Daily Beauty

Fill Your Prescription for Pretty Lips With the New Marvelously Moisturizing Dior Rouge Dior Brilliant Lipshine & Care Couture Colours

February 19th, 2015 by Karen 18 Comments

Dior Rouge Dior Brilliant Lipshine & Care Couture Colour in Victoire (left) and Darling (right)

Dr. Dior doctor is in, and she’s ready to dispense the right dosage of your next new (possibly) favorite moisturizing lip gloss.

Yes, that’s right! The new Dior Rouge Dior Brilliant Lipshine & Care Couture Colours, of which there are 12, may look and feel like run-of-the-mill lip glosses, but they’re filed under the “Lip Balm” category.

They’re formulated with a blend of oils and vitamin E to quench parched pouts, although quickly scanning the ingredient list, the first oil I recognize is luffa cylindric seed oil, and it’s quite a ways down, but I digress…

Beyond how moisturizing these are — and they are moisturizing — one of my favorite things about them is the design of the doe foot. It has a divot in the center that holds some of the gloss in a tiny reservoir, making it easy to apply/deliver a good dose.

I’m lovin’ orangey coral Victoire and hot pink Darling. Both douse my dry lips with unflavored, unscented moisture and last 2-3 hours. If you like the medium-weight, non-sticky formula of the Chanel Rouge Allure Extrait De Glosses, you’ll probably also like these. They’re very similar.

Now THIS is the kind of medicine I don’t mind! 🙂 All 12 shades ($35 each) are available now online and at Dior counters in Neiman Marcus stores.

Rouge Dior Brilliant Lipshine & Care Couture Colour in Darling

Rouge Dior Brilliant Lipshine & Care Couture Colour in Victoire

Dior Rouge Dior Brilliant Lipshine & Care Couture Colour in Darling (left) and Victoire (right) — Rouge Dior Brilliant Lipshine & Care Couture Colour in Darling (left) and Victoire (right)

Talk About Sweet Gift Sets! The $20 La Maison Du Chocolat for Sephora Collection Gift Set

February 11th, 2015 by Karen 17 Comments

I think Sephora’s onto something here with the whole makeup and chocolate combining thing.

Think about it — if every beauty product on the market came with a piece of chocolate or caramel or a cupcake or a macaron…

I’m sorry, where was I?

My wallet would be hot to the touch and smoking from all the friction of me opening and closing it, and there would be mountains of muffin in my muffin top, holy sh*t!

This cute little Valentine’s Day set will seduce yo’ belly with four fancy chocolates from La Maison Du Chocolate while it entices your lips, because in addition to the candies, you get a long-wearing raspberry liquid matte lip color called Lustre Matte Long-Wear Lip Color in Mulberry.

For what it’s worth, if your willpower fails you and you scarf down all four of the chocolates the minute you get home, Mulberry won’t disappear on you. It has pretty good staying power/wear time, although it helps to line your lips first. The formula stays somewhat creamy and wet, and it tends to migrate outside my natural lip lines.

The La Maison du Chocolat for Sephora Collection is available now at Sephora stores (doesn’t look like it’s available online) for $20.

Sephora Collection Lustre Matte Long-Wear Lip Color in Mulberry

7 Things I Recently Picked Up From Ulta

February 10th, 2015 by Karen 36 Comments

Not that one ever needs a legitimate reason to visit Ulta, but my official “on the books/for the record” reason last weekend was because I needed a replacement for my stick of Anastasia Brow Wiz (which I wore down to the nub).

That, and it was the first day I felt almost like myself again after that awful cold.

I’m serious, even the little routine things that usually cheer me up, like showering and putting on body lotion afterwards, weren’t working. I felt pretty terrible.

So when I started feeling better again, I said to El Hub, “Drive me to Ulta,” and he said, “OK, I’ll drop you off…and then I’ll go to Home Depot.” 🙂

Of course, it took me all of 30 seconds in the store to grab the brow pencil, which was followed by another 30 minutes of looking around (you know how it is).

