Makeup and Beauty Blog | Makeup Reviews, Swatches and How-To Makeup

A beauty blog blooming with fresh makeup reviews, swatches and beauty tips from your friendly neighborhood beauty addict

Archives for December 2010

Two Ways to Win a Clarins Barocco Eye Colour Trio

by 341 Comments

  • WINNER: The giveaway is closed now, and the winner is aclearcutsign! Congratulations, aclearcutsign! If you entered but didn’t win this time around, keep trying, and click here to enter any ongoing giveaways before you jet. 🙂

clarins barocco collection holiday 2010 review swatches photos barocco eye colour trio

So maybe stretchy pants and overindulging in holiday yummage aren’t conducive to feeling glamorous. I could use an emergency glamor adjustment, and I’m thinking the Clarins Barocco Eye Colour Trio could help.

clarins barocco collection holiday 2010 review swatches photos barocco eye colour trio product shot open 1

Can you imagine the looks you could bang out next year with these three sheer shadows? There’s a shimmery sunset gold (with traces of blackish brown, just like a tiger’s coat!), a matte brownish black, and a shimmery blackish gold.

This particular trio here is in need of a good home…

Are you ready to help? 🙂

A Makeup and Beauty Blog Giveaway!

  • One (1) Clarins Barocco Eye Colour Trio (a $40 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, like the name of the person you’d love to kiss at midnight on New Year’s Eve, the name of your favorite beverage, the last pair of shoes you bought, one of your resolutions for 2011 — you get the idea.
  • Second, you can enter by following me on twitter Twitter @karenmbb and retweeting (RT) the following message:
    • Follow @karenmbb and RT to Win a Clarins Barocco Eye Colour Trio (a $40 Value) http://bit.ly/hunSNi

  • The deadline to enter is Thursday, December 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: The giveaway is closed now, and the winner is aclearcutsign! Congratulations, aclearcutsign! If you entered but didn’t win this time around, keep trying, and click here to enter any ongoing giveaways before you jet. 🙂

Be a Dear, Burt, and Thank Your Bees for Me: I Love Burt’s Bees Almond Milk Beeswax Hand Creme

by 47 Comments

You remember Burt’s Bees Lemon Butter Cuticle Cream, right? My cuticles fell madly in love, and because they loved it so much, I’ve been interested in trying more of Burt’s hand products.

I picked up their Almond Milk Beeswax Hand Creme ($9) the other day on a whim. I was at Target at the time, buying toilet paper because I can’t trust El Hub to do it anymore (he always gets the cheap stuff that feels like sandpaper), and spotted Burt’s familiar packaging.

This thick, moisturizing cream, which feels almost like a salve (read: REALLY thick, like cold butter), has been around for a while as part of Burt’s permanent collection. It’s made from all natural ingredients, stuff like sweet almond oil and aloe, and has a light almond fragrance that’s easy on my sensitive nose.

It takes a little longer to absorb than a your run-of-the-mill hand creams, but my paws just love this stuff to pieces. I can hear them let out a hearty “Ahhhh…” when I massage it in, LOL! Right after, the product appears to leave behind a slightly greasy residue, but it completely disappears within a few minutes.

I wash my hands often, especially during cold and flu season, and that does a number on my paws. Burt’s Almond Milk quenches their thirst and keeps them supple and soft.


[Continue reading…]

The New MAC Kissable Lipcolour Glosses Sure Are Great Kissers

by 45 Comments

mac kissable lipcolour woo me swatch

Like silk. That’s how the 12 glosses in the new MAC Kissable Lipcolours line feel on my lips.

Coming in for a landing with the MAC Peacocky collection on January 6, these brash beauties take their cues from peacock feathers — bold but lightweight (like a feather) pink, coral, red, fuchsia, blue (!), brown and mauve — with a thin, non-sticky texture like that of a liquid lipstick, but the crazy shiny finish of a gloss.

What can we expect from the MAC Peacocky Collection? Brace yourself for intense lip and eye colors with dramatic finishes. The new Kissable Lipcolours are joined by a new line of pigmented metallic shadows. The Mega Metal Shadows ($19.50 each) will make eyes shine like the edge of a vorpal sword in shades of white, champagne, mauve, gold, violet, teal burgundy, copper, green, purple, navy and black.

The way these Kissable Lipcolours feel reminds me of how smooth and comfy the MAC Cremesheens feel, but they don’t look anything alike. These pack much more pigment. Where the Cremesheens whisper sweet nothings of light lip color, the Kissable Lipcolours SCREAM AND SHOUT! These colors are bold and cover lips with completely.

The two I’ve tried, Woo Me (a light pink) and Temper Tantra (a midtone reddish brown that must have been inspired by MAC Paramount Lipstick), set down a crazy amount of color.

mac kissable lipcolour woo me temper tantra

mac kissable lipcolour woo me temper tantra 2

mac kissable lipcolour woo me temper tantra wands

mac kissable lipcolour woo me lip swatch

mac kissable lipcolour temper tantra swatch
[Continue reading…]

Makeup and Beauty Blog Monday Poll, Dec. 27

by 60 Comments

  • You might be wondering, “So what the heck is this Monday Poll thing anyway?”
    Well, it isn’t much of a poll. It’s more just a constantly evolving (devolving?), somewhat random list of questions I’ve been putting out to readers every Monday morning for the past three years, which I guess makes this somewhere around Vol. 150. I’ve always enjoyed reading your answers in the comments, and I hope you enjoy reading mine.
  1. Mood:

    2. Absolutely spiffy. El Hub has some time off before the new year, so Tabs and I are thrilled to have him around today.

  2. Best thing that happened to you in 2010?

    3. Going to Milan to cover the Dolce & Gabbana show last October, for sure.

  3. Worst thing?

    4. 2010 was pretty good to me (knock on wood), so I don’t really have a specific thing, but I do think I have to get better about balancing blogging and my offline life. Time flies when I’m at the computer, and I didn’t spend nearly enough time with my family this year. Over Christmas, I realized how much I miss them. You know what they say — time waits for no one.

