weeklyroundup

Good mornin’, ladies. 🙂 I’m rising and shining a little later than usual today but rising and shining nonetheless. How did you sleep? Did all of your clocks spring forward like good little timepieces?

I stayed up way past my bedtime last night watching TV and movies, and now I’m quite sleepy. I streamed a wonderful movie on Netflix called Listen To Your Heart. It’s about a young musician who falls in love with a hearing-impaired girl from New York’s upper crust. The girl’s controlling mother, played by Cybill Shepherd (anyone here remember Moonlighting?), tries to keep them apart, so it’s one of those love-that-cannot-be stories but much better than usual. Even El Hub was quietly sobbing on the couch.

Do you have anything special planned today? I have a few chores to do, but after that I think I’ll take the tabby for a walk…

The Weekly Roundup: Posts You Might Have Missed

GIVENCHY ROUGE INTERDIT
LIPSTICK IN CANDIDE TANGERINE: A MODERN TWIST ON RETRO ORANGE

Um, did I really just spend 20 minutes dancing around my living room to Biggie’s Juicy?

Yes, I did (I suspect you aren’t surprised). And why did I do it? Givenchy! Candide Tangerine, their newest lipstick color, makes me REALLY wish I could rap. If I could, I’d spit a few bars about how downright juicy it is.

Imagine pieces of peeled tangerine dipped in concentrated Hawaiian Punch. THAT’s how intensely pigmented Candide Tangerine is.

I’m wearing two layers for opaque coverage in these pics; a single layer produces more of a stained look. Read more…

STRAIGHT TALK: THIS CURLY GIRL
ALSO LOVES STRAIGHT HAIR

Looking back, I realize now that holding a scalding hot laundry iron inches away from my face probably wasn’t the smartest thing I’d ever done, but I was a curious teenager, and I’d heard from my friend Jessica that the quickest way to get straight hair was to iron it.

(pause)

Okay, this was the early ’90s, and flat irons hadn’t quite made their way into every straight hair-challenged girl’s bathroom yet, so, one day, after pressing the wrinkles out of my favorite pair of Z. Cavariccis and my black-and-white polka-dot shirt (complete with sheer black sleeves!), I placed my long, wavy hair on the ironing board and…

(Seriously, do NOT try this at home.)

It didn’t take long to turn my unruly lion’s mane into a sleek curtain of straight hair. “Victory!” I roared. Adrenaline burned through my veins! — or I guess it could have been heat from the iron. Read more…

BENEFIT CREASELESS CREAM SHADOW
SWATCHES AND REMARKABLE SELF-RESTRAINT

G’morning and happy Tuesday, friend. I was feeling kinda blah yesterday afternoon (been cold and rainy here), so I stopped by Sephora for a little pick-me-up.

In a somewhat shocking display of self-restraint, I managed to make it out of the store with just one thing — Benefit Creaseless Cream Shadow in Strut ($19), a shimmery charcoal gray.

I’ve been meaning to bring it home for a while but just never got around to it. I bet she’ll look cute (and we’ll know soon enough) worn with a couple of my favorite Creaseless Cream go-to girls, Skinny Jeans (a shimmery pewter) and Birthday Suit (a shimmery chrome). Read more…

DOES THE NEW KERASTASE PARIS CHROMA
SENSITIVE CLEANSING BALM PREVENT HAIR COLOR FROM FADING?

Good morning and happy hump day, babe. 🙂 Just a quick heads up for the cuties with color-treated hair and the silicone-free product enthusiasts out there.

Luxury line Kerastase Paris has come out with a pricey yet promising new shampoo. It’s called Chroma Sensitive Cleansing Balm ($42 for a 6.8-oz. bottle), a low-foam cleanser designed to gently clean without washing away hair color.

Kerastase claims, among other things, that their low-foam, low-friction “Color Protect System,” a mix of a mild cleansing agent (1/4 of the recipe) and a deep conditioning agent (the other 3/4), smoothes the surface of each hair, preventing color pigments from escaping.

They suggest using it for the first three shampoos following a color service, and then alternating every other wash with your regular shampoo. Read more…

NEXT STOP: NARS 413
BLEECKER STREET LIPSTICK

Well get my plaid shirt, hoop earrings and clunky Timberland boots, because the second I slipped on the new NARS 413 Bleecker Street Pure Matte Lipstick ($25), I felt like I’d just stepped out of a hot tub time machine set for 1995.

It was the Clueless decade, when Alicia Silverstone, Sugar Ray and little black backpacks were En Vogue (just like the group!). Colors like this matte rosy brown were all the rage. I remember wearing a similar shade to countless (boring) college lectures on organic chemistry and physics.

This new NARS shade (I’m trying to find out if it’s permanent or limited edition) was created exclusively for the recent opening of the company’s first flagship store in the West Village at 413 Bleecker Street in New York City, and, at least for now, the store is the only place you can get it. Read more…

THE GIVENCHY LE PRISME EYE QUAD
IN CANDIDE GARDEN: THANKSGIVING IN MARCH

Today an eye quad made me nervous. And hungry. For turkey?

The Givenchy Le Prisme Eye Quad in Candide Garden($56), the lone quad in the new Givenchy Naivement Couture Collection for Spring/Summer, made me a little nervous because of how sheer the colors looked swatched on the back of my hand. I tried not to write too much into it before getting them on my lids, but before I could talk myself down, a word popped into my head that worried me even more: Thanksgiving! That’s what the orange, yellow and brown shades reminded me of, and I contemplated putting the quad down right there…

Don’t get me wrong — I love the holiday. In fact I’ve always been a fan. I’m down with the colors of the harvest and falling leaves and those cute cartoon turkeys, too, but was I ready to wear those shades on my lids? In March?

Apparently, I was. 🙂 And I’m so glad. This wee little quad with its four powder shadows is actually pretty darn good (if not great, except for the price). Read more…

SMASHBOX SOFTBOX COLLECTION
FOR SUMMER 2011: DIFFUSE ME, PLEASE

Heads up, fellow Smashbox fans! The line’s just made their new Softbox Collection for Summer 2011 available online, and from the look of things, it’s right up my alley (and maybe yours).

Photographers use softboxes and specialized bulb umbrellas to diffuse bright light sources and eliminate harsh shadows, making the light that falls on their model appear softer and more natural.

It’s the same premise Smashbox applied to the products in their Softbox Studio collection. The three makeup sets for eyes, lips and cheeks mimic the qualities of natural light and embody the idea of effortless beauty.

Speaking as a practical person, I love these shades because I know I’ll be able to wear them. 🙂 Expect to see lots of neutral browns, beiges, pinks and taupes — colors equipped to take you straight from the office to dinner and drinks. Read more…

ESTEE LAUDER SAYS DAYWEAR DOES IT ALL,
YET THIS MOISTURIZING SHEER TINT WITH SPF15 COMES IN JUST A SINGLE SHADE

Okay, here’s a product name I may not be able to remember: Estee Lauder DayWear Sheer Tint Release Advanced Multi-Protection Anti-Oxidant Moisturizer.

Wow, 12 words? It could be a sentence if we squeezed in a verb.

Let’s try it!

Estee Lauder Likes DayWear Sheer Tint Release Advanced Multi-Protection Anti-Oxidant Moisturizer…

Tada! Let’s call it DayWear for short.

DayWear is a product I’d like to remember, because I think it has a few good things to offer fans of the barely-there makeup look. In a nutshell (I’ve always loved that phrase; I picture things in little nutshells), it’s a lightweight, super sheer tinted moisturizer that comes in just a single shade, and it’s designed to work on most skin tones, giving them a healthy, even-toned glow. Read more…

NYX HD STUDIO PHOTOGENIC GRINDING BLUSH
MAKES ME WANT TO TWIST AND SHOUT

Ah, to be a bored teen without wheels in the Easy Bay suburbs circa 1992 again… When you live in a town where the most exciting thing to do is get an ice cream cone at Thrifty’s, you figure out ways to amuse yourself.

On Friday nights my friends and I loved to watch The Grind on MTV. Remember that dance show? We’d crank up the volume and electric slide around the living room as the show’s host, Eric Nies, who was almost always shirtless for some reason, introduced the hits.

It wasn’t the most exciting way to start the weekend, but it was either that or ice cream at Thrifty’s…

We sure could have used something like these new NYX HD Studio Photogenic Grinding Blushes ($16.50 each; available in eight shades) back then. Dang if these things wouldn’t have kept us busy. Read more…

Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,

Karen

Good morning, young lady. Rise and shine. 🙂

Ooh! Guess what? I found out I’m going to be an aunty! Yup, my girlfriend Jen is going to be a mom. Yesterday I met her and my other BFF Cindy (we’ve known each other since childhood) for a girl’s spa day, and out on the sidewalk before we walked in, Jen said, “Okay, don’t freak out, but I scheduled a pregnancy massage.”

