A beauty blog blooming with fresh makeup reviews, swatches and beauty tips from your friendly neighborhood beauty addict
I think that everyone in my timeline last weekend was at Coachella, which reminds me — festival makeup. Lots o’ dots, crazy lip colors and shapes and graphic designs painted all over faces.
Are you into it? I like a lot of the looks I see on other people, but it’s not really my style. It depends on whether I’m actually at a music festival.
How about you? Festival makeup: yay or nay?
Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,
Karen
Holy, mackerel! I’m amazed (and sometimes intimidated, to be honest) by how complicated some YouTube makeup tutorials are, even when it comes to foundation and under-eye concealer.
Sometimes I don’t mind following a lot of steps, but it depends on whether I’m just having fun, or whether I’m watching the clock. When it comes to my basic face makeup aesthetic, though, which is effortless (looking) and natural, I don’t necessarily think that your face makeup routine needs to be complicated.
You can get fresh-looking skin in a flash with three products — a sheer foundation (or a BB cream, CC cream or tinted moisturizer), a full-coverage concealer and a face powder. You can even out your skin tone, keep the coverage looking light, and it doesn’t have to take forever.
Start by applying moisturizer and/or primer to your skin to prep it and smooth your canvas for foundation.
Or…you can skip this step and just make funny faces ? in the mirror. Totally up to you. Your foundation might not look quite as smooth, but it’ll still look fine.
Put one or two pumps of your favorite sheer foundation (or BB cream, CC cream or tinted moisturizer) on the back of your hand, then add one or two dots of full-coverage concealer, and mix them all together with a finger.
Adding the full-coverage concealer dots boosts the coverage of your sheer foundation to even out your skin a bit more, and it also saves you from having to apply and blend concealer on top of your foundation.
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. ?
GIRL, I don’t even remember what it was called, but it was an R&B/hip-hop festival (we saw Destiny’s Child — with the original lineup!) at a beautiful place called the Gorge Amphitheater in Washington State. It must have been around 2001… My ex and I took his teenage cousin and her friends (we were the “adult supervision”), and I remember introducing the girls to Bene-tint.
I also remember brushing and flossing my teeth behind a parked car and being less than thrilled about the lack of running water (because, apparently, I’m the freak who flosses her teeth at a music festival).
Generally, I don’t attend a lotta music festivals because of 1) porta-potties, 2) no defined seating (or seat cushions), 3) no air conditioning, 4) tons of mud 5) and the possibility of sleeping outdoors in tents. Basically, things that comprise my worst nightmares.
Be a crazy cat lady? And to make lists. Oh, and buy ? shoes.
Up for now, but I may wear it down if I get around to using my curling iron.
My hair’s gotten long again, and it’s at that point where if I don’t do something to it, it’s too wild and out of control to wear down. I’m counting down the seconds to my haircut on Sunday.
Naw, I was too square for something like that. Plus, my parents were super strict and had me on lock-down! I don’t think I could have pulled it off if I’d tried. My dad would have found out, and there would have been hell to pay.
Hmm… Well, I’m not in the mood for breakfast toast, but I’d love a smashed avocado with an egg over easy on top for lunch, and please add a sprinkle of shredded sharp cheddar cheese and a pinch of salt and pepper.
In case somebody forgot to mention it to ya, one of the best days of the year is the Monday right after Easter, because all of the candy goes on sale. 🙂 That means discounted Easter chocolate at Target. YES!
You’re welcome. 🙂
I hope there’s a bounce in your step and a twinkle in your eye today (which may or may not be due to glitter). May you feel strong, capable and confident.
Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,
Karen
P.S. Here are the questions to copy/paste.
1. What was the last music festival you went to?
2. Finish the following sentence: I was born to…
3. Hair up or down today?
4. When you were a teenager, did you ever throw a party at your house when your parents weren’t home?
5. What would you like on your toast today?
Hello babies and bunnies,
On Sundays, I usually like to treat myself and sleep in, but I got up at the crack of dawn today because, you see, the Easter Bunny, who always gets the credit for these things, gets a little help from me each year. FYI, this is a secret, so please don’t tell anybody.
Shortly after dawn I went outside and did what any good tabby would do. I hid eggs for the neighborhood children and kitty cats and filled them with the most delicious snacks — smoked trout biscuits, organic catnip mini-cookies, and, for a lucky few, deep-fried turkey nuggets.
Happy Easter, my friend. 🙂 Rise and shine, morning glory! I hope you have a wonderful Sunday.
Easter is one of my favorite holidays because — helloooo — bunnies, food and fam, but I also love the sense of renewed hope. It’s another opportunity to start again, and that always feels so good.
