Makeup

Smile for the Camera with These New Smashbox Photo Op Eye Shadow Trios

August 23rd, 2011 by Karen 41 Comments

smashbox photo op eye shadow trio

You don’t have to be a photography nerd to appreciate these new Smashbox Photo Op Eye Shadow Trios ($28 each), but it wouldn’t hurt if you are. For gals familiar with the photographic arts, the 16 trios in the line, each with three coordinating powder eyeshadows, have fun photography-related names like Aperture and Telephoto (I’m surprised they left out ISO and Bokeh).

For the past couple of seasons, I’ve been a little unsure about Smashbox’s eyeshadows. I thought many of them were hit or miss, and I’ve had issues with texture, fallout, wear time, blending and pigment. These new ones, however, are restoring my faith in the line.

I’ve been having a blast with two of the trios this week, Multi-Flash (a trio of nude pink, peach and taupe) and Mega Pixel (a pink, raspberry and plum). First things first — no fallout (yay!). The colors in each trio deposit pounds of pigment yet remain easy to blend. Plus, they’ve been lasting all day long on my oily lids without creasing or fading. 🙂

Mega Pixel
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Butter Before Bed? You Betcha! If It’s Burt’s Bees Ultra Conditioning Lip Balm with Kokum Butter

August 21st, 2011 by Karen 19 Comments

Burt's Bees Ultra Conditioning Lip Balm

Do you have any bedtime beauty rituals you like to do right before you hit the haaay? I have a few. First, I slather lotion all over my crocodilian hands and feet. Then, I slip on a soft, stretchy headband (because I can’t fall asleep if I can feel my hair all over my face) and apply a moisturizing lip balm.

A Burt's Bee Speaking of balms, I’ve been cheating on my go-to Clinique Superbalm lately with the new Burt’s Bees Ultra Conditioning Lip Balm with Kokum Butter ($4).

Superbalm will always have a special spot on my nightstand, but sometimes you just gotta have variety, ya know?

Burt’s new colorless lip balm is 100% natural, cruelty-free and contains some interesting ingredients. Along with the usual balmy suspects like shea butter; cocoa butter; and sunflower, coconut and olive oils, it also has something called kokum butter. I’d never heard of it before, but apparently it’s derived from the seeds of the Garcinia indica tree, a plant indigenous to western India and believed to have some medicinal properties, although I couldn’t find much on the benefits of its use topically.

Ingredients: cocos nucifera (coconut) oil, olea europaea (olive) fruit oil, helianthus annuus (sunflower) seed oil, helianthus annuus (sunflower) seed wax, persea gratissima (avocado) oil, olus (vegetable oil, huile vegetale), cera alba (beeswax, cire d’abeille), sclerocarya birrea seed oil, soybean glycerides, theobroma cacao (cocoa) seed butter, garcinia indica seed butter (kokum butter), butyrospermum parkii (shea) butter, butyrospermum parkii (shea butter) unsaponifiables, cymbopogon martini oil, citrus aurantium dulcis (orange) oil, salvia sclarea (clary) oil, tocopherol, myroxylon pereirae (balsam peru) oil, vanilla planifolia fruit extract, illicium verum (anise) fruit/seed oil, cananga odorata flower oil, glycine soja (soybean) oil, citric acid, geraniol, linalool, benzyl benzoate

Whatever kokum is or isn’t supposed to do, I’ve been applying the balm before bed every night for the past week and waking up the following morning with soft, smooth lips.

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8 Products for Beach-Proof Beauty

August 20th, 2011 by Karen 9 Comments

Written by Sam

Makeup at the beach? Sure, sometimes — especially with some of these goodies recommended by makeup artist and blogger Sam in your beach bag.

8 Products for Beach-Proof Beauty

The beach can be a place to let down your hair and bare it all, a place to skip the makeup and step out with a nude face (and lots of sunscreen). But the beach can also be a hot spot for fashion gurus and socialites, especially after dusk or by beach side restaurants and bars, where wearing makeup is still the norm.

If you’re wearing makeup to one of those beaches, then you know how harsh a mistress the beach can be when it comes to messin’ with your makeup and hair.

