Archives for April 2008

9 Things: My Makeup Lust List

April 24th, 2008 by Karen 52 Comments

‘Twas a slooow day for me today, so during a break I did one of the things I do best: cruise for makeup online! Here’s my current makeup lust list!

Makeup Lust List

1. The entire MAC Neo Sci Fi collection ($14-21)!!!
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Photo credit: Specktra Blog

2. The entire Nars summer collection! ($22-$32) – Hot, hot and hot! I’ll have to “adopt” the Unconditional Love Duo Cream Eyeshadow and Supervixen Lipgloss, ASAP.
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3. Hanae Mori Butterfly Eau Fraiche Fragrance ($65) – I’m dying to try this out. Sephora.com says it’s a fruity floral with notes of grapefruit, strawberry, black currant and jasmine, and although I haven’t sniffed it yet, my fragrance ESP tells me (hopes) it smells divine.
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4. Guerlain Meteorites Powder Pearls in Pink Fresh ($51) – Ooh! I wish I had jewelry with pearls as big as these powder pearls.
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5. Fresh Island Reverie Face Palette ($55) – Now, this is the palette I’d want to bring with me on a worldwide surf vacation. It includes three eyeshadows — Tiare (a sheer champagne), Plumeria (a sheer shell-pink) and Rum (rich coffee) — a blush (Island Reverie, a coral shade) and a bronzer (called Treasure Cove).
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6. Best of Becca Palette ($65) – Why do we always want what we can’t have? This palette must be the shizz because it’s always out of stock! In it Becca stuffed two eyeshadows (a golden bronze and a rich bronze shimmer), a cream blush called Turkish rose, a caramel lip/cheek cream and a peachy pearl lipgloss.
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7. MAC PowerPoint Eye Pencil in Tealo and Forever Green ($13.50) – Wee! I love green eye pencils. I can’t get enough of green eye pencils, and I want to try these because they’re supposedly waterproof, too. I hope they’re nice and blendable like the Technakohls. Both of the greens that I want are out of stock on the MAC Web site (boo), but the Nordstrom site has ’em in stock (yay).
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Lancome High Definicils Mascara: What a Difference a Brush Makes

April 24th, 2008 by Karen 28 Comments

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High Definicils, Lancome’s new release of their legendary glossy black Definicils mascara, features an improved soft rubber brush that makes Definicils much easier to apply.

Shortly after Lancome introduced the original Definicils mascara in 1991, it became the “it” mascara of the 90s. I remember being in college and seeing Definicils ads in beauty mags, but I could never afford it back then. Later, when I finished school and got my first real job after graduation, one of my first little splurges was on a tube of Definicils mascara.

Unfortunately, that was my first, and, um, last tube.

I liked the rich black color, the shine, and how well it thickened and lengthened my lashes, but I could never quite figure out the brush. The Definicils formula is and was surprisingly thick, and the dense brush Lancome included with the product back in the 90s always gave me clumpy lashes.

Flash forward about a decade. The new brush that ships with High Definicils mascara makes a world of difference. Lancome hasn’t changed the famously black Definicils mascara formula, but the old dense, bristly brush has been replaced by what the company calls a “high precison” brush (aka, soft rubber brush with stubby rubber bristles). It makes Definicils worth another try.

After applying a layer with the high precision brush I didn’t see any clumping at all, just an even application of product onto my lashes. Unlike the old school brush, the newer one delivers great lash separation and consistent coverage for long, thick, natural-looking lashes.

High Definicils in action…

Nekkid lashes!
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One layer of High Definicils…
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MAC Collections Due May 1: Naughty Nauticals, Dazzleglass and Skinsheen

April 23rd, 2008 by Karen 36 Comments

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MAC lovers, mark yo’ calendars! Three brand new MAC collections hit counters on May 1st — Naughty Nauticals, Dazzleglass and Skinsheen Leg Spray.

I like the sound of Naughty Nauticals and love the ocean, so I’m particularly excited about the pink, coral, red and blue colors prominent in the collection.

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MAC Naughty Nauticals Colors by Category…

Lipsticks ($14)
Buoy-o-Buoy (lustre) – Creamy neutral pink-brown
Port Red (frost) – Clean yellow-red with gold pearl
Party Mate (lustre) – Sheer mid-tone pink
Ahoy, there! (glaze)– Sheer, light dirty pink with multi-dimensional pearl

Lustreglass ($14)
Hey Sailor (lustre) – Blue plum-pink with flecks of white pearl
Love Knot (lustre) – Sheer pink with blue & white duo chrome
Bateaux (lustre) – Neutral brown-peach with white frost
Ensign (lustre) – Peachy pink with white and gold pearl

Eye shadow ($14)
Shore Leave (veluxe pearl) – Pale frosty cream
Illegal Cargo (frost) – Mid-tone frosty grayed plum
Meet the Fleet (matte) – Matte midnight blue
Pandamonium (lustre) – Frosty gunmental with white pearl
Submarine (frost) – Mid-tone frosty clear blue

Pigment ($19.50)
Lark About (frost) – Sheer frosty white-blue
Mutiny (frost) – Clean sky blue with gold pearl
Bell-Bottom Blue (frost) – Frosty blue with white pearl
Lovely Lily (frost) – Dirty lilac with red pearl

Technakohl ($13.50)
Smoothblue – Ocean blue with frost
Greyprint – Rich pewter grey with frost

Prolash ($11)
Coal Black – “Honest-to-goodness-black” (LOLOL)

Nail Lacquer ($10)
Naughty Nauticals (frost) – Dark royal blue
Shirelle (cream) – Classic “she’s a dame”

One of my favorite pictures!
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Lip Look: Chanel Rouge Hydrabase Leopard Lipstick

April 22nd, 2008 by Karen 42 Comments

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It’s raining out, so I totally ditched going to the gym; instead, I’m at home watching yet another America’s Next Top Model marathon (Cycle 7) and playing with lipstick. I had to take a break from the Melrose madness (anybody else suspect she might be a cyborg?) because in my soul I felt compelled — yes, compelled — to share this picture of Chanel’s Rouge Hydrabase Leopard lipstick ($26) with you.

