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!

Stuff I'm loving right now. April 2015

Instead of doing a full favorites post, I want to just highlight a few items that I'm really enjoying right now.  Some are a surprise and some are not.  But they're all cool products I want to share about.

We'll go biggest to smallest.  So first up are the Neutrogena Makeup Remover Face Wipes. Now I've been a fan of my Up & Up cucumber face wipes for years and rarely try different ones because I know they wont be as good, but these were on sale one day and I tried them and fell in love. They don't dry out my face as much and I feel like the towelettes are larger so I get more and more product off because of them.  I still follow up with my Simple Micellar Water- that I've blogged about before...and yes makeup still comes off after I've used both sides of these wipes, but I really feel like there's less than with the Up & Up. I am going to try the Target version of the Neutrogena ones in the purple bag, but I still have two Neutrogena packs to go through before then.  So if you're looking for a good makeup wipe I recommend these, they're gentle yet strong.  They're usually around $6 but I always find coupons or Cartwheel deals for them.

Next up is a new one- my Jojoba Oil. I got this one from Trader Joe's but you can get it anywhere and it's a really nice oil.  I've been a fan of coconut oil and sweet almond oil for a while now and use them for makeup remover, moisturizer and hair treatments and apparently you can do the same with this.  I've been loving it on my hair because it doesn't make your hair greasy but gives good shine and supposedly helps the health.  I bought a sample of Josie Maran Argan Oil and din't like it for anything- I felt like it made my hair dryer and my face felt like I'd done nothing to it- maybe I'll use it for a cuticle oil, but I feel like this Jojoba Oil like my coconut and almond oil is a multitasker that can do just about anything so I'm really liking it. It absorbs fast too! It's about $8-10 depending where you buy it.

I've been loving switching up my blushes lately. I used to use the same blush day after day after day and not think anything of it, but now I love switching up my blush depending on what I'm wearing or how I do my eyes. It's been fun.  So I'm loving the Milani Rose Powder Blush in Tea Rose. It's a beautiful soft dusty rose, but can still be bright if you apply a little more. I love this for early spring, it goes great with navy blue and my usual natural eye, but it's just gorgeous. The Blush in the pan is in a pretty rose shape that makes it feel extra fun and fancy. You don't need a lot to get it to show up and it's not powdery at all, it sticks perfectly to my Real Techniques Blush Brush.  The blush is only $7 and I have a feeling it is going to last and long long time.

I have two new ELF Brushes I'm just loving. The ELF Studio Contouring Brush is a great short bristled, stiff, flat brush. It allows for really precise placement of contour powder and you can really cut your cheek bones with it and get super close to your hairline. I don't use it for blending to much but I have and it works great, but I love using it to just place my contour color is a sharp straight line and then I'll bring in a fluffy brush to blend up.  It's also great for getting around my temple and hairline because I don't have a very large forehead and so most brushes are usually too big to contour and bronze above my eyebrows. But not this guy- he is a little more expensive for ELF brushes at $6 but I don't mind because it gets the job done and ELF brushes are excellent quality.  The other ELF brush I've been loving lately is my ELF Studio Eyebrow Duo I love this guy too. It's got a mini spoolie on one side and a flat angled brush on the other. The spoolie is perfect eyebrow size! I hate with eyebrow powders come with full size spoolies for your brows because they're always too big, but this little guy is exactly the length of the width of my brows so it's perfect.  The angled brush is also an excellent size and works well with both brow powders and creams.  I use it frequently with a product I'm going to talk about later.  This guy is only $3 so that doesn't both me either.

Oh Benefit Roller Lash how I love you. I hate to love this product because it's not cheap...$24 for a mascara is ridiculous...but I had a gift card and a coupon so I got it and love it. I've been a fan of Benefit Mascaras for a brief minute starting with the They're Real Mascara I talked about in January and this does not disappoint either. I've even used the two together and shut the front door it's awesome. So the gimmick with the roller lash is that you're not supposed to have to curl your lashes beforehand and while I don't really notice it curling my lashes extremely I do know I haven't used my eyelash curler in over a month now so that's a big plus for me. I feel like this mascara got better after I used it for about a week and now it's just perfect. I don't find it clumps at all and it's great at separating my lashes. I'm sure a lot of it has to do with the curved shape of the wand and the bristles but I like the formula as well.  So while I wont be purchasing another tube of this right away when it runs out because like I said it costs $$$ but I do like it and if I ever have some extra Ulta $ aroud I'll totally get it again.  

