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

Osmia Organics Lip Glosses Give Dry Lips a Beet-Down

March 19th, 2014 by Karen 14 Comments

Osmia Organics’ Lip Glosses beet up dryness somethin’ fierce! They’re veggie-rific!

OK…sorry, that was just terrible. I’m not 100% awake yet. 🙂

At any rate, these lightweight, non-sticky lip glosses by Osmia Organics ($18 each), a boutique organic bath and beauty line based in Colorado, are more like balms than glosses, really.

They represent my maiden voyage trying the brand, and I see that they also make all kinds of neat-looking soaps and body products.

The glosses contain beets! Isn’t that cool? Presumably it’s for color, but I’m not totally sure.

I am weirdly stoked about the whole idea (because you know me and root vegetables — we’re tight like that).

As someone whose lips are almost always hella dry, I’m always on the market for a new vegetable…

Wait — I meant “new moisturizing gloss.” And my lips have been a little less uncomfortable since Shimmer, Whisper and Luster entered my life.

Some thoughts on the three Lip Gloss shades from the perspective of a perpetually dry-lipped girl…

Moisture — Off the hook! The hydrating ingredient-ology includes Cupuaçu butter (related to cacao), and GMO-free vitamin E oil, both of which are high on the ingredient list.
Finish and coverage — All of them are quite sheer. I can’t deny that I was hoping the colors would be more intense, and distinct from each other, but all three of them look more or less the same on my pigmented lips.
Flavor and scent — Hmm… Waxy and earthy? I can’t say it’s my favorite scent, but it does seem natural, I guess.
Formula and texture — Utterly adverbially excessively great. Just lots of “ly” words to the extreme. 🙂 They feel light, slick, non-sticky and smooth on my lips, but that lightness of the formula may also be why they don’t last very long. I get less than an hour of wear time from them and have to reapply often.

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NYX Gives Lashes More To Love With $7 Lush Lashes Mascara in More To Love

March 18th, 2014 by Karen 20 Comments

Seven lash-loving mascaras. Seven lush lash looks. Seven bucks each.

With NYX’s new Lush Lashes Mascaras, you could literally do a different lash look every day of the week.

That’s actually the idea. There are seven different mascaras in the line, which was recently released for spring, each one designed to create a different full-fringed effect.

The whole NYX Lush Lashes Mascara fam

XXL (LL01) — This hefty mascara really packs it on! XXL’s volumizing formula and va va va voom brush offer the ultimate tools needed to lift, define and curl even those hard to reach lashes.

BADUNKADUNK (LL02) — Bigger is better, and this full-sized formula has it all. The vitamin-enriched formula deepens, darkens and makes lashes look thicker. The full-sized brush reaches from root to tip while perfectly building beautiful, fuller-looking lashes

STACKED (LL03) — The sky’s the limit with our clump-free, voluminous formula. The unique combination of brushes build volume from the roots with the short teaser bristles and coat lashes easily from root to tip with the sky-high length bristles.

VOLUPTUOUS (LL04) — Have them guessing if they’re real or not with this well endowed formula. The thick tapered brush builds volume and is also ideal for reaching even the tiniest lashes.

FULL FIGURED (LL05) — Be big and be proud with our unforgettable waterproof formula. The straight brush shape easily grabs and coats each lash from root to tip to boost length.

CURVACEOUS (LL06) — For the ultimate volume and definition, this classic shaped brush is perfect for separating lashes and making them look thicker, bigger, more curvaceous.

MORE TO LOVE (LL07) — Love to love the look of your lashes. More to Love’s curved, super-sized bristles coat each and every lash with rich, deep color from root to tip while curling.

— nyxcosmetics.com

More to Love, the one I’ve been wearing, is great if you like lifted lash curls and extra long lashes.

It’s not the most volumizing mascara on the block — XXL or Badunkadunk would probably better for that — and I do get some flakes when I forget to follow the “Don’t rub your eyes, Karen!” rule, but I think it’s a solid performer.

I don’t notice any smudges or clumping, and I like the criss-cross way it arranges my lashes.

Is it holy grail? Well, this one, More to Love, probably not. I do crave more volume, but with crazy curl hold and lush lengthening power like this for only $7, it gets a thumbs up.

