Karen

Behold! A Wall of Water-Full Color

November 11th, 2015 by Karen 17 Comments

When you see an entire wall of bright, colorful bkr water bottles, you have to stop and take a picture.

It’s just the right thing to do. 🙂

I walked past these in the beauty department of the Neiman Marcus in San Francisco last week.

Have you heard of these? They’re basically fancy glass water bottles with colorful, grippy silicone sleeve covers (I have one and use it all day, errrday), and they feel hefty and durable.

They’re glass, but they don’t feel fragile because the glass is thick and heavy, as are the bouncy sleeves, which protect them well. They are expensive for a water bottle…but everything about them feels well made, like it’ll last forever (hopefully).

And there are so many colors! The wide selection appeals to my inner color lover. So many blues, pinks, greens, reds and grays… Makes me think of eyeshadow.

One of these days, I’m gonna break down and get one of the smaller ones with the hearts, like this 500 mL cutie called Rose Heart. It’s $35 and available now at Neiman Marcus stores and online.

Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,

Karen

Bobbi Brown Holiday 2015 Sterling Nights Collection and Holiday Gift Giving Highlights

November 11th, 2015 by Karen 18 Comments

Wearing The Rich Caramel Eye Palette, the Blushes from the Deluxe Cheek & Eye Palette, Pink Shimmerbrick and Art Stick in Electric Pink from Bobbi Brown holiday 2015 — Wearing The Rich Caramel Eye Palette, the Blushes from the Deluxe Cheek & Eye Palette, Pink Shimmer Brick and Art Stick in Electric Pink from Bobbi Brown Holiday 2015

I prepared a video for this review of the new Bobbi Brown Holiday 2015 collection, including some of my favorite highlights from the launch, but then a gremlin attacked my ankles and forced me to unwittingly erase the memory card. In other words, technical difficulties struck, so now we’re ad libbing video-free, whee!

Yup, just as a friendly reminder from me to you — don’t forget to back up your work early and often.

I’m just sayin’.

With that out of the way, check it out…

The new Bobbi Brown Holiday 2015 collection is divided into two parts — one comprised of gift sets, palettes and brush kits, and and the other a limited edition color collection called Sterling Nights.

We’ll be taking a look at some of the pieces that struck my fancy from both parts of the launch.

First up, Sterling Nights, the color collection. It’s been on counters now for about a month, and Bobbi says that she was inspired to create the collection after a recent trip she took to South Africa.

The look is all about shimmery, jewel-toned smoky eyes, luminous skin and your choice of bright or nude lips.

bobbi brown sterling nights sequin eye shadow — Three of four Bobbi Brown Sterling Nights Holiday 2015 Sequin Eye Shadows, clockwise from the brown pan: Constellation, Moon Rock and Comet ($36 each)

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Try 1-DAY ACUVUE® DEFINE® Brand Contact Lenses for Fun, Subtle Eye Enhancement #SPONSORED

November 11th, 2015 by Karen 27 Comments

Wearing 1-Day Acuvue Define Contacts in Natrual Shine≈ — Wearing 1-DAY ACUVUE® DEFINE® in NATURAL SHINE®

I’ve received product samples and compensation for my time and effort in creating this post. All thoughts and opinions are my own. #sponsored @ACUVUE

I’ve always been pretty adventurous when it comes to experimenting with hair, clothes and makeup (and food!). I’ll jump in feet first! A bright green gloss, you say?? Temporary magenta streaks in my hair? SURE, why not!?

But when it came to cosmetic content lenses? Different story.

They just never really appealed to me. I couldn’t picture my brown eyes (dark chocolate brown with a navy blue ring to be exact! — they’re my dad’s eyes) as a completely different color. I dunno… Different strokes for different folks, I guess.

It wasn’t just that they look unnatural sometimes, especially when you know someone very well and you totally know what their eyes naturally look like. I can get behind most dramatic cosmetic changes like hair (seriously, what’s natural about pink streaks?!), but when it comes to my eyes? I just can’t picture looking at myself in the mirror and seeing bright green eyes. It freaks me out!

