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Just For Fun

How Often Do You Get Your Hair Cut?

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karen-new-hair

I must confess, I don’t do it as regularly as I should. I finally got it cut yesterday (see above!) for the first time since last June. YIKES! I blame it on laziness and the fact that it’s long, which means I can let it get scraggly without it bothering me too much. Now that I have bangs, though, I have to get better about scheduling regular trims.

How often do you cut your hair? Do you go in for regularly scheduled cuts or whenever it strikes your fancy?

Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,

Karen

P.S. That’s Prescriptives Guava Lipgloss and Papaya Lipcolor on my lips!

What’s Your Favorite High Gloss Mascara?

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whats your favorite glossy mascara

Can I get a show of hands from the mascara-obsessed girls out there?

(raises hand)

Yep, few things in life bring me as much joy as a true black mascara. 🙂

MBB reader Hafsa is looking for mascara recommendations, and I’m hoping we can help her out.

Hi Karen,

I’m an avid reader of your blog and love your reviews. I read your review a while back about Lancome’s Definicils, and I couldn’t agree more — love the gloss, hate the clump.

So that brings me to my question: is there a similar product, either Lancome or another company, that gives that high gloss finish but isn’t clumping? For reference, I have pretty long lashes, so clumping happens pretty easily. 🙂 Thank you so much. Any advice is appreciated!

What’s up, Hafsa! One of my favorite high gloss mascaras is fairly new. It’s by Clinique and was released this spring. It’s called High Impact Curling Mascara ($14).

It does EVERYTHING — separates, thickens and lengthens — all while delivering loads of rich, glossy color (without the clumping). All that, and it holds a curl like a mo’ fo’!

Gloss is one of the things I look for in a mascara, and High Impact Curling mascara coats lashes with a shiny, almost wet finish. I’ve been using it a ton for the past few months and like it a lot.

You might also try Elizabeth Arden Ceramide Mascara ($20) and Tarte Lights, Camera Lashes ($18). I like both of them, too.

And if you’re looking for a high gloss waterproof mascara, check out Stila Lash Visor ($12.50). I must sound like a broken record recommending it all the time, but I think it’s a fabulous mascara for the price.

Girls, do you have any glossy lash love suggestions for Hafsa? Please share your ideas in the comments.

Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,

Karen

Comment to Win Covergirl

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This giveaway is closed, and the winner will be announced soon. Thanks for entering!

makeup-and-beauty-blog-covergirl-giveaway

Back when I was in high school about a billion years ago, one of the things I loved to do after school was hit up the drugstore with my friends to grab an ice cream cone and to check out the beauty aisle.

This afternoon, I thought it might be fun if we all did something similar together (without the ice cream, unfortch), by holding a virtual drugstore makeup party from our respective corners of the world.

And instead of ice cream, the tasty treat will be a giveaway with a chance to win some makeup from Covergirl!

The prize

One lucky lady will win a prize package containing four items from the Covergirl makeup line:

covergirl-blazing-blues

covergirl-firecracker

covergirl-golden-sunrise

covergirl-tru-blend-brush

How to enter…

There are a couple ways to enter the giveaway, and you can do both of them for two chances to win.

First, enter by leaving a comment at the bottom of this post. In it, tell me your favorite flavor of ice cream, the one you’d get at the drugstore. 🙂

Rocky road ice cream rawks!I’ll take a single scoop of rocky road in a sugar cone, please!

Second, you can enter by subscribing to my updates by email (if you haven’t already). They’re once-a-day emails with my daily posts. You’ll get makeup collection info, beauty news and random acts of weirdness, yea!
(Note: if you’re already subscribed, you’re automatically entered to win.)

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. Sign up for my updates by email if you haven’t already. Just enter your email address using the form below, or click this link.

Enter your email address:

I’ll pick the winner at random from among the people who enter by 11:59PM PST Friday night.

Lycka till (that’s “good luck” in Swedish, holla)!

Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,

Karen

P.S. Congrats to Gina and Basak for winning the MAC Dazzleglass and Physicians Formula Giveaways!

This giveaway is closed, and the winner will be announced soon. Thanks for entering!

Jennifer Garner: Her Best Hair?

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jennifer garner hair poll

Anyone else planning to watch Jennifer Garner’s new movie, Ghosts of Girlfriends Past (with Matthew McConaughey)? It comes out this weekend.

I know she probably won’t do any butt-kicking in the movie like she did as CIA agent Sydney Bristow in Alias, but I wish she would. Homegirl’s beat downs were freaking inspiring. That show had some *fab* fight choreography.

