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Just For Fun

Saturday Surfing

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Hey, lady! How’s it going today? What are you up to? I’ve been up for a while but just not in front of the computer (for a change). Tabs was actually using it to write another email to MAC. He still hasn’t heard back from the company. 🙂

The stress of potential litigation is getting to him, too, because he’s been acting out lately. Dang cat has even taken to BITING THE CRAP OUT OF ME in frustration. It’s how he got me out of bed this morning — with a series of bites to my chin. I hope both parties settle out of court soon…

Did ya do anything fun last night? The highlight of my evening was the cup of coconut frozen yogurt (topped with blueberries and strawberries) that I ate for dinner while watching the most recent Project Runway online. No spoilers (the comments, however, are fair game), but what did you think of the dresses by Michael C. and Mondo?

And speaking of the show, haven’t the contestants been cranky this season? Seems like their claws are always out, and it’s flat-out getting on my nerves.

Anywho, right now I’m getting ready to head into San Francisco to see Dreamgirls with El Hub. The boy asked me totally out of the blue last week. I know, right? I’m shocked (but delighted)! 🙂 I haven’t been to a musical in years, and I must say I’m really looking forward to it.

Before I go, can you catch some e-waves with me? Come on, the water looks perfect!

Random Bright Spots

New in Beauty


Simply put, this song makes me 🙂

Enjoy the rest of your day, boo-boo!

Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,

Karen

Two Ways to Win an Urban Decay Good Karma Finishing Brush

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  • The giveaway is now closed, and the winner is being contacted. Before you go, check the home page for ongoing giveaways.

Karma: it’s not just the club where The Situation and Snooki practice their dance moves on the Jersey Shore.

It’s also a force of nature that states, like the old J. Timberlake song, “What goes around, comes around.” Both the good and the bad.

And speaking of the good stuff, have you seen the new Urban Decay Good Karma brushes? Today’s giveaway could be your chance to take one of them home.

The Prize

One lucky lady will win Urban Decay’s Good Karma Finishing Brush ($39), a Tabs-approved (cruelty-free) face brush. It’s one of 11 new Good Karma makeup brushes for eyes, lips and face.

While designed for hi-definition powders, something tells me it would handle regular face powders pretty well too. A multitasking tool, Urban Decay also recommends it for brushing away excess eyeshadow fallout from beneath the eyes or for toning down excess blush or bronzer colors on the face.

Imagine your nimble little fingers wrapped around the gunmetal handle. 🙂 It’s made from recycled aluminum, and the synthetic brush head’s made from recycled PET bottles.

The fibers feel whisker soft and feather light against skin, and they can be used either wet or dry.

When you’re done beautifying yourself with this bad boy, just put it away in its sassy purple box (made from recycled egg crates, wouldn’t ya know it).

How To Enter…

2ways2enterEntering is easy. There are two different ways, and you can do both of them for two chances to win.

  1. First, you can enter by retweeting (RT) the following message:

    Follow @karenmbb and RT to win an Urban Decay Good Karma Finishing Brush http://bit.ly/aQMvCN

  2. Second, enter by leaving a comment at the bottom of this post, a comment about anything at all — tell me what food you’re craving, describe your weekend plans, or reminisce about your favorite Urban Decay product of all time.

    My favorite Urban Decay product? I’ve been hooked on phonics on Eden Primer Potion for months. It’s a non-drying eye makeup primer (I apply it to bare lids) used to keep liners and eyeshadows from creasing and disappearing throughout the day. Stuff works! And it’s hella easy to remove.

  • Oh, yeah. International folks and readers living overseas, please feel free to enter. The giveaway is also open to y’all. Entrants everywhere, however, must be at least 18 years of age or older.

Recap…

  1. Enter by leaving a comment at the bottom of this post, and don’t forget to use a valid email address so I can reach you if you win.
  2. Retweet the following message on twitter:

    Follow @karenmbb and RT to win an Urban Decay Good Karma Finishing Brush http://bit.ly/aQMvCN

I’ll pick the winner at random from among the people who enter by 11:59 p.m. PST on Sunday, September 5.

Sağlıqla qalın!

Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,

Karen

  • The giveaway is now closed, and the winner is being contacted. Before you go, check the home page for ongoing giveaways.

