Cool-Toned Grays Signal a Smoky Black Friday at MAC: Available for One Day Only, the $25 MAC Smoky Black Friday Veluxe Pearl Fusion Shadow Trio

The new $25 MAC Smoky Black Friday Veluxe Pearlfusion Shadow Trio, available one day only on November 28, 2014, exclusively online at maccosmetics.com

Ya know…we should really figure out some sort of long-range communication system that doesn’t involve technology, just in case the sh*t ever hits the fan, and the Internet goes dark, and we need a way to ask each other important questions like, “Girl, are you doing any Black Friday shopping?” or, “What do you think of the new MAC Smoky Black Friday Velux Pearlfusion Shadow Trio?”

My first thought was carrier pigeons, but then many of us have cats…

So now I’m thinking smoke signals, but I haven’t figured out the vocabulary yet.

Like, how would you say, “I think the three Veluxe Pearlfusion Shadows in this online exclusive are just OK,” with a small fire and smoke?

I don’t know…

I’d also want to say, “I probably wouldn’t take off my hoop earrings and throw down if there was a shortage of these trios and I was forced to fight for the last one, but I might reach for one on a Friday night if I wanted to do a fast and shimmery smokey eye that didn’t require a ton of work.”

But that seems like a lot to say with puffs of smoke…

Wearing Smoky Black Friday on my lids and MAC Matte Lipstick in Nouvelle Vogue on my lips

Oh, well. I’ll keep working on it.

Until I figure something out, I guess we’ll have to continue exchanging makeup info the old-fashioned way.

Viva la Internet!

The $25 MAC Smoky Black Friday Veluxe Pearl Fusion Shadow Trio will be available exclusively at maccosmetics.com on Black Friday, November 28, 2014.

It comes with a shimmery beige, a cool-toned shimmery medium gray and a cool-toned shimmery dark gray, all of which can be applied dry or wet.

Would you cry yourself to sleep if you missed this on Black Friday? My guess is probably not… I think this one is more for die-hard MAC collectors than casual fans. Or, for anyone who hoards/covets cool-toned shimmery grays.

Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,

Karen

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Shorty Schwing My Way: theBalm’s Schwing Black Liquid Eyeliner Loves Ladies Who Pine for Precise Lines

Wearing theBalm Schwing Black Liquid Eyeliner ($17) on my upper lash lines

Winged eyeliner: making my life harder since the dawn of time.

Seriously, though, why does winged liner, particularly winged liquid liner, make me want to scream into a pillow?

The worst is that moment when the teeny wing you wanted ? just a small kitten flick ? suddenly morphs into a huge, oversized bat wing that reaches all the way up to your temples, and you have no control over the situation whatsoever.

It’s as if the universe invented winged liner primarily to mock us.

Well, universe, screw you and your plans for makeup mayhem, ’cause I just started using theBalm’s Schwing Black Liquid Eyeliner ($17), and I am no longer clutching my chair and rocking back and forth.

LOL, the box! This is kind of what it’s like to hang out with my friends Jen and Cindy.

You might think that a look with thin liquid liner and a tiny kitten flick would be easy, seeing as how you’re not using a ton of product, but oh! ? those skinny lines and tiny wings are like the makeup equivalent of open heart surgery. They’re just hard, man.

But Schwing is all about control. The felt tip draws skinny matte black lines with the precision of a fine-tipped calligraphy pen. Hugging lash lines is easy.

theBalm Schwing Black Liquid Eyeliner ($17)

And there’s no drama when it’s time to kitten flick, either. I’ll be going along, doop-da-doo, drawing my skinny little line, and then, when I get to the end, I just lightly touch the edge of my eye with the tip at my desired angle. Meow! ? there it is. All flicked out.

Sometimes I do have to make a tiny correction with a Q-tip and some eye cream, but that’s not as annoying as having to completely redraw the whole thing.

