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Archives for March 2011

Benefit Creaseless Cream Shadow Swatches and Remarkable Self-Restraint

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G’morning and happy Tuesday, friend. I was feeling kinda blah yesterday afternoon (been cold and rainy here), so I stopped by Sephora for a little pick-me-up.

In a somewhat shocking display of self-restraint, I managed to make it out of the store with just one thing — Benefit Creaseless Cream Shadow in Strut ($19), a shimmery charcoal gray.

I’ve been meaning to bring it home for a while but just never got around to it. I bet she’ll look cute (and we’ll know soon enough) worn with a couple of my favorite Creaseless Cream go-to girls, Skinny Jeans (a shimmery pewter) and Birthday Suit (a shimmery chrome).

And since I was already at the store, I figured, “Why not swatch all of the Creaseless Creams?” 🙂

benefit creaseless cream shadow swatches in tattle tale, rsvp, birthday suit and get figgy
Swatches from the left: Tattle Tale, RSVP, Birthday Suit and Get Figgy
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What Are You Wearing on Your Nails?

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Oui, oui, cherie, I’m wearing colors from the Essie French Affair collection — shimmery blue Coat Azure on my fingers and creamy purple Nice is Nice on my toes. 🙂

Essie French Affair
Coat Azure and Nice is Nice


Coat Azure

essie nice is nice swatch
Swatch of Nice is Nice

How about you — what are you wearing on your nails today?

Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,

Karen

Givenchy Rouge Interdit Lipstick in Candide Tangerine: A Modern Twist on Retro Orange

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givenchy rouge inderdit in candide tangerine on karen of makeup and beauty blog

Um, did I really just spend 20 minutes dancing around my living room to Biggie’s Juicy?

Yes, I did (I suspect you aren’t surprised). 🙂

And why did I do it?

Givenchy! Candide Tangerine, their newest lipstick color, makes me REALLY wish I could rap. If I could, I’d spit a few bars about how downright juicy it is.

givenchy rouge inderdit lipstick in candide tangerine
You know very well who you are…

Imagine pieces of peeled tangerine dipped in concentrated Hawaiian Punch. THAT’s how intensely pigmented Candide Tangerine is.

I’m wearing two layers for opaque coverage in these pics; a single layer produces more of a stained look.

Reddish orange Mad Men lips have been popping up like Technicolor prairie dogs lately, but for this Givenchy went a different route. Instead of making it an old-school matte a la MAC Neon Orange, which I’m wearing in these pics here (from the Stylishly Yours Collection), Givenchy gave it a glossy, shiny finish. I like it both ways, but I think the shine makes Candide Tangerine look a little more modern.

givenchy rouge inderdit in candide tangerine swatch
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Makeup and Beauty Blog Monday Poll, March 7

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makeup and beauty blog monday poll

  • 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. 160. I’ve always enjoyed reading your answers in the comments, and I hope you enjoy reading mine.
  1. Mood:

    2. A little out of it today (my tea hasn’t kicked in yet), but otherwise good.

  2. What’s your biggest hair concern?

    3. Finding stylists able to cut my wavy hair well. I’ve had some awful haircuts over the years that have left me looking like bad topiary.

  3. Orange lipstick?

    4. Heck, yeah! Can I wear some cat eye liner with it?

  4. What’s the wackiest piece of clothing you own?

    5. It’s a tossup between the cropped black-and-white faux fur jacket I got at Bebe back in the early two-thousands, or my shiny, button-down Felix the Cat shirt.

  5. When things get crazy in your life, how do you keep your sanity?

    6. I make lists. LOTS of lists. Because the act of crossing things off of them helps me feel like I’m doing something to restore order to the chaos.

  6. What’s your preferred brow maintenance method?

    7. I pluck mine with square-tip tweezers, usually right after I get out of the shower. I find the square-tip ones easier to use than the slanted or pointy ones. And I also like to stay on top of it by doing a little bit of plucking every day, as opposed to waiting and doing a massive hair removal session at one time.

  7. Salty or sweet?

    8. Mostly sweet, but I like both (like salted caramels, or regular popcorn with some kettle corn on top).

  8. Three desert island essentials?

    9. Bottled water, a satellite phone and Benjamin McKenzie…or sunscreen (I can’t decide!).

  9. Favorite ’90s music?

    10. En Vogue’s Funky Divas, the Counting Crows’ August & Everything After, Lil’ Kim’s Crush on You, Biggie’s Ready to Die. Seriously, I could go on forever.

  10. Weekly goals:

    11. To start every day by updating my to-do list, to focus on just one thing at a time (I’ve been so easily distracted lately), and to run a total of 12 miles before Saturday.

Hey, buddy. 🙂 How was your weekend? Please tell me it was good (but you can tell me if it wasn’t). Things on my side of the keyboard aren’t bad. No complaints. I had a relaxing girl’s spa day with a few friends on Saturday (more on that in a few) and found out that one of my BFF’s is going to be a mom, so that’s pretty great.

