My Look: Spring Inspired

    

      I took to Facebook this morning (Are you following me there? You totes should, link in the sidebar!) and asked what kind of makeup looks you'd like to see on the blog. I got a few suggestions, and went with the request for a Spring look. It was also requested to tie in the face and lips, so that's what I did. I filmed a tutorial for this look, so make sure you're subscribed to my YouTube channel so you don't miss it. (link!)

Face:

L'Oreal True Match foundation

Maybelline Instant Age Rewind brightener

Maybelline Mineral Power concealer

NYX Stay Matte powder

Tarte Park Ave. Princess bronzer

Milani blush in Luminoso

Eyes:

MAC Painterly paint pot

Wet n Wild single in Brulee'

Tarte bronzer (crease)

Wet n Wild Knock on Wood trio - brown shade (define crease)

Coastal Scents Hot Pot - Reef Blue (lid)

Coastal Scents Hot Pot - Aqua (lid)

Coastal Scents Hot Pot - Elven Blue (outer corner)

Physicians Formula brown cream liner

CoverGirl Clump crusher mascara

Lips:

Revlon Balm Stain - Charm

NYX gloss - Nude Peach

My Look: Neutral Nellie

Not much to say today guys and girls. It's been a real long, rough, emotional week for my family and I. I'm just going to keep this short, sweet and to the point today. Thanks for understanding!

Keep reading for more pictures and info!

Christmas Gift Guide to Show Your Guy 2012!!

     It's that time of year again... time for me to show you some of the awesome options out there for Christmas. I do this list so you can show your boyfriends/husbands exactly what you'd like (they need specifics girls!), but keep in mind you can also use this list as ideas for people you are shopping for also. Think Mom, Sister, Aunt, BFF, Teacher, etc. 

     There are WAY too many things on this list to have a picture of every single thing. Almost all product descriptions will be clickable links where you can go check it out. This list is composed of both drugstore and higher end products. I try to keep everyone's budget in mind when compiling this list. Also, let me say this: don't ask for mascara or foundation. I don't know why, it just seems too weird and personal to me. Besides, shade matching on ourselves it hard enough, don't even bother trying to have a guy do it LOL. 

My Look: Orange You Glad It's Coral?

I miss my coral so much! I've been slacking on using all my coral makeup that I love so much. So, we got reacquainted today ;-) I also busted out my Coastal Scents Hot Pots that I haven't used in a while. I don't know, they ar really great eye shadows. If you want to see swatches of what I have, you can click here. I also want to mention that you will notice below that I used a lot of different blushes. But as you can see from the pictures, I used a light hand, and lots of blending. I like the effect it gave.

My Look: Simple & Polished

Not much to say here today. We had a busy weekend, we had a birthday party on Saturday for the 2 little boys. We spent yesterday recuperating, and it was back to work today. For today's look I incorporated a bunch of my new Hot Pots from Coastal Scents. Enjoy! 

Coastal Scents Hot Pots - Info & Swatches

    Hello lovelies! How are you all doing today? 

    About a week ago I placed an order on the Coastal Scents website, and I wanted to share with you all what I got. I was very interested in the Hot Pots, but couldn't find a whole lot of swatches, so hopefully this post is helpful to those of you who are also interested in these eyeshadows. 

Hot Pots are the same size as a MAC eyeshadow, 1 inch. They cost $1.99 each, but some are clearanced at $1.49. The pigmentation and texture of these eyeshadows is AWESOME. They are so soft, silky and creamy. Not at all chalky, or hard to blend. I believe there are 166 (or maybe 116?) shades to choose from, so whatever you are looking for, they probably have it. I love that there is such a variety of matte shades, as that can be hard to find sometimes. Coastal Scents always has a deal going on that states if you purchase 12 Hot Pots, you can get a 12 pot palette for free. I found that to be a deal I couldn't pass up (where else would I put them? lol) The palettes are a little smaller than a MAC palette, as MAC palettes hold 15 shades. The palettes are a nice matte black, with a huge mirror inside, which is nice for traveling. 

