Beauty Trash #3

Ooops I got behind on posts, I took these pics in December. My Sephora Beauty Trash bag was totally overflowing-

So a lot of usual characters that I wont spend too much time on, but I did go through so makeup and random things too.  So this is about 5 months worth of trash, I have my usual face/skincare stuff, hair dye stuff, makeup stuff, and randoms.

So if we start with the usual characters I used up 6 makeup removing wipes. My usual Neutrogena that are my favorite 2 of those, 3 different types of Up & Up formulas they're fine for removing makeup swatches or when I use my fingers to application or back of my hand as a palette, and then some Simple Miscellar wipes. I love the Simple Miscellar water, also pictured here, so much I thought maybe the wipes would be good too. They were fine and kept me from running out of my bottle version as fast, but probably wont purchase again unless there's a sale. I'm constantly trying new makeup wipes so nothing new there and I'll probably repurchase a variation of these again.  The Simple Miscellar Water I'm on my last back up right now, so I'll probably repurchase again soon.

I have two empty packages of Up & Up cotton rounds, one in exfoliating and one regular and they're both fine. I don't like the exfoliating one as much I feel like it falls apart too easily, but it's great for nail polish removal. I've already repurchased both of these.  Then I have my holy grail moisturizer that Cetaphil cream love I have 3 back ups right now.  Then the odd man out in this group is my Deodorant- I use Secret Outlast and it's scent is just the fresh clean one- nothing special I've been using it for years. The only thing I don't like about it is if I'm not careful I get white deodorant marks on my clothes- I wear too many dark colors.

I dyed my hair A LOT these last 5 months. Still trying to get it back to its normal color from the bleach blonde Tyler episode of 2014. I only saved one of the hair dye tubes because the others were messy and gross, but I love this brand One 'n Only Argan Oil Hair Color it's very reasonably priced at Sally's and I've bought it at least 6 times since after I went blonde. It's very gentle and that's probably why I had to dye my hair so much because it did wash out very easily the first 4 applications. I've used the 20 and 10 Developers and hopefully I wont need to again but I think 10 is the way to go for me. I was using the 5 level at first and it would not take, it washed out so much that my hair kept ending up red, so I slowly moved up to 4 and then this last time did a 3 and it's finally stuck. I did expect it to wash out a little more but I'm fine with it and don't think I'll have to dye it again.  I also went through many packets of hair color remover wipes for my face because I'm a mess when I dye my hair. I used the Colortrak Wipe Off Color only a buck and they did the trick, they're not as wet as some but they worked fine.

For makeup I feel like I went trough small things but two I'm very proud of.  I finished a bronzer. NYC Bronzer in Sunny and after almost 2 years- I think it was about 20 months I made my way through that thing. I'm kinda sad it's gone because I feel like it's a great contour shade for me, but it has freed me up to try more. Also it's super cheap if I do feel the need to purchase it again. Then I also went through a Maybelline Instant Age Rewind Dark Circle Eraser in medium. It took me three tries to get my shade right but I miss this guy. I didn't use it every day because it was too drying but on the weekends I used it for a quick fix. I have other concealers I'm working through right now so I don't need it but I'll probably repurchase eventually.

Then I have three mascaras- 2 I love and 1 I hate. Maybelline's Lash Sensational  people said this was a drugstore dupe for Benefit's Roller Lash...they LIED. I hated this stuff it was too wet and never curled my lashes, I waited to it to dry and still hated it. Not for me. Urban Decay Perversion however is for me I loved it. This is the Mascara to use if you want the false lash look without the false lashes, I had this guy for over a year- tempting fate- because it would never dry out! Eventually it did and the big bushy bristles started sticking together but this guy it totally worth the $22 price. Then a sample size of Benefit's They're Real- love this mascara have already repurchased and will continue to do so. The sample size is the perfect size for me, I find it just as easy to use as the full size. This is one of my holy grail mascaras and I love it.

Then the last product is a huge dud. It's a Wet 'n Wild Coverall Concealer stick that smells like crayons and is so greasy and dry at the same time. I bought this for covering tattoos and it failed at that job. I probably had this thing for two years and I just finally gave up trying to use it, I hated it and have found much better ways to cover up tattoos that does not include this fail of a concealer.

For the last group I have some random things. My beloved hair clip! I have super super thick hair and usually go through hair clips like they're going out of style, but this monster is rubberized and I have 3 others at home because I was terrified it would break. Well luckily this guy is a work horse and I got a good year out of it before it broke. This is the Scunci No-Slip Grip Hair Claw usually about $6-8 depending where you buy it. Great clip for big hair and I cannot be without it.

Then I have a Norwegian Hand Cream I heard on YouTube was great for super dry hands. This did nothing for me. I can't complain too much it was under $5 but this was greasy and then disappeared without adding moisture to my hands, I was so disappointed. I'm still searching for the perfect hand cream.

And finally I have a sample of Lancome's Bi-Facil eye makeup remover.  I miss this stuff. Full size is priced over $20 and I just can't justify it, but anytime I get a sample of this I use it. This removes eye makeup so wonderfully and completely with no tugging or anything. I love it. If you just talk to the people in the Lancome section at Ulta they almost always offer you a free sample of something I recommend taking them up on it and getting the Bi-Facil. It's amazing.

So that's my trash! I miss a lot of these products. I'll try not to wait so long next time.

Fall Party Makeup!

Ooops. I guess it's been a little bit since I blogged. I've had a very busy September. I've been busy with work stuff and after work stuff, so there hasn't been a lot of time for makeup creativity.  Until this weekend. I'd gotten in a rut of easy fall makeup and decided that I needed to spice it up. Luckily I had a Theatre Karaoke Party to go to and decided I'd go all out.  What do I mean?

I mean I wore I all the makeup.  This bag is filled with all the stuff I applied to my face. There was quite a bit. I hadn't worn this much makeup in a while and it kinda showed. It was indoors and kinda darkish party so luckily unless I was in full sunlight it didn't look like as much makeup as it actually was...at least that's what I'm telling myself.

