Hourglass

Hourglass Ambient Strobe Lighting Blush Palette Review (Video)

December 9th, 2016 by Karen 13 Comments

’tis the season for sparkle, tinsel, glitter, right? — so why not turn up your cheek situation two or three notches? Or twelve?

Highlights galore going on with the new Hourglass Ambient Strobe Lighting Blush Palette, which is very different than the O.G. Ambient Lighting Blush Palette.

I’m wearing two shades from the new palette in this video because I like to mix-it and match-it that way. I mixed Incandescent Electra (the one on the left) with Brilliant Nude (middle shade), popped that on my cheeks and then buffed it within an inch of its life with a kabuki brush because the sparkle was like HEY GIRL HAAAY, and I happened to be in the mood for mellower shimmer.

The new limited edition Strobe Lighting Blush Palette is $62, and it’s available now at Sephora and Hourglass counters.

hourglass ambient light blush palette 2016 — The new Hourglass Ambient Strobe Lighting Blush Palette shades from left to right: Incandescent Electra, Brilliant Nude and Euphoric Fusion

Other makeup I’m wearing in the video

Face: Hourglass Vanish Foundation in Beige, MAC Mineralize Skinfinish Natural Powder in Medium Golden, NARS Soft Matte Concealers in Macadamia and Ginger

Eyes: MAC Paint Pot in Soft Ochre; MAC Eye Shadows in Mylar, Omega, Wedge and Club; Urban Decay Moondust Eyeshadow in Solstice, Clinique Kajal in Black, NARS Audacious Mascara, MAC Cream Colour Base in Hush

Lips: MAC Velvet Teddy and Creme d’Nude Lipsticks, MAC Mariah Carey Butterfly Bling Lipglass

Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,

Karen

P.S. Happy Friday to you! I hope you’re feeling good today. 🙂 I feel pretty refreshed. esterday I took some time to continue refilling my well, like, I decorated my tree, hung out with the coywolf and baked this loaf of low-fat zucchini chocolate chip bread (I like to bake in my spare time).

Zucchinis and chocolate chips — when you think about them, they don’t sound like should go together, right? They sound kind of gross…but they’re actually great together when you get ’em in a bread situation!

For the record, the bread does NOT taste like a vegetable. The zucchini just adds some background sweetness.

This didn’t exactly photograph well (LOL!), but it’s delicious.

Recharging My Well With Beautiful Things

December 7th, 2016 by Karen 23 Comments

Lately I’ve been feeling like my well is running low…

Not like an actual physical well (because I don’t have a well in my condo!), but I mean the well for, like, my soul — the deep place inside of you that soaks up and stores inspiration and keeps you going. The part you can draw from when you want to do something creative.

I really haven’t been good about refilling my well lately or, to mix metaphors, I really haven’t been good about recharging my batteries. Or adding gas to my creative tank.

Reading helps. And listening to music. And watching brainless TV. And laughing. And any downtime, really. And going for walks. But one of the things that also helps is surrounding myself with beautiful things, and here are a few things I’m surrounding myself with this week to help me “refill my well.”

This notebook by Denik, for starters. I found it on my trip to Tahoe this fall, and I’ve been saving it to use on a rainy day. I love the colors on the cover and the message, “Don’t Quit Your Day Dream,” and the lovely silvery font. The purple and blue speak to me.

Don’t you love new notebooks? — the blank pages and all the possibilities? I’m calling this my “Silver Linings Journal” because I’m going to use it to write about any positive things that happen to me.

It’s so easy to fill journals with bad things, isn’t it? I totally get that, and I’ve done it many times before because it feels good to unload when you aren’t feeling great, and when you don’t want to burden your friends and family. It’s just easier sometimes to lay it all out in a journal.

But I really want to use this journal to celebrate all of the silver linings and good things that happen throughout the day.

Next up…

Plants. When I surround myself with plants, I just feel…happier, so while I was at Trader Joe’s last weekend I took some time to smell the roses, so to speak, and admire their beautiful flowers and greenery.

trader joes glitter tree — You can never have enough glitter

This little glitter tree came home with me!

I had to do it. Isn’t it the cutest!? It’s sprinkled with glitter. There’s glitter in the leaves, glitter in the pot. It’s glorious! There’s glitter everywhere.

