Eyes

A Multitude of Mattes Make the New Laura Mercier Artist’s Eyeshadow Palette Quite Flexible

February 17th, 2014 by Karen 28 Comments

The new Laura Mercier Artist's Palette, $80 — The new Laura Mercier Artist’s Palette ($80)

First, before we get to Laura Mercier’s new Artist’s Eyeshadow Palette (in case you’re wondering, though, yes, it does have African Violet), a quick and (hopefully) amusing story…

So I decided to grab lunch at the mall this afternoon to take a break from all of the construction racket directly below my window (Oh, did I mention the new gas line trench being dug through my front yard? Good times…) and, let’s be honest, try to get warm, so I zipped up the jacket I was already wearing (in the house), grabbed my keys and iPhone and said “BRB!” to Tabs (who doesn’t seem to mind the cold at all). “Call me if you need anything, sir!”

The second I opened the door and stepped outside, I realized — holy sh*t! It’s warmer out here than it is inside.

Yay! 🙂

Laura Mercier Artist Eyeshadow Palette — A closer look at the palette…

At Nordstrom, one of the first things I spied was the new Artist’s Eyeshadow Palette from Laura Mercier. Part of a three-piece $80 kit, it also comes with a small Caviar Stick in Cocoa and a mini Full Blown Volume Mascara.

As a side, I love the number of mattes in this palette. Laura stocked the entire top row with really useful non-shimmery shades perfect for lining lash lines, contouring creases and smoking outer corners.

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The $7.50 NYX Adorable Shadow Palette Is Darling, Dahhhling

February 12th, 2014 by Karen 18 Comments

Cray-cray adorbs! The new NYX Adorable Palette.

“This palette is just darling, dahhhhling.”

Why, yes, I have been watching too much Bravo.

What gave it away? Was it the way I said “dahhhling” like Lisa Vanderpump from The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills? Because that’s how this new spring eyeshadow palette makes me feel.

With its cute crop of neutral browns, beiges and a dreamy pinkish peach, this palette has adorable written all over it.

No, really, it does. Right there on the front of the packaging. “Adorable.” Says it right there. 🙂

Anywho, don’t these six powder shadows look great together? I can see them working in a bunch of neutral looks.

Like this here pinkish brown smokey eye I’m sporting today…

That’s Bobbi Brown’s Illuminating Bronzing Powder in Antigua on the apples of my cheeks and Hourglass Ambient Lighting Powder in Mood Light on my upper cheekbones.

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Gardening With MAC A Fantasy of Flowers: Today I Grew a Look With Pink Lips and Green Eyes

February 6th, 2014 by Karen 19 Comments

It’s raining here today, which normally would leave me feeling rather blah (I get the blues when the sun goes away), but today? Not so much.

First, it’s been a dry winter, and we need the rain. Second, the construction guys can’t work when it’s wet…so it’s been gloriously quiet this afternoon. 🙂

All I can hear are raindrops on my window, which is a very soothing sound.

Funny thing is, when it’s sunny outside and the workmen are working (we’re having our siding repaired), I put on my biggest headphones and listen to YouTube videos of ambient rain to drown out the noise, haha! Oh, the irony…

So, because today is kind of cold and gray, I felt like doing something a little springy and colorful. I went with a bright green cat eye with golden coral cheeks and a pink lip using makeup from the new MAC A Fantasy of Flowers collection.

If you ever feel like wearing bright green liner or shadow but aren’t quite sure what to do with it and don’t want anything too over the top, try a green cat eye.

No, seriously. Dude, you can do it!

I like this eye look because there’s a bright pop of color and minimal blending, and sometimes when I’m even lazier than I was today, I’ll skip everything else and just do a single swipe of green on my upper lash lines instead.

With bright green liner like this, I’ll usually tightline my upper lashes with a black liner or eyeshadow (here I’m using MAC’s Carbon Eye Shadow) to give more depth to my eyes and create the illusion of thicker lashes (since mine are naturally wimpy).

