Kevyn Aucoin

Milkshakes and Massages

July 24th, 2019 by Karen 17 Comments

take me to shake shack — YAAAAS KWEEN!!!

Things that go together like cookies and cream:

Reality TV and bad decision making
Underwear and pants (generally speaking)
Prince and the Revolution
Fast food and deep-tissue massage

And yes, I just figured out that last one, and I think it may be the key to the universe’s riches — a business that combines a luxury spa with bougie-bouge fast food.

I know this ’cause I saw my high school friends Jen and Cindy last weekend for our yearly summertime spa catch-up, and this time we met at a fancy-schmancy outdoor mini-mall called the Marin Country Mart.

Oh, and side note, when you live in the Bay Area and you’re tasked with doing the planning for a get-together, you try to arrange for the festivities to happen on your side of whichever of the three Bay Area bridges is closest to you (Dumbarton, Bay Bridge or the Golden Gate). #bayareafunfacts

Anyway, the Marin Country Mart. It has turtles in a fountain, upscale restaurants, shopping, and a large parking lot where, over the years, I’ve weaved creative blankets of expletives at people who have rudely cut me off. (My 10-year-old Mazda looks out of place amidst the sea of Range Rovers and Teslas.)

It also just so happens to be heaven on earth, because it has a Shake Shack *and* an International Orange Spa.

I love going to spas, but the snack situation is almost always dire. There may be cucumber water, tea, fruit and, if you’re lucky, trail mix. International Orange has dried apricots and dark chocolate, which is OK I guess…but it’s nowhere near as satisfying as stuffing yourself silly with a salted caramel milkshake, cheeseburger and fries!

So, we had a long lunch at Shake Shack — which is like In-n-Out, but with super intense milkshakes — then walked over to International Orange for massages.

international orange spa marin — International Orange Spa

international orange marin inside — Minimalist and zen…

My 60-minute deep-tissue massage liquefied my bones. When it ended, I crawled into a lounge chair in the relaxation room, covered myself with a blanket, and fell asleep…

inside international orange spa — Inside the relaxation room

international orange sun deck — View of the bay from the spa’s sun deck

international orange spa snacks — Spa snacks

At the end of the day, we all made a blood vow to return and experience the magic of milkshakes and massages again, ASAP.

I’m serious, this is a highly recommended spa+cuisine combo!

New face base dynamic duo

While we’re on the topic of ultimate combos…

MAC Face and Body and Kevyn Aucoin Etherealist Super Natural Concealer are SO, SO GOOD together.

mac face and body kevyn aucoin etherealist — For Face and Body, I usually do a mix of C4 and C5. In the Kevyn Aucoin Supernatural Concealer, I wear EC04 (the peachy shade for color correcting) and EC06 (a medium warm beige).

Super Natural is yet another makeup gem I unearthed while recently cleaning out my makeup drawers. It’s a medium-coverage liquid concealer with a demi-satin finish and comes in eight shades.

When I first tried it a while back, I remember loving how it looked on my skin, but I wasn’t a fan of the way it disappeared under my eyes.

But when I wear it on my cheeks on top of Face and Body, it’s a different story.
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The Kevyn Aucoin Prismatic Highlighting Trio

February 28th, 2018 by Karen 5 Comments

Holla! Or rather, holographic. Or prismatic. Or prismagic.

WOW! These highlighters are chunky, but more on that in a sec… I was actually drawn in by the packaging at first. The Kevyn Aucoin Prismatic Highlighting Trio ($48) looks like Hollywood movie magic. It shifts colors at different angles, going from yellow to blue to orange to purple, and sometimes all of them at the same time, which is cool, but also CRAZY.

It’s also quite representative of what’s inside.

There are three glittery highlighters, and they don’t look like much in their pans. On skin, though, we’re talking unicorn-level glitter and shine, and the flecks of green, blue and orange glitter are BIG and flashy — so not at all what I’ve come to expect from Kevyn Aucoin.

I mean, the shadows feel fab. They’re almost creamy-caliber bouncy and soft, so they’re easy to pick up with a finger or a brush. They’re a lot like the awesome metallics Urban Decay did in the Heavy Metals Metallic Eyeshadow Palette from the Holiday 2017 collection, but with much larger bits of glitter.

kevyn aucoin prismatic — Wearing Illusion on my lids (see how it ended up in my lashes?)

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The Kevyn Aucoin Neo Trio Palette

December 5th, 2017 by Karen 9 Comments

kevyn aucoin electropop — Fresh, effortless cheek color and dimension from the Kevyn Aucoin Neo Trio Palette

There’s something about magnets, man. I like stuff that sticks together, like the Fenty Beauty sticks and these Kevyn Aucoin powders in the $58 limited edition Neo Trio Palette on counters meow.

You can stick them together and take them apart like puzzle pieces, which is totally my thing (El Hub is not into puzzles at all, which is crazy to me)!

kevyn aucoin neo trio — Each of the three pans in the Neo Trio Palette contain 0.25 ounces of product; one full-size pan from KA’s permanent line is 0.75 ounces, so you get a good amount of product.

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The Kevyn Aucoin Electropop Pro Eyeshadow Palette

December 1st, 2017 by Karen 11 Comments

Should you listen to electronic music or pop music when you’re playing around with the new $57 Kevyn Aucoin Electropop Palette? #deepmakeupthoughts

Every time I wear it, I end up listening to Pachelbel’s Canon in D at least three times, haha! We have a baby lullaby station set on Pandora, and I’m not kidding, every other song is some version of Pachebel’s Canon in D. I swear that song is holding the baby lullaby station hostage!

Electropop is a $57 limited edition eye palette with 12 electric hues and chromatic colors, and it’s all about the brights, dramatic pigment and mega metallic pearl. You’ve got color, shine and all the fun, flashy things, but they’re handled tastefully and executed with perfection.

At first, it was the brights that reeled me in, but the creamy, comfy, weightless formula sealed the deal. It’s like, dude, am I even wearing eyeshadow at all?

The Electropop shadows feel as light as a feather, much like the MAC In Extra Dimension Eyeshadows, and just like the In Extra Dimensions, they kindly stay the crap outta my fine lines. So thanks for that, Team Kevyn!

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Kevyn Aucoin The Etherealist Super Natural Concealer

August 24th, 2017 by Karen 4 Comments

I’m having NARS déjà vu left and right! — first with Urban Decay Troublemaker mascara (which is just like NARS Audacious) and now with the new Kevyn Aucoin The Etherealist Super Natural Concealer.

It’s a new permanent collection line available in 10 shades for $30 each. One of the 10 shades is a peachy apricot color corrector for dark circles, and the other nine range from having peach to gold to beige undertones.

kevyn aucoin etherealist super natural concealer swatches — Swatches, babe!

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