Artsy-fartsy pic of the icicle lights hanging off the living room deck.
Christmas Lights: Icicles
NARS Unsung Heroes: Afghan Red Lipstick
Every year around this time, my regular weakness for red lipsticks turns into a serious condition, but even now, it’s usually treatable (with the careful administration of crimson cosmetics), except when I’ve been exposed to a jewel-toned red from NARS.
Then, the only cure is a tube of something like NARS Lipstick in Afghan Red ($24), a rich pinkish garnet. I tooled around town with this particular tube all weekend long, trying to keep the fever at bay…
To be safe, I should probably just keep it in my purse. 🙂
Never mind that my purse is already loaded down with compacts, other lippies, emergency cans of gravy and the occasional acorn, it never hurts to be prepared. Once you’ve been exposed to a shade like Afghan Red, you never know when another red lipstick episode will occur. Trying to predict them is like trying to forecast when terry cloth tracksuits will be back in style (read: impossible to know).
More Jackie than Marilyn, Afghan Red is a refined garnet. It says, “Bonjour, ladies and gentleman,” giving a slight wave of a cupped hand wearing pristine white gloves.
It’s not a color that needs to shout in order to be heard. Dab it on for a whisper light stain, or embrace opaque color by applying a single layer, as I did for these pics.
Buxom True Hue Blush
Super quick look at the new Buxom True Hue Blush line!
Details:
- $24 each
- Available in eight shades: Breathless (a soft pinkish peach), Euphoria (a bright peach), Luvitate (a wearable pink), Rendezvous (a bright plum), Shangri-la-la (a deep plum), Seduction (a hot pink), Swept Away (a soft peach) and Tryst (a warm brown)
- Buxom says the blushes contain rhodiola, an arctic plant root that make cheeks appear refreshed
- Paraben free
- Coming to Sephora February 2012
If You Like Smokey Looks, Make Space in Your Makeup Collection for MAC Nebula Pigment
Space. The final frontier. These are the voyages of the Starship Enterprise…
Wait — no they’re not. This isn’t a voyage. It’s actually a review of the new MAC Nebula Pigment ($20). I guess I just had a random Trekkie moment, like that time at the gym back before I’d met El Hub. I was running on the treadmill when a cute boy climbed up on the one next to me, turned my way and said, “Hi.”
My witty response: “Live long and prosper.”
Oh, yeah. It was smooth… 🙂
Seriously, though, I might not have had game, but I did know a lot about Star Trek.
Of course, something tells me that neither MAC nor Daphne Guinness were channelling Starfleet when they dreamed up this particular loose eyeshadow, even though I can picture makeup-loving cadets reaching for it faster than you can say, “Prepare for warp speed.”
So far, my warm skin tone and I haven’t fallen for many of the cool-toned colors we’ve tried from Daphne Guinness for MAC, but shimmery grayish brown Nebula toes the line between cool and neutral in a way that makes it mighty wearable for both warm- and cool-toned babes.
Plus, it’s called Nebula, and how cool is that? I was starstruck the first time I saw the color twinkling back and forth between gray and brown.
Nebula reminds me of a longtime MAC favorite of mine, Club, except without the teal and blue. Yes, the formula is loose and messy, and it’s only a matter of time before I spill it on the carpet, but I do love how complex and smokey it appears.
In these pics, I’m wearing it by itself all over my lids and along my lower lash lines. Just a very simple smokey look.
I also tried something a bit more dramatic with it, adding a dark gray liner along the water line, and liked the way it turned out. If you decide to give that a try, I recommend Laura Mercier’s Kohl Eye Pencil in Stormy Grey, a gunmetal gray that flashes a subtle blue from some angles.
Makeup and Beauty Blog Monday Poll, Dec. 19
- You might be wondering, “So what the heck is this Monday Poll thing anyway?”
Well, it isn’t much of a poll. It’s more just a constantly evolving (devolving?), somewhat random list of questions I’ve been putting out to readers every Monday morning for the past three years, which I guess makes this somewhere around Vol. 199. I’ve always enjoyed reading your answers in the comments, and I hope you enjoy reading mine.
