Product Reviews

My Dry Claws Crave Caudalie Hand and Nail Cream

February 28th, 2012 by Karen 26 Comments

Caudalie Hand and Nail Cream Review

Last weekend I did the unthinkable… I encouraged a friend to forgo a caramel cupcake in favor of trying a beauty product.

I know! My sweet tooth was so ashamed, but ever since I picked up Caudalie’s $19 Hand and Nail Cream from Sephora, I’ve felt compelled to push it on all my friends.

“Dude,” I said to her, inches away from the tantalizing treat, “put down that cupcake, because you need to try this hand cream I just got at Sephora.”

Normally, I’d never dream of denying someone the chance to get their sugar on, but that’s how moved I was/am by Caudalie’s cream.

Caudalie Hand and Nail Cream Review
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With the Four-Piece Las Vegas de Chanel Collection, Coco Is Gambling on Gold

February 27th, 2012 by Karen 36 Comments

las vegas de chanel collection

It’s Vegas, baby! 🙂

One of the things I’m trying to pull together this year is a trip to Vegas with my childhood friends.

The mission? — to eat at some of Sin City’s yummiest restaurants and visit a fancy spa (or two), because a well-fed Karen plus deep-tissue massage equals one happy camper.

While I’m there, I’m also hoping to stop by the newly remodeled Chanel boutique at the Bellagio hotel.

To build some buzz around the new store, which opened earlier this year, Chanel recently released a four-piece collection of mostly golden baubles for lips, eyes, nails and cheeks called Las Vegas de Chanel, and this afternoon I tried my luck with three of the four pieces from the release.

las vegas de chanel lucky stripes
Lucky Stripes Iridescent Powders for Eyes and Cheeks

las vegas de chanel gold fingers
Le Vernis in Gold Fingers

las vegas de chanel vegas gold
Le Crayon Levres in Vegas Gold
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L’Oreal Infallible 8 HR Le Glosses Make One Heck of a Claim

February 26th, 2012 by Karen 13 Comments

L’Oreal Infallible 8 HR Le Gloss in Glistening Berry

Now, when a gloss makes a Herculean claim and says that it lasts eight hours, that’s gonna attract some attention, and the first question many people are probably going to have is, “Does it actually last eight hours?”

Let’s find out. 🙂 The new L’Oreal Infallible 8 HR Le Glosses (about $10 each) are so confident in their stamina that they advertise it right on the tube.

Overlooking the possibility for a moment, however remote, that L’Oreal had something other than wear time in mind when they emblazoned these tubes (like eight home runs, eight happy remoras, or eight hungry rabbits), I tried two of the 20 shades available now at drugstores.

The first thing I noticed about Glistening Berry and Pink Topaz was how the texture changed on my lips over time. Both glosses started out feeling thin and smooth but thickened within the first few minutes into a thick, sticky film.

I took that as a positive sign, since sticky glosses tend to last longer for me than glosses with thin textures and consistencies.

And texture wasn’t the only change I noticed. These glosses also start out with a lot of pigment and high shine, but they settle down to a soft, sheer sheen over the first 15 minutes. Long term, I think it makes them more wearable and less intimidating, which I like.

As for the way I think they taste and smell, it’s a little strange… Like minty grape juice — or a magic, wear-time enhancing potion, perhaps? — but it dissipates after about 10 minutes.

Then there’s the million-dollar question: how long do these actually last on lips?

Glistening Berry on the left and Pink Topaz on the right
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It’s a Sheer Thing With the Jouer SPF 15 Lip Sheers

February 25th, 2012 by Karen 14 Comments

jouer lip sheer (3)
Wearing Positano on my lips

Next on the itinerary: Capri, St. Tropez, St. Barths and Positano. But these aren’t our upcoming destinations (I wish!). They’re the four smooth and moisturizing SPF 15 Lip Sheers from Jouer ($22 each).

Sans a scent or flavor, these radiant lipsticks do more for lips than meets the eye. Not only do they impart sheer color and a light touch of shine, they also soften lips and lock in moisture, thanks to vitamin E and aloe vera.

I’m always struggling with dry lips and fighting flakes, so I appreciate the fancy formula.

Would have been even cooler if I didn’t have to reapply it every couple of hours…but things could be worse. After all, it could be drying. 🙂

jouer lip sheer (2)
Capri, St. Tropez, Positano and St. Barths

jouer lip sheer (1)
From the left: St. Tropez, Capri, Positano and St. Barths

jouer lip sheer (4)
Capri
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Hone Your Tough Girl Edge With Dolce & Gabbana’s Intense Khol Eye Crayons

February 24th, 2012 by Karen 13 Comments

dolce & gabbana khol collection

The sweet pastel colors currently cavorting across makeup counters had better make room. Dolce & Gabbana’s new $29 Intense Khol Eye Crayons recently roared into town, and they are not messing around.

In a season of soft pinks, peaches and greens, these mostly jewel-toned eyeliners, part of Dolce & Gabbana’s new Khol collection, might as well be wearing motorcycle jackets and riding Harleys way too fast, because for spring, that’s how edgy and rebellious they look.

