And no place to go.
All Dressed Up
Stuff on My Desk
1. A glass cat ornament given to me by my friend Joanie as a birthday gift
2. Coco Mademoiselle Perfume (last year’s Christmas gift from mi madre y mi padre)
3. Eeyore
3. A seabiscuit from Key West
4. Handmade vase made by my friend Dave
5. Valentine’s Day card from El Hub
6. My favorite lamp
What’s on yours?
Makeup and Beauty Blog Monday Poll, March 9
- Mood:
- Sippin’ on:
- Eyes:
- Fragrance:
- Current obsessions:
- Best moment o’ the weekend:
- Outfit:
- Mascara:
- _____ makes me happy:
- Weekly goals:
Tired. My body’s all twisted from the time change. I couldn’t fall asleep and stayed up late reading Shake Your Beauty. Now I’m paying for it.
Private stock! My bad — spontaneous Notorious B.I.G lyrical moment (he’s on heavy iPod rotation).
I’m really sipping on a cup of borderline gross coffee. Due to the no-sleep thing I accidentally poured about half a cup of powdered creamer into my cup. Belch!
I don’t have anything on ’em yet, but I’ll probably end up going with Benefit Creaseless Cream Shadow in Samba-dy Loves Me to perk up my tired eyes.
Taking it back to the old school — uh, 1999 — with J’adore Dior!
Tevin Campbell (why, oh why?), 30 Rock, the daily Jumble, Girl Scout Thin Mint cookies
Waiting at the movies to buy tickets for Watchmen and having George Lucas, who lives in the area, saunter up and stand right behind me in line. Sci-fi nerds that we are, both El Hub and were so star struck that neither of us could say anything. I felt so Six Degrees of Yoda.
Is it too much to hope that some of G. Lucas’ creativity was transferred through proximity?
Currently rocking the suburbs in a fetching outfit of white shorts, a pink long-sleeved top and black zip-up fleece, aka my jammies
Clinique High Impact Curling Mascara
Kind people, sunny late afternoons and lavender-scented body products
Resist the temptation of junk food, do stomach crunches at least three times this week, catch up on my endless stack of things to read
Girls, you know how we roll on Mondays! Let me know what you’re up to by coping the empty list and pasting it with your answers in the comments.
Le list
Mood:
Sippin’ on:
Eyes:
Fragrance:
Current obsessions:
Best moment o’ the weekend:
Outfit:
Mascara:
_____ makes me happy:
Weekly goals:
Let’s kick this week off to a great start. 🙂
Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,
Karen
Sundays with Tabs the Cat, Makeup and Beauty Blog Mascot, Mar. 8
Tabs hit the club twice this weekend. When I asked him about it he said sometimes you just can’t help but feel the power of dance. He stayed out all Saturday night and came home in the wee hours expecting gravy and lovin’.
When he finally woke up this afternoon, he jumped on my computer to show me a few websites the DJ told him about last night.
La Case de cousin Paul
When you need a brighter outlook, check out La Case de cousin Paul. They run a shop in Paris where customers build and test their own strings of brightly colored tinsel lights, and their website has a flashy feature that works the same way. One of my favorite things about Christmas is driving through neighborhoods to see how people have decorated their homes with lights! See what colors you can string together.
Women’s Health Magazine’s Jigsaw Puzzle
Tabs loves puzzle games, like this one he found on Women’s Health Magazine’s website. It’s a totally relaxing time waster.
Funnylook
This site for an alcohol-free cocktail oozes green, blue, orange, red and yellow, like a psychedelic catnip trip. Tabs was the designated driver (he drew the short straw) last night so he had a few too many of these at the club.
Winston loves bananas
Winston’s a celebrity cat from the fourfour blog, and he’s in love with bananas.
In. Love. With. Bananas.
Tabs wants to party with him someday, and he’ll bring the bananas.
MTV’s music videos online
Tabs likes to watch videos for the songs he hears at the club, and MTV now has a big ass library of music videos (because you know they don’t play them on the actual channel anymore) online.
He rolls his eyes when I make him sit through songs by Jodeci and Tevin Campbell, but whatever. 🙂
Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,
Karen
The $90 Diva Nail Giveaway: Who’s Your Favorite Diva?
This contest is closed. I’ll be announcing the winners shortly. Thanks for entering!
Girl, after weeks of stormy, cold weather out here in the Bay Area, we FINALLY got a sunny day!
It being Sunday, our fun day, our we-don’t have-to-run day, I feel like celebrating and relishing these last hours of the weekend with a giveaway.
The prize
Five lucky divas will receive a $90 prize package containing seven products from Dashing Diva Nail Polish, ModelCo Cosmetics, Broadway Nails, Therapy Systems and Kiss Nails.
Each of the five grab bags holds three polishes (I’ll pick three randomly from the four shown below) from Dashing Diva’s newest collection, The Manhattan Collection, with rich, creamy colors in names inspired by The Big Apple.
But wait, there’s more! Each bag also contains a ModelCo Lip Plumper in Cinnamon Spice, a Broadway Real Life Nails Kit, a Kiss Everlasting French Nails Kit and a bottle of Amazingly Gentle Scrub by Therapy Systems. 🙂
How to enter…
There are two different ways to enter, and you can do both for two chances to win. The first involves leaving a comment about your favorite diva (mine’s Mariah Carey, holla!). The second involves signing up for my updates by email if you haven’t already subscribed. In it you’ll get one email per day brimming with crazy cat lady humor, swatches from new makeup releases and beauty product reviews.
