Karen

BECCA Après Ski Glow Face Palette for Holiday 2017

October 20th, 2017 by Karen 2 Comments

becca apres ski glow face palette k — BECCA Eye Lights Palette on my eyes and NARS Vibeke Lipstick

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again — I am not a snow person.

I mean, I like hanging out in the lodge by the fire with a glass of wine on a bearskin rug after snowboarding… You get back to the cabin after a day on the slopes, have some hot cocoa and snacks. That’s cool, right? And then, like, your skin looks all glowy, like you’re wearing the BECCA Après Ski Glow Collection Face Palette ($45), because you’ve been exerting yourself on the slopes.

becca apres ski glow face palette open — Ready to glow?

becca apres ski glow-face palette swatches final — From the top: Rose Quartz, Icicle, Winter Berry, Blushed Copper, Opal, Bronzed Bondi

BECCA sure knows how to handle seamless integrations, ya know? When I wear their products, I can’t tell where my bronzer stops and my blush begins, and that also goes for their highlighters. Their products melt into each other without leaving any harsh lines. Their Shimmering Skin Perfectors basically blend like you’re frosting a cake.

Enter the BECCA Après Ski Glow Face Palette for Holiday 2017.

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BECCA Après Ski Glow Collection Eye Lights Palette for Holiday 2017

October 19th, 2017 by Karen 1 Comment

becca eye lights palette k — BECCA Après Ski Glow Face Palette on my cheeks and NARS Vibeke Lipstick

If the thought of wearing a face product on your eyes freaks you out (apparently, it does not freak me out, ha!), don’t worry. The new $45 BECCA Après Ski Glow Collection Eye Lights Palette is officially an eye product…even though the “shadows” in it have almost the same formula as the actual BECCA Shimmering Skin Perfector Powders. 🙂

(Side note: am I the only one who already uses the BECCA Shimmering Skin Perfecting Powders and Bronzers as eyeshadows? Just curious…)

becca eye lights palette open — Let’s talk about brown shadow, baby!

This is a gorgeous palette. It has seven neutral shades — two of them new (bodaciously buttery brown Toasted Marshmallow and Hot Cocoa) and five of them based on existing highlighters in the BECCA permanent line.

All of them feel just as soft and buttery, and blend just as easily, as BECCA’s full-fledged, official highlighters.

I like using the browns (big surprise) as quickie crease colors, because they aren’t very pigmented, so you can almost instantly define your eyes by swishing a few swipes on your lids.

Golden brown Toasted Marshmallow is basically rocking my world right now. It looks a little like MAC Soba to me, but with, like, amplified golden pearl. And reddish brown Hot Cocoa looks like a satiny version of MAC Swiss Chocolate. It’s red, but it isn’t too red, if you know what I mean.

The only big catch with this palette, and it is kind of a big catch, is that most of the shades — the lighter ones, especially — all (with the exception of Topaz) look pretty much the same on my NC 42 skin, so if you’re my shade or darker…it’s kinda repetitive.

I’m just sayin’.

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The Nail Polish Club

October 19th, 2017 by Karen 7 Comments

The fires are slowly but surely being contained, and the air has cleared up enough to go for walks again. We went for one on Monday evening and found a sign advertising a new neighborhood business…

For The Nail Polish Club!

Two dollars a hand… That’s a TOTAL bargain compared to the local nail place I usually go to, and it’s great if you’re, say, right-handed and can only paint the nails on your left hand decently. If you only need help painting the nails on one hand, you can call The Nail Polish Club, and they’ll assist you for just TWO BUCKS!

Oh, they also do nail art. It’s 50 cents for add-ons like glitter, stickers or flowers-slash-dots.

What I love most is the specificity of the sign. They’re available for clients on Tuesdays, and each appointment is 30 minutes. 🙂

Seriously, though, too cute! Connor and I wanna join.

Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,

Karen

Urban Decay Heavy Metals Metallic Eyeshadow Palette for Holiday 2017

October 19th, 2017 by Karen 16 Comments

urban decay heavy metals metallic eyeshadow palette open — Heavy metals, mama!

Where the heck is the fallout? RIGHT? If you’re an Urban Decay fan, you expect a little fallout — OK, a ton of fallout — when you’re working with their eyeshadows. You just learn to live with it…

At least I have. At least most people I know who love and use the brand have in the past. I mean, it’s no big whoop if you do your eyes first and cleanup later, but wouldn’t it be a nice option to just, like, be able to do your eyes and not have to worry about dealing with massive amounts of stray eyeshadow? The $55 Urban Decay Heavy Metals Metallic Eyeshadow Palette, which is part of the brand’s holiday collection and houses a bevvy of shimmery metallics, gives you that option.

urban decay heavy metals metallic eyeshadow palette packaging — Purple power

I don’t know what happened over at UD, but a few of their recent eyeshadow palettes have exhibited very little fallout, including this one, and it’s been awesome. They’ve totally “leveled up” their eyeshadow game.

The eyeshadows in this palette have a completely new formula, and it’s exclusive to this palette. (I wouldn’t be surprised, though, if they eventually added it to the permanent line.)

There are 20 shadows, with brights on one side, neutrals on the other, and they’re all completely new colors. New formula. New, new, new, new, new!

urban decay heavy metals metallic eyeshadow palette right — The right side of the palette

urban decay heavy metals metallic eyeshadow palette left — The left side of the palette

The shadows have a foiled effect, meaning that when you pat them on with a finger or brush, they’re super shiny — not glossy, as in a wet way, but shiny like chrome or tinfoil.

