Product Reviews

Stay (Rose) Golden, BECCA: The New BECCA X Chrissy Teigen Glow Face Palette

May 16th, 2017 by Karen 17 Comments

becca chrissy teigen closeup — The new BECCA Chrissy Teigen X Glow Face Palette ($46)

So, remember when rose gold hit the scene this last time, and everybody went crazy for it? When was that…? 2014? 2015? I keep thinking that one day it’s going to fall out of fashion, but it doesn’t appear to be going anywhere anytime soon, am I right? Like, the new BECCA X Chrissy Teigen Glow Face Palette ($46) is ROSE. GOLD. EVERYTHING. And I’m lovin’ it.

Isn’t it pretty??

This face palette… It caused quite a stir when it launched a couple weeks ago. I had a friend text me, and she was like, “Should I get it? SHOULD I GET IT?” and I was like, “I dunno! You should get it if you want to,” and she texted back, “Well, OK, I guess I’ll hold off on it…” Then she wrote back 30 minutes later and said, “I bought it!”

I totally get why it would ignite a frenzy. I mean, even the outside packaging is beyond beautiful. It’s got pinkish peach marbling and the BECCA X Chrissy logo.

But when you open it, it gets even better.

becca chrissy teigen — Wearing the palette on my lids and cheeks

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Purple Power! A New Purple Liner Love I Found at Sephora

May 16th, 2017 by Karen 15 Comments

purple eyeliners — Kindasorta obsessed with purple at the moment. Here’s an assortment of old faves (and a new one!) from the top: MAC Eye Kohl in Prunella ($17), Urban Decay Glide on Eye Pencil in Vice ($20), Sephora Colorful Shadow & Liner in Violet ($14), Make Up For Ever Waterproof Eye Pencil in 1-90 ($21) and MAC Pearlglide Intense in Designer Purple ($17)

It’s both wonderful and terrifying to live so close to a Sephora, because when I get on a makeup whim, I can just hop in my car, and BAM! Five minutes later I’ve got every purple liner in the store swatched on the back of my hand.

Yeah, I’m going through a purple liner phase right meow, big time (in case you haven’t noticed, LOL!). I love the look of a warm brown lid with purple liner on the lash lines. I’ve just been into it lately! Please be patient with me as I work my way through it…

Anyways, Connor convinced me to go to Sephora last Friday (yes, it was all the baby’s doing), so we went looking for a new purple to add to my collection. This latest love is a shade called Violet by Sephora Collection.

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New Urban Decay Eyeshadow Primer Potions! UD Fix, Freebase, Caffeine and Sin

May 15th, 2017 by Karen 14 Comments

urban decay fix — New New eye primers from Urban Decay! From the top: Fix, Freebase, Caffeine and Sin

I do this thing, and I probably shouldn’t be telling you this but whatevs, but whenever I think of the word “base,” like eyeshadow base, as in Urban Decay’s new Eyeshadow Primer Potion eyeshadow base, I think of Ace of Base from the ’90s, ya know? I saw the sign? I can hear the first few bars in my head. Clearly TMI. Whatever, I know you secretly love that song and know all the words. 🙂

Yeah, Urban Decay released a bunch of new eyeshadow bases, a.k.a eye primers. There are four, and they’re $20 each.

How do you feel about eyeshadow bases? Are they a must have? Or a waste of time? I’m a fan. The one I use daily is NARS Pro-Prime, and it’s my fave, but I like UD’s a lot, too.

I like how it intensifies and holds on to color, but I think the NARS one is slightly easier to do more complicated blending with, which is why I tend to use it (not that I’ve been doing a ton of complicated blending lately, but hey).

But Urban Decay’s works great, too, and it’s a good option if you’re into cruelty-free. Shadows that I wear on top last just as long as they do with NARS Pro-Prime.

urban decay fix swatch — Swatches from the top: UD Fix, Freebase, Caffeine and Sin

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Neat and New to Me: The IT Cosmetics Naturally Pretty Vol 1 Matte Luxe Transforming Eyeshadow Palette

May 15th, 2017 by Karen 8 Comments

it cosmetics naturally pretty palette — IT Cosmetics Naturally Pretty Vol 1 Matte Luxe Transforming Eyeshadow Palette ($42 and available meow)

I feel the same way about matte palettes as a I feel about mascara.

