Karen

5 Things I’ve Been Loving Lately

August 17th, 2017 by Karen 17 Comments

Just a few things I’ve been into as of late

Some people were born to sing (En Vogue shout-out!). Me? I was born to make lists. Here are 5 things I’ve been loving lately.

1. Cool August mornings

June and July were brutally hot here in the Bay Area, and if you didn’t have air conditioning, it was like living in an armpit.

Lately, though, like for the past two weeks, it’s been cooler here. Borderline cold. And what a welcome change. 🙂 I am NOT hating on those overcast mornings in The Lady Sanctuary!

The Lady Sanctuary… I have coffee out here in the mornings sometimes.

2. The September 2017 issue of Glamour

I’ve been a Glamour subscriber for a year, but #realtalk, it’s been months since I’ve been able to sit down long enough to read an issue from cover to cover because of the baby.

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Chanel Urban Ombre Premiere Cream Shadow From the Fall 2017 Travel Diary Collection

August 17th, 2017 by Karen 14 Comments

I’ve never met a Chanel Ombre Premiere cream shadow I didn’t like…until now.

Le sigh.

Urban is a blackened navy blue sheen in the Chanel Travel Diary collection, and it isn’t my favorite thing in the launch.

I’ve loved pretty much everything else from the collection so far (it’s been my favorite Chanel fall collection in years), but for me this cream shadow falls short.

chanel urban swatch — Chanel Urban is so gorgeous, but sooooo hard to use!

It feels drier than the other cream shadow in the launch, Memory (WHICH IS BOMB!), so when I smooth it across my lids, it catches some spots and skips over others. Unlike all of the other Ombre Premieres I have, wear and love, this one is the hardest to blend.

It’s Patchy City, so I’d drive by this one this year.

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The New Chanel Travel Diary Collection Rouge Coco Lipsticks in Experimental and Daylight

August 17th, 2017 by Karen 11 Comments

chanel experimental daylight — Experimental and Daylight

5 Road Trip Essentials

A GPS — So I can navigate. Because I’m not about to twiddle my thumbs while El Hub drives around aimlessly and refuses to ask for directions. Nope. NOT GONNA DO IT.
All the tunes — Don’t forget your Prince and Fleetwood Mac compilations, because both are necessary for trips lasting more than two hours.
Snacks — Obvs.
Comfy stretchy pants — Self-explanatory.
Lipsticks — Always! And if they’re Chanel Rouge Coco Lipsticks, even better. 🙂

The Chanel Travel Diary Fall Collection has two marvelously moisturizing Chanel Rouge Coco Lipsticks in it ($37 each), and yes, I did a whoop-whoop car chair dance of joy when I saw bright red poppy Experimental on my lips for the first time.

chanel experimental lipstick — Rouge Allure Coco Lipstick in Experimental

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H2O+ Beauty Milk Body Butter

August 16th, 2017 by Karen 3 Comments

Once upon a time, my good friend Cindy dated a boy who she ended up breaking up with because he smelled like milk, and for years after that, whenever I open a carton of milk, I thought to myself, “This smells like Cindy’s ex-boyfriend.”

I wonder if he smelled like Milk Body Butter by H2O+ Beauty, because if he did, he would have smelled hella good! 🙂

H2O+ Beauty Milk Body Butter has been in the H2O+ line for years, but it was recently re-branded. It looks different than it did when I used it in the early aughts. It was my jam one year, but I remember it smelling more milky. This version smells fresher than I remember it, and it has an herbal, lavender tinge.

It’s very cozy! I like it.

Even though it’s called a body butter, the formula is closer to a lotion. The consistency is like the Caudalie and Natura Brasil lotions I’ve been using lately, and it absorbs quickly and doesn’t make the back of my knees or the crook my elbows sticky (always a good thing). For sure, I’ll have to replace it with something richer when fall rolls around, but it’s moisturizing enough for now to prevent tumbleweeds from rollin’ through the dry desert landscape that is my shins.

H2O+ Milk Body Butter is part of the larger H2O+ Milk line that also includes a body wash and a scrub, and it’s made without mineral oil, phalates and parabens.

Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,

Karen

Chanel New Dawn Le Vernis Longwear Nail Colour

August 16th, 2017 by Karen 8 Comments

chanel new dawn swatch — When you’re trying to pose with your nail polish and you feel hella awkward

OK, makeup conspiracy theory time! 🙂

Here goes: I think there’s something going on with the bottles of Chanel Le Vernis nail polish in the Travel Diary collection, because they look so completely different in the bottles than they look on my nails.

I dunno… The first shade I tried, Horizon Line, and now this second one that I’m wearing right meow, New Dawn, look dull and uninspiring in their bottles, but it’s a whole different story on your paws.

