Video: Beauty Products I Regret Buying

Hello there! Still no camera! Here's another video that I did:

Thanks for watching!

EOTD - Pink and Purple

I got the limited edition Zoom Lash mascaras from MAC recently and I've been trying to figure out different ways to wear them! Here is a look I did with the purple mascara, Plum Reserve.

First as always I prepped my lids with Urban Decay Primer Potion in Original. To start I blended Urban Decay Free Love eyeshadow, a peachy pink, all over the lid. Then I blended Urban Decay Woodstock, a bright shimmery fuchsia pink, into the crease. I accented the outer corner with MAC Passionate, a matte hot pink.

I lined my waterline with Urban Decay Rockstar, an eggplant purple eyeliner. I smudged that with Urban Decay Psychedelic Sister, a bright purple, and smudged a bit more Woodstock around the edges of that too. I highlighted my browbone and inner corner with Urban Decay Sin, a light peachy highlighter.

To finish, I coated my lashes with a coat of the Step 1 Primer side of my Maybelline XXL Pro Extensions mascara. If you want the colored mascara to be extra vibrant, or if you have naturally really dark eyelashes (jealous) then this step is important. Then I finished my lashes with two coats of MAC Zoom Lash mascara in Plum Reserve.

Would you wear colored mascara?

EOTD - Autumn in Summer?

This eye look ended up looking a bit more autumn than summer, but it's still gorgeous! I used a heck of a lot of products in this look so brace yourselves!

As always I started with Urban Decay Primer Potion. Then, I blended Urban Decay Half Baked, a light golden shimmer, into the inner third of the lid. I patted MAC Rule, a light matte orange, into the center, then MAC Red Brick, a darker matte orange, into the outer third. Into the crease I blended MAC Embark, a dark matte brown, and darkened the outer crease with Urban Decay Snakebite, a shimmery dark bronzey brown.

I lined my lower waterline with Wet N' Wild Coloricon eyeliner in Dark Brown and set and smudged it with Embark, Rule, and Red Brick. I lined my top lashline with Urban Decay 24/7 Liquid Eyeliner in Demolition. Finally, I finished my lashes with Rimmel Lash Accelerator mascara in Extreme Black.

Hey, that wasn't so bad! Love the pop of bright orange in the center with golds and browns! What do you think; is this summery to you, or does it look too autumn-ish?

EOTD - Pink and Grey

I sure have been posting a lot of eye looks lately! I have been challenging myself to use shadows I haven't used in a while (or ever!) before buying any new ones. So far I'm resisting the temptation...I'm sure when I get paid next week it'll all be for naught, though. The new Sugarpill palette is calling my name...

To start this look, I used Urban Decay Primer Potion as I always do. On the inner third of the lid, I blended Urban Decay Free Love, a light shimmery pinky coral. Then, I packed MAC Free to Be, a matte pinky coral, all over the bottom of of the lid. This shadow is a little hard to work with so you really just have to keep packing it on to get it to be really opaque and bright. It's gorge though so I give it a free pass. In the outer half of the lid, I blended NYX Greyish Brown, which is a matte dark grey with a bit of bluish-looking shimmer (totally don't get why it's called Greyish Brown. there's no brown in it whatsoever). I blended NYX Dune, a dark grey shimmer with a bit of golden shimmer in it, into the crease.

On the bottom lashline, I used NYX Eye/Eyebrow Pencil in Grey and smudged it with a bit of Greyish Brown. I highlighted the browbone and inner corner with...I can't remember. I think it was either UD Bootycall or Mary Kay Moonstone. To line the upper lashline, I used Urban Decay 24/7 Liquid Eyeliner in Perversion. Finally, I coated my lashes with Rimmel Lash Accelerator Mascara in Extreme Black.

I love the combination of pink and grey! What do you think of this color combo?

