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

What Are Your Biggest Challenges When It Comes to Eye Makeup?

June 19th, 2013 by Karen 54 Comments

Wearing products from the new MAC Smokeluxe Veluxe Pearlfusion Palette ($40)

Is it drawing the perfect cat liner flick, blending beautiful gradients, or figuring out ways to make your eye makeup last through work?

My biggest eye makeup challenge is getting things properly lined up and even, particularly when it comes to shadow. I’m right-handed, and when I apply products on my left side, I push a little harder with the brush, and reach a little further, which can make the end result uneven.

I have to remind myself all the time to use a lighter touch on my left eye. “Use a lighter touch on your left eye, Karen.”

Lately my brows have also been a challenge. I’m trying to grow them out, and my left brow is just being a pain in the you-know-what. My brow bald spot (whom I call “Raul”) simply refuses to go away.

Dangit! Grow brows, grow!

Last thing is probably just remembering to try new looks and be adventurous! It’s easy to fall back on my safe colors and routines because I know they’re easy and work for me, but where’s the fun in that? It’s makeup, right? If it ends up looking wackadoo, just wash it off. 🙂

Do you have any eye liner/shadow/mascara/etc. issues? What are your biggest challenges when it comes to eye makeup?

Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,

Karen

DAILY PHOTO: My Cha-Cha-Cha Chia Vanilla, Raspberry and Blueberry Pudding Recipe

June 19th, 2013 by Karen 22 Comments

I’ve been obsessed with this yummy, easy snack. I used a chia pudding recipe I found on skinnytaste.com and tweaked it with some ingredients from my kitchen.

All you need is…

Two tablespoons of chia seeds (I get mine from Trader Joe’s; they’re in the cereal section)

One cup of berries, your choice (I used raspberries and blueberries today)

Time to make the pudding. 🙂

Cover and keep in the fridge for at least 5-6 hours. You can also make this before going to bed, and let it sit and thicken overnight to have for breakfast in the morning.

Just before serving, sprinkle in a few berries on top for color

Cha-cha-cha chia seeds!

Gazing Into These Crystal Balms, I See a Future Filled With Clarins Instant Smooth Crystal Lip Balms

June 18th, 2013 by Karen 24 Comments

Clarins Crystal Rose — Wearing Clarins Instant Smooth Crystal Lip Balm in Crystal Rose ($26) on my lips

I am no fortune teller.

No way, no how. I’ve never picked the winning lottery numbers, haven’t foreseen any major historical events, and I did not divine my evolution into a cat lady…although really, in hindsight, that one I should have seen comin’. 🙂

I can’t tell you if that guy/gal you’re dating is THE one (I’m keeping my fingers crossed for you!), but I can tell you this: if you plan to spend any time with these Clarins Instant Smooth Crystal Lip Balms this summer, you’ll be spending much of it swiping these balms back and forth across your lips. Back, back, forth and forth, as the song goes.

Clarins Instant Smooth Crystal Lip Balm 2 — The Instant Smooth Crystal Lip Balms from the left in Crystal Rose, Crystal Gold Plum and Crystal Mandarin (not pictured: Crystal Berry)

Yeah, these four new limited edition tinted lip balms require some serious swiping. A LOT of swiping. I think it has to do with the tinted inner core.

Released with the Clarins Splendours Colour Collection for summer, Crystal Rose, Crystal Mandarin, Crystal Gold Plum and Crystal Berry ($26 each) each have a yummy-looking tinted inner core surrounded by a transparent balm.

Don’t they look cool and almost good enough to eat?

Mmm… Like lipstick gummies. 🙂

I’ve been wearing and liking three of the four shades this week. Like a fancier, more pigmented species of Burt’s Bees lip balm, they have a lightweight but heavy-duty moisturizing formula that also packs a peck of shine. Non-sticky, they last around 2-3 hours for me.

Thing is, they also take a bit of work to wield. Lots of that swiping I mentioned, as in swiping the lipstick across my lips at least 5-6 times to evenly apply the colors.

Clarins Instant Smooth Crystal Lip Balm Swatches — From the left, that’s Crystal Rose, Crystal Mandarin and Crystal Gold Plum

I think there’s something up with that tinted inner core, like it’s a different texture than the softer outer balm. With the first pass across my lower lip, the swipe ends up patchy and uneven…

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Unsung Makeup Heroes: Dolce & Gabbana Contrasts Eyeshadow Quad

June 18th, 2013 by Karen 45 Comments

contrast n. |kon-trast|
noun
1 The state of being strikingly different from something else, typically something in juxtaposition or close association : tabs has been unusually nice to me today, in startling contrast to his behavior yesterday.

contrast v. |kon-trast|
verb
2 Differ strikingly : contrast my hair today with my hair of the 1990s, and be like whoa!