Born April 17, 1972 in Houston, Texas, Jennifer Anne Garner majored in chemistry before changing to drama. Maybe that’s why she lit up the screen with Michael Vartan in Alias.

Now she’s got a long list of film credits, including a couple with hubby Ben Affleck (Daredevil and Pearl Harbor).

With the exception of the crazy wigs she wore in Alias, she’ll usually stick to classic, feminine hairstyles, but she’ll still cut loose from time to time.

Which of Jennifer's hairstyles do you like best?

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Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,

Karen

Makeup and Beauty Blog Monday Poll, April 27

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  1. Mood:

    2. Hopeful and optimistic. Yes, I have a million things on my to-do list, but I swear I *will* be organized and meet all of my writing deadlines.

  2. _____ makes me happy:

    3. Tabs makes me happy.

  3. _____ makes me b*tchy:

    4. Having to rush through tasks makes me b*tchy.

  4. Makeup or beauty confession:

    5. I can’t remember the last time I got a haircut, and my hair has pushed me to the brink of critical mass. My mane is always unruly, but now a sprinkling of white hair has appeared at the roots. So not cute…

  5. Book I’m reading:

    6. Painless Grammar, by Rebecca Elliott

  6. Three ways to learn from my mistakes:

    7. Put sunscreen on your feet, brush your chompers with ADA approved toothpaste, and speak your mind because people aren’t mind readers (I’m still working on this one).

  7. Three makeup products I can’t live without:

    8. Laura Mercier Oil-Free Tinted Moisturizer, Stila Sun SPF 15 Bronzer, MAC Lychee Luxe Lipglass

  8. Eyes/lips/cheeks:

    9. I’m wearing a bunch of stuff from the Smashbox Untamed Summer 2009 collection, like Waterproof Shadow Liner Trio in Exotic ($29) and the Double-Ended Eye Brightener ($22) on my eyes, Creamy Cheek Color in Untamed ($24) on my cheeks and a mix of the Raw and Flesh Lip Glosses on my lips ($18 each). Yep, expect reviews of these soon.

  9. Outfit:

    10. Dark skinny jeans, a green, floral Hawaiian print button-up shirt and yellow sandals

  10. Weekly goals:

    11. Same as usual… Organize all of the crap that’s piled up around my desk, because if I don’t, it just might bury me alive. Also, I have to start flossing my teeth after every meal and getting better about doing my core exercises.

Hiya, homies. It’s mornin’ time here in Nor Cal and looks like it’s going to be a nice and sunny day.

I hope I get everything off my plate today. My plan is to abide by this quote from my man Hugh Jackman: “You just have to stay positive, because if you worry too much about things, madness lies therein.”

Sage advice, right?

Let me know what’s going on with you. If you haven’t done the Monday Poll before, it’s easy and just takes a minute. All you do is copy the following list and paste it with your answers in the comments. 🙂

Le list

Mood:
_____ makes me happy:
_____ makes me b*tchy:
Makeup or beauty confession:
Book I’m reading:
Three ways to learn from my mistakes:
Three makeup products I can’t live without:
Eyes/lips/cheeks:
Outfit:
Weekly goals:

Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,

Karen

P.S. Those of you who’ve emailed about guest blogging, THANK YOU SO MUCH! I’ve received your messages and will touch base with you about them as soon as I can. You rock!

Sundays with Tabs the Cat, Makeup and Beauty Blog Mascot, Apr. 26

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Is cute packaging enough?

Who am I kidding? Sometimes, all it takes is cute packaging to trigger my makeup desire mechanism, ha! Matter of fact, there were things in MAC’s Hello Kitty collection that I *almost* bought simply because of the packaging, even though I didn’t really care for the products themselves.

I passed because of the cost, but drugstore beauty products — that’s a different story. When something only costs a couple bucks, sometimes I’ll buy for no better reason than the packaging.

What do you think? Is cute packaging reason enough to buy makeup and beauty products?

Do you ever buy makeup strictly because of the packaging?

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Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,

Karen

Guest Bloggers Wanted

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Guest bloggers wanted

El Hub and I are taking a trip out to Hawaii next month (May 15-25) to visit our family. I’m not sure if you recall, but El Hub’s mother was diagnosed with breast cancer last fall, right around the time of Breast Cancer Awareness Month.

