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A beauty blog blooming with fresh makeup reviews, swatches and beauty tips from your friendly neighborhood beauty addict

The Beauty of Disneyland’s Fortuosity Shop

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Anaheim’s Disneyland theme park is beautiful in more ways than one. Sure, it’s a colorful feast for the eyes, but it’s also quite literally beauty-full, bursting with Disney-themed jewelry, clothing, makeup and art.

The upcoming MAC Venomous Villains collection is the latest in a long line of historic Disney beauty collaborations, many of which are available for purchase in the park.

Girlfriend, they don’t call it The Magic Kingdom for nothin’. Mickey Mouse

If you find yourself strolling down Main Street, take a minute to check out the Fortuosity Shop (next to Carnation Cafe). It’s like a playground for beauty addicts, with a slew of Disney-related products and accessories ranging from nail polishes to jewelry to designer bags.

beauty of disney main street
Disneyland’s Main Street
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Have a Drink on Clinique with Soothing Moisture Surge Face Spray

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clinique moisture surge face spray review

Calling Reno dry is like calling Chanel expensive: kinda obvious. Heck, it’s not just dry; the air literally repels moisture! — as if it hates the stuff.

One of the things I did to stay cool and keep my skin from cracking was turn to Clinique’s Moisture Surge Face Spray ($20), which I must have spritzed on myself at least a hundred times (every time I took a break from Kitty Glitter).

It’s an oil-free moisturizing face spray with a faint, almost undetectable licorice scent, and it’s part of Clinique’s famed Moisture Surge line. Designed to soothe and satisfy parched skin, it can be used in conjunction with other facial moisturizers, too, either beneath or atop makeup (spray from about a foot away to keep from disturbing your handiwork), as often as needed.

I’m prone to dry skin (normally combination dry/oily) and can suffer from taught, tight, uncomfortable skin even in humid conditions, but things would have been A LOT worse in the Reno desert if it hadn’t been for Clinique Moisture Surge Face Spray. Makeup and Beauty Blog Rating: A

Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,

Karen

P.S. Scream it at the top of your lungs:
TGIF!

Essie Fall 2010 Swatches

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A few quickie swatches of the Essie Fall 2010 nail polishes, available September.

Clockwise from bottom: Merino Cool, Sew Psyched, Velvet Voyeur, In Stitches, Little Brown Dress and Limited Addiction ($8 each).

essie fall 2010 swatches on nc35 skin
Swatches from left on NC35 skin: Merino Cool, Sew Psyched, Velvet Voyeur, In Stitches, Little Brown Dress, Limited Addiction

Full nail swatches in just a few. In the meantime, do any of these catch your eye?

These Chanel Ombres Contraste Duo Eyeshadows Are Smooth Operators

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chanel ombres contraste eyeshadow duo review swatches top

Chanel should have issued a warning with their new $42 Ombres Contraste Duos: “Caution: The contents of this compact may be hard to resist!” 🙂

Seriously, you might want to steel yourself against potential temptation and simply stop reading now.

The part of me that loves elegantly effortless makeup just can’t get enough of these eyeshadow duos. The six of them make me feel like screaming, “Gimme, gimme more!”

This fall luxurious textures and intense pigments have been all the rage among the high-end makeup lines (hello, Givenchy Le Prisme Quartets!), and while these duos may not look the part at first, they’re no exception.

Each one comes with a light cream shadow designed to be used as a base and a darker powder matte shadow for contouring and creating the illusion of depth.

Conveniently, skin is where these products really POP! — both in terms of color and texture — and being as smooth as they are makes them remarkably easy to blend.

In the look below I’m wearing Khaki (a matte dark green) from the Khaki-Clair duo. In it I’m barely wearing any, yet the ample pigmentation makes the color pretty hard to miss. BONUS: These leave behind absolutely no shadow fallout whatsoever — zip, zero, zilch.

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Wearing Khaki-Clair
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Viva La MAC Viva Glam! Swatches and Pics of the New Cyndi and Gaga Lipglasses

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mac viva glam cyndi lipglass mac viva glam gaga lipglass swatches review

Back in college I volunteered as a peer health counselor, and one of my responsibilities was to visit the different dorms on campus and give presentations on HIV/AIDS awareness. Even though it took a lot of time, it was one of the most rewarding things I’ve ever done (I felt like I was really helping people).

In a small way, MAC’s Viva Glam program allows me to still feel like I’m helping people, and maybe that’s one of the reasons why I like the limited edition MAC Viva Glam Cyndi and Viva Glam Gaga Lipglasses ($14.50 each) so much.

Well, it doesn’t hurt that they’re gorgeous, too. 🙂

mac viva glam cyndi lipglass mac viva glam gaga lipglass wands

If I had to pick between the two, I think I’d probably go with Cyndi’s shiny coral. Don’t get me wrong — I love Gaga’s creamy light bluish pink, but I tend to find warmer colors a little easier to wear.
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Thursday MAC Attack: MAC Viva Glam Cyndi and Gaga Lipglasses, Prep + Prime Beauty Balm and Fabulous Felines!

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mac viva glam gaga cyndi lipglasses

G’morning, glory. 🙂 Got some great news this morning for fellow MAC fiends.

MAC Viva Glam Cyndi and Gaga Lipglasses to go with the lipsticks released earlier this year

Two new limited edition Viva Glam Lipglasses, Cyndi and Gaga ($14.50 each), sashay onto MAC counters early next month (Sept. 2).

Matching the two previously released Cyndi and Gaga Viva Glam lipsticks, Cyndi’s will be a mid-tone coral; Gaga’s, a light bluish pink. Both will be available for six months through February 2011.

MAC started the Viva Glam initiative all the way back in 1994 to help men, women and children living with HIV/AIDS, and every dollar raised from the sale of Viva Glam celebrity-promoted products since then has gone to support the cause (they’ve raised missions so far).


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