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FOTD AL eyes + AL lips

Karin — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 21:21:19 +0000

Finally! I'm current -- this is my FOTD today. I wanted to wear the same eye colors as yesterday.

Comparing two lower lash mascaras one is Tarte; the other is Guerlain's Le2.
AL concealer.

Back to trying to use up the discontinued Chanel foundation. Primed with Laura Mercier. My usual sparkly mix of powder, then SCA Hyaluronic as a bronzer.

Blush: AL Dolly

I'm trying uploading directly vs. using Photobucket. The images are smaller. But it is a lot faster for me except for waiting for it to upload into wordpress.

Lips: AL Gala + AL Pinafore (on each lip, then smooshed) + rimmed and topped in center with Beauté Paramour Love this color!

Day 2 into Arbonne:

And we finally have some rain around here -- all the ponds are low. I'm going to enjoy the rain!

To buy Arbonne from Bookgirl, if you don't have a representative, go here.

Karin

Originally posted 2009-05-18 11:27:19.

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FOTD NYX +MAC +Too Faced+

Karin — Sun, 29 Jan 2012 15:11:03 +0000

This is the 3rd NYX trio palette in my amazingly cheap NYX haul.

Eyes:
TS 30 Baby Pink, White Pearl, Baby Blue
These are more my colors than yesterday's!
Base: Lancome pink cream
Pink on my lids; Blue in the crease and lined under lower lashes; White on brow bone.
Brows: Prescriptive pencil -- has a super thin lead, easy to use
Lined top: Lancome Blueberry wand
Tightlined Lined lower: Tidal Wave gel liner
Lined top and lower: Prestige Denim pencil
Mascara: Lancome Hypnose on upper; Tarte Bottom up on lower

Primer: Smashbox purple
Foundation: L'oreal N1
Rouge: Chanel stick
Powder: my sparkly mix + BE Mineral Veil as bronzer
Over powder: Benefit Georgia Peach
Blush: MAC Moon River
Concealer: Dior Skinflash

Lips: I liked this really well!
Too Faced Pink Diamond Gloss from their super Vintage sale
Rimmed with: MAC Baby Sparks Dazzler gloss

I was happy with the way this turned out. The color was nice with my denim top. And much more to my taste than yesterday.

What do you think?
Karin

Originally posted 2009-04-23 20:48:30.

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FOTD Weekend look Lancome AL BE Beauté

Karin — Thu, 15 Dec 2011 11:42:16 +0000

Wow, this sure photographed well! This is my new gauze top. I love the style with cut away sleeves.

Eyes:
Base: Beauticontrol Pink, then my sparkly shadow mix
Crease: AL Grape pure eyes matte -- I forgot about this one and how much I liked it until I spotted it again -- I didn't think it went on as easily as the first time, but I was happy when I finished
Lids: AL Dandelion Satin Petals Frost -- a very soft yellow
Lined top and lower: Clinique Blacker Violet pencil
Mascara upper: Lancome Fatale; Lower: Tarte

Primer:
Foundation: Lancome Minerals and Powder; my sparkly facial mix
Blush: BE Beauty
Highlight: M*A*D Alter Ego -- looks beige but pulls iridescent pink on the skin

Lips: all Beauté
Paramour/Heroine 1/2 and 1/2, rimmed with Allure

What do you think?

Karin

Originally posted 2009-04-26 22:50:46.

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FOTD AL Red Gothic Lolita Shadows + Fyrinnae Lips

Karin — Sat, 29 Oct 2011 18:09:19 +0000

Change of pace today! Back to reds, but new ones I've never used before. We'll see if I get any drift/slide today. Sometimes red bothers my lids, esp when it slides.

Sometimes I wonder whether it would be easier to have no choices. It takes me longer to think about what I'd like to do than actually doing it. But last night I thought: Gothic Lolita shadows! Fyrinnae lips! so that made it easier today.

