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

A Gentle Reminder…

August 30th, 2019 by Karen 13 Comments

Hiya, friend. Earlier this week I talked about turning negatives into positives with a quickness. Well, I’m still working on flipping and reversing it à la Missy Elliott, and the issue I’m dealing with right now is one of the things I find most challenging: setting realistic expectations of what I can accomplish in a set amount of time.

I don’t know if it’s the former perfectionist in me (I’m working on it), but I always want to do more, finish more, check more things off my to-do list, and I consistently overshoot and overestimate what I can take on.

For example, if I only have 10 minutes to feed the fam, instead of whipping up three PBJ sandwiches, slicing an apple and calling it done, invariably, I’ll slice a stack of veggies and dice a pound of chicken like a crazy kitchen ninja to make an Insta-worthy meal (which I’ll also have to take pictures of, of course). So, instead of doing what I could have done in 10 minutes, I spend 45 minutes, also known as “35 minutes more than I had.”

The result? I’m behind, and everyone (including me!) is starving and crabby.

THIS IS MY LIFE, GUYS!

I don’t know why, but I’ve always done this. But I’m determined to flip the script and stop setting myself up to fail.

If you also struggle with overestimating what you can accomplish, here’s what I’ve been doing to address it lately:

I take account of how much time I have for any given task (i.e. 15 minutes to do the laundry), and then I significantly undershoot what I plan to accomplish in that block of time (only sorting and starting one load).

I’m all for giving 110% and going above and beyond, but sometimes, you (and I) need to remember that we aren’t working robot zombies. Sometimes it’s OK to pull it back, and it’s OK to be completely honest with yourself and say, “Look, I know you want to do all teh things, but it’s just not feasible, and you’re not going to pretend it is and set yourself up for failure.”

Remember that self-love refers to more than luxurious lotions and fancy face masks (although those can also be nice). Sometimes, loving and caring for yourself means setting more realistic expectations.

Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,

Karen

P.S. TGIF! ?

Unsung Makeup Heroes: Essie Clothing Optional

August 29th, 2019 by Karen 7 Comments

essie clothing optional swatch — I may or may not be wearing pants.

What’s an unsung hero in beauty-speak? For me, it’s an oftentimes underrated makeup (or polish!) morsel, a permanent collection product that scoots under the radar of many makeup lovers but regularly rocks my world. My long-running Unsung Heroes series features some of my favorites.

It’s that time of year again! (At least here in the Bay Area.). Around the end of August and into early September, the weather here is cray. One day it’ll be 95 degrees, and you’re barely clothed on the way to the pool, and the next day you’re wearing long pants and a sweater to meet a friend for coffee.

It’s that weird weather transitional phase between summer and fall. I feel like that’s a space in the land of nail polish, too, and this color by Essie called Clothing Optional is the perfect color for that in-between phase when you may or may not want to wear super bright summery corals and neons, and you’re also still not ready to dive into Bordeaux, navy and oxblood.

Essie describes it as a sienna brown, but it’s so much more than that. It’s a rad, rich, almost rosy taupe, and from some angles it looks like brick.

And I think it’s a completely different beast in full sunlight, when I’d swear it’s a pinkish peachy brown with microshimmer (but the light has to hit it just right for that to come through).

It’s quite the ? chameleon; I love it.

I also love that even though it’s capable of functioning as a nude nail, especially if you have a tan like I do, it contrasts enough with the skin to be eye-catching and noticeable. It’s not like when I’m wearing a nail polish that just blends into my skin tone.

Sometimes I like being able to see my nails when they’re painted, but I also don’t want to be distracted by them, if that makes sense…especially when I have something like a meeting to go to.

Clothing Optional is perfect for showing that you pay attention to small details, like getting your nails done, but your fingers won’t be distracting to the people you’re chatting with, especially if you talk with your hands a lot like I do.
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What’s Currently in Your Makeup Bag?

August 29th, 2019 by Karen 17 Comments

makeup bag august 2019 — Everyday favorites at the moment

I’m partially asking this because I’m always looking for things to add to my “want” list (much to El Hub’s chagrin… I just smile and cackle whenever he says, “Do you really need to buy more makeup?”). ?

I’m also asking because I’m a nosy noodle, ha ha ha!

So, I have a few (several) makeup bags right now, each with different themes. I have a couple bags dedicated to individual brands — one for Chanel things (I refuse to ever throw away), one for MAC, and one for Wander Beauty. Then, there’s a catch-all bag with random items in it that I wanted easy access to at one time but now need to put back into their long-term storage places.

