Archives for March 2011

Good morning, young lady. Rise and shine. 🙂

Ooh! Guess what? I found out I’m going to be an aunty! Yup, my girlfriend Jen is going to be a mom. Yesterday I met her and my other BFF Cindy (we’ve known each other since childhood) for a girl’s spa day, and out on the sidewalk before we walked in, Jen said, “Okay, don’t freak out, but I scheduled a pregnancy massage.”

Yea! I plan to be the cool aunt (the one you’d run to when your parents were being square).

I’m secretly hoping it’s a girl because then I could buy her really cute outfits…

Anywho, I think that calls for some coffee! Are you sufficiently caffeinated yet? I’m running a little behind.

Before we get going today, how about one last look back at some of the makeup and beauty products we talked about this week?

The Weekly Roundup: Posts You Might Have Missed

IS THE TARTE NEUTRALEYES EYE SHADOW
PALETTE UNIVERSALLY FLATTERING?

The idea of makeup designed to look great on everyone always gets me excited. What a cool idea, right? — products without boundaries or inhibitions; colors able to get along with everyone.

It reminds me of the time I walked in on a party to find a bunch of people in a huge drum circle. At first I thought, “Uh, oh. Not my scene,” but then I grabbed some bongos and started banging away. Before long I felt right at home. 🙂

Tarte must have had a world like that in mind (maybe?) when they developed the new Tarte NeutralEyes Eye Shadow Palette ($44). Like all of their products, it’s cruelty-free, which scores may-jah points in Tabs’ book. New for spring, the palette comes chock full of good stuff. Read more…

DID SMASHBOX PUT THEIR LIMITLESS LIQUID LINER
PEN ON A HIGH-SODIUM DIET?
What’s the secret to the Smashbox Waterproof Limitless Liquid Liner Pen’s ($22) water repelling powers? Could it be the seasoning perhaps?

Unless I missed the makeup challenge on Top Chef this season, the inclusion of sea salt in the formula must have been a Smashbox idea. Does it help the product work? I’m not sure, but I do see that the company’s Limitless Eye Liner and their bestselling Jet Set Waterproof Eye Liner are 100% sea salt-free.

Even if the spice is purely cosmetic (weird!), this bad boy repels water and sweat like a champ. The other day I drew the Black shade along my upper lash line before hopping on the treadmill, and roughly one bucket of perspiration later, it still looked good with nary a smudge. Read more…

RIMMEL MOISTURE RENEW LIPGLOSS
GETS IT ALMOST RIGHT

Sweet holy hydration, Batman! According to the folks at Rimmel, their new Moisture Renew Lipglosses ($6 each; available in 14 shades) reduce dryness up to 95%. That’s a lotta hydration, and lawd knows my lips need it, but seriously, how do they come up with these numbers? Why not say 97%? And doesn’t “up to 95%” also include zero? But I digress…

Getting down to brass tacks, I do think Renew, which I’ve tried in Pink Protect, feels fantastic on my lips. Its light and smooth non-sticky texture certainly doesn’t dry out my lips, and that’s a definite plus.

The new line launched earlier this spring on the heels of last year’s fantastic Moisture Renew Lipsticks. Like those lippies, these catch and reflect sunlight like my favorite pair of aviator sunglasses, and with the addition of SPF 15, they’re not a bad deal for $6 each (although I do think they have quite a bit of competition at that price point). Read more…

I PUMICE TO USE REDKEN NATURE’S RESCUE
REFINING SEA POLISH MORE OFTEN

No, that’s not hot mustard up there, but it’s something no less exhilarating. I can honestly say I’ve never seen anything like it before (this was the last thing that prompted me to say that). It’s an exfoliator…FOR HAIR!

I really expected the new Redken Nature’s Rescue Refining Sea Polish ($19 for a 3.4-oz. tube) to be a gimmick, but it turned out to be kind of brilliant instead. I mean, we already exfoliate our face, bod and our gnarly @ss feet (gurl, don’t make me bust out my heel buffer/parmesan cheese grater on you, and don’t pretend like you don’t know what I’m talking about 🙂 ), so why stop with our hair?

