NARS Cyprus Eyeshadow ($23). Available now at NARS counters and also online.
NARS Cyprus Eyeshadow
The Weekly Roundup: Posts You Might Have Missed
Do you ever read through your old journals and think, “Wow, was that really me?” A few nights ago I was rifling through some boxes and found an old journal of mine from 2003. At the time I was working at a job I despised and filling page after page in journals with things like, “I feel as though everyone I know is moving forward, but I’m standing still.” I hadn’t yet figured out what I wanted to do about my job. All I knew was that I wanted to make a change, and I was caught in that unhelpful loop of constantly comparing myself to others.
I wrote that “many irrational feelings are rushing through my half-dead veins. Everyone seems to be catapulting toward their beautiful, amazingly bright future, while all I’m doing is sitting on my @ss complaining about how tired I am.”
Brings back a lot of rough memories, but whatcha gonna do? It happens…
I wish I still had more of my journals from high school, even though I’m pretty sure I’d be mortified to read them now. I came across this book that sounds like it summarizes what reading them would be like: Cringe: Toe-Curlingly Embarrassing Teenage Diaries, Love Letters and Bad Poetry.
Isn’t that a great title? Kinda hits the nail on the head. 🙂
In other news, I hope you’re having a nice weekend so far, and if, per chance, you plan to paint your nails today, be on the lookout for this loathsome beast:
THE LACQUER LEVIATHAN
FREQUENCY: Common
SPEED: Normal
ARMOR CLASS: 10+
SPECIAL ATTACKS: Can cause seemingly sealed bottles of nail polish to thicken overnight into a useless goopy mess. Its breath is also able to induce chips in brand new manis and pedis.
SPECIAL DEFENSES: The Lacquer Leviathan’s tough hide is covered in thousands of layers of built-up lacquer and top coat, making the creature almost invulnerable.
INTELLIGENCE: Not so much, but they do know the names of every nail polish ever created.
ALIGNMENT: Neutral
SIZE: Huge (9′ tall)
A few beauty posts that caught my eye…
- How to Apply Eyeshadows in 3 Easy Steps with the Wet n Wild Knock on Wood Trio — My Weekend Ramblings
- One of my favorite blogs celebrates its 5-year anniversary — Gala Darling
- DIY Holiday Photobooth Props — Oh Happy Day
- 12 Days of Christmas Nails: Sweet Talkin, Sugar Coated Candy Cane — The Nailasaurus
- 5 Must-Have Items to Update Your Wardrobe for Winter — College Fashion
- Don’t these three Bite High Pigment Matte Pencils look great? — the Notice
- I love infographics, and this one shows how to do a basic manicure — The Beauty Department
- It’s time for Santa nails! — Swatch and Learn
- Earth Tones with Fyrinnae and Chantecaille: A Weekend FOTD — My Funny Valentine
- DIY Pomegranate Beauty Recipes — Beautylish
The Weekly Roundup: MBB Posts You Might Have Missed
REMOVE GLITTER NAIL POLISHES QUICKER
WITH THIS LITTLE TRICK
I love glittery nail polishes, and I suspect that you may love ‘em, too. Lately, I’ve been having a blast with glittery ombre manicures, which have taken my lacquer love for glitter to whole new levels, but they’ve also opened my eyes to a downside of having so much glitter on my nails…
It can take forever to remove!
I can usually remove non-glittery polishes in 2-3 minutes, tops, but getting the glittery ones off can easily take me 10 minutes or more.
Until last weekend, my technique for removing glitter polishes involved soaking a cotton pad in an acetone nail polish remover, wrapping the wet pad around each nail, and then massaging the moistened pad around the nail for a minute or so before firmly sliding it from the base up to the tip. Sometimes, I’d have to repeat the process three or four times per nail to get them nice and clean. Read more…
NARS UNSUNG HEROES
NIGHT STAR EYESHADOW
It’s holiday party time! — but if you’re a busy gal with too many emails to answer and a to-do list longer than your arm, getting ready to party may be the last thing on your mind. If it is, perhaps NARS Night Star Eyeshadow can help.
Now, you know me when it comes to wearing color on my eyes — I love it! But I also like the versatility of neutral shades, and that’s the side of me that $23 Night Star excites. An eyeshadow single in the NARS permanent line, it’s a sheer peach with a golden glitter kick — a perfect pick for office parties this time of year.
