Purple Smokey Eyes

I didn't expect or plan to do another makeup look but after taking the kids out to trick-or-treat, my daughter asked me to put makeup on her and wanted to use one of those fancy eyelashes I have. So here I go again, playing with makeup and I'm really liking how it turned out. For the record, she doesn't wear makeup at all but like me to play with her face once in a while. So here it is...

I am using the Wet N Wild eyeshadow in Lust, the same one I used for the fairy makeup look (http://xxxbeautyredefinedxxx.blogspot.com/2010/10/fairy-makeup-look-using-wet-n-wild.html); however, I am using the darker color on the lid to create a darker smoky purple look.

Products Used:

Eyes: Urban Decay Primer Potion, Wet N Wild Lust palette, Lorac Front of the Line Pro eyeliner black, NYX Jumbo Eyeshadow pencil  Strawberry Milk and Black Bean. Ardell Cleopatra eyelashes.

Face: MAC Hang Loose blush, MAC On a Mission Beauty Powder Blush.

Lips: MAC Petals & Peacocks lipstick.

Masquerade inspired look

So I guess this is going to be the last look I'll be doing for Halloween. It didn't quite turn out as good as I had hoped. The lace pattern didn't show up as much as I wanted it to and the mask turned out a bit brighter than I expected. Lastly, I didn't have any gold liquid liner, which would have been ideal for the outter details of the mask. I curled my hair because I feel it coordinates better with the look. Anyways, I did the best I could with what I had.

Products used:

Mask: NYX jumbo eyepencil Electric Blue, NYX Eyeshadow single Atlantic, Milani Liquif'Eye Gold, lace, black eyeshadow.

Eyes: Urban Decay Primer Potion, Urban Decay Naked palette, Sally Girl baked eyeshadow, Lorac Front of the Line Pro Eyeliner, false eyelashes.

Lips: Wet N Wild ColorIcon Lipliner Berry Red, N.Y.C Lipstick Retro Red.

Face: Benefit Erase Paste, Wet N Wild bronzer Princess, Ulta Cheek Color Afterglow.

I added a Halloween theme to my nails. The tips of my nails looks like dripping blood. I used a sheer light pink OPI nail polish as base, it's a mini nail polish and it doesn't have a name on it (I think it was on the packaging), I bought it as a set and came with 2 other mini OPI. The red bloody tips were done using Sally Girl mini nail polish. It costs only $1.00.

To complete the masquerade look, I added some feathers, a rose, and a couple butterflies that I had put together and attached it to a head band. I used a couple hair pin to position it and secure it...And voila!

Last Weekend Haul (MAC, Shiseido, NYX, etc...)

It's been a busy week for me at work and I feel like I never have enough time to do what I want to get done when I get home. Last weekend, my boy-friend and I hung out in Chicago for a bit and like usual we were hitting the stores and malls so I ended up getting some stuff, lol. If you don't know it yet...I'm a shopaholic! Had to do this haul before my Sephora order gets here.

 I stopped by the Cosmetic Company Store at the outlet mall and bought these MAC makeup. You may be able to find some of these items from previous MAC collection in your local outlet mall too.

From left to right: Prim and Proper Blush (Satin, nudy pink), Dirty Plum Blush (Matte cool-toned plum), On a Mission Beauty Powder Blush (mauve). All colors are pigmented and pretty....Definitely needed to add more blush shade to my collection.

 MAC Peachstock is a peachy nude lipstick with a satin finish. This came out with the Liberty of London collection over the summer. I did previously buy other items from this collection so these were just adds on. The packaging is so cute. Peachstock is also available at MAC Pro stores.  

MAC Pro Longwear Lustre Lipcolor (Gypsy Rose and Shimmer It). I picked this up because I thought the color was so pretty and I don't think I have anything like it. Gypsy Rose is kinda like a coppery rose color with some gold shimmers. You're supposed to apply this color first and once it sets you can put the Shimmer It gloss over it. Without the gloss the lipcolor alone feels slightly tacky. If you want your lipcolor to last, this will do the job.

MAC Hocus Focus Colourful Face Kit. You get 2 blushes and one highlight. The packaging feels a bit bulky and heavy. I really liked the colors and figure I could use more blushes, lol.

Shiseido Lipstick BE208 is a pinky nude shade. I found this store in Chicago's China town that sells Shiseido products so I had to check it out. They also had other asian beauty products in the store including Cle De Peau, which is also made by Shiseido (it's so damn expensive!). I found the prices to be kinda high so I only bought a lipstick and eyelash curler. I picked this color because it's more wearable and subtle. This is something I could wear every day if I wanted to. I wore it to work the other day and I absolutely love the formula. It feels smooth and creamy when you apply it. Very good pigmentation and last about 4 hours on me. What I love the most is that it is sooo moisturizing! I didn't even need to reach for my lip balm throughout the day.

