Of course, fall brings out all the darker colors in makeup, as we have already found with the black and red lip trends. Those colors are also trendy for nails, but I’m going to go in a different direction today.

One of the nail trends I like best this fall is gray. Always a popular color on the fall runways, gray is finally earning a place in nail polish collections. We aren’t talking silver, but from soft gray to gunmetal, it’s a color that can flatter any skin tone.

OPI’s Give me the Moon looks to be a true, matte gray.

China Glaze has Recycle, which is a glossy, deep gunmetal gray.

Zoya’s Freja is a dark metallic charcoal gray.

Finally, we have Piggy Polish in Every Cloud. This metallic, light dove gray even comes with a bonus toe ring!

Yes, you read that right.

Black lips are even hotter (supposedly) than red lips this fall.

I’m not really sure how widespread the appeal is for this particular trend, other than the obvious Goth and nightclub set. I can just see the look on all the other kindergarten mothers as I pick up the Munchkin rocking jet-black lips. In fact, I could probably tell the exact moment when they decide to dis-invite me from all upcoming birthday parties.

True black lip products are hard to find, one of the hottest is sparkle-free PUR Black Lipgloss from YSL, available now. In November, Lancome is coming out with Color Fever Gloss in Piha Black, which comes in a set paired with a red gloss, both sparkly. There will be only 500 sets made, available at the Bloomingdale’s 59th Street location in New York, online, as well as at the five Lancome boutiques in the US.

If you really wanted to do a very dark but not necessarily black lip, you might want to try Garden Botanika’s Black Currant Lip Tint, or Revlon’s Super Lustrous Lipstick in Black Berry. Also, one of the best dark lip looks can be had from the Wicked Lovely Lipgloss by Smashbox in Sultry, which is a dark cherry gloss. You can also use the Wicked Lovely Lipliner in Tempt underneath to make it last longer. Or possibly just use the liner and apply a nice shiny gloss over that as well.

The key is finding a dark shade in wine, cherry, or other deep color that works for your skin tone and then making sure it’s nice and glossy. But, I’m not sure this is one trend you’ll be seeing me in this season. 

Fall is in the air, is it not?

Well, it isn’t actually here where I live yet.  But, that has never stoppped makeup trends, and a hot one this fall is red lips.

I won’t lie, red lips are hard to pull off well.  You really do have to have the perfect color for your skin tone, or it just looks really bad.  And unfortunately, the best way to pick that perfect red is to try it on.  Use any other method, and you are likely to end up making a return trip to the store.

Some general guidelines are if you have fair skin, choose a red with a blue undertone. If you have a bit of color, you could spring for something with some orange undertones.  If you are tan or have quite a bit of color, rust overtones look good.  A true, London-bus red looks good on everyone, but they are hard to find.

So what I will do is give you tips on how to make your red lips look fab:

1. Use lip liner to give the color something to grab onto, because “bleeding” red lipstick is a horrible, horrible thing.  A liner that matches exactly is best, since manufacturers often offer liners in the same color as the lipstick. If you can’t find one, a liner that matches your natural lip color as closely as possible will also work.

2. Always use a lip brush to apply red lipstick, using the longest strokes possible. 

3. Make sure that you cover your lips entirely with the lipstick, including the corners.

4. Also key to keeping that color on your lips is blending concealer, preferably with a brush, around the edges of your mouth after the lipstick has been applied.

5. Gloss is optional, using it will soften the impact of the red.

6. Keep your eyes light.  A heavy, smoky eye competing with red lipstick is going to have people thinking you are off to a Halloween party.

And there you go! Now that wasn’t so bad, was it?

One lipstick to try in a nice, true red like the one I mentioned above is Christian Dior Premiere.

When I was younger (in my late teens, early twenties) I used to think that I had no need for mascara.  I was blessed with fairly dark, fairly long lashes.  Then a co-worker suggested that I try mascara for some extra pop, and I’ve been hooked ever since.  Thanks, Monica!

Since Lorac went ahead and changed their formula or something (hello flakes where there used to be none!) I have been searching for a suitable replacement.  Many of them were good, including the Lancome High Definicils I’ve been using, but not quite what I was looking for. 

Then, along comes Givenchy Phenomen’Eyes. 

Mascara wands have been the same pretty much since, well, the introduction of mascara.  A long wand with a long band of bristles at the very end.  Now, the bristles would sometimes be fat, or thin, or a combination thereof.  Recently they have been changing the bristles to rubber instead of nylon, and doing crazy things with the size, the angle, making it double-tipped, curved, you name it.  But the basic shape and style of the brush was always the same.

