Makeup and Beauty Blog | Makeup Reviews, Swatches and How-To Makeup
A beauty blog blooming with fresh makeup reviews, swatches and beauty tips from your friendly neighborhood beauty addict
I went walking this afternoon and bumped into a silver, orange and black tabby who lives down the hill.
I call her Charlize…
She’s a small kitty at about 6 pounds, and she loves chin and back-of-the-ear scratches.
Note the low-hanging belly
When I got back home, I let Tabs sniff my fingers and his tail puffed up within seconds. I don’t think he was too thrilled with me “cheating” on him, LOL!
One of the things Tabs and I like to do together on Sundays is surf the Web for cat videos. I take care of the keyboarding (on account of my opposable thumbs), while he commanders the mouse.
I think we found a few good ones today. 🙂
Tabs likes this first one best because of its “organic nature and abstract transcendentalism.” His words.
What a catnip trip, right? So weird! Did you notice that paw emerging from the lipstick tube at the 0:28 mark?
Tabs knows the cat that paw belongs to. He says she’s an up-and-coming kitty supermodel.
Maybe it’s because I’m PMSing like crazy right now, but this animated story about a cat who wakes up in a world surrounded by water made me cry buckets. It explores themes like survival and overcoming one’s fears in such a poetic and touching way.
Okay…I’m gonna cry again.
I can see Tabs having dreams like this… If my dreams are weird, and they are, I can only imagine what his little kitty brain is doing when he’s asleep, and his little paws are REM twitching.
I have a crush on this handsome tabby! Shh… Don’t tell Tabs. I snuck this simple, soothing video in the list when he wasn’t looking.
[Continue reading…]
Meet the newest member of the Benefit B.Right Skincare clan, the repackaged and reformulated Benefit Boo Boo Zap ($16).
Its objective remains the same, even though it’s decked out in new digs — to banish blemishes and reduce the appearance of redness and swelling.
Like the current formula, this one’s clear, so it can be worn beneath or on top of makeup. It also contains salicylic acid (0.5%).
Say “bye bye” to boo boos with this fast-acting invisible acne treatment. It purifies & dries out blemishes and reduces the appearance of acne-related redness & swelling. Perfect for all skin types, this clarifying wonder is gentle enough to be used multiple times a day, but powerful enough to prevent new blemishes from forming.
I’m going to miss the comic book packaging, with that zit-fighting superheroin leaping high above the San Francisco skyline. It was always so easy to spot and such a favorite at the Benefit counter.
Benefit trades the comic book flair for more sophisticated beachy attire in green, tan and white, keeping it consistent with the rest of the B.Right line. They also increased the amount of product while decreasing the price, which is always nice to see. The old/current zapper held 6 milliliters and cost $20; the new one houses 7.4 milliliters and costs $16. A pretty significant change.
But even more important than that, Benefit adjusted the ingredient profile. It still contains salicylic acid, but they removed the witch hazel and camphor, and added glycolic acid, bisabolol (an extract of chamomile believed to soothe flaky dry skin) and a couple of acronyms, PPG-26 and PEG-40 hydrogenated castor oil, a compound some folks try to avoid.
[Continue reading…]
Rise and shine, morning glory! I’m off to a late start this morning… Wait — is it still morning?
I’ve just been plugging along, teasing a cat, drawing monsters, surfing the web and whatnot. Very exciting, I’m not.
What are you up to? See any good movies or go out to dinner this weekend? We wanted to catch a movie last night, but the timing didn’t work out (hate that), so we picked up some sushi from Whole Foods, brought it home and watched the 40th anniversary Godfather compilation on TV instead.
Someone — not sure if it was Coppola — re-edited the three movies together, sort of mixing and matching scenes from the different eras in the trilogy. There’s also some new director’s cut footage in it that I’d never seen before. No really significant changes to the story; mostly, the new scenes are all a few seconds long, but I think they did give the whole production a slightly different feel.
I fiercely adore the first two films and have probably seen ’em 20 times each, so I thought it was pretty cool.
Give a shout out if you’re a fellow Godfather fan. 🙂
Me? I’m Enzo… The Baker.
— ChitChatNailsIt’s been a pretty uneventful weekend so far. Right now I’m just —
WHOA! What was that!? Did you see that thing?
It kinda looked like a toad…
And now my primer — all of a sudden the primer I was applying became all fluid-like and dripped right off my face!
Weird…
DESCRIPTION: Primer Pests are an invasive species of toad rapidly spreading around the globe. Believed to be a mutation created in an underground cosmetics lab, they are attracted to makeup primer. Can’t resist it, actually.
FREQUENCY: Uncommon but spreading
SPEED: Fast
ARMOR CLASS: 7 (small and quick)
SPECIAL ATTACKS: Primer Pests inhabit bogs and marshes near urban areas and suburban strip malls — anywhere with makeup counters. One swat from their toady tongue turns makeup primer into a soppy sludge.
SPECIAL DEFENSES: None
INTELLIGENCE: Low
ALIGNMENT: Neutral
SIZE: Tiny (6″ tall)
Estée Lauder Mad Men Collection and a Letter to Don Draper
The Four-Piece Las Vegas de Chanel Collection
An Estée Lauder Bronze Goddess Has Been Spotted in Capri
These New L’Oreal Spring Nail Colors Make It Hip to Be Riche
Make Up For Ever Pantone Fashion Color Report
MAC Too Supreme Pics and Swatches
Hot Pink Lips and a MAC Chenman Face of the Day
Estée Lauder Five Color Gelée Powder EyeShadow Palette in Bronze Sands
Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,
Karen
Two tabbies! Notice the tongue on the mama cat.
Estèe Lauder’s Pure Color Gloss in Shimmering Mirage ($22.50) might not be the flashiest piece in the new Bronze Goddes Capri collection for summer (have ya seen the Bronze Sands palette yet?), but I still think this lemony golden beige, with its bodacious silver shimmer, deserves a serious shout-out.
I’m a sucker for shining nude lips like these, especially on weekends (when my laziness kicks into overdrive). This limited edition shade actually reminds me of a slightly cooler version of my current go-to nude lip gloss, Burberry Nude Gold, except with a side of silver glitter.
I think it’s a great gloss for lazy day makeup looks. I’ll just fill in my brows, pat a little concealer under my eyes, curl my lashes, sweep some blush on my cheeks and top things off with Shimmering Mirage.
Pure Color Gloss in Shimmering Mirage (top) and Pure Color Intense Kajal Eye Crayon Duo in White Sands/Molten Lava (bottom)
From the left: Pure Color Illuminating Powder Gelée in Shimmering Sands, Pure Color Intense Kajal Eye Crayon Duo in White Sands/Molten Lava and Pure Color Gloss in Shimmering Mirage
[Continue reading…]
Boing!
Boing! Boing! Boing!
Benefit Boi-ing concealer, that is. 🙂 B’s bestselling cream concealer is getting three new shades.
A sheer cream concealer designed to disguise under-eye circles and blemishes, Boi-ing has been part of the Benefit line for years. The new shades include a revamped shade No. 03, also known as Deep, and two new darker shades in 04 and 05, bringing the total number of shades to five.
Clockwise from the pan in the lower left: 03, 04 and 05
I’ve actually Boinged before…and when I did, I didn’t feel like any of the colors really suited my NC42 skin. Now, among all of the shades, the new version of 03 seems like the closest color match for me.
