Karen

Playing Fill the Online Shopping Cart at Beccacosmetics.com and Swatching Souffles

May 29th, 2014 by Karen 12 Comments

BECCA Beach Tint Shimmer Souffle in Lychee/Opal

You ever play “Fill the Online Shopping Cart”?

It’s one of my favorite games. 🙂 I’ve been playing it over at the BECCA website this afternoon. They’re running a Friends & Family sale. Just started this morning. Get 20% off any $50 purchase at beccacosmetics.com/us using promo code SPRINGFF14.

The sale ends next Tuesday (June 3, at midnight PST), so you still have time to play “Fill the Online Shopping Cart” if you’re interested.

I haven’t pulled the trigger yet on anything, but I have filled, emptied, and then filled my cart again with staples like Ever-Matte Shine Proof Foundation, while I do a little more research on some things, like the new BECCA Beach Tint Shimmer Souffles ($27 each).

I ran over to Sephora to have a look at them and swatch a couple things.

The six new BECCA Beach Tint Shimmer Souffles

GURL, these look really cute. The marbled pattern on the pots totally reminds me of the Hourglass Ambient Blushes. Instead of a powder, though, the Shimmer Souffles have a cream formula.

BECCA Beach Tint Shimmer Souffle in Guava/Moonstone

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Unsung Makeup Heroes: Trish McEvoy Line Refiner

May 29th, 2014 by Karen 14 Comments

I bought Trish McEvoy’s Line Refiner a couple years ago after a makeup artist at a Trish McEvoy counter used it under my eyes. I wore it for about a month and a half, then stuck it in a drawer and promptly forgot about it.

I know that doesn’t exactly sound like a ringing endorsement, but I’m not finished with the story yet! Please bear with me. 🙂

Fast forward two years and a handful of months to me cleaning out a set of drawers in my office. Lo and behold, what pops up? — this tube, like a forgotten piece of buried treasure.

I still remembered how to use it from my lesson with the makeup artist. After applying your under-eye concealer, gently tap a minuscule amount of Line Refiner directly on top, concentrating on the areas with fine lines.

Later that day after cleaning my office, I applied it on top of the MAC Pro Longwear Concealer I usually wear to disguise my dark circles, and when I looked in the mirror — AAAAAAAH! (That was supposed to be the sound of a chorus of angels singing in perfect harmony in the background.) — OMG, THIS STUFF IS SO FRICKIN’ BOSS!

Kind of like a colorless lotion that temporarily softens the look of fine lines, it works under or over foundation or concealer, wherever you want to mellow out any fine lines on your face.

I mean, it’s no face lift in a bottle or anything, and it won’t turn back time 25 years, but if you do have any fine lines around your eyes or mouth, I think you’ll see a noticeable difference. I definitely do, both in pics and in person.

I’ve been using it now to set my under-eye concealer for the past three months, and I absolutely see a difference, especially in pics…where I can zoom in on the 20-megapixel originals. My under-eye area doesn’t look as textured as it did when I was just setting my concealer with powder.

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6 Days of OCC: Obsessive Compulsive Cosmetics Stained Gloss in Concubine, Day 4

May 28th, 2014 by Karen 16 Comments

OCC Concubine — Obsessive Compulsive Cosmetics Stained Gloss in Concubine

Gotta love lip colors you can wear with errrrthing. 🙂

Concubine, part of the new Obsessive Compulsive Cosmetics Dune Generation collection, is one of those colors that looks right at home whether you’re rocking a dramatic makeup look or something minimalist and nude.

Described as a warm neutral plum by OCC, I get more of a coral vibe on my lips (which I like!). If your skin picks up lots of buttery golden color during the summer months, it could become your new BFF.

Find it now online at sephora.com and occmakeup.com, and look for it in Sephora stores starting June 6.

The 6 Days of OCC series features a different Stained Gloss every day

The NYX Dream Catcher Palette in Golden Horizons Hopes To Broaden Your Horizons on Baked Neutral Eyeshadow

May 28th, 2014 by Karen 12 Comments

Technically, Mercury doesn’t enter retrograde until June 7 (I know this because I’m all over Susan Miller’s Astrology Zone like sweat on Daryl Dixon’s biceps), but man, oh man! — it feels like Mercury is already retrograding all over mah face!

I don’t know why, but for the past couple days, Murphy’s Law has ruled my makeup life with an iron fist. Anything that can go wrong with my eye makeup has gone wrong with my eye makeup. Uneven liner, botched blending, cray-cray clumpy lashes — you name it. It’s been a hot mess, so I’ve decided to stick to nudes and neutrals until whatever this is passes.

Until then, I’ll just chill with neutral palettes like the NYX Dream Catcher Palette in Golden Horizons.

This $15 cutie is one of three limited edition NYX Dream Catcher palettes released earlier this year. Each one comes with 10 baked eyeshadows and its own personal outlook on neutrals.

Compared to Dusk Til Dawn, the other Dream Catcher palette in my collection, Golden Horizons is heavier in the matte and satin departments, as opposed to shimmer.

I think it’s a little tamer because its shadows aren’t as pigmented as the ones in Dusk Til Dawn, but that could be a good thing if you don’t want to deal with blending drama, and/or have a legitimate fear of your lids looking like an unfinished painting from Picasso’s Cubism period (#thestruggleisreal).