It’s my civic duty to inform coral lipstick lovers everywhere…

how creamy and smooth this formula feels on my lips!
how the intense, rich color stays on for hours (five so far, and even through dinner)!
how moisturized my lips feel (the formula contains both Vitamin E and chamomile to protect and soothe yer pucker)!

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This leopard deserves her big jungle cat name. She’s an awesome, semi-matte golden coral, and she makes me look and feel ready to pounce! Even though I’m looking pretty tow up right now in my stretchy pants (had to have ice cream after dinner) and oversized UC DAVIS ALUMNI t-shirt, with Leopard on my lips I still feel hot enough to stalk unsuspecting man prey. This is my very first Chanel Rouge Hydrabase lipstick, and I predict it won’t be my last. Leopard is the queen of my lipstick jungle, rrraaoooww!

But now… the couch beckons me, so I gotta get back to Tyra, Miss J. and hottie photographer Nigel Barker.

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Did you have a good day today? I hope so. What are your plans for tomorrow?

Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,

Karen

Dior: Go Green (and Brown) for Earth Day 2008

April 22nd, 2008 by Karen 33 Comments

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Happy Earth Day, ya’ll! Guess what happened to your friendly neighborhood beauty addict at 2:00 am this morning? I got up because the neighbor’s cat was meowing at the door (why do they always want to party at the most inopportune times? Sucks!), drank a glass of water, and then realized that today is Earth Day. That got me thinking about Earth Day-esque things like composting, Toyota Priuses and low-flow shower heads, and from there my brain made the leap to earthy Dior eyeshadows.

Eventually, I fell back to sleep. Later in the morning (after taking out the recycling), I whipped up this list of Earth-Day inspired green and brown eye colors from the Dior makeup line…

Earth Reflection 609 ($54) – A palette with gold, bronze, golden pink, dark brown, and golden pearl shadows that I’d wear for daytime looks.
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Tropical Light 409 ($54) – I got all swoony when I saw the light green shade in this palette. I also dig the bronze, pink pearl, silver taupe and pearl shades, too.
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MAC Mineralize SPF 15 Loose Foundation: For the Lazy in You

April 21st, 2008 by Karen 38 Comments

My makeup laziness knows no bounds. I can be such a lazy beast. Lately, I’ve been reaching for MAC Mineralize SPF 15 Loose Foundation ($29). It’s easier to apply than liquid foundation yet still provides doable medium-to-heavy coverage. I’m not sure how I feel about the NASA-looking packaging (although the fluffy puff is cute) MAC chose to include with the product, but no problem — I’ll just use my trusty skunk brush (aka the MAC 187) with it instead!

Disco glitter queens, you’ll freak out when you see how sparkly it looks in a wrist swatch, but hold on a minute because the sparkle disappears (poof!) once the product has been applied to your face. The result: a dewy matte finish.

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Mineralize Loose feels good, too. It’s light, doesn’t cake and allows my skin to breathe. MAC blended moisturizers, conditioners and a mysterious “Mineral Complex” that MAC claims keeps skin healthy and nourished.

MAC has given us seven shades to choose from (I’m using Medium Dark).

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Because the jar is oddly shaped, you can’t exactly carry it in your sleek clutch purse, so bust out your big ole’ Marc Jacobs bag to carry it around for touch-ups throughout the day.

MAC Mineralize SPF 15 Loose Foundation

Price: $29
Use: As a foundation
Makeup and Beauty Blog Rating: B+
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Dior Goldrush Face of the Day: A Brown and Khaki Eye

April 21st, 2008 by Karen 35 Comments

I must confess: I have a kindergarten crush on the new Dior Golds 569 palette. Actually, I have room in my heart for all five of the colors in the new Dior quint, but my favorite is khaki. Today I paired it with MAC Soba eyeshadow (in the crease ) to create a brown and khaki daytime eye.

Dior me, baby!

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Chanel Flamingo Nail Colour: My Sunday Morning Manicure

April 20th, 2008 by Karen 49 Comments

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Today I treated my nails to pricey pink perfection by way of $19 Chanel Flamingo nail polish. Part of Chanel’s summer 2008 collection, Flamingo is a soft, pale pink with flecks of shimmery silver. I swooned when I first saw it in the store a few weeks ago; I have a well-documented weakness for pink.

So, I was doing my nails this morning while watching the Torchwood season finale (R.I.P., Tosh and Owen), and I made some observations about Flamingo. The formula Chanel uses is a ‘lil thicker than both Shu Uemura ($16) and Laura Mercier ($15) nail polishes. Consequently, Flamingo takes longer to dry. A thicker consistency also typically requires more care to apply than a polish with a thinner consistency, but despite the consistency Chanel Flamingo was relatively easy to use. No goopy mess.

It took me three layers to get the vibrant pink in the picture above. Pretty, yah? I love Flamingo, but I do have an issue with its $19 price tag. I know $19 isn’t that much more than both Shu or Laura nail polishes, but it’s still $14 more than a bottle of Revlon!

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