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Like Snickers, Bite Beauty Define & Refine Lip Set Really Satisfies

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Bite Beauty Define & Refine Lip Set
Bite Beauty High Pigment Pencil in Pomegranate

Sometimes you just need a quick snack to quiet the rumbling in your tummy, ya know? Not a full-on meal. Just a quick snack, like when Vampire Bill takes a sip from Sookie (Ha! I almost typed “Snookie”) while they’re “having relations.”

In a way, Bite Beauty’s new Define & Refine Lip Set ($36) is like a quick snack. You get to taste three full-size Bite lip products without having to pay full price. Purchased separately, they’d cost $68, or almost twice the price of the set.

The trio of treats includes…

  • Lip Shine in Prosecco — Interesting! This sheer nude gloss smells to me like a mix of Play-Doh and Sweet Tarts. Thankfully, the scent and sugary flavor fade fast. The medium-weight formula doesn’t feel sticky on my lips, and it lasts about two and a half hours. I’m glad Bite included a doe-foot applicator because it makes application a snap.
  • High Pigment Pencil in Pomegranate — The pigment in this blue-based red? To die for. It’s almost too good to be true. Despite its light and creamy texture (both unscented and unflavored), this pencil still manages to retain a long-lasting true matte finish. What we have here is one elegant lippie, young lady, and probably the best thing I’ve tried from the Bite line so far.
  • Luminous Creme Lipstick in Rose — One layer of this dark pink lipstick delivers full coverage color that may not make it through a meal, but it should resist fading for a solid four hours between them. Like the pencil, this pigmented beauty is unscented and unflavored, and it’s wonderfully moisturizing, too.

Like other products in the Bite Beauty line, these are made with food-grade goodies like resveratrol, a potent antioxidant and Bite’s signature ingredient. If you’d like to hear more about what puts the bite in Bite Beauty, check out Resveratrol, and Not Vampires, Puts the Bite in Bite Beauty Lip Products.

Bite Beauty Define & Refine Lip Set

Bite Beauty Define & Refine Lip Set
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Spring’s Awakening with Sonia Kashuk’s Latest Limited Edition Makeup Palette

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sonia kashuk spring awakenings face palette

Yesterday marked the first official day of spring here in the northern hemisphere, a fact not lost on Tabs. He was up early this morning, perched up high on his cat tower by the windows, to watch the birds outside.

On our walk around the neighborhood today, we saw that the branches of one of our favorite trees, which sits at the bottom of our hill, are now dressed in coat of beautiful pink blooms.

My spring allergies are already kicking in (thank goodness for Zyrtec!), but I wouldn’t trade this time of year for anything. Early spring is like getting a post card from a friend who’s coming to visit. You know there’s something fun right around the corner, but you’re not quite there yet. You know that if if you can be patient a little longer, the fun will start soon enough. 🙂

Sonia Kashuk’s new limited edition Spring Awakenings Palette ($19.99) feels like early spring to me. The palette of neutrals for eyes, lips and cheeks doesn’t hit you over the head with obvious spring pastels. Instead, its brown, coral and rose colors whisper promises of warmer days ahead.

sonia kashuk spring awakenings face palette in box

The four powder eyeshadows — a cool-toned mix of browns in matte, shimmer and glittery finishes — and dark chocolate powder eyeliner are the stars of this show. With the exception of the glitter shadow, which is more like a translucent base with champagne flecks, all of the items apply with dense, rich color that looks like the color you get from products considerably more expensive than typical drugstore eyeshadows.
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Smashbox Softbox Collection for Summer 2011: The Sultry/Sweet Glambox Set

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Smashbox Softbox Collection for Summer 2011

The Softly Seductive Eye Shadow Quad from Smashbox’s eight-piece Sultry/Sweet Glambox Set ($68). Available now at select Sephora stores and online.

For more on the new Smashbox Softbox Collection for Summer 2011, check out Smashbox Softbox Collection for Summer 2011: Diffuse Me, Please.

