Archives for March 2011

If you just found out you won the lottery, what’s the first thing you’d do?

Good mornin’, lovely! I don’t know why I thought of that question now, but it’s one I ask myself every so often, the old, “What if I won the lottery?” thing. I think it’s fun to daydream and let the mind wander, ya know? Fo’ reals, the entertainment value I get from a $1 lottery ticket is well worth the price, even though the odds of actually winning are a zillion to one.

Okay, but let’s set some ground rules… Say you’ve just discovered that you’ve won, but you won’t receive the money for about a month (lottery processing time). What do you do first? Do you flip out and start screaming at the top of your lungs? Do you tell your friends and family right away? Do you ask them not to tell anyone else? Do you call an attorney or an accountant first? Which area of law specializes in not being a complete doofus with lottery winnings? Is it safe to talk about it over the phone? Could someone be listening? Do you go to work tomorrow, and if you do, do you tell your coworkers? LOL!

I’d tell El Hub first, but after that I don’t know what I’d do. I keep thinking that “With great power comes great responsibility.” So true, Uncle Ben… So true…

In other news, I’m in mad lurve with the products in the new Jouer Glisten Up collection (what I’m wearing in the picture at the top), especially the Brightening Powder. I haven’t been this excited about something since, well, two paragraphs ago. 🙂

The Weekly Roundup: Posts You Might Have Missed

EYE LOVE YOU TOO, JOSIE MARAN
THE JOSIE MARAN EYE LOVE YOU TOO EYESHADOW PALETTE IN ACTION

When I looked out my window this morning, I saw a hopeful reminder that spring is right around the corner. The oak trees outside, which had been nothing but scrawny twigs and branches for months, have sprouted new leaves!

It’s nice to know that even though it’s wet and gloomy outside, the trees are still paying attention to the calendar.

Doesn’t the outside scene above almost look like it could have been painted with the browns and greens in Josie Maran’s new limited edition Eye Love You Too Argan Eyeshadow Palette ($42)? I reviewed it a while back, but I thought you might like to see it in action. Read more…

BITE BEAUTY VITAMIN GEL TASTES
SO GOOD I HAD TO HAVE SECONDS

Three words: Botan Rice Candy.

If you know what I’m talking about, don’t you just love the edible rice paper wrapper? YUM! I ate tons of those chewy, lemon-orange flavored candies as a kid. My mom would always let me put one pack in the cart whenever we’d go grocery shopping.

I hadn’t thought about them in years until the other day when I slipped a layer of new Bite Beauty Vitamin Gel in Pink Grapefruit ($18) on my lips.

It’s one of five vitamin-enriched flavors in Bite’s new line of moisturizing, non-sticky lip treatments, and I think it tastes EXACTLY like Botan Rice Candy (but not like grapefruit), om nom nom! Read more…

GLISTEN CLOSELY, BECAUSE JOUER HAS
SOMETHING SHIMMERY TO SAY: THE JOUER GLISTEN UP COLLECTION FOR SPRING 2011

My brain perceives sparkly makeup and ice cream (BASKIN-ROBBINS!) in similar ways. When I see either of them behind their respective counters, I do a lot of ooh-ing and aah-ing with grabby fingers in the air. Most of the time I can barely speak at all, with the only sentence I’m able to utter consisting of the words, “I want!”

That’s what glitter can do to ya. It’s powerful stuff — especially good glitter, like the kind in Jouer’s new Glisten Up collection for spring.

Like good-looking, well-mannered men who also happen to be a little short, good glitter is small, fine and sophisticated (Ben McKenzie in a suit). It’s glitter for grownups. Picture the kind of glitter Snooki would wear, swing the pendulum in the opposite direction, and BAM! That’s good glitter (sorry, Snooks!). Read more…

WITH JOSIE MARAN ARGAN BLEND CONCEALER
TWO SHADES ARE BETTER THAN ONE

Sometimes I feel like I deserve to win the gold medal…for dark circles. The little purple half moons beneath my eyes are like the Michael Phelps-es of the dark circle world. They’re overachievers. I’m serious. They’re very good at what they do.

MAC Pro Longwear can’t defeat them outright, but it has slowed them down. It’s been my jam for the past few months, but I’ve been wanting to find a cruelty-free option, which is why I was hoping the new Josie Maran Argan Blend Concealer ($28) would rock my world.

This creamy new concealer comes in three colors — light, medium and dark. I have the medium one, which goes by the name Suede. It’s a pretty good fit for my tan skin (I’m an NC35 in MAC foundation).

The compact actually comes with two products — a salmon shade and a darker yellow-based beige. I’ve been applying a layer of the salmon shade first, which acts like a color corrector, canceling out most of the purple in my circles (like a color corrector), and then add the yellow-based concealer on top. Read more…

FROM STONEHENGE TO QVC: THE TARTE
8TH WORLD WONDER KIT

The Great Pyramid of Giza, the Hanging Gardens of Babylon, the Statue of Zeus at Olympus and now Tarte. Someone wake up Herodotus. It’s time to add one more to his Seven Wonders of the World, and this one’s a QVC exclusive.

