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Save Bottles of Old Nail Polish, Broken Pans of Powder Makeup and Flimsy Brushes from the Scrap Heap

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Heya, ladies. 🙂 How’s it going? Question for you: how do you feel about makeup repair? When one of your favorite products gives up the ghost, do you let it go softly into that good night, or do you try to pull it back from the brink?

I’m like an American Gladiator when it comes to pulling! I HATE to throw salvageable makeup away, especially discontinued or limited edition stuff. I’d rather keep a busted pan of something precious than relegate it to the big makeup dump in the sky.

Resurrect thickened nail polish with a few drops of nail polish remover (Or thinner, as MANY others have suggested in the comments)

Thinner and nail polish remover (one containing acetone) work best (actually, thinner works best), but household rubbing alcohol (isopropyl 91%) will also work in a pinch (although not quite as well). Just add a few drops to a drying bottle of nail polish, shake for 2 minutes, and you should be good to go. A quick way to get at least a few more uses out of a polish you may have otherwise thrown away. 🙂

UPDATE: Thanks, ladies, for the comments about thinner vs. nail polish remover to salvage a trash-bound polish. I prefer thinner to either remover OR rubbing alcohol (it’s more of a long-term fix), and I only reach for the remover or rubbing alcohol when I DON’T have a bottle of thinner laying around. 🙂

–> I feel bad about this… but for the first time in three years of blogging, after 80,000 comments, I had to ban two people today for being overly aggressive. I’m totally cool with respectful disagreements in the comments, but let’s keep it friendly. No hostility please.

I’ve also read that regular old clear nail polish will work as a substitute for thinner or polish remover, but I haven’t given it a try.

Smooth a cracked pan of powder makeup

There are quite a few variations on this one, some more complicated than others, but adding a few drops (3-5, depending on the size of the compact or pan) of rubbing alcohol to a cracked pan of eyeshadow and pressing with a spoon or a coin can make a broken powder product look like new again.
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What’s Your Top Tool for Better Beauty?

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Let’s get down to brass tacks here, ladies. When it comes to tools, some jobs are just plain easier with the right ones. Seriously, imagine a painter without her favorite brush or a photographer without her favorite lens. Things are no different in the worlds of makeup and beauty. We have HUNDREDS of tools to choose from. I mean, what would I do without the Shu Uemura Eyelash Curler or MAC 217 Blending Brush? Sure, I’d survive, but come on! Life is hard enough as it is. 🙂

So tell me — what’s your top tool for better beauty? Vote for yours in the comments like this, using the word VOTE before your answer:

Oh, this is easy! For me it’s gotta be the T3 Hairdryer. I swear that thing is made from pure love and magic.
VOTE: Bespoke Labs T3 Featherweight Dryer

Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,

Karen

Saturday Surfing

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Hi, ladies. 🙂 What’s shakin’? How’s the weekend coming along? Mine got off to a great start. I woke up to sunshine, huzzah! It didn’t last long (it’s actually hailing now), but it sure was nice to see the sun for a change. Tabs even got to go for a quick walk.

After our walk, I just chilled in front of the computer for a couple hours while I drank some tea and nibbled on toast and peanut butter.

Here’s some of the cooler e-stuff I found…

Random bright spots

New in stores

One of the cutest kittens, evah!

A nifty way to experience sound…

I hope you’re doing something fun today. Tabs says hi. 🙂

Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,

Karen

Which Beauty Products Should Men Use MORE Often?

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More and more men are secretly dipping into makeup bags, a new survey says, with tweezers (39%) topping the list of beauty products men borrow from their partners, followed closely by moisturizer (37%).

Most won’t admit it, though (only 42% did), but maybe they should.

El Hub, if you’re reading this, feel free to use my nail files (your claws are sharp!). 🙂

Which beauty products should men use more often? (Choose up to 5)

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Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,

Karen

5 Unsung Makeup Heroes!

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How’s it going tonight, girls? Are you having a good time? I just got back from dinner (pizza again) and decided to look through the blog archives (this is post no. 2,538!) for something to wear tomorrow.

I’ve narrowed it down to five often overlooked products that I know I love but sometimes forget about, and here they are. 🙂 Each picture also links back to a longer post.

Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,

Karen

NARS Kuala Lumpur, Facebook Drama and Hello, Weekend!

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Heya, ladies. 🙂 How was your Friday? Sorry I haven’t posted much today, but I had a little disaster with Facebook early this morning that sorta threw me off schedule.

Long story short, but someone hacked my account yesterday and, pretending to be me, was hitting my Facebook friends up for money! Yup, several readers alerted me to it this morning. I quickly changed my password, but it was too late. Facebook disabled my account, and I still don’t know how many people the hacker may have contacted in my name.

ALERT: If you get/got a weird Facebook chat request from a version of me supposedly stuck in London after being robbed at gunpoint, I’m so sorry! It wasn’t me. Tabs and I are still here at home in California.

Here’s how I think the hacker got access to my account: I must have fallen for a phishing scam. I don’t recall when or if I did, but it looks like others have been going through the very same thing.

The nerve of some people, right?

I was a little fussy after the Facebook fiasco and didn’t get a lot accomplished, but I did find a few minutes for the NARS Kuala Lumpur Eyeshadow Duo ($32). 🙂

She’s one of eight precious pieces in the NARS spring makeup collection. Here’s a closeup.

How cool is it that NARS named it after the capital of Malaysia? Francois, if you’re reading this, name something after Novato, California (LOL!) 🙂
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