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
Tabs seriously does not care at all about citrus.
Before I explain, he does, however, care a great deal about whatever goes on outside, and he surveils the neighborhood like the world’s greatest security guard from his window perch.
But we planted a new dwarf orange tree outside this week, and I expected Tabs to be hella interested in it when we went outside today for our walk, but he couldn’t have cared less.
Or “high intensity interval training.” It’s a full-body workout where you do all sorts of things, like throwing 10-pound medicine balls around (which I did yesterday), old-school burpies, squats and other interval exercises, and there’s always something different thrown in to keep your muscles guessing.
Anyway, I just started taking classes at a studio down the block, and oh, my lanta! — to live in a constant state of soreness… But it’s a good sore, ya know?
One of my neighbors is an instructor and a personal trainer, and the studio is in her garage, so I just walk down there for an hour of sweet, sweaty torture.
There’s a woman in the class in her 50s who I swear needs to be my BFF. She comes dressed in black from head to toe with her hair in a perfect high bun, and she works out wearing a full face of makeup. And she likes to make naughty jokes. 🙂 Oh, and homegirl goes HAWD when she planks, whereas I just end up laying there sadly on the floor ready to pass out.
On that note, these Champion Double Dry Sports Bras are the sh*t. They’re soft, comfortable and keep me dry when I’m sweating up a storm. Plus, they never chafe or irritate my skin. When I work out, I layer two of them to keep “the girls” firmly in place.
They’re usually $25 each, but they’re on sale for $19.99-$21.99 right now at Kohls.
I picked up a bottle of $11 L’Oreal Root Cover Up Temporary Gray Concealer Spray in Dark Brown a couple months ago at le drugstore to cover my roots because I was running low on my fave Rita Hazan Root Concealer and couldn’t make it to Sephora before it closed (#beautygirlproblems), and yay! — I like it. It gets the job done, and it costs half as much as the Rita Hazan spray, which is still my number one, though, because I think it does work a little better (it’s more pigmented and doesn’t leave my hair as stiff as the L’Oreal one does).
OK, grumpy goat, if the thought of drinking a Starbucks #PSL in summer (fall doesn’t officially start ’til the 22nd) makes you grit your diamond grill, please look away, I say. LOOK AWAY!
Because I had my first Pumpkin Spice Latte of the season the other day, and it was glorious.
It was one of those cool, crisp sunny days that feels like fall — when it’s still nice enough to sit outside but cool enough to wear long sleeves and pants.
Connor hung out with me as I enjoyed my drink outside, but I think she was missing her daddy…
The trip was our first official mommy-daughter outing together…
I know, it only took six months! That’s how long it took me to build up the courage to take her out by myself.
Yes, when I see that in print, it does seem pretty lame… Heck, I jumped out of a plane once! I should be able to take a baby out of the house by myself, LOL! But seriously, I was nervous about not having anyone around to help, like to hold the doors open for the stroller, or to help carry the massive baby bag that I feel the need to stuff with everything and the kitchen sink, or to call 911 if Connor gets stung by a bee and I freak-the-eff out, or whatever.
But we did fine.
Hey, friends! Please join me in congratulating the winners of the Sassy September connorclaire.com giveaway — Mimi and her cat Sherlock!
Mimi, if Sherlock asks you to carry his cat treats in your tote, well, it’s probably a good idea. Don’t worry, you’ll still have plenty of room for all your other stuff!
Enjoy your bag and your gift card. 🙂
Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,
Karen
You might be wondering, “So what in tarnation is this Monday Poll thing anyway!?”
Well, it isn’t exactly a poll. It’s more of a constantly evolving (devolving?), somewhat random list of questions I’ve been putting out to readers every Monday morning for the past NINE (!) years. (It’s like a kickstart for your brain.) I’ve always enjoyed reading your answers in the comments, and I hope you enjoy reading mine.
I NEED to go get one soon! Wanna come with me? ?☕️
Are you ready for it?
OK…I dreamt that Connor and I were hanging out at home on the couch, and I looked down at her knees and saw that she had a small patch of long, black wiry hairs (like from a wig at the bottom of the bargain bin at Party City) growing out of the side of her left knee.