Tarte continues to sizzle this spring. Their recently released $53 limited edition 8th World Wonder Kit comes with some Tarte colors you can’t find anywhere else, like Amazonian Clay Blush in Glisten.

In the kit, Glisten joins six other pieces for eyes, lips, face and cheeks, all in a cute purple clutch purse. I’m not crazy about PureOptic gloss, but I still think this is a lovely kit. I do wish that Tarte had thrown in a LipSurgence instead. Even so, I think the kit’s a pretty good deal for $53. The full-size products work out to about $6.60 apiece (including the clutch). Read more…

I FEEL LIKE I’M REPEATING MYSELF BECAUSE
I KEEP SAYING YES TO CARROTS PAMPERING CONDITIONER

If you’re ever looking for cheap entertainment on a Friday night, Target is THE PLACE to go. I’m only half kidding, too. I stopped by last Friday around 9:30ish to satisfy a craving for Power C Vitamin Water, and the store was hoppin’!

People buy some weird sh*t in the middle of the night, LOL! Like Vitamin Waters. I spent more time people watching than actually shopping.

But I did swing by the beauty aisles; I picked up this bottle of Yes To Carrots Pampering Conditioner for Normal to Dry Hair ($8) on a whim.

Like their Yes to Cucumbers Conditioner (SO GOOD!), this one is also free of petroleum products, SLS (sodium lauryl sulfate), paraben and silicones. At the same time, it’s cruelty-free and 99.8% natural, made with minerals, the company says, that were collected from the Dead Sea, as well as other cool stuff like carrot seed oil and honey. It’s a very diverse group of mostly natural ingredients. Read more…

AREN’T THE NEW ROUGE G DE GUERLAIN
SERIE NOIRE LIPSTICK COMPACTS SERIE-OUSLY CUTE?

The Serie Noire lipsticks themselves shine much like the lippies from Guerlain’s original Rouge G line do, but I think they’re sheerer and not quite as opaque. They do layer well, though, so if you crave more pigment from them, you could always add a layer or two.

Also like the O.G. Rouge G’s, they feel smooth on my lips, but I think they’re lighter and not quite as dense. They remind me of the lipstick/gloss hybrids that have been cropping up over the past few years (like the JK Jemma Kidd Hi-Shine Gloss Sticks and the discontinued MAC Slimshines).

Guerlain gave them something they call “precious ruby powder,” or “PRECIOUS RUBY POWDER!!!” LOL! I think it just looks better in all caps. 🙂 It’s supposed to make them look extra radiant in daylight. Since it’s been so overcast outside, I can’t really tell if they’re working, but I do think my lips look smooth and slightly plumper than they did a few minutes ago. It might have something to do with the finish. Read more…

I’M GETTING A CHARGE OUT OF DIOR ELECTRIC TROPICS
NUDE HEALTHY GLOW POWDER IN SUNSET
Hey, cutie. Remember the Dior Electric Tropics collection you and I drooled over last week? Today I spent some time getting to know one of the limited edition Nude Healthy Glow Powders, Sunset #002 ($46), and now we’re officially attached.

Sunset’s a warm orangey brown with coral accents (like a blush version of MAC Soft Brown Eyeshadow), and I swear it’s just as gorgeous in person as it is in the promo pics. Here I’m wearing it on my cheeks as a blush, but I also tried (and liked) it as a bronzer and an all-over face powder.

For me, the mostly matte finish is what makes this stand out in a crowd. It gives off just the faintest touch of shimmer and looks fresh and weightless on the skin.

Even though it’s a summer release, I could see myself wearing this all year round, even on blustery days as a bronzer to warm my pale skin (well, pale for me). Knowing I could reach for it often soothes the sting from the price…a little. Read more…

RAYE WEDGE SANDALS BY COCONUTS
THESE COCONUTS ARE HIGH IN FUN

So I realize that I don’t review shoes often, but the more I wear these Coconuts sandals, the more obligated I feel to share their awesomeness with womankind. 🙂

These Coconuts Raye Wedge Sandals usually go for $65 a pair, but I stumbled upon them at Marshalls for $30. They come in three colors — Metal (multicolored gold, silver and bronze), Pink (multicolored pink, orange, purple, blue and green) and Black (multicolored black, pewter and gold; the ones I got). I usually wear shoes in a 7, but the closest size I found was an 8. Luckily, these run kinda small. They’re still a touch big, but not annoyingly so, and they’re surprisingly comfortable for high heels. As a matter of fact, I barely had to break them in.

Exactly how high are they? Well, they’re 3 and a 1/2 inches beneath a platform of about an inch. Gurl, my vertically challenged self feels SUPER tall with ‘em on! Read more…

Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,

Karen