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Archives for February 2010

What’s the Biggest Gamble You Ever Took with Your Hair?

February 3rd, 2010 by Karen 42 Comments

What’s the biggest gamble you ever took with your hair?

I ask this one every so often, but mine was right after a bad breakup. I was half out of my mind with heartbreak and looking for a fresh start with a new look, so I asked my stylist for help.

I had her chop my long black hair, which was down to my elbows, into a chin-length layered style with the ends flipped out.

But that wasn’t enough of a change to purge my emotional demons, so I went back the following week and asked for chunky red highlights, too. 🙂

I remember how liberating it felt to transform my look… Letting go of all that hair was like unloading the baggage of my failed relationship.

Of course, I also remember how much of a pain-in-the-arse it was to grow out that cut, LOL! I hate the way my hair feels when it’s in that mid-length stage, creeping down the back of my neck.

What’s the biggest gamble you ever took with your hair? Let me know in the comments, and try your luck with the Makeup and Beauty Blog slot machine at the top of this post (if you’re reading this in the feed, click here to play).

Happy hump day!


Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,

Karen

There are 42 comments on this post. Leave yours.

Categories: Hair, Just For Fun

Cupid Better Swatch Out for These Shu Uemura Egerie Nail Enamels

February 2nd, 2010 by Karen 25 Comments

As an English Lit major back in school, I spent A LOT of time reading flowery fiction and pulling symbolism outta my arse. Showers weren’t merely showers; they signified rebirth. 🙂 Missing the bus didn’t simply mean I’d be late for class; it foreshadowed a late dinner, which in turn was my hungry soul’s cry for real life experience! LOLZ…

Perhaps this underlying need I have to find great significance in everyday things is why the two new nail enamels in Shu Uemura’s Egerie collection (Pink and Black, $18 each) remind me of the sweet and sour sides of this crazy thing we call love.

I blame Valentine’s Day. 🙂

Are you and Cupid on good terms this year? If so, consider warm Pink, a salmon with a touch of pearl. It’s a sweet, innocent pink, like the gooey rush of getting to know someone new.


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There are 25 comments on this post. Leave yours.

Categories: Makeup, Nails

What Would You Get From MAC’s Spring Colour Forecast?

February 2nd, 2010 by Karen 43 Comments

It looks like Ms. Bobbi Brown wasn’t the only one with the idea for a spring collection focused on a specific color theme (in her case coral). Today MAC released four of them! Four new collections, each one focussed on a different color theme, and all of them available now online.

Each of the four MAC Spring Colour Forecasts mini-collections highlights one of four colors — Pink, Coral, Plum and Amber.

The MAC crew filled each of the sets with a mix of makeup (including some limited edition items) for eyes, lips and cheeks in tones ranging from demure to bold, and to really spice things up they even threw in some nail polishes and a splash of fragrance, too. 🙂

I’m intrigued by the stackable Crush Metal Pigments ($32.50) that come with four jars filled with sparkly metallic loose eyeshadows… Talk about portable party makeup, hay!

I felt a wave of blush lust the first moment I saw the Blush Ombres ($25 each), four powder blushes with a gentle gradient of color in each pan. MAC says they apply with medium, buildable coverage. Yummy.
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There are 43 comments on this post. Leave yours.

Categories: MAC Makeup

New in Beauty Feb. 2: A New Palette from Chanel and Scented Splashes from Marc Jacobs

February 2nd, 2010 by Karen 19 Comments

New in Beauty

  • Say “om nom” to Marc Jacobs’ new limited edition Splash Scents ($68 each) — Biscotti, Pomegranate and Apple .
  • Smashbox says their new $21 Hyperlash Mascara will lift, lengthen, volumize and define! Um…for 21 buckaroos, it better!
  • Chanel stole a page from the UPS playbook with Les Regards de Chanel. The palette of six brown shadows and brow definers has its own answer to “what brown can do for you.”
  • The Tweezerman rules like the King of the Jungle! Save $5 on these animal print ones ($20 after discount).
  • Fake thick hair with Living Proof’s Full Thickening Cream ($14-24).
  • *CUTE* packaging for Tarte’s Flower Child Cheek Stain ($30), yah?
  • My dark circles want to take Laura Mercier’s Under Eye Perfector ($22) for a spin…
  • Doesn’t Van Cleef & Arpels Oriens perfume bottle ($110) look like it belongs in a museum?
  • Enter to win Jennifer Meyer Jewelry and Benefit beauty goodies!
  • EWW! Let’s all think twice about buying knock-offs of designer perfumes.
  • When you’re in the mood for a $50 Chanel snack, these wee flacons of limited edition Chanel Chance scents should satisfy you.
  • Trish McEvoy does coy with the Demure collection for spring.
  • Um, when I was 13 I was playing Super Mario Bros and Duck Hunt, LOL!

