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Just For Fun

Saturday Surfing

December 5th, 2009 by Karen 3 Comments

120509-saturday-surfing-final

Good morning, ladies!

Did you do anything fun last night? Tabs says meow, which loosely translated means “hey, girl.” The three of us (El Hub, Tabs and I) just chilled at home. It was a Hulu and pizza night, aka one of those nights you need every so often to recharge your batteries.

I’m off to a lazy start this morning, filled with giant mugs of coffee and high-intensity web surfing. 🙂

Here are the highlights of my e-travels so far…

  • Christmas gift ideas for the woefully unprepared — Icing
  • Easy makeup tips for South Asian Women from MAC Senior Artist Vimi Joshi — Bella Sugar
  • Revisiting the Bronze Age with the Prescriptives Luster Baked Eye Color Quad — Temptalia
  • What kind of dream is Maybelline Dream Mousse? — The Notice
  • Product recommendations for dry winter skin and hair — Glamour and Love
  • The Cargo Hands of Hope Palette looks like a collectable — Karla Sugar
  • Love is in the hair with Kerastase Nectar Thermique — The Punk Cat
  • If you like cool shadows and have an extra $60 sitting around… — The Beauty Look Book
  • Is CoverGirl’s ShineBlast the new LipSlick? — Raging Rouge
  • 6 reasons why bacon is better than true love — The Oatmeal
  • Prosthetic designs (yes, that kind of prosthetic) of the past, present and future — Web Urbanist
  • Gifts for goths — We Heart This

This makes me feel happy 🙂

I am deeply obsessed with Phoenix

Scooch over, Frank!

I’m heading to the city this afternoon to see a few friends from school. I haven’t seen them since last year, so I’m really looking forward to it.

What are your plans for today?

Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,

Karen

There are 3 comments on this post. Leave yours.

Categories: Just For Fun

What Are Your MAC Staples?

December 4th, 2009 by Karen 65 Comments

mac-staples

Fellow MAC fans, imagine a world without your favorite MAC products, the ones you hope they never discontinue.

I would…
FREAK THE EFF OUT!

Here are my MAC staples:

  • MAC Eyeshadow in Concrete and the 266 Small Angled Brush: The dynamic duo I use to fill my eyebrows. Without ’em my facial expression looks stuck somewhere between surprise and adoration.
  • Eyeshadow in Soft Brown: I’m in crazy love with this matte brown. It’s my go-to crease color, matter of fact. Incidentally, I hear it gets a lot of use on the set of Mad Men.
  • Lipglass in Nymphette: I can’t even begin to guess the number of tubes I’ve finished. I’ve been a fan of this shimmery golden pink gloss *forever*.

If you’re a fellow MAC fiend fan, what are your staples from the brand? I’m always looking for new gems to try. 🙂

Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,

Karen

P.S. TGIF, gals! How does your day look?

There are 65 comments on this post. Leave yours.

Categories: Just For Fun, MAC Makeup

How Often Do You Make Big Changes To Your Hairstyle?

December 3rd, 2009 by Karen 73 Comments

hair-before-and-after-1-1

I walked out of the salon yesterday with five inches of hair cut trimmed off, lighter highlights and a new set of bangs. I wouldn’t call it a big change because my hair is still long, but I definitely feel like a different girl with this cut. 🙂

My last dramatic haircut was a decage ago — I chopped off my uber-long locks into a chin-length bob. Although I haven’t made any big changes in the past three years, I don’t rule out going short again in the future.

How often do you make big changes to your hairstyle?

View Results

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Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,

Karen

There are 73 comments on this post. Leave yours.

Categories: Hair, Just For Fun

Two Ways to Win the NARS Kalahari Eyeshadow Duo

December 2nd, 2009 by Karen 371 Comments

The giveaway is closed, and the winner has been contacted. Please check the home page for current giveaways.

two ways to win the nars kalahari duo

How I love thee, mighty Kalahari, prince of NARS Eyeshadow Duos. I’d give up Nutella for you. Oh, yes, THAT’s how strong my feelings are for your eye brightening golden bronze and shimmery cocoa brown.

Girlfriend, are you ready to fall in love with Kalahari? Methinks it’s time for a giveaway. 🙂

The prize

One lucky lady will win her very own NARS Kalahari Eyeshadow Duo (a $32 value), with its two shimmery powder shadows in golden bronze and cocoa brown.

