Makeup

Bay Area Beauty Love: Benefit Gogo Tint

February 7th, 2019 by Karen 8 Comments

Yay for the Bay! In this series, for the month of February 2019, I’ll be featuring products from and around my stomping grounds, the San Francisco Bay Area.

Question of the day: Is the “gogo” in Benefit Gogo Tint a shout-out to the Wham song or a shout-out to gogo dancers?

Neither? Both?

Seeing as how the very first Benefit stain was a nipple tint made for exotic dancers…I’m gonna go-go with option B, ha ha!

It’s been a minute since I’ve worn one of these. They’re $30 liquid lip and cheek stains, and this newest member is a vibrant matte cherry red that looks like an intensified version of the original Benetint I loved like heck in my early 20s.

benefit gogo tint 2 — Wake me up before you Gogo!

Gogo Tint isn’t as watery as the O.G. one. The liquid formula is milkier and creamier (similar to the ChaCha and Lolli tints). The thicker consistency makes Gogo user-friendlier because, unlike the original, it doesn’t immediately drip or roll down your cheeks. It’s also smoother and easier to blend.

I also feel like the slightly creamy consistency makes it less patchy than the more viscous original and easier to blend, which I usually do with my fingers.

Like all of the Benefit Tints, you can wear Gogo on your lips, too. It’s a bright matte red that looks like just-kissed lips, and it’s beautiful if you can get it to apply evenly. Although I appreciate its multitasking prowess, I’m not fond of wearing it on my lips because the tint grabs on to the center areas more than the outer edges, so I end up with an unintentional edgy gradient effect.

I mean, it would be cooler if I were a high-fashion gal, but when I’m out and about in a sweatshirt, stretchy pants and messy bun, as I am 99% of the time…it just looks like I forgot to touch up after lunch.

More deets…

Wear time is about 5-6 hours.
Doesn’t taste or smell like anything.
A little drying on the lips, but not drying on my cheeks, though.
Best on bare skin or skin prepped with BB or CC cream, or tinted moisturizer , can be streaky on a full-coverage base).
Always make sure that the cap is sealed shut; otherwise, it could spill all over your makeup bag.

benefit gogo tint swatch — Gogo Tint, blended (top) and unblended (bottom)

I see this as a great blush for low-maintenance gals and a good option for first-time blush wearers, or anyone who likes makeup that doesn’t look powdery or obvious. A large 0.33-oz. bottle is $30, and a travel-sized 0.13-oz. mini is $12. You can find Gogo at Benefit stores, Ulta and Sephora.

Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,

Karen

P.S. Geez, why are these chairs so comfortable? Is it the chair, the shave ice, the hibiscus flowers around them, the fancy swimming pool? Or all of the above?

Aloha again! This has been a very low-key trip so far with a definite lack of adventure sports and water activities. Yup. Connor, El Hub and I all came down with viruses, so we haven’t been pushing the envelope in terms of activities, but it’s still been wonderful to just hang out, rest and take in the atmosphere (and consume large quantities of shave ice, fresh papaya and pineapple).

I’m gonna go get another shave ice now. What can I get you? You can mix ‘n match any flavors you want…

Banana, Vanilla, Bubble Gum, Cherry Coconut Cotton Candy, Watermelon, Grape, (Sour) Green Apple, Green Tea, Guava, Yuzu, Lemon, Lemonade, Li Hing Mui, White Cake, Lilikoi (Passionfruit), Lime, Mango, Lychee, Melon, Mizore, Orange, Papaya, Pickled Mango, Piña Colada, Pineapple, Raspberry, Root Beer, Strawberry, Peach, Ume, Banana Cream, Coconut Cream, Strawberry Cream

(*Cream flavors have condensed milk pre-mixed into the syrup.)

Sugar-Free Banana, Sugar-Free Strawberry, Sugar-Free Vanilla

Super Fun, Free and Hella Sweaty Workout Videos!

February 6th, 2019 by Karen 10 Comments

LOL. In my mind, I can hear my friend Cindy kinda laughing at me for saying this, but I’m gonna go ahead and say it anyway.

I love working out.

I really do! Granted, the fact that I work at a desk, and it’s very sedentary, probably has something to do with it. When I’m not working, it feels good to actually utilize my body.

I love that loosey-goosey feeling I get from dancing or running or stretching, especially in my upper back and my shoulders, where I hold a lot of my tension… Ahem! Pardon me while I pump out some quick shrugs.

I am not a gym rat, though. I used to be much more so (Gold’s Gym was my jam back in the day), and I still go to a gym a couple times a week because my HIIT class is held in one, but I don’t spend an inordinate amount of time there because, ya know…I got stuff to do.

So I do most of my workouts at home now in my living room watching a YouTube video on the TV.

Thank goodness for YouTube…

I’m always looking for new workout videos, too, if you have any recommendations for me, but here are the ones I’ve been into lately…

This first one is a dance video, and even if you’ve never taken a dance class in your life, I think this one is SO MUCH FUN. It’s 40 minutes long, but yet those minutes just fly by.

By the end of it, you’ll be drenched in sweat (a good thing in this case). Also, your “bootyshake” will be #legit.

I’m not kidding.

Also, I just started doing pilates, and we as yet have a kind of complicated relationship… I mean, I like it, but it’s soooo much harder than it looks.

