Makeup

From the Moment I Laid Eyes on Guerlain’s Ã‰crin 4 Couleurs in Coup de Foudre, It Was, in Fact, Love at First Sight

February 14th, 2013 by Karen 34 Comments

Love at first sight.

This, according to Google Translate, which tells me that Coup de Foudre, also known as the name of Guerlain’s new spring quad, means “love at first sight” in English.

And yes, it was (love at first sight). First time I opened this gorgeous gold compact, I made goo-goo eyes at it and twirled a lock of hair around a finger like I was trying to get it to buy me a drink at the bar.

Haha! 🙂

Guerlain Coup de Foudre — Hey, baby, what’s your sign? I’m a Gemini, in case you were wondering…

Coup de Foudre shocked me in a couple different ways. First, the $59 price is alarming. Second, I think it’s supernatural… I keep expecting to see it on an episode of Lost Girl or Grimm!. Its gray, jade green, khaki and coral powder shadows are so enchanting that I bet even sirens and succubi would struggle to resist them.

Why?

Because this is a damned fine quad, babe! An expensive one, for sure, but I think Guerlain struck near perfection.

I mean, where do I start?

How ’bout here: when you’re 37, sometimes you have to do the math in your head to remember your age (mark my words, it’ll happen). On top of that, shimmery finishes become really challenging.

Most shimmery finishes, that is. Coup de Foudre has magic shimmer — shimmer that glows on my lids without accenting my fine lines.

When I wear these shadows and look in the mirror, I feel like asking, “Mirror, mirror on the wall, who’s that 27-year-old looking back at me!? Hot damn and hallelujah!!” 🙂

[Continue reading…]

New Aerin Beauty Lip and Cheek Color in Sweet Pea Maximizes Space in Makeup Bags

February 14th, 2013 by Karen 24 Comments

Wearing the new Aerin Beauty Sweet Pea Lip & Cheek Color ($42), new for spring 2013

Why, yes, I am carrying eight tubes of gloss on my person at the moment. How ever did you know?

Oh, you say that my bulging makeup bag gave it away?

Well that explains it. 🙂

Part of me wants to believe that one day I’ll transform from a chronic makeup over-packing caterpillar into a streamlined beauty butterfly with a tiny makeup bag.

I mean, if a street cat like Tabs can rise to the top of the plus-size kitty modeling game, why can’t I get by with my makeup essentials in a tiny makeup bag? Crazier things have happened.

Should my transformation ever transpire, I’ll probably rely on multipurpose products, like Aerin Beauty’s new Sweet Pea Lip & Cheek Color, a satiny, cool-toned pink cream blush that also doubles as a lipstick.

Aerin Beauty, a pretty pricey high-end makeup line that only launched a few months back, carries products that appeal to my fussy-free side — products like Sweet Pea, designed for elegant, natural makeup looks that are also easy.

Blend in one layer with your fingers for cheeks that look like you just finished a brisk walk. Add a second layer, like I’m wearing in these pics, for a brighter flush.

[Continue reading…]

Is the New MAC Antique Diamond Pro Longwear Paint Pot a Dupe for Benefit Skinny Jeans?

February 13th, 2013 by Karen 8 Comments

My first thought when I saw MAC’s new Antique Diamond Pro Longwear Paint Pot?

Skinny Jeans. Benefit Skinny Jeans, because like my beloved Skinny Jeans cream shadow, Antique Diamond also has that grayish khaki thang going on.

But yeah…that’s just about where the similarities end. As soon as I got Antique Diamond on my lids, I could see that it wasn’t a lot like Skinny Jeans. I think both shadows are fab, but they are very, very different.

Olive green Antique Diamond looks lighter, cooler toned and shinier to me (hello, frosty finish!). Like, in trying to think of the inspiration behind it, I’m thinkin’…frozen lichen on the side of a tree on a sunny winter’s day?

Whatev, I like it. 🙂

Doesn’t it seem more delicate than Skinny Jeans? Could have something to do with Antique Diamond’s fine flecks of silver glitter.

Don’t get me wrong — I Skinny Jeans. I just think Antique Diamond is a little daintier, like if Skinny Jeans were motorcycle boots, Antique Diamond would be a pair of kitten heels.

I’ll usually pat a layer on my lids with a finger, and then, to offload a little of the color, buff it down by gently running a MAC 217 all over the lid, leaving behind an almost transparent tint of cool olive green (so pretty!) loaded with silver shimmer.

And it lasts from that first bite of French toast at breakfast till that last piece of pizza at night…

(Yes, someone’s hungry for junk food right now.)

