Product Reviews

The Delectables Palettes by Laura Geller in Delicious Shades of Cool and Nude

November 13th, 2015 by Karen 12 Comments

laura geller the delectables top final — The Delectables, by Laura Geller ($45)

Combine one part cool shades with one part warm, add a dash of shimmer and a pinch of matte, and then bake until done.

No, this isn’t another banana bread recipe! 🙂 Although I admit those are quite high on my priority list these days…

I’m describing these two The Delectable Palettes by Laura Geller.

Delectable… That is a very tasty word, haha.

laura geller delectables delicious shades of nude — Delicious Shades of Nude ($45)

laura geller delectables delicious shades of cool — Delicious Shades of Cool ($45)

All of the baked shadows within these two palettes, both of which launched this past summer, begin their journey as liquified pigments, which are then poured by hand into molds and baked, rather than pressed…

Mmm… Why does that remind me of artisan bread?

(Yes, I’m always hungry these days.)

Making them this way is supposedly make them perform better when used wet, for more intensity, or dry, for a sheerer, less opaque finish.

laura geller delectables delicious shades of nude dry swatches — Delicious Shades of Nude swatched dry

[Continue reading…]

Have You Seen the Make Up For Ever Lash Show?

November 6th, 2015 by Karen 16 Comments

Quick! — I need an excuse to wear a pair of these new false lashes by Make Up For Ever…

How about a drag queen-themed baby shower?

Is that even a thing?? If it isn’t, I think we need to make it one, because if I can do drag queen karaoke for my thirtieth birthday party, then a drag queen-themed baby shower is the next logical jump, obviously. 🙂

make up for ever lash show c 802 — Make Up For Ever C-802 Lashes ($18)

MUFE just launched these last month in a staggering 50 styles! They’re $18 each, made of synthetic fibers and come with a small bottle of latex-free lash glue.

The styles are divided into four categories — Natural Volume (for everyday enhancement), Dramatic Volume (slightly fuller lash styles for amped up day or night looks), Winged (for cat eye-style meow!) and Artistic (for show-stopping lashes).

make up for ever n 403 — Make Up For Ever N 403 Lashes ($18)

[Continue reading…]

Tom Ford Holiday 2015 Noir Color Collection

November 5th, 2015 by Karen 26 Comments

There should be a video embedded in this post. If you can’t see it, you can click here to watch it on YouTube.

So, the Tom Ford Holiday 2015 Noir color collection. I mean, really, it’s not like I was going to do a freaking cut crease with these products. The collection has smoky eyes written all over it!

And when I realized that, of course I had to do a little wiggle dance in my chair, because nine times out of 10, I’ll pick smoky eyes over just about anything else, so thank you, Tom, for helping me indulge my natural smoky eye makeup tendencies. Sending you matte lipstick kisses from across the Interwebs. 🙂

Cream and Powder Eye Color in Night Sky ($66)

Five of the seven pieces in the limited edition release, which is available now online and at Tom Ford counters, are eye products. The other two include a black nail polish and a re-promoted matte pinkish nude lipstick from the permanent line, and for extra fancy effect, all of them even have special limited edition packaging (see how the caps are black instead of the regular dark brown?).

[Continue reading…]

Viktor & Rolf Flowerbomb Turns 10 With a New Birthday Set

November 5th, 2015 by Karen 16 Comments

Here’s a floral bombshell for ya: Viktor & Rolf Flowerbomb is 10 years old.

Can you believe that…? It came out a decade ago, and I remember that, too. I remember my perfume junkie friends basically losing their sh*t, LOL!

So many scents have come and gone since then, but Flowerbomb stood the test of time. It’s a floral oriental with notes of jasmine, rose, orchid and patchouli.

I wore it regularly for a while after it came out, and man! — good memories. El Hub was still El Boyfriend back then… I don’t even think we’d moved in together yet. This was back when El Hub lived in a small one-bedroom apartment in the town of Tiburon, California, back before we knew Sir Tabs. The only cat in our life was the pint-sized black cat who lived with the people next door. She stopped by a lot to say hello, so we named her Sugar…even though that wasn’t her real name. 🙂

I wonder if she’s still around…

Anywho! I put Flowerbomb on my wrists this morning for the first time in years, and it smells just as warm, cozy and ladylike as I remember. If you like Chanel Coco Mademoiselle and Stella, I bet you’ll like it.

To commemorate Flowerbomb’s tenth anniversary, Viktor & Rolf released a special limited edition keepsake boxed set with 10 small 0.24-oz. bottles of Flowerbomb eau de parfum ($130, available now at Viktor & Rolf counters and online).

The inside design kinda looks like sparkly spinning fireworks, doesn’t it?
[Continue reading…]

Sephora Bright Future Gel Serum Concealer: I Love This Stuff!

