My First MAC Shadows, Buying Pro Pans, and a Peek at What I'll Be Reviewing Soon

I got my first MAC eye shadows, Carbon and Malt which will be good basics I imagine. I want the black to lock in my eyeliner and to define and for some dramatic/halloween looks and malt seems like a good fairly neutral base as well as an ideal color for blending out browns and such. I won't be reviewing or swatching them because there are plenty of MAC swatches and everyone's already heard raves about MAC. I will however recommend to get the pro pans online like I did. They are $12 as opposed to $15 which is still not cheap but that $3 definitely adds up and if you buy a Z palette (which I recommend looking into, I own one and plan to buy more) you can put all sizes of metal pans on the magnetic base and it has a clear lid so you can see what's in it. This way many of your colors are all in one place and you don't have to search through singles to find the one you're looking for. You can also depot your singles and put the pans in the palette, though I've never done this myself. Also MAC isn't the only place you can buy quality eyeshadows in pans, there are lots more such as Yaby and Inglot. Most top makeup artists brands have pans as an option.
   
I've just ordered certain non makeup makeup artist essentials.... Haha so I'm not going to tell the details but I will be reviewing them after I receive them and get a chance to test them out. I just think they'll be super handy and also I need them for if I plan on doing some freelance makeup artistry during college. I'm excited about it, not sure if I'll make any money though. I guess I'll need to start by doing it for free anyway. Just hopefully once I get a bit more established I can earn a few dollars. Haha we will see.

An Urban Decay dupe I stumbled upon...

An attribute of Wet n Wild to note is that they have a lot of dupes to well known higher end shadows such as Urban Decay and MAC. I saw a dupe video involving several Wet n Wild shadows a while back, and noticed myself without any intention, that in the 8 color palette my friend decided to pick up there was a dupe to Urban Decay's color Lounge (which is really similar to MAC's color Club). It's a green-blue/red-brown duotone.

I snapped a quick pic of it, the palette is called Comfort Zone, and the bottom one is the dupe color:

It's quite a pretty shade, very interesting. I didn't get a chance to really work with it but from the finger tip swatch I applied to my hand, it seemed like it had nice pigmentation and blendablity, although not surprisingly I wouldn't say it's as good as my Urban Decay Lounge. If you lust after Lounge though, but don't want to pay the price and wouldn't mind 7 more beautiful shades, I'd highly recommend this. I'd imagine it's gorgeous over a primer. 

Wet n Wild Color Icon Eyeshadow Trio in Silent Treatment Review w/ Swatches

I was at Fred Meyer's today (which us Northwest people affectionately refer to as 'Freddie's') with a friend picking out some stuff for her new place and naturally I was distracted by the makeup section. :) I decided to pick up a Wet n Wild palette as I've heard good things about them and they're cheap. I thought these colors looked fun and that I'd go ahead and test one and put up a review.

Here are some swatches, the first is a bit blurry, but it better shows the sparkles:

The brow bone color is a light shimmery champagne pink, the crease color is a dark brown with gold sparkles, and the eyelid color is a metallic gray-violet, quite similar to the middle color in the No 7 palette I just reviewed. However this one is slightly darker and leans a bit more purple. As you can see they are quite pigmented. I'm impressed with the highlighter, it really shows up as opposed to many highlighters in cheaper kits. I haven't tried these on my eyes yet but I definitely could see they will have fallout problems. So as with the No 7 kit, be sure to do your eye makeup before foundation. This kit has better pigmentation, more eyeshadow in the container, and is a much better value than the No 7. Overall I would recommend this as I payed $2.99 for it and for that amount, the shadows are quite impressive. :)

Easy Fishtail Braid Tutorial

Firstly, I'm not someone who is good with hair. I rarely do anything special with mine. Right now it's a little past shoulder length so I just let it air dry and do it's thing. Haha I want to learn though. It will be easier once it's longer. Heat styling tools and I aren't a very good match. I have no clue how to operate them and I usually end up with crimped hair or freaking out cause the back isn't as straight as the front. So... haha I miss my super short cut cause it was fun and easy to style. Anyway, I recently learned how to do a fishtail braid after watching a tutorial by fromheadtotoe who is awesome: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fpKgY_zFNuQ&list=PLF51CB3D8C258EABB&index=2 

It was way easier than I realized. The lovely model here is my mother. Happy Mother's Day btw!

Step 1: Separate hair into two equal sections.

Step 2: Take a small piece of hair from the outer edge of one piece and cross it over the other.

