Product Reviews

Three Ways to Brow Wow With the New $34 Benefit Brow Kits in Soft & Natural, Defined & Refined and Bigger & Bolder

September 10th, 2016 by Karen 8 Comments

Good morning, glory! Today we’re talking brows, and I’m wondering…would any plaid skirt-wearing, midriff-bearing ’90s girl worth her salt have bothered with any of the new Benefit Brow Kits back in the day? As a survivor of the decade that gave us the Jeremy Jordan (and, as someone who plucked away her brows into oblivion), I think I can safely say HELL NO.

All matte errrthing? Coo’. Dark brown vampire lips? Feelin’ it. Of all the ’90s makeup trends that have boomeranged back into the public consciousness recently, I’m so happy the ’90s brow has stayed back in ye olde times.

OMG, dude. Or should I should I say ’90s non-brow? — because really, there wasn’t a whole lot of brow to be working with.

Drew Barrymore in the '90s showing how it was done... — Drew Barrymore in the ’90s showing how it was done…

So, yeah, I love big brows and I cannot lie, and it looks like Benefit does too because their new $34 Brow Kits are all about full, lush brows.

Each one comes in versions with light, medium or dark shades and a different mix of full- and travel-sized brow products for specific looks…depending on what you’d like to wear with your Docs, velvet choker and your babydoll floral print dress that day. 🙂

The Soft & Natural Brows kit

First, to add just a little oomph to your natural brows, there’s the Soft & Natural Brows kit.

This one suits my style the most because I like a full brow that doesn’t look overly drawn in.

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SO HAWT! Too Faced Lip Injection Glossy Juicy Color Plumping Lip Gloss

September 9th, 2016 by Karen 8 Comments

Holy habaneros, girl! Somebody grab a fire extinguisher because my lips are on FIYAHHH! — and I’m not talking jalapeños. I’m talking next-level ghost pepper to the Nth degree flames rising up from the depths of the earth’s primordial molten core HOT! ?? That’s how my lips feel when I wear these new Too Faced Lip Injection Glossy Juicy Color Plumping Lip Glosses.

These bees sting like battling rivals on the dance floor!

Thankfully, it does subside after a few minutes…

So, yeah…on one hand, I feel like I’m making out with a ghost pepper when I wear these, but on the other hand, I like how they shine (like the twinkle in Nick Jonas’ eye when he sings about lost love).

I also like how long they last and how thick they feel, so they stick to my lips for 3-4 hours.

too faced lets flamingle — Let’s Flamingle, a watermelon pink

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Say Hey to the Gals in the Benefit Holiday 2016 Sassy Lassie, Girl-A-Rama and Kissy Missy Sets

September 9th, 2016 by Karen 12 Comments

benefit holidbenefit holiday 2016ay 2016 — Hey, cuties!

Babycakes, on a scale of “1” to full-blown Ricksanity, where do you think I’d stand if I were to walk into a salon with Benefit’s Kissy Missy Holiday 2016 set and said, “Do this to my hair”?

CUUUTE!

I’d wanna hang with a girl with bubblegum pink hair and big-@ss hoops. I bet she’d be cool as hell!

I want to hang with all of the girls on these new holiday sets from Benefit. These chicas are three of the six new Holiday 2016 Benefit sets that officially arrive on counters September 30 (although I’ve already seen a few of them at Ulta).

benefit holiday 2016 — Benefit Holiday 2016 Sassy Lassie set ($39)

Benefit loves their limited edition sets, and these have products — some with minis, some with full-size pieces and some with a combination of both — from their permanent line.

Of course, Benetint and Hoola make appearances, as they so often do every year (like in the $39 Sassy Lassie set here), but every once in a while Benefit will put newer items in a set, and that’s the case with the $46 Girl-A-Rama set, which has the new They’re Real Duo Shadow Blender in Brazen Bronze, and the Kissy Missy set, which has mini versions of the new They’re Real Double the Lip Lipsticks in Revved-Up Red and Pink Thrills.

