The new Physicians Formula Shimmer Strips Custom Eye Enhancing Shadow & Liner in Smoky, $10.50. Available now at drugstores.
Would you rock these shades?
Strips of Smoky Shimmer
It’s the Truth
Am I the only person who does this? Hmm…
For Minimal Coverage in This Universe and Others: Hourglass Hidden Corrective Concealer
I like to think that right now in an alternate universe “Alternate Universe Karen” is sitting and typing at her desk with a cup of Annie’s Cheddar Bunnies next to her keyboard.
And, also on that parallel plane, Alternate Universe Karen is having a kick-@ss hair day, and she does NOT have a chocolate stain on the left thigh of her stretchy pants. While we’re at it, let’s dial down the intensity of her dark circles a few notches, ya know? Just because we can. 🙂
Here in this universe, however, earlier today, I did have a cup of Annie’s bunnies next to my keyboard. In fact, I planned to eat them after finishing this post, but then a cat (let’s call him Tabs) covertly consumed most of them before I could intervene.
Here in this universe today, my hair is also frizzy, and I do have a chocolate stain on my stretchy pants. Thankfully, it’s from See’s, and not some nasty, two-bit, bottom-of-the-barrel chocolate, because if I’m gonna be walking around the house with chocolate on my pants, at the very least it should be good.
Oh, and per usual, my dark under-eye circles are the deep hue of a ripe eggplant.
Alternate Universe Karen has had it much better today…
She eats her cup of Cheddar Bunnies and whips her Victoria’s Secret hair while her well-behaved cat marvels at her pristine, chocolate-free pants.
And since her dark circles only require minimal coverage, she uses Hourglass Hidden Corrective Concealer ($32) and sees spectacular results.
Previously only available in three shades, Hourglass recently added three more for spring (in Fair, Natural and Tan).
Alternate Universe Karen wears the one called Sand.
Swatch of Sand
[Continue reading…]
MAC Unsung Heroes: Club Eyeshadow
Hmm… Clubbing used to be a lot less complicated.
The last time I went clubbing, let alone wore MAC Club Eyeshadow ($15) out to a club, was at least a year ago. And it’s funny — I used to be able to just roll out of the house around 10, get to the club by 11, and then dance until the wee hours in 4-inch heels, no problem. Sometimes, we’d even go out for fries afterward.
Now, though? Whole different story.
It seems like right around the time I hit 30, the prep work involved in staying out past 10 doubled.
Now, on those rare occasions when I do go out dancing, I try to carbo load the night before, take a power nap in the afternoon, slip some inserts into my heels (so my arches won’t hurt), and throw a Lara bar into my purse to eat on the way home (since my tum can’t handle late-night greasy food like it used to).
See what I mean? Complicated. 🙂
But one thing that hasn’t changed is my mad love for MAC Club…although nowadays I’m wearing it to the movies and grocery stores, and not out to clubs to go dancing (at least not often).
Club was one of the first colors I fell in love with at MAC, and I’m so glad we met. If I’d judged this nondescript reddish gray-brown book by its cover — by the way it looks in its pan — I might have never given it a chance.
And that would have been a shame.
On skin, I think MAC Club looks downright multidimensional, as if someone had pressed all of the colors of a peacock’s feather into a single eyeshadow. One minute, it’s a gunmetal gray with teal highlights; the next, a bluish chocolate brown with an iridescent green glow.
And beyond Club’s dynamic personality, it also loves layers. I like that I can coax different things out of it, like green, by wearing it atop green pencils or cream shadows, and teal, by wearing it with — you guessed it! — teal.
Easy to dress up or down, sometimes I’ll layer it on top of black liner for a quick smokey eye, or, for a twist on a traditional cat eye, I’ll wet an angled brush like the MAC 266 with some Fix+, sweep it across the pan, and apply Club wet along my upper lash lines.
[Continue reading…]
LORAC TANtalizer Should Tantalize Paler Pretties and Sweeties With Medium Skin Tones
If you and your brushes like having lots of room to play in, it’s time to get tantalized. 🙂 This over-sized TANtalizer pan from LORAC ($32) is downright HUGE!
It combines a bronzer and highlighter in one gargantuan compact, which I went a little overboard with the first time I used, swiping my brush back and forth, back and forth, whee!
I assumed I was picking up too much product, based on how pigmented the shimmery champagne pink highlighter and warm matte brown bronzer look in the pan, but when I swept the highlighter along my upper cheekbones and along my jawline, what I saw was a nice surprise.
A MAC Must!
MAC Club eyeshadow, you’re my everything.
Purr-Chirping on a Monday Afternoon
This afternoon, Tabs watched birds while I wrote. I love his purr-chirp face. 🙂
Unexpected Encounters and the LORAC Unzipped Palette
It must’ve been my second or third year in college. I was studying at the library one afternoon and went to take a bathroom break.
When I walked into the ladies’ room, I saw a girl crying at the sink. And these weren’t dainty little sniffles, either. They were primal, hit-you-in-the-gut kind of sobs that happen when your future has taken an unexpectedly sh*tty detour.
She looked at me, and I remembered that I had some tissue in my purse, so I took them out and offered them to her.
And then we hugged.
She clutched me tightly and cried in my arms for 10 minutes, barely saying a word. I just held onto her, and over and over again told her that she was going to be okay.
When she finished crying, I wet some paper towels with cold water to make an improv compress for her eyes, which was something my mom used to do when I was little.
As she began to regain her composure, we hugged again, and even though I didn’t know her name or what had happened, I tried to comfort her, to reassure her that she was strong enough, and she was going to get through it. And then I left to give her some privacy.
I never saw her after that, and to this day I wonder what happened to her, and if things turned out alright.
That was many years ago, but something about the LORAC Unzipped palette ($40) brought the memory back.
Some people will probably see this palette of 10 powder shadows and think of Urban Decay Naked, Naked 2 and the many spinoffs they inspired.
I can certainly see why, but — maybe it’s because of shade names like Unconditional, Uncensored and Unspoken — this palette also reminds me of that day, and days like it, when strangers unexpectedly walk in to find us emotionally stripped, unzipped and raw.
If I should ever find myself sobbing at the sink in a public restroom, I wonder if anyone out there would offer me a shoulder to cry on and maybe a few comforting words.
I hope so…
Swatches from the left: Undercover, Unbelievable, Unattainable, Unconditional and Unbridled
[Continue reading…]