Step 3: Repeat this with the other side and alternate between sides and it should start to look like this after a few crosses.

Here you can see it's developing into looking like a fishtail pattern:

It's getting longer and more braid like:

Finally here is the finished braid:

So as you can see fishtail braids are actually very simple. They are time consuming but personally I don't mind the time involved. It's way shorter than curling it with an iron. Also note that the look will vary depending on the thickness of the strands you grab. I'm glad I  learned it but it will be more fun to do for me when my hair is longer. I did a side fishtail braid today but it's not easy and so much falls out. So wish me fast hair growing luck. ;)

No 7 StayPerfect Trio Eyeshadow Palette in Cappucino

I recently purchased the No 7 trio of eyeshadows here. I just loved the colors in the pan. I was super tempted to buy two of them but I stuck with one because I had never tried their shadows before, or any of their makeup for that matter.

Here are several swatches pictures in different lightings:

The highlighter is a warm golden toned highlighter with a slight satiny finish. I wasn't very impressed with how little it showed up on my eyes. The middle color is a metallic gray-violet color, very beautiful and was the color I was particularly drawn to. The third is a metallic gold-brown (I would say almost a dupe for Urban Decay's YDK without the chunky sparkles, but I don't have my YDK with me so I can't say how close. I might do a post on that later when I can compare them.) Unfortunately these are quite crumbly in texture and the fallout is bad. The payoff of the colors is decent but I wasn't all that impressed how they showed up on my eyes versus my arm. So if you love the colors you might get it but be sure to do your eye makeup before your foundation so you can clean away all the fallout. I mean to start doing it that way any time I do more than a very basic eye but I always forget. The highlighter is basically no good in my opinion but the other two are fairly nice. I was just quite disappointed with how crumbly they are and the level of fallout. So ultimately for me having payed $9.49 at Target for this guy, I wouldn't recommend it. I would however like to find a better quality dupe for the middle shade.

Tubing Mascara! and L'Oreal Double Extend Beauty Tubes Mascara

Have you ever heard of tubing mascara? If you haven't you're about to. Tubing mascara coats your lashes individually in a flexible polymer. Therefore it's not an oil and it will NOT smear or run. The only problem I've had is minor flaking (which is fine because they brush away and don't smear!) So if you're gonna be in bad weather, or you cry, you will be good to go with nothing more than the possibility of accidentally rubbing off some tubes. To remove the mascara all you need is hot water and pressure. you can do it with your finger in the shower (I do) or with a wash cloth and hot water. They slip right off and you can see them. It's kind of cool. :) There is a con however, of which I'm not sure if it's more of a downfall of this particular brand, but this mascara sets very quickly so you only have so much time to apply it and work with it unfortunately. So if that is a problem for you, I'd still recommend owning one, but for using it on the occasions you might be crying or going out in the rain or just want to be able to wash off your makeup with ease.

This is a picture of the tubing mascara I own L'Oreal Double Extend Beauty Tubes Mascara, which may be the only one in the average drugstore, but don't quote me on this. I never use the primer end because I think it's makes the finish look too thick and clumpy and it seems to be difficult to hide all with white but that's just me. (sorry about the picture quality, the original is clear but for some reason I'm having issues at this time and I'm working on trying to find out how to fix it.)

I have not tried any other brands of tubing mascara so I can't compare the performance. I'm sure that some may be even better than this one and I hope to try more in the future. Otherwise this is absolutely my go to mascara. I rarely use my regular kind because I hate washing it off haha

W92HQH7AECMM (this is a verification, not related to my post)

Why You Should Go To a Lingerie Store and Get a Bra Fitting

Today is my first blog post that isn't a simple review, but it's quite relevant and something I highly recommend. It's free and you will probably learn a few things. :)

     70 to 85% of women wear the wrong bra size. You may have heard this before. This may be an exaggeration and it may not apply to you, but there is NO reason why you shouldn't march down to the nearest lingerie store and get fitted and find out. (Don't go to Victoria Secret or the like, go for one that sells multiple brands and a wide range of sizes, they will likely have people who know what they're talking about, as well as the right bra for you if you're a less common size) It's not really even awkward depending on your 'modesty' level. (And no they don't have to see you naked haha) I'm sure it varies by where it's done and the person who does it, but this is basically how it went for me: I walked in and a lady asked me if I needed help. I told her what I thought I was, a brand I wanted to try etc. She told me what she thought I was and gave me a bra to try on. She didn't have to measure me. She was obviously quite knowledgeable and she told me how a bra should fit and she fetched several bras for me to try on. I tried on one that blew my mind as far as cleavage. I am small on top, I'm a 32C (C isn't the same for 32s as it is for 34s, but I'll get to that later), so having an actual cleavage line, was pretty amazing to me. :) I had a lot of fun at the store. I didn't find anything due to not finding one that was the right size and style while still within my price range at the time, but they worked with me and were super kind and I never felt pressured to buy. In fact, with the one I almost bought (the crazy cleavage one) she gave her honest opinion that it was borderline as far as proper fitting. They are very service oriented and I will definitely be back to the store. 

