Face of the Day (FOTD)

A NARS Summer 2011 Face of the Day Inspired by Tabs the Cat and His Pretty Green Eyes

May 10th, 2011 by Karen 49 Comments

Happy Tuesday, pretty. 🙂 Tabs woke me up early this morning and then insisted that my makeup today pay homage to him (what a diva!).

Refusing his requests usually leads to scratches, so I reached for one of his current collection crushes, NARS Summer 2011, and told him I would “see what I can do.”

NARS Summer 2011 products clockwise from the eyeshadow trio at the bottom: Cap Ferrat Eyeshadow Trio, Exotic Dance Eyeshadow Duo, Carthage Lipstick, Dogo Eyeshadow Duo and New Order Blush

I built the look with two things in mind — 1) Tabs’ pretty green eyes, and 2) the word “Mixey,” one of his many nicknames (a shortened version of Meow Mix).

Green crops up a few times throughout the NARS Summer 2011 collection, and I tried to really incorporate it into this look, mixing some different colors together.

Unlike my look last week using the Stila Stunning in Sayulita palette, the green here isn’t as obvious or BAM! It’s a subtler hint of green.

The look’s built around the Dogon Duo and Cap Ferrat Trio Eyeshadows. Dogon’s duo chrome taupe side has a touch of green shimmer to it, which I mixed with the light and dark greens in the Cap Ferrat Trio, and then applied to my lids.
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A Stila Stunning in Sayulita Palette Hump Day Face of the Day

May 4th, 2011 by Karen 80 Comments

Rise and shine, morning glory. 🙂 I felt like wearing my green dress today, so I thought I’d incorporate some green in my eye look, too. A color called Palm Tree from Stila’s new Stunning in Sayulita Palette provided the green.

The $14 palette (BARGAIN ALERT!) comes with four powder shadows, a powder blush and a bronzing powder, which, hello, is so light that it probably performs better as a highlighter on my tan skin.

For this look, I followed the little tutorial that comes with the palette (I appreciate when companies include these things; they’re cheap to make and great for ideas and inspiration) and then wrapped it up with Bobbi Brown’s High Shimmer Lip Glosses in Bellini on my lips.

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Urban Decay UD The Fun Palette, and One Valuable Lesson Learned from My Cat

February 11th, 2011 by Karen 45 Comments

karen of makeup and beauty blog wearing the urban decay fun palette

It’s useless to try to out-pose an international kitty supermodel, especially one with as much experience as Tabs.

But that didn’t stop me from trying today with the new Urban Decay The Fun Palette ($34).

First, me…

karen of makeup and beauty blog wearing the urban decay fun palette

Now, Tabs…

tabs pimpin'

See! I tried to “sell” the colors I’m wearing from the palette, one of three new ones from Urban Decay for spring, but I’m just not kitty supermodel material.
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Urban Decay UD The Feminine Palette and Pre-Friday Fun

February 10th, 2011 by Karen 86 Comments

urban decay ud the feminine palette

Tonight is all about the ladies, y’all, at Club Urban Decay (aka MBB Headquarters), and girls and gatos get in free — that’s cruelty-free — with the new Urban Decay UD The Feminine Palette ($34). 🙂

From the stylish clothes it wears, to the shimmery shades it bears (browns, pinks, purples and teal), this palette’s guaranteed to turn heads and put all eyes on you. The colors feel so lighthearted, girlie and fun that I believe it’s my favorite of the latest batch of spring palettes from Urban Decay.

karen of makeup and beauty blog wearing the urban decay ud the feminine palette

As you might be able to tell from these snapshots, I was feelin’ mighty Feminine today. For my eye look, I started with a thin layer of Urban Decay Primer Potion in Eden applied with my fingers from my lash line to the brow bone, which I followed up by sweeping Midnight Cowboy Eyeshadow directly on top with a flat eyeshadow brush. Since Midnight Cowboy has gargantuan gobs o’ glitter, I used a makeup wipe to clean the fallout.

Then, with the very same eyeshadow brush, I patted Dark Horse Eyeshadow on my inner lid, and Ecstacy Eyeshadow on the outer, to give the eyes extra depth and color. After that, I blended the edges of both shades with a domed blending brush, drawing both slightly into the crease.