Just adds a little somethin’ somethin’…

The green liner I’m wearing here is MAC’s new Sassy Moss from A Fantasy of Flowers, by the way, and woo-hoo! — do I feel like a sassy-pants when I wear it. 🙂

It’s just so vibrant, and all it takes is a couple layers. Very cool. In a way, it reminds me of one of my old-school favorite MAC Fluidlines, Jadeye, but less teal and more green. Similar pop on the skin.

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For Lids That Shimmer From Dusk Til Dawn, the NYX Dream Catcher Dusk Til Dawn Eyeshadow Palette

February 3rd, 2014 by Karen 17 Comments

NYX Dream Catcher Palette Dusk Til Dawn — Wearing the new NYX Dream Catcher Palette in Dusk Til Dawn ($15) on my eyes

Shocker of all shockers (I’m serious, you may want to sit down for this), I was running late yesterday to go to my parents’ house for Super Bowl Sunday. 🙂

I know! — me, running late? Can you imagine? Haha, but seriously, I was running late, so I just threw some makeup into a bag to get ready in the car on the drive over to their house about an hour away.

NYX Dream Catcher Palette in Dusk Til Dawn — The Dream Catcher Palette in Dusk Til Dawn, one of three NYX limited edition palettes available now

One of the things I put into that bag was NYX’s new Dream Catcher Palette in Dusk ‘Til Dawn, one of three $15 limited edition eyeshadow palettes made to be, so says NYX, the answer to your shimmery dreams (assuming, of course, that there’s a lot of shimmering in your dreams).

Well, as far as any dreams I’ve ever had in which I’m putting on my makeup in the car (and there have been a few)…this palette probably would have helped. It does seem ideal for makeup-in-the-car dreams, particularly for ladies (and lords) who like how they look in warm-toned neutrals.

Ten baked shadows in warm shades of gold, brown and beige, along with a sprinkling of purple and black, reside inside. I ended up doing a shimmery gold and brown smokey eye in the car, and I, despite the bobbing of the car as we crossed the Richmond Bridge, I didn’t have to contend with any fallout or battle with my blending.

NYX Dream Catcher Palette in Dusk Til Dawn swatches — Swatches of Dusk Til Dawn on my NC42 skin…

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At $6 Each, These NYX Baked Shadows Make Wallets Say, “Sweet!”

January 30th, 2014 by Karen 17 Comments

Wearing the new NYX Baked Shadows in Lavish, Kush and Sugar Babe on my eyes

OK, so maybe NYX’s new Baked Shadows are neither nutritious nor delicious, but they are a treat, and where else can you get a baked dessert this good for $6?

$6… I almost can’t believe that price is real. Almost. Hey, this is NYX. Everything on their makeup menu is super affordable.

Oh! — and calorie-free, which makes my muffin top shimmy with joy/relief. 🙂

First things first, like NYX’s new Baked Blushes (and many other delicious desserts), these have a crunchy outer shell, beneath which exists the really good stuff. Break through the crust (seriously, what’s up with that?), and you’re rewarded with eyeshadows utterly devoid of fallout.

Zero. Zip. Nada.

And blending these shadows is easier than saying “yes, please” to a second brownie. Buffing and softening lines between these eyeshadow colors is a total cakewalk. All it takes is a few swipes of my trusty blending brush.

NYX Baked Shadow in Blue Dream — Blue Dream

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Wonder Twin Powers Activate! Shape of…the New Urban Decay Duo Shade Eyeshadows!

January 29th, 2014 by Karen 18 Comments

Urban Decay Duo Shades — Wearing the new Urban Decay Duo Shade Eyeshadows in X and Half Baked ($18)

So bangin’!

No, I’m not referring to the pounding outside my window (this time), which, El Hub informs me, will be ongoing for two weeks.

Argh.

The new Urban Decay Duo Shades, $18 each

I predict that by the end of the day I’ll be rocking back and forth in the corner and clutching these two new Urban Decay Duo Shade Eyeshadows to my chest like a security blanket while mumbling, “Safe place, safe place…”

Urban Decay Duo Shades swatches: X and Half Baked (far left); Sin and Mushroom (far right) — X and Half Baked (far left); Sin and Mushroom (far right)

The duos, which just launched online at urbandecay.com, are like eyeshadow comfort food. Each one comes with two of UD’s bestselling shades — familiar, much-loved colors that give lurvies to your lids.

