• Skip to content
  • Skip to primary sidebar

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

A beauty blog blooming with fresh makeup reviews, swatches and beauty tips from your friendly neighborhood beauty addict

  • Home
  • About
    • About
    • Contact
    • FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions)
    • Advertising & Media
  • Categories
    • Product Reviews
    • Makeup
    • Skincare & Fragrance
    • Style & Fashion
    • Hair
    • Nails
    • Tips & Tutorials
    • Just for Fun
  • Brands
  • Store

Clinique

10-Minute Makeup With the Clinique Chubby Sticks

May 5th, 2020 by Karen 22 Comments

clinique portly plum ample amber eyes
When your messy bun just isn’t messy enough! The shirt is from connorclaire.com. 🙂

I’m currently not picky about precision placement (I JUST WANNA GET ANY PLACEMENT, TBH!), so hooray for these Clinique Chubby Sticks.

See the rounded tip? They’re not exactly the tool you’d grab to surgically insert a pocket of precise color in the outer third of the crease, you know what I’m saying? This, my dear, is pandemic makeup at its finest. Le sigh… I never thought I’d ever type those words.

clinique portly plum ample amber eyes products
Yay for the Clinique Chubby Sticks!

If you haven’t tried the Clinique Chubby Sticks, get on it! They’re semi-sheer creams, so you don’t have to fuss too much with blending. I mainly use the eyeshadows and blush because I like the finishes. They’re super-forgiving and blur pores beautifully.

So ya want more color? No worries, just add layers and blend a little more ’til you get where you want to go. I find that I can really pack the eyeshadows and blushes on before they look heavy on my lids or cheeks, and before they break up into chunky patches on my skin.

I have combination skin — some oiliness — but it’s mostly dry on my cheeks and lids, and the blush fades faster than the eyeshadow, but they both last long enough to make it through a day without touching up.

clinique portly plum ample amber eyes down
I like big hoops and I cannot lie!

I’ve done this same exact look three or four times in the past couple weeks. Last time you saw it was a couple Saturday Surfings ago. It’s the same thing, different day, and I’m not mad about it. Because sometimes I think you’ve gotta lean into the predictability, especially when everything else feels crazy.

clinique portly plum ample amber eyes 1
Same makeup, different day, but I’m OK with it.

I made myself put on makeup this morning (even though I didn’t want to at first), and I almost feel semi-normal today, which is a good thing, because if you ask my coworkers, I’ve been very crabby lately. But today, not so much. I may have already smiled a bunch of times. 😊😄🙂

Key products in this look

  • Base: First Aid Beauty Ultra Repair Tinted Moisturizer in Tan, Kevyn Aucoin Super Natural Concealer in Medium ECO6, Clinique Airbrush Concealer in Medium Caramel
  • Eyes: Clinique Chubby Stick Shadow Tints in Portly Plum and Ample Amber, Laura Mercier Caviar Mascara, MAC Broque Technakohl Liner, MAC Brow Set in Clear
  • Cheeks: Clinique Chubby Stick Cheek Colour Balm in Amp’d Up Apple
  • Lips: NUDESTIX Lip + Cheek Balm in Ally
  • Tee: Long Live Lipstick Tee in Driftwood

A social distance date

Remember Milo the cat? He’s an orange and white kitty who lives in our neighborhood, and back in the pre-Rosie days he’d pop by our house and hang out in our kitchen. Anyway, Connor and I had an accidental social distance date with him yesterday afternoon. We were playing “zoo” in a grove of trees in our neighborhood, and when we looked up into the branches, there he was, just chillin’ like he was waiting for his cat ladies to show up.

Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,

Karen

There are 22 comments on this post. Leave yours.

Categories: Clinique, MAC Makeup, Makeup, Makeup Tips/How To

Aubergine Eyes and Berry Lips

January 7th, 2020 by Karen 14 Comments

aubergine eyes berry lips
I did my eye makeup with just an eyeliner.

Your fun fact for the day about eggplant: While commonly thought of as a vegetable in cooking circles, eggplant (also known as aubergine), is technically a fruit — specifically, a berry.

And now you’re ready to conquer the botany stage on your next trivia night! (Lucky you.)

I’ve got aubergine on my mind because one thing that Santa so kindly brought me for Christmas is the aubergine-colored Athleta workout top I’m wearing in these pics, so I did this combo the other day with aubergine eyes and berry lips.

aubergine eyes berry lips 2

When you want to do easy eye makeup, pencil liner is your BFF.

