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

Put a Cat on It!

November 13th, 2018 by Karen 1 Comment

chanel holiday 2018 eyeshadows top final — CHANEL

‘Cause if you liked it then you should have put a cat on it.

If you liked it, then you shoulda put a cat in it.

Don’t be mad once you see the tabby’s paw on it.

‘Cause if you liked it, then you shoulda put a cat on it.

Oh, oh, oh (oh, oh, oh) oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh.

Oh, oh, oh (oh, oh, oh) oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh.

When you and I finally discover the mythical doorway to the alternate universe ruled by cat ladies and cross the threshold together, you’ll see. There will be cats on everything. Every piece of makeup. EVERYTHING! Because cats on makeup is the key to life!

Well, maybe not the key to life…but it makes things better. 😺

Paul and Joe does it, Chantecaille did it with big cats, and now Chanel went there with 🦁 lions. They put leonine heads on their holiday eyeshadows and holiday highlighter.

I’ve been wanting to use these shadows, but I couldn’t bring myself to sully the kitty cat designs on them. I’ve been surgically removing tiny amounts of the shadows from the sides of the pan (right next to the lion’s bushy mane) with the diminutive NARS 45 smudge brush, so as to protect the meow-velous design.

chanel holiday 2018 — Wearing Chanel Cuivre Lamé and Noir Lamé eyeshadows on my lids

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A Sephora VIB Sale Strategy (and a Skin Care Haul)

November 13th, 2018 by Karen 21 Comments

kate somerville skin care — New from Kate Somerville

I have revised my plan of attack for the Sephora VIB sale, because, let’s get real…only a few of the items I want are things I can’t function without (I’m talking to you, Kate Somerville Anti-Bac Clearing Lotion). Most of the things are things I only want because they’re on sale… I’m 100% my mother’s daughter that way (“It’s on sale? BUY IT. Don’t you ever pay full price, ever!”).

But really, how much do I actually need another bronzer, all-matte neutral palette or another coral lipstick?

Not much! LOL. But I still want them all, especially with new makeup coming out every five seconds, so I gotta check myself before I wreck myself…

How do I weed out unnecessary or spur-of-the moment purchases?

On the very first day of the sale, I put everything I want to buy into my cart, and then I wait… And wait. And wait. I let it all simmer there, brewing and stewing (and taunting me?). Then, juuuuust before the sale ends, I’ll see what’s left in my cart, and most of the time when I do this, there are things that have sold out, which whittles the list down, and from there I reevaluate what’s left and see what fits into my budget.

This tactic reduces the likelihood of me getting a whole bunch of things I mostly only want because they’re on sale.

sephora vib haul — ‘Twas a skin care haul (regular prices shown)

Um…but K-Dawg, does this actually work?

Dude, it totally does! Forcing myself to wait and really think about my cart and the grand total $ staring back at me helps…because I know who I am, and I’m a spur-of-the-moment shopper.

Waiting also forces me to look around at what I already have in my stash.

For this last sale, I knew I needed another bottle of Kate Somerville Anti-Bac, sunscreen/face moisturizer for winter (ugh, dry skin), an eye cream and some chemical exfoliators for mature skin, because every morning lately when I wake up and look in the mirror, instead of seeing my face, I see freakin’ Gollum’s!

What my heart was telling me I wanted, though, was a bunch of makeup — a Charlotte Tilbury palette, Shiseido eyeliners and eyeshadows (they recently revamped their entire makeup line, and it’s supposed to be REALLY good), some Charlotte Tilbury blushes and bronzers, and a Dior foundation.

OK, and maybe a few other things were in there too, ha ha ha. You know me too well!

Step 1: Shopping my own stash

The Charlotte Tilbury palette ended up being sold out, but everything worked out because I rediscovered my BECCA Chrissy Palette, which more or less serves the same purpose. I’m a little sad panda, 🙁 but if the CT palette is still around for the next VIB sale and I’m still lusting after it, I’ll get it then.

becca chrissy teigen swatches — Hello, old friend…

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#BECCAxChrissy Holiday 2018 Collection Glow Kitchen and Lip Icing Glow Gloss Kits

November 12th, 2018 by Karen 9 Comments

becca chrissy holiday 2018 2 — New #BECCAxChrissy holiday makeup

Chrissy Teigan gets me, man. She really does — and not just because she made one of my favorite face/eye palettes of all time.

Um, have I mentioned in the last 5 minutes how much I adore the BECCA X Chrissy palette? Yeah, you do not have to twist my arm to get me to wear bronze eyeshadow. LOL.

Well, Chrissy is back with another BECCA holiday collab, and it’s also gorgeous, especially if you have warm undertones and medium brown skin.

