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

Sephora VIB Sale Recommendations: Tarte Lights Camera Lashes Mascara

November 1st, 2018 by Karen 8 Comments

IMPORTANT (not really, but you know what I mean): There’s a Sephora VIB sale in November, so this week I’m highlighting some of my favorite makeup workhorses that I think are worthy of your wish list.

If you have stick-straight, skinny lashes like mine, you’ll totally understand the magic behind this product. Like the fabulous feline and the feisty toddler who boss me around, my lashes do not listen to me… Every morning, I go through the same routine. I crimp my lashes with my curler and say a prayer to the beauty goddesses. “Please, please hold this curl!”

Then, my lashes straighten out.

I spent decades looking for a mascara that would hold a curl while boosting my roots so my lashes could soar high up to the heavens above — and yes, I wanted these things without having to deal with a trail of flakes on my cheeks or blackened smears smudging my lower lash line.

Well, love, this is it. ?

I’ve mentioned Tarte Lights Camera Lashes Mascara a few times before, but I haven’t given it the love it deserves.

It’s been around for-everrrrrr, and I always return to it because it hoists every last lash (even the ones on the outer corner, which are the droopiest of the droopy ones for me), and then stretches them out so the tips extend way beyond their natural length.

Plus, the volume? Dialed up! Like YSL Faux Cils, but a tinge less intense at the roots.

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How Many Bad Haircuts Have You Had?

November 1st, 2018 by Karen 12 Comments

Shoot, how much time do you have, because we could be here all day.

ALL DAY.

Honestly, I can’t even make an accurate estimate, but it’s upwards of 12, maybe as high as 20, and I know that sounds like a lot, but I’ve lived through MANY haircuts gone wrong.

Let’s see… Off the top my head, there was that one in first grade when my grandma, who was attending cosmetology school at the local community college at the time, convinced my mom that it was in the family’s best interest to give me a bowl cut and a tight poodle perm.

It did not end well. Shortly after the perm grew out, The Ralph Macchio cut happened.

SERIOUSLY, WHAT WAS MY MOM THINKING LETTING ALL THESE PEOPLE DO CRAZY THINGS TO MY HAIR!?

There were also numerous bad haircuts in middle school, one involving a Princess Diana haircut that went very wrong… I’m gonna leave your imagination to that one.

In high school a series of terrible layered bangs, but that was my own damn fault. I often cut my own hair bear bangs and had no idea what I was doing.

For several years in college I got a slight respite because my hair was long, and I didn’t have the extra cash to do stuff to it, but when I started working full-time in my 20s, gurrrrrl — that’s when sh*t really hit the fan. I had just enough money in my pocket to go to salons where ladies got their hair “DONE”, but the done I was doing rarely worked out. My hair is naturally wavy, and back then it seemed like hardly anyone knew what to do with it, like that one time when the person who cut my hair into what was supposed to be a J.Lo-inspired shag used a razor… I ended up with a mullet, and not a pseudo mullet, but a full-on ’80s mullet with a rat tail!

I wore my hair up for months after that! (I also developed a severe fear of razor cuts that didn’t go away until I met my friend/hair whisperer Alis.)

There was also the person who cut my hair the day before she was scheduled to leave on a three-month trip to Thailand… I guess her mind was on packing for vacation, because she completely changed the direction my hair parted.

Oh, and all of the lopsided hair cuts… SO MANY OF THEM! ’tis the curse of wavy hair with a varied curl pattern.

When you answer this question, I hope you get to say “never,” or “only once or twice,” because growing out a bad haircut seems to take roughly forever.

Anyway, let me know! And let me know what you did last night! Did you score lots of candy? ?? Connor kept grabbing handfuls of Swedish Fish, even though I kept aggressively whispering “Get the Snickers for mommy!!!”

Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,

Karen

Sephora VIB Sale Recommendations: Wander Beauty Lipsetter Dual Lipstick and Liner

October 31st, 2018 by Karen 6 Comments

wander lip setter — Worthy of your Sephora wish list, for sure.

Guess what…? There’s a Sephora VIB sale in November, so this week I’m highlighting some of my favorite makeup workhorses that I think are worthy of your wish list.

What crazy person carries the same ol’ lipstick around with them all the time? OH, WAIT! THAT’S MY LIFE NOW.

Since discovering the $28 Wander Beauty Lipsetter Dual Lipstick and Liners, I suspect that I could go days — no, weeks! — before feeling the need to swap out the lip products in my purse. (And this coming from a serial lipstick swapper is kind of a miraculous statement!)

Cruelty-free makeup line Wander Beauty preaches the power of portable, easy-to-use makeup to enhance what you’ve already got. It’s very Trish McEvoy-esque but hipper. They aren’t a huge brand yet, and they’re still flying under the radar at Sephora for now, but they make so many good things IMO, like these lip liner/lipstick combos, which are totally worthy of your VIB lust list.

