Karen, Author at Makeup and Beauty Blog | Makeup Reviews, Swatches and How-To Makeup - Page 1412 of 1879

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A beauty blog blooming with fresh makeup reviews, swatches and beauty tips from your friendly neighborhood beauty addict

Karen

Dior Holiday 2010 and the 5-Colour Eyeshadow Quints: It’s a Holiday Tradition

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dior holiday 2010 makeup swatches review

Whoa, what’s this? A holiday collection that actually looks like a holiday collection?!?

Get out!

Dior decided not to break with tradition while they broke away from the pack with a classic holiday color palette in shades of gold, black, gray and pink. They must have figured they’d leave the springy holiday stuff to their luxury counterparts (Chanel and Dolce & Gabbana) this time around.

Good call. 🙂

Four of the nine items in the collection (available now in stores) are palettes. Palettes have been playing a big role this season, and it looks like they also were over at Dior HQ.

Here’s a quick look at both of the eyeshadow quints and a pricing/availability breakdown of everything in the release:
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Stila Long Wear Lip Color Lipsticks: The Long and Short of It

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stila long wear lip color swatches review

Things I wish were shorter:

  • Winter and the annual rainy season
  • The line at the DMV
  • Titanic (seriously, we already know how the story ends)

Things I wish were longer:

  • Summer
  • Cat lifespans (I might clone Tabs)
  • The wear time of these $20 Stila Long Wear Lip Color Lipsticks

It would make sense for the 16 permanent collection members of Stila’s Long Wear Lip Color Lipstick team to last a long time, wouldn’t it? I mean, Stila went out of their way to include the words “Long Wear” in the name, and they even wrote about wear time in the official product description…

“The next revolution in lip wear is here! A lipstick and lip gloss all in one that boasts extended wear while keeping lips feeling soft and smooth – never dry. The secret is a blend of patent-pending polymers that provide long-lasting wear with rich pigment that glides on like your favorite gloss. The tip of the pen is contoured to provide easy, precise application – hugging every curve of your lip.”

With that kind of pomp and circumstance, I expected at least 5-6 hours from these — but that’s about two hours longer than they actually last. 🙁

stila long wear lip color shades

I’ve tried three of the shades so far — Outrageous (a matte Mad Men reddish orange), Lover (a creamy deep red) and In the Nude (a creamy beige).

My eyes lit up the first time I saw them swatched on the back of my hand. “OOH!” I cried, “Look at how opaque and pigmented they are!”
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Makeup and Beauty Blog Monday Poll, Oct. 11

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  1. Mood:

    2. Just peachy! I got to bed early last night and clocked in a solid seven hours of shut-eye, which was just enough to recharge my batteries. Tabs is also here purring up a storm on my lap, so things are looking up.

  2. Have you ever carved a jack-o-lantern?

    3. Only once, and I was 24. When my brother and I were kids, my mom was always afraid we’d chop off our fingers, so we’d get pumpkins but were never allowed to carve ’em. Instead we’d draw faces on them with Sharpies and watch our dad do the carving.

  3. What scents are you wearing today?

    4. Coco Mademoiselle, mon chéri. Speaking of Coco, have you checked out any of her new bath and body stuff? I’ve got my eye on the Velvet Oil Body Spray, but it’s — wait for it — $55!

  4. Would you rather be too hot or too cold?

    5. Too hot, for sure. I wasn’t built for chilly weather, and I most definitely don’t do snow.

  5. Adult Halloween costumes — cool or cheesy?

    6. Cool when they aren’t just bought off the rack or something with the word “sexy” in the title (ala sexy nurse, sexy police woman, sexy demon = cheeseball). I love it when grownups get into holidays and put some honest-to-goodness effort into having fun.

  6. If you could have a do-over for something you did or didn’t do, what would it be?

    7. I would’ve fought harder to go to UCLA (I got in, but my folks wouldn’t let me move that far from home).

  7. If you could appear on a reality TV show, which one would it be?

    8. That’s a toughie… Maybe Jersey Shore? Kidding! :0 Probably Dancing with the Stars, even though I’m just a so-so dancer, because I’d love to dance with Tabs (yes, I’m crazy).

