Eyes

Maybelline Total Temptation Mascara Is Totally OK

December 19th, 2017 by Karen 12 Comments

This mascara smells like the beach.

Add that to the list of “Things I’d Never Said in 10 Years of Writing About Mascara.”

Somebody out there thought, “What the world needs right now is a mascara that smells like coconuts!”

And it smells really good, BTW. I think so. Maybelline Total Tempation Mascara smells exactly like coconut candy or a coconut-scented sunscreen at a surf shack.

Also, it comes in a pretty pink tube. 🙂

Plus and plus.

maybelline total temptation mascara wand — A closer look at the wand…

It’s the latest mascara from Maybelline. It’s $7.99 and part of their Total Temptation collection that officially arrives next month (although it’s on Amazon right now if you’re itchin’ to have a coconut-scented mascara in your life).

I think it’s A-OK… I don’t think it’s as life-changing as L’Oréal Lash Paradise, which is the current gold standard of dramatic drugstore mascaras for me because it does everything well — lengthen, separate, thicken, holds a lash curl — but Maybelline Total Temptation gets the job done.

maybelline total temptation mascara before after — Before and after Maybelline Total Tempation Mascara

My naturally uninspiring, fairly average lashes look bumped-up a notch or two when I wear a couple coats. They’re longer, thicker and spikier. The formula does gather groups of lashes together, and the spikes are eye-catching, especially from an arm’s length away, but I prefer the extreme separation and tighter curl I get from Lash Paradise.

If you find Total Temptation at the drugstore and pick it up, I don’t think you’ll be bummed out or anything. It’s a perfectly functional, simple, easy-to-remove drugstore mascara that boosts your lash game a little.

Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,

Karen

The Maybelline Total Temptation Shadow + Highlight Palette Is Coco-Nuts for Pigment and Staying Power

December 18th, 2017 by Karen 26 Comments

maybelline total temptation eye cheek palette k2 — Wearing the new $14.99 Maybelline Total Temptation Shadow + Highlight Palette on my lids and cheeks

What do you think about a palette that smells like coconuts? Are you intrigued and totally tempted? As a “food enthusiast,” I am, but when I sniff the new $14.99 Maybelline Total Temptation Shadow + Highlight Palette, and I really get my nose up in it, the coconut isn’t nearly as strong as it is in Maybelline’s Total Temptation Mascara, which seems kind of odd to me…

I dunno why, but I just expected the powder products to smell more coco-nutty than the mascara. It’s probably from the years of opening compacts and smelling roses or violets or gardenia or vanilla, or whatever else has been the scent du jour. I’m conditioned.

Or, maybe I’m just hungry and wish these eyeshadows and highlighters smelled like coconut macaroons. 🙂

maybelline total temptation eye cheek palette — Maybelline Total Temptation Shadow + Highlight Palette

Part of the Maybelline Total Temptation product family

The list price is $14.99, so it’s a little expensive for drugstore, and it’s part of Maybelline’s new Total Temptation line, which is available on Amazon now (the Amazon price for the palette is $9.49) and coming to drugstores next month.

There are eight powder eyeshadows and two powder highlighters divided into two groups.

One side of the palette has warm browns, peaches and golds, and the other has cool mauve, violet and charcoal shades.

maybelline total temptation eye cheek palette swatches — Maybelline Total Temptation Shadow + Highlight Palette swatches

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L’Oréal Voluminous Lash Paradise: A Drugstore Wunderkind for Wonderful Length

December 14th, 2017 by Karen 11 Comments

loreal voluminous lash paradise — All this lash drama for less than $10. Thanks, L’Oréal Voluminous Lash Paradise!

“I’d like two tickets to Lash Paradise, please! — one for me, and one for my awesomely affordable pink tube of mascara. Actually…make that three tickets, because I’m gonna need a separate seat for the added length. Yeah, because my lashes, which normally disappear into the background of my face, even after I curl them, look so incredibly long when I wear it that you’d think I was one of those genetically #blessed people.”

loreal voluminous lash paradise before after — Before, and after a single coat

I heard about Voluminous Lash Paradise, a new-ish addition to L’Oréal’s mascara family, from my friend Vanessa, who does makeup for weddings and celebs down in L.A. She was like, This is going to rock your world. I can’t live without it. I use it, and I use it on my clients, and…just GET THEE A TUBE ASAP. (In so many words.)

