Light Brushstrokes | Bleu Cobalt et Iridescent Violette - My Attempt at Editorial Eye Makeup

Clean-cut, crisp eye makeup on the top, and a happy imperfect mess on the bottom! I wanted to create a look that exemplifies my overall views and feelings towards makeup, and show that I don't mind being imperfect, nor do I mind being a makeup enthusiast, and not a professional! 

Scroll down to see what products were used to create this beautiful iridescent look!

Witchy Inspiration: An Elphaba 'Unbecoming' Smokey Eye | MORPHE 'Boss Mood' Palette

     Well hello all! Just when I thought my blog was at the point of being impossible to bring back from the dead (seriously, how much of a zombie could this blog possibly get? LOL!), I had it in mind to post the Wicked inspired eye makeup that I donned for Halloween night, after a day of having dressed up as Sherlock Holmes' wife, Mary Russell.

     Whilst looking through the Morphe display in Ulta about a month back, I immediately saw this palette, and thought, 'Yep, Elphie would wear these colors' and I just had a dapper little inkling-dinkling that this would be going home with me. This is my first Morphe purchase, and I have to say, I had pretty low expectations and buyer's remorse instantaneously, and I felt that guilty pang before I even checked out and paid for this palette! I thought, 'Why am I doing this? The quality is probably terrible,' and just negative thoughts of all sorts that I tend to associate with Morphe, as I overall see them as a pretty shady, negative brand, in retrospect of their behavior and business practices I've noticed in the past. While I think I love the color story of this 35M Boss Mood Palette moreso than most palettes in my collection, I do, however, think this will be my only Morphe purchase.

Morphe 35M Boss Mood

Steps

1. Transition - On primed eyes (with no setting powder on my lids whatsoever - it's the best way I've found to use this formula), I blended and overlapped two of the murky yellow-toned greens in this palette rather high up above my crease. First, I used the more mustard green, 'Hello Sunshine' more on the outer half of my crease, and the slightly lighter (but a bit of a brighter lime green) 'Stroke of Luck' on the inner half of the crease, overlapping it slightly into the green on the outer corner. I find that by not setting my eye primer with a thin layer of translucent powder like I normally do, that's when these Morphe shadows really shine and the most of their pigment comes out to play.
2. The Outer Corner and Crease - Knowing that I wanted purple to be the central focus of this look, I blended a matte eggplant, 'Power Slayer' (this one is atrociously patchy, and needs to be packed on - definitely a dud in the palette, no bueno) into my outer third of the mobile lid space and softly blended the color inward right above the socket of my crease, going about half way in.
3. That Bright Magenta Purple Lid, Tho! - The star of this look is definitely that gorgeous, electrified mid-toned magenta purple nestled on the bottom row, called 'Grape Expectations'. This had amazingly saturated pigmentation and was best applied with my finger. No glitter glue was used.
4. Lower Lashline: Wash, Rinse Repeat - I mirrored the placement on the eyelid onto my bottom lashline. I also made use of a red eyeliner in my waterline that gave the look something special. For this, I used NYX Faux Black Eyeliner in 'Oxblood'. 
5. Liner & Lashes - NYX Matte Liquid Liner framed my upper lashline, and Essence Lash Princess Mascara. 

On My Cheeks

1. Highlight - Colourpop Super Shock Cheek in 'Felicity' (entirely too sparkly for daily use, so I decided the best time to wear this was Halloween)
2. Bronzer - Too Faced Milk Chocolate Soleil Bronzing Powder 
3. Blush - Milani 'Romantic Rose' Powder Blush

Voila! I've been changed for good!

🌟🌙Alright loves, feel free to link any creative and colorful looks you've done lately down in the comments section! I would love to see them! Take care. 😀

Colourpop Goodies (I Should've Posted this in February. . .)

Hi there! Yes, I'm still alive on this 'ere blogosphere! At this point, I think it's pretty obvious that my sliiight obsession with Colourpop isn't going anywhere, at least not anytime soon...

