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
“Favorite,” singular, implies just one, which I know is perhaps impossibly hard, so feel free to list them all . 🙂
Mine are, in no particular order…
Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,
Karen
“Because Old Navy” is as good a reason as any to sport sparkly skin on a typical spring Tuesday. Or Wednesday. ?
I mean, I really just want to get out of my pajamas before noon and feel cute again on the regular, truth be told. If there’s a maximum number of days a person should spend in sleepwear per year, I’ve definitely exceeded that limit!
Like the subtle spring sparkle look I did for last weekend’s luncheon, this one also took about 10 minutes. The spring sparkle comes courtesy of glossy coral lips, khaki lids and lash lines with subtle shimmer, and glowing skin.
All of the primary face products I used — the tint, powder, bronzer, highlighter and even the setting spray — have subtle shimmer and create a dewy, glowing look that’s perfect for a sunny spring day.
I hadn’t been to Old Navy in a while, and guuurl, sometimes when I go in there the store looks like the ninth wrinkled polyester circle of hell, but yesterday, not so much.
Ugh, SO MUCH CUTENESS! They’ve got this retro tropical vibe happening, and it speaks to my soul. Hibiscus, parrots, palm trees left and right. Good thing I had Connor with me and she was getting antsy for lunch because I would’ve been tempted to stay a lot longer and try everything on.
QUICK EYESHADOW TIP FOR HOODED LIDS: Looking straight into the mirror when you’re applying your eyeshadow, as opposed to holding your mirror at an angle, helps you tell how far up to take the shadow on the hooded portion of your eye — but don’t stop there! If you also turn your head from side to side, left to right and back, you can keep checking the outer corner of the hood to tell how far out to take that eyeshadow, too. 😉
Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,
Karen
Am I in my 40s? Yes. Do I still love wearing glitter? Yes… Is there a way to reconcile both of these things without 1) trying too hard or 2) looking like I’m trying too hard?
Let’s find out, haha! 🙂
Last weekend I went to a Sunday lunch at a fancy brunch place in town with the new members of the moms group I belong to, and I was really excited to go because when do I ever dress up anymore and enjoy a meal that doesn’t involve me getting food on myself as I feed or pet a little animal?
Answer: hardly ever.
I wanted to do something that felt a little glamorous and special, but, you know, for lunch, so I still wanted it to be somewhat reserved.
This look took 10 minutes, and I can confirm that it only took 10 minutes because that’s exactly how much time I had to put on makeup before I had to leave the house.
Of course, the original plan was to take my time and enjoy the process, leisurely get ready (that’s half the fun of going out, right?), but as usual, even though I woke up super early and had a detailed checklist, everything came down to the wire.
I had to be out of the house by 11:15. At 10:45, I still hadn’t gotten dressed (which is another story, oy!) or done my makeup and hair.
So, yes, this look DOES come together really quickly, in case you were thinking, “Eh, I don’t have time for that!”
For the subtle shimmer, I used two of my current faves from the MAC Dazzleshadow line, which I patted on my lids with a finger. A few flecks fell onto my cheeks, but overall the fallout with these shadows is so minimal, and I usually just incorporate it into the look. 🙂
I’m convinced that my Trader Joe’s on Redwood Blvd. in Novato is the best Trader Joe’s in all the land, and I say “my” like I own the place or something, LOL! I don’t own it (I wish), but I might as well be the mayor because I’m there practically daily.
In case you were wondering…they still have that excellent Shea Butter & Coconut Oil Hair Mask in stock (in case you were wondering), and if you haven’t tried it yet, ya need to get on that, sister! It’s worth a trip to TJ’s all by itself.
But since you’ll be there anyway, the Coconut Body Butter is also epic. 🙂
While you’re at it, toss a few of these into your cart…
I never leave the store without getting at least a couple of these frozen Reduced Guilt Spinach & Cheese Stuffed Shells. They’re 270 calories, with 33 grams of carbs and 20 grams (!) of protein, which is more protein than three eggs! Since the last thing I want to do at 7:30 at night when I get home from the gym is make something from scratch, these are great for quickie post-workout meals.
NOW THIS IS THE STUFF —->
When I get a hankerin’ for crab, which happens fairly often because I love crab, a box of this is where it’s at.
This powder is So. Dang. Good.
I don’t think it’s as overall epic as MAC Mineralize Skinfinish Natural, because that’s just… Well, it ticks off all the boxes, and I’m not gonna go there again because I know I talk about it all the time, so I won’t put you through that again. 🙂 But Mineralize Foundation/Loose provides more coverage than MAC Next to Nothing and MAC Blot, but less than MAC Studio Fix Loose. Basically, it has the same magical “your skin but better” mana that Mineralize Skinfinish Natural has, but with a tad more coverage.
