![]() It’s questionable whether these ought to be considered a tool…but I’ll allow it! ? I bought these funny eyeliner stickers from E.L.F. a couple weeks ago for only $2! They looked like they’d be fun. Plus, I haven’t worked a wing in a hot second, and one can never have too much help when it comes to winged liner! What about you? What was the last beauty tool you bought? Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict, Karen Continue reading "What Was the Last Beauty Tool You Bought?" on Makeup and Beauty Blog. via https://ift.tt/2UgG4tu
0 Comments
![]() I borrowed this from Matt Damon’s character in The Martian (good movie, BTW), and I think it works for me. Work. The. Problem. In the movie, Matt Damon’s astronaut character gets stranded on Mars during what was supposed to have been a routine space mission (aren’t they all?). Well, he gets accidentally left for dead, except that he’s still very much alive, but some of his equipment is broken and he can’t communicate with NASA or the crew of the spaceship ? he traveled to Mars with. Yeah, talk about a BAD day. And the day turns to weeks, then months, then… At any rate, it was a really bad time for Matt Damon’s character. One theme that pops up over and over again in the movie is the idea of working a problem. What does that mean? Well, if there’s a problem in front of you — like, say, being accidentally stranded on a hostile planet with very little food, no friends, no spaceship and no means of communication — first, you gotta keep it together (a.k.a. don’t freak out). Then, you work toward solving the very first problem in front of you, and you keep working that first problem until it’s solved. Continue reading "Working the Problem" on Makeup and Beauty Blog. via https://ift.tt/2T0GuYD ![]() So…what is the Monday Poll? Excellent question! It isn’t, contrary to its name, an actual poll, like with little clicky buttons. It’s just a list of five more or less random questions I’ve been posting on this blog every Monday morning for the past quadrillion years (since 2007). I love reading your answers, and it helps me get my week off to a good start. ? 1. Do you ease into it, or rip off the Band-Aid? Rip that Band-Aid off, and do it quickly before I change my mind! 2. What mascara are you wearing? I’m taking a new one out for a spin. It’s called Mile High Club, by Wander Beauty, and it’s making my lashes look stretched out and looooong. Fingers crossed that the curl hold lasts. 3. Are you friends with your neighbors? I’d like to think so. We’re friendly, but it’s more like casual acquaintances than “homie” status… Mostly, it’s a time thing. I think everyone’s so busy out here in the Bay Area (and everywhere, really) that it’s tough to make time for socializing, especially when you’re of a certain age and working full time. Continue reading "Makeup and Beauty Blog Monday Poll, Vol. 565" on Makeup and Beauty Blog. via https://ift.tt/2NuFyWd ![]() Sure, hosting the Cat Academy Awards tonight would have been fun. Tabs would have loved seeing Viggo Mortensen and Lady Gaga again, and it’s been a while since he got a good swag bag… But if you’ve been to one awards show, you’ve been to them all, and Tabs really did want to finish crocheting the sweater he’s been making for his junior assistant. Still, it’s hard not to reminisce about the old days on a night like tonight. As the winningest cat actor in Cat Academy Awards history, Tabs has five Cat Oscars, but it would have been nice to get a sixth. Dang, if he hadn’t turned down that role in Black Panther, he would have won another Best Cat Actor award for sure. And the ladies? Oh, the ladies… Especially Snowflake. She was probably the cat love of his life, but she wasn’t ready to settle down when Tabs was. It’s hard not to be wistful about it sometimes… Oh, well. That’s life. At least they’ll always have Tahiti together. Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict, Karen via https://ift.tt/2XuZahQ ![]() Good morning, glory! I hope you have a cup of coffee in your paws a cat on your lap. It’s a lovely day here in Novato, haaaaay! So…about that sign up at the top of this post, it’s SO TRUE, isn’t it? I know you know it, ha ha! I saw it at Target in the dollar section, and I thought about it later at home that night, at which time I asked poor El Hub to get out of a warm and cozy bed to go look for Tabs, because most nights when we go to bed, Tabs follows us upstairs and hangs out, with “hangs out” being code for “Tabs will sit on top of one of us while we pet him until he bites us and jumps off the bed when the petting no longer pleases him.” I was about 10 minutes into the book I’m reading (Lilac Girls) when I noticed he hadn’t come up yet. After calling to him a bunch of times and still not hearing him meow back, I started to panic a little. What if he’s stuck in the closet? Continue reading "Saturday Surfing, February 23, 2019" on Makeup and Beauty Blog. via https://ift.tt/2XlVPRV ![]() Yay for the Bay! In this series, for the month of February 2019, I’ll be featuring products from and around my stomping grounds, the San Francisco Bay Area. A trifle of trivia for my friends who marvel at makeup minutia: Drugstore brand E.L.F. was founded in Oakland, California, in 2004. Contrary to popular myth, their name stands for “Eyes Lips Face,” and not for the classic Christmas film starring Will Farrell (which I’ve seen about a million times!). WOW! That’s a lot of fun facts, I know! ? You’re soooooo welcome. E.L.F. is low-key famous for doing a full range of super affordable