Essence Eyeshadow in It’s Up To You, $1.99. Available now at Ulta stores and also online.
Essence Eyeshadow: It’s Up To You
Let’s Be Clear About Becca Lip Plumping Moisture Gloss: $23 Seems Like a Lot
Becca, I just want to make sure we’re clear. Oh — would you look at that? It looks like we are. 🙂 Because Becca’s new Lip Plumping Moisture Gloss ($23) is exactly that: clear.
It’s a clear, hydrating gloss with a few good things going for it, like a finish shinier than high-gloss nails; a comfy, non-sticky texture; and a yummy cinnamon-and-brown sugar flavor and scent (it’s subtle and fades quickly).
I also like the brush tip, which is soft, but not too soft, so it doesn’t splay. A minor thing, sure, but I appreciate how easy it is to control.
As far as the product’s plumping prowess, well, I haven’t really noticed a lot. No big difference in lip volume, but that’s par for the course for me when it comes to lip plumpers. At least in this one’s case, it doesn’t sting.
Jennifer Lawrence: Her Best Hair
A natural. That’s what they’re calling 20-year-old Jennifer Lawrence (born August 15, 1990), the lucky young lady picked to play Katniss Everdeen in The Hunger Games movie due out next March (CAN’T WAIT!). Despite no formal training — not one drama class or acting lesson — Jennifer earned an Academy Award nomination for the lead role in last year’s Winter’s Bone. The award eventually went to Natalie Portman for Black Swan, but Jennifer picked up quite a few new fans. And roles. She’s also playing the young Mystique in the upcoming X-Men: First Class, opening June 3 (yup, next week!).
Born and raised in Louisville, Kentucky, Jennifer somehow managed to convince her parents to take her to New York City to find a talent agent when she was just 14. With little more than a few church plays under her belt, she was already sure about her future career.
I was surprised by how many different ways she’s worn her hair. For someone so young, she’s already worn it DOZENS of different ways, including this one here…
Jennifer Lawrence as Katniss Everdeen in The Hunger Games movie, set to be released in March 2012 🙂
Loading ...Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,
Karen
Two Ways to Win a $50 eGift Card from Sephora!
- WINNER: The giveaway is closed now, and the winner is Jasmine! Congratulations, Jasmine! If you entered but didn’t win this time around, keep trying, and click here to enter any ongoing giveaways before you jet. 🙂
His ears perk up no matter where he is in the house when he hears his favorite sound, the clackity-tap of the metal clamp at the end of his harness as it drops on the tiles by the door. “Outside time!” I imagine him shouting inside his little kitty brain.
Dum-dum-dum-dum-dum is the sound his quick little feet make as he darts across the floor above me, through the hallway and down the stairs. “Meow!” he calls excitedly when he sees me standing by the door.
I have the harness in my hand and smile. “Hi, buddy. You wanna go outside?”
“Meow!” he answers [“Of course!”], hopping like a bunny to my side.
I get some kitty hugs and even more meows. “Okay, sit still then,” I tell him, taking up the harness.
“Mrow!” he says [“Hold on!”], and then he zips away toward the kitchen, around the corner and out of sight. I know what he’s doing, of course. He’s running The Circuit, because he can’t contain his excitement. Just one of his funny feline quirks. I hear him back there hauling @ss, his little feet going dum-dum-dum-dum-dum all the way around until he’s back in the hallway again looking up at me. “Meow!” [“I’m ready!”] he proclaims, standing at attention, totally raring to go.
This is how it always goes when I pick up the harness to take Tabs for a walk. It’s the cutest thing! I think he was actually still sleeping upstairs this morning when I did it, LOL! At first I heard a loud thud, which must have been his big tabby bottom dropping on the floor. He was probably sleeping in the bathroom basin, aka “the spa.”
While I take Sir Tabs out for his morning stroll, why don’t we get the weekend off to a good start. 🙂 I think you know what that means. It’s…
- One (1) Sephora eGift card containing $50 sent to the winner by email (or $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, have you ever had a garden? Tell me how to make your favorite kind of sandwich. What’s the last lipstick you wore? Have you ever been in a parade? — 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/mvIxNr
- The deadline to enter is Sunday, May 29, 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. The winner may opt to substitute the Sephora eGift card prize for $50 sent directly to their email address by PayPal.