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“Take a Deep Breath,” Said the Epiphyte

May 28th, 2014 by Karen 13 Comments

On the bottom floor of the Seed Bank in Petaluma, that huge, awesome gardening store I talked about last weekend, is a humid, brightly lighted room filled with these things called air plants, also known as epiphytes.

I could’ve spent at least an hour in there, during which time I probably would have gotten a tan from the bright overhead lights!

There were so many cool air plants in there I’d never even seen before. Most of the ones at the Seed Bank obtain moisture from the air or from dampness on the surface of their host plants, or wherever they’ve attached themselves.

Do you have any air plants? I don’t, but I’m thinking that’s probably going to change soon because I can’t stop thinking about them, LOL!

I think I’d like to get one for my office.

I can’t remember the name of this one… Looks like it commandeered a shell!

The New Obsessive Compulsive Cosmetics Tarred + Feathered Lip Balm Duo Gives Your Lip Products Wings

May 28th, 2014 by Karen 20 Comments

Wearing multiple layers of Feathered, the white shade from the new OCC Tarred + Feathered Lip Balm Duo ($18)

That moment when you realize you want to wear a lip product solely because you think it might match your nails…

Your opaque white nails.

Priceless. 🙂

OCC Tarred + Feathered — That’s Nicole by OPI Yoga Then Yogurt on my nails…

Yeah, I think I crossed over into uncharted makeup territory this week — uncharted for me, at least, since I can’t recall ever wanting to wear white lipstick before.

Like, ever.

Sure, I realize that it’s not exactly a super wearable look (RIGHT?!), but I got it into my head a few days ago, and whenever that happens… You know me! 🙂

Say hello to the new $18 Tarred + Feathered Lip Balm Duo by Obsessive Compulsive Cosmetics. Weird and wonderful at the same time, it comes with two lip balms in white and black.

In calling it “new,” I should put the “new” in air quotes because this duo actually first appeared 10 years ago. It was the very first product OCC ever released. They’re reissuing it meow for their 10th anniversary.

So, what’s the deal? Well, both moisturizing halves of the balm contain hemp seed, pomegranate and avocado oils, and they’re made to moisturize AND function as color correctors to either brighten or darken any lip colors you layer on top.

Feathered, the white balm, works to cancel out your natural lip color, making any colors you wear on top of it appear truer.

LOL! No, it normally doesn’t look quite as scary as it does in the first two face pics because I built it up with a lip brush for those shots to see how close I could get to making my white lips + nail tips fantasy come true (pretty close, but not really, since the balm ends up looking patchy when I build it up in layers).

If I just apply a thin layer instead, like I would with most any other lip balm, I think Feathered actually looks fairly wearable.

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Where’ve You Verbena All My Life, Laura Mercier Verbena Infusion Gel Body Moisture?

May 28th, 2014 by Karen 16 Comments

It’s hard to let go of your fears…

Like, for me, the fear of smelling like a cleaning spray, or the clinical term, scentofcleaningspray-a-phobia.

It started innocently enough. One day long ago I was wearing a scent — can’t remember which one it was now — but it had strong notes of verbena.

Doop-da-doo, someone leaned in for a hug but pulled away immediately, as if repelled, and said, “You smell exactly like Pledge.”

It left scars, man.

Scars.

Needless to say, I was a little skeptical at first about Laura Mercier’s new Verbena Infusion Gel Body Moisture, but I figured, it’s Laura, and I’ve pretty much loved all of her scented body products, so I banked on this one working out, too.

And it did! 🙂 No eau de scrubbing bubbles.

“Inspired by the countryside of Provence, Laura captures the crisp freshness of Verbena to invigorate the senses. A sparkling bouquet of green citrus and leafy spearmint infuse beautifully with petals of fresh blossoms and a touch of white amber and cedar wood. Leaving behind a refreshing sensation that rejuvenates the body.”

— lauramercier.com

With the mercury rising here in Northern Marin, I’ve been digging the creamy gel-like texture, which feels almost like a light mousse. It quickly absorbs into my skin and doesn’t leave the backs of my knees feeling sticky, which is a major moisturizer turnoff.

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6 Days of OCC: Obsessive Compulsive Cosmetics Stained Gloss in Dune, Day 3

May 27th, 2014 by Karen 17 Comments

This is by far the raddest dune I’ve ever encountered (except for the 1984 movie and the Sci-Fi Channel original miniseries, but those were more watched than encountered).

All of the others — most of them sand dunes — pale in comparison. Those dunes usually involved me hauling a big-@ss longboard up them, and lots of panting (yo, those boards are heavy).

And since we’re on the subject of dunes, why do they always look so easy to climb from afar, but when you actually start climbing up them, you feel like you’re hiking up K2?

But I digress…

The first time I saw golden champagne Dune Stained Gloss, one of six shades in the new Obsessive Compulsive Cosmetics Dune summer collection, in its tube, I thought it would be milky and a chore to work with, but it turned out to be surprisingly wearable.

I feel like the golden champagne goes pretty well with my natural lip color, and instead of just getting a boring nude gloss when I wear it, I get a rosy, peachy gold that, thankfully, doesn’t settle into my fine lip lines, which gets another yay for that (yay!). 🙂

You can find it now, along with the rest of the Dune collection, at sephora.com and occmakeup.com (and coming to Sephora stores June 6).