Sunday, June 28, 2009

LEMMING: Coastal Scents

I know everyone rants and raves about Coastal Scents because of their cheap, high quality palettes and brushes. Honestly, I never paid much attention to them. I'm not one for bright colored eyeshadows (which is what most people buy their famous 88 palette for) but when I was browsing the website on a whim last week I saw these:

28 Piece Neutral Eyeshadow Palette


Price: $21.95

This 28 piece eye shadow with defining colors comes with an assortment of neutral tones in shimmer and matte effect. The case is matte black & measures 9" x 6", there is no mirror inside, the shadow pan measures 1" round.

Several of the powders will work as a shadow or a blush! This palette is perfect for everyone when applying a natural effect makeup. Upcoming brides to be will especially benefit from the colors this palette has to offer.


This is EXACTLY my cup of tea. I love neutral eyeshadows, I have tons of them. From shimmery white for highlighting to smokey blackish brown. All of these colors look likes ones that I would use, and you can't beat 28 eyeshadows for $22! And they're all decently sized at 1" around (a MAC eyeshadow is 1/16 off from being a full inch, for reference).

10 Piece Professional Blush Palette


Price: $16.95

Our professional blush palette contains every shade needed for the makeup artist. There are 4 matte blushes (1st one on the bottom row and the last 3 on the bottom row). The rest of these have a beautiful sheen of shimmer.

Case measures 9" Long 4 "deep (23 cm x 10 cm). The case is matte black.

Pan size for each blush is 3.5cm or 1 3/8 inches


I've just recently been getting into blushes, I currently use the powder blushes by ELF, but I would LOVE to have this. My only complaint is the size of each blush, I wish they were a little bit bigger. But most of the colors (the only ones I'm not sure about at the to in the upper right) look really wearable and could possibly double as contour or eyeshadow shades.

Pink Kabuki Brush

Price: $4.99

Pink Synthetic Oval Foundation Brush

Price: $3.99

Pink Kolinsky Lip Brush

Price: $3.49

I'm not adding the descriptions for these, I'm assuming anyone who reads this has a basic idea of what they do.

Wednesday, June 24, 2009

Collective Haul

So, here's a bunch of makeup stuffs that I bought.

Eyes:



(Left to right) Wet N' Wild Ultimate Expressions Eyeshadow Palette in Paradise Cove, Prestige Hi-Definition Fluid Eyeliner Stylist in Deep Navy

Lips:



(Left to right) Wet N' Wilder Mega Plump Lipgloss in Plum Desert, CoverGirl Wetslicks AmazeMint Lipgloss in Red Riot, Slaphappy, Pink Positive, and Tickled Pink, Victoria's Secret Beauty Rush Pool Party Lip Butter in Frostea

Face:



(Left to right) Almay Clear Complexion Makeup in Ivory, Revlon Beyond Natural Smoothing Primer (no color), Ooh La La!...well, I don't know the name of the product but the color is called Sun Kissed, I think it's supposed to be a blush or bronzer or highlighter or something. I bought it because it was leopard print but as you can see one swipe of a brush whisked half of the leopard print away. :[

I also bought two of the Victoria's Secret Beauty Rush Pool Party body sprays in Frostea, but forgot to take a picture.

Saturday, June 20, 2009

EOTD - dramatic neutral eye


The eyeliner on the bottom is kind of eh (probably would have looked better if I had used liquid instead of pencil) but overall I really loved this look. Also, please excuse the mascara smudge on my eyelid :P

Products used:
Eyebrows:
Rimmel Professional Eyebrow Pencil in Black
Wet N' Wild H2O Proof Liquid Eyeliner in Brown Black

Eyeshadows:
SallyGirl eyeshadow in Snow (highlight)
Trucco Vanilla Kiss Body Powder (lid)
E.L.F. Brightening Eye Color in Luxe (medium brown for crease, dark brown for outer crease)

Eyeliner/Lashes:
Wet N' Wild H20 Proof Liquid Eyeliner in Black (upper lid)
Rimmel Professional Eyebrow Pencil in Black (lower lid)
Maybelline Colossal Volum Express Mascara in Classic Black (upper & lower lashes)
Ardell Fashion Eyelashes in #117

Wednesday, June 10, 2009

Review & Swatches: E.L.F. Mini Makeup Collection

FINALLY my E.L.F. stuff came in the mail! So here's the first review!

