Breaking away from the amethysts from yesterday, I wanted to go for something a little different today. I do love all the GL colors from Aromaleigh.

Eyes all shadow AL Gothic Lolita which is 25% off this week.
Base: Lancome Cosmos cream shadow, a light pinky lilac; then a custom mix of sparkly beige powder
Crease: AL Verdant Wisp (green)
Outer corner: AL Elegant reverie (blue)
Dry lined top and bottom (outside the edge of the pencil liner) AL Aqua nightmare
Pencil bottom: MAC graphblack in waterline; MAC brownline outside that
Pencil top: Sephora Flashy Blue 08, bright aqua, just above the outer waterline
Mascara: Lancome Fatale in black
Brows: Chanel Blond-Taupe

Lips: NYX Jumbo Lip Pencil in 721 Soft Fuchsia, very pretty color!
Cheeks: no idea, will add later

Originally posted 2009-03-06 15:44:16.

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Ladies, get your mojo out and hold onto your hats, there are some seriously beautiful looks for fall.

Do we count you among the MAC faithful?
There are so many wonderful MAC products...

Sculpted faces, highlight and contour; 80's makeup, with a full face; red or fuchsia lips, bright or dark; soft pink lips; broad eye liner, the whole brush width; at :18 you can see an eye drawn like mine but more angular; shiny eyes or eyes with glitter; matte, semi-matte or glossy lips...

You pick, what's it gonna be?
What will be your best look? or, can you choose edgy over what you normally would wear? or softer, which would be edgy for you, if you normally go dark?

Here's what the MUAs themselves are saying about the beautiful looks they created:

making real statements...

Many more strokes for maximum impact...a real stamp of individuality, nothing trashy...dark times [said with a smile]lie ahead... like 80's way, but in elegance way...more about sophistication than looking over the top trashy...a lot of makeup everywhere...come out glamourous...all about feminine beauty [with a soft pink lip 1:23]...not too saccharine sweet...we didn't want normal pretty, we wanted pretty with an edge...creamy, dewy, romantic...everything blends into each other...[1:49 using a fat brush to do the edges of dark lips, with a powder to set?]...radiance beauty, but in 3D...

What do you think?
What will you incorporate in your look?

I am semi-planning to go to a MAC event, but it's not real close, so only time will tell if I get there or not, but I'm bringing my camera if I do, so I can post pix.

Keep your finger on your mouse so you can stop the video when you want to get a longer look. This is really well done, covers a lot of territory and quickly!

Karin

Originally posted 2009-08-11 18:37:47.

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This is the 4th NYX trio from my amazingly cheap NYX haul.

It's very late here, and after a busy day, I'm just now able to post my FOTD, though the pix were taken this morning.

TS 26 Velvet blue, ocean frost, space Medium blue, white/blue, grayed blue
These blues were very pretty on. I will definitely reach for it again.

Base: Nude Frost
Lids: Meow Nicole S -- to make sure the blue wasn't too intense on me
Crease: Velvet blue and lightly over lids.
Lined up and down, plus outer corners: grayed blue, then pencil lined with Styli waterproof Sky pencil
White: under brow
Brows: La Prairie pencil
Mascara: Stiletto on top; Tarte on lower -- Stiletto has smudged on lower under eye, the Tarte is still perfect -- 15 hours later!

Lips:
Too Faced Trophy Wife + rimmed with NYX Silver

I really look bare faced here. Those of you who saw me in person today, did I look this bare faced to you?

No concealer, meant to, but I got sidetracked. I'm really liking the Dior Skinflash.
Primer: Laura Geller (used this sample from Sephora up -- yeah!) (This is the one that turned brown in the air/pot. If it is in a tube, not exposed to air, it might stay white.)
Foundation: Chanel
Rouge: Beauté liqui-gel Harlot
Powder: my sparkly mix, then BE mineral veil for bronzer
Benefit: Georgia Peach all over
Blush: MAC dolly mix
Highlight center of face and above cheekbones: MAC Mellow Mood + Benefit: That Gal

What do you think?

