Makeup

Dior’s New Diorshow Pro Liner Waterproof Pencil Is Angling for Your Liquid Liner Love

July 7th, 2015 by Karen 17 Comments

Dior Diorshow Pro Liner Waterproof in Backstage Black #092 ($32)

I like to think of myself as a somewhat creative person who also happens to put necklaces on her cat, so I totally appreciate it when makeup brands think outside the box and approach everyday products from different angles.

Take Dior’s new Diorshow Pro Liner Waterproof eyeliner ($32), for example. It quite literally takes a different angle!

LOL! I made myself laugh…

Dior calls this new eyeliner a “hybrid” because it comes in pencil form but has the glide and color intensity of a liquid liner. Instead of having a regular pointy pencil tip, it has a beveled, angled edge, so that you can draw lines of different widths.

Hold the liner perpendicular to your lids, and you’ll draw a thin line. Place it parallel to your skin, and the line will be thicker.

It comes in six $32 shades — Backstage Black #092, Backstage Brown #582, Backstage Blue #272, Backstage Grey #042, Backstage Khaki #472 and Backstage Purple #182 — now available in the Dior permanent collection.

I struggled a bit the first few times I tried to use it. The shade was Backstage Black #092. I dunno… Maybe I have a funky tube, but the pencil felt very stiff, and it wasn’t that pigmented. It clearly did not want to glide across my skin, at all.

Then I accidentally broke the tip — twice! — which was probably my bad, because I twisted the pencil tip up too far and, apparently, this liner doesn’t want you to do that.

Oops.

dior diorshow pro liner waterproof 2 — Wearing Dior Diorshow Pro Liner Waterproof in Backstage Black #092 on my upper lash lines

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Dior’s Newly Reformulated Diorshow Mascara and Its Connection With Toothbrushes

July 7th, 2015 by Karen 11 Comments

dior diorshow mascara — The newly reformulated and relaunched Diorshow Mascara in Pro Black #090 ($27.50), and yes…a toothbrush

Toothbrushes!

That’s what this new tube of Diorshow Mascara reminds me of, which I know is a weird connection to make, but back in 2002 when Diorshow first launched, it had an oversized brush head inspired by the toothbrushes that makeup artists would use backstage to create long, dramatic lash looks on runway models. Dior hacked the idea and turned it into Diorshow’s XXL brush (your fun fact of the day).

Well, when Dior recently revamped and relaunched Diorshow Mascara, you can rest assured that they did not forget to give it an oversized brush, because without it, it wouldn’t have been Diorshow! 🙂

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Before and After New Urban Decay Brow Beater and Brow Tamer

July 6th, 2015 by Karen 24 Comments

My brows and I don’t hold hands and sing songs around the campfire.

My brows and I don’t “hug it out.”

This is because my brows and I have dueling agendas. While they like the sparse spots that appear around their arches, I want brows that are fluffy and full.

While they like looking unfinished and being underwhelming, I want brows that give out high fives and say, “Haaay, GURL, HAAY!” when they enter a room.

This epic, ongoing battle for total and complete brow domination recently led me to try two new brow products coming soon from Urban Decay — one, a new line of Brow Beater pencils ($20 each), and the other a new line of Brow Tamer brow gels (also $20 each).

Both promise to bust out bad@ss submission holds on brows to wrestle them into place.

urban decay brow beater — Urban Decay Brow Beater from the left in Dark, Neutral Brown, Taupe and Warm Brown

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Mirror, Mirror on…These Eyeshadow Palettes: The NARS Fall 2015 NARSissist Matte/Shimmer Eyeshadow Palette and Hardwired Eye Kit

July 3rd, 2015 by Karen 18 Comments

Mirror, mirror on the wall…who’s the most beautiful NARSissist of them all?!

I think you already know Tabby’s answer. 🙂

The new limited edition NARSissist fall 2015 eye palettes have mirrors on the packaging so that you may admire yo’ fine self, or so that your kitty cat can admire his floof.

I think it’s pretty convenient and cool, even though it makes these things pick up a sh*t-ton of paw prints whenever I open them.

nars narsissist matte shimmer eyeshadow palette — NARS Matte/Shimmer Eyeshadow Palette

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The NARS Fall 2015 Collection Has More Twists Than a Lifetime Movie

July 3rd, 2015 by Karen 35 Comments

The NARS 2015 collection has more twists than a woman-in-peril movie on Lifetime (which I’ve been watching A LOT lately, as you can tell). You know, like, just when you start to think that the birth mother of the baby that the movie’s protagonist planned to adopt might actually be a a nice girl, but then it turns out that she’s wanted in eight states for kidnapping and extortion! *gasp!*

Hello, TWIST.

