Product Reviews

Tom Ford Winter Soleil Collection: Soleil Blanc Body Oil

December 22nd, 2017 by Karen Leave a Comment

tom ford soleil blanc body oil — For when you’re feeling super fancy. This bad boy is from the new Tom Ford Winter Soleil collection, , on counters and online now.

Bora Bora. Bali. St. Barts. Novato, California.

Um… what?

Tom Ford Soleil Blanc Body Oil has got me like, “I don’t even care what you say, this tiny hamlet on the edge of Marin County IS a tropical destination!” As any $74 body oil should.

This one’s from the new Winter Soleil collection, and the amber, gardenia, caramel and vanilla notes radiating off my skin temporarily eases the freezing pins and needles in my toes.

Yes, dude, it DOES get cold in California. It’s been below freezing at night!

Soleil Blanc feels thinner and less hydrating than my usual fancy-schmancy tropical body oil, NARS Monoi Body Glow II, which is $59 and also has a prominent gardenia note, but Tom’s oil smells cozier, richer and deeper to me…and the scent lasts much longer on my skin.

It smells sooooo good, but you’ll probably need to also use it with a heavy moisturizer if you’ve got le legs de lizard like me.

If you’re in full-on treat yourself mode, just stay away, ’cause one sniff will tempt you. Or…you could just give in and risk your frugal, emoji-happy mother texting you the following sentence: “Who needs a $74 body oil? Really? ? ? ? I know your skin’s really dry, but stop being silly. ✋ ? ”

Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,

Karen

The Tom Ford Winter Soleil Collection Lip Slicks in Red Nectar, Spiked Cherry, Hibiscus Kiss and Bitten Berry

December 22nd, 2017 by Karen 4 Comments

OK, these are not for your pulse points. The new Tom Ford Lip Slicks look like roller ball perfumes, but they’re for lips (MWAH!), not wrists.

These lip oils do smell good, though… A little like vanilla, and they taste like it, to, so if you get any crazy ideas, who am I to deny you the thrill of slathering the crook of your neck with a luminous, jojoba- and coconut-laced lip oil?

Knock yourself out, kid.

I’ll be saving each precious drop of these juicy $54 click-y tubes o’ tint for my pout, which is no longer demanding the moisture it so richly deserves thanks to these hydrating helpers.

I’m kinda surprised I like them as much as I do, considering how slippery they are. But the oils feel good. So good… Especially when you’re rubbing the roller ball back and forth, back and forth…

I actually just stopped typing so I could do it with Hibiscus Kiss, and y-e-s, it was satisfying. Just like a Snickers.

Tom is frickin’ crazy if he thinks many women will throw down $54 for a lip tint, but I have to say, I’ve happily handed over $42 to the Sephora monster quite a few times for the Hourglass No. 28 Lip Oil (which is just as moisturizing as this, but thicker, un-tinted and stickier), so $54, while borderline insane for what’s more or less a shiny, tinted lip oil, doesn’t seem like that much more of a jump. Or, that could just be me trying to justify the makeup math in my head. *shrugs*

tom ford lip slick flat lay — I’m filing the Tom Ford Lip Sticks under “Fancy Ways to Soothe Dry Lips.”

tom ford lip slick swatches — Red Nectar, Spiked Cherry, Hibiscus Kiss and Bitten Berry

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The Shu Uemura Super Mario Bros. Collection Is Not Playing Games

December 21st, 2017 by Karen 4 Comments

super mario makeup collection shu uemura hair — When your middle school gaming dreams come true!

Look, ma, all those hours spent playing Super Mario Bros. on Nintendo — the O.G. version, the one before the 64! #datingmyself #nerdalert — were *not* a waste of time (“You should be reading the dictionary instead of playing games, Karen!”), because now I’m one of select few ’80s video game enthusiasts/beauty lovers who totally gets all the references in the Shu Uemura holiday collection.

super mario makeup collection shu uemura lipsticks — The Lipsticks (pink tubes) are sheer and the Tinted in Balm (black tube) is pigmented.

super mario makeup collection shu uemura packaging — Holla if you get the references…

See, that’s Mario swimming among the sea creatures in the underwater levels on the Cleansing Oil Shampoo ($57) and Cleansing Oil Conditioner ($58), and on the hair oil, Essence Absolue ($69).

