Loving Lately: New Eye Shadow Palettes

Now that I've been the proud owner of the Naked Palette for a year I am convinced that high end eye palettes are 100% worth the investment. I'm feeling like I've hit a bit of an eye makeup rut lately, so I'm debating about investing in a new palette. (Or maybe my Mom will read this and get me one of these for an early Christmas present. Just kidding Mom, but if you want to send me one I'd totally be okay)

These are the three palettes I've narrowed it down to... 

LORAC PRO Palette

The LORAC Pro Palette is GORGEOUS. Half matte and half shimmer, I think there are a ton of looks that you could create with this. There are a few similarities to the naked palette though, so I'm a little hesitant.

Too Faced The Return of Sexy Palette

The Too Faced The Return of Sexy Palette is shimmery and fabulous! I love the idea of this combo of three palettes in one. Browns, Purples and Grays. All are go-to color combos for me, plus I don't have a ton of these colors in my collection, so it would be a great way to expand.

Urban Decay The Vice Palette

The UD Vice Palette was just released, and from what I hear it's going to be the next big thing. I'm more of a neutral girl, so the bright colors are a bit scary. However I love UD shadows and they are all super blend-able so the pigmentation isn't super scary if you tone it down with some of the neutrals. 

 

This is a weekly link up hosted by the fabulous Carly, Kristen, Niki & Rachel!  Join us and link up what you're loving lately! Whether it's fashion, color, crafts, interiors, beauty products, yummy and delicious, or really anything else, we want to know!

Rules

1. Follow Your Hosts and Co-Hosts

They are the first 8 in the linky! Carly @ Lipgloss and Crayons Kristen @ The Wright Stuff Niki @ Glossy Blonde Rachel @ La La Lists This week's co-hosts are: Angela @ Head To Toe Chic Emily @ Blue Dog Belle Harmony @ Thistles & Things Whitney & Nicole @ Something Brought You Here

2. Grab a Button

Or link back to one of your hosts, and help us promote Loving Lately!

3. Link Up!

Link up your post on what you're loving lately! Please do not link up your entire blog or any posts that are not "Loving Lately"!   We are so happy to have you link up, and we do go through and read all of the posts, so if you do not give credit, we will have to remove your link.  And we don't want to have to do that!  So please share the love and include a link back!

4. Mingle

It's a linky party after all!

Visit some of the other posts in the linky and say hello!

5. Tweet!

Help us promote and grow this party! Send a tweet and let everyone know you linked up!

<center> <a href="http://www.glossyblonde.com"><img border="0" src="http://i1053.photobucket.com/albums/s467/nikicaron/LLlogo-1.jpg?t=1345733318"/></a></center>

Let's get this party started!

{Beauty Tuesday} What's in Alissa's Makeup Bag?

For this installation of {Beauty Tuesday} I have the fabulous Alissa of Feeling Good taking us on a tour of what's in her makeup bag. If you're not familiar with Alissa, she's a DC area fashion blogger, who is clearly destined for big things. She has great style. She's one of those fashion bloggers who takes risks, but never seems to look bad. After reading her posts I'm often left thinking I would have never thought of that, but it looks so good! Anyways, you need to go visit her. Please show her some love.

-----

Hi fashionable friends! First of all let me just start this post by saying thank you to Emily for asking me to guest post today. I’m glad to help while she gets her study on. (Big props for that, girl!)

When I told Em I’d write about anything, she suggested showing what’s in my makeup bag. I loved the idea because that’s not something my readers get to see on my blog. It’s fresh (as they say in the news biz) and I dig it. I know y’all are itching to see what’s in my bag, baby – so here it is!

Full disclosure: I definitely cleaned out my Vera Bradley makeup bag before taking any pictures. It had some makeup remnants and needed to be pretty for its debut. In the aerial view, you can see I don’t have that much makeup, and I don’t use much of it either. I’m usually an eye shadow, mascara and lip-gloss kind of girl all year (but with this heat, I haven’t been wearing any). So let’s break it all down!

I do own foundation and it comes in handy when I’m doing work in front of the camera. This CoverGirl Trublend Whipped Foundation is the best kind that works for my skin. It’s the perfect color for my pale complexion and I like the silky whipped texture. Set in place with light NYCpowder, which I’ve had for a long time, obviously... but it never lets me down! Another favorite: Maybelline DreamMousse Blush aka the best blush ever in my humble opinion. Also light and a peachy-pink color that gives my cheeks a glow.

One item I do have a ridiculous amount of: eye shadow. I love the purple Rimmel London to accent my brown eyes. Underneath that sits my three Arbonne eye shadow compacts – which holds about 12 eye shadow colors each. (In my defense, my Grandma, Mom and Aunt used to sell Arbonne so I have quite the array of products.)

Sticking with the eyes, one item that doesn’t usually stay the same for me is mascara. The crazy-coupon-clipping person in me buys whatever tube of mascara I have a coupon for. (There are always coupons in the Sunday newspaper for mascara). This month, it’s Covergirl Lash Blast Volume inblack, which I like. However, I have found my go-to eyeliners: Arbonne in “Hepburn” and the classic black in Almay.