Givenchy decided to change all that, and it’s about time.  Instead of a wand with spaced out bristles, it has a full, spherical tip that gets to lashes in a way those other kinds of mascara can only dream about. It gives you lashes where you didn’t think you had any. We are talking crazy, crazy lashes.

This is not a mascara for the timid. It is not a mascara for the weak. And to be honest, it probably isn’t a mascara suitable for the PTA meeting. But, if you want knockout lashes, this is THE mascara to get.

My sincerest apologies for not posting the winners on September 6, as I said I would. A family emergency pushed things back a couple of days, thank you so much for your patience.

First I would like to thank the wonderful, generous folks at Stila Cosmetics, without whom, none of these giveaways would have been possible. I was thrilled when they contacted me, and it makes me happy to give away such fabulous products to our readers. Glinda adores spreading beauty and super fantastic-ness!

I would also like to thank everyone who took the time to pen a haiku and enter the contest. With over 80 entries, all were so creative and fun to read. I have always maintained that the readers of Teeny Manolo are some of the most intelligent women on the internet, and this contest proved it.

So after much deliberation between Raincoaster, the Manolo, and myself, we finally have our winners!

Our Runner-Up is Pepper, who wrote this amusing gem:

Tears make raccoon eyes
Lipstick smears on his collar
I curse cheap makeup.

And finally, our Grand Prize goes out to Eileen with this evocative haiku:

When I was little
I rouged my face with chapstick
and hoped for beauty.

Congratulations!

The last product I’m going to review for this summer of Stila is the Eyeshadow Quad in Marrakesh.

And I can sum it up neatly in one word- beautiful!

Now as I age (ahem) gracefully, my ability to wear super-shimmery colors is getting a bit tenuous. Nothing shows up crepey eyelids like a bit of shine. The shadows in this quad have a teensy bit of shimmer, just enough to look awesome, yet not enough to highlight any signs of advancing closer to forty, or uh, (cough, cough) thirty-seven.

The colors can be worn together, alone, or in any combination. They would be extremely flattering to pretty much any skin tone. I love this quad, and I think you would, too!

As for the Super Fantastic Stila Giveaway Part Deux, we are going to carefully judge the haiku over the next week, and the winners will be announced on Sept. 6, 2008. Thank you to all those that entered, it’s going to be a tough decision! You all blew me away with your creativity!

Our summer of Stila continues, and if you haven’t yet submitted your haiku, I have one question for you. Why not? Ten minutes worth of exercising the brain cells could net you almost $200 in FREE MAKEUP! Do. The. Math. And, even if you don’t win, you are creating ART, and art is priceless, is it not? As well as good for the soul.

Now, onto things that are good for our face.

Another product I got to review was Stila’s Color Push-Up in Berry Flash. It also comes in Rose Flash and Blush Flash. It is a compact, moisturizing blush that you simply sweep on. No brushes, and a minimum of blending with your fingers. It is light in texture, quite sheer, and did I mention extremely blendable?

Its compact size makes it perfect for sticking in your purse. Going out to dinner after work? Use it for an instant, easy bit of color. Because we all know that even with carefully applied powder in the morning, the blush is one of the first things to go, right after the lipstick.

Good stuff, my friends. Good stuff.

As I mentioned before, Stila was ever so generous with me, and even though I am giving away a ton of makeup, I also got to keep some for myself!

You may or may not know that I love lipstick.  Actually, I have a confession to make. I am a complete lipstick whore.  At this moment, I have approximately twenty liptsicks.  And it isn’t enough.  I will never have enough, I tell you!

Ahem… Back to the review.

When I saw the High Shine Lip Color, I knew I had to try it.  The packaging (as always) is so pretty, with little vines and leaves etched onto the inner tube. 

The lipstick itself goes on fairly lightly, it isn’t greasy or heavy.  Stila describes it as buttery, and I would have to agree. And I have to point out that there is a large difference between “shiny” and “glittery” and this has a lot of shine with not a lot of glitter.  Which is fine with me, because my days of nightclubbing are a thing of the past.  It wears well, and it has now become my favorite everyday lip color.

If you think you might want one for yourself, go and enter the Super Fantastic Stila Giveaway, for the High Shine Lip Color is just one of the many goodies in the first prize package.