Lips

#MACxLarLarLee and #MACxGabrielZamora Lipsticks: Online Exclusives Coming April 20th

April 14th, 2017 by Karen 13 Comments

mac larlarlee — #MACxLarLarLee Matte Lipstick, an online exclusive coming April 20th

MAC is back in the #collab #influencer game, and this time they’ve partnered with 10 YouTube and Instagram influencers on a new line of 10 limited edition online exclusive international lipsticks launching in different countries over the next few months for $17 each. If you want to track them all down, you might have to make friends in the UK, Canada, Brazil, the Middle East, France, Germany and Australia.

Here in North America, the two Lipsticks launching are Matte LarLarLee and Satin Gabriel Zamora, collabs made with YouTubers Laura Lee and Gabriel Zamora.

They arrive online April 20th.

Laura and Gabriel both have full-on glam makeup styles, but I really like that they created lipsticks that can work well with dressed down (more my style lately) or super glam looks.

Laura Lee

Gabriel Zamora

Matte Lipstick in #MACxLarLarLee

Warm palish nude beige #MACxLarLarLee Matte Lipstick is the matte-est of the mattes on my lips. It reflects absolutely NO light, which gives it a very high fashion/editorial Vogue-ish look, I think.

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ChapStick Total Hydration Makes Leisurely Trips to Target Even More Terrific #sponsored

April 12th, 2017 by Karen 14 Comments

This post is sponsored by ChapStick® Total Hydration, and I received product samples and compensation for my time and effort creating it. Although this post is sponsored, all opinions are always my own. #ChapStick #sponsored

Girl, you know I go to Target every two seconds. There’s one about two minutes from my house.

Actually, it’s walking distance, now that I think about it…

Oh, my gosh! If I had to hoof it to Target for something, I could totally get there (MIND BLOWN).

Anyway, I’m there almost every other day. You know, good prices, perfect quantities (I don’t need 400 rolls of toilet paper at one time), and I can basically find all of life’s necessities as soon as I walk through those doors.

target karen front — Another day, another trip to Target! That’s ChapStick Total Hydration Moisture + Tint in Rose Petal on my lips, by the way

Story of my life: I walk into the store for one thing — a bag of cat treats, a new outfit for Connor Claire, scrunchies, a giant tub of peanut butter, coffee or a beauty products for myself — but I never get upset when a pint of pistachio ice cream or a couple of tubes of ChapStick also fall into my cart.

Hey…it happens.

ChapStick Total Hydration Moisture + Tint in Rose Petal

FYI, in case you weren’t aware, Target is like the Valhalla of ChapStick. They have practically every variety of ChapStick under the sun, including my faves, the Total Hydration Moisture + Tint ChapStick shades, which are the newest ChapStick products with a hint of color.

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These Bite Beauty Lip Pencils Have Bite!

April 11th, 2017 by Karen 23 Comments

bite beauty the lip pencil 1 — MWAH! Kisses!

Dang, these Bite Beauty Lip Pencils ($18 each) have serious swag! Shoot, I haven’t been a lip pencil person since on/around ’97, back when I rocked dark purple liner on the daily (unblended, of course), but I guess I’m finally over that trauma, because these pencils? They’re doing things to me! 🙂

Where do I start?? They feel light and glorious, glide across my lips and don’t tug at all. Plus, they last all day long and, unlike so many other lip pencils out there, they don’t dry out my lips. I’d almost call them borderline hydrating.

They just might be the most comfortable lip pencils I’ve ever worn.

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MAC Lipglass Swatches: All 57 Shades in the Permanent Line, SWATCHED!

April 6th, 2017 by Karen 31 Comments

There are 57 (!) MAC Lipglasses in the permanent collection now ($17 each), and all of them just got new packaging/outfits.

