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The MAC Holiday 2019 “Starring You” Collection! (Swatches on NC42 Skin)

November 13th, 2019 by Karen 7 Comments

mac starring you holiday 2019 collection — The new limited edition MAC Starring You Holiday 2019 collection, available now

As the name would imply, “you,” or “we,” are intended to be stars of this show — the MAC Holiday 2019 “Starring You” collection show — since it’s starring…you, buuuut as much as I love ya, the real stars of this show are the glitter and frost.

Sorry! But yeah. Lots. O’. Glitter.

This release is all about big bling.

Quick MAC backstory: every year, MAC releases a massive limited edition holiday collection that includes a bunch of gift sets and at least one large makeup collection. The swatches here (all on my NC42 skin) are of the products in this year’s makeup collection.

First, the LE packaging stands out with glossy black compacts and tubes and caps sprinkled with multicolored disco glitter, and it’s very disco ’70s over-the-top glam. 🙂

Me like.

It definitely makes a certain kind of impression…that we are here to have a party!

Also, I mean, I guess one could wear every product here on their face at once, because why not, right? Life is short. Might as well wear all the glitter you can, but for me, that would be a lot of look, especially to wear to work during the day. So, I’m much more likely to pick just one element, maybe two at the most, of bling, and keep the rest of my makeup low-key.

My favorite things in this collection are the intensely pigmented, sparkly loose eyeshadows, which are amazingly still totally wearable. Definitely give the purple and coppery bronze ones a swatch (the coppery bronze one looks like a loose eyeshadow version of MAC Teddy!).

I also like the glosses, which, like the eyeshadows, are shimmery, but still subtle enough to wear to most jobs.

My faves are the lightest colors — Counting Stars and Young Star — which look like nude, glossy lips when you pair them with MAC classic liners like Subculture and Whirl.

mac holiday 2019 swatches — Swatches of the entire Starring You makeup collection on my NC42 skin

mac starring you kiss of star lipsticks — Kiss of Stars Lipsticks, $20 each

mac starring you spellbinder — Spellbinder Shadows, $25 each

mac starring you face powder — Opalescent Powders, $36 each

mac starring you holiday 2019 packaging — Glitter, glitter everywhere!

OK, if it’s MAC Holiday collection time already, then the holidays are officially near! 🙂

Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,

Karen

Space Buns and Sparkly Purple Lids

November 12th, 2019 by Karen 11 Comments

triple hair buns — I may or may not have about a billion bobby pins in my hair at the moment.

I’m sure this tri-bun hairstyle has an official/formal name, but I intend to call it “space buns,” because there’s something undeniably Star Wars about it…

If I were hurtling through space on a rocket bound for Mars, and I was required to wear my hair up (to protect the sensitive electronic equipment from static discharge, you see), you better believe I would NOT be rocking a basic low pony.

SPACE BUNS ALL THE WAY, GIRLFRIEND.

Side note: Connor calls this a “pony hairstyle” because she’s into horses at the moment.

Maybe it’s the stars twinkling in the firmament…but sparkles and space buns just seem *right* to me, hence the purple glitter in this look.

mac wishful thinking — Wearing some newness from the MAC Holiday collection

I got a few compliments from my coworkers when I wore this to the bakery the other day. 🙂 It was nice. I think it was because this is one of those looks that isn’t too over the top in terms of base and lips (I kept the foundation super sheer and the lips glossy and subtly sparkly, which boosts the wearability for daytime), but I think the glitter is punchy and fun enough to catch your eye.

If you like this type of makeup, you need to follow Katie Jane Hughes on Instagram ASAP. She’s a celeb makeup artist known for her sheer base, the wings she does, and her penchant for sparkle. It’s very inspiring!

I’m using some new MAC products from the very sparkly Staring You holiday collection, by the way. This collection, which is out now, has new Spellbinder Shadows in glittery holiday shades (you might remember these ionized eyeshadows from 2016).

mac starring you holiday 2019 — The new, limited edition MAC Starring You holiday 2019 collection, available now

Two things if you plan on picking up one of these loose shadows: 1) most definitely DO NOT skip wearing an eyeshadow base; and 2) apply it using a stiff, flat eyeshadow brush, or your fingers.

If you’d like to chat more about the Spellbinders, drop me a comment. I’m happy to help!
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The MAC Pony Park Collection Is Luminous and Lighter Than Air!

September 26th, 2019 by Karen 7 Comments

mac pony park matte lip mousse — In the MAC Pony Park collection, you’ll find MAC’s latest lippie: a lightweight matte mousse

MAC’s new tarot-inspired collab with South Korean beauty blogger Pony Park (a.k.a. Park Hye-Min, a.k.a. a bondafide Instagram mega-star with over six million followers) makes me wish I could find my tarot cards…

I had a brief side gig as a tarot card reader, and by “brief,” I mean that it lasted all but a week, because I did one reading on my college roommate’s bestie, then lost my deck of cards in the shuffle of moving back home to the Bay Area.

Thus ended my brief stint as a diviner of fortunes!

Anyway, if I could find those tarot cards, they’d probably tell me what the universe (and you and I) probably already know: influencer collaborations are still a thing, and this one’s a big enough deal that MAC is releasing a brand-spankin’ new lip formula with it.

mac pony park collection — The MAC Pony Park collection

The Matte Lip Mousses ($20 each) practically float like feathery clouds and feel like an airy meringue whipped into soft peaks when you glide them across your lips.

Available in nine shades, ranging from neutrals to bright pinks to reds to deep plums, the Lip Mousses are the centerpiece in this limited edition collection, which features varying levels of luminosity, a central spoke in the wheel of K-beauty — and influencer Pony Park’s makeup looks.

