Karen

Retro Roundup: This Time Last Year

July 13th, 2008 by Karen 10 Comments

The 2007 American Beauty Tour
“Eye pencils are emollient, which means that after you apply the pencil, it always moves around unless you set it with shadow or powder. You don’t have to set your eyeliner with the same color. Try layering it with different colors to get added dimension.”

Final Night of San Francisco Fashion Week 2007: Backstage Makeup Tips from 5 MAC Artists
“Always make sure you blend out your liner whenever you are using a dramatic look with color. If you’re wearing eye shadow color, use a 212 brush to blend out your line to make it more smoky and smudged right by the lash line.”

Face of the Day: An Easy Day Look with MAC Mulch Shadow
“I’m kind of clumsy, so I like to do eyes first. That way if I totally screw up I don’t have to bother with re-doing foundation, powder, blush, etc. I also do this because inevitably there will always be niblets of shadow all over the place, and I like to swipe the under eye area clean before applying concealer.”

Face of the Day: Minimal Makeup for Busy (or Lazy!) Days
“I’ve been super busy lately, so I’ve gotten my makeup routine down to three (YES THREE!) minutes. In this pic above, it took me less than ten minutes to get from completely ready, including hair, makeup and clothes.”

Fabulous Post-Vacation Skin and Hair Products to the Rescue!
“Incredible Spreadable Scrub plus exfoliating gloves from Parissa equals skin smoother than a baby’s butt. Seriously. Incredible Spreadable Scrub is a salt and olive oil based exfoliator, so if you have open cuts or just got waxed don’t use it cause it will hurt like a mofo. But if your post-vacay skin needs some serious scrubbing then this gets the job done.”

Makeup and Beauty Blog’s Beach Essentials
“Most experts recommend reading the list of ingredients to look for two things. The first is to see if it [sunscreen] has broad-spectrum (UVA and UVB) coverage. The second is to see if the broad-spectrum sunscreen contains avobenzone, titanium dioxide, or zinc oxide. These ingredients provide significant UVA protection.”

It’s been yet another wonderfully mellow Sunday, and I’m sad to see the weekend slip away. Right after my run this morning, El Hub and I headed to Jamba Juice (seriously, just rename it Jamba Crack already) and then waited in line for 20 minutes at the Apple store to see the new iPhone. ‘Tis a fine piece of technology, I must say.
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Sephora Carries Baked Goods Now

July 13th, 2008 by Karen 38 Comments

Nope, not cupcakes and pies; I’m talking about baked eye shadows.

Unlike regular pressed eye shadows, with their flat, even surfaces, baked eye shadows rise up out of the pan like shimmery muffin tops.

If you’re a fan of shimmery long wear eye products, browse through the selection of baked eye shadows now available at Sephora. Baked shadows are generally more water resistant than regular pan shadows are, and many boast shimmery satin finishes.

Before applying baked eye shadows, first prime your lids with a base like Too Faced Shadow Insurance or MAC Shadestick in Shimmersand. Using a base helps make eye shadows last longer.

Once your lids are primed and ready, use a flat shader for the entire lid, a tapered crease brush for detail work, or a dual-tipped brush like the Stila #30 Double-Ended Shadow Brush ($32), which has both kinds of brush heads.

Here are a few baked eye shadows that recently caught my eye:

Stila Eye Shadow Trio, $26

stila-eye-shadow-trio

Pictured above, from left to right…

Old Glow – gold, bronze, ivory shades
Bronze Glow – rose, gold bronze, ivory
Champagne Glow – taupe, burgundy brown, champagne

Baked in a terra cotta disk, each pan of these sheer, shimmery shadows houses three different shades. All can be used wet or dry.

For a quick and easy daytime look, choose one of the multi-colored pans and brush the lightest shade over your entire lid. Then, apply the medium shade in the crease. Finish the look by wetting an angled eye brush and using it to apply the darkest shade as a liner.

Too Faced Galaxy Glam Baked Eyeshadows, $19.50

too-faced-galaxy-glam-baked-eye-shadow

Pictured above from left to right…

Moon Beam – black with light green
Deep space – black with cobalt blue
Shooting Star – black with galactic gold
Super Nova – black with peach and pink

Too Faced baked Italian opalescent pigments into each of their black domed shadows for that “galaxy far, far away” look. When mixed together, the shades create a shimmery blend of black and green, blue, gold or pink.