To use, just apply the non-foaming Sea Polish paste after shampooing but before conditioning, massaging it gently into your hair section by section. The product contains exfoliating grains of pumice which, when massaged into the hair, scrub away any built-up hair products, grit and grime your shampoo may have missed, while also refining and polishing. Read more…

I’D CIRCUMNAVIGATE THE GLOBE FOR THE
NYX SOFT MATTE LIP CREAMS

Forget “champagne wishes and caviar dreams.” I prefer “makeup wishes and Soft Lip Creams.” 🙂

In my wildest beauty nerd dreams, I’d visit each of the 11 cities featured in the new NYX Soft Lip Creams line ($6 each) just to be able to wear each color in the city it belongs. First London, then Amsterdam, Antwerp, Stockholm, Monte Carlo and Milan. From there it’s across the Adriatic to Istanbul, down to Abu Dhabi, further down to Addis Ababa, way, way east to Tokyo, and then all the way across the Pacific to end in Sao Paolo, Brazil.

Of course, to complete the fantasy, I’d fly business class, and Ben McKenzie love would accompany me on the journey (sorry, El Hub!). On planes, in trains and automobiles, we’d talk for hours about The Hunger Games, and then, somewhere over the Mediterranean, he’d reveal his secret fetish for crazy cat ladies. Read more…

GET NAKED FOR LESS WITH THE NYX
NUDE ON NUDE PALETTE

Remember a few years ago when it seemed like every other day a different celebrity would get caught accidentally flashing her goodies on camera? It usually happened while they were stepping out of a limo, falling from a barstool or slipping off of a couch in the club.

Now, I seriously doubt that L. Lo, Brit-Brit, or P. Hilt have had anything to do with the nude/neutral/naked eyeshadow palettes that have arrived on makeup counters lately, but it still makes me wonder: is this a case of life imitating art, or just another strange makeup coincidence? 🙂

Either way, I’m not complaining. I’ll gladly take another palette of good old-fashioned wearable nudes and neutrals any day of the week.

Buzz has been building for the latest one in the limelight, the NYX Nude on Nude Eyeshadow and Lip Palette for spring ($25). Some are calling it a dupe for Urban Decay’s more expensive Naked Palette ($48). Read more…

I’VE TAKEN A SHINE TO THESE
NEW NARS ILLUMINATORS

Truth: sometimes I view fruit solely as a vehicle for the delivery of Nutella — a Nutella delivery system, if you will, with the final destination being my belly.

And, in a way, the new multi-purpose NARS Illuminators in Super Orgasm, Copacabana and Laguna ($29 each) are just like that. The liquid (like fruit) serves as the vehicle to deliver the glitter/pearl (the Nutella) to the skin.

Okay, I could have used a better analogy…but I think you know where I’m going with this. The stuff is basically shimmer suspended in a very sheer tinted liquid.

The newly released shades follow up on last year’s shimmery, multi-purpose Orgasm Illuminator, and, like Orgasm, they’re also designed to work as blushes, bronzers and/or highlighters. Read more…

THIS BRONZE GODDESS IS A STAR
THE ESTEE LAUDER BRONZE GODDESS SEA STAR BRONZING BLUSH

HOTNESS! Can we please pass “Go” and skip directly to summer?

Please??

I can’t make it much longer… It’s imperative that I be poolside soon, and warm, wearing Estee Lauder Bronze Goddess Sea Star Bronzing Blush ($34) on my cheeks.

Sea Star is a golden peachy pink blush, both pigmented and shimmery, from the new limited edition Bronze Goddess Soleil Summer 2011 collection, and I’m guessing it’ll look great on a wide range of skin tones. To use it, I mix the colors that comprise the pink sea star with the sandy peach background in the pan; to me, the combined shade looks like a slightly less shimmery version of the lovely NARS Orgasm. Read more…

WHAT’S THE PRICE OF PERFECTION?
ABOUT $6.50, THANKS TO COVERGIRL LIP PERFECTION LIPSTICK

This spring is shaping up to be a memorable one for drugstore lippies, with lips (and wallets) everywhere doing the dance of money-saving joy. First, the long-wearing $10 L’Oreal Infallible Le Rouge lipsticks left their mark; then, the buttery $6 NYX Soft Matte Lip Creams leaned in for a kiss.

But the newest girl in town is a moisturizing lipstick from Covergirl. It boasts a lightweight texture, bold (yet still budget-friendly) color and comes in a whopping 44 shades. Covergirl’s new $6.50 Lip Perfection Lipsticks were designed by Covergirl Global Creative Design Director (and magic makeup maven) Pat McGrath, who’s kinda like the Midas of my makeup world; everything she recommends turns into makeup gold. Read more…

Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,

Karen