Urban Decay

Another #PSL Pumpkin Spice Look (I Call It “Pumpkin Spice Jewels”), and Bowing Down to the Wonder That Is Charlotte Tilbury

October 4th, 2018 by Karen 19 Comments

I don’t want you to think I’ve been neglecting my pumpkin spice devotion, seeing as how it’s now October, and therefore officially pumpkin season.

SO MANY PUMPKINS EVERYWHERE. One can’t even whip her high pony without bumping into one, and I still have mad love for pumpkin spice, as demonstrated by this look, which I call “Pumpkin Spice Jewels.”

A few things I learned in the process of doing my makeup…

1. This Pumpkin Spice Frappuccino will shake you to the core

Or, should I say, “shake your core”? Because when I’d finished about half of it my body literally started shaking from all the caffeine.

I’d never had one of these before. It’s just a pumpkin version of a regular frap (like the other drinks I’ve tried in this series, I got the recipe from theMacroBarista on Instagram).

I could only finish half of it because I couldn’t take any more caffeine. I dunno… Maybe you’re made of stronger stuff than I am, but if not and you’re also a wimp when it comes to caffeine, you can still admire it from afar (because it’s certainly nice to look at).

pumpkin spice frappuccino — WHOA there, sweet tooth.

2. I may need to build an alter to worship Charlotte Tilbury

Her stuff is so spendy, but when it comes to that effortless, dewy skin-that-looks-like-skin, C.T. has that game on lock. I’m wearing her new Magic Away Liquid Concealer ($32) and Genius Magic Powder ($45) in this look, and I didn’t really have to do any of the buffing, blending and dabbing that’s usually involved in achieving a no-makeup makeup look.

I just swiped a concealer wand on my face (I’m wearing shade 8 underneath my eyes and shade 9 on the rest of my face), blended with my fingers, then dusted a sheer veil of the powder with a fluffy brush, which took all of two minutes.

I love how my skin looks when I wear C.T.’s stuff. Like, I can’t even tell I’m wearing makeup, and it doesn’t budge. Not one bit.

charlotte tilbury — Divine if you’re into the dewy skin thing

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Pumpkin Spice Everything! A Warm Red, Pink and Bronze Eye Look Using the Urban Decay Elements Palette, MAC Studio Fix Sculpt and Shape, MAC The Blonds Lipstick in Davidblond and The Blonds Magic Dust Powder

September 24th, 2018 by Karen 21 Comments

urban decay elements palette k front — Shout-out to Pumpkin Spice!

How do I feel about Starbucks Pumpkin Spice Lattes? Hmm… Well, you know how much I like pink drinks, right? They’re delish! — but I don’t pump my fist in the air and say YAAASSS when I get one.

But I do when I get a PSL.

Also, even though I went through an intense green tea latte phase last year, ultimately, I could take or leave ’em. But the Pumpkin Spice Latte. THE PSL! It’s my most favorite drink at Starbucks, and it always has been, from even before I started wearing this tank top 24/7.

urban decay elements palette k side 1 — So Karen, tell me how you REALLY feel.

Despite the forecast calling for 80-degree temps here, I’m bubbling over with PSL excitement! I got the fever bad, so I channeled it into this PSL-inspired makeup look. ? Then, I went to Starbucks and ordered a special version of the PSL based on this recipe from The Macrobarista on Instagram.

He’s a Starbucks barista who makes healthy-ish versions of Starbucks drinks.

He calls this refreshing version the Iced Pumpkin Spice Latte, and it has all the spicy sweetness of the standard PSL, but (according to The Macrobarista) it’s only 90 calories with about 11 grams of sugar.

To make my life easier, I took a screenshot of his “recipe” on my phone and held it up to the cashier at Starbucks so he could type it in. ?

Now, about the makeup, my friend, this was the first “LEWK” I’ve done in a minute (been doing a lot of one shade of taupe on my lids with mascara, NARS Orgasm lip balm, and nothing on my skin). Needless to say, I felt like I was wearing everything and the kitchen sink.

But it was fun, and in the process I found some new things to love.

urban decay elements palette k looking down — When you feel overdone but then you just go with it…

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Urban Decay Lo-Fi Lip Mousse Is Hella High-Five Worthy

July 19th, 2018 by Karen 11 Comments

Ya know, I’ve been reviewing makeup and waxing philosophic about makeup and photographing makeup (and cats!) for more than a decade now (started in 2007, yo!), and when you write about any topic for that long, you really, REALLY gotta love it (and I do!); otherwise, you risk falling into a fugue state akin to Breaking Bad.

But here’s the deal: although I still relish discovering new coral lipsticks and love the thrill of finding a fab new cream blush, sometimes it feels like every “new” highlighter/palette/liquid lipstick/etc. that crosses my desk is something we’ve all seen before…except with a different cheeky name and outfit.

