Makeup and Beauty Blog | Makeup Reviews, Swatches and How-To Makeup

The $29 Ulta Exclusive Too Faced Color Confections Kit Is All Smiles About Eyes, Lips and Cheeks

October 4th, 2012 by Karen 8 Comments

I’ve stumbled on to what may be the only holiday palette this year (or ever?) that’s secretly a sci-fi nerd’s dream come true — the new Too Faced Color Confections kit ($29), a montage of warm and cool eye, cheek and lip makeup packaged in a girly pink case that opens up to reveal what kindasorta looks like a smiling robot.

The powder eyeshadows are its eyes, the three lip colors are its nose, and the two bronzers and blushes are like its teeth… Beep boop beep! 🙂

Not to worry, though. This limited edition Ulta exclusive won’t leave you looking like a robot. I feel like these matte and shimmer finishes give my mug a lot of texture and life.

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Like a Great Deal on Airfare, the Six Ultra Plush Lip Glosses Aboard Benefit’s High Flyin’ Glosses Kit Are Sheer a Good Price

October 4th, 2012 by Karen 10 Comments

Forget Red Bull. Benefit’s latest high-flying lip kit will give you wings! 🙂

Why risk losing that borderline big bottle of liquid foundation in your carry-on to the TSA when you can fly the friendly skies without ever stepping foot on a plane?

Air Benefit’s latest route flies aboard the brand-new $26 High Flyin’ Glosses kit, and it makes the trip from WHEREVER YOU ARE to THE LAND WHERE MINI-LIP GLOSS RULES in however long it takes you to get to your closest Benefit counter.

This adorable limited edition kit contains tiny versions of six of Benefit’s Ultra Plush Glosses — sheer coral Coralista, dusty rose Dallas, bright watermelon Bella Bamba, shimmering nude Hoola, pinkish nude Sugarbomb and soft, pearly pink Dandelion.

The sheer colors should flatter a wide range of skin tones, and considering the regular price of Benefit’s full-size 0.5-ounce Ultra Plushes ($16), $26 for a set of six of them (even though they’re smaller at 0.22 ounces each) seems like a pretty good deal.

benefit high flyin glosses — With a full-size Dandelion gloss for comparison

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Why Wait for the Holidays to Have a Holiday Dessert? The $22 Too Faced Glamour-to-Go Spun Sugar Edition Palette Is Quite a Treat

October 4th, 2012 by Karen 26 Comments

Wearing the new Too Faced Cosmetics Glamour-to-Go Spun Sugar Edition palette

Truth? I’d rather be busy than bored, but at the same time, I don’t ever want to be so swamped that I’m totally deprived of any glam time. â€˜cause girlfriend desperately needs her glam time! (…she says as she types the previous sentence wearing an old karate workout t-shirt, a pair of shorts that are missing a button and different eyeshadow colors on each eye.)

But who knows? Maybe Tabs will decide to take me on the road with him one of these days… Help him work the fashion week circuit. I’d have to be prepared to go from tow up to “Faaaabulous, dahhhling!” at the drop of a paw.

When/if that day comes, I know I’ll be ready with the Too Faced Glamour-to-Go Spun Sugar Edition Palette ($22).

This travel-friendly limited edition cutie comes dressed to impress in a dainty gold compact. Inside you’ll find two tiers of festive, holiday party-perfect gold and silver makeup for eyes, cheeks and lips.

Because the powders are quite pigmented, it wouldn’t take long to get ready for a party. You could start by patting either a gold, silver or bronze eyeshadow on your lids, smudge one of the darker eyeshadow colors along your lash lines, and follow with a few quick swipes of bronzer and blush on your cheeks.

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En Route to the Too Faced Cosmetics Offices in Southern California!

October 4th, 2012 by Karen 20 Comments

Wanted to say a quick hi, wish you a great day, and let you know that if you’re a fan of Too Faced Cosmetics (or curious about the brand at all), stay tuned for a behind-the-scenes look at their Southern California offices. I’m on my way to the airport right now, and then it’s just a quick flight from SF down the California coast.

