December 2017 Faves

My first post in 2018! Happy New Year, everyone! I hope you all have had a great start to your new year, especially if your 2017 wasn't so great (join the club). I'm excited to see what 2018 brings. It was so nice to take a bit of time off over the holidays! The only struggle is getting back into the regular schedule afterward. And big kudos to those of you who work retail and customer service and survived!

I'm starting off this year with sharing my favorites from the past month. I love December so much! As happy as I am to see 2017 end, I'll miss the feeling that comes with December. Here's some of the beauty items that I kept reaching for. Let me know what you were loving in December!

Keep reading!

SC Haul Pt. 4- Drugstore (Eyes)

I guess it's time to face the inevitable. Blogger switched me to the new interface today. I've been dreading the permanent switch for months and to be honest, I still hate it. I tried it for a little while and switched right back to the older one, because I did not like it. And now that I'm stuck with it...yuck. Now to figure out why it adds weird coding to my posts, makes my pictures look wonky, and why it won't show my signature on new posts without me tweaking it. Even better that it is not working with my Firefox, so I'm having to use Internet Explorer. Fantastic. Not.

I bought some of the new limited edition shades of the Maybelline Color Tattoos. I was really happy to see some more neutral colors. It took two Walgreens, one CVS, and two Targets, but I got the colors I wanted!
^Rich Mahogany, Ready, Set, Green, Mossy Green, Barely Beige, and Fuchsia Fever.
To see more pictures, please keep reading.

Keep reading!

Maybelline Color Tattoo Eyeshadow in Bad to the Bronze

After buying Tough as Taupe (my swatch/review), I only had one other color in the collection that I was interested in and after being urged to buy it...Well, I just had to! I'm not sure that I have much interest in the other shades as they don't seem like shades I'd wear often enough to justify buying them. I'm very happy with these two that I own and I think they are worth checking out.





Which shades of these do you own (or want!)? I hope you all have a wonderful weekend!

Drugstore Haul

I apologize for not updating Monday or Tuesday. I had a horrible migraine on Monday and yesterday was spent at a doctor's office and taking it easy at home. So today is my first "normal" day of the week, if you will. I thought I'd share my small drugstore haul with you. It's nothing exciting, as I'm trying to save money for our anniversary trip at the end of this month.

^ Everything together. I love the extra thick issues that usually come out in the spring and fall! Jennifer looks gorgeous on the cover of In Style. People Style Watch is one of my absolute favorite magazines to get! Adele on the cover of Vogue...the woman is perfection. And Nylon is a guilty pleasure of mine.

^ This is the only other one that I wanted from the colors available. I already own Tough as Taupe and love it. My review of that is here.

I don't care much for the Kardashians, though I don't mind Khloe. However, the nail polishes in their collection that they did with Nicole by OPI are pretty. Some of them I already had dupes for, but I don't have a polish anything like this one. It's a charcoal glitter and it makes me swoon!

Share your latest haul with me! What's the last thing you bought? :)

Maybelline Color Tattoo Eyeshadow in Tough as Taupe

It's no secret that I love the EyeStudio line by Maybelline. And now they have released these new cream eyeshadows that are supposed to rival MAC's Paint Pots. Well, it's also no secret how much I love my Paint Pots (especially Painterly!).

The store that I went to had all of the colors in stock, but I just bought this one because I knew it would get the most use and I wanted to try one out first before splurging on other shades. It is safe to say now that I would certainly buy some of the other more neutral shades. Quite frankly, I would just never wear that bright blue or orange. They are gorgeous, but definitely not for me.

This did not crease or smudge while I wore it for approximately ten hours. I wore it alone with no primer. I was very impressed as the performance was on par with the MAC Paint Pots. I would say that this is a great cheaper alternative or if you want more color selection with your cream eyeshadows. They were smooth to the touch and blended easily, drying in about the same time as a Paint Pot.



^ The pots are glass and well made.

I give this product a big thumbs up! If you can find these in stock, give them a try. They are absolutely worth the hype they are getting! Hope you all have a great weekend. :)

Small Drugstore Haul

I bought Layla's Magneffect nail polish in Purple Galaxy and you can see swatches over at All Lacquered Up. I tried it quickly on one of my nails, but I didn't really notice much of an effect. I'm guessing my nails are too short right now. It is a pretty purple, though. While this is normally around $15, I got mine on clearance for under $8 at my local Rexall.

Essie's Aruba Blue caught my eye, because it's just a gorgeous gemstone blue shade. I have a few blue nail polishes and none are similar to this. I think this is going to look really good with a gold glitter accent nail.

And lastly, I picked up one of the new Maybelline EyeStudio Color Tattoo eyeshadows in Tough as Taupe. I'm going to try this out and then swatch and review it for you. The reviews that I've heard make this sound promising and I have loved nearly everything else from the EyeStudio line. Looking forward to trying it!

So there is my small haul. I got the two nail polishes on sale and I knew I had to quickly grab the eyeshadow, because this shade in particular has been hard to find in stock. Have you tried any of these? :) Hope you all have a great weekend!

Here's the eyes and lips from the outfit that I posted yesterday. If I had thought about it (or had a working brain), I would have taken a full face picture. You're not missing anything exciting. All I had on my face was a tinted moisturizer, MAC Hang Loose blush, Benefit High Beam, NARS Laguna bronzer, and MAC Impeccable Brow pencil in Taupe. :) The brow pencil will be shown in a later post, because my friend bought me a few MAC items for my birthday and I'll share the swatches with you. Yep, she knows the way to my heart. Haha!

