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Lips

Marc Jacobs Kiss Pop in Wham: Silver Space Pencil or Matte Coral Lipstick?

August 6th, 2014 by Karen 9 Comments

Marc Jacobs Kiss Pop in Wham
Wearing Marc Jacobs Beauty Kiss Pop in Wham ($28)

El Hub saw this packaging on my desk and started pawing at it like a monkey from Planet of the Apes. I had to explain to him that the tip of the crayon was fake, as in not real.

“Tip crayon. Not real. Ooh-ooh-eee-eee-eee!”

Wham, a matte coral, is one of nine Marc Jacobs Beauty Kiss Pop colors, and like the others, the color of the tube’s tip matches the color of the lipstick inside.

I was hoping these lipsticks would be more like the NARS Satin Lip Pencils, but they’re heavier, almost waxy. They don’t have that same sort of slip and glide, and the unscented/unflavored formula feels thicker than I thought it would be.

It’s also smoother than I expected and not as drying. In the comments when I mentioned these last week, a few gals said they had problems with patchiness and uneven application. So far, so good, though, for me. I wouldn’t call it perfect, because Wham does settle into my lip lines, but if I run my finger across my lips to pat it down, it’s tolerable.

Marc Jacobs Kiss Pop in Wham
Wham with a MAC Lipstick for scale

[Continue reading…]

There are 9 comments on this post. Leave yours.

Categories: Lips, Makeup, Marc Jacobs, Product Reviews

A Novel Way To View Fall Lip Color: The Five New MAC A Novel Romance Lipglasses Skip Fall and Fast-Forward to Late Winter

August 4th, 2014 by Karen 12 Comments

MAC Lipglass in Talk Sexy, a dark purple
Hey, baby, it’s dark purple MAC Lipglass in Talk Sexy

Winter is coming… Looking at the Lipglasses in MAC’s new A Novel Romance collection, I can almost feel the socks on my feet (toe oppression!), the leopard-print cat lady gloves on my hands, the chill in the air and the extra 10 pounds of holiday chocolate in my belly. These colors sure don’t seem like typical fall colors.

No wines, reds or berries here. Instead, they remind me of colors we’d see in an early winter collection released after the holidays.

Yeah, as in January.

MAC Lipglasses in Bared for You, Reckless Desires, Pure Fiction, Wanting More and Talk Sexy
Lipglasses in Bared for You, Reckless Desires, Pure Fiction, Wanting More and Talk Sexy

Perhaps MAC is playing with the notion of novel and looking at it as something other than a book. Like something new, a new way to think about fall lip colors.

These five new limited edition Lipglasses ($15 U.S., $18 CDN each) have the same super sticky texture, vanilla flavor and scent, and 3-5 hour wear time I’ve come to expect from MAC Lipglasses.

Three of the five are different takes on pale lavender, but don’t be scared! Surprisingly, they’re very flattering and wearable. They almost function as nude neutrals, and all three should look great with any of the collection’s three quads, particularly when worn with intense smokey eye looks.

MAC Lipglass in Wanting More
Lipglass in Wanting More
MAC Lipglass in Wanting More, a washed-out lavender
Lipglass in Wanting More, a washed-out lavender
MAC Lipglass in Pure Fiction
Lipglass in Pure Fiction
MAC Lipglass in Pure Fiction, a mid-tone violet pink
Lipglass in Pure Fiction, a mid-tone violet pink

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There are 12 comments on this post. Leave yours.

Categories: Lips, MAC Makeup, Makeup, Product Reviews

For Lips So Shiny the Sun Would Envy: Tarte LipSurgence Lip Gloss in Envy

August 1st, 2014 by Karen 4 Comments

Tarte LipSurgence Lip Gloss in Envy

Step away from the lip pencil!

Don’t worry. You’re not gonna need it with new Tarte LipSurgence Lip Gloss in Envy ($19), even though I thought I would when I saw the tube.

