Face of the Day (FOTD)

A MAC Jade Jagger Face of the Day With Golden Shine Mineralize Eye Shadow X 4

December 11th, 2017 by Karen 27 Comments

mac jade jagger golden shine — When Target is your runway…

I vote that we all wear soft glam makeup for Target runs from this day forward.

It has been decided!

If nothing else, I think it would make the world a more interesting place, LOL!

But seriously, I’m usually barefaced when I go to Target because #momlife, unless I’m feeling ambitious, in which case I might curl my lashes — might — but I just had to go there with MAC Jade Jagger. It’s so beautiful! I haven’t been this excited about a MAC collection in a long time.

Gimme easy glam any day of the week.

mac jade jagger collection all — I’m wearing the blush in the upper right, the red lipstick right next it, the quad on the left, and the bronzer in the lower left.

The collection is LE and coming to select MAC counters and the MAC website December 14th.

This was actually my face of the day last Friday, but I just got around to posting the pics. It’s a warm, satiny bronzed brown smoky eye with pink cheeks and soft red lip.

mac jade jagger golden shine k2 — I used the rose gold shimmer in Satin Shimmer Mineralize Skinfinish to highlight my cheekbones and my nose.

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Look Book: Glittery Demi-Cut Crease Cat Eyes, Levels of Glitter, and More MAC Snow Ball

November 16th, 2017 by Karen 13 Comments

mac snow ball pigment glitter kit pink k pink lips — Wearing the MAC Snow Ball Pigment and Glitter Kit in Pink on my lids.

Look Book is a new MBB series, but I think of it as “a makeup playground.” It’s a place to try new looks, talk about techniques and products, and hopefully — hopefully — get inspired to try new things. 🙂

I have plans, my friend — makeup plans for the future — and they involve me continuing to wear glitter on my lids through my 40s, 50s, 60s, 70s, 80s and beyond. 🙂

Why?

Because I don’t believe that glittery makeup has to be relegated to just one or two decades along your makeup journey. I 100% believe that there are always ways to work a little sparkle into your step.

I think it helps to think of glitter as, not just something you completely splash all over your lids, but as an accent that you can incorporate into your look in levels, which is what I did in this glittery demi-cut crease with glittery cat eye liner and a glittery dot accent in the inner corner.

By the way, before we get into it, I just want let you know that I used some limited edition makeup kits (the Pigment and Glitter Kit in Pink, Lip Gloss Kit in Rose, and the Mascara Kit) from the MAC Snow Ball collection, which is out now.

I also used all three of the Snow Ball brush kits (Basic, Advanced and Mini).

In addition to those, I also sprinkled in some MAC permanent products, of course, and everything is listed at the bottom of the post. If you have any questions about anything — the kits, the permanent things, why I did something a certain way, whatever — holler at me in the comments, and I’ll drop my two cents.

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These Pixi Sheer Cheek Gels Are Perfect for Way-Too-Hot Mascara/Brows/Gloss Days

July 18th, 2017 by Karen 6 Comments

pixi sheer cheek gel natural flushed rosy — Barely-there cheek color that’s oh-so-hot. From the top: Pixi Sheer Cheek Gel in Natural, Flushed and Rosy ($14 each)

You guys…it is SO FREAKIN’ HOT.

As I’m sitting here, literally not doing anything except existing, I’m covered in sweat, and I feel the sweat running down the valley between my boobs.

Boob sweat. It’s a real thing.

Now, what does that have to do with the Pixi Sheer Cheek Gels? Actually, a lot! LOL! Because when it’s BEYOND hot like this, I don’t like to wear a lot of makeup. I draw the line at mascara (waterproof, of course), a lip tint or gloss, filling in my brows, and using a tiny touch of concealer and blush. That’s all I can handle. (“That’s all,” she said, as if that wasn’t still a lot.)

I like these gel blushes because they’re perfect for those way-too-hot-mascara/brows/gloss days, or, whenever you need to look presentable and fresh-faced but can’t bring yourself to try too hard.

pixi sheer cheek gel swatches natural rosy flushed — Swatches from the top: Natural, Rosy and Flushed

They come in these little 0.45-oz. tubes, and it doesn’t seem like you get a lot for $14, but you don’t need to use very much. I do a little squeeze for each cheek and gently blend the edges.

You don’t get a ton of color — I’ll tell you that right now — and if you’re expecting Insta-glam intensity, you’ll be disappointed. The effect is sheer and natural-looking, and very similar to the effect I get from Clinique Pop Oil Lip & Cheek Glow, except without the oil, as Pixi’s blushes don’t have it (they’re oil-free).

