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
Just a quick look and some thoughts on the new 15-pan Warm Neutral and Cool Neutral X 15 eye palettes from the Eyes on MAC collection (both are available now for $85 each).
More pics and swatches coming soon.
As always, thank you for watching. I hope you’re having a spectacular day so far. 🙂
Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,
Karen
MAC’s new Haute & Naughty Waterproof Lash mascara ($22) made it through the “AVOID EMOTIONAL TRIGGERS” dates on my calendar with flying colors, so it’s alright by me.
Yes…there really is a 10-day block of time highlighted in red on the calendar that I share with El Hub, and there really is a note on it (in all caps) that says, “AVOID EMOTIONAL TRIGGERS.”
I consider it a courtesy alert for my husband, so that he knows to prepare for possible PMS-induced mood swings, and thus stay outta my way…lest he suffer the consequences.
Haha! Kidding. 🙂
Kind of.
OK, not really.
I’ll be going along, doop-da-doo, happy as a lark with a clam, until out of nowhere — BOOM! — I’ll see a commercial about adoptable kittens or read a sad story on Facebook, and just like that, I’ll start crying.
Hence the need for waterproof mascara like Haute & Naughty Waterproof Lash.
Like the other day, I was thinking about the first time I met Tabs (it was about eight years ago) when it occurred to me that he’s not going to be around forever…
*sniffs*
I burst into tears! My baby cat is getting older. 🙁
Waterproof Lash is MAC’s latest addition to their Haute & Naughty Lash mascara line, and it’s available in a single shade, a deep glossy black called Shockproof.
Like MAC’s other Haute & Naughty line mascaras, depending on how you twist off the cap, you can load the brush in one of two ways, with either more (in this case, twisting it off from the sparkly section) or less (twisting it off from the dark blue section) product. Load the brush with extra product for thicker, fuller lashes, or with less product for less volume, but better length and lots o’ separation.
I like to create a lash cocktail, starting with two layers for length and separation, followed by a final layer with the thicker application to add some drama for yo’ mama.
The result is noticeable, but not cray (no spider lashes!), criss-crossing lashes with fullness at the base.
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If all makeup collections tell a story, then for me, the new MAC Julia Petit collection starts in a colorful cafe somewhere in the heart of São Paulo.
Our heroine, uber-famous Brazilian lifestyle blogger Julia Petit, is sitting at a table outside with a girlfriend e uma xícara de café. They’re chatting about makeup and cats and laughing and having fun.
Over the course of a couple hours, more friends trickle in, taking seats around the table and ordering coffee and snacks, until every square inch of table space is packed.
That’s how this collection feels like to me. It’s like, all the girls are there, and everyone’s enjoying themselves, and absolutely nobody feels left out.
In the time I’ve spent with the collection so far, I get a strong sense of inclusiveness, like Julia wanted flexible colors that would suit everyone.
From the neutrals in the eyeshadow duos to the blush and the lipsticks, all of them seem very accessible to me, which is to say that there aren’t any crazy-pants blackened forest green eye glosses here (although those certainly have their time and place!).
From the matte browns in the eyeshadow duos, the red lipstick (always a classic), the soft pinkish peach lipstick (do neutral lips ever go out of style? HELL NAW!) and the peachy pinkish bronze powder blush (which should look AMAZEBALLS with or without a tan), I’m also getting a trend-defying ladylike vibe.
That said, there’s still room for bad-girl black eyeliner and a pair of @ss-kicker motorcycle boots. The deep violet matte lipstick adds just enough rebelliousness for gals who like their makeup with an edge.
All three of these lipsticks are wish list worthy. Satiny soft pinkish nude Boca, matte strawberry cream Petite Red and matte deep violet Acai are a saturated symphony of smoothness that would make Fred and Ginger proud.
Same goes for the soft pinkish brown Powder Blush in Linda. Super pigmented, and it lasts all day long on my cheeks (for reference, I have combo dry/oily skin). As for the finish? Swoon city.
At first glance, I think it totally looks like a matte on my skin (so there’s no drama involving my pores, YAY!), but when I look closer…I see a lovely, subtle sheen.
Perfect, because I love the look of glowing skin and cheeks. I think Linda will definitely help in that pursuit.
I’m Team Glowing Skin all the way!
Then there are the eyeshadow duos, which get two paws up from me for their smooth matte finishes and wearability. They’re a good place to start if you’re completely new to eye makeup.
If this Forbidden Sunrise Lipstick were actually forbidden…I’d break that rule. I mean look at it! — bright orange. WOW.
It’s like the color that your tongue turns after you’ve eaten some obnoxiously orange candy, and yes, I like it.
Just a quick look at the new MAC Bao Bao Wan collection Beauty Powder and Lipsticks (available now online and in stores March 5 – April 2, 2015). If you’ve ever wished that you could stand under a deluge of glitter, the Beauty Powder — you wants it.
As always, thank you for watching. I’ll be posting more pics and swatches soon.
Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,
Karen
Olá! Tudo bom? Não fall Português… But I wish I did, ’cause then maybe I could kick it with MAC’s latest collaborator, Brazilian lifestyle blogger Julia Petit.