EOTD - Mojo Spa Isis Loose Eyeshadow

Just a quick couple photos for this post, but I wanted to show you guys my last Mojo Spa loose eyeshadow that I picked up a couple weeks ago called Isis. For this look, I basically used the same products and method that I did for this eye look, but instead of using MAC Plum Dressing, I used Isis. Isis is a crazy sparkly cool purple with blue-ish shimmer. Also, instead of Blackout, I used Urban Decay 24/7 Liquid eyeliner in Perversion on the top lashline.

Sorry this photo's kind of blurry on top, but you can
see the shimmer better this way at least!

P.S. Totally off topic, but does anyone have recommendations for a heated eyelash curler and/or a good mascara for short, stubby, pin-straight lashes? My lashes have always sucked but it seems like they've been getting worse the past couple weeks. I'm currently using a Revlon manual eyelash curler, but the curl fades away almost immediately after putting on my mascara. I also hate the Rimmel mascara I'm currently using b/c it's really liquidy and gets all over the place. Thanks!

EOTD - Beachy Golden Eyes

I saw a look like this on, I believe, a promotional image for Too Faced's new summer palette. It's a shimmery golden lid with a light turquoise bottom liner. I love how summery this color combination is! It makes me think of sitting on the beach watching the ocean.


As always, I started by prepping my lids with Urban Decay Primer Potion. I blended Urban Decay Baked, a shimmery gold, all over my lids. Then I (carefully!) patted a Mojo Spa loose eyeshadow in Havana, an insanely sparkly dark brown, into the crease. I darkened the outer corner with MAC Embark, a dark matte brown. I lined my upper lashline with Urban Decay 24/7 Waterproof Liquid Eyeliner in Demolition, a dark brown.

On the bottom, I lined my waterline with NYX Slide-On Eye Pencil in Tropical Green, a dark metallic aqua green. I set this and smudged it ith Urban Decay Flipside, a bright shimmery turquoise. It showed up much brighter and bluer in real life; for some reason it doesn't pop as much in photos. I highlighted the browbone and inner corner with Urban Decay Bootycall as usual. Finally, I coated my lashes with Rimmel Lash Accelerator Mascara in Extreme Black.




I absolutely love this eye look and basically want to wear it all summer long. It goes great with bronzed skin ;)

EOTD - Vibrant Purples

I recently got a slew of new MAC eyeshadows. I created my own palette full of purples, because I adore purple eyeshadow on me. It really brings out my greenish greyish eyes, in my opinion. Here's a look I did with some of my new shades:

First, I prepped my lids with Urban Decay Primer Potion. Then, I patted MAC Vibrant Grape, a matte reddish purple, all over the bottom part of my lid. I blended MAC Plum Dressing, a shimmery reddish purple, into the crease. I darkened the outer part of the crease with MAC Fig. 1, a dark matte eggplant color. I lined my lower lashline with Urban Decay 24/7 Glide-On Eye Pencil in Rockstar, a dark eggplant, and set it with Fig. 1. I smudged Urban Decay Blackout, a matte black, into the upper lashline.

I highlighted under my brow and in the inner corner with Urban Decay Bootycall, a light champagne shimmer. Finally, I curled my lashes and finished them with Rimmel Lash Accelerator mascara in Extreme Black.

I love these purples. The warmer, reddish purples really work with my skintone and eye color. Vibrant Grape was a little hard to work with because it was on the dry side, but with some work I got it to build up to opacity. What's your favorite color eyeshadow to use to bring out your eye color or skintone? 

EOTD - My interpretation of Mac's "Call Me Bubbles" quad

A couple months ago when Mac's "Call Me Bubbles" quad came out, I was dying to have it but by the time I had the money to spare, it was sold out. :( So I became determined to replicate it with other shadows. The quad consisted of a matte pinky coral, a shimmery light orange, a beige highlighter, and a metallic copper. Since then, I've acquired shadows that I think are as close as I'm going to get to Call Me Bubbles, and I'm pretty happy with it! Here's the look I did.

