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

Another Look at Sephora Bright Future Gel Serum Concealer

November 6th, 2015 by Karen 22 Comments

Love this so much that I’m talking about it again! — because I will not stop until the whole world knows how awesome Sephora Bright Future Gel Serum Concealer is (it’s only $14) and, coincidentally, this is just in time for the VIB sale.

I’m just sayin’. 🙂

I’m wearing it right now, and these are great because they’re not just for concealing. You can also use them as a full-coverage foundation, which I also like to do.

This is just a video to go with my review and swatches the other day.

As always, thank you for watching. I hope you’re having a great Friday so far.

Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,

Karen

Aveda Shampure Dry Shampoo

November 6th, 2015 by Karen 19 Comments

For me, Aveda is one of those stores that’s like Jupiter’s gravity. It draws me in! There’s one at the Corte Madera mall by my house, and my nose compels me to walk in whenever I’m there, just to smell the shampoos and conditioners.

The ladies who work there are always so nice, too. “Can I get you a cup of tea or help you find a product?” And I’m like, “Nope! I’m just here to sniff the shampoos…”

LOL! They must get that a lot. 🙂 I don’t see how someone could not walk into an Aveda store, though. They’re so herbal and earthy and refreshing and just so, so good to my nose. My favorite of their fragrances is Shampure, which just so happens to be the scent behind their new Shampure Dry Shampoo.

Shampure is their signature calming scent, and it’s filled with 25 flower and plant essences, like lemon verbena and lavender (the bottle says that the ingredients are “99.8% naturally derived”). Ahh… It’s like a relaxing Sunday afternoon at the spa.

So because of the scent, of course I had to try the new dry shampoo. A 2-oz. bottle costs $30, and it’s on shelves at Aveda salons, spas and stores (it’s also available online). Also, hello! — dry shampoo junkie right here. I use them four or five times a week.

First things first, the packaging.

Hmm… It works like a squishy bottle of baby powder, and the product is a non-aerosol powder, so you tip the bottle upside down, then bring it right side up, then squeeze, and the powder puffs out in a mist.
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Outfit of the Day: A Cozy Sweater Dress by LOFT, a J. Crew Excursion Quilted Vest, and a Cray-Cray Morning

November 5th, 2015 by Karen 47 Comments

It feels good to be wearing, like, real clothes, because before I put on this outfit, I was wearing pajamas…and running down the street, barefoot, chasing a DHL delivery truck and yelling “STOP!” at the top of my lungs.

I was also waving a very strange six-foot long tube-like package in the air while I was doing this. At almost six months pregnant. Of course.

Basically, DHL mistakenly delivered it this morning, and by the time I realized that it wasn’t for me (I signed for it and everything), the DHL van was almost a block away!

I freaked out! I ran out the door barefoot in my PJs and chased them down…as awkwardly as a rather pregnant barefoot woman could run. Luckily, they must have either seen my awkward hobbling or heard my shouts, because they stopped, and yes, they were laughing.

I took the incident as a sign to change my clothes when I got home…

(Oh, and I have no idea what the long tube-like package was.)

And here’s my outfit! Nothing is designated maternity. It’s all just normal clothes.

That’s the Cozystitch Sweater Dress by Loft in Teal Night Melange, which I grabbed on sale for 40% off a few weeks ago, so I suggest waiting until the next sale instead of buying it full price (I am sooo my mother’s daughter). I like it because it’s soft, cozy and has some stretch, so there’s lots of room to rock a tum.

It also comes in two more shades — Toasty Camel and Dark Ruby. I saw both of them in the store, too, and they’re also very cute.

I paired the dress with these suede over-the-knee boots from Sam Edelman that I got last season (for 50% off!) because I like how the shorter hem of the dress looks with the high boots. But if you don’t like over-the-knee boots, I bet black tights and black booties would work great, too.

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Tom Ford Holiday 2015 Noir Color Collection

November 5th, 2015 by Karen 26 Comments

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

So, the Tom Ford Holiday 2015 Noir color collection. I mean, really, it’s not like I was going to do a freaking cut crease with these products. The collection has smoky eyes written all over it!

