Makeup

Happy Independence Day!!!

July 4th, 2017 by Karen 8 Comments

It’s the Fourth of July, babe!!!! Fireworks! Picnics! Barbecue!!! It’s a national holiday here in the U.S., and most peeps have the day off. If you’re headed to any fun outdoor festivities, don’t forget to wear sunscreen. 🙂

To celebrate ye olde red, white and blue, I’m wearing a red lip today, the new NARS Powermatte Lip Pigment in Starwoman, a warm matte red.

The Powermattes are a new permanent line of 20 lightweight, long-wearing liquid lipsticks coming out July 6th online and at NARS boutiques.

I love the look of warm reds with copper shades, so I paired it with an oldie but goodie called Creative Copper from the MAC Warm Neutrals Palette (which is also perm).

Coppery golden tan Creative Copper has low-level shimmer, and it looks GREAAAAT on lids with MAC Saddle Eye Shadow, which is what I’m doing here. It’s a quick, cool eye look that doesn’t need intense blending, and it goes with a bevvy of beautiful warm lip colors — reds, of course, as well as pinks, corals and oranges. You can also wear it with a warm nude lip, too.

OK, we’re outta here! El Hub and I are taking the baby to Children’s Fairyland in Oakland, a local amusement park for wee little ones. Fun should be had by all.

Have a wonderful holiday!

Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,

Karen

Soft Glam Makeup for a Friday Night With NARS Kalahari and Mekong

June 30th, 2017 by Karen 9 Comments

nars kalahari amour mac patisserie — Baby wing!

I got a little gussied up because I’m going out to dinner tonight (as if I needed an excuse to put on makeup, ha!). It’s a belated Geminis birthday dinner with my friend, Marisol, who also celebrated her birthday this month.

I’m calling this “soft glam makeup,” although that’s not my phrase. I’m borrowing it from SoCal sweetheart and makeup artist extraordinaire Vanessa Haro. Vanessa does makeup for weddings and various other photo shoots for booty-licious babes, and I love her style. It’s classic yet très schmexy, and very similar to what I like to wear.

nars kalahari eye closeup — Get a little closer

Anyway, lately I’ve been rediscovering spectacular shades from the permanent collections of some of my favorite brands, and I’m wearing a duo called NARS Kalahari in this look that I’ve worn off and on for years. It has a satiny, plummy taupe on one side and a shimmery golden taupe (you know I love those golden taupes, girl!) on the other, and both sides are drenched in pigment.

Normally when I wear this duo, I try to keep it (relatively) simple by blending the satiny plum on the outer half of my lids and my lower lash lines with a tapered blending brush. Then, I pat the shimmery golden taupe side on my inner lids with a finger and soften the edges with a matte neutral taupe or a tan shadow in the crease, and a matte beige on my brow bone (I’m wearing two NARS single pan shadows here called NARS Blondie and NARS Biarritz).

The “soft glam” part comes from combining Kalahari on the lids with the winged liner, because winged liner is cool, man! And you can modify it in an endless number of ways.

I’ve been totally into a “baby wing,” where I start from the midpoint on my upper lash line, then flick out toward the outer corner, and I do juuust the thinnest flick when I do it.

It’s noticeable, but it doesn’t take over the entire eye look, like when you use black liquid or gel liner and do a massive flick, and it takes over your entire look and you start feeling like you have to put on falsies to balance everything…

Talk about opening a can of worms.

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10 Playfully Pink MAC Summer Lipsticks

June 30th, 2017 by Karen 5 Comments

mac pink lipstick — Think pink with, from the left, MAC Pink Pearl Pop, Star Magnolia, Pink Pigeon, Chatterbox, Candy Yum Yum, Pink Nouveau, Pink You Think, Fusion Pink, Speed Dial and Speak Louder ($17 each and available now in the MAC permanent line)

I’m not just cuckoo for coral. I’m also passionate about pink. 🙂 And these 10 playfully pink MAC summer lipsticks are purr-fect.

1. MAC Cremesheen Lipstick in Speak Louder

mac speak louder — Speak Louder — a clean bluish poppy pink

2. Matte Lipstick in Pink Pigeon

mac pink pigeon — Pink Pigeon — a bright clean pink

3. Amplified Lipstick in Fusion Pink

mac fusion pink — Fusion Pink — a bright pink

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Can We Just Talk About ’80s Makeup for a Second?

June 29th, 2017 by Karen 22 Comments

glow on netflix — The gorgeous ladies of GLOW. Yes, it is entirely possible to become emotionally invested in a show about women’s wrestling.

Because ’80s makeup is crazy. It’s bananas. But, like…in the best possible way.

I’ve been all about the ’80s makeup inspiration lately. Shout-out to reader Stella for saying on Instagram yesterday that the look I did with the new MAC Chromat collection (it’s out now, BTW) looked ’80s inspired, because that’s what I was going for. Kind of.

mac chromat collection — Secretly wishing I had bigger hair…

Have you seen GLOW yet on Netflix?

It’s about (wait for it) women’s wrestling, but before you roll your eyes and click away from this blog right now, STOP! It’s actually really good! I can honestly say that I was not expecting to get repeatedly emo watching a show about women’s wrestling, but doggonit those ladies are just so plucky and adorable.

