Get red carpet looks for less with COVERGIRL, Olay and Aussie

Chances are the bustling beauty teams that style Claire Danes and Jessica Alba for regal red carpet events won’t be showing up at my doorstep any time soon, because unlike the stars, we mere mortals must fend for ourselves when it comes to getting ready for parties and nights on the town (or nights on the couch with your cat, if you’re also into that).

No problem. Getting glam doesn’t have to involve a small army of beauty professionals (although, not gonna lie, if a pro prep team suddenly appeared — POOF! — I would NOT turn them away).

Recreating red carpet looks at home can be easy and fun, and with drugstore beauty products, it doesn’t have to break the bank.

I recently gave two of my favorite red carpet looks a try from this year’s Golden Globes — a look Claire Danes wore with smokey eyes and nude lips, and Jessica Alba’s look with brown eyes and tangerine lips — both of which seemed simple and elegant, which I liked.

Gearing up for a big night? If you are, you can get red carpet ready like Claire and Jessica using makeup, hair, body and skincare products from COVERGIRL, Olay, Aussie and Secret.

Who says that going glam is reserved for the stars?

Inspired by: Claire Danes

Oh, Angela Chase. You’ve come so far since Jordan Catalano wrote that song about you about his car…

I absolutely loved the wavy hair, smokey eyes and nude lips Claire recently wore. Hello, stunning!

1. Let the glamification begin: skin and hair

Start by prepping in the shower with a hydrating body wash like Olay Ultra Moisture Body Wash ($5.99), and washing and conditioning your hair with Aussie Aussome Volume Shampoo and Conditioner ($3.99 each).

Even if the paparazzi aren’t currently stalking you, there’s no reason to let ‘em see you sweat, so swipe some Secret Clinical Strength Stress Response ($7.99) under those ‘pits, girl!

Okay, time to tame the mane. Apply Aussie Aussome Volume Styling Mousse ($4.99) to wet hair for hold and volume, and either air or blow dry.

When your hair is dry, recreate Claire’s waves by curling the ends with a large barrel curling iron. Then, mist your mane all over with Aussie You Can Shine Spray Gloss ($3) for red carpet shine.

2. Gotta prep

Ready to play with makeup? Me too, but let’s get our skin ready first with face products from the Olay Professional Even Skin Tone Line, and disguise any uneven areas or imperfections by applying a liquid foundation like COVERGIRL Outlast 3-in-1 Foundation ($12.99).

If your skin tone’s similar to Claire’s, try the shade called Classic Ivory. I have a little — okay, a lot! — more of a tan, so something like Classic Tan works for me.

3. Sights set on smokey eyes

Now for my favorite part — the eyes!

Start by applying your favorite eye primer to your lids, curling your lashes and filling in your brows.

Next, for your smokey eyes, line both upper and lower water lines with COVERGIRL Perfect Point Plus Eyeliner in Black Onyx ($5).

With the same pencil, line your upper and lower lash lines; soften the lines by smudging the edges with a flat eye shadow brush.

Now, it’s time to add the smoke!

Load your flat brush with a combination of black and blue shadows, like COVERGIRL Eye Enhancers 1-Kit Shadows in Shimmering Onyx and Sapphire Sparkle ($4.50 each). Combining the shades here adds depth to the smokey effect.

Pat the mix on your lids and barely into the creases. Then, using a domed blending brush, blend away any harsh edges.

To refine your smokey look even more, take your domed brush, and load it with your favorite blush. Something like COVERGIRL Instant Cheekbones Contouring Blush in Sophisticated Sable ($6) should work great for Claire’s look.

Sweep your loaded domed brush into your creases and along your lower lash lines to soften the edges. This helps everything look a little more polished.

Finish up your eyes by applying a few coats of COVERGIRL Clump Crusher Mascara ($6.99).

4. Wrapping it up

From here on out, the rest is cake!

Sweep that same blush, Sophisticated Sable, on your cheeks, apply a nude lip color, like COVERGIRL Lip Perfection Jumbo Gloss Balm in Toffee Twist ($8.99) on your lips, and wrap up with a coat or two of COVERGIRL Outlast Nail Gloss in Forever Frosted ($5.99) on your nails.

Products Clockwise from the blue pan in the upper left: COVERGIRL Eye Enhancers 1-Kit Shadows in Sapphire Sparkle, COVERGIRL Eye Enhancers 1-Kit Shadows in Shimmering Onyx, COVERGIRL Jumbo Gloss Balm in Toffee Twist, COVERGIRL Outlast Nail Gloss in Forever Frosted, COVERGIRL Perfect Point Plus Eyeliner in Black Onyx and COVERGIRL Clump Crusher Mascara

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[Ding-dong.]