Most of these products were from their Valentine's Day collection (plus their Flexitarian Supershock Highlight, which I purchased in the same order along with the V-Day collection) - as far as the limited edition Valentine's collection, a beautiful mini 6-pan palette of lovely cool toned eyeshadows, and three new shades from their lineup of Supernova Liquid Shadows. So since I bought these products back in February, I think I've had more than enough time to test them out, and I have a better idea of which ones I would recommend! So yesterday when I looked back on the Colourpop online shop for the first time in eons, I realized that, lo and behold, most of these products were still available to purchase on their site! So, naturally, here we are with a blog post and swatches! 😄

Supernova Liquid Shadows

L-R: From the Valley, Prelude, Over Again

     Ahh, my very first foray into the Colourpop Supernova line...so, all in all, I do quite enjoy the look these give once applied, but getting to that place of application is rather tricky. I find that putting the applicator directly onto my eyelids makes for a rather streaky application, and entirely too much applies when I use the applicator to apply them to my lids. Whenever I transfer the liquid shadow straight from the applicator to eyelid, they would dry down, and would instantly add a bunch of crepey texture to my eyelid, and the color would flake off entirely within the next hour. If I tried to blend in any way before they set, so much product was applied, that they would just look even more streaky, so blending afterwards was a no-go, when I used that method. 

     The way I opt to apply these is by simply dispersing some product onto my fingertip from the applicator and applying and blending them out in that way, so I have more control over how much product goes onto my eyelid, y'knows? In fact, that's the only way I've found to apply these so they look nice throughout wear and don't flake off. Beautiful duochromes in this lineup, but I always have to layer them over a colored eyeshadow cream or powder for them to really give that desired wow effect, as they are a bit sheer and much of that huzzah! factor is lost when they're applied to a bare primed lid. So the formula could definitely be tweaked a bit with these...

Colourpop Pretty Much Pigment Palette, $12

Swatches L-R: Ya Bish, It Me, NVM, OTP, Neither Do I, Cool It

     This little pocket-friendly number has a pretty lovely array of some beautiful berry pinks and purple tones, mixed with a couple cooler toned neutrals and a nice dose of a bronze shimmer. However, I find that the pink and bronze shimmers in this palette are a tad bit crumbly, and are quite flaky and dry, and take a little more work than I expected them to, as they need to be packed onto the lid to show up (which, I must say, is quite uncharacteristic and very unusual of Colourpop's quality as far as their pressed shadows go - maybe my palette was a fluke with those two shades, but I was left pretty disappointed, nonetheless), and although the mattes in the palette blend out fantastically and near flawlessly, I find that the only matte that is unique to my Colourpop collection is the matte taupe in this palette in 'NVM'. The other two mattes, 'Neither Do I' and 'Cool It,' are near identical to the mattes in my Fem Rosa palette, so this palette is just a bit repetitive for my needs.

I would wager that if you don't own the Fem Rosa palette, this might be a nice addition if you like the tones. However, if you own that palette already (or have similar tones) then this palette may be a bit superfluous for you, as it was for me.

Penny for your thoughts? I'd love to hear them! Sound off in the comments and tell me: As far as Colourpop palettes, what different color stories/combinations would you like to see released in their pocket sized palettes?

Most Loved & Most Worn : Lip Edition!

     Alright, I realize that my development of blogging habits has been a long-ass time coming! That's why I'm taking my long awaited short break from studying, and some time to curate a post of no less (and, no more!) than all of my favorite and most worn everyday schmexy lip colors! (Schmexy? Ok, I'll go home now 😁). So yep, no specific color spectrum here - these are just the lipsticks and lip glosses of different formulas that I reach for the most - although most of them are in the family of more muted to slightly brightened pinks and corals, those are just the types of colors I love and use the most! You'll be able to see how much I adore a couple of these, too, as some of the lipsticks are pretty worn down, and one of the glosses is almost completely gone. So, despite the variation of lip formulas in this post (liquid lipsticks, traditional lipsticks, sheer glosses, etc), I decided to exclude any mention of lip balms or any kind of lip treatments from this roundup, as I will soon be making an updated post, subject matter being, ahem, all my favorite lip balms and lip treatments! However, that's for the future! This post will contain swatches towards the end, as well as descriptions of all the lip colors and glosses I use most often, most of which I wouldn't be caught dead without! 

