Makeup

MAC Padma Lakshmi Collection: Eye Shadow X 4 in 70’s Sunset

March 2nd, 2018 by Karen 17 Comments

Who is the genetically blessed being that is Padma Lakshmi? Well, I know her from watching one too many seasons of Top Chef. Remember the pea puree incident? No? WELL I DO, AND IT WAS SCANDALOUS!

You might know her from her modeling work or her cookbooks. She’s gorgeous. Absolutely beautiful. And she has a new MAC collection coming out soon (it’ll be available online and at select stores from March 15th through April).

It’s a full collection — eyeshadows, blushes, a few liners, some brushes, lots of lipsticks, a gloss — and it looks luxe, with sturdy gold packaging (that may or may not be metal) and intricate details. Items that would look right at home on a table in a high-end boutique that sells boho woven rugs, crystals, hammered artisan jewelry and couture peasant tops.

mac padma lakshmi collection — Feels kinda boho chic, yeah?

mac padma lakshmi collection packaging — Everything feels weighty and expensive.

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More From the Chanel Spring-Summer 2018 Collection: 824 Verderame, 66 L’Indomabile, 794 Poppea, 792 Aphrodite and 50 Nero Metallo

March 2nd, 2018 by Karen 20 Comments

chanel spring summer 2018 k — More from the Chanel Spring-Summer 2018 collection

Viva l’Italia! Anybody wanna go to Naples? This afternoon…? We can tell our families that Lucia Pica and Chanel made us do it. I can pack a bag and be ready to go in an hour…

YEAH, RIGHT! Who am I kidding? You know it would take me at least a half a day to pack my makeup.

OK, maybe a full day. ?

Lucia is shaking things up at Chanel with all kinds of color, and her latest collection, Spring-Summer 2018, is a shout-out to her hometown of Naples, Italy.

If Naples looks anything like the blues, greens, reds and yellows in this launch, I could easily fall in love with it. So let’s go, yeah? If you know a good travel agent, call her and get the hookup! Girls trip, April 2018! ?✈️?

chanel l indomabile — Red and green! That’s Rouge Allure Velvet in 66 L’Indomabile on my lips and Ombre Premiere Longwear Cream Eyeshadow in 824 Verderame on my lids.

OK, back to reality…

Spring-Summer 2018 is a pretty big launch, and so far I know I like the eyeshadow palette and the green liner.

Here are some quick thoughts on the other pieces I’ve tried (some which I like more than others).

chanel spring summer 2018 swatches — 824 Verderame, 66 L’Indomabile, 794 Poppea, 792 Aphrodite, 50 Nero Metallo

Ombre Premiere Longwear Cream Eyeshadow in 824 Verderame ($36, limited edition)

824 Verderame reminds me of a metallic cream version of MAC Club eyeshadow, but without the brown, and I love it with a matte brown in the crease, and either a charcoal or dark green liner on the water lines. It’s pigmented and GORGEOUS. It also dries in less than 30 seconds, so don’t dilly-dally! — or you’ll end up with harsh edges (a lesson I learned the hard way). Keep the small white brush that comes with the pot, too, because it’s surprisingly great and easy to use. The bristles deposit lots of color.

chanel 824 verderame — Ombre Premiere Longwear Cream Eyeshadow in 824 Verderame

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From the Chanel Spring-Summer 2018 Collection: Mare-Chiaro Stylo Yeux Waterproof Eyeliner, or “When Green Is Good”

March 1st, 2018 by Karen 12 Comments

chanel mare chiaro — Mare-Chiaro, a gorgeous bright yellowish green from the Chanel Spring-Summer 2018 Collection

So, I collect a lot of things. Like, right now I’m collecting broken ballpoint pens, apparently. LOL! I have six of them on my desk, and NONE OF THEM WORK. I just need to throw them away…

I don’t know what my problem is. I think I might be a hoarder in training…

Actually, I know I am, and I have to fight the urge to hoard daily, but that’s another story for another time! AHEM.

I also collect pencils… Chanel eyeliner pencils, that is. And if you don’t know about the Stylo Yeux line, allow me to rock your world. I believe they are, dare I say it, the best high-end liners around.