V, you weren’t playing!

I know it’s trite, but it’s like wearing falsies. The look is similar to Tom Ford’s awesome, but very expensive, $45 FullScreen Mascara (they even have similar wavy brushes), but creates a little less volume.

There are so many different versions, too, including waterproof and non-waterproof, all in different tones of black. I have the Waterproof one in Blackest Black, which looks dramatic even after a single pitch black layer (and it gets even better with two).

The length? It’s crazy. Plus, it creates fine-toothed separation and a tight curl with a major volume boost, although I’m hella greedy when it comes to volume and always want a little more, since I’m all about that fatty YSL Faux Cils/Chanel le Volume lash life.

Lash Paradise’s volume is still good, though.

loreal voluminous lash paradise k — That curl is no joke.

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Maybelline Total Temptation Brow Definer: Get Bushy Brows for Less That Last

December 13th, 2017 by Karen 19 Comments

As has been documented on the interwebz, I have a brow situation, but here it is again, with feeling, in case you missed it the first 1,465 times: my right brow is shorter, and my left brow has a bald spot (Raul says “WASSUP!”).

It’s an uneven situation all around, so I fill in my brows daily because big brows make me feel like superhero Karen.

I usually skip the process, though, when I work out, because I’m just going to sweat it all off anyway, but new Maybelline Total Temptation Brow Definer ($7.99) has me rethinking that world view.

maybelline total temptation brow definer before after — Before and after

GIRL. Technically, this stuff isn’t waterproof or sweat-proof, but it might as well be because it hangs on even better than pricier pencils by MAC, Urban Decay and Tom Ford.

I wore it to HIIT class Monday night, which I almost didn’t even go to because I was really dragging my feet. I came *this close* to bailing, so I needed — yes, needed! — brows to help get me through it.

Don’t ask me why, but looking semi-cute during exercise class helps me push harder. *shoulder shrugs*

maybelline total temptation brow definer swatches — Blonde, Soft Brown, Medium Brown and Deep Brown

Deep Brown, the shade closest to my dark blackish brown hair, stayed put on my skin and between my brow hairs to keep my fuzzy little caterpillars looking fluffy and full throughout countless burpies (burpees?) and switch lunges. Every time I caught a glimpse of my gansta face in the mirror and mumbled “Karen, you can do this!” under my breath, I felt and looked LEGIT.

maybelline total temptation brow definer k — 2 legit 2 quit… Er, something like that. I’m wearing Deep Brown.

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Unsung Makeup Heroes: Bite Beauty Multistick in Honeywheat

December 13th, 2017 by Karen 5 Comments

bite beauty honeywheat — Bite Beauty Multistick in Honeywheat, the unsung hero of all your warm brown palettes. ALL OF THEM!

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.

I’ve had *three* conversations over the last few days about warm brown eyeshadow palettes.

Have you noticed when you walk into a Sephora, an Ulta or a drugstore that those six-pan palettes with orange browns and reddish browns are everywhere? It’s like, Oh, there’s Urban Decay Naked Heat, and there’s NARS Wanted, and there’s Anastasia Modern Renaissance.

They’re all over the place!

I’m a fan. I think they’re fun. My heart’s all, “Blow out those warm orange-y and red smoky eyes until your wrist falls off, K!” but my mind’s like, “Realistically, you have 15 minutes to do your makeup today, so look for shortcuts.”

Shortcuts: I’m all about them.

I’ve been starting my smoky looks lately by layering two cream shadows together, one lighter and one darker, to jump start the smoky gradient effect.

I might not always have the time to layer and blend with the care that smoky eyes usually need (but who does, really?), but this trick at least gets me halfway there.

This warm matte chocolate brown is Bite Beauty Multistick in Honeywheat ($24), and it’s the lighter shade I’ve been using in most of my smoky eye looks lately. I think it’s the best base shade for those orange-y and reddish brown palettes (or pretty much any nude/neutral palette in your stash).