Oh, and the pipe on the hair Master Wax ($39) jar and the brick walls on the lipstick tubes! And the Star Charm dangling from the Lash Curler!

super mario makeup collection shu uemura lash curler — Baby, you’re a star (the charm is removable).

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The Tom Ford Winter Soleil Eye and Cheek Palette in 04 Violette Argente

December 21st, 2017 by Karen 5 Comments

tom ford soleil eye cheek palette violette argente 1 — Is the purple a shout-out to the new color of the year?

I love how Tom Ford drops a summery collection in winter, because, obvs, the private jet’s waiting to whisk us off to the Maldives ?? for the holidays. *hair flip*

Winter Soleil is his latest LE launch, and it has a blush duo, four roller ball lip oils (so intriguing, I know!), a gardenia-scented body oil spiked with cozy vanilla, a highlighter, a lipstick, and an eye and cheek palette with a peppery, potent purple/vivacious violet.

tom ford winter soleil collection — Tom Ford Winter Soleil

Hmm… Now that I think about it, the eyeshadows in the $155 Violet Argente Eye and Cheek Palette roll deep with pigment, especially the bronze and the rosy burgundy shades, but the purple sparkles. 🙂 It’s the only one with glitter (dainty glitter, though), and therefore it’s also the one voted Most Likely to Exhibit Fallout (although it doesn’t, and neither do the other shades), and Most Likely to Invite Prince’s Ghost ?? Over for Afternoon Tea and Chitchat.

tom ford violet argente — Violet Argente on my lids and cheeks

tom ford violet argente swatches — From the top: the blush, the highlighter and the four eyeshadows

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DRYBAR Double Standard Cleansing + Conditioning Foam

December 21st, 2017 by Karen 9 Comments

I like foam in my gingerbread lattes and foam in my cleansing conditioners! I’m addicted to both.

WHAT’S A FOAM CLEANSING CONDITIONER?

Did you know that foam cleansing conditioners were a thing? Like O.G. cleansing conditioners, they gently wash and condition your hair (yes, at the same time), but unlike the traditional cleansing conditioners (co-washes), which have a lotion-like consistency, the foaming varieties are lighter, airier, and don’t weigh down your hair, resulting in a big boost in volume.

I had no idea they even existed until I started using R+Co Analog (it’s AMAZEBALLS), which, incidentally, I used to the very last drop.

I love it, but like a good beauty junkie, I wanted to see what else is out there, which is how Drybar Double Standard Cleansing Conditioning Foam ended up in my basket on my last Sephora trip.

It’s $28 for a 6.6-oz. bottle, and it’s just as good, IMO, if not a little better, than Analog in some ways.

Either way, I’m all about that #foamlife now. There’s no way I’ll ever go back to ye olde timey cleansing conditioners!

WHO’S IT FOR?

You name it — thick hair, fine, curly, color-treated manes.

The gal at Sephora who talked me into it told me that women who exercise a lot love it because it gently, but oh, so thoroughly, removes sweat and oil from your scalp, and it does it without stripping every micro-ounce of moisture or color from your head.

It’s a good fit for people who like to wash their hair daily but don’t want the drying effects that come with daily shampooing, or, peeps who want to avoid the buildup they get from traditional co-washes or heavy conditioners.

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Oribe Gold Lust Pre-Shampoo Intensive Treatment: Newest Hair Obsession

December 20th, 2017 by Karen 12 Comments

oribe pre shampoo treatment — Ah… Good stuff!

Legit. My stylist friend Alis — hair whisperer/red lipstick enthusiast/friend to the kittehs — used Oribe Gold Lust Pre-Shampoo Intensive Treatment pre-shampoo mask on me last Sunday, and my hair still feels like silk. It’s like sexy slow-mo Super Bowl commercial hair.

My brush slides right through it, all the way down, zooooop, and when I run my fingers through it, the strands feels soft and moisturized, like slippery, twirly cooked spaghetti.

Beyond boosting moisture, the mask is also supposed to reduce split ends and breakage long term and protect your color, thanks to UV filters.

