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

Sephora Adventures: Bumble and Bumble Sunday Shampoo, Drunk Elephant Tinted Umbra Tinte Daily Defense, and Pinrose Perfumes

May 23rd, 2017 by Karen 7 Comments

sephora adventures with connor — Practicing her #RBF

I swear, my last trip to Sephora was Connor’s idea. If she looks a little crabby in this picture, it’s because she’s practicing her #RBF (resting baby face).

I went to grab a couple things I’ve been wanting to try from my lust list, and speaking of that, that list has been exercising my wallet in ways I did not anticipate, LOL!

First, there’s this clarifying Bumble and Bumble Sunday Shampoo.

I had a a lot of product buildup in my hair after using a Klorane shampoo and mask, and Sunday Shampoo, which I used on Saturday (such a rebel!), got my hair feeling normal again. Buuuuuut, I still think I’m going to return it, because I read on the Sephora website (and don’t ask my why this didn’t sink in beforehand) that it isn’t recommended for color-treated hair, which I have.

Oh, well… It was fun while it lasted.

I do like the idea using a clarifying shampoo every so often to remove buildup from dry shampoo and other hair products, so I’m thinking about exchanging it for a shampoo by Briogio, a natural hair care line at Sephora, called Be Gentle, Be Kind Green Tea Clarifying Shampoo. It’s $24, so about the same price as the Bumble shampoo, which is $25, but it’s supposed to safe for color-treated hair.

I hope it smells good. 🙂

Also, while I was there, I picked up a tube of new Drunk Elephant Umbra Tinte Physical Daily Defense Broad Spectrum Sunscreen SPF 30 ($36) with 20% zinc oxide.

Zinc oxide usually leaves a white cast on darker skin, but this one doesn’t! It’s really neat. I thought it would be too deep or peachy for me, but it isn’t. I can’t see it at all, which is great, and there’s no white cast! I used it on Saturday, Sunday and Monday, and my skin really likes it so far. It has a light mousse-y texture, so it absorbs quickly, and I don’t have to sit there working it in for days and days. Plus, it isn’t sticky, so it doesn’t leave my neck feeling gross, and it layers under foundation well.

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The Summer of Skin Care: Getting Serious About Skin

May 23rd, 2017 by Karen 40 Comments

Dude, I had a rollickin’ good time last Friday night. I watched an episode of Law & Order: SVU, ate a massive bowl of Rainier cherries and, totally not kidding, stayed up until 1 (which is late for me) reading about skin care and taking notes, because I have officially decided that — drum roll, please — this will be the Summer of Skin Care for moi.

Ahhhh!

How serious are you about your skin care?

Some people are real-deal serious about it, and I wanna get serious about it, too, even though I’ve mostly ignored my skin for the past two years, because when I got pregnant, I stripped my skin care routine down to the bare bones. I just didn’t have it in me to think hard about ingredients and multi-step processes. I still did cleanser, moisturizer, sunscreen and my acne medication, but that was it.

Pregnancy and having a baby wasn’t just a nine-month thing. I was talking to someone recently about mentally “bouncing back” and, gosh, it’s taken me a really long time. People told me that it would, but I didn’t really get it until it was happening to me. Connor is going to be 15 months old in a couple weeks, and I only now feel like I have the mental breathing room contemplate something like skin care again.

I’m also turning 42 next month, which is another reason skin care is on my mind. I’ve definitely noticed more sun spots, and my fine lines are getting…finer.

Anyway, I read a bunch of interesting skin care articles the other night (linked them down below in case you’re interested) and learned some fascinating things!

Order is important

The main skin care lesson I came away with after my jaunt through the Interwebs was that if you’re going to layer a bunch of products, the order with which you apply them is REALLY important, especially if you’re using active ingredients and compounds that can potentially conflict with the others.

I wish I knew the intricate science behind it, because I was deep in the chemistry trenches in college, and I think it would be fun to break it all down on a molecular level.

But the gist of it is this: some active ingredients deactivate others, so you can’t just layer things on your face willy-nilly…although, to be honest, that’s what I’ve been doing lately.

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Lips and Lashes, and Two New Things From MAC Coming in June

May 22nd, 2017 by Karen 14 Comments

mac lee hi lipstick — Wearing the new MAC Lee Hi Lipstick, MAC Bold & Bad Lash Mascara, and not much else

It was a hot one here in Novato today!

I mean, it wasn’t triple-digit hot, but it was hot and sticky enough, and there was some perspiration involved, to make me want to wear “minimal” (airquotes) makeup and put the focus on a couple new things from MAC.

One of them was a red lipstick from the Future Forward collection, and the other was a new MAC mascara called Bold & Bad Lash.

Isn’t this a pretty red? It’s matte deep garnet Lee Hi, and it’s from the MAC Future Forward collection. It’s a $17 LE online exclusive, and you can only find it on the MAC website starting June 29th.

Future Forward is that MAC collab with three up-and-coming singers. It started in April, and they release a new product every month. April’s was a purple face powder by Justine Skye, May’s is a sparkly Cremesheen by Dua Lipa (that one’s coming out this week, actually), and lovely matte red Lee Hi is a collab with K-pop star Lee Hi.

