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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

EmphasEYES Those Brown Eyes with Tarte Aqua Gel Eyeliner in Shimmering Indigo

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This may sound a little selfish, but I sure hope Tarte adds their new emphasEYES Aqua Gel Eyeliner in Shimmering Indigo to their permanent line, because I love the way it looks with brown eyes.

The pigmented purplish blue gel liner, a QVC exclusive shade (you get not one, but TWO for $25), comes in a twist-up pencil, making it more convenient than most gel liners.

According to Tarte, half of the product consists of water — with minerals, as well as vitamin E, cucumber and aloe suspended within it — and judging by how creamy and moist the liner feels along my lash line, I believe it.

It also shimmers on my eyes in a way that makes it look to me like late afternoon light reflecting on the surface of a pond, ah…


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35 Ways to Shine: The New Make Up For Ever Lab Shine Lip Glosses

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make up for ever lab shine on karen of makeup and beauty blog

Make Up For Ever hopes to woo a lotta lips this spring with their glitzy new line of glosses, but these luminescent lippies might be a little too much like young love (meaning they fade all too soon).

For their shiniest lip gloss yet, Make Up For Ever loaded each tube of Lab Shine with highly reflective pearl pigments. The entire line encompasses three different finishes (Diamond, Star and Metal) spanning a whopping 35 colors.

The Diamond CollectionThe Diamond Collection’s 12 shimmery shades are formulated with Make Up For Ever Diamond Powder for transparent, natural looking color and glittery shine.

The Star CollectionThe Star Collection boasts 14 shades blended with Make Up For Ever Star Powder to give lips glamorous shine with an iridescent mother-of-pearl finish.

The Metal CollectionThe Metal Collection features nine shades made with Make Up For Ever Metal Powder, giving lips an intense mirror-like finish.

My lips love how these glosses feel, smell and taste — or rather how they don’t taste like much at all. I like the faint fragrance, which reminds me of hibiscus.

Smooth and hydrating, containing camelina oil (which is rich in vitamin E) and beeswax, they have a medium-weight texture that’s not sticky, so they scoot onto my lips with ease.

make up for ever lab shine
Make Up For Ever Lab Shines from left: S10, S16, S24, S26, D6, D22, M14 and M10
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A $5 Dupe for Chanel Riva? Yes Way! The China Glaze Nail Lacquer in Sea Spray

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If price made your pretty nails pass on Chanel’s breathtaking but budget busting resort collection Riva ($27, ouch!), Anchors Away!

One of 12 nautical shades in the new China Glaze Anchors Away Collection for spring goes by the name of Sea Spray (about $5).

Here she is in her bottle next to Riva…

china glaze sea spray swatch

With a familiar marine-like blue vibe and similarly subtle micro glitter, both could be cousins, judging by the way they look in their bottles.

But how do they look beside each other on nails? Well, they aren’t twins, but they come fairly close. Sea Spray looks a little darker than Riva does and isn’t as creamy. And its micro glitter is silver, while Chanel’s is teal.

If you’re impatient, you might prefer China Glaze’s formula to Chanel’s, so that’s something else to consider (in addition to the difference in price). Sea Spray packs more pigment than Riva and takes just two coats to achieve full opacity; Chanel’s requires at least three to four (I used four here).

Chanel riva china glaze sea spray swatch
China Glaze Sea Spray (left) and Chanel Riva (right)
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Two Ways to Win a Clarins Barocco Shimmering Gold Powder for Face and Décolleté

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  • WINNER: The giveaway is closed now, and the winner is Tina. Congrats, Tina! If you entered but didn’t win this time around, keep trying, and click here to enter any ongoing giveaways before you jet. 🙂

clarins barocco collection holiday 2010 review

Eureka! There’s gold on them thar cheeks, faces and décolleté — Clarins Barocco Shimmering Gold Powder, that is.

Clarins formed it into delicate gold-dusted nuggets, which they plopped into an elegant black cylinder decorated with a black scroll and tassel. It’s perfect gold rush material, and they even included a black powder puff.

Are ya ready to strike gold today? 🙂

A Makeup and Beauty Blog Giveaway!

  • One (1) Limited Edition Clarins Barocco Shimmering Gold Powder for Face and Décolleté (a $35 value).

