Wearing products from the new MAC Smokeluxe Veluxe Pearlfusion Palette ($40)

Is it drawing the perfect cat liner flick, blending beautiful gradients, or figuring out ways to make your eye makeup last through work?

My biggest eye makeup challenge is getting things properly lined up and even, particularly when it comes to shadow. I’m right-handed, and when I apply products on my left side, I push a little harder with the brush, and reach a little further, which can make the end result uneven.

I have to remind myself all the time to use a lighter touch on my left eye. “Use a lighter touch on your left eye, Karen.”

Lately my brows have also been a challenge. I’m trying to grow them out, and my left brow is just being a pain in the you-know-what. My brow bald spot (whom I call “Raul”) simply refuses to go away.

Dangit! Grow brows, grow!

Last thing is probably just remembering to try new looks and be adventurous! It’s easy to fall back on my safe colors and routines because I know they’re easy and work for me, but where’s the fun in that? It’s makeup, right? If it ends up looking wackadoo, just wash it off.

Do you have any eye liner/shadow/mascara/etc. issues? What are your biggest challenges when it comes to eye makeup?

Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,

Karen

Cha-cha-cha-chia!

I’ve been obsessed with this yummy, easy snack. I used a chia pudding recipe I found on skinnytaste.com and tweaked it with some ingredients from my kitchen.

All you need is…

Two tablespoons of chia seeds (I get mine from Trader Joe’s; they’re in the cereal section)

One cup of vanilla almond milk

One cup of berries, your choice (I used raspberries and blueberries today)

Time to make the pudding.

Pour the almond milk into the berries…

Add the chia seeds…

Stir it all together…

Cover and keep in the fridge for at least 5-6 hours. You can also make this before going to bed, and let it sit and thicken overnight to have for breakfast in the morning.

Just before serving, sprinkle in a few berries on top for color

Cha-cha-cha chia seeds!

Wearing Clarins Instant Smooth Crystal Lip Balm in Crystal Rose ($26) on my lips

I am no fortune teller.

No way, no how. I’ve never picked the winning lottery numbers, haven’t foreseen any major historical events, and I did not divine my evolution into a cat lady…although really, in hindsight, that one I should have seen comin’.

I can’t tell you if that guy/gal you’re dating is THE one (I’m keeping my fingers crossed for you!), but I can tell you this: if you plan to spend any time with these Clarins Instant Smooth Crystal Lip Balms this summer, you’ll be spending much of it swiping these balms back and forth across your lips. Back, back, forth and forth, as the song goes.

The Instant Smooth Crystal Lip Balms from the left in Crystal Rose, Crystal Gold Plum and Crystal Mandarin (not pictured: Crystal Berry)

Yeah, these four new limited edition tinted lip balms require some serious swiping. A LOT of swiping. I think it has to do with the tinted inner core.

Released with the Clarins Splendours Colour Collection for summer, Crystal Rose, Crystal Mandarin, Crystal Gold Plum and Crystal Berry ($26 each) each have a yummy-looking tinted inner core surrounded by a transparent balm.

Don’t they look cool and almost good enough to eat?

Mmm… Like lipstick gummies.

I’ve been wearing and liking three of the four shades this week. Like a fancier, more pigmented species of Burt’s Bees lip balm, they have a lightweight but heavy-duty moisturizing formula that also packs a peck of shine. Non-sticky, they last around 2-3 hours for me.

Thing is, they also take a bit of work to wield. Lots of that swiping I mentioned, as in swiping the lipstick across my lips at least 5-6 times to evenly apply the colors.

From the left, that’s Crystal Rose, Crystal Mandarin and Crystal Gold Plum

I think there’s something up with that tinted inner core, like it’s a different texture than the softer outer balm. With the first pass across my lower lip, the swipe ends up patchy and uneven…

Gold Plum

Wearing the Dolce & Gabbana Contrasts Eyeshadow Quad

contrast n. |kon-trast|
noun
1 The state of being strikingly different from something else, typically something in juxtaposition or close association : tabs has been unusually nice to me today, in startling contrast to his behavior yesterday.

contrast v. |kon-trast|
verb
2 Differ strikingly : contrast my hair today with my hair of the 1990s, and be like whoa!

Do you ever think about how you got your name, or do you know the actual story?

Dolce & Gabbana’s Contrasts Eyeshadow quad has me thinking about names…

I was named after the actress Karen Black, but my mom almost named me Stephanie, which I can’t even begin to imagine… Not that I don’t like the name. I do. It’s just that when I look in the mirror, I don’t see a Stephanie, Steph or Steffie. Nope. Does not compute.

Funny, though, that last weekend I met a gal at the Bliss Spa who said that she didn’t think I looked like a Karen. She thought maybe a Leah, Leilani or a Lorelei. Something with an L, and I can kinda see that. Definitely more than Stephanie.

Anywho, I think whoever named Dolce & Gabbana’s Constrasts quad knocked it out of the park, since it really is strikingly different from the other everyday quads in my stash of staples.

If I could, I’d give that gal/guy a banana split with extra scoops of ice cream, whipped cream and cherries, because they nailed it!

And then, if he/she wanted, I’d go running with them, so we could burn off the calories and talk more about Constrasts.

The long-running Unsung Heroes series features some of my favorite permanent collection products from a variety of bodacious beauty brands.

This quad is a total workhorse, one I could easily see myself wearing daily, and yet it’s unlike the usual brown/beige/taupe/gray neutral suspects we see a lot.

Starting with the colors, ohmigosh! Inside the golden compact hides four potently pigmented powder shadows that you can easily take from day to night — a golden pinkish peach (a favorite for dusting all over my lids when I’m in a hurry because it brightens everything up), a pinkish beige, a warm purple and a plummy dark chocolate.

Versatile and flattering on many different skin tones, and just hella pretty.

From the left: shimmery golden pink, shimmery pinkish beige, shimmery plum and shimmery plummy brown (looks like a MAC Teddy in eye shadow form)

I was searching through old pictures this morning and found these shots of Tabs from 2008, which was just about the time he decided to make me his full-time assistant.

It was the tail-end of his kitten-hood. He’s a little smaller in these pics and still has his baby face.

The little paws! How I miss those days.

The lighting in these snaps is funkytown, I know. I was still figuring out how to use a camera properly. The best photography advice I can give? Shoot every day and make a lot of mistakes. You’ll eventually figure stuff out.