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

Hourglass Fall 2015 Arch Brow Sculpting Pencils

August 21st, 2015 by Karen 21 Comments

I’m not ready for the return of skinny, practically nonexistent ’90s-style brows (when I practically plucked mine into oblivion) because I’m enjoying the current big, bushy brow trend too much.

I JUST CAN’T, HOMIE! I hope the bushy brow trend lasts another two or three decades, but just in case it doesn’t, I’m going to “live in the now!” as they say, and embrace the current state of the brow-o-sphere. Hopefully the newly expanded Arch Brow Sculpting range by Hourglass is a sign that bold brows aren’t going anywhere soon.

Hourglass just added six new $32 permanent collection shades for fall 2015, bringing the total up to nine. There are colors for blondes, brunettes, gingers (I’m lookin’ at you, Chelsea!) and black-haired babes, and you can find them all now at Hourglass counters and online.

Products mentioned

Hourglass Arch Brow Sculpting Pencils in Platinum Blonde (new), Blonde, Warm Blonde (new), Auburn (new), Soft Brunette, Warm Brunette (new), Dark Brunette, Ash (new) and Natural Black (new), $32 each

Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,

Karen

5 Things I’ve Been Loving Lately

August 21st, 2015 by Karen 18 Comments

1. Tocca Cleopatra Candela Luxe ($54)

Kind of a sucker over here! Yep, I’m a sucker for fancy candles, and this one is from Tocca, the makers of Bianca, which is one of my premiere most perfect perfumes of all time. Candela Luxe is a new collection of luxury candles inspired by their fragrances, and each one comes in a gorgeous glass you can repurpose. They’re also rated to burn for 60 hours (!).

The one I have is the Cleopatra, which fills my immediate vicinity with the aromas of clean, crisp cucumber and sweet grapefruit.

Ahh… 🙂

2. L’Oréal Paris Infallible Pro-Last Nailcolor ($9.99)

These dynamic nail polish duos have twin tips! One end has a colorful base shade, and the other end has a (very lightly) tinted top coat. The idea is that you can skip an additional base coat, and just use one of these with its accompanying top coat.

They come in a variety of colors (I’ve been wearing them a lot in videos). I’ve tested a creamy light blue shade called Endless Sky and a creamy taupe called Timeless Taupe, and Endless Sky chipped on me pretty quickly (like within a day!), but Timeless Taupe made it about five days before the first chips appeared at the edges, which isn’t bad for me, considering the heck I put my nails through every day, all day.

I’m going to try Always A Lady next, which is a dark reddish brown… I guess I’m in the mood for fall!

3. Trader Joe’s Sour Gummies ($1.99)

ERHMAHGOSH! There’s a key lime sour gummy!

I think I may have mentioned that I’ve been all about sour flavors lately (especially lime), and that’s why I put this in my shopping cart the other day.

Man, oh, man! — I’m so glad I did. They’re delicious. They’re gummier and firmer (furmier? LOL!) than regular sour gummies… They also stick to my teeth worse/more, which isn’t ideal, but I can overlook that on account of them being so tasty.

The flavors are lemon, grapefruit (YUM), lime and tangerine, and they’re all in little “T” or “J” shapes.

I WILL be getting another bag on my next trip to Trader Joe’s.
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If Money Was No Object, Would You Still Wear Drugstore Makeup?

August 21st, 2015 by Karen 56 Comments

Hell yeah, I would! There are so many great drugstore beauty products out there, and some of them are better than the high-end fancy-schmancy stuff at department stores, so I’m an equal opportunity makeup wearer and lover.

Like I would DEFINITELY still use L’Oréal True Match Lumi foundation and Rimmel Natural Bronzer, for sure, among other things.

How about you? If money was no object, would you still wear drugstore makeup?

Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,

Karen

P.S. TGIF! 🙂

Would You Trust Your Husband/Wife/Boyfriend/Girlfriend to Cut Your Hair?

August 20th, 2015 by Karen 26 Comments

Um…no.

Not gonna happen, because even though I trust that man with many things, including my life and the life of my cat, I don’t trust him with my hair.

Not even if the zombie apocalypse went down and there were no other humans around capable of wielding scissors, I STILL wouldn’t let El Hub touch my hair (sorry, babe!).

I mean, the man barely remembers to cut his own toenails every few months, and I’m supposed to trust him to trim my hair…?

No.

Here’s how it would go down: I’d start to get all micro-manage-y and nervous, and that would just annoy him, and then we’d start yelling at each other over something completely unrelated and totally dumb, and then he’d accidentally cut off a big-@ss chunk of my hair in the back. ?

Now, if he were a trained stylist, that would be different, and I’ve always thought it would be super cool to date someone who could actually do hair (particularly curly/wavy hair). Of course, in this dream scenario, El Hub would also be able to do color, too, and could hook me up with some bomb balayage. 🙂

How about you? Would you trust your husband/wife/boyfriend/girlfriend to cut your hair?

Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,

Karen

MAC Viva Glam Miley Cyrus II and Trend Forecast Spring 2016

August 20th, 2015 by Karen 8 Comments

MAC Viva Glam Miley Cyrus II Lipstick is very red — warm orangey red — which I don’t quite understand because MAC calls it bright orange, but ya know…I like the color, so I’m not gonna split hairs. 🙂

Sadly, my well of Miley Cyrus fun fact trivia does not run deep… I think she was dating or engaged to a Hemsworth, wasn’t she? The one who played Gale in The Hunger Games?

