Makeup Tools

Too Faced Clover Collection Melted Clover Lipstick and the Clover Makeup Bag

April 4th, 2018 by Karen 7 Comments

too faced melted clover — I get weirdly guilty about eating cookies in the shapes of animals

*** KAWAII ALERT *** KAWAII ALERT *** KAWAII ALERT***

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We interrupt our regular programming to bring you this important message:

I haven’t worn anything from Too Faced Cosmetics in a hot second, but it looks like they’re still doing their thing, appealing to everyone’s inner 12-year-old girl. They have a new collection out that’s so kawaii that there aren’t enough emojis on this blog to describe it. 💁👌🎍😍

So I’ll use emoticons instead! (✿◕‿◕) (ʘ‿ʘ✿)

The Clover collection is available now. There’s a palette and cute makeup bags, including this one, the Clover Makeup Bag ($20), which looks very Tokidoki, don’t you think?

It has a narwhal on it, so you gotta love on that. Clover is Too Faced Cosmetics founder Jerrod Blandino’s dog, and his charm looks extra cute on the zipper.

too faced clover makeup bag — Check out Clover doing the over-the-shoulder “look at my booty” pose (pretty sure Tabs did it first, though)

too faced clover makeup bag 2 — Sweet pup-pup

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An Unsung Hero: The Tweezerman 15X Magnification Mirror

January 4th, 2018 by Karen 17 Comments

tweezerman led 15 x lighted mirror — Locate and obliterate every last rogue lunch lady chin hair.

Yo, let’s get this straight. If you’re the type of person who’ll spend 45 minutes every night pouring over every pore in a magnifying mirror, stay far, far away from the $30 Tweezerman LED 15x Lighted Mirror, because you’ll never want to leave the house!

You can see freakin’ everything with it. It gives you hawk eyes. Every pore, every “experience line,” every rogue lunch lady chin hair that has so far eluded you. Tweezing is hella easy with this thing, too, and dare I say it — oh, so satisfying. Nothing will be able to escape your tweezers.

tweezerman led 15 x lighted mirror palm — And it purr-fectly fits in my paw

It’s a 15X magnification mirror with a built-in battery-powered florescent ring light and three section cups in the back to attach it to your bathroom mirror if you want.

The ring light is pretty lame, though… I could do without it because the button is hard to get to, and the light is this unflattering greenish color that gives my face a Gollum-like pallor, so I just keep it off.

What’s an unsung hero? For me, it’s an oftentimes underrated makeup/beauty morsel, a permanent collection product that scoots under the radar screen of many beauty lovers but regularly rocks my world. The long-running Unsung Heroes series features some of my favorites.

But the mirror itself is great, and the 15X magnification is more than enough. When I’m plucking my brows, or — ahem! — my Magnum P.I. mustache (which looks like a shag carpet when I hold this mirror up to my face), I can see every hair, even the tiny, barely-there hairs that just sprouted up and I would have missed with a regular magnifying mirror.

Pluck, pluck, pluck! Before you know it, every one is gone, and your upper lip and lids are smoother than a baby’s bum.

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Unsung Makeup Heroes: Shiseido Facial Cotton

September 19th, 2017 by Karen 20 Comments

The Unsung Heroes series highlights some of my ALL-TIME favorite permanent collection products from all sorts of brands.

Dang, I had my heart set on being crabby about these Shiseido Facial Cotton pads, because girl, they’re $10, and you only get 165 of them, which is craziness to me because you could roll up to Target right now and get a massive pack of 300 up & up brand cotton pads for $5.

But ugh, these Shiseido ones are so good!

I didn’t expect to be bougie about cotton pads, but I’m there, man. The Shiseido ones are the softest, most velvety facial pads I’ve ever used, and once you’ve felt their caress (it was unmistakable when they touched my delicate water lines), other cotton pads will feel like rough metal scouring pads. NO JOKE. Even Q-tips.

OK, that was a joke…but you know hear I mean’. The Shiseido Facial Cotton pads feel SOFT. Q-tips used to feel like tabby tum fur to me before I got spoiled by these.

I mostly use them to remove eye makeup, but you can use them like any other cotton ball or cotton pad. They’ll apply toners or liquid essences after cleansing, remove face makeup, and they’ll soften the edges of your blush, eyeshadow or your bronzer perfectly well.

I guess you could also use them to remove nail polish, but I won’t be using them for that. My fingers and toes just wouldn’t appreciate how soft (or pricey) they are.

A single pad can remove all of my eye makeup and face makeup, then STILL have enough oomph left to apply toner.

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The Surratt Beauty Relevée Lash Curler or the Shiseido Eyelash Curler?

May 17th, 2017 by Karen 12 Comments

I got these two curlers during the Sephora VIB sale last month because I needed to replace my ancient, much-loved Shu Uemura curler.

