Dior

Current Foundation Love: Diorskin Nude Air Serum Foundation [VIDEO]

March 27th, 2015 by Karen 18 Comments

Gurl, I can’t even… This foundation!? It is SO good that I haven’t even touched my previous holy grail, Laura Mercier Flawless Fluide in Chai, in weeks.

And before finding this, I was all about that Chai. I’m talking months of Karen + Chai. We were inseparable.

Aww! Now I’m actually starting to feel a little bad about it. Poor Chai, all neglected and lonely, abandoned like an old toy. 🙁

LOL! But I do kind of feel like we’ve broken up, and that I should do the things that broken up couples do, like go to over to Chai’s house to get my CDs, clothes and pizza pie pans.

We’re just on a break though. I still ❤ Chai.

Anywho…

Dior. Foundation. Amazing-ness. I go into it more in this video, but here are the main points: finish, formula and pores. Nude Air has a velvety finish and medium coverage, but you can build it up to just shy of full. It’s not a flat matte, and I’m loving that about it, because these days my primary objective is obtaining natural-looking, radiant skin.

Available in eight shades (I wear the one called Honey Beige)

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Fill Your Prescription for Pretty Lips With the New Marvelously Moisturizing Dior Rouge Dior Brilliant Lipshine & Care Couture Colours

February 19th, 2015 by Karen 18 Comments

Dior Rouge Dior Brilliant Lipshine & Care Couture Colour in Victoire (left) and Darling (right)

Dr. Dior doctor is in, and she’s ready to dispense the right dosage of your next new (possibly) favorite moisturizing lip gloss.

Yes, that’s right! The new Dior Rouge Dior Brilliant Lipshine & Care Couture Colours, of which there are 12, may look and feel like run-of-the-mill lip glosses, but they’re filed under the “Lip Balm” category.

They’re formulated with a blend of oils and vitamin E to quench parched pouts, although quickly scanning the ingredient list, the first oil I recognize is luffa cylindric seed oil, and it’s quite a ways down, but I digress…

Beyond how moisturizing these are — and they are moisturizing — one of my favorite things about them is the design of the doe foot. It has a divot in the center that holds some of the gloss in a tiny reservoir, making it easy to apply/deliver a good dose.

I’m lovin’ orangey coral Victoire and hot pink Darling. Both douse my dry lips with unflavored, unscented moisture and last 2-3 hours. If you like the medium-weight, non-sticky formula of the Chanel Rouge Allure Extrait De Glosses, you’ll probably also like these. They’re very similar.

Now THIS is the kind of medicine I don’t mind! 🙂 All 12 shades ($35 each) are available now online and at Dior counters in Neiman Marcus stores.

Rouge Dior Brilliant Lipshine & Care Couture Colour in Darling

Rouge Dior Brilliant Lipshine & Care Couture Colour in Victoire

Dior Rouge Dior Brilliant Lipshine & Care Couture Colour in Darling (left) and Victoire (right) — Rouge Dior Brilliant Lipshine & Care Couture Colour in Darling (left) and Victoire (right)

WARNING: The Dior 5-Couleurs Eyeshadow Palette in Pied De Poule Could Trigger Full-On Fall Makeup Madness

August 18th, 2014 by Karen 20 Comments

Between all the lusciously dark NARS Audacious Lipsticks and this sumptuously smokey Dior 5-Couleurs Eyeshadow Palette in Pied De Poule ($60), I think I’m starting to seriously entertain the notion of leaving behind minimal summer makeup, and embracing full-on fall makeup madness.

BRING ON THE SMOKEY EYES! 😀

Who’s with me?

Dior’s 5-Couleurs Eyeshadow Palette in Trafalgar: Your Seasonal Summer-to-Fall Chaperone

August 15th, 2014 by Karen 14 Comments

Dior Trafalgar — Wearing the Dior 5-Couleurs Eyeshadow Palette in Trafalgar

Oh, gawd! That red in the center of Dior’s new 5-Couleurs Eyeshadow Palette in Trafalgar ($60) is utterly terrifying…and yet so tantalizingly tempting at the same time.

I have to be careful… If I stare at it too long, I can’t look away. Kind of like watching The Hills (which I’ve been doing A LOT lately).

When I haven’t been pondering the sanctity of girl code and how it was broken in the infamous Brody/Lauren/Jen Bunney love triangle, I’ve been looking for makeup to take me from summer into fall.

Trafalgar has two gorgeous shades that’ll make the seasonal transition easier — a shimmery plummy bronze and a shimmery gold.

Bridging the gap from summer to fall

Both of them have warm, rich tones that look lovely on an end-of-summer tan. I’ve been wear them lately with purple and bronze liners on my lash and water lines, and pairing them with nude cheeks and lips to keep the overall look light and summery.