Stylo Yeux is Chanel’s line of skinny twist-up waterproof pencils, and the basic black shade from the permanent line, 88 Noir Intense, is my go-to black liner and all-time fave.

Seriously, I could write a book of sonnets about it, and some of the LE shades are also epic, like Noir Petrole and Legendary Green.

The Spring-Summer 2018 Collection introduces a gorgeous $33 LE green called Mare-Chiaro, which is a borough in Naples, Italy (thanks, Interwebz!), Chanel Global Creative Makeup and Color Designer Lucia Pica’s hometown.

chanel mare chiaro swatch k — Green kitten wings, meow!

chanel mare chiaro swatch eye 2 — Lovin’ this on lash and water lines

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From the Chanel Spring-Summer 2018 Collection: Chanel Les 9 Ombres Multi-Effects Eyeshadow Palette

March 1st, 2018 by Karen 16 Comments

Have you been to Chanel lately? — like within the last couple years? Because every time I go there, it’s like — and I mean this in a good way — I’m about to see what’s behind door number three in The Price Is Right. I don’t know what’s gonna be there! Will it be a goat? A trip to Italy? Will there be a red Radio Flyer wagon? I JUST DON’T KNOW. And those fun, frequent surprises are making me an even bigger fan of the brand.

Ever since Lucia Pica took the reins, there have been so many creative twists and turns, especially with color. She does a lot of themed collections, and yes, Chanel has always liked themed launches, but Lucia’s themes and visions always seem strong, and I totally get what she’s trying to do.

The collections are often travel related, and the colors and textures will refer to places she’s visited and lived. This one for spring/summer is a homage to her hometown of Naples, Italy. It’s like, bright explosive colors — greens, blues, yellows, reds. Those are the visuals, but you know me, much as I love color, I also love neutrals, and there are many lovely neutrals here, too, especially in the eyeshadow palette, which, by the way, is SUCH a nice surprise.

It’s a nine-pan palette called Les 9 Ombres, and it’s $70, which is expensive, but it’s a relative “bargain” for Chanel, considering that they’ve done other palettes with five eyeshadows for $50.

And everything in it is wearable — yes, including the blue and green in the middle.

(Side note: even if you don’t consider yourself a colorful eyeshadow person, I still totally believe that you can work both of these shades. You could use them as eyeliners — do the thinnest line on the upper lash line if you’re shy! — or mix the green or the blue into one of the neutrals, like the taupe, or the bronze on the lower right-hand side, and then pop that on your lids for a twist of unexpected but totally conservative color.)

You’ll notice that almost all of the shades in this eyeshadow palette are neutrals, which, you know, yay for usability! — but also, the eyeshadows are even higher quality than usual. As if that’s even possible! Chanel stepped it up. Well, more like leaped up! The shadows feel almost incomprehensibly good.

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The Kevyn Aucoin Prismatic Highlighting Trio

February 28th, 2018 by Karen 5 Comments

Holla! Or rather, holographic. Or prismatic. Or prismagic.

WOW! These highlighters are chunky, but more on that in a sec… I was actually drawn in by the packaging at first. The Kevyn Aucoin Prismatic Highlighting Trio ($48) looks like Hollywood movie magic. It shifts colors at different angles, going from yellow to blue to orange to purple, and sometimes all of them at the same time, which is cool, but also CRAZY.

It’s also quite representative of what’s inside.

There are three glittery highlighters, and they don’t look like much in their pans. On skin, though, we’re talking unicorn-level glitter and shine, and the flecks of green, blue and orange glitter are BIG and flashy — so not at all what I’ve come to expect from Kevyn Aucoin.

I mean, the shadows feel fab. They’re almost creamy-caliber bouncy and soft, so they’re easy to pick up with a finger or a brush. They’re a lot like the awesome metallics Urban Decay did in the Heavy Metals Metallic Eyeshadow Palette from the Holiday 2017 collection, but with much larger bits of glitter.

kevyn aucoin prismatic — Wearing Illusion on my lids (see how it ended up in my lashes?)

