The Nordstrom Anniversary sale is one of my absolute favorite times of the year for beauty product shopping. You can score some really great deals, especially from the Beauty department. If you are unfamiliar with the Nordstrom Anniversary sale, let me lay it out for you.
Once a year, Nordstrom as a huge sale store wide for their Anniversary. Many brands not only offer discounts on their products (and this is usually the only time you can get discounts on Beauty products at Nordstrom) but they always have some sort of free gift with purchase during this time as well.
This year the sale runs from July 20 through August 5th but if you are a Nordstrom cardmember you can gain access to the sale right now! Below I’ve selected some of my top picks from the sale. These are brands and products that I love and would definitely purchase during the sale.
I love Jo Malone’s fragrances and this little set is a great way to be introduced to the brand. The Jo Malone fragrances and body products are great to layer over each other to create your own unique scent. This set includes English Pear & Freesia, Peony & Blush Suede and Blackberry & Bay. All beautiful scents by themselves but can make some wonderfully interesting scents when combined.
I just love the beautiful shades of this lip set from Charlotte Tilbury. In this set you receive one Matt lipstick shade, exclusive to Nordstrom, in Rose Kiss, a hydrating lipstick in a rosey satin finish, also an exclusive, called Blushing Dream and a long wearing, smudge proof liner called Pillow Talk. This pinky nudes will be create the perfect pout for any summer look. Plus, the rose gold packaging is adorable.
Diptyque candles from France are some of my favorite, but with the price of an individual candle they are more of a treat. This set is such a great deal as you receive an assortment of five smaller sized candles. The set includes mostly florals such as Roses Candle, Tubereuse Candle, Figuier Candle, Feu de Bois Candle and my favorite the Baies Candle.
Anastasia of Beverly Hills is the queen when it comes to brow shaping and brow products. I love these two and have used them frequently, so this set is a great deal. This scent includes the retractable Brow Wiz pencil with spoolie and the Clear Brow Gel for achieving those perfect brows.
Now I have to admit that I’ve never tried any of the skincare from Herbivore but I’ve been dying to. I see them all over Instagram and they just look amazing. This three piece set includes their most popular (and most Instagrammed) products: the Pink Cloud Rosewater Moisture Crème, the Brighten Pineapple + Gemstone Glow Mask and the Rose Hibiscus Coconut Water Hydrating Face Mist. This super hydrating set is perfect for all skin types and is vegan and cruelty free. I absolutely have to get my hands on this set.
Ok, I’ll be totally honest and say I picked this one just because of the supercute cupcake pouch. This set includes a Glimmer Balm and a Glossy Boss gloss. I’ve never heard of this brand before but had to include it because of the pouch alone. I mean, come on, it’s a cupcake. This brand is also cruelty-free.
Now this last pick is actually a brand I used to work with. Elemis has amazing skincare that utilizes Mediterranean marine algae. This cream is amazing at smoothing, firming and revitalizing skin. It is truly an amazing anti-aging moisturizer. Elemis is also a company that does not test their products on animals. This set is almost a 50% savings on the cream. This is definitely a steal!
Favorite videos and posts are well…some of my favorites. They are my favorite to make and to watch/read. As July 14th is Bastille Day, a big holiday and celebration in France, I thought I would make my June and July Favorites all about my favorite country, France. So for these two months I will share some of my favorite French products that I’ve been loving and obsessing over.
Beauty Products
L’Occitane Immortelle Precious Eye Balm
What they say: The Precious Eye Balm offers a velevty, soft formula to help smooth and firm, and visibly reduce dark circles and puffiness.
My Review: This is one of the best eye creams I think I’ve ever tried. The texture is very light, somewhere between a heavy balm and a milky cream. It glides on the skin very effortlessly and instantly brightens. I have definitely felt that after using this for two weeks my eye area seems smoother, more lifted and much brighter.
L’Occitane Almond Shower Oil
What they say: Cleanses softly and helps to hydrate and nourish the skin all-day-long with almond oil.
My Review: This is heaven in a bottle! The oil turns to a foaming cleanser when it makes contact with water so it takes the place of shower gels that can often be too drying. You can even use this to shave in the shower. The scent is sweet and warm, leaving your skin soft and smooth all day long. The scent is light enough to be there without being overpowering. This is going to be a holy grail bath and body product now.
