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Makeup

Bobbi Brown Ivy League FOTD Eye Map

August 6th, 2009 by Karen 21 Comments

bobbi-brown-ivy-league-redux
G’morning, ladies!

A few of you asked to see details of the Bobbi Brown Ivy League look I tried on Monday.

Nicole and Nancy wanted a breakdown of the eyes. They took about eight steps. If you were comfortable trying any of my 4-step eye makeup looks, I think you could easily do this look as well.

Bobbi Brown Ivy League face of the day

My Bobbi Brown Ivy League eyes

bobbi brown ivy league eye

Oh, if you’d like to tone down the look, swap the black pencil liner for a brown one or omit the lining along the lower lash line entirely.

bobbi-brown-ivy-league-eyemap

  1. I start by applying Bobbi Brown Long-Wear Gel Eyeliner in Forest Shimmer Ink (a dark green with golden flecks) on my lid and just up into the crease with a Sonia Kashuk Synthetic Concealer Brush, smoothing away any harsh lines with a fingertip.
  2. Then, using a MAC 217 Blending Brush, I pat Bobbi Brown Metallic Eyeshadow in Bash (a shimmery forest green) over the lid and just barely into the crease.
  3. Next, with a MAC 226 Small Tapered Blending Brush, I sweep MAC Mineralize Eye Shadow Quad in Assemblage (a shimmery gold) into the crease.
  4. Applying a light color under the brow bone can add definition to eye makeup, so I pat on some MAC Eyeshadow in Arena (a shimmery golden peach) with a MAC 239 Eye Shader Brush.
  5. For a slightly smokey eye, I line my upper lash line with Bobbi Brown Creamy Eye Pencil in Jet (a matte black) and diffuse/fade the edges by running the pencil’s attached sponge along them. Then, still with the same pencil, I line my upper and lower waterlines.
  6. To emphasize my lower lash line while still keeping it soft, I draw a line along it (ideally, getting between the roots of each lash) with Bobbi Brown Long-Wear Gel Eyeliner in Forest Shimmer Ink.
  7. Then, I soften the lined lower lash by gently swiping Bobbi Brown Metallic Eyeshadow in Bash along the outer half (toward the ear) with a MAC 226 Small Tapered Blending Brush.
  8. Finally, still with the MAC 226, I swipe MAC Arena along the inner half of the line (toward the nose).

All done. 🙂

Possible alternatives for Bobbi Brown Metallic Eyeshadow in Bash

bobbi-brown-bash-mac-humid-swatch
Swatches from left to right: Bash, MAC Humid, the light and dark green shades from the Chanel Murano quad

Thanks for suggesting so many alternatives to Bash in an earlier post. I think MAC Humid comes pretty close, and the two darker green shades in the new Chanel Murano quad should also work.
[Continue reading…]

There are 21 comments on this post. Leave yours.

Categories: Face of the Day (FOTD), Makeup, Makeup Tips/How To

Estee Lauder Stays Golden with Sensuous Gold for Fall 2009

August 5th, 2009 by Karen 35 Comments

estee-lauder-sensuous-gold-top

Anybody else been moved by Estée Lauder lately? I’m thinking 2009 could be the year they bring sexy back.

I’ve liked a lot of their recent releases, like the Double Wear creme shadows and their Fuchsia Now and Bronze Goddess collections, and I think EL’s going to keep her momentum through fall with Sensuous Gold.

It’s 11 pieces of limited-edition goodness for eyes, lips, cheeks and nails.

First impression?

I love the packaging (hello, gorgeous!), but then it’s pretty hard to go wrong with shiny baubles.

What do you think of the embossed pans in the Signature Eyeshadow Quads or the soft rosy golds, deep plums and bronzes?

It all strikes me as straight-up pretty and feminine — the kind of shimmery textures and soft colors perfect for a candlelit dinner date. Just add heels, a little black dress, dainty gold jewelry and your favorite scent.

Ain’t no boy (or girl) able to resist those charms. 🙂

Check out these product pics and swatches, and let me know what you think.

