The Return of Prescriptives Virtual Matte

Like an irreplaceable long-lost love, I have held onto hope that my beloved Prescriptives Virtual Matte foundation would someday return to me. Today, at 10:21AM, it did. Who says some things are hopeless? :) Two bottles of Fresh Beige for me, please. Hopefully, this is a sign that the company has been listening to its loyal customers and will continue to give us a fresh stock of these every now and then. I love, love that I can glam up this foundation by topping it off with some MAC Mineralize Skinfinish Natural in Medium Dark and NARS Orgasm blush. I've been stingy with my last bottle and haven't worn it to work in a long time, but it's definitely low-key enough on its own for a toned-down natural look as well (I dilute it with a bit more Evian Mineral Spray for daytime wear). As much as I really do love my NARS Sheer Matte, saving $10 and getting the original feels SO much better.

With the close of the longest and most trying summer of my life, things have started looking up again lately. This little gem only made it better. Happy Monday, everyone!

EDIT: I wore the foundation out today for a business meeting and fell in love all over again with the amazing way that it blends seamlessly into my skin (I apply with quick strokes of my MAC 131 brush). Topped it off with Everyday Minerals Start to Bronze Finishing Powder and a tiny bit of MAC Springsheen blush. 

It's actually surprising how well the foundation works with my skin. The first photo above was taken during February, when I was much paler than I am today. Maybe I'm just lucky, but I don't have to switch shades for different seasons (Fresh Beige for all day, every day). I think the secret to making it work is proper application and blending! I buff all my finishing powders with my MAC 182 for a proper, clean finish. Does anyone else love this foundation as much as I do?

Prescriptives Virtual Matte Replacement

After my denial of Prescriptives Virtual Matte's demise finally faded away, I searched for its possible replacement with a heavy heart and lowly expectations (yes, I am a creature of intense attachment). I headed over to Sephora after having done a bit of research and had my mind set on Make Up For Ever's Mat Velvet. I picked this one for the brand's high quality products, color offerings, formulation, and similar pricing (only $2 more than VM). Overall, the product seemed like a pretty good clone of VM, but it's always funny how what you think is best for you, isn't what you end up needing after all.

The Sephora make-up artists understood right away what I was looking for when I mentioned VM, and walked me over to Tarte for its similar au-naturale formulations. Unfortunately, I found the Smooth Operator foundation to be too dry and flat on my skin. Instead of sinking in, it sat on top with a fairly white cast. Instant neg on that one, sorry Tarte. These are two of my biggest pet peeves of oil-free and SPF foundations (a similar predicament I found when trying the highly touted VM-clone: Clinique Superfit). No, thank you, I would not like to be a cakey, white mess.

What was I looking for? Dewy, light, moisturizing, non-shiney, and coverage for my acne scars! Picky, much? Thankfully, my pickiness led me to my perfect match: Nars Sheer Matte. I love, love the finish and the fact that the color doesn't change after a long day! It's light enough for layering so that you can attain whatever coverage level you want. Two cons are that it's a little pricier, at $42 compared to $32 for VM. And unfortunately, it doesn't contain SPF, so you'd need to pair it with a separate sunscreen if wearing it during the day. Either way, the pros definitely outweigh the cons, and I think I'm hooked. For anyone with slightly drier skin, the foundation also comes in a Sheer Glow version!

Took this for a spin in Vegas last weekend, with a fear of what my "photo face" would look like... and was pleasantly surprised! Like VM, my face photographed pretty true to color and wasn't too dry or oily despite the sweaty mess of Vegas clubs. I don't usually wear liquid foundation to work, but tried it a few days to test out the staying power. I'm glad to say that whether I top it off with MAC Skinfinish Natural or Everyday Minerals Silk Dust, it sits perfectly, with very little fading. I had little hope that I could find a VM replacement so easily, but it's always great to find something unexpected.

Foundation routine to come in a later post!

It's So Hard to Say Goodbye

My heart is officially broken. After having a great week off from work and catching up with the family on Thanksgiving, I received a somber letter from Nordstrom yesterday. The news? That my beloved Prescriptives was being discontinued in January 2010! It all makes sense now why the counter at my local mall looked like a deserted mess when I went to pick up some foundation last month. After googling the news, I realize that everyone else has known about this except for me! Where the heck have I been?

My devastation stems from the fact that I thoroughly believe that no other foundation was made better for my skin. I love that it's light, provides great coverage without being greasy, has SPF, and doesn't break me out. Probably the best and most important thing is that it doesn't result in that ghastly "white-face" in pictures! True proof of its awesomeness lies in pictures taken recently of my best friend and me--she in gorgeous Chanel and me in my Virtual Matte. In person, her skin was flawless with the perfect tone. However, when we reviewed the shots we had snapped from the night, there was no denying the white sheen cast over her face. I, on the other hand, did not have this problem--and never have since discovering VM in college!

Buzz on the streets points to lack of brand positioning and marketing to the downfall of this Estee Lauder brand. With the huge lot of beauty brands owned by EL (which include MAC, Bobbi Brown, Origins), it's a shame that not enough attention was focused on Px. With limited visibility and an unclear target demographic, it's not hard to see why the brand struggles despite the high-quality products it offers. I, myself, admit that I don't turn to Px for any of my beauty staples besides foundation because the company has never done a great job with advertising. Make-up artists at the counters usually multi-tasked with other brands and only came by when I waved them over to get me my foundation. I once decided I'd ask the MA for some bronzer suggestions and she had difficulty offering me advice on contouring. After stumbling to wow me with any real product recommendations, I left with nothing more to add to my bag. As mentioned last year, the brand also never really took advantage of consumer shopping seasons, such as Christmas. Alas, so many areas that could've been fixed to save the brand. I wonder if the "thorough analysis" was only conducted after plans had already been made for the brand's demise. It's a shame that the economy claims another victim.