It’s here on my desk with me right now. I still have to name him (I’m pretty sure it’s a him)…

Speaking of TJ’s, I also got myself this tiny bouquet of flowers while I was there. It was about $5 and has little hydrangeas and other cute, springy sprigs. There’s also a little pinecone in it, which is hidden in this picture for some unknown reason… I guess she was shy!

trader joes petite bouquet — Flowers usually help

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15-Minute Makeup: Feline Meow With L’Oréal Voluminous Liner Noir, MAC Tabby, NARS Bengali, Bite Beauty Multistick in Papaya, Hourglass Vanish and Lilah B.

October 5th, 2016 by Karen 12 Comments

loreal voluminous liner noir — Is black liquid winged liner ever a good idea when you’ve only got 15 minutes to put on your makeup?

I think I was going for “crazy cat lady in the suburbs” with this ensemble, which I wore yesterday. You know how I mentioned that I’ve been trying to wear more makeup lately? I just wasn’t really into it after having the baby. Well, I’m still out of practice, but I’m trying to push myself a little by wearing makeup every day, and sometimes it turns OK, but sometimes it looks like this.

There are a few things going on with this look. First, there’s, like, a patch here on my chin where I sort of didn’t blend the foundation, but that’s because I spent most of the 15 minutes I spent on the liner — just drawing it and correcting it, and redrawing it.

I thought that I could just use this liner from L’Oréal and some tape for the wings, and that once I did those things, the look would basically be done, but the takeaway lesson here is that if you’re going to attempt a 15-minute makeup look…don’t do black liquid liner…unless you want to be really stressed out, because I was REALLY stressed out the entire time.

Fifteen minutes just wasn’t enough time to do a great job on this.

One side of the liner looked a little thick, while the other side looked a little wonky, so I had to bust out a Q-tip to try and fix it.

It was a mess.

I’m also wearing Hourglass Vanish Seamless Foundation, and despite the big glob on the side on my cheek that I didn’t blend, it turned out OK.

That’s Bite Beauty Multistick in Papaya on my cheeks and lips and some eyeshadows from NARS.

Honestly, the eyeshadow here was basically an afterthought. I did the liner first, and then the shadow on my lids afterward (MAC Tabby cream shadow). And just used neutrals for the rest.

EYES: MAC Pro Longwear Waterproof Colour Stick in Tabby, NARS Bengali and Madrague II eyeshadows, MAC Carbon Eyeshadow, L’Oréal Voluminous Liner Noir Eyeliner, L’Oréal Voluminous Feline Noir Mascara and Chanel Stylo Yeux in Agape

FACE: Make Up For Ever Ultra HD Invisible Cover Concealers in R40 and Y33, Hourglass Vanish Seamless Finish Foundation in Beige, Lilah B. Flawless Finish Foundation in b. classic

LIPS AND CHEEKS: Bite Beauty Multistick in Papaya

Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,

Karen

15-Minute Makeup: Channeling Debbie Harry With Shimmery Eyes and Shiny Red Lips Using the LORAC Mega Pro Palette 3, Hourglass Radiant Magenta and Estée Lauder Controversial

October 3rd, 2016 by Karen 15 Comments

estee lauder vinyl controversial — Inspired by Debbie Harry from the Heart of Glass video

Believe it or not, this was 15-minute makeup. Ain’t got time for anything else, girl.

I think it was a few weeks ago, Pat McGrath posted a picture of Debbie Harry from the Heart of Glass video, and in the picture Debbie has these super shiny red lips, this shimmery eye makeup and a bright pink cheek with highlighter like whoa! — and I just couldn’t get that picture out of my head, so I did my best to channel it.

I don’t know if I was successful… It’s always kind of questionable when it comes to 15-minute makeup, but I did my best. I figured that as long as I get the lips, obviously; the super bright cheek with the highlight; and, well, the shimmery lid and liner, it would somewhat resemble Debbie’s look, and I kinda cheated on everything else.

But you have to make compromises with 15-minute makeup… You know how it is.

The lip is the secret. As long as you’ve got the shiny lip, you’re cool. Then you can power through the skin, brows and mascara.

I didn’t even use primer. I just used Urban Decay Naked Skin One and Done all over, and then Sephora’s Bright Future Gel Serum Concealer on the spots where I wanted more coverage. I placed it right on top of the One and Done and buffed that all together with an Hourglass foundation brush.

lorac mega pro palette 3 cava olive — Wearing the All The Cats Tee from connorclaire.com

Products I’m wearing…

EYES: MAC Pro Longwear Paint Pot in Bare Study, LORAC Mega Pro Palette 3 (Cava mixed with Snow, Olive, and DK Navy mixed with Jet Black), Clinique Quickliner in Intense Ebony, theBalm Mad Lash Mascara

FACE: Urban Decay Naked Skin One and Done in Medium Dark, Sephora Bright Future Gel Serum Concealer, MAC Mineralize Skinfinish Natural in Medium Golden, Hourglass Radiant Magenta Blush, NARS Albatross Blush

LIPS: Estée Lauder Vinyl LipColor in Controversial

In other news

It actually rained here today! Fall is in full effect now. I don’t know if this is related to the weather…but I have a strong urge to fire up my oven and bake something.

