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

Nails of the Day: Essie Brides No Grooms

May 14th, 2015 by Karen 28 Comments

To say that I’m obsessed with this Bkr Water Bottle I got last month would be a bit of an understatement.

I carry this thing with me everywhere. It may as well be surgically attached to my right arm! I bring it (oh, it’s already been brought-en!) to the mall, to Trader Joe’s, to the movies… Basically, I am never without my Bkr.

What can I say? Homegirl drinks a sh*t ton of water. 🙂

I’m loving on it so hard that I’ve undertaken a mission to find a matching nail polish, and I thought that this shade I’m wearing here, Essie Brides No Grooms, might be it, but it’s not. Close, but no cigar.

It’s warmer and more yellow… Still super pretty, though, but I think I need something closer to a creamy pink flamingo coral.

Here I’m wearing two coats.

Brides No Grooms is from the Essie Bridal 2015 collection, and you can say “I do” to it now, because it’s available now for $8.50 online, and at salons, Ulta and Nordstrom.

Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,

Karen

In Case You Were Wondering If Your…

May 13th, 2015 by Karen 37 Comments

…immaculate new bottle of Urban Decay All Nighter Makeup Setting Spray will stay fresh to def forever, it won’t. LOL! I hate to dash your hopes, but things are going to get dirrrty.

Case in point: the pic above. I didn’t realize just how dirty those white bottles get until I opened a new one and placed it next to an old one.

OK, first of all, I have no idea what nebulous wormhole the left bottle’s original purple cap disappeared into, but I think the ill-fitting cap on there now is from a rand-o bottle of hairspray.

Second, how did I not notice this poor state of affairs until now? I grab this bottle literally every day (which is probably why it’s covered in makeup, ha!). I’ll usually wash the dirt off a bar of soap, so my blatant disregard for this poor bottle’s sorry condition is weird to me.

Anyway! If you haven’t tried this makeup setting spray before (it’s a total unsung makeup hero), you must! I’ve lost count of how many bottles of it I’ve gone through over the years. Maybe five or six? I even bring a travel-sized one with me on trips. It’s that hardcore, man.

Smashbox L.A. Lights Blendable Lip & Cheek Color in Venice Beach Bronze Borrows a Thing or Two From the NARS Multiples

May 13th, 2015 by Karen 9 Comments

Cream products.

Have you ever noticed how popular they get around this time of year? Especially cream highlighters and blushes? The one pictured here is the new $29 Smashbox L.A. Lights Blendable Lip & Cheek Colors in Venice Beach Bronze.

It’s gotta have something to do with summer…because with summer makeup, trends always come and go, but one trend that never completely disappears is the whole minimalist makeup angle. Cream blushes and highlighter sort of evoke that idea of casual, minimal makeup. Just swipe a little on bare skin, or in this case, maybe even on top of tinted moisturizer, and bam! — you’re ready to go hunting for surfer dudes on the boardwalk.

Smashbox L.A. Lights Blendable Lip & Cheek Colors: What are they, exactly?

These $29 cream blushes from Smashbox — technically, they’re combination cheek colors/lip products — are multitaskers in the vein of the NARS Multiples. This one, shimmery bronze Venice Beach Bronze, is one of five, and it’s made to cast a warm sunset-like glow on skin like it’s “The Magic Hour” (the brief windows of time just before sunrise and sunset).

The other shades are Hollywood & Highlight (a sheer pinkish pearl), Beverly Hills Blush (a peachy pink with golden shimmer), Silver Lake Sunset (a warm coral) and Malibu Berry (a rich berry).

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The MAC Nordstrom Naturals Eyeshadow Palette: I’ve Been Grabbing It All the Time Because It’s Just So Convenient!

May 13th, 2015 by Karen 22 Comments

Even though the MAC Nordstrom Naturals Eyeshadow Palette has been on counters for a couple months now, I think it’s worth another mention because of the value. For $85 you get 15 full-size MAC bestsellers from the permanent line, which would otherwise cost $150, not including the cost of the package, based just on refill pans purchased separately.

If I were a MAC neophyte, I’d be all over this like gravy on biscuits.

