Face

It’s Just The Barest Blush by The Estée Edit

July 26th, 2016 by Karen 16 Comments

estee edit barest blush coy coral — Wearing The Estée Edit Barest Blush in Coy Coral ($28, one of four shades)

I really hope I don’t drop one of these blushes by The Estée Edit because…

I have a penchant for dropping things. I don’t know why, but when I’m applying makeup, gravity always gets involved, and something usually lands on my foot (P.S., it usually hurts).
And I also have a feeling that if I were to drop one of these compacts, the precious pan inside it would break, triggering a loud WAHHH!

These silver sweethearts are called The Barest Blushes by The Estée Edit. They’re $28 each and available in four shades.

The packaging may look sturdy, but really, it’s not. It’s lightweight plastic and, truth be told, feels fairly flimsy. I fear these won’t be able to handle the rigors of my butterfinger life.

(Seriously, every single piece of makeup I own? — on the floor at least 20 times a day. Totally not kidding.)

Even so, what lives within these delicate darlings is pure gold, and that’s why I keep wearing ’em.

These aptly named blushes came out with the rest of The Estée Edit line earlier this year. The two shades I’ve been wearing the most — Coy Coral and Ember Glow — look completely natural. I’m talking about that heat-rushing-to-your cheeks kind of flush, and they’re totally spot-on if you like a natural cheek look.

Yes, if I were ever in a position where all of my goodies were hanging out and all eyes were on me (also known as “my nightmare”), my cheeks would probably turn a shade similar to Coy Coral. ?

These have a fine shimmery golden overspray on them that disappears after you’ve used them a few times and, not gonna lie, I don’t mind that they disappear, because I’ve been into matte, and low-level shine, cheeks lately.

estee edit barest blush ember glow — The Estée Edit Barest Blush in Ember Glow

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These Hourglass Vanish Seamless Finish Foundation Sticks Make Unevenness and Redness Go POOF!

July 20th, 2016 by Karen 31 Comments

It’s kind of amazing how far foundation has come in such a relatively short amount of time. There are so many products on counters now that are getting close to realistic-looking skin. I’m talking finishes and textures and colors and coverages that are virtually imperceptible, and all I have to say to that is “yay!” This is a trend worthy of an all-caps WOOT-WOOT.

These new $46 Hourglass Vanish Seamless Foundation Sticks are the latest realistic-looking foundations to jump into the ring, providing the coverage of a concealer, the maneuverability of a liquid and the weightlessness of a powder.

And that’s all great, but I also like how quick they can be used (roughly a minute or two). It’s like boom, boom, boom! — a little swipe here, a little swipe there, cheeks, nose, forehead, chin. Then blend that in with a brush for lovely, even-toned skin without any of that heaviness, or that caked-on nonsense where it feels like you’re wearing a mask.

hourglass vanish foundation before-after — From the left: bare skin, then a layer of Beige by itself, and then Beige worn with additional makeup

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The Day in Beauty Vol. 23: MAC Bangin’ Brilliant Blush…and One of the Best Movies of 2016!

July 19th, 2016 by Karen 15 Comments

mac bangin brilliant blushes — The five new MAC Bangin’ Brilliant Blushes ($16 each)

Why are the $16 MAC Bangin’ Brilliant Powder Blushes in eyeshadow pots?

For the life of me, I can’t figure it out. I’ve picked one of them up assuming it was a shadow at least half a dozen times. Like the matte red, Never Say Never? — call me crazy, but I kinda wanna put it in my crease.

I dunno… Sometimes I think red smokey eyes can look super cool, but maybe I’ve been spending too much time on Instagram lately.

LOL!

These are so bright and so juicy that they remind me of summer fruit.

Mmm… Watermelon…

These five new blushes have joined the MAC permanent line, along with the rest of the Bangin’ Brilliant band, and after spending the past few weeks with them, I think they compare well to my regular MAC daily blush musts, which are Gingerly and Blushbaby, at the moment, in terms of wear time (they last all day long) and blendability (although you do need to use them with the right tools, but I’ll get to that in a few).

Where they definitely differ is size, obvi, and intensity.

I don’t know how MAC did it, but they made these even MORE vibrant than the boldest and brightest MAC blushes around, which is really super cool. I just wish they came in the regular 0.21-oz. $22 MAC blush pans.

These may cost a little less at $16, but they’re also much smaller (0.05 ounces). Technically, though, since you’ll probably need to use so very little, a small pan like this could still last a year or two, depending on how often you wear it.

