Face of the Day (FOTD)

A Friday Face of the Day With the New NARS Matte Multiples

February 21st, 2014 by Karen 28 Comments

Wearing the new NARS Laos and Cappadoce Matte Multiples on my cheeks — Those are the new NARS Laos and Cappadoce Matte Multiples on my cheeks.

I took a couple of the new NARS Matte Multiples out for a spin today. 🙂

I wanted to see if they’d work on top of NARS Radiant Cream Compact Foundation, and they did! They buffed and blended easily, and now it’s just a question of seeing how well they wear over the next few hours…

Cappadoce, the golden bronze, I’m wearing as a bronzer, and I’m wearing Laos, the rosy coral, as a blush.

Um…yes, I am wearing warm coppery bronze colors on my eyes, again, this time via Tom Ford’s eye quad in Cognac Sable. Apparently, I’m going through a phase, LOL!

Tom Ford Cognac Sable Quad — Tom Ford Cognac Sable on my lids, MAC Superslick Liquid Liner in Definitely Feline on my upper lash lines and MAC Costa Riche on my water lines

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A Face of the Day With Warm Peachy Brown, Bronze and Copper: MAC Amber Lights Eye Shadow and NARS Fez

February 18th, 2014 by Karen 36 Comments

Day five of no central heating and natural gas-heated water.

Today I cried…

Well, almost. I almost cried, but then I saw the sun coming out and realized it was going to be a pretty warm day, so I wasn’t going to freeze. Yet.

As of now, the ETA for getting the gas line repaired is first thing tomorrow, and I’m keeping all of my fingers crossed.

In related news, I’m getting pretty good at what I call the hot water shuffle, which is when we heat up pots of water on the stove and dump them into a big tote in the bathtub.

It’s not as fun as a shower, but it gets the job done.

As for the temperature in the house, it’s been a little chilly, even with my space heater going 24/7 and bundled up in layers, and I desperately needed to feel warm today, so I pretended with this summery-ish look with bronzy brown.

I built it around my current MAC permanent eyeshadow crush, Amber Lights, a shimmery warm peachy brown.

MAC Amber Lights Eye Shadow Swatch — Amber Lights Eye Shadow on NC42 skin

Wearing mostly MAC and NARS here with a bit of Tom Ford and Hourglass thrown in for good luck.

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My Valentine’s Day Face of the…Night With NARS

February 14th, 2014 by Karen 29 Comments

NARSissist Palette — Tonight I’m wearing the NARSissist Eyeshadow Palette to the movies

It’s just me and the boys tonight, El Hub and Tabs, per usual.

We were all supposed to go to a movie (About Last Night), but Tabs totally ditched us (no explanation, either), so it’s just gonna be El Hub and moi.

Cats are so rude, aren’t they? After I Fandango’d the tickets this afternoon, I walked out of my office and saw a pile of Louis Vuitton bags by the front door.

I guess Tabs is going somewhere? I kept getting mysterious texts today, too, like one from his car service saying that his “flight is on time.”

Whatev!

I hope the movie’s good… It has a 75% on rottentomatoes. That’s a good sign.

Other than that — and this sounds a little weird — we have to run to Target to get a space heater tonight because our gas line is off. Yup, the contractors who’ve been fixing our siding for the past couple weeks discovered a problem with the gas line, and so we’re trying to figure out how we’re going to stay warm and shower…

Most romantic-al Valentine’s Day ever!

Needless to say, necessity will be the mother of invention tonight. I think we’re going to try to improvise something with a 5-gallon bucket filled with hot water from the stove or an empty 5-gallon spring water bottle.

I feel like this is the kind of situation where chocolate can help… And maybe also caramel.

About my makeup, I didn’t feel too ambitious tonight, so I just went with my default going-out eye look — a brown smokey cat eye with a bright lip.

It’s called lazy girl makeup, yo! 🙂

Thank goodness for the NARSissist Palette. It made getting ready easy, since I didn’t have to go searching high and low for different shadows.

BAM! — it was all right there.

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Getting Back to My Roots (Hair and Makeup) With MAC Sable, Saddle, Shroom and Club Eye Shadows

February 10th, 2014 by Karen 40 Comments

Maybe it’s ’cause I just got my hair dyed, and I haven’t been this close to my natural hair color in years, but I got the sudden urge this morning to also get back to my makeup roots, so I busted out a few of my nearest and dearest MAC friends.

The shades I’m wearing on my eyes today are some of the first MAC colors I picked up way back when I started collecting, and all of them are in the permanent line.

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A Coral Lip Combo and Face of the Day With the New MAC A Fantasy of Flowers Mineralize Eye Shadow in Golden Hours

February 7th, 2014 by Karen 18 Comments

MAC Golden Hours Mineralize Eye Shadow from the A Fantasy of Flowers Collection — MAC Golden Hours Mineralize Eye Shadow from A Fantasy of Flowers…

I was chatting with a buddy this morning about springy lip colors (Hi, Agata! Hey, girl!), and it totally put me in the mood for something juicy and coral.

And since you know I’m all about the lip combos… 🙂 Here’s a cute one from the MAC A Fantasy of Flowers collection I stumbled on completely by accident.

