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

5 Things I’ve Been Loving Lately

February 15th, 2022 by Karen 8 Comments

1. Old Navy High-Rise Bike Shorts

These are high-rise bike shorts made out of soft jersey material.

I bought a few on a whim to wear underneath dresses in the spring and summer, and they’re fantastic! The material feels good against my skin, and the rise is high enough to keep my tum-tum feeling supported. They’re available in several neutral colors; I bought basic black and two shades of brown.

2. Appointed Notebooks

If you’re into paper goods, I think you’ll LOVE these notebooks. I received one as a gift from my friend Kelly and now I’m obsessed.

Both the cover and the paper inside feel thick and sturdy, so it’s built to last. Plus, you gotta love a monogram!

3. Juice Newton

I’m going through a phase and have been bumping her music for days.

I especially love the part in “Angel of the Morning” when she belts it! Also, her hair in this video is epic.

“Queen of Hearts” will always be my fave, though.

Side note: is it just me, or would “Queen of Hearts” be a fun song for a punk band to cover? I can totally hear it.

4. NARS Kalahari eyeshadow duo

Oldie but a goodie. I’ve been wearing it with MAC Teddy on my lash and water lines.

5. Using resistance bands in leg workouts

I throw a medium or a heavy band on while I do squats, and OH, MAMA. I feel the burn!

fit simplify resistance bands — Operation: J. Lo Booty

The bands make my leg days that much more efficient because they force me to work that much harder, and the next day my legs are sore (in a good way).

What’ve you been loving lately?

Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,

Karen

Makeup and Beauty Blog Monday Poll, Vol. 716

February 14th, 2022 by Karen 9 Comments

keep room in your heart — Happy Valentine’s Day!

So…what is the Monday Poll?

Excellent question! It isn’t, contrary to its name, an actual poll, like with little clicky buttons. It’s just a list of more or less random questions I’ve been posting on this blog every Monday morning for the past quadrillion years (since 2007).

1. Who’s your Valentine?

I have the same three every year: El Hub, Connor and Rosie-Pose.

2. Chocolate or flowers?

See’s Candies, please!

3. Red or pink lipstick?

I love both, but today I’m feeling pink.

4. Clogs: yes or no?

Ya know, I used to be a hater, but after my brief stint working in the bakery, now I’m a fan.

5. A song you heard recently?

“Playin’ with the queen of hearts…”

6. Retinol?

Yup. I like the ones by Neutrogena and Avene.

7. Red or pink nail polish?

Flamingo pink!

8. Red or pink eyeshadow?

Red can look editorial and dramatic, but I haven’t been into that sort of makeup lately, so I’ll go with a soft wash of satiny pink.

9. Valentine’s Day: love it or leave it?

LOVE IT!

Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,

Karen

P.S. Here are the questions to copy/paste with your answers in a comment. Talk to ya soon.

1. Who’s your Valentine?
2. Chocolate or flowers?
3. Red or pink lipstick?
4. Clogs: yes or no?
5. A song you heard recently?
6. Retinol?
7. Red or pink nail polish?
8. Red or pink eyeshadow?
9. Valentine’s Day: love it or leave it?

P.P.S. Happy Valentine’s day, my sweet friend. Sending you an extra squeeze-y hug today! 🤗

Sundays With Tabs the Cat, Makeup and Beauty Blog Mascot, Vol. 697

February 13th, 2022 by Karen 3 Comments

Are you watching the big game? Rosie has it on in the background while she does some calculations for a project for SpaceX. So she’s not totally dialed in.

Tabs was the real football fan in the family. Of course, that makes sense, considering how he played professional cat football before becoming a kitty supermodel.

He only did it for two years, though. Mind you, he would have played longer if it hadn’t been for an injury…

Still, he won a championship, as he usually did in his various endeavors, and he got pretty famous.

Most cat sports writers consider him to be the best cat tight end of all time.

Rosie

Rosie is pulling for the Rams, but only because Los Angeles has so many great universities, research labs and museums.

Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,

Karen

Saturday Surfing, Feb. 12, 2022!

February 12th, 2022 by Karen 3 Comments

Happy Saturday, friend! 😊 Sending you lots of loving, joyful and gentle vibes today. OH, and sending a little bit of sweatiness, too! I just finished this fun workout for quads and core from Sydney, my favorite fitness friend (in my mind, I’m her workout bestie, LOL!). Not a ton of jumping in this workout, which my feet like. And, when I was done, my body had that wonderful loosey-goosey feeling.

