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.

Y’all…with the 15% off VIB sale happening now, I know you’re busy playing chicken with your Sephora cart, but please take a moment to consider one of the most underrated (and best!) tools the mother ship has to offer — the $6 Biodegradable Pencil Sharpener, otherwise known as “the pencil sharpener that elevated my winged liner and saved me from a lifetime of makeup misery.”

It’s the only makeup pencil sharpener I’ve ever owned that I haven’t wanted to hurl across the room.

From sephora.com:

What it is:
A professional-grade, two-in-one pencil sharpener made of an innovative, biodegradable, and sustainable bio-polymer.

What it does:
The Eco Biodegradable Sharpener is a perfect accessory to your cosmetic collection. This sharpener not only accomodates a multitude of pencil sizes, but you can feel confident knowing that you are also helping the environment when you dispose of it.

Continue reading "Unsung Heroes: The $6 Sephora Collection Eco Biodegradable Sharpener" on Makeup and Beauty Blog.

from Makeup and Beauty Blog | Makeup Reviews, Swatches and How-To Makeup https://ift.tt/2L10t2F

I’m going to have to respectfully disagree with Hamlet, because “to be or not to be” isn’t the question. The question is, “do I try this new serum/foundation/brow pencil/[WHATEVER NEW PRODUCT IS TREDNY AT THE MOMENT, or do I stick to what I already know works for me?”

You know how it goes… There you are, just bopping along, living your life, enjoying whatever particular product is rocking your boat at the moment (for me, it’s the lash serum that brought my lids back to life, Rodan + Fields Lash Boost), but then something new and shiny catches your eye (like Neulash Lash Serum), and you’re suddenly asking yourself questions like, “Isn’t this the Neulash serum Chelsea and Janet were raving about!? Should I give it a try? Will it take my lashes to next level OH MY WOW!?”

After you sit there debating with yourself, and laughing at yourself for obsessing over such a little thing, you come back to the original question, and you’re still stumped. Do you try something new, or do you stick to what you know?

Because the thing is: you just NEVER really know. You never know if you’ll stumble onto something new that’ll completely blow your expectations away.

Continue reading "The Beauty Lover’s Dilemma: Do You Stick to What You Know, or Do You Try Something New?" on Makeup and Beauty Blog.

from Makeup and Beauty Blog | Makeup Reviews, Swatches and How-To Makeup http://bit.ly/2ZeRNP1

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.

MAC Half ‘N Half Lipstick ($18.50) is a neutral girl’s neutral — a nude pinkish brown with a creamy finish that you can wear with warm Havana eyeshadow, neutral golden brown Soba, or cool-toned taupe Omega, plus each and every natural-looking neutral in between.

You want pigment? Girl, you got pigment. You want shine? Half ‘N Half has you covered, and since Half ‘N Half has MAC’s intense Amplified formula, you can swipe once and ask questions (or reapply) later.

Like, much later.

Three or four hours, even.

Half ‘N Half also works with a wide range of skin tones (both warm and cool, and fair and toasty), although if you’re upwards of an NC45 or NW45, you’ll have to line with a darker rosy brown lip liner first, because Half ‘N Half might be a little too light for you to work as a nude.

Continue reading "MAC Unsung Heroes: Half ‘N’ Half Lipstick" on Makeup and Beauty Blog.

from Makeup and Beauty Blog | Makeup Reviews, Swatches and How-To Makeup http://bit.ly/2ZgHTwr

First thing I’m going to do after I return this to Target and get my $9 bucks back is go to In-n-Out for a vanilla shake… Then, I’m going to pour a little out on the ground to mourn my lost homies (otherwise known as “the lashes that unexpectedly fell out when I tried using it”).

I’m also going to order a bucket of fries and a cheeseburger to comfort myself, since I can’t get back the minutes I lost this week trying to actually curl my lashes with the thing.

Why was it so hard to figure out how to properly angle the black rubber pad along the outer corner so it nestles the base of my lashes…? And why did it pinch my skin every time I clamped down on the curler?

OUCH!

I eventually figured out that if I squint my eyes and lift my lid with a finger, I can get down to the base and give the curler a good squeeze, but even then, the curler only bends the base of the lashes ever so slightly, and those few curled hairs relax back into their natural straight state within minutes.

Continue reading "The Sonia Kashuk Demi Lash Curler, and the Quest for Lifted Outer Lashes" on Makeup and Beauty Blog.

from Makeup and Beauty Blog | Makeup Reviews, Swatches and How-To Makeup http://bit.ly/31KeuZ7

I’ve talked about the misery inflicted by my makeup pencil sharpener before, but I’m no longer livin’ that messy life, because I recently figured out how to make it perform better by — novel idea here — cleaning it!