At beaches where the men are sporting mid-thigh shorts and leather sandals designed to transition from the surf to the veranda at the resort’s beach side bar, and the women are wearing makeup — not much, mind you, and nothing outrageous — and jewelry that isn’t made from shells or stones peeks out from their designer bikini tops, you might want a few of these beach approved beauty products in your bag.

Wind, water, and sun can quickly cause a beauty catastrophe, but a bag stocked with some of these eight items will keep you looking fresh-faced and fine until it’s time to pack up the cooler and put away the beach towels.

1. Face Atelier Foundation ($45)

This foundation has a silicone base, helping it hold up even when exposed to water (just make sure not to rub!). The finish is satiny smooth, and gives skin a faint but healthy glow, while still allowing its natural texture to shine through. With Face Atelier Foundation, it barely even looks like you’re wearing anything at all — perfect for places where you don’t want to look too made up. MORE >>

2. MUFE Aqua Eyes Cream Liner ($20)

These gel/cream eyeliners are easy to apply quickly. They don’t tug at the skin, and won’t steal time away from your fun in the sun. They simply refuse to budge without a dedicated waterproof makeup remover, meaning that you can swim till your heart’s content without ever having to worry about rivulets of color running down your cheeks. MORE >>

3. MUFE Full Cover ($30)

Another silicone wonder, this concealer can hide even the darkest of under-eye circles or the most egregious of blemishes, all while remaining water- and sweat-proof. Depending on the condition of your skin, you might be able to skip your foundation and just dab a bit of this wherever you need some extra coverage and confidence. With Full Cover, you’re good to go for 24 hours, at least. MORE >>

4. Tarte Matte Waterproof Bronzer ($29)

This orange-free bronzer delivers a healthy wash of color perfect for those who prefer not to spend very much time in the sun. Salt water won’t bother it, either, as it stays exactly where it’s put, without running, fading, or oxidizing. Buff it onto the high points of your face for a sun-kissed glow…without the sun. MORE >>
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Try $9 L’Oreal Voluminous Million Lashes Waterproof Mascara for Great Lash Separation at a Promising Price

August 19th, 2011 by Karen 26 Comments

If I were on a surf trip right now somewhere miles from the nearest Sephora and had lost my precious tube of Urban Decay Cannonball mascara ($20), I’d head for the closest drugstore to grab an emergency tube of $9 L’Oreal Voluminous Million Lashes Waterproof.

The original Million Lashes and I had issues with clumping when we spent time together last fall, but it looks like L’Oreal worked out some of the kinks this time around. The waterproof version doesn’t clump up on me, barely smudges at all and doesn’t drop a flake. It’s smoother than Ryan Gosling, and two layers deliver beautifully separated lashes able to hold a curl through three sweaty miles on the treadmill.

Not bad.

No kidding, this stuff is really, REALLY waterproof, which is great, but that also makes it a little tough to remove (without the right cleanser). I find myself having to use an extra pump of MAC Cleanse Off Oil, which barely blinks in the face of other mascaras, to thoroughly remove every trace.

As for lash length and volume, you know me. 🙂 It’s go drag or go home. In this case I’d love to see both attributes upgraded. If we were talking about Project Runway, L’Oreal Voluminous Million Lashes Waterproof Mascara would be, like, the middle of the season, but I want the kind of length and volume we see in the finale at NY Fashion Week.

It’s almost there, but not quite. I think my lashes do look much longer and thicker wearing Urban Decay Cannonball, fo’ sho’. Of course, Cannonball costs more than twice the price.

Before (top) and after (bottom) two layers of L’Oreal Voluminous Million Lashes; Lloyd says hi, btw
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We’re Taking a Highway to the Neutral Zone with the Becca Lost Weekend Collection

August 18th, 2011 by Karen 41 Comments

Becca fans, this fall we’re shifting into neutrals with the new Becca Lost Weekend Collection (products $23-49 each), and that means one thing…

Road trip! 🙂

Where are we headed? Nobody knows, but do we really care? Nope! Not with Becca’s new eight-piece release of earthy tan, caramel, chocolate, peach and pink shades to keep us company on the open road.

