Makeup

LipFusion Boudior Collection Lipgloss in Princess Is Giving Lips the Royal Treatment

July 14th, 2010 by Karen 32 Comments

lipfusion boudoir collection swatches review

Before the $29 price of LipFusion Luxe Boudoir Collection lipgloss makes you totally cranky (that’s Chanel territory, yo!), consider this: $1 of that goes to the Seven Bar Foundation, a non-profit group helping to empower underprivileged women to start small businesses through microfinanced loans.

What are microfinanced loans? They’re pretty cool. Read more about the Seven Bar Foundation’s work here.

Truth be told, I’d love to see LipFusion contribute more than $1 from every sale (while lowering or keeping the price the same), but I digress…

The limited edition line contains four shades — Vixen (a shimmery mauve), Lolita (a shimmery pinkish beige), Coquette (a shimmery pinkish coral) and Princess (a shimmery purplish hot pink). Today I tipped my hat to the one called Princess. 🙂

lipfusion boudoir collection swatches review
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A Benefit Sunday Funday Makeup Tutorial: Purple and Bronze Eyes Any Day of the Week

July 14th, 2010 by Karen 60 Comments

benefit sunday funday palette eye makeup tutorial

Is it wrong to want Sunday brunch on a Wednesday afternoon? — or to get a little dolled up and don colorful makeup in the middle of the week? I hope not, because today the Benefit Sunday Funday palette and I have reservations. We’re doing a daytime/brunch look together featuring eyes in purple and bronze.

To test the versatility of the brushes that come with the kit, I told myself not to use any other brushes for this look, which was tough because I’m really picky about my eye brushes. I usually ditch the ones that come with palettes like this one, but the Sunday Funday brushes actually shine like stars. I wouldn’t toss my best brushes for ’em, but they should be great for trips and purses when you want to travel light.

Benefit Sunday Funday The Maggie Collection

The Benefit Sunday Funday Palette

Despite the palette’s name, I’m guessing these colors are safe to wear any day of the week, ha!
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Younger Cheeks in 28 Days? Fusion Beauty SculptDiva Blush Says Yes!

July 13th, 2010 by Karen 23 Comments

fusion beauty sculptdiva review
Fusion Beauty SculptDiva Blush in Crave

Back in the day (um, like, the ’80s and ’90s), most gals got their anti-aging benefits through skincare products, but today lines like Fusion Beauty are pushing the anti-aging envelope with makeup.

For the patient beauty lover, the company’s new cream-to-powder SculptDiva blushes are supposed to plump cheeks over a period of 28 days, diminishing the appearance of fine lines and wrinkles through more supple-looking cheeks.

Their not-so-secret ingredient? Amplifat.

Yep, that’s what they call it. 🙂
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Urban Decay Lip Junkie Lip Gloss: Giving Thin Mints a Run for Their Money

July 13th, 2010 by Karen 36 Comments

urban decay lip junkie review top

[SHIVER!] If I’d known the kind of havoc a cookie could wreak, I would have put down that first Girl Scout Thin Mint. Every season I gobble ’em up like they’re going out of style, and I rue the day the first one came out of the oven.

Today I can’t help but ask, “Has Urban Decay been talking to my muffin top?” I ask because I think their new Lip Junkie line of fall glosses ($19 each) smell EXACTLY like Thin Mint cookies (they also taste kinda like ’em too).

Coincidence? I think not!
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Urban Decay Urban Lash: Free Your Fringe, and the Rest Will Follow

July 12th, 2010 by Karen 59 Comments

urban decay urban lash review

FREEDOM! I will forever remember July 12, 2010 as the day my inner drag queen liberated herself from a life of frumpy fringe and entered the world of big, bad falsies.

Before Urban Decay’s Urban Lash line ($16 each; 18 to choose from), it took me FOREVER to put on a pair of fake lashes (okay, more like 20 minutes).

Thanks to the new line, which just launched for fall, falsies are officially less of my makeup Achilles’ heel.

urban decay urban lash review

Two of the three I played around with — Tease and Little Wing — took less than two minutes each to apply, while Babydoll took me about five. Maybe it’s due to the quick-drying non-latex adhesive they come with or the ultra-thin base that holds the individual lashes in place (feels so comfy on my eyes), but these sure are easy to affix.

Tease

urban decay urban lash review
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I’m Tripping Over the $10 Stila Road to Radiance Palette

July 12th, 2010 by Karen 44 Comments

Stila Road to Radiance Across the USA

Now HERE’s a makeup trend I can totally get behind: $10 department store makeup palettes!

Who knew that when Urban Decay launched their $14 Face Case earlier this year it would be the first salvo fired in a budget beauty battle for eyes, lips and cheeks?

Um, can I just say that as far as makeup trends are concerned…budget-friendly travel palettes are like a billion times cooler than vibrating mascara wands? They make my inner bargainista want to raise the roof (1998-style)!

The limited edition Stila Road to Radiance Across the USA palette is the first of five new limited edition $10 Stila travel palettes visiting over the coming months, each one inspired by the fashion, people and colors of different Stila girls around the world (the company plans to release one more of them every month through November).

Road to Radiance (that’s her above) comes with four smallish cool-toned powder shadows and a neutral pink cream product for cheeks and lips. Bought separately, the full-size versions of these same products would normally cost $65, which makes the $10 price tag look even better.

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Dior Fall 2010, Clinique Fall 2010, Keanu Reeves and Bobbi Brown Chocolate & Navy

July 10th, 2010 by Karen 49 Comments

Can you spot a friendly neighborhood beauty addict?

Evenin’, ladies. Just wanted to say hola and share a few pics from my adventures this afternoon. After the museum we swung by the mall, and now I desperately need your help. I’m struggling to exercise restraint here at Nordstrom, where I’ve got my eye on a Dior palette that’s taking every ounce of willpower to resist (I told myself I’d only get one thing, and that thing is NOT this)!

Maybe this in-store mobile blogging break will distract me. 🙂

Here are some pics I took with my phone today. Sorry if a few of them aren’t as sharp as usual.

Columns in front of the Legion of Honor

Rockin’ messy, beachy waves

I could have stared at this painting for hours…

WOOO! Double rainbow all the way across the sky!!

Um, doesn’t this guy look EXACTLY like Keanu Reeves?
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NARS Fall 2010: A Playful Mix of Texture and Pigment

July 8th, 2010 by Karen 40 Comments

nars fall 2010 swatches review photos daphne

True story: I was so starstruck when I briefly met Francois Nars last year that I lost all control of my vocal cords. With my head tilted ever so slightly and my eyes locked on his, I asked, “Did you ever know that you’re my hero?”

Yup, I’d quoted Wind Beneath My Wings… If there was anaward for World’s Biggest Dork, someone should’ve handed it to me right then and there!

I appreciate that Francois Nars didn’t bust out laughing at me that day, but I admire him for something else — how he handles his seasonal color collections.

As cheesy at it sounds, I think his color stories are metaphors for how I want to live my life. He’s always dancing to the beat of his own drum and clearly having a blast while doing it.

For his fall 2010 collection, he added a smattering of kooky colors to a base of everyday wearable shades. I’ve been playing with six items from the nine-piece collection, which debuts online on ~~August 5 before arriving in stores this September~~ July 15 and in stores this August, methinks Francois was feeling experimental.
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