fashion low down

If happy hours, ramen noodles, party crashing, mac and cheese, Taco Bell bean burritos and Totino’s frozen pizzas are fixtures of your college life (like they were mine!), take a little look at LORAC. Their $36 Close Up Real Life to Red Carpet Eye Tutorial Kit has “I’m a [hawt] broke college student” written all over it.

I’ll never forget the first time I went to buy books in college… YIKES! I guess I didn’t get the memo about every thick, hella boring science textbook costing an arm and a leg, and maybe it was out of a desire to prevent that same kind of eye-bulging sticker shock that LORAC came up with the idea.

The kit makes it easy to go from lunch in the campus cafeteria to a look ready for dinner and a movie. For $36 you get four full-size LORAC all-star products — a primer, a mascara, an eyeshadow trio and a liner — along with a small dual-tipped eye brush and a tutorial booklet with step-by-step directions for three different looks. Bought separately, the liner, primer and shadow trio by themselves (not including any of the other cool stuff) would cost almost twice as much as the entire kit.
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© Karen for Makeup and Beauty Blog: Makeup Reviews, Beauty Tips and Drugstore Beauty Finds, 2010. | Permalink | 6 comments |

Anaheim’s Disneyland theme park is beautiful in more ways than one. Sure, it’s a colorful feast for the eyes, but it’s also quite literally beauty-full, bursting with Disney-themed jewelry, clothing, makeup and art.

The upcoming MAC Venomous Villains collection is the latest in a long line of historic Disney beauty collaborations, many of which are available for purchase in the park.

Girlfriend, they don’t call it The Magic Kingdom for nothin’.

If you find yourself strolling down Main Street, take a minute to check out the Fortuosity Shop (next to Carnation Cafe). It’s like a playground for beauty addicts, with a slew of Disney-related products and accessories ranging from nail polishes to jewelry to designer bags.

Disneyland’s Main Street
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© Karen for Makeup and Beauty Blog: Makeup Reviews, Beauty Tips and Drugstore Beauty Finds, 2010. | Permalink | 14 comments |

Chanel should have issued a warning with their new $42 Ombres Contraste Duos: “Caution: The contents of this compact may be hard to resist!”

Seriously, you might want to steel yourself against potential temptation and simply stop reading now.

The part of me that loves elegantly effortless makeup just can’t get enough of these eyeshadow duos. The six of them make me feel like screaming, “Gimme, gimme more!”

This fall luxurious textures and intense pigments have been all the rage among the high-end makeup lines (hello, Givenchy Le Prisme Quartets!), and while these duos may not look the part at first, they’re no exception.

Each one comes with a light cream shadow designed to be used as a base and a darker powder matte shadow for contouring and creating the illusion of depth.

Conveniently, skin is where these products really POP! — both in terms of color and texture — and being as smooth as they are makes them remarkably easy to blend.

In the look below I’m wearing Khaki (a matte dark green) from the Khaki-Clair duo. In it I’m barely wearing any, yet the ample pigmentation makes the color pretty hard to miss. BONUS: These leave behind absolutely no shadow fallout whatsoever — zip, zero, zilch.

Wearing Khaki-Clair
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© Karen for Makeup and Beauty Blog: Makeup Reviews, Beauty Tips and Drugstore Beauty Finds, 2010. | Permalink | 37 comments |

Earlier this week MBB reader Emma emailed to ask for mascara recommendations. She’s a blonde beauty, and I’m hoping we can help her out.

“Hey Karen!

So I am in high school and a blonde and very pale. Should I wear brown mascara or black mascara? Will black be too harsh?”

Hi, Emma. Hmm… I have blonde friends that like both, and I think both colors look great — it really depends on the look you’re going for. In general, though, for a natural look, I’d suggest brown, and for a more amped-up, dramatic look, try black.

This, of course, coming from a brunette.

You might want to try a few drugstore mascaras first to figure out which color you like better. Rimmel makes a few affordable drugstore mascaras that work pretty well. Two to consider: Rimmel Glam Eyes Mascara in Black Brown ($7) and Rimmel Glam Eyes Lash Flirt in Black ($7 each).

Oh! I also asked the girls on Twitter for some recs, and here’s what they had to say:

Ultimately, I like to follow the “there are no rules” philosophy when it comes to makeup, and I think it’s safe to go with whichever route you like best.

Do you have any specific mascara recommendations for blondes like Emma? Maybe some brands or colors you really like? Please share in the comments.

Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,

Karen

© Karen for Makeup and Beauty Blog: Makeup Reviews, Beauty Tips and Drugstore Beauty Finds, 2010. | Permalink | 31 comments |

Written by Stef

Today Stef of the hella cool We Heart This (a little bit of everything, a whole lot of love) shares some of her favorite summer lip glosses.

As I sit and ogle the fabulous fall collections that have surfaced so far, I have to remind myself: it’s still summer! As much as I’m loving the rich golds, dusty teals and vampy berries that we’ll all be lusting after come September, for now I’m still reaching for fun summer shades.

And for me, that means one thing: lip gloss! Here are the glosses I’ve worn the most this summer — the ones that have worked best for a fair-skinned, neutral-to-warm NC25 girl like myself.

I’ve tried to keep my Limited Edition choices to a minimum, but seeing as how I have LED (Limited Edition Disorder; if it’s only available for a short time, I must have it!), I had to throw in a few must-haves. You should still be able to find them all, if you’re resourceful/obsessed like me!