I like to wear gel blushes on bare skin, as opposed to wearing them on top of other products, to keep things easy and minimal. Whenever I layer them on top of foundation or tinted moisturizer, the gel ends up moving stuff around, so I don’t even wanna bother. But you could wear these Sheer Gels on top of face makeup if you wanted to… Just be sure to pat them, instead of sweeping, to protect whatever you may be wearing under them.

pixi sheer cheek gel review rosy — Wearing sheer red Rosy

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Punk Rock Pink // Urban Decay

June 7th, 2017 by Karen 17 Comments

urban decay frenemy lipstick — Urban Decay Vice Lipstick in Frenemy

Dude, I’m the least punk rock person EVER, but if I were a punk rock-arina, I’d totally wear this monochromatic pink makeup look with a faux-hawk. 🙂

I was inspired to “go there” today by a pic I saw of model Ruby Rose on the Urban Decay website a couple weeks ago.

I’ve mentioned this before, but you know, I’ve been trying to push myself to attempt more colorful looks that don’t take hella years to do, and I’m proud to say that I banged this one out in 30 minutes! It’s mostly Urban Decay on my eyes and lips, with some MAC, Nudestix and Clinique added for good measure.

It took all I had to resist the temptation to blend too many shadows on my lids (BECAUSE THAT’S SO MUCH FUN!) and keep MY foundation and concealer to a minimum.

With something like this, all you have to do is add a “big statement” of some kind, like a pair of OTT lashes and/or a bright lip, and you’re golden.

Oh! — I can’t believe I almost forgot to mention what I think is the most important secrets to doing this look. I think the secret to being happy with it is accepting that it (probably) isn’t going to turn out perfectly, and that’s perfectly fine. If your liner is a little wonky or your eyeshadow isn’t as blended as it could be, just go with it, and keep in mind that it didn’t take forever.

Getting glam in half an hour for me is nothing short of a miracle, because back in the day BTB (before the baby), a look like this could easily have spiraled into two hours!

Basically, here’s the quick rundown…

Starting with my skin, to even out my complexion, I’m wearing MAC Next to Nothing Face Colour in Medium Plus all over my face with MAC Matchmaster Concealer in shade 5 under my eyes and atop my cheeks (side note: have you tried this concealer? IT’S REALLY GOOD!). Then I set everything with a thin layer of MAC Mineralize Skinfinish Natural Powder in Medium Golden.

For my eyes, I applied a thin layer of Nudstix Magnetic Eye Color in Putty from lashes to brow line, then swept the hot pink shade from the Urban Decay Basquiat brights palette in the crease, before blending out the edges with the lighter pink shadow from the same palette.

I drew thin winged liner with the Clinique Pretty Easy Liquid Eyelining Pen, then put on the craziest lashes known to womankind — a.k.a. the House of Lashes false lashes (the one called Iconic).

And I dusted a little bit of the bronzer and hot pink blush from the UD Basquiat blush/bronzer palette on my cheeks.

Because I couldn’t settle on a single lipstick to wear, I ended up trying on a bunch of pinks from the Urban Decay Vice Lipstick line.

I think my favorite one of these is either Menace or Frenemy…

urban decay pda lipstick — Vice Lipstick in PDA

urban decay psycho lipstick — Vice Lipstick in Psycho

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What I Wore Wednesday, Vol. 12: Sparkly Purple Liner, and Fun With Matte and Dewy Finishes

May 10th, 2017 by Karen 23 Comments

I know I’ve asked this before (oh, 10 or 12 times), but do you like to wear colorful eye makeup? Like, lately? I’ve been pretty adventurous with color lately. More than I’ve been in years. At least two or three. I dunno… I went through a loooong period when all I wanted to wear on my eyes was brown shadow, and that was fun in its own way…but I’ve been liking playing with color again. It’s time.

(I’m wondering, does everyone go through a brown shadow phase at least once in their life?? Hmm…).

Anyway, for the last couple of “What I Wore Wednesdays,” I went full-on colorful, but today… Girl, I just wasn’t in the mood to blend very much (it happens), so I kinda cheated a little with a sparkly purple liner on my lash lines and taupe/bronze/brown lids.

Purple liner, especially bright and sparkly ones like the one I’m wearing (it’s MAC Designer Purple, an amazingly bright and sparkly purple liner that lasts FOREVER on lash lines), gives you a lot of bang for your back in terms of effort. You’ll look like you tried really hard, but ya know, it’s just a purple eyeliner. 🙂

I went “stash shopping” for this look, which is always exciting because it’s like digging for secret beauty booty/pirate treasure for things that haven’t seen the light of day in a while.

I had this picture in my mind of matte lids with sparkly purple liner, dewy skin and matte neutral lips, because I wanted to play with finishes and color, so I grabbed MAC Constructivist Paint Pot (which I used as an eyeshadow base) and the Hourglass Infinity Eyeshadow Palette, which I’ve always considered underrated, and Chanel Malice Blush, because LK and I were talking about it in the comments last week, and I got a hankering to wear it.

Oh, Malice… Reunited and it feels so good!

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