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Makeup For Biking to Work

04/23/2013 By 56 Comments

makeup for biking to workWhich makeup is best for a biking commute, or another commute where you expect sweat and possibly wind? Reader K wonders…

Being lucky enough to live only four miles from my office, I’m wanting to start taking a bike to and from work every day for personal fitness, sustainability, and savings on gas and vehicle wear-and-tear. The difficulty is with wardrobe and makeup. Specifically, making sure I don’t look like a war zone every day. I have a feeling this is an issue for women in very urban environments as well, where walking and subway commutes can be the transportation method of choice. Since I’m in Texas heat is the biggest issue, but I’d also be interested in any ideas for dealing with the cold, wind, and other factors. What are some ideas for making sure I don’t look like a hot mess at work after biking in?

Great question. Biking to work (or walking!) are solid ways to sneak more exercise into a busy life — I actually really miss the time I used to spend walking to and from work. We’ve talked about the best bags for commuting, how to cool down quickly after a hot commute, and how to keep your regular bra sweat-free.  We’ve had guest posters share their love of wedges for walk-to-work heels, and I’ve shared my own trick — getting a pair of comfortable/stable “commuting shoes” that were the same height as my regular pumps (so I didn’t have to hem my pants differently), but maybe a bit uglier than what I’d otherwise wear around the office; I’ve also talked about how I’ve logged way too many miles in Reef/Teva flipflops with arch support (not recommended).  But we haven’t talked about which makeup is best for a possibly sweaty/windswept commute. [Read more...]

Filed Under: Commuting, Exercise, Makeup That Stays Put, Weather

Beauty Wednesday: Lash Extensions and the Professional Woman

09/14/2011 By 126 Comments

The hunt for the perfect, clump-free mascara can be trying — are lash extensions the answer?  The first person to introduce me to this concept was Amber Katz of Beauty Blogging Junkie — we met at a PR dinner for bloggers and I couldn’t take my eyes off her lashes!  Today she’s sharing some of the most common questions she gets (both as a beauty blogger and a girl with fabulous lashes) here with us today.  Welcome, Amber! – Kat

I’m so excited to guest post today on Corporette. It’s especially apropos as I’m just “rolling off” an 8-year corporate experience fully to be 100% freelance. After 3 jobs at various financial firms ranging from suit-corporate to business casual, I’m fully versed in the magical world of staid nail polish, patent pumps and wearing hemlines that won’t cause people to call me “that girl who wears the minis” at work. Running a beauty and fashion blog by night and being a financial writer by day often caused wardrobe conundrums–anything I wore that was appropriate for my day job made me look as if I belonged at a nunnery at my post-work event. By the same token, anything I wore that was remotely fashionable and cool for a beauty launch was TOTALLY tarty for work. But one thing that was always appropriate and–dare I use this terminology–a PARADIGM SHIFT? My eyelash extensions. I started getting them in 2009 and I haven’t stopped. I tell you, corporate women of the world–this procedure while lengthy in one shot will save you an abundance of time in the morning putting on mascara and liner. You simply won’t need it for daytime. Imagine a world where you WAKE UP Starbucks ready. It’s amazing and I’m never going back to the clumpy world of mascara. However, be prepared for a metric TON of questions about your lashes. I half-joke that 87% of my conversations are lash-extension related. I’m constantly answering the same few questions from everyone to my former financial side-hustle’s CFO to the woman in front of me at Jamba Juice. Here they are: [Read more...]

Tagged With: , Filed Under: Beauty, Makeup That Stays Put

Sponsored Post: Kat’s Lancome House of Color Video

06/03/2011 By 47 Comments


Lancome's Color Design 5 Pan palette in Taupe CrazeA few weeks ago Lancome asked a few of their favorite style bloggers to create short films inspired by the colors of their Color Design 5 Pan palettes, and I was honored to be included. They sent me the Lancome’s Color Design 5 Pan palette in Taupe Craze (which I truly do love and have been wearing to death), and my cameraman (aka my husband) and I got to work filming, mostly in our Brooklyn Heights apartment and on The Promenade, which is a few blocks away.  (We did the filming a few weeks ago, so I’m about five months pregnant in the vids…)

You know that mythical object that beauty editors always talk about, the perfect beigy pink eye shadow that makes you look like you’re wearing nothing and instead just look totally awake and alive?  It exists — and it’s in this palette.  So I kept thinking about those rare mornings (rare for me, at least!) where you get up and the world is so full of possibility and promise and you can’t wait to tackle your to-do lists, and you actually do look awake and alive.

The other thing I kept thinking about was diamonds. My other favorite color in the palette, this dark dark brown (intended to line your eyes), has some serious sparkle to it. I’m always wary of sparkly makeup, especially for work,  because it can go wrong in so, so many ways, but this one just looks revitalizing and flattering.  You can see it sparkling both in the case and in some of the close-ups of my eyes.  My beloved right-hand diamond ring (which I feel like I’m always mentioning on this blog) makes a fairly prominent appearance in the video, as do my dangly diamond earrings that I wear for most major social occasions.

Without further ado, here’s the video!

