Eyes

5-Minute Makeup: Glowing Peach Cheeks and Lips, Cool Brown Lids and Latest Drugstore Loves!

December 4th, 2019 by Karen 7 Comments

neutrogena kerry washington essential eye palette cheek palette — All. The. Carbs.

Good morning! We’re not back in Novato yet, but we’ll be home tonight. I prepped this post before we left on vacation, and now I’m seeing the pics and mentally preparing myself for jacket weather.

If, while strolling through downtown Novato recently, you saw a woman taking selfies with a bag of bagels in her car, FYI, that woman was very, very likely me — especially if she had a massively cheesy smile. 🙂

The smile was there for a couple of reasons. First — hello! — ALL THE YUMMY CARBS (this was shortly before the Spartan race, so I brought them with me to share with my coworkers at the bakery). Second, I did my makeup in five minutes (and it wasn’t a hot mess).

Fresh and glowing

This 5-minute makeup look has glowing peach cheeks, glossy peach lips and cool neutral brown lids with the lightest touch of pink sparkle. I wore it to work a couple Fridays ago.

I have absolutely no idea why, but I got some nice compliments from people I ran into while I was running errands that day, and also from El Hub when I saw him later that evening, and that surprised me, because why does super easy makeup like this get so much love? I don’t get it. I’m literally just throwing sh*t on and hoping it doesn’t go awry.

My best guess is that maybe it’s because I didn’t have the time to overthink it, so I didn’t do too much counterproductive tweaking? I just went with my gut and got it done? Who knows?

New drugstore makeup loves

Oh! — for all my drugstore makeup-lovin’ ladies, I used a couple of palettes in this makeup look from Neutrogena: the $12.99 Kerry Washington Essential Eye Palette and the $9.99 Kerry Washington Essential Cheek Palette. Both are easy to blend, pretty (I think so), and the powders last all day long. Highly recommended.

Makeup worn in this look

Eyes: Neutrogena Kerry Washington Essential Eye Palette (lids and upper lash line liner), Urban Decay Glitterrock (pink glitter pressed lightly onto lids), Chanel Dimensions de Chanel Mascara (lashes), NARS Komo Brow Pencil and MAC Clear Brown Set (brows)
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5-Minute Makeup: Bright Berry Lips and Glowing Taupe Lids

November 22nd, 2019 by Karen 19 Comments

mac craving lipstick — Yes, Bay Area people will wear scarves and thermals when it’s 63 degrees outside. 😂

So…you know those mornings when everything goes smoothly, and you even have extra time to do a load of laundry or stop by the drive-through coffee shop to get a latte before you start your day? On top of that, you also get to work 15-minutes early (so you don’t have to drive around the block two times to find good parking)?

Yeah…this was not one of those mornings. LOL!

I don’t know what happened, but Connor and I made it out the door by the skin of our teeth. We made it, though!

And I still managed to 1) get out of my pajama bottoms (although I seriously considered wearing them to the bakery, HA HA HA!), and 2) put on 5-minute makeup.

I grabbed what was within reach and moved with a quickness. Funny thing is, I even got compliments on my makeup today!

You know, sometimes the quickie looks are the best ones…

I think the bright berry lipstick really helped. Berry is great when you’re rushing because it’s just so colorful, and it instantly brightens up your face, but it’s usually also less labor-intensive than red or bright pink.

Also, you can pair it with a bunch of different colors. Purple and gray work, but a lightly shimmering taupe is my go-to to wear with berry. If you’re ever in a serious time crunch, go with a berry lipstick, 100%.

mac art library nude model palette k — When you have a photoshoot in your car…

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Cat Eye Flicks and Bright Lips (The Purple Edition): A Wednesday Makeup Formula

November 20th, 2019 by Karen 17 Comments

mac tailored to tease lipstick k — Purple power!

Question for you… How do you feel about formula dressing?

LOL! Pardon me for a moment, but I had to laugh there, because “formula dressing”? Sounds like something you put on a salad.

But I digress…

If you’ve flipped through the pages of a fashion magazine in the past decade, you may have read talk of having an “outfit formula,” something you can always turn to when you want to look sharp. Maybe it’s a white t-shirt, high-waisted jeans and a black blazer, or maybe it’s something else.

Once you figure out a formula that works for you, then you can tweak it ever-so-slightly (perhaps by replacing the black blazer with a black motorcycle jacket), but essentially, you go back to the same formula over and over because it works.

I’m a HUGE fan of translating this idea for the realm of makeup, and I do “makeup formulas” all the time.

I’m wearing one of mine in these pics — cat eye flicks and bright lips.

It’s quick and easy and gives you a lot of bang for your makeup buck, IMO. Also, crucially, it doesn’t make me think too hard, and I’m not reinventing any wheels, because I know that both of the main elements in the look work for me. Still, there’s plenty of room within the look to jooj it up in different ways.

Basically, I was in the mood to wear purple, so I started with a smudgy purple cat flick (which I did with a matte dark purple eyeshadow and an angled brush).

