Face

With These New Illuminating Face Powders, Milani Might Be Making MAC Sweat

February 22nd, 2012 by Karen 15 Comments

Milani Illuminating Face Powder (3)
Wearing Milani Face Powder n Hermosa Rose along my cheekbones and Beauty’s Touch on my cheeks

Bargain loving babes and/or fellow fans of the $28 MAC Pearlmatte Powders, these new Milani Illuminating Face Powders do a pretty good MAC impression for $9.49 each.

Designed for all skin types, they even multitask, and can be used as blushes, highlighters and bronzers that deliver a hint of color and glow, just like the pricier Pearlmattes.

And they’re available in three easy-to-wear shades…

Amber Nectar: a warm, peachy coral
Hermosa Rose: a peachy golden tan
Beauty’s Touch: a cool pink

Just look at those cute pans (it’s hard to go wrong with roses)! 🙂

Milani Illuminating Face Powder (1)
Clockwise from the powder on the left: Hermosa Rose, Beauty’s Touch and Amber Nectar

The soft glow I get from Milani’s powders reminds me again of the Pearlmattes. The finish is somewhere between a matte and a sheen, and I think the powders from MAC are a smidgen more pigmented and maybe a tad more matte.

Milani even rocked the house with the texture of these. They’re so buttery and soft that I can hardly believe they’re drugstore.

Milani Illuminating Face Powder (4)
Swatches from the left: Amber Nectar, Hermosa Rose and Beauty’s Touch

Milani Illuminating Face Powder (2)
Wearing Hermosa Rose along my cheekbones and Beauty’s Touch on my cheeks
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You Know What They Say About This Cremeblend Blush From the Shop MAC Collection (They Say It Restores Dazzle!)

February 21st, 2012 by Karen 32 Comments

mac restores dazzle (1)

NOVATO, CA — MAC Restores Dazzle! More at 11…

LOL! I’m lovin’ that exclamation mark at the end of this plummy Cremeblend blush’s name. It’s just so forceful and emphatic! — but it also sets some pretty high expectations.

In its pan, like sangria; on my skin, a sheer plum. MAC Cremeblend Blush in Restores Dazzle! ($20) applies surprisingly sheer.

More importantly, does it dazzle?

I think it does. 🙂 A few pats here, a little blending there, and I swear I look a little brighter, even after a bout of insomnia.

A few other things that restore dazzle…

A cute new pair of shoes I can actually walk in
Fresh roots and highlights after a visit to the salon
An afternoon of cheesecake, The Golden Girls re-runs and some time alone with my dog-eared copy of Twilight

One of three limited edition Cremeblend blushes from the Shop MAC collection, Restores Dazzle! looks right at home with the purple eyeshadows and lip colors I’ve been loving lately (like MAC Shop & Drop and YSL Pourpre Preview).

mac restores dazzle (2)
Wearing Cremeblend Blush in Restore Dazzle! on my cheeks and the colors from the MAC Eye Shadow X4 quad in Shop & Drop on my eyes
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Get Ready for More Bare Escentuals bareMinerals Blushes and Bronzers This March

February 17th, 2012 by Karen 17 Comments

bareMinerals Ready Bronzer Next month Bare Escentuals bareMinerals, a line primarily known for their mineral eyeshadows, blushes and foundations in loose form, presses further ahead into the world of pressed makeup within pans and compacts.

It begs the question: are you ready?

Last fall the line leapt into pressed powders, introducing a new family of eyeshadow duos and quads called Ready, and they’re expanding the Ready brood this spring with 13 new blushes and bronzers.

Using only natural colorants and the brand’s proprietary blend of positively-charged sea minerals, antioxidants and other ingredients known to deliver anti-aging benefits for softer, smoother skin, the Ready Blushes ($22 each) and Ready Bronzers ($24 each) might look like a powder, but they feel like a cream.

bareMinerals says they devised a way to press these products into a solid while preserving benefits normally lost through conventional methods. Using cold-pressed carrot oil for the bronzers and cold-pressed camellia flower oil for the blushes, the solids retain their shape, and the process doesn’t require other binders, fillers, parabens or harsh chemicals.

