I feel SO BIG! Baby Girl is getting huge. She’s 21 weeks now and doing a number on mommy’s back and feet, but things are coming along. Her ETA: early March. 🙂
Here’s just a quick update.
Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,
Karen
A Last-Minute Halloween Costume Idea: Carol (in Wolf’s Clothing!) From The Walking Dead
Here’s a super simple, quick last-minute Halloween costume shout-out to Carol! — one of my favorite characters on The Walking Dead. The new season started a few weeks ago, and in my favorite season six episode so far, Carol shimmies like a bad-@ss out of her “after school special” button-down cardigan, dons a dirty bandana and hoodie, covers herself in dirt and blood and basically saves a whole bunch of people from a pack of psycho killers called the Wolves by impersonating one of ’em.
Of course, a Carol Wolf costume wouldn’t be complete without a prop, like a casserole, or this here pan of brownies, because Carol doesn’t just kick @ss. She’s also a great cook! LOL…
Or, if your husband happens to keep swords under the bed, you could also wield a machete.
Just please be careful not to accidentally slice anyone to bits. 🙂
The Essie Winter 2015 Collection
Your lift ticket awaits to Chalet Essie! It’s a winter wonderland of chic, but don’t worry about freezing your tush off, because the six new nail polishes in the Essie Winter 2015 collection ($8.50 each) will keep you warm. 🙂
There are three bold shades for babes (and dudes!) who like luxurious nail colors, and three lower-key lacquers for laid back luxe.
I’m wearing two coats of each color in these swatches, and the only one that gave me trubs is Peak Show, the creamy, powdery pink. It went on a little streaky…
The other five took to the slopes like pros! — especially Haute Tub, that beautiful black with amethyst glitter.
SO HOT, that Haute Tub. (Random side note: did you know that pregnant ladies are supposed to avoid hot tubs? Oh, well! Guess that means no trips in my hot tub time machine.)
As for the reds, both are incredibly silky smooth…
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How to Line Your Lips
I swear, sometimes lip liner makes me feel like the most uncoordinated person to have ever lived. On the one hand, it should be easy, right? I mean, if a kindergartner can trace a picture of a unicorn in a coloring book, a grown woman should be able to outline her lips, but nooo! Try it sometime with a dark plummy black or red. Not easy. Drawing a symmetrical, even outline can be a lot harder than it looks, especially with really bright or dark shades.
Breaking the whole process down into baby steps helps, like using short strokes with the pencil and drawing the lines on my upper lip in an upward direction.
This video is a little different than my usual review videos. It’s more on the instructional side. I hope you find it helpful, and I hope it inspires you to rock a good lip liner soon. Now’s a great time for deep plums, reds and browns. 🙂
Products mentioned
- Nuxe Reve de Miel Lip Balm ($19)
- Hourglass Panoramic Lip Pencil in Raven ($28)
- MAC Matte Lipstick in Lady Danger ($17)
As always, thank you for watching.
Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,
Karen
MAC Unsung Heroes: Layin’ Low Paint Pot
The long-running Unsung Heroes series here on Makeup and Beauty Blog features some of my all-time favorite permanent collection products.
When was the last time you heard somebody flip their lid and rave about MAC Layin’ Low?
Ever…? Have you ever heard it? Because I can’t remember ever hearing somebody rave about MAC Layin’ Low. It really does lay low and keep a low profile. Among the MAC Paint Pots, it just doesn’t get the same kind of love that Soft Ochre and Painterly get and, yes, while they’re also cream eyeshadows, I think Layin’ Low deserves some love of its own, because it’s one of THE BEST base colors for warm browns.
There, I said it! WARM BROWNS. I know I go on and on about how much I like to wear cool browns on my lids (the gray tones create fabulous faux shadows that give the illusion of a deeper crease, which is something I’m always striving for since my crease is pretty shallow), but there’s something about warm orangey browns and reddish browns in the fall and winter. They just feel right, and they go oh, so well with plum, wine, brown and red lips.
Warm and creamy matte beige Layin’ Low is like Soft Brown’s creamy shadow cousin, and if you like warm browns like MAC Saddle, Texture, Swiss Chocolate (and others), it’s an absolute must.
If you’re warm toned like I am with a skin tone around NC20 or up, it’s like friggin’ David Copperfield (i.e. magic). If you’re lighter than NC20, just in case, give it a swatch first before committing, because it can look a little more orange than warm beige on some gals.
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Cute Betsey Johnson Bag Alert!
OK, so maybe it is totally cliche to both love makeup and also be totally into anything and everything with a lip print on it, but to that I say this: “MWWWAHH!” Because I don’t care! 🙂 I love a cute lip print, ya feel me?
These adorable Betsey Johnson cosmetics bags are at DSW. I spotted them the last time I was there. They were tucked away on a cluttered shelf in the cash wrap area, otherwise known as “Impulse Buy Heaven.”
The bigger bags, the ones with the pink lips, are $29.95, and the smaller ones with the gold lips are $19.95. I thought about getting one as a spare/backup Christmas present for someone, but then I realized, who am I kidding? I’d just end up giving it to myself…
Still cute though, aren’t they? If Baby Girl were of age, I’d fill one with makeup and hair accessories for her. 🙂
I’m not seeing the bigger bag online, but the smaller one with the gold lips is available now on the DSW website.
Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,
Karen
The Bare Traps Saydie Wedge Bootie: Like a Spa for Your Feet!
UM…OK! Twist my arm, why don’t ya, and force me against my shoe-loving will to try on this pair of $69.95 Bare Traps Saydie Wedge Booties!
I give up. I’ll do it. 🙂
Did I mention that I finally found a mommy’s group to meet with here in Novato? Yup, thank you, interwebz! I found them online last week, just in time to attend their latest monthly get-together. It was at my local “safe place” (LOL!) DSW, directly inside the store. There were moms, noms, drinks, chit-chat and — WOOT-WOOT! — the store even gave the members of the group a 20% discount on everything.
PUR Eye Polish Cream Shadow: A Fast Formula for Lustrous Lids
Despite the probably Horror movie-influenced fact that the “Eye Polish” in PUR Eye Polish cream shadow makes me think of somebody spit-shining my eyeballs, these $26 cream shadows aren’t sinister at all.
They’re actually pretty darned rad!
I mentioned one of of the shades, shimmery, smoky golden olive Caviar in my gold and olive Fall-Tastic Face of the Day last week. Caviar is one of the six shades, all of which work great as bases, as primers for powder shadows or all by their lonesome as traditional cream shadows.
They vary in terms of shimmer, with some being more pearlescent and less metallic than others. Caviar clocks in at “glittery to the extreme.”
Among the other shades are bronzed opalescent Suede; shimmery, plummy fuchsia Velvet; shimmery champagne apricot Silk; pearlescent pale pink Satin and pearlescent champagne Cashmere.
Now, just because these come in little pots doesn’t mean they’re as dense as MAC Paint Pots or as spongy as the Chanel Illusion D’Ombres. They have an usual formula the likes of which I don’t think I’ve ever seen before. It’s thinner than usual…almost like a liquid shadow, but not quite.
Picture a very thin, runny mousse.
And, yes, I suggest keeping yo’ digits on hand (HAHAHA, LAME PUN ALERT!), because the silicone applicator they come with? — almost useless. The few times I used it, the product went on patchy and uneven.
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