Both are flat-out necessities, and any makeup lover worth her weight in cotton balls should have at least one or two in her (or his) bag.

Well…I don’t know how you feel about that, but that’s my take on it.

There are so many great ones out there, too, and I’m always finding new ones to love, like my latest, the $42 IT Cosmetics Naturally Pretty Vol 1 Matte Luxe Transforming Eyeshadow Palette, which has been available for a while, but it’s new to me, and I’m totally into it. I wore it a bunch of times last week.

Do you like matte shadows? Because I sure do. I mean, mattes are your friends. They really are. They’re just so useful. I wear at least one matte shadow a day, usually in the crease to sort of contour my eyes to make my sockets look deeper (mine are slightly hooded and seem to be getting more hooded as I get up there in years).

Sometimes I do a single sweep of matte shadow all over the lid (often a matte brown or taupe) for a little definition, and, contrary to the vast majority of YouTube makeup tutorials, you *can* use just one or two shadows if you want. You don’t need to use 12. You will be OK!

And if I’m still feeling extra sassafras after that, I’ll add a colorful liner — maybe a purple, green or teal — along my lash lines.

Yup, I love shimmer and glitter, for sure, but mattes are always there for me, ya know?

The Naturally Pretty Palette has 14 useful, wearable matte powder shadows and an extra pan of “transforming pearl,” which you can tap on top of the matte shades to give them a pearly shimmer.

The mattes are a mix of warm and cool shades that I know I can wear over and over in lots of different looks — like matte beiges, matte browns and matte taupes. There are also some deeper shades in the palette, too, like a couple of dark purples, a navy and an off-black, that you can use as liners or in smoky looks.

Basically, this is a workhorse palette (also cruelty free) for elegant, easy everyday looks, and you won’t have to fight fallout or blend until your wrist falls off.

it cosmetics naturally pretty palette k — Wearing Sunset from the palette on my lids and lower lash lines along with the BECCA Sunchaser Palette, and Hourglass Creator Girl Lip Stylo on my lips

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#FragranceFriday: Scents From Urban Decay, Malin + Goetz and Kiss by Rihanna

May 12th, 2017 by Karen 5 Comments

fragrance friday rihanna — It’s #FragranceFriday!

Let’s not even go there about how hard it is to *not* look like your hands are actually T. rex claws in pics.

(It’s hard.)

Tried a few different fragrances this week, two of which are new, and all of which are new to me. Two of them really took me back. Like, waaay back…

Urban Decay Go Naked Perfume Oil ($24 for 0.16 oz)

I had this on my wrists for about two hours before I was able to place where I’d smelled something similar before, but first, a UD fragrance?! I know! They’ve been chock full of surprises these days.

Go Naked is their new perfume oil, and it’s limited-edition and $24. It arrives June 3rd at Sephora and sephora.com (for VIB Rouge members only), then June 7th to the Urban Decay website, June 30th at Urban Decay free-standing stores and July 13th at Sephora and sephora.com.

It’s definitely a long-lasting fragrance. I put it on early Wednesday morning and caught a whiff while I was blotting away a waterfall of sweat in HIIT class that night. So that’s like 12 hours.

Man, the scent takes me back too! It smells exactly like Johnson & Johnson’s Baby Cologne, and if you were a Filipino child growing up in the ’80s, you probably know what I’m talking about. It was a light citrus, musky scent in a little blue plastic bottle, and you could find it in almost every Filipino house back in the day.

It wasn’t really a perfume that got widespread use among infants, though, because the only people I knew who wore it were adults. Ha! The first time I remember smelling it was on my Lola Em-Em (“Lola” is Tagalog for “grandma,” and Em-Em was my nickname for my grandma’s sister) when she came to visit us from the Philippines. We always had a bottle in our bathroom, usually a gift from a visiting relative.

Official fragrance notes
Italian Bergamot, Petitgrain, Mandarin, Lemon, Orange Blossom, Neroli, Lavender, Jasmine and Musk.

Unofficial fragrance notes
Hugs from my Lola Em-Em, balikbayan boxes and the summer of third grade.

