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

Ask MBB: What’s Your Favorite Foundation for Pictures?

November 7th, 2013 by Karen 29 Comments

I was wondering what is your favorite foundation to wear when you are taking pictures?

–Jeannie Tran

Hey Jeannie,

Wow! I’ve actually been getting asked this a lot lately (YAY!), so it must have something to do with the changes I’ve made to my foundation routine.

The whole shebang’s kind of involved so, uh, maybe the best way to handle this is to just go step-by-step.

1. MAC Prep + Prime Natural Radiance Base Visage

My first step — the product I use as a primer all over my skin — has been a staple of my makeup bag for a really long time. I never, ever skip this step when I’m going to be taking pics and have any say in the matter because I sincerely see a difference between when I do and I don’t.

It just makes whatever foundation I’m wearing look…better, and more natural, and mellows out my pores.

There are so many different face primers out there. I’ve tried a bunch, but one’s my favorite. I think I’m on my third of fourth bottle now. I love it that much.

I love how the formula feels — like a face lotion, and not like a regular primer just sitting on top of the skin, like the kind that have a lot of silicone. It’s also moisturizing, but it doesn’t give me breakouts, which is great, especially this time of year when my skin gets dry.

2. MAC Face and Body Foundation

LOVE! I’ve written a few posts about MAC Face and Body Foundation (I use shade C5) because I absolutely love it. Long story short: it’s lightweight, more like a tinted moisturizer than anything else, but you can layer it to build up the coverage. I love that it doesn’t look obvious or heavy in pics (you see it used on a lot on movie sets), once it dries, it won’t budge.

Seriously, I’ve worn this out and about on 16-hour days, and it’s never caked, streaked or gotten funky.

It does have a dewy, slightly shiny finish, which I actually like for everyday wear, but for pics, which is what we’re talking about here, I set it with a powder to tone down the shine.

3. NARS Radiant Concealer

This is one of the more recent adjustments I’ve made to my routine. I had been using Bobbi Brown Stick Foundation wherever I needed more coverage, but I ran out a while back and grabbed NARS Pure Radiant Concealer on a whim.

I wear the shade “Biscuit.” I dab a little on the areas where I want more coverage — usually my cheeks, around my nose, around my mouth and along my jaw line. Then I buff it into the Face & Body with a skunk brush.
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Giorgio Armani’s 4-in-1 Multicolor Eccentrico Illuminator Face Palette Is Full of Surprises

November 6th, 2013 by Karen 11 Comments

Wearing the new limited edition $88 Giorgio Armani Eccentrico Face Palette

Oh, boy. I’ve been procrastinating for the past 45 minutes. I don’t even know how it’s 6:45 right now. It’s like, I took these goofy-@ss pictures, watched 15 minutes of Flowers in the Attic on Netflix (so bad it’s good), played with the new MAC Masterclass Brushes for a second, did some swatching, and now it’s almost 7, and I have absolutely nothing written except for a bunch of crazy talk.

Whatever. We’ll just call this phase of the blog, “The ramblings of a crazy cat lady,” or “The eccentric ramblings, and occasional blush reviews, of a formerly somewhat sane woman with a penchant for felines.”

Anyway. This palette. Giorgio Armani. Holiday. “Eccentrico.”

I feel like that’s a metaphor for my life right now.

I walk around looking relatively normal…

But I feel like this inside…

Yeah.

This looks like a pretty standard peachy pink highlighter when you open it. I expected something, I dunno, more like MAC Mineralize Skinfinish in Soft & Gentle, or a warm rosy gold like the new BECCA highlighter.

But then I brushed off the top layer, a very pretty golden overspray with a warm golden sheen finish, and all hell broke loose.

Which reminds me, I watched four episodes of My Big Fat American Gypsy Wedding yesterday, and the words “bling” or “bling-tastic” were spoken at least 15 times. I loved it. And those cray-cray dresses, OMG!

But enough about that. Back to the pan…

When I brushed off the overspray, I actually went, “SHUT UP!” Things got really, really interesting.

Was it $88 interesting? I don’t know, but stuff was hiding under that overspray — beautiful sections of bright, beautiful hot pink, white, orange and lavender, like totally frickin’ rad street art or something.