Yea! I plan to be the cool aunt (the one you’d run to when your parents were being square).

I’m secretly hoping it’s a girl because then I could buy her really cute outfits…

Anywho, I think that calls for some coffee! Are you sufficiently caffeinated yet? I’m running a little behind.

Before we get going today, how about one last look back at some of the makeup and beauty products we talked about this week?

The Weekly Roundup: Posts You Might Have Missed

IS THE TARTE NEUTRALEYES EYE SHADOW
PALETTE UNIVERSALLY FLATTERING?

The idea of makeup designed to look great on everyone always gets me excited. What a cool idea, right? — products without boundaries or inhibitions; colors able to get along with everyone.

It reminds me of the time I walked in on a party to find a bunch of people in a huge drum circle. At first I thought, “Uh, oh. Not my scene,” but then I grabbed some bongos and started banging away. Before long I felt right at home. 🙂

Tarte must have had a world like that in mind (maybe?) when they developed the new Tarte NeutralEyes Eye Shadow Palette ($44). Like all of their products, it’s cruelty-free, which scores may-jah points in Tabs’ book. New for spring, the palette comes chock full of good stuff. Read more…

DID SMASHBOX PUT THEIR LIMITLESS LIQUID LINER
PEN ON A HIGH-SODIUM DIET?
What’s the secret to the Smashbox Waterproof Limitless Liquid Liner Pen’s ($22) water repelling powers? Could it be the seasoning perhaps?

Unless I missed the makeup challenge on Top Chef this season, the inclusion of sea salt in the formula must have been a Smashbox idea. Does it help the product work? I’m not sure, but I do see that the company’s Limitless Eye Liner and their bestselling Jet Set Waterproof Eye Liner are 100% sea salt-free.

Even if the spice is purely cosmetic (weird!), this bad boy repels water and sweat like a champ. The other day I drew the Black shade along my upper lash line before hopping on the treadmill, and roughly one bucket of perspiration later, it still looked good with nary a smudge. Read more…

RIMMEL MOISTURE RENEW LIPGLOSS
GETS IT ALMOST RIGHT

Sweet holy hydration, Batman! According to the folks at Rimmel, their new Moisture Renew Lipglosses ($6 each; available in 14 shades) reduce dryness up to 95%. That’s a lotta hydration, and lawd knows my lips need it, but seriously, how do they come up with these numbers? Why not say 97%? And doesn’t “up to 95%” also include zero? But I digress…

Getting down to brass tacks, I do think Renew, which I’ve tried in Pink Protect, feels fantastic on my lips. Its light and smooth non-sticky texture certainly doesn’t dry out my lips, and that’s a definite plus.

The new line launched earlier this spring on the heels of last year’s fantastic Moisture Renew Lipsticks. Like those lippies, these catch and reflect sunlight like my favorite pair of aviator sunglasses, and with the addition of SPF 15, they’re not a bad deal for $6 each (although I do think they have quite a bit of competition at that price point). Read more…

I PUMICE TO USE REDKEN NATURE’S RESCUE
REFINING SEA POLISH MORE OFTEN

No, that’s not hot mustard up there, but it’s something no less exhilarating. I can honestly say I’ve never seen anything like it before (this was the last thing that prompted me to say that). It’s an exfoliator…FOR HAIR!

I really expected the new Redken Nature’s Rescue Refining Sea Polish ($19 for a 3.4-oz. tube) to be a gimmick, but it turned out to be kind of brilliant instead. I mean, we already exfoliate our face, bod and our gnarly @ss feet (gurl, don’t make me bust out my heel buffer/parmesan cheese grater on you, and don’t pretend like you don’t know what I’m talking about 🙂 ), so why stop with our hair?

To use, just apply the non-foaming Sea Polish paste after shampooing but before conditioning, massaging it gently into your hair section by section. The product contains exfoliating grains of pumice which, when massaged into the hair, scrub away any built-up hair products, grit and grime your shampoo may have missed, while also refining and polishing. Read more…

I’D CIRCUMNAVIGATE THE GLOBE FOR THE
NYX SOFT MATTE LIP CREAMS

Forget “champagne wishes and caviar dreams.” I prefer “makeup wishes and Soft Lip Creams.” 🙂

In my wildest beauty nerd dreams, I’d visit each of the 11 cities featured in the new NYX Soft Lip Creams line ($6 each) just to be able to wear each color in the city it belongs. First London, then Amsterdam, Antwerp, Stockholm, Monte Carlo and Milan. From there it’s across the Adriatic to Istanbul, down to Abu Dhabi, further down to Addis Ababa, way, way east to Tokyo, and then all the way across the Pacific to end in Sao Paolo, Brazil.

Of course, to complete the fantasy, I’d fly business class, and Ben McKenzie love would accompany me on the journey (sorry, El Hub!). On planes, in trains and automobiles, we’d talk for hours about The Hunger Games, and then, somewhere over the Mediterranean, he’d reveal his secret fetish for crazy cat ladies. Read more…

GET NAKED FOR LESS WITH THE NYX
NUDE ON NUDE PALETTE

Remember a few years ago when it seemed like every other day a different celebrity would get caught accidentally flashing her goodies on camera? It usually happened while they were stepping out of a limo, falling from a barstool or slipping off of a couch in the club.

Now, I seriously doubt that L. Lo, Brit-Brit, or P. Hilt have had anything to do with the nude/neutral/naked eyeshadow palettes that have arrived on makeup counters lately, but it still makes me wonder: is this a case of life imitating art, or just another strange makeup coincidence? 🙂

Either way, I’m not complaining. I’ll gladly take another palette of good old-fashioned wearable nudes and neutrals any day of the week.

Buzz has been building for the latest one in the limelight, the NYX Nude on Nude Eyeshadow and Lip Palette for spring ($25). Some are calling it a dupe for Urban Decay’s more expensive Naked Palette ($48). Read more…

I’VE TAKEN A SHINE TO THESE
NEW NARS ILLUMINATORS

Truth: sometimes I view fruit solely as a vehicle for the delivery of Nutella — a Nutella delivery system, if you will, with the final destination being my belly.

And, in a way, the new multi-purpose NARS Illuminators in Super Orgasm, Copacabana and Laguna ($29 each) are just like that. The liquid (like fruit) serves as the vehicle to deliver the glitter/pearl (the Nutella) to the skin.

Okay, I could have used a better analogy…but I think you know where I’m going with this. The stuff is basically shimmer suspended in a very sheer tinted liquid.

The newly released shades follow up on last year’s shimmery, multi-purpose Orgasm Illuminator, and, like Orgasm, they’re also designed to work as blushes, bronzers and/or highlighters. Read more…

THIS BRONZE GODDESS IS A STAR
THE ESTEE LAUDER BRONZE GODDESS SEA STAR BRONZING BLUSH

HOTNESS! Can we please pass “Go” and skip directly to summer?

Please??

I can’t make it much longer… It’s imperative that I be poolside soon, and warm, wearing Estee Lauder Bronze Goddess Sea Star Bronzing Blush ($34) on my cheeks.

Sea Star is a golden peachy pink blush, both pigmented and shimmery, from the new limited edition Bronze Goddess Soleil Summer 2011 collection, and I’m guessing it’ll look great on a wide range of skin tones. To use it, I mix the colors that comprise the pink sea star with the sandy peach background in the pan; to me, the combined shade looks like a slightly less shimmery version of the lovely NARS Orgasm. Read more…

WHAT’S THE PRICE OF PERFECTION?
ABOUT $6.50, THANKS TO COVERGIRL LIP PERFECTION LIPSTICK

This spring is shaping up to be a memorable one for drugstore lippies, with lips (and wallets) everywhere doing the dance of money-saving joy. First, the long-wearing $10 L’Oreal Infallible Le Rouge lipsticks left their mark; then, the buttery $6 NYX Soft Matte Lip Creams leaned in for a kiss.

But the newest girl in town is a moisturizing lipstick from Covergirl. It boasts a lightweight texture, bold (yet still budget-friendly) color and comes in a whopping 44 shades. Covergirl’s new $6.50 Lip Perfection Lipsticks were designed by Covergirl Global Creative Design Director (and magic makeup maven) Pat McGrath, who’s kinda like the Midas of my makeup world; everything she recommends turns into makeup gold. Read more…

Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,

Karen

It’s Oscar night, yo! And I’m so excited this year because Tabs was nominated in TWO different categories — the Best Supporting Cat Actor category for his performance in Tabs Story 3, and then also in the Best Makeup category (of course) for his work on The Fighter. A lot of people don’t know this, but it was Tabs and his wicked blending who really made Christian Bale look like he lost all that weight.

