Traveling gals, keep your eyes peeled for Bobbi’s Lip Wardrobe, a trio of lipsticks (Tulle, Pink and Salmon) available now exclusively at Bobbi Brown travel retail locations worldwide.
Gonna Dress Your Lips Up
Share a Tip Tuesday: Whip That Water Line Into Shape!
I love liner. Love wearing it on my water lines. Love the way it intensifies eye looks, but getting that stuff to stay put can be a bear.
Here are a few tricks I use to whip my water lines into shape…
Let’s wait a while…
After I apply a layer of liner, I wait about 10 minutes for it to dry, and then reapply. That second layer really seems to up my mileage.
Push on some powder
Somewhere out there is a lovely Chanel makeup artist who gets credit for this trick (thank you, wherever you are!). After lining your water lines with a pencil, pat a matching eyeshadow on top using a soft, firm brush. It sets the liner and extends your wear time.
Brush-wise, I like the Definition Liner Brush No. 10 from Burberry ($32) for this (although any good, firm eye brush with a little give should also work, like a skinny concealer brush). It’s downy soft, and the pointy tip is all about the details. Perfect for placing shadow along the water lines.
Bring on the Bobbi Brown Long-Wear Eye Pencils!
There’s no shortage of long-wearing liners out there now, but Bobbi Brown makes a great one. Her Long-Wear Eye Pencils ($24) are some of the best I’ve used. They glide along my skin like makeup figure skaters, without caking or breaking up later. Plus, no tears! — and they come in six shades. The one I have is called Jet (a midnight black).
Thanks for stopping by for another edition of Share a Tip Tuesday! 🙂 You left so many great ideas for makeup storage solutions in the comments on last week’s post. My cluttered counters thank you.
What Are You Wearing On Your Nails?
I’m wearing the limited edition Sally Hanson Rock of Ages Salon Effects Nail Polish Strips in Fingerlace Gloves ($9.99; check drugstores for availability), which strutted on to counters earlier in the summer with seven other patterns inspired by the movie Rock of Ages.
Salon Effects are pre-cut, printed nail stickers that you apply to clean nails for an instant manicure with a glossy finish. To remove ’em, just use regular old nail polish remover and a cotton ball or pad.
It was pretty easy and only took about a half hour to do both hands. The stickers do seem to run big, so if you have small hands like I do, you may need to trim down a couple of the strips to fit your nails.
The box says the mani can last up to 10 days. Hmm! It’s only been two, and I already have a few chips. I’m pretty hard on my hands, though. It might be different if you aren’t typing or opening cans of gravy all day. 🙂
What about you? What are you wearing on your nails?
Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,
Karen
Two Parrots
I saw this parrot ring at Target and couldn’t resist. It reminds me of one of my favorite MAC colors of all time, Parrot (from 2007’s The Originals collection).
A Fall Vice to Entice Those Who Long for New Hues and Love a Good Price: The Urban Decay Vice Palette
Maybe the cray amounts of overtime Tabs has had me working lately and the 20+ hours of Friday Night Lights I’ve watched since last Friday are slowly but surely frying my brain, because choosing which eyeshadow colors I want to wear when I do my makeup has been way tougher than usual.
It’s like, I see the pans sitting in front of me as one big, nebulous blob. Does this green go with that one? Should I wear bronze or brown?
Honestly, right now, I have no idea…
Coming to the rescue, ironically with 20 more shades? — the new Urban Decay Vice Palette ($59 and available now online at urbandecay.com).
I can’t remember the last time Urban Decay released a palette with so many new colors! All 20 of them have never before seen the light of day (although a few of them do resemble existing colors).
And that’s not even my favorite part.
Somehow, the shades in the Vice palette, which is packed with neutrals and sprinkled with brights, all go together. Seriously, I feel like I can pair any two of them on my lids, pop a third shade along my lower lash line and KAPOW! — instant eye game that requires very little brain power.
Not that I’m in my right mind right now…but nothing here seems out of place.
You could start with one of the lighter colors all over your lids, add one of the darker shades in the outer corners of your eyes, and define your lower lash lines by lining with one of the bright or neutral shades.
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MAC Unsung Heroes: Fulfilled Plushglass
I’m a strong advocate for trying new makeup trends, but I totally get that sometimes, despite how much fun it can be to start piling on the lip and eye makeup this time of year (says the girl who buys bananas wearing silver and black winged eyeshadow), it can also be easy (at least for me) to go overboard.
I may leave the house feeling like I just stepped off the pages of Vogue, but then I catch my reflection in a mirrored surface by the bags of salad at Safeway and think, hawt damn! — that’s a lotta look for groceries.
That’s why, to protect myself from…myself, I try to keep my purses and bags fully stocked with my-lips-but-better products like the MAC Plushglass glosses.