Right now I’m here drinking some green tea and writing my to-do list for the day. I’m trying to figure out if there’s any way I can squeeze in a few minutes to visit the Benefit counter today. I’m going through (another) serious Creaseless Cream Shadow phase, and I want to pick up Strut (a shimmery charcoal). Maybe on my lunch hour…

If you get a break this morning, please take a minute to check in. You know how we do it. Just copy/paste the poll in the comments, or drop in to let me know how you’re doing.

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



1. Mood:
2. What’s your biggest hair concern?
3. Orange lipstickl?
4. What’s the wackiest piece of clothing you own?
5. When things get crazy in your life, how do you keep your sanity?
6. What’s your preferred brow maintenance method?
7. Salty or sweet?
8.Three desert island essentials?
9. Favorite ’90s music?
10. Weekly goals:

I hope you have a stellar week. Tabs is sending you cosmic vibes. 🙂

Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,

Karen

Straight Talk: This Curly Girl Also Loves Straight Hair

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This series is powered by Pantene.

Looking back, I realize now that holding a scalding hot laundry iron inches away from my face probably wasn’t the smartest thing I’d ever done, but I was a curious teenager, and I’d heard from my friend Jessica that the quickest way to get straight hair was to iron it.

(pause)

Okay, this was the early ’90s, and flat irons hadn’t quite made their way into every straight hair-challenged girl’s bathroom yet, so, one day, after pressing the wrinkles out of my favorite pair of Z. Cavariccis and my black-and-white polka-dot shirt (complete with sheer black sleeves!), I placed my long, wavy hair on the ironing board and…

(Seriously, do NOT try this at home.)

It didn’t take long to turn my unruly lion’s mane into a sleek curtain of straight hair. “Victory!” I roared. Adrenaline burned through my veins! — or I guess it could have been heat from the iron.

This went on for about two weeks until the day my mom walked in on me. What followed was A LOT OF YELLING! And that pretty much put an end to that particular kind of ironing.
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Sundays with Tabs the Cat, Makeup and Beauty Blog Mascot, Vol. 129

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Sundays with Tabs the Cat: Makeup and Beauty Blog Mascot

A Q&A with Tabs the Cat

Sundays with Tabs the Cat: Makeup and Beauty Blog Mascot1. Favorite place in the world: The top of my cat tower, from where I may observe my domain and assert dominance over the humans.

2. Perfect day: Sleep, gravy, sleep. More gravy.

3. Food can’t live without: Fancy Feast Tuna in — you guessed it — gravy.

4. Fondest memory: My very first Chanel runway show in Paris. After all the hard work and auditions, I felt like I finally made it, ya know?

5. Hobby: Knitting. I know, right? I may not have opposable thumbs, but I can still knit/perl with the best of ’em.

6. Biggest pet peeve: People who yell when they’re angry. I prefer to assert my anger via silent psychological mind games.

7. Best thing I read in the last year: Homer’s Odyssey: A Fearless Feline Tale, or How I learned about Love and Life with a Blind Wonder Cat.

8. Inspiration: I’m inspired by gravy those who push the boundaries of creativity.

9. Looking forward to: The nap I’m about to take.

10. Least favorite word: Veterinarian.

11. Stress reliever: Kneading/making biscuits on my assistant’s tummy or thighs. She claims it ruins her clothes…but I wouldn’t exactly call her fashionable anyway. Homegirl’s a hot mess. She dresses like a pre-teen surfer boy.

12. Celebrity to play you in a movie: Brad Pitt. I believe he could accurately portray my intensity. Plus, we have the same abs.

13. Most recent tweet: @thesmerz You inspired me to work on my posing. See, I had my assistant @karenmbb take my pic too! http://yfrog.com/h5fmpzj

14. Favorite guilty pleasure: Stealing makeup from my assistant and hoarding it all in my secret stash, hee hee!

15. Song you know the most lyrics to: Madonna’s Material Girl. It’s my karaoke jam.

16. Favorite show: Cats 101 on Animal Planet. Good stuff.

17. Favorite show you’re embarrassed to admit you watch: Jersey Shore. I know it’s rotting my brain, but I just can’t stop.

18. All-time favorite movie: Cat on a Hot Tin Roof.

19. Alma mater: I dropped out of school to pursue my modeling career, but I recently received an honorary degree in Feline Studies from UC Davis. GO AGS!

20. Beauty secret: Pamper yourself! I’m a firm believer in spas and salons. Oh, and don’t forget to do your sit-ups.

Who is Tabs the Cat? About three years ago I befriended a stray, flea-bitten tabby cat with a bad case of worms. I could see he’d fallen on hard times, but his profound knowledge of high fashion and department store cosmetics led me to believe that he was more than meets the eye. We became fast friends, and now he’s actually my boss (and a successful kitty model). 🙂

Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,

Karen

P.S. I hope you had a good weekend. Tabs and I are watching Dawn of the Dead on TV and eating frozen yogurt for dinner. Well, I’m having yogurt… He’s having you know what. 🙂

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