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
Heya, ladies! I had a couple extra minutes to get ready for work this morning (meaning I didn’t wait until the last minute) and tried this look with the Chanel Smoky Eye Quad.
The more I use this quad, the more I fall in love. It’s probably one of the most user-friendly (user-friendliest?) smokey eye sets I’ve seen in ages.
My college friend Mary Anne was barely 30 years old when she was diagnosed with breast cancer. It was 2006. She wasn’t long out of dental school when her doctor, during a routine exam, found a lump on her breast.
A lump — words no woman wants to hear and no 30 year old ever expects to.
Today, Mary Anne is doing great. She was lucky, and her treatment went well. But when her doctor found the lump that day in 2006, she’d had no idea it was there. She hadn’t experienced any symptoms, and if it hadn’t been found during that exam, there’s no telling how much longer it may have gone undetected.
Every October, women around the world take time to remember friends and family and to increase awareness of the disease. They promote the importance of early detection, help to raise funds for research and treatment and offer information and support to those affected by breast cancer.
For us, there is no more worthy cause than this one. Breast cancer targets us (women) at a rate 100 times greater than men.
Here’s a statistic that shocked me when I read it, but one in every eight US women will develop breast cancer… That means some of us, here.
So, what are we going to do about it?
Answer: we’re going to stick together.
There are many ways to help and many worthy organizations. No one can possibly support them all, but I would still like to see if we here can raise $100 by the end of the month.
I’ll match your donations (up to $100), which means that if there’s $100 on the ChipIn widget in the banner below here or at the top of the home page, then we’ll have raised $200 for Susan G. Komen for the Cure, the organization I’m choosing for the donation.
Nancy G. Brinker promised her dying sister, Susan G. Komen, that she would do everything in her power to end breast cancer forever.
In 1982, that promise became Susan G. Komen for the Cure and launched the global breast cancer movement. Today, Komen for the Cure is the world’s largest grassroots network of breast cancer survivors and activists fighting to save lives, empower people, ensure quality care for all and energize science to find a cure. Thanks to events like the Komen Race for the Cure, the group has invested nearly $1 billion to fulfill Nancy’s promise, becoming the largest source of nonprofit funds dedicated to the fight against breast cancer in the world.
Every dollar gets us closer to that $100, but there are other ways to give. One way is by commenting on participating blogs within The Beauty Blog Network as part of comments4acure. Last October, the event raised more than $3,000 for cancer charities, one comment at a time.
Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,
Karen
Dior Vernis Nail Enamel in Liquorice without flash
I’d been starting to forget how much I love purple when I remembered Dior Vernice Nail Enamel in Liquorice ($19).
It came out as a Nordstrom exclusive early in the summer. With its deep, rich plum and flecks of shimmery gold, it was everything I look for in a nail polish suitable for all occasions.
Dior Vernis Nail Enamel in Liquorice with flash
Unfortunately, ye mighty makeup gods chose to make it a limited edition, perhaps to toy with our emotions, and it’s already pretty scarce.
Nordies already took it down from their site, but I’ve had some luck finding discontinued limited edition products at Nordstrom by asking counter people to check around for me. If you’re unable to track it down, don’t fret. Try Sally Hansen’s Salon Nail Lacquer in Alchemy ($6) instead. It contains a little less gold (maybe that’s why it costs so much less, lol!) but has a very similar color.
Liquorice is an elegant, dynamic shade with a hint of pimp daddy thrown in for good measure. Depending on the light, the color pivots from a dark eggplant to a warm burgundy-gold. I can totally see myself behind the wheel of an old El Camino painted in Liquorice. Add some chrome rims and I’d be hella ridin’ dirty.
I just got back from a quick run. The leaves are beginning to fall, and pretty soon at this time I’ll be jogging in the dark. Lovely… I’m gonna miss the longer days.
Now I’m eating a brownie and watching the new 90210 on TV for the first time. I’m feeling the urge to paint my toes. 🙂
Whatcha doin’ tonight?
Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,
Karen
I hate going to work completely tow’ up, but it seems like I’m always running late. What I need are makeup tools and tips to help me save time when I’m getting ready for work, and I think I found one: Stila Convertible Eye Color ($20).
Part Transformer, part James Bond gadget, it delivers three great tools in one — a twist-up eye pencil, a smudging sponge, and, when you twist the middle of the pen, a coordinating eye shadow.
Stila Convertible Eye Color in Violet made quick work of this smokey purple eye.
The Violet shade’s pencil is a shimmery, dark plum; the coordinating shadow is a shimmery lavender.
Isn’t she cute?
For the eye look pictured up top, I started by applying a thin layer of primer on my lids with Too Faced Shadow Insurance.