Here are some fun facts you may or may not know about them…

None of them start with the letter “F.”
Two of them start with the word “love.” (Love Child and Love Nectar)
Three of them start with the word “pink.” (Pink Lemonade, Pink Nouveau and Pinkarat)
One of them is named after an insect. (Yellow Jacket)
There are three “Rs” (not two) in Prrr.
Several of them have color counterparts, like Russian Red (also a Lipstick), Impassioned (Lipstick) and Soar (a Lip Pencil).
Even though it’s not in the permanent collection, once upon a time there was a shade called Evolution Revolution. ?

In addition to their even shinier outfits, ~~they also got a little bigger~~ (update: the new tubes hold 0.10 ounces, and the old Lipglass tubes held 0.17 ounces).

You’ll recognize your old faves among them, like Nymphette, Spite and Lychee Luxe…

Oh, wait! Those are my old faves. 🙂 The glosses themselves haven’t changed (same patent-leather shine and hella sticky vanilla-scented formula). They’re just wearing new outfits.

1. Angel

2. Baby’s a Vamp

mac babys a vamp lipglass — Baby’s a Vamp

3. Beaux

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MAC Lip Scrubtious Sugar-Based Exfoliator

January 9th, 2017 by Karen 34 Comments

mac lip scrubtious top — The new MAC Lip Scrubtious lip exfoliators, which are $16 each and available meow in five flavors

I’ve eaten — yes, eaten — way too much of these bad-@ss buffing sugar-based MAC Lip Scrubtious lip exfoliators over the past few days because…dang, they taste so good!

The first one I tasted/used was Fruits of Passion (great name, yah?). I rubbed it against my lips and thought, “Great, my flakes are being de-flaked.” Then, I got a good taste of it and completely forgot that my lips felt super soft and moisturized. I end up eating most of what I put on my lips. Luckily, I think that’s OK for them and by design.

Hint of tint

Because these are sugar-based, you do end up eating some of the sugar (in my case, most of the sugar), but some of it does dissolve. Or, you can rinse it off with water or remove it with a tissue.

Personally, I suggest using a tissue if you want to see a hint of a tint with the brighter ones.

mac lip scrubtious — Clockwise from the lower left, that’s MAC Sweet Vanilla, Candied Nectar, Summer Berry, Fruit of Passion and Sweet Brown Sugar

After you scrub and exfoliate with them, they leave behind an essence of oil for moisture and the faintest hint of a tint that looks like you’re wearing a bit of lip balm, and they feel nice and comfy. They aren’t sticky, and they’re just about as thick as a MAC Cremesheen.

Ingredients

Sucrose, petrolatum, simmondsia chinensis (jojoba) seed oil, butrospermum parkii (shea) butter, water/aqua/eau, vitis vinifera (grape) seed oil, adansonia digitata (baobab) seed oil, oryza stava (rice) bran extract, romarinus officinalis (rosemary) leaf extract, healanthus annuus (sunflower) extract, tocopherol, tocopheryl acetate, ethylene/propylene/styrene copolymer, butylene/ethylene/styrene copolymer, flavor (aroma), phenoxyethanol, caramel, red 33 (CI 17200), yellow 6 (CI 15985)

Five flavors

These are in the MAC permanent line now for $16, and they come in five different scents and flavors.

One of the things for me with lip products, and especially lip scrubs, is that I have to like the way they taste and smell; otherwise, it doesn’t matter how good they look. I’m not even going to bother. These have a very light scent that won’t assault you from a mile away, and I think they taste great. They get the sweet balance just right, so none of that artificially nasty-sweet nonsense.

mac lip scrubtious summer berry — Yum, yum! MAC Lip Scrubtious in Summer Berry

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Tuesday Temptations: Trying to Track Down the Republic Nail Frida Kahlo Collection

December 13th, 2016 by Karen 19 Comments

republic nail frida kahlo polishes — Need these in my life ASAP

This is how badly I need — yes, need — these Republic Nail Frida Kahlo products in my life.

I’ve currently embarked upon a systematic search of every CVS store in the Marin County area to find these products!

My online sleuthing seems to indicate that they’re only available at actual physical CVS stores.

WHY?! Why aren’t they also available online??

