Product Reviews

Unsung Makeup Heroes: Urban Decay Chaos Eyeliner

August 5th, 2019 by Karen 3 Comments

urban decay chaos swatch — When a little Chaos in your life is a good thing

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.

I can’t keep track of all of Urban Eyeliners. I mean, what do I look like, man? — a walking Guinness Book of World Records for makeup!? LOL! Anyway, there’s just so many of them, especially in the blue category. SO. MANY. BLUES.

But *this* shade is, by far, the one I wear the most, and it’s my favorite. It’s called Chaos, and it’s a gorgeous, pigment-rich cobalt blue that looks like it has a glossy finish from some angles and a matte finish from others. I don’t know how it does this whole quick-change-finish thing, but I suspect it has to do with “ze’ magic,” otherwise known as “the secret shimmer.”

If you buff right into it, tiny silver pieces of glitter appear. It’s the most beautiful (and surprisingly subtle) effect, and when you’re nerding-out over makeup, those little details are the ish.

Oh, and I also wear this liner because — you know I wear a lot of neutrals, right? — it works with both cooler-toned true neutrals like the Clinique Teddy Bear Palette (which I’m all about these days! It’s what wearing in these pics), and warmer orange and reddish neutrals as well. It goes with errrrthing, and you gotta love flexibility (and not having to think too deeply when it comes to your blue liner, ha!).

Chaos pencil is one of UD’s 24/7 Glide-Ons, so once it’s on, it doesn’t budge. I like to wear it full-tilt, but you can also buff it down to a pretty whisper of blue and silver sparkles. Yeah, you can do subtle with Urban Decay, too! It’s awesome.

Chaos is part of their permanent collection (yay!), and it’s $22.

urban decay chaos close up 2 — The lippie, in case you’re wondering, is Honest Beauty Liquid Lipstick in BFF.

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Unsung Makeup Heroes: Clinique All About Shadow Quad in Teddy Bear

August 2nd, 2019 by Karen 9 Comments

clinique teddy bear — “Yeah, don’t even TRY to take my palette. I’m warning you!”

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.

One of these Teddy Bears is not like the other (and it’s more comfy to hug).

But right now, I’m talking about the makeup one, and it’s a quad of all-matte eyeshadows from Clinique. If I were a betting gal…I’d wager that the Clinique All About Shadow Quad in Teddy Bear is probably better than the other neutral palette in your makeup bag, and it’s the most “neutral” of the neutral palettes I wear. The shadows are neither too warm nor too cool (they’re in the coveted Goldilocks Zone), and there’s very little burnt orange, brick red, gray or pink undertones in sight.

clinique teddy bear swatches — Yup, still an NC42 in MAC

The powder shadows in Teddy Bear are just as soft as the bear at the top of this post, and Clinique stuffed it with all of the basics to contour lids and add depth to eyes, including a matte beige bone, a matte golden brown, a peachy golden tan and a dark chocolate brown. In MAC-speak, I’d call these the matte (so, neither warm nor cool) equivalents of Brule, Soba, Soft Brown and Brown Down.

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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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New From Wander Beauty: Trip For Two Blush and Bronzer Duo, Hidden Glow Brightening Cream, and the Trip for Two Blush and Bronzer Brush

July 30th, 2019 by Karen 7 Comments

Filed under “Weird Things I Could Do in Less Than 5 Minutes if I Absolutely Had To”? 25 Spartan Race-style burpees, immediately followed by putting on minimal makeup.

Fore sure, I’d use mascara, a gloss and these new products from Wander Beauty.

(Side note: This occurred to me in HIIT class as I sprinted around a parking lot carrying a 15-pound medicine ball. Amazing the things you think about when you’re out of breath and about to toss your cookies.)

Trip For Two Blush and Bronzer Duo ($36 and available in two shades)

Some bronzer/blush duos are so saturated that you can easily end up looking like you’ve got Duran Duran stripes on your cheeks, but these matte duos have purposefully pared down pigment for the quickest blending you’ll ever experience. I like to start by buffing the blush on the apples of my cheeks, then blending it out with the bronzer for a fast, natural-looking cheek flush.

wander beauty trip for two swatches — Bellini/Costa Rei is the lighter option, and Daiquiri/Tulum is the darker one.

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Keanu Reeves Is My Boyfriend, Vol. 2: Revlon So Fierce! Vinyl Eyeliner

July 29th, 2019 by Karen 5 Comments

revlon so fierce liner — So fierce, babe!

This is a series featuring stellar drugstore gems in which my (very much pretend) boyfriend Keanu Reeves helps me test makeup… He’s gallant like that, you know? 😊

Last night, Keanu and I laughed and cried our way through The Notebook (he’s so sensitive!), and even through all the tears, my new Revlon So Fierce Vinyl Eyeliner stayed put. I know this because at the end of the move, Keanu ever-so-tenderly cradled my chin and said, “Babe, even when you’re crying like a baby, you and your winged liner are absolutely perfect.” Later he added: “Your liner looks almost as good as mine.”

Revlon So Fierce Vinyl Eyeliner ($8.99)

A waterproof long-wearing gel pencil liner with a glossy — but not shimmery — finish that dries in less than a minute
Available in three shades
Completely budge-proof through tears, sweat and splashes with water
Highly pigmented
Applies smoothly
Doesn’t transfer up into my crease; however, when I aggressively rub it with my fingers, it smudges, so if you rub your eyes you’re probably better off with something long-wearing and liquid like MAC Liquidlast instead.
Stays put on lash lines and water lines, but I wouldn’t use it on water lines if yours are very dry.

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