Just For Fun

Can You Spot the MAC 217?

March 25th, 2008 by Karen 53 Comments

So, it’s official — I’m a MAC brush geek. Last night, watching the season premier episode of The Hills on MTV, my eagle eye peeped a brush that looked exactly like the MAC 217!

There it is, in all its brush glory, at the Teen Vogue shoot in Paris. A makeup artist uses it to prep a group of French debutantes before their big photo session…

Maybe I’m wrong, fellow brush geeks, but that sure looks like a MAC 217 to me.

In the scene, the makeup artist grabs color from the back of a hand before applying it to the lucky girl. [Continue reading…]

A Time for Renewal

March 23rd, 2008 by Karen 8 Comments

Happy Easter, ya’ll! I’m off to the East Bay to have Easter lunch with my parents but wanted to say a quick hello.

After lunch I’m going to work on a few posts for this week, including reviews of a couple of spring fragrances and drugstore blushes. I also plan to finally finish the tutorial for pastel pink and blue eyes.

I hope you’re having a wonderful day and that your heart is feeling light and hopeful!

Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,

Karen

P.S. Check out these great posts from the Beauty Blog Network and Splendicity. Each week the members of both networks submit some of their favorite posts from around the beauty blogosphere.
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A Salute to St. Patrick’s Day: Green Chanel Garden Party Eye

March 17th, 2008 by Karen 44 Comments

Happy St. Patrick’s Day! Are you wearing green? All my green tops were in need of washing (go figure), so to meet my green quota for the day I busted out Chanel’s Garden Party Quad and worked this mint green and pink eye. Gotta thwart those St. Patty’s Day pinches, ya know!

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Do you have plans for tonight? Any green beer in your schedule? I can’t go out (BOO) because I have a big work project due on Thursday. I’m sort of freaking out today because the deadline is looming, but makeup always cheers me up.

Here’s the real face of the day:
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LOL! You know how it goes sometimes! 🙂

A few close ups of the eyes…

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To get this look, I used products from Chanel, Laura Mercier, Clinique, MAC, Dior and Rimmel.

Lid
– MAC Rollickin’ Paint Pot
– Light green shadow from the Chanel Garden Party Quad

Crease
– MAC Perky Paint Pot
– MAC Soft Brown Matte Eyeshadow
– Pink shadow from the Chanel Garden Party Quad on outer half of crease (layered on top of Soft Brown Matte)
– Peach shadow from the Chanel Garden Party Quad on inner half of crease (also layered on top of Soft Brown Matte)

Browbone
– MAC Perky Paint Pot
– Peach shadow from the Chanel Garden Party Quad

Brows
– MAC Concrete Eyeshdaow

Lashes
– MAC Zoom Lash mascara in Zoomblack (upper and lower)

Lower lash line
– Rimmel Jungle Green Soft Kajal Eye Pencil
– Dark green shadow from the Chanel Garden Party Quad
– Peach shadow from the Chanel Garden Party Quad on inner half of crease

Undereye circles
– Dior Long-Wearing Moisturizing Concealer in 430
– Laura Mercier Secret Brightening Powder #2

Face
– Laura Mercier Oil-Free Tinted Moisturizer in Almond
– Laura Mercier Translucent Loose Powder

Cheeks
– Clinique Fresh Bloom Allover Colour in Peony

Lips
– MAC Sublime Culture Cremestick Liner
– Chanel Glossimer in Pink Crystal

It’s official! Dior concealer rocks when it comes to covering dark circles. Before I applied my makeup today I had some serious dark circles. I stayed up late last night, partying with the neighbor’s cat while watching Keeping Up with the Kardashians, my latest guilty reality TV pleasure. In the pics above, can you see the purple in the inner corners of my eyes (and believe me, they are pretty dark today)? LOVE. YOU. DIOR.

How’s your day been so far? Catch any leprechauns? My coffee is finally kicking in (thank jeebus!) and I’m off to work. Lemme know if you have big plans for tonight.

Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,

Karen

9 Things: Share Your Happiness

March 4th, 2008 by Karen 28 Comments

Parking spots are hard to come by in San Francisco, so I maintain a list with a few choice parking garages in my favorite neighborhoods. When I went dancing last week, I parked in my favorite Chinatown parking garage, which is not only open 24 hours/day, but it’s also just across the street from a police station (safe). That, and there are fortunes painted in each stall, which I think is a nice touch. Here was mine:

Last night I got about two seconds of sleep and woke up this morning feeling super cranky. I needed something to snap me out of my funk, so I tried to think positively (so corny, I know, but it works). I thought about my parking garage fortune and wrote this little list. Slowly, but surely, the fog of grumpiness lifted…

