The vanity is a world in itself!

Tuesday, June 26, 2012

Lash Growth: Physicians Formula and Revlon

WARNING: THIS IS VERBOSE! I've been doing an experiment, I really want thicker lashes before the school year starts so that when i'm frantically trying to get out of the door I don't have to sit there and put 3 coats of mascara on to get my ideal lashes. My lashes are very cruel...they are sparse in some areas, thick in others...long on one eye...shorter on the other etc. I do not have short lashes and my lashes are a medium thickness. Through looking at mascara reviews i've noticed that some people only have one row of lashes...that's weird...I have at least 2 or 3 rows. Anyways, my lashes are not perfect! I cannot leave with just shadow and mascara, I need liner to boost my confidence. I decided that I would try some lash boosting products, so I picked up Physicans formula eye boost + serum, this is a liquid liner with a serum inside and I really love it! More on the formula later, I will show swatches in another post because the liner itself is amazing. I've been using this in combination with Revlon grow luscious original formula mascara, this product is a wonderful stand alone product as well and I will post pics wearing it in another post and talk about formula. With these products combined, my lashes have thickened! Within the first week of use I noticed baby lashes growing in between my lashes! The pictures below are from exactly 2 weeks of wear. I did not have a before shot of my lashes, but I managed to find a shot of my eye wearing 3 coats of Revlon 3D photoready mascara from the week before I started my little project. Thank goodness I took pics! I apologize for not being able to get the same angle...i'm not trying to trick you or anything. Also, the formula was a lot more wet during the first run and I put a lot of product on the outer lashes because they were so sparse and short. LASHES BEFORE:
Here are my lashes after 2 weeks of continually using the liner and mascara. This is also wearing 3 coats of Revlon 3D photoready mascara:
My lashes are so much thicker! My lashes are a little bit shorter since some of my really old lashes cycled out (they were going to fall out eventually), and my angle is definitely off...but you get the basic idea..this really has had results. It's been three weeks now and my baby lashes are just a little bit shorter than the existing lashes I had, I now only need two coats of mascara to achieve a desired lash look, and my lashes are EVEN! We'll see if they get any longer, I really could care less about length, though.

I'M BACK!

Hey y'all! So it's been about 6 months since I've blogged last...I deeply apologize for my absence, school just got to be too much and then I realized that summer was here and I had time to blog but I haven't done so! oops. This has given me plenty of time to try out plenty of amazing products and really test them out. I have a job now! It starts in August so we'll see what all I can do, but I have several raves that I simply must tell you guys about! I've been using lash growing products and the results have been amazing, I've also found an HG powder foundation, I've jumped on the Coastal Scents bandwagon and bought some 88 palettes, and I have some fantastic liners and lippies to share. I hope my reviews can make up for my abandonment...Love you guys ad I missed you all the time.

Saturday, December 31, 2011

XSPARKAGE INSPIRED NEW YEARS MAKEUP!

Hello!
So I recently watched xsparkage's video o a look she did using the Urban Decay's Naked 2 palette! I fell in love with the look but I do not own this palette! Being the clever and stubborn person I am I decided to recreate this look using my Smashbox wish palette from Nordstrom! This is a great look for New Years eve because it adds a little extra drama while still looking super classy! Watch the xsparkage video to see the steps to applying the makeup!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VeUFBP-FrHg

My version shows up lighter on camera than in person, it's way darker around the edges! Here are a few pics and then i'll do the breakdown of what shades to use.



Yay New Years attire!






The breakdown:
Start out by applying a primer to the lids and then thin layer of NYX jumbo pencil in Milk. Using a crease brush apply a matte plummy brown in a medium shade to the crease, only blending upwards! For this look we don't want the shimmery and matte shades mixing! All of the shades below stay only on the lid.

Once this is blended take a flat brush and apply a shimmery champagne shade to the lid, stopping about 3/4 of the way in.

Using the same brush apply an antique gold shade the outer 1/4 of the lid.

Using the same brush apply a shimmery med-dark brown to the very corner of the lid. Blend the colors gently.

Using an angled brush apply a matte black shade to the outer 1/3 of the lid, thicker towards the outside and thinner as you go toward the pupil. I stopped a little farther than my pupil. Line the bottom of the lids in the same fashion.

Now you want to extend the black and bring it into the crease; You just need a tiny bit! blend with the plummy brown shade.

Apply highlight shades, I used TheBalm's overshadow in "work is overrated".