The entire Lush Lashes Mascara collection is available now at drugstores, Ulta and nyxcosmetics.com.

Unsung Makeup Heroes: Urban Decay 24/7 Glide-On Eye Pencil in Scorch

March 18th, 2014 by Karen 39 Comments

Dear UD Scorch,

‘Sup, boo? I’ve been missing you. We haven’t talked in a while (six months, give or take, but who’s counting?).

I just wanted to holla and ask, “How are you?” How’s my smokin’-hot, shimmery bronze liner love? Still the picture of pure perfection in a pencil?

Remember how we always loved to play in spring and summer? Whenever I’d bust out my beach bag and slip on my booty shorts (might as well work it while you can, right?), you were always right there for me, ready to help with the bronze and gold eye makeup looks I was wearing.

Urban Decay Scorch Swatch — Urban Decay 24/7 Glide-On Eye Pencil in Scorch ($20)

I wonder, are you the same way…?

I bet you are. 🙂 I bet you’d like me to swipe you along my lash lines, wouldn’t ‘cha? Just us, from the break of dawn till late at night, no fading, no smudging — nothing to break our bond.

I’ve been thinking about you again. A lot. And all of the things I want to do with you…like wearing you as a base for shimmery bronze eyeshadows.

Remember that time I layered you with UD’s Half Baked on top? That was smokin’ hot.

Oh! — or that time I wore you with MAC Woodwinked? Hotter than a five-alarm fire.

The 411 on Urban Decay 24/7 Glide-On Eye Pencil in Scorch

What is it? A silky soft $20 long-wearing shimmery bronze pencil liner with silver micro-glitter. Available now at Urban Decay counters and urbandecay.com.

Who might lurve it? Anyone who likes wearing warm bronze and gold shades on their eyes.

When’s a good time to wear it? How ’bout now? Or any time of year, but I think it comes into its own in spring and summer because it looks faboo with a tan.

What else? It’s a great liner alternative to basic brown and black.

How do you rock it? You can wear it as a straight-up eyeliner or as a base for powder shadows. It goes well with coral or hot pink cheeks and lips.

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The New Essie Spring 2014 Fashion Playground Collection: This Fashion Playground Looks Good Outside, Like It Was Inspired by Mother Nature

March 18th, 2014 by Karen 50 Comments

A Fashion Playground?

Nay, I say it’s an equinox-icating spring feast for the eyes! Like spring distilled into nail polish bottles, except without the — AHCHOO! — allergies.

Pass the Zyrtec and Kleenex, please, because I do not want to sneeze all over these beautiful bottles.

Like butterflies, the six-piece Essie Spring 2014 Fashion Playground collection flitted onto counters earlier this month, and I treated my paws to ’em this morning (SKITTLES MANI!) before going for a walk…

It’s crazy just how springy these six shades seem, like the bright blue sky and the two blue shades, or the mint green and the budding leaves on the oak trees outside. There’s also a big cherry tree down the street, and the blossoms are spitting images of the peach and pink pastels. And then there’s the fire bougainvillea bush, which could have been painted by the bright red.

These colors totally say, “Hey, y’all, spring is in full effect!” to me. 🙂

Officially, fashion runways were supposed to have inspired this release, like vintage denim and oversized prints — that kind of thing — but my crazy makeup mind sees more Mother Nature’s influence than Michael Kors’. Like Team Essie sat down with Mother Nature and brainstormed over a few cups of really strong Jamaican Blue Mountain coffee in a caffeine-fueled frenzy, then BOOM! — someone in the art department mixed some acrylics at the table to come up with azure Hide & Go Chic, light denim Truth or Flare, pistachio Fashion Playground, peachy nude Spin the Bottle, crimson Style Hunter and pale tea rose Romper Room.

What to watch

Essie is well-known for their delicate nudes and pastels, and chances are good that if you walk into any nail salon that carries the brand, you’ll see pale pinks, peaches and beiges FOR DAYS.

OK, those are fairly great, but I always look forward to their blues and greens (see: Mojito Madness, Pretty Edgy, Naughty Nautical and Under the Twilight).

Over the past few years, Essie’s released quite a few jazzy blue and green shades I can remember, which is kind of funny considering that for years I thought of the line as specializing in dainty bridal nails — primarily pinks and nudes.

