Archives for September 2008

Taming Waves with Bumble and Bumble Curl Conscious

September 26th, 2008 by Karen 22 Comments

Let me take this moment to apologize to winged creatures everywhere, because since I started using the latest additions to Bumble & Bumble’s Curl Conscious line of shampoos, conditioners and styling treatments, the bird’s nest on my head has been closed for renovations.

The Curl Conscious line has been around for years, but Bumble & Bumble gave it a face lift, adding a few new products and changing the packaging while maintaining the overall focus on products for curly and wavy hair.

Three New Curl Conscious Products

Nourishing Masque ($25 for a 5-fl oz. tube), a conditioning treatment usable as a hydrating mask or a regular conditioner (the way I preferred), moisturizes the heck out of my hair. With a lovely orange scent, it softens hair without weighing it down. Makeup and Beauty Blog Rating: A

Holding Foam ($27 for 3.5 oz. bottle), a gel-to-foam styling product, delivers exceptional hold and structure for wavy hair, while keeping it touchably soft. I use it on damp hair after conditioning and then air dry. Makeup and Beauty Blog Rating: A+

Reactivating Mist ($22 8.5-fl oz. for a spray bottle), a spray for either wet or dry hair, re-activates styling product and revives limp curls. I spritz it from roots to ends after applying the Holding Foam. Makeup and Beauty Blog Rating: A

If you’re curious about the changes to the Curl Conscious line, surf over to the Curl Conscious section of Bumble & Bumble’s website. It features how-to videos as well as a snazzy “recipe card” with product recommendations for different hairstyles.

How’s your hair doin’ these days? Is it misbehaving or being nice?

Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,

Karen

YOU MUST CHOOSE: The Barney vs. Bootsy Edition

September 26th, 2008 by Karen 20 Comments

1. That man of your dreams (you know the one) finally asks for your hand in marriage. You can have any kind of wedding you want — the sky’s the limit — but dream guy insists upon one thing: he wants to get hitched wearing either a Bootsy Collins outfit (complete with guitar, hat and crazy glasses) or a Barney costume. The choice is yours.
YOU MUST CHOOSE!

2. If you had to eat the same exact thing for six straight months — breakfast, lunch and dinner — and had to choose between cold boiled chicken (no spices or sauce) or cold, bland oatmeal, which would it be?
YOU MUST CHOOSE!

3. Which former Saved By the Bell heartthrob would you rather have martinis with: Mark-Paul Gosselaar or cheeseball o’ the century Mario Lopez?
YOU MUST CHOOSE!

4. If you had to go for a month without one of them, would you live without moisturizer (no oils, moisturizing mists, nothing!) or toothpaste?
YOU MUST CHOOSE!

5. Which would you rather give up for one year: the internet or underwear (includes bras, panties, sports bras, swimsuits, etc. — you’re basically commando)?
YOU MUST CHOOSE!

6. You win a very random makeup lottery in which you’re given $2,000 to spend on any makeup you want! What do you buy?
YOU MUST CHOOSE!

7. A friend of yours builds a time machine and gives you the keys. Do you use it? If so, when and where do you go?
YOU MUST CHOOSE!

To play You Must Choose, just copy the list and leave your answers in the comments. 🙂

Bootsy or Barney?

Cold chicken or cold oatmeal?

Mark-Paul Gosselaar or Mario Lopez?

A month without moisturizer or a month without toothpaste?

Internet or underwear?

$2,000 on makeup? What do you get?

Time travel when and where?

Yea, we made it to Friday, WOOT!

Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,

Karen

MAC Cosmetics Gold Fever Product Pictures and Swatches

September 25th, 2008 by Karen 32 Comments

MAC’s new Gold Fever collection, exclusive to Nordstrom stores, joins a couple other big MAC releases today (Suite Array and Cremesheen).

As the name implies, Gold Fever is all about peaches and cream…

Just kidding. It’s gold, girls — and silver — and a whole lotta disco glitter, yes!

The complete product list:

Slimshines ($14.50)

Voile: Canary yellow with gold pearl (Frost)
Missy: Creamy pastel coral (Cream)

Shadesticks ($16.50)

Penny: Light pinky copper
Sharkskin: Shimmering grayed black

Liquidlast Liners ($16.50)

Classic Cream: White gold
Auto Orange: Rusted copper with pearl

Fluidline ($15)

Blacktrack: Solid flat black

Pigments ($17.50)

Golden Lemon: Bright Lemon gold with shimmer (Frost)
Silver Fog: Platinum silver (Pearl)

Glitter ($17.50)

Gold: Sparkling chunky gold
3D Silver: Holographic multi-coloured effects on a silver base

Brushes ($17-$23)

209 Eyeliner Brush ($17)

â€¨

#242 Shader Brush ($23)

Lashes ($12)

#3 Lashes
#34 Lashes

If you eat glitter for breakfast and love flashy club makeup, you’ll probably love the glitter and sparkle Gold Fever has to offer. The big glitter and flashy metallic colors aren’t really my regular style, so I may not pounce on Gold Fever right away, but I don’t know… How frickin’ awesome is that outfit the model’s wearing in the Gold Fever promo pic?

