Karen

Saturday Surfing, January 12th, 2019

January 12th, 2019 by Karen 5 Comments

Rise and shine, fellow feline friends and makeup fanatics, and happy Caturday! Have you kissed your kitty yet today?

So…yesterday afternoon I got a much-needed reminder from the universe to TAKE FREAKING BREAKS. Seriously! I put Connor down for her “nap,” a.k.a “rest time” now, because she’s at the point in her toddlerhood where she doesn’t always sleep anymore during nap time. Sometimes she just chills out in her crib looking through books or listening to music.

Anyway, I usually buzz around the house like a sprinter at nap time trying to do everything on my to-do list before she gets up, and even if I’m beyond tired, I power my way through it because it’s the biggest block of time I have.

But yesterday my body and mind desperately needed downtime, and for once I actually listened. Instead of tackling the tasks on my nap time to-do list, I put on my headphones, cranked up the music, took out some makeup and played.

And you know what? It was exactly what I needed. I felt SO much better after just doing my own thang for 30 minutes.

I’m doing the bronzy thing again with the #BECCABFFS collection. That’s the Malika palette on my cheeks and lids and the nude lipstick in Yours Truly.

So, a gentle reminder from me to you in case you need it: TAKE THOSE BREAKS, GIRL. They’re necessary. As a matter of fact, I think it would be a good idea to take a break right meow with this week’s reading list… ?

Now I love Frank Ocean even more than I did before because he breaks down his skin care in this GQ interview, and it involves night cream and retinol.
In this interview with Denise Cartwright, the founder of skincare line Crude, Denise dishes about the sexist history of soap and describes how she built her business starting with just $30.
This beauty writer tried everything in the Trader Joe’s beauty section, and these are the nine things she loved the most.
Interesting —> The skin care products top plastic surgeons use in their everyday beauty routine.
How to layer your acids in your skin care routine.
Looking to change the billion-dollar skin bleaching industry, Rwanda is cracking down and enforcing a ban on bleaching agents, especially hydroquinone and mercury.
This baby’s voluminous hair landed her a gig with Pantene.
Why bobs have been a big deal for almost a century.
I love this so much! The interior of this house was inspired by a Revlon Lipstick shade called “Parisian Pink.”
Smart toilets for cats: Could this be the future of kitty litter?
Speaking of felines and tech, peep this $1,800 treadmill made for kitties.

La-la-la-la-la, la-la-la-la-la

Does every mall in America look exactly like this?

Someone please make me this.

Ride it, my pony.

I’m going to try to spend the rest of this weekend relaxing and avoiding that R.Kelly documentary on Lifetime everyone’s been talking about… OMG. What are you up to?

Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,

Karen

Check Out Urban Decay Streetstyle Brow

January 11th, 2019 by Karen 6 Comments

You guys. I ascribe to the philosophy that if you ever feel like your life is spiraling, get your hair situation worked out, and everything will (probably) be OK.

Ludicrous? Perhaps.

Basically, get your hair outta that fun bun or that high pony and actually DO something with it. Then, fill in your brows, and the world will soon be right again. Hopefully… I mean it can’t hurt.

This held true at the gym the other night where I was wearing one of the new Urban Decay brow products from the Streetstyle Brow collection. Coincidentally, I had my hair down and done (because I hadn’t yet put it into my usual ponytail), and a couple of my friends in the class were like, “You look so nice today! What did you do?” to which I said, “Thank you! Brows and hair, babe. BROWS. AND. HAIR.”

So, obviously, UD’s brow products aren’t going to help you tame your crazy cowlick situation (that’s up to you, girl), but they will help you fill in your brows and make them more voluminous, fluffy and Insta-grammy (if that’s what you’re going for). You can do any brow style you like with something from this new collection of products.

BROW FINISH Waterproof Brow Gel ($21)

They’ve actually got some really innovative things, too, like this glittery brow gel.

(I know! It sounds absolutely bonkers, but stay with me.)

Essentially, Brow Finish in Midnight Cowboy is a clear gel with golden microglitter in it that you brush through your brows. It’s surprisingly flattering to have something sparkly above the lids. I don’t know the science behind it, but it’s super pretty. Obviously, I wouldn’t rock it to a job interview, but if I’m just tooling around town or going to Petco or a party, it’s good stuff.

