Makeup

Back to School Beauty: With Tarte Lock & Roll Creaseless Eyeshadow Duos, You’ll Be Ready for That Early Morning Class

August 2nd, 2010 by Karen 45 Comments

Tarte Lock & Roll Review

Most of my college memories have faded into a fuzzy, frosty haze, but the chaotic mornings I spent rushing to get ready before early lectures remain fresh, fresh, fresh!

The drill was always the same: after rolling out of bed, I’d pull my hair into a ponytail, grab a pair of sunglasses, stuff my makeup bag into my backpack (hoping to get ready in the girl’s bathroom before class), and sprint to catch the bus. 🙂

If you foresee a similarly hectic schedule this fall, think about streamlining, and consider adding the Tarte Lock & Roll Creaseless Eyeshadow Duos ($17 each) to your beauty routine.

With a cream shadow base on one end and an eyeshadow rollerball on the other, the nine dual-tipped shimmery shadows work like magic wands in the hurried hands of someone in a rush.

The duos, which have been part of Tarte’s permanent line for a while, make quick work of simple makeup looks because they don’t require a separate brush (the cream shadow ends already have one).
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Insomniacs Should Have a Ball with the Smashbox Masquerade Palette

July 30th, 2010 by Karen 52 Comments

smashbox masquerade eye palette swatches review
Here I’m wearing makeup from the Smashbox Masquerade Collection for fall 2010: The Eye Palette in Masquerade on my eyes, Creamy Cheek Color & Brush in Intrigue on my Cheeks and Masquerade Lip Enhancing Gloss in Reveal on my lips.

Friends, citizens, insomniacs, lend me your eyes; I come to bury complicated eye looks, not to praise them. 🙂 Put down that Sleepytime Tea for a second, Caesar, and take a look at the new Smashbox Masquerade Eye Palette ($35) — enemy of complicated eye looks everywhere!

You don’t have to be an aeronautical engineer to put together fly looks with this palette of nine powder shadows in neutral and jewel-toned shades. In it, Smashbox cleverly placed complementary colors in three horizontal rows, basically taking the guesswork out of color matching. It’s a breakthrough of epic proportions, yo! — particularly for lazy chicks and insomniacs (oh, hai!) like me.

After three consecutive nights of absolutely no sleep, I really, REALLY appreciate how easy it is to get ready with this palette.

Of course, if you’re the kind of girl who gets plenty of sleep and prefers to match her own colors, no problem. I think all nine of these shades work together well, and nothing says we have to use them in any specific order.
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Vintage Beauty: What It Was Like for Beauty Addicts Back Then

July 30th, 2010 by Karen 26 Comments

Vintage beauty

Chanel, indoor plumbing, the Internet and allergy meds are just a handful of the many reasons I’m glad we live in these modern times, and here’s another: old school beauty was kinda rough!

Back in the 1800s and early 1900s, you couldn’t just walk into a Walgreens (well, Walgreens was around then but not like today) and buy a tube of gloss or a bottle of polish and call it a day. Many women made their own cosmetics at home, and some of the ingredients they used were downright naaaasty.

Pale skin was all the rage; to get the look, women would dust their visages with lead-based face powders (we now know how harmful lead can be). As if that wasn’t bad enough, they would darken their hair with shampoos made from iron rust, and for soft, supple smackers, they made lip salves from spermaceti, a waxy substance collected from the heads of sperm whales (classy).
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The Estee Lauder Blue Dahlia Collection Makes Me Happy to Sing These Blues

July 29th, 2010 by Karen 73 Comments

estee lauder blue dahlia swatches review photos

Do you ever just stop and stare up at the sky as it changes colors at dusk? As the day slinks away? Doesn’t it look like someone’s cranking up the saturation on everything? Okay, yeah, so it might sound kinda boring, but you gotta do it every so often.

Estee Lauder Creative Makeup Director Tom Pecheux says that’s the kind of light — the colors that emerge at the moment day turns to night — that inspired the company’s new Blue Dahlia collection (have you seen the 1946 movie of the same name?).

The punchy purples, electric blues, pale pinks, elegant taupes and juicy raspberries in the 16-piece limited edition release tell a tale of cool-toned colors for eyes, lips and nails.