MAC Naked Bud Lipstick and Star Quality Cremesheen Glass — Naked Bud Lipstick and Star Quality Cremesheen Glass

Some quick backstory…

One day earlier this week when my lips were painfully parched, I quite literally grabbed the first two things next to me on my desk and threw them on, and they just happened to be sheer nude Naked Bud Lipstick and Star Quality, a bright orangey coral (thank goodness they were lip products, LOL!).

I layered them, too (with the gloss on top of the lipstick, of course), grabbed a mirror and was like, YES! Star Quality’s somewhat sheer, so when it’s layered on top of Naked Bud, you can still see the nude lipstick peeking through, but at the same time you get the juiciness of the orangey coral.

I liked how it turned out, so I did it again today, and I’m sure I’ll be doing it again. These are definitely going into regular rotation right meow. 🙂

MAC Golden Hours on my lids, Tom Ford Liquid Liner on my upper lash line, MAC Smolder on my water lines and Physicians Formula CC Mascara on my lashes

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Gardening With MAC A Fantasy of Flowers: Today I Grew a Look With Pink Lips and Green Eyes

February 6th, 2014 by Karen 19 Comments

It’s raining here today, which normally would leave me feeling rather blah (I get the blues when the sun goes away), but today? Not so much.

First, it’s been a dry winter, and we need the rain. Second, the construction guys can’t work when it’s wet…so it’s been gloriously quiet this afternoon. 🙂

All I can hear are raindrops on my window, which is a very soothing sound.

Funny thing is, when it’s sunny outside and the workmen are working (we’re having our siding repaired), I put on my biggest headphones and listen to YouTube videos of ambient rain to drown out the noise, haha! Oh, the irony…

So, because today is kind of cold and gray, I felt like doing something a little springy and colorful. I went with a bright green cat eye with golden coral cheeks and a pink lip using makeup from the new MAC A Fantasy of Flowers collection.

If you ever feel like wearing bright green liner or shadow but aren’t quite sure what to do with it and don’t want anything too over the top, try a green cat eye.

No, seriously. Dude, you can do it!

I like this eye look because there’s a bright pop of color and minimal blending, and sometimes when I’m even lazier than I was today, I’ll skip everything else and just do a single swipe of green on my upper lash lines instead.

With bright green liner like this, I’ll usually tightline my upper lashes with a black liner or eyeshadow (here I’m using MAC’s Carbon Eye Shadow) to give more depth to my eyes and create the illusion of thicker lashes (since mine are naturally wimpy).

Just adds a little somethin’ somethin’…

The green liner I’m wearing here is MAC’s new Sassy Moss from A Fantasy of Flowers, by the way, and woo-hoo! — do I feel like a sassy-pants when I wear it. 🙂

It’s just so vibrant, and all it takes is a couple layers. Very cool. In a way, it reminds me of one of my old-school favorite MAC Fluidlines, Jadeye, but less teal and more green. Similar pop on the skin.

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Today Felt Like a Guerlain Spring 2014 Kind of Day

January 28th, 2014 by Karen 30 Comments

When I passed him in the kitchen this morning wearing this look with pieces from Guerlain’s new spring collection, the first thing El Hub said was, “You smell good!”

But I wasn’t wearing any perfume, unless you count the cloud of Eau de Tabby Cat that permeates my clothes…

I’m pretty sure he was picking up the scent of my makeup, despite that fact that he has the worst sense of smell (his nose was broken several times in his martial arts days), because Guerlain’s spring stuff smells amaze-balls! — like plumeria and jasmine. Even their brow powder smells really good.

Having slept well and feeling good, I was in the mood to wear something a little colorful today, so I did this green and taupe eye with pink cheeks and fuchsia lips.

Guerlain Ecrin 4 Eyeshadows in Les Tendres, $63 (limited edition)

Guerlain Meteorites Blush in Cherry, $42 (also limited edition)

Guerlain Météorites Pearls in 03 Medium — Guerlain Météorites Pearls in 02 Clair, $60 (permanent)

Guerlain Meterorites Brush — Meterorites Brush, $42 (permanent)

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A Pink and Bronze Face of the Day Using the NARSissist Eye Palette, With Help From MAC and Urban Decay

January 23rd, 2014 by Karen 25 Comments

A few things…

First, this morning I tried on a pair of skinny jeans I ordered online and got stuck in them.

Seriously.

Apparently, I wasn’t paying close enough attention and ordered the wrong size.

Yeah…

I’d managed to shimmy into them up to my thighs when I realized that something was very wrong, and if I’d kept going, I’d need prayer and the Jaws of Life to get out of them.

Lesson learned here, kids. If you’re going to purchase the Citizens of Humanity Avedon skinny jeans, go up at least one size.

Second, SWV lives!!!

I found them while channel surfing last night. SWV Reunited on WE. The combination of early ’90s R&B and reality TV gets me weak in the knees… I can hardly speak. I lose all control. Then something comes over me… 🙂 Hahaha!

Third, I realized this afternoon that pinkish bronze metallic eyes are totally fun. And not too hard to create, believe it or not! I got the idea from a pink and bronze eye look I saw on UD’s website.

For this face of the day, I went with a few products from MAC, NARS and Urban Decay.

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