Urban Decay

The New Urban Decay Loose Powder Has a Brush With Convenience, What to Eat With Your Veggies, and Distracted Waxing

September 17th, 2019 by Karen 12 Comments

urban decay ultimate brush off — A new way to get loose with Urban Decay

Do you ever skip loose powder because you don’t want to lug around an extra brush for touch-ups?

If so, I feel you… Also, Urban Decay’s new $34 Ultimate Brush Off Setting Powder might be of interest.

Bring your brush with ya

It comes with a synthetic flat-top kabuki brush attached to the lid, which makes it easy to dust a little on whenever and wherever you want.

It’s a demi-matte loose powder to set your makeup, blur pores and absorb oil and shine, and it’s available now at UD counters and online in five cruelty-free shades — Universal Translucent, Fair, Medium, Deep and Dark.

Speaking of new things… Well, new to me and my tummy!

Bolthouse Salsa Ranch Dressing is MAGIC. I picked it up at Target, and now I’m addicted.

bolthouse farm salsa ranch — A yummy, healthy snack

It’s funny to me that this is named “Salsa Ranch” because it isn’t spicy. It tastes like a blend of the best thousand island and ranch — a little tangy, a little sweet, and VERY tasty!

I like the Bolthouse dressings because they’re made from yogurt, and are consequently less calorically dense than most creamy dressings, so consequently I eat TONS of it, which I do with whatever vegetable I’m crushing on at any given moment. (It’s delish with snap peas!)

If you could use some extra motivation to eat your veggies, then you need what Connor calls “the pink ranch dressing” in your life.

OK, so I had a major upper-lip wax fail…

Please note that waxing your ‘stach while plumbers work on an underground water leak in your front yard is inadvisable. There’s a significant chance you’ll have low-grade anxiety because you don’t know if the plumbers will have to break open the concrete to access the leaky pipe, thereby causing the budget to skyrocket, and you could also end up with a sinkhole underneath your garage…
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The New Urban Decay Naked Honey Is a Sweet New Golden Eyeshadow Palette

September 6th, 2019 by Karen 23 Comments

urban decay naked honey open — Feelin’ the buzz

Oh, sugary golden brown nectar of the eyeshadow gods… I SEE YOU, URBAN DECAY. The hive’s buzzing ? over Naked Honey, the brand’s newest Naked palette, a festoon of gilded golds, tantalizing tans and burnished bronzes, with none of those challenging-to-wear reds or orange reddish brown eyeshadows from the past few years in sight.

*Breathes sigh of relief*

Finally, a neutral palette that actually looks…kinda neutral. ?‍♀️

The $49 powdered shadow palette flies into Sephora stores and arrives online September 13th, and then a little later on September 23rd to ulta.com, macys.com, nordstrom.com and belk.com; and to Ulta, Macy’s, Nordstrom and Belk stores a few days later on September 26th.

Queen bees who crave toasty tones will probably like that it hums with warm shades, and I’m buzzing over all those golden browns!

urban decay naked honey swatches — Honey, I’m an NC42 in MAC foundation, BTB.

Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,

Karen

P.S. Props if you can remember when MAC did Naked Honey first. ?

P.P.S.

Adventures in Long-Lasting, Sweat-Proof Makeup (and a Shout-Out to Urban Decay)

August 13th, 2019 by Karen 13 Comments

long lasting makeup top — Anatomy of an (easy) long-wearing makeup look!

I wore makeup to the gym for the first time in forever yesterday (There was a reason… More on this in a sec.), and guess what? It led me to develop a list of go-to sweat-proof long-lasting makeup products that I know won’t budge an inch, even after an intense 60-minute HIIT class!

Not that I ever wear a full face when I exercise, but it never hurts to be prepared, right? At least now I know what to grab if Sydney Cummings ever asks me to do a workout video with her.

long lasting makeup products — The go-to gang

I think having a number of sweat-proof, water-proof products on hand is a good idea for people who do performances (dude, those stage lights are HOT), or if you’re going to be a guest at a destination wedding in a tropical locale, or if you’re going to Vegas to sit by the pool — basically, any situation where you know you’ll be sweating and you don’t want your brows/lashes/lips to melt off.

long lasting makeup before — The before pic: Let’s get sweaty!

Anyway, the reason this particular makeup challenge came about was because my HIIT teacher asked me to be the “member of the month” at the gym for September 2019.

Being member of the month entails having your picture taken, which will appear on a big ol’ poster in the middle of the gym (EEK), and answering some exercise-related interview questions.

long lasting makeup after — The after pic: Makeup after a 60-minute HIIT workout

We did the picture part during Monday night’s class, and that included some action shots of me sweating (and hopefully) looking somewhat cute with makeup on, even in that terrible overhead florescent lighting.

