Sneak Peek: Maybelline Rebel Bloom Color Sensational Lipstick Collection for Spring 2015

     So, I have a bit of a confession to make: Whenever I hear so much as a whisper about a new Maybelline collection of lip products, it is one of the only  times where I am more likely to find myself driving out to multiple locations, searching high and low to hunt the suckers down. In the case of this new Maybelline Rebel Bloom Color Sensational Lipstick collection, I surprisingly found it at the first Walgreens I went to. The display was in the most inconvenient spot for a blogger, if I may say so myself: it was perched nowhere else but on the top shelf of one of the tall back aisles where they put out all the holiday sets, so since I'm a shorty, I couldn't pan my phone high enough to take a closer shot of the shade names that were on the display. My apologies, guys. 😃

EOTD: 'Bridal Inspired' Gold & Olive Eye Makeup featuring LORAC Cosmetics

     Hello lovelies!  In light of the holiday season, I decided to dig out my much-used and much-loved LORAC Sweet Temptations Eyeshadow Palettes for this bridal inspired look. I had to incorporate my matte crease shades from other palettes (the beloved Sonia Kashuk Eye on Neutral palette was one of them), as these LORAC palettes are loaded with shimmer and shine. This set from LORAC includes four gorgeously packaged candy bar-style eyeshadow palettes, and it was just one unit of a beautifully monstrous collection that they released for the holidays last year, and it was in fact limited edition, and is no longer available.

My Holiday Beauty Wishlist

Whoa, so many of these products have been on my list for at least 6 months. Holy moly! 

REVIEW: EcoTools Retractable Kabuki Brush

     EcoTools brushes have never failed to impress me, and I can say that with absolute certainty. This Retractable Kabuki was my most recent discovery from the line. I don't know how this ever escaped a second glance from me all those times in stores, but alas, I passed right by it, never giving it a thought...

     

'Fantastic Five' Series: Top 5 Lipsticks for Fall

*Contains Affiliate Links      
     Hello, and good day, everyone!  Well, my lovelies, I hope you all are having a beautiful week so far! I am back with the third  post in my Fantastic Top Five Series. This time, however, I cheated a bit, and just had to squeeze a sixth one in there. Now, just a preface: I'm honestly not very bold when it comes to what I rock on my lips on a day-to-day basis (yeah, not even in the fall months - you don't have to tell me, I already know: laaame) and since I'm always working, or running around apartment-hunting or other mundane errands, my colour palette, as of late, has been nothing but basic, honey. No vampy traffic-stopping colors like oxbloods, glossy deep wines, burgundy or bright berries, or those deep bruise-y purples, have been on this lady's agenda (or lips) lately.

     I think that if I had a nightlife/vixen side to my personality, I would call these my 'Lazy Roll Outta Bed Fall Lip Picks,' and would make another version of more amped-up, bolder picks for this post, but, eh, I really don't, as the vixen in me has been dormant. Ok, it was never really there in the first place. 😄 Okaaaaayy, let's keep moving right along, shall we?

L-R: Maybelline Color Whisper in 'Berry Ready' | L'Oreal Colour Caresse Lipstick in 'Rose Taffeta' | Maybelline Color Sensational Creamy Matte Lipstick in 'Touch of Spice' | Clinique Butter Shine Lipstick in 'Berry Blush' | MAC Viva Glam V Lipstick | Too Faced La Crème Lipstick in 'Pink Chocolate'

Evening Makeup: Purple Smoke & Nude Lips (A Pictorial)

     Hello there! How are you all doing today?  So, this is my very first attempt at an eyeshadow pictorial. All eyeshadows used for this look are from ELF's new and limited edition palette: their Essential 18-Piece Eyeshadow Palette. I used this palette in my last FOTD so that you and I could see exactly what the warmer neutral shades in this palette have to offer. For this pictorial, I decided to play with some of the cooler more colorful shades for a glammed-up look that's perfectly appropriate for those evenings out. (And, y'know, also for those evenings at home, dog-sitting and eating mint moose tracks ice cream? Yes? Maybe? Ok 😊). 

     This palette, being mostly neutral, also has a gorgeous matte mauve-lavender and deep matte navy shade, which I really wanted to incorporate into this look (which, yes ma'am, I did). The pigmentation on these mattes ended up surprising me, in a good way. For this post, I will be focusing mainly on the color cosmetics, and not the base skin products. 

Fiesta Eyes: Teal & Purple

      Hello beauts!  Alright, so I'm singing the end-of-summer blues, and just simply couldn't bear the season transition so quickly, so here I am with a summery pastel daytime-wearable eye: a minted teal on the lid blended just below the crease, and a slightly punchy pinky-purple concoction of color in the upper crease blended just below the browbone. This is a much more toned-down, less electric, inspired take on the beautiful ChrissyAi's Fairy Floss Makeup. Check her out if you haven't! I just recently discovered her myself. 

