A Lil’ Fall Favorite Makeup Edit with NARS and MAC
I’m on a mission to wear fall looks that are simple, elegant and easy. I gotta say, I feel pretty put together together in this one, which features a few of my favorites — NARS Kalahari II eyeshadow, NARS Amour blush and MAC Half Red Lip Pencil.
A lifted liner tip
For this makeup, I tried a new-to-me eyeliner technique from a makeup artist that Jane from Daly Beauty introduced me to recently, Erica Taylor! She’s been doing makeup for over 20 years and posts a lot of tips for beauties who are 40 and up.
She suggests applying liner strategically on the outer corner to make your lids appear more lifted.I’m really happy with how it turned out; I definitely think my hooded bits look a little less hooded! Plus, it’s really easy to do.
Also, lip liner is so your friend
Oh, and shout-out to the Wet Seal sales associate back in 1996 who taught me about the power of lip liner, LOL! She was the one who convinced me to try lining and filling my lips in with a lip pencil, and then topping it off with lip balm.
I did that in here with MAC Half Red Lip Liner and Biossance Lip Balm. 
Try it sometime with your favorite lip liner.
Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,
Karen
Purple and Blue Liner, and a Handy Makeup Tip for Hooded Lids
Do you ever suddenly get the urge to wear colorful liner? If you do, I totally get it. Yesterday I grabbed a bright blue (Urban Decay Chaos) and a sparkly purple (UD Vice). I popped the blue on my upper lash line and then layered a couple sparkly shades from the Chanel holiday eye palette on top, then I blended the purple on my lower lash liner because why the heck not?
It ended up looking a lot more summery than I anticipated!
Hmm, I’m thinking that if I went with a darker, more navy blue it would’ve taken it in a fall direction. I guess this is what happens when your current makeup philosophy is “just go with it and see where it takes you.” Ha ha ha!
A makeup tip for hooded lids
Oh, so for this look, I remembered a handy tip that’s good to keep in your back pocket on those days when your liner ends up too thick for your lid space. This happens to me all the time, by the way, especially now that my hooded bits are more prominent than they used to be 10 years ago.
Anywho, if you’re doing your makeup and notice your liner looks too thick, start by buffing out the edge of the line as best you can.
Then, with a flat brush or your fingertip, layer a bit of your favorite sparkly shadow on top, taking care to have just the tiniest bit of liner peek through.
A combo of blurred liner and sparkly shadow helps make your lid space look a little bigger while making the liner look thinner. Try it sometime and let me know how it goes.
While we’re on the subject of eyeliner
I’ve been using the dark brown and bronze twist-up liners by Hourglass for months now, and while I love the comfy formula, there’s just not a ton of colors to choose from.
If your lash and water lines are moody and sensitive like mine are, I’d love to hear what liners you like. I need a new blue and purple!
Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,
Karen
Chanel Lumière Graphique and Duo Lumière, and the Inner Corner Highlight Moment
Sometimes that inner corner highlight hits just right! I put a little bit of the new Chanel Duo Lumière highlighter on after doing a swish of the khaki taupe shade from the Lumière Graphique eyeshadow palette on my lids, and it was exactly what I needed today.
Both are from the new holiday collection, by the way.
I feel so out of practice with eyeshadow, but you know what? I’m gonna give myself plenty of grace and go with the flow.
I’m wearing Chanel Lumière Graphique Eyeshadow Palette and Duo Lumière Illuminating Powder Duo on my eyes
Chanel Lumière Graphique Eyeshadow Palette and Duo Lumière Illuminating Powder Duo
Blush is Ilia Color Haze Pigment in Temptation and Lipsitick is MAC Crossfade
How’s your Thursday going so far? I think I’ve finally recovered from all the Halloween festivities, LOL!
Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,
Karen
Luminous Taupe Lids with Chanel Les 4 Ombres Byzance in Parure Cristal
I watched a video recently with makeup artist Mia Connor talking about how she likes to do one single block of color across the lids on hooded eyes.
