Eyes

The New MAC Veluxe a Trois Collection Veluxe Pearlfusion Shadows Blend So Easily That You’ll Clutch Your Pearls

July 10th, 2015 by Karen 39 Comments

mac veluxe a trois collection top — Wearing all three shadows from MAC Veluxe a Trois Veluxe Pearlfusion Shadow in Fabulous Three

Well clutch mah pearls! Did I read that right? Was I just invited to a Veluxe a Trois? *fans self* Oh, my heavens! I’m not exactly sure what a party like that entails…but if the MAC Veluxe Pearlfusion Shadows will be there, I’m in! — as long as I don’t have to take off my cat tee shirt and stretchy pants, of course.

MAC Veluxe a Trois. Um…why does this collection’s name sound like the title of a dirty movie?

Or is that just me?

It’s probably just me…

Never mind! 🙂

In the opinion of this one cat-obsessed makeup fiend, the MAC Veluxe Pearlfusion eyeshadow formula is one of the MOST underrated MAC formulas of them all, and soon (August 13), when the new MAC Veluxe a Trois collection arrives, there will be six new trios with the Veluxe Pearlfusion formula.

Boom. There, I said. One of the most underrated MAC formulas of them all.

HEADS UP! The Veluxe a Trois collection launched early at Hudson’s Bay and is currently, as of right now, available online.

mac veluxe a trois — The six Veluxe Pearlfusion Shadow trios from the new MAC Veluxe a Trois collection

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If You Like Liners With Stiff Tips, Let Ardency Inn MODSTER Easy Ride Supercharged Liquid Liner Take You for a Ride

July 9th, 2015 by Karen 9 Comments

ardency in modster liquid liner — $20 MODSTER Easy Ride Supercharged Liquid Liner by Ardency Inn

Important question for you: what’s your stance on LLTs (Liquid Liner Tips)? If you like stiff tips that don’t have a lot of give to ’em, new MODSTER Easy Ride Supercharged Liquid Liner by Ardency Inn ($20) just might take you for an easy ride.

It’s a jet-black matte liquid liner with pedal-to-the-metal pigment and a long-wearing formula. It just takes one pass to produce a completely opaque line, and this ride likes to go fast! Because Modster dries in less than a minute, you won’t have to worry about it transferring up into your crease.

The only thing is… I don’t know if I’m a good enough driver for this ride. With Modster’s stiff tip (I gravitate toward more flexible tips most of the time), my lines go off road. I usually end up with jagged edges and liner in places it doesn’t belong, which is too bad because I like the formula, the finish and the all-day wear time. I give Modster mad props for pigment, too.

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The NARS Matte/Shimmer Palette for Fall 2015: A Quick Follow-Up

July 8th, 2015 by Karen 13 Comments

In today’s episode of The Annals of Awkward Phrasing…

Karen meets Kim at the diner after closing to discuss makeup and teh kittehs. “If you had a fluffy kitten for every time I wished for an eyeshadow palette that included a few mattes,” Karen exclaims, “you’d have enough cats to qualify as a full-blown CCL!”

LOL! Yes, I have no idea what I’m talking about… 🙂

The mattes were/are the main reason I got so stoked about the new $65 NARS Matte/Shimmer Palette. Four of its eight powder shadows are mattes, and the other four are shimmers.

nars narsissist matte shimmer eyeshadow palette — NARS Matte/Shimmer Eyeshadow Palette

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Dior’s New Diorshow Pro Liner Waterproof Pencil Is Angling for Your Liquid Liner Love

July 7th, 2015 by Karen 17 Comments

Dior Diorshow Pro Liner Waterproof in Backstage Black #092 ($32)

I like to think of myself as a somewhat creative person who also happens to put necklaces on her cat, so I totally appreciate it when makeup brands think outside the box and approach everyday products from different angles.

Take Dior’s new Diorshow Pro Liner Waterproof eyeliner ($32), for example. It quite literally takes a different angle!

LOL! I made myself laugh…

Dior calls this new eyeliner a “hybrid” because it comes in pencil form but has the glide and color intensity of a liquid liner. Instead of having a regular pointy pencil tip, it has a beveled, angled edge, so that you can draw lines of different widths.

Hold the liner perpendicular to your lids, and you’ll draw a thin line. Place it parallel to your skin, and the line will be thicker.

It comes in six $32 shades — Backstage Black #092, Backstage Brown #582, Backstage Blue #272, Backstage Grey #042, Backstage Khaki #472 and Backstage Purple #182 — now available in the Dior permanent collection.

