Eyes

5 Things You Should Know About the Too Faced Love Palette

June 30th, 2015 by Karen 26 Comments

5 Things You Should Know About the Too Faced Love Palette

Inspired by the lost art of love letter writing, the Too Faced Love Palette just might inspire you to write a long overdue love letter (of sorts) to yourself…

Dear Karen,

GURL. Just a gentle reminder to please stop and smell the roses sometimes, because like you, they’re wonderful.

You always try so hard at everything, and I love that about you, but I wish you would make more time for yourself (and for us, mi amor). I don’t know about you, but when we’re together hanging out, I feel EFFING FABULOUS! Like when we go to the mall or get our hair did at the salon, we always have so much fun! We should really just face it already — we’re made for each other.

I can’t deny that sometimes I get a little jealous of…you know who, but I can’t help it. He’s a larger-than-life feline philanthropist, famous kitty supermodel and incredibly talented, and I’m just a simple blogger.

But he can’t love you like I do.

I’ll always be here for you, my darling. Please never forget how wonderful you are.

Love always,

Karen
There are hearts in the middle of each pan! — which may or may not make you crave Valentine’s Day candy hearts, and if they do, you may find yourself Googling “buy Valentines candy hearts online June.”
When you’re in the mood to watch TV while you play with makeup (am I the only person who does this?), the Love Palette and a Lifetime movie make a great pair. I recommend the “woman in peril” genre so that you may periodically take breaks from blending to yell things like, “Molly…YOU IN DANGER, GIRL!” at the TV whenever the protagonist does a totally dumb thing, like descending a flight of steep stairs into a pitch black basement without so much as a fork with which to defend herself. I mean, REALLY?
When you’re wearing the Love Palette on your lids and your true love calls (and you know that he’s your true love because he just drove your cat to the vet!) to say that they will be returning home shortly because the cat just projectile pooped all over your beloved’s shirt, pants and car (more on this in a minute…), your eyes will look lovely while your heart swells with concern.
And after you finish doing your makeup with the Love Palette, you remember how much you love wearing smokey eyes. Then, even though it hits 93 degrees outside, you say to yourself, “Eff it. I’m in the mood to go smokey today, and I refuse to deny the urge. Who cares if we’re in the middle of a summer heat wave?”

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How to Get the Most Out of the MAC Dazzleshadows From the MAC Le Disko Collection

June 22nd, 2015 by Karen 17 Comments

mac le disko dazzleshadow — Are you ready to boogie? Because I am! — in MAC Dazzleshadows from the new MAC Le Disko collection

WANTED — One illuminating disco floor (complete with square floor tiles that change color to the beat of the music) and silver disco ball for impromptu office party. I’ll provide music and cat (because what’s a disco party without a chubby tabby? — a HELLA BORING disco party, that’s what). You bring your slickest bell-bottoms and signature moves.

En lieu of cover charge, arrive wearing one of the new Dazzleshadow eyeshadows from the new MAC Le Disko collection, and enter the front door doing The Hustle. 🙂

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Fans of Frost and Bright Color Will Break Hearts Wearing the LORAC Alter Ego Eye Shadow Palette in Heartbreaker

June 19th, 2015 by Karen 20 Comments

lorac alter ego heartbreaker — LORAC Alter Ego Eye Shadow Palette: Heartbreaker ($24)

I wonder if Sasha Fierce (Beyonce’s not-so-secret alter ego/identity) would like LORAC’s new Alter Ego Eye Shadow Palette in Heartbreaker ($24).

I’m guessing she would…and it wouldn’t surprise me to also find out that she insists that every item in her makeup bag have the exact same hot pink packaging.

Heck, that’s what I’d do if I were Sasha! 🙂

This limited edition summer season palette of 10 powder shadows is available now exclusively from Ulta.

Within the hot pink packaging (LOVE IT) you’ll find a surprising number of colorful eyeshadows…

A satiny tan
A satiny peach
A shimmery reddish plum
A shimmery bronze
A satiny warm beige
A shimmery bright blue
A frosty gray
A frosty light blue
A shimmery deep purplish brown
A frosty light blue

I’d probably wear one or two of the colorful shades together, and then ground them by working in a combination of the tan, peach, beige and/or bronze.

I think you could totally incorporate more than two of these colorful shades in the same look, of course, but for me, between the shimmer and the frost, and with the intensity of the pigments, it could easily turn into a whole lotta look, you know? If you like wearing a lot of color on your eyes and you’re completely comfortable with high-shine frosts and shimmers, you could do it up with this palette and go shimmer/color crazy!

Considering the amount of shine here, the shadows are easy to work with, and they range from moderately to highly pigmented. I haven’t noticed any problems with fallout, either.

