MAC Makeup

Day in Beauty, Vol. 12: The MAC Zac Posen Collection, ChocStars, and a Belated Blog Birthday

February 22nd, 2016 by Karen 45 Comments

Hey, baby, you’re a ChocStar!

Yes, you read that correctly — a ChocStar, which is somewhat different than a rock star.

How funny are these chocolate bars, though? (Please note the tabbies.) I found them at a fun candy store called SweetE Organic in my old stomping grounds in Mill Valley. It’s just a little shop, but they have every square inch filled with interesting speciality candies — like organic chocolates, gluten-free gummies, vegan candy, sugar-free candies, dairy-free candies, SO MANY CANDIES!

Add it to your list of dessert-related things to do in Southern Marin before or after hiking Mt. Tam, sightseeing in Sausalito or shopping in Corte Madera or Mill Valley. You could have lunch at Pizza Antica (OOH! Try one of their chopped salads with a piadini.), and then swing by SweetE Organic for dessert.

It’s right next to a wonderful store called The Spanish Table, where I could literally spend hours looking at olives, wine, recipe books, maps and bars of Spanish chocolate.

I walked in yesterday while El Hub and I were out and about. With Baby Girl coming very, very soon, we’ve been trying to stay close to home and be ready to hop on the freeway to the hospital in San Francisco, buuut I was starting to go a little stir crazy, so I had to get out of the house.

Can’t help it. I’m antsy!

MAC Zac Posen

And the shopping yesterday was exactly what I needed. It was also a perfect excuse to wear makeup. 🙂 I busted out the new MAC Zac Posen collection (available now online and coming to stores and counters Feb. 25 through March 24) and did a look similar to what I’m wearing today — matte black winged liner; soft purple, plum and taupe lids; warm bronzed cheeks; and hot pink matte lips.

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5 Things I’ve Been Loving Lately

January 22nd, 2016 by Karen 23 Comments

There should be a video right up here in this post, but if it isn’t appearing for any reason, you can click here to watch it on YouTube.

You wouldn’t think that hair ties would be something to be particular about, but I’m so particular about my hair ties. They can’t give me a headache; I don’t want them to leave a weird bend in my hair; I don’t want them to snag my hair, and these Tony Ties by Mia don’t do any of those things. They’re my new favorite hair ties, and I love them so much that I packed them away to bring with me to the hospital on B-day (birth day).

That’s when you know your love for something is real deal — when you’re willing to go into labor for an unspecified amount of time with it…

Here are five things (one of them’s a combo) I’ve been loving lately. How about you? What are some things you’ve been loving too?

Mia Beauty Tony Ties ($5 for a pack of three)
- Bobbi Brown Natural Brow Shaper & Hair Touch Up in Brunette ($24)
- Anastasia Beverly Hills Clear Brow Gel ($22)
- MAC Eye Shadow in Brun ($16)
T3 BodyWaver 1.75 Professional Curling Iron ($149)
Hourglass Ambient Strobe Lighting Powder ($38)
Jackie Aina (lilpumpkinpie05 on YouTube)

Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,

Karen

P.S. TGIF!

MAC Flamingo Park Collection | Overview, Swatches

January 21st, 2016 by Karen 28 Comments

There should be a video right up here in this post, but if it isn’t appearing for any reason, you can click here to watch it on YouTube.

GIRL, you know how I feel about flamingos! Those beautiful pink and coral feathers…that graceful neck…those long legs…that stylin’ beak! They’re my second favorite animal behind teh kittehs, and if there were such thing as a “Crazy Flamingo Lady,” I’d qualify, no doubt.

I’m happy to report that said beautiful bird is front and center in the new spring MAC Flamingo Park collection.

Behold…

mac flamingo park powder blushes — MAC Flamingo Park Powder Blushes

mac lifes a picnic blush — MAC Flamingo Park Powder Blush in Life’s a Picnic

mac pink swoon blush — MAC Flamingo Park Powder Blush in Pink Swoon

mac lets be friends blush — MAC Flamingo Park Powder Blush in Let’s Be Friends

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MAC Unsung Heroes: Satin Taupe Eye Shadow

January 19th, 2016 by Karen 21 Comments

What’s an unsung makeup hero? For me, it’s an oftentimes underrated makeup morsel, a permanent collection product that scoots under the radar screen of many makeup lovers but regularly rocks my world. The long-running Unsung Heroes series features some of my favorites.

I swear, you just can’t go wrong with the classics. I wore MAC Satin Taupe Eye Shadow the other day for the first time in months. It’s a shimmery grayish purple in the MAC permanent line, and it’s been around since the days of the dinosaurs!

OK, not that long, but it has been around a while. It was one of the very first MAC shadows I ever picked up, and, and it wowed me from the start…

It’s just so dang pretty!

I didn’t do anything fancy with it this week — just the same standard-issue Satin Taupe look I’ve been doing for, oh, the past zillion years.

I needed to put on some makeup to record a video, so I lined my eyes with black liner, then took that same liner and smudged it on my lids and lower lash lines. Then I buffed out the black liner with a MAC 217 before patting Satin Taupe directly on top and blending everything together. A quick sweep of cool matte brown MAC Omega in my crease, and that was it. All done.

