MAKEUP OF THE DAY - 04/02/16

Products used:
Eyes:
-Urban Decay Primer Potion
-Colourpop eyeshadow in 'Strength'
-NYX Jumbo Eye Pencils in 'Rust' and 'Milk'
-NYX single eyeshadows in 'Rust' and 'White'
-Stila Stay All Day liquid liner
-Maybelline Colossal mascara
-Urban Decay eyeshadow in 'Secret Service' (brows)
-Maybelline Brow Drama brow gel in 'Soft Brown'

Face:
-Maybelline Instant Age Rewind treatment concealer in 'Fair' (undereyes)
-MAC Pro Longwear concealer in 'NW15' (elsewhere on face)
-MAC Mineralized Skin Finish Natural in 'Light'
-MAC Studio Sculpt Defining powder in 'Delicates'
-MAC blush in 'Melba'
-KIKO Milano highlighter in '01' (cheekbones/inner corners/brow bones)

Lips:
-NYX lip liner in 'Hot Red'
-Sugar lip treatment in 'Rose'

Hope you have a great weekend!

MAYBELLINE COLORSENSATIONAL VIVIDS MATTE LIQUID LIPSTICKS

The one downfall to traveling is that if you forget to pack something, you're screwed. Sure, you can go buy a replacement of what you forgot but what's the point of buying something you already own just for a couple of uses before you're back home? This was the dilemma I had while I was visiting home for the winter holidays. I desperately wanted a light, bright, warm pink lip for my New Year's Eve outfit that I had planned. The problem being that I brought home all of my dark winter shades instead of my plethora of pinks. I had forced myself into the repurchasing dilemma. I decided that I was going to go out and buy a new pink but it needed to be a new product that I had never tried so that I could sort of excuse the repurchasing.

Enter the new products of this winter. I went to Ulta three times. CVS. Rite Aid. Finally I wandered into Walgreens looking for another product that I believed had the right shade I was looking for. This is after two trips to Ulta and one more to return the Maybelline lipsticks that were too cool-toned (I didn't want MAC St. Germain. I wanted a warm, bubblegum pink.) While I didn't find the product I was looking for, I found THESE. The new Maybelline Colorsensational Vivids Matte Liquid lipsticks. What a mouthful.

I was suckered in by the bright, unique purple shade and sold when I found my perfect bubblegum pink. I didn't have these. I hadn't even ventured into the liquid lipstick world yet. That purple was unlike anything I'd ever seen by a major drugstore brand. These were made for me.

I picked up the two shades of 'Pink Charge' and 'Vivid Violet' and ran home. Well, hobbled home. I'm in a walking boot and had crutches from a surgery I had just had. That's a story for another time. These guys are exactly what I was looking for— and I didn't even realize that I was looking for until after I bought them.

The name suggests a matte product. I have to say, they don't mattify. If you put little to no product on your lips they will a little but you won't get the coverage or payoff that you should and would get by layering a few coats. However, the finish that these have is pleasurable in that they don't dry out your lips and they don't get tacky while still remaining thick. The color payoff is ridiculous and the staying time is decent— I found that I needed to reapply after a few hours. Which I didn't mind. So while the name suggests matte, don't go into these thinking you're getting a matte product and you won't be disappointed. The color range is fabulous and the price point is a typical Maybelline price of about $8 depending on where you pick them up.

I love Maybelline. They're my favorite drug store brand and this product sold me even further on them.

MAKEUP OF THE DAY - 07/18/15

Some how in some way I found myself having off on a Saturday! It's definitely a rare occasion so I'm taking full advantage and keeping myself busy— and outdoors— all day. Since I had as much time as I wanted to get ready, I did things a little differently today and played around a bit with some products that haven't seen the light in awhile.

Before

After

I've had a couple of blemishes pop up lately which is usual for my skin in the summertime but they've been nothing that my beloved Pro Longwear concealer can't handle! I hadn't pulled out my Vice palette by Urban Decay in a hella long time so I decided today was the day to give it some love. I created a pretty purple melt across the eye using a few shades and brought back a NYX Jumbo Eye Pencil as well! Check out the products that I used below.


