November Favorites!

Hey everyone! This is my favorite products for the month of November. I can't believe how fast this year has gone by! I literally feel like it was January, yesterday. 

ANYWAYS! This month I've been wearing very minimal makeup to accommodate being super tired and busy all of the time, so my favorites are kinda limited this month. Regardless, I hope you all enjoy and had a great month :)

MAC Mineralized Skinfinish in Soft and Gentle: Now that we're getting into the colder months, my summer glow is almost completely gone and my skin starts to look dull. Highlighting my skin makes it looks so much better. This is one I've been reaching for a lot. It's a nice champagne highlight and it gives a very subtle sheen, so it's great for everyday use.

MAC Lipstick in Hue: I had to depot this lipstick after it broke, so excuse it's new home in an empty Bare Minerals Container ;) This is a nice light pink lipstick and I absolutely love the color, but I always strayed away from it because it accentuated chapped lips like no other. I rediscovered this and (by making sure my lips are completely exfoliated), it has become my everyday lip color. 

NYX Powder Blush in Pinky: When I first got this blush, I thought it was way too bright and never really used it for that reason. I also rediscovered this product this month and have been using it very frequently. Instead of being a bright pink stand out blush, it actually just gives a nice pink glow. 

MAC Lipglass in Oyster Girl: I am not a fan of MAC's lipglasses. I absolutely despise sticky lipglosses and they are just that. Though I cannot wear this alone, this lipgloss looks fabulous over Hue because it is also a nice light pink. It also has a nice golden sheen which goes great with Hue as well. Definitely my favorite lip combo of the month :)

Maybelline Great Lash Lots of Lashes: I never really got into the original Great Lash hype. I feel like it does nothing for my lashes, but this one struck my interest with the brush. It's something I've never seen and it looks so cool. I actually really like this mascara. I find that it holds a curl really well and makes my lashes length and volume. One huge downside is that it does flake off throughout the day and I end up with little black flakes on my face. But I love it enough to deal :)

ELF Liquid Eyeliner in Black: This is included in my favorites, not so much for the product but for the technique it's been used for a lot this past month. I've never been able to use liquid liner without either getting all over my eyelid and ruining my makeup or getting inside my eye. Bad situation.. So that's why I love gel/cream liners. But lately, I've been trying to get rid of some old gel liners before buying a new one because I had so many adding up that weren't used. But the reason they weren't used, was because they weren't as black and opaque as I'd like. To fix this problem, I've come up with a technique that gives me the convenience and simplicity of using gel liner, but with the look of liquid liner.

First I use whatever gel liner, line my upper lashline and do my wing, then I take my eyeliner brush, touch it to the tip of this liquid liner brush, and then trace over the line and wing I made with the gel liner. Doing this also makes the wing more sharp at the tip, which I like.

(finished look)

(left to right) MAC Hue, MAC Oyster Girl, Oyster Girl overtop of Hue

(l to r) MAC Soft and Gentle, NYX Pinky, ELF Black Liquid Liner

What were your favorite products this month? Let me know in the comments below! 

xoxo.

Winged Eyeliner and Fuchsia Lips

When applying everyday makeup, a good rule of thumb to follow is just to play up one part of your face: your eyes, cheeks, or lips. That means going dramatic in just one area, but keeping it subtle in the other areas to provide a good balance and avoid looking clown-ish. In this case, I'm using a bright lipstick. By keeping the eyes neutral with winged eyeliner, the look is focused on the lips and the rest of the face doesn't overpower them. 

This is normally what I wear on my eyes on a school day, but instead of just showing you a boring old FOTD, I thought I'd spice it up :)!

(Warning: pic heavy!)

FACE: 

Kat Von D Tattoo Concealer

Physician's Formula Green Concealer

Boots7 Intelligent Boosting Mousse Foundation

Rimmel Stay Matte Powder in Silky Beige

Lumiere Cosmetics in Light Medium Beige (to set undereye concealer)

ELF Blush/Bronze Duo (bronze side to contour)

MAC Refined Golden (to blend out contour)

NYX Pinky Blush

MAC Soft and Gentle MSF

(let me know if you guys like me posting what I use on my entire face or just cheeks)

EYES:

MAC Painterly Paint Pot

Inglot Matte 318 (lid)

MAC Wedge (crease)

Inglot Pearl 402 (crease over Wedge)

Physician's Formula Glam Eyes Gel Liner

ELF Liquid Liner (over gel liner to intensify)

Avon Black Eyeliner

Sephora Triple Action Mascara

Loreal Voluminous Carbon Black Mascara

LIPS:

MAC Girl About Town l/s

NYX Doll Pink Round l/g

What's your favorite bright lip combination? Let me know in the comments below :)

2 Year Anniversary Makeup

Hey guys! Sorry I've been gone so long. I've been such a horrible blogger lately, but I'm having a hard time juggling school, work and blogging :( I've missed it though and I've got a bunch of makeup looks and FOTD's coming up :) This is the makeup I wore on my boyfriend and I's two year anniversary on the 8th of November. I loved it and so did he, so I had to take some photos for you guys before we went out. Enjoy!!

