Makeup

Best for Big Kissing Scenes and Luxe Leading Ladies: New $50 Lipstick Queen Screen Siren Lipstick

October 1st, 2014 by Karen 17 Comments

The new Lipstick Queen Screen Siren Lipsticks, $50 each, available now in six shades

Sometimes, all a sister wants is to sit on the couch all damned day long eating crunchy things out of bags… Potato chips, Annie’s Cheddar Bunnies, maybe a few chocolate-chip macadamia nut cookies if they’re readily available.

And sometimes she doesn’t.

Sometimes, a sister wants to tower over the pyramids in leading lady leather high heels and femme fatale false lashes and big hair visible from space! 🙂

It’s the latter times when these new Lipstick Queen Silver Screen Lipsticks are extra nice.

Lipstick Queen Silver Screen Lipsticks in See Me (a peach) and Play It (a hot pink) — See Me (a peach) and Play It (a hot pink)

Glossy, glamorous shades inspired by the sirens of the silver screen, these pricey pretties are a shock-inducing $50 a tube, but at least they satisfy like a Snickers bar. The creamy formula slips onto lips like a silk dress, leaving behind a finish so shiny that even the haughtiest, naughtiest vixen would purr.

Lipstick Queen Silver Screen Lipsticks in See Me (left) and Play It (right) — See Me (left) and Play It (right)

Super fans of the Guerlain Rouge G Lipstick line may also love these. They’re around the same price, with similarly high levels of pigment (so high they could touch the sky!) and a preternaturally smooth, moisturizing formula. Depending on the shade, they also last on my lips around the same 3-5 hours.

Lipstick Queen Silver Screen Lipstick in See Me — See Me

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L’Oreal Visible Lift Blur Blush Is a Tad Too Short-Lived to Be a Minor Makeup Miracle

September 30th, 2014 by Karen 12 Comments

L'Oreal Visible Lift Blur Blush Review — The new L’Oreal Visible Lift Blur Blushes, $12.99 each

One day you may find yourself half-jokingly agreeing to run a half marathon.

Then, later, as the illustrious day approaches, you may find yourself hoping that the people who invited you to run the race with them, forget (oh please, oh please, oh please!).

Chances are, they won’t.

So you start training.

During your first 10-mile training run on the treadmill, maybe you develop a wicked case of chafing, and maybe it’s directly under the middle strap of your sports bra, right there on your solar plexus.

Maybe it hurts (it does, a lot).

And maybe the only painkillers that seem to work at all are happy thoughts.

Happy thoughts about happy things, like blush. 🙂 Like the new L’Oreal Visible Lift Blur Blushes ($12.99 each, and available in three shades).

L'Oreal Visible Lift Blur Blushes from the left: Soft Pink, Soft Berry and Soft Peach — From the left: Soft Pink, Soft Berry and Soft Peach

Hello, genius! That’s what these new blurring blushes are, especially if you’re a dame of a certain age (if you catch my drift).

Imagine the slick, slippery, silicone-like feel of a Smashbox primer, but in more natural-looking colors, like light peach, medium pink and medium berry.

Introducing the L’Oreal Visible Lift Blur Blushes.

L'Oreal Visible Lift Blur Blushes with a MAC Lipglass for scale — With a MAC Lipglass for scale

They feel kind of like a mousse…and I think they definitely make the skin tone and texture of my cheeks look more even and smoother.

L'Oreal Visible Lift Blur in Soft Peach — Soft Peach

These are really great disciplinarians when it comes to those pores that are constantly trying to out-diva each other. I have some on the apples of my cheeks that are like Christina, Mariah, Beyonce and Celine, and these blushes make everyone play nice. 🙂

Whenever I wear one of them, my pores look mellower and smaller (but aren’t completely gone, of course), and I swear my skin looks smoother.

L'Oreal Visible Lift Blur in Soft Pink — Soft Pink

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The $28 Too Faced Under the Mistletoe Set: Three Bestselling La Creme Lipstick Shades to Make Lips Shimmer for the Holidays

September 26th, 2014 by Karen 17 Comments

Other than El Hub getting his share, I’ll be saving my mistletoe kisses for the three La Creme Lipsticks in the new Under the Mistletoe set by cruelty-free carolers Too Faced Cosmetics.

The $28 limited edition set comes with three full-size, shimmery versions of a few La Creme Lipstick bestsellers, including my favorite, Spice Spice Baby, and to keep them safe and sound, tuck them in at night in the included glittery pink lip bag.

