Summer Lovin' Make up Favorites

Ahhh!! I have so many make up favorites!! 


Where do I even start? I guess I'll start with my most important step...
Concealer, obviously ; )


My very favorite has been My:


Pixi Wake up Concealer in shade No. 3 Warm


I always have a problem with my under-eye-concealer vanishing through out the day, it's either because of creasing or sometimes it's just too creamy for my under-eyes, or too thin and doesn't cover anything! 
Also the pigmentation of most concealers are never enough.
But! I think I have found all the answers to my prayers! 




-This is light-weight but full coverage concealer. 
-Does not crease (or smear) on me.
-Lasts all day and stays put!


This is what the website says about their Wake Up Concealer


"A fuss-free wand that contains a concealer so rich and cashmere smooth, it blends away any skin sin from shadows to redness to blemishes - all in a waterproof formula so it stays all day.

What it is formulated to do:

This imperceptible flaw fixer looks like perfect skin as it blends and erases appearance of skin flaws. High pigment level gives a velvety smooth & "airbrushed" finish, yet blends seamlessly. With added anti-aging ingredients, brightening pigments and vitamin E, this multi-tasker is perfect for undereye area and any other imperfections. Long-wear, waterproof formula stays silky smooth on skin all day. Fast flaw-fixing at your fingertips!

Beneficial ingredients and what they do:

• Titanium dioxide acts as a natural UV filter
• Vitamin E protects skin cells from ultraviolet light, pollution and other elements that produce cell-damaging free radicals
• Silica conditions & softens skin"

And everyone knows how much I love Vitamin E! Woohoo!


My second favorite is for my eyebrows! It is:


Sephora's Retractable Brow Pencil (Waterproof)


In shade 02 Nutmeg Or 04 Midnight Brown (I think that's the name!)


I love this eyebrow pencil because it's a super fine tip so you can get a natural look. I don't like having super "Done" brows or too filled in and dark. It's very unnatural looking, especially in the summer! 
A really wonderful thing about this product is that all the colors are very cool/taupey. There is nothing worse to me than having orangey-brown eyebrows! At least for me being someone with dark hair and olive skin.
It comes in 4 shades! 


Love it!




Milani's Liquif'eye metallic eye liner pencil
In shade 05 Brown.


Super soft, super creamy. Easy to apply. Wonderful warm brown color. 
Also fantastic on the waterline. Your basic awesome brown eyeliner ( :






Mineral Fusion's Pressed Powder Foundation 
In Olive 3 


My very favorite powder I wear. Just in a shade darker for summer.
All natural brand. My all time favorite!


Rosebud's Strawberry Lip Balm and Moisturizer 


The best lip balm ever! Smells super yummy like strawberries!
Feels wonderful on the lips, VERY moisturizing. 
I usually have dry lips but have not since I have been using this lip balm! It's also a natural brand which I LOVE!!


Another concealer! This is for blemishes and acne scars (not under-eyes-concealer) 


Sonia Kashuk's Concealer Palette 
In shades Hidden Agenda 07


This comes with 3 colors and a setting powder.
1 lighter color the 2nd a darker more pinky-warm color and the 3rd a very olive green concealer. Along with the a light setting powder.
Super great for hiding any redness. Very creamy and blendable. 
My favorite right now!!


Mac's Matte Powder Blush 
In Blunt 


Now I use this very brown "blush" as a matte bronzer! I first learned this from Kandee Johnson who loves this for bronzer! 
I've been using this for about a year now and I LOVE it! It's perfect for my skin tone. It's very complementary for olive yellow skin tones. It's also matte which is really nice. I can use it to contour or just bronze. I love it!!
My must have along with concealer! ( :


CoverGirl's Lashblast 24 hour mascara
In Very Black.


Super awesome mascara. Last all day, very dark, adds volume to my lashes and separates nicely. 
The only down fall is that it is a bitch to get off at night!!
I have to use coconut oil and basically scrape it off with my fingernails. Oh well!




