Smashbox Be Legendary Lipsticks, $19 each. Available now in 20 shades at Sephora and online.
Smashbox Be Legendary Lipstick
On the Ice
I even look short on ice skates, go figure.
Took this yesterday at Union Square in San Francisco just before I landed a triple axel. Totally kidding! I can skate fast and not fall, and that’s about it. I’ve never gotten around to learning how to brake. I usually just crash into the closest wall (or person) at full speed. Secretly, I kind of enjoy body checking things/people, and part of me wonders if I missed my calling as a hockey player…
The Weekly Roundup: Posts You Might Have Missed
Well, it’s official. Welcome to 2012. 🙂
I hope you had a blast last night. Did you stay up to midnight or conk out early? I was tempted and tired enough to go to bed around 10:30, but El Hub talked me into renting a movie that kept me up the rest of the way (Fright Night — a cheesy vampire flick, and you know how much I like those).
Yesterday I actually went ice skating! There’s a rink at Union Square in downtown San Francisco. I’ve only been ice skating a few times, so I’m not exactly an Olympic figure skater, but at least I didn’t fall (or cause anyone else to fall), which is something.
After skating El Hub and I went to see Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol and then stopped at a sushi place for dinner.
It was one heck of a day… I can’t remember the last time El Hub and I had so much fun. It was such a clear night that we were even able to see fireworks off in the distance from our deck.
What a nice start to 2012. Something tells me it’s going to be a great year, but certainly not if these guys can help it…
Highlighter Haters. They’re awful beasts!
MAKEUP MONSTERS: THE HIGHLIGHTER HATER
FREQUENCY: Rare
SPEED: Deceptively fast
ARMOR CLASS: 10+
SPECIAL ATTACKS: These guys feed off of light and brightness, sucking it out of their surroundings and making the world (and the cheeks) around them dull and lifeless.
SPECIAL DEFENSES: Well, they’re made of pure energy, so they’re immune to most physical attacks.
INTELLIGENCE: Low (animal)
ALIGNMENT: Neutral
SIZE: Massive (30′ tall)
A few beauty posts that caught my eye…
- 10 Fantastic Ways To Get Ready for 2012! — Gala Darling
- LOVE IT!: A Month of Holiday Beauty — Refinery 29
- Happy New Year Nails — The Nailasaurus
- Le Métier de Beauté Resort Collection: Orange Juiced and HibisKiss Sheer Brilliance Lip Glosses — Messy Wands
- Paul & Joe Spring 2012 Kitten Makeup Collection — Makeup4all
- I friggin’ love this Christmas Eve eye of the day — Swatch Freak
- Great ideas for a skincare routine using all natural and organic products — Jenn Staz
- Best Nail Polishes of 2011 — Ã la Peach
- New Year’s Eve with a green sky lantern — Swedish Love Affair
- The Beautyblender Sponge — My Weekend Ramblings
The Weekly Roundup: MBB Posts You Might Have Missed
NARS UNSUNG HEROES
STAR SAILOR EYESHADOW DUO
I have to say, for a long, long time I didn’t think much of NARS Eyeshadow Duo in Star Sailor ($33), and I sailed past it many times without giving it as much as a sneaky side-eye glance.
Then, one day, the planets and stars were aligned just right, and I decided to see what swatches of its two shadows would look like on my skin.
Over the moon! — that’s how I felt when the first shade, a shimmery yellow gold, and the second, a shimmery golden bronze, blossomed before me, like a nebula under the watchful eye of the Hubble Space Telescope…
Sorry, I’m a sucker for a good (or middling) space reference. Read more…
A VEGGIE BURGER, FRIES AND
VANILLA SHAKE FACE OF THE DAY
Since all I really had to do today was eat, I decided not to go all out with my makeup. I went with a mostly neutral look using products from NARS, MAC, Buxom, Tarte, Boots, Hourglass, Urban Decay and Madina Milano.
I guess I’d describe this as neutral with a side of sparkle… I think the eyes are probably sparklier in person than they might appear here because the sparkles from NARS Eyeshadow in Night Star are shy in front of the camera.
