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13 Unexpected Side Effects of Cat Lady Life

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A cat lady and her bestie. Side note: Rosie loves to be hugged like a tiny little fur baby!
  1. You stash pet hair remover rollers everywhere — inside your bathroom, your car, at work — EVERYWHERE. You may even have mini travel ones stuffed in each and every one of your purses.
  2. You’re friends with all the neighborhood cats, and you even know what treats each and every one of them likes/doesn’t like. ?
  3. Occasionally, random cats you’ve never seen before will enter you house and kick it with you for a few hours, and you’re totally fine with it. Side note: One time I came home to find a stranger cat on top of my fridge. I called him Katmandu, and he loved bacon.
  4. You maintain a list of potential cat names you like, just in case the universe decides to send along another kitty friend. Current names on my list include Sheila E. (my brother lives with a cat named Sheila E. How cool is that?), Baroness Schraeder and Sugar.
  5. Even though your heart has broken into a million pieces after the kitty love of your life leaves you, you’re eventually able to make space for another feline friend, and you remember why you love cats so, so much.
    6. cocobaby rosie on the couch
    Baby cat lady in training
  6. You’re often surprised by how finicky some cats are about food. Like, one minute they loooooove Sheba Salmon and can’t get enough of it. The next minute (LITERALLY THE NEXT MINUTE), they won’t have anything to do with it. In fact, they’re utterly repulsed by the very idea, and you end up stuck with 24 cans you just ordered from Amazon Prime. ?
  7. Teary-eyed, you wonder things like what your friends or family will do with the wooden memorial box of your former cat’s ashes when you pass away…
  8. You keep cat treats in your purse…because it never hurts to be prepared.
  9. When you come across a new cat in the neighborhood, you immediately bestow a name upon him or her. Because it’s the right thing to do. ??
  10. When you find a stranger cat sleeping in the back seat of your car, your first thought is, “Oh, cool. Make yourself at home.” And, yes, this has totally happened to me more than once.
  11. You’ve often wished that you could bring your cat with you on family vacations.
    12. cat yoga mat burrito
    Why are cats so obsessed with yoga mats?
  12. You have cat-related reminders scheduled on your calendar. (Side note: “Siri, remind me to buy cat litter and litter pan liners.”)
  13. When your cat talks to you, you can hear her “voice” in your head, clear as day. ?

    14. Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict (and cat lady at large),

    Karen

Aubergine Eyes and Berry Lips

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aubergine eyes berry lips
I did my eye makeup with just an eyeliner.

Your fun fact for the day about eggplant: While commonly thought of as a vegetable in cooking circles, eggplant (also known as aubergine), is technically a fruit — specifically, a berry.

And now you’re ready to conquer the botany stage on your next trivia night! (Lucky you.)

I’ve got aubergine on my mind because one thing that Santa so kindly brought me for Christmas is the aubergine-colored Athleta workout top I’m wearing in these pics, so I did this combo the other day with aubergine eyes and berry lips.

aubergine eyes berry lips 2

When you want to do easy eye makeup, pencil liner is your BFF.

For the eye makeup, I used one of my favorite quickie techniques. I grabbed a long-wearing pencil eyeliner (ESUM Aubergine), applied a layer on my lids, and then buffed out the edges to mimic the effect of eyeshadow. I did this a few times to build up the color in the areas where I wanted more depth — the lash line and outer third — so that my hooded eyes would look more deeply set. Then, I lined my upper and lower waterlines and smudged the liner along my lower lash line to balance out the heaviness on the lids.

Finish with a couple coats of mascara on your lashes, and you’re done!

What you’ll need to look for in your liner

Ideally, you’ll want a liner that’s soft enough to blend with a brush, but you don’t want one that’s too smudgy, because then it’ll just move around on your bare lids and disappear. On the opposite end of the spectrum, you don’t want one that dries too quickly, because then you won’t have enough playtime to blend.

On top of all that, it also has to stick to your waterlines (and feel comfortable on there, too).

For this technique, I really the MAC Eye Kohls in Powersurge and Teddy (Costa Riche is a good one, too, but I’ve noticed that it tends to move a lot unless I set it with a powder). The Laura Mercier Kohls are excellent, too. Try the Stormy Grey shade!

aubergine eyes berry lips 2

aubergine eyes berry lips 2
Key products worn in this look: ESUM Aubergine liner, Clinique Plum Pop blush and NARS Vivien lipstick

Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,

Karen

MAC Lunar Illusions Collection in Action With Swatches on NC42 Skin

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mac lunar illusions 2020
The new MAC Lunar Illusions collection, available now

OK, I totally get it. MAC-aholics are always questing to find “The Newest Newness,” but every now and zen (hint, hint), a MAC collection comes along that puts the classics in the spotlight. And ya know what? I’m not mad at it.

