MAC Lipglass in Evolution Revolution ($14.50) looks fab paired with peach, pink or coral MAC Lipsticks. 😉
MAC Lipsticks <3 Evolution Revolution
The MAC Bloggers’ Obsessions Collection: MAC Evolution Revolution Lipglass
I suppose the very first spark that led to MAC Evolution Revolution Lipglass ($14.50) ignited one day in Mrs. Mannah’s second-grade class. The year was 1982, and I’d just met Jen, who would quickly become one of my lifelong BFFs.
Evolution Revolution is the shade I created for the upcoming MAC Bloggers’ Obsessions Collection, a nine-piece collection of MAC Eyeshadows and Lipglasses launching June 21, exclusively online (available now!). It’s also the real reason for the secret squirrel trip I took to Toronto last April.
MAC Evolution Revolution Lipglass
MAC Lipglass in Evolution Revolution
Jen and I still recall with frightening accuracy all of the cute boys in our second-grade class. “Remember Lee, with the missing tooth?” Jen will ask. “Oh, yeah,” I’ll reply. “Total hottie.”
Sometimes I find it hard to believe, but we’ve been obsessing over boys for nearly 27 years. Jen’s having a baby boy in the fall, and I can already tell he’s going to be the new object of our affections.
The next piece of the EvRev puzzle fell into place the very next year in Mrs. Hartunian’s third-grade class, which is when I met Cindy. She had long black hair, a talent for drawing graceful pictures of glamorous girls, and a great Granny Goose potato chip hookup (her dad worked there, so she would always bring a huge box of assorted chips to every class party).
Cindy is still my number one surf buddy, and the one person I can always depend on when I’m feeling blue.
But Evolution Revolution’s real roots didn’t take hold until high school, when Jen, Cindy and I all played flute in the school band. It was between orchestra rehearsals and marching band competitions (BAND GEEKS!) that our friendship really grew.
Makeup and Beauty Blog Monday Poll, May 30
- 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. 171. I’ve always enjoyed reading your answers in the comments, and I hope you enjoy reading mine.
- Mood:
- What are your favorite hair products at the moment?
- How do you feel about Chanel No. 5?
- Do you ever wear sunglasses?
- Your preferred method of bikini line hair removal?
- Three beauty products every woman should have?
- Three other things every woman should have?
- Do you consider yourself lucky?
- Something you’re looking forward to today?
- Weekly goals:
Is sleepy a mood? 🙂 I’m sure I’ll feel perkier after I have some tea.
Yes to Cucumbers Color Care Conditioner and Kerastase Chroma Sensitive Cleansing Balm. I’m on my second bottles of both of them. I’m also really digging Suave Touchable Finish Hairspray, which I still can’t believe only costs $3.
I feel like the original is a little too heavy for me, but I do love the lighter Eau Premiere version. I have a bottle and take it out at least a few times each year.
Oh, sure. Gotta protect mah peepers from sun damage, ya know? But I don’t usually spend a lot of money on them because they tend to disappear (I lose ’em) or break.
It used to be waxing, but now, not so much. I don’t have patience for the pain anymore. Now I just shave. It’s quick, easy and painless.
1) A good broad-spectrum sunscreen (don’t forget your neck, hands and feet, yo!), 2) eyeshadow primer and 3) the Shu Uemura lash curler.
1) a belief in herself, 2) courage and 3) compassion.
So far, yes. I believe in the phrase, “The harder you work, the luckier you get,” but I also think random chance plays a big part in everything.
Um, taking a nap? 🙂 I also hope I can sneak away to a coffee shop for a couple of hours to do some reading. I need a little downtime to refill the well, so to speak.
Get to bed by 10 every night this week (we’ll see), clean the bathrooms, run at least four times, and try not to eat too much crap, LOL!
El Hub talked me into seeing a new Woody Allen flick with him called Midnight in Paris. Now, I usually need to be in the mood for a Woody Allen movie (I get a little tired of his schtick sometimes, but what do I know? I’ve also seen every episode of Jersey Shore), and I wasn’t yesterday, but I actually ended up thinking it was great.
