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
Guess who’s back in the Yay Areaaa!
Yup, when I got back from Hourglass Cosmetics headquarters in Venice Beach this afternoon, I arrived home to find a furrious feline employer demanding immediate lurvies.
Tabs didn’t even ask how the trip went! — not even after a deep-tissue scruff massage and 10 minutes of rigorous chin and jaw scratching.
Rude.
If I were a makeup artist working on an artsy-fartsy magazine shoot, I wouldn’t think twice about putting Kevyn Aucoin’s $32 Matte Lip Color in Tenacious on a model because it’s one of those rare, otherworldly lipsticks that takes your breath away in pics.
I can see it now, maybe with a bright green or shimmery gold on the lids…
When Nicki Minaj’s Pink 4 Friday Lipstick came out in 2010, this is what I was hoping that was going to look like (instead, it looked pretty ghastly on me).
Thing is, as much as I love how Tenacious looks in pics, in real life, it’s kind of a bear. Being highly pigmented and matte makes finding its sweet spot — the right amount to wear — difficult. Too little and it looks uneven and streaky; too much and it settles into my fine lines, leaving me looking like a hot mess.
Eventually, I get there, but not before a lot of layering, blotting, and pat-pat-patting with a finger.
Tenacious is definitely not a color you can absentmindedly swipe on your lips and bop along your day. Even after it’s applied, it’s like a needy boyfriend who requires frequent check-ins.
Yup, I’m still waiting.
Still waiting for that personal wind machine I keep hoping someone will invent. The battery-powered, artificially intelligent one that follows me around wherever I go, ensuring that my hair is kept in a permanent state of wind-blown divaliciousness worthy of Mrs. Carter/Sasha Fierce herself.
Yeah, that would be AWESOME.
But then there’s the whole issue of getting your windblown hair stuck in whatever lip product you’re wearing (#firstworldproblems).
Sticky, shiny lipglosses? Sooo great for flashing pouty faces at strangers on the bus, like that cute boy in the glasses (oh, hai!), but really, really annoying when your hair accidentally gets stuck to your lips.
Coming soon to rescue lips from wind-whipped hair, the new Too Faced Lip Injection Color Bombs ($21 each), a line of six chubby twist-up stick balms to lavish lips with a stain of color while plumping them up at the same time.
Why give them a try? — well, other than the fact that they won’t stick to your lips outside or while you’re posing in front of your wind machine?
As for the lip plumping effect, it’s very subtle with these, so if you were hoping to come away with lips like one of the Real Housewives of Beverly Hills, you might be disappointed.
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I’m about as naturally rebellious as a miniature pony at a 5-year-old’s birthday party, which is to say not very rebellious at all.
My idea of shaking things up is playing Katy Perry a little loudly in my office (shout-out to my next-door neighbors, who’ve heard me sing Teenage Dream at the top of my lungs many times).
But the winds, they are a-changin’. 🙂 I am a bona fide rebel now — a Pretty Rebel, that is, thanks to Too Faced Cosmetics, and all I have to say is, “Welcome to the Thunderdome, b*tches! Sh*t just got real!”
WARNING: You may find yourself pumping your fists randomly toward strangers when you wear this limited-edition eyeshadow palette. I did when I opened the door this morning to say hi to our FedEx guy.
He was like, “Hi. Why are you doing that? I like your eye makeup. You’re making me a little nervous.”
Pretty Rebel is the star attraction in the Too Faced Cosmetics Fall 2013 makeup collection. Inside the gold, black and pink packaging reside 10 powder eyeshadows, all of which are new shades.
You’ll find mostly saturated, shimmery colors and jewel-toned metallics here, with a sprinkling of mattes and glitters — the kinds of colors I’d be more inclined to wear on a Friday night, as opposed to a Sunday brunch with the fam.
There was a time when I felt that mascaras in colors other than black were incredibly depressing. Having naturally black lashes, I felt that attempting to overpower their natural pigment with anything other than black seemed like (yawn) a waste o’ precious time. I mean, there are only so many hours in the day in which one can work on important projects like tracking down new shirtless pictures of RyGos.
Ya feel me?
That changed when I discovered fun fringe pigments like blue and plum and their ability to create eye-catching effects on different colored irises.
Plums often look amazing with blue, hazel, brown, green and gray eyes, and blues deepen and enrich brown, green and hazel eyes, among other eye colors.
