MAC Cosmetics

All Star Products for 3-Minute, No-Makeup Makeup

February 4th, 2020 by Karen 14 Comments

Some days you have 20 minutes to put on your makeup…and some days you only have three.

Yesterday was a “three” day for me. I had to drop off Connor at preschool in the morning before heading to the bakery, as usual, but because I was running late (I’d just finished making her lunch, and then I accidentally dropped EVERYTHING on the floor, ARRGHHH! It happened in slow motion, too! I’ve re-lived those sliced bananas falling to the ground about 20 times already.), I only had a sliver of time to transform myself from full-on two-month-turned zombie to quasi, two-days-dead semi-zombie. Three minutes, to be precise, and yes, I timed it, because without a timer, I’d never make it out the door on time.

I’ll be the first to admit that there isn’t anything glamorous or dramatic or life-changing about this makeup, but you know what? Sometimes I crave looks like this, like on the days when lunch falls on the ground (THOSE BANANAS ARE STILL HAUNTING ME), and the last thing I need is to be deeply challenged by my concealer or crease color.

If I were to compare this type of makeup to a hair style, it would be like running a brush through your hair, and putting it in a neat, low ponytail before donning a cute baseball cap. 🙂

The real MVP in this look: Charlotte Tilbury’s Hollywood Flawless Filter

I love and wear it ALL THE FREAKIN’ TIME (my shade is 5 Tan). This tinted moisturizer has very fine pearlescent particles that make your skin look dewy (but not oily), and it gives enough coverage to hide redness and ever-so-slightly diffuse pigmentation and freckles. It’s also still somewhat sheer and doesn’t look thick.

(You will not look like you’re wearing a mask.)

From a few feet away, most folks won’t even be able to tell you’re wearing makeup. They’ll just assume you have naturally flawless skin. LOVE IT, LOVE IT, LOOOOOOVE IT.

Other key players

What else is doing the heavy lifting here?

I’m also wearing two gel cheek products by Chantecaille — their Radiance Gel Bronzer and Hydrating Gel-Cream Blush in Happy. I mixed a few dots of both on the back of my hand and patted/blended the combo directly on my cheeks with fingers. Just like Charlotte Tilbury Flawless Filter, these two moderately pigmented products deposit natural-looking color and don’t look obvious or heavy, so they’re ideal for fresh-faced cheek color that lasts all day long.

I wear them all the time and love them to bits.

Eyes and lips

I did the bare minimum on my eyes and lips.

A quick lash curl and a couple layers of mascara (IT Cosmetics Superhero, a superstar for thickness and curl) and a dash of dark brown eyeliner on the upper waterline (just at the roots of the lashes) immediately opens up my eyes.

Next, I quickly filled in my brows with MAC Brun eyeshadow using an angled brush, then ran a clear brow gel through them. I like to do the clear brow gel last because it mellows any overly dark spots.

Last, but not least, I lined and filled in my lips with a nude liner, then topped them off with a glossy lip tint.

Done and DONE, in less than three minutes! 🙂

Isn’t it nice sometimes to just get your face on quickly so you can jump directly into your day?!

Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,

Karen

Easy Makeup Look Idea: Olive Eyeliner, Warm Brown Eyeshadow and Matte Fuchsia Lipstick

January 30th, 2020 by Karen 25 Comments

mac all fired up — Someone turns four this March! (No, not me.)

Some mornings are for blending six shadows on your lids, and other mornings are not.

Those are the mornings made for large quantities of coffee…and for cuddles…and for easy makeup.

Initially, when I set out to do this post, I planned to wear smokey, olive eye makeup on my lids to go with the bright fuchsia matte lipstick (All Fired Up — a MAC *must*), but Connor needed extra baby love in the morning, so that plan went out the window. *Poof!*

She’s just shy of four, and some days she’s big enough to handle ALL HER BUSINESS AND THEN SOME (“I’m a big girl, mama, and I can do it myself!”), but other days, like this one, she needs some extra hugs and songs, and I’m happy to oblige her. So, no blending of six shadows on this day for this mama, LOL!

Instead, I went with a hazy olive eyeliner (gotta love how forgiving blurred edges are), a wash o’ warm brown eyeshadow, and a matte fuchsia lipstick.

Yeah, it’s streamlined and totally unfussy, but I still like it a lot. The bold lip and the flash of shimmer in the liner give it some interesting elements.

mac all fired up swatch — My skin tone is MAC NC42.

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Greens and Grays

January 29th, 2020 by Karen 18 Comments

Raise your paw if you ever get stuck in color combo ruts.

I FEEL YOU!