The new Lunar Illusions collection highlights so many MAC must-haves. The Now and Zen eyeshadow palette alone is packed with greatest hits like Soft Brown (LOVE), Honey Lust, Omega, Expensive Pink and good ol’ Tilt, which is a beautiful bluish green…and that’s just for starters!

The shades may be repromotes, but that LE packaging is a fresh twist, so if you’re on the market for a replacement tube of Ruby Woo Lipstick, why not grab one of these for fun?

mac lunar illusions swatches nc42 skin
From the top: Lipsticks ($20 each), Lipglasses ($18.50 each), Blush Split Pan ($31), Eyeshadow X 9 ($33). Not pictured: Extra Dimension Skinfinish ($37).

mac lunar illusions eyeshadow
Lids: Eyeshadow X 9 in Soft Brown, Omega, Honey Lust and Tilt. Cheeks: Blush Split Man in Pinch O’ Peach and Modern Mandarin (mixed together). Lips: Marrakesh Lipstick topped with Magically Delightful Lipglass.

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Makeup and Beauty Blog Monday Poll, Vol. 608

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italian cream cupcakes
Have a sweet week, my friend.

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.

    1. How skilled are you at using chopsticks?

    I won’t be winning the gold at the Chopsticks Olympics or anything, but I can hold my own. I can wield them adequately for sushi, rice and most dishes, but noodles are rough, man!

    2. How often do you go to sleep with the TV on?

    Never. We don’t have a TV in our room because it’s too stimulating for me. I can’t do it.

    3. What comes to mind when you think of ”eyebrows”?

    Right now? Super sharp blocky Instagram brows, but only because we were talking about them at the bakery the other day.

    4. What comes to mind when you think of ”cabbage”?

    Corned beef. LOL! And Cabbage Patch Kids. And this dude my high school friend Cindy dated for, seriously, a day (she claims he smelled like cabbage, which is part of the reason she broke up with him).

    5. Describe your favorite sweatshirt.

    Girlfriend, I’m wearing it right now. It’s a mauve sweatshirt by Wander Beauty, and it says “Off Duty” in rose gold letters. It’s about two sizes too big for me, but it’s warm and super comfortable, and I seriously live in it!

Sweet thang

Yet another important question for you: WHO WANTS CAKE FOR BREAKFAST?

(Hiya and happy Monday, by the way.) 🙂

italian cream cupcakes
Italian cream cupcakes with cream cheese frosting

My mom recently turned 71, so we took her out to brunch to celebrate, and then we popped over to my house for dessert.

I made her Italian cream cupcakes, which were a hit with my fam-bam.

Have you had an Italian cream cake or cupcake before? If you haven’t, you have to grab a slice ASAP…and then grab another and save it for breakfast the next morning. 🙂 Ha.

Seriously! It’s the best cake to have first thing in the morning with coffee. It’s a fluffy butter-based cake with shredded coconuts and pecans, topped with a tangy cream cheese frosting… The light melt-in-your-mouth texture comes from whipped egg whites, which are folded into the batter. Since it’s a butter-based batter, it’s a little more finicky and requires more steps to make than an oil-based batter, so it takes as little more time and effort, but if you’re in the mood for it, it’s worth it.

I posted this recipe as a cake (rather than a cupcake), 10 years ago here on MBB (!), and it’s still one of my favorite cakes to this day.

Today’s my day off from the bakery, so I’ve got lots of writing and makeup testing on my plate. Whatever you’re up to, I hope you get to ease your way in back into things. It’s tough getting back into a regular routine after the holidays, isn’t it?

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. How skilled are you at using chopsticks?
2. How often do you go to sleep with the TV on?
3. What comes to mind when you think of ”eyebrows”?
4. What comes to mind when you think of ”cabbage”?
5. Describe your favorite sweatshirt.

Sundays With Tabs the Cat, Makeup and Beauty Blog Mascot, Vol. 587

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Not to take anything away from Baby Yoda, who has admittedly rocked in that role, but Tabs also auditioned for the part of cute sidekick in The Mandalorian.

Yup, we don’t really know for sure why he didn’t get the part, but I suspect it had to do with his long-running feud with Jon Favreau. You see, Jon wrote Chef with Tabs in mind for the lead part, but Tabs turned it down because he said there weren’t enough recipes involving gravy.

That’s why Jon ended up having to star in and direct the movie himself…

As you know, Tabs was a huge Star Wars fan throughout his life. His portrayal of cat Jedi Master F.T. (Fussy Tabby) Catwalker in Star Cats: The Fierce Awakens is widely regarded as the greatest purrformance in science fiction history.

Tabs loved Star Wars so much. I think he would have really enjoyed The Mandalorian.

The first season was fantastic! Whenever we watched it, we thought of Tabs and how much he would have loved watching it with us.

Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,

Karen

Saturday Surfing, January 4th, 2020

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A Saturday surprise, courtesy of my TJ’s reusable bag.

How you doin’, Caturday?!

I’m low-key thrilled right meow because of this unexpected discovery I found on the bottom of my Trader Joe’s New Hampshire shopping bag, which I got in one of the Trader Joe’s 1-2-3 Mystery Packs before Christmas.

