Karen

Makeup and Beauty Blog Monday Poll, Vol. 286

August 26th, 2013 by Karen 61 Comments

They say that swans usually mate for life. This couple enjoys snorkeling on Kauai.

You might be wondering, “So what the heck is this Monday Poll thing anyway?”

Well, it isn’t much of a poll. It’s more just a constantly evolving (devolving?), somewhat random list of questions I’ve been putting out to readers every Monday morning for the past five years. I’ve always enjoyed reading your answers in the comments, and I hope you enjoy reading mine.

Do you twerk?
Only on Tuesdays…

What’s the first song lyric that comes to mind?
“Eliza, oh-oh-oh-oh, please don’t go-oh-oh-oh-oh.” It’s from a song called (surprise!) Eliza, by The Bamboos, my current music obsession.

Do you ever straighten your hair?
Yup, but only when I have 30-45 minutes to spare for a good blow-out with my T3 hairdryer and a round boar hair brush.

Your biggest current skincare concern?
Fine lines and wrinkles. I’m 38, and it’s like, I know where this bus is heading, but I’d still like to get there gracefully, if you know what I mean.

Finish the sentence: I feel beautiful when…
- El Hub’s eyes widen and he smiles when he notices that I’ve done something differently with my look.
- When I get enough sleep.
- When I’m on a relaxing vacation.
- When a stranger pays me a nice compliment out of the blue.
- When my hair is behaving…or at least isn’t totally out of control.
Current favorite face wash?
Neutrogena Extra Gentle Cleanser is my jam.

Have you ever been tubing/white water rafting?
Nope, but it sure sounds fun!

What are you wearing today (hair/makeup/clothes)?
- Hair: down with big curls.
- Makeup: the new NARS Loves Los Angeles Set (review coming soon!).
- Clothes: Dark Paige Denim Skinny Jeans, a flowy black top, a nude and black satchel by Poverty Flats and black BCBG flats.
What’s your skin type (dry/oily/combo)?
Combination oily and dry, with an acne-prone chin.

Summarize your best makeup advice in a single sentence:
Keep an open mind, and dare to try new products/techniques/looks, because you never know when you’ll stumble upon something you love!

Now it’s your turn. Just copy and paste the following questions into a comment with your answers. I look forward to reading ’em! 🙂

1. Do you twerk?
2. What’s the first song lyric that comes to mind?
3. Do you ever straighten your hair?
4. Your biggest current skincare concern?
5. Finish the sentence: I feel beautiful when…
6. Current favorite face wash?
7. Have you ever been tubing/white water rafting?
8. What are you wearing today (hair/makeup/clothes)?
9. What’s your skin type (dry/oily/combo)?
10. Summarize your best makeup advice in a single sentence:

Got my Evernote open and ready! All signs point toward a great day. 🙂

Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,

Karen

P.S. Almost forgot! You still have through today to enter last weekend’s giveaway for a $50 eGift card from Sephora (click here). It got started a little in the day on Saturday, so I extended it through today. Good luck!

Sundays With Tabs the Cat, Makeup and Beauty Blog Mascot, Vol. 258

August 25th, 2013 by Karen 14 Comments

Dear Tabby is written by Tabs the Cat, commonly regarded as “the world’s first plus-size kitty supermodel.” Founded in mid 2012, it has quickly become the most widely syndicated cat advice column on earth — known for its fresh, feline perspective on lifestyle, fashion and style issues affecting cats and humans.

A dairy dilemma

DEAR TABBY: What’s the proper etiquette when it comes to disposing of leftover milk in your bowl?

I feel like dumping it out would be wasteful, and when I try to lick up every last drop, the bowl skitters and scoots across the floor, which just seems like bad decorum.

I’m thinking about having my assistant spoon feed it to me, but even that seems a bit much.

Does the answer depend on whether you’re eating in or dining out?

