Makeup

Cheeks Shine, Naturally, Wearing Korres Cheek Butter in Chara Crimson

June 6th, 2012 by Karen 17 Comments

korres cheek butter chara crimson
Wearing Korres Cheek Butter in Chara Crimson

Flaky at breakfast, equal parts dry and oily by lunch, and then it’s “Welcome to Shine Central” by dinner.

My cheeks are so fickle! (How fickle are they?)

They’re fickle like a teenage girl (been there, done that). Thankfully, unlike parents who just don’t understand, my pot of Korres Cheek Butter in Chara Crimson ($25) totally gets my moody skin.

We hit it off when we met for swatches at Sephora a couple weeks back. It was just me, Chara and the other two available shades. They were so thick and creamy, and packed with pigment to spare, that it didn’t take long to tell there was something special about these.

We even started hanging out. 🙂

Berry pink Chara Crimson, the darkest of the three shades, really appeals to my lazy side. All it takes is a couple swipes to apply and blend it on my cheeks, but that’s not even the coolest part. I also love how it latches on to my skin and won’t let go for nothin’, lasting all day long without emphasizing any dry patches, flakes, pores or fine lines.

Whether I wear it by itself on bare skin or atop tinted moisturizer or liquid foundation, Chara Crimson always pinches my cheeks, so to speak, but in a way that still looks natural (no clown cheeks here).

It’s gotta be the shine.

Maybe that’s the secret sauce. It’s super subtle — just the quietest hint of a glow — but I think it’s why the finish looks so natural.

korres cheek butter chara crimson
Chara Crimson

korres cheek butter swatches
Korres swatches from the left: Cheek Butters in Philia Rose, Eros Coral and Chara Crimson; Magic Light Contouring Trios in Mykonos and Santorini

korres cheek butter chara crimson
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On the Road Again With the Bobbi Brown Rose Shimmer Brick, a Traveling Semi-Exclusive

June 6th, 2012 by Karen 14 Comments

bobbi brown rose gold shimmer brick

It’s a feeling I know all too well…

That gut-busting moment that usually happens to me at airports, when I’m totally stoked about an upcoming trip. I’m through the security check, got my shoes back on, walked all the way down to the gate, and then, as I’m rifling through my makeup bag, I realize, “Crap! I don’t have my [INSERT YOUR CAN’T-LIVE-WITHOUT-IT MAKEUP ITEM HERE].”

Thankfully, if that ever happens to you, and the product happens to be Bobbi Brown’s Rose Gold Shimmer Brick, you might be able to grab a replacement right then and there.

bobbi brown rose gold shimmer brick

You may remember it from Bobbi’s Rose Gold collection earlier this year — the multipurpose shimmery compact for cheeks and eyes?

In it, five shimmery strips in various shades of peach, pink, gold and bronze sit side by side. You can wear ’em separately as eyeshadows or mixed together with a big fluffy brush and worn as a pinkish peach blush or highlighter, like I’m doing here in these pics.

Still available online (and probably also at many counters, although you may have to ask), it’s just being re-promoted as a travel exclusive (or non-exclusive, as the case may be) and pushed out to select airports and duty-free shops.

Could come in handy if you’re ever stuck at the airport and need a quick hit of shimmery golden pinkish peach…

bobbi brown rose gold shimmer brick swatches

When it comes to application, I find that using a light touch seems to help. If I go overboard, with either the individual shades or the mix, the powders appear to exaggerate the size of my pores and emphasize my fine lines (boo).

bobbi brown rose gold shimmer brick
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Bobbi’s Eye Wardrobe Is a Trip! The New Cool-Toned Bobbi Brown Travel Exclusive Palette

June 5th, 2012 by Karen 28 Comments

bobbis eye wardrobe

It’s hard to believe there was a time in my life when the only wardrobe I needed was the fictional one I found nestled between the pages of a C.S. Lewis book.

But then I found makeup. 🙂

I soon discovered that lip products, perfumes, powders and palettes opened similar doorways to distant worlds, and it was quite a rush.

In The Chronicles of Narnia books (some of my faves!), that doorway is an old wooden wardrobe. With Bobbi Brown’s new Eye Wardrobe palette, it’s a small rectangular box.

