Karen

Givenchy Sari Spring 2009 Face of the Day: Orange You Glad It’s Almost Spring?

January 31st, 2009 by Karen 39 Comments

Givenchy’s new Sari collection takes bold Bollywood glamor and blends it with sheer shades for spring.

Yesterday, I wore some of Sari’s apricots and oranges, daydreaming about spring. I went for a look with bright lips and sheer eyes, and now I can’t wait for warmer weather to wear these colors with a white cotton dress, gold baubles and dark brown strappy sandals, ooh! 🙂

Here’s a breakdown of the steps I took with my look…

A subtle brown and orange eye with black eyeliner

I start with Precious Sari Glittering Eyeshadow in Maharani Gold, a liquid eyeshadow with small flecks of gold glitter suspended in a clear gel. It gives the eyes a shimmery gold base.

To apply, I sweep Maharani Gold onto the eyelid with the included doe-foot applicator, and then use my finger to spread it around evenly. It dries fast, so I make sure to bust a move and do this quickly!

Next, I add a subtle smokiness to the eyes by drawing a thick black line on the upper lash line with Magic Kajal Liner in Magic Black.

Magic Kajal Liner is an emollient and highly pigmented pencil liner. It’s easy to smudge and ideal for layering beneath power eyeshadows for smokey looks.

I then line both the upper and lower water lines with Magic Kajal. It smudges like crazy and tends to migrate onto the skin beneath the lower lashes after I apply it on the waterline. Because I want to keep the liner on the lower lash line looking sharp and crisp, I grab a Q-Tip soaked in Lancome Bi-Facil, and then clean up any smudged liner before moving onto the next step.

Almost done! Now for a few colors from the Prismissime Compact Powder in Maharani Apricots.

Using a MAC 239 Eye Shader Brush, I pat the center color (a shimmery golden brown) from Maharani Apricots directly on top of Magic Kajal on the upper lash line, drawing the color up into the crease.

Prismissime Compact Powder in Maharani Apricots contains nine mini-pans of sheer orange, brown and beige powders. Swirl a blush brush over the entire pan to mix the powders if you want to apply it combined color as a blush or highlighter. Or, use an eye brush to apply the colors separately.

To finish the eyes, I add some color into the crease by sweeping a matte orange brown shade (the color in the lower right-hand corner of the Maharani Apricots palette) into the crease with a MAC 224 Tapered Blending Brush.

That completes the eyes. 🙂

Glowy, orange cheeks and bold coral lips

The cheeks and lips are just as easy.
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5 Google Tips for Beauty Lovers

January 31st, 2009 by Karen 18 Comments

1. Set Google Alerts to get the scoop on new makeup collections

Lawd knows we love beauty, but keeping up with the latest makeup releases and beauty product rollouts can take forever!

Use Google Alerts to save time; find out what’s new from brands like MAC and Dior in a flash. All you need is an email address.

Just visit Google’s alerts page at www.google.com/alerts, input your search term (short and sweet works best, like [mac cosmetics] without the braces), your email address and how often you’d like to receive them and TADA! — beauty news delivered straight to your inbox.

CAUTION: It’s hella easy to create too many Google Alerts, LOL! At one point I was getting 27 Alerts emails per day, but at the bottom of every one is a link to quickly and easily cancel if they get to be a problem.

A few other ways to use Google Alerts…

Find out who’s talking about you. Try an alert on your name.

What are they saying about your website?

Find bargains with alerts like [makeup sale].

2. Search inside specific websites

Sometimes I know the answer I’m looking for is posted somewhere on a particular website, but for the life of me I just can’t find it. Enter Google’s [site:] search operator.

If you include [site:] in your query, Google will restrict the results to that site only, like [mac site:www.makeupalley.com] will find pages about Mac within www.makeupalley.com, and [“mac cosmetics” site:www.makeupalley.com] will find pages where the term mac cosmetics (searches aren’t case sensitive) appears because the double quotes tell Google to search for an exact term, in this case “mac cosmetics”.

Note: There shouldn’t be a space between the [site:] and the website domain.

3. Conduct a Google blog search

Sometimes I like to restrict my Google searches to blogs, like if I’m looking for product previews or swatches before a major release.

4. Smooth operators

If you want to make the most of your Googling for beauty, try some of these advanced search operators… 🙂

link:
By using [link:], Google will list webpages that have links to a specific site. I use it when I’m just surfing, looking for new beauty blogs or finding out who has links to Makeup and Beauty Blog. For instance, [link:www.makeupalley.com] will list sites that have links pointing to Makeup Alley.

Note: Just like the [site:] search (and all of the other Google search operators), there shouldn’t be a space between the “link:” and the website’s name.

related:
The term [related:] will list web pages that are similar to another site. OOH! This one is soooo much fun. For example, [related:www.bellasugar.com] will list websites that are similar to BellaSugar.com.

site:
If you include [site:] in your query, Google will restrict the results to that site only, like [mac site:www.makeupalley.com] will find pages about Mac within www.makeupalley.com, and [“mac cosmetics” site:www.makeupalley.com] will find pages where the term mac cosmetics (searches aren’t case sensitive) appears.

