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Product Reviews

Unsung Heroes: MAC In Extra Dimension Waterproof Mascara

October 3rd, 2017 by Karen 3 Comments

mac in extra mascara review
THE BEST mascara in the entire MAC fam IMO is this one here.

MAC has megatons of mascara. There must be millions of them! You know this. They aren’t one of those brands that only does, like, one mascara and calls it quit. No.

I think quite a few of MAC’s mascaras are good, too, like Extended Play. I’ve gone through a number of tubes of that one, among others, but there’s one MAC mascara I’ve been using more than the others for months, and I think it’s leagues above the rest. It’s In Extra Dimension Waterproof Mascara, the one in the curvy black tube with the teal MAC logos all over it.

Now, Karen is someone who finds fault with pretty much every mascara she tries. (Karen is also apparently someone who refers to herself in the third person!). But this one’s The. Best. in the entire MAC mascara family IMO. And, girl, I’ve tried them all!

You get so much bang for your buck with it, and the look is almost as dramatic as falsies, and that’s with just one or two coats.

I mean, it’s a mascara…so it’s not gonna make you look like you’ve grown Snuffalufagus fringe overnight, but if you want it all — thickness, length, curl separation and, most importantly, THE DRAMA — In Extra Dimension Waterproof brings it.

What’s an unsung makeup hero? For me, it’s an oftentimes underrated makeup morsel, a permanent collection product that scoots under the radar screen of many makeup lovers but regularly rocks my world. The long-running Unsung Heroes series features some of my favorites.

mac in extra dimension waterproof before after
Before and after! I’m also wearing MAC Studio Fix Fluid Foundation in NC 42 mixed with MAC Strobe Cream in Pinklite topped with MAC Mineralize Skinfinish Natural in Medium Golden (foundation and powder), Hourglass Radiant Bronze Light (blush), MAC Brow Sculpt Pencil in Spiked and Benefit clear Brow Gel (brows) and MAC Lipstick in MMMMM (from the new Nicki Minaj nude lipstick collection

There is one other thing I feel you need to know up front before you fall in love with it, and here it is: this mascara is truly waterproof. You’ll need an oil-based eye makeup remover and/or an eye-friendly cleansing balm to thoroughly take it off; otherwise, you’ll be stuck rubbing at your lashes for days and could even accidentally break them off (NOOOO!), which happened to me a couple times before I “wised up.”

Now when I wear this and go to remove my makeup at the end of the day, I soak a Shiseido Facial Cotton with a few drops of Klorane Waterproof Eye Make-Up Remover with Soothing Cornflower (you can get it at Sephora), then gently press the pad on top of my lashes. When I hold it there for a few seconds, this mascara slides right off.

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There are 3 comments on this post. Leave yours.

Categories: Eyes, MAC Makeup, Makeup, Product Reviews, Unsung Heroes

Victoria Beckham X Estée Lauder 2017

October 3rd, 2017 by Karen 11 Comments

estee lauder victoria beckaham 2017 blonde mink cheek creme top pic
Becks is baaaaaaack.

The following sentences must be sung to the tune of Wannabe by the Spice Girls:

So tell me what you want, what you really, really want.

Yo, I’ll tell you want I want, what I really, really want.

I wanna, I wanna, I wanna, I really, really, really want Victoria Beckham to do her own makeup line.

LOL! 🙂

But until then, she’s back! Victoria Beckham, previously known as Posh Spice, is back for round two with Estée Lauder, which means YAY for all of us who loved the heck out of the first collection she did with them last fall.

estee lauder victoria beckham 2017 eye kajal saphir vanille
From the left: Cheek Creme in Blonde Mink, Eye Kajal in Saphir Vanille and Skin Perfecting Powder

The new Victoria Beckham X Estée Lauder is available now on counters and online, and it carries over some of the elements that made last year’s launch a hit with me, like the gold and black packaging (the outer part has a different pattern, though) and the overall luxe, weighty, good-heirloom-jewelry-like vibe.

