Karen

What Are 9 Makeup/Beauty Things You’ve Never Tried Before?

July 18th, 2018 by Karen 8 Comments

Teeth whitening? Microblading? Bird 🐦 poop facials? Bleaching your hair? Wearing a wig? A mani or a pedi? I’m asking ’cause this video of 9 things Mariah Carey has never tried before (removing a stain with a Tide Pen, really MC? How is that possible when you have two kids?) got me thinking…

What are some things — popular or otherwise (fish pedicure, anyone?) — you haven’t tried?

Here are nine of mine…

9 makeup/beauty things I haven’t tried before

I’ve never tried a spray tan.
I’ve never tried an eyelash perm, although I really want to! (I hear it’s life changing.)
I’ve never tried applying a glitter face mask, mostly because I feel like, what’s the point of having glitter in a face mask anyway? If I’m gonna have glitter in a mask, that glitter better do something, like moisturize or exfoliate.
I’ve never tried clip-in bangs! I want some, though, for when those random urges to cut my bangs strike.
I’ve never tried a fish 🐟 pedicure and don’t think I ever will because it looks really ticklish.
I’ve never tried eye lash extensions
I’ve never tried hair extensions.
I’ve never tried getting my brows microbladed.
I’ve never tried wearing a sheet mask in public!

Your turn. What are some makeup/beauty things you’ve never tried before, and are any of them things you really want to try one day soon? Inquiring minds want to know.

Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,

Karen

The Limited Edition Charlotte Tilbury Bigger Brighter Eyes Palette, and a New CC Cream From It Cosmetics

July 17th, 2018 by Karen 8 Comments

charlotte tilbury transformeyes — I’m wearing the limited edition Charlotte Tilbury Bigger Brighter Eyes Palette ($53)

What does a makeup-lovin’ lady do when she wants to “play up” her peepers, but she only has minutes to pull herself together for a Sunday funday meeting with a beauty brand? (Side note: The brand was It Cosmetics! More on this in a second…)

Shockingly, this particular time crunch was not due to my usual lollygagging.

I know! Instead, it was due to my oldest child (the cat), who decided that my youngest child (the toddler), didn’t need to eat her plate of scrambled eggs for breakfast…

Let’s just say that a series of swift cat paw swats led to scrambled eggs on the floor, which led to silky scrambled eggs ending up in one husky tabby’s tummy. As for the rest of the eggs, well, they ended up in his partner in crime’s tiny (but surprisingly powerful) toddler hands, and that resulted in scrambled eggs strewn about the living room like confetti in Time’s Square on New Year’s.

All of this in the span of 60 seconds… How? No, seriously, HOW?!

Needless to say, I was officially running laaaaate.

Charlotte Tilbury Bigger Brighter Eyes Palette ($53)

With my makeup window whittled down to 10 minutes, I grabbed the Charlotte Tilbury Transformeyes Palette, because you know the old saying — when it doubt, buff an expensive gold and brown eyeshadow out.

OK, I just totally made that up. 🙂 But it’s an accurate way to describe what I do with this palette for some everyday low-key glam.

What it is: A limited-edition filter palette to morph your eyes into the biggest, brightest, most sparkling eyes ever.

What it does: Inspired by the sparkling, eye-widening filters of social media, this palette is color-curated and coded to make your eyes look instantly bigger and brighter, as well as putting what Charlotte famously calls the lights-into-the-eyes. Charlotte has de-codified that application into an easy Prime, Enlarge, Define and Pop sequence, with each micro-finely pigmented shadow color-formulated to give the optical illusion of widening, brightening and playing with the light in specific areas after application.

How to use: Apply the Prime color, a warm, eye-brightening hue, to the inner corners of the eyes to give the effect of broadening the whole eye area. Apply the Enlarge shade to lightly contour and give a lifting effect to the socket; it can be built up or washed across the eye lightly. Define with a universal hue that adds instant definition to the lashline and makes eyes look brighter. Then, apply Pop in targeted areas to widen and brighten eyes throughout the day.

–nordstrom.com

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What’s Your Makeup Nightmare?