(Clockwise: Lush, San Paulo, Boy Bait, Melonie)

Coral

Let’s get straight into my lip gloss weakness, shall we? Summer is made for coral, I am made for coral! It’s bright, punchy, and a virtual beach trip in a tube. When the weather’s hot, I just can’t get enough coral.

• Smashbox Lip Enhancing gloss in Beauty – The first of two LE’s I had to include. If I could only wear one lip gloss for the rest of my life (what a cruel world that would be!) it would be Beauty. A shimmerless pink-kissed coral, it goes with just about everything, and true to its name — really lights up your lips (and face!)
• Vibrant Benefit Ultra Shines in Spiked Punch is a bit lighter than most of the corals I’m usually drawn to. It’s creamy, rather opaque, and its micro silver shimmer gives it an almost 3D look on lips. $18
• Hourglass Extreme Sheen in Lush is perfection in a tube — juicy color, fine golden shimmer that works so well with us warm-toned gals, and the dreamy, ultra smooth Extreme Sheen formula. $28

(From left: Beauty, Spiked Punch, Lush)
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Like a peacock’s feathers, some beauty product packaging isn’t meant to be practical. Sometimes it’s meant to grab eyeballs — KAPOW! — which is exactly what the colorfully quirky Love & Toast line did to mine when I stumbled upon it at Pure Beauty.

I love the way products in the small indie line of perfumes, lip balms and hand creams ($9-32 each) are decorated, with their bright tubes and fun, interesting scents — sugared grapefruit, anyone?

Love & Toast Lip Balms ($9 each), available in Gin & Lime, Lemon Mint, Prickly Pear, Star Anise, Cherry Lemonade and Vanilla Chai
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© Karen for Makeup and Beauty Blog: Makeup Reviews, Beauty Tips and Drugstore Beauty Finds, 2010. | Permalink | 18 comments |

Written by Jamie Brawer

Today esthetician Jamie Brawer of JamieBrawer.com shares her thoughts on one of her favorite concealers, the Supernova Radiance Brightening Pen.

I’m always looking for “the perfect under-eye concealer,” constantly testing every product I can get my hands on. I get dark circles under my eyes, and with my extremely fair skin they look *really* noticeable.

I was in the FRESH store the other day, expecting to try their Umbrian Clay Absolute Concealer, but instead the sales assistant suggested I try the Supernova Radiance Brightening Pen ($24, available in three shades).

First, let me say that I love how weightless this feels under my eyes, and the twistable pen has an attached applicator brush, which makes it a perfect on-the-go beauty tool.

As for how well it works as a concealer…

Before

After

I’m happy with it! I’m wearing it in the picture directly above, which was also taken after a few hours spent walking around in high humidity.

While I may have found my new concealer, I’m concerned that it only comes in three shades (1-porcelain to light, 2-light to medium, and 3-medium to dark). Hopefully, one of them works for you, and if you’re interested, you can find the Supernova Radiance Brightening Pen on Fresh.com, in Fresh Stores or at Sephora for $24.

Written by Jamie Brawer

This post was written by Jamie Brawer of JamieBrawer.com. Jamie and her poodle, Quincy, are recent transplants to New York City. She recently earned her Masters in Advertising Management but has been working in the makeup industry since the age of 16. In that time she’s worked for several brands, including LORAC, Kevyn Aucoin and MAC.

© Karen for Makeup and Beauty Blog: Makeup Reviews, Beauty Tips and Drugstore Beauty Finds, 2010. | Permalink | 3 comments |

Heya, ladies. Before Tabs and I take the fam out sightseeing in a few, I wanted to say a quick hello and post pictures of the new LORAC Fall 2010 collection (review coming soon).

Hello.

Does anything here strike your fancy?

Private Affair Palette, $38

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After I finished freaking out over the cost of the new Givenchy Le Prisme Eyeshadow Quartet in Khaki Egerie ($56), I stepped back from the mirror and thought, “Now THAT’s what I’m talking about.”

I swear these colors make my eyes glow!

Givenchy just added it and five other quads to their permanent line, each promising highly pigmented, enduring colors, and if Khaki Egerie’s any indication of what the other quads have to offer, all of them probably warrant closer inspection.

The major selling point for me — besides the rich pigmentation and sumptuous shimmer — has to be the near absence of fallout. It’s minimal (just a tiny spec or two beneath my lower lash line and cheeks)… The soft, finely milled powders adhere to my lids without creasing or settling into my wrinkles fine lines, and they blend CRAZY good, too.

Swatches of Khaki Egerie on NC35 Skin
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Becca Creme Blush in Byzantine

You know how there’s always that ONE ANNOYING PERSON who gets to the bus stop a few seconds late? The one who yells, “Wait! Wait!” as the bus pulls away from the curb? Yeah, that person would be me.

There aren’t a lot of positives to being perpetually late for public transpo, but there is at least one: blushed cheeks.

Sadly, it’s the kind of blush that only lasts a few minutes, but Becca may have a longer term solution. Too bad their Becca Creme Blush wasn’t available back when I was regularly missing riding the bus to school.

Of course, all 11 natural-looking shades aren’t exactly built with student budgets in mind ($30), but I probably would have eaten ramen noodles every day for a week (been there, done that) to be able to splurge on one of these pans.

Shimmery bronze Byzantine, the color I’ve been wearing this week, blends easily and lasts all day long without the need for touch-ups. I can pop it on bare cheeks (or atop foundation/tinted moisturizer) before breakfast with either my fingers or a brush (I like the MAC 187 skunk brush) and rest assured that it’ll last till dinner.
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