Kyra Sedgwick: Her Best Hair?

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It wasn’t billed as a rematch, but Sunday’s Emmy Awards pit two of TV’s most kick-@ss lady cops together for the FIFTH time in a row in the category of Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series — LAW & Order: SVU’s Detective Olivia Benson, played by my girl Mariska Hargitay, and The Closer’s Deputy Chief Brenda Johnson, played by Kyra Sedgwick — and this time Kyra came out on top (Mariska won it in 2006).

It was good to see Kyra finally get the win. I’ve always liked her (and her hair!). Shoot, it’s about time homegirl got an Emmy to put on top of ye olde fireplace mantle. Fifth time’s the charm! 🙂

Which of Kyra's hairstyles do you like best?

View Results

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Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,

Karen

Makeup and Beauty Blog Monday Poll, Aug. 30

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  1. Mood:

    2. Oddly alert for having gotten up at the butt crack of dawn. I set the alarm for 6:15, but a weird dream (see below) pulled me awake at 4:57.

  2. The last dream you remember having?

    3. It was last weekend. I dreamt I was back in high school, and Paul Walker was my boyfriend, which is strange because, while cute, he’s not really my style (I like ’em nerdy). In the dream he was a real gentleman, too, walking me to class and carrying my books. We even shared lockers, ha ha!

  3. Ankle boots — yay or nay?

    4. It took me a while to get on board, but now I say YAY!

  4. A skincare product you’ve been wanting to try?

    5. Two things from Chanel, both for sensitive, dry skin: Mousse Confort Rinse-Off Rinse-Off Rich Foaming Cream Cleanser ($45) and Hydramax + Active Moisture Mask ($50)

  5. Do you have a twin?

    6. I don’t, but I always thought it would be really cool to have one.

  6. What do you like most about your best friend?

    7. Her sense of humor. No one makes me laugh like she can!

  7. How long does it take you to get ready in the morning?

    8. Anywhere between 30 minutes and an hour, depending on how much time I have and how adventurous I feel with my clothes, hair and makeup.

  8. Last time you changed your hair?

    9. July. I went lighter with my highlights.

  9. Have you ever lied about your age?

    10. No, but I’m tempted to start! 🙂

  10. Weekly goals:

    11. You know how I watched Gattaca last weekend, right? Well, it was great food for thought (NOTE: Highly recommended! Beautifully filmed with a provocative story, particularly if you like traditional sci-fi (Ray Bradbury, Isaac Asimov, Orson Scott Card). Plus — HELLO! — Ethan Hawke in a tailored suit = super hawt!). A theme in the movie has to do with pushing through perceived boundaries, and that’s what I’d like to work on this week, ya know, just putting everything on the table and seeing what happens.

What up, cutie? How’s it going on this lovely Monday? I hope you’re well. I’m actually doing…alright, considering I’ve been awake since 4:57. I may need a nap later this afternoon.

But not for a while. Right now I’m rearing to go!

Do you have a minute to say hi by filling out the Monday Poll?



1. Mood:
2. The last dream you remember having?
3. Ankle boots — yay or nay?
4. A skincare product you’ve been wanting to try?
5. Do you have a twin?
6. What do you like most about your best friend?
7. How long does it take you to get ready in the morning?
8. Last time you changed your hair?
9. Have you ever lied about your age?
10. Weekly goals:

Now, I’d like to propose a toast (*reaches for cup of coffee*).

“Here’s to a great week, everyone!” 🙂

Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,

Karen

Sundays with Tabs the Cat, Makeup and Beauty Blog Mascot, Vol. 102

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Tabs for MAC digi-dazzle

I can’t talk long, ladies! I have to go pick up Tabs from the airport. He went to Prague for a quick two-day shoot. I’m sure he’s going to be hungry, too. I got an in-flight text from him that read, “food stinks. see you at 11. please bring gravy. will eat in the car.”

Here are some pictures of the cat modeling jobs he’s done lately. 🙂

Tabs for Dooney & Bourke

Tabs for the NYX Feline Effect Liner
[Continue reading…]

Stop and Smell the Flowers in the Open Thread

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Can you believe it’s already the last Sunday in August? Weren’t we just talking about Fourth of July barbecues? — and now we’re closer to the end of summer than the start. Seriously, Sundays always have a way of sneaking up on me, but this one hit like a breeze that blew in from nowhere!

