Becca

The BECCA Holiday 2015 Collection: It’s All About the Glow

October 27th, 2015 by Karen 28 Comments

Pop the champagne, homegirl! — and if you can do it with a sword, more power to you, because that would mean you’re only about two degrees away from Michonne-level bad-@ssery, and I’D BOW DOWN!

We have a totes legit reason to celebrate today. First, because it’s Tuesday, and Tuesdays are terrific. 🙂 And second, because BECCA has several sparkly, shimmery sets on deck for the holidays, and they’re all available now, so you can get dat glow on your cheeks in time for the office party. (For the record, if there will be karaoke involved, please know that it may take more than two glasses to turn you into Mariah Carey… Yes, I speak from firsthand experience.)

This year’s holiday collection includes three limited edition sets, and they’re all about the glow — in other words, skin highlighted to high heaven.

becca holiday 2015 champagne glow 1 — BECCA Holiday 2015 Champagne Glow Palette ($34)

If you’re a die-hard BECCA shimmer fan, you might want to get your paws on the $34 Shimmering Skin Perfector Pressed Champagne Glow Palette highlighter trio. It’s available now exclusively at Sephora and the Sephora website.

One of the three shades, pale linen Pearl, is a limited edition shade making its debut right here in this palette, while the other two — Champagne Pop, a soft gold with pinkish peach undertones (the shame shade BECCA released last fall with YouTuber Jaclyn Hill); and Blushed Copper, a warm copper with rose gold (also appeared earlier this year).

becca holiday 2015 champagne glow 2 — BECCA Holiday 2015 Champagne Glow Palette ($34)

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A Fall-Tastic Face of the Day With Gold, Olive, Burgundy and “JSS”

October 20th, 2015 by Karen 36 Comments

Random zombie-related transition…

I don’t know if you watch The Walking Dead, but oh, boy! — I hope you do, because it’s one of the best shows on television.

I think so. I mean…yeah, there’s zombies. But depending on how you feel about that. 🙂

It’s not just about the zombies, though. It’s also about people trying to survive after an apocalypse…but yeah, it’s definitely not a bright and polite British cooking show.

But it is great sci-fi/horror, and I like that. As well as British cooking shows. And Instagram cat videos.

The characters in The Walking Dead are faced with much more than zombies (like desperate, and very bad people). The zombies are just the backdrop to the struggle to survive after we’ve lost our modern conveniences. We watch them struggle with questions of morality and humanity, and I think it’s fascinating and frightening at the same time.

Anywho! The new season just started, along with a new season of The Talking Dead, which is the after show. They bring on actors who star in the show, people who work behind the scenes and celebrity super-fans who all just chat and wax philosophic about the last episode.

It’s a lot of fun! The last The Talking Dead episode starred TWD newcomer Katelyn Nacon, who plays Enid, a young teenage survivor, and Katelyn’s makeup on the after show was on friggin’ point!

She looked absolutely beautiful and very fall. I couldn’t stop staring at her eyes and lips the whole time! She was wearing a gorgeous warm brown matte color in her crease with golds and khakis on her lids and a glossy burgundy lip.

I couldn’t find a good picture of it online, but I still felt inspired to wear something similar today.

I turned to a few old-school faves like MAC Soft Brown and MAC Texture, which I used in the crease, then used MAC Shroom to highlight my brow bone and the inner corners, along with the ever-reliable MAC Powersurge along my lower lash line.

I also incorporated a couple of newer products, like the naughty-sounding BECCA Afterglow holiday palette ($39.50), which has three powder highlighters and Wild Honey and Flowerchild, two of my favorite BECCA blushes.

So I’m wearing Afterglow products on my cheeks and to highlight my skin.

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5 Best Highlighters

September 9th, 2015 by Karen 40 Comments

The Tragedy of Tabby, Prince of Novato
Act III, Scene I

Enter Prince Tabby, Queen Karen, Left Turn the Black Cat, Thug the Russian Blue and Lords.

TABS: To highlight or not to highlight — that is the question.

