2011 Favies....Tons-o-pics

Another year down, another year to look forward to.  I swear the older (and hopefully wiser) I get the faster the years go by. I just wanted to share somethings that I have been loving for most of the year.

Stila self adjusting blush-coral

This is a great blush, I don't know how self adjusting it is, because it's the same color in the pan as on my cheeks.  It could very well be because I am as pale as they come and it it "thinks" I need as much color as possible. But it sure is a great color.

MAC eye shadow in Embark

This is a new love for me, I recently purchased this eye shadow and I am in love.  I have been trying to buy more neutral colors and more matte colors. This is a two in one.  It blends very well, but you have to build up the intensity.  But it's just a to die for matte brown, a reddish brown.

MAC eye shadow in Nylon

This is also new to me, purchased with Embark and used together.  Nylon is very much like vanilla pigment but with less gold.  I love using this color over the lid and embark in the crease.  It's not stark like Gesso, and it warms up any look and brightens the eye right up.  I am way late jumping on the band wagon, but better late than never.  Especially in this instance, it is too good to pass up.

Macademia Oil

The next item is a must have for anyone who has hair...I'm not one to spend a lot of time or money on my hair.  I know, I know, I should especially since I flat iron it almost every day.  I was at Ulta and wanted to put a little more lovin' into my hair. The wonderful associate told me to use this in conjunction with an anti-snap serum.  Bada Bing, Bada Boom....Hair as if it was spun silk :D So silky smooth I could die.  Plus she was saying that it is a heat protectant as well. Heck to the Yes!

Juicy Couture-Viva La Juicy

A lot of girls are a one scent type of girl. I however am a bajillion scent girl, I have several bottles of perfume to match any mood possible, floral notes, citrus notes, woodsy notes. Check, Check, and Check. I don't have one signature scent. But I find that I am reaching for this scent a lot more.  Aside from the adorable packaging this perfume is a nice mature smell for me.  Not sure what's in it, but I loves it.

Seche Vite-top coat

I am a freak when it comes to my nails. If there is a chip I have to take it all off and reapply a new manicure. That could be because I am completely neurotic and pick at my nails until almost all of the polish is off.  With this top coat I find that it does prolong the manicure a day or too, but the main reason I buy this over and over again is because it dries so dang fast.  I love doing stamping and new and different ways to paint my nails and nothing drives me more bat-shit crazy is when I smudge them. This cuts down the likelyhood of that 10x fold. Me likey.

That's all from here...for now!  Hope everyone has a fun and safe New Year's. Be safe!

Epic Beauty Fail

So I'm not one to necessarily say anything bad about a cosmetic item, because just because it didn't work for me doesn't mean it won't work for anyone else.  The craze with the Sally Hansen stick on things is going strong, and I am a fan of them as well. That's why I had such high hopes for these. Maybe I didn't read the small print, or maybe these just aren't up to par.

These are the Butter London Nail Decals....Nail Stickers. I was super excited because the design of the top one is to die for. I purchased them regardless that they were a little pricey ($10).  I was anxious to use them, prior to buying them I did compare them to my nail beds and they seemed that they would work. Not perfectly but enough to where I would be satisfied. WRONG-O

When I first applied the pinky it turned out ok. The size wasn't perfect, and there were limited variations of size. You only get 6 different sizes which doesn't allow for a lot of allowance for different nail beds. Plus, I was silly and was thinking they were like the nail decals-read like real nail polish-but they are only stickers that last 48 hours. That's it two days :(

Aside from all that which could be seen as a fail on my part, the application sucked. The stickers didn't appear as tacky as I would like but I could make do, the thing that I think is unforgivable is when you need to file down the excess to have it fit your nail. It would give you a rough edge that when you file down you get this ugly white tip, looking like nail wear. That I just can't forgive.