Super fun!

I’m taking Connor on a playdate this morning. Then, when we get home, I’m going to clean out my closet in anticipation of buying some new clothes for spring. I’ve put shopping off long enough, (sigh), and I just need to get some new pieces. I’ve been wearing a lot of neutral colors for the past few months, and while it definitely makes it easier to get dressed in the morning, I’m a little tired of wearing white, black, gray and beige all the time…

Anywho, remember how I mentioned that I’m going to try adding some head-to-toe color in my life through jumpsuits a while back? I found a couple cute ones for Tar-ghay!

I love the color of this one, which is $34.99.

The puff sleeves on this mint green one are adorable. It’s also $34.99.

What are your plans for the day? After the playdate, I’m also going to watch a show I just started on HBO called “The Girl Before,” which stars Gugu Mbatha-Raw (LOVE HER).

Whatever you’re up to, I hope you get a chance to have some fun and maybe even relax a little.

Today’s reading

Allegedly, here are the 13 best sunscreen makeup products that actually help protect your skin.
For Makeup Artist Debi Young (she did the looks for a show I liked on HBO called For “Mare of Easttown”), authenticity is all about the details.
In case you know a dude who needs help growing out his mane…
Someone made a perfume that smells like French fries, FOR REAL.
Could the future of clean, sustainable beauty come from a perfume made with air?
Derms have a thing called the two-week rule.
Donated coolers keep Colorado’s feral cats warm. 🐱
A colorful history of kitties in the White House…
Cool! These shoes from Cole Haan are made from dandelions.
How to build friendships when you’re an adult.

Talk to me.

She plays a character from one of my favorite shows.

I’ve always wondered this…

Obsessed with Pat, always and forever!

FYI

So educational!

I kinda miss getting my hair colored

YES.

Take me back.

Because I can’t get enough of sunscreen…

Have a wonderful rest of your weekend! 😀

Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,

Karen

Chicken Adobo Recipe

February 11th, 2022 by Karen 13 Comments

Adobo is a staple Filipino dish. When I was a kid, we had it at least once a week for either lunch or dinner. Every family has their own take on adobo, but the basics are the same — some type of meat (typically chicken, pork or a combination of both) marinated and then cooked in soy sauce, vinegar and garlic. It’s a savory main dish packed with flavor, and almost everyone I know loves it.

This is how we do adobo at Casa MBB!

A few quick tips:

I typically use apple cider vinegar, but you can swap it out for balsamic. The traditional way is to make it with white cane vinegar, which is also great too!
Low and slow is the way to go; that’s the key to tender chicken adobo. If your sauce is reducing too quickly, add a little water.
No peppercorns on hand? Substitute with ground black or white pepper.
Just in case you’re unfamiliar with bay leaves — don’t eat them! They’re there for adding flavor to the dish.

Oh, and this dish is enough for my family of three, but if you have more people to feed, then double the ingredients. I typically serve it with white rice and a veggie on the side.

Ingredients

1 lb boneless, skinless chicken thighs
1/4 cup soy sauce
1/4 cup apple cider vinegar
6 cloves garlic, minced
2 tsp brown sugar
2 tsp olive oil
3 bay leaves
1 medium onion cut in thin half-moon slivers
1 tsp black peppercorn (you can reduce this to 1/2 tsp if you want)

Directions

In a glass bowl, mix the soy sauce, vinegar and half the garlic to make a marinade. Add the chicken, then cover with plastic wrap and pop in the fridge for at least 30 minutes or up to a few hours.
In either a dutch oven or a large pan with high sides, heat the olive oil to medium high. Add the onions and cook until they’re fragrant and translucent (about five minutes, give or take). Then, add the garlic, and cook until fragrant, which for me is about minute. Side note: don’t burn the garlic, otherwise it will be bitter.
Push the onions and garlic to one the side of the pan, then place the chicken in the pan to lightly brown it.
Pour the marinade into the pot. Add the rest of the garlic, the bay leaves, peppercorns and brown sugar. Stir everything together gently.
Bring to a low simmer, then cover the pot and continue to cook on low heat for about 25 minutes. If your sauce is reducing too quickly, then add water.
Remove cover, and then shred the chicken with two forks. Continue to simmer on low for about 15 minutes to thicken the sauce.
Serve with rice and your favorite veggies.