I started by prepping my lids with Urban Decay Primer Potion. I used Mac's Free to Be, a pretty close dupe of the matte pinky coral shade in their Call Me Bubbles quad, on the inner half of the lid. This color is gorgeous, but it's pretty dry and takes some time to get the opacity right. On the outer half of the lid, I used Mac's Rule, a matte light orange that's really soft and buttery. It's pretty close in color to the orange shade in the quad, but matte instead of shimmery. In the future I think I could mix it with Urban Decay's Half Baked to get that gold shimmer in it.

In the crease, I used NYX's Copper, with some NYX Rust to darken the outer crease. Both of these shadows are gorgeous in color, but a little sheer and powdery. I could probably use it damp next time to make it a little easier to work with. I lined my lower lash line with  NYX's Slide On Eyeliner in Golden Bronze, and smudged it with NYX Copper. On the upper lash line, I used Urban Decay 24/7 Liquid Eyeliner in Demolition, a dark brown. I finished by sweeping my lashes with Rimmel Lash Accelerator Mascara in Extreme Black.

Overall, I'm pretty excited about my interpretation of this Mac quad, although now that I see the colors on my actual face, I don't think I love pink and orange together on my skintone. I love pink and I love orange, but together on my eye, they make me look like I've been crying! Hah. Oh well. At least I tried!

EOTD - Fairy Eyes

My best friend loves this shop in Wicker Park called Mojo Spa. They sell all sorts of delicious-smelling body products and adorable soaps shaped like cupcakes. They also do nails, makeup, and I think even massages and waxing. I've gone in a few times with her but never bought anything before. We went there last Friday evening so she could pick up some lotion, and the owner (who was awesome and hilarious) coaxed us to get our makeup done, which they were doing free that evening. He also mixed us up couple cocktails!

While my friend was getting her makeup done, I sipped my vodka cranberry and scoped out Mojo Spa's makeup range, which I hadn't even known they sold. The loose eyeshadows stole my attention and I spent about 20 minutes agonizing over which colors I wanted the makeup artist to use on me! They had at least 30 loose eyeshadows in a wide range of colors, most of them extremely sparkly and gorgeous. I knew I wanted to buy a couple, and when the awesome and hilarious owner told me they were buy 2, get 1 free ($10 apiece) that sealed the deal for me.

One of the loose shadows I walked away with is a GORGEOUS sparkly mint green shade called Garden Party. The next day I couldn't wait to try out a look with it.

To start, I prepped my lid with Urban Decay Primer Potion Original. I then smudged NYX Jumbo Eye Pencil in Horse Raddish, a light mint green that matched Garden Party pretty closely, all over the bottom half of the lid. I had never used a loose eyeshadow before, so I was nervous about spilling it or getting green powder all over my face. I used a flat eyeshadow brush, dipped it in the powder, tapped off the extra, and patted the shadow into the area where I had smudged Horse Raddish. Some of the extra did sprinkle off, but I tilted my head downward while I was doing it so it landed on my mirror, not my face. I patted Garden Party all over the bottom half of the lid.


Then, I lined my lower waterline with Wet n' Wild Color Icon eyeliner in Dark Brown. I set it with Mac eyeshadow in Embark, a matte dark brown. I also lined the top lash line with Embark. I smudged a bit more Garden Party on the lower lash line. To finish, I swept my eyelashes with Rimmel Lash Accelerator Mascara in black.

blurred to show the sparkle

I absolutely loved Mojo Spa's loose eyeshadow and I want to go back and get more! It was so pigmented and sparkly, and Garden Party made me feel like a fairy! Also, anyone that lives in Chicago should definitely check out Mojo Spa on Milwaukee Ave. It was a fun, girly place with some really adorable products, and an awesome and hilarious owner.

EOTD - Bright Orange with NYX!

Did you know that orange is my favorite color? It's just so sunny and bright and happy, and it looks good on me as a blondie with a warm skin tone. I've been on the hunt for the perfect orange eyeshadow, and I think I've finally found it!! 

