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A beauty blog blooming with fresh makeup reviews, swatches and beauty tips from your friendly neighborhood beauty addict

Karen

Weekend Beauty Report for March 18, 2012: It’s Raining Skin Care!

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weekend beauty haul

After fish and chips last night, I asked El Hub to drive me to Sephora, because the best way to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day when you’re playing the proximity Irish card is to 1) eat fried food, 2) drink a pint of beer (I highly recommend the Unfiltered Wheat at Moylan’s next time you’re in Novato) and 3) do a wee bit o’ beauty hauling.

Last night was a skin care night. I love makeup, but there’s something about the prospects of a new skin care holy grail that always fills me with hope (LOL!). The gal who rang me up last night at Sephora said it best, “New makeup is always fun, but new skin care feels like a fresh start.”

Here, here, girlfriend! Preaching to the choir. 🙂

I picked up a few things that I hope will help me with some skin issues I’ve been having… A new crop of hormone-fueled pimples just popped up along the edge of my chin — the kind where you can feel the hard bumps just beneath the surface.

It’s like, when I hit my mid-30s, all hell broke loose on my chin, ugh!

My skin usually responds well to beta hydroxy and benzoyl peroxide acne products, so I’m trying bottles of Peter Thomas Roth Beta Hydroxy Acid 2% Acne Wash ($35) and Kate Somerville Anti Bac Clearing Lotion ($39). The Kate Somerville one contains 5.3% benzoyl peroxide. Hopefully that’s enough to take care of those zits.

I’m curious — when you break out, what usually works for you? Do you prefer benzoyl peroxide, beta hydroxy acid or something else?

peter thomas roth beta hydroxy acid acne wash

kate somerville antic bac clearing lotion
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The Weekly Roundup: Posts You Might Have Missed

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The Makeup and Beauty Blog Weekly Roundup

Okay, when I started writing this post, part of me wanted to dish about my favorite products this week, the Too Faced Summer stuff and the Sunday Riley pieces I tried, but then I watched the new trailer for Prometheus…

WOW! Scary much?

I’m a sci-fi fanatic, and I grew up with the Alien movies. I think this one has the makings of a classic. Ridley Scott retaking the helm of the franchise he started more than 30 years ago? Suh-weet! 🙂

What’s new with you? How was your St. Paddy’s Day? Did you get your fish and chips on?

A few beauty posts that caught my eye…

  • Some really insightful lessons learned from one bloggers’s first month of blogging — Linh’s Kitchen
  • Kinda random, but I loved reading this piece (and the followup) on dating in Sweden — Swedish Love Affair
  • The Essence of Passion for Fashion is blurple — Nihrida
  • How does The Body Shop’s Eyeshadow Blender brush stack up? — My Weekend Ramblings
  • Acute eye look with Urban Decay’s Chronic (haha!) for St. Patrick’s Day — Style By Cat
  • A gorgeous guide to California’s Central Coast (road trip!) — blinking against the brightness
  • OMG! Now I, too, want to paint ALL the nails! — The Nailasaurus
  • How to survive Mercury in Retrograde (fyi, that’s March 12th to April 3rd!) — gala darling
  • Goats continue to impress with Kate Somerville’s Goat Milk Cream — The Blossom Shed
  • I think it’s time (haha!) to rekindle my love for Swatch watches — Sugar & Spice

The makeup monsters are back again this week with another beastie, this one an undead creature of insatiable appetite!

Tinted Moisturizer Mummy

A Makeup and Beauty Blog Makeup MonsterDescription: “It’s just not fair!” you tell yourself. Why do you always get stuck restocking the store after hours, after everyone else has gone home?

You grab another box from the stack and remove a tube of tinted moisturizer. When you took this job, it was because you loved makeup, and you wanted to share that passion with others, but this — this isn’t what you signed up for. The mall, at midnight, not another soul around, unpacking boxes of self-tanner, tinted moisturizer and vanilla shower gel?

Suddenly, a loud crash comes from the storeroom, and you jump with a start! “Hello?” you call toward the sound. “Is anyone back there?”

No answer. Something must have toppled over. You place the moisturizer next to the others on the shelf.

Again, more crashing from the storeroom, but it’s louder this time. “Who is that?” you shout. Your heart starts pounding in your chest. “This isn’t funny!” Instinctively, you reach for an eyelash curler and brazen it like a sword in front of you. “I have an eyelash curler, and I’m not afraid to use it!”