Urban Decay Duo Shades in Sin/Mushroom — Sin and Mushroom

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Eyeko Eye Do Liquid Eyeliner: Purrfect for Cat Ladies and Crying Insomniacs

January 27th, 2014 by Karen 10 Comments

Oh, black cat eyeliner, how do I love thee? Let me count the ways…

One…

Wait — I’d much rather talk about this in a video review. Here’s a look at a new liquid liner I’ve been using a lot lately, $19 Eye Do Liquid Eyeliner by Eyeko.

This jet-black collaboration between Eyeko and British it-gal Alexa Chung is designed to be worn on lash and/or water lines.

Press play to hear how it fares throughout the day, and if Eye Do sounds like something you’d like to try, it’s available now at Sephora and online.

Thank you, as always, for watching. 🙂

In other news, how’s your Monday coming along? I’m hanging in there, but I feel like my brain only half turned on today. Don’t you hate it when that happens? I’m working at about 50% brain efficiency right now.

Words. Difficult. String. Together.

Big sigh… It happens sometimes (often on Mondays), and when it does, I just try to go with the flow. I mean, what else can you do?

Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,

Karen

OCC’s Creamy, Intense Cosmetic Colour Pencils Just Might Inspire Hue

January 24th, 2014 by Karen 17 Comments

Obsessive Compulsive Cosmetics Colour Pencils — The new Cosmetic Colour Pencil line by Obsessive Compulsive Cosmetics

I feel like I’ve been battling with liner all winter long, like this is Westeros and they’re the White Walkers north of the Wall, but it’s mostly just that my skin has been drier than the Atacama, and it’s getting sooo old.

I haven’t been able to wear the long-wearing gel liners I was wearing and loving last spring and summer (they’re too drying), and the only pencils my lash and water lines are tolerating have been the MAC Eye Kohls…

Until now.

These soft, creamy Cosmetic Colour Pencils by Obsessive Compulsive Cosmetics actually remind me a lot of my beloved MAC Kohls. They glide along my lash lines like gold medal figure skaters across fresh ice.

Ah…

Obsessive Compulsive Cosmetics Colour Pencils from the left: Anime, Grandma, Hoochie, Pennyroyal, Pool Boy and Sybil — From the left: Anime, Grandma, Hoochie, Pennyroyal, Pool Boy and Sybil

These pigmented pretties, some of which are approved for use on lips and body, while the others are for lips, body and eyes, come in 12 shades, all of them matte. The triple threats (eyes, lips and body) are clear Anti-Feathered, peachy brown Pennyroyal, blackened midnight brown Sybil, true black Tarred, true white Feathered and aquatic blue Pool Boy.

Obsessive Compulsive Cosmetics Colour Pencils from the left: Anti-Feathered, Black Dahlia, Feathered, NSFW, Tarred and Trick — From the left: Anti-Feathered, Black Dahlia, Feathered, NSFW, Tarred and Trick

Obsessive Compulsive Cosmetics Colour Pencils Swatches of the shades you can wear on your lips, eyes and body (left to right): Anti-feathered, Pennyroyal, Sybil, Tarred, Feathered and Pool Boy — Swatches of the shades you can wear on your lips, eyes and body (left to right): Anti-feathered, Pennyroyal, Sybil, Tarred, Feathered and Pool Boy

Warm beige Trick, vibrant neon pink Anime, true red NSFW, blackened red Dahlia, coral Grandma and vibrant magenta Hoochie are the ones that just like lips and body…

Obsessive Compulsive Cosmetics Colour Pencils Swatches of shades you can wear on lips and body (left to right): Trick, Anime, NSFW, Black Dahlia, Grandma and Hoochie — Swatches of shades you can wear on lips and body (left to right): Trick, Anime, NSFW, Black Dahlia, Grandma and Hoochie

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