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
Whew! What a long day… The professors at my school might go on strike this week. It looks like my burgeoning re-education may get cut short. And it barely even got started, LOL!
Enough of that! How was your day? Did ya catch the Oscars last night? I couldn’t help but notice how many of the actresses wore natural cheek looks in shades of peach or pink blush. They looked barely brushed on, like watercolor whispers for cheeks.
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Water, water everywhere, but not a drop to drink. That’s how my skin feels in winter, when the humidity is low. No matter how much it may be raining outside, in here my skin’s dry, cracked and sore.
Some girls get it worse than others, having a genetic predisposition to dry skin. I’m not sure if I fall into that category, but it feels bad enough to me (and they say it gets worse with age, yea!).
My real problem zones are my knees and elbows, but it can also hit my shins, hands and the side of my tummy. What do I do about it?
Most moisturizers contain barrier ingredients to trap water on the skin and binder ingredients to bring moisture up from the inner layer of skin to the top. Ingredients like glycerin, alpha hydroxy acids, urea and lactic acids (binders), combined with petrolatum, lanolin or silicone derivatives (barriers) work well for me.
Dry skin that isn’t treated early can turn into dermatitis, a more severe inflammation of the skin. With typical dry skin, there may be some dry flakes and minor itching, but if skin becomes red and inflamed, it could mean dermatitis, aka time to see a doctor.
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Happy Hump Day, girls! I hope Wednesday is treating you right so far. 🙂
When I apply lip liner, I like to do this trick (click for the video) because it makes the process so much easier.
Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,
Karen
Doesn’t Ms. Whitney Port have some hella cute hair? I totally dig that twisty style she wears a lot on The City.
Here’s how I get all twisted up (click for the video).
Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,
Karen
Thanks to your comments on this post a couple weeks ago, I got a bunch of great new workout tips to try, yea!
I’m hoping these tips will help me get in fightin’ shape before summer, *crosses fingers*. I got a long way to go, LOL!
A workout partner can be a great motivator, especially when you’re trying to get back into exercising on a regular basis after a long hiatus.
If none of your friends or family are in the mood for fitness, try to make new friends at the gym, and keep your eyes peeled for any open team activities like intramural soccer leagues or basketball.
Set exercise goals you know you can reach, and treat yourself when you reach them. Audrey, for example, rewards herself with a little something from MAC when she logs four workouts a week. SMarie may treat herself to a drink from Starbucks or to a lipgloss. “Nothing too crazy,” she says, “just a little something to say ‘ya done good!'”
We may not love to exercise, but we love the results. Sometimes, the easiest way to get it over with is just to get it over with. Briana makes herself exercise as soon as she gets home from work. “If I wait even half an hour,” she says, “I end up putting it off all night and never get around to doing it!”
Switch up your workouts to keep motivated. Heidi used to hit the gym a lot until she started feeling like a hamster on a wheel. Mix things up. “Take a walk,” she says, “go for a jog, jump rope, or whatever gets you going. Exercising doesn’t have to be limited to going to the gym.”
Are you working out to fit into a special dress, to build up your strength, to have more energy throughout the day, to blow off steam, to live a longer life? Shefali says her motivation this year is to look her best at two family gatherings. “I want to look my ultimate best and keep telling myself that April is going to be here before I know it!”
If you plan to try walking or running outside, shop for some weather appropriate gear and a pair of good running shoes. If it’s cold in your area, look for insulated running jackets and pants that wick. A hat helps, too. Check out Lululemon, or skim through the pages of Runner’s World.
Not a necessity, but a personal trainer can help. Yadiq tries to work with a trainer once a week. If you have a gym membership, ask the front desk staff about certified trainers, and then see if any of them are offering specials or discounts.
Take advantage of any fitness programs that might be available through work or school. Check with the human resource department at the office because some companies offer gym credits for employees, or call the information line at school. Most university gyms are open to all students at certain times of day.