Simple, effective, easy. Of course it totally spoke to me!
I took her advice about wearing one color this morning when I put on shadow from the Chanel Les 4 Ombres Byzance Quad in Parure Cristal.
This limited edition beauty is one of four quads inspired by precious stones and Chanel jewelry. Designed to be dressed up or down, each quad offers four coordinating shades with glowing finishes.
I mixed the two darkest shades (the taupe and the rosy quartz) on the back of my hand to create a customized color, which I then buffed across my lids. Then I applied the taupe as a liner with an angled brush.
I gotta admit, I still feel like I’m wearing a lot of makeup. I do like how it turned out, though. It feels polished but not overly done, and it didn’t require a ton of work.
I think I’m going to stick to Mia’s formula for a bit and see where it takes me on my makeup journey.
Happy Thursday to you, my friend! Keep on keepin’ on.
Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,
Karen
Summery Raspberry Lips and a Lil’ Liquid Liner Flick
To flick, or not to flick: that is the question.
Is it just me who automatically assumes that wearing black liquid liner involves a flick at the outer corner? I’ve been wearing Rare Beauty black liquid liner lately and for some reason, that little flick just feels right!
By the way, I did manage to exchange the leaky pen for a new one at Sephora last week, but get this! The nice salesperson who helped me said her clients have had issues with it not because of the leaking problem but because it dries out quickly. Sigh. We’ll see. I’ve used it a few times, and so far it’s been alright.
I wore it with a flick yesterday and paired it with raspberry lips – MAC Beet Lip Pencil topped with Biossance Lip Balm. I’ve been thinking non-stop about this cute look and wanted to give it a try.
Anywho, I’ve been going through a “pass on the powders” phase lately, so it’s been ages since I’ve worn powder blush.
Yesterday I took out MAC Blushbaby (an oldie but goodie) thinking that it would pair nicely with the raspberry lips, and even though I blended a couple thin layers on my cheeks, I still felt like I was wearing too much. I ended up buffing it down right before taking these pics.
I think eventually I’ll do powder blush again because it’s one of my favorite things. It’ll probably be in the fall (!), though, when the weather gets crisp again and wearing a layer or two of face paint feels right.
You know what, though? I’m going to focus on the fact that I wore makeup all day long, and for two whole days in a row, LOL! My neighbor stopped by yesterday after dinner and she commented on how she liked my eye makeup. I actually forgot that I had liner on until that moment. It was a nice compliment and it made me excited to wear makeup again.
Speaking of exciting things, I caught a glimpse of the new Chantecaille fall collection yestesrday, and my heart went thump-thump-thump when I saw the dark brown eyeshadow.
So pretty, right?
Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,
Karen
Beauty Thoughts, May 26, 2023
Sheer base life
I’ve been using Rose Inc Skin Enhance Luminous Tinted Serum for the last two weeks and have been getting lots of nice compliments on my base!
It’s sheer and moisturizing with barely there coverage and a slight pore smoothing effect, and when I set it with just the teeniest bit of MAC Mineralize Skinfinish Natural Powder, in real life it looks natural and beautiful, even in full sun.
If you’re into minimal foundation like I am, give it a go.
FYI, you do need to mix the pigment spheres in your palms or the back of your hand before applying it, so there’s a small extra step involved, but it’s so easy that I don’t mind it at all. I’ve been using it lately for my quick go-to makeup.
Speaking of go-to looks, what’s yours right now?
Here’s mine! It takes less than 10 minutes, which I’m all about these days.
- Base: Rose Inc Skin Enhance set with MAC Mineralize Skinfinish Natural and Hourglass Retouching Fluid in Sand
- Cheeks: NARS Deep Throat Powder Blush
- EYES: Hourglass Cave Eyeliner, Laura Mercier Caviar Stick in Strapless, Tower 28 Mascara (it’s just OK), Anastasia Brow Pencil
- LIPS: Whatever non-neutral lippie is around. Lately it’s been NARS Dolce Vita Velvet Matte Lip Pencil.
