Product Reviews

Rita Hazan Root Concealer Touch-Up Stick

May 26th, 2017 by Karen 2 Comments

I’m holding on for dear life till tomorrow afternoon, which is when my roots will finally be obliterated into…oblivion (for at least six weeks!) by my friend and hair stylist Alis, THANK YE GODS!

It’s getting harder to hide those little gray baby hairs, which is why I’m living for the Rita Hazan Root Concealer Touch-Up Stick. It’s a chubby, waxy twist-up crayon for coloring in gray hairs and roots in those hard-to-reach places on your mug (and you can also use it on on your brows).

All I do is run the pencil back and forth a few times on the hairs I wanna cover. The pencil deposits a layer of product that feels like a thin wax, and then I comb the hairs with the spoolie that comes with it.

The product covers everything, and it stays put till I wash it out.

The sticks are $25 each at Sephora and Ulta and come in Dark Brown/Black, which is the shade I use, Light Brown and Dark Blonde.

I just gotta hang on for one more night… Come on, Karen, you can do it! LOL!

Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,

Karen

Urban Decay Naked Skin The Illuminizer Translucent Pressed Beauty Powder

May 26th, 2017 by Karen 4 Comments

urban decay naked skin illuminizer translucent pressed beauty powder packaging — There’s a new face powder from Urban Decay coming soon.

If you’ve ever wanted to decorate your face with gems — no, literally wear gems ? on your face — now’s your chance! Urban Decay has a new face powder coming out called Naked Skin The Illuminizer Translucent Pressed Beauty Powder.

Gosh, that’s a mouthful…

It has white synthetic sapphires in it for a lovely, luminous glow.

Sounds fancy, doesn’t it?

urban decay naked skin illuminizer translucent pressed beauty powder — Ooh, sleek packaging…

This is basically like a MAC Beauty Powder. You can wear it all over your face as a setting powder, or use it as a targeted highlighter for specific areas.

It just comes in one shade, but it’s supposed to be universally flattering. I built it up in the swatch below to give you an idea of the hue, which is kind of a peachy beige with little silver sparkles.

urban decay naked skin illuminizer translucent pressed beauty powder swatch — Swatch-a-rooooo!

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Drugstore Needs and Nopes, Vol. 2

May 26th, 2017 by Karen 16 Comments

I like kickin’ it at the drugstore because I can “ooh” and “ah” over eye palettes and shampoo without my wallet raising hell.

Here are some drugstore gems that caught my fancy this week, along with a few misses.

1. Revlon Kiss Balm Lip Balms ($4.99 each)

If I were eight years old and spotted these Revlon Kiss Balms at CVS, I would BEG my mom to get me one or two or three. (“Pretty please, Mommy!”)

They’re so cute! These moderately moisturizing twist-up balms contain fab fruit oils and SPF 20, but they’re super sheer, so I can’t really tell the difference between them. Juicy Peach and Fresh Strawberry look pretty much the same, but that’s OK, because they’re just TOO CUTE.

They’re just basic balms, but oh, yeah — they taste and smell like gummy ? bears, too.

BOOM. 🙂

VERDICT: Need!

Revlon Kiss Balm Lip Balms ingredients
Avobenzone 2.0%, Octinoxate 7.5%, Oxybenzone 3.0%. Other Ingredients: Polybutene, Diisostearyl Malate, Isononyl Isononanoate, Bis-Diglyceryl Polyacyladipate-2, Octyldodecyl Neopentanoate, Polyethylene, Ozokerite, Diisopropyl Dimer Dilinoleate, Cera Alba ((Beeswax) Cire D Abeille), Parfum (Fragrance), Flavor, Punica Granatum Seed Oil, Rubus Idaeus (Raspberry) Seed Oil, Vitis Vinifera (Grape) Seed Oil, Calcium Aluminum Borosilicate, Euphorbia Cerifera (Candelilla) Wax, Cetyl Palmitate, Benzoic Acid, Oxidized Polyethylene, BHT, Silica, Sodium Saccharin, Benzyl Benzoate, Limonene, Benzyl Alcohol, Citral, Amyl Cinnamal, Hexyl Cinnamal, Hydroxycitronellal, Alpha-Isomethyl Ionone, Linalool

2. Herbal Essences Bio:Renew Volume Arabica Coffee Fruit Shampoo and Conditioner ($5.99 each)

herbal essences volume arabica coffee fruit — Herbal Essences Bio:Renew Volume Arabica Coffee Fruit Shampoo and Conditioner ($5.99 each)

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Urban Decay Liquid Aura Illuminating Mix-In Medium Looks Like Unicorn Tears…or a Runnier, Subtler Version of Strobe Cream

May 25th, 2017 by Karen 7 Comments

No worries! Allow me to allay your fears. No, you do not need to know the color of your aura in order to wear the new Urban Decay Liquid Aura Illuminating Mix-In Medium.

