Lips

5 Fabulously Affordable Fall Lipsticks

September 14th, 2015 by Karen 28 Comments

I have a tabby by my side (as opposed to on my lap — what’s up with that?), and I’m wearing a snuggly long-sleeved sweater and long pants to keep away the unseasonably fall-like chill outside.

I’m also wearing layers, as weird as that sounds, but it’s brisk and overcast outside. The leaves have even started to fall, and I’m seriously contemplating socks (toe oppression!).

Technically, it may not be “that time of year” yet, but I’m definitely getting a fall vibe.

There’s no way I’m ready for El Niño or the cold weather fall entails, but I do feel full-on ready for fall makeup, like these five fabulously affordable fall lipsticks that are all less than $10 each.

1. L’Oreal Colour Riche Collection Exclusive in Blake’s Red ($8.99)

Blake, as in Lively, the lucky lady with the long, luscious blonde hair (and, um, Ryan — oh, what’s his name? Not Gosling! Ryan Reynolds, how dare I?! — Ryan Reynolds’ baby mama). L’Oreal Colour Riche Collection Exclusive in Blake’s Red is her red addition to the L’Oreal Colour Riche Collection Exclusive line.

Blake’s Red is a beauty of a neutral red, neither too warm nor cool, with an opaque demi-matte finish, and it won’t just work through fall. This one will also carry you through the holidays.

I love this lippie with classic fall looks, and it suits a wide range of skin tones. Wear it with a simple cat eye for something vintage, or a black or gray smoky eye (a la Robert Palmer’s Addicted to Love video), or metallic golden lids.

SO PRETTY!

Because it’s by L’Oreal, it has their very strong floral flavor and scent (both fade quickly), which folks seem to either love or hate. I don’t mind it at all.

It’s available now online for $8.99 and at drugstores and Ulta.

2. Revlon Super Lustrous Lipcolor in Toast of New York ($7.99)

This is so old-school, you guys! I wore this color back in the day, and it’s making a comeback again.

I feel like there have been an overabundance of dark browns with almost grayish undertones lately, and I like that look on some people, but I feel like it looks a little macabre on me. THIS kind of brown has a little yellow in it, and I think it makes it more wearable. The matte finish also has a hint of a shine to it.

It’s available now online for $7.99 and at drugstores and Ulta.

3. COVERGIRL Star Wars Limited Edition Colorlicious Lipstick in Dark Purple 50 ($6.99)

Do you think this lipstick is on the dark side or the light…? Ooh, Star Wars reference! Where’s my light saber, Tabs?! 🙂

This dark purple berry is a classic fall color. It’s from the new limited edition COVERGIRL Star Wars collection, and it has a creamy finish.

It’s also flexible. You can wear it as a stain by applying one layer, then blotting, or build it up like I’ve done here. I’m wearing three layers, so it looks a little vampy.

It’s available now online for $6.99 and at drugstores.
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Use a Nude Lip Pencil First for More Symmetrical Lip Looks

September 8th, 2015 by Karen 10 Comments

I can haz symmetry?? Because I don’t haz it naturally. 🙂

I’ve read somewhere that it’s actually very common to have asymmetrical features, like in my case, one side of my lips is slightly thinner than the other, so when I do my lips, I cheat a little to make that side look just as full as the other.

I notice asymmetry a little more when I wear darker colors than when I wear nudes and neutrals, and I think it’s more obvious in pics than it is in real life.

For example, when I wear darker lip looks, with like dark wines, reds, browns and purples, I’ll start by lining my lips first with a nude lip pencil. I’ll sort of sketch out the shape, following my natural lip line on the fuller side of my lips, and then I’ll slightly overdraw the other side, the side that’s not as full, to make both sides match.

Then, I’ll trace over that nude lip line with a darker lip pencil that matches the dark color that I plan to wear.

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5 Lip Colors to Wear With Brown Smoky Eyes

September 4th, 2015 by Karen 15 Comments

From the left: MAC Cremesheen Lipstick in Creme D'Nude, MAC Amplified Lipstick In Fast Play, MAC Amplified Lipstick in Brick-O-La, MAC Satin Lipstick in Mocha and MAC Matte Lipstick in Lady Danger — From the left: MAC Cremesheen Lipstick in Creme D’Nude, MAC Amplified Lipstick In Fast Play, MAC Amplified Lipstick in Brick-O-La, MAC Satin Lipstick in Mocha and MAC Matte Lipstick in Lady Danger

Of all the many makeup machinations, styles and takes on smoky eyes (and there are A LOT of them; we’d seriously be here until next Tuesday if I tried to list them all), brown smoky eyes are among my favorites.

