Aug 30, 2010

Lipstick Spotlight: MAC Lame lipstick


The beauty of this lipstick? It must be the frosty toned down pink tint, the way it makes me look polished, or the way it covers the pigment of my natural lips...Lame has been a longtime favorite of mine, this is my second tube....I just love it for work, or for a latenight dinner.
Lame, pronounced 'La- May' is a gorgeous muted pink with golden shimmer.

88 Palette Monday: Smoky Vine


Dark and sultry....I wanted to try something more smoky since fall and winter are on their way...I hope you all like it.

A smoky mixture of blacks and forest green:



Sweep #1 over outer V and contour area first

Pat #2 all over the lid and on the lower lashline and afterwards apply #1 only on the outer lower lashline

#3 is the highlight and inner corner

I used Lash Stiletto for lashes

:)




Aug 29, 2010

Favorites of the Month

So, who is ready for autumn? One of the reasons why I love the month of August is because it really is the transition month for fall….the weather changes a bit, school starts, stores stock up on Halloween and fall décor, and fall makeup collections come out, can’t get enough of that!

To kick off my August Favorites post, I wanted to share a bit of joy with you about a palette that I’ve been swooning over like a diabetic in a candy store ;) It’s the Traditional Palette by LA Colors. Boy, if I would have known that this palette would be my go-to for everyday simple neutral looks I would have bought a whole case! Ok, maybe not a whole case, but maybe 2 or 3 backups? And they are only $1, sweet deal!

It has almost everything you need for a nice natural look perfect for the day at the office or in my case, a day at the clinic.

Signature mineral foundation- This is my old-school mineral go-to back when I first started collecting makeup. Their samples is what started it all, but because of my ‘rekindling’ I have decided to order the full size jars. I love this foundation because it gives your skin a glow, perfect coverage and doesn’t feel cakey or dry. Honestly I prefer Signature over Everyday minerals anytime.


Bonne Bell liplites in Strawberry Parfait- I own about 5 or 6 of these and never did I think to wear the lightest one for work of fear that I’d look like I sprinkled pink powder on my lips but actually this color is really nice! While it does look like a really light pink in the tube, on my lips it becomes really neutral and pretty....


Shu Uemura lash curler- I have never really liked the lash curler for the simple fact that my lashes are super strait. Up to this point, not a single thing could curl my lashes, I’ve even thought of perming them! When I had a bad experience with a really cheap lash curler I promised to never use one ever again…. it used to pinch me after which I would call it every name in the book…..But this one I like love!


Jane Blush in Blossom 02- What happened to all the jane stuff? Alot of their blushes seemed to be pretty popular among makeup junkies but then came the day they went on clearance and were discontinued. Anywho, I found a stash of jane products at walmart while vacationing on the coast and simply put, I love this blush! The color is a cute light pink with just a hint of coral.



Kat Von D liquid eyeliner- Since becoming a self-proclaimed liquid eyeliner application pro I've pushed myself to try out other brands of liquid eyeliner. Clinique, thumbs down. ELF, thumbs down. But Kat Von D? 2 thumbs up! :) I got this in a dark brown called Immortal Love, totally digging the names and she has a variety of colors to choose from. The applicator is a brush not felt-tip.



Estee Lauder Individualist makeup- Unfortunately not sold at EL counters but the trusty CCO's happen to carry it. What I love about this makeup is that it is supposedly sheer, but actually covers flaws beautifully. Natural and light, this tube of wonder will always be a favorite of mine next to MAC SFF.


Well, there you have it, my favorites for the month of August. Now I must get back to taking out my halloween decorations stash. hahaha, I begin decorating September 1st!

Which beauty product have you been using a lot of lately?

Aug 23, 2010

88 Palette Monday: Salsa Heat

(with flash)
Today's eye was inspired by the golden bronze and hot pink in the shimmering and matte palettes. I am quite bummed that I couldn't retrieve a great snapshot of the vibrancy of the look, giving no justice to the bright colors. Bummer. However, the look in person is bright and gorgeous! 
(natual light, no flash)


From the 88 shimmer palette (above) I used 1. All over the lid and on the inner lower lashline

Then used the matte palette:
2. is on the outer 'v' and crease blended upward. 2. is also on the outer lower lashline and blended with 1.
3. on only on the outer 'v' and blended a bit on the crease
I used 4. as highlight
No falsies this time, here I used Lancome mascara.

Blending is key with the 2. since this color can travel everywhere! I made sure to wipe my brush often when using this color....

I hope you have enjoyed this look!