Moral of the story-These suck, I was left disappointed, a lesson learned for $10

Nori + Club = Love

First off, Pardon the brows. Next, this look I think is just friggin gorgeous. Very simply and I think it will look stunning on anyone. Look break down

For a transition color I used my MSF that I use for contouring. It's just a smidge darker than my regular skin tone. Buck from UD and Cork from MAC would also serve just nicely. For the lid color I used OCC loose pigment in Nori. I have to say, I love the quality of products from this company, the pigment was so pigmented...wow, that's redundant. but you catch my drift when you expect something and it falls so short of what you wanted. This did not disappoint. ANYWHO! For the crease and to help blend out the Nori I used MAC's club. It's a nice medium tone matte gray.  It can add many dimensions to a look. For the inner corner I used MAC's Honeylust. I usually detest lustres, they're so chunky and glittery. But for this, it works. Not to mention I am in LOVE with using gold for an inner corner highlight. Use your favorite eyeliner and mascara. Bada Bing, Bada Boom. I hope you like, let me know if you did, didn't or otherwise neutral about it. until next time :D

Brains....

Ok. Ok. Ok. So I know it's way past Halloween and it's even closer to the Christmas. But I just couldn't pass this look by and not a bloggity on it. I used this look for a Zombie Pub Crawl that Minneapolis/St. Paul had and this was my trial run. I used the tutorial that Petrilude does. If you ask me he's a bloody genius.  The contact I used I got from You know it. It was super cheap and super fast shipping.

For the special effect stuff I placed and order to Mehron. I used the liquid latex in beige, the bruise wheel, coagulated blood.I also used MAC Chromacake in Red (pro product) It was my first attempt at anything of this nature and I absolutely love it!

For the shading and grossness I mainly used a few MAC shadows. For the most part I used Shadowy Lady which is a matte deep purple. I also used Typographic which is a deep gray that is also matte.

To make it look like sores in the open red area I used Deep Purple pigment(pro product) and dabbed some in with the coagulated blood. The day of the crawl I used rice to look like maggots. :D

Bawdy Blue a Burlesque Revue

This look is very dramatic and very fun. I love to do this look for the burlesque troupe that I am a part of.  First I always start of with UDPP and then NYX jumbo eyeshadow pencil in milk. For the lid color I use "Chase" from the UD 15th Anniversary palette and MIA from the same palette for the crease.  That combination alone is gorgeous. That's coming from someone who usually does not like gold eyeshadow.  To bump it up a notch for the show I use my LA Splash eyeshadow sealer for a sticky base for the glitter. Before that dries I use NYX Glitter on the Go in Mayan Gold.  It's a lovely true gold color with specks of holo in it. I love me some holo! MAC blacktrack fluidline was for the eyeliner and MAC smolder eye kohl for the water line.  Play it up with some bold lips. or tone it down with a nude lip.  Either way it's to die for. :D

Enter a giveaway and see some awesome talent

So there's this girl with some crazy talent. I happened to stumble upon her blog and was in awe about this talent that she has, not to mention drop dead gorgeous. She's hosting a giveaway for Calypso Minerals.Click ME! Click and follow the details to enter. If you do so, don't forget to check out her other posts that are amazing. Here is a link to her main page. http://thebeautifullifeofthegirlnextdoor.blogspot.com/  Enjoy

My go to Smoky Eye and some Nails

Back and ready rock! I have made a wonderful purchase which will make my blogging and youtubing much better and more frequent. ::Fingers Crossed:: I purchased a Nikon D3100 DSLR. A fancy pants new camera. Much better quality pictures. So here goes!

This is my go to smoky eye for when I am either pressed for time or the creative juices aren't flowing. but this time i paired it w/ a bold lip.

The silver is #82 (I believe) from Makeup forever. I put that all over the lid.

Then a shimmery black. I used a black from some obscure Victoria's Secret quad I bought years ago. Oilslick from UD or Black Tied from MAC would do the trick. Blend that on the outer half and into the crease. You can use a transition color too...but I forgot. I used an ivory matte color for the highlight.