FACE:

Bare Essentials Prime Time Primer

Kat Von D Tattoo Concealer

Physician's Formula Green Concealer

Boots7 Intelligent Boosting Mousse Foundation

ELF Blush/Bronze Duo (bronze side)

MAC Refined Golden Bronzer

MAC Warm Soul Mineralized Blush

MAC Soft and Gentle MSF

EYES:

MAC Painterly Paint Pot

Inglot Matte 318 (lid)

MAC Wedge (crease)

MAC Mystery (deepen crease, lower lashline)

Sallys Girl Gold Glitter (lid)

Physician's Formula Glam Eyes Gel Liner

ELF Liquid Liner

Avon Pencil Liner

Sephora Triple Action Mascara

Loreal Voluminous Carbon Black Mascara

NYX Eyebrow Pencil in Dark Brown (I use this everyday but I always forget to mention!)

LIPS:

NXY Nude Beige l/l

MAC Honeylove l/s

NYX Sugar Pie l/g

Lumiere Cosmetics Review

Lumiere Cosmetics is a brand that specializes in mineral makeup, hoping to "enhance the finest of our features and assist with those areas we like the best." 

They were very kind to have sent me some product samples for consideration. I received two samples of their mineral foundation, two blush samples, and three eye pigment samples. I plan on doing a look using these products soon.

Eye pigments (from left to right):

"Ditto"- Intense copper with copper gitter.

"Espresso"- Taupy-brown with pink and green glitter.

"Starry Night" Black with pink and green glitter.

These eyeshadows are incredibly smooth and pigmented. They are extremely finely milled, so their not chunky at all, not even the glitter. I LOVE them. Espresso and Starry Night are my favorites because I can use them on a daily basis, which I have been ever since I received them. The copper shade, Ditto, is something I probably never would have thought to try. Though it is SO intense and beautiful, I'm not sure exactly how I would use this... Especially in a way that's wearable. All the pigments have glitter in them, and the glitter does transfer onto the eyes well, but any area you blend out, the glitter will blend away with it. 

Blushes (from left to right):

"Terra Cotta"- Dark coral, almost reddish

"Poppy"- Light, baby pink

I usually prefer peachy, bronze-y blushes. I do love pink blushes such as these, I just feel like they aren't as flattering on my skin tone. The colors very pigmented and long lasting. My blush never lasts on me and I always bring it everywhere with me and reapply 1-2 times a day. I did wear a primer on days where I wore these and it lasted the entire day, even while I was at work all day running around which I was really impressed by. Since they are so pigmented, I do end up looking a bit "clown-ish", so Poppy is my favorite since it's a more light, subtle pink. The only downside to these, is the smell. They come off smelling a little play-doh-y. It's not strong, though and can't be smelled while on your face.

Mineral Foundations (l to r) in Light Medium Beige Cashmere and Medium Neutral Velvet

The sample size I got was extremely small, so instead of using these as foundations and using them once or twice, I just use them to set my under-eye concealer and I love it for that purpose! I use Medium Neutral to brighten my eye area since it's a couple shades lighter than my skin tone and it does a great job of that. They don't settle into the fine lines underneath my eyes, (yes, I have those already unfortunately) cover well, and are long lasting. I usually just use my face powder under my eyes and this just looks so much better, for the brightening affect.They do have the same play-doh-y smell as the blushes, which again, you can't smell once it meets your face. 

Terra Cotta, Poppy

Light Medium Beige, Medium Neutral

Starry Night, Ditto, Espresso

Pros:
-Long Lasting
-Pigmented
-Smooth Texture
-Great color range
-Glitter adheres to eyes well

Cons:
-Play-doh scent to blushes and foundations
-Fall out with eye pigments

I definitely plan on purchasing more eye pigments myself, because I love them that much. If you would like to check out Lumiere Cosmetics, you can find them at lumierecosmetics.com 

Disclaimer: These samples were sent to me for consideration. I am not being compensated in any way for this and all opinions are my own sincere thoughts. Pinky promise :)