Lipstick Spotlight: Dior Addict High Shine

Champagne Blush

I wish Dior made more colors! I wish they were just a tad bit cheaper! I wish I could collect them all!

This week's Lipstick Spotlight is on Dior's Addict High Shine lip color in Champagne Blush. I bought this color quite sometime ago and started wearing it all last week practically. Formulation of these are great...Smooth, creamy, glossy, and sparkly....Champagne blush is a gorgeous pale pink :)

And the packaging is out of this world :)



Aug 22, 2010

August Mania

It isn't much, but more nail polishes? I think it's time for me to order a wall mount :)

First off, the new Lady Gaga the remix CD is great, lots of remixed tracks, some better than others but definitely worth getting....

What is your favorite Lady Gaga song?

I started out the month trying to find a drugstore metallic eyeliner in Teal and the closest I found was by Essence, 'Pretty Cool'. At CVS I found Sally Hansen NP Gray by Gray a nice bluish teal gray color, Revlon NP in Galaxy, Sally Hansen NP in Mystic Lilac, and Rimmel's LS in Pink Blush. The 3 Essence polishes I found at my local grocery store for $2 each, 'Pointbreak' is the greyish one, 'Hang Loose' is the lilac one, and 'The Worlds Coolest' is the blue one. All are very nice, my favorite is Pointbreak.

Walgreens had all the Sinful polishes for 99 cents so I got Secret Admirer. I picked up the Neutrogena Healthy Skin makeup in 110 Honey Beige, so far it's good. I've been searching for a nice drugstore dupe of MAC's LS Girl About Town and I found Rimmel's LS in In Vogue....I love the color, it may not be an exact match but it's close and is the nicest bright color so far in any drugstore line. The reason I'm going after bright colors is because to me sometimes nude or light pink lippies can look like a bore, bright lipsticks in any range of color scream "I'm confident!"

Excited about the new Dazzle lipsticks by MAC t'was perfect timing for me since I had 2 separate back2mac's.....I got Wham and Troublemaker

Wham is nice pinkish med mauve with mutiple colored reflects-Gosh the picture doesn't do it much justice, it really is a nice color for fall!

Troublemaker is a cool bright pink with mutiple colored reflects


Dollar Tree is where I got the Sally Hansen 12 hr treatment, a very nice moisturizing clear gloss.

Nymph Dreams


I was inspired by the very lovely ELF quad Nymph Dreams. I love the green in the quad so I decided to create something that could be executed using the quad. Funny thing is, I don't own Nymph Dreams, haha, but I need to! What is your favorite ELF product?


Sorry about the strand of hair on my forehead!

A nice brownish smoky eye with a hint of glistening tan and a cool mint on the lid :)

EYES

  • NYX jumbo shadow Milk on lid

  • Savvy e/s Cool Mint on entire lid

  • Milani e/s Bronze Doll on contour

  • Milani e/s Bronze Doll on lower lashline

  • ELF eyebrights Chocolate Brown, last e/s 2nd row on outer V

  • ELF eyebrights Chocolate Brown on outer lower lashline

  • LA Colors Traditional palette white e/s as highlight

  • LA Colors Traditional palette white e/s inner corner

  • Maybelline line stiletto black on upper lashline

  • Almay icolor eyeliner on outer lower lashline

  • Loreal Carbon Black mascara
LIPS

  • Jordana lipstick Wink
FACE

  • Neutrogena Healthy Skin makeup 110 Honey Beige

  • Prescriptives camo concealer med.

  • William Tuttle face powder

  • NYC blush Sutton Place Peach


Aug 17, 2010

TRESemme Fresh Start Dry Shampoo: A Review



Ever since I can remember my hair has always been oily on the second day, something I hate to tolerate since I work full-time and see patients every day. I wouldn’t mind this oily disaster if I were a stay at home mom but for someone that styles her hair and puts on a full face of makeup Monday thru Friday it is a big pain.

To be honest, you aren’t really suppose to shampoo every day, one of the reasons why I shampoo every other day, but on some days I’m just too lazy to shampoo or on some days I’m running late for work. My solution to oily hair was a few sprinkles of baby powder, but powder flies everywhere!

So to put an end to my oily appearance I decided to try the new Tresemme dry shampoo, one of the products in a new collection called Fresh Start by Tresemme….

Spray on your hair if….

