What’s On Her Face?? – Date Night Edition

“The most beautiful makeup of a woman is passion. But cosmetics are easier to buy.”
― Yves Saint-Laurent

Ahhh date night, the perfect excuse to get out of my typical winter wardrobe, i.e: sweats and uggs, and slip into something cute from my closet!  I never ever wear my hair up when I go out. I don’t know why, but I’m very self conscious about my face! Even for my own wedding (both of them actually), I refused to put it all up. Guess I felt daring on date night ;-) I had to make sure that I “put on a face” to match the rest of my look. I’m obsessed with lipstick right now, so I kept my eyes/face a little fancier than neutral and wore a bright shade on my pout!

click photo to open in new window

Face:

No primer (just Jergens lotion!), Makeup Forever Full Cover Concealer, Makeup Forever HD foundation 153 (Golden Honey), and MAC Sweet as Cocoa Blush

Eyes:

Urban Decay Primer Potion on Lids, Urban Decay’s Verve all over lid + Urban Decay’s Busted in crease, No-Name Black eye pencil lining both top and bottom lid, Clinique High Impact Mascara, and MAC’s Brow Set in Show-Off to tame my unruly brows.

Lips:

NYX Lip Liner in Orange, Bobbi Brown Atomic Orange Lipstick

*sidenote: This was the first time I wore my Atomic Orange lipstick out, I am SO impressed with the wearability of this shade!! It lasts forever, even through eating and drinking, and does not bleed or crack like lots of bright shades tend to do! Get your hands on this shade ladies, it’s truly smokin’!!!

Over all, this was a very quick, simple look to create. I was done with hair and makeup in less than 15 minutes, which is a record for me. Remember, for easy and flawless makeup application, the right tools make all the difference!! My sweet hubby bought me the Deluxe Anti-bacterial brush set from Sephora last year and I highly recommend them.

Happy makeup-ing ladies!

XOXO

The Holy Grail Post – Splurge vs Steal Edition [Eyes, Lips, Face]

I’ve been wanting to make a HG post forever, but always forget. I figured this is a good continuation of my last post on wearing makeup for first-timers. The list is categorized by Eyes, Lips, Face, in splurge vs steal format (ie: expensive vs cheap) . These are ALL products that I absolutely love, have used way more than one time, several on a daily basis.

EYES

MASCARA
Splurge: Clinique High Impact Mascara ($14.50 at Sephora)
vs
Steal: Prestige My Longest Lashes ($7.50 at Ulta)

EYELINER
Splurge: Lancome Le Crayon Kohl in Black Coffee ($24.50 at Lancome)
vs
Steal: NYC Color Waterproof Eyeliner in Black ($1.99 at Walmart)

EYESHADOW PRIMER
Splurge: Urban Decay Eyeshadow Primer Potion ($19 at Sephora)
vs
Steal: ELF Mineral Eyeshadow Primer ($3 at Target)

BROW FILLER
Splurge: MAC Brow Set ($15 at MAC Cosmetics)
vs
Steal: Milani Easy Brow Automatic Pencil ($5 at Walgreens)

EYESHADOW PALETTE
Splurge: Urban Decay Naked ($48 at Sephora)
vs
Steal: NYX Nude on Nude ($25 NyxCosmetics.com)

LIPS

LIPSTICK (RED)
Splurge: MAC Russian Red ($15 at Mac Cosmetics)
vs
Steal: NYX Snow White ($2.99 at Amazon.com)

LIPGLOSS
Splurge: Lancome Juicy Tubes in Tickled Pink ($18 at Lancome)
vs
Steal: C.O. Bigelow Ultra Mentha Lip Shine ($7 at Bath and Body Works)

FACE

FOUNDATION
Splurge: Make Up Forever HD Foundation ($40 at Sephora)
vs
Steal: Revlon ColorStay Foundation ($12.99 at Walgreens)

CONCEALER
Splurge: Make Up Forever HD Full Cover Concealer ($30 at Sephora)
vs
Steal: Maybelline Instant Age Rewind Eraser ($9.99 at CVS)

BLUSH
Splurge: Illamasqua Blush in “Hussy” ($24 at Sephora)
vs
Steal: Milani “Sunset Beach” ($2.99 eBay) *THIS IS THE GREATEST BLUSH EVER!!!

BRONZER
Splurge: Too Faced Chocolate Soleil ($29 at Sephora)
vs
Steal: Wet n Wild Mega Glo Illuminating Powder ($4 at Drugstore.com)

Hope this was helpful for those of you trying to find good quality makeup products at any price. Stay tuned to Part II of Splurge vs Steal where I will list hair products and others (perfumes, beauty tools, etc.)

XOXO

Review: Clinique’s High Impact Mascara

If you were to ask me what one makeup product can I never live without, I’d say without hesitation mascara! I love it and I’ve been wearing it every day since the 7th grade. How my eyelashes haven’t fallen out yet is beyond me.

Sadly, last year, I started become allergic to most brands. Every time I would wear it, my eyes would end up getting so itchy and red. Wasn’t sure if it was my contacts or my body just hating me for subjecting it to this goop for so long. It was extremely frustrating. Since then, I’ve been on the hunt for the perfect “hypoallergenic” mascara. I started using Almay (the one-coat dialup, getup and grow) but was never really impressed. What I usually look for in mascara is length, and while the Almay ones work at first, after a couple of hours my lashes would ‘fall’ again.

On one of my many trips to Sephora last month, I picked up Clinique’s High Impact mascara in Black. I finally found THE ONE! *SQUEEEEE*

It’s awesome because:  1) It doesn’t irritate my eyes 2) Two coats and my lashes are sky high…AND STAY THAT WAY! 3) While it’s not waterproof, it isn’t “runny” like most non-waterproof ones. I was very pleased with how it stayed on all day and is sweatproof too! You can play with the number of coats to adjust how natural/un-natural you want your lashes to look. After going through countless tubes of other stuff that didn’t work for me, I’m impressed with this. When I went on Makeup Alley to review it, I was surprised by the negative reviews it got, but it seems like people either really hate it or really love it, thankfully I am the latter!!

Here are both my eyes. 1 with and 1 without the mascara. And no, I did not curl my lashes before hand. Eyelash curlers scare the living !@#$ out of me. They look like some kind of Medieval torture device!

PROS: Lots of volume and no clumpiness! Didn’t hurt my eyes.

CONS: I’m used to buying drugstore mascaras, so spending $14.50 on this one was a bit steep for me. But it’s worth it to get the look I desire.

BOTTOM LINE: If you have sensitive eyes or wear contacts and want a mascara with great volume, give it a try! I believe if you go to a Clinique counter, they can give you a sample for you try before you commit to the big tube.

WHERE TO BUY: Sephora or any Clinique counter anywhere!