While I was in Dubai, I had the immense pleasure of meeting the charming and brilliant MAC Senior Artist Vimi Joshi. Originally from India, Vimi has been working in the Middle East for the past 15 years. She very graciously sat down with me to talk about regional beauty, and things an American could learn about makeup

For easy reference, I've rounded up the LMdB eyeshadows into one post (they're also a "Hot Topic," which I hope will make this post easy to find).

For my thoughts on individual colors, or for more information about the brand, visit the original posts:
Le Metier de Beaute Eyeshadow, Part 1
Le Metier de Beaute Eyeshadow, Part 2

For now, these are the last of my Michael Todd blush swatches: some of his "Shimmer" blushes. These are heavy swatches (so you can properly see the color of the shimmer), but my first thought was still, "woah, 'shimmer' is right." (Gina and Gabriella seem less shimmery, so I guess they're not all like that.)

Olivia

I recently got the chance to participate in a very cool project. To celebrate the launch of their new (permanent!) Color Design eyeshadow quints (swatched here), Lancome asked 20 bloggers to each make a video about one of the quints — two bloggers per palette. I already thought these palettes were pretty great, so I was delighted to contribute.

Though

I regret that I was unable to squeeze LMdB's 33 permanent eyeshadows onto three concise arms, but as I was swatching, I also came across shades that I thought ought to be swatched again/swatched together... so I thought I'd make a disambiguation post. You haven't yet seen Bordeaux (red plum shimmer), Plum (hyacinth shimmer), or Corinthian (a muted red grape

Michael Todd is an online-only cosmetics company with an almost comically diverse product offering. I've been lucky enough to swatch a selection of their powder blushes ($17 on Michael Todd's website; $9.99 on All Cosmetics Wholesale).

Today's shades aren't exactly my cup of tea. Sugar Daddy is purplish pink with tiny, dense, white-silver sparkles. Speechless is

Le Metier de Beaute is still a relatively small company. As a result, their artists and employees really get a chance to shape the brand and steer product development. (If a new product doesn't live up to their expectations, it won't make it to the counter.) In my experience, that also means that the artists and sales associates are showing

I think Vena Cava's fall 2011 show was inspired by the designers' own aesthetic in the 90s. The makeup (directed by Christian McCulloch for MAC Cosmetics) looked like a Deborah Lippmann polish exploded in the models' faces. In an interview with Vogue, co-designer Sophie Buhai recalled her high school days wearing "lots of glitter on my face

Though I've been able to swatch a number of Michael Todd's available-only-online blushes, I should mention that these are still just a selection of the available shades (those shades available from All Cosmetics Wholesale, to be precise). At this time, Mr. Todd offers 45 shades of powder blush, and 23 shades of "shimmer" powder blush. (Not to mention his striped

I had a makeover with Le Metier artist Gregg Hubbard a few weeks ago, and the number one thing I took away from the experience was that Le Metier wants to give women permission to take risks with their makeup. "You can't really go wrong," Gregg said. "You can work any shade into your current wardrobe of colors."

Le Metier

Traveling always destroys my nails. I never fail to trip over something in an airport, have someone’s rollerbag run over my foot in a train station, snag my nail trying to wrangle my suitcase — you get the picture.

There was so much to do before I left for vacation that I didn’t have time for my usual

Some time ago, I swatched some lipsticks from a brand called Michael Todd. I can't help smiling at Michael Todd. The brand exists only online, and they sell absolutely everything: skincare, fragrance, cosmetics of every description.

Mr. Todd's blushes are named without rhyme or reason: fruits, puns, people. And it's hard to crave a brand you've never heard of.

One of Le Metier de Beaute's most talked about products is their powder eyeshadow. It's quadruple-milled, which, LMdB asserts, renders blending unnecessary.

Actually, Le Metier has a rather unusual application technique when it comes to eyeshadow. They call it couches de couleur, the layering of color. The method (as explained to me by LMdB national artist Ivan Castro) involves patting

Because I was one of Aveda's Water Warriors this year, the company asked me to name my favorite products of theirs — and then they offered to donate them for a blog giveaway. Thank you, Aveda!

Unfortunately, this giveaway is only open to readers in the U.S.

One winner will receive full sizes of:

• Be Curly Style

As a fan of the sisters Pixiwoo, I was thrilled to hear that Sam (Samantha Chapman) was releasing a line of brushes. I was also very happy to hear she was doing it in a collaboration with Paris Presents, the company behind the excellent EcoTools brushes, Ms. Makeup brushes, and the Wal-Mart "blue packaging" line.