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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

Karen

Your Secret Makeup Weapon for the Most Natural, Flawlessly Blended Blush (Hint: It’s Probably Already in Your Makeup Bag)

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powder to tone down blush 1
I never leave home without ’em!

Your face powder is SO powerful. It’s a preternaturally powerful secret makeup weapon, and it’s capable of monumentally more than simply setting your base makeup. For starters, it can save you from a lifetime of leaving the house with unintentional clown cheeks.

This has happened to me on more than one occasion: I’ll leave the house thinking, “Dayum, my makeup looks fly!” but then I’ll walk by a mirror and think, “HOLY FREAKING CRAP! How did I leave the house with that much blush on my cheeks?!”

before
The obligatory before shot. I purposefully applied a lotta blush (MAC Melba, by the way)
And I left the edges unblended, whee!

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The Lust List, Vol. 12: Stuff I Kinda Want

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I realize that there’s absolutely NOTHING lust-inducing about makeup remover. Nothing. But sometimes you just gotta take a break from all the schmexy makeup dreams (I’m talking to you, Charlotte Tilbury), and put stuff on your lust list that, ya know, you actually need.

On that note…

  1. R+Co Analog Cleansing Foam Conditioner ($29) — La, la, la! Don’t mind me as I fall deeper into the hole that is my current R+Co obsession! Analog is the brand’s approach to conditioner washing. Technically, it’s called a cleansing foam conditioner, so I’m assuming that it’s light, fluffy and mousse-y. And if it’s anything like the other R+Co products I’ve tried and have fallen head over heels for, it’s probably all sorts of amazing and smells divine.
  2. Diorskin Nude Air Luminizer Powder in Golden Glow ($56) — Even though I don’t need another highlighter AT ALL, this one by Dior looks like perfection.
  3. SEPHORA COLLECTION Lavender Foot Mask ($5) — Why? Because I looked down the other day and saw Fred Flintstone’s feet. 🙁
  4. Bioderma Sensibio Make-up Removing Micelle Solution ($14.50) and H2O Wipes ($9.90) — Completely not sexy at all, but I’m running dangerously low on liquid eye makeup remover and makeup wipes. It’s time to restock. I went through a huge bottle of Bioderma a few months ago and used every last drop because it removes everything, including long-wearing mascara and liner. But I’ve never tried the makeup wipes… I hope they’re just as good as the liquid. Have you tried ’em before?
  5. Milk Makeup Flex Concealer ($28) — I’ve been using and loving Sunshine Skin Tint by Milk Makeup, and now I want to try some of their other face products, like their Flex Concealer, which is supposed to be full-coverage and fab.
  6. Fresh Fresh Life Body Oil ($48) — I’ve obviously been living far away from society in a secluded cave somewhere because I had NO idea that Fresh made a Body Oil version of Fresh Life, my favorite scent in the line. Based on the ingredient list, it looks promising. The first five things on the list are oils (sweet almond, sunflower, apricot kernel, jojoba and purple passionflower). Waaaaaant!
  7. Leahlani Champagne Serum ($32) — I’m going to try to track down this face serum while I’m in Hawaii next week. It’s a local brand from Kauai, and their Champagne Serum (“Happy hour for your face”) is loaded with antioxidants to make your skin happy…and I really want to make my skin happy. 🙂
  8. Kate Spade Kasie Sunglasses ($180) — I’m still kicking myself for not buying that pair of black Kate Spade sunnies at Nordstrom Rack a couple weeks ago… The more I think about them, the deeper I slip into the hole of retail regret. Damn! I hope the store restocks them soon. Until then, I’ll just obsess over Kate’s Kasie sunnies.

Got any restocks on your lust list this week? If you do, I’m sure they can’t be as boring as makeup remover, LOL!

Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,

Karen

P.S. I started packing for my trip last night, and so far…I’m not doing very well with the whole “packing light” thing.

Is there some biological leftover from ye olde cavewoman days that fuels the need to bring everything in my suitcase?? I’m trying to be rational about it, but what’s the deal? Why do I have the unrelenting urge to over pack.

Unsung Makeup Heroes: Hourglass Girl Lip Stylo in Explorer

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hourglass explorer girl lip stylo
Praise be to coral lipstick! Hourglass Girl Lip Stylo in Explorer is errrrrrthang

The long-running Unsung Heroes series here on Makeup and Beauty Blog features some of our all-time favorite permanent collection products.

You know when you’re standing in the middle of Sephora, carrying as much as you can possibly carry in your paws, but you see one more coral lipstick that makes your eyes light up, and you think, “Oh, boy, I dunno… I’ve already got too much. Do I really need another coral lipstick??”

