Makeup and Beauty Blog | Makeup Reviews, Swatches and How-To Makeup
A beauty blog blooming with fresh makeup reviews, swatches and beauty tips from your friendly neighborhood beauty addict
I love a cat with marbled sides.
And I also love marbled packaging.
The new $80 Hourglass Surreal Light Ambient Lighting Palette comes dressed to impress in an elegant marbled compact which, by the way, looks a lot like the kitchen of my dreams in my dream house.
When I finally win the lottery, I’m going to point to a pic of this palette and say, “Please do this for my counters, OKTHANXBAI.”
It’s kind of amazing how far foundation has come in such a relatively short amount of time. There are so many products on counters now that are getting close to realistic-looking skin. I’m talking finishes and textures and colors and coverages that are virtually imperceptible, and all I have to say to that is “yay!” This is a trend worthy of an all-caps WOOT-WOOT.
These new $46 Hourglass Vanish Seamless Foundation Sticks are the latest realistic-looking foundations to jump into the ring, providing the coverage of a concealer, the maneuverability of a liquid and the weightlessness of a powder.
And that’s all great, but I also like how quick they can be used (roughly a minute or two). It’s like boom, boom, boom! — a little swipe here, a little swipe there, cheeks, nose, forehead, chin. Then blend that in with a brush for lovely, even-toned skin without any of that heaviness, or that caked-on nonsense where it feels like you’re wearing a mask.
I’m trying something a little different today — a different kind of blog post — something other than a makeup review, because, guuurl…my @ss is tired. Third trimester is no joke.
A few weeks ago my friend Jen and I were texting back and forth, and she was like, “I hate to break this to ya, but the third trimester is really, REALLY hard.”
And she was not kidding. And it’s not just hard because, ya know, the achy hips and lower back, the shortness of breath, or how it feels like the last leg of a long, drawn-out race (like running three marathons back to back), but it’s just… I didn’t anticipate being this tired. I’m really tired — like, ridiculously tired.
I’m so tired, as a matter of fact, that I think I’m going to take a nap. A very long, lovely nap. 🙂
But first, can we chat?
So…last night I started reading a new book.
Well, it’s new for me, but I think it’s been on shelves for a while. It’s called The Little Book of Skin Care: Korean Beauty Secrets for Healthy, Glowing Skin, and it’s by a woman named Charlotte Cho (she has a website, Soko Glam, where she sells Korean beauty products, and she’s also an esthetician).
The book is about Charlotte’s life, her experiences and the Korean skin care process. Charlotte was raised in Southern California, but she later moved to Seoul, Korea, for work (she’s Korean, by the way).
I don’t know if you’re very familiar with Korean skin care products, but they’ve grown quite popular here lately in the U.S. (one of my favorite Korean skin care brands is AmorePacific).
The book goes into the process, the philosophy and also lists some of Charlotte’s favorite Korean skin care products, all of which she tests on her website. And then there’s also some interesting tidbits and insights into what it’s like to live in Seoul.
It’s been pretty interesting so far, and there’s great stuff like this cute illustrated 10-step (YES, 10 STEP) Korean skin care infographic…
The process kinda speaks to me, because I know how I am with makeup — I tend to make things a little more complicated than they need to be (Ooh! Only 10 steps!? Let’s do this!) — but these days, with as tired as I’ve been, I’d rather just wash my face, put on some sunscreen, and call it a day, LOL!
Anywho, I flipped through the book last night before bed, and I think it may have even helped me sleep! 🙂 I slept almost all the way through the night, and thank goodness for that because I haven’t been sleeping well lately. I felt great today, but I haven’t really been feeling that mentally great lately…so I went to the doctor earlier this afternoon.
Whenever I think of Hourglass makeup, I think of elegance…refinement…and makeup that’s friggin’ beautiful, and their four new $38 Ambient Strobe Lighting Powders evoke the living daylights out of all three of those things (I also talk about them briefly in this 5 Things I’m Loving Lately video).
To me, this is highlighting done so incredibly right.
I admit it: I get persnickety sometimes about my powder highlighters because, ya know, when you’re a woman of a certain age, the metallic ones? — even though they’re lovely, dramatic and ever-so eye-catching, they can also be a bear to work with when the frosty flecks go snorkeling in your pores and fine lines, and they end up highlighting all the stuff that you actually didn’t want to highlight at all…
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There should be a video right up here in this post, but if it isn’t appearing for any reason, you can click here to watch it on YouTube.
You wouldn’t think that hair ties would be something to be particular about, but I’m so particular about my hair ties. They can’t give me a headache; I don’t want them to leave a weird bend in my hair; I don’t want them to snag my hair, and these Tony Ties by Mia don’t do any of those things. They’re my new favorite hair ties, and I love them so much that I packed them away to bring with me to the hospital on B-day (birth day).
That’s when you know your love for something is real deal — when you’re willing to go into labor for an unspecified amount of time with it…
Here are five things (one of them’s a combo) I’ve been loving lately. How about you? What are some things you’ve been loving too?
Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,
Karen
P.S. TGIF!
Geez, it’s September already!? Wow, we better get a move on. It’s time for another bad-@ss holiday palette from Hourglass.
Yup, Hourglass has released a new holiday palette in each of the past couple of years, and they’re doing it again. The new one arrives next month — well, technically, there are a whole bunch of complicated release date machinations, but I’ll get into that in the video.
The latest palette is also Strunk & White-approved!
Har-dee-har-har, kidding. 🙂 Sort of. It’s called Edit. It’s the Hourglass Ambient Lighting Edit Palette, and it’s the biggest one so far (it’s also $80, which isn’t a bad deal at all considering the quality and price level of Hourglass products). It has six pans, one of which is a brand new shade called Iridescent Strobe Light.
Three of the six pans are Hourglass’s awesome Ambient Lighting Powders (including the one brand new shade). The other three pans house two blushes and a bronzer.
All but one of the colors are re-promotes, so if you’ve been hoarding (LOL!) Hourglass for a while — hey, nobody can blame you — you probably already have them in your collection.
The Ambients are gorgeous, though, particularly if you like that “glowy” look, and I mean, who doesn’t?
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The Tragedy of Tabby, Prince of Novato
Act III, Scene I Enter Prince Tabby, Queen Karen, Left Turn the Black Cat, Thug the Russian Blue and Lords.
TABS: To highlight or not to highlight — that is the question.
Whether ’tis nobler in the condo to suffer the humiliating pets and chin scratches of outrageous fortune, or to raise paws against a sea of troubles, and by opposing, end them. To eat, to nap — perchance to dream; ay, there’s the tummy rub.
Wait, what the heck is Prince Tabby talking about!? I don’t know about him, but speaking for myself, there is absolutely NO question about it. I am always, ALWAYS down for highlighting, and here are my five top picks for “Best Highlighter.” These are the ones I wear the most. 🙂
It’s amazing to me how this champagne pearl pressed powder barely looks like I’ve made a dent in it, when I’ve been wearing it pretty consistently — sometimes for weeks on end — for the past few years.
That’s a pretty good thing to know, that a single pan of anything could last until forever, or until Skynet eventually takes over (whichever comes first).
What I love about Luminous Light — I mean, other than the name, because don’t most gals like the idea of being bathed in luminous light? — is the finish. On the skin it looks like expensive, plush velvet bathed in the light of a buttery late summer afternoon.
Ah…
The sheen is unlike anything else I’ve seen before. Soft and subtle, yet still noticeable, and it’s oh, so forgiving of large pores and fine lines (hallelujah!).
All told, this one’s my favorite everyday, all-occasion highlighter in the world!
$45; available now at Hourglass counters and online.
Hush!
No, you can talk. I was referring to MAC Hush, which I love for its flexibility. It’s a soft peach with subtle shimmer, and I like it just about any which way/any how — on bare skin, on top of tinted moisturizer, foundation, even on top of powder. Whenever I’m aiming for more of a dewy, wet look, out comes Hush.
All I do is use my fingers to apply and blend it, usually on my upper cheekbones, down the bridge of my nose and on my Cupid’s bow, and it takes all but a minute to use.
I also think it looks amazer-ing in pics.
Oh! — and you can also use it as an eyeshadow base. Score! 🙂
$22; available now at MAC counters and online.
Good ol’ Opal. How many pans of it have I gone through over the years?
Three? Four…? I’ve lost count.
BECCA has many marvelous Shimmering Skin Perfector Pressed options, but Opal is the one I wear most, by far. It’s a super shiny golden opal pearl, and for dramatic highlights, it’s unbeatable. Unlike standard-issue high-shine highlighters, of which there are many, it’s the very definition of luminous, and the complete antithesis of harsh and metallic, so skin glows seemingly from within with magical eldritch power without appearing oily.
It’s so friggin’ good that when I had to pick a single highlighter to wear on the red carpet to the Emmy’s last year, I went with Opal. There was no question about it.
Fun tip: to open up the eyes and make them look as big, bright and wide as possible, lightly apply Opal in the inner corners of the eyes, and just above and below the highest point in the arch of your brows.
$38; available now at Ulta, BECCA counters and online.
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I’m not ready for the return of skinny, practically nonexistent ’90s-style brows (when I practically plucked mine into oblivion) because I’m enjoying the current big, bushy brow trend too much.
I JUST CAN’T, HOMIE! I hope the bushy brow trend lasts another two or three decades, but just in case it doesn’t, I’m going to “live in the now!” as they say, and embrace the current state of the brow-o-sphere. Hopefully the newly expanded Arch Brow Sculpting range by Hourglass is a sign that bold brows aren’t going anywhere soon.
Hourglass just added six new $32 permanent collection shades for fall 2015, bringing the total up to nine. There are colors for blondes, brunettes, gingers (I’m lookin’ at you, Chelsea!) and black-haired babes, and you can find them all now at Hourglass counters and online.
Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,
Karen
