Archives for January 2015

How to Build Your Courage for Crimson Lips

January 23rd, 2015 by Karen 25 Comments

5 tips to build your courage for crimson lips — Don’t be scurred!

Dude! Valentine’s Day? I know it’s hella commercial and cheesy, but I don’t even care. Chocolate, love and baby cherubs? You can’t go wrong with that. Plus, crimson lips? If there’s a day to go crazy with crimson, it’s gotta be V-Day.

But what if you’re scared to wear really red lips? What if you like the idea of going full-tilt Gwen Stefani, but you’re too terrified to try?

These five baby steps will build your courage for crimson lips. Remember, Drake was on Degrassi Jr. High once upon a time. Everybody’s gotta start somewhere.

1. Keep calm, and start with a red lip tint or balm

Fresh Sugar Lip Treatment in Cherry — Wearing Fresh Sugar Lip Tint in Cherry ($22.50)

Before going all the way with opaque red lips, you can take a baby step with a tint.

Red balms and tints are like crimson kitten heels, and years from now, when you’re strutting around town in the red lipstick version of 5-inch stilettos, you’ll think back to your starter balms…

When you wear a red balm or a tint, you’ll get a sense of what it’s like to wear red on your lips without the full-on shock of something opaque like MAC Ruby Woo.

Fresh Sugar Lip Treatments — Ease your way into red with something like Fresh Sugar Lip in Cherry (pictured in the center)

And that shock at seeing yourself in red lipstick for the first time is a legitimate thing. The first time I wore red (I think it was in high school, which would place it in the early Cretaceous Period), I didn’t recognize the person staring back at me in the mirror. A red lip balm reduces that risk.

Some tints/balms to try…

Fresh makes a great one called Sugar Lip Tint in Cherry ($22.50). Burt’s Bees Tinted Lip Balm in Red Dahlia is also gorgeous (and affordable at $6.99).

2. Shine with a sheer red gloss

NYX Butter Gloss Cherry Pie — Wearing NYX Cherry Pie

If you’re more of a gloss girl, you could skip the balm, and go for a sheer red gloss instead. It’s the same idea of easing your way into red with a baby step.

Look for a sheer red gloss that lets most of your natural lip color through. That way you won’t have to worry about the gloss migrating outside your natural lip line.

Check out Buxom Full-On Lip Polish in Taylor ($19) or NYX Butter Gloss in Cherry Pie ($4.99).

3. Text a friend

Think of her as your makeup training buddy. Here’s the scenario: you’re visiting a makeup counter and trying to choose your sheer red gloss, but you can’t decide. Do you go with a sheer blue-based gloss or a warm-toned yellowish red? Sparkles or no sparkles?

Gah! These decisions are tough. 🙂

If all of the reds start to look the same, swatch the top contenders on your arm or the back of your hand, then take a quick pic with your phone.

Text it to a friend who (hopefully) knows a little bit about makeup, and ask her which shade she likes best for you, because it never hurts to have a second opinion.
[Continue reading…]

NARS Soft Velvet Loose Powder: I Got 99 Problems But This Powder Ain’t One

January 23rd, 2015 by Karen 18 Comments

These days, my pores run the show. They drive the car. They’re the CEOs of my face, and every face-related product I use, from foundation to primer and powder, like the one I’m wearing here, new NARS Soft Velvet Loose Powder, has to keep the CEOs happy.

And $36 NARS Soft Velvet does.

What is it exactly?

Honestly, it’s a loose powder. It does not exist to bring about world peace, but it will, however, set your foundation and concealer (and it does so without appearing thick or heavy), blur those pores (yea!), smooth the texture of your skin, and soak up that pesky oil patch in the middle of your forehead. You can wear it all by itself on bare skin, or on top of other products.

My skin always gets dry this time of year, so this isn’t the best time for me to assess an oil-controlling product, but I’m guessing that if I were in one of my oily skin phases, like when I could fry egg rolls with the grease on my forehead (throughout my teens and early 20s), this would have laid a decent smack-down, although it probably wouldn’t have gone home with the championship belt.

Before NARS Soft Velvet Loose Powder

The before shot: Wearing NARS All Day Luminous Weightless Foundation on my face — The before shot: Wearing NARS All Day Luminous Weightless Foundation, but without powder.

