Makeup

Does L’Oreal Bare Naturale Mascara Thicken, Lengthen AND Separate Lashes?

October 20th, 2008 by Karen 30 Comments

Have you seen that commercial for L’Oreal’s new Bare Naturale Mascara ($9) in which Penelope Cruz looks into the camera, bats her eyelashes and then BAM! — they morph into super lashes, all thick, lush and magnificent?

I want those lashes, but after years of mascara disappointment, I have a question for the cosmetics companies of the world: is it too much to ask for a single mascara able to thicken, lengthen AND separate?

Bare Naturale’s tortoise shell tube is a nice departure from all the solid color tubes on the market, and the application brush feels soft against my fingertips.

So, does this mascara bring it?

I applied three coats of Brown-Black and peered into the mirror hoping for some P. Cruz eyelash magic…

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Makeup and Beauty Blog Saturday Steals

October 18th, 2008 by Karen 33 Comments

I took my near-sighted self out to Costco today for some new contact lenses and scanned the beauty aisles for deals.

What do you think of Lancome Bi-Facil eye makeup remover, on sale for $19.99 (that’s 25% off the regular retail price of $26)? This stuff removes even the most stubborn eye makeup and has been a favorite of mine for years.

Costco also had Guerlain Le 2 De Guerlain Mascara in black for $19.99. The boxy, clear plastic packaging Costco uses isn’t flattering for cosmetics, but with this same mascara selling for $35 at Sephora (45% more), I’m going to cut Costco some slack.

And how about this cute three piece body care gift set by J.R. Watkins? In old-fashioned packaging, the set comes in two fragrances — mango and lemon cream — and includes a hand and body lotion, shea butter body cream and a hand and cuticle salve.

I thought this was so cool: each box has a scratch and sniff sticker! Cute, yah?

After Costco, I dragged poor El Hub to Sephora and parked him on a bench in front of the store while I got my makeup swerve on. 🙂

What do you think of the Too Faced The Quickie Chronicles Mini Collection ($59.10)? It features eight mini-palettes with coordinating eyeshadows and cheek and lip shades. These are just too cute!

My favorites were Temptress and Cupcake…

I wanted to leave Sephora empty handed because the contact lenses from Costco had already put a big dent in my wallet, but I couldn’t resist this Cat Eyes Liner in Black Onyx ($16; a shimmery deep black with subtle blue flecks) by Pop Beauty and a bottle of Sephora by OPI nail polish in Metro Chic ($9; a plum-gray creme).

One of the counter girls at Sephora showed me how to use the liner. I’m gonna try a tutorial with it in the next couple days. That should be fun.

How was your Saturday? Do you know of any good makeup/beauty sales out there right now?

Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,

Karen

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Wedding Palette Auditions: Stila Front Cover Look No. 4

October 17th, 2008 by Karen 17 Comments

Traveling Light

My good friend Jen gets hitched in Florida next month, and I can’t wait! I’m looking forward to the wedding, but I’m not looking forward to packing.

Why? Because I overpack (hey, I like options) — always have — but not this time. This time, come hell or high water, I’m going to streamline. 🙂

To manage my makeup better than I usually do, I thought I’d bring along some palettes — just two (or three or four!). Today, I interviewed the first applicant for the job: Stila Front Cover Look No. 4.

I’m Jen’s matron of honor (I’m still not sure what matrons do). Both my bridesmaid dress and shoes are gold, so I’d like my makeup to complement them. As far as how bold a look I can get away with, it’s an afternoon church ceremony, which means nothing too disco or drag queen (oh, well).

There Are 4 Stila Front Cover Look Palettes

Look No. 4 is one of four limited edition Front Cover Look palettes by Stila. They’ve been out for a while (not exactly sure when they came out), and I had to get a little creative to find this one. Each includes three eyeshadows, a blush and one lipgloss, all packaged in a slim case with magazine motif.

Gotta Love Beautycrunch.com

Looks No. 2 and 3 are still available on the Stila website for $40 each. I decided to check beautycrunch.com for the No. 4 and BINGO! There it was, for $14!

The Front Cover Look No. 3 palette makes an appearance in this Face of the Day.

I love No. 4’s neutral peachy pink and brown…

Stila Front Cover Look No. 4

Nude eyeshadow: a matte peach-beige with large flecks of silver glitter
Icon eyeshadow: a shimmery pink peach
Twig eyeshadow: a shimmery rich chocolate
Heat blush: a peachy tan matte
Inviting lipgloss: a shimmery peach gloss with gold and silver glitter

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The Affordable Bath and Body Works Liplicious Collection

October 17th, 2008 by Karen 19 Comments

Bath and Body Works wants us to ring in the holidays with pretty lips, courtesy of their new line of lipglosses, Liplicious. Starring more than thirty scented and flavored glosses, moisturizing lip colors, scrubs and lip gloss tubes all for an economical $7-8 apiece. The glosses and lip colors are double-sided, and after you throw in the buy two, get one free deal available on their website, that knocks the final price of these products down to less than $5.50 each ($2.25 per side on the double-sided ones)! HUGE BARGAIN POTENTIAL!

