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Product Reviews

H2O+ Beauty Milk Body Butter

August 16th, 2017 by Karen 3 Comments

milk body butter
H2O+ Beauty Milk Body Butter ($22 for an 8-oz. bottle)

Once upon a time, my good friend Cindy dated a boy who she ended up breaking up with because he smelled like milk, and for years after that, whenever I open a carton of milk, I thought to myself, “This smells like Cindy’s ex-boyfriend.”

I wonder if he smelled like Milk Body Butter by H2O+ Beauty, because if he did, he would have smelled hella good! 🙂

H2O+ Beauty Milk Body Butter has been in the H2O+ line for years, but it was recently re-branded. It looks different than it did when I used it in the early aughts. It was my jam one year, but I remember it smelling more milky. This version smells fresher than I remember it, and it has an herbal, lavender tinge.

It’s very cozy! I like it.

Even though it’s called a body butter, the formula is closer to a lotion. The consistency is like the Caudalie and Natura Brasil lotions I’ve been using lately, and it absorbs quickly and doesn’t make the back of my knees or the crook my elbows sticky (always a good thing). For sure, I’ll have to replace it with something richer when fall rolls around, but it’s moisturizing enough for now to prevent tumbleweeds from rollin’ through the dry desert landscape that is my shins.

H2O+ Milk Body Butter is part of the larger H2O+ Milk line that also includes a body wash and a scrub, and it’s made without mineral oil, phalates and parabens.

Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,

Karen

There are 3 comments on this post. Leave yours.

Categories: H2O+ Beauty, Product Reviews, Skin Care

Chanel New Dawn Le Vernis Longwear Nail Colour

August 16th, 2017 by Karen 8 Comments

chanel new dawn swatch
When you’re trying to pose with your nail polish and you feel hella awkward

OK, makeup conspiracy theory time! 🙂

Here goes: I think there’s something going on with the bottles of Chanel Le Vernis nail polish in the Travel Diary collection, because they look so completely different in the bottles than they look on my nails.

I dunno… The first shade I tried, Horizon Line, and now this second one that I’m wearing right meow, New Dawn, look dull and uninspiring in their bottles, but it’s a whole different story on your paws.

chanel new dawn swatch
Two coats of Chanel New Dawn

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There are 8 comments on this post. Leave yours.

Categories: Chanel, Nails, Product Reviews

Chanel Palette Essentielle: Fab, Facile Face Palettes for Dewy, Fresh-Faced Looks

August 16th, 2017 by Karen 16 Comments

chanel beige intense palette essentielle
Chanel Palette Essentielle in Beige Intense ($61)

Way to stay ahead of the curve, Team Chanel! The three new Chanel Palette Essentielles from the Travel Diary Fall 2017 Collection go against the grain of the “more is more” trend taking over the mainstream makeup world right now.

They strip face makeup down to the bare essentials — a cream concealer, cream blush and a cream highlighter. That’s it. As a makeup junkie who now wholeheartedly embraces minimal looks, I like it.

Travel Diary is Chanel’s LE fall collection, and it’s inspired by a California road trip that Chanel Makeup Designer Lucia Pica took with her friends up the California coast.

Based on these face palettes alone, even though I’ve also liked everything else I’ve tried from this collection, I can tell that Lucia totally gets me. I mean, did homegirl peek into my makeup bag?? Because these palettes are exactly the kind of palettes I’d want to bring if I were road-tripping.

chanel beige medium palette essentielle
Chanel Palette Essentielle in Beige Medium ($61)

There are three of them — a light, medium and darker option — and they’re all available now with the rest of the collection at Chanel counters and online.

Peach-toned concealer obliterates dark circles! NEWS AT 11!

There’s so much I love about these palettes, starting with the peach-toned concealer… It OBLITERATES dark circles. It’s brilliant.

I was a little concerned about the texture at first, because it feels dry — similar to Laura Mercier Secret Camouflage, which I’ve never had great luck with (looks heavy on my skin and settle into my lines), but this version looks much more natural. I can’t tell where the concealer stops and my skin begins.

chanel palette essentielle beige intense
I’m wearing Chanel Palette Essentielle in Beige Intense under my eyes and on my cheeks, the Chanel Road Movie quad also on my eyes, and Chanel Rouge Coco in Daylight on my lips.

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There are 16 comments on this post. Leave yours.

