Mama always said, “When life hands you insomnia, hide your dark circles with concealer.”

Okay, my mom didn’t actually say that because she doesn’t wear makeup (I know! The apple fell so far from the tree!).

Anyhoo, I was inspecting the purplish nether regions under my eyes this morning and feeling pretty crappy because of the whole no sleep thing, so I decided to run with it and try a purplish-brown smokey eye. The result improved my sour mood and put a lil’ spring in my step, for sure!

The shadows I used from left to right:

• MAC Showstopper (matte)
• MAC Newly Minted (matte)
• MAC Frisco (matte)
• MAC Saddle (matte)
• MAC Retrospeck (lustre)
• MAC Star Violet (veluxe pearl)
• MAC Sable (frost) – Whoops! I forgot to swatch this one. Click here to view a swatch.

I haven’t been a regular user of matte shadows in the past, but I went all out with them this time. Thanks to MAC Senior Makeup Artist Jennifer Karsten’s advice, I’ve decided I’m going to work diligently to couple them with shimmer shades to create more depth in my eye makeup looks.

The color map below shows where I placed the different eyeshadows…

1. MAC Frisco – browbone
2. MAC Saddle – crease
3. MAC Star Violet – lid
4. MAC Sable – outer third of lid
5. MAC Showstopper – outer V
6. MAC Retrospeck – inner third of lid
7. MAC Newly Minted – upper lash line (I smudged this on top MAC Technakohl eyeliner in Graphblack)
8. MAC Saddle and Sable – lower lash line

Trying to balance the look, I kept the lips neutral and the cheeks light.

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Last night I slept a total of about 3.5 hours because of different things on my mind, but in that time I managed to have a few vivid dreams, including one where I was trapped in the 80′s sitcom The Golden Girls.

Perhaps the dream was a cry for help, but, honestly, I can’t think of another TV show in which I’d rather be trapped. I love that show!

Sure, the ladies of The Golden Girls are more than twice my age, but I can’t get enough of Blanche, Dorothy, Sophia and Rose’s hijinks. Plus, the show is set in Miami — hello, surfing. Let the hilarity ensue!

In the dream I moved into the house and became the fifth Golden Girl. Sophia taught me how to cook Sicilian food, and Rose asked if I could post a picture of her new hairdo on the blog. Yup, good times.

I hope I have a Sex and the City dream now, but I really can’t see myself living in New York because I’m a wuss when it comes to cold winters.

Speaking of TV dreams, could you imagine being stuck in The Hills? I can see myself hanging out with Lo and Whitney, but the show’s male characters are terribly sub-par. Could anyone have a meaningful conversation with Spencer or Justin Bobby, the ambassadors of lame?

If you could transport yourself into any show on TV, what would it be? YOU MUST CHOOSE!

Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,

Karen

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You probably already knew that MAC provides makeup and makeup artists for fashion shows all over the world, but did you know that MAC does makeup for music tours, too? If you have tickets to rapper Kanye West’s Glow in the Dark North American tour (April-June, 2008), expect to see MAC in action. The MAC team is creating the looks for several of the dancers, backup singers and accompanying musicians on the tour.

And Glow in the Dark isn’t the first MAC/Kanye partnership. They’ve been at it for years, with MAC working on a number of Kanye’s tours, special performances and videos.

To find out more about how MAC works with performers on large concerts and events, I spoke with MAC Senior Makeup Artist Jennifer Karsten. Jennifer worked on Kanye’s Touch the Sky tour, his 2007 MTV Music Video Awards appearance and the Flashing Lights video.

Jennifer did the makeup for the girl in this video. Yo, shuttle the kids into the other room before you watch this because the end is kinda graphic.

Unlike the full-time singers, dancers and musicians who travel with an artist on tour, MAC artists are usually assigned at each stop along the way. How do all these different makeup artists in different cities maintain a consistent makeup look throughout a lengthy tour? “We all communicate through the senior artists and global communications,” Jennifer says, “so everyone knows what the look is and to keep the continuity going.”