Another mascara that I actually like to layer over this is....


Make Up Forever's Aqua Smoky Lash
In waterproof extra black.


This bad boy adds TONS of volume, curl and length. Probably the best mascara!
I love layering this over the Lashblast 24. I get super dark effect and does not move! 
I just have to use coconut oil to remove it. Worth it! ( :


My favorite two primer are Smashbox photo finish primer in Light (Oil Free) and just the original Smashbox photo finish primer.


these primers make my make up last all day and night without fading or getting splotchy/patchy. 
This also prevents all the break outs I normally would get from wearing face make up.
So I would never go without one of these primers!




Last but not least!


Tarte's Amazonian Clay 12 Hour Full Coverage Foundation.


In Shade Tan ( with SPF 15 ) 


I love this foundation! It has an amazing texture. It's very light and mousse-y
But covers all the things I want covered for special events or days. 


It says it's Matte But I feel like I get more of a satin finish. 
Looks super smooth, and natural even though it's "full coverage".
The color matches me perfectly which is always a plus!! 


Super great Brand too. All natural!
 It says on the package:


-Long Wear Make Up


-Oil Free Make Up


-Waterproof Make Up








These are all my very favorite Make Up products for the summer!!




XOXOX
M

Fresh faced look with 3 products!

I am so ready for spring! I miss the warm weather and all the pretty colors.
Grey and black are soooo 3 months ago! 


Couple of of my favorite products for a fresh faced spring look! 


My very favorite concealer(the only one I ever use) 
Skin Renew Anti Dark-Circle Roller by Garnier. 
I have heard this comes in a few shades but I've only found "Sheer Tint" which luckily matches nicely for me. It's on the yellow side which is what I like for my dark circles under my eyes (Which I have had since I was very little)


I can do more info on this in a later blog post!


My favorite Cream Blush in Tea Petal by MAC. 
I really love this color! Burgundy/plum-y color. So pretty with a dark tanned skin tone. It's a must have if you have an olive complexion. It's super creamy and very build-able. 


Last but not least!


A shimmery bronzer. I love gold over a plum color for the cheeks.
I just think it's just a nice combo. So fresh and summer-y! 
I like to put this down my nose, up onto my temples and a little on my forehead.
I don't like to put to much on, as it can look like you are a little sweaty! 


My favorite products as of lately! Try them out, i'm sure you'll love it!
You have a lighter complexion try a more rosy blush instead of a brown-y color which is more suited for a darker skin tone. If you are super fair try a pink or dusty rose. The idea is to look glow-y and bronzed! Have fun with it!




With these 3 products you'll look well rested and healthy! LOVE






Happy weekend, all!! 

De-potting, Re-potting (powders-pressed powders)

You know your very favorite bronzer, the one you just dropped on the ground...the one that is now totally shattered? 


Ugh, we all have our favorite blush, bronzer, powder or eye shadow that's totally ruined. But guess what, you don't have to throw it away! I know how to fix it! It's a totally life saver/money saver. It's awesome! 


This is what you'll need-


1- Your broken make up thing haha


2- A metal spoon


3- A quarter 


4- Either a tissue or an old piece of fabric


5- Rubbing Alcohol


6- And a dropper to dispence the alcohol


7- A plastic bag


So first what you'll do is take your broken, let's say bronzer- 
You'll take the container with the shattered pieces and set it inside the plastic bag, don't close the bag, we're just gonna keep it inside to save us from messes.
Take your spoon and press the powder down to mash it up into a fine powder (through the plastic bag) break it up inside your container. Once it's pretty powder-y, you can take it out of the plastic bag and just set it on top of the plastic (saving you from lots of messes!) Now you can take your dropper and alcohol -
You'll now drip the alcohol on top of the pressed powder. Now take your quarter and wrap it in either or fabric or tissue get the fabric covered quarter wet and press it on your pressed bronzer. This is going to get it really flat and nice looking. All compact so you wont have any crumbling later. Once everything is evenly pressed let it sit to dry. Once the alcohol evaporates and dries up- You are good to use again! Voila! Good as new!! 


