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With Less, You Are More With New lilah b. Luxury Makeup

September 26th, 2016 by Karen 17 Comments

lilah b
“With less, you are more” — new lilah b. luxury cosmetics

Full-on glam makeup is all over Instagram — brows so sculpted that they could cut glass, contoured everything, elaborate eye looks with false lashes and winged liner. And I love some of that. I love the artistry, and I appreciate the effort that goes into it, but there’s also a part of me that can’t wait for the tide to turn, ya know? Part of me can’t wait for makeup minimalism to come back in style with a vengeance, and when that day comes, lilah b. cosmetics will be there with bells on.

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It’s a new luxury line out of Sausalito, California, which is a quaint, picturesque town just north of the Golden Gate Bridge from San Francisco on 101 (not “the 101,” just “101”). They have a website, and you can also find them at Space NK stores.

Their philosophy has a nice ring to it: “With less, you are more.” Think streamlined creams that double as blushes and lipsticks, sheer powder foundation, creamy concealers and easy-to-wear eyeshadow combos — that kind of thing.

The products are all paraben-, pthalate- and sulfate-free, and they don’t have any synthetic fragrances. Plus, they aren’t tested on animals.

The pieces come in glossy white packaging (I think it’s gorgeous) that feels hefty and valuable. It kinda looks like polished river rocks or shells.

lilah b
Before and after lilah b. This only took me 15 minutes!

Boy, oh, boy, though — the products are pricey. You probably won’t bat an eyelash if you’re used to Chanel, Hourglass and Guerlain prices, but we’re talking $44 for a concealer, $34 for a lip balm, $48 for a powder foundation, $46 for a lip and cheek cream, and $58 for an eye quad.

The lilah b. look is like a super chill version of Bobbi Brown — dressed down, sheer coverage with a hint of natural-looking color. When I wear the powder foundation, concealer, eyeshadow and lip and cheek cream, I look like I’m wearing a full face, and like I’m polished and totally together, but it doesn’t look like I’m wearing cake frosting.

I wore the eyeshadow and the lip and cheek cream to the beach yesterday, and I felt like it was a perfect amount of color.

lilah b palette perfection eye quad b stunning
Palette Perfection Quad in b. stunning
lilah b divine duo lip cheek b fearless b true
Divine Duo Lip & Cheek in b. fearless (top) and b. true (bottom)

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There are 17 comments on this post. Leave yours.

Categories: Lilah B., Makeup, Product Reviews

Makeup and Beauty Blog Monday Poll, Vol. 442

September 26th, 2016 by Karen 28 Comments

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You might be wondering, “So what in tarnation is this Monday Poll thing anyway!?”

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 NINE (!) 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. 🙂

Lists within a list! Thought we’d try something a little different today…

List three pieces of makeup you used this morning

  • Urban Decay Naked Skin One and Done (no, seriously — SO obsessed)
  • MAC Pro Longwear Waterproof Colourstick in Tabby (um…best name EVER)
  • It Cosmetics Tightline Mascara (LOVE it for lower lashes)

List three things you’d do if you had three full days to yourself in Paris

  • Eat ALL OF THE CARBS with reckless abandon (and then burn them off walking all over the city)
  • I’d also wake up early to get a jump on my day wandering through shops and neighborhoods with my camera and my curiosity. 🙂
  • Buy a perfume (one I couldn’t by in the U.S.) to remind myself of the trip

Speaking of perfumes…list three perfumes that you currently wear (or wore at one time)

  • YSL Yves Saint Laurent Paris — My first “grownup” perfume. I wore it all through my senior year in high school.
  • Byredo Gypsy Water — Current go-to favorite for the last couple years
  • Clinique Happy — This one reminds me of my first job out of college tutoring 5-12 year olds in math and reading.

