Archives for December 2010

The Weekly Roundup: Posts You Might Have Missed

December 26th, 2010 by Karen 5 Comments

Can you believe Christmas has passed? For the last two months I’ve been thinking Christmas, Christmas, Christmas every day, and then BAM! Welcome to December 26.

It’s enough to give a girl holiday whiplash. 🙂

How are you doing? Tabs, El Hub and I are just enjoying a slow day… I think we might try to catch a movie this afternoon. That sounds like fun.

The Weekly Roundup: Posts You Might Have Missed

CHANEL MAT LUMIERE
SOFT MATTE MAKEUP WITH SPF 15

Who among us hasn’t crossed paths with her share of craptacular liquid foundations? â€” the runny ones that leave streaks, the heavy pore-suffocating ones, and, oh, how about the ones with the open-mouth bottle…like the one you accidentally spilled on your buddy’s white shag carpet back in school (so sorry, Shell!).

I know it’s asking for a lot, but I would love a great, preferably inexpensive medium-coverage liquid foundation that I can wear every day (something I can throw on before I run out for a chai latte). That said, it’s with great joy, and a little pain, that I type these words: Chanel’s $54 Mat Lumiere Long-Lasting Soft Matte Makeup SPF 15 just might be the best liquid foundation I’ve used in years.

But…it’s $54. Read more…

THE CHANEL QUADRA
EYE SHADOW QUAD IN REGARD PERLE

Every girl remembers her first…Chanel eyeshadow quad. 🙂

Mine was Garden Party. Ah, Garden Party… Just saying the name brings back memories (and a warm, fuzzy feeling) of the first time I laid eyes on that mix of green, peach and pink.

I still love that quad so much that it’s the first thing I thought of when I saw promo pics of the new Chanel Quadra Eye Shadow quad in Regard Perle ($56). I was kindasorta hoping Perle would look more like it in person.

It’s not a Garden Party dupe, but I think it’s very pretty in its own right, particularly if you have a thing for glowy skin.

Each of its four soft powder shadows shine with a mirror-like finish that lights up eyelids when when they’re applied. Chanel channeled pearls this season â€” or rather the way skin glows when you’re wearing pearls â€” and here they got it spot on. The chai latte I had last night right before dinner screwed with my sleep, and it was evident all over my face this morning. But a few swipes of Regard Perle today, and my eyes looked visibly brighter and more awake. Read more…

THE LUSH SUGAR
PLUM FAIRY SCRUB

Look, over there â€” do you see it? The limited edition Sugar Plum Fairy Scrub ($4.95)? Isn’t it cute?

This heavenly creature is mostly made of sugar and spice and everything nice…like sodium bicarbonate (that’s baking soda, babe). It’s an exfoliating scrub scented with ylang-ylang (like a deep custard) and jasmine, and it leaves a light floral fragrance on my skin.

I took it into the shower with me last night, hoping it would smooth my bod â€” specifically the rough patches on my knees, heels and elbows.

The bar melts on contact with water, foaming into a lather with moderately rough scrubbing grains. I was hoping to get away with using half, or maybe a quarter of the bar, but it wasn’t in the mood for that once it got wet. Perhaps I could/should have broken it in half before the shower, just to be able to use it a second time. Read more…

THE NYX SOHO
GLAM COLLECTION

I was sitting in bed reading Stephen King’s Under the Dome the other night when it hit me. No, not the book, silly. 🙂 It occurred to me that I should get a tattoo of Tabs.

Don’t ask me why, because the book doesn’t have anything to do with cats, tattoos or cat tattoos, but since Tabs is my kitty BFF, and he comforts me whenever I get scared (like when I’m reading a Stephen King book), it makes a kind of weird sense.

I don’t have any tattoos right now, but most of my friends have â€˜em. My brother’s covered in tats, but I haven’t gotten any mostly because 1) I’m not into pain, and 2) I’ve never really liked anything enough to permanently inscribe it on my body.

Except for Tabs (and maybe El Hub, but that’s just too cliche, LOL!).

