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Bobbi Brown Ivy League Face of the Day

Karen — Wed, 05 Aug 2009 00:00:49 +0000

Bobbi Brown’s makeup doesn’t always knock my socks off, but her new Ivy League collection is frickin’ OFF THE CHAIN! For serious.

Click here to see an eye map and the list of products I used for this look.

Eyes and lips

This morning I tried a back-to-school face of the day using the Ivy League items I talked about here.

Bobbi done me so right with these colors, particularly the forest green, deep black and gold shades for eyes and those high-gloss pink lips.

Some non-Bobbi stuff up in my mix

Most of the makeup I used for this look is Bobbi’s, but I also popped some of the gold shade from the MAC Assemblage Mineralize Eye Shadow Quad in the crease and swept Neutrogena Soft Color Bush in Divine Wine on the apples of my cheeks.

The Ivy League collection makes me want to cheer for Bobbi Brown, yea!

I can’t wait to wear this look in the fall.

How do you feel about Ivy League? Do you like it as much as I do, or do you think you might pass?

A potentially weird observation about people…

At the grocery store last night (aka my home away from home), I was loading up on cans of wet food for Tabs when I spied a woman sniffing different bottles of detergent to decide which one to buy.

Apparently I’m not the only person who does that, LOL!

How’s it going today?

I’m feeling the urge to see a movie tonight… I know it’s a weeknight, but here’s what I’d like to see: 500 Days of Summer. It stars Zooey Deschanel (love her).

I dunno… We’ll see how adventurous I feel come 6 o’clock.

Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,

Karen

Urban Decay Fall 2009 Lipstick Swatches and a Helluva Lot of Randomness

Karen — Thu, 23 Jul 2009 03:13:39 +0000

Urban Decay Lipstick in Naked

Is it just me, or did today feel like the longest Wednesday EVER? I started off with good intentions — I meant to finish a project, do a couple loads of laundry and run my errands after work, but somewhere along the way things went to hell in a hand basket.

Tomfoolery reared its unproductive head, and an impromptu afternoon photo session with Tabs did not help.

Work it, Tabs! Make love to the camera.

This began as a simple Urban Decay Fall 2009 lipstick post. There are only three lipsticks in the release (Naked, Oilslick and Confession, $22 each), so it shouldn’t have taken long, right?

Oh, how I wish…

Wearing Naked Lipstick
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Read the rest of Urban Decay Fall 2009 Lipstick Swatches and a Helluva Lot of Randomness (190 words)

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Lancome Declaring Indigo Fall 2009: Enough to Make My Brown Eyes Blue

Karen — Thu, 16 Jul 2009 21:58:43 +0000

Have you ever noticed how often the word “blue” turns up in song titles? Sitting down to play with Lancome’s Declaring Indigo collection, I thought of New Order’s Blue Monday and When the Stars Go Blue, by Ryan Adams.

Lancome’s new collection is blue beauty booty for eyes and nails. So far I’ve tested three pieces from the release.

Ink Artliner in Indigo Charm and Virtuose Mascara in Royal Blue

Yesterday I fell hard for Les Vernis nail polish in Indigo Paris ($18).

It had me at bonjour!

And today, Ink Artliner in Indigo Charm ($24) and Virtuose Mascara in Royal Blue ($25) ran away with my heart.

Ink Artliner in Indigo Charm ($24) is captivating in her shimmery, intensely pigmented indigo blue. A gel liner that doesn’t budge for nuthin’, she stays on my lids all day long without smudging, and I think she totes makes brown eyes *pop*.

The thick, semi-wet formula — easy to apply and control — should also be great for gel liner neophytes and lazy girls (like moi). Makeup and Beauty Blog Rating: A+

Virtuose Mascara in Royal Blue ($25) nearly blinded me with bling when I first laid eyes on her. A dark blue mascara with golden glitter, this baby curls, lengthens and defines lashes like nobody’s bidness.

It looks a little scary in the tube, but no worries — she’s completely wearable. The shade applies as a subtle dark blue with teeny pieces of golden glitter — enough for just a hint of sparkle — so you don’t have to worry about looking like one of the Solid Gold Dancers circa 1981. Makeup and Beauty Blog Rating: B+

Swatches from left to right: Virtuose Mascara in Royal Blue, Ink Artliner in Indigo Charm

I think Lancome stands out with this release. Shades of gray are making big splashes over at Chanel and Dior this fall, but Lancome veers into almost summery territory with Declaring Indigo’s palette of deep blues, bronzes, golds and browns. It’s different, and from what I’ve seen so far, I like.

Let me know what you think.

Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,

Karen

Illamasqua Intense Lipgloss in Frenzy: A Pink Pigmentation Bonanza!

Karen — Sat, 11 Jul 2009 00:00:05 +0000

Holy crap! Illamasqua’s Intense Lipgloss in Frenzy ($20) does NOT mess around. This stuff is pigmented like nobody’s bidness!

Just the tiniest bit of this creamy hot pink provides almost opaque coverage. I’d wager to say it packs something like twice as much color as usual for a gloss — it’s *that* pigmented.

I love the rich, blinged-out look of this shade, but truth be told it’s hella high maintenance.

How high maintenance is it?

Frenzy’s like the Kimora Lee Simmons of the lipgloss world!

The first time I tried it on I made the mistake of smothering my lips with a thick layer. Color ended up bleeding outside of my natural lip line, and I looked pretty scary — like one of those nightmarish clowns that haunts childhood dreams.
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MAC Hello Kitty Makeup Tutorial: Spring has Sprung!

Karen — Mon, 02 Mar 2009 18:00:55 +0000

Gah, spring needs to hurry up and get here already! I know we need the rain, but the gloomy weather weighs on my soul.

I tried to change my outlook yesterday with flowers, looking online for spring bouquets. I thought about this freesia and rose bouquet by Martha Stuart but chickened out at the last second.

Instead, I reached for similar colors — peach, green and pink — and tried to use them in a spring-inspired makeup look.

I used a few MAC Hello Kitty products for the lips and cheeks and some MAC Metal Urge Pigments on the eyes.

I figure if we can’t change the weather, at least we can change our makeup.

How to get the eyes

I start the party by patting a thin layer of MAC Paint Pot in Delft (a shimmery greenish gold) on the lid and just into the crease with a MAC 249 Large Shader Brush, trying to transition the color intensity from where it’s most intense on the lid, to where it’s least intense as it moves into the crease.

Time to go green! I grab my MAC 239 Eye Shader Brush and layer MAC Pigment in Spiritualize (a shimmery yellowish green with silver and gold flecks) directly on top of Delft.

Just like with Delft, I try to concentrate most of the color on the lid.

Next, I want to add a color to accentuate the green and further define the crease, so I grab my trusty MAC 217 Blending Brush and sweep MAC Pigment in Cocomotion (a shimmery gold with olive undertones) into the crease.

Here, I’m doing my best to blend Spiritualize seamlessly into Cocomotion…

Then, I add a subtle pink shade on my brow bone to accentuate the gold in my crease, patting on MAC Expensive Pink eyeshadow (a shimmery pinkish gold) with the MAC 217.

Again, I try my best to get the colors of Cocomotion and Expensive Pink to blend together smoothly.

Next, it’s time to define the eyes, and I do that by lining the upper and lower lash lines with Urban Decay 24/7 Glide-On Eye Pencil in Underground (a shimmery brown).
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Read the rest of MAC Hello Kitty Makeup Tutorial: Spring has Sprung! (227 words)