By the way, it’s dries to a medium hold, so it isn’t super rigid, and there’s also a clear version called Ozone that doesn’t have the sparkles and also has a little weaker hold.

BROW BLADE Ink Stain + Waterproof Pencil ($26)

I’m also super impressed by their dual-ended Brow Blades, which have a sheer, flexible felt tip marker on one end and a fine brow pencil on the other. You can use each by itself or combine them together.

I think they’re great if you want to fill in your brows and have them still look natural.

Favorite thing about them? The felt tip pen. You can get a decent amount of color into your brows quickly with it, and the color lasts all day long…as long as you aren’t sweating like a mofo. It didn’t last through my HIIT workout at the gym, which was a bummer, but hey, I was dripping in sweat because we were doing the rowing machines, and those things kill me. So I do not blame the brows, LOL!

I would recommend Brow Blade to anybody who wants natural-looking filled-in brows. Also good if you have gaps between your brows, or if you want to extend your brow tails. t’s fabulous.
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The #BECCABFFS Collection

January 10th, 2019 by Karen 10 Comments

beccabffs product shot — ? a bronze glow? Here’s your new #BECCABFFs.

Whenever I see a Kardashian-related makeup product (which is, like, every five seconds, amiright?), I remember that krazy dream I had a few months ago where Kim and I got into a kat fight about jewelry. HA HA HA! Yes, it was nuts. I think of that dream every time I wear the #BECCABFFs collection.

The #BECCABFFs collection is new, LE and available now with two powder palettes, a loose highlighter and four lipsticks. It’s a collab between Khloe Kardashian and her bestie Malika Haqq, and even though I have feeeeeeeelings about the Kardashians…I guess if there were any of them I could remotely relate to, it would probably be Khloe, because she does have that biting sense of humor. And I know this because I marathoned the first two seasons of KUWTK while Connor was a newborn and I was up at all hours feeding her.

beccabffs k — Wearing the Made With Love by Khloe Palette on my cheeks and eyes, and Cupid’s Bow Lipstick on my lips.

BECCA’s vibe is generally beach-babe-meets-Victoria’s-Secret-runway-model, and they’re consistent about it. They shamelessly embrace warm, bronzed, highlighted skin and glowing lids and lips, and I like that type of makeup, so it doesn’t get tedious for me, but I can see how they could seem like a one-trick pony if it’s not your thing.

At first blush, #BECCABFF’s colors might seem very similar to the colors from previous collections like BECCA X Chrissy (THE BEST), but they really are different. The four warm shades in the Made With Love By Malika Palette ($44), for instance, are deeper and darker versions of BECCA’s usual classic bronze look, and the Made With Love By Khloe Palette (also $44), while still warm, has a surprisingly neutral matte bronzer in it that’s unusual for a BECCA launch.

So, yeah, the differences are subtle, but they’re there.

The packaging’s a little clunky…but the powders themselves perform like Olympic gymnasts. They’re typical BECCA multitaskers, too, so you can wear them on your cheeks, eyes or, heck, all over your face if you want to!

See the marbling? Kinda looks like the Hourglass Ambient blushes and bronzers, right? You get that same lighter-than-air quality with these powders, where you can’t even see the grains on your skin, but they differ in terms of shimmer. The Ambients are known for their subtlety, and subtle these are not. The #BECCABFFS turn up the pearl, so you gotta lean into the glow if you want to go there.

I’m cool with it because the pearl particles are fine, so my pores are like “Coo’, coo’… We can work with this.”

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A Post-Dentist Trip to Ulta for Emotional Decompression

January 10th, 2019 by Karen 11 Comments

haagen daz dulce de leche — Safe place, safe place!

Oh, babes… You know, you’d think that being an “adult” (“air quotes”) would make things like going to the dentist easier, but it most certainly does not. At least for me.

Sigh…

I went the other day, and I’m not kidding, even though I spent a good three days mentally preparing myself for the two fillings beforehand, I still left the dentist’s office feeling like I had just run back-to-back marathons.

(Let’s just say that there were a few shots involved, moments of sheer panic and lots of clenched muscles.)

By the end of it — an event I’ll characterize as an ordeal — I felt so emotionally drained that I needed to do something to keep it together afterwards, and that something was finding a safe place to LOOK AT MAKEUP. Sooo I made an emotional emergency pit stop to Ulta, which is conveniently located just three minutes away from my dentist’s office in Petaluma.

