Face

Rouge Bunny Rouge Blush Wand in Titian: This Barely-There Bunny Hops Away Like a Hare

August 27th, 2012 by Karen 35 Comments

rouge bunny rouge titian blush wand review

Have you ever tried explaining the idea of no-makeup makeup to your significant other? Did he (or she), like El Hub, drift off into space as you broke it down, bullet-point style? Did their eyes glaze over as you described, in painstaking detail, your quest to find a perfect barely-there blush in a no-makeup makeup color?

If so, I may have found something to help.

Rabbits.

In a manner of speaking.

Or singing. 🙂

Here comes Peter Tabbytail, hoppin’ down the bunny trail, and he’s carrying RBR’s Blush Wand in Titiaaaaan.

Rouge Bunny Rouge’s $34 Blush Wand in Titian isn’t exactly drugstore magic, but it’s capable of casting a spell or two.

The pricey, albeit perfectly natural-looking, peachy cream stick blush hopped on the scene eariler this summer with its cotton-tailed cousins in the Rouge Bunny Rouge Mistral Collection.

I swipe it straight from the stick on bare skin, or atop foundation and/or powder, and then blend out any visible edges with a finger.

Unfortunately, this bunny is also kinda skittish and disappears after about four hours…

Yup, it doesn’t last very long, at least not on my combination dry/oily skin, which means that it’s a good thing the packaging is so doggone cute and convenient.

rouge bunny rouge titian

rouge bunny rouge titian blush wand

rouge bunny rouge titian swatch
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The Perk-Up Artist Loves Giving Ladies a Lift: Benefit’s New Perk-Up Artist Complexion Corrector Palette Neutralizes, Covers and Conceals

August 23rd, 2012 by Karen 18 Comments

benefit perk-up artist

“Hey, baby, can I perk you up?”

No, seriously…I’m pretty sure I met that dude on the cover of Benefit’s new pocket-sized $30 Perk-Up Artist complexion corrector palette at a bar in San Francisco’s Financial District some years back.

benefit perk-up artist
Boom-chika-wah-wah!

This was pre-El Hub, so I may or may not have allowed him to buy me a mojito, LOL!

Pink hearts, Edwardian Script, a cheesy dude with aviator glasses and little plastic covers to protect the three creamy face perfecting products from drying out? Benefit always does packaging right.

So what do you get in this travel-friendly palette? Basically, Benefit’s Lemon Aid, Boi-ing and Eye Bright, each in pot form.

There’s Correct, a creamy yellow for neutralizing redness; Cover, a medium beige concealer to mask under-eye circles; and Brighten, a pale pink eye brightener to give tired eyes a lift (just apply in the inner corners of your eyes).

benefit perk-up artist

benefit perk-up artist
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The Long-Lasting LORAC Pro Powder Cheek Stains Lay Down Loads of Color

August 23rd, 2012 by Karen 25 Comments

lorac pro powder cheek stain rosy glow
LORAC PRO Powder Cheek Stain in Rosy Glow

I call ’em “The One Swipers,” the five new, awesomely pigmented LORAC PRO Powder Cheek Stains I mentioned yesterday but didn’t really describe, because they rarely have to be swiped twice. One swipe with one of these on my blush brush delivers natural-looking, flushed cheeks.

The $20 powder blushes, which just landed on LORAC counters, are also surprisingly easy to blend, considering how much pigment they pack, and last a whopping eight hours on me.

The only thing I’d add? Dilute, dilute, dilute — since these blushes lay down so much color. Wipe or tap your brush to remove the excess powder before applying.

With these, if you feel like your cheeks still look a little too bright even after diluting, try applying them with a fan brush instead. Fan brushes aren’t afraid of high pigment products and excel at laying down sheer layers of color.

LORAC PRO Powder Cheek Stain open
All five of the new LORAC Pro Powder Cheek Stains clockwise from the lower left: Coral Crush, Petal Pink, Plum Passion, Rosy Glow and Ruby Rouge

lorac pro powder cheek stain petal pink
LORAC PRO Powder Cheek Stain in Petal Pink

lorac pro powder cheek stain plum passion
LORAC PRO Powder Cheek Stain in Plum Passion
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Songbirds Sing, Gypsies Dance and Moonstones Shimmer on Becca Counters This Fall

August 23rd, 2012 by Karen 32 Comments

becca songbird mineral blush
Wearing Becca Shimmering Skin Perfector in Moonstone and Blush in Songbird

Why? Because it was the early 90s.

