Product Reviews

I’m Dancing Like a Maniac Over Hot Pink BECCA Beach Tint in Lychee

December 7th, 2012 by Karen 26 Comments

becca lychee beach tint — Wearing Becca Beach Tint in Lychee ($25) on my cheeks and lips

Dear Universe,

If you could help me find that iTunes gift card I got for my birthday last June, that would be great, because I have this sudden, uncontrollable urge to don a black leotard and dance like a maniac, a maniac on the floor.

Why this sudden urge to dance like I’ve never danced before? I dunno (Flashdance). I have no idea (I watched Flashdance for the first time last night).

Life is a mystery, but I do know this: when I’m pointing and twirling in my leg warmers and the sweat’s streaming down my face, the makeup on my cheeks and lips will tough it out just fine.

You see, I’ve been wearing BECCA’s new hot pink Beach Tint in Lychee ($25) during our monsoon-like weather this week (over it!), and basically, it’s the ish.

I just shake the tube, and dot and blend a minuscule amount of this multitasking water-resistant cream on my lips and the apples of my cheeks with a finger. The resulting matte pink flush looks natural, but resists water unnaturally well, even when the rain is coming down sideways.

Special offer from BECCA: This Monday, December 10, BECCA’s offering “Unconditional Complimentary Shipping” on their US website. Free standard shipping on every order, any size, at beccacosmetics.com for one day only. No promo code required. Offer expires on Monday at 11:59 p.m. PST.

If you’re a complete blush klutz, creamy Lychee will make you look like an expert. My skin just laps it up (works on both bare skin and atop foundation), and it’s a cinch to buff out any edges.

I’m amazed by how evenly it applies.

becca lychee beach tint swatch — Lychee unblended on the left and blended on the right

[Continue reading…]

These Glam Liners Are Baroque! The Dolce & Gabbana Animalier Collection Glam Liners Are Loose on Lids and Tempting Black Liner Lovers

December 6th, 2012 by Karen 11 Comments

dolce gabbana glam liner in baroque silver — Wearing the new Dolce & Gabbana Glam Liner in Baroque Silver ($34) on my upper lash lines

It happens to every black cat liner lover eventually…

The rut. You fall into one. One day, there you are, just going about your business and finishing up those TPS reports at your desk, when you peer into your makeup bag and ask yourself, “Hmm…what liner should I wear?”

And then you snap. “Oh, yeah. Black Liner! Again! For like the umpteenth time in a row!”

I’m definitely guilty of falling into that rut. On the one hand, “Cat eyes are classic and never go out of style!” But on the other, sometimes you just gotta paint yourself out of that corner, which is where these new metallic Dolce & Gabbana’s Glam Liners ($34 each) come in.

Like makeup made for angels, these long-lasting liquid liners shimmer and shine. Glittery gunmetal gray Baroque Silver, glittery burnished copper Baroque Bronze and gilded gold Baroque (not shown here) burst on the scene with the new Animalier holiday collection, bound and determined to break up the beautiful monotony of black liner.

And, hello, lazy brigade! — they couldn’t be a whole lot easier to use. Dolce & Gabbana included a soft, skinny brush with just enough give to it to give me (and hopefully you) lots of control over your line weights.

They also developed a quick-drying liquid formula that doesn’t creep…into fine lines.

The result? How ’bout crisp, sharp edges like a samurai’s katana — and perfect cat eye flicks requiring next to no effort.

Oh, and then there’s the tiny flecks of multicolored glitter, which I find pretty hard to resist… 🙂

dolce & gabbana holiday 2012 — The Glam Liners on the lower left

dolce gabbana glam liner swatches — Baroque Bronze on the left and Baroque Silver on the right… See those teeny, tiny flecks of glitter? Cute!

[Continue reading…]

Is the New Dolce & Gabbana Animalier Bronzer The Cat’s Meow?

December 5th, 2012 by Karen 13 Comments

dolce gabbana animalier bronzer review — Wearing the new Dolce & Gabbana Animalier Bronzer ($57)

Alright, people, before we load up the Land Rover and head out on this safari, let’s run through a quick cosmetics checklist.

Lipstick? âœ“

Eyeliner? âœ“

Powder? âœ“

Shimmery golden bronzer decorated like a spotted big cat?

…

I repeat, shimmery golden bronzer decorated like a spotted big cat?

No?! Well, that’s not right. Don’t worry though. We’ll fix that.

Locals refer to these wildcats as Dolce & Gabbana’s Animalier Bronzers. They’re $57, part of the new Animalier holiday collection, and recognizable by their distinctive spotted patterns.