Smashbox Softbox Collection for Summer 2011

Makeup and Beauty Blog Monday Poll, March 21

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  • You might be wondering, “So what the heck is this Monday Poll thing anyway?”
    Well, it isn’t much of a poll. It’s more just a constantly evolving (devolving?), somewhat random list of questions I’ve been putting out to readers every Monday morning for the past three years, which I guess makes this somewhere around Vol. 162. I’ve always enjoyed reading your answers in the comments, and I hope you enjoy reading mine.
  1. Mood:

    2. A little sleepy, Zzzz… I was tossing and turning a lot last night, but otherwise I’m great. I feel really hopeful and organized today.

  2. What do you use to clean your makeup brushes?

    3. For years I used MAC Brush Cleanser ($12), which always worked well, breaking up product buildup while being easy to rinse. I’d go through about a bottle a month, though, and that was adding up fast, so to save a few bucks I switched to Aussie Opposites Attract Shampoo. Just the regular shampoo. It takes a little longer to rinse, but it works well and only costs about $3.

  3. Wide-legged jeans — yea or nay?

    4. Yea! Within reason, of course. When they’re too wide, I think they make me look even shorter than I am, as if that’s possible, ha!

  4. The last book that made you cry?

    5. Mockingjay, the third book in The Hunger Games trilogy. I finished it in bed early one morning, emotionally exhausted. I think it was about 2, and I didn’t want to wake El Hub, so I went into the bathroom to quietly sob for about 10 minutes.

  5. Do you wear bracelets?

    6. Yes, as long as they have some kind of elastic to keep them snug against my wrist or forearm. Cuffs are cool too. But bangles that tend to movie up and down my arm get on my nerves (and in my way when I’m typing).

  6. Have you ever cut your own bangs?

    7. Yup. Back in my high school hair bear days I’d cut them unevenly on purpose, so that when I pumped them up with hairspray they’d looked layered. Eek, I must have looked like a HOT MESS!

  7. Are you a procrastinator?

    8. I’ll answer this one later, LOL! 🙂 Well, it’s a habit I’m trying to break.

  8. Favorite cookie?

    9. Chewy semi-sweet chocolate chip, please.

  9. I always knew I’d…

    10. Have a job working with animals (or, in my case, working for one).

  10. Weekly goals:

    11. Track how much time I spend fooling around throughout the work day, reward myself for completing important tasks, run at least three times by Saturday, and prepare a real dinner four times this week (real meaning not something squeezed out of a package or a can).

Did that picture at the top of the post make you drool a little bit? If it did, may I introduce you to my delicious new obsession, the avena (aka oatmeal) shake. It’s made with oatmeal, milk, sugar and cinnamon, all blended together. I read that it’s popular in Latin American countries, and I can see why. YUM!

I got the recipe from skinnytaste.com. Gina, who runs the site, recommends adding ice before blending and drinking it cold for breakfast, but since it’s been chilly here in the morning, I skip the ice and drink it lukewarm.

I’ve been having it for/with breakfast for the past couple of days. SIDE NOTE: This is probably TMI, but if you’re trying to get more fiber in your diet, one glass of this stuff will clean your pipes (sorry)!

  • To complete the Monday Poll, just copy the following list, and paste it with your answers in the comments.



1. Mood:
2. What do you use to clean your makeup brushes?
3. Wide-legged jeans — yea or nay?
4. The last book that made you cry?
5. Do you wear bracelets?
6. Have you ever cut your own bangs?
7. Are you a procrastinator?
8. Favorite cookie?
9. I always knew I’d…
10. Weekly goals:

Have a great day today. 🙂 Let me know how you’re doing if you get a chance.

Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict

Karen

Sundays with Tabs the Cat, Makeup and Beauty Blog Mascot, Vol. 131

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Tabs for the Make Up For Ever Tres Kitty Collection

As Tabs’ assistant, I oversee his vast holdings in Novato, California, and as you can probably imagine, a successful kitty model can accumulate a lot of stuff. Right now his assets include one 7-foot cat tower, a small scratching post, a stimulating laser toy, a pair of wool socks, three cardboard boxes, an iPhone, 24 assorted cans of Fancy Feast in gravy (tuna, salmon, turkey and ocean whitefish), and more makeup and beauty products than I can possibly list.