Do you ever think about how you got your name, or do you know the actual story?

Dolce & Gabbana’s Contrasts Eyeshadow quad has me thinking about names…

I was named after the actress Karen Black, but my mom almost named me Stephanie, which I can’t even begin to imagine… Not that I don’t like the name. I do. It’s just that when I look in the mirror, I don’t see a Stephanie, Steph or Steffie. Nope. Does not compute.

Funny, though, that last weekend I met a gal at the Bliss Spa who said that she didn’t think I looked like a Karen. She thought maybe a Leah, Leilani or a Lorelei. Something with an L, and I can kinda see that. Definitely more than Stephanie.

Anywho, I think whoever named Dolce & Gabbana’s Constrasts quad knocked it out of the park, since it really is strikingly different from the other everyday quads in my stash of staples.

If I could, I’d give that gal/guy a banana split with extra scoops of ice cream, whipped cream and cherries, because they nailed it!

And then, if he/she wanted, I’d go running with them, so we could burn off the calories and talk more about Constrasts. 🙂

The long-running Unsung Heroes series features some of my favorite permanent collection products from a variety of bodacious beauty brands.

This quad is a total workhorse, one I could easily see myself wearing daily, and yet it’s unlike the usual brown/beige/taupe/gray neutral suspects we see a lot.

Starting with the colors, ohmigosh! Inside the golden compact hides four potently pigmented powder shadows that you can easily take from day to night — a golden pinkish peach (a favorite for dusting all over my lids when I’m in a hurry because it brightens everything up), a pinkish beige, a warm purple and a plummy dark chocolate.

Versatile and flattering on many different skin tones, and just hella pretty.

Dolce Gabbana Contrasts Quad Swatches — From the left: shimmery golden pink, shimmery pinkish beige, shimmery plum and shimmery plummy brown (looks like a MAC Teddy in eye shadow form)

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The End of Kitten-hood

June 18th, 2013 by Karen 24 Comments

I was searching through old pictures this morning and found these shots of Tabs from 2008, which was just about the time he decided to make me his full-time assistant.

It was the tail-end of his kitten-hood. He’s a little smaller in these pics and still has his baby face. 🙂

The little paws! How I miss those days.

The lighting in these snaps is funkytown, I know. I was still figuring out how to use a camera properly. The best photography advice I can give? Shoot every day and make a lot of mistakes. You’ll eventually figure stuff out.

Have You Ever Cut Your Own Hair?

June 18th, 2013 by Karen 23 Comments

Note to the young people of the world! You probably don’t want to cut your own hair and then take pics… (me, circa 1990)

Yes, I have cut my own hair, and yes, it was disastrous.

During the darkest period of my hair bear days, a friend told me that she cut her own bangs, and she made it sound really, really easy. “Just cut different pieces unevenly from your bangs. Do it! You’ll love it!”

Um…

The reason for the uneven pieces was that when you pumped up your hair with hairspray, a curling iron and a blow dryer to get it to stand up, the choppiness would better recreate the appearance of a wall of hair cresting like a huge wave.

The higher, the better, of course. 🙂

I grabbed a pair of scissors from the kitchen and went to town, cutting random pieces of different lengths from my bangs. There was absolutely no rhyme or reason to it, just chop, chop, chop.

By the time I finished, my head looked awful, because my hair was also very wavy at the time, and when you cut wavy hair without any regard for the curl pattern, you end up with a hot mess.

Things got a little better when I pumped it up, which disguised the choppiness somewhat, and I really did end up with something resembling the look I wanted of a wave cresting on my head.

I don’t know… It was still pretty terrible, especially when I’d let it air dry and do it’s own thing. I looked like a reject from The Muppet Show.

How about you? Have you ever cut your own hair?

Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,

Karen

Pearl Particles Collide (BAM!) to Create a Whole Mess o’ Glitter in the MAC Veluxe Pearlfusion Shadows, Coming June 20 to the Permanent Line

June 17th, 2013 by Karen 25 Comments

What do you get when you put pearls in a particle accelerator?

I’ll tell you what you get — undersea oysters solving nuclear fusion equations, Ford Fusions with strands of pearls dripping from their rear-view mirrors, fusion cuisine that combines Asian flavors, and knitting (and purling!).

In other words, awesomeness. You get a whole lot of awesomeness. 🙂

You may also get MAC, as in the six new MAC Veluxe Pearlfusion Shadow palettes ($40 each) in MAC’s newest eye shadow formulation to join the permanent line. Powder shadows that feel like creams, they can be worn dry for a soft, sparkling finish, or wet for something shiny and metallic.

