Makeup

Smashbox Brow Tech Wax Disciplines All But the Most Unruly Brows

August 11th, 2011 by Karen 56 Comments

I don’t know what I did to lose their support, but at some point over the past few weeks, my brows decided to stage a coup. A chunk of my left brow just didn’t come to work one day, like it decided, “That’s it! Game over.” Now I have a brow bald spot, and I’m really not sure how it happened.

Then a group of longish witch hairs rode into town one night, probably detecting an opportunity to seize power. I call them “Kool and the Gang.” There may be someone, somewhere out there who finds insubordinate, mutinous brows alluring, but I’m not crazy about the look.

I would have reached for my Benefit Instant Brow pencil to restore balance to my brows, but I used the last of it a few weeks ago.

Perfect excuse to visit Sephora to look for something new. 🙂

But where do I start? I wondered, as I browsed for brow solutions in the store, and that’s when I saw the gal with the bangin’ brows…

They were perfectly filled in and sculpted, the hairs all lying nice and neat, so I asked her for her secret. She said she filled them in first with eyeshadow using an angled brush, and then set them with Smashbox Brow Tech Wax ($20).

Eureka!

I’d heard of it before, Brow Tech — a colorless brow wax that comes in a pot. It’s part of Smashbox’s permanent line.

I already had MAC Concrete and the MAC 266 Angled Brush at home, so I grabbed a pot of Brow Tech and hoped for the best.

There’s really not much to it. It’s a soft, colorless wax that dries to a matte finish. To apply, you brush it directly onto your brows with an angled brush. You can wear it alone or on top of a powder or pencil; I tried it both ways.

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All Eyes on the Make Up For Ever Smoky Couleur Collection

August 11th, 2011 by Karen 59 Comments

make up for ever smoky couleur

Hey, baby, what’s your sign?

No, I’m not throwing you a cheesy pickup line. 🙂 I’m just curious. I’m a Gemini, by the way, and while I probably wouldn’t make major life decisions based entirely on the stars, I like to imagine that they play a role in our lives.

I actually feel very connected to my sign; Geminis are supposed to be good communicators and are said to have dual personalities. I’m still working on the communication part as far as expressing things like frustration and anger in constructive ways (gotta stop slamming doors when I get fussy), but the dual personality thing describes me to a tee! — especially when it comes to makeup.

Some days I prefer bolder eye looks; others, like today, I prefer to take it easier with something mellow, perhaps something using products from the new Make Up For Ever Smoky Couleur collection, for example.

The new 11-piece release, available online and at Sephora stores now, lives for smokey (or smoky) eyes. It encompasses an eyeshadow palette, four mascaras and four pencil eyeliners in a mix of new and repromoted jewel-toned and neutral shades.

You know those convertible black dresses? — the ones you can wear, like, 10 different ways? These colors remind me of ’em. They put everything I need for bold green, blue, purple and classic black smokey eyes, as well as colors for mellower looks like the one I’m wearing today, right at my fingertips.

make up for ever smoky couleur fall 2011

I’ve been playing with five of the products for about a week…

Smoky Palette ($45): So, $45 does sound like a lot for an eye palette, but it breaks down to just $5.63 per pan. That’s not bad considering these lush pigments and their velveteen texture. Even though I’ve met these colors before in other smokey palettes, I think MUFE did a great job picking and choosing which ones to put together. None of them lean too far toward cool or warm and should suit a wide range of beautiful skin tones.
MAKEUP AND BEAUTY BLOG RATING: A
Kohl Pencil in #9K and #10K ($17 each): I like that both the mocha brown Kohl Pencil in #9K and matte purple #10K contain very little red, as brown and purple liners with a lot of red in them can make me look live I’ve been crying, but it’s their creamy texture that takes both of these liners to the next level for me. Skipping — what’s that? These don’t skip when I run them along my lash line, and they’re so soft and spreadable that they also work great as bases beneath the powder shadows in the Smoky Palette (or for simple, smudgy liner looks). I do wish they lasted a little longer than the five hours I get from them along my lash lines and the two to three I get from them along my water lines, but we take the good with the bad, I guess.
MAKEUP AND BEAUTY BLOG RATING: B+
Smoky Lash Couleur Mascaras in Deep Brown #3 and Plummy #6 ($22 each): These tinted mascaras are a twist on Make Up For Ever’s classic Smoky Lash, and I like how I can actually see the colors on my lashes when I wear ’em. One layer yields thick, fatty-bo-batty lashes with lots of volume at the base, and they don’t flake or smudge (yay!). They do, however, tend to relax the curl from my Shu, just a bit, as the day wears on (boo!).
MAKEUP AND BEAUTY BLOG RATING: B

make up for ever smoky couleur

make up for ever smoky couleur eye
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Be a Good Student of Travel Makeup with a Clear Pencil Case

