Makeup and Beauty Blog | Makeup Reviews, Swatches and How-To Makeup
A beauty blog blooming with fresh makeup reviews, swatches and beauty tips from your friendly neighborhood beauty addict
Another one to cross off the bucket list.
They say you can’t find the end of a rainbow, but I did! This one ended in a tree on a hill outside my living room window.
I wonder how they got the pot of gold up there…
Also, if you look closely, you can see the faint outline of a second rainbow, making this one a double rainbow, all the way. All the way across the sky. 🙂
P.S. TGIF!
Kind of a funny story… One of El Hub’s childhood friends is visiting from out of town tonight, and we only had about 2.5 seconds to clean the house (OK, more like 20 minutes) before his flight landed this afternoon.
You know you’re doing an improv cleaning job of your condo when your idea of tidying things up is hiding the telltale indicators that you’re a crazy cat lady (“Don’t forget to hide his outfits.”) and spraying Nest Birchwood Pine Room Spray in every room and hallway. LOL!
I probably should tear myself away from makeup temporarily to socialize… While I do that, here are pics of a few of the new Tom Ford Beauty Lip Color Sheers that came out for spring.
Yeah, these are crazy expensive at $49 each, but it’s T.F., so that price point is business as usual. But if you love sheer, luxurious lipsticks, these might be your dream come true.
Keep an eye out for these shades, along with the rest of the Lip Color Sheers collection, at Tom Ford counters and online.
Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,
Karen
First thing this morning I told myself, “Karen, take note of the little things today,” and I’ve taken note of some wonderful little tidbits throughout the course of my day (a hot cup tea, seeing a rainbow, catching Tabs looking extra cute), but I have to say…
Even though I didn’t really plan to go anywhere fancy today, I thought it might be fun to glam it up a little — ya know, for Tabs, and because it’s Thursday.
It all started with the Lancôme Color Design Shadow & Liner Palette in Dancing Rose ($50) from the French Ballerine spring collection. One glance at that deep, plummy reddish purple in the middle, and I just had to get it on my lids, ASAP!
I used the sparkly light purple as a base all over my eyes, patted the pink shade on my lids, swept the plummy shade in my crease (creases?), and then highlighted underneath my brow bones with the light opalescent pinkish beige.
Then, I added a fatty-bo-batty wing on my upper lash line with the deep blackish plum, woo hoo!
Glam eyeshadow deserves glam lashes, so I brought out the big guns, Katy Perry Lashes in Banging Beauty ($6.99). These falsies are cray, yo! I could barely lift my eyes because they were so big and so over the top. Definitely not for the faint o’ heart.
Since the eyes were so shimmery, so purple, so BAM! — I tried to keep my cheeks and lips soft to balance things out.
Why scribble notes to yourself (“Don’t forget the gravy!”) on boring yellow Post-its when you could transcribe your awesome ideas on these!?
They’re a steno-loving beauty nerd’s dream come true. 🙂
I spotted them at Staples last weekend, where I was shopping for a big metal filing cabinet (don’t ask).
They’re only $3.40 for two packs of 50 3×3-inch sheets.
Also available in Ring, Shoe and Purse…
Before you relegate that recently used foundation brush to the pile of brushes you plan to wash later this week (or today), believe it or not, it’s still a useful tool, even after you’ve used it to apply whichever face product you’re wearing on any given day and the brush has leftover product in the bristles.
I mean, of course we are going to wash it eventually (I wash my brushes every day), but before that, while we’re still doing our makeup, we can use it to…
Oops! Uh, oh. We’ve accidentally applied too much brow filler and crossed the fine line between bold brows and Groucho Marx.
What to do?
Well, we can run our recently used foundation brush across our brows a few times to break up our brow powder or gel and lighten them up.
We can also use our used foundation brush to give our cheeks a boost! After applying our blush and/or bronzer, we can sweep our used foundation brush right below the apples of our cheeks to define and sculpt their shape.
I think you’ll really like this tip because it’s easy but makes a big difference. After we finish applying eyeshadow, let’s grab that used foundation brush, and swipe it from the outer corner of our lower lash line to the outer tip of our eyebrow to clean up the edges a bit and give a little lift to our look.
Let’s make nude lips look even nuder (nuder?). Working with your favorite nude lipstick or gloss, swipe however much product remains on your recently used foundation brush across your lips. Now, this trick works better if your lips are in good shape. In my experience, if we see any flakes at all, our foundation will only draw attention to them.
I only do this one every once in a while, as it tends to dry out my lips…
Why, yes, there is a reason why this bottle of MAC Pro Longwear Concealer looks like it’s wearing a straightjacket.
Earlier this week I accidentally dropped my previously brand-spakin’-new bottle of Pro Longwear on the floor and it, along with my heart, broke into a million little pieces.
I picked up a new one yesterday to replace it, but I figured that I should do something extra to protect it because, seriously, if I break another bottle (which is entirely possible), I will LOSE MY SH*T.
So I wrapped the new bottle with rubber bands to cushion any falls. 🙂
I feel so very MacGyver right now!
Uh…does anyone else remember MacGyver?
Critics are calling Smoky Plum “The sleeper hit of spring shadows!”
Well, not really… I have no idea what they’re calling it, but I’m calling it ohmygoshLURVE! 🙂
Watch out! — or this shadow will steal your heart (like it stole mine).
I mean, I love Clarins and all, but when I think of sultry, pulse-quickening smokey shadows, Clarins doesn’t usually spring to mind. Most of the time I head over to NARS, MAC, Chanel or Tom Ford for that.
But Smoky Plum, one of 14 pieces in the new Opalescence spring collection, could confidently hold its own with the smokiest of the smokey. Surprisingly complex, I think it’s definitely worth considering if you’re on the prowl for your next great smokey shadow.
A shimmery bronzed purple with taupe tendencies, it’s designed to be worn wet or dry, which just means that applying it with a wet brush head coaxes out more of the pigment and enhances the metallic finish.
Either way, applied wet or dry, I think Smoky Plum is pretty damned hot, and I used a combination of wet and dry applications for my makeup in these pics to get those light-to-dark gradients I love when I wear smokey eyes (incidentally, I like to spell smokey with an ‘e’ before the ‘y,’ while Clarins spells it without one).
Wait ’til you get this purple puppy on your lids. Smoky Plum swatches beautifully on the back of a hand, but I think it’s infinitely prettier on eyes.
The first time I applied it, I remember looking in the mirror with the finished look and blinking incredulously a few times. Suddenly, tiny little flecks of silvery glitter appeared out of nowhere!
Can I get a what-what from my fellow nude gloss fiends?
ALERT! ALERT! We’ve got a nude gloss lover over here, especially easy-to-wear, low-maintenance shades like Pink Glace ($20), a new one from Jouer.
Please, please tell me you’ve tried Jouer’s nude glosses before.
I think they’re kind of fab… Every nude Jouer gloss I’ve tried has had the perfect amount of milky pigment. They’re sheer, but not too sheer — equally at home in a dramatic Kim K-style smokey eye or in casual brunch makeup. That’s what Jouer does really well.
Pink Glace, a sheer, shimmering nude pink with wee little bits of sparkly golden glitter, is a new addition to their permanent line, and she’s a beaut.
I bet she’ll look absolutely perfect on her own or layered on top of your favorite pink, peach or nude lippie.
Look for it soon at Jouer counters and online at jouercosmetics.com.