Recap…
- If you haven’t already signed up to receive Makeup and Beauty Blog daily email updates, then enter your email in the box below (or click this link).
- You may also enter by leaving a comment (re: your favorite diva) in the comments section at the bottom of this post (be sure to use a valid email address).
I’ll pick the five winners at random from among the people who enter by 11:59PM PST Monday night.
Buena suerte! 🙂
Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,
Karen
When Lining Eyes with Gels or Powder Eyeshadow
For years I happily lined my eyes with pencil liners. Then, I read about fluid liners on Specktra.net, and it opened a world of possibilities!
Here are a couple brushes I use to apply different types of eyeliner (click for the video).
Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,
Karen
Help Me Brainstorm Changes to Makeup and Beauty Blog
Would you like to see any new features or tools, more lamp more tutorials, more videos, longer videos, a svelte cat?
Heya, ladies. Did you set your clocks forward for Daylight Savings Time? What a drag, huh? I don’t mind setting my clocks back (I can always use the extra hour), but I’m not a big fan of going the other direction, LOL!
I hope you still got your beauty sleep.
Since I’ve got change on my mind, what with the clocks and all, I wondered if there were any things you’d like to see change here on the blog. Anything at all, like do you hate the new layout, miss the old navigation links, miss the old header, wish there were more games, interviews, tools, widgets, wish there were fewer ads?
I look at the blog so much that I start being unable to see it after a while, so I could use your perspective. Feel free to throw any ideas out there. The more outrageous the better!
Thank you.
Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,
Karen
Saturday Night Beauty News
Limited Edition Sheer Stella Summer Eau de Toilette Available Now at Sephora
On sale now at Sephora, the limited edition Sheer Summer ($58; 3.3 oz eau de toilette spray) by Stella McCartney is a new version of the original Stella fragrance that lets soft summer shadows reflect the delicacy of fresh rose petals. The elegant bottle design mirrors the sophisticated, light-hearted spirit of the scent.
According to Stella, the fragrance is “bright with the promise of summer,” beginning with sparkling green apple and frosted lemon and offering an irresistible bouquet of peony and roses, seducing with the warm glow of amber.
Yummy…
Kiehl’s Introduces “Weightless” Curl-Defining Spray
On sale now at Kiehl’s, the new Weightless Curl-Defining Spray ($17.50; 5 oz spray) is designed to strengthen and fortify curly hair while providing lightweight, long-lasting definition and hold. According to Kiehl’s, it “revives curls and waves for a soft and voluminous effect” with a blend of natural ingredients like sesame seed oil, sunflower seed oil, soybean oil, silk powders and Vitamin E. Its non-greasy formula “allows for extended control over unwanted fly-aways and frizz,” while imparting natural curls with a healthy-looking shine.
Does New Grassroots Research Vitamin C Power Brightening Cream SPF 25 Help Diminish Discolorations and Age Spots?
Grassroots claims their new Vitamin C Power Brightening Cream SPF 25 ($32.50; 1.7 oz cream) with Vitamins E and B5 is backed by real clinical research. After four weeks, 88% of subjects reported visibly brighter skin.
With a blend of mandarin orange, bitter orange, grapefruit and lemon, a broad-spectrum UVA/UVB SPF 25 and “a powerful combination of other protective vitamins including Vitamin E and B5,” it protects against the effects of free radicals and increases moisture in the skin.
Purchase a Cut and Color at Fekkai Salons in March and Get a Complimentary Lip Wax or Manicure
Through March at Fekkai salon locations nationwide, stop in for a cut and color and Fekkai will throw in a free manicure or lip waxing ($32 value).
Or, opt for a mani/pedi instead and receive a complimentary pedicure upgrade ($20 value).
New Bumble & Bumble Bb. Gel and Gellac Styling Gels Perfected at Fashion Week
B&B says their new Bb. Gel ($24; 5 oz) and Gellac ($24; 4.2 oz) styling gels were developed backstage at Fashion Week.
Both products go on sale March 9. Bb. Gel can be applied, shaped, dried and easily brushed out to create amazingly soft shapes with memory and hold. It’s perfect for spring’s neat, simple pony.
Gellac, on the other hand, is B&B’s powerhouse product and based on an old compound called Gafquat 732, which has long been used to create extreme, shiny shapes for photo shoots but is close to impossible to rinse out. B&B’s team of chemists solved the problem with Gellac, making it removable with any Bumble and bumble shampoo. It’s “a product for those who like to take risks and experiment with bold styles.”
This, I gotta try. 🙂
Super Saturday
What’s shaking, ladies? Do anything fun today? I just got back from seeing The Watchmen with El Hub and really liked it. I hadn’t read the graphic novel, but the movie impressed me. I went in expecting standard superhero fare (which I also like) but was pleasantly surprised.
It’s more a parody of superheroes than a traditional superhero story. Time Magazine lists The Watchmen graphic novel among its best 100 novels of all time.
A comic book one of the best 100 novels of all time? Cool.
Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,
Karen