July 17th, 2018 by Karen 16 Comments

I’ve had this on my mind since my buddy Yelena and I were chatting in the comments last week about the stuff of our makeup nightmares. Yelena’s is a world without brow products, and yeah…I have to admit, that would be pretty crappy, especially for my right brow, a.k.a. my “ghost brow,” a.k.a. the brow that disappears into oblivion.

My makeup nightmare scenario, however, is a world without every single option under the sun for glowing skin, because I can’t imagine my foundation drawer with, like, only one option! *shudders*

Some days I want a little shimmer; some days I want more matte; some days I want more coverage; and some days I want less… I quite love having lots of choices on any given day. I’ve morphed into a foundation junkie, I guess.

Don’t get me wrong — I still LOVE color and wearing lots of it on my eyes, cheeks and lips, but there’s just something about skin that looks like real skin that I find so satisfying these days… Go figure!

Anyway, please don’t ever, EVER take away my foundations. It would break my ❤️ heart!

Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,

Karen

Unsung Makeup Heroes: Chanel Rouge Allure Ink in Créatif

July 16th, 2018 by Karen 9 Comments

chanel creatif swatch — Chanel Rouge Allure Ink Matte Liquid Lip Colour in Créatif

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.

I’m always down for a summery coral lippie, and Chanel Rouge Allure Ink in Créatif ($37) is THE ONE.

Well…the one for this week, ha ha ha! 😂 Hello, have we met? My name is Karen, and I have a new coral crush every other day.

But that’s neither here nor there.

This one’s a matte liquid lipstick, but it’s unlike your typical dry and heavy/hello horizontal lip lines/cat butt liquid lippie sitch. It’s on the thinner side, like the NARS Powermattes, so you can’t feel it sitting on your lips, and it lasts about the same amount of time (~5 hours), but it’s much, much easier to control as it glides across your lips.

chanel creatif — I’m hoping that wearing Créatif will spark some creativity…

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Makeup and Beauty Blog Monday Poll, Vol. 533

July 16th, 2018 by Karen 59 Comments

k pool monday poll pic — Thinking about all the kittens I wish I could hug

So…what is the Monday Poll?

Good question! It isn’t, contrary to its name, an actual poll. 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 gazillion years (more than 10!). I love reading your answers, and it helps me get my week off to a great start. 👍

1. Where do you usually put on your makeup?

It really depends on the light and what time of day it is, but I usually do it in the same place I write, which is my office at home upstairs. The light from my office window is nice and bright until about 4. Then it gets a little too dark. Any time after that, and I’m probably doing my makeup on the floor in my bedroom.

Oh, and my car! (In the passenger seat, of course.) I am forever putting on makeup in a moving vehicle, it seems!

2. Which would you rather do — an eyelash perm (a.k.a. a lash lift), eyelash extensions or eyelash tint?

Eyelash perm in a heartbeat, because even though I love the idea of extensions, I just know that having that little bit of extra weight on my lashes would drive me crazy.

3. Do you have any psychic abilities?

Other than the ability to psychically predict precisely when my cat gets up to no good? Nope.

But before my tabby sense goes off…the house gets eerily quiet — like the calm before a storm — and then, BOOM. A tiny tabby paw comes out of nowhere and pulls your sandwich off the living room table!

4. Something you’d like to eat today?

I’d love a chopped salad with a hunk of fresh bread and a tall glass of unsweetened iced tea to wash it down.

5. Have you ever taken in a stray?

So many times! All of my animal companions and I have found each other through the randomness of the universe, but the biggest love, the greatest love, will always be Tabs. He’s my once-in-a-lifetime cat.

Thoughts on books: e-books or the old-fashioned kind?

Last night before bed I started a new book I checked out from the library, and as I was flipping through the pages to look for pictures or maps (does anyone else do this?!) I got to thinking about whether people still like reading “old-fashioned books” — ya know, the ones with pages! I have a Kindle and even though I’ve used it and liked it just fine, there’s something about feeling the weight of a book in my hand and the pages as I flip through them that I like so much more than scrolling with my finger on a screen. I might be old school that way though. Which do you prefer?

Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,

Karen

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

1. Where do you usually put on your makeup?
2. Which would you rather do: an eyelash perm (AKA lash lift), eyelash extensions, or eyelash tint?
3. Do you have any psychic abilities?
4. Something you’d like to eat today?
5. Have you ever taken in a stray?