[Continue reading…]

5 Fine Ways to Introduce a Little Chanel Spring Into Your Step

January 23rd, 2015 by Karen 38 Comments

Clockwise from the upper left: Chanel Rouge Allure Velvet in La Romanesque, Stylo Yeux Waterproof Long-Lasting Eyeliner in Ardoise, Jardin de Chanel Blush Camerlia Rose, Chanel No. 19 Poudre and Les 4 Ombres Mluti-Effect Quara Eyeshadow in in Tisse Rivoli — Clockwise from the upper left: Chanel Rouge Allure Velvet in La Romanesque, Stylo Yeux Waterproof Long-Lasting Eyeliner in Ardoise, Jardin de Chanel Blush Camerlia Rose, Chanel No. 19 Poudre and Les 4 Ombres Multi-Effect Quara Eyeshadow in Tisse Rivoli

At any given second of any given day you’re likely to find at least one or two pieces of Chanel in my makeup bag.

What can I say? I worship at the altar of the double CCs.

Chanel is always (always) a good idea, and to that end, here are five fine ways to introduce a little Chanel into your life this spring.

1. Chanel Jardin de Chanel Blush Camelia Rose ($55)

Let’s be real. The last thing on this earth I needed was to fall in love with another pricey Chanel blush, but I have. The flower pattern on the pan always brings a smile to my face (and it isn’t just brushed away after the first few swipes).

Technically, it’s a pinkish peachy mauve with a dash of plum and a finish somewhere in the heavenly ether between matte and satin. Un-technically, it’s like blasting Taylor Swift and dancing around your room first thing in the morning. 🙂

This is one of those Chanel blushes that I’m sure I’ll remember years from now and think of fondly with a sparkle in my eye…

Wearing Chanel Les 4 Ombres in Tisse Rivoli on my eyes, Stylo Yeux Waterproof Longn-Lasting Eyeliner in Ardoise on my lash lines, Chanel Jardin de Chanel BLush Camelia Rose on my cheeks and Rouge Allure Velvet in La Romanesque on my lips — Wearing Chanel Les 4 Ombres in Tisse Rivoli on my eyes, Stylo Yeux Waterproof Long-Lasting Eyeliner in Ardoise on my lash lines, Chanel Jardin de Chanel BLush Camelia Rose on my cheeks and Rouge Allure Velvet in La Romanesque on my lips

Availability: Limited edition, and available now at Chanel counters and online at chanel.com.

2. Chanel Rouge Allure Velvet in La Romanesque ($35)

In The World According to K-Dawg (publication date: soon), hot pink lips are always a good idea, and La Romanesque is a fresh take on the concept.

While in tune with the current matte lipstick revival, it has a velvety matte finish, so it isn’t as flat as most mattes. It has the faintest whisper of shine, which makes it kinder and more approachable.

Whenever I wear it, I like to blur the edges. First, I’ll apply it directly from the tube, smack my lips a few times to disperse the color, then I’ll push it out to the edges of my lips with a lip brush, and pat a few times with a finger for a casual, barely-there edge, effortless and ladylike.

Availability: Permanent, and currently being re-promoted as part of the Chanel Spring 2015 Reverie Parisienne collection. Available now at Chanel counters and online.

3. Chanel Quadra Les 4 Ombres Eyeshadow in Tissé Rivoli ($61)

A satin finish and a dash of plum spice up Tissé Rivoli’s shimmery golden taupes.

Whenever I wear this quad, which is one of the permanent collection quads in the recently revamped baked eyeshadow fam, on my lids, I’m sure I have a little extra spring in my step.

I think it’s one of the most universally flattering Chanel quads, and its mix of shimmery golden taupes and plums suit a wide range of skin tones because they aren’t excessively cool-toned or warm, so I have free rein over the cheek and lip colors I wear them with.

I like to do a soft wash of color with one of the lighter shades and mix one the darker or mid-toned shades for a hazy, smokey eye.

If you’re tired of the pastels that typically dominate shelves for spring, try Tissé Rivoli.

No rush though. It’s in the permanent collection, so it isn’t going anywhere.

Availability: Permanent, and available now at Chanel counters and online.