The pieces look expensive…and they are expensive, so brace yourself for the sticker shock of an $85 pressed powder (!), a $60 cream blush and a $38 eyeliner, which would STILL be crazy town even if I won Super Lotto.

Obvs, Becks is going for the Tom Ford and Chanel customer.

I’m aggressively playing with three of the new pieces, and MAN! — that cream blush? But before we get to that, FYI, VB brought back some things from last year, like the Bitter Clove eyeshadow and Modern Mercury highlighter, which I loved then and still love now, so if you missed out on them last year or have an empty to replace, now’s yo’ chance.

estee lauder victoria beckham 2017 swatches
Swatches from the top: Skin Perfecting Powder, Cheek Creme in Blonde Mink, Eye Kajal in Saphir and Vanille

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There are 11 comments on this post. Leave yours.

Categories: Estee Lauder, Makeup, Product Reviews

Product Shout-Out: Sweat Cosmetics Skin-Balancing Cleansing Towelettes

October 2nd, 2017 by Karen 3 Comments

sweat cosmetics skin balancing cleansing towelettes
These tantalizingly soft, textured Sweat Cosmetics Skin-Balancing Cleansing Towelettes feel almost like a terry washcloth.

These wonderful wipes are like a portable, post-workout shower, and they’re sensationally soft. They come in packs of 10 for $7 and 30 for $18 from Sweat Cosmetics.

The thing I notice about most specialized post-workout wipes, especially the ones that say they’re for face *and* body, is that they’re usually great at one thing but not great at another, like they’ll be fine for quickly cleaning my neck and down, but when I try using them to clean my face, they’ll sting or make my cheeks feel tight afterward. Or, they’ll leave a film that pills up when I put on sunscreen or BB cream.

Most of them aren’t great at both — face and body — but these are, so even even though you can use baby wipes or regular old makeup wipes to clean up after your workout, these are just better, heftier and softer than usual, like a really good cotton washcloth that smells like lavender and green tea.

sweat cosmetics skin balancing cleansing towelettes
The portable shower that fits in your purse

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There are 3 comments on this post. Leave yours.

Categories: Face, Makeup, Product Reviews, Sweat Cosmetics

MAC Nicki Minaj Lipstick and the First PSL of the Season

September 28th, 2017 by Karen 22 Comments

mac nicki minaj the pinkprint swatch
MAC Lipglass in Please Me, MAC Lip Pencil in Dervish and MAC Nicki Minaj Lipstick in The Pinkprint

I was going to go get my first Pumpkin Spice Latte of the season today (#TEAMPSL) without even filling in my brows or curling my lashes, but then I saw The Pinkprint, one of the MAC X Nicki Minaj Collection Lipsticks, and wondered what Nicki Minaj would do…

Because she’s kind of a bad-@ss, and I can’t picture her going low-key to Starbucks. Nah, she’d be all decked out with full-on glam and a pink wig.

Probably. 🙂

In honor of Miss Nicki’s latest MAC collab (she’s done others before), I put on mah eyeliner, mah lipstick and a smile, then grabbed my first PSL of the season…which was iced, actually, because it was hot enough here for shorts and a t-shirt.

With my first Pumpkin Spice Latte of the season and the new MAC Nicki Minaj Lipstick in The Pinkprint, along with a few other MAC lip goodies. (See below!) Oh, and please note the little photobomber in the left-hand corner…

Light nude pink The Pinkprint is one of two lip products in the collection with LE packaging, and it’s the product I’m playing with first from the release because I thought it would look yummy with blue eyeliner.

mac nicki minaj pinkprint swatch
The Pinkprint Lipstick on its own without any accouterments

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There are 22 comments on this post. Leave yours.

Categories: MAC Makeup, Makeup, Product Reviews

Tom Ford Boys & Girls: The Cutest Little Lipsticks That I Ever Did See

September 28th, 2017 by Karen 16 Comments

tom ford lips and girls
A handful (literally) of the new Tom Ford Boys & Girls Lipsticks ($36 each and available right meeeeeow)

When ya can’t decide which Tom Ford lipstick to wear, you wear them all. 🙂

These are from the new Tom Ford Boys & Girls lipstick collection available on counters now. They’re creamy and moisturizing, which is what I need today because my lips are killing me, Smalls!


