Search Results for: smokey

Face of the Day: MAC Cosmetics Heatherette Trio 1

March 31st, 2008 by Karen 51 Comments

I finally wrapped my grubby little hands around MAC Heatherette Eyeshadow Trio 1 last weekend, and I have to say: I love this bad boy!

MAC Cosmetics Heatherette Trio 1 Fotd 4

Sometimes, in trios and quads, one or two of the shades just aren’t up to snuff, but all three shades MAC chose for Trio 1 — a pink, green and black — work well together. That said, Mood Ring, the green shade (more of a teal) is definitely my favorite of the bunch.

For the green, pink and black smokey eye look below, I layered each of the shadows over MAC Pink Pearl Pigment (also part of the Heatherette collection). Layering Pink Pearl Pigment underneath these shadows creates an effect similar to how the colors of a peacock’s feathers can seem to change with the light. So purty!

Even though this eye pushes the envelope as far as its appropriateness for day wear, I wore it to the movies yesterday afternoon and didn’t feel out of place.
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Get Mariah Carey’s Look with MAC Heatherette Beauty Powder

March 26th, 2008 by Karen 48 Comments

Mariah Carey’s makeup always looks fierce, especially when she wears a bronzed cheek like she did in her live Monday night performance on MTV’s The Hills.

Mariah totally works her wardrobes (no matter how questionable her taste in clothing) and flat-out owns that killer five octave voice. She mixes just enough ‘tude with a dash of crazy diva to always stand out in a crowd (and to really stand out in a crowd, try this other MAC look on for size).

Re-create Mimi’s signature look with two products: 1) MAC Heatherette’s Smooth Harmony Beauty Powder ($22) , and 2) your favorite cheek brush!

Shimerless Smooth Harmony, part of the Heatherette collection, is a medium-golden bronze compact powder. If you’d like to draw more attention to your cheeks but don’t want to wear pink, coral or plum blush, give Smooth Harmony a try. I think it would look hot with smokey eyes or paired with neutral shades [Continue reading…]

Not Your 80s Hairspray: Bumble and Bumble’s Spray de Mode Makes Me Want to Use Hairspray Again

March 9th, 2008 by Karen 45 Comments

Bumble and Bumble enlisted the help of French hairdresser Laurent Philippon to test and fine tune the formula of their Spray de Mode hairspray over several seasons of professional use backstage at the Paris shows (aka in the trenches), and the hard work shows.

Let me just come out and say it: Spray de Mode is nothing like 1980’s hairsprays. I can’t even begin to estimate the obscene amount of stinky, flaky, crunchy aerosol hairspray I used when high hair was the fashion du jour.

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Lip Look: MAC Fafi Strawbaby

February 24th, 2008 by Karen 25 Comments

Today’s Lip Look: MAC Fafi Strawbaby lipstick ($14) with Squeeze It lipgloss ($14). I rocked this fruit-inspired look while I sat at the computer working on a writing assignment today.

These juicy lips accompanied a stylish outfit of blue pajama bottoms and a red fleece pullover, both from the esteemed fashion house of Old Navy. The hair was kept unbrushed and then swept up into a ratty ponytail to complete the un-showered, filthy freelance writer look.

Am I ready to work the red carpet? Um, no — not unless un-showered is the new clean. But I finished the first part of my assignment, hooray! I plan to share details of the project with you as soon as I can.

Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,

Karen

P.S. Your weekend isn’t over yet! Here are the week’s best posts from Splendicity and the Beauty Blog Network![Continue reading…]

Au Revoir Fashion Week: Thanks for the Super-Blended Eye

February 8th, 2008 by Karen 22 Comments

I love NY Fashion Week as much as the next girl, but it feels weird lusting after fall looks in the middle of winter. One look that has warmed my winter heart this year is a variation on a classic.

The NY runway makeup gods have decreed that we all must bask in the glory that is the smokey eye! The variation I’m referring to is called the “super-blended eye,” and, according to MAC VP of Makeup Artistry Gordon Espinet, we should expect to see a lot of it in all our favorite magazines come fall.

The super-blended eye at the Monique L’huillier Ready-To-Wear show this week

“There hasn’t been a lot of hard lines [on the runway] in terms of how eyes are done,” says Gordon. In a super-blended eye, colors and lines are blended to perfection.

It takes the right brushes to create this layered, seamless look. Gordon suggests MAC’s 219, 224, 252 and 242.

The trick is layering products with different textures. Gordon usually begins by rimming the eyes with a dark pencil, which he then covers with a layer of matte shadow.

On top of the matte, he adds a product with sheen, like one of MAC’s pigments. “From there you take a soft blending brush like a 242 and blend all the edges all out,” says Gordon. Play with blending and mixing different colors, like navy blue and purple, or maybe purple and brown.

Ultimately, what you’re striving for is a smooth transition from one color and texture into the next, like what you’d see in the iridescence of a peacock’s feathers or the coloring on the back of a scarab beetle.