I’m still mulling over the idea, and it’s not official yet. Knowing me I’ll probably chicken out. El Hub’s totally against it. He’s afraid a cat tattoo would only serve as a gateway tat, but not necessarily into more tattoos; he’s afraid my level of crazy cat lady-ness would escalate, and I can’t argue with that logic. Read more…

THE MAC CHAM
PALE COLLECTION

I would like to propose a toast, friends â€” my very first serious toast ever â€” and I think there’s something fitting about it being dedicated to makeup. If you’ll bear with me for a moment, please raise your glass, be it filled with bubbly, wine, water, chai latte or anything else, to the MAC Cham Pale collection, one of the most inspiring neutral releases this lass has seen this year.

Launching right after Christmas (Dec. 26), the limited edition collection is a relatively small one for MAC, with just 26 pieces for the face, eyes, cheeks, lips, nails and skin in prices ranging from $14-36.

As much as I love neutral colors like gray, beige and and peach, collections dominated by them run the risk of venturing into snooze territory, especially when the finishes are mostly matte. They may be practical as all getout, but matte beige and gray don’t exactly set the world on fire, ya know? Read more…

THE MAC STYLISHLY
YOURS COLLECTION

You don’t have to be a crazy cat lady (or a rotund tabby cat with a low-hanging belly) to appreciate a strong cat eye liner look with bold lips. It’s an enduring, timeless combination that looks great on almost everyone.

The new 19-piece MAC Stylishly Yours collection, a limited edition release for eyes, lips and face (pieces $14-22 each), embodies this tried-and-true classic in a modernized, 21st century way.

The collection purrs onto MAC counters, stores and maccosmetics.com on December 26 and stays put through January 11, 2011. Tabs, being the ho for brights that he is, can’t wait.

With Stylishly Yours, MAC offers fans fun, fast ways to give makeup looks a shot of dramatic color (without having to think too hard). Eyes in the look are kept simple, clean, and simultaneously dramatic with matte black and burgundy gel liner and mascara. Bright coral, pink, magenta, red and violet leap onto lips and cheeks in lipsticks, cream blushes (they double as lip colors, too!) and loose pigments with creamy and shimmery finishes. But that’s not all â€” two pink pressed highlighting powders imbue faces with a lovely soft sheen. Read more…

CHANEL BLACK PEARL
PEARL DROP AND PECHE NACREE NAIL POLISHES

Merry Christmas Eve-Eve! Christmas came early! I braved the mall today to peep the new Les Perles de Chanel spring collection up close and personal. Yup, to say “the mall was crowded” would be like saying “I like Chanel.” Duh.

I think the last time I was at a mall two days before Christmas was when my friend Jen and I both worked together at The Limited in 1994 (I hawked a lot of ugly purse wallets, yo). Ah, memories…

I couldn’t wait to see the three new limited edition Le Vernis Nail Colours â€” Black Pearl, Pearl Drop and Peche Nacree ($23 each). There’s been some serious brouhaha about â€˜em, especially Black Pearl (is that Jack Sparrow?!), which has been hyped as Chanel’s next big thing.

Take a look, and let me know if you think they’re worthy of the buzz. 🙂 Read more…

CHANEL EXTRAIT DE
GLOSS IN GENIE

A few days ago I made a wish, and this week it came true. I wished for a new purse gloss, and it appears a genie was listening.

What’s a purse gloss, you ask? It’s a gloss that’s worthy of permanent residence in your purse. You keep it close for touch-ups and other beauty emergencies…like when you randomly run into your ex and his new lady love at the mall (she’s cute, but you’re cuter), or when a TV crew asks you for an impromptu sidewalk interview about hot dog street vendors (yep, that really happened).

With a tube of Chanel Rouge Allure Extrait de Gloss in Genie ($32) in your purse, you’ll be tough to catch off guard. One of two Rouge Allure glosses in Chanel’s limited edition Le Perles de Chanel collection for spring 2011, it’s a shiny but wearable coral with golden micro glitter and comes in Chanel’s trademark Extrait de Gloss formula. Non-sticky, luscious, hydrating, and lacking any potentially bothersome scents or flavors, it’s ready for drama AND flexibility. With a four-hour wear time, it’s also designed to laaaast. Read more…

Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,

Karen

Two Ways to Win 2 Pieces of MAC Peacocky Makeup

December 25th, 2010 by Karen 440 Comments

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

Heya, ladies. Do you ever wonder what Christmas is like in Australia? If you live there, please leave a comment and let me know, because I often wonder about it. I mean, this is the middle of your summertime, right? Do you guys decorate Christmas trees? 🙂

In Hawaii, some folks decorate the coconut trees in their front yards, but most people either decorate fake trees, or they buy regular pine trees that come shipped over from the mainland (and consequently cost about twice as much as ours do here).