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So Long, Dolla-Dolla Bills! The Giorgio Armani Runway Fall/Winter ’16 Limited Edition Collection Is Here

September 7th, 2016 by Karen 20 Comments

I have a theory that we’re going to lose our command of the English language someday because it’ll be completely replaced by the use of emojis, and when that day comes, if I’m still kickin’ and startin’ sh*t and bustin’ moves at the grown folks club, this is how I’d convey this review of the Giorgio Armani Beauty Runway Fall/Winter ’16 Limited Edition Collection:

????????????

Dude, this palette? It’s one hundred and twenty bones.

$120!

No, seriously.

OK, now, I’m down to make it rain sometimes (says the girl who just put the $80 Hourglass Surreal Light palette into her Sephora cart ???), but $120 for a compact with a transparent face powder and three eyeshadows??

That’s like an alternate universe-type price where diamond-studded grills are a valid form of retirement savings.

armani runway fall winter 16 face eye palette 2 — The $120 Armani Runway Fall/Winter ‘16 Limited Edition Face & Eye Palette

armani runway fall winter 16 face eye palette 1 — Armani Runway Fall/Winter ‘16 Limited Edition Face & Eye Palette

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One Word: RED! Chanel Le Rouge Collection No. 1

September 7th, 2016 by Karen 24 Comments

chanel le rouge collection no 1 lipstick swatches — Red, she said! The lipsticks from the fall Chanel Le Rouge Collection No. 1

Erhmahgawd, so much red! I mean…I love wearing red, but I can’t possibly be the only person out there who looked at ALL OF THE RED in Chanel’s fall Le Rouge No. 1 Collection and thought, “There’s absolutely no damned way.”

Red lips? Yeah, I’m totally downtown, Julie Brown, but red lipstick, red blush AND red eyeshadow…? Seems a little out there! At first glance at this collection, I came so close to whipping my ponytail and spinning in the other direction in my high-tops. I didn’t think there was any way this much red could be wearable.

But then I tried it on!

And had a revelation.

Red on the lids? YAAAS, QUEEN. Same goes for red on cheeks. And when you put ’em together with red lips? C’est magnifique!

chanel le rouge collection no 1 — Wearing the quad, blush and cream shadow in Rouge Brule; liner in Agape; and lipstick in Rouge Charnel

My reaction to this release is a far cry from what happened a few years ago when I tried wearing red on my lids and was so traumatized by the incident that I didn’t want to do it ever again. Because man! — that sh*t was baaaaad. 🙂 I looked like a woebegon side character from a Dickens novel where it rains all the time…

Sad panda. 🙁

chanel candeur et experience — Chanel Candeur Et Experience Eyeshadow Quad ($61) and Rouge Profond Blush ($45)

But the collection’s quad, Candeur Et Experience, is a totally different scene. I mean, if these shadows were food, they’d be your cheat day. I’m talkin’ indulgent. They’re incredibly easy to blend — even the red, which hella intimidated me — practically melts into the delicious chocolatey browns.

And those three brown shades? Homie, they’re majorly key, because when you get them them up in the mix, they ground that red so that it doesn’t look as stark and disjointed on the skin. I was so, so TERRIFIED to try this quad, but trust — it all works. The pieces fall into place.

I think that crazy red blush is another standout in the collection. Again, I expected it to be like boarding a train to crazy town, but using it with the lightest touch of a blush brush — like a kitten nose tap — creates a healthy flush.

Of course, the Chanel Joues Contraste blush formula is also just as smooth, easy to blend and outright impeccable as it should be with a satiny red like this one, but I expected it to just be too much red when worn with the quad.

But it wasn’t. I think they look totally right together, like that time I saw Beyonce and Idris Elba in a pic from the Met Ball.