I’m only there till tomorrow, but I’ll try to get some good pics and secret squirrel info. I’m all decked out with my remote blogging gear — Canon T3i camera with multiple lenses, a 13″ Macbook Pro laptop, iPhone (for impromptu photo opportunities and super secret squirrel blogging). Let me know in the comments ASAP if there’s anything you’d like me to try to photograph or find out (when makeup’s at stake, I can be very persuasive). 🙂

I prepped a few posts ahead of time to keep things interesting around here while I’m in transit and sneaking around inside the Too Faced offices…

(No, seriously. I plan to sneak around.)

Have a good one today. I’ll touch base soon.

Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,

Karen

To Wear With Smokey Eyes

October 4th, 2012 by Karen 15 Comments

The Missha Two Faces of Beauty Sensual Smokey Lip Kit. Pretty, yah?

All You Need Is

October 4th, 2012 by Karen 11 Comments

Love is all you need.

Some Distractions Are Too Cute, Like the Too Faced Love Sweet Love Holiday Set

October 3rd, 2012 by Karen 14 Comments

I sure had a hard time concentrating this afternoon… You know how it goes sometimes. You’ve got your to-do list scribbled on a Post-It note, but your mind keeps wandering.

You check your e-mail, Twitter, open a new browser tab to anthropologie.com, spend a few minutes looking at pretty dresses, check your e-mail again, open another tab to Google News, see an article about jogging and wonder, “Hmm…do I still have that baby blue velour tracksuit?”

Then you glance down at your to-do list again, check the clock and vow to tackle your next task at the top of the hour. While you wait, of course, you pull up Glamour’s website in your browser and read an article on relationships titled, Who REALLY wrote the book of love?

That was pretty much me this afternoon, and to make matters worse, I couldn’t keep my eyes off the new Too Faced Love Sweet Love Set ($46).

The seven-piece limited edition kit includes a Book of Love Palette with six powder eyeshadows, two separate powder blushes, two lip glosses, a full-size tube of Lashgasm Mascara, a sample sized Shadow Insurance, a sample sized Perfect Eyes Eye Liner in Perfect Black, a half-ounce tube of Primed & Poreless Face Primer, a multipurpose face brush and a gold embroidered makeup bag.

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Now Boarding Rows Light, Medium and Dark: Jet-Setters of All Skin Tones Might Like Benefit’s New She’s So Jetset Holiday Makeup Kit

October 3rd, 2012 by Karen 12 Comments

Paris, London, New York, Novato…

Oh, that last one? Yeah, Novato, population 49,000, give or take. It’s quickly becoming one of the top destinations for beauty jet-setters.

No kidding, it’s a HUGE draw. Some people still don’t know this about Novato, but it has a Target, a Costco, a Bath & Body Works and even a Sephora, all in the same strip mall.

It’s really quite impressive to behold. 🙂

All kidding aside, even if your home base is out in the sticks like mine, you can still live the life of a jet-setter with the new $36 Benefit She’s So Jetset holiday kit.

Up here in my office, surrounded by 200-year-old oak trees and roving gangs of big-@ss turkeys, I feel like a first-class passenger on my way to a stylish beauty destination when I put on the pieces in this limited edition, travel-friendly kit.

Benefit filled it with neutral colors to suit a wide range of skin tones. It comes with four shimmery shadows, a satiny peach First-Class Face powder, a sample-sized tube of They’re Real mascara (a pretty good lash thickener) and a creamy nude-ish pink Life on the A List gloss.

In more detail…

The Eyeshadow Palette: I like all four of these shimmery, shiny shades, although they’re on the borderline between just right and a little too frosty for me (just something to think about if you’re worried about fine lines). I like that Benefit included colors here that could work well for skin tones from light to medium and dark, and even though I detect a small amount of fallout with these, it’s not enough to get on my nerves.
First-Class Face Powder and Brush: Okay, so the brush is kinda silly; it hardly picks up any product at all, but I like the powder, which gives my skin a soft, peachy glow…that smells really good! Like roses!
They’re Real Mascara: As long as I only apply one layer, I’m a big fan of They’re Real. If I apply any more than that, my lashes start getting clumpy and crunchy.
Life on the A-List Gloss: This super sheer, non-sticky milky pink looks kinda light on my pigmented lips, but I still think it’s great. You can’t go wrong with a lightly tinted, easy-to-wear nude gloss.

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