Products used
Eyes
Urban Decay Primer Potion
Urban Decay eyeshadows in 'Rapture' (outer half), 'Provocative' (inner half) and 'Vice' (crease/blending)
NYX Jumbo Eye Pencil in 'Pots and Pans' underneath 'Provocative' to give it something to stick to
Stila Stay All Day liquid eyeliner
Maybelline Colossal mascara (top lashes)
L'Oreal Miss Manga Rock (bottom lashes)

Brows
Urban Decay eyeshadows in 'Secret Service' (darker) and 'Naked' (lighter)

Face
Benefit The Big Easy liquid foundation in 'Fair'
MAC Pro Longwear concealer in N15
MAC Mineralized Skin Finish Natural in 'Light'
MAC Wash and Dry Studio Sculpt Defining Powder in 'Delicates'
MAC blush in 'Melba'

Lips
NARS Satin lip pencil in 'Rikugien'

Also, can we talk about Sephora's birthday gift this year/month/right now?! Two NARS lip pencils?! OMG These are by far the best birthday gifts I've gotten from them and I've been gettin' 'em every year for a looooongggggg time… love love love! BUT that's all I've got for today! I hope you guys like the look and I'll talk to ya next week.

Enjoy your weekend! I know I will mine.

MAKEUP OF THE DAY - 7/16/15

A different eyeliner technique! !! !!!! !!!!!!! !!

I'm obsessed. I wanted to wear a thicker liner today but didn't want to look too intense so I was playing around with ideas and came up with this technique! I used my Stila liquid liner to define the outer wing and to line the rest of my lash line verrrrrrry thinly. Then I took my blackest eyeshadow by Urban Decay and a short bristled shadow brush and thickened up the wing while keeping the look soft and faded it towards the center of my lid.

This could have gone either way but I LOVED it and will totally be wearing this out for the next couple of days.

Products used:

Eyes

Urban Decay eyeshadow in 'Straycat'

Stila Stay All Day liquid liner

Urban Decay eyeshadow in 'Blackout'

L'Oreal Miss Manga Rock mascara

Brows - Urban Decay eyeshadow in 'Secret Service' (Excuse the non-groomed hairs)

Face

Benefit The Porefessional primer

Maybelline Instant Age Rewind concealer in 'Fair'

MAC Studio Sculpt Defining Powder in 'Delicates'

MAC blush in 'Melba'

Let me know how you like this look below!

OUT WITH THE OLD // IN WITH THE NEW

I've been waiting to buy new makeup until I had a solid group that needed to be replaced/repurchased and I finally and I mean.. FINALLY hit that point last month. Here's what I got and what those products replaced. I'll letcha know if they were good replacement decisions or not… read on!

OUT: Too Faced Chocolate Soleil Bronzer in 'Milk Chocolate'

IN: MAC Wash and Dry Studio Sculpt Defining Bronzing Powder in 'Delicates'

Let me start off by saying that I purchased that Too Faced bronzer in 2012. TWENTY-TWELVE. To be fair, I didn't begin wearing bronzer on a daily basis until last year but still that is an insanely long amount of time. I'm not even out of my Too Faced bronzer. I just barely hit pan just a couple of weeks ago and I needed to upgrade simply because I was bored of using the same one all of these years.

Cue the new MAC collection. I stumbled upon it's announcement one day and decided I wanted to get one of the blushes. After looking around I realized I was dumb and that this 'Delicates' bronzer was PERFECT and there was no way I could pass it up. It's as light as 'Milk Chocolate', which is difficult to find. It has a shimmer going throughout it in the pan but I don't see any luminescence on my face when applied. That packaging, too… If you want to see my post on this product then click the link above!

Good choice? Sure. Too Faced's product was amazing but I just got bored. I love MAC's as a replacement but I can see myself going back to Too Faced after this guy wears out. Did you hear Too Faced came out with a 'Chocolate' shade in their bronzers???? Even lighter than 'Milk Chocolate'???? Of course that announcement came after I bought this new guy. Oh well. I'll have my fun for a little.

OUT: Benefit Gimme Brow

IN: Maybelline Brow Drama

Oh, brows. The used to be so ignored but now I feel like none of us are considered 'made up' until our brows are 'on'. I know I definitely don't. Benefit's Gimme Brow came out when the brow craze was kicking up and it was one of a kind— still is. I thought I would be getting something similar (keyword: similar) when I replaced it with the much, much cheaper Brow Drama by Maybelline but I simply just got a colored brow gel. Gimme Brow was fantastic when you didn't feel like grabbing a brush and product to draw on your brows and just needed to sweep something through them to give 'em some life. The downside was that when the product was brand new, it was too wet. Towards the end of it's life it was too dry. It was never really a win because of that which is why I wanted to replace it.

