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Just For Fun

Makeup and Beauty Blog Monday Poll, Aug. 3

August 3rd, 2009 by Karen 73 Comments

080309-monday-poll-tokidoki

  1. Mood:
  2. A jumble of good things today: focused, cheerful and playful!

  3. What are three of your favorite eyeshadow crease colors?
  4. Oh, there are so many to choose from! MAC Soft Brown will always be my baby. Lately, I’ve also been lovin’ on MAC Patina and Urban Decay Smog from the Ammo Palette.

  5. Do you think men and women can be platonic friends without any weirdness?
  6. Totally. I have a few great guy friends who are like the older brothers I always wished for but never had — NBLACK, Mark S. and Marc K.

  7. What’s the next book you’d like to read?
  8. I just finished the third Sookie Stackhouse book and can’t wait to read the fourth.

  9. Eyes/lips/cheeks:
  10. Nothing yet, but I’m thinking it might be a Bobbi Brown Ivy League kinda day.

  11. Who makes *the best* jeans?
  12. I have to admit I’m asking this question because I need to buy a new pair, LOL! I used to love my Joe’s, but now they fit funky…

  13. What are you looking forward to most this week?
  14. Watching Julie & Julia on Friday. LOVE Meryl Streep!

  15. If you had the chance to go back and re-live your high school years but with all the knowledge you have now, would you?
  16. High school was a time in my life when I felt steady and safe, so it’s definitely tempting. I would miss the freedoms that come with being an adult, though, so probably not.

  17. Outfit:
  18. Pink and black plaid Dickies pants and a black t-shirt.

  19. Weekly goals:
  20. Schedule a lunch with friends, start researching flooring materials (fake wood versus carpet?), set aside time to relax and try a new recipe from the August issue of Real Simple.

Right now I’m sitting at my desk, drinking tea and going over my to-do list for the day. Tabs is on my lap and purring like crazy!

How’s your morning coming along? I always like it when I can ease my way into Mondays.

Let me know how you’re doing. Grab a cup of tea or coffee, copy the empty list below, and paste it with your answers in the comments.

Let’s make this week a good one! *raises mug* 🙂

Le list

1. Mood:
2. Three of your favorite eyeshadow crease colors:
3. Can men and women be platonic friends?
4. The next book you’d like to read:
5. Eyes/lips/cheeks:
6. Who makes *the best* jeans?
7. What are you most looking forward to this week?
8. Would you re-live your high school years?
9. Outfit:
10. Weekly goals:

Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,

Karen

There are 73 comments on this post. Leave yours.

Categories: Just For Fun

Bloggerati Spotlight

August 3rd, 2009 by Karen 8 Comments

The Beauty Bloggerati

    Get a sun-kissed face without the tanners

  • 4-step sun-kissed glow without the use of tanners — A Mom in Red High Heels
  • I can’t wait to try Kiehl’s new Argan Body Lotion — Beauty Blogging Junkie
  • When bags hit the fringe of fashion — The Jet Set Girls
  • Avon’s new $30 anti-aging agent fights wrinkles while you sleep — Makeover Momma
  • 10 things you didn’t know about Khloe Kardashian — Spoiled Pretty
  • What do Magnolia, fresh citrus and Neroli have in common with Chanel? — Makeup Bag
  • Are lips trending vivid red or neutral nude? — Beyond Beauty Basics

Like a sunflower, girls, it’s time for us to rise and shine. 🙂

Hope you had a nice Sunday night. The highlight of mine was watching Jason Stackhouse dig himself in ever deepening holes on the latest episode of True Blood. That poor boy’s not the sharpest tool in the shed.

Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,

Karen

There are 8 comments on this post. Leave yours.

Categories: Just For Fun

What Were Your Best and Worst Beauty Experiences of the Week?

August 2nd, 2009 by Karen 28 Comments

080209-best-and-worst-beauty-experiences

MY BEST: I liked the way my eye makeup turned out yesterday, not that I did anything special with it on. I wore the MAC Mineralize Eye Shadow in Assemblage ($20) quad from the Colour Craft collection. I think the taupe shade’s to die for, but all four colors work together surprisingly well. I wore them with MAC Fluidline in Blacktrack ($15), and I kinda think my eyes looked bangin’. 🙂

MY WORST: Wearing Illamasqua Volume Mascara ($23). So no cute. I love Illamasqua’s lipsticks and blushes, but the mascara left little black flakes everywhere!

What were your best and worst beauty experiences of the week? Spill the beans in the comments.

Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,

Karen

There are 28 comments on this post. Leave yours.

Categories: Just For Fun

Sundays with Tabs the Cat, Makeup and Beauty Blog Mascot, Aug. 2

August 2nd, 2009 by Karen 9 Comments

That scamp Tabs! He up and went missing again. I got a confusing text on my phone from him this morning that read…

“party ran late, met girl cat, just talked, will be home soon, have gravy ready”

Can you help Tabs find his way home?
Click here to see the solution…

Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,

Karen

There are 9 comments on this post. Leave yours.

