Karen

Ask MBB: Gel or Liquid Outlines for Cat Eyeliner?

March 7th, 2014 by Karen 16 Comments

Still clawing and scratching for a way to work more MRRRROW into your huntress cat eyeliner looks? Today might meow your day. 🙂

This is the first installment in a new video series I’m starting called Ask MBB. If you have a question you’d like to see answered in an upcoming installment (of course, Tabs will help), drop it down below in the comments here or on YouTube.

Today’s installment tackles a question about cat liner technique and when to use a gel or liquid to build out your look.

Products mentioned…

I hope you find it useful. Thank you for watching!

Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,

Karen

What’s Your Favorite Weekend Lipstick or Gloss?

March 7th, 2014 by Karen 14 Comments

Wearing Urban Decay's Electric Palette on my lids — Look out, weekend! I’m wearing my latest favorite weekend gloss, Urban Decay Lovechild

Gosh, that’s easy. For the time being, it’s Urban Decay’s Naked Lipgloss in Liar. Or Lovechild. One or the other… I can’t decide.

LOL! I guess it wasn’t that easy after all. 🙂

Don’t make me choose!

Urban Decay Lovechild Ultra Nourishing Lipgloss — Lovechild, a medium pink

Urban Decay Liar Ultra Nourishing Lipgloss — Liar, a soft mauve-pink

Actually, now that I think about it more, they’re both pretty similar in a lot of ways.

Both are sheer, shiny and pink. Both look very natural on the lips, but not so natural that you’re, like, “Um, is there anything on my lips at all?” Basically, with either one, you just get a perfectly pinkish nude shiny lip. Good for grabbing a beer with your hubby or some Pretzel Slims at TJ’s on your way home.

Or for walking your cat (whatever you do on the weekends).

I guess if I had to pick just one…I’d go with Lovechild. It’s a slightly deeper, richer pink, and my lips are very pigmented, so those extra couple micrograms of pigment makes a little difference.

So, yeah. Lovechild. I’m sure now. 🙂

How about you? What’s your favorite weekend lipstick or gloss?

Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,

Karen

P.S.

The Fab 5, Vol. 6: Tom Ford Beauty

March 6th, 2014 by Karen 10 Comments

Hey, hey! It’s another episode of The Fab 5. In this thrilling installment (yeah, right), our heroine shares her top five favorites from the Tom Ford Beauty line…

I know Tom Ford is one of the more expensive lines out there, but if luxury makeup is your idea of beauty nirvana, then sit back, put your bunny slippers up, and hit play.

But even if the pricer stuff isn’t your cup of tea, you still might find a couple things to add to your wish list. You never know.

Products mentioned…

I hope you like. Thank you as always for watching. 🙂

Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,

Karen

MAC Unsung Heroes: Reflects Antique Gold Glitter

March 6th, 2014 by Karen 18 Comments

So let’s talk glitter — specifically MAC Reflects Antique Gold Glitter.

Oooh, girl!

Wait — before you put that palm up and say, “No, Karen [INSERT SASSY JENNY-FROM-THE-BLOCK HEAD TWITCH HERE]. I don’t do glitter,” let me just say that this glitter is one of the best afternoon pick-me-ups.

Better than green tea or coffee even. Scout’s honor. 🙂

Like, this afternoon, I was feeling really run down and kind of blah. I took this shimmery loose glitter out around 2 and patted a little on top of my lids. Yup, directly on top of the smokey brown eye makeup I was already wearing.

BOOM! I go from “meh” to “Vegas, b*tches!” in 2.5 seconds, thanks to this turbo-charged jar of sparkling happiness.

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Do You Wear Bright Colors (Makeup and/or Clothes) to School or Work?

March 6th, 2014 by Karen 24 Comments

Hey, girl, HEY! Let’s wear some brights today…

Oh, yeah! I wear bright colors to work all the time (but I know that doesn’t exactly count)! I do feel, though, that I have to be in the right mindset to wear certain colors, if that makes any sense.

Colors are so expressive, aren’t they? Depending on how I feel, sometimes I think I unconsciously seek out colors that fit my mood, especially when it comes to clothes and makeup.

With makeup, like when I’m feeling really happy and jazzed about sitting down at my chair to work, I notice myself reaching for bright, cheerful pink or orange lipsticks — things like that — whereas when I’m feeling “blue” (ha!) or run down or just not really in the mood to work (also known as “dealing with Tabs’ crazy”), I usually won’t want to wear something bright or intense. Definitely no intense blue eye looks or neon pink lips.

I guess I wear my heart on my sleeve because you can usually tell how I’m feeling based on what I’m wearing that day.

As for clothing, yes, I do like wearing bright clothes, especially dresses, to work, but I don’t do it as often as I wear bright makeup.

