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Makeup Tips/How To

A Lil’ Fall Favorite Makeup Edit with NARS and MAC

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I’m on a mission to wear fall looks that are simple, elegant and easy. I gotta say, I feel pretty put together together in this one, which features a few of my favorites — NARS Kalahari II eyeshadow, NARS Amour blush and MAC Half Red Lip Pencil.

A lifted liner tip

For this makeup, I tried a new-to-me eyeliner technique from a makeup artist that Jane from Daly Beauty introduced me to recently, Erica Taylor! She’s been doing makeup for over 20 years and posts a lot of tips for beauties who are 40 and up.

She suggests applying liner strategically on the outer corner to make your lids appear more lifted.

I’m really happy with how it turned out; I definitely think my hooded bits look a little less hooded! Plus, it’s really easy to do.

Also, lip liner is so your friend

Oh, and shout-out to the Wet Seal sales associate back in 1996 who taught me about the power of lip liner, LOL! She was the one who convinced me to try lining and filling my lips in with a lip pencil, and then topping it off with lip balm.

I did that in here with MAC Half Red Lip Liner and Biossance Lip Balm. 🙂 Try it sometime with your favorite lip liner.

Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,

Karen

Purple and Blue Liner, and a Handy Makeup Tip for Hooded Lids

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Do you ever suddenly get the urge to wear colorful liner? If you do, I totally get it. Yesterday I grabbed a bright blue (Urban Decay Chaos) and a sparkly purple (UD Vice). I popped the blue on my upper lash line and then layered a couple sparkly shades from the Chanel holiday eye palette on top, then I blended the purple on my lower lash liner because why the heck not?

It ended up looking a lot more summery than I anticipated!

Hmm, I’m thinking that if I went with a darker, more navy blue it would’ve taken it in a fall direction. I guess this is what happens when your current makeup philosophy is “just go with it and see where it takes you.” Ha ha ha!

A makeup tip for hooded lids

Oh, so for this look, I remembered a handy tip that’s good to keep in your back pocket on those days when your liner ends up too thick for your lid space. This happens to me all the time, by the way, especially now that my hooded bits are more prominent than they used to be 10 years ago.

Anywho, if you’re doing your makeup and notice your liner looks too thick, start by buffing out the edge of the line as best you can.

Then, with a flat brush or your fingertip, layer a bit of your favorite sparkly shadow on top, taking care to have just the tiniest bit of liner peek through.

A combo of blurred liner and sparkly shadow helps make your lid space look a little bigger while making the liner look thinner. Try it sometime and let me know how it goes. 🙂

While we’re on the subject of eyeliner

I’ve been using the dark brown and bronze twist-up liners by Hourglass for months now, and while I love the comfy formula, there’s just not a ton of colors to choose from.

Hourglass Bronze and Cave liners

If your lash and water lines are moody and sensitive like mine are, I’d love to hear what liners you like. I need a new blue and purple!

Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,

Karen

Beauty Thoughts, May 26, 2023

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For fans of sheer base!

Sheer base life

I’ve been using Rose Inc Skin Enhance Luminous Tinted Serum for the last two weeks and have been getting lots of nice compliments on my base!

It’s sheer and moisturizing with barely there coverage and a slight pore smoothing effect, and when I set it with just the teeniest bit of MAC Mineralize Skinfinish Natural Powder, in real life it looks natural and beautiful, even in full sun.

Before applying Rose Inc and MAC MSF
And after!

If you’re into minimal foundation like I am, give it a go.

FYI, you do need to mix the pigment spheres in your palms or the back of your hand before applying it, so there’s a small extra step involved, but it’s so easy that I don’t mind it at all. I’ve been using it lately for my quick go-to makeup.

Speaking of go-to looks, what’s yours right now?

Here’s mine! It takes less than 10 minutes, which I’m all about these days.

  • Base: Rose Inc Skin Enhance set with MAC Mineralize Skinfinish Natural and Hourglass Retouching Fluid in Sand
  • Cheeks: NARS Deep Throat Powder Blush
  • EYES: Hourglass Cave Eyeliner, Laura Mercier Caviar Stick in Strapless, Tower 28 Mascara (it’s just OK), Anastasia Brow Pencil
  • LIPS: Whatever non-neutral lippie is around. Lately it’s been NARS Dolce Vita Velvet Matte Lip Pencil.
Easy peasy makeup

Building a pre-packed beauty bag

Memorial Day is right around the corner, which means summer trips, yay!

