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

Neat and New to Me: NARS Albatross Highlighter

November 17th, 2015 by Karen 25 Comments

Neat and New to Me

Unlike my Unsung Heroes series, which features permanent collection products I’ve known and loved a long time, the Neat and New to Me series showcases permanent collection products that slipped under my radar for a while, but then I discovered them! — and now I think they’re neat and new to me.

I’m not gonna say that NARS Albatross Highlighting Blush is the most exciting beauty bird to have ever soared above the oceans and the forests. I mean, it’s not a peacock or a toucan.

Quite frankly, that stark white scared the crap out of me for years. “Albatross is for the birds!” I used to think every time I saw it.

Buuut, not so much anymore. 🙂

I tried it again in one of those Sephora makeup classes not long ago (the one on highlighting and contouring) on the recommendation of one of the instructor artists.

I said that I wanted to try a highlighter other than the usual suspects (a BECCA Shimmering Skin Perfector, Bobbi Brown Shimmer Brick, Hourglass Ambient), and she suggested shimmery yellow gold Albatross.

I’ve been wearing it pretty consistently ever since.

Now, if you’re big into super glittery highlighters, you might want to keep flying, because yellowish golden Albatross doesn’t have giant flecks of glitter in it. It’s not one of those powder highlighters, but that’s one of the reasons I like it.

It’s just less muchness, if you know what I mean.

It is shiny, however — even more than the Hourglass Ambients — but it isn’t as shiny as the BECCA Shimmering Skin Perfectors. The finish is right there in between, right there in the sweet spot. It catches more than enough light to be noticeable.

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The Essie Holiday 2015 Fringe Luxeeffects Collection Nail Polishes for When You Want to Sparkle Like You Mean It!

November 16th, 2015 by Karen 26 Comments

Essie Fringe Luxeeffects 2015 collection — The Essie Holiday 2015 Fringe Luxeeffects Collection nail polishes ($8.50 each, available now online, at salons, drugstores and Ulta)

Like a confetti party for your paws, Essie’s four new Holiday 2015 Luxeeffects nail polishes have So. Much. Glitter.

Glorious gobs of glittering, glistening, lens-flare inducing glitter!

And the glitter comes in different shapes, colors and sizes, all of it suspended in a clear nail polish base, so you won’t be stuck staring at standard-issue sparkle. No, way. There’s gunmetal gray and pink glitter in Fringe Factor, platinum and cobalt in Frilling Me Softly, copper and bronze in Tassel Shaker and maroon sparkly flecks in Fashion Flares.

essie fashion flares — Essiei Fashion Flares

essie tassel shaker — Essie Tassel Shaker

essie fringe factor — Essie Fringe Factor

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Introducing MAC Maximized False Lashes Maximizer

November 16th, 2015 by Karen 34 Comments

See that pristine white porcelain candelabra/bed post in the picture below?

Haha, just kidding. It’s actually a tube of new $17 MAC False Lashes Maximizer (coming to the MAC website November 30 and to MAC counters and stores December 3), and it only stayed looking pristine like that for about 18.325 seconds…which is about how long it took me to get foundation fingerprints all over it.

If I didn’t know better, I would have assumed that this stuff was designed to take false eyelashes to the next level, because of its name, False Lashes Maximizer, but it’s actually designed to make the most of your real lashes.

It’s a lash treatment and volumizing lash primer rolled into one, with the idea being that it’s supposed to make your real lashes look like falsies.

As the owner of stick-straight, underwhelming natural lashes, THAT’S an idea I can totally get behind. 🙂

The formula, which goes on white but dries clear, is supposed to condition lashes while priming them for mascara layered on top, and it’s also supposed to make your lashes look thicker and plumper.

So it’s basically a mascara primer, but unlike some others, it doesn’t have those tiny fibers in the formula.

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Makeup and Beauty Blog Monday Poll, Vol. 347

November 16th, 2015 by Karen 41 Comments

A delicious fall salad with butternut squash, apples, spicy pumpkin seeds and more from Rustic bakery in Novato — This savory salad with butternut squash, apple and spicy pumpkin seeds was my treat to myself last weekend from Rustic bakery in Novato, om nom nom!

You might be wondering, “So what in tarnation is this Monday Poll thing anyway!?”

Well, it isn’t exactly a poll. It’s more of a constantly evolving (devolving?), somewhat random list of questions I’ve been putting out to readers every Monday morning for the past seven years. (It’s like a kickstart for your brain.) I’ve always enjoyed reading your answers in the comments, and I hope you enjoy reading mine.

Are you over the bold brow trend?
Aw, hell no! I freaking love it. I hope it never goes out of style, but my rational mind fully accepts the fact that the tide will eventually turn, and plucking those fuzzy little caterpillars into super skinny, thin arches will come back in style.

I just hope it happens in, like…500 years. LOL!