Clean up the edges with a qtip and apply your favorite mascara!



Sorry the black didn't show up as great on camera! It's much more dramatic in person.

Have a safe and happy New Years ya'll! I'm so grateful to have you in my life, thank you for reading and I hope you like this look!

As always I so not work or any makeup company, I am not getting paid for my reviews, and I bought this with my own moolah.

Saturday, December 24, 2011

Christmas Eve Brown and Taupe Makeup

Happy Christmas Eve!!!!!!!!!!

So I have been a terrible blogger as of late! My little cousin has been in the hospital so I haven't been at my computer lately. I had a beautiul look that I wanted to share with ya'll for a great shimmery holiday look but I forgot to photograph it! This is my make-up post!

Okay, so one thing I hate about holiday looks is that they are usually combined with a red lip...I love a red lip but I also like being able to kiss my honey! He won't kiss me if I have any kind of colored lipstick on. I wanted to do a good taupe/brown eye for those people whose skin does not jive with traditional gold and warm brown Holiday makeup and I paired it up with a nude gloss!

Shadows, highlighter, blush, and gloss are all Smashbox from a palette my dad bought me for Christmas!
Foundation is TheBalm





This next picture is the best one I could get of the eyes! The weather has been so grey that everything is getting washed out on camera. The colors I used don't have names but here's the breakdown: on the lid: shimmery taupe mixed with a medium matte brown, In the Crease: Shimmery cool toned dark brown, Outer V: Matte Cool toned dark brown.
I used a black cream liner on the top lashes. For the bottom lashes I used MAC fix + on a clean liner brush and dipped it into the darkest color.



I really love this look! It's much bolder in person and I hope the blush shows up a little bit because its a wonderful cool toned pink, I've noticed that my camera is really whiting me out! I can not get good lighting for the life of me.
I'll do my post of the Smashbox palette sometime today because I've played around with it enough to give it a thorough review.

Merry Christmas! Thank you for reading and I hope you liked this cooler version of a cocoa look!

As always I do not work for any makeup company, I do not get paid for my reviews, and my dad bought this for me!

Wednesday, December 21, 2011

My favorite Christmas Video

so, this video is my favorite video to watch during the Holidays. These are two guys who graduated my year from Trinity University in San Antonio Texas. Hysterical play on the song "baby it's cold outside".

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QDLmbBVWdYA

Friday, December 16, 2011

Wearable modern blue eyes featuring TheBalm cosmetics Meet Matt(e) Palette

Hello!
So I decided that before I do some of the comparison posts i've got lined up I wanted to do a post on TheBalm's Meet Matt(e) palette because its amazing. I'm going to take this even further by bragging about the blue shadow featured here!
First things first...what does TheBalm feature??? TheBalm is an under-appreciated company, their products are sold online at their website and also at Sephora online. The theme is retro, think Benefit but more pinup and much more adorable! Their packaging for most products is sturdy cardboard which I love because it's biodegradable. Their products are very very high quality and I have not used a product of theirs that I do not like! If i'm not mistaken all of their products are paraben free and are made with more wholesome ingredients. Full price their products are not cheap, they're about 18-35ish bucks depending on the product but TheBalm is a generous company that has incredible offers throughout the year. You can also find these products at TJMaxx and Marshalls.

The Meet Matt(e) palette has 9 very smooth matte shadows that are named after a different Matt, I must admit I got this palette mainly because there was a shadow named Matt Ramirez (my boyfriend's name is Matt...my last name is Ramirez...i'm a dork like that) but I couldn't be happier with it!



This picture really captures how creamy the shadows are!







Another swatch photo


I love the colors, I wear Matt Batali and Matt Patel together a lot and I also was thrilled to find out that I could wear blue eyeshadow and not look like an 80s throwback!

It's exceptionally hard to find good blues, usually they have shimmer (too 80s for me) or they are too bright and loud for me...baby blues also look gross on me. TheBalm NAILED the blue here (Matt Horowitz)! It reminds me of the color of Lapis a little bit, it just looks very regal and unique. I paired it with Matt McDonald in the crease and blended the colors with Matt Smith.






The colors offered in this palette are wonderul because they are very unique and they are not loud and bright but they also are not muddy. I used these over Stila's prime pot in Taffy. I highly recommend this palette because it's travel friendly, work appropriate, adorable, and it's hard to find good "Matt(e)s"

As always I do not work for any makeup company, I do not get paid for my reviews, and I bought this with my own money!