Eyes: All AL, except where noted
Base: Nude Frost, no sparkly mix after
Crease: Strawberry Despair, GL -- wow! this is really pretty -- I think I originally bought it because it looked so great on Tanya in a theme week at AL, but I'm not sure I ever wore it before -- AL describes it

Strawberry Despair: Muted strawberry red pearl with copper sparks. Despair was never so yummy!

Outer Corners and lower drylined: Burnt Roses , GL -- one of my all time fave colors, just a super color

Burnt Roses : Rich chocolatey cherry frost with tiny deep green sparks. Just plain luscious.

Inner Corners:Persephone, Luster -- first time I wore this too, very gorgeous color!

Persephone: Lush bordeaux with a cocoa lowlight and rose highlight.

Brows: Chanel pencil
Mascara: Guerlain, top; Tarte, lower
Concealer: Dior skinflash and around inner corners of eyes

I couldn't figure out what to use for liner or if I should stop where I was, then I remembered I had Black Cherry gel liner. It helps to have the right brush. Since I tried it last, I bought a small slanted eyeliner brush at Ulta. There's no identifier on it to tell you which one. I intentionally tried to smudge it out the way a pencil looks vs. having a hard edged line. Smudging just looks better on me at this stage of life. Anyway, it was perfect, and I loved it, and I might try to use my gel liners more now that I actually like the look of one of them. I did it very lightly along the waterline and tight lined both the top and lower, smudging it.

Sunscreen: Neutragena, not the La Prairie to see if my makeup is less sheer
Primer: Revlon Vital Radiance, cool, discontinued
Foundation: Chanel, discontinued, trying to use this one up
Rouge: Chanel, stick, discontinued
Powder, my sparkly mix, then Signature Club A Hyaluronic
Blush: Lancome Petticoat Pink, along my cheekbones
Lips: Fyrinnae Visual Kei Lip Luster -- my labels are getting all funky -- are your? -- such a pretty color!

Isn't this pretty!

What do you think?

Karin

Originally posted 2009-05-06 09:24:57.

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FOTD MK Eyes + Too Faced + MAC + YSL + Tarte

Karin — Thu, 06 Oct 2011 22:49:37 +0000

This was yesterday's FOTD.

Mary Kay Eyes, except where noted:
Crease: Blue Metal
Inner corners: Chocolate Kiss
Outer corners: Steel -- then more blue over it, as it didn't show up well
Lower dry line: Blue Metal
Tight Lined top: Borghese Charcoal
Lined lower waterline: MAC graphblack, then earthline below it
Brows: La Prairie pencil
Mascara: Stiletto + Tarte on the lower lashes
Concealer:

Primer:
Foundation: Chanel, discontinued
Rouge under powder:
Powder: my sparkly mix
Blush: YSL Touche Blush 19

Lips: Too Faced + Beauté to rim
Caspian Pencil topped with Shell Gloss + Allure to rim

I liked these shades of blue.

Karin

Originally posted 2009-05-02 08:06:38.

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FOTD AL eyes + lips

Karin — Sun, 04 Sep 2011 11:08:38 +0000

Today I was busy sorting and organizing. I only did my makeup about 5 mins ago. The theme makeup this week at AL is to use Snapdragon (beautiful blue pink)(I'm not sure I've ever used this before) with Aqua Nightmare (one of my favorite colors.)

If you can't have fun with makeup, when can you?! I got the idea to reverse my eyes, sort of like combining all my posts from last week. It looked strange at first, but I figured my liner would tie it all together. I am really happy with it now.

Eyes: all Aromaleigh unless noted, in order of application
Base: Nude Frost
Crease: Lagoon matte
Outer corner of one eye and inner corner of the other (and reverse drylined on bottom): Snapdragon, then vice versa for Aqua Nightmare
Tight lined top and wet lined lower: Peacock gel liner -- using back end of brush only.
Inner corners: Snapdragon
Drylined top only: Moonagedaydream
Brows: Merle Norman powder
Mascara, top: Guerlain; lower: Tarte
Concealer: Mary Kay

Sunscreen: La Prairie
Primer: Avon Magix
Foundation: Chanel, discontinued
Rouge under powder: Revlon , cream
Powder: My sparkly mix, then SCA Hyaluronic with stiff Guerlain brush
Blush over powder: EL Pinkshimmer, then NARS Riviera as it didn't have enough color

Lips: AL Karma on one lip; Gala on the other; smooshed; rimmed with Beauté Allure

What do you think?