[Knock, knock, knock.] Hello?

Oh, hai! My name is Karen, and I’m here in your neighborhood today on behalf of the Inner Lazy Girls Coalition to spread the word about a Lazy Girls trick I discovered last night.

Do you have a second to chat about wayward leg hair?

You do? Great!

First, please tell me you’re not one of those lucky ladies like my mom who never, ever has to shave. Because if you are, I will pull your hair…

Totally kidding! There will be no hair pulling. This isn’t Jerry Springer circa 1995.

So, hairy legs. Last night while I was getting dressed for my Valentine’s Day dinner with El Hub, I slipped on my date night dress and realized — whoops! I hadn’t shaved my shins since last Sunday.

My hair and makeup were already done, so I wasn’t about to jump in the shower, and a sink shave with my usual EOS Shave Lotion was also out of the question because the bottle was empty (I think my husband has being using it on the down-low).

I looked around the bathroom and had a MacGyver moment when I saw this bottle of Suave Advanced Therapy Lotion ($5) sitting on the shelf.

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There was a method to the madness…

My voice is kinda gravelly this morning. It sounds like I spent the whole night eating Fruity Pebbles without any milk, and a big reason is because I spent part of last night locked in my bathroom yelling into a folded towel.

I know that sounds completely insane! — but hear me out. There was a method to my madness.

I had kind of a bad day yesterday. The morning started off fine, it was cool, lunch was fine, and then somewhere around 1 or 2, things just went off the rails. First, I realized that I accidentally deleted a bunch of pics that I took. Second, I dunno, sometimes I just have really bad writing days. As with anything, some days it’s easy, and some days it’s hard. And yesterday it was hard.

By the end of the day, I was already in tears, but then I read kind of a nasty comment from a stranger criticizing pretty much my entire outlook on blogging, and how I exhibit “too much personality” (seriously?).

That pushed me over the edge… I lost my sh*t and started thinking of prison fights and the word, “shank,” as in, “to shank someone.”

LOL! I’m obviously not really going to shank anyone, but I’m just sayin’ — the word occurred to me.

I’d come unhinged, but I didn’t want to worry El Hub or cry the night away. I just needed a way to vent my feelings.

So, I grabbed my stopwatch, set it for 10 minutes, locked myself in the bathroom and told myself that I could blow my top! — and at the end of the 10 minutes, I would let it go, put it behind me, stop crying, and move on.

In the bathroom, I folded a towel, buried my face in it and cried and yelled and cursed!!

It was very much like that scene from Footloose when Kevin Bacon/Ren is doing gymnastics in the barn and roaring at the universe (“You don’t know me!!”), except much less cardiovascular.

And you know what? It worked. The funny thing is, I yelled myself out after 5 minutes. I didn’t even yell the full 10. I guess just giving myself permission to fall apart went a long way toward helping me feel better.

A good night’s sleep with your favorite stuffed animal and your cat can also help…

Laura Mercier Repair Eye Serum…a secret to crease-free under-eye concealer!

Ooh! I picked up a great makeup trick last week from Courtney, a makeup artist/MBB reader/self-professed crazy cat lady at the Laura Mercier counter inside Saks in San Francisco’s Union Square.

Here’s the deal: I asked Court if she could recommend any secret weapons from Laura Mercier’s line — awesome products that maybe a lot of people didn’t know about — and she pulled out Laura’s Flawless Skin Repair Eye Serum.

This stuff is bright and tight. It contains green and white tea, arnica extract, caffeine and geranium to tighten skin and has a brightening pearlescent pink color.

Courtney’s trick? She uses it on herself and her clients as something of a primer for under-eye concealer.

Pat a minuscule amount — just a smidgen — beneath your eyes before concealer, let that sink in for a minute or two, and then apply your regular concealer on top.

BAM! It’s like P90X for concealer. You should see fewer concealer creases, all-day wear time and a lighter look from your concealer overall.

BEAUTY FUN FACT: according to Courtney, Laura Mercier uses Shu Uemura technology in all of their skin care.

Courtney said that a bunch of the makeup artists at Saks use the serum this way as a primer for concealers, and it doesn’t just work with Laura’s line. They also do it with concealers from other brands.
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Ahh… Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas — done, done and done. We’re almost through another holiday season, babe, and from here on out, as Tabs loves to say, it’s all gravy.

Next up, New Year’s. Do you have any plans yet? More specifically, do you have any New Year’s makeup plans?

None yet for me. I mean, none that I know of, but El Hub might be planning something special behind the scenes, and I hope that he is (hint, hint!), because I’m in the mood to get gussied up.