Turns out I didn’t.

Tarte Envy LipSurgence Lip Gloss (5)

Mauve-ish berry Envy, a limited edition gloss in Tarte’s 2014 fall collection and the latest gal to join Team Tarte LipSurgence, is filled to the brim with antioxidants and moisturizing ingredients, and it’s supposed to push your fine lip lines and wrinkles out of the picture.

The color looks much deeper and more intense in the tube than it does on my lips, where it applies quite sheer.

Tarte Envy LipSurgence Lip Gloss (7)

Actually, all of the LipSurgence Glosses are like that. Natural-looking lip color is the name of their game. Tarte purposefully dialed back the pigment to make sure that some of your natural lip luster peeks through.

Tarte Envy LipSurgence Lip Gloss (2)

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There are 4 comments on this post. Leave yours.

Categories: Lips, Makeup, Product Reviews, Tarte

The MAC A Novel Romance Collection Lipsticks: Yield to Love, Good Kisser!

July 31st, 2014 by Karen 23 Comments

MAC Lustre Lipstick in Myself, a soft shimmery nude beige
MAC Lustre Lipstick in Myself, a soft, shimmery nude beige

I’m kinda getting into this whole romance novel thing (maybe I’ll actually read the one I got the other day!), like, by lustily posing for pics and tussling my hair.

My pout likes it, too. It got to try the six lipsticks from the MAC A Novel Romance collection yesterday.

The four pink and rose shades, which look like something you might find in a MAC late winter/early spring launch (see: MAC A Rose Romance… So old school!), and two deeper, more traditional fall matte shades in plum and deep red, almost seem like they belong in different collections.

My first impression? They seemed worlds apart, like the protagonists in an epic love story.

Of course, one of them has to be from the wrong side of the tracks, and their relationship is forbidden (it always has to be forbidden), and just when it seems like they’ll never be together, BAM! — somehow things work out.

MAC Lustre Lipstick in Myself, Cremesheen Lipstick in A Novel Romance, Matte Lipstick in Good Kisser, Matte Lipstick in Hearts Aflame, Matte Lipstick in Lingering Kiss and Cremeshee Lipstick Yield to Love (online exclusive)
From the left, that’s Lustre Lipstick in Myself, Cremesheen Lipstick in A Novel Romance, Matte Lipstick in Good Kisser, Matte Lipstick in Hearts Aflame, Matte Lipstick in Lingering Kiss and Cremesheen Lipstick Yield to Love (the one online exclusive).

Like our intrepid lovers, something also brings these six lipsticks together, and that something is the quads.

Seriously, it’s actually kind of neat. I feel like you can wear any of the lipsticks from this collection with any of quads, and they’ll look great. They mix and match perfectly.

You already heard how I want to ride off into the sunset on a chestnut-colored mare with the rosy shade, Yield to Love, and the bright pink shade, Good Kisser, so let’s move on to the other characters in our story… 🙂

MAC Cremesheen Lipstick Yield to Love (online exclusive)
MAC Cremesheen Lipstick in Yield to Love (the online exclusive)
MAC Cremesheen Lipstick Yield to Love (online exclusive), a mid-tone rose
Cremesheen Lipstick in Yield to Love (the online exclusive), a mid-tone rose
MAC Matte Lipstick in Good Kisser
Matte Lipstick in Good Kisser
MAC Matte Lipstick in Good Kisser, a mid-tone fuchsia
Matte Lipstick in Good Kisser, a mid-tone fuchsia

Hearts Aflame and Lingering Kiss are the two rather traditional fall shades. Technically, both have a matte finish, but they don’t look flat, at least to my eye. I see them as flirty with a kiss of shine that makes them interesting and gives them dimension.

MAC Matte Lipstick in Hearts Aflame, a mid-tone brick red
Matte Lipstick in Hearts Aflame, a mid-tone brick red

[Continue reading…]

There are 23 comments on this post. Leave yours.

