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Makeup Brushes, Brushes Everywhere!

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Makeup brushes are like the various stray animals that show up at my door. They arrive looking for shelter, and I can’t resist giving them a new home. 🙂 Above are a few recently adopted brushes from Target’s Sonia Kashuk line, brushes known for delivering a lot of bang for your buck.

From top to bottom:

Brushes are like potato chips; I can never have just one. Today I “researched” (i.e. surfed the internet) highly rated brushes and ended up at Makeup Alley. Here are some of the highest rated brushes I found:

MAC

Side note: I love MAC brushes!

Bare Escentuals

Sonia Kashuk

Prescriptives

  • Foundation Brush, $30 – For application and blending of liquid foundation
  • Face Brush, $28 – For application of powder to face

Bobbi Brown

The Body Shop

  • Face/Body Brush, $25 – For application of powders, bronzers and blushes

Stila

Sephora

  • Bronzer Brush, $25 – For application and blending of bronzer to cheeks

Nars

Even though my brush stash has grown a little out of control, I never regret adding new brushes to it because of how often I use them.

I can’t believe it’s already Sunday night, ya’ll. Drat! It’s back to work for me tomorrow.

This morning I woke up, watched a few episodes of Samatha Brown’s Passport to Europe on the Travel Channel (let’s go to Monaco!), and then went for a run around the neighborhood. I’ve sort of skipped out on my chores today (boo to me, I know), but I needed to just chill out for a spell. Now I may watch a movie on TV.

How was your weekend? What was the most surprising thing that happened to you?

Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,

Karen

P.S. Girlfriend, you know your weekend isn’t over ’til you catch up on your reading! Get ready for the best posts from the ladies of the Beauty Blog Network and Splendicity![Continue reading…]

A Kryolan Makeover, aka Adventures in Theater Makeup

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Every girl deserves a makeover from time to time. My last one was ages ago. I’d been itching to try a new look, so yesterday I made the short trip into San Francisco hoping to find inspiration.

I hit my usual haunts — MAC, Dior and Chanel — but I was in the mood for something, well, kinda different, so I kept looking.

I was almost ready to throw in the towel when a sign on a building caught my eye: Kryolan Professional Makeup. Curious as ever and not wanting to head home defeated, I decided to check it out.

Jake, the Kryolan showroom manager, gave me a tour of the place and described their products and services.

The company offers a full line of professional and consumer beauty products but specializes in theater makeup and makeup education. I was immediately drawn to their Aquacolor wet cake makeup — pans of highly pigmented, glycerin-based face and body makeup available in 250 different shades ($6 each).

Once I spotted their beautiful brushes (high quality, and generally more affordable than department store lines), body paints and, um, fake blood, I knew I was in for a different kind of makeover. Sign my booty up!

Dominic, Kryolan’s director of education, got me ready for my makeover, sitting me down beside a counter covered in Aquacolor pans. I told him to go nuts! I didn’t know what to expect, but I got a little suspicious when he glued a prosthetic cat nose to my face.

That’s when it dawned on me: homie was probably not going to do a simple smokey eye.

After all, Kryolan is known for extreme movie and theater makeup. You’ve probably seen their makeup at work in Hollywood films, and their credits include the makeup for The Chronicles of Narnia, Collateral and Pirates of the Caribbean.

With my new prosthetic cat nose in place, Dominic started layering different colors to develop the look. “The painting process is fun,” he said. “This is the most time consuming part of the whole process.”

The entire Karen-into-cat transformation took about 45 minutes, but here’s the condensed version…


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Random Acts of Beauty: Makeup, Brilliant Thoughts and Such

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What a busy, makeup-filled day, girls! I had quite the adventure this morning in San Francisco. Oh, it’s a doozy. It all started with an early morning meeting at a cosmetics company in the city. The full story won’t be ready until tomorrow, but for now let’s just say it involves dramatic makeup and TLC.