The solution I stumbled on has two parts. First, I ditched my Make Up For Ever, and UD Grindhouse, sharpeners for the no-frills Sephora sharpener shown at the top. It doesn’t have a built-in enclosure to catch the shavings, but that actually forces me to toss the shavings in the trash after every use.

Those enclosures never seem to stay affixed very well anyway, and they burst open no matter how many rubber bands I wrap around them.

Second, and this part is key, I swipe the blades clean after every use. To facilitate this, I keep baby wipes from Costco around and usually end up using one of those, but makeup wipes, a clean Q-Tip, tissue or a cotton pad (either soaked with a little makeup remover, or just dry on its own) work too.

Doing this ensures that there aren’t any errant makeup particles floating around, and consequently no transfer of color between eyeliners and lip pencils.

Continue reading "A Small But Life-Changing Makeup Tip (Hint: It Has to Do With Your Sharpener)" on Makeup and Beauty Blog.

from Makeup and Beauty Blog | Makeup Reviews, Swatches and How-To Makeup http://bit.ly/2H95ODU

I wore makeup to the gym for the first time in forever yesterday (There was a reason… More on this in a sec.), and guess what? It led me to develop a list of go-to sweat-proof long-lasting makeup products that I know won’t budge an inch, even after an intense 60-minute HIIT class!

Not that I ever wear a full face when I exercise, but it never hurts to be prepared, right? At least now I know what to grab if Sydney Cummings ever asks me to do a workout video with her.

I think having a number of sweat-proof, water-proof products on hand is a good idea for people who do performances (dude, those stage lights are HOT), or if you’re going to be a guest at a destination wedding in a tropical locale, or if you’re going to Vegas to sit by the pool — basically, any situation where you know you’ll be sweating and you don’t want your brows/lashes/lips to melt off.

Anyway, the reason this particular makeup challenge came about was because my HIIT teacher asked me to be the “member of the month” at the gym for September 2019.

Continue reading "Adventures in Long-Lasting, Sweat-Proof Makeup (and a Shout-Out to Urban Decay)" on Makeup and Beauty Blog.

from Makeup and Beauty Blog | Makeup Reviews, Swatches and How-To Makeup http://bit.ly/2TxhyVx

The neighborhood naked ladies say “Hello!”

Don’t worry; nobody’s roaming the streets with their booty cheeks hanging out. These naked ladies are of the floral variety, and they pop up every August around here… I’ve also heard them referred to as “pink ladies,” but I like calling them “naked ladies” instead because it sounds so scandalous! 😁

In other news…as a consequence of my using Rodan + Fields Lash Boost every night for a while and having long lashes for the first time ever, I recently added this to my list of First World makeup problems: I can’t curl the outer corners of my lashes.

I can kinda get to them if I hold my Shiseido curler at an odd angle…but the curler pinches my skin and crimps the middle lashes into an odd shape when I do it.

I need something that can get waaaaaay down to the base of those outer corner lashes, which is why I’m debating getting one of these half lash curlers from Sonia Kashuk ($9), MAC ($22) or Tweezerman ($19).

Half lash curlers are about a quarter the width of regular lash curlers (so why aren’t they called quarter lash curlers??), and they’re designed for small areas of your lash line, like the outer corner.

Continue reading "Crimpin’ Ain’t Easy" on Makeup and Beauty Blog.

from Makeup and Beauty Blog | Makeup Reviews, Swatches and How-To Makeup http://bit.ly/2YPK9Xe

Most days, I will gleefully wear neutrals on my lids (NEUTRALS 4 LIFE!), but there are still days when I just gotta get some color in the mix.

Will I frequently carve out 30 minutes for cray-cray eyeshadow gradients and intense layering and blending? Nah, but when I am pressed for time (which is daily, it seems), and I still need a color fix, I’ll grab a colorful eyeliner.

Purple, blue, green, gold, pink… Seriously, I feel like a kid in a candy store whenever I see those bright sticks, and one of the best things about colorful liner IMO (besides the endless choices!) is that you can go subtle OR bold with them.

Here are four ways to work colorful liner into your day, starting with two options that are more wearable, and ending with two that have more OOMPH.

In all of these pics, the colorful eyeliner I’m wearing is Urban Decay Mainline, a deep bluish green with a matte finish!

Look #1 (wearable): Liner layered beneath a neutral eyeshadow

This is a fab, facile way to work some color into your eye makeup. First, start by lining your bare lids with your eyeliner of choice, then blend a neutral eyeshadow (or eyeshadows) directly on top.

Continue reading "4 Ways to Work Your Favorite Colorful Eyeliner" on Makeup and Beauty Blog.

from Makeup and Beauty Blog | Makeup Reviews, Swatches and How-To Makeup http://bit.ly/2yLPmVn

Everyone tells me I look like Ali Wong, but I never understood it until this morning.

