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
How was your weekend, young lady? I hope you did something fun. Right now I’m cooking stir fry and getting ready to watch The Walking Dead.
Can’t wait!
Tabs was busy modeling again this weekend. No traveling though. He stayed local, which was nice because we were able to meet for lunch during the week (Pacific Catch; he likes their ahi bowl).
So I know this is totally not exciting, but my cuticles have been looking GREAT lately! I’ve been taking the Sephora Stimulating Lavender Cuticle Oil Pen to ’em a lot (every few hours and then also before bed). I’ve also been unusually good about remembering to use hand cream after each of the 3,456 times I wash my paws throughout the day… Not gonna lie, I’m a bit of a germaphobe. This isn’t something I say very often, but damn my cuticles look sexy, haaay! 🙂
My bangs, for sure. They’re starting to stress me out, always getting in my grill, and you should see them when I get up in the morning… Um, do you remember those troll dolls? Yeah, like that.
What were your best and worst beauty experiences this week? Please share yours in the comments.
Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,
Karen
Can I ask you a question, ladies? It’s very important. Okay, not really. It’s about bangs. I got mine trimmed a few weeks ago, and they’ve grown out to where they’re starting to work my nerves. My stylist offers free bang trims, which I know a lot of stylists do, but I’m not quite sure if I should tip her, and if I do, how much. I mean, I love how she cuts my hair. She’s gifted with curls and waves, but it doesn’t take long to trim bangs, and my regular haircuts do cost an arm and a leg… I just don’t want to be rude, but she does stress how the trims are free.
Do you ever take stylists up on their offer of free bang trims, and if you do, do you tip?
In other news, it’s Sunday! Do you know where your tabby cat is? Mine’s on my lap, making biscuits on my thigh.
What are you doing today? Got anything fun lined up? El Hub and I are going out to get breakfast, and then I’ll be back here to work on a project for tonight on the blog. Stay tuned! 🙂
OROFLUIDO HAIR
ELIXIR
When I went to get my bangs trimmed a couple weeks ago my stylist gave me a sample of Orofluido Beauty Elixer (regularly $32 for a 3.38-oz. bottle) and raved on and on about how it was to going to change my life, starting with my hair.
I’d never heard of Orofluido before, but it’s a small indie haircare line a little more popular in Europe than here in the States. They only list two products on their website — the Beauty Elixer that my stylist gave me, and something new called Shine Spray. Read more…
URBAN DECAY
COWBOY JUNKIE SHADOWS & GLOSS SET
Of course, on the ONE DAY I actually need the only cowboy hat I’ve ever owned, I can’t find it. Welcome to the story of my life. Wherever you are, my beloved black straw cowboy hat, I reckon we would’ve made sweet music together today, taking pictures of ourselves covered in glitter with the new Urban Decay Cowboy Junkie Shadows & Gloss Set ($38).
The new set rides into town for the holidays, kicking up glitter in its wake with four powder shadows, a liner and one lonesome lip gloss.
Three members of the set hail from the Midnight Cowboy eyeshadow gang, known for their eye-catching, dramatic glitter.
But this glitter is like dust on a desert trail (gets everywhere). Midnight Cowboy (a gritty, glittery peachy pink), Midnight Cowboy Rides Again (a glittery peachy tan) and Midnight Cowgirl (a glittery gold) leave fallout everywhere — beneath my eyes, around my nose and on my cheeks. Shoot, I even found some on Tabs.
I think if you’re going to try to get behind this set, you just gotta go with the glitter and fallout. Resistance is futile. It’s kinda like the zombie apocalypse that way, I guess. Read more…
LORAC BOX OFFICE HIT
FULL FACE PALETTE
How do you spell a scream, friends? Gaaaaah! perhaps? I had one of those days… I started with grand plans and great expectations to write about, among other things, the beauty gods’ gift to big hair and the new smokey Urban Decay Black Palette, but I hit The Great Wall.
No, not the one in China.
Writer’s block, which you might think I wouldn’t get anymore after four years and 4,000 posts, but I do.
I’d hoped for witty prose, but all that came out of my fingertips today was gooey green baby poo. At one point I just gave up on the whole sentence thing and decided to take a ton of pictures of the LORAC Box Office Hit Full Face Palette ($35) instead. Read more…
NYX EYEBROW
SHAPER
Some mornings I just CANNOT get it together, and even something as simple yet important as operating the coffee maker might as well be quantum physics.
I call those my makeup-for-dummies days, and when they strike I turn to instant coffee my arsenal of tools and tricks to fake a good night’s sleep.
Can’t have my neighbors mistaking me for the first wave in the coming zombie apocalypse, right?