Then I started checking her and found more of these patches of stiff hairs that looked like plastic hair brush bristles growing between her toes and even from the bottom of her heel!
What was even weirder? I wasn’t freaking out at all! Every time I found another patch of hair, I just thought, “How odd!” But I wasn’t panicked.
It was so weird!
Oh, and here’s another random thing: every time I have a dream with Connor, she’s always her current age. She’s never younger or older.
LOL!
Aren’t brows funny? Mine will seem perfectly fine for weeks, but then I’ll look in the mirror one day and see two long-haired Persian cat tails where my eyebrows are supposed to be! It’s crazy.
Your turn. 🙂 Just copy and paste the following questions into a comment with your answers. I look forward to reading ’em!
1. Last time you had a Pumpkin Spice Latte from Starbucks?
2. Last dream you remember?
3. Who was the last person you complimented, and what was the compliment?
4. Who was the last person you gave flowers to?
5. How are your brows today?
Happy Monday, sweet pea. Up and at ’em!
So I’m going through my four (!) favorite notebooks right now to figure out how to handle my day…
Yes, I have four favorite notebooks, because each one has a different purpose, like, the small kitty cat one helps me keep track of emails, and the 106 one with the black-and-white cats tracks something else.
I suppose I could track everything in a spreadsheet or using my phone, but there’s something about writing stuff down… It sticks in my brain better. Maybe I’m just old-school like that.
The latest addition to the family is the hot pink spiral-bound notebook, which is a replacement for a sparkly purple glitter notebook that Tabs threw up on the other day.
You know cats. Despite having a wide range of places upon which to barf that would be easy to clean (like the tiles in the hallway), they find your ONE REALLY IMPORTANT NOTEBOOK that has all of your to-do lists and brainstorming in it, and then barf on that.
Ah, cats!
I hope your day got off to a calm start, and if it didn’t, here’s a gentle hug to ease your mind. *hug* 🙂
Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,
Karen
For the longest time, Tabs only had one girl who was madly in love with him.
(Me, obviously.)
But now he has two, and I’m pretty sure he’s thrilled about it.
I don’t know… It’s kind of hard to tell sometimes.
The other day we — Connor, Tabs and I — were just hanging out in the living room, and he walked up to her and let her pet him. Of course, this was done with supervision and lots of “When we pet Tabs, we have to do it gently” kind of talk.
Then, after some pets and some gentle rubs from Connor, Tabs walked up to her and headbutted her face.
It was so cute! My heart felt like it was going to melt in my chest like a piece of chocolate.
Babycakes, on a scale of “1” to full-blown Ricksanity, where do you think I’d stand if I were to walk into a salon with Benefit’s Kissy Missy Holiday 2016 set and said, “Do this to my hair”?
CUUUTE!
I’d wanna hang with a girl with bubblegum pink hair and big-@ss hoops. I bet she’d be cool as hell!
I want to hang with all of the girls on these new holiday sets from Benefit. These chicas are three of the six new Holiday 2016 Benefit sets that officially arrive on counters September 30 (although I’ve already seen a few of them at Ulta).
Benefit loves their limited edition sets, and these have products — some with minis, some with full-size pieces and some with a combination of both — from their permanent line.
Of course, Benetint and Hoola make appearances, as they so often do every year (like in the $39 Sassy Lassie set here), but every once in a while Benefit will put newer items in a set, and that’s the case with the $46 Girl-A-Rama set, which has the new They’re Real Duo Shadow Blender in Brazen Bronze, and the Kissy Missy set, which has mini versions of the new They’re Real Double the Lip Lipsticks in Revved-Up Red and Pink Thrills.
It’s still technically summer here in the U.S. — summer — but the holiday makeup collections are already showing up!
I went to Ulta the other day to grab a tube of Urban Decay Naked Skin One & Done and saw holiday stuff from Benefit on display.
I can totally appreciate wanting to get a jump on your holiday shopping and trying to get everything done waaay before the Christmas craziness, but holiday collections in summer? Isn’t that kinda cray?
I joke about Christmas in July, but seriously, it’s only matter of time before that actually happens, LOL!
How do you feel about holiday collections coming out this early? Does it get you excited to hear the word “holiday,” or does it make you feel kinda grumpy?
Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,
Karen
