Remember the Royal Hawaiian Hotel? Yeah, I’m a little obsessed with it (hello, it’s PINK!). Here’s another view of it, this time from the water (I was snorkeling in Waikiki).
Archives for November 2010
Is This What Shoe Heaven Looks Like?
I saw these at the Miu Miu store when I was cruising Ala Moana Center today.
What say you?
I love them… le sigh.
Hana Lima Hawaiian Soaps Are a Breath of Fresh Hawaiian Air
Aloha, young lady. 🙂 You know that last-minute scramble for snacks and nicknacks to bring home at the end of a trip? Well, that describes my day. Since I fly back to the Bay tomorrow, I wanted to tour the 290+ shops and take in the sights at Ala Moana Center, Hawaii’s biggest mall (also the largest open-air shopping center in the U.S.).
If there’s a mall in heaven, I hope it’s like Ala Moana. Red ginger, dwarf palms and bright orchids line the multi-story promenades, which host everything from high-end boutiques like Miu Miu, Chanel and Dior to mainstream shops like The Gap and, here, Hilo Hattie, where you can load up on macadamia nuts, kona coffee and, if you get lucky, that hot surfer dude working behind the register (my friend Cindy ALWAYS asks me to bring one home for her).
What do you think about these Hana Lima Hawaiian Soaps? I spotted them at Hilo Hattie today.
Hana lima, or “Hawaiian made,” is a small line of handmade, cold process vegetable soaps made by a family from Kona on the Big Island.
Soaps manufactured using the cold process last a really long time. In a nutshell, the process involves combining lye (sodium hydroxide), water and fatty acids (which can be made from almost any oil, like olive, coconut, etc.) in a chemical reaction called “saponification.” During saponification the oils and lye become soap; the process usually takes between four weeks and six weeks to complete.
I would have overlooked these, lost amidst the cacophony of tropical tchotchkes in the store, if not for the vintage Hawaiian print packaging. The soaps looked like somebody went wild cutting up a collection of hyper-color aloha shirts!
The 3.5-oz bars are wrapped in bright tropical-print fabrics (they’re actually made of real cloth!) with cute illustrations of plumeria, tuberose and Hawaiian red ginger flowers.
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3 Fusion Beauty Lip Plumpers Put to the Test
Many beauty brands carry one lip plumper, if any, but not Fusion Beauty. Known for “fusing beauty with science” and their “tested on scientists, not animals” motto, the company carries many plumping lip products, like the three I recently got the chance to test thanks to a Sephora 500 point perk.
LipFusion XL — Also known as 2x Micro Collagen + HA Advanced Lip Plump, XL is advertized as “a spearmint-flavored nighttime lip plumping therapy.” Despite the way they promote its use, my lips look their plumpy best within the first few hours of application (although the effect does last longer than that). This lip plump feels cool and tingly on my lips but doesn’t hurt like some of the other plumpers I’ve tried. If your lips are very sensitive, I recommend the less tingly LipFusion Infatuation (below), but overall LipFusion XL is the most effective lip plumper I have ever used. It’s clear and works equally well alone or over a lipstick or another gloss. It’s also hydrating and long lasting.
So what’s not to love? How about the price. I don’t see myself paying $50 for the full-size product any time soon, although it would make a great Christmas gift (wink-wink!).
LipFusion XL
LipFusion Infatuation — A slightly less effective (than the XL variety), but cheaper ($29) lip plumper that comes in a range of different colors. My shade is called In The Flesh, and is described as a “sheer natural healthy nude”.
If this is sheer, I wonder what their non-sheer glosses look like! This one, like XL, feels tingly, cooling, and lasts a long time. It’s a hydrating lip plumper that I will likely repurchase once I finish my sample.
LipFusion Infatuation
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Makeup Math: Your Face Is a Grid
Think of your face as a grid.
Draw an imaginary line vertically down through the center of your nose, and a horizontal line going across the tip of said nose. The more something interacts with these lines, the more noticeable it is. Following this logic, a small pimple on the very center of the nose is going to attract more attention than a larger one near the jawline, and the same concept applies to makeup.
A grid can help us figure out where to focus our efforts. Should we spend more product and effort covering up that blemish near our cheekbone (bingo!), or that one near our hairline? Or should we aim that concealer brush at that red mark on the center of our chin, or the port-wine stain near our earlobe?
But maybe concealing isn’t your problem. Maybe you want to enhance your bone structure instead.
If you have a rounder face (ain’t you a cutie?), apply a darker contour shade from the horizontal gridline halfway up to the vertical line, and about a third of the way from the lower end of the vertical line to a third of the way to the horizontal, keeping along the border of your face.
If your face could be described as triangular (a description I hate, but, alas, the makeup world has yet to come up with a better term for it), do the same as you would for a rounder face, except swap in a highlight shade for the area below the horizontal gridline, or forego this step altogether.
For those with a square or rectangular face (which just means your forehead may be a bit wider and your jaw is a bit more pronounced than someone with an oval face), buff a contour shade midway between the endpoints of the two lines (or the four corners of your face), rounding the edges.