Malin + Goetz Dark Rum Eau de Parfum ($165 for 3.4 oz)

A post shared by Space NK USA (@spacenkusa) on May 10, 2017 at 12:48pm PDT

I got a small sample vial of Malin + Goetz Dark Rum Eau de Parfum at the SpaceNK meetup last Saturday, and the first thing I thought before I tried it was, “I don’t want to smell like a tropical booze cruise.”

But there’s no danger of that! With this you will not smell like you’ve had one too many piña coladas, because it smells like freshly washed laundry instead.

That’s right! — LAUNDRY. It’s gloriously clean and fresh.

Official fragrance notes
Bergamot, Plum, Rum, Leather, Amber, Patchouli and Milk.

Unofficial fragrance notes
The most comfortable bed ever with the world’s softest sheets!

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Kevyn Aucoin Neo-Setting Powder Is Pretty Darned Innovative!

May 12th, 2017 by Karen 5 Comments

kevyn-aucoin neo setting powder top — Kevyn Aucoin Neo-Setting Powder ($58)

Ooh! Sparkly. ? And dare I say it, borderline unicorn?

This new powder by Kevyn Aucoin looks like a highlighter, right?

Nope! It’s supposed to be a face setting powder, but it has a gradient of different finishes.

I know! Kind of crazy.

On the left side of the pan where the letter “K” is, the finish is more matte, but it gets progressively pearly as you move right. The idea is that you can pick your powder finish poison. Matte or dewy, or anywhere in between, it’s up to you.

It’s pretty darned innovative! — which is something I hardly ever find myself saying anymore about beauty products. I mean, let’s get real — a lot of things get recycled from season to season, but this idea seems pretty fresh for a face powder.

It also feels fab. I’ve never worn a Kevyn Aucoin face powder before, but this one feels like heaven in a pan, or what I imagine it must feel like to take a cat nap on fluffy clouds in heaven. It’s almost creamy soft, and I really wanted to fall in love with it just for that.

Unfortunately…it’s not workin’ well on my skin.

Drat.

First of all, the matte side isn’t very matte, at least not to my eye, and the shimmery side is a super shiny overspray with a slightly less shiny powder underneath.

Little bit strange.

On the matte side, I still see lots of golden pink pearl, and it intensifies as you move toward the shinier right side of the pan. I dunno… It just doesn’t look natural at all on my face.

I was thinking that I might be able to wear it as a golden pink highlighter, but even then it doesn’t work well for me because the powder has white undertones that don’t get along with my tan.

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NARS Liquid Blush: I Have Buckets and Barrels of Love for This Line!

May 11th, 2017 by Karen 16 Comments

nars liquid blushes 1 — The new NARS Liquid Blushes

Here, let me get in there and give you a quick shoulder rub for a second, because I really wouldn’t want you to pull a muscle doing the snake as you celebrate when I tell you that the new NARS Liquid Blushes are permanent. YAY!

They’re also going to be on counters sooner than I thought. They’ll be available starting May 12th at Sephora stores, NARS boutiques and online. Again, YAY! 🙂

OK, remember the NARS Orgasm Liquid Blush I talked about from the Orgasm Collection earlier today? It’s actually one of the four Liquid Blushes coming out May 12th.

That’s, like, one sleep away!

They’re $30 each, completely new to the NARS fam (as in they’ve never been seen before), and you get a 0.5 oz. glass bottle with a pump.

What’s it like to use one?

Slippery like a silicone primer, these super concentrated liquid blushes have a consistency comparable to a runny lotion. You can wear them under or on top of powder blushes.

You’ll only need one or two drops for your cheeks, and I just use my fingers to blend them in. The liquid spreads and stretches out evenly over the skin.

They’re sooo easy to use and kinda fun, too.

Four shades based on NARS powder blushes in the permanent line

Coincidentally, all of them are shades I happen to love and have been obsessed with for years. Weird! It’s like NARS had a direct conduit into my brain or something…

Anyway, other than golden peachy pink Orgasm, there’s golden apricot Luster, golden coral Torrid and dusty rose Dolce Vita.

