Eyes

Chanel Les Beiges Healthy Glow Natural Eyeshadow Palette

July 11th, 2017 by Karen 14 Comments

You can pretty much get the gist of this Chanel palette’s raison d’être from its name, Les Beiges Healthy Glow Natural Eyeshadow Palette.

To put it another way, is this the type of glow that refers to the women of GLOW, the Gorgeous Ladies of Wrestling? Meaning, would you see a bunch of lady wrestlers in the ’80s wearing this in the ring for a performance? Nope! Absolutely not. These beige, brown and black shadows create a much more natural look, with a lot less wrestling.

I totally get that this is so not exciting for some makeup lovers, but I love this kind of makeup. And I know I’m not the only one! I went to high tea at the Fairmont in SF last weekend with some girlfriends, and, not just one of them, but two of them pulled me aside separately and said, in so many words, “I need to know what’s on your eyes, and I need for you to teach me how to do that ASAP.”

Les Beiges Healthy Glow is a beautiful palette for natural, elegant makeup that’s “there-but-not-too-there.” For me, it’s the definition of clean beauty, which is a look you see a lot in bridal magazines here in the U.S., where there’s soft definition on the lids and lash lines, and you can tell there’s makeup in the mix, but it still looks natural and not O.T.T. Les Beiges is great for that.

I do have to say, though, that I’m surprised by the amount of fallout I’m seeing with this palette. First time I used it, I was so excited that I forgot to tap off my brush, and I ended up with more shadow than I expected on my cheekbones.

If you’re a Chanel enthusiast (like I am), it’s bearable, as long as you tap off your brush, but the palette is $65… Just something to think about.

Other than the fallout, I think the shadows work great. They mesh and blend together well, and they’re perfect shades for natural looks. They also last all day long for me.

chanel les beiges healthy glow natural eyeshadow palette k2 — Natural glow!

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You Had Me at Aloha, Cargo! The Cargo Limited Edition Summer Eyeshadow Palette

July 7th, 2017 by Karen 10 Comments

cargo you had me at aloha palette 1 — Aloooooha, Cargo! Clockwise from the Cargo You had Me at Aloha Eyeshadow Palette in the upper right: Cargo Swimmables Waterproof Mascara Top Coat, Cargo Color Sticks in Key West and Maui and Cargo Swimmables Longwear Shadow Sticks in Morro Bay and Hudson Bay

I do this thing sometimes (sometimes? ALL THE TIME!) when I come back from a trip, where I think back to where I was and what I was doing the day before, or the week before, at that exact time, like, what I was doing in Hawaii exactly one week before at 9:05 a.m., and I do that until the fresh fabulousness of the trip fades from my memory…

I was thinking about Hawaii this morning as I sipped a cup of Kona coffee in the lady sanctuary. I wish I were there today… Le sigh!

To feel a little closer to the islands, I busted out the $34 Cargo You Had Me at Aloha Eyeshadow Palette, which has Hawaii-inspired colors and a Hawaiian theme.

cargo you had me at aloha palette — Aloha, swatches!

The You Had Me at Aloha LE summer palette has 12 powder shadows that appear exclusively in it, and it comes with a pretty soft dual-ended brush and a black eyeliner, which, by the way, is EPIC!

I know that it’s a little weird to obsess over a black liner in a palette that also contains gorgeous golds, teals and purples (also known as “My summer jams”), but the liner… It’s full-sized, pitch black, and it totally sticks to my lash and water lines. Plus, it doesn’t move! It’s lovely, and now, like the makeup weirdo I am, I have to hunt it down in more shades.

cargo you had me at aloha palette k — I’m wearing the palette on my lids, Cargo Swimmables Shadow Stick in Morro Bay on my lower lash line, and the Cargo Color Sticks in Maui and Key West mixed together on my cheeks and lips.

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This New Palette By Too Faced Is a Glitter Bomb, and That’s a Good Thing

July 7th, 2017 by Karen 28 Comments

too faced glitter bomb palette — The Too Faced Glitter Bomb Palette, also known as “An Explosion o’ Glitter!”