Here’s what I got… Some of these I needed, and others I’m just playing with/testing.

1. Shea Moisture Superfruit Complex Hand & Body Scrub, $9.99

Shea Moisture Superfruit Complex Hand and Body Scrub

2. Shea Moisture Coconut & Hibiscus Bath & Body Massage Oil, $9.99

3. Rimmel Natural Bronzer in Sun Bronze, $4.99

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Fierce Felines Festoon This Palette From the New Paul & Joe Menagerie Collection for Spring 2015, Mrow!

January 29th, 2015 by Karen 26 Comments

Paul & Joe Menagerie Spring 2015 Face & Eye Color CS in Les Flamants Roses

Naturally, a tabby was the obvious choice to include on the packaging for this new spring palette from Paul & Joe.

Tabs and I approve. 🙂

The palette is the Face & Eye Color CS Palette in Les Flamants Rose ($39), one of Paul & Joe’s new spring palettes, and the box is covered in cats.

But what do you expect? It’s Paul & Joe, and their design philosophy falls somewhere along the lines of “MOAR CATS.”

Les Flamants Rose ($39) is part of the new spring Menagerie Collection, an infinitely adorable mix of animals and colors available now with the rest of the launch at Paul & Joe counters and online.

I cannot wait to play with this makeup! The last time I freaked out this hard over a Paul & Joe launch was the cat lady one they did a few years ago.

I hope this one’s just as good. I’m gonna put it through its paces this weekend, woo-hoo!

Paul & Joe Menagerie Spring 2015 collection Face & Eye Color CS from the left: Elephanteau (096), Les Flamants Roses (094) and Girafe (095), $39 each — Face & Eye Color CS from the left: Elephanteau (096), Les Flamants Roses (094) and Girafe (095), $39 each

What a Difference a Nude Lip Makes…

January 19th, 2015 by Karen 35 Comments

From the left: Too Faced Melted Liquified Long Wear Lipstick in Melted Sugar ($21), Tarte LipSurgence Lip Tint in Glitzy ($24), MAC Toledo Lipglass in Oxblood ($16.50), Tarte Amazonian Butter Lipstick in Ethereal Pink ($16) and Too Faced Melted Liquified Long Wear Lipstick in Melted Frosting ($21)

Wearable purple eyeshadow.

Wait, what…?

Hear me out. I think it’s entirely possible to make purple eyeshadow wearable, even bold purple eyeshadow, if you keep everything else in your look toned down.

Here I’m wearing the same purple eye look I wore earlier, but this time paired with different nude lips.

I’m also not wearing a lot of color on my cheeks, which I think makes the whole effect less fashion-y.

There are countless varieties of nude lippies out there, and many of them are not boring.

To make a bold eye look like this one more wearable, you could pair it with a sheer pinkish peach nude lipstick or gloss…

Tarte Amazonian Butter Lipstick in Ethereal Pink

Or, you could do a deeper sort of brownish nude with a little sparkle…

Or, if you’re feeling wildly adventurous (or, in my case, out of your mind, because it’s the end of the day and you’re tired), you could do a pale opaque nude…

Too Faced Melted Liquidfied Liquid Lipstick in Melted Sugar

Too Faced Melted Liquidfied Liquid Lipstick in Melted Frosting

Nude lips can really make a bold eye look more wearable, and with so many gorgeous nudes out there, the possibilities are endless. 🙂

Incidentally, all of these shades are new for spring and listed here…

Too Faced Melted Liquified Long Wear Lipstick in Melted Sugar ($21)
Tarte LipSurgence Lip Tint in Glitzy ($24)
MAC Toledo Lipglass in Oxblood ($16.50; coming soon)
Tarte Amazonian Butter Lipstick in Ethereal Pink ($16)
Too Faced Melted Liquified Long Wear Lipstick in Melted Frosting ($21)

The Hourglass Modernist Eyeshadow Palettes in Exposure, Graphite and Infinity

January 15th, 2015 by Karen 32 Comments

Hourglass Modernist Eyeshadow Palettes in Exposure (left) and Graphite (right)

OH, MAH GAH!

