Archives for September 2008

The Chanel Smoky Eye Quad Seduction

September 23rd, 2008 by Karen 99 Comments

She arrived dressed to thrill in a sleek black compact — four sophisticated shadows born to seduce and built to weaken knees. Crafted to create the ultimate smoky eye, she prepared to do her dance of makeup seduction.

Even before I opened the Chanel Smoky Eye Quad ($56), I could hear her siren song…

“Play with me, Karen,” she sung, “You know you want to play with my matte black, shimmery gray and white shadow shades.”

“Don’t you want to try my dark, shimmery gray shade above a layer of MAC Smolder eyeliner?” she probed.

I trembled.

It’s hard enough to resist Chanel on a normal day, but after weeks of self-imposed Chanel makeup lockdown, I was helpless against her.

“You know I’ll look effortless and classic,” she purred in my ear. “Use an angled brush and line your bottom lash line with my matte black… You won’t regret it.”

“Yes…” I replied, defeated, my willpower gone, “and to complete the look, I’ll add a nude cheek and lip.”

“Heavenly,” she demurred.
[Continue reading…]

Life Advice from Gwyneth Paltrow?

September 23rd, 2008 by Karen 21 Comments

Actress Gwyneth Paltrow has just launched a new lifestyle website called Goop. There’s not much to it yet (I think it’s still in beta), but I’m getting an Oprah/O magazine vibe from it with a focus on “nourishing the inner aspect” through recipes, travel information, shopping recommendations and tidbits on personal growth.

“My life is good because I am not passive about it. I want to nourish what is real, and I want to do it without wasting time. I love to travel, to cook, to eat, to take care of my body and mind, to work hard…

Whether you want a good place to eat in London, some advice on where to stay in Austin, the recipe I made up this week, or some thoughts from one of my sages, GOOP is a little bit of everything that makes up my life.

Make your life good. Invest in what’s real. Cook a meal for someone you love. Pause before reacting. Clean out your space. Read something beautiful. Treat yourself to something. Go to a city you’ve never been to. Learn something new. Don’t be lazy. Work out and stick with it. GOOP. Make it great.”

I’m all for women spreading a positive message online, but celebrity often brings with it vast sums of money and the freedom that comes with wealth and privilege. Certainly, celebrities are people too — frail — with families, health issues, traumatic experiences, fears and desires, but when they try to relate to working class folks on a personal level, they aren’t always aware of their own good fortune in life.

I believe she has good intentions, and I’ve always thought highly of Gwyneth. I’m sure she wants to use her star power to improve the lives of women through her website, but, honestly, cleaning out my space? What does that mean to a multi-millionaire?

Organizing or cleaning the bathroom might be fun for someone who only does it once a year because the maid stops by every Wednesday, but for regular gals that kind of household stuff is a given; cleaning happens every weekend, otherwise we live in filth. That’s all there is to it.

A few of the items she lists within the site’s mission statement (I wonder if she really wrote it) seem to have been written by someone a bit out of touch.

“Cook a meal for someone you love.” Yup, for some families (those without personal chefs), cooking “a meal for someone you love” happens three times a day.

“Don’t be lazy.” Hmm… Wouldn’t it be nice to even have the option to be lazy? I know a lot of women who can’t let up for one minute because they simply *have* to work hard to support themselves and their families.

I dunno, maybe I woke up on the wrong side of the bed this morning (it happens), but I don’t know if I can relate to this lifestyle site in the way I could to Oprah’s (someone who, despite her current wealth, grew up extremely poor) or even Rachel Ray’s. I applaud Gwyneth’s efforts, but I hope to see her reflect upon how celebrity has changed her life and comment upon how wealth and privilege have changed her perspective.

Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,

Karen

Face of the Day: Dior Brown-Eyed Girl

September 22nd, 2008 by Karen 28 Comments

Girrrrl, next time you’re in Sephora, get your hands on Dior’s 2-Colour Eyeshadow duos ($35 each) because these shadows apply and blend like buttah!

Each if the eight duos includes a matte and a shimmer shadow in coordinating shades. For work today I grabbed the Pop Look duo, with its matte chocolate brown and shimmery gold shadows. I was shooting for sophisticated (for work) yet fun and wanted to use brown.

The Eyes

Products

The Eye Look

First, with a 266 angled brush, I filled in my brows with MAC Concrete shadow.
Next, I patted Too Faced Shadow Insurance primer onto my lids with a finger tip.
I applied the matte brown shadow onto my lids and just barely into the crease with a MAC 252 eye shader brush.
Then, using a 217 blending brush, I applied the shimmery shade to the center of each lid.
To enhance the shimmer shade even more, I wet a MAC 239 eye shading brush with a spritz of MAC Fix+ and swept the wet brush head across the pan of shimmer shadow (using a wet brush amplifies eye shadow colors). I added a couple dots of the wet shimmer to the center of each lid.

After blending away any harsh lines with a 217 blending brush, I finished the eyes by curling my lashes and adding two coats of Dior Iconic mascara to the top and bottom lashes.

