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

An Everyday Plum, Beige and Peach Fall Makeup Look for Work, School or Walks With Your Cat

September 18th, 2012 by Karen 36 Comments

Shh… Do you hear that? Wait — let me open up my window so it’s easier to hear.

That rustling sound outside? That’s the sound of fallen leaves from the old oak tree blowing in the wind. Haven’t heard that sound in a long, long time…

It’s even a little chilly out today. I noticed it earlier when I took Tabs outside for his walk. That crunch-crunch-crunch of brown and yellow leaves under our feet, the crisp edge in the air — you know what’s up! Fall is back.

And as the seasons change, so does my makeup. I’ve been wanting to wear more fall-ish looks lately, like this little number with plum, beige and peach.

A few weeks ago I was all about dewy finishes and glow, but now I’m really interested in mattes, I think because they just seem polished and appropriate for this time of year.

From start to finish, assuming everything goes well and I don’t get distracted by, oh, say something like Friday Night Lights, this look normally takes me about 15-20 minutes. This time took a little longer because I wanted to snap these pics for a tutorial.

If you’re looking for a new fall makeup look for work or school, I hope you give this one a try, and if you do, let me know how it goes. 🙂

First, before we get started, let’s round up all of the tools and products we’ll need… Brand-wise, I mostly used products from MAC, Becca, Burberry and Hourglass here, but of course, you can swap out any of these things for similar colors from other brands.

Makeup

MAC Prep + Prime Natural Radiance: A face primer
MAC Face and Body Foundation in C5: A sheer-to-medium coverage liquid foundation
MAC Eyeshadow in Concrete: A taupe-brown eyeshadow to fill in your brows
MAC Paint in Sublime Nature: A beige cream eyeshadow with a satin finish
MAC Eye Kohl in Prunella: A shimmery plum eyeliner
MAC Eyeshadow in Sable: A bronzy golden plum eyeshadow with a shimmery finish
LORAC Pro Mascara: A black lash-lengthening and thickening mascara
MAC Select Moisturecover Concealer in NW25: An under-eye concealer
MAC Careblends Pressed Powder in Medium Dark: A pressed powder (used to set your foundation and reduce shine)
Becca Mineral Bronzer/Illuminator in Serrana: A warm matte bronzer on one side of the pan, and a neutral shimmery peach highlighter on the other
Becca Mineral Blush in Flowerchild: A shimmery golden peach blush
Burberry Lip Mist in Copper No. 02: A creamy copper lipstick

Tools

Hourglass Foundation/Blush Brush No. 2: A domed foundation brush
MAC 266 Small Angle Brush: An angled eye brush
Sonia Kashuk Lash Curler
MAC 239 Eye Shader Brush: An eyeshadow brush with a flat head and a rounded tip
MAC 217 Blending Brush: A fluffy eye brush with a domed head
MAC 224 Tapered Blending Brush: A tapered eye brush
MAC 129 Powder/Blush Brush: A domed face brush
Burberry Beauty No. 01 Angled Brush: An angled face brush

Next, using the Hourglass Foundation/Blush Brush No. 2, I prepped my skin with primer (I’m using MAC Prep + Prime Natural Radiance) before applying MAC Face and Body Foundation in C5 all over my face, and where I felt I needed extra coverage, like on my chin (dumb-@ss hormonal breakouts!), I applied a little more, pressing the product into my skin with the brush.

Then, I filled in my brows with a MAC 266 Small Angle Brush and MAC Eyeshadow in Concrete and curled my lashes with the always reliable Sonia Kashuk Lash Curler.

Next up — eyeshadow! I spread MAC Paint in Sublime Nature all over my lids with a finger. It served as a base for the next eyeshadows layered on top, helping them stay put and intensifying their colors.

Here, I lined my upper lash lines with MAC Prunella…

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Gonna Dress Your Lips Up

September 18th, 2012 by Karen 10 Comments

Traveling gals, keep your eyes peeled for Bobbi’s Lip Wardrobe, a trio of lipsticks (Tulle, Pink and Salmon) available now exclusively at Bobbi Brown travel retail locations worldwide.

Share a Tip Tuesday: Whip That Water Line Into Shape!

September 18th, 2012 by Karen 21 Comments

I love liner. Love wearing it on my water lines. Love the way it intensifies eye looks, but getting that stuff to stay put can be a bear.

Here are a few tricks I use to whip my water lines into shape…

Let’s wait a while…

After I apply a layer of liner, I wait about 10 minutes for it to dry, and then reapply. That second layer really seems to up my mileage.

Push on some powder

Somewhere out there is a lovely Chanel makeup artist who gets credit for this trick (thank you, wherever you are!). After lining your water lines with a pencil, pat a matching eyeshadow on top using a soft, firm brush. It sets the liner and extends your wear time.