MAC’s latest beauty partner, Pony Park

This looks fun.

Wearable, but with a twist

The Lip Mousses, along with the rest of the collection — a $35 eight-pan neutral eyeshadow palette, a $20 plumping gloss, a $30 pearly Fix+ setting spray, two highlighters ($37 each), a set of $19 lashes, a $58 face brush and a $35 eye brush — are all dressed in Tarot-inspired packaging.

mac pony park hocus pocus eye shadow — Hocus Pocus Eye Shadow X 8

mac pony park skys the limit cold comfort — Extra Dimension Skinfinishes and Prep+Prime Fix+

mac pony park matte lip mousse doe foot — Doe foot action

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New From bareMinerals: The Dusk Eyeshadow Palette and the Bounce & Blur Blushes

August 1st, 2019 by Karen 6 Comments

bareminerals bounce blur — Bounce & Blur, by bareMinerals

Everything in my condo is bumping. The walls are rattling, floors are clanging… Oh, and these four new bareMinerals blushes and eyeshadow palette are bouncing.

We started doing the household repairs I mentioned the other day, which means LOTS of noise and workmen doing stuff right now, but I should be living like royalty (“I’m the queen of the world!”) with a new furnace, new water heater AND a working air conditioner by the end of the week. YAY!

With the tools banging and the classic rock blasting from the very nice workmen, concentrating has been…a challenge, so if I seem a little disheveled, that’s why.

Hella random side note regarding classic rock and misheard lyrics, but Bad Moon Rising just played a few minutes ago, and when the chorus started, instead of thinking, “There’s a bad moon on the rise,” I thought, “There’s a bathroom on the right.” THANKS, SUZANNE!

OK, bareMinerals has a few fun new powder products for fall that bare fingers will be bouncing over, literally. The items in their new Bounce & Blur Collection (two eye palettes and four blushes) have a squishy, soft texture that boomerangs right back at ya when you press on the pans. They’re purposefully made to lay down diffused, hazy color, so they’re better for washes of color than precise placement.

I’ve seen this bouncy formula before from Chanel, MAC, Maybelline and Kaja Beauty, and the bareMinerals formula is comparably slick and smooth (it’s not wet, though, like cream blush). The powder skates across the skin.

Bounce & Blush Eyeshadow Palette in Dusk ($29)

I like using these eyeshadows as single washes of color on the lid, because fading the edges doesn’t require any work. Of course, you could use ’em with a brush, but for me, fingers work best both for application and blending.

It’s like working with a crayon cream shadow, but in a pot, and it’s easy and, most of all, fun. If you like simple, diffused glowing lids, I think you’ll have a blast with these.
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New From Urban Decay: Stay Naked Foundation and Concealer, and Vice Lip Chemistry

July 26th, 2019 by Karen 5 Comments

urban decay stay naked foundation concealer top — At Urban Decay, nudity rules.

Keep your underwear on, please. Even though Urban Decay wants you to Stay Naked, I would strongly urge you against going completely commando, because hello! — air conditioning is no joke!

Stay Naked, a new collection available meow from UD, includes a liquid foundation, concealer and sheer lip tints.

STAY NAKED WEIGHTLESS LIQUID FOUNDATION, $39

What is this — blood magic? Because one layer of Urban Decay’s new medium-coverage, pore-blurring Stay Naked Foundation hides uneven pigmentation on my cheeks without masking my freckles. It’s exactly the kind of sheer, barely-there coverage I love, and even though the matte finish is juuuuust starts out being a tad too matte for my taste (I’m a dewy kinda gal), it mellows out over the course of about an hour into something more satiny and natural looking — like an ever-so-slightly perfected version of natural skin. It’s one of those base products that looks better and better as the day goes on.

urban decay stay naked foundation swatches — I tested the following shades of the concealer and foundation, and the closest foundation match to my skin is 51WY, although right now it’s a little light for me because I’m tanner than usual at the moment. The concealers I tried are *waaaay* lighter than I’d normally wear, but I tried them anyway to see if I liked the texture and finish. By the way, I’m an NC42 in MAC.

If you’ve ever tried and liked Estée Lauder Double Wear Light, you’ll probably love Stay Naked, too. It very much looks and feels like that underrated foundation hero, but UD’s comes in a BILLION different undertones for cool, warm and olive tones, as well as 50 different colors.

Site note: The Fenty effect is still alive and well!

STAY NAKED WEIGHTLESS LIQUID FOUNDATION

Doesn’t oxidize
Lightweight and breathable
Touchy pump! (Mine squirts stuff halfway across my desk if I’m not careful.)
I’m a MAC NC42 and wear 51WY.
I like to apply it with a synthetic buffing brush for the most natural coverage.
Looks like real skin in all types of lighting.
Long-wearing and sticks to skin like glue, even if you rub at it aggressively.

You’ll probably also like this if you like the sheerness of a BB cream, tinted moisturizer, or even something like MAC Face and Body, but you just want a little more coverage (but not full-on opacity). I think it’s more like an intense tinted moisturizer — like, if you took Laura Mercier’s classic TM and added a few drops of a full-coverage concealer to it.

STAY NAKED CORRECTING CONCEALER, $29

Along with the foundation, UD also recently launched a new line of complementary liquid Stay Naked Concealers. Like the new base, Stay Naked Concealer is lightweight and long-wearing with a matte finish, but the coverage is completely opaque, with high pigment on par with full-coverage baddies like Tarte Shape Tape. Just for fun (and for old time’s sake), I packed it on beneath my eyes and was wowed by the fact that it refused to settle into my fine lines and did not look heavy at all.