Eyes

Glam on the Go: A Creamy, Dreamy Purple and Gold Look With Big, Bushy Brows

August 7th, 2020 by Karen 13 Comments

creamy dreamy purples side view glitter — The easiest eyeshadow placement, ever!

Note to self: stop overcomplicating things, both in life and in makeup! Because sometimes taking the easy route is actually, well…easier. And sometimes it turns out better than you expect!

I did the *least* complicated eyeshadow placement in this eye look, and I ended up liking the final result so much that I can’t wait to wear it again (I might do it again today, ha!).

creamy dreamy purples eyes closed — See the sparkles on the upper lash line?

How to do creamy, dreamy purple and golden bronze lids with a smattering of sparkle

Here’s what I did:

I started with a layer of matte purple cream liner as a base with a satiny bronzy gold blended directly on top.
Then, I rimmed my water lines with a creamy warm brown eye pencil and buffed a little bit of it from the lash line to my crease, and on the outer third, for a subtle hint of depth.
Next, I pushed a bit of glittery cream shadow onto the upper lash line, whacked some mascara on my lashes, and that’s it. DONE!

UD Brow Blade is the best

If you’re into bold brows, my brows are epically bushy — again, with minimal effort! — thanks to Urban Decay’s brilliant Brow Blade. Have you tried it? If you want to exert minimal effort but get maximum bushiness, it’s the way to go.

First, apply the twist-up pencil to fill in those sparse spots. The pencil acts like an anchor/base, so that when you layer the liquid pigment from the felt tip pen on top, it has something to grab onto. Super fast, super easy and super bushy.

creamy dreamy purples open — Pandemic hair, don’t care.

Effortlessness of creams

Gotta give a shout-out to the cream bronzer, highlighter and blush (which also doubles as a lipstick) on my cheeks and lips, because, like the eye makeup, blending happened in a flash. I did everything with a single brush!

I also love how cream face products look on skin because you can’t really see the makeup sitting on top of your face. If you’re going for the whole “Is she or isn’t she wearing anything?” kind of vibe, creams are great for seamless, effortless makeup.

Now that I think about it, the only powder I used for this look was a subtly illuminating setting powder I lightly tapped on specific parts of my face (cheeks and the center of my forehead). An illuminating powder is great to have around if you want to set your cream blush, bronzer and highlighter without altering the color or finish. The trick is to find a powder with a finish that’s closer to a sheen or a satin, rather than a full-on frost. A powder with a sheen or satin finish is less likely to pool up in your pores and highlight them.

creamy dreamy purples smile — Smile and the whole world smiles with you. 🙂

This is definitely making it into my 15-minute-look rotation.

Makeup worn in this look

EYES
Stila Liquid Eye Shadow in Camera Ready, upper lash line
Stila Glitter & Glow in Camera Ready, outer corner
Stila Magnum Mascara, lashes
Stila Heaven’s Hue Highlighter in Bronze, crease
MAC Costa Riche
Urban Decay Brow Blade
MUFE Ultra HD Y42

CHEEKS
Nudstix Nudes in Bondi Bae
Stila Convertible Color Dual Lip and Cheek Cream in Peony
Hourglass Vanish Highlighter in Champagne

LIPS
Stila Convertible Color in Peony

BASE
Kevyn Aucoin Concealer Medium EC06
First Aid Beauty Coconut Skin Smoothie Primer Moisturizer
Stila Illuminating In the Buff Powder Spray

Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,

Karen

P.S. TGIF! ???

Before and After: Urban Decay Lash Freak Mascara

July 30th, 2020 by Karen 4 Comments

urban decay lash freak mascara before after — New Lash Freak Mascara by Urban Decay

Ooh! Urban Decay just launched a new long-wearing mascara with a freaky-looking wand for $25. It’s designed, first and foremost, to increase volume, especially at the roots, and has a crazy-looking wand with three distinct surfaces! If you like bold lash looks and a cruelty-free formula that doesn’t smudge or smear, check it out.

How does it it work?

On one side of the brush there’s a row of asymmetrical teeth that really maximizes the amount of product the brush deposits on your lashes. The brush tip has a series of spikes to separate and define individual hairs, too. The last side — the smooth, curved part of the brush — is designed to press up against the roots for added lift.

What does two coats look like?

