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

Sundays With Tabs the Cat, Makeup and Beauty Blog Mascot, Vol. 717

July 3rd, 2022 by Karen 4 Comments

Baby, you’re a firework! Yes, I just quoted Katy Perry, who was the star of one of Tabs’s annual Fourth of July barbecues.

That year I was in charge of the fireworks display, which isn’t something you usually find in the job description for a cat assistant, but when you assist a high-powered kitty supermodel, you learn a thing or two about big displays.

I think he mostly liked this holiday because red, white and blue looked really great with his fur…

But he also loved the social aspect of it too, hanging out with his closest friends like Ryan Reynolds, Ryan Gosling, Ryan Seacrest… Basically all the Ryans.

Rosie

For many years I worked on the Fourth of July, but I now that I assist for Rosie, she gives me the day off. She’s a kinder boss; I’ll give her that. But I don’t know if it’s true kindness. I think she just wanted the day to herself to work on her calculations. 🤷‍♀️

Right now she’s working on discovering a formula to maximize the cat-to-hot dog ratio at any given 4th of July barbecue… She’s all about using science to achieve maximum satiation with minimal effort. 😹

As a homage to Tabs, she decided to wear his Independence Day collar design this year, but with a special Rosie twist, a red rose on her blue and white collar.

Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,

Karen

Saturday Surfing, July 2, 2022!

July 2nd, 2022 by Karen 8 Comments

Well, hey there, friend. Happy Caturday to you! Look what I found at Cost Plus a few weeks ago. Did you ever have this candy when you were a kid? I used to eat it all the time. We’d ride our bikes down to what all the neighborhood kids called “The Chinese Store” in the old part of town, park our wheels in the front (without having to lock them up!), and we’d go inside to buy popsicles, Lemonheads and Boton Rice Candy. Gotta love those summertime core memories!

What would you and the kid crew on your street do back in the day during the summer?

This week’s reading

If I lived in New York, I’d stop by this art-meets-scent exhibition called “Religious Vegetables,” which pushes the boundaries of perfume.
Here’s a breakdown of the different levels of perfume, from eau de cologne to pure perfume.
Take a trip down memory lane with these old school Bath & Body Works scents. Juniper Breeze, anyone?
Put Henry Jacques on your fragrance bucket list for the next time you visit Paris, ooh la la!
Dermatologists recommend these products for acne-prone skin. Side note: my chin and I are listening.
If you have a Costco membership, FYI, there are a few Cetaphil workhorses currently on sale.
5 quick and easy hair changes that instantly transform your look.
Despite being buried for over 30,000 years, a baby mammoth found in Canada’s Yukon territory still had hair, skin and tusks intact.
Thermochromic hair dye is a temporary hair color product that changes hue with even a subtle shift in temperature.
According the pros, these are the 15 best hair growth products.

I was really hoping he’d do “Yeah!”

Interesting!

OK, does Chili not age? Where is her fountain of youth?

This looks like good fun.

Love this song!

Another old fave from back in the day.

Have a great rest of your weekend. I’ll be spending mine cleaning and organizing the house! I also have to stop by Macy’s to look at furniture.

Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,

Karen

5 Things I’ve Been Loving Lately

July 1st, 2022 by Karen 6 Comments

1. CFX Resistance Bands

I got these to replace the plastic resistance bands I’ve been using for years (I ended up tearing the medium and heavy bands, LOL). These are so much better! They don’t fall down your legs, are easy to remove, and the resistance is actually very substantial, so your muscles are forced to really feel the burn. I bought my set of light, medium and heavy bands on Amazon, and I used them today during this leg workout!

2. T3 Bodywaver

This is a large barrel curling iron that works great for curling hair into loose, big curls. It gets really, really hot, so I never go beyond the second setting to avoid burning my hair.

Anywho, I bought it years ago and kinda forgot about it, but I’ve been using it a ton lately to get my hair bouncy, big and smooooooove. It’s especially useful for ironing out my wild, wayward grays. With this tool, it takes about five minutes total to sort my hair out.

3. Green Tea Mochi at Trader Joe’s

Oh em gee, so good. My whole family is straight up addicted to these little pockets of green tea ice cream wrapped up in a sweet, chewy, rice dough wrapper. I have a sweet tooth and need a little something-something after dinner, and after one or two of these, I’m good.