MAC artists working on high-profile music events face challenges that makeup artists working fashion shows don’t often face. Large concerts are complex productions. “When you’re dealing with someone more high profile,” says Jennifer, “you have a lot more channels to go through.” It can be more difficult or challenging to really get the look correct because you’re filtering an idea through someone else.

For one of his performances at the 2007 MTV music video awards, Kanye wanted a futuristic, glamorous, high fashion makeup look. The MAC team envisioned a glossy, futuristic cat eye (ooh, me likey!). MAC artists created a “test look” on one of the orchestra performers. It then took six hours, several calls, and pictures taken with cell phones to get the test look approved. That left the team with only 20 minutes to replicate the look on the rest of the orchestra.

And, ultimately, fashion show makeup isn’t meant to overshadow the clothing. That’s not always the case in a concert, where the makeup often defines the look.

MAC Makeup Tips – Concert Makeup

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When I got home from work this afternoon, my inner crazy possessed me to inhale half a bag of Trader Joe’s Reduced Fat Cheese Crunchies. After washing off my neon-orange fingers and chewing three Tums (note to file: do not eat half a bag of cheese crunchies in one sitting), I pulled out my Essie Summer 2008 nail polish stash and painted each of the nails on my left hand (and the pointer finger on my right) different colors. This is what too many cheese crunchies can make a woman do.

Essie Summer 2008 contains six shades ($8 each), and I lurve them all.

1. Guilty Pleasures — pink strawberry
2. My Place or Yours — pink rose
3. Escapades — shimmerless red coral
4. Risky Business — red with tangerine shimmer
5. Secret Stash — fuschia
6. Movers & Shakers — bold hot pink

Guilty Pleasures

My Place or Yours

Escapades

Risky Business

Secret Stash

Movers & Shakers

Which of these is your favorite? I can’t decide which one is mine. I need help!

The shade that gets the most votes will be the color I wear the rest of the week.

Aren’t you glad we’ve gotten Monday out of the way? I had a bad case of the Mondays this morning, but things started looking up in the afternoon.

Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,

Karen

For more fun beauty bits, try your luck with my random post generator. Click for a totally random post.

If I had my way, I’d live near a beach in the tropics and go surfing every morning before work, but, alas, I live in Northern California, where the water temp hovers around 50 degrees Fahrenheit all year round.

Since fate hath dealt me this cruel and ironic hand, I’ve resorted to several different tricks to capture that beachy, laid-back, surf-all-day-’til-your-arms-give-out feeling. For example, on days when I’m missing Hawaii somethin’ fierce, I’ll watch the Kuhio and Waikiki beach webcams and drink margaritas while listening to the Steve Miller Band (“Some people call me the space cowboy…”).

But while helpful at times of makeup despair, booze is not a long-term solution, and last weekend I discovered a new (and alcohol-free!) form of surf therapy. It’s called Bobbi Brown’s Beach Shower Gel ($32), and it smells just like a day at the beach.

The second I rubbed the foaming gel into my skin in the shower I felt transported to Waikiki beach. Bobbi says the scent contains jasmine, sea spray and mandarin, but I’d characterize it as more a mix of the ocean, sunblock, off shore breezes and clean beach towels. That may not be the most sophisticated definition of the fragrance, but I think it’s apt. My nose knows (ha ha) the smell of the beach, and how much this tube of shower gel captures that scent is kinda miraculous.

After I lathered up and rinsed off in the shower, I actually couldn’t stop smelling myself for hours. I was like a fiend for it, and every single time I caught a whiff, I felt like I was at Waikiki beach, drinking in the sunshine and enjoying a warm day by the ocean.

Bobbi, take me away…

Oahu’s famous Waikiki Beach

Bobbi’s Beach scent comes in various forms…

1. Beach Fragrance – $55
2. Beach Body Oil – $28
3. Beach Shower Gel – $32
4. Beach Body Lotion – $35
5. Beach Body Scrub – $35
6. Beach Suncreen Body Spray SPF 15 – $25
7. Beach Sandbar Soap – $16

Bobbi Brown Beach Shower Gel

Price: $32
Use: To clean yo’ stinky self
Makeup and Beauty Blog Rating: A+

For a limited time, when you buy any two Bobbi Brown Beach products you’ll also snag this cute tote fo’ free.

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