A quick shot of a few products from the MAC Surf, Baby! collection. More pictures and info to come!
MAC Surf, Baby!
Archives for April 2011
LORAC Hot Off The Red Carpet Collection
The limited edition LORAC Hot Off The Red Carpet Collection ($36), available now online.
Makeup and Beauty Blog Monday Poll, April 18
- 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. 166. I’ve always enjoyed reading your answers in the comments, and I hope you enjoy reading mine.
- Mood:
- Do you like wearing white in the spring/summer?
- How do you get yourself out of a bad mood?
- When was the last time you used a hula hoop?
- What’s your favorite place to buy makeup?
- Did someone teach you how to shave your legs, or was it something you figured out on your own?
- A fictional TV character you’d like to hang out with?
- Solid perfumes: yea or nay?
- An article of clothing in your closet that you NEVER wear?
- Weekly goals:
Great! I think I’ve finally gotten back into the swing of things after my trip last week. It only took three days and tons of sleep, haha.
I do! I love how crisp and refreshing a sharp white outfit looks, especially one paired with shiny baubles and cute sandals. But I’m not one of those gals who can just waltz out the door in white and not have to think about it at all. I usually bring a small lint brush with me (Tabs sheds like crazy!) wherever I go and a portable stain remover like Shout Wipes, just in case.
Listening to music usually helps. Something mid-tempo. A peppy beat and positive lyrics soothes my inner savage beast.
Hmm… I honestly can’t remember. Maybe five years ago? There’s one stored in my old bedroom at my parents’ house (weird), and I have a misty memory of busting it out one Christmas not too long ago (probably during a karaoke night).
The MAC Pro Store in San Francisco. It has some of the friendliest sales associates. They’re helpful, ya know, but not intrusive, and they let me play for as long as I want. 🙂 LOVE that store!
I learned on my own around seventh grade. One day a friend of mine looked at my shins during PE and said, “Did you forget to shave this morning?” Um, yes? My mom really isn’t a girly girl and didn’t have any hair removal stuff around (that I could find), so that night I borrowed my dad’s razor and shave cream and figured it out (story of my life).
The Three’s Company roommates! Remember that show? I want to hang out with Jack, Janet and Chrissy at The Regal Beagle bar, LOL!
Yea-ish, but I prefer liquids because I think they last longer on me.
I have a pair of black J. Brand 811 jeans that I utterly love but hardly ever wear because they’re like a magnet for cat hair! It’s too much for my trusty lint brush to handle.
Just one: make it work!
What up, boo? How are you feeling this morning? I know you’ve got a lot going on, but can you spare a minute to touch base in the Monday Poll?
- To complete the Monday Poll, just copy the following list, and paste it with your answers in the comments.
1. Mood:
2. Do you like wearing white in the spring/summer months?
3. How do you get yourself out of a bad mood?
4. Do you remember the last time you used a hula hoop?
5. What’s your favorite place to buy makeup?
6. Did someone teach you how to shave your legs, or was it something you figured out on your own?
7. A fictional TV character you’d like to hang out with?
8. Solid perfumes: yea or nay?
9. An article of clothing in your closet that you NEVER wear?
10. Weekly goals:
Welcome to the week of April 18, young lady. Are you ready to rock? 🙂
Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,
Karen
P.S. Forty years ago today El Hub’s parents were both working at an Avis Rent-A-Car in Waikiki on the island of Oahu. My mom-in-law was a car wash girl, and El Hub’s pop was a manager. Before long they started hanging out together, soaking up the fun and the sun of Hawaii, and the rest is history. Congratulations, guys, on your 40th wedding anniversary! Love you!
Sundays with Tabs the Cat, Makeup and Beauty Blog Mascot, Vol. 135
Look out, world! Guard your ankles because Tabs is a fussy tabby tonight. He just found out that he didn’t get the new iPad 2 campaign, which he’d been looking forward to for months. He thought that after his work promoting the iTabs a couple years ago he’d be a shoe-in this time around, but that’s the business for ya. It’s cat eat cat. Steve Jobs is gonna get an earful when they go golfing next week.
Anywho, here are the latest pics from Tabs’ kitty modeling portfolio. It was a busy week!
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 addicts,
Karen & Tabs
How Much Can You Fit in the New Urban Decay Quinceañera Makeup Bag?
The new Urban Decay Quinceañera Makeup Bag ($26, available now at Sephora stores and online) isn’t exactly helping me master how to pack light.
But who cares?! It’s party time! — a sweet 15 of sorts, aka a quinceañera — and Urban Decay is bringing the fun.
They released the limited edition bag to celebrate their 15th birthday, bedecking it with purple and sparkles, and like any good birthday it comes with a surprise: it holds a TON of stuff!