  8. Three words that describe you on your best days?

    9. Fun, spontaneous, bubbly.

  9. Three words that describe you on your worst days?

    10. Tense, impatient, argumentative.

  10. Weekly goals:

    11. My back’s been bugging me a lot lately, so I want to spend at least 15 minutes stretching every day. I also want to track down a good wide angle lens for my new camera (Canon mount), ideally something faster than an f4 (got any suggestions?).

Hey, chica! How’s your Monday coming along? It’s supposed to reach the lower 90s here today, probably one of the last hot hurrahs of the year, and since our neighborhod swimming pool’s open for another two weeks, I might try to sneak in a few laps.

Just because it’s logistically impossible for us to bum around by the pool together today doesn’t mean we can’t still kick it Internet style with the Monday Poll. 🙂

To complete the Monday Poll, just copy the following list, and paste it with your answers in the comments.



1. Mood:
2. Have you ever carved a jack-o-lantern?
3. What scents are you wearing today?
4. Would you rather be too hot or too cold?
5. Adult Halloween costumes — cool or cheesy?
6. A do-over for something you did or didn’t do?
7. Reality TV show appearance?
8. Three words that describe you on your best days?
9. Three words that describe you on your worst days?
10. Weekly goals:

Let’s make this week one for the books. 🙂

Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,

Karen

Sundays with Tabs the Cat, Makeup and Beauty Blog Mascot, Vol. 108

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Tabs for the MAC Feline Trend Bag

When you or I want to learn the tango, we rent a DVD or watch YouTube videos, but international kitty supermodels like Tabs book private lessons with the great Graciela Gonzales and fly down to Argentina for the weekend.

Must. Be. Nice.

Tabs actually had a modeling gig down there for Coca Cola (don’t you just love their ads?), so it was a combination business/pleasure trip. He considered canceling the trip at the last minute to be able to spend more time with his new cat tower at home, but he didn’t want to inconvenience Graciela…

No, that would have been tacky, whereas inconveniencing me to go pick up Tabs from the airport at 11 tonight is apparently not tacky at all. 🙁

Oh, well, maybe he’ll teach me the tango this week. That would be nice.

If you’re interested, here are some new pictures from Tabs’ modeling portfolio. Which one do you like best?

Tabs for Guerlain le Chat Parfum

Tabs for Bobbi Brown Tabby Rules
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Have a Spaghetti Taco in the Open Thread

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Weekend obsessions: spaghetti tacos, old school Benefit and hello! — is that Jared Leto?!

Don’t laugh, but late last night I ran to Target just so I could get everything I’d need to make spaghetti tacos for lunch today. Thank you, New York Times, for opening my eyes to the wonderful world of pasta-filled crispy corn shells.

They are GENIUS!

El Hub hasn’t quite gotten behind the idea yet, but he’ll come around. His primitive male brain just needs to make the leap from spaghetti to taco. It’s really simple though. Spaghetti + taco = taste bud nirvana.

Throw a little Nutella on that and…just kidding. 🙂

After my spaghetacos, I think I might pull out some old permanent line favorites from Benefit that I haven’t tried in a while — Erase Paste ($26), Some Kind-a Gorgeous ($28) and 10 Bronzing & Highlighting Face Powder Duo ($28).

Do you use any of these? They’re products that I’ve heard a lot about from other women but never really fell hard for the first time around. I feel like giving them another try.

How do you feel about Benefit in general? Every time I visit the counter at Macy’s it’s one of the busiest ones in the store (and looks like it’s getting busier every day). Tell me about it, or anything else, in this week’s open thread.

Makeup and Beauty Blog Open ThreadIf you’re new to the open thread, here it is in a nutshell:

It’s a chat fest where we wax philosophic about spaghetti tacos, boys, books, movies, makeup, TV and pets, among other topics. You name it, really.

Stop by whenever you can this afternoon or tonight. I’ll be there in a minute. I just have to load up another spaghetaco and refill my tea…

Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,

Karen

P.S. Marian (‘sup, girl!), thanks for the link to selfOblivion’s YouTube video. It’s the coolest thing I’ve seen all weekend!

Have you seen this yet? This girl does a Jared Leto cosplay, and I swear to gawd it’s amazing. The resemblance is uncanny! She does some very interesting things with shading that really bring the look to life.

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