On my lashes, which naturally point downward and struggle to hold a curl, Lash Freak adds noticeably dramatic thickness at the base of my lashes, and you couldn’t miss it from a mile away! Two coats are enough for thick and lush lashes, but here’s the thing: from up close, the individual lashes look lumpy and bumpy. The curl from my lash curler also relaxes quite bit, so the coated lashes end up reaching out rather than curling up…

I like the color though. It’s a rich, dark black, and the formula doesn’t smear or smudge.

Why should you try it?

If you like thick, edgier long-wearing mascaras with a slightly spidery effect, you might like it.

Who would love it?

Best suited for someone who embraces drama and doesn’t mind bumpy-looking lashes (when seen up close).

When will it be available, and where can you get it?

You can grab it now on the UD website for $25 a tube.

Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,

Karen

Summer Faves and Raves: New Neutrogena Makeup (Eyeliner, Concealer, Tinted Moisturizer, Highlighter, Brow Pencil and Serum/Primer)

July 21st, 2020 by Karen 3 Comments

I could spend all day combing through the Neutrogena makeup section at the drugstore.

ALL. DAY!

Here are a few makeup items of note, which I’ve been using and liking, most of which are pretty new to the line…

Precision Liquid Eyeliner

I cut a big-@ass batch of onions with this on, and it didn’t budge, so LOVE. The felt tip is long and flexible, so if you like a little “give,” it’s perfect for carving sharp-edged lines and flicking effortless wings. It’s also intensely pigmented and a true black. Just all around lovely to line lids! I wish it came in more colors.

Available in one shade, Jet Black, which comes in a 0.013-oz. pen for $9.99.

Smokey Kohl Eyeliner

Like the black liquid liner, these creamy twist-up pencils are no joke when it comes to staying power. I’ve cried with Smokey Grey on my lash and water lines, and it didn’t move. I just wish there were an easier way to sharpen the tip…

Available in five shades, $9.99 each for a 0.004-oz. pencil.

Healthy Skin Radiant Cream Concealer

This is expensive for drugstore at nearly $15, but what you get is pretty much the equivalent of a $30 Kevyn Aucoin Supernatural concealer. Just like Supernatural, it relentlessly refrains from settling into experience lines. The medium-coverage formula is creamy, but not watery, and it has a satiny finish (no obvious disco pearl, though). Maybelline Age Rewind (a holy grail drugstore concealer!) offers more coverage; however, Neutrogena’s is thinner and easier to blend. And it’s just a tad less obvious. If you don’t want your under-eye makeup to look heavy, look no further than this. For reference, I’m an NC42 in MAC and a Honey Bronze in Estée Lauder, and I use shade Almond Medium 2 for dark circle correction because of its peachy undertone, and Toffee Medium 3 for the rest of my face.

Oh, and one last thing — this photographs fantastically well.

neutrogena makeup review — I’m wearing the Glow Primer + Serum, Protect+Tint Tinted Moisturizer, Healthy Skin Radiant Cream Concealer, Precision Liquid Eyeliner, Smokey Kohl Eyeliner, Glow On Liquid Highlighter, Cheeky Wink Flushed Blush and Nourishing Brow Pencil

Available in 15 shades, $14.99 for a 0.24-oz. tube.
[Continue reading…]

Summer Glam on the Go! Gray-Black Cat Eyes With an Unexpected Swish of Shimmering Bronze on a Smokey Lower Lash Line

June 23rd, 2020 by Karen 16 Comments

neutrogena protect tint tinted moisturizer — A small twist on your fave classic looks can make all the difference

On days when you crave just a little glam, like a level 3-4, this look hits the spot. It involves just a couple minor tweaks on classic eye makeup elements — black cat eyeliner and a smokey lower lash line — to give it a fresh twist.

Gray-black cat eyes

If you look closely at the liner, you’ll see soft dark gray along the outer edge of the upper lash liner, and the gray on the water lines. With black cat eye liner, you’ll typically see black pencil along the water lines, and black pencil liner is also commonly used as a base for black liquid liner when doing cat eyes, too.

But rather than reaching for the standard-issue black pencil, I used a gray liner instead, because it isn’t as stark, so it leads to a softer, more approachable look… And I like the subtle gradient of gray as it merges into black. (I’m all about that gradient life!)

I also paired the liner with matte warm browns on the upper lids and added a shimmery gold on the inner corners.

neutrogena liquid eyeliner — See the shimmery bronze peeking out from the lower lash line?

