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Archives for November 2010

What Are Your SBB’s (Secret Beauty Behaviors)?

November 7th, 2010 by Karen 66 Comments

There are a few things I just never get tired of, like taro Tuttimelon, MAC Power Surge Eye Kohl and Sex and the City (all but the second movie, which I pretend does not exist).

I was watching Season 4 the other day, the episode where Carrie and the girls talk about “Secret Single Behavior.”

A Secret Single Behavior, or SSB, is something you only do when you’re alone. Carrie likes to eat jelly on crackers, standing up in the kitchen while she reads Vogue.

An SBB, or Secret Beauty Behavior, is a variation on the SSB pertaining to a secret beauty ritual. Like, save my stuffed animals and I (and now you, too), no one knows that I secretly trim the top edge of my eyebrows with a small scissors. If I let too much time pass without doing it, I develop Conrad Waldorf brows.

El Hub has also never seen me clip my toenails, a ritual I like to save for “me time” but sometimes forget to do for months until I look down one day and see eagle talons instead of toes. Seriously, I could probably carve my name in a tree with those things…

Do you have any SBB’s (Secret Beauty Behaviors)?

Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,

Karen

There are 66 comments on this post. Leave yours.

Categories: Just For Fun

Sundays with Tabs the Cat, Makeup and Beauty Blog Mascot, Vol. 112

November 7th, 2010 by Karen 24 Comments

Tabs for Microsoft Katnect

It ain’t gruel, but cold pizza and protein powder aren’t exactly gourmet fare. I’m not in the mood to cook, and Tabs went out to dinner with some modeling friends, so it’s prefab food for me.

Speaking of Tabs, he had another busy week. You’ve heard of Microsoft’s new game system Kinect, right? It’s their new motion control addon for Xbox 360, supposedly the big thing this season. Well, Microsoft’s also coming out with a version for cats called Katnect. Guess who’s the spokeskitty? 🙂

Tabs for Aquolina Blue Sugar

Tabs for the LORAC Tie Dye Tail Tie
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There are 24 comments on this post. Leave yours.

Categories: Just For Fun Keywords: tabs

The Weekly Roundup: Posts You Might Have Missed

November 7th, 2010 by Karen 10 Comments

Makeup and Beauty Blog Weekly Roundup

Rise and shine, morning glory! How did you sleep? I’m actually sleeping right now, yep, at this very moment. I’m transmitting this post electrochemically from a dream, a trick I’ve developed after years and years of blogging.

What are you up to today? I’m thinking about going out for breakfast, like a real breakfast with bacon, eggs, pancakes, the whole nine yards. That, of course, means braving the cold rain outside, which I’m not looking forward to AT ALL.

While I get my sh*zz together and get ready to go, what did you think about the Giants winning the World Series this week? To be honest, I’m not a big baseball fan (more of a football/basketball kinda girl), but it’s easy to get excited when the home team is doing well and crazed fans are running around screaming “GO GIANTS!” at every turn.

And I saw some interesting Giants-themed makeup this week, a lot of it being worn by those very same crazed fans. I wonder how many people went to work like that. Heck, I wonder how many people actually went to work at all!

The Weekly Roundup: Posts You Might Have Missed

Korres Vitamin E 10-Color Pencil KitKORRES 10-COLOR
PENCIL KIT

Holy wow! That’s a lot of liners. And they’re full size too!

The pencils in the Korres Limited Edition Vitamin E 10-Color Pencil Kit work out to just $3.25 each ($32.50 for the kit). Of course, all of them are green. 🙁

No, not literally. I mean they’re eco-friendly and 100% natural, according to Korres, made with moisturizing Vitamin E and jojoba oil. And considering that eyeliners this size (standard 0.04 oz. pencils) usually go for $16 apiece, the kit’s one of the best holiday bargains I’ve seen this year so far.

Korres included a wide range of pigmented colors in popular shades from their permanent line… Read more…

NARS Trouble Maker SetNARS TROUBLE MAKER
LIMITED EDITION KIT

I got in trouble today, ladies. Yes, the principal called me into his office and said, “Karen, you are no longer my favorite trouble maker.”

Wha!?

“The new NARS Trouble Maker set is, and you’re just going to have to learn to live with it… You may go back to class now.”

The $60 limited edition kit was designed to help your eyes raise hell. To that end, it comes with a Smudge Proof Eyeshadow Base, Larger Than Life Volumizing Mascara, an Eyeliner Stylo and a bottle of Eye Makeup Remover.

I’m happy to hang out with this Trouble Maker. It comes with some really nice pieces, like the eye primer. That one’s the frickin’ bomb dizzle!