Several times over the past few weeks I’ve sat in front of the mirror after I’ve used Schwing, with my jaw literally hanging open, and me thinking, “Why was that so easy?” Is karma finally rewarding me for carrying around cat treats and feeding the hungry strays that cross my path? I dunno…

But I do know that Schwing has been making my liner life a hell of a lot easier.

Also wearing MAC Pro Longwear Lip Pencil in Trust in Red and MAC Matte Lipstick in La Vie En Rouge on my lips…

The formula dries almost immediately, so you don’t have to deal with any annoying transferring into the crease. In the time it takes for a cute stranger to wink at you, it sets, and stays for up to 12 hours.

Later, at removal time, you won’t need a sledgehammer…but let’s just say that one would probably come in handy.

If you’re looking for a black matte liquid liner for flawlessly executed flicks and a wear time like WHOA, consider Schwing. It’s currently wooing all the ladies at theBalm counters and online.

PRICE: $17
AVAILABILITY: Available now at theBalm counters and online
MAKEUP AND BEAUTY BLOG RATING: A

Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,

Karen

P.S. Mockingjay at 4:50 in Novato!!! Who’s with me?

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Dustin Lance Black: Tomorrow Is Personal

Founding board member, American Foundation for Equal Rights (AFER); Academy Award-winning screenwriter, 'Milk'

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Tomorrow's Supreme Court decision isn't just political. Each of us has a very personal reason that our stomach is filled with butterflies today. Here's mine.

Five and a half years ago, while making Milk, my big brother, who was living in Virginia, came out to me. I remember wishing I could hold him that day, but I was in California. Being far apart was never easy for us, so for years we wore simple, white gold bands to keep each other close when we were too far for an embrace.

Then, four and a half years ago, after a devastating loss over Proposition 8, Cleve Jones and I declared in the San Francisco Chronicle that "now is the time" for full federal equality for LGBT citizens, the time to demand that our gains in one state apply to every citizen... including my beautiful big brother way out in Virginia.

I reaffirmed that promise on an Oscar stage months later, we marched on Washington to demand action, and I got to work helping build the American Foundation for Equal Rights (AFER) in order to challenge Proposition 8 in federal court. It has been the honor of my life to be involved with this case. So as I walked up the steps of the U.S. Supreme Court earlier this year, I wanted nothing more than to call my big brother and let him know that the freedom I might feel with a win could also be his... but I couldn't make that call.

Last year, late in the evening of Jan. 24, my big brother slipped his ring off his middle finger, and I slid it onto my left hand. I remember being surprised that it fit so perfectly, that we had the same ring size. I'd always thought of him as so much bigger than I. A few hours later he lost his battle with cancer and left this Earth, never knowing what it might feel like to be a full and equal citizen in the country he loved.

For the past year, I've worn my family ring on my right hand and his on my left, never taking them off, never letting him be too far away, looking to him whenever I take a stage to give a speech or need the courage to make a tough call.

Today, on the eve of the Supreme Court's historic decisions on our case, I've been fidgeting from nerves and anticipation, taking his ring on and off and on and off. And then, without thinking, I slid his ring onto the same finger as mine. It stayed there for some time before I finally gave it my full attention, but when I did, I couldn't help but notice that together they form a perfect equality symbol... and I felt certain and strong again.

My big brother is with me still in this fight. I know it. And regardless of the decision tomorrow, I know that together we will soon be equal in all matters governed by civil law in all 50 states. Because this is personal. I know we as a people will not stop fighting until we live in a nation where we no longer leave a single one of our brothers or sisters behind, no matter whom they love or what state they call home.

For so many of us, for so many reasons and for so long now, tomorrow is, was and has always been about family... those we've loved, those we've lost, those we were born to, the families we've built and the families we still dream of building.

And for me, tomorrow is about my big brother.

Follow Dustin Lance Black on Twitter: www.twitter.com/DLanceBlack

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