Wait for it…

My kisser is crazy dry this morning, with a large scoop of EVEN MOAR DRY on the side. I mean, if my lips were a desert, they’d be frickin’ Death Valley right now.

Whoops! — there’s goes a tumbleweed. Let’s wait for it to roll by…

Thankfully, these Boys & Girls Lipsticks are hella moisturizing, and I think my dry lips and dry-lipped ladies will approve.

They also all have girl names, but after an exhaustive search, I’m sad to report that there isn’t one named Karen. 🙁

What’s up with that, Tom?

tom ford fabiola
Fabiola
tom ford monica
Monica

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There are 16 comments on this post. Leave yours.

Categories: Lips, Makeup, Product Reviews, Tom Ford Beauty

Neutrogena HydroBoost Exfoliating Cleanser and Hydrating Serum

September 27th, 2017 by Karen 12 Comments

neutrogena hydro boost
Neutrogena Hydro Boost

Nobody ever sat me down and told me this — I wish they had, because it was hard-learned knowledge: one day, your skin will probably change.

Mine did. I used to have very oily skin. When I was teenager, I was oil slick city, and my skin stayed that way throughout my 20s. Now, though, it’s mostly dry, except for my oily forehead and nose.

If I still had that same skin I had back in the day, I’d probably love new Neutrogena Hydro Boost Exfoliating Cleanser ($8.99) and Hydrating Serum ($19.99).

I think that both of these additions to the Neutrogena Hydro Boost line are mid-level moisturizers. If you have oily or normal skin that still likes/needs some extra moisturizing, but never quite gets so dry that it hurts to smile, then either of these might be a good fit for your face.

Buuut, before we go any further, can we just talk about the packaging for a second?

It’s beautiful, isn’t it? Bright, blue and cheerful? But, like, if you look at both of the bottles, they say “HYALURONIC ACID” right there on the front with a little squiggly symbol to get your attention.

Hyaluronid acid shows up in many highly rated moisturizing skin care products (here’s an excellent post on The Beauty Brains about it), but it’s listed down at the bottom of the ingredients for the Exfoliating Cleanser…

Neutrogena Hydro Boost Exfoliating Cleanser: Ingredients
Water, Sodium C14-16, Olefin Sulfonate, Cocamidopropyl Hydroxysultaine, Glycerin, Sodium Hydrolyzed Potato Starch Dodecenylsuccinate, Acrylates Crosspolymer-4, Cellulose, Polysorbate 20, Citric Acid Sodium Benzoate, Glycolic Acid, Fragrance, Lactic Acid, Sodium Hydroxide, Disodium EDTA, Carica Papaya (Papaya) Fruit Extract, —-> Hydrolyzed Hyaluronic Acid

And it’s also halfway down the list for the Hydro Boost Serum…

Neutrogena Hydro Boost Serum: Ingredients
Water, Glycerin, Dimethicone, Butylene Glycol, Neopentyl Glycol Diheptanoate, Aluminum Starch Octenylsuccinate, Isododecane, Dimethiconol, Ammonium Acryloyldimethyltaurate/VP Copolymer, Ethylhexylglycerin, Benzyl Alcohol, Sodium Lactate, Cetearyl Olivate, Bisabolol, Chlorphenesin, Sorbitan Olivate, Sodium PCA, Fragrance, —-> Sodium Hyaluronate, Acrylates/C10-30 Alkyl Acrylate Crosspolymer, Sorbitol, Chondrus Crispus Extract, Sodium Hydroxide, Proline, Portulaca Oleracea Extract, Propylene Glycol, Citric Acid, Magnesium Aspartate, Zinc Gluconate, Copper Gluconate

So it sure doesn’t look like one of the main ingredients in either of these… I’m just sayin’.

Neutrogena Hydro Boost Exfoliating Cleanser

This face wash , which feels like a jelly, exfoliates in two ways — one physical, and one chemical. The physical way seems to be via little beads, but the back of the bottle says that this doesn’t contain plastic microbeads.