NYX Nail Polish - Paradise. Occasionally, you can find NYX products in perfume stores like I did. This nail color quickly grabbed my attention. It has like a duochrome effect. It's a sheer teal blue color with very fine gold shimmers. With two coats you get a semi-opaque color.

I bought this Point Curler along with my Shiseido lipstick. What's interesting about this product is that is it pretty small and you can choose which section of your eyelashes you want to curl. It folds flat and you can throw it in your purse if you need to. I don't like the fact that it's made of plastic because it can break easily.

I also bought a MAC Lipglass set and an Estee Lauder Lipstick set that I am planning on re-selling. Hoping people will buy. That's pretty much it for my beauty haul. Thanks for looking if you've got this far!

Yes I'm a Snake!

 The Water Tower Mall on the Magnificient Mile of Chicago...Looking down from the 7th floor.

How cool is that? The structure you see on the right is where the elevator is.

Another high-end shopping center on the Magnificient Mile.



Fairy Makeup Look (using Wet N Wild eyeshadows)

I was actually working on this look last night but I was so tired that I didn't get a chance to upload and post a picture. This is actually pretty easy to do. I am using one of my favorite eyeshadow palette. If you don't have it, you should check it out because the colors are so creamy, pigmented, and it's dirt cheap! I used some feather eyelashes that I bought last month at Walgreens and thought it would be great for a fairy look. I'm also wearing a lot of blush for this look. Also contouring my face with a darker blush, I guess it's hard to see on the pic.

Products Used:

Face: Estee Lauder Individualist Natural Finish foundation, Make Up Forever HD powder, MAC On a Mission blush, ELF pink passion blush, MAC Hang Loose blush duo (the purple side), Benefit Erase Paste.

Eyes: Glue stick for eyebrows, Rimmel Exaggerate Waterproof Eye Definer in ocean, MAC Grand Entrance  (from Intriguing Scarlet palette), Wet N Wild Lust eyeshadow palette, Fantasy Makers Feather Fetish Lashes, Wet N Wild Mega Liner in black, Essence Surfer Babe Waterproof eyeliner in Hang Loose.

Lips: MAC Blooming Lovely Lipstick, a little bit of gold shimmers on center of lips.

Swatches are done without a primer. See how pigmented it is!?

Vampire Look for Halloween

Halloween isn't Halloween without Vampires. So I had to come up with a Vampire makeup look...Very pale matte skin, slightly contoured face with a bluish-grey eyeshadow, heavy smoky eyes, thick long eyelashes, dark lips that appeared to be stained with blood!

Product Used

Face: Revlon Colorstay foundation, Benefit Erase Paste, Make Up Forever High Definition powder, white eyeshadows, Bluish-Grey eyeshadow for countour.

Eyes: Urban Decay Primer Potion, NYX Jumbo Eyeshadow pencil in Black Bean, black, grey, silver, and white eyeshadows, Urban Decay 24/7 zero for eyebrows.

Lips: NYX Jumbo Eyeshadow pencil in Black Bean, NYC lipstick in Retro Red, MAC Wicked Ways Lipglass.

My Favorite Pencil Eyeliners Under $10 - Prestige Total Intensity

This is probably one of the brands I don't hear too many people talk about. You can find Prestige Cosmetics in Ulta stores. I'm not sure where else you can also purchase them. These Prestige Total Intensity eyeliners retail for actually less than $6.00 and are comparable to high-end eyeliners in quality. I personally find them better than the overrated Urban Decay 24/7 eyeliners, which wears off quite quickly on me. These pencil eyeliners are so smooth, creamy, and pigmented, you won't have to worry about them tugging the delicate skin around your eyes. A little bit of product seems to travel from my upper eyelids to my lower eyelids within a couple hours of application. I think this might be because some product gets on my eyelashes during application and as I blink, falls to my lower lid. Other than that minor problem, it's quite long-lasting and I find it to last longer on the waterline than the average pencil eyeliner.
The shades are on the darker side. You will still see some color but they will appear darker on your eyes compared to the pictures. Unfortunately, there isn't that many colors to choose from but overall this product performs well and is so affordable you can't go wrong.

From left to right: Fierce Blue, Daring Green, Fearless Teal, and Powerful Purple.