I know a lot of us are looking forward to fall (hello, boots and scarves!), but I’m really gonna miss summer, and until those last few leaves fall from the oak trees outside my window, I plan to make it last as long as possible. I’m sniffing every flower that crosses my path. 🙂

Are you ready for fall, or would you like a longer summer? Let me know in the Open Thread!

Makeup and Beauty Blog Open ThreadIf you’re new to the open thread, here it is in a nutshell:

It’s our chance to chill out, kick back and chat about anything and everything, from makeup to jobs to hobbies, food, relationships and movies.

It goes on for the rest of the day (and night), so stop by if/when you can, and as often as you’d like. Feel free to reach out to me or to anyone else, too. Everyone here is really nice. 🙂

See you inside!

Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,

Karen

The Weekly Roundup: Posts You Might Have Missed

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Makeup and Beauty Blog Weekly Roundup

Rise and shine, morning glory. 🙂

It was so warm and snuggly in bed this morning that I didn’t want to get up. The weather here took a bizarre turn a few days ago, falling quickly from 108F on Wednesday to about 65 yesterday and today.

Blast these silly Bay Area microclimates! I want more summer, stat!

What’s your game plan for today? I never did make it to that movie yesterday (Scott Pilgrim), but hopefully I do today… I did, however, watch Gattaca for the first time, and holy double helix, Batman! — what a great sci-fi flick!

The director, Andrew Niccol, is also directing Stephenie Meyer’s The Host (due out next year!). Now I have much higher hopes for that.

So how are things going with you? What was your favorite makeup of the week? Did you try anything new?

Here are some of the things we’ve talked about lately… I’m not sure which one was my favorite. There’s the obvious, MAC Fabulous Felines, but I’m actually leaning toward those NYX Studio Effect Liquid Liners even more.

MAC Fabulous FelinesMAC FABULOUS FELINES
PREVIEW PICTURES

Keep your cool kitten eyes peeled for the Superslick Liquid Eye Liners ($17.50). Available in nine shades, these innovate long-wearing, water-resistant liners actually look wet when they’re dry, and Tabs thinks they’re the cat’s meow.

Today while he napped (apparently, fabulous felines require a lot of sleep), I took a look at eight pieces from the collection. First up, the Pigment in Blood Line ($19.50). Simply put, I love this purplish brown loose powder shadow. It’s smooth, with just a hint of shimmer, and I bet it would rock the socks off of looks featuring plum or brown smokey eyes. Read more…

Lorac Close Up Real Life to Red Carpet Eye Tutorial KitLORAC REAL LIFE
TO RED CARPET EYE TUTORIAL KIT

If happy hours, ramen noodles, party crashing, mac and cheese, Taco Bell bean burritos and Totino’s frozen pizzas are fixtures of your college life (like they were mine!), take a little look at LORAC. Their $36 Close Up Real Life to Red Carpet Eye Tutorial Kit has “I’m a [hawt] broke college student” written all over it.

I’ll never forget the first time I went to buy books in college… YIKES! I guess I didn’t get the memo about every thick, hella boring science textbook costing an arm and a leg, and maybe it was out of a desire to prevent that same kind of eye-bulging sticker shock that LORAC came up with the idea.

The kit makes it easy to go from lunch in the campus cafeteria to a look ready for dinner and a movie. For $36 you get four full-size LORAC all-star products — a primer, a mascara, an eyeshadow trio and a liner — along with a small dual-tipped eye brush and a tutorial booklet with step-by-step directions for three different looks. Bought separately, the liner, primer and shadow trio by themselves (not including any of the other cool stuff) would cost almost twice as much as the entire kit. Read more…

NYX Studio Effect Liquid LinerNYX STUDIO EFFECT
LIQUID LINER

Hey, boo. Howzit? Sorry if I’ve seemed a little distracted lately, but I’ve been trying to squeeze in as much time as possible with my in-laws before they head back to Hawaii on Friday. Yup, it’s been an interesting beauty balancing act — trying to be a considerate host while also being biologically incapable of resisting makeup for more than a few hours at a time, ha!