When I pop open this palette, I think, “Ah, the looks I’ll do… The places I’ll go!”

The new limited edition travel exclusive (price TBA, but based on Bobbi’s other eye palettes, expect around $45) contains six mostly cool-toned powder shadows in White (a sheer white matte), Star (sheer glittery beige), Iced Blue (a metallic pale blue), Opal (a pearly off white), Lavender (a metallic pale purple) and Black Cocoa (a shimmery blackish brown with golden glitter), as well as four tiny tools — miniature versions of Bobbi’s eyeshadow, angle, smudge and liner brushes.

I’m not often impressed by travel brushes, but the four here have been surprisingly useful, even with their itty-bitty brush heads. The soft bristles deposit a considerable amount of color and make quick work of blending.

The whole kit should be great for jet-setters looking to lighten their makeup load, or for anyone just trying to streamline.

bobbis eye wardrobe

bobbis eye wardrobe swatches
Swatches from the left: White, Star, Iced Blue, Opal, Lavender and Black Cocoa
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NYX Shows Its Softer Side With the $18 Spring Fling Palette for Eyes, Cheeks and Lips

June 1st, 2012 by Karen 20 Comments

NYX spring fling palette

Wow, the first day of June already!? That leaves barely enough time for an NYX Spring Fling before summer. 🙂

The powders in NYX’s new $18 Spring Fling Palette are some of the softest I’ve ever felt from the brand.

So soft, in fact, that I think they might even be a little too soft for everyday use.

With its 12 powder shadows, two blushes and two lip glosses in a sweet, subdued mix of neutrals and pastels, the only thing missing is a pair of kid gloves to handle them.

nyx spring fling swatches
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NYX The Crimson Amulet Collection Harbors a Bewitching Bevy of Nudes and Brights for Lips, Cheeks and Eyes

May 31st, 2012 by Karen 13 Comments

nyx crimson amulet dark shadows

If you’re not already a fan of multi-product palettes, the NYX The Crimson Amulet Collection ($25) may confirm your worst fears about pre-stocked makeup kits.

Creams placed next to powders, gah! A dizzying array of 24 eyeshadows in a mix of matte and shimmery finishes lurk within this tomb, along with a teeny liquid liner indubitably designed for elfin hands.

Recently launched to coincide with the opening of the movie, Dark Shadows (four-word summary: Johnny Depp disco vampire), the limited edition palette of products for cheeks, lips and eyes harbors a supernatural society of bewitching nudes and brights!

nyx crimson amulet dark shadows front

I like the balance of serious colors and playful party shades, as well as the overall quality of the pieces and the number of products you get for the price.

If you maintain a pro-palette position, I think that’s enough right there to sway you.

But experienced NYX adherents might have a different take, one that flits between excitement over the eerily enticing Gothic packaging (isn’t there something very Flowers in the Attic about it?), and hardcore frustration.

I know I’ve definitely seen most of these colors before, like in the Nude on Nude palette, Butt “Naked” Eyes, Bohemian Rhapsody Casting Call and Haute Model.

Wisely for NYX, the palette has a built-in fail-safe: value.

For $25, you get 36 pieces! — all of high quality.

I think the HD Studio Eye Shadow Base, cheek products and lip products rock, but I would have liked to see more pigment added to some of the eyeshadows.

Unfortunately, the tiny liner seems like a bit of a throwaway product (dude, I can barely hold it properly, and I have small hands!), but I guess that’s what greatness like LORAC Front of the Line Pro is for. 🙂

nyx crimson amulet dark shadows open

nyx crimson amulet dark shadows tutorials
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In the Bronzer Olympics, the NYX Matte Bronzers Get the Gold

May 30th, 2012 by Karen 13 Comments

nyx matte bronzer
Wearing NYX Bronzer in Medium

To the uninitiated, spotting the differences between the new NYX Matte Bronzers and the many other compact bronzing powders currently on counters is like trying to tell the difference between Coke and Pepsi blindfolded without tasting either one.

In other words, it’s tough.

After all, like most of the bronzers vying for our attention this summer, these new ones from NYX promise to do the same things — deliver a natural-looking, honey-like glow for your skin.

But if MAC is trying to rule the department store market with their Pro Longwear Bronzing Powders, NYX is going after drugstore divas and budget-minded babes with their five new Matte Bronzers.

