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Makeup and Beauty Blog | Makeup Reviews, Swatches and How-To Makeup

A beauty blog blooming with fresh makeup reviews, swatches and beauty tips from your friendly neighborhood beauty addict

Should You Slide for $8 or Glide for $17? The Choice Between the NYX Slide-On Eye Liners and Urban Decay 24/7 Glide-On Eye Pencils

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nyx slide on eye liner review

I used to get really grumpy back in school when kids would copy my style. It’s not that I thought of myself as a fashion visionary or anything, but I took pride in my penchant for offbeat things and fancied myself as different. So when Angela showed up to band one day wearing a baby poo green plaid vest eerily similar to the one I’d been rockin’ for most of that fall, carrying her sheet music in a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles folder a lot like mine, I couldn’t help but feel a little annoyed.

I vented about it to my friend Cindy, expecting a sympathetic ear. “Just chill out and be flattered,” she said. It was only worth tripping about if things got creepy and Single White Female (which, thank goodness, they didn’t).

Cindy was right, of course. After all, I’d copied/borrowed a few ideas from other kids, too, and looking at it that way, I thought perhaps that old saying about imitation and flattery was true.

Which brings us to this: if imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, Urban Decay must feel REALLY flattered by the new NYX Slide-On Liners ($8 each).

Even the unwieldy name sounds familiar — Slide On, Glide On & Definitely a Turn On Water Proof Extreme Shine Eye Liner. Sounds a little like Urban Decay’s 24/7 Glide-On Eye Pencils ($17), right?

Like the Glide-Ons, they’re smoother than Blackstreet in their heyday (remember Before I Let Go? That’s some baby-making music, ma!), with vibrant colors more intense than a triple rainbow deluxe.

I’ve got mad love for UD liners, especially Bourbon, but I’m always open to budget options. I couldn’t wait to give these a try.

They come in a wide range of colors, 18 of them, in a mix of matte and shimmery finishes, and I see several possible dupes here for classic UD shades…

NYX Slide On Pencil
16 of the 18 shades
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Makeup and Beauty Blog Monday Poll, May 16

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  • You might be wondering, “So what the heck is this Monday Poll thing anyway?”
    Well, it isn’t much of a poll. It’s more just a constantly evolving (devolving?), somewhat random list of questions I’ve been putting out to readers every Monday morning for the past three years, which I guess makes this somewhere around Vol. 169. I’ve always enjoyed reading your answers in the comments, and I hope you enjoy reading mine.
  1. Mood:

    2. I’ll be perkier once the tea kicks in, but for now I’m super chill and mellow.

  2. What’s been the hardest thing about getting into makeup?

    3. Being brave about color. I’d gotten so used to wearing the same Clinique eye, lip and cheek colors that it took me years to break out of my comfort zone. Now I think I’m more adventurous. I figure, what’s the worst that could happen? If a look doesn’t really work out, so what?

  3. What’s your favorite limited edition makeup collection (if you have one)?

    4. It’s a three-way tie between MAC Smoke Signals (2007), Barbie Loves MAC (2007) and Chanel Les Naturles De Chanel (2009). I love Smoke Signals for its moodiness, Barbie for its playfulness and Chanel Les Naturales for its everyday usefulness (the way it handled neutrals was a thing of beauty).

  4. How did you land your current job?

    5. I wish I could say there was a method to the madness that brought me to blogging, but I got here by accident. I still do some freelance writing for magazines, but the blog became my main endeavor about two years ago. It helped to have a supportive partner who encouraged me to leave my corporate day job and chase my dreams (and whose day job I could rely on to help pay the bills) and a bit of luck to have started doing this at the right time in my life.

  5. Three things you’d like to accomplish in the next three months?

    6. I’d like to take a little vacation around my birthday next month. I’d also like to furnish the empty rooms in the condo so that when people walk in they no longer say, “Did you guys just move in?” Oh, and I’d also like to learn how to speak some Italian.

  6. Where were you 10 years ago?

    7. That would have been 2001. Let’s see… I was a 26-year-old single gal living la vida loca in San Francisco. I worked in a downtown high-rise as a legal assistant, and you know what they say. It was the best of times; it was the worst of times…

  7. Tell me about your hair.

    8. It’s naturally thick and kinda frizzy, straight on the inner layers, wavy on the outside. After countless long and short haircuts, I’d say I’m a long-hair girl now, through and through. Right now it’s layered with side-swept bangs and caramel ombre highlights, but I’m thinking about growing out my bangs (too lazy to get them trimmed, yargh!).