I won’t write any spoilers, but I will say it contains some gorgeous shots of Paris and good performances by Owen Wilson and Rachel McAdams — oh, there’s even a time machine, LOL! Yeah, the movie’s a little wacky, but it works.
Are you doing anything for Memorial Day? Our little circle is holding a barbeque this afternoon, and I might stop by later if I’m not completely and totally knocked out. I’ve been taking the generic brand of Zyrtec from Target for my allergies, and I swear it makes me sleepier than the regular one does.
Do you have a minute before you jet to say bonjour in the 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 hair products at the moment?
3. How do you feel about Chanel No. 5?
4. Do you ever wear sunglasses?
5. Your preferred method of bikini line hair removal?
6. Three beauty products every woman should have?
7. Three other things every woman should have?
8. Do you consider yourself lucky?
9. Something you’re looking forward to today?
10. Weekly goals:
You enjoy the rest of your Monday, okay?
Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,
Karen
MAC Surf Baby: Hibiscus Lipstick
MAC Surf Baby Lipstick in Hibiscus, $15.50.
I just had to pick up one of these bad boys! So glad the MAC store near my house had a tube, as it’s currently sold out on the MAC website.
For more on the MAC Surf Baby Collection, check out…
MAC Surf, Baby! Collection Product Pictures
MAC Surf Baby Product Pictures!
MAC Surf Baby Swatches
MAC Surf Baby Lipglass and Lipstick Swatches (Today Is a Swatchathon!)
MAC Surf Baby Collection Questions and Answers
My MAC Thursday Surf Baby Face of the Day
MAC Surf Baby Cheek Powder in My Paradise: A Diva in Disguise
If Pressed to Answer I’d Say Yes! I Care Deeply for the MAC Surf Baby Careblend Pressed Powders
MAC Surf Baby Eyeshadows
MAC Surf Baby Lipglasses
MAC Surf Baby Cheek Powder
Curling Up with a Good Book
Sundays with Tabs the Cat, Makeup and Beauty Blog Mascot, Vol. 141
Six. That’s how many times I drove back/forth to/from the airport this week for Tabs. I’m like his personal shuttle service. It’s an hour drive, round trip, and I barely get so much as a thank you. I know it’s part of my job as his assistant, but still. A little gratitude would be nice.
The phone’s been ringing off the hook lately with kitty modeling job offers, and the void left by Oprah has the networks even talking about a possible talk show (fingers crossed!).
This week Tabs had modeling jobs in far-flung locales like Paris, New York, Honolulu and Santa Cruz. Seriously, he was all over the map.
I’m glad he’s home for the long weekend now. If you’re interested, here are some recent pics from his portfolio.
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). 🙂
What’s the Oldest Piece of Makeup in Your Collection?
MAC Eyeshadows in Brule (left) and Print (right) in packaging from 1998!
While rifling through my makeup collection yesterday, I found two ancient relics of my cosmetics world, these pans of MAC Eyeshadow in Brule and Print.
I’ve kept a handful of products like these around for the sake of nostalgia, but I don’t really use most of them anymore, like the two shadows at the top, which are from 1998! One of these days I may toss ’em out, probably during a future feng shui fit, but for now I plan to hold on for one more day (yes, I just quoted Wilson Phillips).
What’s the oldest piece of makeup in your beauty collection, and (if you remember it) what’s the story behind it?
Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,
Karen
P.S. Oh, since we’re on the subject of old makeup, these links just seemed appropriate, LOL!
The Weekly Roundup: Posts You Might Have Missed
Wouldn’t it be fun to be ridiculously rich and be able to produce a big budget movie and have total control over everything, like what the story is about, who the actors are, the director, and even the songs for the soundtrack (or to be able to hire an orchestra to make an original score)? Oh, the possibilities… I wonder what kind of movie I’d want to make first. Maybe a book, but somebody already took The Hunger Games, so it’s too late for that.
Wow…that was pretty random, wasn’t it? LOL! As you can probably tell, I’m having a tough time focusing this morning. 🙂 I’m still waking up.
What are your plans for today? Doing anything fun for the Memorial Day weekend? Right now I’m just listening to Pandora while I surf the web. I’m shuffling through stations for Drake, Common, Kid Cudi, Wale, Katy Perry, U2, Lauryn Hill and John Legend.