Might I also add that about 90% of the shadows used for this look are from Coastal Scents. So if you want to replicate this, you can dust off your old Coastal Scents palettes off too, if you have 'em! 

'Fantastic Five' Series: Top 5 Lip Balms/Treatments

     Hello, good day, bonjour!  This post is all about my top lip balm picks, and I know a bit of time has passed for this follow-up post since the first post I wrote for my first blog series, 'Fantastic Five'. In this series, I will be showcasing my top 5 products in any category. Well, here's post #2 in the series! Lip balm isn't exactly a superfluous makeup product like other types of products, so, naturally, I'm always trying new ones, therefore it was difficult for me to choose only five.

Clearance Finds, Baby!

     Good day to you all!  Well, I must say, it is a rare occasion that I get suckered into clearance beauty buys, with me being the healthily cautious person that I am. Just being real here, because in so many cases, those products are just sitting there on the shelf with molested safety seals and peeled plastic labels with a clearance sticker barely hanging off the side, yet holding on for dear life in the mere hope that someone may come along...and, I just can't...in most instances.

     However, I know for a fact that none of my local Targets have carried NYX until just recently, probably within the last few months. So, when I saw an entire display right in front of the pharmacy, of exclusively  NYX Butter Glosses, and  that half of the shades were already on clearance (only a dollar and some change off of the regular $4.99 price, down to $3.87 each or something close to that, but I digress), let me tell you, I couldn't snatch them up fast enough, because I realized at that very fateful moment that I didn't have a single red or bright violet gloss in my existing collection.

     It's been a long time that I've been meaning to try Sephora's Formula X nail polishes, and when I stopped in my local Sephora and saw that some of the Xplosive Top Coats and Electrics were in the sale section, I may have squeaked a little. Those are further down in the post. 

NYX Butter Glosses

(L-R): Devil's Food Cake, Raspberry Tart, Red Velvet

E.L.F. Smudge Pots: A Review

        Hello all!  It's been a minute since I've been on here. The only culprit of that is my career change, and I unfortunately had to put my first passion (which is the blog you are reading right now) on the back-burner for just a couple weeks. Well, now that I'm all settled in at the new workplace, I would like to announce that updates on here are hopefully now on the regular!

       Alright, now that housekeeping is out of the way, I wanted to share my thoughts (or an in-depth review, rather) on these muy fabuloso products from e.l.f. If you aren't familiar with these spectacularly splendid Smudge Pots, allow me to introduce you. They are a somewhat new product to the e.l.f. Essentials line, and are at a perfect price point at only $2 a piece (I just checked, and they have raised the price on these to $3, which is a bit of a rip-off since it is their Essentials  line, which is their bulk of exclusively $1-$2 products, and these are not in their Studio or Mineral  line, so...coupon codes and sales, darlings! They're your best friends! *wink wink*), and....get ready for it...these little suckers give their MAC counterpart a run for their money.

       e.l.f. was definitely on their A-game  with these. I've been a long-time user of MAC Paint Pots, too, and I wanted to wait a bit to do a review on these anyway, because I wanted to test to see if they are as long lasting in their containers as they are when on the eyes. It's a tough test for some products to pass. And I'm glad to say that I have not been singing any blues of these drying out in their jars to a crispy mess like the Maybelline Color Tattoos.

New Product Alert: LORAC Pro Palette 2!!

       Hello lovelies!  Yes, I know! Isn't this awesome?! I was up late last night browsing Google+ (which is something I rarely do) and was ecstatic to see a sneak peek from LORAC on their new Pro Palette 2! The cooler-toned companion to the coveted and highly loved LORAC Pro Palette is scheduled to be launched on June 15 on ulta.com. These colors are right up my ally! All I have to say is move over Naked 2! I still love ya, but this LORAC baby is something I can already see crafting an even greater multitude of looks. Carol Shaw incorporated some color into this (and from the looks of it, I think I spot a deep navy, an eggplant purple, and an olive green?), and, as with anything she does with her brand, this looks like it's going to be a knockout hit!

      I will definitely try to get my hands on this! Will you be picking this up? Or do you think you'll be passing on it? Let me know in the comments! I think I would need to actually see the palette in-store to hold and swatch (I rarely buy things as expensive as palettes sight unseen; I always try to wait until they're released in stores so I can test them out).

Celebrity Inspired Everyday Makeup: Kendall Jenner

     Hello everyone!  I was perusing my Pinterest makeup inspiration boards today, and saw this beautiful picture of Kendall Jenner's makeup. Her bronzed skin is flawless, eyes kept neutral, lightly defined and brightened, flushed cheeks, a soft highlight, and her whole look is topped off with a blotted matte coral-y red lip. So, I'm coming at ya today with this celebrity inspired look (recreating the look in a way that I myself would wear it, and adapt it to my skintone and features, as a she-glows-in-the-dark-she's-so-pale Irish girl). Here we go!