Three things that drive you absolutely nuts

  • By no means am I a grammar guru, because I know I make mistakes ALL THE TIME, but when I go on social media and see people who seemingly don’t care that there’s a difference between which/witch (OMG!), they’re/their and you’re/your, I want to bite down on my fist.
  • Grown-@ss adults who cut in line. Like, really?
  • Core exercises…but that’s mostly because I have no core muscles, LOL!

Three small joys for which you’re grateful

  • Moisturizer — My skin is hella dry, yo!
  • Water bottles — Otherwise, I’d just be walking around thirsty all day long.
  • This song by Charli XCX, which is currently stuck in my head…

Good morning, sunshine! Here, I brought you a treat, ’cause it’s Monday, and Mondays are good days for treats. *hands you a chocolate croissant* How was your weekend? Did you do anything fun?

I stuck close to home because after the trip to Tahoe last week, I wanted to just chill in my cave in my PJs.

Isn’t that funny about vacation? When you get back from a trip, all you want to do is relax and recover from the trip? (I’ve found that this is doubly true when you travel with a baby.)

It’s gonna be a hot one here today, so I’m trying to get as much done as I can done before noon.

Here’s a funny thing about living in the Bay Area: It usually gets really, really hot here in early fall. Today is supposed to be one of the hottest days of the year (100 degrees, OMG!), and we don’t have air conditioning, so if you need me…I’ll be sitting a foot away from a very large fan with a Starbucks Pink Drink in my hand.

Have a good one, my friend. 🙂

Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,

Karen

There are 28 comments on this post. Leave yours.

Categories: Just For Fun

Sundays With Tabs the Cat, Makeup and Beauty Blog Mascot, Vol. 416

September 25th, 2016 by Karen 17 Comments

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Patience is not now, nor has it ever been, one of Tabs’ virtues. Now that he’s a senior tabby, when he wants to go outside he practically kitty hugs my legs and “tug boats” me all the way to the door.

It usually starts with him staring at me like this for a while…

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Then he’ll stand in front of the sliding glass door to the deck or the front door (sometimes carrying his cat harness in his mouth!) and meow.

And meow.

And meow.

Until I eventually take him outside.

I don’t know if it’s just my imagination, but lately it seems like he’s been more reflective and thoughtful…

tabs-cat-journaling-writer-11

I wonder what he’d write about if he really worked on his memoirs. I bet he’d write a lot about our old apartment in Mill Valley. That’s when he was an outdoor tabby and spent adventurous nights outside.

I remember so many things from that time, like the night of the big storm… It was pouring rain and the wind was gusting. The news said it was hurricane-caliber.

This was when we knew Tabs from the neighborhood, but he wasn’t officially our cat yet. He would come over sometimes and hang out, and I’d give him chin scritches and tuna, but then he’d meow to go back outside.

On the night of that bad storm, the power went out, and El Hub and I were in our apartment worrying.

The storm just kept getting worse. We tried to go to bed, but the windows were shaking from the wind, and it was too scary and noisy. At one point, El Hub said, “I’m gonna go look for Tabs!” And he jumped up and went outside in the storm.

“Tabs!” I heard him calling over and over. “Tabs! Tabs!” as he walked around the apartment building with a flashlight in the rain.

And then he heard a scared meow.

Tabs had crawled into a tree stump on the side of the building, but he was still soaked, cold and meowing. El Hub said that Tabs’ eyes lit up when he saw him, and he hopped out of the trunk and ran with him all the way to our front door.

That’s just one of many stories from that time. I bet Tabs would spend a lot of pages talking about those days in his memoirs…

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There are 17 comments on this post. Leave yours.

Categories: Just For Fun, Tabs

Makeup I Brought With Me to Tahoe (and What I Did and Didn’t End Up Using)

September 24th, 2016 by Karen 16 Comments

Lake Tahoe with my number one girl!
Lake Tahoe with my number one girl!

HELLO from back in the Bay Area! 🙂 Baby Love, El Hub and I got back yesterday afternoon.