At $9 each, the prodigious 0.33-ounce pans shout “BARGAIN!” from their perches in drugstore makeup aisles. For the price of one MAC Pro Longwear Powder, you could get two of these from NYX and still have enough change left over for a drugstore ice cream cone (do you like mint chocolate chip?). 🙂

I’ve been wearing three of the five shades this week, and impressed doesn’t come close to describing how I feel. Blown away is more like it.

nyx matte bronzer

nyx matte bronzer
Clockwise from the lower left: Medium, Deep and Light

None of that “BS” Oompa-Loompa orange business here. No way. The golden russet glow these bestow upon skin is worthy of beach barbeques and pool parties.

Very long beach barbeques and pool parties.

How long?

Well, starting with that first buttery cob of sweet corn, they last past the late-night singalongs and woozy revelations (like “S’mores are so genius!” and “Whoever invented nude wedges deserves a medal!”), and all the way until you’ve said your goodbyes before packing up the cooler to head home.
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The NYX Illuminating Bronzers: Has NYX Invented a $9 Time Machine? Inquiring Minds Want to Know

May 30th, 2012 by Karen 50 Comments

nyx chaotic illuminating bronzer
Wearing NYX Illuminating Bronzer in Chaotic on my cheeks

Shimmery bronzing powders in almost blush-like shades of luscious peach and pink aren’t exactly uncharted territory. Chanel, for example, has been there, done that, a few times before.

But NYX weaved quite a tapestry together with their three new Illuminating Face and Body Bronzers. By combining eminently flattering shades with a pearly finish and a soft, comfy texture, and then keeping the price well below department store, they created something greater than the sum of its parts.

All it took was a few swipes of Narcissistic (a beige), Chaotic (a golden peach) and Magnetic (a peachy pink) to get me hooked on all three.

nyx illuminating bronzer compacts

The marketing material doesn’t say, but I wonder if NYX co-created them with Cher, because they are, after all, designed to “turn back time.” 🙂

How so?

By bestowing a natural radiant glow to the skin that also diffuses incoming light, helping skin appear softer and, or so I hope, younger.

Yeah…I can’t even begin to tell you how appealing that sounds now that 37 is officially less than two weeks away!

But seeing as how I can’t really stop this train I’m on, I’ve been doing my best to ~~slow it down~~ embrace the inevitable with positivity and panache.

Now, when people call me “ma’am,” I try to own that sh*t! — but that does not mean refusing a little makeup help along the way.

Like Fox Mulder with his aliens, I really want to believe, LOL!

What do you think? Do I look 10 years younger wearing Chaotic, my favorite of the three shades, up there at the top?

Okay, how about 5? 🙂

nyx illuminating bronzer open
The NYX Illuminating Bronzers, clockwise from the lower left: Narcissistic, Chaotic and Magnetic

nyx illuminating bronzer swatches
Swatches from the left for comparison: NYX Illuminating Bronzer in Narcissistic, Chanel Soleil Tan de Chanel Luminous Bronzing Powder in Sable Beige, NYX Illuminating Bronzer in Magnetic, NARS Blush in Luster, NYX Illuminating Bronzer in Chaotic and Chanel Soleil Tan de Chanel Luminous Bronzing Powder in Sable Rose
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A Safari of Shimmer Awaits Cheeks, Lips and Eyes Wearing the LORAC Wild for TANtalizer Collection

May 29th, 2012 by Karen 39 Comments

lorac wild for tantalizer collection

Good news, you gorgeous golden jungle cat. You won’t have to prowl much further for a meow-worthy makeup collection (or a purse, for that matter) to go with that post-Memorial Day tan.

Part-time shimmery seductress, full-time toasty temptress, LORAC’s Wild for TANtalizer Collection ($39) roars on to cheeks, lips and eyes with shimmery eyeshadows, bronzer and lipstick in warm shades of bronze, beige, brown, gold and peach.

And after a successful hunt, the pieces in this pride of LORAC lionesses retreat to the safety of their very own canvas-like carrying case. The purse comes with the collection and holds everything a big cat needs — makeup, iPhone, perfume, hand/paw lotion. Ya know, the usual. 🙂

lorac wild for tantalizer