I dunno…

I do know that she’s the latest MAC Viva Glam spokesperson and has a new Viva Glam Lipstick and Lipglass coming out next month, which I keep wanting to call Miley Cyrus Deux, because sometimes I go French when there is absolutely no need to do so…

Here’s a video look at them, along with MAC Spring Trend Forecast 2016. Just press “play” to begin.

mac viva glam miley cyrus ii — MAC Viva Glam Miley Cyrus II Lipstick ($17) and Lipglass ($15)

mac trend forecast spring 2016 — MAC Trend Forecast Spring 16/Eye ($40) on the left and Studio Eye Gloss in Money Honey ($22) on the right

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MAC Haute Dogs vs. MAC Fabulous Felines?

August 20th, 2015 by Karen 19 Comments

MAC Haute Dogs or MAC Fabulous Felines — which team are you on?

Goooooo, CATS! I’m Team Cat this time. 🙂 I loved the three color stories from the Fabulous Felines collection, and I think that launch was the first time MAC did a lot of colors for the Superslick Liquid Eye Liners. I also liked the different combination of colors in the quads. They really did look like cat fur! — but were still very wearable and interesting at the same time.

From MAC Haute Dogs, I like the lip colors, and I think the quads are easy to blend, but they’re also kind of sheer…

Team MAC Haute Dogs (Fall 2015)

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MAC Haute Dogs Collection Fall 2015

August 20th, 2015 by Karen 14 Comments

It’s time to raise the roof! (Get it? Sorry…) It’s MAC Haute Dogs time.

I wish I could have hired a professional dog actor to serve as my cuddly co-broadcaster for this video… I guess I could’ve put Tabs in a dog outfit, or better yet, dressed him up as an actual hot dog of the “meat in a tube” variety — complete with all the fixin’s, of course (but please hold the sauerkraut) — but you and I both know how either of those scenarios would have gone down. There would have been hell to pay, and the payment would have involved me being scratched-the-eff-up by some very sharp tabby talons!

MAC Haute Dogs is a pretty hefty fall release with 33 pieces, and here’s a look at 13 of them (limited edition products), along with thoughts on the MAC Mineralize formula, because the collection is heavy in the Mineralize department. Got some swatches in there, too. 🙂

mac haute dogs collection — 13 of the 33 pieces from the MAC Haute Dogs collection

mac haute dogs pure bred quad — MAC Haute Dogs Mineralize Eye Shadow X 4 in Pure Bred ($46)

mac haute dogs glimmer of gold quad — MAC Haute Dogs Mineralize Eye Shadow X 4 in A Glimmer of Gold ($46)

mac haute dogs posh pedigree quad — MAC Haute Dogs Mineralize Eye Shadow X 4 in Posh Pedigree ($46)

mac haute dogs lipsticks — MAC Haute Dogs Mineralize Lipsticks from the left: Fashion Pack, Rare Breed, Barking Gorgeous, Nose for Style and Labradorable ($23 each)

mac haute dogs collection glass — MAC Haute Dogs Mineralize Glasses from the left: Lap Dog, Sheer Coincidence, Modest, Dressed to the K9S ($23 each)

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Do You Ever Feel Uncomfortable Wearing Makeup Around People Who Don’t?

August 19th, 2015 by Karen 86 Comments

Sometimes I do, and the funny thing is…most of the time when it happens, I’m around close friends and family.

This occurred to me on the weekend trip I took to Napa with my friends Jen and Cindy a few weeks ago.

Neither of them are big into makeup. In fact, they hardly wear any at all, so when we’re hanging out together, especially when we go somewhere and stay overnight, they always seem to be waiting for me to get ready.

Like, one night that weekend we had reservations for dinner at a fancy-schmancy restaurant, and Jen and Cindy were ready to go in two minutes, but I took about 20, and that’s only because I was rushing!

And the makeup I ended up doing was minimal, too. I refrained from doing the whole rigamarole I would have normally done when going someplace nice.

It’s interesting… I definitely wear less makeup when I’m around them, but it’s not because they say or do things to make me feel uncomfortable. I mean, one of ’em might say something like, “WOW! That’s a lot of work,” but we’ve known each other for years, and they know how much I love hair and makeup.

Sometimes I just feel a little uncomfortable because I don’t want to be the one making everyone wait.

I do feel a little more uncomfortable sometimes when I’m doing my hair and makeup around family and someone says something like, “When I was young, my friends and I never wore makeup,” or “You’re such a pretty girl! You don’t need to wear so much makeup.”

Hmm… OK, thank you? But…I really like it. 🙂

I always try to be considerate and careful about what I say when I’m around people who aren’t into makeup because to each her own, right? I don’t want to hurt anyone’s feelings, so instead of getting all confrontational about it, I’ll usually just make a joke of it with something like, “A little lipgloss never hurt anybody!”

Sometimes it still bugs me a little to hear the anti-makeup remarks, but it’s not worth getting into a fight over. I’ll save that for when there are bigger fish to fry, you know?

What about you? Do you ever feel uncomfortable wearing makeup around people who don’t?

Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,

Karen