Unsung Heroes

MAC Unsung Heroes: The Studio Chromagraphic Pencils

January 21st, 2015 by Karen 35 Comments

MAC Chromagraphic Pencil — The MAC Studio Chromagraphic Pencils ($16 each)

Chances are good that if you’ve rolled up to your favorite MAC counter lately (shout-out to the Corte Madera counter at Nordies, woo-hoo!), you probably passed the Studio Chromagraphic Pencils without bringing one home.

MAC Studio Finish Chromagraphic Pencils from the left: NC15/NW20, NW25/NC30, NC42/NW35 — The MAC Studio Finish Chromagraphic Pencils (they aren’t duos) from the left in NC15/NW20, NW25/NC30, NC42/NW35

Honestly, I don’t blame you, because if I didn’t know about them, I’d probably skip ’em too. On paper, they appear quite boring.

Only they’re not. At all. They’re actually really handy. In a nutshell, they’re creamy, flesh-colored eyeliners…which does sound pretty lame, right?

But I keep one of these $16 wonders in my makeup bag at all times and always bring one with me on trips. I use them all the time, really, in so many different ways.

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Unsung Makeup Heroes: Chanel Joues Contraste Powder Blush in Pink Explosion

December 18th, 2014 by Karen 22 Comments

10 reasons why Chanel Joues Contraste Powder Blush in Pink Explosion will blow your mind…

It’s an explosion! Of Pink! Seriously — Pink Explosion — how could you not love that name?
Looks so lovely with Hourglass Fever lipstick. (I’m just saying…)
Also goes great with NARS Angelika Lip Gloss, which is what I’m wearing in these pics.
Actually…now that I think about it, it goes great with errrthing. I’ve been wearing it regularly for the past month in a bunch of different eye/lip combos, and I can’t remember ever thinking that it didn’t work well with a look.
The secret squirrel micro-glitter (you can only see it if you get up really close) will make you feel like you’re getting an extra large scoop of Chanel special sauce.
If you’re feeling extra crabby with a side of cranky, Pink Explosion will make you look like you don’t have a care in the world, so maybe then somebody nice and cute will walk up to you and start a conversation about something light and fun, and then you’ll temporarily forget your crabbiness. 🙂
It smells like roses! — so you’ll be reminded of the last time someone surprised you with a huge bouquet of flowers (hopefully it wasn’t too long ago).
It’s so powerfully pretty that it can even cancel out the memory of needing the Jaws of Life to get into your skinny jeans this morning.
And not having to spend a ton of time carefully blending out any edges means you’ll have time left over to look for a purr-fect faux leopard-print Christmas coat.
Did I mention it’s Chanel?

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Unsung Makeup Heroes: Hourglass Velvet Creme Lipstick in Fever

November 21st, 2014 by Karen 30 Comments

This is the one Fever that you’d actually be stoked to catch. “But Karen,” I can already hear you saying, “I can’t afford to get sick! Between dating Ryan Gosling (hey, a girl can dream) and pet assisting for five cats, I can’t afford time off!”

Not to worry, friend. 🙂 This isn’t a Fever that’ll leave you in bed, clammy and immobile for 48 hours with sweat between your toes. This is Femme Rouge Lipstick in Fever by Hourglass ($30), a vibrant stop-and-stare fuchsia.

The long-running Unsung Heroes series features some of my favorite permanent collection products from a variety of bodacious beauty brands.

I wore this lipstick in my review of the Hourglass Ambient Blush Palette a while back, and ever since then — kid you not — I get at least one email a week from someone asking about it, and the emails usually start with the words, “I HAVE TO HAVE IT,” or something to that effect.

I totally understand, ’cause the first time I wore the lipstick, I caught it (the Fever). My brow broke out in a cool sweat as I swiped the tube across my lips. I think I may have also experienced a temporarily delirium. Either that, or RyGos really was sitting on my living room couch eating a wedge of gouda…

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Unsung Makeup Heroes: Chanel Illusion D’Ombre Long Wear Luminous Eyeshadow in Fantasme

November 20th, 2014 by Karen 18 Comments

Fantasme…

Why did I just picture Penelope Cruz saying that, like from one of those Nespresso commercials?

“Nespresso!”

Are we really almost at the end of November? I can’t believe Thanksgiving is only a week away, but it reminds me that now is the time for holiday makeup.

There’s Thanksgiving next week, and then a couple get-togethers around Christmas, so I’m trying to think of ways to look dressed up that don’t require a lot of effort, like by using products I can layer on top of whatever other makeup I may have started the day wearing.

Say “happy holidays!” to Chanel Illusion D’Ombre Long Wear Luminous Eyeshadow in Fantasme. This sheer, glittery white cream wunderkind ($36) makes getting party-ready looks as easy as three pats of a finger.

Well…three or four.

Chanel Illusion D'Ombre in Fantasme — Chanel Illusion D’Ombre Long Wear Luminous Eyeshadow in Fantasme ($36)

Wait — don’t walk away just because I said glitter! This is Chanel glitter, so it’s classy and refined (think: expensive chandelier), and it’s precisely the kind of glitter I imagine Choupette the cat leaves in her wake when she prances around her mansion. 🙂

Fantasme is one of those deceptively fantastic pieces… It pretends to be boring and nondescript in swatches, but it turns into a concert violinist on lids.

The long-running Unsung Heroes series features some of my favorite permanent collection products from a variety of bodacious beauty brands.

What I like to do is pat Fantasme in the inner corners of my lids with a finger.

Sure, you could use a brush, but I like using my fingers because it seems to cut down on the fallout…not that there’s very much of it anyway.