But that was also one of the reasons I wanted to try the new 1-DAY ACUVUE® DEFINE® prescription contact lenses. They’re subtle — not at all like full-on colorful contacts — and they don’t change the color of your eyes.

They’re not just subtle. They’re SUPER subtle, but the beauty benefit was very clear once I tried them on.

What they actually do is a little hard to explain, but it’s easier to see in pics…

1-Day Acuvue Define contact lens in Natural Shine — 1-DAY ACUVUE® DEFINE® in NATURAL SHINE®, one of the three available effects

See how my eye on the right looks a little bigger?

Once you notice it, I think the difference stands out more. My iris looks larger, and there are amber flecks around the edges.

It’s more obvious when I open my eyes REALLY wide and effectively look like a crazy person, LOL! So please excuse the crazy eyes below. They’re strictly for demonstration purposes, although I am thinking about walking around town like this just to see what kind of friends I’d make. 🙂

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MAC Dita Von Teese | Von Teese Matte Lipstick

November 10th, 2015 by Karen 36 Comments

There should be a video right here, but if not, you can also watch it on YouTube.

mac dita von teese — MAC Dita Von Teese Matte Lipstick in Von Teese ($28)

You know you’re a little obsessed with typography and fonts when you notice things like how the swoosh on the lower case “t” slides under the dot above the “i” on MAC’s new Dita Von Teese Lipstick, and your first thought is “Dang! I wish I’d thought of that.”

It’s those little touches, man!

Limited edition MAC Matte Lipstick in Von Teese ($18) is an online exclusive arriving on the MAC website ~~December 7~~ December 9, and as you’ve probably already guessed, it’s a collaboration with burlesque beauty/dancer/author Dita Von Teese.

Yup, she’s also an author. Her new book, Your Beauty Mark: The Ultimate Guide to Eccentric Glamour, arrives in bookstores December 1.

The lipstick, on the other hand, isn’t very eccentric. It’s a pretty classic take on matte tomato red, and it’s very, very Dita. Her love for matte red lips is well known.

On me, it’s an opaque warm red with a hint of yellow, and the hint doesn’t take it into MAC Lady Danger Land, so there aren’t any orange undertones.
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Quick Makeup Tip: Fill In Your Brows First

November 10th, 2015 by Karen 15 Comments

Here’s a quick cosmetics contractor tip to help with your look construction: try filling in your brows before you start applying your eye makeup, instead of filling them in after you’ve finished with your eyeshadow, liner, mascara, etc.

The reason? Well, you may have heard the phrase, “Brows frame the face,” which they do by creating a strong reference point around which to build the rest of your look. When my brows are filled in, it’s easier to tell how far out I need to take my eyeshadow, or how far up I can bring my transition colors, or how long I can make the wing for my winged liner.

Since my face and my brows aren’t perfectly symmetrical (seriously, most aren’t), filling in my brows first and getting them to look symmetrical sets me up for a more polished, symmetrical finished makeup look.

Mastering Cat Eyes, by Jeremy Renner and Tabs the Cat — I know you wish this book was real!!

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Have You Ever Stuffed Your Bra?

November 10th, 2015 by Karen 33 Comments

Cat wearing a sequined shell bra top — “Why, yes! I am wearing a sequined shell bra top… You like?”

In Judy Blume’s Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret, which I HIGHLY recommend for anybody, but especially tweens and teens, the main character is an everyday girl navigating her way through adolescence and puberty. In one part of the story she contemplates stuffing her bra with cotton balls before going to a party.

Even though I read the book about a bazillion times in my early teens, it never occurred to me way back then to actually stuff my bra. I just thought it was something they only did in books, and not in, like, real life.

That’s how clueless I was as a kid. We didn’t have the Interwebs or the Googles back then! 🙂

And now that I think back about it, I hated having to wear my first bra. It wasn’t one of those things about growing up that I looked forward to, because I was a bit of a tomboy back then, and my mom and I never had that “your body is going through ch-ch-changes” conversation.

