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Archives for December 2008

Makeup and Beauty Blog Saturday Night

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Heya, ladies!

I’d planned to write a couple more posts this afternoon, but I started playing with Photoshop and lost all track of time.

After Photoshopping I got the unrelenting urge to clean off my desk. The piles of paper have been holding me hostage! And that took a few hours, but I’m *finally* done. I’ve re-aligned my desk feng shui, yea! We’ll see how long that lasts…

I found a few goodies under the mess, like the sea biscuit I picked up in Key West and this bunny finger puppet (up top). He’s been gone a while… It was like finding buried treasure, I tell ya.

Tonight, I’m just chilling out at home. On the agenda: practice applying false lashes! I have a few pairs from Lash Addiction ($6 each) that I’ve been dying to try.

As for background music, I’m in trouble. I’m secretly trying to drive El Hub and Tabs crazy by playing Britney Spears’ Trouble over and over and over again until someone snaps, LOL!

What are you up to tonight? 🙂

Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,

Karen

P.S. MAC addicts — a quick update on the Chill collection. The release date has been moved up to December 18th! Woot, woot!

What Keeps You Awake at Night?

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Do you ever have a hard time getting a good night’s sleep? I do, like last night — I guess I stayed up too late or ate too late or … did something too late because I woke up after just a few hours of sleep and wasn’t able to doze off again.

The thing I can never figure out is why I sleep differently from night to night, even though I try to keep the same patterns before bed. What makes me able to sleep a full eight hours one night but then struggle to fall asleep at all the next?

One thing’s for sure — I know I’m not the only woman reading this blog who has trouble sleeping from time to time. At least 60 million Americans each year experience at least occasional sleep trubs. Beyond that, women are 1.4 times more likely to have problems sleeping than men are, yippee!

What keeps you awake at night?

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Oh, well, I guess that’s what naps, concealer and coffee are for… 🙂

Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,

Karen

Golden Lips and Golden Girls: Chanel Gold Shine and Clinique Party Red

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You know how The Golden Girls is one of my favorite TV shows, right?

Well, this morning I decided to pay homage to Blanche — she’s the sassy Southern one — with a lip look using Chanel Gold Shine Glossimer and Clinique Party Red Lipstick.


From left to right: Clinique Party Red Lipstick, Chanel Gold Shine Glossimer

The Golden Girls was an American sitcom that originally aired on NBC from September 14, 1985, to May 9, 1992. Starring Beatrice Arthur, Betty White, Rue McClanahan and Estelle Getty, the show centers on four older women sharing a Miami, Florida home. The Golden Girls won several awards, including two Primetime Emmy Awards for Outstanding Comedy Series. All four stars won at least one Emmy Award throughout the show’s entire run.

Of course, I *had* to name this combo “The Blanche,” after the show’s resident man magnet, Blanche Marie Elizabeth Hollingsworth Devereaux.


Actress Rue McClanahan played Blanche.

I think it’d be a good lip look for a black tie holiday party… What do you think?

What I Want for Christmas

The necklace is fo’ reals! It’s by TrashedClothing ($20), a store on Etsy. I saw it mentioned on the Shibuya Baby Jewels Blog! I. Must. Have. It.

Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,

Karen

MAC Makeup for Work: Club and Woodwinked Eyeshadows

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Happy Friday, ladies!

I’m feeling retro today — wait, let me back up.

Get it?

Retro MAC, that is! I’m sporting two of my very first MAC eyeshadow purchases, Club and Woodwinked (both part of the permanent collection). I could write sonnets on both of these colors, as they’ve seen me through a lot over the past few years.

Club, a shimmery duochorome, flashes from green to brown, and Woodwinked is a warm, shimmery gold. Today I paired ’em for this easy, breezy, work-friendly daytime eye.

Club and Woodwinked

This is one of the looks I wear when I want to look kinda chic but not overdone.

To start, I applied MAC Cream Color Base in Pearl on the lid with a MAC 239 Eye Shading Brush.

Then, I applied Club on the lid, Woodwinked in the crease and Malt eyeshadow on the browbone with a Sonia Kashuk Large Eyeshadow Brush.

After that, I blended away the harsh lines with the MAC 217 Blending Brush.

To line the eyes, I used MAC Fluidline in Blacktrack on the upper lash line with a Laura Mercier Flat Eye Liner Brush.

I applied MAC Powersurge Eye Kohl on the lower water line and then added a soft line of Woodwinked on the lower lash line with the ever-handy Sonia Kashuk Angeled Eyeshadow brush.
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5 Plum Posts: An Ode to Purple Makeup

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MAC Makeup How-to: Bold Red and Purple Eye with Light Lips and Cheeks

“…I need a little help when it comes to using bold colors, so I followed the directions for this bright red and purple eye featured on the MAC Website. This is the ‘Her Fancy’ look, one of four Antiquitease face charts.”

How To: A Purple Smokey Eye with Stila Convertible Eye Color in Violet

“Stila Convertible Eye Color in Violet made quick work of this smokey purple eye. The Violet shade’s pencil is a shimmery, dark plum; the coordinating shadow is a shimmery lavender.”

