Face of the Day (FOTD)

Some Weekday Glitter Featuring the New Shiseido Synchro Skin Foundation

March 14th, 2016 by Anna Oh 23 Comments

anna oh art beauty illustration fashion gold glitter — It’s all about the eyes! Glitter eyes

Hi everyone!

The other day I was having coffee with a few girlfriends — probably the BEST time to get makeup inspiration — and I fell in love with one of my friends’ pretty glittery eyeliner. I tried it out myself and found it to be an awesome way to pull off a little glitter during the day. I call it a “weekday glitter” look, and I hope you’ll be into it as much as I’ve been!

One of the key components to this look is nice and even skin tone. I used the new Shiseido Synchro Skin Foundation ($45 for 1oz) in a custom mixture of Golden 2 and Neutral 3. The foundation comes in Golden, Neutral, and Rose undertones ranging between 1 and 5. For some reason, the range isn’t complete, but we will probably find more colors coming with demand.

shiseido synchro skin foundation swatches — Shiseido Synchro Skin Foundation in Golden 2 and Neutral 3

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FOTD: A Beauty Voyage With Dolce & Gabbana Spring 2016 and Shop Fresh Nude Foundation

March 1st, 2016 by Anna Oh 39 Comments

dolce & gabbana d&g beauty voyage palette — FOTD with D&G’s Beauty Voyage Spring 2016

anna oh illustration beauty voygage — Ready for the warmer weather

Hi, everyone! I thought I’d share my face of the day and thoughts on two new-to-me products: Dolce & Gabbana Spring 2016 The Beauty Voyage ($150) and The Body Shop’s Fresh Nude Foundation ($25).

dolce & gabbana d&g beauty beauty voyage palette — FOTD using Anastasia, Benefit, Sephora, The Body Shop, and D&G Beauty

Products used:

Anastasia Dipbrow Pomade in Blonde (I use this light cool shade for a softer effect)
Benefit They’re Real mascara
Sephora Bright Future Gel-serum Concealer
The Body Shop Fresh Nude Foundation in Bora Bora / Tiare 012
Dolce & Gabbana Beauty Voyage palette

the body shop fresh nude foundation bora bora — The Body Shop Fresh Nude Foundation in Bora Bora

Since I wanted a sheer and hydrated look, I decided to try out the Body Shop’s new Fresh Nude foundation. With a medium semi-matte finish, it gives a LITTLE glow with none of that awkward greasy 5 p.m. face.

It starts out sticky, but it lasts well for around six or seven hours on my oily-combo face. If you have normal to dry skin, you may really like this option!

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Makeup I Wore Today

January 22nd, 2016 by Karen 25 Comments

Guess what…? Today I wore absolutely no beige or brown on my lids.

I know! Small victories.

And I also managed to refrain (for once) from wearing a nude lip.

I went with mauve and taupe eyes with glowing, bronzed matte cheeks (no blush today, which is something new for me) and a matte pinkish coral lip. Nothing too complicated, but there’s still a little color up in the mix, which makes me happy. 🙂

Le stuff…
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A MAC Viva Glam Ariana Grande Lipstick Face of the Day

January 13th, 2016 by Karen 39 Comments

This is the most makeup I’ve worn in weeks.

OK…two months.

I KNOW! For someone who lives, breathes and dreams about this stuff, I haven’t been doing too well in the actual “putting on makeup” department.

It’s just a phase, which happens sometimes, and I’ll get through it. Maybe my makeup today will be the first step. I’ll start with this warm reddish smoky eye and MAC Viva Glam Ariana Grande dark plum lips, then build up to false lashes tomorrow. Then, on Friday, it’s global makeup domination! Er…or something like that.

Lips

Even though El Hub says that this lipstick makes me look “vampiric,” I love it. If you’ve had your eye on this one (and, seriously, it’s so gorgeously matte and darkly plummy, how could you not?), it just arrived on counters and the MAC website today with its cute cohort, MAC Viva Glam Ariana Grande Lipglass ($15).

mac viva glam ariana grande — MAC Viva Glam Ariana Grande Lipstick ($17)

I’m wearing the Lipstick here, by the way, with MAC Cyber World Lip Pencil, because, for the life of me, I just can’t do this color directly from the bullet. It’s too dang hard, homie! Something like MAC Nightmoth Lip Pencil would totally also work if you happen to have it around.

Eyes, Cheeks and Skin

I swear, one of these days I’ll swap out the Tartelette In Bloom Palette that’s been chillin’ in my makeup bag for the past two months, but it’s still up in the mix for now…
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An Affable Autumn Moody Monday Makeup Look for a Folksy Fall

November 2nd, 2015 by Karen 44 Comments

I wasn’t sure what to call this look… Moody Monday? Or Folksy Fall? How about Affable Autumn?

So I’m leaning toward a combination of all three — an Affable Autumn Moody Monday Makeup Look for a Folksy Fall — because it’s overcast and drizzling right now (it rained hard last night), and part of me definitely wants to be sitting by a warm fire under a flannel blanket while sipping a mug of hot cocoa, while another part of me wants to be walking around outside in the rain dressed in black from head to toe with my headphones on while listening to Joy Division.