Next, to draw even MORE attention to my eyes, I lined my waterlines using the 24/7 Glide-On Eye Pencil in Zero that comes with the set, following up with Aquarius Eyeshadow, applied with an angled eye brush, for a light dash of color along my lower lash line.
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Meet Clinique’s Conservatively Sharp Milly Palette: She’s Pretty in Prints

January 25th, 2011 by Karen 53 Comments

clinique milly pretty in prints palette

Greetings and salutations, mon amie. I wanted to quickly show you the new Clinique Milly Pretty in Prints Palette ($36) in action.

clinique milly pretty in prints palette for spring 2011

What do ya think? I followed the tutorial that comes with the eye and cheek palette this afternoon, and the whole thing took only about 10 minutes to do.

clinique milly pretty in prints fotd tutorial

The palette comes with four shadows and a blush; the shadows contain just the right amount of pigment, and all of them are super easy to blend. Heck, I’d call the palette downright perfect if it wasn’t for the matte brown shade, which left mad fallout on my cheeks when I used it as a liner today (which is what the tutorial suggests).

As for the blush…I love it! It’s like a sheerer, less golden version of NARS Orgasm.

clinique milly pretty in prints palette with bag

clinique milly pretty in prints palette
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Clarins Neo Pastels and My Monday Face of the Day

January 24th, 2011 by Karen 34 Comments

Sooo, guess who’s procrastinating? 🙂 Yeah, I have about a billion things on my to-do list, but none of them are as much fun as makeup.

I put the new Clarins Neo Pastels Collection to work today for this here face of the day.

Clockwise from the lipstick on the left: Rouge Hydra Nude SPF6 Lipstick in 03 Pastel Beige, Blush Prodige in 02 Soft Peach and the Eye Quartet Mineral Palette

I loosely based the eye portion of the look on the Neo Pastel makeup tutorial here, and the edgy look of the black liner along the waterline is one of my favorite parts.
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Seeing the Dior Montaigne Soft Pink Design All-In-One Artistry Palette in Action

January 4th, 2011 by Karen 27 Comments

Dior Montaigne Soft Pink Design on Karen of Makeup and Beauty Blog

Today I took the brand spankin’ new Dior Soft Pink Design All-In-One Artistry Palette ($58) from the Dior Montaigne spring 2011 collection out for a spin using the little tutorial that comes with the palette as a guide…

I love it when products come with these things (sending positive reinforcement to all the companies out there) because they make looks as easy as 1-2-3.

Dior Montaigne Soft Pink Design eye step 1 base
Base

Dior Montaigne Soft Pink Design eye step 2 colour
Colour

Dior Montaigne Soft Pink Design eye step 3 shadow
Shadow

Dior Montaigne Soft Pink Design eye step 4 shine
Shine
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A Holiday Makeup Look from Tori and Rupert

December 24th, 2010 by Karen Leave a Comment

Written by Tori (and Rupert)

Dynamic beauty duo Tori and Rupert scour drugstore aisles and cosmetics counters looking for share-worthy beauty booty. Here’s Tori’s holiday look.

Happy Holidays from Tori and Rupert

Brrr… Baby it’s cold outside! It’s that time of year again, a time for gift-giving, parties and family get-togethers, which also means holiday makeup. Generally, I’m a sucker for sparkle and glitz, but over the holidays I have MULTIPLE excuses to sparkle even more often.

Here’s a holiday makeup look to get you in the mood. That is, if the spiked eggnog hasn’t done it yet. 🙂

My Holiday Makeup Look: Products I Used

MAC Eye Shadow in Honey Lust
NYX Eye Shadow in Rust
MAC Shadestick in Beige-ing
Kat Von d Liquid Liner in Romantico
MAC Lip Gelee in Resort Life
NARS The Multiple in Copacabana

How To Get the Look

Happy Holidays from Tori and Rupert: Eye Closeup

Eyes — Start by applying a shimmery primer. For this look, I used MAC Shadestick in Beige-ing because I like its gold undertones. Then, pat Honey Lust all over your eyelids, blending (slightly outward) Rust into the crease. Next (this part is optional), highlight your brow bone with a lighter beige.

Now, take your liquid liner, and draw out from the center of your eyelid, flicking it upwards for a cat eye effect.
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