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MAC MACnificent Me! Collection | Video Review, Pics and Swatches

September 18th, 2015 by Karen 16 Comments

mac macnificent me eye shadow x 9 — MAC MACnificent Me: Eye Shadow X 9 ($40)

So, what would be MACnificent right now? How about a vanilla milkshake and some fries!? But that just might be me doin’ my #pregnantladythings. The upside of the new MAC MACnificent Me! collection is that everything is calorie-free!

What makes you MACnificent? Is it your impeccable style, your sense of humor or your ability to wear crazy colors on your lids and lips and make them look completely legit?

Whatever it is, I think you’ll be able to find something of interest in the new MAC MACnificent Me! fall 2015 collection. 🙂

mac macnificent me eye shadow X 9 2 — MAC MACnificent Me: Eye Shadow X 9 ($40)

mac macnificent me eye shadow — MAC MACnificent Me Eye Shadow in Cheer Me On, Well Behaved and Everyone’s Darling ($16 each)

This collection has a neat twist. The six models for the campaign, whose identities haven’t been announced yet (as of Sept. 18, 2015), were chosen from among the zillions of MAC fans who submitted their picture and bios and answered the question, “What makes you MACnificent?”

The collection drops on the MAC website September 21, and then arrives a little later on MAC counters and stores October 1 through November 12.

And it’s a huge one! — 42 pieces, with a number of traditionally fall-ish items like dark berry and plum lip colors.

Here’s a glimpse…

mac macnificent me paint pots — MAC MACnificent Me Paint Pots from the left: Stroke My Ego, Imaginary and Nice Composure ($22 each)

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Pre-Fall Ulta Haul!

September 16th, 2015 by Karen 27 Comments

What the world needs now is 1) love, sweet love; 2) free pumpkin spice lattes (I finally had my first one of the season yesterday, and it was so good that I felt myself float out of my body and fly toward the sun, OMG!); and 3) more lady-dates.

MOAR LADY-DATES.

You know what a lady-date is, right? It’s when you go out with a friend — ideally, someone who likes makeup as much as you do — for coffee, snacks or what have you, and then, ya know, if you happen to wander into someplace where lipsticks and eyeshadows are available for perusal…so be it. 🙂

I went on one a couple weekends ago with my friend Marisol. We had acai bowls, then paid homage to our homeland, also known as Ulta.

Here are the things that came home with me that day.

It was mostly a nail-centric visit, because my nails have been very crabby lately (they’ve been splitting, boo), with a sprinkling of skin care and body care, and a dash of makeup for good measure.

PRODUCTS MENTIONED

As always, thank you again for watching.

Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,

Karen

Tarte Fall 2015 Energy Noir

September 10th, 2015 by Karen 33 Comments

tarte energy noir palette — Tarte Energy Noir Clay Palette ($38)

“Energy Noir” = “Energy Night” or “Night Energy.” That’s the name of Tarte’s fall 2015 collection, which has been out for a while now. Thank you, high school French. Or, rather, merci beaucoup, high school French.

Geez…I could have sworn that “noir” meant “night.” Well, someone clearly wasn’t paying attention during vocab in high school French class… Guess who that someone was. 🙂

Energy Noir! You may have strolled by Tarte’s fall 2015 Energy Noir collection recently at Sephora. If it aroused your curiosity, but you’re wondering if it’s worth your time, here’s a closer look at three of the 12 pieces, including the $38 Energy Noir Clay Palette (thumbs up!). I’d even go so far as to call this eyeshadow and cheek palette one of my fall faves.

tarte fall 2015 park ave princess — Tarte Park Ave Princes Contour Palette Vol II ($38)

tarte fall 2015 lash primer — Tarte Opening Act Lash Primer ($22)

It’s kind of funny that I’m wearing something in this video review called Energy Noir, because when I filmed it — this was a couple weeks ago at the height of Baby Girl’s first trimester antics — I had absolutely NO energy at all, and as for energy at night? Forget about it. My mom called me one night at 7:15, and I was like, “I gotta go to bed now!”

Haha! It’s so true though.

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Hourglass Ambient Lighting Edit Palette

September 9th, 2015 by Karen 37 Comments

Geez, it’s September already!? Wow, we better get a move on. It’s time for another bad-@ss holiday palette from Hourglass.

Yup, Hourglass has released a new holiday palette in each of the past couple of years, and they’re doing it again. The new one arrives next month — well, technically, there are a whole bunch of complicated release date machinations, but I’ll get into that in the video.

The latest palette is also Strunk & White-approved!

Har-dee-har-har, kidding. 🙂 Sort of. It’s called Edit. It’s the Hourglass Ambient Lighting Edit Palette, and it’s the biggest one so far (it’s also $80, which isn’t a bad deal at all considering the quality and price level of Hourglass products). It has six pans, one of which is a brand new shade called Iridescent Strobe Light.

Three of the six pans are Hourglass’s awesome Ambient Lighting Powders (including the one brand new shade). The other three pans house two blushes and a bronzer.