So starting with my base. Primer. I primed. I had put my usual day cream on earlier in the day. But about 10 minutes before applying my makeup I used my IT Cosmetics Feel the Moment Primer Serum. This needs to soak in a moment. I also applied my CeraVe Eye Repair Cream- I'd recently heard it played well under concealer so gave it a whirl. It's my usual nighttime eye cream. After the those had sunk in a bit I added my Maybelline Master Prime in Blur + Smooth where my pores are the worst- around my nose and tops of my cheeks and my Milani Eyeshadow Primer to my eyelids and a little below where my concealer goes.


Once all that set in I moved on to my next face products. Bring in the IT Cosmetics team. I love IT Cosmetics. I combine both the CC Cream regular and Illumination in Medium to make a delightfully glowy full coverage effect. I also use two Bye Bye Under Eyes in Neutral Medium and Tan. I apply the CC Cream with my fingers one pump of the regular and half a pump of the Illumination. I use about a pinpoint size of each Bye Bye Under Eye and mix them together on the back of my hand. Then I apply a thin layer to each under eye and blend out with a fluffy concealer brush. I love the look of this combo. It's incredibly full coverage and very long wearing. The CC Cream doesn't need any setting powder by the time I get to my face products it's set fine, but the Bye Bye Under Eye definitely needs to be set. It will remain very tacky and I'd worry it would move around if I didn't set it. My favorite way to set it is with my NARS Translucent Crystal Powder.

Normally I would move onto my eyes next, but this Saturday I did it reverse and did my face powders next.

I used my usual and ALMOST gone NYC Sunny Bronzer to contour and bronze up my face. Then I used the gorgeous highlighter from the IT Cosmetics Live, Laugh, Love Vitality Face Disc. This highlighter is not joking around. It is in your face and shiny and gorgeous. Then I finished it off with my Tarte Blush in Savored from last year's Tarte Holiday set from QVC. Combined these face products are gorgeous. I chose the IT Cosmetics highlighter because it's more champagne based and less gold than my usual. This is not a highlighter you'd choose for a natural day or if you were wanting to be subtle. I will also use up my Sunny bronzer this year if it kills me. I'm so tired of that thing and have so many other bronzers I want to use. Now that it's fall I've started to pull out my deeper blushes and this is one of my faves.

For my eyes I knew I wanted to do something special. Something fun and sparkly. I also wanted to use my Too Faced Chocolate Bar palette that I've been neglecting. I started with White Chocolate all over my lids for a smooth base. This helps the shadows blend together too. I then took Salted Caramel in my crease to just warm things up and give a transition. On my lids I used Strawberry Bon Bon. Then I took the star of this look Black Forest Truffle in my outer V and kept adding and blending and adding and blending. I got rid of some of the lightness of the Strawberry Bon Bon so I added on top some Champagne Truffle in the inner part of the lid to brighten things back up. Not satisfied with the depth of the outer V I added a smidgen of Dark Chocolate and then more Black Forest Truffle. It ended up being a super pretty eye look but not as party worthy as I'd been hoping so I reached for my ELF Long Lasting Lustrous Eyeshadow in Gala to add some sparkle, just to the outer edge.

To finish off the eyes I used my NYX Dark Brown Gel Eyeliner along the top lash line and Dark Chocolate on the lower lash line. I then let the gel liner set and filled in my brows with my NYX Micro Brow Pencil in Taupe. For mascara I doubled up with my Covergirl Super Sizer and Benefit's They're Real both in black. Not pictured is my NARS Velvet Matte Lip Pencil in Walkyrie.  To finish off the whole fancy pants think I was going for I used my Armani Si from Scentbird as Perfume.

Here is how the look came out in various stages in the evening. It was fun, but at the end of the night a pain to get off. I broke out the cold cream because it was just a lot of makeup.

      

*None of the links above are affiliate links, just where you can buy this fabulous stuff!

Makeup Madness! Part 6! Concealers

It's Makeup Madness Time again! This time it's all about concealers! I only have a few to get rid of but have some I really love. Now I'll be the first person to admit like all my makeup adventures, concealer is still something I'm working on. I have not perfected my concealer game but it's getting better.  I wrote briefly about concealers once upon a time here.

So what do I use concealer for? Well I have terrible sleep problems and so I constantly have big blue bags under my eyes that need to be covered up.  And while acne isn't something I struggle with I do suffer from the occasional face planet that needs to be covered up. One of the biggest concealer tips I ever learned, a little late I might add just two years ago, was that you do not use the same concealer all over your face. There's a reason they make concealer specifically for under your eyes and specifically for covering blemishes.

Up first we have stick concealers or concealers with wands. I feel like stick concealers are the style of concealer handed to ever pubescent teenage girl when they get their first breakout. These concealers are usually a little dry or waxy, but provide fuller coverage.  I cannot use these, they're too drying for my face so I pretty much steer clear, however they do make excellent tattoo cover ups.  I use the ELF and Wet 'N Wild for one of the many layers of concealer I use when I have to cover up my tattoos for shows. Then the creamier concealers with either a wand or the ball thing the Maybelline has are much more hydrating and easy to use.  These concealers are hit or miss some are too shear (ELF HD) and some don't blend in well with the rest of your foundation (Age Rewind).  But I feel like these styles of concealers are definitely the easiest to learn how to use when first starting out with concealer.  So here's what I have (not int he order pictured)