I’ve yet to really explore these new blushes and bronzers, but the blushes are supposed to swirl on softly for a naturally tinted look and build easily into a brighter flush, and the bronzers are supposed to simulate the effortless glow of an afternoon spent soaking up the sun.

Yes, please. I like. 🙂

Here’s a brief look at three of the 10 new Ready blushes and two of the three bronzers. Full reviews coming soon.

Ready Blush in The Faux Pas

Ready Blush in The Indecent Proposal

Ready Blush in The Secret’s Out

Ready Bronzer in The High Dive
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I’m Hungry for More From L’Oreal Magic Smooth SoufflÃ© Blush

February 17th, 2012 by Karen 14 Comments

Loreal Magic Smooth Souffle Blush

Depending on how ravenous I am at any given moment, I’m enjoying this trend of makeup that looks good enough to eat. Like the new L’Oreal Magic Smooth SoufflÃ© Blushes ($12.99 each). If I didn’t know better…I’d think they were dessert!

Available in four potted shades that look like mousse (the kind you order after dinner) in their serving platters/pots, they feel firm and dense when I tap them with a finger, and yet feel smooth, dry and something like silicone when I get them on my cheeks.

I’ve been wearing two of the four shades this week — Celestial, a cool matte pink, and Angelic, a light matte peach — and both produce a faint flush of very natural-looking cheek color, especially in pics.

loreal magic smooth souffle blush (1)
Celestial (left) and Angelic (right)

loreal magic smooth souffle blush (2)
Swatches of Angelic (left) and Celestial (right)
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Paul & Joe’s Matte Pressed Powder in Cinnamon Should Come With a Warning Label: “May Seduce CCLs”

February 16th, 2012 by Karen 24 Comments

Attention, makeup companies and packaging designers: printing pics of sad, doe-eyed kittens on the cover of cosmetics compacts WORKS.

Hey, it worked for me. 🙂

I’m finicky about my face powders, and when I find a few I like, I tend stick with ’em. These days, I’ve been turning to the MAC Studio Careblends and Tarte Pressed Powders, but I physically couldn’t resist trying Paul & Joe’s Matte Pressed Powder in Cinnamon 001.

This near-translucent $42 face powder padded on the scene with dainty little kitten paws. Part of the Paul & Joe Kitten Collection, it’s become one of the more elusive kitties in the release, or so I’m hearing through the grapevine (apparently, I haven’t been the only makeup fiend to fall for this packaging). I adopted mine from beautyhabit.com, but when I checked back later, it was no longer listed there.

The feline fun doesn’t stop with the cute cat on the outside of the compact, either. There’s also a paw print powder puff in the compact and the silhouette of a kitty on the pan.

Tabs feels that he deserves some of the credit for the idea… After all, the model, as Tabs put it, has “some junk in da trunk” — an obvious indicator of Tabs’ influence in the world of plus-size kitty models.

paul & joe kitten collection matte pressed powder
Matte Pressed Powder in Cinnamon 001

paul & joe kitten collection matte pressed powder
Matte Pressed Powder in Cinnamon 001
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There’s a Shimmery Bed of Roses Beneath the Gobs of Glitter That Greet LancÃ´me La Roseraie Illuminating Smooth Powder

February 15th, 2012 by Karen 17 Comments

Lancome La Roseraie

“Look at you! Rockin’ the glitter.”

Ever notice how some makeup looks are reliable conversation starters? — like neon nails, bright red lips and almost anything with glitter. They’re almost guaranteed to get people chatting, no matter where you are.

I came across one the other day when I took LancÃ´me’s La Rosaire Illuminating Smooth Powder ($42) out for a spin.

El Hub was the first to notice when he kissed me bye before leaving for work. “Is that glitter on your cheeks?” he asked.

“Why, yes,” I replied, impressed and surprised. “It is. And now you have some on your shirt.” 🙂

Then, during a mid-morning Starbucks break, my favorite barista handed me a soy chai tea latte and said, “Ooh! You’re so sparkly today.”

I think Tabs even noticed because he shot me a look that said, “Disco tonight? We must be hitting the club after dinner because you’re workin’ that glitter.”

If there’s one thing the glitter in this limited edition face and cheek powder isn’t, it’s subtle.

At least initially.

