Karen

Sundays With Tabs the Cat, Makeup and Beauty Blog Mascot, Vol. 550

April 21st, 2019 by Karen 6 Comments

Tabs was fit to be tied this morning!

(Happy 🐇 Easter, by the way.)

When his fur stylist didn’t show up for work today, Tabs took it upon himself to head over to her house to demand her professional attention, but she wouldn’t even answer the door. She was also in violation of basic cat assistant construction etiquette by installing her doorbell more than 24 inches off the ground, but I digress…

We’ve said it a thousand times before, but it’s so true. Good help is hard to find, especially help that will show up to work at the crack of dawn on Easter Sunday.

Despite his fur stylist’s poor work ethic, Tabs still dazzled the neighborhood this morning and strutted his stuff in his latest custom couture creation, the Easter Springtime Delights kitty collar.

Year after year, he continues to stun.

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Saturday Surfing, April 20th, 2019

April 20th, 2019 by Karen 5 Comments

So…guess what?

For the first time in forever, I put on heels AND a dress to leave my house.

Yup, BOTH.

I know! I can’t even remember the last time I did that when it didn’t involve some kind of event, but I did it yesterday before going to the dentist, because I was actually feeling kinda feisty and, well…kinda cute, which never happens to me prior to leaving for the dentist.

To make a long story even longer, I did some yoga (a 10-minute flow; that’s the routine down below) before leaving for the appointment, and that just made me feel a little better and less anxious than usual — actually, almost enthusiastic (!) about seeing the dentist.

Anyway, feeling really good about myself, I put on my dress, my heels, got in the car, got on the freeway, and that’s when I realized that my knees and shins were hella dry.

(Don’t ask me why I realized this on the freeway.)

I totally forgot to put on lotion before leaving the house…

I know! When you don’t wear a dress in forever and you’re out of practice, you forget these things.

Then I remembered that I recently tossed the “emergency” lotion I usually keep in my car because it expired, so I didn’t have anything to moisturize myself with other than nude lipsticks and a Clinique Superbalm Lip Balm.

I thought, “Hmm… The Superbalm would be shiny, but it might work,” so when I got to the dentist’s office, I squeezed out a generous amount, and slathered it all over my knees and shins.

(I tried to warm it up first, though, by rubbing it between my fingers and palms.)

Lo and behold, it totally worked! So there’s a beauty hack for ya. Try your lip balm if you’re ever stuck somewhere with dry skin and don’t have any lotion.

On that note, today’s beauty (and otherwise) reading…

Multicolored rainbow/Skittles manicures have been around forever, but since Instagram apparently just discovered them, they’re now a “thing.” LOL!
Sephora and fashion line Moschino are doing a fun collection where the liquid highlighters look like highlighter markers, and the makeup removers look like erasers. There’s also a nail polish in a Wite-Out bottle! — which is what I used to do with *real* Wite-Out when I was a kid.
25 secrets your nail tech wishes you already knew
The Black Opal Aksanti collection helps girls in the Congo.
This woman found a lock of Charlotte Brontë’s braided hair encased in a ring in her attic… All I have in my attic are ghosts 👻 and dust mites!
Because El Hub, Connor Claire and Tabs are all part Irish, here are 10 Irish Good Friday traditions you’ve never heard of.
And because my first-born cat son 🐱 is also hardcore GoT ⚔️🐉 enthusiast, here are some awesome homemade Games of Thrones-inspired pet beds.
Fun fact about Game of Thrones: Jon Snow wears high heels.
Speaking of felines, have you heard about the mysterious wild cats of Britain?
Cats get acne, too.

I adore Hindash’s work and can’t wait to try this!

You know how much I love her, but I love her even more because she says the words, “flute backstory,” in this video.

How to look more amazing up-close and in person

Best Ted Talk I watched this week

I did this workout just the other day! Super challenging, but I felt great at the end of it.

I’ve been doing this 10-minute yoga flow after workouts for my upper back, and it has helped with the wonkiness a lot.

Now I’m off to go take the coywolf to a local Easter egg hunt. Have a great Saturday and a 😃 happy (early) 🐇 Easter.

Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,

Karen

What’s Your Routine for Washing Your Face?

April 19th, 2019 by Karen 16 Comments

Your morning routine? Your evening routine? Whatever you feel like sharing. What’s your routine for washing your face? Do you use micellar water? Makeup wipes? Do you use a washcloth? I know everybody does it a little differently.

