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

Last Month’s Top Posts

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  • Now You Can Go Goth with Bobbi Brown Mauve Collection Lipsticks and Glosses
    “…these colors are, dare I say, edgy yet wearable. They’re eye-catching without going over the top, and within the colors there’s enough variety to allow you to create lots of different looks. Go on with your bad self, Ms. Brown!”


  • Gaga for Gold with Chanel Fall 2008
    “My local Chanel counter sales rep told me the Facettes D’Or Highlighter is goin’ fast, and there were only six of them left after barely a week on sale! That one has bestseller written all over it.”


  • 6 Minutes with Sarah Jessica Parker
    “Sarah said Covet Pure Bloom reminds her of summer and the islands. Even though it has a seasonal feel to it, she hopes the fragrance transports people to the source of that pikake fragrance in Hawaii even if they’ve never been to the islands before.”


  • Makeup Tutorial: A Peach, Brown and Green Eye for Summer
    “Lancome knocked it out of the park with Couture Warms, ladies. It’s an amazing palette, but you can always duplicate this look using similar products from other lines.”


  • The #1 Best-Selling Chanel Lip Liner
    “On my lips, Nude is a light reddish-brown with just a flash of golden shimmer. It’s hawt, like Angelina Jolie-luscious-lips HOT, LOL! I finally understand why all the Chanel peeps bow down to this liner.”


  • Nars Mediteranee Face of the Day: Orange, Anyone?
    “Before heading to work, I did the following look with the Mediteranee shadows and incorporated products from MAC Cosmetics, Shu Uemura, Laura Mercier and Chanel.”


  • Autumn in the City: Sally Hansen Fall Nail Lacquer Colors by Tracy Reese
    “I suppose my love for the city in fall explains why I’ve fallen for Sally Hansen’s new nail collection, inspired by 10 fall colors created in collaboration with clothing designer Tracy Reese. The industrial grey, black and blue shades contrast well with maroons and neutrals, as do the streets of my favorite city in the fall.”


Nars Mediteranee Eyeshadow DuoSally Hansen Cruel Heart

Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,

Karen

Parissa 2 in 1 Roll-On Body Sugar: Hair Removal System or Medieval Weapon?

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Ah, Parissa, you drugstore queen of hair removal, I love your Warm Wax and Body Sugar kits oh so very much! When I heard about your latest hair removal product — 2 in 1 Roll-On Body Sugar ($20) — I was *so confident* in your skillz that I grew out my ‘stash for two whole weeks! Sure, I looked like Groucho Marx, but I knew you wouldn’t let me down.

Or so I thought…

Check out the green dispenser ball. Doesn’t it look like medieval weaponry? I’d never used anything quite like it before. According to the company, the shape of the ball (fits nicely in the palm of my hand) and the roller wheel dispenser are supposed to make it quick and easy to use. Holding it in my hand for the first time, I was definitely looking forward to giving it a try.

Per the instructions, I microwaved the ball to warm the wax stored inside. Then, I attached the roller applicator. It just screws onto a spot on the outside of the ball.

So far, so good.

I took one last look in the mirror at the furry little caterpillar growing on my upper lip. “Say goodbye, fuzzy,” I thought to myself.
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Benefit Creaseless Cream Shadow: A Quick Look

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The Benefit brand sorta slipped under my radar for a couple years, but I used to be a big fan.

Back when I worked in downtown SF and every other person worked for a dot com (*rolls eyes*), I remember wearing Benetint and Dr. Feelgood. I’m not sure why I stopped following the line. I guess it fell into the same black hole that swallowed my Hello Kitty lunch box and black jelly bracelets.

I decided to take a new look at Benefit recently and noticed a few things, like their Creaseless Cream Shadow/Liner ($19), lil’ pots of cream shadow similar to MAC Paint Pots. Bellasugar wrote about them in a recent post, and so far I dig ’em too.

I went to see all 15 shades in person at a freestanding store, and three of them really stood out:

  • Birthday Suit: light tan shimmer
  • Skinny Jeans: khaki-grey shimmer
  • Strut: grey-black shimmer

Birthday Suit

Skinny Jeans

Strut

A Smokey Eye with Benefit’s Cream Shadows

Try a quick and easy smokey eye using Skinny Jeans on the lid. After applying Skinny Jeans, add Strut to the outer corner of the eye, finishing with a swipe of Birthday Suit on the brow bone.


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Clinique Fall 2008: Game, Set, Matte

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They’re baaaaaack. No, I’m not talking about poltergeists, Carol Anne. I’m referring to a resurgence of matte makeup products. Shine and shimmer have dominated makeup for the last several years, but more and more matte lipsticks, eye shadows and blushes appear each day.