Rise and shine, morning glories! 🙂 Looks like we got Monday out of the way with nary a scratch (I hope). What’s on your plate for today?

Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,

Karen

P.S. Update, 9:45 am: I just checked my inbox and found out the MAC Spring Colour Forecasts are now online. There’s eye, lip and cheek products grouped into Pink, Coral, Plum and Amber shades. Methinks the Coral and Pink products are particularly stunning!

There are 19 comments on this post. Leave yours.

Categories: News

The EcoTools Bamboo Bronzer Brush: A $30 Brush in $12 Clothing

February 1st, 2010 by Karen 47 Comments

Bargain hunting brush fanatics, lend me your ear. A $12 brush swept me off my feet today, and they call it the Ecotools Bamboo Bronzer Brush.

Compared to department store brushes costing $20 and up, it’s a bargain superhero — affordable, with dense, super-soft bristles that deposit just the right amount of color on my skin.

Not only that, but it’s quite the multitasker, too, moonlighting as a face powder/blush brush. All told, it’s like getting three brushes for the price of one.

WARNING: The following videos featuring Ecotools brushes (my favorite’s the cat eye tutorial) are like potato chips… You can’t stop after just one. 🙂

  • Create a cunning cat eye
  • Flawless face tips
  • Get sultry smoky eyes
  • Day-to-night makeup 101

If your brushes take a beating like mine do, you’ll appreciate how solid the bamboo handle feels in your hand. Really, the brush feels sturdy from head to handle; even the synthetic taklon bristles feel tough. I’ve washed the brush head several times already, and the bristles haven’t shed one iota.


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There are 47 comments on this post. Leave yours.

Categories: Drugstore Beauty Finds, Product Reviews

Set a Course for Adventure with Bobbi Brown’s Cabana Corals

February 1st, 2010 by Karen 36 Comments

Most of the time when I’m out shopping for a new outfit, like I was yesterday at the mall, it takes a lot to knock me off course. Well, Bobbi Brown must have seen me coming because her new Cabana Corals collection stopped me dead in my tracks.

Now, Bobbi does a lot of variations on pink for lips and cheeks, but she decided to shake things up this time by devoting an entire collection to coral.

I happen to love coral makeup because I think it can look great with a tan, but Bobbi also recognizes that it can be a *bit* intimidating to wear, especially if you’re shy about brights.

So she varies the color’s intensity across the products in the release. If you’re color-shy, maybe start with a wash on your cheeks with one of the Pot Rouge cream blushes, or dust a hint of shimmer along your cheekbones with a Shimmer Brick.

If, on the other hand, you ain’t afraid of no bold, full-on coral fiends (I’m with ya, sistah!) can jump in with one of the more vibrant lipsticks or glosses.


From top to bottom: Shimmer Lip Glosses in Golden Nectar, Coral Sand and Sunset Beach (each $20)
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There are 36 comments on this post. Leave yours.

Categories: Makeup Keywords: bobbi brown

Shu Uemura Egerie Polishes

February 1st, 2010 by Karen 13 Comments


$18 each, from the Egerie Spring Collection.

There are 13 comments on this post. Leave yours.

Categories: Daily Photo

Nu Shooz

February 1st, 2010 by Karen 22 Comments


After a seriously long shoe drought (haven’t bought a pair since summer), yesterday I fell dangerously in love with these olive heels. They’re surprisingly very comfy!

(Draped Pumps by Miss Albright at Anthropologie, $148).

There are 22 comments on this post. Leave yours.

Categories: Daily Beauty

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