That’s what I say now when I think about some of the things I did back in my late teens and early 20s.

Matte makeup was all the rage, and I’d slip on my plaid, button-down shirt over a floral print dress and black leggings, blast my worn out Nevermind tape in the car on the way to school, slick MAC Paramount on my lips and attack the day!

My little makeup bag was filled with matte goodies, like eyeliner, eyeshadow and face powder (I hadn’t yet discovered blush), and almost all of it was in shades of brown, oy vey!

When makeup shelves and counters started twinkling with shimmery makeup later in the decade, it was a revelation! — like the first time I had a salad with blueberries in it from Panera Bread (so tasty!). Suddenly, the makeup universe opened up before me, revealing new looks and ideas I never knew existed.

becca gypsy songbird shimmering skin perfector in moonstone
Clockwise from the bottle on the left: Shimmering Skin Perfector in Moonstone ($41), Mineral Blush in Gypsy ($32) and Mineral Blush in Songbird ($32)

There’s just something about shimmery makeup that always puts a spring in my step. No doubt, I still lurves me my mattes, but sometimes I need the lift I get from shimmers, like when I feel like my skin looks a little blah, like when I have a cold or bad allergies, or when I’m just having a really rough day.

Sooner or later, though, there always comes a time when I have to get serious again, and out come the matte lipsticks.

This fall, Becca is introducing three new shimmery pieces built to add a little bounce to your step. 🙂

Shimmering Skin Perfector in Moonstone ($41)

This water-based pearly golden beige behaves as both a sheer liquid highlighter and a moisturizer, illuminating while moisturizing and diffusing uneven skin tone.

Becca also incorporated antioxidants, and broad-spectrum SPF 20+ to protect against 96% of UVA/UBD rays. Plus and plus.

But the shimmer is my favorite thing about it. The mica particles are almost imperceptibly fine, so the product doesn’t spotlight my pores as much as many other highlighters can.

Kinda pricey, but I love the results. When I layer it under NARS tinted moisturizer, I feel like I look 10 years younger! And so far it hasn’t broken me out (knock on wood).
MAKEUP AND BEAUTY BLOG RATING: A-

Mineral Blush in Gypsy ($32)

I’m a sucker for Becca’s baffling Mineral Blushes. How can they be so easy to blend and yet so pigmented at the same time?? Awesome!

And I love their approach to shimmer. It’s never too obvious. Just right.

Gypsy, a delicate neutral pink with golden pearl, gives a soft, natural glow to cheeks.

It may be a little too light for some darker damsels, but light-to-medium skin tones might just fall in love.
MAKEUP AND BEAUTY BLOG RATING: A

Mineral Blush in Songbird ($32)

With a name like Songbird, it had to be great. 🙂 A new addition to Becca’s Mineral Blush line, Songbird is a warm, heavily pigmented peach pink with golden pearl, and seeing as how I love warm, peachy pink blushes, I was hoping Becca would hit this one out of the park…

They did!

Brighter and more intense than Gypsy, I think it still finds a way to look natural. Nothing clownish here, and if you crave even more color from Songbird, it’s also buildable.
MAKEUP AND BEAUTY BLOG RATING: A+

becca gypsy mineral blush
Gypsy

becca songbird mineral blush
Songbird
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The New LORAC Pro Powder Cheek Stains and Wednesday Greetings

August 22nd, 2012 by Karen 87 Comments

LORAC PRO Powder Cheek Stain closed
The new LORAC Pro Blushes, $20 each; available now at Sephora

I sat down this morning intending to dish about the new LORAC Pro Powder Cheek Stains (5-second overview: fan-frickin’-tastic! Super pigmented, and yet easy to blend and surprisingly natural looking for something with an 8-hour wear time), but I just haven’t been able to concentrate…

LORAC PRO Powder Cheek Stain open
All five of the new LORAC Pro Powder Cheek Stains clockwise from the lower left: Coral Crush, Petal Pink, Plum Passion, Rosy Glow and Ruby Rouge

LORAC PRO Powder Cheek Stain swatches
Coral Crush, Petal Pink, Plum Passion, Rosy Glow and Ruby Rouge

My mind keeps wandering thousands of miles away…to my mom. She and my dad are visiting family in the Philippines right now, and I haven’t seen them in more than two months.

I’ve always lived within driving distance of them, so it’s weird being this far away for so long.