MAC Antique Diamond and Benefit Skinny Jeans — Swatches of MAC Antique Diamond on the left and Benefit Skinny Jeans on the right

[Continue reading…]

Like Butter, These Bargain Glosses Make Everything Better: The $5 NYX Butter Glosses

February 13th, 2013 by Karen 23 Comments

NYX Butter Gloss Peaches and Cream — Wearing NYX Butter Gloss in Peaches and Cream ($5), one of 12 new Butter Glosses for spring 2013

Just in case you were wondering, if you wear one of the new $5 NYX Butter Glosses while eating cinnamon walnut French toast with a heaping scoop of butter, you will not — I REPEAT! — will not experience butter overload.

(As if there were such a thing.)

On my lips, each of these 12 new moisturizing, non-sticky lip glosses feel all smooth and slick like little sticks of butter…but they don’t taste or smell like butter (whew!)

Nope, more like brown sugar and vanilla, yum!

Yes, yum. 🙂

I’ve had mixed luck with NYX lip product flavors and scents in the past, know what I mean?

Not these though. As far as my nose and palate are concerned, NYX nailed these. On a sensory level, these Butter Glosses represent probably the best experience I’ve ever had from the line. Both the brown sugar and vanilla notes are faint, too, just barely there, and dissipate quickly after 1-2 minutes.

One swipe from the doe-foot applicator leaves behind a sheer layer of color and satiny shine, while a second layer ups the coverage to medium.

Either way, these don’t last all that long on my lips. Most of the time I get about an hour.

NYX Butter Gloss Product Shot — From the left: Strawberry Parfait, Eclair, Peaches and Cream, Merengue, Creme Brulee, Peach Cobbler, Tiramisu, Apple Strudel, Vanilla Cream Pie, Cherry Cheese Cake, Maple Blondie and Cherry Pie

NYX Butter Gloss Swatches — Swatches from the left: Strawberry Parfait, Eclair, Peaches and Cream, Merengue, Creme Brulee, Peach Cobbler, Tiramisu, Apple Strudel, Vanilla Cream Pie, Cherry Cheese Cake, Maple Blondie and Cherry Pie

NYX Butter Gloss Strawberry Parfait — Strawberry Parfait

[Continue reading…]

New Sephora Exclusives From NARS and Make Up For Ever, One of Them in Technicolor and the Other Inspired by Eve

February 12th, 2013 by Karen 24 Comments

The new Make Up For Ever Technicolor Palette ($45), available now exclusively at Sephora

Seriously, dude, I go to Petco so often that when I see the Friskies delivery guy there restocking the gravy display, he gives me the “What’s up?” nod in the cat food aisle.

Like we’re buds. Because we see each other so often. 🙂

In my town, one of the upsides of frequenting the local Petco on behalf of my famously demanding feline employer is that there’s a Sephora right next door.

I know! It’s makeup/cat lady heaven…

So whenever Tabs sends me on a gravy run, I try to swing by Sephora (but please don’t tell Tabs, because I don’t want to hear his speech about personal errands on company time, blah, blah, blah…).

Yesterday Miss Thang (Tabs) was running low on Science Diet, Gravy and Greenies, so after restocking at Petco, I wandered next door to the Sephora to quickly look around, and check if the new Hourglass Ambients had arrived yet (nope!).

It was weird… Most of the time when I visit Sephora, I usually see a few guys either trailing their girlfriends/wives or waiting up near the front of the store with their noses buried in their phones, but yesterday, they were everywhere! — wandering the aisles like lost cattle, most of them with blank looks on their faces.

That’s when I realized: Valentine’s Day. I think there was some present shopping going on there…

Most of the dudes, bless their hearts, looked completely clueless, too. I thought, “Let me help you!” LOL! But I was under a tight schedule and had to get back to the office to give Tabs his daily full-body shiatsu massage.

If I had been able to offer assistance, I would have steered the dudes toward the new $45 Technicolor palette from Make Up For Ever first, with its eight powder shadows, four of them brights and four of them neutrals.

My inner film buff likes the inspiration behind it — the era in cinema when movies were transitioning from black and white to color, circa the 1930s — while my practical side loves that MUFE included classic black, brown, beige and white shades to go with the electric yellow, green, blue and purple.

So flexible! Plus, it comes with a step-by-step tutorial and two eye brushes.

[Continue reading…]

These Super-Sized Pinkish Purple Pearls Sparkle With Silver Shimmer: Guerlain MÃ©tÃ©orites Perles du Paradis Illuminating Sparkling Powder

February 11th, 2013 by Karen 28 Comments

Guerlian MÃ©tÃ©orites Perles du Paradis — Wearing Guerlian’s MÃ©tÃ©orites Perles du Paradis ($70) all over my face

I like big cats and I cannot lie (those other brothers can’t deny)…

I also like huge hoop earrings, XXL scoops of ice cream (really, if you’re gonna indulge, might as well go all out) and the super-sized shimmery pearls in Guerlain’s $70 spring highlighter, MÃ©tÃ©orites Perles du Paradis.