  8. Describe yourself in three words.

    9. Evolving. Happy. Grateful.

  9. What jewelry are you wearing?

    10. Just my wedding and engagement rings. I’ll probably add earrings in a few minutes.

  10. Weekly goals:

    11. To keep my desk neat and tidy, to play with Tabs for 20 extra minutes every day this week (he’s been really needy lately) and to finish re-reading For Whom the Bell Tolls. I just love that book…

Anyone else going through major weekend withdrawals? I always miss El Hub when he goes to work on Monday morning after having him to myself for two whole days.

Has your week gotten off to a good start? I’m glad you stopped by. 🙂 Monday’s are so much easier with the help of a friend. If you have a minute, come say hi in the Monday Poll. I always like to hear from you before your day gets crazy.

  • To complete the Monday Poll, just copy the following list, and paste it with your answers in the comments.



1. Mood:
2. What’s been the hardest thing about getting into makeup?
3. What’s your favorite limited edition makeup collection (if you have one)?
4. How did you land your current job?
5. Three things you’d like to accomplish in the next three months?
6. Where were you 10 years ago?
7. Tell me about your hair.
8. Describe yourself in three words.
9. What jewelry are you wearing?
10. Weekly goals:

All together now, scream “Nothing can stop us now!!” 🙂

Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,

Karen

Sundays with Tabs the Cat, Makeup and Beauty Blog Mascot, Vol. 139

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Tabs for the Lush Tiny Paws Moisturizing Bar

I can’t believe this! Guess who just called me in a total tizzy. Yup, Tabs. He’s in New York doing a shoot for NYC New York Color (he loves luxury brands but has a soft spot for bargains too). I guess he went out to a pizzeria for dinner that the hotel concierge told him about but must have lost his wallet somewhere along the way, maybe in the cab ride over. So he couldn’t pay for his meal, and the restauranteur was threatening to call the police.

I always get these kinds of calls from Tabs… Part of the job, I guess, of taking care of a diva kitty supermodel. Anywho, Tabs handed his phone to the restaurant owner, a very plainspoken man with a thick Brooklyn accent. I asked him if he had an email address associated with a Paypal account. He did, so I quickly sent off enough money to cover the meal, along with a few extra bucks for the man’s trouble and enough cash to send Tabs back to his hotel in a cab.

That blasted cat is always getting into trouble like this, but what else is new? 🙂

This was a pretty good week as far as his kitty modeling career, though. Here are some of the highlights from his portfolio.

Tabs for MAC Flighty

Tabs for the Essie Toucan Tabby Collection
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Still Mourning the Loss of a Chanel Aqualumiere? Many of Them Have Equivalent Colors Among the New Rouge Coco Shines

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While I was at my favorite Chanel counter the other day, I happened to mention to Scott, one of the makeup artists there, that as much as I love the new Rouge Coco Shines, I’m still going to miss the Aqualumiere line that the Rouge Coco Shines were released to replace.

Scott tried to console me (thank you, Scott). 🙂 He said that most of the new Aqualumieres have sisters or cousins among the new Rouge Coco Shines and pulled out a chart indicating their color equivalents.

chanel rouge coco shine swatches

If you have one or more holy grail shades in the outgoing Aqualumiere line, all is not (necessarily) lost. Hopefully its equivalent Rouge Coco color looks just as great.

Chanel Rouge Coco Shine / Aqualumiere Color Equivalent Chart

  • Aqualumiere in Waikiki 31 = Rouge Coco Shine in Boy 54
  • Aqualumiere in Galapagos 101 = No replacement 🙁
  • Aqualumiere in Java 49 = Rouge Coco Shine in Unique 51
  • Aqualumiere in Santa Barbara 62 = Rouge Coco Shine in Cavaliere 65
  • Aqualumiere in Montego 70 = Rouge Coco Shine in Aventure 57
  • Aqualumiere in Palma 72 = Rouge Coco Shine in Sari D’Eau 44
  • Aqualumiere in Como 74 = Rouge Coco Shine in Biarritz 42
  • Aqualumiere in Samoa 75 = Rouge Coco Shine in Unique 51
  • Aqualumiere in Malta 90 = Rouge Coco Shine in Deauville 67
  • Aqualumiere in Positano 91= Rouge Coco Shine in Biarritz 42
  • Aqualumiere in Monte-Carlo 92 = No replacement 🙁
  • Aqualumiere in Ischia 96 = Rouge Coco Shine in Bonheur 61
  • Aqualumiere in Grenada 98 = Rouge Coco Shine in Monte-Carlo 62
  • Aqualumiere in Tasmania 99 = Rouge Coco Shine in Fetiche 52
  • Aqualumiere in Majorca 79 = No replacement 🙁
  • Aqualumiere in Antigua 32 = Rouge Coco Shine in Elise 59
  • Aqualumiere in Yucatan 36 = No replacement 🙁
  • Aqualumiere in Ipanema 37 = Rouge Coco Shine in Canotier 41
  • Aqualumiere in Phiphi 55 = Rouge Coco in Organdi Rose 09
  • Aqualumiere in Formentera 87 = Rouge Coco Shine in Canotier 41
  • Aqualumiere in Papeete 88 = Rouge Coco Shine in Bonheur 61

