That moment when you realize your cat will always look better than you do in that Kate Spade necklace…
Kitty Modelin’
MAC Unsung Heroes: Brun Eye Shadow
INSIDE VOICE: Dude. You should do an Unsung Heroes post for MAC Brun Eye Shadow ($15).
OUTSIDE VOICE: Eh, I dunno. I love it and all, but it’s a dark blackish brown shadow. I mean, that’s not very exciting, ya know?
INSIDE VOICE: True dat. It’s no Club or Impassioned, but I think it’s still worth a shout-out, right? You wear it practically every day.
Plus, remember that trip when you forgot it at home?
OUTSIDE VOICE: Oh, boy.
INSIDE VOICE: You freaked-the-eff out! You had to track down the nearest MAC counter on your iPhone, and then had El Hub drive you there before you would agree to do anything else. That’s dedication, dude.
OUTSIDE VOICE: El Hub was so grumpy! He was like, “Are you kidding me right now!? Come on! We’re on vacation!”
Bless that man. He puts up with a lot of crazy sh*t. 🙂
OK, I guess you do have a point. Brun’s a great brow filler for brunettes. It’s warm-toned, not too reddish, and I’ve always liked that despite it being so dark, it doesn’t look harsh on my skin, and it’s interesting, too, how the satin finish looks almost matte.
INSIDE VOICE: I’ve seen you use it for other things — not just for filling in your brows.
OUTSIDE VOICE: True, true. I also wear it a lot with slightly defined neutral eyes, where I’ll pat a little MAC Soft Ochre Paint Pot all over my lids, buff some MAC Mylar on top of that with a 224, then sweep a little Cork or Soft Brown in the crease.
For a little depth, I’ll take Brun, apply it in the outer corner or the outer crease, and do a quickie winged liner. I tell you, that’s the best classic neutral eye combo right there, I swear. It’s so easy! I can do it half asleep, LOL!
A Few False Eyelash Application Tips
Here I’m wearing Katy Perry Lashes in Banging Beauty, $6.99
True or false: applying false eyelashes can be very intimidating.
For me? TRUE. The very thought of applying false lashes, especially if I’m tired or not on my game that day, or if I’m using a brand new style of lashes I’ve never used before, can be downright terrifying. Sometimes it’s so daunting that I don’t even want to try.
When I first got into ’em, I was total crap at the application, for real! — but as with most things, if you practice, it gets easier.
When we looked at the awesome $4 Ardell 120s last week (LOVE these), you asked some good questions about false eyelash application in the comments…
Applying false eyelashes: I need halp!
“These look really natural and what a great deal. I only wish I knew how to apply false eyelashes. You should do a tutorial on that!”
—Agata
Hi Agata,
Hey, girl! 🙂 When it comes to easy-to-apply lashes, those Ardell 120s are some of the best I’ve ever used. With those or any pairs, if you practice and be patient, and give yourself a week or two, it’ll get super easy. The best advice I can give is to look down into a mirror while you’re applying them. That really helps me a lot!
Go easy on yourself, too. It takes a few tries, but seriously, you’ll get the hang of it. Here are some other things that can help…
- Paint the white band first before you start applying (I just use black gel liner), so you don’t have to paint it after you’re finished and it’s tougher to reach without disturbing your makeup or the lashes.
- Give the glue time to get sticky. I usually wait from 30 seconds to a minute. When it first comes out of the tube, it’s not very sticky.
- Use as little of the glue as possible. Seriously! I find that when I use too much, the lashes feel really uncomfortable.
Better Together: Maybelline Stormy Sahara Colorsensational Lipstick and Neutrogena Healthy Peach MoistureShine Gloss
I stumbled on this lip combo last weekend while I was rifling around in my purse looking for something to wear with the warm neutral eye brown look I did with the Smashbox Full Exposure eye palette.
It was kind of like an epiphany. I saw the products together and thought, “Huh. I wonder…”
I love that you can find both Maybelline Stormy Sahara Lipstick and Neutrogena Healthy Peach MoistureShine Gloss at the drugstore (yay for affordable beauty products!).
I think this combo gives just enough nude peachy color to my lips without looking too nude, ya know what I mean?
And to kick it up a notch, you could add a lip liner like MAC Subculture or Staunchly Stylish. I bet either of those would look really pretty.
