MAC Makeup

Trying New Things: Winged Liner for Lifted Lids

November 4th, 2020 by Karen 10 Comments

stila beso new winged liner placement — Taking flight!

Pop quiz, hot shot:

The pic below is the face one makes when trying…

A. To get through 2020 with one’s sanity relatively intact
B. A new winged liner placement
C. All of the above

Inspired by Hindash

Last weekend I watched a winged liner video by Hindash, one of my favorite makeup artists, on how to lift the lids with liner, so I thought, what the heck, why not take my own advice for once (!) and try something other than the small kitten flick I’ve been wearing for the past few months.

I followed Hindash’s advice on the placement, then ended up customizing the liner by drawing my wings with pencil liner and liquid liner. I also skipped false lashes and did a quick wash with a few MAC shadow staples on my lids for a little depth (Saddle on my lids, Wedge and Omega mixed together in the crease and a soft veil of Vapor on the brow bones and inner corner).

What’s the most challenging aspect of doing makeup in a way you wouldn’t normally do?

For me it’s doing placements I’m not used to. It challenges my muscle memory! I’m very used to holding my liner at a certain angle and with a very specific pressure to get the look I like, and so doing it differently feels physically weird.

I also find that stopping and starting lines in different places is also hard. I guess I’m so used to things looking a certain way, and when they don’t, it’s a little startling.

I do like this look because it does seem to lift my lids when I’m looking down, and especially in pics. When I see it straight on with my eyes open, though, the effect is more visible from some angles than others. I think I’ll keep practicing because mama wants some lifted lids!

Makeup Worn in this look

BASE: It Cosmetics Your Skin But BetterFoundation + Skincare in Tan Warm 41 and Tan Warm 42.5 (foundation), Estee Lauder Double Wear Instant Fix Concealer in Medium Deep Warm (under eyes)
CHEEKS: MAC Mineralize Skinfinish Natural in Give ME Sun, MAC Blushbaby Blush
LIPS: Stila Beso
EYES: Maybelline Tattoo Studio Gel Pencil in Deep Onxy, MAC Brushblack Liquid Liner

Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,

Karen

P.S. I’m about to put on an extra pot of coffee because I got *no* sleep last night. Anyone else need a pickmeup?

Also, I woke up with this song stuck in my head, and because I don’t want to be the only person singing it all day…

’90s-Style Lip Liner, Cool-Toned Smokey Lids, and Halloween at the Pronzini Pumpkin Patch in Petaluma

November 3rd, 2020 by Karen 14 Comments

When I said I was on a ’90s lip liner kick last week, I WAS NOT KITTEN!

Way back in 1994, Baby Karen would have probably laughed at me for doing this matte lip because of how involved it is. It’s a rosy beige matte lip, but I used two different lip liners with the lipstick (MAC Whirl and Cork liners, because I was going for a slight gradient effect with MAC Honey Love Lipstick ), and I carefully and subtly overdrew the half of my lip that’s slightly thinner by bracing my elbow on a table.

I also cleaned up the edges with a lip brush loaded with concealer. Back in the day, I used to be able to draw lips just like this while riding on a bumpy bus and balancing a bag filled with chemistry texts on my lap. Pretty sure I was half asleep while doing it, too, HAHAHA! Ah, youth… You so crazy!

Anywho, I automatically associate ’90s lips with classic MAC lipsticks and liner, so (naturally) I rolled with old-school MAC matte shades for the smokey eyes — Wedge, Omega, Carbon and Brun eyeshadows — and, of course, Smolder eyeliner, an old standby.

Ten years ago I used to feel like this type of makeup was so dated because of the unblended liner and the lack of shimmer, but now I kinda love it! I think there’s something timeless and elegant about it.

Did you have a go-to MAC lip liner and lipstick combo back in the day?

A different kind of Halloween, and Coycoy’s first horse adventure

It was definitely a Halloween for the books. Oh, 2020, you continue to surprise me!

We spent the bulk of our Halloween day at the Pronzini Farms Pumpkin Patch in Petaluma, which, by the way, highly recommended. We’re going back next year for sure.

There were so many things to do, not just for kids of all ages, but for all types of kids. There were the traditional items for play you’d expect at a pumpkin patch, like hay pyramids, mazes and pedal cars, but there were also things like bingo, a train ride and a scavenger hunt for kids who preferred less physical activities.

Connor spent most of her time at the petting zoo connecting with a gentle brown horse named “Boogie,” and she surprised both me and El Hub by asking if she could go on a pony ride with him.