4. Basketball movies

I’ve watched a couple good ones lately: “Hustle” on Netflix and “Rise” on Disney Plus. Both are family friendly and thoroughly enjoyable.

I may have cried a little watching this

I cried a TON watching this one

5. The word of the day screensaver

I have my screensaver set to “word of the day” on my computer (here’s how to do it). I freakin’ love it because it’s an easy way to bump up your vocabulary! Today’s word was a good one, by the way.

Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,

Karen

P.S. TGIF!

Summery Taupe Smoke

June 29th, 2022 by Karen 12 Comments

Oh, smokey eyes, I’ve missed you!

I wore shimmery, summery, taupe-y smokey eyes to take Connor to gymnastics camp and swimming lessons yesterday. I can say with 100% certainty I was the only person in both instances wearing smokey eyes, which kinda bums me out. Think of how visually interesting it would be if you could stand in a gymnastics camp line at 10 a.m. on a Tuesday and stare at a variety of smoked out lids. I may be alone in wanting this to be a thing, but whatevs!

The star of this summery smoke show is a liquid shadow by Chanel called Vastness. It’s a warm, bronzy taupe with a deliciously subtle shimmer. It used to be part of Chanel’s permanent collection but appears to be missing in action on the Chanel website, which is a bummer, because it’s SO GOOD. It’s easy to blend, has a perfect level of pigment and you don’t need much at all. I did some digging and found it on the Macy’s website, but it’s low stock, so grab it while you can!

I’m wearing Vastness with Espresso liner, a Chanel workhorse. I lined my eyes, then applied the shadow using this technique to smoke it out.

For my lips and cheeks, I went with a bright, juicy pink, Honest Beauty Liquid Lipstick in Goddess. I swiped a layer on my lips, blended it with a finger, then used the same finger to tap the lipstick onto the apples of my cheeks as blush. Then, I dabbed Ilia Lip Tint in Tahiti on my lips for a touch of shine.

The glowing base is Rose Inc Skin Enhance Tinted Serum (I wear shade 80)! It’s quickly becoming one of my favorites for sheer coverage. More on this in a few.

Hope your week is going great so far and that life is treating you well. Has anything good happened to you lately?

Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,

Karen

Red Hot Summer Lips!

June 28th, 2022 by Karen 18 Comments

I’m not a fan of Red Hot candies (too spicy), but I do love me some matte red lipstick!

Yesterday’s Monday Poll question about matte red lipstick inspired this makeup look with glowing skin, softly defined brows, lush lashes, pearly lids and a matte orangey red lip.

It’s amazing how much heavy lifting a red lip can do, and equally amazing how I seem to forget this lesson time and time again, LOL! When I put this red lipstick on yesterday (it’s MAC Quite the Standout, by the way), once again I realized how red lips can carry most of the makeup since it’s such a strong focal point. One really doesn’t need much to round out the look.

To contrast with the opaque matte lip, I went with a sheer, glowing base with low-level pearl (Rose Inc Skin Enhance in 80), with just a touch of concealer (Hourglass Retouching Fluid in Sand) on the parts where I wanted more coverage — underneath my eyes and on my upper lip, and oh, side note, damn that pigment mustache.

I set the areas with concealer with a tiny touch of powder by loading a small face brush with MAC Mineralize Skinfinish Natural in Medium Golden. I tapped most of the powder off before lightly dabbing the brush head on my face.

I also wanted to play with texture, so I blended a cream blush (Chanel Les Beiges No. 25) on my cheeks, and dabbed a pearly liquid highlighter (MAC Strobe Cream) on my cheekbones and lids.

To round out the look, I went with softly filled in brows and separated, long, lush lashes to keep it fresh and summary.

I think this look could also be lovely with a glossy coral lipgloss or lip tint, too!

Do you have a red lipstick that you adore? Drop your go-to shade in the comments; I want to hear all about it.

Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,

Karen

Makeup and Beauty Blog Monday Poll, Vol. 735

June 27th, 2022 by Karen 20 Comments

Solid advice from my new Nespresso cups!

So…what is the Monday Poll?

Excellent question! It isn’t, contrary to its name, an actual poll, like with little clicky buttons. It’s just a list of more or less random questions I’ve been posting on this blog every Monday morning for the past quadrillion years (since 2007).