I was chillin’ on my phone, scrolling through my Insta feed, when I saw that picture above with the girl in the orange dress (full disclosure: I didn’t have my glasses on) and was like, “I don’t remember taking this pic…and where’d I get this orange dress? And why is my boob almost falling out?? And who is this lady in the pink??”

I clicked on the pic and realized that (holy sh*t) it totally isn’t me! It’s Ali Wong… HA HA HA! Cracked me up.

This morning I also realized that I’m no longer meant for flat makeup bags with a simple zipper at the top. They just don’t work for me anymore. I don’t like having to dig around in them and taking FOR-EV-ER to find anything. I much prefer a specific type of makeup bag now, ones that are shaped like cubes or squares and have a zipper at the top that goes around.

I have two such bags in my life right now, and they see the most use. The first is a clear one from Wander Beauty (I don’t think it’s sold on the website anymore, unfortunately), and the other one is an LE MAC bag I got a while ago.

Continue reading "Blame It on My Juice" on Makeup and Beauty Blog.

from Makeup and Beauty Blog | Makeup Reviews, Swatches and How-To Makeup http://bit.ly/2yW8lNj

If you feel like you can’t toss your high pony, toast a Pop Tart, or brush the cat fur from your shoulder without bumping into a liquid lipstick, you’re not alone. Especially over the past few years, they’ve been errrrywhere — from fancy brands like Chanel to big drugstore lines (I like the ones from Maybelline and Physicians Formula), and at all price points in between.

Now there’s a “clean” beauty option from Honest Beauty, and guess what? It’ll make you cabbage patch right outta your office chair, which is what happened to me when I tried one of the nudes.

Mauve nude BFF is the perfect “there but not there” lip color (and you know I love me a nude lip!).

I’ve tested four of the seven shades, and all of them feel smooth and flexible on my lips. The mousse-like formula stays put through breakfast, lunch, snacks and copious amounts of coffee and water without settling into my horizontal lip lines. Plus, most importantly, NO CAT BUTT LIPS. 😄

Even after wearing one for a full day, my lips feel comfortable and moisturized, and there’s nary a flake in sight the next day.

Continue reading "New From Honest Beauty: Liquid Lipstick" on Makeup and Beauty Blog.

from Makeup and Beauty Blog | Makeup Reviews, Swatches and How-To Makeup http://bit.ly/2YRXxKh

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.

Continue reading "Unsung Makeup Heroes: Urban Decay Chaos Eyeliner" on Makeup and Beauty Blog.

from Makeup and Beauty Blog | Makeup Reviews, Swatches and How-To Makeup http://bit.ly/2KjeqcM

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!).

The makeup one is the one I’m talking about now, 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.

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.

Continue reading "Unsung Makeup Heroes: Clinique All About Shadow Quad in Teddy Bear" on Makeup and Beauty Blog.

from Makeup and Beauty Blog | Makeup Reviews, Swatches and How-To Makeup http://bit.ly/2GJAUBC

Like me when I get up to use the potty at 3 a.m., 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.

What I mean to say is…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.

Continue reading "New From bareMinerals: The Dusk Eyeshadow Palette and the Bounce & Blur Blushes" on Makeup and Beauty Blog.

from Makeup and Beauty Blog | Makeup Reviews, Swatches and How-To Makeup http://bit.ly/2KvnkmL

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.

Hidden Glow Brightening Cream ($40)

It looks dangerously shimmery when you first pump it out, but once you start blending it in, all you’ll see is the most subtle and radiant golden glow without a speck of glitter in sight.

Continue reading "New From Wander Beauty: Trip For Two Blush and Bronzer Duo, Hidden Glow Brightening Cream, and the Trip for Two Blush and Bronzer Brush" on Makeup and Beauty Blog.

from Makeup and Beauty Blog | Makeup Reviews, Swatches and How-To Makeup https://ift.tt/32YFGEW

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.

Continue reading "Keanu Reeves Is My Boyfriend, Vol. 2: Revlon So Fierce! Vinyl Eyeliner" on Makeup and Beauty Blog.

from Makeup and Beauty Blog | Makeup Reviews, Swatches and How-To Makeup https://ift.tt/2yljzKN

Keep your underwear on, please. Even though Urban Decay wants you to Stay Naked, I would strongly urge you against going completely commando, because hello! — air conditioning is no joke!

Stay Naked, a new collection available meow from UD, includes a liquid foundation, concealer and sheer lip tints.

