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

Makeup and Beauty Blog Monday Poll, Nov. 23

November 23rd, 2009 by Karen 119 Comments

tabs taking care of business
Taking care of business

Mood:

Shockingly alert for a Monday morning. I better ride it while it lasts!

Celine Dion power ballads?

I appreciate her vocal abilities, but most of her songs leave me kinda empty.

What is your least favorite vegetable?

Okra, blech! That slimy sensation on my tongue? No, thank you.

Plans for Thanksgiving?

I’ll be in the East Bay with my folks.

Eyes/lips/cheeks:

I’m still at the lotion and pimple medicine stage of my morning, but I feel like tearing into Urban Decay’s Show Pony palette.

Do you have any wardrobe pet peeves?

So many! Most are because I’m small and short-waisted: 1) shirt sleeves and pant legs that are too long for my limbs, 2) button-up shirts with gaps in the front that show my bra (gotta tape ’em shut!) and 3) dresses and tops that bunch up beneath “the girls.”

Have you ever kept a makeup or beauty product that you initially purchased as a gift for someone else?

A few times, LOL!

Last yummy thing you prepared for yourself?

Colcannon (a potato and cabbage dish), from a recipe in the Student’s Vegetarian Cookbook.

Outfit:

Jillian Michaels is about to kick my butt with her 30 Day Shred DVD, but I’m ready for her, thanks to my orange terry cloth shorts, purple tank top and gray sweatshirt. 🙂

Weekly goals:

To be thankful this week, to find a holiday sitter for Tabs, to prepare at least one totally new veggie meal for dinner and to keep chipping away at my filing project at home.

Question: Have you ever had a 14-pound cat leap onto your shoulder first thing on a Monday morning? LOL! Feels like I just got attacked by a puma.

Here’s to Monday, ladies! Let’s get the holidays off to a good start this week. Before you fill that second cup o’ joe, let me know how you’re doing. You know the drill. 🙂 Just copy the list below, and paste it with your answers in the comments.

Le list

1. Mood:
2. Celine Dion power ballads?
3. Least favorite vegetable?
4. Thanksgiving plans?
5. Eyes/lips/cheeks:
6. Do you have any wardrobe pet peeves?
7. Ever kept a makeup or beauty product you actually bought for someone else?
8. Last yummy thing you prepared for yourself?
9. Outfit:
10. Weekly goals:

Countdown to turkey starts in three, two, one…

Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,

Karen

What Were Your Best and Worst Beauty Experiences of the Week?

November 22nd, 2009 by Karen 21 Comments

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MY BEST:

Discovering the miracle that is Sexy Hair Smooth and Protect Spray (review coming soon). It enforces good hair behavior, enhances shine and generally makes my hair look less birds-nesty.

MY WORST:

Toe shock 2009! I couldn’t believe what I saw when I looked down at my feet earlier this week. I’ve got some seriously gnarled cuticles that need cuticle oil, ASAP!

What were your best and worst beauty experiences of the week? Please share yours in the comments.

Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,

Karen

Sundays with Tabs the Cat, Makeup and Beauty Blog Mascot, Vol. 63

November 22nd, 2009 by Karen 22 Comments

Beauty nurse to the rescue

Um, where did my weekend go? I can’t believe it’s already Sunday night. Tabs is grumbling about having to go back to work tomorrow. This week he’s guest starring on a daytime soap. He plays a hot male nurse. 🙂

That reminds me. Have you ever been injured by a beauty tool? Once, back in my hair bear days (circa 1989), I burned my forehead with a curling iron. That was a hoot… not.

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Doing anything fun tonight? I’m just about ready for a late pasta dinner and maybe some Mad Men Season 2.

Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,

Karen

Lip Lessons: What Can Brown Do for You?

November 22nd, 2009 by Karen 26 Comments

Rae rules! We’ve been put on notice today — theNotice, that is. The faboo Rae of theNotice blog shares one of her favorite lip tricks with brown liner.

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Brown lip liners… What can I say about them other than “Hello, ’90s”? Here’s the thing: I think they’re ugly, and not normal ugly, but, like, horrendous.

