Makeup and Beauty Blog | Makeup Reviews, Swatches and How-To Makeup

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

Subscribe to Makeup and Beauty Blog

by 14 Comments

Okay, so I had planned to blog some product reviews today, right? Yup, it was gonna be totes sweet! I had a Clinique lipgloss set to tell you about and some cool stuff from the new issue of Vogue that I wanted to discuss, but what happened instead?

I’ll tell you what happened…

I took a 3-hour nap! — that’s what happened.

Guess I needed the rest, but I’ll be back soon, rearing to go, full of vim and vigor and whatnot. If you sign up for my updates by email, you can rest assured that days like today will be few and far between. I’m usually good for 2-3 posts/day, honest.

Tabs is here sleeping on my lap. Maybe I’ll blame him for my laziness today. The sound of his purring lulled me to sleep. Yeah, that’s the ticket. 🙂

I hope you had a more productive day than I did.

Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,

Karen

P.S. If you like vampire movies, you gotta see Let The Right One In. El Hub and I caught it last night, and BOY-HOWDY was it good! Picture this: It’s winter in Sweden; night comes early since it’s so far north, and snow covers everything in sight. A 12-year-old Swedish vampire girl drops from trees onto her prey, the lonely inhabitants of a quiet Stockholm suburb.

Fo reals! Expect child vampire mayhem and so much more. It’s well worth the price of admission (note: it’s subtitled).

Sex and the City 2.0: Should There Be a Sequel?

by 26 Comments

How’s it going, girls? Look what I found in the news this morning. Actress Kim Cattrall, 52, pretty emphatically says there’s going to be a Sex and the City: The Movie sequel, yea!

She spilled the beans on Britain’s The Paul O’Grady Show. Her exact words when asked “Will there be a sequel?” — “Yes there will!”

Kim had recently told reporters, “The movie was so much fun to do and be part of again. I hope we’re going to do it again.”

I Netflixed the movie DVD this week and watched it twice in one day. Can’t wait for the next one! I think it’s true that you can be in your 40s and 50s and still be fashionable and interesting. There’s more to life than mom jeans!

Would you like to see another Sex and the City movie?

View Results

Loading ... Loading ...

Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,

Karen

Beauty Snacks: Sites of the Day, November 7

by 15 Comments

Disney Does Shoes and a Bunch of Other Stuff

Shoe Lust, Part Deux

  • I saw these red strappy sandals on Seychelles Footwear and instantly fell in lurve. With cold weather just around the corner my sandal-wearing days are numbered, but I’m oh-so-tempted!

Rabid About Twilight? Me Too!

  • The Twilight Lexicon Blog features up-to-the-minute news and info on the upcoming movie! I check it every day. 🙂

Annie, Get Yer Gunn… Yer Tim Gunn, That Is

  • Last night I watched my very first episode of Tim Gunn’s Guide to Style. Yes, I’ve been living underneath a rock. In the show T. Gunn (of Project Runway fame) helps women discover clothing shapes and colors to suit their body types, so they can make smarter fashion choices.

    The show’s website features this really fun game called The Wardrobe Room, where you can create outfits by paring up Tim Gunn’s wardrobe essentials — tops, bottoms, dresses and jackets (no accessories though, boo). It’s fun… and addictive. I spent WAAAY too much time playing this today.

Get Your China Glaze On For Mere Duckets

Smell Less Stinky, Naturally

  • Looking for an all-natural deodorant? Bella Sugar suggests trying Bergamot Oil to mitigate that stinky pit sitch!

New Bath and Body Works Packaging

  • Beauty Addict gives the run down on the redesign of the bottles, tubes and artwork on the new Bath and Body Works Signature Collection product packaging.

Heya! I’m off to do a short run before the sun sets. Gotta burn some calories so I can eat popcorn when I go to the movies tonight. I’m taking El Hub to watch Let the Right One In, a Swedish film about vampires!

Watcha up to tonight? 🙂

Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,

Karen

Aussie Opposites Attract Shampoo Does Double Duty as a Fast, Cheap Brush Cleaner

by 28 Comments


Happy Friday! Guess what? Last night I found my new favorite way to clean my makeup brushes.

Normally, I use MAC Brush Cleanser ($11) because it works fast, thoroughly removing all the gunk from the brush head and rinsing out quickly. But last night my bottle ran out when I was halfway through cleaning my brushes. I really wanted to finish before 30 Rock came on the telly (lovin’ ya, Tina Fey!), so I reached into the tub and randomly grabbed a bottle of Aussie Opposites Attract Protect + Soften Shampoo ($3) to complete the job.


Oh, Tina Fey, I’m totally not worthy.