I actually own a NYX single shadow called Hot Orange, which is a good matte bright orange, but it has bits of gold flaky glitter in it and the fallout in it drives me crazy. I have been eyeing the NYX Shangri-La palette for a while because of the amazing orange shadow in the center. I finally caved and bought it this weekend. Here's the look I did using all three shadows in the palette:

First, I primed my lid with Urban Decay Primer Potion in Original. Then, I patted the yellow shade from the trio all over the inner two-thirds of my lid. I patted the peachy shade on the outer third. Then, I blended the amazing orange shade into the crease and outer V. I lined my upper and lower lashline with Urban Decay 24/7 Glide-On Eye Pencil in Bourbon, a warm brown with gold sparkle. I set the liner with the brown-with-gold-sparkle shade from the Sonia Kashuk Bronzed Beauty eyeshadow quad, and smudged the brown shadow a bit onto the lower lashline. Finally, I swept my lashes with Clinique High Impact mascara in Black. 

 

I rank the quality of the shadows in the Shangri-La palette from best to worst: orange, yellow, peach. The orange is amazingly pigmented, applies smoothly and blends well. The yellow shade had pretty good pigmentation, although it could be better, and it was a bit gritty. Still, one of the best yellow shadows I've tried. The peach came out much frostier than I expected, and looked more like a light peachy-silver shade than the bright peach color of the pan. But these NYX palettes are so affordable that if you're looking for a great orange eyeshadow, buy this palette just for that one shade!

EOTD - Naked 2 look & New Haircut!

Today I'm going to show you a very basic, pretty daytime eye look that I achieved using only colors from the Urban Decay Naked 2 palette. This is my go-to look because it is so easy and natural. It goes great with a natural rosy cheek and a pop of color on the lips! (I paired it today with Revlon ColorBurst Lip Butter in Lollipop.)

I started by patting Foxy, a matte yellowish beige, all over the lid. It's pretty sheer and doesn't show up very well, and it's almost the same color as my skin, so I do this just to create a matte, even base. I then used Suspect, a shimmery warm taupe, to shade in the outer half of the lid and the bottom lashline. I blended Snakebite, a medium-dark shimmery brownish taupe, into the crease and onto the outer third of the lower lashline. 

I used a flat eyeliner brush to line my upper and lower lashline with Busted, a dark purplish brown shimmer. To finish, I used a small detail brush to add a small highlight just under the eyebrow and inner corner with Bootycall, a light beige highlighter. I finished the eye with two coats of Cover Girl LashBlast mascara in Black on the upper and lower lashes.

In other news, I got my hairs did today! I went to Kelly Cardenas Salon here in Chicago, where I've been getting my hair done by the amazing Nicole for probably almost three years. I haven't had it colored in about two years, and I decided it was time for a change. I wanted highlights to brighten up my face and add some dimension, and Nicole had the amazing idea to do an "ombre" effect - where the roots are my natural color and it gradually fades into a lighter blonde towards the ends. I also got bangs! They are so amazing, I love them!

 

What is your favorite every day neutral look?

EOTD - Smoky Purples!

I was bored a few days ago and wanted to challenge myself to use some eyeshadows that I haven't used in a while. I was feeling in a purple kinda mood, so I grabbed a few purple and pink eyeshadows that I think came together for a very fun purple smoky eye!

First, as I always do, I primed my eyelid with Urban Decay Primer Potion in Original. Then, I covered my whole lid with the "Eyelid" color, a grayish lavender frost, from the Wet n' Wild trio Silent Treatment. I then blended a Mary Kay eyeshadow in Sweet Plum, a deep shimmery royal purple, into the crease, on the outer third of the lid, and onto the bottom lash line. I used another Mary Kay shadow, in Raisin, a matte reddish purple, just above the crease. To finish, I blended the "Browbone" color, a light candy pink, from the same Wet n' Wild trio into the browbone and the inner corner. I lined my waterline with an Urban Decay 24/7 Glide-On Eye Pencil in Rockstar, a dark eggplant purple. Lastly, I coated my eyelashes with CoverGirl LashBlast mascara in black.