All the shades now have names on the website, but on the actual pan they are still labeled with a letter/number system. (Except new shades, which just have the name) What do the letters mean??

M - Matte

S - Satin/ Shimmer

B - Blush

CM - Creative Me shade

ME - Metallic/ Foil

All my palettes are custom palettes, they do not come this way, this is just they way I set them up.

On to the shades I chose, and the swatches!

**VERY PIC HEAVY**

My Look: Plum Party

    What's new lovelies? I've been so busy the last couple days. We have a birthday party coming up next weekend, so it was time to finish up spring cleaning. I've been cleaning the garage, and shampooing the carpets. Today we got our brand new furniture. This is the first time in my entire life that I've gotten a new piece of furniture, and it's pretty exciting! We have a grown up's living room now, lol!

    For today's look I used some new goodies I received in the mail yesterday. I will post about them maybe some time next week. I want to give myself more than one day before really giving any type of opinion on them. I will tell you that they are from Coastal Scents though ;)

Face:

Hard Candy Sheer Envy primer

Neutrogena Healthy Skin foundation

ELF Bronzer (contour)

ELF Golden Bronzer (all over)

Milani Baked Blush in Corallina

PF Mineral Glow Pearls in Light Bronze (highlight)

Eyes:

MAC Paint Pot in Painterly

Urban Decay 'Naked' (blending color)

Coastal Scents 'Perfect Plum' (crease and lower lash line)

Coastal Scents 'Light Plum' (lid)

Coastal Scents 'Reef Sand' (brow and inner corner highlight)

Urban Decay 24/7 liner in Zero (waterline)

Maybelline Falsies Flared mascara

Anyone else do any massive spring cleaning this year? Last year I painted half the rooms in the house ;)

My Look: It's A Two-fer!

    So a little back story before I get into today's look of the day..... Yesterday I was EXHAUSTED. I laid down on the couch at 5pm and dozed for the next hour. I then got up, washed my faced, put pajamas on, and went to bed at 6:30pm. LOSER. Luckily my husband made dinner and took care of the boys. Thanks babe! Needless to say, I got up at 5 this morning, ready to go. I had an hour and half before I even had to get my kids up for school, lol. I actually got to curl my hair for work this morning.

   I decided to go for a nice, neutral cat eye today. I used my Coastal Scents 88 Warm palette to create this day look. Keep reading for more info!

Why So Many Nudes??!!

    Yesterday I decided to take a little time for myself, and off I headed to the mall. That in itself just spells bad news for my wallet. Of course I ended up at Ulta (don't I always?) While pursuing the aisles I came upon the new Physicians Formula Nude Eyes Shimmer Strips. It was so cutely packaged, so pretty, I had to have it. So I did. When I got home I went to find it a home among my collection. As I'm doing so, I realized I just bought ANOTHER neutral palette. What the F*** is wrong with me??!!! I have so many nude, natural, neutral palettes and the like already. *Sigh* Houston.... I think we have a problem. Here's a look into my Hall of Shame.

Wet n Wild singles in Nutty & Brulee, Ulta Baked Duo in Natural Beauty, L'Oreal Hip Duo in Bustling, CoverGirl Tapestry Taupe, MAC Naked Lunch, MAC Satin Taupe, ELF duo in Butter Pecan, and Revlon Nude Slip. 

Too Faced Natural Eye palette, NYX trio in Aloha/Mink/Deep Bronze, Wet n Wild Walking on Eggshells, Wet n Wild Vanity palette, Physicians Formula Nude Eyes palette, ELF quad in Butternut, Too Faced quad from the Beautiful Dreamer collection. 

Urban Decay Naked palette, Urban Decay Naked 2, and Coastal Scents 88 Warm palette.

    See what I mean? If I ever say to myself,  "I need another brown eye shadow", I hope I have enough sense to slap the shit out of myself. Does anyone else have an abundance of neutral eye shadows? Do I need to check into rehab? Heaven help me..... =D

Pink Party People!

