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?

Beauty Tuesday: Revlon ColorBurst Lip Butter

So, last week I talked about my new favorite lip product: Tarte's LipStain. But I'm all about mixing high end products with drug store ones, because lets be honest who can afford to buy EVERYTHING that you need at Sephora? Not this gal.

If you are in the market for something less expensive, that gives a good pop of color, lots of shine (but not sticky) and makes your lips feel super soft you need to check out Revlon's Lip Butter product.

I was first introduced to this a few months ago by my favorite YouTube Beauty Guru: Emily of Beauty Broadcast. *Side note, if you haven't discovered beauty guru's on YouTube get on it asap, it will become addicting, promise. Emily just RAVED about these and how wonderful all the colors are and how awesome they make your lips feels, so I knew for $5 it was something I needed to try.

One day I was at Target checking out and sitting in the bottom of my cart was a tube of peach parfait Lip Butter. I swear it was fate. I searched the aisles of the beauty department and couldn't find Lip Butters ANYWHERE, but some how this perfect color ended up in my cart. It's been true love ever since.

I've tried several colors now, because as you know I have an obsession with lipstick, but my favorite is Cherry Tart.

Its the perfect red for every day. It's definitely a statement, but as someone who is a little afraid of BRIGHT lip colors this is great.

I'm always on the hunt for new products, do you have any suggestions of things I can try?

Birchbox Find: Tarte Lip Stain Pencil

I have another confession. I'm in a long term love affair with several lip glosses. I am constantly buying them because I'm constantly "losing them" aka they end up at my desk at work and then I forget about them... For example.

Yah. I know. I have more at work than I do at home though.

They also live in my purse, where they seem to multiply.

and my car.

and my vanity (where they're supposed to live).

But I have new love who I want to introduce you to. 

This is the Tarte Lip Stain Pencil with LipSurgence. This baby came to me via my march Birchbox. If you've never heard of Birchbox you need to get on it ASAP. My bff LoPro aka the Lawfully Wedded Wife  gave me a subscription last year for my birthday and it's one of the best presents I've ever gotten (that wasn't jewelry or a car). I've been on it for almost a year now, and my Teen Vogue box this March was quite possibly the best one to date. I got a full size Essie sparkly pink polish, a set of oil blotting papers (LOVE), some fun hair ties by, a perfume sample and a full size Tarte Lip Stain Pencil with LipSurgence in joy.

I was a little hesitant about the color, because it looks VERY corally orange. I'm not a huge fan of orange lips, but it goes on beautifully and is a perfect bright pinky-coral. The texture is amazing, so soft and smooth and it smells good too :)

It goes on shiny, so you don't need any gloss. But I think the best part is it is actually a Lip stain so the color stays on for hours once the shine disappears.

It does need to be re applied after a meal, but what lip color doesn't? The color definitely makes it through a cup of coffee though, and that's a HUGE deal to me. Its a tad on the pricey side, but I promise I really think its worth it.

Have you tried the Tarte LipStain line yet? What do you think?

Beauty Tuesdays: Getting the Skin you want

So I have a confession. I am addicted to make up. I blame my bff the Lawfully Wedded Wife. It started YEARS ago when we visited the Clinique counter one fateful trip to Lenox Mall in Atlanta. But during my brief unemployment last year my addiction was re-triggered with the discovery of YouTube Make up gurus. I have to say in the last year I've learned A LOT about make up, different techniques, what works for my skin and what doesn't. I do not claim to be a beauty expert or guru in any way whatsoever, but I can say that I know what I like and what I don't. I'm going to share some of those products on here with you.

The most important thing to having flawless makeup is having flawless skin. Let me start by telling you a little bit of my ongoing battle with my skin. I am very fair. I wouldn't be surprised if I got a sunburn at night. On top of that I've battled acne, SERIOUS acne for most of my teens and well into college. I still don't have it completely under control, but its getting there. I've done it all, from Pro-Active to Accutane, so I feel like I can give you some pretty solid advice here ladies. But I do want to say, this is what I've discovered works best for my fair and sensitive skin, this routine may not work for you.

1. You NEED to WASH YOUR FACE. I know, beyond obvious. Seriously though, in the morning and at night. I switch up my products based on the time of year, what my skin has been doing of late etc.

2. Exfoliate. I use a daily exfoliant by Dermatologica which I LOVE, but if I feel like I really need a scrub I use my St. Ives.

3. You Need  to Moisturize. I don't care if you have super oily skin, if you have horrible breakouts, or if you just like the tight feeling your skin gets after you wash it. If you don't moisturize your skin will freak out and produce more oil to compensate... leaving you shiny and more likely to breakout. I tend to look cakey if I layer too many products on my face, so I'm trying out tinted moisturizer and mixing my fuller coverage foundation with my sunscreen and moisturizer... so far so good.

It seems that spring is finally here for good, but before you run out into the sun (like we all do) PLEASE put on some sunscreen. Skin cancer and wrinkles are SO not worth the bronzed glow now. ESPECIALLY considering all the amazing bronzers and self tanners on the market now a days. I promise, you will thank yourself later. Or you could just be cool like me, wear a hat and like SPF 85 whenever you go out... I'm just saying... its a pretty cool look.

Do y'all have any suggestions as to how I can improve my routine?