A shimmering bronze POP

Switch up your typical black or gray smokey lower lash line by layering a shimmery bronze eyeshadow. Place it right in the center of the lower lash line (aim for right underneath your iris).

To do this, I drew a thin line with a matte gray pencil liner along my lower lash line, then smudged it with a flat, compact head (super handy to have around for small, fine detail work).

neutrogena first crush blush — The gray pencil liner softens the edges of the black liquid liner on the upper lash line.

Then, I wiped the brush head on a paper towel, loaded it with a shimmery bronze powder eyeshadow, wet the brush head with a setting spray, and dabbed the wet brush head along the center of lower lash lines.

Tip: skip blending out the edges of your shimmering bronze eyeshadow. I think it looks cool to have the stark edge against the smokey gray! Not only do you save a step by skipping the blending, but you also maintain the intensity of the bronze, which is great because you really want it to stand out against the matte!

Where else am I gonna go?

As for the rest of the makeup, I kept the base and cheeks super sheer with a tinted moisturizer and cream blush because it’s hot here in Novato, and I wasn’t in the mood to wear a thick layer of makeup on the rest of my face… You always have the option of turning up the coverage to whatever you’re feeling on a given day. The world is your pickle, after all, so I’ll take bread-and-butter pickles, because I don’t do dill.

I ended up wearing this look to Trader Joe’s yesterday because, really, where else am I gonna go?? It’s one of the handful of places that’s 1) open, 2) somewhat entertaining, and 3) doesn’t skyrocket the low-level anxiety I’m living with lately.

On the way there, I drove past the bakery I worked at prior to the stay-at-home order, and I realized that, in a few weeks, I’ll have been out of work there *longer* than I actually worked there… It feels like I was living another life.

So, yeah, wore this to TJ’s, with the exception of the lipstick, lip liner and gloss, which faded after I ate my lunch (grilled cheese and tomato soup, if you’re curious). I didn’t bother to reapply since I was going to be wearing a mask anyway.

I think a half set of falsies on the outer corner would have been a nice touch, too, and I kinda wish I’d put some on!

Makeup breakdown

twist on classic swatches — Today’s color palette

Here’s everything I wore in this look! Lots of new-ish drugstore makeup from Neutrogena (one of my all-time favorite brands!).
[Continue reading…]

A Bright Orange and Purple Eyeshadow Combo (Great for Blue or Green Eyes!), and Tips for Wearing Colorful Shadow

June 16th, 2020 by Karen 18 Comments

I had to take a break from neutrals today because…some days you just gotta wear something colorful! It’s been sunny and warm here in the North Bay Area, and that always puts me in the mood to wear summery, bright eyeshadows.

Orange and purple — a combo for errrr-one, but particularly peeps with blue or green eyes

A single bold color on the top and another complementary shade on the bottom makes for one my favorite ways to wear bright colors, because 1) it’s not too complicated, and 2) you can really bring out your eye color.

My eyes are brown, and when I wear a combo like this one, I think the makeup really stands out, because it’s not just brown upon brown upon brown (although I do love me some browns!).

By the way, if your eyes are blue or green, try an orange and purple combo like this one. On the color wheel, orange sits on the other side of blue, so the “clash” between the two makes blue eyes STAND OUT. And purple is on the opposite side of green, which is why plum and purple POP on green eyes.

I also think this duo would pop on hazel eyes, too.

El Hub’s eyes are hazel, and although I’ve begged him to let me do his eyeshadow many, many times…he still refuses. 🙁 I guess this isn’t surprising, considering how years ago I told him that I wouldn’t marry him unless he let me curl his long, lush lashes with my lash curler. He said, “Sure, knock yourself out,” but I have yet to curl his lashes, LOL!

One of the tricks to keeping colorful eyeshadow combos wearable: choosing matte finishes

If you’re going to try a colorful, but totally wearable, combo like this one, you might want to use something similar to the Wahala Palette by Juvia’s Place, which is what I used in this look. There are 20 bright eyeshadows in it, most of them matte, which I think is one of the keys to making colorful looks like this one a little more wearable, because the matte kinda reins in the potential for it to look cray-cray/over the top.

juvias place wahala eyeshadow palette — The Wahala Palette, by Juvia’s Place

Playing with levels of shimmer for contrast

Also, if you’re wearing matte eyeshadows on your lids, try patting a high-beam highlight in the inner conner to contrast with the flat finishes on the lids and lash lines.