La Rosaire (“Bed of Roses”) is one of 11 pieces in LancÃ´me’s Roseraie des Delices Spring 2012 collection for eyes, cheeks and lips. The collection features two eye palettes, two eyeliners, a face/cheek powder, three lipsticks and three lip glosses.

The light peachy pink star burst design behind the rose on the pan contains an overspray of concentrated conversation-starting glitter. Once you work through the overspray, the glitter subsides, revealing a sheer peachy pink powder with what I feel is a very pretty sheen.

The rose design decorating the lower half of the pan also has an overspray, this one a cool-toned rosy pink with a sheen; beneath it resides a slightly warmer peachy pink with a subtle shine.

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Swatches of the overspray on the left; swatches of the powders beneath the overspray on the right
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Sometimes, Swipe-and-Go MAC Mineralize Concealer Is the Way to Go for Me

February 13th, 2012 by Karen 37 Comments

Even when I’m just running a quick errand out to Target for dish soap or to Petco for takeout (Tabs usually orders the Fancy Feast Tuna or Turkey in gravy), I always try to remember to apply at least a smidgen of concealer before I leave the house.

Because you just never know… That friendly person in line at the Starbucks might hold the keys to your dream job; you might even cross paths with that dumb@ss turd-monkey who broke your heart in high school (FYI: you were always way too cute for him).

Because “you never know” is a mantra of mine, I like to keep a couple of different swipe-and-go concealers close. Lately, one of them has been MAC’s new liquid Mineralize Concealer ($19).

It’s perfect whenever I don’t have a lot of time to deal with brushes and buffing, like when I’m in a rush to make it to yoga class or to Starbucks for emergency tea/coffee — basically, times when all I really need/want is a little makeup to take the edge off, so to speak.

And MAC Mineralize is like concealer stretchy pants, and by that I mean it’s comfy. 🙂 It might not last as long, look as formal, or provide as much coverage as MAC Pro Longwear, so it’s not something I wear often to take pics, but I think it’s comfortable, lightweight and brightening, and there are times when those really hit the spot.

If you like MAC Select Moisturecover, that might be another reason to give Mineralize a try. I find them both to have similar formulas — moisturizing, with semi-opaque coverage — but Mineralize seems a tad more concentrated and pigmented to me. Because of that I think it offers a little more coverage and seems to latch on to my skin a bit better.

Just as another point of difference, Mineralize has a brush tip applicator, versus the doe foot that comes with Select Moisturecover.

A few other observations about MAC Mineralize Concealer…

I like that it steers clear of my fine lines and doesn’t stand out or appear heavy on my skin
I find that I have reapply about halfway through the day, but a little does goes a long way, so this particular tube should last me a few months (more or less)
Available in the following 15 shades: NW15, NW20, NW25, NW30, NW35, NW40, NW45, NW50, NC15, NC20, NC30, NC35, NC42, NC45 and NC5

MAC Mineralize Concealer swatches from the elft: NC20, NW25, NC35 and NC42
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Go From Rushing to Ready in 10 Minutes Or Less With MAC Vera’s New Pearlmatte Powders

February 10th, 2012 by Karen 17 Comments

mac flower fantasy
Wearing MAC Pearlmatte Powder in Flower Fantasy on my cheeks

MAC Vera Pearlmatte Powders Maybe it’s a lunar phase or astrological anomaly — the unfortunate kind, like two planets in simultaneous retrograde (wait, is that even possible?) — but whatever the reason, I’ve been running behind every morning this week.

I haven’t had more than 10 minutes to put on my makeup before I’ve had to rush out the door to make it to one place or another on time…

I haven’t taken it lying down, though! In my push not to be tardy, I’ve been grabbing a handful of products over and over again, including the new MAC Vera Pearlmatte Powders ($28 each), of which there are two, both of them limited edition and available now as part of the MAC Vera collection.

Each one contains three powders in matte and pearl finishes. The colors can be worn separately, or swirled together and used as a sheer highlighter/blush with a slight sheen.

Since they’re both fairly sheer, I don’t have to worry about blending out the edges (not much, at least), and I love the whisper of color they lend to my cheeks.

Makes them great for no-makeup makeup looks. 🙂

Pearlmatte Face Powder in Flower Fantasy, $28

Pearlmatte Face Powder in Sunday Afternoon, $28
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