Makeup and Beauty Blog | Makeup Reviews, Swatches and How-To Makeup
A beauty blog blooming with fresh makeup reviews, swatches and beauty tips from your friendly neighborhood beauty addict
Here’s a shout-out to Sonia K.,
Her new Nail Colours, I just gotta say,
Might be some of my fave fall colors, haaay!
At $4.99, they don’t cost too much.
Two coats will do you if you’re in a rush.
The brush? So precise.
Formula? Smoove as ice.
The colors? Très glam, and ooh! — look at that price.
Sugar Rush, well, hey, yes, she’s a baby pink.
Chocoholic is a dark reddish brown (so distinct!).
Sugar Rush
Chocoholic
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I still have no proof that Tabs was involved in the disappearance of my Shu Uemura lash curler earlier this year, but he’s still the number one suspect.
Every time I ask him about it, he gets all evasive, all nonchalant like, “doopdadoo. Weather’s nice.”
Yeah…well I’m on to you, Tabs. I’ll figure it out.
The day it disappeared, I nearly lost my mind. I was crushed. It took me 20 years and probably a dozen different brands to find a curler as great as Shu, and no device had ever curled my lashes that well.
That is, no device until now. 🙂
Ever since Shu Uemura pulled out of U.S. stores, the line has gotten tougher to find. Sure, there’s still their website, but if/when the replacement Shu lash curler I picked up after its predecessor’s disappearance ever mysteriously vanishes, too (I know it was you, Tabs!), at least I now know of a worthy replacement.
And it lives at Target stores.
New for fall, the $12.99 limited edition Sonia Kashuk Curl Up Eyelash Curler has a few great traits in common with my beloved $19 Shu.
Like Shu’s curler, Sonia’s fits the shape of my eye like a glove, and it doesn’t pinch the outer edges of my fringe (something that many other lash curlers do).
Ooh! I can’t wait to paint my paws with these new fall Nail Colours from Sonia Kashuk ($4.99 each, available at Target).
From the left: Sugar Rush, Chocoholic, Mauving on Up and Blank Slate.
Don’t these feel almost Essie-ish?
Sonia Kashuk just reminded me why I have to get my air conditioner fixed. You see, with the mercury rising indoors and out, her Radiant Tinted Moisturizer with SPF 15 ($12.99) means I won’t have to wear a heavy mask of makeup in the heat. 🙂
I never thought I’d see the day when anything would come between me and my trusty tube of Laura Mercier Oil-Free Tinted Moisturizer, especially a drugstore product, but here we are. For years, Laura’s sheer-to-medium coverage has evened out my skin tone and kept my combination dry/oil skin happily hydrated and (nearly) breakout-free, but in hot and/or humid weather, it has at times looked and felt heavy on my skin.
With summer quickly approaching, I decided to keep my options open. Last week I started testing Sonia’s Radiant Tinted Moisturizer, and so far, so good.
It’s not the first drugstore tinted moisturizer I’ve tried over the years, but it is the first, in my opinion, able to hold its own against Laura’s in more ways than one. Like Laura’s entry, buildable, pigmented Radiant Tinted in Tan covers up red patches and pimples, evens out my skin tone, and helps to hide any scratches left by Edward Scissorpaws, who, by the way, is still on my sh*t list (NOTE TO SELF: work on forgiving and forgetting). And this it does with a single layer that feels lighter and more comfy than Laura’s to me.
I swear it looks like real skin, too, and isn’t heavy, thick or fake-looking at all. A touch of barely-there shimmer gives it dimension and further helps diffuse my fine lines and wrinkles.
If you have very oily skin, you could probably wear it all by itself, but if you have shiny patches on your forehead or cheeks (like I do), you might set it with a blotting powder (I like MAC Blot). That’ll take care of those oily areas. Or, for even more/better coverage, you could use a sheer powder like the MAC Studio Careblends, which I’m using in these pics.
I loves me some Chanel and Dior, but I’ve always also believed a gal can still look great on a drugstore makeup budget. Sonia Kashuk, one of my favorite bargain beauty babes, offers department store quality products at a checkbook-friendly price, and the line is filled with pieces that are interesting, fun and fresh.
Take her new spring line. It’s a veritable treasure trove of value, like the limited edition Couture Flat Top Blush/Powder Brush (there’s a reason this is always sold out: it’s AWESOME!), the Super Shimmering Highlighter and the Blink of an Eye Trio Set.
Today’s giveaway features these items and four more goodies from Sonia’s new spring line. With makeup for eyes, lips, face and nails, you’ll have everything you need to spruce up your look with some trendy spring shades. 🙂
Spring Awakenings Face Palette
Blink of an Eye Trio Set
Beautiful Berries Lip Quad
Super Shimmering Highlighter
Brush Couture Flat Top Blush/Powder Brush
Nail Colour in Fatigued (left) and Violetta (right)
Twitter @karenmbb and retweeting (RT) the following message:
Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,
Karen
P.S. Wondering what I’ve been up to out here in Toronto? Here’s a hint:
P.P.S. Oh, and if you haven’t already entered yesterday’s giveaway (a chance to win Pop Beauty, Pixi and Senna makeup), you have until tonight (it only takes a few seconds).
Tutti Frutti
If Sonia Kashuk’s new Nail Colours were any easier to apply, they’d be called Nail Polish for Dummies — or, in my case, Nail Polish for the HELLA Sleep Deprived.
I barely slept at all last night, which, as you can probably imagine, isn’t conducive to good decision making. For reasons I won’t even try to understand, I decided to do some swatching this morning…at 3 a.m. (aka the witching hour). Yes, I know. Crazy, right? Well, I was awake, and it just seemed like a good idea at the time. Despite the ridiculous hour and this little thing called “poor hand-eye coordination,” Sonia’s polishes still did a remarkable job.
I tried three of the four new colors released for spring — khaki green Fatigued, creamy purple Violetta and bright reddish coral Tutti Frutti. I also really wanted to try the fourth shade, hot pink Jammin, but I haven’t been able to track it down. Like another one of Sonia’s popular products, her Flat Top Brush, it’s always sold out at the 
store.
Fatigued (left) and Violetta (right)
Swatches from the left: Tutti Frutti, Violetta and Fatigued
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So maybe you’re craving one of the new liquid highlighters from NARS or Make Up For Ever but aren’t feeling the $28-30 price. If you’re in bargain beauty mode and want a similar look for less, check out the new $9.99 Sonia Kashuk Super Sheer Shimmering Highlighter on your next trip to Target.
Available in a single warm peachy gold, it’s a shimmery liquid highlighter designed to be worn either alone or mixed with foundation or lotion to give your skin a subtle twinkle like sunset light on sand. I’d characterize the level of pigment as half way between the super sheer NARS Illuminators and the crazy pigmented Make Up For Ever Uplights.
And oh, the glitter! The flecks are so deliriously fine and tiny that even though it’s been cold and rainy here, I’ve been mixing a few pumps into my body lotion and applying it to my arms. When the light hits my skin just right, I look like a little brown angel. 🙂
Happy Friday, friend! Looks like we made it. 🙂 To kick off today’s pre-weekend festivities, what do you say we get nude, Sonia Kashuk style?
SK’s Lip Gloss Quad in Natural Nudes, the third of three new lip palettes for spring, feels just as comfy on my lips as the other two, Beautiful Berries and Bronzey Corals.