• ELF Studio Concealer stick in beige. This $3 concealer is great. Excellent coverage, perfect shade match to me and a non-waxy stick formula. I can use this on my face and before I knew any better use to slather this under my eyes- but I don't recommend that because it'll dry your under eyes out like no ones business. If I was recommending a drugstore concealer for someone just starting out I'd recommend this easily- love it. This was also the first ELF product I ever tried after a theatre friend's recommendation.
• ELF HD Lifting Concealer  in light. Another $3 ELF product that is not great. This stuff sucks. It is so sheer. It applies with a doe foot applicator and is just awful. It also smells too face make-up-y which I hate. I have no use for this concealer and have no idea why I've kept it. In the trash it goes. 
• Wet n Wild Coverall in 804. A $2 concealer! Ummm this is not good either. The shade match is fine and the texture I'm sure would work for really oily people, but my Sahara desert skin cannot handle this, it's so waxy and you can just feel it sucking all the moisture out of your skin. This is another excellent tattoo cover up and literally the only reason I bought this thing too. I'm going to hold onto it just for that reason, also it's only about a year old so if I do another show I'll pull it out. 
• NYX Wonder Pencil in light. I didn't really know where to stick this $4 pencil, I think I might have also included him in my eyeliner madness, but that's because that's how I usually use this guy.  NYX advertises it as a "wonder" because it's supposed to do lots of things- conceal, line your lips and be an eye brightener.  It doesn't really do any of these things too terribly well.  It's too light for it to be a concealer for me, but the formula is too hard. I hate using it in my inner rim of my eyes because it's stabby. I have to warm it up first, and I don't use it to reverse line my lips but if I had the right color I may. I don't think it's anything special but I'll hold onto it and see if I can figure out a use for it.
• Maybelline Instant Age Rewind Dark Circle Eraser in medium. I have a love hate relationship with this product. It's $9 and after 3 tries I finally got my color right, but...I don't know. I've almost used up this tube and while I like it and use it I wont be repurchasing it right away.  It's a creamy concealer, non-drying and made specifically for your under eyes, but I don't find it plays well with the rest of my makeup.  On days I'm just using concealer it's fine, but if I try to blend it in with different foundations for a seamless appearance it just doesn't work. So I'm just torn. I think it's a good concealer it does conceal but after using a full tube of it I'm not in love with it enough to spend $10 on it again.
• Benefit Fake Up in 02 medium. Oh my $24 concealer I love you. I sometimes forget about you in the back of my drawer and whenever I pull you our I remember how much I love you! This is a stick concealer unlike any other I had tried when I got it- it's a super creamy stick concealer surrounded by vitamin E and moisturizer gel. So it's hydrating! OMG I love it. I use this bad boy under my eyes and they feel so hydrated and are lightly concealed. This is not a full coverage concealer it's very light coverage but feels heavy (in a good way) but can build up to medium coverage. To me it just feels so good under my eyes and is perfect for weekends when I don't feel like wearing a full face of makeup. This was my first high end concealer purchase and after it I realized what my problem had been. Don't buy cheap concealer- they're just not worth it. Because I use this so infrequently I've had it over a year and will probably finish it up before Thanksgiving. I love it. I may not purchase it again right away but I definitely will again before next Summer because it's delightful. 

Up next I have potted concealers. Or panned concealers. These come in two types- at least that I've found- waxy and creamy.  There are some other variations in there but I think both really have their place and I've found a use for them that I didn't expect. So lets just jump into what I have.

• Benefit Boi-ing in 02 medium.  This $12 duo is 1/2 Boing concealer and 1/2 eye bright brightener.  Since I already knew I loved my first Benefit concealer I thought this duo was a great way to try others and it is. While I don't have much use for the eye brightener I may just not know how to use it, but the Boing concealer is a very interesting full coverage concealer. This stuff is thick, not hydrating but not waxy. I sometimes would use this on top of my Fake Up for a little more coverage and it works fine for that. I don't reach for this much anymore. I've hit pan on the concealer and will probably use it up but I've found other stuff I like better. This stuff isn't bad I just don't really need it in my stash. I think the Boing concealer texture and consistency would work on oilier skins better than dry.
• Benefit Erase Paste in 02 medium.  There's a theme here with Benefit. Their products are good. This $26 pot of salmon colored gold is amazing. I bought this after seeing several videos by EmilyNoel83 using it in tutorials or highlighting it in concealer videos. 2nd important concealer lesson I learned- if you have dark blue/purple circles under your eyes, you should use a salmon or orangey colored concealer to hide them. Something about being on different sides of the color spectrum makes them hide each other. This concealer has a creamy almost gel like texture it's very slippery and smooth. I don't think it's adding hydration to my face but it feels very moisturizing.  This stuff is made for the under eyes and since it's in that salmon color does a great job. During the school year when I'm super pale I use this under another concealer, but in the summer when I get a little pigment in my skin I can wear this by itself. I think it does a great job, if you set it it doesn't crease.  The only thing that is weird about this concealer for me is every review and the instructions online all say to use a little bit of this and that it'll go a long way...not the case for me I have to put a layer of this on my skin. I use the back of the spatula they give you to get it out of the pot and I cover the back of the spatula once for each eye. So I don't know. But I love it, I only use it under my eyes and I imagine this pot will last 2 years unless it goes bad first. I love it and as of right now I'd repurchase it- we'll see how I feel in another year.
• Pixi Correction Concentrate in brightening peach. This is a semi-drugstore option for Benefit's erase paste. This is $12 at target and YouTube told me it's a dupe for my Erase Paste.  I actually bought this first before I tried Erase Paste and loved it. It's creamy it's a salmony-peach color and it doesn't dry out my under eyes.  For me after a while I found the color wasn't as pigmented as I'd like and while my dark circles normally pop back out a few hours after concealer I feel like this almost made them look grey half way through the day. I like it though and find it a great option if you don't want to spend $26 on a concealer which I agree hurts. I'm holding onto it because it's another one of those concealers I'll break out on the weekend when I don't want to use my really expensive stuff. I imagine this stuff will last a little less than 2 years because it's slightly smaller than my erase paste.
• theBalm timeBalm Concealer in light/medium. This is an $18 concealer that I got for $10 on Hautelook (referral link). I heard about this from JenLuvsReviews and Tati on YouTube. Jen uses this as her under eye concealer and Tati uses it as an eye base/primer. I'd been wanting to try it so when I saw it come up on Hautlook I decided to try it. Well it's not good for my undereyes and then it creased on my eye lids.  This is a fairly dry and very lightly waxy concealer. Sigh. It's a perfect color match which was awesome and it lasts forever but I just found I couldn't use it under my eyes or on them.  Then one day- I decided to be adventurous and use it as a redness corrector around my nose- the one area on my face that is dry as hell but not as dry as say my cheeks and eyes.  So I took a concealer brush and lightly spread it over the area- instantly my redness vanished! It's a miracle! So that's how I'll use this guy up. I probably wont repurchase him because I know there are better redness correctors out there but it'll do for now.

And lastly we have tubed concealers! So now that I have more experience with tubed concealers I expect them to be full coverage and really hydrating. However that is not always what you find.