Finally, to pull the whole look together: lipstick!! I have a whole bag of lipsticks and glosses, so I pulled my favorites: Sephora Sugar, NARS Schiap, RevlonCoralberry, Mac Dazzleglass inSugarrimmed and Revlon Just Bittenin Passion. I keep these five in heavy rotation, especially throughout the summer. From lip tint (Sephora) to gloss (Mac) and bold colors (NARS, Revlon) my lips are covered!

I hope you enjoyed discovering what’s in my makeup bag! If you’d like to see what’s in my closet, hop on over to my blog, where it’s all about Feeling Good! :) And thanks a bunch to Emily again for having me today on BDB!

{Beauty Tuesday} Birchbox Brag--- WAY LATE

*OMG y'all. This is my 100th Post on Blue Dog Belle* 

I cannot believe how much this little bloggy has grown already! Thanks to all of you who spend a little part of you day with me right here. 

So in my craziness last week, I completely missed Birchbox Brag with Tara and Katie. I seriously cant even believe it. Look, we even tweeted about it! 

But better late than never right ladies? I am thrilled with this month's box. THRILLED. I have found a product that has completed my life. I can't even tell you how much I'm obsessed with it. 

The Eyeko Skinny Liquid Eyeliner in Black is AMAZING. 

via

Not going to lie. I have worn this EVERY SINGLE DAY since I got this in my box. I love that its a marker (way easier to deal with than a brush), I love how quickly it dries, and I LOVE how thin it is. Now. For those of you who are liquid liner experts take my review with a slight grain of salt. I am not new to liquid liners, but I've only ever used my Wet and Wild MegaLiner matte black (don't judge me, it got good reviews and I'm a fan. and its $3). The eyeko is a whole new world though. It took a few times to master a slightly altered technique, but y'all I can't tell you enough how much I love it. 

Next up Hello by Harvey Prince

Love this. Citrus and Flowers, but not too sweet. It's probably my favorite Birchbox perfume sample so far (Kate Spade Twirl is a close second though).

Alterna Bamboo UV + Color Protection Fade-Proof Fluide 

Why have I never thought that you might need sunscreen for your hair? Makes sense. and I'll tell you a secret... my hair is heavily highlighted... I may not be a natural blonde... shocking I know. I pay a good amount of money to have my color changed. Why would I let the sun mess it up?  

*OMG. pause. It's a sad life when I start seeing formal logic arguments in my blog posts. #LSATnerd*

Supergoop! City Sunscreen Serum

Love this. It's super light weight, and great under makeup. I'm bad about putting sunscreen on for an average day. If I'm out and about, and I know I'm going to be in the sun I'm great. But on a typical M-F work day I rely on the spf's in my moisturizer or make up... but I jump around so much (and not all of my products contain SPF) I'm sure there are many days that I miss. Needless to say this is a good product. A tad expensive for what it is, but I appreciate the samples. 

Tea Forte minteas: Ginger Peach

I love this little treat in the bbox this month. Took me a while to figure out how to open it, but they taste great!

and finally these super fun Neon Ear Buds.... 

via

Birchbox... how did you know I'm always loosing my ear buds? I needed some new ones, and these are FAB! 

Also, please don't forget to enter the Kiki and CoCo giveaway here

{Beauty Tuesday} Fourth of July Edition

Tomorrow is July 4th! Woohoo! Yay for no work! oh... and our independence. 

Since tomorrow will be a chilling by the pool, grilling out, beer drinking kind of a day here are some easy beauty recommendations (coincidentally this is exactly what I will be using). I hope y'all all have a great day off tomorrow! I will have some exciting stuff coming up here on Blue Dog Belle.... come back tomorrow for a NEON themed giveaway (I know, I'm kind of obsessed with giving y'all stuff!)

covergirl TruBlend loose powder | laura mercier tinted moisturizer | e.l.f. blush and bronzer duo| Revlon Lip Butter in cherry tart | L'Oreal Paris Voluminous Waterproof mascara

Have a great day off tomorrow!

{Beauty Tuesday} Eye Makeup

First of all, don't forget to enter my awesome Rouge and Co giveaway here.

I seriously love makeup. I always have. I love the process of applying it, learning about it, practicing different looks and techniques. I love it all. While some girls just slap something on to look presentable, I really take pride in applying my eye makeup in the mornings. I could seriously spend hours at my vanity every morning. I love how different shades, and tones and blending techniques can change the look of your face so dramatically. I have been on a pinteresting hunt lately for some inspiration and here's what I've come up with. BTW: all of these can be found on my Makeup Board

I love these step by step pinterest tutorials.  I tried this look today. minus the false eyelashes... a tad too much for work.

I LOVE using my naked palette and the half baked (beautiful gold shimmer) to achieve looks like this one.

never underestimate the power of a dark brow and a shimmery smoked out eye. Amazing.

Love. Uber dramatic

 I am dying over this color. silvery green. gorgeous.

I love this drama without a heavy liner

and I LOVE kiko lynn and her makeup tutorials. Look at this stunning cat eye. Purple liner. purple smokiness? amazing.

