MAC Tartan Tale - 5 Cool Thrillseekers Pigments/Glitter

As you guessed from the name of the product, these pigments are cool-toned. This set is sold for $32.50.

1. Mauvement is a taupe pigment with a coppperish sheen to it in part contributed with the gold, pink, and pearly micro-shimmers.
2. Silver Fog is a light silver. This pigment is very frosty and metallic.
3. Softwash Grey is a medium grey with lilac/violet micro-shimmers.
4. Cheers My Dear is a frosty baby pink pigment.
5. Reflects Pearl is just silver glitters. This will instantly glam up any look.

I used Urban Decay Primer Potion before swatching. My favorite pigments from this set are Mauvement, Softwash Grey, and Reflects Pearls. Out of the three pigment sets that I purchased, I liked this set the most. These sets are a good value and if you don’t have too many eyeshadows or pigments in your makeup stash, this is a good way to start. If you are not a fan of shimmers or glitters, I don’t think you’ll like any of these sets. Since pigments and glitters are loose powders, they can fall out easily during application and can be a bit tricky to apply for some people.

What do you think of this set? Love it or leave it?

Sephora & MAC Haul

I'm so excited about the new goodies I purchased today that I don't even know where to begin. Today was Sephora's kick off party for VIBs. If you don't know yet, what VIB stands for is Very Important Beauty Insider. To earn VIB status, you have to spend $350.00 at Sephora from January through December. As a VIB, I was able to save 20% off my purchase and so did my sister since I was allowed to bring a guest. I still have until November 15 to take advantage of the savings. Unfortunately, there was some products my local Sephora didn't have that I wanted. I'll be making a second purchase online to get the rest of my goodies. I also received this fancy vinyl Sephora bag that looks no different than the bag you normally get from Sephora, except that it isn't made of paper. Boo you Sephora! LOL...You could've made the bag better, like pink or something. For the record, I normally don't shop at Sephora much and my boy-friend contributed to my VIB status as he has bought me some goodies from there a few months ago.
Last week, I also pre-ordered a few things from MAC Tartan Tale collection (Chapter 2), which launched today in stores. This collection is so huge, I'm totally lost with what they have. One thing I know for sure is I got what I wanted.



So these are what I got from Sephora for myself. This Benefit Femme Metale set sure got my attention. The colors are very holiday-ish (silver, gold, and burgundy). I heard a lot of rave about the Philosophy face wash, so I got this small bottle and going to give it a whirl. I'll let you know what I think as I will do a separate review on these items.



Chapter 2 is mainly sets. They got liplass sets, pigment sets, and nail polish sets. Chapter 1 consists of lips, eyes, and face kit as well as lips, eyes, and brush bags. I think the bags are nice and I'm digging the teddy bear. It looks so cute. Perfect as a collectible item if you are a MAC fanatic. I purchased all 3 pigment sets. These are my first MAC pigments. They are not full-sized but there is plenty of product inside to last me a very long time. On top of that they are a much better value rather than buying the full-size individually. You get 5 different pigments in each set, some of which are limited edition, repromotes, and from the permanent line. From left to right: 5 Cool Thrillseekers pigments/glitter, 5 Smokey Thrillseekers pigments/glitter, and 5 Warm Thrillseekers pigment/glitter



This is just a quick view of what I bought today. I will do a separate review and swatches on these products so they are not all packed in just one post. Did you purchase anything from Sephora recently or MAC?

Bright, Bold, and Blue

Finally got around to doing a makeup look! Well, I came up with a very colorful look, lol. Probably not something most people would be willing to sport but just feeling artsy and wanted to feature a couple of the new product I recently bought such as Venetian Blue and Colorbust fuchsia.

Product used:

Face – Lancome Teint Idole Ultra, Bare Escentual foundation, Wet N Wild bronzer Princess, ELF blush pink passion.

Eyes – ELF Eyebrow Kit, Urban Decay Primer Potion, NYX Jumbo Eyeshadow pencil Milk, Revlon Matte eyeshadow Venetian Blue, 120 palette (yellow), CoverGirl tropical fusion (green), MAC mineralized eyeshadow Inter-view (dark blue), NYX Studio Liquid Liner extreme blue, Prestige Total Intensity fierce blue, NYX Liquid Crystal Liner crystal jade. NYX false eyelashes.

Lips – Prestige Waterproof lipliner Diva, Revlon Colorburst Fuchsia.

Budget Friendly Organization for Your Jewelries

Some of use can't afford a fancy jewelry box but we still need to find a practical way of storing and organizing them. These are just a couple ideas I wanted to share and hopefully you will find them useful.

I use a tie rack from Wal-Mart to hang my necklaces. This is very inexpensive. I can't remember exactly how much I paid for it since I've had this for years. As you can see, I either need to give away some of these necklaces or get another rack because that would defeat the purpose of being organized since I have way too many on this rack, lol. What I love about this rack is you can store A LOT of necklaces! If you want you can also use it for rings.

