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Archives for December 2011

What’s on Your Christmas Lemming List?

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Ho ho ho! Yea! The Great Christmas Lemming just teleported into town, plump with pagan magic and Christmas cheer (or is that a tapeworm?). Santa dispatched him to the blogosphere to find out what everyone wants for Christmas.

The first words out of his mouth were “Eek! Eek-ack! Ack!” which, loosely translated, mean “Tell me the top 5 things on your Christmas list, and I’ll take them back with me to the North Pole.” Please leave your list in the comments. 🙂

He says he’ll take all requests into consideration and encourages you to act now (because Christmas gifts are on a first come, first served basis this year).

My Christmas Lemming List

  1. Le Metier de Beaute All That Glitters Nail Set
  2. MAC 130 Short Duo Fibre Brush
  3. Fossil Vintage Key-Per Coated Canvas Duffle Bag
  4. Sam Edelman Scarlett Pump in Gold Snake
  5. Edward Bess Back to Basics Palette

Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,

Karen

Buxom True Hue, Baby I Love You: The New $24 Buxom True Hue Blushes Are Coming in February to Sephora

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Calling all blushing beauties and buffs! — Buxom plans to introduce a new collection of colorful cheek products into their permanent line. The new True Hue family arrives in February, bursting with bold pigments and, according to Buxom, the powers of a plant called rhodiola.

Buxom claims that the plant, used for centuries by people in Russia and Scandinavia to cope with the stress and cold of Siberian life, makes cheeks wearing the True Hue blushes appear refreshed, but I’d probably give these pigments more credit for that. I find them very easy to manipulate, thanks to super smooth powders that are a breeze to build up or sheer down.

This particular blush buff wholeheartedly approves. 🙂


Breathless


Euphoria
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NARS Unsung Heroes: Damned Velvet Matte Lip Pencil

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Lately (in case you haven’t noticed), I’ve had a thing for red lips. I look at them the same way I look at pairs of black shoes, which is to say that one tube (or pair) is never enough.

There are just so many different spins on the red lip motif, just as there are when it comes to black shoes. With the shoes, you’ve got your black high heels, low heels, stacked heels, platforms, and don’t get me started on the sub-shades of black.

It’s the same thing with crimson lip colors. Every one is unique, or at least different in some small but significant way.

Take NARS Velvet Matte Lip Pencil in Damned, for instance. This $24 jewel-toned reddish magenta could moonlight as a crimson crayon in its chubby packaging, and sometimes, when I’m lining and filling in my lips with it, I feel like I’m in art class. 🙂

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Mixed Metal Manis: Get the Party and Conversation Started with a Silver and Golden Glitter Ombre Manicure

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Yes, ma’am, I’m still in a metallic mani mode, also known as a mixed metal mani state of mind. Why? Because it’s magnetic! — not literally, of course — but I think there is something bewitching about nails that look like shiny baubles shimmering in silver and gold. Perhaps it’s because they remind me of disco balls, or perhaps it’s an ancient urge more primitive and primal than that.

This particular metal mani, a silver and gold ombre affair, is a manifestation of this MAC purse from holiday 2007, and how its tweed pattern melts from silver to gold (LOVE!).

Since the look required a number layers, I grabbed two polishes that I knew would dry quickly, a silvery glitter from Essie called Set in Stones, and a golden glitter from China Glaze called Blonde Bombshell. Of course, you could substitute other silver and gold glitters from your personal stash.

After applying a base coat to prime and even out the surface of my nails, I applied three (!) coats of Essie Set in Stones to build up the glittery silver backdrop that covers the surface of each nail. To ramp up the bling even more, you could always apply four. 🙂

Next, to initiate Project Ombre Effect, I applied Blonde Bombshell, beginning at the base of each nail, and tapering as I moved toward the tip.

Then, I added one extra layer to intensify the transitional effect where the gold meets the silver, concentrating a little more glitter at the base of each nail.
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NARS Unsung Heroes: Afghan Red Lipstick

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Every year around this time, my regular weakness for red lipsticks turns into a serious condition, but even now, it’s usually treatable (with the careful administration of crimson cosmetics), except when I’ve been exposed to a jewel-toned red from NARS.

Then, the only cure is a tube of something like NARS Lipstick in Afghan Red ($24), a rich pinkish garnet. I tooled around town with this particular tube all weekend long, trying to keep the fever at bay…

To be safe, I should probably just keep it in my purse. 🙂

Never mind that my purse is already loaded down with compacts, other lippies, emergency cans of gravy and the occasional acorn, it never hurts to be prepared. Once you’ve been exposed to a shade like Afghan Red, you never know when another red lipstick episode will occur. Trying to predict them is like trying to forecast when terry cloth tracksuits will be back in style (read: impossible to know).

More Jackie than Marilyn, Afghan Red is a refined garnet. It says, “Bonjour, ladies and gentleman,” giving a slight wave of a cupped hand wearing pristine white gloves.

It’s not a color that needs to shout in order to be heard. Dab it on for a whisper light stain, or embrace opaque color by applying a single layer, as I did for these pics.

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