I like these a lot. They’d make great shimmery smokey eyes with a twist of color. For an easy smokey eye, layer eye shadow on top of a creamy, blendable eyeliner like MAC Smolder. A dark, creamy eyeliner helps exaggerate the smokey effect.

Lorac Starry Eyed Baked Eyeshadow Trio, $24

lorac-starry-eyed-eye-shadow

From left to right…

Starlet – pink pearl, muted plum, dark purple
Evening Star – silver, gray, dark gray
Superstar – golden beige, golden tan, bronze

Create shimmery eye looks with the three color-coordianated shades in each Lorac Starry Eyed Baked Eyeshadow Trio. Apply them dry for a natural look or wet for an intense, dramatic effect.

I’m off to go running! What are you up to today?

Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,

Karen

Pureology Dandruff Scalp Cure Shampoo and Conditioner: Safe for Color Treated Hair

July 12th, 2008 by Karen 21 Comments

pureology-dandruff-scalp-cure

Last month I tried my very first Pureology product ever — Colourmax Spray hair color protectant — and came away impressed. I decided to keep an eye on the brand.

Pureology Dandruff Scalp Cure Shampoo and Conditioner ($35 each, wow!) are the latest additions to the Pureology product family. The company caters to people with deep pockets and color treated hair, but are they charging too much?

While generally effective at treating dandruff, most over-the-counter dandruff shampoos tend to strip away hair color. Pureology sought to develop a product that could treat dandruff without ruining a dye job.

As with Head & Shoulders and most other dandruff shampoos, the active ingredient in Pureology’s dandruff products is pyrithione zinc, an antifungal/ antibacterial agent commonly used to treat scalp scaling, itching and flaking, but while most dandruff products limit the amount of pyrithione zinc in their products to 1%, Pureology uses 2%.

To save hair color, Pureology products use a blend of UVA and UVB protectants the company calls “Anti-Fade Complex.”

I will get dandruff from time to time, particularly when the seasons change. To treat it, I’ve always just reached for Head & Shoulders Shampoo ($8) and a conditioner like Bumble & Bumble Super Rich, but, even limiting my use of Head & Shoulders to no more than once a week (and then only on my roots), my hair felt dry and my color would fade faster than usual.

After using both Pureology dandruff products once a week for a month, not only did my dandruff go away, but my hair color didn’t.

Pureology Dandruff Scalp Cure Shampoo

Price: $35 for a 10.1-oz bottle
Use: To treat dandruff without stripping away hair color
Makeup and Beauty Blog Rating: A+

The shampoo has a lovely vanilla scent with a touch of musk and builds into a nice lather. It’s not as drying as Head & Shoulders is, and while I could probably have used it safely on my full head of hair, I stuck to only using it on my roots. I figure that way the 10-oz. bottle should last upwards of a year, which breaks down to about $3 per month.
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Beauty Watch 2009: Upcoming Trends

July 11th, 2008 by Karen 28 Comments

According to a recent article in Women’s Wear Daily (subscription required), eight trends will set the tone for beauty in 2009.

High Impact Makeup Colors: Bold colors for lips, eyes and cheeks

Budget Luxury: Getting the latest looks on the cheap

Do It Yourself: At home waxing, hair coloring and laser hair removal

Makeup as Jewelry: Beauty products as fashion accessories

Bright Nail Colors: Bold nails are back

Messy Updos and Buns: Sloppy chic

Real Women Have Curves: Love your body

Organic Beauty: Go green without sacrificing quality

I think all of these are pretty accurate, but I’m surprised they didn’t talk about matte makeup looks. I have a feeling matte is coming back in a big way.

Do you predict any upcoming beauty trends that aren’t listed here? What did the experts miss?

Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,

Karen

MAC Cosmetics Mineralize Eyeshadow Face of the Day

July 10th, 2008 by Karen 51 Comments

I just realized that I hadn’t shown a picture of my new hairdo. I decided to revert back to my natural hair color for a change, so to speak. What do you think?