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Working Through Some Things With the Bobbi Brown Limited Edition Twilight Pink Lip & Eye Palette

November 6th, 2013 by Karen 30 Comments

Bobbi Browxn Deluxe Lip and Eye Palette — Wearing the new Bobbi Brown Limited Edition Twilight Pink Lip & Eye Palette

Friend, I’m hoping you can help me through this bout of grade-A writer’s block by forgiving me for rambling and blabbering on (more than usual) while I slog my way through it.

Truth is, after 8,729 posts about makeup (seriously, that’s how many posts I’ve done)…sometimes you run out of new ways to say, “This is (or isn’t) a pretty kick-@ss palette.”

First, this was supposed to be a post about Bobbi Brown’s new limited edition $80 Twilight Pink Lip & Eye Palette, but whether it ends up being that or something else, we’re about to find out.

Ha! I made myself laugh…

At least that’s a start. 🙂

So, back to the palette. It’s new for the holidays, houses 10 powder eyeshadows in a mix of matte, shimmer and glitter finishes; four sheer lip colors and two tiny brushes (which, eh, are just OK).

See, here’s the good thing about wearing smokey eyes…

Uh…I don’t even know what I’m talking about. I’m just going to sit here and move my fingers until I think of something to say.

I warn you — it might take a while.

Bobbi Brown Deluxe Lip and Eye Palette eyeshadows — The eyeshadows

Alright, Karen, what’s the most surprising thing about this palette?

Gosh, Karen, I don’t know. I keep trying to think of a snappy intro, like, I could make a joke about Twilight, the movie, or maybe say something about the lack of warmth in the palette.

Gawd, my hand is throbbing… This is what I get for not cleaning the floors. I actually fell, slow motion, in my office today, and the lamest thing of all was that I was barely moving when it happened. I was just walking slowly to my chair.

Honestly, it’s a miracle the bookshelf didn’t fall on me.

I guess we can just file that under “Not-So-Exciting Things That Happened Today.”

As for things filed under “Good Things That Happened Today,” I did a dark smokey eye with this palette, and it didn’t turn out half bad.

Bobbi Brown Deluxe Lip and Eye Palette lip products — The lip products

Maybe I should talk about the palette now…

OK, the palette, the palette, the palette! It’s by Bobbi Brown, new for holiday, WOOTY TOOT TOOT! Bobbi Brown’s new limited edition holiday palette features 10 powder eyeshadows and four lip colors housed in one sleek mirrored kit. There are also two mini brushes included as well for on-the-go touch-ups.

I HATE THAT WORD FEATURED. I HATE THAT WORD HOUSED. I HATE FEATURED, HOUSED, BOASTS, OFFERS, because I would never, ever say any of those words in casual conversation. Holy sh*t, this is angry, angry typing. I can barely see straight.

Anyway, new palette, new for holiday. It’s got a lot of cool-toned colors.

Oh, boy, I’m not going to be able to use any of this at all. Keep breathing, don’t freak out, pretend you’re just talking to Jen.

I guess I would tell her that most of the colors are very cool-toned, with a couple of neutrals. Not a lot here for people in the warmer skin tone department.

I hate that word, “department.”

Bobbi Brown Deluxe Lip and Eye Palette packaging — The packaging

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It’s Cool To Stay Up Late With the MAC Stroke of Midnight Eyes: Cool Eye Kit

November 6th, 2013 by Karen 8 Comments

I don’t know why, but I just thought of a stoner saying, “Stroke of midnight. Cool…”

At the stroke of midnight, I hope to be sound asleep, whereas this little kit hopes to be in thousands of purses and paws.

Just some swatches and pics of the new MAC Stroke of Midnight Eyes: Cool Eye Kit ($39.50), available now at MAC counters, stores and online.

MAC Stroke of Midnight Eyes: Cool swatches — Swatches on my NC42 skin

I Wonder If Yoda Would Like The Tarte of Giving Collector’s Set & Travel Bag

November 6th, 2013 by Karen 25 Comments

The flowing words not today.