5. Tell Google Maps to find stores in your area

Entering the name of a store followed by your ZIP code and clicking ‘Maps’ returns a list of stores in your area along with a map. From there, you can click a thumbtack and choose ‘Get Directions’ to plot directions to the store. It won’t replace GPS, LOL! But I’ve used it from time to time. 🙂

Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,

Karen

One Way to Save on Makeup Brushes

January 30th, 2009 by Karen 34 Comments

How’s it going, girls? Did you do anything fun tonight? I just got back from the movies with El Hub. We saw Rachel Getting Married. I thought Anne Hathaway did a great job. That girl’s got game, but if you decide to see it, make sure you’re in the mood for a long, slow talkie… yep.

Before we left for the movies I was thinking about makeup brushes. If you’re new to makeup or looking to build your collection of makeup brushes, here’s one way to save a few bucks (click here for the video).

Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,

Karen

Let Lippmann Take You Back to the 80s with Spring Collection 2009

January 30th, 2009 by Karen 26 Comments

Hey, pretty young thing, do you think you can stand the purple rain?

Flash back to the ’80s with Lippmann’s two new spring 2009 nail polish shades. Available next month, both colors pay homage to two of the biggest song hits of the decade, Prince’s Purple Rain and Michael Jackson’s P.Y.T. (Pretty Young Thing).

Purple Rain ($15) gives props to Prince, aka the strange little man who made wearing ruffles and high heels hot. It’s a frosty light violet that reminds me of something from the Wet n’ Wild nail polish line circa 1986, and it’s so dead-on ’80s that I want to pull on some black jelly bracelets and ride around the neighborhood on my banana seat bike!

I love Prince and purple, but I’m not totally sold on Purple Rain. Help me out. What do you think? Does it look a little too pale and frosty on my nails? I keep seeing images of Dame Edna’s purple coif.

Lippmann teamed up with designer Zac Posen to create Purple Rain for his Spring 2009 runway show at Mercedes-Benz fashion week in New York, coming up with the name and helping to develop the color.

I might try layering it over a darker color to deepen the shade.

If you’re of a lighter skin tone than I am and like the way you look in pastels, Purple Rain could look really great on you. Lippmann polishes always deliver when it comes to durability, and that’s also the case here. Making and Beauty Blog Rating: B-

P.Y.T. = one of my favorite Michael Jackson songs of all time! “Pretty young things, repeat after me, say nah nah nah!” So you know I had to bump that jam when I painted my nails with the second shade in Lippmann’s spring release, P.Y.T. (Pretty Young Thing) ($15).

$michael jackson wearing a yellow vest back when he wasn\'t totally scary$
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January in Review: Makeup and Beauty Blog Roundup

January 30th, 2009 by Karen 13 Comments

Happy Friday, ladies. Whew! This one couldn’t have come soon enough for me. How about you? How was your week?

I just realized the date and thought I’d start the morning with a quick roundup of January posts. These were some of my favorites (can’t forget Tabs) of the month.

MAC Brunette Blonde Redhead Eyeshadow, Lipstick, Lipglass and Mineralize Skinfinish Swatches

“I. DON’T. CARE that it’s strange. I can’t help that my favorite set in MAC’s new Brunette Blonde Redhead collection is Redhead. Makeup rules were meant to be broken, right? Here are some MAC Brunette Blonde Redhead swatches, hot and fresh out the kitchen (sorry, I’ve been listening to R. Kelly all day).”

How to Apply Eyeliner: Soft Lines with Kohl Pencils

“There are so many ways to apply eyeliner, and depending on the look I’m going for I tend to switch things up. One of my favorite eyeliner techniques is to use a kohl liner for a soft, diffused lower lash line. Softly lining the bottom lash line without the top (or vice versa) still draws attention to the eye but doesn’t look too harsh or unnatural. It’s also really easy to do (yay!) and kinda fun because it involves connecting the dots.”

Make Up For Ever Smoky Lash Mascara Gives Chanel Exceptionnel a Run for Its Money

“Until today, *no other* mascara came close to my beloved Chanel Exceptionnel ($30) for delivering the super thick and long, ultra-defined drag queen lashes that I crave. Today, everything changed. Make Up For Ever’s Smoky Lash mascara ($22) stole Exceptionnel’s spot to become my new number one. It similarly thickens, lengthens and separates lashes — and for eight dollars less, holla!”

Lancome Pink Irreverence Spring 2009 Collection: Downtown Pink = Hotness

“Lancome chose to do something a little bolder than usual for a spring release. If Chanel’s Bohemian Fantasy and Dior’s Lady Dior collections were meant for sundresses and sandals, then Pink Irreverence was made for little black dresses and four-inch, black patent leather stilettos. The collection features a variety of pinks ranging from ultra bright to nude, and a couple of surprise black products thrown in for good measure.”

Beginners MAC Makeup Brushes

“The clouds parted, angels sang, and there they were — the four makeup brushes that rocked my world. Here’s a short video on the MAC makeup brushes I couldn’t live without.”