The liner is Blacktrack from MAC and Smolder eye kohl from MAC as well. The cheeks I used well dressed by MAC for a dainty pink flush

Then I paired it w/ Vegas Volt l/s from MAC and Wonderstruck lustreglass from MAC.

The nails are Essie's something blue and then the silver and black nail art brushes from Walgreens.


Until next time...

Long time no see.

Well from me at least. Sorry I have been MIA, I just finished up training at a new job, so things have been kinda hectic and stressful. So please accept my apologies and I hope you enjoy this look that I recently did for a night out.

This look I did using glitter. I'm such a glitter hound. For the base under the glitter I used MUFE #92 for the purple-the best purple known to man, and in the crease I used MAC's Typographic. w/o the glitter that look still rocks, but to bump it up a notch I used LA Splash's purple glitter in Phenomenon. Using LA Splash eyeshadow sealer as the sticky base I applied copious amounts of the glitter. *I would do the face makeup last because there is a lot of fallout. Just the nature of the beast. For the lower lashline I used NYX glitter line in Pewter. Use your favorite eyeliner and mascara and VOILA. A look a drag queen would be jealous of. :D

For the face I contoured using Too Faced's Chocolate Soleil and for highlight I used MAC's msf in Porcelain Pink. Lips I used MAC's Viva Gaga 1 lipstick and gloss.

Final Product w/ a side of attitude.

Me, my boyfriend, and my sister out on the town at 7 in MPLS. Awesome sushi <3

EOTD:Misfit

This is a look I did using the NARS duo in "Misfit". I picked this duo up at Sephora on a recent shopping trip with my sister. It caught my eye because well the teal is just amazing and I love the contrast with the matte neutral shade that comes with it.

I fell head over heels in love with this look. it was my first time attempting a cut crease (I used MAC Plumage to deepen and add dimension). I personally think it looks awesome.

The application was smooth and the pigmentation was absolutely amazing. I used MAC's Blanc Type for a highlight, and my Blacktrack Fluidline for eyeliner and Lash Injection for mascara.

This will definitely be a repeat. It's love.

Birds of a Feather

Here we go with another eye look. I absolutely love this look and I am not one to usually shy away from bright colors. The above necklace proved as inspiratioin to this look.

Clearly it is a lot of colors put together, but I think that they work well together and this isn't a look for the faint of heart or one that usually shies away from color

What I used:
Juxt (mac) inner corner
Shimmermoss (mac) middle
#83 (MUFE) outer corner
#92 (MUFE) crease
Contrast (mac) deep crease
Gesso (mac) for highlights

I believe I used my line stiletto and too faced lash injection for mascara.

Final look, don't be afraid to tell me what you think ;)

Sad News

So I just wanted to take this opportunity to share a little bit.

I logged on to my computer only to see that Galiano had been fired from Dior. My jaw instantly dropped along with my stomach. Silly, I know to be so distraught over something so minute. I mean, with all this Charlie Sheen bull honky going on, this almost went under the radar. Now, I'm not condoning what he did/said. But to me Galiano and Dior were synonymous with each other.

Even when I first got into fashion and makeup I knew Galiano. It wasn't until later I associated him with Dior. Dior quickly escalated to be my favorite brand and Galiano the designer favorite.

He was so whimsical and romantic with his designs. And when you have amazing women like Charlize Theron and Natalie Portman backing the label, the success level is diabolical. I believe Scarlet Johansson is on that list as well.

So I will be taking a moment to appreciate not the actions of that man, but of the gifts he had given to the fashion world.

Am I being a little melodramatic? Probably, but that was truly love at first sight.

Lush review

Hey everyone I just wanted to share with you a product I'm totally loving for this winter. It's Lush's Dream Cream:

Now I am one of those unfortunate people who have eczema which sucks. All it really is, is painfully dry skin. Take a bad sunburn and time it by about 10. Nothing I've used seemed to help it. The winter makes it especially bad since they are so dry.

So I went to Lush to see if they had anything for eczema and the sales lady suggested Dream Cream. And I love it! I wasn't digging it at first, it didn't seem to help, then about a week of using it, it helped so much!