I struggled a bit the first few times I tried to use it. The shade was Backstage Black #092. I dunno… Maybe I have a funky tube, but the pencil felt very stiff, and it wasn’t that pigmented. It clearly did not want to glide across my skin, at all.

Then I accidentally broke the tip — twice! — which was probably my bad, because I twisted the pencil tip up too far and, apparently, this liner doesn’t want you to do that.

Oops.

dior diorshow pro liner waterproof 2 — Wearing Dior Diorshow Pro Liner Waterproof in Backstage Black #092 on my upper lash lines

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Dior’s Newly Reformulated Diorshow Mascara and Its Connection With Toothbrushes

July 7th, 2015 by Karen 11 Comments

dior diorshow mascara — The newly reformulated and relaunched Diorshow Mascara in Pro Black #090 ($27.50), and yes…a toothbrush

Toothbrushes!

That’s what this new tube of Diorshow Mascara reminds me of, which I know is a weird connection to make, but back in 2002 when Diorshow first launched, it had an oversized brush head inspired by the toothbrushes that makeup artists would use backstage to create long, dramatic lash looks on runway models. Dior hacked the idea and turned it into Diorshow’s XXL brush (your fun fact of the day).

Well, when Dior recently revamped and relaunched Diorshow Mascara, you can rest assured that they did not forget to give it an oversized brush, because without it, it wouldn’t have been Diorshow! 🙂

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Before and After New Urban Decay Brow Beater and Brow Tamer

July 6th, 2015 by Karen 24 Comments

My brows and I don’t hold hands and sing songs around the campfire.

My brows and I don’t “hug it out.”

This is because my brows and I have dueling agendas. While they like the sparse spots that appear around their arches, I want brows that are fluffy and full.

While they like looking unfinished and being underwhelming, I want brows that give out high fives and say, “Haaay, GURL, HAAY!” when they enter a room.

This epic, ongoing battle for total and complete brow domination recently led me to try two new brow products coming soon from Urban Decay — one, a new line of Brow Beater pencils ($20 each), and the other a new line of Brow Tamer brow gels (also $20 each).

Both promise to bust out bad@ss submission holds on brows to wrestle them into place.

urban decay brow beater — Urban Decay Brow Beater from the left in Dark, Neutral Brown, Taupe and Warm Brown

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Unsung Makeup Heroes: Tom Ford Cognac Sable Eye Color Quad

July 3rd, 2015 by Karen 13 Comments

Ooh, girl. I gotta be straight with you, because I’m not about to have you fall in love with Tom Ford Cognac Sable and then be heartbroken because of the price.

This quad is $79!

ERHMAHGAWD. So painful. It’s enough to make me want to bite my fist or fall face down on the floor. Sometimes both. But that’s Tom Ford for you. It isn’t exactly BOGO, if you know what I mean, but if you’re OK with that issue, then sweet baby tabbies! — this quad is beautiful. Almost always when I bring it with me on trips, it gets a lot of use.

It has four shades — a shimmery golden peachy beige with a hint of pink pearl, a medium-toned satiny golden brown with tiny flecks of gold shimmer, a deeper satiny plum with golden micro-glitter, and a copper glitter. Each one is a workhorse with a little special kick of its own, like the flash of pearly pink in the light golden beige.

Hands down, this is my favorite of the Tom Ford quads I’ve used.

The Tom Ford Cognac Sable Eye Color Quad before I went to town on it, LOL!

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Benefit They’re Real Push-Up Liner and They’re Real Mascara, Now Available in More Shades

June 30th, 2015 by Karen 16 Comments

benefit theyre real push up liner k1 — Wearing the new Benefit They’re Real Push-Up Liners in Beyond Purple, Beyond Blue and Beyond Green on my upper lash line, and two coats of They’re Real Mascara in Beyond Blue on my lashes

Is this the real life? Or is this just fantasy? Please tell me that I’m not hallucinating and that these colorful new gel liners and mascaras by Benefit are not mere makeup figments of my imagination.

Are they fake…? Did I dream up this whole blue/green/purple situation? Please pinch me because I need to know if They’re Real.

OUCH!

OK…you did not have to pinch me that hard. 🙂

Benefit has some new liners and mascaras, and they aren’t figments of my imagination or yours, nor are you currently floating on pink cotton candy clouds.

These are very, very real, and they’re available on counters and online right now.

benefit theyre real — From the left: Benefit They’re Real Mascaras in Beyond Blue and Beyond Brown; They’re Real Push-Up Liners in Beyond Brown, Beyond Purple, Beyond Green and Beyond Blue

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