I used Benefit's Creaseless Shadow in Strut as a base, UD Vorpal (S&M) was used as the lid color, and MAC Carbon was for the outer corner and to darken the crease. The CoverGirl liner was used for my waterline. I used CoverGirl LashBlast mascara to finish the look. I combined Maybelline's Nude Glow with MAC's If It's Pink Dazzleglass Creme on my lips.

Completely forgot to add the gel liner to the picture above, so I'll just show an older one. I used this on my upper lash line.

The flash didn't help at all. You can see the colors more realistically in the picture below.

It's darker than I usually tend to wear, but I went out at night. I find you can get away with more at night. :)

Instead of lipstick and then gloss, I did the opposite. I wanted the glitter, but not as much of the shine. So I dabbed a nude-pink lipstick over the gloss to tone it down.

And there you have it! That was my FOTD for Sunday. :)

100 Followers Contest! CLOSED!

Wow! I now have over 100 followers, so that obviously means it is time for my next little giveaway. :) The prizes reflect my blog, so it is a mixture of high-end and drugstore products.

Rules:
1. You must be a follower of this blog. I will check.
2. It's open internationally.
3. Get permission from your parents, if you are under 18.
4. You must be ok with giving me your address, if you are a winner.
5. As a comment entry, you can choose to leave your blog name/link or email for me to get in touch with you if you win. Any comment on this post is an entry!
6. A comment on this post counts as one entry. If you make a post about my contest on your blog, you gain an extra two entries. If you make a video about it on YouTube, you also gain an extra two entries. So you have a chance to gain five entries total! Just link me to where you talk about it. If you only comment on this entry, you are entered in the second prize category. If you post a link and/or a video, your entries go into the first prize category. Please let me know if this confuses you!
7. I will write out a numbered list and write your name down on it once per entry you earned. Then, I will use random.org for the winning number. If that number is the one beside your name, you've won!
8. This will end on Monday, July 26, 2010 at 11:59pm EST. That should give you plenty of time to get your entries in! :)

First Prize Category:

Quo (a Canadian brand) round sponges that fit compacts and they are latex-free, a MAC tinted lip conditioner in Gentle Coral, a Lip Smacker made with natural products in Pink Guava, a Maybelline quad in Sunlit Bronze, and a Maybelline Eye Studio mineralized eyeshadow duo in Lawless Lavender!

Second Prize Category:

Urban Decay Ultraglide lipgloss in O, a Maybelline Eye Studio mineralized eyeshadow duo in Sinful Sinnamon, and a MAC pigment sample in Tan. The pigment sample comes from my own collection, and I do not use my pigments straight from the jar so it's completely sanitary. This was scooped out with a sanitized makeup spatula and put into a brand new travel jar!

If blogging about my contest, feel free to use my photos. If you click on them, you'll see the bigger version. Also if you have any questions, let me know! Good luck! :)

ETA: CONTEST IS NOW CLOSED. Comments have been hidden.

*All products were bought by me, except for the two mineralized Eye Studio eyeshadows. Those were provided by Maybelline through Matchstick.

Look #2- Silver Starlet

Here is my second look for the Maybelline Dare to Inspire Contest. Thank you to those of you that have voted and keep voting on your favorite looks each day! I thought I would try one of the marbleized eyeshadow duos. I'm trying to do these looks with as little of the products at a time as possible. No one wants to go out and buy three different palettes just to get one look! I feel like the whole purpose of the packaging of these is to get that point across! I cannot complain one bit about the color combinations that Maybelline has chosen!

I prepped my eye using MAC's Painterly Paint Pot. You can do this using just your foundation or concealer, if you don't have any other primers.

Using an eyeshadow brush, I used the right side of the duo Silver Starlet first. These eyeshadows are powdery, so I sprayed my brush with MAC's Fix+. You can use a spritz of water or a bit of Visine to get the same effect. This way the shadows go on a little easier with less fallout and it gives an extra gleam to the light color of the shadow.

Using my crease brush, I dipped it into the silver side. I used a windshield-wiper motion to blend it into the crease. I used my tapered pencil brush to get a more precise angle on my outer corner, but that is optional.



I used the XXL Pro 24 Hr Bold mascara. Step 1 adds the volume. Step 2 is a waterproof coat that seals in the volume.

I then used the Lasting Drama Gel Liner in Charcoal to line my upper lash line. This is a very neutral look that you can wear day or night!

Green With Envy

Here is my first look for the Maybelline Dare to Inspire contest! You can find out more about the contest in my previous post.

UDPP to prime my lids, a fluffy eyeshadow brush, a tapered crease brush, a tapered pencil brush, gel liner, volume mascara, and the Green with Envy quad!

After priming my lids, I used the eyeshadow brush to apply the third color from the left to my lids. Using the pencil brush, I used the last color for the "v" on the outer corner and blended it in. With the crease brush, I used the second color and used a windshield wiper movement to blend it. I chose not to use the highlight color on the left, because it would have added too much shimmer to my liking.

I coated my lashes with the first end of the mascara and allowed it time to set. Then, I applied the second end.

I used the gel liner in black to liner my upper lashes. I'm still not very good at working with gel liner, but this formula is easy to work with. I'm getting better with practice! I used the brush that came with the product, because shocker of shockers...it's not that bad of a brush!

For a daytime look, I skipped the gel liner on the upper lid. I don't like to go really heavy on eyeliner during the day. I added it for a nighttime look, making this a very easy look to take from day to night!

Don't forget about the Maybelline Eye Studio Gel Liner Giveaway in my other post! :) Also, I'll be sure to review the products in a later post.

P.S.- Again, I was sent these products to create tutorials and review from a marketing company!