The plummy bronze and gold also happen to work well with richer cheek and lip colors, like berries, browns and plums, so when fall rolls around, all I’ll have to do is swap out the nude cheeks and lips for something like the dusty rose blush and berry lipstick I’m wearing in these pics…

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Nails Are Barred From Being Boring With Dior Fall 2014 Vernis Nail Lacquer in Bar

August 5th, 2014 by Karen 9 Comments

Dior Nail Vernis in Bar — The new Dior Vernis Nail Lacquer in Bar 902; necklace is The Audrey Necklace by Kristin Perry

I wish there was a nail polish equivalent for Spanx.

I mean, I wouldn’t want it for making my nails look less muffin-toppy, because yeah, that would be kind of dumb. 🙂 More for smoothing everything out, so colors like Dior’s new Vernis Nail Lacquer in Bar ($25) wouldn’t have so many lumps and bumps.

While totally fierce, Bar, a jet-black with hints of blue and secret shimmer, emphasizes every imperfection on my nails, be they ridges, chipped tips or application mistakes. It’s just so, so dark.

Not dark as in a depressing Cure song, but dark in an elegant way, like something a modern Holly Golightly might wear while drinking Starbucks and gnawing on a chocolate croissant in front of the Tiffany’s windows one day.

I bet that Holly G. would dig Bar. Maybe she’d even want to stop by the Dior counter to check it out, along with the rest of the 5 Couleurs Fall 2014 collection.

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For a Chic Twist on a Neutral Look, Try Pairing Dark Blue Eyeshadow With Dark Blue Nails, and Use the Shadow as a Liner

July 1st, 2014 by Karen 29 Comments

Blue liner and nails with NARS Giove and Chanel Orage — Here I’m doing a Vulcan mind meld on myself… Kidding. I’m wearing Dual-Intensity Eyeshadow in Giove as a liner on my lash lines and Chanel Le Vernis Nail Colour in Orage on my claws.

QUESTION: Why use a blue eyeshadow instead of a blue liner?

ANSWER: Why not?

Picture it: dark blue liner coupled with super deep, dark, almost black nails, only, instead of using a pencil, gel or liquid liner, you use a powder eyeshadow.

NARS Giove and Chanel Orage — Incidentally, that’s Dolce & Gabbana Classic Cream Lipstick in Petal on my lips.

Do you ever just get stuck in a rut and feel like you’re wearing nothing but brown and beige? Feel like trying something different but don’t want to go over the top?

I’m always looking for ways to keep things interesting for myself, especially when it comes to wearable makeup looks — ideally chic and wearable, but not totally snooze-worthy, if you catch my drift.

One day I decided to pair dark blue liner with dark blue claws, and the first thing I thought when I finished was, “Why haven’t I done this before?”

Seriously, though, why use a blue eyeshadow as a liner instead of an actual blue liner?

NARS Duo-Intensity Eyeshadow in Giove — Ciao, NARS Giove!

Using a dark blue eyeshadow as a liner, instead of a dark blue pencil, gel or liquid eyeliner, creates a more diffused edge, so the overall effect looks softer.

I’ve done it with lots of different liner styles, too, like spicy cat eye looks, and even soft washes of color, where the liner is smudged along my upper and lower lash lines.

Sometimes I’m just in the mood for a blurred edge (and the accompanying less attention to detail).

Just for fun: add dark blue nails

Chanel Le Vernis Nail Colour in Orage, $27

I like seeing the flash of dark blue on my fingers whenever I tuck my bangs behind my ears or push my (nerdy Gamma Ray computer glasses) up.

And it think it sort of reinforces the blue liner, too. You know, more blue.

I also like how the softer liner contrasts with the harder edge of the dark blue nails, so you also have that contrasty thing going.

I call this liner look the Tabby T-1000 (after the liquid metal Terminator from T2)

For this cat liner look, I applied metallic dark blue NARS Dual-Intensity Eyeshadow in Giove ($29) with an angled brush.

First, I applied it dry to create the shape of the cat eye and get that softer edge. Then I wet the brush head, dipped it back into the pan, and applied the shadow on my lash line close to the lashes, to sort of intensify the metallic finish and crete a subtle gradient.

You could definitely keep it simpler by picking one — just wet or just dry — but ya know. I’m just saying.

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A Review of the New Dior Addict Fluid Sticks, and a Peek Into the Life and Times of an Ex-Beauty Blogger in a Post-Apocalyptic Zombie World

March 24th, 2014 by Karen 32 Comments

This review is for my fellow fans of The Walking Dead. If you’re unfamiliar with the show and/or otherwise averse to zombies, skip down to the subheading titled “The Dior Addict Fluid Sticks ($35 each)” for the scoop on Dior’s new line of liquid lipstick-lipgloss hybrids coming this spring to Dior counters and online.

Dear Diary,

Hard to believe there was a time when I wrote every day. That world seems so far away right now, like a hazy, wonderful dream.

To be honest, I can’t remember the last time I wrote. I think it might’ve been a few days before The Turn.