But that part of me that likes to buy toilet paper in bulk at Costco still wishes they were bigger, man.

mac bangin brilliant blush swatches — From the left: MAC Never Say Never, News Flash, Bright Response, Bright Pink and Saucy Miss

Lately I’ve been liking very minimal cheek color, so because these are so intense, and because the pans are on the smaller side (which makes it kind of hard to load up a regular-sized blush brush with them…but really, I probably wouldn’t use a blush brush with them anyway because I only need to use a tiny amount, and a big brush head would be excessive), I use a small duo fibre face brush with them instead.

I like the MAC 199 Small Duo Fibre Face Brush ($35). It’s small and fits these pans better than a big blush brush does. I just lightly swirl the brush head in one of the pans, tap most of it off, then buff, ever-so-gently, like whisker kisses on my cheeks.

Then I grab the biggest powder brush I can find and gently run that over my cheeks to slightly take the edge off. The end result looks very natural.

Since these are so bright, I assumed I would look like a resident of crazy clown town, but that totally wasn’t the case! I’ve been wearing the orange shade, Bright Response, on the regular, and it’s completely doable.

But hey, if you are all about the “too much,” that’s cool too. You can easily get there with these blushes.

mac bright response blush — Wearing MAC Bright Response

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The New NARS Sculpting Multiples: Twice as Nice and Coming Soon to Sephora

July 18th, 2016 by Karen 15 Comments

The new $39 NARS Sculpting Multiples are twice as nice, because you get, not one, but two shades in each stick — two shades of creamy NARS Mutiple goodness, which you can wear on your eyes, your cheeks, your lips, or to sculpt and highlight yo’ face.

A regular single NARS Mulitple stick also sells for $39, so these are double-your-pleasure duos.

One of the shades in each duo is a lighter shade for highlighting, and the other is a darker shade for contouring.

I’m not really a big contour-er (is that a word?), but if you are, that’s what the darker shades are for. Me? I’m more about the highlight (although I will also play with the countour shades too). 🙂

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Tom Ford Fall 2016 Orchid Collection Nightbloom Powder in Velvet Bloom and Velvet Orchid Lip Color

July 5th, 2016 by Karen 24 Comments

tom ford velvet bloom — Tom Ford Fall 2016 Orchid Collection Nightbloom Powder in Velvet Bloom ($80)

Is this jewelry, or is this makeup? — because sometimes with Tom Ford I just can’t tell!

Do wear it on my face, or do I dangle it from a chain and rock it as a statement necklace? I gotta hand it to Tommy-boy for nailing the whole luxury aesthetic. He’s got it down pat, especially when it comes to limited edition packaging.

Here’s a look at two of the lush and tasty (and expensive) purple and gold tidbits in Tom’s new Fall 2016 Orchid Collection.

The new nine-piece limited edition fall release (yup, fall!) just launched online July 1, and it arrives at Tom Ford counters this August. It’s inspired by Tom Ford’s Black Orchid Eau de Parfum, his first fragrance.

And fragrance plays a big part in the launch, as five of the nine pieces are perfumes, while the other four — two lipsticks and two blushes — are the goodies you can wear on your face.

The Tom Ford Fall 2016 Orchid Collection includes…

Black Orchid Lip Color ($60)

Velvet Orchid Lip Color ($60)

Nightbloom Powder in Black Bloom ($80)

Nightbloom Powder in Velvet Bloom ($80)

Black Orchid Solid Perfume ($190)

Velvet Orchid Solid Perfume ($190)

Black Orchid Eau de Parfum ($115)

Velvet Orchid Eau de Parfum ($115)

Orchid Soleil Eau de Parfum ($120)

I’m a “smoky eye till I die” kinda gal, so I always look forward to the dramatic eye pencils, eyeshadows and all of that fun schtuff I’m used to seeing for fall. So I’m a little bummed that this release doesn’t include any eye makeup for me to lust after.

tom ford velvet orchid — Tom Ford Orchid Collection Velvet Orchid Lip Color ($60)

Strangely, neither of these two pieces here — pearlescent rosy plum Velvet Orchid Lip Color ($60) and sheer, cool-toned pink Nightbloom Powder in Velvet Bloom ($80) — give me that same visceral desire that I usually feel for Tom Ford’s products.

Like the Velvet Orchid Lip Color? Yeah, it has all the hallmarks of a dreamy TF lippy, with its deliciously even application throughout, in and around the curves of my lips (none of that patchy nonsense!), its fabulously lighter-than-air formula, and yeah, the color, which is something I can totally see myself wearing in fall, but I dunno… I guess I was hoping for more.

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The NARS 413 BLKR Cheek & Lip Palette

June 21st, 2016 by Karen 24 Comments

Another lovely day, another lovely NARS cheek palette.

Whoops! I misspoke. I meant to say, “another lovely NARS cheek and lip palette,” because the new NARS 413 BLKR Cheek & Lip Palette doesn’t only contain blushes. It also comes with a gorgeous matte lip pencil.