E.L.F. Mini Makeup Collection

Here's the picture and description from the website:


"The convenient makeup collection for eyes, lips and face that allows you to be your own makeup artist whenever, wherever.
•An all-in-one compact including the must have makeup essentials
•Create any look that reflects your personal style
•The small sleek design is great for on the go beauty touchups

Includes:
-9 eyeshadow shades
-1 cream eyeshadow shade
-1 blush
-1 bronzer
-10 lip gloss shades
-1 brow powder
-1 eye liner pencil
-1 dual ended eyeshadow appliacator and brush
-1 face brush
-1 lip brush

Dimensions:
Closed:4"L x 4"W x 1"H
Open:8"L x 5"W x 1"H"


First impressions: When I opened the box and took it out I was surprised, the packaging is a really nice, sturdy feeling matte black plastic (so it doesn't pick up fingerprints!) The entire inside of the lid is a non-magnifying mirror, and the parts that slide out are surprisingly sturdy as well, they don't feel like they could just fall off at any moment or something like that. the colors are pretty safe, but look like they would easily flatter most women and could be used to create a lot of looks.

Pictures: (I've labeled the eyeshadows and lipglosses for swatches later)







Eyeshadows: These are pretty typical for E.L.F. eyeshadows, maybe slightly better because they're from the "studio" line. they go on smoothly with little fallout and have a nice color payoff if you use a decent base (I like a regular stick concealer). There are three shades of brown, one champagne color, a dark turquoise and a dark green. Once you slide it out it reveals three more shades: a light shimmery silver, a gunmetal, and a shimmery black, which would probably make a nice smokey eye. There's also one shimmery white cream shadow that I'm not too much of a fan of, it's kind of sticky like lipgloss but could make a nice base for the eyeshadows, I'm not sure about the lasting power of it though. the only colors I didn't really like were the turquoise and green, they're kind of dark and dull, I feel like if they wanted to add a bright color or two they should have made them either really bright, or just stuck to neutrals.

Lipglosses: I have to say these are actually really nice, the texture isn't strictly gloss though - they're more like a lipgloss/stick hybrid, some leaning more towards lipstick. At first I tried to apply them with the lip brush (which sucks, more on that later) and was really disappointed, I find they look a lot better if I apply them with my finger for more of a stained effect. Like the eyeshadows, the colors are "safe", "your lips only better" sort of colors. At the top is a clear gloss with iridescent shimmer that I would LOVE if the shimmer in it didn't feel so gritty. Like the eyeshadow side, there's three more shadows, which are deeper and darker.

The Other stuff: The blush is a peachy pink with gold shimmer, and the bronzer is just...bronze, with gold shimmer. I personally don't use bronzer but I imagine it would make a nice contouring powder or even eyeshadow if you're into neutrals (I am!). there's also a brow powder that's a medium brown color, I don't use brow powder but like the bronzer it would probably make a nice eyeshadow. The only thing I see wrong with it is that it has shimmer in it, I don't know who wants shimmery eyeshadows but I don't.

The eyeliner is the normal Brightening Eye Liner in Black, I personally don't like pencil eyeliner but it works nicely as a brow pencil. The tools they give you to apply the makeup suck, frankly. The "face brush" is blunt, thick plastic bristled, and incredibly small. the lip brush is alright but it's WAY too small and pointed, you have to be very careful using it with the lipglosses or you end up digging the brush into the gloss and scooping out a clump of it. The eyeshadow applicator is just a plain sponge applicator, the website says it's a "dual ended eyeshadow applicator and brush" but I'm having a hard time finding the brush part of it.

