Face

A Closer Look at the New Too Faced Little Black Book of Bronzers and New Selfie Powders Palette [VIDEO]

March 17th, 2015 by Karen 9 Comments

But first, lemme take a selfie!

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And put on some bronzer… I can do both with these new products from Too Faced.

One is a miniature version of their ginormous Little Black Book of Bronzers, and the other is a palette with three face powders designed to create different lighting effects (think the Hourglass Ambients).

Power to the palettes! — especially ones that help you look cute in selfies. 🙂

As always, thank you for watching.

Products mentioned in this video:

Too Faced Little Black Book of Bronzers

Too Faced Selfie Powders palette

Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,

Karen

New $6.50 NYX High Definition Blush: On Days When My Face Is on the Oily End of the Sebaceous Spectrum, This Powder Blush Is a Dream

March 17th, 2015 by Karen 22 Comments

Wearing the new $6.50 NYX High Definition Blush in Baby Doll (and that’s NYX Intense Butter Gloss in Funnel Delight on mah lips)

The Curse of the Black Pearl is a freakin’ cakewalk compared to The Curse of Combination Skin (which I have). I mean, it’s not like I’m dealing with undead skeleton pirates or anything, but hella moody skin that alternates between bone dry and Oil Slick City comes with its own set of problems, man.

May I present to the court Exhibit A: the new $6.50 NYX High Definition Blushes.

On days when my face is on the oily end of the sebaceous spectrum, this powder blush is SUCH a dream (they’re just $6.50 each). When I wear it, my cheeks look like I just found out that I won the lottery, and subsequently told my curmudgeonly feline boss to suck it — all that naturally glowing lit-from-within jazz that comes with telling someone off or doing a vigorous wop to Push It or, I dunno, making out with your knee (Ha! That’s how I used to practice kissing…).

And then there’s the soft, smooth powders, which feel like fairy dust and blend like powdered sugar; the cray-cray amount of pigment; and the 8-hour wear time — hot dayum! — which all add up to placing these on the cusp of legendary drugstore makeup status.

NYX High Definition Blush in Coraline — High Definition Blush in Coraline

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The Little Black Book of Bronzers Bronzer Collection by Too Faced Cosmetics: If You Like Bronzer, This Book Has All the Right Contacts

March 16th, 2015 by Karen 22 Comments

The last time Too Faced released a Little Black Book of Bronzers, it was HUGE!

No, literally, it was huge… The palette (or, as Too Faced refers to it, the “bronzing wardrobe”) held eight full-size Too Faced Bronzers, which was very cool if you were/are into the whole “bigger is better” aesthetic, and also very cool if you ever dreamed of owning a palette so gigantic that it could cover half of your body.

This time around, the sequel to The Little Black Book of Bronzers is sleek.

Ish. Sleek-ish.

It’s basically the same idea, except that the pans are smaller this time (0.08 ounces each, instead of 0.28), and the price is too ($49 vs. $139)

So, while you may lose the ability to use it as an improv table for TV dinners or breakfast in bed, and it no longer functions as an umbrella with which to shield yourself from the sun while lounging on the beach with Zac Efron…it’s a lot easier to tote around.

Plus, you know what they say: “Good things come in small packages.” If the original was an oversized coffee table book, this one is the paperback.

Too Faced also tweaked the lineup a little, swapping Bronzed and Poreless for Dark Chocolate Soleil, their newest shade.

Other than that, there’s a good variety of shimmery finishes and mattes, and none of them are excessively warm or orange.

The Little Black Book of Bronzers Bronzer Collection with a full-size Too Faced Bronzer pan for scale — With a full-size Too Faced Bronzer pan for scale…

With eight bronzers, there’s one to go with every mood, outfit and moment in yo’ life. Like, have you ever wondered what bronzer to wear to go to your ex’s house to pick up those Biggie CDs that homeboy never had the decency to return?

Well, how about deep shimmery bronzed Beach Bunny? — because you’d want to recreate a glow that says, “Hey, fool. Ever since we broke up, I spend every Sunday by the pool at the Four Seasons with my new billionaire boyfriend.”

Ya know, that kind of thing. 🙂

The Little Black Book of Bronzers Bronzer Collection with an iPhone 6 plus for scale — With an iPhone 6 Plus for scale…

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What’s Your Current Face Makeup Routine? (Here’s Mine)

March 12th, 2015 by Karen 40 Comments

MAC Julia Petit Lipstick in Boca — Wearing my current face makeup routine…

Do you have 2 hours?

No! Just kidding. It doesn’t take me 2 hours, but it is a process. I mean, one thing I’ve learned along the way is that you can’t just slap a sh*t-ton of product on your face and expect it to look “natural.”