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The Weekly Roundup: Posts You Might Have Missed

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Makeup and Beauty Blog Weekly Roundup

A little sleepy so far this morning, but I’m trying to get myself in gear. I have a warm mug of green tea beside me, and it sounds like the toaster just dinged with my toast, so that should help.

How are you doing this morning? Did you get enough sleep? I think I stayed up a little too late, and I’m paying for it now. I probably shouldn’t have started watching HBO’s Game of Thrones at 10. Bad idea. At midnight I still wasn’t tired at all.

Have you seen the show? I was fairly lost through the first episode (what’s a White Walker?), but I love the political dynamics and horror movie/sword & sorcery feel — like Legend of the Seeker if it mated with HBO’s Rome. 🙂

Did you have a good week? What was your favorite part?

The Weekly Roundup: Posts You Might Have Missed

NYC New York Color Liquid Lipshines DRUGSTORE LIPGLOSS NIRVANA FOR LESS THAN $3 WITH THE
NYC NEW YORK COLOR LIQUID LIPSHINES

Today El Hub found out about my affair.

It had been going on since way back in 2006. That’s when I met the Sally Hansen Diamond 12-Hour Lip Treatments while cruising the aisles at Walgreens one afternoon for a pick-me-up after a really tough day.

There they were, non-sticky and pigmented, with a wear time that lasted for hours and hours…

What can I say? It just happened. When I saw they were a mere $6, I was willing to throw everything away. They were the closest thing to drugstore lipgloss nirvana I had ever seen.

But I’m not going to say I would have done it all again. No way. What I should have done is hold out for the NYC New York Color Liquid Lipshines I met last week. Read more…

EOS Shave Cream in Vanilla Bliss EOS SHAVE CREAM IN VANILLA BLISS
SHAVES HAIR AND A FEW MINUTES EVERY TIME

My BFF Cindy is a practical girl, and lawd she knows me well. Fed up with me arriving late to our homegirl dates, she gave me an ultimatem after the last time, threatening to take away my lipgloss if I ever did it again.

Got. My. Attention.

With horror like that hanging over my head, I was extra careful to set aside enough time to get ready last Friday before our ballet date.

I was ahead of schedule when I finished my hair and makeup, so I pulled up Google Images on my computer to take a really quick break. “shirtless channing tatum” [ENTER]

When I bolted back to consciousness 15 minutes later, I was, as usual, running late. “No problem,” I told myself in a soothing voice. “Lots of time.” And then I glanced down at my legs and noticed — WHOA! — a thicket of fur on my shins (enough to make a full-length coat). Read more…

MAC Teddy Eye Kohl MAC UNSUNG HEROES
TEDDY EYE KOHL

I firmly believe that life’s too short to waste it wearing boring brown eyeliners (or, on an unrelated note, wearing shoes in summertime).

Today’s inductee in the hallowed halls of MAC Unsung Heroics is called Teddy, and when it comes to boring, he’s anything but. Teddy’s a MAC Eye Kohl ($14.50) pencil, an intensely rich, dark bronzy brown with subtle golden shimmer, and it’s that shimmer that takes Teddy from the bored-room to the bedroom best room (haha! oops, bad pun).

I think I use Teddy almost as often as MAC Powersurge. It’s one of those colors that always seems appropriate, day or night, and it totally hits the spot when I want to draw extra attention to my eyes, but don’t feel like wearing basic black. Read more…

NARS Summer 2011 Face of the Day A NARS SUMMER 2011 FACE OF THE DAY
INSPIRED BY TABS THE CAT AND HIS PRETTY GREEN EYES

Tabs woke me up early this morning and then insisted that my makeup today pay homage to him (what a diva!). Refusing his requests usually leads to scratches, so I reached for one of his current collection crushes, NARS Summer 2011, and told him I would “see what I can do.”