Ooh! Coincidentally, speaking of really pretty, the Hourglass Sunset/Mood Lighting cheek combo from the other day looks fab with this look.
I’m a Super Fan of the LY20 Super Fan Brush by Louise Young Cosmetics
Not just a fan, but a super fan! — like, if this brush was my favorite band, I’d wait in a scary back alley for it to come out after the show, in the pouring rain, hungry, just to get it to autograph my left boob with a black Sharpie.
OK, maybe not… I love it to pieces, though, and here’s why: the LY20 Fan Brush is by far the best highlighting brush I’ve ever used, because it is fast!
I’m talking crazy fast, and I think it’s because of how dense, big and fluffy the brush head is. It just picks up and deposits a lot of product — but never too much. Always just the right amount.
It perfectly applies and blends whatever highlighter I’m using at any given the moment. All I do is sweep it back and forth a few times on my upper cheekbones, down the bridge of my nose and on my Cupid’s bow, and bada-bing, bada-bang! — done in less than a minute.
Oh, but it’s not only a highlighting brush. I’ve also used it to
apply face powder (both loose and pressed), bronzer and blush. You can even use it to dust off excess powder, contour your cheekbones, or seamlessly blend together bronzer, blush and highlighter on your cheeks.
Pink Stuff in the Fishing Department
There’s more than you might think.
El Hub keeps dragging me to go look at fishing equipment, and surprisingly (at least for me), a lot of it is pink. There’s a lot of pink “girly” fishing stuff out there, like these tackle boxes and fishing poles I saw at Dick’s Sporting Goods store in Petaluma last week.
LOL! Notice the pole on the left where it says, “Crappie.”
Yes, I am easily amused (but you know this already). 🙂
Gold Glitter on a Tuesday? Why the Hell Not! A Face of the Day With MAC 3D Glitter in Brass Gold, and the Clinique On Safari All About Shadow Quad
Generally I think of rigorous makeup rules and structure as hogwash, hooey and blarney, otherwise known as crazy talk.
Can’t say I’ve ever really believed in hard-and-fast rules for le war paint, but I do have a mantra — a guiding principle, if you will — and this is it: WHY THE HELL NOT!?
Want to rock a blown-out Khal Drogo smokey eye to a formal Sunday brunch?
Why the hell not!?
Want to wear a bright green gloss and gold glitter on your lids to walk your cat around the block?
Why the hell not!?
My point is this: life is short. You might as well wear what moves you.
Today I was in the mood to sparkle because, you know, it’s Tuesday, and that’s as good a reason as any. 🙂 So I did this glittery, brassy, kind of smokey greenish khaki eye.
I like that it has tricks up its sleeve. One minute, when my eyes are wide open, I think it looks almost tame, just a warm brassy golden eye, but then when I blink, BAM! — that’s when the glitter does its thang.
I used MAC 3D Glitter in Brass Gold atop Clinique’s greenish gold All About Eyeshadow Quad in On Safari, and I kept the glitter in the center of the lid so it wouldn’t overpower the whole look.
I think the loose glitter I’m using here, MAC 3D Glitter, is really cool. The hexagonal multicolored glitter bits may look kind of mellow in these pics, but all about the drama in person.
What Was the Last Product You Hit the Pan On?
‘Twas MAC Cork Eye Shadow. That was the last product I hit the pan on.
Not really a huge surprise, though, because I use it all the time to fill the inner part of my brows (ombre brows 4-life!) and as a transition color in my crease.
And then there was my almost new pan of MAC Mineralize Blush in Warm Soul, which I also “hit the pan on,” but that was under dubious, heartbreaking circumstances…
I actually have no idea what happened to it — how it cracked so badly — because I can’t remember dropping it, and I usually can remember dropping products because they normally fall on my foot (I’m talking to you, Tom Ford Cognac Sable), and then my foot hurts like hell, but my feet don’t hurt right now, so I’m stumped. 🙂
I literally opened it one morning and BOOM! — it was broken (the pan, not my foot).
My working theory is that Tabs pounced on it, crushing it with the brute force of his 20-pound body.
I have no hard evidence to back it up, though, so for now the suspect remains free to roam about the condo…
How about you? What was the last product you hit the pan on? Makeup-loving minds want to know.
Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,
Karen
P.S. Happy Tuesday. 🙂