I love how simple this look is too. with the white that blends out through the rest of the eye.

love. 

This last look could not be more perfect. 

Seriously. This I spend too much time on pinterest. It's kind of an obsession. But a worthwhile one. 

hope y'all have a great day!

Beauty Tuesday: NYX

Between my birthday drama, work, and just living my life I feel like I've gotten off track with this little blog. When I created blue dog belle a few months ago I wanted to focus on the two things I love most: Makeup and Politics. I haven't talked about either in weeks... woops.

Getting back to basics I want to introduce you to NYX Cosmetics. Call me dumb, but I whenever I saw a review of these products I thought they were part of the New York Color (NYC) brand. I haven't had a great experience with many of those products, and even though they are cheap I love me some ELF. 

Well all that has changed now, thanks to my IRL BFF LoRay. For my birthday she sent me a BUNCH of NYX products, and honestly I'm in love with all of them. Let me show you what I got. 

So this is the 10 Color Eye Shadow Palette in Versus, I can not tell you how wonderful it is for me. This is the first thing that has made me put down my naked palette. and that is saying a lot y'all. The shadows are buttery soft, have great pigment and blend well. I've been using it with my elf eye primer and it stays put for hours. It's a great combo. I love the purples! and at $10 how could you not pick this up at ulta? I mean really, you need this.

Next, Mega Shine Lip Gloss. This product really lives up to its name. It smells great, but don't try to eat it as it tastes gross. *I may or may not have licked it off my lips to test it for y'all. I'll let you decide if I did or not. Anyways, I have Chandelier, which is a sparkly medium pink color. It goes on sheer, which I love, and it layers beautifully over lipstick.

This next product is my new favorite. I've gotten SO many compliments on this lip color I'm debating which one to pick up next. As you know I have a love affair with lip products, and this is a new one for the list. The mineral based Round Lip Stick is great for every day. Lauren knows me so well, and gifted me a color I probably would never buy myself, but now I can't put it down.

NYX Round Lipstick 

This is Peach Bellini, or as my roommate BW says, Barbie Pink. It's a VERY BRIGHT orangy pink, that glides on smooth. I will say, make sure you moisturize your lips when using this product or at least exfoliate. It can get slightly cakey if your lips aren't super smooth.  

Peach Bellini

The NYX Slide on Pencil is AWESOME. It rivals my Stila smudge stick, like really. Lauren had brilliant foresight to get me black shimmer, because I had just run out of my black pencil liner, so now I'm set! Thanks LoRay.

If this wasn't enough motivation for you, I don't know what is. NYX has great products, at even better prices. I really love my high end products, but do not  have the budget to spend all my money towards my birchbox finds. Now I'm scouring the website, trying to decide what to get next. Have you discovered NYX yet? Do you have any product recommendations?

Beauty Tuesday: Naked Palette

I know everyone and their monther has reviewed the Urban Decay Naked Palette (1), but I need to jump on the bad wagon. Y'all, I use this thing EVERY SINGLE DAY. I love how versitile it is. I usually to do a subtle smokey eye with browns for work, which is great for this palette. Then I can easily step it for Saturday night and go deeper and darker. I can't tell you how much I love it.

Here are swatches of all the shadows

 These are the lightest 4 colors. I love Virgin as a highlight. It gives a great pearly finish with out glitter. Sin is a pearly pink color and is great too and (but of those two I usually opt for virgin). Naked is my go to color. It's a great all over color that mimicks the color of my eyelid. It's completely matte, no shimmer or sparkle so you can pair it with something a little richer with out going over the top. Sidecar is the one color in the palette I'm not thrilled with. It's beautiful, don't get me wrong, but it has glitter in it and no matter what primer I do, or how carefully I apply it, there is always glitter that ends up elsewhere on my face.

Buck is my other go-to matte shadow and is a great crease color. Half Baked is gorgeous. Its a bright shimmery gold. I have a single of it also, and I love to use this in the center of my eyelid to open the eye. I use it ALL the time. Love it. Smog is also wonderful, not quite as shimmery as half baked, but its close. This is my usual crease shade for the work week. When I want to step it up though, I opt for darkhorse. This smokey warm brown is absolutely beautiful. I also use this as a liner every now and again.  

Toasted is another go to shade. If you look at the swatch you can see its a medium tone burgandy shimmer. Very similar to smog, but warmer. Hustle is a deeper version of toasted and is absolutely beautiful. Creep is the darkest shade in the whole palette. Its a dark grey with some shimmer and blue undertones. I use it mostly to deepen the crease or as a liner. It's a beautiful color, but use a light hand if you're fair like me. Gunmetal is a medium toned silver/blue shimmer. It's really pretty on, but I generally like warmer colors, so it rarely makes it in to one of my naked palette looks.

I wanted to give you some of my favorite combos

Naked:Half Baked: Smog

Buck: Toasted: Hustle

Virgin: Half Baked: Hustle

Today I'm rocking Virgin all over the lid, Half Baked in the center, and Creep in the crease. All super blended out, with covergirl eye liner in black, curled lashes, no mascara.

Do you have a go-to product you can't stop using?