I built the look with two things in mind — 1) Tabs’ pretty green eyes, and 2) the word “Mixey,” one of his many nicknames (a shortened version of Meow Mix).

Green crops up a few times throughout the NARS Summer 2011 collection, and I tried to really incorporate it into this look, mixing some different colors together.

Unlike my look last week using the Stila Stunning in Sayulita palette, the green here isn’t as obvious or BAM! It’s a subtler hint of green. Read more…

MAC Surf Baby Swatches MAC SURF BABY COLLECTION
QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS

You asked some great questions in the comments on last week’s first MAC Surf Baby pictures post, and I thought it might be helpful to try and answer them here.

The collection breaks onto beaches makeup counters May 26 in North America (internationally, this month).

Q: How are the Skin Sheen Bronzer Sticks used?

A: Are you familiar with the NARS Multiples? These Skin Sheens are kinda like thicker, stickier versions of those (basically, like a cream bronzer). They’re more pigmented, though, so a little goes a really long way.

I generally use the non-shimmery shades, Billionaire Bronze and Tan-Tint, for contouring and to add a bit of color to my forehead and cheeks, which are parts of my face that tend to really darken when I tan. As for the shimmery color, Gilty Bronze, I like to use it as a highlighter, wearing it on my upper cheek bones, brow bones and down the bridge of my nose.

To apply the Skin Sheens, I usually swipe a synthetic skunk brush like the MAC 188 across the top of the stick and then apply the product to bare skin or atop a liquid foundation/tinted moisturizer. Fingers work great, too, but I find that a skunk brush deposits a great amount of color — neither too little nor too much — and blends the product well, so it doesn’t look obvious or streaky. Read more…

The Urban Decay Offices WELCOME TO THE OFFICES OF URBAN DECAY COSMETICS
WHERE WONDERLAND MEETS NEWPORT BEACH

At one point on my quick trip to Southern California this week, I must have taken my eyes off the sidewalk in front of me for a moment (oops!), because before I knew it, I’d fallen into a rabbit hole…

And this wasn’t just any rabbit hole. Nope, it was a magic one that transported me to Newport Beach and the offices of the largest independently owned color cosmetics company in the United States.

Despite appearances, this quiet, unassuming gray building nestled on a side street in Newport Beach isn’t an accountant’s office or a place that makes frames. It’s actually the offices of Urban Decay.

Sweet carnival of chroma, batgirl! The outside belies the pageantry of purple taking place inside these walls. The interior is a cornucopia of color (I never would have guessed it from the building’s facade). Read more…

MAC Clear Lipglass MAC UNSUNG HEROES
MAC CLEAR LIPGLASS

Kissed by the same shining light that blessed that pair of Manolo Blahnik patent-leather Mary Jane heels you’ve been coveting since forever, MAC Clear Lipglass ($14.50) makes other clear glosses question their line of work.

With wear time I can only characterize as supernatural, MAC Clear Lipglass outlasts them all. I applied it once before a marathon shopping day at a four-level mall (I was looking for a new bikini… Lipgloss always seems to ease the pain of seeing myself jiggling from all angles in the fitting room), and six hours later it was still going strong. When it comes to longevity, this is one lipgloss that does not mess around.

It even feels serious on my lips (even through MAC’s trademark light vanilla taste and scent), like it came to throw down. The thick, sticky texture gives it great wear time, but it’s a turnoff for some (I kinda love it though).

MAC Clear Lipglass is my favorite clear gloss, and just like a pair of black patent-leather pumps, it works in so many ways. Read more…

Buxom Amplified Lash Mascara THE LONG AND SHORT OF THE NEW BUXOM
AMPLIFIED LASH MASCARA

When the wands started oscillating, I thought I’d seen it all. After the whole vibrating/spinning mascara brush trend (so 2008!), what else could one possibly do with a basic mascara brush? Wait — I know. They could fashion one into the shape of a medieval flail, hi-ya!

But that wasn’t the end of innovation for the mighty mascara wand. Buxom’s Amplified Lash Mascara ($22), a Sephora exclusive, comes with a new twist (literally).

Available in just a single shade called Loud Black, it’s designed to thicken, lengthen and separate lashes. That’s all well and good, but I think the brush is what really sets it apart. I don’t think I’ve ever seen anything like it before. By twisting a little knob on the end of the wand, right where you hold it, you can expand and contract the length of the brush part about a quarter of an inch. The different lengths, says Buxom, create different lash effects. Read more…

Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,

Karen

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