Pros:
Soothes the skin and is uber moisturizing.
Has a lot of other goodies in there to help your skin.
Even though it smells it only lasts a little bit
Oh and it's totally Vegan!

Cons:
It's kind of pricey (23-ish dollars for 8.4 ounces)
The smell is horrid
It stings for a little (which is an indication that something is working-atleast for me)

Overall I love it. Not having to deal with the pain is priceless I'd definitely recommend it.

Don't you Haight a Loaded Uzi?

Here's a look that I did using the Urban Decay Book of Shadows 3.
Lid-Uzi
Crease-Haight
Deep Crease-Loaded

The above picture is a little washed out but you can kind of get the idea.

I absolutely love Urban Decay Shadows. They are really easy to blend and have great color pay off. Now granted $53 is a lot to drop for makeup but there are 16 shadows and it is well worth the investment.

Those are the last of my eyeballs. I love this look, the glitter from Uzi falls all over your face. I'm a sucker for glitter, if you aren't a fan, it's probably not a color for you.

I'd love to hear feedback....until next time

Seeing Stars

This is the newest manicure that I'm trying out for the first time, and I adore it. It's super fun and I love how the silver just stands out. I used my bundle monster plate BM20. The dark purple base is OPI's Lincoln Park after Midnight. The stars are Nicole by OPI in Positive Energy. This is my first time not using the special konad polishes and I love how opaque this color is. I'm anxious to try more from this brand.

I forgot to mention that the top coat is none other than Seche Vite. If you haven't tried it, you definitely should. Never used such a fast drying top coat.

And just for funsies here is my little polish buddy who barged in mid manicure:

A final close up including some whoops spots :)

EOTD

Alright here is a makeup look that I'm really liking. Neutral-ish, with some color. Gold and Navy is love.

What I used:
Urban Decay Maui Wowie (all over)
Urban Decay Smog (crease)
Urban Decay Darkhorse (deep crease)
Mac Star by Night (bottom lash line)
Line Stiletto eyeliner with Star by Night to set the liner
Urban Decay 24/7 line (waterline)

Hopefully these pictures give the look justice. It's very seductive and smokey. And I love playing up neutrals with color on the bottom lashline.

Spring time Mani

With the gorgeous weather here in Minnesota, it has me chomping at the bit for Spring to arrive. Now I know Valentine's day was close but I was more inspired for this mani. I used Mint candy apply from Essie for the base color and used my Bundle Monster BM16? I think. And I adore it.

HELP!

I need someone, help! Actually I need input. I'm new to this and want to know what you are looking for. Reviews, Makeup looks, Nails. Let me know. Don't be shy I want this blog to be for you and a useful resource for all things beauty. So go ahead and fill me in.

This is fate.

So I was shopping with my boyfriend and there was this craft show thing going on in the mall, as we walked out of Target there was a Konad kiosk! It was definitely fate. I was just contemplating ordering more polishes being as I just ordered the Bundle Monster plates from Amazon. So here is a mini haul so to speak.
There is a really cool teal-y, green-y, gold-y color, followed by a cool blue, hot pink, and bright purple. I also got plate M60.

I am a complete sucker for argyle. Absolutely love it. Next is the manicure that I used using the blue Konad and Essie's Aruba Blue for the base. I like it a lot. ::DISCLAIMER:: I know that my nails are no where near perfect and my painting skills are not of a pro. But I love the manicures. Hopefully you will be able to see past the imperfections as well. :)


I hope you all enjoy and stay tuned for more! Until next time!

Here goes nothing

Welcome.
It is time. Time to show this blog some major love. Here you'll find all things beauty. Fashion, makeup, nails and other wonderful things. I had created this blog awhile ago, with ambitions to make it the "best blog it can be". But alas, due to writers block or pure laziness it fell to the wayside. Until yesterday, after having breakfast with a friend from high school, we reconnected and she told me that she had started a fashion blog as well. Bingo! renewed ambition to get this thing going. You ready?