I haven’t openly discussed it since mentioning the diagnosis the first time because I haven’t known what to say…

Positive energy

I always knew your thoughts and prayers were with us (and thank you), but I just set my heart and mind on maintaining a positive attitude on the blog here because I felt I needed to focus on something good.

But it feels like time for an update, and I have excellent news. 🙂

After twin mastectomies (staggered, each one at different times) and three months of brutal chemo therapy, Mom has been issued a clean bill of health.

It looks like she’s going to be alright. 🙂

Which brings me back to the purpose of this post. I could really use your help while I’m away, and there may be a way in it for you to have some fun.

Guest bloggers wanted

Because I may not have time to post three times/day while we’re there, I’m looking for guest bloggers to do product reviews, product shootouts (comparisons, i.e. Stila Lash Visor vs. MAC Splashproof mascara), makeup looks, tutorials, how tos/tips articles or videos to appear on the blog.

Now for the big question…

Why would you want to guest blog?

  1. Because you’d be doing me a favor. I’ll feel better knowing that the blog is in good hands and that interesting posts are going up on a regular basis if I end up being unable to post as much as I usually do.
  2. It’s FREE advertising. If you have a blog, other website or a business you’d like to promote, you’re looking for ways to get yourself out there. Guest blogging can really help, especially if you’re just starting out. Get yourself out there in front of another 7,000-8,000 readers/day, and definitely feel free to include links back to your own site!
  3. Try before you buy. Have you thought about starting a blog but weren’t sure if you had anything worthwhile to say? LOL! Story of my life. Try a guest entry here (I won’t bite!) to see if it’s something you might like to do long term with a blog of your own.
Some ideas to jumpstart the creative process

10 Ways to Wear Red: Looks to Wear with Red Lipstick or Gloss
Why You Should Skip MAC A Rose Romance
My Favorite Makeup Brushes and Why I Heart Them
Improv Beauty: Getting By Without Your Makeup Case
Feeling Blue: A Face of the Day
China Glaze Neon Collection Nail Polish Review
5 Lip Looks for Date Night
My Take on a Classic Smokey Eye

Shoot me an email

MeIf you’re interested, shoot me an email at karen@makeupandbeautyblog.com (or use my contact form) with an overview of your idea. We’ll brainstorm.

No, it does NOT have to be some hugely involved, time-consuming project (seriously, I know you’re busy too). Even just a single product review of something you got from Sephora last week and liked more than you thought you would. All I ask is that it be original and not something you’ve already published someplace else.

Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,

Karen

P.S. I am ALWAYS looking for guest bloggers, not just for my trip next month, so contact me if it sounds like something you’d like to try.
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P.P.S. Every so often, I’ll choose a random guest blogger to feature with a custom illustration up in the header of the blog. You know how much I like Photoshop, right? Picture your name in lights, LOL! If you’re looking for attention for your blog or website, the header gets 18,000-20,000 pageviews/day.

Saturday Tomfoolery (Plus a Bit O’ Beauty)

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Heya, girls. Sorry for not popping by sooner, but I needed a lil’ break from the computer today.

How’s it going? What’s new in your neck of the woods?

My dinner date with J-Money and C-Money (old friends from elementary school) last night was a lot of fun.

rumblefish

We had sushi at this place called Rumblefish in SF.

The sushi was frickin’ fastastic and literally melted in my mouth. If you’re ever in the neighborhood, you gotta check it out. Kinda pricy at about $30 per person, but if you like sushu, it’s cream of the crop.

bliss-spa

J-Money came armed with gifts! For being bridesmaids at her wedding last November, she gave me and C-Money gift certificates to the Bliss Spa, YES! I can’t wait!

aquis-microfiber-towel

We also got these cool Aquis Hair Towels from H2O+, which are these magical towels able to absorb way more water than regular shower towels. I’m serious. They’re like the Bounty of the shower towel world…

cacharel-minis

…and a snazzy gift set of mini-Cacharel perfumes — Anais Anais, Promesse, Amor Amor, LouLou and Noa. She got them while in Paris on business last month (how fancy!) Cute, huh?

So how was your day? Mine was filled with high-intensity lethargy and synergistic nothingness, LOL!

I did have some ginger pancakes for brunch here in Sausalito and then caught up on US Weekly and Cat Fancy at the bookstore. Yup, can’t say it’s been among my more productive afternoons.

Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,

Karen

P.S. Here’s a random question, but what’s your take on Twitter? I haven’t used it yet because it reminds me of instant messaging, and I don’t think my life is that exciting. Honestly, it’s just barely exciting enough for a blog…

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