Urban Decay

Glittery Green Gradient Wings: A Quick and Easy Holiday Makeup Look

December 11th, 2019 by Karen 15 Comments

Current dilemmas du jour?

What to do with the five pounds of lemons Rosie’s former foster mom gave me (she has a tree in her yard that produces a RIDICULOUS amount of lemons).
What’s some festive and colorful holiday makeup that won’t take me till Valentine’s Day to finish? (I’m only half-kidding.)

As of yet, I still have no clue what to do with the lemons (ugh, lemon bars and lemonade? Maybe some kind of lemon marinade?), I figured out a trick to flying through different colorful looks.

And here it is…

Play with your winged liner. THERE ARE SO MANY WAYS!

Like with this look here with glittery green gradient wings. It was surprisingly quick and easy to do.

The step-by-step

Start by drawing your winged liner with a dark green matte liner as the base (I used Urban Decay Mainline). Be as subtle or dramatic as you like.
Then, for a bright shimmer POP, layer a bright green glitter in the center (I’m wearing Urban Decay Stage Dive) on your lash line.
Lastly, to create a color gradient, dip an angled brush into a black eyeshadow (MAC Carbon for life!), and pat that on top of the outer portion of your wing.

Green goes well with warm browns and peaches, which is what I’m wearing on my lids, lips on these cheeks in this look. If you want to be more adventurous, however, pink would be a playful complementary color… I’m just sayin’. 🙂

Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,

Karen

Monochromatic Makeup: Playful Pinks, and a Play on Cat Eyeliner

December 6th, 2019 by Karen 18 Comments

mac steady going lipstick k smile — Inspired by this pink sweater!

I was inspired to do this monochromatic pink look by this quilted sweatshirt I found at the Eddie Bauer outlet store for 50% off (!).

I can’t remember the last time I walked into an Eddie Bauer store, but there’s one of their outlet stores at Vintage Oaks in Novato, and El Hub wanted to check it out one day to look for a jacket, which he found…and I found this. It’s incredibly soft, and I love the color.

I almost didn’t use any brushes for this look. I used my fingers to press the pink glitter eyeshadow on my lids and to pat the pink cream blush on my cheeks. Really, the only brush I used was an angled eyeshadow brush, which I dipped in a dark brown shadow to diffuse the edge of the liquid black cat eye liner (Tom Ford, baby!).

Speaking of the liner, next time you want to flip the script on your cat eyeliner game, try this: after you finish your cat eye flicks, line the inner corner of your eyes with the thinnest, skinniest line you can get away with.

urban decay glitterrock

Then line the outer portion of your lower lash line with your liquid liner, and connect the inner and outer sections by smudging the most infinitesimal amount of a coordinating eyeshadow color.

If you like to geek out over makeup, this is a fun way to do something a little different with your liner.

mac glitter rock
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What I Wore this Week: 3 Looks With the Urban Decay Naked Honey Eyeshadow Palette

September 20th, 2019 by Karen 12 Comments

urban decay naked honey swatches — Playtime with this Queen Bee

Herald the trumpets, because I actually wore eyeshadow this week…repeatedly. 😂

I KNOW.

I wore the new Urban Decay Naked Honey Eye Palette a few times and was surprised by the variety of eye looks I was able to do with it. Before I tried to test its limits, I didn’t expect it to be as versatile as it turned out to be because there isn’t a ton of variation among the shades, but you can actually do a lot of different things with it!

Like…

Look 1: “Tropical vibes”

Eyeshadow: Urban Decay Naked Honey Eyeshadows in Sweet (lightly buffed all over the lid as a base), Hive and Drip (crease), Honey (lash line to crease)

Eyeliner: Urban Decay 24/7 Glide-On Eye Pencil in Loaded (upper lash and water line), Heartless (inner corner), Ether (lower water line), Psychedelic Sister (lower lash line)

Mascara: It Cosmetics Lash Blow Out

Brows: NARS Brow Perfector in Komo, MAC Brow Set in Clear

Blush: Kosas Papaya 1972 High Intensity, MAC Mineralize Skinfinish Natural in Give Me Sun