What can I say? I wear a ton of black! Sometimes I feel like a New Yorker trapped in a California girl’s body. Black clothes are just so easy, chic, and you don’t really have to think about things too hard… Plus, black is slimming and hides the cat fur. 🙂 Lots of positives.

I do love my bright accessories, though. Gimme a pair of hot pink shoes, a teal bib necklace or some yellow dangly earrings, and I’m a happy girl. But again, I feel the same way about bright accessories as I feel about bright makeup and clothes. It depends on my mindset or mood.

So, yes! To make a short answer really, really long…I love wearing bright makeup and clothes to work.

How about you? Do you wear bright colors (makeup and/or clothes) to school or work?

Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,

Karen

Makeup Adventure Seekers, Prepare To Be Amped Up and Turned On by the Urban Decay Electric Pressed Pigment Palette

March 6th, 2014 by Karen 21 Comments

Thunderous!

No, the colors will not shock your @ss when you touch them, and your hair will not stand on end, but the colors in Urban Decay’s new Electric Pressed Pigment Palette are very bright — like neon sign bright.

Buuut, not everybody likes brights, right? This one is for the risk takers — the guys and dolls who aren’t afraid to wear a bright teal eye to the bank on a Wednesday, which is not to say that those are the only makeup lovers who might like it. Just that they’d probably be more attracted to it immediately. Even if you don’t think of yourself as a bright teal, electric blue or chartreuse fan, however, does not mean you would not be able to rock this.

I just got back from a quick 10-minute walk around the neighborhood, and it was so beautiful outside. It rained here last night, and all of the flowers and grasses and trees are covered in raindrops from the storm. The colors are intensified because of the rain — the pinks, the greens, the blues, the yellow daffodils — but they’re also surrounded by neutrals — the brown dirt, the gray tree bark and the boring-@ss beige buildings in my neighborhood. The neutrals make the bright colors a little less shocking, but a little more at home in their environment at the same time.

Urban Decay Electric Pressed Pigment Palette swatches from the left, top row: Revolt, Gonzo, Slowburn, Savage and Fringe; bottom row: Chaos, Jilted, Urban, Freak and Thrash — From the left, top row: Revolt, Gonzo, Slowburn, Savage and Fringe; bottom row: Chaos, Jilted, Urban, Freak and Thrash

Similarly, I think the brights in this palette also look that much more beautiful when they’re used in tandem with neutrals.

Sorry…I rambled on there!

My point is this: you can use your existing wardrobe of neutrals, take this palette, and incorporate one or two of its colors as accents in your looks, making the palette into something perfectly wearable.

You know, I had a feeling that Urban Decay was about to release something bright soon… I mean, shoot — after all of the Nakedness dominating the line over the past few years, it was only a matter of time.

Speaking of time…

The first time I saw Electric, I said, “Ooh! I think I have a Pop Beauty palette just like this sitting in a drawer.” It was a palette from last fall, and it’s only sitting in the drawer because I get easily distracted. Not because I don’t like it. I do (incidentally, it’s still available and much less expensive than Electric).

Then when I opened Electric for the first time, I thought, “I have to get Fringe on my lids.”

Fringe, the metallic teal all the way to the right in the first row, is all that and a bag of deep-fried chips. Deep and rich and shimmery and pigmented, and it buffs out perfectly.

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Bolts of Blue Lightning and Gigawatts of Green Amp Up the Urban Decay Electric Pressed Pigment Palette

March 6th, 2014 by Karen 23 Comments

When I got back home from my hella traumatic dental appointment this afternoon, I needed to recharge my batteries, so I plugged into the new Urban Decay Electric Pressed Pigment Palette…

Get it? Plugged in? Electric?

Sorry. 🙂

Review coming soon, but here are the first couple pics…

An Everyday Neutral Eye Look Using Classic MAC Colors (Permanent Line)

March 5th, 2014 by Karen 9 Comments

Before heading to the dentist today, which is always one of my favorite things in the entire world to do (that’s actually not true at all), I did a neutral look using some classic MAC colors from the permanent line.

When I posted about this look before, a few people asked for a tutorial, so here goes!

It’s just that — uh…it ran a little long.

Dude, I’m sorry, but I ramble. It’s an ongoing struggle. 🙂

Here are the products mentioned in the video…

That’s MAC Blush in Cantaloupe on the apples of my cheeks and MAC Iridescent Loose Powder in Golden Bronze on my upper cheekbones.

Oh, and that’s MAC Plushglass in Fulfilled on my lips.

I hope you like it, and thank you for watching (and for putting up with my rambling!).

Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,

Karen

P.S. So earlier at the dentist, I actually did cry. It was supposed to just be a cleaning, but the hygienist said she needed the dentist to look at something in my mouth, and when he came in, he started sharpening his dental tools in front of me!

I was like, uh…no, we’re not going to do this right now.

I guess I just freaked out a little. Anywho, now I have to go back at some point to finish my cleaning.

Have you ever freaked out like that in the dentist’s office?