    HAPPY NEW YEAR! I can't believe it's 2012 already. Where does the time go? One day you are anxiously awaiting the arrival of your first baby, and the next you have 4. Well, that's what life seems like to me anyway ;) Last night we stayed home with the kiddos, and had our own little "party". I made a bunch of party food, and we played video games, and drew pictures, and watched New Years Rocking Eve. My 5 year old informed me our party was lame. LOL

    As today is the beginning of a new year, I thought I'd start off with something different today. I love PINK. Anything pink, and I'm all about it. I tend not to wear a lot of pink eye shadow though, because I'm not sure how it looks on me. I wanted to use my CS Shimmer palette, and the pink shades called out to me, and I went for it. Enough of my life story, onto the pics!

It's much more vibrant looking in real life, I swear!

My Look: Warm and Cozy

My Look: Philadelphia Eagles

    I have to start off with some bragging, which will also explain the whole Eagles thing. Tonight I have a very special date with 2 cute little boys =) It's the Mother- Son dance at my kids school, and this years theme is 'sports teams'. Well let me tell you something: it only took almost 27 years (and me breeding them myself) but I am finally going to a dance with the cutest boys there. We are supposed to dress up in team jerseys, and team colors, so I borrowed my husbands Eagles jersey for the night (it's his favorite team). I will post some pictures tomorrow of the boys and I in our gear.
    I had so much fun putting this look together! It's so fun sometimes to plan something out beforehand and seeing your vision come together. The team colors are turquoise and silver, so that's exactly what I used. This will be so easy for me to swap in a color for my favorite team, which is the Cowboys. Anywho, here's the skinny on today's look...

My Halloween Look

   

    I'm a few days late in posting this, but better late than never! I used my Coastal Scents Shimmer palette to achieve this look. It was actually pretty fun to do, and the kids at work got a kick out of it =) Did anyone else do a fun, festive, eye look for Halloween?

Products Used:

• Coastal Scents Shimmer palette (black, bright orange, and a cream highlight)
• NYX Jumbo pencil in Milk
• Essence False Lash mascara
• Rimmel Lasting Finish lipstick in Crush (an orangey color)
• NYC bronzer in Sunny
• Sephora blush in Peche Tendre (matte pinky/ peach)
• Urban Decay 24/7 liner in Zero (lower lash line & waterline)

1. I primed the lids (of course) and used my ring finger to apply a small amount of the jumbo pencil to my lid.
2. Using an angled eye shadow detail brush, I placed the black into my crease. I have hooded lids, so I did this in sort of a weird shape. It's almost like a cat eye, but it's very thick in the crease in order for the effect to show. 
3. Using a cream color to highlight, I placed it under the brow and brought it down just to the edge of the black to soften the edge.
4. I used a regular eye shadow brush to pat the orange onto the lid. 
5. I didn't line my upper lash line because I felt it was dramatic enough up there. I did line the lower lash line and water with a black pencil. 
6. Curled lashes, applied mascara. I went with the False Lash mascara for added drama (plus I just love it anyway :) )
7. When doing a darker, more dramatic eye look, you need to keep some color on the cheeks to keep from looking washed out. I used my bronzer to contour, and used a matte peachy blush to tie the look together. I choose a matte blush because my whole eye look was shimmer, and you need to balance textures. 
8. It's not showing in the pics (because it wore off) but I have a light orangey color lipstick on. I normally wouldn't go all out with orange and peach, it's a bit tacky, but for a themed look it works. 

My sweater is showing red in this pic, but it's actually bright orange :)

I hope everyone had a safe and Happy Halloween. I had a blast taking my kids Trick 'o Treating. I had Optimus Prime, Bumblebee, Dracula and Winnie the Pooh this year =) 

Christmas Gift Guide to Show Your Guy

    Let's face it ladies: men have no idea what to buy their significant other for Christmas (or birthdays). I received a DVD player last year for my birthday. Yes, I cried.
    I'm here to break it down for you (I like to keep it real haha). If you like beauty products, or want an idea of something to try out, show your man this list. Give the guy a break, they can't read minds girls! (Trust me, I learned this the hard way.... DVD....)
    There are WAY too many things on this list to have a picture of every single thing. Almost all product descriptions will be clickable links where you can go check it out. This list is composed of both drugstore and higher end products. Also, let me say this: don't ask for mascara or foundation. I don't know why, it just seems too weird and personal to me. Besides, shade matching on ourselves it hard enough, don't even bother trying to have a guy do it LOL.