Categories: Chanel, Face, Makeup, Palettes, Product Reviews

I’m Road-Trippin’ Over the Chanel Road Movie Les 4 Ombres Eyeshadow Palette

August 15th, 2017 by Karen 22 Comments

chanel road movie
The $61 Chanel Road Movie palette, available now in the Travel Diary Fall Collection

Holy highway, Thelma & Louise! I just realized that I don’t have a favorite road movie!

How’s that even possible? I’m such a movie fiend.

Oh, well. Thank you, Chanel Road Movie eyeshadow palette, for that realization.

Hmm… What about Speed starring Sandra Bullock and Keanu Reeves? It’s not really a road movie, but I love that cheesy classic (Thelma & Louise is another great one, of course).

Colors of the California coast

Road Movie ($61) is one of two limited edition quads in the Chanel Travel Diary Fall Collection that were inspired by colors of the California coast, and I can definitely see the colors of the state along the coast between LA and Big Sur.

There are deep, oceanic navy blues and teals in this eye quad, but let’s get real — the water is usually darker, murkier and scarier than we ever see it in makeup, LOL!

The quad also has a satiny golden brown, which is a powder shadow version of Memory, the cream shadow in this collection, and a matte tan that looks like golden Cali sand.

chanel road movie eyeshadow palette
That’s Road Movie on my lids and lash lines, Chanel Palette Essentielle in Beige Intense (from the Travel Diary Fall Collection) on my cheeks, and Chanel Rouge Coco in Experimental on my lips (also from Travel Diary).

Packed with pigment

Powerful pigment isn’t the first thing I think when it comes to Chanel quads. The brand usually pulls back on the pigment — but not too much — which makes it easier for mere mortals like me to blend them and sheer out the edges. That’s one of the reasons I love Chanel shadows so much for everyday looks. They’re juuust pigmented enough.

This quad? Road Movie has Make Up For Ever-caliber color. The shadows are intensely pigmented, especially the blue and teal, but they’re still surprisingly easy to work with.

chanel road movie eyeshadow palette
Ready to hit the road

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There are 22 comments on this post. Leave yours.

Categories: Chanel, Eyes, Makeup, Palettes, Product Reviews

Pixi MatteLast Liquid Lip: Lightweight, Long-Wearing $14 Liquid Lipsticks

August 15th, 2017 by Karen 10 Comments

pixi mattelast liquid lip
Hello, lovelies

My friends, we are living in an era of crazy lip colors.

Yes, it’s true. And I love the craziness! — the
greens, blues and other-worldly purples. It’s opening minds — boom! — and more and more makeup mavens are thinking about beauty in unconventional ways.

Still, sometimes I get a hankering for an old-fashioned flattering pink or coral like the ones in the new Pixi MatteLast Liquid Lip line. They’re $14 each and available now.

All five are fabulously wearable and fairly comfortable for a liquid lipstick.

The Pixi MatteLasts have a thin, watery consistency similar to the NARS Powermatte Lip Pigments (which are THE BEST liquid lipsticks out there right now IMO), so you only need a few drops for full coverage. As long as you’re careful to apply the littlest amount, they don’t feel suffocating or heavy, either, like most other liquid lipsticks feel.

The unscented, unflavored formula is also easy to apply quickly, which is fortuitous in this case because, wow! — these dry in less than a minute.

I still prefer my NARS Powermattes, though, because even though the Pixi MatteLasts feel fairly lightweight on my lips, the NARS Powermattes feel even lighter, and they’re much, MUCH more moisturizing.

Despite being a little drying, the MatteLasts are still pretty good, and they cost $12 less than the NARS version.

pixi pastel petal
Pastel Petal
pixi matte beige
Matte Beige

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There are 10 comments on this post. Leave yours.

Categories: Collections, Drugstore Beauty Finds, Lips, Makeup, Pixi, Product Reviews

BECCA Lush Lip Colour Balm for Build-Able Rich Browns and Burgundies

August 14th, 2017 by Karen 12 Comments

becca lush lip colour balm
The BECCA Lush Lip Colour Balms ($22 each, available now at Ulta)

Reading the names of the colors for the new BECCA Lip Colour Balms is like reading the menu at a hip neighborhood coffee shop.

There’s a Chai Crème, a Cherry Ganache, Café au Lait, Almond Fraise and a few others…YUM! “Yeah, can I please get a medium Toasted Hazelnut with 2% and no foam?”

Never been a fan of the foam…

Which reminds me, I found THE BEST coffee drink on planet Earth about a month ago. Problem is, it was two hours away, GAHHHH! But more on that in a few.