I was wondering, when you go on a trip, do you pack your skin care and beauty essentials beforehand, or do you keep a separate travel bag on standby?

I’ve always packed my beauty bag right before a trip, and ugh, I *really* don’t want to do that anymore. It just makes packing too stressful! Side note: I tend to overpack and overthink what I bring because I’m always worried about forgetting something. Half the time I end up bringing too much, and I no longer want it to be that way.

Anywho, all this to say I saw a video recently about keeping a travel bag of beauty products stocked and ready, and it really spoke to me!

We’re going on a few short trips this summer, so I’d like to build travel beauty bags — one for me, and one for Connor, since I usually pack her toiletries — before we go on our trips.

I’d like to fully stock it (skin care, makeup, hair products, all the things), so that when I’m done, I can photograph everything inside and write everything down into a list. Ideally I’d like to format it into an easily accessible checklist, so I can take stock of what needs to be replaced and not have to reinvent the wheel every single time.

WISH ME LUCK because I’m gonna need it, LOL!

Happy Friday to you

Hope your week has been peaceful and joyful! If you feel like sharing any good things that’ve happened to you lately, I’d love to hear about them.

Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,

Karen

Happy Valentine’s Day

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Have a happy and sweet Valentine’s Day!

Happy Valentine’s Day, my beautiful friend.

I decided to say “I love you” to myself today by sitting down in front of the mirror to joyfully put on makeup! 🙂

Key items in this look

A few notes on the key items

The Do It For The Graham eyeshadow palette is from a new-to-me brand called Beauty Bakerie, and it includes 12 powder shadows in foil, matte and duo-chrome finishes.

I’m wearing the tan, beige and dark reddish brown matte shades on my lids. Even though I’m out of practice with blending, the soft, smooth powders made it easy to weave one color into the next. Very nice!

You might recognize the red lip, because it’s one of my MAC Retro Matte Liquid Lipcolour favorites, Quite the Standout, which is a bright orangey red. If you like warm-toned reds, this shade is gonna be your jam! It’s temporarily out of stock on the MAC website (boo), but check your local counter to see if they have it around.

Last but certainly not least, MAC Glow Play Blush in That’s Peachy. It’s a light peach blush that goes on sheer, which I like because then I can really control the color intensity on my cheeks. It pairs especially well with warm red and peachy-pink lip colors.

Valentine’s Day flowers for you, friend!

Sending you so much love. Treat yourself with extra kindness today, OK?

Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,

Karen

P.S. Oh, and let me know if you also did a red lip, too!

A Friday Face of the Day and a Fun Blush Layering Trick to Try

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Happy Friday!

You know it’s going to be a great Friday when you’re having a good makeup day!

The hair is another story, LOL! I swear it doesn’t look this wild in real life.

A blush layering trick to try

If you’ve got a cream blush you like around, you’ve got to try this technique I’ve been doing lately for the most natural looking cheeks.

After you do your base, blend a cream blush on your cheeks, and then pat your favorite powder on top to set.

Your blush will peek through the powder for a hint of flush, and the overall look is so natural!

I’ve been doing this all week with Urban Decay Hydromaniac for the base, Laura Mercier Tinted Moisturizer Blush in Coastline for the blush and MAC Mineralize Skinfinish Natural for the powder, and I love how it looks both in real life and in pictures.

Key products worn in this look

  • Honest Beauty Eyeshadow Palette – It’s a workhorse! You could easily do almost an entire eye look (brows, liner, shadow) with this palette.
  • Urban Decay HydroManiac Tinted Glow Hydrator – Feels lightweight and has medium coverage.
  • Laura Mercier Tinted Moisturizer Blush in Coastline – Super concentrated color. You only need a few drops!
  • MAC Powder Kiss Liquid Lipstick in Model Off Duty – I’m so bummed this shade isn’t available anymore. You could try the shade More the Mehr-ier in the Powder Kiss line for a similar vibe.

I hope you’ve had a wonderful week and that something good happened to you. Yesterday I was feeling really tired and exhausted, so I actually listened to my body (!) and let myself rest. It’s amazing how much good a little quiet time will do for ya. I highly recommend it!

Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,

Karen

Layered Eye Looks: Forest Green Liner with Champagne Eyeshadow

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I jokingly texted a friend to tell her that I finally put on a full face of makeup because I no longer wanted to look like I just crawled out of a pit of doom! LOL. And even though I’m 100% comfortable now rollin’ around town bare faced with just sunscreen, there’s still something really nice about going to the grocery store to buy cara cara oranges and have the checker call me “miss” instead of “ma’am.”

I’ve been inspired by simple, layered eye makeup lately. In this one, I layered a glittery champagne cream shadow (Hourglass Ray) on top of a shimmery forest green liner (Urban Decay Mildew). It’s easy, peasy, lemon squeeze-y, and I feel like I get a lot of look for very little effort.

What I also really like about this look is how the glitter isn’t too flashy. It sparkles in the light, but it’s not, like, too much for a weekday midday run to Tar-ghay.

Key products worn in this look

Here’s what I used for eyes, cheeks and lips. If you want to know more about the base or brows, let me know in the comments. 🙂

Officially a dance mom!

Connor joined the junior dance team at her studio this year, and last weekend was her first official performance. I think she was more excited to wear the clip-on earrings, LOL!

I’ve had my ears pierced since the day I was born; no really, back in the day in the Philippines, you could get your baby’s ears pierced at the hospital!

Anywho, all this to say we found out that clip-on earrings are a whole different beast. Connor was so looking forward to wearing them, but when she tried them on for the first time, one of the earrings was too tight and hurt her little ear.

I did a little googling and found a trick to loosening them. All you have to do is move the part of the clip-on that looks like a “U” around. You need widen it to relieve the pressure on your ears! It really helps. Just goes to show you, you learn something new every day.

Have a peaceful and joyful Tuesday.

Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,

Karen

Purr-Fect Cat Eyeliner Flicks Are Easy With This Quick Makeup Tip Using MAC Fast Response Eye Cream and a Q-Tip

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MAC Fast Response Eye Cream
A Q-tip and MAC Fast Response Eye Cream: your two BFFs for purr-fect cat eyeliner

This is one of my go-to tricks for even eyeliner flicks. I used it this morning, as a matter of fact!

Throughout the long, hallowed (not really) history of Karen’s Cat Eyeliner Life, Volume I, I’ve drawn a lot of cat eyeliner looks on my cat lady lids, and over all those years, I can count on one paw the number of times I’ve drawn two perfectly angled flicks. That’s how rarely it occurs!

Most of the time, it’s my left flick. The right will be OK, but the left will turn out wonky, angled either too low or too high, or too short or too long.

It’s pretty much guaranteed that one or both flicks will need an adjustment.

One quick way to fix your flicks is with an eye cream and a Q-tip. What I’ll do is soak a Q-tip with a little bit of the cream, then run that along the edges of the flick to instantly sharpen them and/or fix any mistakes, all while adding some extra moisture around my eye area (something I need anyway).
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Summery Taupe Smoke

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Oh, smokey eyes, I’ve missed you!

I wore shimmery, summery, taupe-y smokey eyes to take Connor to gymnastics camp and swimming lessons yesterday. I can say with 100% certainty I was the only person in both instances wearing smokey eyes, which kinda bums me out. Think of how visually interesting it would be if you could stand in a gymnastics camp line at 10 a.m. on a Tuesday and stare at a variety of smoked out lids. I may be alone in wanting this to be a thing, but whatevs!

The star of this summery smoke show is a liquid shadow by Chanel called Vastness. It’s a warm, bronzy taupe with a deliciously subtle shimmer. It used to be part of Chanel’s permanent collection but appears to be missing in action on the Chanel website, which is a bummer, because it’s SO GOOD. It’s easy to blend, has a perfect level of pigment and you don’t need much at all. I did some digging and found it on the Macy’s website, but it’s low stock, so grab it while you can!

I’m wearing Vastness with Espresso liner, a Chanel workhorse. I lined my eyes, then applied the shadow using this technique to smoke it out.

For my lips and cheeks, I went with a bright, juicy pink, Honest Beauty Liquid Lipstick in Goddess. I swiped a layer on my lips, blended it with a finger, then used the same finger to tap the lipstick onto the apples of my cheeks as blush. Then, I dabbed Ilia Lip Tint in Tahiti on my lips for a touch of shine.

The glowing base is Rose Inc Skin Enhance Tinted Serum (I wear shade 80)! It’s quickly becoming one of my favorites for sheer coverage. More on this in a few.

Hope your week is going great so far and that life is treating you well. Has anything good happened to you lately?

Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,

Karen

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