Are you feeling this? Yea or nay? I think it’s pretty.

How has your week been? Are you ready for the weekend? I’m excited about getting my roots done this afternoon. They’ve been tow up for way too long.

Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,

Karen

Paint it Pink, Paint it Black: When Love Leaves You Twisted

February 7th, 2008 by Karen 25 Comments

The past few Paint it Pink, Paint it Black posts have either celebrated the joy or treated the pain of Valentine’s Day, but in life things are rarely that simple. Love can be about extremes — hot passion, cold shoulders, opposites attracting — but it can also be about compromise, sacrifice and shades of gray. Several times in my life I’ve felt a mix of both joy and sadness on the Big V. Truth be told, sometimes you’re caught in the middle! And when you are, you’re painting it pink AND black.

Case in point: several years ago, I wandered into a bookstore a few days before Valentine’s Day to buy myself a pen. At the time, I was fresh out of a long, emotionally draining relationship, and I was angry and very, very sad. Wandering through the store, I managed to end up in the Valentine’s Day card aisle. Hello, emotional breakdown!

I stood there, staring at the beautiful cards with their messages of love, clutching my pen with a death grip. Good thing I was alone in the aisle because I might have stabbed some poor unsuspecting loverboy/girl right then and there. I was just about to start bawling in the aisle when I spotted a card with a picture of a rabbit princess on it (complete with crown and ball room gown) dancing with a frog prince in a joyful scene. Inside the card was one simple line: “I had to kiss a lot of frogs before I met my prince.” It was the most perfect Valentine’s Day card ever, and I didn’t have anyone to give it to.

But I bought it anyway because at that moment I realized that someday I would find someone worthy of receiving it. Even though my heart was filled with sadness, I still felt hope for the future; I was painting it pink AND black that year, yo.

I waited a long time to give that card away — 10 years, as a matter of fact. I finally gave it away last February, the first Valentine’s Day that El Hub and I shared together as man and wife.

This Paint it Pink, Paint it Black post is for my girls who are in the middle this year, painting it both pink and black. Hold on to your hope, baby! It does get better.

If you’re feeling both pink and black this year, get thee to the Lancome counter and treat yourself to a gift that keeps giving way past Valentine’s Day — the Color Design Artist Palette in Stylish Neutrals.

When I first opened it, this palette took my breath away. It includes eight beautiful matte and shimmer finish shadows:

light pink shimmer
bubble gum pink matte
mauve shimmer
taupe shimmer
burgundy matte
light stone gray shimmer
white shimmer
black shimmer

It’s the best shadow kit I’ve seen in a while. Lancome and MAC shadows have similar textures and color payoff, which is probably why I like ’em so much. All of these colors work with my skin tone, and I like that you can combine them to create so many different looks!

So far I’ve already tried these three…

Easy work eye:
Apply the mauve or taupe shadow onto the lid. Concentrate most of the color there, and then slowly fade up into the crease. Curl your lashes, and add two coats of mascara. You’re good to go!

Easy date night eye:
Cover the lid with the pink shimmer shadow, and add definition to the crease with the taupe. Wet a liner brush and apply a thin line of the dark burgundy to the upper lash liner. Finally, curl your lashes and add mascara.

Easy smokey eye:
Rim the upper and lower lashlines with black kohl liner. Then, smudge it with a pencil brush. Apply black shadow or burgundy shadow on top of the liner and blend. Then, apply mauve or taupe shadow on top of the darker color and blend them both together.

The entire palette is $70, which seems expensive at first glance, but it’s really a pretty good deal. Each eyeshadow pan in the palette is about the same size as a $14 MAC shadow, so if you purchased eight similar MAC shadows, a palette purchased that way would cost you $112.

Whatever condition your heart is in this month (broken, mending, fully functional and filled with love to spare), I’m sure it’ll beat a lil’ brighter when you see this palette.

Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,

Karen

Fashion Week Runway Tips: Achieve a Perfect Dark Lip

February 1st, 2008 by Karen 42 Comments

It’s NY Fashion Week, ya’all, and rich lips and smokey eyes have already made appearances on the runway.

Don’t be scurred to wear a dark lip in real life. With a little help from Gordon Espinet, Vice President of Makeup Artistry for MAC Cosmetics, you can pull it off.

How to get the look…

Begin by lining your lips with a lip-colored pencil. If you’re tempted to use black liner (LOL, like I did in the early 90s), resist. “You’ll have a monster of a time trying to blend it away,” says Gordon. “Use a lip pencil that’s the natural color of your lip but slightly darker. I always recommend something like MAC Spice or Stripdown.” What you want is a neutral, forgiving color that’s easy to work with.

Choose a dark burgundy or brown lipstick like…

MAC Photo – Golden brown
MAC Film Noir – Intense brown
MAC Diva – Intense reddish burgundy

What’s Gordon’s favorite dark lip color? “There’s one lipstick that I absolutely adore,” he says, “and it’s called Paramount. It’s one of those lipsticks that got parked for awhile there because browns and dark lips fell out of favor.” But Paramount is back with a vengeance!