It’s a multipurpose cream stick for lids, lips and cheeks with a pliable consistency that you can easily push around with your brush. It’s not oily or greasy, though, so it actually stays where it belongs once it sets, which takes about five minutes.

Other creams blend into it easily, too, and powder shadows glide across it without sticking to any spots.

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Espresso and Chocolate, Two Budget-Friendly Beautiful Brown Shades From the Revlon ColorStay Crème Eye Shadow Line

December 12th, 2017 by Karen 19 Comments

revlon colorstay creme eye shadow chocolate espresso — Wearing Revlon ColorStay Crème Eye Shadows in Chocolate and Espresso on my lids and lash lines.

Why are so many beautiful brown shadows named after something delicious, like Espresso and Chocolate? I call foul. It’s unfair.

For the O.M.R. (Official Makeup Record), you can’t eat this Espresso or this Chocolate, two beautiful matte browns in the Revlon ColorStay Crème Eye Shadow line, but since they’re on sale at Target right now for $5.99 each (regularly $7.99), you can use the extra change in your pocket to get an actual espresso or something chocolate.

GIRL YOU KNOW IT’S TRUE. I go buck wild for brown eyeshadows (probably more than the average bear, but what are you gonna do?). These two creams are on the cool-toned side, and they’re shades that you could totally use, like, everyday if you’re into natural-looking or no-makeup makeup, which I am.

Chocolate is a medium taupe-ish brown, and Espresso is a grayish chocolate brown. Both look equally delicious.

I reviewed some of the shimmer cream shadows from this line last spring, and I love them because they’re like sheer versions of the MAC Paint Pots. They’re long lasting, easy to blend, and they don’t look dry or heavy on my finely lined lids.

The matte versions are similar, I’m happy to report.

revlon colorstay eyeshadow chocolate espresso swatches — Chocolate and Espresso

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A MAC Jade Jagger Face of the Day With Golden Shine Mineralize Eye Shadow X 4

December 11th, 2017 by Karen 27 Comments

mac jade jagger golden shine — When Target is your runway…

I vote that we all wear soft glam makeup for Target runs from this day forward.

It has been decided!

If nothing else, I think it would make the world a more interesting place, LOL!

But seriously, I’m usually barefaced when I go to Target because #momlife, unless I’m feeling ambitious, in which case I might curl my lashes — might — but I just had to go there with MAC Jade Jagger. It’s so beautiful! I haven’t been this excited about a MAC collection in a long time.

Gimme easy glam any day of the week.

mac jade jagger collection all — I’m wearing the blush in the upper right, the red lipstick right next it, the quad on the left, and the bronzer in the lower left.

The collection is LE and coming to select MAC counters and the MAC website December 14th.

This was actually my face of the day last Friday, but I just got around to posting the pics. It’s a warm, satiny bronzed brown smoky eye with pink cheeks and soft red lip.

mac jade jagger golden shine k2 — I used the rose gold shimmer in Satin Shimmer Mineralize Skinfinish to highlight my cheekbones and my nose.

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#FancyLadyThings: Tom Ford FullScreen Lash Mascara

December 11th, 2017 by Karen 7 Comments

At the intersection of Fancy Lady Lane and Tom Ford Beauty Boulevard, you’ll find me — hello! — standing at the crossroads waving a tube of the new FullScreen Lash Mascara, which is — clutch your pearls — $45.

Fullscreen is one of three new mascaras in the eyes-only Eyes of Tom Ford makeup collection (the others are Spike and Shutter), and when you say that, you have to whisper it all sexy-time because it’s the right thing to do.

And FullScreen is the one you want if you want natural-looking drama…which, admittedly, seems like a contradiction in terms, but picture your favorite set of natural-looking falsies that noticeably thicken and lengthen your lashes, and even hold a kick-@ss curl for a night-and-day difference, but still manage to look like lashes that a real human being could have been born with.

That’s FullScreen, except without the glue and cries of “Mother trucker! I just smudged my winged liner! Now I need to start over AGAIN!”

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