Flesh

Glowing Khaki Lids and Coral Lips (A 15-Minute Makeup Look)…and a Pumpkin Cupcake Question!

November 4th, 2019 by Karen 13 Comments

If you ever need to “improv” maracas (it could happen), just grab a jar of autumnal sprinkles, and give ’em a little shake! They’ll get the job done in a pinch.

Yes, Bon Jovi is FEELING IT.

I wore this khaki makeup look to the bakery last Friday, by the way.

autumn sprinkles — Fall colors AND an improv instrument in one fell swoop

It was inspired by this jar of mixed sprinkles and these fall leaf cupcake liners I found at Michaels.

Aren’t they pretty? I just love the greens and golds, and the little sugar dots have a subtle shimmer.

I was trying to channel fall via the khaki lids (which come courtesy of MAC Sumptuous Olive eyeshadow (an oldie but goodie) and Maybelline Jade Olive (a drugstore superhero), but it turned out more summery than I thought it would. HELLO, STORY OF MY LIFE.

mac sumptuous olive flat lay — I was going for fall colors, really!

I mean, I could’ve swapped the coral matte lip for something like MAC Burnt Spice, but I swear, I could not physically stop my hand from grabbing that coral. I saw my hand reach out, and I literally could not stop myself (coral addicts, you know what I’m talking about).

The glowing skin upped the summery-ness of the look even more, and that’s the work of this new-to-me product from It Cosmetics called Bye Bye Foundation Full Coverage Moisturizer SPF 50+ in Tan.

I didn’t anticipate so much sheen from this tinted moisturizer. It’s very similar to NARS Pure Radiant — so it’s dewy, but with slightly more coverage and an even shinier finish. My skin ended up with a beach babe glow, and even though I tried to matte it down with a loose powder, it was still super shiny.

Basically, this stuff really wants to glow on your face!

Overall, I think it’s just OK… It doesn’t feel heavy, which is nice, and it does give a good amount of coverage, but I’m not crazy about the Tan color (I think it’s a little too gray on me) or how the finish seems to amplify the size of my pores.

Anyway, I’m gonna take another crack at another autumnal look again soon, perhaps with a brown smoky eye, or — ooh! — maybe a cranberry smoky eye with gold liner? We’ll see what happens… I have to admit that there still exists a slim chance that whatever I do will go summery again, because that’s just the story of my makeup life, HA HA HA!

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Product Spotlight: Flesh Fleshy Lips Lipstick

March 14th, 2019 by Karen 10 Comments

These creamy, lightweight lippies feel like a mad makeup scientist’s 👩‍🔬 creative combo of a balm and a lipstick, and they come in natural lip tones.

I’ve been so inspired lately by “there but not obviously there” makeup and “makeup for no-makeup makeup lovers…”

I don’t know if any of that made any sense at all, ha ha! 😂 I haven’t had enough coffee ☕ yet, but y’all know what I’m talking about. I’m talking about noticeable products with decent coverage that aren’t necessarily pedal-to-the-metal intense.

The $18 Fleshy Lips Lipsticks by Flesh fit purr-fectly into that lane. They’re lightweight and glossy medium-coverage lippies a la Clinique’s iconic Almost Lipstick in Black Honey, only slightly more intense, and they’re available in lots of your-lips-but-better shades.

They’re the kind of sheer-ish lipsticks you’d wear with mascara, tinted moisturizer and cream blush, and the type of tube you stick in your pocket when you’re going to lunch and shopping with a girlfriend.

My lip freckles peek through when I’m wearing them, but the tint is still noticeable. If you’re wearing one and bump into a buddy who knows a thing or two about makeup, he or she might ask, “Hey, what’s that YLBB lipstick?”

OK, but what’s the scent situation, you may be wondering? Well, it’s a whole lotta nothing! — because they aren’t scented or flavored.

And the formula feels great on my dry lips, BTW. I normally reapply them every few hours.

flesh fleshy lips lipstick chew — Chew, a sheer raspberry pink

flesh fleshy lips lipstick hungry — Wearing Hungry, a sheer reddish pink

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Let’s Bond Over Blush

March 13th, 2019 by Karen 47 Comments

flesh beauty blushes — Flesh Tender Flesh Blushes in Caress (top) and Glaze (bottom), $26 each

Can we please bond over blush? Because I have a new appreciation for its power.

It’s REALLY powerful!

This occurred to me last week while conducting the “just one thing” experiment. I realized that applying blush on a bare face was one of the things that made the biggest impact.

Every beauty article ever written on blush basically says the same thing — that blush makes you look healthy and vibrant — but like, really, when you don’t have other stuff going on with your makeup and your face is otherwise bare, you can REALLY see just how powerful blush is.

Yeah, I’ve been loving on my blush a little extra lately. 😊

flesh beauty mac clinique blushes — Current blush crushes

I have a couple new favorites, and they’re from a brand called Flesh, which is the line by Allure magazine founder Linda Wells (launched last summer and available at Ultar), and the powder blushes are bomb! I’ve been going back and forth between Caress, which is a matte tan/warm brown (almost looks like a bronzer), and Glaze, which is a deep reddish coral with subtle gold shimmer. I’ve had extremely dry skin for a couple weeks because of winter, and because I’ve been using a retinol at night, but when I wear these powder blushes, which are ridiculously smooth, I can’t even see the dry patches.

flesh glaze — I’m wearing Flesh Tender Flesh Blush in Glaze.

They practically float on top of my skin above the flakes. It’s super cool. Both colors, by the way, are somewhat intense, so if you tend to be heavy-handed with your blush (which I do sometimes because I’m so used to doing makeup for flash photography), just so ya know, grab a makeup sponge or a buffing brush — basically whatever you use to buff down your foundation or concealer — and stipple the leftover base makeup on top of the blush. That should tone down the brightness and lift away any excess product. Or, just, you know…go in with a light touch. That’ll work too! LOL!

Don’t ask me why I only just figured this out right now, but I bought this empty six-pan MAC blush palette years ago, and it didn’t occur to me until last week (!) that you can actually remove the frame that holds the pans and stick your blushes directly into the palette.

DUH, KAREN!

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