— Got Milk in Grand Junction

DEAR GOT MILK: If you’re dining out — say, visiting a neighbor cat — you should go easy on the bowl. You definitely don’t want to lick it with so much force that it scoots across the floor. That would be faux paw.

But if you’re at home, well, anything goes!

Order your assistant to spoon feed it to you one of these days, and see how she does. I haven’t tried that yet (not yet), but I do have my assistant hand feed me echinacea leaves from my garden, one leaf at a time.

Cat-nipped conversationalists

DEAR TABBY: I was wondering, why do some cats get so talkative on catnip? And they always, ALWAYS talk about themselves?

— Curious in Chicago

DEAR CURIOUS: They’re probably doing it because the catnip has lowered their inhibitions, encouraging them to open up.

Or, because they think the subject is fascinating, and you’re a good listener.
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7 Ways to Win a $50 eGift Card From Sephora! (Ends Monday)

August 24th, 2013 by Karen 426 Comments

Movie night recap for Friday, Aug. 23, 2013. First, the important details. I wore Benefit Dallas (looks great with a tan), NARS Tinted Moisturizer (a combo of St. Moritz and Cuba) with Hourglass Ambient Powder in Dim, POPBeauty Plump Pout in Fuchsia Freesia and a shimmery taupe lid with black cat eye liner.

Next, the movie, Elysium. Well, it could have been great…but it went down the rabbit hole of your run-of-the-mill action flick. The idea — a massive utopian space station where all of the world’s wealthiest people live in luxury, immune to disease and wanting for nothing, while the earth is polluted, overcrowded and impoverished sounds pretty interesting, right?

Sounds like good sci-fi, and it could have been, but then the samurai swords come out, and Matt Damon picks up a machine gun and BAM! — nonstop action movie.

I liked it…but I wanted to love it!

Oh, well.

In other news, are you rising and shining today? I plan to, just as soon as I get some coffee in me. Oh, sweet nectar of the gods, how I look forward to our morning meetings… 🙂

Good luck in this weekend’s giveaway. There’s a $50 Sephora eGift card on the table, and this week it closes on Monday instead of Sunday because I was a little late getting started.

Talk to you soon. Maybe I’ll see you on Twitter or Facebook today.

One (1) Sephora eGift card containing $50 sent to the winner by email (international readers, you may opt to receive $50 sent by PayPal instead).

Enter using the Rafflecopter widget below.
Open to U.S. and international readers.
You must be 18 or older to enter (or otherwise an adult based on your local laws).
Your comment can be about anything at all, but here are some ideas if you’re stuck: Your favorite concealer/color corrector? Have you ever purchased makeup on eBay before? Do you belong to any beauty product subscription services like Birchbox? What’s the most exciting thing you have planned this weekend? Have you attended any weddings this year? What’s your very favorite t-shirt? — you get the picture.
You can enter in up to seven ways to boost your chances of winning.
The giveaway ends on Monday, August 26, 2013 at 11:59 PM (Pacific Time).
Full terms and conditions are available in the widget.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,

Karen

The New Marvelously Moisturizing and Lovely Long-Lasting POPBeauty Plump Pout Liquid Lip Stain in Fuchsia Freesia

August 24th, 2013 by Karen 23 Comments

POPBeauty Plump Pout Liquid Lip Stain in Fuchsia Freesia

That’s new POPBeauty Plump Pout Liquid Lip Stain in Fuchsia Freesia ($16, one of four shades) on my pout

Alliteration much? 🙂 Someone over at POPBeauty HQ had a field day with these new POPBeauty Plump Pout Liquid Lip Stain names: Plump Pout, Liquid Lip, Fuchsia Freesia.

What a fun find! Fuschia Freesia is one of four shades in this brand-spankin’ new line of lip stains ($16 each for a 0.3-ounce tube). I like it so much that I think I need to track down the others so it won’t get lonely in my makeup bag.

