A beauty blog blooming with fresh makeup reviews, swatches and beauty tips from your friendly neighborhood beauty addict
Calling all nudists! Before you strip off your Gap baby T, please note that I’m talking about nudists, as in nude lips, not, um…actual nudists. 🙂
If you love a nude lip look, let Dolce & Gabbana’s new Caramel Ultra Shine Lipgloss ($30), released with the Sicilian Lace Collection for fall, whet your appetite. This creamy, medium-weight warm beige feels slightly sticky on my lips (but not as sticky as a MAC Lipglass) and has a light rose scent (it is unflavored, though).
Your best friend just bought an expensive new luxury car; all of a sudden, your ride looks kinda clunky by comparison.
One of your roommates just got into an Ivy League grad school program; now your day job feels like a total dead end.
Do you ever feel like you’re just standing still while everyone else in your life is hurtling toward a phenomenal and fantastic future?
Welcome to the land of comparing yourself to others.
It can be a dreadful place, and I’ll be the first to admit I’ve been a resident a multitude of times.
We’ve been here all along. It’s the world we live in; we’re taught to compare ourselves to others from a very young age.
My parents would say to my little brother, “Study more like your sister,” and they often compared our grades.
Throughout school, kids are encouraged to do better than their peers, and it prompts them to form cliques in which they include/exclude other kids who excel at the same things — athletics (the jocks), academics (the nerds), instrument playing while walking around a field in unison (the band geeks, aka yours truly), etc., etc.
To a degree, it’s a part of life. There can’t be a good job without a bad one to compare it to.
When you’re no longer able to accept your failings and can only see yourself in the context of others, the comparisons have to stop. A distorted self-image might lead you to ignore all of the great things about you — the ways in which you’re different — and focus only on the ways you feel you don’t measure up.
And at the other extreme, an inflated sense of self can drive your friends and family away. Either way, it’s a lonely way to live.
Here’s the good news (and it is good news): like any habit, constant comparing can be unlearned.
Replace your inner dialogue with a new script. Say, “I’m different from so-and-so, but that doesn’t mean I’m worth any more or less.”
My inner dialogue goes a little something like this: “I’m creative, caring, funny and unique in my own way.” 🙂
It’s not always easy to remember, but it gets easier with practice.
Do you feel you compare yourself to others too often? I’m guessing I’m not the only one…
Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,
Karen
P.S. The power went out this afternoon, and Tabs and I are playing cards by candlelight, LOL! I hope it’s on by morning…
P.P.S. Have a good night. 🙂
Givenchy just launched a line of six long-wearing, vibrantly pigmented eyeshadow quads called the Le Prisme Eyeshadow Quartets ($56).
That’s Khaki Egerie pictured above. Call me a CCL (crazy cat lady), but I like this mostly because the colors remind me of Tabs.
Would you rock this?
The Make Up For Ever Rouge Artist Intense Lipsticks I won from the Make Up For Ever Rouge Artist Contest arrived today.
I can’t wait to swatch these bad boys for ya!
Picture a beautiful woman with blackened teeth and shaved brows. Nope, I’m not talking about some crazy runway look at New York Fashion Week. In old school Japan, both were common makeup looks among women (and some men, too).
Ohaguro, the practice of dyeing teeth black, was a common beauty treatment in Japan through the late 1800s. To darken their smiles, men and women applied a savory blend of acetic acid (the compound that gives vinegar its sour taste and scent), iron and fushiko powder, a powder made from the sap of the urushi tree, also known as the lacquer or varnish tree.
Ohaguro also doubled as a dental treatment, protecting teeth from cavities and periodontitis, and its popularity began to wane in the 1870s after the Japanese government banned the practice among aristocrats.
Hikimayu, the practice of completely shaving or plucking eyebrows into oblivion, is still seen today. After removing the brows, Japanese women will sometimes draw them back in a little higher on the forehead using black ink (or mascara).
I’d always thought American flappers pioneered the look, but forms of it were popular in Japan well before the 1920s.
More vintage Japanese beauty bits from back in the day…
Interesting, isn’t it?
I’m thinking about doing a series of these posts on the changing face of beauty in different cultures over the centuries. Let me know if you like the idea, and please comment if you know of any other interesting Japanese beauty trends from days gone by.
Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,
Karen
P.S. If you’re new here, thank you for visiting. Makeup and Beauty Blog is a makeup blog with daily product reviews, beauty tips, giveaways and the random shenanigans of a crazy cat lady/makeup enthusiast named Karen (that’s me!). 🙂
The universe is filled with things I do not understand, things like Justin Bieber fever, Crocs, and why NARS chose not to include a lip brush in the Beautiful Life Lip and Cheek Palette ($55).
At first blush, it looks like a traveler’s makeup dream come true — compact, cute, with a convenient zippered case. The included mirror works well for on-the-go touchups, and by leaving out powder products (it comes with four lipsticks and two cream blushes), NARS eliminated annoying product cross pollination (when your powders spill all over your cream products). So smart!
They thought of everything — almost. I know NARS doesn’t usually include brushes with their palettes, but I wish they would have found room in this one for a lip brush. Beautiful Life is just so obviously designed for travel; a brush would have been a great addition. Of course, I’m a stickler when it comes to packaging.
That aside, what’s a palette without pretty colors, right? These go great together. NARS included a versatile mix of business and party shades here, and the blushes even double as highlighters, too.
I’m a little bummed about one of the products in the palette — Honolulu Honey lipstick. Honolulu is one of my favorite cities, but this Honey looks kinda cakey on my lips. It seems to do a bit better, though, when I use very little and apply it with my fingers. I may also just mix it with other lip colors to help it along.
It’s the eye of the tabby, it’s the cream of the fight
Rising up to the challenge of our rival
And the last known survivor stalks his prey in the night
And he’s watching us all with the eye…
Of the tabby!
Just having a little fun with macro photography. 🙂