1. Sequins or rhinestones?

Sequins because they’re not as heavy as rhinestones, so you can wear more of them. LOL!

2. Do you usually wear matte red lipstick during the summer?

Sure, why not? I would keep the rest of the makeup pretty minimal with contrasting textures to balance the formality of the matte lip. Sheer, slightly glowing base on skin, cream blush (I almost typed “cream cheese blush,” hahaha), maybe a swish of pearly highlighter and lots of mascara. Then, brows filled in with the lightest touch of pencil. Hmmm, maybe I’ll wear this look today!

3. How often do you wear wigs?

Rarely, although I do admire the ladies who have an extensive collection and can change their look at the drop of a hat!

4. How are your hairstyling skills?

Alright if I have enough time. If I’m feeling rushed, forget about it. We’re doing a funbun or a low pony, 100%. If I have time to really work at it, then I can do more complicated things, like heat styling, braids, etc.

5. Black or white nail polish?

White opaque nail polish on short fingernails, please. It feels very fresh and summery!

6. Are bangs a good idea?

Depends. If your hair naturally wants to fall in a way that supports bangs, then go for it. If you have to fight your hair to get the bangs to look decent, then let it go. Yes, I learned this lesson the hard way.

7. Your thoughts on chunky highlights?

I wore them back in the day and LOVED them. They were fun and fabulous, and dare I say, low key tacky on me. I still rocked them, though! I probably wouldn’t do them at this stage in my hair life, since I’m stuck on having things look as natural as possible at the moment.

8. What’s for lunch today?

I’m not sure yet, but I’m thinking about a yummy tomato and cucumber salad with balsamic glaze dressing with some kind of protein from the Whole Foods deli. Maybe salmon or chicken? Sigh. I am forever looking for ways to sneak more protein into my meals. It’s a part-time job.

9. Which would you rather set your summer makeup with: makeup setting spray or powder?

This one’s hard. I think a sheer layer of powder is a good thing for setting strategically placed foundation and concealer because it does a better job of locking makeup down; however, I also think makeup setting sprays look more natural on skin than powder when it’s hot and sunny outside, since powder can be obvious in bright sunlight. If I had to pick just one, then makeup setting spray, I guess.

Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,

Karen

P.S. Here are the questions to copy/paste with your answers in a comment. Talk to ya soon.

1. Sequins or rhinestones?
2. Do you usually wear matte red lipstick during the summer?
3. How often do you wear wigs?
4. How are your hairstyling skills?
5. Black or white nail polish?
6. Are bangs a good idea?
7. Your thoughts on chunky highlights?
8. What’s for lunch today?
9. Which would you rather set your summer makeup with: makeup setting spray or powder?

P.P.S. Good morning, friend. Happy Monday to you. A quick reminder just in case you need it: even the seemingly smallest victories are still victories. Keep chugging along! You’ve got this! 🤗

Sundays With Tabs the Cat, Makeup and Beauty Blog Mascot, Vol. 716

June 26th, 2022 by Karen 3 Comments

Tabs was one of those lucky cats who could do almost anything. Whatever he touched turned to gold. I mean, not literally. He wasn’t an alchemist or anything, although I feel like if he had tried transmutation, he would have succeeded at it.

He was not afraid to take bold risks, especially when it came to entrepreneurialship. He was not content to just be a pretty face. He had several side hustles going on at any given time, and yes, this kept me busy.

Sometimes a little too busy. But I didn’t mind.

Rosie

Now Rosie has decided to dip her toes into the side hustle world. She’s starting one-on-one life coaching for cat ladies who want to take their cat ladying to the next level.

Connor is her first client, and believe me I asked for a family discount. Of course, I was a little shocked, but also not shocked, when Rosie said no. 🙁

Ruthless, this one is!

I’m sure she’ll be fabulously successful.

Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,

Karen

Saturday Surfing, June 25, 2022!

June 25th, 2022 by Karen 10 Comments

weekend fun saturday surfing may 8

Hey, friend. How are ya? I’m doing OK — a little blah because of the news lately, though. A looming recession, the recent SCOTUS ruling, the sense of living in chaos and uncertainty… Sigh. Anywho, I really need this today: