Product Reviews

Get Your Glitter on the Go With the MAC Dazzleshadows

August 2nd, 2016 by Karen 11 Comments

mac banging brilliant dazzleshadow — Three of the 10 MAC Dazzleshadows from the Bangin’ Brilliant collection ($18 each)

Oh, glitter… All I wanna do is wear the sparkly stuff! Glitter is like the Disneyland of makeup, but it’s not always a smooth ride.

The MAC Dazzleshadows make it easy to get your glitter fix because they combine good-sized glitter flecks with a pigmented base.

There are 10 new Dazzleshadow shades in the MAC Bangin’ Brilliant collection, all of which are permanent, and here are three of them: Can’t Stop Don’t Stop isa deep plummy purple; Feel the Fever, a deep bluish purple with pink glitter; and Get Physical, which is a purple with light blue glitter.

The Dazzleshadows are more than just sparkly; they don’t just shimmer. They actually have tiny flecks of glitter in a pressed powder formula (here’s another look at them).

Sometimes I like a bad girl smoky eye, and these look amaze layered on top of a black base. Like, sometimes I’ll start with a black kohl liner, a black cream shadow or a black shadow stick from my lash lines to my crease. Then I’ll pat one of the Dazzleshadows on top and add mascara.

Just like that, and without having to contend with a jar of loose glitter, I’m ready to rumble. Just add black leather jacket and motorcycle.

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Creamy, Coco-Nutty Full-Coverage Too Faced Born This Way Concealer

August 2nd, 2016 by Karen 17 Comments

Apparently, my mind is in the gutter, because for the longest time I mistakenly thought that this Too Faced concealer was actually named Better Than Sex Concealer, and not Born This Way Concealer, HAHA!

And, of course, because of that, I thought, “How can a concealer be better than sex? I don’t even know… Then again, a good concealer can be pretty darned orgasmic…” LOL! Yeah. Dirty birdy.

Born This Way, which came out early this summer, is $28 and available in 10 shades.

Like some other Too Faced products, it contains skin-friendly ingredients, like coconut water (it has a very faint coconut scent too) and hyaluronic acid, which, Too Faced says, makes it more moisturizing and helps promote a smoother, more youthful appearance.

Truth be told…I can never tell for sure if skincare ingredients make much of a difference when they show up in my makeup, but homegirl does need all the help she can get.

Born This Way is a full-coverage concealer and feels like a fluffy mousse. Right off the bat, the consistency, the smoothing formula and the coverage remind me of NARS Radiant Creamy Concealer, which was my errrything for many years, and I still love it.

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The Day in Beauty Vol. 25: Chanel’s New No. 5, and a Hello From Redding, California!

July 30th, 2016 by Karen 25 Comments

chanel no 5 leau — The new Chanel No. 5 L’Eau

L’eau, the places, we’ll go! I’d love to take you to Paris or Hawaii, my friend…but for now, how about Redding, California? 🙂 That’s where I’m writing you from today.

Confession: I love me some Chanel, but I’m not really a Chanel No. 5 sort of girl. I’ve worn it many times over the years in the hopes that I’d fall in love with it because of its storied history and iconic past and, you know, because it’s Chanel, but it always felt like a pair of shoes that never quite fit me as perfectly as I’d like. Scent is such a personal thing, and No. 5 always seemed a little too serious for me.

I remember going to Filipino parties when I was young and being forced to hug aunties that I didn’t know, and they would always be wearing Chanel No. 5, and noisy jewelry, and they always had big hair, and when I hugged them, it would tickle my nose (the big hair AND Chanel No. 5).

No. 5 L’Eau is a new version coming to Chanel counters this fall — a reimagining of the scent — that will sit alongside the original, and I LOVE it.

With L’Eau, you definitely get the sense that you’re wearing No. 5, but it’s noticeably different. It still carries many of the original’s same notes, like May rose, but in a lighter elixir that seems more delicate and, dare I say, more fun.

Lemon, mandarin and orange stand front and center. To my nose, L’Eau seems airier than the original No. 5 and almost weightless, like a brush of tulle against naked skin.

Look for it this fall at Chanel counters. The 3.4-oz. bottle shown here is $132.

Enjoy the rest of your Saturday, babes. It will be a hot one here in Redding, as it always is this time of year (over 110 degrees!), so my big plan for the day will involve finding the coolest spot in an air conditioned room.

I checked in with Tabs this morning over Skype, and he and his favorite petsitter haven’t thrown any ragers yet. Let’s hope they don’t.

What do you have going on this weekend?

Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,

Karen

The Tarte Kiss & Blush Cream Cheek & Lip Palette

July 29th, 2016 by Karen 11 Comments

tarte kiss and blush — The new Tarte Kiss & Blush Cream Cheek & Lip Palette ($42)

Oh, OK… I get it.

I was wondering why Tarte decorated their new Kiss & Blush Cream Cheek & Lip Palette with sand dollars, since I usually associate those with summer and beaches, and the palette is out for fall, but check it: when you open the palette, the six pans are arranged in a star shape, like the shape in the center of a sand dollar.

See it?

Kinda cute, right?

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Make Up For Ever Redid The Artist Rouge Lipsticks, AND THEY’RE FABULOUS

July 29th, 2016 by Karen 14 Comments

make up for ever artist rouge lipstick — The Make Up For Ever Artist Rouge Lipsticks are getting a sequel next month

First things first, my friend — happy National Lipstick Day! 🙂

(As if we needed another reason to love lipstick.)