Weird.

Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,

Karen

When a Picture’s Worth a Thousand Words, or How I Really Feel About Hourglass Incandescent Electra Blush

September 28th, 2016 by Karen 31 Comments

It’s expensive, but it’s so good. Even though Hourglass has really expensive products, especially the blushes, the powder products? — oh, my gosh. Basically, my nightmare scenario with blush is that I go outside and I’m wearing two little circles on my cheeks, but with this blush, that never happens. I can put it on with one foot out the door, and it looks great. You could be falling out of a plane while putting on blush, and you’d land, and your cheeks would look legit.

PRICE: $38
AVAILABILITY: Available now in the Hourglass permanent line
MAKEUP AND BEAUTY BLOG RATING: A+

Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,

Karen

P.S. Well, basically my whole life has been a lie. I found out yesterday that NASA says that the sky has essentially shifted, and so all of the zodiac signs are a little different. Plus, there’s a thirteenth zodiac sign now, and apparently I’m no longer a Gemini, at least according to NASA. I’m a Taurus.

I can’t even deal… I just can’t.

I Find Myself Asking the Hourglass Ambient Lighting Edit Palette in Surreal Light If We’ve Met Before…

September 16th, 2016 by Karen 21 Comments

hourglass surreal light palette — The new $80 Hourglass Ambient Lighting Edit Palette in Surreal Light, available now at Sephora

I love a cat with marbled sides.

And I also love marbled packaging.

The new $80 Hourglass Surreal Light Ambient Lighting Palette comes dressed to impress in an elegant marbled compact which, by the way, looks a lot like the kitchen of my dreams in my dream house.

When I finally win the lottery, I’m going to point to a pic of this palette and say, “Please do this for my counters, OKTHANXBAI.”

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These Hourglass Vanish Seamless Finish Foundation Sticks Make Unevenness and Redness Go POOF!

July 20th, 2016 by Karen 31 Comments

It’s kind of amazing how far foundation has come in such a relatively short amount of time. There are so many products on counters now that are getting close to realistic-looking skin. I’m talking finishes and textures and colors and coverages that are virtually imperceptible, and all I have to say to that is “yay!” This is a trend worthy of an all-caps WOOT-WOOT.

These new $46 Hourglass Vanish Seamless Foundation Sticks are the latest realistic-looking foundations to jump into the ring, providing the coverage of a concealer, the maneuverability of a liquid and the weightlessness of a powder.

And that’s all great, but I also like how quick they can be used (roughly a minute or two). It’s like boom, boom, boom! — a little swipe here, a little swipe there, cheeks, nose, forehead, chin. Then blend that in with a brush for lovely, even-toned skin without any of that heaviness, or that caked-on nonsense where it feels like you’re wearing a mask.

hourglass vanish foundation before-after — From the left: bare skin, then a layer of Beige by itself, and then Beige worn with additional makeup

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Yeah, It’s Time to Highlight These Hourglass Ambient Strobe Lighting Powders

January 22nd, 2016 by Karen 19 Comments

Whenever I think of Hourglass makeup, I think of elegance…refinement…and makeup that’s friggin’ beautiful, and their four new $38 Ambient Strobe Lighting Powders evoke the living daylights out of all three of those things (I also talk about them briefly in this 5 Things I’m Loving Lately video).

To me, this is highlighting done so incredibly right.

hourglass ambient strobe lighting powder 2 — The four new Hourglass Ambient Strobe Lighting Powders

hourglass ambient strobe lighting powder brilliant — Hourglass Ambient Strobe Lighting Powder in Brilliant Strobe Light

I admit it: I get persnickety sometimes about my powder highlighters because, ya know, when you’re a woman of a certain age, the metallic ones? — even though they’re lovely, dramatic and ever-so eye-catching, they can also be a bear to work with when the frosty flecks go snorkeling in your pores and fine lines, and they end up highlighting all the stuff that you actually didn’t want to highlight at all…

hourglass ambient strobe lighting powder euphoric — Hourglass Ambient Strobe Lighting Powder in Euphoric Strobe Light

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