Although Brow Drama is not the same fiber-gel that will build up your brows, I am liking it better as a brow gel (which is what I used Gimme Brow for 85% of the time) because the bristles are long and thin so that they get the product onto your hairs but not your skin. I'm content with my replacement decision. For notes, Gimme Brow is $24 while Brow Drama is $8.

OUT: L'Oreal Blackbuster eyeliner

IN (again): Stila Stay All Day eyeliner

Another long-awaited purchase, I've had this L'Oreal eyeliner for over a year. It still works but it's obviously old, gross and not the best eyeliner I've ever used. The only reason I say that in this post is because Stila's Stay All Day eyeliner is. I had this before the Blackbuster and it was incredible but I didn't repurchase because of it's $20 price tag. After a year of a drugstore liner, I was ready to splurge on my favorite again. The tip is so thin and precise and the felt tip doesn't dry out like most others. 

That being said, if you aren't looking to throw so much at a product then the Blackbuster is still a really nice alternative just know it's a little chunkier and takes a steady hand when you get to the inner area of your eyelids.

OUT (or is it?): Maybelline Colossal mascara

in: L'Oreal Miss Manga Rock mascara

I'm glad I waited to write this post because… Miss Manga is horrible. I thought it was from Day One but it's only gotten worse since then. Colossal is not out. I bought a new Colossal. It's my holy grail mascara and it simply cannot be replaced.

Miss Manga Rock makes eyelashes turn into spears and not in a good way if that's how you're imagining it. I simply cannot apply it to my naked lashes and have had menial luck using one swift swipe on my outer lashes to clumpen and thicken things up just a little bit. The main reason why Maybelline is ALWAYS my mascara go-to brand is because they actually use bristles. I've found that L'Oreal often times uses plastic shaped as bristles (and short, stubby ones at that) which never works on my eyes. I learned my lesson. I saw a review on YouTube and it persuaded me to buy MMR but I'm probably gonna toss it in a few weeks. Maybe I'll wait to see if it becomes manageable once it dries out a little idk I just hate it right now and don't even want to think about it. Bleh. Colossal for lyfe.

Sorry for the delay in posting but I've been pretty busy and wanted to be sure to dedicate the proper time on the post. Doesn't help that I had it all finished and somebody blogger deleted all of my progress :( But I'm glad to finally have it back up and expect a Music MUNday post next week!

Talk to y'all soon,

MAC WASH & DRY STUDIO SCULPT BRONZING POWDER

Hellooooooo my pretty….

Sorry for the iPhone quality photos. I'm in the midst of moving and my camera is not in my possession currently!

In classic spur of the moment fashion, I picked up a new item from MAC's latest collection. I just happened to be strolling around the internet on my pay day and saw that this collection had been released and saw that there was a bronzer in it… in this incredible packaging. 100% the reason why I bought this was because of the packaging and once I was in the car on my way to my MAC counter I realized that this was meant to be because I just hit pan on my Too Faced Chocolate Soleil Bronzer (after three years let me tell you!!!!) and was in the market for a new bronzer. I was in between repurchasing my beloved Too Faced but also wanted to try out the Hourglass Bronzing Powder but this Studio Sculpt Bronzing Powder is like both of those two combined!

There is a beautiful, delicate sheen in this light brown powder which lightly illuminates while staying true to it's name, "Delicates". It isn't too dark. It isn't too intense. It's perfect for pale people like me and finally my boyfriend can stop telling me that he can "smell my makeup" because it doesn't smell like chocolate like my incumbent bronzer.

What I've been doing is circling this around my face with a larger powder brush in the bronzing hot spots and then going in with NYX's 'Taupe' blush juuuuuust barely in the hollows of my cheeks to add some dimension.

I'm ngl, I feel pretty cool when I wear my MAC blush, this bronzer and my mineralized skin finish natural. This is the most MAC I've ever owned and now I'm slowly getting addicted because all of the products I own absolutely ROCK.

If you can, try to pick this guy up. He's 110% worth it.