I remember one December when we were visiting my in-laws in Hawaii we woke up on Christmas morning to find a peacock chilling in the back of my father-in-law’s pickup truck. Now that’s something you don’t see every Christmas. Tabs would have thought, “WOW! Is that for ME?!”

Speaking of peacocks, the brand spankin’ new MAC Peacocky collection of 15 Mega Metal Eyeshadows and 12 Kissable Lipcolours will strut onto counters, eyes and lips on January 6, but here’s a sneak peek: two eye-popping brights from the release — the bold, shimmery teal Odalisque Mega Metal Shadow and the creamy blueish pink Vanity Fair Kissable Lipcolour.

Gorgeous, right?

You know what time it is. 🙂

A Makeup and Beauty Blog Giveaway!

One (1) tube of MAC Peacocky Kissable Lipcolour in Vanity Fair and (1) pan of MAC Peacocky Mega Metal Shadow in Odalisque (a $38 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. Tell me about one of your holiday traditions, how you feel about pajamas, what yummy treats you’ve been enjoying this week, or describe what you felt was the best gift you gave this year.
Second, you can enter by following me on Twitter @karenmbb and retweeting (RT) the following message:
- Follow @karenmbb and RT to Win 2 Pieces of MAC Peacocky Makeup (a $38 Value) http://bit.ly/fXNxHQ

The deadline to enter is Monday, December 27, 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 Scientific Housewife! Congratulations, Scientific Housewife! If you entered but didn’t win this time around, keep trying, and click here to enter any ongoing giveaways before you jet. 🙂

Viva la Revolucion: 11 More Makeup and Beauty Tips to Revolutionize Your Routine

December 25th, 2010 by Karen 14 Comments

Written by Sam

Beauty can be as brutal as the holidays are hectic. Freelance makeup artist and blogger Sam wants you to be ready for anything in today’s guest post.

Viva la Beauty Revolucion: Part 2

So you’ve planted the documents in the dictator’s secretary’s desk, throwing suspicion off your rebel group. Now, onto phase two of the revolution. Take these tips to help arm yourself for the coming coup!

To achieve the perfect cat-eye: take a note card, and use it to form a line from the outside of the nostril straight through the outer corner of the eye on the same side. Wing your eyeliner out along this line; the note card will “catch” any extraneous liner, and the line it creates will give you the most flattering angle for your face.
Don’t like runny and goopy glosses? Grab a shimmery eyeshadow instead (gold, silver, and champagne are relatively safe choices). Apply your lipstick as normal, blot, then tap some of the eyeshadow onto the center of your bottom lip. Reapply another thin layer of lipstick, and blot again. You can continue this pattern as many times as you wish to achieve the desired effect. This method gives your lips a multidimensionality and shimmer without the runny mess that many glosses can produce, and will last all day without reapplication. Try using different shades of eyeshadow in combination with different shades of lipstick for fun effects.
Common acne myths: Toothpaste or excessive tanning will dry up pimples. The truth: Although both will initially make acne disappear, fluoride and UV rays actually encourage the growth of P. acnes (the bacteria that causes many forms of acne) and will only lead to larger breakouts later. Non-prescription remedies that do work: Pepto-Bismol, a paste made of crushed uncoated aspirin and water, or Hydrocortisone (only use in a pinch; as a steroid, this can cause thinning of the skin if used too often) applied to acne will dry them up, but not treat the cause permanently.
Want to give your hair incredible shine, remove product build up, and protect your color all at once? Look no further than your pantry. If you can stand the smell (it’s an acquired taste…), dilute pure Apple Cider Vinegar with water, 3:1. After using shampoo and rinsing, pour the mixture over your hair, and massage it in. Let it sit for two minutes, and rinse out with cold water. Use about half as much conditioner as you normally would after this. Blot dry with a towel, and let air dry the rest of the way.

