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News

A Sit-Down with Sarah Jessica Parker

July 15th, 2008 by Karen 54 Comments

Covet Pure Bloom, Sarah Jessica Parker

What’s up, ladies? Can I get your help with something? Sarah Jessica Parker’s coming to the Bay Area this week to promote her latest fragrance, Covet Pure Bloom, and I’m interviewing her for the blog. I have to come up with a list of fragrance and beauty questions.

As Carrie Bradshaw, she wore a lot of sky high heels, so I may ask how she deals with stilettos, not that I plan to wear Manolos any time soon. I get my heels on sale at Zappos, girl!

SJP will be at the Macy’s Stoneridge Shopping Center (1300 Stoneridge Mall in Pleasanton) in the Fragrance Department this Thursday, July 17 at noon. The store will also have available exclusive fragrance gift sets of products from SJP’s Lovely Sarah Jessica Parker collection ($167). Call 925-463-3333, ext. 4121 for details, or stop by the fragrance counter.

Are there any makeup or beauty related questions you think I should ask her? Let me know in the comments.

Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,

Karen

P.S. Here’s SJP talking about Covet Pure Bloom in a recent interview.

There are 54 comments on this post. Leave yours.

Categories: News

Beauty Watch 2009: Upcoming Trends

July 11th, 2008 by Karen 28 Comments


According to a recent article in Women’s Wear Daily (subscription required), eight trends will set the tone for beauty in 2009.

  1. High Impact Makeup Colors: Bold colors for lips, eyes and cheeks
  2. Budget Luxury: Getting the latest looks on the cheap
  3. Do It Yourself: At home waxing, hair coloring and laser hair removal
  4. Makeup as Jewelry: Beauty products as fashion accessories
  5. Bright Nail Colors: Bold nails are back
  6. Messy Updos and Buns: Sloppy chic
  7. Real Women Have Curves: Love your body
  8. Organic Beauty: Go green without sacrificing quality

I think all of these are pretty accurate, but I’m surprised they didn’t talk about matte makeup looks. I have a feeling matte is coming back in a big way.

Do you predict any upcoming beauty trends that aren’t listed here? What did the experts miss?

Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,

Karen

There are 28 comments on this post. Leave yours.

Categories: Just For Fun, News

MAC Cosmetics New Collections: Ready, Set, Mineralize!

July 7th, 2008 by Karen 44 Comments

mac-cosmetics-electroflash
Electroflash

Three new MAC Cosmetics releases (yes, girl, THREE!) arrive at MAC counters this Thursday, July 10. The Electroflash, New View and Sonic Chic collections feature Mineralize products — baked mineral eyeshadows, blushes and powders distinguished by the veins of shimmer running through the pans.

Detailed information about all three collections is available on the MAC website, but here’s a basic rundown of what we can expect to see later this week.

Electroflash – nine Mineralize eyeshadow duos; four lipsticks and lipglasses
Sonic Chic – nine Mineralize blushes in gold, pink and bronze shimmer shades
New View – five Mineralize powder duos, each with one matte and one shimmer shade

mac-cosmetics-sonic-chic
Sonic Chic

I’m a raving fan of MAC’s Mineralize eyeshadow duos, so I’m really looking forward to Electroflash, especially the Fresh Green Mix and Love Connection duos. I’ve also been foaming at the mouth over the Sonic Chic blushes.

New View hasn’t piqued my interest like the other two pending collections have, but, hey, we’ll see if that changes once I see it in person.

mac-cosmetics-new-view
New View

If you’re new to MAC Mineralize products, you may find these posts helpful. They’re from last year’s Antiquitease collection.

  • I love you, MAC Antiquitease!
  • MAC Makeup How-to: Bold Red and Purple Eye with Light Lips and Cheeks
  • Red Lips and Gold Eyes: The MAC Antiquitease Queen’s Sin Look
  • MAC Antiquitease: A Soft, Romantic Look for Date Night


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There are 44 comments on this post. Leave yours.

Categories: MAC Makeup, News

Beauty Land Bargains and Sales

June 29th, 2008 by Karen 12 Comments

sephora-store

*LAST UPDATED: 7/1/2008

So, tonight I’m on the hunt for beauty bargains and sales, trying to track down the mythical 50% off everything at MAC coupon code (lol, I wish!). I haven’t found any superb deals so far (Shu’s 20% off Friends & Family sale ends tonight, bummer), but a number of companies, like MAC and Sephora, are offering deep discounts on select summer products. Quite a few also do free shipping on purchases over a certain amount.

Here’s what I’ve got so far: these are ongoing sales and promotions at some of my favorite beauty and cosmetics companies. Most of them are only valid online (unless specified otherwise) and, unfortunately for ya’ll overseas, only apply to orders shipped in the continental US.