First of all, they figured out that the secret to actually getting people to use lip liner is to attach it to a lipstick. They deserve a gold star and a slow clap for that because it’s the only way I’ll actually take a lip liner with me (otherwise, I’ll just line once in the morning and leave the pencil at home).

wander on the mauve — I’m wearing On the Mauve on my lips.

The liner itself is smooth, luscious velvet, and it’s loaded with pigment, and once you draw that line along the edge of your lips, your lipstick won’t go beyond it. “Ye shall not pass!”

Oh, and the lipstick? SO GOOD. It starts out shiny when you first swipe it on but eventually dries down to a velvet matte finish, and it feels so light that I sometimes completely forget I’m wearing lipstick. It’s also non-drying and budge-proof. I can even kiss babies (kittens, too), drink coffee and snack my heart out without it lifting off.

Lastly, it’s unscented, and there aren’t any weird flavors to get up in your grill.

I’ve been living for Bold in Beijing, a blue-based red, and having the liner attached completely removes the stress related to applying and wearing red lipstick. I also love On the Mauve, a plummy pink, which is an everyday color for me. With the VIB sale coming up, I also have my sights on Bahama Breeze, a nude pink, and bright pink Fucshia Class.

Full price, the Lipsetters are $28 each, which I think is still a good deal, but with the 20% VIB discount, they come to $22.40. With the 15% Beauty Insider discount, they’re $23.80.

Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,

Karen

Happy Halloween!

October 31st, 2018 by Karen 35 Comments

Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,

Karen

MAC Raver Girl Palette, Lipsticks and Lipglasses in Action

October 30th, 2018 by Karen 11 Comments

mac bracelets galore — Wearing: the MAC Girls Palette in Raver Girl and Lipglass in Bracelets Galore

I’m an NC42, and I’m in my 40s, and the last rave I went to was on New Year’s Eve in 2001 (OMG!), but I still have a thing or two to say about all of the purples in the new MAC Girls Raver Girl Palette, Lipsticks and Lipglasses, which I took for a spin today. Raver Girl is one of three new MAC Girls mini-collections.

First question: What does purple have to do with raves or raving? Is it an influential color among dancing kids? Back in my day (she said, immediately dating herself), it was all about dayglow everything and massive quantities of glitter.

If you’re a young whippersnapper, would you please break it down for me? I’m genuinely intrigued.

I recognize that this could have been user error, because I’m out of practice wearing dark colors in my crease, but I feel like Rave-Cave and Wild Card, the dark purples in the $41 Raver Girl Palette, aren’t easy to blend out. I used a pencil brush to apply both of them in the outer corner and within the crease on my hooded lids to deepen my eyes, and then I feathered the edges with bright purple 120 BPM.

Some parts ended up looking less blended and patchy than others. In the future when I wear this palette — and I will wear it again because I do like it, even with my blending issues with the darker shadows (which, like I said, could just be a matter of me needing to practice) — I’ll stick to using those shades as liners.

It’s weird, but it seems like every time MAC comes out with a new batch of MAC Girls products they change and evolve the formulas, because they get better and better with each new iteration. The last batch of Girls palettes were just messy and kicked up so much powder, but that didn’t happen this time with Raver Girl. I experienced hardly any fallout or messiness from the Raver Girls shadows at all, and the mid-toned and lighter colors were a breeze to blend, which was great!

mac raver girl swatches — The Raver Girl Palette, Lipsticks and Lipglasses

I was worried that the purples in Raver Girl would irritate my sensitive eyes, because my eyes would water all day long when I wore older versions of the Girls Palettes (especially ones with purple), but I mushed and smudged dark purple Wild Card like BAM-BAM-BAM on my upper lash line and had no problems with it. And I REALLY got in there, man.

Bottom line: Raver Girl is good — like really, really good — and if the other two palettes (Smarty Pants and Pretty Punk) are of similar quality, this will be the best batch of MAC Girls yet.

There are also two Raver Girl Lipsticks and two Lipglasses (sold separately from the palette), and I feel silly in all of them except hot pink Bracelets Galore gloss. The others are a tad too frosty and too much on the corpse-y side of purple for me, and I just can’t pull them off. If you have a serious edge to your look, you can probably go there better than I can.

mac deep set lipglass — Lipglass in Deep Set

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Sephora VIB Sale Recommendations: The Tarte Tartelette In Bloom Palette

October 30th, 2018 by Karen 17 Comments

tarte tartlette in bloom palette final — Wish list-worthy

Guess what…? There’s a Sephora VIB sale in November, so this week I’m highlighting some of my favorite makeup workhorses that I think are worthy of your wish list.

Ignore the inside voice inside your head that’s always saying, “Do you really neeeed another neutral eyeshadow palette?” because this one with its matte neutral brown and beige eyeshadows, and its shimmery taupe, gold and copper accent shades, parts the clouds for me, and I say this as an unabashed hoarder of neutral palettes. I love them because you can wear them all the time and for any occasion. But the Tartelette in Bloom Palette rises above the rest IMO.

