We went as a family to see The Avengers, and we all liked it. We didn't anticipate the crowd on a Tuesday night, but it was packed, and we sat 3 rows up from the front, which surprisingly wasn't too bad.

As has been said in many reviews, the humor between the characters was fun, the CGI was amazing, and be sure to stay through the end credits, because more is a'comin'.

We give it 4 stars.

That said, there was a great article from Vogue about creating eyes to match the movie characters. They are very beautiful!

http://www.vogue.in/content/how-get-superhero-eyes#5

OPI has released a nail collection based on Spider Man.

If you decide to take up the challenge, email me a picture and I'll post it on my blog.

Karin
www.savvythinker.com

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You can see more about these Too Faced glosses here. I updated it with a picture now of this color combination.

And here is where I talk about the technique in detail.

Mermaid using Pink Bling on rim
I love, love, love this technique. I used Guerlain Lip Lift to block out any stain on my lips so this would be a fairly true picture.

Here's another view:

This shows the degree of sparkle:

Have you tried this technique yet? I love it!
Honestly, my lips look like I've had something done to them.

Here's what I like about the technique
It's easy, and it works. It camouflages my lipline in a soft, natural, updated way. It works better than a pencil for doing that.

It used to be that I would do my lipstick on the bottom inside the outer ridge. (Book Girl has this ridge too.) But in later years, it didn't look as good doing it that way, and thanks to my dad for both my lips and the lines around them, I still miss him! -- this works much better and looks the way I prefer to look.

Karin

Originally posted 2009-03-26 08:41:26.

No related posts.

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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As you know from my other posts about Beauté Cosmetics, I really like the products that I have, and I love his technique for making lips look full. It is far more flattering on my lips than the aging dark liner sometimes seen on other women. And it works best with Beauté's glosses.

It is such an easy trick -- and fast -- and makes a big difference.

You can see more about this technique here.

I recently received an email talking about his work with Kristen Stewart. You can see details and pictures here. And, of course, we know that it would be hard to make Kristen look bad, but he certainly brings out her beauty and makes her look gorgeous!

I especially loved the look of her eyes here (from the above interview):

I want to try this smokey, cranberry look on my eyes today, though it will look different on my brown eyes, than on her green eyes.

Wouldn't you love to have Beau do your makeup! He reminds me of a younger Kevyn Aucoin, which is high praise indeed.

Have you used any of Beauté cosmetics?
Have you had a makeover with them? Or with Beau?

Karin
www.savvythinker.com

Originally posted 2010-11-13 07:35:45.

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Do you have a week day look and a weekend look?
Do you try to do a simpler look or easier technique on the weekends? Or do you just go with the flow and do what you usually do -- or maybe just go to the beach with sunscreen?

I've been thinking
I might like to do mineral makeup on the weekends and my normal liquid/cream during the week.

It seems like mineral makeup should be quicker and easier, but for now I find it harder and more difficult. I want a sheer shimmery look. I don't want it to look made up or heavy, but it has to cover.

It's trickier for me to apply because it is less known to me. But because it seems like it lessens the steps -- I'm not sure it really does -- it feels like I should do this on weekends. So I think I will do that. And maybe in doing it, I will master the technique.

OTOH, I have really liked the way my normal foundation has looked on me the last couple of days (different foundations)...and if you want to look your best, you do what ya gotta do!

How about you?
What do you do? What kind of foundation do you use?

Karin

Originally posted 2009-04-23 21:25:09.

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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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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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Type A
I wanted to see what looks I could get out of Type A.
This photo shows it applied moderately. When applied heavily, it is very vibrant and shimmery.

Au contraire, to make the lippie I applied it heavily to my lower lip.

Lollipop-pop
Applied this to my top lip.

This is what it became after smooshing my lips together:
In RL, it looks like a vibrant, magenta orchid. The orchid has concentrated on the upper middle of my lower lip. Very pretty!

~~~~~~~

Type A with Shibuya
Step 1: See how striking Type A is when applied heavily!

Final look:
Softens Shibuya to be rich wine on me, better for my coloring, and takes it out of the Goth.

My take
The sky's the limit as far as colors possible with various combinations!

What do you think?
Have you tried combining Fyrinnae Lip Lustres together?

Karin

Originally posted 2009-04-04 16:54:50.

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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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Still using some Chanel colors.
Primer: Chanel blue liquid
Dual: Sea Gray/Petal -- soft blue/gray; petal is a soft almost pink peach
Blue in the crease; the pink above the crease, not to the brow
Drylined top and lower: the blue from Chanel Sea Mist (trio)
Pencil lined: Chanel light and dark blue pencil, discontinued but my favorite blue
Brows: La Prairie pencil
Mascara: Arbonne 2 step
Concealer: Arbonne

Makeup the same as yesterday. Except Primer is Arbonne. YSL Blush, used also for bronzer, is # 19. It comes in a pot with a sponge on the top, very easy to apply by dabbing wherever you wish.

Lips: NYX Rhea + MAC Popster lipconditioner, rimmed and a touch on the bottom lip of Beauté Allure.

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

Karin

Originally posted 2009-06-17 11:42:53.

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