Face

Chic Cheeks Are MAC-ing a Comeback: The MAC Tres Cheek Blushes Are Back

March 28th, 2014 by Karen 27 Comments

Three of the four MAC Tres Cheek 2014 Blushes

You might remember these MAC cuties from waaaay back in the day — like, um, 2012, LOL!

MAC quietly re-released four of the six shades from 2012’s fabulous Tres Cheek collection of blushes on maccosmetics.com this week.

Remember Tres Cheek? It had some majorly memorable shades. Smooth textures, fresh colors and some of the most natural-looking, wearable shades I’d seen from the line.

If ya missed them the first time around, here’s a second chance to grab bright pink Lovecloud, lavender Full of Joy, reddish orange Modern Mandarin and/or bright bluish pink Peony Petal ($20 each) while they’re available online. They’ll also be coming to counters April 3.

MAC Modern Mandarin — Modern Mandarin Blush

MAC Full of Joy Blush — Full of Joy Blush

[Continue reading…]

Yelling at the Telly While Wearing the New Too Faced Cosmetics Bonjour Soleil Bronzing Wardrobe Palette

March 25th, 2014 by Karen 41 Comments

Too Faced Bonjour Soleil Palette — Oh, no, she didn’t!

If you’re going to yell at your TV for any reason, be it to protest the nonsense that occurs on those Bravo reunion shows (“Leave Lisa Vanderpump alone!”), or to scream “NO! DON’T DO IT!” at that one character in that movie who goes down into the basement where the killer clown is hiding, even though everybody with any common sense at all knows that’s where the killer clown is hiding, I highly recommend that you do so while wearing bronzer.

Here, I’m screaming at the movie The Stepfather while wearing the new Too Faced Bonjour Soleil Bronzing Wardrobe palette, which, by the way, does all sorts of cool sh*t.

More recent Too Faced blog-ery…

99 Mantras, and a Review of the New Too Faced A La Mode Eye Palette

Too Faced Summer 2014 Pics and Swatches: It’s Summer in Saint-Tropez

I’m Jerrod Blandino of Too Faced Cosmetics, and This Is My Makeup Life

It sculpts cheeks, warms your overall complexion and highlights skin for that “I’m dancing in the middle of a Miami street in booty shorts and a crop-top” J.Lo glow.

The Too Faced Bonjour Soleil Summer Bronzing Wardrobe palette

Heck, even just holding the sassy striped package makes me feel a little better.

I really do believe in the positive power of surrounding yourself with beautiful things — even the littlest, most frivolous things like makeup.

[Continue reading…]

Chisel Those Cheeks! Contouring Made Easy With the New NARS Contour Blushes

March 19th, 2014 by Karen 47 Comments

Wearing (and holding) the new NARS Contour Blush in Paloma

I don’t want to divulge too much, because I like being mysterious, and I want RyGos to continue thinking that I wake up with these chiseled cheekbones (Haha! Not). Better to have him believe they were sculpted by Michelangelo than have him know they were actually contoured by NARS.

I mean, you already know so many of my secrets — what’s one more? Like, you know that I hide a Mini Babybel Cheese in my purse (because you never know when the urge to eat a small cheese wheel will hit you. #imjustsaying). You know that I love Bravo. You know that I am obsessed with makeup, Trader Joe’s and cats. You also know that one of my legs is slightly longer than the other.

Wait — you didn’t know that? Oops, I thought you did. 🙂

I guess what I’m trying to say is this: being as how you already know so much about me, what’s a little covert contouring talk between friends?

The secret to the chiseled cheeks I’m currently sporting is the new NARS Contour Blush in Paloma, one of three $42 contouring powder blush duos recently added to the permanent line.

Babybel Cheese, yo! — Um…is that cheese in your purse?

Each of the duos has — no surprise here — two shades, one darker than the other. The darker shade is used to define and add depth to the face, while the lighter shades is used for highlights.

Paloma, the one I wear, is the middle-of-the-road option.

Olympia, the lightest of the three duos, has an ivory and a rose; Paloma, a pinkish beige and a deep rose; and Gienah, the darkest duo, houses a honey and an amber.

[Continue reading…]

Ask MBB: Makeup Tools of the Trade for Natural-Looking Contouring and Definition

March 18th, 2014 by Karen 23 Comments

I usually like to wear a little MAC Give Me Sun Mineralize Skinfinish or Guerlain Terra Nerolia Bronzer — just to add some warmth to my skin after applying foundation — and to get a very soft, natural contour.