My Valentine's Day Makeup: Glowy Skin, Sparkly Red Eyeliner & Matte Red Lips

Happy Thursday to everyone, and oh! Better yet: happy post-Valentine's Day! Hope you had a wonderful day with all your loved ones! Now bust out ya chocolates and ya makeup brushes, everyone! It's a V-Day makeup look! Eh, one day late, no less, but...nothing wrong with that! After taking priority of practicing Seitz' Concerto No 2 Op 13 yesterday (and today) over blogging my V-Day look I wore yesterday... phew, at long last, I'm getting this posted! Before I went out today, I was able to catch the sun and get better lighting for better pictures of the products I used. 😀 

This post will be a breakdown of the products I used for this quick and simple, somewhat effortless Valentine's Day look! If you'd like a wee bit of a spoiler, most of what I used is Colourpop. 😊 A gorgeous red winged liner paired with a warm hazy caramel-toned eye makeup and a plush bright matte red lip (yeeeaaah, I was going to take pictures on my Canon, but I'm so out of the blogging loop, that between my last blog post and now, I've since somehow managed to misplace my SD card, and had to use my phone to take all of these pics. Thus, the eye makeup looks a lot muddier than it would have if I had taken the pics with my actual camera).

It Goes On and On and On....Colourpop Orders from Holiday Sales #ColourpopHaulage

Well, hello there! Happy new year to ye! 

Since this was the first Christmas I've not been able to spend time with family, a lot of my time lately has been mostly comprised of studying, working, playing violin, visiting art districts and different landmarks, forever finding a professional music instructor, watching entirely too much of Supernatural on Netflix and history documentaries whilst dealing with the flu (twice), and upon getting better, proceeding to eat absolutely too much of Chicago's Pompei Italian (ok, I've only been there twice, but it seems like I've been there more, simply because their portion sizes are massive) check it out next time you're in Chicago! It's an incredible Italian food restaurant based in downtown, and I live not far from it, so...eh, 'tis the season for tons of carbs, deliciousness and empty calories, I guess! They are quite wonderful empty calories, nonetheless 😉). 

Alright, long time, no blog! However, I thought that these last couple of purchases I made from Colourpop's site were substantial enough to be consolidated into a blog post! I know so many of us go entirely too click-happy once we get an email about yet another sale on Colourpop's site...or is it just me? Ah, well, (scratches head)...alrighty then! And there were many things I wanted to try, and both orders I made were during a couple of huge sales they were having. I'm now at the point where I think I've had my Colourpop fill...for now. 😁 Seriously, it's one of the only brands I've been purchasing for color products for a hot minute, as well, I simply enjoy their quality that much!

Some of what the sales included: 30% off certain Super Shock Shadow kits and singles, a new holiday collection of exquisite, deep rich Liquid Matte Lipsticks, more sales on lip products, half off of pressed eyeshadow palettes, single pressed shadows for $2.80...must I go on about my evident lack of self control for this brand?

My first order/hurrah contained all of what you see above. I was able to snag the You Had Me at Hello and All I See Is Magic eyeshadow palettes on sale. The holiday collection matte liquid lippies were something I did pay full price for (I ended up loving all three of them, upon first impressions! I got them in Snowfleek, Cloudscape, and Fragile Things), and pressed shadow singles were on sale for $2.80 a pop. 

As you may tell, some of the pressed shadows I bought remained in their packaging until I could find a place for them (my MAC empty pro palettes hadn't gotten to me just yet when I took these pics). Just to note, those 4 other shades were Snake Eyes, Take it Slow, So Jaded, and a backup of Play by Play.

Super Shock Shadow Kits in 'Dusk 'Till Dawn' & 'Phase Me Out'

Dusk 'Till Dawn Supershock Set - Swatches L-R: Half Light (my personal favorite), Goodish (my least favorite), Slay Bells, Babykins, New Magic, Stargirl

Look...the shine! The bling! Best part? These swatches were done without primer or base! This Dusk 'Till Dawn set definitely became a fast favorite of mine! I've already put to extremely good use the sheer iridescent white with the blue flip, New Magic, as an eyeshadow sparkle-topper for at least three looks I've done. It is nothing short of mesmerizing on the lids. Goodish is a rather faint lavender, and, like New Magic, is meant to be an eyeshadow topper - however, with this shade, I was disappointed that there was little to no base color, the lavender is very faint (faint is a couple notches below what I would call sheer) and the base is a bit of a satin/almost matte finish at that, so it just doesn't give a very strong look when layered over more pigmented shadows, and the glitter is very fine and yields a nice texture, but it's an odd mixture of gold, peach, aqua, and purple sparkle, and it just falls flat, due to the base color not being strong enough in finish or in opacity, and sadly, all that shows up is this odd smattering of multi-colored glitter over a matte faint purple base, and it honestly cheapens my eye look a bit, whenever I use it. Just doesn't give the impact I'm accustomed to seeing with these SSS.