When I got home from the city this afternoon I was spent and tried to take a cat nap, but my hair was stinky as a result of said adventure in the city, so I decided to take a long shower instead. I reached for my new super shampoo and conditioner combo — Paul Mitchell’s Tea Tree Lavender Mint Moistruzing Shampoo ($10.95) and Conditioner ($11.95).

I’m a die hard Bumble & Bumble girl, but lately I’ve been trying a few other hair brands on for size. I’m on a lavender kick because I’ve been a little stressed lately, and lavender has helped me to relax. Tea Tree Lavender Mint’s clean, lavender scent doesn’t smell powdery or perfumey at all, which I love, and the combo leaves my hair feeling soft to the touch.

After my shower I took another shot at a cat nap. Within minutes I drifted off to sleep, breathing in Tea Tree Lavender Mint’s soothing scent. I woke up from my nap feeling totally refreshed. Not only does Tea Tree Lavender Mint smell yummy, it moisturizes and makes my hair shiny, too. Loving it!

Tonight, after answering e-mails and running a few errands, I did what I do best: surfing the internets for a new makeup obsession. I’m hunting for the right shade of blue mascara. I searched high and low on Sephora.com today but couldn’t make a decision. I narrowed it down to these five:
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Chanel Aqualumiere Lipgloss: Sheer and Shiny

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Chanel’s Aqualumiere Glosses ($25) debut this month, and boy are these bad boys built to shine. All nine of the shades deliver loads of sheer, super shiny color.

They don’t feel sticky at all on my lips. Unlike Chanel Glossimer lipglosses, Aqualumiere Gloss wands are tipped with a brush. I appreciate that. For me the brush makes Aqualumiere easier to apply than other products with doe-foot applicators.

Top row (from left to right)

  • Bonbon
  • Vanilla
  • Freeze
  • Candy Glow

Bottom row (left to right)

  • Diamond Rose
  • Ironic Tonic
  • Party Red
  • Glass Quartz
  • Bubble Plum

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I got these swatches a few hours ago at my local Nordies, and Candy Glow (sheer, peachy pink with tiny golden flecks) came home with me.
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What I like about Candy Glow…

  • Subtle color (perfect for pairing with bold eye makeup looks)
  • High shine
  • Not sticky
  • Moisturizing
  • Brush applicator

What I don’t like about Candy Glow…

  • Not long lasting (I had to reapply after two hours)
  • Fades faster than Chanel Glossimer, MAC Lipglass and Clinique Glosswear lipglosses
  • Expensive ($25)

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MAC Naughty Nauticals Is Here!

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OMG! It’s here! MAC Naughty Nauticals drops today at MAC counters nationwide. Here are a couple swatches. Pretty, yah?

Eyeshadows, from left to right…

  • Shore Leave (veluxe pearl)
  • Illegal Cargo (frost)
  • Meet the Fleet (matte)
  • Pandamonium (lustre)
  • Submarine (frost)

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Pigments, from left to right…

  • Lark About (frost)
  • Mutiny (frost)
  • Bell-Bottom Blue (frost)
  • Lovely Lily (frost)

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Technakohls, from left to right…

  • Greyprint
  • Smoothblue

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Lipsticks, from left to right…

  • Buoy-o-Buoy (lustre)
  • Party Mate (lustre)
  • Ahoy, there! (glaze)
  • Port Red (frost)

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Face of the Day: MAC Smokey Brown and Purple Eye

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Mama always said, “When life hands you insomnia, hide your dark circles with concealer.”

Okay, my mom didn’t actually say that because she doesn’t wear makeup (I know! The apple fell so far from the tree!).

Anyhoo, I was inspecting the purplish nether regions under my eyes this morning and feeling pretty crappy because of the whole no sleep thing, so I decided to run with it and try a purplish-brown smokey eye. The result improved my sour mood and put a lil’ spring in my step, for sure!

The shadows I used from left to right:

I haven’t been a regular user of matte shadows in the past, but I went all out with them this time. Thanks to MAC Senior Makeup Artist Jennifer Karsten’s advice, I’ve decided I’m going to work diligently to couple them with shimmer shades to create more depth in my eye makeup looks.