Use a lip brush. The lip brush is your best friend, especially when doing dark lips. Gordon advises against applying directly from the tube because it creates the tendency to over-apply. “If you have on too much dark lipstick it can look, well, threatening!” Gordon’s lip brush of choice? — the MAC #316.

Start brushing from the center of your mouth, right where your lips touch. It’s where you’ll want the strongest color. To avoid harsh lines, spread the product from the center of your mouth, up or down, fading toward the lip line.

Take care not to build an overly dark lip outline, says Gordon. “You know you don’t want to look like a goth vampire. It’s really about having a mouth that may be dark but still sensual.”

Ultimately, the look you want is somewhere between matte and shiny. If you’re struggling with excessive shine, blot with a tissue to take it down a notch.

Straight off the runway! Just kidding… more like straight from my living room!

In the pic above I only used one layer of MAC Paramount. If you want a deeper lip, you can always add more layers to intensify the color.

What do you think? Sexy or scary? Discuss.

Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,

Karen

NY Fashion Week Exclusive: MAC VP of Makeup Artistry Dishes on What to Expect

January 31st, 2008 by Karen 24 Comments

New York Fashion Week starts tomorrow! It’s a little weird for me to think about trends for Fall 2008 when I’m itching so badly for spring to arrive, but, alas, makeup and fashion wait for no one.

MAC Cosmetics is doing the makeup for the shows this year. Earlier this week I spoke with the fabulous Gordon Espinet, Vice President of Makeup Artistry for MAC Cosmetics, to get the skinny on the big makeup trends we’ll be seeing on the runway. Gordon really knows what’s up.

What big makeup trends can we expect to see on the runway for Fall 2008?

“All the elements of beauty that we think of in classic glamor are definitely going to be playing a big key for the whole beauty story for the fall,” says Gordon. Picture the classic Hollywood film star look — think Rita Hayworth and Lauren Bacall.

French film noir actress Simone Simon — Look for her look on the runways!

Pretty, yah? Are you feeling de ja vu/vu ja de? Yes, we’ve seen this look before. Over the past few seasons, dark lips, smokey eyes and flawless matte skin reminiscent of classic Hollywood glam have been huge trends on the runway, but they featured more greys and blues (which will still be big this spring). For fall, however, Gordon predicts a subtle shift away from cooler neutral colors to warmer earth tones — shades of burgundy and brown.

Rich, dark lips

Sorry, lipgloss lovers, gloss won’t be staging a comeback any time soon. “Everybody is moving definitely towards lipstick,” says Gordon. Look for lots of bold reds like burgundy, and brown lipstick colors like…

MAC Paramount (holla!) – Reddish brown
MAC Photo – Golden brown
MAC Film Noir – Intense brown
MAC Diva – Intense reddish burgundy

As far as matte lips, the looks you’ll see won’t be as extreme as the dark matte lip look of the 90s, though. “It’s really about a natural matte lip,” says Gordon. “It’s matte, but definitely much more wearable.”

Smokey eyes

Guess what kind of eyes we’ll see paired with these rich, dark lips? Why, brown smokey eyes, of course, so keep an eye out for lots of browns and burgundy.

Matte skin

Flawless matte skin rages on! — skin that looks perfectly groomed, elegant and glamorous.

“We’re defintely not going to be seeing a lot of shiny glossy skin,” says Gordon. “If there is sheen it’s going to be very specific — not all over the face, but maybe a touch of sheen on the top of the cheekbone, or on the center of the bridge of the nose.” Note: Applying sheen to specific areas adds dimension to a flawless matte skin look.

Lashes

You can’t have old Hollywood glam without big, larger-than-life lashes. Mascara and false lashes will be falling from the sky, yo!

Brows

The film stars of the 40s were famous for highly arched, overly-tweezed eyebrows. Thank jeebus that isn’t something that Gordon thinks we’ll see this year on the runway. “We’re definitely moving towards a natural-looking brow,” says Gordon. Expect well groomed (but not necessarily dark) brows that aren’t too thick or too thin.

Cheeks

Don’t expect a lot of bright cheek colors (boo!). “It’s much more about a sculpted cheek,” says Gordon. “So colors like MAC Taupe blush are a must have. It’s really about shading the cheek bone versus adding color to it.”

Stay tuned for more Makeup and Beauty Blog coverage of NY Fashion Week, on location in rainy San Francisco, yea!

And how are you feeling about these fall looks? I am so excited about the return of browns and burgundy lipsticks! After I did this interview with Gordon I went to the MAC counter and purchased a tube of my first MAC lipstick love, Paramount. The last time I wore it was in 1998 (omfg, that’s a decade ago)! I have so many memories connected to this lipstick because I wore it throughout the 90s, during my formative college years. Do you have a lipstick you feel a special connection to?

I hope your Thursday is going well. Hold on, ya’ll! We’re almost there!

Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,

Karen