Wearing products from the new $65 NARS Hearts New York City limited edition gift set

I have this workout playlist called “Power Boost” that I keep in my back pocket to get me through the last (usually painful) mile of my runs, when all I feel like doing is stopping, plopping down on the ground, and passing out in a puddle of sweat.

One of the songs on it is Jay-Z’s Empire State of Mind, and sometimes when I’m running on the treadmill at home I’ll sing the chorus — “New Yooooooork!” — at the top of my burning lungs, between panting and gasping for air.

Sometimes I also sing this…

I sing it with so much verve that someone who didn’t know me might even think I’m from New York.

Which wouldn’t be a problem for me. I’ve only been there once, but I mean, it’s New York. Once was enough to fall in love. We spent a few days sightseeing over Thanksgiving back in 2004, and it was so much fun. We got bagels and coffee and watched the Macy’s parade from the sidewalk by the park.

The Bay Area, though, has always had my heart…

My family lives here, and it’s where I grew up, so I’ll just have to be content admiring NYC from afar and getting my fixes in other ways, like with the new NARS Hearts New York City set ($75).

Complete with an Eye & Cheek Palette and a full-sized lip gloss and nail polish, the limited edition set pulses with top-selling NARS shades from New York.

Clockwise from the nail polish: Chinatown Nail Polish, Dolce Vita Lip Gloss and the Eye & Cheek Palette

J’adore Dior…and showboating birds, like the new Peacock 5-Couleurs Eyeshadow Palette from the Bird of Paradise collection for summer 2013]

Hey, babe. I just finished my makeup for date night with El Hub.

We’re gonna go see Oblivion, the new sci-fi flick with Tom Cruise. Looks pretty neat from the previews. We’ll see (sci-fi-wise, this is what I’m really looking forward to).

I wonder if El Hub will notice the blending I did on my lids with the new Dior Peacock 5-Couleurs Eyeshadow Palette. Hmm… Survey says, probably not. LOL!

I’ll save some kettle corn for ya. Before I dart, some quick pics and swatches of Dior’s new bird…

Eyes: Dior Peacock 5-Couleurs Eyeshadow Palette (lids and lower lash lines), Bobbi Brown Jet liner (water lines) and Chanel Bleu Le Volume de Chanel Mascara (upper and lower lashes)

Lips: bareMinerals Marvelous Moxie Lip Liner in Energized and Lipgloss in Party Starter

Cheeks: MAC Mineralize Skin Finish in Give Me Sun (just below my cheekbones) and the coral blush from Dior’s Diorskin Nude Tan Paradise Duo in Coral Glow

Dior’s new Blue Lagoon Eyeshadow Palette #374

Believe it or not, this is a tabby’s happy face…

Happy tabby! No, really.

Tabs was thrilled for a number of reasons today.

First, he got to hear one of his very favorite songs, Chamillionaire’s Ridin’ Dirty, which I pumped on iTunes while doing this blue and green eye look with the new Dior $60 Blue Lagoon 5-Couleurs Eyeshadow Palette.

He always stays in the room for Chamillionaire, unlike Maroon 5, of which he’s not a fan (don’t know why, but he always leaves the room when Adam Levine starts singing). I think he thinks of Ridin’ Dirty as his personal anthem.

Picture it, Tabs strutting his stuff while it plays in the background. Totally works, right?

Second, Tabs is a snob, or as he likes to put it, has “a taste for the finer things,” like high end makeup, Dior being one of his favorite brands.

(more…)

That there is Rustic Red and Purple Fusion on my lids and lash lines from the MAC Fall ’13 Forecast/Eyes palette

Cue the lights! Music! Now Models, hit the runway! And you, vertically-challenged 30-something cat lady girl, hit the hallway! The show is about to begin!!

Straight off the catwalks of Paris and New York (and the hallways of Novato), beside the Fall ’13 Forecast/Lips palette (SO GOOD), comes MAC’s new $40 Fall ’13 Forecast/Eyes palette of six new Cream Colour Shadows in fashion-forward fall colors.

The moderately pigmented, easy-to-build colors in the pocket-sized palette range from rockstar Oil-Slick Black to admin assistant Oyster.

The first time I patted one of these thin, slightly sticky cream shadows on a bare lid, I purred, then oohed and ahed at how easy it was to blend with the other shades. Then I thought, “Now when I walk Tabs, I can pretend I’m walking a Marc Jacobs catwalk.”

BAM! Pop that hip!

MAC Fall 13 Forecast Eyes swatches from the left: Oyster, Scarab Green, Smoked Indigo, Rustic Red, Oil Slick Black and Purple Fusion

From Morocco to Novato! There’s something special about the new Sonia Kashuk Moroccan Dunes Eye Palette.

When the production crew of Hoarders finally arrives at my doorstep to film “the very special makeup episode,” they’ll find me half-buried under a mound of Friskies Gravy Lovers cans, unread issues of Entertainment Weekly and Chanel eye quads.

I’ll be wearing the gray bathrobe I borrowed from my friend Jen once and never returned and clutching something small and Chanel-like in one of my hands…

“Forget about me!” I’ll say to the production assistant trying to free me from the mound. “Save the quad instead!”

What quad is that?

A new one from Sonia Kashuk called Moroccan Dunes.

The Sonia Kashuk Moroccan Dunes Eye Palette ($16.99)

Is it just me, or does this quad shout, “COCO WAS HERE!” The sleek, Chanel-esque packaging, the luminous finish that glimmers on lids, and the colors, like precious metals, in rich, dark brown, grayish mauve, shimmering pink and rosy gold.

But in this case, the price is right — much lower than Chanel. It’s just $16.99, so you won’t feel like you have to sneak it into the house in your big purse (been there, done that).

When I work with these hybrid shadows, which combine baked, powder, cream and liquid finishes/textures, I like to start with a kick-@ss primer on my lids, like NARS Pro-Prime Smudge Proof Eyeshadow Base, to lock the shadows in place.

Sonia Kashuk Moroccan Dunes Eye Palette swatches

Then, to apply, I load a flat eye shadow brush with one or two of the shades, tap it to remove the excess and reduce any fallout — which can get pretty wicked with a couple of the fluffier shades — and press the powder on my lids.

Pressing, as opposed to swiping, seems to help the shadows bind a little better to my skin. Then I blend the edges with a domed brush.

The Sonia Kashuk Moroccan Dunes Eye Palette workin’ its magic…