“Breathe,” by Lee Hi

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Makeup and Beauty Blog Monday Poll, Vol. 476

May 22nd, 2017 by Karen 16 Comments

So…what is the Monday Poll?

Well, it isn’t exactly a poll. It’s more of a constantly evolving (devolving?), somewhat random list of questions I’ve been putting out to readers every Monday morning for the past 10 (!) years. (It’s like a kickstart for your brain.) I’ve always enjoyed reading your answers in the comments, and I hope you enjoy reading mine.?

1. Have you ever practiced your smile in the mirror?

I totally have! I vividly remember doing it before picture day in middle school.

I practiced one smile where I’d press my lips together so that I could see the dimples that only show up when my lips are pursed (I look like a mean Filipino auntie when I do this, though!), and there was another smile that was a big toothy grin that looked like I was laughing, “Hahaha!” I looked CRAY.

2. What was the last song you heard?

Chris Cornell’s Can’t Change the World from his first solo album, Euphoria Morning.

It’s very Beatles-esque.

3. Shorts, a skirt or long pants?

Shorts, homie! I’m not into skirts… I’m short-waisted, so they end up riding up under my boobs, and you know how I feel about pants, a.k.a. leg prisons.

4. How well do you deal with change?

Not as well as I did 10 years ago, and I think I’m better at handling planned changes than unexpected changes, but I think that’s because life has been so routine for so long, which is both a good and a bad thing.

5. When was the last time you cleaned your lash curler?

If we were talking about the Shu Uemura curler I retired a few weeks ago…girl, you don’t even want to know the real answer to that. Must have been years.

But I cleaned my new Surratt curler last Friday though! 🙂

I hope somebody cooks a meal for you this week (isn’t that the best?). If that doesn’t happen, then I hope your highlighter kisses the tops of your cheekbones with the same gentleness that Ryan Gosling uses when he kisses puppies and babies.

OK, someone’s in a crazy mood day. Must be the heat. My office is already baking…

Have a good one, sweets. Talk soon!

Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,

Karen

Sundays With Tabs the Cat, Makeup and Beauty Blog Mascot, Vol. 450

May 21st, 2017 by Karen 14 Comments

Costco has amazing prices on citrus trees right now. They’re $18.99 each! Tabs went early this morning before the crowds and came back with three dwarf mandarins, which he then ordered El Hub to deploy in the company front entry area, a.k.a the front yard.

He supervised, of course.

From the shade.

I’m so excited about those mandarin trees! Now I just have to be patient for, oh, a few years. LOL!

My neighbor also went to Costco recently, and she came back with some gorgeous flowers.

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Saturday Surfing: May 20th, 2017

May 20th, 2017 by Karen 11 Comments

Good morning, sweet girl! It’s nice to see you. 🙂 I’m glad you could stop by this morning. I hope you’re on your way to do something fun.

Oh, my gosh, speaking of that, it just dawned on me that it’ll be June in like 5 seconds! — and I don’t really have plans yet for fun summer activities, other than a trip we’re taking to Hawaii next month, which I am extremely, ridiculously, out of my mind excited about.

But I mean other things, too, because I don’t know if going to Sephora and Ulta count as fun summer activities.

Well, actually, of course they do. 🙂

But seriously, Connor’s bigger now, so I’m looking for other summery things to do, like I’ve heard that the Oakland Zoo and Heart’s Desire Beach in Tomales Bay are supposed to be fun for the kiddos.

Anyway, I’m working on that this weekend, I also have to do, you know, boring prerequisite life stuff, like paying bills, vacuuming, maybe planting some tomatoes on the deck garden, cleaning the dish rack because it gets ugly hard water stains, going grocery shopping because we’re out of chips.

You know, errand stuff.

Oh, and tomorrow I’m going to dim sum with my mom and brother, which should be fun.

Whatcha up to? Is the weather warm there? It looks like it’s going to be nice here today. It’s definitely getting warm.

Before you go, here are a few stories that caught my eye this week…

In case you’re curious about how the amaze-balls BECCA X Chrissy Teigen palette looks on lighter skin tones.
Well, it looks like I’ll be scouring the corners of the earth this summer to find these new Frida Kahlo-inspired lipsticks, because they are EVERYTHING.
Pore busters for sensitive skin — yes, please!
Buuuuuut wait! Where are the cats in the new Paul & Joe summer collection?
Best makeup setting sprays so that you can set it and forget it.
Um…is this my long, lost child?! This kid asked for a Golden Girls-Themed Birthday Party!
A possible dupe for Too Faced Better Than Sex Mascara? L’Oreal’s Voluminous Lash Paradise looks awfully similar.
Tattoos are the new toupees.
Speaking of hair, is it true that your hair changes every seven years?
I can’t believe this is possible: you can travel around the world and stay at people’s houses if you take care of their pets.
I wish something like this would happen in my town: a rouge floral artist is going around NYC making huge arrangements in mundane things like trash cans.
Not beauty related, but this story haunted me all week. My Family’s Slave is about how Filipino writer Alex Tizon’s parents had kept a peasant woman named Eudocia Tomas Pulido as a household slave (!), even after emigrating to the U.S. from the Philippines.
For my creative peeps: happiness research shows the biggest obstacle to creativity is being too busy.
I love looking at old pictures, and these snapshots show how in many ways motherhood is still the same as it was 50 years ago.
Someone is going to museums adding smiles to classical art pieces using FaceApp, and it’s hilarious.
6 grammar mistakes everyone makes
And just in case you missed them on the blog this week, some thoughts on the BECCA Sunlit Bronzers, the hair brand IGK, the coco-nutty new items from Marc Jacobs, the Surratt versus the Shiseido lash curler and the most amazing purple liner (it’s affordable, too!).