• Flirt! Glamouflage Healer/Concealer in who knows. I've had this concealer well past the recommended 36 months. I'm pretty sure I've had this for about 7 years. I'll be getting rid of it. This was a gift from a friend back when I was having acne issues, this concealer was really thick and has salicylic acid in it. I used a lot of it because the tube feels pretty hollow. I don't know if you can get it anymore- a quick Googling shows it on Ebay, but it was good then I wouldn't purchase it now because I don't need that type of coverage.
• Maybelline FaceStudio Master Conceal om 20 light. This $9 is also going in the trash. I do not like this. I got this because it was on sale when I got a Face Studio primer that I love. However this concealer does nothing. It is so wet and watery and would be great if I wasn't to go full on highlight the under eye area but that's not my style. I couldn't get this to work and I didn't like the formula enough to try a different color. It's sad because I hate to waste money on crappy products I can't find some way to use, but life is too short to use bad concealer. 
• It Cosmetics Bye Bye Under Eye Anti-Aging Concealer in neutral medium and tan. This is a $24 concealer. And I have two of them. I'm actually surprised it's a little cheaper than my Benefit because I definitely thought it was more expensive. I have however never purchased these concealers at full price. I've bought both of them with $9 of Ulta rewards so $15 is much easier to deal with considering I need two of these.  This is a great concealer, a VERY thick, creamy concealer. This stuff will cover up anything and it's moisturizing. I always do but people will less dry skin would not need an eye cream before using this. Also this stuff stays moist throughout the day! If you don't set this stuff well it'll stay tacky all day long. I love this stuff. I bought the neutral medium last fall and fell in love with it, it covers amazingly and really disguises those dark circles and blends in with other foundations beautifully.  But a few months ago I noticed it was a little too light, it was starting to highlight more than conceal so I saved up my rewards and bought the next shade up tan.  Right now I can use tan by itself and it's great but I imagine if I blend it with neutral in the fall I can probably get a little better shade match. Even though I love these concealers and out of all of mine if you told me I could only keep one I'd pick one of these, I do still find in the afternoon my bags start to peak back out. I don't know if I just have really resistant dark circles or what, but I do sometimes double layer this with my Pixi or my Erase Paste for extra concealing power. But I love that this formula like all of ITs stuff has good for your skin properties. I do feel like it helps tighten my under eye area and keep my fine lines a little less line-y. I hope I don't have to purchase either of these again anytime soon, but I will unless I find something better, but right now this is the best.

I wanted to throw in at the end quickly my concealer brushes. I use an old flat Bare Escentuals brush when I used my Time Balm as redness corrector.  Then I go back and forth between my ELF concealer brush and an Eco Tools one. The ELF is fluffier and is good for blending and the Eco Tools is a little more structured and good for placement and tapping in concealer. I am definitely a conceal with your fingers kinda gal and use my ring finger most of all, but sometimes I'll use a brush and when I do these guys are what I use.

 So that's my concealer stash! I got rid of three and I'm happy with that. I use all of the ones I have so I think it's fine to have options. If there's something better out there let me know! I would love to be able to conceal my under eye circles better, but based on the research I've done I'm doing what I should be it's just not perfect.

Previous Makeup Maddnesses include Blush, Bronzers & Highlighters, Eye Liners, Lippies and Mascara!

*The HauteLook link is a referral link and the only one in this post. All other links link to Ulta, Drugstore or the brands site. I also link to a couple of my favorite YouTubers if they're who I saw the product with first! 

Makeup Madness Part 5! Mascara Monday!

It's been a minute since I did a makeup madness right? Ooops. Summer has been kinda busy.  But I figured I need to get rid of a lot of Mascara so a makeup madness would be really productive right about now.  I have 15 mascaras and only use about 3...also some are old...like a year old it's time for them to go! Now I will be the first to admit I keep mascaras past their recommended expiration date. Most people recommend getting rid of your mascara after 3 months to avoid eye infections, but a lot of mascaras have a 6 month expiration date printed on their tubes. (I just learned the cool makeup code that looks like a jar with the number of months it's good on it. My benefit products have it and they say 6 months.) So I'm going with 6 of when they dry out.

Here's what we're working with...

Wow this is a terrible picture...sorry.

Now I've never finished a mascara tube, I've never used one so long that it ran out- how much mascara are you people putting on?!?! I'm a two coat girl. So usually my mascara has to go bad before I pick up a new tube, but I'm going to be very forceful with myself and get rid of mascaras that are old...hopefully.

Let's start with my faves. Benefit makes some good mascara. My first Benefit mascara was the They're Real This little sample came in my Sephora Favorites kit that I got a lot of fave products from- good job Sephora. And it changed my eyelash life. I already have pretty curled lashes and they're relatively thick, but I lack length. I talked about it a little bit here. When it started to get dry-ish was right about the time the Benefit Roller Lash came out and I thought you know what I'm going to get that instead.  AND OMG it was even better than They're Real! This is a $24 mascara and it is worth every penny. Length, volume and curl! Like I said my eyelashes don't need a lot in the curl department but this stuff is amazing. My lashes look real and flawless with this on. I don't know how it does it. You can also use it in tandem with They're Real for more amazingness. I have a backup sample of my They're Real so I wont be repurchasing either right now, but both of these are over 6 months old now and need to be retired. I'm keeping both wands to try to help some of the weaker mascaras we'll talk about soon.  Both of these wands have rubberized bristles and they're kinda hard stiff bristles that hurt like a mother if you ever poke yourself in the eye.

My first foray into high end mascara came at the hands of my first Ipsy bag. Urban Decay Perversion Mascara. This stuff gives you false eyelash looking eyelashes with just two coats. I even used this stuff during a show and got away with not having to wear eyelashes! It was amazing. When the sample started to dry out I bought the Pervserion/Subversion Duo from Ulta. The Subversion is a lash primer that's supposed to give added umph. I used it but I don't think it didn't anything too magical.  The full sized version of Perversion however is incredible. It's like the never ending tube of mascara. I have had it since September and it is still rich and creamy and applies as well as the day I got it.  Now considering it's been 10 months I am going to let this mascara go but it pains me because there isn't anything wrong with it! It's just old.  The bristles on these mascaras are fibery traditional bristles very tightly packed. Your lashes do clump a little bit it makes them so thick is doesn't really matter. Right now I don't need to repurchase but if I ever do a theatre show again I'll totally shell out the $22 for this mascara instead of buying flash lashes.

