Archives for August 2008

Clinique Fall 2008: Game, Set, Matte

August 4th, 2008 by Karen 28 Comments

They’re baaaaaack. No, I’m not talking about poltergeists, Carol Anne. I’m referring to a resurgence of matte makeup products. Shine and shimmer have dominated makeup for the last several years, but more and more matte lipsticks, eye shadows and blushes appear each day.

MAC heralded the trend with last fall’s Matte2 collection, but since then a number of lines have re-embraced the look.

Just this month Clinique released the Modern Matte collection with its Colour Surge Eye Shadow Stay Matte ($17.50, available in nine different shades).

If you don’t have much experience with matte eye shadows, the Stay Matte shades may be worth a try because the colors are less intense than those in the MAC Matte2 line. I think that makes them a little easier to use.

Stay Matte’s slightly translucent colors result in sheer, soft looks that are very forgiving — fantastic for makeup newbies still working on their brush and application skills — yet the shades themselves are easily buildable if you’re looking for more intense color. I have two of the darker shades, Chocolate Chip (cool brown) and Midnight (soft black), which I like to pair with something neutral for easy work looks. Makeup and Beauty Blog Rating: A

In addition to the Stay Matte eye shadows, the Clinique Modern Matte collection features a few other choice makeup pickings:

For Cheeks

Many cream blushes don’t last very long on cheeks, but Clinique’s Blushwear Cream Stick ($18.50) in Very Blush stays put for hours. This limited edition cream-to-powder shade is super easy to use and produces lovely, natural cheeks, even when I’m in a rush. I just dot the stick directly onto the apples of my cheeks, blend and voila — a natural, plum-colored flush. Oh, yeah, and it’s oil-free, to boot. Loving this! Makeup and Beauty Blog Rating: A+

For Lips

Clinique consistently does one thing really well when it comes to lip products: they make ’em moisturize like a mofo. Just like their Glosswear and Superbalm formulas, their new High Impact Lip Colour lipsticks ($14) will keep your lips feeling soft and supple, and each of the available shades contains SPF 15. The shade I have, Red-y to Wear, is a shiny, highly pigmented tomato red. Makeup and Beauty Blog Rating: A+

Defining Lip Liner ($14) delivers definition and color with Clinique’s trademark moisturization. It’s a creamy texture and glides without tugging. I like pairing Pomegranate (a dusty rose pink) with Clinique’s Bamboo Pink Glosswear. I also like Red-y or Not, which works perfectly with Red-y to Wear. Makeup and Beauty Blog Rating: B+
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Makeup and Beauty Blog Monday Poll, August 4

August 4th, 2008 by Karen 46 Comments

Mood: Hopeful

Mascara: Exceptionnel de Chanel (I’m finally getting the hang of the brush)

Fragrance: Estee Lauder’s Sensuous

Morning beverage: Starbuck’s Breakfast Blend with lots of milk and a teaspoon of sugar

First song I heard today:

“I still go to Taco Bell
Drive-through, raw as Hell”

Food craving: Chocolate croissant

Outfit: Blue, plaid Old Navy pajamas 🙂

Lovin’:

Glasses, zip-up hoodies, lists

Favorite makeup brush and why: MAC 266 Small Angle Brush because it makes filling in my brows easy!

My goals for this week: Get better about using my calendar, take Tabs to the vet (again), get all my dates and details sorted out for the weddings I’m going to in the fall, plan a weekend trip to Tahoe

Now it’s your turn. Just copy and paste this list, insert your answers and leave ’em for me in the comments. 🙂

Le list

Mood:
Mascara:
Fragrance:
Morning beverage:
First song I heard today:
Food craving:
Outfit:
Lovin’:
Favorite makeup brush and why:
Goals for the week:

Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,

Karen

Bobbi Brown Pretty Pink Metallic Lip Color: Yeah, It’s Good

August 3rd, 2008 by Karen 38 Comments

When it comes to pink lipsticks, I am a one-woman army. I’ve been hoarding them since high school. My arsenal is such that if hostile aliens landed and the fate of the world hinged on our ability to scare them away with tubes of pink lipstick, the Earth would prevail! I’d whip out one of my new favorite pink shades for fall, Bobbi Brown’s Pretty Pink Metallic Lip Color ($22), and wave it above my head like a light saber.

“Check out the shimmery gold and warm pink color,” I’d call to the trembling alien army. “The metallic shine reminds me of Chanel’s Aqualumiere lipsticks, but the formula feels thicker on the lips.”

