Things I Love--November 11th

These past few weeks have been super low-key. I've been enjoying time with my friends, boyfriend, and family now that I have a job that gives me weekends off! However, work has been awesome too. I've been getting settled in, and personalizing my desk with a few, um...essentials.

Yep, that's my mustache mug! I use it to keep my feather pen and all of my Hello Kitty gel pens-adorable. I work with almost all guys, too, so they are especially entertained by my desk area now. Wait until they see my Christmas decorations ;)

The second thing that I loooove is my custom pair of Tiffany Vans. My mom surprised me with these for my birthday last month, and I have been waiting to wear them for weeks! I'm bummed out that it is so cold out, because these have been calling my name. And yes, they are on my kitchen counter. Don't worry, they're clean!

Finally, I am obsessed with Forza: Horizon. I know, it's not very girly. But seriously, it is so fun! And can these pink wheels on this M1 be any cuter? Didn't think so.

Mermaid Hair

I just realized today that the majority of the pictures I take are in my car with my iPhone. I really, really need a good camera (cough cough boyfriend cough Christmas cough cough...haha just kidding!) Anyways, this is second day hair, which is why it curled so easily. I used a 3/4" barrel curling iron, but I used it as a curling wand instead of the normal way. I just took 1-2 inch strands of hair and wrapped them by hand around the barrel instead of using the clip. I found that this way, the hair took better to the curl, and didn't have that awkward kink at the bottom that my hair always seems to get when I use it the normal way! I then took about a 3-4 inch section from the front left of my hair and french braided it over to near my right ear. Hairspray is KEY here ladies! (and gentlemen!) My hair is so fine that it loses a curl unless I spray it a ton.

Smokey Eye & Contouring!

Some days, I just get tired of my beige and brown eye makeup. When I was in seventh or eighth grade, I discovered the smokey eye, which at the time was NOT a good thing. I had raccoon eyes for days! Plus pale skin...ugh. I looked like something out of the Walking Dead! Now, though, I approach the smokey eye with more caution, and lots of contouring so I don't get washed out. 

I used a brown shadow on the inner corners, and then a black shadow from Sephora's Hello Kitty palette to blend out the wings. I lined my eyes using Rimmel black pencil, and added some false lashes. The real trick, though, is the contouring. I used a fluffy brush to blend bronzer into the hollows of my cheeks, underneath my bottom lip, onto my temples, and on the sides of my nose. I then used a shimmery champagne-colored shadow to highlight my cheekbones, bridge of my nose, forehead, and above my upper lip. While this look might be a little intense for everyday wear, it is absolutely perfect for going out on the weekends! I got tons of compliments on my eyes and makeup all night long!

Couture Makeup--Peacock Feathers

I did this look a few weeks ago, but things have been sooo crazy between school and work! I was so stoked about how this turned out; I honestly wasn't sure how I wanted it to go. I didn't use any crazy cosmetics here, but here's some pics and a step-by-step ;)

First, I used a pale mousse foundation, pretty much the lightest I had on hand. I did this so that the colors would stand out more. I started by gluing the lashes on. It was way trickier than expected! I originally had them on the top, but they didn't look right. I glued them as close to my lower lashes as I could without pulling all of my lashes out (OUCH). I then used ELF's shadow primer liberally over my eyelids.The palette I used was a cheapo multicolor palette from Icing, it has like 88 colors. I started with yellow in the inner corner of the eye, and blended out into a lime green, then orange, and finally 2 different shades of blue and turquoise blended out into my temple. I used the Hello Kitty Charmmy eyeshadow stick to make some dots underneath the blue, and to add definition to the color blend. Finally, I lined my eyes in black pencil and added some short fake lashes on top. This look ended up WAY better than expected!

Sephora Clearance Haul!

