Makeup

Why “Eye” Love Tom Ford Cream Color for Eyes in Caviar…

October 4th, 2017 by Karen 15 Comments

tom ford caviar — Tom Ford Cream Color for Eyes in Caviar + your BFF black pencil liner + two coats of mascara = easiest smoky eye ever

Tom Ford’s gorgeous gunmetal Caviar cream shadow is many things: enduring, easy to blend, and it’s basically everything you ever wanted for the easiest smoky eye ever (just add black liner and mascara), but none of those are why it holds a special place in my heart.

It’s special to me because it’s what I was wearing when Connor said the word “eye” for the first time.

Backstory: she already knows some of the words for body parts, so if I say “Show mommy your ears,” she’ll point to her ears. She just hasn’t said many of the words yet, but last week when I was wearing Caviar on my lids with a Cargo black pencil on my lash lines (my eyes were a little dramatic that day, which is how I roll on a Friday afternoon!), I was changing her diaper and talking to her when Connor pointed up at me and emphatically said, “Eye! Eye! Eye!”

Uh… She was pointing at my makeup! I was almost ready to ask Tom to be her godfather, haha!

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On Wednesdays We Wear Pink (and Purple)

October 4th, 2017 by Karen 9 Comments

igk-girls-club-mac pinklight strobe cream becca pink haze — It’s a pink hump day party with IGK Girls Club Color Spray, MAC Pinklite Strobe Cream and BECCA Pink Haze Soft Blurring Powder.

In the wise words of the Mean Girls movie, “On Wednesdays we wear pink,” and whoops! — sometimes purple, thanks to this temporary hair color spray by IGK, Girls Club ($19), which looks more like purple in my hair.

igk girls club — I call this pose “Purple-haired girl gazes out window.”

I like it, though. It smells like too-sweet bubblegum, and I have to use about half a can before the color really comes through, but I still think it’s fun, especially on mornings when the thought of covering my salt-and-pepper roots with regular ol’ root spray (I use the one by Rita Hazan) is just waaaaaay too depressing.

Even though I have to use a lot, so it’s not something I’ll do every day (because it’s $19), I think it’s better than most of the temporary hair color sprays I’ve used. It doesn’t make my hair feel crunchy (YAY!), and it’s easy to wash out.

OH, EM GEE, change my world, why don’t you?! BECCA Pink Haze Soft Blurring Powder ($38) is a loose makeup setting powder with a sheer pearly pink tint, and it subtly brightens your face, but you can’t, like, really tell when you first put it on. It takes 10-15 minutes before it seems to settle on the skin. Then you can see the subtle soft pink pearl reflecting in the light.

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MAC X Nicki Minaj Collection: 9 Nude Lip Combos to Try

October 3rd, 2017 by Karen 10 Comments

mac nicki minaj lip combos — Nude. Lip. Love.

Of the multitude of ways to refer to a booty/buttocks/bum/butt, derrière is my fave.

Derrière, daaaaahling! DAIRY AIR.

That’s classy.

There’s a lipstick in the MAC X Nicki Minaj collection called Derrière, which I take to be a celebration of Nicki’s famous backside, and why not celebrate it?! I think it deserves a parade.

BOOTY ALERT!!! For reals, my HIIT instructor plays this song in class sometimes, and it always cracks me up!

Nicki’s new booty-rockin’ limited edition collection of nude lipsticks, lip pencils and Lipglasses is available now with lots of love for #TEAMNUDELIPS.

There are SO MANY ways to work nude lips into cool combos, and here are nine ideas.

Note: If you happen to not be a member of #TEAMNUDELIPS, oh! Please come here. I have to try to convince you, but where do I start?? There are warm pink nudes, neutral pinks, peachy pinks, beige-pinks, AND THOSE ARE JUST THE PINKS. There are also peachy nudes, nude browns and… So many possibilities! The pics below just barely scratch the surface of the nude lip iceberg, but I hope they give you one or two impulses. 🙂

1. Boldly Bare Lip Pencil + Japanese Maple Lipstick + N-U-D-E Lipglass

6 mac nicki minaj boldly bare japanese maple nude — Boldly Bare Lip Pencil, Japanese Maple Lipstick and N-U-D-E Lipglass