The mascara and makeup remover are above average, too, while I think the liquid liner’s just good (not great). In a nutshell, it’s a pretty sweet kit for the money and a good value from NARS. Purchasing the products separately would cost $89 (the Smudge Proof Eyeshadow Base alone costs $24), so $60 isn’t too bad.

One could always get the set with stockings in mind, keeping the primer (seriously, it’s amazing!) and the mascara or makeup remover, and giving the remaining items away. Read more…

NARS Crazy Heart Lipgloss SetNARS CRAZY HEART
LIPGLOSS SET

I learned something oddly thrilling today. The new NARS Crazy Heart Set ($50) glosses are sheer enough to apply while walking down the street without a mirror (try it sometime), yet pigmented enough to make an impact on passers by.

This is brilliant news! Now I can devote more precious time and energy to important things, like unraveling the mystery behind Zac Efron’s allure.

The set comes with five sheer shades from the NARS permanent lipgloss line — Easy Lover (a hot pink), Babe (a reddish orange), Orgasm (a shimmery golden pink), Turkish Delight (a creamy light pink) and Misbehave (a cherry red with golden shimmer) — all of them highly wearable, with the exception of Turkish Delight, which looks kinda milky before it mellows into an attractive pale pink.

MAC Nymphette-s might like Orgasm, Nymphette’s sheerer cousin, and ladies who’ve always wanted to wear red lips but were too afraid to try should take a look at Babe. Read more…

Bobbi Brown Glitter LinerBOBBI BROWN
GLITTER LINER

Above is what happens when your home team wins the World Series while you’re swatching Bobbi Brown Glitter Eyeliner in Silver ($20).

Last night was crazy! After the game we could hear loud booms off in the distance that I presumed were revelers detonating cherry bombs, or perhaps the start of that zombie invasion I’m always talking about.

I was ready to go into Apocalypse Mode and head for the hills! Survival kit? Check. El Hub, Tabs, emergency purse and this new Bobbi limited edition liquid liner? Check.

Why the liner? Ya know, because it’s nice to look good in the face of certain doom. Read more…

Hourglass Extreme Sheen Holiday SetHOURGLASS EXTREME
SHEEN HOLIDAY SET

I love the blue top I’m wearing in this picture, but I’m not entirely proud of the stretchy black pants I’m wearing with it (too many 100 Grand bars before, during and after Halloween), even though they’re incredibly comfy.

How comfy are they? Well, they’re almost as comfy as the glosses in the new Hourglass Extreme Sheen Kit ($45).

Yes, you read that correctly. The three glosses in the limited edition holiday set are almost as comfortable as stretchy pants. 🙂 And they’re some of the most delightful lip products I’ve ever worn.

The colors in the kit lean toward the warm end the color spectrum, like Ignite, a golden peachy pink; Siren, a shimmery reddish copper; and Child, a pale warm pink. Read more…

Bobbi Brown Smokey Eye PaletteBOBBI BROWN
SMOKEY EYE PALETTE

Okay, methinks it’s time to stop scaring the neighbors. With last week’s beehive and that other blast to beauty’s past, I got more than a few sideways glances every time I went outside.

I don’t really know my neighbors very well, but I’m sure they know me — as the crazy lady who walks her cat on a leash while wearing lots of eye makeup and bathrobes. Ha! Gotta love it.

I kept getting that look, you know the one, where they’re afraid to make eye contact, but their glassy, straight-ahead stares betray what they’re really doing, which is watching you from the side with their peripheral vision… I do it a lot at restaurants to see what everyone else is eating, haha.

This morning I decided to give ‘em a break and go back to wearing something a little less shocking in public. Out came the new Bobbi Brown Smokey Eye Palette ($45).

Have you seen it yet? One of three new kits in the just-released Choose Your Glam collection, it comes with four powder eyeshadows perfect for black/gray smokey eyes.

I’ve been chomping at the bit for this one, specifically for the sparkly black Long-Wear Eye Paint in Onyx. Read more…

$5 Wet N Wild Color Icon Kits$5 WET N WILD
COLOR ICON KITS

I wonder how much it costs to mail a letter to the North Pole. I ask because I’d really like to thank Santa for releasing these Wet N Wild Color Icon Kits ($5) for the holidays.

Being just $5 each and coming with six coordinating shadows and a mini-eyeliner, the four kits give new meaning to the words, “travel friendly.”

Well, the liner’s nothing to write home about. I mean, it’s nicely pigmented, but it feels a little rigid against my skin. The shadows, on the other hand — oh, the shadows! Rich, bold and just as buildable as the the company’s fab Color Icon Singles.

Again, these are just $5, WOW!

Of the four kits — Sugar Plum Fairy, Golden Goddess, Snow Sprite and Night Elf — I’ve tested two of them so far. Read more…

L'Oreal Midnight Muse HiP Eye Shadow DuosL’OREAL HiP EYE
SHADOW DUOS, MIDNIGHT MUSE

As much as I love a good bargain, budget beauty doesn’t always deliver. With some drugstore beauty products, you just don’t know what caliber of quality you’re gonna get.