I lurve the poofy gold dress and those wicked forehead jewels (I bet they shoot lasers!). Imagine how fierce your shoes would have to be to go with that get up. LE SIGH!

If I could pull it off, I’d totally roll around looking like that 24-7, LOL!

More product shots and swatches…

Voile Slimshine

Missy Slimshine

Auto Orange Liquidlast Liner

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MAC Cosmetics Cremesheen Product Pictures and Swatches

September 25th, 2008 by Karen 52 Comments

A new kid’s in town, and her name is Cremesheen — MAC Cremesheen. The collection joins two other major MAC releases that arrived on counters nationwide today: Suite Array, and Gold Fever (exclusive to Nordstrom stores).

Say hello to Cremesheen’s 14 new lipstick colors.

“Hi! Hello!”

They’re accompanied by a single nail polish, Seasonal Peach (kinda random, right?). With the Cremesheen collection, MAC introduces a brand new lipstick formulation. Is it any good?

Let’s find out. 🙂

On the lipstick scale, I think these feel creamier and thicker than MAC Lustre lipsticks do. I love lippies, and the Cremesheen lipsticks feel surprisingly light and slick for how thick they are. MAC played it safe, too, as far as flavor, making them both taste- and fragrance- free. They’re easy to apply, deliver full color coverage, and just one coat makes my pucker shine like fine china.

Sadly, Seasonal Peach, the lone nail polish in the Cremesheen collection, was mysteriously MIA at my local MAC counter today, but all 14 of the lipsticks were in the hizz.

Of the 14 Cremesheen colors, On Hold, Party Line and Stay in Touch were my early faves. A couple of the colors looked pretty in the tube but didn’t work well for me (Creme d’Nude and Hot Gossip).

Cremesheen Lipsticks ($14)

Creme d’Nude: Pale muted peach beige
Ravishing: Clean, lightly peachy coral
Speed Dial: Light blue pink
Fanfare: Mid-tone yellow pink
On Hold: Mid-tone yellow raspberry
Speak Louder: Clean poppy blue pink
Modesty: Muted neutral pink
Hot Gossip: Mid-tone pinky plum
Crosswires: Clean pinky orange
Stay in Touch: Lightly yellow brown
Brave Red: Bright yellow red
Dare You: Deep brown red
Party Line: Red-tone plum
Hang-Up: Deep berry

Nail Lacquer ($10)

Seasonal Peach:Creamy pale peachy pink

Brave Red: Bright yellow red

Creme d’Nude: Pale muted peach beige

Crosswires: Clean pinky orange

Dare You: Deep brown red

Fanfare: Mid-tone yellow pink

Hang-Up: Deep berry

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MAC Cosmetics Suite Array Product Pictures and Swatches

September 25th, 2008 by Karen 51 Comments

Hiya! I raced to the MAC counter before work, whee! I wanted to catch a glimpse of today’s new releases. Here are product shots and swatches of Suite Array. Let me know what you think. I will also post shots and first impressions of the Cremesheen and Gold Fever collections later in the day.

Eye Shadow Suite ($16)

Blue Zone

Small Pan: Deep grey/green with silver pearl
Big Pan: Light ice blue with silver pearl

Counterparts

Small Pan: Deep forest with gold pearl
Big Pan: Mid-tone orange with gold pearl

Ocean 2

Small Pan: Mid-tone blue with silver pearl
Big Pan: Light blue with silver pearl

Rose Suites

Small Pan: Intense blue pink
Big Pan: Light yellow pink with silver pearl

Shallow V. Deep

Small Pan: Bluish green with gold pearl
Big Pan: Mint with silver pearl

Smoke & Ash

Small Pan: Black with silver pearl
Big Pan: Mid-tone grey silver pearl

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Small Things Rule: Orly Mani Mini Nail Polishes

September 25th, 2008 by Karen 33 Comments

Like a miniature giant, I TOWER over the world around me. I don’t mind being vertically challenged, but at just over five feet tall it bugs me when pre-pubescent kids ask me whose class I’m in, or when a box of cereal mocks me from an out-of-reach shelf at the grocery store.