Today I explored five of Blue Dahlia’s delights…

Both the Blue Dahlia Five Color Eyeshadow Palette ($42) and Sepia Sand Eyeshadow ($20) to my eye demonstrate how far Estee Lauder’s eyeshadows have come over the last few years, both in terms of color and quality. They strike me with a sharper edge than the EL of days gone by.

Despite how pigmented they are, these soft, smooth powder shadows could almost blend themselves. They’re everything I love most about what Estee Lauder has become — rich, classy and eminently wearable. Makeup and Beauty Blog Rating: A
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Stay Awhile, Boots No7 Cheek Tint (Pretty Please?)

July 28th, 2010 by Karen 44 Comments

Boots No7 makeup review

Snooki from MTV’s The Jersey Shore is probably the last person I want to be quoting, but girlfriend’s signature catchphrase perfectly describes my feelings for Boots No7 Cheek Tint in Peach Silk ($10).

“WAAAH!”

My heart gave itself over to Peach Silk from the very first swipe. One of three Boots cream blush colors, it had me at hello, but ’twas a love not meant to be (more on that in a sec). So easy to blend and effortless to apply, it’s a matte peach that I think makes me look like I’m actually blushing, and I’d hoped we’d have many great makeup adventures together.

But trouble started brewing a couple of hours into our first date…
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Wet n Wild Color Icon Singles, Hot Firemen and Wednesday Shenanigans

July 28th, 2010 by Karen 40 Comments

Wet n Wild Color Icon Singles clockwise from left: Lagoon, Envy, Kitten

Daily Moment of Mortification

07/28/10

A cute fireman came to my door today!

This being a hilly area surrounded by dry brush, the town’s fire dudes occasionally visit residents to warn/inform them about brush fires.

Right before the doorbell rang, I was swatching and ~~knee~~ face deep in Wet n Wild’s $2 Color Icon Eyeshadow Singles, with Lagoon (a bright, shimmery blue) on my right eye and Envy (a shimmery jade) on my left.

NOTE TO SELF: Next time you’re doing something cray cray with your makeup…just assume someone (perhaps a hot fireman) is going to come to the door.

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The Smashbox Masquerade Collection Unleashes a Sultry, Smoldering Makeup Fantasy for Fall 2010

July 27th, 2010 by Karen 43 Comments

smashbox masquerade fall 2010 collection swatches review photos

Gimme, gimme jewel-toned blues and greens, soft browns, pinks and golds!

SING IT WITH MEH!

Gimme, gimme jewel-toned blues and greens, soft browns, pinks and golds!

ONE MORE TIME!

Gimme, gimme jewel-toned blues and greens, soft browns, pinks and golds!

I’m as happy as a kid at the front of the deep fried Twinkie line at the county fair. 🙂 Girl, grab your ball gown and bedazzled mask, and prepare to be lured by a Smashbox Masquerade.

Available online now, Masquerade’s a small but comprehensive fall release with seven limited-edition pieces dressed in sophisticated indigo blue packaging. Pink, gold and peach shades softly light up lips and cheeks, and rich browns and beiges — along with a sprinkling of jeweled shimmery greens and blues — smolder on the eyes.

smashbox masquerade fall 2010 collection swatches review photos

I think there’s something scary seductive about this collection. When I read the color story, I felt the shades drawing me into a fantasy that starred detailed satin ball gowns and glittering masquerade masks. I think the collection’s much prettier and softer than last year’s Reign, which had a cool edginess to it, but some of the colors in Reign weren’t the easiest ones to wear (two words: red eyeshadow).
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Is This More Than Mere Lipgloss, or Just a LipFusion Infatuation?

July 27th, 2010 by Karen 22 Comments

fusion beauty infatuation review

Bigger isn’t always better, but Fusion Beauty definitely thinks size matters when it comes to lips. The eight shiny stars of their new Infatuation line of plumping lipglosses ($29 each) are supposed to increase the size of lips and keep them plumper over time.

Remember Amplifat (here’s some info on it from an earlier review)? It’s the secret plumping sauce behind these glosses, too.

fusion beauty infatuation review
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