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The MAC Style Black Mineralize Eyeshadows: A Few Days Later

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mac-gilt-by-association

Morning, ladies. 🙂 How was your night?

I spent mine chillaxing around the apartment, which I think I needed. I did a little reading (Sookie Stackhouse; I’m on Book 4) and fooling around with makeup (BIG surprise!).

This morning I’d like to answer two of the questions a few of you asked about MAC Style Black. The first question comes from Faye.

MAC Style Black Mineralize Eyeshadows: How’s the fallout?

QUESTION: How was application quality for the shadows? I hesitated to get these because I’ve had issues with the Mineralize shadows in the past — they always seem gritty and hard to blend, with fallout. How are these? – Faye

Heya Faye,

I actually find them pretty easy to blend, but fallout is a common concern when it comes to MAC’s Mineralize Eyeshadows.

The two Style Black ones I’ve tried so far, Young Punk (the shimmery purplish black) and Gilt By Association (the shimmery blackish bronze), apply smooth, and I haven’t experienced much fallout with either one.

By applying all of my eye makeup first — before concealer, foundation and everything else — I think it minimizes the impact of minor fallout with these.

Here are a few more things you might try to improve your results with these and other Mineralize shadows:

  • Use a flat, firm shadow brush with a small brush head. I like the MAC 239 Eye Shader Brush ($25). I think it works better for me than fluffy brushes like the MAC 217 Blending Brush ($27). Fluffy brushes will distribute shadow over a wider area, while firmer brushes will deposit denser color in a smaller area and will generally provide better control.
  • Press to apply. With my firm eyeshadow brush, I’ll use a gentle pressing motion (as opposed to a windshield wiper motion or small circles) to really pack the shadow onto my eyelid.
  • Start with a creamy base. A wet, creamy product like MAC Cream Colour Base will give Mineralize shadows something to adhere to, and I get better results from them here than with non-creamy primers.

MAC addicts, do you use any tricks or tips when you apply MAC Mineralize Eyeshadows?
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10 Days of Giveaways: Hilary Duff’s Wrapped With Love Perfume

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The giveaway is now closed, and I’m contacting the winner by e-mail. Good luck!

hillary-duff

I’m a sucker for Cinderella stories, pink and prettily packaged products like Hilary Duff’s Wrapped With Love perfume.

Huzzah to Lizzie McGuire for the floral design on the bottle. It gives it such a flirty, feminine flair that reminds me of spring.

Picture it sitting atop your dresser…

Yup, I think it’s time for another giveaway. 🙂

The prize

One lucky lady will take home a bottle of Hillary Duff’s Wrapped With Love perfume (a $38 value).

Wrapped With Love will envelop you in fruity honeydew, violet, raspberry, vanilla and white chocolate mousse, yum!

How to enter…

2ways2enterEntering is easy. There are two different ways, 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 — in it, tell me the name of your favorite fairy tale.

Hmm… That’s a toughie, and I think the answer depends on my mood. Right now I’d have to say Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland.

Follow me
Second, enter by following me on Twitter and retweeting (RT) the following message:

RT @karenmbb: RT to Win Hilary Duff’s Wrapped With Love Perfume http://bit.ly/tPpR9

Recap…

  1. Enter by leaving a comment at the bottom of this post, and don’t forget to use a valid email address so I can reach you if you win.
  2. Follow me on Twitter and retweet the following message:

    RT @karenmbb: RT to Win Hilary Duff’s Wrapped With Love Perfume http://bit.ly/tPpR9

I’ll pick the winner at random from among the people who enter by 11:59 p.m. PST on Sunday, September 27.

Sterkte!

Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,

Karen

The giveaway is now closed, and I’m contacting the winner by e-mail. Good luck!

Saturday Surfing

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092609-saturday-surfin

Heya, ladies. What’s shakin’? Doing anything fun today? I’m on my way out the door to run some errands. I have to find some kind of wood or laminate (fake wood) for the new place, but one thing I don’t have a good eye for is flooring…

What did you do last night? We went and saw Surrogates, that new Bruce Willis sci-fi flick. I usually love sci-fi, but I thought it was just kinda “eh.” Good story, but I don’t think it got where it needed to go.

I wish I could get Tabs a kitty surrogate… Then he could explore the outer world while his body stayed safe inside. 🙂

Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,

Karen

Troublesome Beauty Ingredients and How to Test for Skin Allergies

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Are You Allergic to Beauty Products?

“Ahh-CHEW!”
[sniffle, sniffle]

How do you feel about jasmine? I love it. 🙂 It’s one of my very favorite scents, but the International Fragrance Association is limiting the amount of it allowed in perfumes and other aromatic beauty products (some do tend to have a lot) to reduce the number of products causing rashes and other bad reactions.

It’s not that jasmine’s particularly hard to tolerate — no more than most plant-based ingredients — but according to the FDA, almost all cosmetics and beauty products are apt to cause reactions in at least a small percentage of the population. We’re all different, as the story goes, and one girl’s soothing scent may be another girl’s poison ivy!

In one FDA survey, 25% of people reported a skin reaction to one or more beauty products.

It’s perhaps ironic, then, that the FDA has very limited authority over cosmetics. Unfortunately, the beauty biz is still very buyer beware.