2. Cork Lip Pencil + Derrière Lipstick + Beaux Lipglass

5 mac nicki minaj cork derrier beaux — Cork Lip Pencil, Derriere Lipstick and Beaux Lipglass

3. Edge to Edge Lip Pencil + Playing Koi Lipstick + Please Me Lipglass

4 mac nicki minaj edge to edge playing koi please me — Edge to Edge Lip Pencil, Playing Koi Lipstick and Please Me Lipglass

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Unsung Heroes: MAC In Extra Dimension Waterproof Mascara

October 3rd, 2017 by Karen 3 Comments

mac in extra mascara review — THE BEST mascara in the entire MAC fam IMO is this one here.

MAC has megatons of mascara. There must be millions of them! You know this. They aren’t one of those brands that only does, like, one mascara and calls it quit. No.

I think quite a few of MAC’s mascaras are good, too, like Extended Play. I’ve gone through a number of tubes of that one, among others, but there’s one MAC mascara I’ve been using more than the others for months, and I think it’s leagues above the rest. It’s In Extra Dimension Waterproof Mascara, the one in the curvy black tube with the teal MAC logos all over it.

Now, Karen is someone who finds fault with pretty much every mascara she tries. (Karen is also apparently someone who refers to herself in the third person!). But this one’s The. Best. in the entire MAC mascara family IMO. And, girl, I’ve tried them all!

You get so much bang for your buck with it, and the look is almost as dramatic as falsies, and that’s with just one or two coats.

I mean, it’s a mascara…so it’s not gonna make you look like you’ve grown Snuffalufagus fringe overnight, but if you want it all — thickness, length, curl separation and, most importantly, THE DRAMA — In Extra Dimension Waterproof brings it.

What’s an unsung makeup hero? For me, it’s an oftentimes underrated makeup morsel, a permanent collection product that scoots under the radar screen of many makeup lovers but regularly rocks my world. The long-running Unsung Heroes series features some of my favorites.

mac in extra dimension waterproof before after — Before and after! I’m also wearing MAC Studio Fix Fluid Foundation in NC 42 mixed with MAC Strobe Cream in Pinklite topped with MAC Mineralize Skinfinish Natural in Medium Golden (foundation and powder), Hourglass Radiant Bronze Light (blush), MAC Brow Sculpt Pencil in Spiked and Benefit clear Brow Gel (brows) and MAC Lipstick in MMMMM (from the new Nicki Minaj nude lipstick collection

There is one other thing I feel you need to know up front before you fall in love with it, and here it is: this mascara is truly waterproof. You’ll need an oil-based eye makeup remover and/or an eye-friendly cleansing balm to thoroughly take it off; otherwise, you’ll be stuck rubbing at your lashes for days and could even accidentally break them off (NOOOO!), which happened to me a couple times before I “wised up.”

Now when I wear this and go to remove my makeup at the end of the day, I soak a Shiseido Facial Cotton with a few drops of Klorane Waterproof Eye Make-Up Remover with Soothing Cornflower (you can get it at Sephora), then gently press the pad on top of my lashes. When I hold it there for a few seconds, this mascara slides right off.

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Victoria Beckham X Estée Lauder 2017

October 3rd, 2017 by Karen 11 Comments

estee lauder victoria beckaham 2017 blonde mink cheek creme top pic — Becks is baaaaaaack.

The following sentences must be sung to the tune of Wannabe by the Spice Girls:

So tell me what you want, what you really, really want.

Yo, I’ll tell you want I want, what I really, really want.

I wanna, I wanna, I wanna, I really, really, really want Victoria Beckham to do her own makeup line.

LOL! 🙂

But until then, she’s back! Victoria Beckham, previously known as Posh Spice, is back for round two with Estée Lauder, which means YAY for all of us who loved the heck out of the first collection she did with them last fall.

estee lauder victoria beckham 2017 eye kajal saphir vanille — From the left: Cheek Creme in Blonde Mink, Eye Kajal in Saphir Vanille and Skin Perfecting Powder

The new Victoria Beckham X Estée Lauder is available now on counters and online, and it carries over some of the elements that made last year’s launch a hit with me, like the gold and black packaging (the outer part has a different pattern, though) and the overall luxe, weighty, good-heirloom-jewelry-like vibe.