Easy, elegant and damned fast — which led me to think, “Dude, Karen! Why do you make things more difficult than they need to be? You should be doing this all the time!”

It was one of those “Doh!” forehead-to-palm moments when I question my life choices, LOL!

Anyway, with Satin Taupe, we’re talking must-have (yes, it’s that serious). You’ve probably seen it around in limited edition palettes here and there… Here it is in a couple of recent ones (MAC Brooke Shields Gravitas and the MAC Nordstrom Naturals palettes), but you can also find it as a single in the permanent line.

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A MAC Viva Glam Ariana Grande Lipstick Face of the Day

January 13th, 2016 by Karen 39 Comments

This is the most makeup I’ve worn in weeks.

OK…two months.

I KNOW! For someone who lives, breathes and dreams about this stuff, I haven’t been doing too well in the actual “putting on makeup” department.

It’s just a phase, which happens sometimes, and I’ll get through it. Maybe my makeup today will be the first step. I’ll start with this warm reddish smoky eye and MAC Viva Glam Ariana Grande dark plum lips, then build up to false lashes tomorrow. Then, on Friday, it’s global makeup domination! Er…or something like that.

Lips

Even though El Hub says that this lipstick makes me look “vampiric,” I love it. If you’ve had your eye on this one (and, seriously, it’s so gorgeously matte and darkly plummy, how could you not?), it just arrived on counters and the MAC website today with its cute cohort, MAC Viva Glam Ariana Grande Lipglass ($15).

mac viva glam ariana grande — MAC Viva Glam Ariana Grande Lipstick ($17)

I’m wearing the Lipstick here, by the way, with MAC Cyber World Lip Pencil, because, for the life of me, I just can’t do this color directly from the bullet. It’s too dang hard, homie! Something like MAC Nightmoth Lip Pencil would totally also work if you happen to have it around.

Eyes, Cheeks and Skin

I swear, one of these days I’ll swap out the Tartelette In Bloom Palette that’s been chillin’ in my makeup bag for the past two months, but it’s still up in the mix for now…
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MAC Viva Glam Ariana Grande

January 5th, 2016 by Karen 24 Comments

There’s a video review in this post, but if it’s not appearing, you can click here to watch it on YouTube.

Turn up the music! — and perhaps hide that doughnut you’re planning to eat for your afternoon snack, because it might get licked… WHOA! That ended up sounding a lot naughtier than it did in my head.

Anyways! MAC Viva Glam’s newest ambassador is none other than pop star and infamous doughnut licker Ariana Grande, and [insert ridiculously impossible vocal run here] her new Viva Glam Lipstick and Lipglass hits all the right notes. I’m feelin’ it (especially the lipstick).

The quick deets on the two-piece MAC Viva Glam Ariana Grande collection:

MAC Viva Glam Ariana Grande Lipstick — a deep, dark plum ($17)
MAC Viva Glam Ariana Grande Lipglass — a light, shimmery pink ($15)
Available on the MAC website starting January 13 and in stores at all MAC locations January 21

As always, thank you for watching. 🙂

Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,

Karen

I Want These Boots…

December 18th, 2015 by Karen 22 Comments

My justification for these Packable Tour Boots in Military Red (they’re $150, OMG!) by Hunter is that El Niño is coming/almost here, and I’m not about to mess with El Niño, man.

If The Niño is going to unleash his wrath on my feet and the surrounding area, I need to be prepared. Plus, hello! — they’re red, so they’ll match MAC Velvetease Lip Pencil in Anything Goes, my new favorite red lipstick.

Having red rain boots to match your red lipstick is of the utmost importance! I know you feel me on this!

Also, they’d match the little red lipstick kisses on this sweater I got from A Pea in the Pod last month (on sale, haaay). 🙂

I can’t seem to find it on their website anymore, but if you’re moved by it, it might be on the rack in their stores (here’s a link to their store locator). It’s warm, comfy, isn’t scratchy (because NOBODY has time for scratchy sweaters), and I’d still want to wear it if I wasn’t pregnant.
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Answers to Your Burning MAC Velvetease Lip Pencil Questions

December 17th, 2015 by Karen 8 Comments

Got some questions about the MAC Velvetease Lip Pencils the other day…

Do they retract?

From Tatiana:

“They twist up, but do they retract as well? Or is it just a one way mechanism? I love the NARS pencils, but the caps always fall off in my bag and make a mess. I like that I don’t need a sharpener for these.”

Hi Tatiana,

Yes, they twist up, AND they retract, so you’re not stuck with a pencil tip poking out of the end, which leads me to wonder…why does anyone ever make a lip pencil that doesn’t retract? That sounds like crazy business to me!

Are they like the NARS Velvet Matte Lip Pencils?

From Jessica, Alexis and, seriously, half of YouTube:

How do these compare to the NARS Velvet Matte Lip Pencils?

Hi guys,

They’re similar. Like the NARS Velvet Mattes, the MAC Velvetease Pencils feel light, comfy and creamy, and they’re packed with pigment. I don’t think you can go wrong with either one, but I think the MAC pencils are slightly thinner and creamier, so they go on smoother.

I also think they’re a little less drying than the NARS Velvet Mattes.

Oh, and the sharpening sitch? The NARS ones have to be sharpened, which can be a pain if you don’t like toting a sharpener around with you.
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