August 9th, 2011 by Karen 18 Comments

A clear pencil case for travel makeup

Stop letting lost tubes of lipgloss languish at the bottom of your luggage on trips. Next time you travel, keep them and the rest of your makeup safe and sound (and organized) in a clear pencil case. With back-to-school season coming up, you might even be able to find them on sale. 🙂

I’d been using Urban Decay’s voluminous QuinceaÃ±era makeup bag to store my face paint on my last couple of trips because of how wonderfully cute and spacious it is (fits all of my foundation, eyeshadows, brushes AND the kitchen sink), but it was a little tricky locating specific products buried within the roomy bag.

I usually ended up just dumping the contents on the bed and sifting through the pile. Not a great system, and it was only matter of time before something rolled off the bed only to get accidentally left behind.

Enter the see-through zippered pencil case. It’s clear, so I can easily spot whatever I’m looking for, and it’s built for travel.

Well…it’s built for binders, but it works great for travel. 🙂
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Oil Absorbent Kaolin Clay and a Much Beloved Color Make Sula Beauty Forget Me Not Blush Impossible to Forget

August 7th, 2011 by Karen 13 Comments

And I thought those stiff, stubby little hairs that popped up on my chin were fast (I swear, it takes less than a second for me to go from hairless to full Santa beard!).

When I saw the new Sula Beauty Blush in Forget Me Not ($8), one of four new powder blushes from the brand, then read that it’s free of parabens, phthalates and petroleum by-products, AND wasn’t tested on animals, I snatched it up even quicker than my wayward chin hairs grow.

It’s a matte peachy pink with the faintest whisper of golden shimmer. I have a feeling that someone at Sula had NARS Orgasm blush in mind when this Forget Me Not came to be, but they chose to button it up, and make it a little less flashy.

Yes, Sula, you’re speakin’ my language. 🙂 I couldn’t wait to get this cutie on my cheeks.

Ingredients: Mica, Zinc Stearate, Magnesium Carbonate, Ester Isopropyl Isostearate, Kaolin, Benzoic Acid. (+/-) Iron Oxide (CI77491, CI77492, CI77499, CI77891), Titanium Dioxide (CI77891), Carmine (CI75470), Ultramarines (CI77007 ), Bismuth Oxychloride (CI77163 ), Chromium Oxide Green (CI77288), Chromium Hydroxide Green (CI77289), Ferric Ferrocyanide (CI77510), Manganese Violet (CI77742), Silica, Yellow 5 Lake (CI19140 ), Blue 1 Lake (CI42090)

Right away, I liked the look of the swatch on the back of my hand, and then how sheer and natural the blush looked on my cheeks. Why yes, I am the girl next door, thank you very much.

The powder contains kaolin clay, a frequent flyer in a lot of beauty products today, where it’s added to help products absorb oil. Perfect, because when my combination skin kicks into oily overdrive, some blushes slide right off.

Not Forget Me Not. It stays put all day long, which means no touchups (a HUGE plus).
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The New Nuance Salma Hayek Makeup, Skin and Hair Care Line: Available Now Exclusively at CVS/pharmacy Stores

August 6th, 2011 by Karen 49 Comments

Do you remember when Salma Hayek guest starred on a few episodes of 30 Rock a couple seasons ago? She played a caregiver to Jack’s ailing mom, but she and Jack quickly embarked upon a forbidden romance. Forbidden in the “love not meant to be” comedic vein.

Hilarious! Truth be told, as much as I’ve liked Salma, I didn’t see us having much in common. I mean, the woman’s an international sex symbol/movie star, and I spend many days in stretchy pants, and many nights watching TV with my cat.

But then I heard about Salma’s new line of beauty products sold exclusively at CVS/pharmacy stores, and thought, isn’t it great how beauty can bring people together? — sometimes, at the drugstore.

Maybe Salma and I do have a few things in common…

Salma says that her grandma’s homemade beauty recipes, which combined exotic ingredients, inspired her to create the new line. In a weird coincidence, my grandma’s stint as a cosmetology student in the ’80s inspired the awful perm I rocked in kindergarten.

The products are carried at CVS/pharmacy stores, but you can also check ’em out and purchase them online. The items range from $7.99 – $19.99 each.

Salma’s products, which are all paraben free, weren’t tested on animals. In another weird coincidence, I live with an international kitty supermodel/cat diva who loves cruelty-free lines.

Salma’s Beautiful Blends Eyeshadow Quad looks like an H. R. Giger alien egg. In another weird coincidence, I’ve watched Alien more than a dozen times.