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The color map below shows where I placed the different eyeshadows…

  1. MAC Frisco – browbone
  2. MAC Saddle – crease
  3. MAC Star Violet – lid
  4. MAC Sable – outer third of lid
  5. MAC Showstopper – outer V
  6. MAC Retrospeck – inner third of lid
  7. MAC Newly Minted – upper lash line (I smudged this on top MAC Technakohl eyeliner in Graphblack)
  8. MAC Saddle and Sable – lower lash line

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Trying to balance the look, I kept the lips neutral and the cheeks light.
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You Must Choose: Trapped in TV Land

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Last night I slept a total of about 3.5 hours because of different things on my mind, but in that time I managed to have a few vivid dreams, including one where I was trapped in the 80’s sitcom The Golden Girls.

Perhaps the dream was a cry for help, but, honestly, I can’t think of another TV show in which I’d rather be trapped. I love that show!

Sure, the ladies of The Golden Girls are more than twice my age, but I can’t get enough of Blanche, Dorothy, Sophia and Rose’s hijinks. Plus, the show is set in Miami — hello, surfing. Let the hilarity ensue!

In the dream I moved into the house and became the fifth Golden Girl. Sophia taught me how to cook Sicilian food, and Rose asked if I could post a picture of her new hairdo on the blog. Yup, good times.

I hope I have a Sex and the City dream now, but I really can’t see myself living in New York because I’m a wuss when it comes to cold winters.

Speaking of TV dreams, could you imagine being stuck in The Hills? I can see myself hanging out with Lo and Whitney, but the show’s male characters are terribly sub-par. Could anyone have a meaningful conversation with Spencer or Justin Bobby, the ambassadors of lame?

If you could transport yourself into any show on TV, what would it be? YOU MUST CHOOSE!

Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,

Karen

MAC Makeup Tips: MAC Does Makeup for Music, Too

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You probably already knew that MAC provides makeup and makeup artists for fashion shows all over the world, but did you know that MAC does makeup for music tours, too? If you have tickets to rapper Kanye West’s Glow in the Dark North American tour (April-June, 2008), expect to see MAC in action. The MAC team is creating the looks for several of the dancers, backup singers and accompanying musicians on the tour.

And Glow in the Dark isn’t the first MAC/Kanye partnership. They’ve been at it for years, with MAC working on a number of Kanye’s tours, special performances and videos.

To find out more about how MAC works with performers on large concerts and events, I spoke with MAC Senior Makeup Artist Jennifer Karsten. Jennifer worked on Kanye’s Touch the Sky tour, his 2007 MTV Music Video Awards appearance and the Flashing Lights video.

Jennifer did the makeup for the girl in this video. Yo, shuttle the kids into the other room before you watch this because the end is kinda graphic.

Unlike the full-time singers, dancers and musicians who travel with an artist on tour, MAC artists are usually assigned at each stop along the way. How do all these different makeup artists in different cities maintain a consistent makeup look throughout a lengthy tour? “We all communicate through the senior artists and global communications,” Jennifer says, “so everyone knows what the look is and to keep the continuity going.”

MAC artists working on high-profile music events face challenges that makeup artists working fashion shows don’t often face. Large concerts are complex productions. “When you’re dealing with someone more high profile,” says Jennifer, “you have a lot more channels to go through.” It can be more difficult or challenging to really get the look correct because you’re filtering an idea through someone else.

For one of his performances at the 2007 MTV music video awards, Kanye wanted a futuristic, glamorous, high fashion makeup look. The MAC team envisioned a glossy, futuristic cat eye (ooh, me likey!). MAC artists created a “test look” on one of the orchestra performers. It then took six hours, several calls, and pictures taken with cell phones to get the test look approved. That left the team with only 20 minutes to replicate the look on the rest of the orchestra.

And, ultimately, fashion show makeup isn’t meant to overshadow the clothing. That’s not always the case in a concert, where the makeup often defines the look.

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MAC Makeup Tips – Concert Makeup

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