Sephora/Bday Haul

So thanks to some extra money and my bday,

i've been able to score some pretty awesome products in the past week.

;P

These three little numbers from Sephora:

The foundation is something I already use & have been for awhile now,

but the other two products are totally new to me :)

Also, I was gifted this amazing beauty gift set from Lancome!

Ahh! Just look at all the goodies!

I cannot wait to try them all.

I've never used Lancome but know it's a great brand,

 so I'm really stoked :)

Have yall tried any of these products here?

What are your thoughts?

Let me know!

Everyday Makeup Routine

Despite some of the bright and crazy looks I do here,

I rarely do them in real life :P

Though i've pretty much always stuck with neutrals for my everyday eye look,

I change the combo often.

I've gone over that some before,

but I want to take it a step further & show you all the products I use for a basic,

fresh, day look!

Here's my current routine:

1. Apply eyeshadow primer on a fresh face.

I use either Too Faced's Shadow Insurance or this one by UD.

2. Apply eyeshadow (all from UD's Vice Palette) with brushes. 

I've listed the order in which I use each brush:

Brush 1 applies 'Anonymous' (third from left on bottom) on brow bone.

Brush 2, 3, & 4 apply 'Nevermind' (first one on left of bottom row) to crease, blending as I go.

Brush 5 applies 'Echo Beach' (to the left of 'Nevermind') to lid.

3. Apply eyeliner to waterline.

Unless I'm doing a look for the blog or a fancier look,

I don't apply eyeliner anywhere other than my waterline.

Just because of the larger almond shape of my eyes,

I feel it looks best fresh above the lashes!

4. Apply mascara/curl lashes with curler.

This is my current go-to mascara :)

5. Apply foundation with brush.

I've posted about UD's foundation & their Optical Blurring Brush before.

Both are fantastic!

I wait to apply foundation until this point so that I may more easily sweep up any fall out from eyeshadow or mascara :)

6. Apply blush.

This baby has been used a ton, thus the faded label.

This is Tarte's Cheek Stain.

It's the ONLY blush I use because it applies easily and stays on throughout my day :)

Though pricey at prestige cosmetic stores,

you can find it the exact same and MUCH cheaper on Amazon and/or Ebay!

I finish off with a setting spray.

This is the routine i've used for my everyday look for at least a month or two (maybe longer) now. It takes me less than 15 minutes and is a great daytime neutral.

The shadows are just barely noticeable, and the mascara/blush give me a young, fresh feeling.

What do you guys think of my routine?

What's yours?? 

Let me know!

November Favorites!

Hey everyone.

So I realize it's already Dec. 2 and i'm a little late on my end of the month favorites,

but things have been just so crazy lately! xP

Anyway,

i'm really excited about this month's favorites,

so let's get started!

1. L'oreal Voluminous Million Lashes mascara

Not my picture.

I've tried a lot of mascaras out there, but this stuff is my new favorite. It INSTANTLY lengths my lashes to an incredible length, all in just one sweep. There's zero clumping, which is a lovely perk for a drugstore brand. It's a reasonable $8-$9 bucks and can be found anywhere that carries major basic brands like L'oreal. I don't think i've ever actually tried a L'oreal mascara before (I usually stick to UD, Covergirl, or Maybelline) & it's definitely exceeded my expectations. PLUS, use an eyelash curler after applying this and BAM-- crazy long lashes! Definitely, definitely recommend :e

2. Deep reds/Cranberry colored nail polish such as:

Cranberry Splash

Berry Naughty

Wrapped in Rubies

Being that it's Christmas time, all of these are great Holiday polishes. The formulas were all pretty great & they're just gorgeous! :)

3. UD's Optical Blurring Brush

Not my picture

LOVELOVELOVE this new baby.

I've been using makeup sponges for the past year or so to apply my foundation.

They've always been pretty good, but after getting UD's new Naked Skin Foundaion this past September, i've been itching for the brush they sell to go with it.

After using it for a month or so now, I'm soooo glad I purchased it.

It really does make application much more smooth and flawless looking.

UD claim it makes your skin look airbrushed, and i'm sure were a makeup professional to use it on you- it would. Though my face doesn't exactly look FLAWLESS- it still looks loads better than when I apply with a sponge. It has a bit of a hefty price tag of $24, but it's totally worth it! :)

What is YOUR favorite product from November?

Let me know! :)

Urban Decay haul!!

Happy Friday!

Man, have I got some exciting new goodies for you today! :D

So I was meandering around in Ulta the other day,

and I finally decided to buy a couple things i've had my eyes on for awhile now.

We've had a lot of nail polish the past couple weeks,

let's get back to my first love- makeup!

Here's my haul:

UD's Ammo palette, UD's 24/7 Blending Brush, sample of UD's brand new liquid foundation, AND UD's 'Asphyxia'

HOLLAAAA ! :)

I want to focus on the palette for now.

(i'll do posts featuring the other items soon, don't worry :p)

So this is UD's Ammo palette:

Now this palette is nothing new; it was released awhile ago.

I had kind of overlooked it, because i THOUGHT I already had most of the shades here in other palettes- but turns out I was wrong. Finally realizing this, I quickly scooped it up.

