Face

Fall for Fresh Skin and Shimmering Lids With the Latest From Wander Beauty

September 18th, 2019 by Karen 4 Comments

wander beauty wandress rush palette — Pretty, new products from Wander Beauty to get you going

Is it just me, or does autumn seem like the hottest new holiday season? — because it feels like the latest and greatest, most bustling time of year to me.

It’s almost like the powers that be know ALL. THE. THINGS on my to-do list right now, including…

Traipsing through piles of autumn leaves (no, seriously, Connor has preschool homework this week that involves gathering fallen leaves!)
Driving the coywolf to and from various toddler events, of which, surprisingly, there are many
Researching lighting fixtures for a half-bathroom remodel (who knew there were so many different types of lighting fixtures?)
Low-key freaking out about everything (which isn’t actually on my to-list, but it’s something I’m doing anyway)

Wander Beauty seems to *GET* this, because all of their new makeup and skin care launches for fall 2019 focus on getting you ready in a flash, so you can conquer the world! — or, at least conquer the bus ride to work or the morning school drop-off.

wander beauty wandress rus — Wander Beauty Products I’m wearing in this look: Wandress Rush Eye Palette on my lids, High Line Liquid Eyeliner on my lash lines, Frame Your Face Precise Brow Gel in Dark Brown in my brows, Trip for Two Blush and Bronzer Duo in Dauiri/Tulum on my cheeks, and the Lip Setter Duo in On the Mauve on my lips. The foundation is MAC Studio Fix Soft Matte Foundation Stick in NC42.

wander beauty wandress rush swatches — Wandress Rush Eyeshadow Palette, Frame Your Face Precise Brow Gel and High Line Liquid Eyeliner (I’m an NC42 in MAC)

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The New Urban Decay Loose Powder Has a Brush With Convenience, What to Eat With Your Veggies, and Distracted Waxing

September 17th, 2019 by Karen 12 Comments

urban decay ultimate brush off — A new way to get loose with Urban Decay

Do you ever skip loose powder because you don’t want to lug around an extra brush for touch-ups?

If so, I feel you… Also, Urban Decay’s new $34 Ultimate Brush Off Setting Powder might be of interest.

Bring your brush with ya

It comes with a synthetic flat-top kabuki brush attached to the lid, which makes it easy to dust a little on whenever and wherever you want.

It’s a demi-matte loose powder to set your makeup, blur pores and absorb oil and shine, and it’s available now at UD counters and online in five cruelty-free shades — Universal Translucent, Fair, Medium, Deep and Dark.

Speaking of new things… Well, new to me and my tummy!

Bolthouse Salsa Ranch Dressing is MAGIC. I picked it up at Target, and now I’m addicted.

bolthouse farm salsa ranch — A yummy, healthy snack

It’s funny to me that this is named “Salsa Ranch” because it isn’t spicy. It tastes like a blend of the best thousand island and ranch — a little tangy, a little sweet, and VERY tasty!

I like the Bolthouse dressings because they’re made from yogurt, and are consequently less calorically dense than most creamy dressings, so consequently I eat TONS of it, which I do with whatever vegetable I’m crushing on at any given moment. (It’s delish with snap peas!)

If you could use some extra motivation to eat your veggies, then you need what Connor calls “the pink ranch dressing” in your life.

OK, so I had a major upper-lip wax fail…

Please note that waxing your ‘stach while plumbers work on an underground water leak in your front yard is inadvisable. There’s a significant chance you’ll have low-grade anxiety because you don’t know if the plumbers will have to break open the concrete to access the leaky pipe, thereby causing the budget to skyrocket, and you could also end up with a sinkhole underneath your garage…
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A Laura Mercier Moment…

September 10th, 2019 by Karen 18 Comments

laura mercier september 2019 — Dearest Laura…you’re rockin’ my world at the moment.

I’m going to assume that you are, or have been, a makeup junkie, and so therefore you have probably had one (or more) moments like I did the other night at back-to-school night, when your makeup universe collides in such a way that you’re, like, “WHOA!”

I can’t be the only one. I just can’t.

I was just sitting there in Connor’s preschool classroom wearing some Laura Mercier products when my nose honed in on someone’s perfume (I have a bloodhound’s sense of smell). It was familiar, but I couldn’t place it, and the source of that scent — swear to gosh — knocked around in my head for days, like a song stuck in my head.

Then, half asleep one night in bed, it hit me! It was Laura Mercier Eau de Lune, which I wore every day for three years straight in the early aughts.

Dang, dawg, I’ve been wearing Laura Mercier makeup off and on for almost 20 years! In fact, I can recall when it was a relatively new line. I remember going to a counter for the first time (must have been about 1997) and being intrigued by the makeup primer, which was very forward-thinking at the time. And their Tinted Moisturizer, Secret Brightening Powder, Eye Basics in Wheat and Stormy Grey eyeliner have all been in my everyday makeup bag rotation at different times for years.

Like I was saying…I just happened to be wearing a few pieces of LM makeup the other night, and it reminded me why I like wearing Laura Mercier makeup so much. Her style is colorful, but not too crazy, and has elegantly subtle touches of pizzazz, like a little glitter here, a demi-matte finish there… It’s also easy to amplify or dial down.

A few quick thoughts on what I’ve been wearing lately…

Foundation Primer ($38)

There are a few different versions of this (Oil-Free, Dry SKin, etc.), and this one is the basic Foundation Primer. It’s a colorless, lightweight primer in a moisturizing gel that instantly sinks into skin (rather than sitting on top). If you like primers that add radiance with barely-there pearl finish (like MAC’s Natural Radiance), you’ll like this, too. It’s an oldie but goodie.

Translucent Loose Setting Powder ($39)

Light as air and completely undetectable, this has a soft matte finish that looks natural to the Nth degree!

laura mercier september 2019 swatches — Lovies by Laura M.!

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MAC Studio Fix Soft Matte Foundation Sticks: The Latest Way to Get Your Fix

September 3rd, 2019 by Karen 6 Comments

Update for all MAC foundation fan-atics: Thanks to the new MAC Studio Fix Soft Matte Foundation Sticks, this fall we’ll have yet another reason to stick around the MAC counter.

One of my tried-and-true all-time MAC faves is their Studio Fix Foundation (it’s wicked dermatological wizardry when mixed with a few drops of Strobe Cream and set with Mineralize Skinfinish Natural), so I’m excited about this cream stick foundation, which comes in 33 colors and hits shelves beginning September 5.

Like the O.G. Studio Fix Foundation, these sticks promise a flawless finish and a formula that’s theoretically supposed to last 86,400 seconds…which is 24 hours, in case you were wondering.

However, unlike the original Studio Fix Foundation and its ultra-perfected, complete coverage, Studio Fix Soft Matte Foundation is medium coverage and made to appeal to makeup minimalists, a la the low-maintenance girl (or guy) looking to even out their skin tone and ever-so-slightly blur some pores.

From the official MAC PR:

“There’s a definite skin moment happening right now,” says Terry Barber, MAC Director of Makeup Artistry in London.” We’re not talking rawness here, or the whole no makeup, makeup thing. “It’s premium skin; enhanced, plumped, smooth and packed with moisture. Matte in the past was associated with dryness and dullness, whereas the new matte is about soft focus and blur with no blanket coverage and light hitting in all the right places.”

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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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