Other than these few annoyances, I’m totally down with being small.

As a matter of fact, I have a soft spot in my heart for other small things, like babies, Smurfs and Hershey’s Kisses, and couldn’t believe my eyes when I saw Orly’s Mani Mini nail polishes.

Aren’t they precious?

Drugstore brand Orly offers an extensive line of nail polish colors and nail care products. Each of their four Mani Mini sets runs $9.95 and comes with four tiny 0.18-fl oz bottles.

I like these wee tykes. I can never seem to finish a full-sized bottle of nail polish, so it makes sense to me to package ’em smaller and sell ’em for less.

The Classics set comes with four safe shades in colors designed to work in every season.

Berry Sweet: shimmery hot pink
Haute Red: creamy red
Ruby: creamy wine
Sheer Peche: transparent light peach

Berry Sweet

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Not So Secretly Obsessed with Calvin Klein Secret Obsession Perfume

September 24th, 2008 by Karen 26 Comments

Remember how in the 90s you couldn’t escape Beavis and Butthead? For the better part of a decade those two animated idiots were everywhere — MTV, late-night talk shows, t-shirts, TV commercials and Superbowl halftime shows. Well, somewhere along the path of my life I learned how to talk like Butthead, with his trademark lisp and laugh (“UH-huh-huh-huh”). Lucky me!

Now, whenever I say Secret Obsession, the name of Calvin Klein’s latest perfume, outside forces compel me to speak in Butthead’s voice: “Thee-cret ob-theshon.”

Alas, I fear I’m the only person alive who does this (please tell me I’m not).

But even if I am, I’m pretty sure I’m *not* the only person who likes this scent.

I was never a fan of old school Obsession for Her (too strong for me), but I ended up really liking Secret Obsession.

Like the name implies, the fragrance hides a secret. I detect several interesting and tasteful (tasty?), food-scented layers (WARNING: Avoid trying Secret Obsession on an empty stomach).

Warm and Spicy

On me, Secret Obsession starts off with a huge burst of cinnamon and clove. It hits like a ton of bricks but soon settles into a lovely baked amber that reminds me of a Parisian boulangerie. I feel like cocooning myself in a room with women baking bread early on a cold morning.

Hungry for More

Before long the top notes mellow, and a strong brown sugar emerges — not sickeningly sweet, though, because the spice keeps it in check. Later still, an unexpected twist as the brown sugar morphs into a scent that I can only describe as root beer hard candy — root beer in a good way, not like a walking can of Barq’s.

Flowers for the Lady

The food layers aren’t the only surprises Secret Obsession hides. Over the course of a few hours, the scent opens to reveal notes of rose, like my beloved Givenchy Very Irresistible.
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NP Set by Napoleon Perdis: More Beauty at Target

September 24th, 2008 by Karen 27 Comments

Target set the beauty world ablaze earlier this month with the release of three new prestige beauty lines — JK Jemma Kidd, Pixi by Petra Strand and NP Set by Napoleon Perdis.

NP Set, by famed Australian makeup artist Napoleon Perdis, may look a little familiar to Perdis fans. The logo harkens back to his first major makeup release, aptly named Napoleon Perdis. The line sells at Ulta stores and at a slightly higher price point than Target’s NP Set.

But that’s the beauty of Target, right? — good prices on quality merch.

What Sets NP Set Apart?

The new line is huge, with more than 80 face, lip and cheek products priced between $12-$30. NP Set bridges the gap between the other two big beauty lines to launch at Target, combining the color vastness and artistry of the JK Jemma Kidd line with the breezy fun of Pixi by Petra Strand.

Breezy, Elegant Packaging

The subtle tropical colors, clean lines and minimalist packaging evoke beach umbrellas and rolling surf — a sense of relaxed elegance, which even carries over to the glossy white compacts and lipstick tubes.

Pretty Colors and Textures, But Limited Staying Power

I tested five items from the line, and most delivered nice texture and beautiful, pigmented color.

There are several things I like about these products, but the one issue that consistently came up was their staying power.

I had trouble keeping this stuff put! For some reason the items I tried weren’t as long-lasting as the products by Pixi or JK Jemma Kidd, fading and creasing within hours, so, if there’s any room for improvement in the NP Set line, that’s it.

Of the items I tested, my favorites were the eye and lip products.

NP Set by Napoleon Perdis Show Loose Dust Duo in Australia, $26

Dust Duo, a double-sided eyeshadow duo, has built-in sponge tip applicators perfect for gals on the go.
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