Back with swatches and look for NYE makeup idea

So now I'm back. I collected all my purple, green, and blue eye shadows to see if I could create colors close enough to the Pantone versions.

Swatches of purples I thought would be close

I thought that Grifter from Urban Decay was the closest. I liked Last Call to accompany it.

Some other options that I thought were pretty close are the purple from the L.A. Colors trio in Magnolia, Essence eye shadow single in Disco Diva, and the e.l.f. Brightening Eye Shadow quad in Pretty N' Pink. These shadows are also good for anyone on a budget, since the L.A. Colors trio and e.l.f. quad are only $1, and the Essence single is under $4.

Part of what makes the Radiant Orchid color pop, is that I think there's a hint of a bright pink. Adding the browbone color from the Wet n Wild trio in I'm Getting Sunburned as a transition color to a more purple shade helps get the point across as to what you're aiming for.

I didn't have an actual emerald shade of eye shadow. I ended up mixing some blues and greens until I was satisfied. My favorite are the three swatches in the black box. They're all a mixture of the crease color from the Wet n Wild trio in I Dream of Greenie and the three different blues in the Blue Haute Couture quad from L'Oréal.

Here's the look I created: 

• I first primed my lid and set down a base for the eye shadow to cling to using Maybelline Color Tattoos in Inked in Pink and Lavish Lavender. The lavender shade was limited edition, so if you don't have it, just the pink will work fine. 
• Then I dabbed Grifter over my lid. Dabbing is key because there's quite a lot of glitter in the shadow. 
• I put Disco Diva on the outer third of my lid and slightly on inner part to add some dimension to my eye. 
• I used the pink browbone color as a transition that ended up being more like a brow color and added Last Call to the crease. 
• On my lower lash line, I mixed the lightest blue/teal shade from the L'Oréal quad with the green and brought that all along the lower lash line. I mixed the darkest blue with the green and added that to the outer third of my lower lash line. I also decided to bring that color up to the crease of my lid. 
• I ran some silver along my upper lash line and drew as thin of a line as I could with a black liquid liner. 
• Then I finished off the look with mascara. 

I would love to hear how you'll be bringing in the new year, and if you do anything fun with your makeup! Be safe and have fun!

Stacie

New Year's Eve Makeup Idea!

Hey all! I just wanted to get a quick post up because I'm not sure if I'll be able to get it done before I head out for my NYE party. For New Year's Eve, I have a habit of reaching for silvery, sparkly eye shadow, taking inspiration from a disco ball, I suppose. But this year I thought it would be fun to pay homage to the Pantone colors of the year. 2014 is Radiant Orchid, and 2013 is/was Emerald. So I'm going to look through my eye shadow collection to see what I've got to offer. I'll try to keep updating this post as I make progress. I'm thinking orchid on the lids with a little silver liner, and somehow working emerald into my lower liner. Hope you have fun with this idea, too!

Happy New Year!
Stacie

Photo credit (for Pantone colors): http://www.pantone.com/images/pages/21055/11262012_cotyslideshow_01.jpg  https://www.pantone.com/images/pages/21128/COY2014.png

PR: Profusion Eye Shadows

Hey there! I just wanted to do a review on a product you may be tempted to pick up this gift-giving season, either for yourself or someone else.

A year ago, I picked up three little eye shadow palettes from Walgreens by the brand Profusion. Here's what they look like:

Here's some swatches (since there are no names to identify each set of colors, I'm just calling them 1, 2, and 3):

Palette 1

Check out what the swatches looked like on my fingers before I swatched them on the back of my hand:

Don't they look beautiful and pigmented? Such a disappointment when they're swatched and so flakey :(

Palette 2

Palette 3

All in all, these are not worth the money--and they're not even that expensive. I don't remember exactly how much they were, but I'm thinking they were probably somewhere around $3. While some swatches may look alright, the shadows don't hardly show up on your eyes. The biggest disappoinment to me was the first palette. I recently did a look using a Maybelline Color Tattoo as a base, and the shadows still didn't show up, even the darkest one! Sooo awful. 

The brand seems to have trouble getting matte shadows to show up. There are six shades in each palette, but in the swatches for palettes 1 and 2, you only see 5 swatches. C'est triste, n'est-ce pas? The palette I've had the most luck with is the third palette, but most of the shades have some kind of shimmer.

I don't think that they're selling eye shadow palettes in this form, but they might. I've heard of them selling the shadows in bigger palettes made of cardboard in rectangular shapes. That does solve another problem I have with these particular palettes. The shadows are all in such skinny strips of color, it's difficult to get my brushes in them. I took this picture for comparison:

Look at that! Each strip is barely wider than a Q-tip. 