Next up is a different thing for me. Even since I cancelled my Ipsy bag I've been looking for another subscription that would be kinda cool and had heard about a perfume one that sounded interesting. I go in phases where I wear perfume and don't, but I've been trying to do it more often because I do like the way it smells and there's just something fun and sexy about perfume.  So I didn't want to spend a ton of money on a full bottle of perfume and then get tired of it half way through and then I remembered hearing about Scentbird from a couple of youtubers.  It's a $14 monthly subscription where you get a 30 day supply of designer perfumes in a fun little atomizer.  This is a great way to try a lot of perfumes at a fraction of the price.  So you get to fill out a little survey with the perfumes you like and the notes that interest you and then they recommend scents you might like. You can read comments and look at the notes and then fill out your schedule so you get the scents you want.  For this first month I got Si by Giorgio Armani. Oh it's delightful I cheated and smelled it at Sephora first and so I knew I wanted it to be one of my selections. I've filled out my calendar for the next four months to test is like I did Ipsy. Now they say they give you enough for a full month but it looks like more to me and especially if I don't wear it everyday, so I'm interested to see how long the samples they give last, but it's a fun little thing and kinda different so I wanted to share it as well.  The first link is a subscription link and if you use it I get points towards a free month I think- never understand how those work.

I am in constant search for the perfect concealer. I feel like it's a never ending journey because I'll use one for a while and then it seems to just stop working for me! It's so frustrating.  So I bounce around a lot, but I think one of my problems could be that I just don't use enough or I don't prep my eyes well enough. So lately I've been using my Benefit Erase Paste but a pretty generous amount of it. Instead of just dabbing the tip of my finger I'm using the spatula that came with it and getting a good later of it on each eye.  It's super creamy and smooth and so a little does go a  long way, but I found if you put on a generous layer it covers the blue under my eyes better and it lasts all day.  I use shade 02 Medium and it's a great match. It is kinda peachy but when you put on a thicker layer it seems to match my actual skintone better. I sometimes will top it with another concealer but this week I've been using it on it's own and I really like it.  Now it is $26 at Ulta but I have a pretty good dupe in my Pixi Correction Concentrate from Target and it's a bit dryer so it naturally applies thicker and it's great as well, but my Benefit definitely has been getting a little more love this month.

And lastly my NYX Tame and Frame brow pomade in blonde...yes blonde. I had the chocolate which is the lightest brow shade and it was laughably dark. I love this stuff. It takes some getting used to but like my concealer quest I am always in search of better brow products. I love brow pencils because they're easy and I love brow powder because it's forgiving but the pomade does so many things at once. It fills, it draws and it holds those suckers in place.  I feel use this with my ELF brow brush duo and its great, but this product is so soft in the pot that I frequently get too much and have to rub it around in the cap to get it how I want it.  I find this stuff lasts all day and doesn't budge. The color match is a bit annoying because my hair is not blonde but the lightest brown was too dark but that's okay because the blonde is pretty taupe so it goes with lots of shade.  This product is $7 from Ulta and if you can find a display that has it then you're in luck. I seem to be going through it pretty quickly, but the price makes that okay.

So those are all the fun things I've been enjoying lately.  Its a lazy Saturday morning right now, the cats are lounging by the windows, I'm doing laundry and drinking coffee but now that this post is out of the way I guess it's time to put on my makeup. I'm trying to do more minimal makeup on the weekends but it's so hard, I really just enjoy my usual full face of makeup, but I also know my skin needs a break, so we'll see what I come up with.  Happy weekending! I'm going to try to do my lip product makeup madness clean out later this week.

Makeup Madness Part 3! Eye Liners and Jumbo Pencils.

