Facecare

I’ve lived in the Bay Area practically all of my life and had no idea that this gorgeous place existed. Fioli Historic House and Gardens is just about an hour away from where I live Marin county. It’s in the peninsula, south of San Francisco. Back in the day, it was a private residence, but now you can visit it and explore the mansion and the grounds.

I went a couple weeks ago with my friends, Jen and Cindy; you might remember them from the MAC Evolution Revolution launch from waaaay back when. 🙂 We had tea at the cafe, explored the gardens and caught up.

Sometimes I can’t believe that I used to talk to these two and see them every day. That’s one of the magical things of my childhood and teenage years that I didn’t fully understand the wonder of until I got older. To be able to say that I spent almost every day of my formative years with good friends was such a gift.

Anywho, back to the gardens! Everywhere you go, there’s something gorgeous to see.

If you ever get the chance to visit, please make your way to the rose garden and read through all the names of the roses. They’re low-key scandalous, LOL!

Where you live, are there any cool houses with gardens like this one?

Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,

Karen

Yup, it’s officially fall around here, and Rosie’s soaking it in.

Tabs would have been bustin’ out the scarves already! As you know, this is a great time of year for feline fashion.

Rosie’s also a big fan…

Tabs did some of his most memorable kitty modeling campaigns for fall, including his award-winning Autumn Leaves tutorial, which set the standard for feline makeup infographics for years to come.

Rosie has kept the fall vibes going here at Tabs the Cat Industries, LLC, but Tabs was the cat who blazed the trail.

Jeez, that swagger, those eyes, those markings…

Simply incredible. 🙂

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 more or less random questions I’ve been posting on this blog every Monday morning for the past quadrillion years (since 2007).

1. Are you contemplating any limited edition holiday makeup releases?

I usually prefer products in the permanent collections because in my experience holiday makeup performs differently for whatever reason. I do love a holiday fragrance set, though!

2. Are BB creams worth your time?

My answer was no back in the day, but now that I’m into minimal base, I’m thinking it could be good if I find one that agrees with my skin. Hmm, maybe that will be my next makeup project – finding “the one.” I stumbled onto this one by Dr. Jart and it looks pretty good.

3. Your favorite video game?

It’s all about old school Tetris on a Gameboy, baby!

4.Advice you wish you would’ve received as a young person?

I wish someone would’ve found a way to convey to me without sounding judgemental or preachy that worrying about boys is a waste of time and that throwing yourself fully into your studies with an exciting end goal in mind (like studying abroad), is the key.

5. Something you hope to accomplish this week?

Make it through the week with a growth mindset. 🙂

Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,

Karen

P.S. Here are the questions to copy/paste with your answers in a comment. Talk to ya soon.

1. Are you contemplating any limited edition holiday makeup releases?
2. Are BB creams worth your time?
3. Your favorite video game?
4. Advice you wish you would’ve received as a young person?
5. Something you accomplished this week?

I’m so proud of us, babe! First of all, we made it to Friday, which is no small feat. Secondly, we’ve risen to the challenge to wear lip color all week long! Good job, friend. 🙂

Here’s what I wore yesterday, MAC Velvet Teddy. Sometimes you just need an old friend to get you through the last bits of the week, you know?

OK, so whatcha got?

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 more or less random questions I’ve been posting on this blog every Monday morning for the past quadrillion years (since 2007).

1. Something nice someone did for you recently?

My friend took me out to tea yesterday. I don’t know what it is about those tiny little sandwiches and a hot pot of earl grey, but it does a lot for my soul.

2. What’s your favorite holiday?

Halloween because it’s fun, you get to dress up and it doesn’t involve getting gifts or orchestrating a big meal!

3. Something that makes you nervous?

Driving next to big semi-trucks on the freeway that are going waaaaaay too fast.

4. My favorite weekday lunch is?

Roasted red pepper pasta with garbanzo beans and basil topped with lots of parmesan cheese. YUM!

5. Something you accomplished over the weekend?

I made myself take some downtime and did absolutely nothing housework related. Sure, there are tufts of pet hair floating down the hallway and I’ll need to do a grocery run after work, but I actually feel rested.

Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,

Karen

P.S. Here are the questions to copy/paste with your answers in a comment. Talk to ya soon.

1. Something nice someone did for you recently?
2. What’s your favorite holiday?
3. Something that makes you nervous?
4. My favorite weekday lunch is?
5. Something you accomplished over the weekend?

Super quick hi on this beautiful Thursday morning because I’m running late, ahh!

Here’s a bright pink I wore yesterday to work, MAC Billion Dollar Smile, a bright pink that’s totally up my alley. 🙂

What lip color are you rockin’?

Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,

Karen

I’m a little surprised that I don’t look more frazzled in this picture because about 20 minutes before I took it, I stumbled down the hill in our cul-de-sac like a Looney Tunes cartoon character!

No seriously, I full-on rolled down a hill. We live in a neighborhood with tons of oak trees that produce these gigantic acorns, and as I was walking Connor down the hill to school I guess I wasn’t really paying attention to where my feet were landing, so when I stepped on an acorn, which basically was like a massive marble, my right ankle rolled underneath me.

