Product Reviews

The Kit + Hooks Brushbar Holds Your Makeup Essentials Upright at Attention

September 2nd, 2016 by Karen 6 Comments

So I was spelunking through my bag for MAC Costa Riche yesterday when I realized, “Yeah, OK… I’m going to need one more of those Brushbar thingamabobs.”

Because once you get a taste of That Organized Life? — man! It’s must be how newborn vampires feel on the first night, or people who’ve never had ice cream before when they get their first taste of Rocky Road.

WANT MOARRRR!

Technically, The Brushbar by Kit + Hooks is designed to hold your makeup brushes upright so you can find them easily, but I don’t see why you can’t also use them to hold other things like eyeliners and lipliners.

Ideally, one for eyeliners, one for lipliners, one for eye brushes, another for face brushes, and then one more to hold the 19 pens and pencils rolling across my desk at any given moment. ?

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The Urban Decay Naked Illuminated Trio: A Pyrite Oasis at Twilight

September 2nd, 2016 by Karen 8 Comments

Emerging like a bedazzled butterfly from a mirrored chrysalis, a highlight SO sparkly and SO shiny that it borders on metallic has been one of the hottest makeup trends over the past couple of years. If you’re a fiend for mirror-like shines, you might want to get the new Urban Decay Naked Illuminated Trio on your cheekbones, ASAP.

urban decay naked illuminatied trio closeup — Urban Decay Naked Illuminated Trio

With three new shades of UD’s hella shiny highlighting powder, this limited edition $36 holiday set, coming soon for holiday 2016, is all about the bling.

First, there’s Pyrite, a golden champagne…

Next, Oasis, a cool-toned taupe with silver glitter.

Finally, Twilight, a shimmery, iridescent pink.

All three shades have a HIGHLY reflective finish, and they’re also pretty easy to blend on top of either bare skin or makeup.

urban decay naked illuminatied trio swatches — The Urban Decay Naked Illuminated Trio: swatches

I’ve worn Urban Decay’s Naked Illuminating powders before, and I like how striking they can look, particularly when you’re standing next to a bright light source (like a camera flash), and I can find ways to make them work for me, even with my current big pore situation…but it takes some finagling, and I’m at a point where I don’t really have the patience hop through too many hoops.

How did I get here? Lack of sleep mainly, LOL!

Honestly, at least for now…I want easy highlights, and I want subtle highlights, so please me a pan of Hourglass Ambient Lighting Powder in Radiant Light before you go. 🙂 Thank you!

Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,

Karen

P.S.

Urban Decay Liquid Moondust Eyeshadow

September 1st, 2016 by Karen 22 Comments

It occurred to me last night when El Hub and I were driving home from running errands and I was wearing the new Urban Decay Liquid Moondust Eyeshadow in Zap…

I totally should start a support group for makeup lovers who walk around all day long wearing crazy makeup but have husbands/boyfriends/significant others who either don’t notice or, for whatever reason, don’t say a damned thing about it.

Something tells me there are lots of us out there…

When I caught a glimpse of my lids glittering in the car’s side view mirror, I realized that — WHOA! — I was wearing so. Much. Glitter.

I looked like I’d just spent the last 24 hours partying in Las Vegas instead of driving home to Novato from Babies ‘R’ Us. 🙂

And I can’t believe El Hub acted like he didn’t even notice! When I finally asked him about it in the car, he casually said, “Well, I noticed they [my eyes] were sparkly, but I’m so used to it now. I thought it was just normal.”

LOL!

Coming soon in eight glitter-rific $22 shades

If it’s glitter you want, it’s glitter you’ll get with the Urban Decay Liquid Moondust Eyeshadows, coming soon exclusively to Sephora for the holidays.

Zap, the shade I’m wearing below, is a gold with gold sparkle; Magnetic is a purple with iridescent sparkle; Vega is a bright blue with iridescent sparkle; and Zodiac is a smokey black with a bluish green shift and 3-D sparkle.

There’s also a deep coppery iridescent bronze called Spacetime, an iridescent oyster beige called Chem Trail, a peach with pink shift called Recharged and a pinkish red with green 3-D sparkle called Solstice, which, by the way, I have to pronounce “Soul-Steese” ever since I binge-watched Broad City.

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The Urban Decay Vice Lipstick Palettes in Blackmail and Junkie for Holiday 2016

September 1st, 2016 by Karen 21 Comments

urban decay vice lipstick palettes both — Urban Decay Vice Lipstick Palettes

“You say ‘lipstick hoarder’ like it’s a bad thing.”