Sorry for the long hiatus! I was bloggin' up a storm over on my other blog about movies and movies oh and about movies. I did a ridiculous thing...go read about it!  Or stay tuned to hear about my Pencil Hoarding and unsuccessful purging.

This post could be long.  We're going to talk about a lot of items that I've had for a long time and need to just get rid of.  Liners. I used to use pencil eyeliner all the time, like every day, but then I discovered Gel liner and my life was forever changed. I still use pencil liners here and there but only when I'm lazy, it's the weekend or I'm trying to tight line.  So whateves. So here's what I have.

Makeup Madness Part 3. All liners eye... #eyeliners #jumbopencils #nyx #tarte #elf #milani #maybelline

A photo posted by Tyler Archer (@tyleralyse) on Apr 7, 2015 at 5:44pm PDT

After going through this stash I've decided two things...one I'm only getting rid of three things, I know I suck, and two I need to break this up into more categories. I was originally going to include lip liners and crayons but decided to keep all my lip stuff together in the next one.  I'll also do a separate brow one even though I really don't have a lot of brow products... So let's go through what I've got! Since I'm not really getting rid of stuff.

Let's start with my inner rim brighteners.  When I first started doing theatre a million years ago we put red eyeliner in our inner corners of our eyes, it looked freakish up close but apparently from the audience it was fabulous...eventually I learned that white was what you wanted for stage makeup. So I started putting white on my inner rim, much less freakish.  Now when I'm not on stage I like to use nude because it's more natural looking and makes you look way more awake.

1. Beautique Eyeliner in White- I'm amazed at how pigmented and creamy this still it because I don't remember when I bought it. I should probably get rid of it but have a feeling if sharpened and alcohol dipped it'll be fine, it doesn't smell so it stays!
2. Tarte Inner Rim Liner- I just got this is one of my tipsy late night online birthday purchases and it's beautiful. I'm worried it may be making my eyes water but I'll experiment a little more before getting rid of it. It's a beautiful pinky nude.
3. NYX Wonder Pencil in Light- uuuuhgg not sure about this one yet either. It's the perfect nude shade because it can be used for inner rim brightening, brow bone highlighting and concealing, but it's a little hard. If you warm it up between your fingers it goes on smooth, but I'm just not sure yet. It's new too so keeping it!
4. Rimmel Scandaleyes in 005 Nude. This was my first inner rim brightener of my post blonde days! I love this stuff. It's so creamy and smooth and wears for a really long time. I do have to put this on before my mascara though because otherwise I get it on my lashes and it looks kinda funny. really like it.

Weird Jumbo pencil type things. I don't know why I'm keeping these, maybe because I haven't really used them. But the three ELF ones I've never used on my eyes and they're so pretty! I feel like I need to. There's a gold, a bronze and a navy blue. I don't know what I'm going to use them for but darn it I'm going to.  My Pout Silver pencil is beautiful and I love it. I don't know when and where I got it but it's gorgeous and one of those makeup items you think will be perfect for Halloween so I'm going to keep it around. Then there's this Maybelline Kajal Liner in Brown that was my sister's and then she gave it to me to try to see if I could figure it out.  Well I couldn't But it's really pretty and smudged out in the outer corner makes a great smokey eye, but as a liner it kinda sucks, so I'm lumping it together with my other jumbo pencils.

Now I don't really use black eyeliner. I pretty much stick to my neutral browns and I just feel like black is too harsh.  BUT...these are really pretty black liners and I feel, like the jumbo pencils, you never know when you're going to need these for Halloween or for dress up days at work.  Two of these are pretty glittery blacks- a Black Liquid Liner with glitter in that's soooooo pretty! And a black glitter from ELF.  The liquid liner I got in an Ipsy bag and I've only used it once but loved it when I did. The Elf I got in a glitter set with a pencil I am getting of, but it's also a really pretty black so I'm keeping it!  Then I have an ELF liquid liner that is pretty new and also gorgeous so I'm holding on to it. And lastly a Tarte black that I got in my Christmas Tarte kit. It's a gorgeous pencil.  I may try to start incorporating some black liner into some looks this spring.

