Search Results for: smokey

Makeup and TV: What I’m Watching

May 15th, 2008 by Karen 28 Comments

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I gotta come clean: I am addicted to Keeping Up with the Kardashians. It’s a reality TV show on E! about Kim Kardashian and her family. Obviously, one does not watch the show for intellectual stimuli; I watch partly because it’s therapeutically mind-numbing and partly because I admire the makeup. Kim, Kourtney and Khloe (the three older Kardashian sisters) wear some of the prettiest makeup on reality TV — seriously — and they totally own the dark smokey eye and nude lip look.
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Nubian Heritage Carrot & Pomegranate Lotion: Making the World a Softer Place

May 12th, 2008 by Karen 13 Comments

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I love it when companies make great, affordable beauty products and give some of the proceeds to a worthy cause. A friend of mine recently turned me on to Nubian Heritage Carrot & Pomegranate Lotion ($12), which won my heart not only on the merits of the lotion, but also on the company’s efforts to make the world a better place.

Nubian Heritage, an up-and-coming skincare company specializing in organic products, got its start in 1991 when founders Richelieu Dennis and Nyema Tubman, both friends, immigrated to the United States from their home country of Liberia. The country was in the midst of a terrible civil war at the time.

Dennis comes from a family of soap makers, and, with Tubman’s help, put that background to work selling Nubian Heritage products on the sidewalks of New York City in 1992. The recipes used to make their products date back four generations.

The company has come a long way since those early sidewalk sales. Today, Nubian Heritage has four free-standing stores and offers a full line of body products, including soaps, lotions, scrubs, body washes, lip balms, body butters and hand creams.

When I first saw Nubian Heritage’s Carrot and Pomegranate lotion I assumed it would smell like, well, carrots and pomegranates. Seemed logical, right? I think it smells more like pineapples and flowers, two very appealing scents in their own right. In fact, the carrot and pomegranate in the name refer to two of the main ingredients — carrot seed, for its high vitamin and beta carotene content, and pomegranate, which has been used for thousands of years to treat skin problems.

Without question, it’s a great, highly moisturizing lotion, but the fragrance and the story behind the company are what make it truly exceptional.

Carrot & Pomegranate is one of 10 lotions in the line ($12 for a 13oz bottle; $10 for an 8oz bottle), each designed to treat a different skin condition and to bring about emotional and spiritual balance. Carrot & Pomegranate is the line’s anti-aging wunderkin.

The Other Nubian Heritage Lotions

African Black Soap Extract Lotion with Oats & Aloe : Contains shea butter, palm ash, plantain peel extract and papaya enzymes. Designed to balance and hydrate acne-prone skin. Has a spicy, woody, unisex scent.
Coconut and Papaya: Contains coconut oil, shea butter, papaya enzymes and comfrey root. Designed to protect skin against free radicals and to prevent wrinkles and acne. Has a sweet, tropical scent.
Goat’s Milk and Chai: Contains shea butter, goat milk, chai extract and rose extract. Designed to condition and hydrate sensitive skin. Has a sweet tea and rose scent. Side note: despite my fear of goats, this is the one I want to try next!
Indian Hemp and Haitian Vetiver Lotion: Contains shea butter, hemp seed oil, neem oil, vetiver and vitamin B5. Designed to balance and comfort skin. Has an herbal, exotic floral scent.
Lavender and Wildflowers Lotion: Contains shea butter, lavender and wildflowers. Designed to condition skin and to calm the mind and body. Has a sweet, floral, herbal scent.
Mango Butter: Contains mango butter, shea butter, cocoa butter, avocado butter and aloe vera. Designed to provide maximum hydration for all skin types. Has a fruity, tropical scent.
NH Man Drive Three Butters: I couldn’t find the list of ingredients for this one, but I’m assuming it smells, well … manly!
Olive: Contains olive oil, shea butter, avocado butter, green tea and ginseng extract. Designed for deep hydration and to repair environmental damage. Has a sweet, musky floral scent.
Raw Shea Butter: Contains raw shea butter, soy milk, vitamin E, frankincense and myrrh. Designed to heal chapped, dry skin while promoting mental strength, clarity and balance. Has a spicy scent.

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Face of the Day: Bold Blue and Teal Eye

May 12th, 2008 by Karen 47 Comments

Hey, girls. It’s Monday and I’m feeling kind of blah, so to improve my outlook on this most dreaded of week days, I tried this really fun blue/teal eye with Sonia Kashuk’s Blue Lagoon Eye Shadow Quad ($9.99).

