Lips

A Must for Coral Lip Lovers Is Now on Sale for 50% Off: Bite Beauty Lip Pencil in 070

July 17th, 2019 by Karen 6 Comments

This coral lip makes me almost as happy as when Connor says “YAAAAAAAAAS, QUEEN!”

I’m *not* wearing a lipstick, by the way. It’s Bite’s Lip Pencil, with the very numerical name of 070, and right now it’s on sale on the Sephora site for $9 (full price is $18, so it’s half off).

I love how intense it looks, and I like the finish, which is halfway between a matte and a satin. Oh! — and the creamy, featherweight formula coasts across lips like a lipstick.

I hope the deeply discounted price doesn’t mean it’s going away (crosses fingers and toes), but if that’s the case, at least you can grab it while it’s still around for a good price.

Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,

Karen

P.S. How was your day?

Saving All My Kale for You…

July 17th, 2019 by Karen 10 Comments

Real talk: Does anyone actually sit at a pretty vanity table with a special lighted mirror, and scented candles burning in the background, and music playing, and perfect lighting hitting all the good angles while they apply their lipstick or other lip products for the day? — because my usual scenario involves me using the rearview mirror while sitting in my car as it warms up in my dark garage, and putting on whatever I’ve got in my purse in the 30 seconds I have before leaving to take Connor somewhere, and P.S., apparently, three-year-olds have many, many places to be, which is why I’m basically the family Uber driver now.

Anyway, that’s why I’m grabbing something moisturizing with a wash of color 99% of the time (#drylips #priorities), like a balm, a lip tint or a hydrating lip oil, which brings me to the latest love of my lip life by Wander Beauty…

Shine and moisture FTW

The Lip Retreat Lip Oils drench dry lips with moisturizing fruit oils and fatty acids, and they coat that kisser with a shiny finish that feels slightly sticky (but not obnoxiously so). There are four shades to choose from, each with a different degree of vivid intensity, and my favorites are juicy strawberry pink Spa Day, and clear shiny Oasis. Both of them smell and taste a little like vanilla, which I’m cool with.

wander beauty lip retreat 2 — Oasis (a clear shade) on the left and Spa Day (a strawberry pink) on the right

The angled doe-foot has a pointed tip, so drawing into tight corners with the brighter shades is just as easy to do as it is with the nude colors, and the squishy tube means that I can squeeze every last drop outta the 0.33-oz. $22 tubes.

No parabens, phthalates, synthetic fragrances or mineral oil, and they’re cruelty-free and gluten-free as well.

If you like your tints on the bougie side, a la the Hourglass tinted lip oils or the new NARS lip tints, you’re gonna love these!

I love lip oils…but I do not love kale.

I have no problem eating my veggies, but kale? Eww! I’ve tried all sorts of ways to get myself to like kale over the past few years, but it always tastes like gummy, chewy grass to me, and is therefore my equivalent of low-key punishment. (Give me spinach any old day.)

I don’t mind kale in my beauty products, though, especially when they work as well as the Yes to Carrots & Kale Wipes ($5.99).

yes to carrots makeup wipes — The only kale I don’t mind…

yes to carrots makeup wipes ingredients — What’s inside?!

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MAC Unsung Heroes: Chili Lipstick

July 15th, 2019 by Karen 5 Comments

mac chili lipstick — MAC Matte Lipstick in Chili is hot stuff! 🔥

What’s an unsung makeup hero? For me, it’s an oftentimes underrated makeup morsel, a permanent collection product that scoots under the radar screen of many makeup lovers but regularly rocks my world. The long-running Unsung Heroes series features some of my favorites.

So, I was making homemade taco seasoning a few nights ago, and the color of the chili powder reminded me of one of my favorite MAC lipsticks.

Smooth, long-lasting MAC Chili is a warm orange-reddish brown beauty in the MAC Matte Lipstick line. You can wear it all year round (’cause red is timeless like that!), but I think it looks particularly great this time of year with toasty tans.

mac chili lipstick swatch — An NC42, always and forever!

Chili perfectly pairs with summery bronze, copper and gold shadows. A few of my favorite eyeshadows to wear it with are MAC Bronze, Antiqued and Mulch, but Amber Lights looks fab with it, too.

I also like it with the NARS Isolde Duo (Tip: Mix both shades together and buff all over lids, and then do MAC Teddy liner on the waterlines… It’s FIRE.) and NUDESTIX Rustique.

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Get Gorgeous Doughnut Lips with NARS Oil-Infused Lip Tint

July 3rd, 2019 by Karen 7 Comments

When your lips gleam like a glazed Krispy Kreme doughnut, you’re doing it right! 🍩

The new NARS Oil-Infused Lip Tints blaze bright neon in their tubes, but they look almost clear on lips. There’s just a wink of coy color, and thanks to the bevy of fruity moisturizing factors they contain, my dry lip flake situation is currently MIA.

The formula feels like a cross between a gloss and a balm, and these somehow manage to not glide around the outline of my lips, which, as a chronic lip-rubber, I appreciate.

One swipe across my lower lip, and another swipe across my upper lip, and then a quick smack-smack-smack, and my lips have that healthy, shiny sheen normally reserved for teenagers just getting outta bed.