Browns and bronzes oh my! I used to wear brown eye liner every day before I started using gel, so these have been neglected. So my old favorite for dark brown eyeliner was the Milani Gel Eye Pencil and it was a mechanical roll up but now they've changed the formula and it sucks. It's too soft! You can not get a precise point because it is not too much like a gel. It made me so sad! Same goes for the Rimmel Scandaleyes.  The two shorter Tarte pencils from my Christmas kit are great just firm enough to hold shape but soft enough to glide on smoothly. The bottom Tarte pencil with the smudger is a little too soft too but I need to play with it a little more because it's new. Overall I'm not terribly impressed with eye pencils anymore but keep the around for weekends and lazy days.

Here's my favorite gel liner by NYX! And an ELF Liner I never use... I just am not a fan of liquid liner. I remember in high school my sister was awesome at liquid liner and I wanted to be so badly, but I was never precise enough and it always smeared or smudged and it was not good. But I love this Gel Liner. It's perfect. It is so dark brown it's almost black but just almost. There's just enough contrast between the dark brown and the black of my lashes that I know it's like actually brown. I pretty much use the Gel every day and I feel like I'm finally starting to make a dent in it. I think I got it late last Spring, so at the year mark there is still well over half left. This stuff may last forever. The reason I'm keeping the liquid around is because I have hopes that one day I'll learn how to do winged eyeliner and will use this to try.

And here are the three I'm getting rid of. A black Lord & Berry pencil that's awful. Like I said I don't use black eyeliner a lot but when I do I do not want it to smudge and melt down my face. This stuff would not stay in my waterline to save my life. It's awful! It never sets but when it does it's almost a flakey powder it's weird and bad and no thank you. Then I have an ELF sparkly plum. Unlike the sparkly black this one is not pretty, you can barely see the sparkle and it's so try.  I have barely used it and don't plan to use it anymore.  Then I have a label-less ELF liquid liner in brown that I've had too long. It's dry. The new one is still unopened so it'll last a while but this one I don't need.



Bonus Pic! Here's how I decided what to keep!

See they're all still so pigmented and pretty! And oh my gosh some of them have ridiculous power and took forever to get off. Some came off a little too easily with a Target Up & UP makeup wipe but some required scrubbing. All the liquid ones were really really good. This has made me want to figure out how to use those ELF jumbo pencils too because they're so pretty and pigmented!

Previous Makeup Madness-es include Part One was on Blush and Part Two on Bronzers and Highlighters.  Next up I'm going to do Lip Products...I've amassed quite a few recently and like very few of them. It'll be hard to get rid of them! I'm such a hoarder!

tarte Tartelette Matte Palette Redux

So this is going to be a combination post. I've been promising to re-review my Tartelette Palette since my first review that I changed my mind on. And also this morning/last night I got a request for a step by step Matte Eye look.  So two birds one awesome eye palette. So I am not an expert at all when it comes to makeup, but I do watch a lot of Beauty Gurus on YouTube and read a lot of makeup blogs so I feel like somewhere out there I have back up for what I'm about to say and do.

I know Matte Eyeshadows are something a lot of people are afraid of because you have to be really careful, blend a lot and they just aren't as forgiving as shimmer shadows.  I think that's why at first I didn't like my Tartelette palette, I didn't know the trick yet.  So I added them to my eyes and wherever I put them they STAYED! Like they did not want to blend and the just wanted to chill in my crease all patchy and sad like.  So I scoured the internet to figure out what I was doing wrong and it wasn't till about 2-3 weeks after I had the palette that Tati shared this eye shadow changing tip on her channel. POWDER. After you primer your eyes, powder your eyes this makes all the difference. I swear! So I'll share in the photo's below how I do this, but I don't just powder my eyes once, I do it twice. And I can tell when I do a crappy job of it cause I get patchy shadow as a side-effect.  On to the step by step process.  (also this could be a little long because I captured the whole process) If you're just here for the eyes skip to Step 10.

Dangit I forgot to capture my BB Creams...sigh

Here's the majority of the products I used today I'll list them all with their shades along the way.  The most important step though is the base. You have to have a good even foundation to start with or the rest of the face falls apart, or melts off.