Karin

Originally posted 2009-05-12 15:40:13.

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FOTD Dior eyes + Lancome mineral fdn +

Karin — Sat, 02 Apr 2011 15:13:47 +0000

Still having fun using some of my Dior quint sets. It's been a long time since I've used them.

This one has peach, gray, medium blue, light blue, and pink/orchid/magenta in the center. There are lots of ways to use it -- perhaps using the top two colors -- peach and gray. Or the bottom two: light and medium blue, using some gray in the crease. Or gray and magenta.

Today, I used the whole quint to get a feel for the colors again. It's surprising how purple the blues pull. The peach is very pretty.

Lid: peach
Crease: gray, then medium blue
Outer Corners: a bit of medium blue, then light blue
Drylined top and lower: magenta
Mascara: Stiletto, top; Tarte, lower
Brows: whatever was left from yesterday
Concealer: Arbonne

I'm still not sure if I'm crazy about mineral foundation or not. It's supposed to be easier so I'm earmarking it for weekends. It's also possible I don't know how to apply it sheer enough (I like a sheer coverage.) It isn't necessarily faster for me, nor do I particularly like the look better. I do like the color.

Primer: AL
Foundation: Lancome minerals (love their brush!!)
Powder: Lancome minerals
Highlight: L'Oreal Pinkglow
Blush: Lancome Pink Pool (has some sparkle)

Lips: whatever was left on the lip brush from the last time I used it (remember I dedicated one brush to the rims and one brush to the lips), then rimmed and up the center with Stila silkshimmer (kind of a peachy sparkle) (love the gloss, btw!)

Have a great weekend!

To buy Arbonne from Bookgirl, if you don't have a representative, go here.

Karin

Originally posted 2009-06-13 08:36:13.

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FOTD Chanel Meow AL NYX Lancome

Karin — Wed, 30 Mar 2011 02:20:24 +0000

Sometimes for me, thinking about what colors I want to go toward takes more time than the execution. I knew I wanted to coordinate with the new pendants my artist daughter made for me for Mother's Day, so I knew I was aiming toward purples and gray.

But I started out thinking Aromaleigh -- then I thought, wait a minute, I've got Meow that I haven't worn for a while. So I started with Meow. I bought a lot of samples from Meow, but I don't think I bought a gray. It's hard to tell sometimes in the ziplock what color it will pull on the eye, so I need to mark the darker shades so I know, but I haven't done that yet.

I don't know the differences in the formula of Meow shadows (which is more frosty/glittery) so if someone knows, pls comment. I am going to put them in larger ziplocks by colors, as I have done with the AL, rather than keeping them by formula. I think I can just mix and match.

Eyes:
Base: Nude Frost
Lids: Meow Lazy Purrl IdealEyes (this pulled bluer than I expected)
Crease: Meow Prowl ModernEyes
Dry lined top and lower: Jessica R ScandalEyes
Crease: AL Avalon Rocks! Sonic Eyes (soft, medium gray) to pop the crease more
Lids: Debbie L ScandalEyes -- to bring it more into the purples again
Tight lined top and wet lined lower: Venomous gel liner -- using back end of brush only -- BookGirl exclaimed that she just loved this color on me, that it really popped my eyes. It may look black in the photo (as it looked in the bathroom mirror) but in RL it is a sort of Periwinkle color.
Inner corners: Tanzanite gel liner -- this looks like a lighter version of Black Cherry.

Brows: Merle Norman powder
Mascara, top: Guerlain; lower: Tarte.
Concealer: Dior Skinflash

Sunscreen: La Prairie
Primer: Avon Magix
Foundation: Chanel, discontinued
Rouge under and over powder: EL Pink Shimmer, cream
Powder: My sparkly mix, then SCA Hyaluronic with stiff Guerlain brush

Lips: NYX Lips Iced Lavender
As soon as I had it on one lip, I could tell Iced Lavender would be too dark for the rest of my face, if I had put it on alone, but I wanted to keep to the same color family. So...
+ Lancome Prodige (one on each lip, then smooshed)
rimmed with NYX Purple Rain Lipgloss with mega shine -- in RL this is more subtle than the photo would make it.