So if you're looking at anything from Profusion and thinking, "Man, those look like pretty neutrals, and maybe they'll be like the Naked palettes," you should just pass. And really, you can still find cheap things in the drugstore that have way better quality. I know Profusion's been found at Walgreens, as well as Big Lots. If you see it, just save your money and put it towards something better.

I hope your Christmas is merry and bright... and white (if it's possible for your neck of the woods to get snow).

Stacie :)

Gift Idear: Ulta Makeup Palette/Set

Hey there! I know I haven't been posting much lately, but I had to deal with finals and all that kind of junk, so now I'm finally FREEEEEE!!!!!!! Yay! Only for a few weeks, but it's better than nothing! I need this time away soooo badly, you have no idea. But anyway, I thought I'd give a post on something I think would make a great Christmas gift, or gift in general. I haven't had a lot of time to come up with a lot of gift ideas, so sorry this is kind of cutting it close, and that it might also be the only one. Onward!

SO, this post is going to be about makeup palettes and/or sets from Ulta. When I say "from Ulta", I mean by the brand, since Ulta does sell lots of brands. As you can see in the photo above, my palette is well loved. I've used it for a looong time, and it's really come in handy quite often. I got mine when I was really starting to get into makeup, and I think it's great for that kind of girl--either someone who's just now starting to take interest in makeup, or someone you'd like to see branch out when it comes to color/neutrals or something like that. Let's get more into the palette.

So when you lift the lid, you have a transparency that has the names of the shadows contained. And when you remove the transparency and slide the eye shadow trays open...

... it looks like this! In this particular palette there were 64 eye shadows, 23 lip colors, 3 blushes, 1 bronzer, and 1 face powder. It's a pretty good collection from the line to give a good idea of the products they have to offer. I use the eye shadows the most.

The feature I like most about the Ulta sets is that they give you the names of the eye shadows, so if you find some you really like in the palette, you can purchase the single of the shadow. For comparison I swatched my palette, the singles I've bought, and some quads my mom got in a kit sometime ago.

The top two are my oldest singles. Swatching order from left to right is palette, single, and Truffle's third swatch is from a quad. The middle row of swatches are shadows from the quads swatched against shadows from the palette. I just wanted to see if Ulta's sample shadows are the same quality, no matter what form you get them. The swatching order from left to right is quad then palette. The bottom row is of swatches of my more recent single shadow purchases. You can see from the image below that there's a difference in packaging style. There was quite a long time between purchases. They're swatched in the same order as the first row.

So from the swatches, the older shadows (the two on the left in silver packaging) are less pigmented than the newer shadows. But the newer shadows still took a little effort to get as rich and pigmented as the shadows from the palette. It seems that the shadows have a kind of film or barrier to scrape off before their true potential is available. That was true for Twilight and Organza, and kind of for Stardust. Not really for In the Buff. That shade's just awesome, by the way. I am not really happy with the quality of the quad shadows, though. In most cases, they're pretty flakey. I don't think they're a great motivator for people to try the "real" shadows. The great thing about Ulta is that they have tester shadows out so you can see the color you'll be buying. Really, I think they get better with use.

Sooo, all in all, I really like these palettes, especially for those not too familiar with makeup. It's a great introduction. Every time one of my friends who doesn't have a lot of makeup experience sees the palette, they're like, "Ooh, what's that?" Ulta is constantly creating different sets, and you can usually find one for $20 or less. Right now, you can check out the palettes they have for the holiday season here. I hope this was helpful. Happy holidays and merry Christmas!

~Stacie

Informal Review: Maybelline Lash Stiletto Mascara

Hey there! Remember in a recent post how I said I got the Maybelline Lash Stiletto mascara? Well I finally used it and I thought I would do a quick, informal review. It's informal because I don't have pictures, plus I'm only basing it off of one use instead of really testing it out for a while. Let's get on with it!

So I don't really know why I thought it was so great in early high school. Probably because I hadn't tried many other mascaras, and I was buying into the commercials (I bought it right when it came out). Don't get me wrong, it is good for length, so if that's all you want, I think it'll do the job nicely enough. But I really like having length and volume, and if I had to choose between the two, I'd choose volume over length, I think. So I don't think I'll be repurchasing. Also, it flakes off easily when exposed to water. I had a bit of a stressful day today which resulted in some crying, and the mascara on my lower lashes was pretty much gone afterwards, and I didn't even cry that hard.

The lashes are hard and crunchy, and kind of spidery, even though I only used one or two coats. It likes to group your lashes together into single, long lashes. So if you have thirty lashes, you'll end up looking like you have 10. Not the best look.

