A beauty blog blooming with fresh makeup reviews, swatches and beauty tips from your friendly neighborhood beauty addict
New for summer 2011! The Urban Decay Baked Bronzers clockwise from left: Gilded, Baked and Toasted ($26 each). Available soon at Sephora, Ulta, select Macy’s and also online.
A couple of you gals have been asking about a lip color from some recent pics, so I figured it was high time we shined a spotlight on this little gem of a pink gloss by Jemma Kidd.
The $22 Hi-Shine Gloss in Rose is from JK’s higher end line, Jemma Kidd Make Up School, which isn’t carried at Target. SpaceNK stores carry the line, but Rose isn’t one of the shades they sell on their website. Dermstore carries it, though, and they have free shipping.
It’s awfully pricey for a gloss, but it might be worth it if you like warm golden pinks a la MAC Nymphette.
Can I give you a lift?
Um, no, I will not drive you to In-N-Out (even though I really want to!).
I’m referring to lifts of the hair care variety, like the kind you get from the new Bumble and Bumble Texture Hair (Un)dressing Creme ($26 for a 5-oz. bottle).
When I popped into the salon for a bang trim last week, Alis, my stylist/miracle worker, introduced me to it. She called it her favorite product from the Bumble and Bumble line.
Designed for all hair types, it’s a thick, flexible hold styling creme for lived-in, tousled, messily undone looks, and this is neat — it dries to a matte finish (kinda different!).
I didn’t think I needed another hair styling product in my life, but I’m glad I found this one. I’ve been using it for about a week to tame my bangs and lift my roots at the crown, and damn — I kindasorta love it.
Right away I liked the light, beachy scent, but I was a little unsure about the texture. It’s thick AND sticky. When it dries, though, it doesn’t feel sticky at all, and it leaves my hair touchably soft with flexible hold.
Now, this isn’t one of those products you can just throw on and go; you do have to jump through a few hoops to help it reach its potential.
Here’s the smaller 2-oz. tube beside an iPhone (and a husky tabby) for scale…
The first hoop, Alis says, is to use it on damp hair. The slippery wet strands help distribute the product more evenly. Alis likes to go a step further by applying a spray-on conditioner first, like Bumble & Bumble Prep or Tonic ($18 each). I prefer Tonic, which is Bumble’s “heavier” spray conditioner, on my thick, course hair.
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A few pieces from the new Burberry Beauty Spring/Summer 2011 collection available now at Nordstrom stores and online.
Clockwise from the brown pan on the upper left: Light Glow in Earthy Blush No. 07 ($42), Light Glow in Misty Blush No. 98 ($42), Lip Cover in English Rose No. 23 ($30) and Lip Cover in Delicate Rose No. 24 ($30).
See anything you like?
Sometimes I wonder if Tabs has lost his ability to connect with felines and humans outside of the digital world.
Since getting his iPhone, he communicates more and more of his requests demands via text, like this one from yesterday:
Woman, you need to swatch the Urban Decay Rollergirl Nail Kit ASAP or suffer the consequences. Don’t make me take my claws out!
(*sigh*) I live under a high-tech tabby dictatorship…
Swatches from the left: Fame, Xanadu and Superfreak
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When I opened the new Becca Halcyon Days Palette ($65), sunbeams shot out of the pans directly into my gold, bronze and coral-lovin’ heart. BAM! This palette is almost everything I could ever want from summer makeup. Just thinking about it fills the air with the scent of sunscreen, my mouth with the taste of orange Creamsicles, and my ears with the sound of surf pounding on a beach.
Take unseasonably warm weather like we’re having here in the Bay Area this week (this, after last week’s downpours and freeze-your-butt-bones weather), add Halcyon Days, and you get one happy Karen. 🙂
Here, let me show you! Grab my virtual hand because the journey to summer, summer, summertime is just a hop, skip and a Becca palette away…
Becca developed Halcyon Days exclusively for Henri Bendel stores to coincide with the addition of the line to Bendel’s beauty department. For now, it’s only available at the Fifth Avenue store in New York City and online at henribendel.com, but Becca plans to roll it out to other retailers on May 1.
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Of course, the ONE TIME I’m actually in the mood to roller skate I can’t find my skates (story of my life). They’ve gotta be around here somewhere!
Until they turn up, Urban Decay’s new Rollergirl Summer 2011 Palette will have to do. 🙂
Oh yeah, remind me someday to tell you the story about the steep hill, the roller skates, the slow moving/hard of hearing elderly lady and the flock of ducks.
P.S. Do you know how to roller skate?
One thing I’ve always liked about makeup is the story behind the product, and how when you see a piece of makeup, you’re not just looking at a lipstick or an eyeshadow. Sometimes, you’re also seeing someone’s hopes and dreams.
Who was that someone at Bare Escentuals who, when they first saw the opalescent purplish grey that would later become limited edition BE Cares Sweet Smile eyeshadow, thought they would release the color to honor Jessica, one of their customers, and her sister, who underwent 24 operations to correct a cleft palate?
Through the sale of special limited edition makeup in the BE Cares line, Bare Escentuals helps to fund and raise awareness for various causes like The Smile Train, a non-profit group that works to make free corrective cleft lip and palate surgeries available to impoverished children around the world.
In this case, a portion of every Sweet Smile sale goes toward a $50,000 donation to Smile Train — an amazing thing, for sure, but I would politely encourage the company to go even further by announcing the percentage of proceeds that go toward their donations to this and other causes (like MAC does with Viva Glam).
I’ve been wearing Sweet Smile as a light wash over my lids this week for a hint of color and blue sparkle that don’t look too overdone. The color isn’t incredibly pigmented, but applying it with a wet brush helps (makes it more intense).