I wasn’t sure what to expect. Although I love this stuff for my hair, I’ve used shampoos like Johnson’s Baby Shampoo to clean brushes in the past but never liked the results. Even after a thorough brush cleaning, they would leave bits of foundation or concealer. Plus, the suds took forever to rinse out.

But Aussie Opposites Attract Shampoo worked great! Caked on concealer, dried gel liner, crusty cream shadow (eww) — it removed even the most stubborn makeup, breaking up the product within seconds. And the suds rinsed out quickly, too.

To clean brushes with Aussie Opposites Attract Shampoo, I squeeze a pea sized amount in a cupped palm, add some warm water and swirl the brush head around in the shampoo-and-water mix. If the brush head has a lot of caked makeup on it then I’ll gently work the shampoo directly into the fibers with my fingers. I then rinse out the brush head in running water to remove the makeup and suds. Tada! Less than a minute later, I’ve got a clean brush.

The best part? It costs a WHOPPING THREE BUCKS for a big 13.5-oz bottle, woo hoo! It’s my new favorite fast and cheap way to give brushes a heavy duty cleaning. 🙂

How do you clean your makeup brushes? Do you have a favorite product or a special technique?

Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,

Karen

MAC Smokey Eye Tutorial: Halloween Flashback

by 38 Comments


Hey, ladies! On Halloween some of you asked for a tutorial describing the MAC Smokey Eyes look I wore to dinner.

I was in the mood for MAC today, so I thought I’d give it a try. It’s heavy on MAC products, but you could definitely use similar products from other brands.

Eye Products I Used

  • MAC Nice Vice Paint Pot
  • MAC Smolder Eye Kohl
  • MAC Dark Soul Pigment
  • MAC Smoke Signal Pigment
  • MAC Your Ladyship Pigment
  • MAC Silver Fog Pigment
  • MAC Plushblack Plush Lash Mascara
  • MAC Lashes

Cheek Products I Used

  • MAC Blushbaby Powder Blush

Lip Products I Used

  • Chanel Pretty Pink Lip Definer
  • MAC Modesty Cremesheen lipstick
  • Chanel Astral Glossimer

How I Did the Eyes

First, to improve the staying power of my eye makeup, I prepped my lids with a thin layer of Too Faced Shadow Insurance.

Then, with a MAC 249 synthetic shader brush, I patted a layer of Nice Vice Paint Pot onto the lid and into the crease.

With Smolder Eye Kohl, I drew a very thick line on my lids and along my upper lash and water lines…

…and then along the lower lash and water lines, doing my best to really get the pencil between the root of each lash (darkening the skin between the lashes to enhance the desired effect).

Knowing I was going to smudge pigment on top of the liner, I didn’t worry about messy lines.
[Continue reading…]

Clinique Holiday 2008 Blog Treasure Hunt [WIN A PRIZE]

by

UPDATE: We have a winner! Sylvie, you were the first person to submit the correct answer, which was MAC Cosmetics Originals Glitter Swatches. Congratulations!

Clinique Holiday 2008 Blog Treasure Hunt

What’s up, girls! Tabs, that naughty kitty and part-time beauty booty pirate, is up to his old hijinks again.

Deep within the blog archives he’s hidden some Clinique Holiday 2008 treasure. Do you think you can find it?

Enter the Clinique Holiday 2008 Treasure Hunt for a chance to win some cool stuff. Just be the first to find the picture of Blackberry Bloom Tabs hidden within a post. Keep reading for your clue!

The Prize



The winner receives the following items from the Clinique Blackberry Bloom and Party Red Holiday 2008 collections; a $132 value.

Clinique = Awesome…

  1. Fresh Bloom Allover Colour in Blackberry Bloom
  2. Colour Surge Eye Shadow in Black Coffee
  3. Colour Surge Eye Shadow in Black Amethyst
  4. Colour Surge Eye Shadow in Black Smoke
  5. Kohl Shaper for Eyes in Black Honey
  6. High Impact Mascara in Black Honey
  7. Full Potential Lips Plump and Shine in Sugarfull
  8. Buttershine Lipstick in Parisian Red

How to Enter

Search through the blog archives to find the hidden picture of Blackberry Bloom Tabs (just like the one above). When you find it, shoot me an email (karen_at_www.makeupandbeautyblog.com) with the name of the post. The first person to email the correct answer wins.

Use any combination of the blog search box, Google, the monthly archives links in the right sidebar and the navigation links above and below each post to find the hidden pic! Good luck!

Here’s your clue…

If you’re trapped in a rut,
Use those guts.
Don’t freak out;
Tabs has no doubt,
You’ll use your smarts.
No need for martial arts!

Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,

Karen

P.S. Comments are turned off for this post.

