Karen, Author at Makeup and Beauty Blog | Makeup Reviews, Swatches and How-To Makeup - Page 1337 of 1879

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

Karen

MAC Unsung Heroes: Subculture Lip Pencil

by 61 Comments

mac subculture

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.

mac subculture ps2
[Continue reading…]

Do Oui Love Essie and the Essie Spring 2011 French Affair Collection?

by 95 Comments

Essie French Affair

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.)

That trip was six years ago, and now my French glamor/glamour reserves are running dangerously low (like low-rise jeans for men), and it could be kismet that the Essie French Affair collection and I met at this intersection of my so-called life.

I’m told that Essie Weingarten, founder and president of the brand, was inspired to create the six limited edition polishes by actress Brigitte Bardot, the scorchingly hot French ’60s sex symbol and former French fashion model.

“I think every woman has a little Brigitte Bardot in her,” Weingarten said, “and this palette coaxes her out!”

essie french affair 1
Essie French Affair Polishes from the left: French Affair, Nice is Nice and Coate Azure

essie french affair 2
Sand Tropez; Topless and Barefoot; and Kisses and Bises
[Continue reading…]

Eye Love You Too, Palette. Now Let’s Tell Josie Maran!

by 30 Comments

Josie maran eye love you too palette

Bad beauty habits. You know I’ve had my share, like nail nibbling, pimple popping and rubbing at my eyes, and I’ve successfully kicked most of them to the goldarn curb. But there’s one beauty habit I don’t ever plan to break…

I hoard neutral eyeshadow palettes, and I don’t ever plan to stop! 🙂

I think of them as timeless and always in style, like ocular trench coats, and they’re wearable any time of year. And, baby girl, when the colors are cruelty-free, gorgeous shades of green, brown, peach and beige, like the eight shimmery shadows gracing the new Josie Maran Eye Love You Too Palette ($42), it’s ON!

josie maran eye love you too palette

JM recently launched this new palette of powder shadows at Sephora stores and online. Soft like velvet and smooth against the skin, the textures feel similar to the powder shadows in Josie’s Wonder Powder Palette, and I love the way they look. The levels of pigment vary from sheer to medium across the line, with multi-dimensional finishes that appear shimmery, yet not overly frosty.

Argan Eyes Are Smiling

The eyeshadows in the Eye Love You Too palette are infused with Argan oil, an antioxidant-rich oil believed to calm and soothe troubled skin. And, like all of Josie’s makeup, it’s free of parabens, sulfates, synthetic fragrances and phthalates, too.

Unfortunately, at $42, it’s a little on the expensive side, but that breaks down to about $5.25 per shadow, which isn’t all that bad if you look at it that way.
[Continue reading…]

Haute Stuff Coming Through! The New Givenchy Naivement Couture Collection for Spring/Summer 2011

by 50 Comments

givenchy naivement couture swatches

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…

Wait — where was I?

Oh, yeah, Givenchy. 🙂 I know it’s early to be fantasizing about summer, but if you 1) anticipate finding yourself at the beach with a hot actor/graduate student/novelist (you never know) or 2) living in a place that start to heat up around June, consider stocking up on the long-wearing gel blush and felt-tip lip markers. I’m crushing hard on the matte pink Blush Gelee in Candide Pink ($33), which blends easily and creates a light, cooling sensation when applied (so refreshing!), and both of the Printed Lips markers ($30 each). All three of them offer sturdy, water-resistant color that should last through a day at the pool.

For more details on the Naivement Couture Collection, check out Naive Is Haute When It Comes to the Givenchy Naivement Couture Collection.

Lighter lasses, take a close look at the eye quad and powder blush. All four of the powder eyeshadows in Le Prisme Eyes in Candide Garden ($56) apply super sheer on my tan skin (I had to use four layers for these swatches), but the colors should sing louder on pale beauties. And the matte purplish pink Le Prisme Blush in It-Girl Purple ($44), which looked a little chalky on me, should behave better on fairer skin tones.
[Continue reading…]

Copyright © 2025 Makeup and Beauty Blog. Get in touch.