Product Reviews

Make Up For Ever Star Lit Powder: I’ll Happily Navigate by This Star

March 22nd, 2017 by Karen 9 Comments

make up for ever star lit powder top — Make Up For Ever Star Lit Powder

Do these jars of Make Up For Ever Star Lit Powder look like something from Ursa Major?

LOL! Seriously, these things are shiny, man! If it was just you on a boat and these Star Lit Powders, you could navigate your way back to land.

SO SHINY.

100% Instagram-friendly highlighter

If there were an official OTT Instagram-friendly highlighter, this would be it. Each of the eight $21 shades has 0.09 ounces of loose, shimmery powder that you can wear wet or dry on your eyes, lips or cheeks.

make up for ever star lit powder swatches — Make Up Forever Star Lit Powder swatches from the left in 19, 15, 13 and 02

INTENSE pearl

The shimmer is less like a glitter and more like an intense pearl. As highlighters, these are a little too bada-bing-bada-bang for me, but I like them as lid colors, because when you get them right up next to a satin or a matte in the crease, the high-shine POPS! — and if you have hooded, or slightly hooded, lids like I do, it makes your crease look deeper, like it’s comin’ right atcha.

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Unsung Makeup Heroes: Kjær Weis Sun Touched Cream Blush

March 21st, 2017 by Karen 14 Comments

kjaer weis suntouched cream blush — Kjaer Wis Cream Blush in Sun Touched

The long-running Unsung Heroes series here on Makeup and Beauty Blog features some of our all-time favorite permanent collection products.

If you think about, if you were to be literally touched by the sun — as in, within the corona of a hot ball of glowing gas — that would probably not be very good.

However, being touched by Kjær Weis Sun Touched Cream Blush, on the other hand, is another story.

For a healthy glow

This has been my favorite blush since I discovered it last December. I didn’t get a lot of sun this winter, but this blush helped me pretend like I did.

kjaer weis suntouched k — Best cream blush ever!

This particular coral color works really well with light and medium skin that has golden or olive undertones, and the finish looks completely natural. It isn’t too shiny or matte, so your skin still looks like skin.

100% luxe

I’m really starting to love Kjær Weis. I highlighted the brand a few months ago, and since then I became a full-on Kjær Weis stalker. Let’s just say that I would not be hating life if I had an entire steamer trunk filled with their makeup!

They’re a pricey green beauty brand by makeup artist Kirsten Kjær Weis, with high-performance department store-caliber products. Sun Touched costs — wait for it — $56 for a 0.123-oz. pan, but the compact is refillable, and the refills cost $32, so they’re a little less.

In fact, you could just get one of the refill pans and keep it in your own palette.

The compact looks like jewelry but feels like a ninja weapon. It’s hefty, so it could come in handy in a fight-or-flight situation.

kjaer weis sun touched closeup — The stuff that cream blush dreams are made of…

This pan werks

It gives everything its got! I only need to use a little because of how pigmented it is, and I can be blushed and ready to rock and roll in less than 30 seconds. I don’t have to build up layer upon layer… A few quick sweeps is all it takes to erase the edges.

kjaer weis sun touched blush swatch — Yup, even after all these years, I’m still a MAC NC42 for reference

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Tom Ford 2017 Summer Soleil Collection Bronzing Gel

March 17th, 2017 by Karen 7 Comments

tom ford bronzing gel — Tom Ford Bronzing Gel, $48, from the 2017 Soleil Summer Collection

I’m brown, so I kinda thought that bronzing gel would be not all that incredibly useful for me, but you know…Tom Ford. He sucks you in. I pretty much love everything he’s ever done. That damned subtle elegance of his gets me, and everything I’ve tried from the 2017 Soleil Summer Collection has been rocking my booty shorts off, including this $48 Bronzing Gel.

Yes, it’s nauseatingly expensive, but by Tom Ford standards, $48 is borderline reasonable.

Sort of?

It’s a lightweight golden bronze gel you can use on your face and body (I just use it on my face though). I apply it with my fingertips and blend it in wherever I would normally apply bronzer, like on my cheeks, across my nose and around the edge of my face. I use it in place of bronzer sometimes.