Incidentally, my aura is bright yellow and orange, but the only reason I know that is because a friendly mystic spontaneously read my aura in a restroom inside the Bellagio Casino in Last Vegas.

Lucky me!

Urban Decay Liquid Aura Illuminating Mix-In Medium is an opalescent liquid serum that you can mix with your foundation for a dewy, glowing finish.

The color is… Well, it’s… It isn’t easy to describe, but I’m gonna do my best here. It’s a sheer opalescent white with pink pearl particles that are so barely there that you have to squint to see them.

Basically, it looks like unicorn ? tears, or a runnier, subtler version of MAC Strobe Cream.

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Funky Bullets! A Quick Look at a Few Shades From the Estée Lauder Pure Color Love Lipstick Line

May 25th, 2017 by Karen 7 Comments

estee lauder pure color love lipstick — From the left: four of 30 Estée Lauder Pure Love Lipsticks ($22 each) in Shock & Awe, Blase Buff, Radical Chic and Raw Sugar

I can’t be the only person out there whose first thought when they saw these funky angled bullets was to use them as a whistle…

estee lauder pure color love lipstick k — Wearing and holding Radical Chic

I just can’t be!

For the record, you can apply the Estée Lauder Pure Love Lipsticks ($22 each) straight from the bullets, then rub your lips together to move the lipstick around, but the color concentrates in the middle and feathers out unevenly to where it ends up looking like you were trying to recreate something editorial, chic and Vogue-like but didn’t quite get there…

The angled tip does work well, especially for getting into the corners and around the edges of your lips, but it’s a tad awkward to wield at first.

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New Urban Decay Naked Skin Shapeshifter Travel Contouring and Highlighting Palettes

May 25th, 2017 by Karen 10 Comments

urban decay naked skin shapeshifter packaging — The new Urban Decay Naked Skin Shapeshifter palettes ($45 each), available now online and at Sephora Ulta

Hmm… Would I change my tune about contouring if the new Urban Decay Naked Skin Shapeshifter palettes had actual werewolves on the packaging? I dunno, maybe. You know how I get about vampires and werewolves.

Aren’t these pretty? And when you open them up, look at that — even more prettiness! There are four powders on one side, five creams on the others and, in the middle between them, a huge mirror.

urban decay naked skin shapeshifter light medium shift — Urban Decay Naked Skin Shapeshifter in Light Medium Shift ($45)

urban decay naked skin shapeshifter medium dark shift — Urban Decay Naked Skin Shapeshifter in Medium Dark Shift ($45)

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The MAC x Steve J. & Yoni P. Collection: Sporty Fun That Doesn’t Take Itself Too Seriously

May 24th, 2017 by Karen 5 Comments

mac steve j yoni p packaging — The new MAC x Steve J. & Yoni P. collection, coming June 1st

Doesn’t Steve J. & Yoni P. sound like the name of a singer-songwriter duo? Like, you’d turn on the radio to Alice@93.7 and hear a guitar ? and a mournful tambourine in a song about finding long lost millennial love on Tinder?

LOL! No, they aren’t a musical group. They’re actually Korean fashion designers, and even though my idea of cutting edge fashion is a new pair of black leggings, I think the packaging for the new limited edition MAC x Steve J. & Yoni P. collection says a lot about their sense of style.

mac steve j yoni p boxes — So cute and fun!

It tells me that they probably like yellow and pale pink! And it also makes me wonder who the cartoony lady with red lips and Cleopatra-style eye makeup is.

I like the style. It’s sporty and fun and doesn’t take itself too seriously.

The collection, which comes out June 1st and will be available wherever MAC is sold, includes four lipsticks, two powder blushes, a potted eye gloss, a black mascara, two powder eyeshadow duos, a six-pan lip and cheek cream palette, a makeup bag and two brushes.

mac steve j yoni p boxes lip cheek palette — MAC Lip & Cheek Palette X 6/ Yoni Attraction, $40

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The Summer of Skin Care: Son & Park Beauty Water

May 24th, 2017 by Karen 19 Comments

Wow, Beauty Water smells like the product of a mad genius mixologist who spent years crafting a special concoction made with the peel of an exotic, prehistoric citrus fruit found only in a secret valley lost to civilization eons ago.

If it were a beverage, I would pour it over ice on hot afternoons, sip it at my desk and call it “Mommy’s special sauce.” LOL! 🙂

The first stop on the Summer of Skin Care tour is Beauty Water by Son & Park ($30).

The way people rave about this Korean brand’s toner on the Sephora website makes it sound like a miracle in a bottle. It’s an exfoliator made for most skin types (normal, oily, combo, dry and sensitive), and it’s supposed to alleviate dullness, dryness and uneven texture.

The ingredient list is pretty long, but I see lots of plant extracts high on the list. The fourth item down, Hamamelis Virginiana water, is commonly known as witch hazel water, and here’s a fun fact about that: witch hazel is one of very few products that is both endorsed by real witches *and* FDA approved.

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