You can use this same technique if you have loose powder and want to make it a pressed powder in a compact! This is super easy to do! It's also really great if you want to make a custom color. 


These are some picture of what I made tonight! My old bronzer broke, I didn't want to get rid of it, so I put it in an old container for lose powder. Now that I know this technique I re-ressed it and put it in an old blush pan!

1st thing I did was, take my empty container setting it on a plastic bag along with the lose bronzer.

Then I took my spoon and scooped it into the empty pan. 

 After I filled all that up I put it inside the plastic bag to smash down and press the lose bronzer. 

This is what it looks like when it's all nicely packed down dry.

These are all the products I needed to use! This is also what the bronzer looked like after it was pressed down.










I then dropped/dripped some alcohol into the pan. 

This is where you press it in. The quarter is inside the fabric soaked in alcohol. You can see the rings the circle of the quarter is creating. This works really well for mac eyeshadows which are the same size as the quarter. 
So press until it's very firm. Let dry.

This is the end product! Nicely compact.


Once this is dry the alcohol smell will be gone and ready to use! 


There you can see the quarter in the fabric.


Super easy and really fun to do actually haha










I'll link a video on this method so you can see it in action. I learned this from Kandee Johnson, who I LOVE!!

Hope you thought this was totally awesome like I did!!! 

Make up talk and MASCARA

I love make up. It's one of the funnest things! It's an art form...on your face!! 
Some people use make up to "cover" things. I like to use make up to ENHANCE features. 
When putting on make up think about the things you really like on your face! Not the things you don't like or wish you didn't have. That's not going to make make-up very fun. Make up is art and it's supposed to be fun! 
Some times we use make up to make ourselves feel pretty and sometimes we use make up more artistically. Both ways are awesome and totally fun. 


Now that i'm done ranting on about the ideas of make up, let's talk about MASCARA 


Everyone loves having long full eyelashes, right? 
I think that's pretty safe to say. As we get older (and by older I mean not 5 anymore!) our eyelashes just aren't as long and full! Or maybe you were totally blessed with big beautiful lashes. Then, awesome and all the power to you, baby!


I just have medium length and full-ness to my lashes. And I really love mascara!
I want my lashes to be super dark, full, lots of volume, thick and long. Now that i've said almost the same thing about 3 times I'll tell you my dilemma with mascara...
It always flakes on me! If it doesn't flake, it smears. But that's almost better than flaking! Flaking looks like a ton of fall-out from your black eyeshadow! The worst part is when the flakey mascara-flakes fall under your eye and mix with your concealer creating the most amazing grey paste under your eyes! Might as well have not worn any concealer. Because now I look like a drug addict. 


                                          No. Thank. You.


So what do you do about flakey and/or smearing? Don't wear mascara? nooo...
Don't wear concealer under your yes? So not going to happen. 


Ah yes, that's where we come to waterproof mascara. Seems great in theory, but trust me it's not! Now I do have to say, it lasts all day...and all night...and until tomorrow when you think you got it all off- until you get in the shower and come out looking like a raccoon. Now, if you're emo...all the power to you, yet again. But now we're scrubbing and rubbing at our eyes. Using up all our eye-make-up remover. Also not fun! Haha


I guess this means, we're still on the search for the best mascara, right?
Exactly. 
                           But guess what... I found mine!! 


I decided after using this old dumb mascara, screw this, I won't spend 20 dollars on something I don't really even love. (The brush/wand was total crap. Formula was awesome though.) 