Categories: Lips, MAC Makeup, Makeup, Product Reviews

Honey, Let Your Lips Do the Popping With the Pigmented Marc Jacobs Beauty Kiss Pop Lip Color Sticks

July 30th, 2014 by Karen 10 Comments

Marc Jacobs Kiss Pop Color Sticks
The Marc Jacobs Kiss Pop Lip Color Sticks, $28 each

Well I’ll be a tabby’s uncle… Chrome crayons.

Why didn’t I think of that!?

Seeing these Marc Jacobs Beauty Kiss Pop Lip Color Sticks ($28 each), it’s as if my Terminator-lovin’ makeup dreams have come true.

If Skynet ever asks to use my likeness for a fashionable T-1001 model, you better believe robot Karen will have at least one of these on her person-like chassis at all times.

Marc Jacobs Kiss Pop Lip Color Stick (2)

How awesome are these?? See the colorful tips? Each ones goes with its respective lip color.

Marc Jacobs Kiss Pop Lip Color Stick (3)

Essentially, these Kiss Pop Color Sticks are long-wearing lipsticks with a pencil tip. New to the Marc Jacobs Beauty permanent line, they’re $28 each.

Marc Jacobs Kiss Pop Lip Color Stick (4)

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There are 10 comments on this post. Leave yours.

Categories: Lips, Makeup, Marc Jacobs

Experience Unknown Pleasures (Like Whiter Teeth) When You Wear the New Fall/Winter 2014 Lip Tars From Obsessive Compulsive Cosmetics

July 28th, 2014 by Karen 36 Comments

OCC Lip Tar in Vain
OCC Lip Tar in Vain ($18)

Through some weird illusionary makeup magic/trick of light, blue lip products are supposed to make your teeth look whiter, but I dunno… Do my teeth look whiter in these pics? I’m wearing OCC’s new Lip Tar in Vain.

I seriously cannot tell; all I see are those blue lips.

They’re just so…blue.

OCC Lip Tar in Vain
Wait — I can’t tell. Can you see my teeth in this pic?? 🙂

OCC explores the boundaries between light and shadow in their fall/winter 2014 Unknown Pleasures collection. Vain is one of the six new $18 Lip Tars in the release.

OCC Unknown Pleasures Collection Lip Tars f rom the left: Covet, Lament, Manhunger, Technopagan, Vain and Pagan
OCC Unknown Pleasures Collection Lip Tars from the left in Covet, Lament, Manhunter, Technopagan, Vain and Pagan

Most of the time when liquid lipsticks dry down, they form an impermeable film on my lips, which is usually long-wearing (yay!), but also very drying (boo!).

Unlike run-of-the-mill liquid lipsticks, which tend to bleed my lips of every milliliter of moisture like Edward Cullen on a bender, the Lip Tars stay wet from start to finish, so they don’t form a drying film.

But the wet texture also leads these to scoot beyond my natural lip line, so it helps to be mindful of rubbing your lips together, especially with the darker shades.

OCC Lip Tar in Covet
Lip Tar in Covet
OCC Lip Tar in Lament
Lip Tar in Lament
OCC Lip Tar in Technopagan
Lip Tar in Technopagan

[Continue reading…]

There are 36 comments on this post. Leave yours.

Categories: Collections, Lips, Makeup, Obsessive Compulsive Cosmetics, Product Reviews

The New Bobbi Brown Surf & Sand Sheer Lip Colors, and Other Current Summer Obsessions…

July 8th, 2014 by Karen 12 Comments

Bobbi Brown 21 Pink Taffy
The new limited edition Bobbi Brown Sheer Lip Color in 21 Pink Taffy (one of my current summer obsessions), from the Surf & Sand summer collection

Just a few of the things I’m currently obsessing over/lusting after…

1. This straw fedora

Bustin’ my JT moves…

Even though I firmly believe that Justin Timberlake should be the only person wearing a fedora, I can’t quit this hat. I got it at Target a couple years ago for a trip to Kauai, but since then it has become one of my summer staples.