So, lately I’ve been trying to wear color combos that I normally wouldn’t think to pair together, but it’s hard to break out of old habits, man. Like with this green and gray look. I naturally want to wear greens with warm brown, so it was a little challenging to go against my nature and swap the brown for gray.

I ended up liking how it turned out, though, so yay for makeup experiments! I’m getting a springtime vibe from it… Only 51 days till winter is over.

There’s a ton of sh*t happening on the lids, I know. It’s A LOT of color. I started with a mid-toned matte gray in the crease, then blended a shimmery green on the lids and lower lash lines, finishing with a darker blackened green on the outer corner and a bright light green on the lower waterline (I think it pops against the darker colors). And lots of mascara, of course.

Makeup worn in this look

Eyes: NARS Eyeshadow Primer in Medium (all over lids), Viseart Netural Matte Palette (matte gray shade in crease), UD Born to Run Palette (green is Wanderlust and Big Sky mixed together and applied with a wet brush to lid and lower lash line); the dark greenish blackened gray in the outer corner is Jet, Drift and Radio mixed together), Urban Decay liner in Freak (lower lash and water lines), IT Cosmetics Superhero Mascara (lashes), MAC Brun and Omega (brows)

Cheeks: Clinique Cupid Blush, MAC Hush (highlighter), Hourglass Radiant Bronze Light (bronzer)

Base: MAC Next to Nothing Face Colour in Medium Plus and MAC Studio Fix Soft Matte Foundation Stick in NC42 (foundation), Estee Lauder 24H Concealer in Medium Deep Warm (concealer), MAC Mineralize Skinfinish Natural in Medium Golden (powder)

Lips: Estee Lauder Raw Sugar Lipstick topped with Hourglass Horizon Lipgloss

Coywolf’s snow story

When I dropped off the Coywolf at school one day this week, I couldn’t help but notice some new artwork on the classroom wall. Last week the kids all got to take turns dressing up in an Olaf snowman costume and discussing snow, and the teacher took pics. I had one of those, “This is definitely my child” moments when I found Connor’s…

I like the part where she talks about ice cubes on her head, ha ha ha!

Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,

Karen

The MAC 240S: My Preferred Brush for Precise Face Powder Placement

January 28th, 2020 by Karen 5 Comments

Generally, I try to wear the bare minimum amount of face powder I can get away with because when I pile it on, I think it makes me look older. *Le sigh* But even though I don’t wear a ton, I still like to wear some because it 1) mellows out my pores, 2) sets my foundation/concealer so they last longer, and 3) reduces the gleam on the shine spots.

Technically, my fave powder brush du jour is an oversized eye blending brush, the MAC 240S ($34). It’s perfect for that “just enough powder but not too much” look I like, and I love the shape and size. It’s like an XXL tapered blending brush, so it’s handy for applying a thin veil of product right in the center of my forehead…

As well as down the sides of my nose (which tend to be shiny).
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Smokey Eyes, Smudged Sparkly Eyeliner, and Why Clean Tapered Blending Brushes Are Your BFF

January 23rd, 2020 by Karen 18 Comments

smokey eyes sparkly lashlines — Back in my happy place!

Can I get a whoop-whoop from all my kindred spirits out there? — the makeup lovers who love rubbing freshly washed air-dried brushes ever-so-gently across their face, and love the fresh scent of those baby soft bristles? (Side note: If this describes you, I bet you also like sticking your face in clean laundry when it comes out of the dryer, too!)

The reason you’re staring at this bevy of brushes is because I built a big-@ss pile of dirty brushes I’d been needing to wash since — gulp! — before Thanksgiving. Weeks ago, I tucked them away in a corner of my office and kinda forgot.

WHOOPS!

Well, I washed them yesterday because the bakery has been closed this week. Apparently, no one comes in this time of year because many people are still on their New Year’s diets, but folks start to fall off the wagon toward the end of January.

So…I finally had time to wash this big-@ss pile of brushes, and I also had time to do the makeup love of my life: SMOKEY EYES.

A few things…

I always forget what a difference clean tapered blending brushes can make. Just in case you don’t know what I’m talking about, this is what they look like:

tapered blending brush clean — It’s handy to have a few around.

Whenever I’m doing smokey looks, clean tapered blending brushes are very, very handy… At the very least, I like to keep two or three on deck. Having bristles that don’t have any eyeshadow on them is key because the clean brush hairs pick up/remove excess eyeshadow while also softening any hard edges, so everything looks that much smoother and more seamless.

Another thing? You’ll want to use the lightest touch while blending, and avoid pressing so hard that the bristles splay out (this just presses the powder into your pores, which makes it harder to sheer out your shadow). All you want is the very tip to lightly touch your lid.

smokey eyes tapered blending light touch — Please don’t smash your brush head into your crease.

smokey eyes sparkly lashlines unblended blneded — You know those pics of yourself online where you look crazy? YUP.