Ladies, if you find any cool makeup and beauty sales, coupon codes or promotions (international ones too) and leave them in the comments, I’ll update this post with the new info. 🙂

Makeup and Beauty Sales and Coupon Codes

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There are 12 comments on this post. Leave yours.

Categories: News

Sneak Peek: Upcoming Dior Impression Cuir Fall 5-Colour Eyeshadow Palettes

June 27th, 2008 by Karen 29 Comments

dior-5-colour-palettes-fall

Dior is at it again, girls. I love Dior in general, but their eyeshadow quints are what I look forward to most of all. This August, they’re giving us *two* new palettes for fall. Oh, be still my broken knee.

The two new 5-Colour Eyeshadow Palettes are part of the upcoming Impression Cuir collection.

dior-earth-tones-673-5-colour-palette

Earth Tones

My favorite of the two quints is hands-down the Earth Tones palette ($54) pictured above. All five of its shades — dark olive green, light moss green, pale pink, chocolate brown and reddish brown — have rich, creamy matte finishes with just the faintest shimmer. Girls (or boys) who like spicy neutrals may dig these a lot.

dior-earth-tones-swatches

I used to steer clear of mattes because they can be hard to work with and difficult to blend, but Dior has the matte formulation down. These shades blend well, and, with a hint of shimmer, they create looks that aren’t flat or one-dimensional at all.

Unfortunately, Dior does not try to be a budget brand, and both of these palettes cost a pretty penny. For the money, though, the shades in the Earth Tones palette absolutely deliver. I think these are well made, beautiful and highly wearable eyeshadows. Makeup and Beauty Blog Rating: A+
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There are 29 comments on this post. Leave yours.

Categories: Face of the Day (FOTD), Makeup, News, Product Reviews

Sweet Spot Labs: Smart Product or Smarter Marketing?

June 27th, 2008 by Karen 28 Comments

There’s a magical place on every surfboard known as the sweet spot — the place in which you achieve perfect board balance. When you find the sweet spot, standing up on your board is a breeze.

When I first heard of Sweet Spot Labs, I thought it was a surfing supply company, but that is so not the case. It’s actually a line of cleansers, wipes and mists for your private girlie parts. Yes, *those* parts.

I got to wondering, “Do my girlie parts actually need a separate cleanser? Or is this just marketing mumbo jumbo?”

Think about it — we use separate products to wash our face, body, hair, teeth, hands and even feet. I know that when I’ve used some body washes on my face, my cheeks and eyes felt dry, tight and uncomfortable.

Still, I’ve always thought girlie parts cleansers fell under the body cleanser category. Have I been wrong?

Earlier today I dashed off to the city to meet the fabulous Bella (of BellaSugar.com) for coffee and to catch up. That girl sure can blog! The entire Sugar Inc. network of blogs and sites for women has been up to big things lately. They’re full of surprises.

I was going to head over to Saks to see if I could find the Nars Bridal Palette Bella talked about a few weeks ago, but I hurt my knee jogging up a hill last night, and after the little bit of walking I did in SF this morning, I think I’m done moving for the day. Time to ice my wounds!

I hope you’re fully bipedal and feeling pretty today.

Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,

Karen

P.S. If you liked this post, subscribe to my updates by email.

There are 28 comments on this post. Leave yours.

Categories: Just For Fun, News, Product Reviews, Skin Care

Estee Lauder Chocolate Decadence: All the Chocolate, None of the Guilt

June 26th, 2008 by Karen 25 Comments

estee-lauder-chocolate-decadence-1

Work was a killer today, so when quittin’ time rolled around I headed straight for Macy’s to do what I do best: window shop. I found some stuff that not only cheered me up, but also satisfied my inner chocoholic. Behold — in all their grainy Crackberry goodness — a couple snapshots of Estee Lauder’s new fall collection, delectably named Chocolate Decadence.

With lots of eyeshadows, lipsticks and glosses in colors inspired by berries, caramels and chocolate, this collection could have been by Willy Wonka. Aren’t the swirl patterns tasty?

estee-lauder-chocolate-decadence-2

Estee Lauder Chocolate Decadence…

Creme Caramel Shimmer Powder, ($32)
That’s the swirl powder in the picture up there. It’s a soft brown with shimmer, ala MAC Beauty Powder. It’s for use on cheeks or on your body to get a soft glow.

Signature Eyeshadow Quads in Berry Truffle and Caramel Truffle, ($35)
The eyeshadows of these two, four-color quads — Berry Truffle and Caramel Truffle — are embossed with a pretty swirl pattern. Caramel Truffle goes with the browns in a big way, but I think I’m going to pass because the colors are similar to others in my collection. Berry Truffle got my heart pumping, but not so much that it forced me to make an impulse purchase. I decided to wait.