We’re talking bronze lids, rose gold highlighter, rosy nude lipstick and a whole lotta nude gloss, a.k.a Karen’s Makeup Dreams Come True, or K.M.D.C.T.

There’s two LE holiday kits, and both of them are available now at Sephora.

BECCA Glow Kitchen Kit ($44)

This kit contains three items, and errrrthang is new. These are never-seen-before formulas, which is very exciting to makeup weirdos 😜 like yours truly. There’s a loose rose gold highlighter, a matte nude rose liquid lipstick, and a pot called Glow Souffle Eye Shadow & Face Highlighter in Cinnamon Churro with a bronze eyeshadow in the flip-cap top and a creamy golden mousse highlighter in the jar. (Side note: The packaging looks a LOT like these old Tom Ford duos.)

I couldn’t wait to try Cinnamon Churro. The soft bronze eyeshadow feels almost creamy, so it’s crazy sexy blend-able, but the frosty finish and big flecks of glitter make it…problematic for 40-something lids. If I take it up too high into my crease — which is easy to do because of how gracefully the powder glides across the skin, and you know I like to go HAM on that @ss when it comes to blending — I look much older than I am because of mah fine lines.

Beautiful bronze color, though… Le sigh. If I were 22, I’d be on it like fried chicken on waffles.

Fun fact: The mousse highlighter in the duo smells like cinnamon buns, which are one of Chrissy’s favorite sweet treats… And now I’m craving cinnamon buns with extra icing, ha ha.

Um…where was I?

To put the formula in context, the mousse is denser than a Tom Ford cream shadow but less dense than a Chanel cream or a MAC Paint Pot.

So, basically, it feels like a makeup marshmallow (which is great), but, like the eyeshadow, the mousse is full of bling, so it gets a hard pass from me thanks to my experience lines.

becca chrissy holiday 2018 — BECCA Chrissy Holiday 2018

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Makeup and Beauty Blog Monday Poll, Vol. 550

November 12th, 2018 by Karen 36 Comments

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. Matching holiday pajamas for the whole family: cute or cheesy?

CUUUUUTE — especially if your family takes a lot of pictures like mine does. Also, if you’re going to “go there,” go all the way, man! Use PJs with the most obnoxious print you can find, but please — for the sake of the person in the family who has a bladder the size of a pea (ME) — don’t get onesies, because they are a PITA for the bladder-challenged.

2. How often do you go braless out in public?

Not often. At all. I have four words for you: HELL TO THE NO. I don’t need those things flapping around and blowing in the wind as I’m reaching up to get a box of cat food (that is always out of reach) on the highest shelf. Plus, with my luck, the zombie invasion would probably start while I was out of the house, so I would be stuck in the apocalypse without a bra…which would be TERRIBLE.

3. What’s the best breakup song?

Seems like I’ve been married since the Mesozoic Era, but back in the day Jen and I would bump En Vogue’s Give It Up, Turn It Loose during boy woes.

4. Describe the most recent pic you took on your phone.

I would if I could… See the pic at the top of this post? ☝️

5. Best/worst Thanksgiving side dish?

Is there a such thing as a worst Thanksgiving side dish? 🙂 I’ll pretty much eat everything with equal enthusiasm, but if I’m forced to choose, then I guess my choice for “best” would be mashed potatoes and gravy (teh carbs!), and my pick for “worst” would be the lame-o bags of generic store-bought salad.

There’s always at least one at the table (why?) that nobody touches.

Is there a snack…

That takes you back to your childhood? For me, it’s dried mangoes, which is why I had to stop in the middle of a crowded Costco aisle to take a picture of the display at the top of this post.

When I was really little, the only time I ever got dried mangoes was when relatives brought them over from the Philippines, so I only got them once or twice a year, but now you can get them in bulk at Costco, which BLOWS MY MIND.

I actually didn’t buy one of the bags from Costco because I currently do not need a massive bulk-sized bag of dried mangoes in my life, LOL! They’re basically giant bags of irresistible fruity-goodness candy.

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. Matching holiday pajamas for the whole family: cute or cheesy?
2. How often do you go braless out in public?
3. What’s the best breakup song?
4. Describe the most recent pic you took on your phone.
5. Best/worst Thanksgiving side dish?

Sundays With Tabs the Cat, Makeup and Beauty Blog Mascot, Vol. 527

November 11th, 2018 by Karen 10 Comments

Despite his advanced years, Tabs keeps holdin’ it down. He still exudes extraordinary cattitude and gravitas.

Today, to show his support for human and cat veterans, he kept it classy with camo.

His security vest is both fashion-forward and practical because it’s made from super soft silk interwoven with Kevlar, and it doesn’t make a sound during stealth operations.

It worked perfectly on patrol this morning.

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