There’s a lot more where this came from. See how the beauty revolution began in Viva la RevoluciÃ³n! 20 Makeup and Beauty Tips to Revolutionize Your Routine.
Tired of that bright red pimple screaming “look at me!” from the middle of your face? Douse one end of a Q-tip with redness reducing eyedrop solution (make sure it’s not the stuff that’s tinted blue; hello, Smurf-zit!), and hold it firmly against the blemish for thirty seconds to a minute.
To get a perfectly straight and even line across your lids, first draw eight or so dots, relatively evenly spaced, across your lashline, as close into the roots of the lashes as possible. Now, just connect each dot, rather than trying to draw a single line across the entire thing. This way, you can also control the thickness as you go along!
Stubborn liquid or cream products sticking in your brushes? Fill a small Ziploc bag with corn starch and toss in your brush. Seal the bag, and shake vigorously for 30 seconds or so. Remove the brush, dust off the starch, and run your fingers through the bristles a few times to remove the remainder of the powder, and the product build-up along with it.
To prevent your powder from caking, blot over your foundation with a tissue before putting that puff on your skin. This removes excess moisture and product, and allows your powder to cling firmly and evenly.
Ditch that expensive eye cream and grab your tub of Vaseline. Apply a thin layer of this under your eyes before going to bed, avoiding other parts of your face, and wake up with plump, hydrated peepers.
Really want your lipstick to be bold, graphic, and true to the tube color? Dab a thin layer of concealer over your lips before application.
Need some pumped-up moisture for a dry head of hair? Apply a deep conditioning masque as usual, then get out of the shower (I know, I hate this feeling too) without rinsing. Hit you hair with a blowdryer on high for a minute or two, and wrap it up in a warm towel or some plastic wrap, and aim the heat at it again. Let the masque sit in your hair for 15-20 minutes (great time to get some work done! Aren’t you the little multitasker…), and rinse out with cold water. The heat allows the masque to more easily permeate the hair strands, while the cold water shocks the cuticle, forcing it to close, and trapping all of that lovely moisture inside.

This battle is going to be won with maquillage, not subterfuge, so prepare yourself.

Happy holidays!

Written by Sam

Sam is a 17-year-old, oddly tall guy whose love of all things skincare, makeup, and fashion started when he entered the modeling world at 14. Since then, he’s established himself as a freelance makeup artist in the theatre and fashion worlds, and started his own blog to preach the wonders of orange eyeshadow, Asian skincare, and designer fragrances to the masses.

Merry Christmas from Makeup and Beauty Blog

December 25th, 2010 by Karen 35 Comments

Merry Christmas from Makeup and Beauty Blog

Good morning, young lady (and you too, young man). It’s Christmas! Rise and shine. Tabs will be down in a minute; he’s just freshening up. In the meantime, can I get you a cup of coffee? Or perhaps a chai latte?

How did you sleep? Good, I hope.

Oh, here comes Tabs! Hi, Tabs. How did you sleep?

“Mrow.”

Yeah, me too. In fact, I feel super powerful today! It must be that Christmas spirit.

“Mrrrew.”

Hahaha! Exactly. 🙂

“Meow?”

Oh, that’s a great idea. I’ll tell them right now.

Tabs would like me to tell you how much we love you. We wish you and yours a very merry Christmas, and a totally @ss-kicking, awesome new year. No matter where you are or what you’re doing, I hope you have a wonderful day.

Seriously, I wish everyone in the world could have a wonderful day today… It should just be a rule.

Your friendly neighborhood beauty addicts,

Karen and Tabs

The Chanel Ombres Perlees de Chanel Eyeshadow Palette, Kitty Tron and Chai Tea

December 24th, 2010 by Karen 24 Comments

chanel ombres perlees de chanel on karen

Christmas came early this year! Granted it’s only a couple of hours away, but it really did come early, in the form of these three very cool things.

1. Big Train Spiced Chai

Reader Bunny Masseuse recommended this powdered chai mix in the comments a couple weeks ago, and HOT DAYUM! I actually raised the roof in my kitchen this morning when I made a cup (to quote El Hub from the other room: “What the hell are you doing?”). If you like chai, you gotta give it a try (ha! I made a rhyme!).

2. This kitty Tron outfit

I don’t have the words to convey how totally awesome this is. Someone tweeted it today, and the first thing I thought was, does it come in kitty XXL?? Um…Tabby got a big ol’ booty.