-you have naturally oily hair throughout the day

-you tend to have oily hair the day after you wash your hair

-your hair is naturally straight

Cost: $4.99 at CVS

Pros: price, hair is matte (non-oily) for a specific amount of time, smell is a little strong but it is a pleasant smell, easy to use, you can reapply at any time

Cons: hair looks dull with no shine, scent can be annoying, doesn’t last a very long time (lasts for approximately 4 to 6 hrs without re-application)

Trial results:

1st try: Sprayed on my hair, from scalp to 4 inches out on roots, about 11 times in 10 different spots……

Noticed a slight difference at first application. It is very hard to tell if the spray works when you first put it on, you can’t see oils and shine on the hair after applying it, meaning at first glance the hair looks normal (not oily). On this first day my hair took the spray decently but after about 6 hours started to look oily again.

2nd and 3rd try: Sprayed on my hair, from scalp to 4 inches out on roots, about 8 times in 6 different spots…..

My hair was oily in the mornings, I applied the spray and there were little to no results. My hair looked oily most of the day afterwards, which was a little disappointing. On these days I used less spray but on the most oily parts of my hair, which to me is why there were barely any results. I could see a slight difference on the first hour.

2nd try, after application, still quite oily

2nd try after a few hrs

On my first day of trying the dry shampoo it applied well but I noticed it gave me a slight grayish shot of color I suppose is due to the clay in the formula, with that said, it combed out easily on the hair at a radius. My whole goal was to see my hair as if it was just washed and dried, the dry shampoo gave me hair that was half matte and half oily which was an odd sight. I wanted for it to last at least until I left work to go home but it was starting to get oily again going on my 7th hour, which to me is not that bad.

Scent: Surrounded by clouds of the dry shampoo I noticed the smell of citrus extracts, it was pleasant but after 2 or 3 sprays it gets to be a bit much.

Here is my honest opinion: It does work, provided as long as you use it correctly and apply a generous amount on the areas that are oily the most. Don’t be stingy with the spray, I say if you really need it then apply a good amount, for me it worked this way. If you need to have your hair decent for more than 6 or 7 hours then this spray probably isn’t for you. If you want to go for a third day, please try it out to see if it works, I have not tried this product on a third day.

Product: 3.5 stars
Packaging: 5 stars
Quality: 3.5 stars
Overall: 3.5 stars
Would buy again? Not sure

Aug 16, 2010

88 Palette Monday: 'Let's Party!'


I decided to create something a little bit more exciting for those nights out dancing! I love this look for 1. because it includes alot of my favorite eyeshadow colors (blue, teal, green) and secondly because it is shimmery and dramatic!

This is the look I came up with, I think I have done something like this similiar but I'm not sure....



I started to use MAC Soft Ochre paintpot as a base but quickly realized that the shadow wouldn't stick, bleh!
So I ended up just using an eye cream to prime my eyelid, it worked nicely....

Blend blend blend away, all the colors should run together :)
It is really simple:

1. All over the lid
2. On contour and outer contour area
3. only on crease blended upward to mix up with the 2.

I used 1. on the lower inner lashline, 4. on the middle part of the lower lashline and then 3. on the outer lower lashline, all blended at the seams
In this palette most of the light colors are, how can I say, terrible....so you can use your favorite highlight color....I used MAC Vanilla :)

I used fake lashes from the dollar store, geeze these lashes are long!


!

Aug 9, 2010

88 Palette Monday: Pastel's Cotton Candy

For some reason I just wanted to add in the lashes at the bottom...I have very tiny lashes so the effect would not look correct, but for those that have great lashes at the bottom the idea is to slather on the mascara for that baby doll look :)
anywho, you get the idea, this is an example of how it would look, blend away as usual :)


Prime the skin surrounding the eye with NYX shadow stick 'Milk'
#1 for inner lid
#2 next to it
#3 next to the green (much on the outer contour area)
#4 on the outer v area
#5 on crease blended very well
#6 under the highlight color
#7 highlight color and inner corner

I used #3 on outer bottom lashline, #2 near the middle of lashline, #1 on inner lower lashline

Maybelline line stiletto upper lashline
and drew in lashes on bottom, haha

Loreal Voluminous mascara

Aug 7, 2010

Parabens

Ok, a very controversial subject gals. Parabens in makeup, I know you all have heard about it before. Many don't know exactly what is it or what it's doing in makeup. In a nutshell Parabens are used as a preservative in cosmetics and food. It's been said they are the cause of breast cancer/tumors and other skin illnesses (has not been a confirmed fact). You know, just to talk about this subject is very difficult as both sides of the subject prove good points (information on parabens is at the very bottom).... My job today is not to scare you at all...since we have been told we clearly are not in danger when using parabens (FDA says) but whichever side I decide to take, I'm still not sure as to what to believe. For example, some research has been done (Darbre report) which would make me wipe out any products with parabens completely from my makeup bag. But on the other hand, FDA reports that parabens are perfectly fine and they should cause no concern.