But the makeup bag in which I currently store my most-often used “grab and go” items holds the following…

Chanel Dimensions de Chanel Mascara
MAC Strobe Cream in Pinklite
Estée Lauder Double Wear Light Stay-in-Place Makeup in 4.0 and 4.5
Kevyn Aucoin Super Natural Concealer in Medium EC04 and EC06
Maybelline Instant Age Rewind Concealer in Golden
MAC Mineralize Skinfinish Natural in Medium Golden
Clinique Cheek Pop in Ginger Pop
Chanel Les Beiges Blush No. 25
Maybelline City Bronzer in 300
Maybelline Tattoo Studio Gel Pencil Liner in Deep Onyx and Striking Navy
Clinique Pretty Easy Liner
Chantecaille Mermaid Eye Matte in Bee
Clinique Teddy Bear Quad
Chanel Les Beiges Natural Eyeshadow Collection in Les Indispensables
MAC Velvet Teddy and Half ‘N Half Lipsticks
Wander Beauty Lip Retreat Lip Oil
It Cosmetics Brow Power Micro
A few random brushes I should’ve cleaned weeks ago (!)

How about you? What’s currently in your makeup bag?

Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,

Karen

P.S. What are you up to today? Sending a virtual hug! ?

5 Tips to Keep Your Blowout Fresh and Fly for Days

August 28th, 2019 by Karen 12 Comments

karen blowout — Now if only I could always wake up with hair like this, ha!

I splurged on a blowout.

They aren’t something I do often, but when I do get one, I always feel like a million bucks, because when my hair looks good, I feel good!

This one’s by Robyn, a hair stylist and colorist at Elise Armeen Salon, which is located here in Novato.

If you’re local, go see her (check out her work on Instagram)! She’s super fast, really easy to talk to, and based on my hairdo, her blowouts are bomb.

While I was there, we got to chatting about what you can do to keep your blowout fresh and fly for days, because you know what? If you’re gonna throw down a pretty penny to get your hair did, you might as well eke out every last bit of that style. Am I right?

Here’s what Robyn suggested to keep your blowout looking its best:

1. Hands off

First things first: Don’t mess with the final do. Keep your fingers out of your hair, refrain from aggressive brushing, and if you do have to brush, gently use a wide-tooth comb or a paddle brush.

You want to minimize any disturbance to your blowout, so your hair can retain as much of its shape and volume as possible.

2. Keep your distance

This one’s for my girls with flyaways (otherwise known as “my people”). If you have cowlicks or pieces of hair that jut upward at odd angles, instead of using a wax or a hair pomade (products which can rob you of precious volume) to smooth them down, opt for a flexible hairspray, a spray wax or a spray oil.

Use quick bursts of the product applied from a distance — seriously, as far as you can hold your arm out! The farther the better. That way, you can prevent over-applying the product and weighing down your hair.

karen before blowout — The obligatory before shot…

karen blowout after — And here’s the after!

Do a few quick spritzes, and if you need to, use your fingers to gently smooth wayward flyaways, and then let the product completely dry. At that point, asses whether you need more (Robyn prefers to use as little product as possible when she does blowouts because she like hair with lots of movement). Repeat the process until you’re happy. ?

On my hair, Robyn used a mix of two products: First, she did a few quick mists of Vibrant Sexy Hair Rose Elixir, then followed that up with Moroccan Oil Luminous Hairspray.

3. Pump up the volume

If you’re going to keep your blowout for several days, Robyn suggests asking your stylist to maximize the volume, because as days go by, the volume will decrease, and if you start off on day one with a flatter style, by the next day, your hair will look even flatter.

Basically, you want some room for your hair to deflate.

karen blowout styling products — The products Robyn used for the look

To dial up the volume, Robyn started by shampooing and conditioning my hair. Then she scrunched a volume-enhancing mousse (Moroccan Oil Volumizing Mousse) into my roots, and sprayed a “memory” styling spray that retains the shape of blow-dried curls and straightened sections (Vibrant Sexy Hair Memory). She also applied a smoothing serum (Moroccan Oil Blow-Dry Concentrate) on my wet hair from the mid-shaft to the ends.

karen blowout shampoo — Fancy meeting you here!

For added volume around my bangs, Robyn blew out a few sections of hair, rolled the sections into big curls, and fastened them into place with metal hair duck bill clips.

She then allowed those sections to cool, which sets the shape of the strands and increases the volume even more.

karen blowout round bangs duck clips — Note to self: Use this technique again.

