Just For Fun

Hello, friend! Happy December Caturday ❄️?? to ya.

You know, just when I think I’ve seen it all among the pantheon of makeup tips and now it’s just the same bevy of basic tips recycled and repackaged for the quadrillionth time and I stop expecting to ever see anybody ever add anything new to the beauty news cycle, ever, I stumble upon something I’ve never tried before, and sometimes it rocks my world.

Two words: reverse foundation.

It’s a new (I think) base technique, and I gave it a try for the first time the other day. It’s where you start by applying cream products to your skin first while it’s bare (contour, if you wear it, blush and then highlighter), let them set, and then do a sheer foundation on top.

Girl, it is game-changing.

Blowing my mind right now

The idea is that by layering the foundation on top of the contour/blush/highlighter products, everything blends together so seamlessly and naturally that it looks like you’re wearing the perfect amount of makeup. I tried it and took pics the other day, and I think the subtlety of the effect gets a little lost in photographs, but it looks really, really good in real life, especially outdoors in full sun.

Try it sometime!

I’ve been even more into “real life” makeup than usual lately because of a late-night vortex I got sucked into on Facebook called . It’s a page that posts zoomed-in pics of celebs wearing makeup, and OH, MY GOSH, it’s a revelation. I mean, I take a lot of closeup pics of myself for the blog, and I’m know that many things can influence the way a particular look will look in real life, like the direction of the light source, the color temperature of the lighting, the finishes you’re wearing, the makeup brands themselves, how much water you’ve been drinking, and the techniques and tools you’re using, and the same looks can look cake-y one minute and natural the next, but to see celebs without any filtering or airbrushing is pretty eye-opening.

I have to say that whoever is handling Kiera Knightly’s, Lupita Nyong’o’s and Kristen Stewart’s makeup is a freaking genius (hmm, I wonder if it’s Lisa Eldgridge’s work?), because up close all of them are wearing breathtaking full-coverage makeup, but it doesn’t look heavy at all.

On that note, this weekend’s reading…

• This post talks about some of the different approaches to natural-looking, or “no-makeup,” makeup, including this year’s new-ish “boy beat” trend.

  First, what’s the trend and who defines it? I’m so confused…

• One of the biggest beauty trends right now is vegan makeup, .

• Toddlers: the newest market for makeup. Stila’s former chief product development officer .

  ME this, part of me thinks, “It’s all in good fun, Karen. TAKE A CHILL PILL,” because my mom let me have Lip Smackers when I was a kid, but another part of me is also super uncomfortable with the idea of .

• It’s a long tail… (Badum-tss!)
• This writer decided to find out what would happen if all of the makeup she had to work with was food, and yes, in case you were wondering, .
• Fave read of the week:
• I’m sorry I had to subject you to this,
• This 39-year-old cat lover became a millionaire by

This dude makes udon noodles from scratch while he hangs out with his cats!

Modern day cat ladies tend to the kitties that live in the ruins of Rome.

Ooh, I wanna try this.

And I want to try this too (I’m a little obsessed with Pixiwoo at the moment).

OK, now I’m off to go wash my brushes because I haven’t done a deep clean in weeks. I’ve just been wiping the same ones off on a paper towel and hoping for the best. #keepingitreal!

Man, sometimes you gotta do what you gotta do to make it through the day, you know? LOL! ?

You have a good weekend, OK?

Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,

Karen

So…what is the Monday Poll?

Excellent question! It isn’t, contrary to its name, an actual poll, like with little clicky buttons. It’s just a list of five more or less random questions I’ve been posting on this blog every Monday morning for the past quadrillion years (since 2007). I love reading your answers, and it helps me get my week off to a good start. ?

1. Topknot or blowout?

Blowout…but only if someone else does it for me!

2. Have you ever tried doing ?

No, but I really, really want to! I keep meaning to get a bar of glycerine soap whenever I go to Target, but I keep forgetting. I love the brushed-up brow look.

3. Coldest place you’ve ever visited?

Um…Lake Tahoe? In general, I try to stay away from the cold because I’m a weather wimp.

4. Have you ever grown out your armpit hair?

Nope! I don’t think I’ve ever seen my ‘pits in their natural state. I started shaving them right when I started growing body hair.

5. Do you have anything (charms, necklaces, etc.) hanging from your rear-view mirror?

I vaguely recall hanging my college graduation tassel from the rear-view mirror of my old red Honda Civic (nicknamed “Claude”) way back when, but I can’t remember where it went!

My parents adopted that car after I got a new one about a decade ago. In the intervening years, it was broken into a couple times, got stolen, then was lost for a year, then was found by the police (I KNOW!) and returned to my parents.

Now they keep it around as a backup car.

Somewhere along the way, that graduation tassel disappeared somewhere.

So I ended up not getting any Spanx leggings on Black Friday…

But they’re still on my Christmas list. After being brutally honest with myself about my closet — and the huge stack of black leggings I currently own — I decided it would be wiser to use my clothing budget on some affordable dresses at LOFT (50% off sale!), which I’ll be able to dress up or down. Plus, THEY’RE NOT PANTS. Ha ha ha!