There’s definitely an art to getting the skin to look smooth and not so fussy, and I’m always tweaking my steps and products, but here are the broad strokes for my current routine…

For me, the first part has to be primer. I’m a big believer in primer. Bobbi Brown’s Extra Illuminating Moisture Balm and Smashbox Photo Finish Oil Free Foundation Primer Pore Minimizing — those are the two I’ve been keeping in my bag and using daily.

After primer I go in with some combination of lightweight medium to full-coverage foundations, which I mix because it’s difficult for me to find one color that matches my skin. Plus, you know, your skin is always changing (Bobbi Brown’s videos emphasize this). I may have gotten a little more sun yesterday, so I might have less noticeable yellow tones in my skin today and more pink or red. Or maybe I didn’t get enough sleep last night (happens often), so I look super tired.

Lately I’ve been mixing two or more (usually two) of these three together: NARS All Day Luminous Weightless Foundation, L’Oreal True Match Lumi, or the new Diorskin Nude Air Serum SPF 20.

MAC Bao Bao Wan Lipstick in Forbidden Sunrise — Another look with a similar foundation/concealer routine

And I don’t go heavy with this combo. I use as little foundation as I can — just the faintest amount — because it’s the next step that really helps get that more “flawless” look, or as close to it as I ever get. I take a small amount of that same foundation mix and add a full-coverage concealer, which I then use on my cheeks, around my mouth and around my nose.

Under-eye circles are a totally different story, though, and I’ll get to that in a minute.

I set the foundation combo with a powder, and one I’ve been loving lately is MAC Mineralize Skinfinish Natural. But I don’t just slap it on there willy-nilly. I take time to blend and buff it in so it doesn’t look like it’s sitting on top.

And that’s basically it for foundation.

I handle my under-eye situation separately, and I know it sounds involved, but I try to use as little of each product as possible to keep the area from looking cakey.

This time again, I start with a primer, and I’ve been using one called Smashbox Photo Finish Hydrating Under Eye Primer.

It’s bomb!
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The Bronze Age Returns! Estée Lauder Bronze Goddess Shimmering Nudes

March 11th, 2015 by Karen 17 Comments

Estee Lauder Bronze Goddess 2015 — Wearing makeup from the latest in a long line of annual Estée Lauder Bronze Goddess collections

If I had to be a goddess, I would not say no to being a goddess of bronze, but what I’d really want to be is a goddess of cats.

No, scratch that. I’d be the goddess of plus-size tabby cats with low-hanging bellies, because it’s all about being specific.

Yes, I have no idea what I’m talking about. 🙂

Estee Lauder Bronze Goddess Shimmering Nudes Face & Eye Palette — That’s the Estée Lauder Bronze Goddess Shimmering Nudes Face & Eye Palette on my eyes and cheeks, the All Over Illuminator on my upper cheekbones, and Pure Color Gloss Pen Nude Coral on my lips

Every year around this time, like clockwork, Estée Lauder reveals a new Bronze Goddess-themed collection, and this year it’s Shimmering Nudes.

The collection’s face and eye palette, stick highlighter and gloss, all of which will be available this April with the rest of the 14-piece collection at Estée Lauder counters and online, are telling me that 1) summer is right around the corner, and 2) I should probably book a vacation to someplace warm soon.

Is it just me, or does the Shimmering Nudes Face & Eye Palette ($55) radiate a MAC vibe?

Its eyeshadows could totally pass for Ricepaper, Amber Lights and Bronze, and even though I’ve seen the colors before, I still like this formula and the way they’re executed here.

The powders meld seamlessly into each other on my lids, and blending them is like three snaps in a Z formation. In other words, “haaay!” So good.

I actually did my foundation and concealer before this makeup look, and I didn’t have to do any additional cleanup under my eyes afterwords. No problems at all with fallout.

And I like the bronzer, too. It has a strong undercurrent of red that mimics a legit tan. There’s also golden flecks of glitter in it, which makes me think that this bronzer might even work better as an all-over warming product than one to contour (I prefer to use ashy cool-toned mattes to really carve out those cheekbones).

Interestingly, the face and eye palette is a Sephora exclusive, which is kind of cool and weird, and by that I mean this: have you actually seen Estée Lauder at your local Sephora store? Because mine doesn’t carry the line, and I don’t know if this is a one-shot deal or the start of a long-term trend. I really hope it’s the latter.

Estee Lauder Bronze Goddess All Over Illuminator — Bronze Goddess All Over Illuminator, $30

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A Quick Look at the MAC Bao Bao Wan Collection Beauty Powder and Lipsticks [VIDEO]

March 5th, 2015 by Karen 19 Comments

If this Forbidden Sunrise Lipstick were actually forbidden…I’d break that rule. I mean look at it! — bright orange. WOW.