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Chanel Palette Essentielle: Fab, Facile Face Palettes for Dewy, Fresh-Faced Looks

August 16th, 2017 by Karen 16 Comments

chanel beige intense palette essentielle — Chanel Palette Essentielle in Beige Intense ($61)

Way to stay ahead of the curve, Team Chanel! The three new Chanel Palette Essentielles from the Travel Diary Fall 2017 Collection go against the grain of the “more is more” trend taking over the mainstream makeup world right now.

They strip face makeup down to the bare essentials — a cream concealer, cream blush and a cream highlighter. That’s it. As a makeup junkie who now wholeheartedly embraces minimal looks, I like it.

Travel Diary is Chanel’s LE fall collection, and it’s inspired by a California road trip that Chanel Makeup Designer Lucia Pica took with her friends up the California coast.

Based on these face palettes alone, even though I’ve also liked everything else I’ve tried from this collection, I can tell that Lucia totally gets me. I mean, did homegirl peek into my makeup bag?? Because these palettes are exactly the kind of palettes I’d want to bring if I were road-tripping.

chanel beige medium palette essentielle — Chanel Palette Essentielle in Beige Medium ($61)

There are three of them — a light, medium and darker option — and they’re all available now with the rest of the collection at Chanel counters and online.

Peach-toned concealer obliterates dark circles! NEWS AT 11!

There’s so much I love about these palettes, starting with the peach-toned concealer… It OBLITERATES dark circles. It’s brilliant.

I was a little concerned about the texture at first, because it feels dry — similar to Laura Mercier Secret Camouflage, which I’ve never had great luck with (looks heavy on my skin and settle into my lines), but this version looks much more natural. I can’t tell where the concealer stops and my skin begins.

chanel palette essentielle beige intense — I’m wearing Chanel Palette Essentielle in Beige Intense under my eyes and on my cheeks, the Chanel Road Movie quad also on my eyes, and Chanel Rouge Coco in Daylight on my lips.

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I’m Road-Trippin’ Over the Chanel Road Movie Les 4 Ombres Eyeshadow Palette

August 15th, 2017 by Karen 22 Comments

Holy highway, Thelma & Louise! I just realized that I don’t have a favorite road movie!

How’s that even possible? I’m such a movie fiend.

Oh, well. Thank you, Chanel Road Movie eyeshadow palette, for that realization.

Hmm… What about Speed starring Sandra Bullock and Keanu Reeves? It’s not really a road movie, but I love that cheesy classic (Thelma & Louise is another great one, of course).

Colors of the California coast

Road Movie ($61) is one of two limited edition quads in the Chanel Travel Diary Fall Collection that were inspired by colors of the California coast, and I can definitely see the colors of the state along the coast between LA and Big Sur.

There are deep, oceanic navy blues and teals in this eye quad, but let’s get real — the water is usually darker, murkier and scarier than we ever see it in makeup, LOL!

The quad also has a satiny golden brown, which is a powder shadow version of Memory, the cream shadow in this collection, and a matte tan that looks like golden Cali sand.

chanel road movie eyeshadow palette — That’s Road Movie on my lids and lash lines, Chanel Palette Essentielle in Beige Intense (from the Travel Diary Fall Collection) on my cheeks, and Chanel Rouge Coco in Experimental on my lips (also from Travel Diary).

Packed with pigment

Powerful pigment isn’t the first thing I think when it comes to Chanel quads. The brand usually pulls back on the pigment — but not too much — which makes it easier for mere mortals like me to blend them and sheer out the edges. That’s one of the reasons I love Chanel shadows so much for everyday looks. They’re juuust pigmented enough.

This quad? Road Movie has Make Up For Ever-caliber color. The shadows are intensely pigmented, especially the blue and teal, but they’re still surprisingly easy to work with.

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Pixi MatteLast Liquid Lip: Lightweight, Long-Wearing $14 Liquid Lipsticks

August 15th, 2017 by Karen 10 Comments

My friends, we are living in an era of crazy lip colors.

Yes, it’s true. And I love the craziness! — the
greens, blues and other-worldly purples. It’s opening minds — boom! — and more and more makeup mavens are thinking about beauty in unconventional ways.

Still, sometimes I get a hankering for an old-fashioned flattering pink or coral like the ones in the new Pixi MatteLast Liquid Lip line. They’re $14 each and available now.

All five are fabulously wearable and fairly comfortable for a liquid lipstick.

The Pixi MatteLasts have a thin, watery consistency similar to the NARS Powermatte Lip Pigments (which are THE BEST liquid lipsticks out there right now IMO), so you only need a few drops for full coverage. As long as you’re careful to apply the littlest amount, they don’t feel suffocating or heavy, either, like most other liquid lipsticks feel.

The unscented, unflavored formula is also easy to apply quickly, which is fortuitous in this case because, wow! — these dry in less than a minute.

I still prefer my NARS Powermattes, though, because even though the Pixi MatteLasts feel fairly lightweight on my lips, the NARS Powermattes feel even lighter, and they’re much, MUCH more moisturizing.

Despite being a little drying, the MatteLasts are still pretty good, and they cost $12 less than the NARS version.

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