Second, that mint green, though…

We live in extraordinary times. Not only can we roll up to a Sephora and buy a magnificent mint green lipstick like the one in the newly reformulated, repackaged (but still extensive at 45 shades) Make Up For Ever Artist Rouge Lipstick line, but today’s lipsticks just keep getting better and better.

Shout-out to the cosmetics chemists out there doing the damn thing to bring beauty lovers like you and me lipsticks that, not only last longer on our lips, but also pack more pigment into a creamier, more comfortable formula than their predecessors.

That’s the case with the Make Up For Ever Rouge Artist Lipstick line, which relaunched online this month (and arrives at Sephora stores in August) with a new formula and a new outfit.

The line of 14 mattes (not including a couple of limited edition shades) and 31 creams encompases a rainbow of colors — 45 shades in all — from reds, pinks, berries and nudes to edgier offerings like blue, lilac, black and, yes, cray-cray green.

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The Tarte Naughty Nudes Blushes Are Taking Me Back to the ’90s

July 28th, 2016 by Karen 20 Comments

Badly behaved blushes, FTW!

Let’s get into some mischief with the new Fall 2016 Tarte Naughty Nudes blushes, shall we? Because, c’mon, if they’d been named the “Well-Behaved Nudes,” it would have sounded like a snooze-fest. Plus, what’s the point of being nude if you can’t also be naughty, hello?!

I swear on my plaid pleated mini skirt, my favorite flannel, my Timbs *and* my hoop earring with the key dangling from it that these four new fall shades of Tarte Amazonian Clay 12-Hour Blush ($28) are channeling so much ’90s realness!

Throughout much of that decade, I wore matte blushes in similar colors to these subtle shades of peach and pink.

tarte naughty nudes amazonian clay — The $28 Tarte Fall 2016 Naughty Nudes Amazonian Clay Blushes (the four shades on the far left), and a new $28 Amazonian Clay 12-Hour Highlighter (far right)

Nude pink Exposed, golden nude Sensual, rosy nude Seduce and peachy nude Risque remind me of the color of bare lips when they don’t have any product on them…except captured and placed in a pan.

I like wearing them with a sheer tinted moisturizer for a no-makeup makeup look, and my favorite one is Seduce because it matches the color of my bare lips.

For some reason, matching bare lips with a nude blush really seems to work…

Anywho, I like that it’s sheer and takes zero effort to blend. I also like that the Amazonian clay formula hangs in there for about 10 hours on my combo skin.

tarte naughty nude blush swatches — Tarte Naughty Nudes from the left in Seduce, Risque, Sensual and Exposed

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My Favorite Face Products From The Estée Edit for Quick, Cute and Casual Makeup

July 28th, 2016 by Karen 12 Comments

estee edit flash illuminator — Keeping it casual with The Estée Edit Flash Illuminators ($28)

Five-minute makeup with The Estée Edit? Heck, yeah!

I love a carved out cat eye, and ooh! — sparkles. I also love sparkles, but I don’t feel like wearing them every day.

Some days, like today, barely-there five-minute makeup just hits the spot. It’s barely 9 a.m. here, and it’s already above 80. I’m sitting in front of my Beyoncé fan, and I still feel hot.

When it’s hot like this, I’m not gonna wear a ton of makeup, and I won’t spend a lot of time on it either, but I still want to look like I’m trying, you know what I’m saying?

Easy, fast and casual makeup today with products from The Estee Edit — Quick and casual makeup today with products from The Estée Edit

The still fairly new Estée Edit line (available at Sephora) is a good fit for how I’m currently feeling. It has that unfussy, fresh and youthful “just throw on your favorite white tee, jeans shorts and Chucks” vibe to it.

If Connor were of age and wanted to start wearing makeup like this, I could get behind it. It’s sheer and casual — stuff that you can put on with your fingers and don’t have to fuss much with.

Here are four of my favorite cute and casual products from the The Estée Edit line…

The Estée Edit Rescue Balm for Face and Body ($50)

estee edit rescue balm beam team — The Estée Edit Rescue Balm ($50) and Beam Team ($42)

My dry skin loves The Estée Edit Rescue Balm. It’s a super rich (and, unfortunately, also pricey) moisturizing balm — first and foremost, a moisturizer — and I apply it all over my face to prep the skin before applying the Skin Glowing Balm.

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The New Tarte Tartiest Naughty Nudes Creamy Matte Lip Paint Line, and Things I Did in the ’90s While Wearing Brown Lipstick

July 27th, 2016 by Karen 27 Comments

tarte tartiest lip paint naughty nudes — The new Fall 2016 Tarte Tartiest Creamy Matte Lip Paint Naughty Nudes line ($20 each)

Things I seemed to always be doing in the ’90s while wearing brown lipstick…

Running to the bus stop (I was always *that close* to missing the bus).
Standing awkwardly in the corner of the room at house parties with a red cup in my hand.
Checking my pager, which I kept in the front pocket of the jeans I got using my employee discount at Miller’s Outpost (OMG). And I thought I was hot sh*t because my pager was white, LOL!
Falling asleep in the library with my head in an open chemistry book and waking up covered in drool.
Going to Tower Records (but never actually buying anything).

I’m getting all the ’90s feels from the new liquid lippies in the Tarte Tartiest Creamy Matte Lip Paint Naughty Nudes line ($20 each, available in five shades).

These vegan full-coverage mattes glide across lips with an unscented, unflavored, cruelty-free formula, and they feel like soft mousse. Plus, unlike many of the liquid lipsticks out there now, they stay wet and maleable while you wear them, so they don’t dry all the way down.

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