What do you think? I was happy with it.
I always like it when I get a spontaneous expression that something looks great, as BookGirl did today.

Karin

Originally posted 2009-05-11 16:42:51.

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Review: Tarte Bottoms Up Lower Lash Mascara

Karin — Fri, 07 Jan 2011 19:43:46 +0000

This picture was taken late in the day after running around all day in 80 degree heat. As you can see the mascara, both top (Lancome Hypnose) and lower (Tarte) stayed put. There was no drifting, flaking, smudging, etc. I have not touched up my eyes in any way.

This mascara is billed as the first lower lash mascara. That may be true, but there are at least two others that combine upper and lower lash mascaras in the same packaging. One is Avon. The other is Guerlain Le 2. The brushes for the lower lashes on all three are comparable, but I like Avon's the least.

My take:
I think this mascara rocks! It stays put better on my eyes than either the Avon or the Guerlain. Avon's tends to irritate the skin around my eyes, whereas their other mascaras do not.

The mascara is quite wet. At first it tended to go on too heavily, but I was able to modify it easily using the same brush so the mascara distributed without clumping.

I like that it stays looking fresh all day.

You wouldn't think you'd need a mascara specifically for lower lashes, but it really is easier to apply with a smaller brush. I don't have trouble with larger brushes; this just is easier.

Have you tried this mascara or the others I mentioned?
How do you think they compare?

Meantime, if you haven't tried this mascara, it's worth trying. Let me know if it stays put as well on you, as it did on me.

Karin

Originally posted 2009-04-23 21:00:26.

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Review: Tarte Good as Gold Lipgloss (set)

Karin — Mon, 13 Dec 2010 17:30:16 +0000

I have two Tarte lip glosses that are double ended, which gives me 4 colors, and I love them. So I took one look at this set IRL at Sephora (who has the exclusive) (15 colors, $165 value for $29) and knew it would be great. I figured I could either keep all the colors or give some as stocking stuffers.

OTOH, I am not exactly lip gloss free, so I decided to pass on it, being the good girl that I am so that Santa would visit me.

Then I got a coupon for being an Insider (and free shipping) so I decided to order it online.

Mixed reviews
Everyone seems to love the colors, but some have complained that the little white plastic collar on the tubes either breaks or comes out, making it messy to carry the tube with you. And this was true of the ones in the store. Consequently some have returned theirs.

I figured, I'd just be super careful removing the wand and hope for the best. I can always use a lip brush, if necessary. So far, so good. I've tried 3 colors, like them all, and the collars are still intact on them. Cross my fingers.

The colors
The colors are gorgeous. They range from a deeper reddish pink to true nudes and neutrals. About 1/3 of them have micro glitter; the rest are without glitter.

The formula
This is a nice lip gloss, not particularly sticky. It moisturizes nicely. I don't find it drifting over the edges of my lips.

Have you tried them?
Are your collars holding up?

What to do if you lose the collars
Don't take the wand totally out of the tube. Slide it out until some gloss appears on the wand (not the applicator) (or if there is gloss on the threads, just remove the wand enough to expose the threads.) Then use either a lip brush or your fingers to apply to your lips. Close slowly and carefully so as not to push out more product by the vacuum suction. It is definitely doable.

I bet Tarte is not happy with this development. It makes a perfect product still perfect, but annoying.

My take
I rate this 4* out of 4*, even if the collars do break on me, because I like the gloss and the colors.

Shhh, don't tell, but I bought 2 sets, 1 to gift. My 12 yo saw my set and asked if she could have some. I told her it was Christmas, and she wasn't supposed to have seen them. That way she has a pretty good idea that Santa will be good to her. She's a great kid -- he better be!

Karin
www.savvythinker.com

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