Archives for February 2014

MAC Playful Petal Cremesheen Glass + MAC Shock Value Prolongwear Lip Pencil

February 7th, 2014 by Karen 30 Comments

Pink power! Here’s what ya get when you pair MAC Prolongwear Lip Pencil in Shock Value with MAC’s new Cremesheen Glass in Playful Petal.

Kind of sci-fi up close, isn’t it? Me likey a lot.

P.S. Guess who’s about to make a protein pancake for dinner. 🙂

I know it might sound gross, but it’s totally not. They’re actually very good, and good for you, too (except for the maple syrup, but I’ll use honey instead this time).

I just use a scoop of this protein powder instead of flower to make the batter, add an egg, and mix in some flax seed, almond milk, cinnamon, half a smooshed banana, and that’s it. Makes one big pancake (or two small ones). Super easy.

Milani’s New Delizio Pink and Bella Rosa Baked Blushes Arrive Just in Time for Valentine’s Day

February 7th, 2014 by Karen 21 Comments

Wearing the new Milani Baked Blush in Delizio Pink on my cheeks, and MAC Shock Value Pro Longwear Lip Pencil and MAC Cremesheen Glass in Playful Petal on my lips

I hope El Hub doesn’t get jealous of my Valentine’s Day dates this year.

Yes, girl, “dates,” as in the plural. I’ll be painting the town rosy pink next week with these two new matte Baked Blushes from Milani.

Milani Bella Rosa Baked Blush — Bella Rosa Baked Blush

Both are pretty cool cats, not that El Hub isn’t, but ya know… 🙂 The first one, Delizio Pink, is a cool matte bluish pink, and the second one is matte bluish red Bella Rosa.

These two dudes have the moves!

Milani Delizio Pink Baked Blush — Delizio Pink Baked Blush

They’re smooove, like that guy who orders you a slice of raspberry cheesecake AND a scoop of salted caramel ice cream when you head to the ladies’ loo after dinner because he knows you won’t be able to pick between the two…

Sorry, I’m craving something sweet right now.

Anyway, smoooooove…

With the amount of pigment you get and the soft, fine feel of the powders, I feel like you get a lot of bang for your buck with these. Both of them pack a ton of color yet remain really easy to buff and blend. On top of that, they aren’t patchy or streaky at all. I just use a blush brush and a light hand, and that’s it. Flushed, natural-looking cheeks.

Swatches of Milani's Baked Blushes in Bella Rosa (left) and Delizio Pink (right) — Swatches of Milani’s Baked Blushes in Bella Rosa (left) and Delizio Pink (right)

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Friends Let Friends Wear the New L’Oreal Colour Riche Extraordinaire Lip Colors

February 7th, 2014 by Karen 22 Comments

L'Oreal Colour Riche Extraordinaire Lip Color Swatches in Scarlet Concerto and Blushing Harmony

The power of visualization…

Picture it — we’re at Ulta together standing in the L’Oreal area. We see a display for the new Colour Riche Extraordinaire Lip Colors, and we see that they’re only $10 each and come in 16 shades, which are more like glosses than anything else.

We start doing our makeup tag-team thing, persuading each other with things like, “Yeah, you should TOTALLY get that one,” and “Duuuuude, they’re just like MAC Cremesheen Glasses,” and “Oh-em-gee, only $10? What a steal!” And then we start dropping tubes in our baskets like lipgloss fiends on a bender, mwhahahaha!

But then, at the exact same moment, we both notice Blushing Harmony, a rosy pink that has “everyday purse gloss” written all over it, but — ruh-roh — there’s only one tube left.

I’d let you have it, of course. 🙂 Even though I’d be seriously tempted to keep it for myself. It’s a perfect my-lips-but-better shade.

L'oreal Colour Riche Extraordinaire Lip Color in Scarlet Concerto — L’Oreal Colour Riche Extraordinaire Lip Color in Scarlet Concerto

L'oreal Colour Riche Extraordinaire Lip Color in Blushing Harmony — L’Oreal Colour Riche Extraordinaire Lip Color in Blushing Harmony

L'Oreal Colour Riche Extraordinaire Lip Color Swatches in Blushing Harmony and Scarlet Concerto — Blushing Harmony (left) and Scarlet Concerto (right)

A Coral Lip Combo and Face of the Day With the New MAC A Fantasy of Flowers Mineralize Eye Shadow in Golden Hours

February 7th, 2014 by Karen 18 Comments

MAC Golden Hours Mineralize Eye Shadow from the A Fantasy of Flowers Collection — MAC Golden Hours Mineralize Eye Shadow from A Fantasy of Flowers…

I was chatting with a buddy this morning about springy lip colors (Hi, Agata! Hey, girl!), and it totally put me in the mood for something juicy and coral.

And since you know I’m all about the lip combos… 🙂 Here’s a cute one from the MAC A Fantasy of Flowers collection I stumbled on completely by accident.

MAC Naked Bud Lipstick and Star Quality Cremesheen Glass — Naked Bud Lipstick and Star Quality Cremesheen Glass

Some quick backstory…

One day earlier this week when my lips were painfully parched, I quite literally grabbed the first two things next to me on my desk and threw them on, and they just happened to be sheer nude Naked Bud Lipstick and Star Quality, a bright orangey coral (thank goodness they were lip products, LOL!).

I layered them, too (with the gloss on top of the lipstick, of course), grabbed a mirror and was like, YES! Star Quality’s somewhat sheer, so when it’s layered on top of Naked Bud, you can still see the nude lipstick peeking through, but at the same time you get the juiciness of the orangey coral.