The only shade from this I already have is 'Sin'. I've had 'Sin' forever, and its one of my absolute favorite neutrals. Many of the other shades in this palette remind me faintly of other UD shades, but I bought it anyway :p

Let's see swatches!

As you can see, it's a mixture of all kinds of velvety shades. All of that amazing shimmer that I love most about UD, while 3 are even packed with some microglitter. I have a couple UD shades already that have microglitter, and i'm not a super big fan of them- but I have a feeling I might change my mind after using these :)

Do any of you have this palette?

Or shades?

What are your thoughts?

Have a great day! :)

'Crazy Easter' eye tutorial! (pic heavy)

Happy Saturday!

So some of the feedback from my giveaway that I got was that severallll of you asked for makeup tutorials.

I asked you guys to vote on which look you wanted me do to,

and the 'Crazy Easter' look won.

So here we go!

Step 1. 

Apply an eyeshadow primer. I don't always use then when I use prestige cosmetics (like Urban Decay) b/c their staying power is already AWESOME, but it's a good safe measure.

I chose to use Two Faced's Shadow Insurance.

Step 2.

With a fat, round brush that came with the palette,

I applied 'metallic' yellow from ULTA's metallic palette. I swipe from the corner outward, usually 2 or 3 'coats' for opacity.

Step 3.

I applied the next shade in my rainbow of colors- UD's 'Graffiti'. I chose to do it with my finger because there's not as much fallout and I also find it easier to manipulate applying it on a small area as opposed to a makeup brush. Weird?

Step 4.

I continue my layers of colors using UD's 'Peace'. Again, I applied with my finer (though a different finger this time). I overlap each layer just SLIGHTLY with the color in front of it, blending a bit as I go- but not too much. I save really blending well until the end, for some reason...

Step 5.

I apply my final color, UD's 'Junkshow' on the outer corner of my eye. No matter what color I use, I almost always apply in this area with my pinky. The rounded top is just the perfect size to apply the color. I have my finger positioned like so, and sweep outward.

Step 6.

(sorry for the crappy pic)

Here I used my UD Crease brush to apply UD's 'Ransom' on my brow bone.

Step 7.

Here I've applied the same colors on my lower lash line with a Shadow brush,

and applied eyeliner along my waterline.

Step 8.

Lastly, I apply my liquid eyeliner along the top of my upper lashes and winged it out slightly.

I also finally applied my mascara. 

I really feel like these last two steps REALLLY help open up my eyes :)

Final Product:

:)

I hope you guys found this helpful and liked it!

Please give me any feedback you think of so I know what I need to continue/improve upon!

Have a great night!

christmas present haul

SUP.

I've got some super exciting things to post tonight in my haul consisting of christmas gifts!

woo hoo!

first & foremost (and what i'm most excited about) are my brushes & eye pencils! I've been wanting some quality brushes for awhile to better execute my shadow looks and these are legit. 

I got the Crease brush and the Shadow brush, & can't wait to try them! I'll have to post some looks with them soon.

I also got a few of the eye pencils i'd asked for:

I've never used any of these before (though I use these 3 eye shadows all the time) but am expecting great things :)

NEXT,

i got several different nail polishes :

from left to right: Watermelon Rind, Flying Dragon, Blonde Bombshell, Ruby Pumps (mini), Grape Juice, Strawberry Fields, and Emberstone

(i apparently have a fruit theme going...)

I'm super excited about theses and will have swatches of these up soon!

I also received 2 normal size OPI polishes of two minis that I already have-

(and a good base coat, woo!)

Lastly, I got 4 stripers.

 I've never used these before either but am looking forward to trying & learning new things about them! ... Though I don't really think too much will look good until my nails get longer :/

ANYWAY, that's it for my little Christmas haul.

Do any of you have any of this already? And if so, what are your opinions on it?!

Thanks for reading, and any feedback is more than welcome!

:D

xmas list

So my mom has been bugging me for awhile lately to finally give her my Christmas list, but i was having a hard time deciding exactly what I wanted to ask for (that wasn't baby/apt related)... BUT, today it occurred to me: Urban Decay eye pencils!

Their 24/7 Glide-on eye pencils are long lasting AND waterproof. I usually only wear black eye liner, but to enhance some of the looks i'm going for lately, I really feel that a few of these are necessary. The ones i asked for are:

Baked

Electric

Gunmetal

Bourbon

Graffiti

Ransom

These would work the best with the shades I use the most, & i'm really hoping to get at least a few of them! (*UD has 'Baked' on sale online for $7- hello!) Going hand-in-hand with these are my need for brushes. I've never really used brushes before but have preferred to apply/blend/etc with my fingers because i've just found it to be easier, albeit messy. However, with some of the things i'm wanting to try I really think some good brushes would come in handy. UD has 3 that i've also asked for:

this smudger brush

this shadow brush

and this crease brush!

Each are $26 which would ordinarily be much too pricey for me- but that's what Christmas is for :) Plus, you get what you pay for & I know UD is good quality- so it's worth it!

What are you asking for on your Christmas list (beauty related or not!)?