It’s not unusual for Tabs to ask me for an accounting of his assets, but today he also asked me to move some of them (12 cans of Fancy Feast) into the garage, which he called “safer” than keeping everything in one place, and I can’t argue with that.

Here are the latest pics from Tabs’ portfolio. This week he worked with Benefit, Make Up For Ever, Dior, Guerlain and a subsidiary of Bite Beauty called — wait for it — Cat Bite Beauty, a Sephora exclusive. 🙂

Who is Tabs the Cat? About three years ago I befriended a stray, flea-bitten tabby cat with a bad case of worms. I could see he’d fallen on hard times, but his profound knowledge of high fashion and department store cosmetics led me to believe that he was more than meets the eye. We became fast friends, and now he’s actually my boss (and a successful kitty model).

Tabs for Benefit B.Right

Tabs for Guerlain TerraTabby
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Bite Beauty SPF 15 Sheer Balm Sheer Looks Pigmented to Me

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bite beauty sheer balm violet

Before I tried on Bite Beauty’s new SPF 15 Sheer Balm in Violet ($19; available in eight shades), I was expecting something shiny and almost transparent like the Guerlain Rouge G Serie Noirs. After that first swipe, though, I was like WHOA! Hello, pigment!

tabs with bite beauty sheer balm

Violet sure doesn’t look semi-sheer, not that I’m complaining at all. My lips are rather pigmented, but Violet looks a lot like a full coverage lipstick with a semi-matte finish to me. If the other shades are this rich, maybe the line should be called something like “SPF 15 Super Pigmented Matte Balm!” instead.

Unscented, with a mild brown sugar flavor, medium-weight Violet does feel thick like a lip balm, and it doesn’t allow for a lot of slip. Since I like to rub my lips together, that’s not one of my favorite things about it, but I do still wear lip balms even (especially on the weekends, and while I sleep) even though they’re thick.

bite beauty sheer balm violet
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The Weekly Roundup: Posts You Might Have Missed

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Makeup and Beauty Blog Weekly Roundup

If you just found out you won the lottery, what’s the first thing you’d do?

Good mornin’, lovely! I don’t know why I thought of that question now, but it’s one I ask myself every so often, the old, “What if I won the lottery?” thing. I think it’s fun to daydream and let the mind wander, ya know? Fo’ reals, the entertainment value I get from a $1 lottery ticket is well worth the price, even though the odds of actually winning are a zillion to one.

Okay, but let’s set some ground rules… Say you’ve just discovered that you’ve won, but you won’t receive the money for about a month (lottery processing time). What do you do first? Do you flip out and start screaming at the top of your lungs? Do you tell your friends and family right away? Do you ask them not to tell anyone else? Do you call an attorney or an accountant first? Which area of law specializes in not being a complete doofus with lottery winnings? Is it safe to talk about it over the phone? Could someone be listening? Do you go to work tomorrow, and if you do, do you tell your coworkers? LOL!

I’d tell El Hub first, but after that I don’t know what I’d do. I keep thinking that “With great power comes great responsibility.” So true, Uncle Ben… So true…

In other news, I’m in mad lurve with the products in the new Jouer Glisten Up collection (what I’m wearing in the picture at the top), especially the Brightening Powder. I haven’t been this excited about something since, well, two paragraphs ago. 🙂

The Weekly Roundup: Posts You Might Have Missed

Josie Maran Eye Love You Too Eyeshadow Palette EYE LOVE YOU TOO, JOSIE MARAN
THE JOSIE MARAN EYE LOVE YOU TOO EYESHADOW PALETTE IN ACTION

When I looked out my window this morning, I saw a hopeful reminder that spring is right around the corner. The oak trees outside, which had been nothing but scrawny twigs and branches for months, have sprouted new leaves!

It’s nice to know that even though it’s wet and gloomy outside, the trees are still paying attention to the calendar.