     One thing most women don't understand is that cup sizes are proportionate to band sizes. An example of what this means is a 34B is the same cup size as a 32C, just with a bigger band. So when you go down a band size, you have to go up a cup size to maintain that fit and vice versa. I don't understand why this information seems to be so unknown but there you go. 

     I hope you found this post helpful. Go get fitted! :)

NYX Nude on Nude Natural Look Kit

I got this little kit from Cherry Culture. It was smaller than I thought it would be, as you can see it's about the size of the palm of my hand. There are nine eyeshadows and two lipglosses included inside.

Here are some swatches of the eyeshadows. The first color in the palette blends with my skin so you can't really see it in the pictures, also the last few are out of order, rather than left to right, row by row because I accidentally missed one and had to add it. Sorry about that :p These are over a primer.:

Here are some swatches of the lipglosses, they are thick and quite pigmented, nice colors and shimmery finish:

Some of the colors have quite surprising color payoff and are very beautiful. The dark mattes are fairly pigmented, and though the texture isn't amazing they're quite good. I really like the colors in this kit. They are quite warm though for the most part so I wouldn't say it's ideal for everyone. With nine of them there is versatility, which is awesome. I also think it's great because it's so small. It's perfect for carrying along or traveling with when you don't have much room and/or don't want to take a lot of makeup with you. The lip colors are an added bonus because from within that little box, you can create a very put together eye and lip look. For $12 from Cherry Culture, I'm super happy with it. :)

NYX Round Lipstick in Rose Review and Swatches

I got this lipstick from Cherry Culture as well. It is a bright, hot pink

Here are two swatches outside in daylight: 

And here is one inside in the light of the window: 

The pictures don't quite show the color as pink as it is, but trust me when I say it's a bright pink. It's very soft and buttery. It glides on effortlessly. I'm used to more creamy lipsticks, but it is a pleasant texture. It could be a bit smeary and messy though if you are not careful. I have not tried it with a lip pencil yet because I don't have one that would go with it, but it would probably be good to wear with one. I was pleased with how good it looked on me. I wasn't sure how well it would suit me. I decided it was time to try a nice hot pink. Glad I did. :) This was $3.00 from Cherry Culture

NYX Mega Shine Lipgloss in Deep Bronze Review and Swatches

This is another of the products I got in my order from Cherry Culture. It's a dark brownish plum colored lipgloss.

Here is a swatch in cool light, the first is a thick swipe and the second is blended out a bit:

And here is another in warmer light: 

As you can see it is very thick and pigmented. I like that about the mega shine lipglosses. I have one other and it's nice to have a gloss that is not so sheer and one that really coats and stays. The first one I had impressed me, so I bought this one. I thought it would be fun to have a vampy color. I was expecting it to be a bit more sheer but it's like a lacquer. It gives your lips a full, shiny color. It's very pretty and it will be fun to wear. Overall I like it and got it for $4.50 at cherryculture.com. 

Disclaimer: I'm not endorsed by Cherry Culture in any way and I bought all my products on my own. 

I mention their store because it is a good place to buy NYX cosmetics often for cheaper as well as some other cool brands. They have great sales. 

NYX Mosaic Powder in Highlighter Review & Swatches

I put an order in with Cherry Culture and one of the items I purchased was the NYX Mosaic Powder in Highlighter. I'm really happy with it. It's not too shimmery, just very subtly so. It's a nice off white color when you blend all the shades together, and when applied it gives a light sheen.

 Here is a swatch on my finger, nicely pigmented with a pretty sheen:

And here is a swatch of it on my wrist:

Overall I would recommend this product, I've tried some liquid highlighters and the thing about them is they kind of blend with my foundation and look muddied up. It's kind of hard to explain but I've never liked that about them so I wanted to try a powder highlighter. I think the powder is easier to apply and blends nicer but liquid or cream highlighters still have their place. I just put this over my finishing powder and it looks great. For having payed $6.50 at cherryculture.com, I think it was a great buy. :)