What a trip! I’m back at home in the Bay now, back to bustling (not) Novato, California. I thought I might get a sneaky-peaky at the Too Faced offices on my overnight excursion down to Southern California last night, but the construction gods had other plans. The Too Faced offices are/were under construction, but that didn’t stop me from having a good time.

Instead of an office tour, the company hosted a tea party for bloggers at the lavish Queen’s Bakery in Costa Mesa to celebrate the new Too Faced Love Sweet Love holiday collection with cucumber sandwiches, cookies and cupcakes.

Before full-on food coma dulled my brain, I sat down with Too Faced Cosmetics Co-Founder and Creative Director Jerrod Blandino for a few minutes to talk about Jerrod’s creative process, the company’s upcoming plans and their delectable holiday release.

Jerrod’s a trip! He’s a BIG personality who talks fast, laughs often and waves his hands in the air when he speaks. While we talked, I couldn’t keep my eyes off the bling on his finger (a sparkly diamond ring) or the bright red loafers on his feet.
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Wanted to say a quick hi, wish you a great day, and let you know that if you’re a fan of Too Faced Cosmetics (or curious about the brand at all), stay tuned for a behind-the-scenes look at their Southern California offices. I’m on my way to the airport right now, and then it’s just a quick flight from SF down the California coast.

I’m only there till tomorrow, but I’ll try to get some good pics and secret squirrel info. I’m all decked out with my remote blogging gear — Canon T3i camera with multiple lenses, a 13″ Macbook Pro laptop, iPhone (for impromptu photo opportunities and super secret squirrel blogging). Let me know in the comments ASAP if there’s anything you’d like me to try to photograph or find out (when makeup’s at stake, I can be very persuasive).

I prepped a few posts ahead of time to keep things interesting around here while I’m in transit and sneaking around inside the Too Faced offices…

(No, seriously. I plan to sneak around.)

Have a good one today. I’ll touch base soon.

Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,

Karen

It’s been about two weeks since the blog brought home its new outfit, and things behind the scenes are moving right along (iPhone and Android users, the mobile version should now be working).

Here’s a quick screencast showing some of the new features. I hope you like how things turned out. Thanks for all of your great feedback so far.

Slowly but surely, I’m filling out the Brands dropdown menu with posts from the archives. Because it was something we never had before, Tabs and I (haha, okay just me) have been editing each of the 7,200 posts and clicking little checkboxes next to the brands they correspond to. That way, the posts appear when we click the corresponding brand names in the new dropdown menu.

As for the new Galleries (my favorite new feature), it’s thumbnails, thumbnails everywhere! I think the new galleries are fun, look pretty cool, and they’re a good way to discover posts you may have missed back when they were originally published (the MAC gallery goes aaaaaaall the way back to 2007). They’re also a great way to get to know me and Makeup and Beauty Blog if you’re a new visitor.

Thank you as always for visiting. Have fun, click around, make yourself at home, and I’ll see you soon in the comments.

Finding your way around Makeup and Beauty Blog…

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Okay, here it is: you, me, Tabs — we blow off the rest of the afternoon, drive into the city, hit an ice cream shoppe, and then go cruising for makeup.

What do ya say? Come on! You know you want to.

I need a break… Tabs has been working my paws to the bone! This morning, we had a “gravy emergency.” I won’t go into it now, but needless to say, I’m pooped.

I could really do with a few hours of meow time right now.

Let’s see… We could start with fresh-squeezed lemonade and semi-sweet chocolate chip cookies at Specialty’s (yep, that’s really how it’s spelled), do a little shopping at Union Square, maybe stop by Nordstrom to see Dick Page work his magic at the Shiseido counter.

And after, a trip to the Barneys New York beauty department where they carry one of my favorite under-the-radar makeup lines, Sunday Riley, and niche perfumes you can’t really sniff anywhere else (hello, Frederic Malle Geranium!).

And right now they’ve got a pretty sweet gift with purchase set.

It’s to celebrate their Love Yourself Beauty Event, going on now ’til September 22. Spend $200 on any combo of makeup, skin care and/or perfume, and get a blue and tan makeup bag bursting with fancy beauty samples like…

• Hourglass No. 28 Primer Serum
• Sunday Riley The Influencer Extra Volume Glossy Mascara
• Deborah Lippmann Nail Lacquer in Money Now Sleep Later
• Koh Gen Do Makeup Color Base in Lavender Pink
• Sue Devitt Defining Eyeliner in Oslo
• Radical Skincare Age-Defying Exfoliating Pads
• Giorgio Armani Regenessence Multi-Corrective Rejuvenating Cream
• By Terry Creme De Rose Nutri-Lift Comfort Cream
• Malin+ Goetz Vitamin E Face Moisturizer
• Chantecaille Rice and Geranium Foaming Cleanser
• 3Lab The Cream
• Ren Glycolactic Radiance Renewal Mask
• NARS Skin Double Refining Exfoliator
• YSL Forever Youth Liberator Serum
• L’Artisan Parfumeur Paris Eau de Toilette in Batucada
• Costume National Deau de Parfum
• Tocca Violette Eau de Parfum
• Kai Fragrance

The offer also includes men’s grooming products, so you could snag something for yourself and/or your woman/man. In my case, I’m not so sure about that… El Hub acts like face moisturizer and eye cream are the devil’s work!

If you can’t make it to Barneys, the offer also applies to online barneys.com beauty purchases, too. No coupon code necessary. Just fill your cart, and the goody bag automatically pops up when you hit the $200 barrier.

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Just a quick heads-up for the Becca fans. The makeup line is now available online at Sephora.com.

The selection’s pretty limited, but the brand plans to add more items in the future.

If you’re hungry for recommendations, you may want to check out the following…

• Flowerchild, You’ll Look Like a Fly Damsel in the New Becca Halcyon Days Mineral Blush
• Songbirds Sing, Gypsies Dance and Moonstones Shimmer on Becca Counters This Fall
• Becca Mineral Blush in Wild Honey Creates Sweet Cheeks That Never Go Out of Style
• Mauve Over, Heavy Makeup, and Make Room for Becca Eye Tint in Romanticism
• When I Wear Becca Beach Tint in Fig, I Can’t Even Tell (and That’s the Idea)
• With the New Becca Automatic Eye Pencils, the Extras Make the World Goa Round

I tweeted the gals at Becca to ask if the brand’s products will also be available in-stores, and from this tweet it sounds like all signs point to yes.

Becca’s been a little hard to track down over the last few years, so I’m so very, very excited about this!

Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,

Karen