9 Reasons Why I’m Happy Today

It’s sunny outside and warm enough to wear sandals.
The first song I heard today was Bizarre Love Triangle by New Order. It always puts a smile on my face.
I get to work on a really fun writing project later today in which I can write about makeup.
The cherry trees are blossoming on my street, blanketing the pavement with pretty pink petals.
MAC Girl Friendly Paint Pot!
Having El Hub, who woke up with me at 2:30AM and got out of bed to pour me a glass of water and rub my hair until I fell asleep.
Coffee.
Bookstore runs — I’m going after work to treat myself to a new book (I just finished and recommend Pretties by Scott Westerfeld).
My Shu Uemura at-home manicure still remains relatively chip free.

Now how about you? What happiness can you share with others today?

Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,

Karen

P.S. Just in case it makes you happy, too…

Stowaway!

February 27th, 2008 by Karen 48 Comments

Hooray, spring is right around the corner! The weather was warm yesterday so I drove to work bumping my new favorite song, Usher’s Love in this Club, with all my windows down and the sunroof open. I’m guilty of dancing in my car and pretending it’s a club on wheels, ha! But if you roll with me I won’t charge you cover, promise. 😉

Anyway, yesterday I might’ve gotten a little too into car dancing because when I got to the parking lot and parked my car, I forgot to roll up the back windows…whoops. It was really no big deal, because the parking lot is safe so nothing got stolen, but a shady character managed to sneak into my back seat:

I opened the door and waited for him to crawl out, but homie sat there and just chilled for five more minutes. He gave me dirty looks the entire time, like I interrupted his afternoon meditation session. I lured him out by taking out a Chanel Glossimer lipgloss (in the shade Galactic, holla) and waving it around. He eventually sauntered away and wouldn’t even let me pet him. Sigh. At least he has good taste in lipgloss…

Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,

Karen

Science Agrees: Yes, You Need More Girl Time

February 24th, 2008 by Karen 22 Comments

Connecting with girlfriends for afternoon tea yesterday left me feeling great, probably the happiest and most relaxed I’ve felt in a long time. I’ve been busy with work lately, and it felt nice just spending time with a big bunch of girls. After tea, as I drove home across the Golden Gate Bridge, I thought about friendship and the power it has to make us feel better.

An outside view of the Ritz-Carlton hotel in San Francisco

This is one of those painfully obvious things, but research shows that socializing with friends may help you live longer. Maybe that’s why I love blogging so much. =)

A landmark UCLA study suggested that spending time with friends helped counteract the effects of stress on the body. Study after study confirms that having a social network reduces one’s risk of disease by lowering heart rate, cholesterol and blood pressure.

The UCLA study suggested that when the hormone oxytocin is released (the same hormone released during hugging, touching and orgasm) as part of the stress response in women, it has a different effect on women than it does on men; in women (but not in men), oxytocin is believed to have a calming effect. It’s also believed to trigger a desire to tend to others (like children) and to gather with other women. And, when a woman engages in “tending and befriending,” studies suggest that even more oxytocin gets released, further countering the effects of stress on the body.

I don’t know if it was the oxytocin talkin’, but I definitely felt less stressed after tea at the Ritz. Most of Ritz-Carlton’s hotels worldwide offer an afternoon tea service. Tony Roumph, Lounge Manager of the Ritz-Carlton San Francisco, suggested directly checking with a hotel beforehand because at some properties tea service is by reservation only.

At the Ritz in Frisco, afternoon tea is served between 2:30-4:30 p.m. on Fridays and between 1-4:30 p.m. on Saturdays and Sundays. It was served in the hotel’s Lobby Lounge, an elegant room with city views, crystal chandeliers, fine china and live music (a harpist, yo!). Most hotels will choose one of their more elegant rooms for afternoon tea. Dress was sophisticated casual (aka not your scrubby jeans and Adidas Shell Toe sneakers). I wore a black knit dress with boots, and a few of the other girls wore dark jeans with cute sweaters.

My friends and I made reservations a few weeks ago, giving the hotel our menu selection at the time. We had six ladies in our party, but Tony says they can accommodate groups of up to 30 people. It’s also not uncommon at all for people to attend tea service by themselves, so if you’re not a fan of big groups or just want to fly solo, that’s cool too.

Planning an Event…

If you’re in charge of planning afternoon tea (or any other event) with the girls, spreadsheets and e-mail can help.

Start by hammering out the bigger details first, like the size of the group, schedule and budget, and work from there down to the smaller details, like (for afternoon tea) the menu.