Little do you know, an ancient evil has risen from the basement beneath the storeroom tonight. Once a beloved style icon, it rises for one month every seven years to feed on tinted moisturizer, and tinted moisturizer wearers.

Frequency: Rare
Speed: Slow
Armor Class: 6
Special Attacks: Mummy hug
Special Defenses: Immunity to non-magical makeup
Intelligence: NA
Alignment: VERY evil
Size: Medium (5-6′ tall)

The Makeup and Beauty Blog Makeup Monsters

Makeup and Beauty Blog Weekly Roundup

Too Faced Summer 2012 Eyeshadow Palette The Too Faced Summer 2012 Collection Is Coming Soon

MAC Speak Louder Cremesheen Lipstick MAC Unsung Heroes: Cremesheen Lipstick in Speak Louder

How to quickly do 3 different party hairstyles Sleek and Chic: 3 Easy Party Hairstyles

Sunday Riley Prismasilk Eye Colors The New Sunday Riley Prismasilk Eye Colors

Dior Addict Extreme Lipstick The New Dior Addict Extreme Lipsticks

Sunday Riley Blush in Intimate The New Sunday Riley Blush in Intimate

Dressing for San Francisco Outfit of the Day: Dressing for a Trip to San Francisco

Roberto Cavalli Eau de Parfum Roberto Cavalli Eau de Parfum

Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,

Karen

When You Think of Beautiful Makeup Marketing Campaigns, What Are the First Ones That Come to Mind?

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Beautiful makeup marketing campaigns?

Most of the ones that pop into my head first are from MAC, like the Fabulous Felines collection from fall 2010? With the kitties! That has to be one of my favorite makeup marketing campaigns of all time.

And then there’s MAC Chenman, which is on counters now. I just think the imagery and the references to water are very pretty, and oh! — the MAC Originals collection from back in 2007, with the older woman with the cane.

She was pimpin’. 🙂

Now that I think about it, a bunch of other campaigns are coming to mind, like the print ads for the Bobbi Brown Ivy League collection. That had some pretty cool imagery in it with the preppy tweed styling.

And Chanel has had a bunch of visually interesting marketing campaigns over the years, but one that’s occurring to me now — and I’m not sure if it was the official campaign or just a beautiful backstage photo — was for Les Trompe-L’oeil de Chanel, the Chanel temporary tattoos release, with the model wearing the tats on her neck and shoulders? I thought that was very neat.

I also think Benefit has done some interesting campaigns over the years, like recently with their B.Right! line. I love the image of the girl wearing the lamp shade as a hat.

When you think of beautiful makeup marketing campaigns, what are the first ones that come to mind?

Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,

Karen

P.S. El Hub and I are already back from our St. Patrick’s Day feast. We just went to a brewery/restaurant here in town called Moylans. I got my fish and chip on, haaay!

Now, I’m gonna sit on the couch with my copy of Catching Fire (I’m just about to start Part 2: The Quell!).

Hope you had a nice St. Patrick’s Day. 🙂

Elizabeth Banks: Her Best Hair?

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Elizabeth Banks: Her Best Hair?

Born Elizabeth Irene Mitchell on February 10, 1974, actress (and occasional CNBC anchor on 30 Rock), Elizabeth Banks is helping me through a tough time…

You see, I have Hunger Games fever right now — BAD. I stayed up way past my bedtime last night re-reading the first book, finished it, and then started on the second one, and now while I’m reading the books, I picture the characters as the actors who are playing them in the new movie (Elizabeth plays Effie Trinket).

The only one who doesn’t fit for me is Woody Harrelson as Haymitch. I don’t know… I see Haymitch as more of a Robert Downey Jr. type, especially when he looks like this, but a little bit scragglier and undoubtedly stinky.

This is kinda weird, but sometimes I get Elizabeth and Parker Posey confused. Is that just me? As a matter of fact, I only just now figured out while reading about Elizabeth that she was the actress who starred in the Spider-Man movies (worked for J. Jonah Jameson at the Daily Bugle).

This whole time I thought that was Parker. Seriously, I can’t be the only one who sees a resemblance.

I even remember telling people, “Wasn’t Parker Posey great in Spider-Man!?”

LOL! Sorry, ladies. For what it’s worth, I’m a doofus, and I think you’re both great. 🙂

Elizabeth also has what looks like a fun recurring role on 30 Rock playing Jack’s business savvy girlfriend, CNBC anchor Avery Jessup.

