Archives for 2013

15 People or Things You’ll Resemble When You Wear MAC Strobe Liquid Lotion in Golden Elixir

May 3rd, 2013 by Karen 51 Comments

Here I’m wearing the new MAC Strobe Liquid Lotion Golden Elixir ($31) from the limited edition MAC Temperature Rising summer collection

When you wear MAC’s Strobe Liquid Lotion in Golden Elixir ($31) you’ll look radiant and golden like…

A Grecian goddess soaking up the last rays on a summer day
J. Lo after running a 5K in Christian Louboutin pumps and a gold lame catsuit
A sequined Oscar gown on the Best Dressed list
A Beyonce-themed Christmas tree
Jeremy Renner’s glistening arms after saving a family of stray kittens from drowning
A mega millions lottery winner the moment right after she tells her bosses to suck it and walks out of the room in a dramatic exit
An extra in a Britney video circa the golden years, aka BF (Before Federline)
A proud kitty stage mom who just found out her baby cat won the award for best actor in a gravy commercial and is dabbing tears from her eyes with a lace hanky
A reflection in a mirror after easily slipping into those goal-weight skinny jeans that you’ve been holding onto for months
A room full of Skarsgards
A room filled with 1000 birthday cakes, each cake miraculously calorie-free (so you can eat as much as you want!) and topped with 1000 candles
MC Hammer after he tried on his first pair of gold Hammer pants
Someone who just discovered Nutella
A girl on vacation laying on a beach towel in Kauai reading The Great Gatsby
A lightning bolt tattoo streaking across Channing Tatum’s tanned stomach

Babe, you know I love me some MAC Strobe Cream, so I feel like I’ve been waiting all my life for Golden Elixir. It’s a lightweight, golden liquid highlighting lotion that you can wear on bare skin and/or layered underneath or on top of makeup (foundation, blush, face powder, bronzer), and it’s bomb for getting that dewy, golden Cat on a Hot Tin Roof type of glow without looking too metallic.
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Dolce & Gabbana’s True Monica Collection Lipsticks

May 3rd, 2013 by Karen 9 Comments

Dolce & Gabbana True Monica Collection Lipsticks

Mmm, so creamy.

Dolce & Gabbana’s True Monica Collection Lipsticks, $33 each. Available now at select Saks Fifth Avenue Stores and online.

Tom Ford Beauty’s Escapade Cream Color for Eyes

May 3rd, 2013 by Karen 7 Comments

Tom Ford Beauty Escapade Cream Color for Eyes

I want to swim in it!

Tom Ford Beauty’s Cream Color for Eyes in Escapade ($40), from the new summer 2013 collection. From the new Tom Ford Beauty Summer 2013 collection available now at Tom Ford counters and online.

Coral? We Don’t Need No Stinkin’ Coral! The MAC Temperature Rising Lipsticks Take Lips on an Alternate Route to Summer

May 2nd, 2013 by Karen 18 Comments

Oh, my gosh, it’s happening! The annual coral migration has begun.

Every year around this time huge flocks of corals migrate from their winter hideaways to makeup counters everywhere, gathering in large numbers wherever there are lip displays.

It’s one of my favorite things. 🙂

When the corals come back in spring and summer, it’s like, it reminds me that the world will keep turning… Frozen yogurt will keep tasting great, the Real Housewives of My Butt will keep screaming nonsense at each other on Bravo, and RyGos will keep looking hot under pretty much all circumstances.

But some makeup lovers don’t get that fired up about coral. I have a friend who refuses to wear it on her lips because she says it makes her feel like a “South Beach grandma” (her words).

Gotta be honest, I don’t get it (SERIOUSLY, HOW COULD YOU NOT LOVE CORAL?!), but I can appreciate wanting to be different and going against the flow, which brings me to the four new lipsticks in the MAC Temperature Rising collection.

MAC Temperature Rising Lipsticks from the left: Altered Beige, Caliente, Feel My Pulse and Sheer Seduction — From the left: Altered Beige, Caliente, Feel My Pulse and Sheer Seduction

See that? No coral whatsoever. Instead, MAC went a riskier route with beige, violet and bronze, and you know what?

I think it works.