I know, so predictable. Homegirl loves brown, so of course she’d love brown smoky eyes, LOL! Yes, you have permission to laugh at me. It’s totally cool. We’re all friends here.

BUT YOU KNOW IT’S TRUE, THOUGH!

There are many legit reasons to love brown smoky eyes. One is their versatility in terms of what you can wear on your lips with ’em. Like, with green or blue smoky eyes, I feel like there aren’t as many lip colors you can wear with them, but brown smoky eyes go well with so many different shades! This is music to your ears, I bet, if you’re a lipstick hoarder like yours truly. 🙂

And what you choose to pair them with completely changes the vibe. Just for fun, here are five ideas for lip colors to wear with a brown smoky eye.

1. A nude beige

mac creme d nude lipstick — MAC Cremesheen Lipstick in Creme D’Nude ($17)

This one’s a classic smoky eye-lip pairing combo: the nude beige lip. The trick is to find something pale, but not so pale that you look like you’re under the weather. I like nude shades with a little bit of peach in them to warm things up, and an extra smooth formula, because some nudes look patchy on my dry, flaky lips.

Right now I’m all about MAC Cremesheen Lipstick in Creme D’Nude, a creamy, peachy nude beige.

Tom Ford’s Sable Smoke is another really good one.

2. A neutral pink

mac fast play lipstick — MAC Amplified Lipstick In Fast Play ($17)

You can’t go wrong with a neutral pink lip. They go with just about anything and work for day and night. You can also wear them with warm or cool-toned brown eyeshadows, and Fast Play by MAC is a current fave.

3. A berry

MAC Amplified Lipstick in Brick-O-La ($17)

If you like more color on your lips, a berry shade, like MAC Brick-O-La, will draw attention to yo’ pout but won’t take over your entire look.
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Urban Decay Revolution Lipstick: New Shades!

September 2nd, 2015 by Karen 11 Comments

urban decay lipstick online exclusives — From the left: Urban Decay Revolution Lipstick in Sheer Beso, Sheer Bittersweet, Gash, Protest, Speedball and Strip ($22 each, available now exclusively on urbandecay.com)

The Urban Decay Naked palettes, as much as I love ’em, are total attention hogs, aren’t they? Between them and all that neutral eyeshadow action, and Urban Decay’s famous (infamous?) bright eyeshadow palettes, there isn’t much room left in the spotlight for other great products, like UD’s awesome Revolution Lipsticks.

And that’s a shame because the Revolutions are some of my favorite pieces in the entire line. I mean, where do I start?? The creaminess, the moisture, or how they hug your lips like they’re all up on ’em doing the nasty on the dance floor?

There’s so much to take in, and so much to love… 🙂 When you’re ready, click “Play” on the video.

urban decay lipsticks — 1) Urban Decay Sheer Revolution Lipstick in Beso, 2) Sheer Revolution Lipstick in Bittersweet, 3) Revolution Lipstick in Speedball, 4) Revolution Lipstick in Protest, 5) Revolution Lipstick in Strip, 6) Revolution Lipstick in Gash

As of right meow there are eight new shades of $22 Revolution Lipstick available exclusively on their website. Some are bright, like bad-@ss purple Speedball (Of course there’s a purple; it’s UD! That’s they’re signature color.), and some other interesting shades, too, like brownish mauve Strip, a nod to the ’90s — seriously, all you’d need is super skinny brows and a black velvet choker, and you’d look like you just stepped out of a hot tub time machine circa 1995!

I talk about six of the new shades in this video.
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Urban Decay Holiday 2015 First Impressions

September 1st, 2015 by Karen 23 Comments

I was so confused today because I thought this was Urban Decay’s fall collection, and not the holiday collection, which is what it is.

I know that sounds really dumb…but in my defense, it’s 80 degrees outside! I’m wearing shorts and a tank top. I guess my mind just couldn’t make the leap to snowmen, Christmas trees and wearing mittens.

Heck, I don’t even have shoes on!

Be that as it may, it is holiday time in Urban Decay Land (ho-ho-ho!), so let’s don our mittens, our earmuffs and our J. Lo “Jenny from the Block” coat, and take a look. 🙂

urban decay vice4 — Urban Decay Vice4 ($60)

There are a couple of palettes in the release, some new liners (which I’m not crazy about, but I’ll get into that in the video) and a highlighter.

