March Beauty Favorites

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Those of you following me on Twitter/Instagram know that I am on the brink of moving house. In fact, I am moving this coming Friday! Because of that, almost all of my stuff is packed already. Including my makeup. I’ve been living out of my makeup bag recently.

First, what bag do I use? It’s the super awesome set bag by The Kim Greene Line. The 2nd edition Essential Bag, in pink. It holds a TON of stuff. This bag is my life right now. :) It holds more than the items I’ve been using/am blogging about this month, believe it or not! Sometime I’ll do a “what’s in my makeup bag” post, but these are the creme de la creme. ;)

Complexion

My usual foundation if I am going to wear any is Urban Decay Naked Skin. This stuff is so flawless. I love it. It actually comes light enough for my pale ass self (I wear shade .5!), and it feels weightless once it’s on. My bottle is almost empty, and I’ve already made sure I have a second one to start using as soon as I unpack it. It’s a little on the pricey side, but one bottle will last quite a while since a little goes a long way! ($39, Sephora)

Along with the UD foundation I have been wearing Obsessive Compulsive Cosmetics Skin concealer in shade Y0. It’s perfect for spots as it blends naturally and wears like iron. Win! ($20, Sephora)

Cheeks

This month’s cheek looks can pretty much always be attributed to The Makeup Show LA and NARS. Both of my favorites are NARS products and I got both of them at The Makeup Show. I’ve been using the new Contour Blush in Paloma ($42, NARS), the lightest shade for contour & highlight. For a color, I am in love with the new blush shade “Love” ($30, NARS). It’s like a non-shimmery Deep Throat. Let’s be honest though, I’ve never met a NARS blush I didn’t like. As per usual, the gals at the NARS booth at TMSLA were very supportive of my crazy NARS addiction very helpful in helping me make my purchases.

Eyes

Since I still get up at the crack of dawn (just a few more days of that! yay!), my eye makeup has been pretty simple. I like the Urban Decay Naked Basics palette because it’s completely idiot-proof, no-brainer eye makeup. I go over the lid with Naked 2, the crease and/or outer V with Faint, and highlight with Walk of Shame. Boom. Done. Sometimes if I wanna get fancy I will do the crease with Faint and the outer V with a mix of Faint and Creep (mostly Faint, little tiny bit of Creep). I can line my eyes with Creep or Faint, so then all I have to do is add mascara and I have a complete eye look with one little palette. Seriously, it might be basics, but they’re AWESOME basics. ($28, Sephora)

I’ve also been sort of addicted to the Make Up For Ever Aqua Color  in 20E. It’s a pinky taupey basic BROWNISH shade with shine/shimmer finish. It’s one of those shades you can just pop over the lid, blend out, and be DONE with it if you want to. And I have, many times. Or other times I’ve incorporated it into a Naked Basics look to add a little ‘oomf’ to the mattes in that palette. ($20, Sephora)

You all know from my review that I am madly in love with the Kevyn Aucoin lash curler. I’ve been using it every day. Want more info? Read my review. ;) ($21, Nordstrom)

Also getting lots of love and previously reviewed? Maybelline The Rocket mascara. LOVE LOVE. Still love. I haven’t loved a mascara this much since I tried that ungodly-expensive Hourglass Film Noir. And Maybelline is MUCH friendlier on the wallet! Check out my review. ($6.99 at Drugstore.com)

Also at The Makeup Show LA, I picked up another Senna Sketch-a-Brow. Brows you can literally throw on in 5 seconds? Yes please. This time I’m actually wearing the shade “Blonde”, which is not too light. It’s just more ashy than the Brunette shade. I’m always really impressed with how these pencils wear, too. They wear like iron! A very important quality in an eyebrow pencil, I say.

Lips

I have been living in 3 shades of Revlon ColorBurst Balm Stain virtually non-stop all month. They’re really hydrating, and the color does leave a light stain. Moreso for the brighter colors, but even for the lighter more neutral colors too. The three I’ve had in rotation are Sweetheart, Honey, and Precious. Sweetheart is a bright bright pink. This one is the most staining of the three. Honey is a rosy pink. Precious is a pinkish beige nude. ($7-$9 depending on the drugstore you go to, $8.99 at Drugstore.com)

So those are my favorites… what are yours?