So I figured i'd go to Target. Looking around and see what's up in the drug store land of mascara. I've heard a million great things about L'oreal Paris Voluminous mascara. I heard this gave lashes a full dark look while still staying light and looking feathery. Seemed pretty cool. But mascaras typically always flake on me. So, I bought the waterproof one. "Waterproof Voluminous Carbon Black" 
When I first tested this out, it smeared on me. Didn't flake. Just smeared. I decided I'd let it dry out a bit over night. I unscrewed the top and let the air get to the formula. By that morning I had the best mascara! Super dark, super full, still flexible(my lashes didn't feel hard, brittle and/or  break, that's never good), Also super build-ible.
              This mascara was perfect. Except...It never came off. 

In all it's shining black glory 

I tried to go back to target and buy the non-waterproof. But they only had the original. The original doesn't come in carbon black. it's just black. You wouldn't think it, but that makes a huge difference! The formula also was a lot dryer. Almost too dry. It still din't flake, but it was still hard to get off. And not very worth it because it wasn't super black. 


A month or two later I googled this mascara to find out if they make carbon black non-waterproof. It said they did! I went to target that day, found it and bought it!

The very perfect mascara wand

Man, it's the best mascara I have ever used! And it's only like $6! So cheap, right? 


So if your mascara sucks, i'd try looking at your drug store again. You could buy two mascaras and still be paying less than you would in the department stores, like sephora. 

  Some Mascara goop on my wrist.
See, look how dark it is!! 

So that is my very very long story about how much I love L'oreal Paris Voluminous CARBON BLACK. In the other words, the best mascara ever ;)


You just might wanna leave the lid off for the first night, at least for the waterproof one. 






Happy eyelash batting!! ;)


XOXOX

Those aren't freckles, are they?

         


        
       Queen Helene's Mint Julep Masque.


I have heard lots of great things about this mask. People swear by it. I've always wanted to try it, but could never find it!
One day while I was in New Seasons, buying more MyChelle products- I looked down and there it was in all it's mint green shining glory!
Queen Helene Mint Julep Masque. I picked it up right away. Something I love about it is just the packaging, right on the front it says:


"Helps dry up acne pimples, rinse away blackheads & shrink enlarged pores"
Lately I had noticed some blackheads on my nose. I thought "Wow I sure have a lot of freckles left from summer...Oh wait."  
I had also noticed that my pores were huge! I've never noticed pores on my face before. Actually I always thought about the fact that I couldn't really see my pores. 
Well guess what. Now I can! They're pretty big too!! My make up kept seeping into my HUGE pores and making them look more HUGE haha! It was very unusual for me. And of course the classic pimple is always around somewhere ;) So these 3 things sounded pretty awesome to me! Along with the fact that so many people love this mask! It's also really cheap! This seems like magic right? Well it is.


As soon as I got home I washed my face and applied my new mint julep masque. 
I decided I just wanted it where I needed it. My nose and my new big pores. So basically starting below the pupil of the eye along my nose. It looked like I had a green sun burn haha! 
The mask is really minty, super fresh smelling. I love the smell. It's green, which I think is always fun with a mask!! It also tingles a lot. I feel like that means it's working! Once it started to harden, I could see my pores under the mask. It was really seeping into my pores! It started to harden and tighten on my face. 
After it started to dry some, I applied a second layer. I think that really helped,
a nice, thick layer. Once it felt like I had cement on my face, it was time to wash it off!
Now, let me preface this by saying, i've tried lots of masks. Every time I wash it off, I feel like nothing changed in my skin. It looks the same. Maybe it feels smoother but nothing super great. No drastic changes to my skin.
Maybe if I kept doing those masks, my skin would improve over time.