Are you gonna watch the show? I have to because of Tabs (I feel like a proud stage mom!), but I also want to see how co-hosts Anne Hathaway and James Franco do. They’ll be the first-ever female/male Oscar hosting duo, and it’s also unusual for a host to be one of the nominees as Franco is up for Best Actor for 127 Hours.

Before the festivities begin, here’s one last look back at a few of the things we talked about this week in the lovely worlds of makeup and beauty. 🙂

The Weekly Roundup: Posts You Might Have Missed

BOBBI BROWN + TIBI
PEONY & PYTHON COLLECTION PUTS THE SQUEEZE ON PURPLE AND PINK

One day last year during a trip to the Philippines my parents trekked deep into the heart of the jungle on a tour to see a massive python (their idea of a good time), but when they finally located the legendary beast, it turned out to be so desensitized to tourists that it practically posed for the cameras.

When they returned home to California and showed me the pictures, I still couldn’t bear to look at them without shivering. You see, I’m one of those girls averse to creepy crawly things…even tame ones that work in the tourism industry. Read more…

DO OUI LOVE ESSIE AND THE
ESSIE SPRING 2011 FRENCH AFFAIR COLLECTION?

The one time I visited France was part of a whirlwind European vacation with El Hub before we got married, and we rode the rails to get around, hustling from train station to train station in performance fleece and flannel.

I must have looked more like a hobo than a fashionable girl, burdened by the weight of my big red backpack, as I passed perfectly put-together French women on the streets, them with their scarves and perfume; me with my maps and dirty laundry.

I tried to soak up as much proximity glamor as possible, a feat I believe is also possible by osmosis, even though there’s very little (read: no) scientific evidence to back it up. (Persnickety science fun fact: technically it would probably be glamor through diffusion, not osmosis, since osmosis refers specifically to the movement of water molecules from a higher to lower concentration through a semi-permeable membrane.) Read more…

MAC UNSUNG HEROES:
SUBCULTURE LIP PENCIL
Colleges could teach courses in ways to pair MAC Subculture Lip Pencil ($13). Seriously, I wear this warm rosy nude with practically everything. EVERY. FRICKIN’. THING. I use it so much that I’ve gone through about four sticks of it over the past few years. It’s a regular Ms. Versatility, boo, and if you two haven’t met, it’s high time ya did.

Many gals, myself included, feel that Subculture’s color matches the natural color of their lips perfectly, which, I know, seems counterintuitive. I mean, why buy a lip pencil in the same shade as your lips?

Well, for the definition, doll. 🙂 I use this creamy, long-wearing, non-feathering pencil to define my pucker with crisp edges when I wear lipsticks and/or gloss, and I also think my lips look smoother and plumper with it on. Read more…

EVERYTHING OLD IS NEW AGAIN WITH THE
MAC JEANIUS COLLECTION

OH, what I wouldn’t give to be able to fit into my acid wash Guess overalls from seventh grade. I’d wear them to the MAC counter on March 3 (with one strap up and one down, of course) to welcome the limited edition MAC Jeanius Collection. 🙂

To any and all denim angels listening, please take pity on my 35-year-old bum. It longs to fit into a pair of size 7 juniors pants.

I’m pretty stoked about MAC’s 16-piece denim-themed collection for eyes, lips, cheeks and nails, even if we’ve seen similar themes like it before. Read more…

THE BENEFIT B.RIGHT SKIN CARE
LINE LAUNCHES APRIL 2011

Hi, cutie! I’m live blogging from the Benefit headquarters in San Francisco and just wanted to give you a quick sneak peek at what’s coming down the pipe from Benefit — a new skin care collection launching in April called B. Right. The eight-piece collection, which focuses on hydration and brightening, is designed to work hand in hand with Benefit’s makeup.

The products are designed to work quickly and easily, with prices ranging from $21-38. Expect to see cleansers, a toner, an eye makeup remover, an exfoliator, an eye cream and face moisturizers. Read more…

I’M NUTS OVER PACIFICA INDIAN
COCONUT NECTAR BODY BUTTER

I can’t decide whether to praise or curse (a pox upon thee!) those little bins by the register at Sephora, with all their last-minute impulse purchase temptations… Last Saturday, after I’d already found what I’d gone into the store to get, I was in the checkout line when one of those blasted bins acquired the power of speech!

“Karen,” it whispered. “Over here, by the register.”

Of course, I had to look. I saw these little 2.5-oz bottles of Pacifica Indian Coconut Nectar Body Butter for $5. I grabbed one and took a quick sniff.

I love the scent, which Pacifica describes as a warm coconut vanilla, but I get more of a warm vanilla cake with coconut frosting and a light drizzling of dulce de leche on top. In other words, YUM! I’ve come damn close to gnawing off my arm Donner party-style, and each time I’ve worn it I swear I’ve craved cupcakes. Read more…

HAUTE STUFF COMING THROUGH!
THE NEW GIVENCHY NAIVEMENT COUTURE COLLECTION FOR SPRING/SUMMER 2011

Merci beaucoup, Givenchy. Today your 10-piece Naivement Couture Collection for spring/summer 2011 let me momentarily forget about winter and the aching chill in my booty bones.

I may have even developed a fever in Sephora while swatching Naivement’s palette of sun-kissed pink, orange and gold, because I had a hallucination, fo’ reals!

At one point an eye palette in my hand turned into a tube of sunscreen right before my eyes (wha!?). When I looked up, I was standing on a warm beach at sunset. There was a bucket of beer at my feet and a man standing beside it. The man was James Franco. “Where’d you run off to, babe?” he said, and I answered, “Sephora?” I turned my head to see where I’d come from, but when I turned it back, James and the beach were gone. Read more…

THESE $7 BURT’S BEES TINTED LIP
BALMS ARE THE BEE’S KNEES

Burt sure keeps his bees busy! Their latest creation, a concoction of 100% natural ingredients, gives a soothing sheer tint to lips.

Available in six sheer shades ranging from pink to red to neutral, these Tinted Lip Balms ($7 each) moisturize and nourish lips with soft flower waxes, shea butter and added vitamin E.

The ones I’ve been wearing lately are peachy Tiger Lily and Pink Blossom. Both feel smooth, light and non-sticky on my lips, and I dig their light, sweet raspberry flavor and scent.

Like all of Burt’s products, the Tinted Lip Balms proudly display (well, they could) the official Tabs Stamp of Approval, since they’re cruelty-free and were developed without being tested on animals. Read more…

MAC SHEEN SUPREME LIPSTICK
SWATCHES AND PRODUCT PHOTOS

Whew! It’s been a full on MAC swatch fest here at Casa MBB today. 🙂 Here’s the last of the bunch — six of the 14 new MAC Sheen Supreme Lipsticks ($14.50 each). Smooth, creamy, and with a light vanilla scent and flavor, these new lippes feel a lot like the discontinued MAC Slimshines. Expect to see the Sheen Supremes kissing lips at MAC stores and counters on March 3. Read more…

HOW DO YOU FEEL ABOUT
CHANGING YOUR HAIR COLOR?

I’ve changed my hair color so many times over the years that I’m not even sure what my natural hair color is anymore (I just know it contains some gray). Yes, despite all the many things I fear about our world — underground caverns, the coming zombie apocalypse, submarines, and earthworms come to mind — I’m downright courageous when it comes to the color of my coif.

Senior year in college, I wore it mahogany brown with a single blonde streak in the bangs, which I kept long, swept to the side and always, ALWAYS tucked behind my left ear. After graduation, hoping it would make me look older and more responsible, I trekked up and down San Francisco’s steep hills with long, jet black hair flowing behind me. A few years later, after a gut-wrenching breakup, I entered my red phase, hacking my hair into a short bob and adding angry vermillion streaks. And when I felt I’d finally moved on, so did my hair, which morphed into an optimistic fawn brown with sunny golden streaks. Read more…

Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,

Karen

Good morning, beautiful. Ooh! You’re just in time for breakfast. We’re having hot buttered pancakes, hash browns and omelets made to order. Just make yourself comfortable, and I’ll be right back with some coffee.

Yum, right? I’m so starvin’ like Marvin right now…

So what did you do yesterday? I hope you had some fun. El Hub and I kinda just lazed around together; it was glorious. In the afternoon we went to a surprise 70th birthday party lunch for one of his coworkers, a sweetheart named Joan. Joan is one of the kindest people and most interesting characters you’d ever want to meet. Before blowing out the candles on her cake, she made everyone with cameras pause so she could reapply her lipstick first. And about her famously fantastic memory, she says, “I haven’t had a printer for so long that I’ve become used to memorizing vast quantities of information from the Internet.” LOL!