The HiP Eye Shadow duos we looked at last week from the new L’Oreal Midnight Muse collection showed a lot of promise, and you showed a lot of interest, so I took two of them (Enchantress and Darkwave) out for indoor test drives today.

Now I know why these HiP shadows have so many fans. 🙂

The matte and high-shine shimmer shadows in both duos are easy to blend and exhibit very little fallout. These are top-shelf drugstore beauty products. We’re talking glass case material here, like the kinds of products that deserve their own display at the very front of the beauty aisle. Read more…

Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,

Karen

There are 10 comments on this post. Leave yours.

Categories: Just For Fun Keywords: weeklyroundup

Flirtatious, Slightly Insolent and Sexy: Aquolina Blue Sugar for Men

November 6th, 2010 by Karen 25 Comments

Sam

Written by Sam

Dudes don’t have to smell like bacon! Stop the insanity with help from the sweet subject of today’s guest post from Sam.

Aquolina Blue SugarAquolina is a relatively unknown fragrance company whose only products are the brother and sister scents Blue Sugar and Pink Sugar. While Pink Sugar is an overwhelmingly sweet, candied perfume, Blue Sugar “man’s-it-up” and presents a heady, sexy cologne that still retains the flirtatious sugary notes that its sibling is known for.

Before I was 14, I never wore cologne (and honestly, rarely even more than a basic deodorant… Shhh!). Those awful Axe Body sprays that smell like a boy’s locker room when the janitor has gotten lazy never appealed to me, and so I just went around smelling faintly of soap and fresh water (ironically, now some of my favorite base notes in colognes). But Sephora changed that. Sephora changes everything, really.

I went in just looking for a hair product to tame a style that would now be called the eponymous Bieber (I shudder looking back on pictures of me then… What was I thinking?), and walked out with two sample vials of colognes: Juicy Dirty English and Aquolina Blue Sugar. I tried Juicy’s first, as I’d actually heard of them, even then, and was instantly reminded of why I hated Axe. It smelled like sweat, musk, and aggressive machismo. That one went immediately in the trash. So the next day, I dabbed a bit of Blue Sugar on my wrists, went out, and fell in love. I returned to the mall a few days later to purchase my first cologne ever.

Housed in an attractive, blue tinted cylindrical bottle, Blue Sugar holds its own visually next to the likes of Dior’s Fahrenheit and BANG by Marc Jacobs on my vanity. I rather enjoy the simplicity of its design; no gimmicks (looking at you, PLAY by Givenchy), nothing belying more than it is.

Even now, the scent’s progression from Top Notes to Base Notes is still a journey I take pleasure in, and it certainly hasn’t gotten old. Throughout the entire thing, notes of caramelized sugar wrap themselves sensually around the others, caressing and embracing rather than smothering. Have you ever been to an authentic candy shoppe (yes, spelled with an extra “p” and an “e”; that’s how you know it’s authentic) while the mother and son duo were mixing a giant vat of sugar to turn into those sweet, little caramel chews? This aspect smells near exactly like that: flirtatious, slightly insolent, and sexy in a boyish, rustle-your-hair kind of way.
[Continue reading…]

There are 25 comments on this post. Leave yours.

Categories: Fragrance Keywords: guest post

The New Dolce & Gabbana Lip Jewels Compact Has Ruby Kisses for You

November 6th, 2010 by Karen 18 Comments

dolce gabbana lip jewel review swatches photos

Do you remember the Dolce & Gabbana Lip Jewels Compact ($60) from backstage at Milan Fashion Week? The one with the big ruby on the top? Well, it’s finally here! And lemme tell ya — put on yer stunner shades, because Dolce & Gabbana blinged this mutha out!

dolce gabbana lip jewel review swatches photos compact

The compact’s limited edition for the holidays and holds four Classic Cream Lipsticks from Dolce & Gabbana’s permanent line, three reds — Dahlia (blueish), Ultra (warmish) and Devil (a true red) — and one neutral called Nude (a creamy beige). All of them apply smooth and creamy with full-coverage color.

I’ve been picturing myself wearing the red shades with black cat eyes… HOTNESS! Of course, when I was trying these on yesterday it was after midnight, and I’d already taken off the rest of my makeup. I’ll do almost anything in the name of makeup research, but I won’t share face shots of myself with ratty hair and pajamas. Well… least not this time, ha!

dolce gabbana lip jewel review swatches photos swatches on nc35 skin
From left: Nude, Dahlia, Ultra, Devil
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There are 18 comments on this post. Leave yours.

