Head to Macy’s between March 25 and April 14 and snag a sweet, springy 9-piece gift with purchase from Clinique

There I stood at my bathroom counter this morning, coaxing the last few precious drops out of my bottle of Clinique Mild Clarifying Lotion (a mild miracle-working exfoliator that keeps my zits in check), and marveling at a phenomenon I call, “the mustache effect.”

The mustache effect describes the mysterious appearance of upper lip hair during a particular phase of life known as, “the wonder years.”

LOL! But seriously, I actually have no idea when my ‘stach grew in. One morning it was just there, like a hungry caterpillar straight chillin’ above my lips.

For the life of me, I can’t figure out how I missed something so obvious, with all of the hours I logged as a teenage girl in front of the mirror trying to defy gravity with my bangs. I mean, literally, it was right under my nose!

Now, when something seemingly appears or disappears without warning, like the contents of my bottle of Clinique Clarifying Lotion (I didn’t even know it was running low), I say, “Ah! The mustache effect.”

I do have a point with this, and here it is: don’t become a victim of the mustache effect. Visit a Clinique counter (or wherever else you need to go) before it’s too late.

Check your bottles! And if any of them are running low, restock.

For what it’s worth, Clinique counters at Macy’s are doing a pretty sweet nine-piece gift with purchase deal from March 25 through April 14, free with any purchase of $25 or more in Clinique products at Macy’s.

The nine-piece gift with purchase includes two bags, two brushes, a palette, a lipstick, a small High Impact Mascara in Black, a travel-sized tube of Dramatically Different Moisturizer Lotion (also works as a makeup remover in a pinch) and Clinique’s 7-Day Scrub Cream

“But Karen!” I think I can hear you saying, “If I get one more tube of Bamboo Pink Lipstick, I’m gonna have to kick someone with my Chuck Taylor high-tops.”

Don’t bust a move just yet, ninja girl, because Clinique lets you customize this set. You can pick your own palette and lipstick.

Prefer pink? Pick the pink pairings palette, which comes with a Pink Slate Eye Shadow Duo, Soft-Pressed Powder Blusher in New Clover and a True Bronze Pressed Powder in Sunkissed.

Or if you’re partial to purple, grab the violet pairings palette instead, which features the Twilight Mauve Eye Shadow Duo, Soft-Pressed Powder Blusher in Pink Blush and the True Bronze Pressed Powder Bronzer in Sunkissed.

The violet pairings palette! Clockwise, from the pan on the left: Pink Blush Soft-Pressed Powder Blusher, Twilight Mauve Colour Surge Eye Shadow Duo, Sunkissed True Bronze Pressed Powder Bronzer and Brandied Plum Colour Surge Eye Shadow

As for the lipsticks, you can choose between violet Shy, and good ol’ reliable Bamboo Pink.

Different Lipstick in Shy

What is this 1990?? Check out those Cindy Crawford brows!

Bold brows are just one of the spring trends I dish about in 5 Spring Trends to Try Right Now, my latest post for Gloss Daily, the Ladies’ Home Journal beauty blog.

To find out the other four, and get good some ideas for ways to work the trends into your makeup routine, click here!

Show me some love, too, while you’re there. If you like the post, please leave a comment and say hi.

Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,

Karen

If you need me…I’ll be on the mothership, also known as the new NARS 2050 Fillmore Boutique in San Francisco

New favorite plaaaace!

Poor El Hub. Now when we visit San Francisco together, he’ll have to find something to do while I play with makeup at the new NARS 2050 Fillmore Boutique.

My first observation: there are no man couches in the store. Nowhere to park El Hub while I peruse, so I guess I’ll just have to dispatch him down the street to grab a snack at one of the bustling shops or cafes in the neighborhood (it’s in the Fillmore). “Um, babe. Why don’t you go get a cupcake? Mmm… You like cupcakes. Take your time. I’ll text you in an hour.”

The new store is the third for NARS in the US. They also have stores in New York and Los Angeles.

Welcome, welcome, one and all! The store is very welcoming by design — not intimidating at all — which I like. According to Fillmore Boutique Manager Alexia Ogle, “Like François Nars always says, ‘Don’t be so serious. It’s only makeup.’”

That’s the kind of environment the company wanted to create. “We want clients to come in and have fun,” Alexia says, “and that’s why we’re here.”

The 700-square-foot store carries everything in the NARS line (including those hard-to-find pumps for NARS foundations, woo hoo!) and provides touch-ups and makeup application, free of charge. If you’re interested in trying a product first before buying, they also offer samples.

The NARS 2050 Fillmore Boutique is open seven days a week from 10:30 a.m. to 7:30 p.m., Mondays through Saturdays, and 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Sundays. If you’d like to get your makeup done by one of the friendly NARS artists, just walk in, or you can also book an appointment ahead of time by calling (415) 757-2485.

Master classes with NARS artists are on the horizon, as are small, intimate seminars for NARS fans who want to learn more about the products and seasonal trends.

Hello! I think I just found a new home away from home.

That’s Louis Desazars, CEO of NARS Cosmetics, on the left at the store’s official ribbon cutting

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Life lessons learned from watching America’s Next Top Model…

1. If you think you can watch “just one episode” of that 8-hour Top Model marathon, fugghetabboutit.
2. Don’t forget to “pop the hip.” (Side note: Miss J’s hip control? Off the chain!)
3. And always, always remember to smile with your eyes.

Question: When can you tell that smiling with your eyes, or “smizing,” a term coined by model, TV show host and enterprising businesswoman Tyra Banks, has officially become a cultural phenomenon? Answer: when your 65-year-old mom calls to tell you that “you need to smize more often in your blog pictures.”

Well, can do, because smizing just got a whole lot easier.

Now, we can even smize ourselves on our phones!

Hello, is that fierceness calling?

Ty-Ty plans to smize you up, literally, with her latest venture, a new mobile phone app called Smize Yourself! (exclamation mark included).

On a Skype call with bloggers and reporters yesterday, Tyra described the $1.99 app, which launched last night (it’s available in the iTunes App Store now, but I’m not sure about Android availability).

You can smize an existing pic of yourself on your smartphone, or snap a new one with your phone’s camera. The app does the rest, turning you into an exaggerated smizing version of yourself.

Tyra provides an instructional video in the app on the finer points of smizing and rocks some seriously stunning smokey eyes.

When you’re ready to smize, take a pic of yourself, and listen as Tyra cheers you along with catwalk catchphrases like “Work!” and “Honey, you look fierce!” Wait for the app to automatically place eye and mouth points on your picture, and then adjust the location of the points to suit the shape of your face. When you’re ready, hit the “smize” button, and await your customized smize shot.

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Exciting news, MAC-aholics! Starting tomorrow, October 18, MAC Pro products will be available on maccosmetics.com. You don’t need a special MAC Pro card or anything, either — anyone can buy.

A big YAY to no longer having to make the trek into SF to get my MAC Pro fix on!

Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,

Karen