Eye Shadows/ Eye Liners
    I think if you are going to ask for eye shadow, go for a palette. It has more to offer, and there are some great gift-able palettes out there around the holidays. I'll list some basics. These are mostly neutrals, because you can't go wrong there.

• NYX Runway Collection "Champagne & Caviar" - $8.50 - $12. Available: beautyjoint, cherryculture, Ulta
• ELF Essential Beauty Eye Books "Natural" - $5. Available: Target, eyeslipsface
• ELF Studio 144 Piece palette - $15. Available: Target, eyeslipsface
• Coastal Scents 28 Neutral Palette - $19. Available: Coastal Scents
• Coastal Scents 88 warm Palette - $25. Available: Coastal Scents
• Urban Decay 24/7 Travel Liners Set "Naked" - $32. Available: Sephora, Ulta
• Too Faced Natural Eye palette - $36. Available: Sephora, Ulta
• Urban Decay Naked palette - $48. Available: Sephora, Ulta

Too Faced Natural Eye palette

Blush
    I have a couple options here, but blush is something that has a lot to do with preference. Don't forget to specify if you like pink, peach, pinky/peach, berry.... etc.

• NYX Powder Blushes - $4.50 - $6. Available: beautyjoint, cherryculture, Ulta
• NYX Cream Blushes - $5 - $7. Available: beautyjoint, cherryculture, Ulta
• ELF Studio Blushes - $3. Available: Target, eyeslipsface
• Wet n Wild Color Icon Blushes - $3. Available: anywhere
• Milani Baked Blushes (I LOVE Luminoso) - $7. Available: Walgreens, CVS, Meijer, cherryculture
• Coastal Scents 10 Blush palette - $16. Available: Coastal Scents
• NARS Danmari All About Cheeks palette (this includes Orgasm & Super Orgasm) - $65. Available: Sephora

Lips

    There are quite a few lip sets out for the holidays right now. Here are some choices for you lip product junkies out there ;)

• Sinful Colors lipglosses - $2. Available: Walgreens, cherryculture
• ELF Plumping Lip Gloss Collection - $3. Available: Target, eyeslipsface
• Buxom Fashion Show & Tell 7 piece set - $15. Available: Sephora
• Coastal Scents Lip Quad Set - $22. Available: Coastal Scents
• Coastal Scents 32 Lip Palette - $19. Available: Coastal Scents
• Sephora Ultra Shine Mini Gloss set - $22. Available: Sephora
• Stila Lip Glaze 8 Piece set - $25. Available: Sephora
• Kat Von D Love & Foiled Lipstick Set - $28. Available: Sephora

Kat Von D set

Nail Polish

• Wet n Wild Color Craze Set of 6 - $4. Available: Dollar General
• ELF 5 piece Holiday Collection - $5. Available: Target, eyeslipsface
• Sephora by OPI full size 2 piece Set - $10. Available: Sephora
• Ulta "I've Got the Denim Blues Vol 2" - $10. Available: Ulta
• Sephora by OPI Glimmer Wonderland 6 piece Minis - $22. Available: Sephora

Glimmer Wonderland set

High End Combo Sets

• Ulta Getaway Glamour 58 piece collection - $18. Available: Ulta 
• Ulta Complete Color Collection - $25. Available: Ulta
• Benefit: Project Flawless - $32. Available: Sephora
• Sephora Faves: Glitz & Glam - $40. Available: Sephora
• Tarte: Putting on the Glitz - $44. Available: Ulta
• Tarte: The Starlet Collection - $52. Available: Sephora
• LORAC: Bejeweled Day & Night Jewelery Box - $56