I use this palette to “cheat” the look of a deeper set eye, which is something I deal with every day since I have hooded lids. This 16-pan palette bucks the current trend of warm red and orange-y browns, and instead boasts a bevy of cool-toned shades and neutral browns, which are great for carving out a crease.

tarte tartelette in bloom palette swatches — YUMMY!

The makeup maestros at Tarte found a way to seamlessly weave these long-lasting, pigmented shadows into each other so that even if you’re rushing (or, even if you don’t know what you’re doing), you can still buff and blend your way into something that looks like you spent hours on it.

tarte tartlette in bloom palette — Another day, another pic of me in pajamas.

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New MAC Girls Palettes, Lipsticks and Lipglass: Smarty Pants, Raver Girl and Pretty Punk

October 29th, 2018 by Karen 13 Comments

mac girls pretty punk raver girl smarty pants — The newest members of the MAC Girls fam

Swatches on NC42 skin along with some quick first impressions of the three new MAC Girls palettes, which are out right meow.

Three new girls just joined the MAC Girls family, and guess what? They’ve got accessories! This time around MAC made matching lipsticks and glosses to go with the eyeshadow palettes.

I’ve still yet to test drive these on my lids and lips, but here are some swatches and thoughts on the Raver Girl, Smarty Pants and Pretty Punk palettes, lipsticks and glosses.

Price is now $41 for the Girls Eyeshadow Palettes. Last spring they were$39.50. $18.50 for a Lipstick (same price as the permanent collection lipsticks) and $17.50 for a Lipglass (also same price).
Lipsticks and Lipglasses have packaging that matches the palettes, cute! All of them have the usual vanilla MAC flavor and scent, and I wonder if MAC’s gonna add lipsticks and glosses for the other Girls palettes, hmm…
Initial arm swatch thoughts? All three palettes have a sensationally soft, almost creamy texture, much like Risk Taker palette from last March. I haven’t tried them on my lids (yet), but I hope they don’t kick up too much dust, which was an issue with Risk Taker…

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Makeup and Beauty Blog Monday Poll, Vol. 548

October 29th, 2018 by Karen 37 Comments

So…what is the Monday Poll?

Good question! It isn’t, contrary to its name, an actual poll. 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 gazillion years (more than 10!). I love reading your answers, and it helps me get my week off to a great start. ?

1. Velcro or buttons?

Buttons.

That is all. I don’t have anything else to add.

2. Taylor Swift or Joan Jett?

Hmm… If we’re only talking about music I’m most likely to listen to on the treadmill, then Taylor Swift. But if I were picking one of them to draw strength from as a lifeforce, then Joan Jett for sure.

3. How much do you value the reviews on Sephora and Ulta?

I check ’em. Mostly, I skin through them to see if I can detect any themes that keep popping up over and over again, and I’ll keep them in mind when I’m thinking about purchasing a product, but I don’t comb through each and every single one because I know that some people leave 5-star reviews because a product is new and they think it’s cool.

It’s like anything. You have to take them with a grain of salt.

4. What leftovers are in your fridge right now?

All sorts of gluten-free nonsense, none of which I want to eat. We’ve got some pad Thai (wasn’t very good; there was only one potato, which to me is a travesty), yellow chicken curry and some leftover cold, soggy French fries.

Except for the tacos El Hub made last night, it was not a weekend of culinary delights.

5. What’s the best nail polish top coat?

I really like Smith and Cult Above It All. It keeps my mani shiny for longer than other top coats.

I also like Seche Vite, which I’ve been using off and on since the Triassic Period (apparently, I’m not the only one who likes it either).

The only thing I don’t like about Seche Vite is that it gets really goopy, really fast, so the bottles never last too long.

Deep thoughts on a Monday morning… How do you feel about frosting?

So we’ve gone to a couple of festive parties lately, and I’ve noticed something interesting to me that I would like to get your opinion on.

Frosting.

Kids will do anything for frosting. They lose their damn mind, and from what I’ve gathered, for kids, frosting is the main event. It’s more important than the actual cake or cupcake.

Like at a recent 3-year-old’s birthday party we went to, the second one boy’s mom wasn’t looking, he leaned over the table with his spoon and scraped off a huge chunk of frosting from the birthday girl’s cake, and even when Connor eats cupcakes, she’s all about the frosting. She eats the frosting first, and then may or may not eat the cupcake or the cake as a secondary afterthought.

For me, frosting is an accompaniment to the main event, but I don’t know if I’m in the majority. What about you? What’s your take on frosting?

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. Velcro or buttons?
2. Taylor Swift or Joan Jett?
3. How much do you value the reviews on Sephora and Ulta?
4. What leftovers are in your fridge right now?
5. What’s the best nail polish top coat?
5.1 How do you feel about frosting?