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10 Things You Should Know About the Urban Decay Naked Smoky Palette

June 2nd, 2015 by Karen 54 Comments

10 Things You Should Know About the Urban Decay Naked Smoky Palette

It’s smokier than the time my brother showed up late to a hip-hop dance show smelling like he spent the last 20 minutes hot-boxing in the car. Translation: it’s incredibly freaking smokey! — and you can do a lot of different things with it, like a smokey bronze eye, smokey gray, smokey brownish black, a smokey black panda eye, a smokey plum, a smokey taupe… Lots of smokey possibilities.
It’s completely clothing optional (It’s called Naked Smoky, after all, which reminds me… I spell it “smokey,” but UD spells it “smoky”), although I do recommend wearing clothes if you’re going out wearing this makeup.
On that note, I may or may not be wearing clothes in these pics. Take a guess! 🙂 And then say “CLOTHES: YES” or “CLOTHES: NO” in the comments. LOL!
The name may cause confusion if you discuss it with your Filipino mother.
MOM: What are you doing?
ME: Oh, checking out this thing called Naked Smoky.
MOM: What do you mean you’re naked!? I didn’t raise you to be naked on the Internet!
ME: No. Mom, no, I’m not naked…
MOM: And you’re smoking now too? Smoking is bad. Don’t smoke!
If you go to DSW wearing Naked Smoky on your lids, you’ll be the most glamorous person there. (True story! I just got back from looking at shoes… Didn’t buy anything, boo.)
It will not help you make friends with the neighborhood kitties…but it can be used to create smokey eyes like the eyes of your favorite smokey-eyed kitty.
Speaking of cats, if you happen to run into Tabs while wearing the grays and browns in this palette and he rubs his face all over your face (as he’s apt to do when he’s looking for love), you will not be able to see the cat hairs he leaves on you since most of these colors match his fur. Again, true story.
If you get it, you’ll have another brush to add to your “Emergency”/”Just in Case”/”Things I Probably Won’t Use Every Day” pile, because the dual-ended brush that comes with it is meh. I’ll give it props for not being scratchy, but I think the brush heads are too dense and stiff to do any real-deal hard-core smokey blending. They just end up pushing stuff all over the place, so I’d grab a fluffy tapered brush and a domed blending brush instead. Fluffy blending brushes all the way, son!
While playing with it, you may become so wrapped up that you forget to eat lunch. Yes…you guessed it. TRUE. STORY.
It hurts like a mo’ fo’ when it falls on your foot. So try to avoid dropping it on your foot. 🙂

The 411 on the Urban Decay Naked Smoky palette

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Dior Summer 2015 Contraste Horizon (556) 5 Couleurs Eyeshadow Palette: A Traditional Summer Eye Palette With a Twist

May 29th, 2015 by Karen 16 Comments

dior contraste horizon — Dior Summer 2015 Limited Edition 5 Couleurs Eyeshadow Palette in 556 Contraste Horizon ($62)

I see torrents of teal, bunches of brown, gobs of gold and a deluge of Dior on the horizon!

The new $62 Dior Summer 2015 Limited Edition 5 Couleurs Eyeshadow Palette in 556 Contraste Horizon, one of two limited edition powder eyeshadow palettes in the recently released Dior Summer 2015 Tie Dye Collection, is available now online and at Dior counters, where it patiently awaits makeup lovers hoping to take it home. 🙂

Dior Contraste Horizon contains a shimmery medium warm brown, a shimmery deep teal, a shimmery warm yellow gold, a shimmery mint and an iridescent pale violet, and yes, it’s $62.

YIKES!

Dior is a high-end brand, after all, and with their prices, it seems they aren’t afraid to show it.

This is what I’d call a traditional summer eye palette…with a twist. If you live for classic summer eye colors, you may freak out over the shimmery gold, brown and teal shades in this palette.

Granted, the whole brown/teal/gold combo idea isn’t exactly revolutionary — I mean, it’s no Ryan Gosling body pillow — but because Dior is freaking Dior, these shadows do everything they’re supposed to do, and they do it well.

Take the teal, brown and gold eyeshadows in this eye look I’m wearing. Seriously, it only took one layer with these to reach maximum color. The highly pigmented powders are downright indulgent, and yay! — no fallout. Plus, an eight-hour wear time.

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MAC Unsung Heroes: Veluxe Pearlfusion Shadow in Brownluxe

May 29th, 2015 by Karen 16 Comments

mac brownluxe palette — MAC Veluxe Pearlfusion Shadow in Brownluxe ($40, available now in the MAC permanent collection)

One of the downsides of deep-cleaning one’s office (yes, Operation Get My Sh*t Together is still ongoing) is finding a huge mound of stale cat treats behind a box of eye palettes and realizing, “Holy freaking crap! I’m the woman who had a pile of stale cat treats in her office and has no idea how long they were there!”

It could have been days, weeks or even years, and frankly I’m surprised that Tabs didn’t find them, because I’m sure he would have “removed” them for me.

T-Money insists on being hand fed when it's snack time — Hey girl, haaaay!

Before you click away thinking, “This woman is crazy,” I do have a point, and it is this: one of the upsides of deep-cleaning one’s office is rediscovering long-loved and lost gems like MAC Brownluxe Veluxe Pearlfusion Shadow.