Over the past few months we’ve noticed that it takes her a while to warm up to doing something different and new, so I was thrilled to see her happily jump into the saddle to take a few turns with him. When she finished her ride I asked her how it went, and she said, “Mama, my heart was so happy when I was riding my horse.” I almost turned into a blubbering mess right then and there.

Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,

Karen

An Autumnal FOTD With Orange, Warm Brown, Red and Copper (Mostly MAC Makeup)

October 30th, 2020 by Karen 20 Comments

If you require makeup inspiration, might I suggest looking at your doorway?

Wait — hear me out. That’s where I’ve been finding “inspo” for looks all week long. First, Samantha the ghost bride was my muse. Now it’s the fall leaf garland that hangs on my doorway.

Back when Coywolf was a tiny toddler with teeny pig tails!

I wore this subtle smokey eye with a warm orangey reddish brown lip to preschool pickup yesterday (I took the lipstick off before I put on my mask though) because I was feelin’ fall. The leaves are starting to fall in my neighborhood, and although it’s been climbing into the 70s for a few days, there’s a chill in the air first thing in the morning.

Been thinking a lot about ’90s makeup and so I went with a subtle version of a ’90s-style unblended lip liner in this by pairing a dark burgundy liner with matte orangey reddish brown lipstick. I wanted the liner to be present but not overly obvious… You can kinda see it from some angles more than others, but it’s there!

By the way, this lipstick, MAC Marrakesh, is one of those orangey reddish brown that deserves more love! It’s a matte lippie in the permanent collection, and it’s loaded with vibrant, lush pigment. If you like MAC Chili (which is similar, but redder) or MAC Paramount (also similar, but browner and redder), then I think you’ll like Marrakesh too.

You can wear it with any and all of your warm brown eyeshadows, like MAC Saddle or Soft Brown; it also pairs well with peachy browns like Amber Lights and bronzy browns like Antiqued. For matching eyeliners, try MAC Teddy or Costa Riche (which is what I’m wearing here)!

Makeup Worn in this look

EYES: MAC Costa Riche liner (buffed all over lids and applied to lash and water lines); MAC Eyeshadows in Brown Down (outer v and upper lash line as eyeliner), Havana (outer lid) and Sweet Heat (inner lid), Urban Decay Brow Beater Pencil in Neutral Brown, Laura Mercier Caviar Mascara
CHEEKS: MAC Gingerly Blush, MAC Give Me Sun Mineralize Skinfinish Natural
LIPS: MAC Burgundy Lip Liner, MAC Marrakesh Lipstick
BASE: Lancome Skin Feels Good Hydrating Skin Tint in Tan

School pics!

Coywolf started preschool just in time to take school pics this year.

If you look closely, you might be able to see her painted nails!

In other news, do you have any plans this weekend? Happy early Halloween to you. We’re taking Connor to a pumpkin patch tomorrow (she’s dressing up as Rapunzel), and then on Sunday I’m going to bake all the pies for Pie Quest 2020. Thank you for your baking tips for the crust, by the way (you can find them in the comments here, if you’re interested). If all goes well with the pumpkin pie, then the next pie I’m going to tackle is pecan pie, and then apple pie, because LOOK!

View this post on Instagram

Time for apple pie. ?? Get our 5-star rated recipe + shop with the link in bio.

A post shared by Williams Sonoma (@williamssonoma) on Oct 24, 2020 at 9:21pm PDT

Did you know that such a gadget existed?! I had no idea.

Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,

Karen

P.S. TGIF!

A Ghost Bride Vibe: Sooty Smokey Lids With Matte Black Lips

October 28th, 2020 by Karen 25 Comments

Is this look wearable? I guess it depends on who you’re talking to. If you’re chatting with El Hub, he’d probably say, “Um, not really,” and he would encourage you to *not* wear this sooty smokey purplish blue smokey eye to pick up a small child at her preschool.

(Side note: I seriously considered it, but then I chickened out at the last minute, and now I deeply regret not cementing my legacy as the crazy-@ss mom who showed up at pickup in black lipstick.)

If you ask Samantha, though — she’s the Halloween ghost who haunts my doorway — she would first say, “B*tch stole me look!” LOL. Then she’d she’d say, “One hundred percent, YES, channel your inner goth Billy Idol White Wedding bride.”

This is my “take two” at Samantha-inspired makeup! I wanted to push it a little further this time and tried to go more “edgy,” as opposed to wearable, but ultimately I think it ended up looking kinda casual cool, and yes, totally wearable. If we were back in the ’90s when I went through my (very brief) baby goth phase, I would’ve legit worn these lips and eyes everywhere.