Writer’s block girl currently has. Through it she’s working. Apologizes she does for sounding like Yoda. 🙁

New The Tarte of Giving Collectors Set & Travel Bag pics and swatches here are.

The set comes with…

20 x .07 oz Limited-Edition Amazonian Clay Eye Shadows
8 x .059 oz Deluxe Maracuja Lipglosses
0.23 oz Deluxe Pure Maracuja Oil
0.08 oz Deluxe Maracuja C-Brighter Eye Treatment
0.05 oz Deluxe Limited-Edition Amazonian 12-Hour Clay Blush in Memorable
0.17 oz Deluxe Cheek Stain in Flush
0.16 oz Deluxe Lights, Camera, Lashes 4-In-1 Mascara
Travel Makeup Bag

It’s available now at Sephora and sephora.com.

Tarte The Tarte of Giving Collectors Set Travel Bag — It opens up to reveal three parts…

Tarte The Tarte of Giving Collectors Set Travel Bag Eye Palette — Products for face, cheek and lashes

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The NARS Guy Bourdin Cosmetic Pochette and Bad Camera Timing

November 5th, 2013 by Karen 18 Comments

NARS Guy Bourdin Cosmetic Pouchette, $75 — Having a heart-to-heart with the new NARS Guy Bourdin Cosmetic Pouchette, ba-dum-bump!

This (above) is the face you make when you see the cute hearts on the new NARS Guy Bourdin Cosmetic Pochette…

And this (below) is the face you make when you hear your husband yell, “TABS, NO!” and you turn your head exactly when the camera’s timer goes off.

So El Hub and Tabs were out on the deck yesterday, and when El Hub wasn’t looking, Tabs jumped up on the railing — a strict no-no in our house.

That’s about 20 feet above the ground, and Tabs isn’t exactly an agile circus cat, if you catch my drift. He’s a husky tabby with slow reflexes, or let me put it this way: sometimes when he falls while climbing his cat tower, he does not land on his feet.

El Hub walked over and snatched Tabs up before anything else could happen, but it still gave us quite a scare…

Doesn’t have anything to do with this leather makeup pouch, but it does explain my look of surprise in that picture.

The pouch, which has a zippered closure and a small zippered pocket inside, is limited edition and $75 (yikes!).

I could just tell you the dimensions…but I’d rather tell you what it holds. (OK, I’ll do both. It’s 7.75 inches wide and 4.75 inches long.)

It holds…

Six full-sized NARS blushes, or
One standard-sized round pressed powder compact, three lipsticks and a blush, or
One Fancy Feast Appetizer package (“Tilapia in a delicate broth”) and a handful of Turkey Flavored Temptations Treats.

It’s not exactly cheap at all, but it is pretty cute.

It’s available now at NARS counters, stores and online.

What’s Small, and Yet Also Larger Than Life? The New NARS Voyeur Mini Larger Than Life Eyeliner Coffret

November 5th, 2013 by Karen 9 Comments

When Juliet asked, “What’s in a name?” girlfriend could have been talking about the new NARS Voyeur Mini Larger Than Life Eyeliner Coffret, because first of all, what’s a coffret? And second, what’s both mini and larger than life at the same time?

Weird. But also cool.

This $49 coffret is a satin and patent heart-embellished makeup pouch, and it comes with five little Larger Than Life Eyeliners.

It’s available now online and at NARS counters and boutiques as part of the Guy Bourdin collection.

What do you think? Good deal or bad? The website says it’s a $62 value.

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Powder, and Not Flour, Powers Laura Geller’s 25 Shades of Baked Holiday Eyeshadow Collection

November 5th, 2013 by Karen 16 Comments

What are your favorite baked goods?

Croissants, fresh French bread, cupcakes or sourdough? How about brick-oven pizza crust, blueberry muffins, bear claws or holiday eye palettes?

Wait — what was that last one?

Holiday eye palettes, like Laura Geller’s new 25 Shades of Baked Holiday Eyeshadow Collection, with its piping hot jewel-toned and neutral baked shadows.

The shimmery finishes should be perfect fits for holiday parties, and just think of all the looks you could do with 25 shades! 🙂

It’s on the menu now for $66 over at qvc.com.

Reservations not required.