She seems cool, and not just because homegirl has cat pics on her Instagram (for which she gets major cat lady points!).
Anyway, her gorgeous new limited edition makeup collection, MAC Julia Petit, is launching March 12 online at maccosmetics.com and coming to stores March 18 through April 15. I’ll be posting more detailed pictures and swatches soon, but for now, here are some first impressions.
As always, thank you for watching!
Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,
Karen
The sun’s out, I’m not wearing socks (FOOT FREEDOM!), I am wearing coral lipstick, and the eye look I tried this morning did not result in a complete disaster…
Yeah, it’s been a terrific Tuesday so far. 🙂
Today I felt springy and, I dunno, kinda smokey, so this purply brown smokey eye with soft cat eye liner happened.
Note to self: do this liner more often! It’s fairly easy — just black eye pencil with a dark shimmery purple shadow blended on top with a pencil brush — and it takes about half the time as a super crisp black cat liner, otherwise known as “the time-suck of my makeup existence.”
As a side, am I the only person who regularly attempts black cat liner when there’s, like, absolutely no time to get ready, and then inevitably ends up with their two tiny kitten flicks morphing into huge, unsymmetrical bat wings that don’t match?
Yargh.
Siri, remind me to wear soft cat eyeliner like this the next time I need to be saved from myself.
Oh! — this look was also an excuse to try a few new products from Benefit, Dior and Smashbox.
Some quick notes…
Yeah, that good.
I feel like every girl (and every boy who loves makeup; yes, I know you’re out there, and I love you!!!) has a default makeup look they turn to whenever they need to feel just straight-up pretty…and that’s definitely what I needed this morning because I woke up tired today, dude!
For real, I got like two seconds of sleep last night. The wind was crazy loud and howled all night long (“Awooooo!”), which fired up Tabs, who consequently spent the entire evening running circuits around the bedroom, knocking stuff off the dressers, climbing all over my boobs and generally doing naughty tabby things.
That darned cat! If he wasn’t so adorably squishy, I’d be raging mad at him right now. 🙂
Needless to say, I needed a pick-me-up this morning, so I figured, heck, why not do something makeup-wise that I really like to wear, so I ended up doing my favorite look to wear in the whole wide world — brown smokey eyes, pink cheeks, pink lips.
Yep, mah standby. 🙂
nce upon a time, there was a princess who loved shoes (in particular glass slippers).
Trapped in her condo castle in the faraway land of Novato, where she was being held captive by an evil plus-size tabby overlord, she dreamed of glass slippers and makeup with glistening, glittery, glossy finishes…
One cold February afternoon, the MAC Cinderella collection galloped into town dressed in pale blue and gold finery.
The princess gasped as she glossed her lips with the collection’s sparkling nude and pink Lipsticks and Lipglasses.
Overcome with joy as she swept colors from the cool-toned Stroke of Midnight eyeshadow palette on her lids, she clutched the waistband of her black stretchy pants, then squealed with delight when she caught a glimpse of the Iridescent Pressed Powder and Beauty Powder shimmering on her cheeks.
But it was only when she saw MAC Studio Eye Gloss in Lightly Tauped gleaming on her lids that she realized she had found true love.
Closing her eyes, she held the jar close to her heart and said, “There’s nothing like Lightly Tauped,” and then again, “There’s nothing like Lightly Tauped.”
Poof! Just like that, when the princess opened her eyes, she was standing outside.
Far, far away in a tower at the top of the condo castle, the evil plus-size tabby watched from a window, plotting his revenge…
The 17-piece MAC Cinderella collection is the stuff of fairytales! — fairy dust, glass slippers and sparkling tiaras sprinkled with starlight.
Light, airy formulas combine with glossy finishes to create bibbidi-bobbidi-boo.
At first glance, because of the muted tones and cool colors, I thought this release was going to be strictly for pale princesses, but I realized, as I experimented with it, that many of these pieces are sleeping beauties that really only come to life when the light hits them on your skin.
It’s all about shine, sheen, shimmer, glitter and gloss.
Shimmery nude pinks sparkle on lips, glittery powders gleam on cheeks, cool-toned eyeshadows accented with pearly plum and rich olive loose pigments dance on lids, and sparkling eyes cast glossy winks from across crowded rooms.
Speaking of gloss…I’m all about the MAC Studio Eye Gloss in Lightly Tauped. It’s like a thick, hella shiny, sparkly pot of Vaseline…but for your eyes.
I know! — that sounds cray, and it kind of is, especially if you layer it on top of the eyeshadows from the quad (which I did here, for that messy, greasy, “I don’t care, ’cause I’m a rock star” effect).
Even though it’s not going to be something most people will be able to wear to the Monday morning meeting at work (unless you work for a glossy magazine or walk runways), that mirror-like shine is so chic. You get all the drama of smokey eyes without having to actually blend sh*t.
I like to highlight the inner corners of my eyes with a shimmery gold, curl my lashes, and then coat them with mascara until they can’t take it anymore. Then I pat Lightly Taupe all over the lids for a different spin on nude eyes.