I found out about this collection from my friend Lily on Instagram (hey, girl!). She posted a pic she found of some of the items, and the moment I saw it I was like, OK, yeah, I can’t live without them.

Well, I mean…I could live without them, but it would be really, REALLY nice if I could try that mint green nail polish on my nails. 🙂

republic nail frida kahlo lipsticks — LIPSTICKS!

The polishes are $7.99, as are the lipsticks.

Oh, and apparently there are also sets out there, somewhere, that have both the nail polishes and lipsticks in them. I saw them on the Republic Nail website (not for sale, though — just the info), but I haven’t spotted them for sale anywhere at CVS.

I think they may have been available on the CVS website at some point in time because they have the reviews, which are really good, but now the website just says that they’re available in stores only.

If you happen to see these in a store anywhere around here in the Bay Area, please let me know. I’d hop in my Mazda and get there SO FAST.

Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,

Karen

Mad About Metallics and Tom Ford’s Winter Soleil Lip Foils

December 8th, 2016 by Karen 27 Comments

tom ford winter soeil lipsticks — A few of Tom Ford’s new Winter Soleil Lip Foils from the left: Venus Rising, Spanish Flame, Private Life and Creme Conque, $53 each

I’m not usually a sexy robot lips/metallic lipstick kinda gal, but Tom Ford’s Winter Soleil Lip Foils are making me love the look. The pearl particles are super fine, so my lips look like they’re glowing. It’s more of a glowing effect than a frost.

Tom’s Lip Foils are $53 each, which, yeah…is totally bananas. ??? But that’s Tom Ford.

tom ford venus rising — Tom Ford Venus Rising

tom ford creme conque — Tom Ford Creme Conque

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The New MAC Shadescents, $57 Each, Coming Soon to MAC Counters

November 28th, 2016 by Karen 21 Comments

If I told you that MAC was releasing a collection of fragrances inspired by some of their most iconic lipsticks (they are), and then told you that they were also re-releasing the lipsticks with colorful matching caps, would you almost immediately wonder, “Ooh! Will the lipsticks be scented too?”

Because that’s what I wondered about the lipsticks that accompany the new MAC Shadescents fragrance collection. I was curious, so I checked, and they aren’t (oh, you know, just sitting here smelling a whole bunch of lipsticks!). I mean, they do have that good ol’ MAC vanilla fragrance.

mac shadescents lipsticks — The MAC Shadescent Lipsticks ($17 each) with limited edition packaging

The six-scent Shadescents collection is coming soon to MAC counters with six $57 eau de parfums inspired by some of MAC’s most iconic lipsticks, each of which are also getting special matching packaging.

A video posted by Karen | Makeup and Beauty Blog (@karenmbb) on Nov 28, 2016 at 10:05am PST

The same exact lipsticks are also available in the MAC permanent collection now, but these are just extra fancy. The perfumes will be permanent, but the special edition lipsticks are LE.

The MAC Shadescents

(six scents, $57 each, coming to the MAC website and macy’s.com November 30 and stores December 8)

Ruby Woo — woody floral
Candy Yum-Yum — fruity floral gourmand
Lady Danger — woody floriental
My Heroine — woody leather
Creme d’Nude — amber musk
Velvet Teddy — wild honey

If you’re an old-school MAC-aholic, you might remember that MAC had a line of perfumes way back when, but they discontinued all of them except Turquatic.

Until now. Now they’re back in the perfume game with Shadescents.

The fragrances are all made to have personalities that match their accompanying lipsticks, like bright hot pink Candy Yum Yum.

mac shadescents lipsticks swatches — From the left: My Heroine, Ruby Woo, Lady Danger, Candy Yum-Yum, Velvet Teddy and Creme d’Nude

With sweet notes of cotton candy and pineapple, the Candy Yum-Yum scent (kind of reminds me of Thierry Mugler Angel) is equal parts playful and bubbly. I can see a girl who loves Candy Yum-Yum Lipstick wearing this as I walk by her at the mall.

mac candy yum yum -shadescent — Candy Yum-Yum Shadescent Eau De Parfum and Lipstick

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