What’s In A Name?

The MAC Office Hours collection got me thinking. [Read more…]

Do You Save Makeup Packaging?

I was just throwing away a handful of makeup packaging and I thought to myself “people who save the boxes would be freaking out right now”. Heehee, I have a sick sense of humor.

So do you keep makeup packaging? I only do if it’s an item of which I need to photograph the packaging, or if I’m not sure I like it and might return it. I know some places like Sephora will take returns/exchanges without all of the packaging but it’s much easier if you have it handy.

I know some people do keep packaging though, and so if you do, tell me why! :)

May Favorites & How’s My Driving?

June is bustin’ out all over (any musical theatre geeks wanna tell me where that reference comes from?), and that means it’s time for my May Favorites post! Because of my Top Picks posts, I have been talking about my favorites pretty much all month. To re-cap those so far:

Moving right along! Favorites for the month of May! Favorites aren’t necessarily new things, just what I’ve been grabbing for the most.
Makeup

I’ve been keeping things pretty minimal in the makeup arena lately because it’s warm, and if I’m doing makeup it’s usually just to go to class. My classroom for Spring Semester was a hot, crowded, unairconditioned room. Yikes! Glad that’s over! I’m taking a class over summer online from the comfort of my house.

For my face, lately I have been loving the combination of Tarte’s Amazonian Clay Illuminating Serum, (click for full review) topped with powder and concealer. It evens me out really nicely but doesn’t cake on a ton of coverage I don’t need. It also doesn’t break me out in the slightest. Hooray! The powder I’ve been reaching for is MAC Studio Fix in shade N3. I’m almost finished with it so I’ve been digging the last bits of the powder out of my compact before I toss it in the Back 2 MAC pile. I do really like Studio Fix, and I have already repurchased it so I have a new compact to start as soon as I give up on this one. ;)

Recently, I have rediscovered a favorite cheek combo – NARS Sex Appeal and Doceur. I use Doceur to ever so slightly contour, and then Sex Appeal on the apples of my cheeks. 

My lips have been super dry ever since the weather warmed up, so my favorite lip product right now is medicated Chapstick. Really. It smells gross and has no color but boy does it make my lips feel better when they are this chapped. What’s your favorite product for really chapped lips? We have tons of honey around the house (seriously, I have no idea why one household of four people needs so much honey?) so I might start using it as a lip treatment. Honey is a natural humectant!


Hair


WHY didn’t I pick up Not Your Mother’s Beach Spray sooner? It’s about $6 and it’s AWESOME. I gotta thank @omgbren of So Much Pretty for that recommendation. If you’re unfamiliar, it’s a styling product that contains sea salt. If you spray it into damp or dry hair it gives you matte texture and wave just like a day at the beach. My hair has a lot of natural wave/curl to it, so I have been loving just washing it, and then when it’s about 90% dry I spray some of this in it and I’m good to go.
Tip – The beachy waves also look really cute pulled into a loose, low side pony tail.

Skin Care


I have definitely been loving my Vitamin E skin care from The Body Shop, as I mentioned in my recent review. But I have also been really loving my CVS brand cleansing/makeup removing wipes (the ones that are a knock-off of Ponds Clean Sweep wipes). The original kind are really nice, softly textured, and do remove the light makeup I’ve been wearing really well. I also just tried the exfoliating wipes and they are SO refreshing and really do scrub well.
Tip Store your wipes upside down to keep them moist longer.


Those are the products I’ve been reaching for the most this past month! I have some fun reviews coming soon, so keep an eye out. ;) And don’t forget you still have time to enter my NYX Giveaway.

It’s that time again, when I pick your brains. MMM BRAINS! Here’s a little “How’s My Driving?” quiz. I want to know what you want to see more of from the blog! Do you want to see…
– More product reviews?
– More videos?
– Collection posts/overviews of certain categories of product?
– Tutorials? (Requests anyone?)
– Hauls? (I’m always reluctant to post hauls. I don’t know if you guys want to see them. Do you?)
– Or…? I’m open to suggestions! This is my blog but it’s also for YOU guys, so let me know!
– Also, anything you want to see less of? I like constructive criticism too, so I can take it so long as you’re nice about it.
I would also love to answer more of your questions. Don’t be shy! :)

What’s Your Celebrity Beauty Collaboration?

I’m really excited for the latest MAC Viva Glam / Lady Gaga collaboration! And you guys all saw the mass hysteria caused by the Nicki Minaj Pink Friday lipstick. If you were a celebrity, what brand would you want to collaborate with? What product or products would you want to represent? 


My Answer…

If I were a celeb I would definitely have MAC Viva Glam pretty high on my list. I love MAC, I love MAC lipstick, and the MAC Aids Fund is an amazing organization. It would be just the kind of collaboration I’d be proud of. I’d probably want my lipstick to be an opaque, pale pink-nude with just the right amount of shine– not totally matte, but not super glossy either. Kind of like Florabundance lipglass in a lipstick. It’d probably be a lustre finish I guess, but not a super sheer one. Definitely not a frost! It’d be the kind of lipstick you could wear solo for a very dramatic nude lip, or worn with a blended lip liner to soften it and make it more wearable for every day. Oh and I’d want the outer tube to be the standard black bullet w/ red trim, but the inside of the bullet deep rich purple with my signature (like the Gaga/Cyndi lipsticks) in silver. Ahh, Viva Glam Menagerie. I can dream. :) In fact, it’d be really cool if someday MAC did a blogger collaboration for Viva Glam. I think we beauty bloggers are a pretty positive bunch of people who would love to get involved with a cause like that. Could you imagine a collection of Viva Glam lipsticks designed by beauty bloggers? There could be a Viva Glam Temptalia, a Viva Glam Pinkiecharm, etc. That’d be so so cool