Whether ’tis nobler in the condo to suffer the humiliating pets and chin scratches of outrageous fortune, or to raise paws against a sea of troubles, and by opposing, end them. To eat, to nap — perchance to dream; ay, there’s the tummy rub.

Wait, what the heck is Prince Tabby talking about!? I don’t know about him, but speaking for myself, there is absolutely NO question about it. I am always, ALWAYS down for highlighting, and here are my five top picks for “Best Highlighter.” These are the ones I wear the most. 🙂

Best Everyday Highlighter: Hourglass Ambient Powder in Luminous Light ($45)

It’s amazing to me how this champagne pearl pressed powder barely looks like I’ve made a dent in it, when I’ve been wearing it pretty consistently — sometimes for weeks on end — for the past few years.

That’s a pretty good thing to know, that a single pan of anything could last until forever, or until Skynet eventually takes over (whichever comes first).

What I love about Luminous Light — I mean, other than the name, because don’t most gals like the idea of being bathed in luminous light? — is the finish. On the skin it looks like expensive, plush velvet bathed in the light of a buttery late summer afternoon.

Ah…

The sheen is unlike anything else I’ve seen before. Soft and subtle, yet still noticeable, and it’s oh, so forgiving of large pores and fine lines (hallelujah!).

All told, this one’s my favorite everyday, all-occasion highlighter in the world!

$45; available now at Hourglass counters and online.

Best Highlighter for a Dewy Finish: MAC Cream Colour Base in Hush ($22)

Hush!

No, you can talk. I was referring to MAC Hush, which I love for its flexibility. It’s a soft peach with subtle shimmer, and I like it just about any which way/any how — on bare skin, on top of tinted moisturizer, foundation, even on top of powder. Whenever I’m aiming for more of a dewy, wet look, out comes Hush.

All I do is use my fingers to apply and blend it, usually on my upper cheekbones, down the bridge of my nose and on my Cupid’s bow, and it takes all but a minute to use.

I also think it looks amazer-ing in pics.

Oh! — and you can also use it as an eyeshadow base. Score! 🙂

$22; available now at MAC counters and online.

Best Highlighter for Dramatic Looks: BECCA Shimmering Skin Perfector Pressed in Opal ($38)

Good ol’ Opal. How many pans of it have I gone through over the years?

Three? Four…? I’ve lost count.

BECCA has many marvelous Shimmering Skin Perfector Pressed options, but Opal is the one I wear most, by far. It’s a super shiny golden opal pearl, and for dramatic highlights, it’s unbeatable. Unlike standard-issue high-shine highlighters, of which there are many, it’s the very definition of luminous, and the complete antithesis of harsh and metallic, so skin glows seemingly from within with magical eldritch power without appearing oily.

It’s so friggin’ good that when I had to pick a single highlighter to wear on the red carpet to the Emmy’s last year, I went with Opal. There was no question about it.

Fun tip: to open up the eyes and make them look as big, bright and wide as possible, lightly apply Opal in the inner corners of the eyes, and just above and below the highest point in the arch of your brows.

$38; available now at Ulta, BECCA counters and online.
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Chic Crimson Helps the $40 BECCA Ombre Rouge Eye Palette Contour, Sculpt and Brighten Eyes

July 21st, 2015 by Karen 22 Comments

I highly recommend that you roll your R’s when you say the name of BECCA’s new crimson tinged $40 Ombre Rouge eyeshadow palette like so: “Ombre Rrrrrrrrrrouge. Rrrrrrr-ooooo-uge.”

Why?

BECAUSE IT’S FUN. That’s why. That’s the main reason. And, also, because rolling the R makes the palette seem extra rouge-y, and therefore extra fancy.

Yes, this is irrelevant to most important, thought-provoking aspects of real life, but like I said…IT’S FUN, and this is makeup we’re talking about (not rocket science).

Don’t be scurred, intrepid eye palette addict! All of the shades in this five-pan palette of powder eyeshadows may be tinged with red, but they aren’t straight-up reds, so you won’t be left with your brush in the air wondering, “What the heck am I gonna do with these?” They’re still very wearable and useful.

They’re also warmer and richer than the cool browns in BECCA’s Ombre Nudes Palette, and consequently interesting and different.

