A beauty blog blooming with fresh makeup reviews, swatches and beauty tips from your friendly neighborhood beauty addict
Chair dancing + Prince + purple glitter = my Friday morning/afternoon.
While, scientifically speaking, one is physically capable of wearing purple glitter on a Monday morning, it just makes better sense on Friday.
Am I right?
Maybe it’s because the end of the workweek feels like victory! — she said, raising her makeup brush like a mithril sword and willing the clouds to part.
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I sleep right next to a hand cream graveyard…
It’s there on the floor by my bed and in one of the cubbies in my nightstand, both of which are home to half a dozen or more half-empty tubes because I’m kind of a hand cream addict.
But this one by L’Occitane will probably be spared that ignominious outcome because it is SO DANG GREAT.
Where do I start?
First, when the cream comes out of the tube, it’s formed into the shape of a star, and don’t ask me why, but this brings me great joy. 🙂
Second, this stuff is ridiculously moisturizing. With all of the polar vortexing/El Niño-like action so far this winter, it’s been unusually dry and cold — and definitely drier than most years, because we usually have some humidity by the ocean here.
But my hands have been painfully dry, but L’Occitane Shea Butter Whipped Hand Cream relieves them of that. It’s been the only cream in or near “the graveyard” to stop that tight, uncomfortable feeling.
The cream contains 25% shea butter, much to paws’ delight, and now that I’ve been using it regularly, my cuticles are also less raggedy (always a plus).
The formula smells comfortingly like baby powder, which is a little old-fashioned, but I like it. It reminds me of hugging my grandma when I was little.
L’Occitane Shea Butter Whipped Hand Cream is available now at L’Occitane stores, counters and online ($12 for a 1-oz. travel-size tube).
Put your hands up for hand cream, babe! What have your paws been loving lately?
Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,
Karen
P.S.
Must play with all the pretties!
Guess what these Neutrogena Nourishing Long Wear Eye Shadow + Built-In Primer quads do?
You guessed it — they combine a primer with a powder eyeshadow for supposedly extra long wear. I tried some of the Cocoa Mauve quad colors on my right eye yesterday, just to see how they looked and blended, and they were good on both counts, but then I took them off. I’ll give them a proper try this weekend.
And I’ll probably still wear ’em with a regular primer underneath anyway, because, you know, some habits are hard to break. 🙂
Brows — my sweet, sweet joy and my sweet, sweet pain.
I’ve reluctantly come to grips with the painful reality that I will very likely never be one of those lucky gals/guys who wakes up in the morning with immaculately lush, gorgeous brows, and I’m OK with that.
Because that’s what makeup is for.
Although, truth be told, I’ll always be jealous of my BFF Jen for being one of those naturally big-browed babes…
Let me tell ya, it’s really annoying, LOL!
Back in the ’90s, when everyone was plucking their brows into oblivion, Jen was constantly bemoaning her beautiful brows, saying that they were too damn full and sooo difficult to tame. 🙂
Yeah, what I wouldn’t have given for that problem. I’m always having to fill in mine (freaking Raul!).
On the positive side, at least I’ll probably never run out of new techniques and brow products to try. There’s an endless supply and lots of room to play.
Last year I was really into filling them in with eyeshadow for a full, kinda in-your-face brow look, and sometimes, let me tell ya, those big brows entered a room before I did, haha!
These days I’m more chill about my brows… I still like them big and full, but a little less blocky and more textured, so that they look more natural and real, if that makes any sense. I want brows that look like they just naturally grew out of my head that way.
There are different ways to get a full, but natural brow look, but here’s mine. I use a brow pencil, brow gel, and follow these three simple steps.
First, you’ll need the following…
Begin by filling in your brows with your brow pencil starting at the inner end using short strokes, light pressure, and moving in the same direction that your brow hairs grow, with the goal being to go with the natural flow.
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Like a double rainbow…only much cooler because you can put this one all over yo’ face!
I got a distinctly rainbow-y vibe from this handful of pieces in the new MAC Lightness of Being collection. From the left, that’s Mineralize Rich Lipstick in Style Surge, Mineralize Rich Lipstick in Luxe Naturale, Mineralize Eye Shadow in Spiritual Life, Lipglass in Beautiful Moves, Mineralize Lipstick in Dreaminess, and Mineralize Lipstick in Be Fabulous on the far right.
They’re all $22 each and available now with the rest of the Lightness of Being collection at MAC counters and online.
* Leprechaun legal disclaimer: pot o’ gold not included.
GURL, when it comes to primer, I’m a believer — like hands in the air, testifying with my eyes closed and my head up to the sky, hollering “PRRRRRRIMERRRRRR!” as tears run down my cheeks and a children’s choir sings in the background.
A day rarely passes when I skip it. Primer is as integral to my makeup routine as a lash curler and brow filler.
The main reason I love face primer so much is, quite frankly, my damned pores! Primer makes the texture of my cheeks, forehead and nose look smoother, and it’s a pretty noticeable difference in real life and pics.
For face primers, I use two (sounds like overkill, I know, but it works for me). I start by prepping my skin for foundation using MAC Prep + Prime Natural Radiance ($41) all over my face, which makes whichever foundation I layer on top of it “sit” better and last longer.
After giving Prep + Prime a minute or two to sink in, I go back in with Smashbox Pore Minimizing Photo Finish ($39), which I spot apply on the apples of my cheeks, my nose and around my mouth.
Essentially, Photo Finish works like spackling paste or putty, filling any uneven dips and pores on the skin to make foundation, powder and blush appear more smooth and silky.
I’ve got MAD love for eye primers, too, but if we get into the nitty-gritty details of which ones and why, we’ll seriously be here till Tuesday.
So, for my eyes, the short answer is that I usually use some combination of the following: NARS Pro-Prime Smudge Proof Eyeshadow Base by itself, or with MAC Paint Pot in Soft Ochre or Painterly buffed on top.
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So, one day last weekend when I wore Urban Decay’s new Naked Skin Weightless Complete Coverage Concealer ($28, coming this spring to the permanent line), I got into a big tiff with my parents, and there was lots of crying involved.
(Long story, but it was a misunderstanding, and everything’s fine now.)
When El Hub and I got home later that night, I went to wash my face and saw that the concealer I’d been wearing was still intact…10 hours later!
Granted, it didn’t look perfect, especially around my fine lines, but considering the buckets I’d cried a few hours earlier, it looked pretty good.
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Naked. Let’s get naked. So here’s today’s naked truth…
Some days, I really feel “it,” and when I do, it’s Wonderful with a capital W. 🙂
I look out my window up into the sky, and the sun seems higher and brighter, and it’s like the birds are singing songs just for me. Everything falls into place, like my hair and makeup, and even my muffin top doesn’t bug me as much as it usually does.
I walk with a spring in my step! — and my fingers practically fly. Things seem almost effortless.
Buuut, then there are those other days (like today), and sometimes weeks, when I just don’t feel “it” at all.
Those are the days when even my stretchy pants give me grief (and you know how much I love my stretchy pants). Instead of them hugging my bum and making it look all perky and cute, I just see that annoying bunch of fabric that sags in the butt.
When I look out my window, all I see are the barren branches on the oak trees, and instead of admiring their angles and strong lines, I’m sad because they have no leaves. The gnarled branches seem menacing against the darkening sky…
On those days, when simply lifting a lash curler feels like a monumental task, I just keep trying. I apply a bit of makeup, perhaps something like Urban Decay’s new Naked Skin Ultra Definition Powder Foundation, along with a slick of gloss and a few swipes of brow gel.
Then I place my fingers gently on the keyboard and take a few deep breaths…
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