Other than that one Goodish shade being a bit of a flop, all the other shades in this set are absolutely divine, and are dense and saturated enough to be worn on their own! I never experience creasing with any of my SSS, and they last on my eyes all day without fading! There was only one dud in this set, and for that, I'm a happy camper! 

Phase Me Out Supershock Set - Swatches L-R: Itty Bitty, Going Rogue, One by One, Flipper

I bought these 2 Supershock sets when I placed my second order. I believe they were both on sale (my recall tells me that I may have paid full price for the Phase Me Out quad, though, but I am 100% certain that the Dusk 'Till Dawn set was on sale for $21 when I bought it).

Ultra Matte & Ultra Satin Lips

Along with the Supershocks, I also ordered most of the liquid lipsticks during my second Colourpop Holiday Hurrah! Let me say, that since these were all on sale, it was of utmost difficulty for me to restrain myself! So far, I'm happy with every single shade I picked up, and have worn each one at least once. Here are the shades I picked up, listed in order as to how they are pictured above, left to right:

Calypso (Ultra Satin from Up & Away Bundle)

Love Bug (Ultra Matte from Up & Away Bundle)

Mama (Ultra Matte from Up & Away Bundle)

Mess Around (Ultra Satin)

Littlestitious (Ultra Satin)

Little Weapon from Alexis Ren Collection (Ultra Matte)

Bare Necessities from Alexis Ren Collection (Ultra Satin)

Oh, no, honey, this haul is not yet complete! You know I had to pick up a backup of my 💗, the Ultra Matte Lip in Fresh Cut, as my current vial of this shade is about half-way gone, as it is well-loved. 💞 (Cue in mini-review): Fresh Cut was close to being the only lip color I wore for a couple months straight when I first moved to Chicago - the perfect medium pink that stands out on my complexion, and it packs a bit more of a punch, because it's a wee-bit brighter than most mauve pinks we see because it's not really that purple, nor is it neutral, nor is it a cool-toned 'powder pink.' It doesn't lean too blue-based either. So, what is this shade, exactly? Actually, I don't have a pink that's quite like this. It definitely leans towards more of a mid-toned rosy pink on me with just a slight mauve undertone to keep it cool, but it also has a nice tinge of berry in it, and shockingly, I see a hint of warmth in this shade as well! Though I can detect no coral or orange tones in it! It's very strange, and dare I say, a result of sorcery at Colourpop headquarters? 😆 And it's not what I would call an understated color on my skintone, but it's just bright enough to stand out, and the hue is perfect enough to be my perfect everyday color! It's definitely got something special in the shade that makes it a unique shade to my collection. Not a pink shade (or mauve shade, though I wouldn't call it a mauve) that I'm used to seeing! I'm not usually a fan of most mauve shades, either, so you know this one is bringing something different to my life! It brightens up and warms up my complexion (which, again, I've never experienced with a cool-toned color lol) even when I'm not wearing much makeup at all, and I can make the color more natural on my lips when I'm just rocking a bare SPF face, only apply a bit of Fresh Cut Ultra Matte, and throw on some balm over it to give it a nice satin finish, and just.....ugh....beautiful. If they will release a Supershock or pressed powder blush in this exact color, I would be up on that shit sooo quickly lol. I love this that much, and will never be without it! 😁

More swatches to come, and I will be doing reviews as I get a chance to try out these products more! I'm wearing Snake Eyes eyeshadow in the picture below, though you can't see much of the lid space it's occupying. It's quite possibly my favorite of all the pressed shadows I picked up, so you'll definitely be seeing it in another makeup look in the future! Take care, lovelies! Peace & Blessings 

😄 Love, Cailee