Karin

Originally posted 2009-04-25 00:10:32.

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I always like a good beauty quote, and Andrea Claire had a few good ones in her interview with Makeup Junkie. You can read the full interview and learn more about Claire's makeup, hair and style career here at MJ's blog. You can also see some of Claire's print work. I'm glad MJ is back online posting again.

Here are some highlights:

Fall 2009 Beauty Trends
Claire feels smokey eyes, matte red lips, and 80s revival will be the top trends this fall. This was confirmed in the MAC videos I posted earlier.

Advice to women of a certain age
Avoid trends such as 80s revival, if you already lived it once. Makes sense to me.

...if you had been there done that and bought the lime green shadow you cannot do that again! Besides, it is very much a 'must have young skin' to pull it off. Bold colour blocking with eye shadows can age you and have you looking like you are stuck in a time warp. This look is only carried off if you are an adolescent so if you are 21 and under I say rock it, over 21 opt for another trend of the season.

Claire gives the following makeup tricks:
Smokey Eyes

*layer carbon/charcoal shadows with metallic colour. [You notice that I have done this, as it works better for my eyes.]
*If you find shadows are difficult to blend with your dark base then layer MAC's Smolder pencil with a Lise Watier's Metallic Eye shine pencil, smudge together with a Q-Tip. [Or use the MAC smudger brush as I have done. And use a lighter base. MAC's Smolder moved on me and made a mess. Blackgraph stays put. They are two different formulas. Smolder would likely smudge better.]

Matte Red lips

*apply the lip liner after the lipstick so it doesn't appear to[o] geometric.
*dot a smidge of vitamin e on top - not to add gloss but just a little moisture -- if matte is too drying for you.

What I really loved is her beauty mantra:

Be realistic. Be real... Beauty is not serious - beauty is a moment in your day that can convey confidence, flirtiness, calm. What I mean is, all women 'take 5' in their day by touching up here and there ... Beauty is a moment in time that is forever changing. Embrace those little moments but don't be those moments just live in them.... HA! Life is short - enjoy it - have fun with it. That's what beauty and fashion is all about; ... A form of expression that can change day to day, season to season - enjoy the trends but remember to enjoy life too. Andrea Claire at Makeup Junkie

Be sure to look at Makeup Junkie's blog.

Karin --I do wear the lime shadow, just judiciously.
www.savvythinker.com
don't steal my posts -- you know who you are!

Originally posted 2009-08-27 19:21:47.

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I've had a couple of palettes hanging around that I basically never used. It helps sometimes to analyze why something isn't working. I bought this one (Crystal Ball Color Kit) because it has a really cool sparkly gloss in it (Starshine.) I figured I could use the other colors. Shadows: Pink Charm -- light pink; Illusion -- light brown, Shadow -- charcoal-black. Powder/Blush: Fairy Dust (peachy -- not quite enough for blush, a little too dark for me for powder or highlighting.) Lippies: Dream (peachy), Flirt (medium pink), Max (deeper red/burgundy.)

Eyes:
Lids: pink; Crease: brown, then the charcoal; Outer corners: brown.

Basically the reason the shadows don't work really well for me is that they are too light or too dark. The pink hardly shows up against my skin. The brown isn't dramatic enough, and the black is too harsh with these colors.

I got the idea to add
Drylined top and lower: AL heartofglass -- great color that pops it
Tightlined top, wetlined bottom with Venomous gel liner -- the one that BookGirl likes so well on me -- and I do too, now that I know to apply it with the back end of the liner brush! Who knew...but it makes it more smudgy and covers the waterline well.

Then my eyes were OK.

Powder: my sparkly, then from the palette. As I said, the color isn't strong enough for blush or is too much for highlighting. I added too much fooling with it.
Blush: MAC Dollymix

Lips Loved the lips today! It helps to know how to rim.
Flirt on one lip; Starshine on the other; smooshed; rimmed with MAC Dazzlepuss and a little up the middle.