Categories: Makeup, Product Reviews Keywords: dolce & gabbana

Saturday Surfing and $10 Holiday Makeup from Target

November 6th, 2010 by Karen 27 Comments

Saturday Surfing
Photo by Misko13

G’morning, boo! Happy Saturday. Did you do anything fun last night? The highlights of my evening involved a leisurely trip through Target and then three hours of zombie-fueled television on the couch (AMC replayed The Walking Dead premiere and 28 Days Later)… My life’s a non-stop thrill ride, I know.

I spotted those new Dr. Scholl’s Fast Flats at Target, the ones El Hub says look like ninja shoes. They’re emergency flats you can keep in your purse, the car or the little wristlet that comes with them and then put them on when your high heels are bugging you. Genius, right?

They come in three size ranges, women’s 5-6, 7-8 and 9-10. I snagged the last size 7-8, woo hoo! Haven’t tried ’em on yet, but I’ll let you know when I do.

Target also had out a ton of new holiday makeup. It’s like the whole store turned Christmas overnight! I saw new kits from JK Jemma Kidd, Pixi, NP Set and Sonia Kashuk.

Get this — they’re all just $9.99. 🙂

I only saw one new brush set from Sonia, which kind of surprised me, but I bet we’ll see her usual mix of holiday palettes and whatnot soon (I HOPE!).

WARNING: Improv iPhone Pics


[Continue reading…]

There are 27 comments on this post. Leave yours.

Categories: Just For Fun

Sally Hansen Green Tea & Bamboo Nail Strengthener: Keeps the Chips Away So Nails Can Play

November 5th, 2010 by Karen 18 Comments

Kris

Written by Kris

Wave, and the whole world waves with you, especially if you use the lovely nail product Kris describes in today’s guest post.

Sally Hansen Green Tea & Bamboo Nail Strengthener

I’m one of the many people who suffer from thin, slow-growing nails. Many times I’ve had an issue or another arise and have sought the help of Sally Hansen. Sally Hansen products have helped cure my broken cuticles, clean up my messily-applied manicures and have now helped my nails grow super fast!

Most recently, I sought help for my suddenly fragile nails, which were breaking easier than normal and starting to peel. Oh, no! I went to my local Wal-Mart for Sally Hansen’s tried and true results. I browsed the wall and found the “Sally Hansen Green Tea & Bamboo Nail Strengthener” ($6.98). The packaging stated, “Bonds & Seals Weak Fragile Nail Layers to Resist Breaking”. Yep, I needed that! It also promised a high gloss finish and instantly stronger, more flexible nails…. “Guaranteed”. Sold! I grabbed it and headed to check-out. I came home and immediately read the instructions to begin healing my poor, distressed fingernails.

The instructions said to shake gently and apply one coat to clean, bare nails and let dry. If you want to paint your nails, you’re encouraged to apply a second coat over your nail color to seal and protect. So, you’re getting a base coat and a healing top coat all at the same time.

Sally Hansen Green Tea & Bamboo Nail Strengthener

I applied as directed with a nail color on 10/22, making notes as I went along. The Sally Hansen Green Tea & Bamboo Nail Strengthener dries pretty fast as a base coat. It smells like a regular polish but possibly not quite as strong.
[Continue reading…]

There are 18 comments on this post. Leave yours.

Categories: Nails Keywords: guest post

Girls, Follow the Boys to This NARS Lip Gloss Set

November 5th, 2010 by Karen 65 Comments

karen of makeup and beauty blog wearing nars sweet revenge lipgloss from the follow the boys holiday 2010 set
NARS Sweet Revenge Lipgloss

Best part of my Friday: listening to Salt N’ Pepa’s Push It while watching Tabs lick his tummy. If you’ve ever watched a small dog or cat cross the street while listening to hip-hop in the car, you’ll know why I found it as funny as I did. 🙂

Ah, push it…

Ah, push it…

Second best part of my Friday: swatching the limited edition NARS Follow the Boys Lip Gloss Set ($40).


Sweet Revenge


Turkish Delight

Like the recent Crazy Heart holiday set, Follow the Boys comes with a selection of smaller-than-normal NARS glosses from the company’s permanent line, except in this set there are four instead of five — Turkish Delight (a creamy pale pink), Sweet Revenge (a shimmery peachy pink), Moon Fleet (a glittery gold) and Easy Lover (a sheer hot pink).
[Continue reading…]

There are 65 comments on this post. Leave yours.

Categories: Makeup, Product Reviews Keywords: nars

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Welcome to Makeup and Beauty Blog

Welcome to Makeup and Beauty Blog! My name is Karen, and I’m a freelance writer obsessed with makeup.

Makeup and Beauty Blog features daily product reviews, makeup tips and beauty news — like an interactive version of a monthly print magazine, except with occasional pictures of my cat.

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