Hope this was kind of helpful. I know it's not a new product, so maybe you've already read a lot of reviews on it or had your own experience with it. I just wanted to compare my present opinion to past opinion. That's all!

Stacie

PS/EDIT: I wanted to mention, but forgot to, that I think this particular tube of mascara might be a little old. It has a funky smell. I know some have weird smells, but this one is stronger than others I've encountered. If it is really old, it might effect the results it gives. I'm scared to keep using it around my eyes in case it damages them, so I'll be throwing it away. I don't feel like spending money on a fresh tube though, because I feel like I'll get similar results.

FOTD: My recreation of Warm and Cozy

As you know, I'm a big fan of emilynoel83 on YouTube.  Well, she recently did a look using the LORAC Unzipped palette, and I really liked the way it turned out. Even though I don't have that palette, I have a lot of eye shadows, and I thought I must have something close enough to where I could recreate the look. So here's my take on Emily's Warm and Cozy:

If you haven't seen Emily's tutorial, it would help if you do, so here it is:

In my eye process, I'll refer to the shadows she uses, and my replacements.

There a few differences.  I don't have that much space between my lid and my brow, and I don't have a thin wispy brush, so I skipped the lighter mauve shade.  I was really tired that day, so I didn't want to line my waterline because sometimes that can irritate my eyes even more. Also, I was going to wear glasses instead of contacts, so I decided to skip the false lashes. If I hadn't been so tired, I would have copied it to the letter (at least the eye part)!

The eyes are what are really important, but if you're wondering what I used on the rest of my face and lips, here it is:

Primers: Victoria Secret Pro Oil-Free Airbrush FX Face Primer SPF 15 for the majority of the face, and L'Oréal Anti-Dull Skin Primer for Light Skin for the undereye area to brighten things up.

Foundation: Revlon Colorstay Whipped in Ivory.

Concealer: CoverGirl & Olay Simply Ageless Eye Concealer in Very Light.

Blush: Philosophy cream blush (discontinued, sorry), Milani Baked Blush in Dolce Pink, then Wet n Wild blush in Perlescent Pink (that's what's in the jar with the green lid).

Highlight: Boots No 7 High Lights Illuminating Lotion set with Hard Candy Baked Bronzer in Tiki.

Powder: Maybelline Mineral Finishing Veil.

I lined my lips with Jordana Easyliner for Lips in Rock 'n' Rose, Ulta Lip Crayon in Rumors, and Wet n Wild MegaShield Lip Color in Pink Champagne.

So sorry this took so long to get up! I meant for it to be up on Tuesday, since that's the day I wore the look. But oh well, such is life. I hope your Thanksgiving went well, and if you went shopping on Black Friday, I hope you're still in tact.

Stacie

FOTD: Coppery Smolder

Hey all! I'm kind of planning on doing a FOTD-a-thon, if I can manage it! That means that there will be a Face Of The Day everyday instead of just on Fridays (which is pretty much what Fun With Makeup Friday is)! Today I was getting in the Thanksgiving mood and toned the look very orange, coppery, earthtones. Hope you like it!

That's right--those are false lashes! I've never really used them before, and thought this would be a fun excuse to break them out. I don't think I did too bad for a first try...

Forgot to mention that I used mascara before I applied the false lashes. After the glue dried, I curled my lashes to mesh false and true together (Ah--a paradox!).

Primers: Rimmel Fix & Perfect Pro for the majority of the face, and L'Oréal Anti-Dull Skin Primer for Light Skin for the undereye area to brighten things up.

Foundation: A mixture of Wet n Wild CoverAll Cream Foundation in Fair and Neutrogena Healthy Skin Liquid Makeup in Natural Ivory.

Concealer: CoverGirl & Olay Simply Ageless Eye Concealer in Very Light.

Contour: NYC Sun 'n' Bronze Bronzing Powder in Montauk Bronze, for contouring the cheekbones, temples of the forehead, and edges of the nose.

Blush: First I used Maybelline Dream Mousse Blush in Soft Plum and then went over it with CoverGirl TRUblend Minerals Blush in Shimmering Sands and then went over that with the CoverGirl Cheeker in Classic Pink.

To start the day, I applied Wet n Wild MegaShield Lip Color in Birthday Suit all over, went over that with Revlon Super Lustrous Lipstick in Apricot Dream and then added Revlon ColorBurst Lipgloss in Peony over top. Then I went to class. When I came back, I lined the corners of my lips with Jordana EasyLiner for lips in Rock 'n' Rose and put Wet n Wild MegaShield Lip Color in Pink Champagne over that, concentrating that in the center of my lips. But there was still color from before under that, so I have no idea exactly what you're seeing in the picture. I just wanted you to have all the info!