You can find out more about the palette by checking out some of Lancome’s social channels, including YouTube, Twitter, and Facebook.  And, like I mentioned above, I’m only one of videos that Style Coalition did — they’ve been releasing one every day on the Style Coalition YouTube channel! The other bloggers who I’m honored to be among include What I Wore, M.I.S.S. Omni Media, College Fashion, Karla Sugar, Style Observer, nitro:licious, Dramatis Personae, The Jet Set Girls, Beauty Sweet Spot, My It Things, Afrobella, Pretty Shiny Sparkly, Fashion Pulse Daily, Chic Galleria, ThinkThruFashion, Eye4Style, Closet of Style, The Curvy Fashionista, and Beauty Blogging Junkie.  I agree 100% with College Fashion and Dramatis Personae, both of whom mentioned the eyeshadow’s long-lasting qualities — it really does stay put for 8-12 hours.

(The hubs and I shot the raw footage — but huge, huge thanks to Style Coalition and IKA Collective for doing such an awesome edit.  Oh, and thanks to my friends who came over for a dinner party and wound up getting roped into filming the toasting scene — they are now having an amusing discussion via email critiquing their toasting styles.  Ah, lawyers. Oh! And huge thanks to my old friend Michelle of Thursday Night Smackdown, who graciously let me use brownie shots from her drool-inspiring (and hilarious) food blog.)

Disclosure:  I received compensation for shooting this video, and was gifted with the Taupe Craze palette.

Readers, what luxury makeup indulges do you like the most?  How often are your “wake up and conquer the world” days?

Filed Under: Advertising, Beauty, Kat, Makeup That Stays Put, Sponsored Post

Makeup that Stays Put: Bobbi Brown’s Long-Wear Gel Eyeliner

02/17/2010 By 86 Comments

Our look always used to include liquid eyeliner.  But too many long days at the office (where we were left feeling like our eye makeup had gotten “crunchy”) have now made liquid eyeliner an occasional beauty product, usually for days where we want to set our makeup at the beginning of the day and have it stay in exactly the same place until we take it off because there is no time to fuss with it.  Our favorite eyeliner that we’ve found so far is Bobbi Brown’s long-wearing gel eyeliner.  The gel is easy to apply with the brush, and easy to blend into the lashes; we also like the variety of colors it comes in (we actually like the black/plum).  And, unlike our daily kohl pencil, this product stays put — it will be in exactly the same place until you remove it with your eyemakeup remover.  (A brief warning: the product does tend to dry out, so be sure to keep the top on tight — our “trick” for extending the dried out product (which we’re hoping our eye doctor wouldn’t frown upon too much) is to put some eyemakeup remover lotion on our finger, then dip the applicator brush in the lotion, and then in the pot of ink gel.)   It’s $21 at Nordstrom (also available at Saks and Amazon).  Bobbi Brown Long-Wear Gel Eyeliner
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Tagged With: , Filed Under: Beauty, Fashion, Makeup That Stays Put

Tool of the Trade: Touche Eclat

02/03/2010 By 23 Comments

We’re normally not fans of pricey beauty products — the drugstore is more of our vibe.  However, we were talked into buying this YSL highlighter as part of our wedding makeup, and we are absolutely addicted now, because it’s the perfect way to “look alive” after a long day of staring at the computer screen.  (We use it so often we even keep it in our purse, so we always have it with us.)  Before we head out for a night on the town, we’ll add a bit under the eyelids, alongside our nose beneath our brows, and up over the brow bones to perk up without getting that startled look that plain concealer can bring.  Brilliant.  It’s available at Sephora for $40. Yves Saint Laurent TOUCHE ÉCLATRadiant Touch 1 Luminous Radiance

Tagged With: , , , , , Filed Under: After-Work Activities, Beauty, Black-Tie/Fancy, Energy, Fashion, Love, Makeup That Stays Put, Sleep

What Makeup to Wear While Interviewing

01/26/2010 By 91 Comments

Today’s reader mail is another request for interview advice, this time in terms of makeup…

I have several on campus interviews for 1L summer jobs the first week in February. I have my conservative gray and black suits. I have my sensible Nine West pumps. I have worked on pulling my hair back off my face. The only piece of the puzzle I do not feel confident about is makeup. I have heard that minimal is the way to go, and I wasn’t planning on breaking out my extensive color palette for eyeshadow or lipstick. But how conservative should I go? Are we talking just foundation to cover flaws? Mascara and lip gloss? Neutral eyeliner and eyeshadow?

To be honest, we’ve never really thought much about what makeup to wear when we interview — but then, we tend to be somewhat boring in terms of daily makeup, to the tune of just varying the eye shadow color from day to day.  So we’re curious what the readers have to say on this one. (Pictured:  This is why you don’t give little girls makeup, originally uploaded to Flickr by Checkered and aMUSEd.) For our $.02, the makeup you wear should have two goals: [Read more...]

Tagged With: , , , , , , Filed Under: Beauty, Being Girly, Fashion, Fashion Gaffes, Hair, Interviewing, Job Hunting, Looking Young, Makeup That Stays Put, Networking