And if you have an oval face…well, lay down those brushes. An oval shape is generally considered the easiest to apply makeup to, which is why the steps above aim to shape the other types more towards this goal.
Cheek color should never fall below your imaginary horizontal line, no matter what (this was an old film and theatre technique used to age actors or make them appear ill).
Now, draw an imaginary vertical line through the center of your pupil; blush should never be applied further in than this line.
How about the eyes?
The space between your eyebrows should be approximately the width of one of your eyes. To help us find where our brows should end, take any straight object (pencil, brush, etc.; really, any old thing will do), and draw an imaginary line from the corner of the nostril on the same side through the outside corner of that eye. End your brow just inside this spot.
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Two Ways to Win a Clarins Barocco Face Palette
WINNER: The giveaway is closed now, and the winner is Wendy! Congratulations, Wendy! If you entered but didn’t win this time around, keep trying, and click here to enter any ongoing giveaways before you jet. 🙂
It’s almost too pretty to touch, but the floral swirls gracing the Clarins Barocco Face Palette ($55) want you to go for baroque today.
Really, they do. I’m not kidding; they LIVE for it!
This golden peachy pink powder gives cheeks and faces a warm, subtle sheen, but only if you build up the courage to actually disrupt the pretty pattern on the pan. 🙂
If you can imagine this limited edition stunner softly illuminating your lovely cheeks, then get ready to flex those commenting muscles because it’s time for another giveaway!
- One (1) Clarins Barocco Face Palette (a $55 value).
- There are two ways to enter, and you can do both of them for two chances to win. First, you can enter by leaving a comment at the bottom of this post, a comment about anything at all — do you have a favorite Clarins product? What are you doing for lunch today? What’s your favorite magazine? How do you feel about spam (the canned meat)?
- Second, you can enter by following me on Twitter @karenmbb and retweeting (RT) the following message:
- Follow @karenmbb and RT to Win a Clarins Barocco Face Palette (a $55 Value) http://bit.ly/i26UjT
- The deadline to enter is Thursday, December 2, 2010 at 11:59PM (PT).
- Entrants must enter using a valid email address and/or Twitter account to win.
- A maximum of two (2) entries per person — one within the comments at the bottom of this post, and a second entry via Twitter addressed to me @karenmbb.
- Contest is open to individuals of any country who have reached the age of majority according to their local laws (18 in the United States with these exceptions: Alabama and Nebraska, 19; Mississippi, 21).
- Tabs and I (heretofore referred to as “T-Money and K-Dawg”) will select one (1) winner at random from the entries either left in the comments at the bottom of this blog post or addressed to @karenmbb on Twitter.
- The winner will be announced here within 48 hours of the deadline.
- Void where prohibited by law.
Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,
Karen
WINNER: The giveaway is closed now, and the winner is Wendy! Congratulations, Wendy! If you entered but didn’t win this time around, keep trying, and click here to enter any ongoing giveaways before you jet. 🙂
Shave Ice Scenes from Matsumoto’s
I always, always order a small shave ice with lilikoi and lychee syrup with vanilla ice cream, azuki beans and condensed milk whenever I go to Matsumoto Shave Ice on Oahu’s North Shore.
5 Ways to Beautifully Transition Into Winter
As the weather gets colder and that rosy glow pops into your cheeks every time you step outdoors, your beauty routine needs to follow suit. This winter has its own set of trends, as well as some general guidelines to help you switch from your fall face to a chillier complexion.
1. Layering
And not just your sweaters. In winter, it really helps to layer your skincare and makeup products to protect your skin and your hard work. In cold locales, where the weather leeches moisture from your skin, try layering a serum under a heavier lotion to really lock in that moisture.
Don’t forget the shower — Apply these when your skin is still slightly damp from your shower. Along with your epidermis being more porous and absorbent thanks to heat opening your pores, the products will capture and mix with the water still on your skin and dispense this essential moisture as they sink in, ensuring all-day plumpness.
To make sure the bitter winds don’t cause your makeup to flake and flatten, layer your foundation and eyeshadow over a good primer. Then, throw some gloss on top of your lips to keep your lipstick from sucking the moisture out of those luscious lips.
2. Purple
One of the hottest color families this season, you really can’t go wrong with any purple in my opinion. Try a rich, royal purple in the outer-V, taking it about a sixth of the way under the eye; or, opt for a plum-tone satin lip with a hint of clear gloss paired with a neutral eye.
3. Icy Composure
Fittingly, icy shades of blue, white, and silver are de rigeur for Winter 2010. Aim for simplicity with just one or two of these shades dusted lightly over your lids, and finish with a nude lip. Wanna go all the way? Cover your lips with a neutral concealer or a product like MAC Lip Erase, and put a bit of a nude gloss over it for some added dimension. Or, add a bit of drama with a sheer, shimmery berry shadow in the crease. Keep blush sheer and bare, and tap on a silvery highlighter to finish the look.
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