Makeup and Beauty Blog | Makeup Reviews, Swatches and How-To Makeup
A beauty blog blooming with fresh makeup reviews, swatches and beauty tips from your friendly neighborhood beauty addict
It may be cold and rainy here in the Bay Area tonight (boo!), but at least I don’t have to see dudes with long toenails wearing flip-flops. #glasshalffull
The rain also gives me an excuse to stay home and gaze at the sparkly clutch that comes with Sonia Kashuk’s new $24.99 Gilded Cages Holiday Brush Set…
(And rub the six ultra plush brush heads all over my face.)
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QUESTION: What’s better than a fantabulous smokey eye look?
ANSWER: A fantabulous smokey eye look with a twist!
There are so many reasons to like Sonia Kashuk’s new four-piece Precious Gems Lip, Liner & Nail Set, like the price (just $12.99), and Sonia’s contemporary take on the mixed metal theme…
…but my top reason, by far, is the liquid eye liner that comes with the set. It’s a metallic, rosy golden taupe with a mirror-like shine that illuminates lash lines like Hollywood special effects.
Remember the gorgeous Chanel Rose Platine eyeliner from spring 2011? Well, this metallic meistro is like a liquid liner version of that.
I almost can’t believe the set is only $13, because it kinda looks like something Coco would do (and sell for considerably more!).
To take a pair of smokey eyes for a metallic walk on the wild side, just do your regular smokey eye look first (here I’m wearing MAC Patina Eyeshadow on top of a base of MAC Feline Eye Kohl). Then, line your upper lash lines with the liquid liner from the set.
The stuff is packed with metallic pigment, so one or two layers should do the trick.
I’ve been paying weekly visits to the milk chocolate buttercerams at See’s Candies lately, and yes, it’s only a matter of time before my transformation into Liz Lemon is complete!!
Soon, my delicious little friends will probably start wondering about the nature of our relationship…
“Where’s that hella short cat lady with the cray-cray hair who always visits on Sundays?” they might ask, if/when I miss a visit.
Heck, they might even shed a tiny, sugary tear…
And I would reply, “It’s nothing personal, guys. It’s just that my sweet tooth has become totally infatuated with the flavors and scents of the new $25 LORAC Sweet Temptations Lip Gloss Collection.”
Each of the six sheer, shiny glosses in the set are named after sweet treats, like Butterscotch and Creme Brulee, and they smell and taste like them, too.
But that’s not even the best part… LORAC actually figured out a way to make the scents and flavors good!
Each gloss is tastefully done (LOL!), and not artificially sweet.
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Like tiramisu, onions and intricate and nefarious plots, there are many layers to the pencil liners in the new $36 Make Up For Ever Aqua Eyes Collection.
Three, to be exact. 🙂
That’s the number of layers MUFE suggests you apply along your water lines with each of the six silky smooth, waterproof liners that come with the set.
(Oh, they also work pretty well on lash lines, in case you were wondering.)
Just slick on a layer, wait for it dry (takes about a minute), and repeat two more times.
When I follow MUFE’s suggestion and apply three layers, these liners last 6-8 hours on my water lines, sans smudging, and they resist water every step of the way.
That’s not bad.
When I wear ’em on my lash lines, I feel like I can get away with fewer layers; one or two does the trick.
Like the All Eyes On You set we looked at earlier today, this one’s also a good value. Buying the two full-size liners separately would cost $36, but with the set, you also get four additional travel-sized colors for the same price.
MUFE was kind to include a nice mix of practical and fun colors here, and the kit even has a couple of MUFE shades I’ve previously worn down to stubs.
The shimmery, pearly peach, codenamed #23L Champagne, works almost as well as caffeine. When I wear it on my lower water lines, I don’t look half as tired, LOL! And on days when I just want a little soft definition, #21L Metallic Grey hits the spot.
In one direction, I see cat butt…
In the other, I see a kick-@ss holiday makeup set — in this case, the new $59 five-piece Make Up For Ever All Eyes On You, which caught my attention when it screamed, “stellar value!”
It’s one of the new makeup sets now available at Sephora (doesn’t it seem like there’s a new one every other day?).
Four of the five pieces in the set are discounted and full-size. Purchased separately, the shimmery pinkish beige Aqua Cream #16, the two Aqua Eyes liners in #0L Mat Black and #21L Dark Gray and the tube of jet black Smoky Lash mascara would cost $82, so $59 represents a pretty good savings there.
