Karen

MISSION STATUS UPDATE: Operation Christmas Cheer, Dec. 11, 2011.

Yesterday Agent El Hub and I brought a small, slightly sad-looking tree back to headquarters, ran twinkling white lights around a couple of interior windows and, while not directly related to the mission, watched two films, Water for Elephants and The Debt, both of which we liked. 🙂

After analyzing the available intelligence, Director Tabs felt that today would be a better day to decorate the tree, so Agent El Hub and I will initiate “Protocol: Light Strings” after the morning briefing.

Wish me luck. I hope things go well today… A lot is riding on this mission.

– Agent Karen

P.S. Our in-depth exploration of makeup monsters continues this week with a look at the Gloss Grabber. Makeup lovers around the world have reported coming into contact with this little rascal, and consequently losing their lipglosses. If you believe you’ve seen a Gloss Grabber, please report it to the FBMMI (Federal Bureau of Makeup Monster Investigation) immediately.

THE GLOSS GRABBER

FREQUENCY: Common
SPEED: Lightning quick
ARMOR CLASS: 5
SPECIAL ATTACKS: Lightning lipgloss dash. Gloss grabbers are the gremlins of the gloss world, mischievous little creatures that absolutely love to steal and hoard lipgloss. Some of their favorite hiding places include the back seats of cars, inside couch cushions and under bedroom dressers.
SPECIAL DEFENSES: Their incredible quickness allows them to stay hidden much of the time.
INTELLIGENCE: Very, but it doesn’t matter because all they care about is gloss.
ALIGNMENT: Neutral
SIZE: Tiny (barely 6″ tall)

A few beauty posts that caught my eye…

• Beauty Inside Out: 5 Concepts of Inner Beauty I Try to Live By — My Women Stuff
• Criminal Mastermind — Hello Kitty Steals Hearts With Mighty Fine’s New Bandit Tees — Sicka Than Average
• Hourglass makeup artist Josh Collier takes a look at Jordana Cosmetics — JoshCollierMUA
• Julep Nail Vernis in Trina Is an Aubergine Dream — à la peach
• 10 Things to Give (I love these ideas!) — Oh Happy Day
• What’s Shiny, Black, and Waterproof? Lord and Berry Inkglam Liquid Liner — My Funny Valentine
• A Nail Art Tutorial: Snowflake Nails — Swatch and Learn
• Fire Things Up with Pantone’s 2012 Color of the Year — Bellasugar
• Motives by Loren Ridinger Plum Pretty Palette Makes Me Smile — Beauty Logic
• A makeup makeunder! 10 products Michelle of Beauty Editor swears by for a bare-faced (but not boring) natural look — Beauty Editor

The Weekly Roundup: MBB Posts You Might Have Missed

WITH TOCCA’S TINY TO GO EAU DE PARFUMS,
YOU CAN FIT TUSCANY IN THE PALM OF YOUR HAND

“Who says bigger’s always better?” asks the 5-foot-1 girl typing this sentence. (Incidentally, she’s usually the shortest person in the room.)

The new $15 Tocca To Go Mini Eau de Parfums combine teeny, tiny cuteness with Tocca’s signature fresh and flirty floral scents.

I stumbled upon three of these minis at the mall yesterday while cruising for Christmas tchotchkes. They were right next to a weird $500 white porcelain horse head in Anthropologie (so very Godfather!) and surrounded by a sea of $50 salt-and-pepper shakers.

Aren’t they cuter than cupcakes? Read more…

TODAY I AM…

…wearing Guerlain Ecrin 4 Couleurs in Les Roses ($59) on my eyes and Rouge G in 72 Rose Innocent ($48) on my lips. Both are from the spring 2012 collection and coming this January to select Saks Fifth Avenue, Nordstrom, Neiman Marcus, Sephora, Bloomingdales and Bergdorf Goodman stores.