What they say: Blurring Active Base, the smoothing primer by Guerlain, instantly blurs the appearance of pores and allows skin texture to look more refined day after day, while mattifying the complexion for perfect skin all day long. Its fresh and non-greasy texture allows the skin to breathe while prolonging make-up hold. Its formula contains an antioxidant for an anti-pollution effect*, and improves the appearance of the skin and helps to preserve it** against daily aggressions.
My review: I’m not someone who wears foundation but I do like my skin to look it’s best. I’m a big fan of skincare and using great skincare to make our skin look incredible, instead of covering it up with a bunch of makeup products. However, there are those days where we just want a little something extra to help our skin look flawless. On these days where maybe my skin texture looks off, or I’m a little red, I like to use blurring primers.
I recently discovered this one from one of my favorite Beauty brands, Guerlain. The texture is a little thick, but glides on the skin easily. It really minimizes the appearance of pores and fine lines, giving me a more even textured look. It is great at helping to matify the skin as well, keeping me shine free all day long. I’ve used BB creams and bronzers over this and those products apply nicely and stay put pretty much all day. I even like wearing this alone to give a more flawless look to skin.
What they say: Inspired by the passionate love story between an emperor and an Indian princess, Shalimar, which means “temple of love” in Sanskrit, symbolises the promise of eternal love forevermore. It is a fragrance of desire. With its smouldering and slightly impertinent character, the star oriental fragrance in perfumery embodies skin-caressing sensuality with a hint of the forbidden. “Wearing Shalimar means letting your senses take over,” Jacques Guerlain would say.
In 1925, the Shalimar bottle designed by Raymond Guerlain won first prize at the Paris Decorative Arts Exhibition. Its curves were inspired by the basins of the famous Shalimar gardens. The fan stopper with its sapphire transparency recalls the garden’s eternally gushing water.
My review: This perfume is a classic and I think we all maybe grew up with one woman in our life that had this on her vanity. My grandmother used this fragrance and the scent always evokes memories of her getting ready.
I find this to be a very unique and beautiful fragrance, unlike any other I’ve ever smelled. At first the scent is strong but it does dry down to a beautiful, powdery incense like scent. The top notes of flowers and bergamot give a crisp freshness to the scent. The heart of Shalimar includes powdery florals like iris, jasmine and rose. The base notes lend to the softness of the scent on the final dry down. These include tonka bean and vanilla. Truly a beautiful fragrance.
My review: I’m really not a fan of carrying a bunch of stuff in my pockets, which is usually why I carry a bag of some sort. This goes for wallets too. I hate having a bulky and heavy wallet in my pocket.
I’ve always been a Louis Vuitton fan and when I came across this pocket organizer I knew I had found the perfect wallet for me. This slim organizer has just enough slots for me to carry a little cash, my ID and a few credit cards. I keep it pretty close to empty so I don’t overpower it’s slimness. It fits easily in a bag or even my pocket, without being bulky and annoying.
Also, I try not buy too many leather products, and this is a waxed canvas, so I feel better about this purchase. My Pocket Organizer is in the Monogram Eclipse pattern, which to me looks very chic and manly.
The Private Life of Marie Antoinette by Madame Campan
I don’t know why I have this obsession for Marie Antoinette, but I’ve had it for years. In fact in sixth grade, I did a report on her. But she is one of my favorite people in history. I do think she is one of the most misunderstood people in history and sadly was just in the wrong place at the wrong time.
This book is the memoir of one of her ladies in waiting, Madame Campan, who details Marie Antoinette’s arrival at Versailles and all of the struggles she endured while reigning as the Queen of France. It’s a fascinating read as it’s from a first person point of view of someone who actually lived beside Marie Antoinette during this time. I learned a lot more about her through this book. If you are interested in Marie Antoinette, the French Revolution or French History in general, I highly recommend picking up this book.
The Beautiful Fall by Alicia Drake
Another favorite person in history that I adore is Yves Saint Laurent. I’ve been fan of his and the brand for years. He was such an interesting person and created some new and unusual trends for his time.
This book is well researched and details the friendship between the two rising stars of French Fashion, Yves Saint Laurent and Karl Lagerfeld. Their relationship is what we would now call “frenemies”. It’s interesting to learn more about these two amazing designers and how they broke into international fashion fame.
Documentaries
Versailles 73
Battle at Versailles
Both of these documentaries were ones that I discovered on Netflix and Amazon Prime. The funny thing is that they are both about the same event in history. In 1973, fashion influence, Eleanor Lambert decided to host a Fashion Battle at the Versailles Palace.