Maybe she's born with amazing lashes...or maybe it's Maybelline. Maybelline is the gold standard of mascara for me. I've used Maybelline my entire makeup wearing life. My first tube was one of those pink and green Great Lashes in Blackest Black and also Royal Blue. The Great Lash classic mascara tube isn't going to do anything spectacular for your lashes, it'll color them and add a little bit of length and separation, but beyond that you're on your own. This is a perfect mascara for no makeup makeup days. Pictured here I have Royal Blue that I purchased for the 4th of July. It's good for the lower lashes but not much else.  Maybelline's the Rocket is another great standard now with rubber bristles that are super short and get great separation in the lashes. This was my go-to before I found the high end ones. Then I've tried a few others the Colossal Pumped Up was a hand me down from my sister and like her I didn't find it too impressive and the Lash Sensational I got because it's supposed to be a dupe for the Roller Lash. I love the formula of it but the brush sucks, I'm keeping my Benefit brushes to see if they'll work with this formula. I'd probably purchase all of these again given the right circumstances or money limitations. Maybelline makes great mascaras. I'm only keeping the Sensational.


My last little group of high end mascaras leave something to be desired. I wish I had my Tarte Lights Camera Lashes because I love that stuff, it's right up there with my Benefit Mascaras. Another $20 mascara I got in an Ipsy bag and that stuff is the shit, so I had high hopes for another Tarte mascara Gifted. This stuff sucks! It's not the worst mascara I've ever used we'll get to that, but it's awful and should not be $20. Then I have a Clinique sample from my sister and a Lancome sample. All three of these are bristle brushes and all three have the same problem. THEY FLAKE! The Clinique one was really good for about a month but then started flaking terribly and the other two flaked from day one. I hadn't had a mascara flake on me in so many years I almost didn't no know what all the black specs on my face were from! I don't have very oily eyelids so I didn't know why my undereyes suddenly looked grey- these mascaras were smearing too! So they just didn't work for me so I will not be purchasing any of them and they're all being retired.

Last but not least my total failures. So two of these are cult favorites! The L'Oreal Voluminous Million Lashes in Carbon Black is what so many people go back to time and time again because they love the length and volume it gives. This did nothing for me. Spikey rubbery brushes that I usually like but the formula is so wet it wont dry and my lashes stuck together! It was the saddest thing ever! Then the CoverGirl Super Thick Lash was supposed to be a dupe for my Tarte Lights Camera Lashes and whoever said that should shut their dirty mouth because it's not.  Then the last one Volume Eyes from Model Co I got in an Ipsy bag and it just flaked and transferred so I didn't give it much of a try at all.  All three of these bad boys are going in the trash because one they're old now and two they suck.

So at the end of this Makeup Madness I know what I like and what I don't like in mascaras. I prefer a thicker dryer mascara formula with either short rubberized bristles or long fibery ones that are packed super tight together. I have ones I like in both the High End price and the Drugstore range. I hate spending $20 on mascara especially when a $10 sample will usually last me just as long. I'm currently working through my Lash Sensational and another tube of They're Real (sample size) and so I'm set for right now. I'll probably buy another Roller Lash next...it was just so good!

Previous Makeup Maddnesses include Blush, Bronzers & Highlighters, Eye Liners and Lippies!

I don't need anymore bronze shadow...

It started the other day when I misplaced my Bronze Max Factor single eyeshadow I've been using this summer- talked more about here. So I went searching for other options and found this...

It turned out I had quite a few options... I have bronzes in warm tones, cool tones, with some gold shift and silver shift...bronzes all over the place! I've probably been wearing bronze eye shadow the longest of any other shade. Back in the day when I got my first makeover from Clinique they gave me an eyeshadow duo with a bronze color in it AND a bronze lipstick (mistakes were made, I've learned and moved on from this). So apparently bronze is just one of those great universally flattering colors of eyeshadows. Pretty much any eye color can wear them and they look great on most skin tones. For today's purposes we're just talking about eyes- I have some bronze bronzers (go figure) but it's the eyes where I use bronze the most.

Let's start with creams. So as I mentioned in my previous post I like to use two of these products as eye bases to place a powder shadow over. It's easy and makes the products last a long time.  I'm a little more than half way through the Maybelline Bad to the Bronze. This one is my favorite and I'll be sad when it's gone, I'll probably repurchase it because it's a really excellent base, lasts all day and doesn't crease.  The other pot is my ELF Cruisin' Chic Smudge Pot half the price of the Maybelline and works just as well honestly. But it has a stronger smell and you have to use a lot of it to build up the opacity.  Then I have a jumbo eye pencil from ELF that I totally forgot about! This is in Turkish Coffee and smells so strongly of crayons that I don't use it...I may give it a try but it's not my favorite.  

I have several Bronze eyeliners (not pictured in the swatches) that are just okay. I'm not really a huge fan of anyone. I talked about Tarte's Sunstone Bronze in the last post as well and while I hate that it's so soft it gets the job done. I have another Tarte Bronze liner that's just their regular line that is a little more firm but doesn't have the lasting power.  I also have a Rimmel Scandaleyez in Brown but it's a shimmery bronzey brown.  This one is also too soft for me so I haven't used it in months, if I can remember to sharpen it and let it sit overnight without a cap it's usually fine, but it's way too soft for practical everyday use.

Now I have a few single bronze shadows as well. As mentioned before the Max Factor doesn't have an actual name but it's a very decent shadow. I've tried to use it without one of my cream bases and it just does not pack enough punch on it's own. But layered it's gorgeous. Then I have the L'Oreal Infallible in Bronzed Taupe now this is n interesting one. If I layer it over my Bad to the Bronze it looks very grey and cool toned. It's got almost a silver cast to it, but on it's own it's much more of a typical bronze color. I have a love hate with this thing. It's a pressed pigment so it's got the pay off you want in a shadow but it's very delicate and fragile and can have lots of fallout if you're not careful. I know a lot of people will apply this with their fingers but I'm really more a brush kinda girl and so I don't reach for this one a lot.  Then my last single shadow but certainly not leave is my Victoria's Secret Very Sexy Single in Between the Sheets. If you can't tell by the fact that I've hit serious pan on this bad boy, I loved this color. I used to wear this all the time! It's been discontinued and it makes me want to cry. It's the second to last swatch on the right above and it's just the most gorgeous bronze ever. I'm going to leave this bad boy out and finish it up because I forgot how much I loved it.  It's a bit of a warmer tone than the other two so we'll have to see how it does, it's also fairly old so it may need a base. We'll see but I'm glad I found it again because I love this one.