I used the least amount of product I could get away with because I didn’t want to be wearing layers and layers of heavy makeup. Also, most of the items I used were from Urban Decay, a line with a solid reputation for long-wearing makeup.

BROWS

I’ve noticed that filled-in brows make all the difference in pics, so I used Urban Decay Brow Blade Waterproof Pencil and Ink Stain in Dark Drapes to fill them in (pencil first, then the ink).

By the end of the workout, the drawn-in tail on my right brow had faded ever-so-slightly, which wasn’t surprising, really, with the amount of sweat that was pouring out of me, but both brows remained more or less intact.
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4 Ways to Work Your Favorite Colorful Eyeliner

August 8th, 2019 by Karen 22 Comments

Most days, I will gleefully wear neutrals on my lids (NEUTRALS 4 LIFE!), but there are still days when I just gotta get some color in the mix.

Will I frequently carve out 30 minutes for cray-cray eyeshadow gradients and intense layering and blending? Nah, but when I am pressed for time (which is daily, it seems), and I still need a color fix, I’ll grab a colorful eyeliner.

Purple, blue, green, gold, pink… Seriously, I feel like a kid in a candy store whenever I see those bright sticks, and one of the best things about colorful liner IMO (besides the endless choices!) is that you can go subtle OR bold with them.

Here are four ways to work colorful liner into your day, starting with two options that are more wearable, and ending with two that have more OOMPH.

In all of these pics, the colorful eyeliner I’m wearing is Urban Decay Mainline, a deep bluish green with a matte finish!

Look #1 (wearable): Liner layered beneath a neutral eyeshadow

This is a fab, facile way to work some color into your eye makeup. First, start by lining your bare lids with your eyeliner of choice, then blend a neutral eyeshadow (or eyeshadows) directly on top.

The result? A super subtle wash of color peeking through your upper lash line.

Look #2 (wearable): Layered liner with a tightline for a subtle gradient

For sightly more verve, tightline your upper lash line after layering your liner. Do it, and you’ll end up with a wink of color and a subtle gradient. ?
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Unsung Makeup Heroes: Urban Decay Chaos Eyeliner

August 5th, 2019 by Karen 3 Comments

urban decay chaos swatch — When a little Chaos in your life is a good thing

What’s an unsung makeup hero? For me, it’s an oftentimes underrated makeup morsel, a permanent collection product that scoots under the radar screen of many makeup lovers but regularly rocks my world. The long-running Unsung Heroes series features some of my favorites.

I can’t keep track of all of Urban Eyeliners. I mean, what do I look like, man? — a walking Guinness Book of World Records for makeup!? LOL! Anyway, there’s just so many of them, especially in the blue category. SO. MANY. BLUES.

But *this* shade is, by far, the one I wear the most, and it’s my favorite. It’s called Chaos, and it’s a gorgeous, pigment-rich cobalt blue that looks like it has a glossy finish from some angles and a matte finish from others. I don’t know how it does this whole quick-change-finish thing, but I suspect it has to do with “ze’ magic,” otherwise known as “the secret shimmer.”

If you buff right into it, tiny silver pieces of glitter appear. It’s the most beautiful (and surprisingly subtle) effect, and when you’re nerding-out over makeup, those little details are the ish.

Oh, and I also wear this liner because — you know I wear a lot of neutrals, right? — it works with both cooler-toned true neutrals like the Clinique Teddy Bear Palette (which I’m all about these days! It’s what wearing in these pics), and warmer orange and reddish neutrals as well. It goes with errrrthing, and you gotta love flexibility (and not having to think too deeply when it comes to your blue liner, ha!).

Chaos pencil is one of UD’s 24/7 Glide-Ons, so once it’s on, it doesn’t budge. I like to wear it full-tilt, but you can also buff it down to a pretty whisper of blue and silver sparkles. Yeah, you can do subtle with Urban Decay, too! It’s awesome.

Chaos is part of their permanent collection (yay!), and it’s $22.

urban decay chaos close up 2 — The lippie, in case you’re wondering, is Honest Beauty Liquid Lipstick in BFF.

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New From Urban Decay: Stay Naked Foundation and Concealer, and Vice Lip Chemistry

July 26th, 2019 by Karen 5 Comments

urban decay stay naked foundation concealer top — At Urban Decay, nudity rules.

Keep your underwear on, please. Even though Urban Decay wants you to Stay Naked, I would strongly urge you against going completely commando, because hello! — air conditioning is no joke!

Stay Naked, a new collection available meow from UD, includes a liquid foundation, concealer and sheer lip tints.