First time I played with this new palette from Too Faced, I reached a point during which glitter was seconds away from ending up all over the place…so I came to the following conclusion: why not put it in the crease, too? And the inner corner? And on my lower lash line?! Basically, why not put this glitter everywhere!?

I mean, if you’re gonna go there already, don’t just dip a toe in the glitter pool. GO. ALL. IN.

This fun $45 LE lioness is available right meow with eight powder glitter shadows, as well as two bases that you can layer under the shadows if you want. There’s a matte white base to brighten colors and a black shade to darken them.

too faced glitter bomb palette 1 — GLITTER!!!

I think that the name, Glitter Bomb, is a ref to something that anyone who plays with glittery makeup knows. “That shadow is a glitter bomb!” You know, when it gets all over the place, which you have to expect when you’re working/playing with glitter sometimes. And it happens here.

This lives up to its name. It is a glitter bomb, but it helps to layer a little glitter glue on your lids first, and then apply the glitters with a wet brush.

Also, for sure, do you eyes first. Then clean up whatever bits land on your face after you’re done. Or, you can just leave the glitter in you brows and on your nose like you meant to do it, haha. Like I said…ALL. IN.

too faced glitter bomb palette k2 — I’m wearing Glitter Goals on my lids, Oh Its On in the crease, Rose All Day in the inner corner and Splash along the lower lash line.

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The Rouge Bunny Rouge “Loess” Eye Shadow Palette Channels Chanel

July 5th, 2017 by Karen 12 Comments

There’s a morsel of that marvelously mysterious Chanel wow factor fluttering about the cool-toned Rouge Bunny Rouge Loess Eye Shadow Palette, and oh! — I’d also like to say that if you have warm-toned skin like I do, I’m 100% convinced that warm-toned wonder women can also wear cooler tones like these.

Now back to what I was saying about that Chanel wow factor…

RBR had fun with the finishes in this pigmented palette in a way that reminds me of Coco. There are four powder shadows — a rose, a beige, a purplish taupe and a gray — with finishes that combine the best of the satin and matte worlds. They blend with the ease of a satin but look a little like mattes on the lids. You can see see that a glint is there at first glance, but when you pause to look more closely, where did it go!? it disappears…

Don’t you just love subtle touches in makeup like that?

rouge bunny rouge loess k — Wearing the Rouge Bunny Rouge Loess palette on my lids and NARS Save the Queen Powermatte on my lips

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Soft Glam Makeup for a Friday Night With NARS Kalahari and Mekong

June 30th, 2017 by Karen 9 Comments

nars kalahari amour mac patisserie — Baby wing!

I got a little gussied up because I’m going out to dinner tonight (as if I needed an excuse to put on makeup, ha!). It’s a belated Geminis birthday dinner with my friend, Marisol, who also celebrated her birthday this month.

I’m calling this “soft glam makeup,” although that’s not my phrase. I’m borrowing it from SoCal sweetheart and makeup artist extraordinaire Vanessa Haro. Vanessa does makeup for weddings and various other photo shoots for booty-licious babes, and I love her style. It’s classic yet très schmexy, and very similar to what I like to wear.

nars kalahari eye closeup — Get a little closer

Anyway, lately I’ve been rediscovering spectacular shades from the permanent collections of some of my favorite brands, and I’m wearing a duo called NARS Kalahari in this look that I’ve worn off and on for years. It has a satiny, plummy taupe on one side and a shimmery golden taupe (you know I love those golden taupes, girl!) on the other, and both sides are drenched in pigment.

Normally when I wear this duo, I try to keep it (relatively) simple by blending the satiny plum on the outer half of my lids and my lower lash lines with a tapered blending brush. Then, I pat the shimmery golden taupe side on my inner lids with a finger and soften the edges with a matte neutral taupe or a tan shadow in the crease, and a matte beige on my brow bone (I’m wearing two NARS single pan shadows here called NARS Blondie and NARS Biarritz).