Swatches:
(Eyeshadows are swatched on the back of my hand using a sponge applicator with liquid foundation as a base. Lipglosses are swatched on the back of my hand with the lip brush, no base. Also, I know the non-flash pictures are a little blurry, forgive me, my macro function is acting strange)

eyeshadows without flash


eyeshadows with flash


lipglosses with flash


lipglosses without flash



Overall: I don't think I would buy this for $15 but as a free gift I like it. It would be nice for travel since it contains enough eyeshadow and gloss to create a few basic looks and it could take your makeup from day to night. I wish they would have skipped the brow powder (or made the blush and bronzer slightly smaller and put the brow powder alongside them) and used the extra space for slightly better brushes. If you're planning on using this on the go I'd suggest buying a small travel set of brushes to use with it.

Tuesday, June 9, 2009

Foundation haul!

Well, I consider it a haul, because I've been using the same foundation (CoverGirl Clean Makeup Oil Control in shade 505 - Ivory) for I can't even remember how long. I was at a local discount store and they had a ton of CoverGirl foundations for like $2 each, and since I'm running low I figured I'd grab a few to try out. So here's what I bought:


CoverGirl TruBlend Whipped Foundation in Ivory


CoverGirl Advanced Radiance Age-Defying Liquid Foundation in Ivory


CoverGirl CG Smoothers SPF15 Tinted Moisture in Fair to Light


Almay Pure Blends Makeup in Ivory

I had a hell of a time finding founations in my shade (since all of the makeup is basically just thrown into some bins!), they did have a few of the CoverGirl/Olay Simply Ageless Foundation that comes in the pot with the purple lid and has a white swirl (supposedly contains some anti-aging serum) that I REALLY wanted to try (because I won't shell out $14 for a Covergirl foundation in a regular store!) and when I found one in my shade the plastic wrapper was ripped off and someone had tested it and the sponge was dirty :[ gross! So I didn't get to try that.

So, I'll probably be reviewing one of these tomorrow! AND the E.L.F. makeup I ordered last week is schedulued to come tomorrow!

Monday, June 8, 2009

Victoria's Secret Beauty Rush Pool Party: LEMMING

So apparently Victoria's Secret has introduced three new limited edition scents to their "Beauty Rush" Line for summer. Normally I wouldn't get too excited about this, I'm not really into VS except for bras, unless someone gives me the products or a gift card. Not that I don't like the products, I just don't really bother to go in there and look. So anyways, I'm excited because ONE OF THE SCENTS IS ICED TEA. I'm a big iced tea drinker. We always have a big pitcher of it in the fridge, and there's nothing better than stepping inside a cool, air-conditioned house and getting a big glass of cold iced tea. I haven't actually smelled it yet but I'm hoping the body spray will evoke the same sort of feelings.


From the website: "Image is incorrect. See scent dropdown for correct descriptions."

Lemonita (lemon scent) should be turquoise on the left, Frostea (iced tea scent) should be the orange one in the middle, and Coolada (coconut scent) is the right color.

Victoria's Secret is having a 3/$25 sale on their Beauty Rush products (I think it only counts for like products though, like, 3 body sprays for $25 or 3 lotions for $25, not just any 3 products) so assuming this sale is still going on around Thursday or Friday I will definitely be picking some up :3

There's also a matching lipgloss, and I LOVE Beauty Rush lipglosses, so I'm going to look for those, too!

HG product: Triple Antibiotic Ointment

This is probably my best beauty secret and the strongest product in my beauty arsenal:


Equate Triple Antibiotic Ointment!

I use this stuff on a daily basis, it has soo many uses.