LORAC Jewelry Box

Skin Care

• Olay Luscious Embrace Holiday Set - $10. Available: Walmart
• B&BW: True Blue Spa Foot Set - $15. Available: Bath & Body Works
• Philosophy Much Mistletoeing Lipshine Set - $20. Availble: Sephora
• The Body Shop Body Butter Collection - $20. Available: Sephora
• Philosophy Holiday Hugs Trio - $22. Available: Ulta
• Philosophy Sweet Kisses & Merry Wishes - $36. Available: Sephora

Sweet Kisses & Merry Wishes set

Fragrance
    There are always so many great fragrance sets this time of year. Places like Walmart and Meijer always have sets that include perfume and lotion for $15- $30. They have all the celebrity fragrances, and also brands like Lucky. Another option are "Rollerballs". Basically what a rollerball is, is a tube of perfume with a ball on the end that you roll onto your skin. They are $19, and are available at Ulta and Sephora. I'm sure other places sell them for cheaper if you look around for them.
    Sephora also has a pretty cool Roller ball set for $65. It is a set of 7 different full size rollerballs, which retail for $19 each. I think that's a pretty cool way to try out a bunch of scents before spending $60 on a full bottle. They used to include a certificate in this set that was good for a FREE full size of your favorite, but I'm not sure if they still do that or not.

• Sephora Favorites Rollerball Collection - $65. Available: Sephora

I hope this helped you out for your Wish List this holiday season, maybe you got a few ideas of gifts to GIVE also =) Hopefully this helps the guys out there out too. Now nobody tell me they got a DVD player this year (unless you asked for one of course!)

Happy beautifying lovelies!!

"Olive" Your Eyes

    First off, I have to say I am a copycat because my friend Kassi used "olive" in a play on words last week. You can check it out HERE (adorbs!) So, sorry Kassi! =)

    Today I am wearing an olive dress and brown riding boots (so cute!), so what a perfect opportunity to bust out my e.l.f "Olive" duo. Olive how it turned out. Ok, I'm done with the olive joke now, I promise ;)

Passion for Purple

I have a serious addiction to purple eye looks. I don't know what my deal is, but I go to purple more than I do brown. It's just my thing I guess. Does anyone else have a certain color that they gravitate more towards?

Please excuse my hair, it was really windy! ;)

September Hauls

1) e.l.f Studio blush in Candid Coral. $3 Target.

2) e.l.f Studio blush in Tickled Pink. $3 Target. Both of these blushes are very nice. Coral blush seems scary, but it's not super bright and it looks very nice on.

3) NYX Round Lipstick in Summer Love. $4 Ulta

4) NYX Round Lipstick in Thalia. $4 Ulta. I LOVE these lipsticks! They are SOO smooth and creamy! Summer love is a very nude color, and Thalia is a mauve. Great fall lipsticks.

5) e.l.f Back to Beauty 32 pc palette Vol 1. $4.50 Target

6) e.l.f Back to Beauty 32 pc palette Vol 2. $4.50 Target. I'm a sucker for this kind of stuff. I found the first one, then of course I had to get the second one lol. I've said before that pigmentation on e.l.f shadows is hit and miss. Some of the shades in these are great, some not so much. For $4.50, that doesn't bother me much.

7) Coastal Scents 10 Blush Palette. Normally $15.95 CoastalScents.com . I actually got this for 35% off, so I paid 10 for it. 6 shades are shimmer, 4 are matte. The very bright pink and tangerine scared me a little, but with a light hand, they are beautiful and wearable.

8) Urban Decay 24/7 liner Naked set. $32 Ulta. I had been lusting after these ever since I read about them coming out. Everyone raves about these 24/7 liners, but I couldn't bring myself to spend $20 on just one. When I read about these, and saw there were 5 I could try and they coordinate with the Naked palette, I was sold. You better believe I ran out and got it as soon as it hit the store LOL.

9) e.l.f Golden Bronzer palette. $3 Target. I've already touched on this in my September Faves, so check it out there =)

10) e.l.f Contour and Blush duo. $3 Target. I don't enjoy this bronzer as much as my Sunny bronzer, but I am biased haha! I like the blush, it's very shimmery though. Not an everyday kind of blush for me. 