Pure Color Swirl Glosses in Berry Swirl and Caramel Swirl, ($18)
Yummy is all I can say about these glosses. I’m like a confused makeup foodie. Both glosses have a creamy beige color swirled into a dark purple berry and caramel. Picture a rich parfait. Mmm… parfait… I was actually tempted to take a bite, no joke!
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There are 25 comments on this post. Leave yours.

Categories: Makeup, News

7 Ways to Wear Shu Uemura’s Fleur de Rose Palette

June 26th, 2008 by Karen 31 Comments

shu-uemura-fleur-de-rose-palette-final

Emancipate yourself from the land of bland, chalky eyeshadows with Shu Uemura’s Fleur de Rose Palette! With soft, velvety textures and rich, intense colors, the seven pink, purple and neutral shades combine easily to create several different looks. The palette’s great for makeup neophytes as well as eyeshadow experts, and from now until June 29th you can get it online for 20% less (Shu Uemura friends and family online sale).

Here’s a close-up of the palette (the numbers correspond with the swatches to make it a lil’ easier to follow).

  1. Gold shimmer
  2. Dark purple shimmer
  3. Silver-white shimmer
  4. Light pink-coral shimmer
  5. Maroon shimmer
  6. Beige matte
  7. Brown-gold shimmer

shu-uemura-fleur-de-rose-palette-1

shu-uemura-fleur-de-rose-palette-2

My favorite shade is the brown-gold shimmer. Doesn’t it bear a striking resemblance to MAC Soba, but on shimmer steroids? I think it’d make a great crease color or a base for either simple or complicated eye looks. I can actually see myself hitting the pan with this one!

While playing with the palette, I used the brown-gold shade in the crease to do a soft purple and pink eye.

(Side note: Just as I finished this eye the Fed Ex guy rang the door bell. When I answered, I had my right eye done, but the other eye was bare. The poor guy looked at me like I was nuts, LOL. Perhaps in some ways I am.)

The shades are shimmery yet natural — still appropriate for work or play.

shu-uemura-fleur-de-rose-palette-eye

Here’s how I did the look…

  1. Applied the matte beige shade on the browbone.
  2. Added the brown-gold shade into the crease.
  3. Smoothed the light pink-coral shade onto the inner two-thirds of the lid.
  4. Added the maroon shade onto the outer third of the lid.
  5. Applied the dark purple shade into the outer V and the lower lash line.

shu-uemura-fleur-de-rose-palette-eyemap-1
Numbers refer to the palette above…

Fleur de Rose Palette Shortcut

There are several steps involved in the eye look above. If you’re new to eyeshadow, well, don’t freak out. You don’t have to go as far as I did to create pretty looks with this palette.

Start by exploring the brown-gold, beige, gold and silver-white shades — they provide great basic neutrals to begin a look with. From there, add pops of color with the pinks and purples.

Here are six beginner-friendly ways to use the colors in Fleur de Rose…

A Simple Look for Work

Apply beige shade (6) over the entire lid and brown-gold shade (7) in crease for an easy, neutral look.

A Subtle Pop of Color, Numero One

Add a pop of concentrated color to the Simple Look for Work above by wetting a stiff angled brush like the MAC 266. Use the wet brush head to apply the maroon shade (5) as a liner on the upper lash line. Wetting the brush amplifies the color as it’s applied.

A Subtle Pop of Color, Numero Two

Follow the same steps for A Subtle Pop of Color, Numero One but replace the maroon shade (5) with the dark purple (2).

Silver and Purple Night Look

Apply the silver shade (3) over the entire lid. Use a stiff-angled brush (either wet or dry) to apply the dark purple shade (2) on the upper and lower lash lines.

Daytime Smokey Purple Eye

Apply the beige shade (6) to your brow bone. Add the brown-gold (7) shade into the crease. Line the upper and lower lash lines with a creamy black pencil eyeliner like MAC Smolder, and then smudge the dark purple shade (2) over the liner with a pencil brush.

Pink-Coral and Maroon Eye

Apply the gold shade (1) to the brow bone; then add brown-gold (7) into the crease. Smooth the pink shade on the inner half of the lid, just barely into the crease. Finish by adding maroon shade to the outer half of the lid and just barley into the crease. Apply the purple shade (2) to the lower lash line. This is a variation on the coral and brown eye I did a few weeks ago.

Just imagine all of the palette combinations out there to discover! What looks would you create with Shu Uemura’s Fleur de Rose palette?
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There are 31 comments on this post. Leave yours.

Categories: Makeup, Makeup Tips/How To, News

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