The only reason I started wearing that first bra was because my best friend’s mom mentioned something to my mom about me/it. I think my mom was in total denial about the fact that I was visibly going through puberty, but she still dug deep and eventually took me to go bra shopping at the mall.

So we got one, and it felt annoyingly oppressive. I hated wearing it, and the thought of stuffing it never crossed my mind…

Until I hit my 20s and 30s, when I did use those chicken cutlets bra inserts from time to time with tops and dresses that I felt could benefit from a bit of a boost.

So yes, I have stuffed my bra.

I know that for many women, this subject is a sensitive one that takes on a different meaning because of breast cancer. My mother-in-law is a breast cancer survivor, and we’ve talked many times about specialty bras.

In whatever ways and however it applies to you, have you ever stuffed your bra before? The comments here are a safe place (I STRICTLY enforce that).

Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,

Karen

MAC Fluidity: Introducing the New MAC Fluidline Pens!

November 9th, 2015 by Karen 19 Comments

There should be a video right here, but if not, you can also watch it on YouTube.

mac fluidline pen — The new MAC Fluidline Pens ($22 each)

First, there were the original MAC Fluidline Gel Liners, then the MAC Fluidline Eye Pencils, and now the pen is even mightier than the sword, pencil and the gel, thanks to the new $22 MAC Fluidline Pens.

Wait — say what?!

Yup, that’s right, fellow Fluidline fans. Now you can get your Fluidline fix from a pen.

I know! I’m blowing your mind right now!

These four pens are essentially liquid versions of MAC Fluidline gel liner, so they’re smudge-resistant and dry quickly to a bold matte finish.

They arrive with the new 10-piece MAC Fluidity collection, which is mostly made up of re-promotes from the MAC permanent line.

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The MAC Dark Desires Collection: Well, Well, Well! These Shadows Are Rocking My Winged Liner World

November 9th, 2015 by Karen 24 Comments

There should be a YouTube video above this blurb. If you can’t see it, you can click here to watch it on YouTube.

mac well eye shadow — MAC Dark Desires The Well Eye Shadows clockwise from the brown pan in the upper left: Midnight Tryst, Beg For It, Think Kink, Switch Me On, Dark Desires and What’s Your Fantasy ($20 each)

Oh, heavens! Look at those naughty names… Spank Me, Beg For It and Think Kink? And those are just the tip of the S&M iceberg, haha. I think it’s safe to say that the new MAC Dark Desires collection was inspired by some sort of 50 Shades of Grey type situation.

But I’m thinking that this collection is going to make a different kind of fantasy come true — one of my makeup fantasies — which is to be able to draw winged liner and not have it take half a day!

OK…so maybe half a day is exaggerating (barely), but you know what though?! It feels that way sometimes, especially when I’m deep in it, and I’ve been sitting there futzing with the angles for 20 minutes.

I know you feel my pain!

There’s a reason for that saying about winged liner being the reason why everyone’s always late (why can’t I remember that saying??).

MAC Dark Desires promises to upgrade your winged liner life with a new product line called The Well Eye Shadows ($20).

mac well eyeshadow beg for it — MAC Dark Desires The Well Eye Shadow in Beg For It ($20)

mac well eye shadow switch me on — MAC Dark Desires The Well Eye Shadow in Switch Me On ($20)

mac well eye shadow midnight tryst — MAC Dark Desires The Well Eye Shadow in Midnight Tryst ($20)

They aren’t ringing any bells for me, so I think these are brand-spankin’ new.

Designed from the start to be applied wet or dry, these super soft, pigmented powder products are dual-purpose. You can use them as eyeshadows and/or eyeliners.

The little packages are slimmer than MAC’s regular eyeshadows, and check this out: each one has a divot, or “a well,” right in the middle of the pan.

The idea is that you’re supposed to wet your brush, then swirl it around in the divot, then apply the wet powder to your lids.

mac well eye shadow whats your fantasy — MAC Dark Desires The Well Eye Shadow in What’s Your Fantasy ($20)

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