- Mood:
- What are your favorite holiday flicks?
- What are three beauty products you find yourself buying over and over again?
- How old were you when you started using the Internet regularly?
- When was the last time you saw someone from high school?
- When was the last time you went to a parade?
- Did you do anything fun last weekend?
- One of the best books you’ve read this year?
- What’s the last holiday snack you had?
- Weekly goals:
Pretty good, as of right this moment, but it’s a tenuous good. The first thing I felt this morning when I opened my eyes was overwhelmed (got a lot to do today), but after writing my worries down in my journal, I felt much better.
Sometimes you just need to get everything out on paper, ya know? It’s like getting it out of your system.
A Christmas Story and Love Actually are my absolute faves, but I finally sat down to watch Miracle on 34th Street last weekend and loved it! That one’s definitely going into my regular holiday rotation.
Oh! I almost forgot another one, the old stop-motion Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer. That’s a classic.
MAC Strobe Cream, MAC Cleanse Off Oil and Bumble & Bumble Super Rich Conditioner
Probably around 24. I used it a little in college, but it wasn’t until a few years later when I worked at a law firm that I was logging on very often. Now, of course, I’m pretty much always connected.
I still see two of my BFFs from childhood all the time, Jen and Cindy, and I saw them both a few weeks ago at Jen’s son’s baptism.
I think it was June of 2008, for the annual Kamehameha Day Floral Parade on Oahu. I was told it’s the second oldest parade in America (and the only one to celebrate a king!). Wow, 2008 feels like a lifetime ago…
I rented Our Idiot Brother and really enjoyed that. It’s just a sweet, funny story — no big surprises, but I gotta hand it to Paul Rudd. I don’t know what it is about him, but he always makes me laugh.
Gunn’s Golden Rules, by Tim Gunn.
Tim Gunn is like my Yoda, for real.
I had a handful of Trader Doe’s Dark Chocolate Stars last night… Yum!
To wrap up my Christmas shopping and everything else by Friday, and to work out at least 30 minutes every day (or more, depending on how long it takes me to finish that box of Dark Chocolate Stars).
Happy Monday, friend. We’re not even two weeks away from 2012; I just can’t believe it. Time really does fly when you’re having fun.
Well, it flies either way, but the trip feels better when it’s fun. 🙂
How’s it going this week? Are you still at school or work? Or do you have some time off? Whatever you’re up to, come say a quick hi in today’s Monday Poll.
- To complete the Monday Poll, just copy the following list, and paste it with your answers in the comments.
1. Mood:
2. What are your favorite holiday flicks?
3. What are three beauty products you find yourself buying over and over again?
4. How old were you when you started using the Internet regularly?
5. When was the last time you saw someone from high school?
6. When was the last time you went to a parade?
7. Did you do anything fun last weekend?
8. One of the best books you’ve read this year?
9. What’s the last holiday snack you had?
10. Weekly goals:
May your week be filled with good fortune and extra servings of pre-holiday joy. 🙂
Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,
Karen
Christmas Lights
Just having fun and foolin’ with my camera…
Sundays with Tabs the Cat, Makeup and Beauty Blog Mascot, Vol. 170
Tabs still hasn’t stopped talking about the last Sunday Pet Poll. He quite enjoyed reading about your pet companions and furry (and fur-less) friends, and when I asked him if he thought we should do it again, he immediately replied, “Mrow!”
Tabby gets what tabby wants, so here we go. 🙂
Same idea as the Monday Poll. Just copy/paste the list at the bottom into your comment.
Who is Tabs the Cat? About three years ago I befriended a stray, flea-bitten tabby cat with a bad case of worms. I could see he’d fallen on hard times, but his profound knowledge of high fashion and department store cosmetics led me to believe that he was more than meets the eye. We became fast friends, and now he’s actually my boss (and a successful kitty model). 🙂
The Sundays with Tabs Sunday Pet Poll
- How would you describe your pet in a Twitter tweet (140 characters max)?
