Not a Blogger: A Corporate Fashun Blog

Katie 2 is getting married exactly one year from today! (Don't worry, this isn't going to turn in to a blog all about wedding stuff.) There have been a lot of things to plan and consider, and the costs rack up quickly. After Katie 2 started complaining about it, Elizabeth jumped in and offered to do Katie 2's make-up for the big day. It's a total win-win because it gives us a chance to make sure we can spend time together that day and Elizabeth loves  doing people's make-up. Plus, Katie 2 doesn't want to have to rely on someone she doesn't know. We decided to dedicate a post to the idea, not because all working women are getting married, but because we learned some important lessons during our initial trials that you may be able to use in your own life for a special occasion. Transfer-proof lipstick is not the same as long-wear lipstick. If you're a make-up guru a la Elizabeth, this is obvious. But Katie 2 never really thought about it. When sear...

With spring upon us (liar. It’s still effing freezing. Spring is not upon  us at all), we three working girls got into a debate: is the sunscreen in your makeup enough, or do you need to wear sunscreen in addition to your makeup? Katie 2 was alone in her belief that you should always wear sunscreen, regardless of whether your makeup has SPF in it. (Disclaimer: she doesn’t always do it, just like she doesn’t always get her oil changed at 3,000 miles. Sometimes it’s a little closer to 3,500. But she tries…) One thing we were all in agreement on is that sun damage is not cool. We know that SPF is important (especially for Elizabeth and Katie 2, who are PALE. This is the first time in Katie 1’s life where she hasn’t been included in the definition of PALE. Awesome). But how much do you need? After all, we are adults who spend the vast majority of their time indoors during daylight hours #working. I mean, we have SPF in our skincare, primer, foundation, and powder. That’s enough, r...

As our recent posts have been indicating, spring is in the air. We are all adjusting to the time change (daylight savings is a bitch) and the official start of spring is a week away so the thought of any vestiges of winter are currently abhorrent to me (Elizabeth) even if the weather is still in the 30s most of the time. One way to telegraph “spring” even when you can’t choose a flowy dress and bare legs (because you would freeze to death), is to change up the colors you are wearing and your makeup.    OK, so spring makeup trends. I have been told it is not good enough to suggest lighter brighter colors, even though that really is the simple truth. ("Florals? For spring? Groundbreaking.") I assume that also means I can’t just tell you that the Pantone color of the year is Ultra-Violet and send you out to buy purple everything. So this weekend I attended one of my favorite Nordstrom events (which we have discussed before ): the Beauty Trend Show. H...

If you are a regular reader, you probably know by now that Elizabeth is our resident make-up/beauty expert and that the Katies often go to her with all of their skincare questions. We decided to exploit her knowledge with a periodic "Ask the Expert" series on the blog. You may recall that the first edition of this series was posted back in November (if you missed the first edition, you can check it out HERE ).  Given that winter brings about a host of skincare issues, we decided that it was time we took advantage of Elizabeth's extensive knowledge and featured a new round of Ask the Expert questions.  Just like we did with Round 1, we take this opportunity to formally invite you to shoot a question either in the comments or on our Instagram (we should probably let you email us, but I don't think any of us have ever actually checked our blog's email) that you would like our expert to answer. Of course, we are experts in most things, but if you have some sort o...

This is an idea that we've been tossing around since we started the blog: a post featuring honest answers to questions that we've all asked at some point in our adult lives. This isn't an "Ask the Expert" beauty post (although we've got a fun one coming up so stay tuned), this post is a barometer to determine how gross we really are.   Here are our answers to 3 basic "how often do you" questions. We've also provided expert answers to explain how often you should do these things. Note - Elizabeth has the flu and is not participating in this post. 1. How often do you wash your bras?   Katie 1 - I'm not 100% sure.  I've got a number of bras in rotation and I don't wear the same one every day but I end up washing a load of bras probably every month or so....  Katie 2 -   I agree on the "I'm not sure" front. I don't do laundry regularly (except sheets), so whenever I decided to do the wash, I wash everyt...