Here’s what I typically do to contour in this video at the 10:21 mark…

I like that way just fine, but lately I’ve been wanting to try something different — a more defined, contoured look that’s a bit more sculpted, but not scary.

In this episode of Ask MBB, MAC Senior Artist Victor Cembellin weighs in with a few products and tools to get a sculpted, contoured effect that still looks natural.

Products mentioned…

Eek, I am all over that angled brush! It’s at the top of my mile-long MAC wish list.
[Continue reading…]

Get a Fabulously Faux Glow With Guerlain’s New Terracotta Joli Teint Foundation

March 17th, 2014 by Karen 19 Comments

Guerlain Terracotta Joli Teint — Working my heart-shaped sunnies and a faux bronze glow with Guerlain’s new Terracotta Joli Teint

Taking bronzer to “the next level” (air quotes!).

Raise your hand if you’re a bronzer enthusiast — also known as someone who wears bronzer almost daily, hook or crook, without fail.

I am totally raising my hand right now. 🙂

Guerlain’s new Joli Teint was made for you.

Like a lightweight liquid bronzing foundation, or maybe a primer for your bronzer, it couples SPF 20 sun protection with a warm-toned matte finish and a flexible formula you can wear sheer or built up for more coverage.

Comparable to sunshine in a tube, this magical, lightweight fluid gives skin an instant touch of summer, leaving behind a perfectly radiant glow. Used on its own or paired with Terracotta Powder for buildable color, there is no easier and healthier way to create the perfect customizable tan for every complexion. Terracotta Joli Teint has a feather-light texture that glides on, leaving an incredibly fine and silky veil over the skin. It contains nourishing natural ingredients which counter the visible effects of fatigue, reviving dull skin for a radiant, even complexion. .
–Guerlain PR

Available in five shades — Light, Natural, Medium, Dark and Ebony — it can be worn all by itself as a standalone foundation, or combined with bronzer, which is the way it was designed to be used.

I like it both ways.

The shades are warmer and darker than the shades in Guerlain’s mainstream foundation line, Lingerie de Peau, giving your faux glow an extra boost, like a bronzing support tool.

Wear a little for sheer coverage, or build up layers for more.

Guerlain Terracotta Joli Teint swatches in Natural — Guerlain Terracotta Joli Teint swatches of Natural on my NC42 skin — that’s unblended on the left and blended on the right

Natural, the shade I’ve been wearing, has noticeably warm/orangey bronze undertones, and I like the way it partners with Guerlain Terra Nerolia, the bronzer I’ve been hooked on since last summer. It even has the same wonderful tiara flower scent.

At $53 a tube, it’s not budget by any means, but at least it performs. It goes on smoothly (no patchiness, not even on my dry spots, yay!), doesn’t settle into my exuberant pores, stays put all day long, and best of all, feels lighter than a feather on my skin — almost like nothing at all.

I wore it both days last weekend with a bit of bronzer and some blush, and my pores could breathe. I didn’t feel like I was suffocating under a layer of foundation.

I do a single pump on the back my hand, and then, using either clean fingers or a foundation brush, stipple it on my cheeks just under my cheekbones where I need the coverage. Then, I run whatever remains on the brush along my jawline, down the bridge of my nose and across my forehead.

By that point, if I feel like I need more coverage, I’ll do an extra “half pump,” patting and blending that to build up the level of coverage on my cheeks.

Then I followup with bronzer.

[Continue reading…]

See Subtle Signs of Lovely Light With $70 Chanel Jardin De Camelias Illuminating Powder

March 13th, 2014 by Karen 14 Comments

If this were a PowerPoint slide about Chanel’s $70 Jardin De Camelias Illuminating Powder, the key bullet points would be…

Super pretty in the pan
Super subtle on the skin
Super expensive

Available now exclusively online as part of the new 11-piece Jardin de Camelias collection, Chanel Jardin de Camelias Illuminating Powder, it’s a sheer ivory highlighting powder with a dainty pinkish rose opalescence.

The super subtle shimmer and rosy pink tint are probably easier to see in real life, where they create a delicate halo of light that dances off the skin, illuminating it all day long.