 

 Hope you liked this eye look! Purple is my favorite eyeshadow color because it is just so flattering to my skin tone and hair color, and it really makes my greenish/grayish eyes pop. What is your favorite eyeshadow color?

FOTD - Friday night look!

 I'm going out on the town tonight with some friends! Yay! I can't wait to be outside for the first time in four days! 

I haven't worn color on my eyes in a while, since I recently got the Urban Decay Naked 2 palette and two neutral Duos from Bare Minerals, so I decided to match the bit of blue in my colorful sweater to my eyes.

First, I primed my eyelid with Urban Decay Primer Potion in Original. Then, using the fabulous brush that came in the Naked 2 palette, I swept Verve, a grayish highlighter, all over my lid and in the inner corner. Then I used the fluffy end of the brush to blend Pistol, a medium-dark gray, on the outer half of my lid and on the lower lashline. I then took Urban Decay Haight from the Dangerous palette, which is a tealish dark blue, and blended it into my crease. I highlighted the browbone with Virgin, a beige highlighter, from the Dangerous palette.

I used NYX eyeliner in Gray on the waterline and on the top lashline. I coated my eyelashes with CoverGirl LashBlast in Black.





For the rest of my face, I used Sonia Kashuk blush in Sunset on the apples of my cheeks, and CoverGirl Cheekers in Cinnamon Toast to do a bit of contouring. I highlighted my cheekbones and bridge of my nose with Virgin. On my lips I used Revlon Colorburst lip gloss in Peony (told I use this gloss all the time! Hah!)

Makes your face look like a different face!

Got any plans tonight? What makeup do you like to wear when you go out?

Let's start the new year off with my declaration of love for nail polish and makeup!

I have become increasingly obsessed with nail polish over the past year or so, in large part to the blog that started it all for me: www.alllacqueredup.com. From there, I discovered www.temptalia.com, which sparked my interest in eyeshadow, eyeliner, lipstick, etc. I am not a makeup or nail polish expert by any means, but I enjoy experimenting with new looks and collecting interesting new colors and formulas of nail polish and makeup. So I thought I'd start this blog to document my frequent polish changes and makeup looks of the day!

To start off with, I have Revlon Starry Pink on my nails. This is one of the shades that put Revlon on the map for me, and I scoured several Walgreens in my area to find it. It feels very wintery to me, with its almost-white pink jelly base sprinkled with small silver glitter and larger silver hex glitter. I'm normally not a huge pink nail polish girl, but I love how unique and interesting this one is. I've worn this a few times so far this winter and it wears without chipping for a few days. I always change my polish after 2 or 3 days anyway because I get bored! This photo shows three coats because the jelly base is slightly sheer, but I think it looks pretty that way.








I'd been lusting after the Bare Minerals Ready Eyeshadow Quad in the Elements for about a month or so now, and I finally nabbed it at Ulta yesterday with some Christmas money. I have two of the Duos (in Enlightenment and Escape) and I LOVE the formula, so I knew this quad with these interesting colors needed to be mine.

First, I prepped my eyelid with Urban Decay Primer Potion in Original. I swept Earth, a matte gray sage color, across the whole eyelid, then blended Fire, a matte rusty orange color, into the crease and up. Then I blended Air, a shimmery taupe highlighter, into the browbone and inner corner. I really love how it kind of came out looking like a sunset on the horizon! I did not use Water, a shimmery teal blue color, in this look because this was just a casual daytime look, but next time I'll use Water on the lower lashline. I love the way these shadows applied. They are very pigmented, and practically melted into the skin.

I used NYX eyeliner in Gray to line my waterline (although this photo was taken after a whole day of wear, so it's no longer visible) and on the top lashline. I don't love the way the gray eyeliner became a bit invisible against Earth, so I might try a brown or olive green liner next time. (Black liner looks too harsh on me, unfortunately.) Then I swept my eyelashes with CoverGirl LashBlast mascara in Black.


Have you tried the Bare Minerals pressed powder eyeshadows yet? How would you wear these colors?