Anywho, what’s on your agenda for today? Have you seen any good movies lately? I wanted to see I Am Number Four until I read some of the reviews, like this one from Avi Offer of NYC Movie Guru: “Suffers from so much style over substance, lack of internal logic, contrived subplots and wooden performances that it makes Twilight look like Gone with the Wind.”

Ouch! I might go see The King’s Speech instead. Have you seen it yet?

The Weekly Roundup: Posts You Might Have Missed

I’M ADDING LUSH R&B TO MY
LIST OF GREATEST HAIR HITS

Lush R&B Revive & Balance Hair Moisturizer ($18.95) is so damn good that whenever I use it, I burst into song. “Whoever invented Lush R&B, homeboy was such a whiz! Now my waves, soft and shiny, hardly ever frizz. It hydrates my hair while it soothes my scalp. (It really has been a great deal of help.) With a touch of hold, I’m totally sold On Lush R&B!”

Okay, so maybe this won’t be my year to win a Grammy, but really, this stuff rocks. I’ve been using it lately to get what I’ve referred to on the blog as “brunch hair” and “vacation hair” — touchable, cooperative hair with a bit of hold and definition.

Lush markets R&B as a hair moisturizer, a kind of rich, hydrating leave-in conditioner designed for dry scalps and hair. It’s a frizz-smoothing, shine-enhancing hair hero recommended for hair types that often benefit from extra hydration, and they mention African American, curly, wavy and generally dry hair. Read more…

MAC LOOK IN A BOX
GIRL NEXT DOOR

What would you do if I told you that MAC put a look in a box? Would you want to set it free?

Before you answer that, what if I also told you that the neutrals in this particular box don’t bite? No, they’re much too sweet for biting. As a matter of fact, the shades in the MAC Look in a Box: Girl Next Door kit ($40) are sugar and spice and everything nice (i.e. charming), like the kind of makeup you’d wear to meet a new beau’s mom for the first time.

The limited edition 2011 travel exclusive boxed set, one of three from the MAC Packed to Go Collection, comes with five products, a few of them full-size items from the MAC permanent line, and a couple of hard-to-find limited edition shades from previous releases.

I really love this set, but I wish it was easier to track down. As a travel exclusive, it mostly hangs out at select airports and duty free stores.

I guess that’s (part of) the beauty of these the travel exclusives — the thrill of the chase. 🙂 Read more…

MAC PACKED TO GO
3 CREMESHEENS

I thought you might like to see another of those MAC travel exclusives, and this one’s a real trip (LOL!). It’s called 3 Cremesheens, and it’s part of the new MAC Packed to Go collection.

Like all of MAC’s other travel exclusives, 3 Cremesheens will spend most of its time at select domestic and international airports and duty free stores when its flight arrives this spring (prices will vary by location).

I’d originally heard that the set would include Boy Bait, one of my favorite Cremesheens, but that appears incorrect. The set I have came with a pretty light pink called Right Image instead.

I thought you might like to see another of those MAC travel exclusives, and this one’s a real trip (LOL!). It’s called 3 Cremesheens, and it’s part of the new MAC Packed to Go collection.

Like all of MAC’s other travel exclusives, 3 Cremesheens will spend most of its time at select domestic and international airports and duty free stores when its flight arrives this spring (prices will vary by location).

I’d originally heard that the set would include Boy Bait, one of my favorite Cremesheens, but that appears incorrect. The set I have came with a pretty light pink called Right Image instead. Read more…

TARTE LIPSURGENCE
NATURAL LIP LUSTERS

You know how they say that every time a bell rings, an angel gets his wings? Well, every time I take out a Tarte LipSurgence Natural Lip Luster, a drag queen cheers and whips out two snaps in a circle. 🙂

The six new moisturizing lusters ($24 each) are souped-up versions of Tarte’s best-selling LipSurgence Lip Tints with punchier pigmentation and a finish so shiny (I gotta wear shades).

In the plus column, I really like that these pencil tips are twisties, because I don’t like having to tote around a sharpener (ahem, I’m talkin’ to you, NARS Velvet Gloss).

I also tip my hat to Tarte for keeping a lot of the common lip gunk out of these, like formaldehyde-based preservatives. They’re also gluten, oil, talc and MEA/DEA/TEA-free. And because they’re also cruelty-free, Tabs gives his husky-pawed kitty stamp of approval. Read more…

DON’T MISS THESE 5 FANTASTIC
DRUGSTORE BRUSHES

Makeup brushes are lightweight, easy to pack, and make fantastic little travel gifts. Both of the chains you mentioned, Target and CVS, carry several affordable, high quality brushes like the EcoTools Bamboo Bronzer Brush.

This $12 cruelty-free brush has a dense head (there’s a pun in there somewhere) and super soft bristles. It’s designed to be used with bronzer, but I prefer to use it to buff loose powder on top of my foundation for an airbrushed look.

And don’t miss the Sonia Kashuk $6 Bent Eyeliner Brush. An affordable, all-purpose eyeliner brush with an angled barrel, a long handle and a pointed brush head made with soft, yet firm, synthetic fibers. I think it’s a star with gel liners like MAC Fluidline and makes winged cat eye flicks super easy to do. Read more…

GET SHATTERED WITH THE CHINA
GLAZE CRACKLE COLLECTION

China Glaze designed their six new Crackle Glaze polishes to create a worn-in, desconstructed look for fingers and toes.

How it works: first, apply a coat of nail polish (shimmer, cream, matte, whateva!), and wait for it to dry. Then, add a layer or two of one of the China Glaze Crackle colors. In about five minutes, you’ll see the polish separate to form shattered patterns on the nail. I’m wearing a light gray cream beneath the Crackle colors in the pic here.

It’s not really my style, but I give ups to China Glaze for keeping things interesting. If I were 13, listening to a lot of Avril Lavigne and shopping at Hot Topic, however, I’d probably be all over this in a hot second. Read more…

I’M HAVING A MARITIME WITH THESE
$5 RIMMEL GLAM’EYES TRIO EYE SHADOWS

It’s Maritime, young lady. 🙂 Get ready to set sail on a Trio hour tour aboard the USS Glam’Eyes. The ship is bound for the The Land of Cheap Makeup Thrills, and Captain Rimmel’s at the helm.

I absolutely love Rimmel’s Glam’Eyes Mono shadow singles, so I’ve really been looking forward to trying their new Glam’Eyes line of trios ($5 each). Maritime, one of four trios in the line, is a sea of blues designed to bring out the best in brown eyes.

These shadows, like the singles, feel super soft and pack loads of pigment, while still blending like a dream. As good as that sounds, though, I actually think the singles apply a tad more evenly. With these, I get a few uneven patches of color along with some fallout beneath my eyes, but considering how affordable they are, it’s not a deal breaker for me. Read more…

MAC VIVA GLAM GAGA 2
SWATCHES AND PICTURES

What’s the story, morning glory? You know how much I love MAC Viva Glam, right? I thought that maybe you’d like to check out their latest VG color, MAC Viva Glam Gaga 2, available now in both a Lipstick and Lipglass ($14.50 each).

Unlike last year’s pale pink Viva Glam Gaga shade, the new color’s more of a flesh-toned nude. Check out the swatches below and let me know if you think it’s a go (ooh, call me MC Karen ’cause I just made a rhyme!).

Like all of the Viva Glam products, 100% of the proceeds of the Viva Glam Gaga 2 Lipglass and Lipstick sales go to the MAC AIDS fund, which helps women, children and men living with HIV/AIDS. One tube at a time, millions have been raised since the program’s start in 1994. Read more…

IS MILK OF MAGNESIA
A CURE FOR OILY SKIN

The product that finally brought my skin to genesis is incredibly easy to use, portable, and comes in a chic little package. Since I’ve begun using it, my pores have all but disappeared, my skin redness has faded away, and my skin is as smooth as non-comedogenic butter. That’s right. I’m talkin’ about the Clarison — oh, wait. We already did that review.

No, what I’m here to hype today is not meant to be a skincare product at all. It’s actually a digestive aid. Liquid milk of magnesia (about $6 for a 12-oz. bottle) is a suspension of magnesium hydroxide in water, given its name due to its milky white appearance, and its typical uses include soothing raucous stomach acids and easing constipation… Not quite the kind of thing you think about using near your face, right?

Wrong (I bet you didn’t see that one coming).

For a long time, I’d been hearing about DIY beauty remedies involving milk of magnesia as a weekly facial mask to soak up oil and help reduce acne. But, probably like many of you, I was extremely wary of putting anything meant to be in my acidic stomach on my sensitive skin, so I relegated this tip to the REJECTED pile and went on, going through bottles of cleansers, foundations, serums, and medications in an attempt to find something that could control my over-eager sebaceous glands. Read more…

Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,

Karen

Rise and shine, morning glory. 🙂 I hope you had a wonderful night. I’m just fueling myself up for the day with a breakfast of buttered toast, strawberry-guava jam and instant coffee (because I’m out of filters).

