Makeup and Beauty Blog | Makeup Reviews, Swatches and How-To Makeup
A beauty blog blooming with fresh makeup reviews, swatches and beauty tips from your friendly neighborhood beauty addict
Woo hoo, congrats to my girl SJP! On Tuesday she and hubby Matthew Broderick welcomed twin girls Marion Loretta Elwell and Tabitha Hodge Broderick to the family.
I wonder if the lil’ ones will grow up to be as fashionable as their mom. 🙂
Loading ...Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,
Karen
I’m not sure exactly when it happened or what I did to deserve it, but seven long, wiry hairs have sprouted up on each of my big toes.
It’s as if I have El Hub’s feet attached to my legs!
I used to think of my feet as pretty darn cute. I was always a hairy Sasquatch everywhere else, sure, but my toes had been gloriously fur free.
Cartoon representation
Shaving them off seems kind of weird to me, ya know? I shave my legs all the time, but for some reason I can’t wrap my head around shaving the hair on my toes.
What should I do? If you have hairy tootsies, do you shave, pluck or wax?
Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,
Karen
Rise and shine, morning glories. TGIF!
We’re narrowing things down with this second Beyonce hairstyle poll, which includes the two top vote getters from the first poll a few days ago.
Girlfriend’s rocked way more hairstyles than I thought… Whether it’s a different color, texture or style, she’s never kept the same look for long.
We might have to make this series a Beyonce hair trilogy, LOL!
Loading ...Does anyone else get a young Mariah Carey vibe from style No. 4?
Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,
Karen
Not even 30 yet (!), Houston’s own Beyoncé Giselle Knowles (born September 4, 1981) already has more than 118 million records sold to date (combined solo career and Destiny’s Child). Younger than all of them, that puts her within striking distance of iconic recording artists like The Rolling Stones, Madonna, Pink Floyd and Mariah Carey.
source source
All that, and her career’s burning hotter than ever. She has more top tens than any other female recording artist this decade and just came in fourth on Forbes’ list of the 100 Most Powerful Celebrities of 2009, behind Angelina Jolie, Oprah and Madonna!
Not bad, Sasha Fierce.
Her look is always changing, whether it’s a tall beehive for a film role, long with big curls, straight with highlights, medium-length with tight curls or even bright blonde, she never keeps the same hairstyle for long (I’ll take the top voted styles from this poll and pit them against a second set of Beyonce’s hairstyles in Part 2 of this poll).
Loading ...Do you have a favorite Beyonce song? Right now this one’s mine! 🙂
Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,
Karen
Heya, ladies. How was your day? What was the highlight of your Friday?
I’ve been sort of out of it today… I spent way too much time in Photoshop trying to design those pink and green thumbs for the MAC Naked Honey Review Roundup post this afternoon.
Time flies when you’re having fun with Photoshop.
Now I’m just browsing the web, looking for hair tips to create voluminous, *va-va-va-voom!* Victoria’s Secret hair.
Ever since my last haircut, I’ve been wanting to utilize these long layers for something dramatic.
Unfortch, there’s a fine line between good-looking big ass hair and hot mess hair.
Luckily for those of us obsessed with big hair, there’s Redken’s Layer Lift Spray Gel ($15), a non-aerosol, volumizing spray with a summery, lemon scent that fades in minutes.
Layer Lift adds body while providing hold, enhancing shine and packing frizz-fighting power.
To use it I spray enough on wet hair to lightly coat the top layers and ends.
The product doesn’t feel goopy or sticky like most tube gels, and that’s nice. Perhaps because of it, the pump doesn’t clog, so it’s always ready to apply in a jiffy.
Once dry, my hair rocks mad volume all the way from mid-shaft to the ends, and because Layer Lift also helps to keep frizz under control, my mane avoids looking like a hot mess.
The stuff would be my new hair stylin’ crush if it weren’t for the price…
The 5.7-oz bottle seems small for $15, and I’m going through it quickly. After only two weeks, I’ve used about a third, but I bet that has something to do with the length of my hair. If you have shorter and/or thinner hair, you may be able to use less.