Once I washed this baby off... All my blackheads on my nose were totally gone!! 
I mean totally. Nothing was left. Squeaky clean! Then on the top of my cheeks my pores had totally vanished. It was so crazy! I couldn't believe it! I knew right away I needed to write about this! But wanted to give it a full week before I wrote a whole post about it. 
Now I've used it a few more times. Still awesome. I think this mask also works super well for spot treating. 
I've had this little bump under my skin on my chin for weeks! It wasn't turning into a pimple and it wasn't going away. I put the mint juelp masque on it, washed it off about 15-20 mins later. When I woke up in the morning that little bump had turned into a puss filled pimple. I know that sounds super gross, but it's actually a really good thing! It means it was coming to the surface of my skin. and finally pushing out the bad stuff, now it can heal up. No more bump! 
I've never had anything work that fast and effective before! I was super impressed. 
But remember doing clay masks like this WILL pull out impurities from deep in your skin. Which means, it can cause pimples. This is a good thing. you're pulling out the yuckies. But if you were planning on going to a party in a few days, now you may have a pimple or two to deal with. It's bitter sweet. 
That's so with all masks. The cool thing about this mask is it draws out impurities, dries up active pimples, shrinks enlarged pores while sweeping away black heads. I feel like this is the best mask I have ever tried! 
I've tried a lot, expensive ones too. This was only like $6! 
Next time I got to New Seasons i'm going to check out the other Queen Helene products! I saw a purple bottle that said it was a peel. I love peels! There was another product, but i'm not sure what it was. This has really been the best mask. Really gets deep into pores, shrinks pores, dries up pimples, pulls out impurities. What more could you ask for? 
This is what the back of the tube says 
"Mint Julep Masque is the original natural home treatment developed by a dermatologist that helps dry up acne pimples, rinse away blackheads and shrink enlarged pores. Simply apply Mint Julep Masque to your clean face and neck. Within minutes it firms and hardens, drawing out impurities from your pores. After the masque is removed, your skin will feel clean, refreshed and smooth. Even for individuals who are fortunately free of skin problems, Mint Julep Masque is refreshing facial treatment that helps relax tired muscles and eases tension lines on the face and neck."

I totally agree with everything this mask claims to offer. That's pretty rare too!
My mom and my sister love it too! We're all walking around like scary green faced monsters! Hahaha!

Hope you learned something awesome!!












XOXOX

Eyebrows ; )

Eyebrows! Y'know, the things above your eyes.... You aren't paying attention to them? Well you really should be. Having nicely groomed eyebrows is just as important as having clean/clear skin or almost as important as having your eyeshadow flawlessly blended. 


So, let's talk eyebrows...! 


Everyone has them, right? If not you should really fill them in (which I'll talk about) and if you only have one (as in a unibrow) you should think about plucking them. No one likes a caterpillar above their face (unless you do, then power to you!) people usually start plucking their eyebrows around 12-13-ish, it really depends how thick/untamed they are, or how much you care. You're first eyebrow shape should be close to your natural shape because (hopefully!!!) your mom(or someone wise and mature in this department) is plucking them for you. It is the fist time and all. Once you have a shape down you can just follow that through the time of plucking. Then usually people realize that they want something a little more glamourous. Something thinner with an arch. That's great. But DO NOT OVER PLUCK. It's really the worst thing you can do! It takes eyebrows a long time to grow back. Super annoying. But everyone will find their shape. Whether it's thin, arched, full, dark, curved, sharp or bold. You should go along with the shape your eyebrow naturally has. Also, if you have a round face you may want to think about going sharper and more angled with your brow. If you have a sharp angled face shape you may want to go for a rounder brow to soften your features. Just a little thing to keep in mind. 


Now personally...I have weird eyebrows. One of my natural arches is much more arched than the other one! One of them is longer than the other. One is basically just better than the other...haha


I like my eyebrows to be a little more noticeable. So I like to fill mine in. Plus they are a little bit sparse, or I guess there just isn't a ton of hair. So I like mine to look darker and bolder than they naturally are. It's just my thing ; )




First of all, you need a good pair of tweezers! That's really really going to help you, whether you are plucking a lot of hair or just cleaning up a couple stray hairs. 