Last month I was all about Big Baby. This month, I’m feeling much more Fulfilled, as in MAC Plushglass in Fulfilled ($19.50).
By swapping this creamy pinkish peach for the rich reds, berries and burgundy lip colors I regularly reach for in fall, I feel much more appropriately made up for everyday tasks.
Unlike Big Baby, Fulfilled doesn’t showcase any pearl or shimmer. Instead, it gets the job done with a creamy finish and a soft kiss of pinkish peach color. And while I love the way it quietly complements pretty much any bold look, it’s like Buzz Lightyear with brown, bronze and plum smokey eyes (taking them to infinity…and beyond!).
Retail Therapy
I went to Sephora last Saturday for a little retail therapy and picked up a few noms:
- Laura Mercier Kohl Eye Pencil in Black Gold ($20)
- YSL Toning & Cleansing Micellar Water ($40)
- Sephora Collection Gold Chain Headband ($7; it’s kind of Chanel-ish, yeah?)
Have you tried any of these? Inquiring minds wanna know.
I also saw a couple of poodles shopping for makeup with their mom while I was there. Too cute! 🙂
Makeup and Beauty Blog Monday Poll, Vol. 237
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 four years. I’ve always enjoyed reading your answers in the comments, and I hope you enjoy reading mine.
- Mood:
Downright cheerful, and I see good things in store for us this week. 🙂 - When was the last time you got your makeup done?
Heavens, it’s been a while. Maybe six months ago at a MAC store? I remember chatting it up with a friendly artists about wearing brights in the crease, and she offered to decorate my eyes with a few of her favorite green shades. It was a blast! - Would you ever consider opening your own restaurant, bar or cafe?
I think I’ll answer this question with another one: have you ever seen Gordon Ramsay’s Kitchen Nightmares?? In other words, no way, I would not. I can’t cook all that well to start, and I’ve seen one too many reality TV shows about running restaurants to know how difficult the food service business can be… I think I’ll stick to the glamorous world of pet assisting instead. - What’s your idea of a great morning?
One that extends well past noon, LOL! I get to sleep in as late I want, no alarms (tabby or otherwise), and then I have a long, leisurely breakfast (French toast!). After letting my tummy settle for an hour or two, I hop on the treadmill and have a nice, long shower when I’m done with my run. Ah…heavenly. - Do you like classical music?
I do. I played classical piano growing up, so I listened to a lot of it. I like Bach for the complex arrangements and Debussy for how relaxed it makes me feel. - What’s one skill that took you a while to learn?
It took me a long while to learn how to take sharp pictures with my camera. Back when I started blogging I couldn’t take clear pics for squat. I feel like there’s still so much to learn (for me, lighting is the hardest part), but now I’m the person who usually gets handed the camera at family functions. - Which Muppet are you?
The Swedish Chef, because like him, I feel like I’m always running around frantically with chickens all over the place and babbling crazy nonsense that no one understands, LOL! - Have the last three months gone the way you expected them to?
Honestly, and I feel like a broken record sometimes, I’d hoped to be further along with some things, like clearing the boxes out of the dining room (or getting a dining room table, for that matter). I wonder if I’ll ever feel totally in control of my schedule and my life. I try and try and feel like I get pretty close sometimes, but then POOF! — the feeling disappears.I guess I just have to remember to keep things in perspective… All things considered, the past three months have been fine, and I’m probably the happiest I’ve been in a really long time.
- What would you choose as your last meal on earth?
The black garlic spaghetti grande with head-on gulf prawns, hen-of-the-woods mushrooms, calabrian chili and citrus essence from Bottega Napa Valley restaurant in Yountville… OMG, so good!Or my mom’s fried tilapia with garlic fried rice and diced tomatoes, seasoned with salt and pepper on the side (my idea of perfect comfort food).
And for dessert, I’ll take a warm, semi-sweet chocolate brownie with vanilla bean and salted caramel ice cream on the side.
- Weekly goals:
Give Tabs a good brushing, find some peppy new music to listen to, start thinking about Halloween costumes, and — wait for it — look for dining room furniture, gah!
Happy Monday, cutie pie.
ZAP!
You’ve just been zapped with a powerful blast of positive energy. Let me know if you felt it in today’s Monday Poll. 🙂
To complete the Monday Poll, just copy the following list, and paste it with your answers in the comments.
Le List
1. Mood:
2. When was the last time you got your makeup done?
3. Would you ever consider opening your own restaurant, bar or cafe?
4. What’s your idea of a great morning?
5. Do you like classical music?
6. What’s one skill that took you a while to learn?
7. Which Muppet are you?
8. Have the last three months gone the way you expected them to?
9. What would you choose as your last meal on earth?
10. Weekly goals:
Have a great day, and we’ll reconnect in a few. 🙂
Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,
Karen