Note to self: Ask Santa for a glittery pink sleeping bag. 🙂

Too Faced Under the Mistletoe La Cremes from the left: Shimmering Marshmallow Bunny, Shimmering Spice Spice Baby and Shimmering Naked Dolly

Too Faced Under the Mistletoe Shimmering Marshmallow Bunny — Shimmering Marshmallow Bunny

Too Faced Under the Mistletoe Shimmering Spice Spice Baby — Shimmering Spice Spice Baby

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There Isn’t Any Room Left in This New Holiday Set Because It Already Includes Everything Nice: The New $56 Too Faced Cosmetics Everything Nice Set, a Holiday Sephora Exclusive

September 25th, 2014 by Karen 19 Comments

Question: What do you get when you mix a dash of sugar, a pinch of spice and heaping handfuls of everything nice?

Answer: The new $56 Everything Nice Set by Too Faced Cosmetics.

From under the glittery pink Christmas tree at Too Faced headquarters comes this limited edition holiday Sephora exclusive — the big blockbuster kit from the Too Faced Christmas collection — and it sparkles with a hot pink makeup bag, three tiny Cruelty-Free Teddy Bear Hair brushes (two eye brushes and one for bronzing/blush), a step-by-step Glamour Guide with directions for a number of looks, a deluxe sample-sized tube (translation: slightly bigger than a regular sample size) of Better Than Sex Mascara, and a festive, feminine palette filled with 20 eyeshadows, two blushes, a bronzer and highlighter.

In total, a $450 value.

Too Faced Everything Nice Set Eyeshadows — The Too Faced Everything Nice Set eyeshadows…

Too Faced Everything Nice Set blushes, bronzer, highlighter, brushes and mascara — Blushes, bronzer, highlighter, brushes and mascara…

Everything to me, from the hand-drawn artwork on the palette’s cover, to the disco glam pink makeup bag, to the makeup color choices, seems true to the Too Faced brand. Girly, glam and totally wearable…with a little extra sass thrown in for good measure (because one never knows when one will get the urge to start trouble).

The 20 eyeshadows? Dude, you could do so many different eye looks with this palette! Roughly three quarters of them are neutrals…but not the kind of neutrals that make me want to hit the snooze button. Among them are mattes, metallics and glitters in a range of warm and cool tones.

And just to keep things interesting, there are also splashes of pink, mauve, taupe and gold.

Too Faced Everything Nice Set Swatches from the left: Turtle Dove, Dream On, After Hours, Fawned of You and Knockout — Swatches from the left: Turtle Dove, Dream On, After Hours, Fawned of You and Knockout

Too Faced Everything Nice Set swatches from the left: Paper Roses, Kindness Is Free, Mauvelous, Be You and Secret Lovers — Paper Roses, Kindness Is Free, Mauvelous, Be You and Secret Lovers

Too Faced Everything Nice Set swatches from the left: Heaven, Shiny Happy, Honey Pot, Don't Settle and Girly — Heaven, Shiny Happy, Honey Pot, Don’t Settle and Girly

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Bring the Brow Bar With You: Get a Pencil, Wax and Comb for $9 With the L’Oreal Brow Stylist Sculptor

September 25th, 2014 by Karen 21 Comments

As far as successful rebellion campaigns go, the long-running one being waged by my brows has been quite successful…from their point of view. If I had a fat tabby for every sparse spot or stray brow, I’d be living the cat lady high life, I tell ya.

L'Oreal Brow Stylist Sculptors in Blonde and Deep Brunette — Two of the three L’Oreal Brow Stylist Sculptors in Blonde and Deep Brunette

Lately my forces have been attempting to squash the rebellion with L’Oreal’s new Brow Stylist Sculptor ($8.99, and available in Blonde, Brunette and Dark Brunette), a dual-ended product that comes with a pencil for brow filling on one end and a clear, matte setting wax on the other.

But that’s not all. You also get a stiff brush for combing through those unruly brow hairs, which is quite handy. It’s built right into one of the caps.

Just fill in any sparse spots using the brow filling pencil, comb through with the brush, and set the hairs in place with the wax.

I won’t go so far as to say that I’ve squashed the rebellion with these, but we’ve made progress…

I wear Deep Brunette, the darkest shade. It’s a dark neutral brown with a slight gray undertone. The brow pencil end feels waxy and soft, much like Benefit’s Brow Pencils. When I use it, I think my brows look great for five or six hours, but the formula breaks up slowly as the day wears on. On top of that, the wax only offers light control, and the bushiest parts of my brows could use something with stiffer hold.

