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

Karen

Dolce & Gabbana The Make Up: Fall 2009 Romantic Collection

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dolce gabbana the make up romantic collection fall 2009 top

Cupid must moonlight as a cosmetics company exec because Dolce & Gabbana’s upcoming makeup for fall 2009 has his lovely fingerprints all over it.

The Romantic Collection’s pinks, blues and greens defy the typical autumn ensemble of smokey eyes, rich berries and dark lips, and when I saw these promotional pictures for the first time, I totes thought I was looking at a spring release.

The pinks in the 13-piece collection for eyes, lips and cheeks (available this September) range from subdued to bright and share the spotlight with a mix of other bright shades.

Soft and dreamy

In the look, colorful eyes smolder in silver, hot pink, bright blue and lime above lightly flushed cheeks and neutral, delicate lips.

I get a soft, almost ethereal vibe from the release that reminds me of the MAC A Rose Romance collection last spring.

Off to a promising start

As the face of Dolce & Gabbana The Make Up, actress Scarlett Johansson helped the Italian fashion house expand their portfolio into cosmetics earlier this year.

The luxury line for eyes, lips, face and nails carries prices in the Chanel/Dior range, so expect to pay a pretty penny — if you can find it. For now, the line’s only carried at two US Saks Fifth Avenue stores (New York and Beverly Hills) and saksfifthavenue.com.

What would you get?

If you could choose to take home any four of the following fall products and didn’t have to pay a dime, what would you get? Since it’s Friday, let’s virtual haul, LOL!

Are you ready to do some serious Dolce & Gabbana The Make Up damage?

It’s time for another round of WHAT WOULD YOU GET?

Your mission, should you choose to accept it: Choose any four Dolce & Gabbana The Make Up products from fall 2009, and post your wish list in the comments. 🙂

Eyes

dolce gabbana the make up romantic collection fall 2009 smooth eye colour quad in dazzling 160
Smooth Eye Colour Quad in Dazzling 160, $59 (repromote from earlier this year)

dolce gabbana the make up romantic collection fall 2009 smooth eye colour duo in rose 90
Smooth Eye Colour Duo in Rose 90, $36
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Does Illamasqua Volume Mascara Love My Lashes?

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illamasqua reviews volume mascara harness

I’m so jealous of all the lucky New Yorkers who get to celebrate Illamasqua’s official in-store Sephora launch at the new Times Square flagship store today.

Wouldn’t it be cool if we could all go together? We could meet in front of the Blushers and lipsticks and throw elbows at anybody who got in our way, LOL!

Check out some of these other posts for more on the Illamasqua line…

illamasqua reviews volume mascara wand

It’d be a full-on Illamasqua swatch-o-rama. 🙂

But I’d probably shy away from the company’s Volume Mascara in Harness ($23) (a matte black). Truth be told, it hasn’t made me want to shoop as much as the other things I’ve tried from the line.

For now it’s the only Illamasqua mascara available on Sephora.com, and Illamasqua describes it as a smudge-free, dramatic mascara to lengthen and thicken lashes.

illamasqua swatches volume mascara

Thicker, longer lashes

First, what I see as the good stuff: Volume Mascara does a pretty good job of thickening and lengthening my lashes. The color is a deep, true black with a matte finish, and even a single coat creates an immediate difference that’s both noticeable and above average.

Does it inspire OMG!-filled texts to my BFF at three in the morning? Maybe not, but it’s still a pretty color and markedly above average.
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Bobbi Brown Ivy League: Campus Superstar

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bobbi brown ivy league top

Have I ever mentioned my Ivy League pants?

One of the colleges I applied to back in high school was Harvard. My parents made me do it (even though I didn’t feel like Ivy League material), but I went through the motions, sending off my application (this was pre-Internet) and waiting patiently for a reply.

Weeks passed, and then a letter came in the mail. The school wanted me to interview with a Bay Area Harvard alumni.

Less than an hour before leaving the house on the day of the interview, the unthinkable happened: I spilled a glass of water on my pants.

Panicked, with time running out, I tossed them in the dryer for 10 minutes. Sadly, I put the dryer on high heat and forgot to check the tags on the pants.

They shrank, horribly, but I was so spaced out, running late and nervous that I didn’t realize until it was too late. A block from the interview, without enough time to go home and change, it hit me.