Did you end up getting anything on Black Friday? Or do you plan to get something on Cyber Monday today?

Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,

Karen

P.S. Question time! Here they are to copy/paste with your answers in a comment. Talk to you soon.

1. Topknot or blowout?
2. Have you ever tried doing soap brows?
3. Coldest place you’ve ever visited?
4. Have you ever grown out your armpit hair?
5. Do you have anything (charms, necklaces, etc.) hanging from your rear-view mirror?

When you’re well into your second decade of life, sometimes you can’t help but look back at the cats, toddlers and humans you’ve known, the places you’ve been, the flowers you’ve sniffed, the collars you’ve rocked, and the makeup looks you’ve inspired.

Call it a fall career retrospective, if you will. Tabs (and I) got a little emo today looking back at old pics from falls of yore.

Fall has always been one of Tabs’ favorite times of year, and not just because the turkeys are plump and the grass is extra green and tasty, but also because of fall fashion.

[Continue reading…]

Good morning, meow mix! Do you ever have temporary bouts of cat clothing-related insanity? I’m going to venture a guess now that this does not come as a shock, but I do, and mine routinely occur at Target.

I was there the other day when I saw this children’s dress… Or is it a tunic top? I’m not exactly sure what it is, TBH! It was on a rack. When I saw it, I paused and thought, “Hmm… If I can find it in an XL, I bet I could wear it as a t-shirt!”

LOL. Then I came to my senses… Can ya blame me, though? That cat is super cute! ?

Oh, and I also saw this interesting mint green coat that reminds me of the bathroom rug my parents had in the ’80s, ha ha!

I kinda wanted to get it, but I held back because I already own enough clothing that makes me look like a Muppet…

On that note, let’s get to this weekend’s reading.

• In case you were wondering what to do if
• Up until recently, the scientific community mostly ignored the bio-mechanics of cat grooming, but researchers recently discovered that the spiny bumps on cat tongues, which are known as papillae, are actually curved backward toward the throat, and they’re now applying .
• , and it isn’t about the dark goings-on at a haunted fragrance counter… In it, a criminal profiler investigates a series of murders that trace back to a group of boarding school students who once experimented with psychologically manipulating people using scents.
• !

• What does “clean beauty” even mean? There isn’t a clear-cut definition here in the U.S., and the marketing can be hella confusing.

  , and what different camps of people within the beauty world think of them.

• Good to know —> Google is working on .
• ! (Side note: I wonder what he or she thinks about Instagram brows.)
• .
• A dermatologist’s guide to .
• Things to keep in mind if .
• In case you haven’t noticed, .

One of my faves

On my “good morning” playlist at the moment

Why yes, I’m on a ’90s music kick!

All I want for Christmas are Lisa’s lipsticks, LOL.

If you’re that one awkward mom at the birthday party, a.k.a. me

Have a great rest of your weekend. Stay dry.

Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,

Karen

Happy Thanksgiving, sweet friend. Let me be the cheeseball/ball of cheese that I am for a second, OK? I’m here to remind you 1) that you are ❤️ loved, 2) you are capable, and 3) you’re exactly where you’re supposed to be in life, even if you don’t feel like you’re quite “there” (wherever that “there” is) yet in your journey. I’m thankful every day that we’ve somehow, through the magic of the interwebz, gotten to know each other.

Like a lot of women, I crave connection. Need it. Thrive on it. Feeling like I’m part of a tribe makes life feel a little less…well, tedious. Like I don’t have to go it all alone.

I’ve been thinking a lot about this line I heard recently in a horror show I watched on Netflix called The Haunting of Hill House (of all things!), where one of the characters talks about preparing children for the dangers of “the real world,” and what she says stuck with me. “It [the real world] has teeth. It is hungry, and it is stupid, and it eats and eats mindlessly.”

Sometimes, I feel like I’m being chewed up and consumed by all of the adulting I have to do all the time — bills, work, the drudgery of everyday things like vacuuming the couch and cleaning the bathroom. How do you get through it all without feeling like you’re stuck on a hamster wheel? How do you feel less lonely?

Answer: You find friends where you can, and you hold onto them. Tight. And that’s what I cherish most and am thankful for the most here at MBB — all of the friendships I’ve made along the way (since 2007!). Without you gals, I’d be outta my frickin’ mind by now. Really. Granted, that may sound a little dramatic (what, me dramatic? NO WAY!), but if life had taken a different turn and I were doing something else instead, like teaching underwater basket weaving to tourists on a remote island, I know that I’d probably be fine…but there would most definitely be a hole in my heart. An emptiness. There would be something missing.

I am so, so thankful that we found each other in this little corner of the world. I’m grateful to you for your thoughtfulness, your compassion, your wit and your joie de vivre, and I’m happy to say that I’m one of the lucky women who has a tribe of girlfriends to turn to.

Thank you for being a friend, and yes, I just quoted The Golden Girls! ? Thank you for having my back, because I’ll always have yours.

I hope you have a wonderful Thanksgiving. Eat an extra helping of mashed potatoes for me, will ya?

With lots of love, your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,

Karen