The basic idea here was to have a dramatic, warm-toned eye in celebration of the quickly-arriving Thanksgiving. You could recreate a similar look with just the L'Oréal Autumn Leaves quad. That's what I've done in years past, but I have more to use now, and I wanted to use it. If you're interested in the Shady Lady shadows, you can buy all three in single form from the site. Caught in the Act Courtney is in SL volumes 1 and 2, Shameless Shana is in volume 1 and Mischievous Marissa is in volume 2.

If you decide to recreate this look, I'd love to know what you use! I hope you have a great day/evening and Thanksgiving (if I don't talk to you before then--which I'm intending to do)!

~Stacie

It's Haaaaul Time

Hey all! It seems that I am most known for doing hauls. They also seem to be the most popular, so I'm not so ashamed to do them! I've been meaning to post this for a while, but I kept adding more items, so it's been growing and growing. Needless to say, I did not buy all these things at one time. So let's get started.

So it started with theBalm's Shady Lady Special Edition palette. I had some birthday money left over and it was on Hautelook, so I got it :) Yay!

theBalm Shady Lady Special Edition eye shadow palette

I haven't had much of a chance to use this palette--sadly and strangely--but the colors all swatch nicely. Devillish Danielle and Luscious Lani are pigmented, but they're just really close to my skin tone. Danielle's a little more golden and Lani's a little more pink. Both very nice and smooth. The only shades that felt a little dry were Feisty Felicia, Just This Once Jamie, and Caught in the Act Courtney. They're still very nice, and smooth compared to many other brand's shadows, but they are detectably less smooth than the others (not too much, though). I'm just saying.

Wet n Wild Grays Matter eye shadow trio

I wasn't going to put this in a haul since it was bought so far apart from all others, but I figured I might as well. This trio was actually kind of the finalizing decision maker that my Halloween costume would be a flapper. I saw the colors and thought they would perfect--and they were! The lid and crease colors are good, but the browbone color is kind of disappointing.

Essence Metallic Effect Eyeshadow in Disco Diva

I'd heard good things about Essence eye shadows and I've been searching for a bright purple that shows up, so I thought I'd give this guy a try. Plus, it was cheap, so why not? I might've even gotten it to help me cross the $10 line so I could use a $3.50 Off coupon. I don't remember. It's been a while.

Ulta Lipstick in Plum Crazy

I think this lipstick came free with my purchase the same time I bought the Essence eye shadow. I also bought three nail polishes because Ulta was having a 3 for $9 deal. I love this color. It's a deep color without being too deep, too purple, or too red. It's a nice muted color for when I'm not feeling so bold or crazy.

It doesn't really show up, but there is a kind of gold glitter in the product. Ulta has tester tubes, so go ahead and give it a swatch before you buy. Thank you, Ulta! Also, the name "Plum Crazy" was only on the plastic wrapper, so they might change the name from time to time. The identifier on the bottom of the tube is just 217.

I'm surprised how heavy the lipstick feels! It almost looks and feels like a bullet. I only mention this because there's a definite mechanism for closing the cap--you have to snap it shut. I guess I'm just used to fitting the lid on as much as I think is closed, because one day I didn't shut it tight enough, picked it up by the lid, and the base went careening to the floor. Thankfully the product wasn't ruined, but be careful and close the lid tight!

Ioni Blush in Ecstasy

Now I don't live anywhere near a Fred's Super Dollar, and none of my nearby Family Dollars or Dollar Generals don't yet carry Ioni, so when I saw Emily's review on Ioni products and how much she loved the blushes, I thought I would forever be out of luck. Or at least for a long time. But when I had to go to Georgia, I was in luck. They had a Fred's near where I was staying. It was a pain to go there, but I made it just in time and was able to pick up a blush and eye shadow. I love this blush and am so happy I was able to buy it :)

Ioni Eye Shadow in Rodeo

And here's the eye shadow I got. I couldn't remember which ones Emily said were best, so I went with a safe neutral. I'm not that impressed with it. It's kind of dry and streaky. But I can make it work. I feel lucky I was able to get anything at all--the display was pretty well picked over.

Jordana Easyliner for Eyes in Blue Devine

This was a small purchase at a Walgreen's so I could get a small amount of money back from my debit card (Walmart makes me take in intervals of $20, and I don't like that when all I need is $5). Anyway, that's how I justified its purchase. I went for this color because I wear navy liner surprisingly often, but make it by patting navy eye shadow over black liner. I thought this would be easier. Unfortunately, the color isn't what I was expecting, but that's just from a swatch, not an actual usage. I have no idea what the staying power is like.