Types of skin reactions

Most reactions are mild — what’s commonly referred to as irritant contact dermatitis. Typically it’s a burning, stinging or itching sensation accompanied by redness right where the product’s been applied. Dry or injured skin can react worse, too, having lost some of its natural barrier against irritants.

As bad as irritant dermatitis sounds, some of us have a worse variety termed allergic contact dermatitis — true allergies to specific ingredients. Symptoms can include severe redness, swelling, itching or even blisters on the skin, yikes! The worst culprits? Usually fragrances and preservatives. source

TIP: Some products will say “unscented” on the label when they really aren’t. It’s not uncommon for products to contain fragrance cocktails to mask unappealing or artificial scents. Straight up, if you’re on the market for something that’s really unscented, look for the words, “fragrance-free” or “without perfume.”

While almost any ingredient can cause an allergic reaction in at least some people, many of the worst offenders are preservatives.

They slow the growth of bacteria and crop up in most beauty products that contain water, but parabens, imidazolidinyl urea, Quaternium-15, DMDM hydantoin, phenoxyethanol, methylchloroisothiazolinone and formaldehyde have also been linked to skin allergies.

So what’s a girl to do?

How to avoid a bad beauty skin reaction

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MAC Style Black: A Tutorial with Gilt By Association Eyeshadow and Black Cream Colour Base

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mac style black collection tutorial

I’m having a blast exploring different ways to wear MAC’s new Style Black collection.

Earlier today I tried a bronzy black smokey eye using Mineralize Eyeshadow in Gilt By Association ($20).

It turned out better than I thought it would! At first I was afraid (I was petrified) the slippery Cream Colour Base would look too messy, but I found that as long as I didn’t overuse it, it stayed put reasonably well.

This is a look I’ll definitely wear again, maybe with a white, brown or bronze top and some gold jewelry.

mac style black collection tutorial eyes both

mac-style-black-collection-tutorial-eye-side1

Tutorial: What you’ll need

  1. An eyeshadow primer like Too Faced Shadow Insurance ($17)
  2. A creamy black eyeshadow base like MAC Cream Colour Base in Black ($17)
  3. A shimmery blackish bronze shadow like MAC Mineralize Eyeshadow in Gilt By Association ($20)
  4. A shimmery, peachy golden eyeshadow like MAC Eyeshadow in Woodwinked ($15)
  5. A shimmery, bronze pencil liner like MAC Eye Kohl in Powersurge ($15)
  6. A black liquid pen liner like LORAC Front of the Line Pro ($22)
  7. A black mascara like MAC Zoom Fast Black Lash Mascara ($13)
  8. A black gel liner like MAC Fluidline in Blacktrack ($15)

mac style black collection tutorial swatches-1
Swatches from left to right: Too Faced Shadow Insurance, MAC Cream Colour Base in Black, MAC Mineralize Eyeshadow in Gilt By Association, MAC Eyeshadow in Woodwinked
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10 Days of Giveaways: Comment to Win a T3 Featherweight Dryer!

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The giveaway is now closed, and I’m contacting the winner by e-mail. Good luck!

t3 featherweight dryer

It may not have been wrenched from a stone like Arthur’s Excalibur, but the T3 Featherweight Hair Dryer feels that enchanted to me. When it entered my life two years ago (like mana from heaven!), it changed my life forever!

This thing isn’t merely a gizmo or an electronic doohickey. It’s mythic — an object worthy of flat-out worship. 🙂

t3-giveaway-i-can't-live
Why? Because of how much time it saves.

Drying my mane with my old broke-ass hairdryer used to take me 45 minutes, at least, but the T3 cuts that down to 15. 15!

To me, it’s one of those rare beauty products that totally lives up to the hype.

Every half an hour it saves is an extra half an hour to sleep, to plot world domination or to drool over, say, Agent Ballard.

agent-ballard-you-so-foin-1

Not only does it dry hair like greased lightning, it’s super quiet (shhh…) and barely weighs a thing.

This month the T3 line celebrates their five-year anniversary, so let’s join the party with a giveaway!

The prize

Thanks to the good folks at T3, one lucky lady will take home a T3 Featherweight Dryer ($180 value).

How to enter…

2ways2enterEntering is easy. There are two different ways, 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 — in it, tell me why you’d like a T3 in your life. 🙂

I use some of the time it saves me to watch brainless, mind-numbing reality television — the kind of television that’s good for my soul.

Follow me
Second, enter by following me on Twitter and retweeting (RT) the following message:

RT @karenmbb: RT to Win a $180 T3 Featherweight Dryer http://bit.ly/XLKSs

Recap…

  1. Enter by leaving a comment at the bottom of this post, and don’t forget to use a valid email address so I can reach you if you win.
  2. Follow me on Twitter and retweet the following message:

    RT @karenmbb: RT to Win a $180 T3 Featherweight Dryer http://bit.ly/XLKSs

I’ll pick the winner at random from among the people who enter by 11:59 p.m. PST on Sunday, September 27.

Oodgay ucklay!

Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,

Karen

The giveaway is now closed, and I’m contacting the winner by e-mail. Good luck!

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