Top 5 Items In My Purse - Video Post!

I decided to share my post with you via video this week! I talk about what I'm loving in my make up bag right now, my perfume of the day, and an item I love right now that is soon to be reviewed. Enjoy and thanks for watching!!

In case you are wondering about the stunning painting behind me, it is a huge piece by my dear friend Heidi Conrod. If you aren't familiar with her work, I suggest you check her out. Every single one of her pieces is deeply personal and evokes a feeling of love and warmth. More are incredible caustic works of oil and beeswax and have so much depth you feel like you could reach into one.

Here is a bigger shot of the painting....

For more info on the products I discuss in this video, here are the links:

Jane Iredale Pure Pressed Base Mineral Foundation SPF 20

LipFusion Sweet

Nivea Classic Cream

Goody Double Wear Elastics

Chanel Rouge Coco Shine Bel Ami

American Apparel Leather Goods

Annick Goutal Matin d'Orage eau de toilette

Chanel Rouge Coco Shine Bel Ami - Perfect For The Lipstick Challenged (like me!)

I was in a beauty conundrum. I wanted a lip colour that looked like, well, a colour. I am a YLBB (Your Lips But Better) woman at the best of times so this was indeed a challenge. My daughters are so brave and always sporting bright fun lippies and while I love colour, I just felt like they made me look old, weird and clownish. Not for moi. Chanel came to the rescue awhile back with their Rouge Coco Shine line, which is balm-like and basically gorgeous. All colours can be applied without a mirror (check), don't settle into lines or bleed (check) and condition your lips (check). So I wandered up to the Chanel counter with high hopes and was not disappointed. 

I had seen the pic above from Carolina Herrera on Beauty Editor  and had become obsessed with a slightly grape-y lip. Clinique Black Honey, you're thinking! For some reason, that shade just doesn't work on me. A tad too dark? I dunno, but it's not me. As soon as I said SLIGHTLY grape-y, the Chanel SA grabbed Bel Ami. I recoiled as it looks so dark and suspiciously like ACTUAL LIPSTICK in the tube but, lo and behold, I loved it. It is perfect. I feel like a real laydee now, with a (sort of) lipstick to call my very own. 

Chanel Rouge Coco Shine Bel Ami

Bel Ami swatched lightly on lower left, more heavily on upper right

I love the lipstick and Chanel trivia behind the name Bel Ami. Coco Chanel's modiste career started with her hat-making and really bloomed when theatre actress Gabrielle Dorziat wore her designs in the Noziere play "Bel Ami" in 1912. If you haven't seen the movie "Coco Avant Chanel" with the divine Audrey Tatou, you simply must. 

Gabrielle Dorziat in "Bel Ami" and her Chanel chapeau...