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

LOFT Lace Shorts, New Favorite Necklace and the Hunt for the Perfect White Shirt

June 5th, 2015 by Karen 39 Comments

These lace shorts from LOFT almost didn’t make it home from the store with me. I was a little unsure about them at first because I don’t usually do lace (the tabby claws get stuck in the little loops, boo!), but I’ve been trying to break out of my comfort zone lately…and my BFF Jen gave them a thumbs up. 🙂

Seriously, as it pertains to last-minute fashion advice, thank goodness for texting and the ability to send pics from your phone. If it weren’t for those two things, I’d still be in stretchy pants and covered in cat hair.

So KUDOS FOR TECHNOLOGY!

The shorts, by the way, are the $49.99 Scallop Lace Riviera Shorts by LOFT, currently marked down from $59.99.

Actually, as of this very moment, it looks like they’re an additional 50% off on top of that! That’s $25!

Doesn’t look like there are many sizes available right now, but if you can’t find your size, these other lace shorts look pretty similar and cute.

Here I’m wearing the shorts with my new favorite necklace, this multi-strand Pearlized Crystal Statement Necklace by Ann Taylor (LOVE), and an old white button-up shirt from Halogen.

I have to be honest about the shirt, though… It drives me a little nuts. It wrinkles easily, and it’s super sheer, so I have to wear a cami under it, which makes me feel bulky around the middle.
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How to Fix Your Flicks

June 4th, 2015 by Karen 17 Comments

Just imagine… What if every day was Caturday, and your cat eye flicks were always perfect?

Wouldn’t that be grand? 🙂

Some days it does work out that way. I’ll flick my wrist and tada! — a perfect cat eye flick.

Admittedly, those days are rare… Most of the time, the edges of my flicks start out blurry and muddy.

When this happens, don’t panic! It’s easy to fix.

Just grab your current concealer love, put a little on the back of your hand, and pick some up with a small, flat concealer brush. (Side note: if you don’t have a flat concealer brush available, an angled or pointed eye brush works, too.)

Next, run the edge of the brush along the bottom of your flick to sharpen the line.

You can stop there if you want, or keep going. At this point I’ll usually soften the concealer a little by gently running a pointed cotton bud along the edge. It helps to ever-so-slightly soften the edge and prevent an overly sharp, harsh line (that looks like I obviously applied concealer along the edge of my flick).

If you don’t have a pointed cotton bud on hand, you can also load a flat eyeshadow brush with face powder, and then gently run the tip of the brush along the edge of your flick. It’s another way to soften the appearance of the concealer.

Here’s how my flicks usually look before doing this trick — kinda muddy and undefined…

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Paul & Joe Summer 2015 Midnight Sangria Collection: A Lack of Cat Action Doesn’t Hurt These Products

June 4th, 2015 by Karen 17 Comments

Paul & Joe, those purr-veyors of pretty products for makeup-loving cat ladies, have a new summer collection out, and in a shocking development, it features absolutely no cats (other than the one I hired to model for the top picture’s background).

As in NADA GATOS.

Wait — what?

That’s right! The theme for the limited edition summer 2015 collection is Midnight Sangria.

Obviously, this is throwing off my internal crazy cat lady barometer…so I have supplemented these photos with additional cats. 🙂

The collection includes five nail polishes, three eyeshadow duos, three lipglosses, five mascaras and again, zero cats.

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How to Get the Gunk Out of Your Lash Comb

June 4th, 2015 by Karen 25 Comments

And by “gunk,” I mean all of that nasty stuff that builds up between the teeth of your lash comb — the mascara, eye liner, eyeshadow, cat hair (don’t judge)…

I used to clean my lash comb with makeup wipes. I’d run them up and down the teeth of the comb to whisk away any gunky leftover makeup, and it worked well enough, I guess…because it got out most of the gunk, but I’d still see bits and bobs way down in there between the teeth.

I don’t do that anymore, though, because I’ve found a better solution.

A toothbrush!

It hit me (the idea, not the toothbrush) after this post about kitchen tools. I was wondering how the heck I was going to clean the tiny little teeth on my new julienne tool, and Sandra, one of the gals who comments on MBB (hi, Sandra!), mentioned that toothbrushes are great for getting in between tiny spaces.