The pieces look expensive…and they are expensive, so brace yourself for the sticker shock of an $85 pressed powder (!), a $60 cream blush and a $38 eyeliner, which would STILL be crazy town even if I won Super Lotto.

Obvs, Becks is going for the Tom Ford and Chanel customer.

I’m aggressively playing with three of the new pieces, and MAN! — that cream blush? But before we get to that, FYI, VB brought back some things from last year, like the Bitter Clove eyeshadow and Modern Mercury highlighter, which I loved then and still love now, so if you missed out on them last year or have an empty to replace, now’s yo’ chance.

estee lauder victoria beckham 2017 swatches — Swatches from the top: Skin Perfecting Powder, Cheek Creme in Blonde Mink, Eye Kajal in Saphir and Vanille

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Product Shout-Out: Sweat Cosmetics Skin-Balancing Cleansing Towelettes

October 2nd, 2017 by Karen 3 Comments

These wonderful wipes are like a portable, post-workout shower, and they’re sensationally soft. They come in packs of 10 for $7 and 30 for $18 from Sweat Cosmetics.

The thing I notice about most specialized post-workout wipes, especially the ones that say they’re for face *and* body, is that they’re usually great at one thing but not great at another, like they’ll be fine for quickly cleaning my neck and down, but when I try using them to clean my face, they’ll sting or make my cheeks feel tight afterward. Or, they’ll leave a film that pills up when I put on sunscreen or BB cream.

Most of them aren’t great at both — face and body — but these are, so even even though you can use baby wipes or regular old makeup wipes to clean up after your workout, these are just better, heftier and softer than usual, like a really good cotton washcloth that smells like lavender and green tea.

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MAC Nicki Minaj Lipstick and the First PSL of the Season

September 28th, 2017 by Karen 22 Comments

mac nicki minaj the pinkprint swatch — MAC Lipglass in Please Me, MAC Lip Pencil in Dervish and MAC Nicki Minaj Lipstick in The Pinkprint

I was going to go get my first Pumpkin Spice Latte of the season today (#TEAMPSL) without even filling in my brows or curling my lashes, but then I saw The Pinkprint, one of the MAC X Nicki Minaj Collection Lipsticks, and wondered what Nicki Minaj would do…

Because she’s kind of a bad-@ss, and I can’t picture her going low-key to Starbucks. Nah, she’d be all decked out with full-on glam and a pink wig.

Probably. 🙂

In honor of Miss Nicki’s latest MAC collab (she’s done others before), I put on mah eyeliner, mah lipstick and a smile, then grabbed my first PSL of the season…which was iced, actually, because it was hot enough here for shorts and a t-shirt.

With my first Pumpkin Spice Latte of the season and the new MAC Nicki Minaj Lipstick in The Pinkprint, along with a few other MAC lip goodies. (See below!) Oh, and please note the little photobomber in the left-hand corner…

Light nude pink The Pinkprint is one of two lip products in the collection with LE packaging, and it’s the product I’m playing with first from the release because I thought it would look yummy with blue eyeliner.

mac nicki minaj pinkprint swatch — The Pinkprint Lipstick on its own without any accouterments

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Tom Ford Boys & Girls: The Cutest Little Lipsticks That I Ever Did See

September 28th, 2017 by Karen 16 Comments

tom ford lips and girls — A handful (literally) of the new Tom Ford Boys & Girls Lipsticks ($36 each and available right meeeeeow)

When ya can’t decide which Tom Ford lipstick to wear, you wear them all. 🙂

These are from the new Tom Ford Boys & Girls lipstick collection available on counters now. They’re creamy and moisturizing, which is what I need today because my lips are killing me, Smalls!

Wait for it…

My kisser is crazy dry this morning, with a large scoop of EVEN MOAR DRY on the side. I mean, if my lips were a desert, they’d be frickin’ Death Valley right now.

Whoops! — there’s goes a tumbleweed. Let’s wait for it to roll by…

Thankfully, these Boys & Girls Lipsticks are hella moisturizing, and I think my dry lips and dry-lipped ladies will approve.

They also all have girl names, but after an exhaustive search, I’m sad to report that there isn’t one named Karen. 🙁

What’s up with that, Tom?