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
Tarte just kicked off a friends and family sale online at tartecosmetics.com. Receive 40% off of all purchases sitewide from August 2 to August 9, 2010, by entering code FFAUG at checkout.
Something to consider: Tarte Lock & Roll Creaseless Eyeshadow Duo in Moss, $17 (pictured above).
Happy shopping. 🙂
Disclaimer: Tabs is NOT a certified astrologer…but he does read Susan Miller, a lot.
Aries (March 21- April 19)
Good news from Venus, lovely Aries! Think about a mani/pedi and getting your hair done did in the latter half of the month, when Venus unites with Mars. That makes it a great time for a date with someone special. If you’re attached, plan for August 20-21; single ladies, shoot for the 20th or 28th.
Taurus (April 20-May 20)
Mars is in your corner, dear Taurus, cheering you on, and that means this will be a good month to work on your fitness (you’ll see good results!). You might invest in a new waterproof mascara and/or a long-wearing gloss to look your best at the gym.
Gemini (May 21-June 20)
Rent a few movies, get some take out, and plan a stay-at-home spa weekend from August 7-8, beautiful Gemini. Venus and and Uranus are dueling that Saturday, which could mean ma-jah drama! Spare yourself from it by staying out of the way.
Cancer (June 21-July 22)
Venus and Mars are positioned extremely well for you this month, Cancer! Get some pretty things for the homestead on August 20, and consider investing in some stylish makeup organizers and/or brush holders (or maybe a fancy mirror to beautify your vanity!).
Leo (July 23-August 22)
It’s your time to shine, birthday babe! August 9th’s new moon will fill you with energy and enthusiasm, so slip into a shade of lipstick that makes you feel (and look!) powerful. Why? Because it’s going to be a fantastic day!
Virgo (August 23-September 22)
Pack a makeup bag with your favorite low-key vacation beauty essentials, sweet Virgo, because with the new moon on August 9 falling into your house of privacy, it’s going to be an ideal time for a mellow, relaxing vacation. Find a quiet place to relax with a good book, and spend some time really concentrating on you.
Libra (September 23-October 22)
Work it, boo! With Mars in Libra this month, you’re going to look smokin’ hot for weeks (six of them). Consider trying out some new smoldering eye makeup looks perhaps.
Scorpio (October 23-November 21)
Um, don’t forget to shave your legs on August 24, lovely Scorpio. 🙂 The full moon could ignite your love life, bringing with it a day (and night) to remember.
Sagittarius (November 22-December 21)
This will be a great month to take a trip (particularly from the August 9 new moon onward), sweet Sagittarius, but be meticulous about the makeup, brushes and beauty goods you pack. Neptune and Mercury will try to make you forgetful, and you don’t want to lose your favorite stuff!
Capricorn (December 22-January 19)
Mars and Venus are embracing in your career sector this month, cute Capricorn, and will beam over an outstanding day for career progress. The blast hits on August 20; VIPs will notice you, so make sure your hair and makeup look flawless!
Aquarius (January 20-February 18)
It’s prime time you cleaned out your beauty stash, adorable Aquarius. Mercury will be in retrograde in your home sector from August 20 to September 12, making it a great time to take stock of your belongings (something valuable but long forgotten might turn up). Organize, organize, organize!
Pisces (February 19-March 20)
That Guerlain or Chanel palette you’ve been eyeing belongs in your hot little hands, pretty Pisces. 🙂 The new moon in your career house on August 9 may bring with it a new assignment that should pay very well.
May the stars be with you,
The workweek is looming before us (NOO!), but we’ve still got plenty of time left for fun. Put on your stretchy pants, twist open a fresh jar of Nutella (I’ll bring the spoons), and grab a seat — the Open Thread starts now!
If you’re new to the open thread, here it is in a nutshell:
During the week we mostly talked about makeup and beauty, but today anything goes. The open thread’s kinda like we’re grabbing coffee and catching up, except that we’re behind our keyboards instead of a table at Starbucks. 🙂
It takes place in the comments section at the bottom of this post, and it can be about anything and everything — what’s new in your life, things on your mind and, of course, makeup and beauty are obvs fair game. Got a new skin care product you’re loving? — do tell (don’t make me beg!). Planning a vacation? — share the deets. Trying to figure out whether you should date that cute vampire or the werewolf? — Haha! I’m way too excited about True Blood tonight!
If you’re shy, you can always talk to me, but feel free to reach out to one another, too (everyone here is cool!).