This time around, I think the blues and greens are again the colors to watch out for (at least for me).

Hide & Go Chic

If you get a chance, let your paws play with Hide & Go Chic, the dark creamy blue.

I mean, look at it! It’s so rich… So deep… And a single layer works just fine (even though I went with two to be consistent with the other shades).

I also think this is the one that’ll sing on the widest range of skin tones. It’s the people’s blue!

Truth or Flare

True or Flare, the lighter, vintage denim blue, definitely benefits from a second coat. On my NC42 skin, I feel like the color doesn’t reach out and grab you by the eyeballs as readily as Hide & Go Chic. I like it, but I have a feeling it’ll like lighter lasses best.

Fashion Playground

And then there’s the green… Fashion Playground. Described as a pistachio shimmer, it certainly sounds delicious to me. 🙂 But I get more of a straight-up mint cream, as the tiny flecks of silver glitter swimming in the formula are very hard to see.

At first glance, it resembles Essie’s Candy Apple, but upon closer inspection I think it’s sightly deeper and darker.

One may have to play with Fashion Playground a bit (Ha! Sorry, bad pun). Two thick coats deliver fully opaque coverage, but they have to be thick… With thinner coats, it can look a little streaky and require 3-4 layers.

The remaining colors — the bright red and two creamy pale shades — strike me as rather typical of Essie (I feel like I’ve seen shades like them before), which is neither good nor bad, but they don’t really light my fire like the blues and greens.

Style Hunter

Crimson Style Hunter leans, ever so slightly, toward magenta. This one should be a blast on toes, methinks. 🙂 One coat or two works well.

Romper Room

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$6 NYX Chunky Dunk Hydrating Lippies: For a Quick Hit of Hydrating Color That Won’t Break the Bank

March 18th, 2014 by Karen 12 Comments

NYX Chunky Dunk Hydrating Lippie in Sex on the Beach (red shade) and Happy Buddha (brown shade)

NYX Chunky Dunk Hydrating Lippie in Sex on the Beach — Wearing NYX Chunky Dunk Hydrating Lippies in Sex on the Beach ($6)

Hey, you, buddy. Yeah, you, the person who invented these bunny stunna shades.

Thank you. 🙂

I can’t even begin to tell you much joy these things have brought me over the past few days. You couldn’t possibly understand, but then I am incredibly easily amused (it’s a lifestyle).

Like the stunna shades, these new NYX Chunky Dunk Hydrating Lippies are also packaged in plastic. They’re $6 a pop, new for spring, and come in 12 unscented, unflavored shades that are shiny, moisturizing and sheer, although adding more layers does ramp up the intensity.

Unfortunately, they only last about an hour for me…which isn’t great, but my lips are always dry, and I’ve got a thing for sheer pencil-type lipsticks, balms and glosses like these (that don’t require sharpening, as these are twist-ups. Gooooo laziness!), so right now I’ve got two of them in my purse, a reddish shade called Sex on the Beach and a brown nude named Happy Buddha.

Good for weekends and other casual lip looks.

They remind me of the Neutrogena MoistureSmooth Color Sticks, but are slightly more pigmented and slightly less moisturizing (not that they aren’t hydrating; just not as much as Neutrogena’s).

Dry-lipped gals, first off, I feel ya pain! Second, with these, you might need a little extra help from a balm.

All 12 shades are sitting pretty at Ulta stores and online at nyxcosmetics.com.

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Ask MBB: Makeup Tools of the Trade for Natural-Looking Contouring and Definition

March 18th, 2014 by Karen 23 Comments

I usually like to wear a little MAC Give Me Sun Mineralize Skinfinish or Guerlain Terra Nerolia Bronzer — just to add some warmth to my skin after applying foundation — and to get a very soft, natural contour.

Here’s what I typically do to contour in this video at the 10:21 mark…

I like that way just fine, but lately I’ve been wanting to try something different — a more defined, contoured look that’s a bit more sculpted, but not scary.

In this episode of Ask MBB, MAC Senior Artist Victor Cembellin weighs in with a few products and tools to get a sculpted, contoured effect that still looks natural.

