Drugstore Beauty Finds

Sonia Kashuk’s $12.99 Chic Luminosity Duos Glisten on Skin, Combine the Benefits of a Baked Powder, Cream and Liquid In a Single Pan

April 2nd, 2013 by Karen 20 Comments

Sonia Kashuk Chic Luminosity Bronzer/Blush Duo in Glisten — That’s Sonia Kashuk’s new Chic Luminosity Bronzer/Blush Duo in Glisten ($12.99) on my cheeks, one of three new SK Duos for spring

Okay, so I don’t quite get the alligator/reptilian pattern on the pans (gives me the heebie-jeebies and the urge to moisturize my shins!), but I do get a good bargain-hunting vibe from Sonia Kashuk’s new $12.99 Chic Luminosity Duos.

Each of the three Duos in petal pink Glow, warm coral Glisten and rosy nude Glimmer comes with a blush and bronzer; the formulas remind me of some of the powder/cream/gel products we’ve seen from EstÃ©e Lauder and Chanel over the past couple of years.

Glisten, the warm coral I’ve been wearing off and on since last weekend, looks just like one of EstÃ©e Lauder’s Ilumminating Powder Gelee Highlighters and Blushes, which usually cost between $40-50.

And like the Gelees, it illuminates cheeks with a refined, glimmering finish that softens the appearance of pores and fine lines, almost like a 1940s powderpuff lens.

Sonia Kashuk Chic Luminosity Bronzer Blush in Glisten ($12.99)

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For Her Spring/Summer 2013 Makeup Collection, Sonia Kashuk Says, Wrap It Up, and Let’s Take It to Morocco!

March 27th, 2013 by Karen 17 Comments

sonia kashuk spring summer 2013 — Affordable and stylish spring and summer beauty from Sonia K.

Kitty overlord got a taste for the finer things? Is he/she hooked on products with high-end prices?

With Tabs, been there, done that.

But ya know what? This spring and summer, refreshing your makeup bag (or your feline employer’s) doesn’t have to empty your Kate Spade wallet.

Not with my girl, Sonia Kashuk, swooping in to save the day. 🙂

Whether you’re saving up for a toy or trip, or just tightening up your beauty budget, get haute couture for less with Sonia Kashuk’s new spring and summer 2013 makeup.

With a packaging revamp across her permanent line, there’s excitement in the air! Say so long (at least for now) to Sonia’s signature white and silver compacts, because they’ve been replaced by new black and white cases.

Of course, you’ll still be able to find your favorite product shades, as well as some new ones, too.

On the limited-edition side, we head to Morocco!

Or rather, Sonia did, and it influenced her spring and summer makeup, bags and tools.

It’s a HUGE collection this year (available now at Target, in stores and online), and here are some of the pieces that have caught my eye…

Sonia Kashuk State of the Art Nail Set ($12.99)

Sonia Kashuk Nail Colours from the left: Sitting Pretty, Queen of Hearts and Fever Pitch ($4.79 each)

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A Cure for Sallow Skin: Physicians Formula Sexy Booster Sexy Glow Bronzer

March 26th, 2013 by Karen 19 Comments

Physicians Formula's Sexy Booster Sexy Glow Bronzer in Bronzer — The $13.95 Physicians Formula Sexy Booster Sexy Glow Bronzer in Bronzer (also available in a second version called Light Bronzer), available now at drugstores and online

In an ominous dream I had the other night, Olympic Skater Johnny Weir warned me that I was making a big mistake…

In the dream he told me two things — 1) that I didn’t have enough sequins in my wardrobe and 2) that I wasn’t wearing bronzer often enough.

I had to agree with him about the bling…

By nature, I love to sparkle. So I’m totally on board with that.

But about Johnny’s second bit of advice, I hrrumphed!

“Duuuuude,” I screamed from my dream seat next to the rink, “I wear bronzer a lot. Like all the time!”

He landed a triple axle and yelled from across the ice, “Don’t lie. I saw you at Kate Spade yesterday, and you looked tow’ up. What you need is a good golden tan bronzer. The warm, healthy glow could do you some good.”

