A beauty blog blooming with fresh makeup reviews, swatches and beauty tips from your friendly neighborhood beauty addict
Cream shadows are cool. They’re like secret little weapons…
You can make your eye looks more interesting by giving them dimension using cream shadows.
Just apply a cream shadow in a color that’s relevant to your look on your lid, then layer a complementary powder eyeshadow on top.
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Why does all the good stuff disappear?
Twinkies (although I think they’re back).
Josh Hartnett.
Lauryn Hill.
And now this? I can’t seem to find MAC Golden Bronze Iridescent Powder/Loose anywhere, and it’s scaring me because I think it’s one of those MAC products that deserves a cult following.
I hope it hasn’t been discontinued…
I first heard about it from a MAC Pro Artist friend of mine, the fabulous Keri B, who said she loved using it for bridal makeup. She even called it an unsung makeup hero.
So I bought a jar that afternoon, LOL!
I guess I’m easy that way…
Anyway, like I was saying, I’m afraid that Golden Bronze has been discontinued. 🙁
As a sliver lining, I think I may have found a respectable dupe by Topshop called Glow Dust in Radiate ($18). Similarly fine golden shimmer and warm peachy bronze.
When I wear it in pics, I get an unusually high number of “that glow” comments, which I squirrel away in my makeup memory banks. (For “that glow,” use Glow Dust in Radiate, Karen.)
I just dust some on the tops of my cheekbones with a tapered eyeshadow brush.
A little goes a long way.
You can find Glow Dust in Radiate now at Topshop stores and online.
Our little oak tree-covered hill here has seen inches and inches of rain over the past 24 hours, but Casa de Tabs in Novato is hangin’ tough! We still have power (for now) and haven’t slid down the hill (knock on wood).
Tabs has been on fuego all day long, though, meowing and mewling and basically harassing me to take him outside, as if he wouldn’t just want to run back inside as soon as he got his paws wet.
The rain always fires him up… Maybe it takes him back to his days as a footloose and fancy-free stray cat on the mean streets of Mill Valley.
Wherever you are this evening, I hope you’re warm and safe.
Oh, Jouer, you’re so fun!
Get it…? Jouer? Means “play” in French?
Sorry.
If you’re unfamiliar with the brand, their limited edition holiday sets are a Fete Fabulous way to break the ice.
The 5-piece Fete Fabulous kit for eyes, cheeks and lips (regularly $112, on sale now for $54) comes with a warm honey matte bronzer and a sheer rosy pink cream blush for cheeks, a shimmery gold cream eyeshadow stick and a powder eyeshadow duo containing a matte beige and an espresso brown for eyes, and a sheer berry pink gloss for lips.
I wore the kit a lot last weekend while visiting my in-laws in Redding, and it was juuust enough makeup to satisfy my appetite.
Jouer is an upscale, boutiquey line out of So Cal with a chic, understated, effortless vibe. I love their style and like to wear their stuff on weekends, or whenever I crave easy definition.
The sheer glosses in the Bisou Bisou and French Kiss lipgloss kits are fine, if not fun, especially if you like to layer sheer gloss on top of your lipstick.
If, however, your lips get dry and cracked this time of year, you may want to start with a layer of lip balm, because the glosses aren’t incredibly moisturizing.
As for the Le Petite Brush Set, on sale now for $35 (regularly $70), the bristles feel nice and soft, but brush heads themselves feel a bit stiff. They don’t have as much give as I usually like.
Because of that, these brushes do a decent job controlling cream products, but when it comes to pushing powder products around, I wish the brush heads had more give.
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Part deux of Clinique’s holiday collection, The Nutcracker Suite, puts the spotlight on soft, romantic colors… And purple!
The overall collection is split into two parts, with the first part, Act I, being pumped up about pink, and the second part, Act II, being passionate about purple.
In Act II, purple eyes and a sheer purple lip pair with pretty pink cheeks, and for the eyes, there’s The Nutcracker Suite Act II Eye and Cheek Palette ($36).
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Here’s a hump day (yes…I actually forgot what day of the week it was and only just now realized it two hours after publishing this post, LOL!) morning makeup tip for easier, more blended eye looks… Use multiple transition colors, instead of just one transition color or none at all.
