Neat and New to Me

Neat and New to Me: NARS Mekong Shimmer Eyeshadow

December 1st, 2015 by Karen 32 Comments

Neat and New to Me

Unlike my Unsung Heroes series, which features permanent collection products I’ve known and loved a long time, the Neat and New to Me series showcases permanent collection products that slipped under my radar for a while, but then I discovered them! — and now I think they’re neat and new to me.

NARS Mekong has been making me smile! 🙂 And rhyme!

That was a rhyme, right? (Mekong making…?)

It has a dark brown espresso matte base with golden micro glitter, and it’s take-your-breath-away gawgeous with warm reddish browns and purply browns on the eyes, and reds, burgundies and plums on the lips.

I recently discovered it, which means that I finally gave it a try, and I feel like such a goofball for waiting so long. Give it a swatch if you can before the end of winter, but I warn you — brace yourself. It’s a total knockout.

nars mekong swatch — NARS Mekong Shimmer Eyeshadow

I’ve been wearing it for smoky eyes, and also as a liner, and when I use it for smoky eyes, I pack it on my lids with a flat eyeshadow brush, and then blend out the edges, drawing just a smidgen up into the crease, before incorporating a couple of matte transition shades.

Then, to offset the heaviness on the top area, I line and smudge a purple or warm reddish brown pencil liner, usually MAC Prunella or MAC Teddy, both of which I think really complement Mekong well, along my lower lash line.

nars mekong — Wearing NARS Mekong on my lids in a smoky eye look with MAC Prunella along my lower lash lines…

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Neat and New to Me: NARS Alhambra Eyeshadow Duo

November 20th, 2015 by Karen 12 Comments

Neat and New to Me

Unlike my Unsung Heroes series, which features permanent collection products I’ve known and loved a long time, the Neat and New to Me series showcases permanent collection products that slipped under my radar for a while, but then I discovered them! — and now I think they’re neat and new to me.

I wore the NARS Alhambra Eyeshadow Duo last weekend to shop for maternity jeans, and you know what? You know your eyeshadow is doing something right when you’re shopping for jeans (which is usually traumatic enough as it is) in your sixth month of pregnancy, and you feel extra huge, and you’re in a dressing room with the worst florescent green lighting known to womankind, and you look in the mirror and think, “Dayum! My eye makeup looks good…”

Thank you, NARS Alhambra. 🙂

You can make a woman feel good in gold, EVEN when she’s in sickly greenish lighting.

On one side of this warm-toned powder shadow duo lives a metallic rosy gold; on the other, a golden champagne.

They might look a little scary and frosty in that swatch below, but trust! — they aren’t that shiny or brash on lids once they’ve been blended (which is easy to do because they’re both also incredibly soft).

Like a superhero satin, the finish shines, but it’s about six degrees away from “discotheque,” so you can tell your fine lines to chill. Alhambra’s got this.

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Neat and New to Me: NARS Albatross Highlighter

November 17th, 2015 by Karen 25 Comments

Neat and New to Me

Unlike my Unsung Heroes series, which features permanent collection products I’ve known and loved a long time, the Neat and New to Me series showcases permanent collection products that slipped under my radar for a while, but then I discovered them! — and now I think they’re neat and new to me.

I’m not gonna say that NARS Albatross Highlighting Blush is the most exciting beauty bird to have ever soared above the oceans and the forests. I mean, it’s not a peacock or a toucan.

Quite frankly, that stark white scared the crap out of me for years. “Albatross is for the birds!” I used to think every time I saw it.

Buuut, not so much anymore. 🙂

I tried it again in one of those Sephora makeup classes not long ago (the one on highlighting and contouring) on the recommendation of one of the instructor artists.

I said that I wanted to try a highlighter other than the usual suspects (a BECCA Shimmering Skin Perfector, Bobbi Brown Shimmer Brick, Hourglass Ambient), and she suggested shimmery yellow gold Albatross.

I’ve been wearing it pretty consistently ever since.

Now, if you’re big into super glittery highlighters, you might want to keep flying, because yellowish golden Albatross doesn’t have giant flecks of glitter in it. It’s not one of those powder highlighters, but that’s one of the reasons I like it.

It’s just less muchness, if you know what I mean.

It is shiny, however — even more than the Hourglass Ambients — but it isn’t as shiny as the BECCA Shimmering Skin Perfectors. The finish is right there in between, right there in the sweet spot. It catches more than enough light to be noticeable.

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Neat and New to Me: MAC Crème D’Nude Cremesheen Lipstick

October 28th, 2015 by Karen 26 Comments

mac creme d nude — MAC Cremesheen Lipstick in Crème D’ Nude ($17)

Neat and New to Me

Unlike my Unsung Heroes series, which features permanent collection products I’ve known and loved a long time, the Neat and New to Me series showcases permanent collection products that slipped under my radar for a while, but then I discovered them! — and now I think they’re neat and new to me.

Makeup rules are meant to be broken, but I still got mad love for the makeup law-abiding classics, like looks with bold smoky eyes and nude lips, which I blame, in part, on $17 MAC Crème D’Nude Cremsheen Lipstick.

Some makeup looks are like zombies, ya know? (Because it always comes back to zombies…) But I mean that figuratively this time. 🙂 Basically, they never stay out of style for long.

So while I’ll always love my fellow makeup rule-breakers, especially when you do that smoky eye-bold lip thing (keep workin’ that emerald green smoky eye with those glossy, opaque hot pink lips, hunty!), I still gotta have my classics.

Pale muted peachy beige Crème D’Nude totally understands that. It’ll make you want to strip down to your skivvies and run around the office screaming in ecstasy.

OK, maybe not…but it does flat-out rock. It’s full coverage, smooth, moisturizing, and its warm peachy tones keep me looking like I’m actually running a healthy 98.6°F temperature. By comparison, I can’t stand it when pale beige lippies make me look like I just crawled out of the ground like an extra in MJ’s Thriller video.

Hell no! That’s sooo not happening with Crème D’Nude.

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Neat and New to Me: Tom Ford Metallic Mink Eye Defining Pencil

October 20th, 2015 by Karen 25 Comments

Neat and New to Me

Unlike my Unsung Heroes series, which features permanent collection products I’ve known and loved a long time, the Neat and New to Me series showcases permanent collection products that slipped under my radar for a while, but then I discovered them! — and now I think they’re neat and new to me.

The answer, my friend, would be yes. A thousand times yes!

If a roving band of performance artists stopped me one day on the sidewalk in downtown Novato and asked, “Excuse us, miss [yes, they’d say ‘miss’]? Would you mind if we poured this bucket of melted Tom Ford Metallic Mink eyeliner on you to cover your entire body from head to toe like a fabulous coat of golden purply bronze?” I’d say yes, even though it would be hard to clean up, ’cause it would look fabulous.

tom ford metallic mink swatch — Tom Ford Eye Defining Pencil in Metallic Mink

All I have to say about this eyeliner is “Get outta my dreams; get into my car! — and grab me a backup while you’re at it, yo!” Metallic Mink looks SO lovely smudged along lower lash lines, especially with reddish browns or purply brown eyeshadows on your lids.

It’s a shimmery golden bronzed brown eye pencil with a slight essence of purple that comes through every once in a while, and it’s the closest thing I’ve found to BECCA’s fabled Cabrera liner. Although it’s not an exact dupe, it’s close enough to warrant a ticker-tape parade and a pair of naked baby angels playing harps. 🙂

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