I have no idea how any of it fits with the holidays because, you know, there’s a lot of black in it and references to oil slicks, and nothing that seems particularly holiday-esque, but we’re just gonna go with it. 🙂
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MAC Brooke Candy for Fall 2015

August 25th, 2015 by Karen 15 Comments

Now, if you’re me, your first reaction to finding out about the new MAC Brooke Candy collection might have been, “Who the heck is Brooke Candy?” (I had to Google her.) I gotta hand it to MAC, because following their limited edition collaborations has been a good education in cutting-edge pop culture. My playlists are ever-expanding with new artists and performers.

I still have to listen to some of Brooke’s beats, but she seems kinda edgy…kinda raunchy, but raunchy can be hella entertaining sometimes (i.e. Lil’ Kim).

The new three-piece limited edition MAC Brooke Candy mini release arrives exclusively on the MAC website August 27, and since there are only three products, there’s not a lot to it — just two lipsticks and a liquid eye liner.

The lipsticks have an interesting formula called Amplified Cream, which is a little creamier and shinier than the regular Amplifieds, which I love, but the liquid eye liner, Boot Black, hmm… Of all the MAC liquid liner options, it’s my least favorite. Sucks that I can never get a crisp line with it, and it makes me feel like a 3-year-old trying to do liquid liner, or like liquid liner was put on this earth to torture me (“Liquid liner is your enemy, not your friend!”).

But I digress…

Let’s start the video! 🙂

mac brooke candy — MAC Brooke Candy packaging…

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5 Magnificent Magenta Lipsticks That’ll Make You Yearn for Fall

August 24th, 2015 by Karen 34 Comments

Maybe it’s all this talk about El Niño, or maybe it’s just my burning desire to bust out the scarves, and boots, but I’m ready to say “peace out!” to bright, summery pinks and “ciao” to corals for the season. Yup, I’m starting to enter fall mode.

Over the past couple of weeks I’ve been reaching for darker nail polishes (I’ve got Essie’s In the Lobby on my paws today!) and transitioning to deeper lip shades, but I’m not quite ready yet for full-on fall lip colors like dark browns, wines and purples. After all, it’s still only August. 🙂

But I have been into what I like to call my summer-to-fall transition shade, the always lovely magenta.

MAGENTA! I love wearing colors in the magenta family around this time of year because they seem just as comfortable with scarves and boots as they are with daisy dukes and flip-flops.

So here are five of my current magenta lipstick faves that have been in heavy rotation lately…

We have a delicious part deux post purée of six $16.50 MAC Cremesheen + Pearl collection Cremesheen Lipstick swatches to complete the 10-piece set we started last month (for reference, I’m an NC42).

All of them have been added to the MAC permanent line, so they won’t be going anywhere, and they’re available now at MAC stores, counters and online.

Of these, Koi Coral is the one I’ve been wearing the most. I friggin’ love it layered under pink and coral glosses (my favorite combo involves Urban Decay Streak Gloss).

mac cremesheen pearl lipsticks — MAC Cremesheen Lipsticks from the left in Koi Coral, Star Magnolia, Little Buddha, Tokyo Tizzy, Pretty Boy and Sweet Sakura

mac koi coral — MAC Cremesheen Lipstick in Koi Coral

mac sweet sakura — MAC Cremesheen Lipstick in Sweet Sakura

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5 Fabulously Affordable Fall Lipsticks

1. L’Oreal Colour Riche Collection Exclusive in Blake’s Red ($8.99)

2. Revlon Super Lustrous Lipcolor in Toast of New York ($7.99)

3. COVERGIRL Star Wars Limited Edition Colorlicious Lipstick in Dark Purple 50 ($6.99)

Use a Nude Lip Pencil First for More Symmetrical Lip Looks

5 Lip Colors to Wear With Brown Smoky Eyes

1. A nude beige

2. A neutral pink

3. A berry

Urban Decay Revolution Lipstick: New Shades!

Urban Decay Holiday 2015 First Impressions

MAC Brooke Candy for Fall 2015

5 Magnificent Magenta Lipsticks That’ll Make You Yearn for Fall

1. NARS Audacious Lipstick in Janet ($32)

2. Tom Ford Lip Color in Violet Fatale ($52)

3. Urban Decay Revolution Lipstick in Venom ($22)

MAC Cremesheen + Pearl Collection Lipstick Swatches: Part 2