Makeup

A New Shocking Development: Smashbox Be Legendary Lipstick in Shock Me Pink

May 12th, 2015 by Karen 14 Comments

Because a girl can never have too many hot pink lipsticks!

Well, she probably could, but…naw. I don’t think so. 🙂

This is another one of the new shades recently added to the Smashbox Be Legendary Lipstick line. Shock Me Pink is a bright blue-based neon pink with a creamy finish. Like the other Be Legendaries, it’s unflavored, unscented and smooove, with a 4-hour wear time.

I like to wear this one with shiny black liquid liner when I’m feeling feisty and want to stomp-walk into rooms.

It’s available now online and at Smashbox counters, Nordstrom stores and Ulta for $20.

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Tarte Precision Longwear Liner Sits Among the All-Time Greats in the Liquid Liner Pantheon

May 12th, 2015 by Karen 11 Comments

I’m picky when it comes to liquid liners… Pickier than a crabby reality TV show judge on a singing competition!

Seriously, if there’s even just one thing wrong with them — ONE THING! — I’m like Liam Neeson in the Taken movies when he threatens the kidnappers. “I WILL FIND YOU!!”

That said, Tarte’s Precision Longwear Liner ($24) passes the Liam Neeson Test with flying colors.

This dark chocolate neutral matte brown, which looks like a rich blackish brown in pics, is an absolutely legit alternative to errrrday black liquid liners. Great for when you want a cat-flicked liquid liner look with less contrast than black.

The long and firm, but flexible, felt tip draws precise flicks and lines with smooth edges, and you don’t have to freaking arm wrestle the damn thing to use it (it seems that way sometimes with liquid liner, doesn’t it?).

And — HUGE pro — the liner applies smoothly and filled with pigment. None of that uneven patchy nonsense that plagues lesser liquid liners.

It also layers well, doesn’t flake off my skin and lasts about seven hours. As far as where it sits in the liquid liner pantheon of all-time greats, I think it’s easily comparable to LORAC Front of the Line Pro, Rouge Bunny Rouge Nocturnal Ink and Tom Ford’s Eye Defining Pen.

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MAC Pro Longwear Nourishing Waterproof Foundation: The Best Liquid Foundation I’ve Seen From MAC in Years

May 12th, 2015 by Karen 62 Comments

MAC has a new waterproof foundation, and I know that it’s waterproof because I had a meltdown in the middle of Target a couple weeks ago while wearing it, and this stuff did not move.

AT. ALL.

I mean, who hasn’t had a meltdown in the middle of Target at least once (well, other than three-year-old children)?

I’d been waiting in a long checkout line when some busy fancy-pants dude in Spandex bicycle shorts totally cut in front of me.

The fact that he didn’t bother to make eye contact with me or even acknowledge the existence of my cart — which was full of ladies’ accoutrements for a visit from “Aunt Flo,” mind you — sent me into Rage Mode. El Hub saw the look in my eye and knew something big was about to go down, so he did his best to calm/soothe me.

I guess it worked… Instead of doing what I really wanted to do, which was yell obscenities at the rude guy while foaming at the mouth, I just burst into tears, and that’s when the new MAC Pro Longwear Nourishing Waterproof Foundation had its first boss moment.

Instead of being the girl who had the meltdown in the middle of Target, with her makeup streaming down the side of her face onto her pink pineapple sweatshirt, I was just the girl crying her eyes out like the protagonist in a Nicholas Sparks film.

Like, it was the most beautiful public display of sobbing I’ve ever had. The tears poured down my cheeks, but my foundation looked fine, so if you anticipate doing any public crying, seriously, grab yourself a tube of MAC Pro Longwear Nourshing Waterproof, and cry with class.

MAC Pro Longwear Nourishing Waterproof Foundation: Briefly, what is it?

It’s MAC’s latest long-wearing (24 hours, holy crap!) foundation. It’s $32, comes in a 0.84-oz. tube, and has an oil-free liquid formula with medium-to-full coverage and a satin finish.

Oh! — and you can also use it as concealer.

It’s available now in 16 shades — NC15, NC20, NC25, NC30, NC35, NC42 (here’s mine), NC45, NC50, NW15, NW20, NW25, NW30, NW35, NW40, NW45 and NW50 — and designed for all skin types, including oily, dry and combination.

Don’t be discouraged by the smallish size of the tube/bottle. While a bottle of MAC Studio Sculpt Foundation costs the same $32 but nets you 1.3 ounces of product, this gets you a little more than half that much (0.84 ounces) for the same price.

But you only have to use a little. A small pea-sized drop of the shade I use, NC 42, which I blend out with a BeautyBlender, is enough for my entire face. I usually like coverage right on the border between medium and full, and with this, one drop is enough.

Does it work well?

Does Tabs like gravy?

That’s a HUGE yes. 🙂 I think this stuff is brilliant. It’s one of the best liquid foundations I’ve seen from MAC in years. It performs as well as the much more expensive Dior Nudeskin does and does many of the same things — it’s lightweight, blurs pores and evens out my skin without appearing heavy or fake. It also lasts longer when you wear it without powder (Nudeskin needs powder to last me a full day), and I think the satin finish looks a little more natural than Dior’s flat matte.

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For Textured-Lipped Ladies, Smashbox Be Legendary Matte Lipstick in Paris Pink Is a Little Easier to Wear Than Your Average Pale Pastel Pink

May 12th, 2015 by Karen 21 Comments

smashbox be legendary matte lipsticks — I’m wearing Smashbox Be Legendary Matte Lipstick in Paris Pink ($20), one of eight new Be Legendary Matte Lipsticks available now at Smashbox counters and online

I think from now on I’m going to refer to my lips as “textured…” It’ll be code for “So dang flaky that it looks like I made out with a cheese grater.” Then I won’t have to say “I’ve got dry lips” about every 15 minutes of every single day.

