November 12th, 2009 | Karen | Filed in: Makeup, Product Reviews

Do you also have those dreams where you look in the mirror and see yourself with Terminator eyes?
Thanks to Lashlight ($25), the newest mascara from Too Faced, “futuristic cyborg” can now be your face of the day.

My right eye looks like it’s about to shoot lasers… Spooky!
Something tells me Too Faced didn’t have flesh-covered robots bent on the destruction of womankind when they designed Lashlight, but they still outfitted it with hella upgrades!
I think it should be noted that the LED lights in the base of the wand also make this mascara the *world’s best* for finding your house keys in the dark.

The way Too Faced creative director and founder Jerrod Blandino explains it, he got the idea for the LEDs from the times he struggled to apply mascara to clients in dimly lit (but oh so glam!) locations.
NOTE: I’ve never had to apply mascara in the dark — trapped, say, with a shirtless Ryan Reynolds — but, thanks to Lashlight, I find it comforting to know that I could.

Picture taken in my darkened bathroom… How Blair Witchy is this?
Too Faced also claims that “liquid crystalline particles” in the Lashlight formula act like microscopic mirrors, brightening up the eyes by reflecting light off and around the lashes.
Hmm…
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November 12th, 2009 | Karen | Filed in: Drugstore Beauty Finds, Makeup, Product Reviews

If you’re a budget-lovin’ babe who wears cool-toned shadows well, Sonia Kashuk’s got your back. Her new Starry Eyes Palette ($15) for holiday 2009 comes with six cool-toned powder eyeshadows in a mix of glitters and matte.

Exactly what’s inside?
I’ve been going through a glitter renaissance of late, and the glitter shadows in this palette are hitting all my right notes. You know how some glittery shadows are just too sheer? How all you can see sometimes is the glitter (but no color)? Well, these aren’t like that at all. All three deliver respectable pigmentation — a nice surprise for gals on Team Glitter.

Speaking of the glitter, I expected it to feel gritty here based on how chunky the bits look in their pans.
But that wasn’t the case. In fact, the particles appear fine — just right, in fact — once they’re applied.
It adds up to a very refined glitter look, if there is such a thing.

Swatches with flash
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November 11th, 2009 | Karen | Filed in: Makeup, Product Reviews

The folks at Too Faced Cosmetics are making sure good things come in small packages.
Their latest Glamour to Go Palette (Glamour to Go III, $20) — the third in a series of travel-friendly sets for face, cheeks and eyes — is a lean, mean makeup machine!

Too Faced nailed the “to go” part, stuffing this slim shady (I love the pink roses on the front!) with eight eyeshadows, a blush and four lipglosses. The sturdy palette easily fits in the palm of my hand, yet despite its diminutive stature looks like it could take a beating from phones, keys and random cans of cat food squirreled away in a purse.
Color-wise, I think the stars of this show are the eyeshadows. With a good mix of wearable neutrals and fun accent shades, the eight shimmery shades of gold, light pink, dark pink, taupe, black, bronze, silver and violet cover a wide range of potential looks, and I really like them for quick washes of color on my lids.

Eyeshadow swatches, top row: gold, light pink, dark pink and taupe; Eyeshadow swatches, bottom row: black, bronze, silver and violet
As for texture and color payoff, the smoothness and rich pigmentation of these shadows remind me of something Urban Decay would create. In other words, good stuff.
Oh, and if you’re a fan of Benefit’s Coralista, check out Glamour to Go III’s blush — a shimmery, peachy pink with a hint of gold that I’m guessing would look great with a snowboarder’s tan.
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November 9th, 2009 | Karen | Filed in: Makeup

What shimmery pearls of makeup wisdom can we derive from the eight pieces in Givenchy’s new pearl-inspired limited edition Holiday 2009 collection?
How about “less is more”?
These pearlescent shades of gray, pink and beige bring subtle back in a precious gemstone kinda way (read: expensive). I swatched five of the items today, and subtle was definitely *in the house*, particularly when it came to the lip colors.

Gloss Interdit Ultra-Shiny Color Plumping Effect in 20 Tender Pearl (top) and 21 Elegant Pearl (bottom), each $25

Rouge Interdit Shine Lipstick in 24 Pearl Shine, $27
November 8th, 2009 | Karen | Filed in: Makeup
We’ve been put on notice today — theNotice, that is. The charming Rae of theNotice blog shares one of her all-time drugstore makeup faves, NYC’s Pencil and Pout.

Posing for the camera
So you know those mornings when you just don’t want to get out of bed? Yah, those ones — the ones where you sit in front of the mirror after taking caffeine into your bloodstream and realize that you’re too tired to tell your mascara from your brow gel, much less match your lipliner to your gloss?
Well, if you can track it down (can be hard to find online), NYC may have a solution. It’s their cute little Pencil and Pout lipgloss in Parfait Duet (about $5), with its hidden liner in the stem of the applicator.

Swatches: gloss on right
I think it’s pretty great. Medium wear for a drugstore gloss –- nothing totally amazing -– but the shade’s like strawberry pie, and nothing reminiscent of strawberry pie could possibly be bad, because, well, it’s strawberry pie.