Karen, Author at Makeup and Beauty Blog | Makeup Reviews, Swatches and How-To Makeup - Page 1231 of 1879

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Karen

Full Coverage from Two Coats of Nails Inc. Polish

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Have I ever mentioned my collection of refrigerator magnets?

I couldn’t decide what to paint my paws with last night, so I used my indecision as an opportunity to swatch five of the Nails Inc. polishes now on sale at Sephora.

If (and that’s a big if) I decide to look a little less crazy today and pick just one of these to paint all of my fingers with, which one should it be? Do any of them strike your fancy?

From the left that’s St. James, Camden, Fitzroy Square, Elizabeth Street and Hay Market ($9.50 each).

I’m thinking about going with Hay Market for my fingers and Camden atop Fitzroy Square on my toes…


Camden with Fitzroy
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Smashbox Brow Tech Wax Disciplines All But the Most Unruly Brows

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I don’t know what I did to lose their support, but at some point over the past few weeks, my brows decided to stage a coup. A chunk of my left brow just didn’t come to work one day, like it decided, “That’s it! Game over.” Now I have a brow bald spot, and I’m really not sure how it happened.

Then a group of longish witch hairs rode into town one night, probably detecting an opportunity to seize power. I call them “Kool and the Gang.” There may be someone, somewhere out there who finds insubordinate, mutinous brows alluring, but I’m not crazy about the look.

I would have reached for my Benefit Instant Brow pencil to restore balance to my brows, but I used the last of it a few weeks ago.

Perfect excuse to visit Sephora to look for something new. 🙂

But where do I start? I wondered, as I browsed for brow solutions in the store, and that’s when I saw the gal with the bangin’ brows…

They were perfectly filled in and sculpted, the hairs all lying nice and neat, so I asked her for her secret. She said she filled them in first with eyeshadow using an angled brush, and then set them with Smashbox Brow Tech Wax ($20).

Eureka!

I’d heard of it before, Brow Tech — a colorless brow wax that comes in a pot. It’s part of Smashbox’s permanent line.

I already had MAC Concrete and the MAC 266 Angled Brush at home, so I grabbed a pot of Brow Tech and hoped for the best.

There’s really not much to it. It’s a soft, colorless wax that dries to a matte finish. To apply, you brush it directly onto your brows with an angled brush. You can wear it alone or on top of a powder or pencil; I tried it both ways.


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All Eyes on the Make Up For Ever Smoky Couleur Collection

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make up for ever smoky couleur

Hey, baby, what’s your sign?

No, I’m not throwing you a cheesy pickup line. 🙂 I’m just curious. I’m a Gemini, by the way, and while I probably wouldn’t make major life decisions based entirely on the stars, I like to imagine that they play a role in our lives.

I actually feel very connected to my sign; Geminis are supposed to be good communicators and are said to have dual personalities. I’m still working on the communication part as far as expressing things like frustration and anger in constructive ways (gotta stop slamming doors when I get fussy), but the dual personality thing describes me to a tee! — especially when it comes to makeup.

Some days I prefer bolder eye looks; others, like today, I prefer to take it easier with something mellow, perhaps something using products from the new Make Up For Ever Smoky Couleur collection, for example.

The new 11-piece release, available online and at Sephora stores now, lives for smokey (or smoky) eyes. It encompasses an eyeshadow palette, four mascaras and four pencil eyeliners in a mix of new and repromoted jewel-toned and neutral shades.

You know those convertible black dresses? — the ones you can wear, like, 10 different ways? These colors remind me of ’em. They put everything I need for bold green, blue, purple and classic black smokey eyes, as well as colors for mellower looks like the one I’m wearing today, right at my fingertips.

make up for ever smoky couleur fall 2011

I’ve been playing with five of the products for about a week…

  • Smoky Palette ($45): So, $45 does sound like a lot for an eye palette, but it breaks down to just $5.63 per pan. That’s not bad considering these lush pigments and their velveteen texture. Even though I’ve met these colors before in other smokey palettes, I think MUFE did a great job picking and choosing which ones to put together. None of them lean too far toward cool or warm and should suit a wide range of beautiful skin tones.
    MAKEUP AND BEAUTY BLOG RATING: A
  • Kohl Pencil in #9K and #10K ($17 each): I like that both the mocha brown Kohl Pencil in #9K and matte purple #10K contain very little red, as brown and purple liners with a lot of red in them can make me look live I’ve been crying, but it’s their creamy texture that takes both of these liners to the next level for me. Skipping — what’s that? These don’t skip when I run them along my lash line, and they’re so soft and spreadable that they also work great as bases beneath the powder shadows in the Smoky Palette (or for simple, smudgy liner looks). I do wish they lasted a little longer than the five hours I get from them along my lash lines and the two to three I get from them along my water lines, but we take the good with the bad, I guess.
    MAKEUP AND BEAUTY BLOG RATING: B+
  • Smoky Lash Couleur Mascaras in Deep Brown #3 and Plummy #6 ($22 each): These tinted mascaras are a twist on Make Up For Ever’s classic Smoky Lash, and I like how I can actually see the colors on my lashes when I wear ’em. One layer yields thick, fatty-bo-batty lashes with lots of volume at the base, and they don’t flake or smudge (yay!). They do, however, tend to relax the curl from my Shu, just a bit, as the day wears on (boo!).
    MAKEUP AND BEAUTY BLOG RATING: B

make up for ever smoky couleur

make up for ever smoky couleur eye
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From London to L.A.: Nails Inc. Nail Polishes Launching Today at Sephora

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The British are coming! The British are coming!

YAY! 🙂

And they’ll be staying at Sephora while they’re here. Nails Inc., a cult favorite brand of nail polish colors, treatments and specialty top coats from across the pond, officially goes on sale today at Sephora stores and also online.

The brand’s been around since 1999, with products ranging from $9.50 – $25 each, and colors inspired by catwalks worldwide.

The 42 polishes in their color line are going for $9.50 each at Sephora — some with super glossy cream finishes, glittery finishes, and others with shimmery metallic finishes — and each one is named after an iconic London locale like bright sunflower yellow Carnaby Street, beet red Piccadilly Circus and bright geranium pink Brook Street.


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Which of These MAC Me Over Lipglasses Came with Me to Lunch?

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mac curvaceous lipglass

“I wonder if I’m burning enough calories to get a cupcake.” That’s the thought that kept going through my head in San Francisco this afternoon as I shivered on my way to and from a late work lunch. It was freezing in the city! And all I had on was a dress, a light jacket and sandals.

Not good.

It’s my own dang fault for forgetting how chilly SF can get in August… On my way home, I stopped by Neiman Marcus to warm my heart with new fall makeup, specifically a yummy Le Métier eyeshadow kaleidoscope kit with pretty purples and bronzes (I’ll post a pic soon).

Before I headed into the city, I tried on some of the Lipglasses from the upcoming MAC Me Over collection. These are $14.50 each ($17.50 CDN) and arrive on counter a little later this month.

I really like Curvaceous. That’s the one I wore to lunch today. I think it looks kinda cool-ish in the pic below, but it leans more toward neutral on my lips.

Take a look, and let me know what ya think. 🙂

mac wee coquette lipglass
Wee Coquette

mac social light lipglass
Social Light
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