It gives my NC42 skin a subtle, buttery warmth and a bronzed golden pearly glow.

Me likey!

I know I keep referring to the pieces in this collection as things that give you “vacation skin,” partly because I’ve got vacations on the brain, but I really do think that that’s what this does — gives you vacation skin.

When I wear it, I look like I just woke up from a long nap on the world’s most comfortable hammock on the world’s most amazing beach.

Ah… It makes my skin a dewy, toasty golden brown. It’s a subtle effect, but I like it. I need it, too, after what has felt like THE LONGEST WINTER EVER.

If it happened to you…

Filed under, “Weird Things That You Think Only Happen to You and When You Find Out That They Also Happen to Other People You’re Relieved.”

Yes, it’s a very wide filing cabinet. 🙂

I was talking to a girl last night at the gym about laundry, of all things, and she started telling me this story about how she put on a pair of clean skinny jeans that she washed the night before but didn’t realize until lunchtime at work the next day that there was a weird lump in her calf area.

When she went to the bathroom to check it out, she found a pair of underwear that had gotten stuck in her jeans all through the wash.

I said, “WHAT?! That happened to me too! The same exact thing!”

It was a gray pair of Citizens skinny jeans, and I didn’t realize until I was halfway through lunch at The Cheesecake Factory that I had a big lump of underwear in the back of my thigh…

Oddly, I feel a lot better knowing that I’m not the only person this has happened to.

Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,

Karen

Victoria Beckham X Estée Lauder Strikes Again! It’s Coming Back This Month!

March 17th, 2017 by Karen 17 Comments

victoria beckham estee lauder march 2017 — A few items from the Victoria Beckham X Estée Lauder collection, which will be re-released again this month. From the left: Modern Mercury Highlighter, Eye Foil in Blonde Gold and Eye Metal in Bitter Clove

Damn, V-Becks! Why you gotta do me like that? Why you gotta make my makeup dreams come true? Just kidding. 🙂 Thank you!

VB is back with new makeup! Her Victoria Beckham X Estée Lauder makeup collection is being re-released this month (you can sign up here to get alerted when it goes live) with the same products from her collection last fall, along with a new bronzer called Saffron Sun and a new nude lipstick called Nude Spice.

One of the items is available meow, the $95 Morning Aura Illuminating Cream, which is supposed to be an amazing change-yo’-life makeup primer.

Um…I may or may not have it in my cart right now. I’m contemplating whether I should pull the trigger.

Anywho, I tried a few things from the collection when it first launched last fall and lost my damn mind. I tried a few more of them this week, and, not surprisingly, they’re fab.

victoria beckham bitter clove — Victoria Beckham X Estée Lauder Eye Metal in Bitter Clove ($45)

Oh, and before we get into it, can I just say that my hair is making me insane in these pics? I can’t take my bangs anymore.

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Tom Ford 2017 Summer Soleil Collection Sheer Cheek Duo in Paradise Lust and Sheer Highlighting Duo in Reflects Gilt

March 16th, 2017 by Karen 5 Comments

tom ford paradise lust reflects gilt — The Tom Ford Sheer Cheek Duo in Paradise Lust ($78) and Sheer Highlighting Duo in Reflects Gilt

“Sheer and Sparkly Cheek Duo” doesn’t have the same ring to it as “Sheer Cheek Duo,” does it? Yeah, it doesn’t sound as Tom Ford-y, but these two new duos from the Tom Ford 2017 Summer Soleil collection are A LOT sparklier than I thought they’d be, and more pigmented too.

tom ford sheer cheek duo paradise lust — Tom Ford Sheer Cheek Duo in Paradise Lust ($78)

They may look chill on my face in these pics, but the Sheer Highlighting Duo in Reflects Gilt and Sheer Cheek Duo in Paradise Lust, which are — you’ll wanna site down for this! — $78 each (I KNOW), are much more pigmented than their names imply. I spent a lot of time buffing down my cheeks and cheekbones after applying the Cheek Duo and Highlighting Duo the first time because I was expecting to have to pack on layer upon layer. But that wasn’t the case.

tom ford sheer highlighting duo reflects gilt — Tom Ford Sheer Highlighting Duo in Reflects Gilt ($78)

Both Reflects Gilt and Paradise Lust feel like the $45 NARS Dual Intensity Blushes, and they look like a couple of them too. Reflects Gilt looks a little like NARS Jubilation, and Paradise Lust is similar to NARS Adoration.