They are there, though, doing their sparkly thing.
I wore this out to lunch with the fam today to a local Redding institution, a great little burger joint here called Damburger, which has been around since 1938! El Hub has a relative who’s been getting burgers there since about 1946. Read more…
UPGRADE YOUR OPTIONS IN COLOR WITH THIS
QUICK TRAVEL MAKEUP TIP
Over my four-day Christmas trip up and down Northern California to visit with my parents and in-laws, I relied on one particular makeup trick a little more than the others. I’m just about to hit the road back home to Novato, but first, if you like to wear different looks often but don’t usually have a lot of room to spare in your travel makeup bag, here’s one quick and easy way to increase your color options.
Pack as many colorful sticks of eyeliner as you can find, and with one quick swipe along your upper and/or lower lash lines, you’ve got a new fast, fun look.
This trip I brought MAC, Urban Decay and NARS eyeliners in gray, purple, green, gold, blue and bronze, along with my usual liners in black and brown.
That’s it! Quick and easy color that doesn’t take up much cargo space. Read more…
10 OF MY PICKS FOR HEAD OF THE CLASS
A+ MAKEUP AND BEAUTY DEPARTMENT STORE (AND OTHER) PRODUCTS OF 2011
2011 was another awesome year for feline and human makeup and beauty. Along with rediscovering/falling in love again with a slew of pulse-pounding permanent products from some of my favorite lines like MAC and NARS, I also bumped into bunches of beautiful products to lurve on drugstore and department store shelves.
If you’re on the market for something special to spend a Christmas gift card on, consider one of the overachieving A+ department store products below. All of them are looking for new homes just like yours and can be found in stores now. Read more…
10 OF MY PICKS FOR HEAD OF THE CLASS
A+ MAKEUP AND BEAUTY DRUGSTORE PRODUCTS OF 2011
Going to a drugstore after a long day is one of my favorite ways to unwind. I’ll flip through a few magazines, grab an ice cream cone, and cruise the cosmetics aisle looking for a little something I can get myself as a budget beauty treat.
It’s been a ritual of mine ever since I was a teenager.
Sure, I do love department store beauty and big brands like Benefit and NARS, but some of my favorite makeup and beauty products don’t reside at stores like Nordstrom, Sephora or MAC, and that’s why I’ll always have a soft spot for drugstores. Not only because they make it possible for gals on a tight budget to look great from head to toe, but because they also make it easy to treat yourself without breaking the bank. Read more…
HOURGLASS VEIL MINERAL PRIMER SPF 15
KEEPS MAKEUP GOING ON AND ON TILL THE BREAK OF DAWN
While it’s not a brand new product, Veil is new to me. I only recently got to know it well while visiting and staying with family over the past few days, when I was doing my makeup early in the mornings and needed something to help my looks last from dawn till dusk. This month, that something was Veil.
Before I settled on Veil, though, I tried a number of other primers from MAC, Make Up For Ever, Smashbox and Cover FX over the month or so since Thanksgiving. Veil’s been my favorite so far.
A lot of primers feel thick and heavy to me, like they’re smothering my combination dry/oily/acne-prone skin, but lightweight Veil quickly absorbs and doesn’t feel like it’s just sitting on the top layers of skin like a lake of pore-suffocating product. It also hasn’t caused any breakouts, near as I can tell, and I’ve heard from other girls who love it specifically for this reason. Read more…
NARS UNSUNG HEROES
INDIAN SUMMER EYESHADOW DUO
NARS has a knack for neutral eyeshadows but likes ‘em with a twist, like Star Sailor, which accompanied me on my quick holiday trip last weekend. Keeping us company on the open road was another dynamic neutral duo from NARS, the $33 Indian Summer Duo Eyeshadow, which happens to be the subject of today’s Unsung Heroes post.