  4. Your biggest beauty revelation of 2010?

    5. That chin and eyebrow hairs suck, but white chin and eyebrow hairs suck even more!

  5. Your biggest personal revelation?

    6. I’m my own best cheerleader. 🙂

  6. Something you’d like to cross off your bucket list in 2011?

    7. Make it over to Europe. I’d love to spend a holiday swimming and relaxing somewhere along the Mediterranean coast. Got any suggestions?

  7. Your plans for New Year’s Eve?

    8. Nothing yet (I know, so last minute!), but later today I’m going to look for something to do, maybe one of those restaurants that hosts big NYE dinners.

  8. Write yourself a New Year’s love note…

    9. Dear, Karen. Remember to be kinder and gentler to yourself in 2011, because you’re doing just fine. And if you’re meant to be a mother, don’t worry. It will happen.

  9. And now write a love note for anyone who’s reading this right now.

    10. I wish you an ocean of good luck, love and happiness in 2011. If worry is weighing on you, know that 1) you’re stronger than you think, and 2) turn to the people you know you can trust to lift you up when you need it.

  10. Weekly goals:

    11. Finish entering info into my Nike + iPod (a gift from El Hub). It has a pedometer and tracks workouts online. I also want to clean the house from top to bottom before the new year, and touch base with my family and some friends by e-mail or phone at least once this week.

Can you believe we made it through another year together? Because he’s so in the moment, Tabs doesn’t really think about what tomorrow brings, but I’ve been thinking a lot about it lately — about what I would like to accomplish in 2011. If you’re in the mood to reflect with me, or you just feel like popping by to say hi, please take a moment to fill out the Monday Poll. I’d love to hear from ya. 🙂

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



1. Mood:
2. Best thing that happened to you in 2010?
3. Worst thing?
4. Your biggest beauty revelation of 2010?
5. Your biggest personal revelation?
6. Something you’d like to cross off your bucket list in 2011?
7. Plans for New Year’s Eve?
8. Write yourself a New Year’s love note…
9. …and now write a love note for anyone who’s reading this right now.
10. Weekly goals:

Here’s to our last Monday Poll of 2010 and to all our future Mondays together in 2011 (*raises chai latte*).

Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,

Karen

Sundays with Tabs the Cat, Makeup and Beauty Blog Mascot, Vol. 119

by 37 Comments

Dear Diary,

Before I get into the drama-dy that was Christmas 2010, can I just take a moment to bask in the glory of my modeling skills? Observe the evidence: the centerfold pic from my last photo shoot, which I took for the cover of People magazine when they named me “World’s Sexiest Tabby of 2010.”

See how I skillfully raise my paws? The nonchalant look of disinterest and the artful placement of my whiskers? It takes a lot of work to look this hot.

People just don’t seem to get that my life isn’t all jet setting and cat walking; I have to make critical decisions EVERY. SINGLE. DAY. Take, for instance, my holiday plans (or lack thereof).

JF (that’s James Franco to you) asked me to hang with him and his buddies in Aspen this Christmas. I really wanted to break in my new snowboard and those Louis Vuitton boots (ya know, the ones with the fur?) I picked up in Paris a few months ago, but due to my assistant’s usual incompetence, I was stuck here in the Bay Area. She couldn’t find a first class flight out of SFO in time, and, you know, I soooo don’t do coach.

It was royally annoying, but one thing that perked me up was this awesome present from my grandparents:

I call them Lolo and Lola, which means “grandfather” and “grandmother” in Tagalog, their native tongue (for the record, I’m half Filipino).


[Continue reading…]

Check Out the Spread in the Open Thread

by 76 Comments

This morning I awoke to a rumbly tummy, which is nothing new, but this time I had a jar of special Christmas Nutella — see, they DO have hazelnuts in the North Pole! — around to alleviate it. Yup, Santa actually brought me a jar of Nutella. Oh, and a pedometer… Gotta love that guy’s sense of irony.

Did you get any odd gifts this year? My parents are so sweet, and I love ’em to pieces, but creative gift givers they’re not. This was the third consecutive year we received a two-pack of smoked salmon and a box of chocolate truffles from Costco. Third. Consecutive. Year. 🙂

But I don’t mind one bit. I feel blessed and lucky to have family around. They’re the real gifts; the presents are just the salmon and chocolate icing on the cake.

Tabs, of course, made off like a bandit, even though Santa didn’t bring him the kitty Tron outfit he wanted. Instead he scored a huge box of Fancy Feast (in gravy) from his grandparents.

Watcha up to? The couch doesn’t think I should go to a movie today. It thinks I should spend the afternoon sitting, eating and watching movies on TV. Yesterday I watched three: Outsourced (LOVED IT! A touching indie comedy about an American guy who goes to India to train a group of call center workers), Bobby Z (stars Paul Walker, so that’s a BIG plus, but the story bites) and Brick (stars a young Joseph Gordon-Levitt; interesting premise, with 1940’s noir-ish dialogue set in a modern high school, but I slept through most of it).

If you’re gonna be around today, we should hang out for a spell in the open thread.

Makeup and Beauty Blog Open ThreadIf you’re new to the open thread, here it is in a nutshell:

It’s just a post where we leave comments for each other and talk about whatever’s on our minds — holiday hijinks, food, beauty (of course!), books, TV shows, pets, whatever! Stop by if/when you can.

See you soon!

Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,

Karen

Copyright © 2025 Makeup and Beauty Blog. Get in touch.