Makeup

Unsung Heroes: The $6 Sephora Collection Eco Biodegradable Sharpener

August 20th, 2019 by Karen 3 Comments

makeup pencil sharpener — All that and a bag of chips!

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.

Y’all…with the 15% off VIB sale happening now, I know you’re busy playing chicken with your Sephora cart, but please take a moment to consider one of the most underrated (and best!) tools the mother ship has to offer — the $6 Biodegradable Pencil Sharpener, otherwise known as “the pencil sharpener that elevated my winged liner and saved me from a lifetime of makeup misery.”

It’s the only makeup pencil sharpener I’ve ever owned that I haven’t wanted to hurl across the room.

From sephora.com:

What it is:
A professional-grade, two-in-one pencil sharpener made of an innovative, biodegradable, and sustainable bio-polymer.

What it does:
The Eco Biodegradable Sharpener is a perfect accessory to your cosmetic collection. This sharpener not only accomodates a multitude of pencil sizes, but you can feel confident knowing that you are also helping the environment when you dispose of it. The corn-based PLA body of this sharpener is biologically degradable, while the blade is recyclable. Made in Germany, the carbon steel blades give your pencils the perfect pointed tips for flawless application.

What else you need to know:
This sharpener can be used with a multitude of pencils, sized from 8mm to 12mm. It includes a removable pick tucked neatly into the body to help dislodge the toughest pieces of shavings and lead from the blade.

Sharpest tips EVRRRR

Every successful kitten flick I wore this summer, I totally owe to this sharpener. You know how sometimes you’ll sharpen a pencil, and the end will get nice and pointy but then immediately when you run it across your skin the tip breaks off? That happens to me all the time…but never with this sharpener. The blades whittle dull tips into sharp points with just a few twists and turns, yet they still hold back juuuuuust enough from going past the point of no return.
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The Beauty Lover’s Dilemma: Do You Stick to What You Know, or Do You Try Something New?

August 20th, 2019 by Karen 16 Comments

I’m going to have to respectfully disagree with Hamlet, because “to be or not to be” isn’t the question. The question is, “do I try this new serum/foundation/brow pencil/[WHATEVER NEW PRODUCT IS TREDNY AT THE MOMENT, or do I stick to what I already know works for me?”

You know how it goes… There you are, just bopping along, living your life, enjoying whatever particular product is rocking your boat at the moment (for me, it’s the lash serum that brought my lids back to life, Rodan + Fields Lash Boost), but then something new and shiny catches your eye (like Neulash Lash Serum), and you’re suddenly asking yourself questions like, “Isn’t this the Neulash serum Chelsea and Janet were raving about!? Should I give it a try? Will it take my lashes to next level OH MY WOW!?”

After you sit there debating with yourself, and laughing at yourself for obsessing over such a little thing, you come back to the original question, and you’re still stumped. Do you try something new, or do you stick to what you know?

Because the thing is: you just NEVER really know. You never know if you’ll stumble onto something new that’ll completely blow your expectations away.
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MAC Unsung Heroes: Half ‘N’ Half Lipstick

August 19th, 2019 by Karen 10 Comments

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.

MAC Half ‘N Half Lipstick ($18.50) is a neutral girl’s neutral — a nude pinkish brown with a creamy finish that you can wear with warm Havana eyeshadow, neutral golden brown Soba, or cool-toned taupe Omega, plus each and every natural-looking neutral in between.

You want pigment? Girl, you got pigment. You want shine? Half ‘N Half has you covered, and since Half ‘N Half has MAC’s intense Amplified formula, you can swipe once and ask questions (or reapply) later.

Like, much later.

Three or four hours, even.

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A Small But Life-Changing Makeup Tip (Hint: It Has to Do With Your Sharpener)

August 14th, 2019 by Karen 12 Comments

I’ve talked about the misery inflicted by my makeup pencil sharpener before, but I’m no longer livin’ that messy life, because I recently figured out how to make it perform better by — novel idea here — cleaning it!

The solution I stumbled on has two parts. First, I ditched my Make Up For Ever, and UD Grindhouse, sharpeners for the no-frills Sephora sharpener shown at the top. It doesn’t have a built-in enclosure to catch the shavings, but that actually forces me to toss the shavings in the trash after every use.

Those enclosures never seem to stay affixed very well anyway, and they burst open no matter how many rubber bands I wrap around them.

Second, and this part is key, I swipe the blades clean after every use. To facilitate this, I keep baby wipes from Costco around and usually end up using one of those, but makeup wipes, a clean Q-Tip, tissue or a cotton pad (either soaked with a little makeup remover, or just dry on its own) work too.

Doing this ensures that there aren’t any errant makeup particles floating around, and consequently no transfer of color between eyeliners and lip pencils.

Seriously, why did this never occur to me before?! Oh, my gosh…

Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,

Karen

Adventures in Long-Lasting, Sweat-Proof Makeup (and a Shout-Out to Urban Decay)

August 13th, 2019 by Karen 13 Comments

long lasting makeup top — Anatomy of an (easy) long-wearing makeup look!

I wore makeup to the gym for the first time in forever yesterday (There was a reason… More on this in a sec.), and guess what? It led me to develop a list of go-to sweat-proof long-lasting makeup products that I know won’t budge an inch, even after an intense 60-minute HIIT class!

Not that I ever wear a full face when I exercise, but it never hurts to be prepared, right? At least now I know what to grab if Sydney Cummings ever asks me to do a workout video with her.

long lasting makeup products — The go-to gang

I think having a number of sweat-proof, water-proof products on hand is a good idea for people who do performances (dude, those stage lights are HOT), or if you’re going to be a guest at a destination wedding in a tropical locale, or if you’re going to Vegas to sit by the pool — basically, any situation where you know you’ll be sweating and you don’t want your brows/lashes/lips to melt off.

long lasting makeup before — The before pic: Let’s get sweaty!

Anyway, the reason this particular makeup challenge came about was because my HIIT teacher asked me to be the “member of the month” at the gym for September 2019.

Being member of the month entails having your picture taken, which will appear on a big ol’ poster in the middle of the gym (EEK), and answering some exercise-related interview questions.

long lasting makeup after — The after pic: Makeup after a 60-minute HIIT workout

We did the picture part during Monday night’s class, and that included some action shots of me sweating (and hopefully) looking somewhat cute with makeup on, even in that terrible overhead florescent lighting.

I used the least amount of product I could get away with because I didn’t want to be wearing layers and layers of heavy makeup. Also, most of the items I used were from Urban Decay, a line with a solid reputation for long-wearing makeup.

BROWS

I’ve noticed that filled-in brows make all the difference in pics, so I used Urban Decay Brow Blade Waterproof Pencil and Ink Stain in Dark Drapes to fill them in (pencil first, then the ink).

By the end of the workout, the drawn-in tail on my right brow had faded ever-so-slightly, which wasn’t surprising, really, with the amount of sweat that was pouring out of me, but both brows remained more or less intact.
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