The latest addition to my makeup-for-dummies kit, NYX’s new Eyebrow Shaper ($8.75), is one of several new eyebrow products from NYX this fall. It’s a colorless, waxy brow gel in pencil form — perfect for sculpting and taming unruly brows — and for me it takes the place of having to fill in my brows with a colored brow pencil, wax or eyeshadow, particularly when I’m tired and/or lazy (read: often). Read more…
A COMPARISON OF URBAN DECAY
PURPLE EYESHADOWS
Last night when MBB reader Steph B asked this about the Urban Decay Cowboy Junkie Palette ($38), I thought it was a perfect excuse to paint my arm purple.
Hmm… Good question. To get to the bottom of it, I busted out some of the similar Urban Decay purples in my stash to do a quick comparison.
I don’t have Purple Haze, but Flash, Freakshow, Ecstasy and Frigid are currently available as singles in UD’s permanent line; AC/DC is from last fall’s Book of Shadows Vol. II.
From the left that’s Romp (from the Cowboy Junkie Palette), Flash ($17), Freakshow ($18), Ecstasy ($17), AC/DC and Frigid ($18).
I’d have to say that of these colors here, Romp most closely resembles AC/DC in its pan, but I think it looks more like Frigid (a dark purple with hints of navy blue and black) on the skin. Read more…
CLARINS BAROCCO
HOLIDAY 2010 COLLECTION
Ladies, I haven’t felt very glamorous this week… On a scale of 1 to 10, my glamorousness has been hovering around a -3. With scrunchies in my hair and my bum glued to the couch and wrapped in stretchy pants, I’ve watched just about every zombie movie and TV show released since 1969. Has it been educational? Sure, but it hasn’t been great for glamor.
The new Clarins Barocco Holiday Collection couldn’t have come at a better time.
Look at all that fancy… 🙂 It’s like a shot of fabulous straight to the heart!
The floral swirls/filigree designs both inside and out, and the rich berry, gold, black and peach shades seduced the sweat pants right off me (actually, they were raggedy yoga pants). These are products begging to be worn with a shimmery golden gown and dangerously high heels. Read more…
NYX VELVET ROPE
10 COLOR EYESHADOW PALETTE
Oh, my goodness! Look at all that purple. Is this a Prince video or a beauty blog? 🙂
Today I left the thugs to their gangsta’s paradise while I escaped yet again to my purple one. I could go on and on about how much I love purple eyeshadow, but the No. 1 reason why I think every girl (or makeup loving boy, for that matter) should play with purple is because of how great it goes with everything.
Alright, I admit I’m plum biased, but I think purple looks great on almost everyone. Whether brown, green, gray, blue or hazel eyes, the right purple on your lid or lash line can make those peepers POP!
POP! Yeah, I use that word a lot…but you know what I mean.
Now, brace yourself for a plethora of purple, and behold the new NYX Velvet Rope 10 Color Eyeshadow Palette ($9.75)! Read more…
SEPHORA LAVENDER
CUTICLE OIL PEN
The only thing that could possibly make Sephora Stimulating Lavender Cuticle Oil pens ($12) better would be if you could buy them at bulk prices in packs.
I know I’ve mentioned it before, but this pen’s the frickin’ bomb-dot-com, particularly if your cuticles look like Snooki after a long night at da club…
Twisting the bottom soaks the brush tip with moisturizing oil. Then just brush onto dry cuticles. Simple but effective.
I picked one up at Sephora’s Friends & Family sale, and my only regret is that I didn’t get more.
This Stimulating Lavender version is one of three flavors. Last year’s was called Nourishing Cuticle Oil (there’s also Healing Eucalyptus). This one works the same as that one but has a lavender scent. Read more…
Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,
Karen
Photo by Ornesllaswouldgo
What up, buttercup? How are you doing today? I’m just over here playing with makeup and watching one of the funniest TV shows I’ve seen in ages! It’s called The League. Have you seen it? Seriously, I know almost nothing about fantasy football, but damn that show’s hilarious.
Speaking of funny TV shows, what do you think about Modern Family? That’s another one that gets me every time.
Back to that makeup I’m playing with… It’s a highlighting illuminator called MAC Strobe Cream ($30), and other than TV it’s been the highlight of my weekend so far. Ha! You know you’re a makeup junkie when a product can be the highlight of your day…
Ever since discovering how great the combo of Smashbox Photo Op Under Eye Brightener and MAC Pro Longwear Concealer work for me (BTW, isn’t Nancy’s concealer tutorial great!?), I’ve been looking for an illuminator to wear beneath foundation.
Thanks to my friend Marisol (and MAC), I think I found it!
Have I mentioned that a new MAC store opened just 5 minutes away? Marisol and I hit it after dinner last night (¡nos gusta Chipotle!), and she promptly sold me on Strobe, which she’s been loving for a while.