Did you do anything fun last night? I’d like to say I did…but Blue Valentine threw a wrench into my plans. Talk about depressing movies. Since it had the magic words, “Ryan Gosling,” I expected fireworks, but instead spent two hours watching a relationship slowly implode. Not my favorite movie of the year.

So what’s on your plate for today? I’ve got boring house stuff on mine — groceries, cleaning, a trip to Target, that kind of thing. I would much rather spend the day chilling in front of the tube.

What did you think of this week’s makeup and beauty news? Did anything stand out? It seems Urban Decay had a pretty good week…

The Weekly Roundup: Posts You Might Have Missed

DEFEAT DULL WITH THE TARTE
PROVOCATEUR AMAZONIAN CLAY SHIMMERING POWDERS

And the hits keep comin’ from Tarte! The cruelty-free brand (one of Tabs’ faves) just launched two new pressed powder highlighters for spring called the Provocateur Amazonian Clay Shimmering Powders ($30 each). The name doesn’t exactly roll off the tongue, but the powders do have some moves.

The almost weightless, finely milled grains feel like baby powder on my skin — unlike those other highlighting powders that make my pores look larger than the Grand Canyon. They can be applied to cheeks, brow bones, and décolletage for a highlighting glow. Use a little for a soft, subtle sheen, or a lot to shoot for the stars.

These continue Tarte’s Amazonian clay trend, too, supposedly adjusting to the wearer’s skin. Tarte claims they add moisture to dry spots while absorbing oil from slick ones, but in that regard I’m not totally sold. Read more…

WILL YOU TAKE A SHINE TO THE
TARTE AMAZONIAN CLAY POWDER BRUSH SET?

About half of the time back in college when I’d go to the library to “study,” I’d actually fall asleep with my face in a book. I’d wake up, peel my face from the paper, and look down to see huge oil spots on the page.

Gross, I know. 🙂

Ah, well… if I’d only known about the Tarte Smooth Operator Micronized Clay Finishing Powder and Brush Set, the one with the power of PM20 ($38, available exclusively through QVC.com).

If I’d had this colorless loose powder and soft, synthetic bristle powder brush with me back then, the only spots on my books would have been from bits of greasy fried chicken (because everyone knows studying chem is more fun with junk food), and NOT my oily skin.

Lately I’ve been dusting the powder on my face to set my foundation and concealer, and it works, keeping the oiliest spots on my forehead and nose matte for a solid eight hours. Read more…

STRIKE IT RICH WITH THE NEW
BOBBI BROWN RICH LIP COLOR SPF 12 LIPSTICKS

I like to think of Bobbi Brown’s newest spring release as the lipstick equivalent of a DVF wrap dress and a pair of Jimmy Choos. A combination of opaque color and subtle shine, the Bobbi Brown Rich Lip Color SPF 12 Lipsticks ($22 each) create a dressed-up lip look that’s neither too formal nor too stuffy — like business casual for your lips (with just a smidgen of sex appeal for flava).

Lightweight and smooth, these unscented, unflavored lipsticks provide the kind of full color coverage more common of creams and mattes with thicker textures, and they do it at a pretty good price (for a department store line).

Today I tried four of the 12 shades in Bikini Pink (a cool pink), Sweet Nectar (a pinkish coral), Plum Rose (a plummy rose) and Old Hollywood (an orangey red), and judging by these, Bobbi wasn’t messing around in the pigment department. These are intense! Read more…

THE FORECAST CALLS FOR GRAY IN
DIOR VERNIS GRIS CITY

The new Dior Vernis Gris City polishes were built with busy urban babes in mind. Not only is the included brush so wide that I can cover an entire nail with it in three swipes, but the formula dries quicker than a fast-paced city life — two coats take me less than 10 minutes, tops.

Dior says that each of these $21 shades was inspired by fashion-forward cities around the world. Places like NY 57th, Bond Street, Gris Montiagne Read more…

THE TARTE ACHIOTE CHEEK TINT AND
LIP LUSTER DUO AND THE LEGEND OF THE LIPSTICK TREE

Like the Yeti of my makeup dreams, I thought the lipstick tree was a figment of my imagination. Many, many times I’ve dreamt of having one strategically placed outside my bedroom window (right next to the money tree, of course), so I could easily pluck a tube off its branches whenever I wanted a new color.

Funny thing about dreams — sometimes they come true, albeit indirectly in this case. It turns out there really is a lipstick tree! It doesn’t sprout lipsticks (DAMN!), but bright red fruit instead.

Apparently I wasn’t paying close attention in upper division botany, because today I found out achiote is a small tree grown in tropical regions of the Americas and Southeast Asia. It bears spiny fruit which contain bright red seeds used to color food, body paint and lipstick, hence its nickname, “the lipstick tree.” Read more…

WHICH OF THE 4 NEW BUXOM
STAY-THERE EYE SHADOW SHADES WILL BE LEADER OF THE PACK?

It appears that man’s best friend at Buxom has been seeing a makeup-loving woman on the side! Good morning and happy hump day, cutie. 🙂 Let’s get Wednesday off to a good start with a peek at the four new Buxom Stay-There Eye Shadow colors for spring 2011 ($17 each), which, like Buxom’s 10 previous Stay-There shades, are named after different breeds of dog (woof!).

Tabs said he likes the idea, but he hopes Buxom considers adding a few feline colors to the line (and would like to offer his kitty modeling services if they do). While they mull that over, I’d like to submit a color suggestion if I may — Mystery Mutt, a shimmery golden brown, named after Shauna, my family’s beloved pooch. Read more…

URBAN DECAY FEMININE, DANGEROUS
AND FUN EYESHADOW PALETTES: SWATCHES AND PICTURES

What up, buttercup? Here are swatches and photos of the three new Urban Decay Feminine, Dangerous and Fun Eyeshadow Palettes ($34 each). I’ll have face and eye shots in a few, but for now, check out the colors and holla at me in the comments if you see anything you like. Read more…

THE JILLIAN MICHAELS BANISH FAT, BOOST
METABOLISM WORKOUT DVD HURTS SO GOOD!

Blast you, Jillian Michaels, and your calorie-killing tough love! The first time I pushed play on your Banish Fat, Boost Metabolism DVD ($10), I came this close to a full-on bakery breakdown. I’m serious, I was one mountain climber away from driving to the nearest bakery to stuff myself with donuts (have I mentioned I’m a stress eater?).

But, as if you could somehow tell when I was ready to quit, you looked me in the eye, cranked up the motivation dial and firmly told me “not to phone it in” (which is Jillian Michaels for “never give up, never surrender!”).

Needless to say, this workout’s no joke, and it hurts SO GOOD.

How good exactly?

Good like the first time you got your ‘stash waxed, or the first time you kissed that hot, scruffy bad boy (you know, the unemployed one with the muscles and the motorcycle — the one your parents despised). Read more…

URBAN DECAY UD THE FEMININE
PALETTE AND PRE-FRIDAY FUN

Tonight is all about the ladies, y’all, at Club Urban Decay (aka MBB Headquarters), and girls and gatos get in free — that’s cruelty-free — with the new Urban Decay UD The Feminine Palette ($34). 🙂

From the stylish clothes it wears, to the shimmery shades it bears (browns, pinks, purples and teal), this palette’s guaranteed to turn heads and put all eyes on you. The colors feel so lighthearted, girlie and fun that I believe it’s my favorite of the latest batch of spring palettes from Urban Decay.

As you might be able to tell from these snapshots, I was feelin’ mighty Feminine today. For my eye look, I started with a thin layer of Urban Decay Primer Potion in Eden applied with my fingers from my lash line to the brow bone, which I followed up by sweeping Midnight Cowboy Eyeshadow directly on top with a flat eyeshadow brush. Since Midnight Cowboy has gargantuan gobs o’ glitter, I used a makeup wipe to clean the fallout. Read more…

URBAN DECAY UD THE FUN PALETTE,
AND ONE VALUABLE LESSON LEARNED FROM MY CAT

It’s useless to try to out-pose an international kitty supermodel, especially one with as much experience as Tabs.

But that didn’t stop me from trying today with the new Urban Decay The Fun Palette ($34).

I tried to “sell” the colors I’m wearing from the palette, one of three new ones from Urban Decay for spring, but I’m just not kitty supermodel material.

I used Sin (a shimmery light pink) from the lash line to the brow bone, Baked (a shimmery bronze) in the crease and along my lower lash line, Woodstock (a shimmery hot pink) on the lid and Psychedelic Sister on my upper lash line.

