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

Why do they call it a cold front when it’s the back of my legs that always feel the coldest?

Rise and shine, young lady. 🙂 Brrrr! It’s cold in here. There must be some Toros…or, yup, I forgot to turn up the heater before bed.

Did you do anything fun last night? El Hub and I went to see Hanna. Stylistically, I loved it — loved the camerawork, the settings (parts of North Africa, Spain, Eastern Europe, the Arctic), techno-ish music and the characters/caricatures — but the story kinda meandered for me around the middle, like the writers couldn’t decide where they wanted it to go. I still enjoyed it, though. A little like My Girl meets The Bourne Identity with a strong European flair. I love the super spy genre almost no matter what, and it didn’t disappoint.

As for the worlds of makeup and beauty, what did you think about this week? Did any new products or discoveries rock your world? I was probably moved more by accessories, services (Nordstrom personal stylist) and beauty tools (Becca Professional Brush Soap) than by makeup, which happens from time to time.

The Weekly Roundup: Posts You Might Have Missed

BENEFIT CHACHATINT
THERE’S A NEW TINT IN TOWN

Benefit’s Benetint and Posietint are getting a sassy little sister! ChaChaTint ($29), the newest kid on the Benefit lip and cheek stain block, doesn’t dance across counters until June 1, but here’s a sneak peek at this coral cutie.

ChaChaTint looks quite bold unblended, but rubbed into my cheeks it delivers a light mango flush with just a hint of shine (less than a shimmer).

On the lips, it’s a different story, one worthy of CAPS and exclamations!! When I paint a layer on my pucker and just leave it there to dry, the color totally POPS! I think I might try adding a layer of Benefit Ultra Shine Spiked Punch Lip Gloss or perhaps a little MAC Viva Glam Cyndi on top (just for fun). Read more…

STEP UP YOUR STYLE GAME
WITH A NORDSTROM PERSONAL STYLIST

Oh! I wanted to tell you how my appointment with the Nordstrom personal stylist went yesterday. Before I met with Rob, the stylist at my nearby Nordstrom in Corte Madera, California, I told him over the phone what I hoped to achieve. Among other style suggestions, I wanted a cute, fashion-forward, age-appropriate spring dress to hide my tum and minimize my bum.

The whole personal stylist experience was very cool, kinda like being on one of those makeover shows, except you don’t bring home the clothes for free (dang!).

Rob usually asks clients to start the styling process by getting fitted for a bra, so when I arrived at the store I headed over to Rachel in the lingerie department. She took care of the fitting for me and also introduced me to the preternatural power of Spanx (OMG! Review coming soon!). Read more…

JOUER CREME EYESHADOW IN ORGANZA
TAKES YOU STRAIGHT TO THE TAUPE

Did you feel that?? That little shiver in your loins when you laid eyes on Jouer Creme Eyeshadow in Organza? That, my friend, is what I like to call a taupe-gasm. It’s not an official word (yet), and you won’t find it in Webster’s, but it’s only a matter of time before the verbal powers-that-be enter it officially…like they did with ginormous.

They occur when when taupes hit you with a BANG! — which is exactly what went down the first time I put this creamy, $20 lavender taupe shadow on my eyes.

When I have it on I feel like my peepers shine in a way that says, “Booyah, b*tches, I got eight solid hours of sleep last night!” I think it’s the subtle sheen in the pigmented formula that does the trick. It adds just the right touch of glow without looking too glittery or frosty. Read more…

BURBERRY BEAUTY SPRING / SUMMER 2011
EASY ELEGANCE THAT GOES WELL WITH ALMOST ANYTHING

To say one merely “walks down the street” in her signature Burberry trench coat doesn’t do justice to the coat. Walk? Nay. Ladies strut in Burberry. Both in their coats and in beauty products from the Burberry Beauty brand. Like Burberry’s coats, pieces in the makeup line exude elegance with a timeless ease that wears well with pretty much anything.

Despite not having been on the makeup scene long (less than a year!), with only a couple of seasonal collections under their check pattern belt, the company has done a good job bringing their luxuriously unfussy sensibility to the products I’ve seen.

With their Spring/Summer 2011 release, an 11-piece collection of limited edition and repromoted products for eyes, lips and cheeks, Burberry sought to channel the same effortless look they like to send down the Burberry runway. Sculpted cheeks softly glow in pink, rose and tangerine; rosy nude lips blow kisses; and eyes, softly defined with powder shadows in beige, rose and brown, charm unsuspecting passersby. Read more…

ROLLING WITH THE HOT PINK FROM THE
NEW URBAN DECAY ROLLERGIRL PALETTE

The year was 1985. Doc Brown and Marty McFly had just gone Back to the Future (for the first time)! I was just a wee lass then, spinning her wheels every Saturday afternoon at the roller rink, which was THE place to go in my small suburban town. One of the moms would drive us in something called a “station wagon,” a kind of prehistoric car forced into extinction by the much larger and faster minivan.