Alis applied the mask, which smells like sandalwood and jasmine and feels like a hybrid gel-balm, on my dry hair from midshaft to the ends while my color processed on my roots.

Between the chatting, tea drinking and shameless reading of Us Weekly magazine (even the reeeeeeally old ones), I lose track of time at the salon, but I think it was on there for 30 minutes or so.

Then, Alis rinsed it out, worked shampoo and conditioner through, and styled.

Even now, days later and after a co-wash with Drybar Double Standard (more on this in a few) and a styling session with my trusty ghd curling iron, I can still feel the after effects of the mask’s softness and bounce, and seriously, where the heck did all the knots I usually have go? I have, like, no tangles.

See, this is why I listen when Alis raves about something, because the results are otherworldly hair.

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Maybelline Total Temptation Mascara Is Totally OK

December 19th, 2017 by Karen 12 Comments

This mascara smells like the beach.

Add that to the list of “Things I’d Never Said in 10 Years of Writing About Mascara.”

Somebody out there thought, “What the world needs right now is a mascara that smells like coconuts!”

And it smells really good, BTW. I think so. Maybelline Total Tempation Mascara smells exactly like coconut candy or a coconut-scented sunscreen at a surf shack.

Also, it comes in a pretty pink tube. 🙂

Plus and plus.

maybelline total temptation mascara wand — A closer look at the wand…

It’s the latest mascara from Maybelline. It’s $7.99 and part of their Total Temptation collection that officially arrives next month (although it’s on Amazon right now if you’re itchin’ to have a coconut-scented mascara in your life).

I think it’s A-OK… I don’t think it’s as life-changing as L’Oréal Lash Paradise, which is the current gold standard of dramatic drugstore mascaras for me because it does everything well — lengthen, separate, thicken, holds a lash curl — but Maybelline Total Temptation gets the job done.

maybelline total temptation mascara before after — Before and after Maybelline Total Tempation Mascara

My naturally uninspiring, fairly average lashes look bumped-up a notch or two when I wear a couple coats. They’re longer, thicker and spikier. The formula does gather groups of lashes together, and the spikes are eye-catching, especially from an arm’s length away, but I prefer the extreme separation and tighter curl I get from Lash Paradise.

If you find Total Temptation at the drugstore and pick it up, I don’t think you’ll be bummed out or anything. It’s a perfectly functional, simple, easy-to-remove drugstore mascara that boosts your lash game a little.

Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,

Karen

The Maybelline Total Temptation Shadow + Highlight Palette Is Coco-Nuts for Pigment and Staying Power

December 18th, 2017 by Karen 26 Comments

maybelline total temptation eye cheek palette k2 — Wearing the new $14.99 Maybelline Total Temptation Shadow + Highlight Palette on my lids and cheeks

What do you think about a palette that smells like coconuts? Are you intrigued and totally tempted? As a “food enthusiast,” I am, but when I sniff the new $14.99 Maybelline Total Temptation Shadow + Highlight Palette, and I really get my nose up in it, the coconut isn’t nearly as strong as it is in Maybelline’s Total Temptation Mascara, which seems kind of odd to me…

I dunno why, but I just expected the powder products to smell more coco-nutty than the mascara. It’s probably from the years of opening compacts and smelling roses or violets or gardenia or vanilla, or whatever else has been the scent du jour. I’m conditioned.

Or, maybe I’m just hungry and wish these eyeshadows and highlighters smelled like coconut macaroons. 🙂

maybelline total temptation eye cheek palette — Maybelline Total Temptation Shadow + Highlight Palette

Part of the Maybelline Total Temptation product family

The list price is $14.99, so it’s a little expensive for drugstore, and it’s part of Maybelline’s new Total Temptation line, which is available on Amazon now (the Amazon price for the palette is $9.49) and coming to drugstores next month.

There are eight powder eyeshadows and two powder highlighters divided into two groups.

One side of the palette has warm browns, peaches and golds, and the other has cool mauve, violet and charcoal shades.

maybelline total temptation eye cheek palette swatches — Maybelline Total Temptation Shadow + Highlight Palette swatches

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