GIRL. The answer is yes. The answer is always yes. 🙂

I keep finding myself reaching for Hourglass Girl Lip Stylo in Explorer on my lady dates lately. It’s a soft pinkish coral. It’s not a super bright orange-y coral, so it doesn’t go into costume/vintage territory…which can be a totally kick-@ss look, for sure, but I have to be in the mood for it.

I think it’s an awesome everyday neutral.

The Girl Lip Stylos are $32 each, so they’re definitely on the expensive side, but if you have dry lips (which I do!), or, if you can’t stand it when your lipstick breaks up or gets patchy or latches on to your flakes, or if you just like easy-to-apply, low-maintenance lipsticks that you can throw on anywhere, even while you’re crossing Market Street in SF, which I totally did last weekend, they’re beyond great!

Creamy and oh, so hydrating, they feel fantastic on my lips (they’re unflavored and unscented, by the way), and they last about three hours.

Oh, and get this: even though I’ve owned Explorer for months and have worn it dozens of times, the pencil tip hasn’t flattened. It’s still pointy! I don’t know what kind of makeup voodoo is at work, but whatever Hourglass did, something is keeping the tip pointy.

hourglass girl lip stylo
Hourglass Girl Lip Stylos from the top: Believer, Creator, Explorer, Seeker and Peacemaker

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Take Me With You, Milk Makeup Sunshine Skin Tint SPF 30!

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milk makeup sunshine skin tint in honey flat lay
You’re coming on vacay with me, Milk Makeup!

How cool would it be if when you went to Sephora to check out Milk Makeup Sunshine Skin Tint, they handed you a milkshake just for showing up?

I would find that HIGHLY motivating, LOL! As if I need extra motivation to check out makeup…

Anyway, I’ve been thinking about this trip I took once. I brought a tube of tinted moisturizer with me, but it exploded all over everything in my bag because the top came loose.

That probably wouldn’t have happened with Milk Makeup Sunshine Skin Tint.

milk makeup sunshine skin tint in honey flat lay
Milk Makeup Sunshine Skin Tint SPF 30 in Honey ($42 and available in eight shades)

It has a pen clicker at the bottom. When you click it, the foundation comes up through the tube and out the roller ball applicator on the other end.

You use the roller ball to spread the tint all over your face, then blend it in with your fingers.

It’s fun AND cool. Plus, it’s very unlikely to leak foundation all over your stuff.

Milk Makeup is an American cruelty-free brand that’s been on the makeup scene about a year or two. As far as I know, their products don’t contain any actual milk, though. Unless you count coconut milk. The “milk” in the name refers to the fancy Milk photo studios, which they’re affiliated with.

milk makeup sunshine skin tint in honey medium tan
Wearing Honey and Medium Tan mixed together

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Makeup and Beauty Blog Monday Poll, Vol. 478

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Market Street in San Francisco (I was there last Saturday for brunch and a show)

1. What did you do for your makeup today (or what do you plan to do if you haven’t gotten ready yet)?

I don’t know what I’m going to do, but I’m product testing. I have some things from Milk makeup that I want to try — their Sunshine Skin Tint in Honey, a Lip + Cheek cream stick and one of their Eye Vinyls.

2. Low-rise or high-rise pants?

Um…how ’bout no pants!? LOL! 🙂

OK, I’ll go with high-rise pants because they suck in le tum oh, so well.

3. If you were a doughnut (just humor me), what doughnut would you be?

Lemon jelly, because they’re sweet and simple on the outside, but tart and sassy on the inside. 😉

4. What eye cream/serum are you currently using (if you’re using one at all, and if you aren’t, tell me why!)?

I’ve been using two of them together. I’m layering Drunk Elephant Shaba Complex Eye Serum underneath Kate Somerville Wrinkle Warrior Eye.

5. Did you ever want to be Wonder Woman as a kid?

Surprisingly, no! I feel like I should’ve wanted to be her, though, because I do love tiaras and bracelets, but I wanted to be Princess Allura more… She piloted the blue lion in Voltron.

OK…that may have been the nerdiest thing I’ve ever typed, haha.

Saturday in the City

I love this font

Good morning! Happy Monday. If we worked together, this is the part in the morning when we’d ask each other what we did over the weekend, and maybe show each other pics of things we did on our phones.

I went to the City (aka San Francisco) on Saturday for dim sum and a musical with a couple friends.

From the left: the messy bun, and my high school friends Jen and Cindy

Golden Gate Theater, where we watched the show
I’ll take everything, please
Yummy dim sum

You know when you’re not quite ready to face the week because you had so much fun over the weekend? That’s how I feel today. I’m gonna try to focus on the good stuff, though, so I can prance through this Monday on light kitty paws.