Yup, my little trooper finally broke (RIP). 🙁

I’d heard that they’re similar to Shu’s curler and read some rave reviews, and so, in typical Karen fashion, since I couldn’t decide between them…I grabbed both.

They’re similarly shaped and flatter than many lash curlers (like the ones by Tarte, Urban Decay and MAC), and I like this shape a lot because it fits my eyes better than most.

The Troy Surratt Relevée Lash Curler (which is $30) is just a teensy bit wider than the Shiseido one (which is $20), and when I place my lashes into it (the Surratt one) and press down, there’s no pinching at all, whereas I feel a little bit of pinching on my outer lashes with the Shiseido curler if I hit them at certain angles or get too close to the lash base.

With the Troy Surratt curler, I can really get up in there.

I also like the lash look I get with the Surratt curler a bit more. The curl is more pronounced, and I just think it looks more natural and better.

The Shiseido one definitely has its advantages, though. It costs $10 less and comes with an extra silicone pad. I mean, I like the curl (although it’s more of a crimp) I get when I use it, and I think it’s pretty.

Oh! — also, because the Surratt is wider, I can easily fit false lashes into it (on those rare occasions when I wear falsies and want them to curl with my natural lashes).

Honestly, though, I don’t think you’d go really wrong with either one. Both are solid choices. It mostly depends on whether you want the extra width.

In order, I like the…

Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,

Karen

The Uber-Luxe NARS Pro Brush Collection

May 11th, 2017 by Karen 9 Comments

I don’t even know where to start with the NARS Pro Brush Collection. The face brush is $95… I mean, I can’t. I just can’t. Almost $100 for a single brush is craziness to me. I thought a $38 Chanel eye brush was stressful!

I received these brushes as press samples, so I didn’t purchase them on my own. Because if I had, I would be the type of person who drives to Petco to buy Tabby’s gravy in a tricked-out Mercedes with those automatic side mirrors that collapse down like Transformers.

I am not that person… I drive a six-year-old Mazda.

If I were that type of person, though, I would consider getting one, or maybe two, of the uber-luxe, shockingly soft brushes in this collection. (Note: I was so shocked by how soft these were that I couldn’t keep it to myself. I had to have El Hub try them.)

Would I get all eight, though? No, not unless Tabs scores a big kitty modeling contract.

Again, the #1 Finisher powder brush is $95. The most “affordable” brush (air quotes) in the collection is a small angled eye brush called the #8 Small Sculptor, and it’s still $45.

There are eight brushes in all, most of them face brushes, with a couple of eye brushes in there as well.

The NARS Pro Brush Collection breakdown

#1 The Finisher ($95) — A large and fluffy brush ideal for buffing and blending powder formulas.

#2 The Brightener ($95) — A large, teardrop-shaped brush that specializes in highlighting and all-over blending with a weightless touch.

#3 The Intensifier ($85) — A medium-sized brush designed for creating defined cheek looks.

#4 The Sculptor ($85) — A medium-sized, angled brush ideal for sculpting, diffusing and dispersing fluid formulas.

#5 The Small Brightener ($55) — A small, teardrop-shaped brush with a weightless touch, ideal for highlighting eyes and other small areas on the face, like the bridge of the nose, Cupid’s bow and cheekbones.

#6 The Small Intensifier ($55) — A small, domed-shaped brush ideal for targeted contouring on the nose, in the crease, and on other small areas of the face.

#7 The Flat Intensifier ($55) — A small, flat makeup brush ideal for focused effects on the eyes and brows with powder formulas, and also for eyeshadow artistry, defining brows and setting under-eye concealer.

#8 The Small Sculptor ($45) — A small angled makeup brush ideal for adding dimension — with liquid and cream formulas — to small areas around the eyes and lips.

— Paraphrased from NARS PR

nars pro brush collection 1 4 — From the top: NARS #1 The Finisher ($95), #2 The brightener ($95), #3 The Intensifier ($85) and #4 The Sculptor ($85)

According to NARS, the brushes are made in Japan and bound by hand. They’re certainly fancy-looking, right? And the brush heads feel supernaturally soft, which I’d expect for brushes in this price range. I don’t feel a trace of scratchiness. None. These are like rolling around naked on fancy silk sheets. So luxurious!

When I hold the handles in my paw, they also feel sturdy and perfectly balanced. Neither too heavy, nor too light. They feel like they could be heirloom pieces you could pass down from one generation of makeup lover to the next.

What? Am I the only one who’d do that? I’d totally do that!

nars pro brush collection 4 8 — NARS #5 The Small Brightener ($55), #6 The Small Intensifier ($55), #7 The Flat Intensifier ($55) and #8 The Small Sculptor ($45)

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