Lastly I have a bunch of palettes that have a bronze shade here and there in them. To be honest I haven't been reaching for any of these over the summer because I've been using my creams and singles but it's good to know that there are lots of bronze shadows out there in palettes if I every use up my singles. I doubt I'll ever use up that Max Factor single because there is just a ton of product in that thing. 

I'll start with the trios first. I have the Wet 'n Wild trio in Walking on Eggshells and the middle crease color is a really pretty neutral bronze. It's pretty light and comes off warmer on me that some of the others. It's got great color pay of for a $2.99 eyeshadow trio and it's always on sale for less. I got mine for $1.99 so talk about bang for your buck. The other two colors are just as nice.  The Clinique trio I can't find online, I got it from my sister and the packaging looks like it might have been in a free gift set, but the middle color Buttered Bronze is another delightful warm bronze. The Tarte 8 Shadow palette was in a Holiday Gift set from QVC called Sweet Indulgences it was a limited release but you can see what all came with it online. The bronze in this kit does not have a name but it's the darkest bronze I have and is much more of a cool tone than some of the others. Then I have two Too Faced Palettes. I love Too Faced and the Too Face palette that I've panned two shadows from was actually my first high end makeup purchase post-college. The Too Faced Natural Eyes is a gorgeous neutral palette and has a couple of bronzey shades in it.  Push Up and Erotica are my favorites and they're pretty pretty shimmery too.  These are a little too shimmery for me now but for specially occasions I could probably still pull them off.  This palette has been repackaged and some of the colors have changed but those two are still in the new one.  Then last but not least my Too Faced Chocolate Bar Palette I love this thing. Hazelnut and Haute Chocolate are two very different bronze colors but bronzey none the less. Hazelnut is lighter and warmer and Haute Chocolate is very dark. I usually use these two together and it's gorgeous.  They're not as shimmery as the Natural Eyes shadows but they're still reflective in a subtle way. 

So yah I have a lot of bronze shadow options. I just find it such an easy color to work with. It's very neutral but can go warm or cool depending and it's easy to find. I have a good array of high end and drugstore options in every form and that's fun. I think for the summer bronze is perfect and works for both day and night. You can get a dusty smokey eye with bronze or keep it light and natural. Bronze is the perfect multitasking shadow. 

10 Minute Summer Makeup

So sorry for the neglect! I started this post 3 weeks ago! Makeup Blog Fail!

It's summer! It's hot and the days are long and the last thing I want to do is be in front of the mirror for half an hour with the hot lights shining down on me and messing with my face.  In the summer I like to save time wherever I can- I don't know why since the days seem to never end, but I still like to save time with my makeup and make it as simple and hassle free as possible.  So I find myself using this makeup look very often.


I start with my primers as usual- It Cosmetics Feel the Moment Primer plus my Maybelline Masterprime Blur.  If I'm feeling a little splotchy or red I throw on my tried and true Olay BB Cream.  Then I cover my under eyes with Benefit's Erase Paste- amazingly in the summer I only need one concealer.  Then hit the lids with primer and move onto my brows.  I go back and forth between my NYX Brow Pencil or my NYX Brow Powder.

But the real time saver comes when we hit the eyes!

I learned a magical trick at the end of spring that if your cream eye shadow (or Maybelline Color Tattoo) dries out you can just stir that bad boy up and it's good as new. So at the beginning of summer I did just that and my almost used up Bad to the Bronze was perfect again.

I apply my Color Tattoo or the ELF Dupe in Cruisin' Chic all over the lid and up to the crease.  I just put a pretty thin layer on, if I wore the cream shadow by itself it would give a very natural bronzy look. I've been using my Real Technique's domed eye shader brush for the ELF cream shadow because it's hard to get into the pot, but with the Color Tat I can just use my fingers. Then I hit my brown bone with a cream eye shadow I'm loving this single Max Factor pan my sister gave me from a kit- it doesn't have a name. Or I'll use one of the cream colors from my Tartelette palette. Then what really does the trick and makes it look like you put in some effort is the bronze eye shadow over the top of the cream. I'm again using one of the Max Factor color's my sis gave me and it's gorgeous. I tried over and over again to make the L'Oreal Infallible in Bronze Taupe work but it came off very silvery and looked almost grey not cute.  This bronze however is perfect and has the right amount of gold shimmer in it and it's perfect for summer.  If I'm being fancy after I apply it with a flat brush I'll take the fluffy side of a dual ended Tarte brush and kinda wisp it out into the cream.

To finish the eye look I've been using my Tarte Smolder Eyes in Sunset Bronze and smudge it out on the top and bottom.  Then I just hit the lashes with whatever mascara I want and I'm done! Normally my eye makeup can take anywhere from 15-20 minutes if I'm taking my time and using a million shades of brown, but for this look it takes no time at all and I like it enough to wear to work and out on the weekends.

To finish up the face I do my usual bronzer, blush and highlight routine nothing new there.  I take NYC's Sunny as a bronzer and contour all over the perimeter of my face. I go back and forth between ALL my blushes for a blush.  Then I pick usually out of two highlighters to highlight with.  Spray my face with a setting spray, pop on some tinted lip balm and I'm out the door.

I need to time my full face makeup routine because it really does take a long time. With this makeup routine I've noticed I have more time to relax before I head off to work in the mornings, I can make a second cup of coffee, watch some YouTube or even read a little. It's been delightful. I'm 100% convinced cream eye shadows were made for just this purpose.

Makeup Madness Part 4! Lip Products!

I didn't think I had that many lip products...

For someone who very rarely wears lipstick this was kinda shocking to go through. And there are actually 3 missing from the picture! My cat Bellatrix loves to play with lipstick and lose them all over my apartment.  I know exactly which ones are missing too and they're ones I love...so she better find them and put them back with the rest of my makeup or I'm going to be super upset.  So what we have here are 59 lip products and I am getting rid of a lot. Like more than any other Makeup Madness yet...especially since Makeup Madness 3 was a huge failure...

So the criteria I used to get rid of lipsticks and lip products was if they were expired- 2 -3 years- ewww. If they smelled I got rid of them and then if  attacked my lips or made them too dry.  So here's what I got rid of.