The open thread goes on all day (and night), so stop by and chill if/when you can, and feel free to pop back in and out as you’d like.
And for no particular reason at all (beyond the fact that he’s gorgeous), here are a few random pics of Tabs…
Because I watched the latest Star Trek movie again last night (BEST OPENING 9 MINUTES IN SCI-FI MOVIE HISTORY!), I was thinking about doing something Star Trek-inspired for the black-and-white roundup pic at the top…but I thought I might be the only person in the world who’d appreciate the randomness of it, LOL!
How’s it going today? What’s shakin’ in your neck of the woods? I’m just over here loading up on tea and reading some gossip blogs.
Speaking of that, do you have a favorite one? Mine’s pinkisthenewblog.com because I like my celeb news on the light side, ya know? Nothing too snarky or mean.
On Sundays I like to wrap up the week with a quick look back at some of the things we talked about in the worlds of makeup and beauty (and also spend a few hours playing/practicing with Photoshop).
What was the best beauty news you got this week?
EOS EVOLUTION
SHAVE CREAM
My bad luck in the crap shoot that is genetics = totally your gain. Why else would the powers that be bestow upon me a dense thicket of body hair if not to serve as a guinea pig for all of (hairy) womankind?
Peep the latest episode in the epic struggle between Karen and all forms of hair removal technology — this bottle of EOS Evolution of Smooth Pomegranate Raspberry Shave Cream.
I picked it up at Target last week when the cute pink bottle caught my eye (it was also on sale for $2, down from the regular $5). Read more…
BECCA GLOSSY
LIP TINT
Ever since an “incident” about a decade ago involving free cosmopolitans (long story short, but I hadn’t eaten anything beforehand and weighed 98 pounds at the time), I haven’t been a big boozer, but I am a total lush (as you well know) when it comes to makeup.
I can’t restrain myself around colors like Becca Glossy Lip Tint in Mimosa ($23). Seeing how I only just recently got wind of shimmery golden bronze Mimosa, it might be a little premature to declare it “The best Becca Glossy Lip Tint evah.”
But I’m still doing it. 🙂
Like Becca’s other Glossy Lip Tints in Frappe, Colada and Cherry Bomb, Mimosa lavishes lips in wet, glossy color, but it’s even more pigmented and hydrating on the lips. As a matter of fact, with Mimosa I haven’t felt the need to start with a layer of lip balm worn underneath. Read more…
SMASHBOX MASQUERADE
PALETTE
Friends, citizens, insomniacs, lend me your eyes; I come to bury complicated eye looks, not to praise them. Put down that Sleepytime Tea for a second, Caesar, and take a look at the new Smashbox Masquerade Eye Palette ($35) — enemy of complicated eye looks everywhere!
You don’t have to be an aeronautical engineer to put together fly looks with this palette of nine powder shadows in neutral and jewel-toned shades. In it, Smashbox cleverly placed complementary colors in three horizontal rows, basically taking the guesswork out of color matching. It’s a breakthrough of epic proportions, yo! — particularly for lazy chicks and insomniacs (oh, hai!) like me. Read more…
SMASHBOX MASQUERADE
COLLECTION FALL 2010
I’m as happy as a kid at the front of the deep fried Twinkie line at the county fair. Girl, grab your ball gown and bedazzled mask, and prepare to be lured by a Smashbox Masquerade.
Available online now, Masquerade’s a small but comprehensive fall release with seven limited-edition pieces dressed in sophisticated indigo blue packaging. Pink, gold and peach shades softly light up lips and cheeks, and rich browns and beiges — along with a sprinkling of jeweled shimmery greens and blues — smolder on the eyes.
I think there’s something scary seductive about this collection. When I read the color story, I felt the shades drawing me into a fantasy that starred detailed satin ball gowns and glittering masquerade masks. I think the collection’s much prettier and softer than last year’s Reign, which had a cool edginess to it, but some of the colors in Reign weren’t the easiest ones to wear (two words: red eyeshadow). Read more…
TRESEMME HEAT
TAMER SPRAY
Seriously, where would we be without our friends to show us the beauty light? I imagine we’d bumble our way through the beauty-sphere, eventually finding the best stuff on our own, but isn’t it nice when a buddy offers a heads up about something truly great (and cheap!)?
To wit: my pal Marisol recently turned me on to TRESemme Heat Tamer Spray ($5), and HELLO! — talk about bomb-@ss drugstore beauty finds.