Have a wonderful day. We’ll be taking it easy over here at MBB HQ, nothing fancy because I think Connor Claire is still too young to hunt down dyed eggs (plus, she won’t remember), although she friggin’ loves eating scrambled eggs.
Talk to you soon.
Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,
Karen
Happy Caturday, lovely kitten, and happy Easter weekend to you. 🙂
If there isn’t a stack of pancakes in front of you right now, I hope there will be one shortly, because, as you know, and as the scientific community has confirmed through multiple peer-reviewed clinical trials, pancakes make everything better (fact).
Specifically, banana pancakes. With walnuts.
Are you doing anything exciting today? On my end — and this probably doesn’t qualify as exciting to many people, but it does to me — I’m looking forward to trying some of these goodies from the new Space NK “The Essentials” gift-with-purchase.
I’m all about that greige patent-leather makeup bag. I gotta say that the Space NK makeup bags in their GWPs are usually kinda bomb. They’re always roomy and fit tons of stuff.
Spend $150 or more at Space NK (stores or online) and get the following
*Also includes the cute LE makeup bag above
- 111 Skin Cryo Activating Hydra Gel (0.5oz)
- By Terry Mascara Terrybly in Black (0.14oz)
- Diptyque Eau De Parfum (0.34oz; assorted scents)
- Eve Lom Time Retreat Face Treatment (0.33oz)
- Juara Coconut Illipe Hand & Nail Balm (0.27oz)
- Kat Burki PH+ Enzyme Essence (0.25oz)
- Kevyn Aucoin The Eye Pencil Primatif in Basic Black (0.024oz)
- Lipstick Queen Belle Epoque in Belle Pink (full-size)
- Malin + Goetz Vitamin B5 Body Moisturizer (1oz)
- Miriam Quevedo Extreme Caviar Restructuring Luxe Serum (1.75oz)
- Oribe Gold Lust Repair & Restore Shampoo (0.5oz)
- Ouai Texturizing Hair Spray (1.4oz)
- Rodial Snake Booster Oil (0.3oz)
- Smith & Cult Lip Gloss in Her Name Bubbles (0.08oz)
- Tata Harper Resurfacing Mask (0.25oz)
A $200 value, available in the US April 19-26 while supplies last at Space NK and Bloomingdales
I’m just sayin’…if you were planning to do some Space NK shopping anyway, it might be worth waiting a few more days to grab these extra goodies.
I also want to work on re-organizing my beauty/makeup/brush situation this weekend. I don’t know why this happens over and over again, but I’ll be hyper-organized for a few weeks, then I’ll glance up at my shelves one day and see an out-of-control explosion.
Aaand I can’t find anything again.
Before I get started, here are some things that caught my makeup-loving eye this week.
Beauty tips & tricks with makeup artist Fiona Stiles, who, by the way, does amazing work
Rae shares her top high-end foundations.
Glow in the dark hair is now a thing.
Enjoy the rest of your day, sweet friend. 🙂 Talk to you soon.
Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,
Karen
Picture it: a crisp Easter morning. The windows are open, the finches are chirping, and the bees are buzzing. The sun is up and bright in the sky.
How cool would it be to wake up on Easter morning and find a jar of Guerlain Meteorites Happy Glow Pearls of Powder ($74) in your basket beside the jelly beans and Cadbury Mini Eggs (yum!)? I’d be like, thank you, Easter Bunny!
(Side note: you can have the marshmallow ? Peeps. Frankly, I don’t want anything to do with ’em.)
You gotta admit, there is something a little Easter Eggy about this packaging…
These happy pink, peach and purple pearls are actually a color-correcting face powder. All you do is you swirl your brush in the jar, then apply all over your face to even out any redness.
MAC is back in the #collab #influencer game, and this time they’ve partnered with 10 YouTube and Instagram influencers on a new line of 10 limited edition online exclusive international lipsticks launching in different countries over the next few months for $17 each. If you want to track them all down, you might have to make friends in the UK, Canada, Brazil, the Middle East, France, Germany and Australia.
Here in North America, the two Lipsticks launching are Matte LarLarLee and Satin Gabriel Zamora, collabs made with YouTubers Laura Lee and Gabriel Zamora.
They arrive online April 20th.
Laura and Gabriel both have full-on glam makeup styles, but I really like that they created lipsticks that can work well with dressed down (more my style lately) or super glam looks.
Laura Lee
Gabriel Zamora
Warm palish nude beige #MACxLarLarLee Matte Lipstick is the matte-est of the mattes on my lips. It reflects absolutely NO light, which gives it a very high fashion/editorial Vogue-ish look, I think.