Side note: I found a new dentist! Now I go to Permalla Dental Care in Petaluma, and Dr. Permalla is fantastic. She’s kind, caring and has endless amounts of patience…even with me, the world’s most anxious and difficult crybaby, HA HA! She uses cool dental techniques to make you feel as comfortable as possible, and out-of-the-box tools like NuCalm to decrease stress. The entire office has a good vibe, and — bonus (well, I think it’s a bonus) — everyone who works there is a woman! And they’re all super nice.

Right before I left the dentist’s office, the doc told me not to eat anything chewy or crunchy for the next few hours because of the numbness, and she didn’t want me to bite my tongue, so of course, me being me, I interpreted this as “I should eat a pint of häagen-Dazs Dulce de Leche ice cream,” which I totally did after I got home from Ulta!

While I was there at Ulta, I figured I should look for this $8 dual-ended Clinique mascara (there’s primer on one side and mascara on the other), which my friend Chelsea recommended in the comments, but it was out of stock in the store AND online (BUMMER), so instead, I restocked my favorite conditioning wash by Joico and got a cream shadow palette from Revlon.

Oh, and you know how there’s always that one person looking through every freakin’ bin in the area near the cash wrap where they have all the little extras? THAT WOULD BE ME.

I found a few interesting things there this time, like this big-@ss bag of pink glitter! The glitter pieces were MASSIVE, and dude — if I’d had this during my clubbing days in the ’90s, I probably would’ve just poured the whole thing all over my body from head to toe. Dang, that’s some serious glitter.

I also saw a product for boob sweat (it’s a thing?!), and my old fave, the UD Naked Basics palette, which I’ve always thought was vastly underrated.

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Crazy About Creams! MAC Pro Longwear Paint Pot

January 9th, 2019 by Karen 15 Comments

mac groundwork indianwood paint pot — Long-time loves of my cream eyeshadow life

This month I am CRAZY ABOUT CREAMS. Stay tuned for some of my favorite cream makeup products all throughout January.

Waxing philosophical about my favorite MAC cream shadows in a series called “Crazy About Creams” is the right and proper thing to do because I am, indeed, crazy about the MAC Pro Longwear Paint Pots.

I almost can’t believe I’m saying this because I remember when I fell in love with them in the mid-Triassic Period (It was actually the Fafi collection in 2008, so it’s been — GULP — more than a decade!) The Paint Pots are staples in my MAC collection, and I restock them ALL. THE. FREAKIN’. TIME.

They’re $22 cream shadows that come in a glass pot, and you can wear them by themselves or layered with other products.

If you have fine lines on your lids like a vertically challenged beauty blogger/cat lady we know, they’re lovely because you can get a lot of color on your lids with them (or a little if you sheer them out) without losing a natural skin-like texture. The Paint Pots are just pure color without any thickness or heaviness.

My favorite way to wear them is on their own, and they last all day long for me — yes, even without eye primer.

Obviously, since the Paint Pots are creams, you can use your fingers to apply them, but I prefer brushes because they’re more precise.

For simple, fast, fresh looks, the Paint Pots are great. I’ll start by laying down the shadow where I want it using a flat brush before buffing out the edges with a tapered blending brush. Then I’ll do a little liner, then mascara, then brows (of course!), and I’m done, which is what I did for these pics where I’m wearing Groundwork in my crease and Indianwood on my lids.

Also, if I’m feeling up to it, I’ll dab a small amount of face highlighter on my brow bone and in the inner corners to make my eyes look bigger and less hooded.

Never underestimate how much a little highlighter on those two areas can open up your eyes.

The Paint Pots come in a bunch of neutrals shades, and I’m wearing my faves here. Groundwork is a matte taupe, and I use it to sculpt my crease so that my eyes look deeper set. Indianwood is a golden bronze with shimmer, and it’s perfect for a sheer wash on the lids.

Both Groundwork and Indianwood, incidentally, go perfectly with MAC Coffee Eye Pencil.

Oh, and here are two pro tips! Store your paint pots upside down to keep them from drying out (you can also see the names more easily), and if you’ve had a Paint Pot for a while and discover one day that it’s dry (like if you can see the edges of the cream pulling away from the jar), you can revive it by swirling a drop or two of your favorite face oil in the pot with a brush.