I like the whole smudgy/diffused effect because the imperfect edge leaves lots of room for error. I can fudge it a little (or a lot), and even though it might not look perfect, it’s usually passable, which is good enough when I’m in a hurry.

Next, I matched it with a bright matte purple lipstick, and side note: I just thought of another version of this I could do… How about layering a shiny purple gloss on top of this lippie? I think that would be super cool too!

This is just one of the makeup formulas I use often. Apply, lather, rinse and repeat! 🙂

mac tailored to tease lipstick — You think I’d be smiling more since I’m having a surprisingly OK hair day!

mac art library nude model — It doesn’t have to be complicated.

Makeup worn in this look

Eyes: MAC Art Library Nude Model Palette (Sugar Plum and Dance in the Dark as liner, Nude Model and L.E.S. Artiste on lids, and Outre in crease), ESUM Dual Eye Pencil in Rose and Aubergine (tightline), MAC Extended Play Perm Me Up Mascara (lashes) ESUM Brow Defining Pencil and MAC Brow Set (brows)

Cheeks: Charlotte Tilbury Ecstasy Blush

Base: Make Up For Ever HD Concealers in Y41 and Y31 mixed with MAC Strobe Cream (foundation), MAC Mineralize Skinfinish Natural in Golden Tan, Estee Lauder 24H Concealer in Medium Deep (under eyes), Tatcha Luminous Dewy Skin Mist

Lips: MAC Retro Matte Liquid Lipcolour in Tailored to Tease

Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,

Karen

Bay Area Beauty Love: ESUM

November 19th, 2019 by Karen 4 Comments

Shout-out to San Francisco, my former home, and the current home of ESUM Cosmetics, an as-yet under-the-radar Bay Area beauty brand.

ESUM has been around for about 10 years, but I just recently discovered them. They have a line of brushes and makeup pencils made for industry pros and makeup enthusiasts.

I really like their specialty eye brushes, which range in price from $18-58.

They have these precision eye brushes with small, unusually shaped (but useful!) brush heads, so, for instance, if you only have a little lid space, or you don’t have a deep crease (like, if you’ve got slightly hooded eyes like I do), they’re fab for blending and applying eyeshadow, and for fine detail work.

I’ve been all about the W36 and T37, both of which have a smaller-than-usual angled brush head, so they’re awfully handy when I have to blend in a small space, like in the outer or inner v, or when I want to keep my eyeshadow low and tight on the crease.

esum brushes — It’s all about the details.

I’ve also tried a couple of their workhorse tapered blending brushes, namely the medium size G34 (which is slightly smaller than a MAC 224) and the small S33, which excel at placing and blending shadow exactly where you want it to go.

Along with their brushes, ESUM also sells a small selection of makeup pencil — a few dual-ended lip liners and eyeliners (silky and long-wearing, they feel a lot like the Urban Decay 24/7 Glide-Ons), and a handful of skinny twist-up brow pencils (they’re similar to the awesome NARS ones).
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Layer Your Liner for Flickering Feline Flicks in a Flash

November 15th, 2019 by Karen 8 Comments

urban decay starfire — Kitten flicks with a little flash of glitter give you a lot of bang for your buck.

Layering liners. I’ve been doing this a lot lately because 1) it’s fast (since you don’t have to be terribly precise or do any razzle-dazzle complicated eyeshadow blending) and 2) because it lets you unleash the full fury of your creative side by conjuring up all sorts of fun finishes.

For this look, I drew a baby cat eye flick on my upper lash lines with a black felt tip pen liner, then ran a glittery bronze liner right along the edge for sparkle.

Next, I lined my lower lash lines with a pearly bronze pencil liner, smudged the edges, and topped it off with the same glittery bronze liner I used on the upper lash line.

I also defined my lids with a quick sweep of orange-brown eyeshadow, but that was totally optional. You could skip it and just wear liner, and do your brows and mascara, for a complete eye look.

One last thing: my feline flicks are pretty subtle here because I wore this to work, but if you’re going to a par-tay or other to-do, you could go bigger and bolder with your cat eye flicks. Or, you could pat EVEN MOAR GLITTER on your lids.

Makeup worn in this look

Eyes: MAC Texture (lids), Charlotte Tilbury Feline Flick Liquid Eyeliner (upper lash line), Urban Decay Heavy Metal Glitter Eyeliner in Starfire (upper and lower lash lines), Urban Decay 24/7 Glide-On Eye Pencil in Smog (lower lash line), It Cosmetics Superhero Mascara (lashes), Covergirl Ultrafine Brow Pencil in Soft Brown (brows)

Cheeks: MAC Sunbasque blush

Base: MAC Studio Fix Fluid in NC42 mixed with MAC Strobe Cream in Pinklite set with Mineralize Skinfinish Natural in Medium Golden (this is my go-to base combo)

Lips: MAC Mahogany lip liner all over with a little bit of MAC Paramount lipstick blended on top

Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,

Karen

P.S. TGIF! 🤗