Can you believe it? There was a time when I updated MBB every. single. day. That all stopped when the Internet went down for good. Crazy pants. Well, at least I can say that I wrote hard until the end. *Raises dirty fist with broken, janky nails half-heartedly in the air.*

But seriously, talk about a career that leaves you ill-equipped for the zombie apocalypse! I mean, really now, who has the time and energy to write these days!? Dude, not getting eaten by flesh eaters is hard enough as it is. Sh*t is not easy!

LOL… Well, at least I haven’t completely lost my sense of humor.

Thank you, universe, for letting me find this empty notebook while out scavenging this morning. Who knows? Maybe it’ll somehow keep me alive one more day.

Sigh… I still can’t believe this is the world now.

Dior Addict Fluid Sticks in 551 Aventure and 338 Mirage — Dear diary…

I used to spend my days in front of a keyboard, drinking coffee, writing about eyeshadow and lipstick and chatting online with friends all over the world. I wonder what happened to all those girls (and the five boys). I hope they survived. I hope they’re ok.

My heart aches… I miss my family. My husband. My cat.

Good grief, I am still really, REALLY p*ssed off at that man for leaving me! See, Karen, that’s what you get for marrying someone who will sacrifice himself to keep you alive. I hate him for that!

I love him for that. Loved him… Can’t keep my tenses right. Can’t think about this right now. Lock it up in a box, Karen. Keep it there for a rainy day. You have to do like he told you to do. Can’t fall apart. Must stay strong. Keep going.

Deep breath… Need to think about things that make you happy. Kittens! Chocolate! Makeup! Oh, gosh, I found some Dior the other day, believe it or not. Two Dior Addict Fluid Sticks. Still in their boxes! They were inside a shopping bag in an empty car on the side of the road.

Dior Addict Fluid Sticks in 551 Aventure (left) and 338 Mirage (right) — Addict Fluid Sticks in 551 Aventure (left) and 338 Mirage (right), $35 each

Leave it to the ex-beauty blogger to grab the lipgloss/liquid lipstick hybrids, haha. At least I didn’t overlook the crowbar in the trunk. (El Hub always said, “Don’t forget to grab a weapon. Ideally one with some length.”)

It was like Christmas! There was a lighter shade, 338 Mirage. It’s a light peachy coral. And also 551 Aventure, a reddish coral. I couldn’t resist applying Mirage right then and there. I looked in the car’s rear view mirror and couldn’t help but laugh. My lips looked glossy for the first time in weeks. Months? But hello, dark circles and upper lip hair like whoa!

Dior Addict Fluid Stick swatches in in 338 Mirage (left) and 551 Aventure (right) — Addict Fluid Stick swatches in 338 Mirage (left) and 551 Aventure (right)

As I rubbed my lips together and admired my Ron Burgundy mustache (as you can probably imagine, body hair removal isn’t a high priority these days), bits and pieces of my former life came flooding back. The Dior Addict Fluid Sticks…

The Dior Addict Fluid Sticks ($35 each)

I remember… These were released in the spring of 2014. Liquid lipstick-gloss hybrids. They feel creamy and slick like liquid lipsticks but have the shiny finish of a gloss, and they leave my lips with a delicate stain that fades over the course of 2-3 hours.

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Giving Lips the Royale Treatment: Dior’s Diorific Lipstick in Royale, From the New Golden Winter Holiday Collection

October 24th, 2013 by Karen 31 Comments

Dior Diorific Lipstick in Royale from the new Golden Winter Collection — Dior Diorific Lipstick in Royale, from the new Golden Winter Collection

Never you mind that I’m 3,678 degrees of separation away from royalty. Even in glasses, my tow-up jeans with the hole in the left butt cheek, and my over-sized cat lady leopard sweater (yo, I’m stylin’ and profilin’ every day of my life!), I feel hella regal wearing Dior’s new $36 Diorific Lipstick in Royale. 🙂

Royale, a member of the House of Dior’s new Golden Winter holiday collection, pulls up to Dior counters in its royal carriage next month. A creamy neutral pink with little bits of golden glitter (visible to anyone who gets up in your grill, but not so much from an arm’s length away), it shimmers with secret lipstick sparkle.

Somebody hand me my scepter, and CHOP-CHOP! — make it snappy. I don’t remember where I left it, but it looks like this lipstick’s limited edition packaging. I know it’s around here somewhere… Like the lipstick, it’s gold, curvy and aristocratic.

Dior Royale Lipstick Golden Winter Collection — If I had a scepter, it would look like this…only longer

By proclamation, as the ruler of the Empire of Messyofficia, I name Royale the Official Pink Lipstick of the Royal Court for the following three reasons…

The lovely light rose flavor and scent, which linger as long as I wear it
The lightweight, yet full-coverage formula
The potent moisturizing power and wear time of 3-4 hours

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