We think it is well established that Elizabeth is the makeup guru of our little group. And while the Katies aren't exactly minimalists, they do little more than is absolutely necessary.  Occasionally we come across a product in the store or some advice online or in a magazine and we just don't quite get it. So we go to Elizabeth for an explanation. It dawned on us over cocktails that not everyone has  an Elizabeth that they can go to, so we would like to offer you ours. We take this opportunity to formally invite you to shoot a question either in the comments or on our Instagram (we should probably let you email us, but I don't think any of us have ever actually checked our blog's email) that you would like our expert to answer. Of course, we are experts in most things, but if you have some sort of beauty question, let Elizabeth be your guide! To start us off, here are a few questions from the Katies and Elizabeth's answers: 1. What's the deal with blu...

OK, so there are A LOT of different make-up brands out there. Found at Sephora, Ulta, department stores, Target, drug stores, and so on. And many of those brands are actually owned by one of a few large cosmetics companies (such as Estee Lauder). Now, there is nothing wrong with that, I love many of those brands, but today I want to talk about some great indie brands the everyday non-make-up enthusiast may not have heard of before. All of the brands I am going to discuss are great quality for a reasonable price (why would I tell you about them if they weren’t), and two of them have prices that are super affordable for the quality. The first online purchase I ever made from a brand not found on Sephora or Ulta was Makeup Geek . I was very glad I did, and I now own a lot of Makeup Geek products. They were mainly known for their eyeshadow (super pigmented, blendable , a ton of color and only $6 a pan), but they have since branched out with a bunch of face (bronzer/contour, etc) and ...

If you read our post on Nordstrom , you may recall that something I (Elizabeth) enjoy about Nordstrom are the events they have throughout the year.  In particular, I mentioned TrendShow. For those of you that don't know, TrendShow is a beauty event held twice a year.  This year’s Fall TrendShow was last weekend (September 23 to be exact) and we are going to tell you all about it so you can decide whether you may want to attend in the future, particularly if you're looking for a reason to like Nordstrom (like Katie 2). First, Katie 2 asked me how I knew about this event and how I got invited.  As much as I would love to pretend that I am some sort of VIP with special access and knowledge to fabulous private events, I’m not. I first learned of TrendShow years ago when I had stopped at a makeup counter in Nordstrom and the sales clerk told me about it and asked if I would like to go.  Totally random and ordinary.  Since then, I generally know the tim...

In this post  we introduced you to our individual skincare routines. It was one of our most highly viewed posts which makes us think you liked it. We said in that post that we would make a series on how much we really spend on stuff. Up next: make-up. Note: We consider moisturizing as part of our skincare routine, not make-up. You can find what we use in our previous post. [Editors Note: Blogspot really hates our links and sometimes they don't show up. We have linked to every product we use, so just hover and you can find what we're talking about.] Katie 2: I really have no idea what I'm doing. I try something and use it until it's gone, then replace it with whatever Elizabeth or the people at Sephora recommend. There are a few items that I use "all the time", so those I've marked with a **. Sunblock: I use it every day, but I'm not loyal to any brand. I subscribed to Birch Box a while back, and because I said I didn't want any scents or nail ...

Are we (well, the Katies) the only ones who read fashion blogger beauty posts and break out into hives because the amount of products they use is simply overwhelming (although they insist that their entire beauty regimen only takes 10 minutes which we all know is total bullshit). Since we're sure (hoping) that we're not alone, we thought it would be fun (read: helpful) to introduce you to some of our favorite drugstore beauty products. These aren't the products that we use because they're cheap and we don't feel like going to Sephora and crushing our wine budget. These are the products that we return to time-and-time again because they are genuinely better than any other product we've tried- both drugstore and designer. So without further ado... let's get to the list (which includes pictures of the actual products in our actual bathrooms, so please excuse the messes): Katie 1: This post was probably the hardest for me to write because approximately 80% of...