Me and my mom on Mother’s Day last May

Late last night Mom emailed to tell me that her mom, my grandmother, passed away over the weekend…

I posted a picture of her earlier this year. She was one of my glam grannies, the one who went to fashion school.

I didn’t know her very well because I was still a baby when my parents and I left the Philippines.

There were some letters and cards over the years, but my only clear memory of her was from the one time we met as adults. It was on a trip that my mom and I took to the Philippines in 2000.

Wow…I can’t believe that was 12 years ago.

I remember us driving out to the countryside, or “the province,” as my mom would say, and spending the afternoon with her family.

They prepared a huge lunch for us, and while we ate and chatted as best we could, with me not understanding the dialect spoken by my mom’s side of the family very well, my grandmother told us stories about my mom as a kid.

My granny was a tiny woman, small but tough, with a smile that lit up the room. When I met her, even though her face was lined with wrinkles, she was such a beauty.

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Topshop Blush in Flush, You’ve Got the Right Stuff, Baby

August 9th, 2012 by Karen 29 Comments

topshop blush in flush

I am a woman. A woman on a mission. Well, a woman on two missions.

The first is cat-related (of course). Tabs is furious — FURIOUS! — over the fact that Karl Lagerfeld’s cat, Choupette, has not one, but TWO personal maids.

I keep trying to tell Tabs that since both El Hub and I tend to all of his household cleaning and cooking needs, technically, it’s like we’re his “two maids,” but he’s not having that.

As you know, in the feline fashion world, one minute you’re in…and the next minute you’re staring at pics of a fluffy blue-eyed kitten hanging from a Chanel bag.

Appearances are everything.

So now he wants me to hire more “help.”

Aaaaaand these are the days of my life…

My second mission is more exciting. Why? Because it involves helping you discover one of the most universally flattering pink cream blushes I’ve come across this year.

Oh, and my favorite thing about it? It costs a lot less than two personal kitty maids! 🙂 Topshop’s $12 Blush in Flush is everything I like in a pink cream blush — natural-looking, long-lasting and universally flattering.

topshop blush in flush product shot

topshop blush in flush

Like Earth, this peachy pink blush also inhabits the “Goldilocks Zone,” where the color temperature is juuust right, nicely between cool and warm, so it should look great on a wide range of skin tones, and it has the faintest whisker kiss of sheen. It’s easy to sheer out for a dainty flush or build up for a bright spotlight of color, making it an option for pale beauties and darker damsels.
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The Mission Is a Glow With The New Sonia Kashuk Perfecting Translucent Illuminator

August 8th, 2012 by Karen 17 Comments

Sonia Kashuk Perfecting Translucent Illuminator

You know what would be really nice? I mean, besides a shirtless Alcide Herveaux baking me semi-sweet chocolate chip cookies from scratch in my kitchen.

No shirts for Alcide I know I was going somewhere with that…

Oh, yeah! 🙂 It would be really nice to have an extra hour every morning just to put on makeup. Then I could blend, pat, and smudge till my heart’s content without having to hurry (or hear El Hub yell from downstairs, “Babe! What are you doing?! We were supposed to leave the house 15 minutes ago!”).

Dare to dream, right?

The reality is usually closer to 10 minutes than an hour, and I have to make every one of those seconds count.

Sonia Kashuk understands. Her new $14.99 Perfecting Translucent Illuminator makes the most of makeup time, so you never have to leave the house without at least a little highlighter.

sonia kashuk perfecting translucent illuminator product shot

It’s a warm, peachy golden cream/gel highlighter with a light-reflecting shimmer that creates the look of flawless, fresh skin.

sonia kashuk perfecting translucent illuminator swatch
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TGIF and Two Tips to Get a Flawless Foundation Look

August 3rd, 2012 by Karen 21 Comments

Where’s Elliott, and can I get some Reese’s Pieces??

Um…I only just realized it, but in that picture up there, don’t I look like I’m trying to phone home with my foundation brush?

E.T. phone home! E.T. phone home! 🙂

All part of the process of getting close to that fetching flawless foundation look I like so much.

Speaking of E.T., poor little guy couldn’t take advantage of one of my favorite foundation tips for even skin tone — running a foundation brush over my ears (because he didn’t have much in the ear department).

It can really help if, say, your ears are a little sunburned or tan, like if you’ve been wearing your hair up and exposing your ears. Dusting them with a small amount of foundation can even things out a little more (just remember to remove your makeup from your ears at the end of the day).
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