Then he skated up to me, pulled the white scrunchie I was wearing from my hair (I never figured out why), and skated off until he disappeared into a hot pink fog…

(Yeah, I really have to stop eating those rice crispy treats before bed.)

This was one of those dreams I initially forgot about but remembered later in the day.

It was Saturday, warm and sunny outside, but I was feeling pretty crummy about being stuck indoors doing my taxes. At the time I was wearing my rattiest pajamas with a scrunchie in my hair (yes, it was white) and didn’t have on a lick of makeup.

I’d just glanced over at my pan of Physicians Formula Sexy Booster Sexy Glow Bronzer sitting on my desk when the dream occurred to me and I blurted, “Johnny Weir!”

The golden bronzer is part of a new spring collection of products designed to increase yo’ sex appeal.

Ingredients

Mica, Diisostearyl Malate, Synthetic Fluorphlogopite, Fragrance, Synthetic Wax, Nylon-12, Silica, Ethylhexyl Palmitate, Magnesium Stearate, Ethylhexyl Isononanoate, Lauroyl Lysine, Kaolin, Epimedium Sagittatum Leaf / Stem Extract, Theobroma Cacao (Cocoa) Fruit Powder, Dimethicone / Methicone Copolymer, Androstadienone, Pregnadienol, Ethylhexylglycerin, Phenoxyethanol. May Contain: Iron Oxides, Iron Oxides, Red 30, Tin Oxide, Titanium Dioxide, Yellow 5 Lake

Physicians Formula Sexy Booster Sexy Glow Bronzer swatches — Swatches of the darker part of the pan on the left, the golden part in the middle and both the shades swirled together on the right

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Milani Liquid Eye Liquid-Like Liner in New Perfect Purple and Graphite for Eye Looks Both Bold and Gentle

March 22nd, 2013 by Karen 22 Comments

Milani Liquid Eye Perfect Purple Graphite — Milani has two new $6.99 Liquid Eye shades for spring: Graphite and Perfect Purple

With the days getting longer, hillsides turning green again and flowers beginning to bloom, I’m not as inclined to spend as much time indoors. I feel like getting out there in it, ya know? Playing outside. Going to the mall, extra trips to Target, the grocery store — whatever. Anything that’ll get me outside.

This applies to makeup. I don’t feel like spending as much time on mine when it’s 70 degrees and sunny outside.

Milani’s Liquid Eyes Liquid-Like liners in Perfect Purple and Graphite ($6.99 each) can help with that.

The company just added both new shades to their super smooth, long-wearing Liquid Eye Liquid-Like line for spring, and in short, they’re essentially drugstore dupes for the MAC Pearlglides.

Milani Liquid Eye Perfect Purple Graphite 1 — That’s Graphite on the left and Perfect Purple on the right…

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Does the Addition of a Primer Help These $8.49 Neutrogena Crease Proof Eye Shadows Last Longer on Lids?

March 19th, 2013 by Karen 49 Comments

El Hub and I have been talking about taking a trip somewhere soon. It’s been about a year since the last time we got well out of Dodge, and even though we have no definite plans whatsoever, the very mention of the word, “trip,” is enough to get me thinking about travel makeup.

I’m wondering if these Neutrogena Crease Proof Eye Shadows should tag along…

The formula for this new line of six smartly priced $8.49 shimmery cream shadow sticks contains a primer, supposedly reducing/eliminating creasing and fading, while the colors brighten and revive your eyes.

Not a bad idea for the price, right?

Sounds good to me. I like the convenience of stick products like these and love the notion of skipping primer. And then there’s the price, which works out well for travel, seeing as accidents (crushed or missing makeup bags, GASP!) occasionally do happen when I’m out and about.

Five of the six Neutrogena Crease Proof Eye Shadows from the left: Perfect Pink, Constant Copper, Stay Golden, Forever Platinum and Stay-Put Plum

Neutrogena Crease Proof Eye Shadow Swatches — Swatches of the Neutrogena Crease Proof Eye Shadows from the left: Perfect Pink, Constant Copper, Stay Golden, Forever Platinum and Stay-Put Plum

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I’ll Take Two Coats of the New Milani Grandissimo Lashes and a Vanilla Scone, Please

March 15th, 2013 by Karen 25 Comments

“Um, yeah, could I please have a Grande Grandissimo Lash and one of those YUMMY-looking vanilla scones?”

