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

Do You Take The Monsters Bride MAC Pro Palette X 6 To Be Your Lawfully Wedded Workhorse Eye Palette of the Week? I Do

October 18th, 2013 by Karen 8 Comments

In the event you currently have a hankering for a bridal eye palette with a pan of Kermit the Frog-like green eyeshadow, you’re in luck! There’s the MAC Monster’s Bride Pro Palette X 6 ($44 US, $52 CAN).

It’s more than just a gimmick, too. It contains several MAC workhorse (err, work frog?) shades.

You’ve also got some capable brow fillers here, like Omega for blondes, and Brun, which doubles as a great brow filler for brunettes with warm reddish tones in their hair (it’s what I’m using these days).

For smokey eyes, you get Club and Carbon — two absolute champs.

And then there’s Mylar, which doubles as a bad-@ss brow bone or inner corner highlighter.

The Monster’s Bride Pro Palette is haunting select MAC locations and online now as part of the Rick Baker collection…

MAC The Monster's Bride Swatch Pro Palette X 6 Swatches from the left: Mylar, Omega, Bitter, Club, Brun and Carbon — The Monster’s Bride Pro Palette X 6 Swatches from the left: Mylar, Omega, Bitter, Club, Brun and Carbon

Pose for Your Picture [CLICK]: Revlon PhotoReady Primer + Shadow in Graffiti

October 18th, 2013 by Karen 7 Comments

Are you ready for your photo?

Of course you are, with the Revlon PhotoReady Primer + Shadow palette in Graffiti (about $7.50).

Available now online and at CVS, Rite Aid and Target stores (and probably about a zillion other drugstores that carry Revlon).

Laura Mercier’s Luxe Stickgloss Holiday Collection Sticks It to Dry Lips

October 18th, 2013 by Karen 15 Comments

Laura Mercier Baby Lips Stickgloss — Baby Lips

To all my dry-lipped ladies, throw yo’ hands up! Throw yo’ hands up! Throw yo’ hands up!

If I were a platinum record-selling rap superstar, and not just a husky tabby’s professional pet assistant, that would be my on-stage audience response chant.

I seriously doubt that it would catch on pop culture fire like “Who let the dogs out” did, which reminds me, remember when people were using that in casual conversation, like “How’s it going, Jane?” “Oh, it’s going great. Who let the dogs out!? Who, who, who, who — who let the dogs out!?”

So annoying…

Whatevs, I live for excitement! I want everyone to throw their hands up like I did when I tried the four lippies in Laura Mercier’s new $48 Luxe Stickgloss Collection holiday set.

Sheer and slick, like a cross between a lipstick and a balm, they hydrate like ca-ray-zaaaay! — and look great, too. Rosy pink Brown Sugar, warm pink Baby Lips, coppery Courtisane and plummy Peony glow with a soft, sophisticated shine, and they also make my lips look a little fuller, methinks.

Laura Mercier Stickgloss Set — Pretty ladies!

Laura Mercier Courtisane Stickgloss — Courtisane

Laura Mercier Brown Sugar Stickgloss — Brown Sugar

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What Are Your Go-To Nude Lip Products?

October 18th, 2013 by Karen 41 Comments

Tom Ford Sable Smoke — Wearing Tom Ford’s Sable Smoke Lipstick

Because every gal needs an endless supply of my-lips-but-better shades! I say we pool our collective knowledge today to build a list of great go-to nude lip possibilities.

You gotta wear something with smokey eyes this season, right? 🙂

Here are the nude lip colors I’ve reached for most this fall…

Tom Ford Sable Smoke: It’s pricey, as all of Tom’s products are, but whoa, baby! It could be the world’s most perfect peachy nude beige. Also very pretty on pigmented lips.
Too Faced Spice Spice Baby: A dark, moisturizing pink nude that also works well with pigmented lips. I reach for it when my lips are extra dry…which lately has been pretty much all the time, thanks to the heater being on again.
MAC Big Baby: No exaggeration, but I’ve probably gone through three tubes of this fantastically flexible pink nude gloss over the past year. I think it goes great with warm- and cool-toned eye looks.

How about you? What are your go-to nude lip products these days?

Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,

Karen

P.S. TGIF!!!

Light Just Loves BECCA Rose Gold Shimmering Skin Perfector Pressed

October 17th, 2013 by Karen 19 Comments

Three reasons to FREAK THE EFF OUT when you meet BECCA’s latest highlighter, the new $38 Shimmering Skin Perfector in Rose Gold…

1. The geometric design on the pan

So modern… So elegant…. I almost couldn’t bear to touch it with my finger the first time.

2. The gorgeous rosy gold color

What is this 1849 again? The start of another gold rush? 🙂 The pan really does look like it’s made from rose gold, doesn’t it?

It also makes skin glow, but not in that disco ball/oily way. I like this glow a lot.

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Don’t Be Afraid of the MAC Spider Queen Pro Palette X 6

October 17th, 2013 by Karen 8 Comments

You’ll feel like a queen — a terrifying spider queen! — in MAC’s Spider Queen Pro Palette X 6 ($44 US, $52 CAN).

It hails from ~~the great beyond~~ the Rick Baker collection, a festive Halloween-themed special effects release that arrived a little earlier this month.

It’s available now at select MAC locations, haunted mansions, graveyards and online…

MAC Spider Queen Pro Palette X 6 Swatches from the left: Lime, Moss, Deep Purple, Indian Ink, Dusty Purple and Carbon — Swatches from the left: Lime, Moss, Deep Purple, Indian Ink, Dusty Purple and Carbon

The Laura Mercier Artist’s Palette for Eyes Turns Super-Blended Eye Looks Into Works of Art

October 17th, 2013 by Karen 50 Comments

Laura Mercier Artist's Palette 2013 — Laura Mercier’s new Artist’s Palette for Eyes ($48)

Some artists wield pencils. Others command paint, clay, pen or pastels.

My medium of choice: cat fur.

Gurl, you don’t even know! My cat is one hairy beast. In fact, he’s so hairy that a sculptor could fashion a different life-size model of him out of stray tabby hairs and fur balls every week.

My second favorite artistic medium would have to be eyeshadow, I think, mostly because there are just so many different things you can do with it, and this new palette by Laura Mercier is unlocking my inner artiste, big time.

The $48 Artist’s Palette for Eyes (a Sephora exclusive) will have you itching to break out your makeup brushes. The six warm neutrals, and six cool pinks and purples, practically beg to be swept, blended and patted on lids in any number of enticing holiday eye looks.

Come to mama, smokey eyes!

Don’t even worry about busting your wrist while blending these eyeshadows. They’re pigmented, but the soft, finely-milled powders blend ridiculously well.