We’re not talking about sheer browns or reddish-browns either. We’re talking about true brown lip colours — opaque browns — like Paula Dorf’s Voodoo pencil ($20).

It would make a stunning eyeliner. In fact, I’d call it perfect, with its gorgeous chocolate brown base and the most wonderful gold flecks.

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But it’s not an eyeliner. Oh, no. It’s not.

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I wanted to see what kind of lip Voodoo I could do with Voodoo, so I started by layering it underneath a coral gloss.

The experiment failed…

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Luckily, a true beauty addict never gives up! When a product calls to you, you make that baby work.

Next, I figured I’d try layering it with a red lipstick — something from my stash that people rave about, something like MAC’s infamous Dubonnet lipstick.

As much as I like Dubonnet, I can’t wear it without layering the heck out of it — sometimes over a burgundy liner, other times topped with black gloss.

On it went overtop Voodoo…
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NEW: Direct Replies in the Blog Comments

November 22nd, 2009 by Karen 43 Comments

Minor blog remodel

Hi, ladies. There are a couple of small changes on the blog today — just some little things to hopefully make your visits more enjoyable. 🙂

Direct Replies

This one’s long overdue, but now we can respond directly to other readers by clicking the small speech bubble to the right of a comment.
To leave a reply

Shortcuts to Bargains, How To and Popular Posts

The sidebar box has new shortcuts to some of my favorite budget beauty products and how-to posts, which I’ll update often. Just click the tabs marked POPULAR, BARGAINS and HOW TO to peruse.

Hope you’re having a good weekend so far. I’m kinda taking it easy today…

Anyone else see New Moon yet? I’m dying to dish but don’t want to post any spoilers. The comments are fair game, though! 🙂

Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,

Karen

Robert Pattinson: His Best Hair?

November 21st, 2009 by Karen 29 Comments

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Throngs of Twilighters are filling theaters this weekend to sigh and gush over actor Robert Pattinson in New Moon, the second movie installment of Stephenie Meyer’s Twilight series.

The role of vampire Edward Cullen in the first film shot R. Patz into the limelight this time last year. Lovestruck teenage girls (and 30-something women who shall remain nameless, ha!) fell hook, line and sinker for his sensitive, smoldering eyes and gravity-defying ‘do.

Born the youngest of three in London on May 13, 1986, R. Patz showed an early interest in the arts. Three when he started playing piano and five when he took up guitar, today he’s an accomplished musician.

His big break came with the role of Cedric Diggory in 2005’s Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. Fun fact: Robert had to learn how to scuba dive to play the part. I wonder how his hair felt about getting wet, LOL!

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Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,

Karen

Have You Sampled Beauty Sample Sites?

November 21st, 2009 by Karen 10 Comments

Members Only Beauty Sites

Rue La La! Have you heard The Skinny? Exclusive Beauty VIP members-only sample sites are Haute!

And new ones are cropping up all the time — sites that sell collections and sets filled with sample beauty products at prices that often amount to HUGE savings of 50-75% off (versus purchasing the products separately at retail). Some, like Beauty VIP, go a step further, delivering members-only coupon codes and discounts on cosmetic surgery, beauty services and spas.

Membership’s usually free but required to browse the deals or to place orders online. Ironically, there’s rarely anything exclusive about joining these sites. A name and email address are all that’s typically required, but there’s just something alluring about the promise of exclusive goodies. 🙂

10 Top Beauty Sample Sites

Site: Gilt Groupe
Shtick: Mainstream beauty (Jemma Kidd, Mario Badescu and more) and fashion stuff, too

Site: Rue La La
Shtick: Luxury fashion, house stuff and beauty

Site: Swirl
Shtick: A product of Daily Candy; clothing and accessories up to 80% off retail
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Saturday Surfing

November 21st, 2009 by Karen 3 Comments

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Happy Saturday, twilighters. 🙂 How was your night? Mine was painted in blue and gold. Yup, I went to a Warrior’s basketball game (no, Tabs did not come with) and screamed my head off! I’m not big into basketball, but I like going to the games.

Off to a slow start this morning… just enjoying my coffee and surfing le web. Care to browse with me? 🙂