I’m spritzing citrusy Annick Goutal Eau d’Hadrien ($85) on my wrists and remembering the time I visited an Annick Goutal store in Paris and somehow, miraculously, managed to speak enough high school French to successfully purchase three small bottles of perfume. Read more…

A REVEALING LOOK AT NYX’S NEW
CLOTHING OPTIONAL PALETTE, BUTT NAKED EYES

Butt why, NYX!? Why so cheeky?

I can’t say I ever expected to see the words “butt” and “naked” appear on a makeup palette, butt there they are — all saucy and snarky on the front of Butt “Naked” Eyes, NYX’s new $25 holiday palette for the face, eyes and cheeks.

Judging by the name at least, it looks like the line had fun putting together this two-tiered palette of eyeshadows, blushes, a bronzer and highlighters, butt about that name…

LOL! Okay, I’ll stop.

I couldn’t help but notice that the name shares a word in common with the recently released Naked2 from Urban Decay. Read more…

MAC UNSUNG HEROES
MAC RED LIPSTICK

The holidays are in full effect, y’all, and red lipsticks are in the mutha’ truckin’ house! Of course, I couldn’t forget to include one of the most party-poppin’ colors in MAC’s permanent line, the bright, bold, beautiful MAC Red ($14.50).

If you like MAC Russian Red, you just might love its cousin. A bright bluish red with the subtlest semblance of shine, MAC Red grooves on lips with a modicum of magenta that keeps it playful and always down to party. Read more…

ON SECOND THOUGHT, I ACTUALLY ADORE
MAC CLEANSE OFF OIL/TRANQUIL

When I find myself tapping an almost empty plastic bottle upside down against the side of the sink to coax out the last few drops of this product, or zipping to the mall minutes before it closes to pick up a spare and coming home with not one but two replacement bottles — that’s when I know it’s probably time to throw my arms up in the air, spin around in circles and sing at the top of my lungs like Maria does at the beginning of the Sound of Music…

“The hills are alive…” with the sound of MAC Cleanse Off Oil/Tranquil!

Err — so maybe my version of the song doesn’t have quite the same ring to it as Maria’s, but I still think this stuff is awfully amazing. Epic, even.

It’s a mineral oil-free makeup remover designed to whisk away face, lip and eye makeup, and it does such a good job on hard-to-remove products that I rarely feel the need to use it with a secondary cleanser. Read more…

THESE NEW NYX XTREME LIP CREAMS HAVE
AN XTREMELY INTERESTING FLAVOR AND SCENT

Plastic and butter.

Yes, plastic and butter.

Yeegh!

The thought of those together makes my tummy churn, and unfortunately, it’s the way I think the new NYX Xtreme Lip Creams taste and smell. Even so, the list of things I like about these liquid lipgloss/lipstick hybrids almost outweighs their flavor and scent. Read more…

3 MAKEUP AND BEAUTY PACKING TIPS
TO PREP FOR HOLIDAY TRAVEL

2011 will go down in my diary as the Year of the Suitcase. I took a total of five trips this year, which is nothing, I know, compared to hard-core travelers, but it was a lot for me.

And one fantastic side effect of those trips was that they forced me to upgrade my approach to packing. I went from starting the year as a contender for “Crappiest Packer Ever,” and ended it as a middleweight semi-pro packer with a handful of new tricks.

If you have plans to fly (or drive) over the next few weeks, here are three things you can do to eek out a few more cubic feet for makeup and beauty in your luggage.

TIP NO. 1: I’m a gal with a weakness for products, and there’s only so much room in those TSA-approved plastic baggies. By filling up little sample jars with your must-have skincare and other liquid products, you can fill your allowed plastic bag to the brim. Read more…

3 WAYS TO WEAR RED LIPS
FOR THE TOTALLY TERRIFIED

Earlier this week in the comments on the MAC Unsung Heroes Red Lipstick post I got to chatting with reader Dana Jae about a question a lot of us wrestle with — “What can I do to get over my fear of red lips?”

We may love the way red lips look on other gals, but for one reason or another, we just don’t feel they work as well for us. Read more…

Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,

Karen