It’s a — wait for it! — recipe for a maple bacon sundae. ???

SAY, WHAT?

How cool is this? I may never have seen it if it hadn’t been for my coworker, who also got the same bag in her Mystery Pack. She was maneuvering her New Hampshire bag sideways into the trunk of her car one day to make it fit, and that’s when she spotted the recipe on the bottom.

I swear, this bag keeps on giving…

I’m into salty-sweet combos, so I would totally get down with this sundae in a heartbeat, but when I told El Hub about it, he was grossed out and compared it to putting mint chocolate chip ice cream on ground beef…which, yeah, makes my stomach turn. But I still feel like the vanilla and bacon would work together in a sundae, because the vanilla is like a blank canvas, right? Hmm… What do you think? Yummy? Disgusting?

On that note, your Saturday reading…


If you’re in the mood to pretend you’re a flapper (hey, it happens)


Tips for brightening your under-eye area


Full coverage for dry skin


I’m all over this.

Connor has a dance recital next week, so I’m off to take her to rehearsal now. What are you up today? I hope you’ll have some time to yourself to relax.

Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,

Karen

A Quick Eye-Opening Tip for Hooded Lids

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urban decay light liner
Clockwise from the white on the upper left: Urban Decay Yeyo, Urban Decay Scorch, Urban Decay Goldmine, Urban Decay Heartless, Esum Rose and Urban Decay Cuff

Here’s a quick tip for my ladies with hooded eyelids, because mine are getting more and more hooded every day! Here’s what you can do to make your eyes and your lid real estate look a little larger.

You’ll need two things…

  1. A slightly shiny liner in a shade lighter than your natural skin tone. Mind you, it doesn’t have to be sequinned diva-caliber glittery. An essence of pearl is ideal, and apply this along your upper lash line.
  2. A darker liner with which to tightline, and a dark brown or inky black will work, but you could go with a dark purple or navy, too. Tightline your upper waterline with it, and really try to get in between the roots of your lashes.

With these two liners working together, the darker one will make it look like you’re wearing dark liner on your upper lash line (it also has the added bonus of making your lash base appear thicker, which is always a plus), and will also make that area look further away in 3D space, i.e. more recessed, while the shimmery lighter liner will catch light along your upper lash line and make it look more pronounced, completing the overall illusion of making your lid space appear larger than it is.

Pic on the left is with the lighter liner on the upper lash line and the darker line on tightline. Pic on the right is with a dark black liner on the upper lash line and waterline. See how my eyes on the left look much less hooded?

I’ve been doing this a lot lately with dark brown MAC Coffee and light, shimmery bronze Urban Decay Scorch, a combo that works well with my NC42 skin, and I think it makes my eyes look much less hooded than they do when I wear a straight-up black or brown liner on the upper lash line alone.

If you have a lighter skin tone, try a very light, shimmery peach like ESUM Dual Eye Pencil in Rose and Aubergine, and use the shimmery peach on your upper lash line and the dark purple to tightline.
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Potent Pigments Glisten and Gleam in the MAC Patent Paint Lip Lacquers

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mac lacquered up
New MAC Patent Paint Lip Lacquer in Laquered Up

If pop culture history has taught us anything, it’s that reality stars come and go, but makeup trends will change, only to return again at some future date like Halley’s Comet.

(Side note: Speaking of reality TV stars, am I the only one who thought that the craziest thing about Flavor of Love was that the prize for winning the show was Flavor Flav himself?)

I digress…

I hope the release of the new MAC Patent Paint Lip Lacquers ($22 each) signals that glossy lips are poised to make a comeback. While I’m not mentally prepared to revisit all of the accoutrements that accompanied them in the early aughts (the frosty brow bone, pencil thin brows, hip-hugging jeans, and the camisole tops, a.k.a. my clubbing uniform, HA HA HA!), I’m more than ready for lipgloss to step into the limelight again.

There are 13 shades in this new line of lively lip lacquers, and MAC punched up the pigments to the max, so each full-coverage swipe evenly and completely covers your kisser. They also combine the thin, non-sticky viscosity of a Cremesheen with the endurance of a Lipglass, so the result is a long-lasting, opaque, comfortable gloss that stays put for hours.

I’m an NC42, and the shade I wear most is deep rosy mauve Lacquered Up, because the middle-of-the-road rose tone goes really well with the brown, purple and gold eyeshadows I love to wear so much.

I was most excited about the lighter nude shades like Magic Mirror and Lacquered Up — they’re so very early 2000s! — but they’re a touch too pastel on my tan skin to wear on their own, so I like to layer a darker lip pencil like Subculture or Cork with them for depth.

And while I’m not usually one to wear a greige-lavender gloss to run errands around town, even I have to admit that the pale purple looks kinda cool.

mac patent pleasure
Patent Pleasure

mac magic mirror
Magic Mirror

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