While it might seem like you’re just laying down on a mat, which you might think would be somewhat chill, yeah…no. It’s very challenging for me, which I like. Plus, I’m in my living room, so who’s gonna judge??

In these two beginner tutorials, which are examples of what I can handle at the moment, there’s a ton of core work, lots of legs, lots of booty, and lots of upper body exercises. By the end of one of these, I’m wasted, even though there aren’t any high-impact jumping or running moves.

The thing is, though…I have to really concentrate and totally BE IN IT when I’m doing these video because I have to constantly remember to squeeze certain muscle groups, so it does require paying attention.

So these aren’t the kind of videos you’d do when you just wanna zone out…

Now, those HIIT classes I take two times a week, I’m not gonna lie… In those classes, everyone there is freakin’ real deal, and I struggle to keep up. Everyone is so intense, and they’re in good shape, and I have to push hard to keep up with the rest of the class, so in my other workouts during the week, I can’t always push so hard. I need some easier, less intense workouts too, you know? And this workout is one of those perfect low-impact cardio workouts, but I’m hesitant to call it “easy,” in air quotes, because I’m still sweating like a mofo by the end of the 30 minutes.

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Bay Area Beauty Love: Benefit Punch Pop!

February 5th, 2019 by Karen 5 Comments

Yay for the Bay! In this series, for the month of February 2019, I’ll be featuring products from and around my stomping grounds, the San Francisco Bay Area.

My idea of the perfect party punch involves strawberries, and if they aren’t in there in copious amounts (mashed or sliced, doesn’t matter to me), I’m out. There’s a Strawberry version in the new-ish Benefit Punch Pops, so YAY for me and my red berry addiction, which I blame on a childhood spent obsessing over Strawberry Shortcake (the doll, not the dessert…although I do love both).

For the life of me, I can’t figure out why the boxes say “Liquid Lip Color,” when really, this new-ish line, which came out last fall, is made up of straight-up lipglosses.

*shrugs*

Slightly confusing marketing aside, the glosses are fun, functional and best of all, cute, which is what Benefit, a beauty brand based outta SF (my old stomping grounds!), does best.

This line of non-sticky, full-pigment glosses is supposed to be cheeky and fun and not meant to be taken too seriously. You stick one in your purse, wear it everyday for two weeks straight, and then after that, occasionally take it out whenever you do a deep dive into your bag (“Oh, so THAT’S where it went!”) and touch up with it before moving onto the next thing.

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Fresh Friday: Hungry for Color? This Indie Makeup Line Names Palettes After Tasty Treats!

February 1st, 2019 by Karen 6 Comments

dominique cosmetics berries and cream — Looks good enough to eat! (But don’t.)

MBB’s “Fresh Friday” series takes a look at new beauty brands (and venerable O.G. brands that are new to me). Let’s discover new makeup!

OK, so I like to think that I’m NOT ruled by my stomach, buuuut the fact that the eyeshadow palette I rocked yesterday is called Berries & Cream may or may not have something to do with why I like wearing it. 😁

Berries & Cream is from Dominique Cosmetics, a new-to-me indie makeup line by YouTuber Christen Dominique. Christen has just over four million subscribers, so she’s kinda Internet famous (to put it mildly).

Dominique Cosmetics has products spread out among three mini sub-collections, and each of the eyeshadow palettes in them are named after something delicious. There’s Berries & Cream, Latte and Lemonade).

YUM! A girl after my own food-lovin’ ~~tummy~~ heart.

I wore the Berries & Cream palette to lunch yesterday with a friend, who asked, “That, on your eyes? Are you wearing purple or burgundy?”

By the way, she asked me this after we’d been talking for an hour, LOL!

I was like, “Girl, I’m not sure! I was hoping it would distract you from the white hairs sticking up every which way!”

dominique cosmetics berries and cream collection swatches — Swatches of the Berries & Cream palette eyeshadows and matte liquid lipsticks

dominiuqe cosmetics plum berry lipstick — Wearing Creamy Matte Liquid Lip in Plum Berry on my lips and the Berries & Cream palette on my lids.

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Ravenous for Red Lipstick: Stila Stay All Day Liquid Lipstick

January 31st, 2019 by Karen 12 Comments

Valentine’s Day 💖 is right around the corner, so this is a purr-fect time to celebrate that most sanguine of seductresses — scarlet! The Ravenous for Red Lipstick series features the crimsons I’m currently cuckoo for.

Your makeup fun fact of the day: Beso, as in the name of Stila’s stunning Beso lipstick, means “kiss” in Spanish.

MWAH!

I actually kissed everyone in sight while I was wearing this lipstick yesterday.

OK, maybe not everyone… I didn’t think the grumpy checkout lady at Target would appreciated it, but Tabs got a smattering of kisses on the top of his head (right between the ears is the sweet spot), Connor got a few tummy kisses, and El Hub got a few kisses on the cheek.

Matte true red Stila Beso liquid lipstick left a whisper of crimson behind, so FYI, Beso isn’t kiss-proof, but it is long-lasting enough to survive two cups of coffee, a snack and a meal.

I think it fades very well, as a matter of fact, and it doesn’t leave that gross line of product on your bottom lip as it wears off (you know the one).

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