If you like wearing eyeshadow but feel like your blending skills are lacking, and/or you’re often in a hurry to get out the door, and/or you can’t bear the thought of buffing out three layers of Soft Brown with your 217, YOU NEED THIS IN YOUR LIFE.

“Five complementary shades that glide on and blend beautifully for infinite day-to-night looks: egg shell, frosty orange gold, light yellow chocolate, deep bronze, blackened plum with pearl. Matte to highly pearlized finish.”

— maccosmetics.com

MAC Brownluxe belongs to the Veluxe Pearlfusion Shadow family, a group of powder shadow palettes in the MAC permanent line. It’s one of eight Veluxe Pearlfusion palettes available now for $40 each.

A few of the MAC Veluxe Pearlfusion Shadows…

The MAC Veluxe Pearlfusions have a different formula than the regular MAC powder shadows that come in the round pans. Softer and silkier, they feel almost creamy to the touch.

Each Veluxe Pearlfusion palette (Plumluxe, Copperluxe, Peachluxe, etc.) has its own distinct color theme, and within each palette, you get five Veluxe Pearlfusion Shadows hand-selected to work together in that particular theme.

Browluxe, one of my favorites in the Veluxe Pearlfusion fam, has a soft, shimmery eggshell beige; a satiny, medium golden tan; a glittery, orangey gold; a shimmery chocolate; and a shimmery, deep plummy brown — all colors that I could happily wear daily for the rest of my life based on how I’ve been feeling lately, ’cause I’ve been all about #datneutrallife.

But it’s not just the Brownluxe colors that I like. The Veluxe Pearlfusion formula is also just plain fab. It’s really, really easy to blend. Even if you’re completely new to eyeshadow, I think you could do a look incorporating two or three (or maybe even all five!) of these colors, and have it turn out looking like you know exactly what you’re doing.

I don’t know what kind of cosmetic witchery is at work, but it’s probably related to the creamy formula. Erasing edges between the colors and creating diffused gradients that seamlessly transition from light to dark, which are telltale signs of someone who’s been blending for a while, is easy with these shadows.

Brownluxe is the best if you’re always running late (story of my life). I wore it yesterday to a meeting in the city with some beauty folks, and I only had 20 minutes to do a full face of makeup from start to finish. Brownluxe helped me quickly do a neutral cat eye, which I paired with a bright hot pink lip (MAC Pink Pigeon), and I think it turned out looking like I spent 45 minutes instead of 20.

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The Impeccably Dressed and Long-Lasting Sisley-Paris Phyto-Eye Twist Waterproof Cream Eyeshadows

May 27th, 2015 by Karen 15 Comments

Aside from their very fashionable zebra stripes, many brands make shadow sticks that look like these Sisley-Paris Phyto-Eye Twist Waterproof Cream Eyeshadows, but I don’t recall one being dressed as well or one costing as much (they’re $50!).

Dat black and white zebra print, tho.

Sometimes I feel like putting an animal print on something is a gimmicky (albeit usually effective) way to make it seem better…

Sisley-Paris, a high-end skin care and makeup brand, promotes their use of plant-based ingredients (full list of ingredients down below, but note — not all of them look natural), and if the thought of spending $50 for a waterproof creamy eyeshadow stick seems crazier than Ryan Gosling showing up at your front door astride a unicorn while carrying a bouquet of peonies and a homemade Key lime pie, they hope that their ingredients are one reason it’s not.

Despite their extravagant price, I do think that these are gorgeous on the skin, and they’re pigmented, smooth and dramatic with a capital “D.”

Here are two of the eight available shades. The others are 1 Topaz, 3 Khaki, 4 Steel, 6 Marine, 7 Havana and 8 Black Diamond.

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MAC Unsung Heroes: Costa Riche Eye Kohl

May 27th, 2015 by Karen 28 Comments

mac costa riche — Wearing $16 MAC Costa Riche Eye Kohl on my lower lash lines

I’ll be paying a visit to the MAC Pro Store this week as part of a super-secret spy girl mission tomorrow (stay tuned!), which means that poor El Hub will be left to play outside on his phone while I clear out the store’s inventory of MAC Costa Riche.

How many times have I talked about this Eye Kohl…? Five? Six? Two dozen?

It is well past time for me to give it the Unsung Heroes treatment. 🙂

A warm golden brown Eye Kohl in the MAC permanent line, Costa Riche has been my brown eyeliner bae since late 2013.

Seeing as how I fall in love with new products every other week (sorry, it’s true), you might think that my obsession with it would have waned, but nooo. I still reach for Costa Riche at least three or four times a week because 1) it goes well with so many different eyeshadows, and 2) it feels good on my lash and water lines (when my eyes are irritated and/or watering due to allergies or something else, Costa Riche is one of the few things I can still wear that won’t make things worse).

And it does so much for different eye colors. Brown eyes look more chocolatey, and blue, green, hazel and gray eyes rock it, too. I think it brings out more beauty in all of them and makes your natural eye color stand out.

I’ve never met a person who hates how they look in Costa Riche. It’s the people’s liner!
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