These days, it takes something seriously funky or outrageous to grab my attention and make me wanna shoop, shoop-eh-doop, if you know what I mean, so when Urban Decay’s new Lo-Fi Lip Mousse showed up, I was like, “I cannot bear to hot tub time machine back to 2012 right now. Let’s just eat some brownies, fire up season four of Sex and the City and take a cat nap, but HOLD ON, WAIT A MINUTE, LET ME PUT SOME BOOTY IN IT — you’re telling me this isn’t a blush?? It’s a matte lipstick instead!? Alright, Urban Decay, tell me more.”

Urban Decay Lo-Fi Lip Mousse ($22 each)

These are mousse matte lipsticks in a compact, and they’re wacky in the best possible way (as opposed to being strange for the sake of being weird). They actually work really well.

urban decay lo fi boxes — The color-coordinated boxes are a nice touch!

Urban Decay must’ve poached some NASA rocket scientists to formulate these because not only do they look smooth, avoid my lip lines and feel feather light, they couldn’t be a lot easier to apply.

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The Urban Decay 24/7 Glide-On Eye Pencils: A Love Letter

July 13th, 2018 by Karen 10 Comments

urban decay stash — Urban Decay Stash on my lash lines

Dear Urban Decay 24/7 Glide-On Eye Pencils,

I love you.

I love you, I love you, I love you.

I have a sneaking suspicion that I don’t tell you that enough, so…I LOVE YOU.

I apologize if I hurt your feelings sometimes. When I haphazardly toss you into my makeup bag, it’s not because I don’t care. It’s not because I don’t want to spend more time with you. It’s because I’m so excited for us to get on about our day. I love spending entire days with you, which I know we’ll be able to do, since your luscious long-wearing formula hugs my lash lines and doesn’t let go.

The other day, shortly before I rimmed my lids with Mushroom, my favorite metallic taupe on account of the way it illuminates my brown eyes without hardly even trying (and that flash of blue from certain angles? GORGEOUS!), I was haphazardly grinding the tip in a pencil sharpener and zoning out like I’m apt to do while I’m putting on makeup that I know I can depend on, I thought, “Easy, Karen. Take it easy. Just because this is a quickie look doesn’t mean you have to hack away like a lumberjack without any muscle control.”

Oh, my gorgeous Glide-Ons, you’re always there for me, even when I treat you like ? poop. You deserve to be handled with kid gloves.

urban decay glide on eye pencil swatches — Current crushes

So, let me tell you why I ❤️ you so…

First, just when I’m ready to go all sad panda because I glance at the clock and realize that I don’t have any time left in my morning for eye makeup, your colors dance across my lids and lash lines like beams of light across the sky. These days, your neutral colors are my go-tos — basically, anything taupe, olive, gunmetal gold or bronze.

When I draw a swish on my upper and lower lash lines, followed by plenty of mascara, I actually don’t mind skipping eyeshadow. Ever since my semi-hooded lids situation started evolving into a full-on hooded lid sitch (such is life), complicated eyeshadow looks have become something of a pain, and it’s refreshing to not have to deal with precise placement and blending and making sure that everything looks even so I don’t walk outta the house with lids that look like garage doors…

Thanks to you, I just do a little liner, then peace out.

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The Urban Decay Born to Run Eyeshadow Palette

June 14th, 2018 by Karen 16 Comments

Hello, Born to Run! Have we run into each other before…?

No, I think I’m just confusing you with another UD palette (Naked on the Run)…or maybe it’s because I’ve seen your same (or very similar) colors in other Urban Decay palettes before.

Urban Decay Born to Run Eyeshadow Palette ($49, 21 shades, full-size mirror)

According to UD, 17 of the 21 eyeshadows in the Born to Run palette are new, but I swear, the orange-y and reddish browns look like they teleported straight outta Naked Heat and the Petite version.

And the metallic magenta, green and purple could’ve been pulled out of the Distortion or Trouble Maker palettes. The peach and golden look familar, too…like a few shades from Daydream.

It’s as if UD went fishing for shadows from their other recent palettes and baked them into a wearable “everything” palette — good for anyone, any time, any place.

Makeup in my current corner of the world is usually pretty casual and conducive to writing at home, chasing Tabs around the house, running errands and taking Connor to toddler things, so I’m all about the shadows in top row, which are the most job/errand/everyday-friendly ones.

For the most part here at the headquarters of Tabs the Cat Industries LLC, the employees (haha, it’s just me) don’t like to wear makeup that looks too overdone (it’s a rare day when I don falsies or do dramatic liquid liner), so I like wearing matte beige Weekender with matte golden brown Riff in the crease, and shimmery pale rose gold Stranded on my lids with a teeny bit of satiny dark emerald Radio on my upper lash lines as a liner.

urban decay born to run natural light 2 — Don’t mind me… Just smiling to myself on this bridge, la-la-laaaaa! ?