I mean, yeah, my shoulders might permanently tilt on my right side because of my penchant for carrying around 8-10 tubes of lipstick to go grab a boba tea from the mall, but at least I’m always prepared…because ya never know. If I’m ever struck by an uncontrollable need to switch from a neutral lip to an epic red — and trust me, urges like that are right up there with Nutella yearnings — I’ll be prepared.

urban decay vice lipstick palette — The Urban Decay Vice Lipstick Palettes look like this…

I thought about this the other day when I swapped out neutral peachy pink Ex-Girlfriend lipstick for bright orangey red EZ (swoon!) from the new $35 Urban Decay Vice Lipstick Palette in Blackmail, one of two Vice Lipstick Palettes from UD this year for the holidays.

It’s so easy to switch your lipstick shade when you have 12 of them in a sleek travel case.

And the palettes also come with a respectable, retractable lip brush, and it’s better than most, because most travel lip brushes are about as useful as painting your lips with a handful of pine needles.

urban decay vice lipstick palette open — Pretty packaging

Both of these UD Vice Lipstick Palettes — Blackmail and Junkie — are $35 each, which isn’t bad, considering that each one has 12 shades.

The Blackmail palette seems tame, with its lovely mix of nudes and brights, beside its rock ‘n’ roll rebel yell sister, Junkie, with its edgier colors and that cray-cray forest green.

urban decay vice lipstick palette blackmail — The Urban Decay Vice Lipstick Palette in Blackmail (one of two; $35 each)

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The Urban Decay Naked Ultimate Basics Eyeshadow Palette

August 30th, 2016 by Karen 37 Comments

Meanwhile, eight eyeshadows later…

I don’t even know how this happened.

OMG!

I started with two neutral browns from the new $55 Urban Decay Naked Ultimate Basics Palette, which is a new holiday palette from UD (you can sign up to find out when it’ll be available), but then 45 minutes had gone by and I’d burned through almost the entire greatest hits album from The Cure.

I fell into the Eye Makeup Black Hole, which happens to me periodically…and by “periodically,” I mean all the damned time.

But isn’t that always the way it is with these Urban Decay Naked Palettes? You go in fully intending to do a simple look with just two of the shadows, but lo and behold — POOF! — there went half the day.

Or is that just something I do? A lot?

It’s been six years since the original Naked Palette dropped like the bikinis and briefs on a nude beach, and UD is still playing with the brown/beige/taupe theme. This one’s all about those neutral matte powder shadows.

Well…most of them are matte. There is one highlighting shadow that does have some very subtle shimmer (which was a brilliant addition, BTW!).

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Righteous Red Kat Von D Beauty Everlasting Liquid Lipstick in Project Chimps

August 25th, 2016 by Karen 18 Comments

NOTE: If you ever wear gorgeous matte red Kat Von D Beauty Everlasting Liquid Lipstick in Project Chimps, please try to rein in your compulsive urge to rub your lips together…

Because I wore this limited edition $20 lippie to run some errands yesterday (Target for canned goods and some baby stuff and Trader Joe’s for groceries), and at some point between leaving the house, running my errands and returning home, I must have rubbed my lips together, because I had red smudged all around my pout and effectively looked like the freakin’ Joker.

DUDE! It was like Halloween had arrived waaaaay too early.

But at least I know now why the Target clerk was looking at me funny when I smiled at him… Haha!

The worst part, though, was that El Hub was with me the entire time and didn’t say a damned thing!

I don’t know if he was secretly laughing on the inside, or if he’s just so used to me looking like a crazy person…

The jury’s still out on that one.

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Paul & Joe Makeup Collection “A”

August 24th, 2016 by Karen 13 Comments

Believe it or not, I do NOT own a bejeweled pimp cup.

Shocker, I know. 🙂

But if I did, I would raise it high and proudly to Paul & Joe for giving us 20 years of cat lady cosmetics catnip.

That’s 20 years of CCL domination, y’all!

paul joe makeup collection a all — The $100 Paul & Joe Beaute Makeup Collection A

To celebrate this meow-worthy occasion, the purveyors of kitty makeup purr-fection curated the Paul & Joe Beaute Makeup Collection A (a $100 set).

It’s a limited edition box containing their bestselling makeup products…but I’m most excited about the tote it comes with because it FOLDS INTO A CAT HEAD.

I mean, I JUST CAN’T EVEN. WITH THE EARS!?

paul joe makeup collection a cat tote 1 — The kitty tote!?

