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Archives for November 2010

6 Fast Fixes for Makeup Boo Boos

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audrey of makeup by audrey

Follow me on TwitterFriend me on FacebookWritten by Audrey

Freelance makeup artist Audrey of Makeup by Audrey shows us six fast fixes for common makeup mishaps in today’s guest post.

Do you ever have those “Doh!” moments when it comes to makeup? Those little hiccups from time to time? I sure do. Here are six that I encounter with some simple solutions for each.

Boo Boo #1: Glitter Fallout

The Boo Boo — I recently busted out my Urban Decay Naked palette and was in the process of applying the Sidecar shade across my lids when I saw them: tiny flecks of glitter. Grrrr… That’s definitely one of my makeup pet peeves, and although I did my best to tap off any excess from the brush before applying, there were still tiny flecks of glitter all over my cheeks.

The Fix — If you can’t wipe them away with a clean brush, here’s a trusty trick (I mentioned it before in a previous post). Just grab your Scotch tape, tear off some small pieces, and lightly press them to your face. It picks up all of the tiny bits of glitter while preserving my makeup.

Boo Boo #2: Stray hairs on your face

The Boo Boo — I like to use a wide variety of brushes from drugstore to high end, and, on rare occasions, one of my brushes will shed, leaving a tiny hair (or perhaps a stray eyelash) on my (or my client’s) face. Sometimes, you can simply brush them away; other times, you’re tempted to scrape them off, but that would probably not end well. 🙂

The Fix — I learned this quick tip at a MAC Pro Master Class. Simply take a clean spoolie brush or a disposable mascara wand, and lightly run it across the face. It will pick up that bad boy straight away.

Boo Boo #3: Dry gel eyeliner

The Boo Boo — Don’t you hate it when you notice that your favorite gel eyeliner doesn’t apply as smoothly as it used to? It might just be a little dried out, but there has to be a way to salvage it, right?

The Fix — I took my problem to Twitter to see what my makeup community there had to say. I got a lot of great tips, like mixing it with a bit of either baby oil or Visine, or even heating it up with a hair dryer. I ended up taking the easy way out. I took my brush and scraped off the top layer of a section of the pot, wiping away the excess on a tissue, and what remained underneath was the creamy gel eyeliner I love. Sure, it’s a tad wasteful, but not as much as throwing it away would have been. Plus, it takes me forever to go through one of those pots anyway. 🙂

Boo Boo #4: Dried up makeup wipes

The Boo Boo — Ah, here we are again with the drying problem! I personally love using makeup wipes to remove my makeup before cleansing my face. It’s nice to remove every single drop of makeup, including that pesky eyeliner and mascara that would be hard to remove with facial cleanser alone. The problem is then going to grab the next wipe and finding that it’s bone dry because all of the moisture has soaked down to the bottom. Doh!

The Fix — Just flip it! Store your container of makeup wipes upside down. That way the top one always sits at the bottom, moist and ready to use.
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Makeup and Beauty Blog Monday Poll, Nov. 29

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Want some shave ice?

  1. Mood:

    2. Wide awake! I still haven’t adjusted to the time difference here (2 hrs), so I’ve been reading in the dark since 4:30…but at least I’ve got those jungle chickens to keep me company.

  2. Raindrops on roses and whiskers on kittens — what are a few of your favorite things?

    3. Hot tea on a cold night, my favorite pair of stretchy yoga pants, a bottle of Coca Cola with a veggie burger and fries…

  3. My No. 1 makeup rule is _____.

    4. My No. 1 makeup rule is to do what makes you happy. That goes for it all — color choices, application technique, brands, you name it.

  4. Sleeveless puffy vests: yea or nay?

    5. Yea, within reason. I mean, they can’t be so that puffy that I look like a short brown Michelin Man. 🙂

  5. The best advice I ever received was_____.

    6. The best advice I’ve ever received was from an elderly woman named Lucy. She was my old landlady when I lived in that apartment in Mill Valley. Once she said to me, “You never feel ready for all the things life throws in your path, and if you sit around waiting to feel ready you could be waiting a really, really long time.”

  6. The best book you read this year:

    7. The Hunger Games, for sure.

  7. How was your Thanksgiving?

    8. It was nice, but I really missed my brother, my parents and Tabs. It’s always hard when everyone can’t be together in the same place.

  8. What’s the best and worst parts of your job?

    9. The best: being able to stretch my creative muscles without getting fired. The worst: self-imposed deadlines.

  9. I wish I had a hair product that _____.

    10. I could spritz on for perfect bangs in 10 seconds flat!

  10. Weekly goals:

    11. Have a good trip back home to Cali, play with Tabs as much as possible, get back in my regular working groove, and put up a Christmas tree.

To complete the Monday Poll, just copy the following list, and paste it with your answers in the comments.



1. Mood:
2. Raindrops on roses and whiskers on kittens — what are a few of your favorite things?
3. My No. 1 makeup rule is _____.
4. Sleeveless puffy vests: yea or nay?
5. The best advice I ever received was _____.
6. The best book you read this year:
7. The best and worst parts of your job?
8. How was your Thanksgiving?
9. I wish I had a hair product that ____.
10. Weekly goals:

I hope you have a great week, my friend, and that December gets off to a great start. 🙂

Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,

Karen

Sundays With(out) Tabs the Cat, Makeup and Beauty Blog Mascot, Vol. 115

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Sand cat says, “These are my slippers. so you’ll have to get your own.”

Even though I’m sure Tabs has been living la vida loca without me (I heard he threw a rager last night), I sure do miss his fussy face.

Tabs and his Chanel Khaki nail polishes

The gang of tail-less tabbies that runs around my in-law’s neighborhood has been MIA, so I’ve been getting my CCL on via beach cats and the feline sand sculptures (like the one up top).