I just pat on top of whatever eye makeup I happen to be wearing. Doesn’t matter what colors or kind of look it is, either. Fantasme cranks it up.

Here I’m wearing it on top of teals and blues from the Urban Decay Vice 2 Palette…

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Unsung Heroes: Rouge Bunny Rouge Nocturnal Ink Satin Eyeliner in Blue Roan

November 13th, 2014 by Karen 32 Comments

Rouge Bunny Rouge Blue Roan — Wearing my newest liquid liner love, Rouge Bunny Rouge Satin Eyeliner in Blue Roan ($28)

I’m afraid my pen of Rouge Bunny Rouge Nocturnal Ink Satin Liner in Blue Roan is about to start avoiding me because I’ve become totally obsessed with it. Pretty soon I’ll be knocking on its door at 3 in the morning yelling, “Blue Roan! I love you! Don’t you see?! We’re meant to be together forever!” Neighbors will call the cops and sh*t and complain about the wild-haired woman declaring her love for a liquid liner, but then I’ll just cut out a bunch of words and letters from a magazine and use them to make this note: Karen + Blue Roan = 4 Life!!!

Yeah, this dark navy blue liquid liner is le bomb, and not just because it survived season four of The Gilmore Girls (which I may or may not have marathon-ed in a single day).

The liquid flows smoothly and evenly from the flexible felt tip. This pen creates thin and thick lines and flicks faster than you can say, “Karen, you need professional help.” 🙂

The long-running Unsung Heroes series features some of my favorite permanent collection products from a variety of bodacious beauty brands.

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Unsung Makeup Heroes: Tom Ford’s Bad@ss, Budget-Busting $44 Brow Sculptor

October 22nd, 2014 by Karen 43 Comments

Smizing and wearing Tom Ford Brow Sculptor in Espresso

People of the world…y’all just don’t understand! In the morning, right after I wake up, I can barely make it the eight feet from my bed to the bathroom without falling down. “Not a morning person” isn’t just a catchy phrase with me. It’s an official descriptor, like female, 39, 5’1″, Gemini, not a morning person.

Before I’ve splashed some water on my face and had my coffee, delicate makeup maneuvers like the filling in of brows are normally impossible, but Tom Ford’s Brow Sculptor gives me a fighting chance.

I’ve successfully used it to fill in my eyebrows and create perfectly drawn arches at jacked-up times without a drop of coffee in my system (so we’re talking about worse muscle control than a zombie). This $44 makeup miracle delivers flawless, full, natural-looking brows, and I could not live without it.

Well…I could, but you know. Life would be rougher, man. 🙂

Of course, here’s the thing about Tom Ford Beauty: it’s So. Freaking. Expensive. I feel that unless his products are completely on point, I can’t justify their price.

I mean, what sane person drops $44 on a brow pencil??

Answer: someone who’s tried some of Tom’s products before, because when he gets it right, boy gets it really, really right (case in point).

Most brow pencils for me are slightly less exciting than a John Philip Sousa march, but I think Tom’s Brow Sculptor is epic.

EPIC.

So epic that I had an out-of-body experience once when I put two of them into my online cart (the shade I wear is called Espresso) and realized that the subtotal was $88 before tax. I swear, I floated out of my body and watched myself slowly click the “buy” button while my inner monologue said, “Holy effing crap.”
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Unsung Makeup Heroes: Topshop’s Terrific $12 Cream Blush in Afternoon Tea

October 21st, 2014 by Karen 38 Comments

Topshop Afternoon Tea Blush — Topshop Cream Blush in Afternoon Tea, $12

Do you have to be simultaneously sipping tea out of a dainty teacup while wearing Topshop’s $12 Cream Blush in Afternoon Tea to fully appreciate the nuances of either product?

No, you do not.

It does, however, help. 🙂

And it also helps to appreciate a great deal.

(Incidentally, if you decide to brew a pot of Earl Grey, I’ll take mine with cream and two lumps of sugar, please.)

I almost can’t believe this pretty pink cream-to-powder blush is only $12. It’s a total unsung hero in my book. On my unpredictably combination oily, and sometimes dry, cheeks, I swear it looks exactly like the $38 Le Blush Creme blushes by Chanel, and it lasts just as long. I get from eight to nine hours if I do a minor touchup around hour six.

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Unsung Makeup Heroes: The Dolce & Gabbana Desert Quad

September 5th, 2014 by Karen 13 Comments

It was hot enough to fry an egg on the sidewalk.

That’s how how hot it gets in Davis, California, where I went to school. I can’t believe I’d go jogging in the middle of the day back then at the height of summer. It would be 110 degrees outside, with waves of heat rippling off the sidewalk and vultures circling high overhead, and there’d I’d be, jogging my steaming buns off between classes.

In parts of the California Central Valley, it gets hotter than Death Valley. I’m serious. A whole swath of the state basically turns into a desert every summer, which reminds me…

I’ve liked Dolce & Gabbana’s Eyeshadow Quad in Desert ($60) ever since I started wearing it off and on in 2010, but I only recently fell Beyonce-crazy-in-love with it.

I noticed that I was bringing it with me on all of my trips this summer. I literally wasn’t leaving the house without it, and I think the mattes have everything to do with it.

Dolce & Gabbana Desert Eyeshadow Quad — The Dolce & Gabbana Eyeshadow Quad in Desert ($60)

There are three of them in this quad — a beige, a golden brown and a dark chocolate brown, all of which are the freakin’ ish — as well as a hit-the-pan worthy golden shade, which we’ll get to in a minute.

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