[Continue reading…]

A Holiday Makeup Look from Tori and Rupert

December 24th, 2010 by Karen Leave a Comment

Written by Tori (and Rupert)

Dynamic beauty duo Tori and Rupert scour drugstore aisles and cosmetics counters looking for share-worthy beauty booty. Here’s Tori’s holiday look.

Happy Holidays from Tori and Rupert

Brrr… Baby it’s cold outside! It’s that time of year again, a time for gift-giving, parties and family get-togethers, which also means holiday makeup. Generally, I’m a sucker for sparkle and glitz, but over the holidays I have MULTIPLE excuses to sparkle even more often.

Here’s a holiday makeup look to get you in the mood. That is, if the spiked eggnog hasn’t done it yet. 🙂

My Holiday Makeup Look: Products I Used

MAC Eye Shadow in Honey Lust
NYX Eye Shadow in Rust
MAC Shadestick in Beige-ing
Kat Von d Liquid Liner in Romantico
MAC Lip Gelee in Resort Life
NARS The Multiple in Copacabana

How To Get the Look

Happy Holidays from Tori and Rupert: Eye Closeup

Eyes — Start by applying a shimmery primer. For this look, I used MAC Shadestick in Beige-ing because I like its gold undertones. Then, pat Honey Lust all over your eyelids, blending (slightly outward) Rust into the crease. Next (this part is optional), highlight your brow bone with a lighter beige.

Now, take your liquid liner, and draw out from the center of your eyelid, flicking it upwards for a cat eye effect.
[Continue reading…]

Take Your Nails from Grinch to Gorgeous with This Holiday Nail Art How-To

December 24th, 2010 by Karen 11 Comments

Written by Kerry

Blogger Kerry wants to help us get our nails into the holiday spirit with a work of nail art in today’s guest post.

I love winter. Hot cocoa, scarves, fireplaces, snow, Christmas music and movies, and the opportunity to get away with crazy nail art. I love using glitter during the winter months — I think there’s just something special about the way it sparkles in the winter sun. Today, however, I want to show you a simple nail design that I love to rock the week before Christmas. This is an unexpected nail look that’s fun yet understated.

NOTE: The links in here are just to show you what products I used, and not to recommend the particular sites. I purchased everything shown here at Five Below, Ulta, and Walgreens.

The first step is to apply a base coat. I like using Sally Hansen’s Insta-Grip Fast Dry Base Coat, but use whatever you feel comfortable with.

Once that’s dry, apply two coats of red polish. I used ORLY’s Monroe’s Red because it’s a bright Christmas-y color. If you find that the color clashes with your skin tone, use any red that you like. For this design, though, I think it’s better to stick to creams than shimmers. Monroe’s Red does have the subtlest of subtle red shimmer, but you really can’t see it unless you get millimeters away from my nails in the sunlight.
[Continue reading…]

I Would Shake My Bon Bons for this Lush Lip Scrub

December 24th, 2010 by Karen 21 Comments

Lush Bon Bon Lip Scrub

Hell yeah, that was me in the bathroom last night eating Lush Bon Bon Lip Scrub ($8.95) at midnight.

Yes, eating it. 🙂 Even though I’m pretty sure it’s raison d’être is to buff peeling, dry lips back into shape, it tastes exactly like yummy lemon drops.

Hold up — let me ~~eat a scoop~~ exfoliate my lips right now.

Mmm…exfoliate…

Bon Bon’s list of ingredients reads like a dessert recipe, with two kinds of sugar, almond oil, cranberry oil and lemon… No wonder it tastes so good. And I don’t feel weird about eating it either. Not like I did that time I bit off the tip of my Tarte FRXtion lip exfoliator (yes, I really did that). In my defense, that one tastes just like brown sugar.

The grains in Lush’s lip scrub are just rough enough to easily slough away any and all flakey bits on my lips without being so rough that they hurt. Lips are sensitive, after all, and using this has been much more pleasant (and tastier) than my usual approach to lip exfoliation — brushing my lips with an old toothbrush.

Lush Bon Bon Lip Scrub directions

Lush Bon Bon Lip Scrub ingredients
[Continue reading…]