Just how much stuff? Well…
12 cans of cat food
Or…
Two Urban Decay Blockbuster Eyeshadow Palettes
Or…
39 pieces of Urban Decay makeup
Or…
6 body butters and 1 body wash
The Weekly Roundup: Posts You Might Have Missed
Rise and shine, sleepy head. Good morning. 🙂 It’s another happy Sunday in Blogland.
What did you do last night? We stayed in and rented/Netflixed a pretty funny movie called Shades of Ray, starring Zachary Levi from Chuck. He plays a half-white, half-Pakistani man dealing with his mixed identity, the dating pool and his goofy, intrusive parents. It’s a lovable, refreshingly laid back story that could have taken itself too seriously but didn’t.
No big plans for me today. Maybe some froyo, a little TV, laundry and groceries. I would like to stop by Sephora this afternoon… I haven’t been all week, but it seems like a lot longer than that, LOL!
Before we bid adieu to the week, here’s one last look at some of the things we talked about in the worlds of makeup and beauty.
The Weekly Roundup: Posts You Might Have Missed
READY, SET, GLOW! THE NEW URBAN DECAY
URBAN DEFENSE TINTED MOISTURIZERS WITH SPF 20
Dang, I like how my skin looks with this stuff on. As far as natural-looking finishes, the new Urban Decay Urban Defense Tinted Moisturizers with SPF 20 have got it on lock. Two layers applied with my fingers right after I cleanse and tone, and my skin looks fresh like morning dew (and not in a sequins and disco-ball sorta way).
I don’t usually think of subtle when I think of Urban Decay. The way these tinted moisturizers glow is so refined and quiet that I would have guessed they were from Bobbi or Laura. What a really nice surprise.
Just in time for warmer spring and summer weather, the new line comes in four shades: Halo (a sheer alabaster for fair skin tones), Bodyguard (a sheer nude for fair and medium skin tones), Bulletproof (a sheer sand for medium skin tones) and Forcefield (a sheer fawn for medium and dark skin tones). I think my tan NC35 skin falls somewhere between Bulletproof and Forcefield, so I’ve been mixing the two. Read more…
PACIFICA FRENCH LILAC BODY WASH
IS TURNING SHOWERS INTO GARDENS
Last month I put myself on Pacifica lockdown when I couldn’t find my toothbrush on the bathroom counter. Oh, I knew it was there, buried somewhere beneath a precarious pile of Pacifica Body Butters and Washes, but it took way too much time and shuffling around to find. Gah! “Is this what I’ve become?” I asked my reflection in the mirror.
Right then and there, I made myself a deal. No new bottles or tubes until I finished an old one.
Can I get a woot-woot for small beauty victories?
The embargo was finally lifted last week, so to speak, when I finished a tube of Malibu Lemon Blossom Body Butter, huzzah! It made room for this lovely bottle of Pacific French Lilac Body Wash ($10 for an 8-oz. bottle). Read more…
I’M GOING SLIM COGNITO TONIGHT WITH THE SPANX
MID-THIGH BODYSUIT SHAPER
Hark, what manner of slimming sorcery is this?? Its power is even greater than Nutella’s potent hazelnut hermetics!
Some say that Spanx are forged by magic, and I’m inclined to agree. Selkie’s have been singing the praises of this line of body slimming shape wear for years. There are several different pieces to choose from, but the Slim Cognito Mid-Thigh Bodysuit Shaper wins my personal wardrobe Nobel prize.
But first, a bit about my body. I try to be happy with mine, even though I’ve put on a few pounds over the past year. I’m healthy, after all, and everything works (knock on wood!), and in the grand scheme of things, that’s plenty good enough. Sometimes, though, I do miss being able to wear the cuts of clothing I was able to wear way back when I was thinner. Hence, Slim Cognito Spanx. Read more…
LOOK YOUR BEST EVERY DAY WITH THE
PIXI WEEK OF WAKEUP MAKEUP KIT
When I was a kid I had one of those sets of underwear with a different printed pair for every day of the week, and being the rebel that I was, I liked to wear the days out of order. Sometimes, I’d wear the Saturday pair on Wednesday, the Thursday pair on Monday — you get the idea.
I wonder if that’s why I feel compelled to wear the products in Pixi’s new Week of Wakeup Makeup ($34) out of order… The new palette contains 21 powder eyeshadows, 7 powder blushes and eight lip glosses sorted into groups for a different look every day of the week (like Underoos for makeup, LOL!).
Products in the Pixi makeup line, which was developed by makeup artist (and mum) Petra Strand, are designed to enhance natural beauty, so you won’t find any crazy colors here. Just plenty of neutrals in warm and cool shades — basically, tones to bring out a slightly more colorful version of yourself. Read more…
SWATCHES OF THE BENEFIT VELVET EYESHADOWS
AND THE SUMMER OF 2009
I was at the Benefit counter the other day picking up my umpteenth pot of Skinny Jeans, and while I was there I figured I may as well put my arms to good use by swatching the entire line of Velvet Eyeshadows.
