Beauty Tips

Last-Minute Halloween Costume Ideas: Crazy Cat Lady

October 25th, 2012 by Karen 36 Comments

Granted, I wear my crazy cat lady costume 365 days of the year, but for the purpose of a last-minute Halloween costume, I feel like I need to put in a little extra work to truly get the message across. 🙂

This costume draws inspiration from a crazy cat lady action figure I found a few years ago at the bookstore.

See, homegirl’s got the right idea. Why bother to put on real clothes when the cats just ruin ’em anyway? LOL!

To start, I grabbed my bathrobe and pinned a few stuffed cats on it. FYI, you need a minimum of three kitties, because the third cat is the gateway cat. It’s the crucial part of the puzzle that takes you from a mere “casual feline enthusiast” to full-blown CCL.

Then I put my hair up in rollers, put on some crazy, bright and glittery makeup…

crazy cat lady costume — On my eyes I’m wearing the 29 Purple Glitter Pencil from the new Sephora Jumbo Liner 12HR Wear Waterproof Set as an eyeshadow base and a mix of the purple and multi-colored glitter liners from the Sephora Collection Glitter Eyeliner Set as eyeshadow

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Share a Tip Tuesdays: Be a Beauty Jane Bond With Your Hot Hairdryer

October 16th, 2012 by Karen 31 Comments

Shoot, I use mine all the time to soften hard eyeliners, eyeshadow pencils and lip liners. I’ll set the dryer on its lowest setting, aim it right up close at the tip of the pencil, and hold it there about 30 seconds…

BAM! Smooth, creamy (melted) liner that applies like pastel paint.

It’s pretty hard to over-melt most makeup products, but you do have to be a little cautious about the temperature of the products you use this trick with before they touch the sensitive skin on your face. I always temp test them first on the back of my hand, just a tiny amount, to make sure they’re not too hot!

Welcome to another fact- and fun-filled installment of Share a Tip Tuesdays! 🙂 Thanks for the fabulous money-saving eye makeup tips you left in the comments on last week’s edition. Here are/were some of my favorites from last week…

I love Wet N Wild shadows and the little Sally Girl ones from Sally Beauty. They’re both super cheap but still good quality, so they’re a great way to test out a color that you may or may not like before dropping the big bucks on a high end brand.
–ESTHER

I love the MAC 239, Sigma E25, and my Sonika Kashuk bent eyeliner brush â€” can’t live without â€˜em! As far as shadows, I think I take my Naked (or Naked 2!) palette every time I travel somewhere â€” can cover anything from day to night! As far as cost friendly shadows I love WnW’s Comfort Zone Palette and Maybelline’s color tattoos.
–MELISSA

I just tried Rimmel London’s Glam Eyes HD eyeshadow palette — the one that looks like the Union Jack — in English Rose. I haven’t tried any other Glam Eyes color combos and I’ve never tried any of Rimmel’s eyeshadow quads or singles so I can’t speak for their eye shadows in general, but the Glam Eyes HD is like BUTTER! I mean, it’s got a texture like Shu’s ME-silver — fantastic. The color payoff is great and the staying power is all day with a good primer, with no “muddying” of the colors. Definitely worth a try.
–JCZ

I mostly use synthetic brushes because animal fur ones make my skin itch. I love the CVS Essence of Beauty crease brushes (I own a couple sets). My favorite blending brush is an ELF brush I got on clearance at Target, and it’s covered in purple plastic gems, lol.
–CHELSEA

Absolute favorite eyeshadow: wet n wild 8 pan palette in comfort zone. no matter what the occasion is, these dont disappoint. can go from day to night. can be subtle or bold, wether you have a zillion fancy brushes to apply or just use their applicator — it turns out beautifully!
–YELENA

My fav shadow is Maybelline Color Tattoo. I only have one (Tough as taupe) but I WILL have these jewel toned LE colors: “Fuchsia Fever” (deep fuchsia),Â “Ready, Set, Green”Â (medium jade green), “Blue on By” (bright royal blue), and “Test my Teal” (darkened blue-green). I swear they look like the powder shadows MAC did with Eve. I mean a cream version of Bang on Blue? Gimme!
–TANIA

Merci beaucoup! 🙂

Now, since eyes got our love last week, let’s see what we can come up with for lips! Here are a few topical ideas, but feel free to improvise (with beauty tips, one can never have too many)…

Do you know of any drugstore or otherwise bargain lip products that look more expensive than they are?

What are your everyday lipstick, gloss and/or liner workhorses (the products you turn to the most)?

What’s the one lip product you’ve recommended more than any other in your life?

Your top five lip products of all time?