STAY NAKED WEIGHTLESS LIQUID FOUNDATION, $39

What is this — blood magic? Because one layer of Urban Decay’s new medium-coverage, pore-blurring Stay Naked Foundation hides uneven pigmentation on my cheeks without masking my freckles. It’s exactly the kind of sheer, barely-there coverage I love, and even though the matte finish is juuuuust starts out being a tad too matte for my taste (I’m a dewy kinda gal), it mellows out over the course of about an hour into something more satiny and natural looking — like an ever-so-slightly perfected version of natural skin. It’s one of those base products that looks better and better as the day goes on.

If you’ve ever tried and liked Estée Lauder Double Wear Light, you’ll probably love Stay Naked, too. It very much looks and feels like that underrated foundation hero, but UD’s comes in a BILLION different undertones for cool, warm and olive tones, as well as 50 different colors.

Continue reading "New From Urban Decay: Stay Naked Foundation and Concealer, and Vice Lip Chemistry" on Makeup and Beauty Blog.

from Makeup and Beauty Blog | Makeup Reviews, Swatches and How-To Makeup https://ift.tt/2Mm1Fjr

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

I can confirm that these pigmented, matte twist-up crayons by Maybelline are kiss-proof because I made out with Keanu Reeves for 20 minutes while wearing one of them (Lead the Way), and it didn’t move at all!

It smelled and tasted like vanilla-spiked Hawaiian Punch, which Keanu adored, but ewww! — it made my stomach churn. My boo likes it, though, so I guess I’ll have to endure… The things I do for that man, le sigh!

Maybelline Superstay Ink Crayon Lipstick, $9.49 each

• It’s available in 12 shades for less than $10 each.
• The formula is almost as smooth as Keanu’s raven locks, with nary a vertical lip line in sight.
• The attached sharpener (which is hidden in the base of the pen) keeps the tip tapered.
• It’s long lasting (from 3-4 hours), but it quickly melts away with makeup remover.
• The matte formula isn’t drying; it IS comfortable; and it doesn’t make your lips look a billion years old.

Continue reading "Keanu Reeves Is My Boyfriend, Vol. 1: Maybelline Superstay Ink Crayon Lipstick" on Makeup and Beauty Blog.

from Makeup and Beauty Blog | Makeup Reviews, Swatches and How-To Makeup https://ift.tt/2JPoxpx

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.

Continue reading "Milkshakes and Massages" on Makeup and Beauty Blog.

from Makeup and Beauty Blog | Makeup Reviews, Swatches and How-To Makeup https://ift.tt/2LAU3ty

This mascara’s hot pink tube means there’s a 99.999% chance I’ll be able to find Tarte Big Ego Mascara in the black hole that is my makeup bag. (Also, I’m wondering if I’m the only person who secretly wishes that the actual color of this mascara was hot pink to match the packaging. Hmm…)

Two coats of this featherweight formula, which Tarte designed for mega length and volume, sweep my lashes up waaaay past their tips, hoisting them up and out. The curved, slightly hourglass-shaped brush (which is like a mellower version of Too Faced Damn Girl), is surprisingly easy to tuck under the lash base, too.

That said, the part of me that will happily wear bat wing falsies to go buy a loaf of bread at Target demands (politely) more volume…

Final verdict? Great for lengthening and above average for volume…but it could be better at the latter.

Here are my go-to’s, BTW, for big, baddie lashes: Wander Beauty Mile High Club, Chanel Dimensions de Chanel and IT Cosmetics Superhero.

I’d love to hear what are yours.

Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,

Karen

Continue reading "Before and After: Tarte Big Ego Mascara" on Makeup and Beauty Blog.

from Makeup and Beauty Blog | Makeup Reviews, Swatches and How-To Makeup https://ift.tt/2OiRize

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.

There’s a ton of brow pencils out there, but it’s hard to find one that ticks all the boxes. Is it long lasting? Easy to use? Does it look natural?

It Cosmetics Brow Power Micro in Universal Taupe ($24) totally gets it right. It has everything to do with the super thin pencil point. Shaped like a tiny, slanted dash — essentially, it’s a microscopic version of the best brow pencils around for drawing realistic-looking brow hairs (Tom Ford’s, the MAC one and the NUDESTIX Stylus).

The pencil isn’t so creamy that my brows end up looking obviously “drawn in” or uniform, and it’s perfectly waxy consistency fakes fullness in a totally convincing way. The harder you push, the darker the stroke, so I focus most of the intensity on my arches for the most convincing gradation.

It’s the only brow product I’ve been using for a solid month, I’m wondering what the heck my brows and I did before this.

Continue reading "Unsung Makeup Heroes: It Cosmetics Brow Power Micro Eyebrow Pencil in Universal Taupe" on Makeup and Beauty Blog.

from Makeup and Beauty Blog | Makeup Reviews, Swatches and How-To Makeup https://ift.tt/2MgjTCX