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
Here’s a neutral pink lip combo recipe I love because 1) it’s comprised of three products from the MAC permanent line, so the ingredients aren’t going anywhere, and 2) it goes with almost any and every eye look.
Here’s what you do…
So…what is the Monday Poll?
Well, it isn’t exactly a poll. It’s more of a constantly evolving (devolving?), somewhat random list of questions I’ve been putting out to readers every Monday morning for the past 10 (!) years. (It’s like a kickstart for your brain.) I’ve always enjoyed reading your answers in the comments, and I hope you enjoy reading mine.?
Most certainly not!
I threw down 200 bucks on a T3 back in the day. It was around the time they first came out, and I was blow-drying my hair almost daily at the time. That thing dramatically cut down on the time I spent in the bathroom.
It’s been about a decade since I bought it, and it’s still going strong. It was a good value.
Pretty well, I think! I did bright Kool-Aid red streaks a few times years ago, and it was fun. It was hard to keep up with, though, because the color basically wanted to drain outta my hair every time I washed it.
I leave it alone as long as I can. Then, when it’s ripe, I secretly pop it in the bathroom in the middle of the night…
My friend Alis, of course. It would be terrifying, but if anyone could pull it off, it would be her.
Sh*t. I think I’d have a better chance of surviving The Hunger Games, to be honest.
My UC Davis student ID (which also doubled as my bus pass), the keys to the apartment I shared with roommates who I never talked to again after graduation, a bottle of Estée Lauder Pleasures perfume, a tube of MAC Paramount Lipstick, my CD player (complete with Missy Elliott CD), my wallet (which probably had paycheck stubs from the three jobs I held simultaneously at the time — foreign language teaching assistant, on-campus receptionist, human guinea pig for psychology experiments) and a mint green Sakura Gelly Roll Pen.
You know what my mantra has been lately? For every problem, there’s always a solution. Remember that you can handle whatever comes your way!
Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,
Karen
P.S. Here are the questions to copy/paste.
1. Are you a cool girl?
2. What’s the most you’ve spent on a hair styling tool?
3. How well do you think you could pull off red hair?
4. You have a pimple on your face. Do you pop it or leave it alone?
5. If you had to choose someone to cut your hair in complete darkness, who would you choose?
6. Would you rather be on The Bachelor or in The Hunger Games?
7. It’s 1997. What’s in your little black backpack?
Tabs isn’t the only kitty model with a career that took numerous twists and turns. His kitty model cousin Esmeralda from Toronto also took a diagonal kitty modeling career path. One day while walking through a garden as a young kitten, she was scouted by a renowned kitty modeling agent and originally said no because at the time she wanted to purr-sue an engineering career and become one of the kitty rocket scientists working to put the first cat on Mars.
But destiny intervened that day while she was sniffing a zinnia. She went on to become the most famous kitty model in Toronto, and one of the most successful kitty models in all of Canada.
Now she’s retired and living the good life. She spent this month traveling throughout the United States on a whirlwind sushi tour to hit the hot spots for the best sashimi. Tuna is her favorite, of course, with salmon a close second.
Hey, friend! Rise and shine, morning glory. I’m excited because I don’t have any big house-related chores to do today.
I mean, there are things I could do around the house, and things I probably should do around the house…but I’m not going to do them today, haha! 🙂
All I have to do is help a friend with something this afternoon, but outside of that, I plan to veg and play.
One thing I want to do this weekend is peruse the MAC lipstick permanent line. There are still so many MAC permanent lip products I’ve never tried before, so if you have any MAC permanent lipstick loves you think I should try, let me know.
Speaking of permanent products…I was chatting with my friend Steph the other day about the whole “limited edition chase.” It’s fun sometimes, isn’t it? Trying to track down LE items before they disappear? But at a certain point, I get tired of the effort it takes. Sometimes I just want to walk up to a counter and get a replacement for something I like when I run out. No muss, no fuss.
That’s one of my favorite things about lipstick — how easy it is to change your mind. I love how noncommittal it is. It’s not like getting locked into a relationship with a new foundation or mascara, which for me are kind of like buying a couch! Your foundation covers so much of your face, and when it comes to mascara, you know, you only have one set of lashes. There’s some risk involved there.
I feel like foundation and mascara are the big ticket items, but lipstick is more like a seasonal throw pillow…
OK! I think that’s enough crazy talk for today. Seriously, though, if you have any MAC perm lipsticks recommendations, please send them my way.