And the cherry on top? — the fifth piece, a souped-up, sample-sized HD Microfinish Powder. That, and the surprisingly useful “Get The Look” tutorials on the back of the box, take this already good set to the next level.
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Three things I realized this morning while shuffling on the treadmill…
1. You know you’re watching too much late-night television when most of the products on your Christmas list have a red label with the words, “As Seen on TV,” on the packaging.
2. You know you’re a cat lady when you’re watching Days of Our Lives (remember when Marlena was possessed?!), and you swear that instead of Bo calling Hope by her nickname, “Fancy Face,” you hear him say, “Fancy Feast.”
“I love you, Fancy Feast…”
LOL!
3. You know you’ve seen too many spy films when the first thought you have after seeing the new $35 Guerlain Shine Automatique Hydrating Lip Shine Lipsticks in Lou-Ling and Altoum is, “Wow! These lipsticks could double as weapons…or remote controls for tricked-out cars that can fly.”
Yeah.
Both are from Guerlain’s new limited edition Liu holiday collection, and NOT the secret Q branch of MI6, despite appearances.
The Guerlain Shine Automatique Hydrating Lip Shines are some of the most espionage-appropriate lipsticks around. Caught behind enemy lines without your travel makeup kit? Surrounded by covert agents closing in on your location? No problem. Just slide the little button up on the side of the gilded tube with you thumb, and the lipstick bullet pops up from the top.
BAM! — instant beauty switchblade.
Take that, forces of evil. 🙂
And these don’t just have practical, good-looking tubes. I also love how they look and feel on my perennially parched lips — sheer and shiny, with glitter to spare, and a featherweight, moisturizing formula.
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You know, it’s funny. A lot of people don’t know this, but M. Night made a sequel to The Sixth Sense.
Yes, it was called The Seventh Sense, and it actually went straight to video, but don’t let that fool you — it’s surprisingly good.
It stars Bruce Willis, back again as the helper/mentor character, and that same little boy, except now the boy’s an aspiring 20-something makeup artist.
In one revealing scene at a dark Nordstrom counter in a locked shopping center after regular store hours, the young man, his face as white as a sheet, turns to Bruce Willis and says, “I see glittery Chanel quads…”
Yeah…it doesn’t really work as well the second time around, but maybe that’s why the movie went straight to video. 🙂
Still, between you and me, I prefer the young man’s preternatural power in the sequel. Forget the ability to see dead people. I’d rather see Chanel.
It could be a little freaky, though, especially when I slip into one of my spells, because that’s when I have the premonitions, like the one I had the first time I saw the new $58 Chanel Les 4 Ombres Quadra Eye Shadow in Intuition.
Sometimes I even speak in tongues…
“Blurzzzzing murrrphhh gabbabababa boo…” which, roughly translated, means “The sheer and glittery cool-toned pink, gold, taupe and brown powder eyeshadows in this quad awaken eyes like an upbeat Hall & Oates song.”
“Fluurgig arrrghh shloooperbuer…” which is something else I might say, means “Your lids will glow like an apparition. Never mind the minor fallout from the tiny flecks of silver glitter.”
Yesterday I did an epically fast eye makeup look with the new Chanel Illusion d’Ombre Longwear Eyeshadow in Abstraction ($36) because I needed to rush outta the house for this:
These are fancy-schmancy, kinda hipster versions of char siu bao from a food truck called Chairman Bao at Off the Grid in Larkspur yesterday.
Bao, also known as manapua in Hawaiian pidgin English, are soft, hella good steamed dough buns (or sometimes wraps) filled with pork, beef, tofu and/or veggies.
They’re among the most delicious foods known to humankind…
Almost as delicious as Chanel’s Abstraction, the cream eyeshadow I wore all weekend long. 🙂 Mmm… Chanel. Delicious and, unlike bao, fat free.
Part of the new Les Expressions de Chanel collection, Abstraction is a peachy coral cream eyeshadow with purple flair and flecks of golden glitter. It’s very unique, and unlike anything else in my cream shadow stash.
I think it’s fab for soft washes of color and/or a sheer, shimmery glow. If you like wearing eyeshadow but prefer quiet, laid back looks, or if you have mature skin (because Abstraction kindly steers clear of my fine lines), Abstraction’s worthy of OM-NOM-NOM!
Oh, but no matter how loudly your hubby grumbles about how hungry he is, and how you’re gonna miss the food trucks if you don’t hurry up and get ready…don’t skip the primer with this bad boy.
