Makeup and Beauty Blog | Makeup Reviews, Swatches and How-To Makeup
A beauty blog blooming with fresh makeup reviews, swatches and beauty tips from your friendly neighborhood beauty addict
Ooh! Smokey brown eyes. That’s all I have to say. And red lips, too, and some touches of khaki and bronze and copper… All in all, lots of good stuff in Chanel Fall 2015, so when you get home, freakin’ press play, and then let me know in the comments what you think.
And don’t laugh! Well, you can laugh, but I’m pretty sure that I butcher all of the French names.
Also, more swatches and product pics in this post from earlier this week.
Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,
Karen
Whenever I go to Sephora or Ulta or to a beauty counter at the mall, and I’m looking for a new foundation, I’m that person who leaves with a purse full of samples.
No, seriously. It’s like “No sample left behind!” 🙂
The main reason I do this is not because I’m super chintzy (although I can see how it would be entirely possible to exist solely on samples if one were extra crafty and bound and determined), but because when it comes to foundation, I don’t always knock it out of the park on the first try. Sometimes it takes me a few swings to find the right match.
I always ask for samples — as many as I can get — of the neighboring foundation shades around the one that looks like my closest match in the store. That way I can test them all at home to find the one that looks best on me in natural light, see how each one wears throughout the day, and also see how they all look in pics.
Plus, you just never know if a formula is going to oxidize and darken on your skin throughout the day. I can’t even begin to tell you how many times I’ve tried a shade that seemed to match me perfectly in the store, only to have it look totally wackadoo a few hours later, and that’s when it’s nice to have a sample of the next lighter shade on hand.
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Holy eye makeup ruts, Batman! I’ve been in one for about a month. I just haven’t wanted to push myself, makeup-speaking, or venture out of my comfort zone.
Does this ever happen to you?
I really haven’t been experimenting with any new eye makeup techniques lately or funky eyeshadow placement, and I’m not going the extra mile, you know? — like by applying false lashes or going buck wild with my eye looks. I’ve been eye makeup lazy, also known as perfectly comfortable doing the same-o, same-o, which for me is color in the crease, color on the lid and a little in the outer corner.
“…color in the crease, color on the lid and a little in the outer corner.”
-Anonymous lazy woman
I’ll use different eyeshadows, of course, but I’ll place them on my eyes in more or less the same way.
This is the Old Faithful of eyeshadow placement positioning for me, LOL! Putting color in the crease, color on the lid and a little in the outer corner gets the job done. It appears to deepen the crease, which matters to me because mine isn’t naturally very deep (my eye shape is somewhat “hooded”), and I like my eyes to look like they’re set a little deeper.
When I do this eye look, this is how I’ll start, and it’s usually with a matte or a satin brown to fake the falling of shadows and sort of make my eyes look like they’re set deeper than they actually are.
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Like, no joke, I think I must be the slowest person on this earth when it comes to blending eyeshadow, because you know those really super blended eye makeup looks? — they take forever. Forever! — and by “forever” I mean between one and three hours from start to finish, especially if I do them intending to take pictures.
In other words, it takes freakin’ work, homegirl!
Sometimes I’m OK with that and all the blending and gradients, and I think it’s worth all the effort, but sometimes I’m not. Sometimes I just wanna throw a little makeup on my eyes and get on with my life already.
When that happens, especially when I also want to take pics and still want to look polished and not like I’m deliberately avoiding blending, I grab two or more similar eyeshadows in the same, or almost the same, color family, like two browns (one slightly darker than the other) or two close shades of almost the same intensity, like the warm brown I’m wearing in my crease in the top pic with a soft gold on my lids.
It’s kind of obvious, but sometimes I still forget that it’s just A LOT easier to seamlessly blend similar colors (like two similar browns) than it is to blend highly contrasting colors (like black and white) on completely opposite ends of the spectrum, so I can still create a buffed-out, blended eye look in a lot less time.
