Product Reviews

Too Faced Melted Latex Liquified High Shine Lipstick: It’s a Sticky Situation

July 10th, 2017 by Karen 20 Comments

too faced hopeless romantic — Hopeless Romantic

OH, MY GOSH. These new Too Faced Melted Latex high-shine lipsticks are fascinating. They are SO shiny and SO opaque, and when you wear ’em, it looks like you’re wearing patent leather on your pout.

The new line of cool, artsy, edgy lipsticks reminds me of thick, pigmented, sticky lip glosses with full-tilt coverage, and they’re available now in 16 $21 shades. Here are swatches of 14 of them.

I think they look super cool, but man! — they sure are uncomfortable. I can’t really have them on my lips for long, but not because they’re drying, because they aren’t, or because they taste or smell funny, because they don’t (they taste/smell like Hawaiian Punch, which to me is a good thing because it brings back childhood memories).

I can’t keep them on my lips because they’re just really, REALLY sticky, and really thick. Like, if you’re familiar with the MAC Lipglasses and how sticky they are, multiply that feeling by 10, and that’s how these sticky these feel.

I tried to make it through the day wearing coral Safe Word (swoon!), but I felt like I was making out with a jar of caramel all day long.

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#FragranceFriday: Pinrose Fragrances in Lil’ Dipper, Sun Saint, Pillowtalk Poet, Secret Genius, Wild Child and Tambourine Dreamer

July 7th, 2017 by Karen 6 Comments

pinrose lil dipper — I may or may not have sprayed this everywhere…including my elbows

You know, ultimately, it’s all about the scent. When it comes to perfumes. I know this. But I can’t help it. The visuals have a big say in the matter. They go a long way toward determining whether I’m going to like a fragrance. I just LOVE me a beautiful bottle! I love walking into my room and seeing my display of perfumes and all the pretty bottles sparkling in the morning sunlight.

Their bottles are what drew me to Pinrose. The Bay Area-based perfume brand was started by two friends in 2014 (GO, BAY AREA BEAUTY BRANDS!).

Right now it’s still a small niche brand, but you can find them at Sephora. I was at the Novato store a few weeks ago, and the display…oh, my gosh. When I saw all the bottles lined up together like a pretty perfume rainbow, I stopped in my tracks!

All of their fragrance bottles are eau de parfums, and they last a good, long while. I can still smell them after a full eight hours on my skin.

Pinrose also sells these fragrant pre-soaked towelettes called the Petals Packs.

So if you don’t wanna carry a bottle around (which I totally get), you can still touch-up your scent on the go. You can build your own Petal Pack of 25 towelettes for $30 on the Pinrose website, and they’re a good gift idea and a way to test drive the different aromas without committing to one of the $65 bottles, or you can get one of the pre-selected Petal Packs on the website, where you get 20 towelettes for $24. (FYI, but the Petals do smell strongly of alcohol when you first open them, but the alcohol scent dissipates after about 30 seconds.)

Oh, and Sephora has a set of nine little roller balls for $47, so that’s another way to try a bunch at once.

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You Had Me at Aloha, Cargo! The Cargo Limited Edition Summer Eyeshadow Palette

July 7th, 2017 by Karen 10 Comments

cargo you had me at aloha palette 1 — Aloooooha, Cargo! Clockwise from the Cargo You had Me at Aloha Eyeshadow Palette in the upper right: Cargo Swimmables Waterproof Mascara Top Coat, Cargo Color Sticks in Key West and Maui and Cargo Swimmables Longwear Shadow Sticks in Morro Bay and Hudson Bay

I do this thing sometimes (sometimes? ALL THE TIME!) when I come back from a trip, where I think back to where I was and what I was doing the day before, or the week before, at that exact time, like, what I was doing in Hawaii exactly one week before at 9:05 a.m., and I do that until the fresh fabulousness of the trip fades from my memory…

I was thinking about Hawaii this morning as I sipped a cup of Kona coffee in the lady sanctuary. I wish I were there today… Le sigh!

To feel a little closer to the islands, I busted out the $34 Cargo You Had Me at Aloha Eyeshadow Palette, which has Hawaii-inspired colors and a Hawaiian theme.

cargo you had me at aloha palette — Aloha, swatches!

The You Had Me at Aloha LE summer palette has 12 powder shadows that appear exclusively in it, and it comes with a pretty soft dual-ended brush and a black eyeliner, which, by the way, is EPIC!

I know that it’s a little weird to obsess over a black liner in a palette that also contains gorgeous golds, teals and purples (also known as “My summer jams”), but the liner… It’s full-sized, pitch black, and it totally sticks to my lash and water lines. Plus, it doesn’t move! It’s lovely, and now, like the makeup weirdo I am, I have to hunt it down in more shades.

cargo you had me at aloha palette k — I’m wearing the palette on my lids, Cargo Swimmables Shadow Stick in Morro Bay on my lower lash line, and the Cargo Color Sticks in Maui and Key West mixed together on my cheeks and lips.

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This New Palette By Too Faced Is a Glitter Bomb, and That’s a Good Thing

July 7th, 2017 by Karen 28 Comments

too faced glitter bomb palette — The Too Faced Glitter Bomb Palette, also known as “An Explosion o’ Glitter!”

