Recent Drugstore Acquisitions + Urban Decay Swap!

     I'll start with the swap, then I'll go on to the rest of my purchases. With my friend, a couple weeks ago I swapped out my Urban Decay Vice 2 palette that I had never used, for the gorgeous Urban Decay Full Spectrum Palette. I needed some bright hues in my life, and thought this would fit the bill. I had wanted to purchase the Electric Palette for such a long time, that I just felt like trying the first Urban Decay selection of rainbow hues that my eyes passed over, because well, they can do no wrong, right? Well, I still can't say how sure I feel about the Full Spectrum just yet, as I've only used about a third of the shades in the palette on my eyes thus far. I was, upon first impression, a bit disappointed with the performance of some colors moreso than others. It's still on Sephora's site on sale for $35, if you want to check it out.

Now, getting more experimentation with e.l.f. products. I had really wanted to try their Illuminating Palette after seeing how the formula blended into the skin, not to mention my enthusiasm after seeing the complete absence of glitter or sparkle particles in any of the powders! I had also heard great things about a couple of their newly launched lip products, and decided to try out their Poreless Face Primer as well! I have more from other brands as well! Just take a look at these beauties!

The Lash Report | Jordana Best Lash Extreme Volumizing Mascara Review

*Contains Affiliate Links
     Hello, everyone out in the blogosphere! I have to say, whenever I find an affordable, sought-after beauty product that has an average rating of 4/5 on MakeupAlley, let's just say that in some instances, such as this one, even if I tried the product before and didn't like it, well, I'm tempted to think that some products are worth a revisit (ahem, or a repurchase). That was the case with the Jordana Best Lash Extreme Volumizing Mascara, and I decided to revisit it, and at the $2.99 pricetag, it's one of the most budget-friendly mascaras I've bought in my life!

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

| 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.

| 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!