Monday, February 28, 2011

Jade and Frost

In my look for today (the first one) I used the Maybelline One By One mascara in Blackest Black. It glides on easily, and does give a good amount of length and volume. I was expecting the brush to help seperate my lashes more easily but I don't think it does. I think the Bare escentuals flawless definition is better for seperation with some volume. My lashes do look good but not the best mascara I've tried.




EYES:

Too Faced Shadow Insurance,
50/50 mix well rested/clear radince all over,
Satin Ruffle under brow,
High Shine Frost lash to crease,
Frills in crease and outer corner,
Catwoman in outer corner and wet lined on top,
Maybelline One By One mascara.


CHEEKS: Pink Petal Blush
LIPS: Tarte Reuse tinted lip blam






EYES:
Primetime for eyes Pearl primer,
Eye bright under brow,
Jade lash to crease,
Bondi Beach in crease and outer corner,
Lagoon wet lined on top,
Tarte 4-in-1 mascara.


CHEEKS: Pink Diamond Blush
LIPS: Amsterdam Buxom with NYX Pink Nude in center.


Saturday, February 26, 2011

Rimmel Lash Accelerator Mascara Review


I have been using Rimmel’s Lash Accelerator mascara for thirty days. It is supposed to make your lashes longer. I bought this mascara in Blackest Black. I like how black it is. It mostly gives you length and separation. I think I prefer a mascara to give me some volume, so I didn’t really like the way my lashes looked with this mascara at first. I think I’ve gotten used to it now but I still with it gave me more volume. I did not really see any change in the length of my lashes as far as I could tell. Around about day 20 when I would post pictures people would occasionally comment on my lashes but that happens sometimes anyway so I don’t know if it was from the mascara or just a random occurrence. Around day 27 or so I thought I could tell a difference but it was only a slight difference. I think if you are looking for dramatic results from you will not get it from using this mascara. If you are patient and would be happy with slightly longer lashes you might like this product—my guess is that if you used it for more than 30 days you might see better results.

Overall I don't think there is much difference between day 1 and day 30. I don't think I would buy this mascara again and I wouldn't recommend it. I am going to be happy to get back to using the Tarte lights, camera, lashes mascara and all my Bare Escentuals mascaras.




Day 1


Day 11

Day 30

Friday, February 25, 2011

Daffodils

The inspiration picture this week on Majyk was a feild of daffodils under a bright blue sky, so that is what inspired this look.


EYES:

Too Faced Shadow Insurance,
50/50 mix well rested/clear radince all over,
Sydney lash to brow,
Lisa's mix Yell-Oh lash into crease,
IRD Festival Blue wet lined on top in a tick line,
Energy wet lined on top in a thin line,
Rimmel mascara.

CHEEKS: Boost blush
LIPS: Sydney Buxom with Biscotti gloss over it.


Thursday, February 24, 2011

Cocker Spaniel and Smoke

I've only worn Buxom Stay There in Cocker Spaniel once before this and when I did I thought it looked weird. I'm glad I tried it again. In this look I used it all over in a thin layer and it actually looked very nice. I think last time I wore it I put on too thick a layer and that is what made it look weird.

I also just got smoke so this is my first time wearing it. It is a matte taupe/grey. It looks a little more brown than grey when you blend it out. It is a good colour for creating shadow.

EYES:

Too Faced Shadow Insurance,
50/50 mix well rested/clear radince all over,
Buxom Stay There Cocker Spaniel lash to brow,
Smoke lash into crease outer 2/3ish,
High Shine Vapor along lash line 1/2 way and in outer corner,
Cupcake lash to crese very lightly on inner 1/3ish,
Big and Bright liner in Indigo,
Rimmel Mascara.


CHEEKS: Miracle blush
LIPS: Bombay Buxom

Wednesday, February 23, 2011

Bare Escentuals: Destination Sydney

So much to report.


I got my Destination Sydney kit yesterday and I love it! But before I get to the kit I just want to mention the Tapered Crease Brush. I got the Tapered Crease Brush free with my order (there was a code) and when I got it I noticed that it was cut differently than my other tapered crease brush. The new one is stiffer and comes to a more pronounced point than my old one. I’m not sure if this is a change in design or if they are just inconsistent about how they cut the brushes but the new one is different. I used the new one for my look today and although it worked pretty well and I like the more pronounced point, it shed like crazy. Maybe if I wash it or use it a few more times the shedding will stop, I hope so.


On to the Destination Sydney! I love all the colours in this kit. The Bondi Beach (the blue) unlike anything I own. I love it! It is bright but dark, so you can use it as a lid colour or a liner. Sydney is a cream/yellow with a medium sheen (it has more sheen than soul but less than BFF). On the eye it does not look yellow, it is just a bright neutral—it look like really bright sunlight. Treasure Island is not new, it came out in the Cast Away kit, but it is really pretty as well. Treasure Island is a brown with some gold and a hint of green. I’m not sure swatches do it justices. Wet it has a pearly texture that I really love. This kit is a perfect summer look—it is cheerful and sunny. Even though Sydney is close to Soul I think the textural difference makes it worth having. I’m glad I got this kit. Hopefully they will make Sydney and Bondi Beach part of the permanent line.

The bag that comes with this kit is really cute too.





EYES:

Too Faced Shadow Insurance,
50/50 mix well rested/clear radince all over,
Sydney lash to brow and more heavily lash to crease,
Treasure Island in crease, outer 1/2ish and along lash line 2/3 of the way,
Bondi Beach VERY lightly lash to crease on outer 1/2ish blended over TI,
Bondi Beach wet lined on top and bottom,
Rimmel Mascara.


