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Product Reviews

With Less, You Are More With New lilah b. Luxury Makeup

September 26th, 2016 by Karen 17 Comments

lilah b
“With less, you are more” — new lilah b. luxury cosmetics

Full-on glam makeup is all over Instagram — brows so sculpted that they could cut glass, contoured everything, elaborate eye looks with false lashes and winged liner. And I love some of that. I love the artistry, and I appreciate the effort that goes into it, but there’s also a part of me that can’t wait for the tide to turn, ya know? Part of me can’t wait for makeup minimalism to come back in style with a vengeance, and when that day comes, lilah b. cosmetics will be there with bells on.

liliah-b

It’s a new luxury line out of Sausalito, California, which is a quaint, picturesque town just north of the Golden Gate Bridge from San Francisco on 101 (not “the 101,” just “101”). They have a website, and you can also find them at Space NK stores.

Their philosophy has a nice ring to it: “With less, you are more.” Think streamlined creams that double as blushes and lipsticks, sheer powder foundation, creamy concealers and easy-to-wear eyeshadow combos — that kind of thing.

The products are all paraben-, pthalate- and sulfate-free, and they don’t have any synthetic fragrances. Plus, they aren’t tested on animals.

The pieces come in glossy white packaging (I think it’s gorgeous) that feels hefty and valuable. It kinda looks like polished river rocks or shells.

lilah b
Before and after lilah b. This only took me 15 minutes!

Boy, oh, boy, though — the products are pricey. You probably won’t bat an eyelash if you’re used to Chanel, Hourglass and Guerlain prices, but we’re talking $44 for a concealer, $34 for a lip balm, $48 for a powder foundation, $46 for a lip and cheek cream, and $58 for an eye quad.

The lilah b. look is like a super chill version of Bobbi Brown — dressed down, sheer coverage with a hint of natural-looking color. When I wear the powder foundation, concealer, eyeshadow and lip and cheek cream, I look like I’m wearing a full face, and like I’m polished and totally together, but it doesn’t look like I’m wearing cake frosting.

I wore the eyeshadow and the lip and cheek cream to the beach yesterday, and I felt like it was a perfect amount of color.

lilah b palette perfection eye quad b stunning
Palette Perfection Quad in b. stunning
lilah b divine duo lip cheek b fearless b true
Divine Duo Lip & Cheek in b. fearless (top) and b. true (bottom)

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There are 17 comments on this post. Leave yours.

Categories: Lilah B., Makeup, Product Reviews

It’s a New Nuance Makeup Line: Nuance by Salma Hayek Revamped

September 17th, 2016 by Karen 7 Comments

nuance salma hayek
Nuance by Salma Hayek

Get up, sleepy head! It’s Caturday morning! 🙂

There’s a time to be nuanced, and there’s a time to…talk about Nuance, as in Salma Hayek’s CVS-exclusive Nuance makeup line.

If you’ve been kickin’ it at CVS lately, you may have noticed that Salma Hayek’s Nuance makeup products have a new look to them.

Nuance debuted in 2011 (remember the alien egg eyeshadow packaging?), but the color products sort of drifted away for a while… But they’re back now with new products, formulas and packaging.

nuance salma hayek
Wearing Nuance Flawless Finish Blur Perfection Primer, the Natural Definition Angled Brow Pencil in Medium Dark, Long & Lush Volumizing Mascara, Flawless Finish Illuminating Blush & Bronzer Duo, Endless Eye Effects Shadow Collection in Neutral Expressions and Moisture Rich Lipstick in Pink Lotus… P.S. Could this hair be any bigger? LOL!

The brand is all about ingredients, and some of them are exotic, especially for a drugstore brand. Salma says that the women in her family have used some of them for generations, like monoi butter (in the lipstick); cotton blossom (in the mascara and brow gel); soothing tepezchuite extract (in the night cream, anti-aging cream and skin cleanser); blue agave, a naturally moisturizing humectant (the Blue Agave hair line); mamey fruit sapote to condition hair; jojoba oil and raw honey.