Hmm…

If they’re good enough to clean julienne tools, why not lash combs?
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Brand Spotlight: Urban Decay

June 3rd, 2015 by Karen 18 Comments

When I think of Urban Decay, the first thing that comes to mind isn’t nakedness or bright colors…

It’s grass.

Because when I visited their Southern California offices a few years ago (and had a major fangirl moment when I met Wende Zomnir IN THE FLESH!!), I was tripping out over how the floors in their bathrooms looked like grass…

I mean, if there’s anything that could give you a good idea of what a makeup brand is really like, it’s having grass-printed floors in the bathroom.

It’s been interesting to watch the brand grow from a small niche makeup line (remember when you could only find their nail polishes at, like, Urban Outfitters?) into a major makeup player, and now with L’Oreal backing them, it seems like they’re doing a lot of different things and expanding their line quicker than you can say “Perversion Pencil.”

Case in point: UD’s latest launches. Here’s a list of some of the recent Urban Decay coverage on MBB…
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The Chanel Les Beiges Summer 2015 Collection: This Kind of Beige Makes Everything Better

June 3rd, 2015 by Karen 17 Comments

There’s beige…a color which is often associated with drab hospital walls, sensible shoes and cat barf.

And then there’s Chanel Beige. 🙂 Also known as yaaaaaas.

I have no idea how Chanel turned a color as historically boring as beige into something so covetable, but they did it with the new Les Beiges Summer 2015 Collection.

The Chanel Les Beiges Summer 2015 collection includes…

Chanel Les Beiges Healthy Glow Multi-Colour Broad Spectrum SPF 15 Sunscreen in Mariniere No. 1 and Marinimere No. 02 ($65 each)

Les Beiges Blush Healthy Glow Sheer Colour Sticks in No. 20, No. 21 and No. 22 ($45 each)

Le Vernis Nail Colours in Beige Rose, Beige Pur, Precious Beige and Lovely Beige ($27 each)

Levres Scintillantes Glossimers in 204 Rose Tendre and 206 Beige Star ($30 each)

Les Beiges Healthy Glow Hydrating Lip Balm ($36)

Retractable Kabuki Brush ($70)

Les Beiges Healthy Glow Sheer Colour SPF 15 in No. 10, No. 20, No. 30, No. 40, No. 50, No. 60 and No. 70 ($58 each)

Les Beiges All-In-One Healthy Glow Fluid Broad Spectrum SPF 15 Sunscreen in No. 10, No. 20., No. 30, No. 40, No. 50 and No. 60 ($45 each)

For the hardcore Chanel-ophiles among us, I’ll get to that striped face powder in the above picture and what it’s doing there in a minute, but first! — what is Les Beiges?

Well, it’s two things. One, it’s a line of sheer face powders in the Chanel permanent collection, and two, it’s also a collection of sun-protected and healthy glowing skin-themed annual summertime products released by Chanel for summer over the past couple years.

Think polished but not overly perfected, and picture sheer tinted moisturizers, cream blushes and sheer face powders. All very summery.

This year’s Les Beiges Summer 2015 release follow that same idea, and it includes multicolored face/cheek powders, stick blushes (these are new!), nail polishes, a couple of glosses, a balm, a retractable kabuki brush, face powders and tinted moisturizers. The only things listed on the Chanel website as “limited edition” are the tinted moisturizers, so here’s to hoping that most of these items stick around a while.

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MAC Unsung Heroes: Mineralize Skinfinish Natural

June 3rd, 2015 by Karen 34 Comments

MAC has a looot of face powders, and I think many of them are rock solid performers (see: MAC Blot and Careblends Pressed), but if you and I were at a counter at this very moment, and you asked me, “What’s your favorite, best-of-the-best, most natural-looking, comfortable MAC face powder available now?” I’d say one thing: the MAC Mineralize Skin Finish Naturals.

I got this particular pan of MAC Mineralize Skin Finish Natural in Medium Tan shortly after MAC revamped the packaging last year, when they swapped out the old see-through lids for the new black compacts with the mirror, and since then I’ve brought it with me on every trip. It’s pretty much been the only powder I keep in my purse now for touchups.

Depending on which color you choose, you can use the MAC Mineralize Skin Finish Natural line of baked pressed mineral powders for a number of different things, like cutting down on shine, evening out your skin tone, blurring pores, bronzing, and setting your foundation and/or concealer.

