Product Reviews

I’m Super Obsessed With Athleta Workout Leggings

November 21st, 2019 by Karen 20 Comments

Altheta tights — These stretchy pants take it to the next level.

Why didn’t I heed their advice sooner? I should’ve known the ladies in my HIIT class — the women who lift heavy, run fast and push me every time I step into the gym — would steer me in the right direction. For years I heard them rave about Athleta workout leggings, but I never considered buying a pair for myself because they’re like $100 a pop!

Super. Crazy. Expensive.

However…when something is good, and I mean really, REALLY good, the calculus may prompt me to go there. And I totally went there.

What ultimately pushed me over the edge was a secondhand pair of Athleta tights my friend Nicol gave me. She teaches the HIIT class I take, and she happened to have an extra pair that didn’t fit her, and she passed ’em to me.

First time I tried them on — and immediately after I stuffed everything I could into the pockets, of which there are SO MANY — I started to wonder if I’d ever wear another pair of pants again, because daaaaang… They were so soft.

Then, of course, I bent over in the mirror to see if they passed the squat test…

They totally did. 🙂 No underwear peeking through!

Next, I wore them to class and could not stop staring at my booty in the mirror, because the pants somehow transformed it into J. Lo’s (#GOALS), LOL!

I didn’t have to pull up my pants once, not once, during the entire class. Also, the waistband stayed up and held in my tum-tum the entire time, and the material stayed intact and didn’t stretch out at all, either, so no baggy knees.

When that class was done, I knew it… I’d be drinkin’ the Athleta Kool-Aid with the other girls soon.

Later that week, I ended up going to the Athleta store in Corte Madera to buy my first pair, because someone in class mentioned there was a sale happening. I left with the camo ones up top (yup, they’re still on sale!).

When I told the sales associate that it was my first Athleta purchase, she told me all about their generous return policy (if you work out in your clothes and don’t love them, you can still return them with a receipt), then gave me a discount on top of the sale for being a new customer.

SWEET!

If you’re into working out, or otherwise particular about your stretchy pants (as am I), I think you’re going to love these. I’m officially saving up for my next pair.

Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,

Karen

Cat Eye Flicks and Bright Lips (The Purple Edition): A Wednesday Makeup Formula

November 20th, 2019 by Karen 17 Comments

mac tailored to tease lipstick k — Purple power!

Question for you… How do you feel about formula dressing?

LOL! Pardon me for a moment, but I had to laugh there, because “formula dressing”? Sounds like something you put on a salad.

But I digress…

If you’ve flipped through the pages of a fashion magazine in the past decade, you may have read talk of having an “outfit formula,” something you can always turn to when you want to look sharp. Maybe it’s a white t-shirt, high-waisted jeans and a black blazer, or maybe it’s something else.

Once you figure out a formula that works for you, then you can tweak it ever-so-slightly (perhaps by replacing the black blazer with a black motorcycle jacket), but essentially, you go back to the same formula over and over because it works.

I’m a HUGE fan of translating this idea for the realm of makeup, and I do “makeup formulas” all the time.

I’m wearing one of mine in these pics — cat eye flicks and bright lips.

It’s quick and easy and gives you a lot of bang for your makeup buck, IMO. Also, crucially, it doesn’t make me think too hard, and I’m not reinventing any wheels, because I know that both of the main elements in the look work for me. Still, there’s plenty of room within the look to jooj it up in different ways.

Basically, I was in the mood to wear purple, so I started with a smudgy purple cat flick (which I did with a matte dark purple eyeshadow and an angled brush).

I like the whole smudgy/diffused effect because the imperfect edge leaves lots of room for error. I can fudge it a little (or a lot), and even though it might not look perfect, it’s usually passable, which is good enough when I’m in a hurry.

Next, I matched it with a bright matte purple lipstick, and side note: I just thought of another version of this I could do… How about layering a shiny purple gloss on top of this lippie? I think that would be super cool too!

This is just one of the makeup formulas I use often. Apply, lather, rinse and repeat! 🙂

mac tailored to tease lipstick — You think I’d be smiling more since I’m having a surprisingly OK hair day!

mac art library nude model — It doesn’t have to be complicated.

Makeup worn in this look

Eyes: MAC Art Library Nude Model Palette (Sugar Plum and Dance in the Dark as liner, Nude Model and L.E.S. Artiste on lids, and Outre in crease), ESUM Dual Eye Pencil in Rose and Aubergine (tightline), MAC Extended Play Perm Me Up Mascara (lashes) ESUM Brow Defining Pencil and MAC Brow Set (brows)

Cheeks: Charlotte Tilbury Ecstasy Blush

Base: Make Up For Ever HD Concealers in Y41 and Y31 mixed with MAC Strobe Cream (foundation), MAC Mineralize Skinfinish Natural in Golden Tan, Estee Lauder 24H Concealer in Medium Deep (under eyes), Tatcha Luminous Dewy Skin Mist

Lips: MAC Retro Matte Liquid Lipcolour in Tailored to Tease

Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,

Karen

Bay Area Beauty Love: ESUM

November 19th, 2019 by Karen 4 Comments

Shout-out to San Francisco, my former home, and the current home of ESUM Cosmetics, an as-yet under-the-radar Bay Area beauty brand.