Image of Kendall from Google Images

REVIEW: Wet 'n' Wild Summer 2014 Color Icon Bronzer & Blush Collection

       Hey ladies and gents!  I wanted to get my in-depth review posted of these beautiful limited edition Wet 'n' Wild Color Icon Bronzer/Blushes while they are still available in many locations. These are part of the All Access Beauty collection, and my local area is usually one of the last to get these new limited edition collections in, or so it seems. Needless to say, I was really surprised to see this collection in my Fred Meyer Kroger a couple of weeks back, and I hadn't even known these products existed beforehand.



'Fantastic Five' Series: Top 5 Taupe Eyeshadows

     Hi guys and gals! Hope you're all having a great weekend!  I'm beginning my very first series on this blog, that I must say, I am quite excited about. In this 'Fantastic Five' series, I will be showcasing my top five products under different product categories, and I thought I would kick-start the series today with my personal top five favorite taupe eyeshadows.  I'm a girl who loves her brights, but I love neutrals just as much, and taupes, to me, are far from boring. They can have so many different undertones (purple, bronze, blue, silver, and sometimes even green) and varying effects on the eyes.

     To me, the color taupe in general has such splendor, and is appropriate to wear for practically anything. I must say, it was a difficult task to pare it down to just five. I had a total of seven I really liked and wanted to include, but these ended up making the final cut. Now, let's begin, yes? 

L-R: Fyrinnae Work Safe Blue, TheBalm Just This Once Jamie, NYX Taupe Pearl, L'Oreal Infallible in Bronzed Taupe, LORAC Pewter

Things I Bought: ULTA & Milani Cosmetics

       Hey everyone!  In my neck of the woods, life has been pretty crazy as of lately, and my schedule for my blog posts has been pushed back, as I'm in the midst of packing up and moving (the news for this, which is actually good news, came to me out of nowhere). Therefore, due to inadequate lighting and settings, I haven't had the opportunity to take any pictures, and am now working with what pictures were already uploaded onto my computer, before the moving began. Alright, I think I've blabbed enough, yes? You already know what this post is all about! Now let's get on to the pretties!

REVIEW: Pacifica Alight Multi-Mineral BB Cream

       Hey everyone!  So, let me start off by saying that I have never been much of an experimenter of BB creams, high end or low end, Western or Eastern (which, to my understanding, there is a vast  difference between the two, yes?). They've been getting all the rage within the last couple years, and now we've even got this CC cream phenomenon, and at the rate this is going, well I'll be darned if by 2018 there won't be WW creams!!

       I can see it now in a satirical magazine article: 'Very first WW cream released in Korea! This might just be the very first range of beauty products where the utilization of a direct alphabetical pattern in their development of essentially the same exact product has drained people's bank accounts worse than all those late night Chipotle runs and premium cable packages! Studies now with even more advanced technology here in 2018 show that, really, none of these alphabetical creams are that different from one another.' Reading audience gasps out loud

Pacifica Alight Multi-Mineral BB Cream

A Review: Sephora + PANTONE UNIVERSE Elemental Energy Eyeshadow Palette

     Hi all!  Today I thought I would finally do my in-depth review of the Sephora + Pantone Universe Elemental Energy Eyeshadow Palette, which is a product that is still available on Sephora's site (you can get it here), and is on sale for $25. I got this a couple weeks ago, and I have to say first that I am quite new to Sephora's eyeshadow formula. I don't know if the formula of these Pantone shadows is similar across the board to the other shadows they have to offer in their brand, but my overall first impression of this palette was that of pleasant surprise, as many of the shadows in this palette seemed nicely pigmented and the quality seemed to be there. I've had some time to play around with these shadows, and hopefully this review will answer some questions for someone who is contemplating on whether or not to purchase it. Swatches will be towards the end. 

Sephora + PANTONE UNIVERSE Elemental Energy Eyeshadow Palette

REVIEW: Physicians Formula Happy Booster 'Glow & Mood Boosting Powder'

       Hello everyone!  This review is going to be on a product that may (or may not) be making its way out the door soon. It's very rarely now that I see this product in any drugstores, and I certainly hope it's not being discontinued. And that is the Physicians Formula Happy Booster Glow & Mood Boosting Powder, particularly in the color Beige. Seriously, who can forget the adorable, intricate heart balloon detailing embossed into the product? Not to mention the hot pink packaging it's housed in?

These pictures were taken indoors with natural sunlight, no flash.