The deets…

What is it? A long-lasting $16 liquid lip product with a moisturizing, plumping formula (unscented and unflavored), the shiny finish of a gloss and the wear of a lip stain.
What does it do? Covers lips evenly with opaque shine that fades slowly to a stain over the course of 5-6 hours. Oh, and I do detect some minor lip plumping, although I think it’s due more to the finish than anything else.
Who would lurve it? Dolls (and dudes) who like moisturizing, medium-weight, non-sticky lip products that last a good, long while.

Ingredients

Mica, Petrolatum, Mineral Oil, Polybutene, Caprylyl Glycol, Isopentyldiol, Tocopheryl Acetate, Tocopherol. [+/- Blue 1 Lake (CI 42090), Chromium Hydroxide Green (CI 77289), Ferric Ferrocyanide (CI 77510), Iron Oxides (CI 77491, CI 77492, CI 77499), Mica (CI 77019), Manganese Violet (CI 77742), Red 40 Lake (CI 16035), Titanium Dioxide (CI 77891), Ultramarines (CI 77007), Yellow 5 Lake (CI 19140)]

Look for Fuchsia Freesia and the other Plump Pouts on POPBeauty counters and popbeautycosmetics.com now.

Like the Universe, Benefit’s Box O’ Powder Line Is Expanding…With Rosy Gold Rockateur Powder Blush

August 23rd, 2013 by Karen 18 Comments

Soft rocking with rose gold Benefit Rockateur ($28) on my cheeks

With Rockateur, Benefit’s Box O’ Powder line is expanding! (like my husky tabby’s waistline/kitty empire) — while simultaneously shrinking over time…

Stardate: 2008. Bene-babes were bringing home their Boxes O’ Powder, like the lovely Coralista, for $28 each, but they were getting 0.42 ounces of product.

Fast forward five years to today…

We’re all driving hover cars, our greatest scientists are cats, and most of the brand’s powders still cost $28! — except that now they contain just 0.28 ounces of product (with the exception of Thrrrob, which still comes with the same 0.42 ounces for some reason).

Benefit Rockateur Pan Closeup — A closeup of the Rockateur pan… The rosy golden shimmer at the edges is an overspray.

Stranger still, the new Rockateur is even smaller, containing just 0.17 ounces of powder.

Hmm…

Could this mean that all of Benefit’s Boxes O’ Powder will shrink over time without a drop in price? I don’t know (but I hope not).

Thankfully, Rockateur’s small stature doesn’t take anything away from the blush itself, a lovely neutral rosy gold with shimmer. More of a light peachy coral pink on my tan skin, it should look even brighter and more intense on lighter and medium skin tones.

It reminds me a lot of Benefit Sugarbomb, but with less coral and much more pink. I’m wearing two layers to really convey the color in these pics, but one layer works just fine for heading out and lasts through an eight-hour day.

Benefit Rockateur Box — The front o’ the box…

Benefit Rockateur Ingredients — Ingredients

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Who Wore It Better: Ralph Macchio or Karen?

August 23rd, 2013 by Karen 17 Comments

In case you were wondering what a nine-year-old girl with Ralph Macchio hair would look like, here’s a picture of me at the Grand Canyon from the mid ’80s.

Please note the center part and wing flaps over the ears… 🙂

To the right (in the pic up top, of course) is my childhood BFF, Karrie, looking more like Olivia Newton-John. Yes, I was insanely jealous of Karrie’s hair.

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If I were also wearing a Member’s Only jacket and some gold chains in this pic, I would look EXACTLY like a smaller version of any of my uncles from that era…

The Secret to Exceptional Lash Length, Curl and Definition Resides in Every Tube of Clarins Be Long Mascara

August 23rd, 2013 by Karen 14 Comments

I gotta give credit to Clarins for getting straight to the point when they named new Be Long Mascara. Just one coat of this stuff on my fringe, and I’m yelling “My lashes be hella long!!” at the top of my lungs in the bathroom.

That’s usually how I know a mascara has crossed over from pretty good to great. 🙂

Be Long banishes jet lag even better than melatonin! You might not think that a three-hour time difference could throw off your sleeping schedule, but it totally can.