Don’t these look almost good enough to eat? You might want to keep them away from young children and, um, inebriated adults, because not only do they look pretty tasty, they also smell like those yummy rose and violet hard candies they sell at the Asian grocery store, om nom nom…

And I like their name, Perles du Paradis, oui, oui! Pearls of paradise, I think. When I swirl a brush in the jar (I prefer a brush, but the product comes with a pink puff), the pearls tinkle like wind chimes.

I think these pearls look, smell and even sound great, but what, exactly, are they designed to do? Guerlain says the six shimmery skin-toned and pastel pearls that come in the jar brighten dull skin by reflecting light and boosting radiance, and they work with all skin tones.

[Continue reading…]

Sneaking Chic Into Your Day, Guerlain’s Spring 2013 Automatique Lipsticks in Flirt and Ballarde Unleash Your Inner Lipstick Ninja

February 11th, 2013 by Karen 22 Comments

Guerlain Rouge Automatique 600 Ballarde — Here I’m wearing Guerlain’s $35 Rouge Automatique in 600 Ballarde, one of four Automatique Lipsticks from Guerlain for spring 2013

Did I have to try very hard to feel fancy with shimmery pink Rouge Automatique in Ballarde and creamy berry Shine Automatique in Flirt, two of four $35 full-coverage Guerlain Automatique Lipsticks for spring 2013, in my makeup bag last weekend?

Nope, not at all. Actually, it was Automatique. 🙂

Good thing, too, because $35 is a lot for a single tube! Heck, for $35, these better be like little lipstick versions of extra tall, diamond-studded tiaras.

So, just how do these elevate your day (and your lipstick game) to make you feel fancy? Let me count the ways…

1. The Transformers-style gold tube

Whenever I slide the little “G” button on side of the tube, and the lipstick emerges from the trapdoor top like a rabbit from a magician’s hat, wow! — that’s makeup magic.

From top to bottom, these are dressed to the nines, and I also love the little details, like the scripty Guerlain font at the top of the cap and the base of the bullet.

2. The tea rose flavor and scent

Light and fresh, like fragrant petals strewn across a satin pillow, the fragrance and flavor are just little touches, but they enhance the whole, “You’re being pampered,” experience.

3. The moisturizing, long-lasting formula

I’m hesitant to use these in a sentence with “stretchy pants,” since Guerlain positions itself several steps above that, but dang if these don’t feel that comfortable to me. My dry winter lips love the moisturizing formula.

And I almost can’t believe that non-matte lipsticks as slick, smooth and lightweight as these can last as long as they do — from 3-5 hours. That’s kind of epic.

4. They make me feel like a straight-up lipstick ninja!

I’ve been sneaking around with two of these Automatiques for days, stealthily slicking my lips on the sly, and no one’s been the wiser.

You know how sometimes when you go out to dinner and want a touch-up after the meal but don’t want to make a big production out of it? I’ll pull one of these from my purse, flick the switch on the side with my thumb to engage the lipstick bullet, slide a single layer on my bottom lip, rub my lips together, and check my reflection in the reflection on the side of the golden tube. Ninja style. Takes all of about five seconds.

Guerlain Rouge Automatique 600 Ballarde Product Shot — Rouge Automatique in 600 Ballarde ($35)

Guerlain Shine Automatique 761 Flirt Product Shot — Shine Automatique in 761 Flirt ($35)

Guerlain Rouge Automatique 600 Ballarde Guerlain Rouge Automatique 600 Ballarde Swatches — Swatches of Rouge Automatique in 600 Ballarde on the left and Shine Automatique in 761 Flirt on the right

[Continue reading…]

MAC Unsung Heroes: Ravishing Lipstick

February 8th, 2013 by Karen 31 Comments

MAC Ravishing Cremesheen Lipstick ($15), available now at MAC counters, stores and maccosmetics.com

When I slip into MAC’s creamy coral Ravishing Lipstick, winter disappears, and I’m suddenly back at the Japanese Tea Gardens in Golden Gate Park on a sunny spring day, watching cherry blossom petals flutter in the breeze…

Ravishing is the kind of fresh and flirty full-coverage coral I like to start wearing around this time of year, right when the weather just barely starts to turn (freak storms notwithstanding), and the sun rises a little earlier in the day.

There’s something carefree, but still a little semi-formal, about the plush, velvety Cremesheen finish that feels so totally right to me.

MAC Ravishing Cremesheen Lipstick swatch — What a MAC Ravishing swatch!

MAC Ravishing Cremesheen Lipstick product shot

[Continue reading…]