1.) Start with a naked face. I've added Josie Maran's Argan Oil Light all over my face with my usual ELF under eye Primer.  I also have on some chapstick.

2.) After this I add my allover face primer. I'm still using my Maybelline Master Prime Blur and still enjoying it.

3.) Then I start working on my base. Before I apply any BB creams I add my Lemon Aid primer from Benefit on any discolorations. I use this to neutralize my eyelid shadows and on any blemishes (which right now I seem to have a few)

4.) I also use this time to add my first of many layers of undereye concealer. I'm currently using Benefit's Erase Paste as my salmon based color corrector for under my eyes.



Here you can see my eyelids are a little lighter and my under eyes look a little yellowish but less blue.

5.) Now I add my BB cream. I'm using a mix of my Olay Fresh Effects BB cream and my Smashbox BB Cream.

6.) More concealing. I'm using a sample of Lancome's Effacernes Waterproof Undereye Concealer. Not sure how I feel about it yet. I like the texture but I still think we can do better...I think I have my color correcting down but it's the concealing now that's the problem...sigh

7.) More primer. Now I prime my eyes. I'm still using Wet N Wild's Fergie Take on the Day primer but it's almost out, so on standby I have Milani's eye primer.

8.) Powder! I do not powder my whole face, my skin is too dry for that nonsense but I do powder my eyes and undereye area and anywhere else that has concealer. It's called setting your concealer and it's important. I use Palladio Rice Powder for this, it's light and translucent.

So now we get to the good stuff, now we get to the eyes.

9.) First step to my eyes is to fill in my eyebrows I know I know sometimes I go to far and have very dark eyebrows and sometimes I do just enough and you can't see where I'm missing hair- today is somewhere between. I've been using and loving the NYX micro-pencil it's fabulous I use the shade Taupe.

For the next few steps you'll need a neutral palette I'm going to name the shades in the Tarte Tartelette palette but I'll also describe them and have a shot of the palette later highlighted with the colors I used.

10.) Take Free Spirit or your favorite light cream color all over your lid. I mean all over from eyebrow to lash line. This is the second layer of powder I spoke about earlier this doesn't need to be a thick layer but it needs to be there, your entire eyelid should be the same shade now and smooth when you run the brush over it, no skipping across the eye. I use a fluffy shader brush from Real Techniques called The Base Shadow Brush.

11.) Next I take Caregiver a pale but pigmented baby pink and cover just the moving part of my lid till the crease. I don't carry it into the crease here but cover the who eyelid again till the crease.  I use an ELF Essential Eye Shadow Brush but any short and flat brush will do.

There is now a pretty good amount of powder on my lids. It's not thick, you can't see it but if you run a brush across your lids it would feel very smooth- that's what you want.

12.) Now we attack the crease. I go in with my two medium colors and blend them together with a fluffy short brush by Real Techniques called the Shader Brush. I take this into Force of Nature and Wanderer  and tap off the extra and just start blending it into my crease. From inner corner to outer corner with windshield wiper motions. I go over this as much as I want.  This color covers the crease and goes about it and below it just the slightest. When you open your eyes you should see just a little bit of the crease color above your crease. This will be hard if you have fully hooded eyelids, mine are partially hooded so it works but the more real estate above your crease the easier this will be for you.

Here's how it'll look with eyes open and closed with just the first three eye steps.







13.) Okay here's the test to see if you have enough powder on your lids. Take a medium to dark brown color I used Dreamer on a fluffy domed crease brush I used my ELF Essential Eye Crease Brush. I dip just the top domed part of the brush in the color- start slow- and tap it off. Then I dot this on the outer corner of my eye. Do one eye at a time here, you can ever it out later. And I make a small triangle of shadow here.  (please see very unattractive picture here my lighting was hating me)

14.) Then Blend, blend, blend. Use the same brush, don't add anymore product and blend again into the crease, try not to go above the crease this time, but use the same windshield motions back and forth till it's completely blended out.

15.) Almost done with the eyes- next clean it up. Keep blending till you're happy and see an pretty gradient from one color to the next. No harsh lines, you want it to look smooth and effortless. I always go back into my pale pink and my cream color to re-highlight my browbone and brighten up my inner corner of the lid.

