Urban Decay

If You Like Neutrals, the Urban Decay UD Gwen Stefani Palette Is B-A-N-A-N-A-S

November 19th, 2015 by Karen 27 Comments

There should be a video in this post, but if you can’t see it, you can click here to watch it on YouTube.

When I open the new UD Gwen Stefani Eyeshadow Palette by Urban Decay and see all of the neutrals, I start getting ideas… My internal makeup monologue kicks in, and looks start running through my head.

They start simple, but that doesn’t last long. “I’ll just do a quick wash of color with one or two matte browns on my lids,” I’ll think, “then black winged liner with a red lip. Just like Gwen!”

But then I’ll think, why stop at just two browns? I should add a third one in the crease.

Ooh! — or why don’t I do a grayish brown smoky eye instead? Maybe with a touch of blue on my lids? Because that’s so Gwen!

BUT then I’ll remember that I almost forget about glitter! How could I forget about the glitter!?

Girl, you know how it goes. 🙂 What starts as a five-minute look spirals into 35.

It’s not me though. It’s not my fault. It’s because of all the inspiring neutrals in this palette.

Yup, this is one of those palettes, and to really feel the magic in the makeup (shout-out to No Doubt’s Return of Saturn!), you have to appreciate the beauty of browns and beiges.

I see this one as almost an extension of the Urban Decay Naked Palette family, except with the addition of a few brights, so if you’re the kind of girl or guy who’d rather wear electric teal shimmer, you might find the neutrals here a bit underwhelming.

Not me though. When I see browns and golds and mattes (and there are so many in this!), I get excited.

In the unlikely event that you were cryogenically frozen in 1993 and are only now asking yourself, “Who’s Gwen Stefani?” she’s a pop singer, fashion designer and current vocal coach/judge on The Voice.

I’ve always admired her casual So Cal punk style and cool girl vibe, and I kid you not, I was hell bent on being her in 1995.

I even designated a section of my closet for my “Gwen Stefani” outfits. My favorite was a pair of baggy navy blue pants with light blue stripes going down the sides, which I’d pair with a baby blue sleeveless crop top and baby blue stick-on bindis.

OH, LAWD!!

urban decay gwen stefani swatches 3 — Pop, Harajuku, Danger, 1987 and Blackout

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Quick Tip: Get Hotter Smoky Eyes With the Urban Decay Moondust Eyeshadows

October 27th, 2015 by Karen 25 Comments

urban decay zodiac — Urban Decay Moondust Eyeshadow in Zodiac ($21)

Here’s a quick way to take nighttime smoky eyes from “glam” to “Glam! Bam! Thank you, ma’am!”

Just do this: add glitter. 🙂

Yup! I know, right? What a huge shocker… After you finish doing your smoky eye, if you feel like full-on hot dayum drama, grab a glitter eyeshadow, and pop that ish on your lids.

The $21 Urban Decay Moondust Eyeshadows are great for this.

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How to Do a Smudgy Liner Daytime Smoky Eye | Tutorial

October 16th, 2015 by Karen 28 Comments

Ah, smoky eyes… How I love, love, LOVE thee.

I love you for your telenovela-style drama, of course, but more than that — I love your gymnastic-caliber flexibility. There are so many ways to creatively interpret smoky eyes, and one of my favorites is this daytime eye look with smudgy liner.

It’s easier than it looks.

No, really! You won’t need a quadrillion brushes or eyeshadows. Just four brushes — a flat eyeshadow brush, a domed blending brush, a tapered blending brush and an angled eyeliner brush — and four eyeshadows, and for the shadows I suggest choosing a progression of colors from darkest to lightest in any finishes that move you from matte, to shimmer, to satin, etc.

For daytime smoky eyes, I do prefer mattes, though, more than shimmers, because the flatter finish says to me, “Let’s set a meeting to work on the fourth-quarter TPS reports,” as opposed to, “Let’s meet at da club to freak on some hot dudes.”

As for your colors, you’ll need a light shade to highlight your brown bone, a slightly darker crease color around your skin tone or one or two shade darker, a color slightly darker than that for the “smoke” on your lids, and then another even darker shade to smudge the eyeliner we’ll be using.

For this look, I went with four shades from the Urban Decay Naked Smoky Palette, namely light beige Thirteen, which I’m using as my highlight shade; peachy taupe Combust, which I’m using as my crease shade; dark brown Whiskey, which I’m using as my lid shade; and dark gray Password to smudge the liner.

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5 Lavish, Lovely Berry Lipsticks to Fall for This Fall

October 15th, 2015 by Karen 27 Comments

Fall.

They say it’s fall, and it did feel like fall here about a week ago. It was cloudy and chilly, and there were leaves falling everywhere outside, but then summer struck back and said, “CUT! Hold your horses! I’m not ready to go…” We had another string of 80- and 90-degree days.

Sooner or later, though, it’ll get cooler and stay that way. It’s a guarantee. 🙁 And when it happens, I’ll be ready for it with these five fall-friendly berry lipsticks.

1. NARS Satin Lip Pencil in Hyde Park ($26)

nars hyde park — NARS Satin Lip Pencil in Hyde Park

I really like Reddish berry Hyde Park with bronze, burgundy and brown looks. And even cranberry smoky eyes (Ooh! — give it try sometime with a warm and shimmery cranberry on your lids and a matte orangey brown in the crease). The pencil shape makes it easy to line and fill in my lips without needing a lip liner, so yay for skipping steps! Hyde Park is available now at NARS counters, stores and online.

2. Tom Ford Lip Color Matte in Plum Lush ($52)

tom ford plum lush — Tom Ford Lip Color Matte in Plum Lush

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Urban Decay Revolution Lipstick: New Shades!

