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
Where does the time go?! I can’t believe it’s almost 5 out here. I think we need a snack… Can I interest you in a Makeup and Beauty Blog cupcake?
Or how about a visual snack instead? Perhaps one of these new Tom Ford Beauty bits for fall 2012? I’m getting a strong ’80s vibe from the collection, like Joan Cusack in Working Girl (which I loved!), but a little updated.
Excuse me while I go tease my hair and look for my leg warmers. 🙂
What do ya think?
Lately Laura Mercier’s Metallic Creme Eye Colour in Alloy ($22) has been totally twitching my tail.
I’m not sure if it’s more because I just recently re-discovered my love for Laura Mercier’s permanent line (oh hai, Black Gold and Stormy Grey), because Chanel’s new Harmonie du Soir Quad keeps begging me to find her an appropriate playmate, or just because it’s one of the best taupe products I’ve ever tried. Or maybe a combination of all three.
Whatever the why, with Alloy, the beauty gods granted all of my taupe eye makeup wishes.
Is it neutral enough to flatter warm and cool skin tones? Yup.
Does the finish look alive (and not flat)? Yes again. In fact, I think the glistening metallic finish is just luminous enough to qualify as awesome.
Does it last long enough? I think so. How does eight hours sound?
Does it spread, layer, buff and blend like a dream? Yes, yes, yes and yes. 🙂 All thanks to an epic creamy formula.
Tabs went au naturale today. 🙂 While he’s usually on point when it comes to the latest fashion trends, he generally prefers nude, non-fussy claws. “Meow,” he says. [“It’s a street thing.”]
As for my claws, I’ve got two coats of Chanel Le Vernis in Malice on my left and nothing on my right…
But I’m just about to slap on these Trend Tips Real Lacquer Strips nail stickers from Sephora by OPI ($12). This one below is called Pink & Black Lace (Sephora also carries 17 other designs).
Tabs apparently approves. 🙂
How about you? What are you wearing on your nails?
Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,
Karen
P.S. How’s it going tonight?
Oh! Get this — I was at Safeway earlier and saw that DiGiorno makes half-and-half frozen pizzas now. Half cheese, half pepperoni (the cheese for me and the pepperoni for El Hub).
It’s like someone read my mind, LOL! Got one in the oven right now…
Other than that, I’m gonna watch another episode of Friday Night Lights and go to bed. I’m almost halfway done with the fourth season (of five) and already starting to feel sad because I know it’ll be over soon.
[SNIFFS!] Texas forever, y’all. Texas forever.
It’s funny, but for a slacker, MILG is actually pretty demanding.
MILG — My Inner Lazy Girl — hasn’t been sleeping well lately, and so she has me coveting cream eyeshadows like Golem covets the One Ring in LOTR!
And the lack of shuteye only serves to make MILG more demanding… Most mornings, I find it easier to just give in than fight, so when she tells me to pat shimmery golden bronze Apparence, a new $36 limited edition Illusion D’Ombre Long Wear Luminous Eyeshadow shade from Chanel’s upcoming holiday collection, on my lids with a finger and then buff out the edges with a MAC 217, I do a Kanye shrug and go with the flow.
Sometimes, I will fight for MILG to let me add some black liner on my water lines, because I love how it contrasts with the golden bronze (I’m wearing it in these pics).
Any which way I wear it, Apparence always lights up my lids. It’s no substitute for eight hours of sleep, but it’s sure better than nothing.
Hey, buddy! Another beautiful fall morning here in the Bay Area. I went to take the trash out this morning, and when I exhaled I actually saw my breath in the air. It’s only a matter of time before it gets really cold again (well, cold for this part of California, which I know is not really that cold compared to other parts of the country, but we’re weather wusses here).
Hopefully the new Chanel Harmonie Du Soir quad will keep me warm… Not so much physically warm, but its four colors (taupe, gold, pink and plum) have been firing me up. Lately they’re all I’ve been wanting to wear.
Harmonie’s formal name reads like a champion race horse: “Regard Signe De Chanel Quadra Eye Shadow in Harmonie Du Soir,” and at $65, it’s priced like a thoroughbred, too.
There’s really no way around the fact that this is one expensive piece of makeup, but as hard core Chanel-o-philes already know, the price premium is nothing new from the line. This palette does include a special quilted design on the pan, though, which makes it seem a little more exclusive.
Oh, and it would make such a wonderful gift! Imagine opening it up on Christmas morning… [SWOON!] I’d need a fainting couch.
The Tom Ford Beauty Eye Color Quad in Enchanted ($75).
So bewitching!
Hello, this is your captain speaking. Thank you for flying with us today on MBB Air. Please remain seated during takeoff, make sure your seat back and tray table are in the upright positions, buckle your safety belt, and keep your makeup handy.
Our destination on this beauty joyride? — Benefit holiday 2012!
Here on MBB Air, as we fly the glossy skies to Beauty Valueville, enjoy our first-class treatment with a touch-up before touch down with one of Benefit’s three new affordable limited edition kits and sets. 🙂
When we reach our cruising altitude, feel free to spritz, swipe, pat and blend your way about the cabin with the High Flyin’ Glosses kit ($26), and the She’s So Jetset ($36) and Crescent Row Limited Edition ($36) sets.
Travel to neutral territory (as in neutral colors) with this nine-piece set for eyes, cheeks and lips. The brightly colored orange, pink and yellow box (so cute!) houses a mini POREfessional primer, four powder eyeshadows, a First-Class Face Powder, a miniature Life on the A List lipgloss, a tiny tube of They’re Real Mascara, a dual-ended applicator and a small cheek brush.
Every super spy gal needs a secret weapon. Sydney Bristow’s (loved me some Alias!) were arguably her crazy-@ss wigs — perfect for fooling bad guys into thinking she was someone other than the lethal agent she was.
But say Sydney had a thing for Chanel lipsticks. If she had, she would’ve fallen hard for Rouge Allure Velvet in L’Impatiente ($32.50), the sole lippie from the Eclats du Soir de Chanel makeup collection for holiday 2012. A deep reddish black with a matte finish, it’s drizzled with a semblance of shine.
A twist of the tube reveals a dark wine bullet the color of a rich cabernet sauvignon. Before I tried it on, I expected L’Impatiente to be a tough cookie, both in terms of getting it to look good on my lips, and in the sense that I wanted to wear it with black leather pants, studded bracelets and spikes.
Before it ever touched my lips, I made a mental note to look for my lip brush. I also sought out a matching lip liner and dusted off my pair of black platforms with chains (my “tough girl” shoes).
And then, when I applied my first layer, TWIST!