16.) Eyeliner time! I like to use NYX's Dark Brown Gel Liner, it's dark and smooth and goes on like a dream. I apply this with any liner brush right now I'm using my Sephora Liner Brush from high school so I have no idea if they still make it but it works beautifully. I do the very thinnest line I can do, just to darken up the base of my lashes, I don't use a very thick line.

17.) Lower eyeliner- I don't usually use eyeliner on my lower lash line I just take the darkest color eye shadow I used and an angled brush to pop it down there. Today I used Dreamer again and a no-name angled brush.






17.) The final eye step is to add mascara! I'm in love with my Benefit Roller Lash. It's like my Benefit They're Real but curlier. It's fantastic. However before I could finish using it- disaster struck!!!

Oh the tears. 

18.) After I cleaned up my mess. I continued on with the rest of my face. Which pretty much is always the same. Bronzer from my NYX Sunny, Blush from whatever is closest- today was my new Milani Tea Rose this stuff is strong! Then I finish with my ELF highlight in Moonlight Pearls.

And done! Geesh it always seems like such a long process when I write it out! But it really doesn't take me more than 15 minutes. 

Here's a close up of the Tartelette Palette and the colors I used. 

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PS So sorry I've been neglecting my beauty blog! I've been working on an excessive movie project on my main blog . It'll be done by the 30th for my birthday. But this is the most action my other blog has gotten in a while, so it's good for it. Once that project is over I also promise to continue my Makeup Madness series with my liners. 

Easy weekend makeup, March 2015

I don't mind wearing lots of makeup every day really. I love the finished product so the fact that I wear lots of makeup for the most part is just fine with me. But I do like to take as much of a break as I can on the weekend. I like to not cover my face and if I can get away with not using gel eyeliner or more than like 2 products on my eyes I get really excited.  So this was my go to makeup this weekend. I only left the house like twice and knew the people I was seeing wouldn't judge the lack of makeup on my face.

So here are the products I used. Just seven and one brush. Considering that on a normal day I could use anywhere from 15 - 20 products on my face this is a huge slim down. Here's what I did:

1. I used my Benefit Fake Up in 02 under my eyes. This stuff is a super hydrating concealer with a little bit of pigment. It's not strong enough for everyday use but when I'm going for a lighter/more natural look it does the trick.
2. Next I took my Master Primer by Maybelline in the Blue + Smooth formula and put it on the apples of my cheeks, near my nose, on my nose and the top of my forehead. All the places I have problems with pores. This is a somewhat hydrating primer, it's not really hydrating, but it doesn't dry me out so I feel it counts.  I only use it in targeted areas. This helps give the appearance of smoother skin and since I wasn't topping it with a BB cream I made sure to really focus on my problem areas.
3. Next I took my Define a Brow also by Maybelline and worked on my eyebrows. In the picture below you'll see my left eyebrow was really having some fun, I toned him down after I took the picture to make it look a little more natural.  I love using an eyebrow pencil because they're so much faster, but they don't have the added bonus of being controlling. 
4. Then I took my Maybelline (may used a lot of Maybelline products this day) Color Tattoo in Creamy Beige allover my eyelid and up a little in the crease. I love this color. It's a beigey brown that is just a little darker than my natural eyelids. It's the perfect no-make-up-make-up eye color. When you pull it up into your crease it naturally looks a little darker, it's beautiful.
5. Then I took my Tarte eyeliner in Bronze very close to my upper and lower lashline. Drawing very small strokes and really just trying to darken my lashes a little. I smudged it out a little on the ends with my fingers.
6. Next I used a sample of Clinique's High Impact mascara in black that my sister game me. It is not high impact, but actually gives a really natural flutterly look to my lashes. I gave two quick coats to my lashes and moved on.
7. Finally I finished with my Elf blush in Jest Setter. I love this color, its a very natural mauvey-pink. I like it because it goes with everything and is hard to get too much of, so it looks super natural. I took this on my Real Technique's Blush Brush and just really focused on blending it out and making it look super soft.