Sephora's Wishlist and First Impressions

Yesterday, I was at Sephora checking out the new stuff and holiday sets because I was planning on ordering online and use the "friends and family 20% discount," which happens only once a year. And for those who don't know it, Sephora rarely have discounts unless it's on their clearance sales but those are usually things I normally don't have much interest in.

I wanted to at least test out the products in store to I get a good idea of how the products feel and smell like before ordering. Wheweee...I tell you, there was a LOT of stuff I wanted! lol...So I've started a list and now I'm going to start a process of elimination because I just can't afford all those :(.
Use coupon code FF2010 at check out for 20% off your entire online purchase from now till November 3rd.
Disclaimer-The following pictures are not mine and taken from Sephora's website. Follow the links for more products info.

Here are some items I've been considering:

Buxom City Slickers set (4 lipglosses and 4 lipstick/pencil, Limited Edition). Why I like this set? The products smells good, the lipglosses are semi-opaque and the lipsticks feels pretty opaque too, something new to try, it offers a variety of shades like nude, pink, mauve, and plum. $39.

http://sephora.com/browse/product.jhtml;jsessionid=CCBSRHK02QDECCV0KSKBPIQ?id=P273406&categoryId=B70

Korres 10-color pencil kit for eyes (Limited Edition) - Why I want this set? You get "10 full-size" pencils in variety of shades. Colors feel rich, creamy, pigmented, and appear to be long-wearing. $32.50

http://sephora.com/browse/product.jhtml?id=P268602&categoryId=B70

  

 YSL Rouge Pur Couture lipstick. I currently have a fetish for lipsticks and looking out for a few high-end brands to try. YSL is definitely on the list! Plus this is new to the line. $30

http://sephora.com/browse/product.jhtml?id=P272319&categoryId=B70

 Urban Decay - The Black Palette (Limited Edition). For some reason, I personally find these shades more appealing than the Book of Shadows. The colors are incredibly smooth and pigmented. $36.

http://sephora.com/browse/product.jhtml?id=P272318&categoryId=B70






Guerlain Rouge G lipstick. Getting one of these will fulfill one of my lipstick fetish. This is a perfect time to get it with the discount because it's insanely expensive and NEVER on sale. $46.

http://sephora.com/browse/product.jhtml?id=P236400&categoryId=B70

Illamasqua Liquid Metal Palette (Limited Edition). Colors are rich, pigmented, creamy, and metallic. Perfect to use as a base and perhaps alone. I don't know if it is long-wearing and creaseless but I have nothing quite like it. $42.50

http://sephora.com/browse/product.jhtml?id=P263108&categoryId=B70









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There were other products that I was also considering but I will wait to see if they go on clearance after Christmas, if not it's ok because they were just nice to have not must haves for me.

Products I may consider later if still available and on clearance:

The Kat Von D Painted Love lipstick set. I found the lipsticks wayyyy too mini (seriously, these are super small)but the packaging is gorgeous! 6 different variety of shades. If it goes on clearance, I will grab one set. $28

http://sephora.com/browse/product.jhtml?id=P270315&categoryId=B70

LORAC Box Office Sensation is probably a set you will get more bangs for your bucks because you get 49 different shades for eyes, lips, and cheeks. This is good for people who want to play with more colors without spending a ton of money. Most colors are subtle and office appropriate. I've never tried LORAC eyeshadows so I'm not sure how well they perform. I personally don't need it, lol...but I mainly was interested in the blushes from that set. I may not get this one. Just lusting, haha! $56.

 http://sephora.com/browse/product.jhtml?id=P272811&categoryId=B70

Smashbox Eyewish palette (Limited Edition). 12 eyeshadows, 4 cream eyeliners, mini Lash DNA, and mini eyeshadow primer. I purchased the Eyewish palette from last year (when it was on clearance) and this new palette definitely includes more products than the last one. When I tested the shades, they felt creamy and pigmented so for a first impression, I was not disappointed. The Eyewish palette from last year left me with such a bad impression that I wasn't sure how much better this one will be, but so far so good. Then again, I wouldn't buy this unless it goes on clearance. $45.



http://sephora.com/browse/product.jhtml?id=P270005&categoryId=B70

Tarte The Jewelry Box. This set offers a generous amount of products that most other Brands will not do on a value set. You will get a lot of use out of it. For someone like me, I will never hit pan on it...EVER or even come close to it, lol. 32 eyeshadows, 8 lipglosses, 1 mineral bronzer, 1 shimmering powder, 5 long-wearing eyeliners, and a detachable necklace! I personally never tried their eyeshadows so I can't really say much about them but for other Tarte products that I have tried, I was not disappointed (except for the mineral pressed powder, which I didn't feel like it did anything except mattifying my skin). $52.

