Here I’m wearing MAC Refined Golden Bronzing Powder just below my cheekbones…

Like Tabs the Cat, star of screen, stage and glossy magazines, MAC’s $25 Refined Golden Bronzing Powder does it all, deepening tans, thereby allowing me to live out my bronzed beach surfer babe dreams (irrespective of the fact that I spend most of my time with my butt in front of a computer), and sculpting cheekbones like Michelangelo sculpted marble and clay. We’re talkin’ real-deal contouring here.

To my eye, it’s the darkest and most intense of the Temperature Rising collection’s four powder bronzers, making it ideal for skin tones NC42-ish and darker.

So refined…

Flecks of golden glitter spice up this pan of deep golden tan, which I probably would have liked even without the glitter for the color itself, which never looks muddy, ruddy or dirty on my skin, perhaps due to the golden undertones.

Did you say, “hrmpf!” when I said, “glitter?” Not to worry. MAC didn’t go overboard with this glitter (not that there’s anything inherently wrong with going overboard on glitter). This isn’t Bollywood-caliber shimmer, which I also like.

MAC Refined Golden on NC42 Skin

Wearing the $20 LORAC GLOgetter Palette on my eyes

With its classic summer colors, LORAC’s GLOgetter eye shadow palette was probably meant for fun-filled beach boardwalks, fair food and cruising down the coast with the windows rolled down…but I feel like a beauty bandit when I think of the price — only $20! — like I should be wearing black from head to toe and a mask like a cat burglar.

I can’t believe this 10-pan limited edition palette is only $20 at Ulta. At that price, it’s almost like stealing!

These easy-to-blend powder shadows are consumate summer colors — the kind that look great with a tan — and when I wear them with primer, they last from 8-10 hours on my dry lids before I notice much creasing. No fallout, either.

I bet you could totally Beyoncé it out with these and bang out some intense looks with loads of blending and layering, but I really like GLOgetter for simple looks with one or two shades.

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Ready, set, splash! The new $28 LORAC Ready, Set, Splash liner set.

To El Hub when he insists that there’s an upper limit on the number of liners I could possibly need on a trip, I say, “Pish-tosh!”

“We’re only gonna be two days!” he says. “Why would you need 10 liners?”

My response: to pack 20 eyeliners! And then to painstakingly describe every single one in great detail, and how my happiness — no, my very survival! — depends on having all of them with me.

Hey, you just never know when you’ll get the urge to do a two-color double-winged flick? YOU NEVER KNOW!

This is why I find LORAC’s new $28 Ready, Set, Splash kit appealing…

That, and the quick-drying, waterproof formula.

The set’s four twist-up pencils come in colors that work well with most of my favorite summer eye looks.

Ultra Black, Navy, Charcoal and Jade will take you from poolside to dinner party in the blink of a cat eye, and when I want a smudgy vibe, I can just flip one over, and use the sponge tip on the back side.

From the left: Ultra Black, Charcoal, Jade and Navy

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Sure, I’ll take a dip! A MAC Sun Dipped Pro Longwear Bronzer ($30, from the new Temperature Rising collection).

The following is an excerpt from an actual email conversion between blogger and makeup/cat enthusiast Karen and her longtime friend and surf buddy Cindy that took place on the morning of Friday, May 17, 2013.

Immediately following this exchange, Karen swept MAC’s new Sun Dipped Pro Longwear Bronzer on her face…

KAREN: When was the last time we went surfing together?
CINDY: I don’t know. Hawaii in 2006?
KAREN: That can’t be right.
CINDY: Yeah, I think so. It was right before your wedding.
KAREN: Seriously? Why are we so lame? We have to fix that.
CINDY: You could always go with me to Ocean Beach.

[NOTE: Ocean Beach is cold. It runs along the Great Highway on the west/Pacific side of San Francisco, and it's so cold that just thinking about it is making my fingers and toes numb.]

KAREN: That’s not happening unless we’re being chased by zombies and the only way we can escape is by surfboard.

You know that moment when the water drips down the back of your wetsuit? Yeah, I hate that.

Okay, now I’m freezing cold. BRB! Need to put on some bronzer.

These are days of my life…

Don’t you feel warmer after putting on bronzer? Or is that just me…?

A light dusting of MAC’s new $33 Sun Dipped won’t turn Ocean Beach into Waikiki, but I think it does make me look tanned and toasty and gives me a sunnier outlook, too.

It can’t only be the power of suggestion, either. Sun Dipped has a sunny secret weapon: red tones!

Of the four powder bronzers in the MAC Temperature Rising collection, it’s by far the reddest one, and the one that most naturally simulates 30 minutes of fun in the sun.

A swatch on my NC 42 skin

Oh, hai! It’s Tom Ford Beauty Illuminating Cheek Color in Bronzed Amber. I’m wearing it here on my cheeks atop MAC Face & Body Foundation.

I like makeup.

This probably comes as no surprise if you’ve been here before…but I’m particularly fond of blushes and highlighters that come in stick form.

Especially ones that leave my face looking all sweet and angelic, like I should be floating high above the earth on a bed of billowy clouds, sunlight dappling my skin, while a heavenly chorus sings, “Ahhhhhh!” The more people wondering if I had wings tucked beneath my blazer, the better.

Tom Ford’s two new summer 2013 Illuminating Cheek Colors ($58 each, OMG!) are the latest examples of this particular makeup weakness/obsession of mine.

Dewy, is that you?

Blush Guilt

Pinky peach Blush Guilt and Bronzed Amber represent TF’s take on cream stick blushes with an interesting twist. They give a sheer, glistening, almost wet look to cheeks.

Bronzed Amber

It’s as if the team in charge of the finish part of this equation went on a week-long spa trip to Canyon Ranch and never quite recovered, because when I wear either of these colors, I feel like I look like I haven’t got a care in the world…like my only concerns are whether I should have a hibiscus or a peppermint tea between my facial and my 120-minute shiatsu massage.

Seriously, my cheeks just glow.

The texture’s the balm!

Blush Guilt on the left and Bronzed Amber on the right