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Beauty Surprises

August 27th, 2019 by Karen 20 Comments

As Forrest Gump famously said, life is like a box of chocolates; you never know what you’re going to get, and I feel that that is 100% the way it is in beauty, too — because I’ve been a makeup/hair/nail enthusiast now for, what, a billion years? — and I’m repeatedly utterly shocked by the things that happen.

A (shockingly) hairy situation

I cannot even BEGIN to describe how repeatedly surprised I’ve been by the hair-related changes on my person over the past 10 years. Unexpected hairs have thrown me for a loop many times.

Where to start…

OK, well, for the first time ever, I now have longer nose hairs, and I occasionally have to trim the wayward ones, which I never had to do when I was younger.

Oh, and the wiry texture of the grays I’m growing out on my head? I joke that every single time I see one of those witchy ramen noodle hairs, a naughty kitty enters a cat lady’s life, ha ha!

Also in the category of Surprising Hair Developments, there was the hair loss I experienced shortly after Connor was born. I mean, I expected to to lose some hair, because I’d heard a lot about that before Connor was born, but I was shocked by the amount and how it came out in clumps!

Also surprising: that the hairs at my temples never quite recovered. To this day that area is noticeably thinner.

chocolate muscle dude — You never know what you’re gonna get.

Another pregnancy-related thing: splitting nails. Right before I found out I was pregs with the coywolf, I noticed that the nails on my fingers and toes were splitting, which had never happened to me before. It was one of the early signs that told me something was up!

Bronzer is bae

Makeup-wise, there have been SO MANY surprising developments, but one of the biggest surprises for me was discovering the power of bronzer.

I really didn’t start wearing bronzer until about 2013, before which time I thought it was a useless endeavor, because I’m already fairly tan, but I finally started to understood the big deal once I started wearing it.

Ahhhh! — like, I saw the light of why people love bronzer so much. It just adds this beautiful touch of color to your face that looks very natural if you don’t go crazy with it (which is what I did for a while there).
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Makeup and Beauty Blog Monday Poll, Vol. 589

August 26th, 2019 by Karen 37 Comments

beauty begins coco chanel quote — We’re going to have a great 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. Navy or nude nails?

Navy! I’m ready for dark fall nails.

2. Things that make you happy?

Oh, where do I start?

When people show up on time — not too early, not too late. Just on time.
Perfectly executed thin crust margherita pizza (with a flavorful crust and sauce, of course)
Cute, comfy shoes with good arch support that don’t hurt my feet
Bras that don’t slip off my shoulders and that don’t have a weird gap in the cups!

3. Things that help you feel centered?

Working out. Writing lists. Reading (or listening to an audiobook) every day. Stretching.

4. Your latest and greatest find?

The Honest Beauty Liquid Lipsticks. They’re super pretty (the shade called Happiness is my fave), hydrating, and they don’t give me cat butt lips.

5. Matching lids and lips: thoughts?

DO IT, DO IT, DO IT! And while you’re at it, might as well add matching blush for a full-on monochromatic makeup look.

Flip it and reverse it

Hiya and happy Monday! ❤️

Can I show you something?

crazy jcrew shoes — Shoes by J. Crew. (Found ’em at Nordstrom Rack!)

Aren’t these shoes the wackiest? They’re absolutely bonkers, and I LOVE THEM.

I found them at Nordstrom Rack last weekend while I was there looking for clothes to wear to a meeting I have with a beauty brand later this week (more on this soon).

I went clothes shopping because — kid you not — everything I own is hella old and has been “baby-ized,” meaning that it exhibits some combination of stains, rips and holes.

Funny thing is, even though the shoes spoke to me and they’re totally my style, I kept thinking of all the “professional lady work wear” (air quotes) outfits I looked up on Pinterest and Instagram beforehand, so I nixed them because I thought they might be too weird…even though I loved them.

I sent a quick text to my friend Jen from the store to see what she thought, and she thought the striped cuties were the best fit for my personality. Then she gently reminded me that I work in a creative profession in the Bay Area, so hopefully have a little leeway to dress somewhat casual, if not wacky.

That was the push I needed! So I got them. ?

karen crazy jcrew shoes — Paige Denim jeans and J. Crew top

Anyway, this incident with the shoes got me thinking about how we are so quick to compare ourselves to others, aren’t we? It’s so easy to do, especially with the time we spend seeing the curated, filtered versions of other people’s lives online. I catch myself going there more often than I care to admit…

So this week I’m going to practice *not* comparing myself to others, and as soon as I catch myself doing it, I’m going flip it and reverse it à la Missy Elliot, ha ha ha!

What are you working on this week to make you a better version of yourself? I constantly remind myself that, even if it’s something small, as long as you’re moving forward in some way, YOU’RE MOVING FORWARD.

