That’s MAC Nude on Board Pro Longwear Bronzer ($30) below my cheekbones…

While I’m willing to give up some things in the interest of streamlining — spare toothbrushes (do you really need more than one of them?), clothes that no longer fit me and that fourth half-empty jar of Tiger Balm — I refuse to relinquish any all-important necessities like shoes, handbags, earrings, jeans, lipsticks and, in the summer months, bronzer because, I mean, you just never know, right?

You just never know…

You just never know when a freak cold front will blow through town in the middle of August (well…), and you’ll want to warm up with MAC’s Nude on Board Pro Longwear Bronzing Powder.

It’s perfect for times when I need a little extra warmth and contouring — but less than full-on “tiara and feather boa” levels.

Nude on Board Pro Longwear Bronzer, $30

A golden tan powder, Nude on Board leaves my skin lightly toasted, and like MAC’s Refined Golden Bronzer (from the same Temperature Rising collection), its micro-fine flecks of golden glitter, much finer than grains of sand, give skin that extra something-something.

It’s a subtle effect, but I think that’s the beauty of it.

To apply, first find a fainting couch… Then, leisurely lower yourself down onto it, and languidly apply the satiny smooth powder just below your cheekbones.

It won’t take much muscle at all, as the application is darned-near effortless.

Yeah, it brings out yo’ lazy like that!

Nude on Board Pro Longwear Bronzer on NC42 skin

Minty! That’s LORAC’s Mint Edition Palette refreshing my eyes, cheeks and lips

Not that I need another clutch…but if someone were to build one based on LORAC’s Mint Edition Eye/Cheek Palette, I would not be averse to the idea.

I’m just sayin’.

How cute is this!?

With the silver and black accents?

I used to rock a pair of mint green Bongo Jeans in the exact same color about a zillion years back (it had zippers and bows around the ankles), and now I suddenly have the urge to put my hair up in a side ponytail with a scrunchie and peg my pants…

Mint — it’s EVERYWHERE!

What year is this again? Did we just go back in time?

Wait — I don’t think so, but LORAC looks like they did for the retro design. This eye, cheek and lip set launched earlier this spring, but it looks like it could have been released a few decades before that.

Regardless of the palette’s release date, mint is having a moment — I’m seeing it on purses, shoes, nails, makeup — and Mint Edition is riding the wave…

A complete look

LORAC included all of the basics for a minty fresh look in this $42 set (a $160 value) — eight eye shadows (four mattes and four shimmers), a powder highlighter, a powder blush and a full-sized liquid lipstick.

Liquid Lipstick in Retro

Here I’m wearing MAC Refined Golden Bronzing Powder just below my cheekbones…

Like Tabs the Cat, star of screen, stage and glossy magazines, MAC’s $25 Refined Golden Bronzing Powder does it all, deepening tans, thereby allowing me to live out my bronzed beach surfer babe dreams (irrespective of the fact that I spend most of my time with my butt in front of a computer), and sculpting cheekbones like Michelangelo sculpted marble and clay. We’re talkin’ real-deal contouring here.

To my eye, it’s the darkest and most intense of the Temperature Rising collection’s four powder bronzers, making it ideal for skin tones NC42-ish and darker.

So refined…

Flecks of golden glitter spice up this pan of deep golden tan, which I probably would have liked even without the glitter for the color itself, which never looks muddy, ruddy or dirty on my skin, perhaps due to the golden undertones.

Did you say, “hrmpf!” when I said, “glitter?” Not to worry. MAC didn’t go overboard with this glitter (not that there’s anything inherently wrong with going overboard on glitter). This isn’t Bollywood-caliber shimmer, which I also like.

MAC Refined Golden on NC42 Skin

Bobbi Brown Peach Corrector, $23

I’ve been having one of those Mondays where everything’s been going…great!

Don’t you just love those?

They’re few and far between, let me tell ya, but I’ll take it. Some Mondays I don’t feel ready for the weekend to end or for the workweek to start, but I’ve been in in a pretty good groove so far today.

I don’t know, maybe it’s the heat… It’s almost 90 degrees Fahrenheit in Novato right now!

Seriously, I think it’s making me loopy because I’m smiling from ear to ear…

I was watching a mama bird feed one of her little ones in the oak tree by my window this morning as I applied under-eye concealer and randomly started singing, “The hills are aliiiiive, with the sound of musiiiiiic!”

The concealer was Bobbi Brown’s bad@ss Peach Corrector. My dark under-eye situation has been triple-rainbow intense lately. I’m officially in my (gulp) late thirties now, and the purplish, bluish dark circles under my eyes have become something of a mainstay of my looks, haha.

Shoot, last night I even got 10 hours of sleep — 10 GLORIOUS HOURS! — and I still woke up with dark circles.

Thank goodness for Bobbi’s $23 miracle working Peach Corrector…

Totally worthy of hitting the pan

A creamy, opaque color-correcting concealer designed to be layered beneath your go-to under-eye concealer, it’s great if you get those real deal, Uncle Fester-caliber dark circles like moi. I use Peach, one of 16 shades in the line.

SHAZAM! It’s like waving a magic wand over my face. When I add it to my mix, I think I definitely look refreshed and considerably less tired, and that whole under-eye sitch looks brighter.

Most of the time I just wear it on its own with powder dusted on top (versus underneath another concealer), and it neutralizes the purple action. Heck, when I use it I think I even look a little younger (says the girl turning 38 in a few weeks, le sigh!).

(more…)

Sure, I’ll take a dip! A MAC Sun Dipped Pro Longwear Bronzer ($30, from the new Temperature Rising collection).

The following is an excerpt from an actual email conversion between blogger and makeup/cat enthusiast Karen and her longtime friend and surf buddy Cindy that took place on the morning of Friday, May 17, 2013.

Immediately following this exchange, Karen swept MAC’s new Sun Dipped Pro Longwear Bronzer on her face…

KAREN: When was the last time we went surfing together?
CINDY: I don’t know. Hawaii in 2006?
KAREN: That can’t be right.
CINDY: Yeah, I think so. It was right before your wedding.
KAREN: Seriously? Why are we so lame? We have to fix that.
CINDY: You could always go with me to Ocean Beach.

[NOTE: Ocean Beach is cold. It runs along the Great Highway on the west/Pacific side of San Francisco, and it's so cold that just thinking about it is making my fingers and toes numb.]

KAREN: That’s not happening unless we’re being chased by zombies and the only way we can escape is by surfboard.

You know that moment when the water drips down the back of your wetsuit? Yeah, I hate that.

Okay, now I’m freezing cold. BRB! Need to put on some bronzer.

These are days of my life…

Don’t you feel warmer after putting on bronzer? Or is that just me…?

A light dusting of MAC’s new $33 Sun Dipped won’t turn Ocean Beach into Waikiki, but I think it does make me look tanned and toasty and gives me a sunnier outlook, too.

It can’t only be the power of suggestion, either. Sun Dipped has a sunny secret weapon: red tones!

Of the four powder bronzers in the MAC Temperature Rising collection, it’s by far the reddest one, and the one that most naturally simulates 30 minutes of fun in the sun.

A swatch on my NC 42 skin