When I want to brighten my lids and give a golden sparkle to my eyes, this is the color I grab. Read more…
MAC DAPHNE GUINNESS FOR MAC COLLECTION
PRODUCT PICS AND SWATCHES
What up, MACaholics! Here’s a quick peek at product pics and swatches of some items from the new Daphne Guinness for MAC collection. The mostly cool-toned launch hits MAC counters and stores December 26 in North America and January 2012 internationally.
Have a look at these swatches and pictures, and let me know what you think. Read more…
WITH THE ESSIE LUXEFFECTS COLLECTION,
GLITTER IS A SHINE OF THE TIMES
The other day at the grocery store, I got to chatting with the cashier who was helping me. She was sporting one of the cutest sparkly manicures I’d seen in a while, and when I told her how much I liked it, she replied, “Aw, thanks! Since I have to wear a uniform every day, I like to do something to spice it up.”
Amen to that! Working for Tabs, I also have to wear a uniform of sorts — you know, sensible shoes and clothes that show I’m responsible enough to handle midnight gravy runs, and other crucial cat-assigned tasks. To spice things up this week, I plan to wear something from Essie Luxeffects.
The new collection of nail polishes launched earlier this month with five glittery shades ($8 each), and WOW! — what a surprise. I think of Essie as a pretty conservative line, so it’s neat to see them take a detour down a sparkly path. Read more…
WITH THE MAC DAPHNE GUINNESS INTERIOR LIFE QUAD,
THERE’S A STORM BREWING, BUT IT’S COOL
I love it when life imitates art, or seems to, like it did yesterday when a storm passed overhead while I was contemplating the Eyeshadow X4 quad in Interior Life ($38).
The gray clouds came out of nowhere — clear skies one minute, a downpour the next — and when a blast of thunder roared, I was clutching the quad and its four cool-toned shades.
Looking up at the sky and then down at the quad, I realized that both of them were cut from the same cloth, a shawl of moody grays, purples, blues and pinks…
Now, I like these colors. I do. They’re just not the easiest shades for me to wear, and if you’re a damsel with a darker skin tone like mine, you might find that these shadows appear quite sheer when applied. Read more…
NARS UNSUNG HEROES
TAOS BLUSH
NARS Taos Blush ($27) belongs to an elite battalion of blushes in my beauty brigade called the One Swipers, a group of blushes able to deliver all-day color from a single swipe across the pan.
What makes it special?
These One Swipers pack a lot of pigment, so a little goes a long way — which is great when they’re as expensive as a NARS blush. Taos, here, should last until forever, or at least until Bella and Edward break up (whichever comes first).
A platoon leader in the NARS permanent collection, Taos is one of those vibrant colors that I always notice when I walk by an open pan. A bright rosy red with golden shimmer and a wisp of coral, it’s like NARS Torrid’s darker red doppelganger. Read more…
SKINCARE FOR THE CHANGING SEASONS
PAMPER YOUR SKIN WITH THESE 3 DIY RECIPES FOR SKINCARE TREATS
I have a love/hate relationship with my kitchen…
Sometimes, like when I have a long, lazy Saturday afternoon stretched out in front of me and very little on my plate, I enjoy cooking and preparing meals from start to finish. Other times, though, like after a busy day on an average Wednesday night, even the thought of tearing open a bag of baby carrots is enough to wear me out.
Last Saturday wasn’t exactly a lazy day, but I did have a little time to explore the culinary arts. While rooting around the cupboards, I realized that my pantry contained the fixin’s for more than good eats. It also had some great ingredients to make a number of do-it-yourself skincare treats.
All three of these recipes rely on ingredients you may already have in your kitchen at home, and the best part? — they only call for two ingredients each. Read more…
MIXED METAL MANI
A NAIL TUTORIAL STARRING TWO-TONE SILVER AND GOLD
Earlier this year when I met with Rob, a personal stylist at Nordstrom, one of the things we chatted about was metal — that is, mixing metal accessories.
I was drooling over a pair of shoes with silver accents at the time and wondered about incorporating gold and silver jewelry into the outfit. Rob said, “Sure!” He thought that mixing silver and gold was a cool and modern way to update a look.
I remembered Rob’s metallic moxie this week while trying to figure out something fun to do with my nails. I wanted something festive that wasn’t red and green, so I figured, how about silver and gold?
It’s a little quirky, but that’s one of the things I like about it, and I can see myself wearing this with various shiny baubles all year round. Read more…
Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,
Karen
NARS Nepal Eyeshadow
NARS Nepal Eyeshadow ($23). Available now at NARS counters and also online.
NYX Put Me in an Affectionate Mood With Their Latest $4.50 Lip Gloss
“Sensory overload.”