- 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 Jasmine! Congratulations, Jasmine! If you entered but didn’t win this time around, keep trying, and click here to enter any ongoing giveaways before you jet. 🙂
Lancome Natural Juicy Tubes by Yayoi Kusama
Lancome Natural Juicy Tubes by Yayoi Kusama in Dot Apricot (left) and Happy Honey (right), $15 each. Available now exclusively at Nordstrom; coming soon to all Lancome counters and online in June.
MAC Eyeshadow, Circa 1998
I was rifling through my stash and found an ancient pan of Brule that I haven’t used in years. I bought it in 1998 along with Print. Notice the screw-on cap and the MAC logo on the side.
Are Those Lashes Fake? Nope, According to Benefit’s New Mascara, They’re Real
Who wants wimpy lashes? I don’t, I don’t! If you say ptooey! to lashes that look anything less than false, Benefit’s betting their new They’re Real (“The mascara that’s beyond belief!”) mascara will satisfy your lash-tastic lust.
Coming this July to Benefit counters, stores and online, the new $22 jet black mascara promises dramatic length, separation, curl, volume and lift — pretty much the whole shebang. And to help it deliver on all these fronts, Benefit built a special brush with staggered bristles (to enhance volume) and a spiky tip (for lift, definition and curl).
The lashes I’ve been sporting this week have come courtesy of a new mascara combo. I like the look, but it takes a lot of work, so I’m hoping They’re Real delivers results just as good as my combo or better. 🙂 Gotta love streamlining, ya know?
To put They’re Real to the test, I applied it in several different ways — a single coat applied with the brush held horizontally, a single coat with it held vertically, then a double coat horizontally, etc. I felt I got the best results when I applied two coats while holding the brush horizontally, and then added a bit of the product with the brush held up and down.
The finished lash look actually resembles the one I get from MAC Studio Fix BoldBlack Mascara — jet black and lightweight, yet it looks thick, with a moderate increase in length, coupled with a tendency to relax the curl from my lash curler.
Does it deliver in each of the areas Benefit said it would? Maybe not, but I still love the overall look. I like how thick and dark my lashes look with it on, and the wear time seems good so far. I’ve already had it on for about six hours today without a single smudge or flake, and from using it this week, I found that it’s also easy to remove.
3 Lessons Learned from a Kate Spade Sample Sale
It might sound silly to say that I learned valuable life lessons from a discount sale on designer purses, but it’s true. And these days, a girl’s gotta get her pearls of wisdom wherever she can. Let’s face it, we ain’t gettin’ it from TV — well, except for that tidbit on Top Chef about not letting others handle your meat.
Anywho. Last week, after hunting and gathering like a sweaty beauty beast over the deeply discounted purses and accessories in Kate Spade’s online sample sale, I learned the following lessons I would now like to share.
1. To hesitate is to meditate in a horizontal position
This popular phrase from martial arts can also apply to shopping. It means that if you don’t act when you know that you should, like when every fiber of your being says, “Do it! Add that gold seahorse bracelet to your cart!”, you’re liable to end up out cold on the floor, or out of luck, as the case may be.
In my case, I missed out on a possible birthday bracelet gift to myself. Along with the purses I liked, it was one of the things I wanted to get for my birthday next month, but by the time I got around to clicking it, it was already gone.
Kinda like that time in kindergarten when I desperately wanted to be in the school play, but I was too shy and scared to volunteer. Or that time in college when I wanted to study abroad but was too afraid to confront my parents, and by the time I finally did, the deadline had passed.
2. Crime doesn’t pay, but research does
No joke, but in the months leading up to the sale, I think I’d already tried on every one of the sample sale purses at the Kate Spade store by my house. Every time I’d stop by the mall, I’d swing by the KS store. So when the sale hit, GURL, I was ready! I knew exactly which purses would fit my body, and which colors worked best with my wardrobe.
Which brings me to this: if you plan to invest in something pricey — be it a bag, a post-graduate education, a house or a car — conduct as much recon as possible beforehand to help you make the right decision.
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