I asked friends on Twitter the other day how they cope when they go on vacation without their pets… @norulesjstbeaut starts to meow to pictures of her cats. Now THERE’s a woman after my own heart, ha!

Thanks to the Skype Tabby Cam 2000, Tabs and I have kept in contact every day. He’s been calling to complain about the pet sitter, who he says “wouldn’t know good gravy from a hole in the ground.”

Today I went through some of Tabs’ old makeup modeling pics, and now I miss him even more…

urban decay naked palette review swatches photos pictures


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$4 Petites Color Fever Nail Polishes: Another Reason to Love Rite Aid (and Drugstores in General)

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Olga of Beauty on and out of MakeUpAcademia

Written by OIga

Let’s meet Olga of MakeUpAcademia at Rite Aid this afternoon so we can shop for new colors for our nails. She recommends a bangin’ budget line to try in today’s guest post.

$4 petites Color Fever Nail Polishes

After trying and being put off by a few drugstore nail polish brands before (including the regular Petites line), I’ve been sticking to my Sephora by OPI’s. Luckily, however, one day while I was browsing my local Rite Aid beauty section (is there anyone else who finds that therapeutic?), a small bottle of pretty grayish taupe polish caught my eye. It turned out to be a higher end Petites line called Color Fever.

I’ve purchased two Color Fever polishes so far — Periwinkle (525) and Vintage Gray (519) — but if I was not trying to cut down on my makeup expenses, I would have bought a lot more. 🙂

There are some very interesting colors in the line (although many of them are hard to find in stores), and in terms of quality both of the polishes I own are on a par with OPI. For the sake of comparison, the brush is slightly narrower and shorter than that of the brush that comes with a bottle of Sephora by OPI.

These are creamy opaque shades that go on beautifully and last a decent amount of time (up to a week with a top coat).

The Petites Color Fever polishes are more expensive than an average drugstore polish ($3.99 for 0.25 oz, but that’s versus close to $9 for 0.5 oz for Sephora by OPI), but I would still prefer these over OPI polishes — really, how often do we use up even half of a full-sized nail polish before it dries?

PRICE: $3.99
AVAILABILITY: Rite Aid
RATING: 10/10 overall

Olga of Beauty on and out of MakeUpAcademia

Written by OIga

This post was written by Olga from MakeUpAcademia, originally from Russia, but currently a graduate student in Baltimore, MD. She is passionate about physics equations, beauty and skincare products, travel photography and her cat Saathi.

My Favorite Travel Makeup Bag May Come as a Surprise

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audrey of makeup by audrey

Follow me on TwitterFriend me on FacebookWritten by Audrey

Freelance makeup artist Audrey of Makeup by Audrey takes her makeup with her on the road with help from the subjects of today’s guest post.

Here's the bag open

It’s the holidays, and for a lot of us that means hitting the airways or the road. I’ve been using the same makeup travel bag for a few years now, and I love it! Check it out (and I made sure to leave it nice and dirty to preserve the authenticity of its long lifespan of usage).

My favorite part of the bag: the built in brush holder. No need to carry a separate brush roll. It even has a protective flap to keep any makeup dust away from your products, and the brush slots come in different sizes to accommodate both face and eye brushes.

I like the way the whole thing is laid out. The three mesh pockets (two of them are zippered to keep the contents nice and secure) are set in just the right locations.

The entire bag also rolls up nicely and stays wrapped with an elastic band, so you can really stuff it with products.

I’m still amazed by how well this bag has held up over the years (knock on wood!)

Brushroll

You might be surprised by to find out that this amazing makeup bag comes to us from Mary Kay, and more amazing still is that it’s not actually sold on its own but rather as an accessory to their brush set.
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Two Ways to Win a 47-Piece Tarte Jewelry Box Palette

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WINNER: Valentine. 🙂

Now this is the way to up-sell a girl like me — include a pretty piece of costume jewelry with your makeup palette, your cereal, your car battery, your [INSERT PRACTICALLY ANYTHING HERE].

The Tarte Jewelry Box Palette ($52), a Sephora exclusive, comes with 32 powder eyeshadows, eight lipglosses, a mineral bronzer, a shimmery highlighting powder, five long-wearing eye pencils and this stylin’ gold necklace to take you from day wear to diva in the blink of a blended eye.

I hope you’re ready for another giveaway, because today’s is about to start. 🙂

A Makeup and Beauty Blog Giveaway!

  • One (1) Tarte Jewelry Box Palette (a $52 value).

  • There are two ways to enter, and you can do both of them for two chances to win. First, you can enter by leaving a comment at the bottom of this post, a comment about anything at all — you could describe your favorite family heirloom, your taste in jewelry or perhaps your outlook on socks.
  • Second, you can enter by following me on twitter Twitter @karenmbb and retweeting (RT) the following message:
    • Follow @karenmbb and RT to win a Tarte Jewelry Box Palette (a $52 value) http://bit.ly/eyOCXv

  • The deadline to enter is Tuesday, November 30, 2010 at 11:59PM (PT).
  • Entrants must enter using a valid email address and/or Twitter account to win.
  • A maximum of two (2) entries per person — one within the comments at the bottom of this post, and a second entry via Twitter addressed to me @karenmbb.
  • Contest is open to individuals of any country who have reached the age of majority according to their local laws (18 in the United States with these exceptions: Alabama and Nebraska, 19; Mississippi, 21).
  • Tabs and I (heretofore referred to as “T-Money and K-Dawg”) will select one (1) winner at random from the entries either left in the comments at the bottom of this blog post or addressed to @karenmbb on Twitter.
  • The winner will be announced here within 48 hours of the deadline.
  • Void where prohibited by law.

Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,

Karen

WINNER: Valentine. 🙂

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