Before heading out I meant to post a list of the products I was bringing with me, but I didn’t have a chance, so here goes now. Tracy, girl! — I know you also asked, so here’s the makeup I brought to Tahoe and also used for the look I’m wearing in the top pic.

Oh, and wouldn’t ya know it? The weather cleared up just as we were getting ready to leave… Don’tcha hate it when that happens?

Drawn to Lipstick Makeup Bag from Connor Claire
Here’s what I brought on the trip (the pink bag is the Drawn to Lipstick Makeup Bag from connorclaire.com)

Products I brought that I actually used on the trip…

Here are the products I actually ended up using, and I’ve listed them in the order they were used in the makeup I’m wearing in that pic at the top.

  • Make Up For Ever Step 1 Smoothing Primer — On my cheeks, nose and around my mouth and chin
  • Urban Decay Naked Skin One & Done Hybrid Complexion Perfector in Medium Dark — Applied all over my face to even out my skin tone (you guys know how much I love this stuff)
  • Make Up For Ever Ultra HD Invisible Cover Concealer in R40 — I use this orange-toned concealer as a color-corrector to cancel out the purple under my eyes.
  • NARS Translucent Crystal Light Reflecting Setting Powder — I use the tiniest bit to set the corrector.
  • Make Up For Ever Ultra HD Invisible Cover Concealer Y33 — I apply this on top of the corrector as a concealer and to brighten my under-eye area. Then I use NARS Translucent Crystal again to set it.
  • Hourglass Vanish Foundation in Beige — I apply a tiny bit to my cheeks, nose and around my mouth.
  • MAC Mineralize Skinfinish Natural in Medium Golden — To set my face makeup
  • Benefit Ready Set Brow — Applied to bare brows to wrangle them into place and give my brow powder something to hold onto
  • MAC The Monster’s Bride Palette — I only used Brun, which I used to fill in the spare spots in my brows with a stiff, flat eyeshadow brush.
  • NARS Pro Prime Smudge Proof Eyeshadow Base — An old fave for priming my lids
  • MAC Pro Longwear Waterproof Colour Stick in Lilacked — This wasn’t in the picture I posted of my Tahoe makeup the other day, but OMG! — SO TOTALLY OBSESSED WITH THIS.

    It occurred to me on this trip that I need to give this the Unsung Makeup Heroes treatment ASAP, along with my other favorite colors from the MAC Pro Longwear Waterproof Colour Stick line.

  • MAC Nordstrom Naturals Palette — Using a MAC 217 brush, I mixed Woodwinked and Wedge, and then applied that on top of Lilacked Colour Stick, before applying Carbon with a flat eyeshadow brush along my upper lash line.
  • Chanel Stylo Yeux Waterproof in 929 — THE BEST warm, shimmery brown! The Stylo Yeux pencils are pricey, but they never irritate my eyes and stay put all day long.
  • Urban Decay Cannonball Waterproof Mascara — Holds a curl like WHOA
  • Hourglass Ambient Lighting Blush Palette — I’m wearing Incandescent Electra blush, which I applied to the apples of my cheeks.
  • NARS Apoline Lipstick — My neutral pink jam at the moment

Products I brought that I ended up not using…

I’d planned to do some looks with glitter and shiny liquid liner for going out to dinner, but that didn’t happen because of the rain (we didn’t want to deal).

In no particular order…

  • The MAC Pro Longwear Waterproof Colour Sticks in Cinder Black, Tabby, Tea Leaves and Bitter Clove
  • Benefit High Brow Glow Pencil
  • Chanel Stylo Yeux Waterproof Eyeliner in Eros
  • Clinique Quickliner for Eyes Intense in Intense Ebony
  • MAC Eye Kohl in Powersurge
  • Clinique Liquid Eyelining Pen
  • The Estée Edit The Edgiest Kohl in Iced
  • Urban Decay Razor Sharp Long-Wear Liquid Eyeliners in Goldrush and Snakebite
  • Guerlain Terracotta 4 Seasons in 03 Naturel-Bruenttes
  • MAC Pro Longwear Paint Pot in Constructivist
  • Chanel Illusion D’Ombre in Rouge Brule
  • Hourglass Panoramic Lip Liner in Eden
  • Urban Decay Naked Lipgloss in Sesso

By the way, random thing, but did you know that most hotels can send a baby crib up to your room if you ask them?!