September 2nd, 2015 by Karen 11 Comments

urban decay lipstick online exclusives — From the left: Urban Decay Revolution Lipstick in Sheer Beso, Sheer Bittersweet, Gash, Protest, Speedball and Strip ($22 each, available now exclusively on urbandecay.com)

The Urban Decay Naked palettes, as much as I love ’em, are total attention hogs, aren’t they? Between them and all that neutral eyeshadow action, and Urban Decay’s famous (infamous?) bright eyeshadow palettes, there isn’t much room left in the spotlight for other great products, like UD’s awesome Revolution Lipsticks.

And that’s a shame because the Revolutions are some of my favorite pieces in the entire line. I mean, where do I start?? The creaminess, the moisture, or how they hug your lips like they’re all up on ’em doing the nasty on the dance floor?

There’s so much to take in, and so much to love… 🙂 When you’re ready, click “Play” on the video.

urban decay lipsticks — 1) Urban Decay Sheer Revolution Lipstick in Beso, 2) Sheer Revolution Lipstick in Bittersweet, 3) Revolution Lipstick in Speedball, 4) Revolution Lipstick in Protest, 5) Revolution Lipstick in Strip, 6) Revolution Lipstick in Gash

As of right meow there are eight new shades of $22 Revolution Lipstick available exclusively on their website. Some are bright, like bad-@ss purple Speedball (Of course there’s a purple; it’s UD! That’s they’re signature color.), and some other interesting shades, too, like brownish mauve Strip, a nod to the ’90s — seriously, all you’d need is super skinny brows and a black velvet choker, and you’d look like you just stepped out of a hot tub time machine circa 1995!

I talk about six of the new shades in this video.
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Urban Decay Holiday 2015 First Impressions

September 1st, 2015 by Karen 23 Comments

I was so confused today because I thought this was Urban Decay’s fall collection, and not the holiday collection, which is what it is.

I know that sounds really dumb…but in my defense, it’s 80 degrees outside! I’m wearing shorts and a tank top. I guess my mind just couldn’t make the leap to snowmen, Christmas trees and wearing mittens.

Heck, I don’t even have shoes on!

Be that as it may, it is holiday time in Urban Decay Land (ho-ho-ho!), so let’s don our mittens, our earmuffs and our J. Lo “Jenny from the Block” coat, and take a look. 🙂

urban decay vice4 — Urban Decay Vice4 ($60)

There are a couple of palettes in the release, some new liners (which I’m not crazy about, but I’ll get into that in the video) and a highlighter.

I have no idea how any of it fits with the holidays because, you know, there’s a lot of black in it and references to oil slicks, and nothing that seems particularly holiday-esque, but we’re just gonna go with it. 🙂
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5 Magnificent Magenta Lipsticks That’ll Make You Yearn for Fall

August 24th, 2015 by Karen 34 Comments

Maybe it’s all this talk about El Niño, or maybe it’s just my burning desire to bust out the scarves, and boots, but I’m ready to say “peace out!” to bright, summery pinks and “ciao” to corals for the season. Yup, I’m starting to enter fall mode.

Over the past couple of weeks I’ve been reaching for darker nail polishes (I’ve got Essie’s In the Lobby on my paws today!) and transitioning to deeper lip shades, but I’m not quite ready yet for full-on fall lip colors like dark browns, wines and purples. After all, it’s still only August. 🙂

But I have been into what I like to call my summer-to-fall transition shade, the always lovely magenta.

MAGENTA! I love wearing colors in the magenta family around this time of year because they seem just as comfortable with scarves and boots as they are with daisy dukes and flip-flops.

So here are five of my current magenta lipstick faves that have been in heavy rotation lately…

1. NARS Audacious Lipstick in Janet ($32)

2. Tom Ford Lip Color in Violet Fatale ($52)

tom ford beauty violet fatale — Tom Ford Beauty Violet Fatale

tom ford beauty violet fatale swatch — Tom Ford Beauty Violet Fatale

3. Urban Decay Revolution Lipstick in Venom ($22)

Urban Decay Venom Revolution Lipstick 2 — Urban Decay Venom

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The Urban Decay 24/7 Glide-On Lip Pencils Get Some New Shades: 1993, Bad Blood, Bittersweet, Blackmail and Stark Naked

July 6th, 2015 by Karen 23 Comments

urban decay glide on lip pencil — The Urban Decay Glide-On Lip Pencils from the left in 1993, Bad Blood, Bittersweet, Blackmail and Stark Naked

The year was 1993… The city was Novato. Makeup police were investigating a case of beauty Blackmail that resulted in Bad Blood between two makeup-loving friends. According to the unofficial report and secondhand eyewitness accounts, the story had a Bittersweet ending involving a crazy woman running Stark Naked through the streets!

See, this is what happens when someone with an overactive imagination plays with these five new Urban Decay 24/7 Glide-On Lip Pencils ($20). 🙂

These new matte lip liners match colors from the new Urban Decay Matte Revolution Lipstick line, namely medium brown 1993, deep red Bad Blood, bright purple Bittersweet, deep berry Blackmail and light nude Stark Naked.

Bad Blood, 1993, Bittersweet and Stark Naked get enthusiastic high-fives from me, because they’re super creamy and glide across my skin without skipping a beat (much like typical 24/7 Glide-On Lip Pencils), but Blackmail is kind of a mess… It’s dry, patchy and pulls at my skin, bah!

urban decay glide on lip pencil 2 — Urban Decay Glide-On Lip Pencils from the left in 1993, Bad Blood, Bittersweet, Blackmail and Stark Naked

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