All but one of the colors are re-promotes, so if you’ve been hoarding (LOL!) Hourglass for a while — hey, nobody can blame you — you probably already have them in your collection.

The Ambients are gorgeous, though, particularly if you like that “glowy” look, and I mean, who doesn’t?
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Too Faced Stardust by Vegas Nay

September 3rd, 2015 by Karen 11 Comments

Vegas, baby!

Famous last words. 🙂 But we’re not actually gonna get in the car and drive nine hours to Vegas, no! We’re gonna teleport and get there instantaneously with the new $45 Stardust by Vegas Nay kit from Too Faced and glam Instagram makeup artist mega star @vegas_nay, also known as Naomi Giannopoulos.

I don’t know if you follow her yet on Instagram, but you should! She does beautiful makeup, and I learn a lot from her feed in terms of getting ideas for doing big glamorous makeup. And that theme — big glamorous makeup — and the makeup she likes to do and feature, translates into the Stardust by Vegas Nay kit.

You get a ton of stuff with it for $45, including a palette of 12 powder eyeshadows in shimmer and matte shades.

You also get a deluxe-sized Better Than Sex Mascara, a Shadow Insurance Primer, a cute, little loose glitter pigment AND, because it’s helpful to get roadmaps sometimes, there are also these little cards with helpful pictorials, so you get steps to follow for six different looks. They’re very handy.
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Urban Decay Revolution Lipstick: New Shades!

September 2nd, 2015 by Karen 11 Comments

urban decay lipstick online exclusives — From the left: Urban Decay Revolution Lipstick in Sheer Beso, Sheer Bittersweet, Gash, Protest, Speedball and Strip ($22 each, available now exclusively on urbandecay.com)

The Urban Decay Naked palettes, as much as I love ’em, are total attention hogs, aren’t they? Between them and all that neutral eyeshadow action, and Urban Decay’s famous (infamous?) bright eyeshadow palettes, there isn’t much room left in the spotlight for other great products, like UD’s awesome Revolution Lipsticks.

And that’s a shame because the Revolutions are some of my favorite pieces in the entire line. I mean, where do I start?? The creaminess, the moisture, or how they hug your lips like they’re all up on ’em doing the nasty on the dance floor?

There’s so much to take in, and so much to love… 🙂 When you’re ready, click “Play” on the video.

urban decay lipsticks — 1) Urban Decay Sheer Revolution Lipstick in Beso, 2) Sheer Revolution Lipstick in Bittersweet, 3) Revolution Lipstick in Speedball, 4) Revolution Lipstick in Protest, 5) Revolution Lipstick in Strip, 6) Revolution Lipstick in Gash

As of right meow there are eight new shades of $22 Revolution Lipstick available exclusively on their website. Some are bright, like bad-@ss purple Speedball (Of course there’s a purple; it’s UD! That’s they’re signature color.), and some other interesting shades, too, like brownish mauve Strip, a nod to the ’90s — seriously, all you’d need is super skinny brows and a black velvet choker, and you’d look like you just stepped out of a hot tub time machine circa 1995!

I talk about six of the new shades in this video.
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Urban Decay Holiday 2015 First Impressions

September 1st, 2015 by Karen 23 Comments

I was so confused today because I thought this was Urban Decay’s fall collection, and not the holiday collection, which is what it is.

I know that sounds really dumb…but in my defense, it’s 80 degrees outside! I’m wearing shorts and a tank top. I guess my mind just couldn’t make the leap to snowmen, Christmas trees and wearing mittens.

Heck, I don’t even have shoes on!

Be that as it may, it is holiday time in Urban Decay Land (ho-ho-ho!), so let’s don our mittens, our earmuffs and our J. Lo “Jenny from the Block” coat, and take a look. 🙂

urban decay vice4 — Urban Decay Vice4 ($60)

There are a couple of palettes in the release, some new liners (which I’m not crazy about, but I’ll get into that in the video) and a highlighter.

I have no idea how any of it fits with the holidays because, you know, there’s a lot of black in it and references to oil slicks, and nothing that seems particularly holiday-esque, but we’re just gonna go with it. 🙂
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Benefit Air Patrol BB Cream Eyelid Primer

August 31st, 2015 by Karen 13 Comments

Technology… It’s fascinating, really. Not only does it allow mere mortals to soar across the sky in what are essentially huge hunks of metal machinery; it also allows us to simultaneously prime and protect the delicate skin on our lids.

Next stop: Skynet. 🙂

I think it’s kind of funny that the box new Benefit Air Patrol BB Cream Eyelid Primer comes in says that it helps “defend against environmental stress,” when really, what I need help with is internal stress.

Haha, just kidding. Sort of…

Benefit’s new yellowy beige hybrid BB cream/eyeshadow primer comes in a click pen and contains moisturizing shea butter and broad-spectrum SPF 20, which makes it kind of interesting. It’s one of those kitchen sink products in that it does a little bit of everything that primers sometimes do — smoothing lids for makeup, locking products into place and evening out discolorations.

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