I used the eye pencil end of the Stila Convertible pen to draw a thick line on each lid, starting at the outer side of the lash line and working my way inward. I took care to apply as close to the base of the lashes as possible, right along the roots.
To diffuse the color into the crease, I gently rubbed the smudging sponge along the top of the liner, taking care to make the liner darkest near the lash line.
Clarins Wonder Plum stars as the shy Ms. Little Plum in this highly anticipated sequel to the smash hit, The Attack of the Plum Mascaras! On counters now, it’s the latest long, natural lash product release from the people who brought us the rest of the Wonder Length Mascara family.
Okay, enough with the movie hype…
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Nervous! I have a lot on my plate at work today, and I’m afraid I won’t get everything done.
Since I haven’t gotten ready yet, a tank top and shorts under a terry cloth robe.
None right now, but since it looks like it’s going to be chilly, I think I’ll wear my chocolate brown, knee-high boots.
Softlips Lip Protectant in Cherry
My friend Jen’s bridal shower.
Sally Hansen’s The Good Earth on my toes, but I’m thinking about replacing it with Dior’s Mystic Violine.
Bumble & Bumble’s Curl Conscious Holding Foam.
Three Cups of Tea by Greg Mortenson and David Oliver Relin.
Stella McCartney Soft Body Milk.
Organize my writing desk (NO MORE PROCRASTINATING!), do my laundry, get everything done at work and resist the urge to chop off all of my hair!
Morning, lovelies! It’s time for another Monday Poll. Just copy this empty list, and paste it with your answers in the comments. 🙂
Le list
Mood:
Outfit:
Shoes:
Lips:
Best thing about last weekend:
Nails:
Hair product I’m loving:
Book I’m reading:
Body Lotion:
Goals for the week:
Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,
Karen
Being called cheap and easy are compliments if you’re a bottle of Rimmel Gentle Eye Make Up Remover, $7. It removes all of my eye makeup quicker than you can say “fierce,” and it does it without stinging my pocketbook or my sensitive peepers.
It proved its star budget beauty status last night when I got home from that bridal shower. It was late, and I was completely exhausted. All I wanted to do was crash in bed.
I was tempted to go to sleep without removing my makeup, but I mustered up the energy to give Gentle Eye Make Up Remover a try. I soaked a cotton ball in the unscented, oil-free solution. A few quick swipes later, and my eye makeup was gone. As tired as I was, I figured what the hey and tried it on the rest of my face and lips. It worked just as well there, too, removing everything. It doesn’t even have to be rinsed off with water. My skin felt clean and refreshed, with barely any effort at all. There I’d gone making such a huge deal about having to remove my makeup, grumbling to myself when all I’d wanted to do was crash, but the whole process took less than two minutes.
I did have to bust into the cotton balls a second time to remove my waterproof mascara. Gentle Eye Make Up Remover didn’t struggle a bit with the waterproof liner I was wearing, but it did have some trubs with the waterproof mascara. It may not be as effective on waterproof mascara as oil-based removers like Lancome’s Bi-Facil (but it works well enough in a pinch).
Price: $7
Use: An inexpensive no-rinse eye makeup remover
Makeup and Beauty Blog Rating: A
The bridal shower was a lot of fun. The closest I came to winning a game was 3rd place out of 30 in the “Make a Bridal Gown Out of Toilet Paper” game. Eat your heart out, Vera Wang.
I swear to gawd nothing pervy happened in this picture; it was one of the other games!
Even though the shower was billed as a tea party, there was more than enough fried food to go around. No karaoke, though.
After the shower I paid my parents a visit, and Shauna the dog greeted me with one of her trademark tummy flashes.
I hung out with my folks for a few hours and saw from the full bottles of products in the bathroom that my mom hadn’t used any of the stuff I gave her at the start of the summer.
Maybe she wasn’t using the products I’d gotten because she’d found something she liked even more…
I like the prancing horses on the back of the bottle! And it’s multi-tasking… It works on both your mane AND your tail, LOLOL!
How was your day today? I didn’t do anything, really, just chilled at home.
Hope you had a great Sunday! 🙂
Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,
Karen
P.S. From the lovely ladies of the Splendicity network comes last week’s best in beauty, fashion and shopping blogging.
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Look out Kate Moss! The phone’s been ringing off the hook with job offers for Tabs. That Dior thing last week put him on the map. He signed with Ford Modeling on Tuesday and spent two days shooting a spread for Shu; then, on Thursday he flew to Paris for Chanel.
He’s been so busy lately… I hope he still has time for me.
Here are pics of his recent work. Click to view the gallery.