Product pictures

estee-lauder-sensuous-gold-rose-amethyst-eyeshadow-quad
Sensuous Gold Signature Eyeshadow Quad in Rose Amethyst, $35

estee-lauder-sensuous-gold-rose-gold-eyeshadow-quad
Sensuous Gold Signature Eyeshadow Quad in Rose Gold, $35

estee-lauder-sensuous-gold-signature-lipsticks
Sensuous Gold Signature Lipsticks from left to right: Terracotta, Cinnamon, Rose Amethyst, Plum Amethyst, each $20

estee-lauder-sensuous-gold-multi-gloss
Pure Color Sensuous Gold Multi Gloss in Rose Gold (left) and Amethyst (right), each $18
[Continue reading…]

There are 35 comments on this post. Leave yours.

Categories: Makeup Keywords: estee lauder

Dolce and Gabbana Makeup: Say Hello to Luxury Lipstick Lust

August 4th, 2009 by Karen 36 Comments

dolce gabbana makeup lipsticks

LIPSTICK CRUSH ALERT!

Dolce & Gabbana’s lipsticks ($30) just *might* be worthy enough to join my beloved Chanel Aqualumieres in the lust-worthy Luxury Lipstick Club.

dolce gabbana makeup-soiree
Shine Lipstick in Soiree, $30

Like Chanel’s hydrating Aqualumieres, Dolce & Gabbana lipsticks have a light yet moisturizing texture that feels slick.

dolce gabbana makeup-seduction
Classic Cream Lipstick in Seduction, $30

Add a blindingly shiny finish to their smoove, rich pigmentation, and you get one hellavu luxury lippie. 🙂

dolce gabbana makeup provactive
Classic Cream Lipstick in Provocative, $30

They come come in two formulas — Classic Cream and Shine.

The Classic Creams offer fuller coverage, while the Shines apply semi-sheer.

dolce gabbana makeup dazzling
Classic Cream Lipstick in Dazzling, $30

Both formulas have a classic lipstick-y scent (it reminds me of candles and roses) and taste a little like rose-flavored cupcakes, yum!

And for a relatively new makeup line, Dolce & Gabbana cooked up a decent color selection here, with 39 shades to choose from. I tried four:

  • Shine Lipstick in Soiree: a shimmery, peachy pink
  • Classic Cream Lipstick in Provocative: a creamy, pinkish brown
  • Classic Cream Lipstick in Seduction: a creamy violet
  • Classic Cream Lipstick in Dazzling: a shimmery berry

dolce gabbana makeup swatch-soiree
Soiree
[Continue reading…]

There are 36 comments on this post. Leave yours.

Categories: Makeup Keywords: dolce & gabbana

How Do You Get Eyeliner to Stay on Oily Lids?

August 2nd, 2009 by Karen 48 Comments

080109-eyeliner-for-oily-lids

Back in my early twenties my eyelids were super oily; I could’ve fried bacon and eggs with all that grease, yo!

Finding an eyeliner that would stay put was a challenge… Most would wind up smeared under my lower lash line or disappeared completely.

Reader Julie feels my pain!

At the end of the day my eyeliner moves below my lower lash line… I think I might have oily eyelids. Do you have any tips? And can you recommend a few eyeliners for oily lids? Thanks!

Julie

Heya Julie,

Oily lids are such a chore, aren’t they? Not to worry — your days o’ disappearing liner are numbered! Here are (at least) three things that should help that liner stay in place.

Ladies, if you have any other oily eyelid tips or suggestions for Julie, please share them in the comments.

1. Use a makeup primer

My eyelids aren’t as greasy as they once were, but I think they’re still oilier than average. Applying a makeup primer before I line my eyes helps A TON! I really like Urban Decay’s Sin Primer Potion ($17). A thin layer makes eyeliner stick to my lids like glue.

2. Change your routine

Some eyeliners straight-up last longer than others do, so you might want to try a new one. A few I like and use are MAC Fluidline ($15), MAC Liquidlast Liner ($17), Urban Decay 24/7 Glide-On Pencil ($16) and Make Up For Ever Aqua Eyes ($17) (these liners last on the waterline, too).

3. Set your liner with powder

One last thing to try: set your liner with a coordinating powder eyeshadow. I’ll use the MAC 266 Small Angle Brush ($20) or the MAC 239 Eye Shader Brush ($25) to pat the eyeshadow directly on top of my liner. That seems to help lock it in place.

Ugh, oily eyelids!My oily-skinned homegirls, how do you get your eyeliner to play well with your lids? What products do you love (or loathe!), and what are your favorite tips and tricks?

Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,

Karen

There are 48 comments on this post. Leave yours.