Building a pre-packed beauty bag
Memorial Day is right around the corner, which means summer trips, yay!
I was wondering, when you go on a trip, do you pack your skin care and beauty essentials beforehand, or do you keep a separate travel bag on standby?
I’ve always packed my beauty bag right before a trip, and ugh, I *really* don’t want to do that anymore. It just makes packing too stressful! Side note: I tend to overpack and overthink what I bring because I’m always worried about forgetting something. Half the time I end up bringing too much, and I no longer want it to be that way.
Anywho, all this to say I saw a video recently about keeping a travel bag of beauty products stocked and ready, and it really spoke to me!
We’re going on a few short trips this summer, so I’d like to build travel beauty bags — one for me, and one for Connor, since I usually pack her toiletries — before we go on our trips.
I’d like to fully stock it (skin care, makeup, hair products, all the things), so that when I’m done, I can photograph everything inside and write everything down into a list. Ideally I’d like to format it into an easily accessible checklist, so I can take stock of what needs to be replaced and not have to reinvent the wheel every single time.
WISH ME LUCK because I’m gonna need it, LOL!
Happy Friday to you
Hope your week has been peaceful and joyful! If you feel like sharing any good things that’ve happened to you lately, I’d love to hear about them.
Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,
Karen
Dinner Makeup With the Honest Beauty Eyeshadow Palette
Happy Friday, friend!
I went out to dinner with the fam-bam last night and wore a brown smokey eye with a pink cheek and glossy pink lip. I’m a little out of practice with blending, but you know what? I didn’t worry too much about it and decided to let the whole look land wherever it wanted to land! (Side note: I’m trying to be more gentle with myself and not so persnickety about, well, everything.)
Anywho, We went to FOB Kitchen in Oakland, a cute, casual spot that serves Filipino food! I was too busy eating and having fun to take pictures of the food, but here’s a shot we got of Connor’s dessert, a Filipino shave ice concoction called halo-halo.
Quick list of the makeup I’m wearing…
- Rose Inc Skin Enhance Tinted Serum in 080
- Charlotte Tilbury Beautiful Skin Foundation in 8 Warm
- Hourglass Retouching Fluid in Sand
- Dior Backstage Concealer in 4W
- MAC Mineralize Skinfinish Natural in Medium Golden and Give Me Sun
- Anastasia Brow Wiz in Dark Brown
- Tower 28 Mascara in Jet
- Honest Beauty Get It Together Eyeshadow Palette
- MAC Costa Riche liner
- Hourglass Voyeur Gel Liner in Cave
- NARS Blush in Amour
- MAC Lip Liner in Talking Points
- Hourglass Lipgloss in Canvas
Hope your day is peaceful and joyful!
Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,
Karen
Unexpected Mint Green Makeup of the Day
This makeup did out turn out anything close to what I was going for, LOL! Does that ever happen to you?
I saw this beautiful picture of black liner with mint green accents on the Shu Uemura Instagram, which was my original inspiration.
Isn’t it so cool? I love how it’s creative but doesn’t feel overworked.
Anywho, I don’t know what I was thinking giving myself 15 minutes to try to recreate something similar! Maybe if I had an hour or two I could’ve gotten there, but alas, it did not happen. I put way too much shimmery mint green eyeshadow into the inner corner, so I ended up buffing it all out.
I kinda like how the sparkles traveled haphazardly over my lids, though!
I’m wearing a new foundation that I picked up at the Sephora Sale — Charlotte Tilbury Beautiful Skin in the shade 8 Warm. I used two pumps and set it with MAC Mineralize Skinfinish Natural. It was hot in Northern California yesterday and it held up well despite the warm temps.
Oh, and the glossy lip! I’m really into shine these days. It’s Hourglass gloss in Canvas, in case you’re curious.
Have a great rest of your Purrsday-Thursday. We’re almost to the weekend!
Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,
Karen