A similar cat was sighted prowling makeup counters back in the summer of 2011. That one was also called Animalier.

This specimen’s spots, just like last year’s, are an overspray.

When we find one for you, I want you to mix the colors together. That should give you a cool-toned bronzy brown perfect for chiseled ’80s music video cheekbones.

Now, I have some experience with this cat, so I should warn you — it can be dangerous, especially while it’s still an overspray. I wore it around the house this week and felt very Flashdance, without the high-cut leotard and leg warmers, of course.

dolce gabbana animalier bronzer — Wearing the overspray to contour my cheeks

The overspray doesn’t deliver the most natural look, so I wouldn’t wear it every day, but luckily, I don’t have to. The overspray wears off, revealing a velvety soft, finely-milled powder beneath it.

How soft is it? Well, to put it in perspective, it’s softer than a tabby’s low-hanging tum. 🙂

Once you get through that overspray, this cat will lavish your skin with warm, golden orangey brown kisses.

I think this year’s kitten is more pigmented than the Animalier Bronzer we saw last year, which was pretty sheer. I think it’s also a little more golden than orange.

dolce gabbana animalier bronzer swatches — Swatches of the overspray on the left, and the bronzer beneath it on the right

[Continue reading…]

The New Dolce & Gabbana Animalier Collection Classic Cream Lipsticks in Iconic, Desert and Caramel Are Like Makeup ThunderCats

December 5th, 2012 by Karen 27 Comments

dolce gabbana iconic lipstick — Wearing the new Dolce & Gabbana Classic Cream Lipstick in Iconic

When boredom threatens your makeup bag, whom do you call?

Batman? Nope, he can’t help.

Spidey? Sorry, not this time.

Jeremy Renner?

Yes…you call Jeremy Renner. 🙂

But seriously, you call Dolce & Gabbana! With their fierce leopard-print caps, the three new $34 limited edition Dolce & Gabbana Classic Cream Lipsticks from the Animalier collection are so wild they’re practically feral.

Cat lady says what?

(What?)

Iconic (a warm-toned tomato red), Desert (a shimmery bronze) and Caramel (a sheer beige) will go purrfectly with some of my favorite accessories, like my leopard-print dress, the husky tabby often draped across my arms, and the golden neutral shades in D&G’s new Desert eyeshadow quad.

All three have Dolce & Gabbana’s faint rosy lipstick flavor and scent and a creamy, luxuriously smooth formula that lasts on my lips from 3-4 hours.

[Continue reading…]

Dolce & Gabbana’s $67 Desert Is a Hot Eyeshadow Quad With Leopard-Print Packaging That’s Driving Me Wild

December 5th, 2012 by Karen 25 Comments

dolce gabbana desert eyeshadow quad from the animalier collection — Wearing the Dolce & Gabbana Eyeshadow Quad in Desert ($67), from the new Animalier collection

It’s a jungle out there. Thank goodness for makeup…and cats (what, you couldn’t tell I was a cat lady?).

And whenever my two favorite interests collide, let’s just say, I have a moment.

Like a straggler gazelle on the African savanna in the crosshairs of a hungry lion, I fell prey to the new Dolce & Gabbana Animalier holiday collection… It was inevitable — the cycle of life as it pertains to the new Eyeshadow Quad in Desert ($67).

Leopard-print packaging, golden neutrals and flawless performance? Yes, this is the quad I’m bringing with me when J.Renn and I get stranded on that deserted island (that incidentally also has modern conveniences like plumbing, air conditioning, a Sephora store and Internet access).

Granted, the $67 price tag is like a deep, painful cat scratch for wallets, but that’s Dolce & Gabbana for ya. They may charge borderline redonkulous prices, but when they get a product right, they knock it out of the park…

…and all the way to the Dolce & Gabbana Eyeshadow Quad in Desert. 🙂

The leopard-print packaging

Even if I wasn’t a cat lady, I’d love this limited edition quad’s packaging. Not only do I like the way it looks on the outside, but the colors inside it are based on the print! How cool is that?

The colors

Three of the quad’s four neutrals — the matte beige, shimmery gold and matte light brown — have golden, mid-color temperature tones, which should make them flatter a wide range of skin tones.

The darkest shade, the plummy reddish brown, is a touch warmer than the other colors, and because it’s the darkest, I use to smoke out the other shades and as a liner (works well on lash and water lines).

If you have very cool-toned skin (quick tip: if the veins in your arm appear blue, you’re probably cooler toned; if they’re greenish, more warm), the darker shade might be a little tough to pull off, but it could still come in handy as a fallback liner.