MAC heralded the trend with last fall’s Matte2 collection, but since then a number of lines have re-embraced the look.

Just this month Clinique released the Modern Matte collection with its Colour Surge Eye Shadow Stay Matte ($17.50, available in nine different shades).

If you don’t have much experience with matte eye shadows, the Stay Matte shades may be worth a try because the colors are less intense than those in the MAC Matte2 line. I think that makes them a little easier to use.

Stay Matte’s slightly translucent colors result in sheer, soft looks that are very forgiving — fantastic for makeup newbies still working on their brush and application skills — yet the shades themselves are easily buildable if you’re looking for more intense color. I have two of the darker shades, Chocolate Chip (cool brown) and Midnight (soft black), which I like to pair with something neutral for easy work looks. Makeup and Beauty Blog Rating: A

In addition to the Stay Matte eye shadows, the Clinique Modern Matte collection features a few other choice makeup pickings:

For Cheeks

Many cream blushes don’t last very long on cheeks, but Clinique’s Blushwear Cream Stick ($18.50) in Very Blush stays put for hours. This limited edition cream-to-powder shade is super easy to use and produces lovely, natural cheeks, even when I’m in a rush. I just dot the stick directly onto the apples of my cheeks, blend and voila — a natural, plum-colored flush. Oh, yeah, and it’s oil-free, to boot. Loving this! Makeup and Beauty Blog Rating: A+

For Lips

Clinique consistently does one thing really well when it comes to lip products: they make ’em moisturize like a mofo. Just like their Glosswear and Superbalm formulas, their new High Impact Lip Colour lipsticks ($14) will keep your lips feeling soft and supple, and each of the available shades contains SPF 15. The shade I have, Red-y to Wear, is a shiny, highly pigmented tomato red. Makeup and Beauty Blog Rating: A+


Defining Lip Liner ($14) delivers definition and color with Clinique’s trademark moisturization. It’s a creamy texture and glides without tugging. I like pairing Pomegranate (a dusty rose pink) with Clinique’s Bamboo Pink Glosswear. I also like Red-y or Not, which works perfectly with Red-y to Wear. Makeup and Beauty Blog Rating: B+
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Makeup and Beauty Blog Monday Poll, August 4

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  1. Mood: Hopeful

  2. Mascara: Exceptionnel de Chanel (I’m finally getting the hang of the brush)

  3. Fragrance: Estee Lauder’s Sensuous

  4. Morning beverage: Starbuck’s Breakfast Blend with lots of milk and a teaspoon of sugar

  5. First song I heard today:

    “I still go to Taco Bell
    Drive-through, raw as Hell”

  6. Food craving: Chocolate croissant

  7. Outfit: Blue, plaid Old Navy pajamas 🙂

  8. Lovin’:

    9. Glasses, zip-up hoodies, lists

  9. Favorite makeup brush and why: MAC 266 Small Angle Brush because it makes filling in my brows easy!

  10. My goals for this week: Get better about using my calendar, take Tabs to the vet (again), get all my dates and details sorted out for the weddings I’m going to in the fall, plan a weekend trip to Tahoe

Now it’s your turn. Just copy and paste this list, insert your answers and leave ’em for me in the comments. 🙂

Le list

Mood:
Mascara:
Fragrance:
Morning beverage:
First song I heard today:
Food craving:
Outfit:
Lovin’:
Favorite makeup brush and why:
Goals for the week:

Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,

Karen

Bobbi Brown Pretty Pink Metallic Lip Color: Yeah, It’s Good

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When it comes to pink lipsticks, I am a one-woman army. I’ve been hoarding them since high school. My arsenal is such that if hostile aliens landed and the fate of the world hinged on our ability to scare them away with tubes of pink lipstick, the Earth would prevail! I’d whip out one of my new favorite pink shades for fall, Bobbi Brown’s Pretty Pink Metallic Lip Color ($22), and wave it above my head like a light saber.

“Check out the shimmery gold and warm pink color,” I’d call to the trembling alien army. “The metallic shine reminds me of Chanel’s Aqualumiere lipsticks, but the formula feels thicker on the lips.”

One by one, they’d beam away to their mothership, far, far away from the scent- and taste-free tube.


Pretty Pink is one of 15 new Bobbi Brown Metallic Lip Colors arriving this October for fall.

Moments before the alien mothership left orbit, the trembling invaders would hear my defiant voice rip through the heavens one final time: “The formula lasts at least three hours!”