Like both of the colors in Star Sailor, Indian Summer’s shadows keep a low profile until they get out of their pans; that’s when their powder shadows sing. In the official PR, the shades are described as a frosted champagne and a mustard seed, but I think they’re much more exciting than that. Read more…
THESE BOOTS NO7 POPPY KING LIPSTICKS
ARE ALL ABOUT HISTORY, POWER, GLAMOUR, SEDUCTION, INTRIGUE, CONFIDENCE AND ALLURE
Wow, okay, December 29? And we’re still kicking? Shoot, we need to reward ourselves for making it through the holidays.
Yes, I’m totally serious! Perhaps some small token for artfully dodging the family drama (which takes tremendous skill), for enduring that undercover sibling rivalry that never quite goes away, or for cooking that monster meal that catered to everyone’s preferences and food allergies (SIDE NOTE: Does anyone else out there still like cilantro?). Whatever the justification, I think we’re all due a small “Woo-hoo, we made it!” kind of prize, and I can’t think of a better one than Boots No7 Poppy King Lipstick ($9.99).
The new line of seven limited edition lipsticks launched last month at Target, and there’s a lot to like about it beyond the price. Read more…
Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,
Karen
P.S. About those makeup monsters, I know I’m not the only one here who likes to draw, so if you’ve seen any makeup monsters you’d like to draw or paint, shoot them over to me! I’d love to feature them here.
Advice Column: What’s One Piece of Advice You’d Give to a Gal (or Guy) Just Like You?
“It’s 8 o’clock, babe! Are you ever gonna stop playing with makeup?”
If I could give one piece of advice to another girl (or guy) out there a lot like me, I would say this: you have to set boundaries. In everything you do. When it comes to playing with makeup, you have to know when it’s time to put down the blending brush for a while. When it comes to work, you have to know when it’s time to head home for the night or when it’s time to set things aside until tomorrow. And when it comes to staying up late, you have to know when it starts to hurt your health or your relationships.
Some of my big boundary breaking vices are makeup and blogging (BIG surprises there). Some afternoons I’ll be trying on products upstairs in front of my mirror for hours, totally unaware of the time until my tummy rumbles and I look up to see that it’s already 9 o’clock!
Yup, that has to stop in 2012.
How about you? What’s one piece of advice you’d give to a man or woman just like you?
Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,
Karen
The Year in Review: 20 of My Favorite Makeup and Beauty Blog Posts of the Year
According to my blogging software, I clicked the “Publish” button on exactly 1,770 blog posts in 2011, and at an average of about 300 words each, that’s about half a million words!
I wish I could say that I remember writing most of those posts, but yeah, no way. A few of them do stand out, though, like these 20, which were some of my favorite posts of the year.
A Tour Through the Urban Decay Offices in Newport Beach
I Love MAC Evolution Revolution Lipglass
12 Ways to Wear MAC Evolution Revolution Lipglass
The Bobbi Brown 1991 Lip Palette
Saying Hi to The Urban Decay Naked2 Palette
Lessons learned from going away to college
NYX Slide-On Eye Liners or Urban Decay 24/7 Pencils?
The Essie French Affair Collection
Two Ways to Win a $50 eGift Card from Sephora!
- WINNER: The giveaway is closed now, and the winner is Jackie! Congratulations, Jackie! If you entered but didn’t win this time around, keep trying, and click here to enter any ongoing giveaways before you jet. 🙂
When was the last time you went dancing on New Year’s Eve? For me it was probably a few years ago at a bar/nightclub called Rafters in San Rafael. Rafters ended up shutting down a few months after that, and I’d never gone there any other time, but that New Year’s Eve was probably the most fun I’ve had in years.
The dance floor was packed with people of all ages (and mylar balloons with the words, “Happy New Year!”), and everyone was smiling, from the college kids with springy legs all the way up to shuffling couples in their seventies, rocking out to a great cover band that belted out the B-52s Love Shack, Huey Lewis’s The Heart of Rock & Roll and Stevie Wonder’s Superstition like nobody’s business, except for maybe Stevie’s himself.
It was one of those crowds where everyone was sober, or mostly sober, and there were no big egos dominating the dance floor. Just a tight-knit group of people all having fun and wishing everyone around them well.