I particularly like how sheer the brights are (the rose is a little too shy on my pigmented lips), and I think their delicateness makes them work well with a wider array of looks than a full-tilt, high-pigment gloss.

INGREDIENTS:
HYDROGENATED POLYISOBUTENE · DIISOSTEARYL MALATE · BUTYROSPERMUM PARKII (SHEA) BUTTER · ETHYLENE/PROPYLENE/STYRENE COPOLYMER · SILICA DIMETHYL SILYLATE · SIMMONDSIA CHINENSIS (JOJOBA) SEED OIL · RUBUSIDAEUS (RASPBERRY) SEED OIL · PUNICA GRANATUM FLOWER EXTRACT · GLYCERIN · TOCOPHEROL · HELIANTHUS ANNUUS (SUNFLOWER) SEED OIL · ROSMARINUS OFFICINALIS (ROSEMARY) LEAF EXTRACT · POLYETHYLENE · MICROCRYSTALLINE WAX/CERA MICROCRISTALLINA/CIRE MICROCRISTALLINE · POLYGLYCERYL-10 PENTAOLEATE · BUTYLENE/ETHYLENE/STYRENE COPOLYMER · FLAVOR (AROMA) · SILICA · GLYCERYL DIISOSTEARATE · TRIISOSTEARIN · TRIMETHYLOLPROPANE TRIETHYLHEXANOATE · TIN OXIDE · ALUMINUM HYDROXIDE · POLYSILICONE-2 · BHT · PHENOXYETHANOL · [+/- (MAY CONTAIN): MICA · TITANIUM DIOXIDE (CI 77891) · IRON OXIDES (CI 77491) · RED 27 (CI 45410) · RED 33 (CI 17200) · RED 28 (CI 45410) · CARMINE (CI 75470)]

They’re $26 each, limited edition, and you can find ’em at Sephora.

nars disco infernal — Disco Infernal (by the way, I’m wearing the NARS Wanted Mini Eyeshadow Palette on my eyes).

What’s bumping in my headphones at the moment?

Sometimes when I get home from the gym I like to sit in my car in the garage for a few minutes and listen to music, because, I dunno…I’m alone, nobody’s asking me any questions, and I can just ~~chair dance in complete and total privacy~~ simmer with my thoughts.

Last night, I was listening to a local hip-hop station (106.1 KMEL, which I’ve been listening to since I was in middle school, OMG!) when this song started playing.

I had a moment, man! For approximately four minutes, my Mazda temporarily transformed into Club Karen, complete with booty shaking and arm waving — the whole kit and caboodle.

Of course, this song played in the middle of a mix, so I had to reverse engineer it to find the artist (Ari Lennox). I found her by Googling a phrase from the song: “break me off gitchy gitchy ya ya.”

Seriously, the Internets are amazing!

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Liquid Lipstick Love

June 26th, 2019 by Karen 13 Comments

chanel rouge allure ink — These are fabulous!

I’m tempting fate whenever I wear lipstick with white clothes, but I like to live on the edge, mwahahahaha!

chanel luxuriant — A rebel (not really) in Chanel Luxuriant

I’ve been all about the Chanel Rouge Allure Ink liquid lipsticks ($38 each), man. They came out a few years back, and they’re still a fixture in the permanent collection. Thank goodness for that, too, because there’s really nothing else quite like them. They’re like a shy first kiss…and you can crack as many cheesy smiles with them as you want, because the creamy, pigmented formula stays smooth for hours.

PRODUCT
A long-lasting liquid lipstick with a smooth texture that glides on like a gloss and sets with a luminous, velvet-like finish.

COMPOSITION
Polymers, waxes and plant oils smooth and nourish lips, while Jojoba Oil and a unique anti-oxidant complex offer hydration and protective benefits. The applicator tip allows for comfortable and easy application. In a provocative range of red-tint shades, from tart pink to deep brown-noir.

HOW TO APPLY
Define lip contours then fill in with colour.

Source: chanel.com

The soft velvet matte finish is also softer and less “aggro” than your typical liquid lippie, which I think makes them perfect for casual summer makeup. Lately, I’ve been bouncing between warm pink Amoureaux and two bright reds — berry red Luxuriant and bluish red Choquant. There are 20 colors to choose from, and I want all of ’em.

Hey, Mr. D.J.!

Science really needs to figure out how to tap into the part of the brain that can remember song lyrics from 20 years ago with startling clarity, because when Connor and I were at DSW the other day, Hey Mr. DJ started playing over the store speakers, and I was singing along without skipping a beat.

Remember when the first few bars of this song would play in the club and everyone would lose their damn mind?? In the alternate reality that is the musical version of my life, everyone in the DSW would have dropped whatever shoes they were trying on and danced in the aisles, ha ha ha!

Speaking of blasts from the past…

I spotted ube ice cream in the frozen section at TJ’s last week!

Ube, also known as taro root, is a purple yam (Hawaiians make poi out of it), and when I was growing up, my parents would buy ube ice cream for us at the small Filipino grocery store in our town… I think it tastes like a combination of vanilla and cashews. The taste of my childhood!

Some ube ice creams are sweeter than others, and the Trader Joe’s one isn’t as sweet as some, which I like. I paced myself and ate the pint over the course of three days, but I could’ve easily finished it in one sitting with a spoon and a Reese Witherspoon movie.
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