Makeup and Beauty Blog’s Guest Blogger

I did a little guest blogging today on the fabulous Makeup and Beauty Blog. Check out my feature on how to score a few different looks with MAC’s Devil May Dare eye palette, part of the holiday ‘09 Magic, Mirth, and Mischief! collection.

Makeup Bag Staples: Smashbox Limitless Long-Wear Lip Gloss in Forever

Smashbox Limitless Long-Wear Lipgloss ($21) in Forever is one of my favorite glosses on the market. I am a gloss girl, but what I hate about glosses is that after a sip of a drink, they basically perform a disappearing act. No trace of color or shine remains.

Enter Smashbox. I know a lot of glosses promise to cling to your lips for hours, but they dry lips out as they do so. This gloss stays put while imparting a moisturized feel. It’s packed with SPF15, sea kale, and vitamins A, C, & E to keep your pout protected from UV rays and nourished. One coat is all it takes to get lips glossy and colorful.

Forever is a really pretty pink that gives enough definition to wear it alone. It’s wildly flattering.

Merry Christmas!

To all my readers celebrating Christmas today, I hope you have a wonderful holiday. Wishing you peace, love, friendship, safety, and the spirit of the season.

xoxo,
Kristen

Makeup Bag Staples: MAC Fluidline in Blacktrack

Welcome to the first post in a new short series, Makeup Bag Staples. Here, I give you a glimpse into my own makeup bag, and the products that repeatedly end up in there. The products in this series are my absolute favorites, the ones I find myself turning to repeatedly for a flawless, flattering face. They’re reliable, long-lasting, and will make you look absolutely beautiful.

First up: MAC Fluidline in Blacktrack ($15).

Styli-Style “Simply the Best” Eye Makeup Remover

Styli-Style’s “Simply the Best” eye makeup remover ($9.99) had big promises to live up to. With a name like that, the product has to be good.

Turns out the pump dispenses lotion, not a liquid, which I’d never used before. Styli-Style claims isthas skin-soothing properties, but they don’t explicitly say anywhere on the bottle exactly what those properties are. I had heard that eye makeup remover lotions are particularly good for aging skin, as they’re gentler on the delicate eye area.

Simply put, this stuff is pretty great. The lotion is lightweight, not greasy at all, and absorbs instantly into skin. It doesn’t irritate eyes (safe for contact lens wearers), but it’s superstrong in removing eyeliner, shadow — even waterproof mascara.

One other small yet thoughtful detail that I love: the packaging is well-thought-out and well-constructed. There is a little plastic stopper that fits into the pump nozzle, so that if the pump accidentally gets pressed (which is unlikely because there is a plastic cap on the bottle), no liquid is dispensed. It makes the bottle great for travel, and cuts down on waste.

MAC Warm & Cozy Now Online!

MAC’s Warm & Cozy collection, slated for release on Dec. 26, is now available for purchase online. Enjoy! This one’s a keeper.
See full coverage of MAC Warm & Cozy here.

Indelible Brow: a Savior for Sparse Arches

Thick, full brows are in, and it looks like they’ll be sticking around for awhile. There’s just one problem: for most of us, they don’t come naturally. A little help in the form of a brow filler is the answer to achieving the full, defined brows flooding the runways.

I’m blond and fair-skinned. I prefer a brow pencil to fill in eyes, but most of the shades I came across were too dark for my haircolor and skintone. First, I tried Trish McEvoy’s Precision Brow; results were too unnatural. Then, MAC Eye Brows in Lingering: the pencil itself was great, but the color was way too dark for my brows. I was ready to give up and go natural.

Then I came across Indelible Brow ($12.50) by Dermasoft, and saw that they had a shade called Blondi. It was the perfect, not-too-brassy pale brown, with gold undertones. It looked like just enough color to define lighter brows naturally.

MAC Love Lace Collection

MAC’s newest release, Love Lace, focuses on couture’s enduring love affair with lace. Truthfully, I can’t figure out how these colors invoke images of lace, but here is a rundown of the newest products in this collection.

Eyeshadow ($14)
In 4 new colors (from left): Suave Intentions, Pincurl, Love Lace, and Hypnotizing

2009 Gift Guide

People often look at me like I have 3 heads when I begrudingly admit that I don’t absolutely love the holidays. I have friends who put their tree up before Thanksgiving (I’m looking at you, Jen!), friends who send their holiday cards before Dec. 1, and friends and family who live for this season. As much as I was resistant to doing a holiday gift guide this year (it just seemed like overkill, with the recession, and all the coverage of new holiday beauty releases), I realized there are ladies out there like me who have no clue what to buy for the other ladies in their lives.

Just in time for the last weekend before Christmas, here is SugarSocial’s 2009 holiday gift guide.  Hopefully, this will help you decide on last-minute gifts, or give you some inspiration. No matter what, be sure to deliver your gift with lots of love; that is what is most important during this season.

Napoleon Perdis Gold Digger Glimmer

Napoleon Perdis Gold Digger Glimmer ($25) is a dream come true for ladies who love a little sparkle in their lives. The 3 pots of highly-pigmented micro-fine powder contain a ton of shimmer. For an extreme sparkly effect, press the powder onto the lid with a shadow brush, instead of sweeping it on. Eyes are instantly luminized, like little halos. Gold, white gold and bronze light up eyes, bathing them in champagne-y warmth.

Perfect for special occasions, or any time you want a little bling in your step.