If I’m in charge of planning something for a group, the first thing I’ll do is send out a mass e-mail to see who can attend. In it, I’ll ask members of the group to choose from a few dates. Not everyone takes e-mail seriously, so one thing that can help move things along are the words “Reply Requested” in the subject line. After each person provides their preferred dates, I note them on my trusty chart, circling the date on which the largest number of people can attend. Here’s an example chart I made in Microsoft Excel (hand-drawn charts work, too):

I love spreadsheets for planning. After pinpointing a date, I’ll use a similar process to pinpoint a time. Spreadsheets are also a handy way to track a large number of different menu (or drink) choices. LOL, can you tell I’m a freak for details?

Afternoon Tea…

Entrance to the Lobby Lounge at the Ritz-Carlton in San Francisco…

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After we took our seats, they brought out the champagne! We did some catching up while a harpist interpreted classic Beatles tunes.

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We chose what the SF Ritz-Carlton refers to as the Royal Tea Service, one of five tiers of service ranging from $36-$49 per person. After we finished our champagne cocktails, Neizel, our wonderful server, brought out two trays of food and explained the different types of sandwiches, pastries and sweets.

My favorites were the cucumber, roquefort and walnut on white bread and the egg and chive sandwiches, yum! I also really liked the scone, which I smothered in Devonshire cream.

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Neizel then poured the tea and kept it flowing throughout the party. We choose from among four different varieties: vanilla bean-black tea, chocolate, peppermint and darjeeling.

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After the sandwiches and pastries it was time for dessert, in this case fresh strawberries and vanilla cream.

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While afternoon tea was fun, I realize that it was the socializing part that really made the day.

Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,

Karen

Girl Time: MAC Fafi and Afternoon Tea

February 23rd, 2008 by Karen 31 Comments

Hi, guys! Just wanted to pop by and say hello. I’ve been away from the computer because I spent the day in San Francisco with friends from school. We met for afternoon tea at the Ritz-Carlton Hotel and did some much needed catching up!

Despite 3-inch heels, I’m the short one in the middle…

Feed me, Seymore

The Royal Tea service ($49 per person) includes:

Champagne “Ritz” Cocktail
Selection of Tea
Smoked Salmon with Pickled Onion & Caviar on Dark Rye
Cucumber, Roquefort and Walnuts on White Bread
Prosciutto with Melon on Light Rye Bread
Egg and Chive Sandwich
Freshly Baked Scone with Devonshire cream, Lemon Curd and Strawberry Preserves
English Tea Cakes, Chef’s Choice of Tea Pastries
Chocolate Mignardises
Fresh Strawberries with Vanilla Cream

Select Ritz-Carlton hotels worldwide offer afternoon tea service.

I’m not wearing any lipstick in the picture above, but this is what the lips looked like before I munched on cucumber sandwiches and downed 10 cups of darjeeling tea (with lots of cream and sugar).

Yes, you read that correctly. That’s 10 cups of tea. I’m so hyper right now, WHEEE!

Anyway, I hope you had a good day too. 🙂

Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,

Karen

Gimme, Gimme Rice, aka I Hate P.F. Chang’s

February 21st, 2008 by Karen 23 Comments

I didn’t think it was possible before last night, but apparently a venue does exist that I hate even more than the dreaded Container Store, and its name is P.F. Chang’s China Bistro.

P.F. Chang’s is a chain of Chinese restaurants. We have one here in Marin. You can’t miss ’em because out front they hang a red neon sign beside a life-size stone statue of a Medieval Chinese warrior’s horse. Not the warrior, just the horse. The horse stares your ass down when you enter the restaurant. It’s kinda freaky but in a cool way.

I went there for dinner last night to celebrate the blog’s birthday (before the party =), and I was soooo excited to go because a friend recommended the place, saying the food and service were great.

I worked on my cardio before dinner, so I was starving when I got to the restaurant and extra excited when the waiter warned me of their “huge, family style portions.” BRING IT, said my tummy.

Twenty minutes later, the friendly waiter brought out our food. Sadly, the portions were … not huge. There was barely enough to feed my right thigh! The kicker happened when he set down a teeny, tiny bowl of white rice in front of me — seriously, the little scoop of rice was the size of my eyeball. I wanted to say, “Um… sir, what am I supposed to do with this?” How do you stiff someone on rice at a Chinese restaurant?! It goes against all laws of nature.

I’d like to give P.F. Chang’s the benefit of the doubt in this catastrophe. Maybe last night was an exception. Perhaps they were running low on rice and had to cut back. I don’t know, but as far as blog birthday dinners go, that dinner so did not count! I think I’ll have to go to at least two more celebratory dinners to ease the pain. 🙂

What did you do before the blog’s birthday party last night? I hope it involved adequate amounts of rice, LOL!

Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,

Karen