Good morning. Good morning. How did you sleep? 🙂 I probably could have slept a little more, but I wanted to get going, ya know? To attack the day! — and all that.
How was your night? Did you do anything fun? I swung by Target for dental floss on my way to Tuttimelon —
Which reminds me, I got another watermelon last night. Yup, this one from Target. I even used my phone in the store to look up “how to choose a good watermelon.” Apparently, it has nothing to do with knocking on them, she read, after she’d already knocked on about half of the melons in the store, or with weight, because a heavy melon can be juicy yet not sweet. The article I found said to look for a generally symmetrical shape (aren’t they always generally symmetrical?), vibrant green striping and a yellow, or yellowish orange, “crown” area, which indicates that the melon was allowed to sit and sweeten in the field for a good, long while.
I brought one home that met the aforementioned criteria (how official!), so we’ll see. I haven’t cracked it open yet, even though I desperately want to. I think I’ll save it for tomorrow and make it my Independence Day treat!
In makeup news, what did you think of the NARS Fall 2011 stuff we looked at this week? Interested, or on the fence? Looking back, I probably had the most fun with bright blue Outremer Eyeshadow. It’s statement makeup, for sure, although its intensity is easy to manage with layers, and I don’t always have a place to go where I can make that kind of statement, but it makes me want to think of something, you know, somewhere I can wear it, if that makes any sense.
That must mean I like it.
I’m looking at pics right now from last week of Outremer and that leopard-print dress, the Dolce & Gabbana Animalier Bronzer and MAC Impassioned Lipstick…
Just imagine all four of those together. Hello! Cat lady says what? 🙂
The Weekly Roundup: Posts You Might Have Missed
NARS FALL 2011: I’D SAIL THE SEVEN SEAS
FOR NARS OUTREMER EYESHADOW
Like a bold accent necklace or a fun, floral scarf, bright blue NARS Outremer Single Eyeshadow ($23) does add a certain something special to a makeup maven’s look.
That said, could I see myself wearing it every single day? No, probably not, because I don’t think it’s that kind of shade, which is not to say it isn’t flexible. Oh, no. It most certainly is.
NARS designed the mostly matte blue Outremer (see the tiny silver sparkles?), the French word for “overseas,” to contrast with the softer green, peach, taupe and rose eyeshadows in the fall collection. Read more…
TARTE FOR TRUE BLOOD
NATURAL CHEEK STAIN: Y’ALL RED-Y FOR THIS?
Remember the True Blood episode last season when Pam busted out the NARS Velvet Matte Lip Pencil? I turned to El Hub on the couch and was like, “ZOMG! Did you see Pam with her NARS!? AAAHHHH!”
He just stared at me like I’d lost my mind…
Don’t you just love it when you recognize makeup on your favorite TV shows? I wonder if the new Tarte for True Blood Natural Cheek Stain ($30) will make an appearance on TV this year.
It’s an intensely pigmented red gel blush, recently launched with two other pieces in the new limited edition Tarte for True Blood collection, and it’s loaded with golden glitter. Read more…
NARS FALL 2011: APHRODITE HERSELF WOULD
CALL THE DELPHES TRIO EYESHADOW COOL
This trio is totally ruined! But wait — in this case, that’s a good thing.
The ruins at Delphi, where the ancient Greeks worshipped the god Apollo, inspired Delphes ($45; part of the Fall 2011 collection), the latest trio to emerge from the House of NARS.
Can you see the resemblance? — how the ruins, and the plants taking them over, influenced this cool-toned trio of sparkling, sheer peach, matte dove gray and frosty sage?
A few notes about the shade, like Sparkling Peach. This shade really shines thanks to large pieces of silver glitter, but I have to proceed with caution; otherwise, it ends up in my brows and on my cheeks. With Sparkling Peach, I get better results when I use firm, flat eyeshadow brushes than I get from brushes with softer bristles, and I keep my eye makeup remover close at hand to clean up any fallout. Read more…
IT’S NO ILLUSION; THIS SPARKLE IS REAL
ILLUSIONS D’OMBRES DE CHANEL COLLECTION FOR FALL
Metallics rule the new 21-piece Illusions D’Ombres De Chanel collection for fall flaunting eye-catching, shimmery finishes, but a solitary matte blush threatens to steal the crown!
Ooh! It’s like Game of Thrones up in here. 🙂
Well met, lords and ladies. Heya! How’s your hump day been? Mine got epically better this afternoon when I ran into the new Chanel Fall 2011 collection at Nordies after lunch. The limited edition release for eyes, lips and cheeks is available now at Chanel counters and also online, and if you like your makeup with major bling, feast your eyes upon this. Read more…
A MID-WEEK DATE NIGHT LOOK WITH
CHANEL, MAC AND NARS
When it started to look like cereal for dinner, El Hub and I decided at the last minute to go on a mid-week date last night (fish and chips, and beer… romantic, I know!). I went with this quick, sparkly look using a mix of new pieces from NARS, Chanel and MAC (and very little blending) and sprinkled it with some permanent products from Jouer, Hourglass, Buxom and Urban Decay.