http://sephora.com/browse/product.jhtml?id=P275305&categoryId=B70

Urban Decay Little Sins eyeshadow primers set (Limited Edition). I only wanted the gold primer! lol I figured it's not worth spending $29 on a set just to get it unless I can resell the rest. I'm on the fence with this one.

http://sephora.com/browse/product.jhtml?id=P272604&categoryId=B70

  

Sephora by OPI, 18 pc set of mini nail polish for $48. This is a great way to try out different shades without spending a lot of money on full size nail polishes. Nice to have for nail polish fanatics. I will most likely leave this one since I have so many nail polishes already.

http://sephora.com/browse/product.jhtml?id=P273909&categoryId=B70



Sexy Witch for Halloween

It's about time I did a Halloween look. Since witches are quite popular during Halloween, I had to do a Witch makeup look. I hope you guys like it! It was a lot of work but I had so much fun creating this look.

Products Used

Eyes: Urban Decay Primer Potion, NYX Jumbo Eyeshadow Pencil in Black Bean and Purple Velvet, Sally Girl Baked Eyeshadow (purple), NYX 10 color palette - Secret World and Strike a Pose, Wet N Wild Mega Liner Black, purple glitters, Essence Surfer Babe - Hang Loose, Ardell Star Lashes, Prestige Waterproof lipliner - Diva (eyebrows)

Face: Revlon Colorstay foundation, Estee Lauder Individualist, Bare Escentuals Mineral foundation, NYX - Taupe blush, MAC Hang Loose blush.

Lips: MAC - go for it lipstick, Artmatic lipgloss

Estee Lauder Blue Dahlia Eyeshadow Palette

I purchased this eyeshadow palette a few days ago during Estee Lauder's gift with purchase promo at the Boston Store. It retails for $42 and is limited edition. I believe this new palette came out very recently. I thought it was so pretty and I felt like I just had to have it. FYI, the gift with purchase sale goes till the end of October. I am very tempted to go back and get a lipstick set.

The packaging is so nice!

I swatched them clockwise, starting with the lightest color. 1st color is a sheer white base with blue and white fine glitters, 2nd color is my favorite and looks like a teal blue that leans more blue with a satin finish, 3rd color is a light taupe color with a satin finish, 4th color is an ocean blue color with a satin finish, and the last color is a matte black.

Overall the colors are pretty smooth and pigmented, except for the first one. I supposed it was intended to be sheer. This is a nice palette to have if you feel like splurging. I will post a look using this palette when I get a chance.



Halloween Nail Polish

China Glaze came up with these new funky Halloween nail polishes and of course I picked up a couple at Sally Beauty Supply for $4.49 each. I think they are limited editions. There was 3 colors in that collection but I only picked up 2. The purple didn't look all that to me and I had quite a few purples anyways.

Zombie Zest has a sheer dark olive green base color with green and gold glitters. First thing that came to mind when I applied it on my nails was "OMG, this one look just like...Orly Cosmix nail polish in it's not rocket science!!" So guess what I did, I swatched them next to each other and they look almost identical. The only small difference is that Zombie Zest is just slightly slighly darker but Orly has a much better formula.

Ick-A-Bod-Y has a sheer dark base with a lot of orange glitter! Removing all those glitters is going to be a pain in the butt; however, this looks very halloween and cool!

Wearable Fall Look

So today, I decided to do another Fall makeup look that's more wearable than the previous one I did about a week ago. I used the Wet N Wild Coloricon eyeshadow palette in Vanity. For those who haven't tried these Wet N Wild eyeshadows, I urge you to give them a try because they are so inexpensive and pigmented. I also love that they've included matte colors. I was very impressed at the quality. In some palette you may find one or two color being chalky, but the majority of them are smooth and finely-milled. I've swatched them for you without using a primer. Keep in mind that with a primer, the colors will look more intense and last better on your lids.

Product used on this picture

Eyes: Urban Decay Primer Potion, Wet N Wild Vanity eyeshadow palette, ELF eyebrow kit, Lorac Front of the Line eyeliner in black, MAC Superslick Liquid Eyeliner in Desires & Devices, Milani Liquif'eye in Gold, Revlon Grow Luscious Mascara.

Face: Lancome Teint Idole Ultra, Revlon Colorstay foundation, Bare Escentuals powder foundation, FLIRT! blush in Heartthrob, Wet N Wild Princess bronzer.

Lips: Wet N Wild Lipliner in Willow, Revlon Colorbust in Blush