Topshop

Just Add a Festive Ribbon or Bow to These Topshop 2014 Holiday Kits, and You Have a Perfect Gift

November 19th, 2014 by Karen 8 Comments

Topshop Holiday 2014 — It’s a Topshop holiday party, *haaay!*

OK, so maybe orange and black aren’t the first two colors that pop into my mind when I think of the holidays (with the exception of that scary one with all the candy)…

But so what? These new Topshop holiday kits are bringin’ the cute! 🙂

Slap a Christmassy ribbon on one of these bad boys, and boom! — hello, stylish present.

Topshop is one of those makeup lines that flies under my radar a lot of the time, but they have some very cute things, and some of those are in these kits.

The Blush and Lip Duo in Innocent and Illicit ($24)

Topshop Blush Lip Duo Set with Lipstick in Innocent and Blush in Illicit — The Topshop Blush Lip Duo Set with Lipstick in Innocent, and Blush in Illicit

Topshop’s blushes are DOPE. They last like Italian marble and look totally natural on cheeks. They’re also why this set caught my eye.

It comes with Illicit, a nude, cool-toned rose cream blush with a dash of micro shimmer. Coincidentally, it was the shade I was wearing today when I went looking for an illicit encounter with my side-cat, Elsa (but I didn’t see her, boo!).

The set also comes with a creamy cool-toned pink lipstick called Innocent, which is super pretty and looks great with black smokey eyes. Sadly, it also seems to like hanging out in my lip lines…

The Mascara and Kohl Kit ($24)

Topshop Mascara and Kohl Kit, $24 — Mascara and Kohl Kit ($24)

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Unsung Makeup Heroes: Topshop’s Terrific $12 Cream Blush in Afternoon Tea

October 21st, 2014 by Karen 38 Comments

Topshop Afternoon Tea Blush — Topshop Cream Blush in Afternoon Tea, $12

Do you have to be simultaneously sipping tea out of a dainty teacup while wearing Topshop’s $12 Cream Blush in Afternoon Tea to fully appreciate the nuances of either product?

No, you do not.

It does, however, help. 🙂

And it also helps to appreciate a great deal.

(Incidentally, if you decide to brew a pot of Earl Grey, I’ll take mine with cream and two lumps of sugar, please.)

I almost can’t believe this pretty pink cream-to-powder blush is only $12. It’s a total unsung hero in my book. On my unpredictably combination oily, and sometimes dry, cheeks, I swear it looks exactly like the $38 Le Blush Creme blushes by Chanel, and it lasts just as long. I get from eight to nine hours if I do a minor touchup around hour six.

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Outside Neon, Inside Red: The New $24 Topshop Lipstick and Blush Set in Red

November 15th, 2013 by Karen 9 Comments

In case you ever need to spot your makeup from a mile away…

Yeah…the pouch that comes with Topshop’s $24 Lipstick and Blush Set is bright.

Yellow highlighter bright. Bright like a beacon of makeup hope to guide you through troubled waters…

I want to stamp “FOR EMERGENCY USE ONLY” across the front and keep it in my go bag under the bed, along with El Hub’s machete and SAS Survival Handbook.

I’m pretty sure El Hub will say that the makeup is extraneous, but he’ll have to adjust. He doesn’t know it yet, but you better believe we’re making room for blush and lipstick.

The tiny two-piece kit comes with one neutral pink cream blush and an orangey red lipstick. Classic colors that don’t appear to belong in such cray-cray packaging, but whatevs. There’s some good stuff here.

The $24 Topshop Lipstick and Blush Set in Red

There isn’t anything I don’t like about Morning Dew, the cream blush in the kit, and I’m finicky about cream blushes. On bare skin, foundation, layered on top of powder — it handles any face makeup I throw at it, and it always looks smooth, never patchy. It even manages to last all day long, too.

Topshop Lipstick and Blush Set Morning Dew Blush — Morning Dew Blush

Two more thumbs up for Rio Rio, the red lipstick. Smooth and pigmented, it fades slowly over 4-5 hours to a super pretty matte stain.

You may want to pair it with a lipliner, though, to keep it from straying outside of your natural lip line, because it is very creamy. If you can, try the Pro Longwear Lip Pencils by MAC. They’re long-lasting and comfortable, and if you’re looking for a shade rec, I really like Rio Rio with Kiss Me Quick.

Topshop Lipstick and Blush Set: Rio Rio Lipstick — Rio Rio Lipstick

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Topshop Blush in Flush, You’ve Got the Right Stuff, Baby

August 9th, 2012 by Karen 29 Comments

topshop blush in flush

I am a woman. A woman on a mission. Well, a woman on two missions.

The first is cat-related (of course). Tabs is furious — FURIOUS! — over the fact that Karl Lagerfeld’s cat, Choupette, has not one, but TWO personal maids.

I keep trying to tell Tabs that since both El Hub and I tend to all of his household cleaning and cooking needs, technically, it’s like we’re his “two maids,” but he’s not having that.

As you know, in the feline fashion world, one minute you’re in…and the next minute you’re staring at pics of a fluffy blue-eyed kitten hanging from a Chanel bag.

Appearances are everything.

So now he wants me to hire more “help.”

Aaaaaand these are the days of my life…

My second mission is more exciting. Why? Because it involves helping you discover one of the most universally flattering pink cream blushes I’ve come across this year.

Oh, and my favorite thing about it? It costs a lot less than two personal kitty maids! 🙂 Topshop’s $12 Blush in Flush is everything I like in a pink cream blush — natural-looking, long-lasting and universally flattering.

topshop blush in flush product shot

topshop blush in flush

Like Earth, this peachy pink blush also inhabits the “Goldilocks Zone,” where the color temperature is juuust right, nicely between cool and warm, so it should look great on a wide range of skin tones, and it has the faintest whisker kiss of sheen. It’s easy to sheer out for a dainty flush or build up for a bright spotlight of color, making it an option for pale beauties and darker damsels.
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