Nothing much, but it only took a couple of minutes to do. Perfect for impromptu fried foods and beer.
Quick — say you only have 2 minutes to do your makeup before dinner. What do you do? Read more…
WHY, YES, I’M HAVING A SUMMER ROMANCE WITH THE ILLUSIONS
D’OMBRES DE CHANEL COLLECTION FOR FALL 2011
Fall makeup always makes me think of doing fall-ish things, like sipping hot cider (or maybe a little eggnog) by the fireplace or the wood-burning stove, carving pumpkins (which I’ve only done once or twice), or skipping down suburban sidewalks past huge piles of orange and yellow leaves, and kicking ‘em up (SWOOSH!) every once in a while with the tips of my thigh-high suede boots. 🙂
Since summer’s only just begun, however, I’ll have to wait a while before the eggnog shows up at Trader Joe’s, but I won’t have to wait to wear fall makeup, not with so many lines launching their limited edition fall stuff early. Seriously, next year we’ll be celebrating Christmas in July! Read more…
TAME HOUSE TABBY OR JUNGLE CAT?
THE DOLCE & GABBANA ANIMALIER BRONZER
Card carrying members of Team Cat Lady, whether you’re a a tame house tabby or a certified jungle cat, chances are you WILL meow when you see the leopard print on Dolce & Gabbana’s limited edition Animalier Bronzer ($50).
Isn’t it just the coolest thing since leopard-print heels? Too bad the pattern’s an overspray and not actually etched into the pan — or maybe that’s for the best. The first few times it’s used, as the colors in the overspray are mixed together, the product applies super dark (like a chocolate golden sheen), and it would probably make a fantastic eyeshadow totally perfect for sexy, smokey eyes.
But once the overspray gets worn away, out comes a sheer, orangey brown bronzer with tiny flecks of golden glitter. Mrow! It’s sheer, though. Too sheer for me as an NC42; on me it delivers a subtle warmth, yet while I sheer do like the glitter and how smooth it feels, there’s something a little off about how the color works with my skin, like some of the darker tones from the overspray are still milling about. Read more…
MAC UNSUNG HEROES MAC
IMPASSIONED LIPSTICK (AND WATERMELON)
It’s official: I am in food lust with watermelon. That one from the other day? Completely gone. And it was ginormous, too! — like bigger than Tabs, and I ate it all by myself in, like, two days. On the one hand (and I’m thrilled about this) I’m not having any, um, fiber issues, but on the other hand, I’m a little afraid I might be overdoing it.
So sweet, so juicy…
Gotta swing by Trader Joe’s to get another one ASAP.
I’m obsessed! I’ve got watermelon on the brain. It’s even creeping into my makeup. Just the other day, I was looking at Impassioned ($14.50), one of my favorite MAC Lipsticks, when it hit me…
No, not the watermelon, silly! It occurred to me that Impassioned is a perfect watermelon pink. Read more…
OUTFIT OF THE DAY, VOL. 3
CALL ME CAT LADY (AND A TRICK TO LOOK TALLER)
I’m pretty short at 5’1″, but in my mind I’m taller.
How much taller?
On a good day, at least 5’8″. Of course, the rest of the world disagrees.
Once, years ago when I worked in San Francisco, I was walking through China Town on my lunch break in four-inch heels when I found myself behind a group of middle school students on an historic tour of the neighborhood. I was heading to my favorite greasy spoon for lunch, a place in the same direction the group was heading, so I tagged along (hey, free tour!), listening to the group’s tour guide.
When I finally arrived at my lunch spot and broke away from the group, one of the volunteer moms started yelling.
“Get back with the group!” she barked, and I could hear her footsteps pounding behind me. Read more…
Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,
Karen
beautylogicblog says
I loved all the posts, speficially the tarte true blood cheek stain which I do have, and love love love! but most of all your blogger post. I have been on Lynda.com all day after reading your post and I have learned sooooo much about photography and final cut pro (which is why I stopped doing youtubes because I totally forgot how to edit) so thanks again Karen.
Karen says
You’re welcome, Milly! I’m glad you’re liking Lynda.com. It’s a great resource, in my opinion much more professional and effective than YouTube, at least for learning the ins/outs of entire applications. What I’ve done is get a 1-month sub every so often, maybe every year or so, and study as many tuts as I can during that time (and then I’ll cancel).
I know what you mean about forgetting Final Cut Pro. I haven’t really been into producing videos lately. They just take so much time to edit the way I like, but I opened Final Cut recently, and it was like a foreign language to me!
Hope you’re having a good weekend so far. Happy Fourth!
Nina says
what an awesome week in beauty! ::)
i love how youve incorporated fashion into MBB — its so much fun!
we went to a wild animal rescue pretty early today — 2 baby bluejays found their way into our backyard. we kept them in a box overnight and turned them over to the rescue this morning.
then we had brunch, shopped a bit and now we’re just chillaxin’ at home. im about to go re-read some more posts.
ps — i cant wait to get my true blood palette!
Sarahc says
I loved the Nars posts this week and the outfit posts, but that Tarte Cheek Stain looks almost like a painting it’s so pretty!