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Tom Ford Summer Soleil 2017 Clutch-Size Lip Balms in Neotropic, Fathom, Pure Shores and La Piscine

March 16th, 2017 by Karen 17 Comments

tom ford lip balm neotropic fathom pure shores la piscine — Four of six new Tom Ford Clutch-Size Lip Balms from the left in Neotropic, Fathom, Pure Shores and La Piscine ($36 each); not pictured: L’Odissea and Cruising

The fanciest itty-bitty lip balm that I ever did see! If I were walking on the beach and saw one of Tom Ford’s Clutch-Size 2017 Soleil Summer Collection Lip Balms glinting on the sand, I’d think it was a piece of lost jewelry, and I’d snatch it up with a quickness!

tom ford lip balm neotropic fathom pure shores la piscine 1 — Tom Ford Clutch-Size Lip Balms from the left Neotropic, Fathom, Pure Shores and La Piscine

Hey, if you’re gonna release a $36 luxury lip balm, it might as well be marvelous. Like Tom’s summer lipsticks, these tiny tubes have gold trim and white packaging, but they’re also petite, which I think makes them extra cute.

tom ford lip balm full size for scale — With a full-size Tom Ford Lipstick towering over them for scale

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Tom Ford 2017 Summer Soleil Collection Skin Illuminator in Fire Lust

March 14th, 2017 by Karen 13 Comments

tom ford fire lust — Here I’m wearing Tom Ford Fire Lust Skin Illuminator (a.k.a. liquid highlighter) all over my face (my forehead, cheeks, nose, chin and jaw).

There’s a time in every woman’s life when she realizes, ya know, that she’s a grown-@ss woman. In my case, I don’t need to be walking around with my underwear hanging out my jeans, and I don’t need to be walking around with big ol’ chunks of rave/festival season glitter all over my face.

I mean, though, if gigantor glitter is your M.O., sh*t girl, don’t even listen to me. 🙂 You do you you. But for me and glitter, I like it to be fine (FOINE), and if it’s going anywhere other than my eyelids and lower lash lines, I like it to be subtle, which is why I love Tom Ford Skin Illuminator in Fire Lust ($50).

Get that “vacation skin”

Part of the Tom Ford 2017 Summer Soleil Collection available now, Fire Lust is a warm peach with golden pearl and the subtlest of subtle golden glitter pieces.

I’m talking the micro-ist of micro glitter, so that when you apply and blend it in, you get a very subtle, warm peachy, pearly glow with tiny glitter flecks scattered all over your skin, which, when glimpsed from various angles, gives a beautiful subtle glow, a.k.a. “vacation skin,” a.k.a. what my ideal skin situation would look like if I spent four weeks chillin’ on the Riviera.

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The Beauty of BECCA Soft Light Blurring Powder in Golden Hour

March 14th, 2017 by Karen 12 Comments

becca golden hour soft light blurring powder 1 — BECCA Soft Light Blurring Powder in Golden Hour, $38

I read about this guy somewhere a while back who said that he fell in love with SO MANY ladies on Instagram because of the Valencia filter…

You know, I can’t blame him, because that Valencia filter? Damn. Wow. It’s like the most glamorous, flattering light ever.

I can haz my own Valencia personal filter??

That’s sort of the idea behind the new $38 BECCA Soft Light Blurring Powder in Golden Hour — that’s it’s a portable, personal 24/7 photo filter.

Is it really transparent?

It’s part of BECCA’s spring collection, and the effect is supposed to be like basking in buttery, perfect twilight (but not the kind starring Edward and Bella). The 0.35-oz. jar is available now in BECCA’s permanent collection.

It’s a luminous loose powder with a satin finish that blurs pores and scatters light. BECCA calls the color transparent, but some folks say that they can see a peachy tint on very light and very deep skin. I like the way it works on my NC42 tan, but that’s something to keep in mind.

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