Tabs is just a natural, I guess. Read more…

Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,

Karen

Oh my gawd, horses are huge! Yesterday before we hit the grocery store to stock up for Super Bowl Snack Fest 2011, El Hub and I went for a hike through Indian Valley, and you know that Whodini song, Freaks Come Out At Night? — well, the horses come out on hikes, because it was like the rodeo yesterday, y’all, and I’m not EVEN kidding.

Have you ever ridden a horse? I never have, but it looks like so much fun. Some of the stables around here supposedly let people go for horseback rides, and I think I’m gonna look into it one of these days.

Goooood morning, young lady. 🙂 What’s on your Super Bowl snack menu today? We’re going with veggie and regular hot dogs, organic potato chips with sour cream & onion dip and sides of carrots with hummus, and sweet corn.

In other news, I think it was a pretty good week for makeup and beauty, and we had some great guest posts too.

The Weekly Roundup: Posts You Might Have Missed

WHAT TO WEAR ON YOUR
WINTER TRIP TO SAN FRANCISCO

Adventure awaits! I think you’re going to love San Francisco, but before I jump into suggestions, please promise me something — that you’ll never, ever refer to San Francisco as “San Fran” (bluh!) or “‘Fricso” (double bluh!) while you’re here. Try “S.F.” or “the City,” and merchants will take you for a local (as opposed to a tourist).

The weather is generally mild in winter — too warm for snow, but too chilly for shorts. It rains a little more than usual, and temps typically range from the low 40s to mid 60s.

In the city itself, the different districts and neighborhoods also have their own micro climates. You can literally go from one end of the city to the other (a distance of just 7 miles) and go through banks of thick fog, patches of sun, and areas of rain, which means it helps to be prepared for anything.

I think you’re wise to leave your heaviest snow coat at home, but you’ll still want to bring a warm coat, especially if you plan to do any walking (a good likelihood considering the poor parking). It also gets colder at night. Not East Coast cold, mind you, but chilly enough. Read more…

CHANEL ROUGE COCO
SHINE LIPSTICK IN BOY

I know there’s probably, like, eight billion degrees of separation between Chanel’s latest lippie — the new Rouge Coco Shine Lipstick in Boy ($32) — and the technicolor troubadour who crooned Karma Chameleon, but my inner ’80s child doesn’t care. When it comes to cheesy pop music makeup connections, I won’t be denied!

No, Chanel didn’t name this Boy after Boy George, but it sure would have been neat if they had.

Turns out the lippie takes its name from one of Coco’s lovahs, Arthur Edward “Boy” Capel, the wealthy English polo player who played a big role in Mademoiselle’s colorful life. It was Boy who gave her the funds to open her first shop, and his clothes that influenced her early designs (their boxy, masculine shapes). Legend has it he asked her to marry him, but she refused, wanting to wait until she became financially independent first. Sadly, Boy was later tragically killed in a car accident. Read more…

HAVE YOU SEEN THE LANCOME ULTRA
LAVANDE COLLECTION?

Mr. White must have liked Mr. Purple.

Mr. White was my middle school music teacher, and one year in band he had us play a medley of Prince songs as an ode to The Purple One (I played the flute). Imagine, if you will, a room filled with 13-year-olds, their instruments out of tune, rocking out to Raspberry Beret and Purple Rain. And while it must have been painful for him, Mr. White sat through the entire thing with a straight face. I only wish I’d had the foresight to tape the ghastly tune; it would have made an awesome ringtone.

This occurred to me today while playing with the purples in Lancome’s spring collection, Ultra Lavande, a limited edition release for eyes, lips, cheeks and nails. The release recently pranced onto shelves and online, and, for the record, it went well with Take Me With You (MY FAVE!) playing in the background.

Butterflies Fever Blush was the piece I was most excited about before the collection came out, and I think it looks just as beautiful in person as it does in pictures. Read more…

A NEW LOOK AT
NARS SPRING 2011

When the NARS spring 2011 makeup collection sprung earlier this month, it didn’t strike with the force of a thousand Easter bunnies. In other words, it didn’t knock me off my feet.

I liked the repromoted Angelika and Super Orgasm Lip Glosses but felt the Soft Touch Pencil in Celebrate, the Lip Gloss in Nana and the Pure Matte Lipstick in Madère were just okay. Seriously, what’s a 35-year-old suburban gal gonna do with a neon green eyeshadow (Celebrate) that lasts all of 5 minutes on her skin?

And then came today.

I tried four more goodies from the collection this afternoon — the Lipstick in Tzigane, Soft Touch Shadow Pencil in Hollywoodland, Eyeshadow Duo in Bateau Ivre and Eyeshadow Duo in Nouveau Monde — and now NARS is singing my tune.

THESE are the kinds of products I was hoping to find in this collection; until today, I just didn’t know they were here. Read more…

HOW DO YOU HANDLE FLAKY FOUNDATION
CAUSED BY DRY WINTER SKIN?

“I have an annoyingly dry forehead and nose area, and no matter how much I moisturize, my foundation still looks flaky!”

Girl, you’re preachin’ to the choir. If this sounds familiar, you are not alone. I get patches of dry skin around my nose and at the corners of my mouth (it always seems worse in winter), and it often leads to flaky foundation.

Foundation loves having a smooth surface to adhere to, so let’s talk about skin for a moment.

Wind chill factors outside, heaters cranking inside, dehydration, Benzoyl Peroxide and Retin A — these are just a few of the things that can cause or worsen dry skin (I seriously notice a difference when I’m not drinking enough water throughout the day). Read more…

THE 9 COLORS IN THE TWO FACED
ROMANTIC EYE CLASSIC BEAUTY SHADOW COLLECTION ARE COOL

After making it through my trip to the dentist yesterday without shedding a tear, I decided to reward myself with a quick trip to Sephora. It was all I could do to erase the memory of those silver hooks coming at me in that awful chair (have I ever mentioned that I think my childhood dentist was a sadist?)!

As I was tooling around the store, I bumped into the new Too Faced Romantic Eye Classic Beauty Shadow Collection kit.

“Oh, hai!”

For 35 smackaroos ($35), you get nine cool-toned powder shadows in a range of shimmer and matte finishes, divided into three rows of suggested “looks” — Day, Classic and Fashion. Read more…

HOW TO LOOK GREAT
DURING CHILDBIRTH

When I found out that my due date was May 1st, my first thoughts weren’t of baby blankets and onesies. All I could think about was, how am I going to avoid looking like a wet dish towel in one of those post delivery photos? — the ones that someone always manages to snap at the exact moment when you’re the most sweaty, the most tired, and the least ready to have a remotely flattering picture taken. I’m talking about that moment when after 12 hours of intense labor, the cameras start clicking like crazy!

I never really thought of myself as a particularly vain person, and I know that when the time comes, it’s supposed to be all about the baby, but I was determined to hang on to some shred of my former makeup loving self, and come out of the whole experience glowing, despite the stretch marks and imminent hemorrhoids.

About a month before my due date, I became the lone pregnant lady haunting the aisles of my local Sephora. I rarely took a friend on these occasions, mainly because I could not have any distractions from what I saw as my personal mission. I was determined to put together a look that could withstand whatever curveball Mother Nature decided to throw my way, be it C-section or 24 hours of labor. Whatever happened to be going on below my neck, I was hellbent on keeping what was above it well controlled and looking its best. I needed the makeup equivalent of an Earthquake Prevention Kit. Read more…

THE SEPHORA BY OPI
GLEE COLLECTION NAIL POLISHES

“What does a show about high school choir have to do with nail polish?” I wondered, standing in the middle of Sephora yesterday. Gazing upon the display for the new Sephora by OPI Glee Collection, I tried to connect the dots between Mr. Shue, his band of musical misfits and OPI’s line of limited edition lacquers.

I guess the answer was obvious enough: who cares? 🙂 In a world with Spanx for Men, I suppose anything is possible.

Shoot, if Katy Perry and Justin Bieber can do it, why not the kids from McKinley High?

The lyrical line, which just arrived on shelves, contains 10 new shades ($9.50 each) and three packs of stick-on nail prints ($15 each). If $9.50 sounds like a lot, there’s also a set of six 0.12-oz. mini-bottles for $24. In true Glee fashion, the colors have names like “Slushied” and “Celibacy Club.”

I was hoping to find “The Chronic Lady,” “My Shop Teacher Has No Thumbs” and “The School Nurse Gave Me These Vitamins,” but then again I like to think of the quirky first season as the golden age of Glee.