11) NYX Mega Shine lip gloss in Perfect. $4 Ulta. I love these frickin' lip glosses and their delicious smell. This particular one is a nudey pink, with very fine glitter in it. 

12) e.l.f Liquid Lipstick in Baby Lips. $1 Target. This is pretty sheer, and to be honest it's SUPER thick and sticky. Defiantly not one of my favorite products. 2 thumbs down =(

13) e.l.f Hypershine lip gloss in Fairy. $1 Target. I enjoy the little brush tip on this, it reminds me of my Sephora lip gloss. It's a very pretty, sheer, baby pink color. It does have a slight, sweet scent, and I'm not sure what it is. It's not bad though.

14) NYX Jumbo Eye Pencil in Milk. 2 for $8 Ulta

15) NYX Jumbo Eye Pencil in Pots and Pans. 2 for $8 Ulta. I heart NYX jumbo pencils. They are such an awesome eye shadow base. I recommend them if you can get your hands on some. If not they are available at cherryculture and beautyjoint, both are discount sites. Milk is a matte white, and Pots and Pans is a frosty silver.

Yes, I have a shopping problem, I admit it! I am comfortable in my addiction however =D

Happy Beautifying!

Totally Turquoise

     This is the other look I came up with for bright eye shadow colors. The hubby said he liked this one better than the pink. (It goes better with my brown eyes is why!)

Products used:

- Eyelid primer

- 88 Shimmer palette (colors used shown below)

- Turquoise eyeliner pencil

- Black liquid liner

-Black eyeliner pencil

- CG Lash Blast mascara

light cream, med teal, dark teal, light brown

1) Prime eyelids

2) Apply darkest shade to out half of lid and under the lower lash line.

3) Apply medium shade to inner half of lid. Blend edges of both colors out to create a soft crease.

4) Apply light brown color into crease. Light cream color under eye brow for a highlight.

5) Use the turquoise eyeliner kind of thick to top lash line. Smudge it out with the dark turquoise eye shadow.

6) Use the turquoise liner under the bottom lash line also.

7) Line lower waterline with the black eyeliner pencil.

8) Liquid liner VERY close to lashes on the top.

9) Curl lashes, add mascara.

Pretty in Pink

I decided to do a couple bright colored eye looks. The first is this pretty pink. Hubby says it's not his fave, but I thought it was pretty =)

Products Used:

- 88 Shimmer palette (will show colors used below)

- Eyelid primer

- Black eyeliner pencil

- Eyeliner marker

- CG Lash Blast Mascara

Colors used circled in RED

1) Prime eyelids. Remember that this helps your eye shadow to adhere, and also to prevent creasing.

2) Using a patting motion, place the darkest shade on the outer half of the lid. Bring it down underneath the outer half of bottom lash line.

3) Blend the dark shade up onto the crease and out a little for outer V definition.

4) Apply lighter shade on inner half of the lid and blend into the crease, overlapping the darker shade a little.

5) Use the pale silver shade as a highlight in the inner tear duct area.

6)Use the eyeliner marker on the upper lash line, make a small wing on the end.

7)Line outer half of lower lash line, and also your waterline, with the black eyeliner pencil. 

8) Curl your lashes, apply mascara.

   

Blue Sky Eyes

I know what you're thinking... "blue? This isn't 1983!!" Well, colors are very in, you just need to know how to apply it properly. Keep it mostly on  your lid, toning it down with a neutral color in the crease. Don't go full- on matte blue from lashes to eyebrow, and you'll be alright. I used my 88 shimmer palette for this look, but you can use something similar you already own.

Products used:

- 88 Shimmer palette (light blue, medium blue, medium gold, light cream)

- Essence eye liner marker

- Wn W Charcoal eyeliner

- Essence "All Eyes on Me" mascara

- Sunny Bronzer

- NYX blush in "Pinched"

- e.l.f eyelid primer

- e.l.f tinted moisturizer

- Sephora mineral powder

- NYC lipstick in "Cafe"