[Continue reading…]

NARS All Day Luminous Weightless Foundation Is a Lightweight, Long-Lasting Jill-of-All-Trades

January 22nd, 2015 by Karen 28 Comments

NARS All Day Luminous Weightless Foundation costs $48, and with a $48 foundation, you basically want that scene from When Harry Met Sally. Like, you want to feel that way when you use a $48 foundation, and then you want the lady next to you to say, “I’ll have the foundation she’s having.”

I mean, I wouldn’t actually pretend to have a big O in the middle of Sephora or anything, because hello! — we live in a digital age of smartphones and video, and knowing my luck, I’d blurt out “It feels like I’m hardly wearing anything at all! Yes, yes, YES!!! It’s so natural looking on my skin!” inevitably, some pervert would be filming me, and it would get around on the Interwebz, and my mother would see it…

The way NARS describes this foundation, you’d think you’re reading about the invention of time travel in Scientific American. With new “Even Tone Technology,” one drop/pump is supposed to deliver 16 hours of weightless, oil-free full coverage, and with long term use, it’s also supposed to make skin tone appear more even.

It’s an all-encompassing Jill-of-All-Trades foundation without SPF (meaning that it shouldn’t produce a white cast in pictures with a flash), and it’s available in 20 shades.

So, how well does it really work?

Pretty well. It’s not the CERN of foundations or anything, and the claim to offer full coverage from a single pump seems like a stretch to me, but you can build it up for more coverage (with a caveat, which I’ll get to in a minute).

I’d say it has one foot in the medium-coverage pool, and the other foot in the full-coverage pool. Of course, “full coverage” is open to interpretation, and one person’s full coverage is another person’s medium. My definition might be skewed by Laura Mercier’s Flawless Fluide, one drop of which covers every. Single. Thing on my face.

One pump of NARS All Day Luminous Weightless Foundation gets rid of any redness around my nose, cheeks and forehead while unifying the skin tone all over my face, but I still have to do some spot concealing on the freckles around my eyes, and I can still see the patch of skin above my upper lip that appears gray on camera unless it’s fully covered.

You can build the foundation up for fuller coverage by using more product, but then that interferes with its natural-looking mojo…

Being a curious kitty with an inquisitive nature, I’ve tested this in a number of ways — atop one primer, atop two primers (which is what I usually do with Laura’a Flawless Fluide), by itself, with a powder on top, applied with my fingers, applied with a Beautyblender, applied with a foundation brush, and at the end of the day, the simplest way works best. Just the product all by itself applied with fingers on bare skin (well, bare skin prepped with my skin care). That’s it.

Before NARS All Day Luminous Weightless Foundation in Stromboli…

Before applying NARS All Day Luminous Weightless Foundation in Stromboli

[Continue reading…]

How Did Your Last Makeup Purchase Turn Out?

January 22nd, 2015 by Karen 51 Comments

Loreal True Match Lumi — YASSSS, gurl! Magic in a bottle, otherwise known as L’Oreal True Match Lumi Healthy Luminous foundation ($12.99)

Fluffy baby kittens and pink cotton candy and glittery sprinkles and unicorns and a nap on Ryan Gosling’s abs. Otherwise, great. 🙂

My last makeup purchase went great. It was at Ulta a couple weeks ago, where I found a few gems…

Like truly moving makeup gems!

One of them was something I’ve been hoping to find for years — decades even — a drugstore foundation I could love with every fiber of my being, and I finally have. I cannot stop raving about L’Oreal True Match Lumi Healthy Luminous foundation ($12.99).

I went on a 10-minute sermon about its wonderfulness to a stranger sitting next to me at the dentist’s office yesterday, and I didn’t even care when her eyes started to glaze over. I think the poor woman was wondering if I’d ever stop to take a breath (I did).

It’s not just one of the best drugstore foundations I’ve ever found, but one of the best foundations of any kind, ever. Super affordable ($12.99), available in a wide shade range, and best of all, effortlessly natural coverage, like, “What, me? Wear makeup? Naw, I just woke up like this…”

And I don’t even have to resort to special blending methods or doohickeys to make it work. No primers or fancy tools. Just a bit applied with fingers. That’s all.

Right now I’m not using it with powder because my skin’s been incredibly dry, and powder makes it look even drier, but for more coverage I’ll just top it with either MAC Mineralize Skinfinish or Chanel Loose powder.