The things you learn when you’re a first-time mom…

Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,

Karen

There are 16 comments on this post. Leave yours.

Categories: Just For Fun, Makeup

Brrr… It’s Fall in Tahoe

September 23rd, 2016 by Karen 15 Comments

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Hmm… Maybe I should’ve brought some mittens. It’s chilly here in Tahoe. Paddle boarding and jet skiing are out.

Even though it’s been rainy and cloudy, the lake is still beautiful.

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There are 15 comments on this post. Leave yours.

Categories: Just For Fun

Tahoe Fun: The Hunt for Kitty Glitter

September 22nd, 2016 by Karen 23 Comments

It's officially fall in Tahoe
It’s officially fall in Tahoe

Shoot! I still haven’t found Kitty Glitter, my favorite penny slot machine, but I haven’t given up the hunt yet.

We’ve been having a good time here so far. It’s chilly and looks like it’s about to rain, so we’ve been keeping it low key. Here are just some pics from our day so far. I hope you’re having a good one too. Friday’s right around the corner.

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Hanging out at Heavenly Village. It's been a little chilly...
Hanging out at Heavenly Village. It’s been a little chilly…
Steampunk masks -- I want one of these for Tabs
Steampunk masks — I want one of these for Tabs

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Earthbound Trading Co. is one of my favorite stores here in Tahoe. It's like Cost Plus World Market with more clothes and accessories.
Earthbound Trading Co. is one of my favorite stores here in Tahoe. It’s like Cost Plus World Market with more clothes and accessories.

[Continue reading…]

There are 23 comments on this post. Leave yours.

Categories: Just For Fun

A Makeup Trick to Travel Lighter

September 22nd, 2016 by Karen 14 Comments

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For the chronic makeup over-packers out there, I feel your pain! Whenever I travel, my natural inclination is to bring everything and the kitchen sink (I blame it on my need to always feel prepared for anything).

But I’m always looking for ways to trim down my makeup bag because, really, am I going to spend 30 minutes in the morning blending three shades of brown into the crease?

Probably not.

I’ve learned that most of the stuff I end up bringing, I actually don’t use, so to stop myself from packing 15 pounds of makeup, now I dump out everything I want to bring on a towel…and then I just remove half of it.

That’s what I did when I packed my makeup to bring to Tahoe.

I realize that compared to die-hard makeup minimalists, I still brought quite a few things, but this is pretty darned streamlined for me, LOL!

Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,

Karen

There are 14 comments on this post. Leave yours.

Categories: Makeup Tips/How To

Yet Another Reason to Love the Aquis HairTowel: It Dries Makeup Brushes!

September 21st, 2016 by Karen 16 Comments

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Yup, the magical microfiber Aquis hair towel that I love so much because it cuts my hair drying time in half…also works on makeup brushes!

You just squeeze the wet bristles with the towel, except that this towel is magical, and bam! — (almost) completely dry brush heads.

I say “almost” because they still need about another hour or so of air drying, but that’s still good.

I mean, I guess I should have known this towel would be good at drying more than just hair, but it didn’t occur to me until I washed a few brushes to bring to Tahoe today. I saw my Aquis towel out of the corner of my eye and had an ah-ha moment! ? Try it sometime.

Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,

Karen

There are 16 comments on this post. Leave yours.

Categories: Hair

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Welcome to Makeup and Beauty Blog

Welcome to Makeup and Beauty Blog! My name is Karen, and I’m a freelance writer obsessed with makeup.

Makeup and Beauty Blog features daily product reviews, makeup tips and beauty news — like an interactive version of a monthly print magazine, except with occasional pictures of my cat.

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