That set off a chain reaction of me falling to the ground, and right as I hit the pavement, I reflexively tucked into a round ball, which then caused me to tumble down the steep hill even more as I clung onto Connor’s little pink backpack with dear life!

Honestly, I’m at a point in life where I’m just happy that if I fall, 1) I actually get back up, and 2) I have all of my teeth intact, so thank you, Goddesses of the Universe, for having my back. Otherwise this selfie would’ve looked very different, OMG!

Long story short, I’m wearing Rare Beauty Soft Pinch Tinted Lip Oil in Happy, which is a cool pink. Oh, and my ankle is a little bruised. Not sprained though.

This lip color will forever be burned in my mind as what I was wearing the day I rolled down the hill.

Oh, and here’s more thing that was super weird about it. It seemed to all happen in slow motion, like, I floated out of my body and was watching the whole thing happen right when it was happening. So weird!

Anyway, my coworker noticed that I was limping and asked what happened, and after recounting all the sordid details, she proceeded to tell me an even crazier story of when she fell and rolled down a hill.

She lives in San Francisco on a very steep hill, and as she was walking her dogs, they ran into two puppies with very bad manners (she called the puppies “Menace” and “Mischief”). Somehow her dogs and Menace and Mischief got into a scuffle, and she ended up rolling down the hill in her pajamas and landing in a big pile of dog poop.

Rolling down hills, 100% do not recommend!

Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,

Karen

Happy Tuesday! For day 2 of the Fall 2024 Lipstick Challenge, I’m wearing an oldie but goodie — NARS Dragon Girl, a cool-toned red lip crayon.

I’ve got the old school version in the black packaging, RIP. NARS reformulated their lip crayon line into what they call the Powermattes, and you know, sometimes I wonder why brands don’t just leave well enough alone. Anywho, I like the color of the older version, which I think is slightly cooler and more magenta.

Two things before I head out! One, for some reason I always want to call this lipstick “Dragon Roll,” like it’s a type of sushi, hahaha! The second is that if I look a little dazed and confused in these pictures (which I took right before heading into the office), it’s because my co-worker caught me taking selfies, and I was kinda embarrassed to be having a full-on photo shoot in my car so early in the morning. 🙂

What lip color are you wearing today?

Have a most excellent Tuesday, my friend!

Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,

Karen

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Hey, hey Saturday! I’m still around, and I’m still alive, and I’m still wearing Candy Yum Yum lipstick by MAC! I found it last week while I was rooting around inside a makeup drawer and decided that even though it’s fall, hot pink is still wildly appropriate for the season, ha ha ha!

I’m just realizing right now that I’ve yet to wear any dark, rich and cozy wine, burgundy, brown, garnet or red fall lip colors, hmm. In fact, my lipstick game has been pretty MIA for a while now.

Still, I gotta give props to myself and to all the makeup lovers out there who are doing a decent job filling in brows, curling lashes and basically doing the bare minimum to look somewhat undead. LOL!

It’s funny to me that I haven’t really been wearing anything on my lips because lipstick and gloss are usually my favorite part of the makeup process.

Lately, I’ll paint on some base and blush and whatever else I have time for in the mornings, and by that time I realize I need to leave or I’ll be late, so, I just assume that I’ll put on my lip color at work after I have some tea.

But is that happening? NOPE! Maybe I should do a short week-long challenge to wear a lip color every day next Monday through Friday to work. Who’s with me?

Speaking of work, here is my forever challenge: I get back home after picking Connor up from school, and then I start doing chores and prep for the next day, and then the last thing I want to do is make dinner because I’m starving.

I ran into an acquaintance recently who’s also a working mom; she works in the food industry and knows lots of good tips and tricks for making meals and whatnot. Anywho, she told me she experiences this same sort of hanger (aka hungry anger), too, and the way she gets through it is to snack on a little fruit and cheese while she prepares dinner.

I started doing this, and WOW! Amazing how a little snack can be so life changing.

Last week I snacked on a bit of Breakfast Cheese by Marin French Cheese (I get it at Trader Joe’s) with apple slices or grapes while I made dinner. I felt like a human being again.

This is a little random, but while we’re on the subject of fruit, I’ve found the best way to get my people to eat ALL the fruit in the house.

When I get home from the grocery store, before I put the fruit away, I wash, dry and prep all the fruit, stash it all into clear containers, and then chuck them into the fridge so it’s available to eat right away.
I’ve noticed that when I do this, every single last bit of fruit gets eaten and none of it is ever wasted. Try it sometime!

Last but certainly not least, how is life on your end of the keyboard? I hope that you’re happy and healthy and that work has been treating you kindly.

I’m off to take Connor to a dance performance, the first one of the year. Her dance team is dancing to “Grease Lightning” at a local street fair celebrating classic cars and nostalgia for ye olde days of yore, which I’m realizing now, are like, the ’90s and early 2000s. Ha!

How are you spending your Saturday?

Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,

Karen