At the rink, we’d spend hours skating in circles to Madonna and Huey Lewis tunes beneath multi-colored disco lights in our stinky, rented skates…

Yup, there are some things I wish I could forget about the ’80s (hello, high bangs and side wings!), but the roller rink is not one of them.

I always felt bad for the one kid clinging for dear life to the side rails. I couldn’t do any fancy tricks, and never quite mastered the art of breaking/stopping (my method involved running into a wall), but I was fast. I’d fly around the rink, zipping between the taller skaters, only sometimes body checking the slower moving targets. Read more…

BECCA PROFESSIONAL BRUSH SOAP
IS THE BEST MAKEUP BRUSH CLEANSER I’VE EVER USED — BAR NONE

When it comes to some tasks, time ceases to exist in a measurable way. For all intents and purposes, these tasks have neither a beginning nor an end. They simply last forever…

Brushing cat hair from my clothes (Tabs sheds like cray-cray!), scraping the last bits of Nutella from a mostly (but never entirely) empty jar, groping around the house for misplaced eyeglasses, washing makeup brushes…

That last one, in particular, is the bane of my existence. Because I paint my mug a lot, and sometimes a few times a day, I leave dozens of dirty brushes in my wake.

I was going through a $12 bottle of MAC Brush Cleanser every couple of months until the day I tried Aussie Opposites Attract. It worked as well as the MAC cleaner yet cost just $3.

I love saving scrilla (who doesn’t?), but Becca’s $15 Professional Brush Soap has me reconsidering that. After using it for the past two weeks, dayum! — makeup cleansing greatness. Read more…

SOFT, TOUCHABLE VOLUME WITH
$3 SUAVE TOUCHABLE FINISH HAIRSPRAY

Can I just say that I’ve been having a serious Suave moment lately? I tried their Dry Shampoo a couple weeks ago and was blown away by how well it worked — and not just because it’s $3.

Turns out their new Touchable Finish Hairspray is another $3 gem. An aerosol hairspray designed to add light hold without weighing hair down, it’s designed to compete with Sebastian Zero Gravity Hairspray, which costs about $10 more.

I’ve never tried Sebastian’s version before, but now that I’ve found this one, I may not have to.

When I apply Touchable Finish before and after using my curling iron to style my hair, I’m shocked by how soft, bouncy and voluminous my curls look.

I like the light citrus scent and the fact that it dries so quickly (takes about a minute). Suave says the product’s anhydrous formula (which means it doesn’t contain water) accelerates drying time. Read more…

PICKING THE PERFECT
URBAN DECAY BAKED BRONZER

Urban Decay’s three new Baked Bronzers for Face and Body ($26 each) probably won’t satisfy the Oompa-Loompas or Snookies of the world. Able to be worn wet or dry on the face, eyes, lips and body, the faux tan these powder bronzers bring doesn’t look as orange that.

But if you’re interested yet unsure which Baked Bronzer to snag, Urban Decay International Makeup Artist Eric Jimenez suggests following these steps:

1. Decide on a level of color and coverage. These Baked Bronzers come in three different levels of color. The lightest is Gilded, Baked is the medium, and Toasted is the darkest shade. Each also varies in terms of coverage, with Gilded offering the least, and Toasted delivering more of a full-coverage look.

2. Do you want to shimmer or matte? If you plan to wear them on your face, Eric suggests going with the finish that best suits the condition of your skin. If you have great, practically flawless skin, consider either Gilded, which has a shimmery golden finish, or Baked, which has a shimmery silver finish. (NOTE: The “veins” of shimmer in these new Baked Bronzers are not spray overlays; they penetrate all the way through the entire pan). Read more…

GET GUILT-FREE CHOCOLATE WITH THE
NEW TOO FACED THE BRONZED & THE BEAUTIFUL FRENCH RIVIERA KIT

Yes, that would be me standing in the middle of Sephora sniffing the new Too Faced The Bronzed & The Beautiful French Riviera Edition Kit ($38) like a weirdo.

The new limited edition summer set comes with a bevy of bronzing treats to get your skin tanned and highlighted just right. You get three bestselling Too Faced powder bronzers, an exclusive golden highlighter, a face primer and three step-by-step bronzing tutorial cards.

Just thinking about the pan of Chocolate Soleil bronzer, by far my favorite thing in the kit, makes my tummy rumble… IT SMELLS LIKE CHOCOLATE TOO! Chocolate Rice Krispies, to be precise. A smooth, matte pure brown without orange undertones, it’s a combination that can be hard to find. It’s so brown, in fact, that if I’m not careful and go overboard with it, it can look muddy on me. Read more…

Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,

Karen