Something’s wrong with my pants…

Too late to back out, I parked the car and hurried to my appointment, taking shallow breaths every step of the way.

What followed were 60 mortifying, oxygen-deprived minutes of gibberish and the end of my Ivy League career. 🙂

Which leads me to Bobbi Brown’s upcoming Ivy League collection of six Lip Crayons ($22), a Long-Wear Gel Eyeliner ($21), two Eye Shadows ($20) and a new, improved line of Creamy Eye Pencils (nine of them, $20 each).

As usual, Bobbi’s colors are conservative and wearable for work (or a Harvard lecture), but a few of them pack some serious punch.

Here are some of my faves…

bobbi brown ivy league 2
Metallic Shadow in Bash, $20

bobbi brown ivy league 5
Long-Wear Gel Eyeliner in Forest Shimmer Ink, $21

bobbi brown ivy league 4
Creamy Eye Pencil in Jet, $20

bobbi brown ivy league 3
Lip Crayon in Posey, $22
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Two Ways to Win $75 in Redken Heat Styling Products

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redken-giveaway-1

Do you ever go through phases when your hair just won’t behave?

I’m in one right now. My mane’s been waaaay out of control for days. We’ve had some fog here lately, and the extra moisture in the air has turned up the frizz factor *big time*.

That’s where flat ironing and Redken’s Heat Styling line have helped, particularly Iron Silk Straightening ($15).

One of six products in Redken’s Heat Styling line, Iron Silk helps protect hair from heat damage while adding shine and hold.

If you can’t live without your flat iron, blow dryer or curling iron, it might help to have around.

How about a giveaway, my heat-addicted beauties? 🙂

The prize

One lucky lady will take home five styling products from Redken’s Heat Styling line (a $75 value).

Whether you’re addicted to blow drying or only bust out the flat iron for special occasions, a girl’s gotta have options to protect her hair from heat damage…

  • Hot Sets Thermal Setting Mist ($15): A protective mist to shield hair from heat damage, and to add shine and hold
  • Fabricate Heat-Active Texturizer ($15): An aerosol mist to add body and protect hair from heat damage
  • Satinwear Ultimate Blow-Dry Lotion ($15): A lightweight styling lotion to reduce friction and breakage while blow drying
  • Spray Starch 15 Versatile Ironing Spray ($15): A heat-shielding spray to add shine, eliminate static and to protect hairstyles made with the use of curling irons and flat irons
  • Blown Away 09 Protective Blow Dry Gel ($15): A gel to control frizz, add shine and protect hair from blow dryer heat

How to enter…

Entering is easy. There are two different ways, 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. In it, describe your idea of a good hair day. 🙂

My good hair days? If I’m wearing it curly, it stays bouncy and frizz-free all day long; on flat ironed/blow dry days, it lies flat without any weird pieces jutting out (so hard to do!).

Follow me
Second, enter by following me on Twitter and retweeting (RT) the following message:

RT @karenmbb: RT to Win $75 in Redken Heat Styling Products. http://bit.ly/2V29w4

Recap…

  1. Enter by leaving a comment at the bottom of this post, and don’t forget to use a valid email address so I can reach you if you win.
  2. Follow me on Twitter and retweet the following message:

    RT @karenmbb: RT to Win $75 in Redken Heat Styling Products. http://bit.ly/2V29w4

I’ll pick the winner at random from among the people who enter by 11:59 PM PST on Saturday, August 1.

Hodně stěstí!

Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,

Karen

Natalie Portman: Her Best Hair?

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natalie-portman-hair-poll

Actress Natalie Portman (born June 9, 1981) has said, “I’d rather be smart than a movie star,” but the Harvard-educated (psychology) Golden Globe Award winner shines at being both.

When she’s not out doing things like guest lecturing on terrorism at Columbia University, where in 2006 she spoke about the political relevance of her film V for Vendetta, she’s serving as a film juror (the youngest ever) at the Annual Cannes Film Festival and taking bold chances with her look.

I’ll never forget her as the little girl who befriends a hitman in Luc Besson’s Léon (aka The Professional, 1994). She was 13 then. More than 20 films later, her star’s still on the rise.

Which of Natalie's hairstyles do you like best?

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Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,

Karen

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