Mama always said, “When life hands you insomnia, hide your dark circles with concealer.”

Okay, my mom didn’t actually say that because she doesn’t wear makeup (I know! The apple fell so far from the tree!).

Anyhoo, I was inspecting the purplish nether regions under my eyes this morning and feeling pretty crappy because of the whole no sleep thing, so I decided to run with it and try a purplish-brown smokey eye. The result improved my sour mood and put a lil’ spring in my step, for sure!

The shadows I used from left to right:

• MAC Showstopper (matte)
• MAC Newly Minted (matte)
• MAC Frisco (matte)
• MAC Saddle (matte)
• MAC Retrospeck (lustre)
• MAC Star Violet (veluxe pearl)
• MAC Sable (frost) - Whoops! I forgot to swatch this one. Click here to view a swatch.

I haven’t been a regular user of matte shadows in the past, but I went all out with them this time. Thanks to MAC Senior Makeup Artist Jennifer Karsten’s advice, I’ve decided I’m going to work diligently to couple them with shimmer shades to create more depth in my eye makeup looks.

The color map below shows where I placed the different eyeshadows…

1. MAC Frisco - browbone
2. MAC Saddle - crease
3. MAC Star Violet - lid
4. MAC Sable - outer third of lid
5. MAC Showstopper - outer V
6. MAC Retrospeck - inner third of lid
7. MAC Newly Minted - upper lash line (I smudged this on top MAC Technakohl eyeliner in Graphblack)
8. MAC Saddle and Sable - lower lash line

Trying to balance the look, I kept the lips neutral and the cheeks light.

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Read the rest of Face of the Day: MAC Smokey Brown and Purple Eye (103 words)

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Last night I slept a total of about 3.5 hours because of different things on my mind, but in that time I managed to have a few vivid dreams, including one where I was trapped in the 80’s sitcom The Golden Girls.

Perhaps the dream was a cry for help, but, honestly, I can’t think of another TV show in which I’d rather be trapped. I love that show!

Sure, the ladies of The Golden Girls are more than twice my age, but I can’t get enough of Blanche, Dorothy, Sophia and Rose’s hijinks. Plus, the show is set in Miami — hello, surfing. Let the hilarity ensue!

In the dream I moved into the house and became the fifth Golden Girl. Sophia taught me how to cook Sicilian food, and Rose asked if I could post a picture of her new hairdo on the blog. Yup, good times.

I hope I have a Sex and the City dream now, but I really can’t see myself living in New York because I’m a wuss when it comes to cold winters.

Speaking of TV dreams, could you imagine being stuck in The Hills? I can see myself hanging out with Lo and Whitney, but the show’s male characters are terribly sub-par. Could anyone have a meaningful conversation with Spencer or Justin Bobby, the ambassadors of lame?

If you could transport yourself into any show on TV, what would it be? YOU MUST CHOOSE!

Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,

Karen

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The Society of Plastic Surgical Skin Care Specialists (SPSSCS) celebrates its 14th Annual Meeting — Catch the New Wave in Skin Care, to be held in San Diego, CA. The meeting offers educational seminars for nurses, aestheticians and other trained skin care specialists working in the offices of plastic surgeons certified by the American Board of Plastic Surgery or the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada. Also featured are exhibits from companies providing the latest products and services for medically-supervised skin care.

Two highlights from the Skin Care 2008 include:

This meeting will focus on scope of practice issues regarding aesthetic
care. As states begin to apply more regulatory pressures on nurses and
aestheticians who perform procedures, it is becoming increasingly important
to let people know exactly who is qualified to perform them. Presentations
include a panel discussion on the current regulatory environment for nurses
and aestheticians as well as proposed educational standards. Dr. Neal
Reisman, a board certified plastic surgeon and attorney from Houston, TX,
will also speak about steps to take to keep the patient, the doctor and the
skin care specialist safe.