All the rest is the same as yesterday.

What do you think?
Karin

Originally posted 2009-05-23 09:43:39.

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It's been hot, hot, hot here for a couple of weeks. Record breaking hot. But we are beginning to get some serious rains every day, so that is breaking the heat somewhat.

I'm not sure why, but red was calling to me, and I usually only wear red lipsticks in December. I even wore a matching red T. These pictures were taken a couple of days ago, and I don't remember precise colors any more. So I'm going to go with easy and post what I can and leave the rest to summer.

Eyes
I used my usual base. These colors are Bare Escentuals, which I really like a lot. They go on easy and don't bother my eyes. Clinique Mascara. La Prairie brows.

Red Lippie
No, I don't remember what shades I used, but I know I topped it with a MAC gloss. I've been wearing those a lot lately.

Face
This was Revlon ageless cream foundation. The rest as usual: cream rouge under my sparkly powder mix; Arbonne blush over the top of the powder.

I hope you are having a great summer and that you are staying cool.

Do you wear red year round?

Karin
www.savvythinker.com

Originally posted 2010-08-09 11:43:19.

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This morning came very early, especially since I stayed up way too late last night.

Can you say 4 hours of sleep? Luckily for me, I don't need a lot of sleep, but on a consistent basis I need a bit more than 4 hours.

I basically threw some clothes on, used a cut piece of MAC wipes (cleansing towelettes $15 for 45) to carefully freshen my eye makeup -- I removed a bit of smudge, but not the eye makeup, and put on lipstick.

In less than 5 minutes I had a pick-me-up, and I was ready to go to take my youngest to school.

I took a couple of pictures, but I'm not sure I'm going to share them. I looked good, but not the way I looked later in the day. Let's keep the illusions, shall we!

Here's the lippie I chose:

NYX Gold Pink

But I want to report on how well the MAC graphblack and earthline holds up after a long night and very little sleep. Nothing migrated into my eye, despite the fact that I apply the graphblack to the waterline.

For most people, I would have looked as if I had done my complete makeup, not that I had slept in it.

I think that is a pretty good recommendation, don't you!

I was talking with the MAC SA last week who did my makeover, and she told me that these pencils are waterproof, which might be why they work so well. But there is nothing on the pencils to indicate they are.

I bought these colors because first, I loved the way they looked on another SA the week before, and when she put them on me, I loved the way they looked on me too.

Meantime, on other nights and mornings, the skin around my eyes has been irritated from whatever makeup I didn't remove, either from the mascara, pencils, or minerals -- or all of it) and I had to take off the complete eye makeup, cleanse and re-moisturize before I could head out the door -- and sometimes it took a couple of days for the redness of my skin to recover.

Not today. I was good to go. And I did.

I had a great day, how about you? This was just the beginning.

Karin

Originally posted 2009-03-09 23:47:56.

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I asked Book Girl, my resident artist daughter, to go through my lip pencils today and draw them out, categorizing them by shades. Then I asked her what I should wear with MAC S&P. Here, she said, and she handed me Clinique Plummy lip pencil. I'm not sure if it was because it works or because it was in her hand.

Here's the result:

It's getting closer. It's more rose and plummy here.

Same color, different angle. It looks glossy here!

Here are the other combos on other days:

Mary Kay Metallic lip liner MAC Sweetie, topped with Pinkarat gloss, rimmed with a lighter gloss and used up the center too. This is a true brown liner.

I think it is pretty, but now it is almost a red look and definitely deeper colored than hers was.

Compare it to the day I wore it with no lip liner:

MAC Sweetie, topped with Pinkarat gloss, topped in the middle with Beauté IF to make it a little less pink, rimmed with NYX Chandelier.