Price: $15 for a 5.7-oz spray bottle
Use: A frizz-fighting, shine-enhancing, volumizing spray gel
Makeup and Beauty Blog Rating: B+
Woot, woot, we made it to the weekend! Do you have any plans?
Tomorrow is Nordstrom’s Cosmetics Summer Trend Show in SF. I’ll be there with my trusty camera and notebook, of course, trying to figure out what’s what.
Enjoy the rest of your Friday night. Tabs says “Mmmrow!” 🙂
Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,
Karen
If you think you’d like to write a guest product review, tutorial or other article for Makeup and Beauty Blog, shoot me an email at karen@makeupandbeautyblog.com (or use my contact form) with an overview of your idea. I’ll get back to you right away.
Born Lauren Katherine Conrad on February 1, 1986, Lauren “LC” Conrad’s recent departure from The Hills signals the end of a cheesy reality show era!
I’ve followed her since her old school Laguna Beach years (“Let the rain fall down… and wake my dreams!”). She was my favorite part of The Hills, and now that she’s gone I don’t know if I’ll stay tuned…
The whole Heidi/Specer/Kristen trifecta might be a little too much hot mess for me to bear, yikes!
Over the past few years Lauren’s style has evolved from So Cal beach casual to Chanel-loving fashionista, but one thing’s stayed the same — her signature blonde locks.
Even though she doesn’t do dramatic changes to her hair color, she’ll still keep things interesting by switching up her styles with an updo, curls or her signature side braid.
Loading ...Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,
Karen
To save a little time last week and because I didn’t want to deal with restyling my ‘do, I flat ironed my hair on Tuesday and then just let it do its thang.
I made it a few days, but as the week wore on, my hair took on the scent of greasy, day-old fries.
One would think that’s when I took a shower, but nope. 🙂 Instead, I busted out Oscar Blandi’s Pronto Dry Shampoo ($21)… all in the name of beauty science, of course.
Dry shampoos sprays are fine powder mists sprayed onto the roots. They revive and refresh by absorbing excess grease, lifting roots and erasing oily shine.
They’re not meant to take the place of real shampoos and washing, but they do come in handy when I’m crazy busy, extra *lazy*, tired, or if I just want a salon blow-out or flat ironed hairstyle to last a couple more days.
Pronto has been around for a while, but it’s new to me.
The spray comes in two sizes, a tiny 1.4-oz travel can ($11) and a larger 3.2-oz regular size ($21). The formula is free of parabens and sulfates, and according to the company wasn’t tested on animals, yea!
Pronto is by far the best smelling dry shampoo I’ve ever tried. Most have a strong, lingering scent, but Pronto’s faint lemon verbena dissipates quickly. It’s a *good* lemon fragrance, too — like freshly baked lemon bars versus Pledge furniture cleaner.
And when it comes to root lifting, Pronto kicks other dry shampoos to the curb. Using it my hair looked dramatically fuller at the roots than it does when I use Rene Furterer’s Naturia, for example, or Ojon’s Rub-Out Dry Cleanser.
Residue, yuck! Although my roots looked high and full of volume, the white, powdery residue was hard to miss, totally standing out on my dark brown hair.
It took me 10 minutes to vigorously massage and brush to nix the white cast, and that kinda defeats the purpose of my trying to use the stuff to save time.
If you’re a blonde or have lighter brown hair than I do, the powdery residue may not be as obvious on you, but if your hair is really dark like mine, you might be better off with Naturia or Rub-Out.
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You know I loves me some Buffy the Vampire Slayer, which means Sarah Michelle Gellar (aka Mrs. Freddie Prinze Jr., aka Buffy the Vampire Slayer) is tops in my book.
I was thrilled to hear that she’s expecting — her baby bump is just starting to show, and she looks too cute on the set of her new film,The Wonderful Maladys.
I dig the long, blonde hair she’s been sporting with bangs these days, but I also like her as a brunette and thought she looked gorge in Suburban Girl (um, did anybody else watch that, or was I the only one?).
Loading ...Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,
Karen
P.S. Have you heard the latest news from the Buffyverse? Hollywood wants to remake the Buffy the Vampire movie without input from TV show creator Joss Whedon (of Dollhouse, Angel, Buffy and Firefly fame).