Doesn’t the outside scene above almost look like it could have been painted with the browns and greens in Josie Maran’s new limited edition Eye Love You Too Argan Eyeshadow Palette ($42)? I reviewed it a while back, but I thought you might like to see it in action. Read more…

Bite Beauty Vitamin Gel BITE BEAUTY VITAMIN GEL TASTES
SO GOOD I HAD TO HAVE SECONDS

Three words: Botan Rice Candy.

If you know what I’m talking about, don’t you just love the edible rice paper wrapper? YUM! I ate tons of those chewy, lemon-orange flavored candies as a kid. My mom would always let me put one pack in the cart whenever we’d go grocery shopping.

I hadn’t thought about them in years until the other day when I slipped a layer of new Bite Beauty Vitamin Gel in Pink Grapefruit ($18) on my lips.

It’s one of five vitamin-enriched flavors in Bite’s new line of moisturizing, non-sticky lip treatments, and I think it tastes EXACTLY like Botan Rice Candy (but not like grapefruit), om nom nom! Read more…

Jouer Glisten Up Collection for Spring 2011 GLISTEN CLOSELY, BECAUSE JOUER HAS
SOMETHING SHIMMERY TO SAY: THE JOUER GLISTEN UP COLLECTION FOR SPRING 2011

My brain perceives sparkly makeup and ice cream (BASKIN-ROBBINS!) in similar ways. When I see either of them behind their respective counters, I do a lot of ooh-ing and aah-ing with grabby fingers in the air. Most of the time I can barely speak at all, with the only sentence I’m able to utter consisting of the words, “I want!”

That’s what glitter can do to ya. It’s powerful stuff — especially good glitter, like the kind in Jouer’s new Glisten Up collection for spring.

Like good-looking, well-mannered men who also happen to be a little short, good glitter is small, fine and sophisticated (Ben McKenzie in a suit). It’s glitter for grownups. Picture the kind of glitter Snooki would wear, swing the pendulum in the opposite direction, and BAM! That’s good glitter (sorry, Snooks!). Read more…

Josie Maran Argan Blend Concealer WITH JOSIE MARAN ARGAN BLEND CONCEALER
TWO SHADES ARE BETTER THAN ONE

Sometimes I feel like I deserve to win the gold medal…for dark circles. The little purple half moons beneath my eyes are like the Michael Phelps-es of the dark circle world. They’re overachievers. I’m serious. They’re very good at what they do.

MAC Pro Longwear can’t defeat them outright, but it has slowed them down. It’s been my jam for the past few months, but I’ve been wanting to find a cruelty-free option, which is why I was hoping the new Josie Maran Argan Blend Concealer ($28) would rock my world.

This creamy new concealer comes in three colors — light, medium and dark. I have the medium one, which goes by the name Suede. It’s a pretty good fit for my tan skin (I’m an NC35 in MAC foundation).

The compact actually comes with two products — a salmon shade and a darker yellow-based beige. I’ve been applying a layer of the salmon shade first, which acts like a color corrector, canceling out most of the purple in my circles (like a color corrector), and then add the yellow-based concealer on top. Read more…

Tarte 8th World Wonder Kit FROM STONEHENGE TO QVC: THE TARTE
8TH WORLD WONDER KIT

The Great Pyramid of Giza, the Hanging Gardens of Babylon, the Statue of Zeus at Olympus and now Tarte. Someone wake up Herodotus. It’s time to add one more to his Seven Wonders of the World, and this one’s a QVC exclusive.

Tarte continues to sizzle this spring. Their recently released $53 limited edition 8th World Wonder Kit comes with some Tarte colors you can’t find anywhere else, like Amazonian Clay Blush in Glisten.

In the kit, Glisten joins six other pieces for eyes, lips, face and cheeks, all in a cute purple clutch purse. I’m not crazy about PureOptic gloss, but I still think this is a lovely kit. I do wish that Tarte had thrown in a LipSurgence instead. Even so, I think the kit’s a pretty good deal for $53. The full-size products work out to about $6.60 apiece (including the clutch). Read more…

Yes to Carrots Pamerping Conditioner I FEEL LIKE I’M REPEATING MYSELF BECAUSE
I KEEP SAYING YES TO CARROTS PAMPERING CONDITIONER

If you’re ever looking for cheap entertainment on a Friday night, Target is THE PLACE to go. I’m only half kidding, too. I stopped by last Friday around 9:30ish to satisfy a craving for Power C Vitamin Water, and the store was hoppin’!