And when I realized that, of course I had to do a little wiggle dance in my chair, because nine times out of 10, I’ll pick smoky eyes over just about anything else, so thank you, Tom, for helping me indulge my natural smoky eye makeup tendencies. Sending you matte lipstick kisses from across the Interwebs. 🙂

Cream and Powder Eye Color in Night Sky ($66)

Five of the seven pieces in the limited edition release, which is available now online and at Tom Ford counters, are eye products. The other two include a black nail polish and a re-promoted matte pinkish nude lipstick from the permanent line, and for extra fancy effect, all of them even have special limited edition packaging (see how the caps are black instead of the regular dark brown?).

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Viktor & Rolf Flowerbomb Turns 10 With a New Birthday Set

November 5th, 2015 by Karen 16 Comments

Here’s a floral bombshell for ya: Viktor & Rolf Flowerbomb is 10 years old.

Can you believe that…? It came out a decade ago, and I remember that, too. I remember my perfume junkie friends basically losing their sh*t, LOL!

So many scents have come and gone since then, but Flowerbomb stood the test of time. It’s a floral oriental with notes of jasmine, rose, orchid and patchouli.

I wore it regularly for a while after it came out, and man! — good memories. El Hub was still El Boyfriend back then… I don’t even think we’d moved in together yet. This was back when El Hub lived in a small one-bedroom apartment in the town of Tiburon, California, back before we knew Sir Tabs. The only cat in our life was the pint-sized black cat who lived with the people next door. She stopped by a lot to say hello, so we named her Sugar…even though that wasn’t her real name. 🙂

I wonder if she’s still around…

Anywho! I put Flowerbomb on my wrists this morning for the first time in years, and it smells just as warm, cozy and ladylike as I remember. If you like Chanel Coco Mademoiselle and Stella, I bet you’ll like it.

To commemorate Flowerbomb’s tenth anniversary, Viktor & Rolf released a special limited edition keepsake boxed set with 10 small 0.24-oz. bottles of Flowerbomb eau de parfum ($130, available now at Viktor & Rolf counters and online).

The inside design kinda looks like sparkly spinning fireworks, doesn’t it?
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I Actually Named My Trader Joe’s Herb Garden

November 4th, 2015 by Karen 31 Comments

The plants on my little deck garden that brightened my spring and summer have bid their seasonal adieu. 🙁 And now when I go back there to get some fresh air with Tabs, there are no more gorgeous greens and bright yellow sunflowers for us to look at (and for him to nibble). Just drooping vines and crumbly brown leaves.

But I gotta get my green thumb on somehow, so I picked up this Potted Herb Garden from Trader Joe’s…

I think it was around $10.

It’s sitting just to the left of my kitchen sink… I hope it hangs on through winter.

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Don’t Be Afraid to Use Multiple Primers to Address Different Issues Around Your Face

November 4th, 2015 by Karen 32 Comments

make up for ever primers — Mix and match your primers!

One of the beautiful (but sometimes frustrating when you can’t control yourself) truths about makeup is that you can make it as easy or as complicated as you want.

Case in point: primer. Most of the time, either because I’m inherently lazy or because I’m almost always running behind, I’ll use a single un-tinted pore-minimizing primer all over my face, except for on my lids, where I’ll use a separate eye primer, but sometimes I’ll feel like going the extra mile, so I’ll use a combination of multiple face primers, and sometimes I’ll even incorporate an additional color-correcting primer.

Make Up For Ever’s Step 1 Skin Equalizers are good for things like this.

When I feel like going that extra mile, before applying my main face primer, I’ll use a separate orange-tinted color-correcting primer first, and I like $36 Make Up For Ever Radiant Primer Peach for this, to neutralize any purple, blue and gray tones on my skin, which for me is usually under my eyes, around my mouth and along my jawline.

make up for ever redness correcting primer — Make Up For Ever Redness Correcting Primer ($36)

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Sephora Bright Future Gel Serum Concealer: I Love This Stuff!

November 4th, 2015 by Karen 56 Comments

A bright future.

I hope so. I hope we all have a bright future, and despite my infatuation with post-apocalyptic zombie TV shows (and one in particular), I REALLY do think the future looks bright.

So…why am I talking about this?

Because of these Sephora Bright Future Gel Serum Concealers ($14 each and available in MANY shades). I stumbled on them back in September and have been using them regularly since.

When you haven’t touched what had been your holy grail concealer (NARS Pure Radiant Creamy Concealer) in two months, it’s time to give what you have been using in its place a shout-out and a thumbs-up.

So this is me giving an official shout-out to these full-coverage gel concealers: Haaaaay! 🙂

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