I briefly considered the polka-dot nail stickers, but I think I was still under the influence of the drugs I got at the dentist… Adhesive beauty products aren’t usually my thing (I blame it on a traumatic experience involving Lee Press-On Nails many years ago). Read more…

HOW TO APPLY
LIQUID FOUNDATION

Liquid foundation is one of the ficklest products to apply. Ever. Not only is its basic application a chore, but even after you feel like you have a routine down, the smallest hiccup — anything from product buildup on your brush to a stray brush stroke — can throw off your entire look for the rest of the day.

But after years (literally, it has been that long) of trying different methods, brushes, and foundations, I think I finally have it down to a handful of simple steps that can make all the difference in the world.

Grab your favorite liquid foundation. Now, I almost always choose a full coverage one, as this method will sheer it down a bit, making it suitable for most skin types and needs. Pour or pump an amount about the size of a nickel or quarter (this will vary depending on the condition of your skin) onto the back of your hand or a palette. Read more…

IS IT TIME TO GET FIT WITH
MAYBELLINE FIT ME FOUNDATION?

When I think of a perfect fit, I picture J Brand skinny jeans or my yellow platform sandals; I don’t usually think of foundation.

But Maybelline hopes to change how we think of “perfect” this spring. Their new line of Fit Me foundations, concealers, powders, blushes and bronzes are designed to make finding your perfect shade that much easier to do.

Today I gave Fit Me Foundation ($8) a try — a liquid foundation designed to even skin tone without feeling heavy or looking like it’s caked on the skin.

After my date with the Fit Me Blushes yesterday afternoon, I thought the foundation would have that same casual makeup vibe.

For starters, it’s available in a whopping 18 shades with SPF 18, and the one I wore around the house today was 320 Honey Beige. The color’s not a great match for my skin tone, but it’s the closest of the ones I have right now. Read more…

Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,

Karen

This week was hands down one of the funnest weeks I’ve had blogging since 2007. My tiara goes off to MAC for coming up with such a cool creative concept (Wonder Woman) and for going all out with the idea. I can’t wait to see more.

They could have said, “I know! We’ll get a Wonder Woman license, throw the logo on some compacts and jack up the price.” That would have been the Happy Meal approach, but it’s not the approach they took. They decided to focus on an era from Wonder Woman’s comic book past (the more contemporary WW is stylistically completely different), carefully selected the colors for the collection, and put everything together with great products and original promo artwork to form a cohesive creative concept.

I’m not a fan of everything MAC does, and sometimes I think they rush things out the door, but when they do go all out with a clear vision like this, they’re awesome. This is makeup, after all, and it’s rarely revolutionary. It’s about ideas, concepts and stories just as much as it’s about colors, brushes and light. At least for me, it’s the concepts that fill my head with ideas, the stories that fill my heart with desire, and great products that make me want to seal the deal. Yes, that was a little corny… 🙂

The Weekly Roundup: Posts You Might Have Missed

THE DOLCE & GABBANA SECRET GARDEN
ULTRA SHINE LIPSTICKS AND GLOSSES

As promised, here are those swatches of the two lipsticks and two lipglosses from the new Dolce & Gabbana Secret Garden Collection.

What do you think? Ultra shiny, right? I’m gonna go out on a limb and say they’re aptly named. Read more…

$59 SMASHBOX STYLE FILES
FOR EYES LIPS AND CHEEKS

The three portable palettes in the Smashbox Style Files ($59) are totally easy to crack. What I mean to say is, there’s no 128-bit encryption or complex p@ssW07ds here. Just a batch of beauty bits (in shimmery neutrals to deep jewel tones) for eyes, lips and cheeks.

For my makeup today, I felt like something fun and fresh, but I didn’t want to think too hard.

Enter the Smashbox Style Files, a new limited edition Sephora exclusive set.

These colors aren’t as pigmented as I’d hoped and suffer from some pretty mean fallout, but I do like how easy they are to blend. In all, you get eight shadows.

Each of the cream liners double as bases for the shadows, so that’s pretty cool. And the pencil liners cling to my lash and water lines like true champs. With this set, you get four Cream Liners and two Limitless Eye Liners.

The lip and cheek palette comes with two Lip Glosses and two Cheek colors (my favorite things about the entire kit!). I LOVE how effortlessly these blushes melt into my skin. The non-sticky lippies, however, I could probably live without. Both unscented, unflavored colors look almost identical on my pigmented pucker. Read more…

ARE YOU A MAC
WONDER WOMAN?

Unless you’ve been holed up in your secluded superhero lair (every hero needs one, yo!), chances are you’ve probably heard rumblings about the new MAC Wonder Woman Collection, which twirls onto shelves February 10 in North America and internationally this March.

MAC teamed up with DC Comics this time to create a limited edition makeup collection inspired by one of the toughest ladies in comic book history. She fights crime in foxy hot pants (and sometimes a skirt) and has a penchant for practical accessories, like bullet-deflecting bracelets, magic lassos and boomerang headpieces, too!

There’s no denying it — this girl is tough AND cute.

Not bad for 2,000 years old (I wonder which face cream she uses).

Just like Diana Prince right before a beam of magic light transformed her into Wonder Woman, I’ve been practically spinning in circles in my knee-high boots ever since I saw the first promo pics for this super-sized 33-piece collection for eyes, lips, face and nails. Read more…

A FEW MAC WONDER WOMAN
LIP COMBINATIONS

What up, fellow Wonder Women? I thought you gals might like to see some potential lip combinations with the Lipsticks and Lipglasses from the soon-to-be-released MAC Wonder Woman Collection.

These are just to spark some ideas, of course. Let’s get those creative juices flowing!

About that, what’s your current favorite lip combo (liner/lipstick/gloss)? Or do you like to wear just one thing at a time? Inquiring minds want to know. Read more…

MY CLARINS NEO PASTELS
MONDAY FACE OF THE DAY

Sooo, guess who’s procrastinating? 🙂 Yeah, I have about a billion things on my to-do list, but none of them are as much fun as makeup.

I put the new Clarins Neo Pastels Collection to work today for this here face of the day.

I loosely based the eye portion of the look on the Neo Pastel makeup tutorial here, and the edgy look of the black liner along the waterline is one of my favorite parts.

The Eye Quartet Mineral Palette’s shiny finish makes these dramatic and fun, but I observed some patchiness from both of the purple shadows (but not as much as the pastel quad in the Dolce & Gabbana Secret Garden Collection). Read more…

THE MAC PACKED TO GO
TRAVEL EXCLUSIVES FOR SPRING 2011

Planning any trips soon? If you are, and they happen to involve a short airport layover, you might be able to MAC 🙂 good use of your wait time with the new MAC Packed to Go travel Exclusives for spring 2011.

Travel exclusives are limited edition sets, and sometimes individual products, special to travel hubs like airports and duty free stores (you won’t find them at regular stores or counters).

A lot of the bigger beauty brands like MAC, Dior, Estee Lauder, Chanel and Guerlain (to name just a few), have them, and they’re a boon to beauty obsessed travelers like us.

MAC Packed to Go is being released in two “phases” for spring.

The first, available now, features three MAC Look In A Box kits, each one designed with a different themed look in mind using products for eyes, cheeks and lips.

The second phase, which launches in March, will encompass 11 MAC Packed to Go sets organized by category, like lipstick, Lipglass, mascara and brush.

I always try to keep an eye out for travel exclusives because some of them contain hard-to-find limited edition pieces from long lost (but not forgotten!) collections, making them great opportunities to snag something you might not have had the chance to get the first time around. Read more…

MEET CLINIQUE’S CONSERVATIVELY
SHARP MILLY PALETTE

Greetings and salutations, mon amie. I wanted to quickly show you the new Clinique Milly Pretty in Prints Palette ($36) in action.

What do ya think? I followed the tutorial that comes with the eye and cheek palette this afternoon, and the whole thing took only about 10 minutes to do.

The palette comes with four shadows and a blush; the shadows contain just the right amount of pigment, and all of them are super easy to blend. Heck, I’d call the palette downright perfect if it wasn’t for the matte brown shade, which left mad fallout on my cheeks when I used it as a liner today (which is what the tutorial suggests). Read more…

WHAT ARE YOUR TOP 5
MAC MUST HAVES?

I was digging through my MAC favorites this morning when I remembered a question asked by reader Sheila Z in the comments yesterday.

“Karen, I’ll be getting my makeup done this saturday at MAC for my brother-in-law’s engagement party. Part of the process requires that I buy at least 5 items. What are the top 5 you recommend?”

Hey, Sheila. Pardon me for this, but right now I feel Ready For The World! “Oh, oh, oh, oh, Sheila!”

(Please tell me you’re familiar with that song.)

With that out of the way, let’s get back to beauty. 🙂 You’re going to have such a blast at the MAC counter on Saturday. For what it’s worth, here are my five (current) MAC must-haves. Read more…

HAVE YOU SEEN THE NEW
ZOYA INTIMATE COLLECTION?