drugstore makeup — color, tools, skincare, the whole nine yards — with plenty of products to choose from under $10. Whenever I have a beauty itch that needs scratching but don’t want to start a raging bonfire in my wallet, I’ll go to Ulta or Target and grab a few $2 doohickeys in the E.L.F. section for some instant gratification. Granted, it doesn’t always work out for me, because I’m pickier about textures and finishes now that I’m in my 40s than I was in my 20s and 30s (a.k.a. Continue reading "Bay Area Beauty Love: E.L.F." on Makeup and Beauty Blog. via https://ift.tt/2Tg392e ![]() Ain’t no party like a lip flake party ’cause a lip flake party don’t stop! Whoa, Nelly! So I tried the new MAC Powder Kiss Lipstick colors today. They join the 16 shades that are already in the permanent line, and despite the crossing of many fingers and toes that my lip flakes wouldn’t crash this swatch soiree, alas…they did. Lip flakes —Party crashers! It’s entirely my fault, to be fair, because I haven’t been drinking enough water, and whenever that happens, I can pretty much kiss (ha ha) any chance of smooth lip swatches g’bye. The MAC Powder Kisses, which are a relatively new formula in the MAC fam, feel lighter than air. The Powder Kisses themselves were added to the permanent line in the fall of 2018, and if your lips are in perfect shape (as in no flakes), they’re kind of amaze-balls. They’re super comfy and ever-so-slightly moisturizing, and it’s easy to forget I’m wearing them. And the velvet matte finish? Gorgeous! — a la hottie 1940’s pin-up girl. From this new batch of colors, I’d steer clear of the pinks (Reverence and Sexy But Sweet), because they’re patchy right out of the gate, and I end up having to do a lot of patting and layering and babying to get them to look smooth… Instead, go for one of brighter or deeper colors, which are less likely to settle into fine lines or draw attention to any flakes. via https://ift.tt/2XeAlq5 ![]() OK, now…I’m going to start doing something that may sound kinda cray to my fellow lovers of lotions and other beauty products, a.k.a. MY PEOPLE, but I don’t think I’m going to keep beauty backups around anymore. Wait, wait! — I mean, I’ll have to make a few exceptions, like for the skin care I’ve used daily since the last Ice Age, like Kate Somerville Anti-Bac and my Clarins cream, but I don’t really think I need to keep that many other extras in the house. Most of them just sit around taking up wasted space and money. Granted, it feels good to always be prepared in the event of a skin care or makeup emergency (they happen), especially for products I trust and love, but one thing I’ve learned about beauty products is that there’s always usually something comparable out there that’s probably as good as if not better. Newer technology, new colors, new formulas — there’s almost always an alternative out there somewhere, and I don’t know why this didn’t occur to me sooner (it probably did, but I forgot), but my preferences are also constantly changing. What I love today, I might not love (or need) tomorrow. via https://ift.tt/2U0IEnA ![]() Yay for the Bay! In this series, for the month of February 2019, I’ll be featuring products from and around my stomping grounds, the San Francisco Bay Area. Why, yes, it amuses me to no end that whenever I need a tropical ?? scent fix, the brand I usually turn to (H2O Plus) isn’t located someplace tropical. Instead, it’s based in San Francisco. I have no idea why this is so funny to me. ? I’m way too easily amused! H2O+ Beauty has been a fave of mine for ages. I actually started using them back when I lived in SF in the early Aughts (back when I was all about the Milk lotion). Now I turn to them mainly for body products, like shower gels and lotions, but they also have a few really great skin care products too, like their $20 hydrating gel Elements Keep It Fresh Face Cleanser for normal to dry skin. I love using it after I work out because it totally takes care of the sedimentary layers of sweat without drying out my cheeks, which is no easy feat! But my “go-to” items from the brand, by far, are the Coconut Verbena Body Wash ($18) and Body Butter ($22). Continue reading "Bay Area Beauty Love: H2O+ Beauty" on Makeup and Beauty Blog. via https://ift.tt/2IrmIk8 ![]() There’s a new superheroine in town (THIS girl) thanks to this mascara’s crazy insane curl hold. I’ve been wearing It Cosmetics Superhero Mascara for the better part of the past two months because the curl hold is simply out of this world, and even though the formula isn’t technically waterproof, it might as well be in at least one way because the hold is just as good as any waterproof mascara I’ve tried. I’m talking long, luscious black lashes with wide-eyed, locked-down CURLS. FOR. DAYS. Boom! — instantaneously dramatic lashes. I wore it to coffee with a girlfriend a couple weeks ago (hey, Fern!) and cried about, oh…five times during the conversation. (It was one of those emo visits. You know how it goes sometimes.) When I looked in a mirror afterward, I expected to see something completely different, but this mascara hadn’t budged or smudged at all. In Hawaii I also wore it to the pool and beach a few times, and it lasted surprisingly well there, too, despite it not being classified as waterproof, which is something I’ve been trying to avoid lately, because I’m convinced that wearing full-on waterproof makes my lashes fall out more easily. Continue reading "Product Spotlight: It Cosmetics Superhero Mascara" on Makeup and Beauty Blog. via https://ift.tt/2IpeOrj |