We’ve all heard this before… but take it to the uber-level! Don’t just grab any old calendar; find a pretty one, and make it your own. Decorate your workout calendar with cute drawings and motivational phrases like “You can poo it, girl!” and “Keep up the good work!”
You know what they say about baby steps. Set attainable goals that you know you can reach. If you’re just starting out, shoot for 15 minutes of walking outside or on the treadmill twice/week. Sure, you know you can do more, but start small and work your way up. Next week, try 20 minutes twice/week, then 15 minutes three times/week, etc. Above all, have fun!
Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,
Karen
Rise and shine, ladies! I hope you’re having a lovely Sunday morning. 🙂
I’m just straightening up my work area while I wait for the coffee to brew. Tabs was raising hell last night, running laps around the perimeter of the bedroom in the dark, so El Hub let him out just before dawn. I hope he makes it back in time for kickoff.
Here’s a quick tip for cleaning those makeup brushes (click here for the video).
Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,
Karen
Lawd knows we love beauty, but keeping up with the latest makeup releases and beauty product rollouts can take forever!
Use Google Alerts to save time; find out what’s new from brands like MAC and Dior in a flash. All you need is an email address.
Just visit Google’s alerts page at www.google.com/alerts, input your search term (short and sweet works best, like [mac cosmetics] without the braces), your email address and how often you’d like to receive them and TADA! — beauty news delivered straight to your inbox.
CAUTION: It’s hella easy to create too many Google Alerts, LOL! At one point I was getting 27 Alerts emails per day, but at the bottom of every one is a link to quickly and easily cancel if they get to be a problem.
A few other ways to use Google Alerts…
- Find out who’s talking about you. Try an alert on your name.
- What are they saying about your website?
- Find bargains with alerts like [makeup sale].
Sometimes I know the answer I’m looking for is posted somewhere on a particular website, but for the life of me I just can’t find it. Enter Google’s [site:] search operator.
If you include [site:] in your query, Google will restrict the results to that site only, like [mac site:www.makeupalley.com] will find pages about Mac within www.makeupalley.com, and [“mac cosmetics” site:www.makeupalley.com] will find pages where the term mac cosmetics (searches aren’t case sensitive) appears because the double quotes tell Google to search for an exact term, in this case “mac cosmetics”.
Note: There shouldn’t be a space between the [site:] and the website domain.
Sometimes I like to restrict my Google searches to blogs, like if I’m looking for product previews or swatches before a major release.
If you want to make the most of your Googling for beauty, try some of these advanced search operators… 🙂
link:
By using [link:], Google will list webpages that have links to a specific site. I use it when I’m just surfing, looking for new beauty blogs or finding out who has links to Makeup and Beauty Blog. For instance, [link:www.makeupalley.com] will list sites that have links pointing to Makeup Alley.
Note: Just like the [site:] search (and all of the other Google search operators), there shouldn’t be a space between the “link:” and the website’s name.
related:
The term [related:] will list web pages that are similar to another site. OOH! This one is soooo much fun. For example, [related:www.bellasugar.com] will list websites that are similar to BellaSugar.com.
site:
If you include [site:] in your query, Google will restrict the results to that site only, like [mac site:www.makeupalley.com] will find pages about Mac within www.makeupalley.com, and [“mac cosmetics” site:www.makeupalley.com] will find pages where the term mac cosmetics (searches aren’t case sensitive) appears.
Entering the name of a store followed by your ZIP code and clicking ‘Maps’ returns a list of stores in your area along with a map. From there, you can click a thumbtack and choose ‘Get Directions’ to plot directions to the store. It won’t replace GPS, LOL! But I’ve used it from time to time. 🙂
Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,
Karen
How’s it going, girls? Did you do anything fun tonight? I just got back from the movies with El Hub. We saw Rachel Getting Married. I thought Anne Hathaway did a great job. That girl’s got game, but if you decide to see it, make sure you’re in the mood for a long, slow talkie… yep.
Before we left for the movies I was thinking about makeup brushes. If you’re new to makeup or looking to build your collection of makeup brushes, here’s one way to save a few bucks (click here for the video).
Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,
Karen