Holy grail.

How did your last makeup purchase turn out?

Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,

Karen

10 Things I Love About Hourglass Cosmetics

January 21st, 2015 by Karen 27 Comments

Lips by Hourglass Velvet Creme Lipstick in Fever ($30)…

It’s like when I come across something special in a store, like that Peter Som cat dress from Anthropologie, and it feels like the world will crash around me if it doesn’t get in my closet. For me, that’s Hourglass makeup.

Yes, they’re expensive — pretty much the same prices as Chanel and Dior — but there’s something about Hourglass. The simplicity. They don’t have 30 different browns or 20 different red lipsticks, but I’m still always able to find exactly what I’m in the mood to wear. When you wear it, you feel super cool, and your makeup looks good.

I love their textures and the way they elevate basic colors like gold and peach and make them seem so much more elegant and refined, but still accessible at the same time. Sometimes, their new launches are so exciting that they break the Internet (almost).

A lot of the products in my “everyday basics” makeup bag are Hourglass, and here are 10 of the ones I reach for the most…

1. Velvet Creme Lipstick in Fever

Otherwise known as “the lipstick that generates 20 emails to my inbox whenever I wear it on the blog,” and the emails usually say the same thing: “What is that color, BECAUSE I HAVE TO HAVE IT NOW!”

The emails are also often tinged with quiet desperation. Once someone even offered to trade their child’s pony for a tube!

Super creamy, vibrant fuchsia Fever has looked gorgeous on every person I’ve ever seen wear it.

Hourglass Fever Swatch — I’ve got the Fever!!!

2. The Ambient Lighting Blush Palette

Hourglass Ambient Lighting Blush Palette blushes from the left: Luminous Flush, Incandescent Electra and Mood Exposure — Hourglass Ambient Lighting Blush Palette

These are the blushes I reach for when I know I don’t have enough time to really get ready in the morning. They’re like a combination natural-looking blush and subtle highlighter in one.

I’m actually wearing Incandescent Electra, the middle shade, right now because I barely had 60 seconds before I had to leave the house for a dentist’s appointment this afternoon.

Oh, and random info, but today I found out at the dentist that I have thick enamel.

Yeah, apparently it’s something I should be proud of. 🙂

3. Ambient Lighting Blush in Diffused Heat

Hourglass Diffused Heat Ambient Lighting Blush — Diffused Heat

So pretty… A coral with a subtle golden sheen, Diffused Heat is one of my summertime go-to blush shades. If you have warm skin or a bit of a tan, it looks gorgeous paired with coral lipstick or gloss.

4. Hourglass Extreme Sheen High Shine Lip Gloss in Muse

Speaking of coral glosses, have you seen Hourglass Extreme High Shine Lipgloss in Muse!? L-to-the-O-to-the-V-to-the-E.

It’s super moisturizing, shiny and comfy like a Cremesheen Glass. I wear this one year round.

5. Ambient Lighting Powder in Radiant Light

Hourglass Radiant Light Ambient Powde — Golden beige Radiant Light ($45)

This golden beige is another one of my errrday faves. I use it as a highlighter a lot when I’m out cruising the town/about to lay a smack down. Yes, you can call me MC K-Dawg.

Despite the delicate, nuanced shimmer and light color, I can still see it, ya know? Otherwise why bother? I want to see that ish, at least a little!

For pics, it may be a tad too subtle for some gals/guys, especially those who like their highlights bold and brash, but if you like a subtle highlight, GO THERE.
[Continue reading…]

The NARS Eye-Opening Act Spring 2015 Collection: There’s Smoke in the Eye of This Storm

January 21st, 2015 by Karen 29 Comments

Wearing new limited edition spring 2015 items from NARS: Matte Velvet Shadow Stick in Flibuste, Eyeshadow Palette in Yeux Irresistible and Illuminating Multiple in St. Lucia — From the new NARS Eye-Opening Act collection, I’m wearing the Matte Velvet Shadow Stick in Flibuste, the Eyeshadow Palette in Yeux Irresistible, and the Illuminating Multiple in St. Lucia, all available now at Nordstrom stores and online.

Lo! What manner of marvelousness do I see before me? ‘Tis a smokey eye lover’s dream!

New from NARS, the new Eye-Opening Act spring collection is freakin’. Gorgeous.