I had to do it. After the fun I had with these the other day, I couldn’t resist. Fabulous forces beyond my control made me put these into my Sephora cart, and then the free three-day shipping pushed me over the edge.

It was like when the Enterprise rolled up on the Borg. Resistance was futile.

Hourglass Modernist Eyeshadow Palette in Graphite

Hourglass Modernist Eyeshadow Palette in Infinity

Hourglass Modernist Eyeshadow Palette in Exposure

Hourglass Modernist Eyeshadow Palette in Infinity (left) and Graphite (right) — Infinity (left) and Graphite (right)

Like a Multi-Tool for Makeup Lovers, the Cheeky Chic Kaleidoscope Blush Palette by Le Metier de Beaute Will Save You From Falling Into the Too-Much-Rouge Trap

January 9th, 2015 by Karen 16 Comments

Le Metier de Beaute Cheeky Chic Kaleidoscope

The Cheeky Chic Kaleidoscope by Le Metier de Beaute, $95

In classic Karen fashion, I brought three blush palettes with me when I went out of town to visit family over the holidays but ended up using just one of them the entire time, the new Cheeky Chic Kaleidoscope by Le Metier de Beaute.

I love the way it looks on my cheeks, but I do NOT love the redonkulous price.

It’s $95.

Yeah…

I could totally wear this palette every single day, and I did over a period of about two weeks.

It’s like a Swiss Army knife. It contains three matte blushes and a golden highlighter that swivel in and out. Nifty idea and awesome for travel.

All three of the blushes look delicate and natural on the skin, and when I top them with the golden highlighter, I feel like a glowing angel in a shampoo commercial… 🙂

The whole effect reminds me of the Ambient Blush Palette by Hourglass.

The Cheeky Chic Kaleidoscope by Le Metier de Beaute ($95)

Comes with three matte blushes (a matte salmon-pink, a neutral pink and a beige nude) and a sheer golden highlighter, which Le Metier refers to as a luminizer.
I like to wear the matte salmon pink or matte neutral pink on the apples of my cheeks (sometimes, I even mix them together) and the golden highlighter, which has a finish that’s more of a sheen than a shimmer, on the tops of my cheekbones.
I don’t mind the nude beige blush, but I think it’ll be better for lighter skin tones than mine. Sometimes I’ll mix it with one or more of the other blushes because, by itself, I can’t even see it until I’ve applied three or four layers.
The blushes and highlighter feel fantastically soft (like the Calvin Klein blanket I got at Costco for $16, yo!). They’re easy to blend, and when I wear them, I never feel like I’m drowning in rouge.
As beautiful as these workhorse colors are, the palette is terribly expensive. You could definitely find similar shades for less, but consider this: the powders work out to about $24 each, which is “cheaper” than a Chanel blush.
Available now at Le Metier de Beaute counters, Neiman Marcus stores and online.

Before blush/highlighter

Before applying the Le Metier Cheeky Chic Kaleidoscope on my cheeks — Before blush/highlighter

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A Brief MAC Rainbow Intermission to Brighten Your Day

January 8th, 2015 by Karen 11 Comments

A MAC Rainbow with makeup from the new Lightness of Being collection

Like a double rainbow…only much cooler because you can put this one all over yo’ face!

I got a distinctly rainbow-y vibe from this handful of pieces in the new MAC Lightness of Being collection. From the left, that’s Mineralize Rich Lipstick in Style Surge, Mineralize Rich Lipstick in Luxe Naturale, Mineralize Eye Shadow in Spiritual Life, Lipglass in Beautiful Moves, Mineralize Lipstick in Dreaminess, and Mineralize Lipstick in Be Fabulous on the far right.

They’re all $22 each and available now with the rest of the Lightness of Being collection at MAC counters and online.

* Leprechaun legal disclaimer: pot o’ gold not included.