Get the Clinique Blackberry Bloom Look: Purple Smokey Eyes, Berry Lips and Cheeks

“Everyone loves blackberries. Take Clinique, for example. Next month they’re introducing Blackberry Bloom, a collection of violet and plum eye, lip and cheek makeup for the holidays. The first time I saw the gorgeous model in this promotional picture — her smokey purple eyes, berry lips and cheeks — I about fell over in my chair!”

Essie Winter 2008 Nail Polishes: Her Royal Hotness

“Well, cover me in jewels, and bring my royal scepter because the regal shades of rich purple, deep ruby and gold make the Essie Winter 2008 collection ($8 each) a royal tour de force! The colors remind me of His Royal Purpleness, Prince, from the height of Purple Rain fame.”

MAC Cosmetics Face of the Day: A Smokey Eye with MAC Pigment in Purple

“Layering extends the staying power of your eyeshadow and provides extra dimension. Try starting with a layer of a cream product — I like MAC Paint Pots, MAC Paint and MAC Cream Color Base in Pearl — and applying a powdered eyeshadow on top of the cream.”

Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,

Karen

MAC Cosmetics Chill Collection: Swatches and First Impressions

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There’s a chill in the air this Christmas, and MAC gets all the credit. The MAC Chill collection arrives on counters this December 26, and I can’t wait!

The collection’s eyeshadows, Lipglasses, glitters and new pen eyeliner heavily feature shades of gray, pink and black.

I’m really stoked about the eyeshadows; they’re going to make some great smokey eyes.

The swatches here cover all of the products in the release except for two — Vellum eyeshadow and Naked Lipglass. I’ll got those up as soon as I can.

In the pics above and below there may also be a renegade shimmery-bronze Lipglass (#6). I’d thought I was swatching Naked (not literally, LOL!), but the shade doesn’t like a shimmmery taupe, which is how MAC had described it.

Eyeshadows

  • 1. Arctic Gray: Frosty mid-gray
  • 2. Apres-Ski: Matte dark brown-gray
  • 3. Mont Black: Shimmery black with gold flecks
  • 4. Winter Sky: Frosty neutral pink

    • Note: The missing shade, Vellum, is a pale white duochrome with violet shimmer.

Lipglasses

  • 5. Frozen Dream: Shimmery mid-tone pink
  • 6. * See note below
  • 7. Snowscene: Shimmery white with pink, purple, blue and green glitter
  • 8. Icescape: Shimmery pale pink

    • * Note: Swatch #6 could be a mistake. I had it listed as Naked, a sheer taupe with silver pearlized pigments, but that’s obviously not the right shade.

Glitters

  • 9. Reflects Transparent Teal: Shimmery white and blue glitter
  • 10. Reflects Antique Gold: Shimmery gold glitter

Penultimate Liner

  • 11. Rapidblack: Deep black matte

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Go Purple with Diorshow Plum Mascara

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Ladies, I’m plum tuckered out! After fall’s flood of faux plum mascaras (ahem, Benefit BadGal Plum and Clarins Wonder Plum), I started to think plum lashes were the stuff of legend — just something from the land of make believe, like unicorns and hit movies starring Cuba Gooding, Jr.

But Dior had a little something to say about that. They’ve proved me wrong with their limited edition Diorshow Plum Mascara ($24). Finally! A plum mascara that actually looks purple on lashes and not just the brush.

Because this is the first mascara I’ve seen all season to actually bring the plum, I’d like to marvel at its purple-osity for a moment.

*pauses*

Ahhh…

Two layers of Diorshow Plum turns my knees to jelly. The mascara excels at three things: delivering rich purple color, lengthening lashes dramatically and keeping a curl all day long.

Now, in a perfect world, the formula would thicken a little better than it does, maybe more like Chanel Exceptionnel mascara (aka the motha of all thickening mascaras!), and the humongous brush makes it difficult to coat and separate lashes individually (keep a lash comb handy), but those are minor quibbles, all things considered.

Diorshow Plum Mascara

Price: $24
Use: Longer, thicker purple lashes, hallelujah!
Makeup and Beauty Blog Rating: A

I can’t wait to pair it with gold eyeshadow!

What’s your favorite tinted mascara?

Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,

Karen

Beauty Snacks: Sites of the Day, December 11

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A Sleek and Classy Ponytail for the Holidays

If you need a new hairstyle for your next holiday party, try the uber easy, super slick ponytail.

Extra Credit: See if You Can Name All the MAC Brushes

I love the subtle smokey eye look that Kim Kardashian rocks in this how-to makeup video.

Black Market Haircuts

Shh… keep it on the down low: welcome to the stealth world of the underground hair party!

Surfing, USA

The Billabong Pipeline Masters, an annual surf contest held at the Banzai Pipeline on the North Shore of Oahu, is happening right now. These six footers are small for Pipeline, but I can only dream about surfing waves like this!

I See You Lookin’ at My Booty

All week long I’ve been walking around the house singing, “I see you lookin’ at my booty, booty, booty… booty!” because of this song.

Curly Hair Woes

Every curly-haired woman has her own story, and sometimes the happily ever after comes in the form of a flat iron.

Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,

Karen

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