Senna Cosmetics Palette Giveaway

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This gorgeous beauty is the Senna Cosmetics Haute Nudes palette in Mystic. Comes complete with six beautiful shadows, a stunning corally pink blush, and a beautiful icy pink highlighter.

This palette is $48 from Senna Cosmetics, but truly worth much more. Six shadows, a blush, and a highlighter would run you $145, so saving over $100 by getting a palette is a sweet deal.

But how would you like to get one for free?

I’m giving away one of these beautiful palettes on my Instagram account! Check out my Instagram feed, find the giveaway photo, and follow the instructions there. Easy peasy! I will pick a winner at random on August 7th (evening, PST). One entry per person!

And yes, this picture was taken of my personal palette, which I do use frequently, but you’ll be getting a brand new one. ;) This IS open to international readers too! Enjoy!

Senna Cosmetics Summer 2013 Collection Pictures & Swatches Part 2

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It’s time to check out the eye products from Senna’s Summer 2013 Sunglow collection!! And what a treat…

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Senna Cosmetics Summer 2013 Pictures & Swatches Part 1

sennaSenna Cosmetics has done it again and created a stunner of a collection for Summer 2013! The Sunglow collection is a relatively small 11-piece collection (small if you’re used to the giant launches of the likes of MAC etc., but plenty for normal people lol) and I have pics and swatches!!!

[Read more…]

The Makeup Show LA 2013 in Pictures

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I did something kinda different with this particular show…I decided to stick to mainly images instead of just rambling on and on about how awesome it all was. These pics speak for themselves!

Senna Cosmetics Lipstick Swatches

I’m such a Senna freak these days. But it’s no wonder, because the products are awesome, and the founder is a really nice lady. I only recently introduced myself to Senna lipsticks after falling in love with (and purchasing) one at IMATS this year. [Read more…]

July Favorites

Seeing as how it’s a week into August, and I’m now a week into being unemployed I’m taking the time to do an actual favorites post. I can’t even laughingly call these monthly anymore because they’re so…not monthly. But I feel like now that I have the time I might as well do a favorites post. Will they start being monthly? Nobody knows.  [Read more…]

Got My Brows Done by Eugenia Weston

Hey! I’m blogging from my hotel room at IMATS LA (yes, I got a room – I ain’t driving back and forth between OC and Pasadena every day!!! HELL NO.) and I just haaaaad to share this with you all. I got my eyebrows done by Eugenia Weston!!!!!! For those of you who don’t know who she is, let me educate you!

Eugenia Weston is the founder of Senna Cosmetics! Senna has been around since ’76 and was the first line to ever launch a brow kit with stencils, their Form-a-Brow. They’re truly brow EXPERTS. Eugenia Weston herself is an Emmy-nominated makeup artist and all around eyebrow genius. Not to mention a truly delightful person! I met her last weekend in Chicago, and met up with her again here in LA where she did my eyebrows for me! YAY!! I needed it really bad. My eyebrows were a hot mess. In just minutes she transformed my scraggly brows to gorgeous, arched to perfection goodness! Weeeeeee! The amount of arch she was able to get out of my brows astounds me. I snapped the photo above on the show floor right after she was finished.

Wanna know what’s on the rest of my face? Okay, I’ll tell you.

Face – MAC Studio Fix powder in N3, TheBalm Time Balm concealer in Lighter Than Light

Cheeks – Senna Sheer Face Color powder blush in Clarity (this is from their latest collection -gorg!), Senna Sheer Face Color powder blush in Enlighten (a pale beige highlight)

Eyes – I know it’s hard to see, but I did a look with some shadows from the Urban Decay Naked 2 palette. I used Bootycall, Chopper, YDK, Busted, and a tiny bit of Blackout. I think that’s all of it. Maybe. haha… Oh and I used Make Up For Ever Aqua Shadow in 30E as a base. LOVE THOSE THINGS. The ridiculously amazing crayons coming out of the makeup world these days is so cool. On my lashes is Maybelline Great Lash (with the Lots of Lashes brush).