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I used all four colors in the Blue Lagoon Quad, along with MAC Indigo Eye Pencil. Here’s the color map and shade placement I used:
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Lip Look: Avon Glazewear in Juicy Apricot, On Sale Now

May 6th, 2008 by Karen 30 Comments

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When did Avon get cool, ya’ll? Did it happen while I was in the potty? As far back as I can remember, Avon was something that “mature” women wore (aka my grandma), but lately I’ve come across a number of Avon products that are well, kinda awesome. Take the Glazewear lipstick pictured above. Pretty, yah? That’s Juicy Apricot.

Not quite a lipstick, not quite a gloss, this shimmery peachy-coral shade delivers shiny, sheer color that feels light on my lips. Avon calls it feather-light and says the non-sticky texture has to do with their Color-gel formula.

The formula stays put for about 3-4 hours and comes in a sleek, slim black tube. Lately, I’ve used Glazewear as an alternative to traditional, thick, goopy lipglosses. They pack plenty ‘o shine without the thick gloss look.
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A Kryolan Makeover, aka Adventures in Theater Makeup

May 3rd, 2008 by Karen 125 Comments

Every girl deserves a makeover from time to time. My last one was ages ago. I’d been itching to try a new look, so yesterday I made the short trip into San Francisco hoping to find inspiration.

I hit my usual haunts — MAC, Dior and Chanel — but I was in the mood for something, well, kinda different, so I kept looking.

I was almost ready to throw in the towel when a sign on a building caught my eye: Kryolan Professional Makeup. Curious as ever and not wanting to head home defeated, I decided to check it out.

Jake, the Kryolan showroom manager, gave me a tour of the place and described their products and services.

The company offers a full line of professional and consumer beauty products but specializes in theater makeup and makeup education. I was immediately drawn to their Aquacolor wet cake makeup — pans of highly pigmented, glycerin-based face and body makeup available in 250 different shades ($6 each).

Once I spotted their beautiful brushes (high quality, and generally more affordable than department store lines), body paints and, um, fake blood, I knew I was in for a different kind of makeover. Sign my booty up!

Dominic, Kryolan’s director of education, got me ready for my makeover, sitting me down beside a counter covered in Aquacolor pans. I told him to go nuts! I didn’t know what to expect, but I got a little suspicious when he glued a prosthetic cat nose to my face.

That’s when it dawned on me: homie was probably not going to do a simple smokey eye.

After all, Kryolan is known for extreme movie and theater makeup. You’ve probably seen their makeup at work in Hollywood films, and their credits include the makeup for The Chronicles of Narnia, Collateral and Pirates of the Caribbean.

With my new prosthetic cat nose in place, Dominic started layering different colors to develop the look. “The painting process is fun,” he said. “This is the most time consuming part of the whole process.”

The entire Karen-into-cat transformation took about 45 minutes, but here’s the condensed version…

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MAC Makeup Tips: MAC Does Makeup for Music, Too

April 29th, 2008 by Karen 41 Comments

You probably already knew that MAC provides makeup and makeup artists for fashion shows all over the world, but did you know that MAC does makeup for music tours, too? If you have tickets to rapper Kanye West’s Glow in the Dark North American tour (April-June, 2008), expect to see MAC in action. The MAC team is creating the looks for several of the dancers, backup singers and accompanying musicians on the tour.

And Glow in the Dark isn’t the first MAC/Kanye partnership. They’ve been at it for years, with MAC working on a number of Kanye’s tours, special performances and videos.

To find out more about how MAC works with performers on large concerts and events, I spoke with MAC Senior Makeup Artist Jennifer Karsten. Jennifer worked on Kanye’s Touch the Sky tour, his 2007 MTV Music Video Awards appearance and the Flashing Lights video.

Jennifer did the makeup for the girl in this video. Yo, shuttle the kids into the other room before you watch this because the end is kinda graphic.

Unlike the full-time singers, dancers and musicians who travel with an artist on tour, MAC artists are usually assigned at each stop along the way. How do all these different makeup artists in different cities maintain a consistent makeup look throughout a lengthy tour? “We all communicate through the senior artists and global communications,” Jennifer says, “so everyone knows what the look is and to keep the continuity going.”

MAC artists working on high-profile music events face challenges that makeup artists working fashion shows don’t often face. Large concerts are complex productions. “When you’re dealing with someone more high profile,” says Jennifer, “you have a lot more channels to go through.” It can be more difficult or challenging to really get the look correct because you’re filtering an idea through someone else.