2. Three Twins ice cream

I will happily blow my daily calories on this ice cream.

It’s just so flavorful and rich and dense… I could seriously eat this stuff every day.

Mmm…lemon cookie.

3. Bobbi Brown’s new Sheer Lip Colors from the Surf & Sand collection

Bobbi Brown Sheer Lip Color in 18 Sunlit Pink
Bobbi Brown Bobbi Brown Sheer Lip Color in 18 Sunlit Pink, a mid-toned bronze

Sometimes you feel like opaque lips, and sometimes you don’t. For those latter days, there are the four new limited edition Sheer Lip Color ($26 each) shades in the Bobbi Brown Surf & Sand collection — Sunlit Pink, Summer Nude, Peach Sorbet and Pink Taffy.

I like these, because even though they’re technically (“air quotes”) sheer, they’re still pigmented enough to show up on my lips. That, and they’re smooth, slick and moisturizing.

They remind me a lot of the Chanel Rouge Allure Coco Shines.

All four are available now at Bobbi Brown counters and online.

Bobbi Brown Sheer Lip Color in 19 Summer Nude
Bobbi Brown Sheer Lip Color in 19 Summer Nude, a light beige
Sheer Lip Color in 20 Peach Sorbet
20 Peach Sorbet, a nude peach

[Continue reading…]

There are 12 comments on this post. Leave yours.

Categories: Bobbi Brown, Collections, Lips, Makeup, Product Reviews

Just a Friendly Call From You-Know-Who About the New NARS Mondore Satin Lip Pencil

July 7th, 2014 by Karen 15 Comments

NARS Mondore Satin Lip Pencil
Wearing the new NARS Mondore Satin Lip Pencil ($25) from the NARS Night Caller fall 2014 collection

**RING! RING!**

Ry GuyKAREN: Tabs the Cat Industries, LLC, Office of the President, Karen speaking. How may I help you?

RYGOS: Ryan Gosling Incorporated, Office of My Living Room, Ryan speaking.

KAREN: Ryan, you’re hella dumb!

RYGOS: Excuse me, what was that? Who says “hella”?

KAREN: Only the cool kids say hella… So you’re excluded, haha!

RYGOS: Oh, she has jokes.

KAREN: Yeah, yeah…

Dude, I’m kind of busy, so I can’t really chat right now. What’s up?

NARS Mondore Satin Lip Pencil
Jokes. I haz them.

RYGOS: Oh, I’m sorry. You’re busy. Because you’re so important that you can’t make time for your old friend Ryan anymore.

KAREN: Ah, poor Ryan… It’s so hard to find somebody to talk to when you’re a famous actor.

RYGOS: Hey, now.

KAREN: Don’t worry. You’re still my number one favorite shirtless actor. I’m actually just trying to get out of here because I have dinner plans with El Hub tonight. It’s our eighth wedding anniversary.

RYGOS: Wow, eight already? Are you finally gonna give El Hub that medal?

KAREN: What medal?

RYGOS: You know, that medal for putting up with you. 🙂

KAREN: (…) What do you want, Ryan?

RYGOS: I need to get my sister a present.

KAREN: Go on. I like where this is headed.

RYGOS: She said she wanted a red lipstick from NARS, but of course I have no idea which one to get, so I thought I’d call my favorite crazy cat lady/friendly neighborhood beauty addict.

KAREN: Aw, flattery will get you everywhere.

RYGOS: Really? I’ve never heard that.

KAREN: OK, here’s what you do. Wait until July 15th, because that’s when the new NARS Night Caller fall collection comes out.

NARS Mondore Satin Lip Pencil
NARS Mondore Satin Lip Pencil, $25 (limited edition)

[Continue reading…]

There are 15 comments on this post. Leave yours.

Categories: Collections, Lips, Makeup, NARS

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