Heck, even after a 20-year MAC obsession, I still think it’s a great value. This palette checks off almost all of the boxes on a good must-have MAC eyeshadow wish list, and it does it in one fell swoop (at a cost breakdown of about $6 per shadow).

It has so many of the classics! — the must-have MAC shades you hear about over and over again. It couples some of the all-time great workhorse shades like Carbon, Brun, Omega and Saddle with flashier, shimmery neutrals like Woodwinked, Honey Lust and Beauty Marked, although to be honest, I’m kind of surprised that Soft Brown and Shroom didn’t make the cut.

But maybe that’s ’cause I’m playing favorites. 😉

Depending on the shadows you already own, this palette, while pricey up front, is a really great deal.

The $85 MAC Nordstrom Naturals Eyeshadow Palette includes…

Vapour — a peachy pink with violet pearl and a Velvet finish
Honey Lust — a bronzed peach with a Lustre finish
All That Glitters — a beige with golden pearl and a Veluxe Pearl finish
Saddle — a golden orange brown with a Matte finish
Mulch — a reddish brown with bronze pearl and a Velvet finish
Ricepaper — a shimmery, peachy gold with a Frost finish
Amber Lights — a shimmery, peachy brown with a Frost finish
Woodwinked — a warm antiqued gold with a Veluxe Pearl finish
Wedge — a soft muted beige-taupe with a Matte finish
Brun — a muted blackish brown with a Satin finish
Omega — a muted beige-taupe with a Matte finish
Satin Taupe — a taupe with silver shimmer and a Frost finish
Embark — an intense reddish brown with a Matte finish
Beauty Marked — a blackish red with pearl and a Velvet finish
Carbon — an intense black with a Matte finish

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Nails of the Day: Salon Perfect Nail Lacquer in Mermade of Money

May 13th, 2015 by Karen 18 Comments

I was sitting in my car at a stoplight yesterday when I saw a kid skateboard across the street…WHILE TEXTING ON HIS PHONE.

How is that even possible? I can barely text sitting down. Shoot, I’m the person who has to literally stop in the middle of the sidewalk to send a text that takes her five minutes to type and says, “b right there” when she’s only 30 seconds from the destination!

If there were an Olympic event for Slowest, Lamest Texter Ever, I would take home the gold. 🙂

Since I frequently force the people around me to witness my lame attempts at texting, I might as well give them something interesting to look at.

That was the idea behind these nails, which I applied yesterday morning. This is Salon Perfect Nail Lacquer in Mermade of Money, from their new summer collection, Neon Pop.

I probably could’ve gotten away with wearing two layers, but I wanted complete and total opacity, so I went in for a third. I applied it with a base and top coat, but I still saw my first chip less than 24 hours later. Yup, a gnarly chip on my right hand.

Granted, I’m hard on my nails, but less than 24 hours? That’s kind of crazy-pants.

This was my first time wearing a Salon Perfect Nail Lacquer. They’re only $4 each, so I’ll give ’em another try… But the next one better last longer.

They’re available now online and at Walmart stores.

P.S. Happy hump day, by the way. 🙂

A New Shocking Development: Smashbox Be Legendary Lipstick in Shock Me Pink

May 12th, 2015 by Karen 14 Comments

Because a girl can never have too many hot pink lipsticks!

Well, she probably could, but…naw. I don’t think so. 🙂

This is another one of the new shades recently added to the Smashbox Be Legendary Lipstick line. Shock Me Pink is a bright blue-based neon pink with a creamy finish. Like the other Be Legendaries, it’s unflavored, unscented and smooove, with a 4-hour wear time.

I like to wear this one with shiny black liquid liner when I’m feeling feisty and want to stomp-walk into rooms.

It’s available now online and at Smashbox counters, Nordstrom stores and Ulta for $20.

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Tarte Precision Longwear Liner Sits Among the All-Time Greats in the Liquid Liner Pantheon

May 12th, 2015 by Karen 11 Comments

I’m picky when it comes to liquid liners… Pickier than a crabby reality TV show judge on a singing competition!

Seriously, if there’s even just one thing wrong with them — ONE THING! — I’m like Liam Neeson in the Taken movies when he threatens the kidnappers. “I WILL FIND YOU!!”