I’ve been trying to figure out which ingredient actual does the physical exfoliating, but I haven’t figured it out yet. If you can tell from the list what’s doing the deed, let me know.

Whatever it is, the particles feel small, soft and mildly gritty, and they aren’t painful. This feels like an expensive exfoliating product from a high-end brand.

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There are 12 comments on this post. Leave yours.

Categories: Drugstore Beauty Finds, Face, Neutrogena, Product Reviews, Skin Care

Stila Stay All Day Cover Powder Finish Foundation & Cream Concealer

September 26th, 2017 by Karen 3 Comments

stila stay all day cover powder finish foundation concealer honey 8 packaging
Matte AND full coverage!

If James Bond’s tech team also made beauty gadgets, one would look like this. To the untrained eye, this doohickey may appear like a run-o-the-mill stick foundation, but flick the top and voila! — a hidden concealer. 🙂

Stila Stay All Day Cover Powder Finish Foundation & Cream Concealer ($36 and available now at Stila and Ulta) is for girls and guy who are committed to a full-coverage glam face beat, and it’s like getting three products in one, because the creamy, matte stick foundation dries to a matte powder finish, so you’re kinda-sorta also getting a setting powder.

Both the foundation and its peachy partner-in-crime satin-finish under-eye concealer cover everything, including post-pimple pigmentation, freckles, sunspots and under-eye circles. It comes in 16 shades, too.

Now, being a 40-something-year-old gal who loves natural-looking coverage and is brutally picky about concealers and face powders (I don’t like cake-y face makeup), I was skeptical about this at first, but turns out I like it a lot.

It lasts a solid eight hours and makes my skin look super smooth. I won’t wear it every day, though, because it feels heavier than the face makeup I normally wear, but if you like full coverage and don’t want your foundation to move, Stila’s got’chu covered.

stila stay all day cover powder finish foundation concealer honey 8 open
Sadly, a chunk got stuck to the cap when I opened it. 🙁 But see the secret concealer in the cap?
stila stay all day cover powder finish foundation concealer honey 8 before after
Before and after Honey 8, which looked like it would be a tad too light for me, but these oxidize a step. It looks a little light, yeah? But shortly after I took this pic, the foundation had oxidized about half a step, so it ended up being darker than it is in this pic.

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There are 3 comments on this post. Leave yours.

Categories: Face, Makeup, Product Reviews, Stila

The Awesome Hourglass Ambient Metallic Strobe Lighting Palette

September 26th, 2017 by Karen 14 Comments

hourglass ambient metallic strobe lighting palette
Highlighting cheeks and winning hearts all across the land!

When I finally enter Valhalla after my Viking funeral, I wanna be wearing rose gold Lucent Strobe Light from the Hourglass Ambient Metallic Strobe Lighting Palette ($62 and available meow) on my cheeks. My plan is to roll up to the afterlife lookin’ like Pat McGrath herself glowed my @ss up.

hourglass ambient metallic strobe lighting palette 2
From the pan on the left: shimmery pink Absolute Strobe Light, shimmery gold Pure Strobe Light and shimmery rose gold Lucent Strobe Light

I could pat-pat-pat and blend-blend-blend these highlighting powders on my face-face-face all day-day-day, and I know that’s weird to say because, as you know, I’m not the biggest fan of metallic highlighter that wolf whistles and catcalls as you’re strutting down the street, but the metallics in this palette are magical. Yeah, they’re shiny, and yes, they’re bright, but the powder grains are almost imperceptible. They’re even finer than the particles in the BECCA Shimmering Skin Perfector Pressed Powder Highlighters, and that results in a high beam glow that looks creamy and expensive. And that’s a rare find, my friend!

hourglass ambient metallic strobe lighting palette k2
The lip is MAC Lipglass in N-U-D-E, and the eyes are courtesy of the Kevyn Aucoin making Faces Beauty Book.

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There are 14 comments on this post. Leave yours.

Categories: Face, Hourglass, Makeup, Product Reviews

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