What’s an unsung makeup hero? For me, it’s an oftentimes underrated makeup morsel, a permanent collection product that scoots under the radar screen of many makeup lovers but regularly rocks my world. The long-running Unsung Heroes series features some of my favorites.
Never cake-y, never heavy, never overly shiny or overly matte, it’s phenomenal at controlling oil (although, if you have an oil slick situation, by mid-morning you’ll probably do better if you use something like MAC Blot instead). The main difference between Mineralize Foundation/Loose and MSF Natural is the level of coverage, as the loose version is straight-up medium coverage, and the pressed version is sheerer, but still build-able up to medium.
Technically, it’s a foundation, and you can wear it by itself, which is really handy for quick makeup looks, but I also think it looks lovely on top of a sheer tint or a BB or CC cream.
I would love Mineralize Foundation/Loose even more if it wasn’t only available in seven bizarrely staggered shades. It’s just so wonky… MSF Natural comes in 17 shades, so what’s the deal with only seven shades of Mineralize Foundation/Loose? And the steps between the the shades make absolutely no sense to me. I’m a MAC NC42 and wear Medium Deep, but the next darker shade, Medium Dark, is like three shades darker than that and super orange.
I don’t get it, but I hope you find a match, because if you do, I think you’ll fall in love.
So…what is the Monday Poll?
Well, it isn’t exactly a poll… It’s more of a constantly evolving (devolving?), somewhat random list of questions I’ve been doing every Monday morning for the past 11 (!) years. (It’s like a kick start for your brain.) I’ve always enjoyed reading your answers in the comments and getting my week off to a good start, and I hope you do, too.
It’s just my younger brother Al and I, and we have the same strange sense of humor and the same, like, zeal for life? On the big things, like politics and religion, I think we’re on a similar page.
But we’re also different in a lot of mostly small ways, too. For instance, I like pop music, and he likes music that’s too experimental and cerebral for me. 🙂
One of the bigger differences between us is how we approach our roles in the family, and this is probably because of birth order. I’m the older one, and I feel like it’s on me a lot of the time to plan things and steer the ship, whereas Al just gets to be a passenger on the ship…
I think for me the question is more, “When was the last time I didn’t spend the whole day in my pajamas?” Haha! See, the thing is, my pajamas spill over into my workout wear, which spills over into my regular clothes, so, technically, what I can go to sleep in, I could also wear to the grocery store, and then also to my exercise class.
Like the tank top from Old Navy that I wore to bed the other night, I also wore to work out in the following morning, and if I wanted to I could have also run errands in that tank top and nobody would have been the wiser.
In the biggest plot twist of the year… Just kidding, it’s still me. 🙂 I’m still the one who wears the most makeup. It’s always been that way, and I suspect that it’s going to continue being that way until we’re living in Miami as the nouveau Golden Girls. I’m happy with that.
Yesterday afternoon at a mom’s luncheon for the mother’s group I belong to. A woman came in, and she was in tears. She had a 7-month-old at home, and I guess she hadn’t gotten out in a while. I just remember that feeling being so raw and so real that I had to get up and give her a hug.
Mile-wise, I don’t know, but it was about a two-hour drive north of where I grew up in the Bay Area, up to Davis, California, for school, so I’ve really never moved very far.
I still think about picking up and moving someplace cheaper to live than the Bay Area, because it’s so expensive here now, but my parents are here, and they’re getting older; and my brother is here; and El Hub’s job is here; and this is where most of my friends are… It gets harder when you have ties.
This is something my mom always said to me growing up, and even though I used to think it was kinda cheesy when I was younger I really appreciate it now, especially on Monday mornings. Hopefully you can find a reason to smile this morning, even if it’s a small thing, like the short walk you’re going to take on your break, or your yummy lunch!
Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,
Karen
P.S. Here are the questions to copy and paste with your answers in a comment:
1. Are you and your siblings a lot alike?
2. When was the last time you spent a whole day in your pajamas?
3. Among your current circle of friends and family, who wears the most makeup?
4. Last time you gave a stranger a hug?
5. What’s the furthest you’ve ever moved?
Who’s the suavest, most debonair, most sophisticated security cat in Novato?
Tabs, that’s who. 🙂
He likes to send a message to any would-be cat or canine intruders that there’s a together cat with impeccable style holding down the fort.
Overall, things were uneventful on this morning’s patrol. There were a couple of unruly turkeys and one suspicious cat, but all of them kept their distance when they saw Tabs.