STAY NAKED WEIGHTLESS LIQUID FOUNDATION, $39

What is this — blood magic? Because one layer of Urban Decay’s new medium-coverage, pore-blurring Stay Naked Foundation hides uneven pigmentation on my cheeks without masking my freckles. It’s exactly the kind of sheer, barely-there coverage I love, and even though the matte finish is juuuuust starts out being a tad too matte for my taste (I’m a dewy kinda gal), it mellows out over the course of about an hour into something more satiny and natural looking — like an ever-so-slightly perfected version of natural skin. It’s one of those base products that looks better and better as the day goes on.

urban decay stay naked foundation swatches — I tested the following shades of the concealer and foundation, and the closest foundation match to my skin is 51WY, although right now it’s a little light for me because I’m tanner than usual at the moment. The concealers I tried are *waaaay* lighter than I’d normally wear, but I tried them anyway to see if I liked the texture and finish. By the way, I’m an NC42 in MAC.

If you’ve ever tried and liked Estée Lauder Double Wear Light, you’ll probably love Stay Naked, too. It very much looks and feels like that underrated foundation hero, but UD’s comes in a BILLION different undertones for cool, warm and olive tones, as well as 50 different colors.

Site note: The Fenty effect is still alive and well!

STAY NAKED WEIGHTLESS LIQUID FOUNDATION

Doesn’t oxidize
Lightweight and breathable
Touchy pump! (Mine squirts stuff halfway across my desk if I’m not careful.)
I’m a MAC NC42 and wear 51WY.
I like to apply it with a synthetic buffing brush for the most natural coverage.
Looks like real skin in all types of lighting.
Long-wearing and sticks to skin like glue, even if you rub at it aggressively.

You’ll probably also like this if you like the sheerness of a BB cream, tinted moisturizer, or even something like MAC Face and Body, but you just want a little more coverage (but not full-on opacity). I think it’s more like an intense tinted moisturizer — like, if you took Laura Mercier’s classic TM and added a few drops of a full-coverage concealer to it.

STAY NAKED CORRECTING CONCEALER, $29

Along with the foundation, UD also recently launched a new line of complementary liquid Stay Naked Concealers. Like the new base, Stay Naked Concealer is lightweight and long-wearing with a matte finish, but the coverage is completely opaque, with high pigment on par with full-coverage baddies like Tarte Shape Tape. Just for fun (and for old time’s sake), I packed it on beneath my eyes and was wowed by the fact that it refused to settle into my fine lines and did not look heavy at all.

urban decay stay naked foundation concealer — I’m wearing the foundation in 51WY, concealer in 50WY, and Love Child Vice Chemistry

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Urban Adventures

July 5th, 2019 by Karen 14 Comments

urban decay soul love glitter 3 — B-A-N-A-N-A-S

In the interest of full disclosure, the only place I went wearing this glittery makeup (Urban Decay, obvs!) was downstairs…and then upstairs…and then downstairs at home because I felt absolutely bonkers wearing it, so perhaps the title of this post should be “Suburban Adventures”?

But you know how it is… Sometimes, you gotta just play with glitter, even if it takes you to crazytown.

There are some big-@ss flecks of glitter in this look, and yes, they’re HUGE. I used two UD glitter gels, including Distortion, which has iridescent hexagonal glitter pieces (they look white in pics taken with a flash, but more purple and pink in real life); and Soul Love, the dark, dainty teal. Both are safe to use on eyes.

By the way, I stumbled upon a tip while I was working out this look! If you’re layering tons of glitter on your lids (because you never know when the occasion will arise), wait for each layer to completely dry before applying the next one, because if you pat more glitter on your lids while they’re still wet, you might disrupt the previous layer.

Which is just…not good.

I also stumbled upon a lovely, easy way to do a natural-looking base: full-coverage liquid matte concealer (dotted wherever you want coverage) sheered out with a face brush and dampened with a makeup setting spray.

Ideally, use a face brush with synthetic fibers because synthetic bristles won’t absorb as much liquid product as natural bristles will, which leaves more on your face.

urban decay summer solstice — All about that (sheer) base

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Fireworks!!!!!

July 4th, 2019 by Karen 12 Comments

Your Fourth of July fun fact! — aerial fireworks go by several different names, many of which are botanically themed…like peony, dahlia and chrysanthemum.

Coincidentally, I was thinking about vibrant, dynamic peonies when I did this eye look.

As each boom radiates outward, the circumference of each colorful circle has a defined shape, but as it expands, each individual point of light trails off ever so slightly until it disappears.

For the eye, I tried to convey the radiating roundness with the half-moon shape, and then spread the bronze and ruby red glitters outward.

For the lips, I experimented with two different styles — one, an opaque, editorial (a.k.a. “artsy-fartsy”) matte red; and the other a sheer raspberry, which I think is slightly more wearable.

Um…is red glitter ever wearable, though? DISCUSS. ?
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