I tested three of the double-sided glosses: Platinum Glow/Gold Dust, Brown Sugar/Dulce de Leche and Mango/Peach.

Platinum Glow/Gold Dust

Platinum Glow

Gold Dust
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Get Smudgy with Stila Kajal Eye Liners

October 14th, 2008 by Karen 42 Comments

Mirror, mirror on the wall, which eye liner’s the smoothest of all?

Stila’s Kajal Eye Liner ($18) lays smooth smack down on pencil liners that tug and skip along lash lines. Available in eight shades, it literally glides across the skin, creating solid, intensely colored lines — no muss, no fuss.

Available in 8 Shades

I tried two of them, Emerald and Amethyst. Both performed admirably when used on my upper and lower lash lines, creating both soft and sharp lines with a single swipe. The tip texture feels unusually soft and creamy, and it was a cinch to smudge out lines for smokey looks.

Similar to MAC Kohl in Smolder

Smudginess — is that even a word? I don’t know if it is, but either way I think it accurately describes the texture and feel of this formula. Kajal reminds me of MAC Kohl Eye Liner in Smolder, a pencil I often use in my smokey eye looks.

The MAC Kohls cost a few dollars less ($14.50 vs. $18) and come in a wider selection of colors (15 vs. 8), but I think Stila Kajals perform just slightly better. Both brands have enough muscle to last the day and deliver seriously intense color, but the Kajals are just a wee bit easier to apply and to smudge. Now, do they perform 24% better than the Kohls? — because that’s the difference in price. Of that, I’m not so sure.
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Neutrogena Healthy Volume Mascara: Super Size Me!

October 9th, 2008 by Karen 21 Comments

Neutrogena Healthy Volume Mascara ($7) lured me with its bold claim to boost lash volume by 400%.

400%!

I expected some beasty Snuffleupagus lashes and drooled all over myself daydreaming about ’em.

Super Size Me

According to the product marketing (when is that not a red flag?), Neutrogena’s patent-pending formula contains a touch of olive oil to penetrate and plump each lash core. When used with the included uber brush, the company claims it takes lashes from normal to super-sized.

Exaggerate Much?

I was achin’ for some of that 400%, let me tell you, so I applied three layers of Neutrogena Healthy Volume Mascara and pulled out my measuring tape, LOL!
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A Copper, Tan and Blue Eye with Cargo Color Palette in Vienna

October 8th, 2008 by Karen 47 Comments

Hi, girlies! Today was one of those days where things were just non-stop craziness at work. I was training a new hire and trying to do 20 other things at the same time — not the best conditions to be training someone in — and everything had to be done like five minutes ago. I’m really glad to be home. 🙂

Before I kick back with my veggie burrito in front of the Tivo (I haven’t watched Monday night’s Heroes yet; still lovin’ ya, Peter Petrelli!), here’s the look I wore to work today. I knew today would be a rough day and wanted to wear something colorful (while still safe for the office) and upbeat. It’s a shimmery copper and tan eye with blue accents and features a few different holiday and fall products, including the new Cargo Color Palette in Vienna ($28).

One of eight Cargo eye shadow palettes released specifically for Sephora this fall, Vienna contains four huge pans of uber-blendable, shimmery shadow in copper, beige, tan and slate blue.

Step by Step: The Eyes

First, I primed my lids with Too Faced Shadow Insurance primer (makes the shadows last longer).
Next, I applied Vienna’s beige shade on my brow bone with a Sonia Kashuk Large Eye Shadow Brush.
Then, I swept Vienna’s tan shade into the crease with a MAC 217 blending brush.
I patted Vienna’s copper shade onto my lids and just barely into the crease with the same Sonia Kashuk Large Eye Shadow Brush from step 2.
Next, I wet a Sonia Kashuk Angled Eye Shadow Brush with a spritz of MAC Fix+ and swept the wet brush head across the pan of slate blue eye shadow to pick up the color. I applied the wet shadow to my upper lash line, thickening the line as it moved closer to the outer corner of the eye.
With the same Sonia brush, I applied the blue shade again, this time on the lower water line.

To finish the eyes, I curled my lashes and added one coat of Chanel Exceptionnel mascara in Noir.

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Chanel Les Tissages Blushes: When Shimmer Meets Matte

October 7th, 2008 by Karen 63 Comments

One of my secret goals in life is to go grocery shopping wearing a seriously fabulous Chanel Tweed suit. I want to be that crazy Chanel lady standing in the 15-items-or-less express checkout line with her box of chocolate Powerbars. Sadly, I don’t expect to be getting the suit any time soon (damn!), but at least I can still get my Chanel tweed fix courtesy of Les Tissages de Chanel, the company’s latest collection of blushes ($45 each).

Slivers of silver and gold thread through these mixes of matte and shimmer. Inspired by classic Coco tweed, each of the four Les Tissages blushes (also referred to as the Chanel Tweed blushes) look like little works of art set in classic black Chanel compacts.