Products mentioned…

Eek, I am all over that angled brush! It’s at the top of my mile-long MAC wish list.
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Massive Monday Flower Power and Monstrous Deck Garden Progress!

March 17th, 2014 by Karen 20 Comments

I can’t believe I’m saying this right now because it’s Home Depot we’re talking about, and El Hub can spend hours — HOURS! — looking at PVC pipes and 2x4s (seriously, that man can contemplate nails and power tools for DAYS), but last weekend I had so much fun at Home Depot.

First, I actually found a like-minded makeup-loving gal working there who wanted to talk about makeup. I was posting up in the power tools section babysitting El Hub’s cart when one of the sales associates walked by and complimented me on my shoes (I was wearing Tom’s flats).

The shoes led to makeup because, of course, all roads inevitably lead to makeup, LOL! And we chatted about blush for a while in the shadow of the circular saws…

Funny. 🙂

Then I wandered into the lawn and garden department, which was off the hook! It was like a country-sized botanical garden in a fairytale movie. There must have been tens of thousands of different plants.

I ended up with a cart filled with foliage (and, yes, El Hub got some lumber) for the garden on my deck.

I can’t wait to go back…

Here’s part of what I have on the deck so far. There’s a little more stuff on the other side, but I still have a ways to go… Gotta get some more cages for more tomatoes and more edible plants.

Any suggestions? I want plants that produce a lot of food.

Get a Fabulously Faux Glow With Guerlain’s New Terracotta Joli Teint Foundation

March 17th, 2014 by Karen 19 Comments

Guerlain Terracotta Joli Teint — Working my heart-shaped sunnies and a faux bronze glow with Guerlain’s new Terracotta Joli Teint

Taking bronzer to “the next level” (air quotes!).

Raise your hand if you’re a bronzer enthusiast — also known as someone who wears bronzer almost daily, hook or crook, without fail.

I am totally raising my hand right now. 🙂

Guerlain’s new Joli Teint was made for you.

Like a lightweight liquid bronzing foundation, or maybe a primer for your bronzer, it couples SPF 20 sun protection with a warm-toned matte finish and a flexible formula you can wear sheer or built up for more coverage.

Comparable to sunshine in a tube, this magical, lightweight fluid gives skin an instant touch of summer, leaving behind a perfectly radiant glow. Used on its own or paired with Terracotta Powder for buildable color, there is no easier and healthier way to create the perfect customizable tan for every complexion. Terracotta Joli Teint has a feather-light texture that glides on, leaving an incredibly fine and silky veil over the skin. It contains nourishing natural ingredients which counter the visible effects of fatigue, reviving dull skin for a radiant, even complexion. .
–Guerlain PR

Available in five shades — Light, Natural, Medium, Dark and Ebony — it can be worn all by itself as a standalone foundation, or combined with bronzer, which is the way it was designed to be used.

I like it both ways.

The shades are warmer and darker than the shades in Guerlain’s mainstream foundation line, Lingerie de Peau, giving your faux glow an extra boost, like a bronzing support tool.

Wear a little for sheer coverage, or build up layers for more.

Guerlain Terracotta Joli Teint swatches in Natural — Guerlain Terracotta Joli Teint swatches of Natural on my NC42 skin — that’s unblended on the left and blended on the right

Natural, the shade I’ve been wearing, has noticeably warm/orangey bronze undertones, and I like the way it partners with Guerlain Terra Nerolia, the bronzer I’ve been hooked on since last summer. It even has the same wonderful tiara flower scent.

At $53 a tube, it’s not budget by any means, but at least it performs. It goes on smoothly (no patchiness, not even on my dry spots, yay!), doesn’t settle into my exuberant pores, stays put all day long, and best of all, feels lighter than a feather on my skin — almost like nothing at all.

I wore it both days last weekend with a bit of bronzer and some blush, and my pores could breathe. I didn’t feel like I was suffocating under a layer of foundation.

I do a single pump on the back my hand, and then, using either clean fingers or a foundation brush, stipple it on my cheeks just under my cheekbones where I need the coverage. Then, I run whatever remains on the brush along my jawline, down the bridge of my nose and across my forehead.

By that point, if I feel like I need more coverage, I’ll do an extra “half pump,” patting and blending that to build up the level of coverage on my cheeks.

Then I followup with bronzer.

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