25 products. Oh I also got rid of colors that made my lips look dead and that I know wouldn't work for my sister either. I got rid of some glosses because I don't like lip gloss and I got rid of all the baby lips because they were all retired last year when my lips had a horrible reaction to EOS lip balms and these. Every time I would wear these or the EOS stuff my lips would puff up and look like I had lip injections- seriously not a good look for me- it was also painful.  The lip balm in the upper left I got in an Ipsy bag and can't get it open, but I remember disliking it.  The ELF moisturizing Lip Color was really disappointing, loved the formula but the poor thing is frosted! Hello 90s, not the look I'm going for.  The rest were just old so bye bye.

So like the eyeliners and jumbo pencils before them I decided to put my lip products to the swatch test...

PS Lipstick swatches are much harder to get off than eyeliner... Anyways aren't they pretty. So yes the lighting is bad but you can see I don't really stray outside of certain color familys.  What I ended up keep were a variety of terracotta/my lips but better colors, some brownie nudes and some reds.

So as you can see I kept 34 + the missing three and three I have at work. I'll break these into categories.

Lip Balms/Chapsticks- I love the plain generic Chap Stick I currently have Cake Batter (delicious) but Cherry is my favorite and I always have it on hand. I have another Cake Batter at the office.  I have two NYX Butter Balms that I'm undecided on, I may end up getting rid of these soon because i never use them but I'm going to give them a try before I make my decision.  I'm currently loving my Lypsyl I have one at home and one at work and it's a beeswax lip balm that has some good staying power. I'm almost done with one tube and will probably purchase more when it runs out. I have three rosebud salves- shoot it's missing from the picture too! I have two tubs and one squeeze tube. Thank god for the squeeze tube! I love it. It lives in my purse and I have a tub in my purse as well. Then a few assorted ones I'm not in love with but I leave them in every room of my apartment so I always have hydration for my lips if need be. I always have to have a balm or something on my lips or I'll go crazy.

I don't have a lot of lip liners because I'm lazy and don't like to line my lips.  The three I have here are all nudes one from ELF, one from Palladio and one from NYX. Nothing special about a single one, the Palladio is getting old so I am going to try to finish it up first, I want to wear more lipstick and notice a drastic difference when I wear liner...so goal.  I also have an ELF exfoliating lip scrub pictured here as well that I use infrequently. I like to have it around in case my lips do ever need scrubbing, but I usually use so much chapstick that I'm good. Another random one is my Too Faced Melted Lipstick in Chihuahua this is a gorgeous nudie brown that's a little darker than my lips, gorgeous and creamy but fades weird. I also have a baby sample of Palomino from Bite beauty, fabulous formula and it's a super hot pink...we'll see if I'm ever bold enough to wear it.

Regular Lipstick. So I don't have a lot of repeats in my regular lipstick stash. One of my missing ones is actually a pair of the Rimmel Kate Moss ones, I have the red cased one here but I have a black cased one too that I love and am heartbroken that it's missing.  I am also missing my two Victoria's Secret Very Sexy lipsticks from a hundred years ago, yes they're old and expired but I want to always have them because they're beautiful- don't judge.  So in here are most of my Red lipsticks, everything from brick red to bright hot red and then deep red burgundies. I have two beautiful brown nudes that are great for falls or when you want your lips to have that dead look that's a little special.  Two are YouTube Made me Buy it's- the NYX in Alabama and Wet N Wild's Fergie Bebot Love were YouTube recommendations and I love them. 

Jumbo and micro sticks. Man these have really piled up lately. Two months ago I had no NARS Velvet Matte lip pencils and now I have three! Two were my birthday gift from Sephora and one I bought in Walkyrie a gorgeous brick red that looks fairly natural on me...they last forever and are super easy to apply, I like them a lot. I have two Revlon Matte Balms in Elusive and Standout, these are gorgeous too and pretty hydrating. I also have a Revlon Balm stain in Honey another YouTube Made me Buy It. Then I have two L'Oreal Glossy Balms in Lovely Mocha (so pretty) and My Babydoll (which I haven't worn on my lips). I also have a coral-y color from Tarte that I haven't worn but it's a dark dark coral really pretty, but I got it in a winter kit and haven't had a chance to play with it yet, it also came with a gloss I'm willing to try. 

So that's about it. I love the jumbo stick format for lip sticks and clearly enjoy the ones that have more of a balmy texture. My biggest problem with lipstick is even if I don't wear liner after an hour or two it looks like that's all I have one. I drink coffee or water all day and so a lot of lip products rub off. I'd prefer to only have to touch up once after lunch. So I'm really picky about my lip products. This is why I usually don't wear any, but I do enjoy the way it looks so I am trying to wear them more often. So we'll see.  

These last few items are just not for me, so I'm going to see if my sister wants them. The two ELF products are a great texture but the lip balm is too thin for me and the lip color is all wrong, but looks like my sister. The Liquid Lip thing was in an Ipsy box and is fabulous, but messy. Also the color would probably look better on my sis.  Same with the Hikari lipstick I wore this once and it started off a gorgeous deep red but faded to a hot pink on me. It's a good brand so I felt bad getting rid of it so I'll see if Hail wants it. If not these will also see the trash.

I feel really good about this purge I feel like I'm really only keeping what I want/can use. So yay! I don't know what I'm going to do next but here are Blush, Bronzers & Highlighters and Eye Liners. 

Beauty Trash! Or what other people call Empties!

So I have been wanting to do this blog post FOREVER! Like when I started my blog I thought ooh I can't wait to do an Empties post. But...I didn't have any empties...so I started collecting them. And kept collecting them. And then the Sephora bag overflowed and I noticed one of my cats playing with an empty cotton rounds bag on the floor and decided ENOUGH! So In the future I promise not to wait 6 months but honestly I don't go through anything other than makeup wipes monthly- so maybe we'll try every 3 months...

Makeup Wipes! I've gone through more than just what is seen here but some actually made it into my real trash over the last several months. I probably go through 2 packets of makeup wipes a month.  Prior to Marchish maybe Februaryish my go to makeup wipes were the Target Brand Up and Up Exfoliating Cucumber $3, scrubby, not too wet and perfect. Love them! I used 1 to 2 daily and they were great. Then a Target Cartwheel Coupon came through for the Neutrogena Makeup Remover Wipes and they were even better! Not scrubby, a little more expensive $4.99 but they worked so much better a little wetter but I feel like they actually cleaned better.