For one of his performances at the 2007 MTV music video awards, Kanye wanted a futuristic, glamorous, high fashion makeup look. The MAC team envisioned a glossy, futuristic cat eye (ooh, me likey!). MAC artists created a “test look” on one of the orchestra performers. It then took six hours, several calls, and pictures taken with cell phones to get the test look approved. That left the team with only 20 minutes to replicate the look on the rest of the orchestra.

And, ultimately, fashion show makeup isn’t meant to overshadow the clothing. That’s not always the case in a concert, where the makeup often defines the look.

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MAC Makeup Tips – Concert Makeup

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Chanel Ombre Essentielle Soft Touch Eyeshadow: Bonjour Credit Card Debt

April 25th, 2008 by Karen 28 Comments

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Chanel’s eyeshadow quads (aka instant credit card debt) are one of my weaknesses. For months, whenever I’d hit a Chanel counter I’d go straight for the quads, fiddling joyfully with them and looking for my next favorite palette.

But a while ago, while at Nordstrom peeping the summer collection, I decided to swatch all of the Ombre Essentielle Soft Touch Eyeshadow singles. I loved them all! Hello, more credit card debt.

I’m glad I didn’t overlook the singles because the colors seem richer and more vibrant than those in the quad.

Unfortunately, as far as eyeshadows go, the singles ain’t cheap ($27.50, eep!), but if high-end makeup is your thing then these shadows belong in your collection. They’re available in matte, shimmer and satin finishes and come in a whopping 25 different shades.

On the Nordstrom and Neiman Marcus websites there are only 24 of them listed; Midnight, the elusive 25th shade, is only available online from Chanel.

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Chanel Ombre Essentielle Soft Touch Eyeshadow Shades – All 25

Abricot (listed as “Apricot” on the Nieman Marcus website)
Amethyst
Bambou (“Bamboo” on Neiman Marcus)
Beige
Candide
Cinnamon
Ebony
Fizz
Gold
Island
Ivory
Jungle
Khaki
Lagoon
Lavande (“Lavender” on NM)
Lotus
Mahogany
Midnight (available on Chanel website)
Nomade (limited edition)
Quartz
Safari
Sand
Silvery
Starlight
Tigre (limited edition)

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I grabbed two of the shades, Safari (a shimmery gray-taupe) and the limited edition Nomade (a cool light pink with gold glitter sparkles), and this week they made their way into my workday makeup rotation.

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While you can mix and match the Ombre Essentielle Soft Touch Eyeshadows, I prefer using the two shades I have all by their lonesome. Individually, they’ve been great for creating simple washes of color over the entire eyelid.

When I use them I apply a layer of eyeshadow primer first, like Too Faced Shadow Insurance. Then, I grab one of three brushes — the MAC 252, MAC 217 or the Sephora All Over Shadow brush from the Smokey Eye brush kit. Any one of the three can do the job.

I swipe the brush across the pan to load it up with color, but before applying I tap it against the side of the sink to unload any excess shadow.

Gently patting my eyelid with the brush has given me better results than when I swept the brush back and forth. I do it until I’ve got an even layer of color on each eye.

Chanel Ombre Essentielle Soft Touch Eyeshadow

Price: $27.50
Use: Eyeshadows for a simple wash of color
Makeup and Beauty Blog Rating: B+/A-

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Too Faced Shadow Insurance Anti-Crease Eyeshadow Primer Blends Great, Lasts All Day Long

April 17th, 2008 by Karen 37 Comments

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Dear Too Faced Shadow Insurance ($17),

How I dig thee. Your priming powers imbue eyeshadows with hours of extra staying power, and you’re easy to apply, never settling into fine lines. I’m crushing on you hard…

Sincerely,

Primed to Party

If you’re new to makeup, you might be thinking, “Uh, what’s an eye primer?”

Fair enough. Eyeshadow primers create a smooth layer on top of your skin to which powder and cream shadows can better affix themselves. It translates into longer-lasting eyeshadow.

There are lots of different eye primers on the market. Urban Decay Potion Primer is one of the more (in)famous ones. Much loved by many, Urban Decay Potion Primer doesn’t really do it for me. Yes, it makes eyeshadow last longer, but I find it also makes colors more difficult to blend. I end up with (long-lasting) harsh lines at the edges of the colors on my lids. Note to file: this is not cute.

Too Faced says that Shadow Insurance’s silicone-based formula smooths lines while intensifying shadow colors, and it does so without making shadows more difficult to blend.

I put it to the test.

For one week I used Shadow Insurance beneath Clinique, Dior and MAC eyeshadows and had much better luck with it than I had with Urban Decay’s primer. I had no problem blending eyeshadows layered on top of Shadow Insurance.
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