I paired my new hair with this very quick face of the day using an old MAC Cosmetics Mineralize eyeshadow duo called Silversmith. Starting with MAC Paint in Shimma on my lid and into the crease, I then dusted a layer of the light blue from Silversmith on top. I lined the upper water line with Lancome Le Stylo Waterproof eyeliner in Noir and lined the lower lash line with the dark blue shade from Silversmith.

Lastly, two coats o’ Chanel Inimitable on my lashes, a light dusting of MAC Select Sheer Loose Powder in NC 30 all over the face, MAC Sunbasque Blush on my cheeks and then topped the look off with Chanel Constellation Glossimer on my lips.

I hope you had a wonderful Thursday! What was the highlight of your day?

Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,

Karen

Philosophy Amazing Grace Body Care Products: So Fresh, So Clean

July 10th, 2008 by Karen 29 Comments

philosophy-amazing-grace-buffing-wash

Philosophy’s Amazing Grace fragrance always makes me feel girly, clean and fresh. It’s a light, soft floral scent with a touch of musk, and many of the Amazing Grace products are among Philosophy’s bestsellers companywide.

Over the years, Philosophy has introduced a host of different body care products in Amazing Grace. I’m a girl who loves her showers (no camping unless there’s running water, yo!), and I’ve tried several of the Amazing Grace scented bath gels, lotions and scrubs. Here are just a few of my favorites!

Don’t be fooled by Perfumed Buffing Wash’s (shown above) girly packaging because it’s no joke. The bottle claims it’s a gentle wash, but I’ve used this stuff to buff the heck out of the roughest parts of the skin on my elbows and feet. Fine exfoliating grains make it a highly effective deep cleanser. $26 for a 16-oz. bottle. Makeup and Beauty Blog Rating: A+
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Beauty Snacks: Sites of the Day, July 10

July 10th, 2008 by Karen 9 Comments

Imelda
It’s not unusual to like shoes. I like shoes. Most women do. But Imelda (yes, in honor of that very same one) doesn’t just like shoes — no, with them she defines her very existence and life itself!

Raging Rouge
Jen always gets the scoop on the best cosmetics and beauty bargains. How does she do it? Ya got me, but if Sephora.com is offering 10% off all purchases with a coupon code, Jen will know about it. She’s a top beauty blogger with an eye for detail and someone you can turn to for accurate news.

Total Beauty
Total Beauty burst onto the beauty scene less than a year ago, and in that time they’ve become one of the top, corporate-backed health and beauty e-magazines for women. Product reviews, how-tos and quick tips, samples and contests, message boards and a section dedicated to beauty, health and fashion blogs — Total Beauty has a lot to offer.

Crazy Blind Date
Crazy Blind Date likes to keep things simple. On very short notice they can set you up on quick dates with total strangers at public places like bars and coffee shops (safety first!). You’re not allowed to see their picture or even communicate with your dates beforehand. Yes, it’s risky, but that’s why they call it Crazy Blind Date.

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Hairdo Clip-in Hair by Jessica Simpson: Hairdo or Hair Don’t?

July 9th, 2008 by Karen 37 Comments

jessica-simpson-hairdo

So, I was at the salon waiting for my appointment this afternoon when I decided to actually pick up and read a box of Jessica Simpson’s hairdo clip-in hair extensions.

I’m not a faux hair expert, but I can usually spot bad fake hair from a mile away. Well, Jessica and her hairdresser, Ken Paves, sure fooled me because this stuff looks — *gasp* — like real hair.

It comes in short, medium and long versions of either curly or straight hair.

hairuwear-salon-shot

I like having long hair, but I’d love to be able to switch between long and short at the drop of a hat. I thought about the bob I rocked last year and came *this close* to impulse buying the 15″ wavy extension, which doesn’t actually extend your hair but makes it shorter.

jessica-simspon-hairdo-2

And then I saw the price: $90! Wow! Isn’t that a lot? I don’t know squat about fake hair, but $90 sure sounds expensive.

I decided not to buy it this time, but I came close! If the urge for short hair strikes again, I just may have to give Jessica’s hairdo a try.

What say you about clip-in hair? Hairdo or hair don’t?

Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict, Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict, Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict, Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,

Karen