How to enter…

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

First, you can enter by leaving a comment at the bottom of this post. In it, tell me what you do with your makeup when you look like you didn’t get enough sleep.

I brighten my lids with the NARS Kalahari duo and lighten my dark circles with a mix of concealer and an illuminating eye cream like Origins GinZing.

Follow me
Second, enter by following me on Twitter and retweeting (RT) the following message:

RT @karenmbb: RT to win a NARS Kalahari Eyeshadow Duo ($32 Value) http://bit.ly/8fjwwP

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. Follow me on Twitter and retweet the following message:

    RT @karenmbb: RT to win a NARS Kalahari Eyeshadow Duo ($32 Value) http://bit.ly/8fjwwP

I’ll pick the winner at random from among the people who enter by 11:59 p.m. PST on Friday, December 4.

İyi şanslar!!!

Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,

Karen

My new hairP.S. How was your afternoon? We made it over the hump, so from here on out it should be smooth sailing until the weekend. Here’s a phone pic of my new ‘do. I went pretty short, taking off about six inches, and I got bangs!

What’s on the agenda for tonight? Right now I’m just playing around on Facebook and Twitter. Tabs and I are going to watch the latest episode of Glee.

The giveaway is closed, and the winner has been contacted. Please check the home page for current giveaways.

There are 371 comments on this post. Leave yours.

Categories: Just For Fun, Makeup

Jake Gyllenhaal: His Best Hair?

December 2nd, 2009 by Karen 34 Comments

jake-gyllenhall-his-best-hair

Dear Jake,

Did you get the card I sent for turkey day (gobble gobble!)? I hope so. 🙂 Yours still hasn’t arrived, but I’m sure it’s on its way. The Post Office has been busy as of late…

I was surprised to read about you and Reese. Thank goodness the rumors were untrue, but I’m here if you ever need a shoulder.

Yours always,

Karen

In my frantic search to corroborate the breakup rumors, I couldn’t help but notice the breadth of Jake’s hairstyles over the years. He makes bangs look so very fetching!

If/when I earn that spot on Jeopardy! and “Jake Gyllenhaal’s hair” comes up as a topic, I think I’ll be prepared.

Jakeypoo factoids

  • Born Jacob Benjamin Gyllenhaal in Los Angeles (December 19, 1980)
  • Family has deep Hollywood ties. Dad’s a director, Mom’s a screenwriter, and big sis Maggie’s a star.
  • Enjoys woodworking and cooking
  • Acting debut was in the 1991 film City Slickers
  • Graduated from high school in 1998 and then went on to attend Columbia University, studying Eastern religions and Philosophy; dropped out to pursue film career.
  • Feature films include Brokeback Mountain, The Day After Tomorrow, Donnie Darko (my JG fave!) and more

P.S. Jake, I know you’re busy, but before I go, may I ask a favor? I’ve noticed you’ve been growing out your hair for Prince of Persia (due out next spring). Please, please condition at least once/week. Split ends = not cute. 🙂

Which of Jake's hairstyles do you like best?

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Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,

Karen

There are 34 comments on this post. Leave yours.

Categories: Hair, Just For Fun

Bloggerati Spotlight

December 1st, 2009 by Karen 9 Comments

The Beauty Bloggerati

Heya, ladies. How’s it going tonight? I’m kinda taking it easy. I’ve been guzzling de-stress tea and watching Law & Order: SVU reruns with Tabs. He was naughty earlier tonight (tried to eat my Trader Joe’s cookies), but he’s cool now.

While I eat another few dark chocolate stars and gaze longingly at Detective Stabler, take a minute to see what the ladies of Daily Makeover’s Beauty Bloggerati have been up to.

    Erika of Makeupbag.net

  • A natural, peachy holiday look with a little bronzer and brown eyeshadow — Makeup Bag
  • 5 tips to becoming a successful makeup artist — Spoiled Pretty
  • Love + Toast Sugar Grapefruit Hand Cream sounds yummy! — Beauty Blogging Junkie
  • Try these makeup tips before your next holiday party — Beyond Beauty Basics
  • Create a pampering spa at home — Makeover Momma
  • Enter to win a Coach bag for Christmas (nice odds) — A Mom in Red High Heels
  • Pumpkin-scented beauty products? Sounds delicious, yum! — Product Girl
  • Have you seen Sephora’s holiday looks? — The Jet Set Girls
  • Check out these great green face scrubs — Talking Makeup
  • Do you remember Terax Crema conditioner? — Hair Thursday

Have a good night! Don’t let the bed bugs bite. 🙂

Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,

Karen

There are 9 comments on this post. Leave yours.