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Unsung Makeup Heroes: Urban Decay Urban Defense Complexion Primer Broad Spectrum SPF 30

February 28th, 2018 by Karen 16 Comments

Where do you fall on the face primer issue?

Well, it’s not really an issue… I mean, do you love ’em or hate ’em? Because it seems like most people are in one of the two camps. I don’t come across a lot of middle ground. Most folks either love face primers…or they don’t.

I love ’em, and I usually wear one daily, even if I’m just doing minimal makeup to take my cat for a walk. I’m not a huge fan of the extra step, but I’ve come to terms with the effort. It doesn’t take a ton of time for me to rub some primer on my cheeks and my forehead, and the payoff is smoother-looking skin, better texture and longer-lasting makeup.

What’s an unsung makeup hero? For me, it’s an oftentimes underrated makeup morsel, a permanent collection product that scoots under the radar screen of many makeup lovers but regularly rocks my world. The long-running Unsung Heroes series features some of my favorites.

There’s no shortage of great face primers out there, but this one by Urban Decay is one of the best. It’s $34 Urban Decay Urban Defense Complexion Primer Broad Spectrum SPF 30, and it’s clear, even though it has sunscreen in it, which makes it something of a makeup unicorn…because, as you know, primers that contain SPF often leave a noticeable white cast on the skin — especially tan skin and darker skin tones — and, frankly, it can be hella annoying.

Sometimes it’s really obvious, but I don’t see any white cast when I use this. It’s completely invisible, and that’s one of the reasons I like it so much.

This feels light, absorbs and dries quickly, doesn’t give me breakouts, and when I wear it under foundation, BB cream, powder, concealer — you name the face product — my skin just looks…better. Smoother. Oh! — and my pores look less aggro, LOL! I have combination skin, by the way (dry on my cheeks and oily in the T-zone), and this works well all over my face.

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Try This Fab Nude Lip Combo: MAC Velvet Teddy Lipstick and Fenty Beauty Gloss Bomb

February 27th, 2018 by Karen 18 Comments

mac velvet teddy fenty gloss bomb — I love this combo!

I don’t like to say “you need,” as in “You need to try this,” but YOU NEED TO TRY THIS NUDE LIP COMBO IF YOU HAVEN’T ALREADY. 🙂 I think it’s that fab. It’s MAC Velvet Teddy Lipstick and Fenty Beauty Gloss Bomb.

So. Good.

I was playing with some nudes the other day (um…I swear, that didn’t sound dirty when I said it in my head) when I randomly stumbled upon it, and now I’m in lurve.

It’s kinda beige-y and peachy, with the faintest essence of a golden tint, and it looks clutch-your-pearls amazing with warm orange browns and reddish brown eyeshadows.

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Maybelline Tattoo Studio Waterproof Brow Gel

February 27th, 2018 by Karen 29 Comments

maybelline tattoo studio brow gel swatches before after — Check out the doe foot!

I sincerely want to know what you’re doing with your life that could require you to have your brow product last for two days straight. Like…how? Why? I don’t even know. I can’t imagine. Two days! That’s how long these new Maybelline Tattoo Studio Waterproof Brow Gels ($9.99 are supposed to last on your brows.

They are long lasting; I’ll give ’em that. I only wore Medium Brown for a day, but I did sweat my way through life and went for a run on the treadmill, and it stayed put just fine.

Thing is…these are kind of hard to use. They come in tubes with a teeny, tiny doe foot, and the instructions on the box suggest bringing the doe foot directly to your brow, starting at the midpoint and going to the ends, then filling in the front before taking the separate spoolie (which comes with the gel), and brushing the gel through.

The look is lush and full, and the hold is super soft, so no crunchy brows (yay), but the resulting brow looks like more like a solid block of color than a brow comprised of individual brown hairs.

So the look isn’t really my style, but if you’re into that packed, full, dense high-glam brow, this might work for you.

I have a hard time applying this product… The doe foot deposits too much color, much too quickly for me, and I always end up with overly dramatic, overly dark brows. It’s way too easy to go buck wild with it, and I just can’t see myself, ya know, trying to do 10-minute makeup and successfully pulling it off with this brow product.

Also, I’m fairly certain I’m going to lose the spoolie within a couple days…

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