Do you have any unorthodox application tips or techniques (things that most people may not know about or do)?

You can either leave your tips/tricks/suggestions here in the comments, or tweet ’em to me on Twitter @karenmbb using the hashtag #shareatiptuesday.

Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,

Karen

Can’t Find a Hair Elastic When You Need One? Try This Improv Hair Idea

October 11th, 2012 by Karen 27 Comments

Why is it that whenever I need one of those black rubber hair elastics I can never, ever find one, but when I don’t need one they’re all over the place? — on the carpet, in my pockets, around my wrist, on my desk.

It’s like one of those unstated laws of the universe…

Happened to me yesterday as I was taking pics. My hair, which was down, started working my nerves; it’s at that stage where it’s a little too long and shaggy to just wash and wear down.

I only had minutes of good light left as the sun went down but couldn’t find an elastic to put my hair up in a ponytail, so I twisted it up in a bun and grabbed the closest long, pointy thing I could find, which happened to be a Shu Uemura Fan Brush.

Lo and behold, instant improv hair! 🙂

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Share a Tip Tuesdays: Unconventional Makeup Storage Ideas

September 11th, 2012 by Karen 38 Comments

Organized chaos. 🙂 That’s how I describe my current approach to organizing my makeup, and I’m always looking for new ways to store products and make them easier to find.

To that end, I’ve made some of my best makeup storage discoveries in some pretty unlikely places, like fabric stores and discount retailers with home sections like Marshall’s and T.J.Maxx.

Fabric, arts and crafts stores are veritable cornucopias of great storage ideas (with excellent prices compared to The Container Store!), and JoAnn is one of my faves.

That’s where I found that clear ArtBin box up at there at the top with 18 compartments for $7!

Shoot, that same thing would probably cost three times as much at The Container Store.

I’m guessing it was designed for beads and buttons, but I use it to store my MAC Paint Pots and Benefit Creaseless Creams.

Something tells me it doesn’t mind…

It’s also great for storing the MAC single eyeshadows I keep meaning to depot, and the compartments are just big enough to fit most products that come in tiny tubes.

And ArtBin makes a similar container for pencils called the Prism 6-Compartment Box (about $7 in stores, or $9 online). I use mine for eyeliners and to organize lip pencils by color, but it’d make a pretty good storage bin for glosses, too.

Oh, and you know those clear shoeboxes that you can get at The Container Store? Nice thing about them? They’re the perfect size for nail polishes.
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3 Beauty Lessons Learned on a Trip to Tahoe

September 3rd, 2012 by Karen 19 Comments

Man, oh man, I sure do love to travel. The food, seeing the sights, sampling the local cuisine, meeting people from other walks of life, the food…

I’m detecting a trend here! 🙂

The Lychee shave ice from Organic Ice, a little shave ice shack at South Shore on Lake Tahoe

The crab cake sliders from Riva Grill

The fire roasted medley from Base Camp Pizza
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If You Can’t Make It to a Spa Today, Bring the Spa to You: Skin Care Recommendations From a Bliss Spa Esthetician

June 8th, 2012 by Karen 35 Comments

Bliss Spa Skin Care Reccomendations

Ya know, if spas were more like Starbucks, there’d be one on every corner, and the services would only cost $3-4.

I’d be able to tell El Hub, “Babe, I’m going on a quick spa run. Be right back!”

Instead, my trips to spas are few and far between, but on the rare occasions I do get to go, I always try to chat with the estheticians, because they’re great sources of skin care information.

Like last week at the beautiful Bliss spa in San Francisco, I cornered a friendly esthetician named Lillian, a 10-year veteran of the biz. Girl’s skin was flawless! FLAW-LESS. So I asked if she could recommend any awesome products.

Immediately, she started singing the praises of a line called SkinCeuticals. You’ve probably heard of it before; you see it in a lot of spas, dermatology offices and online skin care stores like Dermstore that carry niche brands and higher-end products.

I asked Lillian about anti-aging products, and the first thing she said was, “Pick up a bottle of Hydrating B5 Moisture Enhancing Gel and a tube of the Hydrating B5 Masque.”

Neither one is cheap, though. At Dermstore, the gel’s a whopping $70, and the masque costs $52.

skinceuticals hydrating b5 masque

But, both are designed to quench thirsty skin with hydration fortified with high doses of hyaluronic acid and vitamin B5.

The gel certainly seems to be working. I’ve been using it twice a day this week, and my cheeks definitely don’t seem as dry or flaky as they were.

The masque now, first things first? It feels so good! Especially right before bed. I slather it on, leave it alone for 15 minutes, and then rinse.