It was a little weird at first seeing my lashes coated in Chanel’s latest adventure into the world o’ colorful mascaras, Le Volume de Chanel in Khaki Bronze ($30). Much as I love Le Volume (my favorite high-end mascara when it comes to dramatic lift, curl and thickness), I didn’t fall for Khaki Bronze immediately because it lightens the look of my lashes a shade or two, an effect that grew on me over time.
I was on the fence about it the first couple of tries, but I changed my tune when I saw how it looked in pics.
The name describes it perfectly — Khaki Bronze.
If you wear warm bronze, gold or dark khaki shadows often, I think you’ll want to treat your lashes to Khaki Bronze. It creates beautiful music with each of those shadow shades, bringing out their various tones and nuances. I’m wearing it here with the dark golden khaki color in the new Chanel Mystere quad as a liner and with bronze and gold shadows on my lids (MAC Bronze and Woodwinked), and I think they complement each other perfectly.
The Le Volume mascaras are all about drama, so if you like your mascaras quiet (shh…), then you may want to unload much of the product from the brush before applying.
Me, I lurves me some Beyonce/Mariah/Diva-licious lashes, so I go full-on, all-out with two, or sometimes three (or four!) coats.
I exercised a little restraint for these pics… For these I’m only wearing two. 🙂
KAREN: Oh great, all-seeing Magic 8-Ball, may I ask you a question?
MAGIC 8-BALL: Yes, definitely.
KAREN: Can you see my destiny?
MAGIC 8-BALL: You may rely on it.
KAREN: Do you see a new fantastic everyday cream blush in my future? Something that I can just blend with my fingers or any old brush I have on hand, and it’ll last at least six hours, maybe eight?
MAGIC 8-BALL: As I see it, yes.
KAREN: Is it from the new Chanel Le Brush Creme de Chanel line that launched with the Fall 2013 Superstition collection?
MAGIC 8-BALL: Without a doubt.
KAREN: If I were to wear it, might a stranger confuse me with an applicant for clown college? In other words, would my cheeks look like Bozo’s or Ronald McD’s?
MAGIC 8-BALL: Very doubtful.
KAREN: Will it look flawless and natural on bare skin or atop foundation and power?
MAGIC 8-BALL: It is certain.
KAREN: Do you foresee this blush highlighting my pores or emphasizing their size?
MAGIC 8-BALL: Don’t count on it.
KAREN: Interesting… Would you say that it’s similar to the satiny, silky, long-wearing cream blush I’ve been obsessed with for a year, By Terry’s Ginger Glaze?
MAGIC 8-BALL: Signs point to yes.
KAREN: Is it Chanel’s golden beige blush creme in Destiny?
MAGIC 8-BALL: It is decidedly so.
KAREN: SWEET! So…will I be wearing Destiny when I finally win the lottery?
MAGIC 8-BALL: Better not tell you now.
KAREN: 🙁
Current mysteries plaguing my life…
And now, Chanel Mystere…
I wore it when I visited my in-laws in Redding last week, and I’ll say this right now: when I layer Mystere on top of my good ol’ NARS Pro-Prime, it’s the sh*t in terms of wear time, because Redding is hella hot, like 150 degrees in the shade, yo, like “Oh, mah gerd! I’m stuck in a microwave oven!”
And even though it felt like the heat was doing a number on my makeup, Mystere didn’t fade or crease from dawn till dusk.
Wear time? BOMB.
I like this quad, especially the way it looks on cool-toned gals who dig grays. On me, I think it seems a little awkward by itself, and I have to use some tricks to make it work, like by starting with a yellowish base like MAC Ochre Paint Pot and then mixing in a warm orangey brown like MAC Soft Brown into my crease.
When I do both of those things, which I did in these pics, the warmer colors transition into the cool grays and taupes, making them appear less harsh on my warm tan, but when I don’t, the gray/taupe undertones — of which there are plenty here, as even the light gold has a hint of gray in it — look chalky.
It’s always the era of Era around here. Flexible, because it flatters both warm and cool skin tones, MAC Era Eye Shadow is a fantastic workhorse neutral to have in your collection, especially if you love taupe.
Officially, MAC describes it as a soft golden beige, and yeah, I can see that, but on my NC42 skin, I’d characterize it as a golden taupe. Color temperature-wise, it’s like a perfect porridge — just right. Neither too warm, nor too cool.
I don’t know…but there’s just something earthy and natural about it. I see it and picture smooth river rocks baking in the hot desert sun…
And the finish? Satin. One of my favorite finishes from MAC.