L'Oreal Brow Stylist Sculptor in Deep Brunette Before (left) and After (right) — Wearing Deep Brunette, before (left) and after (right)

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When Lips Are Thirsty, Pop Hits the Spot: L’Oreal Balm Pop Lip Balm

September 24th, 2014 by Karen 11 Comments

L'Oreal Balm Pops — The new Balm Pop line by L’Oreal

L’Oreal’s been dropping balms, baby!

They recently unleashed three new lines of lip balms, each offering a different level of coverage. There are the Balm Nudes for sheer color, the high coverage Glossy Balm Crayons — your tickets to full-on pigment paradise — and the Balm Pops (four of the six available shades shown here) for medium coverage.

Four of the six L'Oreal Balms Pops, $7.99 each — Four of the six L’Oreal Balm Pop lip balms, $7.99 each

First, that’s a lot of lip balm…

Unless you spice them up with lip liner, lipstick or gloss, at some point, some of the shades start to look the same.

At least they do on my pigmented lips, but since my frequently dry, flaky pout can use all the moisture it can get, I can’t help but make crazy Jan Brady eyes whenever I spot a new lip balm on a store shelf.

L’Oreal’s new Balm Pops ($7.99) are pretty cool… Smooth and non-sticky, with a faint brown sugar flavor and scent, they feel a lot like Benefit’s $18 Tinted Lip Balms.

L'Oreal Balms Pop from the left to the right: Wild Lily, Bold Blush, Fiery Red and Electric Pink — From left to right: Wild Lily, Bold Blush, Fiery Red and Electric Pink

L'Oreal Balm Pop in 410 Wild Lily — Wild Lily

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Public Nakedness Epidemic Continues With the New $65 Bobbi Brown Nude on Nude Palette

September 23rd, 2014 by Karen 21 Comments

NOVATO, California — Police, weary after years of higher than normal public nakedness, are bracing for another surge. Tabs the cat, kitty supermodel and current Makeup and Beauty Blog mascot, feels that it’s Urban Decay’s fault.

“Meow!” says Tabs.

Whatever the cause, all signs point to even more public nudity, and the trend shows no sign of stopping. In fact, a new palette by Bobbi Brown could make things worse.

“Mrow!” says Tabs of the new Nude on Nude Palette.

The $65 palette comes with 12 powder eyeshadows in a mix of neutral mattes, shimmers (metallics) and glitters (sparkles).

The palette contains…

5 x 0.05 oz. matte eyeshadows in Ivory, Naked, Birch, Truffle and Espresso

4 x 0.05 oz. metallic eyeshadows in Golden Pink, Bare, Smoky Topaz and Golden Bronze

3 x 0.06 oz. sparkle eyeshadows in Chiffon, Graphite and Gold

While many makeup lovers still appear hungry for more neutral eye makeup palettes, some are ready for a change. “I love me some practical browns and beiges,” says one woman, speaking on condition of anonymity, “but I wouldn’t mind if something fresh and new came along to blow my high ponytail back, ya know?”

“Meow!” says Tabs, and police agree.
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New From BECCA: The Ombre Nudes Eye Palette and Shimmering Skin Perfector in Rose Gold

September 23rd, 2014 by Karen 33 Comments

BECCA Ombre Nudes Eye Palette — What’s new from BECCA cosmetics?

And a good time was had by all.

Well, all except for El Hub, who hovered outside the Sephora store for half an hour today while I picked up some things I needed/wanted (something from Kate Somerville and a NARS concealer).

“I’ll be quick, I swear!” I told him, and he rolled his eyes. He had his phone, though, so at least he had something with which to occupy himself.

Every once in a while I glanced out the window to check on him. Twice he pointed at an imaginary watch on his wrist to remind me that more than 10 minutes had passed, haha!

Poor guy… 🙂

Seriously, someone needs to invent a comfortable folding chair for significant others that’ll fit in a purse. Then when I need to go to Sephora, I could just whip it out for El Hub. That, plus his phone to play with, and he’d be set for a while.

Oh, well. Until then, the “I’ll be quick, I swear!” routine will have to do.

I really would have been 10 minutes today, but I got distracted by some new things from BECCA, namely a beige and brown matte eyeshadow palette and a rose gold highlighter.

The BECCA Ombre Nudes Eye Palette ($40)

“What’s up, matte?” The BECCA Ombre Nudes Eye Palette ($40) comes with all your basic matte beiges, tans and browns and a formula that feels soft and silky.

The downy powders remind me a little of Urban Decay’s matte eyeshadows, and I like the color temps. None of them are too warm or cool, so I have a feeling they’ll work well for a lot of different skin tones.

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