Then you can buff that brush loaded with your Paint Pot and oil mix on your lids for a sheer wash of color.
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MAC Makeup Ready Skin

January 9th, 2019 by Karen 8 Comments

Nope, I’m not mad about it! MAC’s latest launch of makeup primers is…unsurprisingly, all about primer, and yeah, it’s one of those releases comprised of re-promoted stuff (same products, new boxes).

Of course, there will be the usual hemming and hawing about this, but since almost all of the items in Makeup Ready Skin are things I’ve used and loved for years, I repeat: I’m not mad about it. There are things in this release that deserve the extra attention.

Also, I’m aware that there are peeps out there in Makeup Land who don’t see the point of primers. I can appreciate that… There are lots of makeup “must-haves” that I find totally unnecessary, but I don’t feel that way about primers. I love ’em. I think they make a huge difference in terms of wear time and how smooth my skin looks (especially in pics) when I use them.

And I’m a really big fan of face primers, because OH, HAI, PORES.

MAC Prep + Prime Fix+ ($27)

Q: How many bottles of this setting spray have I used over the years? A: So many. I even take a travel-sized one with me when I travel.

Fix+ is the first AND last thing I use whenever I apply makeup. As soon as I sit down, I spritz a few sprays all over my face — psst, psst! The light mist moisturizes my skin and dampens it, getting it ready for everything else I put on (lotion, primer, whatevs). It helps the next products I use absorb better than they do when my skin is dry.

Then, after all is said and done, I spray Fix+ again at the end of my rigmarole when I finish my last blend, usually right after the powder products. I do it to lock everything down and take the edge off any powdery-ness.

I ? Fix+! It’s ride-or-die for me.

Strobe Cream in Pinklite ($34)

Also a huge fan of Strobe Cream. I wear it on bare skin for no-makeup makeup days, or I mix it into MAC Studio Fix Foundation, which is nothing short of magical. If you want to set it with powder, I recommend Mineralize Skinfinish Natural Powder, which is THE BEST face powder in the MAC line IMO.

There are a few different Strobe Cream shades, but the only one I really use is Pinklite — the original Strobe Cream color. It’s a pearly pink that looks good on everyone.

Prep + Prime Natural Radiance ($42)

Another underrated primer I love. MAC has two versions of it — yellow and pink — and even though I’ve used both…I really can’t tell the difference between them on my skin from an arm’s length away.

I mean, if I really get up in there with a magnifying mirror, sure, I can see tiny pink bits of glitter in the pink one, but they’re both fab. One pump moisturizes my combo skin and smooths out my pores enough to be noticeable.

mac makeup ready skin 2 — Fancy packaging

FYI, Natural Radiance doesn’t minimize pores as aggressively as UD Optical Illusion or Make Up For Ever’s primer (the one in the gray tube). I think of it as more of an everyday look, so if you like natural-looking skin as much as I do, it could be a good fit for you.

Mineralize Timecheck Lotion ($32)

This lightweight primer smooths pores to a greater degree than Natural Radiance, and it also mattes down the skin to hide shine. I like to use it on areas that I don’t want to be super dewy, like the center of my forehead.

Fast Response Eye Cream ($32)

An oldie but goodie for smoothing your under-eye area before concealer. I also like to mix it into liquid concealers to sheer them out for a more natural look.

Prep + Prime Lip ($18.50)

This is the only item in the collection that I’m just “meh” about… It’s like a fancy clear lip balm.

On-The-Go Prep Set ($35)

By the way, there’s also a cute little limited edition trial kit in the collection for $35 with a bunch of MAC priming products, so if you’re new to the world of MAC primers, that would be a good way to go.

One last thing…

Ask me anything! If there’s anything else you’d like to know about any of these products, LET ME KNOW. After years of using them, I know them pretty well.

Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,

Karen

P.S. Happy hump day. ?

Current Trader Joe’s Obsessions…

January 8th, 2019 by Karen 10 Comments

My meal mantra for this week is “eat your vegetables,” but woman cannot survive on rabbit food alone, so I had to sneak some chocolate and cheese onto this list, ha ha!

Just Beets: These dehydrated beets can kindasorta take the place of chips on my plate when I’m eating a sandwich…

I actually like beets, and I think these taste really good. They’re a little sweet and a little salty. They’re also CRUNCHY and surprisingly filling.
Crispy Crunchy Broccoli Florets: These crunchy fried broccoli florets are dangerously delicious and addictive.
Seasoned Kale Chips Dressed With Cashew butter Tahini: I’m still not all aboard the kale train yet, but I actually don’t mind these gluten-free kale chips.