E.L.F. Haul

       Hey chicas and chicos!  Last week, e.l.f. was having a sale where all of their bestsellers and new products on their site were half off, so yeah, you already know I decided to make an order and take advantage of that! I had practically been itching for a while to try more of their baked shadow singles and their new smudge pots, and ended up placing a bit more of a hefty order than I had originally planned. 

| Eyes of the Day | featuring Sephora + PANTONE UNIVERSE Elemental Energy Eyeshadow Palette

     Hey everyone!  Wow, I can't believe spring is finally  here! I'm definitely going to the park today to enjoy this beautiful weather, but I wanted to get this posted while I could. I have been playing around with this bad boy eyeshadow palette from Sephora + PANTONE. My review of this palette will hopefully be up by tomorrow!

Sephora + PANTONE UNIVERSE Elemental Energy Eyeshadow Palette

       Here is the back of the palette (both pictures match the quadrants' positions; top (L) green-toned quad is 'Earth,' top (R) barely-there quad is 'Air,' bottom (L) burnished copper and pink quad is 'Fire,' and bottom (R) aquatic blue quad is 'Water'

Until the review, here is a soft, subdued neutral look I created with this palette! (Please excuse my unruly brows; the closer up they are, the more apparently bad they look; I could pluck them and shape them to the end of their days but they would still grow back full and mad-looking a day later. Haha oh, genetics) 

I didn't restrict this eyeshadow look to one particular quad, or element, rather, but I did use 2 shades from the Earth quad (Gingersnap and Pebble), 1 shade from the Air quad (Murmur), and 1 shade from the Fire quad (Dawn). More details about shadow placement are in the product breakdown below. 

Evening Pastel Eye Makeup

     Hi all!  I haven't the slightest clue what is up with me and bright colors lately, but I've certainly been wearing the heck out of them! Well, this look is more of a pastel mint smokey eye with some purple and black in the crease. So, not quite bright, I suppose. As you will see, the focal point here is the eyes, so I didn't try to work a little longer to try out a 'beat face' to go along with the eyes. The sun was setting and I wanted to get good natural lighting from my balcony window before dark. I also don't think I could create a 'beat face' just yet without looking like a clown. So, everything else is toned down and minimal. A nude lip with a touch of blush. I saw a few things about this look right off the bat that I would've done a lot differently, but I think it looks pretty good, with it being my first time trying it out. 

     Like my previous posts, this is just going to be a breakdown of the products used, and I'll be going into more detail about what was used on the eyes rather than my base skin face products. Oh, and I also wanted to mention: This is not one of the Sephora Pantone Elemental Energy palette looks that was promised. I will be getting those up soon! I did incorporate one of the shadows from that palette into this look, but it was just to layer over the mint shade (the shade called 'Murmur' from the Air quad, to be exact), so definitely not worthy enough to have 'Pantone Look' title in the post.

Itty Bitty Haul (Sephora and TheBalm)

       Hi everyone!  Hope you're having a great day! So, the products in this post are actually the only non-drugstore acquisitions I have made within the past few months. I wanted to get this posted while the Sephora palette is still available to purchase on their website. The Sephora Pantone products just arrived in the mail today (about an hour ago, if we're getting exact here 😋), but the other items were purchased at an earlier date.

| PURPLE DIAMOND |

     Hi everyone!  I decided to recreate this look today after being inspired from a few purple smokey eye techniques I've come across in the past. I adjusted the techniques and shapes to my own eye shape, as I have quite hooded eyelids, and also incorporated a touch of glitter to give it more of an edge. I thought that it would be the perfect compliment to this frigid, chilly weather in the northern U.S. where I live. I can honestly say that I've never wanted so badly to sit out in 90 degree weather and just roast in the sun (ok, maybe a bit of an exaggeration) in a bathing suit by the pool. Ah, summertime...

     Nonetheless, with this look, in my head I was going for more of a monochromatic result than what it actually turned out to be. I was going for a more defined lip that was more of an apparent purple, but I still like the way it turned out. This post is just going to be a product breakdown for the eyes and lips, and I'll lightly touch on the actual color products (not necessarily the base and skintone products) that were used for the skin. Alright, let's go!

| FOTD: Signature Red Lip |

     Hello everyone! Hope you all are having a fantastic day! I figured that I would start everything off on here with a Face of the Day (more commonly known as FOTD's, so not necessarily a tutorial; however if anyone would like to see one, I plan on starting the other venue of uploading videos very soon! But for now, a tutorial for this would more than likely be uploaded as a pictorial, if requested). 😊

       So, the red lip has been probably the most loved and most feared aspect of makeup throughout the evolution of the art to this day. It seems to be the one color that just loves to feather and bleed the most, not to mention attach itself to our pearly whites just when we're about to take a picture, am I right? Now, I think I have found my perfect combination of products for a red lip!