Dang, I love Pandora…
Anywho. Tell me about your makeup and beauty adventures this week. Did you try anything new? Any new products or techniques? I was surprised by L’Occitane and Lush. Both of them really impressed me this week.
The Weekly Roundup: Posts You Might Have Missed
L’OCCITANE’S PETAL EYE QUARTET PAINTS A PASTEL
PICTURE OF A COOL-TONED, WATERCOLOR WORLD
I must admit, I giggled a little when I read the inspiration behind the new L’Occitane Pivoine Flora collection. They call it “a graceful peony which dances like a ballerina in the Mediterranean breeze.” Okay, I’m a card-carrying queen of cheese, and I live for Hallmark movies, but that might even be too much queso for me.
Well, that’s what I thought…until I set my eyes on the limited edition release. The delicate pastels, watercolor imagery and nubby texture on the compacts all paint a picture in my mind that lines up fairly well with the one L’Occitane describes. It’s a dainty (albeit cheesy) world filled with floating flowers and other things that are soft, sweet and feminine — very Paul & Joe meets old-school Stila — and it’s a gaw-geous visual feast for any packaging lover’s eyes. Read more…
LANCOME’S L’ABSOLU NU
LIPSTICK REALLY SHINES FOR A SPLIT SECOND
Whatever you do, keep flaky lips far, far away from the Lancôme L’Absolu Nu lipsticks ($29).
Lancôme’s new lippies come in 16 shiny, translucent shades that look and feel like they were influenced by the delectable $28 Dior Addicts, with a similarly slick, ultra-thin texture.
When I applied a layer of shimmery Coral Sand (the one with silver micro-glitter shown at the top) yesterday morning, I didn’t realize how dry my pucker was at the time, and Coral Sand was not forgiving at all. It latched on to every little flake, emphasizing the facts that 1) I really needed to exfoliate, and 2) I was probably more than a little dehydrated.
But after I scrubbed my lips with Lush Lip Scrub and had a glass of water, L’Absolu looked much better. No more flakes, and my kisser shined like freshly polished jewelry with a slight coral tint. Read more…
WITH THE NEW BECCA AUTOMATIC EYE PENCILS
THE EXTRAS MAKE THE WORLD GOA ROUND
Not gonna lie, after feasting my eyes on the delicious nail polishes and blushes from the Becca Halcyon Days collection, I didn’t have much of an appetite left for the Automatic Eye Pencils in Goa and Majorca ($23 each). The two twist-up makeup tools were way down at the bottom of my “I’m so excited, and I just can’t hide it!” list.
But then I noticed the value-added extras Becca thought to include, like the sponge-tip applicator, hidden pencil sharpener (sweet!), and effortless texture — so smooth that it would give any silk worm a complex. In this case, it was the extras that made me stop and take notice, and I figured, heck, with summer right around the corner, I can always use a couple of new long-wearing, waterproof eyeliner staples.
Becca kept both of these colors conservative, opting for basics to complement the coral, peach and pink shades from Halcyon Days. Goa, a shimmery golden brown, reminds me of a mellower MAC Teddy, and it sits in stark contrast to starless Majorca, a pitch black devoid of green or blue undertones. Read more…
IF PRESSED TO ANSWER, I’D SAY YES!
I CARE DEEPLY FOR THE MAC SURF BABY CAREBLEND PRESSED POWDERS
With MAC Surf Baby riding onto counters soon and already hanging ten online, I thought this might be a good time to wax our surfboards philosophic about two superstars from the limited edition collection, the Studio Careblend Pressed Powders in Lush-Light Bronze and Gold-Go-Lightly ($28 each).
I love the Careblends. Like really, really love them. MAC added the line of sheer-to-medium coverage face powders, arguably some of the company’s best face products to date, to their permanent line earlier this year.