Haha! Okay, you caught me. Part of the reason I like new Milani Grandissimo Lashes mascara is because it sounds like something I’d order at Starbucks instead of my regular grande soy chai latte (no foam, please). That, and I just like saying the name over and over again… Grandissimo. Grandissimo. Grandissimo.

Just launched for spring, Grandissimo and it’s oversized accompanying brush promise a false lash look with “incredible volume,” and all without smearing or clumps.

I’ve had my eyes peeled for a budget version of my favorite dramatic mascara du jour, Le Volume de Chanel, and I was hoping Grandissimo would be a good drugstore dupe.

Milani Grandissimo Lashes before after — Two coats of Grandissimo on the left, and my bare lashes on the right

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Charming Their Way Into Makeup Bags and Hearts, the New Physicians Formula Sexy Booster Sexy Glow Glossy Stains Deliver an Yves Saint Laurent Look at a Drugstore Price

March 8th, 2013 by Karen 8 Comments

Why do I find little dangling charms so irresistible? Charms on just about anything, like phones, bracelets, the ends of pens and pencils, tubes of Physicians Formula Sexy Booster Sexy Glow Glossy Stain…

Physicians Formula Sexy Booster Sexy Glow Glossy Stains Red and Hot Pink — The Physicians Formula Sexy Booster Sexy Glow Glossy Stains in Red and Hot Pink

Charmed, I’m sure. 🙂

Maybe it’s the way they sparkle when I wiggle them around. It triggers some kind of primitive cave girl thing… Whatever it is, those silvery high-heel charms are charming the heck out of me.

And speaking of charming, that’s actually their schtick — except with regard to pants, as in “charming the pants off you.” These two new pigmented, $9.95 gloss/stain hybrids in Red and Hot Pink, like the Physicians Formula Sexy Booster Sexy Glow Blush in Rose we looked at before, are designed to do just that.

With ingredients like horny goat weed and a musky vanilla scent, they’re supposed to evoke a sultry state of mind while tinting lips with a long-lasting lip stain and a satiny finish.

Truth be told, I haven’t yet felt the urge to bump Barry White and crawl all over a rotating heart-shaped bed while wearing either of these shades…but I do feel like raising my hands in the air and waving them around like I just don’t care, which is something I normally do for drugstore versions of high-end makeup products.

These remind me of those $32 Yves Saint Laurent Glossy Stains…

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Does Physicians Formula Sexy Booster Sexy Glow Blush Have the Juice to Seduce?

March 7th, 2013 by Karen 13 Comments

Wearing Physicians Formula Sexy Booster Sexy Glow Blush in Rose ($11.95), one of two new shades available now at drugstores and online

Being named Sexiest Cat Alive by People magazine, not once, but twice, makes Tabs something of an authority on sexy.

What can you say, really? He’s the Channing Tatum/Bradley Cooper combo of the cat supermodel world.

Lucky… I guess some cats are just born with it, ya know? That certain something. That “it” factor.

Most of us, on the other hand, have to work for it. I’ve always seen myself as more of a girl next door — not a bada-boom bombshell — but I’m hoping Physicians Formula Sexy Booster Sexy Glow Blush in Rose can fire up my fabulous side.

The blend of shimmery pink tones gives cheeks a seductive glow, and according to Physicians Formula, Sexy Booster was designed from the bottom up to inspire sexy self-confidence. Everything from the packaging (that shoe!) to the scent (a musky vanilla that’s supposed to make women feel more sensual) to the ingredients, which are supposed to have a pheromone-like effect.

Cocoa extract to enhance feelings of attraction, excitement and euphoria, and horny goat weed, an aphrodisiac said to help you get in the mood to boom-chica-wah-wah! 🙂

I can’t say that I feel particularly mrrrooowww when I wear Sexy Booster, but I do quite like the soft pink color and silvery shine.

I think the grains of powder could stand to be a little smaller, too; they’re pretty obvious until I buff the blush down.

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