of the American fashion industry’s first promotional organization, the New York Dress Institute.

The event, the world's first organized fashion week, was called "Press Week", and was created to attract attention away from French fashion during World War II, when fashion industry insiders were unable to travel to Paris to see French fashion shows.  It was also meant to showcase American designers for fashion journalists, who had neglected U.S. fashion innovations."

When I first started attending fashion week fashion shows, they were held in the designers showrooms and the Plaza. They were more intimate, celebrities were few and far between and the true Social Swans, friends and fans of the Designers were front and center.

Ann Bass, Ivana Trump and the late great Nan Kempner
at Carolyn Roehm's show at the Plaza

(As I recall, in the midst of The Donald's cheating rumors, Ivana went and got a brand new head. And blue eyes...  I recall seeing none of the shows that season, as I spent the entire time peering with awe and fascination at her the whole time.  Lest you think I'm being snarky, I invite you to see her before photo below:)

SeewhatImean???

That came to an end when the the ceiling fell in on a bunch of editors at someone's showroom, I forgot whose,  and another crew were stuck in a packed elevator, for a very long time somewhere on 7th. Avenue.

"In 1993, the Council of Fashion Designers of America (CFDA) created the modern notion of a centralized “New York Fashion Week”. Enormous white tents were set up in Bryant Park twice a year, where producers like IMG and major sponsor Mercedes Benz  did a fine job of organizing the whole shebang, in one safe (though sometimes hot or drafty) central location. It was known as "Seventh on Sixth" referring to the designers, whose showrooms mainly resided on Seventh Avenue and Bryant Parks location on Sixth Avenue.

All and all, an enormous success, easy and efficient.  I was often the guest of Peter and Linda Levy, Peter was then SVP of Global Fashion for IMG, and delightfully, we were whisked from from row to front row to watch the shows moments before they started and then rested our tootsies in the VIP suite in between. This, was my idea of heaven. It lasted until 2010, until their were contract disputes with the City and everything got moved again to Lincoln Center.

Juice Beauty Phyto-Pigments Lipsticks and Cream Blush

Juice Beauty Phyto-Pigments Satin Lipstick
8 Shades $24

I mentioned on Labor Day,  I did my version of Back To School shopping; a three stop sweep of CVS, Sephora and Ulta.  Two of the products I was on a mission for, a new volumizer by Living Proof and Tarte's oddly named "Shape Tape" a concealer that is only available at Ulta and Tarte's website were sold out.

Shape Tapes 5 star raves have caused a bit of hysteria in the beauty world and it is sold out,  almost everywhere.  Naturally, that only heightens my own, "gotta have it" mania.  I did sample the light/medium and I must admit, I was mightily impressed...Their list price is $24. It can be had for a premium of $28 plus shipping from QVC, but I'm just going to wait it out.  In the interim, I still happy enough with my new Too Faced Born This Way Concealer.

Once at Ulta, I found myself in my usual zen like trance and wandered from aisle to aisle.  It drives me absolutely INSANE, that there are no mirrors at Ulta, save for the occasional smudged hand mirror, left lying about. I also would like to see a lot more alcohol, tissues, makeup remover, cotton balls and waste baskets. Isn't the whole point to try this stuff on? 

The first thing that caught my eye was Juice Beauty's beautifully hued Phyto-Pigments Satin Lip Cream.  Where did these come from???  It took a moment for me to remember that Juice Beauty is Gwyneth Paltrow's beauty company.

Ohhhhhhhh....

Gwyneth, who has the distinction of being named Star Magazine's "Most Hated Celebrity in the World", is admittedly, not a fave of mine either.  I thought her "conscious uncoupling" from then husband, Coldplay's front man Chris Martin, sounded, nauseatingly pretentious.  And then their is poor "Apple". Seriously, who names their kid, "Apple"???

But, for beauty, Gwyneth, GOOP, her vaginal steams, all get a pass...

CoverGirl Katy Kat Eyes Mascara

CoverGirl Katy Kat Eye Mascara
$11.99 (less outside of Greenwich Ct.)

I am a complete sucker when it comes to drugstore mascara launches. Compulsively and wistfully, I toss them into my CVS red basket and open them, the next morning like a kid on Xmas morning, gleeful in anticipation.

I know, I know...I am still pretty pleased with Maybelline Colossal Spider Effects Mascara, but what if  CoverGirl's Katy Kat Eye (inspired by Katy Perry, she of great fake lash fame) was even better???

Hence, I tossed...

Is WUNDERBROW a Wonder?

WUNDERBROW
Available in 4 Shades $22

I was sure hoping it would be...A couple of weeks ago I blogged about, "Micro Blading", the latest brow craze.  Eyebrows are tattooed in feather like strokes, with medical grade ink, too create natural, full looking brows that last from 18-24 mos.  Two ouch factors; cost, about $800 and a bit of pain, despite the numbing cream.

I thought the better alternative might be WUNDERBROW, an at home, semi permanent brow kit, with magnetic fibers, that is supposed to last 2-3 days without touch up, even after showering.

For my purposes, I thought I would start there...