So what is heck is a 413 BLKR? Is it a secret pager code, or the code to a hidden door at NARS headquarters, where if you type it on the keypad, François Nars answers the door and says, “Bonjour ma chère! Have a macaron, and let me do your makeup, you gorgeous girl”?

Um…no, although that would be dope, wouldn’t it?

413 BLKR is the physical address of the NARS flagship store in New York, and it’s also the name of a special collection of NARS products inspired by New York.

The NARS 413 BLKR Cheek & Lip Palette also contains three brand new cheek colors and, if you have a thing for rosy, plummy tones, you just might freak out. But in a good way.

Starting from the left, there’s a light opalescent pinky rose blush that can also double as a highlighter on darker skin tones, then a mid-toned satiny rose with hints of plum and gold, then a satiny deep plum, and finally, on the far right — sigh! — good old golden tan Laguna. Because, obvs, it just wouldn’t be a NARS blush palette without Laguna up in the mix…

Side note: The cheek powders in this palette have that traditional NARS powder formula, unlike the formula of the powders in the Dual-Intensity Palette I reviewed yesterday.

So these blushes aren’t as compressed into their pans as those Dual Intensity Blushes, and you should see more powder particles partying (moving) when you swipe your brush atop the pans.

As you know, Laguna has been around since the Cretaceous Period (can anybody even remember a time before Laguna?), and the 413 BLKR Velvet Matte Lip Pencil has been kickin’ it old-school since 2012, so the fresh and summery rose and plum blushes are the new recruits.

If you wear many rosy purples, plums or cooler-toned hot pink lip colors, these cheek colors should go really well with any of them. I bet you’d get a lot of mileage out of this palette.

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Reflections on the Eminently Blend-able $59 NARS Dual-Intensity Cheek Palette

June 20th, 2016 by Karen 28 Comments

narsissist dual intensity cheek palette — NARSissist Dual-Intensity Cheek Palette shades from the left in I Soft Tulle, II Damask with Gold Sheen, III Peony and IV Titian

Mirror, mirror on the wall…

OK, I was about two seconds away from quoting De La Soul right there.

Where was I going with this?

Oh, yeah! Mirror, mirror on the wall, who’s the cheekiest NARSissist of them all?

Why, it’s you, my dear, because when you marvel at the NARSissist Dual-Intensity Cheek Palette packaging, you see yourself. 🙂 You’re the star because there’s a mirror right there on the packaging.

You can use it to check your teeth for bits of food, or stare at your gorgeous mug all day long. It’s up to you.

I mean, it’s just a mirror, but it never hurts to have an extra mirror around, ya know? As long as you don’t get so caught up in your reflection that you forget to eat (see: Narcissus).

Anyways, enough prattle! Have you noticed that NARS has been churning out palettes like WHOA for the past few years? With old-school NARS, it was all about the individual pieces from their limited edition collections, along with an occasional palette sprinkled in here and there, but somewhere along the way they became all about the palettes, which is also cool.

This one is new and arrives July 1st at NARS boutiques and online at the NARS website, and then at Sephora and NARS counters in department stores August 1st.

It’s $59 and holds four fresh, new Dual-Intensity Blushes, with a highlighter, a blush and two contouring shades. From left to right, you’ve got Soft Tulle, Damask with Gold Sheen, Peony and Titian. And on the back of palette, the blushes are named with Roman numerals — I, II, III and IV.

The thing about the Dual-Intensity Blushes is that they’re kind of, like, packed down…so when you run your brush across them, your brush doesn’t kick up a bunch of big ol’ powder grains, like what happens with most powder products. The powders are very finely milled and smooth.

narsissist dual intensity cheek palette damask — Wearing I Soft Tulle on my upper cheek bones and II Damask on my cheeks

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How I Strobe With Pur Strobe/Highlight Palettes

June 16th, 2016 by Adia Goss 20 Comments

If you’ve read some of my posts, then you probably know that I LIVE for a good highlight. I am all about that glow! — whether it’s super intense or a bit more subtle.

I’ve been looking forward to trying these two strobe/highlight palettes from PUR Cosmetics since the very first time I heard about them. I’ve been a fan of the brand since I discovered their Hydrafluid Water Serum Foundation.

First up is the Moonlight Glow Strobe Palette, which is the lighter, cooler-toned of the two. From left to right, the colors are Twilight, Lunar and Eclipse.

pur-strobe-palette-moonlight-glow — The PUR Cosmetics Moonlight Glow Strobe Palette

pur-strobe-palette-moonlight-glow-swatches — Swatches of the PUR Moonlight Glow Strobe Palette (L to R): Twilight, Lunar and Eclipse

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