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What’s the Buzz on The Body Shop’s New Honey Bronze Highlighting Domes?

May 11th, 2015 by Karen 14 Comments

body shop honey bronze highlighting dome — The Body Shop’s Honey Bronze Highlighting Domes ($16 each, available in three shades)

What up, queen bee? Haaay! What’s the buzz on The Body Shop’s new Honey Bronze Highlighting Domes? Are they sweet?

Honey, I’ll tell ya.

LOL! OK, that’s enough with the bee puns. 🙂 I’ll stop.

Uh…what they heck are these things?

These three $16 shimmery cream highlighters are new from The Body Shop as part of the Honey Bronze summer collection. I’m not sure if they’re limited or permanent edition, but I’ve got my honey bee feelers out… My beauty antennae. I should know soon.
Of the three shades, 01 is a shimmering champagne (good one for pale princesses), 02 is a shimmery peachy pink with golden glitter (good for all skin tones), and 03 is a warm, shimmery golden bronze (probably the best one for darker divas).
They all have a very light honey fragrance, which I can’t really even smell unless I get my nose up in there…and yes, if you do this, you may end up accidentally highlighting the tip of your nose, LOL!
Silky… They feel like a thinner, slightly wetter NARS Multiple to me.
They’re available now online and at The Body Shop.

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The Pacifica Power of Love Palette Is a Curious Thing That Could Make One Woman Weep and Another Woman Sing

May 8th, 2015 by Karen 14 Comments

pacifica power love palette — The Pacifica Power of Love Eyeshadow Palette ($19.99)

Unless, as a child, your ears were fed a steady diet of cheesy ’80s pop music, you probably won’t think of Huey Lewis and the News when you open the new Pacifica Power of Love Eyeshadow Palette ($19.99).

But since I was THAT KID, that song creeps into my mind when I think about this palette.

“Try to think of other things, Karen,” I tell myself, “like how these mineral eyeshadows are cruelty-free, or how they’re infused with coconut water.”

But nooooo, all I can do is think about Back the Future…

So, Pacifica. Remember when they were just about bath products? Over the past few years they’ve moved further into the makeup space with color products for eyes, faces, lips and cheeks. Their focus is natural makeup — products made with vegan ingredients that are also cruelty free.

New for summer, the Power of Love Eyeshadow Palette is available exclusively at Target stores for $19.99. Inside the cardboard packaging, which is recyclable and printed with soy ink, in case you were wondering, are 10 powder eyeshadows, eight of them shimmers of varying levels of shine, and a couple of mattes. The shades are mostly neutrals, but there are a handful of accent colors as well. Most of the shadows are moderately pigmented, but a few are quite sheer.

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Tarte Summer 2015 Poppy Picnic Collection LipSurgence Lip Crèmes: Chubby Pencils With Powerful Pen Names

May 8th, 2015 by Karen 9 Comments

With the new Tarte LipSurgence Lip Crèmes on my lips today, I’m feeling Empowered…

And Serene…
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The Make Up For Ever Artist Palette Vol. 1 Nudes You Need: Especially if You’re a Beauty Beginner, These ARE Nudes You Need

May 6th, 2015 by Karen 13 Comments

Eyeshadow… It’s what’s for dinner.

LOL! Not really, but my stomach just rumbled, and that’s what popped into my head because I’m looking at this new eyeshadow palette. 🙂

It’s the $42 Artist Palette Vol. 1 Nudes You Need by Make Up For Ever.

But enough about rumbly tummies! — if you frequently forget the difference between a tapered blending brush and a domed eyeshadow brush, read on…

Heck, even if you do know the difference, keep reading, because this palette could end up saving you precious moments, as in time, when you put on le war paint.

So, what are we looking at here? An eye palette with nine neutral MUFE Artist Shadows in what are billed as universally flattering shades, the Artist Palette Vol. 1 is one of two $42 collectible Artist Palettes released this month by Make Up For Ever (the other one has bold shades). They’re available now online and at Make Up For Ever counters and Sephora.

OK, but what can this palette do for you/me? Well, if you consider yourself utterly and completely hopeless when it comes to blending, this eyeshadow palette will help you look like you know what you’re doing. You’ll have to practice, of course, but it’s easy to get the hang of blending with the help of these eyeshadows.

MUFE’s Artist Shadows have a super soft, almost gel-like powder formula packed with ultra-fine pigment particles. Creating gradients and doing layering with them takes very little effort because the powders feather out with just a few flicks of a brush.

In these pics here, I’m wearing a taupe-ish brown daytime eye look incorporating diffused cat liner, and it didn’t take much time to do, thanks to these Urban Decay-caliber blend-able shadows. I didn’t have to spend forever and a day swiping back and forth with my blending brush, and I noticed very little fallout, too.

My kind of look, yo! 🙂

Does anything set this palette apart from the pack of neutral eye palettes on the market? “Another day, another neutral palette…”

What is this, the one hundredth one!? There are a ton of them out there, but this one’s ridonkulously easy to use because of the colors (they’re true neutrals in terms of color temps) and the formula. Basically, it has no learning curve at all, so I think it’s one of the better ones for beginners.

If this is going to be your first neutral palette, I suggest also grabbing a pair of matte single eyeshadows in brown, one lighter than your skin tone, and one slightly darker, since most of the shades in this MUFE palette have some level of shimmer or sheen. You’ll be able to use the other mattes as transition shades, to blend out the edges of your shimmers, and to deepen your crease. It’s those finishing touches that take your eye looks to the next level.

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