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Yeah, man! I’d immediately drop the sweater I’m knitting for my cat (I’m not actually doing this, but it is on my to-do list) for the two new Make Up For Ever Jamie Chung and Andreja Pejić Artist Shadow Palettes because they’re such a great-freakin’ deal.
Would you believe that the pans in these “Be Bold. Be Unexpected. Be You.” eyeshadow palettes are actually bigger than the regular full-size singles in MUFE’s permanent line? Like really — who does that…? These days, I feel like it’s usually the opposite. So many brands are giving less product and charging more for it, so it’s rare when a line doesn’t.
Here’s a review of MUFE’s Andreja Pejić and Jamie Chung “Be Bold. Be Unexpected. Be You.” palettes, both of which are $48 and available now exclusively at sephora.com.
Press play! 🙂 C’mon, I know you wanna.
Products mentioned…
Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,
Karen
Rise and shine, pal o’ mine! Today for breakfast we’re having MAC on wheat toast with Nutella. 🙂
We have a delicious part deux post purée of six $16.50 MAC Cremesheen + Pearl collection Cremesheen Lipstick swatches to complete the 10-piece set we started last month (for reference, I’m an NC42).
All of them have been added to the MAC permanent line, so they won’t be going anywhere, and they’re available now at MAC stores, counters and online.
Of these, Koi Coral is the one I’ve been wearing the most. I friggin’ love it layered under pink and coral glosses (my favorite combo involves Urban Decay Streak Gloss).
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I love, love, LOVE this 500-ml bkr bottle my friend Marisol got me for my birthday. It’s half the size of the full liter-sized bkr bottle I got for myself earlier this year, and for some reason, I guess because it’s much easier to carry around, when I carry it instead of the bigger bottle I end up drinking more water.
Both of them are made of the same solid, sturdy glass and have super cushiony rubberized sleeves to fully protect them (and they’re available in literally dozens of colors). Unlike my bigger one-liter flamingo-colored bkr bottle, “Minty” (that’s what I’ve named her) fits into my purse and the cup holder in my car, so she’s become my to-go bkr, while the bigger bkr mostly stays on my desk.
Yargh! — so obsessed.
I’ve been wearing this awesome tinted moisturizer a lot lately instead of full-coverage foundation, like when my family visited last week and also on my girls’ trip to Napa, because I can use it really fast!
It has a semi-matte, natural-looking finish, medium coverage, and it does lots of very lovely pore blurring (#yaaaas). The shade I use is called 40, by the way, but it’s also available in five other shades, all with a very light floral fragrance.
Nutella is still my number one hazelnut spread because I think it’s smoother and more hazel-nutty, but to its credit, TJ’s “faux Nutella” is also pretty damn tasty!
It’s their Cocoa Almond Spread (but it also has hazelnut in it), and it’s been totally hitting the spot. I grabbed a bottle at TJ’s last Saturday because I didn’t want to drive all the way across town to Target just to get a jar of Nutella…because sometimes a girl just really, really, REALLY needs to have some Nutella (or something like it) on toast.
I may or may not have already finished half the jar…
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Three, or trois, as my high school French teacher Madame Sonsteng would say en Francais, is the magic number for the MAC Veluxe A Trois collection, and you gotta say it all slow motion and stretched out like, “twaaaahhhhhhhh.” Veluxe a twaaaahhhhhhh!
Technically, the collection doesn’t arrive on counters or in stores till August 13, but it’s already available online.
We took a look at the eye products in the release a little while back, but you know how it is with MAC… There’s a new collection out every 3.5 seconds, so here’s a quick refresher.
The collection is coming to stores and counters soon, but you have to please do me a favor now and read this list out loud like a robot (because it’s just more fun that way). 🙂
The stars of the show, obviously, are the new Veluxe Pearlfusion Trios, but the Lipsticks and Cremesheen Glasses are interesting, too. I’m looking forward to wearing a number of them this fall in looks. Check it…
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