Layering is the key

I really, really enjoyed putting this face on, and part of the reason was because it happened so quickly. I didn’t really think about it. I just started layering and mixing and blending and 20 minutes later there it was. With this type of smokey editorial/edgy eye makeup, I think the following things really help:

Embrace the imperfection. This is the type of smokey eye makeup that, I think, almost looks better the messier it gets. Let your brushes and your imagination push past what you’d normally do, and take your products higher up the lid and further down the lash line than you’d usually go. It might look weird to you at first (it always does for me because I’m not used to seeing that type of placement), but do it anyway.
Layers, layers, layers. Really, this is key. If you want the effect of a puff of smoke around the lids, where that super-blended gradient leads one color easily into the next, bust out ALL THE THINGS. At the minimum, you’ll need your favorite smudgy eye pencil, a cream shadow or two, and some powder eyeshadows that you also like that work with your color palette.
Blend that sh*t. When your fingers are about to fall off, you’re probably close to done.

Oh, and about that black lip…I applied a matte liquid lipstick first (MAC Caviar), then defined the edges with a super sharp matte black pencil liner. Yes, girl. Black eyeliner as lip liner! My friends and I used to use it both as liner and lipstick back in the ’90s when we wanted to wear matte black lips.

Makeup worn in this look

Eyes: Urban Decay 24/7-Glide On Eye Pencil in Empire, Clinique Chubby Stick Shadow in Portly Plum, Urban Decay Eyeshadow in Third Eye (a purple shade from the Stoked Vibes Palette), Maybelline Color Strike Cream-to-Powder Eyeshadow in Ace, Laura Mercier Caviar Mascara, Neutrogena Smokey Kohl Eyeliner in Jet Black, Urban Decay Brow Beater in Neutral Brown
Base: It Cosmetics Your Skin But Better Foundation + Skin Care in Tan Warm 42.5 mixed with Tan Warm 41, Kevyn Aucoin Super Natural Concealer in Medium EC05
Cheeks: MAC Give ME Sun Mineralize Skinfinish Natural
Lips: Urban Decay Perversion eyeliner and MAC Caviar Retro Matte Liquid Lipstick

A couple weird things

I was craving an egg over easy yesterday for lunch and look what happened when I cracked my egg open…

I dunno, maybe I’m fully in superstitious Halloween mode, but I was kinda freaked out! I couldn’t help but wonder if it’s part of a scary Filipino old wives tale, and even though it (irrationally) scared me a little, I still ate most of it…although toward the last few bites I ended up psyching myself out.

On a (somewhat) related weird note, look what I found this morning in the middle of my bed!

I’m guessing Rosie Posie got hold of it during the wee hours of the morning, LOL!

Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,

Karen

Moody Makeup Time! Smokey Blue Lids and Matte Berry Lips (and a Trip to Gabriel Farm)

October 27th, 2020 by Karen 21 Comments

mac burning love maybelline ace front — When your hair and makeup evoke Disney Villain vibes

You know you’re a makeup lover when your penchant for puffs of sooty blue drives your Halloween decor decisions.

samantha the ghost closeup — OF COURSE I would want the ghost wearing makeup.

Behold the floaty ghost bride currently welcoming visitors to our humble abode. Despite being undead, she’s very proud of her dark lip and blue smokey eyes.

Oh, and her dark burgundy nails.

This is Samantha, and she hangs out in my doorway. I haven’t asked her yet, but I’m kinda wondering what her wedding theme was and whether Billy Idol was the groom.

Inquiring minds want to know…

This video scared the living crap out of me when I was a kid!

Samantha was the one who inspired this look I’m wearing, and if we were to hold a “Who wore it better?” battle, she would definitely have won this round because I could’ve/should’ve pushed it further.

mac burning love maybelline ace with samantha — Just the girls

I was going for a wearable version of her look, but I’m feeling like, with these blue lids — which, by the way, I did with an awesome new product from Maybelline called Color Strike (they call it “a cream-to-powder shadow pen”) — I should’ve just taken the shadow all the way up into the brows and maybe even further down the lower lash line. Oh, and what if I’d layered the blue shadow with a black or dark purple pencil and switched out the berry lip for a straight-up black? That could have been even cooler.

Hmm… I think I just figured out tomorrow’s FOTD!

