Makeup

14 Days of Ravishing Red! — Day 13 (Actually Day 14): Reddish Fuchsia Lips With Bite Beauty Kimchi and Cayenne Lipsticks

February 14th, 2018 by Karen 12 Comments

I realized JUST RIGHT NOW that I accidentally repeated “Day 7” of this series twice, which is what I get for staying up late to watch Altered Carbon on Netflix. Note to self: go to bed earlier, K-Dawg! Lack of sleep depletes your math skillz.

Sci-fi fans, check out Altered Carbon

Yeah, so this is technically the 14th edition of 14 Days of Ravishing Red, not the 13th. Whoops!

With it being V-Day and all, I wanted to wear a red lip today, but not just a lip with a hint of red, or a tint of red, or a sheer gloss of red. But a RED red.

But I was also in the mood for fuchsia. I looked around and couldn’t find exactly what I wanted, so I mixed a fuchsia lipstick with a neutral red (Bite Beauty Kimchi Lipstick and Cayenne Lipstick, which are $18 each) to get exactly what I wanted.

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3 Things to Know About the New MAC Jeremy Scott Cheek X3: Acoustica Palette

February 14th, 2018 by Karen 34 Comments

Ya know, I’m looking at this palette from the new MAC Jeremey Scott collection, and it’s dawning on me that…I don’t think I have a legit CD player in my house anymore.

There’s one in my Mazda…and I think I might have an external USB one somewhere for my computer…but that’s it. I don’t think I have a regular old music CD player anywhere, and I guess that’s a good thing, because I can totally see myself trying to force-feed this blush palette into it, either by accident, as I mistake it for my Prince mix and push “Play” a bunch of times and, after hearing no sound come out, curse all the technology that has ever existed, or, on purpose, out of morbid curiosity. 🙂

mac jeremy scott collection outer packaging — Kudos to the MAC design team for nailing the ’90s style in this collection. It’s completely ON POINT!

The MAC Jeremy Scott Cheek X3: Acoustica palette CD packaging looks so real, though! When I turned it over, I half expected to see scratches on the back.

mac jeremy scott cheek x 3 acoustica swatches — Blush, bronzer and highlighter

The palette is $35 and part of a new ’90s music-themed MAC collab collection with designer Jeremy Scott, who has his own clothing line and also designs for big brands like Adidas and Moschino.

His style is kinda out there… Like, if the Care Bears were club kids in the world of the Fifth Element (fun fact: Jean Paul Gaultier designed the costumes for that movie). The clothes are colorful, cheeky, retro-futuristic, and often ’80s and ’90s nostalgic.

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14 Days of Ravishing Red! — Day 12: Satiny Bluish Red Lips With Bite Beauty 078 and Caudalie Innocence

February 13th, 2018 by Karen 7 Comments

Are you ready for 14 Days of Ravishing Red? Stay tuned as we explore ravishing red ? lipsticks, lip liners and glosses every day on our way to ? Valentine’s.

Namaste… You wanna do some red lip yoga? — because there are sooo many ways to work a red lip using just a tinted lip balm and red lip liner. They’re two of the most flexible things you can have in your makeup bag.

Like, last weekend I did a causal red lip stain with a Caudalie lip balm/Bite Beauty lip liner combo, and today I used two more Bite and Caudalie products in different shades — $18 Bite Beauty Lip Liner in 078 and $18 Caudalie French Kiss Lip Balm in Innocence — for a more formal Tuesday satiny bluish red lip (got gussied up for a trip to CVS).

Same as with the lip stain, I did the liner first, then followed with a layer of the balm on top, but instead of diffusing the liner to soften it, this time I lined my lips first with bluish red 078 Lip Liner before completely filling them in with the same pencil for a full-on opaque matte lip. Then, I lightly dabbed pink Caudalie Innocence balm in the center of my lips to take the edge off the matte and add some shine.

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Benefit BADgal BANG! Volumizing Mascara

February 13th, 2018 by Karen 10 Comments

benefit badgal bang before and after — $24 Benefit BADgal Bang!

If I could go to Mars, but I could only bring one tube of mascara with me… LOL! It’s a variation on the “deserted island” theme.

Anyway, would I bring new Benefit BADgal BANG! Volumizing Mascara?

Hmm… Maybe? Perhaps for the poetic irony, because according to Benefit, BADgal BANG! does incorporate space-age technology, so there’s that… Benefit says that they used lightweight aero-particles, which were first developed by the space industry, to lift lashes to gravity-defying heights.

“BADgal BANG! 36 HOUR* FULL-BLAST volumizing mascara creates MASSIVE volume without weighing down lashes. The gravity-defying formula contains aero-particles, one of the lightest known materials, derived from space technology. This innovative intense pitch black mascara layers easily for bigger & BIGGER impact. It’s custom big Slimpact! brush is streamlined to reach root-to-tip, corner-to-corner, upper & lower lashes for BIG VOLUME WITH 360° REACH!”

— benefitcosmetics.com

My lashes definitely look lifted when I wear it…but seriously, not nearly lifted enough. In fact, the formula relaxes a lash curl a bit and leaves the ends of my lashes pointing out rather than sticking up (I prefer the latter look because I think my lashes look curlier that way).

benefit badgal bang closeup — Two fresh coats on my upper and lower lashes

Not that I dislike the way my lashes look when I use this mascara. I like how much longer and thicker they look, and I like the lightly glossy finish, like they’ve been dipped in lacquer. It’s a similar look to the gorgeous NARS Audacious, sans the curl hold and with slightly less volume.