MAC Strobe Cream unblended (left) and blended (right)
Worn either alone or under foundations and tinted moisturizers, it imparts a very subtle brightening sheen — not a glitter, just a very soft pearl glow.
PRETTY!
I’m gonna put some on right now and head to Trader Joe’s, where I hope to appear all fresh and glowy as I cruise the frozen food aisle. 🙂
But before that, you know what time it is. Surf’s up!
the packaging.
Thanks to reader Amber for sending this hilarious cat video!
Have a fantastic Saturday, ya hear?
Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,
Karen
The fluffy pink scrunchie I wore with my ’80s Halloween look was the first scrunchie I’d worn since, I don’t know, about 1992.
It was part of an 8-pack I found at Target (Goody brand, $5), hanging beside more highfalutin doohickeys like snag-free elastic hair bands and Spin Pins in the beauty aisles.
Ya know, I’m surprised scrunchies haven’t gone the way of the dodo. I’ve been wearing ’em around the house since Halloween, trying to remember why I ever wore them back in the day, and I’ve made some observations…
Elastic hair bands/ponytail holders are higher tech solutions, but scrunchies still have their place in the world.
Loading ...Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,
Karen
P.S. TGIF! 🙂
I’m having a hard time waking up, but “this coffee should help,” she said, cupping her mug under her chin as if her sole mission in life was to caffeinate. Have I mentioned I’m not a morning person?
The longest deep-tissue massage they offer. I need someone to work the knots out of my back. 🙁 And I love that loosey goosey feeling I get after a good massage when my limbs feel like overcooked spaghetti.
Yea! I don’t have any now, but when I was 14 I had a black suede pair that I wore practically every single day. To make them my own, I’d use nickels instead of pennies, haha.
Dooba-looba-looba-looba-loo, dooba-looba-looba-looba-loo. I use my iPhone’s “harp” ringtone. Given choices like a barking dog and a submarine dive alert…the harp was the lesser of all evils.
Black for official documents; purple for everything else.
Yes, ma’am! And they’ve gotten exponentially easier since I discovered LORAC’s Front of the Line Pro.
Yes, quite a few things actually, among them, trying to figure out where to take my career, whether or not it’s time to have kids, what I should do with my hair color, and how to clean my messy house when I only have a few spare minutes each day.
I’d like to think it’s my blueberry and peach cobbler. I can’t cook anything on a typical Thanksgiving menu, but I’ve got that cobbler down pat!
Cute kitten videos, older couples holding hands, polite children, and getting carded (happens fewer times each year).
This week is my Letting Go of Baggage Week, ladies, a time to lighten my mental load. My other goals: to smile 🙂 as much as possible, to cross off at least 3/4 of the tasks on my to-do list and to hit the haaay by 10 every night.
Hey, babe. Yup, it’s Monday already. Yeah, I know, bummer, right? At least we’re in it together.
To complete the Monday Poll, just copy the following list, and paste it with your answers in the comments.
1. Mood:
2. If you won a gift certificate to a world-class spa, which treatment would you get?
3. Penny loafers: yea or nay?
4. How does your alarm clock sound?
5. What’s your favorite color of pen ink?
6. Do you do cat eyeliner?
7. Has anything been on your mind a lot lately?
8. Do you have a signature Thanksgiving dish?
9. What warms your heart?
10. Weekly goals:
I’m feeling ready as ever to take this week on. Are you with me?
Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,
Karen
There are a few things I just never get tired of, like taro Tuttimelon, MAC Power Surge Eye Kohl and Sex and the City (all but the second movie, which I pretend does not exist).
I was watching Season 4 the other day, the episode where Carrie and the girls talk about “Secret Single Behavior.”
A Secret Single Behavior, or SSB, is something you only do when you’re alone. Carrie likes to eat jelly on crackers, standing up in the kitchen while she reads Vogue.
An SBB, or Secret Beauty Behavior, is a variation on the SSB pertaining to a secret beauty ritual. Like, save my stuffed animals and I (and now you, too), no one knows that I secretly trim the top edge of my eyebrows with a small scissors. If I let too much time pass without doing it, I develop Conrad Waldorf brows.
El Hub has also never seen me clip my toenails, a ritual I like to save for “me time” but sometimes forget to do for months until I look down one day and see eagle talons instead of toes. Seriously, I could probably carve my name in a tree with those things…
Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,
Karen
It ain’t gruel, but cold pizza and protein powder aren’t exactly gourmet fare. I’m not in the mood to cook, and Tabs went out to dinner with some modeling friends, so it’s prefab food for me.
Speaking of Tabs, he had another busy week. You’ve heard of Microsoft’s new game system Kinect, right? It’s their new motion control addon for Xbox 360, supposedly the big thing this season. Well, Microsoft’s also coming out with a version for cats called Katnect. Guess who’s the spokeskitty? 🙂