Yves Saint Laurent: A Career Retrospective

by 39 Comments

I played hooky earlier this week and drove into San Francisco to visit the de Young museum in Golden Gate Park. The museum has on display a new exhibit featuring a career retrospective of clothing designer Yves Saint Laurent, who passed away on June 1 of this year.

Yves Mathieu-Saint-Laurent was born on August 1, 1936 in Oran, Algeria, at the time a French colony.


Yves Saint Laurent

I don’t really know much about Yves Saint Laurent clothes (they’re out of my Old Navy budget), but I’ve seen and played with the YSL luxe makeup line at Nordies and Sephora and have always been curious about the man, so I thought the exhibit might be cool.


A cocktail dress and hat, circa 1960. I’d so rock this in a heartbeat!

The exhibit features over 130 original Yves Saint Laurent designs from the ’60s to the present day, outfits ranging from sleek, sophisticated cocktail dresses to intricate haute couture gowns.

Beyond presenting his clothes, the exhibit explores the man and what had been some of his sources of inspiration during his life — art, theatre, history, literature and nature.

There aren’t any compacts or lipsticks in the hizz, but I think his influence on the entire world of beauty, from fashion to cosmetics, comes through in the patterns and colors of his clothes.

He Changed How We Dress

Ah, the pantsuit. There are several pant suits and tuxedos up in the mix, items that were signature to YSL style. In the 1960s, YSL designed and dressed women in clothes that had historically symbolized male power. The shift signaled a revolution in the history of women’s clothing. Now we wear pants day and night!


A Shakespeare-inspired haute couture gown

Couture Gowns

Who doesn’t like pants, right? Heck, I wear pants like *every* day!, but YSL was also a master of the haute couture gown.

Before my trip to the museum this week, I’d never seen a haute couture gown in person. Fo sho, they’re extremely detailed — the pleating, bead work and embroidery — but in general they’re not something you’d wear to the library on a Tuesday. It took every ounce of willpower to refrain from touching.
[Continue reading…]

Lancome Holiday 2008 Face of the Day

by 30 Comments

Greetings, fellow citizens of the world! This morning I experimented with the Lancome Holiday 2008 C’est Manifique makeup collection for this subtle brown and purple eye.

I took Glamour Premiere Eye Shadow Quad ($42), one of the two limited edition C’est Manifique holiday palettes, and paired it with a dark red lip using In All Her Splendor ($18), one of five limited edition Ultra Shiny Juicy Tube lipglosses from the collection.

Earlier today I walked by a fire station out here; all the fire dudes were outside washing the truck. I couldn’t help thinking how glad I was to be wearing lipgloss, LOL! I loves me some El Hub, but I gotta say there’s just something hot about dudes washing fire trucks…


From left to right: In All Her Splendor, Pinkee, First Take, Camera Queen, Beauty Brown

The Eyes

  1. First, I primed my lids by applying a thin layer of Too Faced Shadow Insurance over the entire lid.
  2. Next, I patted Camera Queen (a shimmery light purple) onto the lid with a Sonia Kashuk Large Eye Shadow Brush.
  3. Using the same brush, I applied Pinkee (a shimmery beige) onto the brow bone.
  4. Then, with a MAC 217 blending brush, I swept First Take (a shimmery taupe) into the crease.
  5. For a smokey effect, I applied Beauty Brown (a shimmery, cool bronzy brown) into the outer v and along the lower lash line with a MAC 239 eyeshadow brush.
  6. With Lancome Le Stylo Waterproof eyeliner in Noir, I lined both the upper and lower water lines.
  7. To finish the eyes, I curled my lashes and added two coats of Lancome Virtuose mascara in black.

The Cheeks

  1. Step One: Smile a big cheesy smile in the mirror, and then use a MAC 129 blush brush to sweep two layers of Lancome Blush Subtil in Bronze Escapade (a shimmery warm brown) onto the apples of your cheeks.

The Lips

  1. This was the easiest part! I just applied a small amount of All Her Splendor from the tube directly onto my lips (a single layer).

I dig both of these items. The four Glamour Premiere palette shadows work well together. I think they’d even work well for simple washes over the eye, like for really quick day looks.

Next time I wear ’em I think I’ll try layering a rich brown eye pencil beneath Brown Beauty and Camera Queen for a brown and purple smokey eye…

OOH! If you’re more into red, you gotta check out In All Her Splendor next time you hit a Lancome counter. It’s sheer and glamorous and very nicely done.

Daily Photo


This doe was all “BINGO!” when she found some tasty red flowers and berries today. I had to pull over and snap her picture.

NOTE: If you ever stop in the middle of the street to take pictures of deer, people in other cars will look at you strangely. 🙂

Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,

Karen

Copyright © 2025 Makeup and Beauty Blog. Get in touch.