Categories: Just For Fun

How Often Do You Use Hot Rollers?

December 1st, 2009 by Karen 77 Comments

hot rollers

Even though I think I’m pretty adventurous with hair products and tools (don’t get me started on how I used to flat iron my hair with a real deal IRON), I’ve never used a set of hot rollers.

No particular reason why, really. I just never got around to it.

But curling irons can take forever to use! I’ve been wearing my hair curly a lot lately, and I want to get back some of the time (20 minutes in some cases) it takes me to curl.

That’s why I picked up a set of Jilbere ($35) ceramic hot rollers at Sally Beauty last weekend.

Please, oh, PLEASE, beauty gods, save me from burning myself while I figure them out! 🙂

How Often Do You Use Hot Rollers?

View Results

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Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,

Karen

There are 77 comments on this post. Leave yours.

Categories: Hair, Just For Fun

Makeup and Beauty Blog Monday Poll, Nov. 30

November 30th, 2009 by Karen 98 Comments

113009-monday-poll

  1. Mood:
  2. Unusually calm for a Monday… We’ll see how long that lasts, LOL!

  3. What’s your favorite body lotion at the moment?
  4. I’m fickle when it comes to body lotions and rarely stick with the same one for long, but last week was all about Vaseline Sheer Infusion. Over the weekend I started crushing hard on Olay In-Shower Moisturizer — a *powerful* enabler of laziness (review coming soon!).

  5. Yay or nay for ankle booties?
  6. Yay with skinny jeans or leggings. 🙂

  7. Are you a creative person?
  8. It depends on my general well-being from day to day. On bad days, your average piece of cold, greasy bacon has more imagination than I do.

  9. Eyes/lips/cheeks:
  10. It’s a NARS kinda day. I’m going with the Kalahari Duo (LURVE!) on my eyes, Sweet Revenge Lipgloss on my pucker and the Portofino/Malibu Multiple Duo on my cheeks.

  11. Are there any beauty items on your holiday wish list?
  12. I’m thinking about hand delivering my list to Santa at the mall to make sure he gets it. On the list so far — the NARS I Want You Lip Gloss Set and Chanel Professional Makeup Brush Set.

  13. How did you sleep?
  14. Pretty well, mostly. I’ve had some insomnia lately, but I took a sleeping pill before bed last night :(, and that helped. With the exception of one weird dream (I ran into Roger Sterling from Mad Men at the grocery store), I slept soundly through the night.

  15. What are your plans for the upcoming holidays?
  16. Home to visit our family in Hawaii, but I’ll be back in the Bay by New Year’s Eve. On that note, does anyone know much about pet sitting services? Any things to know before I look around? King Tubby Tabs will need an assistant while I’m out of the office.

  17. Outfit:
  18. Stretchy dark jeans with a black t-shirt and brown sweater.

  19. Weekly goals:
  20. Get a small Christmas tree, go running at least three times before Saturday, and find a kitty sitter/executive assistant for Tabs.

It’s hard getting back to the grind after a long weekend, isn’t it? I’m determined to make this a good day, though.

I was chatting with a friend last night about ruts and routine tasks, and how they tend to overtake life. It’s not always easy to see the forest through the trees… I told myself that today, if I start feeling overwhelmed, I’m gonna take a step back and remind myself to keep everything in perspective. 🙂

If you have a sec, pop in and let me know what’s shaking in your land of milk and honey. Just copy the list below, and paste it with your answers in the comments.

Le list

1. Mood:
2. What’s your favorite body lotion at the moment?
3. Yay or nay for ankle booties?
4. Are you a creative person?
5. Eyes/lips/cheeks:
6. Any beauty items on your wish list?
7. How did you sleep?
8. What are your plans for the holidays?
9. Outfit:
10. Weekly goals:

Do you believe there’s power in positive thinking? I think there is, and I’m positive we’re going to have a great week (assuming we make it through Monday, ha!). 🙂

Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,

Karen

There are 98 comments on this post. Leave yours.

Categories: Just For Fun

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Welcome to Makeup and Beauty Blog! My name is Karen, and I’m a freelance writer obsessed with makeup.

Makeup and Beauty Blog features daily product reviews, makeup tips and beauty news — like an interactive version of a monthly print magazine, except with occasional pictures of my cat.

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