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

Sundays With Tabs the Cat, Makeup and Beauty Blog Mascot, Vol. 540

February 10th, 2019 by Karen 4 Comments

Oh, my gosh! I can’t believe Valentine’s Day is this week. Tabs is such a ladies’ cat, so I’m not getting my hopes up, but I hope he gives me a Valentine…or a day off, LOL. As you know, a cat assistant’s job is never done.

He knows he has me wrapped around his little tabby finger, too. He just flashes his tum or turns on his dreamy eyes, and I lose my ability to resist his charms. I’m like a star-struck fan who’ll agree to work any amount off overtime.

Sigh… My quest to find America’s Next Top Cat Model on this trip was a bust. No luck this time. I guess it’s just not easy to find kitty modeling talent that meets Tabs’ rigorous standards. He wants me to continue the talent search tomorrow in Novato.

I hope you had a great weekend. We’re at the airport in Honolulu getting ready to head back to California. Tabs texted to say he’d send his driver to pick us up in Oakland when our flight arrives tonight, so that was nice of him. Thank you, sir! See you soon! 🙂

Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,

Karen

Saturday Surfing, February 9th, 2019

February 9th, 2019 by Karen 2 Comments

Aloha caturday! Last day of our trip out here, and today is all about saying goodbyes and soaking up the last rays of tropical sunshine.

I say this every time we leave the islands, but I sure am going to miss Hawaii…especially now that it’s winter on the mainland and, from what I hear, chilly back home in Norcal.

But I miss my tabby and our little condo…and my bed. I hope Tabs lets me ease my way back into work next week, because you know how he can be sometimes. He can be quite the taskmaster.

Now I gotta run. I’m meeting a friend near the Kahala Mall that I haven’t seen in a couple years. Aloha. See you soon.

If you’ve got a husband or a brother or a dude in your life who could use a little help with their brows, maybe pass along this step-by-step guide? And then perhaps offer to tweeze for them?
In Tennessee, hairstylists are being trained to look for signs of domestic violence.
All about the rise in perfume culture on the Internet.
The colorful history of nail polish.
Speaking of nail polish, apparently, the most important thing for a manicure has nothing to do with the actual process of painting your nails.
It’s not just sunscreen: makeup and hairspray may also be harming coral, too.
Eyebrows and playing Batman successfully on screen: the collective Interwebz ponders if there is or isn’t a connection between the two.
Does your kitty need a food puzzle?
When it comes to makeup trivia, you gotta stay ready, so here are six celebs you never knew had their own perfumes.
If you plan on doing some leisurely browsing at the wine store, don’t bring this dog with you.

Because CATS!

A Sunday song on a Saturday morning, why not?

Here, kitty kitty

Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,

Karen

Bay Area Beauty Love: Benefit They’re Real! Red On! Matte Lip Color

February 8th, 2019 by Karen 13 Comments

Yay for the Bay! In this series, for the month of February 2019, I’ll be featuring products from and around my stomping grounds, the San Francisco Bay Area.

This new matte cream lipstick from Benefit (a brand headquartered in the SF Bay Area) is the real deal. I would say “Get red-y for it” if I were a fan of puns (ha ha!), but instead, I’ll just do my best to describe it. It’s a red-olent, red-onkulously easy-to-wear matte red lipstick called They’re Real! Red On! Matte Lip Color, and it’s $20 and comes with its own little lip brush, which sits in that divot that goes across the pan.

Super fun and perhaps borderline gimmicky? Check and check. But it’s actually really good, and reds are hard, man. Especially opaque matte reds lipsticks like this. Most fall into the trap of being so bold and pigmented that they leave you no room for error, and the moment your lip edge goes wonky, there’s no turning back. I know that, at least for me, this is a turnoff, and it keeps me from wearing red very often.

Because — hello! — LAZINESS.

benefit theyre real red on swatch — R U red-y for it?

But Red On makes matte red lips easy, and not simply because of the little lip brush it comes with. You can actually apply this matte cream with a lip brush OR your fingers, and either way, it looks on point.

Believe it or not, I just applied it with a finger in this picture here. I just kinda smooshed it around, and it turned out perfectly.

The formula feels almost like a cream-to-powder formula, and the powder-i-ness (?) enables you to fudge the edges a little if you need to. So, even if your lip lines aren’t super precise, they won’t look that way (the whole world doesn’t have to know it, amirite?).

Red On also feels light and nice on my lips, and it doesn’t dry out my kisser or creep beyond the edges.

What a delightful surprise, really. 🙂 I think it’s a hidden gem in the Benefit permanent line.

Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,

Karen

P.S. TGIF!!!!

Bay Area Beauty Love: Benefit Gogo Tint

February 7th, 2019 by Karen 8 Comments

Yay for the Bay! In this series, for the month of February 2019, I’ll be featuring products from and around my stomping grounds, the San Francisco Bay Area.

Question of the day: Is the “gogo” in Benefit Gogo Tint a shout-out to the Wham song or a shout-out to gogo dancers?

Neither? Both?

Seeing as how the very first Benefit stain was a nipple tint made for exotic dancers…I’m gonna go-go with option B, ha ha!