Another storage idea is getting these containers from the sporting good isle. These clear plastic containers are in the fishing section and the intended use is for storing fishing lures. However, the small divided compartments makes it also ideal for storing earrings or rings. My boy-friend always said my earrings look like fishing lures and how ironic is that I store then in these containers, hahahah. They come in many different size and are very affordable. Plus the fact that the container is clear you can see exactly what's inside before you open.





TJ Maxx is a good place to look for organization tools. I bought this hand from there for jut a few bucks and this holds some of my rings.



I purchase this jewelry holder from Forever 21. It's very inexpensive and I use it to store rings and bracelets. This baby is pretty cute, holds a lot of stuff, sturdy, and doesn't require a lot of space.

Do you have any storage tips and ideas you would like to share or suggest?

Bow-tie Jewelry Obsession

I wanted to do a fun makeup look tonight but I am so tired that hopefully, I'll be able to do one tomorrow. Meanwhile, I just wanted to share with you girls some jewelries that I really enjoy.
I am obsessed with bow-tie jewelries. I think they are adorable, cute, and girly. I don't know, perhaps I am a little too old for it but I can't help it, lol. Every time I come across one, I just can't turn away. This is my little collection of bow ties.

I love Betsey Johnson's jewelries, particularly those that come with these cute little bows, rhinestone, or pearl. She is so creative and her designs are always fun and different. I also love her shoes. The bow is like her signature touch. I bought these off Ebay and got a good deal on them. They normally retail between $30-$45 and can be found at Macy's and other department stores. These are made of good quality materials and will not tarnish.





I found this necklace at Forever 21 few months ago. It was supposed to come with earrings but they were missing so they gave me a 10% discount since it was the last one on the rack.





I got these earrings from Charlotte Russe. They are quite big, about one inch wide. Charlotte Russe earrings are so affordable and always 2 pairs for $8.00. I love getting my jewelries from there. I always find something I like.





When I saw this ring, it was instant love. It was also pretty cheap so I couldn't pass it up.

 




I don't remember what brand this was but I bought it from Burlington Coat Factory for about $5.00






I bought this ring from Target and it was the last one on the rack too. This is made of stearling silver. I'm glad that the bow isn't so huge. It looks very classy and elegant. Cost $20.00


Do you own any bow tie jewelries? If so, where did you purchase yours?

My Favorite Jewelry set - Swarovski Crystal

I don’t know about you guys but I love Swarovski crystal and the way they sparkle. They are undoubtedly more affordable than diamonds but can still be pricier than you’d want to pay. This is one of my favorite jewelry set that I purchased and guess what…I didn’t pay an arm and a leg for it. The total cost including shipping was roughly $20.00!!! I bought these back in March 2010 from Ebay. Unfortunately, I can’t tell you who the seller is because he is no longer selling. It was shipped from Hong Kong and only took about a week for me to receive. If you love to get your hands on some pretty Swarovski crystal jewelries, I strongly suggest you look into Ebay because they are so much more affordable there. If you've never purchased from Ebay, please be careful who you purchase from. Check the seller's ratings and customer's feedback. I'd normally wouldn't purchase unless they are rated 99.5% and above and have been around for some time.

I was super stoked when I received these. They are a lot prettier than you see in the picture and they look expensive ;)! The center of the heart is a teal blue whereas the rest is like a deep ocean blue. It's so beautiful and classy!

Cheapies but goodies

So I had to run some errands today…groceries, household items, and stuff for my daughter’s project. We stopped by the Dollar Tree store close by where I live and as usual, I always make a stop by the beauty isle. I found these Art Deco nail polishes by L.A. Colors and they had so many colors! I knew I wanted to grab a few of them because I only have a couple of these. If you haven’t tried these yet, basically they are just like nail polishes but they come with a fine long brush that’s specially made for nail art design. I usually find these at Forever 21 and Sally Beauty Supply but you won’t get them for a dollar there. I think they retail between $2 and $3. I know it’s not much but still a good deal to get them at half price.

The other things I picked up are these Revlon Matte eyeshadows. They of course had more shades but I only grabbed the ones I didn’t have. These usually retail for about $4.00, so I was thrilled to buy them for only a dollar a piece. These eyeshadows are so pigmented and good quality for being matte.

Other products I saw there but didn’t buy are Sally Hensen, L.A. Colors eyeshadows and lipsticks, ELF eyeshadow quads and gloss, Maybelline lipliners, etc…You guys should check out your local dollar store when you get a chance. You never know what you may find. This Dollar Tree doesn’t always have the same thing, every time I go there, I always find something new.

I used a plain black nail polish as base to swatch these nail art polishes.

 

Yellow – This is a bright yellow but the formula goes a bit on the sheer side. It has no shimmers or glitters.



Baby Pink – This is a soft pink with white pearly shimmers. Applies opaque.



Bright Green – The name says it all. This applies a bit on the sheer side with no shimmers or glitters.



Magenta – This is a pinkish purple with white pearly shimmers. Applies opaque.



White – This has no shimmers or glitters and applies opaque.

 

Tempting Teal – It doesn’t look anything close to teal in the pan but once it is swatched there’s a little hint of it. I still find the name misleading. This looks more like a cool-toned dark sage green.

Venetian Blue – This is such a bright and pretty matte blue color. I can just imagine creating a very bold look with this color.