Makeup and Beauty Blog | Makeup Reviews, Swatches and How-To Makeup

Unsung Makeup Heroes: Rodan + Fields Enhancements Lash Boost Nightly Conditioning Eyelash Serum

March 25th, 2019 by Karen 4 Comments

rodan enhancements after four months — Lashes like WHOA

What’s an unsung makeup hero? For me, it’s an oftentimes underrated makeup morsel, a permanent collection product that scoots under the radar screen of many makeup lovers but regularly rocks my world. The long-running Unsung Heroes series features some of my favorites.

Behold, my latest lash obsession! — Rodan + Fields Enhancements Last Boost.

Since I started using it, my lashes, which peaced-the-eff-out after I gave birth to Connor, are longer, thicker and so much lusher now, and the difference is DRAMATIC. Shout-out to the gals who noticed in these mascara pics.

I’ve used other OTC lash serums before, but I’ve never seen this caliber of results. Too bad it’s so expensive ($155 per tube, OMG).

For the first time ever, though, my lashes actually curl up at the ends, and now when I wear mascara, my lashes touch the my lenses when I wear my glasses.

WHAT THE WHAT?!

Yeah, they do, which is one of those makeup problem I’ve always wanted to experience, but was never able to due to my previous lash limitations.

Take that, genetics! After decades of wanting to “live dat lash life,” NOW I CAN! (Yes, this needed to be in all caps.)

I can see the difference in pics with my bare lashes (these are after four months using the product), but when I wear mascara, it’s even MORE noticeable. I can definitely see more length, especially where there had previously been bare spots/gaps where my natural lashes were their smallest and stubbiest. Also, I can see a difference in the outer corners. Now my fringe even flares out.

rodan fields enhancements lash boost before after — Bare lashes with nothing on them. The top pic was taken at the end of November last year, and the bottom was this month, so it’s been about four months.

[Continue reading…]

Makeup and Beauty Blog Monday Poll, Vol. 569

March 25th, 2019 by Karen 25 Comments

transcription beautiful ruins — Reading is fundamental

So…what is the Monday Poll?

Excellent question! It isn’t, contrary to its name, an actual poll, like with little clicky buttons. It’s just a list of five more or less random questions I’ve been posting on this blog every Monday morning for the past quadrillion years (since 2007). I love reading your answers, and it helps me get my week off to a good start.

1. A bagel with cream cheese, or yogurt with fruit?

I’ll take the bagel, and none of that “whole wheat” or “mini bagel” nonsense. Give me a good old-fashioned regular bagel, and toast that bad boy up! And get some Trader Joe’s Chive Cream Cheese on there, too. 😀

2. Makeup or skin care?

YO, at this point in my 40-something life? I’ll take ALL OF THE SKIN CARE. All. Of. It.

3. What’s the best way to treat yourself?

Oh, that’s easy (but hard to finagle). I love it when I can spend an entire day only doing things that make me happy.

4. If you were required to hang out with someone from a reality TV show, who would you choose?

Marie Kondo so she could help me de-clutter, LOL! Nawww, only kidding. I really wanna hang out with Jonathan from the Queer Eye Netflix reboot so we could chat about cats, hair and the final season of Game of Thrones. I half-jokingly tell El Hub to nominate me for the Queer Eye show. I want the Fab 5 to come fix my hair, my house and my life.

5. Please say something nice to someone else in the comments on this post!

Here’s mine: You, just as you are, are enough. Also, your hair looks amazing today. 😊

Deep thoughts on books…

Hiya and happy Monday. How goes it?

OK, I’m trying something new this week.

Get ready.

Hold on to yo’ seatbelts…

I’m reading — not one, but two fiction books at the same time! HA HA HA! I don’t know why this seems so scandalous to me, because back in college, I was always reading multiple books for multiple classes all at the same time. I just don’t do it ever anymore. Nowadays, when I actually do read for pleasure, it’s usually focus on one book at a time.

So this is “crazy,” quote unquote, for me.

The first book is called Transcription, by Kate Atkinson, and it’s really good. It’s about an unlikely British spy in World War II…

And I’m also listening to an audio book called Beautiful Ruins, by Jess Walter, which is just OK… I’ve been trying to get through it for almost a year now. The narrator is a dude, and while his voice is just fine when he reads the men’s parts, it gets artificially high-pitched whenever he reads a woman’s dialogue, so every single one of his lady characters sounds the same…like a man pretending to be someone’s grandma, and it wears on me.

I’ve stopped and started it how many times now? Ugh. But I’m taking another crack at it again… We’ll see how far I get.

Anyway, I’m reading two books at the same time, which feels rebellious to me for some reason. 😀

How do you handle your reading for pleasure? Do you go at it, one book at a time, or do you read multiple books? And while we’re at it, what are you reading these days.

Soooo…Monday! I hope your morning has been good to you. Talk to ya soon.

Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,

Karen

P.S. Question time! Here they are to copy/paste with your answers in a comment. Talk to you soon.

1. A bagel with cream cheese, or yogurt with fruit?
2. Makeup or skin care?
3. What’s the best way to treat yourself?
4. If you were required to hang out with someone from a reality TV show, who would you choose?
5. Please say something nice to someone else in the comments on this post!

