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

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.

Fine lines say what? The softly shimmering satin finishes stay outta those fine lines.
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.
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.
No panda eyes! Fallout is minimal (but still do your base first).
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.

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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.

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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.

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

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A Detailed Deep Dive Into My Current Skincare Routine

April 25th, 2019 by Karen 27 Comments

current skin care top pic — All about retinol these days, babes.

I’ve been meaning to do an updated skin care routine breakdown, and today seems like a good day for it. But before I jump in, I feel like I should let you that I’m standing in my bathroom right now looking into my cabinet, which stands just behind and above the toilet, and having PTSD flashbacks of my Velvet Teddy lipstick falling into the toilet. 🙄

I keep hearing that *plunk* over and over again…

That said, here we go!

Everything I’m doing in my routine now revolves around how sensitive my skin is feeling on any given day, because I started using a retinol with vitamin C recently. It’s called Kate Somerville Retinol Vitamin C Power Serum, and I’m trying to ramp up slowly to be able to use it seven days a week. Right now, I’m at three days, and I find that introducing it slowly over weeks and watching everything else that I use in conjunction with it allows me to keep going without my skin turning red or freaking out.

Morning routine

In the morning, I’ll wash one of two ways. If my skin’s feeling extra tight and red and sensitive and angry, then I’ll do a few splashes of warm water on my bare face, then gently blot with a towel. If, on the other hand, my skin’s feeling OK, then I’ll use a squirt or two of Clinique Redness Solutions Soothing Cleanser directly on bare skin (I’ll work it in with my fingers). Then I’ll remove it with a washcloth dampened with warm water. After that, I’ll do a few splashes of ice cold water to help me wake up.

At that point, I’ll wait…usually between 30 minutes and an hour (depends on how much time I have and what I’m doing in the morning), and then I’ll apply all of my skin treatments.

I wait because I want my skin to be completely dry before I put anything aggressive on there, because if I don’t wait, and my skin is wet when I apply a BHA or benzoyl peroxide, they’ll just aggravate it even more.

So. Completely dry!

current skin care routine — It’s less complicated than it looks, I swear!

At that point, I’ll do an eye cream. (Right now I’m using this one by Nyakio, and I think it’s just “eh.” I’ll replace it eventually with something else when I get around it.) Then I’ll use two pumps of my ride-or-die Kate Somerville Anti Bac Acne Clearing Lotion all over my face to prevent the pimples from taking over.

After that, I’ll apply a thin layer of Avène XeraCalm A.D Lipid-Replenishing Cream (which has been my skin savior ever since I introduced the retinol), followed by a healthy dollop of sunscreen, specifically Clinique Super Defense Moisturizer Broad Spectrum SPF 20 for Very Dry to Dry Combination Skin.

Sometimes, before I do the two pumps of Anti Bac, if I feel like my skin can handle it, I’ll do a little with Fresh Black Tea Kombucha Facial Treatment Essence, just because I like to sneak some exfoliation in during the day if I can. I’ll do that two or three mornings a week, so it’s not an everyday thing for me.

Fast forward to the evening…

First, a double cleanse. On completely dry skin (as in my makeup is still on), I’ll massage an oil cleanser on my face and eyes to break everything down. I like DHC Deep Cleansing Oil or Fresh Seaberry for this.

At that point, I’ll take a clean, warm washcloth and gently wipe everything off. Next, I’ll do a second cleanse with either Clinique Redness Solutions Soothing Cleanser, if I haven’t been wearing a ton of makeup, or if I haven’t been sweating; or the H2O Plus Elements Keep It Fresh Cleanser. I use that one when I’ve been wearing a little more makeup, or if I’ve been perspiring a lot. It’s just a stronger, more potent gel cleanser.

Again, I wait from 30-60 minutes (this generally depends on how tired I am), then apply eye cream, and I’ve been using this one called Estée Lauder Advanced Night Repair Supercharged Complex.

It’s OK… I’ve yet to find an eye cream that blows my mind.
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