So my birthday was on October 2, and I was super excited to claim my birthday gift from Sephora! I was sitting in class, bored, when I figured I would browse their website for anything else I needed (hah! needed) while I was there. Expensive. Idea. However, I got 7 different items and only spent 50 bucks, which is a pretty incredible feat for Sephora.

These little cuties are fragrances from a brand called Tokidoki. They have a bunch of different ones, and some really cute little eyeshadows that I will probably be going back and ordering. They're rollerballs, and they smell awesome! The one on the left, called Siberia, is an adorable little white tiger. The fragrance is light and clean, and has a flowery, citrusy undertone to it. The one on the left is Adios, which reminds me of clean laundry and snuggling in freshly washed sheets. They all come with their little personalities printed on the box. I love these, and they were only $7 apiece!

I also got the Hello Kitty Charmmy Eyeshadow stick in Birthday Cake. This is a very soft, glittery twist-up liner. However, it is extremely pigmented:

It shows up as a medium brown, and when the light catches it, it shimmers a lot. I like it, but it does seem like it might rub off easily. I'll have to put my primer to the test underneath.

The Kat Von D loose powder shadow was also on sale. The container was a lot smaller than it looked on the website, but a little bit of powder goes a long way! This is called Starcrossed, and in the jar it is a light taupe.

On the skin, it applies a little chunky, and is almost translucent. However, when the light hits it, it's a light and shimmery champagne color. It'll make an awesome highlight.

Also on sale was the Sephora brand Prisma Chrome shadows. This one is called Flashdance. In the palette, it's a nice, bronzy shadow.

When I swatched it, though, it looked like it was bright orange!! Once I blended it out, it wasn't bad. I think it'll take a little bit of experimentation with color balancing, but the pigmentation is really lovely.

Finally, I splurged on the Buxom Lips gloss. It's supposed to make your lips super plump and gorgeous, and after reading all of the positive reviews on Sephora.com, I decided to go with it. I got it in Dominique, which is a clear formula with lots of shimmer and glitter. As soon as I applied it, I could feel it working. It made my lips tingle for hours, and looked smooth and glassy the whole time I was wearing it. I did notice that it made my lips look plumper, but the gloss part probably helped :) I'll do some further investigation!

Birthday Haul--Nail Polish!

So my amazing boyfriend picked out a bunch of nail polish for me for my birthday. I drive him absolutely crazy, because when we go shopping I always end up spending at least 20 minutes in the nail polish aisle, looking at the new colors or trying to match a specific color up. The fact that he even set foot in the aisle is kinda brave :) But I'm pretty stoked about all of the new colors I have!

Top, left to right: Maybelline Color Show in Pedal to the Metal, Revlon Crackle in So Over It, Nicole by OPI texture coat in Turquoise Texture, Sally Hansen Hard as Nails Xtreme Wear in Rockstar Pink, and L'Oreal in The Mystic's Fortune. Bottom, left to right: Studio M in Gel-ous, L'Oreal in The Temptress' Power, Sally Hansen Diamond Shine Topcoat, and Essie in No Place Like Chrome.

Rockstar Pink is a glittery pink jellylike polish. It's a little less hot pink than it looks in this picture, and is packed with multicolored micro glitter. In the bottle, it's a lot more pink than on the nail:

This is only one coat. The coverage is awesome! On the nail, though, the multicolored glitter definitely overpowers the pink color of the formula. It is a pretty rockstar color though, I can't wait to wear it out!

 I've been looking for a good chrome-y nail polish FOREVER, which is why I have so many silvers in my birthday haul. I've spent hours looking in beauty supply stores, pharmacies, and grocery stores to find one that fits what I want. No Place Like Chrome is one of the best formulas I've found, and Essie is an amazing brand. This is a silvery polish with an almost mirrorlike finish. It looks like a normal silvery polish in the bottle, maybe with a little bit less glitter and a metallic tone to the color.

No Place Like Chrome is the one on the left. As you can see, it has a very different formula from other metallic silver polishes, and has better coverage. It has a very shiny, reflective sheen to it. The only complaint I have is that brush strokes are really obvious when it is applied to the nail, but that is pretty typical of most metallic chrome-y polishes.