Chanel Jardin De Camelias Illuminating Powder swatch — Chanel Jardin De Camelias Illuminating Powder Swatch

[Continue reading…]

When Two Become One: Mixing Foundation Shades To Get a Match

March 12th, 2014 by Karen 40 Comments

Wearing Dolce & Gabbana Perfect Luminous Liquid Foundation in Amber and NARS Sheer Glow Foundation in Stromboli — It’s a match! Here I’m wearing a mix of Dolce & Gabbana Perfect Luminous Liquid Foundation in Amber and NARS Sheer Glow Foundation in Stromboli…

I held on to it for many years — the hope that somewhere out there was a bottle of foundation with my name on it. A perfect match for my skin tone in a perfect formula.

Yeah, I don’t know what I was thinking! 🙂

It sounds kind of crazypants now that I think about it — like I was going to just walk up to a counter and see a shade called “KAREN (THE CRAZY CAT LADY ONE FROM NOVATO).”

LOL!

Well, at least things are better now than they were in the ’80s and early ’90s. There weren’t a whole lot of foundation options back then if your skin had a little color.

There are huge shade ranges nowadays and many more brands, which is super cool because I have found shades that get really close to my skin tone, but I’ve still yet to find a perfect match off the shelf.

I’m guessing that I’m not the only person facing this issue.

But you know what? There is hope (cue Disney theme song: “Somewhere, out there!”). If you’ve been unable to find a perfect match, you might be able to make one yourself.

I’m talking about mixing, babe. Mixing foundations.

And you can do it in a bunch of different ways. There are some companies that will actually custom mix a color for you, like over at prescriptives.com with their online beauty advisor chats. They ask you a series of questions over a webcam to create a custom color just for you.

Or, you can do what I do, which is more random, but when you get it right you feel awesome! — like a foundation ninja/MacGyver.

I highly recommend it, and if you decide to give it a try, here are a couple of different approaches you can take…

1. Mix two shades (one darker than the other) of your favorite foundation formula

This one’s the easiest and probably most obvious way, where you mix two shades of the same foundation or tinted moisturizer formula, one that you know you like. I do this all the time right on the spot, usually on the back of my hand, while I do my makeup with NARS Pure Radiant Tinted Moisturizer or MAC Face & Body Foundation.

MAC Face & Body Foundations in C4, C5 and C6

I usually keep two bottles in my main makeup bag — one lighter than my skin tone, or like my skin tone in the middle of the winter; and one darker than my skin tone, or closer to what my coloring is when I have a little tan.

Then it’s magic cauldron time. I mix until I get a match, which usually takes a minute or two.

NARS Pure Radiant Tinted Moisturizers in St. Mortiz and Cuba

I’ll play with different ratios throughout the year, like maybe do three parts of the lighter shade and one part of the darker shade during winter, half and half in spring, then mostly the darker shade, with just a taste of the lighter shade, in summer.

[Continue reading…]

MAC Unsung Heroes: MAC Warm Soul Mineralize Blush

March 10th, 2014 by Karen 38 Comments

I love the way I feel with MAC Warm Soul Mineralize Blush on my cheeks…

I feel good, and by “good” I mean that feeling you get on a sunny day when you’re out walking in just jeans and a t-shirt, or “good,” like when you and a friend share dessert someplace on a lazy afternoon, and you both know each other so well that neither of you really feels the need to talk just to fill the space.

Comforting, natural and effortless. That’s how I feel with Warm Soul on my cheeks. It’s as if it was always meant to be there — like it was just waiting for me to find it, and when I did, the puzzle pieces fit.

Is it weird to feel this kind of connection with a golden beige powder blush?

If it is, I can’t say I care. 🙂

Warm Soul is the blush I’ve been waiting for — the one that works with errrrthing, that doesn’t get in the way of whatever eye or lip makeup I happen to be wearing, and yet has enough to stand on its own two legs when all I want to do that day is lightly fill in my brows, curl my lashes and apply a little concealer and gloss.

MAC Warm Soul Swatch on NC42 skin — Warm Soul on my NC42 skin

That’s how I wore it yesterday when El Hub and I made a last-minute Target run before The Walking Dead (which I thought was awesome, BTW).

I had less than five minutes to get ready. Only enough time for minimal makeup (“Brows, lashes, lips,” to quote Jeremy Renner) and to sweep Warm Soul on my cheeks.

Gotta love not having to do any elaborate blending or having to deal with any patchiness. Just a few swipes on each cheek, and it’s all good.

[Continue reading…]