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

What’s One Product That Dramatically Improved Your Skin?

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kate somerville skin care
Kate’s got that magic. ?‍♀️

Oh, this one’s easy. I rave about it all the time. Definitely Kate Somerville Anti-Bac Clearing Lotion! It totally changed my skin…and my life. I’m prone to breakouts, and when I don’t use this potent, preternatural pimple cream, the zits return, and they return in full force.

Anti-Bac contains 5% benzoyl peroxide, which really isn’t that cutting edge in terms of acne fighting ingredient, but the devil’s in the details I guess, because there’s something wonderful about this particular formulation that my skin loves. The effect is almost immediate. It goes to work clearing up any existing pimples I have and prevents new breakouts entirely. Seriously, like within a few days! Nothing else I’ve found works quite like it, and I’ve tried everything.

I have to remember to use enough of it though. I massage two pumps all over my face (everywhere except my eyes, of course!), once in the morning, and once again at night. That’s my sweet spot for clear, happy skin. Anything less than two pumps, and I break out.

Other things I love about this product? 1) It doesn’t have a strong BP smell, and 2) it layers well under moisturizer, sunscreen and makeup. It’s also pretty easy to find and available at Sephora and Nordstrom, among other places.

How about you? What’s one product that dramatically improved your skin?

Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,

Karen

Summer Faves and Raves: New Neutrogena Makeup (Eyeliner, Concealer, Tinted Moisturizer, Highlighter, Brow Pencil and Serum/Primer)

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neutrogena makeup summer 2020

I could spend all day combing through the Neutrogena makeup section at the drugstore.

ALL. DAY!

Here are a few makeup items of note, which I’ve been using and liking, most of which are pretty new to the line…

Precision Liquid Eyeliner

I cut a big-@ass batch of onions with this on, and it didn’t budge, so LOVE. The felt tip is long and flexible, so if you like a little “give,” it’s perfect for carving sharp-edged lines and flicking effortless wings. It’s also intensely pigmented and a true black. Just all around lovely to line lids! I wish it came in more colors.

Available in one shade, Jet Black, which comes in a 0.013-oz. pen for $9.99.

Smokey Kohl Eyeliner

Like the black liquid liner, these creamy twist-up pencils are no joke when it comes to staying power. I’ve cried with Smokey Grey on my lash and water lines, and it didn’t move. I just wish there were an easier way to sharpen the tip…

Available in five shades, $9.99 each for a 0.004-oz. pencil.

Healthy Skin Radiant Cream Concealer

This is expensive for drugstore at nearly $15, but what you get is pretty much the equivalent of a $30 Kevyn Aucoin Supernatural concealer. Just like Supernatural, it relentlessly refrains from settling into experience lines. The medium-coverage formula is creamy, but not watery, and it has a satiny finish (no obvious disco pearl, though). Maybelline Age Rewind (a holy grail drugstore concealer!) offers more coverage; however, Neutrogena’s is thinner and easier to blend. And it’s just a tad less obvious. If you don’t want your under-eye makeup to look heavy, look no further than this. For reference, I’m an NC42 in MAC and a Honey Bronze in Estée Lauder, and I use shade Almond Medium 2 for dark circle correction because of its peachy undertone, and Toffee Medium 3 for the rest of my face.

Oh, and one last thing — this photographs fantastically well.

neutrogena makeup review
I’m wearing the Glow Primer + Serum, Protect+Tint Tinted Moisturizer, Healthy Skin Radiant Cream Concealer, Precision Liquid Eyeliner, Smokey Kohl Eyeliner, Glow On Liquid Highlighter, Cheeky Wink Flushed Blush and Nourishing Brow Pencil

Available in 15 shades, $14.99 for a 0.24-oz. tube.
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Makeup and Beauty Blog Monday Poll, Vol. 635

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love and some blush

So…what is the Monday Poll?

Excellent question! It isn’t, contrary to its name, an actual poll, like with little clicky buttons. It’s just a list of five more or less random questions I’ve been posting on this blog every Monday morning for the past quadrillion years (since 2007). I love reading your answers, and it helps me get my week off to a good start. ?

The Drugstore Beauty Edition!

    1. Let’s go back in the day… What drugstore makeup (or makeup products) did you love and wear all the time?

    My favorite brands were Revlon and Wet ‘n’ Wild, and I got A LOT of lipstick, nail polish, lip liner and eyeliner from both brands when I was in high school.

    I also went through many, MANY Corn Silk Pressed Powder compacts. Remember those? I used to think the tortoiseshell packaging was the height of sophistication! ?