Lips – Revlon Lip Butter in Pink Truffle

Oh and loads of Skindinavia makeup finishing spray. Loads. Tons. Take my word for it. ;) How can I say no to hair spray for my face? More fun IMATS stuff will be coming soon…and also fun stuff from The Makeup Show Chicago! lol I haven’t even had a chance to blog that yet because I have been so dang busy this week. Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday were all INSANE days at work.  :)

Lazy Girl Makeup Look

I promised I would try to do more FOTD posts. The problem is I haven’t been wearing much makeup lately because I just want to get out the door quickly in the morning! This is what I wore on my face to work today and I thought I’d share it as an example of a typical ‘me’ makeup look lately. I basically do enough to look better than a zombie and avoid comments of “you look tired” or “are you feeling okay?” – you all know what I mean. Aren’t those awesome? So here’s what’s on mah face —

Face: Dr. Jart+ Water Fuse BB Cream, set with MAC Studio Fix Powder in N3 – this was a new combo…lately I’ve been using just Studio Fix, but I wanted to try this out. I thought maybe I could get the coverage I wanted without as much powder on my face. I’m not 100% sure how I feel about the combo yet. It’s not holy grail but it’s pretty good. The coverage was so good that I didn’t need any concealer, but that’s partially because my skin has cleared up really nicely since my previous breakout issues earlier this spring! More on how that happened later. ;)

Cheeks: NARS blush in Luster – this has become my go-to blush lately. It’s described as “golden apricot” and that’s exactly what it is. I wear a light application for a quick neutral cheek that just adds color without being all “HEY I’M WEARING BLUSH!!!!”. I didn’t contour this morning but sometimes I use my MAC beauty powder blush in Personal Style (this was LE with the All Races collection I believe, but I have a backup because it’s my favorite contour ever in the history of life!).

Eyes: Today I just swiped some of the NARS Luster blush over the entire eye area very lightly. When I had my makeup done by Napoleon Perdis once, he swiped some bronzer over my eyes before the eye shadows, and I thought he was nuts. However, he explained that bringing warmth to the eye area draws attention to your eyes, so when I am going more or less bare, I still swipe some bronzer (or in today’s case a neutral blush – other times I use my contour) over my eyes. And you know what? He’s freaking brilliant. I love this tip! It’s not even necessarily noticeable, it just adds a little “je ne sais quois” that keeps me from looking as tired as I feel at 7:45. I forgot to do my mascara until after this photo, but I use Great Lash Lots of Lashes in black. My eyebrows are filled in with the Senna Sketch-a-Brow I use so often.

In this photo my lips just have Aquaphor, but I keep a supply of lip colors in my purse that I can add later. Right now these live in my purse and I use them all at various times depending on what I’m in the mood for that day–

NARS Bolero velvet matte lip pencil
Tarte LipSurgence lip stain in Achiote
Revlon Lip Butter in Peach Parfait
Revlon Lip Butter in Pink Truffle

Also in my purse is Make Up For Ever Aqua Shadow in 20E, taupe. These crayons are magnificent for on the go. I probably shouldn’t admit this but I have applied this in the car many times on my way to work. It’s so fast that at a red light I can scribble on my eyelid and smear it out with a finger, and then do the other eye at another red light – bam, eye look, done.

What’s your go-to quick makeup look?

Mother’s Day Gift Ideas

I know a lot of you are probably  like “Mother’s Day? ALREADY?!” but it’s on my mind because my mom has been on my mind a lot lately. About a week ago we had to say goodbye to one of our dearly beloved family pets, Silver the cat. He lived a very long happy life to the ripe old age of 16, but he was quite ill and we had to make a painful decision. Mom has taken it very hard as she and Silver had a special bond and spent a lot of time together. Sooo it’s gotten me thinking a lot about my mom and then logically, Mother’s Day. [Read more…]