Here's what we been told. Very little amount of parabens are used in each product so that it is unharmful to humans but if we use a few products on our face and in our bodies each day and all of them have different kinds of parabens......obviously they add up, as you can imagine, do the math.

As a blogger and being unsure of the longterm effects of the use of parabens, I have to be neutral on the subject! But still, many sides to each story leave me going "What do I believe?!"

So, take the information that I provide for what it's worth......What are your thoughts? Comment below and let me know.
A list of items in my makeup box (and products that I happen to like alot!) that in my opinion have too many parabens:

Wet n Wild Ultimate Expressions Paradise Cove - 4 parabens
Maybelline Stylish Smokes Natural Smokes eyeshadows - 5 parabens
CVS pore strips - 4 parabens
Milani sunset duo - 3 parabens
Milani minerals compact - 3 parabens
NYC powder blush - 3 parabens
Covergirl lashblast mascara - 3 parabens
Tropez eyeshadows - 4 parabens
Milani eyeshadow quads - 3 parabens
Maybelline pure makeup - 4 parabens
Maybelline dream mousse, makeup and blush - 5 parabens



Items I found at home with very few parabens, happy about these!

Revlon Colorstay foundation - 2 parabens
Johnsons baby lotion honey apple - 1 paraben
Biore Clean things up gel cleanser - 1 paraben
Aveeno skin brightening scrub - 1 paraben
DEP gel - 1 paraben
Gilette fusion hydra gel - 1 paraben
Bath and Body lotion - 2 parabens
Queen Helene mint julep masque - 1 paraben
Vaseline sheer infusion lotion - 2 parabens
LA Colors mystic foundation - 1 paraben
Chanel Glossimer lipgloss - 1 paraben
Maybelline line stiletto - 2 parabens
Wet n wild blush - 2 parabens
Physicians formula mineral wear - 2 parabens
LA Colors 5 color eyeshadow palettes - 2 parabens
Covergirl single eyeshadows - 2 parabens
ELF beauty books - 2 parabens


Video list:

MsFililocalola - Parabens

TheSublimeAgent - Parabens...Cancer on your face and in your food!

Naturesknockout - Toxic ingredient paraben...

Read the FDA notice on Parabens here.

Read the Beauty Brains 'Perils of Parabens' here.

Aug 5, 2010

This product would be great but only if....

Have you ever tried a product, were so amazed with the results making you all super duper happy but then thought twice about buying it again because of it's packaging or amount, etc...?


mark. Need a shrink? Pore minimizer lotion, $9

The most gripes coming from gals all around is that this tube is way too small (also small for the price) and there is barely any product inside of it, which means it goes empty sooner than you know it. I've been reading the reviews, the thing with these mark skincare 'hook-ups' is that although the idea is great, hooking it up to something else is a little unnessesary don't you think? Especially since a majority say they've experienced problems with the top cap and etc. But most importantly they say they would repurchase but only if they made this container bigger with more product. Yah, I know exactly what is meant by this! Lord knows how many times I've encountered the amount screw-up...haha

So, my question to you is, What product is on your 'would be great but only if' list?

Aug 2, 2010

88 Palette Monday: 'Holographic'

Welcome to the first creation of my new 88 eyeshadows palette eyes weekly...I'll be creating quick looks using the wonderful 88 eyeshadows palette among other things! I'm super excited about this because a majority of all those gorgeous colors are just sitting around not being used, I felt this was a great way to let them out of their shell! haha

Today's eye is called 'Holographic', thanks to my husband that suggested it, which is not holographic but I see where he was coming from :) I started with a bronzy base eyeshadow, I used mischievous marissa in the Shady Lady palette but any frosty bronze color will do....


now the fun part....


I hope you all can read the markings on the picture!

2. I added the light green color from the palette along my inner contour area.

3. I added the purple mauve color right next to it.

4. I then added the bright blue on the outer area of my lid right next to purple mauve.

5. next I added lightest blue, a color right below the highlight color.

6. I then added the highlight color.

7. afterwards I used a MAC brush 217 and blended in the Dark blue on my outer v and crease for depth.

8. the dark blue was used on my outer lower lashline then medium green for the rest.

9. Temping Tara from the Shady lady palette is what is on my inner corner.

And of course lots of blending!

Used ELF Dramatic false eyelashes for a finishing touch