I look and feel tired…and over the years, after many mascara trials, I’ve learned that one of the easiest ways to look perkier/less exhausted is to apply a layer of a lengthening, curling mascara to your lashes.

Clarins Be Long Mascara before and after — On the left: no mascara; on the right: one coat

Nothing fakes a bright, doe-eyed look like a little extra lash length and curl. I think the extra length and curl work even better for this than specialized lash volume/thickening mascaras.

And formulas that also separate and define every lash work even better. When the goal is looking less tired, I don’t want bundles of long, clumpy lashes (which, yeah, do have their time and place, like at night when I’m feeling a little artsy).

Be Long delivers the exceptional length, curl and separation that work together as a tonic for sleepy eyes.

I’m totally enamored with this stuff and how it stretches, grabs and defines even the shortest stubs. One coat after a quick curl from my Shu Uemura Lash Curler, and my fringe looks fabulously full and lifted all day, no flakes or smudges.

The brush, which picks up a perfect amount of product (no need to remove any excess by wiping it across a paper towel), must be the secret sauce. It gives each lash the special treatment, coating it individually from base to tip and combing through every hair without leaving behind any clumps or bumps.

Clarins Be Long Mascara brush — It’s all about the brush, ma!

Clarins Be Long Mascara tube — The elegant gold tube…

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How a Tinted Red Lip Balm Like Butter London’s Lippy Tinted Balm in Strawberry Field Can Save You Time This Fall

August 23rd, 2013 by Karen 16 Comments

“Let me take you down, ’cause I’m going to, apply Strawberry Field forever.”

LOL!

This, my friend, is what happens when you grow up in a house (of learned doctors) where both of your parents worshiped The Beatles. You hum that song to yourself every time you apply Butter London’s creamy new $20 Lippy Tinted Balm in Strawberry Field (and keep calling it “Strawberry Fields Forever”) — a side effect of growing up on a steady diet of music by John, Paul, George and Ringo.

The Lippy Tinted Balms: New to the Butter London Line

The nail polish purveyors recently branched out into other forms of makeup, releasing pieces for eyes, lips and cheeks. Strawberry Field is one of six Lippy Tinted Balms added to Butter London’s permanent line.

The pigment sucks you in, but the coverage seals the deal…

Before I brought the bright red balm to my lips for the first time, I thought it would be a chore to apply based on how pigmented it looked in my initial swatches, but it’s just as easy to wear as a Burt’s Bee’s Lip Balm.

When fall, which is still just a whisper on the wind, and the holidays roll around, red lips abound! — and there are plenty of options to choose from, but Strawberry Field doesn’t bring with it the high-maintenance drama that often accompanies full-coverage crimsons.

Being a balm, it’s sheerer than your average lipstick and doesn’t flip out if I fudge my application a little… Mistakes aren’t as easy to spot.

Heck, I can even apply it without a mirror and can skip a lip liner and lip brush. Really, it’s one of the easiest reds I’ve ever worn.

Mo’ deets…

Does it smell or taste like strawberries? Nope, neither. And thank goodness for that! Nothing turns my tum more than faux strawberry. It’s a little like Nilla Wafers, and it’s faint and fades after five minutes.
How’s the moisture content? Not too shabby, tabby. They may not be as moisturizing as a Burt’s Bees Lip Balm (those make my lips go “AHHHHH!” whenever I wear them), but they’re still quite hydrating.
What’s the wear time like? One layer and I’m good to go for at least 3-4 hours, which is great for a lightweight, non-sticky balm.
Will I need multiple layers? Nah, just one, and get this — the formula’s smooooove and doesn’t settle into lip lines.

[Continue reading…]

Karen

A dairy dilemma

Cat-nipped conversationalists

The deets…

Ingredients

Who wore it better: Ralph Macchio or Karen?

The Lippy Tinted Balms: New to the Butter London Line

The pigment sucks you in, but the coverage seals the deal…

Mo’ deets…