    Oh, and totally gross confession ahead, but I rarely washed the pressed powder puff applicator that came with them… That thing was janky!

    2. Your current favorite drugstore makeup brands?

    I still love Revlon because of their variety and color range (their cream shadows, eyeliners and lipsticks are fantastic), and I also love Maybelline for their concealers and twist-up eye pencils; Covergirl for their tinted brow gel; Neutrogena for their foundations, tinted moisturizers and blush.

    Not sure if Honest Beauty fully counts as a drugstore brand, since they’re at Target, but they make *the best* liquid lipsticks and liquid eyeliner.

    3. Drugstore skin care products you’ve purchased over and over again?

    I’m going to have to go with Neutrogena here. Their Ultra Gentle Face Wash and Sheer Sunscreens are always in rotation!

    4. Last piece of makeup you bought from a drugstore?

    Hmm… I might be forgetting something, but I don’t think so. The only place that carries makeup that I’ve shopped in person since March is Target, sooooo…the last things I bought were a lip liner and lipstick from The Lip Bar.

    5. Something from the drugstore beauty world that just doesn’t work for you?

    I’ve tried so many drugstore benzoyl peroxide acne creams, and I’ve never been happy with any of ’em.

    6. Have you ever bought perfume from the drugstore?

    Hell, yes, girl! My first “grownup” scent was YSL Paris from Thrifty. I remember going there with my parents when I was in high school and buying it from the special locked cabinet in the beauty section. LOL! I also purchased (and received) quite a few bottles of Cover Girl Old Navy as well.

    7. Best drugstore essentials in the following categories: body wash, bar soap, shampoo/conditioner and body lotion?

    • Body Wash — Anything by Aveeno.
    • Bar Soap — I’m a Dove girl.
    • Shampoo/Conditioner — Pantene Rosewater is the bomb dot com.
    • Body Lotion — Gonna go with Aveeno again.

    8. Who’s your drugstore shopping buddy?

    CoyCoy, of course!

    9. Which beauty item would you rather buy today from a drugstore — nail polish, foundation, mascara or eyeliner?

    Right now I would love some nail polishes!

Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,

Karen

P.S. Here are the questions to copy/paste with your answers in a comment. Talk to ya soon.

1. What drugstore makeup (or makeup products) did you love and wear all the time back in the day?
2. Your current favorite drugstore makeup brands?
3. Drugstore skin care items you’ve purchased over and over again?
4. Last piece of makeup you bought from a drugstore?
5. Something from the drugstore beauty world that just doesn’t work for you?
6. Have you ever bought perfume from a drugstore?
7. Best drugstore essentials in the following categories: body wash (or soap), shampoo/conditioner and body lotion?
8. Who’s your drugstore shopping buddy?
9. Which beauty item would you rather buy today from a drugstore — nail polish, foundation, mascara or eyeliner?

P.P.S. Happy Monday! Hope you’re having a nice day so far. ?

Sundays With Tabs the Cat, Makeup and Beauty Blog Mascot, Vol. 616

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One day a few years ago Tabs was working on some new fashion sketches for his latest cat collar in a sunny patch of sidewalk in front of the house.

He was deep in the creative zone when, out of nowhere, Harris the neighborhood cat bully appeared. Before Tabs could react, Harris leaped on Tabs’s sketchbook, and in a frenzy of fierce claws, ripped a bunch of pages out and ran off with them! He sped away around a corner of the garage and out of sight.

Tabs was speechless. “What the? No! Why!?” He sat there trying to process the horror that had just happened. Tabs had just finished a new sketch for a sunflower summer collar he was sure would take the feline fashion world by storm, but now it was…gone! Harris took it for no reason, totally unprovoked. It was the rudest, meanest, rottenest thing Tabs had seen in a long time, and he was shocked — shocked! — that any cat would do it.

“Hey!” he shouted, “Do you have any idea what you’ve done?”

No answer.

Tabs was completely aghast. In his estimation, he had just created the design for a collar so fabulous and so revolutionary that it would end the city-country cat wars and bring peace to all felinekind. How could any cat be so selfish and short sighted that they would jeopardize world peace like that?

“This is about more than fashion!” he yelled and shook his paw.

Still no answer.

Despite Harris’s brazen daylight attack, Tabs went on to recreate his design and finish it the following year. It went on to become his magnum opus, his masterpiece, selling a record 300 million collars. ?