- How does your pet respond when you get home after a long trip?
- Can your pet do any tricks?
- Does your pet like people food?
- Where does your pet like to sleep?
- Is your pet getting anything for the holidays?
- Does your pet have any sworn enemies?
- Where’s your pet at this very second?
- Does your pet ever mess with your beauty products?
Tabs is a 5-year-old 18-pound American Shorthair kitty supermodel, image consultant and blogger with gray, black and orange tabby markings.
He rolls on his back, flashes his tum and meows up a storm! After 15 minutes of that, he generally won’t let me out of his sight for at least a full day.
Does kitty modeling count? 🙂 Or how about looking stylish in jewelry? Other than modeling, he’s not big into tricks. He does like to play fetch with El Hub, but that’s more of a game than a trick, and it has to be his idea.
He didn’t for the longest time. For years he was content with Fancy Feast in Gravy and Science Diet (and the occasional piece of sliced turkey), but over the past few months he’s become more brazen at the dinner table. Now I can’t leave any food unattended, because if I do he’ll jump on the table and explore. So far he’s employed this approach to taste test wheat bread, smoked salmon and yogurt. Sigh…
In about 10 different places around the house. There’s at least one in every room. Lately, he’s all about sleeping on the treadmill, draped across El Hub’s stinky running shoes, at the foot of the bed, at the top of his cat tower in the living room, in the laundry basket (but only on top of clean clothes, which is weird considering how much he likes dirty shoes and socks) and in the bathroom sink.
I wish he’d sleep on the bed with me at night, but he only does that once in a blue moon.
Possibly a new cat tower, because his current one is falling apart. Maybe that or a heated pet bed, but the kitty-sized ones I’ve seen all look too small for him. If I upgrade him to doggy-sized and he finds out, there will be hell to pay.
Oh, yes. Right now it’s the neighbor’s Russian Blue. Ever since Tabs caught him bogarting the catnip plant in the front yard, the two haven’t been on good terms.
He’s standing up on my lap, with his body draped over my right arm. Kinda hard to tlype ligke thjis, but watcha gonna do? 🙂
He actually does! He likes to hide things, especially eyelash curlers, which he’ll bat around until he gets them good and stuck under a dresser. I’ve yet to catch him messing with my brushes, though (knock on wood).
- To complete the Sundays with Tabs Sunday Pet Poll, just copy the following list, and paste it with your answers in the comments.
1. How would you describe your pet in a Twitter tweet (140 characters max)?
2. How does your pet respond when you get home after a long trip?
3. Can your pet do any tricks?
4. Does your pet like people food?
5. Where does your pet like to sleep?
6. Is your pet getting anything for the holidays?
7. Does your pet have any sworn enemies?
8. Where’s your pet at this very second?
9. Does your pet ever mess with your beauty products?
Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,
Karen
The Sonia Kashuk Diamond in the Brush Kabuki Brush Really Is a Diamond in the Rough
I have a love/hate relationship with Sonia Kashuk’s new Diamond in the Brush Kabuki Brush ($12.99). In the love corner, it couldn’t be any cuter. I mean, just look at that sparkly handle, and I think the brush head is all kinds of fabulous.
But just like the similarly blingy brushes in the Prepping for the Party Lip & Eye Palette ($19.99), I don’t know if this one’s very well constructed. As a matter of fact, the bottom fell off the first time I used it.
Um…what’s up with that?
And then there’s the overall attention to detail, which just seems to be lacking here. Despite the blinding bling, I can’t help but notice the stray bits of glue peeking out from between the gaps where the metal bands wrap around the handle.
Annoying — because I like this limited edition brush’s swagger, size and how hefty it feels in my hand. It’s like a bigger, wider, slightly fluffier version of Sonia’s classic Flat Top Brush but with a shorter handle. The soft bristles feel good, too, neither scratching nor shedding, and the head applies face powder, blush and bronzer perfectly.
My issues with the brush are isolated to its handle, but that’s, ya know, a rather important part.