For the eye makeup, I used one of my favorite quickie techniques. I grabbed a long-wearing pencil eyeliner (ESUM Aubergine), applied a layer on my lids, and then buffed out the edges to mimic the effect of eyeshadow. I did this a few times to build up the color in the areas where I wanted more depth — the lash line and outer third — so that my hooded eyes would look more deeply set. Then, I lined my upper and lower waterlines and smudged the liner along my lower lash line to balance out the heaviness on the lids.

Finish with a couple coats of mascara on your lashes, and you’re done!

What you’ll need to look for in your liner

Ideally, you’ll want a liner that’s soft enough to blend with a brush, but you don’t want one that’s too smudgy, because then it’ll just move around on your bare lids and disappear. On the opposite end of the spectrum, you don’t want one that dries too quickly, because then you won’t have enough playtime to blend.

On top of all that, it also has to stick to your waterlines (and feel comfortable on there, too).

For this technique, I really the MAC Eye Kohls in Powersurge and Teddy (Costa Riche is a good one, too, but I’ve noticed that it tends to move a lot unless I set it with a powder). The Laura Mercier Kohls are excellent, too. Try the Stormy Grey shade!

aubergine eyes berry lips 2

aubergine eyes berry lips 2
Key products worn in this look: ESUM Aubergine liner, Clinique Plum Pop blush and NARS Vivien lipstick

Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,

Karen

There are 14 comments on this post. Leave yours.

Categories: Eyes, Face of the Day (FOTD), Lips, Makeup

Quad Crush! 5 Reasons to Commit to Clinique Going Steady

October 14th, 2019 by Karen 10 Comments

clinique going steady quad
This $32 quad from Clinique is very much loved.

Question: do kids still say, “Will you go with me?” when they want to go steady? I’m asking for a very unhip friend (a.k.a. me).

Hmm… Now that I think about it, I also wonder if this still happens in person. Like, are kids texting to ask if someone wants to be their boyfriend or girlfriend now? Technology is crazy, man!

Anyway, I’m crushing on this $32 taupe eyeshadow palette from Clinique, and here are five reasons why you should be, too.

  1. Fine lines say what? The softly shimmering satin finishes stay outta those fine lines.
  2. A quad for all skin tones. Neither too warm nor too cool (Clinique is REALLY good at this; see their Teddy Quad) means that it works with almost all skin tones.
  3. Taupe is dope. If you’re a MAC Satin Taupe die-hard, you’ll love this, because every shade is like a riff on Satin Taupe.
  4. No panda eyes! Fallout is minimal (but still do your base first).
  5. It’s not going anywhere. Going Steady is part of the Clinique permanent collection, so if it does become a staple, there’s no need to worry about it disappearing anytime soon.

clinique going steady quad
Casual, smoky taupe lids

[Continue reading…]

There are 10 comments on this post. Leave yours.

Categories: Clinique, Eyes, Makeup, Palettes

Unsung Makeup Heroes: Clinique All About Shadow Quad in Teddy Bear

August 2nd, 2019 by Karen 9 Comments

clinique teddy bear
“Yeah, don’t even TRY to take my palette. I’m warning you!”

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.

One of these Teddy Bears is not like the other (and it’s more comfy to hug).

But right now, I’m talking about the makeup one, and it’s a quad of all-matte eyeshadows from Clinique. If I were a betting gal…I’d wager that the Clinique All About Shadow Quad in Teddy Bear is probably better than the other neutral palette in your makeup bag, and it’s the most “neutral” of the neutral palettes I wear. The shadows are neither too warm nor too cool (they’re in the coveted Goldilocks Zone), and there’s very little burnt orange, brick red, gray or pink undertones in sight.

clinique teddy bear swatches
Yup, still an NC42 in MAC

The powder shadows in Teddy Bear are just as soft as the bear at the top of this post, and Clinique stuffed it with all of the basics to contour lids and add depth to eyes, including a matte beige bone, a matte golden brown, a peachy golden tan and a dark chocolate brown. In MAC-speak, I’d call these the matte (so, neither warm nor cool) equivalents of Brule, Soba, Soft Brown and Brown Down.

clinique teddy bear
Teddy Bear on my lids and MAC Half ‘N Half Lipstick on my lips

clinique teddy bear
[Continue reading…]

There are 9 comments on this post. Leave yours.