1. Healing breakouts
Since a breakout is basically an infection in your pore, I find that antibiotic ointment works best for healing one quickly (and trust me, I've tried every acne treatment under the sun!). Just dab some on the breakout 1-3 times a day. And once it hits the scabby stage, dab a little on before you put on your makeup, it will form a barrier between the breakout and your concealer and foundation, so it doesn't stick to the scab and look crusty and gross!

2. Moisturizer/makeup base
I had seen a few posts by a girl on a forum I frequent talking constantly about what a great makeup base Vaseline makes...I always thought of Vaseline as being heavy, greasy, and just plain gross, I wasn't about to put it on my face! Until about 6 months ago, I had run out of moisturizer, it was the middle of January and I was not about to just slap some foundation on my unmoisturized face and go out. So I'm rifling through my drawers trying to find a substitute, and the only thing I came up with was...Triple Antibiotic Ointment! I thought back to the forum posts I had seen about Vaseline...I didn't have any Vaseline, but since the ointment is Vaseline based, it would do. I take a pea-sized amount and warm it on my fingers so that it becomes smooth and liquidy and massage it into my face just after I've stepped out of the shower while my skin is still slightly damp. If I've put too much on and it doesn't all absorb I just use a tissue to blot it. Alot of people say that petroleum (Vaseline) clogs pores, but it actually doesn't. The molecules (I think it's molecules, don't quote me on that) are too large to fit into your pores and clog them.

What is DOES do, however, is act as a barrier between your skin and your foundation, locking moisture into your skin, and smoothing your skin to make for a really smooth, even base for your makeup to go on. I also find that it keeps my skin from getting so oily, which gives my makeup much more lasting power.

I also use it on cracked lips and stubborn rough, dry patches of skin - I think that the added antibacterial and healing properties make it much more effective than other products, and since it's meant to be used on open wounds, much more gentle; no added dyes or scents or unnecessary bullcrap.

Sunday, June 7, 2009

Free body spray!

Well, not for free, but almost. :] I was cleaning around my desk today and found an old $10 gift card for Bath & Body works that I had gotten a few years ago when I spent a certain amount of money, it must have been around Christmas because the card has snowflakes on it.

Anyways, I was going to throw it away but when I looked for the expiration date I realized that there wasn't one. So I went to the Bath & Body Works website and saw they were haveing a sale, $5 for any products from their Signature collection. I ordered a White Tea & Ginger Body spray, the total came out to $11.65 including shipping and tax, so I basically got a body spray for under $2 :]


I used to have a hand cream in the same scent and I loved it, so I'm really excited for it to come!

Also, my E.L.F. order should be arriving tomorrow!

Friday, June 5, 2009

Into Post + mini haul!

So, this is the start of my makeup and beauty blog! I'm lucky enough to have a mom who's a hair stylist so I've grown up learning all of the best tricks of the trade, and now I have this blog to share them with everyone else! Now, onto the fun stuff;

E.L.F. haul!

I love E.L.F. to begin with, so when I heard about their new Sugar Kiss line I was TOTALLY EXCITED. It seems to be geared towards younger girls, with lots of pink and other bright colors, it's definitely different from all of their other products, which have a minimalist feel to me. Most of the products come in duos, like the Glitter Liquid Eyeliner and the Super Glossy Lip Shine Best Friend Charm Bracelet. A few new products were also added to the Studio and regular E.L.F. lines.

So, what did I order?


Brightening Eye Color in Luxe

Brightening Eye Color in Ethereal (new!)

Brightening Eye Color in Punk Funk (new!)

Super Glossy Lip Shine in Angel

Complexion Perfection (new!)

Glitter Liquid Eyeliner in North Star (new!)

Glitter Liquid Eyeliner in Shooting Star (new!)

Glitter Lip Glaze in Glitter Swirl (new!)

Curly Eyelash Tool (new!)

Sparkle Travel Mirror (new!)

And, because I spent more than $15, I used the code FREEMINI and received a free Mini Makeup Collection, which is regularly $15!


So, expect to see lots of reviews and swatches within the next two weeks!