For me, in the morning, I wash my face right after I wake up, and how I do it depends on how my skin feels. I’ve been using a retinol at night (Kate Somerville’s), and I’m trying to ramp up to using it three nights a week (Slowly… It’s taking forever because my skin’s just freaking out left and right), but if my face isn’t feeling too dry or sensitive in the morning, I’ll use Clinique’s creamy cleanser — the one in the green tube (sorry, I’m blanking on the name right now). I’ll massage that on to my dry skin, then take a warm, clean washcloth and use that to wipe it away.

Then, I’ll turn the water so it’s ice cold and splash my face a few times, because that really helps me wake me.

And then on the mornings when my skin feels super dry and tight or otherwise uncomfortable, I’ll splash my face with lukewarm water and gently blot it dry with a towel.

In the evenings, I like to do a double cleanse, so I like to start by removing my makeup with an oil cleanser (DHC and Fresh are my favorites), which I massage on to my face. No water. Just two pumps of the oil, massage it in, and let it break up whatever it can break up. Then I rinse off whatever I can with warm water.

Next, while my face is still wet, I’ll grab a face cleanser (either the same Clinique one I use in the morning, or this gel cleanser by H2O Plus, which I like to use when I’ve been sweating a lot or wearing more makeup than usual because it’s a stronger cleanser than the Clinique one, and my face feels very clean after I use it). Then, I’ll wet another clean wash cloth with warm water and use it to remove whatever remains on my face, before splashing again with water.

We go through a LOT of washcloths in our house, LOL!

Let me know what your routine is for washing your face, girl!

Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,

Would You Get Botox in Your Head So Your Blowouts Could Last Longer?

April 19th, 2019 by Karen 10 Comments

Girlfriend, THIS IS TOTALLY A THING. People are getting their scalps injected with Botox to make their scalp perspire less, and therefore help their blowouts last longer.

As someone who used to pride herself on how long she could tolerate going between hair washes — seriously, there was a time in my life when I could gleefully go six days without washing my hair — this may have appealed to me more at one time than it does now.

If nothing else, I would’ve SERIOUSLY considered it, but I don’t think I would have gone through with it because I don’t like needles… They freak me out. Also, knowing me, if I did get a scalp injection, it would probably leave me with a twitchy left eyelid for six months. I would’ve been better off just living with 12 pounds of dry shampoo in my hair, which is what I used to do.

Now, I’m an everyday hair washer… Yeah, I know, but my hair isn’t dyed anymore. I’m transitioning back to my natural color, so I don’t really have to worry about hair color fading, which is one good thing about growing out your grays. I’m also kind of addicted now to that clean scalp feeling. Granted, I don’t shampoo every night. I alternate shampoo every other day with a conditioner wash, which is still more hair washing than I’ve done in years…which just goes to show you: NEVER SAY NEVER.

Anyway, tangent city, HERE WE COME. 😀

Now, back to the question at hand… Would you ever get Botox in your head so your blowouts could last longer? Inquiring minds want to know!

Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,

Karen

P.S. Happy Good Friday. TGIF.

Spellbound by MAC Strip Down: Twig Satin Lipstick

April 18th, 2019 by Karen 18 Comments

Meet some of my favorite MAC nude shades this week from the MAC Strip Down collection.

I’m a bonafide twig expert! — self proclaimed, of course. I have twigs in every pocket of every jacket. Literally.

And there are two reasons for this:

Because I like to wear MAC Twig lipstick
And because Connor has to pick up all of the twigs she finds whenever we leave the house and adds them to her collection of “treasures that we keep by the front door.”

So, yeah, with the power vested in me by the State of California, I declare myself a twig expert. 😊

MAC Twig is such an old-school favorite. Perhaps unsurprisingly, it is not the color of most tiny branches. Really, I don’t know why it’s even called “Twig,” unless somebody somewhere had a dream about a pinkish brown tree…?

Yeah, it’s in the realm of brown, but I think it’s more pink than brown, so if you like the idea of a nude lip color that splits the difference between a Barbie pink and a true brown, a la MAC Paramount, take a look at Twig.

Like other MAC nude lip greats, it’s subtlety different from other nude lip colors in ways that a casual bystanders would have absolutely NO CLUE about. Like my husband — he would never be able to tell the difference between Velvet Teddy and Twig, but you and I? We would.

mac twig swatch — The ultimate trifecta of MAC rosy brown nude lippies!

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