Lips

NARS NARSissist Wanted Power Pack Lip Kit in Cool Nudes: 3 Things to Know

March 13th, 2018 by Karen 10 Comments

nars wanted power pack lip kit cool nudes — $26 for two NARS Powermatte minis

Awww…freak out!

(Le freak, c’est chic!)

FREAK OUT!

If you listen to disco, you know that your booty is guaranteed to start shaking whenever this song plays.

Le Freak, by the way, is also the name of one of the liquid lipsticks in the new $26 NARS NARSissist Wanted Power Pack Lip Kit in Cool Nude, which is coming exclusively to Ulta very soon — March 18th!

nars le freak lip swatch — Le Freak, a matte pale pink

Cool Nudes is one of three new liquid lip kits from NARS, and each comes with two cute Powermatte Pigment minis. One of the shades is a re-promoted shade from the permanent line (American Woman), and the other, Le Freak, is a new limited edition pale pink.

nars le freak american woman swatches — Le Freak (a new LE shade) and American Woman (a re-promoted shade from the permanent collection)

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MAC Padma Lakshmi Collection: 5 Things to Know About the Lipsticks and Cremesheen Glass

March 12th, 2018 by Karen 23 Comments

mac padma lakshmi collection lipsticks — MAC Padma Lakshmi collection Lipsticks from the left: Susnet Rose, Apricot Gold, Nude Fudge, Mittain Pink, Blue Blood and Sumac, $17.50 each

“Tabs…YOU ARE TOP CHEF!”

LOL! Wouldn’t that be a hoot? — Padma Lakshmi congratulating Tabs on his award-winning final meal on Top Chef.

I mean, even considering that he’s a cat, chances are Tabs would win Top Chef before I did because I don’t have that special something. Sure, I can follow a recipe, but I’m no wonder in the kitchen.

I do, however, have strong opinions on ? lipstick. ? If that counts for anything.

Regardless…

1. There’s a lotta lipstick in the MAC Padma Lakshmi collection!

The 17-piece release, which is coming to MAC counters Thursday, March 15th, has been released early online. It includes six lipsticks ($17.50 each) and a Cremesheen Glass ($21, which is an online exclusive). Four of the lippies are MAC Mattes, one is an Amplified, and one is a Cremesheen. Oh, and the Cremesheen Glass is glossy, of course.

2. The nude lipsticks are a go, ESPECIALLY for tan temptresses and darker divas.

If you have a toasty tan, you know how some nude lipsticks can be, right? Particularly pale pink and pale beige lipsticks? How some will wash you out? Well, I think you’ll have better luck with Padma’s lipsticks. The nudes in this launch are rooted in peach and brown, and they’re deeper than usual for pastel nude lipsticks. They’re generally very pigmented and overall brown-girl friendly.

mac sunset rose lipstick — Cremesheen Lipstick in Sunset Rose, a creamy brown with pearl

mac apricot gold lipstick — Amplified Lipstick in Apricot Gold, a mid-tone peachy nude

mac nude fudge lipstick — Matte Lipstick in Nude Fudge, a mid-tone neutral

If you’ve ever found yourself wondering why pale pink or beige nude lipsticks look wonky or weird on you, check out Padma’s collection if you can, because the nudes should work well with most darker skin tones.

My favorites of the six lipsticks are Sunset Rose and Nude Fudge. Mid-toned peachy brown Sunset Rose has a ’90s feel to it, but if you don’t like the brown matte look, you can always slick a little gloss on top.

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More From the Chanel Spring-Summer 2018 Collection: 824 Verderame, 66 L’Indomabile, 794 Poppea, 792 Aphrodite and 50 Nero Metallo

March 2nd, 2018 by Karen 20 Comments

chanel spring summer 2018 k — More from the Chanel Spring-Summer 2018 collection

Viva l’Italia! Anybody wanna go to Naples? This afternoon…? We can tell our families that Lucia Pica and Chanel made us do it. I can pack a bag and be ready to go in an hour…

YEAH, RIGHT! Who am I kidding? You know it would take me at least a half a day to pack my makeup.

OK, maybe a full day. ?

Lucia is shaking things up at Chanel with all kinds of color, and her latest collection, Spring-Summer 2018, is a shout-out to her hometown of Naples, Italy.

If Naples looks anything like the blues, greens, reds and yellows in this launch, I could easily fall in love with it. So let’s go, yeah? If you know a good travel agent, call her and get the hookup! Girls trip, April 2018! ?✈️?

chanel l indomabile — Red and green! That’s Rouge Allure Velvet in 66 L’Indomabile on my lips and Ombre Premiere Longwear Cream Eyeshadow in 824 Verderame on my lids.

OK, back to reality…

Spring-Summer 2018 is a pretty big launch, and so far I know I like the eyeshadow palette and the green liner.

Here are some quick thoughts on the other pieces I’ve tried (some which I like more than others).

chanel spring summer 2018 swatches — 824 Verderame, 66 L’Indomabile, 794 Poppea, 792 Aphrodite, 50 Nero Metallo

Ombre Premiere Longwear Cream Eyeshadow in 824 Verderame ($36, limited edition)

824 Verderame reminds me of a metallic cream version of MAC Club eyeshadow, but without the brown, and I love it with a matte brown in the crease, and either a charcoal or dark green liner on the water lines. It’s pigmented and GORGEOUS. It also dries in less than 30 seconds, so don’t dilly-dally! — or you’ll end up with harsh edges (a lesson I learned the hard way). Keep the small white brush that comes with the pot, too, because it’s surprisingly great and easy to use. The bristles deposit lots of color.

chanel 824 verderame — Ombre Premiere Longwear Cream Eyeshadow in 824 Verderame

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The Kevyn Aucoin Prismatic Highlighting Trio

February 28th, 2018 by Karen 5 Comments

Holla! Or rather, holographic. Or prismatic. Or prismagic.

WOW! These highlighters are chunky, but more on that in a sec… I was actually drawn in by the packaging at first. The Kevyn Aucoin Prismatic Highlighting Trio ($48) looks like Hollywood movie magic. It shifts colors at different angles, going from yellow to blue to orange to purple, and sometimes all of them at the same time, which is cool, but also CRAZY.

It’s also quite representative of what’s inside.

There are three glittery highlighters, and they don’t look like much in their pans. On skin, though, we’re talking unicorn-level glitter and shine, and the flecks of green, blue and orange glitter are BIG and flashy — so not at all what I’ve come to expect from Kevyn Aucoin.

I mean, the shadows feel fab. They’re almost creamy-caliber bouncy and soft, so they’re easy to pick up with a finger or a brush. They’re a lot like the awesome metallics Urban Decay did in the Heavy Metals Metallic Eyeshadow Palette from the Holiday 2017 collection, but with much larger bits of glitter.

kevyn aucoin prismatic — Wearing Illusion on my lids (see how it ended up in my lashes?)

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Try This Fab Nude Lip Combo: MAC Velvet Teddy Lipstick and Fenty Beauty Gloss Bomb

February 27th, 2018 by Karen 18 Comments

mac velvet teddy fenty gloss bomb — I love this combo!

I don’t like to say “you need,” as in “You need to try this,” but YOU NEED TO TRY THIS NUDE LIP COMBO IF YOU HAVEN’T ALREADY. 🙂 I think it’s that fab. It’s MAC Velvet Teddy Lipstick and Fenty Beauty Gloss Bomb.

So. Good.

I was playing with some nudes the other day (um…I swear, that didn’t sound dirty when I said it in my head) when I randomly stumbled upon it, and now I’m in lurve.

It’s kinda beige-y and peachy, with the faintest essence of a golden tint, and it looks clutch-your-pearls amazing with warm orange browns and reddish brown eyeshadows.

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The New NUDESTIX Love Me Nudes (Natural Edition) Lip + Cheek Kit

February 22nd, 2018 by Karen 11 Comments

nudestix love me nudes ALLY — New fave nude lip: Ally from the NUDESTIX Love Me Nudes (Natural Edition) Lip + Cheek Kit

Seeing as how I’ve been wearing this nude pencil (Ally) on my lips almost daily since 14 Days of Ravishing Red ended, the time has come to give it a proper shout-out.

Meet Ally, one of six shades in the new NUDESTIX Love Me Nudes: The Natural Edition lip and cheek kit, which itself is one of two $59 LE Love Me Nudes kits. One is filled with bolder colors than the other. The Natural Edition is the slightly lighter pink, peach, rose version.

nudestix love me nudes swatches — Mystic, Rose, Retro, Purity, Tay Tay and Ally

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Maybelline’s Spectacular SuperStay Matte Ink Liquid Lipstick

February 20th, 2018 by Karen 44 Comments

maybelline superstay matte ink liquid lipstick — Maybelline SuperStay Matte Ink Liquid Lipstick ($7.89 each at Target)

Drugstore, baby. $10, baby. Actually, $5 if you do the BOGO 50% off at Ulta right now.

WHAT?!

I know.

Yeah, these are SO GOOD. Maybelline calls them their “un-nudes,” because one woman’s nude is another woman’s nightmare. Not everybody can wear beige nude lipstick, but these are a different spin on standard nudes. Some have pink, or mauve, red, brown, gray (!) or even purple undertones. But they’re still effectively nudes.

My favorite colors are mauve-nude Seductress and Ruler, which is a rad reddish nude (it’s an easy way to get into red if you aren’t used to seeing yourself in red now).

maybelline seductress — Seductress, a mauve nude

maybelline ruler — Ruler, a deep reddish nude

maybelline poet — Poet, a baby pink nude

Some of the colors are CRAZY. Like, the grays and purples? Hello, cartoon-y. They really aren’t my thing, but if you have the hair, the clothes, the chutzpah, gray can look amazing.

maybelline visionary — Visionary, a lavender gray nude

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The MAC Jeremy Scott Lip X 9 Future Emotions Is Made for Mixing

February 15th, 2018 by Karen 5 Comments

mac jeremy scott lip 9 x future emotions happy song living in stereo — Wearing Happy Song and Living in Stereo, two lipsticks from the new MAC Jeremy Scott collection, mixed together.

Seriously, this packaging is amazing! All of the details are completely there. THIS IS A LIP PALETTE, PEOPLE. But it totally looks like a mix tape. I can see it sitting on the floor of my little red Honda Civic back in the day. (Side note: it would have been filled with songs that I recorded off the radio on KMEL.)

This is NOT a MAC mix tape, obvs. It’s the $25 MAC Lip X 9 Future Emotions lip palette, and it has nine of MAC’s non-shiny lipsticks inside, so Matte, Amplified and Satin finishes in bright and deep shades like pink, purple, orange — the bold route. There’s only one nude, and everything else is like BAM!

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