Here is my before and after- remember the eyebrows were addressed later no worries.

Easy Saturday makeup. 7 products only. #nomakeupmakeup #saturday #spring2015 #colortattoo #fakeup #blush #mascara #primerpower #brow #freshface

A photo posted by Tyler Archer (@tyleralyse) on Mar 7, 2015 at 9:50am PST

In the picture on the left I just have moisturizer on my face and it was a little pink.  I've been trying out and enjoying my Pond's Dry Skin Cream. It's really thick and creamy and smells deliciously like Baby Powder.

My February Face!

Here are the products I was using and abusing in February.  I didn't want to necessarily do a Favorites post because I think sometimes we use products that aren't our favorites because they're what we have, so since I using most of this stuff for a month. I now have an opinion on them.  I'm going to take us through my whole face routine.

Skincare:
I am terrible about washing my face every night, I'm lazy and I don't like to get my whole face wet.  So I use face wipes.  I know, I know they don't do enough.  I'll take off my makeup with the wipes as soon as I know I'm not leaving my house again for the night.  This month I tried out a new brand for me the Neutrogena Makeup Remover Towelettes. I had been a loyal fan of my Up and Up green packaged exfoliating wipes for years but these were on sale so I snatched them up.  I really like these, I feel like they don't dry out my skin as much and I don't have to put moisturizer on immediately after I use them.  I've already repurchased my second bag. But I do follow up the makeup wipes now with another newish product my Simple Micellar Water that I wrote about a while ago here. I just use this on a cotton pad and it gets off all the other makeup that was left behind from the wipe.  I usually use just one cotton pad on both side, but if I have lots of eye makeup on then I'll use two. I love this stuff I've already bought a backup. I'm probably about a 3rd of the way through my first bottle.

Right now I'm finishing up a tub of Neutrogena Deep Moisture Night Cream I've been working on this stuff for about a year probably. I use so very little of it and I was really bad for a while and didn't use it every night.  A little bit goes a long way and it is super deep moisture.  I have already purchased a different night cream to try after this is gone, but if it's a dud I will totally go back to the Deep Moisture. It has a nice old lady powdery smell, is super thick and lasts a really long time. What's not to love.

In the morning before I put on my makeup I've been using Olay Age Defying Classic Daily Renewal Cream. I love Oil of Olay, but this day cream does not impress me.  I switched from the Beauty Fluid which I'd be an avid user of for years because I wanted something a little more targeted to those fine lines I seem peeking under my eyes, but it's not cutting it.  I'm not shy when I use this so I'm going through it quickly. But I will not be repurchasing it. I bought a big tub or Pond's Dry Skin Cream and have been cheating on my Olay with it. It does a much better job, the tub is twice the size and half the price.  We'll see how it fairs in March.

Face Base:
I've started calling all my allover face stuff Face Base lately because it makes me giggle. These are all the prep/foundation layers I've been using.  After my moisturizer I've been using the Maybelline Master Prime just in the center of my face. I'm not sure it's actually doing anything. Like all primers I never see my pores shrunk or blurred. So whatever. It was on sale, it's not as drying as some primers but you can't convince me it does anything. Probably wont repurchase.  Next I tackle under my eyes.  I use the ELF Undereye Primer I'm on my second tube of this stuff.  I also don't know if it's working but I notice when I forget to use it. It's great at hydrating my under eyes and I feel like it makes me look more awake than if I just go in straight with concealer.  The last priming I do is for my eyes.  I use the Wet n Wild Fergie Take on the Day.  It's cheap and it works. It definitely helps my eye shadow stay on all day without creasing.  I love it. The only other primer I've tried for my eyes is from ELF and it didn't work so Fergie wins!

