Makeup and Beauty Blog | Makeup Reviews, Swatches and How-To Makeup
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I even look short on ice skates, go figure.
Took this yesterday at Union Square in San Francisco just before I landed a triple axel. Totally kidding! I can skate fast and not fall, and that’s about it. I’ve never gotten around to learning how to brake. I usually just crash into the closest wall (or person) at full speed. Secretly, I kind of enjoy body checking things/people, and part of me wonders if I missed my calling as a hockey player…
Well, it’s official. Welcome to 2012. 🙂
I hope you had a blast last night. Did you stay up to midnight or conk out early? I was tempted and tired enough to go to bed around 10:30, but El Hub talked me into renting a movie that kept me up the rest of the way (Fright Night — a cheesy vampire flick, and you know how much I like those).
Yesterday I actually went ice skating! There’s a rink at Union Square in downtown San Francisco. I’ve only been ice skating a few times, so I’m not exactly an Olympic figure skater, but at least I didn’t fall (or cause anyone else to fall), which is something.
After skating El Hub and I went to see Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol and then stopped at a sushi place for dinner.
It was one heck of a day… I can’t remember the last time El Hub and I had so much fun. It was such a clear night that we were even able to see fireworks off in the distance from our deck.
What a nice start to 2012. Something tells me it’s going to be a great year, but certainly not if these guys can help it…
Highlighter Haters. They’re awful beasts!
FREQUENCY: Rare
SPEED: Deceptively fast
ARMOR CLASS: 10+
SPECIAL ATTACKS: These guys feed off of light and brightness, sucking it out of their surroundings and making the world (and the cheeks) around them dull and lifeless.
SPECIAL DEFENSES: Well, they’re made of pure energy, so they’re immune to most physical attacks.
INTELLIGENCE: Low (animal)
ALIGNMENT: Neutral
SIZE: Massive (30′ tall)
NARS UNSUNG HEROES
STAR SAILOR EYESHADOW DUO
I have to say, for a long, long time I didn’t think much of NARS Eyeshadow Duo in Star Sailor ($33), and I sailed past it many times without giving it as much as a sneaky side-eye glance.
Then, one day, the planets and stars were aligned just right, and I decided to see what swatches of its two shadows would look like on my skin.
Over the moon! — that’s how I felt when the first shade, a shimmery yellow gold, and the second, a shimmery golden bronze, blossomed before me, like a nebula under the watchful eye of the Hubble Space Telescope…
Sorry, I’m a sucker for a good (or middling) space reference. Read more…
A VEGGIE BURGER, FRIES AND
VANILLA SHAKE FACE OF THE DAY
Since all I really had to do today was eat, I decided not to go all out with my makeup. I went with a mostly neutral look using products from NARS, MAC, Buxom, Tarte, Boots, Hourglass, Urban Decay and Madina Milano.
I guess I’d describe this as neutral with a side of sparkle… I think the eyes are probably sparklier in person than they might appear here because the sparkles from NARS Eyeshadow in Night Star are shy in front of the camera.
They are there, though, doing their sparkly thing.
I wore this out to lunch with the fam today to a local Redding institution, a great little burger joint here called Damburger, which has been around since 1938! El Hub has a relative who’s been getting burgers there since about 1946. Read more…
UPGRADE YOUR OPTIONS IN COLOR WITH THIS
QUICK TRAVEL MAKEUP TIP
Over my four-day Christmas trip up and down Northern California to visit with my parents and in-laws, I relied on one particular makeup trick a little more than the others. I’m just about to hit the road back home to Novato, but first, if you like to wear different looks often but don’t usually have a lot of room to spare in your travel makeup bag, here’s one quick and easy way to increase your color options.
Pack as many colorful sticks of eyeliner as you can find, and with one quick swipe along your upper and/or lower lash lines, you’ve got a new fast, fun look.
This trip I brought MAC, Urban Decay and NARS eyeliners in gray, purple, green, gold, blue and bronze, along with my usual liners in black and brown.