I like taking my sweet time with my makeup on New Year’s Eve, just buffing and blending for hours. That’s my idea of a perfect start to a perfect New Year’s night, but sometimes, like when your demanding, diva kitty employer sends you on a last-minute Petco run for feather toys and catnip at 9 p.m. on Monday, December 31, things don’t always work out. You see, diva kitties can throw even the best laid beauty plans completely out the window.

Luckily for us, there are lots of ways to pull together a last-minute New Year’s Eve look when you don’t have all night to get ready.

Whether you’ll be chilling at home, watching the ball drop on TV, or braving the elements and the rowdy crowds with your crew, you can still look pretty and primped with these 5-minute, 10-minute and 15-minute New Year’s Eve looks.

A casual 5-minute makeup look

Plan to ring in the new year with a comfy, cozy group at home? Expect impromptu camera phone pics, and be ready for them with this easy, natural-looking 5-minute makeup look.

1. For this look, I started by using my fingers to work a sheer tinted moisturizer, Olay Total Effects Tone Correcting CC Cream ($22.99), all over my face to even out my skin tone. Then, on the areas where I needed a bit more coverage, I dotted and blended concealer.
2. Next, for a natural-looking matte finish, I dusted powder lightly on my oily areas to cut down on shine. Here, I used COVERGIRL + Olay Pressed powder in Medium ($11.99) on my forehead and nose.
3. Then, for a healthy hint of a glow, I blended a pink blush (COVERGIRL Cheekers Blush in Golden Pink, $3.99), on the apples of my cheeks.
4. To open up my eyes, I filled in my brows, curled my lashes and coated them with a tinted mascara. COVERGIRL LashBlast 24HR Mascara in Blue Black ($7.99) adds a little color without going over the top.
5. To complete the look, I slicked a moisturizing, peachy pink lip balm on my lips.

From the left: Olay Total Effects Tone Correcting CC Cream, COVERGIRL LashBlast 24HR Mascara in Blue Black, COVERGIRL + Olay Pressed Powder in Medium and COVERGIRL Cheekers Blush in Golden Pink

A casual 10-minute makeup look

Got a few more minutes to get ready? If you have 10, then you can spend one or two on your skin, incorporate a little more color, and do a quick hairstyle to embrace 2013 in more polished, yet casual style.

1. The winter winds strip every ounce of moisture from my skin and leave me with dry patches, so I started this look by prepping my face first with moisturizer, which also makes blending my foundation easier. One to try: Olay Age Defying Instant Hydration Day Cream ($12.99). It absorbs quickly and doesn’t feel like a heavy wool blanket on my face.
2. A medium-coverage foundation like COVERGIRL + Olay Tone Rehab 2-in-1 Foundation Base ($16.99) helps even out my skin tone. I applied the Golden Tan shade all over my face with my fingers and, so that the finish didn’t look too “done,” gently blended everything together by going over it all with a skunk brush. Then, to set the foundation and bring down the shine, I dusted powder on my oily areas.
3. To kick up the color content a little more, I applied a shimmery golden bronze eyeshadow on my lids (COVERGIRL Eye Enhancers in Golden Sunrise, $2.99), a nude blush (COVERGIRL Cheekers Blush in Soft Sable, $3.99) on my cheeks and a nude lipstick (COVERGIRL Outlast All Day Lipcolor in Forever Fawn, $8.49) on my lips.
4. To finish the look, I filled in my brows, curled my lashes and added three coats of COVERGIRL LashBlast 24HR Mascara in Very Black ($7.99).
5. With the couple extra minutes I had left, I ended with a quick hairstyle. I gathered my mop into a low ponytail, sprayed a small amount of hairspray (in this case, Pantene Pro-V Stylers Shaping Extra Hold Hairspray, $5.99) on my fingers, and then used them to guide my bangs and tame flyaway and stray hairs on the top and sides of my head.

Clockwise from the bottle of hairspray: Pantene Stylers Anti-Humidity Hairspray Maximum Hold, COVERGIRL Outlast All Day Lipcolor in Forever Fawn, COVERGIRL Eye Enhancers in Golden Sunrise, COVERGIRL Cheekers Blush in Soft Sable, COVERGIRL LashBlast 24HR Mascara in Very Black, COVERGIRL + Olay Tone Rehab 2-in-1 Foundation Base in Golden Tan, Olay Age Defying Instant Hydration Day Cream

A casual 15-minute makeup look

Got a few more minutes to play? If you do, you could start with the 10-minute look above, and incorporate a few extra touches in step 3 to take casual to the next level.
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