One by one, they’d beam away to their mothership, far, far away from the scent- and taste-free tube.

Pretty Pink is one of 15 new Bobbi Brown Metallic Lip Colors arriving this October for fall.

Moments before the alien mothership left orbit, the trembling invaders would hear my defiant voice rip through the heavens one final time: “The formula lasts at least three hours!”

On Earth, I’d be hailed a hero, a pink lipstick-wielding champion. Perhaps I’d even get a cool medal, and never again would folks ask, “Dude, what’s up with all the pink lipstick?”

Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,

Karen
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Beauty Snacks: Sites of the Day, August 3

August 3rd, 2008 by Karen 11 Comments

Design You Trust
Eye candy — straight up — but who doesn’t love eye candy? Design You Trust collects some of the best in cutting edge, urban graphic design. If you need help thinking outside the box, Design You Trust doesn’t even know where the box is or what it looks like. They cut the box up into little pieces and used them to make a collage.

StyleITOnline.com
A former Bay Area girl now living in New York, Sarah Conley brings a fresh, fun take to her fashion and beauty coverage on Style It Online.

UT LOOP!
This site breaks the online apparel store paradigm that says shoppers want to see models and close-ups of the designs. The idea here is all about user-generated video and music. You make your own short films (as a looped sequence) with snippets of web video. It’s fast, fun and very engaging. Oh, and there are some T-shirt designs in there somewhere, lol!

Afrobella
A pinch of beauty advice here, a splash of social commentary there, and an occasional dash of musical musings make Afrobella one hell of a good read.

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Lancome’s Greatest Hits

August 2nd, 2008 by Karen 29 Comments

Did you take advantage of the one-day product preview sale last Thursday to snag a tube of Lancome’s Oscillation mascara? I passed for now, opting instead to hear from women brave enough to apply mascara with a power tool.

I’m willing to wait until Oscillation’s full-scale release this November, but the hype surrounding the product still got me thinking about some of Lancome’s greatest hits, like their Waterproof Eyeliner (RUN to your nearest Lancome counter to get this liner, ladies) and lipsticks.

Lancome Le Stylo Waterproof Long Lasting Eyeliner
“Le Stylo Waterproof reminds me a lot of my beloved MAC Technakohl liner. Like Technakohl, it has a twist-up tip and a creamy formula that glides on without tugging or pulling. Le Stylo outlasts Technakohl, though, when applied to the waterline, which is why I’m using it today. It also sports a sponge smudger on one end — handy for diffusing harsh edges and lines.”
Lancome High Definicils Mascara
“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.”
Lancome Star Bronzer
“Lancome obviously had fun with this compact. Within the image in the pan are three different bronzing colors. I love the golden brown matte from the cherub’s bum.”

Lancome Pixel Pink
“Lancome’s got a video on Youtube celebrating Pixel Pink Color Fever Shine lipstick, the limited edition shade created for fashion designer Thankoon Panichgul’s Spring 2008 runway show. While the entire video is an interesting insight into the inspiration behind the lipstick and the backstage goings-on at NY Fashion Week, my favorite parts are the animated sequences of ‘moving paintings’ by experimental filmmaker Jeff Scher.”
Lancome Color Fever Lipstick
“Pink Fever, a new malady afflicting makeup junkies worldwide, has beauty enthusiasts worried. Seasonally, the spread of Pink Fever coincides with pink lipstick lust and causes one to obsess over pink, cherry-blossom-esque lip colors like the three below from Lancome’s Color Fever Lipstick ($25 each) collection.”
Lancome Stylish Neutrals Eyeshadow Palette
“If I were forced to pick just one eyeshadow palette to bring with me on, say, a three-day trip to Las Vegas, that palette would have to be the new Lancome Stylish Neutrals Color Design Artist Palette.”
Lancome Colour Focus Palette in Black Tie Affair
“If you’ve followed this blog for a while you know I sometimes feel too purple to function when working the shades o’ eggplant. But, alas, all four colors in Black Tie Affair are so creamy and buildable that even the clumsy (ahem, like yours truly) can easily use them to do a purple smoky eye.”
Lancome Bi-Facil Eye Makeup Remover
“I’m not one who usually falls for product hype but damn, Lancome Bi-Facil is good. I’m talking fresh brownies, extra sleep and Christian Bale in a tuxedo good. So good that peasants gotta bow down and shake before the mighty baby blue bottle! So good that … okay, okay. You get the picture.”
Lancome Miracle Forever Eau De Parfum Spray
“Miracle Forever is one of those universal scents every woman will love, with notes of black currant, star anis (a fruit grown in Southern China, who knew?) and almond cream. It’s definitely not stuffy, too ‘old lady’ or too in your face and will appeal to lots of different fragrance personalities.”
Makeup Tutorial: A Peach, Brown and Green Eye for Summer
“Lancome knocked it out of the park with Couture Warms, ladies!”