MAC Caliente Lipstick — Caliente, a super dazzle violet with a Dazzle finish

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5 Things MAC’s Ripe For Love Powder Blush Would Say if It Could Talk

May 2nd, 2013 by Karen 22 Comments

MAC Ripe for Love Blush — Wearing the new, limited edition $23 MAC Ripe for Love Powder Blush on my cheeks from the Temperature Rising summer 2013 collection

5 things MAC’s Ripe For Love Powder Blush would say if it could talk

1. Ditch your boyfriend.

Boyfriend, girlfriend, whatever. Your tanned skin and I, we belong together, just the two of us, you and I.

I don’t care where we go. I don’t care what we do. I don’t care, pretty baby, just take me with you. Let’s hit that beach we talked about, sip umbrella drinks, and nap all day long because I’m from MAC’s Temperature Rising collection. And I’m hot like that.

At night, you can put on that look I like with the chocolate smokey eyes and glossy copper lips, and then dust me on top of some bronzer on your cheeks before we head out.

Oh, the trouble we’ll find…

2. I’m officially called a mid-tone peach but…

…I think of myself as a papaya.

A juicy, ripe papaya begging to be devoured. Don’t even bother with a spoon. No shame! Just bite into that thing, and let the juices dribble down the side of your chin in slow mo.

3. I hate your shoes.

Blergh! Especially the flat Life Stride pair that you ~~borrowed from the cafeteria lady~~ wear when your feet ache.

Screw that. My name is Ripe for Love, hello! — so I’m all about, pardon my French, the fracking pumps. One layer of me on your cheeks (that’s all you’ll need because I’m pigmented like whoa!) and you’ll be glowing like Halley’s Comet.

Why? Because I’m THAT good, if I do say so myself.

4. I have a softer side…

It’s true. My scene, like my friends in Temperature Rising, is more about sultry summer nightlife, where molten metallics throb and glittery glosses throw air kisses with shimmering bronzed skin.

But look, I’m not all about seduction. I also have a softer side.

I can go from Do Me Baby to Let’s Wait A While in the flick of a wrist. All it takes is the gentlest caress of my feather-light powder on your cheeks, so we can do all kinds of things together, like go to the ice cream shoppe, your next book club meeting, work — heck, even that froo-froo yarn store where you fondle all the skeins but never actually buy anything.

I promise, I’ll behave.
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How Do Ya Like Your Liner?

May 2nd, 2013 by Karen 29 Comments

Gimme, gimme cat eyes any day of the week!

I’ve been mulling this over since a long chat I had with a makeup artist friend who mentioned that whenever she does someone’s makeup, they usually have very, very strong opinions about how they like their eyeliner to look.

Hmm… Am I that way, too? I like to think I’m pretty open about trying different things, but I don’t know.

I guess it depends on my overall look. I’m not averse to any particular formulas, like I’ll wear pencils, gels, creams or liquids, and I’ll line my lash lines, water lines or sometimes both.

I went through a phase in the ’90s where I’d only line my upper lash and water lines, mostly because I hadn’t yet discovered the trick of setting my liner with eye shadow or powder, so it would always smudge all over the place, and I’d end up looking like a deranged forest sprite.

Once I figured out layering, it was on! And nowadays I’ll line my lower lash line, too, sometimes even just by itself. Give it a try one of these days with a bright color, like a teal or purple, for a cool, minimalist effect with bare lids and tons of mascara.

Smudgy or crisp lines? Yes and yes! Cat eyes, smokey eyes, it’s all good. 🙂

One big no-no for me has to be droopy liner, where instead of your liner lifting up at the flick like in these pics here, it slopes down.

I just can’t. I dunno, I feel like it makes me look like one of my mom’s sad porcelain dolls…

So let’s talk liner!

How do you like yours? Sharp and crisp? Smudgy? Just along your upper or lower lash lines? Water lines? What do you (and don’t you) like when it comes to eyeliner?

Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,

Karen

Dolce & Gabbana’s True Monica Collection: Smooth Eye Colour Quad in Smoky 105

May 2nd, 2013 by Karen 4 Comments

So stoked about this! It looks like a great everyday type of quad.

Dolce & Gabbana’s new Smooth Eye Colour Quad in Smoky 105 ($59). From the True Monica collection, available now at select Saks Fifth Avenue Stores and online.