Look and feel like the Chanel Rouge Cocos

The BECCA Lush Lip Colour Balms are Ulta exclusives available now for $22 in the permanent line. They’re incredibly lightweight, hella hydrating, highly pigmented nude lip balms that won’t last long on your lips. I get about two hours at the most.

There are eight sheer shades, and you can build them up to medium coverage. For me they fall smack dab in the “shiny but not too shiny” category, a la the Chanel Rouge Cocos.

Nudes for all skin tones

I like that there are some rich browns and burgundies among them (good nude options for deeper skin tones), so they aren’t all just standard pale pinks and beige. BECCA has always been great about including shades for a wide range of skin tones, and they’re keeping it up here.

But do they taste like coffee?

I expected they might based on the shade names (which would be SO next level!), but alas, they don’t.

They taste a little like vanilla. Maybe. If I close my eyes and think about it, LOL!

Chai Creme, the one closest to my natural lip color, has been chillin’ in my purse for the past two weeks, except when it isn’t because I’ve swapped it out for Ginger Vanille or Cafe Milk Chocolate. I dig that I can slick any of them on my lips without needing a mirror.

I’m diggin’ these darker nudes

They’re low-maintenance, and you can still dial up the intensity by adding an extra layer or two. Recommended if you like moisturizing lip colors but refuse to deal with drama!

becca lush lip colour balm cherry grande
Cherry Grande
becca lush lip colour balm black violet
Black Violet

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There are 12 comments on this post. Leave yours.

Categories: Becca, Collections, Lips, Makeup, Product Reviews

The MAC Pizza Cutter Eyeliner, Also Known As “MAC Rollerwheel Liquid Liner”

August 11th, 2017 by Karen 12 Comments

When pizza and liquid liner collide…

On the list of things I never would have imagined could be combined in a semi-logical way: liquid liner and pizza.

Props to MAC for bringing together these two unlikely cohorts in their new Rollerwheel Liquid Liner.

That’s the way to think outside the (pizza) box, man!

Rollerwheel made a big splash backstage at Fashion Week a few months ago where it was dubbed “the pizza cutter liner” because of the little pizza cutter-shaped wheel-doohickey on the applicator.

mac rollerwheel liquid liner
Pizza, pizza!

It’s not out yet, but it’ll be available on the MAC website starting August 17th (it’s LE), and then in stores from September 14th through October 26th, 2017.

mac rollerwheel liquid liner swatches
When you try to draw a pizza on your arm and fail… The blue shade is called Roller Royale, and the black shade is called On a Roll Black.

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There are 12 comments on this post. Leave yours.

Categories: Eyes, MAC Makeup, Makeup, Product Reviews

Meet MAC Basic Bitch From the MAC Girls Collection and Her Posse of Plums and Grays

August 10th, 2017 by Karen 18 Comments

mac basic bitch palette
From the MAC Girls collection, the new Basic Bitch palette ($39.50)

OK, now, last time I checked, my sense of humor was more or less intact, but I dunno… Would you like to open your makeup bag and see a palette with the words “Basic Bitch” on it?

Eh, I wouldn’t.

I totally get that it’s supposed to be cheeky, but I’m not feelin’ that word (bitch). I guess I’m a Prissy Princess that way, ha!

Meet the other MAC Girls palettes!

  • Prissy Princess
  • Mischief Minx
  • Rockin’ Rebel
  • Fashion Fanatic
  • Power Hungry

Word bias aside, I like this palette more than I thought I would. For a smoky eye palette, performance-wise, it’s downright exceptional. In terms of fallout, which is usually my main concern when it comes to dark eyeshadows like these, I hardly see any — so little that I think you could do your foundation first and whip out the smokiest of smoky eyes while only having to flick away a few flecks here and there. It’s kind of amazing that way.

mac basic bitch palette k down
I’m wearing the palette on my eyes and cheeks. The lip is Hourglass Confession Ultra Slim Lipstick in My Favorite.

I like that MAC loaded it up with grays, plums and purples (there’s also a bit of black, too, though), and there isn’t an incredibly wide chasm among the colors in terms of contrast, if that makes any sense. Feathering out deep grays and plums like these is much easier than blending out dark, starker black and black-based shades, so these smoky shades are surprisingly wearable.

mac basic bitch swatches
MAC Basic Bitch swatches

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There are 18 comments on this post. Leave yours.

Categories: Eyes, MAC Makeup, Makeup, Palettes, Product Reviews Keywords: mac basic bitch, mac girls

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