That said, Tarte’s Precision Longwear Liner ($24) passes the Liam Neeson Test with flying colors.

This dark chocolate neutral matte brown, which looks like a rich blackish brown in pics, is an absolutely legit alternative to errrrday black liquid liners. Great for when you want a cat-flicked liquid liner look with less contrast than black.

The long and firm, but flexible, felt tip draws precise flicks and lines with smooth edges, and you don’t have to freaking arm wrestle the damn thing to use it (it seems that way sometimes with liquid liner, doesn’t it?).

And — HUGE pro — the liner applies smoothly and filled with pigment. None of that uneven patchy nonsense that plagues lesser liquid liners.

It also layers well, doesn’t flake off my skin and lasts about seven hours. As far as where it sits in the liquid liner pantheon of all-time greats, I think it’s easily comparable to LORAC Front of the Line Pro, Rouge Bunny Rouge Nocturnal Ink and Tom Ford’s Eye Defining Pen.

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MAC Pro Longwear Nourishing Waterproof Foundation: The Best Liquid Foundation I’ve Seen From MAC in Years

May 12th, 2015 by Karen 62 Comments

MAC has a new waterproof foundation, and I know that it’s waterproof because I had a meltdown in the middle of Target a couple weeks ago while wearing it, and this stuff did not move.

AT. ALL.

I mean, who hasn’t had a meltdown in the middle of Target at least once (well, other than three-year-old children)?

I’d been waiting in a long checkout line when some busy fancy-pants dude in Spandex bicycle shorts totally cut in front of me.

The fact that he didn’t bother to make eye contact with me or even acknowledge the existence of my cart — which was full of ladies’ accoutrements for a visit from “Aunt Flo,” mind you — sent me into Rage Mode. El Hub saw the look in my eye and knew something big was about to go down, so he did his best to calm/soothe me.

I guess it worked… Instead of doing what I really wanted to do, which was yell obscenities at the rude guy while foaming at the mouth, I just burst into tears, and that’s when the new MAC Pro Longwear Nourishing Waterproof Foundation had its first boss moment.

Instead of being the girl who had the meltdown in the middle of Target, with her makeup streaming down the side of her face onto her pink pineapple sweatshirt, I was just the girl crying her eyes out like the protagonist in a Nicholas Sparks film.

Like, it was the most beautiful public display of sobbing I’ve ever had. The tears poured down my cheeks, but my foundation looked fine, so if you anticipate doing any public crying, seriously, grab yourself a tube of MAC Pro Longwear Nourshing Waterproof, and cry with class.

MAC Pro Longwear Nourishing Waterproof Foundation: Briefly, what is it?

It’s MAC’s latest long-wearing (24 hours, holy crap!) foundation. It’s $32, comes in a 0.84-oz. tube, and has an oil-free liquid formula with medium-to-full coverage and a satin finish.

Oh! — and you can also use it as concealer.

It’s available now in 16 shades — NC15, NC20, NC25, NC30, NC35, NC42 (here’s mine), NC45, NC50, NW15, NW20, NW25, NW30, NW35, NW40, NW45 and NW50 — and designed for all skin types, including oily, dry and combination.

Don’t be discouraged by the smallish size of the tube/bottle. While a bottle of MAC Studio Sculpt Foundation costs the same $32 but nets you 1.3 ounces of product, this gets you a little more than half that much (0.84 ounces) for the same price.

But you only have to use a little. A small pea-sized drop of the shade I use, NC 42, which I blend out with a BeautyBlender, is enough for my entire face. I usually like coverage right on the border between medium and full, and with this, one drop is enough.

Does it work well?

Does Tabs like gravy?

That’s a HUGE yes. 🙂 I think this stuff is brilliant. It’s one of the best liquid foundations I’ve seen from MAC in years. It performs as well as the much more expensive Dior Nudeskin does and does many of the same things — it’s lightweight, blurs pores and evens out my skin without appearing heavy or fake. It also lasts longer when you wear it without powder (Nudeskin needs powder to last me a full day), and I think the satin finish looks a little more natural than Dior’s flat matte.

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