They’re crispy, which hits the spot sometimes, amirite? And they taste a little cheesy, too.
Oven-Baked Cheese Bites: Mm… Crunchy medallions of cheesy nirvana…

These baked cheesy bits are gluten-free and protein rich, and they have a strong, sharp flavor that tastes like a mix of cheddar and Parmesan to me.

Five or six of ’em, and I’m a happy camper.
Mini Milk Chocolate Bars: There are five individually wrapped bars per box, and the creamy, smooth chocolate melts on your tongue.

I don’t know how they squeezed so much chocolate flavor into these bars, but however they did it, they definitely don’t just taste like sugar and butter. If you like Lindt truffles, you’ll probably like these. They also come in a dark chocolate version, which I haven’t tried yet because dark chocolate tastes like punishment to me.
Gluten-Free Chocolate Chip Cookies: Ever since El Hub was diagnosed with Celiac disease last fall, I’ve tried to keep an open mind about gluten-free baking…

I mean, I’ve tried…but to be honest, most gluten-free stuff just depresses me, especially the gluten-free bread, UGH. But some of the gluten-free cookies I’ve tried aren’t half bad, like these.

They’re crispity, crunchity buttery cookies have a very satisfying snap, and the chocolate is droolingly flavorful.
Fresh Mozzarella Cheese Sticks: When you want bougie cheese sticks that taste more special than basic string cheese, these are pretty good. Sometimes I chop a couple of them up with some cherry tomatoes and drizzle balsamic vinegar on top.

Mmm…
Frozen Cheese Pizza with a Cauliflower Crust: This actually tastes like REAL cheese pizza to me! IT’S INCREDIBLE. When I have this, I don’t ever feel like it tastes “less than” flour pizza. Both the cheese they use and the red pizza sauce are so good on their own that I don’t even feel like I have to doctor them up with anything. Bonus: It’s gluten-free!

Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,

Karen

P.S. Found any yummy TJ’s treats lately? Do share. 🙂

MAC Unsung Heroes: Coffee Eye Pencil

January 8th, 2019 by Karen 32 Comments

What’s an unsung makeup hero? For me, it’s an oftentimes underrated makeup morsel, a permanent collection product that scoots under the radar screen of many makeup lovers but regularly rocks my world. The long-running Unsung Heroes series features some of my favorites.

A picture of MAC Coffee Eye Pencil ($18) with a big-@ss cup of ☕ coffee? So meta, I know! Oh, and not just any big-@ss cup of coffee. This was my second cup of the morning.

Dude, I wake up at 5! An obnoxious level of caffeine is the only way I get through life these days.

I’ve mentioned MAC coffee a few times lately, but I’ve been hesitant to give it the “unsung heroes” treatment because, for reasons unknown, it vanished from the MAC website, which was sacrilegious craziness to me because it’s the best dark brown matte pencil I know.

It really is. I wear it more than all of my other MAC liner loves.

Yes, even more than Teddy, Costa Riche and — I can’t believe I’m about to type this — Powersurge.

Ever since I discovered the power of pencils that *aren’t* black, I’ve been all about brown liner (it’s the whole “black liner looks so harsh on me now that I’m older” thing).

mac coffee swatch — Livin’ that NC42 life, yo.

mac mineralize foundation loose medium dark — Wearing Chanel Les Beiges Healthy Glow Natural Eyehadow Palette, MAC Coffee liner, MAC Gingerly blush, MAC Retro Matte Liquid Lipcolour in Burnt Spice and MAC Dazzleglass in Tangerine Tropica

This particular dark chocolate brown doesn’t have red undertones, and it does all the right things for me. It works on my water lines (both upper and lower), doesn’t irritate my eyes (and, GIRL, everything irritates my eyes these days), and it doesn’t smudge unless I want it to.

It’s not as soft as a gel or a soft kohl, so it doesn’t glide along like those formulas, but perhaps that’s why it sticks to skin so well. I can wear MAC Coffee all day long without any transferring onto my lower lash line or up into my crease.

(Don’t worry — you won’t be tugging to apply it. It’s hard, but it’s also very pigmented and not dry at all, so no skipping, if that makes sense.)

Be warned: Once you try MAC Coffee, you’ll become addicted…just like real coffee.

Speaking of coffee…

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