Mascara Minute: Maybelline Volum' Express The Falsies

($7.49, Maybelline, CVS)

Okay, EYE LOVE this mascara. Get it? "Eye" instead of "I"? You get it. Anyway, if you think you can't find a decent mascara at the drugstore, you are sorely mistaken. And the great thing about drugstore mascara is if you buy it and don't love it, you're out like a couple bucks instead of, say, $22. Also, I'm in no way paid to endorse them, but they are my favorite drugstore (especially since there's one about 14 steps from my apartment), but I really love CVS because they'll let you return any and all beauty products if you tried something and you were like "meh." But you will SO not be "meh" about Maybelline Volum' Express The Falsies. It's got a rounded spoon brush that's made of fibers, not rubber (though I definitely LOVE a rubber brush), which separate and truly truly outrageously elongate your lashes, while the keratin formula makes your lashes look way more full. Of course, like any mascara in the entire universe, you need to apply a few coats -- The Falsies dries quickly, so apply fast. I like to do one entire eye -- curl, apply one coat starting from the base to the tips, doing that wiggly technique thing, and then apply a second coat to really bring them out. If The Falsies fails you it's because you have failed The Falsies. Oh yeah, since I don't do waterproof mascaras, I can't tell you how the waterproof version works. Only the "Very Black." There's a reason Maybelline's The Falsies has the letters "T," "F" and "M" in its name: it also stands for Tamar's Favorite Mascara.

(Disclosure: I was sent this product by PR.)

The Year In Beauty: These Are My Favorite Things, Part 3

Welcome back. And here we have part three of my and Beauty Blogging Junkie's Amber's favorite beauty products of 2010. I don't think my cat makes a cameo in this video, but you will see a lot of wine!

The products I love in this video include Topshop's big, fat Lip Crayon -- I truly thought I couldn't do a big, bright hot pink, but it works in Topshop's matte -- Urban Decay's spectacular Naked Palette, which is a celebrations of beachy browns and golds, Sulwahsoo Concentrated Ginsing Cream, which costs a small fortune but is worth every stress-inducing dollar you'd part with for insanely hydrated skin, Honore de Pres Va A New York perfume, which smells like the end of a long night out in New York, Burberry's Effortless Mascara, and Maybelline's Volum Express The Falsies mascara.

Amber's beauty BFFs are Stila Smudge Pot in Kitten, La Prairie Advanced Marine Biology Tonic, Juliette Has a Gun Fragrance Set (Lady Vengeance), Napoleon Perdis Lipstick in Calypso, La Prairie Anti Aging Eye Cream SPF 15 and Alterna Kendi Oil.

Again, my outfit ended up being an exercise in what NOT to wear on TV. But speaking of TV, I'm going to be on VH1's Top 40 Music Videos of 2010 Countdown show tonight, so hopefully I will be exonerated. And the lady who did my makeup did ELTON JOHN'S makeup for years. No, she did not make me look like Elton. Oh well. There's always next year.

($44, Urban Decay)

The Year In Beauty: These Are My Favorite Things, Part 1!

Happy between-Chanukkah-and-Christmas time!
Beauty Blogging Junkie's Amber and I got together, pooled our favorite lip glosses, hair goops and mascara wands, opened a bottle of red wine, and made a couple of videos of us discussing our favorite beauty products of 2010.

I learned a lot from doing these videos! I learned that while my outfit looked adorable in person, it came off as positively uncute on camera. I wore a high-waisted circle skirt whilst SEATED ON MY SMOOSHY COUCH! I look like I was born without a waist. Ugh. Live and learn, people. I learned that making videos is insanely time-consuming, and while I already respected bloggers who regularly devote their time to making their own videos, I now pretty much think they're Jesus. And I learned that Windows Movie Maker was put on this planet to destroy me.

Anyway, hope you like it! There are more where this came from!




And check out my Naag.com review of MAC's Haute & Naughty Lash
and C.O. Bigelow Protein-Enriched Conditioner for Dry & Damaged Hair. Amber hyped up Tokyomilk Bon Bon Shea Butter Hand Cream and Panthera Ultraflesh Mascara, which is SHAPED LIKE A PANTHER. I got excited about that, you'll notice.Who even cares how it works when it looks like that?

A Bunch of Naag.com Beauty Pieces!

(Image by the incredible Designed Memory)

Remember how I told you I'm writing about beauty for Naag.com? Well here are a bunch of beauty pieces I wrote in which I, of all people, tell YOU how to look better, whether or not you need to.

+ MAC's phenomenal Haute & Naughty mascara: Its packaging is totally Barbie And The Rockers, and it gives you RuPaul lashes. I think I've said enough.

+ Mistral soaps: Heaven-scent (GET IT?) handmade French soaps thick as bricks, and they last forever.

+ Fresh Pomegranate Conditioner: My favorite conditioner of all time. It comes with the story of how I klepto'ed them from the Roosevelt Hotel in Hollywood.

+ Too Faced Aqua Bunny Bronzer: It's so not Snooki.

Demi Moore Freaks Out Over Mascara, Meanwhile Rachel Zoe Is A Fucking Walking Skeleton In A Wig

Look, Demi Moore seems like a really nice lady, and I will say that Rachel Zoe is talented with a dress and a pair of heels. But at what point do you look at yourself in the mirror and admit that you look like a skeleton in a wig? Because she does. She makes me wanna straight-up shove her head into a pizza and not let go until she's eaten at least four pieces. I don't care how long it takes. I'M OBESSSSSSSSSED with how ill she looks. And listen, I'm all about loving your body and body types, and all of that, but there's a difference between being naturally thin and sick. And I love fun beauty products and silly packaging as much as the next girl. But you don't die over awesome mascara. No seriously you die, like, from not eating food. (Also, mascara is not food.)

Binge Beauty: Thank You, Bobbi Brown. For Your Perfectly Defined Mascara Miracle

($22, Bobbi Brown)

Right now, I think my feelings for Bobbi Brown's new Perfectly Defined Mascara would best be described by Alanis Morissette's "Thank U." I have never been to India nor walked the streets naked, but I have tried some pretty shit-tay mascaras before.

So,

THANK you, Imju Fiberwig, for BLOWING and NOT giving me good fake lashes.
THANK YOU Dior Show, for being an overpriced, clumpy piece of crap.
THANK YOU Benefit's BadGal for crapping out on me and ALWAYS smudging.
THANK YOUUUUUUUUUHOOOOHHHH Maybelline's Great Lash for being the least-great mascara of all time.

No, thank YOU Bobbi Brown. Perfectly Defining Mascara is a little tricky to get the hang of, but now that I've learned to apply slowly, steadily, and -- here's the silver beauty bullet -- on top of a few healthy coats of Cover Girl's Lash Blast ("Ol' Orange," as I like to call her) -- my lashes are A MIRACLE of smudge-free, easy-off, black-as-the-night modern mascara. WONDER OF WONDERS! A MIRACLE!

I've said it before, and I'll say it again, Bobbi Brown... Thank you.

Thank U-Alanis Morrissette @ Yahoo! Video