It’s been a minute since I’ve worn one of these. They’re $30 liquid lip and cheek stains, and this newest member is a vibrant matte cherry red that looks like an intensified version of the original Benetint I loved like heck in my early 20s.

benefit gogo tint 2 — Wake me up before you Gogo!

Gogo Tint isn’t as watery as the O.G. one. The liquid formula is milkier and creamier (similar to the ChaCha and Lolli tints). The thicker consistency makes Gogo user-friendlier because, unlike the original, it doesn’t immediately drip or roll down your cheeks. It’s also smoother and easier to blend.

I also feel like the slightly creamy consistency makes it less patchy than the more viscous original and easier to blend, which I usually do with my fingers.

Like all of the Benefit Tints, you can wear Gogo on your lips, too. It’s a bright matte red that looks like just-kissed lips, and it’s beautiful if you can get it to apply evenly. Although I appreciate its multitasking prowess, I’m not fond of wearing it on my lips because the tint grabs on to the center areas more than the outer edges, so I end up with an unintentional edgy gradient effect.

I mean, it would be cooler if I were a high-fashion gal, but when I’m out and about in a sweatshirt, stretchy pants and messy bun, as I am 99% of the time…it just looks like I forgot to touch up after lunch.

More deets…

Wear time is about 5-6 hours.
Doesn’t taste or smell like anything.
A little drying on the lips, but not drying on my cheeks, though.
Best on bare skin or skin prepped with BB or CC cream, or tinted moisturizer , can be streaky on a full-coverage base).
Always make sure that the cap is sealed shut; otherwise, it could spill all over your makeup bag.

benefit gogo tint swatch — Gogo Tint, blended (top) and unblended (bottom)

I see this as a great blush for low-maintenance gals and a good option for first-time blush wearers, or anyone who likes makeup that doesn’t look powdery or obvious. A large 0.33-oz. bottle is $30, and a travel-sized 0.13-oz. mini is $12. You can find Gogo at Benefit stores, Ulta and Sephora.

Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,

Karen

P.S. Geez, why are these chairs so comfortable? Is it the chair, the shave ice, the hibiscus flowers around them, the fancy swimming pool? Or all of the above?

Aloha again! This has been a very low-key trip so far with a definite lack of adventure sports and water activities. Yup. Connor, El Hub and I all came down with viruses, so we haven’t been pushing the envelope in terms of activities, but it’s still been wonderful to just hang out, rest and take in the atmosphere (and consume large quantities of shave ice, fresh papaya and pineapple).

I’m gonna go get another shave ice now. What can I get you? You can mix ‘n match any flavors you want…

Banana, Vanilla, Bubble Gum, Cherry Coconut Cotton Candy, Watermelon, Grape, (Sour) Green Apple, Green Tea, Guava, Yuzu, Lemon, Lemonade, Li Hing Mui, White Cake, Lilikoi (Passionfruit), Lime, Mango, Lychee, Melon, Mizore, Orange, Papaya, Pickled Mango, Piña Colada, Pineapple, Raspberry, Root Beer, Strawberry, Peach, Ume, Banana Cream, Coconut Cream, Strawberry Cream

(*Cream flavors have condensed milk pre-mixed into the syrup.)

Sugar-Free Banana, Sugar-Free Strawberry, Sugar-Free Vanilla

Super Fun, Free and Hella Sweaty Workout Videos!

February 6th, 2019 by Karen 10 Comments

LOL. In my mind, I can hear my friend Cindy kinda laughing at me for saying this, but I’m gonna go ahead and say it anyway.

I love working out.

I really do! Granted, the fact that I work at a desk, and it’s very sedentary, probably has something to do with it. When I’m not working, it feels good to actually utilize my body.

I love that loosey-goosey feeling I get from dancing or running or stretching, especially in my upper back and my shoulders, where I hold a lot of my tension… Ahem! Pardon me while I pump out some quick shrugs.

I am not a gym rat, though. I used to be much more so (Gold’s Gym was my jam back in the day), and I still go to a gym a couple times a week because my HIIT class is held in one, but I don’t spend an inordinate amount of time there because, ya know…I got stuff to do.

So I do most of my workouts at home now in my living room watching a YouTube video on the TV.

Thank goodness for YouTube…

I’m always looking for new workout videos, too, if you have any recommendations for me, but here are the ones I’ve been into lately…

This first one is a dance video, and even if you’ve never taken a dance class in your life, I think this one is SO MUCH FUN. It’s 40 minutes long, but yet those minutes just fly by.

By the end of it, you’ll be drenched in sweat (a good thing in this case). Also, your “bootyshake” will be #legit.

I’m not kidding.

Also, I just started doing pilates, and we as yet have a kind of complicated relationship… I mean, I like it, but it’s soooo much harder than it looks.

While it might seem like you’re just laying down on a mat, which you might think would be somewhat chill, yeah…no. It’s very challenging for me, which I like. Plus, I’m in my living room, so who’s gonna judge??