It’s like the color that your tongue turns after you’ve eaten some obnoxiously orange candy, and yes, I like it.

Just a quick look at the new MAC Bao Bao Wan collection Beauty Powder and Lipsticks (available now online and in stores March 5 – April 2, 2015). If you’ve ever wished that you could stand under a deluge of glitter, the Beauty Powder — you wants it.

As always, thank you for watching. I’ll be posting more pics and swatches soon.

Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,

Karen

I Get All the Feels From The Texture of These New NARS Dual-Intensity Blushes…

February 23rd, 2015 by Karen 43 Comments

As Rob Base and DJ E-Z Rock so eloquently put it, “It takes two to make a thing go right… It takes two to make it out of sight.”

Truer words were never spoken, particularly as they pertain to the new NARS Dual Intensity Blushes ($45 each). 🙂

Yeah, even though I braced myself for it, I still freaked out a little when I opened one of these compacts for the first time and saw, not one, but TWO blushes within it with the same pattern on the pans as the NARS Dual-Intensity Eyeshadows (which I love, and these feel very similar).

Hearts may or may not have shot out of from my eyes.

NARS designed these new blushes, which arrive March 4 as six $45 duos, to 1) look and feel weightless on the skin, and 2) to create two completely different looks. Applying them with a dry powder brush paints your cheeks with bold color, while a wet brush seduces your skin with a softer watercolor-like effect, similar to what you’d get from a cheek tint, and you can wear the shades separately or mix them together.

The one called Frenzy fuses a sparkling pinkish gold highlighter with a shimmering bright tangerine…

NARS Dual-Intensity Blush in Frenzy — Dual-Intensity Blush in Frenzy

While Fervor partners a shimmering soft pink with a deep, sparkling coppery rose…

NARS Dual-Intensity Blush in Fervor — Dual-Intensity Blush in Fervor

And if you’re craving a trip to the tropics…Craving combines a sparkling seashell pink highlighter with a shimmering beachy bronze.

NARS Dual-Intensity Blush in Craving — Dual-Intensity Blush in Craving

WARNING: Do not panic when you see Panic…which is the brightest duo of the six. It contains a shocking, shimmering fuchsia and a shimmering orangey pink.

NARS Dual-Intensity Blush in Panic — Dual-Intensity Blush in Panic!

If you’re just plain partial to pinks in general, you might adore Adoration, which pairs a soft, sparkling baby pink with a shimmering hot pink.

NARS Dual-Intensity Blush in Adoration — Dual-Intensity Blush in Adoration

Last, but certainly not least, there’s Jubilation, yay! It partners a sparkling hot gold with a soft and shimmering nude peach.

NARS Dual-Intensity Blush in Jubilation — Dual Intensity Blush in Jubilation

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3 Chic New Reasons to Bring Your Cheeks to Physicians Formula This Spring

February 20th, 2015 by Karen 23 Comments

1. Physicians Formula Argan Wear Ultra-Nourishing Argan Oil Bronzer ($14.95)

Physicians Formula Argan Wear Ultra-Nourishing Argan Oil Blush — $14.95 Argan Wear Ultra-Nourishing Argan Oil Bronzer, new for spring

Ooh! Fancy pan and fancy bronzer formula. The latter contains argan oil, and it’s supposed to brighten, smooth and tone.

That’s great and all, but they had me at the color. It’s a medium warm brown with a golden sheen, almost like someone down there are at Physicians Formula HQ poured liquid sunshine on the pan.

If you notice any big flecks of gold glitter the first few times you swirl your brush in it, not to worry. The design on the top is an overspray.

Just to note, this one has a strong white floral scent. Luckily, I like it.

For a natural-looking golden glow, I like to dust this just below my cheekbones using a big fluffy brush, and sometimes I also use it as a transition color in my crease.

2. Physicians Formula Argan Wear Ultra-Nourishing Argan Oil Blush ($12.95)

Confession: every single time I open this blush I give it a sniff because, my goodness! — it smells delish. Like wild jasmine on a warm summer night…or wild jasmine on a freezing winter night, but the first one sounds better. 🙂

Like the design on the pan of the new bronzer up above, the pattern on this pan is also an overspray (so you might see some big-honkin’ chunks of gold glitter the first few times you use it).

When the overspray’s gone, what’s left is a neutral, mid-toned pink with light reflecting particles. This one creates a lovely youthful glow, and it gets extra credit because it seems to go with everything I wear on my cheeks or lips. This blush easily holds its own with the department store big boys.

I’ve started blending it on the apples of my cheeks after applying the Argan Bronzer. I love that combo so much that I wish the two of them came together in a duo!
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