Most of the time to get that intensely shiny, foiled effect with shadows you have to apply them wet. This palette removes that step. You can do a dry application, and it’s just as shiny as a wet one.

urban decay heavy metals metallic eyeshadow palette swatches neutrals — From the top: Bass, Glory, Demo, Starfire, Afterparty, Angel fire, Roadie, Maiden, Scream, Acoustic

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Urban Decay Vice Metal Meets Matte Lipstick Palette for Holiday 2017

October 18th, 2017 by Karen 10 Comments

urban decay vice meets metal lip palette — That’s a whole lotta Vices…

Is it just me, or is something usually a little off about the lipsticks that come in LE lipstick palettes? Like they feel and work different than they would if they came in a tube? I dunno… Maybe something changes when they pour them into a pan instead of a bullet.

I know that a lot of makeup artists say that applying lipstick with a brush makes your lipstick last longer and look better, and OK, I see a little of that happening, but it’s not enough for me to want to whip out a lip brush every time I put on lipstick.

Except with this one! 🙂 I’ll do it for Urban Decay’s new Vice Metal Meets Matte Lipstick Palette.

It’s $35, REALLY GOOD and available now with the 2017 holiday collection.

urban decay meets metal lipstick palette swatches — Banger, Amulet, CSB, Tame

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Unsung Makeup Heroes: Urban Decay Rehab Makeup Prep Lip Love

October 18th, 2017 by Karen 2 Comments

urban decay lip love — The best lip balm!

I realize that I keep talking about this lip balm, but it’s THAT. GOOD. I’ve gotten to the point where I have tubes everywhere. I have one on my nightstand. I have one in my Kate Spade wristlet… I’m thinking now that I also need to keep one in my car.

It’s Urban Decay Rehab Makeup Prep Lip Love, and it’s $15, which, you know, is more expensive than something you can get from the drugstore for less than five bucks, but it’s really, really, really comfy and moisturizing.

Oh, my goodness! I barely even feel it. It’s a little slippery, but it’s not thick or heavy or sticky. And because it isn’t too thick, the balm also lays well underneath lipsticks and lipglosses, so it’s great for prepping your lips before color.

I realized just how much I truly love it after I swatched a whole bunch of lipsticks last week, and my lips felt like I’d been making out with a bag of broken glass afterward. Lip Love basically rescued my lips from flaky oblivion and restored them to their previously smooooove state.

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.

I’ve read that some folks find the flavor to be a turnoff. I don’t mind it so much… I actually kind like it. It’s a little bit coconut and shea butter, which is good because it has both shea butter and coconut oil in it, and for the most part I think it’s nondescript.

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What’s Been Your Overall Experience With Temporary Press-On Nails?

October 18th, 2017 by Karen 11 Comments

It’s been both good and bad, depending on the era, but they’ve gotten SO MUCH BETTER since I used them in the ’90s! Back then it was all about Lee Press On Nails, and all of my friends used them… I don’t know why, because they were terrible!

I tried ’em a couple times, and they never stayed put, never quite fit my nails correctly, and they looked super fake.

Fast forward to today, and I don’t know what technological advances have been made in the press-on nail industry since those janky Lee Press Ons, but now they’re actually really good.

I think the imPress press ons are truly great. You generally get more size, style and length options than you used to in the Lee days, so not just long talon-like French nails, which were the only option way back when.

Oh, and the glue?

THE GLUE!

It’s better by leaps and bounds, like it’s space glue or something that came from an advanced alien civilization. Now I can stick some nails on and even correct them if I need to, and they’ll last a few days, even through hand washing and showers.

I remember in high school doing my press-ons before my first class in the morning and having them fall off by lunch, LOL! They’re so much better now.

What’s been your experience with temporary press-on nails? Tell me the good, the bad, the ugly in the comments. 🙂

Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,

Karen

MAC Unsung Heroes: Saddle Eyeshadow

October 17th, 2017 by Karen 12 Comments

I know that a few of you gals and dudes who visit MBB also ride horses, so I need to know — does MAC Saddle Eye Shadow in any way remind you of actual saddles? Is this what color saddles are? Because I’ve never ridden a horse, so I have no clue.

All I know is I love this color, man, and I’ve been wearing it for years! It’s a — now please don’t run away when I say this — matte orange brown.

Yep, I said orange…but it’s more brown than orange. It’s not obnoxiously orange. The little bit of orange just gives it some warmth.

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.

mac saddle swatch — Howdy, pardner. I reckon I’m about a MAC NC42 for refrence, if’n yer inclined to know…

Sometimes I use Saddle to deepen my crease and make my eyes look like they’re set back further in my sockets…

OK, that sounded weirder than it did in my head…but anyway, mattes are useful when you want to make something look more recessed.

You could start with a light brown matte like MAC Soft Brown, Soba or Wedge in the crease first, then add Saddle on top on the part of your crease that you want to look deepest and furthest back.

Feathering it up into the lighter brown you started with also creates a gradient and gives the look a little somethin’-something, a.k.a. complexity.

I’m wearing Saddle and Wedge on my lids and in the crease, Brun and Mulch in the outer corners, Ricepaper to highlight the inner corners and my brows, and Feline Kohl on my water lines.

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