I briefly looked at three of the products from the collection this afternoon; I plan to test drive these and more of the products from the release over the next week, but for now I thought I’d share some pics…

Lost Weekend Palette, $49
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Be a Blushing Beauty with Sula Beauty Lip & Cheek Tint

August 18th, 2011 by Karen 16 Comments

sula beauty lip and cheek tint

You know that light flush that sometimes reddens your cheeks after a quick sprint, an embarrassing introduction or, um, a particularly bootylicious make-out session with a certain strapping viking vampire stricken with amnesia? That’s how my cheeks and lips look when I’m wearing Sula Beauty’s Lip & Cheek Tint in It’s Not Me, It’s You ($8).

I’ve been waiting for a reason to upgrade my opinion of the cruelty free Sula Beauty line, and these chubby cheek and lip creams just might be it. I thought that the last couple of products I tried from the line skirted the border between hit/miss, but with their adorable packaging and natural ingredients, they were products I really wanted to like.

The four Sula Beauty Lip & Cheek Tints ($8) up the ante, doubling as both cream blushes and lipsticks. I’ve been wearing coral It’s Not Me, It’s You (great name!) since Tuesday, and so far I’m impressed! 🙂

Worn as a blush on my cheeks, it stays put from dawn till dusk (or, for the undead/night owls among us, the other way around), and it lasts about three hours when I wear it as a lip tint.

sula beauty lip and cheek tint

sula beauty lip and cheek tint swatch
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NARS Larger Than Life Eyeliner Doesn’t Stop for Breakdowns

August 18th, 2011 by Karen 49 Comments

nars larger than life eyeliner

Heavy traffic makes my inner crazy come out. I know it’s not helpful to get worked up over traffic jams, but it happens just the same.

Like last week, I had a mini-nervous breakdown in bumper-to-bumper traffic on Lombard Street in San Francisco. It had taken me 45 minutes to drive four blocks in the city, and all I wanted to do was get home. At one point I looked outside my window at a boy walking past my car on the sidewalk, and I just lost it. Tears, sobbing — the whole shebang.

It wasn’t just the traffic, though. I was also wearing uncomfortably tight skinny jeans and having a really, really rough writing day.

While driving over the Golden Gate Bridge on my way out of the city, I caught a glimpse of myself in the rear view mirror. The purple liner I’d applied earlier in the day, NARS Larger Than Life Long-Wear Eyeliner in Bourbon Street ($23; also available in eight other shades), still looked great, despite my outburst and tears.

I figured, heck, if this creamy pencil liner can tough it out, so can I, so I wiped away my tears, put on my metaphorical big girl pants and focused on the road.

nars larger than life eyeliner pencil

nars larger than life eyeliner
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In Urban Decay Book of Shadows Vol. IV, Technology Meets Makeup

August 17th, 2011 by Karen 61 Comments

Urban Decay Book of Shadows IV

The gorgeous gadgeteers at Urban Decay headquarters know that technology plus makeup equals fun, so they engineered a little something special for us with their latest limited edition Book of Shadows: Volume IV ($64).

This installment in the storied line comes with plenty of makeup, as well as five QR (Quick Response) codes that you can plug into your iPhone or Android phone to access five online video tutorials featuring products from the palette.

The Urban Decay Book of Shadows Vol. IV ($64) comes with…

16 eyeshadows (10 new and exclusive to the palette)
One full-size 24/7 Waterproof Liquid Eyeliner in Perversion
One travel-size Supercurl Curling Mascara
One travel-size Eyeshadow Primer Potion
One small external speaker that can be used in place of your phone’s internal speaker
Card with the five QR codes and instructions on how to use them to access the five tutorial vids from your smartphone (I watched part of the “Naked” one featuring the palette’s neutral shades)
Cables to connect the small speaker to your phone by its headphone jack

urban decay book of shadows iv

The palette’s a holiday release, so it won’t be available for a while (I’m trying to pin down the exact date), but here are a few pictures and swatches to wet your whistle.

urban decay book of shadows iv iphone

urban decay book of shadows iv swatches iphone 2

urban decay book of shadows iv butterfly
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