Tonight I think El Hub and I will probably just go to dinner somewhere nearby, and then maybe try to find a place where we can park the car and watch a fireworks display. If we can find a spot along the Bay and it turns out to be a clear night, we might be able to watch the fireworks across the water in San Francisco.
That would be nice… 🙂
For this weekend’s giveaway, the last one of 2011 and the first of 2012, you can enter the same way as always, by leaving a comment about anything at all (read on to find out how to get a second entry as well), but I’d love to hear about your fondest memory of a New Year’s Eve.
- One (1) Sephora eGift card containing $50 sent to the winner by email (international readers, you may opt to receive $50 sent by PayPal instead).
- There are two ways to enter, and you can do both of them for two chances to win. First, you can enter by leaving a comment at the bottom of this post, a comment about anything at all, like, what was your fondest memory of a New Year’s Eve? Do you remember what you were wearing the last time you went dancing? What would you like to accomplish in 2012? What was your makeup/beauty highlight of 2011? — you get the idea.
- Second, you can enter by following me on
Twitter @karenmbb and retweeting (RT) the following message:
- Follow @karenmbb and RT to Win a $50 eGift Card from Sephora! http://bit.ly/uISZ9U
- The deadline to enter is Sunday, January 1, 2012 at 11:59PM (PT).
- Entrants must enter using a valid email address and/or Twitter account to win.
- A maximum of two (2) entries per person — one within the comments at the bottom of this post, and a second entry via Twitter addressed to me @karenmbb.
- Contest is open to individuals of any country who have reached the age of majority according to their local laws (18 in the United States with these exceptions: Alabama and Nebraska, 19; Mississippi, 21).
- Sephora eGift Certificates can only be redeemed online and are not valid in stores or available for purchase or redemption in Canada. International winners may opt to substitute the Sephora eGift card prize for $50 sent directly to their email address by PayPal instead.
- Tabs and I (heretofore referred to as “T-Money and K-Dawg”) will select one (1) winner at random from the entries either left in the comments at the bottom of this blog post or addressed to @karenmbb on Twitter.
- The winner will be announced here within 48 hours of the deadline.
- Void where prohibited by law.
Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,
Karen
- WINNER: The giveaway is closed now, and the winner is Jackie! Congratulations, Jackie! If you entered but didn’t win this time around, keep trying, and click here to enter any ongoing giveaways before you jet. 🙂
The Estée Lauder Pure Color Topaz Collection for Spring 2012 Will Be Channeling Summer Soon
How do you feel about Estée Lauder? Their new Pure Color Topaz spring collection is on its way to counters (and online) very, very soon.
Its 10 pieces for eyes, cheeks, lips and nails encompass a color palette of bronze, taupe, sand, citron yellow and teal, and judging by the few items I’ve seen (here are three of them below), it looks pretty summery to me.
Heck, though, I’m not complaining. I could always use a little summer this time of year, and bronze and teal might as well be my middle names (hyphenated, of course). 🙂
Reviews forthwith — as soon as I’ve spent some time playing with the pieces.
Estee Lauder Pure Color Topaz products from top to bottom: Pure Color Illuminating Powder Gelée in Topaz Chameleon, Pure Color Intense Kajal Eye Crayon in Dramatic Teal and Pure Color Gloss in Citron Kiss
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The Smashbox Be Discovered Spring 2012 Collection Is Ready for Its Closeup in These Pics and Swatches
One, two, three — cheese!
Um…no, not gouda, although I am a big fan of stinky cheeses (especially the blue veiny ones, yum!). I’m referring to the new Smashbox Be Discovered collection, available now at Sephora stores and sephora.com.
Since I’m a shutterbug, I love Camera themes, so I was pretty eager to point my lens at this new eight-piece collection for eyes, lips and cheeks.
Today I talked four of the pieces into sitting still long enough for me to capture them on film. Have a quick look, and let me know what you think (reviews coming soon).
Smashbox Be Discovered Eye Shadow Palette, $44
