Showing posts with label Makeup. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Makeup. Show all posts

Tuesday, August 14, 2012

{Beauty Tuesday} Mascara and Lipgloss Swap Reveal!

I've been wanting to do a swap for a while now, and when I saw Tara, Meg and Holly's plan for a Mascara and Gloss swap I knew I'd found one to break the ice! I was paired with the wonderful Jennifer of Dexter Morgan's Mama and OMG y'all did she spoil me.



Can y'all even believe her? I looked at most of the other swaps, and I have to say, I have pretty much the best partner EVER! 

For the actual makeup she sent me: Almay One Coat Thickening  Mascara,  a Maybelline Volum'express Mega Plush, a beautiful Almay trio for blue eyes, a gorgeous Revlon Colorburst gloss in Sizzle Canicule, and EOS balm in summer fruit, a Almay purple eyeliner, some gorgeous coral nail polish from Maybelline in Orange Fix. I mean seriously. Stop it. Made my week.

THEN she threw in a perfect little two pouch makeup bag from Sonia Kashuk, pink tubler, some gum! An adorable little red notebook that says "She makes the day brighter. She leaves a little sparkle wherever she goes." How cute is that? Plus a few hair ties (you can never have enough), an adorable little light up compact in leopard print, the latest issue of people, and a fun bath bomb. 

I mean really. I don't know what to do with myself. I love all of this! Thank you again Jennifer!

Tuesday, August 7, 2012

{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.
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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!

Tuesday, July 31, 2012

{Beauty Tuesday} Revlon Just Bitten Lip Stain

Okay, at this point I have a well  documented love of lip gloss. Here, here and here are some of my favorites. Well after a major haul at Ulta a few weeks ago I have a new favorite lip product (okay I actually have a few, but I'm only sharing one with y'all today)

Thanks to Birchbox, a few months ago I fell in love with the Tarte Lip Stains (again here), but I found a dupe, and I'm OBSESSED. 


It's a jumbo pencil, that glides on. Tons of shine, moisturizing and super pigmented. What else could you want. 

I picked it up in this bright pink color... and let me tell you it's bright (in a great way)

Revlon Just Bitten in Sweet Heart

I'm a huge fan of a statement lip. I really think it balances your face, and allows you to go a little lighter on the eyes (which is nice for the office). 

Honestly, this lasts through multiple cups of coffee, and even lunch. 

It really is a stain, and in this color especially, it darkens as you leave it on.

My one complaint about the product (well all jumbo lip pencils really) is there is no way to sharpen it. Once you use up the initial half an inch or so  it's much wider, and doesn't allow for quite as much precision. 

But over all, I adore this product, and plan on picking up quite a few more shades. 

Have y'all tried it? Or any other lip products? I'd love to know!!!

Thursday, July 26, 2012

Thursday Randoms: Instagram Pic Dump









Lots of pink lately. and Caffeine-- which helps me stay awake through LSAT class... but has kept me from sleeping when I actually have time (fell asleep around 3:30 Tuesday night). 

Don't forget the Kiki and Coco Giveaway, here

Wednesday, July 18, 2012

Oh How Pinteresting

I'm a huge fan of reading everyone's "Oh How Pinteresting" posts on Wednesdays, but I've never actually joined the link up. I know. I'm pretty much the only one. So, today I'm joining Michelle and the rest of the universe and linking up for...



I've been on a hunt for motivation lately. Here are a few of my favorites.







This is my horoscope. 


After you make major life decisions, do you ever get confirmations from the universe? Things out of the ordinary go your way? Well that has been the story of my life for the last two days.  I have a HUGE project that ends in a constituent lobby day on August 1. crazy. And I'm making decisions about the next step...

So, I have an announcement. I have decided to take the LSAT. yes. I am actually pretty excited about it, and getting the ball rolling on heading back to school at some point in the next few years. Hopefully between still working full time, and now taking an LSAT class 12 hours a week plus 24 hours of homework and practice, I will still find time to keep up the blog. I promise y'all I will do my best, but the LSAT is October 4th, so I maybe a little MIA, or the posts may not be their usual awesomeness until then. But, I still love you, and I will be back. In the meantime, lets keep the pinteresting going. 





















all photos are linked on my pinterest page.

Happy Hump Day Y'all

Tuesday, July 17, 2012

{Beauty Tuesday} Eye Brushes

Do you want flawless makeup? A perfectly blended smokey eye? I have a secret for you. It doesn't matter how expensive your eye shadows, primers and mascaras are. If you don't have the right brush, you can't achieve the look. But brushes can be daunting. There are hundreds of shapes and textures to choose from. What do you use were? Does it matter the kind of bristle? synthetic or natural? dense? thin? Are expensive brushes worth it, or do cheap ones work okay too? 

Makeup brushes are the one thing I never really "learned" about until recently, so I need to fill y'all in on the amazing brushes I'm loving right now. I'm going focus on eye brushes, and save face brushes for another post. Everything I'm talking about today are actual brushes I own, use often and LOVE. 

For great eye makeup I think you need 4 different brushes. I know. that's a lot right? Believe me, even more are helpful, but to get you started I recommend these 5 types of brushes.

1. Fluffy Brush-- Meaning a brush with good control that will help you pack shadow onto your lid. Here you can have a wide variety of what a fluffy brush is, but think your traditional eyeshadow brush. 

I use a MAC 239 and I LOVE IT. I am lucky enough to have parents who spoil me at Christmas, because I couldn't afford to shell out $22 for one brush, but if you do this is a great one.


I also have this Sonia Kashuk Brush that I LOVE just about as much (I normally use 4-5 colors on my lid a day, so I have several fluffy dense brushes for general lid application)



2. Pencil Brush-- this is my FAVORITE. It is so versatile, and packs a great punch. I would recommend a pencil brush for both your lower lash line and your crease. 

I use a MAC 219.


I honestly don't own any other pencil brushes, because this one is just so fantastic. But I have heard great things about the Sigma E30 pencil brush and at $9 dollars it's a little more budget friendly than the  MAC counterpart.  


3. Liner Brush
Okay, I'm breaking with MAC and I'm not gonna lie, I LOVE my ELF Angled Liner Brush



For another kind of liner brush altogether I use the Sigma E15 Flat Definer. This is more useful if you want to use shadow for your liner. I love how stiff this is brush is. You can either use this with just your liner shadow, or you can soften a cream liner and smooth it out with this brush.



4. Blending Brush

HERE IS THE KEY. Blend blend blend. Seriously. I can't even tell you how important blending is when it comes to a smokey eye, or any eye look for that matter. Sonia Kashuk Multipurpose Blending Brush is great. When looking for a good blending brush you want something somewhat flexible, but still dense.

For a different kind of blending brush check out the large eye shadow brush from Eco Tools. From what I can tell it only comes in the Bamboo 6 Piece Eye Brush Set (LOVE this set y'all!). It's completely differently shaped,  but a great option. 
This kit is a great beginner set too, the brushes are great quality, and really well priced. 


If you want even more eye brushes, beyond these basic four, try 

1. A highlighter brush-- look for something light and fluffy
2. Angled Crease Brush
3. Lash Brush (separate those babies)
4. Brow Brush
5. Smudge Brush
6. A Tiny Defining Brush to get in those small corners.

Okay. That's all I've got for you today. Again, I wasn't paid for any of these reviews, I own all of these brushes (and many more), and I am very fond of ALL of them. If you have any more specific questions please don't hesitate to email me or comment below. Have a great beauty Tuesday Ladies!

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