By the way, if you’re admiring Samantha’s mani, I highly recommend Smith & Cult’s Dark Like Me. 🙂

Makeup Worn in this look

Eyes: Maybelline Color Strike Cream-to-Powder Eyeshadow in Ace, Laura Mercier Caviar Mascara, Neutrogena Smokey Kohl Eyeliner in Jet Black, Urban Decay Brow Beater in Neutral Brown
Base: It Cosmetics Your Skin But Better Foundation + Skin Care in Tan Warm 42.5 mixed with Tan Warm 41, Kevyn Aucoin Super Natural Concealer in Medium EC05
Cheeks: MAC Give ME Sun Mineralize Skinfinish Natural, Clinique Cupid Blush
Lips: MAC Burning Love Powderkiss Lipstick and MAC Currant Lip Pencil

Fall adventures at the farm

Connor had last Friday off from preschool, so she and I met up with her bestie (and her BFF’s mom) for a fun day at Gabriel Farm in Sebastapol.

It’s an organic family-run farm that offers a yearly seasonal membership valid from June through November. A family membership is $40, and when you join you get a HUGE box of delicious, sweet and crunchy Asian pears. You also have access to the farm during those months and can visit as often as you like to pick and pay for whichever fruit and flowers are in season that month (fruit is charged by the pound). They grow berries, tomatoes, apples, Asian pears, persimmon, pineapple guava and flowers.

There’s also a cute picnic area tucked away in a gorgeous grove of persimmon trees, so when you’re done picking your goodies you can relax in the shade with your bounty.

The girls had fun picking berries and exploring the farm, and then played for hours under the trees. If you have a little person to entertain, or if you’ve got a hankering to spend some time outside, I highly recommend it.

There were multiple hand-washing stations around the property, and masks and social distancing were required. Connor and I went as guests of our friends this time, but next year I’m definitely signing up for a membership!

Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,

Karen

Checking In: A Chanel Blush Brush Haunting, and a Jewel-Toned FOTD With Purple Lids!

October 20th, 2020 by Karen 19 Comments

I will totally get to these purple lids in a second (BECAUSE PURPLE), but first, can we pleeeeease talk about the latest mystery to unfold on this end of the keyboard — a mystery also known as “The Haunting of Casa MBB”?

Don’t worry, there’s nothing terribly sinister afoot (I’m not splashing buckets of holy water on things left and right, in case you’re wondering!).

I’ve been gently “haunted” for the past few weeks by my favorite Chanel blush brush, which has been disappearing and reappearing all over the house in the most random places. I’ve found it on my bed, in the hallway, on the middle of the stairs, on the kitchen floor.

Last week I found it smack dab in the middle of living room, just sitting there on the carpet right in front of the couch.

Hmm… ?

I just assumed that Connor had grabbed it and played with it and forgot to put it back, but when I asked her about it later she said, “No, mama, I have my own brushes.” (Hahaha! She totally does!)

Now, this brush just so happens to be one of my favorite blush brushes because it’s super soft, and the brush head fits perfectly on top of the apples of my cheeks and underneath the hollow of my cheekbones, so I can use it for blush and bronzer. The bristles are also perfectly floofy, so it blends like a dream.

I thought, if an otherworldly entity/spirit has been obsessing over it, I completely understand.

But it ended up not being due to a makeup brush-loving ghost. The disappearances were in fact due to a cat.

YUP! Look who I just found outside my office doing her “hunter’s mewl.” It’s this cute little growl/grumble Rosie Posie does whenever she stalks and hunts one of her soft toy balls and she wants to show off the riches of her spoils.

I went into the hallway to investigate and give her the usual attention she likes after she catches her prey (“Oh, good job, Rosie-Pose! You’re such a good mouser. Look how well you stalked your toy!”), and that’s when I caught her red-handed (red-pawed?) with my Chanel brush in her mouth.

Mystery solved!

I guess from this point forward, this brush will have a special hiding place…inside a drawer!

(QUICK UPDATE: Later in the day, I also caught her dragging my NARS blush brush around, so she appears to be expanding her hunting horizons.)

Jewel-toned purple lids

OK, so let’s talk purple lids. Now, this might look a little familiar to ya because I’ve been doing variations of this look using the same neutral colors in the crease, inner corner and lash lines, but with different jewel tones on the lids. First, green, and then blue, and now purple!

Find your core

This totally wearable look relies on finding a core group of matte brown and beige eyeshadows for your crease colors. Once you find ones you like, then you can just keep them on standby, and then quickly swap out the jewel tone on your lids with other colors to create different looks!