If you could have a magic hair fairy do absolutely anything to your hair right now, what would you have her do?
I’d have her use her mystical fairy magic to add eight inches of length and make my gray roots disappear and never come back for the rest of my life — POOF!

And if after that the fairy still had some magical mana left in her bag of tricks, I’d have her make my hair permanently wash-and-wear, so I’d never have to use heat styling again.

Can you buy happiness?
Ooh! Interesting question. I definitely don’t think it’s possible to buy long-term happiness deep down in your soul, but I do think you can buy a quick jolt o’ joy every once in a while.

Like when I’m having a rough day, a quick Target, Sephora or Starbucks run usually makes me feel a little better (depending on what made the day rough).
Something on your desk right now?
A grumpy 20-pound tabby!

Tabs is sleeping on the lefthand corner of the desk right now, allegedly supervising his favorite employee.

If you could only use one or the other for the rest of your life, which would you choose — face wipes or oil cleansers?
Agh! Seriously, this one was harder than I thought it would be.

First, I just love face wipes. They’re so handy when you finish working out and need to wipe away the sweat and grime, or when you’re too exhausted to wash your face before bed (I even keep some on my nightstand), but oil cleansers are amazingly effective. They remove everything and work quickly.

Ultimately, though…I’d have to go with face wipes because I’d be able to use them for more things.

Your turn. 🙂 Just copy and paste the following questions into a comment with your answers. I look forward to reading ’em!

1. Are you over the bold brow trend?
2. If you could have a magic hair fairy do absolutely anything to your hair right now, what would you do?
3. Can you buy happiness?
4. Something on your desk right now?
5. If you could only use one or the other for the rest of your life, which would you choose — face wipes or oil cleansers?

Happy Monday, sweet girl!

You know what I just realized? I just realized that Turkey Day is next week! YOWZA!

Tabs, Baby Girl, El Hub and I are going to be spending a relaxing one here at home in Novato, which is exactly what I want/need.

For various reasons, I don’t feel up to cooking a big feast this year (I don’t know why, but the thought of prepping a turkey from scratch scares the bejeezus out of me), so I’ll probably end up getting one of those pre-made deals at the supermarket that you reheat at home.

What are your Thanksgiving plans? Whatever they are, I hope they involve pie. 🙂

Have a good week, my friend.

Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,

Karen

Sundays With Tabs the Cat, Makeup and Beauty Blog Mascot, Vol. 372

November 15th, 2015 by Karen 13 Comments

There should be a video in this post, but if you can’t see it, you can click here to watch it on YouTube.

This week Tabs felt like doing a quick YouTube makeup video. If you’re an aspiring kitty supermodel, he hopes this tip helps. 🙂

Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,

Karen

Elizabeth and James Nirvana Dry Shampoo: Achieve a Heavenly Hair State of Being

November 13th, 2015 by Karen 17 Comments

This week I’ve been the girl that got away.

Allow me to explain.

I’ve been wearing and testing new Elizabeth and James Nirvana Dry Shampoo ($28 for a 4.4-oz. bottle), and my hair has smelled like the hair of the girl that got away…who had great smelling hair.

I can’t remember where I heard this before, and something tells me it was in a shampoo commercial (LOL!), but I’ve heard that your hair should smell like the girl who got away, as in the stranger who walks by you on the sidewalk or the train one day, and you catch a whiff of his or her wonderful hair, which is, of course, perfectly styled, and the memory of said hair haunts your dreams for all time. From that day forward, you remember him or her as the guy or gal with the amazing smelling hair who got away.

You know a hair product smells good when you can’t stop sniffing handfuls of your hair, and I’ve been doing that a lot with this new dry shampoo. It’s the best smelling dry shampoo I’ve ever smelled.

Correction — there are two of them, and they’re both the best smelling dry shampoos I’ve ever smelled. One is called Nirvana White, and the other’s Nirvana Black, and they’re after their respective perfumes by Elizabeth and James (otherwise known as Mary-Kate and Ashley Olson’s company).
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Two Lovely Limited Edition Paul & Joe Luxurious Bath & Body Collection Gift Sets to Help You (or a Lucky Recipient) Unwind

November 13th, 2015 by Karen 6 Comments

In our little household solar system of quantum mechanics, my upstairs bathroom is like a black hole, because I disappear into it every night for what seems like hours.

Actually, it is more than an hour sometimes.

Honestly, though, I feel like I earn it because I’m always rushing and trying to finish one thing or another during the workday, so at the end of the night, I can damned well take my sweet old time showering and getting ready for bed.

I’m sure that will change when Baby Girl arrives in March (heck, I’ll be lucky if I ever take a shower), but I’m gonna enjoy it while I can. 🙂

My nightly get-ready-for-bed ritual has been even more enjoyable than usual lately thanks to the $50 Paul & Joe Luxurious Bath & Body Collection Columbine set in 001.

One of two gift sets available now at Paul & Joe counters and online, it’s a lovely, lavish way to treat and clean yo’self at the end of a long day.

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