At this time the palace was falling down and in desperate need of repairs. The Fashion Battle was to be a fundraiser to raise the funds to help restore Versailles to it’s former splendor. The Fashion Show pitted American designers (Halston, Oscar de la Renta, Stephen Burrows, Anne Klein and Bill Blass) against French designers (Yves Saint Laurent, Christian Dior, Emmanuel Ungaro, Pierre Cardin and Hubert de Givenchy).
Both documentaries have amazing footage and interviews with people that worked on the show, with the designers and even some of the models. While both are interesting, I actually preferred Battle at Versailles because it has more in depth reviews with the people who were there.
That is what I’m loving for the month of June. I’ll be doing a Francophile’s Favorites Part Deux as I share what I’m loving for the month of July. Coming soon! But for now, you can hear more about my thoughts on these products in the video below. I am hosting a small giveaway as well, so make sure to watch the video for the details about how to enter the giveaway.
It’s pretty common in today’s beauty world to see the overdone contour and highlight look like the picture above. Some beauty influencers try to achieve that flawless, Instagram filtered look by painting their faces for the back row. This is one of my least favorite Beauty Trends and it’s time for it to stop! No more contouring like a Drag Queen to go run errands!
Unless you’re an actor on stage or a Drag Queen, contouring and highlighting should be about enhancing your natural beauty and features, not covering them up. In this post I’m going to share some simple steps to achieve an everyday contour look that enhances your features. If you are new to contouring and highlighting this will be a perfect post to help get you started.
What is Contouring and Highlighting?
Contouring is using darker makeup to create shadows on the face that soften features and create depth. These can be features that you want to pull away from view or soften and hide them a little. For instance, you can use contouring to slim a nose and to soften a strong jaw line.
Highlighting is using light to bring those features forward that you would like to be more noticeable. For most people this is a way to make the cheekbones more prominent.
1. Contouring and Highlighting Products
There are typically two types of contouring and highlighting products you can use: cream and powder products. You may often see people on YouTube using both. You absolutely do not need to use both to achieve an everyday look. Most of these YouTubers are painting their faces under harsh and bright lighting so they want the colors to stand out. In my opinion this is too much for everyday and I recommend using one or the other.
Cream products are better for drier skin types, as the creams can often shift on oily skin causing a muddy look to your contour. Although there are some great cream to powder or cream to matte products. Setting your creams with a setting powder can help then stay put a bit longer as well.
I prefer using contouring and highlighting powders. These have a more matte finish, work better on oilier skins and tend to stay put and wear longer than most creams.
2. Consider Your Skin Tone
The Beauty community really needs to stop going too dark or too light with the contouring. It’s pretty common to see people using contouring products that are way too dark or using too light or even white concealers to highlight.
For contouring I recommend using a shade that is one to two shades darker than your own skin tone. I really like using bronzers for contouring as it also adds some warmth to the skin.
When highlighting you can use a concealer that is one to two shades lighter than your natural skin color, but don’t go any lighter. Concealer is meant to conceal! I recommend using highlighting powders to add that glow and enhance features, instead of too light concealer.
3. Application Steps
How and where you apply the products will be determined based on your face shape and features. Take a look at your face without makeup and think about what features you want to soften and which ones you want to highlight.
Apply your foundation and concealer as normal.
To enhance your cheekbones first create a hollow underneath the cheekbone.
Suck in your cheekbones and swipe your contour color under the cheekbone.
I like to work down from the temple to just about an inch or two to the corner of the mouth or to the center of the cheek.
To slim the bridge of your nose, dust your contour color down the sides of the nose blending down to the tip of your nose and up towards your brows or even blending into the transition color of your eyeshadows.
To soften a jawline, swipe your contour color just along the jawline and blend downwards onto the neck.
Highlight where you want light to hit the face and pull features forward, such as top of cheeks, brow bone, center of the chin, bridge and tip of nose and the center of the forehead.
Add your cheek color and any other makeup you may be applying to finish your look.
Set and diffuse with your setting powder, see the video below for more on diffusing your contour and highlight.
Make sure all products are seamlessly blended in and blended together so there are no harsh lines to the look.
I hope this post helped you learn a bit more about contouring and highlighting and how to use it for an everyday look. Help me banish the beauty trend of too much makeup! If you need more information or tips for application, check out the tutorial video below.