I’ve been using the same set of warm browns and beiges in this series…

Beige matte shadow base: NARS Tinted Smudge Proof Eyeshadow Base in Light
Beige shadow: MAC Mylar
Light warm matte brown shadow: MAC Soft Brown
Mid-toned warm matte brown shadow: MAC Saddle
Dark mate brown shadow: MAC Brun
Bronze pencil: MAC Teddy

For the purples, I’m wearing a shimmery purple called Guilt Trip, a dark purple called Drift (both are from the Urban Decay Born to Run Palette) and a dark purple UD pencil called Empire.

The foundation, powder blush/bronzer and lipstick are the same products I recently used in a 10-minute makeup look in this It Cosmetics Foundation review (which I’m also wearing in this pic, by the way).

As you can see, I’m pretty stoked about this look, and I’m excited to wear makeup again! 🙂

Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,

Karen

Easy, Elegant Fall Eye Makeup With Sapphire Lids and Liner

October 9th, 2020 by Karen 9 Comments

urban decay born to run palette blue eyes sabbath liner closed — Just a little flash of sapphire

Just a friendly reminder (UM, MOSTLY TO MYSELF, LOL!) that one doesn’t need to constantly reinvent the wheel when it comes to eye makeup. For this look with sapphire blue lids and a warm brown matte crease, I used the same base, crease and lower lash line eye products from yesterday’s fall green look. All I did was swap out the greens on the lids for blue!

urban decay born to run palette blue eyes sabbath liner shadow-layout — Here’s a makeup map of the eye shadow and liner.

Keep talkin’ to me

If you tend to make things harder than they need to be (hello, welcome to my world), then this sort of “makeup template” will make your life 100% easier because you can keep your key neutral elements. All you do is switch out the colorful shades. Et voila! — you have something fresh and new.

Two BIG thangs I love about this look

1. It’s a little flashy, but not overly so.
One thing I love about wearing browns in the crease and colorful jewel tones on the lid and lash lines is that it doesn’t look overdone in real life. Like, when you see this look from the side or straight on, you mostly see the browns, so it looks like a standard-issue neutral look. Not too flashy. You do get a hint of the color when you blink your eyes though! I also tried photographing it in natural light with both my fancy camera and my phone, and I like the way it looks.

urban decay born to run palette blue eyes sabbath liner side view — Cheeks! I’m wearing MAC Mineralize Skinfinish Natural in Give Me Sun with Charlotte Tilbury Cheek to Chic Blush in Ecstasy. On my brows and lashes, that’s Urban Decay Brow Beater in Neutral Brown and Laura Mercier Caviar Mascara.

2. It doesn’t take long to do.
I knocked this out in 15 minutes from start to finish before picking up Connor from school and running to Target. (I feel like I spend half of my life now going to Target.)

So, what’s next?

Hmm… I’m thinking of switching out the blue for purple next time…or maybe gray? Really, though, you could do it with so many other colors… Bronze, gold, silver, or even things like orange, red and yellow!

urban decay born to run palette blue eyes sabbath liner open — The base is It Cosmetics Your Skin But Better Foundation + Skincare in Tan Warm 42.5 applied with fingers and lightly buffed down with a skunk brush. (I skipped the powder.)

urban decay born to run palette blue eyes sabbath liner — I’m wearing NARS Satin Lip Pencil in Isola Bella on my lips.

Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,

Karen

P.S. TGIF! ?

Easy, Elegant Fall Eye Makeup With Green Lids and Liner

October 8th, 2020 by Karen 15 Comments

urban decay loaded liner mildew eyeshadow 1 — Gotta wear green!

Is green eye makeup more of a fall or a spring look for you? ASKING FOR A FRIEND.

I think if you’ve got a dark green up in the mix, like a jewel-toned green or an emerald green, then yeah, whatever’s happening on your lids is totally a fall look, especially if you add a matte nude or matte brown lippie to the mix.

That’s what I did the other day. I wore this green lid-and-liner combo using a shimmery light medium green shadow on my lids and a dark green opalescent pencil liner (with a touch of a darker grayish green on the outer corner) to get groceries and pick up Coywolf from preschool, and I got the nicest compliments from her teachers.

This little one isn’t so little anymore!

I think the matte browns in the crease and the beige base help to keep the greens wearable for daytime because the neutrals ground the brighter lid and lash line.

Of course, this same placement would also work with other jewel-toned shades, and hmm… Now that I think about it, I may have to try sapphire liner and lids next!