Estée Lauder Pure Color EyeShadow in Riviera Rose, Sugar Biscuit, Enchanted Forest, and Hot Cinnamon

I didn't buy this. I was given it by my grandmother. She gets a lot of "gift with purchase" sets from places like Clinique and Estée Lauder, but she doesn't really use eye shadow, so she gave me this. I was excited because I've never tried anything by EL, so this was my chance. I gotta say, I'm not impressed. The only smooth one was the darkest shade. The light ones are flakey, but they show up. The green hardly shows up! This doesn't make me want to go out and buy eye shadows from Estée Lauder, and isn't that the point of samples?

Maybelline Lash Stiletto mascara in Soft Black

My grandma also gave me this. I remember really liking this when it first came out, but I haven't used it since. I just wanted to see how I feel about it now that I've tried so many other mascaras.

Sally Girl Eyeshadow in White Chocolate and Cinnamon

And last up is a relatively recent purchase (I think it was last weekend, actually). They're too recent to make it in the group picture up top, that's why they're presented like so, above. Emily posted about two different types of connectable eye shadows, and these won out! And they're cheaper (only 99 cents!) I decided I needed to try them. I can't believe I hadn't seen these before! I wasn't impressed with the color selection--it might've just been really picked over--but these caught my attention. I heard Cinnamon was a nice rose gold and I've been wanting to gray-up my makeup, so I thought White Chocolate would be good.

Sally Girl Eyeshadow in Cinnamon

Love this guy! I've been collecting rose golds and this is beautiful. It's very smooth and pigmented. A great deal, too. I love the idea of connecting single eye shadows!

Sally Girl Eyeshadow in White Chocolate

I'm a little confused as to the naming of this eye shadow. White chocolate is white. This is a shimmery dark gray. I don't know, though. It's growing on me. This is a very soft and buttery eye shadow, as well. In fact, you need to be a little careful when you go in with your brush. Learned that the hard way, teehee.

Finally! This haul is done and posted. Now it won't be too long before a Christmas haul is posted. It just never ends, does it? Oh well. I hope you all have a great weekend. It's snowing right now, so I'm happy :D

~Stacie

FWMF: Taupey Rose

Hey all. It's time for another Fun With Makeup Friday! Yaaay. This one isn't so out of the box, but I liked it, so I thought I'd share. Plus, it's more involved than my makeup every other day of the week. Here goes.

The mascara I used was Essence's I Love Extreme Crazy Volume Mascara in Black. I did my brows using Jordana's eyebrow pencil in Taupe and went over that using NYX's eyebrow powder in Blonde (sorry that's not in the picture, but I kept forgetting things and was tired of getting things back out to take another picture). Here's what I used on my face and lips:

Primers: Victoria Secret Pro Oil-Free Airbrush FX Face Primer SPF 15 for the majority of the face, and L'Oréal Anti-Dull Skin Primer for Light Skin for the undereye area to brighten things up.

Foundation: A mixture of Wet n Wild CoverAll Cream Foundation in Fair and Rimmel Lasting Finish Foundation in Ivory.

Concealer: CoverGirl & Olay Simply Ageless Eye Concealer in Very Light.

Contour: NYC Sun 'n' Bronze Bronzing Powder in Montauk Bronze, for contouring the cheekbones, temples of the forehead, and edges of the nose.

Blush: First I used Maybelline Dream Mousse Blush in Soft Plum and then went over it with Tarte Amazonian Clay 12-hour Blush in Dollface.

Highlight: First I lightly stippled Boots No 7 High Lights Illuminating Lotion on my cheekbones and used the remaining product on my brush down my nose and on my Cupid's bow. Then I used Hard Candy Blush Crush Baked Blush in Honeymoon to set the liquid highlight.

To keep the rose theme going, I first used L'Oréal Color Riche laLaque in Never Lacque-ing, highlighted the center of my bottom lip with Revlon Lip Butter in Pink Lemonade and then went over everything with Revlon Super Lustrous Lipstick in Rose & Shine.

The pictures don't really give the look justice. I hope to someday have a camera that will accurately represent reality as most beauty bloggers and YouTubers seem to have. It's a very soft yet smokey look that makes me think hazy and sultry. I recommend giving it a shot. You don't need all the same products, just something similar. You could probably get a close replica just using the Maybelline quad and duo! I was just having a lot of fun using all the products I have. I hope you have a great day and rest of your weekend :)

~Stacie