Man, I love that show… And oddly, so does Tabs. He’ll even come down from upstairs to sit on the floor in front of the TV when it’s on.

I’m really looking forward to seeing Elizabeth in The Hunger Games next week. I just hope, hope, hope the movie lives up to, or at least gets close, to my expectations.

Which of Elizabeth's hairstyles do you like best?

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Your friendly neighborhood tribute,

Karen

Two Ways to Win a $50 eGift Card from Sephora!

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A Makeup and Beauty Blog giveaway

Luck o’ the Irish to ya! That’s one of the ways El Hub wooed me into marrying him, by saying that because he’s part Irish, we would have a long and lucky life. I’d pretty much already made up my mind by then, but ya know, it was another selling point. 🙂

Happy St. Patrick’s Day! May you be very fortunate, not just today, but always.

I can’t think of anything new or noteworthy this morning. We did go see that movie last night, 21 Jump Street, and that was a lot of fun. You gimme a big bag of mixed popcorn/kettlecorn, Channing Tatum in a uniform and a pretty well-written comedy, and I’m a happy gal.

I’m still dusting the cobwebs off my brain this morning, so I’m having a wee bit o’ difficulty (because it’s St. Paddy’s, I’m going to talk like that all day long; just warning you) stringing my sentences together, but I’m sure today’s fried food and beer will help, haha!

Time to make a Starbuck’s run. Can I get you something while I’m there? You stay here and enter today’s giveaway. I’ll be right back.

What folks are saying…

“Oh my goodness! Thank you so much Karen (and Tabs, of course)! I really appreciate this! I’d been eyeing the Anastasia brow pencil in Strawburn to match my red hair!”
-Chelsea (and Jiji the kitten and Quincy the bunny)

“Hi Karen and Tabs. Wow! Thanks so much for this! It’s hard to believe I actually won something. I can’t wait to shop my little heart out! Thanks again. Love to Tabs! And I love your blog with the Tabs stories. ;+)”
-Sophie, St Petersburg, FL

“Never before have I been so pleased to check my email right before bed!!! Thank you so, so much! I truly enjoy your blog and check it almost daily! Thanks again! This made my night!”
-Melissa, Edmond, OK

“Hi Karen. Oh my goodness! I can’t believe I won! :O Thank you so much! You, Tabs, and your blog are amazing! Thank you for keeping me updated on all things beauty and more importantly, for keeping me entertained! Keep doing your thing! 🙂 Thank you again.”
-Jacqueline

“Hi Karen. Thank you so much, I’m so excited, I’ve never won anything before. My name is Hana … I just turned 25 (today is my birthday!) Yay! Thank you.”
-Hana

  • One (1) Sephora eGift card containing $50 sent to the winner by email (international readers, you may opt to receive $50 sent by PayPal instead).

  • There are two ways to enter, and you can do both of them for two chances to win. First, you can enter by leaving a comment at the bottom of this post, a comment about anything at all, like, what’s your favorite fried food? When was the last time you had fish and chips (or corned beef and cabbage)? Have you ever had a green beer? Are you wearing anything green today? Have you ever found a four-leaf clover? Have you ever worn green eyeshadow? — you get the idea.
  • Second, you can enter by following me on twitter Twitter @karenmbb and retweeting (RT) the following message:
    • Follow @karenmbb and RT to Win a $50 eGift Card from Sephora! http://bit.ly/z0nbvl

  • The deadline to enter is Sunday, March 18, 2012 at 11:59PM (PT).
  • Entrants must enter using a valid email address and/or Twitter account to win.
  • A maximum of two (2) entries per person — one within the comments at the bottom of this post, and a second entry via Twitter addressed to me @karenmbb.
  • Contest is open to individuals of any country who have reached the age of majority according to their local laws (18 in the United States with these exceptions: Alabama and Nebraska, 19; Mississippi, 21).
  • Sephora eGift Certificates can only be redeemed online and are not valid in stores or available for purchase or redemption in Canada. International winners may opt to substitute the Sephora eGift card prize for $50 sent directly to their email address by PayPal instead.
  • Tabs and I (heretofore referred to as “T-Money and K-Dawg”) will select one (1) winner at random from the entries either left in the comments at the bottom of this blog post or addressed to @karenmbb on Twitter.
  • The winner will be announced here within 48 hours of the deadline.
  • Void where prohibited by law.

Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,

Karen

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