People buy some weird sh*t in the middle of the night, LOL! Like Vitamin Waters. I spent more time people watching than actually shopping.

But I did swing by the beauty aisles; I picked up this bottle of Yes To Carrots Pampering Conditioner for Normal to Dry Hair ($8) on a whim.

Like their Yes to Cucumbers Conditioner (SO GOOD!), this one is also free of petroleum products, SLS (sodium lauryl sulfate), paraben and silicones. At the same time, it’s cruelty-free and 99.8% natural, made with minerals, the company says, that were collected from the Dead Sea, as well as other cool stuff like carrot seed oil and honey. It’s a very diverse group of mostly natural ingredients. Read more…

Guerlain Rouge G de Guerlain Serie Noire Lipstick CompactsAREN’T THE NEW ROUGE G DE GUERLAIN
SERIE NOIRE LIPSTICK COMPACTS SERIE-OUSLY CUTE?

The Serie Noire lipsticks themselves shine much like the lippies from Guerlain’s original Rouge G line do, but I think they’re sheerer and not quite as opaque. They do layer well, though, so if you crave more pigment from them, you could always add a layer or two.

Also like the O.G. Rouge G’s, they feel smooth on my lips, but I think they’re lighter and not quite as dense. They remind me of the lipstick/gloss hybrids that have been cropping up over the past few years (like the JK Jemma Kidd Hi-Shine Gloss Sticks and the discontinued MAC Slimshines).

Guerlain gave them something they call “precious ruby powder,” or “PRECIOUS RUBY POWDER!!!” LOL! I think it just looks better in all caps. 🙂 It’s supposed to make them look extra radiant in daylight. Since it’s been so overcast outside, I can’t really tell if they’re working, but I do think my lips look smooth and slightly plumper than they did a few minutes ago. It might have something to do with the finish. Read more…

Dior Electric Tropics Healthy Glow Powder in Sunset I’M GETTING A CHARGE OUT OF DIOR ELECTRIC TROPICS
NUDE HEALTHY GLOW POWDER IN SUNSET
Hey, cutie. Remember the Dior Electric Tropics collection you and I drooled over last week? Today I spent some time getting to know one of the limited edition Nude Healthy Glow Powders, Sunset #002 ($46), and now we’re officially attached.

Sunset’s a warm orangey brown with coral accents (like a blush version of MAC Soft Brown Eyeshadow), and I swear it’s just as gorgeous in person as it is in the promo pics. Here I’m wearing it on my cheeks as a blush, but I also tried (and liked) it as a bronzer and an all-over face powder.

For me, the mostly matte finish is what makes this stand out in a crowd. It gives off just the faintest touch of shimmer and looks fresh and weightless on the skin.

Even though it’s a summer release, I could see myself wearing this all year round, even on blustery days as a bronzer to warm my pale skin (well, pale for me). Knowing I could reach for it often soothes the sting from the price…a little. Read more…

Raye Wedge Sandals by Coconut RAYE WEDGE SANDALS BY COCONUTS
THESE COCONUTS ARE HIGH IN FUN

So I realize that I don’t review shoes often, but the more I wear these Coconuts sandals, the more obligated I feel to share their awesomeness with womankind. 🙂

These Coconuts Raye Wedge Sandals usually go for $65 a pair, but I stumbled upon them at Marshalls for $30. They come in three colors — Metal (multicolored gold, silver and bronze), Pink (multicolored pink, orange, purple, blue and green) and Black (multicolored black, pewter and gold; the ones I got). I usually wear shoes in a 7, but the closest size I found was an 8. Luckily, these run kinda small. They’re still a touch big, but not annoyingly so, and they’re surprisingly comfortable for high heels. As a matter of fact, I barely had to break them in.

Exactly how high are they? Well, they’re 3 and a 1/2 inches beneath a platform of about an inch. Gurl, my vertically challenged self feels SUPER tall with ‘em on! Read more…

Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,

Karen

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