You know I looooove me some contrasting finishes!

Another thing to consider: play with the levels of shine on other parts of your face, too. For the past few years, highlights that you can see from space have been so popular, but I think it’s cooler to do a low-level sheen on the high points of the face (upper cheekbone, down the bridge of the nose, and atop your Cupid’s bow), especially when there’s one bright focal point on your face already.

[Continue reading…]

How to Wear Bright Eyeshadow Without Feeling Like You’re Crazypants

June 11th, 2020 by Karen 9 Comments

My three top tips for wearing colorful yet wearable eye makeup. You know I’m all about approachable looks these days!

1. Pick one bright element of your eye look and run with it

When wearing bright eyeshadow, you can dial it back quite a bit and still make a big impact.

It might seem like everyone who wears bright eyeshadow adds all the bells and whistles, combining each and every aspect of strong, bold makeup, especially if you judge by all of the Instagram-style trends that appear to be everywhere, but…ya know, just because it seems like everyone online is wearing neon orange eyeshadow with bladed brows, razor sharp tails and a blown-out rainbow-hued lower lash line doesn’t mean that’s actually happening in real life. (Side note: this is a lesson I learned along the way.)

Lately I’ve been taking a restrained approach to applying bright eyeshadow, and I think it’s more approachable and less intimidating than brights can be.

The key is to just pick one colorful element and roll with it — like, a smoky metallic green lid, or an intense spotlight of bright teal in the inner corner highlight — and letting that single statement be the life of the party, rather than combining multiple bold eye makeup elements.

The bold statement I chose for the makeup I’m wearing here is the purple smoky eyeshadow. Everything else is restrained.

2. Keep the rest of your eye makeup understated

Speaking of restraint, letting one bright eye element steal the spotlight works well when the rest of the eye makeup is kept low-key.

So, instead of adding a pair falsies the size of bat wings, go with your natural lashes and a lengthening mascara instead, and if you’re highlighting your inner corner, dial back the intensity of the shimmer and opt for a sheen or a satin finish instead.

Lastly, if you’re lining your waterlines, swap the black eye pencil for an eyeliner in a color similar to but darker than your single bright element. This will still intensify things but won’t look as harsh as black liner can look sometimes.

That’s what I did here! To complement the cool purple shadow, I lined my waterlines with a mix of brown and purple pencils (I layered the purple on top of the brown).

3. Purposefully pull back on your base, cheeks and lip products

Yup, keeping your makeup minimal on the rest of your face also helps to keep the focus on your single bright element. You’ll want makeup that doesn’t compete with your eyeshadow, so
go for the barest of bare bases — for me, that means a sheer tinted moisturizer and a sheer cream or liquid blush (and/or bronzer).

If you want to add highlights, go for something with a glossy finish instead of a frosty or metallic finish.

And don’t forget to do your version of nude lips, of course! ?

Makeup worn in this look

[Continue reading…]

Product Spotlight: Covergirl Full Spectrum So Saturated Eyeshadow Palette in Reverence

June 4th, 2020 by Karen 6 Comments

covergirl reverence palette swatches — For my budget beauty babes who love warm shades.

We live in unprecedented, crazy times, don’t we? That is the UNDERSTATEMENT OF THE CENTURY. I find myself unconsciously shaking my head in surreal disbelief all the time. So much of what we’ve been seeing lately — and by lately I’m going back way further than this month — does not compute. How many times have you caught yourself saying, “I never thought I’d ever see…”? Shock and confusion describe how I feel every day…

While its importance pales in comparison to the health, safety, economic and social issues now, makeup for me is a safe place. It’s frivolous, simple, and it’s a lot easier to solve.

My take on makeup at this time: if something’s good, that’s great, and if it’s good and affordable, that’s even better. Covergirl’s cruelty-free neutral Reverence eyeshadow palette ticks most of the boxes. For $13, you get a mini warm-toned drugstore version of the O.G. Urban Decay Naked palette. It comes with eight powder eyeshadows. On my 40-something combo skin lids, they last all day long, so no touchups required, because who has time to reapply shadow during a global pandemic? Certainly not this girl. I’m too busy pulling up my stretchy pants and baking lemon bars.

Covergirl So Saturated Palette in Reverence k front closeup — That’s Reverence in action on my lids.