ESUM has been around for about 10 years, but I just recently discovered them. They have a line of brushes and makeup pencils made for industry pros and makeup enthusiasts.

I really like their specialty eye brushes, which range in price from $18-58.

They have these precision eye brushes with small, unusually shaped (but useful!) brush heads, so, for instance, if you only have a little lid space, or you don’t have a deep crease (like, if you’ve got slightly hooded eyes like I do), they’re fab for blending and applying eyeshadow, and for fine detail work.

I’ve been all about the W36 and T37, both of which have a smaller-than-usual angled brush head, so they’re awfully handy when I have to blend in a small space, like in the outer or inner v, or when I want to keep my eyeshadow low and tight on the crease.

esum brushes — It’s all about the details.

I’ve also tried a couple of their workhorse tapered blending brushes, namely the medium size G34 (which is slightly smaller than a MAC 224) and the small S33, which excel at placing and blending shadow exactly where you want it to go.

Along with their brushes, ESUM also sells a small selection of makeup pencil — a few dual-ended lip liners and eyeliners (silky and long-wearing, they feel a lot like the Urban Decay 24/7 Glide-Ons), and a handful of skinny twist-up brow pencils (they’re similar to the awesome NARS ones).
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MAC Unsung Heroes: Smoked Almond Lipstick

November 18th, 2019 by Karen 17 Comments

mac smoked almond lipstick swatch — MAC Smoked Almond, a.k.a. THE BEST.

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.

Warning: do not attempt to picture an almond hunched in a doorway, puffing away at a cigarette when you think of the words, “smoked almond,” because once you see something like that in your mind’s eye, you’ll wonder 1) what would ever possess an almond to smoke in the first place, and 2) why said almond wouldn’t know that smoking was bad for it.

Every day for the past week before my shift has started at the bakery, I sit in my car in the parking lot and apply a layer of this beautifully bright rosy brown lipstick on my lips, and every time I do this, I say the same thing to myself in the mirror.

“SO PIGMENTED!”

I’m talking intensity to the extreme.

And yet despite its intensity, Smoked Almond isn’t one of those tricky lippies that is SO saturated that it becomes a pain in the bum and you end up needing a PhD in chemistry to apply it. You can still totally do it freehand, straight from the tube, while half-asleep, WITHOUT a lip liner or brushes or a Christmas miracle, for that matter. Smoke Almond’s creamy consistency practically melts onto lips the moment it touches them. No dragging whatsoever. Just a smooooove glide.

My lips tend to dry out and practically shout, “MOAR moisture!” from the rooftops, but Smoked Almond, which has MAC’s Amplified formula, has enough hydration to keep ’em happy all day long.

mac smoked almond — Smoked Almond on my lips

This is a fantastic everyday/daytime color to keep around if you have many rosy or rosy brown blushes like NARS Amour or Charlotte Tilbury Ecstasy in your collection. It’s also long-wearing and doesn’t move or scoot once you lay down a layer, and it feels lighter than a kitty whisker kiss on your cheek.

Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,

Karen

Red Lip Redux: MAC Matte Lip Mousse in Cordon Bleu

October 29th, 2019 by Karen 15 Comments

mac cordon bleu — MAC Condon Bleu, I heart you

Officially, this MAC matte lipstick is a warm pink, but on my lips it looks red, yet the name is Cordon Bleu, like the color blue.

We should just rename it something like, “When Colors Confusingly Collide.” 😂

I wore this lippy last week in one of the Charlotte Tilbury posts not realizing just how much it would steal the show. It’s one of the Matte Lip Mousse lipsticks from the MAC Pony Park collection, so it’s limited edition (I know), and while a lot of the items from that launch are sold out, Cordon Bleu is still available.

The Matte Lip Mousse lippies play on the blurry edged lip trend that’s happening right now, so they’re designed to draw a diffused edge that feathers out ever so slightly.

You don’t really have to do anything fancy to get the effect either — just apply it with the doefoot directly onto your lips. Don’t worry, it won’t travel outside your natural lip line, so you won’t end up looking like the accidental Joker.

Cordon Bleu’s lightweight mousse formula stays put, feels comfy, and best of all, doesn’t dry out lips. It also tastes and smells like MAC’s signature vanilla, which I love. If you’re a fan of MAC Relentlessly Red Lipstick, I think you’ll like this color, too, because it has similar warm coral undertones.

mac cordon blue — Living my best NC42 life

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