It’s big, too, and has more than enough room for all kinds of cat lady shinanigans and those tubes of Paul & Joe lipstick with the cat heads that you just can’t bear to use because they’re so darned cute.

paul joe makeup collection a cat tote 2 — The kitty tote, unfolded

Oh, and yeah, there’s also makeup in the collection, like a powder blush (a light coral pink with a silver sheen), a cream lipstick (a creamy, semi-sheer pink) and a pressed powder compact (a light beige powder and a shimmery beige highlighter).

Everything is full size and, because we’re talking about Paul & Joe here, adorable.

Paul & Joe Face Color A in Cheerful Tulip (39) from the new Makeup Collection A — Paul & Joe Face Color A in Cheerful Tulip (39) from the Paul & Joe Makeup Collection A

But are they, ya know, good?

Yes, I think so. Pretty good. Keep in mind, though, that Paul & Joe is geared toward the casual makeup enthusiast — at least that’s always been my perception — so if you’re a stickler for the finer technical aspects of professional makeup performance, then these products might not live up to those expectations.

Take the blush, for instance. I like how sheer and natural it looks on my cheeks, especially in natural light and in pics, but when I wear it and see myself in flourescent lighting, I think my pores look kinda big… Perhaps due to the sheen (it could be a touch finer), but then again, I could also just chill-the-eff out. 🙂 Like, if I didn’t know anything about blush, I’d probably just think it looked pretty and I’d like it.

paul joe makeup collection a bag — The bag…

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The NARS Audacious Collection for Fall 2016, and Apoline, My New Favorite Pink Lip

August 23rd, 2016 by Karen 26 Comments

François, homeboy, I know you’re busy — what with selling your Bora Bora island and working to create the best lipglosses on the planet — so you’ve got, like, NO spare time, but couldn’t you have squeezed in a few minutes to name one of your five new Audacious Lipsticks “Karen”?

I mean, it’s not like I’m asking you to get a prison tattoo of my face on your forearm. ALL I WANT IS A LIPSTICK NAMED KAREN.

Is that too much to ask?

nars audacious collection lipsticks — The five new NARS Audacious Lipsticks from top to bottom in Apoline, Mona, Kate, Stefania and Shirley

I’m not the only Karen, and I suspect that most of us would love to have our name on our very own Audacious Lipstick. I imagine that having one would feel really great, like discovering that you’ve been made an honorary member of Salt ‘n’ Pepa and En Vogue.

This time around, Apoline, Shirley, Stefania, Kate and Mona get the honor, and they’re part of the new NARS Audacious Fall Collection, which launched August 15 at NARS boutiques and the NARS website and arrives September 1 to Sephora.

I’d lipsticks could talk, I’d ask these, “Why are you so creamy and opaque? Why don’t you ever settle into my fine lines? WHY DO I LOVE YOU SO MUCH?”

From this batch, I’m all about Apoline (the pink rose) and Stefania (the deep fuchsia), because they’re pink, and I’m predictable that way, haha.

But I also think that Shirley (the crimson), Kate (the purple orchid) and Mona (the mahogany) are pretty, too.

The NARS Audacious Collection also includes a completely new line of potted brow creams called…the Brow Defining Creams.

Available in four colors, they feel drier than a MAC Fluidline Brow Gelcreme to me and are slightly less pigmented, but in this case, I don’t think that’s a bad thing, because if I had a dollar for every time I tried a product like these and accidentally “Instagram browed” myself beyond oblivion, I’d have enough money to buy that Bora Bora island from François myself.

I usually steer clear of brow products like these for that reason — because of how intense they usually are — but these are just pigmented enough to fill in the sparse spots without leaving my brows looking heavy or overdone. The results look very natural, which makes me want to kiss François on both cheeks. 🙂

They’re $23 each and available in Sonoran (a blonde), El Djouf (a light brown), Tanami (an auburn) and Danakil (a dark brown).

nars brow defining cream — The NARS Brow Defining Creams from the top to bottom in Sonoran, Tanami, El Djouf and Danakil

There are also two new dark, pigmented Unrestricted Eyeliner Stylo liquid liners. Both are black and $27, but one has a matte finish and the other is satin.

The only thing is, I’m a flexible felt tip gal, and these have a stiff tip, so my lines end up with shaky, mousey, unsure edges, and I prefer my lines to say, “If need be, I will cut a b*tch.”

nars unrestricted eyeliner stylo — NARS Unrestricted Eyeliner Stylo in Matte and Satin

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