I think the contrast of light on dark opens up the eyes…

[Continue reading…]

Makeup and Beauty Blog Monday Poll, Sept. 22

September 22nd, 2008 by Karen 63 Comments

Water lilies at the San Francisco Conservatory of Flowers

Mood:

Sleepy

Fragrance:

Chanel Allure

Nails:

My fingers and toes are bare right now, but later today I’m painting them in The Good Earth, a shimmery dark brown by Sally Hansen.

Sweet tooth:

Carrot cake with *lots* of cream cheese frosting

Celeb crush:

He’s mainly a local celebrity, but I’m still giddy about meeting San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom last week.

Makeup crush:

Cat Eyes ($16) eye liner by Pop Beauty, an eye crayon shaped to create the liner “flick” at the ends of cat eyes.

Something you don’t know about me:

I love the beach late at night.

Latest makeup or beauty find I’ve been telling my homies about:

Chanel No. 5 Eau de Premiere. I always considered Chanel No. 5 a little too overbearing and stuffy, but I’m really into this interpretation of the scent. It’s lighter and not as rich old lady as regular No. 5. I think it just might be my new fall fragrance.

Hair:

A loose, low bun.

Goals for the week:

To keep repeating my mirror mantras (hey, those things actually help!), to survive work and to put together the prize bags for the bachelorette party I’m throwing this Saturday. Got any ideas for prizes?

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

Le list

Mood:
Fragrance:
Nails:
Sweet tooth:
Celeb crush:
Makeup crush:
Something you don’t know about me:
Latest makeup or beauty find you’re sharing:
Hair:
Goals for the week:

Happy Monday!

Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,

Karen

Clever Packaging Makes Stila Hydrating Finishing Powder a Star

September 21st, 2008 by Karen 25 Comments

Did your last jar of loose powder have a screw-on cap and a plastic sifter tray?

Mine did, and when I turned the jar upside down to load the tray with powder, the sifter holes dumped too much product onto the tray. Powder got everywhere — too much for my powder brush, and so much product that even just opening the jar caused powder to spill onto the counter and my clothes. Definitely not the most efficient packaging imaginable.

I love loose powder, but those sifter holes have always bugged me. I’m sure I’ve wasted a lot of product over the years because of ’em, and, dude, at $20-$30 a pop those jars ain’t cheap. I started getting all MacGyver to control the flow of excess loose powder, covering half of the sifter tray holes with tape, but it never worked well.

You better believe I praised the makeup gods when I first laid eyes on Stila’s Hydrating Finishing Powder ($32). A couple simple enhancements to the packaging design make it the Lamborghini of all loose powder jars, yay!
[Continue reading…]

Sundays with Tabs the Cat, Makeup and Beauty Blog Mascot, Sept. 21

September 21st, 2008 by Karen 24 Comments

As you well know, Tabs loves fashion and style. He’s all about the bling. Here are a few of his recent collaborations.

[Continue reading…]

Celebrity Poll: What Do You Think of Sarah Jessica Parker’s Audrey Hepburn Look?

September 20th, 2008 by Karen 24 Comments

At last night’s Sex and The City: The Movie DVD release party in New York City Sarah Jessica Parker took inspiration from an icon of Hollywood style. The gloves, bangs, the black shift dress — girlfriend was obvs channeling Holly Golightly/Audrey Hepburn’s look in Breakfast at Tiffany’s.

I think Audrey’s classic, timeless look in Breakfast represents the pinnacle of style. Sure, 99% of the time I dress like a bum in tank tops and jeans, but with unlimited financial resources you better believe I’d hit the Safeway wearing pearls, a tiara and a black satin gown.

At first, I wasn’t sure how I felt about SJP’s interpretation of the look (the sheer gloves, eek!), but I think I’m on board. The pink patent leather shoes won me over in the end. 🙂

I wish I had a Holly Golightly dress to wear to the wedding I’m going to this afternoon in SF. One of my best friends from college is getting hitched. They’ve been dating forever, so it’s about time. I’ll take some pictures to share.

I’ll probably recycle the dress I wore to Macy’s Passport the other night (Shhh…).

Whatcha doing this fine Saturday? Got any plans?

Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,

Karen

Makeup Tip: Layer Benefit Gilded Beneath Red Lip Glosses for Warmth and Shimmer

September 20th, 2008 by Karen 26 Comments

I just got a makeup tip and had to share! A friend who works for Benefit Cosmetics suggested I try their shimmery gold Gilded ($20) pencil with some of my red glosses. I tried it and BAM! — it breathes new life into glosses with instantly warmer, more shimmery color.

I applied a layer of Benefit’s Gilded creamy gold pencil for lips, eyes and cheeks beneath MAC Russian Red Lipglass, MAC Cult of Cherry Lipglass and Sally Hansen’s Natural Lip Gloss in Juicy Cherry.

Here’s a layer of Gilded on her own. I think she’s even pretty by herself…