November 4th, 2015 by Karen 56 Comments

A bright future.

I hope so. I hope we all have a bright future, and despite my infatuation with post-apocalyptic zombie TV shows (and one in particular), I REALLY do think the future looks bright.

So…why am I talking about this?

Because of these Sephora Bright Future Gel Serum Concealers ($14 each and available in MANY shades). I stumbled on them back in September and have been using them regularly since.

When you haven’t touched what had been your holy grail concealer (NARS Pure Radiant Creamy Concealer) in two months, it’s time to give what you have been using in its place a shout-out and a thumbs-up.

So this is me giving an official shout-out to these full-coverage gel concealers: Haaaaay! 🙂

[Continue reading…]

Buxom and bareMinerals Holiday 2015 Highlights

November 3rd, 2015 by Karen 14 Comments

If you’re reading this in the newsletter and can’t see the video, you can also click here to watch it on YouTube.

buxom bareminerals holiday 2015 — Highlights from the Buxom and bareMinerals Holiday 2015 collections…

Buxom, bareMinerals and the phrase “Bay Area,” which is where both of the aforementioned companies are headquartered (in San Francisco), all start with the letter “B,” as does the word “bad@ss,” which is what you probably are if you’ve already finished your holiday shopping.

Have you?! Because if you have, I bow down!

For the rest of us penitent procrastinators, there are fewer than 10 weeks left till Christmas! We’re in the single digits now, so if you need help with gift ideas for the makeup lovers in yo’ life, consider these new holiday sets from Buxom and bareMinerals.

Both lines launched their limited edition holiday collections last month, and here are some of the best gifting options, IMO. 🙂

buxom leave your mark kit — The Buxom Leave Your Mark Collection (a $59 set)

[Continue reading…]

PUR Eye Polish Cream Shadow: A Fast Formula for Lustrous Lids

October 28th, 2015 by Karen 35 Comments

Despite the probably Horror movie-influenced fact that the “Eye Polish” in PUR Eye Polish cream shadow makes me think of somebody spit-shining my eyeballs, these $26 cream shadows aren’t sinister at all.

They’re actually pretty darned rad!

I mentioned one of of the shades, shimmery, smoky golden olive Caviar in my gold and olive Fall-Tastic Face of the Day last week. Caviar is one of the six shades, all of which work great as bases, as primers for powder shadows or all by their lonesome as traditional cream shadows.

They vary in terms of shimmer, with some being more pearlescent and less metallic than others. Caviar clocks in at “glittery to the extreme.”

Among the other shades are bronzed opalescent Suede; shimmery, plummy fuchsia Velvet; shimmery champagne apricot Silk; pearlescent pale pink Satin and pearlescent champagne Cashmere.

Now, just because these come in little pots doesn’t mean they’re as dense as MAC Paint Pots or as spongy as the Chanel Illusion D’Ombres. They have an usual formula the likes of which I don’t think I’ve ever seen before. It’s thinner than usual…almost like a liquid shadow, but not quite.

Picture a very thin, runny mousse.

And, yes, I suggest keeping yo’ digits on hand (HAHAHA, LAME PUN ALERT!), because the silicone applicator they come with? — almost useless. The few times I used it, the product went on patchy and uneven.

[Continue reading…]

Neat and New to Me: MAC Crème D’Nude Cremesheen Lipstick

October 28th, 2015 by Karen 26 Comments

mac creme d nude — MAC Cremesheen Lipstick in Crème D’ Nude ($17)

Neat and New to Me

Unlike my Unsung Heroes series, which features permanent collection products I’ve known and loved a long time, the Neat and New to Me series showcases permanent collection products that slipped under my radar for a while, but then I discovered them! — and now I think they’re neat and new to me.

Makeup rules are meant to be broken, but I still got mad love for the makeup law-abiding classics, like looks with bold smoky eyes and nude lips, which I blame, in part, on $17 MAC Crème D’Nude Cremsheen Lipstick.

Some makeup looks are like zombies, ya know? (Because it always comes back to zombies…) But I mean that figuratively this time. 🙂 Basically, they never stay out of style for long.

So while I’ll always love my fellow makeup rule-breakers, especially when you do that smoky eye-bold lip thing (keep workin’ that emerald green smoky eye with those glossy, opaque hot pink lips, hunty!), I still gotta have my classics.

Pale muted peachy beige Crème D’Nude totally understands that. It’ll make you want to strip down to your skivvies and run around the office screaming in ecstasy.

OK, maybe not…but it does flat-out rock. It’s full coverage, smooth, moisturizing, and its warm peachy tones keep me looking like I’m actually running a healthy 98.6°F temperature. By comparison, I can’t stand it when pale beige lippies make me look like I just crawled out of the ground like an extra in MJ’s Thriller video.

Hell no! That’s sooo not happening with Crème D’Nude.

[Continue reading…]