But like any self-respecting member of the Borg collective knows, “resistance IS futile.” Keeping this beauty fiend away from her makeup is like trying to keep Tabs away from gravy (read: hard). Today I even locked myself away in the bathroom for an hour just to be alone with the new NYX Studio Liquid Liners ($4.50 each). Read more…

MAC Fabulous Felines SwatchesMAC FABULOUS FELINES
SWATCHES GALORE

Tabs couldn’t sleep at all last night and woke me up at 3 this morning like a kid on Christmas morning. MAC Fabulous Felines pounced onto counters nationwide today (and international counters next month), and he wanted to make sure we made it to the mall.

We did. 🙂

Of the collection’s three color stories, Leopard Luxe was the one we’ve both been looking forward to the most (lots of warm corals and golds)…not that Burmese Beauty and Palace Pedigreed don’t also look interesting.

Despite its name, the collection isn’t just for fellow feline enthusiasts. If warm golds and corals sing on your skin/fur, get your paws on Leopard Luxe; if cool plums, pinks and blues crook your tail, consider Palace Pedigreed; and if you prefer to party with a mixed crowd, try Burmese Beauty’s blend of greens, taupes and browns. Read more…

Jemma Kidd Hi-Shine GlosstickJEMMA KIDD
HI-SHINE GLOSSTICK

Some cats possess talent; others are possessed by it. When that happens, as the great Rod Serling once said, “a talent becomes a curse.”

Imagine, if you would, a cat with sharp claws resting on an air mattress (the same one you’ve been sleeping on since your in-laws arrived).

This cat has a talent for destruction…and for keeping me awake at night.

As sleep deprived as I’ve been these past two weeks, I’d be a heck of a lot grumpier if it weren’t for Jemma Kidd’s new Hi-Shine Glossticks ($25 each, available in five shades).

Inspired by the beautiful colors of beachy Barbados, these hydrating lipstick/gloss hybrids contain nifty light reflective particles to go with their SPF 15. The particles create the illusion of fuller lips, making them great for gals looking for a little lip boost. Read more…

NARS Pure Matte LipstickNARS PURE MATTE
LIPSTICK

You know what they say, right? You can take the girl out of the ’90s, but you can’t take the ’90s out of the girl.

Well, I’ve never actually heard that before…but wouldn’t it make an awesome fortune cookie?

Back in the day matte lipstick was my BFF, and I always had at least one in my little black backpack (gawd, remember those?). I loved the look, but dangnabbit those old school matte formulas made my lips dry and flaky!

After all these years, I still love matte lips, and now with uber-moisturizing formulas like the one in new NARS Pure Matte Lipstick ($25), matte lips can be comfy, too (think spaghetti strap dress/baby-T combo, circa 1995).

Available in six shades with spectacular geographic names — Volga (a deep aubergine), Bangkok (a soft rose), Tonkin (a plum), Tere De Feue (a blackish cherry), Tashkent (a nude beige) and Vesuvio (a bold red) — the unscented, unflavored line conditions lips with hydrating vitamin E, wild mango butter and acai oil. Read more…

Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,

Karen

Saturday Surfing

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OMG, ladies! I’d hoped to spend a relaxing evening last night painting my toenails while watching the latest ep of Project Runway, but that was before Parsons changed from a design school to Off-Broadway theater! I mean, I might have to stop watching the show before bed! Seriously, that’s how intense it got. Did you watch it? It went from Casanova having a breakdown during the challenge (“I should just design for old lady slut flamenco dancers!”) to the routinely refined Tim Gunn putting the humiliating smack down on the Lord of the Flies losing team for letting Gretchen “manipulate” them. I literally leapt off the couch and raised the roof: “Tim, yer the man!”

I was so wound up after watching it that I couldn’t get to sleep until well past midnight. Consequently, I slept in a little later than usual even for a Saturday; hence the late Saturday Surfing. 🙂

As for the rest of my day, other than some cleaning around the house, it’s w i d e open. I might try to go see Scott Pilgrim vs. the World this afternoon… Have you seen it? I wonder if it’s any good.

It’s a little late in the day for surfing (the tide’s out), but would you like to catch some e-waves with me?

Random Bright Spots

New in Beauty

Enjoy the rest of your Saturday! Keep smilin’!

Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,

Karen

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