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Unsung Makeup Heroes: Tom Ford Cognac Sable Eye Color Quad

July 3rd, 2015 by Karen 13 Comments

Ooh, girl. I gotta be straight with you, because I’m not about to have you fall in love with Tom Ford Cognac Sable and then be heartbroken because of the price.

This quad is $79!

ERHMAHGAWD. So painful. It’s enough to make me want to bite my fist or fall face down on the floor. Sometimes both. But that’s Tom Ford for you. It isn’t exactly BOGO, if you know what I mean, but if you’re OK with that issue, then sweet baby tabbies! — this quad is beautiful. Almost always when I bring it with me on trips, it gets a lot of use.

It has four shades — a shimmery golden peachy beige with a hint of pink pearl, a medium-toned satiny golden brown with tiny flecks of gold shimmer, a deeper satiny plum with golden micro-glitter, and a copper glitter. Each one is a workhorse with a little special kick of its own, like the flash of pearly pink in the light golden beige.

Hands down, this is my favorite of the Tom Ford quads I’ve used.

The Tom Ford Cognac Sable Eye Color Quad before I went to town on it, LOL!

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Urban Decay Matte Revolution Lipstick: Urban Decay Goes Back to the Beauty Future!

July 2nd, 2015 by Karen 34 Comments

urban decay matte lipstick — The Urban Decay Matte Revolution Lipsticks

“Ladies and gentlemen of the graduating class of 1993!

[APPLAUSE]

Wear lipstick!

[LOUDER APPLAUSE]

Specifically, matte lipstick!!

[INTENSE APPLAUSE]

Because if there’s one piece of unsolicited makeup advice I can give to you on this, the beginning of your bold beauty journey into adulthood, it is to wear matte lipstick. Often. Starting right now. Because then, not only will you be partaking of what was one of the hottest fashion trends of the ’90s, but you’ll also be embracing its triumphant return as a trend again now and in the future!

[LONG APPLAUSE]

My second piece of advice for you is this: put down the damn tweezers, because unlike matte lipstick, those full, bushy brows of yours will not return if you whittle them all the way down into pencil thin lines.”

— Anonymous graduation speech

Yes, kids, matte lipsticks, like The New Kids on the Block, are staging a comeback! They’ve returned from the ’90s glam graveyard, and they’ve brought with them some of the era’s most iconic dark brown and taupe shades, like 1993, one of Urban Decay’s upcoming new $22 Matte Revolution Lipsticks.

urban decay matte lipstick 1993 — Urban Decay Matte Revolution Lipstick in 1993 (the year I graduated!)

Dude!! That’s when I graduated from high school. Back then, when I wasn’t wearing my band uniform (BAND GEEK 4 LIFE), you probably would have found me in a plaid shirt, jeans (or Z. Cavarrici pants), a thick black headband, hoop earrings and really, REALLY dark brown matte lipstick. 🙂

urban decay 1993 — Wearing Urban Decay Matte Revolution Lipstick in 1993 and daydreaming about high school…

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BECCA Champagne Pop Shimmering Skin Perfector Pressed: My Pores Would Like to Make a Toast to This Highlighter

July 1st, 2015 by Karen 49 Comments

One of my life goals is to someday open a bottle of champagne with a longsword or saber (honestly, I would not be surprised to be the only one of us here with that goal).

Another one of my life goals is to someday achieve perfectly dewy skin.

I never expected these two life goals to collide…

Well, technically they don’t, because there weren’t any medieval weapons involved in the crafting of this post, but metaphorically they do, because just like a freshly opened bottle o’ bubbly, BECCA Champagne Pop, the brand’s latest limited edition Shimmering Skin Perfector, will make your cheekbones POP and your skin glow. 🙂

BECCA Shimmering Skin Perfector Pressed in Champagne Pop ($38) — A woefully sad, crushed pan of BECCA Shimmering Skin Perfector Pressed in Champagne Pop ($38, and I’ll explain the story behind the broken pan in a minute)

I made this face the first time I swept BECCA Champagne Pop on my cheeks.

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