In these two beginner tutorials, which are examples of what I can handle at the moment, there’s a ton of core work, lots of legs, lots of booty, and lots of upper body exercises. By the end of one of these, I’m wasted, even though there aren’t any high-impact jumping or running moves.

The thing is, though…I have to really concentrate and totally BE IN IT when I’m doing these video because I have to constantly remember to squeeze certain muscle groups, so it does require paying attention.

So these aren’t the kind of videos you’d do when you just wanna zone out…

Now, those HIIT classes I take two times a week, I’m not gonna lie… In those classes, everyone there is freakin’ real deal, and I struggle to keep up. Everyone is so intense, and they’re in good shape, and I have to push hard to keep up with the rest of the class, so in my other workouts during the week, I can’t always push so hard. I need some easier, less intense workouts too, you know? And this workout is one of those perfect low-impact cardio workouts, but I’m hesitant to call it “easy,” in air quotes, because I’m still sweating like a mofo by the end of the 30 minutes.

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Bay Area Beauty Love: Benefit Punch Pop!

February 5th, 2019 by Karen 5 Comments

Yay for the Bay! In this series, for the month of February 2019, I’ll be featuring products from and around my stomping grounds, the San Francisco Bay Area.

My idea of the perfect party punch involves strawberries, and if they aren’t in there in copious amounts (mashed or sliced, doesn’t matter to me), I’m out. There’s a Strawberry version in the new-ish Benefit Punch Pops, so YAY for me and my red berry addiction, which I blame on a childhood spent obsessing over Strawberry Shortcake (the doll, not the dessert…although I do love both).

For the life of me, I can’t figure out why the boxes say “Liquid Lip Color,” when really, this new-ish line, which came out last fall, is made up of straight-up lipglosses.

*shrugs*

Slightly confusing marketing aside, the glosses are fun, functional and best of all, cute, which is what Benefit, a beauty brand based outta SF (my old stomping grounds!), does best.

This line of non-sticky, full-pigment glosses is supposed to be cheeky and fun and not meant to be taken too seriously. You stick one in your purse, wear it everyday for two weeks straight, and then after that, occasionally take it out whenever you do a deep dive into your bag (“Oh, so THAT’S where it went!”) and touch up with it before moving onto the next thing.

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Aloha Tuesday From Oahu!

February 5th, 2019 by Karen 12 Comments

Aloha nui loa from Oahu! Hope you’re doing well. Yesterday was a pretty fun day. We drove out to a shrimp shack on the north side of the island for lunch, then stopped by Haleiwa town for shave ice on the way back to our hotel.

It’s funny, but despite this being a fairly small island, it takes a while to get around because of…traffic! Lots of cars on this little island, and it can easily take more than an hour to get anywhere. But there’s a lot to see along the way, and it’s beautiful.

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Makeup and Beauty Blog Monday Poll, Vol. 562

February 4th, 2019 by Karen 23 Comments

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. Glittery brows or purple lipstick?

Glittery brows! They’re surprisingly fun.

2. What’s something makeup-related that you have in your purse/bag at the moment?

Thankfully, I cleaned out my purse before we left for Hawaii because I’ve been walking around with five pounds of lipstick on me, ha ha! One thing that made the cut was a twist-up tube of Nuxe Reve de Miel Lip Balm, which was a gift from a friend (thanks, Kim!).

3. Do you like having background noise when you need to really concentrate?

It depends on what’s happening around me. Like, if it’s the crack of dawn at 5 in the morning, and the house is quiet, then no, I don’t need anything. Silence is golden! But if there’s activity in the house, and it’s noisy (like if my parents are visiting, or if Connor’s playing with El Hub in the living room), then I’ll have to turn something to drown out conversations; otherwise, I can’t think. In that case, I either turn on a background YouTube video or use our white noise machine.

4. A ’90s sitcom you used to watch?

The original Beverly Hills 90210 was a fave (“Donna Martin graduates!”). I also loved Melrose Place.

5. What about eyeliner is difficult for you?

Getting the wings of my winged liner even is a challenge, because I always want to pull the right wing up higher than the left.

Aloha!

Aloha from the other side of the Pacific. I hope all is well. Currently, I have sand between my toes and in various other crevasses, LOL. TMI? Probably. But that’s beach life. 🙂

My friends here all told me it would be cold, and I packed exactly one sweatshirt. Haven’t had to use it yet because, uh…yeah, not cold really. But you know how it is with weather. It’s relative. People always think it’s too cold or hot wherever they are.

It’s been a chill trip so far. Connor has gotten to hang out with both sets of her grandparents, and I’ve done some relaxing at the beach. Papaya in the mornings, coffee, sleeping in… Ah… My low-carb life has flitted out the window for now, though. You try eating low-carb with Filipinos in Hawaii. #missionimpossible.

Mmm, chocolate haupia pie…

Holy smokes! Those are some expensive strawberries. Clutch my pearls!

Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,

Karen

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

1. Glittery brows or purple lipstick?
2. What’s something makeup-related that you have in your purse/bag at the moment?
3. Do you like having background noise when you need to concentrate?
4. A ’90s sitcom that you used to watch?
5. What about eyeliner is difficult for you?