Makeup 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

Beauty Tips

Product Spotlight: MAC Antiqued Eyeshadow, and Bronzed Purple Smoky Eyes

by 5 Comments

mac antiqued eyeshadow

What the world needs now is love, sweet, love…and it also needs all the women who hoard love makeup to shop their stashes, because when you dig into what you actually have, you find gold!

Case in point: I was knockin’ around my makeup collection to find something to recreate this look Olive Wilde rocked by Mélanie Inglessis, and that’s when I rediscovered the wonder that is MAC Antiqued Eye Shadow.

mac antiqued eyeshadow

Antiqued is a deep reddish bronze with a pearly finish in the awesome MAC Veluxe Pearl eyeshadow family (so it’s soft, easy to blend and buffs out without any resistance). You can grab it as a single pan for $7 or with an eyeshadow case for $17.

It’s one of those colors that you can pretty much wear with any warm orange brown in the crease. (Try MAC Saddle, MAC Soft Brown or MAC Texture, and reddish browns like Swiss Chocolate play well with it, too.)

Purple also pairs well it, and you can either do purple liner on the lash line or the outer corner, or you can do what I did here, which is layer it atop a purple liner base like NARS Nagoya.

Speaking of eyeliner…try Antiqued with either MAC Teddy or MAC Costa Riche. ‘Tis magical!

mac antiqued swatch
[Continue reading…]

Soft Holiday Glam With Plum Lips

by 4 Comments

mac art library nude model plum lips

Don’t you love it when you accidentally fall into a well of inspiration? That’s what happened when I stumbled upon makeup artist Mélanie Inglessis the other day. She’s a makeup artist who does a lot of work on celebs, including Olivia Wilde and Natalie Portman.

I love her style because it’s soft and approachable, with a sprinkle of glam.

View this post on Instagram

AMANDA Daylight Dreams.. @amandahearst 🌸

A post shared by Mélanie Inglessis (@melaniemakeup) on

I just love the warm brown smoky eye on Paris Jackson.

UGH, SO GOOD!

You’d think this type of makeup would be easier than it is, because it looks so simple and elegant, but I dunno… In many ways, I think simple and elegant is way harder harder than full-on complicated, because it’s harder to your hide mistakes. Like, say, if you’re doing a neon green eye with lots of colors and blending, and you pair it with a bright, glossy hot pink lip…there’s a lot there to take in! If you fudge something, there’s a decent chance no one will notice, but with very streamlined makeup like Melanie does, there’s almost zero room for error.

Anyway…Mel’s style inspired me to do this soft holiday glam eye look with plum lips today.

I don’t feel like I totally “got there” with this, but I’m gonna keep working at it this week.

mac art library nude model plum lips 2

mac art library nude model plum lips 3

Key products worn:

EYES: MAC Art library Nude Model Palette and Chanel eyeshadow base (lids and lower lash lines), Maybelline Tattoo Studio Liner in Bold Brown (liner), It Cosmetics Superhero Mascara (lashes), Chanel Beryl liner (lower water line, sadly discontinued!), MAC Brun and clear brow gel (brows)

CHEEKS: MAC Give Me Sun MSF (bronzer), Clinique Plum Pop (blush), Laura Mercier Candleglow (highlight)

LIPS: Maybelline Superstay Ink Crayon in Accept a Dare, Chanel Rouge Coco Gloss in 172

BASE: MAC Mineralize Timecheck Lotion (primer), BECCA Backlight Primer mixed wtih Covergirl Trueblend Matte Foundation in Tan, Double Wear Instant Fix Concealer in Medium Deep, Chanel LoosePowder in 40 Dore

Throwback jams

OK, have you heard about the beef between Lizzo and Cece Peniston? Apparently, Cece (and other people in the music industry) believe that Lizzo intentionally used a line from Cece’s song, Finally. and she never credited Cece for it.

DRAMA FOR YOUR MAMA!

All this is to say that ever since I read that story, I’ve been listening to a lot of ’90s house music I haven’t heard in years lately, and I’ve been feelin’ it.

Remember this one?

This was my jam back in the day. 💃

And of course, Cece’s Finally!

LOL. Totally #datingmyself, but I love dance music 💃 from this era.

In other news, it’s been raining hard all day today. If it’s raining (or snowing) where you are too, drive carefully! And stay dry!

Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,

Karen

A Monochromatic Multitasking Makeup Look

by 15 Comments

chanel amoureaux k
Lots of products doing double duty today

I’m playing with monochromatic multitasking makeup on this chilly Tuesday, partially because I like the alliteration in that phrase… 🙂 And partially because it totally fits with my current makeup motif, which currently involves me seeing what I can get away with given 10 minutes of prep time.

This one was unabashedly inspired by a recent monochromatic makeup post I saw on Instagram by my current makeup muse, Katie Jane Hughes, in which she uses a Chanel lippie on her lids as an eyeshadow, on her cheeks as a blush, and on her lips as a — GASP! — lipstick.