You can see how it changes with lip pencils. Which one do you like the best?

~~~~~~~~~~
Later in the day today I updated to straight MAC Plum Dandy with Lovechild lipglass -- 1/2 and 1/2 -- I still can't get it to be as dramatic as it was in the makeover. PD is a rich, interesting shimmery metallic plum.

Do you have any of these?

Karin

Originally posted 2009-04-13 17:10:18.

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I've wanted to use Aromaleigh's Torment for a few days now. It is such a gorgeous color. Melissa wears it extremely well. So does Phyrra. I love it! Somehow red seemed fitting for Good Friday. It was my private reminder.

Eyes:
Base: Nude Frost
Lids: Meow ScandalEyes Nicole S.
Crease: AL Basil (a green-brown)
Lids: AL Torment
Lined MAC blackgraph, top and lower, then outside the lower with MAC earthline
Drylined on top with more Torment
Mascara: CoverGirl Black

This shows the eye color really well:

Primer: Stila

Foundation: Signature Club A, too dark, so I was trying the Stila with it; it works well.
Rouge and Blush (under and over powder) Beauté liqui-gel stain Harlot -- such a pretty flush to the skin
Powder: my sparkly mix, followed by BE mineral veil as bronzer

Lips: Love this color!
Isn't this a great color!
Beauté Urge (a red) rimmed with Beauté Paramour (and in the center)
This is what I had hoped the MAC would look like yesterday, but it was too pink.

What do you think of my look?

Karin

Originally posted 2009-04-10 22:23:00.

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Funtabulous, rimmed with Milani Crystal gloss
What a great color!

Here's a full face picture of it:

Baby Sparks

Smile + Baby Sparks

Smile + Baby Sparks, rimmed with Beauté Allure

What are the colors
I sorted them by color range:

** I bought this one.
* Recommended at Shades of U, who also has swatches across her hand.

BEIGE
Get Rich Quick Warm yellow brown
Girl’s Delight Sheer mid-tone tan with gold pearl
*Goldyrocks Sheer soft yellow with pink and gold pearl
**Moth to Flame Sheer neutral beige with violet pearl **

CORAL
*Smile Light coral with pink and gold pearl (I bought this one)**

ORANGE
Bare Necessity Caramel apricot with red and gold pearl
Utterly Posh Mid-tone orange with pink and gold pearl

ORCHID
Extra Amps Sheer bright blue pink with blue and pink pearl
*Funtabulous Purple with violet pearl **
Like Venus Clean light bubble gum pink with red pearl
*Stop! Look! Sheer violet mauve with blue and pink pearl

PINK
*Baby Sparks Pale pink with violet pearl**
**Rags to Riches Plummy pink with teal and red pearl

PLUM
Date Night Deep plum with blue and gold pearl

RED
Love Alert Raspberry red with red pearl **

ROSE
**Money Honey Mid-tone rosy mauve with red pearl
*Steppin’ Out Clean yellow pink with red pearl

WHITE
*Sugarrimmed Milky pale pink with red, teal and white pearl**

The colors I bought
I chose to buy 6 -- Baby Sparks, Funtabulous, Love Alert, Moth to Flame, Smile, Sugarrimmed.

I didn't buy an orange as I have a couple of wonderful oranges from Lancome and NYX.

And it was hard to narrow them down! I think I could have bought all of them, but I was trying to be good. The same MUA who had given me a wonderful MAC makeover at SAKS was working the day I went in. She helped me pick out 6 across the range. Some will make a color close to the color(s) I didn't buy, by combining them. OTOH, they might not have the same flash of micro shimmers in them.

My take
There's not a whole lot to say about these fabulous glosses that hasn't already been said, as they are being talked about everywhere. They are lovely colors, feel good, moisturize well, are very high fashion in looks as Too Faced glosses are. I rate them a 5 across the board.

I will continue to add pictures as I wear the colors.

How about you?
Do you have any of these? all of them? How do you like them? Which is your favorite? Are you going to buy more? (I probably would if the stores that sell it were closer!)

Karin

Originally posted 2009-04-29 11:06:28.

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