If you’ve yet to get your fill of purple, this spring’s prince of the color-sphere, feast your eyes on the sweet new shades in Zoya’s Intimate Collection ($7 each; available in six colors).

These make me want to play dress-up…like I should be wearing a floral print dress with sky-high pumps as I sport them on my nails.

And for some reason I can seem them going well with the Laura Mercier’s Silk Road Collection…

I only just put these on, so I can’t speak to wear time yet, but the other Zoya polishes I’ve tried resist chips and fading exceptionally well, especially when worn with the Color-Lock System (THE BEST!). Read more…

Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,

Karen

Rise and shine, morning glory. Say it with me: “It’s going to be a beautiful day. It’s going to be a beautiful day. It’s going to be a beautiful day.” Maybe if all of us pull together, our combined powers of positive thinking can make it so no matter how cold it is outside. 🙂

Worth a shot, right?

Did you do anything fun last night? El Hub and I went to Chipotle for din-din and then to see The Dilemma, with Vince Vaughn, Jennifer Connelly, Winona Ryder and Kevin James.

Talk about dilemmas. Did I, or did I not, like The Dilemma? Hmm, that’s a toughie. I liked parts of it, like whenever they’d let Vince Vaughn cut loose (because that guy can TALK), but then it would get heavy for a while, and I’d sort of drift off into my popcorn…

Were there any highlights for you last week in the worlds of makeup and beauty? How about highlights of your week overall? Was it a good one? Mine wasn’t bad. No complaints over here.

I’m REALLY excited about MAC Wonder Woman. With the collection coming, I spent some time online surfing for info, but I actually got sidetracked by all of the great Wonder Woman comic art that’s out there.

I never collected any of the WW comics (I was more into the cartoons), but I can’t believe how much she’s changed over the years.

Wonder Woman circa 1942

Wonder Woman circa 2011

BAM! She looks so badass now…

The Weekly Roundup: Posts You Might Have Missed

DOLCE & GABBANA SECRET
GARDEN SWATCHES

Greetings, young lady. I wanted to show some swatches of the Dolce & Gabbana Secret Garden collection this afternoon (lip, eye and face shots are coming soon).

About the lippies, there are just two lipsticks and glosses in the release. The coral-ish lip gloss seemed very out of place to me at first (straight out of Mad Men), but, um, after I thought about it a little, I think I can see what Dolce & Gabbana was going for. I like the way it contrasts with the pale pastels. As for the other gloss, the pale pinkish violet, it has micro bits of silver glitter that you have to look closely at to see. Read more…

DOLCE & GABBANA NAIL
LACQUER IN PLATINUM

Besides its top-shelf pigmentation and oodles of micro-glitter, Dolce & Gabbana’s Nail Lacquer in Platinum ($20) has a nice surprise that makes it stand out from all the other gray polishes showing up at department store counters this spring (see Estee Lauder Wild Violets and Dior Montaigne).

The sole nail color in the new Secret Garden Collection might look like your typical shimmery silver polish in the bottle, but on my nails Platinum subtly flashes from silver to gray to green to taupe depending on the light. Very cool!

I haven’t yet tested Platinum for durability since the bottle just came in, but if it’s anything like the Dolce & Gabbana polishes from the last few seasons it should resist chipping with a good base coat.

I applied two coats of Dolce & Gabbana Nail Polish in Midnight on my toes before leaving for a trip last fall (it’s one of my “good luck” nail polishes; do you have any of those?), and being the lazy @ss that I am, I didn’t paint my nails again for a good three weeks after. By the end of the third week, my polish showed a few chips, but the color was almost as vibrant as the first day I put it on. Read more…

THE NYX 10 COLOR
PALETTE IN BOHEMIAN RHAPSODY

Any way the wind blows, doesn’t really matter to me…because the NYX 10 Color Palette in Bohemian Rhapsody makes everything better. It comes with 10 of the line’s most wearable neutrals in shades of silver, taupe, brown, beige, gray, peach and black, all for an easily digestible $11 (and they even included a case!).

NYX tends to get a little repetitive with their 10-Color Palettes. I say, NYX tends to get a little repetitive with their 10-Color Palettes, but a variety of matte and shimmery finishes keeps this Bohemian Rhapsody from singing the same song twice.

Each and every time I open this thing I want to break into song! — like I’m a long lost Von Trapp child (who happens to be brown). Read more…

THE CLARINS NEO
PASTELS COLLECTION

I wonder what would Neo from The Matrix would think about the new Clarins Neo Pastels Collection. Would he consider ditching his black cloak and brooding persona for its uplifting makeup in pink, purple and peach?

I highly doubt it, but ya never know…

Available now on counters and online at clarinsusa.com, the new Neo Pastels Collection features 21 new and repromoted items consisting of an eye palette, six blushes, 12 lipsticks, one mascara and a wrinkle-smoothing primer in a palette of primarily soft pinks, purples, peaches, with a sprinkling of neutral brown, beige and black thrown in for safe measure. To me the colors seem like typical (in a good way) spring/Easter shades. Read more…

THE CARGO COSMETICS
COLLECTION FOR SPRING 2011

All aboard! The cosmetics captains at Cargo aimed to take us on a trip with their new spring 2011 collection, and I like the destination.

I took a long, leisurely look at the six piece collection today (aren’t the pouches cute?) and absolutely love the travel theme. Most of the color products lean warm, and I think they work well with my yellow undertones. If you like the way you look in warmer shades, you might like them too.

For what it’s worth, don’t miss the Voyages Safari collection/kit. I was surprised by how great the products looked on both darker and lighter skin tones.

Now I just need someplace to go! Read more…

WILL YOU WEAR PACO RABANNE
OR WILL IT WEAR YOU?

1 Million by Paco Rabanne is all about power.

Notes of chilled grapefruit, blood mandarin, smooth peppermint, sweaty musk, dry cinnamon bark, aged leather, tonka bean, subtle patchouli, and amber ketal don’t just call for attention; they demand it.

1 Million begins with airy peppermint and sparkling blood mandarin. These two notes are rather distinct for the first five minutes or so, creating a refreshing blend that lends a sort of brightness and glow akin to that which accompanies a night with a lover. However, these soon begin to fade and give leave to more smoothly blended Middle Notes.

The Middle Notes mostly consist of dry cinnamon and a general spiciness. Here is where the power enters. At this stage, this scent is like someone whose mere touch is enough to make others bend to their will. It’s the power behind the throne, subtly pulling strings and directing the entire operation.

Within 30 minutes, 1 Million settles down into its Base Notes of leather and amber ketal (a synthetic variant of the naturally occurring ambergris). A sophisticated air takes hold, demanding a part in the hair and a steam-pressed coat. But a certain accord that can only be described as sweatiness hangs close to the skin. Perhaps this higher being is not as perfectly coiffed and buffed as his appearance suggests. Remove his jacket and you may see that his shirt was not fully tucked in the back. And wasn’t that part in his hair neater a minute ago? Ask around, and no one will mention having seen him. It makes one wonder. Read more…

HAVE YOU SEEN THE HELLO KITTY
SEPHORA BEAUTY LINE?

Sephora is expanding into the kitty herding business, but I know at least one cat lady who isn’t furtastically impressed.

Their new Hello Kitty makeup line, called Hello Kitty Sephora Beauty, is available now in stores and online. Products range from $5-55, and the line covers makeup, fragrance, makeup brushes and accessories, too (there’s even a shower cap).

I caught a brief glimpse of two of the palettes and some of the fragrance items at my nearby Novato store the other day when the cute display caught my eye. Most of the makeup is packaged in white with silver accents. Read more…

THE LANCOME ULTRA LAVANDE
COLLECTION FOR SPRING 2011

It’s time to bust out your lighter and sway back and forth, because Lancome’s new spring makeup collection is a regular Prince!

As in Purple Rain. 🙂

Just how much purple are we talking about here? Well, if you crammed a thousand Prince impersonators, all of them wearing sparkling purple suits with matching ruffled shirts, into one HUGE room, that would be less purple than Ultra Lavande, Lancome’s spring release of new and repromoted items for eyes, lips and cheeks. Read more…

I FEEL GOOD ABOUT
NARS MULTI-PROTECT PRO PRIMER

Look out! It’s a primer triple threat! From the fertile mind of Francois Nars, the new NARS Pro-Prime Multi-Protect Primer SPF 30 ($32) creates a smooth canvas for your makeup while it supposedly nourishes skin with a bevy of plant-based ingredients.

This newest member of the permanent NARS Pro Prime line has a colorless, lotion-like texture that feels light and fluffy to the touch. Oil-free, it totally reminds of Urban Decay’s Complexion Primers, absorbing quickly without leaving a greasy residue or white cast on my skin. Read more…

Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,

Karen