All six of the MAC Veluxe Pearlfusion Shadows

Lawd, I think I may have accidentally inhaled a little too much stray glitter playing with these palettes… The stuff was flying all over the place!

It was kind of weird, truth be told.

I expected these, with their soft, creamy texture, to glide effortlessly across my skin and blend together with a few swift swipes, and most of them did just that. With the palettes comprised primarily of satins and metallics, like Smokeluxe, Brownluxe and Greenluxe, I didn’t have any trubs at all. They were coo’.

When I applied Brownluxe, my heart skipped as I watched the shadow skate across my skin. My 217 barely had to do any work to smooth away every last line.

I actually had to stop myself from over-blending, as the colors melted together like good fondue.

Mmm, cheese…

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MAC and Second Acts, Where Opposites Attract: The RiRi Hearts MAC Summer Collection Makes a Reservation Online, Party of Five

June 17th, 2013 by Karen 43 Comments

MAC Heux Lipstick — MAC Heaux Lipstick, a matte berry from the new RiRi Hearts MAC Summer collection

What it do, RiRi Woo? The lipstick MAC remixed for Rihanna is back for a second act, and she brought along a few friends.

If you wanted (but missed) RiRi Woo the first time around, you’ll get a second chance to scoop it up, along with the rest of the five-piece limited edition RiRi Hearts MAC Summer collection, online starting tomorrow, June 18.

I had a play date with the collection this morning and had magnetic field day…

By magnetic, I mean opposites that attract, because for me, opposites permeate these products. Intense lip colors contrast with the sheer blush on cheeks, and the matte lipsticks and blush sit in stark contrast to the shimmery, sparkly highlighter.

I like it. The whole dang idea.

Sure, the collection is short and sweet, but you get a lot of juxtaposition here. The look doesn’t seem flat at all, which can be an issue with some collections that feature this much matte.

Maybe it’s just a flashback to my English Major days, but I also like to think that MAC and Rihanna intended for the opposing elements to be symbolic of RiRi, whose stage persona seems both raw and vulnerable at the same time.

That, or perhaps I’ve listened to Stay one too many times…

Lipsticks in RiRi Woo, RiRi Boy and Heaux ($15 each)

MAC Riri Hearts MAC Lipsticks Drops — From the left: Heaux, RiRi Boy, RiRi Woo and Lustre Drops in Barbados Girl

Far and away, I think the most popular pieces from this collection are going to be the lipsticks ($15 each). The core girls/guys on Team MAC love intense color, and red RiRi Woo, lavender RiRi Boy and berry Heaux deliver it in droves.

But gosh, these sure feel dry… They tug at my skin and feel like I’m wearing a thick layer of cornstarch on my lips.

That said, the mega matte way these look is still pretty bangin’. They’re chic and oh! — photograph very well.

I like these for their looks, because they’re definitely not the most comfortable lip products or the easiest to apply. If you don’t mind suffering for your fashion, you’re in luck. These are like 5-inch spiked heels in lipstick clothing. Plus, the whole matte thing is so hella ’90s, which I love.
MAKEUP AND BEAUTY BLOG RATING: B+

Powder Blush Duo in Hibiscus Kiss ($26)

MAC Hibiscus Kiss — Hibiscus Kiss Powder Blush

Cheek this out, babe!

I flipped a sprocket when I saw the neutral bronze and coral in this Hibiscus Kiss Powder Blush Duo ($26), but my fever waned when I swatched it for the first time.

The blasted thing feels hard to the touch and applies very sheer.

It shows up a little better on my skin when I apply it with the brush (which, unfortunately, also takes longer), but still — not by much. I have to really build this up in layers to get a look I like. Sorry, no intense flushes here, but this might light your fire if you like super sheer cheeks.
MAKEUP AND BEAUTY BLOG RATING: B-

Lustre Drops Liquid Highlighter in Barbados Girl ($20)

What a nice surprise! From the Lustre Drops in Barbados Girl, I expected a clone of Pink Rebel, but it’s actually a different deal. This liquid highlighter contains more bronze, and there are tiny flecks of glitter swimming around in it.

The effect’s flashy enough to notice from a few feet away, but it’s not gonna hit anyone over the head and say, “LOOK AT ME!!”

I’d call this perfect if it wasn’t so easy to over-apply. The glitter can get a little goopy if you use too much (yep, like I did at first).
MAKEUP AND BEAUTY BLOG RATING: A-

MAC Hibiscus Kiss Lustre Drops Swatch — Swatches of Hibiscus Kiss Powder Blush on the left and Lustre Drops on the right (unblended and blended)

MAC Riri Boy Riri Woo Heux Swatches — Lipstick swatches from the left: Riri Boy, Riri Woo and Heaux

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