The entire color line has been reformulated (but they kept the original foundation) and includes eye shadows, a cream concealer, moisturizing lipstick, brow pencil, cream illuminators and shadow sticks.

nuance salma hayek eyeshadow swatches
Endless Eye Effects Shadow Collection in Neutral Expressions 800

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There are 7 comments on this post. Leave yours.

Categories: Drugstore Beauty Finds, Makeup, Nuance Salma Hayek, Product Reviews

I Find Myself Asking the Hourglass Ambient Lighting Edit Palette in Surreal Light If We’ve Met Before…

September 16th, 2016 by Karen 21 Comments

hourglass surreal light palette
The new $80 Hourglass Ambient Lighting Edit Palette in Surreal Light, available now at Sephora

I love a cat with marbled sides.

And I also love marbled packaging.

hourglass surreal light palette

The new $80 Hourglass Surreal Light Ambient Lighting Palette comes dressed to impress in an elegant marbled compact which, by the way, looks a lot like the kitchen of my dreams in my dream house.

When I finally win the lottery, I’m going to point to a pic of this palette and say, “Please do this for my counters, OKTHANXBAI.”

hourglass surreal light palette
The Hourglass Surreal Light Palette in my paw for scale

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There are 21 comments on this post. Leave yours.

Categories: Hourglass, Makeup, Palettes, Product Reviews

The MAC Selena Matte Eyeshadows and Lipsticks Take Center Stage

September 15th, 2016 by Karen 20 Comments

mac selena collection
The MAC Selena collection (coming October 1 to the MAC website, and to stores October 6 through November 17, 2016)

¡Finalmente! The MAC Selena collection!

Fans of beloved Mexican-American singer Selena Quintanilla-Perez, whose life was tragically cut short in 1995 at 23 years old, made this collection happen, and MAC heeded the call.

While I was testing and reviewing, I learned a lot of things I didn’t know about Selena, like how her favorite colors were purple and black and her favorite flower was a white rose.

I’m sorry to say that I didn’t know much about her before this release, but I did know that she rocked bold red lips and sang a couple of songs that were very popular when I was in college.

Her artistic legacy and spirit inspired the 13-piece MAC Selena collection, which Selena’s sister Suzette helped create. It includes three new shades of lipstick ($18 each), including a dupe for a red taken from the makeup case Selena took with her when she went on the road; five new eyeshadows ($17 each); a new blush duo ($29); a new gloss ($17); and three re-promoted items from the MAC permanent line ($18 Opulash Mascara, $21 Boot Black Liquid Eye Liner and the $35 129SH Powder/Blush Brush).

MAC Select Obsessed & Devoted Members (MAC’s version of Sephora VIB) get early access to the collection in an exclusive pre-sale September 28. For everyone else, it arrives October 1 on the MAC website and in stores October 6 through November 17, 2016.

mac selena eyeshadows
The MAC Selena collection Eye Shadows ($17 each)
mac selena collection techno cumbia
MAC Selena Techno Cumbia ($29)

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There are 20 comments on this post. Leave yours.

Categories: Collections, MAC Makeup, Makeup, Product Reviews

New Favorite Thing in the Whole Wide World: Urban Decay Naked Skin One and Done

September 14th, 2016 by Karen 39 Comments

urban decay naked skin one and done
SO FREAKING GOOD! (The nail polish is Essie Udon Know Me, by the way.)

My girl Jessica raved about Naked Skin One and Done by Urban Decay ($34) back when it came out last spring, and I just needed to say that, yeah, for me too, it really is all that.

I FREAKIN’ LOVE THIS STUFF!

It has the thin texture of a tinted moisturizer but the coverage of a sheer foundation, so if you’re into fast 15-minute looks or face makeup that you can apply from start to finish with your fingers, One and Done gets it done.

urban-decay naked skin one and done before and after
On the left: before Urban Decay One and Done; on the right: after 15-minute makeup and Urban Decay One and Done in Medium Dark

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There are 39 comments on this post. Leave yours.

Categories: Face, Makeup, Product Reviews, Urban Decay

These Benefit Sets Turn Heads: Part 2 of the Benefit Holiday 2016 Sets

September 13th, 2016 by Karen 12 Comments

benefit dolly darling girls gone wow
Two of the six Benefit Holiday 2016 sets (which are joined by the sets in this post here)

These girls turn heads!