If you make this recipe, please let me know what you think!

Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,

Karen

P.S. TGIF!

Latest Beauty Buys

February 10th, 2022 by Karen 10 Comments

I’m only realizing JUST NOW that I still haven’t purchased the one beauty thing I actually needed to buy this week (an Ilia eyeliner to replace the one I finished). Still haven’t made it to Sephora. Sigh. I did manage to grab some things at Target and Ulta to replace other items that were running low, though!

Side note: while I was at Ulta yesterday, I overheard a mom telling her teenage daughter that she was done waiting and that 45 minutes was plenty of time to pick out a nail polish, and they needed to go, like, NOW. Ahhh! Will that ever be me and Connor?

Anywho, I bought a bottle of Zoya Remove+ (works great on glitters) and an oil cleanser that’s new to me, Tula Skincare #NoMakeup Replenishing Cleansing Oil. I tried it last night and I think I might be returning it. It didn’t sting my eyes (yay), but after I rinsed it off, my eyes felt dry and kinda itchy.

Honestly, I don’t know why I keep trying new cleansing oils when I know the DHC one is the bomb dot com. You know how it is when you’re a beauty lover, though; you might already something is great and it works, but you’re always on the hunt to find the next best thing.

Onto hair. I’ve been wanting to try Function of Beauty for a while, so I finally grabbed a few things from Target from the Wavy Hair Line: the shampoo, the hair mask, two of the boosters (one for heat protection and one for fighting frizz) and the leave-in treatment.

Have you purchased anything lately?

Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,

Karen

What Are the Hardest and Easiest Things About Makeup for You?

February 9th, 2022 by Karen 7 Comments

pyt beauty no bs eyeshadow palette k2 — The struggle is real

Hello, and happy Wednesday! I just dropped Connor off at school and was about to paint on a 10-minute face on when I got to thinking about how some aspects of makeup are easier than others. I can usually fly through certain things, like blush and bronzer, but eyeshadow is a totally different story. Even when I do a relatively a simple look with just a couple shadows, I still have to think about where I place the color and how high up I can take it. If I don’t, my eye makeup ends up asymmetrical.

Anywho, I was wondering if you find certain things easier or harder to do, too. Here’s my quick list!

Stuff that’s relatively easy for me

Mascara (Side note: I’ve got to have a good formula, though)
Blush
Bronzer
Base (I like to keep it simple)
Concealer
Lipstick/Gloss in neutral colors

Stuff that’s hard

Eyeshadow
Eyeliner
Brows
Dark or bright lipstick
So, basically anything that involves intensely paying attention to symmetry!

How about you?

Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,

Karen

How Do You Handle Your Beauty Budget?

February 8th, 2022 by Karen 16 Comments

Lately, I’ve been listening to podcasts about financial literacy, and consequently, I’ve been thinking about how people handle their beauty budgets.

I read in an article recently that says on average, women spend $313 a month and men spend $244 on beauty products. I’m not really surprised at those amounts, though, seeing how it’s easy to go there if you’re shopping at places like Sephora.

Anywho, I’m trying to be more purposeful with the beauty products I buy, and so I’m taking stock of my spending habits. I’ve noticed that I tend to do one of three things:

1. Restock, then pick up extras

When I run out of something, I’ll go in to Sephora or Target for a restock, and while I’m there, I’ll usually pick up a few extra things that weren’t originally on my list because YOLO.

2. Stress shopping

If I’ve had a rough day, I’ll buy beauty products that usually aren’t on my wishlist for some instant gratification.

3. Sale shopping

OH, GOSH. This is my Achilles’ Heel. If I can get a bunch of products on sale, I have no problem splurging, even if it’s for things that I technically don’t need.

I’m thinking about creating a set beauty budget per month, but you know… There’s something about those impromptu beauty buys when I need a pick me up. Sigh.

I’m curious to know how you handle your beauty budget.

Like, do you prefer to buy makeup only when you run out of something? Or do you have a set monthly budget for beauty products, and you pick up whatever you’re fancying at the moment? Or are you the type of person who purchases products on a whim? Let me know in the comments.

Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,

Karen