Categories: Clinique, Eyes, Makeup, Palettes, Product Reviews, Unsung Heroes

Two $22 Liquid Liners Worthy of Wings

June 17th, 2019 by Karen 12 Comments

urban decay perversion waterproof liner
Easy to use and won’t quit on you.

I worked out hard for an hour at the crack of dawn, then showered in water hot enough to melt bones, AND THEN I gallivanted for an entire day wearing black cat-colored PERVERSION Waterproof Fine-Point liquid liner Eye Pen by Urban Decay, and not once did I look in the mirror and think, “Ew, gross… I should probably take this off.”

I’m now 100% convinced that I could enter my final resting pyramid (with all of my kitty companions, of course), explore the afterworld for 2,000 years, and then be discovered with my cat eye flicks shiny, glossy, pitch black and totally intact. Yes, this liner is that serious.

urban decay perversion waterproof liner
It goes on and on and on and on…

First, I should say that I’m a Clinique liquid liner fan through and through because of how easy it is to draw crisp edges with their flexible pen tip. I also love that their formula isn’t too runny and goes exactly where I want it to go. IMO, it’s the overall best liquid liner around, but I think UD PERVERSION is very nearly equally great. It matches Clinique’s iconic status, and it’s just as easy to use, but the final look has even more oomph. It’s blacker than Clinique’s, too, with a high shine finish vs. Clinique’s demi-matte, so it draws attention in a way Clinique’s does not.

Interestingly, both of them are also $22.

UD’s dries quicker, so you don’t have quite as much time to fix wonky wings, although you can always correct them with a Q-tip dipped in an oil-based remover, of course, or do what I do, which is just say, “Eff it” and go with it, man. Not everything’s gotta be Insta-perfect, and most of the time nobody’s gonna notice anyway, unless your wings are, like, totally perpendicular, LOL!

All told, I’d recommend the Clinique one if you want a subtle black liquid liner that’s totally foolproof, and the UD one if you want to make a bolder statement.

Either way, though, you can’t go wrong.

BOMB bread at Trader Joe’s

Now that’s a phrase I never thought I’d type, since almost all of the sliced bread I’ve ever gotten from TJ’s (with the exception of the brioche) has been nothing short of tragic.

trader joes organic whole wheat bread
Hella good

[Continue reading…]

There are 12 comments on this post. Leave yours.

Categories: Clinique, Eyes, Makeup, Product Reviews, Urban Decay

  • Page 1
  • Page 2
  • Page 3
  • …
  • Page 10
  • Next Page »

Primary Sidebar

About Makeup and Beauty Blog

Welcome to Makeup and Beauty Blog
Hi there! I’m Karen, your friendly neighborhood beauty addict, and I’m a Bay Area girl who hoards brown eyeshadow and covets coral lipstick. Every morning, I wake up and say, “I’m going to do something other than a smoky eye today.” Then…I end up doing a smoky eye anyway (most days). When I’m not putting on makeup, taking pictures of makeup or writing about makeup, which I’ve been doing daily since 2007 (!), you’ll find me hanging out with my hubby (“El Hub”), my four-year-old daughter (Connor Claire) and my torbie girl cat (Pretty Girl Rosie, a.k.a. PGR).

SHOP THE STORE


Long Live Lipstick Tee 💄



Blush Is My Crush Tee



Mascara & Kitties Tee



Thank You For Being a Friend Tee



You Hair Me Tee


Recent Posts

weekend reading magazines april 2021

Saturday Surfing, April 10, 2021

dsw spring 2021 gold ann klein platforms

Spring Shoe Trends at DSW: Adventures in Platform Sandals

freckles and bright lips flat lay

This or That: The High/Low-End Beauty Edition

jane iredale naturally glam origins va va violet

Pretty in Pink, Plum and Bronze, and Sea Otters!

jane iredale naturally glam

Soft Bronze and Beige-Pink Tones for Glowing Lids, Lips and Cheeks (And a Baked Chicken Recipe to Curb Dinner Rage)

Social

  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Pinterest
  • Twitter
  • YouTube

Featured Posts

Lady Unicorn

Weird Things I Like to Do

brows fill out beforehand

Before You Pluck or Wax Your Brows, You Must Do This

current bare skin status

What’s One Thing That Drastically Changed Your Skin for the Better?

red brown smokey eyes tutorial top pic 2

A Glamorously Grungy Makeup Tutorial: Smoky Reddish Brown Eyes and Vampy Matte Lips [MODERATE SKILL LEVEL]

Copyright © 2021 Makeup and Beauty Blog. Get in touch.