I’d been seeing it on shelves for months but wasn’t compelled to give it a try until Marisol’s recommendation.
TRESemme designed the spray mist to protect hair from heat damage, to tame frizz and to add shine.
It’s a breeze to use… Just spritz on wet hair before blow drying, curling or flat ironing (it can also be used on dry hair). Read more…
ESTEE LAUDER
BLUE DAHLIA COLLECTION
Do you ever just stop and stare up at the sky as it changes colors at dusk? As the day slinks away? Doesn’t it look like someone’s cranking up the saturation on everything? Okay, yeah, so it might sound kinda boring, but you gotta do it every so often.
Estee Lauder Creative Makeup Director Tom Pecheux says that’s the kind of light — the colors that emerge at the moment day turns to night — that inspired the company’s new Blue Dahlia collection (have you seen the 1946 movie of the same name?). Read more…
ORLY NAIL
NECESSITIES KIT
What follows is a brief cautionary tale…
Neglect your mani/pedi long enough, and your fingers and toes may turn to eagle talons. It’s true. I speak from experience. I’ve neglected my nails to the point where I could carve hearts in trees, bluh!
Enter the Lori Greiner by Orly Manicure Keeper Nails Necessities Kit ($18), a handy (ha!) three-piece set of goodies designed to make at-home manicures easier. You get a bottle of Rubberized Basecoat to bump up the wear time of your polishes, a bottle Smudge Repair to smooth over any nail polish mistakes (I always make at least one) and a small bottle of Fast Dry Drops to cut down the drying time of polished nails. Read more…
ESTEE LAUDER
BLUE DAHLIA POLISH
An inky blackish blue with a whisper of deep purple, Blue Dahlia Pure Color Nail Lacquer ($18) looks like a midnight summer sky on tips and toes. One of two polishes in EL’s fall 2010 collection, (the other’s called Surreal Violet), it makes me long for late-night adventures and broken curfews, and it’s yet another reason I’ve joined the Blue Dahlia bandwagon.
The shine? Otherworldly. If I were a super heroine, I’d deflect laser beams with Blue Dahlia’s luminous shine.
The thick texture (almost like molasses!) might not appeal to girls who prefer thinner consistencies, but it’s not exactly goopy. As long as I’ve taken my time to apply it slowly, I’ve been able to lay down smooth streaks of color from nail base to tip. Read more…
Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,
Karen
Butter London nail lacquer in Bumster from the fall/winter 2010 collection, $14.
Yes, no, maybe so?
Butter London Nail Lacquer in Old Blighty, $14.
What do you think of this red?
The hella dry skin, dark circles and fine lines that frequent the area under my eyes sure get on my nerves, but I’m hoping Korres’ new Quercetin & Oak Antiageing Antiwrinkle Eye Cream ($42) will help.
Korres bills it as an ultra-hydrating eye cream to combat wrinkles, increase skin elasticity and deflate puffy patches and the appearance of dark circles. It’s packed with antioxidant rich plant extracts like baobab, which supposedly maintains firm facial muscles to help keep the skin looking firm (hmm…); yeast, to improve microcirculation under the eyes and diminish the appearance of dark circles; rhodiola rosea, a cold climate plant used for centuries as a stress adaptogen (like ginseng), which in the cream supposedly reduces fluid buildup and consequently the dreaded puffy look; quercetin, an anti-inflammatory flavonol backed by clinical research (in this case used to reduce puffiness); and oak, which is said to improve skin cell functioning to repair fine lines and wrinkles.
The product is supposed to deliver visible results almost overnight. The company makes some pretty bold statements about how well it works…
“This advanced solution stimulates cell growth and protein synthesis within the first 24 hours. The resulting improvement in skin-cell functioning dramatically repairs fine lines and wrinkles.”
[Continue reading…]
It’s typography time! If you can name the font on this bottle of British brand Eyeko’s new Saucy Polish, not only will you receive mad props from your fellow font nerds, but you’ll also earn an honorary degree from the University of Makeup and Beauty Blog in Font Detect-ology. 😀
New limited edition Saucy Polish (“for naughty nails”) and Rain Polish (“for city nails”) apply with smooth, non-streaky color and reach full opacity in just two coats. Both shades, released for fall, dry to a blinding shine. They’re not the easiest products to get out here on this end of the pond, a major drawback for gals ’round these parts, but prices before shipping start at $5.50 each.
While neither color strikes me as particularly groundbreaking, I like the overall presentation (LOVE the packaging).