I liked how it turned out, so I did it again today, and I’m sure I’ll be doing it again. These are definitely going into regular rotation right meow. 🙂

MAC Golden Hours on my lids, Tom Ford Liquid Liner on my upper lash line, MAC Smolder on my water lines and Physicians Formula CC Mascara on my lashes

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How Often Do You Wear Dark Lips?

February 7th, 2014 by Karen 47 Comments

MAC Strong Willed Pro Longwear Eyeliner — Ya know, just going to TJ’s…

Hmm… Not often, now that I think about it. Maybe three or four times a month? As much as I like the look, I wear a nude lip much more often.

I’m actually paranoid about uber-dark lip products wandering outside my natural lip lines because I’m constantly rubbing and smacking my lips together (been trying to break the habit for, oh, years).

Wearing MAC Hautecore Friday Lipstick ($15)

Here’s something I do a lot: I’ll be at the grocery store or someplace equally unspectacular thinking, “Oooh, everyone’s checking out my super cool dark lips,” when in reality they’re probably wondering who the crazy woman with the black lipstick on her chin is and why she’s fondling the grapefruit.”

So let’s talk dark lips, babe. How often do you wear ’em? Are you all about the drama even for everyday looks? Or are they more of a once-in-a-blue-moon thing? Or do you just simply never wear them in general? Inquiring makeup minds want to know…

Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,

Karen

P.S. It’s business casual Fridays, babe. 🙂 CFO (Chief Feline Officer) Tabs the Cat would like to wish you a productive day.

Tabs in his business casual tie — Takin’ care of business…

He has a busy morning planned. Lots of important corporate matters to attend to, so he went with his favorite tie.

He feels that it conveys a certain gravitas.

As for me, I’m about to jump on the treadmill to get my sweat on because if I don’t do it now, I probably won’t do it at all today. I don’t know when it happened, but somewhere along the way I became a morning exerciser. I’m just usually too tuckered out to exercise in the evenings.

How are things going over there today? Can I give you a random hug?

(pause for big hug…)

Any exciting plans this weekend? Nothing for me, but I am going to the salon tomorrow to get my hair cut and colored. It’s not really exciting, but I’m looking forward to the meow time.

Good Hair Days, and the New Oribe Intense Conditioner for Moisture and Control

February 6th, 2014 by Karen 15 Comments

Oribe Intense Conditioner for Moisture and Control

I’ve kind of thought of myself as a mostly Bumble and Bumble/Kerastase gal for a while, but I don’t know… Maybe that’s about to change, because every single thing I’ve tried from Oribe makes me and my hair very happy together.

The salon where I get my hair cut and colored started carrying Oribe a couple months ago, and ahhhh! — I’m a little obsessed (which, I admit, happens to me all the time).

Everything — even the white floral and citrus scent — is ohmygoshsoooooogood.

This week I started using their new Intense Conditioner for Moisture & Control ($43), and I gotta say, I’ve been having some really good hair days lately. Very shiny, very little frizz. Less chaos, more control.

(Now I just have to find something exactly like that for offices, because my desk is a cray-cray mess!)

The conditioner costs $43 for a 6.8-ounce tube, so it’s by no means drugstore, but I find myself not needing to use very much.

I don’t know if you’ve ever tried Oribe before, but I really do like this conditioner. It’s available now at many salons, beauty stores and oribe.com.

MAC’s Viva Glam Rihanna Lipstick and Lipglass: A Red Lip Combo That’s Red-y for Anything

February 6th, 2014 by Karen 22 Comments

MAC Viva Glam Rihanna Lipstick and Lipglass — Well, hello, red!

Sure, red lips are classic and timeless and they never go out of style. True, true and true. But, oh! — I would have love to have worn MAC Viva Glam Rihanna Lipstick ($16) and Lipglass ($15) over the holidays.

Sadly, they hadn’t been around then because they’re newer than that.

As members of the MAC Viva Glam family of gorgeous products, 100 percent of the proceeds from the sale of MAC Viva Glam Rihanna Lipsticks and Lipglasses go to support the MAC AIDS Fund, which helps women, children and men living with HIV/AIDS.

As you may expect, Tabs is finicky about the red lipsticks he allows his pet assistants to wear, but he loves this intense blueish red (he also wishes it had been available over the holidays because it matches his red sequined Christmas outfit perfectly…).

The other day, my buddy Marisol asked me if I considered this Lipstick and Lipglass combo “must have,” and ya know, I do. Must. Have. A thousand times over. 🙂

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New From Dolce & Gabbana: Shaping Eyebrow Pencil

February 6th, 2014 by Karen 9 Comments

In the event that you’ve been brow-zing (sorry, couldn’t resist) for a fancy new brow pencil, here’s a new one from Dolce & Gabbana, and guess what?

Yeah, it’s pretty darned good!

It’s also pretty darned pricey at $45, but coming from Dolce & Gabbana, that’s not a big surprise.

D&G’s new Shaping Eyebrow Pencil is a lot like my latest brow pencil love, Arch by Hourglass. Like Arch, its tip has a triangular shape, so you can draw either thick or thin lines with it (thick lines with one of the edges and thin lines with the nib). It also has a similar natural-looking powder finish.

Where it differs is in terms of texture. Dolce & Gabbana’s is just a smidgen softer than Arch, and I think it’s also a tad easier to blend.

The smudge- and water-resistant formula is supposed to last up to 12 hours, even wet, but I haven’t had an opportunity to really test that out (I’ll see how it responds to a sweaty run on the treadmill tomorrow).

I have worn it sans serious perspiration a couple of times, however, and both times it lasted from dusk till dawn with hardly any fading.

Shaping Brow Pencil comes in Soft Brown, Stromboli, Chestnut and Mocha (the ones shown here are light brown Chestnut and dark brown Stromboli). All four shades are available now exclusively at Saks Fifth Avenue stores and online at saksfifthavenue.com.