First time I played with this new palette from Too Faced, I reached a point during which glitter was seconds away from ending up all over the place…so I came to the following conclusion: why not put it in the crease, too? And the inner corner? And on my lower lash line?! Basically, why not put this glitter everywhere!?

I mean, if you’re gonna go there already, don’t just dip a toe in the glitter pool. GO. ALL. IN.

This fun $45 LE lioness is available right meow with eight powder glitter shadows, as well as two bases that you can layer under the shadows if you want. There’s a matte white base to brighten colors and a black shade to darken them.

too faced glitter bomb palette 1 — GLITTER!!!

I think that the name, Glitter Bomb, is a ref to something that anyone who plays with glittery makeup knows. “That shadow is a glitter bomb!” You know, when it gets all over the place, which you have to expect when you’re working/playing with glitter sometimes. And it happens here.

This lives up to its name. It is a glitter bomb, but it helps to layer a little glitter glue on your lids first, and then apply the glitters with a wet brush.

Also, for sure, do you eyes first. Then clean up whatever bits land on your face after you’re done. Or, you can just leave the glitter in you brows and on your nose like you meant to do it, haha. Like I said…ALL. IN.

too faced glitter bomb palette k2 — I’m wearing Glitter Goals on my lids, Oh Its On in the crease, Rose All Day in the inner corner and Splash along the lower lash line.

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The NARS Powermatte Pigments: The Nudes

July 6th, 2017 by Karen 9 Comments

nars get it on — Get It On! (actually…the exclamation mark is mine, because I like the oomph it adds to this tan rose’s name.)

I realize that some of the shades in this batch of nude NARS Powermatte Pigments look straight-up bold on me, but I figure they could work as nude lippies for deeper divas.

Which reminds me, that’s one thing I’ve always loved about NARS. They try to cover the color gamut with shades for lighter lovelies AND darker divas, so yay, diversity! 🙂

Today is the day, too. These new $26 Powermatte Pigments are available as of meow (here’s a more in-depth review).

These moisturizing liquid lipsticks last about five hours for me, and they have a thinner consistency than usual for their liquid brethren. They’re almost watery, and yet gloriously easy to control.

Overall, I’m all about the dainty pink nudes, like Get It On and American Woman. I also like Slow Ride, which is a brownish pink, because there’s something kinda ’90s about it.

If you, like my friend Bernadette (hey, Berna!), whom I was just talking to last week, have designs on quitting your nude lip habit and moving into bolder colors, well, you probably wouldn’t wanna get anywhere near the Powermattes, because these nudes are addictive. But girl, I won’t stop you from feeding that nude fire if you have to. ?

nars save the queen — Save the Queen — a dusty mauve

nars american woman — American Woman — a chestnut rose

nars walk this way — Walk This Way — a rosy pink

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The NARS Powermatte Pigments: The Brights and Bolds

July 6th, 2017 by Karen 11 Comments

nars low rider — Wearing the new bright peachy pink NARS Powermatte Pigment in Low Rider on my pout

If you grab one or more of the new NARS Powermatte Pigment liquid lipsticks, of which there are 20 shades that are $26 each (available starting tomorrow at NARS boutiques and the NARS website and coming July 13th to Sephora), may I gently suggest that you refrain from applying them in public? Because it is SO frightening when someone with bright red liquid lipstick all over their teeth smiles at you. In a way, it’s kind of vampire chic, but in another way, it’s f*cking scary!

My bad for not realizing that ya only need a little for full coverage…

nars get up stand up — NARS Powermatte Pigment in Get Up Stand Up, a bright pinkish coral

By the time I finished swatching this batch, which includes the bright and bold colors in the line (I’ll have pics of the nude ones soon), I figured out the best way to apply them is to take a little off the applicator before touching it to your lips.

nars give it up — NARS Powermatte Pigment in Give It Up, a fuchsia

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Milk Makeup Lip + Cheek in Perk and (Mis)Adventures in No-Makeup Makeup

July 6th, 2017 by Karen 11 Comments

milk makeup lip cheek perk — The face I make when I get my hands on an iced green tea latte…

There are days when I wake up looking like I just climbed out of my crypt after 24 mummified years…

Yesterday was one of those days, so I took Milk Makeup Lip + Cheek in Perk out to play, and put a little on before my Starbucks’ run.

For testing.

I swiped it on bare cheeks, blended out the edges and headed out the door, excited about the prospect of caffeine in my near future. 🙂

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The Rouge Bunny Rouge “Loess” Eye Shadow Palette Channels Chanel

July 5th, 2017 by Karen 12 Comments

There’s a morsel of that marvelously mysterious Chanel wow factor fluttering about the cool-toned Rouge Bunny Rouge Loess Eye Shadow Palette, and oh! — I’d also like to say that if you have warm-toned skin like I do, I’m 100% convinced that warm-toned wonder women can also wear cooler tones like these.

Now back to what I was saying about that Chanel wow factor…

RBR had fun with the finishes in this pigmented palette in a way that reminds me of Coco. There are four powder shadows — a rose, a beige, a purplish taupe and a gray — with finishes that combine the best of the satin and matte worlds. They blend with the ease of a satin but look a little like mattes on the lids. You can see see that a glint is there at first glance, but when you pause to look more closely, where did it go!? it disappears…

Don’t you just love subtle touches in makeup like that?

rouge bunny rouge loess k — Wearing the Rouge Bunny Rouge Loess palette on my lids and NARS Save the Queen Powermatte on my lips

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