The “soft glam” part comes from combining Kalahari on the lids with the winged liner, because winged liner is cool, man! And you can modify it in an endless number of ways.

I’ve been totally into a “baby wing,” where I start from the midpoint on my upper lash line, then flick out toward the outer corner, and I do juuust the thinnest flick when I do it.

It’s noticeable, but it doesn’t take over the entire eye look, like when you use black liquid or gel liner and do a massive flick, and it takes over your entire look and you start feeling like you have to put on falsies to balance everything…

Talk about opening a can of worms.

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Get Glossy With Milk Makeup Eye Vinyl

June 29th, 2017 by Karen 3 Comments

Glossy lids = least appropriate eye makeup look ever for a windstorm and/or for standing in front of Beyoncé-level stage turbines.

Don’t do it, girl!!

I wore one of these glossy Milk Makeup Eye Vinyls on a really windy day when I had my hair in a ponytail and thought I wouldn’t have to deal with the whole hair-sticking-to-my-eye-gloss thing, but those strands… They’ll find a way. Trust me on this.

Buuut, even with the drama that always accompanies glossy lids, gosh, there’s still something about ’em.

Yeah, I know — the stickiness, the creasing, and how they never stay exactly where you want them, but I go ga-ga for gleaming lids. I can’t help it.

milk makeup tunnel eye vinyl — I’m wearing the shade Tunnel on my lids. On my lips, I’m wearing NARS Powermatte Lip Pigment in Give It Up

I’ve been lovin’ Milk’s Eye Vinyls lately. They’re $20 each and come in four colors that start out SUPER shiny and reflective but lose a little of their high-wattage shine over the course of a couple hours. Overall, they stay wearable for about four hours before I feel the need to reapply.

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The Viseart Neutral Palette Is The Best Nude/Neutral Eye Palette Around

June 28th, 2017 by Karen 13 Comments

If I were forced by some malevolent makeup entity to KonMari Method my makeup collection down to the barest of the bare bones — which, gawd forbid, I can’t even imagine doing because #makeuphoarders — the Viseart Neutral Matte Eyeshadow Palette would survive the brutal final cut, FO’ SHO.

It’s expensive, OK! It’s $80, which is why I put it off getting it for a really long time, but I finally took the plunge on the last Sephora VIB sale, so I got it 20% off, but even then I walked around the store for 30 minutes debating whether or not I should actually “go there.” I’m so glad I did, though, because THIS IS THE BEST NUDE/NEUTRAL PALETTE AROUND.

I’ve combo-ed the hell outta this palette, and hello, makeup voodoo! — somehow it always works out. Neutral Matte has 12 matte shadows, none of which are too cool or warm. These beige, brown, peach, gray, taupe and black shades are basically workhorse colors that work in an endless number of combinations and looks. You can use this palette for smokey eyes, daytime work looks, smoldering date night makeup… So many different things! You can even use some of the shades as eyeliner and to fill in your brows.

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Try Diorshow Pump’n’Volume Mascara for Lifted, Ladylike Lashes

June 21st, 2017 by Karen 6 Comments

diorshow pump n volume brush — Don’t poke your eye out, Karen

I mean…is this new Dior Diorshow Pump’N’Volume Mascara gimmicky?

Yeah, a little.

The tube is soft and squishy, like a really good pair of flip-flops! There’s an indentation toward the bottom of the tube to place your thumb and forefinger into. Then you give it a good squeeze.

BAM! — the brush loads with MOAR MASCARA for MOAR VOLUME.

I try not to squeeze too hard, though, because when I do, the brush gets overloaded and I apply way too much (and end up with smudgy mascara a few hours later).

My point here is to say that a little bit of this $29.50 mascara goes a long way. Resist the temptation to use that T-rex claw and go ham on that a$$!

I like the brush a lot. It has stubby, pointy nubs similar to those on the brush that comes with Chanel Le Volume de Chanel.

diorshow pump n volume tube — Squeeeeeeze it

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