Beautiful Blends Eye Quad in Neutral
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What Makes MAKE UP FOR EVER Full Cover Concealer an Industry Champ?

August 5th, 2011 by Karen 22 Comments

Written by Sam

The director wants us to use the rain machine again, but it shouldn’t be a problem. We’ll just pick up an extra tube of that stuff I heard about from Sam.

Concealer is one of those products that makeup artists often quarrel over. Do you use it under or over foundation, with or without a corrector, only for dark under-eye circles, or do you use it for blemishes, too? And some people even question whether you need to use it at all, proposing that perhaps some can rely on a fantastic foundation instead.

Every makeup artist has a different opinion when it comes to concealer or a different technique, but one thing most of them agree on is this: MAKE UP FOR EVER Full Cover is an industry favorite, and tonight we’re going to explore why.

MAKE UP FOR EVER Full Cover Concealer MAKE UP FOR EVER is one of the few professional level cosmetics lines available to the general public, thanks to Sephora and a handful of boutiques in New York and across Europe, and that means that all of us, professionals and enthusiasts alike, can pick up any of their products without presenting an industry card or a list of credentials.

But this isn’t a brand overview (we’ll save that for later). Let’s focus tonight on one of the company’s most beloved products, Full Cover Concealer ($30, available in 12 shades).

Starting with the packaging — gorgeous! Black borders with a see-through section in the middle so you can tell exactly how much product you have left? I like. And it comes in a squeezable plastic tube, which I prefer to other designs because it lets me get every last bit of product out without having to hack into the package. To apply, just unscrew the black cap to reveal the near-needle nose applicator.

Fortunately, the product inside the packaging is just as gorgeous as the packaging itself. Full Cover is silicone-based, and formulated without any oils, so it’s great for all skin types. Since silicone molecules are larger than pores, they don’t gunk up the works. That’s means the product is non-comedogenic, and perfect for acne-prone skin. The silicone also creates a sort of webbing, like a primer, that shouldn’t accentuate flakey patches, which also makes it suitable for dry skin.

There’s absolutely no fragrance to aggravate sensitive skin, either, and I can attest to it being A-OK for my oily and sensitive skin.

Like other silicone-based products, Full Cover doesn’t mind oil at all. I’ve yet to see it rub off, fade, or become mottled on my oil-slicked face. And when my eczema flares up, it works wonders at covering up the redness while not drawing any unwanted attention to the irritated areas.
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New Species of Dragon Discovered Living with an E.L.F. at the Drugstore: New $3 Glossy Gloss in Dragon Fruit

August 5th, 2011 by Karen 27 Comments

Three dollars? No way. I can’t believe this gloss is just $3.

E.L.F. Glossy Gloss in Dragon Fruit just might be my new favorite glitter-less pink gloss. Without a doubt, it’s my new favorite $3 one. I mean, you can’t even cross a bridge around here for $3 anymore (to cross the Golden Gate Bridge costs $6!).

Eight shades live in Glossy Gloss, E.L.F.’s line of hi-shine glosses with a creamy finish, and Dragon Fruit, a pinkish peach with medium pigment, is my first. The hint of peachy pink it bestows upon my lips is noticeable, but not high maintenance.

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I Find It Tough to Look Away from Sula Beauty Natural Lip Gloss in Mesmerizing…

August 4th, 2011 by Karen 38 Comments

sula beauty natural lip gloss

Tabs is 1) constantly getting up in my grill/personal space and 2) constantly getting on my case about finding him cruelty-free makeup lines.

When I introduced him to Sula Beauty the other day, a new line of cruelty-free makeup for eyes, cheeks and lips, he leaped onto my lap, looked deeply into my eyes and said, “Meow.” Bravo.

The line, which launched in early summer, is available now at Ulta stores and also online, but after catching a glimpse of the list of ingredients for one of the new lipglosses below (see below), I half expected to see it also sold at the Target Garden Center.

Sula calls the line natural, but nowadays that can be a loaded phrase. In this case it means “mostly natural,” which to me is better than “not natural at all.” The lipglosses, at least, do contain a couple of man-made ingredients, like styrene/butadiene, a synthetic rubber widely used in car tires (but generally believed to be safe).

Products in the line are, however, free of parabens, phthalates, silicones and petroleum by-products — other cosmetic compounds of common concern.

I started wearing the new Lip Gloss in Mesmerizing ($8), a pigmented, shimmery, bronzy red that’s one of eight glosses in the line, and if it’s any indication of the quality of the other products in the line, I may have found another makeup crush.

sula beauty natural lip gloss

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