Last, but not least, always keep a clean tapered brush around for a last blending pass at the end. After you’ve done everything — base, blush, lips, the whole schebang — lightly blend your eyeshadow one last time, both on top of the lids and along the edges of the shadow to finalize the shape of your eye makeup.

It makes all the difference!

Makeup worn in this look

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Lip of the Day: MAC So Me

January 21st, 2020 by Karen 13 Comments

I’ve been trying to take my own advice and break free from my usual color comfort zone, and $22 matte gray-plum MAC Retro Matte in So Me adeptly qualifies. It’s waaaaay outta my usual wheelhouse. It may be called “So Me,” but I call it “So Not Me.” 🙂 Ha ha ha!

Back in high school algebra class, I sat next to a very sweet girl who I realize now as I look back… I’m pretty sure she was high up the totem pole in a neighborhood gang with a rough reputation.

I didn’t think about it at the time… I just knew her as the nice girl in my math class.

Anyway, I do have a point here, and it’s that she wore a lipstick in this exact same color, and it looked beautiful on her. So Me has a very ’90s tough-but-sweet vibe, so if you’re looking for a retro early ’90s lippie, this is it.

At the risk of sounding like a broken record, the MAC liquid lipsticks are so, so good. They’re one of very few formulas out there that my eternally dry lips can handle, and you can pop one on in the morning and not think about it for the rest of your day, which is what I did when I wore this to work. I applied it just before going into a five-our shift, and when I picked up Connor at preschool that afternoon, she said, “Are you wearing lipstick? IS IT BROWN?” LOL. In a nutshell, this stuff lasts!

Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,

Karen

Throwback Thursdays: Bright Blue Inner Corners and Ice Skating!

January 16th, 2020 by Karen 9 Comments

I got all the nostalgic feels with this late ’90s-inspired look with bright blue inner corners (thanks, MAC Tilt). Was anybody else obsessed with blazingly bright inner corner highlights way back when? I most certainly was. I usually rocked MAC Vex around the tear ducts. (Side note: normally accompanied by a frosty brow bone and HELLA SKINNY brows, OMG!)

I felt like revisiting old-school inner corner highlights with this look because I saw a character wearing something similar on a show I just started watching on Netflix called Spinning Out.

It’s a drama about some Olympic hopeful ice skaters (January Jones of Mad Men fame is in it), and if you start watching it, just FYI, 1) there’s more drama than actual skating, and 2) you won’t be able to look away, because something over-the-top happens to the characters every five minutes. It’s not Melrose Place in the ’90s caliber bat-sh*t cray, but it’s pretty close.

Anywho…like I was saying, one of the main characters wore a similar look with a shimmery blue inner corner highlight to a skating competition. I, on the other hand, wore it around the house to do laundry. 🙂 I did keep it on when I left to pick up Connor at preschool, but I buffed down the blue quite a bit to make it more wearable and less in-your-face.

The pencil brush is your friend.

It had been a while since I wore such a bold statement inner corner, and doing so reminded me that a pencil brush is your friend, especially when you’re placing shadow in a tight space like the inner corner.

Sure, you could easily press some shadow there with your finger — and that’s something I do all the time with shimmery peaches, beiges and pinks for a soft highlight — but if you want concentrated, intense color, grab a pencil brush.

I like to start by applying the shadow around the inner corner with the pencil brush. Then I wet the brush head with a setting spray, dip it back into the same eyeshadow (don’t forget to tap off the excess), and apply the just around the tear duct to intensify the color and shimmer and create a subtle gradient.

Then, I take another pencil brush and soften out the edges.

I think this effect looks super cool with many different colors — blue, green, light purple, even pink!
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Lip of the Day: MAC Fashion Legacy

January 15th, 2020 by Karen 6 Comments

MAC Fashion Legacy is a real heavy lifter, and by that I mean that you can wear it with minimal makeup on the rest of your face and have a full finished look in less than five minutes. Bright red lips: spiriting makeup lovers to work on time, one tube at a time!

I wore this to the bakery yesterday and didn’t feel the need to touch up at all during my shift, which included making a delicious sheet of pecan chewy bars (here’s a recipe in case you’ve never heard of them).

Fashion Legacy is an opaque, fire truck red, and it’s one of the MAC Retro Matte liquid lipsticks. I like the Retro Mattes because they stay glued to your lips, so they don’t scoot, but the formula is still a little flexible, so your lips don’t look like a cracked, gross mess as the day wears on. I can eat and drink with them on my lips, and my lips still look presentable afterward, so they’re great for parties (or long days at work).

Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,

Karen