On my average lashes, I’d call the overall lash look a few steps above natural but a few steps below glam — so somewhere right in the middle for length, volume and lift — and I also like that BADgal BANG! doesn’t flake or smudge. It’s also easy to remove, and I don’t need a separate long-wearing eye makeup remover to do it.

But…I want MOAR DRAMA (she roars for the millionth time)!

If your lashes are already naturally lush and long, you might like this and, heck, you might even love it enough to take to Mars. I, on the other hand, am more likely to wear it on a slow Tuesday on Earth. I mean, it’s pretty, but it isn’t nearly dramatic enough for me to pack in my Mars “go bag.”

And let’s get real — if I’m willingly hurtling my body through the Earth’s atmosphere into space for any reason, I’m gonna do it with glamorous drag queen lashes OUT TO HERE, no doubt!

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3 Things to Know About New MAC Studio Waterweight Concealer

February 13th, 2018 by Karen 12 Comments

1. Gosh, this is a comfy concealer!

MAC Studio Waterweight is MAC’s new lightweight medium-coverage matte finish liquid concealer (which you can build up to full). It has a thin, watery formula of the type that has become over the past few years, like Dior Nude Air and Shiseido Sync Synchro Skin, except with more coverage.

If you crave moderate coverage and a matte finish, and you don’t like your face to feel painted and “makeup-y,” check it out. You can set it with a powder or leave it alone.

Out the gate, Studio Waterweight provides more coverage than other MAC medium-coverage concealers like Select Cover-up and Select Moisturecover, but slightly less coverage than full-coverage Pro Longwear and Studio Finish. But you can build it up to full.

“MAC STUDIO WATERWEIGHT CONCEALER is an ultra-fluid formula with medium-full buildable coverage and a natural finish. While it hydrates and gently diffuses the appearance of imperfections, it also helps reduce the appearance of under eye circles, dark spots and discolouration.”

— maccosmetics.com

2. Not the best concealer for dry skin…

It looks fresh for a solid six hours on my combination skin and covers almost everything, from my dark circles to uneven pigmentation, without oxidizing, and it doesn’t pool up in my fine lines, buuut it does. Not. Cooperate. With. Dry. Skin.

Even if your skin is just the teeniest bit dry.

mac studio waterweight concealer review 1 — Here’s what NW30 (used as an under-eye concealer) and NC42 (worn on my cheeks and around my nose and my mouth as a foundation) looks like after applying it first thing in the morning. I’m not wearing any setting powder, either, just the concealer on its own. (I am wearing blush, highlighter and bronzer on my cheeks, though.)

mac studio waterweight concealer review 2 — The concealer after 6 hours…

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14 Days of Ravishing Red! — Day 11: Red Wine and Witchcraft With Tom Ford Dahlia

February 12th, 2018 by Karen 27 Comments

Are you ready for 14 Days of Ravishing Red? Stay tuned as we explore ravishing red ? lipsticks, lip liners and glosses every day on our way to ? Valentine’s.

Potently powerful Tom Ford Black Dahlia Lipstick is deep, dark, moody and perhaps slightly dangerous…and a little bit unhinged, LOL! Like, it could either kiss you or cut you to shreds, depending on how the wind’s blowing.

LOL!

Basically, it ain’t playin’. I feel like I’m one of the girls in The Craft when I wear it, and we’re sitting around a bonfire in the woods making flames dance with witchcraft.

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14 Days of Ravishing Red! — Day 10: Stained Brick Red Raspberry Lips With Bite Beauty 082 and Caudalie French Kiss in Addiction

February 11th, 2018 by Karen 8 Comments

Are you ready for 14 Days of Ravishing Red? Stay tuned as we explore ravishing red ? lipsticks, lip liners and glosses every day on our way to ? Valentine’s.

Hope you had a fab Sunday Funday, girl (and guys). I had to run a bunch of “mom errands” today, like I had to get diapers for the Coywolf, picked up a 28-pound bag of kitty litter for His Highness, Sir Tabs, returned a throw pillow I got from HomeGoods that was way too white, which begs the question — why did I even buy a white pillow in the first place? I live with little animals.

But I digress…

Anyway, life errands, so I didn’t go too crazy today in the red lip department. I wore a brick red stain, but instead of applying and blotting, I lined my lips first with a creamy brick red liner, Bite Beauty Lip Pencil in 082 ($18), blended out the line with my finger to spread the color all over my lips, and topped it off with a layer of raspberry red Caudalie French Kiss Lip Balm in Addiction ($18).

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14 Days of Ravishing Red! — Day 9: Glossy, Sheer Cherry Red Lips With NARS Scandal

February 10th, 2018 by Karen 5 Comments

Are you ready for 14 Days of Ravishing Red? Stay tuned as we explore ravishing red ? lipsticks, lip liners and glosses every day on our way to ? Valentine’s.

This glossy cherry ? creates the sheerest veil of yellowy red — even sheerer than Neutrogena’s Deep Cherry, and ya know, that’s why I like it. NARS Scandal ($21) is shiny, sheer, sweet and innocent.

Ah… It takes me back to my middle school years, when sheer rollerball glosses were all the rage, and every girl’s lips looked like this after they touched up after lunch.

Among the things I love about it: that I can still see my lip freckles when it’s on.

The sheerness might make Scandal more of a layering gloss for ladies and gents who prefer bold lip colors, but I love this on its own, especially when it’s worn with just mascara, a little concealer and a messy bun.

Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,

Karen

Makeup

Sci-fi fans, check out Altered Carbon

1. Gosh, this is a comfy concealer!

2. Not the best concealer for dry skin…