TWEEZERMAN

My favorite tweezers are the TWEEZERMAN tweezers. They are super great! I know a lot of people rave about them too. 
Quick tip in plucking or shaping your brows is to put a hot washcloth over your brows before plucking, that way the pores have opened up making it much easier to pull the little hairs out. You could also do it after getting out of the shower. 


If you fill your eyebrows in(which I do and a lot of people do) you need to find a shadow, pencil, eyebrow powder that matches really well. 
It would look really silly if you had blonde hair and eyebrows and used a black eyeshadow! Do not do that!! It's not a cute look! Same thing goes for someone with darker skin and dark hair. Using a light shadow would be silly, it wouldn't even show up. Now, you can fill in your brows a couple ways. First decide the reason you want to fill them in... Are they super sparse? Did you over pluck? Is one side different than the other? Are you just touching up little spots that don't have much hair growing in? Do you want them to be bold? Sharper? Dyed your hair darker and want your eyebrows to match? These are all really great reasons! Once you figure out what you need and find your shade, go for it. 
Don't go too heavy because that wont look very natural. 

Espresso, Brun, Buck.

I personally like to use an eyeshadow. Pencil sometimes comes off too sharp and funky.
The orignal color I used for my eyebrows was Espresso by Mac. But I realized that was a little too warm in color (Looked a bit orange on my eyebrows) 

Espresso and Brun

So I switched to Brun (also by Mac) which is a cool brown. Much closer to my hair and eyebrows. It's perfect actually. But that's really dark for some people. So you just need to find what color is right for you. 
My favorite colors are Brun(Mac), Espresso(Mac) and Buck(Urban Decay).
Any shade will work, you just have to keep your eye open (no pun intended)!

Angled Brush and Spooly

So, once you have a shadow that is perfect for you- You'll need a brush to apply it. I think the best thing to use is an angled eyeliner/eyebrow brush. If it has a spooly on the other end, even better(a spooly is a mascara wand)! 
After you've done you're eyebrows, comb them through. This will make it look more natural and less harsh or sharp. 

Make up Forever eyebrow pencil in N5

If you are looking for a pencil, sometimes just an eyeliner will do. As long as it's not too creamy. The eyebrow pencil I have is from Make Up Forever. The thing I don't like about pencil is sometimes it comes off too harsh, sometimes even a little waxy. Using shadow is my favorite, but everyone is different so try around!!
Pencil may be better for you if you are just filling in little bald spots.

Buck, Espresso, Brun and MUF eyebrow pencil in N5  








Hope you learned a little something about eyebrows!!!






XOXOXOX

The weekend that flew by...

This weekend flew by like the leaves in autumn! Which are all totally gone now...When did that happen?!


I worked on Thursday, Friday I had a group follow up get-together and my family came into town! Saturday was our big christmas party, which is always so much fun!! I love my family, we're all like really great friends. It's awesome.
Stayed up super late and had work at 11:00 today! Exhausted!! Luckily they didn't need me after about 2 hours and I got to go home...All my family has left, (Miss them!) so now I can write some more posts on here again!!


I bought my aunt the Mineral Fusion powder we all have and she really liked it I think! We bought her Neutral number 2. While I was in New Seasons I also bought the bronzer they carry. I love love love it! 1. it's all natural like the other powders
2. it's a beautiful color 3. it comes with a dark side and a shimmery highlighter (although I would never recommend someone with very fair skin to use the "highlighter" it's pretty dark and on the golden/orange side. It says you can mix them together for a more summery glow. I use the dark side to contour and darken my complexion then use the shimmery gold side as a blush!)




My skin has been doing really well with all these new products! The MyChelle and the Mineral Fusion (I hear they have a great setting spray!)
Also, some of my family said they have been using the Vitamin E oil and love it! yay!! I get so happy to hear people are reading and trying new products i've mentioned! So many great products people don't know about yet!!


I'll be writing more very soon...Just a quick update!


XOXOX