That’s how I feel about many of NYX’s lip products due to their flavors and scents. Sometimes I think they’re just too strong, but I don’t feel that way about their new “Mood” Lip Gloss in Affectionate ($4.50), one of two new Mood Lip Glosses from NYX for the holidays (the second’s called Sensual, ooh-la-la!).
Still, Affectionate’s no lightweight when it comes to taste and scent. As soon as I remove the cap, the scent of strawberry hard candy fills the room. Subtle? Not hardly, but I find it kinda pleasant. At least I don’t think it tastes or smells synthetic, which is something, I guess.
The NYX Mood glosses take the idea of mood rings to new heights, beginning as one shade that changes to another once they’re on the lips. Affectionate starts out as a shimmery white but transforms into a natural-looking shade of shimmery pink (the pink doesn’t appear to vary for different wearers).
Dry Lips Should Love Japanese Spring and Richly Revered, Two of the Cremesheen Glasses from Daphne Guinness for MAC
Wearing MAC Cremesheen Glass in Japanese Spring on my lips
The Cremesheen Glasses ($18.50 each) in the new Daphne Guinness for MAC collection are among my favorite pieces in the release because I think they’re also among the easiest ones to wear.
The collection catapults onto North American counters December 26 and internationally a little later in January with four Cremesheen Glass shades — Borealis, a pale grayish pink with iridescent pearl; Japanese Spring, a pale dirty pink; Narcissus, a dirty eggplant; and Richly Revered, a deep plummy brown. I’ve been wearing two of the four this week, Japanese Spring and Richly Revered, and because of how sheer they are, we get along just great.
Japanese Spring looked familiar to me when I met it, but it took me a little while to place. MAC Ever So Rich — that’s what it reminds me of — one of my favorite Cremesheen Glasses of all time.
I think Spring’s light touch of pink is what keeps it looking natural, and I like the subtle kick it gives to pink and purple lipsticks when it’s worn on top.
Sheer plummy brown Richly Revered, the second shade I’ve been wearing, strikes me as a good work shade. I like that I don’t have to wear it with a lip liner, which is something I feel I usually have to do with more pigmented glosses.
Japanese Spring on top and Richly Revered on the bottom
Swatches of Japanese Spring on the left and Richly Revered on the right
[Continue reading…]
I Love the Night Life
I love to boogie (on the disco ’round).
NARS Night Life Eyeshadow, $23. Available now at NARS counters and also online.
Two Ways to Win a $50 eGift Card from Sephora!
- WINNER: The giveaway is closed now, and the winner is Dana! Congratulations, Dana! If you entered but didn’t win this time around, keep trying, and click here to enter any ongoing giveaways before you jet. 🙂
Might as well face it, I’m addicted to Pukka Love…
I’ve been drinking so much of this stuff lately! It’s a tea called Love by Pukka ($6.95) that I get from the Vitamin Shoppe, but I’m sure it’s carried at other places, too. Design ho that I am, I picked it up first because of the box, but the description of the flavors is what had me sold: “organic rose, chamomile and lavender flower to warm your heart.”
Aww and NOM!
Imbibing this beautiful beverage is supposed to soothe, relax, and make you feel more balanced — all things I constantly need, haha! — and I love the taste. It’s a sweet aromatic floral like the lavender flower hard candies I used to get from the Asian grocery store down the street when I was kid.
It’s herbal and caffeine-free, so I can drink as much as I want throughout the day without getting the shakes, and for variety I’ve been alternating it with Celestial Seasonings Sweet Coconut Chai.
A cup of tea can be a simple way to show yourself some love…
Yes, that was very cheesy, but so true. 🙂
And now, ready or not, it’s giveaway time!
- 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 are your favorite kinds/flavors of tea? Have you ever attended high tea before? How would you summarize 2011 for you? How do you feel about fragrances with tea notes? Have you finished all of your holiday shopping? — you get the idea.
- Second, you can enter by following me on
Twitter @karenmbb and retweeting (RT) the following message:
- Follow @karenmbb and RT to Win a $50 eGift Card from Sephora! http://bit.ly/rXkTyQ
- The deadline to enter is Sunday, December 18, 2011 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
- WINNER: The giveaway is closed now, and the winner is Dana! Congratulations, Dana! If you entered but didn’t win this time around, keep trying, and click here to enter any ongoing giveaways before you jet. 🙂
Laura Mercier Limited Edition Travel Brush Set
The Laura Mercier Limited Edition Travel Brush Set ($85), available now at Laura Mercier counters and also online.