Mind you, I fully acknowledge that wearing lipstick on your lids is one of those things that isn’t everyone’s cup of hot cocoa, but my eyes have been fine whenever I’ve done it, so I’m OK with it.

Like KJH, I’m wearing Chanel in these pics — a Rouge Allure Ink in matte pinkish brown Amoureaux. It has a hint of coral in it.

The Chanel Rouge Allure Inks are more liquid than cream, so they’re runnier than a cream and have a thinner consistency. Consequently, when I used this one as a shadow here, I pressed it on my lids with a flat eyeshadow brush, in order to have more control over the placement. Then, I waited for it to dry before adding another layer.

When using it as a blush, I like to start with a little on the back of my hand first, which I then tap on the apples of my cheeks with a finger. I do this immediately after applying base, by the way, because it blends better when the base product is still wet and hasn’t set.

The base I’m wearing is also a multitasking monster — Maybelline’s awesome Instant Age Rewind Eraser Concealer. It also works great as a full-coverage foundation!

To sheer it out, just buff it down with a synthetic skunk brush spritzed with a makeup setting spray. I used Tatcha Luminous Dewy Skin Mist to mellow out Instant Rewind’s matte finish (you know me and dewy skin, LOL).

chanel amoureaux
That may or may not be Connor’s bedroom wall behind me, ha ha ha.
charlotte tilbury filmstar bronze glow flatlay
Streamlined, baby

Makeup worn in this look

Eyes: Chanel Rouge Allure Ink in Amoreaux (lids) Charlotte Tilbury Filmstar Bronze & Glow (bronzer worn in the crease, highlighter in the inner corner and on brow bone), MAC Brun (liner and brows), IT Cosmetics Superhero Mascara (lashes)

Cheeks: Chanel Rouge Allure Ink in Amoreaux (as a blush blush), Charlotte Tilbury Filmstar Bronze & Glow

Lips: Chanel Rouge Allure Ink in Amoreaux

Base: Maybelline Instant Age Rewind Eraser in Golden (worn as concealer and foundation)

And there we have it. 🙂

What are you up to today?

Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,

Karen

Glittery Green Gradient Wings: A Quick and Easy Holiday Makeup Look

by 16 Comments

urban decay stage dive mainline

Current dilemmas du jour?

  1. What to do with the five pounds of lemons Rosie’s former foster mom gave me (she has a tree in her yard that produces a RIDICULOUS amount of lemons).
  2. What’s some festive and colorful holiday makeup that won’t take me till Valentine’s Day to finish? (I’m only half-kidding.)

As of yet, I still have no clue what to do with the lemons (ugh, lemon bars and lemonade? Maybe some kind of lemon marinade?), I figured out a trick to flying through different colorful looks.

And here it is…

Play with your winged liner. THERE ARE SO MANY WAYS!

Like with this look here with glittery green gradient wings. It was surprisingly quick and easy to do.

The step-by-step

  1. Start by drawing your winged liner with a dark green matte liner as the base (I used Urban Decay Mainline). Be as subtle or dramatic as you like.
  2. Then, for a bright shimmer POP, layer a bright green glitter in the center (I’m wearing Urban Decay Stage Dive) on your lash line.
  3. Lastly, to create a color gradient, dip an angled brush into a black eyeshadow (MAC Carbon for life!), and pat that on top of the outer portion of your wing.

Green goes well with warm browns and peaches, which is what I’m wearing on my lids, lips on these cheeks in this look. If you want to be more adventurous, however, pink would be a playful complementary color… I’m just sayin’. 🙂

urban decay mainline side

urban decay stage dive front

Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,

Karen

Monochromatic Makeup: Playful Pinks, and a Play on Cat Eyeliner

by 18 Comments

mac steady going lipstick k smile
Inspired by this pink sweater!

I was inspired to do this monochromatic pink look by this quilted sweatshirt I found at the Eddie Bauer outlet store for 50% off (!).

I can’t remember the last time I walked into an Eddie Bauer store, but there’s one of their outlet stores at Vintage Oaks in Novato, and El Hub wanted to check it out one day to look for a jacket, which he found…and I found this. It’s incredibly soft, and I love the color.

I almost didn’t use any brushes for this look. I used my fingers to press the pink glitter eyeshadow on my lids and to pat the pink cream blush on my cheeks. Really, the only brush I used was an angled eyeshadow brush, which I dipped in a dark brown shadow to diffuse the edge of the liquid black cat eye liner (Tom Ford, baby!).

Speaking of the liner, next time you want to flip the script on your cat eyeliner game, try this: after you finish your cat eye flicks, line the inner corner of your eyes with the thinnest, skinniest line you can get away with.

urban decay glitterrock

Then line the outer portion of your lower lash line with your liquid liner, and connect the inner and outer sections by smudging the most infinitesimal amount of a coordinating eyeshadow color.

If you like to geek out over makeup, this is a fun way to do something a little different with your liner.

mac glitter rock
[Continue reading…]

Copyright © 2020 Makeup and Beauty Blog. Get in touch.