Basically, I’m feelin’ it. 🙂

There are three main concepts at work in this cozy/moody Monday makeup look. First, it features a warm matte reddish brown smoky eye. Second, the edges of the winged liner have been blurred. And third, the dark matte plum lip.

It’s a lot of look, for sure, but I think it all goes well together, especially if the weather where you are is anything like the weather is here now. It’s like it just turned full-on fall last night!

Skipping the winged liner or leaving out the falsies would tone it down. Or, you could not line your lower water line with the black liner, and just leave your lower water line bare.

Of course, to go the other way completely and boost the drama, you could go more intense with the brows, or add a gloss on top of the plum lip, or use a gel or liquid liner, which would add even more oomph (I just used a black eyeshadow applied with a wet brush). Any of those tweaks would look super cool.

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A Fall-Tastic Face of the Day With Gold, Olive, Burgundy and “JSS”

October 20th, 2015 by Karen 36 Comments

Random zombie-related transition…

I don’t know if you watch The Walking Dead, but oh, boy! — I hope you do, because it’s one of the best shows on television.

I think so. I mean…yeah, there’s zombies. But depending on how you feel about that. 🙂

It’s not just about the zombies, though. It’s also about people trying to survive after an apocalypse…but yeah, it’s definitely not a bright and polite British cooking show.

But it is great sci-fi/horror, and I like that. As well as British cooking shows. And Instagram cat videos.

The characters in The Walking Dead are faced with much more than zombies (like desperate, and very bad people). The zombies are just the backdrop to the struggle to survive after we’ve lost our modern conveniences. We watch them struggle with questions of morality and humanity, and I think it’s fascinating and frightening at the same time.

Anywho! The new season just started, along with a new season of The Talking Dead, which is the after show. They bring on actors who star in the show, people who work behind the scenes and celebrity super-fans who all just chat and wax philosophic about the last episode.

It’s a lot of fun! The last The Talking Dead episode starred TWD newcomer Katelyn Nacon, who plays Enid, a young teenage survivor, and Katelyn’s makeup on the after show was on friggin’ point!

She looked absolutely beautiful and very fall. I couldn’t stop staring at her eyes and lips the whole time! She was wearing a gorgeous warm brown matte color in her crease with golds and khakis on her lids and a glossy burgundy lip.

I couldn’t find a good picture of it online, but I still felt inspired to wear something similar today.

I turned to a few old-school faves like MAC Soft Brown and MAC Texture, which I used in the crease, then used MAC Shroom to highlight my brow bone and the inner corners, along with the ever-reliable MAC Powersurge along my lower lash line.

I also incorporated a couple of newer products, like the naughty-sounding BECCA Afterglow holiday palette ($39.50), which has three powder highlighters and Wild Honey and Flowerchild, two of my favorite BECCA blushes.

So I’m wearing Afterglow products on my cheeks and to highlight my skin.

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The Tarte Light of the Party Holiday 2015 Makeup Case in Action: Smoky Brown Eyes, False Lashes and Fuchsia Lips

October 10th, 2015 by Karen 10 Comments

Dude, I wish I’d gone to a party tonight wearing this look I did with the new Tarte Light of the Party set from the holiday 2015 collection, but instead of rocking out, I watched three episodes of 90210 (the original 1990s series; I’m re-watching it on Hulu) and ate cookies with my cat on the couch.

For what it’s worth, I did seriously consider going to the Starbucks down the street to get something warm and sweet (and decaf) and to get my butt out of the house, but I wussed out…

I do have to say, though, that if there is a beverage at Starbucks worthy of this kind of va-va-va-voom makeup, it has to be their Pumpkin Spice Latte, because those things are a party in yo’ mouth. I estimate the number of Pumpkin Spice Lattes I’ve had over the past month to be somewhere between obnoxious and obscene.

This was the makeup look I was wearing in the Tarte Holiday 2015 video — smoky brown eyes and matte fuchsia lips.

The eyeshadows are from Light of the Party ($59; it’s available now exclusively at Sephora), and that fun fuchsia lip — it’s called All Fired Up — is from the MAC Magic of the Night holiday color collection, which’ll be available on the MAC website starting October 18, and then a few days later in stores on October 22.

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A Look With the MAC Enchanted Eve Eye and Face Palette/Cool: Cool-Toned Gray and Blue Eyes, Rosy Cheeks and Plum Lips

October 9th, 2015 by Karen 7 Comments

My skin may have a sunny disposition — i.e., I’m warm toned — but sometimes I like playing it cool with cool-toned grays, browns and blues like the ones I’m wearing here.

I’m wearing the new MAC Enchanted Eve Eye and Face Palette/Cool ($49.50), one of the two eye and face palettes in the MAC holiday 2015 collection.

mac enchanted eye face palette cool — MAC Enchanted Eve Eye and Face Palette/Cool ($49.50)

Despite seeming like a strange combo, cool tones don’t have to clash with warm-toned skin. Sometimes I think they look really cool! 🙂

This look didn’t take long, either. I used my trusty iPhone timer trick. I set it for 25 minutes, and then I committed to mostly sticking to the colors in the palette, because it has eyeshadows, a blush, two lipsticks and a highlighter, so most of what I needed was right there (yay for convenience!).

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