Now that everything is "primed" lets add some color! This month I was trying out the Benefit Lemon Aid that I heard was good for color correcting your lids and under your eyes.  So I agree it color corrects my eye lids great.  I love that it works as a great eye primer in addition to my actual eye primer. But for a concealer under the eye I just don't think it was the bees knees as I was sold it would be.  It's pretty dry and my under eyes don't need that torture forever. Probably wont repurchase, but I'll use it. After this I would use my It Cosmetics Bye Bye Undereye and pat it all over my under eye gently with my ring finger.  This stuff is awesome.  Talk about moisturizing and full coverage this stuff is great.  I've been using it for about 6 months, however in the last month it hasn't been covering up those dark circles as much as I'd like.  So I'm in search of something better.  Or something else to add with this to make it as good as I remember it.  It's expensive but lasts a long time and a little goes a long way.

I'm a pretty loyal BB Cream and CC Cream user and it's really a toss up to which one I used more this month. But I'll give it to my It Cosmetics CC Cream because it's the only foundation I took home on both my SA trips.  I love this stuff, it color corrects like no one's business. It has a little bit of moisturizer in it.  And it has stuff that's good for your skin in it- like Snail Secretion... I'll probably repurchase this as some point.  I use about a pump and a half to get all over my face. I apply it with my fingers and it gives a pretty velvety finish. Love it.

I was lucky in February not to have any major breakouts that needed concealing.  Go face! So the last step is just setting my under eye concealer with a little Rice Powder from Palladio.

It's all about the eyes:
While all my concealers and eye primers are sitting I like to do my brows.  This month I started using a product I've had for a bit but am only just now really using.  Maybelline Define a Brow is an automatic brow pencil with a little comb on the end. I love this stuff too!  This is great for when I'm looking for a really natural brow sort of look. It's quick and I don't really need to set it with anything. I've purchased a product like it so I don't need this, but it's perfectly decent and I wouldn't be against repurchasing.

For eye shadows I have really been loving my Tartelette Palette.  I haven't completely changed my mind about it but I have definitely figured out some tricks for using it.  I'm going to do an updated post about it soon.  So the trick with these shadows is having a good powdery base. I use the light nude tone allover the lid and really go to town with it.  As long as there's something between my primer and the shadows I'm trying to blend then it works fine.  I mostly stuck to the top row this month but I did try the middle row for Valentine's and it was lovely.  These are great shadows and I can't imagine I'll need to repurchase this but if I need to I will. I really am enjoying it.

For liner I've been using my NYX Gel Liner in Dark Brown. Love this stuff it's great. I use it pretty much daily.  It's dark, it's brown and it stays on like no bodies business but comes off at the end of the day. I will totally repurchase it.  Then I wasn't curling my lashes most of the month because the mascara I use curls them for me.  Benefit They're Real! I loooove this mascara.  Yes it's a bitch to get off my lashes but it makes them so so so long.  It really makes my lashes gorgeous.  I have a hard time going through mascara it usually dries out first so I already bought a back up of this and will probably start using it in the next few weeks.

Where are my cheeks?
So the last step of my face is to give it back some color.  I used my NYC Sunny Bronzer daily.  This is what I use everyday to carve out my cheek and make it look like I have cheekbones. I use it around my hair line and under my jaw.  Love this stuff it works great.  I've already mentioned in my Bronzer Maddness post that I wont repurchase this right away because I have other bronzer to use, but I will probably finish using this one up in March because I've hit major major pan on it.

For highlighter I use my ELF Baked Highlighter in Moonlight Pearls. This stuff is beautiful.  And I will never be rid of it! It lasts forever. So I may not need to repurchase it.  Also I want to see other highlighters in the future so I may not right away with this either. I use it on my non-existent cheekbones, bridge of my nose and inner eye corner.  Hardest to screw up makeup step for sure.

The for blush I jumped around at the end, but I'd say for most of the month my Nars Orgasm was the blush I used.  This is just a great blush that goes with everything and always looks good. It stays all day really brings life back into my face. I'm just not sure if I'll repurchase, it's super expensive. Mine came in a kit so I may look for dupes. I also have loads of blushes I love see my Blush Maddness.

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So that's what I did to my face in February.  Geesh it's a lot to write out.  You may notice that lips were missing, because I wasn't really wearing a lot of lipstick in February. I tried some new chap sticks but nothing special.  I'm kinda addicted to Selfies so here are a few of the looks that happened in February. (Also I figuring out my eye brows...don't judge)