Where some tinted face powders can look chalky and/or develop cracks and creases, the Careblends, with a finish just shy of a matte, look like flawless, real skin to me. Lightweight and smooth, they’re also a joy to blend, never irritating the combination dry/oily/acne-prone skin on my face. Read more…
ROSES ARE RED, VIOLETS ARE BLUE
I HOPE THE NEW BLISS POETIC WAXING STRIPS BODY KIT ALSO WORKS WELL FOR YOU
Three weeks. Probably TMI (so what else is new?), but that’s how long I went without shaving my legs to test the new Bliss Poetic Waxing Wax Strips Body kit ($36). 🙂
I’ve used similar kits from other brands like Sally Hansen before, but the strips included with this one are made of a loosely-woven cotton fabric called muslin, instead of cardboard or plastic. You get 36 pre-waxed strips and the tiniest, Grinch-who-stole-Christmas-sized bottle of soothing azulene oil to condition your skin and remove any remaining wax when you’re done. In addition to the muslin strips, which I find easier to grip than the smooth plastic ones that come with some other kits, the wax Bliss uses also feels slightly thicker than most.
Having tried so many waxing kits before on so many different parts of my bod, I expected the usual trubs — the strips missing a lot of hair, the wax being too sticky and hard to remove, or the kit not coming with enough strips. Basically, from kits like this one, I came to expect half-@ssed results. Read more…
SOMETHING BORROWED, SOMETHING BLUE
DO I LIKE THE ESSIE WEDDING COLLECTION? YES, I DO
Another wedding season approaches, bringing with it a bevy of bachelorette parties, bridal showers, bridesmaid dresses — which they always say you can wear again (yeah, right!) — and, of course, rampaging bridezillas!
Honestly, I can’t blame brides for going cuckoo for Coco Puffs when there are so many details involed in getting hitched (especially when you’re doing the planning yourself). It’s hard to imagine just how frustrating a seating chart can be, how something so supposedly simple can make a gal simultaneously cry and foam at the mouth like a rabid chihuahua.
But some details don’t have to be hard. Why not make two of them, like what polish to wear on your fingers and toes, a little easier with Essie’s The Wedding Collection Nail Polish cube ($17)? Read more…
L’OCCITANE PIVOINE FLORA COLLECTION
LIPSTICK IN FUSCHIA IS PERFECT FOR CASUAL FRIDAYS
Of the products I’ve played with so far from the new limited edition L’Occitane Pivoine Flora collection, my favorite has to be the Lipstick in Fuschia ($15, one of four shades; yes, here Fuschia is spelled with an ‘s’ before the ‘chia’).
It gets the pigment just right, walking that fine line between mediocre pigmentation and high-maintenance, with a finish that still looks natural even with its subtle shine. Perfect for days when I want a casual lip look without the blinding bling of a gloss.
Wear time clocks in at around two and a half hours — pretty good considering how thin and slippery it feels. The rose scent and flavor are nice touches, too, although I do detect a hint of wax. Luckily, it dissipates within a few minutes. Read more…
MY MAC THURSDAY
SURF BABY FACE OF THE DAY
If you’d asked me 15 years ago (back when I was deep into my brown/pink eyeshadow phase) if I’d wear a yellow shadow like Sun Blonde, I probably would have said, “OH, HELL NAW!”
I was pretty conservative with my makeup back then and almost never ventured out of my comfort zone. That slowly changed over time. Now, when it comes to wearing bold eye makeup, I’m still not a Rainbow Brite girl, but I am more adventurous than I was.
When I find a color I really like, I’ll try to figure out ways to wear it that I know I’ll feel comfortable in — sometimes it’s a bright pop on the lids, a subtle wash in the crease or a sweep along my lower lash lines. I also like to balance my brights with neutrals, and for my makeup today I played with the yellow and teal shades from MAC Surf Baby, pairing them with browns and beige. Read more…
GUYS AND GALS GET CLEAN WITH DIRTY
LUSH’S LATEST LAUNCH
Never have I been so excited to get dirty! 🙂
Wait — did that sound pervy? I’m actually talking about a new line of unisex hair and body products from Lush.
Available now at Lush stores and also online, the four-piece Dirty collection features stuff to cleanse, smooth and style both you and your boo.
Lush had fun with these fragrances, creating for each product a unique scent that not only stands on its own, but also complements the others in the release. Since all four of the products are designed for guys AND gals, I roped El Hub into trying two of them (you’re such a good sport, sweetie!). Read more…
Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,
Karen