My skin feels about a billion times softer and more supple after.
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5 Spring Beauty Bugbears, Vanquished! Tips and Tricks to Solve 5 Common Spring Beauty Bothers

May 9th, 2012 by Karen 26 Comments

This post is sponsored by DoveÂ® ClearToneâ„¢ Deodorant — designed to visibly reduce underarm dark marks and even skin tone.

Spring’s in full swing, and I’m lovin’ almost everything about it. Love the gorgeous green hills, the wildflowers springing up everywhere I turn, the sunny skies, sunsets and longer days, but ah! — that’s not all spring brings. It also brings some seasonal — pardon me — ah-choo! — challenges.

Challenges like…

1. Smudgy eyes

Around this same time every year I develop an inconvenient allergy to nature — pretty much all of it, judging by my watery eyes, itchy throat and incessant sneezing.

Zyrtec usually saves the day, but when it doesn’t, watery eyes often leave me with smudgy eye makeup.

Sure, I could skip wearing eye makeup altogether in spring, but where’s the fun in that? 🙂

When my eyes turn to “Aye!” I turn to these time-tested eye makeup-saving tricks…

First, before I apply my makeup, I prime everything — and I mean everything — to lock it down. I apply primer on my lids, in my brows (helps the brow powder stay put), along my lower lash lines and even beneath my eyes. Then, I follow pretty much my regular makeup routine but using long-wearing and/or waterproof eyeshadows, liner and mascara.

2. Fading foundation…

I like these longer days, but the extra sunshine keeps me going from 6 in the morning till 9 at night. My foundation’s gotta last, so again I turn to primer.

Here’s a trick to help your foundation last a little longer: after applying foundation primer, wait 10-15 minutes before blotting with a tissue and applying your foundation.

I’m not exactly sure why, but the extra time seems to help the primer do its thing. My foundation lasts longer before fading, and I find I even use less of it, too.

3. When it comes to hair, wind blows

It’s getting gusty out here in Northern California, and when I wear my shoulder-length hair down, it usually ends up in my gloss. On really windy days, I like headbands, low ponytails and braids.
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3 Lessons Learned About Travel: Perfecting the Art of Packing

May 4th, 2012 by Karen 24 Comments

3 packing lessons learned from kauai trip

Traveling is not one of my favorite things about traveling. I mean, the actual traveling part — the getting there — is not my idea of fun.

The rushing, the waiting, the feeling that I’m always forgetting something, the lugging around of luggage, and that strap from my carry-on bag that digs into my shoulder, the airport security checkpoint, the man who keeps sneezing next to me without covering his mouth (come on, sir!), and oh, they don’t serve food on this flight? No problem, I’ll just eat the kid behind me on the plane who KEEPS KICKING MY CHAIR, GAH!

At least it’s only a five-hour flight…

But one thing I do like about traveling is picking up new travel tricks to make future trips easier.

Over the past few years, I think I’ve gotten pretty good at a few aspects of air travel, like remembering where I parked my car after the return flight (TIP: snap a picture of your parking space with a camera phone) and zipping through the security checkpoint (TIP: wear shoes without buckles or laces that you can easily slip on and off), but packing? — packing is still not one of my strong points.

I over-pack. That’s all there is to it. I’m the girl who brings 15 pairs of underwear for a five-day getaway because you just never know if you’ll need the extra drawers. Like, what if I work out, and I want to change my underwear after? Right? I’d rather have more pairs than less.

But I am getting better at streamlining. I think. And I even learned a few new packing lessons on my recent trip to Kauai…

1. Pack in twos

It seemed counter-intuitive to me at first, but by doubling up on certain pieces of clothing, I had enough to cover my needs.

For example, on this trip I planned/hoped to exercise every day, but instead of packing five sports bras — which was my inclination — I only brought two. I’d work out in the first one, wash it in the hotel room sink, and hang it up on the balcony to dry.

If it was still damp the next day, I’d wear my second bra, and alternate between the two of them like that.

Saved a lot of room in my suitcase.

2. Work those workout clothes

Even if you don’t plan to hit the gym on your trip, bring that workout wear anyway. It’s usually lightweight, comfortable, easy to clean (even in the sink or bath), quick drying, suitable for spontaneous outdoor activities (like hiking, sightseeing, etc.), and wrinkle resistant. Plus, it doesn’t take up much room in your luggage or add a lot of bulk to your bag.

Gray tank top by Zella

I brought a few pieces from Zella on this trip, the in-house Nordstrom brand that’s basically like Lululemon but a little cheaper. I think their stuff is pretty stylish and definitely comfy. Perfect to wear on hikes.
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