The show is about a ragtag group of lady misfits putting together a TV show about women’s wrestling.

I watched the whole first season and may or may not have shed a few tears. *sniffs*

One of the best things about it is the styling. I was a kid in the ’80s, and even though I REALLY wanted to look like Madonna, I wasn’t allowed to do my hair and makeup like her, because, hello! — I was in elementary school. But GLOW totally looks ’80s legit.

Oh, gosh, the outfits, the hair, the bright yellow eyeshadow not only on the lids but also on the temples, the striped magenta contouring (left purposefully un-blended, GASP!)… It’s like 1985 again!

Sometimes I wish I could’ve experienced the ’80s as an adult because it seemed like such a creative, interesting time for beauty.

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Get Glossy With Milk Makeup Eye Vinyl

June 29th, 2017 by Karen 3 Comments

Glossy lids = least appropriate eye makeup look ever for a windstorm and/or for standing in front of Beyoncé-level stage turbines.

Don’t do it, girl!!

I wore one of these glossy Milk Makeup Eye Vinyls on a really windy day when I had my hair in a ponytail and thought I wouldn’t have to deal with the whole hair-sticking-to-my-eye-gloss thing, but those strands… They’ll find a way. Trust me on this.

Buuut, even with the drama that always accompanies glossy lids, gosh, there’s still something about ’em.

Yeah, I know — the stickiness, the creasing, and how they never stay exactly where you want them, but I go ga-ga for gleaming lids. I can’t help it.

milk makeup tunnel eye vinyl — I’m wearing the shade Tunnel on my lids. On my lips, I’m wearing NARS Powermatte Lip Pigment in Give It Up

I’ve been lovin’ Milk’s Eye Vinyls lately. They’re $20 each and come in four colors that start out SUPER shiny and reflective but lose a little of their high-wattage shine over the course of a couple hours. Overall, they stay wearable for about four hours before I feel the need to reapply.

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Chanel Rouge Coco Lipstick in Dimitri, My Latest Red Lipstick Love

June 29th, 2017 by Karen 8 Comments

How many times have I said, “I’ve been going through a … phase”? A minimal makeup phase, a smoky eye phase (since forever), a cat eye phase, what have you.

I’ve been going through a red lips phase since, roughly, birth, give or take a few days, and $37 Chanel Dimitri is my latest red lipstick love.

Dimitri is a permanent color in Chanel’s hydrating Rouge Coco line. It’s a warm, semi-opaque red with a finish that begins as a smooth, luscious, low-level lip shine but starts to look more like a matte after 30 minutes or so, which is the coolest thing about it to me, because Chanel is sooo good at subtle shifts like that.

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The Viseart Neutral Palette Is The Best Nude/Neutral Eye Palette Around

June 28th, 2017 by Karen 13 Comments

If I were forced by some malevolent makeup entity to KonMari Method my makeup collection down to the barest of the bare bones — which, gawd forbid, I can’t even imagine doing because #makeuphoarders — the Viseart Neutral Matte Eyeshadow Palette would survive the brutal final cut, FO’ SHO.

It’s expensive, OK! It’s $80, which is why I put it off getting it for a really long time, but I finally took the plunge on the last Sephora VIB sale, so I got it 20% off, but even then I walked around the store for 30 minutes debating whether or not I should actually “go there.” I’m so glad I did, though, because THIS IS THE BEST NUDE/NEUTRAL PALETTE AROUND.

I’ve combo-ed the hell outta this palette, and hello, makeup voodoo! — somehow it always works out. Neutral Matte has 12 matte shadows, none of which are too cool or warm. These beige, brown, peach, gray, taupe and black shades are basically workhorse colors that work in an endless number of combinations and looks. You can use this palette for smokey eyes, daytime work looks, smoldering date night makeup… So many different things! You can even use some of the shades as eyeliner and to fill in your brows.

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A MAC Chromat Collection Makeup Tutorial With Royal Blue Cat Eyeliner, Deep Orange Lids and Bright Aqua Lips

June 28th, 2017 by Karen 25 Comments

mac chormat the future is meow k ears — The future is meow!

Hmm… What does one do, and where does one go, while wearing shimmery royal blue cat eyes, teal brows and aqua blue lips?

Perhaps waaaaaaay far into the future behind the wheel of a time-traveling DeLorean? To a time in a fantastical future when bad-@ss babes run the show wearing makeup by MAC and clothing by Chromat?

Gigawatts of girl power course through the MAC Chromat collection, which electrifies domestic MAC counters and the MAC website starting June 29th (and internationally this July), and it got me fired up to turn this look into a tutorial.

The MAC Chromat collection: Overview

Blue and gray supercharge the eight-piece limited edition release, while pops of orange and red crackle, and the collection comes complete with bionic-seeming blue LE packaging that looks like something straight out of Tron!

I’m feelin’ the eyeshadow palette, the lipsticks and the mini angled brush, which is a re-promote from the MAC permanent line. The blue mascara, blue gel liner and blue pencil liner, however, aren’t quite as electrifying IMO. I don’t dislike them… I think they’re fine. The only thing is, they require lots of layering to get them to really show up on me. Major patience.

becca chromat — Designer Becca McCharen of Chromat

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