Dolce Vita is the closest one to its counterpart color

It’s also the darkest of the four. I think it’s the closest one to its powder counterpart. It looks like someone took the back of a spoon to a pan, crushed the powder, mixed in some liquid, and poured that into a bottle.

nars dolce vita liquid blush swatch — Dolce Vita

Less shimmer, more satin with Orgasm, Luster and Torrid

As for the Liquid Blush versions of Orgasm, Luster and Torrid, they’re much less shimmery than their powder blush versions, making them more like satins that occasionally glimmer with micro-glitter here and there. Like a base color with very little pearl.

nars lustre liquid blush swatch — Luster

I think all three look lovely when worn by themselves. They create a natural, dewy cheek effect with colors that last a full day on my dry cheeks.

nars torrid liquid blush swatch — Torrid

But the REAL fun starts when you layer these three shades with their counterpart powder blushes. It amplifies the base colors a bit more, so you see more of the coral, peach, apricot or rose.

nars dolce vita liquid blush k — Dolce Vita

The verdict

Buckets and barrels of love ? for this line! My hope is that NARS releases more shades in the future. The lovely colors layer well and don’t fade. Oh, and don’t worry — the bottle seems bigger than it looks because a little goes a long, looong way. I’m pretty sure you’ll like these, and you may even love them. Highly recommended!

Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,

Karen

The Uber-Luxe NARS Pro Brush Collection

May 11th, 2017 by Karen 9 Comments

I don’t even know where to start with the NARS Pro Brush Collection. The face brush is $95… I mean, I can’t. I just can’t. Almost $100 for a single brush is craziness to me. I thought a $38 Chanel eye brush was stressful!

I received these brushes as press samples, so I didn’t purchase them on my own. Because if I had, I would be the type of person who drives to Petco to buy Tabby’s gravy in a tricked-out Mercedes with those automatic side mirrors that collapse down like Transformers.

I am not that person… I drive a six-year-old Mazda.

If I were that type of person, though, I would consider getting one, or maybe two, of the uber-luxe, shockingly soft brushes in this collection. (Note: I was so shocked by how soft these were that I couldn’t keep it to myself. I had to have El Hub try them.)

Would I get all eight, though? No, not unless Tabs scores a big kitty modeling contract.

Again, the #1 Finisher powder brush is $95. The most “affordable” brush (air quotes) in the collection is a small angled eye brush called the #8 Small Sculptor, and it’s still $45.

There are eight brushes in all, most of them face brushes, with a couple of eye brushes in there as well.

The NARS Pro Brush Collection breakdown

#1 The Finisher ($95) — A large and fluffy brush ideal for buffing and blending powder formulas.

#2 The Brightener ($95) — A large, teardrop-shaped brush that specializes in highlighting and all-over blending with a weightless touch.

#3 The Intensifier ($85) — A medium-sized brush designed for creating defined cheek looks.

#4 The Sculptor ($85) — A medium-sized, angled brush ideal for sculpting, diffusing and dispersing fluid formulas.

#5 The Small Brightener ($55) — A small, teardrop-shaped brush with a weightless touch, ideal for highlighting eyes and other small areas on the face, like the bridge of the nose, Cupid’s bow and cheekbones.

#6 The Small Intensifier ($55) — A small, domed-shaped brush ideal for targeted contouring on the nose, in the crease, and on other small areas of the face.

#7 The Flat Intensifier ($55) — A small, flat makeup brush ideal for focused effects on the eyes and brows with powder formulas, and also for eyeshadow artistry, defining brows and setting under-eye concealer.

#8 The Small Sculptor ($45) — A small angled makeup brush ideal for adding dimension — with liquid and cream formulas — to small areas around the eyes and lips.

— Paraphrased from NARS PR

nars pro brush collection 1 4 — From the top: NARS #1 The Finisher ($95), #2 The brightener ($95), #3 The Intensifier ($85) and #4 The Sculptor ($85)

According to NARS, the brushes are made in Japan and bound by hand. They’re certainly fancy-looking, right? And the brush heads feel supernaturally soft, which I’d expect for brushes in this price range. I don’t feel a trace of scratchiness. None. These are like rolling around naked on fancy silk sheets. So luxurious!

When I hold the handles in my paw, they also feel sturdy and perfectly balanced. Neither too heavy, nor too light. They feel like they could be heirloom pieces you could pass down from one generation of makeup lover to the next.

What? Am I the only one who’d do that? I’d totally do that!

nars pro brush collection 4 8 — NARS #5 The Small Brightener ($55), #6 The Small Intensifier ($55), #7 The Flat Intensifier ($55) and #8 The Small Sculptor ($45)

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