Pick up your last minute buys before all counters shut down in January! The website will stay up until all stock is officially sold out. Bye bye, VM. You will be terribly missed.

In the Bag

What's in the bag? See for yourself..

Yes, this is the Hayden-Harnett Conrad bag from this post! I luurrrve it; it works both as a classic black bag for the office, AND dressy enough for meeting up with friends afterwards. The leather is super supple and soft (look at the shine on this baby!), and now I completely understand girls' love affairs with purses and handbags because I am officially OBSESSED. This marks several milestones - my first HH, and my first black bag.

The lining is gorgeous! I love peeking into my bag.

Compared to other girls' purses I've seen, I consider myself a light packer O.O Inside, I carry:

• small notebook with weekly to-do list and for jotting down random notes, + pens
• Lacoste wallet from Century 21
• Longchamp makeup bag with 1) Prescriptives Virtual Matte pressed powder, 2) Lancome Juicy Tube in Fruity Pop, 3) MAC Hello Kitty lipgloss in She Loves Candy, 4) MAC SlimShine in Ultra Elegant, 5) Kiehl's #1 lip balm, and 6) sample size of Prescriptives Virtual Matte foundation which are for emergencies but I've never used. I bet you can't tell I love lip stuff =)
• Neutrogena handcream
• 3G iPhone (I waited 4 hours in line the 2nd day it came out)
• elbow-length gloves to keep my phalanges warm, essential for NYC winter
• earmuffs - useful in theory but I don't like how they mess up my hair since they go around the head

Not shown but still in the picture is my Blackberry, which fits perfectly into the right external pocket, and my Metro card which lives inside the left outside pocket. When it comes to bags, I still need function in addition to fashion, so I love that this bag has so many pockets. Along with my building keycard and work keycard, sometimes I transfer my phone into the ingeniously magnetic (!) back pocket for easy access.

I must say, my first foray into the realm of purses was a success, and converted me into a believer.

HBC: Prescriptives 2008 Holiday Collection

The title HBC refers to our Holiday Beauty Collections feature and not Hot B*tch in Charge per I Love New York's Tiffany Pollard. I'm sorry, I had to mention it because I *love* that term even though I can't really stand the show.

Anyway, on to our very first HBC feature!! Prescriptives won my heart with its amazing Virtual Matte foundation. It is one of the few beauty products that I have ever truly used up to the very last drop. I anticipated good things with this brand for my Christmas shopping.

If you're at all familiar with the brand, you know that its packaging is pretty basic. The company doesn't stray far from its signature silver and lime green colors. When I saw the Prescriptives holiday banner, I got SO excited. THERE WAS COLOR!! What better time than the holidays to introduce something as lively as color?! The strategy of keeping things light and simple works fairly well for a brand like Prescriptives which prefers to market the fact that its products are based on the healthy-prescription ideal. However, holiday collections offer the opportunity to have some fun and appeal to customers' visual tendencies.
 
I was disappointed to see that although the brand boasts a line of limited edition holiday kits and a holiday collection called AGLOW, the products in these "collections" were more or less part of the basic line. The few things that caught my eye were the ones that came in colored pouches (a total of 3/16 available kits). If I were to walk through the beauty counters of a department store, I don't think that the Prescriptives brand would pop out to me as a great gift idea based solely on presentation.

Here are the two items I would choose:

 

Overall, I'd seriously consider buying the Px Duets Pencils ($29.50) because the colors are gorgeous and versatile and this is a limited edition item. The Blush More or Less ($21.50) is just a basic cream blush, but it's a must for the colder seasons! I could definitely add it to any gift bag I was putting together for one of my friends. The other gift sets are definitely worth checking out as well if you know someone who actually loves the brand. They're great deals! These offerings might keep loyal customers happy, but I'm not sure that they will win over any new ones. I wouldn't expect to wow anyone too much with this holiday collection if you're looking for something more fit for the season.

Live from New York City

Unfolded laundry sits in the hamper, work is in 7 hours, and yet I'm too excited about this blog that I'd rather be posting!

In Amelie style - Janice is a former Californian girl recently moved to New York City with a long-instilled appreciation of beauty as art and creative release. Janice dislikes neck sores from being in one position for too long, holes clustered together, and static-y hair. She likes microfiber sheets, the smell of new tennis balls, and emptying her traincase reorganizing it and putting everything back.

This is actually the second attempt at a beauty/fashion blog for Michelle and me. The first ended with acceptance that we were too busy with work to keep up posting, but this second try is a stubborn refusal to give into the doldrums of working life. The goal is to not only report on the happenings in the beauty/fashion industry (new collections, sales, etc.) but also to offer insight and commentary on how marketing and promotions has affected us and our mentality as consumers, and specifically as young professionals. Aaaand of course these posts will be punctuated by entries about recent impulse buys and great purchases that we just have to share those who can share our excitement =)

For the record, here are the products currently in rotation:

Cleanser: Neutrogena Oil-free Acne Wash or Shu Uemura Cleansing Oil in Light

Moisturizer: Olay SPF15 Oil-Free Moisturizer during the day, Lancome Aqua Fusion Moisturizer at night

Eyecream: 100% Pure Coffee Bean Eye Cream*

Makeup basics: Prescriptives Virtual Matte Foundation, Cargo Medium Matte Bronzer, MAC Stereo Rose Mineralized Skin Finish*, MAC Uniform Technakohl eyeliner

* denotes loooves