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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

10 Days of Giveaways: Comment to Win Philosophy 3-in-1 Shower Gels

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The giveaway is now closed, and I’m contacting the winner by e-mail. Good luck!

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One philosophy on Hawaii

There’s a chain of restaurants here in Hawaii that specializes in chili and rice. It’s called Zippy’s, and there’s at least one in every neighborhood.

Hawaii is a place of contrasts, which is a reason why I love it, but those contrasts can be a turnoff for visitors expecting an easily definable Polynesian paradise.

On the one hand, Hawaii has the grass skirts, coconut trees, fresh fruit and Hawaiian music portrayed in TV and movies, but it’s also an incredibly isolated, integrated (not just diverse) land with dozens of cultural influences contributing to create a place unlike any other in the world, where the locals (a local is anyone from the islands but can be a person of any ethnicity) speak a dialect of Pidgin English that’s probably more Pidgin than English, and Zippy’s can sell millions of bowls of Texas-style chili over white rice.

And a lot of the time, not even the locals know when or from where a particular food or phrase appeared, as if one day they woke up and everyone around them was eating chili with chopsticks, dipping Portuguese sweet bread into it and having fresh cut mangoes for desert. 🙂

Today’s giveaway

Ten Days of Giveaways keeps on chuggin’, my lil’ chocolate haupia pies!

Today’s giveaway lets you indulge day or night without having to worry about how all that decadence will make your thighs look in your bikini.

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The Prize

Two lucky ladies will each win Philosophy’s A Diet You Can Live With shower gel set.

Each set comes with three Philosophy 3-in-1 Shower Gels in Creme Brulee, Pink Frosted Layer Cake and Fudge Cake (a $30 value), YUM!

How to enter

Entering is easy, and unlike that slice of chocolate cream pie, it’s totally fat free! To enter, just leave a quick comment below about anything at all. Tell me what you did last night, where you’d like to go this summer, your favorite video game or the name of your secret crush!

I’ll choose the two winners at random from among the people who enter by 11:59PM PST tonight (Thursday).

Powodzenia!

Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,

Karen

The giveaway is now closed, and I’m contacting the winner by e-mail. Good luck!

Poolside Champ: Banana Boat Ultra Defense Continuous Spray Sunblock

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Banana Boat Ultra Defense SPF 30

OOH! I have to tell you about Banana Boat Ultra Defense Continuous Spray Sunblock ($9.99).

It’s probably the best waterproof aerosol sunblock I’ve ever used and has only a couple little downsides.

What I like

First, the good stuff — it’s a broad-spectrum sun protectant offering both UVA/UVB protection and comes in three potencies, SPF 30, 50 and the uber-powerful 85.

SPF is all well and good, but why I really love it is because it works like a lotion and not a flighty spray. Most of the spray sunscreens I’ve used before are too light and watery, requiring hella frequent reapplication, almost like they evaporate away even when I’m not playing around in the water, but Banana Boat didn’t just stamp “waterproof” on the bottle and call it good; this stuff is WATERPROOF INCARNATE and lasts for hours and hours.

I like spraying it on, too, because it feels cool on the skin, kinda like one of those water misters at the mall, and it’s enriched with Aloe Vera, which means a lot to me. I’m a firm believer in Aloe’s ability to help heal mild sunburns.

Even though it’s rub-free and all you have to do is quickly spray it everywhere you want it, I still like to spray some into a cupped hand, rub my palms together and apply the product to my face with my fingertips. It’s easier for me to get it up into my hairline that way and around the back of my ears without spritzing any onto my lips (it doesn’t taste great, but I like the light floral fragrance) or into the corners of my eyes.

Unlike every other aerosol sunblock I’ve used before, a little really DOES go a long way, which may explain its main downside…

What I don’t like

Did I mention that it’s waterproof? Nay, not just waterproof; it hates water like Tabs hates the vet, and perhaps consequently it feels slightly greasy.

But if you’re looking for a good all-purpose waterproof sunscreen you can apply in a hot second, Banana Boat Ultra Defense SPF 30-85 gets a BIG gold star.

Banana Boat Ultra Defense Continuous Spray Sunblock

Price: $9.99 (juuuust under $10), 6 fl. oz.
Use: A waterproof continuous spray sunblock with Aloe
Makeup and Beauty Blog Rating: A+

Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,

Karen

A MAC Wedding Makeover

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In this post Audrey from Pop Culture & Make-Up Addict shares a bridesmaid-inspired makeup look featuring MAC Cosmetics.

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My makeup addiction started about a year ago, so I’m still learning which colors go with what.

When I had the honor of being a bridesmaid for the wedding of one of my best friends, I thought it would be fun to visit my local MAC salon for a makeup consultation.

Our dresses were a bright fuschia, and I wasn’t sure what eyeshadow colors to wear. I had the makeup consultation done a week before the wedding to give myself enough time to play around with everything and decide on my look.

The MAC makeup artist recommended the following…

  • Eyes: Shale on the lid, Seedy Pearl as the highlight, Blackberry in the crease, Macroviolet fluidline on the lash lines
  • Cheeks: Stark Naked blush
  • Lips: Plum Dandy lipstick with Morning Glory lustreglass (can’t remember the lip pencil)

I definitely liked her cheek and lip recommendations, so I picked up those… I liked the eyes, too, but thought they were a little too purple and wanted something more neutral.

With the artist’s help, I finally decided on the following look for my eyes. It allowed me to use some colors I already had in my collection.

  • Seedy Pearl on the inner third of the lid
  • Shale on the outer two thirds of the lid
  • Satin Taupe in the crease, outer V, and lower lash line
  • Yogurt as the highlight
  • Phloof! in the inner tear duct and a touch in the arch under the brow

Here’s how I looked on the day of the wedding!