Raisin Rage Would Rock With Driftwood!

March 25th, 2019 by Karen 1 Comment

long live lipstick driftwood k by waterfall — Don’t go chasing waterfalls…unless they lead to MOAR LIPSTICK 💄

Clinique Black Honey, Wet n Wild #666, Revlon Cherries in the Snow. Girlfriend, I totally get it. Sometimes you wanna wear Papaya, and sometimes you don’t. If you want a neutral tee that won’t steal the spotlight from your 💋 lips, the Long Live Lipstick Tee in Driftwood is for you.

Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,

Karen

Sundays With Tabs the Cat, Makeup and Beauty Blog Mascot, Vol. 546

March 24th, 2019 by Karen 3 Comments

“Fashion isn’t what we wear. It’s who we are.” – Tabs the cat

First thing this morning, I got the following text from Tabs:

hi. come 2 office when u get up. bring gravy n hire photog.

Even though Tabs doesn’t work on as many modeling gigs as he used to, he hasn’t technically retired. Being an entrepreneur and a feline philanthropist, he still has a number of side hustles and kitty modeling projects.

Like, today he wanted to update his multimedia portfolio, so he hired his personal photographer, his digital team and his army of stylists for the day.

I, of course, was brought in to assist.

We walked around the neighborhood taking pics, and then the visual effects specialists turned the pics into what you see here…

[Continue reading…]

Saturday Surfing, March 23, 2019

March 23rd, 2019 by Karen 7 Comments

wander beauty skin care — When you wanna self-care skin care at 4 in the morning, yo.

Good morning from the DAWN OF TIME!

Really though, happy Saturday…from someone who’s been up since before the crack of dawn, LOL! I wish I could say that I got up at 3:30 because I was ~~up to no good~~ doing something interesting, like, I dunno…going to a sunrise rave, but no. It was just good old-fashioned insomnia. *shrugs shoulders*

On one hand, I wish I got more sleep because — HELLO. BODY. TIRED. — but on the other hand, I got HELLA stuff done early, and that makes me feel great. I’m still definitely NOT a morning person, but waking up shortly before 4 today allowed me to conquer most of the tasks on my to-do list, including finishing a pilates workout *and* doing a comprehensive moisturizing skin care regimen using the Wander Beauty goodies above.

It’s been a Wander Beauty-ful morning…

Drift Away Cleanser ($32): This gel-to-foam cleanser is great for oily skin, and it whooshed away all of the oily gunk from my t-zone, lickety-split.

Extended Stay Hydrating Mask ($38): This super soothing mask smells delectably 🍓🍑 fruity.

Baggage Claim Eye Masks ($25): Tightening, and — dare I say it — even a little brightening?

Glow Ahead Face Oil ($48): Richer than a rapper’s gold chain collection

Dive In Moisturizer ($36): I like the featherweight formula, but I’d hoped for more…

The gold under-eye masks certainly do a good job of hiding my dark circles, ha! They have a slightly tightening effect while you wear them, which woke me up a little.

As for right now…I’m about to pass out, but that’s OK ’cause Caturdays are good for cat naps. 🐱

Enjoy your coffee. Here are some interesting tidbits I found for your morning beauty reading. Talk to you soon.

On my to-do list this weekend: adopt a fern. I have a couple in my front yard now, but I want another one for inside the house after reading this lovely New York Times story on the history of ferns and our relationship to them. (Apparently, the Victorians were mad about ferns. Who knew?) I think that Lucy Hunter of the Flower Hunter in North Wales nails it when she calls ferns “tough yet delicate.”
By the way, if you have furry friends and you’re looking to add a fern to your plant family, Boston Ferns are supposed to be non-toxic to cats and dogs.
Just in case you were wondering what goes down in a day care center for pandas. Hint: There’s a lot of cuteness.
Scientists played music to cheese as it aged, and in a shock to absolutely no one, hip-hop produced the funkiest flavor.
Looking to add a little mystery to your (makeup) life? Many beauty brands now sell product goodie bags filled with a number of undisclosed “mystery” products. Inspired by a traditional Japanese custom, brands like Colourpop, Tatcha and Charlotte Tilbury now offer these mysterious “lucky bags” filled with products, but are shoppers getting a good deal or a bad deal with these? I’ve often wondered if some bags are just filled with overstocked or about-to-expire items the brands want to get rid of…but then again, I’m so picky about makeup these days that I’m probably not the target customer. I wanna know exactly what I’m getting into, ya know?
Speaking of Colourpop, they’re releasing a Disney Villains collection, and all I have to say to that is MAC did it first. *hair toss*
15 affordable beauty products that look more expensive than they really are, according to Who What Wear.
A brief history of the most successful celebrity scents
A day in the life of Tata Harper, founder and CEO of Tata Harper Skincare
Be on the lookout for this new skin care trend: ‘Needle’ face creams and patches. No, there are no actual metal needles in the cream, so you won’t end up looking like that dude from Hellraiser! Rather, there are ingredients in the creams that mimic the mechanism and role of microneedling.
Young girls — as young as 8 — are a new growing market for laser hair removal and waxing, and all I have to say to that is WHAT THE WHAT. When I was that age, all I cared about were my Hello Kitty lunchbox and whether I’d be able to stay out and play after dinner.