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Makeup and Beauty Blog Monday Poll, Apr. 6

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  1. Mood:

    2. Saucy!

  2. Current crush (makeup or otherwise):

    3. Over the weekend I watched a bunch of back episodes of the TV show Dollhouse on Hulu. One of the actors, Tahmoh Penikett (he used to play Helo on Battlestar Galactica), plays this arse-kicking FBI agent who looks unbelievably sharp in a suit, but the scenes I really, REALLY appreciate are the ones where he’s shirtless. Really!

  3. Outfit:

    4. Dark skinny jeans, green button down Hawaiian shirt, black Aerosoles sandals

  4. Hair:

    5. Wavy, in pigtails

  5. Eyes, cheeks and lips:

    6. It’s a mostly Chanel kinda day: Plein Soleil Quad on the eyes, In Love Powder Blush layered on top of Nars the Multiple in Orgasm on the cheeks, Chanel Soleil Tan de Chanel on the upper cheek bones and Chanel Monte Carlo and Candy Glow on lips.

  6. Favorite lipgloss?

    7. I can’t stay true to just one! This week it’s Chanel Aqualumiere in Candy Glow.

  7. Favorite mascara?

    8. Stila Lash Visor for waterproof mascara and Chanel Exceptionnel for regular

  8. Favorite foundation?

    9. DuWop Foundation of Youth

  9. What are your plans for lunch today?

    10. I’m always running late for class, so I was thinking about just heating up a chicken fettuccine Lean Cuisine before I run out the door. Totally lame, I know.

  10. Weekly goals:

    11. Revamp my running music list, keep up with my regular work, organize my eyeshadows and blushes because I have a tendency to store things in disorganized piles, cook dinner at home a few more times than usual (been eating out too much lately) and remember to enjoy the small victories. 🙂

What the heck happened to last weekend? POOF! And then it was gone…

Let’s get this week off to a good start. To do the Monday Poll, just copy the empty list, and pop it with your answers in the comments. 🙂

Le list

Mood:
Current crush:
Outfit:
Hair:
Today’s eyes, cheeks and lips:
Favorite lipgloss:
Favorite mascara:
Favorite foundation:
Plans for lunch:
Weekly goals:

Here’s to your makeup looking fresh ‘n fly today (*raises tea cup*)!

Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,

Karen

Get That Groom Some MAC Blot Film!

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Happy Sunday, girls. I’ve been trying to catch up on e-mails today, but I’m a little behind.

MBB reader Spring Bride recently sent a note asking for wedding makeup advice — for her groom!

Hi Karen,

I’m an avid reader of your blog. Thank you for your great advice and tips. I’m getting married in 2 weeks and my fiance would like some recommendations for blotting paper as his forehead gets really oily.
 
Any help will be greatly appreciated.

Spring Bride, congrats on your upcoming nuptials! That’s fab that you’ve got your honey’s back. Nobody wants to look too shiny in their pics, you know?

Because you only want that boy glowing when he says “I Do,” I highly recommend MAC Blot Film ($12.50 for 30 sheets). It cuts down on the shine and leaves skin looking super matte without leaving a powdery residue.

I used it a few months ago on myself at my BFF’s wedding, and it worked great. Before the wedding, I stuffed five of the papers into a small mirrored lipstick case and popped that into my purse for touchups through the 10-hour celebration.

If your boo’s wedding outfit has pockets, maybe he could carry a few of the papers on him that way.

If you don’t have a MAC counter nearby, Clean & Clear makes a blotting paper called Oil Absorbing Sheets ($5 for 50 smaller sheets). They work well, too, and cost a little bit less.

To save even more (hey, weddings ain’t cheap), you could always use Starbucks napkins. No kidding, but for some reason I think they work really well at removing oil. Go figure!

Sunday is my fun day

Are you having a good weekend so far? I’ve mostly been chillaxin’ and doing a whole lotta nothing. 🙂 The only effort I’ve expended today was when I danced around the living room to VH1’s 100 Greatest One-Hit Wonders of the ’80s.
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Retro Roundup: One Year Ago on Makeup and Beauty Blog

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MAC Fafi warm weather face of the day

Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,

Karen

Chanel Cote D’Azur Summer 2009 Aqualumiere Lipglosses: Six-Pack Abs Not Included

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Skip down down memory lane with me for a sec…

Remember how Chanel dropped the fabulous coral dream that was Gazelle Glossimer on us for summer last year?

Girrrrrl, that was some good shizz! To this day I foam at the mouth Kujo-style when I think of Gazelle. It was THAT good.

This summer, I had myself braced and ready for another orgasmic Glossimer moment from Chanel, but they decided to throw me a curve ball. For their Cote D’Azur summer collection they skipped the Glossimer entirely and released four Aqualumiere Glosses ($27 each) instead.
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If You’re Planning to Start a Blog

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If you're thinking about starting a blog

This blog has been one of the funnest (most fun?) things I’ve ever done. It’s the perfect creative outlet for me, a way to connect with good people and mentally challenging (like jumble and Tetris only with pictures of makeup and cats!).

Every once in a while someone who’s thinking about starting a blog will send me an email.

Wendy wrote:

“Hi Karen,

I have been a fan of your blog and your work has inspired me to start one for mom’s and parenting. Do you have any professional advice or resource information that you can suggest for me to get started. I am fairly new to blogs and need a little help.”

I don’t think of myself as an expert, but here are some things that might help.

  1. Why blog? — If the answer is to make friends, to express yourself, to explore your creativity or to learn something new, then you’ve come to the right place. 🙂 If the answer is to make money fast, stop right there. Trust me when I say that there are far easier ways to earn a living than by starting a blog.
  2. Read the manual that came with your camera — This one took me about a year to figure out, LOL! I kept thinking that other bloggers must have just had better cameras than I did. Then I dug out the manual that came with my old Canon Powershot SD200 and WOW! My pictures suddenly got a whole lot better.
  3. Use keywords in the name of your blog — It will help people find you on the search engines, so a parenting blog might be called something like parentingblog.com or mommyblog4parents.com.
  4. What do I blog about? — Pretty obvious, but choosing a topic you love to talk about (and have loved for years) is a great place to start.
  5. Use self-hosted WordPress — This is just one blogger’s opinion, but I’ve used Blogger and another blog system called Nucleus and think WordPress.org is the best by far. It has more plugins (to add features like polls and games), more people who use it (which means more people who can help) and does everything I need.
  6. Join an email list/blog network — Most niches have networks of like-minded bloggers. Search Google for ones in your niche, and ask them if you can join. I prefer ones with an email distribution list that members use to communicate with each other. I hear that Twitter’s great for networking, too, but I think you have to like instant messaging to appreciate Twitter.

Do you bloggers out there have any other tips or advice about starting a blog?

Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,

Karen

P.S. I can’t believe I almost forgot to mention OnSugar! It’s a combination blog network/blogging platform that takes a lot of the guesswork out of blogging, and it comes with a built in network (which takes care of #6 above). There are other platforms out there, but OnSugar is probably the one I would have used if it had been around back when I started.

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