On Earth, I’d be hailed a hero, a pink lipstick-wielding champion. Perhaps I’d even get a cool medal, and never again would folks ask, “Dude, what’s up with all the pink lipstick?”

Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,

Karen
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Beauty Snacks: Sites of the Day, August 3

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Design You Trust
Eye candy — straight up — but who doesn’t love eye candy? Design You Trust collects some of the best in cutting edge, urban graphic design. If you need help thinking outside the box, Design You Trust doesn’t even know where the box is or what it looks like. They cut the box up into little pieces and used them to make a collage.

StyleITOnline.com
A former Bay Area girl now living in New York, Sarah Conley brings a fresh, fun take to her fashion and beauty coverage on Style It Online.

UT LOOP!
This site breaks the online apparel store paradigm that says shoppers want to see models and close-ups of the designs. The idea here is all about user-generated video and music. You make your own short films (as a looped sequence) with snippets of web video. It’s fast, fun and very engaging. Oh, and there are some T-shirt designs in there somewhere, lol!

Afrobella
A pinch of beauty advice here, a splash of social commentary there, and an occasional dash of musical musings make Afrobella one hell of a good read.

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Lancome’s Greatest Hits

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Did you take advantage of the one-day product preview sale last Thursday to snag a tube of Lancome’s Oscillation mascara? I passed for now, opting instead to hear from women brave enough to apply mascara with a power tool.

I’m willing to wait until Oscillation’s full-scale release this November, but the hype surrounding the product still got me thinking about some of Lancome’s greatest hits, like their Waterproof Eyeliner (RUN to your nearest Lancome counter to get this liner, ladies) and lipsticks.

  • Lancome Le Stylo Waterproof Long Lasting Eyeliner
    “Le Stylo Waterproof reminds me a lot of my beloved MAC Technakohl liner. Like Technakohl, it has a twist-up tip and a creamy formula that glides on without tugging or pulling. Le Stylo outlasts Technakohl, though, when applied to the waterline, which is why I’m using it today. It also sports a sponge smudger on one end — handy for diffusing harsh edges and lines.”
  • Lancome High Definicils Mascara
    “High Definicils, Lancome’s new release of their legendary glossy black Definicils mascara, features an improved soft rubber brush that makes Definicils much easier to apply.”
  • Lancome Star Bronzer
    “Lancome obviously had fun with this compact. Within the image in the pan are three different bronzing colors. I love the golden brown matte from the cherub’s bum.”

  • Lancome Pixel Pink
    “Lancome’s got a video on Youtube celebrating Pixel Pink Color Fever Shine lipstick, the limited edition shade created for fashion designer Thankoon Panichgul’s Spring 2008 runway show. While the entire video is an interesting insight into the inspiration behind the lipstick and the backstage goings-on at NY Fashion Week, my favorite parts are the animated sequences of ‘moving paintings’ by experimental filmmaker Jeff Scher.”
  • Lancome Color Fever Lipstick
    “Pink Fever, a new malady afflicting makeup junkies worldwide, has beauty enthusiasts worried. Seasonally, the spread of Pink Fever coincides with pink lipstick lust and causes one to obsess over pink, cherry-blossom-esque lip colors like the three below from Lancome’s Color Fever Lipstick ($25 each) collection.”
  • Lancome Stylish Neutrals Eyeshadow Palette
    “If I were forced to pick just one eyeshadow palette to bring with me on, say, a three-day trip to Las Vegas, that palette would have to be the new Lancome Stylish Neutrals Color Design Artist Palette.”
  • Lancome Colour Focus Palette in Black Tie Affair
    “If you’ve followed this blog for a while you know I sometimes feel too purple to function when working the shades o’ eggplant. But, alas, all four colors in Black Tie Affair are so creamy and buildable that even the clumsy (ahem, like yours truly) can easily use them to do a purple smoky eye.”
  • Lancome Bi-Facil Eye Makeup Remover
    “I’m not one who usually falls for product hype but damn, Lancome Bi-Facil is good. I’m talking fresh brownies, extra sleep and Christian Bale in a tuxedo good. So good that peasants gotta bow down and shake before the mighty baby blue bottle! So good that … okay, okay. You get the picture.”
  • Lancome Miracle Forever Eau De Parfum Spray
    “Miracle Forever is one of those universal scents every woman will love, with notes of black currant, star anis (a fruit grown in Southern China, who knew?) and almond cream. It’s definitely not stuffy, too ‘old lady’ or too in your face and will appeal to lots of different fragrance personalities.”
  • Makeup Tutorial: A Peach, Brown and Green Eye for Summer
    “Lancome knocked it out of the park with Couture Warms, ladies!”

What are your favorite Lancome products?
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