Skin Care

What Changes Do You Make to Your Skincare Routine in the Fall?

September 4th, 2019 by Karen 28 Comments

Oh, my gosh! I make so many changes. Creamier cleansers, richer moisturizers (dry skin 4-eva) and ‘ze intensification of exfoliation.

Fall is still officially a few weeks away, but unofficially for me it’s starting right meow…

I’m guessing that your opinion of fall partly depends on where you fall (ha ha) on the Pumpkin Spice/Halloween spectrum, am I right? You’re either delighted by the idea of cooler weather, cozy sweaters and crunchy autumn leaves crackling beneath your ankle boots, or you’re supremely bummed about it.

I’m somewhere in the middle…

At heart, I will always be a summertime baby, but as I get older (and grow more intolerant of being hot and sweaty), I’ve learned to love fall. And now I’m into it, man!

Here are the fall changes I’m making to my skincare routine…

Falling temps turn the normally dry areas on my cheeks even drier, so creamy cleansers become a must. I plan to pick up a tube of Kate Sommerville Goat Milk Cleanser to help with that this week.
I also need to add a rich moisturizer up in the mix. Hello, First Aid Beauty Ultra Repair Cream!
And because I won’t be getting as much sun soon (and won’t have to worry as much about sun sensitivity), I’ll be upping my exfoliation game. To that end, I just started using Paula’s Choice 2% BHA Liquid Exfoliant, and I’m also thinking about doing a professional chemical peel. (Side note: I’ve never had one before. Have you?!)

Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,

Karen

I Hauled These Two Victoria’s Secret Scents to Keep Mosquitoes Away From Me

August 15th, 2019 by Karen 18 Comments

victorias secret amber romance — When your beauty decisions are motivated by insects ravaging you at night…

This may look like your standard-issue “Oh, there’s a two-for-one body splash sale at Victoria’s Secret, so lemme go hook that up” kind of haul.

Totally not.

Instead of being motivated by a good deal (which is my usual motivation for spur-of-the-moment beauty buys), this purchase was brought on by tiny monsters.

Specifically, flying insects.

Specifically, insects that buzz around your house and sink their proboscis into your unsuspecting flesh in the middle of the night. I’ve been getting devoured by what I think are mosquitoes…

THANK GOD. And I say that because for a while there I thought they might be bed bugs. But now I’m pretty sure they’re mosquitoes.

I think it’s because the contractors who replaced our furnace, water heater and AC left the front door open the whole day they were here. Consequently, a gaggle of mosquitoes came into my house, and they’ve been biting me at night.

I’ve got bites around my ankles, on my feet (Fun fact: Mosquitoes love the scent of feet.), on my back, my tummy, on the backs of my shoulders… I’ve been very itchy, and it hasn’t been fun.

A few days ago, I started using a real-deal mosquito repellent containing picaridin at night, and it keeps them away for 14 hours. It’s helped a ton — no new bites! — but in the process of researching how to make yourself less appealing/more disgusting to the little monsters, I stumbled upon a treasure trove of information about two Victoria’s Secret scents that allegedly repel bugs.

People talk about this stuff as if it’s manna from heaven as far as keeping bugs away, and fisherman and deep-sea researchers go on and on about it. It’s Victoria’s Secret Amber Romance, and it’s supposed to be the bee’s knees at keeping gnats, mosquitoes and other flying insects away. Even the dudes on the Louisiana State Baseball team swear by it!
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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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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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Next Stop: Caron Paris

July 12th, 2019 by Karen 6 Comments

Saw this on my feed this morning, and it hit a little too close to home, LOL!

As Fox Mulder famously said, “The truth is out there…” I agree, and I think that someday the truth will finally be revealed about whether some Starbucks baristas purposefully muck up your name. 😒

my name isnt caron — Was this on purpose?!

Extra points for creativity to the young man who spelled my name exactly like this luxury French fragrance house: Caron Paris.

Thanks to my friend Joey for pointing this out!

I’d never heard of Caron Paris before Joey mentioned it, and now I have yet another place to add to my long list of places I’d like to shop when I go back to Paris (whenever that may be!).

Caron has been making high-end perfumes (both for women and men) and makeup since 1904, and they have three boutiques in the most fashionable neighborhoods in Paris.

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#Rose Michel Morsetti, captivated by its many nuances chose to evoke the delicateness of a rosebud picked at dawn, the fragrance of wild roses. #Caron #CaronPerfume #Tribute #NotreDameDeParis

A post shared by CARON (@caronparisofficiel) on Apr 18, 2019 at 9:40am PDT

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Délire de Roses, A fragrance that combines every quality of the huge variety of roses that abound in nature. #Delirederoses #Caron #Caronperfume #lanadelrey

A post shared by CARON (@caronparisofficiel) on Jul 16, 2017 at 2:41am PDT

They’re known for their rosy scents, as well as their “fragrance fountains” — the opulent crystal decanters with bronze taps that dispense your chosen perfume into a flacon, which is then adorned with golden thread…

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Let’s go to our shops : 23, rue François 1er 75008 90, rue saint honoré 75008 29, rue du Roi de Sicile 75004 #caron #caronperfume

A post shared by CARON (@caronparisofficiel) on Jan 30, 2019 at 8:57am PST

SO FANCY!

They also do a bevy of indulgent accessories, including handmade glass pieces for your dressing table, pearl-encrusted mirrored compacts and handmade lace fans.
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