CHEEKS: Chuckle blush
LIPS: Tarte Charmed lip stain



Tuesday, February 22, 2011

Bare Escentuals: Sweet Smile Charity Colour


Sweet Smile is the new charity colour from Bare Escentuals. It will be out in March. I ordered it during the preview a few weeks ago.

Sweet smile is a light to mid-tone slightly purple gray with a slight sheen and bright purple sparkles. On my skin tone it is very light, almost nude. It is much lighter than I thought it would be. I think on some skin tones you could use this as an all over colour. It has a slightly dark base so you might be able to use it in the crease with a very pale pink or white for a pin up kind of look. I love the puple sparkles.

It was sort of difficult to get a good swatch because it is close to my skin tone. I swatched it next to champagne because people were comparing the two. I like sweet smile much better than champagne.









EYES:
Too Faced Shadow Insurance,
50/50 mix well rested/clear radince all over,
Chic Nude under brow,
Sweet Smile foiled lash to crease,
Magnifique in crease and outer 1/3ish and along lower lash line,
Caviar wet lined on top,
Rimmel mascara.


CHEEKS: vivacious blush
LIPS: Aveda Foxglove lip liner with Energy Drink gloss over it


Friday, February 18, 2011

Esperanza Spalding's Grammy Dress

I was happy to see Esperanza Spalding win a Grammy for best new artist. I like her music and she is clearly very talented. I also thought her dress, designed by Selma Karaca, was interesting. I think the dress is pretty, it has a nice shape and it looked great on Spalding. I found the colour palette strangely alluring and so I decided to do an eye shadow look based on her outfit. From pictures I’ve seen most of the dress is varying shades of chartreuse with some darker woodsy greens and sea greens mixed in. I really like the combination of chartreuse and the sea green it is a colour combination that I don’t think I ever would have thought of.

Here is a picture of the dress:


This is "Fall In" one of my favorites:








EYES:
Too Faced Shadow Insurance,
50/50 mix well rested/clear radince all over,
Petunia under brow,
Exotic Victoria foiled lash to crease,
MAC Spiritualize in crease and outer corner,
KVD Hard Luck with a tiny touch of Tijuana in outer corner and V and along lower lash line,
KVD Tijuana wet lined on top,
Rimmel Mascara.


CHEEKS: Optimist with a little Avant-Garden on the apples.
LIPS: Fruit Smoothie gloss with a little Tarte Charmed to darken it.


If you wanted to do this look with all BE I would use Perrfect in place of KVD Hard Luck, Foliage in place of KVD Tijuana, and maybe Treasured terri mixed with a bright blue (like crusin' teddi or azure) in place of MAC spiritualize (I don't really have anything in my BE collection that is very similar to spiritualize). I also thought about using Vienna Buxom under the gloss, if I had more time I would have.

Thursday, February 17, 2011

Bare Escentuals: Rethink Radiant

This is the third and final installment of the Rethink A-D. I think this is by far my favorite. I love this set because there are really good staples like the brightening face primer (I love this!), foundation, and the two brushes. I use the blending brush to do a wash of colour and to do my highlight colour every day, so I was glad to get another one. The angled face brush is also a really nice brush. It is thicker than a blush brush, and bigger, so you could use it for foundation, MV or radiance, and since it is angled it is great for getting under eyes and such.

My kit has had a few glitches. I'm sure people will complain about some of the following things unless I was just unlucky. There was a little bit of eye shadow above the sifter because the sifter was not completely pressed into the jar. The second time I opened Lollipop the stopper (the thing that keep you from getting too muh gloss) got caught in the top of the lid. I was able to shake it out and pressed it into the gloss container but I'm not sure if that will fix it for good. I have and use 2-3 of the big and bright liner penicls and usually when you twist them up they stay up, but Plum seems to twist on its own so you kind of lose the liner while you are trying to use it--I was able to put it on so I guess it wasn't too much of a problem.

I forgot to swatch the Plum liner but I'm wearing it in the look so you can get an idea of what it looks like there.


Primetime for Eyes Brightening Pearl---this is a winner! I used it alone from lash to brow and it did a good job of neutralizing my lids. It is not really sparkly like the gold one and so it was easier to get an even application. I am sure I will use this alone as eye shadow when I'm in a hurry. I wish we had gotten two of these in this series.

Alive eye shadow is described as lilac fuschia, I think that is an accuate description. It is matte and goes on very sheer. I had to really pack it on in the swatches. I'm sure you could do a very light dusting of this shadow over the pearl primer and end up with a very soft pink.

Vivacious is described as sheer raspberry, which might be accurate--but I see it as more pink than red. It seems to have a similar texture to Boost blush. It does go on very sheer so you can't mess this one up.

Lollipop gloss is a sheer pink with lots of sparkle in it. I had to really blot it on to get it to show up in the swatch. Although it seems very sheer it did enhance the natural colour of my lips and looks a little more coloured on then I thought it would. It is a very glossy gloss which I like. It will look good over lipstick and lipliner.

Note about the close up pictures: The pearl primer looks more sparkly than it actually is in the close up pictures because the pictures are taken with a flash. I think the full face picture and the swatch on my hand more accuratly reflect the look of the primer. I would not say the pearl primer is matte like the UDPP Eden primer but it is less sparkly than the gold one--it has a luminous sheen rather than actual sparkle. The gold brightening primer looks really bad in close up photos because of the flash but looks much better in person. So just keep that in mind when looking at the pictures.




EYES:
Primetime for eyes Brightening Pearl lash to brow,
Alive lash to crease on outer 1/2ish and blended into the crease,
Big and Bright liner in Plum upper and 1/2 of lower lash line,
Rimmel mascara.


CHEEKS: Vivacious blush
LIPS: Lollipop gloss