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Because It Always Looks Better in Black: New Lipstick Queen Black Lace Rabbit

September 6th, 2016 by Karen 20 Comments

By the old makeup gods and the new, I swear that I will never star in a reality TV show…voluntarily, but if were to accidentally stumble into a situation where a show needed a sassy, fast-talking, makeup-loving crazy cat lady, I’ve decided that my catch phrase will be “It looks better in black!” because if you ask for my opinion on something, that’s pretty much my stock answer, whether it’s bags, clothes, shoes or now, in the case of new Lipstick Queen Black Lace Rabbit, makeup.

IT LOOKS BETTER IN BLACK!

Sheer black lipsticks aren’t anything new, because old-school shades like Clinique Black Honey have been around since the ’90s, but this one has a spark-tacular twist…

lipstick queen black lace rabbit swatch — Lipstick Queen Black Lace Rabbit

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The Bite Beauty Multisticks: Monochromatic Marvelousness for Your Lids, Lips and Cheeks

September 6th, 2016 by Karen 36 Comments

Hand on my heart, my hoops and my high hair — today is the day I’m getting serious, y’all. I’m going to set down the Nutella jar and commit to get back into shape.

I will also do my level best to ignore the fact that every time I see one of these $24 Bite Beauty Multisticks…I wanna chomp into it like it’s a Twinkie.

On paper, you totally could eat these multipurpose makeup sticks for eyes, cheeks and lips because, like all Bite Beauty products, they’re made with food-grade ingredients, but I haven’t tried it yet… But ya never know. I probably will. I have licked a lipstick before in the pursuit of makeup curiosity, haha!

So, yeah, you could eat these if ya wanted to (which is nice to know, I suppose), but I don’t know if I’ve ever wanted to wear a creamy reddish brown like Almond on my eyes, my lips and my cheeks at the same time… It seems like it would be a little much, right? Like a dude wearing one too many gold chains?

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The Urban Decay Vice Vintage Capsule Collection, and Happy #Caturday!

September 3rd, 2016 by Karen 16 Comments

urban decay vice lipstick vintage capsule collection 1 — Party like it’s 1996!

SHEEEEYT, girl, back in 1996, you wouldn’t have been able to tear me away from my metallic lipsticks. My “going out” color was a purply shade similar to Asphyxia, one of the nine reissued shades in the upcoming Urban Decay Vice Lipstick Vintage Capsule Collection. I wore it with a dark purple lip liner which, of course, I left purposefully unblended. 🙂

I think I got the idea from a Missy Elliot video… Or maybe it was Mary J. Blidge?

Wherever it came from, I thought it rocked, LOL!

urban decay vice lipstick vintage capsule collection — The new Urban Decay Vice Lipstick Vintage Capsule Collection (colors: $17 each)

Lace up your Doc Martens AND your Timberland boots because UD is celebrating their 20-year anniversary by reissuing nine lipsticks from their original 1996 lineup, and they’re releasing them in their new Vice formula.

They have a totally legit mid-’90s metallic feel to ’em.

urban decay vice bruise — Urban Decay Bruise

Some of them are more wearable than others… Take Bruise, a deep burgundy with a red and green shift that, at least on me, is very subtle, and Oil Slick, a sheer black with silver micro glitter that looks more like a deep plum on the lips (think Clinique Black Honey).

urban decay vice oil slick — Urban Decay Oil Slick

While others, like Frostbite, a deep blue with multicolored micro-glitter, are straight up cray! Wearing Frostbite I feel like I’m channeling Lil’ Kim at the height of her Crush on You fabulousness.

urban decay vice frostbite — Urban Decay Frostbite

The collection is limited edition, so once these robot lips colors are gone, you won’t find them anymore on shelves. Better grab your favorite one before they peace out.

Take a stroll down memory lane these holidays with the Urban Decay Vice Vintage Capsule Collection ($17 each), coming soon.

Happy #Caturday!

Rise and shine, morning glory. I hope you slept well. I slept…interestingly, LOL! Connor Claire had her 6-month checkup yesterday, so she was a little out of sorts last night from all the attention and woke up early. But we’re chugging along… Tabs is a little fed up with the crying, truth be told, but he’s trying to be patient because she’s still a new hire. 🙂

Are you doing anything fun over there?

Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,

Karen