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Copper Wings on a Wednesday With Urban Decay 24/7 Glide-On Eye Pencil in Lucky From the Beached Collection

May 9th, 2018 by Karen 8 Comments

urban decay lucky — Red Bull isn’t the only that gives you wings!

I can’t remember the last time I wore colorful winged liner like this on a Wednesday, and you know what I did with it on? I wore it to baby story time with Connor. 🙂 Yup, and ya know how that felt? I tell you how it felt. It felt really good to wear something jazzier than usual.

I’m still committed to pushing myself out of my comfort zone, because let’s get real — I’VE BEEN STUCK, and I’ve been stuck for a while.

I’m not trying to go ham or full-on Instafabulous, but I’m sorry — I still like makeup, and I still like getting dressed up, but I’m also constrained, you know? Time is undeniably of the essence at this point in my life, so 1) I don’t have loads of time or patience, and 2) I don’t really like the way my skin feels when I’m wearing a sh*t ton of makeup.

This is the journey, and I’m up for the challenge! 🙂

On that note, here’s what happened this morning: I did this winged liner thinking that it looked massive — like big-@ss predatory hawk wings spanning across the sky and blocking the sun! — and then I took a selfie (which is easiest way to see if your wings are even, BTW) and saw that my flicks had disappeared into nothingness.

What the!? Where’d they go…?

I looked at the copper wings in the mirror (that’s Lucky, one of the new eyeliners from the Urban Decay Beached collection), and they looked pretty substantial, but they look minuscule in these pics.

Such a weird makeup mystery!

I’m still feeling the liner, though, and yes, I probably know what you’re thinking. How many times has UD done a warm metallic bronze/red/copper eyeliner?

SO MANY TIMES.

But this one has the cutest, tiniest pieces of silver micro-glitter, so you get a mixed metals vibe. It’s an out-of-the-box move, IMO, because most brands would’ve picked gold glitter to complement the copper’s warmth. So go on with your bad self, UD!

urban decay lucky swatch — Lovin’ the little flecks

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Subtle Spring Sparkle: Golden Bronze Halo Eyes for HomeGoods With the Urban Decay Beached Summer Collection

May 3rd, 2018 by Karen 21 Comments

urban decay beached eyeshadow k — Subtle spring sparkle for a trip to HomeGoods

Most of the times when I go to HomeGoods, I’m dressed caj with minimal (or negligible) makeup, but sometimes I like to go gladiator style and do my hair and makeup and get a little more dressed up so I can enter the store like I’m entering an arena.

YES, HOMEGOODS IS A MOTHER-TRUCKIN’ ARENA.

Granted, there are no predatory animals, javelins, swords or armored warhorses galloping at you while you admire a delicately painted lemon bowl (handmade in Italy!), but if I see you pushing your cart toward the last farmhouse-inspired botanical print, trust that I will body check your @ss into the stratosphere. 🙂

I don’t play around at HomeGoods!

The Coywolf and I were there today to look for herb pots for the Lady Sanctuary, and I wore this golden bronze halo eye.

urban decay beached paletted hg1 — I would LOVE a $5,000 shopping spree to this store.

This was a toned-down halo eye, and the highlight in the center of my lids wasn’t as strong as it is in a classic halo.

This was the middle of the day, so I took it down a notch by keeping the golden highlight relatively close in tone to the surrounding bronze shadow, but I didn’t want it to be too subtle, so I layered it on top of a shimmery gold pencil liner and did a swish of teal on the lower lash line.

urban decay beached paletted hg2 — Still looks shimmery from a few feet away! Side note: iPhone case is the Attention Lipsticks iPhone Case from my store, connorclaire.com.

Urban Decay Beached Summer Collection

To keep the focus on my lids, I kept my skin, lips and brows super chill, but I did wear some things from the new Urban Decay Beached Summer Collection, namely the palette, a bronzer and a gold eyeliner.

urban decay beached palette — New for summer

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Spring Sparkle With Gleaming, Glowing Skin for a Trip to Old Navy

April 25th, 2018 by Karen 27 Comments

mac show gold spring sparkle tutorial — There isn’t a rule that says you can’t shimmer and go to Old Navy in the middle of the week, and MAC Show Gold is perfect for that.

“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.

spring sparkle 2 car — Ubiquitous car selfie!

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.

old navy tropical leggings — If these leggings had side pockets for a phone, I’d be all over them. SO CUTE!

old navy tropical print romper — Love this print!

old navy tropical print shorts — It comes in shorts, too.

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