Have a good rest of your day, and I hope wherever you are, the sun is shining (and that you’re wearing SPF!).

Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,

Karen

Sundays With Tabs the Cat, Makeup and Beauty Blog Mascot, Vol. 452

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“Is that another cat looking at my zinnias!?”

No, Tabs, it isn’t. It’s just a nosy crow.

The front yard garden is basically all set, and it’s reasonably deer-proof. There are new potted zinnias, petunias and salvia to go with the three dwarf citrus trees Tabs planted a few weekends ago.

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Saturday Surfing: June 3rd, 2017

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When face shots go awry

? Caturday…in the park…I think it was the third of June. ?

OK, that doesn’t really work. But good morning anyway! 🙂 It’s finally the weekend, thank goodness.

NO, SERIOUSLY, THANK GOODNESS. Even though it was a short week because of Memorial Day, I don’t know why, but it still felt long.

So I’m just about ready to leave the house and head into the city for an early birthday (my bday is next week) lady date with my friends Jen and Cindy. First, we’re going to dim sum, then to watch the musical version of Roman Holiday, which I’m really excited about. The movie is one of my favorites.

But before I zip across the Golden Gate Bridge, here are some stories that caught my eye this week…

Tomorrow my plan is to speed-clean specific spots in my house, and I’m keeping it to just “specific spots,” because if I think of doing the whole house I get overwhelmed.

I really do have to face the music, though. I have a problem with clutter… I hold on to things longer than I should, so I’m going to force myself to de-clutter tomorrow (i.e. throw stuff away), and I’m going to start first thing in the morning while I’m still raring to go. I’m also going to take before and after pictures on my phone…just so that there’s photographic evidence that I did actually do something. And I’m going to work in 20 minute blocks with 10 minute breaks in between so I don’t burn myself out…

Yes, that’s a lot of mental preparation just for cleaning, but I REALLY don’t want to do it, so this is what it takes.

I keep thinking about something my HIIT instructor said the other day in class. “If you want to get something, you have to give something.” And I desperately want to de-clutter my house!

Have a wonderful weekend whatever you’re up to, and I hope you have some time to relax and even play with makeup. You deserve it!

Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,

Karen

Take Me With You, Nudestix Magnetic Matte Eye Color!

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nudestix magnetic eye color
A few of my favorite Nudestix Magnetic Matte Eye Colors ($24 each and available in 10 shades)

When I take a trip somewhere, I NEED to bring along my makeup brushes. That’s one of my non-negotiables. I literally never leave home without them — literally…unless I forget them at home. 🙂 Which has happened.

It was a few summers ago… El Hub and I drove up to visit family in Redding, which is a couple hundred miles north up near the Oregon border.

As luck would have it, I completely spaced out and forgot to bring my brushes (!), so the first thing we did when we got there was go on an emergency brush run.

Never mind using a restroom or saying hi to relatives after four long hours on the road. All I could think was, “Take me to the mall! Stat!”

If I’d had one or two of these Nudestix Magnetic Matte Eye Colors with me, I probably would have freaked out less. They’re long-lasting $24 cream shadow pencils. They come in 10 neutral shades, and you don’t need to use blending brushes with them (although you can if you want).

If you hit the road a lot or frequently find yourself doing your makeup in the back of a cab or in the ladies’ room before work, I’ve got one word for you: Nudestix. All of their makeup comes in either stick or pencil form, and you can blend them with a finger (or a brush), so they’re completely not fussy. They also have a wide selection of colors for different skin tones, too, and everything is cruelty-free.

nudestix magnetic eye color terra putty
I’m wearing Putty on my lids and under my brow bone, Terra and Fig in my crease, and Army on my lash lines. On my cheeks, that’s the Nudestix Nudies in Bare Back and Naughty N’ Spice, and that’s Kosas Electra Lipstick on my lips.

These set in about three or four minutes, which gives me enough time to blend out the edges. I don’t ever feel rushed. Most of the time, after drawing a few strokes on my lids (I don’t have to use much because they’re packed with pigment), I buff out the edges with a finger (or a MAC 217 if one’s handy).

Speaking of MAC now, a few of the Magnetic Matte shades could pass for near-dupes of some of my favorite MAC matte shadows, like Putty, which looks a little like matte beige Brule, and warm brown Terra, which reminds me of MAC Soft Brown. Oh, and warm brown Fig kindasorta looks like MAC Swiss Chocolate.

nudestix magnetic eye color swatches
From the top: Nudestix Putty, Terra, Fig and Army

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