Add one of these rich, intensely pigmented pencils into your spring makeup mix and BAM! — you’re born to be wild. 🙂

All five fierce shades are swimming in pigment — a nice offset for the hefty price — with some of the strongest colors I’ve ever seen from the brand.

And the texture? Oh, the texture… Smoother than a tub of organic cream cheese.

Mmm… bagels and cream cheese.

I’m sorry, where was I? Oh, yeah! — the texture. Absolutely no tugging whatsoever.

Yesterday, I felt like trying something a little different, so I wore all five shades in a single look. I slipped the liners along my lash and water lines in the morning, and 10 hours later, they were still going strong, with nary a smudge and very little fading.

dolce & gabbana khol collection

dolce gabbana khol collection liner swatches
Intense Khol Eye Crayon swatches from the left to the right: Peacock, True Black, True White, Chocolate and Dahlia
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When You’re as Slick and Slippery as a MAC Cremesheen, You Should Work It and Flaunt: The New JK Jemma Kidd Air Kiss Glosses for Spring 2012

February 24th, 2012 by Karen 13 Comments

jk jemma kidd work it
Wearing JK Jemma Kidd Air Kiss Gloss in Work It on my lips

ME: OHMIGOD, sweetie! I’m freaking out.

EL HUB: Why?

ME: I’m having a Cremesheen emergency!

EL HUB: A what…?

ME: A Cremesheen emergency! I can’t find my favorite tube of MAC Cremesheen. I’m freakin’ out!

EL HUB: Why don’t you just use one of the 20 other tubes of lipstick in your purse?

TABS: Oh, boy. Here we go again…

ME: Hahaha. So not funny! It’s a gloss.

EL HUB: Okay.

ME: Can you take me to Target?

EL HUB: What? Really? It’s the middle of the night, babe. And they don’t even sell MAC at Target.

Wait — how do I know that? I know way too much about makeup…

ME: And that’s why I heart you. I HEART YOU! I heart you so much that you’re going to drive me to Target to look at the JK Jemma Kidd Air Kiss Glosses.

EL HUB: I am?

ME: You are. 🙂 They have two new colors for spring, a coral called Work It and a sheer pink called Flaunt, $16 each, and they’re slippery and slick like the MAC Cremesheens.

jk jemma kidd work it flaunt
Work It on the left and Flaunt on the right

jk jemma kidd gloss swatches
Swatches of Flaunt (left) and Work It (right)
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Milani Brightens Up With Three New Marbelized Baked Eyeshadows for Spring

February 24th, 2012 by Karen 31 Comments

milani marbelized baked eyeshadows

What started as a marbelous gray, black, gold and dark blue dalliance last spring is now a much brighter affair. Milani is moving winter aside and making way for spring with three playful new Marbelized Baked Eyeshadows ($7.49 each).

First of all, I love their names! 🙂 Must Have Fuchsia, Copper Excess and Green Fortune just seem so perfectly apt. A minor thing, but sometimes for me it’s the minor things that make the biggest impressions.

milani marbelized baked eyeshadows

milani marbelized baked eyeshadows
From the left: Copper Excess, Green Fortune and Must Have Fuchsia
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Look Taller, Slimmer and Curvier in the Anthropologie Pieced Column Dress by Bailey 44

February 23rd, 2012 by Karen 76 Comments

This has been a brutal winter in the war I’ve been waging against my natural tendency to dress like a 12-year-old skater boy. Some battles, I won. Others, well, I fell back, retreating into my old routine of jeans and t-shirts.

Still, I feel like I’ve made a little progress here and there…

After the dust settles, when all is said and done, I think I’ll look back at the day I came across the Pieced Column Dress by Bailey 44 ($178) on the Anthropologie website as the turning point in the war — the day I took a major step toward dressing like a 30-something-year-old woman with a quirky sense of style.

It was the reviews that made the difference. So positive, so encouraging. They convinced me that this war could actually be won. People were talking about how the dress made them look taller, slimmer, curvier and cuter. Basically, they made it sound like the fabric equivalent of a minor miracle, so of course I had to try it on.

I drove down to the closest Anthropologie store and tried on the dress in Neutral Motif (it’s also available in Navy).

I was careful not to get my hopes up too high, though, remembering that stripes usually make me look wider and shorter, but I’ll be a monkey’s uncle — I think it had the opposite effect.

Man, I really love this dress. 🙂 Everything about it except the price (and the fact that it’s dry-clean only).

I feel like I look 10 pounds lighter and three inches taller when I have it on, which must have to do with the design, with its stripes that zigzag at different angles. They seem to slim the tummy and highlight curves at the same time.

The gal who was helping me said that she’d seen a whole bunch of women try the dress on, and it looked good on everyone, women of all different body shapes and sizes.

So cool. And it’s even comfortable. Very comfortable. It’s made from rayon and spandex, so it’s soft and stretchy like a pair of yoga pants for your whole body.

I usually dress it down with boots and a denim jacket, but I also like the way it looks jazzed up with heels and a black blazer.

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