I’ve been wearing the mattes in this palette a lot! This is one of those palettes where you can pretty much pick any two or three shades and whip out a complete look with barely any help from your blending brushes. You can apply the shadows with a wet or dry brush, but remember to tap off the excess product from your brushes before blending, because the shadows are on the fluffy side.

Ingredients:
Mica, Talc, Caprylic,Capric Triglyceride. Dimethicone. Magnesium Stearate, Nylon. 12, Silica, Boron Nitride, Paraffin, Isostearyl Alcohol, Methylparaben, Ethylparaben, Mineral Oiuhuile Minérale/Paraffinum Liquidum, Sorbitan Isostearate. Tocopheryl Acetate, Synthetic Fluorphlogopite, Sodium Dehydroacetate. Microcrystalline Wax/Cire Microcristalline/Cera Microcristallina, Tin Oxide, Calcium Sodium Borosilicate, Calcium Aluminum Borosilicate, [May Contain/Peut Contenir/+/-: Iron Oxides (CI 77499, CI 77491 , CI 77492), Titanium Dioxide (CI 77891). Ultramarines (CI 77007), Carmine (CI 75470), Manganese Violet (CI 77742), Blue 1 Lake (CI 42090), Yellow 5 Lake (CI 19140), Ferric Ferrocyanide (CI 77510)].

Also, take it easy on the metallics, because they’re borderline frosty, and they will highlight fine lines. I stick to wearing the bronze, taupe and gold, which I use as eyeliner doing thin lines, and that works for me.

Reverence is one of four color combos in the So Saturated Eyeshadow Palette Line. If neutrals aren’t your thing, there’s also Posh, which is a blend of burgundy tones; Gravity, a mix of smokey grays; and Zodiac, a bevy of brights. You can find all of them at drugstores and Ulta.

Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,

Karen

Drugstore Makeup Look: ’90s-Inspired Plummy Pink!

June 3rd, 2020 by Karen 20 Comments

Let me be the first person to say that my hair looks absolutely BONKERS in these pics, and that’s even AFTER trying to actually do something with it.

I am one YouTube video away from hacking it off! Note to self: next time a global pandemic approaches, book a hair appointment before the world shuts down.

Sigh… Now that we’ve gotten that out of the way, I was thinking about a Monday Poll question from a while back (’80s or ’90s?) before I started doing my makeup, which is how this ’90s-inspired plummy pink look came about. Everything I’m using is drugstore makeup because I’m still riding a may-jah budget beauty wave right now.

A drugstore dupe for an iconic ’90s lipstick

My main inspiration was an old-school ’90s standby that’s still around called Clinique Black Honey Lipstick. It’s a sheer, ever-so-slightly shiny lippie that all of my college friends wore back in the day. There used to be a Clinique counter inside the UC Davis bookstore, and every quarter when it came time to buy books, we’d all go to that counter to get our books so we could avoid the regular long lines. The only thing you had to do to use that line was buy at least one piece of Clinique makeup, which is how every girl I knew ended up with countless tubes of Black Honey.

Anywho…I recently found a drugstore dupe for it in Honest Beauty Plum Drop Lip Tint, and it looks exactly like Black Honey! To keep with the plum theme, I paired it with an awesomely affordable plummy-pink eyeshadow palette I found over at Covergirl, and pink cream blush cheeks (which I did with a Revlon lipstick).

Covergirl So Saturated Eye Palette in Posh is so good!

The palette is the Full Spectrum So Saturated Eye Shadow Palette in Posh, which comes with eight powder eyeshadows in pink, plum and burgundy tones. The powders are on the fluffier side, so there’s definitely some fallout if you aren’t careful and forget to remove any excess from your brush head, but, on the flip side, the colors are rich and practically blend themselves.

Just a few wrist flicks and you’re good. These are long lasting too. I wear mine without a primer, and it’ll last the day. Posh is $13.49 over at Ulta, if you’re interested.

That layered liner life

To break up all the pink and plum tones, I layered two liners on my upper and lower waterline — a matte black and a sparkly purple. The purple didn’t really show up on its own, which is why I drew the black liner on first, then layered the purple on top. If you ever have a liner that doesn’t deposit as much pigment as you’d like, starting with a layer of black liner beneath it is the fastest way to ramp up the intensity. You can also do this trick with white liner, by the way!

[Continue reading…]