Then in January I met the Simple Miscellar Water that I wrote about here .  And I started using it with whatever cotton rounds I had at the time and discovered there was still makeup on my face after the face wipes! Gasp! I believe we've talked about my dislike of getting my face wet and actually cleaning it outside of the shower so I know my face is probably gross when I just use my makeup wipes.  but I started using this Miscellar water and life changed. I love this stuff. I basically soak a cotton round (or two) in this and rub it all over my face and neck and remove all the stuff the makeup wipe leaves behind. This miscellar water also lightly hydrates and I don't feel like I have to immediately put on moisturized right afterwards which is awesome. Since starting to use the Miscellar water I've gone through probably three cotton rounds packets, but like I mentioned one fell victim to my cats. But I'm really liking this system and will continue to purchase all of these things. When the Neutrogena is on sale I'll buy it but the Up & Up still work fine and with the Simple water I feel like everything works better. I just finished that first bottle of Miscellar water on Wednesday so I feel like lasting 4 months at $6.99 (I always find coupons for this too) is a perfectly reasonable price.

I was so excited to have actually finished some makeup things! I feel like I have so much makeup that I'll never get through it all, but I'm really working now on getting through my products.  So here we have my first BB cream that I ever loved Oil of Olay Fresh Effects BB Cream in Light Medium. I have to order this stuff online now and it's really cheap $7-8 depending. This was the first BB cream I started using at the end of last Spring when I was still blonde and getting into all this makeup stuff. It offers virtually no coverage, but is very moisturizing, smells great and works to somewhat even out my skin tone. As an added bonus of all the things it doesn't do it has SPF 30.  I am on my second tube and use it combined with other BB creams or tinted moisturizers. I still like it for light days. I may repurchase it because I do like mixing it with other things.

Eyeliners! I went through two eyeliners in dark brown. One was the Milani Liquid Eye and this is a mechanical pencil that was great. It's super dark, looked like a liquid or a gel, was super easy to use and stayed all day.  Well when I finished this I bought another- but Milani changed the format and put it in a wooden pencil that you have to sharpen.  I hate it! It's too creamy and just becomes a smudgy mess. I will not be repurchasing again. Luckily I mostly use gel now, but I liked a pencil for easy low-maintenance days.  The other pencil was the Milani Define a Line in Dark Brown. But this one wasn't as dark brown as the Milani. I liked this one fine and enjoyed that it had a smudger on the end, but probably wont repurchase either because it wasn't dark enough.  So two products that I wont rebuy- yay!

I went through a Mascara! Well I didn't actually go through it, but after 3 months it started to get chunky and became sad...it was my Tarte Lights Camera Lashes a beautiful $21 mascara from a brand I love. I got this in my Holiday Tarte set and fell in love. High End Mascara is where it is at my friends. This mascara has a real bristle brush instead of all those plastic brushes I normally use and it's fantastic. Your lashes but better. I will totally buy this again...when it's on sale.

I also went through an eye shadow primer.  Wet n Wild Fergie Take on the Day Eyeshadow Primer This was the first eyeshadow primer I ever bought! I got it at the beginning of last summer and it lasted me till mid February. It's cheap at $4.99 from and drugstore and it works great. I feel like there was still some product left in it but it started to separate and not work as well towards the end. I've already bought a replacement because I've tried some other primers like Milani's and ELFs and they just don't work as well.

One ELF Primer that does work well though is the ELF Studio Hydrating Undereye Primer. I think I've mentioned in previous posts that I didn't realize this stuff worked so well till I stopped using it. I love this stuff. It's super hydrating and I feel like it helps my concealer not look cakey under my eyes. I always notice when I don't use it. And the only reason I don't use it is when I forget. I've already started working on my second tube and love it. 

Next up moisturizer! I love moisturizer. I think I've mentioned all these things before but here we go again.  Cetaphil moisturizing cream this stuff is amazing and since January I've gone through these two tubs and am half way through a third. The bottom tub is larger size and actually got me through January and February. The top tub is the regular size and got me just through March. My April tub is also the larger tub so I expect it to take me into mid-May and by then it'll be time to start using regular lotion again.  I love this stuff, in the winter my skin literally drinks it up and at $11 a tub I'll keep buying it.

The Neutrogena Deep Moisture Night Cream  is something I miss. I'm using a new night cream that doesn't work half as well so I will be repurchasing it when this it's finished. This stuff was awesome, lasted about 8 months and at $12 that's not too bad.  It's so thick and creamy that you don't need much at all, it spreads evenly and soaks into your skin overnight. I would wake up and my skin felt hydrated and not tight at all. The only downside to this stuff is it isn't really made for age defying just hydration.

The Olay Beauty Fluid is something I've used for years off and on. It's really light but hydrating and really good for under makeup.  This also doesn't have any age defying ingredients so I have switched to something else, but if I wasn't started to get older I'd still probably use the pink beauty fluid again.

And last I have these sad little samples of products.  Two I liked and 4 I could do without. I really liked The Body Shop's Vitamin E mask. I just used this as a lotion at night and it was fabulous. I may one day buy more of this, but this little paper packet lasted about a week because you didn't need much for the way I used it.  I also loved the Ganier Night Time Moisturizer- this actually does have anti-aging stuff in it so I may debate getting this instead of my other Neutrogena night cream, because I remember really loving this stuff. Hydrating and if it helps with aging fabulous.

Now the stuff I didn't care for...The Body Show's Tea Tree Clay Mask, way too drying for my face, just not for me.  The Philosophy brand Renewed Hope   which is supposed to be a moisturizer but did anything but that on me. I know some people love this stuff but it's cool that I don't because it's pricey.  Another item I had super high hopes for was the First Aid Beauty Ultra Repair Cream one the smell was awful and two it made my hands itch. I don't know what's in it but my body said no.  This stuff too is super expensive and so I'm happy my skin likes the cheaper lotions and creams from the drugstore.

So there you have it. My beauty trash from the last little while.  I'll probably do this again at the end of summer. Hopefully by then I'll have finished more makeup.  We'll see!