That’s it! Quick and easy color that doesn’t take up much cargo space. Read more…
10 OF MY PICKS FOR HEAD OF THE CLASS
A+ MAKEUP AND BEAUTY DEPARTMENT STORE (AND OTHER) PRODUCTS OF 2011
2011 was another awesome year for feline and human makeup and beauty. Along with rediscovering/falling in love again with a slew of pulse-pounding permanent products from some of my favorite lines like MAC and NARS, I also bumped into bunches of beautiful products to lurve on drugstore and department store shelves.
If you’re on the market for something special to spend a Christmas gift card on, consider one of the overachieving A+ department store products below. All of them are looking for new homes just like yours and can be found in stores now. Read more…
10 OF MY PICKS FOR HEAD OF THE CLASS
A+ MAKEUP AND BEAUTY DRUGSTORE PRODUCTS OF 2011
Going to a drugstore after a long day is one of my favorite ways to unwind. I’ll flip through a few magazines, grab an ice cream cone, and cruise the cosmetics aisle looking for a little something I can get myself as a budget beauty treat.
It’s been a ritual of mine ever since I was a teenager.
Sure, I do love department store beauty and big brands like Benefit and NARS, but some of my favorite makeup and beauty products don’t reside at stores like Nordstrom, Sephora or MAC, and that’s why I’ll always have a soft spot for drugstores. Not only because they make it possible for gals on a tight budget to look great from head to toe, but because they also make it easy to treat yourself without breaking the bank. Read more…
HOURGLASS VEIL MINERAL PRIMER SPF 15
KEEPS MAKEUP GOING ON AND ON TILL THE BREAK OF DAWN
While it’s not a brand new product, Veil is new to me. I only recently got to know it well while visiting and staying with family over the past few days, when I was doing my makeup early in the mornings and needed something to help my looks last from dawn till dusk. This month, that something was Veil.
Before I settled on Veil, though, I tried a number of other primers from MAC, Make Up For Ever, Smashbox and Cover FX over the month or so since Thanksgiving. Veil’s been my favorite so far.
A lot of primers feel thick and heavy to me, like they’re smothering my combination dry/oily/acne-prone skin, but lightweight Veil quickly absorbs and doesn’t feel like it’s just sitting on the top layers of skin like a lake of pore-suffocating product. It also hasn’t caused any breakouts, near as I can tell, and I’ve heard from other girls who love it specifically for this reason. Read more…
NARS UNSUNG HEROES
INDIAN SUMMER EYESHADOW DUO
NARS has a knack for neutral eyeshadows but likes ‘em with a twist, like Star Sailor, which accompanied me on my quick holiday trip last weekend. Keeping us company on the open road was another dynamic neutral duo from NARS, the $33 Indian Summer Duo Eyeshadow, which happens to be the subject of today’s Unsung Heroes post.
Like both of the colors in Star Sailor, Indian Summer’s shadows keep a low profile until they get out of their pans; that’s when their powder shadows sing. In the official PR, the shades are described as a frosted champagne and a mustard seed, but I think they’re much more exciting than that. Read more…
THESE BOOTS NO7 POPPY KING LIPSTICKS
ARE ALL ABOUT HISTORY, POWER, GLAMOUR, SEDUCTION, INTRIGUE, CONFIDENCE AND ALLURE
Wow, okay, December 29? And we’re still kicking? Shoot, we need to reward ourselves for making it through the holidays.
Yes, I’m totally serious! Perhaps some small token for artfully dodging the family drama (which takes tremendous skill), for enduring that undercover sibling rivalry that never quite goes away, or for cooking that monster meal that catered to everyone’s preferences and food allergies (SIDE NOTE: Does anyone else out there still like cilantro?). Whatever the justification, I think we’re all due a small “Woo-hoo, we made it!” kind of prize, and I can’t think of a better one than Boots No7 Poppy King Lipstick ($9.99).
The new line of seven limited edition lipsticks launched last month at Target, and there’s a lot to like about it beyond the price. Read more…
Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,
Karen
P.S. About those makeup monsters, I know I’m not the only one here who likes to draw, so if you’ve seen any makeup monsters you’d like to draw or paint, shoot them over to me! I’d love to feature them here.