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And here’s a closer look. 🙂

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Products used

Face

  • Chanel Pro Lumiere Foundation in Beige
  • MAC Select Moisturecover Concealer in NW25
  • MAC Mineral Skinfinish Natural in Medium Plus
  • MAC Stark Naked blush

Eyes

  • MAC Phloof! eyeshadow
  • MAC Seedy Pearl eyeshadow
  • MAC Shale eyeshadow
  • MAC Satin Taupe eyeshadow
  • MAC Yogurt eyeshadow
  • Bobbi Brown Black Ink gel eyeliner
  • MAC Engraved powerpoint pencil (waterline and lower lash line)
  • MAC Cork eyeshadow (brows)
  • Maybelline Full & Soft mascara

Lips

  • MAC Plum Dandy lipstick
  • MAC Morning Glory lustreglass

How closely do you follow the recommendations you get from makeup artists at makeovers? Do you follow them exactly or make tweaks here and there?

This post was written by Audrey, a product marketing professional, makeup junkie, and avid TV watcher. Follow her musings on her blog, Pop Culture & Make-Up Addict. She’s also a marathon runner and blogs about her running adventures on Run Audrey Run.

5 Drugstore Mascaras, 5 Days

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Today blogger Caroline K. takes us through five days of testing with five popular drugstore mascaras.

So, have you heard the one about us being in a recession? We’re all saving money where we can.

There are even things like the Lipstick Index. Apparently, when times are bad, cosmetics sales go up.

Who knew?

In my case, I am being more conservative with my makeup purchases, which is why I’m looking closely at drugstore mascara.

With my favorite, Givenchy Phenomen’Eyes, costing $28 a pop, it was time to return to my college days. I wanted to find the greatest drugstore mascara ever sold, so from Monday-Friday I played with five mascaras over five days.

Naked lashes

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First, I present you with my no makeuped eye, which is maybe the scariest thing I have ever posted on the Internet. I’m going with that first so you have nowhere to go but up with your opinion of my eyeball.

For the following photos, I wasn’t wearing any makeup other than each mascara. I stuck to the included mascara wands — no additional brushes, combs or eyelash curlers. Oh, and these are all double coats.

Now on to the fun!

Monday: L’Oreal Bare Naturale, $10

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Monday was L’Oreal’s new mineral mascara, Bare Naturale ($10). I clearly hadn’t figured out the lighting thing yet … but that’s neither here nor there.

I like this mascara. It’s not heavy or goopy and lasts all day long but is still easy to remove in the evening.

The look isn’t anything dramatic, but it does add definition. Great Saturday afternoon mascara, not that I wear special makeup when I want to look like I’m not wearing any. Oh, no, not me. 🙂

Tuesday: Maybelline Lash Stiletto, $8

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Tuesday, I tried the new Maybelline Lash Stiletto ($8).

Maybelline really went all out with their packaging, and this bad boy actually looks like a stiletto heel.

I really like this mascara. It gives a lot of length, but I feel like it’s missing that added volume bump I need.

The mascara itself is super glossy and would take some getting used to, but my biggest complaint is the brush. It’s a little too wiry and pokey for my taste. Sure, I think it makes my eyelashes look terrific, but my lash line got a little banged up in the process.

Wednesday: Cover Girl Lash Exact, $8

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Wednesday, I moved on to Cover Girl’s Lash Exact ($8) in the purple tube.

I’m not going to lie; those new pokey plastic Cover Girl brushes really freak me out. They look like some sort of medieval torture device but in fun new colors, so I was totally surprised by how much I liked the way they made my lashes look.

They were stunningly long. I could have used a comb to separate them a little more, but I was in heaven.

Unfortunately, as the day wore on, Lash Exact let me down. By noon it was getting a little flakey, and by dinner it seemed to have disappeared.

Thursday: Maybelline Sky High Curves, $7

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But Thursday was another day, and I decided to try my old standby. Before I moved to the Givenchy mascara last year, I was a Maybelline Sky High Curves ($7) girl.

Would it welcome me back into its old embrace? Would I still love it after working with perfection all these months?

I have to say, I did.

This mascara actually does curl my lashes, which I have to say weirds me out, but it gives terrific length and volume.

The brush is easy to use, but it seems like Maybelline may have changed the formula while I was away from the product because it tended to get a little clumpy with my eyelashes leaning toward the spidery side of the spectrum.

A little brushwork took care of the problem, though, and I looked good for the day! Oh, and the waterproof formula lasted through a marathon crying session during Grey’s Anatomy, so good work, Maybelline!

Friday: Cover Girl Lash Blast Luxe, $9

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Finally, it was Friday, and I was ready for the weekend. I tried Cover Girl’s new Lash Blast Luxe ($9), which I had saved for Friday because of its OMG shimmer! Nothing says “weekend mascara” like shimmer, and I was excited to see what it could do.

And then, nothing.

Not only does it lack shimmer, but it doesn’t have much else either. I think it may darken my eyelashes a little, but that’s certainly not anything to write home about.

This was a big disappointment for me, and after Drew Barrymore’s eyelashes looked so great in the commercial…

So it seems like I’m sticking with my old standby, Sky High Curves. 🙂 I think in general Maybelline knows what they’re doing in the lash department. With money so tight these days, if I can still look fabulous on a budget, I’m all for it.

CVS, here I come!

This post was written by blogger Caroline K. She wasn’t always a makeup girl, but a marketing internship at Seventeen magazine changed all that. The editorial girls took pity on her poor soul and taught her about brushes, eyeliner and lip gloss; she’s never looked back.

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