Categories: Just For Fun, Makeup, Makeup Tips/How To

What’s Your Favorite Gel Eyeliner?

July 31st, 2009 by Karen 40 Comments

073109-gel-liner-is-yo-friend

I’m convinced that swatching before bed brings on makeup dreams.

Last night while watching So You Think You Can Dance (OMG, Ade and Melissa? I’m heartbroken!), I swatched some of the Bobbi Brown Ivy League collection, including the bad-assness that is the Forest Shimmer Ink Gel Eyeliner.

I went to bed after the show finished and had a wonderful dream that I was swimming through a pool filled with pots of gel liner.

I was like a kid playing in one of those vats of plastic balls. 🙂

Then, this morning I read this note from Aline:

Hey Karen!

I recently bought Lancome’s Ink Artliner in Indigo Charm from the Declaring Indigo fall collection based on your review and swatches, but mine seems to be a bit on the dry side — nothing “gel-y” about the texture. Was yours the same way?

Thank you for your time! Looking forward to hearing from you soon!

Aline

Hi Aline,

You must be psychic! I’ve had gel liner on the brain…

To answer your question, I think it’s normal for Lancome’s highly pigmented (with great wear time!) Ink Artliners to feel a little drier than the average gel liner.

MAC Fluidline, Bobbi Brown Long-Wear Gel Eyeliner and the Stila Smudge Pots are a little creamier, and some people feel that makes them easier to apply.

But you may also have received an expired pot. Check for cracks in the surface of the product or if it has shrunken down around the inside edges (a sign of dehydration). If it has, then it may need to be returned.

Your favorite eyeliners?

Aline’s question got me thinking about other gel eyeliners, so I tweeted a question this morning:

Your favorite gel liner?

Here are some of the answers I received:

Favorite gel liners

There were votes for Stila Smudge Pots ($20), MAC Fluidline ($15), Rock & Republic Bound Gel Liner ($24) and Shu Uemura Painting Liner ($24), among others. With each of those, I have to agree. 🙂

How about yours? What’s your favorite gel eyeliner?

Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,

Karen

P.S. I can’t even believe today was Friday… What the heck happened to this week?

There are 40 comments on this post. Leave yours.

Categories: Just For Fun, Makeup, Makeup Tips/How To

Dolce & Gabbana The Make Up: Fall 2009 Romantic Collection

July 31st, 2009 by Karen 19 Comments

dolce gabbana the make up romantic collection fall 2009 top

Cupid must moonlight as a cosmetics company exec because Dolce & Gabbana’s upcoming makeup for fall 2009 has his lovely fingerprints all over it.

The Romantic Collection’s pinks, blues and greens defy the typical autumn ensemble of smokey eyes, rich berries and dark lips, and when I saw these promotional pictures for the first time, I totes thought I was looking at a spring release.

The pinks in the 13-piece collection for eyes, lips and cheeks (available this September) range from subdued to bright and share the spotlight with a mix of other bright shades.

Soft and dreamy

In the look, colorful eyes smolder in silver, hot pink, bright blue and lime above lightly flushed cheeks and neutral, delicate lips.

I get a soft, almost ethereal vibe from the release that reminds me of the MAC A Rose Romance collection last spring.

Off to a promising start

As the face of Dolce & Gabbana The Make Up, actress Scarlett Johansson helped the Italian fashion house expand their portfolio into cosmetics earlier this year.

The luxury line for eyes, lips, face and nails carries prices in the Chanel/Dior range, so expect to pay a pretty penny — if you can find it. For now, the line’s only carried at two US Saks Fifth Avenue stores (New York and Beverly Hills) and saksfifthavenue.com.

What would you get?

If you could choose to take home any four of the following fall products and didn’t have to pay a dime, what would you get? Since it’s Friday, let’s virtual haul, LOL!

Are you ready to do some serious Dolce & Gabbana The Make Up damage?

It’s time for another round of WHAT WOULD YOU GET?

Your mission, should you choose to accept it: Choose any four Dolce & Gabbana The Make Up products from fall 2009, and post your wish list in the comments. 🙂

Eyes

dolce gabbana the make up romantic collection fall 2009 smooth eye colour quad in dazzling 160
Smooth Eye Colour Quad in Dazzling 160, $59 (repromote from earlier this year)

dolce gabbana the make up romantic collection fall 2009 smooth eye colour duo in rose 90
Smooth Eye Colour Duo in Rose 90, $36
[Continue reading…]

There are 19 comments on this post. Leave yours.