Chanel Vendetta Nail Polish: Midnight Purple Fantasy

“One of two new nail polish shades released for spring 2009, Vendetta’s shimmery midnight purple shines with flecks of red and blue micro-gltter. Imagine the darkest purple — nay, almost black calligraphy ink — and that’s Vendetta. I. LOVE. IT.”

Blush for Beginners

“Hi, ladies! How’s your day been? Mine started out rough because I woke up sleepy, but things have steadily improved (coffee = joy). Here’s another attempt at a video. This one’s about blush, and I apologize because I let Tabs do the editing. I think he got a little carried away.”

Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,

Karen

P.S. Happy Birthday to my man Christian Bale! Homeboy turns 35 today. 🙂

MAC Studio Sculpt Concealer SPF 15 Foundation First Impressions

January 29th, 2009 by Karen 29 Comments

Let MAC Sculpt you up and down ’till you say stop! Sculpt me baby… awwwwww yeah! LOL, I was totally singing my MAC Sculpt version of Silk’s Freak Me when I opened up a few preview items from the MAC Well Defined collection this afternoon.

I’ve been really curious about Studio Sculpt SPF 15 Foundation and Studio Sculpt Concealer but have only been able to try them in NW35 (Studio Sculpt) and NC45 (Sculpt Concealer), two colors which, alas, don’t match my skin tone (I’m an NC35).

Studio Sculpt Foundation: sheer-to-medium coverage, semi-matte finish

Despite the shade I tried not being the right one for me, Studio Sculpt Foundation seems to perform more like a tinted moisturizer than a full coverage foundation. The sheer-to-medium liquid spreads easily over my skin, evening out the color and covering my blotchy patches. All told, the coverage seems lighter and not as thorough as Studio Fix liquid foundation.

Points go to Studio Sculpt for its sheerness and finish. It’s dewy, not necessarily shimmery, but you know how some foundation looks kinda wet when you first apply it? — well, when Studio Sculpt Foundation dries it still has that same look. It’s sort of like a semi-matte finish.
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MAC Creme Team Previews

January 29th, 2009 by Karen 42 Comments

Move over mattes, and make way for MAC Creme Team!

Last year’s Matte 2 and Mattene collections were fun throwbacks to the 90s, but for now MAC’s sweet on creams.

The Cremesheen Glasses in the new MAC Creme Team collection fit nicely with the Cremesheen lipsticks released a few months ago.

I previewed three colors from the upcoming Creme Team collection, and all I have to say is halleluyar! I’m in love with the Cremesheen Glasses.

Creamsheen Glasses feel thinner, slicker than Lipglasses

I’ve never felt the Lipglasses were overly sticky, but some women do. For whatever it’s worth, the new glosses — both Petite Indulgence (sheer hot pink) and Looks Like Sin (sheer berry) — feel noticeably slicker, thinner and less sticky to me than the Lipglasses.

The texture reminds me of high quality E.V.O.O. (shout out to Rachel Ray!) — you know, the way good olive oil feels on your lips. That’s how it feels.

Pigmentation and durability

Although I prefer the way the Cremesheen Glasses feel, the Lipglasses win in the pigmentation department.

I think the Cremesheen Glass colors look brighter in the tube than they look on my lips, but when it comes to durability, the Cremesheens begin to fade after just a couple hours, while the Lipglasses seem to last about twice as long. That’s no big whoop to me, though, because I don’t trip over having to reapply often throughout the day.

To their credit, when the color of Cremesheen’s wears down, it actually looks really pretty, like a transparent, semi-shiny wash of color.

Final thoughts

Right now, I think the closest products MAC has to the Cremesheen Glasses are their Lipgelee glosses. They feel similar and have the same faint vanilla scent but are just slightly thicker and aren’t flavored at all. The Cremsheen Glasses also last longer and have a little more pigmentation. Makeup and Beatuy Blog Rating: A

Cremesheen Lipstick in Creme In Your Coffee

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Smashbox Muse Spring 2009: Bionic Mascara in Black Violet

January 29th, 2009 by Karen 24 Comments

Before Smashbox’s Bionic Mascara in Violet ($19) entered into my life, my favorite violet was Ms. Violet Beauregard of 1971’s Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (1971) fame.

I’ve always wondered how the Oompa Loompas de-juiced her after she chewed that gum and turned into a berry, and whether or not her eyelashes turn violet, too. Hmm…

Well, it only took 38 years, but scientists at Smashbox Cosmetics have finally duplicated Willy Wonka’s secret violet process, huzzah!

Behold: Black Violet! It’s one of those elusive purple mascaras that actually looks purple on the wand *and* the lashes.

Several cosmetics lines have recently released purple mascaras (Benefit, Dior, Clarins to name a few), but most failed (I liked the Dior) to really deliver color.

Black Violet, on the other hand, delivers loads of juicy color. In the pics below I’m wearing three layers.

And the purple tint shows up in both natural…

…and flash lighting.

Pretty, yah?

Aside from the intriguing hue, Black Violet’s just slightly above average in terms of lash thickness, length and curl, but the color… ooh, the color…
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