Get it…? Turn heads?

Oh, staaaaap! It was low-hanging cheesy pun fruit. You know I had to go there. 🙂

It’s amazing how accurately these tins capture that perfectly pouty and disinterested Instagram face. I mean, it’s not easy to do that face. Every time I try it, I end up looking like I ate a lemon…

Haha!

benefit dolly darling girls gone wow
One of these things is not like the other…

Girls Gone Wow, Dolly Darling and Girl-O-Clock Rock are the remaining three of the six sets Benefit is releasing for the holidays this year (here are the other three), and purr usual, they contain a combo of full-sized and miniature versions of products from the permanent line.

If you decide to keep the collectable tins to repurpose them, I suggest NOT setting them on the dresser directly across from your bed…because if you wake up in the middle of the night to go to the bathroom and see a floating head staring at you in the dark, that would be utterly terrifying.

The $46 Benefit Girls Gone Wow set ($99 value)

benefit girls gone wow
Girls Gone Wow set ($46)

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There are 12 comments on this post. Leave yours.

Categories: Benefit, Kits and Sets, Makeup, Product Reviews

My Hair Wants to Run Wild and Free! — and I’m Cool With That

September 13th, 2016 by Karen 19 Comments

bumble and bumble surf infusion
Gonna let this hair run wild and free!

Sleek and structured is fun sometimes, especially when you get a new set of bangs, but I’ve realized that my hair wants to figuratively go where the wild things are, so if it wants to naturally go wavy and run free, I’m totally down.

For the wavy, “wild thing” look in these pics, I used two beachy wave products from Bumble and Bumble.

I started by washing my hair and drying it with my trusty Aquis Hair Towel.

Then I sprayed Bumble and Bumble Surf Infusion ($29) on it from mid-shaft to the ends before letting my hair air dry.

Surf Infusion has been around a while. It’s similar to the O.G. Bumble and Bumble Surf Spray for beachy waves, but instead of giving your hair a matte finish with waves that have a slightly crunchy texture, it leaves a sheen and coaxes your hair into waves that are soft to the touch.

To use it, spray it on damp hair, and let it air dry to do its thang.

bumble and bumble surf infusion

For this look, after my hair completely “air dried,” I created the loose waves on the top layers with a ghd Classic Curl Iron. Then I sprayed Bumble and Bumble Surf Foam Spray Blow Dry on top for texture and used my fingers to softly scrunch the product through the top layers.

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There are 19 comments on this post. Leave yours.

Categories: Bumble and Bumble, Hair, Makeup Tips/How To, Product Reviews

Say Cheese! The Pur Love Your Selfie 2 Palette Is Camera Ready

September 12th, 2016 by Karen 13 Comments

pur love your selfie 2
The Pur Love Your Selfie 2 Palette ($42)

Aw, man! Why doesn’t the Pur Cosmetics Love Your Selfie 2 Palette come with a selfie stick? — a white one covered in silver glitter to match the packaging? That would be CUTE (if not altogether unnecessary), because if there’s anything I learned from watching all 12,543 cycles of America’s Next Top Model (it was a phase), it’s that when you’re taking a selfie, girl, get that camera up as high as possible, find your light source, and work those angles. #themoreyouknow

pur love your selfie 2 packaging
The $42 Pur Love Your Selfie 2 Palette

And should you need to whip out a quick makeup look, you’ll find almost errrthing you’d need in Pur Love Selfie 2 (which is the chapter 2 of the series of Pur palettes that started with the first Pur Love Your Selfie Palette).

It comes with eight eyeshadows, three face powders (a highlighter, a bronzer and a baking powder to set face makeup), a matte lip pencil, gloss and mascara.

Just add cattitude. 🙂

pur love your selfie 2 eyeshadows
First row of eyeshadows…

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There are 13 comments on this post. Leave yours.

Categories: Makeup, Palettes, Product Reviews, PUR Cosmetics

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Welcome to Makeup and Beauty Blog! My name is Karen, and I’m a freelance writer obsessed with makeup.

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