I’ve always wondered what would happen if you baked a log of cookie dough…

Because I still can’t get over Chris Cornell…

Oh, and if you have the chance to eat a scoop of ice cream today, I say GO FOR IT. 🙂

Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,

Karen

Brand Spotlight: Stellar – A New Makeup Line for the Ladies in the Middle

May 19th, 2017 by Karen 7 Comments

stellar makeup 1 — Stellar: A new makeup line for the ladies in the middle

When it comes to foundations colors for medium skin tones, Stellar is a star. ⭐⭐⭐

Have you heard about this line? It’s kind of earth shattering if you’re in, like, the mid-range for foundation and are always and forever mixing two colors (hello, welcome to my life). I got really excited when it launched at Sephora not long ago because they have 22 — TWENTY TWO! — shades of their foundation just for the girls in the middle. They’re like the Baskin-Robbins ? of undertones. There’s peach, dark peach, yellow, butterscotch, caramel undertones… They’ve got all the flavors!

A “Stellar” (haha) new Canadian makeup line for the gals in the middle

Everything in the line is vegan, cruelty free and fragrance free. The founder, Monika Deol, is a famous news anchor, television show host and former music veejay in Canada.

She’s also Indian and, being an on-air personality, she spends a lot of time getting her makeup done for work. She noticed that makeup artists were always mixing different products to get her exact foundation and concealer shades. After talking to her friends and family, she found out that they were all doing the same thing — cocktail-ing different face products to custom blend shades for their skin tone.

Hey, I’m one of those girls, too! I’m always mixing two colors because it’s rare for me to find a foundation that GETS MY UNDERTONES, man.

Monika’s line is for ladies like me (and you, if you’re in the same boat) — the gals smack dab in the center of the shade range with undertones that aren’t always represented in the makeup world.

I’ve tried a few things from the line, like the foundation, of course, a concealer, one of the blushes and a few of the lipsticks. I haven’t seen their loose powder or mascara in person yet, but I want to.

Stellar Limitless Foundation ($38)

I couldn’t wait to paint my face with Limitless Foundation. It’s a liquid foundation in a plastic bottle with a pump, and for some reason — I dunno why — the colors look lighter in the bottles than they do in real life, so avoid eyeballing the bottle as your guideline for what would work for your skin.

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The New BECCA Sunlit Bronzers: Are they powders? Are they creams?

May 19th, 2017 by Karen 14 Comments

Basically, BECCA’s been winning at life lately. I like everything they’d done lately, especially their complexion products over the past couple of months — the Chrissy Teigen Palette, the Sunchaser Palette and now the new $38 Sunlit Bronzers.

They’ve totally set the bar higher for glamorous yet natural-looking face makeup.

Yeah, not that I need another bronzer in my life, but these Sunlit Bronzers freakin’ slay. They’re available now online at Sephora, the BECCA website, and they recently showed up at Sephora stores, too.

There are five shades, and all of them, except for Maui Nights, the bronzer for deep skin tones, have neutral golden undertones, rather than warm orange or rosy gold undertones (Maui Nights is more reddish), and I think that’s the main reason why they look so much like a real tan.

Bali Sands — Inspired by warm, glistening Balinese beaches (ah…), this subtle golden beige/bronze will give all-over warmth to fair skin tones.
Capri Coast — This warm golden brown achieves perfect sun-kissed radiance on light and medium skin tones.
Bronzed Bondi — This medium amber for medium skin tones will make you look like you just spent a dreamy day at the beach.
Ipanema Sun — This medium auburn brown is inspired by the sun-drenched shores of Ipanema and gives medium and darker skin tones a healthy, golden glow.
Maui Nights — Perfect for deep skin tones, this ultra-rich, sienna-kissed bronze evokes the rich, warm glow of mesmerizing Maui.
— beccacosmetics.com (paraphrased)

When you roll up to the display (ideally without a basket, girl!!!), take a finger and glide it across the pan so you can feel and experience the magic in person.

Are they powders?? Are they creams?? Technically, these are powder bronzers, but they feel almost wet, right? That’s the special sauce with BECCA powders and these bronzers. They’re crazy creamy.

becca sunlit bronzer swatch — Swatches from the top: Bali Ssands, Capri Coast, Bronzed Bondi, Ipanema Sun and Maui Nights

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