Until a few years ago there were just a handful of medical skin-care
lines. Now, with hundreds of product lines being sold everywhere from
drugstores to doctors’ offices, even skin care specialists are confused
about what the best products are, and which are the best products for the
individual patient.

The panel titled Oh No! How Do I Know What to Choose? will compare
over-the-counter products to cosmeceuticals, as well as look at common
ingredients, evaluate the penetration of ingredients, and examine the new
trend of organic products.

WHAT: Skin Care 2008 — Catch The New Wave In Skin Care

Annual Meeting: Society of Plastic Surgical Skin Care Specialists

(Note: SPSSCS meeting is during the Annual Meeting of the American
Society for Aesthetic Plastic Surgery (ASAPS), San Diego Convention Center,
May 2-6)

WHERE: San Diego Marriott Marquis and Marina - San Diego, CA

WHEN: April 30 - May 3, 2008

FACTS ABOUT MEDICALLY-SUPERVISED SKIN CARE:

Medically-supervised skin care, administered by qualified staff,
provides patients with safe, clinically-tested treatments that are proven
effective.

Medically-supervised skin care offers patients expert guidance in
selecting appropriate products for home use — products with stronger, more
effective ingredients than are available over-the-counter.

Medically-supervised skin care has become part of today’s plastic
surgery practice. Among members of the American Society for Aesthetic
Plastic Surgery (ASAPS), 49%* employ a skin care specialist on staff. An
additional 9%* of ASAPS members contract the services of an independent
skin care specialist.

Panel: Oh No! How Do I Know What To Choose?

Thursday, May 1, 2008, 11:20 a.m.-12:45 p.m.

Panel: Scope of Practice — How To Research And Determine What Is
Allowed In Your State

Thursday, May 1, 2008, 2:30-3:15 p.m.

Presenters are available for interviews.

For more information see: http://www.spsscs.org.

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You probably already knew that MAC provides makeup and makeup artists for fashion shows all over the world, but did you know that MAC does makeup for music tours, too? If you have tickets to rapper Kanye West’s Glow in the Dark North American tour (April-June, 2008), expect to see MAC in action. The MAC team is creating the looks for several of the dancers, backup singers and accompanying musicians on the tour.

And Glow in the Dark isn’t the first MAC/Kanye partnership. They’ve been at it for years, with MAC working on a number of Kanye’s tours, special performances and videos.

To find out more about how MAC works with performers on large concerts and events, I spoke with MAC Senior Makeup Artist Jennifer Karsten. Jennifer worked on Kanye’s Touch the Sky tour, his 2007 MTV Music Video Awards appearance and the Flashing Lights video.

Jennifer did the makeup for the girl in this video. Yo, shuttle the kids into the other room before you watch this because the end is kinda graphic.

Unlike the full-time singers, dancers and musicians who travel with an artist on tour, MAC artists are usually assigned at each stop along the way. How do all these different makeup artists in different cities maintain a consistent makeup look throughout a lengthy tour? “We all communicate through the senior artists and global communications,” Jennifer says, “so everyone knows what the look is and to keep the continuity going.”

MAC artists working on high-profile music events face challenges that makeup artists working fashion shows don’t often face. Large concerts are complex productions. “When you’re dealing with someone more high profile,” says Jennifer, “you have a lot more channels to go through.” It can be more difficult or challenging to really get the look correct because you’re filtering an idea through someone else.

For one of his performances at the 2007 MTV music video awards, Kanye wanted a futuristic, glamorous, high fashion makeup look. The MAC team envisioned a glossy, futuristic cat eye (ooh, me likey!). MAC artists created a “test look” on one of the orchestra performers. It then took six hours, several calls, and pictures taken with cell phones to get the test look approved. That left the team with only 20 minutes to replicate the look on the rest of the orchestra.

And, ultimately, fashion show makeup isn’t meant to overshadow the clothing. That’s not always the case in a concert, where the makeup often defines the look.

MAC Makeup Tips - Concert Makeup

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Read the rest of MAC Makeup Tips: MAC Does Makeup for Music, Too (324 words)

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