Categories: Just For Fun Keywords: tabs

How Do You Get Eyeliner to Stay on Oily Lids?

August 2nd, 2009 by Karen 48 Comments

080109-eyeliner-for-oily-lids

Back in my early twenties my eyelids were super oily; I could’ve fried bacon and eggs with all that grease, yo!

Finding an eyeliner that would stay put was a challenge… Most would wind up smeared under my lower lash line or disappeared completely.

Reader Julie feels my pain!

At the end of the day my eyeliner moves below my lower lash line… I think I might have oily eyelids. Do you have any tips? And can you recommend a few eyeliners for oily lids? Thanks!

Julie

Heya Julie,

Oily lids are such a chore, aren’t they? Not to worry — your days o’ disappearing liner are numbered! Here are (at least) three things that should help that liner stay in place.

Ladies, if you have any other oily eyelid tips or suggestions for Julie, please share them in the comments.

1. Use a makeup primer

My eyelids aren’t as greasy as they once were, but I think they’re still oilier than average. Applying a makeup primer before I line my eyes helps A TON! I really like Urban Decay’s Sin Primer Potion ($17). A thin layer makes eyeliner stick to my lids like glue.

2. Change your routine

Some eyeliners straight-up last longer than others do, so you might want to try a new one. A few I like and use are MAC Fluidline ($15), MAC Liquidlast Liner ($17), Urban Decay 24/7 Glide-On Pencil ($16) and Make Up For Ever Aqua Eyes ($17) (these liners last on the waterline, too).

3. Set your liner with powder

One last thing to try: set your liner with a coordinating powder eyeshadow. I’ll use the MAC 266 Small Angle Brush ($20) or the MAC 239 Eye Shader Brush ($25) to pat the eyeshadow directly on top of my liner. That seems to help lock it in place.

Ugh, oily eyelids!My oily-skinned homegirls, how do you get your eyeliner to play well with your lids? What products do you love (or loathe!), and what are your favorite tips and tricks?

Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,

Karen

There are 48 comments on this post. Leave yours.

Categories: Just For Fun, Makeup, Makeup Tips/How To

Makeup and Beauty Blog Retro Roundup: Saying Bye to July

August 1st, 2009 by Karen 9 Comments

It may still be summer, but at makeup counters everywhere, autumn leaves are starting to fall.

August brings even more fall makeup, and it’s time to say one last goodbye to July. Here were some of my favorite posts of the month. 🙂

  • Urban Decay Fall 2009 Lipstick Swatches and a Helluva Lot of Randomness
    “These aren’t colors I’d wear to Safeway to buy bananas, but they’re still a lot of fun. And should I ever get turned by Vampire Bill (VB!), I could wear Oilslick and Confession all the time.”
  • Lancome Declaring Indigo Fall 2009: Enough to Make My Brown Eyes Blue
    “Virtuose Mascara in Royal Blue ($25) nearly blinded me with bling when I first laid eyes on her. A dark blue mascara with golden glitter, this baby curls, lengthens and defines lashes like nobody’s bidness.”
  • chanel venice swatches reviews rouge allure clandestine

  • The Lovely Chanel Venice Rouge Allure Lipsticks
    “These browns, pinks and plums aren’t terribly extreme or edgy, but they’re pretty and look natural, and to me that adds up to easy-to-wear. :)”
  • Illamasqua Intense Lipgloss in Frenzy: A Pink Pigmentation Bonanza!
    “I love the rich, blinged-out look of this shade, but truth be told it’s hella high maintenance. How high maintenance is it? Frenzy’s like the Kimora Lee Simmons of the lipgloss world!”
  • Urban Decay Face of the Day with Freakshow Deluxe Eyeshadow, Fall 2009
    “Freakshow, a shimmery purple with reddish hints, is one of three Deluxe Eyeshadows from Urban Decay’s fall 2009 collection. I used it and some MAC products for this pink, purple and bronze eye…”
  • I’m Seeing Stars Thanks to MAC Love That Look
    “The uber-frosty Starflash Eye Shadows headline this show, focusing tons of attention on the eyes, BAM! There’s nothing subtle at all about these powder shadows, so be prepared for bling when you wear ’em.”
  • mac-colour-craft-swatches-reviews-made-with-love-madly-creative-lip

  • MAC Gets Crafty with Wearable Colors in the Colour Craft Collection
    “…Colour Craft took me by surprise. The bulk of this humungo 33-piece collection actually consists of — gasp! — wearable shades. MAC gave us a good mix of shimmery neutrals, golds and bronzes along with fun pops of purple, pink, blue and orange thrown in for eyes.”
  • Chanel Venice Collection Eye Gloss Turns Up the Intensity
    “When layered beneath powder eyeshadows, most cream shadows bump up the intensity of a powder shadow by maybe 50%. The Eye Glosses, however, increase the richness of colors by 2-3 times (100-150%!).”
  • Illamasqua Cream Blusher Stays On Like Donkey Kong
    “Even in hella hot weather, Rude doesn’t fade. Where other cream blushes have melted away, like when I’m covered in sweat, pulling a Whitney circa the Bobby Brown years, Illamasqua Cream Blusher’s still going strong.”

Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,

Karen

There are 9 comments on this post. Leave yours.

Categories: Just For Fun

What’s Your Favorite Gel Eyeliner?

July 31st, 2009 by Karen 40 Comments

073109-gel-liner-is-yo-friend

I’m convinced that swatching before bed brings on makeup dreams.

Last night while watching So You Think You Can Dance (OMG, Ade and Melissa? I’m heartbroken!), I swatched some of the Bobbi Brown Ivy League collection, including the bad-assness that is the Forest Shimmer Ink Gel Eyeliner.

I went to bed after the show finished and had a wonderful dream that I was swimming through a pool filled with pots of gel liner.

I was like a kid playing in one of those vats of plastic balls. 🙂

Then, this morning I read this note from Aline:

Hey Karen!

I recently bought Lancome’s Ink Artliner in Indigo Charm from the Declaring Indigo fall collection based on your review and swatches, but mine seems to be a bit on the dry side — nothing “gel-y” about the texture. Was yours the same way?

Thank you for your time! Looking forward to hearing from you soon!

Aline

Hi Aline,

You must be psychic! I’ve had gel liner on the brain…

To answer your question, I think it’s normal for Lancome’s highly pigmented (with great wear time!) Ink Artliners to feel a little drier than the average gel liner.

MAC Fluidline, Bobbi Brown Long-Wear Gel Eyeliner and the Stila Smudge Pots are a little creamier, and some people feel that makes them easier to apply.

But you may also have received an expired pot. Check for cracks in the surface of the product or if it has shrunken down around the inside edges (a sign of dehydration). If it has, then it may need to be returned.

Your favorite eyeliners?

Aline’s question got me thinking about other gel eyeliners, so I tweeted a question this morning:

Your favorite gel liner?

Here are some of the answers I received:

Favorite gel liners

There were votes for Stila Smudge Pots ($20), MAC Fluidline ($15), Rock & Republic Bound Gel Liner ($24) and Shu Uemura Painting Liner ($24), among others. With each of those, I have to agree. 🙂

How about yours? What’s your favorite gel eyeliner?

Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,

Karen

P.S. I can’t even believe today was Friday… What the heck happened to this week?

There are 40 comments on this post. Leave yours.

Categories: Just For Fun, Makeup, Makeup Tips/How To

Dolce & Gabbana The Make Up: Fall 2009 Romantic Collection

July 31st, 2009 by Karen 19 Comments

dolce gabbana the make up romantic collection fall 2009 top

Cupid must moonlight as a cosmetics company exec because Dolce & Gabbana’s upcoming makeup for fall 2009 has his lovely fingerprints all over it.

The Romantic Collection’s pinks, blues and greens defy the typical autumn ensemble of smokey eyes, rich berries and dark lips, and when I saw these promotional pictures for the first time, I totes thought I was looking at a spring release.

The pinks in the 13-piece collection for eyes, lips and cheeks (available this September) range from subdued to bright and share the spotlight with a mix of other bright shades.

Soft and dreamy

In the look, colorful eyes smolder in silver, hot pink, bright blue and lime above lightly flushed cheeks and neutral, delicate lips.

I get a soft, almost ethereal vibe from the release that reminds me of the MAC A Rose Romance collection last spring.

Off to a promising start

As the face of Dolce & Gabbana The Make Up, actress Scarlett Johansson helped the Italian fashion house expand their portfolio into cosmetics earlier this year.

The luxury line for eyes, lips, face and nails carries prices in the Chanel/Dior range, so expect to pay a pretty penny — if you can find it. For now, the line’s only carried at two US Saks Fifth Avenue stores (New York and Beverly Hills) and saksfifthavenue.com.

What would you get?

If you could choose to take home any four of the following fall products and didn’t have to pay a dime, what would you get? Since it’s Friday, let’s virtual haul, LOL!

Are you ready to do some serious Dolce & Gabbana The Make Up damage?

It’s time for another round of WHAT WOULD YOU GET?

Your mission, should you choose to accept it: Choose any four Dolce & Gabbana The Make Up products from fall 2009, and post your wish list in the comments. 🙂

Eyes

dolce gabbana the make up romantic collection fall 2009 smooth eye colour quad in dazzling 160
Smooth Eye Colour Quad in Dazzling 160, $59 (repromote from earlier this year)

dolce gabbana the make up romantic collection fall 2009 smooth eye colour duo in rose 90
Smooth Eye Colour Duo in Rose 90, $36
[Continue reading…]

There are 19 comments on this post. Leave yours.

Categories: Just For Fun, Makeup Keywords: dolce & gabbana

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