One of my New Year’s resolutions was to push myself out of my smokey eye comfort zone, but dayum, girl! — this launch is not making that easy.

With a focus on eyes…

Did you get that? “…a focus on eyes”? Ha! You know what they say — a bad pun a day keeps the dentist away. 🙂

NARS Spring 2015 — Seven of eight pieces in the new NARS Eye-Opening Act collection

The eight-piece limited edition release is, for the time being, available now exclusively at Nordstrom (as if I needed another excuse to shop there!), but it also arrives at NARS boutiques and the NARS website March 15.

If the thought of waiting till two days before St. Patrick’s Day pains your makeup-loving heart and you want to jump on these products meow, here’s the gist: two powder eyeshadow palettes (one warm, one cool), a brand-spankin’ new line of creamy stick shadows with a velvety matte finish, and a new shade of Illuminating Multiple.

NARS Yeux Irresistible Eyeshadow Palette and Filbuste Velvet Shadow Stick on my eyes, St. Lucia Illuminating Multiple on my cheeks and lips — From the Yeux Irresistible Eyeshadow Palette, I’m wearing All About Eve (my brow bone and inner corner), Jezebel (lids), Brousse mixed with Coconut Grove (crease and lower lash line), Colombo (center of the lid); I’m also wearing the Velvet Shadow Stick in Filibuste in the outer corners.

Yesterday I wore the $48 warm palette, cutely named Yeux Irresistible, and here’s a testament to how bomb NARS powder eyeshadows are: I was already wearing my foundation and concealer when I started the smokey cat eye portion of the look I’m wearing in these pics…

As you can tell, dark shades are in the house, like the warm brown in my crease, the shimmery sable/coppery red on my lid, and the dark black in the outer corner.

Forty-five minutes into the eye look, I realized something…

There was hardly any fallout. Like, almost none at all. And these are fairly intense colors — the kind that almost always leave at least a little fallout under my eyes — but I hardly had to do any cleanup at all, so two big paws up to NARS for that.

NARS Eyeshadow Palette in Yeux Irresistible ($48), aka “the warm palette”

NARS Eyeshadow Palette in Inoubliable Coup D'Oeil ($48) — NARS Eyeshadow Palette in Inoubliable Coup D’Oeil ($48), aka “the cool palette”

The two palettes in the release aren’t just gorgeous. They’re also easy to blend. Plus, they leave behind almost zero fallout, which adds up to a NARS dream come true if you frequently have a hard time figuring out which shades are warm and which shades are cool.

The collection also marks the launch of an exciting new line of matte cream shadow sticks. You can use the new Velvet Shadow Sticks ($28 each) in a variety of ways, including as a base on your lids, upon which you apply other shadows, or use them as straight-up eyeshadows, which is what I did in this look. I’m using Flibuste, the black shade, in a cat eye shape in the outer corners.

NARS Velvet Shadow Sticks clockwise from the far left: Reykjavick, Glenan, Flibuste and Nunavut — Velvet Shadow Sticks clockwise from the far left in Reykjavick, Glenan, Flibuste and Nunavut ($28 each; four of five are shown)

[Continue reading…]

MAC Unsung Heroes: The Studio Chromagraphic Pencils

January 21st, 2015 by Karen 35 Comments

MAC Chromagraphic Pencil — The MAC Studio Chromagraphic Pencils ($16 each)

Chances are good that if you’ve rolled up to your favorite MAC counter lately (shout-out to the Corte Madera counter at Nordies, woo-hoo!), you probably passed the Studio Chromagraphic Pencils without bringing one home.

MAC Studio Finish Chromagraphic Pencils from the left: NC15/NW20, NW25/NC30, NC42/NW35 — The MAC Studio Finish Chromagraphic Pencils (they aren’t duos) from the left in NC15/NW20, NW25/NC30, NC42/NW35

Honestly, I don’t blame you, because if I didn’t know about them, I’d probably skip ’em too. On paper, they appear quite boring.

Only they’re not. At all. They’re actually really handy. In a nutshell, they’re creamy, flesh-colored eyeliners…which does sound pretty lame, right?

But I keep one of these $16 wonders in my makeup bag at all times and always bring one with me on trips. I use them all the time, really, in so many different ways.

[Continue reading…]