Have a beautiful Monday. ?

Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,

Karen

P.S. Question time! Here they are to copy/paste with your answers in a comment. Talk to ya soon!

1. Navy or nude nails?
2. Things that make you happy?
3. Something that helps you feel centered?
4. Your latest and greatest find?
5. Matching lids and lips: thoughts?

P.P.S. Have an epic rest of your week! ?

Sundays With Tabs the Cat, Makeup and Beauty Blog Mascot, Vol. 568

August 25th, 2019 by Karen 7 Comments

A lot of people don’t know how important cats were to the space race. They call it the final frontier, but the “feline frontier” is more accurate.

In fact, some of the greatest astronauts in history were cats.

Like Tabs. He was the first American to orbit the Earth wearing a feather boa, and that was just one of his many astronomical feline fashion firsts.

He also created the uniforms for CASA, the Cat Aeronautics and Space Administration, and started the agency’s toddler outreach program to cultivate the next generation of cat ladies and cat men.

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Saturday Surfing, Aug. 24th, 2019

August 24th, 2019 by Karen 9 Comments

olaplex sephora haul — I hope this works!

Hiya, friend! I hope your coffee ☕ is strong and your spirit is light on this lovely Caturday. If you need me, I’ll be the cat lady in the plastic hair cap, which I’ll be wearing all day long so the Olaplex No. 3 at-home hair treatment I’m trying can work its alleged magic.

Speaking of that…

I walked into Sephora a couple days ago planning to get just one or two things from Olaplex and take advantage of the VIB discount, but then this ? happened.

I mean, I didn’t get all of their products. ? I didn’t buy the hair oil, even though I reeeeeeally wanted to, because Caitya, my favorite MUA there, hooked me up with generous samples. (Thanks, lady!) So I can still try it.

Everyone talks about the Olaplex at-home system of No. 3 (pre-shampoo treatment), No. 4 (shampoo), No. 5 (conditioner) and No. 6 (leave-in) as if they’re hair miracles sent from the beauty heavens above, and I’m very excited about trying them now because I’m at a turning point in the process of growing out my grays.

The biggest challenge right now (I’m about eight months in) is figuring out how to deal with the wiry, unruly texture. The wiry strands seem to be multiplying exponentially, especially at the top of my head, and I swear I look like a mad scientist! ?‍?

Olaplex is supposed to be life-changing for that.

If you’ve tried their products, please tell me about your experience! I’d love to hear what you think.

A very special treat on a very special day

When my co-pilot and I were at Sephora, I treated her to a little beauty haul of her own to celebrate the start of preschool. ❤️ I let her pick out a clear $6 lip balm from the Sephora Collection, and Caitya (who’s been working at this same Sephora since I was pregnant with Connor and always says hi to us) made Connor feel extra special by wrapping the lip balm in tissue and giving her a tiny Sephora bag in which to carry it.

Now, my shower cap and I are off to go clean the closet that I refuse to be plagued by anymore. While I find the strength to let go of the things that no longer bring me joy, enjoy your weekend beauty reading… ?

Would you buy secondhand makeup? In Japan, droves of makeup enthusiasts are purchasing pre-worn products.
I’ve always thought of makeup as being kind of like armor, and apparently I’m not the only one, as this young woman would put on elaborate makeup every morning to help her deal with the grief of losing her younger brother.
Apparently, Meghan Markle’s makeup artist, Daniel Martin (he’s responsible for her iconic wedding day look), didn’t realize just how big a deal her wedding was until he was driving behind her in the car and saw the crowds.
Speaking of previously used makeup, do certain products that were used beforehand come with higher risks than others?
If you’re willing to wait, Charlotte Tilbury’s Foundation has only (ha ha!) a 17,000-person waiting list.
For my type nerds: Adieu Smalls is a font inspired by curvy cat tails!
China’s first commercially cloned cat — a British shorthair named Dasuan, or “Garlic” in English, was recently unveiled in Beijing.
Before there were cats on Instagram, there was photographer Walter Chandoha, who some consider to be the godfather of feline photography.
5 science-backed skin care products that are trending on Instagram right now…
Here are many, many pictures of cats, including two wrapped up in sushi rolls (THE BEST).

Speaking of Olaplex, a jury ruled earlier this month that L’Oréal was guilty of trade-secret theft, patent infringement and breach of contract with Olaplex. L’Oréal was ordered to pay Olaplex — a startup based on the research of two University of California, Santa Barbara (UCSB) chemists — more than $22 million for each of the first two offenses, and close to $47 million for the third (!).