Marie Antoinette's

Masquerade is the theme of the week!

It is also the name of the new Smashbox fall collection.  I was able to check out this collection and LOVE it. Oh. so ... much!

Before we even begin with the makeup you will be caught by the packaging...feathers, spangles midnight purples and a pop of muted deep pink cover the packages for each product.  The idea is clear; a sparkling night of costume and glamour and a bit of mystery! Even the products are themed this way.  For instance, the lip enhancing gloss has a midnight purple/blue metal cap and simple silver type.  Lovely!






I have the lip enhancing gloss in Disguise gorgeous berry color that goes on as a sheer, adds just the right amount of color to my lips.  It is full of gold, pink and green sparkle flecks, surprisingly when you wear the gloss, the flecks create more of a highlight than sparkle.  Hence the 'lip enhancing gloss' label.  The other color Masquerade lip gloss is available in is Reveal, a mysterious, almost gold shade. It was hard to decide!

For the face, the Baked Fusion Soft Lights Palette (another tempting item).  When worn your skin glows, I think it is comparable to Two Faced Candlelight powder, although the 'glow' factor is better with Masquerade. The mascara is a double feature: liquid liner and lash cover. Gives lashes an almost metallic shine. 

The Smashbox Masquerade Eye Palette comes in the following shades: Matte soft peach, Shimmering black plum, Matte taupe, Metallic khaki, Shimmering gold, Bronze, Metallic Cabernet, and Shimmering navy and Matte bone.

Smashbox features two looks for the makeup line although there are so many possibilities with the amazing eyeshadow shades!  The looks they feature are Intrigue and Mystique.  You can learn how to create the looks and get the proper products from the Smashbox Website.  Perfect for anyone planning to attend a masked ball or just a fabulous night out on the town!


***UPDATE***
I now own the eyeshadow palette as well.l It is just as fab. The colors are unique to the brand and my favorites so far are Metallic Cabernet and Metallic Khaki! <3 new makeup!

Oh here I go again! Off on some more adventures, this time with Heather, and it will require a lot of travel time.  I wont have the internet sadly...(ugh!) but twitter is always an option.  Where would we be without technology! I suppose I should finish up packing...
See you all soon! Will post twitpics!

During her trial, Corday noticed a man painting.  When she realized he was painting an image of her she smiled.  The artist was M. Hauer.  He was unable to finish at the trial but Corday requested he have a few minutes to finish his work, which was granted when she returned to the prison, right before her hair was cut in preparation for her execution.

If you have been following the Marie Antoinette spike on Twitter, it is largely due to a recent controversy over the First Lady, Michelle Obama.  In a recent piece in the NY Daily News, she has been compared to the famous Queen of France.

"Instead, Michelle Obama seems more like a modern-day Marie Antoinette - the French queen who spent extravagantly on clothes and jewels without a thought for her subjects' plight - than an average mother of two. While she's spent her time in the White House telling parents they should relieve their chubby kids' dependency on sugar and stressing the importance of an organic veggie garden, hopping a jet to Europe to meet with Spanish royalty isn't the visual the White House probably wants to project."

Read the full piece here: Material girl Michelle Obama is a modern-day Marie Antoinette on a glitzy Spanish vacation

Upon Louis XV's death, a stunned Marie Antoinette and now Louis XVI stood in their inner apartments of Versailles.  Famously, they asked God to guide them because of the disadvantage of their youth.  Of course, a court does not wait for prayers or thought; there was proper etiquette to be carried out right away.

The Comtesse de Noailles, or as Antoinette referred to, Madame Etiquette, was the first to approach the dismayed couple with instructions on what to do next.  As etiquette demanded, they were to make their way to the Grand Salon.  Once their they had to receive visits from those royal princes who had to pay homage to the new King and Queen.

Naturally, performing such a task was tough at that time.  To those first in line, Marie Antoinette was introduced as the new Queen of France leaning weakly upon her husband with a handkerchief constantly up to her eyes and nose. 

That evening the court left for Choisy, and a carriage was called for the new King, his Queen, his siblings and his sister in law, the comtesse d'Artois.  No one was older than twenty in that carriage. Naturally, though grieving, and full of anticipation of what might happen next, the party all succumbed to laughter after the comtesse d'Artois mispronounced a word, striking a funny bone in everyone. 

I am going to try a new format.  Decorative arts are easy to love or hate, but let's try a comparison.  Which do you prefer and why? The attention to detail was quite extraordinary in 18th century furniture. 

I posted close up images so you could see the details better! Now, which piece do you prefer and why? What would you have in your château??

"For five months, not a farmer has made his appearance in the markets of this town. Such a circumstance was never known before, although from time to time, high prices have prevailed to a considerable extent. On the contrary, the markets were always well supplied in proportion to the high price of grain."