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Face of the Day (FOTD)

Easy Eye Makeup Look for Lazies

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Evening, hotties! Just when I thought I couldn’t get any lazier, I did. I had a major makeup revelation this week. A neutral shimmer shadow plus a lil’ bit of matte in the outer V led to my easiest day eye EVER. A whole new world of 10-minute looks has opened up before me, fo’ reals.

The combo I’ve worn for the past few days combines a champagne shimmer shade with a matte black. It feels breezy and work-friendly. To get the look I used makeup from Chanel, Dior, Laura Mercier and Lacome, as well as three just-released products from Clinique.

Clinique Me

All are fun and easy to use. I’ll post detailed reviews soon, but for now let’s just say *me likey*.

The Products

Eyes

Lips

Face

Doing The Eyes

I like to prime my lids before applying eye shadow, so I started by dabbing MAC Select Moisturecover Concealer onto my lids with a concealer brush. Then, I swiped the shimmery champagne shadow from the Dior Iridescent Palette onto the entire lid with a flat eye shadow brush like the MAC 252 to create a neutral canvas upon which to work.

With a fine, pencil-tipped MAC 219 brush, I applied Clinique Midnight eye shadow on the outer third of the lid. In this step, I concentrated more color on the outer eye, which after blending helps with the smokey effect.
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A Green and Grey Eye with MAC Fresh Green Mix Mineralize Eye Shadow Duo

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Today I got all science fair on my MAC Fresh Green Mix Eye Shadow Duo, swirling the two shades together and working with a combination of wet and dry brushes to create this look.

Get up in Fresh Green’s Mix

For this look, I thought it would help to prime my lids with a color close to my natural skin tone. I chose MAC Paint Pot in Layin’ Low.
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The final color I wanted was a combination of both shades in the Fresh Green Mix duo, so I mixed them together with Sonia Kashuk’s Large Eye Shadow Brush.

Then, I swiped the brush against the back of my hand to unload some excess shadow before using it to apply the new color to my lid area and just into the crease.

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With a bottle of MAC Fix+ to make the shadow color more radiant, I wet a MAC 239 brush and swirled it around in the pan to load it with shadow. I applied the color to the area closest to my lash line. I wanted the green to look like it’s fading as it travels from the lash line up into the crease.

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Next, I added MAC Alum, a shade of grey, into the crease using a MAC 217 — a soft, fluffy blending brush fabulous for both applying and blending color.

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Following MAC Alum, I dusted the pink from Dior’s Earth Tones palette onto the brow bone to contrast with the grey.

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I don’t always get enough sleep and didn’t last night, so I added MAC Vex in the inner corners of my eyes. It’s a good brightener. If you don’t already own it, then hustle your booty to the MAC counter ASAP. It’s a super pretty shade and seems to change colors in the light, flashing from pink to grey to green.
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MAC Sonic Chic, New View and Electro Flash Face of the Day

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Hey, hey! I’m on my way to the BEAST right now (East Bay in Pig Latin, ladies) for work stuff, but here’s a quickie look I did yesterday with a few items from MAC’s new releases — Sonic Chic, New View and Electro Flash.

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The eyes

Thanks to the texture and quality of the products in these collections, the eyes weren’t difficult at all. I began by priming my lids with MAC Bare Canvas Paint and dusting the dark marbled green shade of Fresh Green Mix Mineralize Eye Shadow duo on the lid and barely into the crease.
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MAC Cosmetics Mineralize Eyeshadow Face of the Day

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I just realized that I hadn’t shown a picture of my new hairdo. I decided to revert back to my natural hair color for a change, so to speak. What do you think?

I paired my new hair with this very quick face of the day using an old MAC Cosmetics Mineralize eyeshadow duo called Silversmith. Starting with MAC Paint in Shimma on my lid and into the crease, I then dusted a layer of the light blue from Silversmith on top. I lined the upper water line with Lancome Le Stylo Waterproof eyeliner in Noir and lined the lower lash line with the dark blue shade from Silversmith.

Lastly, two coats o’ Chanel Inimitable on my lashes, a light dusting of MAC Select Sheer Loose Powder in NC 30 all over the face, MAC Sunbasque Blush on my cheeks and then topped the look off with Chanel Constellation Glossimer on my lips.

I hope you had a wonderful Thursday! What was the highlight of your day?

Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,

Karen

Sunday Face of the Day: Pink and Gold with a Dash of Green

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Yesterday afternoon I zipped into the city to help my friend Jen shop for bridesmaid dresses. She’s getting married this November, and we’re getting down to the wire. Most of the dresses we looked at were solid pinks or golds, accessorized with sashes of contrasting colors. The sashes created pretty focal points, and that’s the idea I had in mind today when I did my makeup.

Gold dress with pink sash by Simple Silhouettes

I blended together a pink and gold for the color I used on my eyes, cheeks and lips and then added a pop of green to the eyes (a sash) for contrast.

There aren’t a lot products or much blending involved in this look, and the colors are muted and subtle, so it didn’t take a long time to do — about 10-15 minutes. All told, I used products from Chanel, MAC Cosmetics, Lancome and Laura Mercier.

First, since I wanted the green on my eyes to really stand out, I applied MAC Cream Color Base in Pearl on the eyelid and just into the crease. Applying it beneath eyeshadow colors is a quick and easy way to ramp up their intensity.
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Nars Mediteranee Face of the Day: Orange, Anyone?

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Ladies, thanks for your suggestions the other day on ways to wear the orange and gold shades from the Nars Mediteranee eyeshadow duo.

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Before heading to work, I did the following look with the Mediteranee shadows and incorporated products from MAC Cosmetics, Shu Uemura, Laura Mercier and Chanel.

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I began by applying a warm gold (MAC Indianwood Paint Pot) on the entire eye lid, layered beneath all of the other products.

The eyes…

  1. Nars Mediteranee gold shade on the browbone
  2. MAC Saddle eyeshadow (a warm brown) in the crease
  3. Nars Mediteranee orange shade on the lid and slightly into the crease
  4. MAC Jadeye Fluidline on the upper lash line
  5. MAC Uppity Fuildline on the lower lash line

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Sneak Peek: Upcoming Dior Impression Cuir Fall 5-Colour Eyeshadow Palettes

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Dior is at it again, girls. I love Dior in general, but their eyeshadow quints are what I look forward to most of all. This August, they’re giving us *two* new palettes for fall. Oh, be still my broken knee.

The two new 5-Colour Eyeshadow Palettes are part of the upcoming Impression Cuir collection.

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Earth Tones

My favorite of the two quints is hands-down the Earth Tones palette ($54) pictured above. All five of its shades — dark olive green, light moss green, pale pink, chocolate brown and reddish brown — have rich, creamy matte finishes with just the faintest shimmer. Girls (or boys) who like spicy neutrals may dig these a lot.

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I used to steer clear of mattes because they can be hard to work with and difficult to blend, but Dior has the matte formulation down. These shades blend well, and, with a hint of shimmer, they create looks that aren’t flat or one-dimensional at all.

Unfortunately, Dior does not try to be a budget brand, and both of these palettes cost a pretty penny. For the money, though, the shades in the Earth Tones palette absolutely deliver. I think these are well made, beautiful and highly wearable eyeshadows. Makeup and Beauty Blog Rating: A+
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MAC Cosmetics Naughty Nauticals Face of the Day: A Light Purple and Blue Eye

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For many moons, I have struggled to become one with the purple eyeshadow (hello, Barney), and, apparently, I’m a glutton for punishment because this morning I thought I’d give it another try.

I work at the literary agency today, and I didn’t want to look like a purple drag queen, so I decided on a light purple eye with blue accents using a few colors from the MAC Naughty Nauticals collection.

Most of the products I used for this look are by MAC, but I also used a few things by Too Faced, Lancome, Lola Cosmetics, Chanel, Laura Mercier and Becca Cosmetics.

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I used two layers for the eyes.

The first eye layer…

  1. Too Faced Shadow Insurance primer on the entire lid (layered beneath everything else)
  2. MAC Nice Vice Paint pot in the crease (layered on top of Shadow Insurance)
  3. MAC Pearl Cream Color Base on the lid

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The second eye layer…

  1. MAC Rice Paper Eye Shadow on the browbone and lid
  2. MAC Illegal Cargo Eye Shadow in the crease
  3. MAC Meet the Fleet Eye Shadow in the outer V
  4. Lancome Noir Le Stylo Waterproof Eyeliner on the upper water line
  5. Lola Lagoon Socialeyes Gel Eye Color on the lower water line
  6. MAC Bell-Bottom Blue Pigment on the lower lash line

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