The performance

Man, these eyeshadows should get Hollywood agents because they’re superstars! They’re everything I could ever hope for and expect from a high-end makeup line (that charges $67 for a quad).

I have no idea how D&G managed to make them this pigmented and yet keep them so easy to blend. And the fallout? — what fallout? Zero, nada, zilch. And they last all day long for me without creasing or fading.

[Continue reading…]

For $15, Sephora Brings the Bling: The New Sephora Blinged Palette Squeezes Some Great Pieces Into a Bedazzling Product

December 4th, 2012 by Karen 32 Comments

sephora blinged palette review — Wearing the products in Sephora’s new $15 Blinged Palette on my eyes, cheeks and lips

“Bling it.”

“Oh, it’s already been blough-it.”

Sorry… Made myself laugh. 🙂

So, what’s better than getting a great deal on a face palette with eight pigmented shadows, a perky pink powder blush and five flattering lipsticks?

How ’bout this: getting it all with a side of bling.

No need to bust out your BeDazzler to bejewel the new limited edition Sephora Blinged Palette, because it already comes complete with sparkly rhinestones. It’s also pretty affordable at $15.

Oh, how do I love thee, Sephora Blinged Palette? Let me count the ways…

The shadows

Fallout? What’s that? I hardly see any at all from these eight powder eyeshadows. Worn with my beloved NARS primer. With the primer’s help, they’re a breeze to blend and last all day long on my lids.

I love the mix of matte and shimmer finishes and the brown, gold, peach, beige and green shades, which are nicely balanced between cool and warm tones.

Only thing is, the high-shine shimmery shades have an appetite for fine lines — meaning they like to highlight ’em.

The blush

What a nice surprise! It’s so smooth and natural looking.

The lipsticks

I wish these five unscented, unflavored lipsticks weren’t seated so close to the blush (such a pain), but I think the colors work so well with the palette that I’m willing to let it go.

[Continue reading…]

The Six Sample-Sized Products in Benefit’s New Primping With the Stars Face Kit Should Make Working With or Without Celebrities Easier

December 3rd, 2012 by Karen 13 Comments

benefit primping with the stars — The new $32 Primping With the Stars kit from Benefit

Where am I…?

What is this strange place?

It’s as if, when I walked through that door, I came out in a different universe, a parallel dimension, a nexus, if you will, of time and space, where the impossible is possible.

Back in the universe where I came from, primping with the stars — at least the one particular plus-size feline celebrity I’m familiar with — often took hours, days and sometimes even weeks.

Based on my star-primping experience, which involved prepping a superstar kitty supermodel for all the major awards shows, it was always a chore, but Benefit designed this kit to change that.

They filled the $32 Primping With the Stars kit with six sample-sized products from their permanent line, hand selected to fake a flawless face in mere minutes. In the kit, you get Benefit’s Stay Don’t Stray Eye Primer, The POREfessional face primer, Girl Meets Pearl Highlighter, their Some Kind-A Gorgeous cream foundation in Medium, one Benetint lip and cheek stain, and a tube of They’re Real mascara.

[Continue reading…]

Benefit’s Betting That the Eye-Catching Neon Packaging of Their Latest Face Kit Will Prompt You to Do the Bright Thing

December 3rd, 2012 by Karen 15 Comments

benefit do the bright thing swatches — Wearing the products in Benefit’s new kit, Do The Bright Thing ($32)

They say that necessity is the mother of invention… Well, after seeing Glen do that thing with the zombie’s arm in last night’s episode of The Walking Dead (HOLY SCHNIZZ!!), I believe it!

I don’t know where I was going with that…but I think it had something to do with Benefit’s new $32 Do the Bright Thing Face kit.

I was thinking about decorating the house for the holidays, how I wasn’t sure if I have enough decorations, and then I looked at this kit’s bright, eye-catching packaging and thought, “Gee, this’ll work as a Christmas decoration in a pinch.”

This little Sephora exclusive lives to make faces glow, and it comes with five-sample sized products from Benefit’s permanent line.

See that pretty girl in the mirror there? (What mirror, where?)

Sorry! — random music reference! 🙂

She turned up the dial on her outer glow by wearing Do The Bright Thing’s soft, shimmery pink That Gal primer under her foundation, and to give her cheeks some color, she swiped light pink Dandelion Blush on her cheeks. Then, she dabbed and blended a few dots of highlighting High Beam on the tops of her cheekbones.

To make her eyes look bigger and brighter, she smudged Jet black Bad Gal Waterproof Liner along her lash lines and applied They’re Real Mascara, which works like yoga for lashes, s t r e t c h i n g them out.

[Continue reading…]