They have a semi-matte finish and a moderate amount of pigment, but they can be sheered down. They’re available in the permanent line in 15 shades for $32 each.

In MAC parlance, I’m an NC42, and I have combination skin that ventures between oily and dry. I wear the color Medium Tan as my face setting powder daily, and I also use Give Me Sun sometimes as a bronzer.

mac mineralize skinfinish medium tan — MAC Mineralize Skinfinish Natural in Medium Tan on my NC42 skin

I love so many things about this powder! — but I’m going to try to keep this short (yeah right, Karen), because otherwise we’d be here ’til next Tuesday. 🙂

The gist of it is this: in powder-land, MAC Mineralize Skinfinish Natural is my current favorite powder across the board — not just from MAC — for casual, dewy, natural-looking skin.

I’ve worn it for everyday makeup looks, big events, pictures, HD video, daytime work meetings, dinner dates and taking Tabs out for his walks, and I think it looks just as good on camera as it does in real life. Unlike many pressed powder formulas, the Mineralize Skinfinish Naturals look more like loose powders than pressed powders when they’re sitting on the skin.

After having taken a zillion pictures over the years, I think that loose powders generally look better than pressed powders in person and in pics — softer, I guess. Less like makeup and more like real skin. But MAC Mineralize Skinfinish Natural bucks that trend. When I wear it, my skin looks even toned, smooth, and it doesn’t look shiny (nor does it look severely matte). The powder also doesn’t look super obvious.

The effect reminds me of Chanel’s Loose Powder, which is absolutely beautiful, but Chanel’s powder is also 1) much more expensive ($52 vs. $32 for this), 2) available in fewer shades.

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10 Things You Should Know About the Urban Decay Naked Smoky Palette

June 2nd, 2015 by Karen 54 Comments

10 Things You Should Know About the Urban Decay Naked Smoky Palette

It’s smokier than the time my brother showed up late to a hip-hop dance show smelling like he spent the last 20 minutes hot-boxing in the car. Translation: it’s incredibly freaking smokey! — and you can do a lot of different things with it, like a smokey bronze eye, smokey gray, smokey brownish black, a smokey black panda eye, a smokey plum, a smokey taupe… Lots of smokey possibilities.
It’s completely clothing optional (It’s called Naked Smoky, after all, which reminds me… I spell it “smokey,” but UD spells it “smoky”), although I do recommend wearing clothes if you’re going out wearing this makeup.
On that note, I may or may not be wearing clothes in these pics. Take a guess! 🙂 And then say “CLOTHES: YES” or “CLOTHES: NO” in the comments. LOL!
The name may cause confusion if you discuss it with your Filipino mother.
MOM: What are you doing?
ME: Oh, checking out this thing called Naked Smoky.
MOM: What do you mean you’re naked!? I didn’t raise you to be naked on the Internet!
ME: No. Mom, no, I’m not naked…
MOM: And you’re smoking now too? Smoking is bad. Don’t smoke!
If you go to DSW wearing Naked Smoky on your lids, you’ll be the most glamorous person there. (True story! I just got back from looking at shoes… Didn’t buy anything, boo.)
It will not help you make friends with the neighborhood kitties…but it can be used to create smokey eyes like the eyes of your favorite smokey-eyed kitty.
Speaking of cats, if you happen to run into Tabs while wearing the grays and browns in this palette and he rubs his face all over your face (as he’s apt to do when he’s looking for love), you will not be able to see the cat hairs he leaves on you since most of these colors match his fur. Again, true story.
If you get it, you’ll have another brush to add to your “Emergency”/”Just in Case”/”Things I Probably Won’t Use Every Day” pile, because the dual-ended brush that comes with it is meh. I’ll give it props for not being scratchy, but I think the brush heads are too dense and stiff to do any real-deal hard-core smokey blending. They just end up pushing stuff all over the place, so I’d grab a fluffy tapered brush and a domed blending brush instead. Fluffy blending brushes all the way, son!
While playing with it, you may become so wrapped up that you forget to eat lunch. Yes…you guessed it. TRUE. STORY.
It hurts like a mo’ fo’ when it falls on your foot. So try to avoid dropping it on your foot. 🙂

The 411 on the Urban Decay Naked Smoky palette

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