L'Oreal's The Temptress' Power is such a crazy color! It's a duochrome polish that looks orange in some lights, and greenish in others. The picture above is without flash, and you can see the orange properties, but when the light hits it just right:

It definitely appears green!! I can't wait to wear this polish. I feel like it is perfect for fall, and for some reason it reminds me of a caramel apple.

On the nail, polish appears more orange. Even with light hitting it (excuse the crappy picture), it appears to be orange with green flecks. The pictures don't do it justice though, it definitely looks like more of a duochrome polish in person. The application is a little streaky, and the coats are pretty sheer--I had to do two or three coats before I was happy with the coverage.

Studio M's Gel-ous is a green, glittery gel polish. I have other glitter polishes from this brand, and while I like them, the application is extremely watery. This is not the case with Gel-ous, however. This polish goes on perfectly.

I was amazed that it was an almost opaque, glittery green after only one coat! This polish is absolutely packed with glitter, and the application is even and not streaky.

Revlon Crackle in So Over It is a silver crackle with tiny metallic glitter. For whatever reason, Revlon polishes don't last long on my nail. The formula is always awesome going on, but the color needs to constantly be touched up. I do, however, love their color selection--and I always find myself buying them! Hopefully this crackle polish restores my faith in their brand, because I sincerely do love it. This would look awesome over Essie in Fiesta, or OPI's Russian Navy.

Yet another Crackle Polish: Nicole by OPI in Turquoise Texture. It is a gorgeous, shimmery peacock blue with a metallic sheen to it. I didn't swatch the crackle polishes because they never turn out right on the swatches, but I am stoked to try this one.

L'Oreal's The Mystic's Fortune is a gorgeous, metallic indigo. The formula in the bottle reminds me a lot of OPI's Russian Navy, albeit a little bit lighter and with more of a royal blue than a purple hue.

On the nail, the coverage is amazing. It took only one coat to get a gorgeous, streak-free color. I've been extremely impressed with all of L'Oreal's polishes! Definitely a brand I will be buying from now on.

Finally, we have Maybelline Color Show in Pedal to the Metal. I have been wanting to try this line for a while, and I was amped to finally get my hands on one. Compared to the other polishes, though, I wasn't as impressed with this. The packaging is much cooler and more modern, but the application left a lot to be desired.

Pedal to the Metal is closer to the bottom. It came out of the bottle very watery. As I applied it to the nail, it took a lot of strokes to get it even close to being visible, and it took a few coats to get opaque coverage. Maybe I got a bad batch, but compared to other silvers that I've tried, I wasn't impressed.

So, that's it! Let me know what you think, especially if you've used any of these polishes before.

Review: Rimmel Exaggerate in East End Snob

I've never been a huge fan of lip products. I always found glosses to be too sticky and lipstick to be too messy, so I always steered clear of them. Plus, I always wanted to blow any money I had for cosmetics on eye makeup! So, when I found myself looking at lipliners in the cosmetic aisle of my local Meijer, I was completely lost. It seems hard to find a good, natural looking one that isn't too bold for an everyday look on pale people like me. I ended up picking up East End Snob, made by Rimmel, because it looked innocuous enough:

As you can see, the tip is kinda weird. I broke it once or twice before I found the right amount of twisting up and pressure to put on it. The tip ends up being awesome when you want to fill in your lips though, because you can get a pretty blunt angle. 

I LOVE THIS PRODUCT. It goes on smoothly, lasts literally all day, and is the perfect light pink color. I wore it to work and shopping and got compliments in both places. It's perfect for everyday wear, and doesn't smudge all over everything or get all sticky. It just enhances my natural lip color (sorry for the poor quality pic):

It runs about $4-5 dollars at drugstores, and seems like a little will go a long way. Will definitely be buying again!!