Now for some light reading…
Talk to you later, and psssst! — try to take a nap today. For reals, it does a body good. 🙂
Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,
Karen
Did you really think I could stop at five?? GIRL, YOU SO CRAZY!
It’s totally normal for a MAC coral enthusiast to have at least 10 lipstick options in rotation at any given moment…
Right…?
UGH, keep telling yourself that, Karen. Seriously, I’m only one or two tubes away from an intervention.
YES! These corals (like these from earlier today) are in the MAC permanent line. One of them, Ravishing, is an old fave I’ve been wearing for years, but the other four are pretty new to my personal coral kingdom, like Koi Coral, a creamy, marvelously moisturizing peachy nude coral Cremesheen that happens to share part of its name (albeit with a different spelling) with one of Connor Claire’s nicknames (“Coywolf,” which sometimes gets shortened to “Coy”).
I think of her whenever I wear it.
Mmm, I’m tasting that signature MAC vanilla flavor on my lips right now. It tastes like coming home, and it feels like everything is right again with the world…
Anyway! Diversion much, Karen?
Also in this batch — Shy Girl, and oh, my gosh! So nice. It’s a creamy, dreamy peachy beige coral I just recently found through MAC Fruity Juicy.
I mean, it’s been around a while, but I forgot it was in the permanent collection. It almost functions as a nude.
Nippon is another peachy coral, but it’s less beige than Shy Girl. Like Koi Coral, it’s also a Cremesheen, so it’s creamy and mega moisturizing. It’s like a drink of water for dry lips.
I’m low-key crazy for coral all year long, but now that it’s summer, I let my freak flag fly and my full-on coral craziness is unleashed!
If it were socially acceptable…I might even wear all five of my favorite MAC coral lipsticks on my face AT THE SAME TIME.
Flamingo, Costa Chic, Coral Bliss, Vegas Volt and Pretty Boy are all found in the MAC permanent line, so they’re always there whenever you need them, which is comforting to me…like a makeup security blanket.
I rotate among them during summer.
If you see a couple you like, jump on them now, because MAC is having a special lipstick promotion where you get a free lipstick if you buy any two lip products. The free lipstick has to be one of six specific shades (Breathing Fire, Lust, Lured In, Pressed & Ready, Barbeque and Invite Intrigue), though, so you can’t go picking any old free lipsticks willy-nilly. But the selections are lovely.
The promo lasts through June 25th, both at MAC stores and the website.
So, I realize that the new BECCA Liquid Crystal Glow Glosses officially have nothing to do with the 1982 Jim Henson classic, The Dark Crystal, but I feel like they should, because the movie featured a cracked gem, and these glosses are inspired by gems that have been melted down to liquid form…
Um…leave it the the girl who named her kid after the heroine in the Terminator movies to find the sci-fi angle, LOL.
Anyway…I like these a lot. Some more than others. They’re a new line of sheer glosses with different levels of glitter, pearl and shimmer, and you can wear them as standalone lip glosses or layer them on top of lipstick.
“Buuuuut, Karen,” I can already hear you saying, “Can’t you layer any old gloss on top of lipstick?”
Why, yes, sweet thing! You certainly can.
Once upon a time, super early in the morning, I almost took a stick of Milk Makeup Highlighter and put it under my arms. Like deodorant! I caught myself at the last minute, so I didn’t actually do it, but if it had, my underarms would’ve been the most perfectly highlighted underarms in armpit history.
This sounds less crazy when you see Milk Makeup Highlighter next to my favorite deodorant. Check it:
Right? That’s what I get for fumbling around in the dark…
Milk Makeup is constantly surprising me. Their vibe, the marketing and their packaging cater to teens, methinks, and being a crabby 40-something-year-old lady (Just kidding! I’m not crabby…except on Tuesdays!), I didn’t think the brand would appeal to me, but that’s been sooooo far from the truth. I’ve loved their Blush Oil and Sunshine Skin Tint and have now entered into a serious relationship with Lit, their stick highlighter.
And it truly is lit.
Lit is a sheer, shimmery, peachy champagne highlighter from the Milk Makeup permanent line that you can wear sheer for a natural look, or layer for a striking, visible highlight, and while cream highlighters aren’t particularly innovative, Milk has perfected this one’s shine.
Or, rather, its dewy glow. That’s a more apt description.