  • There are two ways to enter, and you can do both of them for two chances to win. First, you can enter by leaving a comment at the bottom of this post, a comment about anything at all. Tell the story behind your favorite piece of gold jewelry, or about the time you tried to find the pot of gold at the end of a rainbow, or about the time you auditioned to become a Solid Gold dancer! — you get the idea.
  • Second, you can enter by following me on twitter Twitter @karenmbb and retweeting (RT) the following message:
    • Follow @karenmbb and RT to Win a Clarins Barocco Shimmering Gold Powder for Face and Decollete (a $35 value) http://bit.ly/egDoas

  • The deadline to enter is Friday, January 7, 2010 at 11:59PM (PT).
  • Entrants must enter using a valid email address and/or Twitter account to win.
  • A maximum of two (2) entries per person — one within the comments at the bottom of this post, and a second entry via Twitter addressed to me @karenmbb.
  • Contest is open to individuals of any country who have reached the age of majority according to their local laws (18 in the United States with these exceptions: Alabama and Nebraska, 19; Mississippi, 21).
  • Tabs and I (heretofore referred to as “T-Money and K-Dawg”) will select one (1) winner at random from the entries either left in the comments at the bottom of this blog post or addressed to @karenmbb on Twitter.
  • The winner will be announced here within 48 hours of the deadline.
  • Void where prohibited by law.

Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,

Karen

  • WINNER: The giveaway is closed now, and the winner is Tina. Congrats, Tina! If you entered but didn’t win this time around, keep trying, and click here to enter any ongoing giveaways before you jet. 🙂

When NARS Springs for 2011, He Won’t Be Blushing

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NARS spring 2011

Since I have a weak spot for NARS blushes that’s right up there with my weak spot for Häagen-Dazs dulce de leche ice cream, I was shocked, and a wee bit disappointed, to hear that Francois left the blushes out of his collection for fall.

But I wiped away my tears today when I saw these pics for the small 11-piece collection for eyes, lips and nails. The shimmery earth tones with metallic finishes; the sheer, sparkly cool purples and pinks; and even a couple of unexpected greens and blues? NARS started with safe neutrals but sprinkled them with just enough brights to keep a girl on her toes, and what he came up with looks to be a lot of fun.

Plus, almost all of the colors are new (two of the lip glosses are repromotes).

NARS SPRING 2011

Trio Eyeshadow in Calanque (new), $45 — This earthy trio can do the splits, meaning it’s flexible, yo. It contains a shimmery gold-infused platinum with silver glitter, a light matte caramel and a shimmery antique-ish golden bronze. Wear the products individually, using one as a base, one as a highlighter and one as a liner, or mix and match them with the other eye products from the release (or something else entirely). Neat, right? I can already see this trio getting a permanent place in my makeup bag.

Eyeshadow Duo in Bateau Ivre (new), $32 — I feel blue 🙁 but in a totally good way. I’m eager to try Bateau Ivre’s rich sky blue and deep denim. FUN FACT: This duo took its moniker from the Arthur Rimbaud poem of the same name.

An excerpt from Le Bateau Ivre (The Drunken Boat)

“As I was floating down unconcerned Rivers
I no longer felt myself steered by the haulers:
Gaudy Redskins had taken them for targets
Nailing them naked to coloured stakes.

I cared nothing for all my crews,
Carrying Flemish wheat or English cottons.
When, along with my haulers those uproars were done with
The Rivers let me sail downstream where I pleased.”
— Arthur Rimbaud, Le Bateau Ivre

Eyeshadow Duo in Nouveau Monde (new), $32 — One word: WANT! Nouveau Monde, French for “New World”, NARS poetically pairs a silvery metallic lilac with a rich olive gold.

Soft Touch Shadows Pencils in Celebrate (new) and Hollywoodland (new), $24 each — Both Celebrate (a festive parrot green) and Hollywoodland (a pale gold) can be worn as bases upon which to layer powder shadows, or alone for a dash of pigmented shimmer.

NARS SPRING 2011

Lip Glosses in Nana (new), Super Orgasm (repromote) and Angelika (repromote), $24 each — There they (NARS) go again. They can’t sincerely expect me to be able to resist shiny pink and purple glosses, right? I mean come on.
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