Foundation: MAC Studio Fix Soft Matte Foundation Stick (as an all over base), Zoeva Authentic Skin in 200W Genuine (cheeks), Estée Lauder Double Wear Foundation (around mouth)

Face Powder: Nada

Lipstick: MAC Love Me Lipstick in Let Them Eat Cake (purple lips); MAC Love Me Lipstick in French Silk (neutral lips)

Look 2: “Crimson and chocolate”

Eyeshadow: Urban Decay Naked Honey Eyeshadows in Swarm (lightly buffed all over lid as a base), Hive and Drip (crease), Sting (outer crease), HBIC (lash line to crease)

Eyeliner: MAC Teddy

Mascara: Chanel Dimensions de Chanel

Brows: NARS Brow Perfector in Komo, MAC Brow Set in Clear

Blush: MAC Fleur Power Blush buffed out with MAC Sun-Soaked Strip Bronzer

Foundation: MAC Studio Fix Soft Matte Foundation Stick (as an all over base), Estée Lauder Double Wear Foundation (cheeks and around mouth)

Face Powder: MAC Mineralize Skinfinish Natural in Medium Golden

Lipstick: MAC Love Me Lipstick in My Little Secret, MAC Lip Liner in Cherry

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The New Urban Decay Loose Powder Has a Brush With Convenience, What to Eat With Your Veggies, and Distracted Waxing

September 17th, 2019 by Karen 12 Comments

urban decay ultimate brush off — A new way to get loose with Urban Decay

Do you ever skip loose powder because you don’t want to lug around an extra brush for touch-ups?

If so, I feel you… Also, Urban Decay’s new $34 Ultimate Brush Off Setting Powder might be of interest.

Bring your brush with ya

It comes with a synthetic flat-top kabuki brush attached to the lid, which makes it easy to dust a little on whenever and wherever you want.

It’s a demi-matte loose powder to set your makeup, blur pores and absorb oil and shine, and it’s available now at UD counters and online in five cruelty-free shades — Universal Translucent, Fair, Medium, Deep and Dark.

Speaking of new things… Well, new to me and my tummy!

Bolthouse Salsa Ranch Dressing is MAGIC. I picked it up at Target, and now I’m addicted.

bolthouse farm salsa ranch — A yummy, healthy snack

It’s funny to me that this is named “Salsa Ranch” because it isn’t spicy. It tastes like a blend of the best thousand island and ranch — a little tangy, a little sweet, and VERY tasty!

I like the Bolthouse dressings because they’re made from yogurt, and are consequently less calorically dense than most creamy dressings, so consequently I eat TONS of it, which I do with whatever vegetable I’m crushing on at any given moment. (It’s delish with snap peas!)

If you could use some extra motivation to eat your veggies, then you need what Connor calls “the pink ranch dressing” in your life.

OK, so I had a major upper-lip wax fail…

Please note that waxing your ‘stach while plumbers work on an underground water leak in your front yard is inadvisable. There’s a significant chance you’ll have low-grade anxiety because you don’t know if the plumbers will have to break open the concrete to access the leaky pipe, thereby causing the budget to skyrocket, and you could also end up with a sinkhole underneath your garage…
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The New Urban Decay Naked Honey Is a Sweet New Golden Eyeshadow Palette

September 6th, 2019 by Karen 23 Comments

urban decay naked honey open — Feelin’ the buzz

Oh, sugary golden brown nectar of the eyeshadow gods… I SEE YOU, URBAN DECAY. The hive’s buzzing 🐝 over Naked Honey, the brand’s newest Naked palette, a festoon of gilded golds, tantalizing tans and burnished bronzes, with none of those challenging-to-wear reds or orange reddish brown eyeshadows from the past few years in sight.

*Breathes sigh of relief*

Finally, a neutral palette that actually looks…kinda neutral. 🤷‍♀️

The $49 powdered shadow palette flies into Sephora stores and arrives online September 13th, and then a little later on September 23rd to ulta.com, macys.com, nordstrom.com and belk.com; and to Ulta, Macy’s, Nordstrom and Belk stores a few days later on September 26th.

Queen bees who crave toasty tones will probably like that it hums with warm shades, and I’m buzzing over all those golden browns!