For instance, for a smoothly blended brown smokey eye, use the darkest shadow color on your lid (MAC Ground Brown), then a slightly lighter color in your crease (MAC Saddle), and a slightly lighter color than that moving up the crease (MAC Soft Brown), so that you have a smooth gradient that goes from darkest to lightest. 🙂
OK, so, first, the big stuff.
It is storming! I’ve seen two emergency flash-flood alerts on TV so far this morning, and I’m watching a torrent of water in the storm drain on the hill outside. There’s a major storm hitting Northern California right now, and it’s supposed to be a bad one.
Tabs, El Hub and I live on a hill, so we’re hopefully safe from the flooding, for now. There’s also the possibility of our place just sliding down the hill in a mudslide, which makes me kind of nervous…
I think we’ll be fine. Electricity might go out soon though.
I’ve been trying to distract myself by watching makeup videos, and I found a crop of fab one-minute vids on the MAC website called Instant Artistry.
They’re just quick, little blurbs. Each one covers a single topic, like two-tone lips or ombre eyeshadow.
The looks are mostly accessible and not outrageously cray-cray, which makes me think, “Hey! I can do that.”
Assuming the power stays on, and I’m able to actually see what I’m doing, I’m going try the look in the colored eyeliner video today.
I guess if I were to attempt it in the dark…that might also be kind of fun, haha!
Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,
Karen
I’ve been riding the false lash train pretty hard lately (eh, I go through phases). I usually do a layer of mascara on my bare lashes before I apply my falsies (instead of after) because it makes cleaning easier and puts less wear and tear on them, and they don’t get as goopy, which means I get to reuse them a couple more times.
Sometimes I do go the other way, though, applying my mascara after my falsies to really marry them together, but I’m not Mariah Carey… I can’t see her reusing drugstore lashes (in my mind she has a new diva set every day), so I’d rather be able to reuse my lashes a few more times instead.
How about you? Do you usually apply mascara before or after false lashes? Or not at all?
Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,
Karen
P.S. I have a lady date tonight! — and I’m really looking forward to it. I’m meeting my friend Marisol, and we’re gonna go to Sephora, and we’re gonna go to HomeGoods, and we’re gonna get ramen, which is basically a recipe for a really happy evening. 🙂
Hope you’re doing something fun today too on this soon-to-be very rainy day. (There’s a storm brewin’… Didn’t Sarah Connor say that?) Yeah, I don’t even know if I should bother doing my hair. That’s the thing about cutting it shorter. You gotta do “stuff” to it.
Alterna Caviar Perfect Texture Finishing Spray ($28), also known as “a perfectly acceptable alternative to Oribe’s bomb-diggity (but much more expensive per ounce) Dry Texturizing Spray.”
I spray it on after curling to get the choppy/messy/loose waves thing I like sporting. You can use it as a dry shampoo, a root lifter or a light hold hairspray.
I like it…but I think I prefer Oribe’s Dry Texturizing Spray a little more overall. That stuff’s the Jay-Z to my Beyonce.
I can’t remember how I came across it, but have you seen Broken? I caught it last night on Netflix and really enjoyed it.
It’s a quirky (and sometimes very grownup) coming-of-age story about a young girl, probably around 12, named Skunk (played by Eloise Laurence), who’s right at that in-between stage before becoming a full-fledged teenager, and she’s precocious and adorable and awkwardly sweet. One of those girls who’d be a great friend.
The movie also stars Tim Roth and Cillian Murphy, who both turn in great performances.
Just as a heads up, there are some pretty intense, emotionally charged scenes in the movie, where you might want to cover young eyes if you’re watching with the kids.
Now I’m looking for something new to watch. Have you found anything good lately on Netflix?
Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,
Karen
Carrie & Big? You gotta be kitten me! I think Carrie & Aiden would’ve been a far better name for this new $34 Too Faced Soul Mates Blushing Bronzer (it’s one of two), but that’s because I’ll never, ever, EVER get over how Big stood up Carrie at the wedding. I’m all for forgiveness, but if some dude left my BFF hanging in her big white dress, I would kick that man’s booty from here to next Tuesday.
Team Aiden 4 life! 🙂
Now where was I…?
Oh! — these new cuties. So adorbs. I almost can’t take it.