What are your favorite Lancome products?
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Beauty Horror Stories: A Breaking Dawn Book Giveaway

August 2nd, 2008 by Karen 34 Comments

Breaking Dawn, the fourth book in the bestselling Stephenie Meyer Twilight series, goes on sale today, and I couldn’t resist picking up a few extra copies for my friends.

True, these books aren’t exactly high literature … but I think they’re a lot of fun. I’m a sucker for vampires (ha!) and ill-fated love stories.

From the Amazon.com review of Twilight, the first book in the series…

“As Shakespeare knew, love burns high when thwarted by obstacles. In Twilight, an exquisite fantasy by Stephenie Meyer, readers discover a pair of lovers who are supremely star-crossed. Bella adores beautiful Edward, and he returns her love. But Edward is having a hard time controlling the blood lust she arouses in him, because–he’s a vampire. At any moment, the intensity of their passion could drive him to kill her, and he agonizes over the danger. But, Bella would rather be dead than part from Edward, so she risks her life to stay near him, and the novel burns with the erotic tension of their dangerous and necessarily chaste relationship.”

Last night/early this morning I attended a midnight book release party at the Border’s bookstore down the street. Borders stores all across the country were jam packed with young girls (and a smattering of 20- and 30-somethings like moi), eager to get their hands on a copy of the new book. I snagged mine and got three extras.

Share your worst beauty horror stories in the comments here. I figure we can all learn from each other’s beauty mishaps. Lawd knows I’ve had mine. 🙂 On Monday after work I’ll choose three comments at random and send the writers a copy of the book!
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$3 Shampoo Jackpot: Aussie Opposites Attract

August 1st, 2008 by Karen 48 Comments

Holy crap! Do you ever have good hair days? I had a string of them this week, and you can too.

I owe it to the shampoo, conditioner and spray gel from the Aussie Opposites Attract Collection — a reasonable $3 each.

For the past few days, to restore some of the moisture to my hair, I’ve only been shampooing my roots, washing the rest of my hair with conditioner alone. It’s a little trick I picked up somewhere along the way, and I do it to prevent my hair from drying out. It really seems to help.

After rinsing out the shampoo, I coat the hair from roots to ends with the conditioner, wait a few minutes for it to sink in and then rinse one last time. The thick, rich conditioner works well for me because I have a lot of hair and need something to weigh it down (otherwise it ends up very big and Bride of Frankenstein).
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You Must Choose: The TGIF Edition

August 1st, 2008 by Karen 84 Comments

I don’t know about you, but I’m so glad it’s Friday. Work wore me out!

Speaking of Friday…

Would you rather give up concealer or give up blush? YOU MUST CHOOSE!

Doomsday approaches… Aliens have landed, and they’re toying with us all. To save the world, you’re told to either make out with Ben Affleck or Matt Damon. YOU MUST CHOOSE!

Would you rather be missing every other tooth (jack o’ lantern style) or have hands that are totally covered in fur (palms included)? And, no, you can’t wear dentures or shave/wax your hands. YOU MUST CHOOSE!

You’re forced to spend 72 hours alone in a dark closet with either Heidi Montag or Spencer Pratt. YOU MUST CHOOSE!

The supernatural world beckons; you must answer the call. Would you rather be a werewolf or a vampire? YOU MUST CHOOSE!

Whom would you most want to have a cup of coffee with (living or deceased)? YOU MUST CHOOSE!

You *finally* land your dream job as an (insert dream job here)! Turns out, though, that a new company policy requires you to wear a uniform to work. You’re given two choices:

1. The black spandex unitard (complete with red boots, leather jacket and thick gold chain) featured in Salt n’ Pepa’s Push It video:

2. Hammer pants:

YOU MUST CHOOSE!

Your turn. Just copy the list below and paste it with your answers in the comments. 🙂

YMC 1: Concealer or blush?

YMC 2: Ben or Matt?

YMC 3: Jack o’ lantern teeth or hairy hands?

YMC 4: Heidi or Spencer?

YMC 5: Werewolf or vampire?

YMC 6: Cup of coffee with?

YMC 7: (insert dream job here); Unitard or Hammer Pants?

Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,

Karen