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Flowers Will Bloom, Birds Will Sing and Cheeks Will Glow When You Wear the New BECCA Mineral Blushes in Hyacinth, Lantana and Nightingale

July 15th, 2015 by Karen 26 Comments

becca lantana hyacinth nightingale — New Mineral Blushes by BECCA, $32 each

Flowers, birds, brights and BECCA — four of my favorite things. 🙂

GURL, there’s so much to like about these new BECCA Mineral Blushes that I don’t even know where to start. Bright poppy pink Hyacinth, reddish poppy Lantana and deep mulberry Nightingale are the latest additions to the brand’s bodacious Mineral Blush line, and if you have medium-toned or darker skin (or, if you just dig blushes with cray-cray intense pigment), you’re gonna freakin’ flip your hair when you see these new powder blushes.

becca hyacinth — BECCA Mineral Blush in Hyacinth

becca lantana — BECCA Mineral Blush in Lantana

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BECCA Champagne Pop Shimmering Skin Perfector Pressed: My Pores Would Like to Make a Toast to This Highlighter

July 1st, 2015 by Karen 49 Comments

One of my life goals is to someday open a bottle of champagne with a longsword or saber (honestly, I would not be surprised to be the only one of us here with that goal).

Another one of my life goals is to someday achieve perfectly dewy skin.

I never expected these two life goals to collide…

Well, technically they don’t, because there weren’t any medieval weapons involved in the crafting of this post, but metaphorically they do, because just like a freshly opened bottle o’ bubbly, BECCA Champagne Pop, the brand’s latest limited edition Shimmering Skin Perfector, will make your cheekbones POP and your skin glow. 🙂

BECCA Shimmering Skin Perfector Pressed in Champagne Pop ($38) — A woefully sad, crushed pan of BECCA Shimmering Skin Perfector Pressed in Champagne Pop ($38, and I’ll explain the story behind the broken pan in a minute)

I made this face the first time I swept BECCA Champagne Pop on my cheeks.

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Unsung Makeup Heroes: BECCA Damselfly Mineral Blush

May 26th, 2015 by Karen 31 Comments

becca damselfly blush — Wearing BECCA Mineral Blush in Damselfly ($32)

2011.

Ah, my Halcyon Days…

No, really. Those were my Halcyon days. That’s when I started wearing BECCA Mineral Blush in Damselfly ($32), with the BECCA Halcyon Days Collection.

And I still get the same thrill from it whenever I see it on my cheeks, which is really something else when you think about it. I mean, if after four years, you’re still excited by a shimmery golden coral powder blush — one among countless other shimmery golden coral blushes on the market — you know it has to be a gem.

Damselfly’s lovely luminous finish still looks natural, and it takes it from casual Facebook friend to “in a relationship” status. Before the Hourglass Ambient Lighting Blushes, there was Damselfly, and its appearance was a straight-up revelation.

Its understated sheen makes cheeks glow without glistening, and it’s unmistakeable in pics and in person. I don’t know how Damselfly does what it does, but it usually steals the show whenever I wear it. Even in posts about — oh, I dunno — bright coral glosses or matte reds or out-of-this world nude lipsticks (all of which look amazing with Damselfly, by the way), I get different versions of the same question: “What are you wearing on your cheeks?”

It’s BECCA Damselfly, my friend. BECCA Damselfly. 🙂
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10 Things I Love About BECCA

February 10th, 2015 by Karen 39 Comments

1. Cabrera Liner

I can’t even think about this dual-ended liner without getting a little verklempt. With a metallic bronze on one end and a rich violet with deep brown and purple propensities on the other, it makes my heart sing when I talk about it.

When I finally get around to writing that 10-volume unabridged edition of My Makeup History (by Karen and Tabs), Cabrera will get its own chapter. It’s one of my greatest pencil liner loves of all time.

2. Flowerchild Blush

Becca Halcyon Days Collection Flowerchild Mineral Blush — BECCA Flowerchild Mineral Blush

This long-wearing golden peachy pink is an everyday summer staple of mine.

I this blush. There’s no other way to put it.
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