These came out in the summer of 2009 — a truly great year for makeup — and I think they’re still some of the best things in the Benefit line. They’re silky and pigmented with a gorgeous, subtle sheen (like a very faint shine). And coupled with a good primer, they last all day long on my skin without creasing or fading.
I’m particularly fond of Where There’s Smoke (looks FANTASTIC atop Skinny Jeans), Nice Melons (love this for that wide awake look) and Fancy Pansy (gorgeous! — flashes from pink to purple to blue), but I like just about every shade in the line. Read more…
MAC UNSUNG HEROES
VEX EYESHADOW
Wow. I just realized that my love affair with MAC Vex Eyeshadow ($14.50) has spanned almost 10 years… And you know what? I love it as much today as I did the first day we met — the first time I swiped this duo-chrome powder shadow on the back of my hand.
Vex can be vexing hiding in its pan like a boring blah gray, but it comes to life when it touches skin, gracing it with a really pretty glow. A beige with greenish pink pearl and a frosty finish, it flashes pink from some angles and green from others — almost like crushed pearls under a bright light. I think of it as the MAC Strobe Cream of the eyeshadow world.
When I first got Vex(ed), it was to wear it with smokey eyes, and I can’t even begin to count the number of times I’ve used it for that (usually with MAC Soft Brown, Print and Brule).
But smokey eyes aren’t the only ways I’ve worn Vex. I also love it dressed down. Read more…
MAC UNSUNG HEROES
BLUSHBABY BLUSH
Like many romances, this one starts with a dramatic hook: “It was a dark and stormy night…”
Okay, well, it could have been a humid afternoon, but that just doesn’t sound as good.
One fateful night about 10 years ago I stopped by a MAC counter to get a new tube of MAC Spite. One of the artists there suggested I pick up something else to go along with it, a sheer beige and pink powder blush called Blushbaby ($19.50).
Was she kidding?, I wondered, crinkling my brow. This? It didn’t look like much in the pan, just a basic pinkish beige powder, but the artist whipped out her brush, spoke some magic words (not really), and that was that. One look in the mirror and I said, “Sold!”
Before Blushbaby, I never really thought much of blush. I used to think it made me look like a tiny brown clown, but Blushbaby changed all that. Now, I’m unabashedly pro-blush — a blush ho, if you will (LOL!). Read more…
MAC UNSUNG HEROES
SYRUP LIPSTICK
Sweet! Every time I wear syrup, strangers stop to ask me what it is. Wait — that didn’t come out right. No, not corn syrup or maple syrup, although those are also great. I’m referring to pretty pink MAC Syrup ($14.50), a permanent member of the MAC Lustre Lipstick line.
Described as a cloudy pink on the MAC website, this hydrating, cool-toned lippie hides a hint of purple behind its shiny finish. I dig the way it looks, but my lips love the way it feels — not too thick nor thin. And it’s a great value, too, thanks to its versatility. It looks great with everything from dramatic smokey eyes to conservative everyday looks. Read more…
Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,
Karen
Sweetie Pie Tabs
I was looking through old pictures today and found this one of Tabs looking extra sweet.
The Beauty of Baking Soda
The girl before me finishes her story, and the applause of the crowd follows her off the stage. I take a breath, hold it. Release. The sound dies down, slowly. Someone just has to get that last clap. I let them do it, then walk up to the podium. I wish they had left some water or something up here.
“Hi, I’m Sam, and I’ve recently discovered the wonders of baking soda.”
They raise their eyes from their phones momentarily, then return to the glow of the screen. I get it. It’s been a long day of…well, the pamphlet called it a “Self-Improvement Seminar.” One kid in the front row rocks back and forth on his folding chair, the old metal creaking faintly. It’s distracting.
“You know,” I begin, “it started relatively tamely. I love to bake. Cookies, cakes, sachertortes… You name it. Anyway. Lots of recipes call for baking soda. It’s a leavening agent. Reacts with acids to release carbon dioxide. Simple stuff.
“But then one day, I spilled a bunch of it all over. My hands were covered in it, like, totally white.” It’s kinda funny how vividly I recall all of this stuff now. I really should have written a script or something, but winging it seemed appropriate in this venue. “So, just like anyone would, I went to the sink, pumped some soap out, and started to wash it off. But something happened. The stuff mixed with the soap, made a paste, ya know? Real bubbly. By the time I was done, my hands were soft. Like, soft soft. I couldn’t stop touching them. I’ve always had a thing for textures and the like. So I did it again.
“Maybe once a day to start, I’d grab a bit of the stuff out the pantry and just make a big bowl of paste with it and some soap, and just scrub. My hands felt so good. After a while, I thought, ‘What if there’s more?’. But it didn’t come to me until a few days later in the shower. As I was massaging a bit of my regular drugstore exfoliator over my face, I stopped, and it was just like… yeah. I could totally use baking soda for this!”
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