Categories: Just For Fun, Makeup Keywords: dolce & gabbana

Does Illamasqua Volume Mascara Love My Lashes?

July 31st, 2009 by Karen 25 Comments

illamasqua reviews volume mascara harness

I’m so jealous of all the lucky New Yorkers who get to celebrate Illamasqua’s official in-store Sephora launch at the new Times Square flagship store today.

Wouldn’t it be cool if we could all go together? We could meet in front of the Blushers and lipsticks and throw elbows at anybody who got in our way, LOL!

Check out some of these other posts for more on the Illamasqua line…

  • Illamasqua Intense Lipgloss in Frenzy: A Pink Pigmentation Bonanza!
  • Easy 4-Step Eye Makeup with Illamasqua
  • Illamasqua Cream Blusher Stays On Like Donkey Kong
  • Illamasqua Lip Look: Thinking Outside the Box
  • Illamasqua, I Think I’ve Met My Matte
  • Illamasqua: Makeup for Your Alter Ego
  • Arousingly Sheer Illamasqua Sheer Lipgloss in Rouse
  • Illamasqua Swatch O’ Rama
  • Illamasqua Pure Pigment In Conquer Needs to Conquer a Price Reduction

illamasqua reviews volume mascara wand

It’d be a full-on Illamasqua swatch-o-rama. 🙂

But I’d probably shy away from the company’s Volume Mascara in Harness ($23) (a matte black). Truth be told, it hasn’t made me want to shoop as much as the other things I’ve tried from the line.

For now it’s the only Illamasqua mascara available on Sephora.com, and Illamasqua describes it as a smudge-free, dramatic mascara to lengthen and thicken lashes.

illamasqua swatches volume mascara

Thicker, longer lashes

First, what I see as the good stuff: Volume Mascara does a pretty good job of thickening and lengthening my lashes. The color is a deep, true black with a matte finish, and even a single coat creates an immediate difference that’s both noticeable and above average.

Does it inspire OMG!-filled texts to my BFF at three in the morning? Maybe not, but it’s still a pretty color and markedly above average.
[Continue reading…]

There are 25 comments on this post. Leave yours.

Categories: Makeup, Product Reviews

Bobbi Brown Ivy League: Campus Superstar

July 30th, 2009 by Karen 41 Comments

bobbi brown ivy league top

Have I ever mentioned my Ivy League pants?

One of the colleges I applied to back in high school was Harvard. My parents made me do it (even though I didn’t feel like Ivy League material), but I went through the motions, sending off my application (this was pre-Internet) and waiting patiently for a reply.

Weeks passed, and then a letter came in the mail. The school wanted me to interview with a Bay Area Harvard alumni.

Less than an hour before leaving the house on the day of the interview, the unthinkable happened: I spilled a glass of water on my pants.

Panicked, with time running out, I tossed them in the dryer for 10 minutes. Sadly, I put the dryer on high heat and forgot to check the tags on the pants.

They shrank, horribly, but I was so spaced out, running late and nervous that I didn’t realize until it was too late. A block from the interview, without enough time to go home and change, it hit me.

Something’s wrong with my pants…

Too late to back out, I parked the car and hurried to my appointment, taking shallow breaths every step of the way.

What followed were 60 mortifying, oxygen-deprived minutes of gibberish and the end of my Ivy League career. 🙂

Which leads me to Bobbi Brown’s upcoming Ivy League collection of six Lip Crayons ($22), a Long-Wear Gel Eyeliner ($21), two Eye Shadows ($20) and a new, improved line of Creamy Eye Pencils (nine of them, $20 each).

As usual, Bobbi’s colors are conservative and wearable for work (or a Harvard lecture), but a few of them pack some serious punch.

Here are some of my faves…

bobbi brown ivy league 2
Metallic Shadow in Bash, $20

bobbi brown ivy league 5
Long-Wear Gel Eyeliner in Forest Shimmer Ink, $21

bobbi brown ivy league 4
Creamy Eye Pencil in Jet, $20

bobbi brown ivy league 3
Lip Crayon in Posey, $22
[Continue reading…]

There are 41 comments on this post. Leave yours.

Categories: Makeup

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