In other news…Van Helsing. The show on Syfy? Do you watch it? We started watching it on Netflix last week, and it’s surprisingly good! — if you like post-apocalyptic vampire shows, which I do. It stars a cat who looks just like Tabs…

Kidding. ?

For real, it’s good though.

Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,

Karen

Saturday Surfing, July 18, 2020

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Hi there and happy Saturday! Look what I found on my desk this morning — a surprise work of art by the Coywolf.

There’s nothing like starting off the weekend with a bright burst of bold colors, right? ?

We’re tilling the dry, rocky California dirt, grading with big heavy rakes and moving big honkin’ rocks around the front “yard” today (IS IT EVER GOING TO END?), and tomorrow we’re heading to my parents’ house in Union City to have a socially distanced picnic in their backyard. We’re going to bring our camp-style 5-gallon bucket porta-potty thingy (yay…), camp chairs and camp table, and bring some chips and drinks. I’m looking forward to the drive. Actually, I’m just looking forward to doing anything at this point.

How about you? Whatcha up to this weekend?


I love this look.


Things you can do with your hair to appear more youthful; who knew?


Because I obviously need to add more things to my TJ’s wish list.


Why does this look so good to me?!


I never was able to see these pics.

Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,

Karen

FOTD: Violet Tendencies and a Shout-Out to the Early Aughts With an Icy Blue Highlight!

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urban decay naked ultra violet k4

Do you ever start a look with a specific idea in mind, but then it turns into something completely different?! That’s what happened with this eye makeup. I fully intended to do a simple lid with a sweep of matte brown eyeshadow and the thinnest slice of purple winged liner (“Just five minutes, Karen, that’s it!”), but surprise! — somehow I ended up with several shades of purple swirling together into this violet smoke show.

I mean…there is a hint of a gradient wing happening (on the upper lash line if you look closely), so I guess I kinda stuck to the plan? HA HA HA. Eventually, at some point along this crazy makeup journey we call life, I’m just going to have to lean into my smokey eye tendencies and accept that I really don’t want to do any other type of look. ?‍♀️

Also, shout-out to the early Aughts with the shimmery, icy blue inner corner highlight. Add a satin camisole shirt, low-slung bootcut jeans and a fedora. and it’s 2002 all over again!

(You know you rocked this same look back in the day. ?)

I’m wearing a couple new Urban Decay products, by the way — the Naked Ultraviolet Palette (very easy to blend!) and the Lash Freak Mascara (tons of volume at the roots). If you have any questions about either, hit me up in the comments.

urban decay naked ultra violet k4

urban decay naked ultra violet k4

urban decay naked ultra violet k4

Makeup worn in this look

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Faux Freckles: Yea or Nay?

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What say you about faux freckles? They’ve been en vogue for a while now, but I hadn’t tried drawing any on myself until recently because I already have a smattering of real freckles…which I’ve gone to great lengths to disguise on occasion, so I’ve always thought, “Eh, what’s the point? They’re already there.”

However, I recently gave ’em a go as part of “Operation Trying New Things” (gotta get out of my rut). Surprisingly, I kinda liked them! So I’m giving this trend a “yes.”

How about you? Have you tried it on yourself? Do you think it’s worth the effort, or do you think they just look like someone drew a bunch of random dots on their face?

Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,

Karen

More Makeup Gems From Innisfree

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innisfree eyeshadows contour powder tint review
South Korean cosmetics brand Innisfree!

Can we talk makeup gems for a moment? Because Innisfree has so many of them! The South Korean cosmetics and skin care brand’s $6 shimmer shadows could have just as easily come from Shu Uemura, Armani or Guerlain, but they’re way, way, way more affordable.

I’ll get to some of their other stuff in a second, but the shimmers…SWOON. And I haven’t even been into shimmery product like this lately, really, but the two shimmer shadows I tried (a warm reddish bronze and a peachy gold) make me wish for every color in the line.

They’re both brimming with pigment, and the powders are so finely sieved that creating smooth gradients is a breeze. The flattering pearly finish glows without highlighting fine lines either.

innisfree eyeshadows contour powder tint swatches

I still can’t get over the fact that the pans are only six bucks!

Other things I’ve recently tried and liked from the brand…

My Palette My Countouring in Shade 4

Weird name, because it’s just one color and not a palette, but this powder is so fab. It’s a cool-toned taupe with a slightly gray undertone, so you can easily create the illusion of cheeks that are sharp enough to cut glass. I mainly use this as a crease color to deepen my eye sockets, and it’s great for that. Available in four shades for $8 each.
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