Brush-wise, I like the Definition Liner Brush No. 10 from Burberry ($32) for this (although any good, firm eye brush with a little give should also work, like a skinny concealer brush). It’s downy soft, and the pointy tip is all about the details. Perfect for placing shadow along the water lines.

Bring on the Bobbi Brown Long-Wear Eye Pencils!

There’s no shortage of long-wearing liners out there now, but Bobbi Brown makes a great one. Her Long-Wear Eye Pencils ($24) are some of the best I’ve used. They glide along my skin like makeup figure skaters, without caking or breaking up later. Plus, no tears! — and they come in six shades. The one I have is called Jet (a midnight black).

Thanks for stopping by for another edition of Share a Tip Tuesday! 🙂 You left so many great ideas for makeup storage solutions in the comments on last week’s post. My cluttered counters thank you.

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What Are You Wearing On Your Nails?

September 18th, 2012 by Karen 38 Comments

I’m wearing the limited edition Sally Hanson Rock of Ages Salon Effects Nail Polish Strips in Fingerlace Gloves ($9.99; check drugstores for availability), which strutted on to counters earlier in the summer with seven other patterns inspired by the movie Rock of Ages.

Salon Effects are pre-cut, printed nail stickers that you apply to clean nails for an instant manicure with a glossy finish. To remove ’em, just use regular old nail polish remover and a cotton ball or pad.

It was pretty easy and only took about a half hour to do both hands. The stickers do seem to run big, so if you have small hands like I do, you may need to trim down a couple of the strips to fit your nails.

The box says the mani can last up to 10 days. Hmm! It’s only been two, and I already have a few chips. I’m pretty hard on my hands, though. It might be different if you aren’t typing or opening cans of gravy all day. 🙂

What about you? What are you wearing on your nails?

Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,

Karen

Two Parrots

September 17th, 2012 by Karen 20 Comments

wearing mac parrot eyeshadow and my new parrot ring

I saw this parrot ring at Target and couldn’t resist. It reminds me of one of my favorite MAC colors of all time, Parrot (from 2007’s The Originals collection).

A Fall Vice to Entice Those Who Long for New Hues and Love a Good Price: The Urban Decay Vice Palette

September 17th, 2012 by Karen 30 Comments

urban decay vice palette review — Wearing the Urban Decay Vice Palette eyeshadows in Nevermind, Desperation and Unhinged on my eyes

Maybe the cray amounts of overtime Tabs has had me working lately and the 20+ hours of Friday Night Lights I’ve watched since last Friday are slowly but surely frying my brain, because choosing which eyeshadow colors I want to wear when I do my makeup has been way tougher than usual.

It’s like, I see the pans sitting in front of me as one big, nebulous blob. Does this green go with that one? Should I wear bronze or brown?

Honestly, right now, I have no idea…

Coming to the rescue, ironically with 20 more shades? — the new Urban Decay Vice Palette ($59 and available now online at urbandecay.com).

I can’t remember the last time Urban Decay released a palette with so many new colors! All 20 of them have never before seen the light of day (although a few of them do resemble existing colors).

And that’s not even my favorite part.

Somehow, the shades in the Vice palette, which is packed with neutrals and sprinkled with brights, all go together. Seriously, I feel like I can pair any two of them on my lids, pop a third shade along my lower lash line and KAPOW! — instant eye game that requires very little brain power.

Not that I’m in my right mind right now…but nothing here seems out of place.

You could start with one of the lighter colors all over your lids, add one of the darker shades in the outer corners of your eyes, and define your lower lash lines by lining with one of the bright or neutral shades.

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MAC Unsung Heroes: Fulfilled Plushglass

September 17th, 2012 by Karen 15 Comments

I’m a strong advocate for trying new makeup trends, but I totally get that sometimes, despite how much fun it can be to start piling on the lip and eye makeup this time of year (says the girl who buys bananas wearing silver and black winged eyeshadow), it can also be easy (at least for me) to go overboard.

I may leave the house feeling like I just stepped off the pages of Vogue, but then I catch my reflection in a mirrored surface by the bags of salad at Safeway and think, hawt damn! — that’s a lotta look for groceries.

That’s why, to protect myself from…myself, I try to keep my purses and bags fully stocked with my-lips-but-better products like the MAC Plushglass glosses.

Last month I was all about Big Baby. This month, I’m feeling much more Fulfilled, as in MAC Plushglass in Fulfilled ($19.50).

By swapping this creamy pinkish peach for the rich reds, berries and burgundy lip colors I regularly reach for in fall, I feel much more appropriately made up for everyday tasks.

Unlike Big Baby, Fulfilled doesn’t showcase any pearl or shimmer. Instead, it gets the job done with a creamy finish and a soft kiss of pinkish peach color. And while I love the way it quietly complements pretty much any bold look, it’s like Buzz Lightyear with brown, bronze and plum smokey eyes (taking them to infinity…and beyond!).